Cross of Auria News

The redeemed quest added by Fuzzystingray is complete and now in game! Seek out the beginning in Hell's Gate. This quest is the first in a long time to be added to the game with Quest Log functionality - so if there are any bugs or crashes, please reach out ASAP.

Speaking of reaching out, the new Discord invite link is https://discord.gg/bMS9ktw. Please use the CoA section to report bugs.

If you want to add something in the game, have a look at https://www.streamloots.com/hardytier/collection/5f6cad28cd5571003489b0fe. We can talk more about this on Discord or when I'm living doing CoA dev work. Keep in mind that some of the cards are fragmented, meaning they require multiple copies to redeem. That being said, there are some conditions which would earn you free packs, the rest of which we will definitely discuss on Discord instead of here.

Anyway...

Following the example set by the release of the Horseman's rift in the Colosseum Basement, I have added an additional two bosses to this area with level 25 & 50 variants. The higher level version naturally has higher drop rates for items on the loot table, with a small handful of extra loot chances. Don't be turned away by their level - that's just what I use on the back end to determine stats. With the right setups and strategy, you may find yourself able to tackle the higher level fights!

Please note that all bosses in the Colosseum Basement require the completion of a Rift on the main Colosseum floor to respawn. So if you never complete the event rifts there, these bosses won't ever respawn.

Here's what you can expect on the loot table for the two battles added: Scorpio's Pupil (Lv. 25): Pit Coins, Weak Restorative Items, Water Flasks, Aqueous Essences, Essences of Life & Magick, Tome of Water Weapon, Challenger's Band & Ring.
Scorpio's Pupil (Lv. 50): Same as above, plus Challenger's Boots for all characters plus Buckler. Mid-tier Restorative Items, greater drop rates for Tomes, Essences, Flasks, and Pit Coins.

Eldritch Wretch (Lv. 25): Challenger's Cloak, Buckler, & Shield. Tier 1 & 2 Restorative Items, Midnight Essences, Pit Coins, Poison Flasks, Essences of Life & Magick, & conditional essence drops for other elements.
Eldritch Wretch (Lv. 50): Challenger's Helmets for all characters & greater drop rates for other items.

4.1.4.2 [Build #93, Release Date: October 29, 2020] New:
- A mysterious girl has appeared in Hell’s Gate with a challenge for the worthy.
- Two boss rifts have opened in the Colosseum Basement. Bosses in this area require a completion of one of the active main lobby rifts to respawn.

Changes:
- Elemental magic attacks now give 7 TP per tier 1, 10 per tier 2, and 12 per tier 3 skill. [This was released during the 4.1.4.1 emergency fix for Ruby’s starting location but went unnoted due to the nature of the patch.]
- Tome of Poison Weapon now applies V-PSN.
- Tome of Fire Weapon now applies V-Burn.
- Details added for Tome of Water Weapon.

The last update was accidentally launched without putting Ruby as invisible in the Pantheon (which is how the event functions as it does).

New games will now begin with the correct series of event.

The basement of the Colosseum is now fully functional with its first permanent resident - the Headless Horseman! Go downstairs to try your hand at the level 20 version of this battle.

Over the last few days, I extended the "paladin" enemy class stat sheet from level 20 up to 120 and then used that data to create a level 50, 75, 100, and 125 variant of the Headless Horseman. This will be available via DLC starting on November 17th, 2020! The fight runs pretty much the same but with super increased stats on his part. Each higher difficulty also increases the likelihood that certain Hallows themed weapons and accessories will drop. For full details, please see the Challenge of the Headless DLC store page here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1459600/Cross_of_Auria__Challenge_of_the_Headless/

Please note: The level 20 variant is a permanent addition to the game without the DLC. The DLC specifically adds the ability to change which difficulty of this boss to fight.

Short version of the patch notes: Completing any level of the An'ura Rift will reset the Headless Horseman's spawn in the basement in addition to its current function which is resetting all vents. Additionally, defeating the Horseman at any level will reset all vents. The only respawn method for the Horseman, regardless of DLC ownership, it to complete a rift in the main lobby of the Colosseum. This is likely to change in the future depending on feedback or the addition of other activities.


4.1.4.1 [Build #92, Release Date: October 27, 2020] New:
- Background data has been added for the Challenge of the Headless DLC. See the Cross of Auria Steam Store for more information!

Changes:
- The trigger to reset all vents and basement bosses has been added to the initial exit of the first rift inside the Colosseum.
- Defeating bosses in the Colosseum basement now triggers the reset of all vents.
- Defeating any level of the An’ura rifts in the Colosseum now triggers the reset of all vents and basement bosses.

In the halls of the Colosseum, a new rift has appeared! Journey through to take part in Cross of Auria's first seasonal themed event and earn exclusive loot! The new Trinket Collector in the Colosseum will trade for Sweet and Sour candies in exchange for new weapons and accessories for the team. Additionally, the two major bosses have a chance to drop a special item which will teach Ruby or Alex an upgraded version of Arcane Shock!

Once the event is finished, the party will earn 5000 experience and another rift will appear in the basement of the Colosseum. This rift is permanent and will be where you can challenge the final boss of the Halloween event repeatedly. If you miss the Guide to Arcane Shock in the event, fear not! For this boss will continue to have it on his loot table well after the event has ended. However, the vendor stock for the Trinket Collector will eventually change, so it's best to get what you want sooner rather than later.

The projected close date for the rift is November 15th, 2020. Players with a save point inside the portal will be able to continue until the event is complete. However, if you leave via teleport pad at will after this date, the rift will be gone. Until then, Ruby and company may come and go as they please with no penalty. Progress inside the rift will not be lost.

