[h3]UPDATES TO THE EXPERIMENTAL BRANCH[/h3] Greetings Adventurers, The time has come for us to turn off the Experimental Branch in advance of our upcoming release of Dark Carnival. The Experimental Branch has been incredible experience for us. We've been able to test out critical updates to our networking, give early access to the Busker & Minstrel, and show off our upcoming infinite dungeon mode, Dark Carnival. We've gained invaluable feedback that we've already actioned and implemented, from new features to balance items - and we can't wait for everyone to get a chance to experience Dark Carnival and everything that the next update has to offer. A huge, huge thank you to everyone that played on the Experimental Branch, provided feedback, interacted with the team. We'll see you all in the Dark Carnival! Thank you for your continued support! ⚔️IronOak Games [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images/42430794/855f4a7e6bb8077b872ac5c1e393306086d63452.png[/img] [h3]UPDATES TO THE EXPERIMENTAL BRANCH. PATCH 1.1.131[/h3] Greetings Adventurers, We love seeing the continual feedback on Dark Carnival as we work to refine the experience based off of what we’re hearing in the community. This weekend update comes in with a handful of fixes and another round of balance changes. We've attached the latest round of patch notes here, but you can find the original post way down at the bottom! [b]Balance[/b] [list] Early to Mid Game Balance [*] Concession Stands - Last patch we reduced the amount of Concession Stands down to one. This helped balance the economy but resulted in upping the difficulty in early game. As a result we’ve added Concession Stands to the first three floors. When the lighting changes on the fourth floor, the Concession Stands get moved behind the boss door. So they are still present, but you have to work for them. This should help ease late game, and help influence decisions on when to approach the boss channel. [*] Carnival Tickets - Boss chests now give less Carnival Tickets. Late Game Balance [*]Global Modifiers - Global modifiers will now start after beating the Ringmaster the first time. Previously they started on the second defeat. Global modifiers have also increased in difficulty to make late game a bit more difficult. [*] We also fixed the issue with these modifiers not displaying correctly. [/list] [b]Bug Fixes[/b] [list] [*] Corrected a long pause that was happening between treasure and rest phase on first launch. [*] Fixed a softlock if Distract triggered during an attack that was targeting a combat tile (ie poison). [*] Fixed Popcorn text not displaying correctly during boss fights. [*] Fixed a softlock when using the shock ability on the Ranch Prod weapon. [/list] [b]Online Fixes[/b] [list] [*] Fixed a softlock when passing on a Stone Hero. [*] Fixed a Join-in-progress” softlock when an off turn player leaves adventure. [/list] [b]Other Fixes[/b] [list] [*] The Inventory “peek” will now show how many items/gear/etc that each party member has when shopping in a market. [*] Improved the delay on the render time of the tooltips. They will now appear a bit quicker and more naturally. [*] Fixed Entangle and Resistance Up icons not displaying correctly. [*] Added more text and translations for missing strings. [*] Fixed an issue on controller/Steam Deck where players couldn’t navigate the Player Summary. [*] Various art polish tasks. [/list] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images/42430794/855f4a7e6bb8077b872ac5c1e393306086d63452.png[/img] [h3]UPDATES TO THE EXPERIMENTAL BRANCH. PATCH 1.1.2.8[/h3] Experimental Build/Dark Carnival patch notes are here! Greetings Adventurers, Wow, what a reception to Dark Carnival! We are overwhelmed with the tremendous feedback that we’ve had with our new infinite dungeon mode. This first patch looks to address some of the early feedback that we’ve seen around too many markets, too much demon gear, missing player models from the Hangman fight, and a bit more. [b]Balance Updates[/b] [list] [*] Updated the Concession Stand frequency. - Players will now encounter a Concession Stand when they first enter the carnival, and then after each boss battle. Previously it was the start of every floor. Hopefully, this helps curtail the flooding of consumables due to Concession Stand frequency. We’ll be watching this area closely. * Refined the Clown enemy immunities. * Fixed the issue where the mimics weren’t scaling in Fahrulian Fortune. * Adjusted Demon gear drop rates. [/list] [b]Bug Fixes[/b] [list] [*] Fixed a softlock if a solo-party in Dark Carnival died while playing in offline mode. [*] Fixed a softlock on the final dungeon of the fourth adventure, The Hangman’s Noose. [*] Fixed Party Heal visual effects not playing when allies are healed during rest phase. [/list] [b]Localization[/b] [list] [*] Fixed various missing strings in the game. (ie. Cleanse) [*] Added translations for Dark Carnival strings. There may be a couple missing as we make changes based on feedback. [/list] [b]Adventure Challenge and Achievements[/b] [list] [*] Fixed both the Royal Droll Adventure Challenge and Achievement. [/list] [b]UX/UI[/b] [list] [*] Fixed the player models disappearing momentarily in the Hangman fight. [*] The Evasion icon is now consistent across the game. [*] Polished the juggle animation when Shorty procs Distract. [*] Fixed the issue where players