Noara: The Conspiracy News

Hello everyone,
Before we jump into the details of this patch note, the team of Noara wants to wish you a happy new year 2022!

[h2]NEW FEATURES[/h2]
- A new stronghold upgrade is available in the Djakpa shop. Once activated, this upgrade will allow you to deploy your units further away and start fighting quicker.
- We know you wanted an easier way to play with your friends. From now on, you can create customized games for you and your friends without using the matchmaking option.
- At last, there is an action counter integrated in the user interface. As you may have guessed, it counts and shows the number of actions still available in your turn. A left click on it allows you to select a unit with available actions.

[h2]UPDATE[/h2]
- Rajang: Some poison FX of the Q spell “Venomous Spit”, W “Fishing Hour” and R “Venomous Charge” have been modified.
- Malakaye: Q skill "Colossal Strike” and R "Make way for the Colossus” have been visually upgraded
- We have added new sound effects and corrected some others
- The team have worked on optimizing some visual effects in order to improve in-game performances

[h2]FIXES & BALANCING[/h2]
Units & Castes
- Some units could be blocked after using a moving skill. This has been corrected.
- Dodging the W “Big-Game Fishing” will display the floating text “Dodge”.
- The bonus effect of the R skill “Spa Treatment” can’t be interrupted when the 3 stacks have been used.
- Following a change on the damage calculation, Namleh will deal less damage on his Q “Incredible Shot”
- The icon of the passive “Colossal Colossus” of Malakaye changes if its passive is activated.
- The Q skill “Flying knee” of Babanga won’t bypass a tile if this one is already contested by two units.
- Fixed the behavior of Rajang’s R skill “Venomous Charge” when it is interrupted by an Aquabatic.
- Interrupting W skill “Embark !” of Akuyandi, and R skill “Make Way for the Colossus” of Malakaye by pushing them, won’t leave “incapacitated” the seased units until the end of the turn.
- Once Kalinga wins a contested tile while being stealthy, she only inflicts the damage of the opportunity attack.
- R skill “Break Time” of Babingi will only heal allies of the “Creature” caste and herself.
- Units earned by reaching the level 5 of Demolisher and Fisher will now appear on the bench, regardless if the player is defending or attacking.
- The R skill “Celestial Dive” of Wasabi can’t target allied units.
- The poison puddle landed with the R skill “Venomous Charge” of Rajang, can now work like other puddles. A unit will now receive damages and poison effect once it enters an afflicted tile.
- Namleh R ability won't make the game crash to some players anymore
- Landing a trap on a puddle (W “Visco-Slide” of Nariah, R “Venomous Charge” of Rajang etc..) won’t make it disappear.

Items
- The Aura of the item “Fish Armor” is now effective only if the item is equipped.
- Item “armored boots” now allows to dodge R skill “Venomous Charge” of Rajang.
- The attractive effect of the “Attractive Octopus” won’t glitch with the scenery anymore.

Stronghold ability
- Stronghold monolith throwing ability will inflicts damage to the silo
- Clicking on an empty Stronghold ability slot won’t block the selection of units anymore.
- The effect of Stronghold ability “cloud of bats” won’t be applied to the throwable items used in the defensive round.
- Units affected by the Stronghold ability “Attack! Attack!” and “Retreat! Retreat!” will now stop in front of structures and obstacles.
- Tiles with a boulder thrown by the Stronghold ability “Monolith Throwing” won’t appear gray anymore in the fog of war.
- The bonus given by the Stronghold ability “Kragh Wrath” can’t stack anymore with each fallen ally. It stops to give bonus after the first dead ally.

[h2]RANKING[/h2]
For those who have seen the Roadmap, the ladder and matchmaking are planned for Q2 2022, but we wanted to give you a little surprise before the holidays!

Please note that this is not the first season. With the ladder up early, we will also be able to make some tests to make sure everything is working properly, especially the matchmaking, and the ladders will be reset quite frequently.

Here's how the ladder will work:
- Everyone starts with 0 MMR
- Ranks are available at every 100 MMR level! You'll all start as "Rookie IV", and work your way up to "Rookie I" before changing ranks. We let you find out what happens next :)
- You will face enemies close to your MMR. However, if no players of your level are available, you will quickly find players of lower or higher levels. Your MMR gain will of course be adjusted accordingly.


