Wow, I can't believe we are at patch 0.8 already starting from 0.2 or something. What an amazing journey and we still have a couple of major patches to hit before 1.0!
As stated in 0.7, Airene Tower will be the last brand new major system before the release. So I want all subsequent major patches to focus on polish/content/balance. I think we can all agree that not all the existing systems in the game are perfect and some can definitely need upgrade/work based on the feedback and trend that I have been seeing. With that said, 0.8 will be pretty exciting and here are some spoilers!
[h2]Campaign/Boss Balancing +Rework[/h2]
There are a couple of things I want to do to make the campaign better. I noticed when the Soul Quarter is unlocked a lot of people tend to move fully into it. Then when they realize there are still some insane difficulty bosses in the Vault Entrance they are usually fairly overleveled at that point so it makes the first part becomes a wash. So in the upcoming patch I'll be tweaking the flow slightly.
All bosses are going to get a revisit as well, not all of them will be changed significantly.
Some bosses are still very build-hatey if one still remember the old aura-hate guy. While I think build-hate bosses are ok, but they probably shouldn't be on the critical path(the campaign). In 0.8 I'll be removing or reworking bosses that are very build-hatey from the campaign and they will possibly come back later in the game with some tweaks instead!
I also would like the bosses to be slower, meaning instead of chaining abilities back to back, I would like the boss to have some time in between abilities but the abilities will be more impactful. This way the fight can be less chaotic and easier to plan and strategize what is coming next.
Another changes that will be coming will be the difficulty ramp up from Outer Courtyard to Guardians' Cave. Currently I noticed most people feel no need to engage with the crafting system until Guardians and that makes the difficulty spike feel a lot worse. The idea was to encourage people to engage with the crafting system starting from Outer Courtyard so the next patch I would be focusing on balancing around that area.
I would also be looking into reworking a couple of older bosses. The goal is to let each boss have very unique abilities and spells so if there is a boss that just feel too generic then it is going to get a mini rework. Bosses that are already unique such as Izki(The wind guy), won't get a rework.
[h2]Airene Tower Changes[/h2]
Thank you guys for all the tower feedback! The tower is definitely in its infancy so any feedback is much appreciated. Lot of people have reflected the fact that mana restoration shouldn't be as punishing. While I agree and mana will most likely be restored to full in the 0.8 tower, the mana drought mechanic will most likely still exist but wont' be as punishing or turned on by default. Instead it will be...
in the Chaos Tower!
Once you beat the tower once you can add on different difficulties to the tower, changing the dynamic and difficulty of it and gaining more Solarsilk for your trouble!
Next patch I will also do a clean up to tower artifacts/blessings that have very minimal impact. The goal is to make each run feel new and fresh. Right now I don't think the goal is hit yet but with time it will get there!
[h2]Full-body Transmogs[/h2]
Tower update also come with the addition of full body transmogs! Here are a couple of spoilers!
[h2]New Key![/h2]
New content, new bosses, new items in depth. Nuff said!
[h2]UI/UX[/h2]
In 0.8 I have gone through all the game's UI and made some tweaks ranging from small adjustment to rework. These are all based on the questions/trends that I have been seeing so hopefully this will now make the UI more intuitive (as well as making them look better!)
Here are the new updated Armory and Talent UI for some spoilers!
Armory UI changed so that the material filter is not mixed in with the artifact filters, and the sockets have moved and have better instruction on them.
Center the tree as a whole and merged the masteries section into the talent overview/detail instead of its own section.
[h2]New Soundtracks![/h2]
Personally I feel like one of the weak spot of the game is the soundtracks. While I feel like main soundtrack is pretty good but overall it certainly lacks variety. In 0.8 and subsequent major patches I'll be looking to add in more and more soundtracks!
[h2]Timeline[/h2]
A ton of stuffs are going into 0.8 so I would expect it to be ~1-2 month of work. I am aiming to finish the changes and start testing at the end of Sept and the patch will hit live mid to late October
There are many small to medium improvements that will also be coming to 0.8 as well. As always, don't hesitate to ask any questions that you may have! You can always find me on the discord server https://discord.gg/3yU64jK
Thanks again for your support for the game and I still can't believe we are at 0.8 already!
Saddoge