Recent Changes from Bloodspike Unchained (Release 1.2)
As I’ve mentioned in my previous posts, we take your feedback very, very seriously, and hopefully you’ve seen that in some of our recent updates. To recap a few from the last patch (1.2), we took what the community felt was an overly complicated system, crafting, and did a number of things to streamline the feature. We’ve greatly reduced the number of materials in the game, simplified the recipes required for each item, and added the ability for players to target a needed material before each game. Each trap can be upgraded more frequently now too, among many other things.
Another big area of focus for us lately has been on the Survival game. With your help, we realized that the game was missing some of the original OMD! “feel”. We started addressing this in patch 1.2, but there are still several things on our plate that we’re anxious for you to try. As a quick recap, we recently changed the amount of damage players do to minions, yet at the same time changed up some minion behavior so they’re faster, and aggro to the player differently which makes them more of a threat. These changes, we think, bring back both the cool feeling of power from the original games, plus some of the great intensity that may have been missing recently.
Upcoming Changes from Orc Revolution (Release 1.3)
That’s really just a start for Survival. Coming soon, we’ll be adding some great new features, and making some changes, that honestly, might feel a little surprising. With the next update we’re going to change the maximum numbers of players allowed in a standard Survival game from 5 to 3. Now, why in the world would we do that? Good question, and it’s one we’ve thought about quite a bit. The biggest reason, is we find playing with 2 other players is just a ton of fun. It’s a great size for coordinating things in the game, and for strategizing.
From a design perspective, we’re now able to give the player more power than we could when 5 players are in a match, which just feels way better, and allows us to make “tighter” maps that are more like the original OMD! games. This change to maps alone makes the game feel fantastic. We’ve got a couple of these tighter maps - The Baths and Throne Room - coming out in our next release, so be sure to give them a shot, and let us know what you think.
If you’re a big fan of playing 5-player Survival games, and on bigger maps, that’s not going away entirely. Beginning at level 80, you can play Endless games as a 5-player group, and we’re going to keep making big maps for this mode moving forward. This is a great way for large groups to play together and chase leaderboards. Speaking of leaderboards, did we mention we’re adding a brand new feature to the game with this update? Guilds are coming to OMDU, and guild leaderboards alongside them! Band together with your orc-smashing friends to climb the guild leaderboards for bragging rights and awesome rewards.
We’re also bringing back an old favorite feature from previous OMD! games… the 5 Star (formerly Skull) System. Now you’ll be able to go to Battleground Select, and try to get a “5 Star” rating on every map. It’s fun, and it’s wicked hard. We’re also allowing level downscaling through Battleground Select, so you veteran players can bring in new friends and still have a great game. This will be in the next patch (1.3), so it’s just right around the corner.
On the Horizon
There’s plenty more coming that we will be talking about soon. We’ll be doing more to teach new players to get them up-to-speed faster in all modes of the game, and in Siege we’ll do a better job communicating with players when key events happen in the game that they should be aware of. Of course, we’ll keep the heroes, traps, traits, and maps coming, so keep an eye out for those too.
Alright, that’s probably enough for one day. I appreciate you sticking with us. Even with all those words, I realize you’ll probably want even more specifics. Please check out our forums, and our weekly Insider Access twitch stream where you can ask us questions directly, and where we can really dig into the details. You can also check out the full patch notes for the upcoming Orc Revolution update for additional details, once they are released.
Thanks again for helping us shape Orcs Must Die! Unchained into a great game. We always appreciate your feedback, so keep it coming!