Labyrinth Improvements, Steam Client Update, and More!

We've made a number of improvements to the Labyrinth based on player feedback. The biggest change is that scrolls will no longer provide buffs in the Labyrinth, and instead, 9 new permanent buff upgrades are available in the Labyrinth Shop. Scrolls were originally designed to be used outside the Labyrinth, but as players started bringing them along, they became all but required for any serious run, adding significant cost to actively manage them. Permanent upgrades are healthier long-term: progress carries forward, there's no need to actively manage scroll usage, and your strength scales with time invested. Players will be slightly weaker until they accumulate enough new upgrades, but this is a one-time transition. To help bridge the gap, existing scrolls can now be decomposed into 5 Labyrinth Tokens each via Alchemy.

We've also added a 1000+ total level requirement to enter the Labyrinth for the first time. Looking at our data, only a handful of players below this level have engaged with the Labyrinth with reasonable success, and many newer players were getting confused or frustrated trying it too early. Gating the entry encourages newer players to focus on their core progression first and approach the Labyrinth when they're more prepared for it. Existing characters who have already entered the Labyrinth are unaffected.

For high-level players who can reach floor 12 or higher, we've heard feedback that Labyrinth runs take too much total time. The permanent buff upgrades will reduce overall run time by a moderate amount, and we'll continue to monitor this issue to determine if any additional adjustments are needed.

In other news, the Steam client's built-in extension manager has been completely redesigned. The new manager behaves much like a browser extension manager: paste a userscript URL to install or update an extension, and most browser-compatible scripts should run unchanged. This addresses the compatibility issues and manual setup overhead of the previous version.

We've also looked at some of the underperforming combat builds and decided to give Bulwark and Crossbow setups some buffs in this update.

Visit the Patch Notes for the full list of changes.

Labyrinth:

1. Added 9 permanent Labyrinth Shop buff upgrades.

2. Scroll buffs no longer function inside the Labyrinth.

3. Scrolls can now be decomposed into 5 Labyrinth Tokens with Alchemy.

4. Labyrinth full automation upgrade limit increased from 12 to 15.

5. Labyrinth now requires a total level of 1000+ to enter. Existing characters who have entered labyrinth previously are unaffected.

6. Travel time between rooms reduced from 3s to 1s.

7. Rush to exit now takes a more optimal route that also tries to maximize the number of visible rooms revealed.

8. Enhancing rooms now have a fixed target of +5, making difficulty consistent with other skilling rooms.

9. Labyrinth item and XP gains are now included in offline progress tracking.

10. Loot tracker for Labyrinth condensed to 1 row per full run.

11. "Dungeon Refiner" achievement renamed to "Refiner" and now includes labyrinth items. (Anyone who qualifies will be granted the achievement.)

12. Mimic minimum attack interval lowered from 1s to 0.5s, allowing Bulwark to be more effective against it.

Steam Client:

1. Redesigned the built-in extension manager for installing and updating userscripts. It should support all browser extensions directly now.

   1. Note: You have to reinstall existing extensions due to format changes. Your previous scripts can still be found under %APPDATA%\\milky-way-idle\\scripts\\ if you need to reference them.

2. Steam client remembers window position and size across restarts.

3. Fixed a rare issue where some players could see a white screen due to an anti-virus or computer security policy false positive.

Rebalance:

1. Sinister Cape: Defensive Damage 6% added.

2. Anchorbound Plate Body: Defensive Damage 6% added.

3. Anchorbound Plate Legs: Defensive Damage 5% added.

4. Fighter Necklace: Defensive Damage 4% added.

5. Philosopher's Necklace: Defensive Damage 4% added.

6. Sundering Crossbow: Ranged Accuracy increased from 145% to 160%, Ranged Damage increased from 118% to 120%.

7. Soul Hunter Crossbow: Ranged Accuracy increased from 132% to 140%.

QOL:

1. The game can be added to the home screen and launched like an app.

2. Allow queuing Party Ready multiple times for certain rare use cases.

3. Zero-cooldown abilities are now automatically placed in the last ability slot in battle so they don't block other abilities if positioned incorrectly.

UI:

1. Added a global Help chat channel.

2. Misclick Warnings: warns if the protection item used is priced much higher than the cheapest valid option, and warns if coinifying an expensive item at a loss.

3. Queueing actions will no longer open the full action list (which could get in the way).

Other:

1. Added Rule 2.4 forbidding coordinated market manipulation (such as pump and dump schemes).

2. Expanded FAQ in Game Guide with a Support section and additional questions.

Bug Fix:

1. Defensive damage from Defense Coffee now updates on the first battle instead of the second.

2. Correctly validate whether the character has enough items to initiate enhancing when the protection item and the cost item are the same.

3. Header success rate display now correctly reads 100% when using Philosopher's Mirror.

4. Personal buff expiration no longer briefly displays 0s for a few extra minutes.

5. Can now add labyrinth to the action queue when only party combat is running.