Backpack Hero update for 24 August 2022

New Stuff:
New encounters
Added the bearded dragon enemy

Changes:
Changes to Items:

• Illusory spaces can now contain manastones
• The ring of dreams now gets +1 mana for each connected mana stone
• Lance now costs 1 energy - scales energy each turn
• Increased the haste of the guarding band
• Steel boots get +2 armor for each space and are now rare
• Ore now does +3 damage for each adjacent gem
• The electric stone is now uncommon
• Letter is rare
• Wheel is uncommon
• Dew Drop Blade now gets +1 damage each time it is summoned
• Rough Buckler and Wooden Sword and Tree Shield and herb and the empty cup now never appear in item drops
• Flower now gives 8 haste and 2 weak
• Star Potion now summons more good items - curses are less likely
• Increased the damage of the overgrown axe to 11 damage
• Daisy blade now does 10 damage on summon
• Spoiled Milk does 18 block and 3 poison to self
• Tree Sword is now uncommon and does 4 damage on use
• Bayou Club does 8 damage and 3 weak
• Spiral lance has scaling energy and costs 0 to summon
• Double Poison Potion does 3 poison damage before the multiplier
• Carved Blade now does damage on summon
• Added an effect to the brothers bow
• Disgusting food now only removes 3 hp
• Water Flask is now uncommon
• Dreaming Buckler now costs 0 energy to summon
• Poison Carving now does 3 base poison
• Wooden Buckler is now uncommon
• Cleansing Potion and Bomb now have 4 uses each
• Crown of Roots now costs 0 energy
• Keg now costs 2 gold
• Poison Ivy now effects enemies when attacked
• Old Log now sometimes creates the magic herb
• Energy Fish now costs 1 energy to summon
• The Short Arrow is now common
• The Club now does 9 damage
• The Chipped Sword now does 8 damage
• The Necronomicon now does 4 poison
• The standard die is now common
• The splint is now legendary
• The stopwatch now removes 2 health each turn
• The token of energy is now legendary
• Windmill now removes energy on the first turn of combat
• The Dark Whetstone now is legendary and no longer adds weak to the player
• The charmed bracelet no longer takes health
• The warriors spellbook only takes 1 energy, is legendary, adds 1 mana, and 2 damage per combat
• The debuff potion now adds 5 weak and 5 slow
• The cactus now adds 7 spikes per take-damage
• The poison whetstone now adds 3 poison to weapons in this row
• The cursed shiv now does 5 damage
• Cursed blade damage increased to 9
• Crossbow now does -40% damage instead of -50%
• Expert bow now does +3 damage to each arrow
• The crossbow is now common
• The composite bow is now uncommon and has scaling energy

Changes to enemies:

• Elder Mage now attacks between summons
• Speaker now attacks sometimes and has less hp
• Decreased Blademaster spikes and health. Gave him a second attack
• Skinks now spawn with the Nightblade
• Added a skink to the newt encounter
• Buffed the Boastful Spellsword
• Nerfed Newts - she now attacks before cursing and does a weak poison attack
• Newts and Salamanders now spawn with Green Snails
• Added Sables to the Turtle and skink encounter
• Honey Guides now have 30 health
• Honey Badgers now do small attacks and protect their honey guide
• Salamanders now spawn with three skinks on the second floor of the swamp
• Buffed skinks to 24 health
• Buffed Sentries
• Green Snail now attacks every turn
• Voles now do slightly less damage
• Removed the Li'l Bee Muskrat Brigand encounter
• Lowered the health of the Gerbil Ruffian
• Nerfed Muskrat Brigands
• Purple Snails now start with 12 block and have more health
• New encounters with the rabbit and lil bee
• Slightly decreased damage of sables
• Rude Rooster has more health and attacks for more damage
• Nerfed Ferret King
• Nerfed Queen Bee
• Head Honcho got 2 extra HP
• Nerfed Bats
• Slightly nerfed Blue Snails
• Armadillo starts with Block and blocks for less each turn
• Nerfed Repxecutioner
• Living Shadow now does medium curses instead of the big curse
• Fire Geckos curse less frequently and do slightly less burn damage
• Olms got 5 extra HP
• Nerfed both bosses

Bug Fixes:
Fixed a crash that could occur when items were deleted - especially during adaptative mode
Fixed an issue where items would overlap after chests were open
Fixed an issue where items could appear behind the player at the bottom of the screen

Notes:
This is our first major update using analytics to balance the game. All changes were based on feedback from the community, conversations among developers, and supported by analytic data about enemy lethality and item popularity. This is the largest "balance" update we have done and we hope we got things to a better place. But if we missed the mark in any way, please let us know!

If this goes well, we hope to have the new content on the main branch next week!