Update #14: An apology, Patch Notes for closed beta 0.02, some gifs + item talk
First of all an apology, I did mention of a demo on itch.io/steam, but I decided against having a demo at this stage after doing the research. Out of ethical commitments though, I will put it out closer to release.
In other news, I exhibited at Gamestart 2017! It was fruitful, and attendance turned out better than my previous exhibition, the numbers reached to about 180+, compared to 130 last time. I got some press coverage in as well!
Meanwhile, the closed beta is up and here are the patch notes for build 0.02:
Patch notes
Fixes
- Fixed multiplayer issues
- Fixed chatbox issues
- Fixed desync issue not recording queued commands
- Fixed shield vfx
- Fixed some movement & steering issues
- Fixed negative movespeed issues
- No longer updating scores for the initial tutorial boss encounter.
Changes
- Enemy hitpoint bars are now red
- Some boss abilities that push now bounce players up
- Right-click selection priority for runes
- Item balancing updates; items now have class restrictions
- One-eyed horror boss encounter tweaks, reworked ultimate, + 1 more ability
- Deadly Boss machine encounter tweaks + 2 more abilities
- Count Winkus encounter tweak + 2 more abilities
- Guardian: Sonic clap now taunts every 15 seconds
- Ranger: Item "Glowing Rose" ability upgrade switched to Venom Shot from Rune of Winds. Venom Shot now leaves behind AOE venom clouds with the upgrade.
- Tweaked mana costs of the abilities of many heroes.
Rationale behind the item class restriction change:
- A player could buy a bunch of high armor upgrades on a priest and essentially tank all the bosses. While amusing, it takes out much of the challenge of the game, hence the changes.
Future roadmap:
- Reworks on the Necromancer/Demon bosses.
- Further balancing tweaks
Do note that with each new build, the leaderboards will be reset and you will be able to upload scores for the bosses again. Also, hard mode will not be accessible for the moment as it's too much to test.
If you have a key, please give me some feedback; even your information on PC specs/performance will help me, and it's more likely you'll be able to keep your key past release.
Gifs
Count Winkus's new ability, Lightning Surge! A replacement for his old teleport ability
The ranger's Venom shot Ability is upgraded with Venom Clouds thanks to the item "Glowing Rose!"
Item Talk
Thanks to Steam leaderboards and being able to attach replays to them, I was able to see just how some players were able to abuse the game systems. I had a player who stacked a bunch of high armor/mid damage items on his priestess, and when he took on the boss it couldn't deal damage fast enough to out-dps the priestess.
Below the paladin's head lists some unit stats, 18 armor is roughly 48% damage reduction. For reference, bosses dealt around 200 per hit. It's easy to outheal them at 800 health a pop
After a bunch of testing, I decided on a class restriction for items. It's worth noting that World of Warcraft initially chose to limit healer classes on wearing plate mail armor for a reason, and that reason is just the problem I experienced.
And lets finish with a preview of a few items! Credits to icon makers at the hiveworkshop.
Glowing Green Rose
Ranger only
+12.5 percent attack speed
+8 percent move speed
+3 mana regeneration
Venom Shot now leaves behind Venom Clouds, dealing poison damage and slowing enemies in it.
Meteor Magnet
FireMage only
+50 ability damage
+400 health
+15 health regeneration
+2 mana regeneration
The cast time of the Meteor ability is reduced by 1 second (down from 4 to 3 seconds).