If you discover any oddities, bugs, or anything else you'd like to mention about this event - the fastest way to contact me is on Discord (link here: https://discord.gg/bMS9ktw).

Additionally to this event, a new questline is in development which has been redeemed by a twitch viewer and volunteer artist for the game - Fuzzystingray! Expect to see his quest drop in game in the next update. He and I also came together to create a special new friend in Auria who has a chance each fight to drop the Liquefier+ for Ruby. Find him and issue a challenge! This fight can be done multiple times, so there is no need to reset.

Now, onto the rest of the patch which has been far too long in the making. Thanks for making it this far!

4.1.4 [Build #91, Release Date: October 24, 2020] Removals:
- Deprecated Arcane Shock has been removed from the game. The skill in its place has been set to an Enemy Skill type. Until the debug is triggered at the Delivery Boy, it will not be possible to use Arcane Shock for either Ruby or Alex. New save files will not experience this issue.

New:
- Both versions of the pit now extend to level 20. Starting on the 11th floor, Pit Coins may drop after battles in the normal version only. Pit Coins may be exchanged with the vendor just outside the Pit warp for armor from the new 275-point defensive Challenger’s Battleguard set. Floors 11-19 have two different encounter possibilities per floor with one more heavily weighted than the other.
- Both versions of the Pit now use the new design introduced in 4.1.3.
- A new NPC has arrived in Auria/Castle Grounds West. Appropriately leveled players may challenge him for a chance at the Liquefier+, a water elemental sword for Ruby.

Fixes:
- End of turn bleed damage now displays as a hit effect instead of poison.
- Added a debug for the Basilisk Fang at the Delivery Boy. As part of the skill movements in between 4.1.0 – 4.1.3, “Infect” was moved down the back-end list and its place taken by Watershot III. Since weapons and armor do not automatically update given skills in a patch, they must be removed from the character completely then given back to have their new properties. This is the case with any weapon or ability that ends up debugged at the Delivery Boy.
- Fixed a despawning issue with Orcs in Frost Forest.
- Grapes now cure all variable and turn-based poisons.
- Apples now cure all variable and turn-based bleeds.

Changes:
- Sterling weapons now apply v-psn at a rate of 25%. Tooltips for these weapons have been updated to reflect the change.
- Smoke Bomb, Smoke Blast, Suppressor Bomb, Suppressor Blast are all now Physical damage element instead of Normal Attack. During testing, it did not make sense for these bombs to not do damage to poison enemies when Miles had a poison weapon on, so we’re reverting this change.
- Frostbrood Titan is now immune to all poison DoT effects.
- The Pit version of the Hive Mind is now immune to all poison DoT effects.
Known Issues:
- It is possible to have candy created from an attack even if the attack misses.
- Some field mobs have a chance to initiate a second battle even if they have despawned.

Before I get into too much about the Halloween event, let me just remind everyone that while I don't always post the minor updates here on the Steam community forums, I always discuss the on-goings of CoA on my discord (invite link here: https://discord.gg/j4pZKuv). I, along with my two volunteer artists, have been working hard to prepare future content to the game, including the upcoming Halloween Event.
So, if you're looking to see what's going on with the game in a more real-time setting, feel free to come on over to our discord! Just keep in mind, CoA is not the primary focus of the discord, but it does have its own section.

Also, I have some fun great news! Using Streamloots, I have created a card collection relating to CoA! Some key redemptions include creating your own questline, creating an enemy skill, adding a gold or loot box, or even creating a fun new enemy for the pit! Packs contain 3 cards each with a probability of 60% common, 25% rare, 14% epic, 1% legendary. Packs may only be redeemed while I'm live @ twitch.tv/hardytier and may be purchased directly at my streamloots store, or earned via other TBD means which will be listed in the #bounty_board channel of the discord. Most notably, providing a screenshot or video of defeating the level 20 boss of the Pit is worth 5 packs (one time only), and being the first person to say "FIRST" any time I go live is worth 1 pack each time.

But anyway, let's steer away from all the side stuff for a minute and talk about the game!

• As of right now, the Halloween event is mostly ready to go minus some boss fight detail and a handful of dialogue in the latter half. My original projection was to have it live by the 15th, but of course there were some setbacks. I'm giving myself the extra 10 days just to make sure I can definitely have it all finalized by then, but it realistically shouldn't take me past this weekend.
- This event features a one time side-story exploration mission and then a repeatable boss fight where various Halloween themed loot may drop. Official drops and rates will be posted in the release notes, but expect weapons for everyone.

• I spent last night drawing up the 'official pipeline' for CoA, which is basically just a list of what I'm working on and when I hope I can have it done by. The key takeaway of this really should be the order of events so you know what to expect. I'll do my absolute best to stick to the timeline I gave myself, but home life continues to throw a wrench into my development plans, for which I do apologize.

CoA Pipeline Breakdown We'll go over the specifics of each update as we get closer to release.

• Halloween Event (Target Release Date: October 25th) - Available to all players.
• Halloween Event Boss Ticket (Target Release Date: October 31st) - This is separate and supplemental to the event.
• The Orc War Main Story Update (Target Release Date: December 15th)
• Character Pack I (Target Release Date: January 1st, 2021)
• An'ura Recon Conclusion (Target Release Date: Jan 1st)
• Terra Anatis (Target Release Date: February 1st)
• Agartha End-game Updates (Target Release Date: March 1st)
• Scarlet Fire (Major Side-story DLC: Release Date TBA)
• ((TBA))