Features

• Refunds for missing Skill Spheres! If you purchased Skill Spheres before the Ascension update that were taken away with the Stat Points System change, you’ll find a gold refund when you launch the game after this patch.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a server crash that could occur while traveling to another map.
  
• Fixed an issue where elemental weapons VFX could display improperly.
  
• Fixed an issue where the chance rate for the legendary dragon egg was much higher than intended.
  
• Fixed the issue where some pets would flicker.

Known Issues

• Due to how quickly we’re putting in the gold refunds for Skill Spheres, there’s a small bug that some of you may run into. Just a small one. Some players may get the Gold Popup message, and then it’ll pop up again, and then it’ll keep popping up for eternity. Just close the game and relaunch it to fix the problem.
  
• If you clear out your .ini files before launching the game for the first time after this update, you’ll receive your gold but you won’t receive the popup.

Features

• Refunds for missing Skill Spheres! If you purchased Skill Spheres before the Ascension update that were taken away with the Stat Points System change, you’ll find a gold refund when you launch the game after this patch.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a server crash that could occur while traveling to another map.
  
• Fixed an issue where elemental weapons VFX could display improperly.
  
• Fixed an issue where the chance rate for the legendary dragon egg was much higher than intended.
  
• Fixed the issue where some pets would flicker.

Known Issues

• Due to how quickly we’re putting in the gold refunds for Skill Spheres, there’s a small bug that some of you may run into. Just a small one. Some players may get the Gold Popup message, and then it’ll pop up again, and then it’ll keep popping up for eternity. Just close the game and relaunch it to fix the problem.
  
• If you clear out your .ini files before launching the game for the first time after this update, you’ll receive your gold but you won’t receive the popup.

Open Alpha. October 13th. That’s the moment when anyone can jump into our Early Access period for free and hammer away at the game. While some of us are head down in prep for this frightening moment, the rest of the team is working on some truly spooky content:

Wrapping up some work on part one of our spooky update then starting work with Mr. Collins on the upcoming part 2!

So last week we had a riddle, this week we have a “Fill in the blanks”

“Cattle die,
Friends die,
So, too, must you die.
I know one,
That never dies;
____________________________________”

Most amusing answer gets another very special imaginary prize (I’m working on a budget here guys n gals)!

Balancing multiple pans on the oven. Working on an economy balance proposal that focuses on pets and item enhancement. Taking a stab at an outline for an event system and finally working on a couple of builds.

Just back from vacation. It’s great to get out and see other parts of the world. Provides new perspective and a fair bit of adventure.

Trying to polish up the SAS system and fix a bunch of other bugs. I don’t have any pretty pictures to show this time, so here’s a picture of what's in my mind’s eye right now.



It’s the first week of the spookiest month of the year! Getting ready for all the thrills, chills and frights that come along with our SPOOOOOOOOOOKY HALLOWEEEEN EVEEEENT. I’m incredibly excited for you guys to get your hands on our new maps, but I hope y’all are prepared to be spooked beyond all reason.



This week I’ll be working on increasing the spookiness of our Halloween event by as much as 33%. Our event maps are just about good to go, and just a little more work is needed on getting the event feeling great.

Working on those sweet spooky maps and getting those encounters super fun. We’ve got some really fun things planned for you guys to do on these maps!

Working on hotfixes and user reported bugs (most reported from you guys was already known =P )

Done with Weapon Variety for the moment. On to Spooky Maps, traps, cores, simulations, explosions, etc. Also, Carl :D

Making things extra spooky for the next patch with our VFX and TA teams. ;)

What Javahawk said. Except I don’t make the things, so I’m a little jealous right now. It’s like building Halloween Horror Nights and never getting to go. Man, that’s a depressing line.

Getting the next big patch together!

Fixing scattered, hard-to-repro crashes we have encountered on our latest build. I should post more pictures… =P

Doing some visual fixes to the spooky levels.



Doing world building related fixes on the Spooky levels and some new stuff for the incoming update! A preview of one of the Spooky levels. Does it scare you?



Running around juggling both RQA and RPG groups. And learning. Much learning.

Just wanted to thank everyone involved in playtesting the patch content over the past week in the Remote Playtesting Group and giving us valuable feedback and constructive criticism. Your input has definitely had a measurable impact on the state of the Ascension Part 1 update, and I hope we can continue to work towards Part 2 and beyond.

If you wish to get involved in playtesting and join the Remote Playtesting Group, send me an email dani.moore(at)trendyent.com, and I will get back to you with more information and an invitation to join.

