Patch 1.5.11b Notes

Patch summary

This patch intended to introduce our first summer event, alongside various QoL additions, bug fixes, and other modifications. However, with our project leader and dear friend’s tragic passing, development for patch 1.5.11 was halted and said plans were postponed. Its main focus became that of in-game tributes in Omerta’s loving memory, hence the timing of its release despite its incomplete state. 

 

Note: Item links will be added at a later time.

 

Patch 1.5.11b notes

 

Tributes to Omerta

  • A statue of Omerta, wielding his namesake sniper rifle, was erected in Stonehenge.
    • While this tribute was bound to be made, we must still thank all of you who reached out and suggested it. The statue’s placement and function may change at a later time.
  • A memorial poster was added to the roster of station posters.
    • Our heartfelt thanks to HeWhoHunts for inspiring this poster.
  • A new Hunter torso, “Jacob’s Desert Camo”, was added to the game.

Alongside the above permanent tributes, a temporary memorial splash image was also added on client startup.

 

New items

The following Legendary-grade Named items, all tributes to departed loved ones, were added to the game:

  • “Jacob’s Desert Camo”
  • “Vestments of Soteria”
  • “Demeter’s Eleusis”

These items will have a 15% chance to drop from Blood Barons in Ancient Bloods and a 3% chance to drop from Shulgoth in either difficulty, with said chance split equally among the three. Their item levels will scale to the level of the enemy which dropped them, and their final item level will inform the maximum values of the following affixes:

  • “Jacob’s Desert Camo”: Evasion, duration of Boost skills.
  • “Vestments of Soteria”: Total Armor Value increased, userate of Prayer skills, all sfx defenses (the “Kaleidoscopic” affix).
  • “Demeter’s Eleusis”: power regeneration, userate of Mind Power skills.

Please note that “Jacob’s Desert Camo” also features unique green text within its inspection window. This is typically used for clarifications of unique mechanics such as hidden affixes, but in this one case it is only used for flair. This item only comes with the affixes listed on it, and will in no way hinder your efforts to find leg armor. 

 

Station poster changes

  • New posters were added to all stations.
    • Our many thanks to DeusBlackheart for bringing this front of development back onto the table, as well as inspiring the “see, say” poster. 

 

Bug fixes

  • Balbi’s Ring” will now properly roll Swarm among its possible skills. 
    • This arose due to a hidden skill group cap, which we have now raised to prevent such issues. Moving forward, all unlocked (ie pre-Abyss) skills with multiple skill groups will now be treated properly by affixes that reference them. 
      • Our many thanks to Contra, who brought this to our attention some time ago.
  • Megan’s Fury” will now properly display its two +2 Sword of Reckoning affixes as a single +4 affix.
    • This new affix will not occur normally anywhere else, and will still prevent further +Sword of Reckoning augments of any grade like the original ones did.
      • Data-wise, the item granted +2 to each class variant of the skill with the intent to give either class +2 – but the game always summed the two and offered +4 to both classes. Since the item has been this way for 15 years, we deemed it fair to not nerf it by reducing the affixes to the intended +2, and instead fused the two into a +4 affix. 
  • Charge and Shield Charge have been fixed and will now properly apply their damage once successfully connecting to a target.
    • Higher attack speeds caused this issue. Player character animations were lagging behind the actual sequence of the skill, thus leading to the damage being applied “into thin air” right before the character would move.

 

QoL changes

  • The Escape menu now offers a “character selection” option.
    • This option is in addition to the original “exit game” option, so as to not complicate either process.

 

Skill description clarifications

The following skills’ descriptions received additional clarifications:

  • Word of Fear’s effect field now correctly states that additional levels increase enemy armor reduction.
  • Venomous Spirit’s skill description now states that the skill is capable of inflicting Fear.
    • While the skill’s effect field suggests this, listing Fear strength upgrades, there was no way for the player to know this before investing one point into the skill. 
  • Shield Master’s skill description now reads “Shield attack skills” for more clarity.
  • Great Defender now states that its health regeneration effect scales to the player’s maximum hp.
  • Sword of Justice now better explains its damage penalty per swing, in both its description and effect field.

