Time to dust off that gamepad.
This patch brings some much needed improvements to controller support, the feel of melee combat, and even how smoothly you can string abilities together! We’ve also given the settings page a complete overhaul with new settings, art, and improved key binding. Last but not least, we’d like to introduce you to Lock On 2.0, a new version of the lock on mechanic that aims to improve the feel of combat while correcting the shortcomings of its previous incarnation.
Try out combat on controller, tinker with the settings page, and find the configuration that works best for you. We’re looking forward to hearing what you think of the new changes!
GENERAL IMPROVEMENTS
IMPROVED CONTROLLER SUPPORT
- Camera and character movement speed is now based on how far you push the control sticks in a direction, rather than being a constant speed when a stick is moved at all. This greatly improves the feel of gameplay on a controller.
- Button bindings displayed in the combat UI are now updated in real time depending on which controller the player is currently using. Supported controllers include:
- Xbox family of controllers
- Playstation family of controllers
- Nintendo Switch Pro controller
- Most generic gamepads
- Keyboard and mouse
- In order for controller support to work properly we strongly recommend you do not use 3rd party programs that enable the use of controllers like DS4 Windows.
- Improved default key bindings for controllers.
- Input from keyboards and controllers are now allowed at the same time.
- Button bindings are now displayed slightly larger in the combat UI.
- Party combat UI now displays button bindings.
NEW SETTINGS PAGE
- The settings page has received a complete rework with brand new UI!
- You may now bind up to 3 different inputs to a key binding.
- New setting that when toggled on, allows the user to press the same button to fire an ability that they pressed to activate it (this setting disables canceling an ability while aiming). This setting is very helpful when playing on controller.
- New setting that when toggled on, allows the user to press a button to activate an ability, continue holding the button to aim it, and release the button to fire it. This setting is very helpful when playing on controller.
- Improved duplicate key binding handling.
LOCK ON 2.0
With this patch we’re introducing a new and completely revamped version of the lock on mechanic. We took your feedback to heart after the initial version of lock on was removed, and have made many improvements to correct the mechanic’s previous issues. We hope you’ll give this new version a chance, and let us know what you think of it!
- By default, lock on is bound to middle mouse click, or L1 on controller.
- Tapping the button will enable lock on and cause the camera to track the Kinfolk your cursor is nearest to. Tapping it again will unlock the camera from the target.
- The camera’s lock on the target will be broken if your view of the target is obscured for more than 3 seconds. Once you can see the target again you may press the lock on button to lock back on.
- Some abilities, like Teleport, will automatically break the camera’s lock on the target. This allows you to still sneakily warp behind your opponent and catch them off guard or hide behind an object, even if they were locked on to you.
- While the player has no ranged basic attack equipped, lock on will track the target very closely. We found that this significantly improved the feel of melee combat.
- If the player has a ranged basic attack equipped, lock on will keep the target in view, but will not track it closely.
- While the player is aiming any non-basic attack, lock on will keep the target in view, but will not track it closely.
OTHER
- New impact VFX have been added to basic melee attacks.
- Impact VFX are now properly rotated to match the direction of the attack.
- NPC AI now faces the player more often in combat.
- Added Avieon beacon to practice room.
- The auto-land when near ground setting has been temporarily disabled due to a bug. Double tapping the Jump button while flying will still cancel flight.
BALANCE CHANGES
GENERAL
Kinfolk can now act before an attack animation has fully completed. The point at which Kinfolk are able to begin a new action during the animation depends on the ability that is being used, and the animation of the Kinfolk using it. Most abilities however, allow the user to act after 80% of the animation has completed. This new action could be using another ability, shielding or dodging.
By giving you better control over your character’s actions like this, we found it significantly improved the fluidity of combat and overall game feel.
KINFOLK
Slyphur: Swipes combo speed increased due to faster animation transitions listed above.
Shovlet: Earth Swipes combo speed increased due to faster animation transitions listed above.
Stamina required to jump has been set to 0 for all Kinfolk. We plan to make further improvements to jumping in the future.
ABILITIES
Crescent Strike: Added more wind up time to the first strike. 2nd and 3rd, strike combo speed increased due to faster animation transitions listed above.
Dive Bomb: Improved collision detection and momentum after collisions.
Shield: The user now only becomes invincible once the shield VFX is displayed.
Hook: Shield Damage increased from 30 to 100.
BUG FIXES
- Fixed a bug with Shield that caused the Kinfolk’s animator to become stuck sometimes.
- Fixed a bug with Reflect that allowed the reflected projectile to still damage the user.
- Fixed a bug that caused the user to move during dash attacks before the animation had started.
- Fixed a bug that caused Poison and Burn status effects to continue triggering while the Kinfolk was not swapped in.
- Fixed a bug that allowed the user to swap Kinfolk while Snared.
- Fixed a bug with Scorch that caused the Scorch projectiles to rotate in strange ways.
- Fixed a bug with Iron Fist that caused the projectile to rotate in strange ways.
- Fixed a bug that prevented minion projectiles from expiring properly.
- Fixed a bug that caused Escape Draft to expire before the character swap had occurred.
- Fixed a bug that caused Thunder Clap’s animation to not complete properly.
- Fixed a bug that required Kinfolk to be damaged twice before waking up from sleep.
- Fixed a bug that caused Embear’s “out of sleep” animation to take an abnormally long time to transition back to idle.
- Fixed a bug that caused Lumala’s rare idle animation to play while moving.
- Fixed a bug with Avieon that caused them to slowly drift upwards while hovering in place.
- Fixed a bug with Salamurder that caused them to become stuck in their animation for a short time after using Howl.
- Fixed a bug that caused the frame rate to fall through the floor when the settings menu was displayed.
- Fixed a bug that caused Fear to not affect terrestrial Kinfolk.
- Fixed a bug that prevented ranged attacks from being animation canceled within their intended cancel windows.
- Fixed a bug that allowed players to move before a round had officially started.
- Fixed a bug that allowed players to easily leave the bounds of the arena.
- Fixed a bug that caused lock on to behave differently when used on a gamepad.
KNOWN ISSUES
- The new animation transition changes have introduced instances where it is possible to dodge at times that are not intended. We will continue to improve this in future patches.
- Lock on incorrectly uses the “keep in view” mode when it should use the “track closely“ mode with certain character set ups. We have not observed the reverse situation to occur.
- It is currently possible to become stuck in certain difficult to reach places in the Cavern Arena.
- Certain areas of the Cavern arena are currently accessible that are not intended to be.
- While a visualization is displayed when a Kinfolk has its stats raised or lowered, there is currently no visualization to display how much a Kinfolk’s stats have been raised or lowered. We plan to add visualizations to address this in a future patch.
- When your party is revived after they all die in the Practice Room, the Kinfolk in your first slot is not revived.
- Some of the visual effects for Crush are not properly displayed in the Practice Room.
- The damage descriptions for several abilities that do not have Tick Damage, show a total Tick Damage amount.
- Occasionally, players with low ping do not return to the current starting position between rounds.
- Occasionally, attempting to cancel searching for a game results in the matchmaker locking up.
- Often times teams can not be edited while searching for a game.
- Several abilities currently use placeholder VFX and sound effects, or do not yet have sound effects at all.