Second Wave News

• Fixed an issue where the game would end, but incorrect information would be displayed in the Scoreboard window, preventing players from progressing.
• Fixed a bug where the game results window would not appear and players would be forced to the lobby without progress.

※ Your current gameplay will not be affected by this additional patch. This is patched upon reconnection.

[h5]Hello to our Heroes of Armantia, this is your Second Wave development team.

On a ship in the middle of nowhere, the one at the helm is the Captain. When we are lost in this vast sea of the unknown, the one holding the compass is also the Captain. If one fails to follow the compass, one is lost forever, and if one refuses to follow the Captain's instructions, the ship is wrecked at sea and lost forever.

In Second Wave, the " Compass" and the " Captain" is you, the player.

During our first three-day Alpha Test, which ran from Saturday, May 27th through Monday, May 29th, you played our game, Second Wave, and made your voices heard. Thanks to you, we're starting to get a sense of where we're going.

Thank you for being our compass in these stormy seas, where the path can often be confusing.

As for the feedback we've received, we truly thank you. As we continue our journey into Beta and Early Access, we'll take each and every one of you into account as we continue to develop the game.

Players, we hope you'll join us for the Second Alpha Test. Once again, we ask you to be our Captain and our Compass, guiding our ship through the turbulent tides. Come aboard and take the helm so that we can safely reach the beautiful continent of Armantia.

Thank you.[/h5]

[hr][/hr]


The title screen will now allow you to select a server to connect to.

• NA EAST
  
• NA WEST
  
• EUROPE
  
• KR / JP
  
• HK

[h2]Social Features[/h2]

• The ability to friend and communicate with other players has been added.
  
• Our Squads feature is now open, which can be formed on the Lobby.
  
  • Through this feature, you can invite friends and players to your Squad and be able to play on the same team as you queue together.
• Chat has been added to the lobby screen.
  • The ability to chat with squad members has been added through the Chat system.
  • You can send and receive Whispers, which are private messages, with other players that you've added as friends.
    

[h2]Quality of Life Improvements[/h2]

• If the game crashes while you are in the middle of a game, you will automatically be reconnected to the game you were in when you reconnect.
  
• The loading screen displays the Game Controls Key Guide.
  
• While in the game, you can press F2 to view the Game Control Key Guide.

[hr][/hr]

[h2]Merope[/h2]

💬Merope was intended to be primarily a support to her allies through AoE healing and buffs, but we've found that her overpowered damage output has made her more of a DPS in combat. To correct this, we're rebalancing her overall stats and damage output to encourage her to focus on her support role.

[h2]Base Stats[/h2]
Base Health: [color]300[/color] → [color]275[/color]

[h2]Skills[/h2]
[h4]Leno[/h4]

• Base Damage: [color]25[/color] → [color]15[/color]
  
• Base Damage per Intelligence Stat: [color]0.4[/color] → [color]0.3[/color]
  
• Base Damage with Enhancements: [color]40[/color] → [color]25[/color]
  
• Base Damage per Intelligence Stat at Upgrade: [color]0.4[/color] → [color]0.3[/color]

[h4]Grave[/h4]

• Base Damage 12 → [color]10[/color]

[h4]Moderato[/h4]

• Base Heal: [color]15[/color] → [color]12[/color]
  
• Base Heal per Intelligence Stat: [color]0.15[/color]→ [color]0.13[/color]

[h4]Chaconne[/h4]

• Hit Detection Distance: [color]1.75m[/color] → [color]3m[/color]

[hr][/hr][h2]Batu[/h2]

💬Batu's strong damage and wide area CC, while maintaining survivability and mobility, make him an all-around dominant performer. We're rebalancing his overall performance so that other characters have plenty of room to maneuver against him.

