Minion Masters News

Minion Masters!

We're changing up our blog schedule to release on the same day as our new E-mail Newsletters - Thursday! Our main reason for doing this is to avoid major content overlaps between them and to align better with future Update days.





The Quest for Mountainshaper is releasing next week, Masters! After the short delay for our Mini-Update in Malshaar's Malicious Malediction, the new release date of the 5th of December is almost upon us. Have you been keeping on top of all of the latest reveals from our Update Site?

We've got a Developer Stream coming up on Monday the 2nd to show off all of the new content you'll be able to play with, including all the new cards and a live demonstration of Adventures. You can find it on our official Twitch Channel at 1900 CET - We hope to see you there!


Thanks for all the submissions we've received regarding your card ideas so far! A lot of them have been really interesting to read through, and today we're highlighting Aymei's set of Accursed cards, including a new mechanic:

New Mechanic - Accursed Bones: Bones are dropped from certain Accursed cards, like the Undying Skeleton. It is used as a resource to cast certain abilities.

Corpse Explosion - 3 Mana Spell. Destroy bones in the target area, dealing 100 damage to ALL units. Can only be used in your arena.

Ghoul - 5 Mana Minion. Consumes all bones on the map, getting bigger and stronger. Gains 75 HP and 10 damage per bone consumed. Base 150 HP and 20 Damage.

What we like most about this set of suggestions is the idea of creating a long term win condition through the new Bones mechanic and creating powerful cards that take advantage of them, but with major drawbacks to including them in your deck to offset their lategame potential. Corpse Explosion for instance would do nothing without any Bones in your field, requiring you to set it up first, while Ghoul only becomes valuable when there's a large number of Bones on the field, making your strategy predictable to your opponent in exchange for the raw potential.

Want your card suggestions featured on our blog? Send your ideas to [email protected] !



Lastly, we've got a little bit more to show off regarding that Crossbow Dude and the Priestess from a few weeks ago. 10 seconds more, in fact:



The keen eye will notice this Priestess looks a little different to what we currently have in game. What could it all mean? You'll find out soon!

Cheers from BetaDwarf!

Minion Masters!

The Mini-Update has just dropped containing the balance changes from Version 1.7 as well as the new Mal'Shaar's Malicious Malediction Mayhem. Are you having fun with them? Let us know! In the meantime, there's two weeks until The Quest for Mountainshaper releases, and this week we'd like to look back at the past.



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Long time Minion Masters player Ecke brought this video to our attention from the BetaDwarf Archives. What you see is one of the first Minion Masters prototypes from its early infancy back in Summer 2016, using lots of early graphics and models from our previous project Forced Showdown. Lots of weird animations back then, too - Check out that sway on Ratbo, and how Sniper Scrat doesn't even take aim. It even features Ratbo's old second perk where he could attack at global range if he had more than 10 minions summoned at a time.

It's great to look back at old footage like this and see how far Minion Masters has come since then. Thanks again to Ecke for pointing us to this!





Forced was the first game BetaDwarf made out of university, for which you can read our incredible startup story here. Forced was acclaimed for its great co-op gameplay in a time where games had begun to focus on more solitary, less social experiences. With our next project having that same focus of connecting people together with Friendshipping, it's great to look back at where it all started for inspiration.

Steam Remote Play Together allows you to play local multiplayer games with your friends online across the world, as if they were sitting next to you with their controller plugged in. For Forced, this could mean you'll have less connection issues when trying to play with your friends as you're using Steam's new and improved feature rather than our old and non-optimized multiplayer setup.

To celebrate the release of Remote Play Together, [https://store.steampowered.com/app/249990/FORCED_Slightly_Better_Edition/]Forced is currently on sale until November 25th on Steam. We hope you'll take this opportunity to play through BetaDwarf's first adventure into the games industry as we prepare to expand in new and exciting directions!



We decided we'd like to get ahead on communicating upcoming content around the Christmas period, so we have some information for you about what we'll be up to. Version 1.8 is currently scheduled for the 18th of December and will include a Christmas Event, Balance changes and a couple of things that didn't make it into Version 1.7.

Additionally, the first ranked season for The Quest for Mountainshaper will have a longer duration than normal. The current season has been extended to the 5th to coincide with the release of our new expansion, and because Version 1.9 won't be until the 16th of January (as currently planned) the next ranked season will end there.



