Version 37780 Release Notes for Sins of a Dark Age - June 16 to 19 2014

[Fyst]

General Gameplay

• Changed surrender time to 20 minutes (down from 25).
  
• Adjusted camera pitch angle to 55 degrees (up from 45) and adjusted field of view to help with various issues including target picking, skillshot targeting and skillshot dodging. This will be an ongoing experiment.
  
• Fixed various ability targeting bugs but most notably skillshot targeting should be much improved (even independent of the camera pitch angle change).
  
• Improved target picking for all Heroes (even independent of the camera pitch angle change).
  
• Fixed bug where Hero sometimes flip flops when trying to move straight across a large obstacle.
  
• Fixed bug where Hero doesn't always take the shortest path to a destination.
  
• Heroes who are dead are no longer able to pick up quest objectives via killing units with delayed damage or damage over time effects.
  
• Jungle Creeps will now only attack player owned units (e.g Heroes and their pets) and will not be attacked by non-player owned units (such as Wave Minions and Towers).
  
• Fix 'permanent' movement speed bonuses (e.g. from items) erroneously causing haste effects to be rendered on your hero.
  
• Added new visual effect for the target of a tower.

Quests

Divine Lost Army

• Commander Health increased to 330/460/590/720/850 from 300/400/500/600/700
  
• Commanders will move to begin channeling at a portal at a range of 3.25, up from 3.0
  
• Commanders who are channeling at a portal will now re-follow their escort hero at a range of 6.5, up from 6.0

Raise Your Gryphon

• Sylvanhoof Stag food value increased to 8 from 6
  
• Max Sylvanhoof Stag count reduced to 4 from 5
  
• Hoarfrost Hare respawn rate reduced to 3.5 seconds from 5 seconds.
  
• Max Hoarfrost Hare count increased to 18 from 15

Troll's Treasure

• Chest drop off reward reduced to 500 from 600

Valkryn's Watch

• Valkryn Caller's vision duration increased to 25 seconds from 15
  
• Valkryn Caller's cooldown reduced to 50 seconds from 60

Heroes

Rachna

• More visual effect updates.

Atasha

• Added a sound effect to Atasha's Immolation that plays when a unit is ignited by using another ability.
• Moved the Immolation On Fire Loop so that it only plays when the unit is on fire.

Drengar

• Added armor sounds to Vandal Drengar.

Skalla

• New Tundral skin Spear and Mesh.

Slag

• Slag can no longer pick up quest objectives (e.g. Plague Veric Pelts on the ground) once his passive's damage countdown has started.

Xeros

• Fix Xeros' Spell Sense from triggering on enemies while he is dead.

Vexie

• Improved Luna Moth Vexie skin.

Bataar

• Updated Bataar's ability buff icons.

Beroth

• Fixed Beroth's Power Crush not executing consistently.
  
• Fixed Beroth not pulling his targets as close as they should have been pulled.

Vallamere

• BattleStandard's visual effect is temporarily bugged.

Misc
Added Hero Paintings and 2d art for:

• Bloodborn Slivus
  
• Bloodborn Xeros
  
• Swashbuckler Torrace
  
• Bruiser Grugg
  
• GyroStave Lassidar
  
• Marrowhaunt Rachna

Hero Gear

• Added new Apprentice hero gear including Apprentice Spear, Apprentice Buckler and Apprentice Hat. You can acquire them by opening the Starter Bundle in your inventory. These Common rarity gear are immediately available and usable by all accounts. They are Nontradeable and Nonmarketable.
  
• Executioner's Hood: Attack Power conversion to Pure Damage increased to 25% from 10%
  
• Gilded Lantern: Gear Point cost reduced to 1 from 2 and now gives a passive income bonus of 0.2 Gold/second.
  
• Traveling Chest: Gear Point cost increased to 2 from 1 and Passive income bonus reduced to 0.3 Gold/second from 0.5.

