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[CG] LAWLTA

Chromatic Games
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  1. [CG] LAWLTA
    DEFENDERS,

    We’ve been hard at work trying to get our first patch out to you all that has some additional goodies. We’re looking to make good on our word, providing our early supporters with some rewards and options to look stylish as well as play with newer Defenders much easier. Let’s just get right into it!
    New Content and Features For Early Supporters
    Shadow Costumes
    Shadow Costumes have been added for anyone who purchased Dungeon Defenders: Awakened before the 1.0 launch. We will be handing them out automatically in the next few days.
    Legacy Transfer Tool
    We’ve added a Legacy to Play transfer tool. This tool has a one time use that replaces your Play data (heroes, gear, and progression) with a modified version of your Legacy data (heroes, gear, and progression). This is what happens when you use this tool:
    Delete any characters and gear obtained through Play. Transfer your Legacy characters and gear to Play. Reset all Legacy gear upgrades. Refund the gold spent on upgrades to a bank cap of 300 Billion. Apply 1.0 balanced max upgrade levels on your gear. Disable further play on Legacy. We initially announced this tool would be available to players for a week, but have since decided to provide it up until our next big update that brings Massacre Survival and some other unannounced goodies. We’ll be getting a roadmap out for our updates and general plans as part of our continued transparency efforts, but this should extend the period for this tool by several weeks, giving Legacy players plenty of time to get their saves over. This is only available to those with Legacy profiles.
    Updates
    Chicken Soccer Mini-game added to VIP Tavern. Players now Auto-Reject Hacker Join requests, and must be manually disabled via the options menu. Spawn Protection System added so you cannot be killed immediately upon respawning. Bosses in Massacre drop unique weapons. Let the hunt begin! Tavern visuals updated slightly. Keybinding improvements which include the ability to bind Shift and Alt to any action. Hover descriptions on the various selections located on the main menu. Balance
    Demon Lord fireball projectile speed reduced on lower difficulties. Glitterhelm Ogres spawn timers adjusted so they don't take a minute to spawn after the last enemy spawns.\ Bug Fixes
    Fixed most cases when you sell all as a client with a large number of items in the inventory you would be kicked. Fixed an issue causing the hero deck to open up when using the letter H in the chat box. Fixed an issue where start from wave 15 is locked instead of wave 14. Fixed some collision issues on Endless Spires. Fixed an issue where Lava Mines Pure Strategy is missing its mana drops during waves. Fixed an issue where pets don't face forward on 3 maps. Fixed a missing string table under the block category. Fixed an issue where the Redeem Code would always be successful as it was telling you that it was successful in running the redeem code code. Fixed an issue where Trophies can not be seen by clients. Fixed an issue where Darkness traps are failing to remove the visuals of elemental buff an enemy has, the trap itself is working as intended though. Fixed an issue where the Demon Lord gets stuck while flying. Fixed an issue where enemies were getting stuck in the air in the Alchemical Labs challenge. Fixed an issue where you can't scroll to the last option in the Gameplay Tab in the Options UI. Fixed an issue where VFX are turning off and on randomly in lower graphical settings. Fixed an issue where Mixed Mode maps don't display how to unlock. Fixed an issue where campaign pets can drop with no quality on Massacre. Fixed an issue where Enemies are spawning in the larger part of Lava Mines on lower difficulties. Fixed an issue where shooting the Blacksmith makes him fall under the ground for clients. Fixed an issue where some achievements were being granted when they shouldn't be. Fixed an issue where the Chicken didn't want to attack Training Dummies. Fixed some locations where Localization would break the value fields. Fixed an issue where enemies are spawning outside Arcane Library and getting stuck there. Fixed an issue where Glitterhelm Wave 6 Campaign Massacre doesn't have a build timer. Fixed an issue where a last wave award notification would be stuck on screen during the next build phase. Fixed an issue where certain enemies were spawning on Tornado Highlands Pure Strategy that shouldn't be on Nightmare difficulty. Fixed an issue where enemies are leaving their lanes on Royal Gardens. Fixed an issue where the Squire Level-Up sound would be played twice. Fixed an issue where Ping icons would be scaling up to high. Fixed some very inaccurate translations, big translation patch coming up later. Fixed an issue where map progression wasn't unlocking if you beat the map with a friend even though it showed you completed the map. Fixed an issue where attack speed comparison was incorrect for weapons under 1.0 attack speed. Fixed the Siren missing on Royal Gardens and Glitterhelm billboards. Fixed the Siren appearing on billboards she shouldn't be on. Fixed an issue where Skeletons can exist until the end of the universe. Fixed a spot in Glitterhelm where players could get stuck behind a crystal. Fixed it where Players could get out of Glitterhelm map's intended playable area and specific places only the huntress could reach. Fixed an issue where clients would still have the red effect for low health despite being healed back to full until they take damage again. Fixed an issue where Towers can be built in the ceiling in Glitterhelm. Fixed performance issues appearing while viewing the hero in the UI on lower quality settings. Fixed a spot where the Huntress could get outside of the Ramparts map. Fixed an issue where in multiplayer after losing a map there's an award with no text and 0 that sticks on the screen. Fixed an issue where Goblin Copters don't spawn in their correct ordered spawn sequence. Fixed an issue where a Massacre weapon was dropping from the Demon Lord on Insane difficulty that wasn’t intended. Fixed a specific crash for clients trying to use a disabled ability in Challenge mode that were disabled outside of cooldown. Fixed a specific crash for the host while a client was in the hero customization screen. Fixed a specific crash for when clients timeout from the host. Fixed a specific crash for the client if they equip gear shortly before the host returns to the tavern. Fixed multiple rare but random crashes. Known Issues
    If you go into Legacy first before using the Transfer Tool, you may need to restart DD:A before the Transfer Tool will work properly. Social Defenders
    To get reliable updates on the future of DDA make sure to follow us on all our social media platforms:
    Discord Twitter Facebook Instagram Twitch Forums Keep an eye out for more info!
    For Etheria!
    Chromatic Games
  2. [CG] LAWLTA
    Greetings Defenders,
    We’ve been hard at work since our latest update and we’re ready to share some of what you can expect to see in our next update! We wanted to take a step back and focus on some more player-centric changes, and we’ve got a pretty hefty list of things we’re accomplishing. There’s still a lot of work for us to do, and while we’re not ready to show anything off yet, it’s the perfect time to talk about some of the things you can expect to see coming to Dungeon Defenders II!
    Shard Acquisition
    Shards are such an integral part to Dungeon Defenders II when it comes to empowering your towers with great strength to take out the waves of enemies constantly thrown at you. Currently there is a lot of RNG regarding which shards you get, and to help cut down the randomness, farming lower tiered content is the easiest way to go.
    We don’t want that. We want you playing content you find engaging, while being able to acquire the Shards you want. The exact details cannot be spilled out here, but we’re working on concrete ways to get the specific Shards you want.
    Chaos VIII Shards
    They’ve been gone for a while, and the game has changed quite a bit since they were removed. We have taken a pass at them so that they fit into the current game and are something you want to get. You’ll be able to get them after a certain point in Onslaught, similar to when you start receiving Chaos VIII Ampoules.
    New Weapons
    There’s a lot of epic weapons that we’re going to be making available, some that have been available previously, and some you've never seen before. Players love to make their characters look unique, and while costumes, flairs, and accessories help accomplish this, weapons also play a big part in making your heroes look awesome!
    Elemental Addition
    We know a lot of you really enjoyed harnessing the powers of the elements, and we promised to add to this system. In the next update, Poison Mods will be added. While we’re not talking interactions yet, we wanted to let you know that we’re expanding on the list of powers you can combo to break apart your enemies!
    Other Greatness
    There’s still a decent amount to talk about, and we promise to get word out on things as soon as we can. This next month is going to be a crazy ride for all of our Defenders and we cannot wait to share with you what our 2019 is going to look like! We'll be doing at least one other update over the next month, and then go through our usual release of dev streams and previews. We’re wanting to really take our time with everything we're conjuring up and give attention to a lot of things that we believe you’ll enjoy.
    Social Defenders
    To get reliable updates on what’s to come, be sure to check out our social platforms for the latest juiciest beans to be spilled:
    Twitter
    Facebook
    Discord
    Twitch
    The entire team has had a blast making this content, we cannot wait for all of you to get your hands on our next update. Stay tuned for more info soon!
    For Etheria!
    The Dungeon Defenders II Team

  3. [CG] LAWLTA
    Greetings Defenders,
    Protean Shift Patch 3.2 is now live on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One! We’ve been hard at work ever since Professor Proteus made his glorious arrival in Etheria! The feedback from all of you has been tremendous and we greatly appreciate it. We’re addressing requests that players have wanted both for a while now and recently with the Protean Shift expansion. Let’s get into it!
    Multiplayer Bonuses
    Defenders love playing together, there is strength in numbers after all. Previously, when playing in multiplayer settings, enemies became stronger, but did not offer any additional rewards for the harder challenge. This is a pain point that you as a community have voiced to us for a long time, and with gear in a much better spot, we now have a way to reward the increased difficulty!
    Previously, when playing in multiplayer sessions, enemies gained additional health without offering any increased rewards. Now when teaming up with fellow Defenders, you now gain additional Gear from Victory Chests. You may be asking, “how much?”, and the answer is A LOT. Here’s the breakdown you can expect to see when playing with multiple Defenders:
    One Defender:  Remains the same.
    Two Defenders:  +125% additional Gear drops!
    Three Defenders:  +275% additional Gear drops!
    Four Defenders:  +425% additional Gear drops!
    When playing solo, the Escape/Options menu shows:


    When in a group of two:

    This pattern increases the more Defenders in your session. To have our bases covered, Gear is specifically armor, weapons, and relics. These additional pieces of gear offer players multiple opportunities on finding perfect stats and Mods while taking on stronger enemies. This means you have more gear to use or sell, boosting Defender strength and our player economy substantially. As a result, we’ve slightly tweaked sell prices to vendors. With the increased loot drops, you’ll be making on average the same amount of gold when selling to vendors. However, we maintained previous minimum Player Shop sell value of items to offset this. You’re now provided more opportunities to sell more gear between one another to obtain greater mountains of wealth than ever before!
    We were able to get these changes out now to provide a feature the community highly requested thanks to the feedback we received via a survey many of you participated in. One concern that several Defenders brought up was in regard to party control and functionality. These will be coming in our next Update among a slew of new features not too far from now. We’ll touch on some additional changes later on in these notes!
    Material Vault
    In Protean Shift, we introduced a good chunk of crafting materials for Defenders to have more control over their gear. There’s a ton of new materials and one bit of feedback that we’ve received quite often, is about storing these spoils of combat.

    Enter the Material Vault! It’s a new vault that will be available to players that want to be able to store extra crafting materials. This special vault allows you to hold 999 of every crafting material and access to materials saved in your Material Vault regardless of where you are. Want to pump up the strength of your gear, or move some Mods around, but you put the materials in your Material Vault? You can now do it on the fly without pulling the materials out! When doing anything that requires crafting materials, Inventory Materials are used first before using crafting materials in your Materials Vault.
    What’s Coming?

    In our last Check-In post, we outlined some short, medium, and long term goals. In our next update, here’s a sneak peek as to what you can expect to see:
    Onslaught floors are always one map floors.
    Extra rewards as you climb through Onslaught.
    Improvements to Ancient Power
    Increased party control and functionality
    And…. A NEW BOSS, WEAPONS, MAPS, AND MUCH MUCH MORE!
    As development continues, we’re going to be providing opportunities to test this content and earn “Tester Only” rewards, such as Betsy White, a true friend and confidant to any Defender.
    Bug Fixes
    Improved enemy spawn and pathing logic so enemies getting stuck in spawns will now have a better chance of finding their way out of the spawner.
    Fixed additional cases where Berserker Orcs would get around blockades and walls.
    Fixed an issue in Player Shops that caused a visual duplication while moving items.
    Fixed an issue with Abyss Stone and Abyss Fountain giving an incorrect error message when there’s not enough mana available to use them.
    Updated Shard Dust description to explain how it’s acquired.
    Fixed a bug where the Jackpot shard increases gold reward upon wave completion.
    Fixed an issue with comparison tooltips remaining when closing the Vault UI.
    Fixed the text size of “LIST IT!” on 4k resolutions.
    Fixed an issue with Gilded Colossal Fissure Shards receiving a negative increase.
    Fixed an issue with Campaign Boot tinkering requiring an Iron Hammer.
    Fixed an issue with Chaos V Boot upgrades requiring weapon crafting materials.
    Fixed an issue with buy back items going to the wrong location in the inventory.
    Fixed an issue where items claimed at the Scavenger while the inventory is full would look like it had been claimed but was still in the Scavenger.
    Remember, if you run into any bugs, please let us know at our bug site. Also, check us out on social media for additional updates and game discussions with our awesome community:
    Twitter
    Facebook
    Discord
    Twitch
    We have much more on the way and will be spilling some beans in the coming weeks!
    For Etheria,
    The Dungeon Defenders II Team
  4. [CG] LAWLTA
    A red spaceship has arrived in Etheria!  Dragonfall guards have questioned a small robot that says his name is “Protobot.” After a brief examination, Protobot hands a mysterious letter to the guards. Let’s open it and see what it says:

    Greetings Defenders!
    I thought everyone could benefit from one of my more recent discoveries that I’ve made in my research, my new Shrink-o-matizing technology!  It really was just a simple matter of combining a crystal core with the matter quantizing array. This allows all sorts of items and materials to be stored at a much smaller size than before! This is only one of the many new item transmorphications that I plan on making.
    I do hope that Protobot is in good health and did not damage anything upon his arrival. He’s had some slight malfunctions in his navigational subroutines recently, but his Shrink-o-matizer is in perfect condition! You can trust your items to be protected and stored properly upon the Vault Ship.
    I can’t wait to arrive in Dragonfall to share all of my latest research with all of you. I simply was held up making some last minute adjustments to my latest creation, the Robo-witch Prime!  Or was it Mecha-witch? Gunda-witch? Don’t worry, I’ll figure out what I’m calling it and head right over! I can’t wait to share all my latest findings with everyone! The Old Ones won’t know what hit them!
    Sincerely,
    Professor Sebastian Proteus

    Patch 2.4 crash landed into the Dragonfall Marketplace today and is now live! This patch brings a highly requested feature in the form of a shiny spaceship — The Sky City Bank! With the bank’s arrival come some tremendous improvements to load times, optimizations, and bug fixes. Let’s get into it!
    Sky City Bank


    The Sky City Bank is now available! This futuristic bank is located directly behind the Emporium in Town, or next to the training dummies in your Private Tavern. The bank is used to store items that you want to hold onto, but don’t necessarily need on your journeys throughout Etheria.
    For starters, every player gets at least one Bank Vault for free right when they login. This means if you only have the default inventory space, you now have that same default inventory space AND a Bank Vault upon logging in!
    For people that purchased the old Inventory Packs or the Bag Booster Pack are going to notice a shift in their inventory. Bags obtained through those packs that go over eight Inventory Bags become Bank Vaults with this patch. Previously it confused players when they saw other players with ten or eleven bags, when they could only have eight. Because of this, we are standardizing inventory bags.
    The change looks like this:

    Pre-Patch 2.4
    8-11 Possible Maximum Inventory Bags
    0 Bank Vaults

    Post-Patch 2.4
    8 Possible Maximum Inventory Bags
    12 Bank Vaults
    FREE Sky City Bundle


    To celebrate the Sky City Bank’s arrival, we are offering a FREE bundle that you can redeem from the in-game shop for 0 Gems. This bundle awards:
    One additional Bank Vault!
    Shutter Shades Flair!
    By redeeming the free bundle, you are able to start off Patch 2.4 with at least two free Bank Vaults! This bundle is available for two weeks, so grab it while it’s here!
    Stack Splitting
    This patch brings the ability to split stackable items into different stacks and amounts. For instance, if there’s a stack of 99 pet food in your inventory, you can now break it down into two or more stacks of whatever size you choose. Want to keep some items on you, but store the rest of the stack in the bank? Now you can do that! Stacks on stacks on stacks.

    Transfer All
    Now that the Sky City Bank is open for business, moving items quickly to the bank is a must. You can now move an entire bag full of items with one button press. The “Transfer All” button moves all non-locked items in the bag you currently have selected into the Bank Vault that you have selected. You can move Locked Items as well, they are just done individually. “Transfer All” also automatically stacks any stackable items so you don’t have to!
    Load Time Improvements
    Patch 2.4 contains an emphasis on inventories. Our Lead Programmer looked into ways our inventories could be better to really add some “oomph” to this patch. After investigating how profiles saved, loaded, and handled inventories, we made a lot of improvements when loading into any part of the game! Some players are going to notice drastic load time decreases, while others may notice slightly quicker loads.
    General Changes
    Pets
    When at the Hatchery, eggs can be hatched directly. No more drag and dropping or incubating!


    Visuals
    Tower Inspect UI updated for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One (PC already has this).
    Zapper Kobold Flier now has a red outline.
    Made Lavamancer Weapon drops larger, something hot now looks cooler.
    Mana Node received some visual improvements.
    Slight tweaks to some of the Barbarian’s Accessories.
    Minor adjustments to the Barbarian’s whirlwind.
    Blacksmith’s shop no longer has a confirmation pop-up for purchases.
    War Table Cybork info now includes that they disable nodes.
    Bug reporting page received updated buttons.