Following a recent string of tournaments he's hosted, BadAsAFish80 is back and venturing into the relatively untapped realm of 2v2 Tournaments. Here's what he had to say on Reddit:

Many of you have asked for me to provide a 2v2 tournament therefore I'm excited to announce that we are doing it! Since this is the first of our 2v2 tournaments it will be designated as a test event so that we can see how the scheduling and rules are applied to this game mode, therefore I need your help to get as many people into the tournament as possible. There is no cash prize pool for this event but the first "proper" 2v2 tournament will be supported by BetaDwarf providing a $200 prize pool with registration starting for that event on the 1st of December.

https://www.toornament.com/en_GB/tournaments/3055972701168066560/information

I'm really excited to get the 2v2 tournament scene up and running and I hope that you all can join me in this and future events to have a lot of fun, to support the community and of course win some prizes!

Many thanks

Fish

Cheers from BetaDwarf!

Minion Masters!

As previously announced on our Blog and Newsletter, we unfortunately had to delay the release of The Quest for Mountainshaper. However, we don’t want to leave you with nothing for the next two weeks, so we put together this Mini-Update containing all the balance changes from Version 1.7, a brand new Mayhem, and extensions to the Conquest and Battle Pass deadlines. There will also be a free Shop Offer in the store once the deals change today, make sure to pick it up!



Replacing Two for Free for this week is this brand new Mayhem teasing the upcoming community voted card Mal’Shaar! In this Mayhem, all minions are granted Stealth when summoned. You’ll need to tool your deck up with ways to detect or reveal enemy minions, otherwise they’ll walk straight past each other. As part of this update you can also complete a special Quest of playing a Mayhem match to earn yourself the Banshee Morellia skin.


Accursed Ascension

• Spectral Essence required from 20 to 15
  
• Developer Comments
• We felt Accursed Ascension required too much dedication to play properly, especially outside of Morellia decks. With this change, you have more deck options while still being able to reach Ascension.
  

Boomer

• Now has Voidborne Wound: Reduce Mana Cost by 1
  
• Developer Comments
• Boomer has felt underpowered for a while, this change should bring it up to speed while bolstering Voidborne decks.
  

Bridge Shrine

• Duration decreased from 60 to 45 (Still generates the same amount of total XP)
  
• Developer Comments
• We like the dynamic Bridge Shrine adds to the game, but the recent change to building placement affected Bridge Shrine too much. With this change, Bridge Shrine should become more of a threat that your opponent has to deal with faster.
  

Caged Prowler

• Health increased from 300 to 400
  
• Developer Comments
• It was too difficult to get decent value out of Caged Prowler because it could be stopped by spells easily. With this change, you are forcing your opponent to deal with it with Minions, or using a more expensive spell.
  

Chain Lightning / Stormy

• Now has a maximum of 10 bounces
  
• Developer Comments
• Chain Lightning is infamous in 2v2 especially because it could bounce around the entire arena. This change stops those situations while retaining Chain Lightning’s intended power.
  

Diona

• Decoy Trap Mana Cost reduced from 1 to 0
  
• Developer Comments
• Diona has fallen behind the other Masters lately. This change should make her Decoy Trap easier to use and combine with other cards.
  

Dragon Nest

• Dragon Whelp Mana Threshold decreased from 5 to 4
  
• Duration 35 > 30
  
• Developer Comments
• Dragon Nest is a fun card to build a deck around. This change should give you more freedom of choice when picking spells for your Dragon Nest deck.
  

Morellia

• Basic Attack no longer slows enemy Minions
  
• Damage 5 > 6
  
• Developer Comments
• Morellia’s slow can feel extremely punishing to play against, especially in the early game, so we opted to remove it.
  

Netherstep

• Now only affects Ground minions
  
• Voidborne Wound: Reduce Mana Cost by 1
  
• Developer Comments
• This change should add a new tool to the Voidborne tool kit that embraces an aggressive playstyle.
  

Nyrvir the Fallen

• Damage per Second decreased from 50 to 40
  
• Health decreased from 2200 to 2000
  
• Developer Comments
• Nyrvir has been extremely hard to deal with, especially for newer players. This should make her less overwhelming.
  

Ratbo

• Perk 1 & 3 now summon Armored Scrats if the minion costs 5 or more Mana
  
• Developer Comments
• Ratbo has always been forced to play with cheap Minions. This change should give Ratbo players some more interesting options to choose from, as they will now benefit from adding higher-cost minions to their decks.
  

