Update 1.2 - The Broken Tree

[Jeto]

Update 1.2 – The Broken Tree Patch Notes

Notice: On release of 1.2 several languages are missing their translations for the new update content. We are working to resolve this as quickly as possible!

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Hello and welcome to our second update to Puzzle Quest 3, Update 1.2: The Broken Tree!

It has been a huge few months and we’re super excited to share the changes with you!

The Elephant (that doesn’t quite fit) in the Room…

With update 1.1, many of you will remember that we increased the inventory space so that those of you who’ve really gone all out collecting gear would still be able to collect the Khazdhuli Gear.

Well. It’s time for 1.2 and we have more gear. Rather than adding another static amount of inventory slots, we’ve given Northelm a little upgrade to provide 3 inventory slots per level instead of 2.
(And yes. Even if you’ve already levelled up Northelm once you’ve updated to 1.2 you will get all those extra slots.)

We’re still working on something more dynamic for the biggest collectors amongst you, but we think this will create some much needed extra wardrobe space for the Flametree set and 1.3!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes… To the Roadmap

We have also had to make some changes to the Roadmap. The Follower Update has been moved to a later update, with some additional Kingdom updates brought forward. We wanted to make sure that we didn’t compromise on either of those updates, so we made the decision to split them up and give them the space, developer and design attention they needed.

Update 1.3: Into the Dreamhold will be quite a big (and focussed) update with Menu and Inventory Reworks along with a new Hero Class AND a brand new Follower!

You can also expect the Season Archive in Update 1.3 where you will be able to access Season 1.1: The Mines of Khazdhul and all our Seasons as we continue to release them.

The home of the Tree of Fire is beautiful and cruel, as are its ancient accords that must be fulfilled…

The Season begins at daily reset (00:00 GMT) on the 5th July.

• Start – 5th July (Release of Season 1.2, new gear, spells, minions, and skins)

• Chapter II unlocks – 19th July

• Chapter III unlocks – 2nd August

• Hard mode – 9th August

• Elite Mode – 16th August

• End date – 30th August

The Items, Spells, and Minions use new Relics obtainable through the Season Dungeons to evolve.

Values in bold are affected by the rarity or element of the item.

• • Flametree Thorn (Dagger)
    • When matching (Blue/Green/Red/Yellow/Purple) gems, there is a 10-25% chance to gain 5% Power, and become possessed for 2 turns.
    • “What would you trade for protection in the darkest of places?”
• • Flametree Helm (Helmet)
    • Gain 10-25 starting mana for purple and red spells
    • “It is said a Flametree helm is the last the craftsmen who reach into the flames of The Wo rld’s Maw to retrieve its obsidian will ever make.”
• • Flametree Pauldrons (Shoulders)
    • At the start of each turn, if possessed, gain 1-2.5% of maximum Armor.
    • “The razor sharp blades of the Flametree Pauldrons are known to scar the wearer, reflecting the grim bargain struck by followers of the Tree of Fire.”
• • Flametree Belt (Belt)
    • When matching a Big V+ purple gem or red gem, there is a 10-25% chance to Hex the enemy.
    • “For masters who wear a Flametree Belt, pain is a two-way street.”
• • Flametree Ring (Ring)
    • Gain 1-4 ultimate spell power when matching 5 or more purple gems or red gems.
    • “The expression immortalized on a Flametree Ring suggests some learn their lessons too late.”
• • Flametree Amulet (Necklace)
    • At the start of each turn, if possessed, there is a 10-25% chance to gain Barrier.
    • “Fire must be fed, but occasionally it grants favours in return.”

Flametree I (2 piece set bonus)

Burn the enemy for 1-6 turns when 5 or more red gems are matched.
Gain 5-30% to all Elemental Damage Reduction vs. Daemon enemies.

Flametree II (4 piece set bonus)

Become possessed for 1-6 turns when 5 or more red gems are matched.
Gain 5-30% Physical Damage reduction vs. Daemon enemies.

Flametree III (6 piece set bonus)

Gain 10-20% Power if I am possessed.
Gain 5-30% Power vs. Daemon enemies.

Available only in the Cache items in the Season shop, this item will drop at Legendary rarity.

• • Ygdratha’s Pendant
    • Heal 3-12% of your Life when the enemy casts a spell.

“The elegance of the pendant is a reflection of the simple truth that life for one rarely comes at no expense to another.”

Values in bold are affected by the level or rarity of the spell.