As with all clarifications, these text changes are strictly explanatory and do not affect the skills’ functionality in any way.

 

Item clarifications

The following items received additional text information in their inspection windows that clarifies how their hidden affixes function:

  • Venom Lances, outlining their onhit Toxic Novas. This includes the Legendary “Vicar’s Viral Lance” and the Unique “Surya’s Perfect Solution”, which preserve this feature.
  • XM314 Viral Thunders, outlining their onhit Morbid Fangs. This includes all caste variants, as they all feature the same hidden affix.
  • Crusader Lashers (mk1) and Crusader Lances (mk2), outlining their onhit novas. This includes the Unique “Burning Crusader”, which features different novas than the normal versions, and its clarification text also outlines that its unique Exploding Spikes come with a longer cooldown interval than the normal 2-second one.
  • The Unique Threat Elimination Device, “Harper’s Fury”, noting that its onkill nova uniquely lacks a cooldown interval.

As with the above, these text changes do not affect the items in question in any functional way.

 

Global map refinements

  • The global map has been adjusted to both connect the Liverpool Station-St. Paul’s Station route better, and improve the readability of zone names across it. 
    • This change is strictly visual, and does not affect gameplay in any way.

 

Skill changes

  • Tactical Stance will no longer be cancelled when the player throws a punch while using it.
    • In turn, the sfx bonus of Elemental Vision which upgrades Tactical Stance will also apply to punches.
  • Master of the Flame will now require 2 points in Fire Elemental to be unlocked, in line with the other Elemental Mastery skills.
  • Master of Lightning will now grant Storm Elementals a 5% damage boost per level, for a maximum of 50%. In addition, each level will grant them a 1% chance to trigger Electric Discharge on hit, centered on their target, for a maximum of 10%. 
    • Please note that Storm Elementals will not have the Electric Discharge effect by default. This effect is granted by Master of Lightning at lv1, and upgraded with additional levels.   
      • The +attack speed effect this skill had before was bugged, and failed to produce the intended outcome. Since that bug could not be fixed, we found this a fitting alternative.

 

Punch refactoring and achievements

The Pugilist achievement, unlocked at 100 punch kills, will no longer grant +100% punch damage while equipped. Instead, it will substantially empower punches in the following ways while equipped:

  • Base punch damage will now scale to player level.
  • Punches will now also deal minor splash damage, the radius of which will also scale to player level. 
    • Both of these values will be dynamically reflected on the achievement skill’s description window.

Beyond these changes, punches will still deal physical damage and will still be affected by +punch damage, +physical damage, +damage, and +melee speed affixes as normal.

In addition, two new punch achievements were added to the game:

  • “Master of the Ring”. This requires 1000 punch kills, and becomes visible at 100. It awards the title “the Puncher”.
  • “The Legend”. This requires 10000 punch kills, and becomes visible at 1000. It awards the title “the Punch Machine”, and equipping it grants +15% punch damage.
    • Please note that these kill counts will not include punch kills scored prior to this addition.

 

Punch event achievements

Finally, three new event-exclusive punch achievements were added to the game:

  • “Knockout”. Completed by consuming a “Candy Of The Legendary Puncher”, this grants the title “the Class B Hero”.
  • “Hard as Bricks”. Completed by consuming a “Candy Of The Elite Puncher”, this grants the title “the Rock”.
  • “Trailblazer”. Completed by consuming a “Candy Of The Punch Connoisseur”, this grants the title “the Dynamite”.

The items for these three achievements will only be awarded to the winners of an upcoming punch-themed event, which will be announced and ran on the project’s Discord server. These achievements will remain invisible to everyone but the winners, so as to not take up space. Depending on the event’s appeal, we may run similar events with these and other rewards in the future.