    Audio
    New audio cue for Wave Complete!
    Betsy fight sequence in Dragonfall Bazaar received updated sound cues.
    Added and improved on Berserker Orcs during the Glitterhelm matinee.
    Hero Changes
    Dryad
    Corrupt Form
    When building a tower in Corrupt Form, towers now gain the Corrupt benefits when placed.
    Slime Pit Tower
    No longer slow enemies that are immune to slow. Berserker orcs aren’t afraid of slimes!
    Huntress

    Shards
    Explosive Poison
    The shard is now working correctly, spreading poison if a poisoned enemy dies.
    Shards
    Inspiration
    Can no longer be equipped to the Abyss Lord or EV2
    Bug Fixes
    Fixed an issue where EV2’s Proton Charge could produce higher than intended damage while gaining zero heat.
    Fixed an issue with the Barbarian’s Leap preventing resource decay.
    Fixed an issue where the Flamethrower Tower’s VFX did not get larger when defense range was increased.
    Fixed an issue where Auto-Equip Relics did not work on the first press.
    Fixed an issue where Chaos 3 Shard Packs were not on the Emporium.
    Fixed an issue when comparing equipment on the Squire.
    Fixed an issue where the Barbarian could get out of bounds in The Throne Room.
    Fixed an issue where the Sub-Cores are on the incorrect sides in The Throne Room.
    Adjusted the Dryad Starfall resource cost so it no longer overlaps.
    Fixed an issue that allowed parties to play the tutorial maps (we are looking into letting parties into these maps down the road).
    Fixed an issue that caused an infinite loading screen. Please let us know if you experience them after this update.
    Removed the ability to auto-equip when in the Portal.
    Fixed a bug where multiple towers could be placed simultaneously. May look into adding a stable version of this down the road.
    Fixed an issue where several weapons were not consistently dropping in the world without their vfx visible.
    Fixed an issue where the Lavamancer VFX would appear on some maps when using the Barbarian Leap.
    Fixed an issue where the champion crowns were not properly rotated on hero cards.
    Updated an issue where golden eggs would show up as a regular egg in several places.
    Fixed an issue where purchasing the last item in the list from the Blacksmith or Relic Hunter shop using a controller causes the list to lose focus.
    Fixed an issue where several items in the blacksmith shop were displaying improperly.
    Fixed an issue where item comparison was not working for equipped items.
    Removed references to the shards being equipped on the sell all message.
    Equippable is now spelled correctly in the shard folder when you have no shards available for the gear slot. Stay in school kids.
    Removed a reference to the old pet bag when trying to hatch an egg with a full inventory.
    Fixed a visual issue where a large number of shards displayed the current upgrade level is in the wrong location on the tooltip.
    Quest Complete pop-up will now say Daily Mission completed when completing a Daily Mission.
    Attempting to equip a shard to an invalid tower slot throws either unknown error, or no error. Now has a valid error string.
    Fixed an issue on XB1 where sub-core icons were not being removed after losing a sub-core.
    The Sky City Bank is the first arrival for something much larger coming to Etheria. Over the next couple months we are going to be actively discussing the new features coming with our next expansive update. For more information sources as we post updates, be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter (doing so also gets you the Pirate Monk and Academy Apprentice skins for free):
    Twitter
    Facebook
    Discord
    We’re still tinkering away to get some gigantic changes to Dungeon Defenders II that we think you’re really going to enjoy. More information coming soon!
    For Etheria!
    The Dungeon Defenders II Team
  5. [CG] LAWLTA
    DEFENDERS!
    We’re almost at the end of September, which means there’s a little over a month away from the Dungeon Defenders: Awakened PC Beta! The team has been putting in tons of time to really make sure the beta is a great experience, while also polishing up a lot of areas that won’t be seen until release. Starting next month, we’ll begin ramping up displaying a lot of the hard work that’s been going on in the world of Etheria.
    As we’re working on that, we didn’t want to leave you without anything for September, so while this will be one of our shorter updates, we do have some awesome things to show off. We have a big post processing and shader effect that is still being tweaked, and the following pieces are still works in progress, but without further ado, let’s get into it!
    Squire Towers
    We previously showed the concept for these bad boys, now it’s time to see them in-game!
    Spike Blockade



    Bouncer Blockade


     
    Harpoon Tower



    Bowling Ball Tower



     
    Slice n' Dice Blockade


     
    These towers not only look fantastic but are incredibly fun to defend with. There’s another set of towers that we’re putting the finishing touches on in regards to animation, so we’ll show off the concepts for now. Get ready, the Apprentice Towers are coming at ya!
    Apprentice Towers
    Arcane Barrier

     
    Magic Missile Tower

    Flameburst Tower

    Lightning Tower

    Deadly Striker Tower

     
    Our goal was to make sure that the towers are very discernable from one another, something that was harder to do previously. We cannot wait for you to see their 3D beauty, we’re just giving it some finishing touches before doing so.
    These are things you’ve seen before. How about we look at something that’s NEVER been seen before? Maybe a map?  Maybe a new map in Act 1? Actually yeah, that sounds pretty good. Let’s do that!
     
    NEW MAP: Lava Mines
    This map is one of the new campaign maps coming in Dungeon Defenders: Awakened! It’s a ton of fun to play, it’s absolutely gorgeous, and most of all — LAVA!





     
    What’s Next?
    We’re still working our hardest to ensure the Beta coming in November is going to be the best first step at letting you, our valiant Defenders, take on Dungeon Defenders: Awakened. There’s a ton of info we’re excited to gain, where we can make the game better, and most of all — LET YOU PLAY! There’s a ton still left to do, but it’ll all be worth it.
    Social Defenders
    To get reliable updates on what’s to come, be sure to check out our social platforms for the latest juiciest beans to be spilled:
    Twitter
    Facebook
    Discord
    Twitch
    The entire team is having a blast working on DD:A, we cannot wait for all of you to get your hands on it. Stay tuned for more info!

    For Etheria!

    Chromatic Games
     
  6. [CG] LAWLTA
    DEFENDERS!
    Our next update, the Defender-Centric Update, is upon us! This update contains a whole lot of love to a lot of foundational systems within Dungeon Defenders II. These changes are based off of feedback many of you have provided, and as Chromatic, we wanted to really give our GLORIOUS Defenders something that demonstrated how much we value our community. Without further ado, let's get into it!
    SHARD SHOP
    Shards are such an integral part to Dungeon Defenders II when it comes to empowering your heroes with great strength to take out the waves of enemies constantly thrown at you. Currently there is a lot of RNG regarding which shards you get, and to help cut down the randomness, farming lower tiered content is the easiest way to go.
    We don’t want that. We want you playing content you find engaging, while being able to acquire the Shards you want. With this update, you can! We're adding in the Shard Shop, a service that the Gran Ma'ster now offers. Visiting her allows you to purchase Shards directly from her, from Campaign to Chaos VII. There is also search functionality so you can search for the Shard you want and cut down the hunt!
    CHAOS VIII SHARDS
    Chaos VIII Shards are a new tier of shard, that some of you may have snagged before. We went through and found a way to make these shards feel like a good reward for climbing higher Onslaught, and have them compete with similar Shards. You can get them after a certain point in Onslaught, similar to when you start receiving Chaos VIII Ampoules.
    MATERIAL CONVERSION
    We want players enjoying Ancient Power as much as they can, and our big goal was making sure that Defenders could play content they found engaging, while working towards a specific goal. Enter Material Conversion. Material Conversion allows you to take a Pristine quality material and convert it to the same type of material of a lower quality. This makes it so that if you are climbing Onslaught, or playing higher Chaos, you're always gaining usable materials to acquire Ancient Power.
    That's not all though! As you play Chaos VII and above, you can take your Chaos VII Ampoules and convert them into CHAOS VIII AMPOULES! We want players upgrading and getting Chaos VIII gear, so this is a step towards making that process feel good and not entirely beholden to RNG.
    NEW WEAPONS
    One thing that we love is the ability to customize the heroes in Dungeon Defenders II. Weapons are part of the epic-ness (or silliness) that can really show off your own personal taste. This update provides over 30 NEW Weapons that are currently unobtainable. These weapons are gained by climbing through different tiers of Onslaught. The higher you go, the more epic the weapons become! There's a ton to hunt down, and if you happen to get the same weapon repeatedly, no worries — you can trade it to your friends!
    NEW ELEMENTAL DAMAGE — POISON!
    Poison Mods in the form of Chips are coming with this update. Poison can be applied to weapons to give them an additional damage over time effect. BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! If earth damage is dealt to a poisoned enemy, they now become PETRIFIED, freezing them in place, turning them to stone, and causing their fellow enemies to attack them
    SOCIAL DEFENDERS
    To get reliable updates on what’s to come, be sure to check out our social platforms for the latest juiciest beans to be spilled:
    Twitter
    Facebook
    Discord
    Twitch
    The entire team has had a blast making this content, we cannot wait for all of you to get your hands on our next update. Stay tuned for more info soon!
    For Etheria!
    The Dungeon Defenders II Team
  7. [CG] LAWLTA
    DEFENDERS,
    As you're aware, we’ve got a lot of work going on currently, and today we want to talk about a more serious subject and what we’re currently doing. We’re just going to jump right into it.
    COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease) Response
    As this virus has spread and became recognized as a pandemic, it is important that we do our part as a studio in helping reduce the spread and effects. Last week and towards the end of the previous week, we began efforts to become an entirely remote studio. The greater part of this week, and continuing on, we’re still working out the kinks and making sure everyone is able to continue working, adapt meetings, and more. Outside of doing our part to stave off the virus, our goal is to make sure that our employees are safe, healthy, and set up to work as comfortably as possible.
    We’re still continuing to hit our intended milestones. The Etherian Cavalry received their first round of testing this weekend, tearing apart Nightmare to help us polish and address any large issues before releasing our March Update “Summoning the Demon Lord”. Having to mobilize our entire studio has definitely eaten up a fair amount of time, but we’re currently on track to still hit our milestones as outlined on our roadmap. If this should change, we will be sure to let you, our GLORIOUS Defenders know about it. We want to get this game out to you in the best state as soon as possible, but when it comes down to it, we will not sacrifice the safety and health of our employees to do so. We’re people just like you, there are things that are out of our control that we have to adapt and overcome to the best of our ability. We appreciate your support and understanding in the coming months.
    Please make sure to do your part in helping out throughout these tough times. If you are unaware of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), or have any questions, please visit the CDC’s Coronavirus Page for more information on symptoms and how to help prevent the spread. Stay safe out there!
    Social Defenders
    To get reliable updates on the future of DDA make sure to follow us on all our social media platforms:
    Discord Twitter Facebook Instagram Twitch Forums Keep an eye out for more info!
    For Etheria!
    Chromatic Games
  8. [CG] LAWLTA
    Greetings Defenders,



    We’re getting closer and closer to the next Dungeon Defenders II update! Our focus is on taking big strides to make this update as player-centric as possible, with even more player-centric changes coming out in future updates. Currently we’re working on Dungeon Defenders II and Dungeon Defenders: Awakened (check out the Kickstarter here), so we’ve been super busy and working at 385% (real metric). We have a lot to go, and this intro is long enough, so let’s get into it!
    Shard Vendor
    We’ve seen so much feedback on Shards for so long, and we’re able to now do something that makes it easier to receive them and farm for them however you want. Our primary goal was trying to get the vendor into an easily navigable menu while easily seeing as many shards as possible. Here’s what you can expect to see:

    We went through a lot of ways to figure out how to make them easy to get. We looked into shard dust, but then you’re still limited to farming a specific chaos tier to actually be able to earn a specific shard. We looked into ways of converting shard dust into different versions, but the ability to make that easy to do was very messy and hard to use (very frustrating), created a ton of technical difficulties for us, and ended up requiring more inventory management. Eventually we ended up landing on making them purchasable with Defender Medals. We currently have an RPG test going (contact dani.moore@chromatic.games if you want to join the test, are 18 or older, and can sign an NDA) testing this specific feature, but we do not have a specific price set yet. Going with Defender Medals allowed us a way to provide players a concrete way to earn them in multiple ways. If you want to farm a specific tier, you can still do that to maybe increase your chances a little more; but if you want to keep progressing while playing engaging content or just do dailies, you are now able to do those things while working towards a specific reward.
    Oh, and one last thing. This badboy has search functionality in it as well. It’s pretty dope.
    Chaos VIII Shards
    We’re bringing back Chaos VIII Shards. These are a slew of shards that will be obtainable through higher floors of Onslaught (similar to Chaos VIII Ampuoles). Because we want these shards to feel special and rewarding, they will not be purchasable with the launch of the Shard Vendor, but will be making a debut at a later date. We have some veteran Defenders who have held onto these for a long time, and the majority of these Shards are going to be re-enabled. There are two Shards that we are removing as they cause either tech issues (making mobs get stuck, lowering performance, etc). They are Harbinger’s Exile and Elemental Chaos. We’ll have a comprehensive list of these Shards with the update notes.
    New Mod — Poison Mod!
    We’re keeping good to our word and adding in Poison damage! There are certain towers that have Poison damage, and there is a Poison Damage Chip as well that can be applied to weapons. There may be a new weapon or two that comes with it by default…
    Also what would elemental damage be without any kind of combo? We’re currently adding our first Poison interaction. This one is pretty awesome. Combining poisoned enemies with earth damage now petrifies them. It’s like turning your enemies into a work of art.
    New Weapons
    We’re adding a slew of new weapons that you can earn while playing through Onslaught. At various tiers within Onslaught, you have a chance to receive an additional treasure that contains a random new weapon from that tier. Some of these weapons a few Defenders have seen before, but we’ve got a ton of new weapons that players have never seen, here’s one:

    There’s a lot more info on these drops and when you get them (you do get guaranteed drops), but we’ll have more information on these new weapons in our update notes.

    Campaign Gating
    Currently we’re working on changing up some of our campaign progression. This is to focus on letting Defenders play together as soon as possible. Our focus is to make this process feel as good as it can be. With what we’re able to do here, this could affect different areas in the game for future updates.
    More!
    There’s more coming as well, but this is a sneak peek, so we can’t talk about everything. We’ve been hard at work, so give us a little longer and we’ll get a quality update for you, our GLORIOUS Defenders!
    Social Defenders
    To get reliable updates on what’s to come, be sure to check out our social platforms for the latest juiciest beans to be spilled:
    Twitter
    Facebook
    Discord
    Twitch
    The entire team has had a blast making this content, we cannot wait for all of you to get your hands on our next update. Stay tuned for more info soon!

    For Etheria!

    The Dungeon Defenders II Team
  9. [CG] LAWLTA
    




    Greetings Defenders

    Today we announce the next chapter of Dungeon Defenders II, the Power of the Ancients Expansion, releasing next month! Within our Expansion are some legendary additions to the game:
    Onslaught, our new game mode that is your main focus of progression.
    Ancient Power, our new character progression that allows you to push the limits as defenders and increase your strength.
    The Lost Temple, our new HUGE map that changes its layout every time you attempt to conquer it.
    Defender Packs, a new way to unlock unique flair, costumes, and pets.
    And much more!
    We are going to be revealing more Power of the Ancients info soon, and talking about Power of the Ancients on our Devstream this Friday at 3PM EST! To give insight into what we’ve been working on, we’re having some of our epic developers chime into the work they’ve put into Power of the Ancients, experiences throughout our development process, as well as what we’re most hyped about! Let’s get started:

    Alec Saare, Community Manager (Lawlta)
    For those of you who don’t know me from our different social platforms, I’m Community Coordinator turned Community Manager for Dungeon Defenders II. My focus has been taking all the feedback that you, our courageous, strong, glorious community, have provided to help make sure that Power of the Ancients is a behemoth of an expansion that you all want to conquer. This means taking your feedback and wants, meeting with designers, discussing the things that defenders enjoy, molding our new content to the things you enjoy, and then testing the beastly content that is created. You’re in for a wild ride!
    Onslaught provides something for everyone to enjoy, from those who have just completed campaign, to the grizzled veterans of Chaos Trials 7. The progression feels so incredibly solid and polished. You steadily get gear and shards that are improvements as you progress. Trials now drop MORE gear and shards than before, making them more rewarding for taking on harder enemies sooner than you would in Onslaught. You can choose to progress through Trials to unlock Onslaught floors, or through Onslaught floors to unlock Trials, which just feels great having the option to go between the two and still progress. On top of this you also can increase your Ancient Power (a new form of character progression), which just offers a slew of benefits and choices that provide meaningful character advancement.
    Besides putting time into our new expansion, I’m constantly working on ways to make our community a better place to be. I’ll be rolling out some new initiatives to make our social spaces an even better place to interact with one another; give our streamers a single banner to fly under, transparent requirements, maybe even some incentives; and everything I can to spotlight the greatness that is the Dungeon Defenders II community. There’s more to come soon!

    Colin Fisher, Associate Producer (Elandrian)
    FINALLY.  I’ve probably been teasing most of our players for too long about our new “end-game mode” and “update” that we’re working on, but now I can finally talk about it!  Huzzah!  It’s not just a “game expanding update” anymore… It’s an expansion.
    I remember a day, where I was just a baby armchair developer, playing the old version of Onslaught, wishing for checkpoints and some sort of save system that would keep my progress.  Whelp, I wish I could say those were the “good ol’ days”, but this new version of that game mode is far beyond anything I could have expected.
    We’ve taken several pain points of gameplay that players have been experiencing and kicked them to the curb!  Facing off against the same enemies every map and the build never changes? CURBED. Tired of smart loot being weird? CURBED. Wanted more things to do in the game, but Trials was the only option? CURBED?  (DISCLAIMER: Trials is still an option, but we tried to make Onslaught a better option. I mostly just wanted to use the “kicking to the curb” analogy but it may not have been the right choice.  The aforementioned “CURBED” features still exist in the game in the Trials game mode, we’re just building future content in a better way.)
    To give a really quick “Elandrian’s TL;DR” set of bullet points about this expansion:
    Onslaught is a brand new game mode that completely changes our end game progression and is nothing like the previous version of Onslaught.
    Onslaught features new loot progression that makes sense.  Higher Floor Number = Higher Loot Stat Numbers.
    Onslaught features enemies and modifiers that will make your defense different each time.
    Onslaught will save which floors you were able to beat, you can then immediately play the next floor in your progression.
    Ancient Power is a way to do a limited reset on your account but keep progressing over time.
    The new map is unreal.  You’ll have different lanes and cores each time you load in.
    We’ll go over the specifics about each feature in future Devstreams and posts, so make sure to stay tuned for more specifics! You could also probably join our Remote Playtesting Group, sign an NDA, and check out the new content early, but I’m sure Dani will mention that below!

    John Muscarella, Lead Animator (Muskie4242)
    Howdy defenders.  It’s been a while.  
    This milestone the animation team has been pretty focused on some very ambitious cinematics to announce our awesome release. Hope you enjoyed them. As well as an in-game event piece that you end game players will be seeing very soon...
    There is a lot more to come, but until then, please enjoy one of my favorite cosmetic flairs we’ve been working on over here.


    Creepy right? Almost like it’s going to reach out and grab you…

    Dani Moore, Remote QA Lead ([[25251,users]])

    Our testing teams have been hard at working getting Onslaught up and going, and we’re ready to expand testing to our Remote Playtesting Group to get our community feedback and gut checks before we push for release.
    Our playtesters are great folks and have helped make our releases better. If you want to get early access to Onslaught in exchange for giving us feedback and helping us iron out issues before release, we want you! 

    If you are 18 or over (sorry you need to sign our NDA so we can’t bend on this rule) and wish to help (PC only help for now, sorry console bros!), email me dani.moore(at)trendyent.com and let me know. We’re hoping to start testing this week, so you’ll want to be there when we do!

    Steven Collins, Level Designer (Esorath)
    Holy frick, this map was a challenge and a half. This isn’t your grandpappy’s old Dungeon Defenders II level.
    Since there are so many different possibilities that can happen in this game mode, I wanted to be really intentional with everything this map has to offer. We ran through scenarios and tests as to what combinations of the different Onslaught elements could appear and made sure that these combinations came together in a meaningful manner.
    When the lanes open and cores are different each time, you get to have a different experience with different core and lane combinations. These two things working alongside the enemy modifiers make this one of the top experiences for Dungeon Defenders II.


    Mark Telfer, Technical Designer (TrendyMark)
    Hey Defenders!
    I can’t tell you how fun it has been to watch all of you play Mastery each week, and I am incredibly grateful for the positive feedback you’ve given me. I’m still hard at work revamping the loot generation system (it’s going to make sense, dammit) and designing out some new and exciting things coming in the future. I can’t wait to see the final weeks of Mastery and to watch you guys conquer Onslaught and beyond!
    Love,
    Mark


    Zack Smith, 3D Artist 
    My first thought when looking at the concepts for the Onslaught expansion was, “whoa! I get to create these amazing concepts in 3D?!” I was very excited to create a variety of the 3D models and textures for the Onslaught Expansion. I enjoyed creating a wide range of assets ranging from a dragon to a tiling floor texture. The goal was to create a look that was mysterious, fun, and vibrant with bold colors.


