[img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34481624/9c5f36ac4c1edc0fca4c554dad6815c8c8b339b2.png[/img] [h1]Introduction[/h1] Greetings Champions! V0.18 is finally upon us, unquestionably the biggest game update Predecessor has ever seen. We’ve got an entirely new gamemode, a beloved new Hero, improvements and overhauls to our audio system, oodles of brand new items, a complete overhaul of nearly every other existing item, Hero and stat in the entire game as well as some completely original new skins for some of your favourite Heroes. So grab your best biscuits and settle in, it’s time to overhaul Predecessor! [h1]A New Hero Appears[/h1] [h3]Put your enemies on ice, with Aurora! [/h3] The undisputed crystalline queen of the cold, Aurora, is making her icy Predecessor debut! [previewyoutube=Y6_8jcbaVgs;full][/previewyoutube] Aurora is a cool-headed crowd-control master, able to skate around her enemies and sail through the air thanks to her unrivalled arctic agility. Capable of freezing the battlefield and encasing her foes in deadly, bone-chilling ice, you’ll want to wrap up warm if you find yourself facing her down in offlane! [h2]Abilities: [/h2] [h3]Frozen Simulacrum [Passive]:[/h3] [b]Effect:[/b] Damaging an Enemy Hero or Monster 4 times will summon a Frost Storm around Aurora for 3s, refreshing on additional damage dealt. The Storm deals 5 (+30% Magical Power) + 1% (+0.06% per level) Enemy Max Health magical damage per second. Additionally if Aurora jumps whilst already airborne she will leap in the direction she is moving, leaving behind a frozen replica of herself! This replica has (+20% Maximum Health)(+150% Magical Power) Health, draws aggression from enemy towers, and lasts for 8s. [h3]Frozen Sword [Basic Attack]:[/h3] [b]BAT:[/b] 1.1 [b]Effect:[/b] Melee basic attack dealing 62 (+80% Bonus Physical Power) physical damage. [h3]Glacial Charge [Primary]:[/h3] [b]CD:[/b] 26/24/22/20/18 [b]Cost:[/b] 80 [b]Effect:[/b] Aurora dashes forward, leaving behind a trail of ice that other Heroes can walk on for the next 5s. Allied Heroes gain 20/25/30/35/40% increased movement speed when walking on the ice. [h3]Hoarfrost [Secondary]:[/h3] [b]CD:[/b] 14/13/12/11/10 [b]Cost:[/b] 50 [b]Effect:[/b] Aurora creates a ring of frost on the ground around her. Enemies that touch the ring take 100/125/150/175/200 (+70% Magical Power) magical damage and are Rooted for 1.25s. The ring remains in the world for 2.5s. [h3]Boreal Sweep [Alternate]:[/h3] [b]CD:[/b] 12/11/10/9/8 [b]Cost:[/b] 40/45/50/55/60 [b]Effect:[/b] Aurora summons a wave of frost in a cone dealing 45/60/75/90/105 (+25% Magical Power) magical damage and Slowing enemy targets hit by 35% for 1s. After 1s the wave erupts, dealing an additional 75/110/145/180/215 (+60% Magical Power) magical damage and reapplying the Slow. [h3]Cryoseism [Ultimate]:[/h3] [b]CD:[/b] 120/110/100 [b]Cost:[/b] 100 [b]Effect:[/b] Aurora freezes an area, applying a 50% Slow to all enemies for 1.5s. After 1.5s, the ice freezes, Stunning the target for 1s. After the Stun the target explodes, dealing 130/250/370 (+50% Magical Power) magical damage to them and all nearby enemies. Enemies damaged by Cryoseism will be Slowed by 50% for 0.5s before exploding, dealing 65/125/185 (+25% Magical Power) magical damage to them and nearby enemies. Targets can only be slowed this way once per Cryoseism. [h1]Store News[/h1] [h2]New Skins[/h2] [h3]Quantum Lt. Belica[/h3] Take your tech to the top with the all-new [b][Legendary][/b] Quantum Lt. Belica skin! [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34481624/8cef65af881d5e6998c3f2338aded546d39e08c3.png[/img] [h3]Odyssey Howitzer[/h3] One small step for man is actually many small steps for Howitzer when he’s out of his mech. Explore the stars with his all-new [b][Epic][/b] Odyssey skin! [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34481624/5bf2e3bd0ae6844ddab3ebf243f3b3eb5c285331.png[/img] [h3]Ascended Zarus[/h3] Carry the blessings of the God of the Senezani and fulfil your divine potential at long last with the ruthless [b][Common][/b] Ascended Zarus skin! [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34481624/3a5d11ea03c39481f1aa9078affcaaac0b806139.png[/img] [h2]New Bundles[/h2] [h3]Quantum Lt. Belica Bundle[/h3] Make a quantum leap with the Quantum Lt. Belica bundle, including multiple variants of her new