Super excited to see everyone’s feedback on Ascension: Part 1! Also, working on setting up everything for our Open Alpha release on October 13th!

Open Alpha. October 13th.

Tell your friends. Tell your enemies, your frenemies and that weird cousin nobody wants to talk to at family reunions.

I’m also super happy with the results of our first Remote Playtesting Group session! :)

Open Alpha. October 13th. That’s the moment when anyone can jump into our Early Access period for free and hammer away at the game. While some of us are head down in prep for this frightening moment, the rest of the team is working on some truly spooky content:

Wrapping up some work on part one of our spooky update then starting work with Mr. Collins on the upcoming part 2!

So last week we had a riddle, this week we have a “Fill in the blanks”

“Cattle die,
Friends die,
So, too, must you die.
I know one,
That never dies;
____________________________________”

Most amusing answer gets another very special imaginary prize (I’m working on a budget here guys n gals)!

Balancing multiple pans on the oven. Working on an economy balance proposal that focuses on pets and item enhancement. Taking a stab at an outline for an event system and finally working on a couple of builds.

Just back from vacation. It’s great to get out and see other parts of the world. Provides new perspective and a fair bit of adventure.

Trying to polish up the SAS system and fix a bunch of other bugs. I don’t have any pretty pictures to show this time, so here’s a picture of what's in my mind’s eye right now.



It’s the first week of the spookiest month of the year! Getting ready for all the thrills, chills and frights that come along with our SPOOOOOOOOOOKY HALLOWEEEEN EVEEEENT. I’m incredibly excited for you guys to get your hands on our new maps, but I hope y’all are prepared to be spooked beyond all reason.



This week I’ll be working on increasing the spookiness of our Halloween event by as much as 33%. Our event maps are just about good to go, and just a little more work is needed on getting the event feeling great.

Working on those sweet spooky maps and getting those encounters super fun. We’ve got some really fun things planned for you guys to do on these maps!

Working on hotfixes and user reported bugs (most reported from you guys was already known =P )

Done with Weapon Variety for the moment. On to Spooky Maps, traps, cores, simulations, explosions, etc. Also, Carl :D

Making things extra spooky for the next patch with our VFX and TA teams. ;)

What Javahawk said. Except I don’t make the things, so I’m a little jealous right now. It’s like building Halloween Horror Nights and never getting to go. Man, that’s a depressing line.

Getting the next big patch together!

Fixing scattered, hard-to-repro crashes we have encountered on our latest build. I should post more pictures… =P

Doing some visual fixes to the spooky levels.



Doing world building related fixes on the Spooky levels and some new stuff for the incoming update! A preview of one of the Spooky levels. Does it scare you?



Running around juggling both RQA and RPG groups. And learning. Much learning.

Just wanted to thank everyone involved in playtesting the patch content over the past week in the Remote Playtesting Group and giving us valuable feedback and constructive criticism. Your input has definitely had a measurable impact on the state of the Ascension Part 1 update, and I hope we can continue to work towards Part 2 and beyond.

If you wish to get involved in playtesting and join the Remote Playtesting Group, send me an email dani.moore(at)trendyent.com, and I will get back to you with more information and an invitation to join.

Super excited to see everyone’s feedback on Ascension: Part 1! Also, working on setting up everything for our Open Alpha release on October 13th!

Open Alpha. October 13th.

Tell your friends. Tell your enemies, your frenemies and that weird cousin nobody wants to talk to at family reunions.

I’m also super happy with the results of our first Remote Playtesting Group session! :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5JpuYILu0s

One week until Open Alpha. One week until you can run around and tell your friends about that cool game you’ve been playing. And once you stop telling them about Rocket League, could you maybe throw in the good word about Dungeon Defenders II being available for anyone to download for free, yeah? That’d be awesome.

All jokes aside, until that beautiful moment comes next week on October 13th, here’s an update full of delicious new features and balance! There are some things in this update that are experimental. You can find these things with our super-subtle EXPERIMENTAL marking. There’s also some things in this update that are AWESOME. We didn’t tag those, but we should have.

Also remember, this patch comes in two parts! Part II [AWESOME] will be releasing October 27th and launch with two new Spooky maps, Incursions, new minibosses, new build items and other awesomeness.


New Stat Points System!

• This is an early-game system to improve investment, choice and progression for early-game players. We’ll be looking into ways of improving the system for endgame players in a future update.
  
• When you level up, you’ll get points to invest into stats! The stat screen opens up whenever you level up. Clicking the plus button next to a stat adds 1 point, shift-click adds 5 points and ctrl-click adds 50 points!
  
