New game modes, an Americas server, Rifts, Elite Monsters, and a huge number of improvements!
Update 0.2.0 is one of the biggest Grindwick updates so far. It introduces new ways to play, additional content, major combat and progression changes, and numerous bug fixes, UI improvements, and server stability optimizations.
NEW GAME MODES AND CHARACTERS
- More Character Slots - Added 3 regular character slots and 1 seasonal slot. Each character has their own inventory and progression. Premium purchases are shared across the account, and inactive characters can continue training offline.
- Hardcore Mode - A new permanent death mode with separate leaderboards. Death permanently deletes your character, including all items and progression. Other characters and Premium purchases remain on the account. Deaths in Crystal Conflict are excluded.
- Solo Self Found (SSF) - A self-sufficient progression mode without the Auction House, parties, or group expeditions. SSF can be combined with Hardcore. Each variant has separate leaderboards.
- Season 1 - Added seasonal characters with separate leaderboards, Auction Houses, and matchmaking.
Season 1 Bonuses:
- 5x Character EXP from combat.
- 5x Combat Skill EXP, including training.
- 2x Gold from monsters, Guild quests, and fish turn-ins.
The season runs until December 31, 2026. Once it ends, all seasonal characters and their progression will be permanently deleted.
IMPORTANT: Season 1 was introduced exclusively to test new systems. I do not currently recommend playing seasonal characters.
NEW AMERICAS SERVER - EU/US
A new server region has been added in Ashburn, USA, providing a potentially much better gameplay experience for players in North America and some parts of South America.
- Added manual EU/US region selection.
- Added server ping measurement.
- Automatic selection of the available server with the lowest latency.
- Characters, progression, and the economy remain shared across regions.
- Parties and instances operate within the selected region.
The Americas server is scheduled to launch during maintenance on November 6, approximately 08:30-10:00 CET.
NEW EXPEDITION CONTENT
Rifts
Mysterious purple portals can now appear during regular expeditions.
- Activating a Rift starts spawning waves of monsters at one-second intervals.
- Monsters scale with the current Grind/God level.
- Rift monsters provide EXP, loot, and Guild quest progress.
- Up to 2 active Rifts can exist within the same instance.
Elite Monsters
More powerful enemies can now appear, marked by a red outline and an indicator.
- Larger size, increased HP, and higher basic attack damage.
- Increased EXP rewards and higher loot drop chances.
- Guaranteed 1-5 Normal Remnants.
- Guaranteed 1-3 Magic Remnants.
CRYSTAL CONFLICT - NEW COMPETITIVE MODE
Added a new team-based competitive mode supporting 1v1 up to 4v4.
Each team must defend its own crystal against incoming monsters. Defeating enemies increases the pressure on the opposing team.
- Matchmaking considers party size, season, and the leader's level bracket.
- The mode does not reward EXP or loot.
- Players respawn 5 seconds after death.
- Hardcore characters do not suffer permanent death.
- SSF characters can participate solo in 1v1 matches.
IMPORTANT: Crystal Conflict is currently intended exclusively for network traffic testing. The mode only includes basic functionality and basic matchmaking.
NEW TRAINING ROOM
Added a private training instance available solo or with a party.
- Freely change equipment, cards, spells, and passives.
- Test builds against automatically respawning targets.
- Training targets do not provide Character EXP, Gold, or loot.
- Basic attacks still grant Combat Skill EXP.
COMBAT AND SKILL CHANGES
HP and Focus
- Reworked resource scaling as characters level up.
- HP and Focus values now depend on the active fighting style: Melee, Distance, or Magic.
Magic - Teleport
- Cooldown reduced from 2.5s to 0.25s.
- Added a cost of 25 Focus.
- Added an option to teleport in the movement direction.
- Characters stop before obstacles.
- Failed teleports do not consume Focus or trigger the cooldown.
Distance - Haste
- Sprint now works while holding the assigned button.
- Uses a separate Stamina resource.
- Full sprint duration is 2.5 seconds.
- Full Stamina regeneration takes 2.5 seconds.
- Minimum delay between activations is 0.5 seconds.
Saved Spell Builds
- Added local spell-level presets for each fighting style.
- Presets can be saved, deleted, and loaded in the hub or Training Room.
BALANCE AND PROGRESSION
God - Ascendant Grind Level
- Increased monsters per spawn point from 2 to 3.
- Adjusted difficulty and reward scaling.
- Reduced enemy movement speed.
- Increased the Gold multiplier from 1.5x to 2x.
- Increased the base Ascendant Shard drop chance from 0.045% to 0.1%.
Crafting and Enchanting
- Unlocked Mythical crafting at Crafting Level 95.
- Added enchanting support for all Mythical equipment.
- Increased crafting costs for Magic, Epic, and Legendary items.
- Increased the stat bonus per enhancement level from 2% to 3%.
QUALITY OF LIFE IMPROVEMENTS
- Area Loot Pickup - Clicking an item or using the pickup button now collects items within a 4-tile radius. Items that do not fit in the backpack remain on the ground.
- Item Stack Management - Added the ability to split and merge item stacks in the backpack.
- Auction House - Players can purchase selected quantities, set unit prices or full-stack prices, and collect earned Gold without selling the entire listing.
- Sell All - Added a new Merchant option to quickly sell items while skipping locked items.
- Grind All - Added a new Anvil option to process multiple items while skipping locked items.
- Solo Expedition Pause - Opening Settings or the exit confirmation window pauses regular solo expeditions, including enemies, projectiles, and cooldowns. Does not apply to parties, bosses, Void Trials, the Training Room, or Crystal Conflict.
USER INTERFACE AND NEW PLAYER EXPERIENCE
- Redesigned the HUD and improved the UI across many areas.
- Added collapsible resource bars.
- Added Stamina and Block indicators.
- Player names now display character level and HC, SSF, and seasonal indicators.
- Improved the tutorial and new player tooltips.
- Improved windows, notifications, and various interface elements.
- Added custom key binding support for the command wheel.
- New characters now start with 50 Focus Potions.
STABILITY, OPTIMIZATION, AND BUG FIXES
This update includes a very large number of bug fixes, technical improvements, and additional UI refinements.
- Optimized player movement handling, chat processing, and server operations.
- Improved connection stability and the reliability of several gameplay systems.
- Online training sessions are preserved for 15 seconds after a temporary connection loss.
- Fixed Anvil functionality after reconnecting.
- Fixed flower exchanges when the potion limit is reached. Excess flowers now remain in the backpack.
- Expanded detection of repetitive multi-action sequences for administrative review.
- Adjusted the timing of several monster mechanics, including Cursed Steps, Doom Mark, and Living Bomb.
- Fixed numerous additional gameplay and UI issues.
DEVELOPMENT ROADMAP
A new development roadmap is now available on the official Grindwick website, outlining upcoming development milestones and preparations for version 1.0.
Thank you to everyone playing Grindwick, reporting bugs, and sharing feedback. Every update brings the game closer to its full 1.0 release!