legendary skin as well as brand-new recall and jump pad visual effects! [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34481624/04de54678d747cb1cc3416f5fbc834dd200193d9.jpg[/img] [b]Bundle Contents:[/b] ◆Lt. Belica [Hero] ◆Quantum Lt. Belica [Skin] ◆Nebula Quantum Lt. Belica [Skin Variant] (Timed Exclusive) ◆Nova Quantum Lt. Belica [Skin Variant] (Timed Exclusive) ◆Quantum Lt. Belica [Spray] (Exclusive) ◆Quantum Lt. Belica [Banner] (Exclusive) ◆Quantum Lt. Belica [Profile Icon] (Exclusive) ◆Quantum Jump Pad [VFX] ◆Quantum Recall [VFX] [h2]Quantum VFX Bundle[/h2] Power up all of your Heroes and dazzle your foes with the Quantum VFX Bundle, letting you put these unique effects on any of your Heroes! [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34481624/017f28fe8fe4cd0ad5524a1a7c3b8d8862ce52cd.png[/img] [b]Bundle Contents:[/b] ◆Quantum Jump Pad [VFX] ◆Quantum Recall [VFX] [h3]Odyssey Howitzer Bundle[/h3] Pick up Howitzer, his new Odyssey skin and a bunch of astral goodies in the Odyssey Howitzer Bundle! [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34481624/a945ce1ba674fc0e96286639611ece758964d341.jpg[/img] [b]Bundle Contents:[/b] ◆Howitzer [Hero] ◆Odyssey Howitzer [Skin] ◆Odyssey Howitzer [Spray] (Exclusive) ◆Odyssey Howitzer [Banner] (Exclusive) ◆Odyssey Howitzer [Profile Icon] (Exclusive) ◆Odyssey Recall [VFX] (Timed Exclusive) [h3]Ascension Bundle[/h3] With enough ascended Heroes to fill a small pantheon, this bundle is ideal for anyone who wasn’t able to play during the Road To Ascension season last year! This is the only way to get the Ascended skins for The Fey, Sparrow and Narbash right now, so pick up this bundle while you can! [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34481624/1ef0214932a478b3e0ebf22441157951f029791c.png[/img] [b]Bundle Contents:[/b] ◆Zarus [Hero] ◆Narbash [Hero] ◆The Fey [Hero] ◆Sparrow [Hero] ◆Ascended Zarus [Skin] ◆Ascended Narbash [Skin] ◆Ascended The Fey [Skin] ◆Ascended Sparrow [Skin] ◆Ascension Recall [VFX] ◆Ascension Jump Pad [VFX] [h3]Glacial Empress Aurora Bundle[/h3] Subvert your foes with sleek and sublime sub-zero sleet, snow and storms in Aurora’s very own Glacial Empress bundle, complete with a collection of cool cosmetics and bundled with her premium Affinity Pass unlocked and ready to take on! [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34481624/1c4b0704e8adc28507306366fee186e6a21d71dc.png[/img] [b]Bundle Contents:[/b] ◆Aurora [Hero] ◆Glacial Empress Aurora [Skin] ◆Glacial Empress Aurora [Spray] (Exclusive) ◆Glacial Empress Aurora [Banner] (Exclusive) ◆Glacial Empress Aurora [Profile Icon] (Exclusive) ◆Premium Affinity Pass [h1]Brawl Mode[/h1] Predecessor’s first new game mode, Brawl, is finally here! It’s casual, it’s crazy, and it’s sure to stir things up. You can check out everything you need to know about it in the video below, or keep reading for the full breakdown of how it works! [previewyoutube=cAQCGO2-Dm4;full][/previewyoutube] [h2]Overview[/h2] Brawl Mode is a brand-new, quickfire game mode coming to Predecessor on May 21st, where two teams of 5 battle it out in an action-packed skirmish featuring faster gold and more XP, all on a brand new, single lane map. The aim of the game is simple, take all of your enemies points by any means necessary, before they take yours. [h3]Points[/h3] Each team starts the game with 400 points. Killing enemy minions and taking down opposing Heroes takes points from the other team. Each minion killed is worth one point, each Hero slain is worth five points. But securing takedowns is just one way to build your lead. At each end of the map, both teams have a portal to defend from enemy minions and… other monsters… Your portal is located just in front of your spawn point. If an enemy minion reaches it, your team will lose one point. So if a whole wave of minions comes crashing down your lane, consider playing defensively and intercept them before you start losing too many points. Now about those other monsters… Once your team has killed five enemy Heroes you’ll gain the aid of a mighty Fangtooth! This destructive dinosaur will rampage down the lane on your behalf, devastating minions and Heroes alike as it charges towards the enemy portal! Escort your Fangtooth successfully to the enemy portal, and they’ll lose a massive 15 points. The best part? There’s no limit to the number of Fangteeth