Greetings, Flameborn! Here we are with our second update! This one brings quite a few quality of life changes that we think you'll like, as well as a new area, new content, new features, improvements to existing features, on top of the usual fixes and polish. Let's start with the big one: the [b]Blackmire[/b], a new area for players level 13-15. Nested in a corner of the Revelwoods, this is sub-biome has beautiful soaring trees, and murky depths. You'll encounter new creatures, few of which will be friendly. To prepare for your journey, make sure your character has a hook and a glider equipped. If you are revisiting with a more experienced character, you can get an appropriate challenge by equipping lvl 15 gear, resetting your skills at the altar, and investing about 45 points. Anyway, you're all waiting for the cool highlight video, so here it is... but before the video, what's this? An update trailer?? Oh my! [previewyoutube=CvQNjoc0FkM;full][/previewyoutube] And if you want more details, but you haven't got much time, here's the update highlights! [previewyoutube=vhLz6WvusZI;full][/previewyoutube] [h1]Changelog for Update 2 v.0.7.2.0[/h1] Version number: 532860 [h2]Highlights[/h2] [h3]The Blackmire [/h3] A new passage has emerged in the far north of Revelwood, beyond which the mysterious Blackmire waits to be discovered. As an extension of the Revelwood region, Blackmire offers a unique new area for players to explore, alongside additional new quests, gameplay challenges, skill points, enemies, music, and much more! The most adventurous Flameborn will be rewarded with unique materials, accessories, and decorations as they explore these new lands, and there are even rumors of another survivor hidden among the sunken ruins of the ancients... [h3]Player-Based Quest Progression [/h3] We are excited to announce that this update introduces our [url=https://enshrouded.featureupvote.com/suggestions/525247/allow-for-playerbased-quest-progression-see-dev-comments-in-thread]most requested feature[/url]: The option to complete Embervale quests individually in multiplayer! All missed quests are listed in the quest journal, which can be toggled on at any time, allowing players to personally complete them with or without their friends. Please note: Embervale quest participation has been tracked since the release of Hollow Halls - previous quests will show up as missing, and may have to be completed again to display as finished. [h3]Musical Instruments[/h3] Music has arrived in Enshrouded! Flameborn can craft and play various new musical instruments, either as a solo performance, or by joining in to play alongside nearby players. Playing music adds to the rested buff duration, and can even be used to replenish it while exploring the world of Embervale. Note: Bad guitar covers of “Wonderwall” not included. [h3]Vanity system[/h3] Visual transmogs have been added to the equipment menu! Personalize your unique visual style without needing to sacrifice any of those valuable combat stats. Players can also choose to hide gloves and helmets, finally allowing you to show off your stylish new haircut. [h3]Permission settings for servers[/h3] Hosts of either peer-to-peer servers or dedicated servers can now set individual passwords for various user groups who then have specific permissions enabled or disabled on that server. The main focus of this update is to protect the chests and player bases on servers from unwanted interference. On dedicated servers, user groups with corresponding permissions can be freely configured. Permissions include: taking items out of containers in the player base, building and removing blocks or props in the player base, terraforming in the player base, adding or removing flame altars, upgrading the flame altars, kicking or banning other players. To our server hosts and owners, [url=https://enshrouded.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/19191581489309-Server-Roles-Configuration]please click here[/url] to get a complete overview of all the changes! [h3]New Weapon Type: Dual-Wielded Daggers[/h3] Many tweaks, fixes, and improvements have been added to each class as part of our ongoing effort to improve combat balancing (see full changelog below). However, to give dexterity-based builds more options in melee ranges, we are proud to introduce Enshrouded's newest weapon type: daggers. Unleash your inner assassin as you use a pair of razor-sharp blades to slice through enemies with speed and grace! Disclaimer: Keen Games takes no responsibility for any injuries sustained while trying to strike cool poses. [h2]Changelog[/h2] [h3]Combat Gameplay[/h3] Our focus in improving the combat in update 2 has been to evaluate Enshrouded’s class balancing. The team’s goal is to ensure that combat feels effective and fun for all classes on the battlefield, especially when playing together in a group. Our goal is for every role to feel equally important in its own way; however, we also believe that various combat situations should pose different challenges for each unique play style. We aim to encourage player experimentation and creativity [h3]Mage Class[/h3] We've seen quite a few instances of mages having unintentionally strong defensive options. So to keep the class more in line with other builds, we've