Pocket Rogues News

Global skill system update, item rebalance, 8 new damage types, and 4 new defense types – update 1.37 is finally available to everyone!



[h3][GENERATION][/h3]

• A new Treasury has been added
  
• 2 new monster champions have been added: Corpse Eater and Goblin-Captain. The latter, formerly the tutorial boss, has been completely reworked and improved
  
• In the Catacombs and the Abandoned Prison, there is a small chance to encounter a new merchant — the Whisperer (requires level 4 of the 'Merchant's Shelter' building)
  
• Monster champions can now be encountered in "cave" generation locations (Adamantite Garden, Burial Mound)
  
• Creatures and containers matching the gate type can now appear near the gates during generation

[h3][ITEMS][/h3]

• 6 new armor types and 1 new headgear have been added
  
• 2 new artifacts have been added
  
• 2 new weapon effects have been added
  
• 5 new equipment effects, exclusive to arrows and crossbow bolts, have been added
  
• 12 new equipment effects, exclusive to tomes (some also to grimoires), affecting various damage types and related skills

[h3][GAMEPLAY][/h3]

• All damage in the game is now divided into 3 types, each with 3 subtypes: physical (slashing, piercing, and crushing), magical (magic, cursed, and holy), and elemental (fire, frost, and lightning)
  
• Defense is now divided into 5 types: physical (light armor, medium, and heavy), magical, and elemental
  
• Each creature now has a specific type of damage dealt and defense type. All creatures have resistances and vulnerabilities to various types of magical and elemental damage, which can be further studied in the Bestiary (after upgrades)
  
• All skills in the game have been completely reworked. Some skills (Poison, Leap, Sniper Shot) have been entirely removed and replaced with more suitable ones (points spent on removed skills will be fully refunded to the corresponding characters). The key idea of the new skill system is the variety in their effects, which will be expanded as they level up (each skill gains new properties at least at levels 12 and 25), along with more complex and nuanced choices between 3 skills in each branch
  
• A new mechanic has been added for certain skills – "Charge." By holding the skill button, it will charge, and depending on the charge level (if the skill's properties allow), it will receive increased damage and/or additional effects
  
• A new building has been added: "Junkyard." Now, auto-destroying of items via filters is available only after its construction (for older players who had auto-destroying enabled in Settings, the first level of the building is constructed automatically). Upgrading this building makes destroying any items more profitable

[h3][MISC][/h3]

• The skill upgrade interface has been completely redesigned
  
• Zombie-Swordsmen, Zombie-Warriors, Skeletons, Skeleton-Archers, as well as all types of ogres, guards, spiders, ratmen, rats, and all Necromancer summons are now animated
  
• An alternative appearance has been added for Skeleton body parts, Zombie-Swordsmen, and ratmen
  
• The sound system has been improved: multiple sounds can now play simultaneously without interrupting each other
  
• More sounds and visual effects have been added for the Burnt and the Royal Executioner; the mini-boss has received his own theme music, and his attacks can now be parried with a well-timed shield block
  
• The character attribute screen in the dungeon has been updated: the list of displayed parameters has been expanded, all icons are now colored, and the skill upgrade window has been updated to match the new skill system; the list of active effects on the character has been moved to a separate tab
  
• The character preview at the class selection screen (at the end of tutorial) has been updated
  
• When constructing a building that unlocks a new character class, the player will see a message with a preview of that character
  
• All Necromancer seals, as well as idol seals found in dungeons (which reflect damage or resurrect monsters as shadows), now have a unique appearance
  
• Item names have been standardized: some names have been completely changed to better match postfixes for items of non-standard quality; capital letters have also been removed from the second word in names where it was unnecessary
  
• When summoning enhanced creatures, a popup will display the type of enhancement, and the color of their icon will correspond to the enhancement
  
• The appearance of flame streams (used by the "Fire Breath" skill and relevant traps) has been updated; light from flame streams will no longer pass through walls if possible
  
• When controlling with keyboard and mouse, the cursor size can now be changed in the Settings
  
• The item drop animation has been refined (items now visually increase in size slightly when they drop)
  
• Added visual effects for HP and MP absorption (under "Other Effects" in the Settings)
  
• The appearance of the arrows used by Skeleton Archers has been updated
  
• The appearance of the well has been updated: its resolution now better matches the rest of the dungeon; the well now casts a shadow and displays a visual water splash effect when used
  
• A tooltip has been added to the Forge screen explaining the basics of the item upgrade system
  
• Links to inactive social networks have been removed from the “Community” screen (only Discord remains)

[h3][BALANCE][/h3]

