Tomb of Tyrants's first anniversary is right around the corner (the 13th), and I've been preparing some massive changes to trim the stuff that doesn't gel so well and refine the things that do. As a result, this release is a "super beta"; I have not had adequate time to test many things myself, and I desperately need your bug reports and feedback on the changes and balance of this build. If you are interested in trying it out, you can opt in by visiting the "betas" tab under the game's properties in your Steam Library.

Please share your experiences and opinions in the comments below, in the community discussion boards, or with me directly! This is a pivotal update to core mechanics based on your feedback, and only you can help me push the game farther in the right direction.

I expect I'll be doing several small updates over the next couple of days (I'll post comments below when I do), to make additional improvements. There are definitely bugs, and there are many necessary updates to tutorial entries, general help, and even achievements. Impossibly, I want to wrap up this beta by the 13th (the game's anniversary), so I can focus on the next batch of major changes: new Hoard elements!

Also, now that all characters receive names, I need to dump more names and titles into the system, so feel free to share some ideas below =).

Thank you again for all of your support and suggestions; I think the best is yet to come, thanks to all of you ːtotcordialː!

Changelog
Additions:

• New horizontal message log system
  
• New character button format
  
• Matching tiles now provides a resource-dependent dungeon-wide bonus for every 4 points received (similar to the Harvest and Bull's Eye banners):
  
  
  • Flesh yields 1 point of healing per minion
    
  • Bone resurrects 1 minion
    
  • Growth restores 1 point of agility fatigue per minion
    
  • Arcana restores 1 point of ward fatigue per minion
    
  • Gear restores 1 point of armor fatigue per minion
    
  • Loot grants 10XP per minion
    
  • Ruin inflicts 1 point of fatigue to a randomly selected heroic defense type
    
  • Scrap reduces or resets trap cooldowns
    
  • Multipliers greatly increase this effect, as a 4-tile match is worth 1 (4 * 1 / 4) point, but an 8-tile match is worth 4 (8 * 2 / 4)
    
  
  
• Experience-based 10-level ramp
  
• "Gift-Bearing" trait for the delivery heroes
  

• All minions and heroes now have names and level up
  
• "Champion" now refers to characters who are level 5 and above--this is the point at which they receive their updated appearance
  
• All minion champions survive tomb destruction
  
• No more pillaging
  
• No more minion "packs"--minions individually priced
  
• Traps don't need to be replenished
  
• All characters require only two resource types
  
• Minions can be resurrected by re-buying them quickly after death
  
• Reduced minion counts (2 per floor)
  
• Reduced hero wave sizes
  
• Removed score multiplier
  
• No more deployable items--these are all now usables that affect all floors on use
  
• Lower drop rates for former deployables
  
• Removed Item, Champion, Floor, and Resource legacy points
  
• Plots now focus on "reinforcing" floors--this is the equivalent of the old legacy system, except they target specific floors (later, reinforcing may offer additional advantages)
  
• All floors can be reinforced (not just ten, as with the old legacy system) except the Sanctum and the ten first-tier floors
  
• Heroic checkpoints will become reinforced as you reinforce your floors; saving heroes across sessions
  
• All items carry over to the next round
  
• All surviving minions carry over
  
• All resources carry over with a -10 penalty (never dips below starting cap)
  
• Dedicated Hoard View no longer optional
  
• Inventory et al moved to DHV
  
• Only two active prophecies at a time (down from three)
  
• All prophecies/plots reduced to no more than two requirements
  
• Condensed score and wave data
  
• Minion UI merged with purchase UI
  
• Scrap "cog" resource icon changed to a "screw," because it was easy to confuse with "gear"
  
• Agility icon now green (for future reasons)
  
• Defense type now reflected by color of defense on minion portrait
  
• DHV can no longer move above the surface
  
• Other UI stuff
  
• Yeti trait and appearance tweaks
  
• Genie is now "Gift-Bearing," posing no threat to your Tyrant
  
• Character type and level displayed in Codex instead of price when viewing a specific character
  
• "Frosty" Fissure now "Frozen," due to future name conflict; some art tweaks here, as well
  
• Standardized character tooltips and added level and archetype info
  

• Lizardman Mummy graphic glitch
  
• Floors could be moved multiple levels at a time, if done while pausing
  
• Hero target floors weren't always updating when their current floor was moved
  
• Messages didn't decay while paused
  
• A few characters were missing appropriate biped traits
  
• Tiles could appear over the lower border of the Hoard while making a move (previously difficult to spot, due to inventory placement)
  
• Game could spawn multiples of the same artifact in a single playthrough
  
• Fixed a camera-related crash
  
• Changing to or from Tangled Lights banner wasn't updating characters already in play
  
• Fixed a rare but repeating crash during destruction
  
• Reindeer and Steed portraits were off (only noticeable while corrupted)
  
• Klaxon was firing too aggressively
  
• "Blocked By" floor was reported by internal tag rather than name
  
• Random name generation would eventually begin selecting similar names for some characters