Today's Update Patch Notes

Patch Notes for update on 15th Feb 2022

We are introducing many changes in preparation for our World-Wide Launch in March.

DO NOT UNINSTALL THE GAME

Please wait until the update option is available to you. Updates do not roll out to all regions simultaneously, but one at a time. Please be patient. If you uninstall the game, you will not be able to reinstall the game until the official World Wide release date.

Story:

  • 3D Conversations

    • One of the biggest visual updates to Puzzle Quest 3 that brings our rich story content into line with our battles and creates an overall more immersive experience.
  • Map Progress

    • It was important to us to create more of a sense of place for players within the realm of Etheria.
      • The post-battle sequence in Story mode has now been updated to include a visual representation of the playerā€™s location on the map, as well as providing a more streamlined way to display rewards gained
      • When starting a part of the storyline, it also shows a sequence indicating where the story is currently on the map
  • End of Story Sequences

    • When the Main Story is complete there are brand new animated sequences

Goals System Rework

The original Goals system was designed a long way back in pre-production and as such it no longer fit with how the game had evolved over the years and the multiple layered systems were confusing.

Summary of the changes:

  • Goals remain in the Tavern as they are account-wide
  • Weā€™re switching to 4 simple categories: PROGRESS, BATTLE, HEROES, COLLECTION
  • UI altered for clarity around when a reward has not yet been unlocked
  • Tutorial reworked
  • In addition to a stat bonus, completed Goals now also give a small resource reward that can be collected from the Goals tab in the Tavern.

Account migration to new Goals system:

  • Current Goal progression will be reset, along with the stat bonuses provided. Any Goals youā€™ve already completed based on your account state will automatically be completed on first login. Some tasks such as Winning Battles or Defeating Enemies will have to start from 0.
  • Existing players gain compensation by mail. Compensation will be 30 Gems per previous goal completed. (Or per 0.1% in a stat for ease of counting). This compensation will be received when first logging into the game after installing the update.

Platform Achievements

  • Platform Achievements have now been added for Android and iOS!
    • There are 26 new Achievements which can be tracked in the Goals Tab

Rewards Sequence Changes

We wanted to take the time to distinguish the Chest, Battle and Quest rewards so they were more exciting, clear and meaningful

  • Quest Rewards

    • This has been integrated into the post-battle sequence along with Map Progress
  • Battle Rewards

    • The end of battle sequence has been streamlined so that all rewards show as part of the Victory sequence.
      • Chests can also be actioned from this screen
      • Additionally, if a chest is gained Minions can be sent to open them directly from this screen

Create & Select Hero Menu

  • Both the Create and Select Hero menus have been updated with brand new selection and Hero detail screens
  • Our goals were to
    • Streamline the hero creation screen
    • Showcase the personalities of our heroes

QOL and Miscellaneous:

Kingdoms

We do have plans for significant improvements to Kingdoms in an upcoming update, but for now we have some improvements to the way Kingdom leadership is handled.

  • Kingdom Leaders can now transfer leadership to another member of the Kingdom
  • Kingdom Leaders who are inactive for over 30 days can now be demoted by the next highest ranked member of the Kingdom.

Other

  • An option has been made available in-battle to increase the speed of animations during battle
  • There have been effects added when casting an Ultimate Spell
  • New Ultimate Spell Tutorial
  • Added Minions Filter in Chest Opening UI
  • Confirmation before spending Gems
  • Added version number details when a server status error message dialog appears.
  • Damage text in battle has been updated
  • Shield icon now should appear near damage amount text when damage is blocked
  • Playerā€™s health and spells now show when an Altar selection comes on screen
  • Items such as spells or gear can occasionally be gained at greater than level 1. When this happens an effect will play to note that.
  • Improved feedback on button touches throughout the game, now most buttons should change visually when pressed or hovered over
  • Haptics are now implemented for iOS, and can be toggled in the Settings menu

Design & Balance

  • Difficulty balancing Level 20-50 & Level 55-100
  • General Hero balance
  • All 5 classes have had reworks on their 4 starting spells to improve low-level gameplay
  • Hero Class balance - Ultimate costs & effects; General class spell costs & effects
  • Enemy flavor & balance - Adjusted so they feel more distinct from each other
  • 50% increase in gold from Altars

