Hello everyone, this patch balances the newly released Act 4, and adds some extra features.
IMPORTANT: due to the long list of changes that this patch brings to the balance of the game, ongoing games from version 0.8.01 are incompatible with this patch so if you want to continue playing your old games you will need to use the early version of the game (v0.8.01) that's available through the Steam client. We are sorry, but it is a change that had to be made and we could not avoid it.
Last week we released Act 4 of the game and in general we are very happy with the result. We have been collecting all the feedback you have been giving us and we have been working quickly to improve and balance Act 4 as fast as possible.
So, we agree that Act 4 came out a bit Overtuned, especially in normal mode and the last boss.
During the Act 4 beta we got a lot of good feedback from very committed and experienced players (we are very grateful to all of you). Most of the feedback was about high madness levels and more advanced aspects, so we probably understimate the difficulty of the game in normal mode.
But well, that's what Early Access is for, to correct and improve the game whenever possible, so here's a summary of what we've done.
We have lowered the general difficulty of Act 4, especially in normal mode and a little less in madness mode. We have reduced the life of all enemies by 10-15% and revised their enchantments. Lord Hanshek's shadows will take much more health when using their cosume card, heal/area dispel (effectively reducing their health with each use). Archon Nhir has been lowered several values and damage based on auras/curses, plus he will no longer evade. There are many more changes (full list of changes at the end).
We have made some visual improvements to the Act 4 map, now that we know exactly what events are in each node and to give it more personality. We wanted to say that the Act 4 map was created before the random mode, when we had the map done we decided to create many more islands so we could create maps for the random mode "Obelisk Challenge". As the community (and us too) had a lot of desire to have a random mode in the game, we decided to advance it and release it before, so now it seems that Act 4 comes from the obelisk mode, when it is exactly the other way around. Even so, we have decided to improve it graphically and little by little we will add some more content.
Also four new cardbacks have been added to the game, which will be unlocked by passing various game modes, some of them (adventure complete in madness 14) will have to be replayed for the unlock to take effect. We have also improved the cardback display in several places in the game.
Talking about madness, we have given an overview of the corruptors in madness mode and sorted them by difficulty, to make it clearer for everyone.
The "Elite Champions" corruptor has been merged with the "Random Combats" corruptor, now there will always be a champion in each combat, with a random immunity but without the powerful bonus at the start of the combat.
Now, in the adventure, even with the Random combats corruptor you will be able to see which enemies are in each combat on the path, so you can plan your route. This is only for the adventure mode.
New corruptor "Despair", due to the balance and lower difficulty of the enemies in madness, we have created this corruptor to put certain enemies/champions/bosses at a higher difficulty level (nearly the same before the patch) by improving their cards and enchantment. At the moment this corruptor only affects act 4 enemies, but with time we will apply changes to the other enemies/bosses.
Thanks to this new optional corruptor, it allows us to have a new level of difficulty. Being in practice 3 base levels: normal, madness and madness+despair. So, for all those who still want more challenge or think that the changes have been excessive, we have a new difficulty level where we can create really difficult encounters.
Full list of changes and fixes.
Talents
Voltaic Arc: Added +1 spark charges.
Enchantments
World in Flames: this enchant caused soem problems as the card was casted when the enchant triggered and was an aoe card, changed to add the special emberstorm in you hand at cost 0 and vanish.
The Chosen One: Reduced sight and vulnerable charges by 1.
Cards
Meditate: (yellow) reduced energy to 1(from 2) added 1 energyze.
Meteorite: (Blue) increased damage a bit. (Yellow) removed random monster, increased cost and damage.
Ice comet: (Blue) increased chill. (Yellow) removed random monster, increased cost, added blunt damage and crack.
Ball lightning: (Blue) increased cost to 9, increased damage and spark charges.
Vampiric Tutor: (Blue) reduced cost to 1, increased hp lost.
Living Flame: (Blue) increased cost to 3, added 1 more jump and increased burn to 3.
Mind Visions: (Yellow) added vanish.
Pandemonium: (Blue) removed vanish. (Yellow) increased cost to 6, reduced damage, removed slow, added repeat 1.
Death's Reach: (Blue) increased cost to 8, added repeat 1. (Yellow) increased damage a bit.
