Patch 1.5.7b Notes

Bryan Patch Notes

Patch summary

This patch brings the first iteration of a much-awaited drop rate revision, after the last one’s arguable step back. It offers more clarity across skill and item descriptions, some bug fixes, and multiple QoL-oriented changes to monsters, minions, and quests. It restores Flagship’s foundations for 2-handed Templar guns, and adds the first batch of them to the game for the aspiring Templar gunslingers. Sadly, it also reins in some of our recent affix additions, some enemy densities in specific maps, and some overperforming skills. In return, as what is perhaps the highlight of this patch, it brings a new, permanent event, which introduces its own new challenging enemies to fight and ample new gear to collect.

Finally, patch 1.5.7 signifies our last patch of this general scope for the foreseeable future – outside of hotfixes, new circumstances, and minor reactive patches along the way, of course. Going forward, we will primarily dedicate our efforts to bringing our own endgame expansion to life. In turn, future CM diaries will primarily focus on providing meaningful updates on our work in this area.

 

1.5.7b patch notes

 

Fixes

  • The glitch where daily quest mobs in the Australia dungeon would get random property names has been fixed.
  • The bug with the interaction between Challenge and Grand Aura has been fixed.
  • Many data and string fixes were applied, which should hopefully fix the visible string glitches players have been seeing. 

 

Skill and item description clarifications

  • The skill description of Shield Master has been slightly altered to better convey the skill’s intended behavior.
  • The skill description of Summon Reaper has been altered to reflect the recent changes to its Demon.
  • The skill descriptions of all new Elemental Mastery skills have been revised to clarify that their bonuses are always active and do not require the presence of their corresponding Elemental to apply.
  • The following items received additional text information in their inspection windows that clarifies how their unique, hidden affixes function:

 

Misc changes

  • The Single-Player button has been removed from the game’s main menu.

 

Vendor and Consignment House changes

  • All vendors across the game will now sell an unlimited amount of consumables.
  • Flagship’s 4th Consignment House filter for Templar weapons was restored, so now the faction can filter for 1-handed and 2-handed guns separately.
    • A few new items make use of this filter, which you may find below.

 

Drop rate changes

  • Common enemies in Australia will now drop items much less frequently.
  • Champion and Boss enemies across the game now have a chance to drop items of their previous, pre-1.5.6b “enriched” treasures.
    • Specifically, Champion enemies will drop “enriched” loot 25% of the time, and Bosses will do so 50% of the time.

 

Quest changes

  • Broker’s “Exinde” quest will now only be available in Normal mode, instead of once in either mode.
  • Broker’s “Exinde” quest now requires 1 “Guardian’s Blood” item from the same quest target as before.
    • This and the following change intend to prevent issues with other quests that required the same quest items.
  • Both of Ken’s quests in the Foreboding Wilds now only require 1 “Mummy’s Blood” drop from a new named mummy, “Hybrid Zero”. 
    • This mummy is much larger than others of its type, so it should be much easier to spot within this large map.
    • Ken’s quest texts have been slightly altered to reflect this change.

 

New items and affixes

  • 6 new Mythic weapon types, 3 new Mythic items, and 9 new Unique weapons have been added to the game as event enemy drops. These are all event-exclusive drops, so you may find these in the event section below.
  • 3 new early-game Common+ weapon types, each with its own midgame Mk2 version, were added to the game as global drops. These are all 2-handed Templar guns, and are the following:
    • Crusader Lasher (mk1) and Crusader Lance (mk2); modified Zeus Rifles
    • Inquisitor (mk1) and Holy Inquisitor (mk2); modified Electropulse rifles
    • Threat Nullification Device (mk1) and Threat Elimination Device (mk2); modified HARPs 
  • The Mk2 versions of each of the above weapon types also come with their own new Unique variants, which are also global drops. In order, these are the following:
  • Flagship’s unused Morbid Fang nova has been restored, without its unlimited piercing effect.
    • Currently, affixes with this nova may not roll normally. Two of the new items below make use of its “when it hits an enemy” variant, however; the “Lolth’s Ritual” mod, and the “XM314 Viral Thunder” weapon type. 

 

Item fixes

The following items’ unique affixes have been repaired, and will now appear and function normally.

