Greetings, fellow mercs and Happy Halloween to you all!
It has been a while since my last update to the game, so I'm thrilled to share some news of the new content. As I approach the completion of the final missions in the game, I've had to allocate time to refine and revamp certain troublesome features. This preview doesn't include everything coming in CU05, but it does incorporate some essential elements. Let's dive right in.
SKILL TREE CHANGES
Based on a common request from numerous players, a solution was needed for the surplus skill points without introducing more skills into their active set. To address this, I've overhauled the passive nodes that previously awarded HP based on skill usage frequency. This system had proven confusing for new players and lacked the desired flexibility.
Under the new system, each class's skill tree now includes 15 manually adjustable HP nodes, each with 6 tiers. Consequently, this change introduces an additional 90 skill points per class, culminating in a total of 450 skill points across all classes.
Moreover, the total number of skill points obtainable per class has been increased from 60 to 120.
LAB - ARMORY
Another common request was to allow a way to upgrade the item level of unique weapons. Rather than focusing on unique weapons alone, I've implemented a new Lab station named the Armory.
This new Armory supersedes the previously existing Ammo Scavenger, Field Tech, and Demolitionist Lab components. Notably, it is unlocked at an earlier stage, right after the completion of the 5th mission, Military Truck. Following this, new Lab upgrade cards will start to drop, focusing on the weapons that were used to secure killing blows, similar to the drops from other Lab stations.
Armory upgrade cards will drop on all missions and come in 5 rarity variants for a total of 50 new potential cards covering all weapon types.
Using these points, players can elevate any weapon within the same category to a higher item level, resulting better stats. Furthermore, this process raises the item level cap for future weapon drops of the same category, including those sold by the camp trader.
In tandem with these adjustments, the item gear equip level requirement has been removed, as well as a full rebalance of weapon scaling and their trade values. Players will now have the capability to equip weapons with item levels far surpassing those of their mercs.
it's worth noting that the earned Armory points carry over to new saves, ensuring that subsequent playthroughs offer a substantial advantage with stronger weapons available earlier on.
REWORKED RECRUITMENT MECHANIC
After acknowledging the less-than-intuitive nature of the previous mercenary recruitment process, it became imperative to revamp it, especially following a review of many let's play videos. Completing new mission locations for the first time will now automatically grant a randomly selected new recruit. Recruit are still purchased using your reputation points. Ramon has undergone an overhaul as well, enabling him to offer a discount on the reputation points needed to recruit new mercs, up to 90% off. His points are now refundable and can be utilized for other survivors.
NEW SURVIVORS
Two New survivors can now be found, offering a range of unique powerful consumables, only granted by these characters.
OTHER
- New missions (region locations), to be revealed in a future post.
- New weapon cards.
- New gadgets and accessories.
- New consumable cards.
- New achievements.
- Many balance tweaks.
- As usual, the update will contain a number of critical bug fixes.
ETA
I'm looking to release this update around the later part of November, hopefully before Thanksgiving,
Please stay tuned and consider leaving a brief review of the game, as it greatly helps in its discovery.
Thank you for playing Dead Grid!
--Paul