Genre: Role-playing (RPG), Hack and slash/Beat 'em up, Adventure, Indie
Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem
Monthly Development Update - April 2022
Hello Ascended!
It'll be a small update this month as we continue to work on controller support, the UI revamp, and some unannounced projects. However, we do have a few things to cover.
Bugs of Days Gone By
This month we wanted to look back on the progress made by our Quality Assurance team and bug fixers over the months. Since launch, they have squashed over 2300 bugs: both old and new; minor and major; straightforward and multifaceted. Over that time, we have delivered 44 patches, averaging just over 52 fixes per patch.
Balancing
We’re in the initial stages of preparing for a global balancing pass and aim to deliver it as a mid-term goal. At present, a limited selection of builds dominates the endgame, and many skills and combinations tend to fall to the side. ‘Flavoured’ or ‘themed’ builds can quickly become unfeasible at particular difficulty levels, or abilities favoured for their feel or utility may have to be dropped by the player to be competitive. Ideally, we hope to resolve this by shifting the balance to a place where any build can potentially be effective at higher, though perhaps not the highest, difficulty levels. Ultimately, our broad aim with this pass is to promote player agency and choice and allow for greater diversity and experimentation.
UI Changes
And finally, another taste of the UI changes accompanying the upcoming Controller Support. This month: the updated (and rather beautiful) tooltips. Enjoy!
That’s all for this month, folks. As always, feel free to join us on our official Discord.
Have an excellent day!
Patch 1.1.5.5
Fixed an issue where item desynchronisation could lead to a “null_umbra_item” dropping.
Fixed an issue where item desynchronisation could lead to the items being invisible or misplaced in the inventory.
Fixed an issue where the internal cooldown of the trade request feature would be 60 seconds instead of 30.
Fixed an issue where the game would stay stuck on "Getting Friendlist" after confirming the "Disconnected from server" notification when losing internet connection.
Fixed an issue where inviting 2 or more players in a group before any player accepts the invite would result in the first player that accepts it not seeing the second one in the lobby.
Fixed an issue where there would be no NavMesh on the bridge in the mission "The Only Lead" in Offline mode.
Monthly Development Update - March 2022
Hello everyone!
This month we will be covering a selection of topics, including a much-requested gameplay change, some under-the-hood changes that will improve player experience in and out of the game, and another look at the UI changes coming with Controller Support.
Animation Cancelling
That’s right; animation cancelling is coming to Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem! It is still in the testing phase, but we want to give you a quick overview of the changes we are planning to bring about this much-requested feature.
Wolcen’s combat is designed to have a deliberate and measured style and requires the player to consider their situation before using an ability or moving. With patch 1.1.3.0, we changed potions so that they could be consumed at any time, and now with animation cancelling, we are freeing up player agency even more for those who want it whilst still retaining that distinctly Wolcen-esque feel. With animation cancelling, combat will become even more dynamic, faster-paced, and yet still require clever thinking and planning for the player to succeed, let alone survive, moment-to-moment. To give you an idea of how it will work, any action (an attack, a skill, etc.) will consist of three phases:
Anticipation,
Hit,
and Backswing.
Depending on which phase you issue a second action in, you will either cancel the first action and commence your second action, or queue your second action. Moving or dodging can also serve to cancel an action.
Issuing a second action during the ‘Anticipation’ phase will immediately cancel the current action and commence the ‘Anticipation’ phase of your second action.
If the current action is in the smaller ‘Hit’ phase, your second action will instead be queued and will trigger once the current action’s ‘Hit’ phase is complete.
If the current animation is in the ‘Backswing’ phase, the first action’s animation will cancel, and your second action’s ‘Anticipation’ phase will begin.
A skill cancelled during its ‘Anticipation’ phase will not consume resources or trigger a cooldown, whereas once a skill reaches the ‘Hit’ phase it will consume resources and trigger a cooldown. Channelled skills in the ‘Hit’ phase will consume resources until interrupted.
We will be continuing to test and refine this new system for the moment and hope to get it into your hands as soon as possible. These changes will fundamentally broaden the possibilities of Wolcen’s combat and we’re very excited to see what you do with this new tool in your arsenal.