    Jose Villegas, Technical Designer (TrendyJose)
    Hey Everyone!
    My name Jose and I’m a Technical Designer here at Trendy. Over the past couple of milestones, I have been working as the designer for the new Onslaught game mode. It has been a long and tiring endeavor, but we are so happy to finally have reached the point where you can see what we made for you.
    Let me go over a few points to give you insight on our expectations for Onslaught and the immediate future of DD2. For this I need to go back to the somewhat-distant past of March 2017 and the release of Trials. While we enjoyed what Trials provided to the game, as a recurring game mode, it was evident that we needed a true end game with a longer life, and clearer progression.
    This led us into thinking about how to create a new game mode that will keep you engaged with exciting content and challenges, regardless of how much time you put into the game. Onslaught, at its core, is just that: an ever-increasing challenge that will grow alongside the player, for as long as they want.
    The main obstacle in front of us to achieve this goal was how to ensure a satisfying replayable experience. The immediate answer for us was the enemy selection, and how to mix them effectively. So far, every game mode in DD2 has run the same enemy types in each lane whenever you load into a map. However, for Onslaught, each lane will have different enemies coming through them. For example, one lane may have Cyborks and the other one may have Vanguard Goblins. That means that the same build will not work in every situation, and you will have to react independently to each lane. We gave each schedule of enemies a distinctive name, which you can use to strategize and share your best builds online on how to counter them.
    As a secondary way to achieve replayability, we are bringing back enemy Mutators with full force. In the past, Mutators are modifiers that have been used to affect the performance of a given lane. A few months ago, I asked people in the forums to give me ideas for exciting new Mutators, and they did not disappoint. I’m pleased to say we have made roughly 35 new Mutators, all of them impacting gameplay in many ways. None of them are going to be boring flat number increases, but our goal was to provide you with fun challenges to overcome. In fact, some Mutators act as double-edge swords for the enemies by making them stronger in some way, but weaker in another.
    Finally, the best example of Onslaught’s replayability lies in the new map we made for it: The Lost Temple. The Lost Temple is the biggest DD2 map yet, with 30 lanes and 10 cores! Of course, these are not going to be all open at the same time, but different lane/core combinations will be selected each time you play it.
    Alongside replayability, our priority from Design was to help clarify the game’s gear progression. For this we are dividing Onslaught into Floors that will guide players in an upwards ladder of power progression and enemy difficulty increase. No longer will you have to worry about whether or not you should be playing a given Chaos difficulty to progress effectively, you now can just simply play the next floor in Onslaught and you will know you are on the right track.
    My job was to design, balance, and work on the implementation of all the systems that I have talked about in this log. Anyway, I think I wrote way too much already. I don’t use twitter, but you can reach me on the official Discord. I hope you will enjoy all the exciting content we are preparing for you in the expansion =).

    More Info Soon
    We'll be talking more about Power of the Ancients over the next few weeks. To make sure you get the most up-to-date information, check out our social media platforms:
    Facebook Twitter Discord Also visit our Devstream this Friday at 3PM EST on Twitch, where we'll be showing off some Power of the Ancients goodness.
    As always, we are incredibly grateful for the support that you, our glorious community, provide us. Get ready to dive deep into Onslaught, it’s going to be here before you know it!
    For Etheria!
    The Dungeon Defenders II Team
  10. [CG] LAWLTA
    DEFENDERS,
    Today our “SUMMONING THE DEMON LORD” Update went live on Steam Early Access. This Update opens up a TON of content. The first Challenge Maps in Act I are available to conquer, the Demon Lord himself has been summoned, and Nightmare difficulty is now available. It’s a lot of content — let’s get into it!
    Nightmare Difficulty
    The top difficulty in the original Dungeon Defenders makes its triumphant return. While it is not the hardest content coming to Dungeon Defenders: Awakened, it definitely packs quite a punch. Enemies have more health, hit harder, and provide better rewards. That’s not all though — Nightmare brings four additional enemies into the fray, each with their own new mechanics to push all that Insane gear you’ve been farming to the limit. In DD:A we introduce these enemies in a more digestible fashion, so you can learn their mechanics one at a time, before having to face them all as you progress through the rest of Campaign and Survival.
    Spiders

    Coming out of every dark nook and cranny, spiders come to disrupt carefully placed defenses. These web slingers have a knack for dropping behind your defenses, causing havoc by weakening players and towers. Watch out, here comes a spider web!
    Abilities Can spawn in unconventional locations, sometimes behind choke points or typical building locale. Shoot webs that if they hit towers greatly slow their attack rate and weaken their damage. If they hit your hero, you are no longer able to use abilities and your movement and attack speed are greatly reduced, while greatly increasing the damage you take.
      Strategies Look to build defenses to protect defenses that are dealing with frontline enemies. Using your damage-dealing focused hero, quickly burst them down before they start launching webs. Sharken

    These land walking sharks pack quite a punch! Proving that they didn’t skip leg day, the moment they are in range of a tower, they begin to charge up before bolting forward, knocking any tower they encounter to the wayside. These foes don’t stop there — should anyone get within melee range of them, they’ll burst you down with incredibly powerful swinging giant crab claws.
    Abilities Charged dash that knocks Towers away. Incredibly powerful melee attacks.
      Strategies Interrupt their dash as they are still charging it. Auras and traps help make quick work of these foes. Use ranged attacks to avoid their deadly flurry. Djinn

    The Djinn giveth to their ally, and taketh away from you. Able to channel their magical energy into a nearby ally through their hands, they are able to greatly increase all stats to their friend left uninterrupted. However, their powers don’t stop there. Using a powerful gaze, they can phase a focused tower out of existence should they be left alone. Your wish is not your command!
    Abilities Channeled cast that buffs all stats of a targeted enemy. Channeled cast that destroys towers. Heavy damage to heroes. Strategies Dealing enough damage to a Djinn interrupts their casting, preventing them from buffing their allies, or destroying your towers. Goblin Copter

    Look, in the sky! It’s a megachicken! It’s a propeller cat! NO, it’s a Goblin Copter! Using some crafty goblin engineering, the Goblin Copter is a mechanical miracle that is able to not only make goblins airborne, but also carry an Ogre with them. They are able to break through defenses by distracting towers using bright flares they shoot to continue their journey. After dropping Ogres, they shoot homing rockets that deal high damage to players and towers alike.
    Abilities Carry Ogres through the battlefield to specific locations. Shoot flares to distract towers from hitting them. After dropping off their Ogre, they shoot twin homing rockets that deal high damage to heroes and towers. Ogres are immune to damage while carried. When destroyed, Goblin Copters crash to the ground, dealing incredibly high damage.  
    Strategies Focus the Goblin Copter before it drops its Ogre. If over a pit, the Ogre will fall to its demise, and you will not be hit by the crashing explosion. If the Ogre falls to the ground, it will have ⅓ of its original HP. Long range Harpoon or Deadly Striker Towers make quick work of these enemies, if they’re able to hit them. These enemies are sure to shake up some surefire strategies that worked through previous difficulties. To relieve some of the punishment that these crooked cooks dish out, we’ve created a digestible way to encounter these foes throughout your adventures in Campaign. The enemies first appear in the following maps:
    Spiders in Deeper Well (Nightmare) Sharken in Ancient Mines (Nightmare) Djinn in Lava Mines (Nightmare) Goblin Copter in Tornado Valley (Nightmare) As you progress, you will encounter more of these enemies in each map. Going from Campaign to Survival will not be as kind, with enemies coming at you in full force as soon as Deeper Well. Not all Nightmare enemies can spawn in every map, but when they do, it’s something that’ll haunt you in your sleep. 
    After conquering the enemies that Nightmare throws at you, you’ll be rewarded with even stronger gear than before. These pieces of gear are going to first come in the form of Mythical gear, and then as you progress and claim even greater gear, Transcendent gear shall be yours! 
    Arise, Demon Lord!

    The Demon Lord has been summoned to provide the first boss battle in Dungeon Defenders: Awakened. This pillar of calamity is brought into our realm in the Alchemical Labs through a combination of alchemy, science, and dark magic. After braving five waves of enemies, you will have 30 seconds before this demonic monstrosity bursts from his lava-bound chamber. Though his power is immense, there may be some tools that brought him into this world that can help send him back!
    Hardcore Mode
    Are you a bad enough dude and think you’ve got what it takes to fight some of the hardest enemies without taking a knee? Then Hardcore is right up your alley! Enabling this option for any map you go into provides great rewards with a great risk. During Hardcore, should your heroes hp bar reach zero, you will not respawn until the combat phase is over, either from your towers carrying you to victory, or from your crystal core exploding in defeat. Another twist of the knife, if you should die, all the build mana you previously had drops to zero. There’s definitely strength in numbers, so team up to help shoulder the burden!
    Note: Hardcore is an option you’ll find during map select on the right side of the screen.
    Act I Challenge Maps
    The first of many to come, these challenge maps are an introduction into some fun content that takes maps you know and love, and adds a different spin on them.
    Deeper Well: No Towers Allowed
    In this challenge map, your Defense Unit amount is set to zero and you are unable to build defenses. You’ll need to bring your best damage dealing hero to deal with all the enemies that are gunning for your crystal core!
    Alchemical Labs:  Raining Goblins
    It’s raining gobs, hallelujah it’s raining gobs! Just like the title says, goblins come raining from the sky! Goblins continue to spawn throughout the entire map from the sky, enough to blot out the sun. You have to weather the storm, slaying all that fall upon you.
    Bonus Map — Magus Quarters

    A fan favorite is returning! The Magus Quarters is a hotbed of activity, quite literally. After completing Act I, you now unlock this map for additional challenges, loot, and even a new pet. There’s more coming to this map, during the 1.0 release Magus Quarters will also provide a challenge map — The Warping Core!
    Balance
    Heroes
    Apprentice
    Manabomb Adjusted it’s scaling so that late game it is MUCH more powerful should you put points into the ability. Flameburst Tower Now has proper fall off damage. Lightning Tower Damage has been GREATLY increased. Is able to add new targets at the end of its chain. Remakes the chain lightning if an enemy in the chain dies. Deadly Striker Tower Improved the targeting functionality. Monk
    Hero Boost Was boosting too much, and has been reduced. Tower Boost Lowered the overall scaling of this ability. Squire
    Slice N Dice Tower Damage has been GREATLY increased.  
    Gear
    Accessories
    Stats
    Overall accessories have had their scaling reduced to 25% of their previous values. Armor added to shields. Upgrade Levels
    Updated upgrade levels for all pets, accessories, and weapons.  
    Pets
    Pet Rock
    Movement speed decreased to 50% of the hero’s movement speed, down from 75%. Decreased the total amount of stats given. Propeller Cat
    Lowered the additional power this flying feline was giving. Sell Price
    Many pets have had their sell price adjusted. Melee Pets
    Attack range increased to 400 from 300. Ranged Pets
    Attack range increased to 700 from 400. Upgrades
    The amount a pet’s damage can be upgraded has been GREATLY increased.  
    Enemies
    Ogre
    Snot toss now has proper fall off damage. Effects of the Ensnare Aura are reduced towards the Ogre. General Changes
    There’s a new Intro cinematic that plays when the game loads, as well as before Deeper Well on Campaign. Check it out! After defeating the Demon Lord, a cinematic plays as you progress into Act II! Added Offline Play support. New visuals in Alchemical Labs, including some nefarious weapons floating with a protective barrier. Added a Lock/Unlock All action On Keyboard it is:  Ctrl+L Gamepad: Hold X (face button left) Or click it! Added a “Click to Sell” feature You can now sell items by holding the “S” key and clicking on items (if the item is unlocked) Added a slew of gamepad and keyboard features in the inventory. Gamepad Improvements Can now scroll the stat panel with the right joystick. Hitting left and right now switches pages. Hitting right shoulder buttons switches you from heroes to defenses on the Hero Stats panel. Added support for Map Select and Game Mode Select Trap chaining has been added to the Huntress. Traps of the same type that overlap with one another will now set off a chain reaction should one activate. Ballista in The Ramparts is active and can be interacted with. It fires a shot, but it can’t hit anything. Just a cool little thing. Magus Quarters has now been added to Map Select!  
    Bug Fixes
    Fixed a crash when connecting to a session. Fixed a crash involving the inventory while trying to matchmake or join a friend. Fixed a data loss issue related to joining a friend or matchmaking taking too long. Fixed a crash that occurred when trying to swap heroes while matchmaking. Fixed a crash involving opening the inventory. Fixed a crash if a Host had the escape menu open, and a client joined, the host would crash. Fixed a crash that occurred based on rare states of your heroes. Fixed a crash when a client creates a hero through the inventory during a multiplayer session. Fixed an issue with the tower repair cast bar not matching the actual repair time. Removed a pesky hidden flag that was outdated on The Promenade. Added functionality for “unreadying” to reset the timer to infinite (if applicable). Adjusted currency to 64 bit values (it’s a 4,000,000,000%+ increase). Optimized content within Tornado Valley for increased performance. Optimized content within Tornado Highlands for increased performance. Optimized content within The Throne Room for increased performance. Optimized content within The Arcane Library for increased performance. Optimized all skeletal meshes for Heroes to increase performance. Optimized how the Dark Elf Mage heals. Optimized Dark Elf Archer model. Optimized content on Lava Mines for increased performance. Fixed an issue that allowed a player to be buffed with an infinite duration Hero Boost. Fixed an issue with Escape Menu buttons not being clickable. Fixed an issue with Huntress weapons not having correct fall off damage. Fixed an issue with pet projectiles not having correct fall off damage. Optimized how enemy weapons are handled after defeating them, increasing performance. Several tutorial tweaks. Fixed the Lightning Tower beam VFX so that it properly follows enemies. Improved Monk run animation. Adjusted Inventory frames to always be active (no more fading) Squire’s heal and lose animations received small updates. Fixed verbiage used during the tutorial to be more in line with the narration. Fixed a scaling issue with scrolling combat text font. Corrected how lighting affected the anvil in the Tavern. Fixed an issue where if everyone unreadies, the timer (if applicable) gets set back to infinity until a player readies up. Updated a lot of training dummy functionality, including how damage is calculated and presented. Improved cloud backup saves. Fixed an issue when locking an item that locked the item selected and also the item the mouse cursor was over. Fixed Apprentice falling animation to be less choppy on ledges. Fixed Squire falling animation to be less choppy on ledges. Fixed an issue where players would see weird spawning events when other players opened their inventory. Fixed a gamepad issue when closing filters or damage numbers pop up. Fixed an issue where the hero preview would not load with a weapon. Added support for toggling privacy settings when creating a session. Fixed an issue with the Slice n Dice tower’s SFX looping improperly. Fixed sounds playing before animation on Defense Radial Menu. Adjusted radial menu animations to be snappier. Adjusted keybindings on various radial menus. Adjusted the radial bar menu visuals to be cleaner. Fixed Hero Boost and Tower Boost descriptions in the Hero Info Panel. Fixed an issue with the timer not going away when entering Combat Phase. Fixed an issue where item inspection only worked on the left side of the inventory. Removed the ability to close the Inventory filter UI with right shoulder buttons on gamepad. Fixed an issue with the HUD not disappearing when restarting a map. Fixed an issue where the filter UI could be opened while a context menu was open. Fixed an issue with the Spiked Blockade attack SFX was not playing. Fixed an issue with the Lightning Tower attack SFX was not playing. Fixed an issue with the SFX not playing when Heal finished. Fixed a lot of music related issues. Fixed an issue with the game starting fullscreen and ignoring resolution settings. Fixed various issues with gamepad usage on the Escape Menu. Fixed an issue where the Lightning Tower SFX was not stopping after being destroyed. Fixed an issue where combat music would play over victory fanfare. Fixed an issue where confirmation popups were not using the correct text. Fixed an issue when swapping heroes in the inventory, resulting in incorrect camera placement. Fixed an issue with the Summary Screen moving the player to the next map, regardless of win or loss. Fixed an issue with the Ogre’s swing hitting players.  
    Known Issues
    Item tiers will change currently through upgrades going into Nightmare gear. This is currently a visible change, and is not reflective of the final way tiers will be displayed. Melee pet damage and ranged pet damage are not scaling correctly in Nightmare. All other difficulties will scale pet damage correctly. Public games sometimes do not show up in the session browser. If you click OK on a loot filter change and click back on options the UI won't close unless you hit the esc key. If you create a hero with empty hero slots sometimes you'll just see the hero and the background. This can be bypassed by hitting the “I” key or escape depending. Some accessories may change into another accessory, specifically the Sapphire Brooch, Mining Bracer, and Crusader Shield may become Monocles. Very high item level gear may not show a quality tier. What’s Next?
    Our release is not too far away, so we’re going to keep plugging away to get the remaining content all polished up and ready for you to conquer. While our schedule has become tight due to the effects of COVID-19 (becoming fully remote, internet outages making remote work hard, and so many other fun hurdles), we’re still doing everything we can to get this game out to you as soon as possible. To make this easier, please, should you run into any bugs during this update, report them to us through the in-game escape menu. We’re working as quick and hard as we can, but with the vast numbers you provide, we’re able to get issues surfaced faster, leading to quick turnaround and fixes. 
    Also a big shout out to our Etherian Cavalry, they were a big help in surfacing some gaps for us and overall providing a better experience going into this update!
    Social Defenders
    To get reliable updates on the future of DDA make sure to follow us on all our social media platforms:
    Discord
    Twitter
    Facebook
    Instagram
    Twitch
    Forums
    Keep an eye out for more info!
    For Etheria!
    Chromatic Games
  11. [CG] LAWLTA
    DEFENDERS,
    We’re giving an update on where we are currently with the SUMMONING THE DEMON LORD update, bringing the Demon Lord boss fight, as well as the much anticipated Nightmare difficulty! There’s been a lot of hard work put into this build, and we want to give you a timeline on when you can expect this update. Let’s get into it!
    Feedback
    As many of you know, we recently launched the Etherian Cavalry as the testing group for Dungeon Defenders: Awakened. Some of these players are some of the most hardcore in the community, with some people being slightly more casual to help give us a broader understanding of how all our hardwork lands with a variety of players.
    We received some really great feedback from our first round of testing, and as a result are adding in some things to help smooth out the experience. For example:
    In Dungeon Defenders (2011), all of the Nightmare enemies spawned on the first level, without offering an explanation as to what they did.  In DD:A, after tremendous feedback from our testers, we’re going to be altering that a bit and introducing enemies one by one, while also providing in-game explanations for what the enemies are, and some tips on how to play against them. There’s a slew of improvements and changes that we’re bringing into this patch as a result of their feedback so that it’s the best experience for everyone. There’s a lot more than this coming in this update, just too much to list here.
    Release
    “WHEN ARE WE GETTING THIS PATCH!?” Our original plan was to have it out today, but currently we want to spend a couple more days to polish it up, as we added quite a bit based on the feedback you provided. We’re planning on having this update be available on Thursday, April 2nd. We’ll provide more specifics on the time as it is ready.  We’ll be watching if there are any issues you all run into and addressing them as soon as possible.
    As previously outlined in our COVID-19 post, a large chunk of time has been taken out of our tight development cycle due to converting the studio into a fully remote workplace, as well as making sure our employees are able to stay healthy and safe. This is unfortunately one of those areas that is getting affected by our efforts to put the safety of our studio first. Trying to get this update out during such a tumultuous time was a challenge for us, and while we are going to be a couple days late, we’re very proud of what we are able to accomplish and can’t wait for you to get your hands on it!
    Social Defenders
    To get reliable updates on the future of DDA make sure to follow us on all our social media platforms:
    Discord Twitter Facebook Instagram Twitch Forums Keep an eye out for more info!To get reliable updates on the future of DDA make sure to follow us on all our social media platforms:
    For Etheria!
    Chromatic Games
  12. [CG] LAWLTA
    Greetings Defenders,
    The cold winds from the west are upon us, bringing Dungeon Defenders II:  Drakenfrost with them! We put out a Dev Log showcasing some of the work that’s gone into the update, as well as a Dev Stream debuting some of the goodness coming. In this patch preview, we’ll be talking about those systems a little more in-depth to hold you over until the Update Notes are released. Let’s get to it!
    Drakenfrost Keep

