Welcome to Version 0.65! We're about 5 weeks from Official Release, so you know what we could use? A balance patch that fundamentally changes the game by fixing certain abused mechanics! Which, frankly we should have done some of these things much sooner, so for those of you that have to relearn some of the game for this patch, we do apologize.
But, after much testing, we can confirm it's a much more fair and balanced environment, especially in Multiplayer. Now, without further adieu, here's the patch notes!
Yep. This looks balanced.
Damage Overview
- You've asked for it repeatedly, and we're finally delivering. On the right side, there's now a Damage Overview, telling you how much damage each tower type does.
- All towers of the same type (including all levels) are bundled together for an entry.
- Tower counts are also listed in here, so you know how many of each type you have.
- Only the top 10 entries are kept; after that, it prunes everything else off.
- You can switch between "Total", "Current", and "Previous".
- In the future, we'll add the ability to select all towers of a type via the Damage Overview, among other tweaks. If you have any suggestions for it, let us know!
Improvements
- Korean localization added.
- Damage pop-ups are now color-coded by element type.
- While a tower is selected, pressing T will now open the targeting menu, and you can press 1-6 to select a targeting priority from there.
- In the Customize Towers screen, there's now an option to equip a single hat to all towers.
- Added a x0.5 speed multiplier option (offline singleplayer only).
- Added support for 2560 x 1600 resolution.
- Pressing "Esc" while on the main menu should now be the equivalent of hitting "Back".
- The Leaderboard now shows each player's avatar next to their names.
- Added a sound for when players join/leave the lobby.
- Temple is now 1-Path by default, rounding out Ranked Mode to be four 1-Path maps and four 2-Path maps.
- Desert Variant paths actually make sense now.
- Long Paths on Volcano Co-op now move at double speed (instead of triple) and only go to the halfway point instead of trying to cross the whole god darn map.
No more weird crisscrossing on Advanced Paths in this map.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed a bug where searching for a Ranked Game could drop you into an empty game.
- Fixed a bug where you could disconnect as soon as you join a game.
- Fixed a bug where you could join an in-progress game.
- Fixed a bug where a dead lobby could happen and then wouldn't go away for a while.
- Fixed a bug where someone could unready at the same time as the last person readying up, causing the lobby to break. To do this, there's now a 1.5 second buffer time before the countdown starts.
- Fixed a bug where Level 1 Slows could extend the durations of Level 2 Slows.
- Fixed Teams not ordering up properly at the end score screen.
- Fixed Game Time continuing after the end score screen appears.
- Fixed Elementals stacking up the 4th path in 4-Path Co-op if you had more than 4 Players.
- Fixed a bug where entering lines back-to-back as fast as you could in the lobby chat would murder the chatbox.
- Fixed a bug where, if you have a lobby or leaderboard entry already selected, and you attempted to double-click it, it would not automatically join/open it.
- Potentially fixed a crash error that could occur on certain systems.
- If you're still having crash errors, let us know!
General Balance
- Income Upgrade no longer gives you a flat gold increase at the end of each wave. Instead, it now spawns 20% / 40% more creeps per wave.
- If you're in Co-op, each upgrade will spawn 10% more creeps instead. Meaning yes, if you have 8 Players and everyone gets Double Income Upgrades, you'll have 160% more creeps. Enjoy.
- Diminishing Returns increased from 5% to 6% per stack
- This is to help counterbalance the big buff that Level 1 Debuffs are receiving this patch.
- Boss Waves will now work the same as all other waves in Multiplayer - whoever clears it first starts the next wave for everyone.
- Wave Timers are now 3 seconds across the board, regardless of the difficulty. This means towers like Haste and Earth can't both push the wave and stay at max power.
- Playing on Same Random will reduce Wave Timers by 3 seconds, meaning they're instant. All Random is unaffected.
- Total Bounty up through Wave 55 has been increased by roughly 10%.
- HP Scaling has been adjusted to be about 10% higher by Wave 55.
- Build Times increased by 0.25 seconds for all towers and upgrades. This is mainly noticeable for Buy/Sell in Random.
- The cost of Level 4 Singles/Periodic are reduced from 15000 to 14000 gold.
- Wave Order has been adjusted for Waves 1 through 9.
Check it out, rainbow damage numbers! Not that you can read them any better, but at least it looks cooler.
Tower Balance
- Arrow & Cannon now sell for 80% of their gold value, just like all other towers. This means you can no longer Buy/Sell Abuse these towers in Pick.
- Random is unchanged.
