The goal of this quality of life + bugfix patch is to address a variety of bugs, fix a few unintended changes to Merc, and to make the final fight a bit more engaging and a bit less cheesy.

• Captain
  • Captain’s Supply Drop now presses the buttons on Abandoned Aqueduct

• Equipment Drone
  • Now recharges equipment much faster, approximately 5x as often. We don’t expect Equipment Drones to suddenly become super strong, but there may be a few cases where it is now worthwhile.

• SPOILERS! Final Boss, Last Phase. SPOILERS!
  • Developer Notes: The goal with these changes is to make the final phase of the fight more consistent, fix a few softlock scenarios, and to remove a few cheeses. The expectation is that with these changes, the final phase (and only the final phase) will be much easier. We want this to be a fun phase, not a frustrating conclusion
  • Remove “unique” scaling on health and damage. This has a significant reduction on the way his health and damage scales over time, especially later into the run. Expect him to have less than half of the current live build, depending on time.
  • Lunar Shard Attack
    • Projectile Cone: 20° ⇒ 0.5°
    • Developer Notes: The intent for this change is to reduce the cone that the attacks come out of, reducing the chance you randomly get hit by a stray shot.
  • Energy Ball Attack
    • Damage Coefficient: 1000% ⇒ 700%
    •  Knockback Force: 400 ⇒ 4000%
    • Projectile Radius: 3m ⇒ 2m
    • Now glows with a stronger effect to make it more visually noticeable, especially when swinging around corners
  • Item Steal
    • Add immunity while channeling.
    • Can no longer use Mired Urn and Crowbars. He will take them, but will be unable to use them. This is a mechanic we already have in place for a few key items (Razorwire, Tougher Times) that can cause softlocks or impossible scenarios.
    • Now steals items from minions, like Engineer Turrets. He won’t use the items he takes from minions.
    • Minions can now retrieve items for their owner.
  • Add visual effect to Tesla Coil being active

 



• Fix certain network prediction projectiles appearing to bounce off targets instead of disappearing as intended
• Fix Mercenary’s Blinding Assault duration scaling from attack speed
• Fix Mercenary’s Blinding Assault having missing iframes on startup
• Reduce Mercenary’s Blinding Assault hitpause duration to 0.1 from 0.15 to match pre-1.0 hitpause values
• Fix Gorag’s Opus not working on Captain, Engi, or Equipment Drones
• Fix the fog on the last stage being entirely opaque if soft particles are disabled
• Fix Captain’s airstrike dealing 1500%/500%/500% damage into dealing 1000%/1000%/1000% damage
• Fix Wandering Vagrant’s portrait having a double red outline
• Fix Forgive Me Please not triggering Frost Relic
• Fix Forgive Me Please not triggering Berzerker’s Pauldrons
• Fix Loader Thunder Gauntlet not bouncing
• Remove luck from Artifact Key drop calculation since it can cause soft-locks with Purity
• Consumed Dio’s is now considered unremovable, and the scrapper no longer gets clogged if somehow there is an untiered item inserted
• Update some missing people in special thanks
• Fix dedicated servers not showing in game browser
• Fix game browser trying to connect to dedicated servers via steam p2p instead of ip
• Fix incorrect boss track on Sky Meadows
• Fix Titan eye glow and foliage missing
• Fix Captain’s shocking beacon missing name when pinged
• Fix unchecking "Show Started Games" in the Games Browser still showing started games
• Fix scrap interaction with cauldrons
• Fix Visions of Heresy interacting with Captain's orbital drop
• Fix Captain getting a new defense drone every time he scraps
• Fix REX being executed by freezes
• Fix Prismatic Trials counting your run in leaderboards when you die
• Fix Meat Hook causing a cascade of issues, preventing certain on-hit effects from working when it would trigger
• Fix Shadowfade not being usable by Captain in hidden realms
• Fix “Killed by: The Planet” for players who weren’t dead at the end of the run
• Fix Merc expose mechanic not awarding cooldown reduction to non-host players over the network
• Fix Captain umbra only spawning one Captain with Swarms
• Fix Captain showing up in logbook before commando
• Fix Final Boss health bar not showing for clients (including phase 2)
• Fix final boss fight sometimes not triggering
• Fix Little Disciple always triggering once as soon as it’s picked up, regardless of sprint state
• Fix Imp Overlord void spike fan firing sound not playing on non-host machines
• Fix Imp Overlord void spike fan chosen animation not being the same over the network
• Fix missing out-of-bound floor under the starting room for the final stage
• Fix Lunar Chimera (Wisp) sound loop still playing after death
• Fix a floating node in Sky Meadows
• Fix a gap in the final boss arena causing you to get stuck
• Fix the ceiling in the final boss arena not being solid for projectiles and Lunar Chimera (Wisp)
• Fix Void Fields safe zones on Eclipse 2 being larger than the actual charging radius
• Fix Server Browser not refreshing by default, only shows 1 person when you click it for the first time
• Fix custom languages from appearing in the main menu dropdown if they are missing essential files
• Fix MUL-T’s Rebar Puncher effect leaving behind objects that aren’t cleaned up until scene exit
• Fix Milky Chrysalis flight not being refreshed if used while in exhaustion descent
• Fix Void Reaver death chain reactions
• Fix Forgive Me Please not animating or playing effects on non-host machines
• Healing numbers are properly green

Hi. First and foremost, thank you all so much for jumping into the 1.0 Update. It has been a ton of fun for the team to watch streams, read reviews, hang out in the Discord, and even hop in some multiplayer games with the community.