    This is the newest map to Dungeon Defenders II. Some old school Dungeon Defenders fans will notice a lot of similarities to the Royal Gardens map, but don’t get comfortable, as there is a lot more danger to this map to take on. We’ll touch on this map more overtime, we’re excited to see the different builds that arise to take on the challenges that wait.
    Elemental Combos
    Speaking of different builds, Elemental Combos received a lot of attention in the Drakenfrost Update. We spent a lot of time making all the debuffs in the game more uniform so that they all applied the same effect. For instance, all oils now work the same, previously some slowed certain mobs, some didn’t. Oh also, ALL water damage now drenches, including water mods (both chips and servos). This is our first phase on improving this system, something a lot of Defenders have asked for a very long time. We’re only able to add this system because of our Diminishing Returns system.
    Diminishing Returns

    This is a new system that we’re adding to the game, something that is a staple in a lot of different types of RPGs. A lot of players really LOVED the Weapon Manufacturer’s Mod “Shocking Revelation”, it brought a really awesome stun and a good chunk of damage with it, and a lot of Defenders immediately set off to get it. Eventually we had to nerf it a little bit to bring it in line with other Mods, but we loved the allure it provided for players.
    If we wanted to do anything further with Mods like this, we needed to implement a system that didn’t make stun crowd controls negate all future content and negate any future Mods/features that weren't a stun with a different color (because anything less would not be as good). Enter Diminishing Returns. This system allows you to crowd control enemies, but after using it back to back the effect loses its strength. After a short while of not being affected by crowd control effects, enemies are able to be crowd controlled again at 100% efficacy. We’re able to buff up blockades during this update as well, and potentially give them even further functionality in additional updates!
    We’re going to be very responsive to feedback on this, but it allows us to do a lot of cool stuff in the future. That means new Mods, any new heroes, and MUCH more we can’t talk about just quite yet can now have a lot of epic moments and crazy amounts of power without worrying about it not being as cool as strong as a 100% stun up time or so strong that it disables every enemy that has existed, currently exists, or will ever exists. This opens up the doors for some amazing things!
    Communities
    This is a feature that we’re also wanting a lot of feedback on. We’re releasing it initially on Steam, almost as a beta test of the feature. It’s a system that allows up to 30 people to be in a structured group, and you can be in 5 Communities at a time. These groups can talk to each other regardless of where you are using the chat system, invite one another to groups, and more. We’re wanting to build even more off this system, but it’s something you’ll have to get your hands on and see.
    Communities are coming later in this patch after we've given it a little more polish.
    Inventory Improvements
    These are things we’ve had in the works for a long time. This portion of the update has A LOT of quality of life improvements that get you out of your inventory faster and into the action. Sorting improvements, identifying perfect mods, and more are coming. There’s more information coming with tomorrow’s update!
    What’s Next?
    There’s a lot we’re experimenting with in this update to make the future of Dungeon Defenders II as great as possible. We’re welcoming all the feedback that you can provide on it, but of course make sure it’s constructive, it’s the best way to ensure we can make the best changes as fast as possible. The update is live tomorrow, so start a fire, things are about to get cold!
    Social Defenders
    To get reliable updates on what’s to come, be sure to check out our social platforms for the latest juiciest beans to be spilled:
    Twitter
    Facebook
    Discord
    Twitch
    The entire team has had a blast making this content, we cannot wait for all of you to get your hands on our next update. Stay tuned for more info soon!
    For Etheria!
    The Dungeon Defenders II Team
  13. [CG] LAWLTA
    Greetings Defenders,
    The cold winds from the west are here, bringing Dungeon Defenders II:  Drakenfrost with them to Steam and PlayStation 4, with Xbox coming later today! We put out a Dev Log showcasing some of the work that’s gone into the update, as well as a Dev Stream debuting some of the goodness coming. In this patch preview, we’ll be talking about those systems a little more in-depth to hold you over until the Update Notes are released. Let’s get to it!
    Drakenfrost Keep

    Drakenfrost Keep has recently been re-discovered by members of the intrepid Etherian Explorer’s Guild. The Explorers were guided to its location by a tattered scroll discovered in the Mages Council Library. The scroll alluded to an ancient sealing ritual used by the early Council to seal away the powerful Generals, commanders of the armies of the Old Ones. The scroll detailed the Keep’s location with cryptic hints about “requiring the ultimate sacrifice” to seal away evil’s essence into “a vessel unlike the Eternia Crystals”.
    This is the newest map to Dungeon Defenders II. Some old school Dungeon Defenders fans will notice a lot of similarities to the Royal Gardens map, but don’t get comfortable, as there is a lot more danger to this map to take on. We’ll touch on this map more overtime, we’re excited to see the different builds that arise to take on the challenges that wait.
    Drakenfrost Keep is available in a new Adventure that includes Drakenfrost Resort (previously known as the Hotspring Map) AND in Expeditions.
    Winterfest is Here

    Head to Town or your Private Tavern to take part in Winterfest! Visiting everyday gives the opportunity to take a present from the giant festive tree located next to the Scavenger in Town, and next to your vault in the Private Tavern. This tree contains one of three gifts:


    Epic Gift
    Contains one of four holiday themed weapons for the Squire, Apprentice, Monk, and Huntress.
    Mythical Gift
    Contains one of four holiday themed weapons for the Squire, Apprentice, Monk, and Huntress.
    One regular Defender Pack
    One random Shard container (1 Shard)
    Legendary Gift
    Contains one of four holiday themed weapons for the Squire, Apprentice, Monk, and Huntress.
    One Mythical Defender Pack
    One random Shard Pack (5 Shards)


    In order to obtain the items, approach the tree and hit the appropriate button that appears to receive your wonderful gift! The weapons that come from these gifts ARE tradeable, and follow the same rules as any other tradeable item (they cannot be traded if they are upgraded in anyway). These items also scale to your champion score up until the Chaos VII 6/10 upgrade level.

    For the season of Winterfest there’s also a pretty amazing sale going on. Inventory bags are going to be 50% off and the Material Vault is ~33% off. The Material Vault now holds 9,999 instead of 999 for each slot, and it also includes both new reroll materials, these changes are applied to currently owned Material Vaults as well. Supplies aren’t limited, but this sale isn’t going to last forever!

    Winterfest is going to be on for quite a while, lasting past December. This gives you plenty of chances to get all four weapons and some nice Shards and Defender packs along the way! Oh, and of course, don’t eat the yellow snow.
    Elemental Combos
    Elemental Combos received a lot of attention in the Drakenfrost Update. We spent a lot of time making all the debuffs in the game more uniform so that they all applied the same effect. For instance, all oils now work the same, previously some slowed certain mobs, some didn’t. Oh also, ALL water damage now drenches, including water mods (both chips and servos)! This is our first phase on improving this system, something a lot of Defenders have asked for a very long time. We’re only able to add this system because of our Diminishing Returns system.
    Diminishing Returns

    This is a new system that we’re adding to the game, something that is a staple in a lot of different types of RPGs. A lot of players really LOVED the Weapon Manufacturer’s Mod “Shocking Revelation”, it brought a really awesome stun and a good chunk of damage with it, and a lot of Defenders immediately set off to get it. Eventually we had to nerf it a little bit to bring it in line with other Mods, but we loved the allure it provided for players.
    If we wanted to do anything further with Mods like this, we needed to implement a system that didn’t make stun crowd controls negate all future content and negate any future Mods/features that weren't a stun with a different color (because anything less would not be as good). Enter Diminishing Returns. This system allows you to crowd control enemies, but after using it back to back the effect loses its strength. After a short while of not being affected by crowd control effects, enemies are able to be crowd controlled again at 100% efficacy. We’re able to buff up blockades during this update as well, and potentially give them even further functionality in additional updates!
    We’re going to be very responsive to feedback on this, but it allows us to do a lot of cool stuff in the future. That means new Mods, any new heroes, and MUCH more we can’t talk about just quite yet can now have a lot of epic moments and crazy amounts of power without worrying about it not being as cool as strong as a 100% stun up time or so strong that it disables every enemy that has existed, currently exists, or will ever exists. This opens up the doors for some amazing things!
    Mod Improvements
    Previously we talked about Mods receiving changes in phases. In Phase I we more than doubled the drop rate of 10/10 Mods, as well as buffing all 6/10, 7/10, 8/10, and 9/10 drop rates. This means that 1/10, 2/10, 3/10, 4/10, and 5/10 Mod drop rates were lowered.
    We promised a Phase II with this update, and we are delivering! Perfect 10/10 Mod drops before the update on average appeared within about 4 hours of active gameplay. We’ve received a lot of great feedback from players enjoying this change. However, it really stinks to be an outlier and it take a very long time to get a 10/10. The first change of Phase II is that it now on average takes about 10 hours of average play to get a GUARANTEED 10/10 Mod. If you play with more players, because you’re seeing more Mods, the amount of time this take drops significantly,  taking almost half of the listed times.
    Mod Rerolls are available in the following areas:
    Expeditions
    Drakenfrost Maps drop 2 Reroll Materials
    Onslaught
    Drakenfrost Maps drop in the following amounts
    Floors 28-35 drop 1 Reroll Material on Drakenfrost Resort
    Floors 35-59 drop 1 Reroll Material on ALL maps, and 2 Reroll Materials on Drakenfrost Resort
    Floors 60+  drop 2 Reroll Materials on ALL maps, and 3 Reroll Materials on Drakenfrost Resort
    We provided ways to farm them outright for the Defender who may want to take it easy in Chaos VII, or while progressing so even as you’re climbing Onslaught you’re able to take part in this new material and are even rewarded for taking on harder challenges.
    Inventory Improvements
    These are things we’ve had in the works for a long time. This portion of the update has A LOT of quality of life improvements that get you out of your inventory faster and into the action. The changes include:
    Auto Sort
    Auto sorting now sorts your bags by actually moving all the items, previously provided a visual update only.
    The sorting goes by item type and Gear Score, but is a big update to the previous system 

    Shard Sorting
    Shard sorting logic has been updated. It now prioritizes the following.
    Sorts by Defense Shards first, and then by Hero shards
    After sorting between the two types, Shards are sorted alphabetically.

    Mod Sorting
    On the “Filter By” tab, the right most tab in the inventory, there is a new icon for Mods. This filters your best Mods first. This makes long play sessions easy and quick to check if there are any of those GLORIOUS 10/10’s just sitting in your bags.
    Numbers on the bottom right correspond to what the highest Mod quality is on the item.
    Numbers are white intentionally to make it easier for colorblind players to see what the number is.

    Mod Inspect
    By holding down Shift, you can now see the highest Mod quality of an item in the bottom right.
    General Changes
    Vicinity Targeting
    This is a new way to interact with players. This allows you to target other players, keep them targeted, and choose to do a variety of things:  invite them to party, inspect their shop, and more interactions when Communities are implemented.
    Material Vault Changes

    We received a bunch of feedback regarding the Material Vault. Previously it allowed you to store 999 of specific materials in each slot. Now you are able to store 9,999 IN EACH SLOT! That’s not all, the Material Vault now also has spots for the Primary Reroll Material and the Mod Reroll Material. So much space for activities!
    Social Menus
    There's been a social menu added next to your abilities and towers on the main HUD. This brings a bunch of quick functionality when interacting with others!
    Enemy Spawning
    We took additional passes at enemies getting stuck in spawn, but also fixed a big issue where enemies were going underground for a while and coming out of the ground later on in their path, bypassing blockades. We’re going to be keeping a vigilant eye on this, so please provide feedback on this if you see anything!
    Console Voice Chat
    We have now provided an option that allows you to disable voice chat in social hubs, Console player rejoice! You can now opt in to hear all the great music choices of your fellow Defenders. And by great, we mean potentially terrible. It’s usually terrible.
    Victory Chests
    Tired of waiting for your legendary loot to come out of that chest as you’re playing with other Defenders and getting so much more? Well that wait has been significantly reduced. When you open the Victory Chest, all your loot comes shooting out all at once. When playing with three other Defenders it looks like a legendary shotgun explosion.
    Oh, and before we forget, if you don’t open your Victory Chest before moving on, all the items inside are sent to your inventory. If your inventory is full, then it goes to the Scavenger. Never miss out on Victory Chest loot again!
    Communities
    This is a feature that we’re also wanting a lot of feedback on. We’re releasing it initially on Steam, almost as a beta test of the feature. It’s a system that allows up to 30 people to be in a structured group, and you can be in 5 Communities at a time. These groups can talk to each other regardless of where you are using the chat system, invite one another to groups, and more. We’re wanting to build even more off this system, but it’s something you’ll have to get your hands on and see.
    Communities are coming later in this patch after we've given it a little more polish.
    Balance Changes
    Abyss Lord
    Towers
    Colossus
    Health scaling increased to 600, was previously 430.
    Skeletal Orc
    DU cost lowered to 35, was previously 40.
    Apprentice
    Towers
    Arcane Barrier
    No longer allows enemies to pass through it while exploding.
    Shards
    Frost Power
    Defense Power scaling changed to (9 + 1 per level) from (10 + 2 per level). Max gilded is now 33%, previously was 58%
    Dryad
    Towers
    World Tree
    DU Cost lowered to 25, was previously 30.
    Lavamancer
    Towers
    Maw of the Earthdrake
    Defense Unit costs reduced to 50 DU, previously was 60 DU.
    Defense Health Scaling increased to 300, previously was 200.
    Fissure of Embermount
    Adjusted overlap to match that of similar towers (Flame Aura, Weapon Manufacturer, etc.)
    Mystic
    Towers
    Viper’s Fang
    Upgrading the Viper’s Fang now allows you to bubble up to 5 enemies.
    Squire
    Towers
    Training Dummy
    DU Cost lowered to 25, was previously 30.
    Bug Fixes
    Fixed an issue where the first bag in an inventory would visually not load.
    Fixed an issue when selling items that other items would be put in their place.
    Fixed an issue with Dryad’s Angry Nimbus that caused it to target enemies within the spawner.
    Fixed an issue with Dryad’s Hornet’s Nest not dealing elemental damage when using an elemental mod.
    Fixed a VFX issue when killing Betsy while she was breathing fire.
    Fixed a variety of DPS tooltip calculations
    Fixed an issue where Floor 40 Onslaught flairs were labeled with the wrong floor to attain them.
    Fixed an issue where Replay From Wave refunded Level 1 Tower mana if they were upgraded.
    Fixed an issue with gamepad focus moving when buying the last item from a shop.
    Fixed focus issues with Pet Stat reroll UI for gamepad.
    Fixed an issue with the Initiate, Gunwitch, and Huntress’s stat changes via various Ascension talents.
    Fixed an issue with Favorable Winds mod proccing off any kills, not just primary attack kills.
    Fixed an issue with the amount of XP given from Drakenfrost Resort in Expeditions.
    Fixed an issue with the Dark Arts Arcane Barrier not displaying properly.
    Adjusted tool tips for items on the ground when using 4K settings.
    Fixed an issue on Xbox where Defenders would get stuck on the main menu.
    Adjusted the Vanguard’s collision so that it better matches his shield.
    Fixed an issue in Assault on the Throne Room where destroyed subcores would not spawn enemies.
    Fixed an issue with Ancient Life Steal only healing for 5% when at 5+ points.
    Adjusted the difficulty of Forest Crossroads and Wyvern Den.
    Fixed an issue with UI layering issues when purchasing or creating a hero.
    Forest Ambush now has less amount of kobolds blowing up your lanes.’
    Fixed an issue with the My Deck button going gray after deleting a hero.
    Betsy’s overall damage reduced.
    All Adventures difficulty lowered across the board.
    Fixed a visual issue with the Harpy’s blinking animation
    Fixed an issue where EV2’s Buffer Chip worked on other heroes.
    Known Issues
    If chat is gray, deleting your ini will fix it and give you colors.
    Keybindings were reset with this update because of Communities being added.
    On PlayStation 4, when in-game and quitting to the main menu, you may run into issues logging back in. Just restart the game and you should get back in.
    The following Elemental Effects' durations are not working the correct length: Onsen Bath, Maelstrom, Water Chip/Servo, Freezing Rain, and Drenching Strikes.
    DPS Tooltip for Hornet's Nest is showing debug stats (get it, because they're bugs).
    What’s Next?
    There’s a lot we’re experimenting with in this update to make the future of Dungeon Defenders II as great as possible. We’re welcoming all the feedback that you can provide on it, but of course make sure it’s constructive, it’s the best way to ensure we can make the best changes as fast as possible.
    Social Defenders
    To get reliable updates on what’s to come, be sure to check out our social platforms for the latest juiciest beans to be spilled:
    Twitter
    Facebook
    Discord
    Twitch
    The entire team has had a blast making this content, we cannot wait for all of you to get your hands on our next update. Stay tuned for more info soon!
    For Etheria!
    The Dungeon Defenders II Team
  14. [CG] LAWLTA

    PATCH 4.1 PREVIEW!

    By [CG] LAWLTA,

    Ahoy Defenders!
    Around the docks of Etheria there is talk of Patch 4.1 arriving later this week. Among these whispers are some predictions of what’s to come. Join us as we peer slightly into the future, it’s time to dive into Patch 4.1 preview!
    Perfect Mod Drops
    This is something that we received a lot of feedback on and are working on in multiple phases. The first phase is coming in this patch, it allowed us to do calculations on changing the drop rates specifically. We are going to be increasing the drop rate of perfect Mods by MORE than double, while lowering the drop chance of lower quality Mods.
    The second phase of this is a lot more complex, and we’re not ready to discuss it just quite yet. We know the current drop rate has an average time that players should see perfect mods, and for a lot of players they are at or below that average. However, there are players that are outliers on this system, taking a long time to see any perfect Mod and that doesn’t feel great. We are currently developing ways to try and curb this entirely.
    Mod Quality Visuals
    Players have requested that we make it easier to understand where your Mod quality ranges on a scale of 1 to 10. Now there will be a number that reflects the quality nestled gently on top of the “Qualibean™.”
    Mob Pathing
    We’re continuously finding ways to make our game experience as smooth as possible. Stuck enemies and those that go off their intended path are no fun to deal with, and they certainly are a challenge for us to ensure they work correctly. There are changes coming with this patch aimed at drastically decreasing these types of behaviors. We’re going to keep a close eye on these changes to make sure they work correctly, and if there’s more work to be done we promise we’ll be hammering away it.
    Replay From Wave
    This was a feature added in with Isle of Dread that a lot of players have enjoyed. We ran into an initial technical challenge that did not allow this feature to work well on Lost Temple. Replay From Wave was released and since we set to work on getting it to work on Lost Temple. After testing it, we’re now able to get Replay From Wave to work on this map — including Omega Waves.
    And That’s Not All!
    There’s of course a slew of bug fixes coming, expanded explanations to the above, and a couple other unannounced changes that will be in the patch notes.
    Social Defenders
    There’s a lot of people playing Dungeon Defenders II, and a lot of them gather on our social hubs. When it comes to finding other players, figuring out how to conquer a specific challenge, or just wanting to get to know others in the community, or getting the latest DD2 news, you can’t go wrong with our social platforms:
    Twitter
    Facebook
    Discord
    Twitch
    We’re getting the finishing touches on this patch and cannot wait to share it with you all.
    For Etheria!
    The Dungeon Defenders II Team
  15. [CG] LAWLTA
    DEFENDERS,

    Now that we’re a week out from our PAX return, we’re ready to share a lot of information about Dungeon Defenders: Awakened and what you can expect. There’s a lot to talk about, and based off the title of STEAM EARLY ACCESS, you probably already have a ton of questions. Let’s get into it!

    Steam Early Access
    Dungeon Defenders: Awakened is going to be available for Steam Early Access on February 21, 2020 (just in case you thought it was February 2021). This is something we’re incredibly excited for and hope that you are too! There’s a lot of reasoning that went into this, so we’re going to break it down because we want to be as transparent as possible to you, our GLORIOUS Defenders.

