Cross of Auria News

Starting tonight, I will begin development on a new event in Agartha. This gauntlet battle series will replace the current one inside the Hall of Challengers, currently known as "The Pit." So far, the Pit has done well as a place where players could just mess around without a higher goal, but the back end requirements of sustaining it are quite extensive. At first, I set aside over 600 Enemy and Troop slots to fill the remaining pit battles, but looking at it now, I'd rather have something similar that used what already exists and therefore would be easier to maintain. So here's a preview of the idea along with what it means for players!

• New event in Hall of Challengers to replace the Pit. The event is currently unnamed, but will be referred to as "Gauntlet" for the rest of this post.
- Gauntlet will use Enemy and Troop data from the world for non-bosses. This includes experience earned, gold obtained, and loot dropped.
-- For reference, The Pit used a handful of custom enemies with significantly reduced drops, similar to the Colosseum rift, in addition to regular world enemy data.

- Gauntlet will follow a 10 level per tier structure. For instance, to unlock the level 11-20 bracket, you must complete the level 1-10 bracket first.
-- Completing a bracket will reward a special prize the first time it is completed.

- To complete a tier of Gauntlet, the player must defeat three Regular Troops for each designated level and one Boss Troop as each graduation match. For instance, to open the level 11-20 bracket, Ruby must complete 31 battles - 3 for each level 1-10 plus one Boss.

- The enemies fought in Gauntlet are randomized from the collection of enemies which appear throughout the world at that level. You can tell what level an enemy is based on it's name, which usually looks something like this "An'ura Warrior (Lv. 1)".
-- Due to the randomization, it is possible to have a different experience each time Ruby challenges any given bracket.

- Pit Coins will not drop in Gauntlet for the time being. Therefore, after the next update goes live, the Challenger's Battleguard set will be temporarily unavailable.

- Gauntlet related currency will not drop directly from enemies, but rather roll for being rewarded after that battle is completed. This way, these same enemies will not drop the Gauntlet currency when they are fought elsewhere in the world.
-- Gauntlet currency will either drop relative to the amount of enemies faced or the level where they were faced, or some combination of the two. Details are not yet ironed out.

- Rare worldspawn enemies will also be similarly rare within Gauntlet.
-- Example: Rare wolf only spawns if dice roll 1-6 lands on 1, and then second dice roll 1-6 also lands on 1. This would also be true for its corresponding level in Gauntlet.

- An 'endless' version of Gauntlet is not currently planned, but may be built after the highest levels have been completed.

- Ruby's Party will not get a game over while in Gauntlet. Instead, party will be revived and given +50 HP after falling.

- All obtained characters are permitted to participate in Gauntlet.

- While development of Gauntlet is ongoing, the guard will not allow access to the teleporter and the Hall of Challengers will become Save Restricted. If I don't have to rush a patch for anything else in between starting and finishing this new event, players will not notice these changes as they will be lifted on release.

- Gauntlet is set to release with game version 5.0.5 barring any emergency fixes in between start and finish.
- Estimated time to build new event: ~3 days.



Looking beyond Gauntlet:
- Battle Series I is still in development and will serve as Cross of Auria's first battle and loot focused DLC. BSI will be released when completed.
- Battle Series X has entered planning stages and will serve as Cross of Auria's first free battle and loot focused DLC. BSX will be released when completed, and will be released prior for Battle Series I.
- The Halloween Event from 2020 will undergo a series of minor fixes and then return to the game as a permanent event. However, the event will not be repeatable.
- The Colosseum will see it's second dungeon event in the next few months. Both the new one and the current An'ura one are developed in a way where their levels can be easily scaled to the new cap as the main story progresses.
- Battlefront will see its next handful of zones over the next few weeks.
- Shoreline will open as the next Orc War related location soon.

Small update today. If you missed the battle with Scorpio's Pupil, now's the time to return to the waterway and take him on!

5.0.4 [Build #100, Release Date: August 24, 2021] Bugs to look for: Report them as a comment to the most recent patch notes or post them directly on the CoA channels using the invite link above!
- Ruby should not become trapped in any of the Waterway connecting passages at any point during the Orc War campaign.

New:
- Raphael's Tower now connects to the Nexus Waterway after the events of the waterway are complete. Waterway exits into Auria become blocked at this time.
- Random encounters have been added to the Nexus Waterway.
- A pack of wolves has begun prowling the four kingdoms area at night. They may also cross into the Black Forest once the guardian has left.

This was a very fast update since it was already being worked on when I had to push out 5.0.1, but it's finished now. The An'ura Rift in the Colosseum is now a level 20 event and the Warden has gear appropriate for the level challenge in addition to the gear he already had. Good luck!

Also included are the full patch notes from 5.0.2 and 5.0.1, since they've been rolling out quick due to the need to patch bugs

5.0.3 [Build #99, Release Date: August 23, 2021] Bugs to look for: Report them as a comment to the most recent patch notes or post them directly on the CoA channels using the invite link above!
- Battles in Rift An'ura inside the Colosseum should not have missing enemies or result in an auto-win.

New:
- The base version of Rift An'ura in the Colosseum has been scaled to level 20, up from 8. The other two Rifts were closed when 5.0.1 went live. The Enemy and Troop data for the other variants has been removed. To correspond with the new difficulty, items from a new set have been included in the Warden's shop.

Fixes:
- Fixed the tooltip for the Sterling set, which gave a 15% weakness to ice in addition to the resistance to poison.

5.0.2 [Build #98, Release Date: August 22, 2021] Fixes:
- Fixed an issue in the Orc War campaign where if you did not defeat the purple Orc in Market Town, escape from Auria would be impossible after exiting the waterway.

