https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_2whuHcVI4

Lots of great words start with A. My favorite can’t be posted here without getting fired. My second favorite is anteater because it’s hilariously to-the-point. Somewhere down the list is another great word -- Alpha.

Dungeon Defenders II is going into Closed Anteater, no, wait, Closed Alpha on Thursday! Prepare to stick your two-foot tongue into a hill of delicious new content, balance changes and more. Use your beady eyes to watch our new intro cinematic! Steel your four wobbly legs to re-enter our improved Nightmare Mode! Ditch your furry hide and find some new costumes in the Costume Shop! The Alpha & Beyond update will have all of this and more, so come back here on Thursday for the full patch notes.

With this update, we get one step closer to Open Alpha when the game is open to everyone. If you’re eager to play the game before the Open Alpha and still get a good value, we’re adding a cheaper version of DD2 to Steam on Thursday!

Starter Pack (New $14.99 Version):

• Access to Alpha (and all of the delicious Alpha ants!)
  
• 2000 Gems
  
• Four Steam-exclusive Hero Accessories

Defenders Pack ($24.99 Version, renamed from Dungeon Defenders II):

• Access to Alpha (and its crunchy ant delights!)
  
• 3000 Gems
  
• Four Steam-exclusive Hero Accessories
  
• Two Extra Hero Slots

Both packages start with four premium inventory bags. For the full timeline on our Road to Free to Play, check out this blog!

Thanks to everyone for your feedback so far. Together, we’ll continue making the best Action Tower Defense game possible!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_2whuHcVI4

Lots of great words start with A. My favorite can’t be posted here without getting fired. My second favorite is anteater because it’s hilariously to-the-point. Somewhere down the list is another great word -- Alpha.

Dungeon Defenders II is going into Closed Anteater, no, wait, Closed Alpha on Thursday! Prepare to stick your two-foot tongue into a hill of delicious new content, balance changes and more. Use your beady eyes to watch our new intro cinematic! Steel your four wobbly legs to re-enter our improved Nightmare Mode! Ditch your furry hide and find some new costumes in the Costume Shop! The Alpha & Beyond update will have all of this and more, so come back here on Thursday for the full patch notes.

With this update, we get one step closer to Open Alpha when the game is open to everyone. If you’re eager to play the game before the Open Alpha and still get a good value, we’re adding a cheaper version of DD2 to Steam on Thursday!

Starter Pack (New $14.99 Version):

• Access to Alpha (and all of the delicious Alpha ants!)
  
• 2000 Gems
  
• Four Steam-exclusive Hero Accessories

Defenders Pack ($24.99 Version, renamed from Dungeon Defenders II):

• Access to Alpha (and its crunchy ant delights!)
  
• 3000 Gems
  
• Four Steam-exclusive Hero Accessories
  
• Two Extra Hero Slots

Both packages start with four premium inventory bags. For the full timeline on our Road to Free to Play, check out this blog!

Thanks to everyone for your feedback so far. Together, we’ll continue making the best Action Tower Defense game possible!

Our next patch, Alpha & Beyond, drops September 3rd! Phil, Dan and Brad tease some new features and answer questions!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKP47PWOVz0

Our next patch, Alpha & Beyond, drops September 3rd! Phil, Dan and Brad tease some new features and answer questions!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKP47PWOVz0

Greetings, Defenders! This weekend, a phoenix is burning through Etheria, leaving Huntress build items in its charred path.

From Friday to Monday, the Phoenix Call Huntress Weapon is dropping at 3x its normal rate, and Legendaries are falling from the sky at 2x the normal rate! Combine these items, your Skill Spheres, and other heroes to create your own unique builds. And then share those with the community! We can’t wait to see what you come up with.

We’ve also updated our Weekend Event list. Here are the upcoming events!

Event List

• Weekend of 8/28 - 3x Phoenix Call Huntress Weapon Drop Rate + 2x Legendary Drop Rate
  
• Weekend of 9/4 - Purging Evil Monk Weapon Drop Rate + 2x Legendary Drop Rate
  
• Weekend of 9/11 - Hero Recap Weekend (3x Monk, Huntress, Squire and Apprentice Build Weapons) + 2x Legendary Drop Rate

Also, this weekend the Legendary Drop rate will apply to Free Play AND End Game! This way, you can grab as much iPwr 240 gear for the upcoming Nightmare changes!

