[h2]DEFENDERS,[/h2]
Things are getting exciting here at Chromatic Games! With the official launch of Dungeon Defenders: Awakened on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One, we’re celebrating with even more good news—a Day 1 Update with LOTS of exciting changes coming to PC. Last week we teased some of the additions, revisions, and fixes included in this latest update in our Update 1.3 Preview post. Now that it’s here, let’s break down what you can expect to see in Etheria after you’re all updated.
[h2]Content[/h2]
[h3]Tutorial[/h3]
We’ve updated the tutorial! With the addition of new tasks and tooltips, any player can enter the Deeper Well to brush up on their defending skills. Even the most experienced defenders can reap the benefits of a new tutorial, too. Everyone who makes it to the end of the new tutorial is rewarded with the exclusive Summoner’s Hood mask to show off their mastery of the basics!
You’ll also notice there’s a new objective tracker part of the tutorial. Expect to see this throughout the entire game in future updates!
[h3]Massacre Additions[/h3]After completing the tutorial, defenders can now test their skills in the new Massacre levels within Pure Strategy and Mix Mode. These new difficulties introduce immunity-granting Siren enemies to the game modes, and defenders are handily rewarded for their successes. Here are the new loot details:
- Quality of item drops was adjusted in Pure Strategy to be equal to Survival mode.
- Quality of item drops was increased in Mix Mode at Massacre difficulty.
[h2]Performance[/h2]
[h3]Enemy Counts[/h3]
To improve performance for all defenders across all platforms, we felt reducing the number of enemies on all maps in Survival, Mix Mode, and Pure Strategy would do the job. We specifically focused on lowering the amount of our weakest enemies first—goblins, archers, and wyverns—because they were jamming up the lanes and unnecessarily dragging out the time it took to complete waves. After we were happy with the improved performance from those changes, we moved on to lowering the enemy counts in Survival Mode. With fewer enemies, we also adjusted wave schedules, which should result in dramatically faster wave times. Here’s a breakdown of what you can expect to see in the improved Etheria:
- 70% reduction in enemy counts for Wyverns, Archers, and Goblins on all maps.
- 50% reduction in enemy counts for Orcs, Mages, Warriors, Kobolds, and Spiders on all maps.
- Adjusted wave schedules to decrease wave lengths.
Did you think you were going to get away with fewer enemies without any catches?? Of course you didn’t. We wanted to make sure the difficulty levels remained relatively the same even with the reduction in enemy counts, so active enemies are now beefier, meaning each enemy’s HP has been increased to compensate for the smaller crowds. With such a big change, we’re going to monitor the community feedback to make sure players are happy with the new balance.
[h3]Nameplates[/h3]
Nameplates are looking nifty now. We added missing nameplates above some enemies, heroes, and crystals, as well as cleaned up the general display of nameplates in game. Players should see a significant difference in the quality of the displays with this change and have a much easier time keeping track of enemy HP, a necessary feature to accompany the increased HP of enemies. Cleaning these had some nice performance gains for all platforms, so on top of looking great, they are also helping make the game run better!
[h3]Damage Numbers[/h3]
Get ready for some new and improved damage numbers during combat! Last week we showed you what changes were to come in this area, and now they’re finally here. Players should notice clearer and more consistent displays of damage numbers when attacking, and fusion hits on Rifted enemies will stand out with larger number displays. Like nameplates, we hit some optimizations here as well, so your performance is better while it’s also easier to read damage numbers than before.
[h2]Limited Login Event - St. Patrick’s Day Reward![/h2]
While today is already a super special day for us at Chromatic, we haven’t forgotten it’s also St. Patrick’s Day. To celebrate, we’re giving out a special green-themed goody to players who download Update 1.3 and log in to DDA by Monday, March 22. This special gift will be available for PC players today through Monday.
[h2]Steam Trading Cards[/h2]
You read that right - we’ve got Steam trading cards for Dungeon Defenders: Awakened now. Because we’re feeling generous today, here’s a sneak peak of a couple of the cards you’ll be able to collect:
[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]
Along with all of the exciting changes mentioned already, we also fixed a whole bunch of bugs that were bothering players (or helping them a little too much…). Here’s are the fixes defenders can see in the game.
[h3]General[/h3]
- Adjusted mask positions to better fit heroes.
- Fixed an issue where Steam Family Share accounts could play Online.
- Fixed an issue where “WASD” keys still functioned as movement inputs even when replaced.
- Fixed an issue where multiple players simultaneously swapping in heroes with Gem boosts allowed them to stack.
- Fixed an issue where accessories didn’t fade out when cameras switched to first person while players were backed up against a wall.
[h3]Enemies[/h3]
- Fixed an issue where enemies were stuck in Magus Quarters.
- Fixed an issue where enemies were stuck in Endless Spires.
- Fixed an issue where enemies were getting stuck in the Throne Room.
- Fixed an issue where Sirens would not attack heroes.
- Fixed an issue where Skeletons would not show they had full health when resurrected by themselves.
[h3]Gameplay[/h3]
- Fixed an issue where defenses were able to be placed above the spawn door in Glitterhelm Caverns.
- Fixed an issue where defenses were able to be placed near the bottom of Lava Mines.
- Fixed an issue where some tooltips would not appear after cancelling the placement of multiple defenses.
- Fixed an issue where the inferno trap was not affecting enemies.
- Fixed an issue where leaving and rejoining a match to let players place multiple Fusion defenses wasn’t working properly.
- Fixed an issue where the Gem pet boost flickered on and off periodically.
- Fixed an issue where traps with Use Scale after swapping would have a very small scale.
[h2]What’s Next?[/h2]
While we’ll be monitoring this release and update, addressing any issues that may arise, we’re currently hard at work on getting our other ports for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation out the door to many eager Defenders. That’s not all, as we’re also getting a ton of work done on brand new content, including heroes, maps, enemies, and so much more! We’ll be getting word out soon to give all Defenders insight into what’s coming for DDA, and maybe a tease or two along the way.
[h2]Social Defenders[/h2]
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For Etheria!
Chromatic Games