Greetings Defenders,

As we teased a few Devstreams ago, some big changes to Nightmare are coming with the Alpha & Beyond patch. These changes are meant to make Nightmare something both fun and challenging. They will begin a process of making a much larger swatch of Nightmare meaningful, not just Liferoot NM 4.


Here are some of the changes that will be included in the patch:

• Free Play & Nightmare maps will be re-organized into 3 blocks. Each block represents a different map difficulty and will award progressively better loot and XP. Map order here is very different from Campaign. For example, Forest Crossroads is in the first block of maps and Liferoot Forest is in the second.
  
• Nightmare maps have been rebalanced for solo play. We have reduced the number of threat lanes for solo players on more complicated maps compared to the live version of the game. We have also increased the reduction in enemy level for less than 4 players.
  Loot will drop from all enemies after Wave 1. On the first wave, loot will only drop from Special Enemies.
  Nightmare 1-3 will be different than Nightmare 4. Our current goal is that players will be theorycrafting and creating strong builds while playing 1-3 in order to take on the challenge that is Nightmare 4.

When these changes roll out, there will also be a rollback for Nightmare gear. All gear with iPWR 241+ will be rerolled to iPWR 240. This gear will be the same type (bows will still be bows), but the stats and the passives on the gear will be rerolled and may be different from what you had. Once the patch is live, you’ll be able to take all your gear and start your assault on the new Nightmare modes. We can’t wait to hear your feedback on our latest Nightmare changes!


As a reward for venturing into the depths of Nightmare early, any player who has at least one piece of gear with iPWR 241 or greater before Alpha & Beyond releases* will receive these 4 exclusive accessory variants:



Good luck, Defenders! We look forward to hearing your thoughts on these Nightmare changes this September.

*We will be providing an exact cutoff date and time for these rewards in the future.

Greetings Defenders,

As we teased a few Devstreams ago, some big changes to Nightmare are coming with the Alpha & Beyond patch. These changes are meant to make Nightmare something both fun and challenging. They will begin a process of making a much larger swatch of Nightmare meaningful, not just Liferoot NM 4.


Here are some of the changes that will be included in the patch:

• Free Play & Nightmare maps will be re-organized into 3 blocks. Each block represents a different map difficulty and will award progressively better loot and XP. Map order here is very different from Campaign. For example, Forest Crossroads is in the first block of maps and Liferoot Forest is in the second.
  
• Nightmare maps have been rebalanced for solo play. We have reduced the number of threat lanes for solo players on more complicated maps compared to the live version of the game. We have also increased the reduction in enemy level for less than 4 players.
  Loot will drop from all enemies after Wave 1. On the first wave, loot will only drop from Special Enemies.
  Nightmare 1-3 will be different than Nightmare 4. Our current goal is that players will be theorycrafting and creating strong builds while playing 1-3 in order to take on the challenge that is Nightmare 4.

When these changes roll out, there will also be a rollback for Nightmare gear. All gear with iPWR 241+ will be rerolled to iPWR 240. This gear will be the same type (bows will still be bows), but the stats and the passives on the gear will be rerolled and may be different from what you had. Once the patch is live, you’ll be able to take all your gear and start your assault on the new Nightmare modes. We can’t wait to hear your feedback on our latest Nightmare changes!


As a reward for venturing into the depths of Nightmare early, any player who has at least one piece of gear with iPWR 241 or greater before Alpha & Beyond releases* will receive these 4 exclusive accessory variants:



Good luck, Defenders! We look forward to hearing your thoughts on these Nightmare changes this September.

*We will be providing an exact cutoff date and time for these rewards in the future.

Features

• New Passives
  
  • Phoenix's Call: Five seconds after the Blaze Balloon pops, a Phoenix is summoned from the ground dealing X% of Defense Power as damage.
    
  • Phoenix Flame: X% of Defense Power is added to the Blaze Balloon’s Defense Crit Damage.
    
  • Phoenix's Luck: Increase Defense Crit Chance for the Blaze Balloon.
• New Skill Sphere
  
  • Increases both the Defense Crit Chance and Defense Crit Damage for the Blaze Balloon.
• Playverse Update: Gamer names no longer have to be unique and will sync with your Steam ID every time you log in.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where the Empower passive was not working properly.
  
