With a couple weeks of early access under our belts, we're going to be patching a little less, but with larger patches for the most part from here on in. We've been working hard on a new scenario where the Hideout will come under attack, and you will need to protect against waves of attackers. That didn't quite make it into this patch, but we expect both that scenario, and the new companion systems to be ready very soon.
Let's take a look at the v1.2.5 build notes.
Introduced a new Demon Raid Boss. This boss scales down lower than most demons, allowing it to be seen earlier on. He has a variety of special abilities, will taunt players, and can command reinforcements.
Added new NPC Taunt sounds.
Socketed items now drop more commonly than was previously the case from destructible props, and treasure chests.
You will now only lose 1% experience from deaths in the following scenarios: Cutting Off the Head, Showdown, and the soon to be released Protect the Artifact. You will still lose 2% in other scenarios, but in these three scenarios in particular, death is expected to be more common. And we don't want to punish players more than necessary for attempting the more difficult encounters.
Improved aggro switching system.
Networking optimizations.
Optimized The Hideout.
Fixed a bug which was preventing the Rift implosion effects from playing for online clients.
Fixed a bug that was causing the Retrieve the Artifact quest to show up as "Unknown" when browsing multiplayer sessions.
Fixed a ragdoll related issue that could cause issues when destructible objects were destroyed.
v1.2.4 Build Notes
Revamped the Show Scenario screen. You now see a small map and location drawn on it, and a description of each scenario. This allows you to receive details on the quest that you unlocked previously. Where previously you only had the name of the quest to remind you of it's goal beforehand.
The new scenario screen will now automatically pick a random mission as the first highlighted quest when it pops up. Allowing you to simply accept the quest and get a random one from those you qualify for without any decision making, if you so choose.
Players should now start most scenarios near the commander, solving the need to locate them before getting started. The exception to this rule are cases where the Commander is spawned after the encounter.
NPCs now have a way to override special cases to allow them to define more strict rules about when they spawn. The werewolf implementation below is an example of this.
Werewolves will no longer spawn in the daytime scenarios. They will fall back to a different NPC type in those scenarios.
Fixed a bug which was allowing Orc Legion to spawn when the group level was below level 5. They were intended to have been restricted to level 5+.
v1.2.3 Build Notes
Introduced two new Werewolf NPCs. Werewolves are the first lycanthrope monster type. This is the first NPC type which can outrun players. They are more susceptible to magical or fire based damage, than physical damage. Their offense includes combination attacks and retaliations. You will begin to see Werewolves at level 7, with a stronger rank of them beginning at level 15. Both variations have multiple color variations.
Introduced a new crafting ingredient: Lycanthrope Fangs. These can drop from Werewolves, or in the future other lycanthropes. They are used in transmuting.
Introduced 17 new transmuting recipes which can upgrade some types of gear from magical to rare using lycanthrope fangs.
Introduced new Barbarian Spearmen NPCs. These NPCs have a sword and shield. Heavy defensively, but slow moving. You'll begin to see them at level 5.
Added new particle effects for stun, dizziness, or knockdowns.
Made some dwarf sizing and grounding adjustments.
v1.2.2 Build Notes
Defensive Stance (Warrior/Guardian) is now a wispy full body effect that allows you to continue to see your characters body more easily, without being obscured by the barrier.
Flame Shield (Mage/Conjuration) no longer has the bubble around your character. This is replaced with a full body flaming appearance.
Berserk (Warior/Berserker) also received an aura appearance update. It removed the bubble effect in place of a glittery full body particle.
Continuing that same theme, Vampiric Draw (Mage/Witch) has a new dripping blood appearance when active, in place of the old bubble based aura.
Last but not least, Frost Winds (Mage/Wizard) got the aura improvement pass. It now has a full body frost effect in place of the old bubble method. Making it easier to see your character's features.
Multiplayer optimizations.
The Hopebringer: Week 2 Progress Report
Week 2 of early access is now in the books. And in this update we categorize and take a look at all the game changes that went live this week. We're currently focusing on combat related improvements.
Loot
Destructibles now scale their loot quality based on level.
Added all new loot FX. The new FX should make it easier to spot and grab loot. Rather than being images that often matched the items looted, they are more stylized and larger, to stand out from the dungeon geometry.
The new loot particles should now do a better job of following the dropped items location, which is variable due to physics. In the first iteration sometimes they would become detached.
Added new beam pillars for special loot items.
Made different variations of each loot particle type which are based on the rarity of the item.
NPCs
Introduced a new NPC type: Orc Legions use a spear and a shield. They move slowly, but have high defense against magical attacks, obscured behind their shields. They have a special ability which will knock players backwards and push them off balance. They also have a standard double attack with a chance to knock the player backwards.
Reduced the ratio at which enemies gain bonus health, damage, and attack ratings from automatic level scaling. Making the difficulty curve a bit less harsh as your level increases.