All events will run from Friday 1 PM EDT to Monday 11 AM EDT. Weapon Drop Events will take place on all maps in Free Play and End Game modes. Legendary Drop Events will only take place in all maps on Free Play mode, with the exception of this weekend’s event which is also on End Game.

Tune in to this Friday’s Devstream at 5 PM EDT for a sneak peak at our new Monk build!

Greetings, Defenders! This weekend, a phoenix is burning through Etheria, leaving Huntress build items in its charred path.

From Friday to Monday, the Phoenix Call Huntress Weapon is dropping at 3x its normal rate, and Legendaries are falling from the sky at 2x the normal rate! Combine these items, your Skill Spheres, and other heroes to create your own unique builds. And then share those with the community! We can’t wait to see what you come up with.

We’ve also updated our Weekend Event list. Here are the upcoming events!

Event List

• Weekend of 8/28 - 3x Phoenix Call Huntress Weapon Drop Rate + 2x Legendary Drop Rate
  
• Weekend of 9/4 - Purging Evil Monk Weapon Drop Rate + 2x Legendary Drop Rate
  
• Weekend of 9/11 - Hero Recap Weekend (3x Monk, Huntress, Squire and Apprentice Build Weapons) + 2x Legendary Drop Rate

Also, this weekend the Legendary Drop rate will apply to Free Play AND End Game! This way, you can grab as much iPwr 240 gear for the upcoming Nightmare changes!

All events will run from Friday 1 PM EDT to Monday 11 AM EDT. Weapon Drop Events will take place on all maps in Free Play and End Game modes. Legendary Drop Events will only take place in all maps on Free Play mode, with the exception of this weekend’s event which is also on End Game.

Tune in to this Friday’s Devstream at 5 PM EDT for a sneak peak at our new Monk build!

Our "scariest" Snapshooter contest is done, finished, complete! A big thank you to everyone who participated. There were many great entries, but unfortunately, there can be only one, erm...three:

• phillbugh16 - Because nothing is scarier than Ogre gas.
  
• Hadeskrieger - Because the Old Ones are always watching.
  
• Gigazelle - Because Tethys. Well played, bud. Well played...

Congratulations to our newest Snapshooters!



Next up: Boldest! We want to see screenshots showcasing nerves of steel. From now until September 2nd (a very very special day, Defenders) at 2pm EDT, go on a quest for the boldest in-game screenshot you can take and submit it in this blog. We'll pick three winners on September 3rd! (Which is just an OK day. Maybe a little bit more special due to its close relationship with the 2nd).

To enter, take an in-game screenshot and upload it to Steam. Embed the Steam image in a comment below, along with a link to the image on Steam. Screenshots without Steam links will not be chosen. You may submit as many images as you'd like, but please limit them to one per post.

The Snapshooter Contest is judged by a panel of Trendy Community Team employees with absolutely no taste. Except for me, of course. But really, I just think I have good taste.

Here is a loose guideline on how we'll be judging the screenshots:

1. G.U.T. -- Genuine, Ultimate Tummy-feeling. If the screenshot tickles something inside our abdominal food synthesizers that makes us say “wow” or “good gravy,” chances are we’ll pick it as a winner. It's going to be very difficult, because nobody actually says "good gravy" anymore. I'm not even sure I want to say "good gravy."
   
2. No HUDs -- Screenshots with the Heads Up Display activated will score lower than HUDless shots. Press “H” to let the game shine. For real, Defenders. No HUDs.
   
3. Originality -- Don’t steal from other players. We’re watching you. In the event that a bunch of you have the same brilliant idea, we will only consider the first one.
   
4. Dagon -- If you can incorporate Dagon, the ancient Mesopotamian god of grain, into your screenshot, you’ll earn extra points. How you’re going to do this with an in-game screenshot is beyond us, but we like to be surprised. A lot of extra points. I'm actually interested to see how you guys do this one.

You must have your Steam account linked to your forum account. All screenshots must be taken by the Steam account that’s linked to the forum account. Any entry that is stolen from another player will result in the permanent removal of your forum account.

Our "scariest" Snapshooter contest is done, finished, complete! A big thank you to everyone who participated. There were many great entries, but unfortunately, there can be only one, erm...three:

• phillbugh16 - Because nothing is scarier than Ogre gas.
  
