**Note: If your Mastery Levels for all classes were increased to 6 due to a bug in the previous patch, there is now an optional button on the title screen that allows you lower them all to any value you choose from 1-5.**
Huge balance patch! Here's a rundown of the philosophy behind this patch:
-There were a lot of cards that scaled way better than other cards, to the point that they were ruining the game's balance. I've rebalanced a lot of those cards. For example, Constellation Beast costs 5 energy, but as potentially a 12/12 it could deal around 19 damage for that 5 energy. (If you calculate out how many monsters it can kill as a 12/12, it could be around 19 damage.) That makes a card like Lightning Arrows that deals 4 for 4 damage seem useless. Cards like Constellation Beast had to be rebalanced so that other cards and strategies were playable, and so that monsters didn't need to be excessively huge to compensate. Constellation Beast still scales well, just not at a 5x multiplier.
-The game had a lot of A-Tier and S-Tier cards at Common. Fun for a couple of runs, but it got repetitive and lowered deck diversity. You could often grab 4-5 cards that were at least A-tier before your first battle, trivializing the run. If you got 3x Beetlemorph and 2x Enchanted Tome one run, and the next run you instead got 2x Beetlemorph and 3x Enchanted Tome, the runs felt very similar. And that happened all the time because those cards were at Common. Now with the changes below, like other deckbuilders, it's a lot more rare (and exciting) to grab awesome superpowered cards. Every card draft is more significant as a result, and card synergies are more rewarding.
-After I rebalanced the game based on the above two points, the game was too difficult. Those overpowered cards like Constellation Beast had been causing "monster inflation", i.e. they were driving up the stats of monsters who were trying to compete with them. (And failing... the overpowered cards still trivialized runs.) So after the rebalancing, I've made the last 2/3rds of the run easier. Every enemy has had almost all the stats of their monster cards reduced. So when you read the balance changes below, please note that the last 2/3rds of the run is significantly easier now!
The end result of these balance changes is: Less boring runs with overpowered decks, more strategic and tactical decisions, synergies matter more, and you'll be rewarded more for creative deckbuilding.
Note that the game is now much harder at the highest difficulty, about as hard as the highest difficulty of other roguelikes. This is intended, as the only reason it was so easy before was because a veteran player could identify all the overpowered cards and just throw them together for an easy win.
(By the way, Mastery 1 is just about the same difficulty level.)
New Content:
-13 new cards were added to the card pool: Backstab, Band of Heroes, Boulder Launch, Buckler, Byforthian Caesar, Cleanse, Council Mage, Gladiator, River Sage, and Shieldmage.
Enemy Changes:
-All enemies that spawn on Day 3 and above, after you defeat the Orc Warlord boss, have had their monster cards' stats reduced. As a typical example, Leptisaurs are now 4 for a 5/5 instead of 4 for a 6/6.
-Dungeon enemies now spawn 1 less points of monsters per turn on days 3+.
-Stone Golems now each have 2 more attack and health, but now lose 1 Attack per health lost.
Balance Changes:
(I was going to write explanations for each balance change, but they're basically all the same: these cards scaled too much better than other cards. Most of these cards still scale very well. Note that when analyzing Defenders, many Defenders on average can eventually deal total damage about equal to their attack + health. (Some less.) Also note that some Defenders who have never had their stats reduced from the tabletop Mage Tower have now had their stats reduced. Note that in tabletop Mage Tower the game defaults to 10-12 points of monsters per turn, whereas Call of Zadeus starts at 9, which is why these need to have lower stats before being upgraded.)
-Mana Eater lowered from a 3/4 to a 3/3.
-Royal Guard lowered from a 2/5 to a 2/4.
-Royal Treasury - Now instead of gaining gold equal to the number of your silver-bordered cards, only gains half that (rounded down.)
-Slay - Cost increased from 2 to 3.
-Bodysnatcher - Cost increased from 4 to 6. Health reduced from 5 to 4.
-Summon Reinforcements & Trade Routes - Now you can only choose to have them enter play with up to 3 Scheme counters, or up to 6 when upgraded. (Was 5 or 8 upgraded before.)
-Enchanted Tome - Now only draws 3 cards instead of 5.
-Constellation Beast - Now only gets +1/+1 per card gained instead of +2/+2, and can only gain a maximum of +5/+5 instead of +12/+12.
-Mercenary - Now a 2/3 instead of a 3/3.
-Stupefy - Cost increased to 4.
