Dear Travellers of the Otherworld!
The time has come! The last Content Patch for Drova is close. And today our Open Beta for Patch 1.3 begins!
With the Beta we want to give you a chance to give us Feedback early about the new content. We hope that with your Feedback about balancing and the reported Bugs (if you find some) we can have an even better full release of the Patch. Since it is still in development, don't be surprised if some animations or sound effects don't seem to be finished just yet (or if they are even missing).
Also the french localization isn't available just yet. It will be included in the full release of the patch though.
We've got some additional cool news for you: We have created a Cay-Plushie in cooperation with Makeship. The campaign for the Plushie will start soon. You’ll find more infos down below.
Last but not least we have prepared an Update-Video for you in which Chris presents the latest changes and additions of the Patch. As always the video was recorded in German but English subtitles are available.
The Open Beta - How to Play
To activate the Beta you need to right click in your Library on Drova and pick Properties. There you pick "Betas" and choose in the Drop Down Menu "Beta Participation" where you then have to pick the Version called “beta_patch_1_3”.
You can play the Beta with all your savegames but savegames created in the Beta are not compatible with previous versions of the game.
When 1.3 is released, the saves you used in the beta will work again. If you want to be on the safe side, you can create backup copies of your savegames. Depending on your operating system, you can find these at the following locations:
Win: C:\Users\\AppData\LocalLow\Just2D\Drova\Sprint_24\Hero_XX\Savegame_XX
Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/Just2D/Drova/Sprint_24\Hero_XX\Savegame_XX
Linux: ~/.config/unity3d/Just2D/Drova/Sprint_24/Hero_XX/Savegame_XX
If you followed the instructions accordingly, Drova should update quickly and you'll be able to start right away!
Cay Campaign
Many of you fell in love with a small little piglet in the Forest Primeval. We got so many requests for a Cay Plushie and some of you even started a poll on our Discord for that. We loved the idea so we started looking around right away.
In cooperation with Makeship we created a Plushie for Cay! The Plushie will be declared as funded once at least 200 preorders have been made. So get ready, the campaign will start together with the release of Patch 1.3 on March 28.
Here's already a link for the campaign
What's new?
Quite some of you wished for more content for later parts of the game. For the new Patch we took that feedback serious and added fresh lategame content. And yes, of course there was more feedback and all of the new content and changes in the following list are based on your feedback!
WARNING! Some of the changes contain heavy spoilers. If you did not play through Drova just yet and you don't want to get spoiled you should REALLY skip this part!
The Flesh Rises
This is the biggest change we ever made since the release of Drova. The description is vague on purpose as you shall get a chance to discover on your own what this is all about:
Uncover secrets of the Bygones. How did the Red Moor come to life and what did the Bygones do there back in the days? Follow the hints and you will find something huge but will you be able to follow the path till the very end?
The Old Magic
Even before the Rune Magic of the Bygones was discovered there was Magic in Drova. The Divinities shared their Runes with some of their closest human beings which allowed them to cast Magic in a natural way. Find the hidden secrets of the original inhabitants of Drova and discover their magic!
Many of you were sad that Magic comes in quite late in Drova. That's mostly due to the fact that we developed Drova as a game with a close combat focus in which your resources to cast magic build up by hitting enemies with your weapons.
We always wanted Drova to feel grounded. That's why the first things you can learn are of physical nature till you later get your Runestone to cast Magic.
We do understand though that some of you want to have that Mage fantasy in Drova right away. For that we have added a new spell category which will allow you to cast magic even without a Runestone. These spells are influenced by the Mind attribute which means investing in it early can give you some advantages.
We hope that this brings those players who want to play a mage closer to their fantasy. For us this was the best way to implement it into the world of Drova. Let us know how your experiences are with that addition.
Chapter 3 Changes
Yep. We've got tons of Feedback regarding Chapter 3. Many had the feeling that they couldn't act like they wanted or how their character would have acted. Or they were shocked after the bossfight and what tragedy was caused afterwards.
The results and topics caused by the expedition are an important point within the story of the game. It changes everything and gives a twist and it allows the player to understand their faction and their actual goals. And it allows the player to question the decisions.
Additionally if we added an option to not catch the Divinity, that'd have massive influences on later parts of the game. We would need to add a massive chunk of additional content for Chapter 4, adding a completely new story. Which... well, means that it'd also change the game in more ways than we can even imagine.
And yet, we do understand those who didn't like how the events turned out. We will keep that in mind for future stories told by us. This helps us to plan out things a bit better in the future and include alternative ways right from the very beginning.
We still took a look at the expedition once again and changed a couple of things which should make the events a bit less shocking and maybe even a bit more understandable.
Now you have the option to question the events way more during the Expedition itself. Also reactions of people have been adjusted when you warned them. Together with Diemo you can now also pre-warn the Divinity and inform it about the events which are about to happen. That even has an influence on the fight itself.
We also added a dialogue with Reija in the Library to give you another option to reflect and think about the events in Chapter 3.
A new Dungeon of the Bygones
New notes appeared about a ruin of the Bygones! The Bygones are known for their experiments with Rune Magic to discover new ways of using it. It seems that they worked on a way to improve warriors with Magic...
Search for the ruins and face magically improved warriors. Only by doing so you can discover the secrets hidden in there.
Weapons & Magic
Many of you who played a warrior disliked the fact that they had not enough spells in the lategame to play the kind of warrior they wanted to be. Maybe those having that warrior fantasy don't want to throw fireballs or energy strikes but just want to hit someone with an Axe right in the face.
Since many events in Drova rely on the Runestone and the option to get access to that Magic, we have added new spells which are based on weapon types and add magical damage based on your weapon and type of weapon.
The new spells can be discovered in Chapter 4.
Red Moor Caves
Another feedback we got was that most of our caves and dungeons use the same graphics. We have now added a new tileset for the Red Moor which should give you some variety for the underground areas of the game and that you will have the feeling to be in the Moor even while in a cave.
Additional Changes
Here is a list of other changes we made and added to the game.
- A new spell was added which has nothing to do with casting magic on a Weapon and is also not related to the Old Magic
- New Discover-Options - A bunch of new objects can be found and contain information when take a closer look
- Treasure Maps are marked as found
- Credits are now played slower and can be speeded up by pressing a key
- Nests of flies have a new animation when not destroyed
- The laughing animation was reworked and should look better on all NPCs
- In English smirking has been reduced (and replaced with other words here and there)
Balancing
- Focus Form: Decreased time to max burn rate from 30 to 15 seconds.
- Kick: Reduced strength scaling by 50%.
- Magic Missle: Increased damage from 200 to 250.
- Rune Spear: Duration increased from 20 to 30 seconds.