• Hadeskrieger - Because the Old Ones are always watching.
  
• Gigazelle - Because Tethys. Well played, bud. Well played...

Congratulations to our newest Snapshooters!



Next up: Boldest! We want to see screenshots showcasing nerves of steel. From now until September 2nd (a very very special day, Defenders) at 2pm EDT, go on a quest for the boldest in-game screenshot you can take and submit it in this blog. We'll pick three winners on September 3rd! (Which is just an OK day. Maybe a little bit more special due to its close relationship with the 2nd).

To enter, take an in-game screenshot and upload it to Steam. Embed the Steam image in a comment below, along with a link to the image on Steam. Screenshots without Steam links will not be chosen. You may submit as many images as you'd like, but please limit them to one per post.

The Snapshooter Contest is judged by a panel of Trendy Community Team employees with absolutely no taste. Except for me, of course. But really, I just think I have good taste.

Here is a loose guideline on how we'll be judging the screenshots:

1. G.U.T. -- Genuine, Ultimate Tummy-feeling. If the screenshot tickles something inside our abdominal food synthesizers that makes us say “wow” or “good gravy,” chances are we’ll pick it as a winner. It's going to be very difficult, because nobody actually says "good gravy" anymore. I'm not even sure I want to say "good gravy."
   
2. No HUDs -- Screenshots with the Heads Up Display activated will score lower than HUDless shots. Press “H” to let the game shine. For real, Defenders. No HUDs.
   
3. Originality -- Don’t steal from other players. We’re watching you. In the event that a bunch of you have the same brilliant idea, we will only consider the first one.
   
4. Dagon -- If you can incorporate Dagon, the ancient Mesopotamian god of grain, into your screenshot, you’ll earn extra points. How you’re going to do this with an in-game screenshot is beyond us, but we like to be surprised. A lot of extra points. I'm actually interested to see how you guys do this one.

You must have your Steam account linked to your forum account. All screenshots must be taken by the Steam account that’s linked to the forum account. Any entry that is stolen from another player will result in the permanent removal of your forum account.

Working on a super awesome Intro video!

This week is taking the ginormous bug list and not making it so ginormous. I squeezed in two full work days over the weekend (and then some) to put in an optimization feature that will allow the Inventory screen to open muuuuuuuuuuuch faster.

Other than that it's been heads down on this bug list. I don’t really have any pictures to show this week. Well, I could show a more finished version of the interaction icons. Sure...lets do that.



Stomping my way through the bug list and doing some tests on things that could make for a fun future Incursion. Not a ton to report on this week, but very excited for the next patch to get into y’all’s hands.

Making some updates to the Free Play and End Game playlists. We want to make sure the rewards for completing maps is in line with the map’s complexity. Still doing some Nightmare tests and making sure that’s a fair balance for solo players.

So this week we’ve been hammering away on finishing up the current milestone. So much has caught fire with the merge of the PS4 we’re in full Uh-Oh mode. But we’re plowing through tryin to get’er done. Oh also, hammering out those hotfixes after hotfixes!

Fixing any animation related bug, any implementation bugs with pets and/or skins and accessories and weapons. Been creating some more sweet animation tools. There’s also been lots of meetings regarding milestones to come, and lots of planning!

Burning down the TA/VFX buglists for an upcoming patch. Also healing my back up after an ugly accident last week... Also setup some great new contextual interaction iconography with Danny’s design & guidance... It’s looking pretty cool!

Multiple projectiles? Attack speed? Arcing weapons? Axes? STUFF BOUNCING OFF WALLS?
It’s like a kid in a candy shop in the combat prototype.

Adding some nice touches to the out of bound areas of the new social hub level. It's a work in progress, so it doesn't have a release date yet.



Still working on the social hub, now polishing the pirate ship! (As Jesus said above, it’s a work in progress, so there’s not a release date yet.)



Hotfixin the hotfix’s hotfix. We’ve been up to the neck bug-hunting the recent wave of hotfixes and general content.

Getting everything ready for Alpha & Beyond. Trying to lock down a release date as soon as possible to announce to all of you. Also working on MS18 planning, we have a few big focuses there I think you are all going to really enjoy. Some of it has even been hinted at in some of the past dev logs.

