Today our first balance update goes live, and I wanted to say a few words about the changes.
We looked at spell power using a new formula that weighs energy rewards much higher than other considerations, and found some definite imbalances. Originally we thought things like removing a column should be weighed as more powerful as less options can be tougher to sequence. But clearly energy return is a much bigger deal, and everything is so situational it is a bad idea to build assumptions like that into the formula. Also we designed orange to be objectively stronger since its 100% dedicated to attack, but probably went too far in that direction.
Thanks to everyone who brought this stuff to our attention and debated it so reasonably on the boards. Check the patch notes for details!
We looked at class balance and especially the Wizard/Rogue. The Zap line is now exclusive to the Wizard and considerably cheaper and more powerful. Also, Nimble Slash costs one energy more. Rogue is still very, very strong but the frequency of things like clearing the whole board in one shot with prime abilities will be a bit lower now. To extend their attacks a bit further we added a powerful Rogue version of impale called Swift Strike that rewards 2 agility, and a Wizard cleave called Magic Disk that rewards x2 willpower.
Late game, not being able to use more than 4 items can be a bit of a bummer, so we now have 2 extra slots unlockable which should add some more fun combining up to 6 magic items!
Finally, Wildstone. The end of journey rewards were designed to be more and more rewarding the further you got, but the end result was it feeling more and more crushing the earlier you lose. That is a buzzkill, especially for new players. Lesson learned. So there is no longer a curve. Wildstone will feel more generous early on as a result.
Keep the feedback and community content coming, and enjoy the update!