    We previously mentioned that we would be avoiding Early Access, but we feel this is the best route to deliver on our promise that we’re working very hard, while being able to also deliver something tangible to you by the extended deadline we provided. Our continued goal is to be as transparent as possible and have our fans tied to our development for years to come.

    Feedback
    We received A LOT of feedback. We put out a survey to our testers at the end of last year/early this year, and the turnout was insane. The thousands of results outlined what all of you thought about our game. In fact, for how rough the Beta was, we were ecstatic by the results:


     
    In total, it’s less than 10% of the most diehard hardcore Dungeon Defenders fans were not happy with the Beta. In terms of testing a game… that’s a home run! We knew that we were doing a lot of things good, but based on the feedback provided, we know we can do better than good and produce great work.
    The feedback outlined a lot of what people enjoyed about the game so far, and also some of the holes we had to fill. We went through and outlined everything we could make better based off the feedback from the survey, forums, and feedback provided through zendesk. It was a lot, and we’re not devs who shy away from a lot of hard work. Some of the feedback we’ve received made it into the PAX build and had an incredibly positive reception, showing that our approach to focusing on pushing from good to great is the best approach for not only us as a studio, but to all of our incredibly loyal community.

    Studio Work
    We’ve been working at a pretty high capacity to make sure things get out on time. We could have made a February launch for both PC and Nintendo Switch, but based on the feedback we received, it would have felt like 80~90% of the game you expected. This created a lot of internal conflict, because the people who work here at Chromatic are incredibly talented individuals who have done such a great job in such a short amount of time (we’re coming up on only 1 year of development), and we hold ourselves to a higher standard because 100% of what’s in the game is a reflection of our work.

    When we received the feedback, we knew that if we weren’t feeling the game was at 100%, then we couldn’t be dishonest and release it saying it was 100% ready. We want gameplay to feel polished and smooth, we want everything to look amazing and crisp, we want the systems to be seamless for people to use, and we want it to be a Dungeon Defenders game that our players are proud to support for years to come. Our goal is to be as transparent as possible, which leads us into what our Early Access schedule looks like.

    Why Early Access?
    Going into Early Access on Steam allows us to get where the game is at into the hands of our players on PC. By doing so, we’re able to iterate quickly, getting Dungeon Defenders: Awakened into that 100% state as soon as possible. We are still going to be honoring our Nintendo Switch exclusive deal with Nintendo, with our PlayStation 4 and Xbox One releases coming in Q3 2020.
    That said, this Early Access is not going to be like other games, or like Dungeon Defenders II. The Early Access period is going to be incredibly short, because we’re really spending this time to polish up the game and meet your expectations. Dungeon Defenders: Awakened is going to be fully released during Q2 on PC and Nintendo Switch. We want Early Access to be as short as possible so that we can get Dungeon Defenders: Awakened out to all of you as the best version of the game.
    A lot of the polish we’re doing is to systems and gameplay, those are a bit harder to show off or discuss, but they encompass enemies spawning, how much loot drops, what kind of loot drops, enemy difficulty, enemy AI, and more across the entirety of the game. 
    One of the things we can show is the visual changes to some portions of our feedback. One thing that was shown off at PAX (and is still being iterated on) was the changes to the HUD:


    The feedback from the survey was overwhelmingly positive:



    That’s 4.5% that were dissatisfied, which when it comes to feedback, it's a slam dunk equivalent to (Space Jam spoiler alert) Michael Jordan slam dunking with his long arm at the end of Space Jam on the Monstars to score the two points needed to save the world: 

    As a result, we’re going to continue to use this time to polish up UIs in a similar fashion to how the HUD was polished. We’re excited to get these updates out to you in Early Access, and will be continuing iteration through Early Access based on feedback. As we speak, the UI has received even more polish than what’s shown here.
    Another change that we made was to the Huntress and Monk. We had seen through written feedback that people were not happy with their visuals, so we made some changes and presented them in the survey. People were happy with the direction we were going, but weren’t sold all the way. Something we weren’t able to get in the PAX build was our next iteration on the Huntress and Monk:

     


    You can see the progression we made over time, the first being the version we released into Beta, the second being a first pass presented in the survey, and the last being an updated version based on the feedback we got.
    These images felt to us a lot closer to Dungeon Defenders, while bringing them graphically up to 2020. We’re going to continue to get feedback on these as well, but we’re really happy with where they are at currently.

    Roadmap
    Releasing into Early Access isn’t only going to be setting the game live in its early state and then providing the finished product months later. Instead, we’re going to be updating it over time, adding in features as they become polished and in a state we’re happy with. Thus, THE ROADMAP IS BORN! 



    As a studio, this is what we are sticking to as a studio. Should anything change, we are going to make sure that we keep all of you updated as soon as possible. We want this road map to serve as a look into where our focus is and as a promise for what we’ll deliver.

    Beta Closing
    We’ve already implemented a ton of Beta feedback and are currently working through more. As a result, we’re going to be bringing the Beta to an end on Sunday, February 2nd at 11:59PM. We were very happy with the amount of people that we got in and the amount of feedback provided. If you had fun in the Beta, it’s only the surface of what’s in store for you on Early Access and our full release! Early Access is less than a month away.

    What’s Next?
    We’re going to keep working. As shown in the Roadmap, we’ve got some ground to cover still. We want to keep updates coming and to further enhance our transparency and direct communication with our community. After Early Access launches, we plan on having updates showcasing the work that has been done, introducing you to members of the team, and giving you a look at the work it took to make Dungeon Defenders: Awakened.

    Chromatic Weekend Wind Down, Dev Streams, and more are going to be coming as we continue development. We’re very excited for everything coming out and are excited that all of you are along for the ride!

    Social Defenders
    To get reliable updates on what’s to come, be sure to check out our social platforms for the latest juiciest beans to be spilled:
    Twitter
    Facebook
    Discord
    Twitch
    The entire team thanks you for your support. We’re working to make Chromatic Games a studio that is able to create games current and future that our Defenders are sure to enjoy, because our games are made for YOU!
    For Etheria!
    Chromatic Games

  16. [CG] LAWLTA
    DEFENDERS!
    The day is finally upon us, Dungeon Defenders: Awakened is OUT NOW on Steam Early Access. This is a huge day for us as a studio, as it’s our first launch of a product out into the masses; it’s a huge step for Dungeon Defenders returning to its roots; and it’s a huge accomplishment thanks to your support, to get something this amazing out WITHIN A YEAR! With that said, you what we do, we get into it — let’s get into it!

    Steam Early Access
    This is time for us to deliver on our promise of having a release in February. This period is pivotal for us to get the game into the Defenders of Etheria’s hands and go crazy throughout the entire game. We used the 10,000+ pieces of feedback we received from our Beta, and used it to help mold the game into this Early Access state. There’s still work we’re polishing, but the state the game is in, we’re comfortable and proud to present it to you. We’ll go over a couple pieces of info we’ve gone over before, as well as discuss what to expect in this Early Access release.
    If you haven’t picked up a copy yet, we’re on Steam right now. Click here to visit our Steam page!
    Roadmap
    Releasing into Early Access isn’t only going to be setting the game live in its early state and then providing the finished product months later. Instead, we’re going to be updating it over time, adding in features as they become polished and in a state we’re happy with. Thus, THE ROADMAP IS BORN!

    As a studio, this is what we are sticking to as a studio. Should anything change, we are going to make sure that we keep all of you updated as soon as possible. We want this road map to serve as a look into where our focus is and as a promise for what we’ll deliver.
    Why Early Access?
    Going into Early Access on Steam allows us to get where the game is at into the hands of our players on PC. By doing so, we’re able to iterate quickly, getting Dungeon Defenders: Awakened into that 100% state as soon as possible, something we’re unable to do on consoles as fast as we want to iterate. We are still going to be honoring our Nintendo Switch exclusive deal with Nintendo, with our PlayStation 4 and Xbox One releases coming in Q3 2020.
    That said, this Early Access is not going to be like other games, or like Dungeon Defenders II. The Early Access period is going to be incredibly short, because we’re really spending this time to polish up the game and meet your expectations. Dungeon Defenders: Awakened is going to be fully released during Q2 on PC and Nintendo Switch. We want Early Access to be as short as possible so that we can get Dungeon Defenders: Awakened out to all of you as the best version of the game.
     

    Teamwork makes the dreamwork.
    This will give us a chance to make sure that the game is balanced, being easy or hard in the appropriate parts of the game; animations and art assets are looking great and working properly; working out any kinks when it comes to playing with others; making sure our network tech properly connects you to others and also properly saves your gear; and of course testing our flags, checks, and reactions from our anti-hack systems on a much larger scale.
    What’s In Early Access?
    Shown in the Roadmap above outlines what is going to be coming to Dungeon Defenders: Awakened, and briefly goes over what is already in. We’ll blow it apart a bit more here!
    Every heroic adventure starts in a really deep well, right?
    Campaign
    The Campaign is the progressive order maps are presented in, and on the full release will include story elements and bosses scattered throughout to help you understand what exactly is going on in Dungeon Defenders: Awakened. In the Steam Early Access release, Campaign includes all 12 maps part of the whole campaign:
    Deeper Well
    Ancient Mines
    Lava Mines
    Alchemical Labs
    Tornado Valley
    Tornado Highlands
    Ramparts
    Throne Room
    Arcane Library
    Royal Gardens
    The Promenade
    The Summit
    These maps are in a great state, but we are still open to feedback as you play through these maps, so please throw it our way through the in-game link seen on the Escape screen.
    Alchemical Labs, Throne Room, and The Summit do not currently have their bosses implemented. As covered in the Roadmap, the Demon Lord arrives in March, the Goblin Mech charges in during April, with the Ancient Dragon approaching in the full release.
    Difficulty
    On this release, you have access to:
    Easy
    Medium
    Hard
    Insane
    We’ve tested these extensively, and the progression through the campaign feels incredibly good. Our goal is to let people provide extensive feedback on these difficulties before we throw you into the terror that is Nightmare in March, which is going to push Defenders to take on some substantially harder enemies.  It doesn’t stop there though, as upon release you’ll have to survive the newest difficulty — Massacre. Both of these difficulties provide new enemies that only brave Defenders will be able to cull!

    Survival
    Making its triumphant return, the Survival game mode is going to be available on all difficulties and all maps provided in Early Access. Each map rewards a unique pet to join you in your adventures, while also boosting your hero in some way. There’s a lot to master through all 12 maps, we hope you’re able to survive!
    While playing through Survival in Early Access, we are going to continue to optimize the maps to accommodate all the enemies that you are going to be fighting. As noted on our Road Map, there is going to be continuous updates to the game, and this include performance optimizations. If you run into frame drops or crashes, report them in feedback, as that’ll help us polish things up. For Defenders looking for a true challenge, try playing on Insane Survival Summit on very old hardware getting 1 FPS, outside in the rain, while taming lions (please don’t do this, this part is just jokes, play it normal and safely please).
    Pets
    There’s a lot of pets that are going to be in Steam Early Access that were not in Beta. Some pets are straight forward, boosting your stats and slapping enemies, however we brought back some revamped fan favorites *cough*Genie*cough*, and also some new pets that have never been seen before. We made sure that you have a wide variety of pets to use, trying to apply a variety of play styles to fit certain pets. There are even more coming past this, but we’re sure you’ll quickly grow to love all of these companions (the Ramster is so dang cute!).
    Gear
    There’s a TON of gear to earn. Going back to our roots, we wanted people to get excited for gear to hunt. Itemization feedback has been tremendous, and so we used words from Defenders old and new to curate some awesome pieces to hunt for. We brought back a lot of the systems that made Dungeon Defenders gear great to hunt. Gear rolls any and all stats that are on your hero, making it exciting to receive that one perfect piece that has all the defensive stats for your Tower Builder spec'd heroes, or well-rounded gear for any Defender who prefers a Jack of All Trades play style! Another exciting return is that weapons and pets are randomly colorized, providing unique looks to the loot you receive. White and Gold is one of the rarest combos you’ll find, so good luck!

    Gear continues to get stronger as you progress through the game of course, with each difficulty providing new pieces to empower your heroes and defenses to new heights! While climbing also make sure to keep an eye on what armor you’re equipping, as gear sets are back in the game.
    Accessories
    Through your journeys, you’ll also be receiving accessories that visually change the look of your character. This was not something part of Dungeon Defenders original release, but they are so fun to acquire and add a great level of visual customization that we couldn’t just not do them! Masks, Bracers, Brooches, and Shields (Squire Only) are some of the pieces you’ll receive that you can uncover to add another layer to empowering your character.
    Cursed Gear No More!
    One thing you will notice that is different from Dungeon Defenders is that there is no longer any cursed gear. This was something a vast majority felt very strong as a detractor from the game, and made getting gear feel like a potential punishment if it had the one stat you wanted, but diminished others.
    Tools of the Trade
    There’s a lot of tools we wanted to provide to the players. One of them was an updated Tactical Map (tac map for short). There’s a ton of upgrades we made to this feature, trying to provide as much visual clarity on what’s going on and where. There’s also brand new additions, such as in the options menu, you can now select filters for the tac map to show specific upgrades and items that you’re looking for, making it easy to survey the land quickly and go get your items before continuing on.

    There’s also a lot of the HUD and UI improvements. There are seriously too many to include here, and as noted on the Roadmap, there are more coming! Comparing items in your inventory, providing clearer definitions for upgrades, revamped stat names, and so much more.
    Towers are also part of the UI improvements. You can now interact with your towers to see how they are performing and what their stats are. Even a deep layer, towers show you the important stats that matter based on what they do. This means seeing what’s important in how a Spiked Blockade performed is different than seeing how an Ensnare Aura performed. We can’t wait to hear your feedback on these features and make any improvements possible!
    Kickstarter, BackerKit, and Preorder Rewards
    Rewards are planned for our full 1.0 release. While we have already chipped away at getting these made, today is our final deadline for our backers to submit what they’d like. We recently got a ton of requests back from our initial surveying to people in appropriate tiers, so now we just need to get to work on them. Some of these things are absolutely beautiful, others are horrifying, and we wouldn’t have it any other way!
    Early Access Note
    We have an Early Access FAQ that we’ve put together. If some of your questions weren’t answered here, please give it a look and hopefully they are answered!
    There’s some stuff that we are not covering in this post, but there is a ton to discover in this game. Some of it is intended, some of it may be bugaboos that need to be squashed, and some of it may be as Bob Ross put it: happy little accidents. This is a game that we’re proud to present as a culmination of developer work and extensive community feedback. We truly feel this is a game made for our GLORIOUS Defenders, and we hope you feel the same. We want to thank you for joining us on this journey so far, and we can’t wait to continue on and hope you’ll be there by our side.
    What’s Next?
    We’re going to keep working. As shown in the Roadmap, we’ve got some ground to cover still. We want to keep updates coming and to further enhance our transparency and direct communication with our community. We plan on having updates showcasing the work that has been done, continue introducing you to members of the team, and giving you a look at the work it took to make Dungeon Defenders: Awakened.
    Chromatic Weekend Wind Down, Dev Streams, and more are going to be coming as we continue development. We’re very excited for everything coming out and are excited that all of you are along for the ride!
    Next week some of our team is going to be at PAX East, Booth #12074, right next to the Nintendo booth! If you’re going to be there, stop by to play, chat with the devs, and maybe leave with some sweet sweet swag! We had a crazy turn out at PAX South, loved hanging out with our glorious Defenders and the new Etherian recruits we picked up, and would love for PAX East to be Chromatic Games At PAX II: Revenge of the Hangout Boogaloo the Game, the Movie, the Game Returns.
    Social Defenders
    To get reliable updates on what’s to come, be sure to check out our social platforms for the latest juiciest beans to be spilled:
    Twitter
    Facebook
    Discord
    Twitch
    The entire team thanks you for your support. We’re working to make Chromatic Games a studio that is able to create games current and future that our Defenders are sure to enjoy, because our games are made for YOU!
    For Etheria!
    Chromatic Games
  17. [CG] LAWLTA
    Good morning Defenders!

    We’re almost there! Steam Early Access (check it out here) is just a few hours away, and on behalf of everyone at Chromatic Games, THANK YOU. To our players new and old, wider community, backers, and advocates, you have paved the way for us to continue to breathe life into this franchise, and Dungeon Defenders is truly stronger than ever!

    I wanted to take a quick moment to drop a few fun never before seen pieces of content, as well as a message about what you should expect not only today, but in the coming months. If you’re new or haven’t already checked out the DDA Early Access Roadmap here, please be sure to do so.

    As many of you know, we started on Awakened a little under a year ago. Making a game like Dungeon Defenders is not easy. For those who don’t know what goes into making a systems heavy game like ours, here are some numbers to give you better context as to how much we’ve gotten done and what is reflected in the Early Access experience you’ll be playing today and for the next few months...
    Characters: Over 40 (heroes, enemies, NPCs, and Pets)
    Maps: ~12 tile sets over 15 maps
    Unique weapons: Over 80, with over 80,000 total color combinations possible (be sure to grind for those rare white and gold weapons!)
    Unique armor pieces and accessories: 50
    Animations per hero: Over 50 each
    Animations per enemy: On average about 10
    Hand drawn / illustrated icons: Over 200
    100’s of concept art pieces / illustrations
    Music tracks: Over 20
    UI Scenes and Widgets: Over 250
    Over 200 design documents
    Dozens of game features and systems, totalling over 90,832 lines of code and counting
    All with under 30 developers, in a newly formed studio, in less than a year. The amount of work and love put into this has been nothing less than incredible! And what better to celebrate this achievement with our community than with Early Access launching in a few hours? Oh! I know what’s better! How about a teaser? Click here to see what’s coming later to DD:A!