could not cycle players/inventories when clicking HUDs in certain phases. [*] Fixed the visuals for Party Heal during rest phase. [/list] [b]Upcoming Balance Areas[/b] [list] We’re also looking into the following areas that we’re hoping to get on to the Experimental Branch in the next couple of days: [*] Gold! - Too much gold, this is a knock-on from too much gear and too many consumables. We want to see how the Concession Stand changes the economy and then look to balance gold after this first change. [*] Distract! - We’re watching how Distract is too… distracting. Likely on too many enemies and/or proccing too often. [*] Bosses! - We’re looking at boss immunities, boss attacks (We’re looking at you Royal Droll!), and the order of certain bosses. [*] Items! - Despite the overabundance of items we’re looking at the infrequency of lock picks, tinder pouches, and Hag’s Bane. If there are any other items you never come across let us know in FTK2-Experimental. [*] More! - We have a bunch of other feedback areas on the go but the above has been the most recurring. [/list] Once again, thanks so much for your feedback. It's been so exciting for us to watch folks hop in and share their experiences and we've LOVED watching you all stream Dark Carnival too! More to come, but in the meantime, thank you so much and as always, happy adventuring~ [h2]Original post follows below.[/h2] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images/42430794/855f4a7e6bb8077b872ac5c1e393306086d63452.png[/img] Attention, Fahrul! We’d like to thank all the players that have joined the experimental branch to help us test network stability and the new Join in Progress and Auto-Reconnect features over the last week. Your help has been immensely valuable to us and as a result we’ve been able to resolve a handful of online issues - you really are the true heroes of Fahrul! [h3][b]TEST THE NEW INFINITE DUNGEON MODE[/b][/h3] As a thank you, and to further continue testing stability, we want to give you a [b]sneak preview of the brand-new Infinite Dungeon Mode[/b] coming soon. From today, you can now access the new mode through the Experimental Branch! In addition to the new mode, we’ve also included a ton of new improvements that you can read about below. The new Infinite Dungeon Mode includes a huge array of new features and gameplay mechanics that we’re so excited for you to get your hands on. Discover new characters, enemies, weapons, gear, environments, lore store unlocks and markets! [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/42430794/abc61ee72b4e36868499baaa0e9dddaa5a1d78c5.jpg[/img] The new mode challenges adventurers to put their skills to the ultimate test. Will you be able to unlock the mysteries of the Ringmaster and his band of misfits? Many surprises await those who dare to enter... Be wary of the many fates of the Dark Carnival as the deeper you go the more twisted it becomes. Perhaps fortunes will be on your side and the Wheel of Death will aid you as you try to escape your fate. To test the new infinite Dungeon Mode, simply follow the instructions below in the[b] ‘How do I access the Experimental Branch’[/b] section. Once you’re on the correct branch and have started the game, load up a Campaign or Multiplayer adventure and select the new red ‘Dark Carnival’ banner from the adventure select screen. Thank you again for taking the time to test the improvements we’ve made to For the King II. Make sure to let us know how much you’re enjoying the new mode in the Experimental Branch over on [url=https://discord.com/invite/fortheking]Discord![/url] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images/42430794/855f4a7e6bb8077b872ac5c1e393306086d63452.png[/img] [h3][b]EXPERIMENTAL BRANCH INFORMATION[/b][/h3] This is an Experimental Branch and you will encounter some bugs you have not seen before. You may even see some areas that are work-in-progress. For example, the Bards may not have all of their audio cues hooked up. If you do come across any issues you can report them by pressing F1 within the game. Please note that these bugs are not a representation of final gameplay, and the purpose of this branch is to test the new network features we have added to the game. To ensure we can gather this information, please head into your game and navigate to Settings > Gameplay > Ensure ‘Allow Data Sharing’ is turned on. [h3][b]HOW DO I ACCESS THE EXPERIMENTAL BRANCH?[/b][/h3] [list] [*] Open Steam [*] Right click on ‘For the King II’ in your Library and select the ‘Properties’ option [*] Choose the ‘experimental’ branch from the ‘Beta Participation’ dropdown menu [*] Your Steam client will then start downloading the new branch [*] Once finished downloading, launch the game [/list] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images/42430794/855f4a7e6bb8077b872ac5c1e393306086d63452.png[/img] [h3][b]OTHER CHANGES TO THE EXPERIMENTAL BRANCH[/b][/h3] [b]Online Softlock and Desync Fixes[/b] [list] [*] Fixed an issue where navigating settings as a client could lead to the UI freezing when the Host moved to new prompts or scenes. [*] Fixed an online softlock that could happen when taking side quests in the overworld. [*] Fixed a desync that could happen when joining an adventure mid-dungeon. [*] Fixed a desync that could happen when using focus in traps. [*] Fixed a desync that could happen when non-active players were attempting