you or your opponents can spawn during a game. Successfully escorted a Fangtooth? Simply wrack up another five kills and watch the slaughter start all over again! Takedowns, defense and wave management are the keys to success in Brawl Mode! [h3]Objectives[/h3] While the central lane will see most of the action, flanking your enemies and exploring the sides of the map will reveal a number of monsters that will grant you various buffs. Here you’ll find the Orange buff for more damage and increased jump height, the purple buff providing extra health and tenacity, and the River buffs, all spawning on a timer throughout the match to provide a range of effects for players to take advantage of. Killing these monsters won’t reduce your enemy’s points, but it could give you the boost you need to turn the battle in your favor. Likewise, you may notice health packs dotted around the map too. When collected these heal you and any allies within a short radius. You can use them to instantly recover your health during a fight, or maybe you’ll be grabbing them to deny heals for your opponents! Later on in the match Orb Prime will spawn in the middle of the map for either team to try and take advantage of. This is a huge objective that neither team will want to give up easily, as it grants the team who secures the takedown a buff to their minions as well as health and mana regen, while also deducting a huge 50 points from the enemy team. [h3]Victory[/h3] The game ends when one team is reduced to zero points, leaving the other side victorious and the losers as food for Fangtooth! Find Brawl Mode in the Game Modes menu and strap in for more carnage than ever before! [h1]Audio Improvements[/h1] V0.18 also sees a complete redesign of Predecessor’s sound system! Perhaps the first thing you’ll notice when booting the game up is a brand new announcer! This new voice of Predecessor is primed and ready to commentate your battles, highlighting every epic multikill with clearer audio and a richer presence. As the battle begins you’ll also be able to pick up on more audible details than ever before. We’ve flooded the game with brand-new sound effects for the UI, game interactions and ambient moments. Enjoy walking down midlane to the sounds of distant explosions, or the sounds of minions clinking as they spawn and march to their inevitable demise. As the match heats up and you let loose your epic abilities don’t be surprised to hear many new voice lines coming from your favorite Heroes! We’ve upped the chattiness of every character in the game, so expect to hear your Hero react more dynamically to the match around them with more personality than ever before! Beyond these new additions we’ve overhauled the entire audio system, rebalancing everything you hear in game and rebuilding our audio implementation from the ground up. Predecessor should feel fresh, exciting and alive, and we’re excited to hear your thoughts on these improvements. [h1]Performance Improvements[/h1] Not only will Predecessor sound better than ever, but it’ll now run more smoothly than ever before too! We’ve identified and fixed a number of memory leaks and performance issues, such as the leading cause of performance troughs and spikes during gameplay and in the main menus. Median FPS remains roughly the same, but if you experienced random slow downs before this update you should now find that they’re mostly fixed or improved. On top of this we’ve also reduced Predecessor’s overall memory consumption, improving performance on lower-end machines and making it easier for everyone to run the game while other intensive programs run in the background. We’ve identified more potential improvements too, so look out for more fixes and optimisations in future patches. [h1]Matchmaking[/h1] We've identified an edge case with our Matchmaking Rating (MMR) calculations affecting players frequently partying up with friends that are naturally a much higher or lower MMR. Our system previously did not account well for players in matches with an average rating well above or below their own MMR, improperly boosting up the rating of lower-MMR players and dragging down the rating for high-MMR players frequently playing in mixed-skill parties. While these effects were relatively minor for the vast majority of the player base, players who played many games in parties with very widely-ranging