Top 10 Changes to Competitive Stormgate for Early Access Launch
If you've been a Stormgate playtester, you're going to want to read this list of the ten most impactful changes coming to Stormgate PvP carefully before diving back into the ranked ladder. Let's get into it!
[h2]1. More Powerful Creep, More Rewarding Rewards[/h2]
Creeps are a crucial part of our game, but we received feedback that the rewards they provided were not enticing enough relative to the risk and attention it required to kill them. We’ve reworked the Creeps to both be much more enticing and difficult to kill, allowing them to play a much more impactful role in the game.
[h2]2. Map Reworks[/h2]
We’ve made a ton of changes to every map that drastically alters how they play. Most notably, the positions of Creep camps have been tweaked on every single map. Some maps, such as Titan’s Causeway and Isle of Dread have undergone huge reworks based on player feedback. Combined with the Creep reworks, each map should feel like a new experience.
[h2]3. Increased Tier-Up Times[/h2]
We increased the time it takes to tier up your command structures to reinforce more distinct early, mid, and late-game phases. In addition, this change allows tiering up to be more meaningful gates to key pieces of powerful tech. No more rising up the corporate ladder in record time for those easy promotions!
[h2]4. More Economic Harassment Opportunities[/h2]
We agree with the feedback that it was a bit difficult to harass players’ economy, especially for Celestials. While we never want worker harassment to be too volatile, we think the current situation discourages engagement with each others’ bases. As a result, we’ve tweaked B.O.B. Overcharge, Prisms, and Collection Arrays. Let us know how this feels after you test this out for yourselves.
[h2]5. Veterancy Specialization[/h2]
We’ve standardized the Vanguard Veterancy bonus to grant health and damage bonuses across the board as well as one special bonus that makes veteran units do their job better. Combined with the Promote ability, our intention is that you’ll be able to more specialize into key units that counter your opponent’s army. Suddenly surprised by a ton of Spriggans? Pump out a Hornet and Promote it for an effective counter!
[h2]6. Bringing Back Infestation[/h2]
In our Elephant closed beta release, the Gaunt’s Infest passive was overly centralizing the early-game, causing too many Fiends to be generated before players of other factions could reasonably hold them off. In our Frigate release, we removed the Infestation passive and instead kitted them to be more of a speedy skirmisher. While we got feedback that the new Gaunt was very fun to play with, others felt that the Gaunt had lost some of its soul and identity. As such, we’re reintroducing the Gaunt’s ability to Infest but putting it behind an upgrade so we can delay the timing at which it comes online. This allows them to be the best of both worlds: a speedy skirmisher that also Infests!
[h2]7. Animus Tweaks[/h2]
Similarly, in our Elephant release, Animus was generated too slowly early-game but too quickly later on. In Frigate, we made some changes that normalized the generation rate, but the resulting numbers made Animus too rare, causing Animus Rituals to be hardly used. Specifically, we removed the ability to gain Animus from killing enemy units. While this allowed Animus to become more of a comeback mechanic, a negative side-effect was that it disincentivized Infernals players from creeping/trading, which wasn’t very thematic with what Infernals are all about. In EA, killing enemy units will now grant some Animus, and Animus Rituals have all been rebalanced to encourage players to use their abilities.
[h2]8. Celestial Power and Construction Reworked[/h2]
First, Power. We received two main pieces of feedback from our first iteration of Power:
It felt more stick than carrot, more of a punishment than a bonus.
It felt binary: you never cared about how much extra Power you had, just that you were not in Red Power.
We’ve made a few changes to address this feedback:
You now gain passive bonuses for being in Yellow or Green Power.
Red Power no longer prevents you from building structures, attacking with structures, or using Energize from Power Banks.
Astral Interventions now cost Power, which recharges over time.
Power Redistribution has been replaced with Power Surge.
Then there’s construction. The most prominent feedback we received about Celestials was how difficult it is to understand where to start due to their build options being locked behind the Quick Macro Panel. In addition, players were confused why certain buildings were built from the Morph Core and others were built through the Quick Macro Panel. In response, we’ve surfaced additional ways to build structures without accessing the Quick Macro Panel and allowed Morph Cores to morph into any structure more efficiently than through other means. We hope this feels more intuitive and player-friendly.
[h2]9. Upgrades Galore[/h2]
We’ve added 27 new upgrades into the game, many of them Tier 3 upgrades that will change the way you use lower-tier units in the game. In addition, we’ve added faction-wide upgrades that affect core faction mechanics. Some of our favorite upgrades include:
Survival Protocol: Allows Exos to negate fatal damage once every 120 seconds.
Molten Touch: Allows the Hellborne to light enemy units on fire.
Divebomb: Allows Shadowflyers to Divebomb enemy structures.
Darkness Spreads: Increases the radius of all Shroud by 50%.
[h2]10. Less Durable Towers[/h2]
Finally, we received feedback that turtling with towers was too strong a strategy in our final closed beta playtest. We attribute this to the strength of and especially the durability of towers and that the only counter to towers were artillery units that could be zoned out by more artillery units from other factions.
To address this, the spammable towers from Infernals and Celestials were reduced in durability, and we’ve added some abilities that allow for alternative ways to counter/bypass towers. In addition, we hope that by highlighting the importance of Creep camps, turtling on low base counts will be less enticing. Going into Early Access, the strength of towers is something we’ll be closely monitoring.
