Boons & Burdens News

Patch 0.11 smoothed out a lot of issues players had with pacing, balance, etc. But then I got to thinking...why not really amp it up even more? So along with bringing a bunch of new content, Patch 0.12 completely overhauled the burdens systems, and tons of other things related to pacing, balance and intensity.

The next big update will be the promised meta upgrades. It's a huge undertaking, but I'm hoping to have it done before the month of March is over. It will likely bring with it a few extra surprises, but we'll see. I need to rest a bit after the mad rush leading up to and after launch. I'll post a patch preview when that's closer to release.

Some other notes: Another small patch should follow this one on Monday or Tuesday, and will fix the issues with rebinding left and right trigger, adjust and add some more new sounds, and fix a few other bugs I didn't get to yet. I won't be around tomorrow, so I wanted to get this big patch out now, before the weekend is over.

Big thank you to everyone that tested and gave feedback on the beta versions of this test. If you want to try out new content before its released and give feedback, join the discord here!

TL;DR: I organized the patch notes a little different this time because there's a lot to cover and grouping things by area of focus made more sense than big lists of balance, bugs, etc.

• 2 new bosses
  
• 3 new levels
  
• 2 new boon trees, 14 new boons
  
• Completely revamped game speed/duration/balance.
  
• All burdens rebalanced and updated. Many with altered mechanics.
  
• Lots of additional balance changes
  
• 5 new burdens
  
• 5 new achievements
  
• Interface updates to boon menu, burden menu, and combat
  
• Bug fixes
  
• PORTAL PHANTOMS ARE NOW VIRTUALLY UNKILLABLE
  

[h3]New Tier 1 Boss: [/h3]
The Squllboar

• The big boy version of the basic green and red enemies, but not as big as the end boss. More than any other boss, this guy loves to chase.
  
• Can appear at level 4
  

[h3]New Tier 2 Boss:[/h3]
The Qrystle Queen

• A uniquely stationary boss with more than a few surprises
  
• Can appear at level 8
  

[h3]Game Flow and Balance[/h3]

• All burdens have been redesigned to be significantly faster and more fun (see Burden Updates Below)
  
• 3 new levels have been added to the game, bosses are now on stages 4, 8, and 12.
  
• Portals now passively and actively charge even faster
  
• Threat now scales slightly faster by default.
  
• Chests spawn slightly faster, and more chests can spawn at later difficulties. Chests take fewer hits to open.
  
• Gem Deposits take only 4 hits to destroy now, but can grant extra gems per hit and when destroyed
  

[h3]New Burdens[/h3]

• Burden of Many: 4 additional smaller portals appear around the map. Stand inside the radius to charge them, move outside and the progress starts to drain if not complete. Each must be fully charged up to unlock the center portal.
  
• Burden of Defense: Corrupted fairies with 30+ base health move rapidly toward the portal. Destroy 16+ before they reach the center. Lose 8+ gems and 10 theurgic power each time a fairy gets by.
  
• Burden of Survival: The portal is unlocked from the start, but charges slower, and enemies appear in overwhelming numbers.
  
• Burden of Slimes: Like burden of swarms but with slimes
  
• Burden of Constraint: The only safe space is the portal area. Moving outside of the marked area will cause you to take 2 damage per second. Remain inside the area for 30 seconds to unlock the portal.
  

[h3]Burden Updates[/h3]
Burden of Blood

• While in the totem's area, enemies will spawn more rapidly around that area
  
• Blood Totems grant some gems when they are destroyed
  

Burden of Swarms

• Lots of smaller swarms are now spawning all the time
  
• You no longer lose progress if sqyds escape
  
• Slightly more needed now that it's this fast and progress isn't lost
  
• Sqyds no longer slow down
  

Burden of Restraint

• Fairies can no longer be killed. When damaged their radius shrinks and they slow down temporarily.
  
• Faster fairies while in their radius, but slightly smaller radius
  
• Fairies drop gems upon reaching the portal
  
• Fixed an issue with Divine Fairies being counted as Totems, causing totem related abilities to work on/target them
  

Burden of Patience

• Now reduced to 90 seconds. With round times much, much faster, 90 seconds feels patient enough.
  

Burden of Brevity

• Now 15 seconds.
  

