Patch Notes 1.1.0 [Part 1/2 - New Content & Balancing]

As we announced in a previous news, we worked on an overhaul of the general balancing of the game, it implies:

• New values for affixes on items, Gate of Fates nodes, Skills, and Attributes.
• A brand new formula for character damage computation.
• New damage and health values for monsters.

The objective of these changes are as follow:

• Increase the impact of the choices a player makes in building its character archetype.
• Reduce the damage and health values of characters as well as monsters in order to improve readability.
• Reduce the inequality in effectiveness between the different archetypes and ways of playing the game.

What you should expect is having smaller values on everything (items*, attributes, Gate of Fates nodes), dealing less damage and having less health and force shield. But monsters also deal less damage and have less health, so, in the end, the difficulty of the game shouldn't be impacted.

Finally, experience values from level 70 and up have been reworked. They have been increased compared to the latest version but are still way inferior to the release version.

*NOTE: Items already in your possession might not have been impacted by these changes. They are now tagged as being Legacy.

Gameplay

Attributes:
In previous versions, bonuses to damage from attributes were way too important. Characters could reach more than +600% damage just by investing in their attributes. As a result, bonus damage from other sources (items and Gate of Fates nodes for example) had close to no impact.

We reduced the amount of damage given by attributes but made it multiplicative with other sources of damage. It now amplifies other sources of damage instead of overshadowing them.

We also reworked the score formula a bit so that bonuses to critical chance score and ailment chance score from Ferocity and Wisdom have a larger impact in your final critical chance and ailment chance value.

• There are no longer primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary attributes.
• Attributes bonus to weapon damage has been greatly reduced: from approximately 0.5% per point to 0.05% per point.
• Agility now increases the attack speed and cast speed by 0.05% per point instead of using a score system.
• Toughness' impact on health has been reduced: from 0.75% to 0.4% per point.
• Toughness' impact on force shield has been increased: from 0.25% to 0.4% per point.

Statistics/Affixes:

• Attack and Cast speed no longer use a score. Bonuses to Attack and Cast Speed are now final and directly added to your current Attack or Cast Speed. The corresponding values on Attributes, Items and Gate of Fates nodes are rescaled to reflect this change.
• The Force Shield Regeneration characteristic has been reworked: it previously added a flat value of your Force Shield every second from the moment your Force Shield started to regenerate, it now regenerates a percent of your max Force Shield every second. The corresponding values on Items and Gate of Fates nodes have been rescaled to reflect this change.
• Block Chance and Block Efficiency are now always added additively. Previously it could be multiplicative with your current Block Chance and Block Efficiency.
• New modifiers that are used on Gate of Fates nodes and Unique items are added. They are "Multipliers": they affect one characteristic and multiply its final value. For example, if an item gives +10% Fire Damage Multiplier, all fire damage will be multiplied by 1.1 (increased by 10%) when this item is equipped.

Ailments:

• Burn damage is now affected by % increases to Fire and Elemental damage.
• Shock damage is now affected by % increases to Lightning and Elemental damage.
• Bleed damage is now affected by % increases to Rend and Material damage.
• Poison damage is now affected by % increases to Toxic and Material damage.
• Burn, shock, bleed, poison ailments first stack damage is greatly increased.
• Additional stacks damage are reduced: from +100% damage per stack to +5% damage.

Economy:

• Reduced production bonus multiplier in Champion of Stormfall by approximately 60%
• It is now possible to reset Gate of Fates nodes individually.
• Changed the amount of Primordial Affinity required to reassign Gate of Fates nodes: it should cost way less during the campaign and early endgame, and should cost a lot more afterward.
• Changed the amount of Primordial Affinity given by Enneracts, it now depends on the level of the enneract.
• Changed the amount of Gold required to reassign attributes: it costs less before level 52, and more after that.

Gate of Fates:
Nodes placement and distance from one another is an important part of character customization. The path you take in your Gate of Fates defines what your character specializes in. We felt that this path wasn't as meaningful as we wanted it to be because it was too easy to take many important nodes no matter how far apart they were. Additionally, we also felt that the Gate of Fates didn't offer enough nodes that would help the players to really specialize their character.

So we added 126 new minor nodes that should increase the distance from one major node to another as well as allow for more choices as to how specialized you want your character to be.

We also rescaled the value of all the nodes to match the new curves and improved some major damage modifiers to make them multiplicative with other sources of damage. For now, it is only sparingly used but, long-term, we plan to make it so every major node will act that way.

Items

Affixes values on weapons, armors and accessories are rescaled to match the new damage and health curve.