Ritual of Servitude

• Mana Cost increased from 2 to 4
  
• No longer has a cap on the minion summoned
  
• Developer Comments
• RoS was intended to add value to high-cost decks to make up for their lack of bridge control. Due to the low cost however, it added too much value. With this change, 7+ mana cost are still an option, but with less free value gained from this card.
  

• The Battle Pass and Conquest end dates have been extended to reflect the new release date for The Quest for Mountainshaper.
  

Cheers from BetaDwarf!

In her search for the ancient artifact Mountainshaper, Milloween treks through the frozen Highlands. Here she comes upon a village of big burly humans known as Stouthearts.

After proving herself to their clan, Milloween and her elven companion Leiliel Brightfeather are welcomed with open arms, and invited to join in their revelry. The eager young would-be hero, Fergus Flagon Fighter, promises to guide Milloween as they embark on a dangerous journey through the Mountains.

Read more about the new Expansion and upcoming content reveals on our Update Site here: http://minionmastersthegame.com/updates/the-quest-for-mountainshaper/

Set yourself a Reminder and be notified when the Update goes live!

Minion Masters!





We've got good news and bad news - Let's start with the bad. We try to align expansions with promotional opportunities because they enhance the opportunities we have to bring more players to the game. Unfortunately, a lot of things are conflicting currently, meaning our opportunity doesn't align effectively, meaning fewer players. It's important to us that the game keeps growing, so we have to delay Version 1.7 and The Quest for Mountainshaper to the 5th of December. We know you've been excited about things, but we truly believe it's better for the game if we wait just a bit longer.

To make up for it, we're releasing a new mayhem mode on the 21st, as a teaser for the upcoming community-voted card, Mal'Shar! We'll have a special prize for playing the Mayhem, and the Mayhem is replacing the "Two For Free" one currently scheduled. We'll also be doing a mini-update on the 21st that includes all of the balance changes that were intended for 1.7. The ranked season will not, however, be resetting until Version 1.7's release. Here's one of the balance changes we intend to be making:

• Ritual of Servitude
• Summoned Card cap removed
  
• Mana Cost 2 > 4
  
• Developer Comments
• With our previous change to Ritual of Servitude we wanted to ensure that we could limit the power level of the high cost decks that made the most use of it without harming the effectiveness of the lower cost decks that were less explosive in their usage of the cards. Unfortunately, some times balance changes don't work out, and it ultimately had less of an impact on the metagame as we had hoped for. We determined that a mana cost increase to 3 wouldn't be significant enough either due to the mana advantage gained. We're hoping that 4 mana is the right place for the card to be.
  

The Conquest and Battle Pass will also be prolonged, meaning you have more time to get any last rewards you have to collect. Additionally, the last few reveals on the Update Site for the expansion are having their reveal dates changed to reflect the delay. The release of the third chapter of Adventures and the intended December 1.8 patch are also delayed - More information will follow soon.




We'd like to start a new feature on our future Blog Posts where we can highlight some of the brightest creative minds in the community - And what better way to do that than to hear what kind of cards you think should be added to the game?
Mail your card ideas with as many details as you want to [email protected]
It can be about anything - Existing factions, or maybe something new? Building up on existing cards in a clever way or adding something entirely unique to the game.
We'll try to pick out our favourite submission each week to showcase on the blog.
(Please note that we're unlikely to actually implement the cards into the game even if they're featured on the blog - This is something we're doing just for fun :) )
We're looking forward to see what you can come up with!


Today we're featuring the remarkable story of Twitch streamer DoctorZox!

Zox earned his PhD in Kinesiology; Master’s in Psychology and a Bachelor's in Philosophy almost 20 years ago. His path was set until this all changed in 2009, when a life changing accident left him disabled and unable to work.

In a struggle to find a new path, he turned to gaming to take his mind on a new, and never ending journey. World of Warcraft followed by Hearthstone was the start.

Achieving PVP Gladiator in WoW Arena and Legend multiple times in Hearthstone with a high rank of Legend 69 left him wanting more.

He found his way to Twitch Affiliate July 9th 2018 streaming Hearthstone. Then transitioned to Minion Masters full time on July 1st 2019, where he was able to achieve GrandMaster in just 2 short weeks! He is known in the wonderful Minion Masters community as DoctorZox to his Twitch family and friends, where you can find him live with his faithful and loyal companion Kiaya!

Check out DoctorZox's twitch stream here!

Cheers from BetaDwarf!