Burden of Traps

• Mines now spawn in more regularly, and don't wait for you to clear all of them first
  
• Slightly fewer mines required
  
• Mines now drop a few gems
  

Burden of Bounties

• New bounties are marked nearly instantly
  
• Missing an enemy does not reduce your progress, but costs you a small amount of gems
  
• Bounty timers have been reduced from 8 seconds to 7
  

Burden of Hunger

• Multiple chickens can spawn at once
  
• The hunger timer has been reduced
  
• Chickens only heal for 3 while this burden is active
  

Burden of Phantoms

• Portal Phantoms are now unkillable in the game, and only die when they detonate. So you'll no longer be at risk of killing them in the late game.
  
• Phantoms spawn faster, and detonate a little faster, making them more dangerous than before.
  
• 1 more phantom required at the lowest threat, but fewer required at higher threat levels
  
• Phantoms drop a few gems
  

Burden of Haste

• Haste now lasts 5 seconds, up from 3.5 seconds
  
• Slight reduction in haste totems needed
  

[h3]Sacrifice Updates[/h3]

• Sacrifice Divinity now reads: Lose all theurgic energy. Your next theurgic ability requires 600/700/900 additional theurgic energy to cast. Old Text: Lose all theurgic energy. You can not gain theurgic energy or use your theurgic power this round.
  
• Sacrifice Loot should no longer be circumvented in some circumstances
  
• Sacrifice Savings now drains more gems per second. As gems have steadily increased with updates, the previous version had virtually no impact.
  
• Fixed a bug where a certain combination of sacrifices taken in a specific order could sometimes result in gems and other collectibles no longer appearing (IKR?)
  

[h3]Boon and Ability Updates[/h3]
New Boon Trees (each has 7 total new boons)

• Blazing Bird
  
• Runeblade
  

Boon Updates

• You may now only equip a maximum of 42 boons (tutorial has been updated to explain this). A popup will trigger if you are at the maximum amount. The interface now shows your current count on the side bar under your other stats while in the shop.
  
• Both classes have a brief 0.5 second invulnerability window when they cast their theurgic ability
  
• Omega Ray now moves and deals damage more quickly. It now also fades out of view rapidly so as not to obstruct your view for so long.
  
• Fixed a bug that was causing Omega Ray to be created every 4 seconds regardless of beams created
  
• Infusing Curse's text no longer reads "NA"
  
• Phantom Fire Cursed Boon now spawns a Portal Phantom after 66 enemies have been burned, up from 30.
  
• Phantom Frost Cursed Boon now spawns a Portal Phantom after 66 enemies have been frozen, up from 30.
  
• Crystal Constructs will no longer target each other.
  
• The Turret Totem from the Tag Toteam boon should no longer be able to move
  
• Swirling Salvo will now properly trigger on the Pyromancer
  
• Chargelight Curse now reads: Every 200 beam damage you do, a random enemy takes 50 damage. Expend 1 staff charge whenever this triggers. 1 second recharge time. Previously, this triggered after creating X number of beams with no cooldown, and did 30 damage. It was beyond broken.
  

[h3]Enemy Updates[/h3]

• Bosses now stop the round clock. This will keep portal phantoms from getting out of control after beating the boss, if the fight goes long.
  
• The Infested Pyromancer Boss and the final Boss will now be more likely to use their other abilities before you can trigger their damage threshold state (an invulnerable attack state after taking a certain amount of damage)
  
• Enemies spawn slightly faster once the portal unlocks
  
• Portal Phantoms now begin showing up at 1:30 in a level, down from 2 minutes
  
• Portal Phantoms are now invulnerable to damage, and only die when detonated.
  
• Sqyds: These swarming creatures now no longer suddenly slow down
  
• Basic enemies begin transforming a little earlier, and more often at lower threat levels.
  
• When basic enemies transform into their more powerful red selves, they will no longer remove any runes.
  
• Phasers (the eyeball enemies that dash in a line) will now show up more frequently at the highest threat levels
  
• Fixed a bug that was causing the the increased portal phantom spawning and danger (from remaining in a level too long) to carry over to the next level without resetting
  
• Updated how boss health bars work, so they shouldn't get stuck at full anymore even though they're properly taking damage
  

[h3]Achievement Updates[/h3]

• The Ice Age achievement will now accurately count enemies frozen by the Cryo's Theurgic
  
• The "Ice Age" achievement now requires 100 enemies be frozen, up from 50. Previously a bug was causing it to require as many as 300 enemies, but once the bug was fixed it became clear 50 wasn't enough for an achievement.
  