 

Item and affix changes

  • The new mod affixes for +Naturalism/Spiritualism damage, introduced in 1.5.5b, now have dedicated WILL feeds. 
    • This change is retroactive. 
  • The new affixes for +Naturalism/Spiritualism damage across most sources have been adjusted to scale more linearly and more closely match their regular +damage counterparts. Across all common sources, these affixes’ new values are as follows:
    • Relics:
      • Common: 14-16% from 8-14%
      • Rare: 18-20% from 14-18%
      • Legendary: 22-24% from 20-24%
      • Mythic: 32-34% from 40-50%
    • Weapons: 
      • Common: 20-24%, unchanged
      • Rare: 26-28% from 30-34% 
      • Legendary: 30-32% from 40-50%
      • Mythic: 50-55% from 80-100%
    • Armor: 
      • Mythic: 12-17% from 20-30% 
    • Invoker armor inherent values and Unique items’ affix values were left unchanged. 
    • These changes are retroactive.
  • The displayed Rate of Fire of all Starbursts has been reduced to 30. 
    • This change is only visual. 
    • As with all Rate of Fire changes, this and the following ones are retroactive.
  • The Rate of Fire of all Sniper rifles which were slower than 30 has been increased to 30. Ones which were already above 30 remained unchanged.
    • This includes all Unique and Named versions.
  • The Rate of Fire of all Eel Launchers has been reduced by 50%.
  • The Rate of Fire of Blessed Revolver has been reduced to 30.
  • The missiles of Infector guns will now pierce and damage all targets in their path.
  • The Cleanser will no longer drop globally. In addition, its minimum damage value has been considerably increased for more consistent damage output.
  • Kikina’s Plague Mass now has a 10% field damage component. In turn, its interrupt strength was considerably reduced.

 

Monster changes

  • All regular monsters and turrets in Australia maps will now fade away on death.
    • This intends to improve both base map performance and the event boss encounter that takes place on this map.
  • Hell’s Cook has been enlarged so that it can be spotted more easily in Australia maps.
  • Mummies in Dawn of the Dead will now fade away on death.
  • Quavontavius will now only spawn in Veil Asunder if the corresponding quest, “Awakening”, is active.

 

Map and monster density changes

  • Monster density in all park type levels was reduced by 50%.
  • Monster density in Wake Hallow was reduced by 25%.
  • Monster density in Elite Passageways was reduced by 50%. Champion probability was reduced by 25%.
  • Monster density in Ancient Bloods was reduced by 25%. Champion probability was reduced by 50%.
  • The maximum length of cave passageways was reduced, but each will always contain at least one chamber, excluding passageways found in the Wilds.
  • Catacombs levels will no longer guarantee Passageway spawns. Instead, levels 1-5 will have a 30% chance, levels 6-10 a 40% chance, and levels 11-15 a 50% chance.
    • This last-minute change was done to avoid trivializing the new event introduced in this patch, while still keeping Catacombs a more Passageway-rich area.

 

Class changes

 

Summoner changes

  • Elemental Nova was removed from the “Elemental Mastery” skillgroup.
  • All the new “Master of” skills, introduced in 1.5.5b, and Master of the Elements were removed from the “Elemental” skillgroup.
  • Summoning Circle was removed from the “Demon” skillgroup.
  • The Shadow Minions’ ignite defense was brought in line with their other sfx defense values.
  • All Elementals will now fade away on death.
    • This change intends to improve map performance and reduce crashes, but also has the practical effect of reducing opportunities to use Afterlife.
  • Each Elemental summoning skill now has an individual cooldown of 10 seconds.
    • You may still summon different types of Elementals with no cooldown interval in-between. This only means that resummoning Elementals of the same type will have a cooldown between uses.
    • There are currently no new affixes that affect this cooldown, outside of the unique Elemental +userate found on the new “The Master’s Wand” Unique item.

