Fixed an issue where you couldn't ban or use the tower table in ranked pick or war
Fixed an issue where the final boss of the campaign got stuck and gave out pathing cheat codes to the creeps
Improvements to localization across multiple languages
Mazing DLC - Date, Price, and More
Alright, let's get straight to the point here:
The Mazing Expansion launches on Friday, December 2nd for $6.99! You can go ahead and Wishlist the DLC by clicking here.
On top of that, you can get the base game for 40% off, so if you know any friends you'd like to turn into enemies for a discounted price, now's the best time!
Coming soon to a Steam Storefront near you!
What is the Mazing Expansion? This is a DLC that adds a new mode to the game called Mazing. Here, you build directly on the path, and your towers act as blockers that obstruct and extend the path that creeps must travel to reach the end. This mode is fully supported in both Singleplayer and Multiplayer.
What's included in the expansion?
Mazing Campaign featuring 14 Missions, each with their own Achievements
10 New FFA/Teams Mazing Maps
4 New Co-op Mazing Maps
Mazing Leaderboards for each of the new maps
New Achievements specific to Mazing
Do I need the expansion to play online? In order to access any of the singleplayer content or host games, you need the expansion.
However, you do not need the expansion to join Mazing lobbies online.
Mazes in Co-op can get pretty ludicrous.
That's it for our last info dump before the DLC releases. Thank you to everyone that participated in the Open Alpha / Open Beta and assisted in testing and feedback. Just over a week remains till it releases. Look forward to it!
Thank you to everyone that participated in the Tournament! Our first Same Random Tournament was held this past weekend to great success! 40 people ended up participating in it, helping to give a resurgence in the game and community as a whole. Congratulations to our Top 3 Winners:
_Tobias_
YOYO
Scamper9
In all likelihood, we'll be running another Same Random Tournament in a few months, probably following Version 1.9 and another host of balance adjustments. We will also likely do something to make buy/sell abuse riskier in Random in that version.
In the meantime, Version 1.8.2 (to be released with the Mazing Expansion) will see Ranked Random starting from Short Length. The first 10 waves are basically unpushable and too good for "farming", so cutting them should help for now.
See that horrible use of mazing up top? Don't maze like that. You'll make our designer cry.
Version 1.8.1 - Notifications and Ban Fix
Improvements & Fixes
Streamlined the Notifications Menu into a toggle on/off, with a Settings gear to pull open its own menu
Fixed a bug in Ranked Pick where selecting Confirm during the Ban Phase would indefinitely stall the game, forcing both sides to Alt+F4 out:
In theory, this should not have affected anyone's MMR.
Do note, in case anyone did suffer an MMR loss from this, the most we can do to "fix" anyone affected is to reset your Season 5 Ranked progress entirely. We have no way of adjusting it on a per match basis.
Fixed loading into a checkpoint in the Campaign not preserving your life, gold, etc.
Fixed not being able to load Wasteland Variant or Mission 24 in the Campaign
Fixed Customize Builder/Tower having a white backdrop
Fixed Turbo Lite not working when playing Solo Survival Online
Fixed a bug in Mega Survival where it would not remember your recent map selection when returning to menu
Version 1.8 - Turbo Lite, Casual Mode, Spectators, and more
With less than a month left until the Mazing DLC releases, we're choosing to release Version 1.8 a bit early. It adds some long requested features to the game, like Turbo Lite and Casual Mode. Additionally, it brings fixes, improvements, and balance adjustments.
Before we move on to the notes, one last reminder, the Same Random Tournament will be running next weekend on November 19th-20th. At this point, sign-ups are closed, and we have a total of 48 participants. To those of you that have joined, please refresh yourself on the rules. If you have any questions, please ask on the #tournament-discussion channel on our Discord server.
With that out of the way, onto the patch notes!
Just a couple of surf bros vibing to the chaos.
Features
Turbo Lite added!
Game runs at x1.5 Timescale.
This is now on by default for Ranked Pick
Casual Mode added!
This is a modifier you can turn on for FFA/Team games. When on, everyone plays the game at their own pace. Clearing the wave first will not cause the next wave to start for everyone else.
Spectator Functionality added!
