We are excited to drop a major Episode 4 story update this weekend. Adding 12 new dungeons, crawling with 15 new enemy types and some majorly nasty bosses, the enemies here will test your late-game groups' strength and endurance. Across the new territory, there are more than 120 new possible loot drops, as well as story arcs that result in Legendary Items for both Kyera and Vincent.
To get started, if you have a group already in Freeport, visit the main palace or find Balgair at the tavern to talk to him about Laranda d'Colliar.
This is another major step forward in the story, and it is packed full of completely new and exciting stuff. We've been pressing the limit as far as we can, and can't wait for everyone to experience the final chapter.
After this update, we are planning a few quick releases to improve early-game crafting, and then we will be done some smaller updates to ramp up to the final story update for Episode 4 and in fact, for the game!
Please report any bugs or issues you have, we will work hard to fix them fast.
Thanks to everyone leaving a review for the game!
v4.4.1 - 4/14/2017 - Epic Episdoe 4 Expansion Pack, the penultimate story update!
- Start new story arc by visiting the Crone at palace in Freeport
- Meet with Laranda d'Colliar by meeting with Balgair in Freeport tavern
- Added 12 new dungeons
- Crawling with 15 new monster types and major bosses
- Added 120+ new epic weapons, armor and gear
- New Legendary Items story events for Kyera, Vincent
Update #93: Save 50% + Crafting System Updates
This week, we've made some improvements to the crafting system, focusing on making the tuning rules better and more transparent.
Tuning is more likely to turn up a crafting result with stats that match your tuning gear, and we've made sure that the tuning item is displayed on the post-crafting screen so that you can see it and the crafting result you got, as well as being able to take a single screenshot to capture both.
There is a very lively discussion about crafting happening on our forum if you want to see some of the results others are getting as well as great Q&A:
http://startradersrpg.proboards.com/thread/15354/arts-crafts?page=1
Thanks to all of our supporters and especially for those leaving reviews!
v4.3.3 - 3/16/2017
- Improved New Crafting System, better tuning capability
- Improved New Crafting System, after crafting tuning item is displayed
- Crafting create mighty enchantment from mundane Weapon or Armor with magical power
- Each Crafting costs 2 Bloodstones, tuned with magical gear; use your Bloodstones wisely
- Thousands of new magical weapon and armor possibilities
- Magical weapons can now add +Move Points, +Dodge, +Parry and +Stealth
- Boost-In to Episode 2 gains +10 Bloodstones
Update #92: Crafting System Update!
This major update releases the new Crafting system for Heroes of Steel! Any smith in the Underdeep can now help you enchant mundane weapons and armor with powerful enchantments. To complete such a crafting, you must help the smith by feeding 2 Bloodstone Crystals into his or her forge.
You may also influence the results of the smith's crafting by providing a piece of magical gear to "tune" the process. You will want to input a piece of magical gear that has the kind of magical properties that you want to see on the resulting magical weapon or armor. For example, if you want a weapon with +Ice Dmg, then you should provide a tuning item with +Ice Dmg, or +Crit % etc. The tuning will not always be exact, but it will help guide the smith's hand. Tuning is optional, you can also just allow the smith to do his or her best and accept the result.
Therefore, the inputs to a crafting are:
- One mundane weapon, shield or armor
- Two Bloodstone Crystals
- Optionally, one piece of magical gear to tune the crafting
All crafting is final and destroy all input items! Make sure you like your selection before you go forward!
The new crafting system is a late game add. Many players of Heroes of Steel have groups near the end of the game. For those groups, this new crafting system may seem over-powered. You might be sitting on 40 Bloodstones and have 20 crafting runs back to back. You're going to get some pretty amazing enchantments without a doubt. You may even be able to replace a lot of your weapons and armor! While it may seem a little tilted for veteran groups, this system is being rolled in with new groups in mind, and crafting is intended to help these groups "fill the gaps" throughout the game -- when you really need a new, powerful bow but just can't find one, or your tank is getting slammed with damage and you need that extra armor.
Throughout the game, it is estimated that you might get 20 crafting events if you are thorough collecting Bloodstones. So, use them well, and don't make the mistake of hording all your stones to the very end of the game. Legendary equipment still trumps crafted equipment, so be sure to use your crafting opportunities wisely and throughout the game.
For those groups waiting for content after Freeport, our next big release will include the next chunk of story content. We may need to do a few bug releases after this major update, we shall see!
v4.3.1. - 3/13/2107 - New Crafting System: visit any smith to craft
- Crafting create mighty enchantment from mundane Weapon or Armor with magical power
- Each Crafting costs 2 Bloodstones, tuned with magical gear; use your Bloodstones wisely
- Thousands of new magical weapon and armor possibilities
- Magical weapons can now add +Move Points, +Dodge, +Parry and +Stealth
- Improved all Legendary Items for Heroes
- Boost-In to Episode 2 gains +10 Bloodstones
- Fixed bugs in Talent detail display with magical weapons
- Fixed many typos
Of course, you'll run out of Bloodstones eventually, so use them wisely. There is only one way to get more -- further adventuring and scouring of the Underdeep for their red, glinting glow!
Update #91: Upgrading UX + Hovers + Patches
This week hits a bunch of areas across the game -- we're improving the UI in a new round, upgrading hovers with more data, fixing quality of life snags, and clearing some bugs from the table before the story content release.