• Some weapons are now considered "hand-and-a-half" (all staves, as well as certain swords and axes). When no item is equipped in the off-hand, the character will wield such a weapon with both hands, increasing the weapon's damage bonus by 30%
  
• Parameters and prices of many types of equipment have been rebalanced; some items received new damage or defense types, in line with the updated system
  
• Cleansing cursed altars will now drop items, the quality and quantity of which depends on the current floor; the chance of the altar being cursed has been increased, and the delay between new shadows appearing during cleansing has been reduced
  
• The "Breath of Chaos" effect has been reworked. It now increases the damage of each attack not by X units, but by a random value between 0 and X; the damage bonus is now limited by the value [current floor * 4] (previously it was [current floor * 5])
  
• Berserker's off-hand weapon now has a damage range similar to the main hand (the off-hand weapon damage is still reduced by 50%)
  
• MP cost for using skills now increases as they are upgraded (most skills now consume half the MP at level 1)
  
• Each hit on crystals in the walls restores HP or MP depending on their type
  
• The influence of Agility on combat speed has been reduced, but the animation speed cap for all attacks has been increased
  
• Powerful shots now receive a projectile speed bonus
  
• The "Bleeding" effect has been reworked: it is now a status effect (like Poison or Petrification), instantly dealing 15% of max HP damage, followed by periodic damage over several seconds. The effect only triggers once the corresponding gauge is filled
  
• Creatures with the "cursed" prefix can no longer apply the Poison effect
  
• The weapon effects "Burn" and "Frost" now increase weapon damage by 3 units of the corresponding damage type (the effects they applied can now be inflicted by the respective damage type, regardless of the source, if the target fails the elemental resistance check)
  
• The "Ignite" effect now affects elementals
  
• The "Thorns" equipment effect now reflects all received damage back to the attacker (previously 15%)
  
• The "Mirror" artifact effect now returns 50% of the damage received to the enemy (previously 15%)
  
• The "Shiny scales" artifact effect now triggers with a 7% chance (previously 3%)
  
• The "Marauder" weapon effect now not only increases damage to all containers but also adds a 15% chance for an additional item to drop when breaking a chest
  
• Dashing now interrupts the "Shadow" skill (if the skill is below level 25)
  
• The dash with the "Shadow Step" effect (granted by the Shadow Cloak) is now 35% faster
  
• The Bone Katar (formerly "Sinner's Katar") now has the standard "Extermination" effect (deals extra damage to all humanoids)
  
• The "Flayer" effect (extra damage to beasts) can now be found on any weapon (previously it was only available as the standard effect for the "Hunter's Cleaver")
  
• The chance for the "Dark ritual" effect to trigger has been doubled (from 10% to 20%)
  
• If an attack breaks through a block (not enough MP to block it), the damage received will not be reduced
  
• Blocking a strike now consumes at least 3 MP regardless of the damage received; blocking at the moment of impact does not consume MP, but MP is spent on activating the block when the button is pressed
  
• When transitioning into stealth using the "Shadow" skill, the character can now hide even while in the enemy's line of sight. The chance depends on the skill level. The character will always successfully hide from a pursuer if there is a solid wall between them
  
• The crossbow firing animation has been changed: the character now reloads it after firing, not before, making the shot itself slightly faster. The charged animation and "Crossbow Volley" animation still require pre-loading
  
• Running speed increased (from +35% to +50%)
  
• Trap damage slightly reduced
  
• Trap runes are now slightly more visible on the floor, and their activation takes a bit longer
  
• The base poison resistance of all player characters has been doubled
  
• Increased the chance of chest generation in the Catacombs
  
• The amount of Slime in Catacomb rooms accessible only through the Suspicious Pipe has been significantly reduced
  
• The vision range of zombies, drowners, and rats has been reduced; rats now move slightly slower
  
• Numerous minor balance adjustments

[h3][FIXED][/h3]

• Projectiles fired from long distances could pass through targets without dealing damage
  
• Performance improved when large groups of creatures or objects take damage simultaneously
  
• The Battle Ogre's ability "Running attack" could malfunction
  
• The Merchant could have the same set of items for sale constantly
  
• Creatures summoned by the "Seal of the Damned" could remain after its effect ended
  
• Some temporary buffs and debuffs could remain on the character even after their timer expired
  
• If a ring had effects without levels ("Concentration," "Composure"), the levels of other effects on the ring could be calculated incorrectly
  
• When using the "Shadow" skill, the character's legs would always remain visible if the corresponding setting was enabled
  
• The character could take minor damage even if it was supposed to be fully blocked by a shield
  
• The bowstrings of enemies' bows might not display
  
• Creatures whose primary location was the Burial Mound were not tied to this location in the Bestiary
  