    We’ve already heard tons of feedback from our beta in November and have been working towards addressing the biggest concerns from our fans. If you missed this blog, give it a read for more information on our post beta survey. Much of that feedback will be represented in today’s build, and much will be rolled out in the coming months. 
    Until then, we ask you to bear with us while we iron out some kinks. More specifically, but not exclusively, we’re currently working to improve upon these areas over the coming weeks and months, leading all the way up to our 1.0 launch:
    Performance optimizations
    4P split screen support
    More polished gamepad controls 
    Continuous UI aesthetic transformation & polish
    Hero progression updates
    Polishing up some epic boss battles
    Rolling out the higher difficulties
    Implementing our story elements via beautiful new in game cinematics
    Finishing up the Kickstarter and Pre-order rewards for 1.0
    Anti Hacking measures
    The list goes on...
    Anyhoo, the time is NOW for hype! We need your help to spread the word today! Grab your friends, and join us online at 1PM ET for the Early Access launch of Dungeon Defenders: Awakened!
    Sincerely,
    Chromatic Games
  18. [CG] LAWLTA
    DEFENDERS!
    This is just a brief check-in to talk about preorders for Dungeon Defenders: Awakened. We’ve received a lot of support from a ton of you, and want to make sure we reward that where we possibly can. There’s two big things to go over, being preorder upgrade options for Kickstarter and BackerKit supporters, and preorder window coming to a close. Let’s get to it!
    Preorder Upgrades
    We’ve been working tirelessly with our shop partner to enable upgrades over the past few weeks. Without getting into the details, we unfortunately have not been able to get upgrades going, and don’t want to let people know very last minute that they can upgrade, if at all.
    Instead, we’re going to do the following. ANYONE that preordered through BackerKit or backed us on Kickstarter will receive the $60 Prestigious Edition bonuses shown on the preorder store, that are preorder exclusive. This includes:
    Forum Titles
    In-game Titles
    Digital Soundtrack, Strategy Guide, and Artbook
    Awakened Phoenix Pet 
    Crystalline Skins 
    Rift Skins
    At Chromatic, we want to do everything we can to reward all of our players who support us, as fairly as we can. We announced the ability to upgrade, and since we are not able to deliver, we are taking the high road and providing the bonuses to those who would have been able to upgrade for FREE. We chose these tiers because it’s equivalent to how much the retail price is for the game. This serves as a big THANK YOU to all of our supporters who joined us early on this adventure, and to help show that we’re focused on making a great game.
    Preorder Availability
    With Early Access coming on February 21st, we’re going to be closing our Preorder Store the same day. This is to ensure that all our sales for the PC version of Dungeon Defenders: Awakened goes through Steam. With the Preorder Store closing, the Preorder Bonuses will no longer be available for ALL platforms. If you want to grab the Preorder bonuses, you only have until February 21st.
    Kickstarter and BackerKit Changes
    Starting on February 21st, we will no longer be able to change the platforms that people have selected, as we need to make sure that orders are locked and ready to fire for when we release on each individual platform, ensuring that people receive their correct copies.
    What’s Next?
    We’ve got a Dev Stream that we’re going to have tomorrow, February 14th at 3:00 PM ET, where we answer questions that we’ve seen posted everywhere, answer questions that all of you have for us, and show some gameplay as well! Please join us, and potentially win a free Prestigious Edition of Dungeon Defenders: Awakened.
    That’s all for now, just a quick check-in. We’re hard at work to make sure that Early Access feels as great as possible, and cannot wait for you guys to tear it apart!
    Social Defenders
    To get reliable updates on what’s to come, be sure to check out our social platforms for the latest juiciest beans to be spilled:
    Twitter
    Facebook
    Discord
    Twitch
    The entire team thanks you for your support. We’re working to make Chromatic Games a studio that is able to create games current and future Defenders are sure to enjoy, because our games are made for YOU!
    For Etheria!
    Chromatic Games
  19. [CG] LAWLTA
    DEFENDERS,
    Beta has been out for a few weeks now, and what a ride it has been! As a studio, it is incredibly exhilarating to have a ton of the hard work that we’ve been hammering away at as a studio out into the wild. Between watching streams and youtube videos; discussions on the forums, Twitter, Facebook, Steam, and Discord; the plethora of feedback that’s been provided; and just playing the games ourselves with friends and family, it’s been an incredibly awesome experience. So let’s start with Beta in general!
    Beta, What is it Good For — Absolutely A Lot
    Our Beta launch was something that we were incredibly happy with. When putting something as complex as a game out into the wild has developers putting on a helmet, and strapping down everything, for the potential chaos that can come with a Beta that just aren’t able to be tested in an internal environment. We launched with relatively low issues: gameplay was working at a very high degree with little bug issues; crashes were low and easy to identify; lanes performed with little issues, and our testers computers didn’t burst into flames (that was a super huge one). We were able to address crashes and tweak some things to improve the Beta experience pretty quickly, releasing four patches in a very short amount of time — SIX DAYS!
    Betas over time have taken a turn in the industry to have a large range in what that actually entail. Our version of Beta was the original approach, that is getting a functional build that is very representative of the final experience regarding the core gameplay loot: build, defend, fight, and get sweet loot. A lot of things performed correctly, and the gameplay, for a Beta, could not have been better for us! That said, we have received a lot of the feedback, and are still parsing through a lot of it. Things like UI art, character visuals/faces, Survival scaling, hero and tower balance, and more are on our radar. There’s a lot of feedback that we’re getting that was anticipated, so we’ve had plans to address these things for the most part. We received a ton of feedback regarding UI visuals, and we are going to be making sure to give it that Dungeon Defenders feel. What was in the Beta was focused on functionality, to ensure we didn’t waste any work making art that could lead to wasted work. Needless to say, there’s a lot of improvements that we’re going to be making, and your feedback has been incredibly helpful to validate our plans moving forward!

    Pre-order and Backing
    We’ve had multiple ways that Defenders have been able to get Dungeon Defenders: Awakened. Starting with Kickstarter, which then transferred to BackerKit, and finally ending on our current store. There were bumps along the way, many we are still sorting through (note: if you preordered through Kickstarter and BackerKit, with any issues, please reach out to preorder@chromatic.games, DO NOT if you purchased through our current store, that should be done through support@xsolla.com). These three phases were part of our total plan, but the bumps were a very large learning process and we are working diligently to make sure we provide everything we can to our supporters.
    One of the things that we’re going to be doing is sending out beta keys to our BackerKit supporters who purchased the $25 copy of the game. The store outlined what was included, but there was some confusing messaging going out about the BackerKit store. Our higher paying backers have had access to the Beta for a while, giving them exclusive access, and now we want to open it up to show our appreciation for your support, and also to make up for any confusing messaging that may have been sent.
    We’re also offering more rewards through our newest storefront. We don’t want to exclude people who backed early from these rewards, so we’re going to be doing our best to be as inclusive as possible:
    First, anyone who purchased through BackerKit will be moved over to our current storefront in the coming weeks. We'll let you know when this change is made. This means that you’ll get what’s at the $40 tier, but also have the option to upgrade to a higher tier if you want to, instead of having to purchase an entirely new copy.
      Second, anyone who backed on Kickstarter at or above the purchase tiers on the new storefront will receive the rewards included in the new packs. For example, did you purchase the $75 tier on Kickstarter? You’ll receive everything included in the Prestigious pack, the costumes, titles, everything! Our goal is to make sure that when you’re purchasing Dungeon Defenders: Awakened, you feel good about the purchase, and that you’re getting awesome rewards with an awesome game. You guys help make the game, and we want to make sure you know you’re valued.

    Beta Late Than Neva
    We’re sorry for that pun. It’s terrible, but it had to be said. With preordering and getting beta keys, the vast majority got out, but there were some keys that weren’t properly transferred over, surveys were submitted late, etc., that lead to people not receiving their keys on time. One thing we’re going to do is extend the Beta into January. Here’s why:
    You have provided a ton of feedback and we want to increase the window so that every nook and cranny is covered. We want Dungeon Defenders: Awakened to be the best game it can be, and a lot of the feedback you’ve provided has been instrumental in making sure that’s the destination we reach.
      We’re opening the beta to the $25 purchases, and some people didn’t receive their keys on time, or are still in process (please reach out to preorder@chromatic.games if you haven’t already), we want to make sure that players have enough time to experience the beta and provide their feedback. These two reasons alone make it very important for us to keep with our goals of being inclusive to all Defenders, and making the best game possible. We want and encourage you to continue to provide feedback. Maybe later this month, there maybe an update, maybe that expands on some stuff, and maybe fixes some issues you've reported, maybe probably maybe. As for January, we’re currently discussing adding more for players to experience, with there being a reflection of change via the feedback all of you have provided.

    MORE FEEDBACK
    Another thing that should be in your inboxes in the coming week is a survey to those who have taken part of the Beta. While digging through all the feedback you’ve provided, we also want to get general sentiments and feedback about as many facets of the game as possible. To that end, to make sure we’re doing the best we can, we’re going to send out a curated survey for our Beta players. By completing the entire survey, we’ll be drawing 10 WINNERS to receive our Prestigious pack, giving you another copy to use for another platform, give to a friend to join you on your adventures in Etheria, or whatever you want!

    New Stuff
    Dungeon Defenders: Awakened isn’t just some simple port or remake. We’re adding a lot of content, and have some big plans for future content. People have seen some of the new rewards from the Beta, but we wanted to give you a quick sneak peek at some of the awesome weapons and pets that are coming your way:
    New Weapons — Tech Rewards

    With new rewards coming in, we want them to feel awesome. We also want them to feel awesome for ALL heroes. This is the Squire’s sword that you’ll be able to hunt down, alongside getting weapons for the Huntress, Apprentice, and Monk that are part of the future tech-based set.
    New Pets

    We have familiar pets coming back that many Defenders love, but we also have new pets to be earned. Currently called the Etherial Ancient, they are just one of the new pets that’ll help boost your character and pack a punch when fighting enemies.
     
    FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
    We've added an FAQ section to help address questions for current and returning Defenders. We'll be updating this overtime as more questions come in!
     
    What’s Next?
    We’re going to keep polishing systems and working. There’s a ton of feedback we’re actively working through, and are going to keep up to really make the game for our GLORIOUS Defenders. Keep throwing feedback our way, and know that even if you don’t get a response, it has been seen and that we’ll do our best to address it.
    When it comes to communication, as we’ve acknowledged, have not been the best. We’re working on a few initiatives internally to help bridge the gap between our community and development. We’ve also been working through bringing on a full-time Community Manager, working with some fantastic candidates. Current plans have our new Community Manager joining Chromatic Games in January, and we can’t wait for you to meet her!
    Chromatic Games is going to continue to work on doing things to the best of our ability. There have been bumps along the way, and while they can be frustrating, we want to thank you for sticking through it with us, as we grow into this new studio and are able to make awesome games for YOU! <3

    Social Defenders
    To get reliable updates on what’s to come, be sure to check out our social platforms for the latest juiciest beans to be spilled:
    Twitter
    Facebook
    Discord
    Twitch
    The entire team thanks you for trying to destroy the Beta. We’re grateful for all the tremendous feedback we’ve received so far (and more to come), and want to thank you for joining us on this journey!
    For Etheria!
    Chromatic Games
     
  20. [CG] LAWLTA
    DEFENDERS,
    It’s time. It’s FINALLY time. Oh good golly gosh, it’s finally time… BETA IS HERE! Today we launched the Beta, getting Dungeon Defenders: Awakened into the hands of Etheria’s brave Defenders. There’s so much to cover, that we’re not going to cover it all. We want you to discover all the beta has to offer on your own. Let’s get into it!
     


    Beta Release
    The current Beta is available to our Kickstarter Backers first. This is a promise that we made during our Kickstarter, and are going to make sure to uphold. Kickstarter Backers currently have advanced Beta access. On Friday, November 22nd, we are going to open up the Beta to everyone who has purchased the $40+ preorder packages.
    Beta is currently scheduled to run for roughly three weeks! Starting on November 22nd and ending on 13th, this gives us a great window to gather feedback and be able to make necessary changes before launching in February.
    Progress and data from the Beta does NOT carry over to the release of the game. Beta is used as a testing ground to make sure that the game is in the best possible state. Keeping data from Beta (ha, it rhymes) can cause major issues when updating to the release version.
    If you did not receive a Beta key, and are a Kickstarter Backer, make sure you have filled out the surveys that were sent to your registered Kickstarter E-mails from "Backerkit". If that survey is not filled out, then the Beta key is not sent.
    All pre-order and Kickstarter Backer keys have been sent out. If you are missing keys, please write to preorder@chromatic.games, using the e-mail you used for Kickstarter and/or BackerKit.
    Remaining pre-orders will be handled through our new store located here. If you run into any issues getting a key ordering from this store, contact support the new support here (suppot@xsolla.com) or using the link on the receipt of your purchase.
    Streaming and Content Creation
    During the Beta, you are free to stream, make videos, or whatever content you want. We want Defenders to enjoy and share as much as they want when it comes to Dungeon Defenders: Awakened!
     
    What’s Missing?
    There’s a lot to cover what’s in a game. Patch notes usually say what’s new, but with so much of the game being new, we’re going to let you explore the game. Instead, we're going to outline what may not be in the Beta that we are currently polishing and iterating on to get in for release (we may be missing some things from this list as well):
    Tactical Map
    This is currently in a functional state. We’re going to be updating the map images, and make sure it’s a lot prettier come release.
    Challenge Maps
    We’re currently wanting to make sure that balance feels good across the map in general. Challenge Maps are coming your way on release!
    Maps
    There are a total of 15 maps in Dungeon Defenders: Awakened. Not included in the Beta is Act II, Act III, and the Bonus Maps. Act I is the big focus for our beta test, helping us set the foundation so the rest of the maps bring the right amount of challenge.
    Difficulty
    Nightmare and Massacre are not going to be included in the Beta. We don’t want people beating all the hardest content during testing. Gotta have something scary hard for you to master on release!
    Enemies
    With Nightmare not in the beta, Sharken, Djinn, Spiders, and Goblin Copter will not be spawning in a lane near you.
    Weapons
    All of our weapons are not in the game. We have a pool of roughly 5 different weapons per hero to simulate the amount of weapons you would see during your playthrough of Act I on release. Weapon random colorization is also not reflected in the beta build, but will be implemented for release.
    HUD
    We’re going to be adding various improvements to the HUD. Currently we have it setup for beta to be functional. There’s a ton of work that we’ve done not in the Beta, but expect improvements on launch.
    Armor
    Currently we have placeholder armor models in. The final models are currently getting a last pass and will be sparkling and shining on release.
    Set Bonuses
    Set bonuses are working but may not currently be showing up correctly.
    Split Screen
    We’re testing base functionality currently, so split screen is not available during the Beta.
    Spawn Immunity
    Enemies are immune up until a certain point in spawn doors. Indicators are not included in Beta, but will be here on release.
    Social
    We’re wanting to make sure that getting your friends into a match is as easy as possible, give hosts control over their sessions, and showing who’s in your party. These are currently not in the beta, and can be expected on release.
    Hardcore
    Currently not in Beta, coming on release. 
    Twitch Integration
    Currently being developed, it will not be in the Beta.
    Game Modes
    In the Beta we have Campaign and Survival. Other game modes are coming on release.

    Pets
    There are a total of four pets that are available during the Beta. On release, there will be much more!

    Elemental Weapons
    Some weapon elemental affinity visuals may be disabled, as we’re making sure performance comes first. Your weapons will be shooting flames and electricity during release.
    Kickstarter Rewards
    Kickstarter rewards, such as exclusive skins and portraits, are not available during the beta.

    Currency
    Mana from the original Dungeon Defenders is being split into three different categories. Currently in the game is ability and defense mana. Ability mana regenertaes over time, and Defense mana is gained from defeating enemies and completing waves. Currency in the form of gold is what will persist outside of maps, being used for trading between players and upgrading items.

    Trading
    Trading is currently not enabled during the Beta.

    Upgrading
    With currency not in the Beta version, you are unable to upgrade items.

    Boss Fights
    Boss fights are coming with release. These are big epic moments that we want to make sure are special for release.

    Cross Saves
    The beta is only available on PC, so Cross Save functionality is not part of the beta.

    Tavern
    Currently you are unable to build defenses in the Tavern. As such, there are not any training dummies for you to beat up.

    Defender Forge
    We’re testing for functionality currently with our Inventory and Hero Deck systems. The Defender Forge makes its glorious arrival on launch.
    New User Experience
    This is something we’ve spent quite a bit of time on, and are going to refine. It is important for new Defenders to understand how to protect the world of Etheria, but it will be available on release.

    Tower Inspection
    A step up from what was offered in Dungeon Defenders II, tower inspection shows you the most pertinent information for your currently placed tower. This is currently disabled, and will be available at release.

    Tower View
    Another feature brought over from Dungeon Defenders II, where you are able to hold a button/key and see what the range of your defenses are. This is currently disabled, and will be available at release.

    Gamepad Support
    This is disabled for the Beta currently. We’re actively polishing the gamepad experience and did not want to provide it in an unpolished state.

    Hero Customization
    During the beta, the heroes will not be able to be customized in regards to color changing and costumes.

    Auto Equip
    This is a feature we are providing for Defenders who don’t understand the item system right away. This will come during release.

    Level Requirements
    During beta, there are no level requirements for gear. What you get is what you can use. Since we’re not having trading, we wanted to make sure getting gear was as fun as possible for testing.
    Mana Chests
    Mana chests are gone-gone-gone. Keep an eye out for end-of-wave loot chests.
    Options Menu
    The options menu is currently in a beta state and does not reflect every option that will be available upon full release.
    Cinematics
    The in-game cinematics are not part of the Beta.
    Known Issues
    A lot. It's beta, so there's a ton we're still working on. Music not playing correctly, audio playing from different parts of the map instead of where you are, UIs not working properly. There's a ton, but we're knocking them out super quick. Be sure to leave feedback in the DD:A Beta Discussion Forum.
    Next Steps
    We’re going to be monitoring gameplay and feedback that all of you provide. While polishing and finishing remaining systems for our February launch, we’re also going to be scouring feedback to make sure that we get the game into the best state possible. Nothing in the Beta is guaranteed to be final, and is going to be scrutinized heavily.
    From now until release, we’re going to keep churning away to make sure DD:A is the best it can be!
    Social Defenders
    To get reliable updates on what’s to come, be sure to check out our social platforms for the latest juiciest beans to be spilled:
    Twitter
    Facebook
    Discord
    Twitch
    The entire team cannot wait to see you tear apart the Beta. We’re excited for release in February and thank you for joining us on this journey!
    For Etheria!
    Chromatic Games
  21. [CG] LAWLTA
    DEFENDERS!
    Today is a big day for Dungeon Defenders: Awakened and Chromatic Games! Earlier today we were featured as part of the Nintendo Indie Showcase, which if you haven’t seen, click HERE to check it out. This is HUGE for our game and studio, helping us bring the world of Etheria to many future Defenders.
    This showing also revealed something very big: A RELEASE DATE! Dungeon Defenders: Awakened releases February 2020, and there’s a lot of reasons for this, so let’s get into them by answering some questions we’re sure you have!
    Release
    Why is it not releasing in October 2019?
    Dungeon Defenders: Awakened is meant to be a showing to our loyal fans of what we’re capable of as Chromatic Games. This isn’t a simple remaster/remake, but bringing back the soul of the original Dungeon Defenders into modern day. Building the game from the ground up is no simple feat, and we’re pulling out all the stops to really blow your socks away. Half of the maps in DD:A are new; Assets in the game are new; all of the UIs are new; and a slew of new features to make for an enjoyable experience. Releasing in October would lead to two things: an unpolished and unrefined gaming experience, or tons of crunch that can burn out developers. As a studio, we absolutely REFUSE to release DD:A as half-baked, and as a business we don’t want people working unbearable hours (we love all our employees, they already kick a ton of butt). This meant pushing our release date to accomplish our goals, and give you the game you deserve!
    “A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad.” - Shigeru Miyamoto
    Why February 2020?
    In short, It’s the best time for us to release the game. In long, there’s a multitude of reasons. We’re able to keep cranking out content without overworking and breaking developer souls; we can release a beta that allows us time to make iterations as they’re needed; we don’t have to compete with AAA releases that would drown our marketing efforts; it’s after the holidays, giving Defenders a chance to get back to post-holiday life-ing and get hyped for DD:A release; and we could keep going. Overall, it’s best for us as a studio and better for those of you wanting a great DD:A experience. For those of you wanting a bad DD:A experience, we apologize, but we are unable to provide that.
    Beta? BETA?? BEEEEEEEEEEEEETTTAAAA??!??!?!?
    We’re currently going over the best time for beta and letting you sink your teeth into this meaty game. DD:A PC Beta will be available Early November 2019. This Beta allows us to monitor all the systems we’ve been working tirelessly on, and getting any fixes out before the release. Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated during these testing periods, together it we get to make an AWESOME game.
    Nintendo Switch Console Timed-Exclusive?
    This means that we’ll be releasing on Nintendo Switch and PC right out of the gate in February 2020 at the same time. What does this mean for our PS4 and Xbox One backers? We’re going to be spending extra time polishing up the builds for your platform. The release for these platforms is not very far off from the initial release, with a concrete release date coming in the near future. Or maybe we’ll NEVER release on those platforms, MUAHAHAHA (just kidding, we love all our consoles Defenders and could never hurt you like that).
    New Content?
    Well I guess… So far we’ve been showing off some of the hotness coming in the forms of complete maps, concept art, and goblin animations. Everything here is still considered a work-in-progress, but everything is until the game’s released! First we want to show off our new Dungeon Defenders: Awakened logo and cover art (it’s freaking amazing).

