Hello everyone, Gronkins here with patch 0.0.15 for the demo for Legends of Azamar! Firstly, I’d just like to give a big thank you to everyone who checked out my game during the Next Fest and thank you to everyone who provided feedback and bug reports!
This patch involves a lot of changes as I prepare the game for the Early Access release. This patch features a major rework to the skill tree system and dungeon map system, as well as many other various changes. So with that said, let’s get into the patch notes:
Dungeon Map
The dungeon map system has received a major overhaul to reinforce the feeling of delving and clearing lower depths but also to provide more clarity. New art has been added to visually represent your total progress throughout Bar-Ulduun. Next, dungeon maps no longer generate horizontally, but instead generate vertically to add to the sense of escalating depth
Additionally, depth growth has been normalised so bosses no longer share a depth with regular areas. For example, previously, the Frost Troll boss spawned on Depth 7, and the first area of the Lower Halls also started on Depth 7. So to improve clarity and prevent overlapping depths, all areas of the second half of each floor are now one depth deeper, so the final boss of Floor One now spawns on Depth 14 instead of Depth 13
As a result of these changes, all current dungeons have been reset
Skill Tree Rework
The skill tree system has received a major rework to allow for deeper customisation and investment. In patch 0.0.15, every even level also provides you with 1 Devotion Point. Devotion Points allow you to devote yourself to one of the skill trees, providing you with flat bonuses based on the tree (up to a maximum of 20). For example, each point devoted to The Anvil provides +6 Armour and +6 Stun Threshold, and each point devoted to The Eagle provides +6 Accuracy Rating and +6 Critical Strike Rating. The idea is to give players an early boost in power and provide meaningful early game decisions that allow them easier access to stats such as Armour, Accuracy, Mana, etc
Additionally, the maximum rank of all passive nodes has been increased. Passives that previously had 5 ranks now have 12, and passives that previously had 3 ranks now have 8. Some passives have been rebalanced to account for these changes. This change allows players to further invest in stats they want, instead of running out of specific damage nodes after just 5 points, the new system allows for much richer build creation
Next, many trees have been changed and reworked to provide more unique and interesting bonuses, with more changes coming in the future. Additionally, The Sentinel has been renamed to The World, and The Wellspring has been renamed to The Chalice and now has a much greater focus on potions
Lastly, the required level to unlock keystone slots has been increased from 15, 30 and 45 to 20, 40 and 60. As a result of this change, keystones are no longer available in the demo
As part of all these changes, all passive skills have been reset and all points have been refunded
Block Rework
Chance to Block has been replaced by a new stat called Block Rating. Block Rating works similarly to Accuracy Rating, where you have a percentage chance to block, based on your Block Rating. Additionally, shields can now roll increased Block Rating
The reason for this change was to allow early game block builds more meaningful block chance while also preventing late game block builds from being too powerful. Additionally, this change allows more avenues for investment into Block Rating and interesting new passive bonuses, such as one of The Tower’s reworked nodes: Spiked Bulwark, which grants Thorns on Block equal to a percentage of your Block Rating
Stats
Multiple stats have been renamed for better clarity
Reflect Physical Damage to Attackers when Hit has been renamed to Thorns
Reflect Physical Damage to Attackers on Block has been renamed to Thorns on Block
Increased Reflect Damage has been renamed to Increased Thorns Damage
Items
Due to the passive skill tree rework, it is now easier to get higher amounts of conversion stats, as such, innate conversion on some items has been nerfed
Elemental Conversion on Wands: 20% -> 15%
Elemental Conversion on Staves: 40% -> 30%
Abilities
Mage Core and Signature abilities now have an innate chance to inflict status effects. For example, Fireball now has a +10% chance to Ignite
Defensive Abilities
The uptime of defensive abilities was too high, and as such, players felt the need to press them constantly instead of using them tactically. To solve this, their uptime has been reduced:
Cooldown: 25 seconds -> 30 seconds
Duration: 8 seconds -> 5 seconds
Additionally, Shield Wall has been changed due to the block rework
Shield Wall
Damage Blocked: 10% -> 5%
No longer grants any chance to block attacks or spells, instead, it now grants 60% increased Block Rating
I will be monitoring the performance of defensive abilities to ensure they feel impactful and not abilities you feel like you have to constantly use
Balance Changes
Players no longer start with 5% Critical Strike Chance. Players instead start with 50 Critical Strike Rating, which is roughly equivalent to 8.3% Critical Strike Chance at level 1, but decays with levels. The reasoning is to help Crit builds early and allow investment into Increased Critical Strike Rating to feel impactful right from the start
Dexterity no longer grants +2 Evasion per point. Instead it now grants +2 Accuracy Rating
Miscellaneous Changes
Characters now start on full Energy Shield
Various UI improvements
Two new rooms have been added to Floor One
Training Dummy
Maximum Health: 2500 -> 5000
No longer has any Energy Shield
Now regenerates Health when out of combat
Bug Fixes
Fixed a bug where certain walls in dungeons would be blacked out
Fixed a bug where Increased Thorns Damage wasn’t applying correctly
Fixed an issue where the Damaged Rune Sentinel was incorrectly gaining extra Physical Damage based on level
Fixed a bug where Critical Strike Rating from Emitting Glyphs were not applying correctly
Closing Words
This patch features a lot of changes, so if you have any thoughts (especially on the Devotion system), please let me know and be sure to let me know if you encounter any bugs or issues
Cheers!