[h2]BUG FIX[/h2]
The release of the first patch note unfortunately caused some bugs, so we worked on fixing them.
- Fixed the bug that sometimes prevented the selection of items or bastion abilities during management turns.
- Using Nariah's W in a bush was preventing your units from using their skills. This is normally a thing of the past!
- Some errors were found in the texts of the « Arm wrestling », they have been corrected.


[h2]BALANCE[/h2]
Namleh Nerf
We had a heavy hand on Namleh, who found himself on the top of the list of most purchased characters. A small change was necessary:
Reduction of the elemental mastery ratio of Q from 75% to 50%.

Creatures Up
Creatures were rebalanced a few weeks ago to reduce their impact in game. With the new system of cages, creatures have become even less useful. We have therefore decided to increase the survivability of creatures:

Krogz Up
Maximum Life from 130 to 150
Physical Resistance increased from 30 to 50

Kapal Up
Maximum life from 120 to 140

Wasabi Up
Wasabi is hard to get but didn't seem rewarding enough.
Q's damage increased from 150 to 200


[h2]SOUND DESIGN[/h2]
Wasabi recently got a new model, but its sound design was not yet finished. It is now done!

Hello everyone :)
We have listened to your feedback on the game and we thank you for it! The whole team has been working hard to add new content and fix as many bugs as possible in the time available. Here is the very first patch of Noara :


[h2]A NEW GAME MODE [/h2]
As you know, we announced a 1v1 mode in the road map for Q1 2022. However, many of you have been asking for this mode and we wanted to make you happy.
So we worked on a temporary mode, which is not the real 1v1 mode, but a mode we called "skirmish" which will allow you to play against your friends in one-on-one on a new map with very fast paced game turns.
The goal of the game is simple: kill the opposing king!



Matchmaking:
We are aware that it is currently difficult to find games. In order to alleviate this problem, we have worked on matchmaking:
- The "2v2 - Solo" and "2v2 - Team" queues are now merged to make it easier for players to find games.

Interface: Menu
- Added an FX around the invite button to make it more visible.
- The waiting counter was blocked at 1 / 4 permanently, no matter how many players were looking for a game. This is now functional, the counter updates as required.

Interface: In Game
- We've made a colour change to the time counter (which is on the bottom right of the HUD) to make it easier to understand which round we're in.

• "Offensive Turn" with blue counter.
  
• "Defensive Turn" with a red counter.
  
• "Management Turn" with an orange counter.

- In the same way, we have changed the colour of the life bar of the selected enemy units (block on the top right). The bars of allied units remain green, and those of enemy units become red.
- Added "Cursor Containment" option in the options allowing the mouse cursor to stay on the screen if checked.

Chat: In Game
- Various adjustments have been made to the Chat (cursor positioning, scrollbar, display time) and its visual has been modified.

"Tutorial":
While waiting for a proper tutorial, we have grouped the 5 mini-quests to make a kind of "mini-tutorial".

Puzzle:
- Following numerous requests, the time limit for a turn on most puzzles has been set to infinite!
- Visual improvement of the obstacles in the puzzles "Felt Steps" and "Water Tramp".

Localization:
- Translation of sentences that were always in French in the English version of the game.


[h2]2v2 MODE[/h2]
Map Improvements:
- New FX have been added to the Fog of War.
- Visual improvement of the Water Tramp (texture + VFX).
- Sound effects problems in the bushes have been fixed.

Cages changed:
- Cages now have classic hit points and not "per hit" hit points.
- When destroyed, cages no longer offer units but items.
- Added an FX to the destruction of a Cage.

Silos:
Add FX + SFX to the construction, improvement, and destruction of Silos

Stronghold:
Added FX + SFX to the upgrade and destruction of the stronghold.

Minimap:
Added a ping on the minimap (and its SFX) when our unit or our teammate's unit is attacked. Also when one of our silos or our stronghold is attacked.

End of the game:
When either team's stronghold is destroyed, the camera now moves to that stronghold before the Victory/Defeat screen appears. This will help you understand how you lost the game!

