Evolve's move to free-to-play has been a success, and developer Turtle Rock is saying thanks to the fans in a new Shear Madness event that will bring five content updates in the next five weeks, starting now. 

In the first just released update called The Quantum Surge, Founders will get a new hunter named Quantum Caira that is a support healer. Her abilities include a stacking Proton Field that damages enemies over time, a stacking regeneration field that heals allies over time, a Generyst field that combines the previous two for a specific duration, and a damage reduction barrier for allies. If you aren't a founder, you can unlock her with a silver key.

The update also includes balance changes, tutorials for advanced hunters, a new "try before you buy" option in training mode that has everything unlocked, and an initial attempt to address matchmaking issues and players that leave the game early.

In coming weeks as part of the Shear Madness event, Turtle Rock promises "three more Character Adaptations, three new Map Variants that shake-up the traditional Evolve experience, a brand new Co-op game mode, and a veritable 3-meat feast of community requested features and quality of life improvements."

Here are the full patch notes for update 2.04:

New Medic Character - Quantum Caira

• Quantum Caira is now available!
• All Founders will have Quantum Caira unlocked on release and non-founders can unlock her now in the Store with Silver Keys.

New Advanced Hunter Tutorial

• This is a guided solo Hunt experience designed to help players understand more than just the basic mechanics of being a Hunter.
  • Each class will have unique Voice lines from Abe and Caira to assist players in learning Evolve.
• This experience was built to give players that first look into how Hunt mode works and to help ease new players into what it means to Hunt.
• Give it a try and let us know what you think!

New Community Requested Features

All Content is now unlocked in Solo mode - “Try before you buy”

• We’ve heard from all over our Community that players wanted some way to try out content before investing the time and Silver Keys towards an unlock, so we introduced the “Try before you buy” feature.
• With Update 2.04, all content is unlocked in Solo mode so anyone can give anything a test run before unlocking it.
• We have added text under training to make this clear to players on first launch of the new update.

Matchmaking Adjustments

• Developer Note:
  • These are not our final solutions for any leaver or matchmaking issues but just our first steps towards improving matchmaking.It’ll be a continued process as we move through future updates but we appreciate any and all feedback we’re getting on the current Matchmaking system.
• General Matchmaking now searches by skill, not by profile rank.
  • Previously in Hunt matchmaking it would be based around the account level and match make players around that level.
  • Now the system will use a hidden skill rating (this has been active since launch) to help ensure better matches for all players.
• Games will not start unless 5 players are present at the end of Character Select
  • We often saw and ran into players who would leave on the Character Select screen, so instead of having to leave to find a new lobby the matchmaking system now does this automatically.
  • The goal here is to make sure games are started without bots and ensuring the best user experience for a Hunt match is attained through our matchmaking system.
• Steam now displays the most recent players from matchmaking
  • We found it pretty difficult to find friends while playing Evolve, so this is the first of many features to help players find friends and recent players between rounds.
• Win-Streaks are now taken away ONLY if a player leaves during a match
  • We’ve removed both the prompts from the pre and post round. Community feedback was clear this wasn’t the right direction.
• If all 4 Hunters leave, Monsters are now awarded the win.
  • Previously the match would just end right away with no winner or Silver Key gains.
  • Monsters will now receive proper amounts of Silver Keys and XP when all four Hunters leave during a game in progress.
• Bonus Silver Keys for selecting no Preference in Role Selection
  • To reward players who are the jack of all trades, you’ll receive a Silver Key bonus for going in matchmaking with no preference selected.
• Bonus Silver Keys for playing a match if you don’t get your #1 preferred role
  • Sometimes players will get thrown into a non-preferred role before a Hunt match often resulting in the player leaving.
  • To help with this, one of our first steps is giving players who play a non-prefered role extra Silver Keys after completing a match.

Monster Harpooned Visual Indicator

• Whenever a Monster is harpooned a new indicator will appear above the Monsters head to alert the Monster that a harpoon is currently attached.
  • Once the harpoon is broken, the indicator will disappear.