[h2]Skills[/h2]
[h4]Decapitate[/h4]

• Conscious State Damage Range: [color]6m[/color] → [color]5.5m[/color]
  
• Empowered Version: [color]Stuns for 1 Second If Hit[/color] → [color]30% Reduced Movement Speed for 1 Second[/color]
  
• Unconscious State Damage Range: [color]6m[/color] → [color]5.5m[/color]
  
• Empowered Version: [color]Stuns for 1 Second If Hit[/color] → [color]30% Reduced Movement Speed for 1 Second[/color]

[h4]Demon Tracking[/h4]

• Conscious Base Damage: [color]40[/color] → [color]30[/color]
• Unconscious Base Damage: 50 → [color]30[/color]

[h4]Possession[/h4]

• Gain an extra 2 seconds of the Unconscious state duration per Kill or Assist: [color]15[/color] → [color]1 second[/color]

[h4]Dragon's Resilience[/h4]

• Increased Health Regeneration at 75% Health and above: [color]10[/color] → [color]5[/color]
• Increased Health Regeneration at 50% Health and above: [color]15[/color] → [color]7[/color]
• Increased Health Regeneration at 25% Health and above: [color]20[/color] → [color]10[/color]
• Increased Health Regeneration at less than 25% Health: [color]30[/color] → [color]15[/color]

[hr][/hr][h2]Michaela[/h2]

💬Michaela's role as a tank is to protect her teammates from ranged attacks with solid sustain, but her sustain was not up to par and she was having trouble fulfilling her role. We've increased her sustain so that she can fully play her role as a tank.

[h2]Skills[/h2]
[h4]Protection of Theos: [Charge][/h4]

• Charge Range has increased from: [color]6m[/color] → [color]8m[/color]

[h4]Advent[/h4]

• Cooldown has been reduced from: [color]70s[/color] → [color]60s[/color]

[h4]Steadfast Faith[/h4]

• 5% / 10% / 15% Increased Defense and Magic Defense: [color]when at 40% / 20% / 10% HP or lower respectively[/color] → [color]60% / 40% / 20% HP or less respectively[/color]

[hr][/hr][h2]Dio[/h2]

💬 Dio's shotgun style allows him to fight at close range, but his low ammo count meant that he had to reload frequently, even in emergency situations, which often put him at a disadvantage. We've slightly increased the number of magazines and changed the trajectory and feel of the Arcane Grenade to make it more useful at close range.

[h2]Skills[/h2]
[h4]ASP Shotgun[/h4]

• Magazine Capacity increased: [color]5 Rounds[/color] → [color]6 Rounds[/color]

[h4]Arcane Grenade[/h4]

• Throw trajectory modifications and improvements.

[h4]Hunting Panther[/h4]

• Mana Cost reduced: [color]200 MP[/color] → [color]160 MP[/color]

[hr][/hr][h2]Shania[/h2]

💬Shania is an iconic ranged dealer in Second Wave, and we designed her to be a reliable damage dealer through strategic positioning and sniping. However, her base stats and skills are stronger than we intended, allowing her to easily take the initiative early in the game, and her high growth expectations mean she performs quite well throughout the game, so we've rebalanced her across the board.

[h2]Base Stats[/h2]
Base Strength: [color]90[/color] → [color]70[/color]

[h2]Skills[/h2]
[h4]Hextech Rifle LD-3981M[/h4]

• Base Damage: [color]0[/color] → [color]10[/color]
  
• Based Damage per Strength Stat: [color]0.9[/color] → [color]0.7[/color]
  
• Damage Multiplier on successful headshots: [color]2[/color] → [color]1.8[/color]
  
• Magazine capacity: [color]8 Rounds[/color] → [color]6 Rounds[/color]
• Gun Recoil and Rate of Fire adjustments.

[h4]Sniper's Eye[/h4]

• Base Damage per Strength stat while Sniping: [color]1[/color] → [color]0.8[/color]

[h4]Arcane Flashbang[/h4]

• Throw trajectory modifications and improvements.

[hr][/hr][h2]Cozette[/h2]

💬 Cozette is a progression-based magician designed to have a high overall progression expectation, allowing her to do a lot of damage late in the game. However, we found that her basic attacks weren't doing enough damage for the difficulty of her hits, so we've increased the effectiveness of her basic attacks across the board.

