December Community Update

[WarlockPrime]

Hello everyone!

The December Community Update is here! You can read it below or on the website in its original format: Puzzle Quest 3 December Community Update

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December Community Update

December is here with our final Community Update blog of the year.

We’ve had such an incredible year and are grateful for our passionate community. To show some appreciation to our players, we’ve been doing a little gifting this month!

Throughout December, we’ve been giving away some physical merch every Friday across our social channels. So if you want your chance at getting an excellent bit of Puzzle Quest 3 merchandise, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook and answer the Friday Seasons Givings question to win.

That’s not it, though. Some may have noticed that we’ve been bringing the joy of giving into the game!

You’re Our Greatest Adventure

Adventure has been out for a few weeks now. We’re very happy that you folks seem to be enjoying it and the feedback we’ve been getting, both positive and constructive, is great!

Some of you have mentioned that Adventure has a lot of potential and that you’d love to see more features added to it. You’re right!

From playing with it, you’ve probably guessed it was quite a big system to put in place with a lot of different directions it can go. What we have right now is a very solid scaffolding that allows for Etheria to be our oyster!

First up on the agenda is expanding the number of modifiers we can use, such as persistent health to give some more options for play. But we have more plans for more extensive game modes in future and I happen to know our Lead Engineer Josh is very keen on mini-games .

We’d like to give you a bit of a roadmap for Adventure specifically in the near future. So keep on sending that feedback through!

A New-Old Way To Play…

The new year draws close and change is in the air!

We emphasized when we announced Adventure that we were looking closely at our OG Puzzle Quest roots. We have taken this even further with Update 1.5. We will give you a full explainer in the new year before we release Update 1.5, but for now, we can say that we feel it’s an option for play that will really… Turn the tables.

Kingdom Changes

We’ve had a bit of a look at Kingdoms to finish out the year. These will be coming after 1.5 in update 1.5.5 (projected release in mid-late January). Because these changes obviously affect large groups of players working together, we would like to give you a full and very thorough run down of those changes as soon as we are back in the new year.

You can expect this Kingdom Update blog on the 5th of January 2023. We’d hate to Overkill this blog.

CX Round Up!

The CX team made sure we updated you on some of your top issues before we close out the year:

• Turn 0 Wins in PVP
  Some of you have reported that certain gear was allowing for Turn 0/Turn 1 wins to occur in PVP and rightly pointed out this is a balance issue (and kinda just not fun), so we’ve implemented a solution:
  From the 1.5 Patch Notes:
  “Any items that give Starting Mana as part of their abilities are now included as part of the 80% Starting Mana cap that applies to Attributes.”

• Set Bonuses On DLC Items
  This has been an outstanding question for quite a while now. The issue we run into with set bonuses on DLC Items is that we prefer not to have additional power bonuses to come from game content that can only be accessed via a purchase. We feel that all content in the game should be available for all of our players.
  As such, we will be renaming these items so that the distinction between them and our existing items is clear. We will bear this in mind to avoid such confusion in future and wish to thank everyone who has purchased this DLC for your patience and understanding.

• Reforging Could Re-Roll Identical Traits In Different Slots
  We actually added a change in 1.4.5 that ensures at least one attribute has to be different, it just got missed off the original 1.4.5 patch notes. Sorry about that! We have added this in!

• Inventory Space
  Old buddy Northelm is going to help us out here. From Update 1.5 he’s being given the ability to make new inventory slots for Gear, Minions and Spells as needed. More details to come!

The Mushy Stuff

As the year comes to a close, I would like to personally thank our CX Team. You see them in the forums, answering support tickets and they work hard to coordinate with the development team behind the scenes letting them know what’s on your minds and passing on all the feedback that has really helped us improve the game over 2022.

We absolutely could not do this without them, so a huge thank you to Kafka, Jeto, and OminousGMan.

Signing Off!

We also need to thank you folks, out there in our community!

This has been a huge year for us on the PQ3 team and we really appreciate that our community is out there with us in always pushing the game to be better. Your support really does mean the world to us and we are looking forward to continuing this journey with you in 2023!

On behalf of the development team at Infinity Plus Two and their friends at 505 Games-

Happy holidays and have a wonderful new year!

[Sibelios]

Lots to like in my view from this Community Update, however:

@WarlockPrime

Set Bonuses On DLC Items
This has been an outstanding question for quite a while now. The issue we run into with set bonuses on DLC Items is that we prefer not to have additional power bonuses to come from game content that can only be accessed via a purchase. We feel that all content in the game should be available for all of our players.
As such, we will be renaming these items so that the distinction between them and our existing items is clear. We will bear this in mind to avoid such confusion in future and wish to thank everyone who has purchased this DLC for your patience and understanding.

