From the start of Steam Early Access, we've been up front with all of you about willing to change aspects of Breach based on direct player feedback. Previously, we had adjusted the actual gold gain that occurs when playing both boosted, and without a boost, in order to maintain a gold return rate that was similar to what we had in our Alpha testing period. Today, we're adding to that and adjusting the gold prices for a number of classes, which you can observe below.
In addition to this, we've also automatically awarded all current players with a FREE 7-day boost related to this gold cost adjustment, and that all new players will now get a 7-day boost for completing the tutorials. It is our hope that combined with our recent adjustments, gold return and overall gold pricing feels fair to every one of you as you continue to level up and move about the Library of Alexandria.
Don't forget to obtain your FREE Pyromancer this week only, so you can utilize this new class for all builds moving forward.
Class Gold Cost Adjustment:
Pyromancer + Jan 31, 2019 Maintenance
It may be the middle of winter for most of us right now, but we've decided to finish out the month of January by raising the heat inside the Library of Alexandria and releasing our first new class of Early Access, the Pyromancer!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0RWYGiqJ_A
As you may have already learned from some of our Partners earlier in the day, to celebrate this release with all of you, our Early Access players, we'll be enabling the promo code "FREEPYRO" to be used in the Breach launcher. This code must be used by February 6th at 11:59 PM to get your very own FREE Pyromancer class (you get to keep this class, it's not like the free rotation classes).
This also goes for any new players that may have been waiting in the wings, so now is great opportunity to pick up that Starter Pack and join up for an extra class right from the start. Who wants to guess how many co-op games are going to start this week with 4 Pyromancers? Make sure to watch that video above to get a quick overview of what to expect from the newest member of the Arcane School of Magic.
Before we cover all the other updates / adjustments, here's the timing for the upcoming downtime, and a handy countdown clock for those of you in various timezones across the world.
Within this update, we're continuing to make adjustments to a handful of spells that had been a little overpowered for our taste, or just not working as intended. Now that we have thousands more players discovering different combinations, our team will continue to look at various aspects of balance to keep the game fair. Earlier in Alpha, we discussed our philosophy behind balance, and our goal is for there to always be a counter, even if something feels really overpowering. In some cases it turns out, there is no direct counter, and at that point adjustments will be made. You can see some of that below in our approach, and we're excited for all of you to join up after the server maintenance and see how these new adjustments feel. These adjustments will continue as we observe things that need to change.
Fixes / Additions / Updates:
In addition to this, as mentioned on our previous livestream, we're adjusting the gold cost for a bunch of classes. Here's the full list:
Gold Adjustment - January 25th Maintenance
As listed in our update / patch notes for January 24th, we had mentioned that there would likely be another update on Friday, January 25th, to make an adjustment to Gold rewards in-game. We can now confirm that this will be coming in a patch on January 25th, and it will require a quick downtime in order for us to apply the patch. Here's a countdown timer.
To reiterate, as this first week of Early Access comes to a close, we have been continuing to observe the overall economy and rewards structure, and how players are moving through our progression systems, along with how it feels to the community at large, both with boosts on and without. On Friday we will be increasing both the Co-op vs Player bonus from 100% to 150% and the Boost bonus from 100% to 150%. Also, in the coming weeks we will be lowering the gold cost of some classes. This change will coincide with the release of our first new class.
This is the only aspect being updated in this patch, and we appreciate your understanding for this downtime, as we wanted to roll out this update quickly. There will certainly be more updates and fixes in future maintenance periods.
Early Access Patch Notes: Jan 24, 2019
Before we dig into the patch notes and downtime announcement, all of us at QC Games would like to thank all of you that have joined us for this journey so far with Breach. We've seen some amazing clips, some great screenshots, and heard some really fantastic stories from all of you along the way as you level up and explore the game more during Steam Early Access. We've also been reading and responding to a lot of feedback over the past week, and taking it all in and adjusting plans as we process forward with not only adding new content to the game (see the roadmap here), but also fixing quality of life issues and more. It's only been a week, and our team is working to tackle some of the more upfront quality of life improvements, as well as highly requested additions.
Here's our timing for the upcoming downtime, and a handy countdown clock for those of you in various timezones across the world.
One note about this downtime is that we are still figuring out when the best time to perform weekly maintenance will be (yes, we are planning to do this weekly), as we continue to observe the ebb and flow of our population around the world, while also allowing our team proper time to get in all those fixes and additions we're planning on as per our Early Access roadmap.
Let's also talk about a few core topics that we've seen from direct player feedback so far:
- Hero / VD only queue: We are aware of the community ask for us to enable this option, and we are working hard towards completing it. It is a top priority feature.