had to rein in some of that power with a few changes and ability reworks. Please don't shoot any fireballs at us... [list] [*] A new skill has been added to the mage skill tree, Eternal Spark: 20% chance to not consume durability with attacks. Please note that the Skills Wand Master and Sting have also swapped places in the Skill Tree. [*] The skill Water Aura has been reworked. It now works as a buff, meaning the skill can no longer be stacked on the same target by multiple players. Please keep in mind that multiple players with the aura are still useful in larger groups, as they can spread the aura over larger areas. [*] Cancel timings with wands have been reworked to increase the commitment to the attack. Before, it was possible to almost instantaneously switch between attacking and blocking, which led to mages having significantly more defensive power than intended. [*] The Unity skill was buffed from 2% mana regeneration rate to 4%. See, they’re not all nerfs! [*] An infinite mana exploit that used healing spells and the skill Blood Magic has been fixed. The skill now has an internal cooldown of 120 seconds. To compensate, it now restores 35% maximum mana (increased from 20%). [*] Bunny hopping with wand attacks has been nerfed, as it allowed mages to almost completely mitigate damage from enemy melee attackers. Admin, he’s no longer doing it sideways… [*] An issue was fixed with the skill Bloodletting, which caused it to spawn orbs with 100% chance on crit instead of the intended 50% chance. [*] The damage that staffs add to the "damage dealt" calculation is reduced by 50%. This slightly reduces spell damage overall. [*] Slightly reduced the damage from wands to offset their overall usefulness. Additional projectiles from the skill Wand Master have reduced damage compared to the main projectile. [*] Fixed an issue with the skill Terror that caused the stun phase to be longer than the intended 4 seconds duration. [*] The skill Counterstrike no longer affects dead enemies. [/list] [h3]Warrior gameplay[/h3] While we feel that the warrior has good damage and survivability, especially in the early game, we feel that it becomes harder to compete with the damage output of the ranged and magical classes in later stages of the game, especially while having to close the distance on the battlefield. We’ve worked on making the special attacks more exciting and reliable, alongside some fixes. Some of our plans to better support warriors will come in a future update, as we need more time to work on them a bit longer and do extensive testing. [list] [*] A new skill has been added to the center ring of the skill tree. Opportunity: Adds 100% to the multiplier of Merciless Strike and Sneak Attack. [*] A new skill has been added to the warrior skill tree. Finesse: Reduced durability loss with one-handed weapons and daggers. [*] A new skill has been added to the warrior skill tree. Steadfast: Defeating an enemy with a melee weapon restores 1 durability to that weapon. [*] Two-handed weapons now hit enemies more consistently during the regular attack chain. [*] A new mechanic has been introduced for two-handed weapons: When delaying the attack input, the character performs a different attack chain of overhead strikes. This way, the player can choose between dealing great damage to multiple targets or massive damage to a single target. [*] Increased the effectiveness of parry for two-handed weapons. [*] Shields have tweaked block and parry values to match their various sub-categories: DPS, tank, and balanced. [*] Parrying enemies with shields and wards in the late game now fills their stun bars in the intended way. [*] The damage from the skill Bash now scales with the strength attribute, and should be more competitive for higher level characters. [*] Increased the base damage for the skill Merciless Strike from +400% to +500% damage. [*] The skill Breach now triggers more reliably whenever the stun bar of enemies has been filled. [*] The skill Shockwave now triggers on every parry, in addition to the previous trigger of overpowering with attacks into a blocking enemy. [*] The special effect “Block Breaker” has been added to the skill Evasion Attack. The attack now fills more of the stun bar of blocking enemies. [*] The cancel times for the skill Evasion Attack now allow the player to start new inputs sooner after the movement, making it less risky to use. [*] The skill Jump Attack no longer gets stuck in crowds of enemies and instead pushes them slightly to the side. Furthermore, the attack impact could previously be slightly delayed in specific situations. It now better matches the timing of the landing. [*] Continuous triggering of the Jump Attack previously led to unintentionally high survivability against larger groups of enemies. To counter this, the skill now has a slightly longer recovery phase. On the plus side, it fills the stun bar more should enemies try to block it, making it more likely that they offer the opportunity for a Merciless Strike. [*] Jump Attack should feel more dynamic, it allows better air-control while maintaining more of the character's jumping inertia. The player no longer always falls straight to the ground. [/list] [h3]Ranger gameplay[/h3] While the ranger has the huge advantage of applying