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Evercore Heroes: Ascension News

Demo ending March 8



[h3]Hey everyone,

We'd like to let you all know ahead of time that we are taking down our demo on March 8 at:

8 am GMT
3 am ET
12 am PT[/h3]

"As the portals to Lumerea flicker they leave a magical residue resonating in the air, humming quietly waiting for the next time.."

We loved seeing you play and we can't wait to see what you do when we return with more and exciting new content! Thank you for playing!

During the demo period we released 3 major patches addressing your feedback and reported bugs and we aren't stopping there. We'll be using the upcoming period to fully focus on improving the demo before bringing it back for round 2!

If you haven’t played Demo 1 yet though, there’s still time!



[h3]CHALLENGE EVENT WINNERS[/h3]

Mountains were moved and many gold gobblers were slain to gain the most gold and achieve the shortest time! Give it up for our brave winners of Maxx's challenge event!

  • Az740
  • DaddyHaz
  • Hykarusa
  • Jayden Daniels
  • Kemdrass (Douji)
  • Luckydeathwish
  • OMGparticles
  • Penscythe
  • Rubinshki

All the winners will get a shard inspired by their name in one of the upcoming patches! We'll reach out to you before we implement it.

Thank you all for playing and we will see you in Lumerea!

~The Vela Games team

Demo Patch 1.1.2 - Frost Changes, Balance Updates, & Bug Fixes!!

[h3]Hey everyone, we are here with our next patch update! We'll require some downtime starting now and the patch will be LIVE at about 2:30 PM GMT WE ARE LIVE![/h3]



[h2]Demo Version 1.1.2[/h2]

In this patch, we have continued to focus on fixing bugs, implementing quality of life improvements, and fine-tuning the difficulty of the early game experience – in response to valuable feedback from our community.

[h2][General Balancing][/h2]
  • Decreased early Golem enemy health and damage, especially in Hero Mode
    NOTE: this is to smooth out the early game ramp, based on feedback. This change is really to help new players feel like they can get further in the game early on.
  • Turned down Frost punishment (for now!) NOTE: we’ve made some adjustments here, as well as preventing Ice Lock. We’ll keep an eye on this as more status effects come into the game.
  • Now requires (5 > 6) stacks to turn you into a block of ice
  • Ice block duration has been lowered (5 > 3 sec)
  • Frost stack duration reduced (3 > 2.5 sec)




[h2][Shards][/h2]
  • Shards that grant Ability Power should now grant based off the base value, not the cumulative value.
    NOTE: This should not have a major effect on the game, but instead make things more clear for what you’re getting.
  • Smite has been increased in cost in the Shop to 1,000 gold and had its damage effect reduced at all levels
    NOTE: this shard should be extremely strong still, over time adding a good % to DPS. It was just incredibly strong and dominating previously.
  • Parting Gift should no longer crash the game when you use Cynder's ultimate
  • Bounty Hunter has been removed from Fury (yes, this time for real!)


[h2][Core Powers][/h2]
  • There is a known issue with Lottery Ticket not always triggering consistently. We are investigating and will fix this in a future patch
  • Marty’s Motivation and Luum Spring have updated effects and should be more clear when they’re triggering


[h2][Heroes] [/h2]
  • Fixed a bug that was sometimes causing Cynder’s ultimate to stack up extra Ability Power


[h2][Enemies][/h2]
  • Golem shooters have been tuned and will wind up slightly longer to punish melee heroes less
  • Golem shooter damage projectile slowed slightly to diminish offscreen damage
  • Golem slashers animation slightly adjusted to be more fair
  • Thrashclaw has been tuned to be a little bit shorter of a fight now in Hero Mode
  • The Wolf Howl ability has a slightly longer windup
    NOTE: the Howl is supposed to be something that you anticipate and mitigate in some way, but we tuned it to have a slightly longer window to react.
  • We've made changes to improve enemy responsiveness. This should force enemies to re-evaluate targets more often - we'll continue our efforts to get this to where we want it to be
  • The Healer Golem now applies a Healing Debuff when you’re hit by their projectile attack
  • It should be more difficult to hide from Thrashclaw in his lair - he should now always go for you and no longer idle around in certain areas of the map
  • The health bar of Thrashclaw and the Tower encounter is no longer inverted


[h2][Controls][/h2]
NOTE: We’ve continued to focus on improving the Keyboard + Mouse Beta experience with general fixes for basic functionality. As these are not finalized, we appreciate the help from community members with bug reports and feedback!