This is an unfortunate result in my opinion since there is very little balance issues with allowing them to function as set pieces. However, if no other pieces introduced in the future are going to have set functionality, either via purchase or in-game events, then at least it is consistent.

Thanks for the Update.

[KillerBeKilled]

@WarlockPrime

You can expect this Kingdom Update blog on the 4th of January 2023. We’d hate to Overkill this blog.

I see what you did there!

[Sibelios]

@WarlockPrime

We’ve had a bit of a look at Kingdoms to finish out the year. These will be coming after 1.5 in update 1.5.5 (projected release in mid-late January). Because these changes obviously affect large groups of players working together, we would like to give you a full and very thorough run down of those changes as soon as we are back in the new year.

You can expect this Kingdom Update blog on the 4th of January 2023.

@WarlockPrime Can we assume that Update 1.5 will drop before January 4th since 1.5.5 is mid-late January?

[Jeto]

We will be releasing the Kingdom Update blog in advance of the 1.5 update @Sibelios

[Tresk]

@WarlockPrime

• Turn 0 Wins in PVP
  Some of you have reported that certain gear was allowing for Turn 0/Turn 1 wins to occur in PVP and rightly pointed out this is a balance issue (and kinda just not fun), so we’ve implemented a solution:
  From the 1.5 Patch Notes:
  “Any items that give Starting Mana as part of their abilities are now included as part of the 80% Starting Mana cap that applies to Attributes.”

This is excellent news… HOWEVER, please do not forget about the fallen rings. While it’s not as common, they can also be used to achieve turn 0. I point this out now because if you think the torches and pitchforks were crazy with the current situation, it is going to be 1000 times worse when people go from being stuck with 100 gems to being stuck with 50.

[Jeto]

Fallen Rings are something that has been raised with the team in the past as well and they are aware of.

Brought it up again just now to be sure!

[AeonNhiyr]

@WarlockPrime

Set Bonuses On DLC Items
This has been an outstanding question for quite a while now. The issue we run into with set bonuses on DLC Items is that we prefer not to have additional power bonuses to come from game content that can only be accessed via a purchase. We feel that all content in the game should be available for all of our players.
As such, we will be renaming these items so that the distinction between them and our existing items is clear. We will bear this in mind to avoid such confusion in future and wish to thank everyone who has purchased this DLC for your patience and understanding.

@WarlockPrime The logic is fundamentally wrong here. The DLC items don’t provide additional power bonuses - they provide DIFFERENT bonuses. If anything, they provide LESS since they don’t currently contribute to a set bonus. Furthermore, you say that all content in the game should be available for all our players. Are you serious about this? There’s no way F2P players have a serious chance at getting all the Dragon King items. I’ve purchased every season and spent thousands upon thousands of seasonal currency, and I still can’t get the items. So yeah, the logic for this decision is as meaty as a feather.

I purchased the DLC expecting the functionality included in the item description. However, you can’t sell me a laptop and expect me to be happy when you deliver a TV. Yeah, TVs are great… But I bought a laptop. In the case of the DLC, you only delivered half the functionality. I actually really like the items (Flame Ring), but I still expect the rest of the functionality. If you won’t deliver what was advertised, then I expect compensation for the functionality you did not deliver.

So, how will you compensate us for the advertised functionality you have chosen to not deliver?

[Mythos]

Yeah, I didn’t buy these items - but it would seem that they would not provide extra bonuses but rather allow alternative set builds (which may allow extra bonuses I guess)
I would have liked the idea of extra gear pieces for each set to allow for some flexibility in building set bonuses (not extra bonuses, but different combinations to get the existing Set I II & III bonuses)

Based on the naming, the descriptions and the MONTHS long timeframe for any sort of indication about which way this was going to end, I can understand if those who paid money for these items feel this decision is not a fair one (in addition to the explanation of the decision not making much sense)

[Lyrian]

@Mythos

Based on the naming, the descriptions and the MONTHS long timeframe for any sort of indication about which way this was going to end, I can understand if those who paid money for these items feel this decision is not a fair one (in addition to the explanation of the decision not making much sense)

The problem I see with Aeon’s argument is that as far as I can recall, the devs have never advertised that the paid DLC items would be part of existing sets. On the other hand, the naming scheme used for 2 of the 4 DLC items would suggest to a reasonable player that these items could and would be part of a set bonus, as the prefixes on those two pieces pointed to existing sets in-game (which is Aeon’s actual argument).