[h2]Skills[/h2]
[h4]Lightning Conductors Modification[/h4]

• Chain Lightning damage increased: [color]95%[/color] → [color]100%[/color]

[h4]Tingle-tangle[/h4]

• Maximum Range Increased: [color]25m[/color] → [color]40m[/color]
  
• Based Damage per Wisdom Stat: [color]0.15[/color] → [color]0.16[/color]
  
• Maximum range after enhancements: [color]35m[/color] → [color]50m[/color]
• Base Damage after enhancements: [color]10[/color] → [color]12[/color]

[h4]Mr. Cat's Paw Bomb[/h4]

• Throw trajectory modifications and improvements.

[h4]Quick Dash[/h4]

• Added 1-second delay between keypresses to prevent duplicate entries.

[h4]Arc Flash[/h4]

• Base Damage Increased: [color]60[/color] → [color]72[/color]

[hr][/hr][h2]Ess'el[/h2]

💬 There are no performance tweaks, but we've made sure that double keystrokes won't accidentally cause unstealthing.

[h2]Skills[/h2]
[h4]Into the Darkness[/h4]

• Added 1-second delay between keypresses to prevent duplicate entries.

[hr][/hr]
[h2]Amelda[/h2]

💬 No overall balance tweaks, but we've fixed an issue where both the first and second hits of her ultimate had a delayed motion, making it virtually impossible to escape an ultimate hit.

[h2]Skills[/h2]
[h4]Loud Resolution[/h4]

• Hitting an enemy reduces their Movement Speed: [color]50% for 2s[/color] → [color]50% for 1s[/color]
  
• Hitting an enemy twice reduces their Movement Speed: [color]50% for 2s[/color] → [color]Removed[/color]

[hr][/hr][h2]Bernard[/h2]

💬 Bernard's unique sustain and movement speed allow him to stay in close quarters at all times. These traits have made his basic attack more powerful than it should be. We're rebalancing his base attack so he can focus on his intended role as a DPS tank.

[h2]Skills[/h2]
[h4]One-Two-Three-Four[/h4]

• 1-Hit Base Damage per Strength Stat: [color]0.3[/color] → [color]0.25[/color]
• 2-Hit Base Damage per Strength Stat: [color]0.3[/color] → [color]0.25[/color]
• 3-Hit Base Damage per Strength Stat: [color]0.55[/color] → [color]0.5[/color]

[hr][/hr]

[h2]Overall Rebalancing[/h2]

💬 The current balance of items in the game is far from complete. Growth expectations and progression curves weren't properly accounted for, and stats were valued differently than they should be.
We've made the following adjustments to all items currently available for purchase in the game.

• Rebalanced item prices.
  
• Reconfigured the growth curves for each class.

[hr][/hr]

[h2]Domination (5v5)[/h2]

💬 In our first alpha test, we found that the sheer number of modes made matches choppy outside of the 5v5 version. In order to provide players with a greater variety of modes and to get your valuable feedback, we decided to close the 5v5 mode for the second alpha test.

• 5 vs 5 - Domination [color][Closed][/color]

[h2]Domination (6v6)[/h2]

💬 To address the fact that the monsters we introduced to turn the tide weren't working as well as they should have, and the game was becoming a long, drawn-out affair once it was decided mid-game, we increased the point value of control points and decreased the point value of monsters.

We also increased the defense of monsters as an emergency measure to make the process of killing them more difficult, which was especially beneficial for Dio. After the Alpha, we'll be implementing a correction to monster damage to ensure that character mechanics don't cause extreme differences in monster hunting speed.

