A new version of Magic Research 2, version 1.3.2, is now out for everyone. Version 1.3.2 has many big changes. The biggest change is the addition of a new game mode: "Classic Mode" (formerly known as "alternate Land"), where furniture no longer consumes land. After updating, as long as you haven't completed a certain specific late-game Storyline (Blessed Land), you should be getting a prompt after you retire to choose your game mode.
There are also a ton of other changes, from several quality of life / UI improvements, to sweeping balance changes to the early game and to some parts of the late / post-game.
Full patch notes below. They are very long this time!
New features and changes
- Re-brand "Alternate Land" as "Classic Mode" (the default Land mechanic is now "Modern Mode"), and add a single-time prompt at game start to choose a mode
- Change "Toggle all auto-purchase max" into two actions
- Add press and hold ability for "Transmute Materials and Item"
- Add ability to "favorite" Transmutation spells
- Color-code spells in Perma-Cast spell list
- Cross-over spell buttons when Max Mana is not enough
- Change the Storyline hint unlocks: they will no longer require you to have a current Mind level, and instead will look at the maximum across all your retirements
- Triggering a random Storyline event will now automatically reveal the full name of all the Storylines you get via it, as well as their hints, in Stats
- Change event "Curse Issues" not to appear if Rituals are unlocked
- Change Essence icons to match Element icons, to distinguish better between them
- Change the default behavior to hide low quality items if unlocked
- After a retirement, display the MPL next to each element choice
- Event "An Offer of {Element}" will not be automatically triggered if another instance is ongoing
- Event "An Offer of {Element}" will not trigger for maxed-out Elements
- Add buttons in Perma-Cast spell list to remove spells from the list entirely
- Make it easier to see in the Wizards screen that Wizards are paused
- Add clarification to Help entry for "Storyline Hints"
- Add one new Easter-Egg item: "Caliburn"
- Add a "(Max)" when an item reaches its maximum quality
- Add "Exit" button to menu
- Remember pinned screens when resizing (mostly) or closing the game
- Other minor changes
Bug fixes
- Fix behavior of some modals: add Close buttons, avoid them going off-screen
- Fix some captions of Enhancements and a Storyline when playing in alternate Land mode
- Fix bug where loading a save file could result in getting double the Time Pieces in some cases
- Fix slightly incorrect triggers / events showing up when clearing a Challenge for the second time
- Fix Enhancement "Book Factory" not correctly changing the Wizard Power requirement
- Fix bug where spell Channel Four could display incorrectly if collapsed within an Element but expanded in another
- Fix various caching errors related to Max Mana and spell costs
- Fix Venomous Brew being used against enemies with status immunity
- Fix tooltips going off-screen in certain situations
- Fix UI display bug that happens in some devices when collapsing "Toggle Enhancements"
- Fix upgraded equipment not being auto-equipped under certain circumstances if "Automatically combine all" is toggled on
- Fix caching bugs related to Corruption cap
- Make Scythes actually drain HP instead of heal it
- Fix "Amount to transmute" selector not correctly disabling when Essence is the limiting factor
- Fix caching bug that sometimes bugged HP regeneration
- Fix potential crash when trying to load pinned screens
- Fix number not being formatted in tooltip when a value is overridden
- Attempt to fix crash when loading a save file
- Fix typo errors
Balance changes
- Adjust Storyline pity system to trigger infinite times per run, but reset the pity timer if you find a random Storyline even outside of pity
- Intended effect: Leaving a game idle 6-8 hours should always trigger at least one random Storyline if able
- Increase likelihood of triggering early game random Storyline events by roughly 50%:
- All the random Storyline events in the Training Towers
- All the random Storyline events in the Sewers
- Storyline "Wizard Leader"
- However, random Storyline event chance will be 0 until Storyline "Posterity" is cleared
- Try to increase the speed of early game (pre-Desert):
- Increase Monstium drop rate of most Training Towers and Sewers enemies
- Tweak Essence Catalysts: significantly increase base bonus (15% -> 18%), but reduce effect of spell Enchant Essence Catalysts (15% -> 10%) to try to quicken early game Essence production
- Increase Mana Spout base Mana regen rate (+0.75/sec -> +1.00/sec) but remove Mana regen rate increase reward from Storyline "Advanced Mana Spouts"
- Reduce cost of spells "Enchant Mana Spouts" (60 -> 40), "Enchant Essence Catalysts" (200 -> 120)
- Reduce Wizard Power requirement for "Air Blast" (10 -> 6)
- Adjust cost of spell Channel Four (reduce by 50%)
- Improve messaging / story after building the first Essence Catalyst to try to make it clearer that their effects stack with each other and that they are very important for Essence production, despite their hefty cost
- Change several things related to Attack Delay and some related to Attack:
- Reduce effect of Storyline "Agility of Gods" (-30% -> -25%)
- Reduce duration of effect "Rush" (30 sec -> 5 sec)
- Reduce effect of empowerment for Imbue Flames (8x -> 6x)
- Reduce Attack Delay bonuses of late-game Air weapons (Vampiric Splitblades (-55% -> -50%; also increase spell power penalty to 10%), Divine Rippers (-55% -> -50%))
- Rebalance Breezy Shirt (Defense 12 -> 15, Attack Delay -20% -> -10%) and Ninja Master's Gear (Attack Delay -20% -> -15%)
- Attack Delay effect on equipment now scales slower, based on a square root divisor formula rather than a linear divisor formula
- Reduce base effect of spell "Blinding Speed" (-50% -> -40%)
- Reduce base effect of spell "Monstrous" (+600 -> +500)
- Reduce effect of Boost Attack (+1% -> +0.75%) and Boost Attack Delay (1% -> 0.5%)
- Effect of spell "Shapeshift Eagle" now scales the Attack Delay logarithmically
- Reduce cost of Storage Expanders by 75% so they are purchasable without certain specific Storylines and in Classic Mode, but increase cost scaling significantly
- Spell Last Burst now causes combat to be lost when effect runs out, rather than causing all HP to be lost
- Slightly reduce negative effect of item Bangle of Critical Protection (-50% -> -40%)
- Reduce likelihood that Death Pilgrimage boss will use Blood Attack (50% -> 35%)
- Adjust cost of ultimate items so they are still Transmutable in the Primary Challenge
- Adjust cost of Essence Storages and Monstruariums in Classic Mode (formerly known as Alternate Land)
- Adjust Synchro effect Mind + Space: now also affects Familiar Exploration
- Rebalance effect of Space spellcrafting
- Change Frozen Protection, Stun Protection, and the secret boss's buffs to be undispellable
- Adjust strategy of final boss to use Antidote more often
- Slightly tweak accuracy and dodge of Satell Transformed (450 -> 480)
- Tweak secret element item Ceremonial Knife: it will no longer have effect on undispellable buffs
- Late-game enemy Undead Wizard can now drop Rare Robe at a very low chance
- Reduce effect of late game Synchro bonuses: Death + Time (+50% -> +25%), Earth + Holy (+25% -> +10%)
- Increase attack delay of boss Avian Elephant (3.6 sec -> 4.0 sec)
- Reduce base duration of spell Petrification (10 sec -> 8 sec)
- Rebalance post-game fight Ascended Headmaster in many ways: increase Defense 12K -> 30K, make Equip effects undispellable, tweak Attack Delay when using Silver Dagger, start battle with Flawless Appearance, and more
- Tweak effect of Fire Spellcrafts: reduce their cooldown penalty to +15% / +35% for Prism and Jewel in that order
- Other minor balance changes