Lots of new features and improvements! Too many to list... Here's the list! - XP gains for non-ascended non-hardcore fighters increased - All XP Potions improved and give more XP - Hardcore Fighter XP penalty from PvP reduced to 5% (was 10%) - Transmute Hardcore potion works on Level 10 non-ascended fighters - Mail Armor move speed reduced to 3 (was 4) - Plate Armor move speed reduced to 4 (was 5) - Crafted items are stamped with the maker's mark - Quick Teleport resources and relics back to your guild hall - Squads cannot guard with an enemy in nearby tiles - Guild Officers can cancel other member's guarding squads - Squads can set Combat Priority for deciding team join order - Players can unlock up to 8 deployed squad slots - Items can be auctioned with a bid and buyout - Race: Cultists gain +1 special actions (Blink, Taunt, etc) - Race: Golems gain Health and +1 Dash/Charge range - Race: Stone Giants gain Stun Resist and Defense - Race: Frost, Fire, and Storm Giants gain Stun Resist and Magic - Race: Demon and Succubus gain +1 Critical Stun - Race: Dark Elves gain Volley Shot Bonus - Race: Huppo gain Guard Bonus - Race: Zombie, Skeleton, Lich, Vampire gain Rest Heal Bonus - Race: Humans gain Dual Wield Bonus - Arena: Level 8 PvP Arena is now the Level 20 Hardcore Arena - Arena: More resources spawn, including Piles of Skulls - Arena: Resources regenerate at 33% Guild Hall Vault speed - Guild Hall: All members have full fog-of-war vision - Guild Hall Corridors: Max defending guards reduced to 3 (was 4) - Guild Hall Corridors: Max squads per team reduced to 3 (was 4) - Territory: Guild Silvers payout every 5 hours (was 1) - Territory: Removed the player capture leaderboards (PvP Skulls) - Territory: Removed the growing capture rewards (Guild Silvers) - Territory: Cost to capture and release tiles reduced - Territory: Powerful NPCs will attack non-member low-level squads - Territory: Map level requirements enforced to capture tiles - Territory: Ownership slowly decays along edges every 24 hours - Fixed: Item Auction search filters broken - Fixed: Golem dash 5 tiles works correctly - Fixed: Gear swap doesn't keep current item at top of the list - Fixed: Broken icon and class images - Hotkeys for squads 6, 7, 8 - Hotkey for World Chat (space bar) - Link resources and relics in chat - No fog-of-war in The Arena - Improved item and fighter list search and sort filters - Dungeon Masters may control an NPC and live stream the fight! - One-handed healing weapons damage and healing increased - Mage Blink adds +1 Time (no longer free action) - More PvP Skulls awarded for each kill - Hardcore: Each losing player can only have 1 item looted max - Hardcore: Basic items (0 Scrap Value) can be looted by the winner - PvP Death: Item repair costs reduced by 40% (Condition lost is 3) - PvP Death: Item Max Condition loss chance is 50% (was 100%) - PvP Death: Item Max Condition loss chance is 10% in Guild Halls - Guild Hall: Guard equipment must be at least Level 10 - Guild Hall: Relic, Vault, and Entrance room guards block movement - Guild Halls without guards will not grant stat bonuses to members

[ 2017-06-08 05:18:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

In Heroes of Dire, a new massively-multiplayer tactical role-playing game by Spellbook, players command squads of fighters through strategic turn-based battles to win treasure, honor, and glory for their guilds!

Join with friends to defeat challenging boss raids, take up quests for epic treasure, invade enemy guild strongholds, or make wagers on brutal gladiator arenas as crowd favorites live and die for your amusement!

Cross-platform servers bring together thousands of players from both desktop and mobile devices, with launch-day support for Android, iPhone, Windows, Mac, and Linux!



Heroes of Dire is all about assembling squads of fighters to make war with other guilds, monsters, and players!

Fighters come in many fantasy archetype flavors such as Mages, Paladins, and Healers. No two are ever the same, with unique names, races, stories, stats, titles, and equipment constructed by complex procedural generation algorithms with impressive and/or hilarious results that will always keep the game freshly entertaining.



The One-Eyed Knight, Two-Fingered Pete, The Laughing Horror, Georgia the Peach, or Screaming Ethel are just a few examples of the trillions of possibilities. For a few Silvers (the in-game currency) players can randomly roll for new fighter names to discover the perfect moniker, or work with a live Dungeon Master to create the perfect name!



Fighters have four gear slots: Weapon, Offhand, Armor, and Trinket.

Different items help determine what role a fighter plays, such as holy wands and bandages for Healers, or poisoned dual-wielded daggers for Rogues to maximize backstabs.



Almost all items in Heroes of Dire are procedurally generated with no two ever the same. Dungeon Masters will regularly appear in the world as traveling magicians or blacksmiths who can enhance your gear, or as merchants offering unique treasures.



When in combat, fighters take turns moving and attacking; each action has a time cost that determines when they get to go again.

More expensive actions, such as splitting an enemy archer in half with a greatsword, might push your fighter to the bottom of the action list for 14 rounds, while simply moving would only cost 3 or 4. This turn-based combat system creates an incredibly rich strategy simulation where each decision has a direct and immediate impact on who wins or loses.

Skilled players won't waste a single turn -- One move in the wrong direction or an attack at the wrong time can immediately swing your massive lead into a crippling loss.



Battles can involve anywhere from 2 to 32 fighters, however our playtesting hints that it's most fun with 12 or less. This is due to the turn-based nature of combat, as you would not want to wait more than a few seconds between actions.

Eventually we will include different battle modes that operate in real-time instead of turn-based, which would open up massive wars that could involve hundreds of fighters in one battlefield.

Each battle is part of a greater narrative, such as a guild war or a quest chain, and players can have multiple squads involved in many fights at the same time.

When a player exits battle the AI takes over and the fight continues uninterrupted. They can return at any time, thus allowing multiple battles to be managed concurrently without breaking the real-time and multiplayer nature of the game. This creates a truly "massive" multiplayer experience as guild wars rage across the world map involving hundreds or thousands of players!



One of the coolest features in Heroes of Dire allows players to borrow fighters from their guilds and friends!

When building a squad to send into combat, you can pick fighters from friends and guild mates who have flagged them as "shared". Shared fighters are controlled by the AI unless their owner is online, and decides to jump in the battle too.

This system allows for multiplayer cooperative battles, so you and your friends could play through hours of quests, guild wars, and special Dungeon Master events together! Also, because battles can involve up to 32 fighters, you could have as many as 15 friends playing together in a single fight!



Guilds play an integral role driving the story and action in Heroes of Dire! Besides social and organizational hubs, they will wage war for dominance of the world map, with members winning prizes and benefits for capturing new cities, temples, roads, and relics.



Quests are a series of battles that take place in various maps against different NPC factions. Each step in a quest is increasingly more difficult, with an opportunity for random loot after every fight. Once completed, players earn Silvers and a powerful item as a reward. Quests may be bought and sold on the open market.



Each player will have a custom player title. In addition to looking cool, these titles help inform us of who is who in the community. Players sporting powerful or unique titles will stand apart from the crowd, lending weight to their obviously superior opinions and impressive physiques. Everyone will have the chance to earn new titles when taking part in special Dungeon Master events.