damage from a safe distance, we feel that especially against larger groups of enemies, the limited options for areas of effects were too punishing. Another obvious topic for rangers is the situation when the combat shifts into the melee range. We wanted to provide another option for rangers in close-quarter combat. For that, we introduced the dexterity-based weapon type daggers. In Enshrouded, the role of the dagger is complementary to the ranged gameplay and they are not meant as a 1:1 alternative in power to the sword in the hands of a skilled warrior. Together with the weapons themselves, we introduced new skills in the ranger skill tree to support the dagger gameplay. [list] [*] Daggers can now be found as loot all over the world. Damage of daggers scales with dexterity. [*] Daggers allow for a unique kick attack that specifically fills the stun bar, which can be triggered by attacking quickly after a successful parry. [*] A new skill has been added to the ranger skill tree. Dagger Master: Increases damage dealt with daggers by 15%. [*] Armors can now have perks to support the dagger gameplay, such as the Assassin Gloves. [*] A new type of arrow is now available: Magic Arrow. It is available in the Revelwood tier crafting progression and once equipped will not be consumed upon use, but cost a little Mana when drawn. The damage is slightly below regular arrows to balance the higher convenience. [*] A new skill has been added to the ranger skill tree. Slice And Dice: Increases the damage of the next bow attack by 50% after a dagger crit. [*] The first version of explosive arrows is now available in the crafting tier of the Revelwood, providing early access to splash damage. [*] Explosive Arrows: crafting time and ingredient cost have been reduced. [*] A new upgrade skill has been added to the ranger skill tree that allows the player to choose to trigger special arrows such as the explosive arrow with the Multi Shot skill. Multi Shot Trigger: ALL arrows, including special arrows, can trigger Multi Shot. Note that the skill consumes the additional arrows from the backpack. [*] Fixed an issue where the Multi Shot skill could unintentionally use up additional special arrows. [*] A new skill has been added to the ranger skill tree. Multi Shot Spread: Adds a 25% chance to spawn an additional projectile to the "flurry of arrows" from the Multi Shot skill. Note that this additional projectile does not get subtracted from the backpack. [*] The functionality of the stun arrow has been reworked. Instead of stunning an enemy directly, the stun arrow now increases the stun bar similar to a parry or attacking into a blocking enemy. Together with that change, more enemies can now be stunned and more enemies offer the Merciless Strike opportunity when stunned. The amount added to the stun bar with stun arrows depends on the dexterity attribute. [*] Bosses are stunned for a little longer than before. Generally, bosses are still very resistant to stuns. [*] Fixed an issue where the upward impulse from the Bee Sting skill could be missing. [/list] [h2]Player Progression / Equipment[/h2] [list] [*] Completing quests now rewards with XP. [*] To compensate for XP from quests and additional areas in the Revelwood, the XP needed for level-ups has been adjusted accordingly. [*] Meat-based food in the Kindlewastes tier now has duration values that are better aligned to other cooked food in this tier. [*] Cleaned Bandages now also remove the poisoned status. [*] The buff from bandages now expires when the player receives damage as intended. Added visual cues when the buff from the bandages expires. [*] Bows now lose durability as intended. Sorry, everyone. [*] Armor perks that give a damage bonus for the skill Merciless Strike now give a significantly higher bonus on late-game equipment. [*] "Rogue" Armor for the warrior now features a bonus for the skill Merciless Strike instead of a bonus for Sneak Attack. [*] Improved stats for the Radiant Paladin helmet and glove items. [*] The Explosive Powder Ball Net can now correctly be crafted. [*] A new type of equipment can now be found in the world: vanity outfits. Vanity outfits don’t have gameplay stats but can be equipped in the vanity slots to override the visuals of the equipped armor. [*] Moved the recipes for the grappling hook and gliders to the “Essentials” section. [*] Metalstar Maces can now drop in better quality than common. [*] The Opportunity Damage perk on items has been replaced by Merciless Strike Damage and Sneak Attack Damage perks. [*] Fixed an incorrect animation for the Merciless Strike when using the Dragon Sword item. [*] Fixed a few cases where specific weapons had a level higher than the intended level maximum. [/list] [h2]Building / Farming[/h2] [list] [*] Increased the speed of the planting and harvesting actions to allow faster and smoother interaction with fields of plants in the player bases. [*] Removed Saffron as an ingredient of recipes of the Nomad Highlands crafting tier as it does not become available until the Kindlewastes. [*] Fixed several minor issues with recipes for furniture and decorative props. [*] Fixed an incorrect category setting for the Stone Chair to fix comfort stacking with other chairs. [*] Fixed an incorrect category setting for the