Very unfortunate situation, yes. But, likely from the devs’ perspective, players are getting exactly what was explicitly advertised for these pieces, regardless of whatever these pieces are being called in the future. Therefore, the devs are unlikely to view this as a refundable event. Perhaps some goodwill compensation gems to everyone who has purchased the DLC for the confusion surrounding the matter, but that’s likely as far as the devs will go on this matter.

On the other side of the situation, 505’s argument on power levels of DLC items is confusing to read.

@WarlockPrime

The issue we run into with set bonuses on DLC Items is that we prefer not to have additional power bonuses to come from game content that can only be accessed via a purchase. We feel that all content in the game should be available for all of our players.

Ok… let’s take a look at the 4 DLC items currently in game.

Eveline’s Locket: The only source of Mana Mastery boosting from a Gear effect in-game.
Jeweled Golden Grasp: The only Gear piece in game that enables boosted damage against opponents that are Stunned.
Serpentine Flame Ring: The best and most reliable source of Haste in-game.
Mirror Shield: The best and most reliable source of Reflect in the game. The farmable Dreamhold Shield is vastly inferior, in comparison, as the only other Gear piece that has a chance to produce the Reflect status effect.

Right now, the DLC items are in a power level tier all of their own, even with being excluded from sets. After 4 Seasons, nothing that has been released comes even close in matching their power levels. It’s borderline arguable that these pieces individually are strong enough to be their actual own set bonuses all by themselves.

So, how would this content be made available to all players who didn’t want to pay DLC cash bundle prices? 5k gems per piece in the Shop? And if so, why sell DLC pieces at all then?

[Sibelios]

@Lyrian

Eveline’s Locket: The only source of Mana Mastery boosting from a Gear effect in-game.

Dragonguard Tome boosts a specific color mastery (same color as the equipped tome) by a % of Power. Although Eveline’s Locket boosts all, most players run mono builds so the benefit is similar. Runic Amulet also boosts a random Mastery but this randomness makes it inferior as a choice.

Just clarifying that it is not the only source of Mana Mastery boost from gear.

[Sibelios]

@Lyrian

Jeweled Golden Grasp: The only Gear piece in game that enables boosted damage against opponents that are Stunned.

You could make the argument that this piece is actually inferior to the regular Jeweled Gauntlets even if you provided it with the Set bonus with the gearset that it shares its name since Jeweled-III actually blinds the enemy.

Ultimately the point is this is an arbitrary decision by the developers. They could easily include the two pieces with naming characteristics that are shared and provide those that paid money for the DLC content some satisfaction in their use without really changing any fundamental power dynamics amongst players in the game.

Eveline’s Locket and Mirror Shield do not share any naming characteristics so these pieces were never at issue so their abilities vis-a-vis other gear is pointless. Much like comparing Lucky Clover Ring to something else. It also does not share a naming convention nor gear set bonus.

[AeonNhiyr]

@Lyrian

The problem I see with Aeon’s argument is that as far as I can recall, the devs have never advertised that the paid DLC items would be part of existing sets.

Sorry @lyrian, I strongly disagree with you on this point. The Serpentine Flame Ring has “Serpentine” in the name, and the item description shows it as part of the Serpentine set

However, we should clarify that when we talk about the paid DLC items being a part of a set, we’re only talking about the Serpentine Flame Ring and Jeweled Golden Grasp. Both of those items have a set name, and their item descriptions show they are part of a set. However, this doesn’t apply to Eveline’s Locket or the Mirror Shield, neither of which have set names or have set indicators in their descriptions.

[Lyrian]

@AeonNhiyr

Sorry @lyrian, I strongly disagree with you on this point. The Serpentine Flame Ring has “Serpentine” in the name, and the item description shows it as part of the Serpentine set

Thanks for posting the screenshot., Aeon.

That does change the situation a bit. The devs still have not explicitly stated that the inclusion of these items into sets was advertised. The naming of these items alone in-game does not constitute an explicit advertisement by them. That said, the game recognizing that these items are a part of a set is very strong implicit case that the intent was there to do so at some point.

What’s weird here is that the “sets” here for both of these pieces are called the same as the existing set in the game, yet they are coded to be in different sets. The tell is in the screenshot you posted.

