Chapter 3: The Wardens Launches on July 22, 2021!

We've got some big changes to movement and a number of asked for features coming your way, along with a bunch of bug fixes and general improvements. Let's see what we've got!

Movement

Dodge

Players have traditionally asked for some sort of built-in skill-based movement option outside of Runes, so we're introducing a new Dodge mechanic. It's a short-range burst of speed that allows players to, well, dodge incoming attacks or as a way to quickly reposition themselves for an advantage.

• When Dodge is activated, the character will quickly move in the current movement direction.
  • If there's no movement, the character will dodge forward.
  • Dodges triggered from the ground propel the character slightly further than midair dodges.
  • Dodges triggered from the ground add a small vertical impulse to the character, a little “hop.”
• Dodge, by default on PC, is the Control key. On controllers, it's by pressing the right thumb stick.
  • To make room for Dodge, the Crouch behavior has been removed.
• The rules of Dodge:
  • Dodge is always on the X/Y plane, there's no vertical dodging.
  • For 0.3s after a dodge, a player's maximum speed is reduced by 33% and their air friction is increased by 700%.
  • Players can dodge in midair.
  • There's a minimum delay of 1.5s between each dodge.
  • Players receive a movement speed penalty for 0.5s after dodge completes.
  • Mana recharge and spell cast animations can be interrupted by dodge.
  • Levitation can also be interrupted by dodge.
  • The dodge itself can be interrupted by spell or sorcery casts or by using a rune.
  • Finally, the dodge animation can be interrupted by levitation 0.35s after start.

Levitation

With the inclusion of Dodge, we also want to limit the amount of extreme verticality in Spellbreak. Too often levitation had no tradeoffs to it, so we're placing a few restrictions in place but also increasing its responsiveness. Verticality is now more dependent on your build choices, rather than a default option shared by everyone. This makes level design and build choices more impactful.

• Levitation upward movement speed is now fixed and is ~40% slower than the previous maximum upward speed.
• Maximum levitation height has been reduced by ~30%.
• Levitation now consumes a minimum amount of mana (~35%), even if the jump button is released early.
• Levitation now consumes 55% of mana per second (previously 80%).
• Reduced retained upward momentum when levitation ends.
• Increased how long it takes for mana to begin regenerating after levitation to 1.5s (from 0.8s).
  • The 1.5s mana freeze is cancelled if a character touches the ground.
• Levitation now provides an instantaneous upward movement, no matter the starting velocity.
  • This makes levitation much more responsive.

Levitation Controls

We've added 3 different levitation control schemes to choose from, located in gameplay settings. Previously these were only available for players using controllers.

• "Hold" control mode controls the same as levitation in 3.0.
  • This is the default.
• "Tap" control mode requires players to press the jump button while in midair to start levitation.
  • This will levitate for 0.66s if the button is tapped.
  • Players can continue to hold to levitate until mana runs out to levitate longer
• "Toggle" control mode also requires players to press the jump button while in midair to start levitation.
  • After a tap, the character will continue to levitate until the button is tapped again or mana runs out.
• Levitation control schemes apply to both controllers and KB/M.

Other Movement Changes

• Increased gravity to 1560 m/s/s, from 1400. (For reference, Chapter 1 gravity was 1920.)
  • This is part of the above changes to levitation and decreasing the amount of verticality.
• Lateral speed when dropping in Dominion reduced by 33%.
  • It was previously too easy to traverse too far across the map when respawning and keep control of multiple zones.
• Forward movement speed has been increased by +3 in BR (was already +3 in Dominion).
  • This was weirdly inconsistent between the two modes, so enjoy the faster base speed in BR!
• Removed forward speed momentum braking when firing spells.
  • Another relic from the past. Get aggro!
• Adjusted movement acceleration: you start moving a bit slower, but reach full speed a bit faster.
  • The previously "dual-gear" acceleration let players start moving quickly, but ramp up from walk speed to full sprint relatively slowly. This has been replaced/simplified with a single acceleration value. The slower initial ramp-up speed reflects the addition of Dodge to quickly change position.
• Added 200% "air boost" acceleration.
  • This allows you to start moving quicker in midair.
• Characters can now jump off unwalkable slopes, but only once until they land on a walkable surface again.
• Added "coyote time" allowing you to jump a few frames after walking off a ledge.
  • Both of these changes are to address times where a player would levitate when they meant to jump.

New Camera

• A new optional centered camera has been added that avoids many 3rd person aiming issues and improves accuracy while aiming at targets that are very close or above.
  • The legacy camera is still available under options.
• There's also a new vertical FOV setting. Horizontal FOV is still determined by the aspect ratio of monitors.
  • A wider FOV has a tradeoff of being able to see more of the action while targets appear smaller on screen. Some players, especially on TV or handheld devices prefer a smaller FOV that makes it easier to see their targets.
  • If you'd like the old, chapter 2 behavior, setting it to maximum will make it the same as pre-patch.

Gameplay & Balance Changes

• Sorceries no longer charge while (re)spawning from a portal.
• In Dominion, sorceries now start on cooldown after respawn or recall.
  • This is to lower the amount of sorc spam on capture points.
• Lowered the height of Dominion capture point zones.
  • Being able to capture / contest from way up high while raining down attacks felt kind of silly.
• Sorceries that can be used for a class mobility skill now show different VFX for players that are able to use it for movement.
  • Affects Flamewall, Toxic Clouds, and Tornado as long as the player has the appropriate movement skill if the player has the relevant skill.

Fire

• Increased Fireball recovery time by 0.1s.
  • A slight reduction in firespeed to reduce its close-range efficacy.
• Reduced Dragonfire damage to 40dps (from 50dps). Prev 17 damage per tick, now 13.
  • This combo in particular was responsible for some big burst damage in Dominion, especially.

Stone

With the changes to levitate, stone was very strong in testing, so we've scaled it back.

• Decreased Shockwave velocity to 51.5m/s (from 54m/s).
• Reduced Shockwave width to 0.6m (from 1.4m).
• Decreased Shockwave damage to 26/33/36/38/42 (from 30/39/42/45/50).

Wind

Wind "spam" was becoming a real problem, so we've dialed it back in a number of ways.

• Reduced size of Wind Shear projectile from 70cm to 25cm.
• Increased minimum Wind Shear damage to 3/4/5/7/8 (from 3/3/3/4/5).
• Reduced the max range Wind Shears will impulse you from 12m to 8m.
• Max lifetime of Wind Shear reduced to 0.8 (from 1.0).

Toxic / Toxicologist

Toxic was too limited in being able to be used at even medium ranges, so we've made it slightly more potent at slightly longer ranges. These changes also reward better aim.

• Increased max Poison Spray distance by about 20%.
• Changed Poison Spray arc trajectory so that it better aligns with the crosshair.
• Reduced spread of Poison Spray by 10%.
• Increased Vanishing Mists ejection speed and distance.

Lightning

We've made some pretty significant changes to Lightning Bolt to better match expectations AND to increase its skill cap.

• Lightning Bolt Damage is now 3-4 / 3-5 / 4-6 / 5-7 / 6-8. Previously it was 5-7 / 6-8 / 6-9 / 7-10 / 8-11.
• Lightning Bolt fire rate increased by 25%.
• Lightning Bolt maximum bloom increased to 2 degrees (from 1 degree).
• Lightning Bolt now has a repeatable spread pattern that restarts whenever firing loop begins.
• Maximum Lightning Bolt bloom increases by 0.3 degrees per shot (prev 0.1 degrees).

Projectile Speeds

• Adjust projectile velocities to account for latency overcompensation bugfix:
  • Fireball speed 3250 -> 4000
  • Ice lance speed 20000 -> 26000
  • Wind shear speed 8000 -> 10000
  • Lightning bolt speed 30000 -> 40000
  • Toxic spray speed 4000 -> 5500
  • Players may notice some slight changes in feel for various spells, but there should be far fewer hit registration issues. To be clear, this is not an adjustment for the sake of balance.

Runes

• Lowered Springstep height by 20%.
• Increased Springstep lateral velocity by 40%.
• Chronomaster rune cooldown changed from 17/13/11/9/8 -> 22/18/16/14/13.
  • Coupled with dodge, there were a few builds kicking around that used Chrono to too great of an effect, so this dials it back slightly.

Misc.

• Added scrolls to the practice map.
  • Finally!
• Bots, in practice, will no longer attack you unless they're attacked first.
  • Or you can chill out in practice too without being smacked around...
• Optimizations to reduce load time
• Improved character locomotion animations when quickly changing directions.

Map Changes

• A lot of reworks all around the BR and Dominion maps to accommodate the dodge and levitation changes to ensure everything is still traversable.
• The Great Hall has been added- being so close to the Fracture’s origin tore it apart, with its pieces suspended in time and space over Banehelm.
• Polished up the entrance to Banehelm with the addition of towering statues and other props
• Some mysterious new structures have shown up related to the story of chapter 3...

Usability

• There's now a new "Accessibility" tab on the settings menu that allows players to adjust various colors for a number of UI elements.
• Currently, players can choose from a number of pre-defined palettes.
• UI elements that can be colored:
  • Spellstorm circle map color
  • Rarity colors
  • Player and squadmate colors in BR
  • Player and squadmate colors in dominion
  • Danger ping color
• End of Match Screen now includes some additional usability and info:
  • Players can see the next earnable reward at the end of progression bars.
  • Added the ability to add friends on the Dominion post match screen.
  • Accolades scroll much faster on the post match screen for ranked Dominion matches.
  • Players can hover over accolades on the post match screen to get a description of how that accolade was earned and what it means.
• Added warning popup showing penalties for leaving a match early:
  • Loss of xp and quest progress
  • Ranked crowns are forfeit
  • Teammates will be at a disadvantage.
  • Shame on you!
• Play Screen received a similar treatment:
  • Added alert that displays when the party leader tries to change to a game mode that does not support the current party size.
  • Players can view up to 6 quests.
  • Players are no longer locked to the play screen while in queue so they can browse cosmetics, chapters, mastery, etc while waiting.
    • The store screen and chapter pack screen are still locked as to prevent issues with purchases not completing
• Added in-match scoreboard to Dominion that shows points, exiles, times exiled, and damage by player, and updates if a player has disconnected.
• Players are now only able to join another player’s party if they’ve been invited to join (or they can request to join if they have yet to be).
• Added dialogue volume setting in the settings menu.

Loadouts

• Another oft-requested feature: Players can now save their cosmetics per-class!
• Each class now has a separate saved loadout for talents and cosmetics (though talents are still accessed via the normal flow).
• The cosmetics tab has been split into separate “collections” sub-menu and “Loadouts” sub-menu.
• The Collections sub-menu will show all cosmetics without assigning them to a class or you can use the “equip to all” option to equip them to all classes.

Chapter 3

• A whole new chapter of quests and content, with the player investigating the appearance and objectives of a new force in the Hollow Lands: the Wardens...
• Story Quests are no longer gated by week. All story quests are available immediately (but still need to be completed in order).
• Chapter 3: “The Wardens” chapter pass includes 50 levels with accompanying rewards for each level.
  • The Wardens will ambush players around the map and will attack players if they stray too close to their strongholds.
• Two new packs in the store:
  • Adherent of the Elements Pack for $25
  • Stoic Crackshot Pack for $100
• Players can now purchase multiple chapter pass levels at once when buying levels with gold.
• Season 2 of Ranked begins!
  • Titles and Badge rewards for performance in Season 1 will be granted on login.
  • Players' league and tier reset to a lower level performance in Season 1.

Store / Cosmetics

• Xbox Game Pass subscribers get the Chapter 3 chapter pass for free!
• Outfit icons in the collection screen and loadout screens now show posed characters.
• Outfits will use their store pose and store intro animation when scrolling through classes in the class select screen.
• Added sound effects to store intro animations.

Bugs

• Fixed several issues that would cause the Teleportation Rune to report an "Invalid Target" error.
• Removed an invisible platform that players could access at the top of the Banehelm Dominion map.
• When a Toxic Cloud is frozen in midair, it no longer stays suspended there.
• A bunch of floating chests now respect gravity and are back on the ground.
• The chapter’s XP bar will now refresh and display property after buying a level.
• Fixed an issue causing the tutorial dialogue box to appear in the top left of the screen.
• 'Enter next safe zone to resurrect squadmates' text no longer persists after doing so.
• Fixed an issue that would cause games to start matches with only one party if another second party unreadied during the queue.
• Fixed an issue causing multiple HUD elements to disappear after transitioning from the lobby to the match with any confirmation pop-up open.
• Fixed a bug where the character does not perform the default class selection animation or have the gauntlet equipped when entering class selection screen.
• Fixed some flickering textures on the final tutorial island.
• Fixed players being unable to navigate to the chapter pass purchase screen with a controller’s d-pad buttons.
• Fixed an issue causing several game modes to disappear from the game mode selection screen after returning from any game mode.
• Migration prompt now displays when the host of Custom Dominion Match attempts to join another party.
• Player's online status and party status no longer remain active after the application is force closed.
• Fixed several outfits clipping during the mocking laughter emote.
• Fixed players with poor internet connection being unable to turn on/off the "Voice chat enabled" option in match.
• Fixed the Vowguard Inquisitor’s cape bunching up on the play and collections menu.
• Fixed Ice lances sometimes being stuck in the environment.
• Player card no longer oscillates up and down when rotating the character in the Mastery or Collections screen.
• Fixed several instances of LOD popping around the map.
• Fixed Jewelworks glow cloudburst preview disappearing after a short time when viewing in the collections menu.
• Final circle in battle royale now correctly continues shrinking as time passes.
• Fixed an issue causing toxic mists to be invisible when materials and effects settings are on low.
• Fixed an issue where chests would sometimes spawn in as already opened.
• New talent notification jewel is now correctly dismissed when the newly unlocked talents have been viewed.
• Ice and wind brilstone VFX now always appear above ground; sometimes they would erroneously appear below ground.
• Fixed the player being granted extra starting armor on drop when having both the Tough talent and Stoneskin skill equipped. They now correctly give 20 armor on drop instead of 30.
• Fixed an issue on PS4 where save data would be corrupted if the player spammed the cross button while the console wakes up from suspension.

That wraps it up! We'll see y'all in the Hollow Lands!

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