Hello Knights! We’re ready to kick off 2023 with a packed update for you! We’ve added a new skill, new relics, a bunch of quality of life improvements, and much more! [h1]Arlan's Lucky Dice[/h1] Calling all gamblers! We've introduced a new skill that will be sure to surprise you each and every time it's used. With this update, Arlan's Lucky Dice has been added to the default pool of skills so roll the dice and take your chances! [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38096630/afc41703596a3d63a2ab1f347cfe64b6ab6d6663.gif[/img] [h1]New Relics & Armor[/h1] It was time for another look at our current pool of relics and we've identified a bunch of relics that needed some work. Based on your feedback, we've learned that "on roll" relics weren't that popular. We also noticed that the relics that trigger off of taking damage weren't picked very often. Simply put, they're not that exciting. We've come up with a better way to reward defensive play while also allowing newer players the time and safety to learn the different enemy behaviors. We've decided to greatly expand the Armor mechanic. Previously available with weapon mods, we've now implemented Armor in a bunch of redesigned relics. With these new relics, you'll have ways to generate Armor, as well as triggering various effects from that Armor generation. A quick explanation about Armor[list] [*]Armor acts like temporary max HP. When a player has Armor and takes damage, the Armor is removed instead of losing HP. For example:[list] [*]If you have 15 Armor and take 10 damage, you end up with 5 Armor and full HP [*]If you have 15 Armor and take 25 damage, you end up with 0 Armor and lose 10 HP[/list][*]Armor has a max of 15 but can be increased with certain relics [*]Players can generate Armor via relics and mods up to their max Armor [*]Armor does not heal and is not considered HP for the purposes of HP triggers, effects, etc. It simply prevents damage[/list] [h1]Visual Clutter Improvements[/h1] Thanks to your feedback, we've been able to make a significant improvement to the visual noise that can occur, especially in 4-player games. For this update, we've looked at weapons, skills, relics and a bunch of miscellaneous instances where we feel we could still convey the effect we want but without unnecessarily contributing to the overall noise. Here are a few examples: [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38096630/44b2d11b715e545f15fb884b565448582e36c3e9.gif[/img] [i]Ember Fire before & after[/i] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38096630/0454c00b8ac0570470ba28e5d8d850f9e9391c03.gif[/img] [i]Heal VFX before & after[/i] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38096630/0e92c4e5c9c04ed958f5ffa3b328e0702042f44e.gif[/img] [i]Pilot Light before & after[/i] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38096630/89a11596b6c6af1c2fdf73cda3a9026063234c8d.gif[/img] [i]Bronze Rat before & after[/i] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38096630/8899dc4e378f27381faa6b1e5f16e8b7fafab19d.gif[/img] [i]Blast Bomb before & after[/i] Take a look below for the full list of visual improvements as well as everything else that's included with this update! [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38096630/c467ad34e5091644bbc898fcf17544c71c919adc.png[/img] [h1]Complete Patch Notes[/h1] Note: items marked with 🔥 are a result of player feedback. [h2]New content and features[/h2] [h3]Arlan's Lucky Dice[/h3] The latest skill to be introduced and it's available in the starting pool of skills! [h3]New Relics 🔥[/h3][list][*][b]Bone Plate (previously Winter's Reply)[/b] - Gain base Armor. Gain Armor by defeating enemies [*][b]Ornate Glove[/b] - While over a minimum amount of gold, get bonus move speed and bonus crit [*][b]Wizard's Fleece (previously Scorching Sandals)[/b] - Gain bonus skill damage for each Armor. When Armor is removed, skills are refreshed by the amount of Armor lost [*][b]Twisted Firestarter (previously Static Aegis)[/b] - Your first weapon hit burns and deals bonus damage [*][b]Steel Greaves (previously Bulwark)[/b] - Gain Armor when dodging an attack [*][b]Spite Shield[/b] - Gain bonus weapon damage for each Armor. When Armor is removed, deal that much damage to enemies around you [*][b]Guard Scepter (previously Swamp Stompers)[/b] - Gain Armor when casting a perfect skill[/list] [h3]Visual Noise Improvements 🔥[/h3] [b]Weapons & Mods[/b][list][*]Rift Hammer - reduced amount of particles and lifetime of crack FX [*]Rift Hammer Smite mod – adjusted to render behind players and enemies [*]Rift Hammer Detonate mod – reduced number of particles [*]Ember Blade Lunge mod – reduced number of particles and rotated based on the player’s direction[/list][b]Skills[/b][list][*]Blast Bomb – adjusted to render smoke behind players and enemies [*]Ember Fire – reduced lifetime, reduced quantity and opacity of particle FX [*]Arcane Bolts – adjusted to render some particles behind players and enemies [*]Frost Wall – adjusted to render behind players[/list][b]Relics[/b][list][*]Plague Bomb VFX - reduced lifetime, adjusted to render behind players and enemies [*]Volatile Grimlock explosion - reduced lifetime, simplified the smoke, adjusted to render behind players and enemies [*]Pilot Light fire burst - reduced lifetime, adjusted to render behind players and enemies [*]Bronze Rat freeze - reduced lifetime, adjusted to render behind players and enemies [*]Conduit Spike static charge - reduced lifetime [*]Ignition Break VFX - reduced noise, adjusted to render behind players and enemies [*]Shivering Touch VFX - reduced lifetime, reduced the amount of VFX that render on top of players [*]Ripe Elderberry VFX - reduced lifetime, reduced overall particles and amount rendered on top of players [*]Surge Pendant VFX - reduced lifetime, reduced overall particles and amount rendered on top of players [*]Hunter Grasp VFX - reduced lifetime, reduced overall particles and amount rendered on top of players [*]Storm Ward VFX - reduced lifetime, disabled lightning from spawning when no enemies are present[/list][b]Misc[/b][list][*]General