• FROSTFIRE FIST (110 Blue mana)
  • Gain 0.6x armor. If there are 7 or more red gems on the board, convert 2-7 of them to blue gems.
• DARKFIRE GAZE (110 Purple mana)
  • Convert 3-8 purple gems to skull gems. If there are 7 or more red gems on the board, burn and hex the enemy for 2-7 turns.
• FLASHFIRE STRIKE (120 Yellow Mana)
  • Deal 0.9x damage as light, plus 25-50% extra if there are 7 or more red gems on the board.
• BLIGHTFIRE FUMES (120 Green Mana)
  • Deal 1x damage as poison. If there are 7 or more red gems on the board, drain the enemy mana by 35-60%

• • Twigdratha
    • Balanced
    • PvP Spell: Broken Heart (60 Mana)
      • Remove a random row of gems and deal 1x damage as dark, adding 10% for each skull removed.
  • Smokat
    • Speedy
    • PvP Spell: Hexing Growl (50 Mana)
      • Deal 1x melee damage and Confuse the enemy for 4 turns.
        • Confuse: Confused characters have both their Critical Hit Chance and Critical Hit Damage halved.
• • Hellski
    • Mighty
    • PvP Spell: Hellfire (65 Mana)
      • Gain 0.5x life, armor, and resistance.
  • Firebat
    • Cunning
    • PvP Spell: Flame Tongue (75 Mana)
      • Deal 1x damage as fire, and remove 3 red gems and 3 skull gems.

Premium Skin: Flametree Assassin

“If one is to stare into the void, one might as well look good doing it.”

Poison Mastery Mercenary

“Some say “He who fights with honor has already won”… A well paid opportunist with a poison tipped blade would disagree”

• • • Each Kingdom will come under attack by a Kingdom boss every 22 hours.
    • Once the attack begins, the Kingdom will have 18 hours to defeat the boss to earn rewards.
    • Everyone in the Kingdom who joined before the boss attack started can participate and earn the basic rewards. Players who deal enough damage can earn Silver and Gold rewards on top of that.

• Only players who joined the Kingdom before the boss became active may participate in the battles.

• • • The boss has a shared health pool that ticks down as players from the Kingdom deal damage to it. Everyone in the Kingdom works together to beat the boss. Once a boss is killed, rewards will be sent out.

• Partial rewards are received if the boss is not defeated, but has been damaged.

• • Your event Tier and rewards are increased with each boss defeated. It will decrease if a boss is unable to be defeated.
  • Players get a limited number of battles against the boss.
  • The boss cycles through 3 spells, the last of which is guaranteed to kill the hero.
  • The boss is immune to all negative status effects, mana drain effects, and instant kill effects.
  • As players attack and deal damage, there is a leaderboard that is updated with their damage.
  • Mobile Push notifications are enabled through the Kingdom Updates option in the settings, and will be sent when the boss starts their attack, when little time is remaining (and you haven’t used all your battles yet), and when a boss is defeated.

• • • There is an item in the Treasury (see Introducing: Treasury) – SPIRIT SHIELD. This can be purchased once per boss, and decreases their mana gain by 25% in all battles. It is consumed after any boss.

• • The new Kingdom Bazaar is very similar to the Daily Deals tab in the shop
    • Deals refresh every day! And you can purchase a Bazaar Restock in the Treasury (see Introducing: Treasury below)
    • There is a tiered system of rewards for daily sales
    • If enough purchases are made within the day, tier rises, else it falls
    • New members will have to wait until the next Daily Reset before being able to purchase Bazaar deals

• • The Treasury shows the things that can be purchased by the 2 top ranks of Kingdom Leadership, with Ingots (see below)
    • Spirit Shield (see Kingdom Defense)
    • Kingdom Gift (+50 Gems for all members)
    • Bazaar restock (Add +1 stock to all items in the Bazaar once per day)

• • Ingots are a KINGDOM CURRENCY – earned by the Kingdom, and able to be spent on things benefiting the Kingdom
    • They are earned through:
      • Defeating Bosses
      • Weekly Activity

• Only the top 2 tiers of Kingdom members are allowed to spend Ingots from the Treasury.

[IMAGE]

• • • The landing screen now has 2 modes:
      • I’m not in a Kingdom
      • I AM in a Kingdom
    • The “not in a kingdom” version functions as before.
    • The other one is your gateway to the NEW Kingdom Menus!

• If you ARE in a Kingdom, you’ll see our brand new tiled landing menu that gives you easy access to all the areas of the Kingdom right from the front screen.

