Patch Preview: UI + Balance Updates

[h2]UI Updates[/h2]

The Character Menu has had a facelift, and removes tabs for submenus which can be accessed via a button grid below the gear slots.Players can also navigate the stat window to see information on each stat, and how it affects their character + loadout. Mouse users can hover directly over the stats, while gamepad players can enter stat focus mode with a button.

With this update, we are also experimenting in the Character Menu how tooltip style popups look and feel when navigating the menu with a mouse. We would love to hear feedback on this.
Minor update to the Affinity Menu allowing Perks access through tab navigation, instead of hidden as a submenu accessed through a hotkey.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Inventory Upgrades
The Inventory has also had a little facelift, as phase one of a few cool updates to come. First off, grid item entries showcase a new visual style, and information display that should make it a little easier to read the rarity, power level and populated Echo Slots that a given item may contain, in the case of Accessories.

Multicraft
Gone are the days of spam-clicking Grey Gloomstone! Players will now experience the greatly improved crafting tech for all Imbuembents, Gloomstone, consumables and future craftables!
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Improved World Map
Players will now have the ability to travel to any discover Signal Fire in any zone via a single button press sub-menu via the World Map.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]Balance Adjustments
[/h2]
GAMEPLAY IMPROVEMENTS

[h3]Defense Overhaul
[/h3]In this patch we’re changing the way damage reduction from Physical Defense and Magic Defense is calculated.

Previously damage reduction was calculated by comparing a Wayfinder's Physical or Magical Defense to the base Weapon or Ability Power of the attack hitting them. This caused two problems.
Firstly, this method meant there was not a single damage reduction percent value to show players, as the amount of damage reduction granted by Defense varied from enemy to enemy and attack to attack.
Even worse, this method of calculation made damage more spikey. Low power enemies like fodder or low power attacks like multi-hits would have a lower base Weapon/Ability Power and thus percentage reduction against them would be greater. But the opposite was also true, with boss attacks and heavy strikes having drastically lower damage reduction.
For these reasons, we have changed how damage reduction is calculated. Now, rather than comparing defense to the base power of an attack, defense is compared to a standard value based on the enemy's Power Level.

With this system, the damage reduction percentage given in the stats page is the percentage reduction against attacks from same-level enemies.
Damage reduction percentage will change slightly when fighting enemies at a higher or lower Power Level, but it will be far more consistent with this system than it was previously.

[h3]WEAPON BALANCE CHANGES
[/h3]

Hellswarm Buffs
Swapped Resilience and Weapon Power stats so Hellswarm will have much more native Weapon Power
Volcano now fires exactly 5 Meteors per Locked and Loaded charge
Meteor damage increased by 20%.
Meteor blast radius increased by 10%.
Meteor drop rate increased by 150%.
Meteor landing area reduced by ~50%. (Meteors should now land in a more tightly-packed area.)

Bloodsong

Wheel of Pain healing ability now scales with both Weapon Power and Ability Power, additionally its hits will cause guard-broken enemies to stagger

Umbros

Swapped Resilience and Weapon Power Stat distributions

Tooth and Claw

Shredder Toss targeting improvements ( Should no longer fail to find targets or bounce off Silo’s clone)

Grim Harvest

Bone Geyser now scales with both Weapon Power and Ability Power

[h3]ECHO AND LOOT BALANCE CHANGES
[/h3]
Beastmaster Echo

Vulture Chill AoE DoT buffed by 150%
Bear Slam Damage and Break damage increased by 100%

Ryv’n Echo

Kill counter increases even while on cooldown, allowing for instant triggering once available.

Reaver Woods

Shrouded Woods will feature more Beast encounters.
The Bone Orchard will feature more Reaver encounters.
The Hollow Heart will feature more Hollow One encounters.

Chests

Accessory drop rates from large chests increased by 100%
Consumables have been added to drop tables

[h3]Accessories[/h3]

Epic Boss Accessory drop-rate buff

Chance that an accessory will be Rare reduced from 91.5% to 60%
Chance that an accessory will be Epic increased from 8.5% to 40%
Mutated Accessories will drop at content level