skill saw their ratings skewed by dozens or even hundreds of MMR rating points from other players with a similar career win/loss ratio, and meant that their solo-queued games often placed them in lobbies that otherwise wouldn't be a good fit. We'll be rolling out a fix for these wonky party adjustments alongside 0.18, and to facilitate this change we'll also be condensing everyone's MMR proportionally closer to the internal average of 1000, and temporarily increasing the amount of MMR gained or lost for each match. This "squeeze" towards the middle and increased rating volatility might result in some more variable matchmaking for a short while so please bear with us as the system rebalances, but we expect players to settle back towards their natural skill point relatively quickly while "resetting" those outlier players affected by the mixed-party issue. Thanks as always to everyone for providing feedback! [h1]Gameplay Balance Changes[/h1] Without further ado, let’s finally get into the bulk of the V0.18 update. [h2]Six Items[/h2] As requested by many in the Community we’re pleased to finally introduce the highly-anticipated 6th Item Slot, allowing for more creativity and unique builds than ever before! To account for this game-changing new addition and the need for more Gold in order to complete a full build, we’ve carried out a substantial balance pass on almost every aspect of the game. While the overall goal with the addition of 6 Items may have been for the match-to-match experience to remain recognisable as the Predecessor we all know and love, the introduction of any new system or re-balance of this scale will naturally lead to emergent balance issues. While there is a risk of it being a bumpy road, with the help of community feedback we will continue to address pain points as they come up in follow-up balance patches now that we are able to put the baseline through its paces in a live environment. Additionally, due to the sheer volume of balance changes that have occurred in this update, we’ve decided to provide you here with a brief overview of the changes to keep things digestible. [b]Editor’s note[/b]: [i]Seriously, the full list of notes is absurdly long and in depth. Game Design gave us over 90 pages of changes all in bullet points. If you’re having a particularly boring day and want to go through it all feel free, but just know that we tried to warn you. Link to the full changelog [url=https://www.predecessorgame.com/news/patch-notes/early-access-patch-v0-18-technical-details]HERE[/url].[/i] So, what’s changed? [h2]Sixth Item Slot[/h2] As of the V0.18 Predecessor will feature an exciting new sixth item slot, allowing players to further customize their builds and experiment with previously impossible combinations! [h2]Mass Game Re-Balance[/h2] The addition of the sixth item slot brings with it several balance requirements to ensure that things run smoothly and gameplay continues to work as intended, with damage output and Hero durability all remaining relative to the new baseline we’ve created. While things should feel largely the same, everything from the amount of Gold and Experience you earn in a match, to Heroes, Items, Minions and Monsters have all received comprehensive balance adjustments to ensure that the overall pace and feel of Predecessor remains intact. [b]Summary of overall balance changes:[/b] ◆Gold pacing increased by approximately 15%. ◆Total XP required for Level 18 decreased by approximately 10%. ◆Kill XP and Kill Comeback XP modifiers adjusted. ◆Hero Stat Growths on Level-up normalized to 80-120%. ◆Hero Base Stats adjusted. ◆Hero Base Ability Damage and/or Scalings adjusted. ◆Minions, Monsters, Gold, XP, Durability and Damage adjusted across the board. ◆Stacking items such as Azure Core now gain additional Stacks when killing Monster Camp Leaders. ◆Structure Durability and Damage adjusted. ◆Almost all items have been completely re-balanced and/or adjusted. ◆Carry T3 Items Critical Strike Chance decreased from 25% to 20%, ◆Base Critical Strike Damage decreased from 160% to 150%. ◆50~ existing items heavily adjusted (Statlines, Recipes, or Passives). [b]9 items removed:[/b] ◆Fenix [Crest] ◆Abyssal Bracers [T2] ◆Hallowed Braid [T2] ◆Breach [Carry] ◆Viper [Carry] ◆Boneseeker [Fighter] ◆Tectonic Mallet [Fighter] ◆Wellspring [Support] ◆Requiem [Support] [b]22 new items added:[/b] ◆1 