• Positive and negative effects were active on creatures twice as long as they should have been
  
• Skills that restore HP when an enemy is killed could trigger even if the enemy survived the attack
  
• Captured soul would cast shadows even if the "Creature Shadows" setting was disabled (and their Bestiary progress was not saved in the cloud)
  
• The blueprint for the "Rusty Nail" item was not saved in the cloud when transferring progress
  
• If the game was paused at the moment of level loading (by minimizing it or opening any menu), the screen would remain black until the pause was removed
  
• Debuffs were not displayed in the list of active effects

For Pocket Rogues on Steam, community items are now available: trading cards, badges, profile backgrounds, avatars, and emoticons themed around the game!



For those who are unfamiliar with what this is and how it works: simply by playing Pocket Rogues on Steam, you will receive one card from the available collection until you've collected half of them. After that, you can trade with friends to get the missing cards, or buy them from other players who have listed their cards for sale. By completing the full card collection, you can convert them into a Pocket Rogues badge, which gives you experience for your Steam profile level and can be displayed on your own profile page.



When creating and upgrading the badge, you will receive random items from the Pocket Rogues collection, such as unique profile backgrounds and emoticons, and you will also increase the badge level - up to level 5. By collecting all the metallic (especially rare) forms of the cards, you can create the rarest badge: a metallic one.

Currently available on Steam are:

• 9 trading cards (one for each class in the updated design, which will soon appear in the game, as well as the classic version of the Warrior, Archer, and Wizard from the tutorial)
  
• 10 profile backgrounds (3 backgrounds with characters, and 7 backgrounds with landscapes of locations)
  
• 10 emoticons
• 5 badge levels and a special, metallic badge
  
• 4 avatars (available to everyone who bought the game on Steam, without a link to the collectible cards)

Backgrounds and emoticons can be obtained not only by upgrading the Pocket Rogues badge but also by directly purchasing them in the Steam points shop (this is a special currency that you get by buying games on Steam - it has no additional cost): https://store.steampowered.com/points/shop/app/946610

Update 1.36.1 is dedicated to fixing and enhancing many aspects of the game, aiming to make the gameplay much more comfortable. Now, you won't have to spend a lot of time selling your inventory items to the Merchant or worry about accidentally selling/dropping/destroying your valuable items.

And the dungeons themselves have come alive! Now, goblins and certain other creatures are fully animated, as are all friendly NPCs and mercenaries. By the way, did I mention that you can now encounter two new mercenaries?

And somewhere deep within the cold and treacherous depths of the Prison, someone vulnerable and infinitely loyal is already waiting for you...


[h2]CHANGELOG:[/h2]

[GAMEPLAY]
- After constructing a new building, the Trapper will appear in the Camp. With his help, you can exchange and upgrade pets directly in the dungeon without returning to the Fortress
- Upon purchasing the new "Trading rows" building, players will have the ability to lock any item in their inventory. A locked item cannot be accidentally sold, destroyed, or dropped until the player removes the lock
- After upgrading the "Trading rows" to level two, players can quickly sell all inventory items to the Merchant, except for the locked ones
- A new pet has been introduced. It can be found in the Abandoned Prison after 7th floor, provided that the "Trapper's shack" has been built

[GENERATION]
- After the 15th floor in the Camp, you can encounter new mercenaries (Berserker and Wizard). A squad can still only have a maximum of 2 mercenaries at a time
- Several new traps have been added
- Some objects in the rooms of the Catacombs and Prison that were always found there, now appear by chance



[BALANCE]
- When lifting a curse from an altar, characters now gain experience only after defeating all waves of enemies, rather than each wave. There can no longer be more than 3 waves, and the chance of the altar being cursed has been reduced (from 50% to 20%)
- When destroying the Merchant's chest, not only does he become hostile, but also all other characters in the Camp
- The attacks of the Wandering Troll and Tamed Troll now have a knockback effect and deal damage to everyone, including their allies
- The base defense value for the item "Silent face" has been reduced from 145 to 105
- Poisoning from impassable poison puddles and clouds found in the Catacombs is now less dangerous
- The level of creatures that appear when destroying objects (like Larvae) has been halved
- When sacrificing a pet, there's a 35% chance that one of its attributes will decrease by 1

