Update: The Patch Notes have been posted and can be found here.
Overview
Patch 0.6.1 is a wide-ranging patch offering both new additions such as controller support, a new character selection screen, and a new Acolyte model - with improvements to existing features - including a reworking of potions and better differentiating a Primalist’s minions from those of other classes. There is also a focus on polish and quality of life changes.
Highlights
Added controller support.
Thank you so much to everyone who backed us during our KickStarter campaign! Your support is what allowed us to reach and implement this stretch goal.
Implemented a new character selection screen.
The character list now specifies the class and level of each character, as well as whether they are Hardcore. Previously only character names were shown, which made it hard to remember which name belonged to which character.
A 3D model of the currently selected character is now displayed.
We have begun the process of implementing MTX.
This patch does not include an in-game store.
The Chronowyrm series of pets from our KickStarter packs are now available.
The Primordial Turtle series of pets from our current packs are now available.
Other MTX people have purchased - or earned through promotions - will be made available gradually in future patches. Thank you for your generous support!
The Acolyte has a new character model and new animations.
With this change we have now completed the process of giving all implemented classes higher quality models. The Rogue’s initial model will be of a similar standard, and thus we do not anticipate later replacing it.
Potions have been reworked (Dev Blog). Health potions now drop from enemies on a regular basis, and the number of potions available is displayed in the action bar UI.
The Primalist’s permanent minions will now be considered Companions. We have posted a Developer Blog about this change here: Companions For Adventuring.
Equipment now has level requirements.
Crafting is prevented if it would cause your character to no longer satisfy the level requirement of the item.
Added a new skill: Harvest is now available to Acolytes.
A melee attack which hits all enemies in front of you.
Implemented multiple new skill specialization trees.
Added multiple new unique items.
Zone entrances now display the name of the zone on mouse-over.
The level of areas is now displayed while the overlap map is open.
There are now new icons for NPCs and the minimap. These are intended to provide more information than previously available, such as whether a quest has been completed. We will continue to work on improvements here in future updates.
Implemented a button which moves all crafting-related items out of your inventory.
Improved the functionality of the Sort Items button.
Dialogue no longer uses the typewriter effect; text is now displayed immediately.
The game now refers to both Fracture Chance and Instability for better clarity.
When you place equipment and a modifier item into the crafting window, you will be shown the Fracture Chance. Fracture Chance shows how likely the individual craft is to result in the equipment being fractured.
Instability refers to the inherent chance for an item to fracture, as determined by the number of affixes on the item as well as the tier of those affixes. An item with multiple tier 4 affixes will have higher Instability (and, thus fracture chance) than an item with only a single tier 1 affix. Instability is displayed on Alt tooltips.
Tempest has been renamed Warpath.
The previous name was ambiguous thematically, as it could conceivably have referred to a Mage or Primalist spell similar to Tornado.
Minions now despawn when the corresponding skill is removed from your action bar.
We have also amassed a large number of new animations, balance changes, optimization work, bug fixes, and other miscellaneous changes since our last update. Be sure to read the patch notes when we release Patch 0.6.1 to see all of the changes!
After this patch
The team is hard at working preparing to transition to the beta stage of development!
We will be replacing our chat system in the near future.
Members of the team are working on more chapters, more quests, some of the classes not currently implemented, endgame content, multiplayer, and more.
Within the last month we recruited a new sound designer! Carlos is focusing on sound effects and will be both creating new ones, and replacing some of our existing effects.
The system we are using should be compatible with most controller types. We don’t have enough different types of controllers across the development team to test them all so I’m sure some will have issues. We have tested with xbox controllers more than anything else so I’m much more confident in them than anything else.
There are also some programs out there that will trick your computer into thinking that a generic controller is an xbox controller. I have tested this and it worked great for me. (huge sample size right?)
When we have more data on which work well and which have issues, we will release an official support list.
And here I thought we wouldn’t get a patch until the beta transition in April. So this patch has the new graphics and optimizations mentioned in the recent Dev Blog?