• Fixed an issue where players were unable to resume auto-attacking after using an ability.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Frosty Power passive was providing an increase to Boost Auras at double the expected rate.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Huntress and Apprentice’s charge attacks were not always hitting the location you were aiming at.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Kobold wasn’t properly using its death animation.
  
• Fixed an issue where the one of the new Frosty passives did not properly have a line break in the tooltip.
  
• Fixed an issue where armor pieces were appearing with the same secondary stat as the primary stat.
  
• Fixed an issue where players could drop Ability Mana during Build Phase and get more than expected Ability Mana.

Features

• New Passives
  
  • Phoenix's Call: Five seconds after the Blaze Balloon pops, a Phoenix is summoned from the ground dealing X% of Defense Power as damage.
    
  • Phoenix Flame: X% of Defense Power is added to the Blaze Balloon’s Defense Crit Damage.
    
  • Phoenix's Luck: Increase Defense Crit Chance for the Blaze Balloon.
• New Skill Sphere
  
  • Increases both the Defense Crit Chance and Defense Crit Damage for the Blaze Balloon.
• Playverse Update: Gamer names no longer have to be unique and will sync with your Steam ID every time you log in.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where the Empower passive was not working properly.
  
• Fixed an issue where players were unable to resume auto-attacking after using an ability.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Frosty Power passive was providing an increase to Boost Auras at double the expected rate.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Huntress and Apprentice’s charge attacks were not always hitting the location you were aiming at.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Kobold wasn’t properly using its death animation.
  
• Fixed an issue where the one of the new Frosty passives did not properly have a line break in the tooltip.
  
• Fixed an issue where armor pieces were appearing with the same secondary stat as the primary stat.
  
• Fixed an issue where players could drop Ability Mana during Build Phase and get more than expected Ability Mana.

Greetings, Defenders!


Our next patch for Dungeon Defenders II, Alpha & Beyond, is coming out this September! This patch will begin our Alpha phase of development. Since almost every Early Access developer (and platform) uses different terminology, here’s our definitions:


Phases of Development for Dungeon Defenders II:

• Pre-Alpha- This is where we develop the core features of the game. Public releases are often far apart and most work is focused on the initial creation of core features and gameplay systems. (Note: This is the state of the game since our release in Early Access)
  
  
• Alpha- In this phase we rapidly iterate on and improve the core feature set of the game. Feature work is still ongoing in this phase, but we will also be focusing on bug fixing and balancing on a near weekly basis.
  
  
• Open Alpha - This is the same phase as Alpha, but open to everyone. There will be no full wipes once we reach this stage. If there are balance or other issues we will deal with them in similar methods to other online games.
  
  
• Open Beta - At this point, core feature work is mostly complete. We will be fully operating the game as a live product. Most of our time will be spent creating new content (levels, bosses, events, items) and continuing to balance the game.
  
  
• Free to Play- Release! Here we consider the game has enough content to be “released.” From here on we will be making new content, creating post-release features, and more!

The PlayStation 4 version of the game will be following a similar roadmap once released, just a few steps behind the PC version. We may be using slightly different terminology though, due to the platform. We’ll have more details on the PlayStation 4 soon!


In the meantime, catch a sneak peak of the Alpha & Beyond patch in our last Devstream here. And tune in to our next DevStream, this Friday at 5 PM EDT for our full reveal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBYZjDjw09s

Greetings, Defenders!


Our next patch for Dungeon Defenders II, Alpha & Beyond, is coming out this September! This patch will begin our Alpha phase of development. Since almost every Early Access developer (and platform) uses different terminology, here’s our definitions:


Phases of Development for Dungeon Defenders II:

• Pre-Alpha- This is where we develop the core features of the game. Public releases are often far apart and most work is focused on the initial creation of core features and gameplay systems. (Note: This is the state of the game since our release in Early Access)
  
  
• Alpha- In this phase we rapidly iterate on and improve the core feature set of the game. Feature work is still ongoing in this phase, but we will also be focusing on bug fixing and balancing on a near weekly basis.
  
