Hey Ponderers!
Wow, you folks are seriously amazing. OoC has hit its All-Time Peak of 1700 players in the last few days, on a branch of the game that is in beta! I was not expecting this level of turnout. Its incredible to be on the receiving end of the comments and feedback, so thank you!!
My plan right now going forward is to release periodic patches, every week or every two weeks on Thursday until the game is mostly bug-free and the patch is fully out. This means I'll likely release rituals in pieces for those that want to try that out too.
In this patch, some note-worthy things:
- Concepts slightly reworked -- Understanding Capacity removed. You can add as many concept levels as you wish (up to mastery level), but at an increasing inefficiency.
- *The release version of Concepts didn't feel quite right to me--understanding capacity didn't really make sense with the ability to do multiple concepts at the same time. This version introduces cost inefficiencies into concepts, making them harder to earn, and makes parallel concepts make much more sense.*
- Changes to the elemental augment glyphs, making [Surged] and [Scholar] a more viable early-game choice, and making it slightly more awkward to use [Primary].
- *Early game storm just doesn't feel that good and spell combos are cool, so lets get that going more easily! Originally elemental glyphs had 2 spell-weight cost since I though they would be OP. We'll see if they are too strong or not.*
- The reductive concepts reducing attribute costs to 0 has been fixed.
- Resources NaN'ing due to overflow is fixed.
- Automated Crafting now has a generous maximum to avoid massive 1-ticks.
- Small buffs to alchemy while I slightly rework them.
In the next patch or so:
- Looking to rework Harvesting in a fashion similar to Concepts. Looking at limiting what you can grow simultaneously. More interesting plants? We'll see.
- Looking to buff alchemy and slightly rework it, maybe giving it an output level like spells. Still working this out.
I'm hearing lots about:
- Research costs being too difficult to hit. I think research costs are fun part about research, mini-challenges that require producing a significant amount of one resource. The exponential nature of OoC makes this hard to balance correctly, so I'll keep an eye on it. This patch introduces Attribute Cost reduction from Reserve levels affecting research costs, so things like Expert Augments should be much easier to hit.
- UI being complex. I feel this one, and with v0.6.0 I just decided to say "screw it" and go all out. There is a lot going on in this version and the interface suffers a bit for it. But, in my experience, UIs like this take implementation before they can be refined. So if you have any more suggestions, I'd love to hear them!
-- Balance --
General:
- Alchemy and Concept equip time from 2s -> 0.25s
- Equipment equip time from 10s -> 4s
- Spell equip time from 2s -> 1s
- Resource [Attribute Cost] Reduction now affects research costs.
- Group Attributes now use exponential math for certain components to try to match their correct scaling. Notably [Reductive] concept power from mental power should closer match the bonus you get from [Optimization]
Alchemy:
- Instance scaling for all alchemy from x1.75 Power -> x1.80
Attributes:
- Concept-buffing attributes reorganized and rescaled for the new concept rework.
- [Assembly] self-scaling from x1.01 -> x1.02
Concepts:
- No longer scale in cost per advancement.
- No longer have a usage cost.
- Now have a max usage equivalent to its own Mastery Level.
- Per Instance scaling from +40% speed per understanding cost -> x1.25 Cost and x1.80 Speed per instance.
- This means every instance of a concept is exponentially faster, but also costs exponentially more.
Consumables:
- Resource potions power/level increased from x1.75 -> x1.80
- Quality potions power/level increased from x1.04 -> x1.05
- Augment potion power/level increased from x1.08 -> x1.10
- *Small Alchemy and Consumable buffs while I make alchemy better.
- [Wizards Tonic] Charm power increased x1.15 -> x1.18
Glyphs:
- [Surged] usage cost 2 -> 1
- [Surged] power x1.25 -> x1.10
- [Surged] critical effect bonus removed.
- *I've wanted to improve going early expert storm route, and surged is a massive restriction to making fun storm setups in the early game.*
- [Scholar] usage cost 2 -> 1
- [Scholar] power x1.25 -> x1.10
- [Scholar] xp bonus x1.40 -> x1.2
- [Primary] usage cost 2 -> 3
- [Primary] power x1.35 -> x1.45
- [Primary] special +20% -> +25%
Research:
- All Expert Researches spell-type specific power bonus from x1.03 -> x1.02
- [Expert Wizardry] cantrip bonus from x1.05 -> x1.08
- [Elemental Resonance] elemental resonance bonus from x2.0 -> x2.25
- *This raises the x2 storm bonus from x4 storm-cantrip power -> x4.75*
- [Improved Elemental Resonance] elemental resonance bonus from x1.25 -> x1.15
- [Improved Study] no longer gives Understanding Capacity.
- [Improved Study] now gives x1.25 Concept Xp.
- [Improved Study] completion time improved x0.70 -> x0.50
- [Mind Mastery] Concept Timescaling reduced -2% -> -1%
- [Parallel Minds] no longer gives Understanding Capacity.
- [Research Scholar] most requirements removed, set up to be earned right away if you desire it.
- *Like the Surged glyph, Scholar can make interesting spells and combinations and I want it to be player-ready earlier.*
Spells:
- [Emblem of Formation] base level from 9 -> 4, and adjusted costs/effects accordingly.
- *Now if you rush to Wizardry 8 you'll be rewarded with a strong spell you can actually cast.*
- [Ralochs Cube] Elemental resource bonus removed.
- [Ralochs Cube] Innate power +30% -> +25%
- [Ralochs Cube] Now affects Reserved attributes again at power +25%
- [Ralochs Cube] Psionic power removed.
- [Ralochs Cube] Mental resource gained x1.4 -> x1.32
- [Ralochs Cube] Now affects energetic resources gained at x1.32
-- Fixes --
- Fixed a math bug which caused reductions to eventually set attributes to 0-cost.
- Fixed an overflow math bug that was causing NaNs with resources.
- Automated Crafting now has a generous maximum based on resource capacities, preventing 1-tick mega boosts.
- Removed more hidden requirements on spells and alchemy.
- Fixed several numbers that were not being reset on game leave and enter.
- Enchanments on Attributes are now sorted by name.
- Loadout Names now have a max char limit of 24.