The Spell Brigade News

[p]Hey Brigadiers,[/p][p][/p][p]Want to play 1.0 before anyone else? Here’s your chance![/p][p][/p][p]📋Sign up for the playtest via form[/p][p]⏰Submissions close: Sunday, 15 March 23:59 CET[/p][p]🧙‍♂️Selected recruits notified by: Monday, 16 March 23:59 CET[/p][p]🗓️Playtest session: Wednesday, 18 March 15:30 CET[/p][p]🎮Duration: ~90 minutes of gameplay + two short surveys (~8 minutes each)[/p][p][/p][p]Please note: NDA is required & signing up does not guarantee a spot.[/p][p][/p][p]BOLT BLASTER OUT[/p]

[p]Since The Spell Brigade is a lot about playing with others, we have implemented some features for 1.0 that will allow every player to better express and communicate when joining a squad.[/p][p][/p][h3]💬 Improved Quick Chat[/h3][p][/p][p]Firstly, we have refined the options in Quick Chat based on some feedback, so that the options are much more relevant to the game and situations that might occur. Things like a player dying or disconnecting will now also be added to the chat box.[/p][p][/p][h3]📍 Pinging[/h3][p][/p][p]We’ve also implemented a brand new ping system! You can place a ping on your location so other players will be notified. If your character is looking at a point of interest, like a health potion, a scroll, something objective-related, a boss, etc, a custom ping icon will appear on everyone’s screen so players will know that you encountered something worth their attention.[/p][p][/p][h3]🤬😍 Emotes[/h3][p][/p][p]Lastly, we’ve added an emote wheel with various options to react and express. Each wizard has custom emote icons, and there is also a custom set in the lobby so you have some more options for communication when assembling your squad.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]🎧 What about free chat/voice chat?[/h3][p]We know that some people would really like free chat or options for voice communication. We’ve considered them for sure, but have decided to not implement them for the time being. Never say never of course, but we wanted to focus on finishing up the game for various platforms first, and these features would have greatly complicated that process, as every platform has different rules. Hopefully, one day![/p][p][/p][p]BOLT BLASTER OUT[/p]

[p]This one’s for the hardcore fans! Throughout Early Access we’ve gathered lots of feedback, and we noticed that a lot of our players would like more progression to reward their dedication, as well as more modifiers that change up the game. We have implemented some stuff that will allow for this, and more![/p][p][/p][h3]🌟 Ascension[/h3][p][/p][p]Ever since we introduced Wizard Ranks, people have been wondering if it actually does something. And so far it hasn’t really, but that changes now! Well, at 1.0. When you max the rank of your wizard, you will be able to ✨ASCEND✨. You can then spend some Gold, to upgrade your badge, and reset your rank. Why? For bragging rights of course. The shinier that badge, the more impressed other players will be when you descend on their screen. From stone to iron, to bronze, to silver, to gold, to BRIGADIUM (which we do not recommend, it will take an insane amount of time).[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]😈 Trial Covenants[/h3][p][/p][p]Aside from bragging rights, there’s also some actual content to unlock when you ascend the first couple of times. Specifically, you unlock new Trial Covenants. These make the game significantly harder by, for example, disabling your Enchantments, getting offered less Upgrades, healing less, etc.[/p][p][/p][p]You can activate them in any way you like. They only apply to you, so each player can decide on their own. When you do, it increases your Devotion. The higher your Devotion, the faster you increase your Wizard Rank. So basically, you punish yourself to prove you’re the most devoted wizard with the shiniest badge. 
[/p][p]Solitary Focus has also been redesigned into a stackable Trial Covenant, which means that you can now choose to play with 4, 3, 2 or 1 Spell.[/p][p][/p][h3]🎁 Secret Outfits[/h3][p][/p][p]As an additional reward for your dedication, every wizard now has a special outfit you unlock when you ascend a wizard for the first time. But these outfits have a twist - they alter that wizard’s playstyle, giving them a different starter spell. This allows you to use each wizard in a new way. And yes, spells that so far didn’t have a dedicated wizard are part of this, meaning you can now basically start with any spell.[/p][p] [/p][p]Small sidenote: because of these redesigns, the XP needed for each Wizard Rank has been slightly rebalanced. That means that if you had a wizard at max rank before, they will now be somewhere at the end of Rank 9. So just play one more run, and you will probably be able to ascend then.
[/p][p]We hope that you like these new systems! We’ve listened to a lot of feedback and feel that these features will address a lot of the concerns and requests that we received. Stay tuned for more!
[/p][p]BOLT BLASTER OUT[/p]

[p]Hey Brigadiers,[/p][p][/p][p]On March 5 starting at 8:00 AM CET | 3:00 PM CST | 2:00 AM EST, some online features in The Spell Brigade may be temporarily unavailable. We're expecting around 3 hours of downtime.[/p][p][/p][p]Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for your patience![/p][p][/p][p]BOLT BLASTER OUT[/p]

[p]We’re getting closer to the 1.0 release of The Spell Brigade (more info on that soon - we promise!), so we figured it would be a good time to slowly get y’all up to speed on all the cool things we’ve planned. If you don’t want to get spoiled, that’s totally fine of course, but then you best close this post right now.
[/p][p]Seriously - if you’re not keen on spoilers, get out![/p][p][/p][h3]👹 A new type of creature…[/h3][p][/p][p]We’ve added some weird little guys to the game that might throw a wrench in your plans. They’re not really part of the monster army, I guess you could say they play a neutral role. However, they show a particular interest in magic and magic-related stuff. Stuff like a Scroll Chest for instance, or the many Mana Orbs that lie around the field. Chase them down to claim back the things that are rightfully yours![/p][p]
[/p][p]We’re not sure yet about the name of this species, so if you have a great recommendation feel free to share it below![/p][p][/p][h3]💪 Elites![/h3][p]Some of the monsters in the current roster are getting special elite versions. These are buffed up versions with a ton of health and some enhanced abilities. Consider them a kind of mini-boss.[/p][p][/p][p]The Elder Bloat Crab is one of the few Bloat Crabs that has somehow stayed alive long enough to become this massive. It would take a lot of damage for it to even consider exploding, and you best make sure you’re in the clear when it does.[/p][p][/p][p]The Elder Teethy Worm has an enormous 3-jaw mouth, and will leave behind multiple Teethy Worms upon death.[/p][p][/p][p]The Elder Shaman has grown some additional arms, which allow it to cast even more spells! Its healing ability is much stronger, as it can heal more targets at the same time, while also negating any elemental effects. Oh and it flies as well.[/p][p][/p][h3]🧬 Variants![/h3][p][/p][p]We’ve also made some enemy variants that will appear in specific Realms:[/p]

• [p]The Verdant Meadows has Spitters that will fire a spread of bullets.[/p]
• [p]The Frozen Ancients has Teethy Worms that will drop more Baby Worms that are pretty fast.[/p]
• [p]The Pyrestorm Pit has a smaller version of the Bloat Crab that moves and explodes faster.[/p]
• [p]The Astral Riftlands has Shamans that move and cast healing spells faster.[/p][p][/p]

[h3]☠️ Another Boss[/h3][p] [/p][p]And finally, there is also another boss coming for 1.0. It might even be our most ambitious boss yet! But we might leave it at that, we already said way too much anyway.[/p][p][/p][p]We have some more posts like these planned out to break down the core features that 1.0 will offer. So stay tuned for that - and maybe also for the release date announcement maybe who knows 👀[/p][p][/p][p]BOLT BLASTER OUT[/p][p]
[/p]