Other Behind-the-Scenes Changes
Two important but overlooked systems are getting massive overhauls that will result in a smoother experience for players across the board.
Firstly, the Transparency System. This system is responsible for hiding objects/surfaces/walls between the player and camera and has been completely rewritten. You may have noticed that the current system can occasionally fail to dissolve objects and thus obstruct player view, as well as having some limitations of performance. The new system is bug-free, smarter, more flexible, and will give players a smoother and faster experience.
Secondly, Navmesh Pruning. This is a very important system despite sounding suspiciously like something related to gardening. A navmesh determines what areas of an environment both the player and enemies can spawn and move on. You may, on occasion, have noticed an enemy hiding just out of reach behind a wall, or found yourself stuck on an unescapable ledge. This was due, in effect, to insufficient or inaccurate pruning of the navmesh. The fixes we’re putting together will allow for far more precise and performant pruning and will ultimately result in a far cleaner experience for both players and their unfortunate enemies.
Both of these systems are still undergoing testing and we will announce when they are ready for deployment closer to the time.
Patch Size Improvements and Delivery
We have made substantial efforts in recent hotfixes to address a long-standing issue: patch sizes. The days of 15GB hotfixes are no more, thanks to modifications done by our Build Delivery team.
They began by examining the previous large hotfixes, determining what elements were essential, and where optimisations could be made in terms of file size, moving, and copying. The main obstacles to decreasing patch sizes were the large PAK files: the archive files used by CryEngine to store game data in bulk. They tested new ways of optimising PAK creation, grouping, structure, and various encryption methods, by systematically generating and testing new internal builds. A large number of iterations and branches were tested, along with isolated portions of code, all whilst simultaneously building patches for actual release and avoiding potential issues or conflicts. This required a great deal of brainstorming, interdisciplinary communication, joint investigation, and painstaking testing.
With these changes, we can push out exponentially smaller patches far more regularly and effectively without impacting the player experience. With that achieved, we are entering a production cycle where you can expect small bug-fixing patches on a regular weekly, or fortnightly, basis.
Controller Support and UI Changes
Last month we gave you your first look at the UI changes that will be accompanying Controller Support. For those of you with a stylistic flair, this month we will be making a trend of it by showing you the new cosmetics screen. The main improvements outside of the updated visuals are:
Dyes are now sorted by colour and then by shade. No more scrolling up and down trying to find that specific variety of teal!
Each colour slot on individual armour pieces has a numeral indicator, allowing you to cross-reference when trying to match colours across duplicate armour cosmetics.
Pets no longer live on their own but now have their own tab in the cosmetics menu, allowing you to access everything fashion-related with a single button press.
That’s all for this month, folks! As usual, feel free to join our Official Discord if you want to engage with our community, send us your feedback, or send us direct messages regarding anything Wolcen related!
Have a fantastic day!
Patch 1.1.5.4
Implemented solutions to drastically reduce the size of every patch/update.
Fixed several issues that could lead to item desynchronizations.
Patch 1.1.5.3
Fixed an issue where accounts that have already completed the Story in Legacy mode would display Champion of Stormfall mode as locked.
Fixed an issue where some NPCs would be in T-pose during a cutscene in the Vault of Hope in Chapter 2.
Fixed an issue where the visual effect that indicates hits would not display if the character took damage that was entirely absorbed by their force shield.
Fixed an issue where the game would sometimes crash after a long period of inactivity.
Fixed an issue where the position of the "Do not show again" checkbox in the difficulty selection of the War Table wouldn't be properly centered.
Monthly Development Update - February 2022
Hello everyone!
For this month’s Development Update we will be giving you a sneak peek at part of the upcoming controller support, the necessary UI revamps, and the quality of life changes coming for all players!
Our controller support implementation is about more than just reassigning gameplay controls: nearly every UI element has been revisited and revised in a way that will benefit all players, whether they use a controller or a keyboard & mouse (or both!). This will improve the quality of life of all players across the board. To give you a taste of the changes coming, both mouse & keyboard and controller players can look forward to:
An improved Skills panel,
An inventory autosort feature,
Bulk selling and junk marking,
A unified Cosmetics and Pets menu,
Dyes grouped by colour,
Beautiful item tooltips that allow for easier comparison and greater legibility.