Items
Scryer Staff: reduced the sight:burn conversion to 1:2(from 1:3)
Spider Queen Eye: reduced the sight:poison conversion to 1:2(from 1:3)
Act 4 changes
Reduced the hit points of all normal enemies in Act 4 (normal & madness) by 10%-15%.
All changes to Act 4 enemies also apply to those enemies in obelisk mode.
Vanguard & Dark Vanguard
Sacred Rancor / Dark Rancor (enchants): reduced the damage back done when damaged.
Holy Slash / Shadow Slash: reduced damage and sanctify/dark charges respectively.
Desvastate: reduced damage.
Bloody Retaliation: Damage based from bleed reduced to x0.5(from 1) in normal and x1(from 1.5) in madness mode.
Toxic Retaliation: Damage based from poison reduced to x0.5(from 1) in normal and x1(from 1.5) in madness mode.
Gunner & Dark Gunner
Heavy Artillery (enchant): reduced damage bonus and mark charges to 1(from 2), reduced uses to 10(from 12), in madness reduced uses to 10 too.
Sacred Shot / Dark Shot: reduced damage and sanctify/dark charges respectively.
Holy Barrage / Shadow Barrage: reduced damage.
Radiant Burst / Gloomy Burst: significantly reduced base damage, keep the x1(x2 in madness) damge based on cards in the discard pile.
Luminous Beam: Reduced the sharp to bleed conversion to 0.5(from 1) in normal and 0.8(from 1) in madness, also reduced the vulnerable charges by 1.
Caustic Beam: Reduced the sharp to poison conversion to 0.5(from 1) in normal and 0.8(from 1) in madness, also reduced the vulnerable charges by 1.
Oddball
Shield Generator (enchant): Reduced a bit the shield and block generated, charges reduced to 2(from 3) in normal mode.
Shield Jammer: Shield reducction reduced to x0.5(from 0.7), reduced vulnerable charges by 1.
Lancer & Dark Lancer
Pulsing Vigor (enchant): Reduced the vitality charges granted to 2(from 3) in normal and to 3(from 4) in madness mode.
Vitality Drain: Vitality gained equals x0.5(from 1) your vitality in normal mode, in madness keeps the x1 your vitality but removed the extra +X damage based on the vitality stolen.
Piercing Strike, holy & shadow versions: reduced the damage and charges (vulnerable, sanctify, dark) by 1 in all the versions.
Oppression, holy & shadow versions: reduced the damage based on hero thorns to x0.5(from 1) in normal mode.
Holy Lance / Shadow Lance: reduced the base damage a bit, damage based on monster vitality reduced to x0.5(from 1) in normal mode.
Champion Lancelot was affected by these changes and his cards were adjusted accordingly.
Monk & Dark Monk
Yang Mantra / Yin Mantra (enchants): Reduced the sanctify/dark charges applied by 1 in normal mode.
Payback: increased damage a bit, reduced the curses transfered to 1(from 3) in normal and to 2(from 4) in madness mode.
Radiance / Gravity Well: Greatly reduced the area damage based on block to x0.20(from 0.4) in normal and to x0.25(from 0.45) in madness, increased the burn/dark charges applied a bit respectively.
Transcendence: Removed dispel in normal and reduced the dispel to 1(from 2) in madness mode.
Celestial Toll / Death's Toll: Reduced base damage a bit, in madness the card added (Deadly Chime, Divine Chime) now has vanish.
Champion Graham was affected by these changes and his cards were adjusted accordingly.
Psychic
Silent Backlash (enchant): Reduced uses to 1(from 2) in normal mode, also reduced the damage a bit. Madness stays with 2 uses.
Dementia: Reduced damage a bit, and Amnesia (added card) has vanish.
Mass Hysteria: reduced damage and charges applied.
Phantom Echoes: Reduced jumps to 1(from 2) in normal mode.
Enfeeble: Reduced charges applied.
Knight / Dark Knight
Perfect Parry (enchant): Reduced uses to 1(from 3) in normal and to 2 (from 3) in madness mode.
Knights's Pride: Reduced damage and damage based on evasion charges.
Grand Cross, holy & shadow versions: Reduced the damage and damgesides a bit 1 in all the versions.
Godly Strength: Gain bless based on the monster sanctify charges x0.5 in normal and x0.8 in madness mode, also reduced the power charges by 1.
UnGodly Stength: Changed to be like Godly Strenght but it works with monster dark charges.
