Boons & Burdens News

The previous hotfix accidentally included a duplicate executable, increasing the file size unecessarily (but having no other impact). This just removes that file.

I should probably slow down...

Continued work zeroing in on various issues related to innate abilities. This time around I was actually able to replicate some issues and address them without the guesswork. Making progress!

There have also been some minor balance adjustments to the Electromancer, who is now probably the most powerful class in the game. More small balance tweaks to come in 0.45.

• Updated the way Innate abilities are cast. They will no longer auto-cast if the innate ability is held between activations.
  
• The Electromancer innate, "Overcharge" now forces you to recharge your staff at the end. This was done both to address some bugs and better balance it.
  
• The Electromancer innate, "Overcharge" can no longer be activated again while it's currently active.
  
• The Electromancer innate, "Overcharge" now has a 0.5 second longer recharge time.
  
• Fixed a number of issues that lead to the Ring of Innergy inconsistently applying the free Innate recharge. Certain fixes for the Electromancer in a recent patch caused this issue for the Cryomancer, specifcally.
  

In what is becoming some maddening combination of whack-a-mole and groundhog day (Whack A Hog? Wait - no - that came out wrong) I'm continuing to try to zero in on theurgic issues that can leave the player stuck in the wrong state, unable to end the ability or start attacking.

I only have reports to go on because I've never actually been able to replicate the issue, myself. Still, I've identified other possible avenues of conflict, and added an extra layer of protections to force the theurgic state to properly end. Will it be enough? Only time will tell.

Bug Fixes in 0.40a

• The Overcharge innate will now properly trigger/end abilities and stat modifiers that trigger/end when your staff recharge ends if used while recharging your staff.
  
• Added an extra layer of protections to prevent players from becoming stuck unable to attack with their staff after using the Electromancer's Theurgic abilities.
  
• Added an extra layer of protections for the cryomancer's Theurgic abilities to prevent the Hand from getting stuck on screen mid-animation.
  
• Theurgic meter color will now correctly set to yellow when choosing the Electromancer. Previously it was only setting properly when first loading in if you already had the Electromancer selected when you last exited.
  
• Pressing the cancel keybind from the quit sub-menu will no longer resume the game without removing the pause menu in the main menu area
  
• Pressing the cancel keybind will no longer leave the quit confirmation text up in the pause menu during gameplay
  

This week's update aims to beef up electric synergies, balance some of the newest boons and mechanics, and fix a number of pesky bugs (especially related to Theurgics). There were some fundamental changes to the underlying game to support an upcoming free demo (just waiting on store approval) as well, but hopefully you won't notice these (if you do, I broke something).

Up Next: 0.45 will refresh the cursed boons, to update how they're added to the pool, and add a bunch of new ones to the mix. Updates for runes and totems will follow in patch 0.55.

[h3]Patch 0.40 Notes[/h3]

New Talent Trees: 14 new electric boons

• Close Cull: An electric beam spell for close range combat
  
• Long Shock: An electric rune weapon for long range combat
  

Quality of Life

• When you equip an electric upgrade or item, a new UI element will show up, telling you how many enemies are currently marked by static
  
• You can now easily see your current infernicite while in the Rings menu
  
• Frutterfry boon now correctly states that it marks 2 enemies with static instead of 1.
  
• Fixed the cursed ring text
  
• Classic mode has been renamed to "Delve"
  

Balance

• Electric damage increases an enemy's chance to be marked by static by 10% each time until it triggers, and then the bonus resets.
  
• Static effects now last 2 seconds longer
  
• Static Detonation now requires 6 units, down from 7, and now deals 300% damage down from 400%
  
• Static Detonation effects are now more distinct, and visually impressive
  
• The Jump Start Achievement now gives you 2 minutes, but requires you trigger it 7 times.
  
• Increased Jitterbug's targeting range, and attack speed
  
• Thunderbird's Talon now has less delay between attack animation and impact (though some delay is intentional).
  

Bug Fixes

• Fixed issues related to multiple theurgic abilities that could cause them to become stuck between states if used at the end of a level in Delve mode
  
• Fixed a bug with the Electromancer theurgics that could cause them to become stuck between states if the framerate dipped at exactly the right moment
  
• Fixed a bug with the Lightning Bug boon not correctly damaging targets sometimes
  
• The Electromancer's Overcharge innate will now properly reset the targeter recharge animation if used while recharging your staff
  
• When switching classes, your equipped relic and relic icon should properly update without needing to change the relic selected or exit and re-enter the equip menu
  
• The Ring of Innergy will now properly reset the Electromancer's Lightspeed innate.
  
• Electro innate should no longer be able to reactivate multiple times on the same after image
  
• Fixed a bug that could cause the incorrect ring icons to show up in the inventory
  

Bug Fixes

• Ring of Choice will now properly activate on the first burden choice
  
• Ring of Curse damage now correctly states that it does 10 + 10*X damage where X is equal to your cursed boons. It now properly calculates this base damage. The mastered version has been updated as well.
  
• Fire Line will no longer hard lock the game when hitting a wall or obstacle.
  
• The Jump Start achievement should now be unlockable in the Arena game mode.
  
• The Electromancer's Innate Ability Icons are now showing the correct images in the bottom UI
  
• You can now use the input cancel button/key to properly cancel a surrender confirmation
  
• Tome of Lightspeed description typos have been fixed.
  

For those interested in game development, looking for insight into how some of these things can slip through, here's an example of how seemingly innocuous things can lead to unexpected issues:

In patch 0.30 I fixed a longstanding bug that could cause various timers in Arena to become desynced, each presenting different game times. This change to how time was tracked lead to the Jump Start achievement no longer working because it was still using the old timer system to track how long you'd played. Having already tested the achievement, I didn't even think to go back and test it again because it simply didn't cross my mind that the two were related. That's why Early Access (or a team of Quality Assurance Game Testers) is so important to me, and why I appreciate your feedback and patience on the issues.

Anyway, there are more bug fixes coming, and new content, but that's it for today. Until next time!