• Clicking feels good, right?
  
• Added Defense Speed and Defense Range as stats you can invest in when you level up.
  
• You can respec your stats for a flat gold cost.
  
• You can close the window and choose to invest your stat points at a later time.

EXPERIMENTAL: Larger Blockades, Ranged Towers and Auras

• Blockades and Towers take up more space. Size increased by about 30-40%. Collision increases vary between 10-20%.
  
• The defense footprint was increased by about 3x what it used to be, cutting the amount of defenses you can place alongside one another by about half in a 2-3 blockade lane. Damage was increased as a result (you can find these changes in the Balance section).
  
• Adding a note to make sure you saw that damage was increased with those changes. #keepcalm
  
• Auras are just visually bigger. Kappa.
  
• Traps were not affected by these changes (trap changes were reverted based on playtest feedback).

Melee Weapon Modifications for Squire & Monk

• Newly dropped melee weapons can now roll as 3 stances - light, medium, and heavy. Some weapons can roll as an either/or (ex. Light or Medium)
  
• Each stance has a different ground attack pattern. The monk still has his same Chi shot, though. He’s been studying kung fu films -- not ninja anime about becoming a hokage or anything.
  
• There are now random rolls for attack speed on most melee weapons in the game. Two medium swords may not have the same attack rate. Two heavy polearms may have wildly different attack rates.
  
• Air attacks are unaffected by stance.
  
• New tooltip added to compare melee weapons.

Ranged Weapon Modifications for Apprentice & Huntress

• Newly dropped ranged weapons now have vastly different behaviors!
  
  • Burst Fire - multiple shots per click, straight line.
    
    • For those sweet MLG noscopez.
  • Spread Fire - multiple shots per click, spread fire.
    
    • Can vary wildly.
      
    • Landing the entire spread will deal higher damage than normal, but harder to headshot.
  • Shotgun Fire - a LOT of shots in a click, low distance, low accuracy.
    
    • We don’t need to tell you how to use this. Go look up Evil Dead clips or something.
  • Homing Fire - Will gravitate towards your crosshair. Never miss a flying kobold suiciding on your core again!
    
  • Arc Fire - Rains death over an arc. Some may have Area of Effect impacts.
    
  • Not new, but slow firing single shot weapons now deal a LOT of damage...
• Certain legendary weapons have unique behaviors. Find them!
  
• Fixed attack rates will now roll on new weapons. We’ve balanced it such that you can find the weapon you want and succeed more than likely. So take that 40 projectiles a second weapon and go have fun, or the 1 projectile rifle and be precise for big damage.

New Passives and Skill Spheres

• PDT Health (Passive): X% extra Poison Dart Tower health based on your Defense Health stat
  
• PDT Speed (Passive): X% of your Defense Health is converted to Defense Attack Rate on the Poison Dart Tower
  
• PDT Explode (Passive): When a target affected by the Poison Dart Tower’s poison dies, it explodes, dealing X% of your Defense Health as damage in an area around it. Also adds a stack of the PDT poison to targets hit by the explosion.
  
• PDT Range (Sphere): Poison Dart Tower’s range is increased by X%.
  
• PDT Stack Increase (Sphere): The Poison Dart Tower’s poison can stack X more times on a target.

Partial Controller Support

• Partial Controller (Gamepad) support is in!
  
• Use Controller must be manually enabled with the new checkbox at the Options -> Controls screen (scroll down and look right).
  
• For the time being, enabling Use Controller will reset your keybinds. There’s a warning for this, and a future update will remove this limitation.
  
• Note that many screens still do not support the Controller (yet). You’ll still have to keep your mouse handy for the cursor!
  
• Future updates will allow for alternate control schemes and changing of stick sensitivity.

Daily Mission Changes

• Daily Missions are now introduced after Dragonfall Sewers in the campaign. Some new, introduction-type missions accompany this earlier introduction, at least until you have a hero high enough to tackle the core daily mission set.
  
• Added a new quest where the Knight Commander introduces missions between Dragonfall Sewers and Forgotten Ruins.
  
• Monthly missions are still introduced in their old place after players complete the campaign.

View the full list of balance, content and bug fixes here!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5JpuYILu0s

One week until Open Alpha. One week until you can run around and tell your friends about that cool game you’ve been playing. And once you stop telling them about Rocket League, could you maybe throw in the good word about Dungeon Defenders II being available for anyone to download for free, yeah? That’d be awesome.