Store Content

• Releasing Wednesday 8/3/2016
  • Weapons Skins:
    • Quantum Caira Valkyrie
    • Quantum Caira Arctic
    • Quantum Caira Phoenix
• Releasing Thursday 8/4/2016
  • Hunter Skins:
    • Quantum Caira Blood Eagle
    • Quantum Caira Man Eater

Balance Changes

All

• Initial dropship time increased to 10 seconds from 0
• Dropship time added when a hunter is downed increased to 11 from 10
• Max dropship timer increased to 130 seconds from 120

Monsters

General

• Reduced the amount monsters are slowed down while using melee attacks to 20% from 35%

Goliath

• Rock Throw
  • Direct damage reduced to 100 from 250
  • Splash damage increased to 578|578|621 from 391|391|431
  • Splash min radius increased to 5|5|8 from 4|4|7 meters
• Charge
  • Damage increased to 403|403|444 from 377|377|415
• Leap Smash
  • Damage increased to 437|437|485 from 409|409|454
• Flame Breath
  • Direct damage increased to 73|73|80 from 66|66|72

Meteor Goliath

• Rock Throw
  • Direct damage reduced to 330|330|364 from 348|348|384
  • Splash min radius increased to 5|5|8 from 4|4|7 meters
• Charge
  • Damage reduced to 339|339|373 from 357|357|393
• Leap Smash
  • Damage reduced to 374|374|412 from 394|394|434

Kraken

• In-air projectile attack damage reduced to 115 from 135

Elder Kraken

• Traversal
  • In-air acceleration reduced to 6 from 35
  • Max air speed increased to 11 from 10
  • Descent min speed reduced to 15 from 20
  • Descent max speed reduced to 30 from 50

Wraith

• Decoy’s contextual combat has been updated to support the light attack animation

Gorgon

• Acid Spit direct damage reduced to 36|36|39 from 39|39|42

Slot 2 Perks (Major)

• Fly Swatter jetpack flight reduction reduced to 30%|35%|40% from 30%|40%|50%
• Fly Swatter damage per second reduced to 9|11|13 from 10|12.5|15
• Mutated Claws damage per second reduced to 13.5|18|22.5 from 15|20|25

Slot 3 Perks (Superior)

• Grounder Jetpack thrust reduction reduced to 15%|20%|25% from 25%|30%|35%
• Grounder damage per second reduced to 19|21|23 from 20|23|26
• Evolved Claws damage per second reduced to 28|32|36 from 30|35|40

Hunters

General

• Hunter passive health regen increased to 25 from 15 a second
• Additional tuning for solo player matchmaking

Assaults

• Defense Matrix damage reduction reduced to 55% from 65%

Hyde

• Toxic Grenade damage per second reduced to 111 from 120

Torvald

• Shotgun damage per pellet increased to 10 from 9

Lennox

• Plasma Lance
  • Damage reduced to 100|150|200|250 from 125|175|225|275
• Autocannon
  • Max spread reduced to 4 from 5.4
• Damage increased to 35 from 28

Val

• Heal Burst heal other reduced to 307 from 332

Rogue Val

• Heal Burst cooldown increased to 19 seconds from 18

Lazarus

• Lazarus now gains 25% increased movement speed while cloak is active
  • Gotta go fast!

Slim

• Heal Burst
  • Cooldown decreased to 12 seconds from 20
• Leech Gun
  • Fire rate reduced to 180 from 210
  • Pellet count reduced to 6 from 8
  • Min and max spread reduced to 6 from 8
  • Cooldown reduction per leech reduced to 1 second from 1.1
  • Damage per pellet increased to 5 from 4

EMET

• Heal Burst
  • Self heal and heal other increased to 300 from 180
  • Incap heal increased to 250 from 150
  • Cooldown increased to 6 seconds from 4

Hank

• Shield Burst cooldown increased to 23 seconds from 20

Maggie

• Harpoon reload time increased to 3.65 seconds from 3.25

Wasteland Maggie

• Harpoon trigger range reduced to 25 from 28

Abe

• Stasis Grenade climb speed debuff reduced to 30% from 35%

Jack

• Dual Pistols
  • Damage increased to 30 from 26
• Repulsor
  • Reload time increased to 5.5 seconds from 5

Slot 1 Perks (Minor)

• Infravision range increased to 10|14|18 from 8|11|15
• Extra Force damage increase reduced to 2%|3%|4% from 3%|4%|5%

Slot 2 Perks (Major)

• Ultravision range increased to 20|25|30 from 17|20|25 meters
• Poisonous Rounds damage per second reduced to 5|6|7 from 5|6.5|8

Slot 3 Perks (Superior)

• Acidic Rounds damage per second reduced to 10|12|14 from 10|13|16
• Lethal Force damage increase reduced to 7%|8%|9% from 5%|7.5%|10%

Bug Fixes

• Fixed some instances where the Spotter wildlife would not play the sound notification when Monsters are in close proximity.
• Fixed various interactions around Goliath:
  • Issues where Goliath could not climb while using Flame Breath.
  • Various issues where Leap Smash would not register properly on terrain.