Major Content Update 1.4 - Character revamp!

Hey Everyone!

It's been a while. Hope you're all having a good holiday!

This update is pretty major, and is the first of two updates intended to really overhaul the game into something great. With this one I focused on the characters and items, but also did some work on enemies and a lot of QoL features and requests. The next update will go further into itemization, enemies, gamemodes, maps, and QoL.

This update specifically revamped the existing 10 characters to make them much more interesting and more clearly defined and unique from one another. Their passive abilities are no longer just stat changes, but actual mechanics. Their masteries have also been updated to further build into these new passives.

Here's what the Ranger looks like now:

And while I was at it.. I added 10 more characters, that I'm calling "alternative timeline characters" - basically a "what if?" type situation where each character gets an alternative that plays completely differently. For instance, the skeleton king Weyrick is playable in his before-undeath form. Many of these new characters are heavily specialized and have a mix of more complicated and more powerful mechanics. Something for everyone, I think!

Here's one of the new characters:

I also added enemy behaviors, so they don't all just endlessly rush you. I've nicked some stuff from Chronicon such as Warping enemies, Cowards that run away, etc. Some new stuff includes enemies that move faster while you turn your back to them, enemies that can pass through or fly over walls, and a couple other things. I play on expand on this with the next update, pending feedback!

Additionally I added 9 new weapons across all rarities and elements, tweaked some existing items, and added a tag system. If you've played Chronicon they'll be very familiar too. Stuff like "Thrown", "Chained", etc are added as tags on weapons, and the new character Passives and Masteries interact with these in different ways. In the next update I plan to expand on this in meaningful ways, too!

I've also done a bunch of work with sounds, as the game lacked a lot of audio feedback, adding death sounds to enemies, trigger sounds to weapons - etc. Now it may perhaps be a bit too much, so I added several more sound sliders to control exactly what you'll hear. Pretty neat, if you ask me.

There's also a bunch of QoL, Requests, Fixes, and more.

You can find the full, very lengthy, notes below.

Anyway - thank you very much for your reports, ideas, and continued support! I am very eager to hear what you think of this update. I'll see you in the new year with the next one. Thank you! -- Squarebit

==== 1.400 ====

ACHIEVEMENTS:

• Added 20 new Achievements for collecting the new stuff!

GENERAL GAMEPLAY BALANCE:

• The first two maps - Castle Garden and Catacombs, now give enemies a health and damage penalty to make it easier to make initial progress and get some early unlocks.
• From the third map (Ancient Forest) and forwards, scaling works as before.
• In addition, maps from the third and forwards now also reward more gold.
• Seasonal maps also award a little more gold overall.
• Added some iframes (invulnerability) after being on a chest/upgrade menu.
• Enemy stats and behavior has been rebalanced and partly revamped (more details below).
• Knockback is now a little better and more visually clear, as enemies travel backwards slower, and are also knocked up into the air a bit.

CHARACTERS:

• All characters have been revamped and 10 more has been added! REVAMP:
  ALL:
  • Base Defense has been increased to 3, up from 1, to better balance the Defense stat.
  • Many characters have less than 3 Defense to signify their, well, lack of actual armor.
  • Overall most characters have gone up in Defense, however!

  FOOTMAN:

  • Now deals 15% increased damage with all Common rarity Weapons.
  • He gains +10% Experience and +10 Health.
  • His Mastery no longer adds a thrown spear, but instead increases the Attack Speed of all Common rarity Weapons.

  RANGER:

  • Now has a 15% chance to attack twice with all Projectile weapons.
  • She keeps her old passive stats.
  • Her Mastery now increases damage of all Projectile Weapons and adds some Damage to Distant Enemies.

  STORMCALLER:

  • His base passive is now what the Mastery was - dealing extra damage when his weapon didn't chain all the way. However it applies to all weapons with the Chained tag (4 in total).
  • He keeps his previous passive stats, but no longer gets a Damage bonus.
  • His Mastery now adds +2 Weapon Hits (extra chains).

