Long time no speak! Time for a pretty big Echoes update. We're not going to let this game go unloved. So we're going to keep improving it. Here comes patch 1.4, and it's huge! First and foremost, you’ll notice the UI has gotten a face lift. Noice! It looks so much better!! One thing about this game - it really takes off mid-way through. So I want players to get there faster. We’ve reduced the number of battle encounters for the first 2 chapters. We felt that battles could use a bit of a shot in the arm, if so desired. Thus, now you can change battle speed from the menu. We also noticed a fair amount of discontent with the large-scale sieges, the Battles of Ezrum and Enkidu Hill. You will now automatically heal (as per usual) after battles, except for on hard difficulty. Also, for those of you who have missed Diamond cards, fear not. You can get them from boss chests of repeatable missions on hard difficulty after level 50. Still hard to get but not impossible! Lots of balance changes! After many adjustments, Lucian is in a good spot. However, we really see no reason to specialize in Ice, compared to high-damage fire and stagger-ville lightning. Thus, ice’s slowing effect is quite a bit more noticeable. Also, we have made “Intercept” and “Rescue” into skills you might actually want to use. Ingrid really fell off in the very late game, when stats grew very high in other characters, and her weapons could not keep up. She now has a gun-based Sniper specialization, as well as a… well… everything else-based Artificer. Both will really help Ingrid shine in the late game. The Sniper’s gun attacks directly benefit from INT, rather than just from Weapon Power. That should do the trick. Soha suffered from early game lack of usefulness. She’s always been quite powerful, but her slowness was an issue. Her early game, and some early skills have been improved, without affecting her late game, which is already very strong. Also, we see that her Blood Knight specialization is used more as a traditional tank, much like Sentinel Lucian. Therefore, we’ve almost completely removed healing for Blood Knight Soha from other party members, as well as from items she uses on herself, and greatly increased her HP and VIT, essentially making her a very tanky vampire that has to feed to stay alive. Good thing she has a LOT of ways to absorb HP from enemies. Eskandar is a beast. Both because he’s a furry kitty cat, and because he can dish out ridiculous damage. We’ve found that the best way to use him is as a berserker. Just run up, slice the crap out of everything, and profit. If he gets hit, he’s one toasted kitty. A true glass cannon. ...Glass catton. Anyway, we’d like to very slightly tone down the “berserker” style play with him, and greatly enhance the stealth, ninja, sneaky side. He’ll be a legitimate tank as a Nightblade, and his stealth-based attacks will be ever more deadly as an Assassin. Kesh’s skills have some of the most far-reaching effects, but his ability to carry any sort of physical damage in the late game is not very strong. Thus, mid to late game glaives have been greatly increased in power. ------------------ Full change log for 1.4 below: [b]Features and additions[/b] -We’ve added “fast” and “very fast” battle speed options. -You can how press “shift” to view the battlefield, enemy buffs/debuffs and HP bars. -Battle of Ezrum: You heal automatically after battles on easy and normal difficulty and healing pots have been removed. Hard difficulty remains the same. -Battle of Enkidu Hill: You heal automatically after battles on easy and normal difficulty and healing pots have been removed. Hard difficulty remains the same. -Ingrid now has a specialization slot! Choose from the gun damage-focused Sniper, and the special effects and summons-focused Artificer. This is acquired at the same time as Lucian’s specializations. -Eskandar also got specializations! Pump up his damage even further with the Assassin, or become a master of deception, evasion, and subversion as a Nightblade. This is acquired mid-game, some time after finishing the “The Big Leagues” quest. -We’ve added an additional challenge to the arena, a new final solo match unlocked by finding all the Diamond cards. Each character now has an incredibly difficult *super secret final* final match available to them. -Legendary quality accessories, which are upgrades of the rewards for individual arena quests, have been added as rewards for even harder individual arena battles. Eskandar’s is the “Catnip-laced Ball of Yarn” and Kesh’s is the “Shades of Dealing With It.” The rest aren’t as cute. -You can now receive missed Diamond cards by completing a repeatable mission and opening the boss chest on hard difficulty when Lucian is at least level 50. [b]Balance[/b] -Several powerful skills that use TP no longer generate TP. -Bosses on hard difficulty with 100% Critical hit rate now have about a 50% critical hit rate. The Adamantite chest armor’s critical avoidance has been reduced to 50%. So you can still be hit by criticals with that armor equipped, but it’s no longer an absolute requirement for those bosses. -Soha’s “Blood Knight” specialization has changed - it now grants +1000 Max HP and +150 VIT in addition to its existing bonuses, but healing from items, or from other party members’ skills is drastically reduced. -Soha’s “Innervate” has been given a significant casting time before it executes. -Eskandar’s Thrill of the Hunt has been fixed to match the description. -On normal difficulty, the final boss fights are more difficult. Stagger resistance, agility, power, and HP increased. -Crafted aurite armor and weapons now use coal instead of anthracite as a reagent. -Kesh’s mid-to-late game weapons have been greatly increased in power. -”Nurture” starts stronger but does not scale as strongly with increasing stats. -Lucian’s “Intercept” and “Rescue” skills have been dramatically improved. Intercept is now a self-buff that greatly raises Lucian’s chance to be attacked, and sets him up to counter-attack direct enemy melee attacks. It also comes with a 25% reduction in physical damage taken. Rescue now adds a greatly reduced chance to be targeted to the rescuee. -Lucian’s ice element skills have been improved. -”Coup De Grace” and “Crossbow Barrage” do not scale so hard with very high stats, and have increased recovery time. -”Shadowbolt” TP cost increased. -Soha’s AGI has been generally increased which will mostly affect early and mid game. -”Feral Frenzy” TP Cost increased, now has added recovery time for Eskandar after use. -Damage over time effects (Poison, Bleed, Burning) scale better into mid and late game. [b]Fixes and tweaks[/b] -Several lines of cheesy dialog have been made un-cheesy. But Lucian’s boy scout-like nature has been played up a bit. -It is now much easier to surprise attack monsters that wander randomly by sneaking behind them. -Small chests in repeatable dungeons no longer give the same reward for the entire dungeon. -You can no longer move around during the scene after the ending credits. -Salvaging items will no longer reset your cursor position. -It is now more clear that repeatable missions are both repeatable and optional. -Legendary quality items are now shown as purple, rather than red, to denote a more widely-accepted “object of high value” color.