Adjusted the level scaling ratio so that bosses and minibosses can have a higher level scale on some stats than standard NPCs.
Increased the base hit points of Troll Clubbers, Orc Warlords, Skeleton Captains, Necromancers, Mage Spirits, Barbarian Champions, Barbarian Witch-Doctors, and Orc Smashers.
The shopkeeper has a new voice, and now randomizes between several dialog lines.
Adjusted the cooldown on many NPC abilities.
Increased the defensive capabilities of Barbarian Champions.
NPCs and players can now have different cooldowns on abilities.
Scenarios
Implemented an improved generation technique should allow us to create denser prop layouts in dungeons without worrying about blocking off content. We will need to go through to each map and update it to take advantage of this. This will happen over the next few patches.
Destructables will now clean up earlier. Though they will wait until they are off screen for a period of time.
Improved the Defeat the War Leader generation scheme, fixing an issue that could occasionally cause blockage, and increasing the amount of ground clutter.
The Trimming Their Numbers scenario has received a generation pass, improving the ground clutter and props. And adding a treasure path to each generated instance.
Improved the Retrieve the Artifact generator. It now has more props, and new types of props that had not previously been in the game.
Improved the Destroying Their Supplies generator to have more ground clutter and props.
Improved the Rescue scenario generator. It can now be larger, has more props per room, and additional prop types. The lighting was also adjusted in the area.
The Sealing the Rift and War Plans scenarios each got a generator update, similar to the ones which other scenarios have gotten over the past couple of days.
Locked Gates now display a locked symbol when they are locked, to make it easier to tell that it can be opened elsewhere.
There are now body parts and blood strewn across the floor in some of the more brutal scenarios.
Grounding improvements in the Retrieve the Artifact scenario.
Added more shrubbery to some of the outdoor maps.
Made tweaks to the Trimming Their Numbers landscape materials.
Bed rolls in the Outlands are no longer oversized.
Fixed a bug which could allow the stash to block the exit to the hideout area in new missions on rare occasions.
Fixed a bug on one of the props in the Trimming Their Numbers scenario, which could block doorways in rare cases due to a missing configuration flag.
Skills and Abilities
Increased player attack speeds by 30%. NPC attack speeds remain the same.
Added a new Protection (Cleric) skill: Stone Skin. This is a PBAoE which will give a temporary defense boost to nearby allies. The defensive boost will increase based on skill rank in Stone Skin, with a smaller bonus for each rank in Protection. And the radius will also increase for each rank of Protection you have trained.
Witches (Mage) can now train the Hold Undead skill, which was previously only available to clerics.
Added a new Swashbuckling (Warrior) skill: Dashing Strike. This ability will quickly dash towards your targer and deal melee damage. It can be used to quickly close the distance to opponents. It can also be used to quickly move to a location.
Added a new Swashbuckling (Warrior) skill: Dashing Strike. This ability will quickly dash towards your targer and deal melee damage. It can be used to quickly close the distance to opponents. It can also be used to quickly move to a location without a target. It receives a 2% damage bonus per skill rank.
Added a new Healer (Cleric) skill: Luminary Leap. This skill will quickly dash to a location, and then heal the any nearby targets, including the caster. It receives increased healing per, with a small bonus to healing per rank of the Heal ability.
Added a new Wizard (Mage) skill: Wizard's Warp. This ability will quickly warp to a location, and then boost the caster's damage ouput for the next 5 seconds. You will receive a bonus of 4% damage per skill rank, with an initial bonus of 10%. You also receive a 1% bonus per rank of Fireball. It has a longer range than other dash abilities.
Increased the speed of magic projectiles.
Reduced the cooldown time on Fireball, Smite, Thrust, Frost Blast, Ice Shards, and Heal.
The Heal skill now has a bonus of 6 health per rank +4 base, beginning with a heal amount of 10. This is a boost of 5 per rank with a +3 initial base.
Added new status effect particles to leg slice, vulnerable, and off balance, to make it easier to denote when an opening is available, or a debuff is active.
Reduced the cooldown on the following player abilities: Meteor Strike, Sanctifying Shock, Sleep, Taunt, Cleanse, Leg Slice, Strength, Overpower, Siphon Life, Ward, Spinning Strike, Weaken, Hold Undead, and Leaping Strike.
The Arcane Shield skill now has a particle effect.
Added a new particle effect that will display when you are poisoned.
NPCs and players can now have different cooldowns on abilities.
Fixed a bug that was causing the Strength skill to not function properly.
Fixed a bug that was allowing Berserk to deal damage on interval.
Miscellaneous
Improved post-processing effects.
The opacity material used when hiding objects that would otherwise obscure view is now slightly less transparent.
Made some optimizations to camp fire lighting.
