After over a month of work, Version 0.50 has been released! A lot of new stuff got added this patch, including Achievements, Cosmetics, Balance Changes, and more! We've also cleaned up the UI considerably and fixed a fair number of bugs. Check out our video preview below, and read on for the full patch notes!
Steam Achievements
Each map now has 13 Achievements tied to them, resulting in a total of 104 Achievements! These include:
- Clear by Difficulty
- Clear by Speed
- Clear by Random + Chaos
- Clear by Extreme
- Get X Score
Now, as you play the game, you'll gain XP, used to increase your Level. Additionally, each Achievement you complete provides you with a burst of XP,
Each time you level up, you are rewarded with a Shop Point, which can be used to unlock Cosmetics for your Builder. Speaking of which...
Builder Cosmetics
You can now customize your Builder! On top of that, there's multiple accessories you can add to make them look particularly snazzy! In total, we have:
- 7 Builders
- 7 Hats
- 6 Trails
- 6 Wings
- And an extra Builder with ludicrous level requirements.
- Don't worry, we'll fill in more Cosmetics and Achievements over time to fill the gap.
Map Changes
Lava
The oddball top-left corner has been adjusted so that it's actually buildable there, and part of the path on the right side has been removed, adding a bit more difficulty to this map.
Tropical
The first island has been outright removed, causing creeps to immediately head down on that first bend. The path is roughly 20% shorter now, and it makes it so Earth & Quake aren't superior to everything else on this map. Still useful, just not blatantly OP.
Winter
Once more, the Winter map has been given a new layout! The previous one wasn't bad per se, but it was sort of a repeat of existing maps and required nothing new to beat it. In this layout, creeps wrap around the sides, then circle around the middle before exiting. With this, it's back to being the most difficult map by far.
Grand City
And lastly, the Co-op map has been tweaked. The longer portals on the outside have been pulled in a bit, and the center killzone is no longer quite as generous. Its visuals are still prototype, though that may change in the coming weeks...
Improvements
- An option has been added under Graphics called VFX Toggle. Turning it off will drastically reduce the amount of VFX that renders.
- Holding Shift while Drag-Building will now let you properly queue up towers.
- Allied towers in Team & Co-op games now have an indicator hovering over them, making it easier to distinguish your towers from your allies'.
- If there's two players in a lobby and the host readies up while the other player leaves, it'll now unready the host.
- Elemental Boss labels now list "Level 1" instead of "Lvl. 1"
Fixes
- Potentially fixed a major bug where you could somehow upgrade Level 2 Duals into Arrow Towers.
- Fixed a major bug where a Disease Tower could inflict near infinite damage and somehow freeze the game as a result.
- Fixed a bug where getting disconnected from a lobby wouldn't actually kick you out of the lobby, thus breaking the lobby and preventing anyone from readying up.
- Fixed a bug in Co-op where way more Ronalds were spawning than intended.
- Fixed a bug that allowed Team & Co-op Scores to land on the Leaderboard.
- When this gets added properly, they'll each have their own categories.
- Ronald Runs can no longer submit to the Leaderboard.
- Fixed a bug where, if you kill an Elemental while having the Tower Table open, it wouldn't update the table properly.
- Fixed initial language select missing the majority of the options.
New Tower Table
The Tower Table has received a format update. With this, everything is much better organized:
- Elements run left-to-right, just like your build bar and HUD.
- All Buff towers are now in a single row.
- All Slows & Amplify towers are now in a single row.
In order to apply this though, a few towers had their Damage Types shuffled around...
Balance
- All 700 Range Towers have been buffed to 750 Range.
- In particular, certain aggravations with their placement aren't as much of pain.
- Fire damage reduced from 25 / 150 / 900 / 9000 to 20 / 120 / 720 / 7200
- Damage bonus per second increased from 0.5 / 3 / 18 / 180 to 1 / 6 / 36 / 360
- Nature damage increased from 75 / 450 / 2700 / 27000 to 80 / 480 / 2880 / 28000
- Initial damage bonus decreased from 50% to 40%
- Ice damage increased from 700 / 2800 / 11200 to 750 / 3000 / 12000
- Poison damage-per-second increased from 80 / 320 / 1280 to 90 / 360 / 1440
- Duration reduced from 10 seconds to 9 seconds
- Mushroom damage increased from 80 / 320 / 1280 to 85 / 340 / 1340
- Howitzer damage increased from 160 / 640 / 2540 to 165 / 660 / 2640
- Trickery effect tweaked:
- Old - This is a Buff Tower. Every 15 seconds, it clones a Non-Buff Tower for 10 / 20 / 60 seconds. A cloned tower cannot be cloned again for 60 seconds.
- New - This is a Buff Tower. Every 15 seconds, it clones a Non-Buff Tower that deals 65% / 130% / 400% damage for 15 seconds. A cloned tower cannot be cloned again for 60 seconds.
- Arcane renamed to Infernal:
- Damage type changed from Darkness to Fire
- Electricity renamed to Lightning:
- Damage type changed from Fire to Light
- Number of bounces reduced from 6 to 4
- Damage decrease per bounce changed from 20% less to 15% less
- Bounce range reduced from 1150 to 1000
- Wisp damage type changed from Light to Water
- Astral damage reduced from 1800 / 7200 to 1600 / 6400
- However, projectile speed has been doubled
- Runic search AoE increased from 200 to 225
- Flooding damage increased from 350 / 1400 to 375 / 1500
- Impulse damage reduced from 3600 / 14400 to 3400 / 13600
- Corrosion damage amp reduced from 15% / 45% to 15% / 40%
- Jinx damage ticks reduced from 7% / 18% to 6% / 15%
- Polar now returns the full HP removed after 15 seconds instead of only returning half
- Golem effect changed:
- Old - Each time it kills a creep, this tower loses 300 / 1200 damage for 2 seconds.
- New - After attacking for 3 seconds, this tower stops attacking for 3 seconds.
- Damage increased from 1400 / 5600 to 2400 / 9600
- Projectile speed increased by 25%
- Periodic damage increased from 28000 to 32000
Due to the extensive balance changes as listed above, the Leaderboard has been reset.
Visuals
- The UI has been cleaned up, removing most of its bulkiness in favor of a simpler look.
- Texture quality has been improved slightly.
- Updated the water shader being used on Well, Flooding, Golem, & Wisp towers.
- Updated the visuals of Lightning, Infernal, & Wisp Towers to reflect their new Damage Types.
- Various other little tweaks to reduce the overall brightness of the VFX.
And that's it for today's patch! A lot got added, a lot got changed, and lot got fixed. There's a handful of things we wanted to get implemented, but just didn't have the time to for this patch. Stuff like:
- Team & Co-op Leaderboard Support
- The ability to change your player color
- Improved Tower Table functionality
- And more
Fret not, expect these to be added in the coming weeks! In general, expect to see regular updates once more every week or so. The only reason this update took so long is because all of its systems were integrated together, requiring them to all be finished at once.
Lastly, our Discord server has finally been improved with a Role Bot, meaning you can now opt yourself into the LFG role (Looking For Game) without requiring someone to give you the role manually. Check the pinned messages under our #looking-for-game channel and give the post a thumbs up!
Element TD 2 Discord