Today we will be touching on the improved Skills & Modifier screen and inventory management.
Please remember that everything here is still a work in progress and entirely subject to change, in terms of both visuals and functionality.
The Skills & Modifiers Screen
The revised and rebuilt ASM screen is indicative of the direction and philosophy behind our UI changes: it’s a format that seamlessly works for both controller and mouse & keyboard users and will allow players to switch on the fly, whilst tidying up a lot of the older design’s shortcomings and boasting gorgeous artwork. In the new Skills & Modifiers screen every skill you’ve learned can be seen at once and quickly accessed: no longer will you have to scroll through a long ability list when trying to find Wrath of Baäpheth! As before, the skills can still be filtered by archetype but now the buttons to do so are far more prominent and intuitive.
A lot has changed when examining individual skills and their modifiers. When selected, each skill will have a visual indicator of how many points you have unlocked, have remaining to spend, and are yet to unlock. Steps have also been taken to increase how intuitively skill modifiers present themselves. For example, rather than the uniform icon they currently have, skill modifiers will have one of four distinct icons that will let you know at a glance whether it changes the skill’s fundamental behaviour, buffs its offensive potential, increases player survivability, or increases its utility. Further to that, skill modifiers will display their name at all times to help you remember and identify your favourite modifiers when switching things up.
Inventory and Equipment Management
While keyboard & mouse users will retain an inventory layout they already know and love, but with a fresh coat of paint to bring it up to the same standard as the other new UIs, some elements need bespoke interfaces to work satisfyingly with a controller. Thus, controller users will be presented with an entirely new UI for changing their equipment and interacting with their inventory: the Equipment Wheel. Much like the traditional keyboard & mouse UI, this new screen lets you assess your current equipment at a glance and quickly select a gear slot to modify or interact with consumable items, even when using a controller.
The Equipment Wheel comes with a secret weapon: contextual filtering. Selecting any slot on the Equipment Wheel will temporarily organise your inventory so that all relevant items will group and highlight for quick and easy selection. Any items that aren’t relevant will be temporarily unselectable. Your inventory will then return to its previous state after choosing an item or exiting once you return to the wheel. The filter can be broken down further into weapon types and non-equipment items like enneracts, gems, reagents, etc.
On the subject of sorting, we’re taking the opportunity to add an inventory autosort button! This feature will be available for both controller and keyboard & mouse users, allowing you to instantly organise your inventory with the press of a button whenever you choose. Items will be organised first by rarity, then by type, affix, item level, gold value, and finally by alphabetical order. As a bonus, your Personal Chest in Stormfall will also feature an autosort button that will organise the particular chest tab you are viewing at the time. This feature will pair nicely with the batch selling and junk marking features we hinted at earlier, coming for both controller and keyboard & mouse users.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this little preview and that it’s given you a better idea of what to expect when controller support arrives.
Added an animation showing the number of skulls earned, difficulty level and difficulty tiers unlocked when opening the War Table.
Added a "Do not show again" checkbox confirmation pop-up in the difficulty selection part of the War Table.
The last difficulty played will be the default one when opening the War Table UI, unless a new difficulty has been unlocked in the meantime.
Fixed an issue where hovering a reward in the War Table would not always display the comparison window.
Fixed an issue where the productivity and item quantity multiplicator would not always be properly displayed for some consumables.
Fixed an issue where Mercy would start his jumping animation in the air instead of on his throne.
Fixed an issue where picking an Offering Shrine reward after killing the Sarisel boss would display a UI partially blocking the victory screen.
Fixed an issue where the Hauntstone’s animation would loop.
Fixed an issue where some parts of the map background in the War Table would be visible Ultra wide when they shouldn't.
Patch 1.1.5.1
While Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem does not officially support ultrawide resolutions, some elements have been tweaked in the background as a temporary fix and should now enable the full use of the War Table for ultrawide users.
This patch includes a fix that is the first of a series of fixes for the various sources of the null_umbra_item issue and resulting inventory issues. This particular fix is for an issue that would cause an item desynchronisation specifically when crafting in online mode and, in turn, cause inventory issues. This is only a partial fix to the overall problem but removes one of its causes.