• • The Overview will show you your Kingdom’s Crests and Activity
  • We will start tracking & resetting SEASONAL Kingdom Crests with 1.2 to give us a good seasonal competition

• • Accessed right from the Overview, you can now see the Kingdom Leaderboards for the current Season and All Time

• • The roster shows all members of the Kingdom.
  • Each entry contains:
    • Name + Level
    • Rank
    • Crests
    • A 3D character portrait
      • On lower graphics settings this will be a static image, on higher settings, your hero will be animated!
    • Ingots (if you’ve earned them)
  • Added a rank information menu, from here you can see the what the different ranks provide, and you can select which name you’d like to display for your Kingdom Rank

• There is a sort button on the top bar – default it to RANK, but it can also do:
  • LEVEL ORDER
  • ALPHABETICAL
  • WEEKLY CRESTS

• • Updated Admin UI and added a few more customizable options including
    • Renaming the names of the Kingdom Ranks

• We’ve replaced the Kingdom settings with a single scale to determine the Kingdom play style

• The background image used in the Kingdom menus are now selectable

• • Kingdom Search has been updated with a new Metro Design

• • We have the addition of a simple button to the top of the menu to toggle Autoplay
  • Autoplay is a feature designed to help in those situations in battle where winning is almost a sure thing. Instead of playing out the rest of the battle, let the Autoplay battle for you, while you can focus on other things (like planning the next Kingdom Defense with your Kingdom).
  • If you notice the battle is coming down to the wire, or see something that you want the AI to do, take over and start playing immediately by interacting with the game, and show the AI who’s boss!
  • Autoplay is active in all game modes except PVP
  • Autoplay is NOT recommended for Hard Battles or other high stakes situations. Afterall, it’s only a helper, not a great strategist!

• • Eveline no longer restricts the level & rarity that other followers can be upgraded to.

• • Battle score for a Tourney battle is now displayed in the center position of the rewards sequence.
  • Score gained from a Live Event battle is now displayed in the center position of the rewards sequence.

• Tourney Defense stats are now tracked correctly
• Eveline Locket Color Mastery Bonus is now applying correctly
• Serpentine Pants Armor Bonus Was Incorrect

• Fixed Co-op difficulty selection showing Difficulty XI
• Damage numbers were not appearing in battle
• Tourney promotion referring to the current league
• Incorrect Account Level on Roster – Level is now always from the main hero
• PvP Score & Defense Totals were displaying incorrectly
• Spell Set Mastery description in battle had incorrect value

• Berserker no longer lurking behind the gem board in some matches

• Marked the Join Kingdom goal completed for users who are currently in a kingdom but had not completed the goal

• Gear Set bonuses can overlap
• Weekly crests UI overlaps with overview UI in the kingdom.
• Gold Dragonette from launch mail can’t be used to open chests
• Some text descriptions difficult to read against background
• Global Mail with No Rewards still shows Rewards to Collect
• Sound effects delay in sped up battles

[Sibelios]

In game announcement in the banner says “Update 1.1 is here”. FYI

[Jeto]

Have you force closed and relaunched?

On my personal account it’s showing as 1.2

[Sibelios]

ok yeah, mine shows. 1.2. I was sharing a screen from someone else because I was in the process of updating. Perhaps that’s the reason. Thanks

[Sibelios]

So we have even less ways to use Food now? /sigh

Gold and Food continue to be dead currencies then for most players with even less benefit. I don’t get this at all. Please someone explain!!!

Also @Jeto, any chance we can get a preview of the bazaar tiers? the rewards and requirements? some of us have kingdoms to manage!

[Lyrian]

@Sibelios

So we have even less ways to use Food now? /sigh

Food looks like it’s perma-dead now. Zero apparent use in the new guild system.

Bazaar tiers looks like they are just one-time rewards for purchasing milestones by the guild. Otherwise, the Bazaar is just a second set of daily deals. That said, guild deals may have a better pool than normal deals. Had an epic and a mythic relic appear on in the kingdom bazaar. Not paying 1440 crowns for the mythic relic though. Everyone in the kingdom appears to get the same set of offers that are rolled.

[Sibelios]

@Lyrian

Everyone in the kingdom appears to get the same set of offers that are rolled.

I don’t think this is the case, at least from what I’ve seen anecdotally Correction: Jeto confirmed they are the same for each member of the same kingdom.