Items

• Items that had ratios in one of their abilities will now show the correct final amount in tooltips for the selected unit window (e.g Soul Ripper)
  
• Wraithfire Lantern now has a passive cooldown of 5 seconds. Magic Damage dealt to targets while the passive cooldown is in effect will cause the proc to deal partial damage proportional to the fraction of cooldown elapsed.
  
• Changed the "ratio format" for the Revenguard's damage stat.

Community

• Removed the Domination and Revenge system.

HUD and User Interface

• Added HUD scaling option. (Note: a clean up of the options screen will come in the near future).
  
• Added new score screen.
  
• Added placeholder art for Advanced Siege Kit portrait icon.
  
• Fix item infocards not showing per level modifier values correctly.
  
• Fixed hyperactive ping animations.
  
• Fixed colors for Alert and Retreat pings.
  
• Opening the in-game chat window now selects all the previous text.
  
• Added GameId and Time displays to the PlayerGameSummaryPanel.
  
• Temporarily disabled the input for toggling and using the ShoutOutWindow. A revamped version will be returning soon.

Map

• Improved matching the visual representation of brush with the map areas that give brush stealth.
  
• Improved various areas that look walkable but aren't and vice-versa.
  
• Continued to upgrade textures in the South West portion of the jungle.

Frontend

• Added new Game History system.
  
• Changes to a Hero Kit are now saved automatically (including Hero Gear, Attributes and Item Guides).
  
• Fixed bug in item builder under profile->heroes->edit hero where it factored in the inventory listed in your post game screen victory screen (thus distorting the item cost of the upgrade.)
  
• Fixed bug where Right Click View Game Profile Edit Hero was missing.
  
• Hero picker grid now has heroes disabled if they are the one picked in player profile / player dialog.
  
• Both friend menu and all chat windows minimize when game is started.
  
• Fixed bug where friends list wouldn't show under cursor states.
  
• Fixed various buttons not playing their sound effect.
  
• Fixed bug where joining/leaving channels quickly resulted in every chat message returning "not in channel".

Misc

• Fixed various shadow rendering bugs especially at large resolutions.
  
• Fixed various Rejoin game issues.
  
• Fixed slowdown caused by bug in decal rendering.
  
• Fixed various stutters caused by large Steam Friends lists.
  
• Numerous layout fixes.
  
• Numerous memory and cpu optimizations.
  
• Further fixes to font clipping.
  
• Added more clipping to various locations (especially where player names are shown).
  
• Fixed crash bug.
  
• Various grammar, spelling and text improvements.
  
• Added server side logic to guarantee that MaxHeroKitSlotCount (10) is never exceeded per account.

Amendments Part 1 - June 17

• Fixed bug where Quest Creeps (e.g Plague Verics) would constantly heal themselves.
  
• Fixed various HUD elements not scaling properly.
  
• Move HUD scale into Options->HUD.
  
• Fixed the name of the Apprentice Gear Bundle.
  
• Fixed Executioner Hood tooltip.
  
• Fixed various misspelled words.
  
• Can now double click to open game summary dialogs.
  
• Fixed numerous issues with game summary reports.
  
• Fixed bug where tooltip was being rendered for "reward player" / "report player" buttons on the post game screen and game history screen even though the buttons were not visible.
  
• Moved the player dialog to render overtop the game report dialog because it is common to right click players and view their history.
  
• Fixed hud scaling not actually working with restore defaults button.
  
• Added cross team chat disabling support. Disabled by default.
  
• Added muffled helmet voice effect for Vandal Drengar.
  
• Fixed sync bug.

Amendments Part 2 - June 18

• Fix Bataar getting stuck if he uses Crushing Tackle on certain enemies.
  
• Updated new Apprentice Gear and Bundle with better placeholder art.
  
• Adjust FOV for less warping on edges.
  
• SW Jungle Region art updates.
  
• Added perma banning option.
  
• Removed "+" symbol from hero gear buff icons.
  
• Changed the icon used in the PlayerGamesListBox.
  