All jokes aside, until that beautiful moment comes next week on October 13th, here’s an update full of delicious new features and balance! There are some things in this update that are experimental. You can find these things with our super-subtle EXPERIMENTAL marking. There’s also some things in this update that are AWESOME. We didn’t tag those, but we should have.

Also remember, this patch comes in two parts! Part II [AWESOME] will be releasing October 27th and launch with two new Spooky maps, Incursions, new minibosses, new build items and other awesomeness.


New Stat Points System!

• This is an early-game system to improve investment, choice and progression for early-game players. We’ll be looking into ways of improving the system for endgame players in a future update.
  
• When you level up, you’ll get points to invest into stats! The stat screen opens up whenever you level up. Clicking the plus button next to a stat adds 1 point, shift-click adds 5 points and ctrl-click adds 50 points!
  
• Clicking feels good, right?
  
• Added Defense Speed and Defense Range as stats you can invest in when you level up.
  
• You can respec your stats for a flat gold cost.
  
• You can close the window and choose to invest your stat points at a later time.

EXPERIMENTAL: Larger Blockades, Ranged Towers and Auras

• Blockades and Towers take up more space. Size increased by about 30-40%. Collision increases vary between 10-20%.
  
• The defense footprint was increased by about 3x what it used to be, cutting the amount of defenses you can place alongside one another by about half in a 2-3 blockade lane. Damage was increased as a result (you can find these changes in the Balance section).
  
• Adding a note to make sure you saw that damage was increased with those changes. #keepcalm
  
• Auras are just visually bigger. Kappa.
  
• Traps were not affected by these changes (trap changes were reverted based on playtest feedback).

Melee Weapon Modifications for Squire & Monk

• Newly dropped melee weapons can now roll as 3 stances - light, medium, and heavy. Some weapons can roll as an either/or (ex. Light or Medium)
  
• Each stance has a different ground attack pattern. The monk still has his same Chi shot, though. He’s been studying kung fu films -- not ninja anime about becoming a hokage or anything.
  
• There are now random rolls for attack speed on most melee weapons in the game. Two medium swords may not have the same attack rate. Two heavy polearms may have wildly different attack rates.
  
• Air attacks are unaffected by stance.
  
• New tooltip added to compare melee weapons.

Ranged Weapon Modifications for Apprentice & Huntress

• Newly dropped ranged weapons now have vastly different behaviors!
  
  • Burst Fire - multiple shots per click, straight line.
    
    • For those sweet MLG noscopez.
  • Spread Fire - multiple shots per click, spread fire.
    
    • Can vary wildly.
      
    • Landing the entire spread will deal higher damage than normal, but harder to headshot.
  • Shotgun Fire - a LOT of shots in a click, low distance, low accuracy.
    
    • We don’t need to tell you how to use this. Go look up Evil Dead clips or something.
  • Homing Fire - Will gravitate towards your crosshair. Never miss a flying kobold suiciding on your core again!
    
  • Arc Fire - Rains death over an arc. Some may have Area of Effect impacts.
    
  • Not new, but slow firing single shot weapons now deal a LOT of damage...
• Certain legendary weapons have unique behaviors. Find them!
  
• Fixed attack rates will now roll on new weapons. We’ve balanced it such that you can find the weapon you want and succeed more than likely. So take that 40 projectiles a second weapon and go have fun, or the 1 projectile rifle and be precise for big damage.

New Passives and Skill Spheres

• PDT Health (Passive): X% extra Poison Dart Tower health based on your Defense Health stat
  
• PDT Speed (Passive): X% of your Defense Health is converted to Defense Attack Rate on the Poison Dart Tower
  
• PDT Explode (Passive): When a target affected by the Poison Dart Tower’s poison dies, it explodes, dealing X% of your Defense Health as damage in an area around it. Also adds a stack of the PDT poison to targets hit by the explosion.
  
• PDT Range (Sphere): Poison Dart Tower’s range is increased by X%.
  
• PDT Stack Increase (Sphere): The Poison Dart Tower’s poison can stack X more times on a target.

Partial Controller Support

• Partial Controller (Gamepad) support is in!
  
• Use Controller must be manually enabled with the new checkbox at the Options -> Controls screen (scroll down and look right).
  
• For the time being, enabling Use Controller will reset your keybinds. There’s a warning for this, and a future update will remove this limitation.
  
• Note that many screens still do not support the Controller (yet). You’ll still have to keep your mouse handy for the cursor!
  
• Future updates will allow for alternate control schemes and changing of stick sensitivity.