This week, we've rebuild the waystation and campsite interfaces. They're faster to use, require no toggling between heroes, and show off the game's art better. Enjoy!
Hovers on the map for both enemies and heroes now include all buffs and curses. They also include the duration of those buffs and curses once they drop to 3 or below, so you can easily look over the enemy forces, or your own heroes for missing effects or ones that are about to expire.
We fixed a bug that was causing monsters to sometimes have double their buffs when the game was opened from the main menu into a pre-existing combat. Rare, but important fix!
Finally, we fixed an issue that causing havoc with elemental res and causing magical weapons not to have their Res set properly.
We also clarified a rule in the leveling screens -- if you are using dual wielding blades, you do not get the Strength bonus to Damage for them, even if your primary weapon is Strength-based.
4.2.77 - 1/13/2017
- Rebuilt waystation / campsite / inn interfaces
- Mouse hovers now show buffs, curses, and durations for enemy and heroes
- Fixed bug where first turn after load, some monsters getting double buffs
- Fixed bug with Fire Res stacking from All Elemental Res
- Improved UI elements across the game
- Clarified that +Damage bonus from Strength does not effect Dual Wield in leveling screens
Save 60% on Heroes + Update #90
We had a nasty little bug introduced in the filters for weapon and armor shops. To fix that, we've turned around another quick release. The bonus is, that instead of being a simple patch, we've added a few nice features and other xies as well.
There are now fast travel options between the Freeport ferry, Granthorn, and Brunehorn. Once you've secured the area, you can move quickly between these three locations by boat.
In preparation for Episode 4's new story content, we've improved Vincent's original Legendary items. Zap 'em! We fixed an issue where magical resistance (+16 Lightning Res) on magical weapons was being ignored.
Finally, we fixed the armor and weapon shop filter bug!
v4.2.75 - 1/1/2016 - Added fast travel options between Freeport ferry, Brunehorn and Granthorn
- Improved Vincent's original legendary items
- Fixed issue where magical resistance from weapons was ignored
- Fixed crash in weapon / armor shop filters
Save 60% on Heroes + Update #89!
This week's update continues to improve the game based on your feedback. Keep sharing your ideas, balancing thoughts, and suggestions for features and we'll keep rolling them into the game.
The two other major projects we are are working on are the next Episode 4 story update and the Crafting System.
We've added a new marker that subtly highlights the active hero. This definitely increases the speed and ease of play.
In Episode 2 and beyond, the spot and ranges of Krete monsters have been reduced a bit. In the discussion of facing Krete, remember that more than half of their damage comes from elemental magics, and it is a good idea to plan to be able to deal with monsters like them.
Finally, we've continued the UI improvements across the game. We've added some new formatting to the titles of screens to help display more context (so you can see who you are going to use an item on, etc) and are working our way across the game, improving as we go -- expect more in this department.
v4.2.73 - 12/28/2016 - Marker added to highlight current character
- Rebalanced Krete monsters across game - lower spot, lessened some ranges
- Fixed issue with Sell All and gear
- Improving UI elements across the game
Update #88: Patch Update
This week, we're back with a patch update -- fixing bugs and improving the AI planning and starting a new set of improvements on the UI.
First off -- on the Episode 4 story update -- it is coming pretty soon. We have finished the content development and are now more than half way through testing the new chunk of story. It is unlikely that the story update will be out by Christmas, but it won't be long after!
We've improved the use of Talents for enemies in Episodes 2 through 4. We've fixed a bug that was causing some enemy curses not to take on the first turn. This was especially effecting Stun-related curses
In the UI department, we've rebuilt the main menu. It's skin deep at the moment, but we're going to be working through other areas of the game and streamlining, improving, and rebuilding as we go.
v4.2.65 - 11/26/2016 - Re-balanced use of Talents by bosses in Episode 2 - 4
- Rebuilt main menu
- Fixed bug with some enemy curses not applying first turn, especially some Stuns
- Fixed bug with selecting re-ordered heroes in status screen while glommed
Black Friday Sale + New Options & Auto-Glom
Welcome to Black Friday sales, heroes! Don't miss the best deals you will see all season and be sure to check out the Trese Brothers Bundle!!
This weeks' update responds to recent user requests for some new options. We've added the ability to disable auto-center on heroes during your turn. We've also improved the auto-glom option to automatically bring your group back together when you leave waystations, inns, and campsites.
We've fixed issues with the re-ordering feature as well as impoverished the movement flow within the city of Freeport.
v4.2.63 - 11/23/2016 - Auto-glom now works out of inns, waystations and campsites
- Added option to disable Auto-Center on heroes during your turn
- Fixed bugs with re-order and re-order UI
- Improved Freeport map
Update #86: Enemy Patch
In this update, we've fixed a few places where your enemies weren't getting their full due. We fixed an issue with the Weaver boss and the egg sacks, as well as a few issues with Stunning curses that will make them more effective in their use now.
In preparation for the upcoming story update, we've updated Lazzon's art as well as fixing a bug with his on-map model.
v4.2.61 -
- Fixed issue with egg sacks at Weaver boss
- Improved Lazzon's portrait
- Fixed issue with Lazzon's model
Update #85: Quick Patch
It has come to our attention that some story leaks have occurred in Episode 4. Some mistakes in content development for the next chunk of story led to a few odd dialogs in the area around Freeport. These are now fixed!