[MISC]
- An automatic backup saving system has been added in dungeons, which should restore progress in case of a crash (but it's better not to rely on it, and save manually through "Save and Exit" in regular dungeons or in the Camp)
- Surviving characters can now directly purchase passive items in the store, even if they already have items of that type in their inventory
- All daggers are now displayed on the character when equipped
- All friendly NPCs and mercenaries are now fully animated
- Goblins, trolls, regular zombies, and drowned are fully animated
- Dialogues now display the interlocutor's portrait
- Added the ability to use a gamepad to configure companion behavior and change the size of the mini-map
- The appearance of Goblin-Wizards and Goblin-Executioners has been updated
- The appearance of arrows used by Goblin-Archers has been updated
- The Camp's floor appearance has been updated
- After constructing a Pen in the Camp, a small fenced area for pets will appear
- Some troll sounds have been replaced
- The skill description "Sign of Sacrifice" has been changed: it now more accurately reflects the effect's action (increases all damage taken by the creature, rather than reducing its defense). The effect applied to enemies has been renamed to "Vulnerability"
- Next to the skill upgrade button on the character selection screen, a skill point icon is now displayed
- The cost of buying new abilities for pets in skill points and gems is now displayed in one cell to avoid confusion
- In Settings, you can disable the display of legs for animated characters (may affect performance)
- Playtime statistics now display hours and minutes separately (previously only minutes were displayed)
- New character statistics fields have been added ("Used Crosses of Life")
- An additional warning has been added if you press return to the Fortress instead of loading the saved dungeon



[FIXED]
- Improved performance with large floor sizes and multiple active objects
- Daily tasks weren't saved when transferring progress via the cloud
- When transitioning between floors, players always ended up in the same version of the Treasury and Ambush
- When using the Rune of Greed, it was impossible to get to the new version of the Treasury
- When upgrading legendary quality items at the Forge, gems weren't highlighted in the inventory, even if the item had empty slots
- When selling items to the Merchant, their value was not displayed in the inventory
- When buying consumables, it wasn't possible to manually enter a specific quantity
- Cells on the pet ability purchase screen did not adapt to wide screens
- When killing enemies with a weapon that has the "Exploder" effect, they were counted twice in task completion statistics
- The "Murderer" effect was incompatible with the "Empty bowl" artifact
- Cursed items lost their negative effect when upgraded at the Forge
- The Source of Corruption did not attack the enemy
- Wights used the "Jump" ability too often
- Effects applied to NPCs in the Camp persisted indefinitely
- Boxes from which a rat might jump out simply broke when approached by a character after clearing a floor
- Using instant healing after clearing a floor or a Well, mercenaries and pets didn't restore their HP
- The lock icon was not displayed on the buttons of the second and third artifacts if the corresponding level of the "Artifact Workshop" building was not constructed
- When opening the mini-map while moving, it shifted in the direction the character was moving

The new massive update significantly overhauls the entire pet development system in Pocket Rogues. Now each improvement will be much more meaningful, and each of your pets will be much more unique and customizable.
In addition, in update 1.36 improved multiplayer (yes, it's still in Beta): now you can play with three players, and you can create rooms in two more locations!


[h2]CHANGELOG:[/h2]

[GAMEPLAY]
- Each pet, in addition to the standard ability, now has 4 slots for additional ones (such as Immortality or Vampirism), which can be freely combined. New slots will become available after leveling up the pet, and new abilities can be obtained by defeating monster champions and mini-bosses in dungeons
- All pet abilities have 3 levels and can be improved with skill points and gems
- Unlocking unique perks, such as new Obsidian Tower mods or item blueprints, are now displayed on the summary screen
- Pets and mercenaries (but not summoned creatures) can now be set to one of five behaviors: normal, defensive, aggressive, hold current position, and ignore enemies. The type of behavior affects the movement speed of the creature and the radius in which it notices enemies
- Barrels and troughs with water can now be used to restore some of the HP (the water from the trough has a chance to poison the character)
- Minimap size can now be customized

[GENERATION]
- Added new Ambush
- Added new Treasury
- With a 20% chance, instead of a regular altar, a "cursed" version of it may appear: in order to use it, you must first defeat several waves of monsters

[MULTIPLAYER]
- "Burial Mound" and "Adamantite Garden" locations are now available for creating rooms in multiplayer (Ultimate version required)
- Added the ability to create rooms for three players (Ultimate version required)
- Added the ability to change the connection server (three regions are available: Europe, USA and Asia)
- Clicking on the character icon in the lobby will display the nickname of the player who created the room
- Improved multiplayer stability

[BALANCE]
- The starting level of the bosses that occur between locations in the Obsidian Tower now depends on the floor from which the descent began
- Level of mini-bosses accessed through gates in the Obsidian Tower is no longer tied to the level of bosses between floors
- The base stats of pets have been increased, and the improvement of each of them is now more effective
- "Immortality" of pets now works a limited number of times, after which the pet will disappear until the next visit to the Camp (the resurrection counter is reset if the creature is alive when visiting the Camp or if the player used Decoction of Blackgrass)
- Decoction of Blackgrass can be dropped from more monsters
- Pet "Lynx" no longer has the standard ability "Collect Coins" (this ability is available for purchase and use by any pet)
- Pet "Golem" no longer has the standard ability "Resistance to diseases" (this ability is available for purchase and use by any pet)
- Creature ability "Vampirism" is now calculated according to the damage dealt, instead of the base damage
- Mutually exclusive ring effects can no longer be generated on the same ring
- The cost of all improvements to the Menagerie building above level 1 has been increased
- Base HP of "Grim Paladin" boss reduced from 635 to 540
- Increased the cost of selling blacksmith stones and ingots
- Blueprints no longer drop if the player has completed less than 12 raids

[MISC]
- Equipped shields, books and grimoires are now displayed on the character
- Appearance of pets now changes when they reach levels 15 and 30 (previously it happened after levels 10 and 25)
- Changed minimap icons for chests and stairs
- Objects like sacks and small crates (which never drop loot) are no longer displayed on the minimap
- Added the ability to quickly enable/disable sound effects and music in Settings
- Updated appearance of Altar of Battle, Altar of Defence and Altar of Fighting Spirit
- Updated tab icons in the Bestiary
- Added alternate floor view for Crypt of Emptiness
- Passive items can now only be sold one at a time
- To move the camera to an ally, its icon now needs to be held for more than 0.2 seconds (normal pressing opens the menu for setting the behavior of the satellite)

[FIXED]
- When visiting the Lost Tomb with "Downworld Expanses" or "Brave Downworld" modifier active, the game could freeze
- Players might experience a black screen when entering the Treasury in a group raid
- When minimizing the game during loading, a black screen could occur
- When switching between the game and other windows, the entire screen, except for the interface, could turn black until the next restart of the game
- The effect "Stun" did not affect the player's characters
- Drawings of some items disappeared when transferring the save to a new device
- Multiple passive items could sometimes be stacked in one inventory slot
- When choosing a second item in the Forge, items that were not suitable for combining were not darkened
- When upgrading items with standard effects in the Forge, the total number of free sockets for effects could be less than it should be
- When using Rune of Sanctuary or Rune of Greed, two portals appeared at once in multiplayer
- When controlling with a gamepad, navigation in the inventory did not work
- Rating points in the Tower could be incorrect for surviving characters
- When destroying a tombstone (in the Lost Tomb) with a fireball, skeletons did not appear from it
- Minimap could remain open when moving to the next floor
- When the Pandemic modifier was active, the effects of poisoning and petrification were applied instantly, instead of filling the corresponding gauge
- Pets could not attack Nightmares
- Pet ability "Collect Coins" may not work properly
- The "Tower Shield" effect did not work properly
- Near the Ancient Guardians, the sound of a shot was continuously played
- When resurrecting with the Cross of Life, the animation of the character could be broken
- Chat messages overlapped each other when there were too many of them
- When loading a saved dungeon or leaving the camp gate, the state of the buttons for instant healing and creating a portal were not loaded, as well as the original number of monsters on the floor
- When the character moved, the picture could lose clarity
- Minimap zoom was reset when going to the next floor
- Improved optimization and fixed many small bugs

[MISC]
- Updated the appearance of slots for items in the inventory (and also improved its performance)
- In Settings added the ability to disable the automatic connection of the gamepad

[BALANCE]
- Creature ability "Explosion (Allies)" now deals damage to all creatures, not just allies (regular "Explosion" only deals damage to enemies)
- Characters who returned to the Fortress alive now always start a new descent with full HP

[FIXED]
- Floor loading could get stuck in Adamantite Garden and Burial Mound if any modifier is enabled that increases the size of the location
- Some creatures could not be killed
- Several chests could be generated at one point
- "Lavra" was not displayed in the Bestiary
- Creatures did not use "Crossbow Volley", despite having the corresponding skill
- Rings lost their quality when playing in multiplayer
- In multiplayer, the summary screen would freeze if you tried to return to the Fortress through the dialogue with the Mentor
- Hostile archers did not chase the enemy if he was in their line of sight, but out of the attack zone
- Sometimes extra walls could be generated in the wrong places
- Icons in the inventory changed their size depending on the screen of the device
- When picking up the Rune of Greed, it could disappear if one was already in the inventory
- The weapon effect "Exploder" dealt damage to the character himself
- Creatures on which "Control" was applied could ignore nearby enemies
- In the item shop, the description of books for the Mage was incorrectly displayed
- Item upgrade progress was not displayed in the inventory