Howdy everyone,
Big patch here with some important fixes and balance updates.
Bug Fixes
Fixed a gnarly bug where explosion crits were doing 0 damage (including Shifting Staff attacks)
The number of enemies spawned during Challenge Mode is now consistent
Fixed a bug where the Koenig achievement triggered upon launching the game
Fixed a bug where enemies could spawn burning
Fixed a bug where Conflagration could apply to deactivated enemies (Exploiting the spawning with burning bug fixed above)
Fixed a bug where the Blood Temple buff indicator wasn't updating when stacks fell off
Fixed the localization for Burn damage on the weapon detail panel
Fixed a bug on Russian where the potency effects listed on the stat panel were extending beyond the edge of the panel
Fixed a bug where dying on Mir'Van in the middle of the breath attack could cause a crash
Class Changes
Mirage now gains a damage buff for burning enemies
The duration of ground fire from Mirage's boost has been increased
Meteor's scythe (World Eater) attack remains Force damage and now pierces enemies without splitting damage
World Eater's Potency effect is now "Dark Harvest", which periodically drains life from a nearby enemy, dealing damage and restoring life proportional to damage dealt. Potency increases the chance of this occurring
Ability Updates
Removed the internal rate limit from esurience
Riposte no longer persists between waves and there is no longer a cap on the bonus
Shadow Dancer no longer persists between waves, the bonus now accumulates faster
Stability core no longer has a cap
Reduced the visual intensity of ground fire
Removed the attack speed and critical strike buff from Blood Temple and increased the raw Damage buff
Increased the healing from the Purification resonance
Weapon Balance
Slightly reduced the base damage on Crimson Duet
Slightly reduced the base damage of Geist Rifle (its effective DPS was higher than Gaze of Ruin)
The base damage of World Eater has been reduced to 66.6 to account for no longer spreading damage across enemies hit
Increased the base damage of Force Weapons
Slightly increased the base damage of Heavy Weapons
Due to the nature of various mechanics and tracking Flame Buffet will continue to deal direct damage, however the base damage has been reduced and instead its native burn and potency burn are applied at 2X.
Blood Temple contained too much power for the lifesteal engine on top of being a massive DPS boost. By removing the Attack Speed bonus it now demands more careful build craft to ensure you can keep up with the life drain.
Similarly, an early Shadow Dancer could easily result in approaching 1000% attack speed and invalidating most of the later waves. Hopefully having the wave reset makes it less punishing to get hit at high stacks, while also preventing the protocol from winning the run by itself.
Most of the weapon stat changes were just moving a few points around to make sure there weren't any egregious outliers, as well as giving a small boost to heavy weapons to make sure they are more powerful than light weapons.
The updates to Mirage and Meteor should bring their power levels up a bit. The fantasy of wielding a scythe feels much better with a large sweeping attack, and getting a nice damage buff from a well-placed boost on Mirage is satisfying.
I will let this patch simmer for a bit before resetting the challenge run leaderboard. Class specific leaderboards are also a priority.
The todo list is quite a mountain and it is a big balancing act to work on improving the game mechanically as well as making it more performant and accessible. I really appreciate the continued feedback, bug reports, and general patience as I work on the game.
Hope you enjoy the changes,
Your friend,
Marvin Wizard