[Lyrian]

Hrmmm…

What to choose…

Honor store:

Kingdom Bazaar:

[Sibelios]

@Jeto

Autoplay is a feature designed to help in those situations in battle where winning is almost a sure thing. Instead of playing out the rest of the battle, let the Autoplay battle for you, while you can focus on other things (like planning the next Kingdom Defense with your Kingdom).

A core part of game play is casting spells when they are at full mana. Auto Play seems to not consider this a viable strategy.

Btw @Jeto, how is autoplay not going to be abused by clicker utilities for basically just perma runnin content for xp? Seems ripe for abuse?

[Wokel]

I agree with autoplay being an absolutely poor decision in its current roll-out. Autoplay (if desired as a feature…) should allow you to look away for more than a few seconds. Presently, using the example of event dungeons:

1. Click on battle (wait 3-5 seconds)
2. Click on rest and recover
3. Click on autoplay (15 to 30 seconds of awkward autoplaying)
4. Click on rest and recover
5. (15 - 30 seconds of awkward autoplaying)
6. Tap victory screen

Rinse and repeat…. Overall, you spend perhaps 30 seconds clicking through screens and waiting for loading and autoplay plays for perhaps 30 to 60 seconds. The “game” is now gone whereas you now just have to press menu buttons all day.

What if you look away or actually focus on something else? It stalls. I would know, I just spent 10 minutes doing a single event dungeon.

It’s a similar situation for dungeons. The only thing that feels “sort of” worth it is doing easy skirmishes.

Now the big kicker, it’s really inefficient and boring, BUT there is a perfect solution to deal with inefficiency and boredom - use an auto clicker while doing anything else.

Long story short: this implementation of autoplay is relatively useless for the casual user, but will lead to an absurd imbalance of botters.

How will you counteract this?

[Wokel]

@Jeto Can you please explain this?

Also why are runes still so expensive relative to other rare products?

Why is food even more of a dead currency?

Some of the changes are great (Thank you for giving us room in our inventory to play), but there are many massive oversights that it is astounding. The updates constantly reference player feedback and then absolutely ignore much of it. We desperately need a valuable food and gold sink.

[Sibelios]

@Wokel

The updates constantly reference player feedback and then absolutely ignore much of it.

When they say no one misses out like the Old Bazaar, I never knew they meant just taking everything good about it away. Can’t miss out if it doesn’t even exist in the first place

In all seriousness, I try not to make snap judgments but this honestly is the worst result possible. Random deals which are often meaningless (uncommon runes, lesser shards etc) and often denominated in gems and even crowns! There doesnt appear to be any difference in the deals offered by tier (someone at Tier 1 got a Mythic Relic offer) so its just a duplicate of Daily Deals, which can be refreshed for gems anyways. How is this taking feedback from players and making things better? I’m literally flabbergasted.

[Sibelios]

@Jeto

Everyone in the Kingdom who joined before the boss attack started can participate and earn the basic rewards. Players who deal enough damage can earn Silver and Gold rewards on top of that.

@Jeto can you confirm that there is an overkill mode so that all members can attack the boss and be eligible for the rewards even if the boss has already been reduced to 0 HP?

Also:

@Jeto

Ingots are a KINGDOM CURRENCY – earned by the Kingdom, and able to be spent on things benefiting the Kingdom

• They are earned through:
  • Defeating Bosses
  • Weekly Activity

Hey @Jeto (hopefully some of these questions get answered today) - Total kingdom Ingots in the Treasury is significantly less than what is showing earned in the Roster for member’s weekly activity. Is this because the update dropped later in the week? Do players not get credit for crests they earned in the first two days? Or is it a lagging issue like the old Crest issue? Any way to confirm?

[Sibelios]

Graphically this feels a bit poorly designed. The guild message is cut off by the weekly activity reward box. The text is overall small but the rank is super small in a field of nothing.

EDIT: Reusing this post because I can’t post anything more because I am getting no replies

@Jeto Can you please provide confirmation exactly how “Bazaar Restock” is supposed to work? What exactly is meant by adding “+1 stock to all items in the bazaar”. I assume it means just add +1 stock to each of the existing daily deals but the note says this:

Makes it sound like a refresh to the stock, not adding extra stock.

Also, for instance, if someone buys something in their bazaar after reset, therefore their stock going from 1 to 0, and then the ingots are used, assuming that it is not a refresh but an addition to stock, does that mean the player now has a total max stock of 2 and an available stock of 1? Just trying to make sure that players are not missing out if they buy something before guild leaders decide to use ingots.