Improved the character selection menu background.
Fixed a bug which was preventing gold from dropping out of barrels.
Fixed a typo in the Thief achievement's description.
Fixed a grounding issue with the Mage character on the character selection screen.
v1.2.1 Build Notes
Introduced a new NPC type: Orc Legions use a spear and a shield. They move slowly, but have high defense against magical attacks, obscured behind their shields. They have a special ability which will knock players backwards and push them off balance. They also have a standard double attack with a chance to knock the player backwards.
Fixed a bug which was preventing gold from dropping out of barrels.
Increased the defensive capabilities of Barbarian Champions.
Fixed a typo in the Thief achievement's description.
v.1.2.0 Build Notes
Added a new Protection (Cleric) skill: Stone Skin. This is a PBAoE which will give a temporary defense boost to nearby allies. The defensive boost will increase based on skill rank in Stone Skin, with a smaller bonus for each rank in Protection. And the radius will also increase for each rank of Protection you have trained.
Added new status effects to leg slice, vulnerable, and off balance, to make it easier to denote when an opening is available, or a debuff is active.
Locked Gates now display a locked symbol when they are locked, to make it easier to tell that it can be opened elsewhere.
Grounding improvements in the Retrieve the Artifact scenario.
v1.1.9 Build Notes
Reduced the cooldown on the following player abilities: Meteor Strike, Sanctifying Shock, Sleep, Taunt, Cleanse, Leg Slice, Strength, Overpower, Siphon Life, Ward, Spinning Strike, Weaken, Hold Undead, and Leaping Strike.
Adjusted the cooldown on many NPC abilities.
Adjusted the level scaling ratio so that bosses and minibosses can have a higher level scale on some stats than standard NPCs.
Increased the base hit points of Troll Clubbers, Orc Warlords, Skeleton Captains, Necromancers, Mage Spirits, Barbarian Champions, Barbarian Witch-Doctors, and Orc Smashers.
Witches (Mage) can now train the Hold Undead skill, which was previously only available to clerics.
Fixed a bug that was causing the Strength skill to not function properly.
The Arcane Shield skill now has a particle effect.
Added a new particle effect that will display when you are poisoned.
There are now body parts and blood strewn across the floor in some of the more brutal scenarios.
Destructibles now scale their loot quality based on level.
Added more shrubbery to some of the outdoor maps.
Fixed a bug which could allow the stash to block the exit to the hideout area in new missions on rare occasions.
v1.1.8 Build Notes
Today we began shifting our focus onto combat improvements. With these changes, each class receives a new dash or teleportation ability which is aimed to make moving around in combat a little easier. These will not go through targets, but will allow you to close the distance more quickly than you could do by moving or using the dodge abilities. They do have a power cost, though, of 3% of your total power.
Increased player attack speeds by 30%. NPC attack speeds remain the same.
Reduced the ratio at which enemies gain bonus health, damage, and attack ratings from automatic level scaling. Making the difficulty curve a bit less harsh as your level increases.
NPCs and players can now have different cooldowns on abilities.
Added a new Swashbuckling (Warrior) skill: Dashing Strike. This ability will quickly dash towards your targer and deal melee damage. It can be used to quickly close the distance to opponents. It can also be used to quickly move to a location.
Added a new Swashbuckling (Warrior) skill: Dashing Strike. This ability will quickly dash towards your targer and deal melee damage. It can be used to quickly close the distance to opponents. It can also be used to quickly move to a location without a target. It receives a 2% damage bonus per skill rank.
Added a new Healer (Cleric) skill: Luminary Leap. This skill will quickly dash to a location, and then heal the any nearby targets, including the caster. It receives increased healing per, with a small bonus to healing per rank of the Heal ability.
Added a new Wizard (Mage) skill: Wizard's Warp. This ability will quickly warp to a location, and then boost the caster's damage ouput for the next 5 seconds. You will receive a bonus of 4% damage per skill rank, with an initial bonus of 10%. You also receive a 1% bonus per rank of Fireball. It has a longer range than other dash abilities.
Increased the speed of magic projectiles.
Reduced the cooldown time on Fireball, Smite, Thrust, Frost Blast, Ice Shards, and Heal.
The Heal skill now has a bonus of 6 health per rank +4 base, beginning with a heal amount of 10. This is a boost of 5 per rank with a +3 initial base.
v1.1.7 Build Notes
The Sealing the Rift and War Plans scenarios each got a generator update, similar to the ones which other scenarios have gotten over the past couple of days.
The shopkeeper has a new voice, and now randomizes between several dialog lines.
The new loot particles should now do a better job of following the dropped items location, which is variable due to physics. In the first iteration sometimes they would become detached.
Made different variations of each loot particle type which are based on the rarity of the item.
Fixed a bug that was allowing Berserk to deal damage on interval.
