Hello mates! The Baron here with a little sneak peek of some of the upcoming U11 magic stuff that I had alluded to in previous news.
Magic expansion was not directly advertised as one of the bigger features of U11 because we weren't sure how much would/could be included in time for U11, and as always we didn't wanna say too much in case it didn't work out and have people disappointed. We figured it is better that you guys are pleasantly surprised than disappointed. So, surprise! haha
The general design decisions for magic has been (as it always has been) to make Fire a more direct damage spell, Gravity more about utility and versatile function, and Lightning about crowd control. We hope that we can pad out magic with enough features that it can make full mage builds not only viable, but also fun and exciting to play.
So without further ado, let's take a look at some of the magic changes in U11!
[Do take note that all previews are of WIP stuff, so some things may be incomplete. Previews were recorded in a buggy alpha, so forgive any lighting strangeness or enviro glitches in the previews!]
The first things you will notice in-game is magic got some really nice VFX and audio overhauls. There are a lot more particle effects going on including small stuff, like being able to see pebbles from the gravity blasts, as well as in general things just look cooler! These gifs don't really do justice to how cool it looks in VR.
Fire has some beautiful new particle effects, smoke, and heat haze FX. The overall effect makes fire imbue look more like the character in the poster art.
Gravity has a new shimmering haze and purple mist, emphasizing the more vortex-nature of this spell. The new audio similarly has a much more fitting and menacing bassy sound improvement.
Lightning is more crackling, erratic and beefy in the lightning streaks.
So let's get into some feature specifics, starting with Fire.
You may have noticed from that first gif a sneaky fire merge happening... Yes, indeed! Fireball merge is finally complete (being dubbed 'meteor'), and I think you will be surprised to see how crazy it is in-game. ːwftogrinː
Using it is as simple as merging two fireballs (similar to gravity bubble) and then launching it forward. It is pretty powerful at the moment, so you can Kamehameha to your heart content!
Fire staffs finally have a proper feature! By pressing the 'alt' button ("A" on Index) you can utilize the Firesling effect; this launches fireballs from the staff as though your were hurling a rock.
In classic B&S fashion, it is easy to use and mess with, but difficult to master! But once you get a feel for it you will be lethal.
Slamming the staff on the ground activates the Twin Firebolt feature. These bolts will circulate and home in on enemy, a bit like a magic missile (although with a chance to miss).
Next up, Gravity has received some more utility additions.
The player is now effected by their own gravity bubble, making you lightweight inside the bubble, and able to jump higher and slower. You can combine this with the new Gravity ability to "Gravity Jump". This is achieved by simply blasting gravity on the ground to launch yourself upwards; very useful for Dungeons! Combining the two effects can give you some strategic advantage and leap great distances.
Continuing on this note, one of my favourite new additions is the Gravity Glide. This new feature is achieved by simply blasting and holding gravity downwards (think Ironman or something) as you fall, to engage in a featherfall type effect where you can glide to safety.
As well as being just cool to do, these new Gravity features should open up some new traversal options for the Dungeon, and alleviate some problems for players who hate climbing.
Gravity now has a staff alt effect too! Being dubbed "Gravity Hammer", the staff can whip up objects and suspend them as though they were weightless, allowing the player to slam enemy with them or launch them like missiles.
If you were wondering if you could also whip enemies up into the air - not at the moment! We are thinking about adding this, though it is technically still possible to do by grabbing the weapon in their hand and lifting the weapon with them holding onto it, haha.
Finally, Lightning.
Lightning is still heavily WIP so some stuff is missing in this preview due to missing final VFX; namely the staff slam feature, which blasts a shockwave around the player stunning everyone - the ultimate in crowd control! So maybe I will keep this one a surprise that you can see in-game yourself.
But here is something you might like, the new staff feature: Lightning Arc
It's so fun! It's still majorly WIP in terms of balance and bugs, but to activate this you simply press and hold the alt use button to create a lightning whip-type arc. The arc will stun those it touches, but it also decapitates! Swing it at the legs of an enemy charging towards you and both legs will slide off. ːpraisesunː
Also, here is something fun: Lightning now has proper metal conductivity.
Lightning transfers between metal objects, so this can lead to some really crazy scenarios with lightning blasting everywhere. Be careful you don't accidentally charge all your enemies swords!
But on that note, 'overcharging' enemies will also cause them to release their weapons, so no more enemy infinite blocking your lightning with their weapons.
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That is about all for now, folks! Still no word on the Soul spell, which is still not planned until the later updates. I should also note that this features listed above are not everything planned for magic! There is still a whole bunch of more magic features coming, but likely in U12 (or possibly U11.X at a stretch).
If you are wondering about U11 release time, still no solid date, sorry! I am sure a few people are getting antsy because it was slotted for Q1 and we are now technically approaching the end of Q1. This is why we never give release dates anymore, haha.
We are looking like the update could be finished by the end of Q1 (end of March) but we would really like to / need to do testing and bug-finding, so realistically it may not be available until April. Perhaps there will be an open beta, or it might be more efficient to just do an internal beta bug-fix blitz and then release the live update sooner (which means less version confusion/mods breaking a million times during beta versions). I will keep you guys posted when we know the release plan!
If any Nomad players are reading, here are the answers to the questions I know you will have, haha: Yes Nomad will received these updates (minus the graphics changes), the update would be released some time after PCVR (maybe a week or two), and still no news on scripted modding! (I promise I will let Nomad players know immediately as soon as there is)
Cheers!