• Added icons for missing unit portrait icons.
  
• Improved Rachna's voice.

Amendments Part 3 - June 19

• Adjust spacing of ability stat block sections in tooltips.
  
• Tooltips no longer render a gap for ability descriptions if one isn't defined in the ability.
  
• Fix haste effect erroneously rendering when it shouldn't have been.
  
• Added muffled helmet voice effect for Hero-Brute-Shackle (Abomination Grugg).
  
• Fix item descriptions from occasionally being rendered multiple times.
  
• Fix missing descriptions for Resurger and Runic Sword.
  
• New functionality for closed chat windows, only Chat Messages, System Notifications and System Warnings trigger the "new message" flashing icon.
  
• Changed loot reward opening to every .5 seconds.
  
• Added much better behavior when whispers are received. The spawned chat windows now start minimized and flashing instead of focused so if you are currently typing something your focus won't be lost.
  
• Renenabled camera zoom.
  
• Updated the rendering mainViewOverlays (e.g unit health bars) to better indicate the unit's position and remain stable at all positions on the screen (instead of just near the center).

[Corpsefoot]

Цитата допису Fyst:

• Adjusted camera pitch angle to 55 degrees (up from 45) and adjusted field of view to help with various issues including target picking, skillshot targeting and skillshot dodging. This will be an ongoing experiment.

I was going to mention a while back how health bars being a little lower/closer to their respective units' heads would help targeting issues quite a bit, though these camera angle and click accuracy fixes are welcome improvements nonetheless...regardless, could you perhaps fiddle with the bar height to see if it aids visual clarity in internal testing?

Also, with the addition of this new (and admittedly helpful) camera angle, the "zoom in" feature is starting to prove a tad useless, because all it does is magnify your current hero's scalp and some grass underneath him or her.

Could you by any chance look into linking the camera angle with the "zoom in" command, so that the further you zoom in, the closer the camera angle approaches to 0 degrees, until you are almost parallel to the ground (and can therefore admire your hero's new skin, etc.) at maximum zoom?

I only suggest this UI tweak because there is no feasible reason for us zooming in but to more closely examine our hero...unless someone else has some insight on the matter? =\

[Ekko Tek]

+1 to Exorcised's zoom change suggestion.

[Fyst]

Health bar adjustment is already planned for this week but while I can't disagree with the zoom request its not gameplay related so it'll be a little later coming (trying to nail down some camera/gameplay stuff first).

[Corpsefoot]

Цитата допису Fyst:

...while I can't disagree with the zoom request its not gameplay related so it'll be a little later coming (trying to nail down some camera/gameplay stuff first).

No sweat, you sexy devs. Tell all the guys and gals to get well-rested first, then start whooping those horses' asses

[Fat Viking Nerd]

No time for rest! Must continue adding and updating!

[MaxBedlam]

Цитата допису Fyst:

Jungle Creeps will now only attack player owned units (e.g Heroes and their pets) and will not be attacked by non-player owned units (such as Wave Minions and Towers).

So no more lane pulling and getting some extra experience at the start?

Why would you make such change? The game is already too casual, and now you're dumbifying it even more...

Цитата допису Fyst:

Removed the Domination and Revenge system.

Another bad change. Can you tell me the reason behind removing Domination system? Being a MOBA this is competitive game and this kind of system makes it more fun and engaging. Feels good when you get 4-5 dominations in a single match. And now you just removed that.

From what I know this isn't supposed to be some casual MOBA for kids. I thought it's supposed to be brutal and ruthless MOBA with badass characters.

So why would you remove systems like this?

[Ekko Tek]

I was wondering about these changes as well and the reasoning behind them. I preferred both in the game and thought they added something worthwhile - I don't remember reading any feedback against them either.

[Fyst]

Jungle Creeps: A couple objectives with this patch were to make jungling more viable. Apprentice Gear and the Jungle Creep change are two of those steps and there are more coming. The Jungle Creep change was necessary because 2-3 of the Junglers nodes were being poached at the start of every game making it very difficult for a jungler to compete.