  VENGEFUL GHOST:

  • She can now Dash through walls and objects unhindered.
  • She keeps her previous passive stats, but also loses 10 Health.
  • Her Mastery now increases damage of all Dash Weapons and adds some Damage to Nearby Enemies.

  WAR MAIDEN:

  • She will now trigger an extra attack on any Thrown Weapon she has when avoiding damage (Evade).
  • She keeps her previous passive stats and gains an extra +2% chance to Evade.
  • Her Mastery now grants even more chance to avoid damage and some healing when dashing.

  WIZARD:

  • He now deals 10% increased damage with all Bounce weapons each time they Bounce.
  • He keeps his previous passive stats.
  • His Mastery now adds +2 Weapon Hits (extra bounces).

  NOMAD:

  • She now deals 10% increased damage with Sentry and Companion Weapons.
  • She keeps her previous passive stats.
  • Her mastery remains the same. (Start with Dancing Blade)

  MERCENARY:

  • He now has his old mastery as his base effect - gain Healing and Experience from Gold pickups.
  • He keeps his previous passive stats and gains +10 Health.
  • His Mastery now increases damage with all Melee and Thrown Weapons.

  FUNGIMANCER:

  • He now deals 15% increased damage with all Ground Weapons.
  • He keeps his previous passive stats and gains +15% Movement Speed.
  • His Mastery now makes all Movement Weapons require half the distance to trigger (Fungimancer Shrooms is a Movement Weapon so you'll plant shrooms twice as frequently).

  KILLBOT:

  • He now has his Damage value increased by his Defense value.
  • His passive stats are changed, and no longer grant Thorns, and has Movement Speed penalty.
  • His Mastery now gives a slow effect permanently to all enemies.

  NEW CHARACTERS:

  • The new characters are what I'm calling "alternative timeline characters" - vaugely based on the current characters if things had gone a little differently.
  • The unlock them, you must complete a challenge with each of the characters they are linked to.
  • These characters are: COMMANDER:
    • Alternative to FOOTMAN.
    • He has increased Health, Critical Hit Damage, and Dash stats.
    • He starts with the Wyrmslayer Weapon, and triggers an extra attack with that weapon when dashing.
    • His mastery extends his extra attack on dash to most Weapons.

    SCOUT:

    • Alternative to RANGER.
    • Less Health, but increased Movement Speed, Critical Hit Chance, and +1 Extra Projectiles.
    • Starts with the new Frost Arrow Weapon, and powerups last thrice as long.
    • His Mastery grants 5% Pickup Radius each Level.

    WINDCALLER:

    • Alternative to STORMCALLER.
    • Increased Dash Range, and +Damage to Distant Enemies.
    • Starts with the Storm Rod Weapon, and gains 3% Weapon Duration each Level.
    • His Mastery also adds another 3% Range each Level.

    BURNING SOUL:

    • Alternative to VENGEFUL GHOST.
    • Less Health, but increased Damage to Nearby Enemies and Projectile Speed.
    • Starts with the Flame Orb Weapon, and gains Damage with all Elements each Level - if he has no active Prayers.
    • His Mastery increases the damage of Enhancement Weapons by 100%.

    WEYRICK (ALIVE):

    • Alternative to WAR MAIDEN.
    • Increased Health and Gold Found, with a slight Movement Speed penalty.
    • He starts with the Hate Crown Weapon and gains +Damage to Nearby Enemies each Level.
    • His Mastery increases the damage of all Aura weapons.

    LICH:

    • Alternative to WIZARD.
    • Has less Health, and a slight Movement Speed penalty..
    • Starts with the Bone Scythe Weapon, and all enemies are damaged equal to all healing recieved.
    • His Mastery halves the base cooldown of Dash.

    FUTURE NOMAD:

    • Alternative to NOMAD.
    • Has increased Movement Speed and Attack Speed.
    • Starts with the Gun Bot Weapon, and every 5 levels the Gun Pot summons and additional Bot.
    • Her Mastery adds +Extra Weapon Hits.