Stronghold: Reduced block to 70(from 80) in normal and to 85(from 90) in madness mode.
Champion Guts was affected by these changes and his cards were adjusted accordingly.
Angel / Dark Angel
Divine Protection (enchant): Now triggers at 10%(from 15%) in normal and at 15%(from 20%) in madness, also reduced the bless charges to 7(from 9).
Celestial Wrath (enchant): Now grants powerful instead of bless when triggered, reduced damage to 28(from 36) in normal and sanctify charges applied by 2.
Abyssal Wrath (enchant): Reduced damage to 28(from 36) in normal and dark charges applied by 2.
Blasphemy / Heresy: Reduced the base damage.
Purify: Reduced dispel to 2(from 3) in normal and to 3(from 4) at madness mode.
Sacred Ceremony: reduce the bless granted to 2(from 3) in normal.
Sanctuary: reduced the vitality granted to 2(from 3) in normal and to 3(from 4) in madness mode.
Champion Martina was affected by these changes and his cards were adjusted accordingly.
Dawn / Dusk
Dawn Punishment / Dusk Punisher (enchants): Reduced damage, Sanctify/Burn and Dark/Chill charges reduced to 3(from 4) in normal mode.
Law of Light (enchant): Removed the suffer sanctify when using a card.
Law of Darkness (enchant): Reduced the shield applied when using a card.
Ivory Tower / Obsidian Towe: Reduced the Area block granted. Also reduced the bless and powerful charges in madness mode.
Herald of Dawn / Herald of Dusk: Reduced the vitality charges gained.
Shield Slam: Reduced the base damage.
Armored Steel: Block gain reduced to double the boss block(from Tripe) in normal, reduced the mitigate and reinforced charges gained.
Lord Hanshek
Shadow clones, Wither: Reduced damage a bit, Reduced the heal received per damage done for 200%(from 300%) in normal and for 250%( from 300%) in madness, reduced vulnerable charges applied.
Shadow clones, Consume: Increased the fire damage taken by the shadow to 160(from 120) in normal and to 200(from 160).
Dark Cremation: Reduced the base damage.
Disintegrate: reduced the base damage.
Lord Hanshek was affected by changes in other cards shared with other monsters, like Wither or Gravity Well.
Archon Nhir
Apotheosis (enchant): Reduced the resist bonus to 35%(from 50%) in normal and to 40%(from 50%) in madness, reduced the shield gained on damaged to 8(from 16) in normal and to 13(from 16) in madness mode.
Anathema (enchant): Reduced the resist bonus to 35%(from 50%) in normal and to 40%(from 50%) in madness.
Abstraction (enchant): Reduced the resist bonus to 35%(from 50%) in normal and to 40%(from 50%) in madness. Removed the evasion gained on damaged.
Divine Punishement: Reduced the base damage, in madness increased the damage bassed on bless to x1.5(from x1).
Crushing Darkness: Reduced the damage based on block to x0.3(from 0.5) in normal and to x0.4(from 0.6) in madness, also reduced the dark charges applied by 2.
Corruption: Reduced the damge and poison application based on regeneration to x0.5(from 1) in madness and to x1(from 1.5) in madness mode.
Lethargy: Reduced the damage and insane charges application based on vitality to x1(from 1.5) in madness mode.
Ethereal: Curse charges redcution changed to 40%(from 50%) in normal and to 50%(from 60%) in madness, also reduced the buffer charges gained by 2.
Shadow Clone: Removed Consume card (now the add won't heal or dispel the boss) added a new card to the shadow, Dark Constraint.
Shadow Clone: Dark Outburst explosion card moved to round 6(from 5) in normal mode.
Bug fixes
- Fixed the interaction between the enchantment "Phoenix" and the item "Scroll of Resurrection" activating both at the same time. Now, the enchantment will have priority and the Scroll will not be consumed on the same death.
- Fixed the "Endless bag" item that was not working properly when some specific cards were used last.
- Fixed the "Mirror of Kalandra" not duplicating some of the enchantments casted.
- Fixed the "Restart combat on defeat" settings option, not saving its state between game sessions.
- Modified the autoend function to ensure the game waits for cards that are drawn before passing the turn.
- And much more minor fixes that have been reported.
That's all for now.
if you like the game and you haven't done it yet. Remember to leave a review on steam, it helps us a lot.
As always, thanks to all of you for your support, feedback and understanding.