actions in traps. [*] Fixed an online softlock that could happen when entering a boss fight. [*] Fixed an online softlock that could occur when hovering over specific buttons. [*] Fixed a desync for Join-In-Progress when players had different encounter menu states. [*] Fixed a desync for Join-In-Progress when the party had a delivery quest in progress. [*] Fixed a desync for Join-In-Progress when the dungeon continue state is inconsistent for all party members. [*] Fixed a desync that could happen with the combat Move action. [*] Fixed a desync for Join-In-Progress when joining mid-dungeon when the party is in the middle of an overworld quest. [*] Fixed a desync for Join-In-Progress when two players joined the host simultaneously. [/list] [b]Online Changes [/b] [list] [*] Added the lobby name to the chat window. [*] Chat window can now be collapsed and moved around. [*] Chat window ! icon has been updated and moved to the global header. Notifications will now present as a red icon on the header. [/list] [b]Enemy Focus Balance[/b] [i]Enemies being able to use Focus is a bit of a divisive topic in the community. Our initial goal with enemies and focus was to show that enemies have evolved since the events of For The King. We were a bit overzealous with Focus and that has led to periods of unbalanced gameplay and frustration. With that in mind we’ve removed Focus from lower level enemies and boss minions: [/i] [list] [*] Druid [*] Mystic [*] Witch [*] Skelly Brute [*] Skelly Cannon [*] Boss/Scourge Minions [/list] [b]Evasion Balancing[/b] [i]Evasion meta has been running hard with a couple of bugs. Namely players could overclock Evasion above the cap of 95, and there are generally too many ways to raise evasion. To bring evasion back into expected ranges we’ve fixed the bug with player stats able to go higher than 95 and we’ve reduced the amount of evasion provided by statuses. Evasion gear is still handing out the same evasion benefit, but spells and pipes have had their evasion reduced. The three evasion statuses will now apply 15 → 25 → 35. Previously the high side was granting 50 evasion. The Smoky Pipe and Fine Smokey Pipe will also grant these more appropriate evasion ranges.[/i] [b]Combat Fixes[/b] [list] [*] Characters with Attack Down would heal the opponent if their max damage value was negative. [*] Fixed the issue that 2x2 enemies (ie Trolls) would only have statuses applied if their primary tile was targeted. [*] Improved how Bleed status is being communicated on the combat timeline. [/list] [b]Kraken[/b] [list] [*] Fixed the issue where the Kraken could still be found after killing his head the first time. [/list] [b]UX/UI[/b] [list] [*] Continue and Load Game Browser [*] We have redesigned how the ‘continue’ and ‘load game’ browser show information from the current, or past, runs. [/list] [b]Other UI Changes [/b] [list] [*] Removed the “Market” button when visiting a market in Dungeons. [*] Fixed an issue where the Overworld would go blurry if the application window was resized during combat, or in a dungeon. [*] Updated the difficulty icons on the Global Header. [*] The Adventure Map now shows a trail between the overworld adventures as they are completed. [/list] [b]Scourges[/b] [i]We have future scourge work planned but have made some changes amidst the Dark Carnival work including: [/i] [list] [*] Added a notification for when the Necromancer resurrects an enemy in combat. [*] Improved the spawn area of scourges in the second adventure, The Primordial Oak. [*] Certain Scourges have had their abilities re-worked to better fit the Dark Carnival experience. [*] We’ll share more on Scourges when the Dark Carnival is officially released. [/list] [b]Cosmetic Bug Fixes[/b] [list] [*] Fixed clipping on Queen’s Apprentice & Queen’s Novice Robes. [*] Fixed the Hanged Soul’s portrait not being centered. [*] Fixed the level 3 Pirate Marauder's eye patch. [*] Fixed the cosmetic Lucky Suit clipping on the Friar and Hobo. [*] Fixed the Pickpocket mask clipping on the cosmetic Merling Skin. [*] Fixed a debug string on the Gallows in the fourth adventure, The Hangman’s Noose, if certain conditions were met. [*] Fixed the Reload action using the incorrect animation. [*] Fixed the Bogdrinker armor clipping. [/list] [b]Known Issues[/b] [list] [*] Merc Deed costs are not scaling correctly and become too expensive on higher floors. [*] Protect Status applied from Wheel of Death does not have the visuals cleaned up correctly. [*] Game soft locks after user selects the 'Straight' pathing option in the Queen's Labyrinth in adventure 4, The Hangman's Noose. [*] Game soft locks after user selects the 'Straight' pathing option in the Powerstone Castle Dungeon in adventure 5, Castle Gates. [*] Non-english language players will experience missing loc strings within the Dark Carnival, and the Minstrel and Busker tooltips. [/list] Thank you for your continued support! [b]⚔️IronOak Games[/b] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images/42430794/855f4a7e6bb8077b872ac5c1e393306086d63452.png[/img] [b]Join the IronOak Games and For The King community on: [/b] ➡️[url=https://twitter.com/IronOakGames]X [/url] ➡️[url=https://t.co/hhljrQW5pc]Discord [/url] ➡️[url=https://www.tiktok.com/@ironoakgames]TikTok [/url] ➡️[url=https://www.instagram.com/ironoakgames/]Instagram[/url] ➡️[url=https://www.facebook.com/ironoakgames]Facebook [/url]