• The Achievement Triple Threat should no longer trigger if you lose the game with 3 cursed boons equipped
  
• Portal Dancer achievement will no longer keep counting while the game is paused
  

[h3]New Achievements[/h3]

• Flawless Victory: Complete the burden of defense without missing a single dark fairy.
  
• High Beams: Deal 150,000 beam damage in a single game
  
• Beastmaster: Summon 250 units in a single game.
  
• The Answer: Equip 42 boons in a single game.
  
• Gold Rush: Destroy 15 Gold Deposits in a single game.
  

[h3]Auto-Aim Updates[/h3]

• When using Auto-Aim, a new icon will show which toggled targeting you're currently using: Standard Targeting or Highest Threat (useful for forcing your attacks toward the boss while you dodge enemies)
  
• Auto-Aim will prioritize nearby Crystal Constructs over nearby enemies when in Standard Targeting
  

[h3]Interface Updates[/h3]

• Purchased boons now get a check mark on their icon so it's easier to tell you own them
  
• Your innate ability now has an icon on the bottom bar that will show when it's ready in addition to the swirling orb around you
  
• An enemy counter has been added to the UI
  
• Added the current stage number to the UI in the Burdens menu
  
• A boons equipped counter now shows up in shop, letting you know how close you are to the maximum amount. It disappears during battle.
  
• Fixed a bug that allowed a single click to skip through intro tutorial texts
  
• You can no longer select empty boons in the talent trees when a cursed boon is selected in the shop or inventory
  
• Auto-Fire toggle should no longer trigger when exiting the burden/boon menus
  

[h3]Sound and Visuals[/h3]

• Screenshake low and high settings have been adjusted. You'll get a bit more feedback on the low setting. On high, the maximum amount of shake has been slightly reduced, and the fall off is a bit quicker.
  
• Added a sound to signify that the portal has been fully charged
  
• Added a countdown timer alert sound once the portal is charged
  
• Fixed a bug that would cause some recently evolved/transformed enemies to play their spawning animation
  
• Fixed a bug that caused the "innate ready" sound to play when returning from pause or menu
  

The response to patch 0.11 has been wonderful, and I've been happy to hear from so many people that the game is really clicking with them now, and it's highly motivating to get more content into your hands!

Patch 0.12 will be the last patch before the big (really big) Meta Upgrades patch, so I wanted to make sure it had a bunch of new stuff to play with while you wait for that.

The exact details are still in flux as I work through many of these changes, so I'll save the full patch notes for release, but here's roughly what to expect later this week.



Key Features:

• 2 new tier 1 bosses can show up at the first boss fight on level 3
  
• A number of new boons have been added to help round out the Rune type upgrades (with many more to come)
  
• The previously teased burdens will be making their way into the game, alongside a couple more
  
• A small infusion of new achievements to give you some extra goals to work toward
  
• A bunch of requested User Interface updates have been added for combat, shopping, and burden selection
  

Pictured: UI updates show the current enemy count, a new icon and timer for your innate ability (for those that have trouble seeing the swirling orb), and when auto-aim is active a current targeting mode icon.

That's it for now, but the patch will arrive later this week! If you're enjoying your time in the game, please leave a positive review. Early positive buzz can only help this game grow!

Hotfix 0.11b

A few more bug fixes. Heading out for my first mostly day off in many moons, but back at it tomorrow. New content very soon!

• Made changes to prevent rare instances of bosses flying far off screen and not returning
  
• Opening inventory will no longer delete the burden title on the UI leaving "Burden of "
  
• Fixed an issue where In rare instances a cursed boon could leave you permanently slow
  
• Made some changes to how burdens are selected to prevent empty burden selections near the end of the game. This problem may not be fixed. In my tests It didn't happen, but this bug doesn't happen every run.
  

Hotfix 0.11a

Just covering a few more reported bugs. Still a few more small things I'm working on fixes for. Thanks for the wonderful response so far to patch 0.11! Can't wait to add more content very soon!

⦁ Holding left mouse button should no longer prevent using abilities on right mouse button
⦁ Sacrifice Dinner should no longer prevent chickens from counting on Burden of Hunger
⦁ Burden of Blood should hopefully no longer get stuck with too few points and no totems left
⦁ You can no longer trigger the title screen start sound multiple times if you rapidly click or press a button