Additional changes have been made to weapons in particular in order to reduce the difference in effectiveness between the different weapons combinations:

• Dual Wielding (equipping two One-Handed weapons) now has its own advantages.
• One-Handed weapons now deal more damage: their base damage and the value of their damage modifiers have been increased.

About Unique Items, all their values have also been rescaled to fit the new curves.

We also felt that they were very underwhelming compared to legendary items so we took this opportunity to greatly improve their potency, particularly to make them a more suitable possibility beside their legendary counterparts. Already existing unique items will be fully regenerated with their new values.

• Base damage of two-handed melee weapons reduced by 30%
• Base damage of one-handed weapons and bows increased by 25%
• Staves can now roll weapon damage affixes.
• All two-handed melee weapons now also have a -25% cast speed modifier.
• All Bows now have the +25% weapon damage but -25% attack and cast speed modifier (same modifier as the two-handed melee weapons)
• The attack and cast speed modifier attached to two-handed weapons now acts multiplicatively with the current attack speed instead of additively.
  • Before: with a character that has +60% attack speed, it became +35% (60-25) when equipping a two-handed weapon
  • Now: with a character that has +60% attack speed, it becomes +20% (160 * 0.75) when equipping a two-handed weapon.

• All one-handed weapons now have a +5% attack and cast speed modifier when dual wielding (no catalyst or shield equipped).
  
• The generic %damage modifier can’t roll on armors anymore.
  
• Guns now have a +15% critical damage modifier when dual wielding
  
• One-handed Swords now have a +5% block efficiency modifier when dual wielding
  
• One-handed Axes now have a +15% ailment damage modifier when dual wielding
  
• One-handed Maces now have +20% ailment chance score modifier when dual wielding
  
• Daggers now have +20% critical chance score modifier when dual wielding
  
• Catalysts spell damage has been greatly reduced since spell damage is now also based on the weapon damage of the other weapon.
  
• Base force shield, all resistance and health on armors have been reviewed: increased on gloves, boots and shoulders but reduced on chests, helmets and pants.
  
• Base all resistance on shield reduced.
  
• Base block chance and block efficiency on shield increased
  
• Shields can’t roll local block chance percent and local block efficiency percent anymore
  
• Reworked most implicit affixes on items:
  • Changed flat Health and Force shield on amulets and rings for Health and Force shield percent
  • Reduced attack, spell damage, and critical chance score on belt: from 10 to 30 → 10 to 15
  • Reduced Ferocity, Toughness, and Agility on amulets: from 10 to 25 → 10 to 15
  • Reduced All attributes on amulets: from 5 to 10 → 4 to 6
  • Reduced resistance score percent on rings: from 15 to 30 → 15 to 20
  • Reduced critical damage on rings: from 10 to 30 → 10 to 15
  • Reduced dodge chance score percent on rings: from 10 to 30 → 10 to 15
  • Rescaled Rage conservation time on weapons: from 2 to 5 → 3 to 5
  • Reduced Movespeed on armors: from 5 to 10 → 5 to 8
  • Reduced attributes on armors: from 2 to 20 → 2 to 10

• Potions:
  • Number of max charges for low level potions increased: from 20 to 40 → 50.
  • Charge cost increased: 10 → 25
  • Health potions values have been adjusted with the new HP curve

• Sea Tamer:
  
• The lightning procs now have 100% to occur on critical strikes.
  
• The lightning procs don’t damage the caster anymore.
  
• The lightning procs now deal 100% damage to every target (from 50% to secondary targets)
  
• Genesis:
  
• The cooldown of the procs has been reduced: from 10 seconds to 3 seconds.
  
• The Sacred Ground proc now heals 5% max HP per second.
  
• The Macksfesten Enneract:
  
• Fixed an issue where the duration of the bonus damage from the last Spell cast lasted for 10 seconds instead of 5 seconds.
  
• Vulcaïn Steel Sword:
  • No longer provides a Physical Damage bonus

Active skills

Because the skills had 90 levels but weapons could scale for more than 120 levels, damage from spells (based on skill level) fell off quicker than damage from attacks (based on weapons).

A second issue with the previous way Spells were scaling is that a Staff that would allow to cast an attack would not be very potent, due to the fact that staves gave spell damage and not weapon damage.
In order to improve spell scaling and also to streamline the way damage for all skills are computed, spell damage is now based on weapon damage. There is still a difference between spells and attacks: some modifiers still only affect spells, and others only attacks.

Active Skill Modifiers (ASM) that modify increase damage or ailment chance now act multiplicatively. This means that if you take a modifier that increases the damage of your skill by 30% it will really deal 30% more instead of just adding this 30% to all the bonus damage you already have, resulting in a net increase of 5% at most.
This change should make the choice of your ASMs more meaningful while making it easier to understand what they really do.