Iron Bench to fix comfort stacking with other benches. [*] Yucca Palm seedlings now require Yucca fruit to craft. [/list] [h2]Game world and enemies[/h2] [list] [*] The Vukah faction has been expanded. [*] The Vukah Healer Shaman and the Vukah Caster Shaman can now block a player's melee attacks. The Healer’s behavior has been reworked: He is more efficient in following and healing his companions. [*] Vukah soldiers’ attacks are now faster and more difficult to parry. [*] Enemy projectiles now correctly display their impact when hitting the terrain. [*] The damage of the poison attack from Scavenger Matrons has been reworked to limit the risk of killing players in melee range with one hit. [*] Armored Scavenger enemies and Shielded Fell soldiers now have their stamina reduced by 20% - leading to their stun bar filling up faster and thus more and earlier opportunities for Merciless Strike. [*] Enemy encounters have been updated and improved in many areas of the world. [*] The Pillars of Creation area received an overhaul with many improvements to the layout, more rewards to discover, and additional enemies. [*] The region around the Nomad Highlands’ Elixir Well received a major update. [*] The towns of Fort Kelvin, Hillock, and Ferndale have received a major overhaul. [*] Fixed several locations where it was possible to get stuck between terrain and props. [*] Fixed an issue that could lead to fast travel points on Ancient Spires not unlocking correctly if the same spire had been previously unlocked on another server already. [*] Fixed an issue that caused stunned vultures to “lie down” mid-air. It was funny though. [*] Benches now offer more spaces to sit on. [*] Fixed an issue with the camera that would lead to jumps when moving behind props. [*] New music tracks have been added to the dungeon combat playlist. [*] Added new music playlists for combat in caves. [*] More equipment repair anvils have been added to several larger settlements and towns. [*] Some ground materials now have atmospheric graphical effects, such as small flames on lava. [*] Shadows visuals have been improved. [*] Improved player camera behavior, so it is less erratic when interacting with objects in the world. [*] Improved situations where debuffs could be activated when standing near or jumping over dangerous terrain (e.g. lava) even though the characters' feet weren't even touching it. This one is for all of you who died because your big toe touched lava. [*] When moving through mud, the character can now sink in further than before. [*] Fixed a glitch where landing on uneven terrain could lead to some amount of (micro) sliding which could appear as floating for a short moment. [/list] [h2]User interface and Text[/h2] [list] [*] In the character menu, each equipment slot now has an additional slot for a vanity override. Items equipped in the vanity slots define the visuals of the equipment while items in the regular equipment slots define the gameplay stat as before. [*] Helmets and gloves can now be hidden. This feature can be switched off in the game settings. [*] By default, players are now shown with their character names instead of the Steam account name. This feature can be switched on and off in the game’s settings. [*] Tombstones now show the name of the fallen player. Remind them to clean up after themselves. [*] Flame altars can now be renamed, to help orientation on the world map when there are several player bases next to each other. Or because naming your base is cool. [*] Map markers can now be filtered in the world map. Please note that the settings affect all your characters and worlds but can be changed at any point. [*] When moving several items from chests or other containers to the backpack, the game will no longer add items to the action bar by default. [*] The state of durability of weapons is now displayed in the details menu. [*] Improved the display of damage bonus to Merciless Strike on weapons. [*] Fixed an issue that incorrectly showed Soldier Gloves and Rogue Gloves giving a bonus to One-Handed Melee Damage when it was in fact boosting Two-Handed Melee Damage. [*] Fixed an issue where in the character details menu the Skillshot Damage was incorrectly stated as being +0%. [*] Removed the latency info from the private game mode as it is redundant. The latency between your computer and your computer should be relatively low in most cases. [*] Fixed a dialog line from Emily Fray the Farmer about the Caravan Journey that wouldn’t disappear after reading. [*] Fixed cases where the “new” dot didn’t disappear from armor items even after viewing them. [*] Fixed instances where text was cut off incorrectly by the UI menus. [*] Fixed several typos. [/list] [h2]Miscellaneous[/h2] [list] [*] The range for gifting items to other players has been increased to 50 meters. [*] Performance for servers has been improved for larger groups of players. [*] When, after patching, a player tries to join a server that has not yet applied the patch, the correct warning message is now displayed for the player. [*] Enshrouded has been further optimized for the Steam Deck. [/list] If you read this far, thank you for sticking it out! We hope you enjoy Enshrouded's second update. Let us know what you think below! The team at Keen Games.