[h4]Energy Core Captures[/h4]

• Increased Team Score during Capture from: [color]10 Points every 10 seconds[/color] → [color]5 Points every 4 seconds.[/color]

[h4]East and West Indoor Capture Locations[/h4]

• Increased Team Score during Capture from: [color]2 Points every 10 seconds[/color] → [color]1 Points every 4 seconds.[/color]

[h4]Combat Automaton[/h4]

• Base Armor: [color]15m[/color] → [color]30[/color]
  
• Team Points for Killing an Automaton: [color]150[/color] → [color]75[/color]
  
• Battle Automaton Kill Buff
  • Duration: [color]180s[/color] → [color]90s[/color]
    
  • Strength Increased: [color]20[/color] → [color]15[/color]
  • Intelligence Increased: [color]35[/color] → [color]15[/color]
  • HP Regeneration Increased: [color]100%[/color] → [color]50%[/color]
  • MP Regeneration Increased: [color]100%[/color] → [color]50%[/color]

• Entangling Thicket Hit Stuns for: [color]1 second[/color] → [color]Reduces Movement Speed by 20% for 1 second[/color]

[h4]Mechanical Golem[/h4]

• Base Armor: [color]30[/color] → [color]40[/color]
  
• Team Points for Killing a Mechanical Golem: [color]300[/color] → [color]150[/color]
  
• Mechanical Golem Kill Buff
  • Duration: [color]180s[/color] → [color]90s[/color]
    
  • Intelligence Increased: [color]70[/color] → [color]40[/color]
  • Max MP Increased: [color]300[/color] → [color]Removed[/color]
  • Magic Defense Increased: [color]20%[/color] → [color]Removed[/color]

[h4]Map Artefacts[/h4]

• Large Heal Pack - Mana Recovery: [color]300[/color] → [color]500[/color]
  
• Small Heal Pack - Mana Recovery: [color]150[/color] → [color]300[/color]

[h4]MVP Formula Calculation[/h4]

• Capture Score Weight: [color]0.5[/color] → [color]0.4[/color]
  
• Kill Score Weight: [color]0.5[/color] → [color]0.3[/color]

[h4]Gold Earned[/h4]

• Gold Earned for Kill Assist: [color]50[/color] → [color]75[/color]

[hr][/hr][h2]Three-Way Battle[/h2]

💬 Due to the nature of the three-team mode, it's a more challenging mode with a lot more combat. To reduce the chaos caused by a large number of people constantly fighting, we're testing with a smaller number of people on each team.

At the same time, we're reducing the gold reward for assists, which tends to stack up with large numbers of players, to encourage item differentiation for those with the most kills.

[h4]Matchmaking[/h4]

• Team Members: [color]5 Per Team[/color] → [color]4 Per Team[/color]

[h4]Map Artefacts[/h4]

• Powerpack - Skill Cooldown Reduction: [color]20%[/color] → [color]Removed[/color]

[h4]Gold[/h4]

• Gold Earned for Kill Assist: [color]150[/color] → [color]120[/color]

[hr][/hr]

[h2]Bounties[/h2]

💬 Bounties are one of the tools that can be used to help a team that has fallen behind. However, the speed at which bounty levels increase and the lack of rewards for these roles have not done them justice.

We're increasing the support coefficient to help bounty levels increase faster, while also increasing the amount of gold awarded when the bounty level increases.

[h4]Bounty Level Formula Calculation[/h4]

• [color]Kill Since Last Death + (Kill Assist Since Last Death
• 0.25)[/color] → [color]Kill Since Last Death + (Kill Assist Since Last Death *0.3)[/color]

[h4]Bounty Reward Gold[/h4]

• [color]100 / 200 / 300 / 400 / 520 / 640[/color] → [color]100 / 200 / 360 / 540 / 720 / 960[/color]

[h4]Game Start Countdown[/h4]

• Wait time: [color]5 Seconds[/color] → [color]10 Seconds.[/color]

[h4]Team Base[/h4]

• [color]Recover 100 Mana every 1 second while inside of the camp.[/color]

[hr][/hr]

• Games showing match history for games that have not actually been played.
  
• Trying to move tabs with QE in the social menu would move them in the opposite direction.
  
