Playtest Update | New Relics, Animation Optimizations, and Tons of Improvements!

[p]Greetings Gate Defenders! [/p][p][/p][p]Thank you to everyone who participated in the Playtest for your feedback![/p][p][/p][p]This time, we've brought a large number of updates, adjustments, and bug fixes, all in an effort to respond to your feedback and bring the game closer to what you've been hoping for. [/p][p][/p][p]Patch Notes as follows:[/p][p][/p][h3]I. New Content[/h3][p]2 New Upgrades:[/p]

[p]Battle Scavenging: Followers gain the ability to pick up EXP crystals.[/p]
[p]EXP Healing: Picking up EXP crystals restores health equal to the EXP.[/p]

[p]6 New Relics:[/p]

[p]Invincible Battle Flag: If there’s only1 type of follower on the field (excluding ultimate followers), tavern refresh will guarantee that follower, with a 20% discount on recruitment cost.[/p]
[p]Deceptive Balance: If followers on the field are≤ 4, recruitment cost is reduced by 50%. If> 4, refresh cost is reduced by 50%.[/p]
[p]Souls Magic Box: Gain the legendary Spirit Body upgrade and carry up to 5 followers.[/p]
[p]Lucky Bone Dice: Upon upgrade, immediately exempt 1 follower's recruitment cost at the tavern.[/p]
[p]Frost Thunder Heart: Frozen caps at 16 layers. At 16 layers, triggers 20 layers of Thunderstorm, but enemy attacks apply 1 layer of Freeze.[/p]
[p]Boiling Demon Blood: When picking EXP crystals, +40% movement speed and attack speed for 2 seconds (non-stackable). Crystals are now picked up based on attack range.[/p]

[p]New Systems / Animations:[/p]

[p]Added a feature displaying the bonus value in the bottom-right corner of the Abyssal Cipherkey relic after acquisition[/p]
[p]Added idle animation for tavern beer[/p]
[p]Added border effects for tavern follower portraits[/p]
[p]Added feedback effect for insufficient funds when clicking to purchase or refresh followers in the tavern[/p]
[p]Characters will rotate when catapults launch heroes/spearmen to knock back heroes, and when follower catapults are deployed[/p][p][/p]

[h3]II. UI/UX and Audio Optimization[/h3]

[p]Optimized the logic for certain archer awakenings to make it clearer[/p]
[p]Removed the complex sound effects for Human Power’s Sword Light[/p]
[p]Enhanced boss cooldown visualization[/p]
[p]Brightened the font color for rarity text[/p]
[p]Improved the outline effect for UI button fonts[/p]
[p]Enhanced tavern purchase feedback[/p]
[p]Added pause prompts[/p]
[p]Optimized newbie tutorials[/p]
[p]Window mode now supports minimization to a small window and manual dragging of screen edges[/p]
[p]Black mask no longer expands downward over time[/p]
[p]Optimized visuals and effects for Upgrade /Awakening/Shop interfaces[/p]
[p]Brightened rarity text color in top-right corner of Upgrade[/p]
[p]Centered quest interface and added darkened bottom mask[/p]
[p]Updated all animations and attack/skill effects for S Serros[/p]
[p]Replaced tavern background image[/p]
[p]Magic Coin acquisition now flies into the collection frame[/p]
[p]Modified Rising Slash: Bleeding effect[/p]
[p]Optimized visual effects when upgrading followers using Decree of the Ancient King/Synthesis[/p]
[p]Merchant appearance now automatically zooms out to ensure full visibility[/p]

[h3]III. Functionality and System Optimization [/h3]