5.0.1 [Build #97, Release Date: August 21, 2021] Fixes:
- Fixed an issue where the girls would be unable to move after Miles & Riley depart at the beginning of the Orc War.
- Fixed a hiccup in the variable coding for the Battlefront area. Players who continued to the first battlefront zone will have missed the gold purchase option for the first wave of mercenaries.

Changes:
- The higher level versions of the An'ura Rift in the colosseum have been closed and the Warden no longer sells Rift Keys. If you have a save file from within these rifts, return to the beginning or end areas to teleport out. Data for enemies, transfers, and other progress related information in these rifts has been erased.

Battlefront:
- Removed the 500 gold chest from the intro area. This was left in from testing by mistake.
- Hiring Mercs now costs regular Gold instead of Silver Pieces and Gold Pieces.
- Merc set gear no longer costs Silver Pieces or Gold Pieces, and instead costs 50x the previous requirement in gold.

Deployed an emergency fix for an issue where the party would become stuck outside of Auria at the beginning of the Orc War. This was due to a screen tint autorun event that had conditions to run forever - the event is now set to erase on all conditions and should not longer cause this lockup.

A number of other changes are being worked on at the time of deploying this build but are not included in the patch notes, mostly having to do with the Battlefront and Colosseum areas. This detail will be provided in a future update.

5.0.1 [Build #97, Release Date: August 21, 2021] Fixes:
- Fixed an issue where the girls would be unable to move after Miles & Riley depart at the beginning of the Orc War.

I wrote a ton of text the other day in my last post, so let's keep this one short and sweet with some highlights and then the patch notes.
• If you have a save file from before 4.2 dropped on August 6th, there will be bugs. If you started a new save file after August 6th, there should not be bugs. I will not be able to patch issues relating to Ewynn with save files from before August 6th. As much as I hated forcing this on all of you, a new save file was unavoidable because of my poor use of self-switches. I've learned a lot - it won't happen again.
• The Orc War will trigger once you go to the world map from Auria if you've completed the third Veil scene. If it does not, reach out to me on Discord immediately (https://discord.gg/bMS9ktw)

Good luck. :D

5.0 [Build #96, Release Date: August 15, 2021] Bugs to look for: Report them as a comment to the most recent patch notes or post them directly on the CoA channels using the invite link above!
- ??? There are a lot of crazy things that can happen here, just tell me all of it!
- It should not be possible to enter Auria after leaving.
- It should not be possible to enter Lvell during Day 4 (Orc War beginning day).
- All dungeons should feed back out to the Orc War World Map, which has different music than the regular world map of the previous days.
- Music should change when entering all available locations from the world map, and again when returning to the world map.
- No battle should result in an auto-win because the enemies were not there (report specifically where this was if it happens! It won't break the game, I've just been cleaning out unused Troops and Enemies.)
- No battle should not have a battleback (aka: you should not see Ruby & co. in the world where the encounter happened under the battle screen).
- Most importantly, the Orc War event should trigger immediately upon leaving Auria if you've already completed the third Veil scene.

New:
- The first steps of the Orc War are available! This is triggered by leaving Auria after the 3rd Veil scene. (Warning: the Orc War questline is not yet completed, and it will not be possible to re-visit certain locations until a future update. See the "Other" section below for details.)
- Elemental resistance states added to the game data. These last by default for 3 turns and are not removed at the end of combat. Additional applications will increase the turn count. Each state adds 30% defense to its element. These states exist for: Physical, Fire, Water, Electric, Ice, Earth, Wind, Poison, Dragon, Psychic, Holy, Dark, Soul, Ghost, Arcane.
- Details for item and equipment disassembly has been added to most items. However, there is currently no disassembler available. Expect the first permanent-use disassembler to arrive in 5.1.

Fixes:
- States "Mag Eva + 20%" and "Phys Eva + 20%" now last for 3-5 turns, instead of indefinitely.
- Set the amount of intended gem slots for all weapons and armor. Some gear will still drop with a random amount of slots.
- Quest Log details for Search for the Strongest have been replaced with minimalist info. The original details were lost and therefore will not be rewritten. Please keep in mind that the Quest Log is purely visual and has no entanglement with actual in-game functionality or rewards.

Changes:
- Enemy skill "Sharpen" now increases luck by 20% in addition to its other effects.
- Waterbolt and Vaporstrike now have a 10% chance to apply Soak and each higher tier skill adds 10% to that chance.
- The An'ura Expert moves to Annie's House in Lvell during the Orc War.

Other (Day 4 / Orc War Info): This information is specific to the 'Orc War Overworld Map' and does not apply for players who have not completed Auria's chapter of the Orc War.
- Raphael's Tower may be accessed from this World Map and the teleporter in this area may still be used to connect back to the Veil.
- It is not possible to use the Veil teleporter to enter Lvell during Day 4.
- It is not yet possible to enter zones other than The Black Forest, Scarlet Cavern, Den An'ura, Hell's Gate, Frost Forest and Agartha.
- Amaya's quest may still be completed during this day.
- Search for the Strongest may have progress during this day, as all necessary zones are available from the world map.
- Completing the Agartha questline on Day 4 will not grant progress toward the corresponding Rabbit's Foot Quest Log data, but it is possible to complete all the quest steps and unlock The Hall of Challengers, The Colosseum, and the Colosseum to Veil teleporter located in the basement.
- The Orc War questline itself currently does not have Quest Log integration.

Notes:
- If your save file is from earlier than August 6th, you will need a new save file to continue through the game bug-free. Certain interactions, like Ewynn in Market Town, cannot have individual fixes deployed for them due to their entanglement in multiple questlines. New save files should not experience these issues, and moving forward new save files will not be required.