Hi folks,

This is a major update and packed with new content & features. Yup. Friday is here a day earlier. Always love it when this happens :P

I would recommend to check out the merged patch notes below for a full list of the changes and additions, but in a glance this patch adds: new Adventure Mode challenges, a new Set of 70 exclusive Adventure Cards you can get as Rewards for completing challenges, new Equipment view and support for 3 additional slots (Rings, Amulets & Cloaks), new Game Mode options and a galore of modding additions.

The other bit of good news is that the development of the first DLC is well underway and you can jump right in the development branch and play it for free as it develops and till before its release. Which I will estimate some time before February. Will be giving you more details about that in future posts ;)

Patch Notes - v1.026

Adventure Mode - Challenges

• Unique challenges are short (3-4 nodes) stages vs Elite and specific Bosses & replace the former Unique Areas in the Adventure mode.
  
• In some challenges you get to fight more than one boss and in others more than one boss at once
  
• Most Challenges will be really hard at the recommended levels, retreat if you can't easily reach the bosses & try them again at a later level
  
• Challenges have a fixed pool of rewards that doesn't change between sessions or adventures even with the Dynamic Rewards on.
  
• Formerly Unique areas in the Adventure mode changed to be Repeatable
  

Adventure Mode - Tactical Retreat

While in Adventure mode & any time that enemies are not present, you can choose to abandon exploring an Area and return to the tactical map. You can do that through the exploration option (hourglass button). You will lose all progress in that area & if the area is Unique or a Challenge, it won't get locked and you'll be able to attempt it again once more experienced. (This choice won't be available if your mods overwrite the Explore.json file, and they'll have to be updated by their creators if they want to include this option)

Adventure Mode - Limited Edition Reward Set

• Contains 70 Full Artwork Unique Allies that are improved versions of existing Unique & non-Unique Allies
  
• These allies can only be found in the Adventure Mode as Challenge Completion Rewards
  

Equipment related Changes/Additions

• New Categorized Equipment View
  
• New Equipment Slots Ring, Amulet & Cloak
  
• Added support for 3 Additional Accessory Slots: Ring (Slot:4), Amulet (Slot:5) & Cloak (Slot:6)
  
• Older Accessory cards matching any of the above Slots was reassigned to them
  
• New Action Property: Active
  
  • Syntax Active:1, Makes Passive Equipment behave like Active Equipment. Armors (s2) & all Accessory Slots (Misc (s3), Ring (s4), Amulet (s5) & Cloak (s6)) are by default "Passive Equipment" (they get Auto Casted), but you can override this behavior using Active:1 in the equipment definition. Equipment with Active:1, will be drawn instead of Auto Casted. Player can choose to use it or not similar to Weapons & Shields & if unused equipment is discarded at EoT.
    
  
  

QoL Improvements

• Added Equipment filters for Rings, Amulets & Cloaks
  
• Clicking on the Equipment Category label will also toggle on/off the corresponding filter
  
• You can use Ctrl+Click on a Card in your Hand to quickly Discard it. HP Cost if any set in the Game Mode will trigger normally similar to discarding the card in Backpack. Cards with Cursed, Fleeting & Unravel can't be discarded.
  
• You can use the shortcuts Shift+S to Shuffle Deck & Shift+B to Retrieve Consumables (similar to clicking the respective buttons)
  

Enemy Search Filter additions

• 'Enemy Sets' can be used to find these Enemies in the Enemy Compendium. i.e Searching for Core Set or Blood Coven Rise (case sensitive) will show only those enemies
  
• Searching for 'Boss' will show only the Boss Enemies
  

Misc Additions & Improvements

• Added extra Mastery thresholds when deciding the bonus initial points. Initial Bonus points can now reach up to 25 points in a combined Mastery of 1800, from 16 (Combined Mastery of 720)
  
• The Adventure Mode w/o Expansion now contains 18 Challenges featuring various Core Set Bosses & Rewards from the Limited Edition Allies Set
  
• Unique Allies of the same name appended with (A) or (B) count as the same Unique Ally. i.e Rung Jao & Rung Jao (A) & Rung Jao (B) are all count as a Rung Jao ally & there can be only one of them in the battlefield.
  

Bugfixes

• Loading a 'Drifter' game from a manual save slot wasn't properly clearing the player archetype's skill list
  
• High Tier Equipment found in Drifter mode boosters wasn't unlocking properly
  
• Fixed some typos
  

Modding Additions

Finer control over Enemy Weaknesses, Immunities & Tactics

• New Archetype fields: Immunities:["Effect","Effect",...etc] & Weaknesses:["Effect","Effect",...etc]
  
• You can define (or override/cancel) Enemies default racial weakness & immunities in the following statuses: Immobilized, Envenomed, Burning, Bewitched, Bleeding, Kill, Vulnerable, Weaken, Frozen, Entangled, Silver, Blessed, Light (weak vs Light means Consecrate is harmful & immune that Desecrate is harmful), Banish.
  
