Hello everyone,
I'm happy to announce the addition of an entirely new zone, the Wetlands! (along with some other fixes and changes)
Just like the Distended Caverns, the Wetlands will consist of 3 major dungeons (each having a quest and optional boss) and 1 boss dungeon.
**The Wetlands will be replacing the Distended Cavern as the first zone.
With those new bosses comes more loot! 24+ new unique items have been added that can be found throughout dungeons and from bosses.
I certainly expect to make more updates to the Wetlands zone in time (as with the Distended Caverns zone) but I felt like the zone was in a good enough place to get it out to players.
What's In Store
This puts the game at what I expect to be its halfway point regarding dungeons. I had originally planned to make 5 full zones, but I am heavily leaning towards 4 for the initial release. Maybe an expansion some day will introduce the 5th... :)
Ultimately, the idea for the game is to have 4 full zones to complete with steady progression in difficulty and loot. Once the first playthrough is completed, Hero mode will unlock, and all of the game will be able to be played again at a much harder difficulty. This will require you to really optimize your character and plan your encounters more thoroughly. Think Diablo 2 Hell mode, except there will only be Normal and Hero mode for Dungeoneer.
Not all of the details have been ironed out for Hero Mode, but the main idea is to test the player's limits with their builds and allowing for replayability, adding end game content with upgraded loot and abilities.
Additionally
With the addition of the Wetlands, the game has had some balancing changes and new additions to better match the flow of progression. As always, I'm sure I fixed a few more things here and there that I haven't listed here as well.
- All chests, barrels, and mobs will drop items up to their monster level, meaning higher level items can only drop in higher level zones
- Many items have had their item level changed and stats rebalanced
- Unique items have had their drop rate reduced and all items will drop less frequently
- Some quests have been reordered and have had their rewards and text changed.
- Completing a dungeon for the first time will no longer reward echoes. Instead, your character will gain 5 echoes every 2nd level, starting at level 3
- All mobs have had their stats somewhere rebalanced
- Some bosses have been rebalanced or have new/changed abilities
- 4 new combat abilities have been added
- The Distended Cavern zone is significantly darker
- Fixed an issue where thieves couldn't unlock Sturdy Lockboxes
I'm very excited to finally push out some new content to play through and I hope you do enjoy it.
Sincerely,
Alex