Finally, we rebalanced most skills so that they are more in an equal footing in terms of viability. This makes it so more skills, and builds, can be played effectively during the campaign as well as the endgame.

General:

• Damage of spells (including summons) is now based on Weapon damage.

Aether jump:

• Continuum Expertise: Now also increases the willpower cost of the skill by 25
• March of the Time Devourers: Now also increases the willpower cost of the skill by 25
• Convolution: Now also reduces the willpower cost of the skill by 25

Annihilation:

• Increased base damage of the skill by 30%
• Puncturing Gaze. Now also reduces the damage of the skill by 25%
• Increment of Infinity: Now also reduces the damage of the skill by 15%
• One with the Weave:
  • Base cost increased: from 10 to 15
  • Channeling cost reduction: from -30 to -20

• Transfert time increased: from 1.5s to 2s
• Critical Point:
  • Damage of the explosion are increased: from 100% of the base damage of the skill to 500%

• Confluence Of All things:
  • Damage of the explosion are increased: from 100% of the base damage of the skill to 500%

• Event Horizon: damage of the pull is now 30% of the base damage of the skill (from 100%)
  
• Destabilization: Now also reduces the damage of the skill by 20%
  

• Reduced transfer time: from 2.2s to 1.5s
• Damage increased by 25%
• Striking Flint: damage multiplier of the explosions is increased to 80% of the base damage of the skill (from 25%)
• Crackling Grindstone: Critical hits now have 100% chance to launch a chain lightning (from 50%)
• Radical Shake: Now also increases the damage of the skill by 100%

Arctic Spear:

• Base damage increased by 15%
• Fixed an issue where projectiles would not always directly face the targeted direction.
• Hiemal Ambush: Bonus damage decreased from +50% to +33% per projectile stack.
• Sublime Fracture: smaller projectiles now spawn along the path of the main projectile instead of every 5 meters.
• Shattering Blasphemy: Explosion on frozen kill damage increased from 30% of base damage to 200%

Avenger' Autoturret:

• Fire rate multiplier when the turret is held is increased from 1.6 to 2
• Ballistic Reinforcements: Now also reduces the damage of the skill by 15%
• Flak Launcher: Now also increases the damage of the skill by 20%

Bladestorm:

• Transfert time reduced: from 2s to 1.5s
• Damage increased by 50%
• Unfettered Determination: Now also reduces the damage of the skill by 25%
• Echoes of Meadhalls: No longer have a chance to drop globes on hit. Now provides 1% life leech.
• Chaining Wrath: chances to launch a chain lightning increased from 10 to 20%
• Unrelenting Strikes: damage of the shockwave increased from 75% of the base damage to 200%.

Bleeding Edge:

• Transfert time reduced: 2s → 1.5s
• Self-adjusting Principle: Now also reduces the damage of the skill by 20%
• Unstoppable Momentum: No longer reduces the damage of the skill.
• Astral Orbit: Now also reduces the damage of the skill by 15%
• Cyclonic Expansion: Now also increases the damage of the skill by 50%

Blood for Blood:

• Now gives at least 10% more damage as rend. (from 0%)
• Conniption: now deals 100% of the weapon damage per 10% HP missing. (from 20% weapon damage)

Bulwark of Dawn:

• Rescaled the cost reduction per level: from -0.8 to -0.5 per level
• Transfert time increased: from 1s to 2s
• Everlasting Aurora: Now also increases the willpower cost of the skill by 50
• Generative Star: The cooldown reduction has been reduced: from -4 to -2
• Blade of Truth: Now adds a percent of your damage as sacred damage instead of adding flat damage.

Consuming Embers:

• Heartpiercer: Now also reduces the damage of the skill by 25%
• Meteor Shower: Now also reduces the damage of the skill by 15%
• Fervor’s Smoke: The radius of the explosion is increased

Eclipse:

• Shambling Eyeless: value of the slow increased from 30% to 50%
• Bursting of Desert Rocks: Damage of the globe explosion increased from 200% of the damage of the skill to 500%

Evasion:

• Primis Tenebris: Now correctly slows enemies that are affected by the damage zone

Gunslinger’s Brand:

• Friendly Fire: Now also adds a cooldown of 3s to the skill

Havoc Orb:

• Base damage increased by 20%
• Mine Launcher: Now also increases the damage of the skill by 50%
• Disintegrating Payload:
  • The damage of the additional explosions increased from 50% of the base damage of the skill to 75%.
  • Radius of the additional explosions increased by 100%
  • Number of additional explosions increased from 5 to 6

• Glory to Mankind: speed of the projectile is increased by 50%
  
• Hailing Devastation:
  • No longer reduces the damage of the skill.
  • Now adds a cooldown of 8s.