    Let’s take a look at the new Squire in 3D, with his animations in-game!
    Attack 1


    Attack 2


    Attack 3


    Blood Boil


    Circular Slice


    Healing


    Death


    Also how about our first boss map, Alchemical Labs!

    The core will be in the middle, we just wanted to show off the art!





    There’s that core, get back to the middle of the room!
    How about a look at your favorite homestead, a place to kick up your feet and admire your loot, THE TAVERN!


    That’s Sir Bubbles himself there on the wall.


    Here’s old George, on patrol. Kind of.

    And last but not least, while we’re finishing up the work on his encounter, how about a look at the NEW Demon Lord?

    What’s Next?
    We’re going to keep working incredibly hard to get DD:A into your hands, duh! This is a giant passion project for all of us, and every day is a blast, even when we’re squashing bugs (ty QA, we love you). Regular updates are going to continue, and we’ve even brought on board some awesome help to get this info out to you! Speaking of…
    Social Defenders
    To get reliable updates on what’s to come, be sure to check out our social platforms for the latest juiciest beans to be spilled:
    Twitter
    Facebook
    Discord
    Twitch
    The entire team is having a blast working on DD:A, we cannot wait for all of you to get your hands on it. Stay tuned for more info!

    For Etheria!
    Chromatic Games
  22. [CG] LAWLTA
    DEFENDERS!
    October flew by, and November is here, which means we’ve got a slew of new things to show off and talk about! The Dungeon Defenders: Awakened PC beta is coming this month, with news on when it’s being released very soon. We’re currently working with our excellent PR partners on getting Dungeon Defenders: Awakened in front of as many Defenders as possible, so bare with us as we prepare to make this beta an explosive success!
    While we’ve been working incredibly hard, today we want to show off the Huntress’s traps, some of the new gorgeous UIs, never before seen maps, and an update as to how as a studio we’ve been working on the game. Without further ado, let’s get into it!
    Huntress Traps
    We wanted to make sure that the Huntress’s traps conveyed that they were put together by an elf, using materials that are available to a being from the woodlands. There’s a lot of VFX and power that we’re going to be adding to these traps, but for now we’re going to show you what you’ll see as your creating a literal minefield for the hordes that are coming!
    Poison Gas Trap


    Proximity Mine Trap


    Inferno Trap


    Darkness Trap


    Etherial Spike Trap

     
    User Interface Facelift
    One thing that we promised with Dungeon Defenders: Awakened was providing a cleaner User Interface, something that is definitely wanting when playing the original Dungeon Defenders. Our approach is to make things read well so that you’re able to discern the information you want, get your gear and character setup the way you want fast and efficiently, so you’re back in the fray and doing what you do best — defending Etheria!
    The inventory in Dungeon Defenders has always been a big part of the gameplay, and we’ve made it look aesthetically pleasing, while also providing a ton of functionality. We’ll start off with showing the item box:

    One thing you’ll notice is that there are Nintendo Switch inputs at the bottom. One of the biggest goals we had with the UIs for Dungeon Defenders: Awakened, was to make sure that it played well with a gamepad first. If it plays well with gamepad, then we can easily make it play well with mouse and keyboard.
    You’ll also notice that there is a filter tab in the top right. This filter is going to allow players to filter gear with multiple options! Filtering is something that players have wanted for a while, and we’re bringing it in Dungeon Defenders: Awakened. Here’s a tentative list of what you can expect to be able to filter by:
     
    Quality (Common, uncommon, rare, epic, etc.)
    Equipment (Weapons, Helmets, Chests, Gloves, Boots, Pets, Brooches, Masks, Bracers, and Shields)
    Armor Type (Leather, Mail, Chain, etc.)
    and More!
    Another important aspect of the game is being able to inspect a piece of equipment that you’ve received, compare it with a piece that you’ve got equipped, and decide if it’s an upgrade or not. Those were our goals with gear tooltips and comparison:


    When making these tooltips, we made sure that we included the “worst case” scenario for when you receive an item. By that, we focused on what the absolute biggest an item tooltip would be, and this is the result. There’s a ton of information that we need to convey, and so we made sure to push things to their absolute limits in order to provide a clean and easy to read UI. It’s worth mentioning that the white circles and squares are where our icons are going to be going to represent each stat (they’re currently made, just need some slight adjustments).
    We also are adjusting the names of stats so that they are able to be understood. These images are work-in-progress still, but these names are something we’ll be looking for feedback throughout our beta process. 
    All of it together, here’s what you can expect to see when playing solo:

    There’s still some iteration we’re going to be making (and currently are), but we’re very proud of where the UI currently is and can’t wait for you to be able to use it to its full potential!
    There are a couple things that aren’t being shown here, but we want to give context to:
    Abilities:  This will be where a hero’s abilities and towers are explained.
    Runes:  This is the level up stat allocation area. Your stat updates are reflected in the character stats pane.
    Character stats: This is currently getting polished , but will appear where the current item tooltip is in the above screenshot.
    A lot of these pieces are coming together for beta. They have functionally been in our test builds as engineer art.
    New Map? New Map!
    Half of the maps in Dungeon Defenders: Awakened campaign have never been played before, and they help bring an all new epic feel! Two of our new maps are desert based maps, the ruins of a civilization that has long been gone. One of those maps, is tentatively called “Tornado Valley”, opening up to a giant ruined city:






    The next map is a follow up to Tornado Valley, that we’re tentatively calling “Tornado Lowlands”. That’s most definitely a developer name, as there’s nothing low about this map. Be careful not to fall:
     






    Studio Work
    As a studio, we are churning through a ton of work. Recently our communication has not been as frequent as we’ve wanted and we’re progressing towards making it better. We’re currently expanding our workforce to help with this, but also are going to be working with our partners, including a PR firm, that will be getting updates and information out across our social channels, and into the hands of various game news outlet to really help Dungeon Defenders: Awakened blow up!
    There are multiple goals that we have with Beta. First is to deliver on a promise to our backers, we want to be good on our word and you deserve to see what your support has created. Second, you’ll be providing really value feedback, both in terms of gameplay, but also from the metrics that we’ll be reading on the back end. Last, it’s a great milestone for us to achieve that really helps bring the game together and empower us as a studio to keep working hard.
    After the beta, we are going to continue work on the game, up to the release in February. This means polishing systems, balancing gameplay, fixing bugs, and a lot more. The amount and quality of work that we’ve done in such a short time (a little over 8 months) is something that we’re incredibly proud of, and we use that pride to push us in these remaining months. What you’ll see in the beta does not mean it is final, and there’s going to be a ton of time put into making DD:A the best it can be!
    Social Defenders
    To get reliable updates on what’s to come, be sure to check out our social platforms for the latest juiciest beans to be spilled:
    Twitter
    Facebook
    Discord
    Twitch
    The entire team is having a blast working on DD:A, we cannot wait for all of you to get your hands on it. Stay tuned for more info!

    For Etheria!

    Chromatic Games
     
  23. [CG] LAWLTA
    Greetings Defenders,
    There’s a ton of new features and content on the horizon, so it’s time to give a little inside peek as to what’s coming in the next update for Dungeon Defenders II! Mod improvements, elemental combos, blockade buffs, and even more (somethings we aren't even talking about just quite yet) await in this update. Let’s get into it!

    Alec “Lawlta” Saare — Community Expedition Leader
    What’s up everyone, you know what it do!
    We’ve been working incredibly hard on getting this update out to you before the new year and really put in some serious time. While there is new content coming (the new map looks amazing, there’s some image down below), we did a really big push to make a lot of systems feel a ton better. A little while ago we improved Mod drops and promised that there was a Phase II for this system, and Mark will cover the changes coming down below. Players want Elemental Combos to be awesome, so we went through and did our Phase I pass on them, with more coming in future updates. There’s been a lot of feedback on Blockades being viable, and boy did we bring the heat with them.
    There’s additional features that are coming, you’ll see most of them laid out in the patch notes that come with the update. We’re excited for you to get your hand on this update, we’re just polishing things up a little bit before we release it. There’s a Dev Stream tomorrow (December 7th) 3PM EST where we are going to show some of them off. Don’t miss it!
    Smooches,
    Lawlta

    Mark “Telflon” Telfer — Technical Designelf
    Hey Defenders!
    It’s been a while since we’ve last spoken! I’ve been doing a ton of MOD-related work over the interim, but alas, I was threatened by Lawlta to keep it all under wraps. Luckily, tis finally the season of giving, and I’ve been given the okay to give you some major bean spillage on what I (and the other Trendy elves) have been up to in our workshop.
    Recently, the Trendy elves had started seeing a huge amount of holiday wishes come our direction and all said the same thing. They said, “Santa Lawlta, all I want for Christmas is a perfect MOD.” Many of you felt that it took way too long to find those perfect Qualibean™ MODs and that waiting forever was just no fun! I knew I had to do something about it fast, lest I find myself on the naughty list in perpetuity. I grabbed a bottle of spiked eggnog, locked myself into a room, and set out to right this issue once and for all. Thanks to the copious amounts of eggnog I drank, my memory gets a bit fuzzy after that, but a few days later I woke up and Lawlta told me that the rates for higher quality MODs had significantly increased with our last hotfix.  Apparently, I had more than doubled the rate of perfect MODs and had substantially increased the drop rates for MODs of quality 6 and above! Presents for everyone! On average, you should see a perfect MOD about every four hours of active gameplay. Gone are the days where the ground is cluttered with nothing but MODs as red as Rudolph's nose. You should now be seeing far more green MODs in the mix (a Christmas Miracle)!
    Now I know what you’re thinking, “Mark! The increase to drop rates sounds fine and dandy, but you see, I have a problem. That problem is bad luck. It’s a condition that I’ve had since birth and RNG has picked on me for it my entire life. Even though you’ve increased the drop rates, Mark, I still don’t think I’ll ever see anything good. I’m just too darn unlucky!” Well, dear player, I have a revelation to make. I too am afflicted with this most heinous condition, and I feel your pain. Playing 50 hours and still not seeing a perfect MOD feels worse than getting a lump of coal in your stocking! I knew that if I truly wanted this update to bring good tidings to all (especially myself), I would have to be sensitive to those in the community who share this affliction. Well, fear not! This new update brings with it a solution for even the unluckiest players. We have built a system that GUARANTEES that you will get a perfect MOD if you go an extended period of time without seeing one. If you haven’t seen a perfect MOD in about ten hours of active gameplay, then we will guarantee that a perfect will drop for you! That’s right! At worst, you’ll see one perfect MOD in less than 10 hours (as long as you are actively playing). And do you wanna know a secret? If you play in multiplayer and get the legendary loot bonus, the amount of time it takes to guarantee this perfect MOD gets drastically reduced. Don’t tell Lawlta I told you, or back onto the naughty list I go.
    So now we’ve increased the perfect MOD drop rate, and guaranteed that even the unluckiest defenders will see them. But this still doesn’t fulfill the other biggie on people’s holiday wish list. Sure, seeing A perfect MOD is great, but ultimately what you are looking for is THE perfect MOD. There’s always something specific you have in mind that you KNOW will make your build perfect, and that’s the thing you really want a chance at getting (I’m looking at you, perfect tenacity). It is with great excitement that I announce the introduction of a brand new material, MOD rerolling! MOD rerolling lets you improve your chances of getting the specific quality MODs you want in more of a targeted way. Playing maps in our new region will guarantee you a drop of these awesome little guys, and the potential that they possess is amazing. You’ll be able to invest in your favorite MODs and guarantee yourself a risk-free chance at making it better each time you complete a map. This is a game-changer, guys. This reroll material makes the time it takes to get THE perfect MOD you are looking for in a fraction of the time that it takes right now. This is big.
    So to recap:
    Perfect MODs drop rates were more than doubled in our last hotfix.  Six to Nine MOD drop rates were increased too.
    This update brings with it a new system that guarantees unlucky players a perfect MOD drop in less than 10 hours of active gameplay.
    MOD Rerolling is being introduced and this gives you a targeted way to invest in your favorite MODs.  It lets you get a favorite MOD to perfect in a FRACTION of the time it would take to see it dropped.
    Now all of that is super exciting, but I still have more in my bag of gifts, Defenders.  We’ve heard you when you’ve said that you want to spend less time in menus and more time whacking gobus in their very punchable faces. It is with great excitement that I can announce MOD quality filtering in the inventory. In our new update, the “Filter By” tab (the last tab in your Inventory) now includes an option to filter by MOD quality. Selecting this option groups equipment by the highest quality MOD on it, highest to lowest, and then displays that number on the icon of the equipment itself. That means that you can visually scan your equipment with ease and find high quality MODs in a jiffy. Tune into the Dev Stream tomorrow at 3pm EST to see for yourself.
    We’ve also adjusted the way Shard sorting works too. In the new update, Shards are sorted together by type and then alphabetically. For example: all defense (green) Shards are grouped together when sorted, and will be listed in alphabetical order. This makes it way easier to find the Shard you are looking for and should cut down the amount of time spent in menus substantially. We’re open to any feedback after this goes live, but we’re excited to get these changes to you!
    The elves at Trendy are looking forward to the release of this update and can’t wait to see you play it. We’re far from finished when it comes to improving MODs in the game, so your continued feedback is always appreciated. Happy Defending and Happy Holidays!
    Love,
    Mark

    Eric “Petire” Petrie — QA Designer
    Hey all, I’m just going to get right into it! The focus for me this update was allowing players to have more choice and agency in what they use while feeling powerful based on their setups. I’m going to go over our first step in expanding two different systems that happened to work very well together. The first one is the Elemental Combo system. We think it’s a great way for players to expand on making builds they truly feel are their own. The problem with the elemental combo systems in the past were either they were the ONLY way to build, or they were completely useless. The reason for this was not the Elemental Combo system itself but more the ability for players to stack Crowd Controls over and over again to increase damage output beyond expected values, completely stunlocking enemies.
    Allowing players to pick what kind of towers they enjoy using and use those in nearly every circumstance (as long as they put the time and effort in to get the mods/shards for those towers) is a cool and interesting aspect a RPG Tower Defense can have. For instance, having your Cannonball towers oil enemies so your flame aura begins an ignite, or allowing your Skyguard to stun enemies knocked up from geyser. Those are cool and interesting interactions that we want players to feel good finding and discovering for their first time, but not have them make all content trivial.
    This is not the final stage of our combo system, but rather a first step. We’re hard at work on back end systems that need to be altered in order to future proof additions we create, and of course give our amazing artists enough time to go forward and make awesome visual effects (so awesome you may shed a tear) to show off new and amazing combos.
    Another quick thing I want to talk about is Blockades. Blockades have decreased in use ever since we added shards, and even more so with Mods, because Crowd Control effects are too powerful on our enemies. The reason for this is the many instances of Crowd Control available at any point and time without any kind of cooldown on using them. Enter Diminishing Returns. Diminishing Returns allow certain passives and shards to increase their base values everytime any Crowd Control is applied to an enemy future CC’s will have less effect. There’s more to talk about on Diminishing Returns being added, but by adding them in we’re able to make Elemental Combos a lot more interesting, create even MORE Elemental Combos in our future patches/updates, AND buff Blockades so that they are part of your builds. All of these changes are because of feedback we received from so many of you, and we’ve done a lot to make them feel good.
    Activating my trap card,
    Petire

    Daniel Diaz — World Builder
    Hey everyone! I’m Daniel Diaz, and I want to share with you some of the work we’ve put into the next map coming to you all very soon.

    Our main inspiration for this level came from Game of thrones (specifically Night's Watch, Castle Black) and some awesome concepts by artists at Trendy.
    We had lot of fun working on it. I remember I started working on the front of the castle, if you wonder about the workflow just take a look at the pic below.

    Finally, one of the biggest challenges for this level on the world building side was to create the ice cavern and backgrounds for the level (we had no concepts for them) so we had to explore and use our imagination.

    We can’t wait to see you all conquer this frozen castle and reap the rewards for doing so!
    Thanks everyone,
    Daniel
    What’s Next?
    Our Dev Stream is December 7th, @3 PM EST. Be sure to come join us, check out all the epic snow covered goodness, system changes, and hard work poured into this update. Oh, also, you know, maybe win some prizes coming with this update!
    To get reliable updates on what’s to come, be sure to check out our social platforms for the latest juiciest beans to be spilled:
    Twitter
    Facebook
    Discord
    Twitch
    The entire team has had a blast making this content, we cannot wait for all of you to get your hands on our next update. Stay tuned for more info soon!
    For Etheria!
    The Dungeon Defenders II Team
  24. [CG] LAWLTA
    Ahoy Defenders!
    Dungeon Defenders II:  The Isle of Dread Expansion is out now on ALL platforms! This expansion contains a treasure trove of features, changes, and improvements. Set sail for adventure on two new maps, strike down your foes to gain new weapons and Mods, take on new enemies, and so much more. Put on your best eye patch and get your parrot, let’s dive into some expansion notes!
    New Maps
    We’re excited to be introducing not one, but two maps with this expansion. These maps are available as their own Adventure set, can be selected when playing Expeditions, can come up as you progress through Onslaught, and one is even a Chaos VII Incursion!
    The Jacked Sparrow

    The first map is set on The Jacked Sparrow, previously known as The Sparrow before the heroes of Etheria hijacked it in order to reach their destination. As you traverse this map, enemies attack from above and below the levels of the ship, requiring all hands on deck to keep the masts safe from destruction! There’s a ton of fun to be had aboard this ship, as you use cannons to blast your enemies away, catapults to fly across the map, and vantage points to take out enemies when they least expect it!
    Plunderer's Paradise

    After braving the rough seas, the heroes land on an island besieged by an army of the Old One trying to break into the island’s mountain. Among these enemies are new foes that have not been seen before, helping beef up the horde that is coming your way! Protect the island to prevent havoc breaking loose, but also explore to find secrets hidden throughout the map. Conquer the Incursion version of this map by striking down Captain Dreadbones to unlock a new Barbarian weapon to add to your arsenal!
    New Enemies
    There’s a slew of enemies that are now donning pirate attire, an absolute necessity when conquering on such vicious tides! Here are a few of the enemies you encounter on your journey:

    These goblins upped their pirate fashion game, but they also recruited additional allies to take down heroes from afar.

    Cannon Ogres have joined the ranks of foes you must face! They are a fearsome terror that can ruin your defenses and range, but are also deadly when you’re up close and personal.  