When you're in lobby, you can define yourself as a Spectator, allowing you to copy observe everyone else in the game.
Mega Survival added!
You can now play the Co-op Maps from the Singleplayer Menu, allowing you to play it Offline or even with God Mode on.
Instead of a "Balanced" path option, you get "2-Path" instead.
Improvements & Fixes
Same Random Teams adjusted:
Before, everyone had the same set of random elements, which in Teams, was somewhat pointless.
Now, each team will have two sets of elements, which is consistent across all teams.
Fog of War can now be turned on/off in Graphics Settings. Set to On by default.
On the end-screen, there's now a statistic for # of First Wave Clears
Pressing F2 in Co-op should now bounce between each player area, instead of always reverting to the center of the map
Viewing a replay that has Turbo on no longer locks out viewing at x1 or x0.5
Fixed Front Targeting not working properly on creeps that have been Shredded, spawned by Spawner, or Resurrected
Fixed a bug where Builders wouldn't properly react to the map terrain on some maps
Fixed an issue where Slingshot Bosses could only speed up creeps once
In exchange, the effect can no longer stack.
Yo dawg, we heard you like Slingshots, so we stuck Slingshots in your Slingshots so you can Slingshot while you Slingshot.
Balance
Earth adjusted:
Shockwave now hits for full damage instead of full/half
Shockwave damage reduced from 50 to 35
Nature adjusted:
Damage increased from 85 to 95
Buff duration reduced from 3 seconds to 1 second
Disease damage increased from 150 to 155
Solar buffed:
Damage increased from 230 to 240
Damage-per-second increased from 115 to 120
Mushroom formula adjusted:
Previously, it would deal more damage if a creep's speed was below 300, and less damage if it was above 300.
Now it deals 2% more damage per 1% of slow on the creep, and it no longer suffers a damage penalty if a creep is faster than default speed (300)
Damage reduced from 500 to 490
Nova adjusted:
Shockwave now hits for full damage instead of full/half
Shockwave damage reduced from 700 to 500
Runic damage reduced from 1150 to 1125
Quake adjusted:
Shockwave now hits for full damage instead of full/half
Shockwave damage reduced from 1600 to 1200
Impulse adjusted:
Range increased from 1500 to 1650
Damage reduced from 5000 to 3000
Attack speed increased from 0.66 to 1
Obelisk explosion and increment damage reduced from 4750 to 4500
As usual, courtesies of the balance update, Score Leaderboards have been reset. Additionally, we've moved on to Ranked Season 5.
Nope, this isn't War Mode. That's just a really big Obelisk explosion.
That's it for today's notes! We'd like to thank everyone that participated in the recent Mazing Open Beta. Lots of fun bugs were fixed over that period, and we're hacking away at making the Mazing DLC a grand release. Look forward to it December 2nd!
Somehow, this was taken using the game's built-in camera controls. Blame Thank Wade on our Discord.
Reminder - Tournament on Nov 19th - 20th
For those of you interested in joining the Same Random Tournament, it's your last chance! Tournament sign-ups will close November 11th at 10am PDT. How to enter:
Next, there's a new channel on there called #tournament-signup. Go there and comment with your name in that channel.
Please note that the name you enter here should be the name you use on both Discord and Steam during the event.
And for those of you already signed up, here's a refresher of the details. We also have an update on the tournament structure, game setup, and what to do in case of a desync.
When and Where?
The tournament will be played online, and it'll run from November 19th - 20th. Each day of the event, we'll start at the following time:
10am PDT (US)
7pm CET (EU)
1am CST (Asia)
Tournament Structure
As this tournament is being played with less than 64 players, some players are advancing to Round 2 by default. This is determined by sign-up order. If you signed up to the tournament early, congratulations, you automatically advanced to Round 2!
On Day 1, covering Rounds 1 through 4, matches will be Best of 1. This day will last upwards of 4-6 hours. Players will be expected to check in a half hour before the first match starts.
Some of these matches will have a caster streaming the matches.
Round 1 will consist of 32 Players across 16 Matches. The winning 16 will move on to Round 2.
Round 2 will consist of 32 Players across 16 Matches. The winning 16 will move on to Round 3.
