Realmlords V4.5 Patch Notes (Season 1)

A NOTE FROM THE DEVELOPER

- Thank you — sincerely — to everyone who has been playtesting Realmlords, reporting bugs, sharing ideas, and pushing through builds that were not always in great shape.
- You've stuck with the game through lag spikes, broken portals, balance swings, leaderboard wipes, skill-tree overhauls, and a lot of systems changing underneath you while we figure out what this game wants to be.
- I know that is frustrating. I hear you, and I'm grateful you did not walk away.
- Realmlords is not a solo project in spirit — it is something we are building together as a community: the best fantasy bullet hell we can make, one patch at a time.
- Every dungeon run, every Discord message, every "this feels wrong" note helps me ship something better.
- V4.5 is a big step, and the fixes in this document are me trying to honor the feedback you've already given.
- I'm not chasing a perfect patch on paper — I'm trying to get the loop right: clear floors, fair fights, readable progression, builds that feel good to play, and a game that respects your time.
- If you find something new that broke, something confusing, or something that still feels off — please tell me.
- I'm sorry in advance for anything new you discover on this journey. We'll keep fixing it together.
- Thank you for bearing with me.
- Thank you for playing.
- Let's make Realmlords great.

SEASON 1 CONTINUES (NO ROSTER WIPE)

- V4.5 is still Season 1 — competitive ladder season id 1.
- Your existing Season 1 characters are kept when you update to V4.5.
- No mandatory character wipe for this patch.
- Keep playing the heroes you already have.
- Title screen shows V4.5.
- Leaderboards remain Season 1.
- A future Season 2 will only start when we explicitly bump seasonId in version.json.
- That is when a fresh roster and ladder reset will happen.
- Legacy characters without a seasonId field are treated as Season 1.

XP & LEVELING PACE

- XP required per level reduced to approximately 1/3 of V4.4.
- About 67% less grind per level.
- Over-level penalty on easy content unchanged.
- Low-tier farming still discouraged.

DIABLO II SKILL TREES (MAJOR OVERHAUL)

- T opens a Diablo II–style skill grid per class.
- Three thematic trees per class.
- Prerequisites, locked, available, and maxed states.
- Hover tooltips added.
- Level-ups now grant skill points.
- Legacy random ability and mastery pickers disabled.
- 184 skills across 8 core classes.
- Classes: Wizard, Archer, Warrior, Paladin, Rogue, Druid, Necromancer, Bard.
- Retired classes Barbarian, Sorcerer, Warlock, and Red Wizard removed from active roster.
- Old saves migrate gracefully where possible.

- Warrior:
- Battle Rage.
- Double Swing.
- Whirlwind.
- Shield Mastery.
- Familiars removed from the tree.

- Paladin:
- New Auras tree.
- Might.
- Protection.
- Fanaticism.
- Holy Fire.
- Holy Frost.
- Holy Storms.
- Life.
- Salvation.
- All unlocked auras stack stats.
- Ground graphic cycles every 5 seconds.
- Shield Mastery now grants real block chance.

- Druid:
- Earth Orbital.
- Nature-themed paths.
- Spirit of the Grove now spawns correctly from the skill tree.

- Necromancer:
- Skeleton Warrior kill proc summon.
- Skeleton Archer kill proc summon.
- Skeleton Mage kill proc summon.
- Each summon rolls independently.
- Grave Warden now spawns correctly from the skill tree.

- Bard:
- Sleep.
- Discord.
- Renewal.
- Haste.
- Frailty.
- Only unlocked songs can proc.
- No more proccing songs you never learned.

- Wizard:
- Magic Missile added as the tier-0 Arcane Arts skill.
- Auto-cast homing volleys.

- Class starting passives removed from applyClassBonuses.
- Power now comes from skill investment.
- Skill progress saves with character snapshots.
- Co-op syncs purchased nodes.
- Character sheet restored.
- Starting stats with hover tooltips.
- Skill tree overview.
- Class bonuses.
- Weapon Proficiency list restored.

GAMEPLAY LOOP & PROGRESSION (FIXES)

- Floors 1–2:
- Clear spawners.
- Defeat Portal Boss.
- Exit portal opens.
- Proceed to next floor.

- Floor 3/3:
- Clear spawners.
- Defeat Portal Boss.
- Obtain boss-key relic.
- Collect relic.
- Exit portal opens.

- After relic:
- Choose Realm Boss or Keep Grinding.