    A cursed orc pirate, Captain Dreadbones, is a new boss that you encounter in this expansion. You can fight him and his mighty crew in Plunderer’s Paradise on all game modes the map is available! Be careful, his cursed strength is nothing to underestimate.
    The World Map

    The War Table is improved with this expansion, adding some wonderful visuals to the world of Etheria, and also providing some quality of life changes as requested by our glorious community! The World Map shows all the different places Defenders may explore through different game modes:

    Campaign: A new World Map that outlines where you’ve been, and where you’ll be going!
    Expeditions:  Choose the region, map, and difficulty you want!
    Adventures:  Four zones full of different Adventure story arcs are available to choose from!
    Onslaught:  Hop right into your floor and get to climbing!
    Mastery:  With a similar look to Expeditions, you can see your Mastery Star progression!
    Incursions:  You can change difficulties to see each available Incursion!
    Each game mode contains different formats for ease of use, but also provide an “Advanced View” session browser in each. The Session Browser allows quick visibility of all the games going on, allowing players to filter down to specific maps within specific difficulties of specific game modes. Very specific!
    When navigating through the various world maps, there is also a new indicator that shows which maps are included in Daily and Weekly quests!
    Social Improvements

    Interacting with players is getting some good attention with this expansion, with much more coming even after the expansion! Player Lists are now easier to navigate, selecting another Defender and choosing to inspect their shop or invite them to party among other options provided via a drop down menu.
    The Player List menu has also received additional features. You can now see who’s in your party, who’s the party leader, any friends in the hub, and skip time inspecting every player by seeing who has items listed in their shop!
    Receiving invites is also streamlined to not take over your screen and there’s a timer to avoid invite spam. Parties received attention as well, for instance, the leader is now consistent and gives control to choose when and where your crew go! We’re continuing to develop social interactions between players, and this is a giant first step towards making it an easier and more enjoyable experience.
    Replay From Wave

    This is something we are introducing to help Defenders overcome the challenges they are presented with and promoting experimentation as you progress. Sometimes you can get up to a certain point and you want to try a different strategy. That’s where Replay From Wave comes in!
    Now when you fail a wave, the Performance Optimization System outlines what defenses fell or which ones may have been underperforming. You are able to evaluate what changes you need, make adjustments, and get back to overcoming the challenge before you.
    This system is available in Adventures, Expeditions, Onslaught, AND Mastery (without losing stars). The only caveat to this is that Replay From Wave is not available on Lost Temple, as it’s meant to stand as a final gauntlet to overcome every five floors. We can’t wait to see how far this system let’s Defenders go!
    Onslaught

    It’s finally here — one map floors are now the standard in Onslaught! This change was due to a lot of great feedback many of you provided. There are a few things that needed to change when going towards the one map format:
    Difficulty Scaling:  We shifted the focus of investing time into each floor to overcoming greater difficulties sooner. As a result the rewards previously earned in Onslaught at various floors (Floor 114 for instance) are scaled down to the same difficulty; Ancient Power reset minimum reset floor is lowered; and Omega Waves were added in as an extra challenge to provide a greater feeling of progression.

    Rewards:  Since players are facing a greater challenge faster, we wanted rewards that reflected overcoming said challenges. Now every 10 floors, players receive an Prestigious Weapon, with a guarantee on their unique Mods to roll a five or higher!

    More Maps:  You are now going to be exposed to every map (except boss maps) as you climb Onslaught. Every five maps runs a format of easy, medium, and hard maps, with the fifth map being The Lost Temple!

    More Schedules:  There are even more enemy schedules that you'll encounter now!
    Omega Waves:  This is a new sixth wave added to the end of The Lost Temple. It’s a small victory lap as you continue to climb, where you will be provided with Mini-Boss only waves and unique schedules!
    Onslaught is something we want to continue to build upon. With the feedback you provide, we’re able to make sure that we keep putting out content you enjoy, and these Onslaught changes are a result of that. We can’t wait to see how high you climb, maybe even a Memes For Marcos 2.0 is in our future!
    Ancient Power

    Onslaught and Ancient Power go together like pirates and the ocean, so of course we added more to this system! Ancient Powers themselves are more powerful than before and require less of a point investment to utilize their maximum potential. Now two players are able to reach the maximum strength provided by Ancient Power, previously something only four players were able to do.
    There are also FOUR new powers to help bolster your battle against the horde of enemies coming your way. Protean Shift brought some order to the Critical Chance/Damage system, and as a result we are able to add the following Ancient Powers:
    Hero Critical Chance
    Hero Critical Damage
    Defense Critical Chance
    Defense Critical Damage
    Ancient Power is also more accessible early on now. You are able to gain Ancient Power after completing Floor 30! You do not have to acquire Ancient Power here and can keep climbing gaining higher Minimum Ascension as you progress through floors. Previously you gained 3 Minimum Ascension for every floor you completed (with three map floors), but now you gain 12 Minimum Ascension for every floor with the one map system, and also gain 4 Talent Cap increases per floor as well!
    As you gain more Ancient Power, your Minimum Ancient Power Floor increases as well. This system continues to climb until your Minimum Ancient Power Floor reaches Floor 50, requiring you to reach Floor 80 to acquire additional Ancient Power. You then have access to Floor 50 right away after acquiring Ancient Power, granted you’re equipped to take on those challenges!
    One final change when acquiring Ancient Power:  your pets no longer reset! This change may not be permanent as we’re investigating ways to improve pets, but for now, your pets are untouched by the Ancient Power System!
    New Items

    There’s one thing that pirates are always on the hunt for — TREASURE! There are multiple ways to acquire the new items coming.
    Professor Proteus’s Seaworthy Weapons
    Professor Proteus now has a new cache of weapons available for Defenders taking on the high seas. Using these weapons provide unique death animations that are fitting for the battles that await you! Turn your enemies into a boat, and watch them sink into a whirlpool, or drop your enemies and make them flop like a fish.
    There are multiple animations these weapons provide, and they are available on all weapons! The variety of animations are on a rotation daily, so be sure to check back regularly to see if the one you want is available.


    Pirate Map Seaworthy Weapons
    We’re trying something new by allowing Defenders to get these new weapons by completing the new maps! These weapons do not have the unique death animations, but instead come with all new Mods. These Mods are not weapon or hero specific, though some of them are bound to being melee or ranged only. They aren’t like Mods that are currently in the game, some take your movement speed into account; another has a chance to poison, drench, or oil your enemies; and another can even prevent Dark Assassins from stunning you!
    There are ten to discover, and they can only be acquired through completing The Jacked Sparrow, Plunderer’s Paradise, or through Player Shops
    Depending on where you acquire these weapons, you are also met with new pirate themed Mods that pack quite a punch that can be transferred to any weapon; or unique death animations that can sink your enemies (literally, one can turn them into a boat and sink into the ground)!
    New Features
    What good expansion doesn’t contain some new features? We’re introducing new features to help Defenders as they keep Dragonfall and Etheria safe.

    Primary Stat Reroll
    Primary Stat reroll system that we’re experimenting with. This system allows you to acquire reroll materials from completing the Jacked Sparrow and Plunderer’s Paradise, and reroll your primary stat into a potentially higher number. This change is not enforced if the roll is lower, you are always given a choice to accept it or decline! The new reroll materials are also able to be traded.We’re looking for feedback on this system and if you all enjoy it, we’ll investigate greatly expanding it.
    Player Shop Changes
    There are a some changes coming with Player Shops to make them more enticing to a larger amount of Defenders:

    Use any piece of gear you purchase! Previously players were limited to buying a piece of gear that was only available to their level. This meant players having gold to purchase cool Mods, but not having the gear score to do so. Now when you purchase a piece of gear, the gear is scaled down to your Champion Score. After purchasing an item, and it scaling, you are still able to sell it on your shop. Even more Defenders can now participate in buying and selling!
    Gem Mine
    We’ve introduced a new way for Defenders to get a sweet deal on gems. The Gem Mine can be purchased from the platform stores, providing 100 gems everyday that you login for 30 consecutive days. That’s a total of 3000 gems for a lot less!
    Balance Changes
    Protean Shift brought a lot of new ways to play and a ton of power to Defenders, which we really love! As a result, there are a slew of things that are either not as strong as we’d like or too strong, removing any challenge while playing. We’ve discussed a couple of these, let’s get into it:
    Abyss Lord
    Towers
    Colossus
    Range increased to 800 from 600 (33% increase!)
    Skeletal Archers
    Damage scaling increased to 15 from 11.5 (30+% increase!)
    Ramsters
    Direct Command range increased to 5000 from 4000 (25% increase!)
    Dryad
    Towers
    Harpy’s Perch
    Damage scaling increased to 5.175 from 4.5 (15% increase!)
    Hornet’s Nest
    Hornets from any nest can attack any enemy. Previously only one hornet per nest could attack the same enemy.
    Up to three hornets can attack the same enemy, regardless of where the hornet spawns.
    EV2
    Towers
    Weapon Manufacturer
    Minimum range added to node placement similar to Auras. This change bring this tower in-line to similar towers, while still keeping it unique.
    Huntress
    Towers
    Explosive Trap
    Damage scaling increased to 6.6 from 5.5 (20% increase!)
    Range scaling increased to 0.0575 from 0.05 (15% increase!)
    Range Max increased to 1150 from 1000 (15% increase!)
    Base Range increased to 6900 from 6000 (15% increase!)
    Trigger Radius increase to 400 from 200 (100% increase!)

    Lavamancer
    Towers
    Volcano
    Damage scaling increased to 9.31 from 7 (33% increase!)
    Mystic
    Towers
    Sand Viper
    Damage scaling increased to 6.875 from 5.5 (25% increase!)
    Squire
    Towers
    Ballista
    Damage scaling increased to 21.27 from 18 (18+% increase!)

    Mod Changes
    Tower Mods
    Unique Defense Crit Chance Servo
    Increased max Crit Chance to 30% from 25% (5% increase!)
    Unique Defense Crit Damage Servo
    Increased max Crit Damage to 40% from 35% (5% increase!)
    Boom Mods
    We’ve changed how boom mods work. Previously they were a flat percentage that allowed them to scale infinitely, making them a must for climbing later floors.

    They’ve been retooled to do damage based on the enemies they explode up to a cap. The number shown is an average of what that damage is based on the different kinds of enemies within that group. For example, a melee-splosion does less damage when exploding a small goblin than it does when exploding a berserker orc.

    General Changes
    Chaos VIII Amps and High Onslaught Mods
    Modified Mark’s Thoughts:
    These now start dropping at floor 35. Their drop chance increases every two floors you complete up to a cap on Floor 83 for Amps and Floor 92 for Mods.
    Bug Fixes
    All C8 shards have been disabled. We may revisit them sometime in the future, but to provide an equal battlefield for all Defenders, we’ve disabled C8 shards for now.
    We made some pathing adjustments, fixes to spawners, and adjustment to enemies that should improve their pathing across several maps. Looking at you Northwest flier lane in Lost Temple!
    Fixed a bug where the Betsy Staff could cause enemies to, more or less, one shot anything in their path.
    Fixed an issue with Betsy’s Curse shard allowing enemies to one shot anything in their path.
    Fixed spelling errors on Unique Crit Chance Servo, Unique Crit Damage Servo, Defense Crit Chance Servo, and Defense Crit Damage Servo.
    Removed some tutorial text that was hanging out in Gates of Dragonfall - Hard.
    Fixed a rare issue where when an item is upgraded to 10/10 Chaos 7 the ipwr could go to 0.
    Fixed an issue where Consecutive Win Bonus XP was being multiplied by Ancient Power an additional time.
    EV-2 no longer infinitely lazers the Bastille Master in her incursion.
    Fixed several cases where the Bastille Master could get stuck.
    Fixed an issue where players could get into a state where they were unable to evolve pets.
    Fixed a case where split-screen users could have the Player Shops overlapping the Ancient Power UI.
    Player Shops - "Your inventory is full" notification now shows on other players shops when your inventory is full
    Piercing Towers now pierce Vanguards.
    Protective Downgrade Servo and Last Stand Chip now have a vfx to show when the effect triggers
    A lot of you submit bug reports constantly, and we make sure to squash as many of them as we can. As with any expansion, there are a lot of fixes coming your way. Please continue to submit them to our bug site, your help is invaluable to knocking out some of the pesky issues that appear.
    Known Issues
    If beyond the first three tutorial maps, hitting Play Now on the main menu sends you to town.
    Traps are not respawning correctly when using Replay From Wave.
    Temporary fix in for rare instances where upgrading gear to 10/10 would greatly lower it’s stats. For these rare instances, instead of greatly lowering, stats are now slightly raised. This is a catch for if this error occurs, not a change applied to all gear.
    Tower-like abilities (Talisman of Empowerment, Abyss Stone, etc.) are running into a few issues that we’re aware of.
    The Champion Score filter is currently not functioning correctly.
    Player 2 in splitscreen is able to be kicked from party when in a party with a leader that isn't part of the splitscreen
    When the first player in split screen mode spends or receives currency the pop up appears on both screens.
    When placing defenses on the bottom floor of The Jacked Sparrow there is a chance to have it go to the top layer
    Social Defenders
    There’s a lot of people playing Dungeon Defenders II, and a lot of them gather on our social hubs. When it comes to finding other players, figuring out how to conquer a specific challenge, or just wanting to get to know others in the community, or getting the latest DD2 news, you can’t go wrong with our social platforms:

    Twitter
    Facebook
    Discord
    Twitch
    The entire team has had a blast making this content, we cannot wait for all of you to get your hands on this expansion. Get to setting sail!
    For Etheria!
    The Dungeon Defenders II Team
  25. [CG] LAWLTA
    DEFENDERS!

    The Defender-Centric Update is now live on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One! This update contains a whole lot of love to a lot of foundational systems within Dungeon Defenders II. These changes are based off of feedback many of you have provided, and as Chromatic, we wanted to really give our GLORIOUS Defenders something that demonstrated how much we value our community. Without further ado, let's get into it!
    SHARD SHOP
    Shards are such an integral part to Dungeon Defenders II when it comes to empowering your heroes with great strength to take out the waves of enemies constantly thrown at you. Currently there is a lot of RNG regarding which shards you get, and to help cut down the randomness, farming lower tiered content is the easiest way to go.


    We don’t want that. We want you playing content you find engaging, while being able to acquire the Shards you want. With this update, you can! We're adding in the Shard Shop, a service that the Gran Ma'ster now offers. Visiting her allows you to purchase Shards directly from her, from Campaign to Chaos VII. There is also search functionality so you can search for the Shard you want and cut down the hunt!
    CHAOS VIII SHARDS
    Chaos VIII Shards are a new tier of shard, that some of you may have snagged before. We went through and found a way to make these shards feel like a good reward for climbing higher Onslaught, and have them compete with similar Shards. You can get them after a certain point in Onslaught, similar to when you start receiving Chaos VIII Ampoules.
    MATERIAL CONVERSION
    We want players enjoying Ancient Power as much as they can, and our big goal was making sure that Defenders could play content they found engaging, while working towards a specific goal. Enter Material Conversion. Material Conversion allows you to take a Pristine quality material and convert it to the same type of material of a lower quality. This makes it so that if you are climbing Onslaught, or playing higher Chaos, you're always gaining usable materials to acquire Ancient Power.


    That's not all though! As you play Chaos VII and above, you can take your Chaos VII Ampoules and convert them into CHAOS VIII AMPOULES! We want players upgrading and getting Chaos VIII gear, so this is a step towards making that process feel good and not entirely beholden to RNG. We’ll be using this as a basis for any additional changes/additions made to Ancient Power.
    NEW WEAPONS


    One thing that we love is the ability to customize the heroes in Dungeon Defenders II. Weapons are part of the epic-ness (or silliness) that can really show off your own personal taste. This update provides over 30 NEW Weapons that are currently unobtainable. These weapons are gained by climbing through different tiers of Onslaught. The higher you go, the more epic the weapons become! These weapons scale upon opening the gifts to your progression (to a cap, like Chaos VII items). There's a ton to hunt down, and if you happen to get the same weapon repeatedly, no worries — you can trade it to your friends!
    NEW ELEMENTAL DAMAGE — POISON!
    Poison Mods in the form of Chips are coming with this update. This Mod can be find in Lost Temple for now. Poison can be applied to weapons to give them an additional damage over time effect. BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! If earth damage is dealt to a poisoned enemy, they now become PETRIFIED, freezing them in place, turning them to stone, and causing their fellow enemies to attack them!
    NEW USER EXPERIENCE
    We understand that a lot of Defenders that come to Dungeon Defenders II want to start the game off with their friends. This update includes the ability to complete the New User Experience (the first three tutorial levels) with friends. The flow has also been adjusted so that new Defenders get to town faster and instead of having to complete the tutorial maps first.
    BALANCE CHANGES


    Heroes
    Adept
    Towers Hailstorm Tower Increased damage scaling to 4.7 from 4.5 (5% BUFF) Abilities Arc Lightning Increased scaling to 42 from 40 (5% BUFF) Gunwitch
    Abilities Two at Twice the Price Increased scaling to 5.5 from 5 (10% BUFF) Broomvault Increased scaling to 37 from 35 (6% BUFF) Broom Swarm Increased scaling to 12 from 10 (15% BUFF) Huntress
    Towers Poison Dart Tower Now deals Poison damage by default. This provides the same rules as other elemental damage towers, where Mods cannot apply a second form of elemental damage, but Shards can. Initiate
    Abilities Draining Strike Increased scaling to 27 from 25 (8% BUFF) Lavamancer
    Towers Maw of the Earth Drake Defense Unit cost reduced to 40 from 50 (20% BUFF) Defense Health Scaling reduced from 225 to 175 Fissure of Embermount Increased scaling to 2.2 from 2.0 (10% BUFF) Oil Geyser Health scaling increased to 0.2 from 0.1 (50% BUFF) Volcano Increased damage scaling to 9.51 from 9.31 (3% BUFF) Increased range scaling to 1.5555 from 1.3334 (15% BUFF) Abilities Eruption Increased Tower Defense Power scaling to 1.3 from 1.2 (8% BUFF) Mystic
    Towers Sand Viper Increased damage scaling to 6.975 from 6.875 (2% BUFF) Snaking Sands Increased range scaling to 0.1534 from 0.1334 (15% BUFF) Shards
    Abyss Lord
    Power of the Knight (Gloves) Increased damage boost scaling to 5 from 3 per level (66% BUFF) Dryad
    World Tree McBufferson (Relic) Increased shield bonus to 15 from 10 per level (50% BUFF) Gunwitch
    Broomnado Power (Boots) Increased damage scaling to 3.5 from 3.0 (17% BUFF) Scatter Power (Chest) Increased damage scaling from 3.5 to 3.0 (17% BUFF) Snipe Critical Strike (Weapon) Increased Critical Chance to 3 from 2 per level (50% BUFF)
    Lavamancer
    Crumbling Stone (Relic) Increased damage multiplier to 1.5 from 1.0 per level (50% BUFF) Shattering Stones (Boots) Increased detonation damage to 45 from 40 per level (13% BUFF) Volcanic Might (Relic) Increased stun chance to 2% from 1.5% per level (33% BUFF) Volcano Mega Rock (Relic) Increase Defense Power scaling to 200 from 150 per level (33% BUFF) Mystic
    Lashing Power (Chest) Increased damage to 3.5 from 3.0 per level (17% BUFF) Split Vipers (Relic) No longer removes ramp up damage (BUFF) Debilitating Madness (Gloves) Increased damage amplification to 3.5 from 3.0 (17% BUFF)     
    BUG FIXES
    Fixed an issue with Pristine Motes not dropping correctly from Victory Chests (now drops a stack of five). Fixed an issue with Shattequake triggering Mod effects based off the heroes equipped weapon. Fixed an issue with poison sometimes not applying towards the Controller Burn mutator. Fixed an exploit that allowed users to generate infinite mana with the Dryad. Adjusted error messaging when players were pushed to the main menu from the tutorial maps. Fixed an exploit that allowed users to generate unlimited defense mana. Fixed an issue that allowed defense effects to stay after being sold. Adjusted the messaging from the second tutorial map. Adjusted messaging that indicated a map had not been unlocked yet. Fixed an issue that allowed players to get infinite help. KNOWN ISSUES
    Shattering Stones, Explosive Poison, Snake Bomb, and Explosive Finale shards are not working correctly. Crafting Materials are currently not tradeable. Poison damage is not procc'ing correctly on Target Dummies. The Wayfarer is still in his winter clothes, we’ll get him a new pair of clothes in our next patch/hotfix. Poison Dart Tower does not have an attunement icon. SOCIAL DEFENDERS
    To get reliable updates on what’s to come, be sure to check out our social platforms for the latest juiciest beans to be spilled:
    Twitter Facebook Discord Twitch The entire team has had a blast making this content, we cannot wait for all of you to get your hands on our next update. Stay tuned for more info soon!
    For Etheria!
    The Dungeon Defenders II Team
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