Round 2 will consist of 16 Players across 8 Matches. The winning 8 will move on to Round 4.
Round 2 will consist of 8 Players across 4 Matches. The winning 4 will move on to the Semi-Finals.
On Day 2, covering Semi-Finals, Bronze Match, and Finals, matches will be Best of 3.
All of these matches will have a caster streaming the matches.
Semi-Finals will consist of 4 Players across 2 Matches. The winning 2 will move on to the Finals. The losing 2 will move on to the Bronze Match.
The winner of the Bronze Match will determine Third Place.
The winner of the Finals will determine First & Second Place.
Game Setup
First up, for those in the tournament, make sure you're on the Tournament Branch. The password to get in is restricted to those signed up on the Discord. Once in:
Once the bracket is posted, the first listed player in their match will host the game. The other player in that match will need to find the game with the correct player's name in the lobby list.
All matches have to be hosted 10 minutes before the game is supposed to start.
Setting up a match is the responsibility of the players, and in the case of any dispute, contact a tournament admin in the relevant match thread.
In resolving these situations, the rules will be your first place to look. After that a tournament admin makes a ruling and that ruling is final.
Rules
Each match will be a 1v1 played with the following Settings:
Map: Random, Non-variant
Difficulty: Very Hard
Element: Same Random
Length: Full
Paths: Standard
Game Speed: Normal
Chaos: Enabled
Conditions:
Anything possible within the bounds of the game mechanics is allowed.
The winner is determined by which player lives the longest before the boss waves, or scores the highest if the game reaches boss waves.
An individual shall be allowed a 10-minute grace period after the scheduled match start time before it is considered that they have failed to show.
In the event of a failure to show, the individual in question will forfeit the game and be considered eliminated from the tournament.
At the end of a match all players must submit a screenshot of the results, along with a replay of the match in the dedicated channel or thread on the discord to confirm the results.
Using the in-game chat for any kind of harassment over the course of a game is warrant for immediate disqualification.
In Case of a Desync:
If there is a Desync, the match will immediately end. Consider that game null, and do a rematch.
If it happens twice, then go by the following:
The one with the most lives before the desync wins that match.
If lives are identical, we go by number of first wave clears.
Prizes
The Top 3 will receive an Element TD T-Shirt as well as cash prizes:
1st Place: $250
2nd Place: $100
3rd Place: $50
Lastly, if you are interested in casting/streaming these matches, please reach out and let us know on the Discord. We'd love to have as many games casted as possible!
Do note, we'll have a Spectator feature implemented into the game by then, which'll make this a lot easier.
And that's it for the tournament! Version 1.8 drops tomorrow, and yes, it does include balance adjustments. Ideally, we wouldn't do this right before a tournament, but several features from 1.8 are required to run the tournament properly. Plus said balance adjustments aren't anything too major, and the tournament is Same Random.
Mazing Open Beta - Oct 29th to Nov 7th
Welcome to the second open test of the Mazing DLC. This time, we're opening it up to 6 FFA Maps & 3 Co-op Maps, with their visuals fully implemented!
Now featuring 50% more trees!
To jump in, just grab the alpha branch and hit play!
To do so, right-click Element TD 2 in your library
Select "Properties"
Go to the "Betas" tab
Select "alpha - Mazing Test this weekend!"
Once downloaded, play at will!
Make sure you change your server to DEV; if you turn on any of Version 1.8's features, they all require DEV server, or things will break when playing online.
This second open test for Mazing will last until Wednesday, Nov 2nd at 1pm PST.
What's New?
First off, if you didn't try the first test, check out the Mazing Open Alpha post to see how Mazing works.
Otherwise, we've applied numerous fixes since the last test:
Maps now have visuals!
Maps also have proper previews and mini-maps.
The Blocker has an updated visual, and it has a bit of height now.
The path will now lock in at the start of the wave, as opposed to "redetermined per creep as they spawn".
The builder now needs to move to build on a blocker.
In Teams, you can now build on allied blockers.
When a player leaves in Teams & Co-op, it will now sell their towers, but not their blockers.
Said blockers should then be selectable by anyone and not contribute towards anyone else's blockers.
