5/3: Of Mice and Wraiths

The new build is released! Grab it at the links on the right. :D

The main three changes in this build are:

1) The long-requested and finally added “off click to close” feature: right-clicking off of a pop-up window such as selecting a character to summon, choosing an item to use, etc. will now, if possible, close the window, just as if you had pressed Escape instead.

2) With thanks to ayayaya on the forums for the suggestion: Bonus MaxHP gained by using abilities no longer degrades over time, instead, it is lost when you take damage: 50% of the damage you take is also deducted from any bonus MaxHP you have. This allows professional drainers to keep bonus MaxHP around without having to micromanage resting/healing. Of course, this rule change also applies to the enemies… on the assumption they have encountered other foes in the past, any character that spawns with a MaxHP draining ability (including even negotiation demands) will generate with some bonus MaxHP added. :P

CharlissIsMean
(Yep, even heroes spawn with bonus MaxHP if they have abilities like Vigor Siphon. Remember, you can right-click off his character sheet to close it once you’ve seen how many bonus MaxHP he spawned with! :D )

3) I finally fixed a long-standing issue where if you backed out of training/copy ability at any point, it automatically dumped you back to the neutral interface instead of just one menu back, in some cases. UI bugs are the worst. :P But, this one is finally dead! Yay!

And now, I am finally free to get back on to fun stuff, which I will have more to say about very soon! Stay tuned, and good luck in the Tower!

2 responses to “5/3: Of Mice and Wraiths

  1. Something changed in the last few updates, because I’ve found myself playing Demon a LOT more. Honestly, it’s the currency system, because it allows for power combos on the player character, instead of just a smorgasboard of weird abilities. Every spending of currency requires thought.

    Probably not coincidentally, I’ve been going a lot higher in the tower; I think my highest was floor 12?

    Thoughts:

    1) I don’t know if this is a bug, but using a Pure Stone when not under a status effect does not heal. My attempts to use Pure Stones as a last-ditch heal and failing therein has lead to three of my deaths.

    2) On the topic of items, the purple glowing on the item icon after collecting a new item gets annoying. Yes, game, I’ve seen a Heal Gem before, you don’t need to tell me about it.

    3) It’s non-obvious that you can recruit both a modified and a non-modified demon of the same species. I suppose there’s not much room for this on, say, the tooltip on the offerings, but I think an example in the help menu might help. As it is, I stumbled on it by accident.

    4) This is a purely convenience request: There’s a number of melee combat abilities which one would prefer to almost always use. For example, I had a build with Pounce, Swift, the dodge-if-moved ability, and Ghost Pierce. I pretty much always wanted to Ghost Pierce if I had the SP. As it was, I had to keep pressing 4-(click) 4-(click). It would be really cool if there was some way to set the default action on moving into someone to use a specific ability instead. I don’t mean actually changing the basic attack, but just reading that command differently.

    5) Not a bug, just an observation: Buff and debuffs are actually stronger than they look, they’re just not shiny. I had a debuff only Orb of Power dude, and I got all the way to Turdak’s Sanctum (well, I had Flame Dart, too.)

    6) I’d really appreciate a range indicator on abilities. It’s critical against Zar/Chindi groups.

    7) This is more of a question, but is the fact that every unique is in every game intentional, or just because there aren’t that many uniques? I mean, if your team really needs Headless, you’re guaranteed to at least see him.

    That’s all I can think of. Again, I’ve been playing this a lot more, whereas previously I would maybe play one game per build. Good job!

    • Hey. :) I’m glad you’re enjoying Demon more with the Currency system added. :D Tower:12 is pretty good as a top, that puts you in pretty rare company. :) Now, on to your thoughts.

      1) This appears to be a case of a badly worded description. Pure Stone/Gems’ descriptions were trying to say that they heal 10% of damage to your MaxHP, such as from Vigor Siphon, Void Touch, etc. I’ve updated the descriptions to try and clarify this. Thanks!

      2) The options menu (press the ‘-’ key) has an option for turning off suggestions: option e on the list will disable them… that said, I agree the Item one in particular might be overly tedious and will look into nerfing it. :D

      3) Hmm.. I agree this isn’t spelled out well. I’ve been thinking of adding a tip of the floor feature to try and sort out issues like this, where I have something useful to convey (like being able to hold Ctrl when moving to force your allies to spend their next turn following you) but don’t have a good location for it. Maybe that will work?

      4) This might not be too tricky to set up. The next build’s already crammed with the Relic Upgrade system being added, but I have put it on the list for the one following.

      5) It’s true, they’re not very flashy, at least not the very basic versions of them. There are more exotic variants available that are (maybe?) a little better like the Slash + buff random ally abilities and the free action self-buffs. That said, some players do have fun with them anyway, though I agree it’d be better if I could find some way to make them more interesting.

      6) This is on the UI upgrade list, which I do tasks from whenever I’m feeling good about life and want to remedy that particular condition. :P Kidding aside, I do agree it would be good to have and will get to it, but I have to balance UI work vs. fun stuff or I start getting grumpy. :)

      7) Every unique is not in every game, but I admit the chance for each is pretty high, and yes, it is mostly because there aren’t that many yet. I allocate a certain % of the total weight of each floor’s spawn table for uniques: if a floor has multiple uniques (rare at the moment, but becoming more common), they have to share the weight between them, making each less likely. But, in many cases, each floor only has 1 unique assigned to it, or 2 at most, so their individual weights tend to be high. As more content is added, unique appearance from game to game will get a bit more mixed up.

      Thank you for playing and for the excellent feedback. :) I’m glad you kept checking back to see how things were developing. :D