[h2]1. More Powerful Creep, More Rewarding Rewards[/h2]
Creeps are a crucial part of our game, but we received feedback that the rewards they provided were not enticing enough relative to the risk and attention it required to kill them. We’ve reworked the Creeps to both be much more enticing and difficult to kill, allowing them to play a much more impactful role in the game.
[h2]2. Map Reworks[/h2]
We’ve made a ton of changes to every map that drastically alters how they play. Most notably, the positions of Creep camps have been tweaked on every single map. Some maps, such as Titan’s Causeway and Isle of Dread have undergone huge reworks based on player feedback. Combined with the Creep reworks, each map should feel like a new experience.
[h2]3. Increased Tier-Up Times[/h2]
We increased the time it takes to tier up your command structures to reinforce more distinct early, mid, and late-game phases. In addition, this change allows tiering up to be more meaningful gates to key pieces of powerful tech. No more rising up the corporate ladder in record time for those easy promotions!
[h2]4. More Economic Harassment Opportunities[/h2]
We agree with the feedback that it was a bit difficult to harass players’ economy, especially for Celestials. While we never want worker harassment to be too volatile, we think the current situation discourages engagement with each others’ bases. As a result, we’ve tweaked B.O.B. Overcharge, Prisms, and Collection Arrays. Let us know how this feels after you test this out for yourselves.
[h2]5. Veterancy Specialization[/h2]
We’ve standardized the Vanguard Veterancy bonus to grant health and damage bonuses across the board as well as one special bonus that makes veteran units do their job better. Combined with the Promote ability, our intention is that you’ll be able to more specialize into key units that counter your opponent’s army. Suddenly surprised by a ton of Spriggans? Pump out a Hornet and Promote it for an effective counter!
[h2]6. Bringing Back Infestation[/h2]
In our Elephant closed beta release, the Gaunt’s Infest passive was overly centralizing the early-game, causing too many Fiends to be generated before players of other factions could reasonably hold them off. In our Frigate release, we removed the Infestation passive and instead kitted them to be more of a speedy skirmisher. While we got feedback that the new Gaunt was very fun to play with, others felt that the Gaunt had lost some of its soul and identity. As such, we’re reintroducing the Gaunt’s ability to Infest but putting it behind an upgrade so we can delay the timing at which it comes online. This allows them to be the best of both worlds: a speedy skirmisher that also Infests!
[h2]7. Animus Tweaks[/h2]
Similarly, in our Elephant release, Animus was generated too slowly early-game but too quickly later on. In Frigate, we made some changes that normalized the generation rate, but the resulting numbers made Animus too rare, causing Animus Rituals to be hardly used. Specifically, we removed the ability to gain Animus from killing enemy units. While this allowed Animus to become more of a comeback mechanic, a negative side-effect was that it disincentivized Infernals players from creeping/trading, which wasn’t very thematic with what Infernals are all about. In EA, killing enemy units will now grant some Animus, and Animus Rituals have all been rebalanced to encourage players to use their abilities.
[h2]8. Celestial Power and Construction Reworked[/h2]
First, Power. We received two main pieces of feedback from our first iteration of Power:
It felt more stick than carrot, more of a punishment than a bonus.
It felt binary: you never cared about how much extra Power you had, just that you were not in Red Power.
We’ve made a few changes to address this feedback:
You now gain passive bonuses for being in Yellow or Green Power.
Red Power no longer prevents you from building structures, attacking with structures, or using Energize from Power Banks.
Astral Interventions now cost Power, which recharges over time.
Power Redistribution has been replaced with Power Surge.
Then there’s construction. The most prominent feedback we received about Celestials was how difficult it is to understand where to start due to their build options being locked behind the Quick Macro Panel. In addition, players were confused why certain buildings were built from the Morph Core and others were built through the Quick Macro Panel. In response, we’ve surfaced additional ways to build structures without accessing the Quick Macro Panel and allowed Morph Cores to morph into any structure more efficiently than through other means. We hope this feels more intuitive and player-friendly.
[h2]9. Upgrades Galore[/h2]
We’ve added 27 new upgrades into the game, many of them Tier 3 upgrades that will change the way you use lower-tier units in the game. In addition, we’ve added faction-wide upgrades that affect core faction mechanics. Some of our favorite upgrades include:
Survival Protocol: Allows Exos to negate fatal damage once every 120 seconds.
Molten Touch: Allows the Hellborne to light enemy units on fire.
Divebomb: Allows Shadowflyers to Divebomb enemy structures.
Darkness Spreads: Increases the radius of all Shroud by 50%.
[h2]10. Less Durable Towers[/h2]
Finally, we received feedback that turtling with towers was too strong a strategy in our final closed beta playtest. We attribute this to the strength of and especially the durability of towers and that the only counter to towers were artillery units that could be zoned out by more artillery units from other factions.
To address this, the spammable towers from Infernals and Celestials were reduced in durability, and we’ve added some abilities that allow for alternative ways to counter/bypass towers. In addition, we hope that by highlighting the importance of Creep camps, turtling on low base counts will be less enticing. Going into Early Access, the strength of towers is something we’ll be closely monitoring.