  • Fixed bugs that were preventing Keyboard + mouse users to 'escape' most menu screens
  • Keyboard + mouse users should be able to use Activatable Shards more easily


[h2][General Improvements][/h2]
  • Heroes should no longer repeat the same hit sound effects in short succession when taking damage
  • Soulbound Blooms (ability upgrades) should now show all your party's rewards
  • Tuned some of the taller objects in the maps so they no longer obstruct view

Small Hotfix - 12:15 - 2:30pm IST Sunday

We're deploying a small hotfix which should increase the reliability of loading games in Co-Op. Sometimes this behaviour could cause you to load back to the menu. Thanks for your patience!

Demo Patch 1.1 - Core Powers, Luum Regen, & Bug Fixes are HERE!

[h3]Hey everyone, Volibar here with our first major GOING LIVE FRIDAY @ 7:45pm - 10pm Irish Time[/h3]

If you didn't read the preview, along with a recap of the first week, you can catch up right here

tl;dr - this is the first major update, less than one week after the demo is live, and we're committed to continuing to work hard and keep the improvements and fixes coming.



As a reminder, our Steam Contest is open and running now! Compete to get immortalised in the game. More details can be found HERE.

Now, onto the details!




[h2]Demo Version 1.1[/h2]

[h3]Introducing Core Powers BETA
[/h3]


OVERVIEW
As Lotus leads the Luum Sentinels across Lumerea to retrieve shattered pieces of the ancient Evercore, its power grows and grants our Heroes with new enhancements.

As this system is just coming online, Skye and Cloud-EE have enabled the Sentinels to access this power for early Battle Testing!

Core Powers are permanent and will transfer to whichever hero you select in Hero Mode or Co-Op.

CORE KEYS & GEMS
Collect these rewards by completing the challenges behind the teleporters. Keys are used to unlock Power slots, while Gems are used to purchase the actual power. You can earn both in Co-Op or Hero Mode.


CORE GAME LOOP - LUUM REGENERATION NOTE: Luum was always intended to be a way to allow players to have agency over their own ability rotation, but also let skilled players flow through combat. Your feedback has been clear and we've made changes!

All Heroes now have passive Luum regeneration. This allows skilled players to still get into a flow through combat, but collecting Luum is no longer a chore or requirement, but now optional.

You should be able to use a lot more abilities in combat, combined with the Luum regeneration Core Powers if you choose. Please let us know what you think!

MAJOR BALANCE CHANGES NOTE: With such major changes to player power coming into the game, we needed to make changes across the board. Early game should be harder now, so be careful out there!

The world of Lumerea is more dangerous! Players and Enemies generally are more deadly now, so use those Core Powers to grow in strength and survive!
Enemy Health has not been modified for Hero Mode, but has been increased across the board in Co-Op, to account for a lot of increased team damage.

Please let us know what you think as we continue to iterate and improve the system!


[h3]Bug Fixes & Improvements
[/h3]

Players can now play Hero Mode and Co-Op without having to exit the game.
NOTE: this was caused by an underlying issue that would potentially ruin Co-Op games if you had played a certain type of game prior to entering the queue.

  • Fixed a wide range of issues with Keyboard Mouse Beta Controls, including not being able to Escape menus all the time, repeated VO lines playing, or activatable shards triggering reliably.
  • Fix for enemies targeting invalid targets such as dead players. Enemy should stop attacking these targets and, in co-op, immediately switch to a new target in their aggro list if one is a valid target.
  • Fixed an issue that would cause enemies to try and path around objects they shouldn’t.
  • Fixed an issue that was preventing Thrashclaw from killing on the Snowgobbler minions by stepping on them. Bring on the carnage!
  • Fixed a rare instance of sometimes players having two encounters in one island.
  • Fixed a rare instance of sometimes players going through a Gold teleporter, but ending up with the wrong encounter or reward.
  • Fixed an issue with the Dash ability that would allow you in certain circumstances to extend your invincibility.
  • Fixed a few levels where players were able to escape the boundaries in side areas.