- Gold Rewards in-game: As this first week of Early Access comes to a close, we are continuing to observe the overall economy and rewards structure, and how players are moving through our progression systems, along with how it feels to the community at large, both with boosts on and without. On Friday we will be increasing both the Co-op vs Player bonus from 100% to 150% and the Boost bonus from 100% to 150%. Also, in the coming weeks we will be lowering the gold cost of some classes. This change will coincide with the release of our first new class.
- General Optimization and More Options: Optimization will be a consistent goal throughout Early Access as Breach continues and grows. We also plan to add more video options to customize for your individual PC in the future. This also includes additional re-binding options.
With that covered, let's take a look at the items we're correcting with this first Early Access patch, and our updated Known Issues list.
Fixes:
Known Issues:
Thank You Alpha Testers & Early Access Roadmap
[UPDATE] Early Access Servers will officially open at Noon Central on January 17th.
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Today, we’d like to take some time and thank all of our Alpha Testers throughout the past few months who helped us to shape Breach into the game it is, and what it will be as we move into Early Access. For those of you that have been following since the beginning, or just joining us recently, let’s talk about how you’ve helped us week after week.
Where we were…
It all started in Germany. After 2.5 years of development at our small development studio in Austin TX, we decided to fly over to Gamescom and reveal Breach for the first time. With thousands of players coming through, we had a blast, and lead the way towards our first Alpha tests a few weeks later. We started with North America, expanded to Europe and beyond, and kept bringing in more folks, along with our showing at TwitchCon, where we gave away our first instant access keys.
With many Alpha tests under our belt, we've continued to receive feedback from our consistently growing audience, applying it to the game, fixing bugs, and seeing some hilarious streaming moments. Also, did you know we just passed 10,000 players in our Discord server? It's great to see everyone separating off into various schools.
Here's some of the major things we changed in Breach, with the majority based on your direct feedback:
Where we are...
This past weekend culminated with our final Alpha Test. It's been an incredible journey for all of us, and we're excited to launch into Steam Early Access. Even with only a few days between that Alpha and Early Access beginning, we’re making adjustments and adding new features. This process will continue throughout Early Access, but here’s a few things that we’re changing specifically for Thursday:
Where we’re going…
This is where our roadmap below comes in. We have our general outline of what we are aiming to accomplish with Breach over the next handful of months, and we want to share it with you.
We will be adding more classes of every variety, including new Veil Demons with never before seen mechanics! The story will unfold with new quests and cinematics. Your heroes will continue to explore Breach’s hybridized Modern-Mythological Earth with new Missions and Maps. You will fight against or as new mythological beast and boss monsters. We even have an entirely new 5v5 mode in the works! Soon we will introduce a Challenges feature where you will be able to earn and show off your skills and accomplishments in the game.
As this is a roadmap, dates and actual additions are subject to change, but we wanted to detail some of our thoughts for the next three months and beyond.
Redeeming your Breach Pre-Order
If you’re reading this, thank you in advance for your interest and/or purchase of a Breach Founders Pack, as we plan to begin Steam Early Access on January 17th, 2019. We want to walk you through the process of what will occur, and answer some questions that we had ourselves when setting up the system.
A: Yes, that receipt means your order has been processed, and we are prepared to send you your access codes. Those codes will be delivered before we begin Steam Early Access to your email.
A: We will be providing everyone that purchased a Founders Pack with an email containing individual Steam codes for each Pack purchased. For instance, if you purchased a Starter Pack, you will receive an email with a single Steam code to redeem. However, if you purchased a Supporter Bundle, you will receive three (3) individual codes to redeem on Steam, one after the other.
You will also receive a code for your pre-order bonuses. That specific code can be redeemed in the Breach launcher using the “Redeem Code” button.
- Steam Codes will be formatted this way: 12345-67890-12345
- QC Codes will be formatted this way: ABCD-EFGH-IJKL
A: No. Each Steam code you received is for an individual Founders Pack. If you provide one of those codes to a friend, not only will they get access to Breach, but they will also earn the contents of that specific Pack you provided them with. Please be sure to redeem all of your codes on your individual account, unless you specifically wish to gift an entire Pack to a friend.
A: Please follow the directions below.
A: If you didn’t install Breach during the code redemption process, please click on “LIBRARY” at the top of the Steam client. On the left, scroll down the list until you see “Breach”. Click on it, and on the right side, you should see a bright blue “INSTALL” button. Click that, and follow the instructions.
