Arcane Glamour: 0.5

November 24th, 2020

New

The biggest update yet is all geared up and out now for all to delve into! And there's actually lots of new dungeon delving to do. Not only have we added another dungeon, but all dungeons now have their encounters randomized!

On the technical side big steps have been taken as well. New optimisations have led to a performance increase of up to 50%! Another technical improvement comes in the form of host migration, finally allowing you to continue even when the host loses connection.

Another focus has been the overhauling and cleaning of the menus. The biggest change here is the addition of a hero select screen, which makes selecting heroes a lot more straightforward. Of course, these new elements also meant that we had to change the initial tutorial flow, and we decided to not just fix but also improve it a lot. This is an ongoing effort that will result in even more quality-of-life changes in the upcoming updates.

Finally, while cleaning up we've also decided to remove the Blight and Notoriety systems. While both served a thematic and gameplay purpose, their functionality wasn't optimal. In case of Blight, the stats effect was odd, and the intended incentive to play other heroes was undermined by Blight potions. As for Notoriety, it unfortunately punished players who wanted to play more when party members left. This removal also gives us a clean break and allows us to put more focus on the core systems.

Of course there are lots of other changes, check them out:

A new area is ready to be explored by your heroes in the Underhold: Underhold Depths. This area features a new boss: Haäken, the jailed.
Encounter randomization is here! Both arena layouts and enemy composition can now randomly change between runs.
The elite enemies Timataan, The fast wolf, Cultist M'Aarten, Broderick and Night Crawler can now be encountered during gameplay.
Blight and all stats and consumables affecting Blight have been removed from the game.
Notoriety has been removed from the game.
Roland of Stendhall can now be found and rescued to join your band of heroes. His personal story is completable.
Karrogh, the Fearless Wolf's personal story is now completable.
Nilbous Flann's personal story is now completable.
14 new items have been added to the game, alongside their respective recipes (Shining Pendant, Hollow Ring, Trick Bomb, Grimoire of the Blight, Alchemist Material, Detection Rod, Underhold Shackles, Honor's Demand, Duron's Gift, Cleansing Touch, Maiden's Crown, M'waans Moon, M'waans Half-moon, Carved Skull).
Added hero select screen - replacing the convoluted hero selection system that was used previously, now just select the right hero(es).
Added guided menu tutorial - When playing the game for the first time, players will be guided through assigning their first statpoint and equipping their first item.
Added a tutorial queue - the first game played after finishing the tutorial for the first time will always be a game with bots to give new players the time and space to get to grips with the game at their own pace.
Added hero stats panel - When selecting a character, pressing the arrow on the outermost edge of the panel will show a more detailed breakdown of their statistics. The values on this panel will be updated as you swap items around.
Replaced the Execute ability from the Assassin with Mark of Zerrish: Strike one enemy for 90% weapon power per Combo Point. Every Combo Point spent adds 4% Ultimate Charge. Upon using this ability you apply the Mark of Zerrish to your target, increasing all damage sources by 50% against that enemy for everyone. Only one Mark of Zerrish can be active at any time.

General

Bots can now be any hero instead of only the host's Blightbound heroes. These bots will have their own sets of equipment tailored to the AI (so it knows how to best utilise it's kit). The level of equipment is chosen based on your own equipped items, to ensure the bots are always around the same strength as you are.
Significantly improved performance. Depending on the player’s hardware, framerate can in some cases be as much as 20% to 50% higher.
Significantly reduced short stutters and framedrops.
Several VFX have been optimised for better performance.
Mana orb animation now loops properly.
Slowed down the revive visual overlay. The light surrounding a player that is to be revived now shows from the start of the animation instead of spawning suddenly.
Hitflashes will now only show on enemies if a local player hits them.
T'Kaat should now properly appear in Creen the Wastelander's personal story, allowing for completion of that story.
Tweaked lore entry for Kromn to talk about restoring the sun instead of breaking it.
Host migration now exists. When the host disconnects the game should no longer automatically give you a loss, but instead change one of the remaining players to the host and have a bot fill the slot(s) of any players that left your session. The room you are currently in resets.

Tutorial

Changed several portions of the tutorial, making the fights a little shorter and explaining the mana spawning concept more explicitly for newer players.
Added checkpoints to the tutorial.
Changed the Assassin's portion tutorial reflecting the change of the Execute ability to Mark of Zerrish.
Bots in the tutorial can now die and be revived (this means the Malborys is no longer the only bot you can revive during the tutorial).
The combo point HUD pop-up is now no longer behind the vignette, making it as easy to read as other tutorial popups.
The wizard will no longer be able to walk through the middle gated area before combat is over.
Trimmed down the amount of initial pop ups when playing for the first time.
Static guidance is provided for first play and hero select.
Players are now actively guided through assigning statpoints and equipping an item for the first time.
Malborys is now no longer able to use Bellowing Cry and his dash during some tutorial steps.