 

Evoker changes

  • The damage of Drain Life was reduced by 25%.
  • The damage of Drain power was reduced by 25%.
  • The damage of Flameshards was reduced by 50%.
  • The damage of Hellfire’s initial explosion was reduced by 50%.
  • The damage of Spectral Bolts was reduced by 50%.
  • The damage of Spectral Lash was reduced by 25%.
  • The damage of Arc Legion was reduced by 25%.
  • The damage of Demonspine was reduced by 50%.
  • The damage of Boneshards was reduced by 50%.
  • The damage of Skullsplitter was reduced by 50%.
  • The damage of Venomous Spirit was reduced by 50%.
  • The damage of Toxic Armor missiles was reduced by 50%.
    • These may seem intimidating as standalone values, but they reflect our own buffed states of these skills over time – including the foci damage buff of 1.3.1a, skill damage recalculations and buffs in 1.4.2a and 1.5.3b, and the introduction of skillgroup affixes in 1.5.5b. These reductions, within their context, still intend to leave the class both early-game viable and highly endgame-viable – as our testers have assured us.

 

Guardian changes

  • Shield Throw’s maximum number of bounces was reduced to 4 from 8.
  • Shield Throw’s individual hits will now deal 35% of base damage.

 

Engineer changes

  • The base damage of Spider Mines was reduced by 25%

 

New global event: Emissaries of Myth

New, powerful enemies of the mythical Mutant grade have found their way to London and beyond. Those enemies will rotate each week, emerging and retreating throughout the month. This will constitute our first, and permanent, global event.

 

 

Structure

 

From lv31 maps onward, you will encounter Mutant subbosses in Hidden Passageways across London (excluding cave-type ones found in Stonehenge). These Mutants will carry some valuable treasure of their own, and a unique, tradeable, caste-specific ingredient.  You may combine 100 of this ingredient into an untradeable consumable item in the Cube. Using this item will initiate quests that call forth the respective caste’s Mutant boss in specific maps, which you may then challenge.

The caste of the subbosses and respective bosses will change each week, with each caste taking up one week of each month. Should you not manage to gather enough of a caste’s ingredients in time, they will permanently remain in your inventory.

 

 

Bosses and rotation

 

These powerful new bosses have been mutated by an unknown power. While their base forms will be familiar, they will come with some unique characteristics of their own:

  • Mutant quality; these bosses have been mutated into new levels of power. They will be much sturdier, and deal much more damage than their common brethren.
  • New mechanics; with their ascension came newfound powers. Each of them will have a new set of skills to dissuade challengers.
  • Iron will; these bosses will be summoned, but they will not be swayed. With power comes wisdom, so they will not respond to taunts and provocations, succumb to fear, or have their minds controlled.

Each of them will take up one week of the month, and each caste’s boss will be summoned in its own dedicated map. Specifically:

  • Week 1 will be the Demon caste’s. You may summon Malphas, a mutated Shaman Imp, to Veil Asunder. Beware, its leashed allies have also tapped into new powers themselves. 
  • Week 2 will be the Spectral caste’s. You may summon Xitalu, a mutated member of the unnamed species of Oculis, to Step into Hell in Piccadilly Circus. 
  • Week 3 will be the Necro caste’s. You may summon Ruax, a mutated Zombie Summoner, to Possibly Australia. Unlike this map’s usual residents, it will award exp if killed.
  • Week 4 will conclude the month with the Beast caste. You may summon Eihort, a mutated Carnagor, to the Foreboding Wild. Like Malphas, it has shared its newfound powers with its leashed allies.

Note: The current weekly rotation starts on the 1st of each month and ends on the 28th. This means that each month will have a short window when no subbosses will spawn, and this behavior is natural. If this arrangement changes in the future, there will be relevant patch notes and announcements.

Note #2: This window only prevents subbosses from spawning in Hidden Passageways. If you have gathered enough fragments for a talisman, or have stockpiled talismans, you may summon any boss at any time – including during this window.

 

Rewards

 

Each subboss will carry the following new items:

Instead of specific pre-designed Unique items, each boss will carry named Mythic weapons of 6 new types with random affixes. These weapons have been permanently transmogrified by the bosses’ influence, so they will differ from their original counterparts. Specifically, they will come with an array of unique characteristics:

  • An initial level of 57
  • Unique base mechanics, with only one exception, and different slots compared to their original counterparts
  • An affinity for toxic damage, with only one fiery exception
  • A standard Critical Chance Multiplier affix depending on the boss they come from
  • More base affix rolls than other items

These items are the following: