After being conceived and iterated through over the course of a year, the Character Update is finally live! This update adds 5 unique characters (with more on the way) to the game which allow players fresh and unique new ways to play the game. Other than that, this update adds a brand-new square (to replace meditation squares) and offers numerous tweaks to combat abilities, items, and gameplay elements– the usual.
GENERAL:
REDUCED HEALING — End of turn health regen reduced from 5 HP to 3 HP.
START WIF’ NUFFIN – Starting attack has been lowered from 1 to 0.
CHOOSE A QUEST – Quests can now be re-rolled up to 2 times.
BATTLE:
ABILITY CHANGES:
Some balance updates to combat abilities:
NOT AS SPAMMY – All basic combat abilities (1st-pick) have had their base cooldowns increased from 3 rounds –> 4.
BUT MORE DAMAGE – ALL damaging combat abilities now deal 12% more base damage.
AND MORE DAMAGE – ALL damaging combat abilities have had their damage scaling increased by 40%.
ATTACK DAMAGE NERF- Attack damage scaling reduced from 140% attack –> 120% attack.
CHANGED – Invigorate : (New Effect) — Now generates 3 combo points.
BRAWL CHANGES:
IT WAS TOO EARLY – Brawls will no longer occur before round 5.
BIG FINALE – A Brawl will now always occur on the last round.
DEATH’S EDGE CHANGES:
In nearly all cases, Death’s Edge prolonged battles much longer than they needed to be without impacting the outcome of battles much. This change means that as long as you’re willing to stay in the arena, you might get an additional turn or two to turn the tide of a fight — risking death for reward!
UNCERTAIN EDGE – Death’s Edge is no longer guaranteed to trigger upon receiving lethal damage!
- Death’s Edge now has a 30% chance to trigger, which is increased by your evasion chance.
- Death’s Edge can now trigger multiple times in combat!
STUN CHANGES:
- When a player receives a stun, any combat actions they have queued on that turn are cancelled.
CHARACTERS:
Characters are the game’s newest edition which lets each player customize their play-style with unique traits and abilities. You’ll choose characters before the game starts, and you’ll stick with them to the end; keep in mind each character has unique perks (and in some cases quirks) that will fundamentally change your approach to the game in new and novel ways.
NEW – Character Abilities
Character abilities are new turn options (alternative to rolling) that let you activate a special effect based on your chosen character. Character abilities cost energy, and cannot be used if you’ve rolled on the same turn.
NEW CHARACTER: NURSE ANN
UNIQUE TRAIT (Pledge of Life) — Nurse Ann cannot deal lethal damage to other players, unless she is in combat.
UNIQUE ABILITY (EMERGENCY) — Rush to the square of an opponent and Heal them to full health; for each point of health healed, you earn +1 AP, and while en-route to the target you deal 45 damage to any other opponents in the way.
NEW CHARACTER: Gramps
UNIQUE TRAIT (Wise Man; Bad Knees) — Gramps earns experience 50% faster, but moving 10 or more spaces in a turn causes him to take 15 non-lethal damage.
UNIQUE ABILITY (Back in My Day) — For 2 turns, ALL players lose any stat bonuses from items. During this time, no other character abilities may be used.
NEW CHARACTER: Aimond
UNIQUE TRAIT (Startler) — Whenever Aimond passes another player on the board, he haunts them for 1 turn.
UNIQUE ABILITY (Boo!) — Aimond teleports to the square of an opponent, and haunts them for 1 turn. If they were already haunted, they miss a turn instead.
NEW CHARACTER: Robbie
UNIQUE TRAIT (Five-Finger Discount) — After leaving the item shop, Rob gains a free random item. If Rob dies, any stolen items he has in his inventory are removed.
UNIQUE ABILITY (Snatch) — Rob attempts to steal an item (worth 100 AP or less) from a target player. If successful, he becomes untargetable for 1 turn.
NEW CHARACTER: Steve
UNIQUE TRAIT (Startler) — Steve starts with +4 Defense.
UNIQUE ABILITY (Boo!) — Steve grows in size and doubles his current health until his next turn.
SPELLS:
Spells are a new gameplay element intended to replace powers. Spell work very similarly to powers, in that they cost energy and activate an effect, usually on a target enemy. However unlike powers, spells are not chosen at the start of the game– instead they have a dedicated square type to them… introducing:
NEW – Magic Square
- Magic squares are a new square type; when you land on them, you’ll get to choose between 2 spells to cast, if you have enough energy.
- Magic Squares will replace Meditation Squares this patch.
Possible Spells:
Arcanopulse: Deal 35 damage to a target. If it kills them, the energy cost of this ability is refunded.
Cost: 6 Energy.
Curse: Deal 63 damage to a target over 3 turns.
Cost: 7 Energy.
Silence: Silence a player for 2 turns. During this time, they cannot use items, character abilities, or cast spells.
Cost: 7 Energy.
Untether: Become Untethered for 4 seconds. During this time you can move around the board freely.
Cost: 3 Energy.
Time Warp: Reset the cooldown of all abilities and items.
Cost: 5 Energy.
PREGAME:
The following game elements previously served to give players strategic flexibility when choosing how to approach their playstyle. With the Character update finally live, these aspects became overbearing and added a lot more complexity to the game with little strategic variation. In other words, less is more.
REMOVED – Charms
REMOVED – Combat Aspects
- Note: Previously, when displaying ability choices, the game would present abilities based on the chosen combat aspect. Following this update, abilities presented to players will now be based around their current combat stats— allowing for much more varied ability combinations and more control over what kinds of abilities players have access to throughout the game.
ITEMS:
Smoothing out some items, balance, etc.
CHANGED – Dash’Kai’s Blood Tome
- Is no longer auction exclusive.
BUFFED – Sorrow
- Damage amplification increased from 5% of max health –> 7% of max health.
CHANGED – Riot Shield
- Defense bonus increased from 6 –> 8
CHANGED – Doogle’s Spellbook
- No longer restores full energy upon landing on a Mediation Square. (Because they no longer exist).
REWORKED – Restorative Charm
- New Effect: Restores 12 health at the end of your turn.
CHANGED – Xpired’s Mystery Soup
- Chance of negative outcome increased by 16%. Careful…
REMOVED – Crappy Sword
- It’s gone for good this time.
UI:
ZOOM – You can now use the mouse wheel to adjust camera zoom.
NOW LOADING – A loading screen has been added.
WARNING SIGNS – Notifications are now sent to players whenever a brawl or intermission is scheduled to occur at the end of a round.
LEARN WHILE WAITING – Game tips are now displayed while waiting for other players to choose actions.