Monster Keepers! Another new Monster Sanctuary update has arrived - Mystical Workshop, which includes a new area unlike any other in the game, as well as several new features!

New area unlocked: Mystical Workshop

Enter the Mystical Workshop, the place in the Sanctuary where all the mechanical Monsters roam around! This area is another late-game area, designed to be around the same difficulty level as the Underworld. The new area features: - A new story arc, uncovering the secret of the infamous leader of the Alchemists, Marduk. This story arc can be started at any point in the game, provided you are able to enter the Workshop. Entering the Workshop requires any Monster with the "Improved Flight" ability.

• Six new Monsters to collect, most of which are new Construct-type Monsters. They're great to build around with each other, but also fit into any other Monster teams that utilise Charge stacks, Shield generation or Debuffs!
• A vast array of new equipment to discover - this update adds more equipment to the game than any other update so far! Many of the items are also a great fit for Charge or Debuff-based Monsters.

The Mystical Workshop can be found above the Stronghold Dungeon. A Monster capable of "Improved Flight" is required to enter.

New Monster Journal artworks

The Monster Journal is getting a royal makeover! We hired the talented @DanieruArt to create all-new pixel artworks for all the Monsters in the game; since they are made from scratch, they look much better than the old artworks, which were digital drawings that were converted into pixel art. Many in-game Monster artworks have already been replaced this way, and all will be replaced in this way, eventually!

Hidden 6-star ratings

We've also decided to extend one of the main features of the game: the combat rating system. It will now be possible to score a hidden sixth star on every wild Monster encounter and Champion encounter in the game, which usually isn't visible in the post-combat screen. The sixth star is awarded for scoring 12,000 or more points during an encounter, and awards the player with even more rare loot than usual! This mechanic is in place specifically for our power-gamers, who are seeking an even greater challenge! We hope it will motivate players to find new, even more efficient and stronger PvE strategies. Share your six-star screens and your Monster builds with us on the Steam forums - or on our Discord server! In addition to that, the game now saves and displays the exact high score numbers for your Champion fights.

Quality of Life: Inventory with categories

An often-requested and long-planned feature: Your items are now sorted into different categories in the inventory menu. This makes it much easier to find what you're looking for in your inventory!

New Merchants

We've added new item merchants to the game that let you spend the money you earn from Monster encounters in new ways, giving you new options for item builds throughout the game. These are the new merchants:

• A Crafting Material Merchant appears in the blacksmith's room in the Sanctuary after you have gained the "Keeper Seeker" rank (5 or more Champion Monsters defeated). You can buy crafting materials depending on your Keeper rank.
• One of the NPCs at the Tree of Evolution in the Ancient Woods now sells some new equipment items.
• A new merchant can be found in the Mystical Workshop, which also sells some new equipment items.
• The Alchemist merchant in Magma Chamber also sells a new unique equipment now.

Infinity Arena Update

We overhauled the Infinity Arena slightly:

• You will start at a higher level right away as your Keeper Rank progresses
• Enemys Level increases quicker now
• Available Monster pool depends on the areas you have completed now
• Revive actions are now limited to 5 uses per single combat (similarly like revive items are. Both share the same counter, so a player can use a mix of up to 5 revive items/or revive actions total per combat)

Patch Notes

The new update also features a number of new, smaller features and balance changes to older Monsters. Minor Feature Updates

• Level Cap increased to 38
• All equipment and weapons can be upgraded to +5 now.
• After the appearance of shifted Monsters, you're now also able to get shifted eggs from reward boxes (chance is 50% for an egg to be shifted)
• There are 'Craft Boxes' consumables now which grant you a couple of craft materials when opened based on your Keeper rank.
• Consumables are now allowed in Keeper Battles (except for revive items in online PvP). Consumables used in online PvP are refunded after the battle.

Balancing Changes

• Ucan base defense and base magic increased by 1
• 'Divine Shield' value increased to 7.5% (from 5%)
• 'Charged Up' cap value increased to 15 (from 10)
• Promethean's Light shift reverted back to be Buff Mastery
• Healing Wave tier 3 now does 3*3 heals
• Increased the required Champions defeated to reach Keeper Knight, Keeper Champion and Keeper Dragoon by 1
• Solar Burst 3 now deals 3*3 hits
• Charging Shield value increased to 75 (from 60)
• Restore removes more Debuffs now
• Crit. Chance values on Coat, Bandana, Brooch, Fang, Feather, Fin and Sun Pendant reduced by 1
• Ocarina and Drum healing value reduced, but their bonus stat values increased
• Concealed now gives increased dodge chance on the first turn of the combat of a monster even if the monster is switched in at a later turn
• Blob has 'Multi Armor Break', 'Corrosion' and 'Slime Infestation' skills now. 'Hex Support' moved up to be available at level 10+ and 'Healing Shield' moved up to be available at level 20+.
• Ice Blob has Congeal now
• Lava Blob has 'Critical Heat' now
• Crystal Snail and Mogwai light shift changed to 'Curse Breaker'
• Crystal Snail's 'Tackle' got replaced with 'Beating' and it also got Critical Boon
• 'Goblin Smith' passive skill value increased to 15% (from 10%)
• 'Goblin Provisions' passive skill value increased to 10% (from 7.5%)
• 'Fire Shield 2' now applies two burn to two random enemies and costs 10 mana more
• Moon Sword stats slightly increased
• Reflect value increased to 40% (from 25%) - in Keeper battles it reflects 20% now (before it was 12.5%)
• Kame's 'Empower' got replaced by 'Protector', one of the 'Giant Bane' by 'First Impact' and 'Charge Amplifier' with 'Protected Offense'
• Raduga's 'Fireball' got replaced by 'Spark Shower', 'Sure Strike' got replaced by 'Cascade', 'Ice Hail' got replaced by 'Freeze','Lightning Bolt' with 'Whirlwind', 'Critical Consistency' with 'Combo Buffing' and its Dark Shift is 'Critical Appex' now
• Arachlich's Dark shift is 'Dark Instinct' now and has +1 Base Health
• 'Blood Drive' chance increased to 75% (from 50%)
• 'Bleed' increased to 20% of the critical damage dealt (from 15%)
• 'Mana Conflux' now grants one charge stack for every 75 mana consumed (instead of 100)
• Catzerker has an additional 'First Impact' passive node now
• Kongamatos Base Attack and Base Magic increased by 1
• Yowie has 'Frostbite', 'Autoheal', 'Critical Freeze' and 'Heroic Party' now. Both shifts have +1 Base Health.
• 'Lifelink' value increased to 20% (from 15%)
• Sun Pendant shield value increased
• Buffing Restore chance increased to 75% (from 50%)

We hope you enjoy this huge new Monster Sanctuary update! Thank you for playing, and enjoy, Monster Keepers! :)

[ 2020-07-22 14:03:27 CET ] [ Original post ]