Edit: Another reason I forgot to mention is that reward has to be proportional to risk. This tactic, which is trivial to accomplish, incurs no risk for great reward. To balance the ratio we could have opted to reduce the reward however that would further penalize junglers so we opted for increasing the risk.

Domination/Revenge: Its a psychology test. Its still in the game but nothing is being presented.

[Corpsefoot]

Цитата допису ChibiCthulhu:

Why would you make such change? The game is already too casual...

It actually isn't. The fact that a lot of players (quite possibly yourself) ignore the deeper implications behind team-based objectives and Quest-based mechanics in favor of racking up kills is a testament to your own frame of mind, and has no bearing whatsoever on what the game is or was meant to be.

Цитата допису ChibiCthulhu:

From what I know this isn't supposed to be some casual MOBA for kids. I thought it's supposed to be brutal and ruthless MOBA with badass characters.

You mentioned RTS-esque strategy or yomi-based exchanges nowhere in that entire description...where exactly did you get your ideas of what this game is "supposed" to be from?

[Corpsefoot]

Цитата допису Tug:

No time for rest! Must continue adding and updating!

Shut up Tug, you're one of the horses I was talking about XD

[Fyst]

Цитата допису Exorcised:

It actually isn't. The fact that a lot of players (quite possibly yourself) ignore the deeper implications behind team-based objectives and Quest-based mechanics in favor of racking up kills is a testament to your own frame of mind, and has no bearing whatsoever on what the game is or was meant to be.
?

This is another reason why its so important we get the Jungler role up and running properly. His role in Quest based objectives is crucial.

[Corpsefoot]

Цитата допису Fyst:

This is another reason why its so important we get the Jungler role up and running properly. His role in Quest based objectives is crucial.

Throwing some ideas up in the air here, but will IC at some point introduce a rough "jungler stencil" into the forums, as an aid for us players from different genres/games to get accustomed to what jungling means in Sins specifically?

I've essentially been "BSing" Slivus and Grugg routes for the longest time based on what I considered logical choices for builds and Stat allocations, but it would be nice to finally be informed as to what the developers themselves consider feasible/recommended progression paths both for heroes and their roles in the forest.

I know Bullet does some pretty scary stuff with Grugg now and again, but that psycho could kill me with pretty much anything anyway =P

[Ekko Tek]

There was another patch today ~ 21MB. Something new from yesterday's?

Цитата допису Fyst:

Jungle Creeps: A couple objectives with this patch were to make jungling more viable. Apprentice Gear and the Jungle Creep change are two of those steps and there are more coming. The Jungle Creep change was necessary because 2-3 of the Junglers nodes were being poached at the start of every game making it very difficult for a jungler to compete.

Edit: Another reason I forgot to mention is that reward has to be proportional to risk. This tactic, which is trivial to accomplish, incurs no risk for great reward. To balance the ratio we could have opted to reduce the reward however that would further penalize junglers so we opted for increasing the risk.

Domination/Revenge: Its a psychology test. Its still in the game but nothing is being presented.

Thanks for the explanation and thinking behind the changes.
Re: Jungling - the "poaching" was only just from your own nearest camps - so poaching from your own jungler basically, if you had one. Or am I missing out on a jungle meta where enemy junglers would go for the farthest camps first? Seems like on what I imagine as a normal jungle rotation (nearest to farthest), those camps would've respawned anyway by the time an enemy jungler reached them. I liked the realism and atmosphere of your troops aiding you vs. jungle creeps rather than brainlessly passing by but I do agree it was a pretty simple, no risk way to get a bit of extra experience and gold.

[Fyst]

Цитата допису Ekko Tek:

There was another patch today ~ 21MB. Something new from yesterday's?

Changes in today's patch are above under "Amendments". Expect another update tomorrow and probably Thursday too.

[Mercer]

Nice to se a lot of changes! Thank you for all your ongoing hard work.