Bug Fixes

  • Black screen on startup and Unity Engine failed to initialize error on Android resolved
  • iOS Safe area fixes
  • Fixed issues where multiple small downloads would constantly happen on Android when loading the game
  • Fixed issue with being unable to change password for linked accounts on Android
  • Fixed an issue with Live Event leaderboards, where some players could achieve an unobtainable score

Known Issues

  • The Dwarf Berserker when facing to the left of screen has his shoulder plate in the wrong spot
  • The Premium Plus pack for Quest Pass has no visual indication of doubling the rewards, before they are collected. However this is just a visual issue as rewards are correctly being doubled when collecting.
  • ā€˜Leave your current partyā€™ error message is displayed during the conversation and title becomes unresponsive after dismissing the message while being in a party and attempting a story battle. This is a rare corner case
    Note: You are able to continue game after restarting the game
1 Like

4 starting spells? Was this changed?

Sorry to clarify, this is referring to The 2 spells you start with and then the spells you receive when you unlock the 3rd and 4th spell slots.

Right, thatā€™s my point. The last time I did playthroughs (after the 0.35 Patch changes) you do not receive 3rd and 4th spells anymore when you unlock the slots. Has this changed? I guess I donā€™t recall seeing this change.

It did change, but Iā€™d have to go through all the old patch notes to find out which one it changed in. I canā€™t remember off the top of my head. Iā€™m pretty sure this was already in either 0.38 or 0.39 as I started a new account in one of those versions so I could be up to date with the latest new player experience and Iā€™m pretty sure it was already in there.

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Thatā€™s good to hear. I am a pretty close reader of the patch notes as you know :laughing: but I donā€™t recall seeing that. Really good change though for new players. Glad to hear it.

When should we expect to see the update?

Itā€™s already live :slight_smile: might take a bit of time to get out to every region.
If itā€™s still not available to you by tomorrow yell out.

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Could you please supply more details on these changes?

And if there are any changes to gear buffs?

I recall reading somewhere on here awhile ago that this missing information has been an ongoing problem and was going to be rectified going forwards.

Thanks.

I see no mention of increasing inventory limits for gear. Any word on that, please? Are we really still stuck with ā€œgear set bonusesā€ that we canā€™t achieve because thereā€™s not enough space in the inventory to keep enough copies of different gear?

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Iā€™ve reposted the content on this post here for easier referencing:

13 Likes

Hereā€™s hoping that :

ā€¦means reducing how hard mobs hit at those upper levels, because combined with the double barrier nerfs (reducing proc rate on Dwarven Necklace, and decreasing to 50% damage reduction), the game will be unplayable at higher levels. Relying on procs is not exactly a fun way to play. Itā€™s like playing the lottery, hoping that you ā€œhitā€ before you lose. There arenā€™t any viable alternatives in 0.38 though, as healing or lifesteal are far, far too little to offset high mob damage. Any mob from level 60 on can crit on a simple swing and wipe out an entire armor+life bar.

With epics + 3 legendary items (gear score of 2089), Iā€™ve been entirely reliant on getting barrier procs to save from being one-shotted. Each dungeon fight takes 10-12 minutes, nearly an hour to fill 5 chest slots. If I get unlucky in not getting up a barrier at the right time, Iā€™m toast, which is about 10-15% of fights, often on the first mob. That in mind, if the mobs hit as hard (or harder), without barrier to prevent those hits, the game will be essentially unplayable.

Please note: I havenā€™t paid a dime for PQ3 yet, but plan to do so once it goes live. Iā€™ll pay when itā€™s live, if itā€™s playable. Soā€¦hereā€™s hoping.

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This all sounds super duper fun! Canā€™t wait to update! :roll_eyes: :woman_facepalming: :angry:

Yelling out - still no update available, either in-game or via Google Play Store. US East region, if that helps.

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Seconding. Update still not available in Eastern USA.

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Thirding. Update unavailable.

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Hi folks, weā€™re currently investigating why the update isnā€™t showing up for some players. Weā€™ll let you know once we have an update.

Iā€™ll endeavor to also discuss some of the balance changes with you later, if you have any specific feedback about anything please feel free to share it.

I was in chat a little while ago and noticed some of the players in there between levels 25-35 had about half the gear score expected for their levels in some cases. Iā€™ve been playing through on a fresh account and am square on level 30 myself with double the Gear score of a level 34 player, so I suspect that maybe we might need to have more education in game about the different places to earn shards, relics and chest rewards in general? ie. the Mark shop in the events, the Daily Deals you can purchase for Gold. I started my fresh account in v0.38 or v0.39 to get a feel of the game from the perspective of someone on a new account instead of the account Iā€™d been playing since the start of early access, and I havenā€™t run into any difficulty problems yet.

We can obviously use game data to investigate these challenges some players are reporting with the balance changes but having discussions about it in the community is helpful too (qualitative vs quantative data).

Some play styles may need to adjust a little for some of the changes, maybe what worked before isnā€™t the most optimal way to play the core game now, so experimenting and being flexible should help as well.

We will have new and updated Help Center content ready in time for the official launch as well of course which will hopefully help the new players as they come in, in addition to the in game tutorials.

I look forward to following the discussion about the update. Things you like, donā€™t like (being as specific as possible is great!).

Honest questionā€¦ should it be that much work, though? Its not just a game. Itā€™s just a mobile game. Nothing wrong with that at all imho, or I would not be here.

Also, Iā€™m not talking specifically about the balance changes in the update. (Because you really could not pay me to update until I have to. It doesnā€™t sound like it is more fun, so I will wait.) What I am referring to is the, complex just to be complex, system of gear upgrading. I actually follow it, because Iā€™ve been here quite awhile now. But just because I can follow it doesnā€™t mean its not atrocious.

Again, to be clear, Iā€™m speaking of the overly complicated system, when I say atrocious. Not the balance changes. I donā€™t think its an education issue. (Maybe partly?) Itā€™s just way too many things to pointlessly keep track of day to day. Those of us who came in early, kind have it down due to the incremental changes, a long the way. Also EA folks are the type to invest in learning all of it.

A new player in WWR is just going to throw their hands up and give up. Thatā€™s my fear, anyway. My point (if I have one, lol!) is that a mobile game is something people want to pick up on their lunch break, play, then go back to work. We donā€™t really want it to be this much of a chore.

after update i cannot win any battles, story, skirmish

skirmish easy mode, challenge: very hard, my gear score: 487, enemy score:770

my level: 30, story chapter VI-part 10, enemy score 655

This is a complicated question in itself I think. For some itā€™s not work, for others it is, or specific parts of it are complicated, like the relics and Glyphs but the levelling isnā€™t complicated but maybe more of a grind. I think thereā€™s a whole discussion that could be had on the Gear system alone.

New players get incrementally introduced to different aspects of the game as they play through, so the core systems are introduced first then more and more as they level up and play through the story etc. weā€™ve been improving the early game and FTUX (First Time User Experience) throughout the early access so a lot has changed from the start of the project.

Iā€™ll be trying to go through some of the feedback in the forums later this week and I know all this stuff is in there.


@anrandad at level 30 your expected Gear Score is around 1000 (mine is 976 at level 30 for just 1 example). Would you be able to share any comments about your general gameplay? Like for example:

  • Do you always play on easy where possible?
  • Do you have trouble with the normal mode before the update?
  • How often do you play the Daily Challenges and events?
  • How often do you use the Daily Deals for Gold in the shop?
  • How often do you use your marks to buy shards in the event mark shops?
  • How often do you salvage Gear you donā€™t need?
  • How often do you upgrade your Gear and Spells?

^ also do you know where to find all of these things? If not, which ones arenā€™t you sure about? Knowing this will help us as well :slight_smile:

  • Do you always play on easy where possible?
    Yes, i also sometimes try harder mode to see if i could win

  • Do you have trouble with the normal mode before the update?
    No, usually easy win on skirmish

  • How often do you play the Daily Challenges and events?
    every day, although daily challenges i only able to win the first one

  • How often do you use the Daily Deals for Gold in the shop?
    every day

  • How often do you use your marks to buy shards in the event mark shops?
    as often as possible

  • How often do you salvage Gear you donā€™t need?
    every common gear

  • How often do you upgrade your Gear and Spells?
    every time i see green pip