• i.e Providing a 'Spirit' Archetype override with: Immunities:["Banish"], Weaknesses:["Immobilized","Bleeding"] will make all Spirits immune to banish but no longer immune to Immobilized & Bleeding. They'll retain any other vanilla immunities/weaknesses you didn't overwrite.
  
• i.e Give your custom Archetype 'Naga' some Immunities:["Entangled","Bewitched"] & Weaknesses:["Silver"] without having it CountAs Serpentfolk etc.
  
• You can still use CountAs to define a larger set of immunities/weaknesses in your archetype then finetune it. i.e CountAs:["Undead,Golem"] to give all the vanilla undead & golem immunities/weaknesses and also Weaknesses:["Bewitched"], to make this particular undead/golem creature Bewitchable etc.
  
• EnemyDB files can be prepended with @[Enemy Set Name] to group enemies as part of an Expansion i.e @Core Set & @Blood Coven Rise split the vanilla Enemies into two groups
  
• You can add individual Enemy weaknesses/immunities (aside from any defined in archetypes) by specifying them in the EnemyDB entry. Syntax is: Immunities:+Effect+Effect...+Effect etc. or Weaknesses:+Effect+Effect...+Effect etc. i.e in a Human Boss definition you can add Immunities:+Bewitched+Frozen, Weaknesses:+Silver to give them Bewitched & Frozen Immunity & Weakness to Silver regardless of their racial traits
  
• You can add individual Enemy tactics (aside from any defined in archetypes) by specifying them in the EnemyDB entry. Syntax is: Tactics:+Tactic+Tactic etc. or Tactics:+Tactic=level+Tactic=level. i.e in a Shadow enemy that normally doesn't have Counter Attack you can add Tactics:+Counter Attack=3, to give all the Level 3+ enemies with that name Counter Attack
  
• You can also mix & match i.e Tactics:+Flank+Healing II=3+Healing III=7 etc. Would recommend however to use the Immunities, Weaknesses & Tactics sections in the EnemyDB only for rare exceptions or Bosses
  

New Enemy AI Response: Retinue

• Retinue: Enemy summons all the allies defined in the Enemy 'Retinue' field. Multiple enemies can be separated with *
  
• Enemy need to have both the 'Retinue' tactic to trigger the effect & a Retinue field in DB
  
• i.e Tactics:+Retinue=15, Retinue:Lanna*Pergyron,... if the Enemy is level 15 (has the Retinue tactic), once the retinue tactic triggers they'll summon Lanna & Pergyron to fight along with them
  
• i.e Tactics:+Retinue, Retinue:Zefya's Handmaiden - Lv 7*Zefya's Handmaiden (A) - Lv 7, will call a Lv 7 version of Zefya's Handmaidens
  
• If the Enemy/Enemy Level doesn't exist in the DB nothing will happen
  

New Nodes

• Boss:[Boss Name] can be used as Stage node to trigger a fight with a specific Boss and their retinue instead of a random boss
  
• Boss:[Boss Name+Boss Name] can be used as Stage node to trigger a fight with two specific Bosses and the first one's faction retinue instead of a random boss
  
• Faction:[Faction Name] can be used as Stage node to trigger a fight with Elite from a certain Faction
  

Misc Additions & Changes

• Mod Manager now supports Expansion Mods. Expansion Mods cannot be removed through the Mod Manager & but they can be Activated/Deactivated.
  
• 'Pale Moon Cult' faction renamed to 'Blood Coven' & some old Enemies also joined this new faction
  
• 'Pale Moon x' Enemies renamed to 'Vampire x'
  
• Adventure:true/false, can be used as a requirement to check if the player is in the Adventure mode or not.
  
• 'Lake' Environment changed to 'Coastal'
  
• New single-Stage Graphic Sets for Challenges: Ghost Ship (Coastal), Shipwreck (Coastal), Cultist Lair (Dungeon), Devil's Keep (Infernal Gate), Witch Lair (Marsh), Smuggler's Den (Coastal), Witch Hut (Marsh), Gambling Parlor (Coastal).
  

New Game Mode Properties

• "NonPassiveEquipment":true/false, setting this value to true will make all equipment Active (drawn to your hand instead of it getting played automatically, regardless the card definition.
  
• "NoobProtection":true/false, setting this value to true will prevent Smart Casted Actions from ever harming the Player. (Actions that would optimally target Enemy/Ally will no longer target the player.)
  
• "PunishingReinforcements":true/false, setting this value to true will make each wave of reinforcements progressively stronger and more punishing
  
• All these properties can also be set in the Game Mode Editor
  

Blood Coven Rise DLC Progress

• While in Beta, the DLC Expansion will be part of the Development branch you can switch to the Development branch & play it for free as it develops.
  
• Converted all the progress in the 'Blood Coven Rise' DLC into an expansion mod that can be activated/deactivated through the Mod Manager.
  
• The Expansion so far includes 16 New Enemy Archetypes & 66 New Enemies
  
• The Adventure Mode with Expansion now contains 31 Challenges featuring various Core & Expansion Bosses & placeholder Rewards from the Limited Edition Allies (Core) Set
  
• End Game boss in the Adventure Mode is now The Gatekeeper (D11)