Minion Masters News

Greetings masters!

The dwarfs have been working really hard behind the scenes to prepare for some pretty big changes coming to Minion Masters and BetaDwarf. We would like to officially announce that BetaDwarf is becoming a multi-game company!

We’ve put together a great dedicated team to run Minion Masters for years to come, and established the ground-work for another game to add to the family, working title Project Haven.

Most relevant to you is a big 2.0 upgrade we will talk about below.

This comes off the back of lots of new dwarves joining the team the last year and slowly setting BetaDwarf up with dedicated teams for each game, but also to share things both games can use - e.g. a 3D model from Haven can be used in Minion Masters, and a server component for Minion Masters can later be adapted for Haven.

Without further ado, we present Minion Masters 2.0!



Minion Masters 2.0 is a major upgrade to the game that will help propel Minion Masters to new heights. We are planning on releasing the Minion Masters 2.0 update alongside the mobile version, although we haven’t set a date for the release yet. Stay tuned for that.

As mobile development started, we saw an opportunity to make big improvements to the game that we’ve wanted to make for a long time: upgrade the UX on all platforms, much requested performance improvements and finally, improving the code base.

While we’re not touching the core gameplay (as part of this upgrade), it’s going to make the menus and overall feel of the game, well, feel like a new game, thus the 2.0 designation. We know there are concerns in the community about how Minion Masters will work on both PC, mobile and Xbox, but we’re actively working to make it the best it can on all platforms.

We still want to make plenty of other changes to the game along the way - requested improvements to the ladder are already in the works with trials for hidden ELO and more competitive higher ranks starting this month, economy improvements to make Minion Masters more sustainable still need doing, and much more Today, however,we are focusing on the big long-term package called 2.0.

Let’s dive a little deeper into what Minion Masters 2.0 and mobile will bring:

• We are making a lot of optimizations to improve performance, a requirement for mobile that will benefit PC and console as well.
  
• We are also rewriting the code base for the Minion Masters client, which will result in fewer bugs and faster development and will allow us to make your suggestions, new content and features for years to come.
  
• We are redesigning the user interface and focusing on user experience. We want to make the game much easier to navigate, make the game more appealing to new players, and overall make the game cleaner with higher quality UI. I’m sure you’ll appreciate the changes to the Season roll-over screen and how rewards are faster :)
  
• We’re aiming for what we call “True Cross-Platform”, i.e. it’s made for all platforms, has cross-play, cross-save, you can link your accounts between any platform and seamlessly switch, all that jazz.
  
• And a bunch of other stuff we’ll talk about later!
  

Fortunately, we were able to bribe the UX designers with some cake so they would allow us to share images of the UI rework with you. Just to note, these images are for the mobile version, and they are still being worked on. As we built it from scratch we were exploring mobile UI first because that's what we know the least about, but there are obvious things to make it fit for PC. We would love to hear your feedback on what elements you would like for the PC version as we start building that version too.





The dwarfs are working hard to get these changes out. This is a very big update and will take some time to make perfect, but it will be an exciting update that helps Minion Masters’ development for years to come.

We are thrilled to start talking about 2.0, and excited about what it’ll mean for Minion Masters.
Now, we also promised some details on Haven.

What is Project Haven?

Project Haven is the code name for our next project. It’s still in the very early prototyping phase, and we’re not making a splash out of the announcement yet, we wanted you to be the first to hear.

We do not have a lot of concrete details yet, but we can share an idea of where we’re going right now.

Haven is a cooperative PvE MOBA where you play as tight-knit groups of heroes saving the world from a time-twisted fate.

It plays a lot like a MOBA, but as with other BetaDwarf games there’s a lot of focus on fast decision-making over reactions. Action-decisions, if you will.

We’re building it to be forever replayable, with tons of systems for variation and interesting decision making to be made on the fly.

It’s also built to foster friendships through co-operation, guild-building mechanics and what we simply call “friendshipping”, a variety of mechanics ranging from e.g. matchmaking you more with those you enjoyed playing with to high-trust missions where you bring your best teammates.

Haven is linked to the Minion Masters (also FORCED and Showdown) world, but toys with some cool time-clashing mechanics that will allow you to play as and encounter all your favorite characters.

This is all very vague, but while we’d love to tell you more we intentionally aren’t sharing details publicly because it would be unwise. We wanted you to know about the overall future for the company though.

Weaving them together

With Haven being in the Minion Masters universe, there will also be some opportunities for us to share things, especially art assets, between the two games, making development faster and more cohesive between both.