You should take a moment to re-read Adam’s entry. It’s what I’ve been personally waiting for in DD2. It might not come in for a long time, but whenever it comes out, it’s gonna be #ThanksStow all day, son. All. Day.

So yeah, I’m back from vacation! It was a year since my last one (and on that one, I got married!), so it was time to refresh. Now that I’m back, I’m getting our internal Community Concerns document back up to speed. This is the document that houses all of the bugs and big pieces of feedback that are sent to us on the forums and social media.

I’m also working on a way to improve our suggestions flow. Right now, everything gets placed into the Suggestions subforum, and it’s honestly not the best way to handle submissions. The wonderful @Rangerz-Bert helps us gather all of the suggestions for internal review, but it’s not a solution that scales by any means. (Unless we can clone him. Hmmm.) As we travel on The Road to Free to Play, it’s going to be more important to gather suggestions in a scalable, easy-to-use, archival manner. I’m personally a fan of the UserVoice platform that Red 5 Studios uses for suggestions. What do you think? Do you have a better idea? I’d love to hear it!

Working on a super awesome Intro video!

This week is taking the ginormous bug list and not making it so ginormous. I squeezed in two full work days over the weekend (and then some) to put in an optimization feature that will allow the Inventory screen to open muuuuuuuuuuuch faster.

Other than that it's been heads down on this bug list. I don’t really have any pictures to show this week. Well, I could show a more finished version of the interaction icons. Sure...lets do that.



Stomping my way through the bug list and doing some tests on things that could make for a fun future Incursion. Not a ton to report on this week, but very excited for the next patch to get into y’all’s hands.

Making some updates to the Free Play and End Game playlists. We want to make sure the rewards for completing maps is in line with the map’s complexity. Still doing some Nightmare tests and making sure that’s a fair balance for solo players.

So this week we’ve been hammering away on finishing up the current milestone. So much has caught fire with the merge of the PS4 we’re in full Uh-Oh mode. But we’re plowing through tryin to get’er done. Oh also, hammering out those hotfixes after hotfixes!

Fixing any animation related bug, any implementation bugs with pets and/or skins and accessories and weapons. Been creating some more sweet animation tools. There’s also been lots of meetings regarding milestones to come, and lots of planning!

Burning down the TA/VFX buglists for an upcoming patch. Also healing my back up after an ugly accident last week... Also setup some great new contextual interaction iconography with Danny’s design & guidance... It’s looking pretty cool!

Multiple projectiles? Attack speed? Arcing weapons? Axes? STUFF BOUNCING OFF WALLS?
It’s like a kid in a candy shop in the combat prototype.

Adding some nice touches to the out of bound areas of the new social hub level. It's a work in progress, so it doesn't have a release date yet.



Still working on the social hub, now polishing the pirate ship! (As Jesus said above, it’s a work in progress, so there’s not a release date yet.)



Hotfixin the hotfix’s hotfix. We’ve been up to the neck bug-hunting the recent wave of hotfixes and general content.

Getting everything ready for Alpha & Beyond. Trying to lock down a release date as soon as possible to announce to all of you. Also working on MS18 planning, we have a few big focuses there I think you are all going to really enjoy. Some of it has even been hinted at in some of the past dev logs.

You should take a moment to re-read Adam’s entry. It’s what I’ve been personally waiting for in DD2. It might not come in for a long time, but whenever it comes out, it’s gonna be #ThanksStow all day, son. All. Day.

So yeah, I’m back from vacation! It was a year since my last one (and on that one, I got married!), so it was time to refresh. Now that I’m back, I’m getting our internal Community Concerns document back up to speed. This is the document that houses all of the bugs and big pieces of feedback that are sent to us on the forums and social media.

I’m also working on a way to improve our suggestions flow. Right now, everything gets placed into the Suggestions subforum, and it’s honestly not the best way to handle submissions. The wonderful @Rangerz-Bert helps us gather all of the suggestions for internal review, but it’s not a solution that scales by any means. (Unless we can clone him. Hmmm.) As we travel on The Road to Free to Play, it’s going to be more important to gather suggestions in a scalable, easy-to-use, archival manner. I’m personally a fan of the UserVoice platform that Red 5 Studios uses for suggestions. What do you think? Do you have a better idea? I’d love to hear it!