• User menu order is incorrect when clicking on a username from a received friend request.
  
• Squad members leaving a squad would not see the squad leaving system message in chat.
  
• The description of Amelda's "Let's Rock!" in-game buff does not match the actual buff.
  
• Hit markers appear when hitting Dio's panther.
  
• Accessing a different menu than the focus menu when in the lobby.
  
• In-Game Skill Tooltips display a "Check Other Skills" button.
  
• Textures disappear when viewing enemy positions on rooftops.
  
• The "Equip" indicator in the list of skins, poses, etc. in the Hero Selection is only displayed in Korean.
  
• Entering the details of a hero other than the selected hero.
  
• The character's modeling is displayed overlapping on the details screen.
  
• When hovering over a Story and pressing ESC to go back, the Story button is displayed large.

[hr][/hr]

• Squadmates' statuses are not updated if you force quit the game after matching with the squad.
  
• If you type different characters while entering a nickname, they will not be entered in the correct order.
  
• Merope's right arm will twist when she dies.
  
• Cozette's Quick Dash skill stutters in certain situations.
  
• When selecting text in the social menu and typing Korean text, the selected text would not clear.
  
• Intermittent animation when using the dash.
  
• Resolution issues with certain UI elements.
  
• Dropped frames when playing cinematic videos.
  
• Armantia items missing from store details tab in captures.
  
• Wall color issues in some captures.
  
• Characters feet in Elevators overlapping platforms.
  
• Earned Points System message displayed as 0 when defeating an automaton.
  
• MVP videos may be cropped depending on resolution.
  
• When using Japanese, the "Needs to be unlocked" item in the Hero Pool was displayed in Korean.
  
• MVP animations were sometimes not displayed in the Hero Pool.
  
• Pose animations are not displayed in the Hero Pool.
  
• Voice prompts not playing during the last 5 seconds of the game's startup delay.
  
• When pinging to get a speed pack, the voice lines for that action do not play.
  
• Mouse cursor was not centered when entering the list of social expressions.
  
• The relative scoring system voice was not playing in Red Circus.
  
• No sound would play when getting consecutive kills within a certain amount of time.
  
• No sound when wiping out the opposing team (Killing all players on that team).
  
• No sound after purchasing an item.
  
• Victory poses and MVP achievements are not randomized when entering the tab.
  
• Matches do not progress sequentially.
  

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Heroes of Armantia,

Thank you for participating in our first playtest. Though the game is in a true alpha state, we appreciate the players that have taken interest in our game and have provided feedback and/or suggestions to improve our game. We apologize for the first few hours for North American servers, thankfully with your help we were able to solve the issue and get it fixed.

We've seen a lot of feedback about the servers, with players wanting to team up with others or play within another server region. Due to this, we have decided to implement a setting in-game where players can easily switch between regions (NA East, NA West, Europe, SEA and East Asia). This will be implemented in next weekend's playtest, along with a new social feature that we're adding: Squads. Squads will allow players and friends to team up and queue up together. We will be looking at the feature next weekend, how it's used, and see the general feedback surrounding it.

Again, we thank everyone that was able to participate in our playtest! We hope to see you all next weekend. For now, we shall get to work on Second Wave and make sure that it's smoother when it comes to the next playtest.

Playtest 2

Thank you again for your support and patience with us. Make sure to visit our Discord to stay up-to-date with Second Wave.

As we prepare for the alpha test for Second Wave, we have compiled a few known issues that we are aware of, as well as a few questions to answer that players may have during this test.

[h3][FAQ][/h3]
Can I stream the game / make videos on the game?

Yes, there is no NDA for Second Wave at the moment. We do ask that you be clear in your content creation and let your viewers know that this is in alpha and does not represent the final game. 

Will the alpha be cross-play?

Currently this alpha test is for Steam (PC) only, and therefore there cannot be cross-play. When we do our testing on other platforms, we will be able to determine whether or not this is a possibility during those phases.

Do I need a key to play the game?