For example, for the Jeweled Set:

For the Jeweled Grasp:

Same name, yet different sets as far as the game is concerned. Same situation for the Serpentine Flame Ring.

So, the question is why is this the case? Did the devs try to implement them into their respective sets at some point, change their mind (or find the implementation impractical, such as the game can’t recognize 2 rings in the same set without a serious recoding of the gear system), and we are observing sloppy or leftover coding that found its way to the production servers?

We may never know, and I suppose as of 1.5 it won’t matter anymore.

FWIW, I’d be on Team Compensation at this point. But, ultimately, Sibellos is right on this matter. The resolution on this matter is a purely arbitrary decision by the devs and our quibbling over the semantics of the situation is likely going to fall on deaf ears as the devs have announced their decision on the matter.

[AeonNhiyr]

Thank you for the additional pics and thoughts! I think that fleshes out the scenario some more. The other thing is this: the info screens Eveline’s Locket and Mirror Shield do not show they are part of any set at all, whereas the info screens for the Serpentine Flame Ring and Jeweled Golden Grasp DO show them as part of their respective sets. This makes it look like the latter two items were meant to be part of a set, but were not implemented correctly or had a bug. In my opinion, this supports the idea they were designed to be part of a set.

[AeonNhiyr]

@WarlockPrime

Set Bonuses On DLC Items
This has been an outstanding question for quite a while now. The issue we run into with set bonuses on DLC Items is that we prefer not to have additional power bonuses to come from game content that can only be accessed via a purchase. We feel that all content in the game should be available for all of our players.
As such, we will be renaming these items so that the distinction between them and our existing items is clear. We will bear this in mind to avoid such confusion in future and wish to thank everyone who has purchased this DLC for your patience and understanding.

@WarlockPrime So, the question remains: If the developers will remove this functionality, how will the developers compensate those of us who purchased the two DLC items that have this functionality? (Serpentine Flame Ring & Jeweled Golden Grasp)

Remember, this functionality IS ALREADY built in (see pictures below) - the items are ALREADY programmed as parts of sets… the problem is that a bug is preventing them from working correctly. If the developers remove this functionality instead of fixing it, we deserve compensation. I suggest enough crowns for two Premium Pass+ (the PLUS version), though I still prefer fixing the two items.

[Jeto]

@WarlockPrime

Kingdom Changes

We’ve had a bit of a look at Kingdoms to finish out the year. These will be coming after 1.5 in update 1.5.5 (projected release in mid-late January). Because these changes obviously affect large groups of players working together, we would like to give you a full and very thorough run down of those changes as soon as we are back in the new year.

You can expect this Kingdom Update blog on the 4th of January 2023. We’d hate to Overkill this blog.

Just an update with the Kingdom blog, it will be releasing a day later (5th of Jan) as some of the development team behind these changes are still on leave.
This means they will be available to answer questions that will likely arise once the Kingdom Blog is posted.

I’ll also update the original post to now mention the new date, should anyone notice it has been edited.

[Namodias]

Thanks for the heads up. I will pass this on to my kingdom as we are eagerly awaiting this blog post.

[AeonNhiyr]

@Jeto @WarlockPrime If the plan is to NOT fix the two DLC items (Flame Ring & Golden Grasp), we still need to hear how the people who purchased the items will be compensated. As a reminder, this is the plan that the team communicated to us a while back:

Steam Exclusive Items

We are working on option 1 (as @AeonNhiyr described) as our first choice, but as mentioned should that not be the case we have option 2 as a backup. If there was a situation where the team decided to change the name after not being able to include the pieces of Gear in their relative set, there would be a discussion then about what we can do for players who had previously purchased these items. But as this is all just discussion, I can’t make any guesses as to what the outcome of option 2 woul…

I still prefer that the two DLC items be included in their respective gear sets. However, if that can’t/won’t be implemented, then please update us on how we will be compensated for not getting that functionality. I suggest enough crowns to buy at least two or three Premium Pass+ Quest Passes (the “plus” version, not the regular version).

[Heno3HaTaTa]

Your persistence got me curious. I do not play on PC, so I hadn’t seen these DLCs until now.

Here is what is says:

1. It says the contents of the dlc are not tradeable or refundable.
2. I do not see a promise that the items will be part of the respective sets, but I agree it is a fair assumption given the names.

I don’t know if this page looked the same more than 6 months ago when you bought the dlc, but by the looks of it, I’m not optimistic anything will happen.

If you don’t get a compensation, I hope you will at least learn a lesson from the whole situation.