Their current blocker limit will not be redistributed to everyone else. However, future blockers gained will be increased, as there's one less player to divvy to.
Fixed an issue where drag-building more blockers than your current limit would result in "invisible blockers".
Fixed creeps going "up" when trying to go through a Yellow Portal on certain maps
Lastly, Version 1.8's changes are also applied. Check below for the preview!
Mazes can get pretty complex. What crazy long mazes can you make?
Open Beta Feedback
To give us feedback, drop a comment below, make a steam thread, or post on our Discord. We have a dedicated #mazing channel that you can drop your feedback in and ask questions.
We're looking on feedback on the following things:
How does the difficulty curve feel?
To clarify, in Mazing, creeps move faster than the standard game, and they gradually speed up per wave.
Does this feel fair at the start of the game? Does it scale up too hard?
Do you start with too few or many Blockers? Do you gain enough over time?
Do the maps feel good to play? Do any of them have infuriating quirks that need to be fixed?
What bugs are you running into it?
Does rushing in multiplayer feel bad to play against?
We're considering turning Casual Mode on for Multiplayer Mazing by default. For reference, this is a new checkbox that sets everyone at their own pace, meaning the first person to clear the wave doesn't start the next wave for everyone else.
Something about this map seems... familiar.
Tournament Update
Up next a little update on the Tournament. We'd like to thank everyone that's signed up for the Tournament! As a result of the recent change to reduce the cap to 64 participants and shorten the period to the 19th-20th, we've got 46 sign-ups so far, leaving 18 spots left. Only 2 weeks left to sign up, so claim your spot!
Secondly, there's some features that are necessary for the Tournament to run smoothly that are not in the live version of the game. To that end, we've decided we'll be releasing Version 1.8 before the Tournament instead of after. As for what's included in that update...
Who knows, maybe there could be a Mazing Tournament in the future?
Version 1.8
Expect the following features:
Casual Mode
Everyone plays the game at their own pace. Clearing the wave first will not cause the next wave to start for everyone else.
Turbo Lite
Game runs at x1.5 Timescale.
This is now on by default for Ranked Pick
Same Random Teams
Before, everyone had the same set of random elements, which in Teams, was somewhat pointless.
Now, each team will have two sets of elements, which is consistent across all teams.
Co-op Sync (attempt #2)
We tried adding a feature in the past version or so that would sync up everyone in a Co-op game to the host's gamestate each wave. Unfortunately, it was rife with bugs, so it was removed.
That said, we've done some fixes and updates to it, and we're going to try again with it!
Spectator Functionality
When you're in lobby, you can define yourself as a Spectator, allowing you to copy observe everyone else in the game.
Balance Tweaks
In a nutshell, Nature adjusted for the 2058th time, Mushroom formula adjusted to no longer suffer from speed boosts, shockwave damage towers hitting for full damage instead of full/half, Impulse range buff, and other minor buffs.
Lastly, there'll be both a Score Leaderboard reset and Ranked Season 5.
Once the open beta period ends, we'll be shifting testing for the next two weeks to Version 1.8. Otherwise, Version 1.8 will be releasing on Friday, November 11th!
We're still on track to release it on Friday, December 2nd. Expect an info dump next week confirming the Mazing DLC's price and features. In the meantime, enjoy the open beta!
EDIT: There's a few standout bugs in the Mazing Beta that we're still trying to fix; that said we'll be keeping it open till Monday the 7th. Thanks for the feedback so far, and enjoy the extension!
Mazing Open Beta - Oct 29th to Nov 2nd
Welcome to the second open test of the Mazing DLC. This time, we're opening it up to 6 FFA Maps & 3 Co-op Maps, with their visuals fully implemented!
Now featuring 50% more trees!
To jump in, just grab the alpha branch and hit play!
To do so, right-click Element TD 2 in your library
Select "Properties"
Go to the "Betas" tab
Select "alpha - Mazing Test this weekend!"
Once downloaded, play at will!
Make sure you change your server to DEV; if you turn on any of Version 1.8's features, they all require DEV server, or things will break when playing online.
This second open test for Mazing will last until Wednesday, Nov 2nd at 1pm PST.