Overall we have some lofty goals for Haven. We want to push the boundaries of co-op games to create lifelong friendships all around and across the world; we’re on a journey to becoming a front-runner in games that also attacks a society epidemic: loneliness. We expect this to help Minion Masters grow as well and aim to get 60 percent of Haven players to play Minion Masters in addition to Haven.

We know you have an Empyrean ton of questions at this point, and we’ll share more about Haven as we go, but for now we’re going to focus on getting Minion Masters 2.0 rolling and out on that mobile platform so the game can continue to grow!

Your Thoughts?

As always, we want to know what you think. Head over to our Discord and let us know! We are sure you have a lot of questions about the changes. If so, please DM them to RGL_Trinity#2180. He will get them together and do a follow up Q&A in next week’s blog with Alex, Minion Master’s content lead, and Peter, Minion Master’s lead designer.

Minion Masters!

The third and final Season Pass for Nightmares is here! Stoutheart reinforcements have arrived to the fight against Mar’Dred, while the heroic Shield-Captain Avea charges into the front!

Stay tuned to our Update Site for more information on our next Expansion, coming soon!

• A new Season Pass has arrived to Minion Masters!
  
• Tons of new rewards, including 3 cards, a Legendary Skin, bonus cards, and more!
  
• Three new cards have been added to the game:
  
  
  
  
• Angelic Milloween has also been added to the game!
  
  
  
  
• The Season Pass will end on the 3rd of December.
  

As mentioned in previous Blog Posts, this patch marks the end of our support for the game on Discord. In recent months we've been concerned about the stability of the platform in regards to the game, with users experiencing difficulties related to the platform itself that we can't resolve. While we expected this to happen eventually as Discord had officially ended support for game distribution, they occurred a lot sooner than anticipated.

We don't want to just switch off supporting the Discord version of the game without offering any alternatives for everyone playing through the platform, however, so we’ve created a system to allow Discord players to transfer their progress to a Steam account.

When you launch the game through Discord, you’ll be greeted with a message and a 6 digit code that’s unique to your account. When playing on Steam, you'll be able to select a "Migrate Discord User" option in the Menu where you can enter the code to start a one-way operation that replaces the account you're playing with on our server with that of the Discord account.

If you own DLC on the Steam account, but not on Discord, you'll unlock the content once you've transferred your progress.

However, if you already own the DLC on Discord, you will not receive them a second time for your account, even if you purchase it from the Steam store. We cannot flag your account as having purchased the DLC, so the option to buy it will still be there even though you won't get anything from it.

Note that we are not responsible for any incorrect or accidental account transfers that happen as a result of you accidentally sharing your code. Don't transfer your account while streaming, and recheck your Steam credentials to make sure you're logged into the correct account before migrating. Keep your code safe!


This update comes with a large overhaul to one of our oldest masters, Volco!

Basic Attack
Unchanged

Perk 1 - Burn the Bridges
Add the card Burn the Bridges to Volco’s deck.

Burn the Bridges
Both bridges get covered in flames, dealing damage to ground Minions.
Mana Cost: 2
Card Type: Spell
Damage: 200
Duration: 5 seconds

Perk 2 - Tempers Flaring
Summon an Ember of Flame every 15 seconds on a random bridge. When a friendly Melee Minion picks up the ember, all nearby friendly Melee Minions gain Rage

Rage
+50% Attack Damage

Ember of Flame
Pickup Radius: 1
Effect Radius: 8

Tempers Burning
Ember of Flame now gives Berserker’s Rage instead

Berserker’s Rage
+100% Attack Damage. Also self inflict 10% of attack damage

Developer Comments
For a while Volco has been directed a lot by his perk 1, pushing him into this Spam Master identity. This was never really the intention, as Volco's identity is supposed to be Aggressive, brutish and very much a fighting Master. The Afterburner perk was supposed to give him a tool to put some pressure on the opponent master, allowing him to be more aggressive. However, it has proven that the effect was far too strong which resulted in him being relegated to simply dominating the bridges (with help from perk 2) and spam killing his opponent from a far - Quite the opposite of what we want Volco to really be.

Veteran users will remember the days before Rage was set to 50% where Volco was all about getting to that 3rd perk and destroying your opponent with superior brawling power. This is the style we are trying to get back to with this rework.

By making the rage dependent on the bridge we are hoping to gear Volco into an aggressive track in which he minions are far stronger in offense, rather than in defense. Adding the 100% Berserkers rage should make his perk 3 quite significant again, however the 10% self damage should help make it slightly more manageable to deal with these highly explosive minions.