  
• Open Alpha - This is the same phase as Alpha, but open to everyone. There will be no full wipes once we reach this stage. If there are balance or other issues we will deal with them in similar methods to other online games.
  
  
• Open Beta - At this point, core feature work is mostly complete. We will be fully operating the game as a live product. Most of our time will be spent creating new content (levels, bosses, events, items) and continuing to balance the game.
  
  
• Free to Play- Release! Here we consider the game has enough content to be “released.” From here on we will be making new content, creating post-release features, and more!

The PlayStation 4 version of the game will be following a similar roadmap once released, just a few steps behind the PC version. We may be using slightly different terminology though, due to the platform. We’ll have more details on the PlayStation 4 soon!


In the meantime, catch a sneak peak of the Alpha & Beyond patch in our last Devstream here. And tune in to our next DevStream, this Friday at 5 PM EDT for our full reveal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBYZjDjw09s

Over the weekend, we believe we've found a solution to the "infinite black loading screen" and other joining session issues. Please let us know if you still have issues with these after the hotfix!

BUGFIXES

• Fixed a memory leak on the servers that was causing players to experience an “infinite black loading screen.” Please let us know if you have any more issues joining games.
  
  
• Fixed an issue where pet reroll items would not leave the first inventory bag.
  
  
• Fixed an issue where the Monk Betsy weapon would spawn with depreciated primary stats or two hero damage stats.

Over the weekend, we believe we've found a solution to the "infinite black loading screen" and other joining session issues. Please let us know if you still have issues with these after the hotfix!

BUGFIXES

• Fixed a memory leak on the servers that was causing players to experience an “infinite black loading screen.” Please let us know if you have any more issues joining games.
  
  
• Fixed an issue where pet reroll items would not leave the first inventory bag.
  
  
• Fixed an issue where the Monk Betsy weapon would spawn with depreciated primary stats or two hero damage stats.

In this Devstream, Phil and Dan talk about our upcoming Frost Fire event, tease the new Steampunktress costume, and more!

Also, we talk about our next patch! Stay tuned Monday for our next blog -- The Road to Free to Play!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBYZjDjw09s


In other news, the Casters Guild has suffered some causalities and looking to replenish their ranks! Applications have opened up and we’re looking for Streamers and Moderators to join “The Casters Guild”. Read the requirements and F.A.Q. here (link to TCG requirements and F.A.Q. doc) and if you think you have what it takes, submit your application (link to TCG application)! Applications will be open until Friday September 18th @ 11:59pm EST.

If you have any questions, please message TCG Managers Victoryoftheppl and @Ryster66 on the forums and they’ll get back to you as soon as they can.

TCG requirements and F.A.Q. – https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nztl8oEaE0vu8GYc-xbttdB0IitCiDC0jVn7_v1ltWM/edit?usp=sharing

TCG application - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1FU00ANjGSGh6x9RaX1vusphLUsCcWYa1KFW27mKA6Cw/viewform

In this Devstream, Phil and Dan talk about our upcoming Frost Fire event, tease the new Steampunktress costume, and more!

Also, we talk about our next patch! Stay tuned Monday for our next blog -- The Road to Free to Play!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBYZjDjw09s


In other news, the Casters Guild has suffered some causalities and looking to replenish their ranks! Applications have opened up and we’re looking for Streamers and Moderators to join “The Casters Guild”. Read the requirements and F.A.Q. here (link to TCG requirements and F.A.Q. doc) and if you think you have what it takes, submit your application (link to TCG application)! Applications will be open until Friday September 18th @ 11:59pm EST.

If you have any questions, please message TCG Managers Victoryoftheppl and @Ryster66 on the forums and they’ll get back to you as soon as they can.

TCG requirements and F.A.Q. – https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nztl8oEaE0vu8GYc-xbttdB0IitCiDC0jVn7_v1ltWM/edit?usp=sharing

TCG application - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1FU00ANjGSGh6x9RaX1vusphLUsCcWYa1KFW27mKA6Cw/viewform