Items

Current itemization design creates an exponential power level ramp between common and artifact items. At end game levels this makes everything that isn't an artifact instantly salvage fodder.
The following changes are being made so that more item rarities are competitive in end game play and also reduce the power ramp while progressing. By design, Common/Uncommon/Rare items are intrinsically less competitive than Epic/Legendary/Artifact items and are still unlikely to be useful for end game content. Presenting too many item components on low level items to new players creates a more confusing onboarding process for players who may not have played an ARPG or RPG with this type of itemization.

Items now retain the same inherent base stats and will no longer scale with item rarity. This change helps with a few things:

• You'll no longer need to hold the "alt" key down to see base PvP stats, any 'gray' gem component will be the only components used in PvP.
• Items of all rarities can potentially be competitive against each other, and players will still benefit by min/maxing item components.

Inherent Item component changes (applied retroactively):

• Inherent Health on items is now 36.
• Inherent Power on Main Hand Items is now 18.
• Inherent Resists have been increased 12%.
• Other Inherent stats have been set to higher levels - too many to list here...
• In Vanilla PvP modes this means Heroes now have 180 Inherent health up from 90ish. This should help with PvP matches devolving to glass cannon/burn down.

Item Components

• Common, Uncommon, and Rare items now roll with 3 component slots. Due to being in Early Access and the complexity of this change it will NOT be retroactive!
• Epic, Legendary, and Artifact items now roll with 6 component slots. Due to being in Early Access and the complexity of this change it will NOT be retroactive!
• Previously each item component tier was locked to a maximum of the same tier as the item itself (An Uncommon item could not have a component higher than Uncommon). With this change components can roll and be upgraded up to 2 tiers higher than the Rarity of the item (An Uncommon item can roll up to Rare components).
• When an item rarity is a lower tier than the component you are trying to upgrade to there will be a success chance penalty as shown in the next section.
• High Rarity items also gain a minimum Component Rarity of 3 less than the current Item Rarity. For example, all Component rolls on an Artifact Item will be Rare Rarity or higher; rolls on a Legendary item will be Uncommon or Higher.
• Health base value increased to 12 up from 6.
• Healing base value increased to 2 up from 1.
• Warding base value increased to 2 up from 1.
• Slash, Pierce, Crush, Fire, Ice, Energy Resist base value of increased to 3 up from 2.

Item Crafting ... So you're telling me there's a chance?

• Crafting an item component now guarantees a result (success or fractured) when used, instead of allowing for the 'Nothing Happened' result. Success chances have been improved overall as a result of this change.
• Attempting to upgrade a component rarity to the same rarity as the item it is on has a (50%) chance for success. Each rarity level higher or lower than the Item Rarity decreases or increases the success chance by 10% respectively.

Spectator Mode

• In the Play Window you'll find a new 'Spectator' tab which allows you to watch any currently active game.
• In Spectator Mode Teams are colored Orange and Green.
• You can leave Spectator Mode at any time by clicking the 'Stop Spectating' button.
• There are definitely still some bugs in this new feature...

Achievements

• Achievements now have a tab in the HOME menu.
• Achievements are calculated every 3 minutes in a separate process and do not currently notify in game when they are awarded.
• Achievements are awarded on Steam as well if you have your Steam account linked.
• Rewards for earning certain Achievements will be added at a later date retroactively.

Game Log

• Announcements will now be made when the server is going to shutdown/restart with a 5 minute warning.

UI

• Right clicking an item in the Stash will move it to and open the Craft Window even if the craft window is not currently active.

Hero Stats/Equipment

• Heroes now have an internal Base Power of 6 down from 12.
• Added tooltips that describe what each stat does.

Artisan

• Added tooltips that describe what each item component does.

Battles

• To counterbalance flattening of the Item power curve AI mobs now use the following level curve and apply stats to themselves: easy = 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, champion = 64.
• When a player disconnects from a battle a 60 second forfeit timer begins. If the player does not reconnect before the timer runs out then the game will be forfeited and shut down. In PvP games the turn timer will still run and the connected player will still be able to take action while the other player is disconnected. In the future for PvP battles there will be a visible countdown timer for how long the disconnected player has left to return to the game.
• Fixed a bug where Status Effect Stack item components were being calculated into PvP games.
• Fixed a display bug where Hero Tooltip windows were showing PvE Power, Primary Stat values in PvP games.
• Added Heroes current Action Points to the Hero Tooltip window.
• Damage Resistances have been capped to 72%, down from uncapped. This has no impact currently since the max resist one could get was 60% from items previously. But when skills are added that introduce resistance buffs these caps will be important.
• Fixed a bug that prevented AI from using the Whirlwind skill.
• Base Maximum AP a Hero can retain between rounds is decreased to 6 from 12. May introduce item components that will increase this value in a later publish.
• At the bottom of the screen near the Forfeit button there is now a Spectator button that shows the count of users watching your game. Clicking this button does not do anything yet.
• The Forfeit button and Spectator button are no longer visible when in the Lobby.

Crucible

• Boss health has been decreased to 150% of normal value, down from 200%.
• Boss damage has been decreased to 125% of normal value, down from 150%.