[DE translation]
[RU translation]
Hello everyone,
We heard your feedback and we want to address your concerns.
We are currently working on a temporary quick solution to allow you to reset your Passive Skills and Characteristics. This option will be implemented in one of the next hotfixes very soon.
We will then move to a patch cycle. We would like to be a bit more transparent with our internal patch schedule and story mode, so let’s talk about this:
Gameplay Beta Content Patch internal schedule
Content Patch 1 internal date is planned for May 2019 and will include the following :
- Story implementation. You will be able to test the Act I and help us polish it. It will introduce the plot, some cutscenes and a dreadful Act Boss.
- Passive Skill Tree improvement, adding more meaningful and rewarding elements to give you more options.
- New modifiers for each Active Skills (target is 4 new modifiers per skill).
Content Patch 2 internal date is planned for July 2019 and we want it to include :
- The new “Wrath of Sarisel” Cooperative Game mode. Specific enemies were designed to push cooperation between players in this mode (even more than the current elites).
- “World Modifiers”. add different mods in random dungeons, including monsters and reward spawns, increasing its challenge, but also increasing its rewards. (example: All enemies of the dungeon are Specialist and Elites...)
- Player customization for male characters, including alternative skin colors, heads, beards, hairs and eyes.
- New active skills and new passive skills sections
Content Patch 3 internal date is planned for September 2019, we want it to be the last patch before official release. We’re planning these features in it:
- Competitive Mode (daily / monthly challenge including “World Modifiers”)
- Pets with the loot filter.
- Apocalyptic Forms
We want to be clear on the fact that Content Patches 2 and 3 details can vary, but we will keep you updated on these evolutions.
We still cannot give a precise date for the official release, but our objective is to release the game before the end of the year.
Post-release schedule
Post-release, our internal plan is to release one free major gameplay extension every 4 months, and 1 new story expansion every 8 months. It will allow us to bring new exciting game modes, enemies, items, skills in the game, and also extend the story of Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem.
EULA concerns
Some of you expressed concerns about microtransaction mentioned in our EULA: First, let’s be clear, there will be no pay-to-win at all in the game.
We are going to provide free DLC and content after the release, we need a way to fund this, cosmetic microtransactions allow us to generate revenue on top of the base game price. The studio employ 40 people and we need a strong business model to ensure that we can maintain the game long term.
In the shop, you will find things like new haircuts, faces or cool character effects, but no pay-to-win related elements.
Passive Skill Tree improvement
Now let’s talk about the Passive Skill Tree.
We took the decision to simplify the PST on the Beta for balance purpose, bringing the most meaningful choices in the third rings with advanced classes.
Since Ring 3 is not ready yet, the current PST seems a bit empty for some of you. We will correct that in Content Patch 1 by adding more density in it, so you will have meaningful and rewarding choices to fit your playstyle.
The list of all the future classes will be presented on the Trello roadmap soon, so you will be able to track our progress on this. The third ring is about ultra-specialization, here are a few examples of what you can expect (these are not the final names):
- Necromancer: specialized in toxic damage and summoning pets.
- Spellblade: generates willpower with attacks instead of rage. Specialized in hybrid melee-mage combat.
- Berserker: melee combat based on life leech. Enrages and grants buffs when hitting or when killing a foe.
- Champion: a defensive/support class that can act as a tank for their party by taunting and debuffing enemies(weaken enemies to reduce their defenses) or buffing their allies.
Also, some of you regret the visual style of the alpha. When we redesigned the art of the game, we wanted to bring more readability, we also wanted the visuals to fit the ambiance players should experience. Since Act 1 has a very dark and grim mood, we designed a lot of dark environment, putting aside the beautiful shiny(and corrupted) style of the forest you discovered in the Alpha. We will bring back some light in the Content Patch 1, as we decided to rebalance a bit the “dark vs shiny” mood of the game.
Website revamped
Finally, our website is currently being improved, you can already discover our new main page on https://www.wolcengame.com and learn some details about Wolcen’s story. The official forums are temporarily redirected to Steam forums while we’re working on significant improvements (to make the website a complement to the game).
Once more, we want to thank you for all your feedback, we will see you very soon for a new hotfix.
Addition: We just deployed a hotfix, you can read the changelog on the Steam forums on this post.
Useful links :
Wolcen's Official Website Wolcen's 2019 Roadmap Wolcen's Official Facebook Page Wolcen's Twitter page Wolcen's Instagram Page Wolcen's Official Discord server Wolcen's FAQ Community websites: German Fan Site : wolcen-game.de French Fan Site : Wolcen France