Ultimately we're hoping this design will help Volco return to his true Identity, as well as removing a play style that has been very frustrating to play against.


Arcane Bolt

• Cost 4 -> 2
  
• Mana Freeze 1 -> 3
  
• Developer Comments
• We’re hoping that this change will make Arcane Bolt easier to use on high-priority targets quickly, but have a Mana Freeze amount significant enough to still retain a significant mana cost to the card in practice.
  

Armor of Light

• Cooldown 12 -> 14
  
• Developer Comments
• This affects Brothers of Light, Caeleth Dawnhammer, and Shieldguard of Light. We’re mainly opting to do this change as the Brothers have emerged as a powerful frontline duo recently due to the large amounts of value they can generate, between their anti-swarm capabilities and large stat pools.
  

Caeleth Dawnhammer

• Mana Cost 9 -> 8
  
• Developer Comments
• This change is mainly to compensate for the increase in Armor of Light cooldown.
  

Empyrean Army

• Now requires 5 Unique Empyrean cards.
  
• Developer Comments
• This is a change we've wanted to make for a while, as the intention has always been that a significant portion of your deck needs to meet the Empyrean theme for the effect to activate. The usage of Wild Cards would somewhat defeat this goal, hence the change.
  

Healing Fireball

• Healing is now split among friendly Minions.
  
• The spell will try to split healing as evenly as possible, but will not "overheal" units. If there are two minions with 100/200 hp, and 100/400 hp, the first Minion will heal for 100, and the second for 300.
  
• Developer Comments
• Healing Fireball simply provided too much value for its mana cost in push-oriented decks, exponentially becoming more powerful the more units it affected and rendering some spells completely ineffective as a countermeasure, or making trades far too valuable after the fact. Nerfing the numbers of the Spell would simply put it in a state where it's either dominant with how much value it provides or too bad to consider running, so we're opting for a rework to how the healing is applied.
  

Resonating Blast Crystal

• AoE Radius 4.5 -> 6
  

Restless Dead

• Mana Cost 3 -> 4
  
• KNOWN ISSUE: This change does not appear to be in the game currently. We are working on getting this hotfixed as soon as we can.
  
• Developer Comments
• We wanted to take a moment to explain why this nerf didn't come sooner. We were first made aware of how explosive Restless Dead really was just a few days before the release of Version 1.17, which ended up being dangerously close to the patch deadline and would have more than likely affected the Xbox Certification process, and delayed the patch as a whole.
  
• We weighed our options and decided against hotfixing it so we could try a new mechanic on the PTR that could hopefully be incorporated as a balancing measure in the future, but the results weren't satisfactory. We've shelved that idea for now, and while there are still interesting options for Restless Dead on the table, we're opting to go with this change for now and revisit it later.
  

Screaming Scrat

• Mana Cost 2 -> 1
  
• Health 100 -> 15
  
• Now has Barrel Shield
  
• Damage 130 -> 30
  

Smite

• Damage 250 -> 200
  

Wreckinator

• Max Health is now reduced when Malfunction occurs
  
• Health Reduction is equal to the Malfunction Threshhold
  
• Slam attack Cooldown 6 -> 4
  
• Developer Comments
• Wreckinator’s main usage was with a cheese strategy involving Glenn’s Brew, which provided a huge boost in HP at a low mana cost while bypassing the downside of the Minion disappearing at the end of its duration. While Glenn’s Brew will still be somewhat effective with this change in mind, we wanted to make it feel less frustrating to play against and enable better counterplay options. As Wreckinator wasn’t particularly powerful outside of it, however, we also wanted to buff the baseline abilities of the card, as we felt the Slam attack never saw much practical usage due to its long time requirement.
  

Zeppelin Bomber

• Attack Cooldown 3 -> 2
  
• Damage 100 -> 70
  

• Fixed being unable to report teammates for leaving in 2v2 matches.
  
• Fixed Ravager’s Feeding Frenzy removing Haste when a unit is healed past its threshold.
  
• Fixed Stormbringer’s Marksmanship removing itself from Minions if their team was changed (I.E. Ghost)
  
• Fixed Bridge Shrine having a Production Time statistic.
  
• Fixed some issues with Stormbringer’s targeting logic.
  
• Fixed an instance where Scrat Tank takes damage with its shield up, while Hypnotised - Thanks Sinobii!
  
• Fixed an instance where Log Tosser would throw his log halfway across the arena - Thanks Karlim00!
  
• Fixed Haunting Hugger disappearing after possessing a unit it kills instantly - Thanks Nerzl!
  
