Thanks for all of your feedback on the big combat overhaul. The most critical feedback I received revolved around heroes not stopping to fight when players expected them to; the problem is that not all characters fit into every one of the new melee/ranged/support slots, and if there wasn't a suitable opening in the battle, they would just walk on by. This could seem awfully random, and improving clarity was one of the goals of the combat change, so:
This update goes back to numbering each slot rather than dedicating each to melee, ranged, or support. Every character now has three abilities corresponding to each of these three slots, and sometimes this means that a character has two or three melee or ranged abilities. This way, characters should always join a battle that has an opening, because they can fit into any slot. As always, let me know what you think =).
Other stuff: I finally nerfed a few items that were very overpowered (a level 5 Holy Helm could render most low-level holy heroes completely impotent), I've made some improvements to character button organization, healing abilities take a passive approach by improving the natural healing that each character does after being targeted, and there's a new floor with some Dride--uh, totally non-infringing spider/dark elf hybrids.
Thanks again for your help and patience as we work through this prolonged beta period. With your assistance, I hope to close out the beta soon ːtotcordialː!
Changelog
Additions:
- Execrable Eggsac (Dwelling + Gallows + Grotto); produces Brood Sisters
Changes:
- Slots have gone back to being numbered, and all characters can now fit into every combat slot
- Nerfed several artifacts; the Blueprints, Kibble, Pitchfork, Helm, Falchion, Grenade, and Lamp now improve every other level (i.e. 3rd and 5th)
- "Healing" abilities now give allies a higher recovery rate, so they heal more after being targeted (this means these abilities have diminished or no effect on characters with naturally higher recovery rates)
- Character purchase buttons are now sorted into two columns, if UI margins allow
- Duplicate purchase buttons are now stacked
- Resurrection buttons are now placed below purchase buttons, so you can see them while still looking at your living minions
- Floor construction buttons now list row clearance requirements
- Several other minor adjustments to character and floor button positioning/scaling
- Abilities no longer display a target icon if the target is the standard enemy target
- Hero levels scale a bit more aggressively in later waves
- Adamantiserum is now unlocked by default (its prophecy has been replaced by the Eggsac)
Fixes:
- Scrolling the mouse over floor buttons caused the button tooltip to flicker
- Dragging a character over a floor slot caused the same slot on other floors to be highlighted
- Character classes would sometimes be broken into multiple lines, even if they would have fit on a single line
- A couple of characters had animation glitches