    ARENA CHAMPION:

    • Alternative to MERCENARY.
    • Increased Health, Knockback Strength, and Weapon Scale.
    • Starts with the Throwing Axe weapon, and may carry one additional Weapon, but one less Passive Item.
    • His Mastery adds Projectile Speed and Attack Speed each Level.

    LOOTA:

    • Alternative to FUNGIMANCER.
    • Has less health, but gains (loads of) +Item & Chest Quality, and some Movement Speed..
    • Has no starting weapon, and gains chests on levelups until selecting a weapon.
    • His Mastery lets him start with the Overlock Passive Item.

    TREEBOT:

    • Alternative to KILLBOT.
    • Has increased Health and Thorns.
    • Starts with the Thorn Snare Weapon, and gains more Thorns each level.
    • His Mastery lets him start with the Bramble Growth Passive Item at max rank.

BOSSES:

• Weyrick now pushes away and damages other monsters while spinning around.

ENEMY AI & SPAWNING:

• Enemy spawns are now more varied and will not exclusively spawn one enemy type at a time, but will also roll in some previously spawned enemies into the mix.
• Swarms now have a chance to slightly alter their movement patterns to include bobbing or weaving.
• Improved enemy pathing mechanics and added several different movement types and behaviours, rather than endlessly moving at a set pace.
• These include: Spectral:
  • Move through walls and obstacles unhindered, but now moves slower.
  • Ghost (Map 1)
  • Ice Spectre (Map 4)

  Warp:

  • Randomly teleport around while moving, but now also moves slower.
  • Wraith (Map 1)
  • Pixie (Map 3)
  • Gazer (Map 6)

  Statue:

  • Moves very slowly if you face them, moves quickly if you turn your back to them. Increased Health.
  • Gargoyle (Map 1)
  • Stumpy (Map 3)
  • Snowman (Christmas map)

  Jitter:

  • Moves very quickly, but in bursts.
  • Giant Spider (Map 2)
  • Snow Rat (Map 4)

  Flyer:

  • Moves over impassable terrain.
  • Roc (Map 5)
  • Pterrodyl (Map 6)

  Chaser:

  • Moves faster when further away from you.
  • Trog (Map 2)
  • Orc (Map 5)
  • Cerberus (Map 6)

  Coward:

  • Has a high chance to run away from you after striking you, and a small chance to run away after being struck by you.
  • Maggot (Map 2)
  • Rootling (Map 3)

WEAPONS & ITEMS:

• Added 9 new weapons:
  • Frost Arrow (common)
  • Hallowed Ground (common)
  • Poison Daggers (common)
  • Dragon Dash (common)
  • Screaming Skull (rare)
  • Pyre (rare)
  • Magnetic Orbs(epic)
  • Skeleton Archer (epic)
  • Holy Chains (epic)

• These are unlocked via different challenges of varying difficulty, except:
  • Skeleton Archer and Holy Chains are bought in the Scryer Tree.
  • Frost Arrow comes with one of the new Characters, and is available for all characters once its unlocked.
  • Poison Daggers is unlocked from the start for everyone.

• Added a new Weapon TAG system, further categorizing weapons and allowing special interactions, such as extra damage to a specific weapon Tag, etc.

• This will be expanded further in future content updates.

• Added Tags are:
  • Aura, Companion, Ground, Dash, Chained, Bounce, Projectile, Movement, Enhancement, Bombardment, Sentry, Thrown, Assault, and Special.

  GENERAL:

  • "Enhancement" Weapons (weapons that trigger on "attack", such as Splinter Fist) no longer trigger other on-attack stuff (double dipping).
  • "Enhancement" Weapons and on-attack Boons are now triggered more consistently across all other weapons, resulting in more attacks on average (as expected).

  QUAKE:

  • Now always attempts send at least one of the "lines" into the nearest enemy, rather than full random.