End of Game Screen:
The Victory/Defeat screen has been completely redesigned.


[h2]UNITS[/h2]
General:
- The end of a skill rolled by a unit no longer interferes with the display of a stronghold ability grid.
- If a unit dies while performing a skill, the skill is now properly interrupted.
- Fixed the bug related to the use of bumpers. A unit that is on a bumper and gets pushed will no longer suffer an automatic jump at the end of the bumper's maximum activation time.
- Fixed the bug where a unit would get stuck following a move skill interrupted by a push.
- Right-click now allows to cancel the selection of a selected skill.
- Up to 10 units can now be deployed instead of 8.
- Changed the display of invisible units so that their silhouettes can no longer be seen by opponents.
- Changed the skill icons for Mogsy, Irisha, Tiwangi and Sinna.

Babingi, Babanga, Chaksa and Sinna's passive: "That didn’t kill!":
Embryo duration is no longer counted on Management turns.

Babingi: R "Break Time":
The fish remains visible for longer once it has landed on the square.

Gakpé W: "Healing Bolt":
Visual improvement of the FX.

Mana: W "Odd Mixture":
The visual effects of the skill now differ depending on the Mana passive.

Rajang: W "Fishing Hour":
Rajang's W now correctly deals damage to cages.

Rajang: R "Venomous Charge":
- Rajang's R no longer affects Nariah and does no damage to her (see Nariah's passive).
- The skill no longer applies the poison puddle if Rajang is pushed along.

Sinna: R "Mephitic Belch / Herbal Belch":
The damage bonus calculation for "Mephitic Belch" and " Herbal Belch " is now done on the final damage, not the base damage of the skill.

Kalinga: Q "Deadly Waltz":
Kalinga's Q now correctly deals enhanced damage when invisible.

Kalinga: R "Dark of Night":
Fixed the bug that was blocking Kalinga when she used her R as the opposing team passed their turn.

Kapal : R “Enlisement” :
- The skill is now correctly interrupted if Kapal suffers the "Revealed" effect.
- Fixed the bug that caused the game to crash when a unit bounced off a buried Kapal

Nariah: W "Visco-slide":
A unit being purged, while on a poison puddle created by Nariah's W, will suffer the effects of the poison again at the start of the next turn, even if it has not moved from the puddle.

Wasabi:
Did you get tired of the little orange man as Wasabi? We are too!
We're adding a new 3D model to Wasabi. But be aware that it will be further improved later on, it's only temporary!



Irisha: Nerf
Q "Toxic Anemones":
- Irisha's Q changed: no longer inflicts the "Handicap" effect if the target avoided at least 1 of the 3 projectiles.
W " Toxic Presents ":
- Irisha's W is both very strong and very frustrating. A little nerfing is in order!
- The anemone now only has 2 HP instead of 3.
- The damage suffered by the unit in the trap is reduced from 20/30/40/50 to 30/40/50.

Rajang: Nerf
Rajang's gameplay seems to be very popular with players, which we are of course pleased about. On the other hand, his damage is far too high. Rajang therefore goes through the nerf.
Q "Venomous Spit":
- Elemental Mastery ratio increases from 120% to 100%.
- Elemental Mastery to Poison effect ratio reduced from 50% to 30%.
W "Fishing Hour":
- Eel and lamprey base damage increased from 80 to 40.
- The Elemental Mastery ratio on Eel is increased from 100% to 80%.
- The physical control ratio for lamprey is reduced from 100% to 80%.
- Physical Mastery ratio on the lamprey's bleed effect increases from 50% to 30%.

Namleh: Up
Poor Namleh hasn't really been popular since the beginning of early access, so we had to give him a "little" boost.
Q " Incredible Shot ":
- Elemental Mastery ratio increases from 25% to 75%.

Demolisher: Up
Did you know that? There is a unit called "Demolisher"! It is obtained by unlocking the last level of the "Demolisher" caste. We ask because we never see it on the battlefield. Here's a cool up that might make you want to meet her.
Q " Stone Put ":
- Damage increases from 200 physical damage to 250 base physical damage.
Range increases from 6 to 8.
R " Stone Put ":
- Damage increases from 200 physical damage to 250 base physical damage.
Range increases from 6 to 8.


