Howdy folks!

Welcome to the patch notes for this here big ol patch, v2.0.2. We have some fixes, general improvements and some balance adjustments. Check below for annotations surrounding each and every balance change weve implemented. Check it out, spread the word and have fun. Please hit us up if you have any questions and please let us know how you go!

Features / Quality of Life Changes

• Several localisation improvements, integrated from community feedback since 2.0! (Specifically most of the improvements were directed at Traditional Chinese with 1450 strings updated, Korean second with 540 strings updated)
• Show notification when Bounty is upgraded (previously only appears for new bounties).
• Players in a disconnected state have had their turn timers halved.
• "I am waiting" automatic message has been capped to once per turn.
• Quest selection sequence has been made a little faster.
• New pages have been implemented to the Game Guide for Clan Grounds, Hero Mastery and Reconnection.
• Implemented a notification on launch to players that don't meet Armello's minimum requirements.

Bug Fixes

• AI takeover now works as intended! (If you still experience issues with this, please send bug reports through as we've improved the logging and reporting around this too)
• Fixed an issue where quest outcomes were displaying incorrectly (showing a success when you'd failed and vice versa).
• Fixed an issue where private lobbies may not progress if players were attempting to use DLC heroes they don't own (DLC sharing).
• "Find Parties" toggle once again correctly works as intended.
• The King's victory-specific death animations are once again functioning as intended.

Known Issues

• If a player doesn't select a hero in hero select, the game can sometimes hang in an NMA state.
• Plague Bearers incorrectly grants Prestige rather than spending it.

Balance Pass

= Mechanical change, rather than numerical. Trickery Deck The Trickery Deck has some really interesting mechanics and evocative cards, but compared to the Spell and Item decks the cards you draw are generally too situational. We want to push the Trickery deck into a place where cards are more reliably beneficial to the player and therefore on average stronger, whilst bolstering the deck's mechanical identity. The Trickery Deck should feel like a more viable choice when drawing cards, and these tweaks are a nice nudge in the right direction. Hoodwinked Hoodwinked is a powerful card that has some really interesting fringe combinations with things like Rot and Card Stealing. More of these should encourage versatile, clever plays.

• Quantity up to 2 (from 1)

Mercenaries Mercenaries' effect is quite similar to other cards and the Trickery Deck is quite large as it is. It can be safely reduced in quantity.

• Quantity down to 3 (from 4)

Merry Thieves Merry Thieves is thematically amazing, but has felt underwhelming when you can't guarantee personal gain. We feel this new effect acts as a more reliable, staple gold stealing card for the trickery deck.

• New Target: (Play on) Any Tile (was Settlement, Forest)
• New Effect: Steal 3 Gold and give 1 gold to the poorest Hero (Was: Steal 2 Gold and give it to the poorest hero)

Disguise Stealth is a fairly iconic element of the Trickery Deck and this is the only card that grants it, thus let there be more.

• Quantity up to 2 (from 1)

Reprieve Reprieve is a bread-and-butter function of the Trickery deck, but is a card that suffers too much from having a Prestige cost. As Bounty Manipulation is part of the core Trickery Identity, it should be a regular tool that doesnt feel punishing to use.

• Cost changed to 2 Gold (from 1 Prestige)

Bounty Since the Bounty system overhaul, the Bounty card's effect always felt lacking as it didn't have the capacity to upgrade a preexisting Bounty. Now it does.

• New effect: Places Bounty on Target, or Upgrades existing Bounty. (Was: Places a Bounty on Target)

Expendables We want expendables to be expendable, but currently they are TOO expendable.

• Quantity down to 3 (from 5)

Emissary Nice Settlement, it would be a shame if someone took it. This card feels like it should be a staple of the Trickery Deck but we're also sensitive to its strength and feel. Let's see how two copies goes.

• Quantity up to 2 (from 1)

Stone Wards This card will hopefully feel a little more whelming. It's a powerful change, but there is only a few in the deck so it should feel rewarding to find.

• Stone Wards can now target occupied Settlements and resolve as if the inhabitant had entered a Stone Circle.

Devious Ruse 4 is simply 2 many.

• Quantity down to 3 (from 4)

Arson With Arson, we really wanted players to know that burning down a Forest in Armello is a truly heinous act (I guess the same applies to real human life too), and we told that story by giving this card a really high Prestige cost. Unfortunately history has shown that Prestige cost cards are hard to play in general, so this change felt necessary.