  TESLA ORB:

  • Now always tries to spawn near enemies rather than randomly in a radius around you, and will shoot lightning in random directions when not finding any targets within range.

  LIGHTNING AMULET:

  • Now moves clockwise around you rather than in an X shape since this pattern is easier to predict and play around.

  EMBERS:

  • Bounce speed is now affected by Projectile Speed, and their random movement is no longer affected by it (projectile speed unintentionally made them less accurate).
  • In addition, they have less sideways movement added to their bounces (also increasing accuracy).
  • Improved animation with some neat explosions.

  FLAME ORB:

  • The movement speed of the ORB is now affected by both Attack Speed and Projectile Speed (additively).
  • Can now summon multiple ORBS via the Extra Projectiles stat.
  • NOTE: The orb finishing its "evil pattern" counts as an attack and this is the trigger point for any on-attack stuff.

  ZAP:

  • Now affected by damage modifiers to element and weapon tags.

  FROST MINE:

  • Now affected by Range modifiers like Enchanted Lantern. I don't know why it wasn't.

  NITRO:

  • Buffed Projectile Speed to 15/30/45/60/75%, up from 10/20/30/40/50%. Brrrrt.

SCRYER TREE:

• Improved the layout by connecting some of the nodes differently, letting you bypass (most of) the expensive Mastery nodes that previously blocked paths. No fun in investing in a character you don't play to get to another!
• Added new Mastery Nodes for the new Alt. Timeline Characters.
• Updated existing Mastery Nodes for current characters (no need to re-buy them).
• Added two new item nodes:
  • Skeleton Archer
  • Holy Chains

• Added several more nodes for stats previously not accounted for:
  • Dash Cooldown
  • Dash Range

• And added more nodes of:
  • Healing From All Sources
  • Chance to Avoid Damage

• In total we have added 2 item nodes, 9 regular nodes and 10 Perks to the Scryer Tree.

SOUNDS:

• Added added many weapon trigger sounds and added death sounds to all enemies.
• Added more granular sound control by adding independent volume sliders for weapon triggers, weapon impacts, and enemy death sounds.

MISC & UI:

• The Eruption map mod now uses the classic explosion effect rather than the nuke effect.
• Added a vignette to the main menu.
• Added confirmations for exiting the game and returning to camp.
• Improved "Quick Cards" setting so some parts of the card animation are just skipped entirely.
• Gold is now visually awarded at Victory.
• Gold counter now pops when picking up gold. And when spending. I think.
• Added pointers to the Shrines in the basecamp if you haven't prayed at them. Yes, I should add a little tutorial as well. Soon?
• Added a summary of your mode/map/mods/prayers when hovering the Go! button on the Map Selectors.
• Enemies now animate faster if they move faster.
• Quick Cards is now enabled by default.

FIXES:

• Fixed Shrine upgrade achievements not popping until after doing a run or restarting the game.
• Fixed Swarm enemies often flying backwards (visual error only).
• Fixed Video Options backing not including all the options.
• Fixed some spots on several maps that were unreachable for enemies.
• Fixed issue where if you selected an item in a legendary chest and then banished it, the "Take " button wouldn't refresh, and sometimes cause a softlock.
• Fixed issue where some enemy skills would occasionally benefit from your Boons. Oops.
• Fixed character select screen updating/refreshing the info card too frequently and causing lower frames and more processing in the menu than needed.
• Fixed the Gravity Perk (Automatic Magnetic Orb Powerups) overwriting the duration of existing Magnetic Orb Powerups and thus shortening them.
• Fixed some ground effects like the Frost from Frost Mine overlapping stuff weirdly. Kind of fixed it anyway.
• Fixed a bug that let you set mapmops on the Regular Maps and have them carry over to Seasonal Maps. Maybe I'll let you take some mods on those maps later on.
• Fixed several enemies having visual bugs with their death animations.
• Fixed some UI card issues with Korean and Chinese languages.