[h2]CASTS[/h2]
King:
The "+0 HP" healing bonus is no longer displayed above newly deployed units.

Demolisher :
- The bonus 5 that allows you to get the "Demolisher" unit is moved. You now only need 3 demolisher caste units to get the catapult!
- The old 3 demolisher bonus now unlocks when you deploy 6 demolisher caste units.


[h2]ITEMS[/h2]
General :
The blinding effect no longer impacts the passive effects of objects.

Attractive Octopus:
- New VFX added.
- Can now hit cages (damage them, but not move them).

Balloon-Fish:
Visual improvement to the 3D object.

Hydro-Jet:
The water dash effect no longer starts from the last position the item was used.

Scooting Kit:
Improved VFX.

Spyglass:
Improved VFX.

Ansom Steam Bomb:
- The bomb can now be moved by the item "Fishing Net", by Iwobi's Z-skill "Big Game Fishing" and by the item "Shattering Hammer".
- The bomb now does the correct damage even when it explodes next to a cage.

Throwing weight:
The item can no longer target allied units.


[h2]STRONGHOLDING SKILLS[/h2]
Bat Swarm:
The cooldown malus now only applies to available defensive skills.

CarnardAir:
Visual rendering has been improved.

Sand Wave:
VFX is now oriented correctly.

Stuning Gong:
The VFX is now oriented correctly.

Cry of Support (in-game "Kragh Wrath"):
The passive Shout of Support buff now triggers properly for every Shout of Support present on the Bastion.

Monolithic Throw:
Boulders placed on squares now have classic hit points instead of "per hit" hit points.

Hello everyone!
One Hotfix per week, we're hot!

[h2]Units[/h2]

Krogz: Nerf
The Krogz is the cheapest unit in the game and some say it is the strongest. We need to change that!

HP: 150 -> 130
Physical resistances: 50 -> 30
Elemental resistances: 25 -> 0


Gakpe : Up
Our dear Shaman does not give whole satisfaction, especially considering his high cost. Here's a little boost for him:

Q: Improved impact damage: 20 -> 35.
Improved burn dots: 30 per turn -> 45 per turn.

Purchase price reduced from 1150 to 1050


Namleh: Up
Purchase price reduced from 1250 to 1150


Iwobi: Up
Purchase price increased from 1300 to 1200


Sawangi: Up
Purchase price reduced from 1300 to 1200


Mastok: Up
Mastok, in addition to being a creature, becomes a wrestler!
Purchase price increased from 1300 to 1200


Malakaye: Up
Purchase price increased from 1550 to 1450


Kalinga: Up
Purchase price increased from 1650 to 1550


Akuyandi: Up
Purchase price from 2400 to 2300


[h2]Castes [/h2]

Creatures: Nerf
Despite the first nerf, our beloved creatures are still rampant in the Lands of Noara.
To preserve the balance of the ecosystem, we must crack down again!

Bonus 8:
Healing Malus: 50% -> 25%.

Bonus 12 :
Damage bonus: +30% -> 15%.
Bonus velocity: +3 -> 2
Immunity to checks: -> Creatures are no longer immune to checks


Wrestlers : Nerf
Wrestlers bring important bonuses to all allied units. Too much for our taste!

Bonus 2:
+60 VP max for all -> 45 VP max for all
+30 Physical Mastery -> 20 Physical Mastery

Bonus 4:
+180 VP max for all -> 100 VP max for all
+90 Physical Mastery -> 60 Physical Mastery


Fishermen : Nerf
The Fishermen are essential to the survival of the Kragh clan and we want them to remain so. But the current bonuses are too high and deserve to be reduced.

Bonus 4:
Heals 60 HP each round -> Heals 45 HP.
+70 to resistances -> + 50 resistances.


Singular: Up
We note that singulars are very little used. We therefore give them our support!

Bonus 2:
+20% damage to units with less than 50% life -> +20% damage to units with less than 60% life.

Bonus 4:
+60% damage to units with less than 50% life -> +50% damage to units with less than 70% life.

Bonus 6:
+20% chance to scare target while attacking -> +25% chance to scare target while attacking.