Fixed an issue where Achenon could not be interacted with in a particular variant of the Cursebreaker Operation.
Fixed an issue where dying during the tutorial Hunt with Ilthain in Chapter 1 would cause the Hunt trail to disappear.
Fixed an issue where, after dying during the tutorial Hunt with Ilthain in Chapter 1 and returning to the previous checkpoint, the player would spawn under the terrain.
Fixed an issue that would prevent the player from interacting with a portal at the Anankis Core Overlook in Chapter 1.
Fixed an issue that would cause a reagent to be destroyed when right-clicking a stack in the player's inventory while the crafting screen is open.
Fixed an issue where summons could not damage the fire traps that spawn during the Oshara boss fight.
Fixed an issue in the Area Modifier selection screen where selected modifiers would not specify if they affected the player or enemies.
The Veteran Armour Requisition project now displays the correct artwork.
Fixed an issue where area modifiers would not be displayed in the selection screen in some languages under certain conditions.
Minor UI fixes for off-centre cosmetic and pet reward splash notifications.
Fixed an issue that prevented the War Table tutorial from displaying in the Hungarian and Spanish localisations.
Fixed an issue in the Hungarian localisation that caused formatting tags to be visible in the War Table’s difficulty selection screen.
Balance Changes
War Table operations' experience and productivity rewards have been reduced but remain meaningfully greater than their older pre-1.1.5.0 levels.
Wolcen: Aegis of Stormfall - Patch 1.1.5.0
Hello everyone,
Wolcen; Aegis of Stormfall, patch 1.1.5.0, is now live. This patch brings:
A new end-game system: the War Table;
New monsters;
New damage type variations for some skills;
A new environment;
A new armour;
Numerous bug fixes.
The War Table is the new feature introduced with Aegis of Stormfall and allows the player to partake in four new End-Game activities on top of Expeditions, scaled Mandates, and the Wrath of Sarisel. These new Operations are:
Cursebreaker
A malignance covers the land! Escort a new ally to key areas, and defend them, so that they may turn back the darkness. Beware the temptations and dangers that lurk in the suffocating and deadly black.
Onslaught
Enter the killing fields and survive increasingly large waves of enemies until none remain.
Headhunt
Enter the domain of a mighty boss and fight to the death. There can only be one!
Sabotage
Deprive the enemy of a powerful Wardstone, but be warned: not only is the Stone quite capable of defending itself, but it will summon champions to thwart your efforts.
The War Table comes with an entirely-new UI to support the Endgame Operations, their selection, and their accompanying progression system.
With these four new Operations, joining Expeditions, Mandates, and The Wrath of Sarisel, there are now seven total activities at endgame, all of which can be accessed through the War Table. At any one time, players can choose from three randomly selected Operations out of the seven and can refresh the selection by completing an Operation. The selection screen will also show the rarity and type of item that will be awarded for completing a particular operation at a glance, as well as the number of Skulls.
The Skull System replaces the old expedition progression system. On top of a particular item, each activity awards a number of skulls based on their difficulty and length. Players must collect a certain number of skulls to unlock, and progress to, higher tiers of difficulty. Any progression players have from the previous system will be carried over!
Miscellanea:
Wrath of Sarisel now exists independently from Expeditions: players can encounter both on the War Table selection screen. Additionally, Wrath of Sarisel no longer costs primordial essence or requires 5 modifiers to launch.
Mandates now scale past their original level limit and are now part of the War Table rotation.
As the access to Expeditions, and therefore Hunts, is no longer 100% guaranteed at all times the amount of Hunt currency awarded to a player for completing a Hunt has been increased.
Consumables (maps, reverie incenses, etc) stored in your inventory or your personal chest can be activated through the War Table UI without the need to open your inventory or transfer them.
All operations are available from level 1 if you have already unlocked Champion of Stormfall mode.
All operation types spawn a portal upon completion that requires confirmation to activate and send you back to Stormfall. No more misclicking and leaving behind a Trial Belt because you clicked the portal instead.
The experience given as a reward for completing any activity has been increased to make your journey to max level all the easier.
Some Operations reward a single item type, while others can reward a class of item. Players can choose the particular item they want from a rewards screen upon returning to Stormfall.
