There was a controversial slider in the Settings menu that, after talking it over with some of the community in the Discord, I have decided to remove. I was wanting to remove it because it's causing problems, but was unsure about moving forward with it. Today, it's happening.
There was a slider in the Settings menu where you could adjust the number of concurrent enemies from 100 to 300. It warned of performance issues, but I was getting a lot of complaints about single-digit FPS from players and whenever I asked them about this, they always had 300 enemies.
Balance is also impossible. On-kill effects become way stronger because more enemies means more enemies dying and procing their effect all over the place. They would forever be overpowered. All the meanwhile the game would be lagging to pieces and overall it was a mistake to allow this slider to exist.
In order to make this an easier transition, all Equipment of Tier 4 and higher has had its Material requirement reduced by 30%, so that hopefully upgrading equipment is less of a huge grind. Ore and Cloth requirements specifically are reduced by 50% instead.
Bestiary requirements also no longer ramp up, staying consistent across Areas with the same kill count requirements as Area 1.
Enemies starting in Area 8 have had their health reduced. In my testing, Area 7 felt fine, but starting at Area 8, enemies started to feel very spongey for no good reason.
Quick note, if Equipment requires Tier 4 Materials, it's deemed internally as Tier 4 Equipment. That's what I'm referring to when I mention Equipment tiers.
Here's general patch notes:
- Mysterious Stranger V coin requirement reduced by 1/50
- Enemy health Areas 8, 9, 10 reduced by 50%
- Equipment material requirements for Tiers 4 and 5 reduced by 30%, 50% if it's Ore or Cloth.
- Tier 5 Material cost has been lowered further to be similar to Tier 4 Equipment cost.
- Equipment obtained from Objectives for Tiers 4 and 5 have had their Material counts further reduced by roughly 50%.
- Bestiary requirements no longer ramp up and stay static at values that were present in Area 1.
- Removed Enemy count slider in the Settings menu. For those that were using it, all of the above changes should make up for it. For those that were not, this should help with grind concerns.
Here's the Skill/Character/Summon/etc. balance information. It may contain spoilers if you haven't yet completed the game:
-- SKILLS
== Colorless Glyph
Base Damage 20 -> 70
Damage Mult 0.5 -> 1.2
Mana Cost Mult 0.9 -> 0.3
= Ghost Blade
Base Damage 4 -> 1
Damage Mult 0.1 -> 0.04
Mana Cost 4 -> 2
Mana Cost Mult 0.3 -> 0.3
= Great Divider
Base Cooldown 3 -> 1.8
Base Damage 24 -> 80
Damage Mult 2.0 -> 5.0
Mana Cost Mult 0.9 -> 0.3
Bleed Chance 8% Per STR -> 10%
= Final Spark
Base Damage 30 -> 3
Damage Mult 0.7 -> 0.4
Mana Cost 5 -> 2
Mana Cost Mult 0.5 -> 0.4
= Glint of Steel
Base Damage 24 -> 32
Damage Mult 2.2 -> 4.0
Mana Cost 20 -> 15
Mana Cost Mult 1.8 -> 0.3
Bleed Chance 3% Per STR -> 20%
= Dancing Dagger
Base Damage 12 -> 90
Damage Mult 2.0 -> 4.0
Mana Cost 48 -> 20
Mana Cost Mult 1.0 -> 0.3
Bonus Bounces Every 10 AGI -> Every 4
Bleed Chance 9% Per STR -> 30%
= Lightning Bolt
Base Cooldown 15 -> 10
Base Damage 1 -> 100
Damage Mult 12.0 -> 15.0
Mana Cost Mult 5.0 -> 2.0
= Waterspout
Damage Mult 2.5 -> 4.0
= Molten Volley
Mana Cost Mult 0.8 -> 0.3
= Infernal Ray
Damage Mult 3.0 -> 15.0
Mana Cost Mult 0.8 -> 1.4
= Blizzard Sigil
Base Cooldown 24 -> 6
Damage Mult 9.0 -> 32.0
= Icicle Barrage
Damage Mult 1.5 -> 3.6
= Entangle
Base Cooldown 4.2 -> 1.5
Damage Mult 0.9 -> 12.0
= Putrefying Circle
Base Cooldown 23 -> 10
Damage Mult 6.0 -> 10.0
= Buffeting Gale
Base Cooldown 4 -> 3
-- TRINKETS
= Toxplosive Trinket
Max Stack Transfer 500 -> 100
Application Chance 1.0% per Acuity -> 0.3% per Acuity
Yes, I actually tested this fully and this was what was needed to balance this Trinket. In my testing, it's still good, but not the best choice always like it was before.
-- SUMMONS
= Hedgehog
Hypersphere Damage Mult 1.2 -> 1.6
= Imp
Fireball Damage Mult 1.1 -> 30.0
Circle of Suffering Damage Mult 1.2 -> 9.0
-- CHARACTERS
= Adventurer
Angle Slash Damage Mult 0.4 -> 1.0
Evolution A (Full Circle) Every 2 Angle Slashes -> Every Angle Slash
Evolution A (Full Circle) Size +50%
Evolution B (Blade Beam) Every 7 Angle Slashes -> Every 3
Cursor Cutter Damage Mult 0.2 -> 0.5
Cursor Cyclone Damage Mult 0.2 -> 0.8
= Cultist
Boon Effect 5% -> 3%
= Ratfolk Archer
Trick Shot Damage Mult 0.4 -> 1.0
Evolution A (Razor Splinter) Every 3 Trick Shots -> Every Trick Shot
Blast Bolt Damage Mult 0.5 -> 1.5
Storm Salvo Damage Mult 0.9 -> 2.0
= Crusader
Fixed Boon (wasn't actually working before)
Crusader's Boon Inflicts damage every 2 seconds -> every second
Holy Aura Damage Mult 2.0 -> 5.0
Evolution A (Smite) Every 12 Holy Auras -> Every 8
Evolution A (Smite) Duration 5s -> 7s