Another weekend has passed, and this one has been quieter than the previous one, although yesterday we put a patch with several important changes and without many details of the card changes so let's explain them a little.
First of all, as many already know we are a team of 2 people actively working in the game, if we have to document every small change we make, it is time we lose making more changes or correcting bugs, the changes of the 0.6.0 patch began a week ago while we were doing non-stop testing to solve the stability of the MP (much better now than 1 week ago), so documenting things like +1 Thorns Charges to Yellow Spiked shield, +1 Regeneration to Blue Prayer of Healing or we changed some text here and there ... was time we could not lose. Then some larger changes came to some cards but it was already late to write everything down for a detailed patch notes.
Well... lesson learned, from now on we will note major changes but don't expect us to note things like a 1 charge or 1 damage change on a card either, at least during the EA.
We value the fun and free deckbuilding above the balance, we do not have "many" problems with infinite decks (nor in normal mode nor in ng + 1 there is something to avoid infinite cycling), as long as it costs a little to build or some luck is required, that said, what cannot be is that 3-4 common cards nullify another 60 cards of the class pool and that on top of that, with those cards, an infinite loop can be crafted in the starting town, again... with cards that are common, if that happens then there is a problem. Also there are many items that allow you to draw cards depending on when certain cards are playerd or other situations, our intention is that the player who wants to cycle decks or draw a little more cards also seek these items.
So, in addition to the obvious changes, we will explain some of the more specific and controversial ones:
All
All cards with cost 6 or more have been buffed with more damage / heal and charges applied.
Warrior
Warpaint: This card gives you 3 Powerful (5 with perks) that is + 15% / 25% damage with 0 cost, being a common card, the "Draw Card" that the card had was not really necessary.
Exploit Openings: The area upgrade of this card was too powerful, there is no other card in the game that put so many bleeds in area as this ... not even if you played the berserker with a legendary weapon and using a Whirlwind (cost 6), that is why the area upgrade had to change.
Bluff: Now it's rare but it have the "Draw Card" again in all its versions, as we commented on the Discord poll.
Every warrior card with thorns except for Barbed Wire (cost 0) has gained from 1 to 3 extra thorns charges.
Scouts
Sprint: This card is designed to give you Haste, and it is also a common card with cost 0, Haste is a relly powerful buff that gives you 6 speed and also counters "Daze", and also you if you have Slow (-3 Speed) and you use "Haste" you end up with +3 of Speed In positive. Same as Warpaint this card had 0 reasons to have the "Draw Card" at cost 0 as its function is to give Haste, which is much more powerful than "Fast".
Scavenge: The main function of this card is to allow you to play with the Discard Pile, and right now it still does, either allowing you to prepare a card for the next turn or return it to your hand, it was never to reduce the cost permanently and that's why we removed that functionality (It was very easy to get and abuse), the functionality to reduce the cost is still in other items or cards.
Vigilance: Cost 0 did not make sense in this card, when Oother cards like Foresight apply 3 Sight single target, why Vigilance should apply AoE Sight + Innate + Card Draw all at Cost 0?
Fan of Knives: The base card damage has risen 1 point of damage but now it is rare, by its nature of double damage and its way of scaling this card was outperforming similar or better cards.
Blade Dance: to compensate this card, went from rare to infrequent.
Neverending Story: The base card was changed to EPIC, and the upgrade that applies Insane now requires Stanza 2.
-Note- In the next hotfix the base card will be rare again.
Sweet Melody and Healing Serenade: Each of its versions now dispels more.
Healers
I think the discussion in Healers comes mainly for 3-4 cards... cards that were in almost all the decks, because they were common cards with cost 0 and also with "Draw Card", and people used them not for their designed function but for easy no-brainer cycling and thinning of decks.
Dilute: Now the blue upgrade transforms bleed into Wet, and the Draw Card was removed. This card has 2 main functions: to deal with an especific debuff and / or to use it to make combos, none of these has been modified. If you have problems with poison or you know that you are going to a certain part of the map, you can decide to craft it, which was not normal was to carry 3-4 dilutes in the deck from Act 1 or in Velkarath Mountain, only because was a no-brainer and effectively reduced you deck card count by 3-4.
-Note- In the next hotfix the Dilute upgrades will have Vanish, so you can use it when needed and do not occupy more deck space.
Dawn Light: Blue upgrade does area damage at cost 0, also this damage scales really well, none of the other classes have a cost 0 area damage card, so the "Draw Card" in the Blue upgrade was completely unnecessary.
Healing Rain: Another cost 0 card that scaled way too well, which replaced all the other Heals of the game... and also dispelled burns. As we commented on Discord, the solution has been to give the card Regeneration instead of healing, which makes it better for the new players since it cures 3 2 1 HP and keeps removing the Area Burn. It was not normal for Healing Rain to be used as a free area heal that could heal 20-40HP easily.
Flash Heal: Similar to Healing Rain, now the Flash Heal card is a less cost version of the normal Heal.
Holy Smite: The Yellow Upgrade has had the same treatment as Flare / FrostBolt / ElectricDischarge / Shadowbolt, the version with more damge and charges cost 3.
Foresight: The inspire buff was completely unnecessary, the Foresight main function is to give information to the Player of the enemy cards and it continues to do so very well for novice players, besides in more random modes when you don't know what the monster will do that information is vital, also foresight is still a very powerful card with certain combinations of items.
There have been many other small changes but generally all in positive, as always remember that this is an Early Access that has just started and there will be many cards that are going to change little by little. As always do not hesitate to give us your feedback or come to discord and comment on things, if there is a change you don't like, we can always talk about it and as said before the changes done to some cards do not have to be permanent.
Today there will be another patch/hotfix which, among other things, will give you 3 extra reward chests of 3000 Gold/Shards to everyone as compensation and so that you can also experience the new builds with all the changes.
As always thanks for your feedback, support and comprehension.