A: Please file a support ticket with Xsolla at this link, and include your order number and details of what you received >> https://xsolla.com/gamer-support/
The Final Alpha Approaches...
Welcome to the FINAL Alpha Test for Breach before we begin Steam Early Access. We’ve enjoyed having all of you test alongside us as we’ve expanded to new regions, added more classes, and HEAVILY expanded our playerbase. In this upcoming Alpha, we’re not only going to provide you with what will likely be our Early Access build, but going to test out the ability to purchase QC Points in-game. For those wondering, we’ve changed the name / icon for what used to be known as “Sparks”, now known as QC Points. We’ve also set everyone to exactly 400 QC Points, for which we’ll cover a little later in this news post. First, let's cover the timing of this Alpha, then we'll dig into QC Points:
This is a slightly shorter, focused test, so that we can maximize our matchmaking testing. As per usual, here's a countdown timer for when we're starting. Now, let's get to the questions on QC Points and in-game purchases:
Currently, QC Points can only be purchased in-game. This can be achieved by opening up the Shop (“H”) menu, where options will be presented to you at various levels.
Yes, that is correct. All player progress and purchases will be wiped. However, for any QC Points purchases that are made, we will refund that total number of QC Points into your QC account when you access Breach again, starting in Early Access. For example, let’s say you purchased 1,000 QC Points, and spend 750 on a new class during the Alpha. When you log into your account during Early Access for the first time, you will have 1,000 QC Points waiting in your account, but your previous class purchase will not be there.
No. Our model follows that of a popular MOBA you might be familiar with. Points are used for cosmetic items. There is always a free rotation of classes, and classes can be unlocked with earned gold or points. All 'power' items like gear and gems can only be purchased with gold and awarded during play.
Please file a support ticket and provide us with details about what you purchased with QC Points, when, and of course your in-game name. We’ll look into it and reply to tickets in the order they are received.
Not currently, and we’re discussing if that will be available in the future.
If you have other questions before making a purchase, feel free to reach out to us on our official Discord and we'll do our best to answer. You'll also find several new and exciting things in the Alpha test this weekend!
- Prismatic Gems: This new category of gems allows you to alter how your ability works. Increase an ability's offense attributes at cost of its defense, increase its damage at cost of its cooldown, etc. There are nearly 100 prismatic gems to choose from!
- New Gear and Talents: There is now almost 150 talents for you to choose from!
- Exorcist Class: This new Hedge school of magic class is first to have the unique ability to directly affect the Veil Demon's possession ability! The power of Hedge compels you!
- (Real) Friends List: Not implying your friends before were fake, just that the in game functionality was! As many of you know it was just piggy backing off of your Steam friends list. Breach now has its own Friends List. So you can add and invite anyone in the game, form parties together, and have purpose when spamming LFG in chat!
- Boosts: We've introduced boosts and we are giving everyone enough QC Points for free to buy the 7 day boost. Be sure to do that if you are gunning for earning gold to get some of that new gear or new classes, and even more importantly for the bonus XP to reach level 100!
- Matchmaking and Game Modes: Tuning matchmaking is an ongoing process that we can't do without your help in these Alpha tests and Early Access. We are so thankful to each and every one of you for your patience and helping us with this. We've made some adjustments based on the data we've been able to collect over the past few tests. As requested, we are in the process of setting it up so that you can choose to queue as just a Hero, just a Veil Demon, or either. We hope to have that functionality complete shortly after Early Access starts. As part of this process the co-op queue is currently disabled. However, you can still play as any number of Heroes vs an AI Veil Demon in custom mode, and you can even LFG for it with the new Friend's List! We've also renamed the 'play cards' based on feedback. The Solo card has been renamed 'Mission with A.I.' and the Versus card has been renamed to 'Mission with Players.'
- Intro Story Cinematics: We are going to be releasing story quests and motion comic cinematics throughout the Early Access period. This is the first installment that starts to reveal some of the backstory, the mysterious Lucius, and your Hero's place in the Academy. Right now you can only see these first two cinematics during character creation. So unfortunately only the new players will see it in game. Of course everyone will see it when Early Access starts and later we plan to allow you to access them at any time in the client. For now, if you are already in the Alpha and are interested in seeing it we'll be showing it in a livestream on Jan 11th at 3PM Central.
- New Veil Demon Tutorial:. Following the above bullet point, the New Veil Demon tutorial takes place in Kiev shortly after Lucius first caused the Breach there. Any player can replay this Veil Demon tutorial by stepping through the mysterious tear in the Veil found in the back corner of the Library of Alexandria.