• Three-Dimensional Scoring: Now also increases the damage of the skill by 15%
• Cosmic Recursion: Now also increases the damage of the skill by 15%

Juggernaut:

• Damage absorption adjusted to the new monsters damage curve
• Damage dealt is now based on the weapon damage of the caster instead of the current absorption of the shield.
  • A multiplier is still applied depending on the left absorption: the more absorption the shield has left, the higher the damage.

• Step 1: Time to reach is reduced from 0.7s to 0.5s.
• Step 2: Time to reach is increased from 0.7s to 0.75s. Damage is increased accordingly.
• Step 3: Time to reach is increased from 0.7s to 1s. Damage is increased accordingly.
• Step 4 (Solar Logos modifier): Time to reach is increased from 0.7s to 1.25s. Damage is increased accordingly.
• Transfert time reduced: from 2s to 1.2s
• Base damage reduced by 50%
• Sunstruck: Added cooldown increased from 4 to 8

Mark of Impurity:

• Big Game Hunting: The damage increase is reduced from 10% to 5%
• Weight of Culpability: The damage increase is reduced from 10% to 5%
• Fate of the Unholy: the damage dealt by the explosion is now based on the weapon damage of the caster instead of the maximum life of the target.

Parasite:

• Base damage increased by 50%
• Life steal reduced from 50% to 5%

Plagueburst:

• Willpower cost increased from 100 to 200

Slayer’s Flurry:

• Zealous Blades:
  • Now increases 2% damage per stack to a maximum of 100% damage.

• 
  

• Base damage increased by 50%
• Willpower cost per second reduced from 150 to 100
• Golden Hour: Now also reduces the damage of the skill by 30%
• Plasmic Eruption:
  • Cooldown of the nova reduced from 4s to 1s.
  • Damage of the nova reduced from 150% of the base damage to 100%

• Blood Drunk:
  • No longer generates globes
  • Now allows Sovereign Shout to deal a small amount of damage in its area of effect.
  • Heals the caster for 100% of the damage dealt.

• Transfert time increased: from 1.2s to 1.5s
• Ardent Knock: Speed value reduced from +20% to +15%

Tear of Etheliel:

• Glass Firmament:
  • Step 2: Time to reach is increased from 0.5s to 0.75s. Damage is increased accordingly.
  • Step 3: Time to reach is increased from 0.5s to 1s. Damage is increased accordingly.

• Base damage increased by 10%
  
• Tear of Etheliel: Transfert time increased: from 1 to 2s
  
• Stalactite Rain:
  • No longer adds a willpower cost
  • Tickrate is increased: from 1 per second to 2 per second.
  • Damage reduced: from 100% of the base damage to 10% of the base damage.

• Base damage increased by 20%
• Willpower cost reduced from 100 to 85
• Now has +20% damage per bounce instead of -10% damage.
• Knees Hitting Ground: Now also increases the damage of the skill by 100%

Wailing Arrows:

• Transfert time increased: from 1.2s to 2s
• Spirited Advance: Now also increases the damage of the skill by 50%
• The Black Cloud: Now also reduces the cooldown of the skill by 4 seconds.

Winter’s Grasp:

• The duration of ailments applied by the skill is now correctly affected by increases to ailment duration.
• Skill modifiers that change the damage type of the skill now still allow the character to apply the Freeze ailment in cases where it can apply more than 1 ailment.
• Glacial Blast: chance to trigger the ice nova increased from 15% to 50%
• Immortalized Perfection: now increases the duration of all ailments applied by the skill. Bonus duration to ailments other than freeze is increased: from +1s to +2.5s

Enemies:

• Slightly adjusted difficulty of the different encounters of the campaign so that there is less of a spike of difficulty between intermediate bosses and Chapter bosses.
• The “Unstoppable” Modifier doesn’t remove the break bar anymore. Now doubles the HP of the break bar instead.
• The “Fast” Modifier doesn’t increase the attack and cast speed of the monster anymore. The movement speed value is increased: +10% → +35%
• The modifiers “Fire Imbued”, “Lightning Imbued”, “Frost Imbued” “Physical Imbued”, “Rend Imbued”, “Sacred Imbued”, “Shadow Imbued”, “Toxic Imbued”, “Aether Imbued” and “Powerful” bonus damage value has been reduced by 75%.
• Blue, Yellow , Orange and Red monsters no longer have a movement speed and attack speed bonus.