You can simply request access, and you will be accepted into our playtest. Please note that this may take anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes.

Can I pre-download the game?

Yes. Simply check your Steam library and you should be able to download it once you've been accepted into the alpha.

Where can I report bugs, issues or suggest game improvements?

You can visit us on our support site at support.challengersgames.com.

Is there a Discord that I can talk to other players?

Yes, our Discord server is open for all players. Make sure to select your language and interest "Second Wave" when joining.

[h3][Known Issues][/h3]

• When playing any game mode, the following situations may occur when restarting the game to connect to the game:
• • Golems spawn outside of their proper spawn time in Domination mode and are invulnerable (do not take damage).
  • No effect is displayed when using Michaela's skill, "Protection of Theos".
  • Amelda and Merope do not respawn after dying.
• After selecting a game mode in the lobby screen by pressing the Play button, there may be an issue where a pop-up message that says 'Social Server Not Connected' appears, even though the match has been successful.
  • A temporary solution for this is click on the Confirm button and try matching again. If this error continues, simply restart the game client and try matching again.
• When applying the System Language Setting and Voice Language Setting and it does not apply the selected settings.
• System Option > General > Social > Chat Option > Chat Display > 'System Only' feature not working.
• Part of the map in Trestyn or Circus may appear transparent, and can see players through them.

[h3][Bug Fixes][/h3]

• Previously, players who missed the 'Accept' button caused a bug for the rest of the players inside of the matchmaking pool. This has been fixed. 
• Social Server Connection (Error 11000) has been fixed.
• Players that would exit the client, either voluntarily or through a crash, and attempt to enter the game again would be inside of an infinite loading screen. This has been fixed. Players will now be removed from the match and be placed back in the lobby.

If there are additional bugs or issues that are found, do not hesitate to reach out to us in this thread or via our support site at support.challengersgames.com



 

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Hello to our Second Wave players![/h3]

We have some news regarding our Alpha Playtest. Though we wish we could provide you with a seamless, smooth experience, we unfortunately cannot guarantee this. Unlike most titles, this is a true alpha test and we know that the game requires additional polishing, bug squashing and more. We incredibly honored by the support and excitement from the players that are wanting to try out Second Wave. We want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

We've been transparent about our game development, and this won't change now. Let's talk about matchmaking for a moment. There are quite a few players that have requested access for our alpha playtest, yet we have not done any marketing or promotion for it. So the truth of the matter is, even though we have 5 global regions and servers for players to test the game in, it is possible that it will be difficult to match with other players at the beginning. We ask that you be patient and wait for players to start matching. We do recommend hanging out on our Discord for updates to the game, and more than that, to meet other players that you may want to squad up with.

Additionally, let us address latency. Something that has been a worry for players and us alike has been latency issues and how we'll address them. There will be quite a lot of players from all around the world that will be joining the test. Since we could only prepare 5 server locations, there is a possibility that there will be latency issues. We will address this as we look at the data after our testing phase. However, we must be open and say that if there are latency problems that are completely affecting the gameplay of a lot of players, we may restrict certain accounts or regions until we can fix the issue. We are crossing our fingers that this does not happen. If there are no issues however, the test will continue to be open for the available timeslots with no interruptions.

Lastly, bugs. Like we mentioned before, this is a true alpha test. There will definitely be bugs, and we're doing our best to find them and squash them, but we cannot guarantee that the playtest will offer a bug-free experience. There are chances of bugs of all sizes (small bugs from tiny graphical errors, normal bugs for example getting stuck in a specific location, or major bugs where the things may not work exactly as intended.). We are working on this, and we ask for your patience and understanding. Our Support Site is open now at support.challengersgames.com where players can report bugs directly to us. Though there are channels on our Discord for bug reports, please note that this is not our primary location for reporting and may be prioritized last, therefore we recommend our support site.

Thank you again for all your support, your love and your interest in our game. We are a new studio and we're doing our best, and will continue to do our best.

Challengers Games Corp.