Content patch 1.04 is here, the most comprehensive update released to date! With it come several changes and new mechanics

New resource: Settlement XP and Settlement Level

Performing actions will now grant Settlement XP, which represents the combined resources of your settlement and it's champions. As you gain Settlement XP, you will raise your Settlement Level, which will in turn provides bonuses, all of which are designed to gradually increase the speed of the game. Gathering, Exploration, Combat, and Building will all speed up as you level your settlement.

New mechanic: Surge

By collecting Settlement XP, your champions will periodically become infused with the energy of Darkspar and go into a frenzied state. During a Surge event, which lasts for a few minutes, the speed of all actions is doubled, and you gain 50% increased combat damage. Build speed also increases during a Surge and if you activate a surge after having built the castle, this resets the castle cooldown, allowing you to build upgrades more quickly.

Speed of the early game

A number of changes have been made to the leveling curve to allow players to get deeper into Darkspar more quickly. The overall amount of XP to hit 99 is about the same as before but the speed of the initial few levels is much faster. Due to this the level cap on the demo will be raised to level 30 (demo to be updated soon)

Other improvements and requested features

• Decreased the HP of common monsters in the two starting zones
• Reduced the amount of XP needed for the first 10 combat levels
• Added a level up animation to make it more obvious when a champion has leveled up a skill
• Added tooltips to the top panel of the screen (including resources)
• Amount of resources required for some early buildings has been reduced
• Changed the borders for most menus to hopefully make the text buttons on the right more easy to find
• The requirement to recruit a second champion is now to reach Settlement Level 5, and to recruit the third champion to reach Settlement Level 10 (both of which will only take a few minutes)