• Fixed Re-Boomer having an “activated” highlight despite not having Voidborne Wound - Thanks Ecke!
  
• Fixed being unable to claim Battle Pass tiers if there’s nothing on the tier.
  

Cheers from BetaDwarf!

Minion Masters!



We've got a large overhaul to one of our oldest masters, Volco, coming in Version 1.18. Here's a sneak peak at the new Volco:

Basic Attack
Unchanged

Perk 1 - Burn the Bridges
Add the card Burn the Bridges to Volco's deck.

Burn the Bridges
Both bridges get covered in flames, dealing damage to ground Minions.
Mana Cost: 2
Card Type: Spell
Damage: 200
Duration: 5 seconds

(Functionally the same as the current Burn the Bridges, but now costing 2 mana, up from 0)

Perk 2 - Tempers Flaring
Summon an Ember of Flame every 15 seconds on a random bridge. When a friendly Melee Minion picks up the ember, all nearby friendly Melee Minions gain Rage

Rage
+50% Attack Damage

Ember of Flame
Pickup Radius: 1
Effect Radius: 8

(Embers spawn on your side of the bridge)

Perk 3 - Tempers Burning
Ember of Flame now gives Berserker's Rage instead

Berserker's Rage
+100% Attack Damage. Also self inflict 10% of attack damage

Developer Comments:

For a while Volco has been directed a lot by his perk 1, pushing him into this Spam Master identity. This was never really the intention, as Volco's identity is supposed to be Aggressive, brutish and very much a fighting Master. The Afterburner perk was supposed to give him a tool to put some pressure on the opponent master, allowing him to be more aggressive. However, it has proven that the effect was far too strong which resulted in him being relegated to simply dominating the bridges (with help from perk 2) and spam killing his opponent from a far - Quite the opposite of what we want Volco to really be.

Veteran users will remember the days before Rage was set to 50% where Volco was all about getting to that 3rd perk and destroying your opponent with superior brawling power. This is the style we are trying to get back to with this rework.

By making the rage dependent on the bridge we are hoping to gear Volco into an aggressive track in which he minions are far stronger in offense, rather than in defense. Adding the 100% Berserkers rage should make his perk 3 quite significant again, however the 10% self damage should help make it slightly more manageable to deal with these highly explosive minions.

Ultimately we're hoping this design will help Volco return to his true Identity, as well as removing a play style that has been very frustrating to play against.

It's been a blast playtesting the new Volco behind the scenes, and we can't wait for him to hit the Live servers next week. Let us know what you think!


We've also got a selection of other card balance changes coming in version 1.18;

Healing Fireball

• Healing is now split among friendly Minions.
  
• The spell will try to split healing as evenly as possible, but will not "overheal" units. If there are two minions with 100/200 hp, and 100/400 hp, the first Minion will heal for 100, and the second for 300.
  
• Developer Comments
• Healing Fireball simply provided too much value for its mana cost in push-oriented decks, exponentially becoming more powerful the more units it affected and rendering some spells completely ineffective as a countermeasure, or making trades far too valuable after the fact. Nerfing the numbers of the Spell would simply put it in a state where it's either dominant with how much value it provides or too bad to consider running, so we're opting for a rework to how the healing is applied.
  

Restless Dead

• Mana Cost 3 -> 4
  
• Developer Comments
• We wanted to take a moment to explain why this nerf didn't come sooner. We were first made aware of how explosive Restless Dead really was just a few days before the release of Version 1.17, which ended up being dangerously close to the patch deadline and would have more than likely affected the Xbox Certification process, and delayed the patch as a whole.
  
• We weighed our options and decided against hotfixing it so we could try a new mechanic on the PTR that could hopefully be incorporated as a balancing measure in the future, but the results weren't satisfactory. We've shelved that idea for now, and while there are still interesting options for Restless Dead on the table, we're opting to go with this change for now and revisit it later.
  

Screaming Scrat

• Mana Cost 2 -> 1
  
• Health 100 -> 15
  
• Add Barrel Shield (Includes the reduced movement speed effect)
  
• Damage 130 -> 30
  

Zeppelin Bomber

• Attack Cooldown 3 -> 2
  
• Damage 100 -> 70
  

Empyrean Army

• Requires 5 Unique (non-Wild Carded) Empyrean Cards in your deck to activate
  
• Developer Comments
• This is a change we've wanted to make for a while, as the intention has always been that a significant portion of your deck needs to meet the Empyrean theme for the effect to activate. The usage of Wild Cards would somewhat defeat this goal, hence the change.
  

These are just a small selection of changes coming in Version 1.18. As always, let us know what you think!