Daily Mission Changes

• Daily Missions are now introduced after Dragonfall Sewers in the campaign. Some new, introduction-type missions accompany this earlier introduction, at least until you have a hero high enough to tackle the core daily mission set.
  
• Added a new quest where the Knight Commander introduces missions between Dragonfall Sewers and Forgotten Ruins.
  
• Monthly missions are still introduced in their old place after players complete the campaign.

View the full list of balance, content and bug fixes here!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5JpuYILu0s

Greetings, Defenders! Lots of exciting changes are coming to Dungeon Defenders II. Get ready.

On October 13th, the Steam version is entering Open Alpha! This is when the game will be free for anyone to join in the Early Access period. To this point, the feedback from our Early Access players have led to major changes to core features, and we’re excited to extend this opportunity to everyone. Players who join in during Open Alpha and beyond will not receive the currency or exclusive goodies unless they purchase one of the packs on Steam. When we move into Open Alpha, there will be no more full wipes, but we may still have limited resets/rerolls depending on what we add or change to the game.

But before Open Alpha happens, we’re releasing our next major update: Ascension! (Current tagline: “Ascend to even greater heights of power, courage, awesomeness and friendship!” ...we’re still working on it.)

This update will release in two parts. The first part releases on October 7th, and the second part tentatively releases on October 27th. Part One contains:

• Experimental bigger towers and clustering changes
  
• New ranged/melee weapon variety
  
• Stat Allocation System: choose where you put stat points when you level up!
  
• A new Huntress build
  
• New costumes
  
• Enemy rebalancing and more!

Part Two contains:

• Two new maps!
  
• A new Incursion
  
• New minibosses
  
• Four new hero builds
  
• New spooky costumes and more!

To see the Ascension update in action, check out today’s Devstream below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55eJCqshX5Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5JpuYILu0s

Greetings, Defenders! Lots of exciting changes are coming to Dungeon Defenders II. Get ready.

On October 13th, the Steam version is entering Open Alpha! This is when the game will be free for anyone to join in the Early Access period. To this point, the feedback from our Early Access players have led to major changes to core features, and we’re excited to extend this opportunity to everyone. Players who join in during Open Alpha and beyond will not receive the currency or exclusive goodies unless they purchase one of the packs on Steam. When we move into Open Alpha, there will be no more full wipes, but we may still have limited resets/rerolls depending on what we add or change to the game.

But before Open Alpha happens, we’re releasing our next major update: Ascension! (Current tagline: “Ascend to even greater heights of power, courage, awesomeness and friendship!” ...we’re still working on it.)

This update will release in two parts. The first part releases on October 7th, and the second part tentatively releases on October 27th. Part One contains:

• Experimental bigger towers and clustering changes
  
• New ranged/melee weapon variety
  
• Stat Allocation System: choose where you put stat points when you level up!
  
• A new Huntress build
  
• New costumes
  
• Enemy rebalancing and more!

Part Two contains:

• Two new maps!
  
• A new Incursion
  
• New minibosses
  
• Four new hero builds
  
• New spooky costumes and more!

To see the Ascension update in action, check out today’s Devstream below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55eJCqshX5Q

The October monthly quest may blow your mind, Defenders. There is disturbing news from the front. Many troops have had reports of terrifying nightmares. A mass of hulking skeletons, shambling towards a cache of legendary treasures. They are led by horrifyingly cute teddy bears.

This is the work of a gang of Bearkiras, psychic Creepers with frightening powers. Head to the Incursions, secure the Legendaries and destroy their skeletal minions. They’ll be forced to join us in our fight against the Old Ones.




Teddy Bear Nightmare

• Kill 75 Skeleton Special Enemies
  
• Find 75 Legendary Items
  
• Win 25 Incursions

We hope you enjoy this month's quest, Defenders! What do you think of the monthly pets so far?

The October monthly quest may blow your mind, Defenders. There is disturbing news from the front. Many troops have had reports of terrifying nightmares. A mass of hulking skeletons, shambling towards a cache of legendary treasures. They are led by horrifyingly cute teddy bears.

This is the work of a gang of Bearkiras, psychic Creepers with frightening powers. Head to the Incursions, secure the Legendaries and destroy their skeletal minions. They’ll be forced to join us in our fight against the Old Ones.




Teddy Bear Nightmare

• Kill 75 Skeleton Special Enemies
  
• Find 75 Legendary Items
  
• Win 25 Incursions

We hope you enjoy this month's quest, Defenders! What do you think of the monthly pets so far?