We will be monitoring player feedback regarding the Operation rewards and tweak them in subsequent patches.
Mystagogue
Once impartial priests of Halcyon metal, the Mystagogues now enact judgment on the Sleeper's behalf.
Architect
The Caretakers once kept the Primordial structures standing eternal. Now, they seek a new form of eternity by the Sleeper's side.
Bequeathed to the Republic most ferocious soldiers, the Veteran Armour is more than a defence: it's a warning to one's enemies.
The canyon is a beautiful new secondary area that will be available in-game.
Bladestorm can now be converted into Shadow damage.
Wrath of Baäpheth can now be converted into Rend damage.
Fixed an issue where using Evasion would sometimes cause the player to become stuck on terrain or fall off the map.
Fixed an issue where Flight of Gaavanir could softlock the player when recalled.
Fixed an issue where the Anvil's Woe modifier "The Will To Crush" would break the skill if the player held their mouse behind the player character whilst charging.
Fixed an issue that caused Havoc Orb to place two mines under an enemy if both the 'Glory to Mankind' and 'Mine Launcher' modifiers were picked.
Fixed an issue in Expeditions where the minimap would no longer indicate where the portals are after killing a Hunt boss.
Fixed an issue that allowed the party leader to skip the Sarisel reward screen for the entire party, denying rewards and causing further UI issues.
Fixed an issue that caused the client to crash when using a specific project in the Dark Market.
Fixed an issue where taking the red portal on certain Expedition floors would cause the player to spawn under Stormfall.
Fixed an issue that would cause AoE from certain Hunt events to continue after the event has ended.
Fixed an issue that would cause the player character to become stuck after using Wings Of Ishmir in a certain area of Act 2.
Fixed an issue that could cause the map modifier altars that can be found at the beginning of Expeditions to lack VFX and thereby not prevent the player from moving forward before choosing or declining modifiers.
Fixed a group of issues that caused unusual behaviour and/or returned the player to Stormfall when displaying tutorial tooltips for the first time in Mandates and Expeditions.
Fixed an issue where after using "Anomaly" on enemies their animations would stop playing momentarily.
Fixed an issue that caused some cosmetic shoulder armour pieces to appear on the wrong shoulder.
Fixed an issue that caused micro-loading when the player moved rapidly in a certain area of the uber Lambach consumable arena.
Fixed an issue that could cause the secondary objectives from the Oshara questline to remain in the quest log if uncompleted or if the player left the mission.
Fixed an issue where pressing 'Reset to Default' in the graphics settings would not reset the selection in the 'Graphics Quality' dropdown.
The 'Friendly Silhouette' setting has stopped hiding and is once again accessible.
Tweaked the biome parameters on certain Consumable map items.
Cleaned up various localization issues in the Dark Market.
Miscellaneous audio fixes, including a fix for enemy sounds continuing to play after being 'overkilled'.
Miscellaneous animation fixes and tweaks.
Monthly Development Update - December 2021
Hello everyone,
we know you're excited about Wolcen's next patch and we are happy to say that its final phase is coming to a close, and the last Svriir has been hammered into place, after some minor developmental delays. This does mean, however, that our original delivery window was pushed closer to Christmas than planned. While releasing during the festive period was an option it is, ultimately, neither sensible nor desirable.
When we release a content update we always make sure a task force is available to identify and fix important issues reported by the players, and we wouldn’t be able to achieve this without having our colleagues work over the Christmas and end of year holidays. While we would have loved to let you all try out our new end game missions sooner, most of you will probably be spending time with friends and family and we want to make sure all our coworkers are able to as well.
That being said, here is a sneak peek into some of the upcoming content, including our new end-game system, to make the wait easier.
The War Table is the new feature introduced with our next content update, and will allow the players to partake in 4 New End-Game activities on top of expeditions:
When using the War Table, players will have a choice between several mission types at multiple difficulty levels, with a specific reward that can be seen before launching the mission. We also completely changed the UI for better clarity.
We also worked on new monsters, with new abilities and attack patterns, to shake-up the battlefield.
As 2021 draws to a close we want to take a moment to thank you for your support this year and express our excitement for what’s coming. All of us at Wolcen Studio wish you a fantastic festive season and a bright new year.