BadAsAFish has signups for another 2v2 tournament open right now! Signups are closing on the 26th for this Double Elimination multi-day event, so if you're looking for competitive Minion Masters action with a friend, this'll be the tournament for you!

This is a global Minion Masters 2v2, Double Elimination, Best of 3 (Finals are Best of 5), Multi-Day event. The tournament will start on the 28th of September, and you will be given 3 days to play each round at your convenience. Please note that this is a global tournament, open to players of all time zones.

1st: $50.00 ($25 each) + 3 Big Dwarf Packs Each (900 Rubies + 45 Power Tokens)
2nd: $25.00 ($12.50 each) + 2 Big Dwarf Packs Each (600 Rubies + 30 Power Tokens)
3rd: $15.00 ($7.50 each) + 1 Big Dwarf Pack Each (300 Rubies + 15 Power Tokens)
4th: $10.00 ($5.00 each) + 1 Big Dwarf Pack Each (300 Rubies + 15 Power Tokens)
5th - 8th: 1 Dwarf Pack each (1500 Gold + 3 Power Tokens)

https://www.toornament.com/en_GB/tournaments/4022691033885106176/information

Cheers from BetaDwarf!

Minion Masters!

[h3]Discord Account Migration[/h3]


We're able to share some more about the process of Account migration we'll be offering with Version 1.18 for Discord users.

(Previously we discussed that support for the Discord version of Minion Masters will be ending with the new update due to concerns about the game's stability - Check out the post here if you'd like to read more.)

With the patch, when you launch the game through Discord you'll be given a 6 digit code that's unique to your account. When playing on Steam, you'll be able to select a "Migrate Discord User" option in the Menu where you can enter the code to start a one-way operation that replaces the account you're playing with on our server with that of the Discord account.

If you own DLC on the Steam account, but not on Discord, you'll unlock the content once you've transferred your progress.

However, if you already own the DLC on Discord, you will not receive them a second time for your account, even if you purchase it from the Steam store. We cannot flag your account as having purchased the DLC, so the option to buy it will still be there even though you won't get anything from it.

Note that we are not responsible for any incorrect or accidental account transfers that happen as a result of you accidentally sharing your code. Don't transfer your account while streaming, and recheck your Steam credentials to make sure you're logged into the correct account before migrating. Keep your code safe!

Version 1.18 will be releasing on the 29th of October. If you have any further questions, feel free to reach out to us at the usual places, or via [email protected].

[h3]Halloween decorations are live today![/h3]


The arenas are getting spooky with today's mini-Update! As detailed in last week's blog, all your favourite arenas have a facelift - Have fun with the haunted festivities and let us know which modified arena is your favourite! And get ready for a huge DLC sale on the 27th, and that special free shop offer on Halloween itself!

[h3]Mountain Gale in action![/h3]
Last Friday, we showcased the new Mountain Gale card on our Update Site. This week we figured we'd showcase a sneak peek of it in action:



(We'll start including GIFs of the new cards in our weekly Newsletters. If you haven't already signed up, make sure to do so and be the first to see previews like this!)

[h3]BadAsAFish80's Minion Masters Tournament 1v1 #16[/h3]


BadAsAFish is back at it again with another multi-day tournament, with a $100 prize pool and an invitation to the Sinobii Battleground Invitational up for grabs!

It'll be starting on October 19th, so you've still got time to sign up if you want in. Earn some experience playing competitive Minion Masters games, and engage with our awesome e-sports community!

https://www.toornament.com/en_GB/tournaments/4003556989281189888/information

Cheers from BetaDwarf!

Minion Masters!



It's that time of year again, Masters, which means it's time for us to bring out the pumpkins and douse the Arenas in those spooky lights - We're bringing back the Halloween decorations from last year!

• ALL your favourite arenas have been given a special seasonal look!
  
• The elusive Pumpking Puff will be available in the store.
  
• Free Halloween-exclusive shop offer on October 31st, packed with goodies!
  

We'll also be having big discounts on all Minion Masters DLCs from the 29th to the 2nd, so it'll be the perfect opportunity to pick them up if you hadn't already!

Have a sneak look at Jadespark Jungle's makeover! Which arenas are you most excited to play in with the seasonal decorations?



The decorated arenas will be landing next week on the 15th!



The time for the third and final Season Pass of the Nightmares expansion is coming soon, and so are its reveals! We'll be revealing the first card this Friday on our Update Site, so don't forget to stop by, check it out, and enjoy a cool Stoutheart breeze!

Cheers from BetaDwarf!