[p]All follower sigil awakenings (Bow Soul Sigil, Frostbound Sigil, Blazecore Sigil) now allow player-selected placement[/p]
[p]The first wave of minions will spawn in various corners of the battlefield at the start of the game[/p]
[p]Optimized fence generation to ensure initial fences do not block access points[/p]
[p]EXP crystals now scatter upon the boss's death[/p]
[p]Optimized Forest Guardian thorn edges to prevent vertical flickering[/p]
[p]Refined slowdown logic when traversing enemies[/p]
[p]Reduced delay for heroes to acquire Spiritual Body when mounted on followers[/p]
[p]Enhanced Epic Upgrade pool rules, increasing the weight of individual Epic Upgrade[/p]
[p]Optimized minor enemy scaling logic[/p]
[p]Added game pause notification prompts[/p]
[p]Followers obtained via the Ultimate Holy Grail now display green deployable tiles on the map during placement[/p]
[p]Optimized text rendering for all languages: resolved rough white/black outlines in City Defense upgrades, difficulty selection, return to menu, and close buttons[/p]
[p]Updated boss enhancements: Skills and attack power now strengthen every 10 seconds[/p]
[p]Added camera movement controls (up/down/left/right) when purchasing Divine Blessings/upgrading minions or Ancient King's Orders/placing fences in the shop[/p]
[p]Increased prices in the Mysterious Shop[/p]
[p]Added setting option: Pause game when purchasing minions[/p]
[p]Acquiring Grimoire Relics: Relics that automatically unleash skills now have a 1-second cooldown after skill exhaustion before the next skill is released[/p]
[p]Optimized conditions for the appearance of the newbie tutorial dialog box[/p]
[p]Optimized the slow early-game pace and monster spawn rate[/p]
[p]Enhanced enemy strength after defeating bosses[/p]

[p][/p][h3]IV. Balancing and Adjustments[/h3]

[p]Minion level requirement for Coronation Advancement changed to Level 10[/p]
[p]Guardian Advancement stats reduced to 100/200/300/400 max HP[/p]
[p]Max HP UP Upgrade stats reduced to 20%/40%/60%/80%[/p]
[p]Forest Guardian's Bond of Battle now restores 3 HP to the hero[/p]
[p]Thunder of the Court's attack speed reduced to 1.5[/p]
[p]Rising Slash's bleeding layers increased to 5/10/20[/p]
[p]Frostfall Siphon of Greatshield Guardian increased to 5/10/15%[/p]
[p]Half-Blood Prince: Blood of the Kingdom awakening, final tier changed from 600% to 800%[/p]
[p]Greatshield Guardian 's Tank value reduced to 50/100/150%[/p]
[p]Archer's Volley reduced to 70/140/210%, attack speed reduced to 0.8[/p]
[p]Catapult's Precision Boulder Smash reduced to 1000%/2000%/3000%, Boulder Critical Damage reduced to 7/14/21x[/p]
[p]Archer's Comradeship effect adjusted to 5%, Great Shield Guardian's effect adjusted to 10%[/p]
[p]Boss experience granted reduced by 20%. Initial skill damage and attack power of Tier 1 bosses (5 and 10 minutes) uniformly reduced by 30%[/p]
[p]Catapult throws people’s cooldown increased to 10 seconds. Max HP increased to 150%/300%/600%[/p]
[p]Greatshield's Iron Bastion Resonance now grants followers 10%/20%/30% increased HP[/p]
[p]Forked Lightning's stack transfer rate reduced to 10%[/p]
[p]Assassin's base attack power increased to 100[/p]
[p]Assassin's Bloodstained Dagger now increases attack power by 1, with Max bonus increased to 150/300/450[/p]
[p]Thunder Mage's Lightning Ball attack count reduced to 1/2/3[/p]
[p]Evil Shadow Shield no longer reduces gate HP; now causes gates to absorb 80% of damage taken by heroes[/p]
[p]Uppercut now automatically targets the highest-health enemy in front[/p]
[p]Game Speed Boost: x1.5 / x2[/p]
[p]Reduced certain awakening stats for Serros[/p]
[p]Increased the base attack power of city gate guards[/p]
[p]The probability of Eternal Verdancy has been increased from 0.2% to 0.6%[/p]