- Grinding:
- Continue at 4/3, 5/3, and beyond.
- Choice repeats at each portal.

- Realm Boss Path:
- Enter chamber.
- Kill boss.
- Receive artifact.
- Meet Sage.
- Travel to next realm.

Fixes:

- Exit portal no longer opens before Portal Boss dies.
- Only Portal Guardian counts as the floor boss.
- Hoard bosses no longer accidentally open portals.
- Floor 3/3 still requires relic collection.
- Grinding depth increments correctly.
- Realm Boss choice consumes one boss-key relic.
- Run time now counts active gameplay only.
- Menus, pause screens, inventory, and title screens excluded.
- Legacy inflated run times sanitized.
- Periodic autosaves fixed during runs.
- Orbital combat no longer freezes because of dead enemies.

COMBAT, SPELLS & MANA SURGE

- Spell cooldown HUD added.
- Cooldowns displayed beneath artifact bar.
- Includes Fire, Ice, Lightning, Magic Missile, and elemental waves.
- Cooldowns decrease with skill rank.
- Projectile size now scales only from Projectile Enlarge.
- Removed unintended projectile size bonuses.
- Mana Surge melee responsiveness improved.
- Pyromancy proc chance now scales with skill rank.
- Pickup Range only increases pull distance.
- Loot still requires contact for collection.
- Magnet lag reduced.
- Heavy loot processing optimized.
- Enemy balance retuned.
- Floor clears target approximately 1–2 minutes.
- Paladin auras now display persistent ground effects.
- Procedural visuals added.
- GPU additive blending added.
- Holy Wrath icon updated.
- Smite icon updated.
- Co-op familiar spawning checks all players.

TOOLTIP & CONTROL FIXES

- Mana Surge tooltip corrected.
- Mana Charge tooltip corrected.
- Shift toggles Mana Surge.
- Space charges mana.
- Spell icons use fallback assets correctly.
- Master Key icon path fixed.

QUALITY OF LIFE

- Discord Rich Presence added.
- Displays class, realm, and difficulty.
- Character description page restored.
- Starting stats restored.
- Tooltips restored.
- Skill trees visible in character bio.
- Class bonuses visible.
- Weapon proficiency list restored.

LEADERBOARDS (RECAP SINCE V4.4)

- Per-class Diablo II style ladder.
- Character name.
- Rank title.
- Level.
- Experience.
- Furthest Realm.
- Difficulty.
- Run Time.
- Status.
- Class picker arranged in two rows.
- Global ladder powered by Supabase.
- Offline cache added.
- Season 1 ladder continues.
- Run time now uses corrected gameplay duration.

TECHNICAL

- seasonConfig.js:
- Season 1 active.
- Ladder eligibility checks.

- ui.js:
- Seasonal profile purge.
- Character sheet.
- Spell cooldown strip.
- Run time display.

- lootBracket.js:
- XP_PER_LEVEL_MULT set to 1/3.
- Lower per-level floor.

- game.js:
- Portal boss gating.
- Realm boss flow.
- Grinding flow.
- Gameplay pause clock.
- isRunning initialization.

- player.js:
- Spell weaving.
- Cooldown HUD.
- Run duration clock.
- Projectile size from Enlarge only.

- playerSnapshot.js:
- Legacy run-time sanitization.

- ClassAuraSystem.js:
- Aura runtime system.

- classAuraIcons.js:
- Aura visual effects.

- classSkillTrees.js.
- skillTreeController.js.
- skillSystem.js.
- bardMusic.js.
- abilityImplementation.js.
- randomizedAbilitySystem.js.

- Version syncing:
- version.json.
- package.json.
- gameVersion.js.
- index.html.
- Steam app_build.vdf.

STEAM NEWS (SHORT)

- Realmlords V4.5 — Season 1.
- Thank you to everyone playtesting and helping shape the game.
- Season 1 continues.
- Existing characters are preserved.
- XP per level reduced by approximately 67%.
- Diablo II skill trees added for 8 classes.
- Paladin Auras added.
- Necromancer triple skeleton summons added.
- Wizard Magic Missile added.
- Character sheet restored.
- Portal progression fixed.
- Spell cooldown HUD added.
- Run time now tracks actual gameplay only.
- Pickup and magnet lag improvements.
- Familiar, song, and Shield Mastery fixes.
- Discord Rich Presence added.
- Ongoing balance improvements.
- Your feedback continues to drive development.