Ok. The reason I ask is that I have several PS4 and PS3 controllers already, but I don’t currently own an Xbox or Steam controller, so I’m wondering whether the PSx controller will work or do I need to go out and buy an Xbox controller…
Would be really nice to get a more detailed explanation on level requirements for items. It’s a major game play change. The biggest one so far in a lot of ways for veteran players with a completely full item stash.
I’m sorry but It’s a bit silly that you chose to make a blog about potion mechanics but not a HUGE item change like level requirements. Despite the buffs to potion mechanics, the changes to potions, as I’ve said before, are completely unimportant compared to something like level requirements for gear. It’s not even close.
IE: How do the number of affixes affect level requirements? Do multiple mid tier rolls cause the item to be higher level than 1 very high roll? Many many other things…that are much more complicated than health potions and where they spawn:P
Don’t you think its a bit punishing to hardcore players unless there’s a good mid level option that can bridge the weak points? Seeing as now you have to have a much bigger stash to gain benefit from your earlier playthroughs.
So before I could only save the very best gear…now, with only 6 tabs I’d want to have sets of gear for every level tier.
For sc it doesnt matter as much, you can just grind it out and die if you need to. But that also sucks. It’s slower dps. Kills the motivation for rerolling alt characters.
Its nice to have a catch up mechanic for gear. Its nice to reward people for their efforts.
If you’re going to have level requirements the crafting system needs to be changed balance wise for early crafting. Maybe you did that already, and I hope so. Again why it would be nice to get a blog about this…which actually matters. Otherwise early crafting is basically a waste of resources until the highest levels. That’s not how crafting should be. One suggestion - making glyphs of guardian more common and more powerful at early levels but scaling them as you progress.
As of now it would be insane to waste glyphs of guardian on anything other than end game gear. I mean if you want to be number 1 that is:)
To summarize: I think its important for level requirements to exist in some format in the game. That way veterans cant just face roll all content until high waves or whatever replaces them. However, there needs to be some meaningful reward for veterans who are leveling alts etc who managed to get good gear and without the need for an insane number of stash tabs. Whether that be leveling uniques that are actually good or a well planned crafting system that lets your items grow as you level without major punishments.
We are considering going into more detail regarding how level requirements are calculated. As you have argued in favor of this, I’ll offer an example of an argument against it. Last Epoch is currently in alpha - and thus compared to officially launched games, a comparatively larger proportion of development time has been spent implementing systems and features. There is a concern that a forum post explaining each one in depth prior to it becoming available risks cannibalizing the amount of time people spend logging in and playing.
Additionally - the core aim of Developer Blogs is to explain design decisions. As the game had a functional potion system and we had not announced an intention to change it, we considered it prudent to explain the motivations behind the rework. By contrast - not only does literally every ARPG I can think of have level requirements for items, but we have always been open about the fact that their omission was an example of work not yet having been done and that they would be implemented in future. While we are not strictly opposed to posting the numbers involved in the system, a Developer Blog on the subject is unlikely.
You’ve mentioned the implications of this for Hardcore characters. Balance is not a huge priority for the team at this stage of development, however I will say that if the playerbase feels the need to have a full set of equipment for characters in advance at release, something will have gone very wrong. I think we would be more interested in exploring why people feel that need and correcting it than allowing stashes full of items to mask the core issue.
We are not opposed to your existing characters benefiting future ones - I would point to both your characters sharing stash access as well as us not implementing a system similar to Diablo III’s Smart Loot as proof of this. That said, I do think there is a difference between a Path of Exile character having access to the likes of Goldrim, Wanderlust, and Lifesprig at low levels and them equipping Starforge and Headhunter as soon as they first enter Lioneye’s Watch. To put it in Last Epoch terms - I don’t believe it to be necessary (or indeed justifiable) for newly created characters to be equipping items with four max tier affixes.
The Patch Notes have been posted and are available here. The patch is available for download, and download speeds should gradually increase as the update propagates.