• Cost down to 1 Prestige (from 2)

Crooks Trickery cards have a built-in tile condition that feels relatively uncontrollable. The old version of Crooks has a different effect based on whether or not your target has Gold to steal, and this ultimately felt out of your control. The old effect is also quite similar to Hidden Trap AND Mercenaries, so it felt like a good opportunity for a revamp. The new version of this card has a conditional effect, but with Scout as a trigger, hopefully it feels more interactive and controllable. Also, please welcome some mythical SCOUT SYNERGY!!!

• New Effect: -2 Gold, if target is Scouted they retreat. (Was: -2 Gold. If target can't pay, -1 Health and -1 Action Point)

Plague Bearers Sending the sick and diseased to infect your enemies is apparently something that happened in history, which is a pretty messed up thing in human Earth history AND ALSO a messed up thing in non-human Armello history! By changing the cost to Prestige, we lean into the dishonour of it all rather than it being an action that corrupts. This also cleans the Trickery Deck of all traces of Rot-costs in the process. Neat.

• Cost changed to 1 Prestige (from 1 Rot)

Pick Pockets Did someone say Scout synergy? Similarly to Crooks, Pick Pockets has been reworked.

• New Effect: Steal 2 Gold, if target is Scouted, Steal 1 Equipped Item. (Was: Steal 2 Gold. If target can't pay, Steal 1 Equipped Item.)

Slanderous Toads Slanderous Toads is a little convoluted and we wanted to clean it up, simplify the effect and make it more reliable. Hope you dig it.

• New Effect: -2 Prestige. If target is the Prestige Leader, Steal the Prestige instead. (Was: -1 Prestige per Claimed Settlement (Clan Grounds included).)

Amulets

The most chosen Amulets are naturally the simple, stat amulets. You start with them unlocked, they provide a verifiable bonus that your enemies OR the sweet devil RNG can't mess with. We're comfortable with this, but we really want the others to feel like a valid choice either for fun, or to attend to something that you might consider un-fun. First thing is first, Harmonise and Decay. Harmonise This Amulet doesn't see a lot of play and hopefully this adjustment nudges it in the right direction.

• Effect Change: While not Corrupt, in Battle all Rot Symbols in your hand change to Wyld symbols. (Was: While not Corrupt, in Battle, all Rot Cards in your hand change to Sun symbol.)

Decay Now we get to say "pick the Decay Amulet" when someone tweets at us saying "I'm Corrupted and my quest is in a Stone Circle".

• Effect Change: Heal 2 Health for each Rot gained, limit Corruption Stone Circle damage to 3. (Was Heal 2 Health for each Rot gained, and lose 1 Health for each Rot lost.)

Signets

Some clans have a really good spread of Signet use like Wolves and Bandits for example, but the Bear Clan specifically seems to have a bit of an issue in terms of choice, so we have focused our efforts accordingly, whilst sharing the love a little. We really want players to feel torn when making this choice, and we want players to have fun experimenting with different kits. Enjoy! Aquamarine (Bear) Armello is about keeping your options open, which makes signets that "turn off" feel quite bad.

• New Effect: In Battle and Perils at night, +1 Moon. (Was:+1 Moon and +1 Explode Pool while you have 3 Rot or less.)

Taaffeite (Bear) Bears typically have large Spirit, which makes Explode Pool rarely beneficial. This is actually why we feel comfortable with this new effect which seems quite bonkers from a distance, but Spirit is the stat that probably suffers the most from diminishing returns. Fear Ghor.

• New Effect: +1 Shield and +1 Spirit in Forests (Was: +1 Shield and +2 Explode Pool in Forests)

Amber (Bear) Exploding dice are fun. We're juicing Amber up with one.

• New Effect: Burning Sun and Moon Cards in Battle is always a Hit, first one Explodes. (Was: Burning Sun and Moon Cards in Battle is always considered a Hit.)

Sunstone (Rabbit) If the Bear Clan gets a treat, so should the Rabbit Clan. This Signet was similar in function, and use rate to Aquamarine so we're nudging it in the same direction.

• New Effect: In Battle and Perils at day, +1 Sun. (Was: In Battle and Perils, +1 Sun result while you have 3 Gold or more.)

Obsidian (Rat) This new effect is a little more complicated, but tells a great story. Scout has had value issues, but hopefully with the Trickery Card changes and this little buff - this choice feels valid.

• New Effect: Gain Scout on all your claimed Settlements and any Creature that claims one from you until the end of your next turn. (Was: Gain Scout on all your claimed Settlements.)

Chrysocolla (Wolf) Do you smell blood? Now you can not only see the weak, but hunt the weak.

• New Effect: Grants scout on, and +1 Sword in combat against heroes with 3 Health or less (Was: Grants scout on heroes with 3 Health or less)

[ 2019-06-20 03:37:30 CET ] [ Original post ]