What's New?
First off, if you didn't try the first test, check out the Mazing Open Alpha post to see how Mazing works.
Otherwise, we've applied numerous fixes since the last test:
Maps now have visuals!
Maps also have proper previews and mini-maps.
The Blocker has an updated visual, and it has a bit of height now.
The path will now lock in at the start of the wave, as opposed to "redetermined per creep as they spawn".
The builder now needs to move to build on a blocker.
In Teams, you can now build on allied blockers.
When a player leaves in Teams & Co-op, it will now sell their towers, but not their blockers.
Said blockers should then be selectable by anyone and not contribute towards anyone else's blockers.
Their current blocker limit will not be redistributed to everyone else. However, future blockers gained will be increased, as there's one less player to divvy to.
Fixed an issue where drag-building more blockers than your current limit would result in "invisible blockers".
Fixed creeps going "up" when trying to go through a Yellow Portal on certain maps
Lastly, Version 1.8's changes are also applied. Check below for the preview!
Mazes can get pretty complex. What crazy long mazes can you make?
Open Beta Feedback
To give us feedback, drop a comment below, make a steam thread, or post on our Discord. We have a dedicated #mazing channel that you can drop your feedback in and ask questions.
We're looking on feedback on the following things:
How does the difficulty curve feel?
To clarify, in Mazing, creeps move faster than the standard game, and they gradually speed up per wave.
Does this feel fair at the start of the game? Does it scale up too hard?
Do you start with too few or many Blockers? Do you gain enough over time?
Do the maps feel good to play? Do any of them have infuriating quirks that need to be fixed?
What bugs are you running into it?
Does rushing in multiplayer feel bad to play against?
We're considering turning Casual Mode on for Multiplayer Mazing by default. For reference, this is a new checkbox that sets everyone at their own pace, meaning the first person to clear the wave doesn't start the next wave for everyone else.
Something about this map seems... familiar.
Tournament Update
Up next a little update on the Tournament. We'd like to thank everyone that's signed up for the Tournament! As a result of the recent change to reduce the cap to 64 participants and shorten the period to the 19th-20th, we've got 46 sign-ups so far, leaving 18 spots left. Only 2 weeks left to sign up, so claim your spot!
Secondly, there's some features that are necessary for the Tournament to run smoothly that are not in the live version of the game. To that end, we've decided we'll be releasing Version 1.8 before the Tournament instead of after. As for what's included in that update...
Who knows, maybe there could be a Mazing Tournament in the future?
Version 1.8
Expect the following features:
Casual Mode
Everyone plays the game at their own pace. Clearing the wave first will not cause the next wave to start for everyone else.
Turbo Lite
Game runs at x1.5 Timescale.
This is now on by default for Ranked Pick
Same Random Teams
Before, everyone had the same set of random elements, which in Teams, was somewhat pointless.
Now, each team will have two sets of elements, which is consistent across all teams.
Co-op Sync (attempt #2)
We tried adding a feature in the past version or so that would sync up everyone in a Co-op game to the host's gamestate each wave. Unfortunately, it was rife with bugs, so it was removed.
That said, we've done some fixes and updates to it, and we're going to try again with it!
Spectator Functionality
When you're in lobby, you can define yourself as a Spectator, allowing you to copy observe everyone else in the game.
Balance Tweaks
In a nutshell, Nature adjusted for the 2058th time, Mushroom formula adjusted to no longer suffer from speed boosts, shockwave damage towers hitting for full damage instead of full/half, Impulse range buff, and other minor buffs.
Lastly, there'll be both a Score Leaderboard reset and Ranked Season 5.
Once the open beta period ends, we'll be shifting testing for the next two weeks to Version 1.8. Otherwise, Version 1.8 will be releasing on Friday, November 11th!
We're still on track to release it on Friday, December 2nd. Expect an info dump next week confirming the Mazing DLC's price and features. In the meantime, enjoy the open beta!
Tournament Changes
We've gotten feedback that the tournament taking place on Friday is making participation impossible for a lot of our North American players. This is because it takes place during what is normally working hours.
So, we're dropping Friday from the tournament. It will now take place November 19th - 20th. As a result, signups will be restricted to 64 players.
