State of the Beta - Post #6

Earlier State of the Beta posts:
1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

Patch Notes and Communication

We've been low on time over the last few weeks and rather than sacrificing development time, we substantially trimmed the amount of explanation we gave about changes. We get great player data from the Beta, so we felt that explaining everything was unnecessary and that we could focus our efforts on making more changes rather than explaining the ones we've already made.

As supporters and players of the game, we owe you good communication. We will make sure we make more manifesto posts that outline planned changes, and I will take the time to discuss what is going in each patch.

The first such manifesto post is here: Map Drops in The Awakening.

The next patch will include a lot of changes. The current plan is to have it out by the end of the week, however this may well slip to early next week.

Like Uncut Diamonds

There have been several questions about which unique Jewels will be returning. We made some missteps with early Jewel design. While we loved what we added, not all of the Jewels have a place in the game.

The following Jewels will not return, although the names, flavour and general concept may be reused:

Projected Force
Coated Weapons
Sturdy Growth
Wisdom of the Path Not Taken
Surplus
Stimulated Growth
Controlled Energy
Dark Thoughts

The following Jewels may return, but are likely to be rebalanced or function differently.

Vampire's Might
Self-Flagellation
Specialised
Miser of Misery
Cannibalistic Habits

Mods Modifications

In the Awakening we are making several changes to Item Mods. The biggest change is adding new top tier mods for higher item levels. There will be top-end mods for attributes, resistances, defences, and also mods higher than some of the existing most valued mods.

There will be mods better than Tyrannical and Glyphic for example. If you've chosen one of these for your Divination Card, then we'll be in touch to see if you'd like it changed to the new higher one.

As well as new top-end mods, we are making adjustments to some existing mods. Some items can also have mods that were previously too high for that item, and some mods have been adjusted.

We're also going to be introducing a couple of entirely new mods to the mod pool. Most notably, Wands, Daggers, Staves, and Sceptres can now get Adds x-y Fire, Cold or Lightning Damage to Spells.



Unlike the attack-based added damage mods, an item can only have one of these bonuses. Staves get a slightly more powerful version of the mod, similar to the local added damage bonuses two handed weapons have. This mod will be the third damage increasing prefix that spellcaster weapons can now have. Catarina will also provide a craftable version of the mods at her headstones.

Because of this addition (and other changes such as shotgunning), the "Damage Effectiveness" value of spells has been rebalanced. This should make the damage bonus from these mods more even across all spells.

On Track

Number of issues: 574

Early July is getting more and more locked-in as a release date.

When I am asked if that date is still valid for marketing and server planning purposes I have been saying yes.

As part of being locked-in on a date, we have been assessing what features are must-haves, and what planned changes can be pushed out past the release date if needed.

Oh darn!

I want it in late July D:

Nice

Nice!

Hype getting real.

alright sounds like a plan!

=O op

uU new mods... GG

Yay more caster mods for wands!

Good to hear about better communication. Also excited for those spell damage mods.

Are you planning an added chaos damage for spells mod?