[h3]Heroes[/h3]
NOTE: All heroes have generally grown in power, with a bit more differentiation between them. As you progress through the game, we want each hero to have their own identity, and these changes push a bit more in that direction.

FYN:
NOTE: Fyn overall wasn't living up to his big persona, and so has been given a range of changes to make him better at his core role while adding gameplay. We've removed some of his passive Overshield and instead given him ways with two of his abilities to earn temporary Overshield in combat.
  • Charge: Charge now does 50% bonus damage when fully charged. It also generates a small amount of temporary Overshield upon moving.
  • Get Behind Me: now generates temporary Overshield on cast and re-casting, as well as a small amount for each projectile blocked by the shield.
  • All temporary Overshield lasts for 15 seconds.
LOTUS: NOTE: We're fairly happy with Lotus in the game at the moment, but want to make her a little more active, and also increase her healing power with the introduction of Core Powers.
  • Reduced Lotus's starting base health down from 70 to 60.
  • Increased her Seed of Light Healing by 2x.
CYNDER: NOTE: We really want Cynder to be the glass cannon of the trio, so we've slightly reduced his starting health, which should make it even more dangerous as enemies now generally do more damage. But we've also increased his damage output directly and through additional improvements to ability power via rewards.
  • Increased the base damage output of all his spells.
  • Lowered starting health from 35 to 30.


[h3]Rewards[/h3]
NOTE: Rewards in general have been buffed, or in some cases adjusted to be more engaging. We've also done a pass on visual and audio feedback on some shards, and will continue this effort. Also, several Shards have had their feedback improved when active, and we will be continuing this.
  • Chemical Reaction (Flame) damage increased
  • Team Wildfire (Flame) bonus damage increased
  • Hero Moment (Fury) damage increased, duration of the effect down
  • Jagged Stoneskin (Fury) damage return increased
  • Steadfast Vengeance (Fury) effect has been increased
  • Bounty Hunter has been removed from Fury, had its healing amount reduced, and is now available in the shop
  • Focused Wrath (Fury) has been changed to now apply up to 5 times per target
  • Auto Mitigator (Invention) percentage of damage as Overshield up, duration up 5->6
  • Luum Generator (Invention) has been slightly nerfed
  • Weak Spot (Mischief) base chance is now 50% across the board, and the duration scales
  • Explosive Crit (Mischief) damage increased
  • Parting Gift (Mischief) has had the cooldown removed and damage increased
  • All Poison (Wild) effects now stack up to 4 times per target, increasing this entire category's potency
  • Max Health has been removed from Soulbound Blooms, but is now available as a scaling Core Power
KNOWN ISSUES:
We have temporarily removed Shield Battery (Invention) from the game, as occasionally players were able to get more shield than intended (DH).

[h3]Enemies[/h3]
NOTE: we wanted to make enemies more dangerous but not more grindy. So aside from all damage being adjusted upward, the following changes have been made.
  • Tank Golems now are less likely to Stun lock players. The base AOE attack no longer stuns but instead applies a Fracture debuff, increasing damage taken to players affected.
  • The large Wolf has had the Howl ability increased in size and now applies 2 Frost stacks to players affected.
  • The duration of Freezing Fog has been increased to 15 seconds. The duration of Ice Block (when a player reaches 5 seconds of Frost) has been increased to 5 seconds.
  • The Roller, Yeti, and Wallumps the Wicked now cannot be Stunned or Displaced during certain special abilities.

Major Update Preview - Core Powers, Bug Fixes, & Your Feedback!

[h3]Hey everyone, Volibar here with our first major update coming soon, and a short recap of the past few days.[/h3]

tl;dr - despite our hard work, struggles, and love we've put into this project, version one of the demo didn't hit the mark. We're here today with a big update that the team's been working super hard on while listening to all of your feedback.

We're committed to improving the game one step at a time, and we hope you'll keep giving us your valuable time and feedback along the way.

Here's what you can expect in the next update, along with our thoughts on some of the biggest talking points in the community.

[h3]Introducing Core Powers Beta
[/h3]


OVERVIEW
As Lotus leads the Luum Sentinels across Lumerea to retrieve shattered pieces of the ancient Evercore, its power grows and grants our Heroes with new enhancements.