- Arrow damage increased from 45 to 70
- Cannon damage increased from 55 to 80
- Light damage reduced from 120 / 720 / 4320 / 43200 to 100 / 600 / 3600 / 36000
- Consecutive damage bonus increased from 3 / 18 / 108 / 1080 to 5 / 30 / 180 / 1800
- Water damage increased from 75 / 450 / 2700 / 27000 to 80 / 480 / 2880 / 28800
- Fire damage increased from 30 / 180 / 1080 / 10800 to 32 / 192 / 1152 / 11520
- Lightning attack speed increased from 1 to 1.5
- Damage reduced from 200 / 800 / 3200 to 140 / 560 / 2240
- Bounce range increased from 1000 to 1200
- Poison attacks now extend the duration of all existing stacks by 0.1 / 0.2 / 0.4 seconds
- Ice attack speed reduced from 1.5 to 1
- Damage increased from 525 / 2100 / 8400 to 800 / 3200 / 12800
- Mushroom damage increased from 115 / 460 / 1840 to 120 / 480 / 1920
- Life renamed to Bloom and reworked:
- Attack speed increased from 0.66 to 1.5
- Damage reduced from 1250 / 5000 / 20000 to 500 / 2000 / 8000
- New Effect: When it's not attacking, its damage grows by 20% per second, up to max of 250%. While attacking, its damage drops by 40% per second.
- Geyser attack speed reduced from 1.5 to 1
- Damage increased from 600 / 2400 / 9600 to 900 / 3600 / 14400
- Astral damage increased from 1600 / 6400 to 1700 / 6800
- Laser damage increased from 4500 / 18000 to 4800 / 19200
- Damage decrease per nearby target increased from 500 / 2000 to 600 / 2400
- Max damage drop increased from 2000 / 8000 to 2400 / 9600
- Flooding damage increased from 350 / 1400 to 375 / 1500
- Wisp attack speed reduced from 1.5 to 1
- Damage increased from 600 / 2400 to 750 / 3000
- Effect Rescaled: Each attack decreases its AoE by 10 but increases its damage by 5%. Caps out after 30 attacks at 200 AoE and 400% damage. Resets after 4 seconds of not attacking.
- Flamethrower damage increased from 300 / 1200 to 320 / 1280
- Napalm damage increased from 150 / 600 to 160 / 640
- Haste max attack speed reduced from 6 to 5
- Attack speed gain per attack reduced from 7% to 5%
- Instead of instantly resetting after 5 seconds, it now gradually decreases over 5 seconds.
- Quake damage increased from 1400 / 5600 to 1500 / 6000
- Shockwave damage increased from 2800 / 11200 to 3000 / 12000
- Money has been reworked:
- Attack speed increased from 0.66 to 1
- Damage reduced from 5500 / 22000 to 3200 / 12800
- New Effect: Gains damage equal to 15% / 30% of your Unspent Gold
- Nova damage increased from 660 / 2640 to 700 / 2800
- Slow increased from 10% / 30% to 16% / 32%
- Windstorm damage-per-second increased from 500 / 2000 to 550 / 2200
- Slow increased from 10% / 30% to 16% / 32%
- Muck damage increased from 800 / 3200 to 950 / 3800
- Slow increased from 10% / 30% to 16% / 32%
- Root damage-per-second increased from 140 / 560 to 150 / 600
- Slow increased from 10% / 30% to 16% / 32%
- Corrosion damage amp rescaled from 15% / 45% to 20% / 40%
- Jinx damage reduced from 1200 / 4800 to 1100 / 4400
- Bonus damage per tick rescaled from 6% / 18% to 8% / 16%
- Polar damage increased from 1300 / 5200 to 1400 / 5600
- HP Burn increased from 8% / 24% to 12% / 24%
- Incantation damage reduced from 500 / 2000 to 450 / 1800
- Base damage amp reduced from 10% / 30% to 10% / 20%
- Solo damage amp rescaled from 30% / 90% to 40% / 80%
- Periodic damage increased from 40000 to 45000
Life and Money have finally graduated from their WC3 versions. Rest in peace, you broken effects.
Several pages of balance notes later, annnd that's it! By far the largest balance update done to date, and in theory, this shouldn't be one-upped anytime soon. As per usual, leaderboards have been wiped, so have fun scaling the boards once more! In general, this patch should make the game easier for new players, and make it a more even playing ground for everyone in general.
Anywho, we hope you enjoy the Damage Overview and updated balance! Up next, look forward to another highly requested feature, which will be making its way into 0.66 at the end of the month!