Hey Outaws!
Here comes another big one, we've been listening, watching and counting (through the magic of analytics) as you've all played, and have made a patch that focuses on Balance, Tuning and a few 'High Demand' features.
v. 0.10.0 - Patch 3 - Wayfarin,
Balance Improvements
We've looked at the entire balance of West of Dead, from top to bottom, and have implemented a lot of changes to smooth out difficulty spikes and generally allow a more steady sense of progression.
Overall Balance:
• Enemy health scaling with level difficulty has been reduced, to make them feel less 'tanky' later on.
• "Hard-Path" Levels (The Bayou, Canyon, Graveyard, War) have their enemy difficulty slightly reduced, but still higher than the "Easy-Path"
Level Redesigns:
• New Level Layouts - Some more maze-like, others more uniform, from now on, players will (in some levels) be able to better find the exit, or choose to explore more.
• Levels now have extra loot, hidden behind unlockable obstacles.
• Rooms have more cover, and fewer columns generally. Making late-game gunfight more in your favour.
Enemy Balance:
We've looked into lots of specific enemy behaviour, and have tweaked and improved them so that enemies are dangerous as a team, not because of particularly obnoxious 'star players'.
• Endless Rifleman: Reduced their health and attack frequency. (Making these an introduction to the mechanics, not deadly assassins in level 1)
• Keelut (Dogs): Reduced health and damage, as well as fewer of them in the Farm. (We want these to feel like nuisance fodder enemies, not hounds bent on your destruction)
• Endless Shotgun: Movement speed increased, Damage vs cover increased, Range increased. (These were under-performing, so we gave them a slight edge)
• Camazotz (Flying Melee): Base health reduced, Correct balancing set (Were under-powered, so balanced their stats)
• Broken Shotgunner: Melee replaced with Point-Blank Shotgun (nasty), Rarer
• Broken Stalker: Rarer
• Broken Grenadier: Rarer
• Legion (Mines): Rarer
• Legion (Graveyard): Now attacks twice consecutively.
• Bloat (exploding enemy): More fragile, Rarer
• Dakwa (Cover-Smasher): Rarer
• Cultist (Flank and Teleport): Rarer
• Preacher Bosses (and Stand-Ins): Health increased, Immune to light, Drop more sin. (These boss encounters seemed to be breezed through, so we've toughened them up, but they also give more reward)
• Rune Bosses: Health increased (except for Wendigo)
• Outlaw: Immune to light
• Preacher-replacements - health/loadout now matches the Preacher's
Specific Level work:
• The War (DLC): Artillery Bombardment added
Targeting, Pass III:
We've done a couple of things to complete the Targeting re-design roll out:
• New Targeting applied to Abilities Abilities now target enemies in a way that is more consistent with firearms, whether you are throwing an axe, spear or teleporting, you should be able to choose your target with more confidence.
• Targeting Assist Settings. This was a hotly requested feature, and depending on whether you want to play as a twin-stick 'purist' or have the game do more of the aiming for you to let you concentrate on tactics, we have a setting for you, even 'off'.
Quality of Life:
• Remnants are dropped from specific enemies (previously they were random) - this will let you hunt down those missing, exciting weapons.
• Throwing axes hit more often (bigger hitbox)
• Level name is displayed in the map
• Objects appear in the map from further away
• Narrator only says the Barman has something to say when the Barman has something *important* to say
• Options menu slight redesign to prevent text overlap
• Fonts working with Polish
Bug Fixes:
• Level Generation has better joining corridors in levels that ascend or descend
• Mismatching Shaman ("Witch Woman") line is removed
• Animation fix from trapped into crouch
• Enemy traps animate again
• Hero no longer knocked back when trapped
• 'Swarm' enemy no longer causes stun damage