[h2]Stronghold Skills[/h2]

The Offensive Horn: Nerf
Even if we like the mechanics, the horn is very / too advantageous for the team that owns it. So we're going to think about the best way to offer it to you.
In the meantime, it becomes a "legendary" stronghold skill.

Catapult Shot: Nerf
We are not happy with Catapult Shot. This stronghold skill rewards the team too much for using it, even though it costs nothing and requires no skill. We will change this skill in general terms in the future.
In the meantime, we will settle for a simple nerf:
The ability becomes a "legendary" Bastion skill.

Ballista Shot: Nerve
We no longer want this skill to be usable against the opposing stronghold.


[h2]Items[/h2]

Armoured Boots made of sarme: Up
Velocity: +1 -> +3


[h2]Gameplay[/h2]

It is no longer possible to "redistribute" bastion items and skills during management turns. We will reinstate this feature when we have made the changes we want to make to it.

Hello everyone !
We are sincerly grateful for all the games you already played and all your feedback about Noara.
You have to know that we listened to all of your proposal and we are already working on the fixes.
We are aware there are still many bugs and things to fix but we wanted to do a first quick hotfix.


[h2]Castes and units[/h2]Those first days spend on Noara seems to be marked by a "little" total domination from creatures, right ?
Indeed, creatures are the cheepest units in the game and can be deployed in large quantities. So we notice that our young strategists tend to neglect the other units to deploy a lot of our dear little creatures: Krogz and Kapal.
Also its seems to come from the over power of those creatures (cause of their stats and their castes bonus), this added to their large number, creatures stand up with units who are supposed to be a way stronger.
So we offer you the first Nerf of Noara! Here are a bunch of small changes that you will discover below.

Krogz : Nerf
HP : 200 -> 150
Stock in the shop : 20 -> 8

Kapal : Nerf
HP : 150 -> 120
Stock in the shop : 20 -> 8

Creatures castes bonus : Nerf
Bonus distribution : 4 > 8 > 12 -> 6 > 9 > 12
Bonus 6 : +40 physical and elementary mastery / +20 physical and elementary resistance
-> +30 physical and elementary mastery.

Pirh : Nerf
To standardize with the Krogz and Kapal modification we also downcrease the pirh stock in the shop.
Stock in the shop : 20 -> 12

Chaksa : Nerf
Chaksa seems to be very popular with the players, and for good reason, she is amazing. Her damages are impressive when she uses her Q then W combo.
By the way, this combo seems to be too easy to use cause the W have no cooldown at all.
So, we proposal a modification of this point to use this combo in proper time and not at each round.
Cooldown of the W : 1 round -> 3 rounds

Rajang : Up
Rajang looks a bit out of breath, so we are offering an upgrade to his attack range to pick him up a bit.
Range of the Q : 2 -> 3

Demolisher castes : Nerf
The demolisher castes is doing his job great : destroy the structures. Maybe a bit too much, which can make the outcome of some game a little too brutal. We fixe the bonus bring by the caste to reduce this.
Bonus 1
Damage increase on the structure 50%-> 25%
Bonus 3
Damage increase on the structure 150%-> 75%

Units price : Up
In order to encourage everyone to discover the more expensive units instead of sticking to small creatures, we are decreasing the price of each units who cost more than 400 Khinas.
Units price higher than 400 Khinas : -100 Khinas


[h2]Upgrage of the Stronghold[/h2]
Given the price and the waiting time before the Stronghold upgrade is effective, choose to spend your Khinas in this doesn't seems to be a good investment. We are fixing the price of those Strongholds upgrade to make them more attractive.

Price of upgrade : Up
500 > 1000 > 1500 --> 400 > 800 > 1200

[h2]Silos[/h2]
Silos objectives are quite hard to defend. Their low HP contribute a lot to this, that's why we are bringing a stat modification to this.

Silos HP : Up
Level 0 : 100 -> 150
Level 1 : 250 -> 300
Level 2 : 450-> 500
Level 3 : 650-> 700

Also in order to get the more expensive units faster, we are changing the price of silo upgrades.
Price of upgrades : Up
200 > 350 > 550 > 700 --> 200 > 300 > 500 > 650