[p][/p][h3]V. Bug Fixes[/h3]

[p]Fixed an issue where the damage dealt by Human Power's sword light effect was lower than expected after heroes gained physical attack power bonuses.[/p]
[p]Fixed a game freeze bug that occurred when instantly defeating a boss while starting a quest.[/p]
[p]Fixed an issue where the Imp quest could grant excessively high single-attack rewards exceeding the cap.[/p]
[p]Fixed a bug where windowed mode and resolution settings weren't saved upon re-entering the game.[/p]
[p]Fixed an issue where Forest Guardian thorns displayed abnormally large damage numbers.[/p]
[p]Fixed a bug causing heroes to bounce back one tile when approaching fences.[/p]
[p]Fixed incorrect reward values in the Imp quest.[/p]
[p]Fixed a bug where left-clicking couldn't view the boss UI[/p]
[p]Fixed a bug where the Molten Fire Boss's bombs were targeted by minions[/p]
[p]Fixed a bug where the Quadruple Demon attacked void followers, and could still move while under Vulnerability[/p]
[p]Fixed a bug where enemies killed by Shadow Assassin's Bleed didn't count as kills, and void granted to heroes didn't restore their HP[/p]
[p]Fixed bug where Demonic Power movement speed increased attack speed[/p]
[p]Fixed bug where Fire Dragon’s ultimate follower couldn't attack after Divine Favor set its attack speed to 0.5, and bug where Fire Dragon could appear when purchasing Catapult after loading[/p]
[p]Fixed the City Gate upgrade now featuring Common/Rare/Epic/Legendary options with values of 20/40/60/80%. Each rarity also gains an additional spawn condition: only appears when the City Gate's health is below 80/60/40/20%.[/p]
[p]Fixed a bug where the Lightning Chain Overlord's chain attack failed to trigger the hero's Gale Dance.[/p]
[p]Fixed a bug where minions could still attack while in Spirit Body.[/p]
[p]Fixed a bug where the Flamecleave Archmage's Fireball, after being collected by the hero, left small flames while walking.[/p]
[p]Fixed a bug where minions from the current wave would not reappear after saving and loading.[/p]
[p]Fixed a bug where the Decree of the Ancient King could not be used after saving and loading.[/p]
[p]Fixed a bug where upgrading during the cast of Forward Slash would prevent selecting the upgrade.[/p]
[p]Fixed a bug where right-clicking to cancel before purchasing a follower in the Tavern would still grant the corresponding Bond of Battle to the hero.[/p]
[p]Fixed a bug where the AoE damage of the Demonic Steel boss was not being amplified.[/p]
[p]Fixed an issue where the taunt indicator for minions summoned by the Demonic Steel boss would infinitely spawn when taunted.[/p]
[p]Fixed an issue where the sound effect for Gale Dance would persist in the menu after victory if the ability was still active.[/p]
[p]Fixed an issue where rapidly clicking the fence multiple times could stack charges, causing the fence's health to become negative.[/p]
[p]Fixed a bug where enabling guidance caused the guidance dialog to appear every time the tavern was mouseovered after Decree of the Ancient King.[/p]
[p]Fixed a bug where the Imp quest rewarded more than intended.[/p]
[p]Fixed a bug where quickly moving the mouse while viewing a follower's passive skill caused the description to persist.[/p]
[p]Fixed a bug where, after killing a boss and leveling up in-game, selecting a skill and then moving near a relic prevented the relic from being selected.[/p]
[p]Fixed a bug where only one location was displayed when obtaining two identical relics[/p]
[p]Fixed a bug where the relic acquisition interface could be used to select minions[/p]
[p]Fixed a bug where the Golden Path advancement was not taking effect[/p]
[p]Fixed a bug where Abyssal Cipherkey did not increase minion health[/p]

[p][/p][p]We’d love for you to keep sharing your thoughts and suggestions to make the game even better![/p][p]Feel free to join our Discord to connect with other players who love the game too![/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p]