Hi Adventurers,
Our plan this season is to continually expand the Random Dungeons system to work with more and more locations. With that in mind, we have now applied the system to the Inferno map. Adventurers must now explore and traverse the modified modules of Inferno to find the Ghost King’s lair.
We have also decided to adjust the matchmaking pools based on the result of recent player behavior. The continuous matchmaking (CMM) system has greatly improved player agency when it comes to risk/reward decisions in the dungeons. However, as a side-effect of the new risk/reward relationship, the current gear-score divisions have started having the opposite effect of what we intended. Instead of serving as stepping stones for newer players, the lower gear score divisions have become killing grounds with bloodthirsty players having little to lose.
We want to rebalance the risk/reward factor and return a sense of danger and decision making when assessing combat situations in the dungeons. We don’t want the default decision for players to simply run headlong into battle. Therefore, we have decided to test the removal of the lower gear-score lobbies in their respective Normal and HR matchmaking pools. We feel that this change is reasonable since players now have more agency than ever to get out of sticky situations without gear-score being the deciding factor.
We still want to foster new players as they learn the ropes in the more dangerous dungeons. The previous gear-score divisions served as a poor way of on-ramping new players. Instead, we will now start testing a separate matchmaking pool for newer players. We’ll continue to adjust these new matchmaking pools to give ALL players a good balance of risk, reward, and progression.
On the balance front, we have made improvements to lesser used class skills. Please note that the current Winter Holiday Event will end after maintenance on January 23rd. Jolly Nicholas will be leaving so be sure to use your Candycanes and Gingerbread Cookies soon! Finally, we have implemented the platform migration feature for legacy Blacksmith users who wish to migrate to a mainstream platform. We thank you for your patience and see you in the dungeons!
Bugfixes:
- Fixed an issue where the buff effect of the Bard's music could accidentally disappear.
- Fixed an issue where Bard's music buff effects could remain after the buff ended.
- Fixed an issue where game stuttering could occur when Sorcerer Apex of Sorcery is equipped.
- Fixed an issue where the Sorcerer's Electric Dash could be used to exit the map.
- Fixed an issue where the displayed cooldown time in the spells UI did not properly take into account the effects from the ‘Time Distortion’perk.
- Fixed an issue where after using Druid Shapeshift, the selection UI would not appear.
- Fixed an issue where a Druid could take excessive damage and die instantly when Shapeshifting into a large animal near a Spike Trap.
- Fixed an issue when using the Cleric's Locusts Swarm, the effect could appear in a different location than where it was actually used.
- Fixed an issue where the target hit by the Ranger Forceful Shot would not be pushed back.
- Fixed an issue where Falchion’s attack range could misalign with the actual collision trajectory.
- Fixed an issue where the visual effects of the Giant Worm would persist even after it died.
- Fixed an issue where the Crossbow's visual effect would persist even after the Frost Skeleton Crossbowman died.
- Fixed an issue where playing Bard's Shriek of Weakness against the Skeleton Warlord could apply a debuff to enemies or crystals outside its range.
- Fixed an issue where the Frost Imp could disappear or spawn in a strange location when it teleported.
- Fixed an issue where the Demon Berserker would bounce and remain floating in the air after dying.
- Fixed an issue with sound playing improperly in certain areas of the Ruins.
- Fixed an issue where both skill and spell cooldowns would recover when moving to another floor.
- Fixed an issue where the Marvelous Chest could spawn in a location other than the Crypt boss room.
- Fixed an issue where some random dungeon modules in the Crypt could generate rooms without exits.
- Fixed an issue in the Inferno Death Platforms module where monsters could get stuck in the player spawn room entrance and prevent entry.
- Fixed an issue where characters could become stuck in certain locations in the Inferno Castle Corner module.
- Fixed an issue in the Inferno Death Altar module where monsters would be trapped upon spawning.
- Fixed an issue where Inferno monsters could not climb the Death Platform ramp.
- Fixed an issue where skull ornaments would appear in a non-intended locations in the Inferno.
- Fixed an issue where you could escape through the rope escape route in the Ice Abyss without using the rope by using Electric Dash.
- Fixed an issue where the cooldown times of skills and spells would not match the displayed times when moving to the next floor.
- Fixed an issue where other actions could be performed while using the rope escape.
- Fixed an issue where the Goblin Recovery would not work when a player died while a teammate escaped normally.
- Fixed an issue where if you died more than once in the same session, the Dungeon Recovery would only trigger once.
- Fixed an issue where Dungeon Recovery items would be awarded to the character that was logged on rather than the character that actually lost the item.
- Fixed an issue where party members' lobby skins would not display properly when the party leader changed the lobby skin.
- Fixed an issue where the lobby skin would not display properly when trying to change back to the default skin.
- Fixed an issue where a party invite could be sent to a user who set their current status to ‘offline’.
- Fixed an issue where audio device settings could become out of sync with the Windows sound settings.
- Fixed an issue where the character name would not be visible on the leaderboard for users who had not played the previous season.
- Fixed an issue where the rank icon would not appear on the leaderboard from previous seasons.
- Fixed an issue where helmet items would be equipped as default items to certain races that cannot equip helmets.
- Fixed an issue where some users would be restricted from using the Marketplace even though 72 hours had passed since purchasing Legendary Status.
Balance Changes:
Fighter
- Fighter's Breakthrough duration increased from 10 to 12 seconds and also grants 7 additional movespeed.
- Fighter's Adrenaline Rush grants a movespeed bonus of 5%.
- Fighter's Taunt duration has been increased from 8 to 10 seconds, and the PDR/MDR bonus has been increased from 10% to 12%.
- Fighter's Shield Slam damage increased from 25 to 45, and the slow duration penalty applied to the target increased from 2 to 3 seconds.
- Fighter's Spell Reflection duration changed from 3 to 5 seconds and the player gains a 5% MDR bonus while active.
Barbarian
- Barbarian's Blood Exchange now works based on damage dealt rather than maximum health.
Rogue
- Rogue's Smoke Pot count changed from 3 to 2 and now refills while resting at a campfire.
- Rogue's Caltrop count changed from 4 to 3 and now refills while resting at a campfire.
Cleric
- Cleric's Judgement casting speed changed from 1.25 to 1.0.
Items
- Rest and Campfire Rest now restores a skill’s cooldown by 1s/2s per tick respectively.
- Weapon damage for the Horseman's Axe and Hatchet have been adjusted.
Game Updates:
- Normal dungeons now have a single gear-score range of 0-124.
- High-roller dungeons now have a single gear-score range of 125+
- Experimental ‘Rookie’ matchmaking system for all modes and dungeons.
- The ‘Random Dungeon’ system has now been applied to the Inferno.
- The stairs in the Inferno River module have been changed to ramps.
- ‘Additional Memory Capacity’ and ‘Memory Capacity Bonus’ can now be added with the socket system.
- Arena Season Start Date (2025/01/24 00:00 UTC) announced.
- Arena ‘Warlord’ rank icon has been updated.
- Added new ‘Studded Wyvern Leather’ crafted item.
- Added new Ranger skill ‘Purge Shot’.
- Added new Druid perk ‘Lifebloom Aura’.
- Improved the Arena MMR calculation method.
- Improved the flow when exiting a dungeon.
- Updated the Hatchet’s attack animation and collision sockets.
- Platform link provided to legacy Blacksmith users to allow them to migrate their account to a mainstream platform.