Gameplay

Fixed an issue where Mages that played with Mouse and Keyboard would sometimes not gain Mana chance or spawn Mana, when their mouse cursor was not near an enemy target when firing their primary attacks.
Significantly improved the way that targeting the Mage's reversal shield works.
Fixed a minor issue where the enemies encountered in Karrogh's story were spawned at half health.
Fixed an issue where the warrior and rogue auto attack didn't register when playing on low frame rate.
Mage should now be able to teleport in all expected locations again.
Added new passive for Nilbous: Trying to activate a skill that's on cooldown removes the cooldown and consumes one mana orb instead.
Added a UI visual to more clearly communicate Nilbous' new passive.
Agility now properly multiplies the crit modifier.
The loot spawned by loot fountains has been adjusted, to prevent gold and/or items to go out of bounds.
Loot fountains will now spawn more consistently upon the defeat of a General or Boss. A more permanent solution is being looked into.
Fixed an issue where Khuliath would not jump to the next arena, when players triggered his next phase while he was stunned.
Players should now be able to more consistently deal damage with the Assassin on slower connections.
Shadow Turrets can no longer trigger pressure plates.
Slowing enemies now correctly slows their movement animation by half.
Reversal Shield can no longer be cast on the books summoned by Summon Spirit.
Fixed an issue where Warriors were able to consume a non-full Rage point to do a Rage auto attack.
Fixed some cases where the ultimate damage stat was applied for all damage dealt while an ultimate skill was active on a character.
Named enemies with the Soulbomb modifier are no longer able to cast Soulbomb from an extreme range.
Meshes used in some story beats are no longer unintentionally flattened. This means certain story beat props, such as Korrus’ Urns, to no longer become flat.
Bots will now check if they can reach a pressure plate only once, making them less prone to accidentally switching.
Bots will stop shooting at a remote crystal if it's in close range.
Bots should now follow more consistently when near a door.
Bots now only interact with yet to be activated mana shrines.
Bots are now able to handle larger enemies correctly, moving around bigger enemies with ease.
Assassins and Warrior bots now position themselves properly in front of/behind enemies.
Bots should no longer walk into enemies instead of attacking them.

Items

Tweaked some of the stat names to more clearly represent what each item does upon use. Example: "Slow" turned into "Slow duration".
The item Titan's Essence now applies its item passive team-wide.
Items with the 'weapon attacks do a slow percentage' now have the percentage shown as white text instead of grey.
Nerfed the perk effect of teragons vision by giving the proc a 3 second cooldown.
Changed Talon of Thyst to use tethering instead of a gravity to drag enemies, so it works better over the network. It's now possible to tether multiple characters to one character at the same time.
Added Roland's starting trinket (Shining Pendant) to his character; when you unlock him now, he should be equipped with the trinket by default.
Increased the amount of cooldown reduction Titan Skinner gives to 2 seconds (up from 1.2).

Refuge

The Vsync graphics option is now selectable with controller.
Made the 'save changes' button reachable with controller when assigning stat points.
You are now able to navigate your skills and stats in the character tab of the in-game pause menu
Removed button prompt for help in options menu.
Enabled recruiting artisans with a controller.
When using a controller you should no longer be able to select an invisible item in the Hero or Party sidebar when viewing the Mentor tab.
Navigating through party member icons in the invite window no longer requires 2 d-pad presses.
Scrolling through the Merchant with a controller will now no longer select 'refresh goods' button rather than the next item in the list.
The bestiary can now be scrolled with the right stick when using a controller
Journal now displays intro text.
Journal now displays transcripts before pressing play.
Notification dots now disappear when recruiting a new artisan.
Improved accuracy of building collision sizes.
Ensured that reaching the final prosperity level has a reward.
When heroes unlock, grant them the stats unlocked through prosperity thus far.
Removed an exploit allowing players to assign too many stat points to their heroes by swapping between them mid-stat point assignment.
Tweaked scroll speed values for several menus.
When using a controller, players should no longer be able to unintentionally enter the matchmaking queue when it was impossible for keyboard and mouse users.

Interface

Fixed damage numbers not appearing when picking up mana orbs.
Offscreen hero indicators now also show portraits when playing with bots.
When bots use the chakram skill the player will no longer see a button prompt above the chakram.

Levels

The Meatclot in Northern Hull (B2F) of The Creeping Blight will now walk out of its cell more consistently when players open the cell gates, instead of getting stuck in a corner.
Fixed some rare cases in The Creeping Blight where enemies would sometimes become permanently invincible to all damage.
Updated the 'bell finished tolling' ending of Darkness' Embrace. Shortly after the final encounter spawns, the screen fades to black, resulting in a Defeat.
Fixed a rare issue in `Forsaken Bastion` of Darkness' Embrace, where players could become stuck behind the door that is only open when both pressure plates are triggered.
In the Defiled Chapel area of "For Whom the Bell Tolls" the Mage player will no longer walk through an obstacle during their guided movement at the start of the room.
Fixed an issue in Mausolea of the Noble in For Whom the Bell Tolls where a fog wall would come back and block progress when players enter the sideroom and return.
The Boss Healthbar will now always show when fighting against the Cultists of Asphodel. Also fixed an issue where the Boss Healthbar would sometimes remain on screen after all Cultists were defeated.
Changed: Fixed a minor issue where players were able to see mist out of bounds in Adorned Tomb.
Changed: Fixed an instance where the player's vision would be blocked by a pillar out of bounds in Large Crypt.
The clones spawned by Hemog that drain health now only need to be hit 3 times instead of 4.
Resolved a potential softlock in Inner Graves.
Bots now head for the correct pressure plates in Eastern and Western walkway.
Bot behaviour in Cell Block 301B has been adjusted - bots no longer see the area in front of lasers as a pressure plate.
Bots no longer try to get to pressure plates if they can't find their way there and the player is pulling a block.
Bots should now be able to more easily find the doors of the Rockface Refuge.
Removed visual obstruction in the Ominous Cave in Answering the Call.
Bots no longer get stuck when attacking crystals. This is especially important for the Underhold Depths.
Made sure bots flee from Blood Magus even when they're close to terrain.
Warrior bots now flee out of lifedrain areas instead of trying to block it
Dead bots will now always crawl towards the leading player, or to the other bot/player if the leading player is dead.