new Warrior Crest Evolution . ◆1 new T1. ◆5 new T2s. ◆15 new T3s. [h2]Faster Gold Gain[/h2] More Item Slots means a more expensive full build! Rather than aggressively compressing Stats and Gold Costs, we’ve opted to increase the passive Gold Drip and the Gold gained from Minions & Monsters. As a result we have re-balanced all Heroes and items with this new Gold Pacing in mind. As mentioned, Gold gain is now roughly 15% faster across the board. [h2]Faster XP[/h2] Along with these Gold changes the amount of XP required to level up has been decreased, and XP values from their respective sources have been changed. While the Early game Pacing is largely unaffected, achieving Level 18 now requires roughly 1500 less total XP, meaning the endgame can now be approached a few minutes faster. The reason for this? With Gold pacing increasing and Hero Stat Growths becoming normalized, Time To Kill would become quicker in isolation due to items being acquired faster. To combat this, experience pacing must be faster to ensure important Hero Base Stats such as Health and Armor keeps up while general durability remains relative. [h2]Hero Rebalance[/h2] All Heroes have had their Base Stats adjusted. The goal here is to provide a new Hero Stat Baseline that can keep pace with and work within a six item economy. This can be seen through Hero Stats such as Health increasing and allowing them to match up to the quicker Stat gain offered by items, while simultaneously allowing us to keep our general item statline ceilings roughly the same. Granted, there was the easier option of aggressively reducing all item strengths and costs across the board now that we have introduced a sixth item slot, but by opting for a full re-balance it allows Predecessor to retain its balance levers moving forward and provides us with a healthier item stat baseline to work with in the long-term - after all, bigger numbers are easier to differentiate and work with! Though individual Heroes received Balance Adjustments on a case-by-case basis, a general summary of what’s changed is as follows. [b]General Rebalance Changes:[/b] ◆Recommended items have been updated. ◆S Factor Growth Ratios have been normalized. ◆All Heroes now Scale at the same Growth rate of 80%-120%, over Levels 1-18. ◆The following notable stats have been changed for all Heroes (on average): ◆Health is 25% higher. ◆Physical Armor is 15-20% lower to offset some Effective Health gains. ◆Magical Armor is 15-20% lower to offset some Effective Health gains. ◆Base Health Regeneration is 50% higher. ◆Base Physical Power is 15-20% higher. ◆Attack Speed Growths are 20% lower. ◆Damage on Rank 1 Abilities is 15-20% higher. ◆Ability Scalings have been selectively adjusted in places due to increased stat gain pacing. ◆Mana Costs and Mana Regen values are largely unchanged. [h2]Item Rebalance[/h2] Under the new pacing and stat baseline, practically all items have received a complete re-balance, be that stat changes such as Critical Strike Chance Tier 3’s now offering the stat at a 20% rate instead, or more generally buffs and nerfs. While the majority of items will be recognisable from their previous forms and continue to function as you might expect, roughly 50 items have had their statlines and/or passive effects completely adjusted or revised in more extreme ways with the goal of improving the gameplay they offer. For example, Fire Blossom now ramps up its Burn Damage over time rather than when a target is Immobilized; Mutilator no longer steals Health from your opponent; and Mindrazor’s Mana stacking passive has moved over to Resolution. As mentioned, the full list of changes can be found in the Supporting Blog [url=https://www.predecessorgame.com/news/patch-notes/early-access-patch-v0-18-technical-details]here[/url] [h1]New Items + Bug Fixes[/h1] [url=https://www.predecessorgame.com/news/patch-notes/early-access-patch-v0-18#six-items]Head over to our website[/url] for a full list of all the new items and the massive amount of bug fixes coming with this update too! [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34481624/a0b7c5cea4cc8b57214209583202ab8756f2fc67.png[/img] Phew, talk about an involved update! What do you think? Let us know your feedback over on our Discord server or the Predecessor Subreddit. Until next time! Kari & Rei Community Lead and Game Designer @ Omeda Studios