A Major Mechanic & Balance Update

Hey Heroes,

Today marks the start of the Steam Summer Sale and we are pleased to make a few announcements.

First, Gordian Quest is going on a 10% discount, so for those of you who have been sitting on the fence about getting it, this is the perfect time to do so. For those of you who have bought our game and like it, please tell your friends to get it. Many thanks in advance!

Second, we are on schedule to deliver Act 2 by the end of July despite the challenges of working from home and we are really excited about it.

Third, we released a host of new features and balance updates in our beta (bleeding edge) branch last month. Some of you tried them out as early adopters and with your feedback and bug reports, we are now ready to bring these features to the official branch. They come ahead of our Act II release at the end of July, and will serve as a step forward to creating a highly re-playable game mode later this year.

Allow us to discuss the updates.

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[h2]Battles, Enemies, And You[/h2]
We've overhauled the battle interface to deal with previous annoyances like being flooded with status icons, and having the top left status list conceal units on the battlefield. The camera now battle handles large 4-lanes battles better.

Previously, enemy health increased as they gained levels. Now, their damage and defense abilities scale as well, making late game fights more engaging.
In our previous iteration, all enemies acted once. In the new system, Elite enemies can act twice, making them far more deadly and interesting to fight. Elite enemies also have higher base stats.
Certain enemy groups now have unique behaviors. For example, when fighting against humanoid enemies, felling one of their numbers can trigger a rage in other members in their ranks.
In wave battles, the last row will always be filled up with incoming reinforcements. This change is meant to do two things - improve the pace of wave battles and make each round more challenging, as well as allow players a strategic option : by using skills that shift enemies, you can better control the rate at which reinforcements can enter the field by blocking off certain lanes.
With an improved AI system controlling groups of enemies as well as holistic changes to heroes, battles can now feature more enemies at once, giving rise to more strategic play.

Speaking of balance, we've also improved on the hero schools. In particular, the Ranger, Spellbinder, and Druid are now much more competitive, with many early game annoyances addressed by changing how certain mechanics and subsystems work, and tweaking numbers across the board. We will continue to make changes as necessary as we continue developing the game.

[h2]Talent System Rework[/h2]
The randomized talent system from before has been replaced with a new Talent Select system. You gain a Talent Point every 3 levels, or when acquiring one through the Skill Grid, and you can invest this into a talent of your choice. Investing a second point will Master a talent, allowing you to gain additional advantages from it.

With this system, you can deterministically decide how to build your heroes - pick up more Channel charges if you build that way, or gain Critical every turn if you are dual wielding. Master a weapon proficiency to avoid adding that weapon's card to your deck, or improve your regeneration capabilities instead.

Each hero also has access to specific camping and map talents. Lucius the Swordhand can spend time buffing a hero's weapon and armor, giving them an edge in the next fight. Pierre the Spellbinder can spend the time concocting a potion, if you have enough supplies. This allows each hero to bring a unique edge to each party composition.

[h2]Skill Grid Progression and Statistics[/h2]
We've given you more flexibilty in deckbuilding with several new nodes, and reworked existing ones.

A generic Draw node now lets you draw 3 and pick 1 from any school of choice, and these nodes have been made fairly common.
A specific Draw node from a particular school now lets you draw 4 and pick 1, slightly improving your chance of getting a card you want.
Draw nodes can be forfeited to obtain a Skill Replacement Point, which can be used at any time to swap out a card.
Clone Skill node (a rare node that lets you duplicate a card in your deck)
Talent Point node
Stat Point node

[h2]Statistics[/h2]
Your stat point upgrades are no longer tied to drawing a card, so you can build the deck you want to. Stat point upgrades are now granted from individual nodes on the grid, letting you increase one statistic of your choice.

Strength, Dexterity, and Intelligence no longer just affect damage - they also boost the respective versions of Guard-generating cards. This ties in to enemy balancing, which we will touch on further down in this post. In a future update, you will gain additional bonuses for reaching certain statistic thresholds, giving you more of a reason to focus on more than one stat.

[h2]Item Socketing & Runes[/h2]
All newly found items can now drop with sockets. Sockets come in 1 of 3 colors, and can be socketed with Runes of a matching color. Runes are stones of power that grant beneficial effects to the hero that equips the item, or to the cards on an item.

By mixing and matching certain Runes, you open up the door to new builds. From Runes that restore your HP every time you use the item's card, to Runes that lower an item card's AP cost by 1, and even Runes that will Master an item's card - items are now another playground for you to experiment with.

[h2]Crafting[/h2]
Crafting has been given a shot in the arm, and there are many more cool things you can try out now. -

Barnaby the Jeweller can now modify an item's sockets and their colors, letting you build towards your perfect gear.
Marco the Merchant now offers a gambling service, letting you trade in artifacts called Relic Tokens in exchange for random Legendary items.
Wynne the Enchantress now offers a way to reroll Legendary values, using the Soul Sparks that are salvaged from other Legendary items.
There is now a new version of Shrines called Eternal Shrines, which can be used every 14 days. When interacting with both Shrines and Eternal Shrines, you can spend Strange Incenses to modify the map modifiers that appear, giving you a way to control the levels of risk and reward when using them.

[h2]Camping[/h2]
The current Camp Nodes on the map are now called Campsites. These are powerful one-use camping session that allow your heroes to spend a day training up or perfecting their deck, and are not functionally changed.

By spending Supplies, your party can also set up a quick Camp, which lasts for 4 hours (as compared to 12 in a Campsite), and gives you a period of time to rest, recuperate, and use certain camping abilities. This system is the first step towards working on our endgame modes featuring long adventures that will test your limits, and where access to a town and supplies will be greatly limited. Supply costs have also been increased slightly.

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And that concludes the last month of development. We're excited to see how you'll respond to the changes!

Please note : With this update, because of the extensive changes to the heroes, your previous save file will be migrated to an updated version. What this means for CURRENT games:

All traces of the old talent system has been removed. Each hero will instead be given an equivalent number of Talent Points based on their level.
Your heroes WILL NOT be updated to the new skill grid (so that your current deck remains unchanged). Only new skill grids you obtain from this point on will contain the new nodes.
Your current items CANNOT roll sockets. Only new items you obtain from this point may roll with sockets.

As such, while it is recommended to start a new run to fully experience all the new changes, you can still continue playing your current campaign.

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Thanks for reading. We will continue to work hard in bringing you more exciting features and improvements in the game. We thank you for your support and patience as we continue to build this game with you.

As always, we hope to hear your thoughts below on what we’ve put forth so far. Feel free to join us on Discord https://discordapp.com/invite/tce6YMW to chat with us.

And last but not least, if you haven't already, please consider giving us a positive review on Steam if you like how we are doing so far. It would really mean a lot to us. Thanks! :)

Crafted With Love,
The Mixed Realms Team