As this system is just coming online, Skye and Cloud-EE have enabled the Sentinels to access this power for early Battle Testing!

Core Powers are permanent and will transfer to whichever hero you select in Hero Mode or Co-Op.

CORE KEYS & GEMS
Collect these rewards by completing the challenges behind the teleporters. Keys are used to unlock Power slots, while Gems are used to purchase the actual power. You can earn both in Co-Op or Hero Mode.


MAJOR GAME CHANGES NOTE: With such major changes to player power coming into the game, we needed to make changes across the board. Early game should be harder now, so be careful out there!

The world of Lumerea is more dangerous! Players and Enemies generally are more deadly now, so use those Core Powers to grow in strength and survive!
Enemy Health has not been modified for Hero Mode, but has been increased across the board in Co-Op, to account for a lot of increased team damage.

Please let us know what you think as we continue to iterate and improve the system!


[h3]Bug Fixes & Improvements
[/h3]

Players can now play Hero Mode and Co-Op without having to exit the game.
NOTE: this was caused by an underlying issue that would potentially ruin Co-Op games if you had played a certain type of game prior to entering the queue.

Fixed a wide range of issues with Keyboard Mouse Beta Controls, including not being able to Escape menus all the time, repeated VO lines playing, or activatable shards triggering reliably.

We're continuing to crush bugs as fast as possible, and will keep at it as long as it takes!

[h3]Heroes[/h3]
NOTE: All heroes will generally grow in power, with a bit more differentiation between them. As you progress through the game, we want each hero to have their own identity, and these changes push a bit more in that direction.

FYN:
NOTE: Fyn overall wasn't living up to his big persona, and so has been given a range of changes to make him better at his core role while adding gameplay. We've removed some of his passive Overshield and instead given him ways with two of his abilities to earn temporary Overshield in combat.

LOTUS: NOTE: We're fairly happy with Lotus in the game at the moment, but want to make her a little more active, and also increase her healing power with the introduction of Core Powers.

CYNDER: NOTE: We really want Cynder to be the glass cannon of the trio, so we've slightly reduced his starting health, which should make it even more dangerous as enemies now generally do more damage. But we've also increased his damage output directly and through additional improvements to ability power via rewards.

[h3]Rewards[/h3]
NOTE: Rewards in general have been buffed, or in some cases adjusted to be more engaging. We've also done a pass on visual and audio feedback on some shards, and will continue this effort.

[h3]Enemies[/h3]
NOTE: Some enemies were a bit too easy to disrupt, so they've become tougher and late game monsters will be immune to certain affects, making sure you have to stay on your toes when facing them!

[h2]Demo Issues Discussion[/h2]

Here are some of the issues we've heard your feedback loudest on, and are taking immediate steps to start to address!

Keyboard + Mouse Controls
While the Keyboard and Mouse controls are in beta still, we know people found a lot of issues, and we're working hard to resolve all of them as quickly as possible. This patch has a lot of fixes in it, but we're still working on more, along with taking a longer look at how we can improve the responsiveness and feel.

Gameplay Pacing + More Variety
One of the biggest points of feedback we've heard is around game pacing, specifically collecting Luum to fuel your abilities. This mechanic wasn't there to make you have a chore, but to allow higher skill players to get into a flow through the game by killing enemies and keeping going. But we've heard your feedback and are making some immediate changes! All heroes will now have a base Luum recharge!, This should keep you in the action more, but still allow players who can take down enemies at a good pace to flow.

Additionally we've taken a step in increasing variety, with a long list of shard changes and hero tuning. in future versions we'll also be looking at more "game breaking" and "build altering" runs. We've got some exciting plans here and will make it a focal point.

Why Couldn't I Play More than One Round?
In short, we knew this issue was a real detriment to the experience, but we made the decision to get some real hands on feedback even with it in the game. It's a long story as to why that bug existed, but essentially we had to make people quit so it wouldn't ruin Co-Op games. We're happy to say that this issue has been fixed in this build!

[h3]Thanks again everyone for your patience, support, and feedback. We'll keep working hard for you, and for Lumerea!

See you in game,
Volibar[/h3]