One other large note is the pre-orders officially end at 11:59 PM Central on January 16th. Don't forget to get those bonuses for when we launch into Steam Early Access on the 17th, and we'll be announcing our opening time for Early Access after this Alpha Test has concluded.
In addition to the above, we've been making several balance and bug fixes based on your feedback and findings in the previous tests. For examples:
Known Issues:
We'll see you in Alexandria!
Breach Steam Early Access Begins January 17!
QC Games, an independent game developer comprised of AAA veterans and cutting-edge creators, announced today that their premier action title, Breach, will be coming to Steam Early Access on January 17, 2019. Disrupting the traditional action-RPG genre by fusing explosive combat, RPG-like depth, and a flexible, customizable open-class system, Breach empowers players to build their ideal hero and battle monsters on an adventure that fuses modern and mythological Earth. In addition to building their own custom heroes, players can switch sides and play as the menacing Veil Demon, a malevolent spirit that wreaks delightful havoc on and brings doom to aspiring heroes.
Special Breach pre-order packages are available starting at $24.99, but time is running out! In order to secure your pre-order package with bonus content that ends with Early Access, visit the Breach Shop by January 16 at 11:59 PM CDT to grab exclusive offers that include unique in-game items like sprays, dance emotes, a digital artbook, and much more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vM5brLdkHN0
In Breach, players choose from dozens of classes with endless customization options and the ability to switch to any class at any time. From the explosive Gunslinger that mixes magic with technology, to the time-bending abilities of the Chronomancer, all the way to the aerial juggling combos of the Auros Gladiator, there’s a play style for every gamer in Breach. In addition to customizing the perfect hero, players can take on the role of the main antagonist, the Veil Demon. Conjure traps, summon elite creatures, and use the power of possession to control enemies including massive boss monsters to prevent heroes from completing mission objectives. Constant updates are planned during Early Access including new areas, classes, magic abilities and much more!
“With Breach, our vision is to deliver the best elements of popular genres and bring it into one action driven multiplayer buffet,” stated Dallas Dickinson, President/CEO of QC Games. “As players dive in, they’re going to choose a class that best fits their playstyle with a ton more options opening as they progress in the battle for control of the Earth. No pressure, though.”
70,000 years ago, humanity was on the verge of extinction until a group of Immortals created the Veil, splitting Earth into two realities: one reality that features the Earth we know, and an alternate Earth where mythological creatures thrive. Now the Veil has been shattered and the two worlds are collapsing into each other with catastrophic consequences. Players take control of heroes who have been imbued with “The Spark” to master magical abilities. Travel across the world to iconic locations that have been breached by this mystical parallel Earth and clash against legendary mythological enemies as well as an unexplained malevolent spirit, the Veil Demon.
Breach will enter paid Steam Early Access January 17, 2019, with the Free-To-Play full launch coming later in 2019. Can’t wait to prep your mission loadouts and squad combinations? Look for upcoming announcements by following the game on Twitter, ‘Like’ us on Facebook, and visit the official game page at PlayBreach.com.
Patch Notes: January 4th, 2019 Alpha Test
Happy New Year and Happy Steam Early Access Month from all of us at QC Games! If you missed the earlier announcement, we are planning to begin Steam Early Access sometime later this month, but for right now, it's time to get to our next Alpha test.
If you somehow don't already have a key, our friends at Alienware Arena are giving away enough keys to make a high-school janitor feel inadequate. This giveaway will run through the duration of this Alpha test, so tell your friends, share it on Twitter, and get folks in that you want to play with to try out Breach.
That's right, we're bringing back the 59-hour testing period because last week's test was a huge success for us. We hit a record number of players, and were able to ensure that our backend can scale properly. We thank each of you that played, and have been looking forward to this next test. In addition, don't forget that if you play during any Alpha moving forward (include our previous stress test), you'll earn the exclusive Alpha Outfit once we enter Steam Early Access. There's also that Level 100 outfit waiting to be claimed by those that can make it. Here's a level 100 tip: Make sure you're leveling up multiple classes, and not just a single class. Horizontal progression is a thing!
We hope all of you join us for this next test, so here's some additional bullet points of changes:
Updates & Fixes:
Known Issues:
Alienware Alpha Key Giveaway!
Claim Your Breach Technical Alpha Instant Access Key --- Servers open January 4th!
Modern Earth and Mythological Earth collide in Breach, a third person action RPG with fast-paced combat. Create your own character and choose from dozens of classes. Take your character on missions across the globe in Solo, Co-op, or Versus modes as a Hero, a Veil Demon, or both.
