Greetings dice slingers,

It has been quite a long time but we are finally ready to release version 0.8.5!

This update is mainly focused on progression and meta-game features. We are introducing a completely new difficulty system, giving more interesting variations to the gameplay. We also completely reworked the item-unlock mechanics, and implemented an achievement system to handle unlocks.
*NOTE: Unfortunately some progress will be lost!* We like to avoid clearing any progress, but we could not really avoid it with unlocks and transcendence level. The Catalog and Run History should remain correctly though.

Besides meta-game features, this update consists of a long list of changes. As a result, general balance has been (heavily) affected. Please let us know what seems unfair or too easy, and we will take your feedback into consideration when adjusting things.



New and improved feedback on unlocks

Features

• "Void Mutators": Increase difficulty by drafting a selection of Mutators (replaces Transcendence)
  
• "Achievement Books": A new system for unlocking wizards, loadouts and spells (replaces wizard levels).
  

General

• Added new “Starter Artifacts” for each wizard, drafted at the start of act 1.
  
• Removed Dice-Upgrading, and replaced with Boss Artifacts (that often supplies extra dice).
  
• Adjusted map, making maps a bit shorter and more consistent.
  
• Removed “?”-Events in the world map.
  
• Sanctuaries redesigned choices, most now requires disenchanting spells.
  
• Consolidated shops into a single, simplified shop.
  
• Artifacts no longer uses rarity (instead has 3 categories: Starter, Normal and Boss).
  
• Relics are now given in the middle of act 2 and 3.
  
• A free shard is placed in the middle of act 1.
  
• Defeating Elites now gives a choice between a shard or an artifact.
  
• Gold economy rebalanced.
  
• Potion slots 4 -> 3.
  
• Healing end of act heals 100% -> 50% of max hp.
  

Content Changes:

• Rebalanced Relics and disabled some defensive Relics.
  
• Rebalanced “Normal” artifacts to all be of roughly equal value.
  
• Added new 19 Artifacts (15 Starter, 2 Normal, 2 Boss).
  
• Added new Dice enchants (Glimmer, Ether, Vex, Mana Remnant).
  
• Added 3 new arcane Spells
  
• Rebalanced several enemies.
  

Graphics & UI

• Major UI changes in Wizard Select, difficulty, world map, end-screen, unlock.
  
• New Earth and Fire wizard character graphics.
  
• Added Physics bones for cloth etc. to select characters.
  
• Added more Void spell graphics.
  

Bug fixing

• Fixed charges sometimes disappearing on spells
  
• Fixed Radiant not granting charge to spell that triggered effect.
  
• Fixed Overcharge Crystal getting more than 10 stacks.
  
• Fixed Liquefy on hydra heads not spawning new heads.
  
• Fixed Wildblaze Orb missing “dice inserted” UI.
  
• Fixed Burn Scar upgrade.
  

And many other undocumented changes and bugfixes...

Dev Notes:

The main reason for the long delay is that our initial idea for meta-game/progression did not work out. We had a vision to combine challenges/higher-difficulty with the unlock system, but in practice we could not make it work (in our last post on Steam you will notice that we are describing “The Voidmap”).
So at some point we decided to cut our losses and separate the two systems completely, and handle unlocks using achievements instead (which we wanted to implement at some point anyway).

The new meta-game systems is still a bit rough around the edges, and things do not align that well. Void Mutators are also very likely unbalanced and still need better UI.
But what we have is stable enough and it's high time for us to get player feedback on the new systems and changes, so please do let us know what you think.

As always, head on over to the #builds section to grab the latest or update your Steam version, and happy dice slinging!