[melonfresh]

The roster layout page is an absolute nightmare for anyone running a kingdom trying to see any relevant info in an easy and fast way.

I’m actually mad at how much more terrible and a chore you made it to do basic kindgom maintaining

[Jeto]

Hey everyone,

I wanted to kind of grab everything that came through and do a bulk address before being out for the day, so it’s one post!

Going forward the team will jump in here, grab and share any further questions and feedback to the team and then come back in bigger posts. Just so we can ask the team in bulk and then return with one answer.
Unless there is a bug in which case we will get to it and reply as soon as we can.

• Starting with the Kingdom Bazaar refresh/restock, appears some old text may have been left in the patch notes and mixed the communication.
  The Bazaar Restock acts as it’s name implies. It will add +1 stock to all current deals. I’ll edit those patch notes now to prevent any further confusion/miscommunication!
• If someone in your Kingdom has been unable to partake in the current Defense event and the Dragon has been defeated already, all Kingdom members will receive the basic rewards!
  Rewards are sent as soon as the Dragon has been defeated, so if you are currently in a battle then you will receive the rewards earned for the amount of damage you had done up until that point.
  An overkill mode is something the team is considering looking into in the future, but nothing concrete as this would affect how rewards are mailed out.
• Iron Key difference in price will be releasing as soon as we can. Which will make the limited Kingdom Bazaar offer cheaper than the Honor Store.
• Kingdom welcome message overlapping was mentioned as a Known Issue in the patch notes and is also likely to be fixed when a hot fix is released.

@Jeto

• Gear Set bonuses can overlap
• Weekly crests UI overlaps with overview UI in the kingdom.

• I will pass on the feedback and concerns regarding Food/Gold again to the team in our next meeting as well as the auto-play feature discussion.
• All Crests earned from the weekly reset will count towards Ingots, but will not be credited to players’ accounts until they have updated to 1.2 and logged in. Until everyone has updated it will be out of sync.
  But I have raised this as something to keep an eye on to the development team.
• Kingdom Bazaar offers are the same across your Kingdom and we are in the process of finishing up the articles for this update, where we will be including a table for the Kingdom Bazaar tier rewards and requirements.

But in the meantime, here is the table until that is live.

Tier	Requirement	Reward
I	5 purchases	1 wooden key
II	10 purchases	300 Gold
III	15 purchases	60 Minor Shards
IV	20 purchases	50 Gems
V	25 purchases	1 iron key
VI	30 purchases	750 Gold
VII	35 purchases	60 Lesser Shards
VIII	40 purchases	100 Gems
IX	45 purchases	1 golden key
X	50 purchases	1,500 Gold
XI	60 purchases	60 Greater Shards
XII	70 purchases	150 Gems
XIII	80 purchases	1 ruby key
XIV	90 purchases	3,000 Gold
XV	100 purchases	60 Major Shards
XVI	110 purchases	300 Gems
XVII	120 purchases	1 diamond key
XVIII	130 purchases	5,000 Gold
XIX	140 purchases	60 Superior Shards
XX	150 purchases	400 Gems

[Wokel]

Thank you for the update.

I am confused about bazaar tiers still though. Do they reset at some point? Does it change the prices or quality of sales?

[Jeto]

Bazaar Tiers reset daily and your Kingdom can go up one Tier a day (at daily reset).

These are rewards for making purchases in the Kingdom Bazaar.

For example, if 5 players make a purchase at the end of the day everyone in the Kingdom receives a Wooden Key.
The next day to progress to Tier II, 10 offers will need to be redeemed to be rewarded the 300 Gold.
And so on…

The Deals themselves that you can purchase will increase in quality with Tier, for example, Superior Shards are only available in higher Tier Deals. This quality increase caps out at Tier X, from which point the Deals will remain at roughly the same quality.
The price is not affected by the Tier level.

[tau]

@Jeto

Flametree Helm (Helmet)

• Gain 10-25 starting mana for purple and red spells

That bonus is too powerful, especially in PvP. It ruins whatever balance we have now between classes, because it will allow red and purple oriented classes to win on turn zero, without touching the board.
There was similar imbalance during early access, do you really want to bring that back? It has been discussed recently in this thread: Gamer's PvP morale
Please consider giving the helm a different bonus.

[Kafka]

I’ve just done a quick edit on one line of the patch notes under the Bazaar section:

Old line:
“If it succeeds, tier rises, else it fails”

New line:
“If enough purchases are made within the day, tier rises, else it fails”