hit VFX - reduced lifetime, reduced overall size, added a small offset. Applies to weapons, crits, props and general hits [*]Lightning Wisps static charge - reduced lifetime [*]Heal VFX - reduced lifetime, reduced overall particles and amount rendered on top of players [*]Adjusted target indicator for Vanguard [*]Removed camera shake when enemies die from burn or poison [*]No longer shows damage and heal numbers from teammates in multiplayer games [*]Adjusted damage numbers on bosses to appear closer to where the hit occurred [*]Set a maximum number of damage numbers that can appear on an enemy at any one time [*]Reduced the size of the popup that appears with a stat gem [*]Disabled the increased stat popup when picking up a stat during battle[/list] [h3]Progress Saving 🔥[/h3] We've created a system for backing up save files. A newly created backup folder will keep a log of the previous 10 save files. We've also added a new screen in the launch sequence to handle situations where the local save file doesn’t match the cloud save file. Players will be asked which save file they’d like to continue on. If no difference exists between local and cloud, no screen will be shown. [h3]New player color (and secret...) 🔥[/h3] We've added a new player color that's been a popular request. It's sure to light up your game! [h3]Viewing teammate's inventories 🔥[/h3] When making decisions, it's important to know what your teammates are running so we've added the ability to view their inventories in online multiplayer games. [h1]Balancing[/h1] In addition to the new content and features, we’ve also made the following changes: [list][*]Changed Titan’s Wargear to increase damage on every 4 enemy kills 🔥 [*]Reduced Infested Mind’s damage from 80 to 40 [*]Adjusted the Razor Wind to allow players to roll through the projectile without collecting it [*]Tweaked the Sword Lunge Mod to not do a swing in between consecutive lunges [*]Adjusted Storm Ward and Thunder Hammer relics to spawn lightning on damage rather than on lightning [*]Updated the Shivering Touch relic to trigger on each tick for Guardian Bow mod, Volley [*]Added the ability to use the scroll wheel when browsing relics from the inventory screen [*]Removed damage performed on the training dummy from counting towards player’s overall damage 🔥 [*]Added various SFX that were missing or needed[/list] [h1]Bugs [/h1] And finally, a big list of squashed bugs. [list][*]Fixed a bug that was casting an infinite amount of lightning resulting in a crash 🔥 [*]Fixed some issues related to NPC dialogue sequences that were causing softlocks in multiplayer games 🔥 [*]Fixed a rare bug with changing rooms that was causing a softlock if there were enemies left in the previous room 🔥 [*]Fixed a bug that was preventing the Arcane Orb skill from being added to the Compendium when equipping the Nexal Staff [*]Fixed a bug with Razor Wind that was preventing it from hitting targets directly in front of the player [*]Fixed a bug with Razor Wind where players wouldn’t teleport the full distance when cast offscreen [*]Fixed a visual bug with Rift Hammer’s charge attacks where the animations weren’t facing the correct direction in multiplayer games [*]Fixed a bug with Cloak and Dagger that was preventing relics Vital Convergence and Call to Arms from triggering off of perfect casts [*]Fixed an issue with using Knight’s Charge on the sleeping Mimic King that was preventing the battle to take place 🔥 [*]Fixed a multiplayer bug that was allowing players to activate their teammate’s relics, Storm Ward and Thundering Hammer [*]Fixed a bug with Marvin’s dialogue that was not waiting for clients before the host can advance [*]Fixed a bug that was causing Anville’s voltage traps to persist if destroyed while in their charging state [*]Fixed a bug that was causing animation issues when jumping through the Nexus tear in multiplayer games [*]Fixed a multiplayer bug where Shivering Touch was being activated multiple times [*]Fixed a bug with Shivering Touch triggering twice when using the Rift Hammer’s mod, Fissure [*]Fixed a bug where players could occasionally get trapped behind doors in the rooms immediately before the boss 🔥 [*]Fixed a bug that would occasionally see offscreen players appear onscreen and then snap back to their proper location [*]Fixed a bug with the Thundering Hammer relic that was causing duplicate hammers to spawn [*]Fixed a bug that was preventing the gold spent to reroll shops counting towards the gold spend stat used for player awards, Frugal and High Roller [*]Fixed a bug that was preventing Rift Hammer mod Fissure and Guardian Bow mod Volley from reapplying the Fiery Imbuement effect each time damage is ticked 🔥 [*]Fixed a bug in multiplayer games where Shiver Mage wasn’t facing its targets while attacking [*]Fixed a few bugs in multiplayer games where VFX for the Rift Hammer were not spawning in the correct direction [*]Fixed some UI issues where clients could inadvertently make selections while hovering in various screens [*]Fixed a bug that was preventing the barrels in Steadfast Citadel to be destroyed when rolling through them [*]Fixed some visual bugs with Ornate Glove’s FX [*]Fixed a few visual areas in the training area of the Nexus[/list] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38096630/c467ad34e5091644bbc898fcf17544c71c919adc.png[/img] [h1]Join the Community![/h1] As usual, if you want to stay on top of the news, see new content before it's live, share your favourite memes, or simply chat strategy about the best weapons and skills, join us on [url=https://www.facebook.com/emberknightsgame]Facebook[/url], [url=https://www.instagram.com/emberknightsgame/]Instagram[/url] and [url=https://twitter.com/TheEmberKnights]Twitter[/url]! We will also be especially grateful for your feedback and suggestions during the Early Access and beyond, so be sure to join our [url=https://steamcommunity.com/linkfilter/?url=discord.gg%2Femberknights&snr=2_groups_partnerevents_]Discord[/url] to share your comments directly with our development team! [i]Stay tuned for more news and updates![/i]