There is still room left so don't hesitate to join!
Tournament Sign-ups Are Live!
Sign-ups for the Official Element TD 2 Tournament are now live! We'll be organizing the tournament through the Discord. That said, here's how to enter:
The tournament will be played online, and it'll run from November 18th - 20th. Each day of the event, we'll start at the following time:
10am PDT (US)
7pm CET (EU)
1am CST (Asia)
Depending on the number of participants, each day may run upwards of 4-6 hours.
Rules
Each match will be a 1v1 played with the following Settings:
Map: Random, Non-variant
Difficulty: Very Hard
Element: Same Random
Length: Full
Paths: Standard
Chaos: Enabled
Conditions:
Anything possible within the bounds of the game mechanics is allowed.
The winner is determined by which player lives the longest before the boss waves, or scores the highest if the game reaches boss waves.
An individual shall be allowed a 10-minute grace period after the scheduled match start time before it is considered that they have failed to show.
In the event of a failure to show, the individual in question will forfeit the game and be considered eliminated from the tournament.
At the end of a match all players must submit a screenshot of the results, along with a replay of the match in the dedicated channel or thread on the discord to confirm the results.
Using the in-game chat for any kind of harassment over the course of a game is warrant for immediate disqualification.
Prizes
The Top 3 will receive an Element TD T-Shirt as well as cash prizes:
1st Place: $250
2nd Place: $100
3rd Place: $50
Lastly, if you are interested in casting/streaming these matches, please reach out and let us know on the Discord. We'd love to have as many games casted as possible!
Do note, we'll have a Spectator feature implemented into the game by then, which'll make this a lot easier.
Tournament Announcement: November 18th - 20th
While you're waiting on the Mazing DLC, we'll be hosting the first ever Official Element TD 2 Tournament! We've been wanting to run tournaments for Element TD 2 for a long time. For a while, we held off because of the cursed Desync Issue. However, as of the latest fixes, it's about as fixed as we can get it, especially for 1v1 matches.
See below for the details!
When and Where?
The tournament will be played online, and it'll run from November 18th - 20th. Each day of the event, we'll start at the following time:
10am PDT (US)
7pm CET (EU)
1am CST (Asia)
Depending on the number of participants, each day may run upwards of 4-6 hours.
Rules
Each match will be a 1v1 played with the following Settings:
Map: Random, Non-variant
Difficulty: Very Hard
Element: Same Random
Length: Full
Paths: Standard
Chaos: Enabled
Conditions:
Anything possible within the bounds of the game mechanics is allowed.
The winner is determined by which player lives the longest before the boss waves, or scores the highest if the game reaches boss waves.
An individual shall be allowed a 10-minute grace period after the scheduled match start time before it is considered that they have failed to show.
In the event of a failure to show, the individual in question will forfeit the game and be considered eliminated from the tournament.
At the end of a match all players must submit a screenshot of the results, along with a replay of the match in the dedicated channel or thread on the discord to confirm the results.
Using the in-game chat for any kind of harassment over the course of a game is warrant for immediate disqualification.
Prizes
The Top 3 will receive an Element TD T-Shirt as well as cash prizes:
1st Place: $250
2nd Place: $100
3rd Place: $50
How do I sign up?
We'll be organizing the tournament through the Element TD 2 Discord Server(click here to join). On October 7th, we'll be opening a channel specifically for sign-ups, and it'll run until November 7th.
The tournament will have a maximum of 128 participants. After that, no more players will be accepted.
Additionally, if you are interested in casting/streaming these matches, please reach out and let us know on the Discord. We'd love to have as many games casted as possible!
Do note, we'll have a Spectator feature implemented into the game by then, which'll make this a lot easier.
In the meantime, keep your eye on the Discord Server for more updates!
We hope many of you will try out the tournament and ultimately have fun. We'd also like to thank everyone that joined the Mazing DLC's Open Alpha a few weeks ago. We received a ton of valuable feedback, and we're hard at work at fixing the issues from said test (don't worry, the tournament above has zero impact on the DLC's development). Expect an infodump later this month, as well as another open playtest by the end of the month.