-Fireball - Now instead of dealing 3 damage per card discarded, it deals 2 damage +2 damage per card discarded.
-These cards were moved from Common to Uncommon: Perilous Shot, Stalwart Knight, Insight, Volley, Spectral Fish, Crossbowman, Assassin's Strike, Search, Enchanted Tome.
-Shooting Stars - Now instead of dealing damage equal to the cards gained, it deals half that amount, rounded down.
-Brotweird's Grimace - This will no longer appear as a card choice from cards like Astronomer, Lost Cities, and Starmap that let you grab a card from outside the game. (It can still can be bought like normal from towns/bazaars/etc.)
-Flameception - The opposite of Brotweird's Grimace... Flameception is no longer purchaseable or obtainable to add to your deck, but can still randomly appear for single-battle use from cards like Astronomer, Lost Cities, etc.
-Starmap - Now you pick from 10 cards instead of 20.
-Bow and Arrow - Cost increased from 3 to 6.
-Rage Mirror - Now adds an unplayable Spell Charcoal to your discard pile when played. (This is supposed to be a tactical utility card, not a card you grab five of because it's a freebie.)
-Mana Well - Now adds an unplayable Spell Charcoal to your discard pile when played. (Same reason as Rage Mirror.)
-Acolyte - Reduced from a 4/4 to a 3/3.
-Lost Cities now only gains 1 gold instead of 3 when you've gained 3 cards this battle.
-Marshknight reduced from 1/8 and 1/12 upgraded to 1/5 and 1/8 upgraded.
-The artifact War Banner now only gives +1 Attack to your Defenders instead of +2 Attack.
-The "Echo Shield" artifact was removed for now. The Achievement that unlocks it now instead gives 1 Bloodrune until it is replaced with something else.
-Toxic Flood no longer increases its Poison damage dealt from 2 to 3 when upgraded, but instead has its cost reduced from 7 to 5.
-Summon the Guard, which created three 1/3 Militia, now instead creates three 1/1 Militia.
-Brewmaster's Mark cost at the Bazaar increased from 600 to 750.
Other Gameplay Changes:
-+1 Health Regeneration after battle and on each new day at all Mastery levels.
-+1 Health Regeneration at Mastery 1.
-One Mine and one Guild Hall (buildings) were removed and replaced with an additional Blacksmith and Fountain (just to give more card upgrade and purge opportunities.)
-Magic Dust received at the start of the run and after a battle reduced at higher Mastery levels. (Allowed too much walking around to the point where the first one or two battles would be delayed forever.)
-Scorched Earth (the start-of-run boon) now only makes the first enemy have the size of its monster deck reduced, instead of the first two. (This boon was very powerful and made it so you didn't have to play the game for the first ~8 minutes which was boring.)
-Healing Herbs (the artifact you get from the Healer building) now only gives +1 life each turn for the first 5 turns, instead of on all turns. (Was trivializing battles and adding more "dead air" to the gameplay where you're playing a battle without much risk, especially if you grabbed two of these.)
-You now need 2 Coins (the trade resource) to skip a battle instead of 1. (There was just too much battle skipping to the point where you could practically explore the entire map within the first day.)
-Exalted Throne will now tell you what card you got in the game log.
Bug Fixes:
-Fixed a bug where duplicating a card at the Bazaar would not get rid of a Madness card in your deck.
-Fixed a bug where Contagion was counting as a Common card in some cases.
-Fixed a bug where Deep Dweller was counting as an Uncommon card in some cases.
-Fixed a bug where Magic Hammer and Platinum Anvil weren't purchaseable at the Bazaar.
-Fixed a bug where occasionally an enemy would appear visually as a red box.
-Fixed an issue where overlapping an equipment card would override overlapping other types of cards, making it hard to see what some cards do.
-Fixed an issue where the deck size warning for madness cards would appear on the Fountain screen, preventing you from seeing the "Back" button.
-Fixed a bug where Bribe's card reminder text said it removed 1 Scheme counter instead of 2.
-Thuridian Colossus was missing the text that indicated it could attack any number of times in a turn.
-Made it so cards would not appear behind the "incoming damage" graphic.
-Fixed a potential crash bug where Cosmigorius Tamer could crash the game if you played it on an empty monster board.
-Fixed a bug that would cause the Blacksmith to sometimes show the wrong stats on the "non-upgraded" card when comparing the non-upgraded version to the upgraded version.
-Fixed an issue where the game would show your Mastery Level stats on the character select screen even when you had no character selected, sometimes showing weird values.