Here's the complete list of changes.
Update #9
2016-05-01
Gameplay Changes
- Characters now have a stamina stat. Each mission costs some stamina. Stamina will be recovered every day. When a character is out of stamina, then he will have to rest in town to recover his strength. This basically means that you cannot run the same team every day but should develop more characters in parallel. Right now, the constitution mechanic is not sufficient to result in enough downtimes, esp. later on. The stamina cost per mission depends on the difficult level. This makes sure players who have chosen easy won't be affected by this mechanic as much.
- First storyline mission can show up earlier. As a consequence, you can unlock the fourth party slot way sooner. This should make the early game a bit easier.
- Loot mission on day 3 will increase early gold income.
- Side quests added. Side quests only show up once per game and are purely optional. However, completing them provides considerable benefits, sometimes there's a downside if you skip them. In any case, they are not part of the main storyline.
- Side quest added: the dwarven ambassador.
- Side quest added: the black knight.
- Black Knight human neutral character added.
- Skeleton King undead character added. He's a badass.
- Neutral dwarves added: some random events will now feature dwarves. You can even end up fighting them. In detail, a dwarven footman, knight, healer, battle wizard and king have been added.
- Level-ups restore lost constitution on characters.
- Character level boundaries are adjusted. All levels beyond 2 require a bit more XP to slow down the pace and give players a chance to earn more gold. Please note that this means that your existing characters may be downleveled (don't panic). Any skills they have learned will retain their level.
- Many random events will give you a hint about the enemy team composition so you can decide whether you want to engage. Sometimes, when you get surprised, you don't get that info.
- Some fights now offer the chance to avoid the fight. If you chose that option, then the game will do an escape roll taking you average speed and the average speed of the enemy into account. If you succeed, then you escaped and can continue on your way. If you fail, then you must fight.
- Add new consumables: scroll of experience (grants 100xp) and scroll of recovery (restores 5 constitution and 5 stamina). Both are non-purchasable but can be found during missions or looted after combat. The former can be used to bring heroes that are dragging behind in terms of levels up to speed, the latter can avoid critical downtimes.
- When purchasing another recruit slot in the tavern, a new character is added immediately.
- Buildings can now be selected in town by clicking on the respective models.
- Players can now earn Statues. Statues are errected in town and provide special (economic) benefits (e.g. discounts in armory or training hall, improved sanctuary, etc.). They cannot be purchased but are a special reward.
- Save games can now have a custom description.
- New building in town: the Steward's Office. Here, idle heroes can sign up for domestic duties so they don't get bored.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed a bug that prevented story progression missions from showing up.
- Fixed a bug that prevented a character from executing a queued in movement when no longer active.
- AI casters will now use offensive spells without having LoS.
- Fixed a bug where you could not load a save game during a combat where a member died that previously cast an enchantment on anonther team member.
- Fixed a bug that cause the combat to freeze when opening character panels during the AI's turn.
- Fixed choppy camera movement when following moving characters around.
- Various other bug fixes.
Balance Changes
- Some warrior armor pieces are now available later in the game. Since we have higher gold income early, we don't want insanely armored tanks.
- Dwarven Priest's "Berronar's Touch" now heals for 75+50 per enchantment (up from 50+50). This makes it less dependent on enchantments.
- Dwarven Priest's "Bloom" now removes conditions when applying the enchantment not when it wears off. This makes the priest much more effective at dealing with conditions.
- Dwarven Priest's "Conviction" has a base regeneration that applies regardless of any conditions on the target.
- Games on Easy difficulty start with an extra 100 gold.
- Warrior gets AoE taunt skill to replace his passive taunt. Taunt will last 2 turns regardless of level.
- Guard starting armor increased to 40 (up from 35) and he gets a taunt passive ability. This makes him a better backup tank.
- Goblin Slinger gets a new skill: "Aim for the Head" causing dazed condition. This makes this little guy who otherwise is mostly harmless at least a bit more annoying.
- Assassin dual strikes slightly buffed (back to old level).
- Players now start out with 400 gold (up from 250). This is due to the fact that they now are supposed to develop more characters and could be suffering from early gold issues otherwise.
- Wyverns are immune to taunt.
- Tweaked gold and food rewards you get from encounters.
- Dwarven Champion's "Bull's Charge" now avoids attacks of opportunity making it a lot more viable (can zip from one target to the next). Cooldown increased to 4 (up from 3).
- Oger now has an enrage passive: if hit by a ranged attack, a shout is triggered that increases the movement speed. This makes it harder to kite the Oger.