Since the update on Tuesday, we’ve been working and compiling the first targeted hotfix patch. There will also be another more comprehensive patch to follow, as with all of our previous Content Updates. Apparently, the game is not perfect. This is a collection of community responses and feedback from a variety of channels - keep 'em coming!

=== What We’re Workin On ===

Some of the things we’re checking out right now are:

• Players are getting marooned on a remote island on the final stage. This has been addressed in a hotfix today.
• Players can create infinite loops with Forgive Me Please and Soulbound Catalyst. This has been addressed in a hotfix today.
• The Server Browser has some issues with filters not filtering
• The Loader’s Thunder Gauntlet and Merc’s Blinding Assault is behaving a bit different than before the patch
• Scrap and Lunar Cauldrons have a weird interaction, where it takes more scrap than you have

Some things we’re keeping an eye on:

• LAST BOSS SPOILERS: We’re really happy with the difficulty of the final boss, but some players are feeling frustrated with the last phase. Our intent was for that phase to be a bit of an “oh crap” moment, and to have some unique edge cases from item interactions Our intent was not for players to avoid good items, destroy their own build, or to feel bad for picking up powerful items. If that seems to be the best strategy, we will be changing the last phase appropriately. It is not intended to be the most challenging phase of the fight.
• Merc players feel that the base stat hits were a bit too harsh. We want to give the community enough time to learn the changes - and potentially to change item priorities - but we’re watching this as well.
• Keeping an eye on overall balance for some of the changes we made to survivors and items, and make sure everything is still fun to play.
• Players wished for more skill variants and lore entries - and felt bamboozled when they weren’t there for 1.0. We wanted to highlight that feedback here, since it’s totally legitimate and we’re listening.
• Players want to know what’s coming after 1.0! While we’re totally exhausted getting 1.0 up and done, we still have plans for RoR2 in the future. We will absolutely be supporting RoR2 after 1.0, and we’ll have some big blog posts about it once we’re ready to share.

If there are things you feel we missed or should be looked at, please leave us a comment here and we will check them out. As always, thanks again for your support and patience as we work out the kinks!

-Hopoo Games

This is the fifth major content update for Risk of Rain 2 on PC, marking the 1.0 version of the game. With this update we are focusing on the ending sequence of the game and promoting player agency + build diversity.

This Content Update will be coming to consoles in the near future - for details on how our Content Updates get ported to console versions, check out our previous Development Thoughts here: https://steamcommunity.com/games/632360/announcements/detail/1588003708938246571

Changes with the ‘🌧’ icon in front of them are changes or additions suggested by the community. As always, if you want to stay up to date on the game feel free to join the discord at https://discord.gg/riskofrain2

• Added System: Game Ending
  • The game now includes a proper ending, with credits and cutscene.
• Added System: Server Browser
  • Quickplay served an important function at launch - but the QP featureset is barebones. Not only that, but the game has evolved past needing to just find a match - you need to find the right match. We think a built-in Server Browser (and hosting) will still allow you to connect and find other players easily while also providing a lot of the features and choices you want to make before connecting to a game.
• Added System: Intro Cutscene
  • The game now includes an intro cutscene!
• Added New Survivor
  • New Survivor: Captain
• Added New Stage

[/h3]

• New Final Stage: ???

Added 4 New Music Tracks

[/h3]

• New Track: Through a Cloud, Darkly
  
• New Track: ...con lentitud poderosa
  
• New Track: You're Gonna Need a Bigger Ukulele
  
• New Track: Lacrimosum

Added New Survivor Skin

[/h3]

• New Survivor Skin: Captain Skin

Added 2 New Monsters

[/h3]

• New Monster: ???
  
• New Monster: ???

Added New Boss

[/h3]

• New Final Boss: ???

Added New Interactable

[/h3]

• New Interactable: Scrapper

Added 7 Items and 3 Equipment to the game

[/h3]

• New Item: Item Scrap (White, Green, Red, Yellow)
  
• New Boss Item: Molten Perforator
  
• New Boss Item: Shatterspleen
  
• New Boss Item: Mired Urn
  
• New Lunar Item: Defiant Gouge
  
• New Lunar Item: Mercurial Rachis
  
• New Lunar Item: Purity
  
• New Equipment: Super Massive Leech
  
• New Equipment: Gorag’s Opus
  
• New Equipment: Forgive Me Please

Added 3 Character Challenges to the game

[/h3]

• New Captain Challenge: Captain Mastery
  
• New Captain Challenge: Wanderlust
  
• New Captain Challenge: Worth Every Penny

Added 3 Challenges to the game

[/h3]

• New Challenge: I Love Dying!
  
• New Challenge: Washed Away
  
• New Challenge: The Calm

Added 36 Lore Entries to the game

[/h3]

• New Item Lore Entry: Molten Perforator
  
• New Item Lore Entry: Shatterspleen
  
• New Item Lore Entry: Mired Urn
  
• New Item Lore Entry: Super Massive Leech
  
• New Item Lore Entry: Gorag’s Opus
  
• New Item Lore Entry: Forgive Me Please
  
• New Item Lore Entry: Soulbound Catalyst
  
• New Item Lore Entry: Bandolier
  
• New Item Lore Entry: The Crowdfunder
  
• New Item Lore Entry: Old Guillotine
  
• New Item Lore Entry: Jade Elephant
  
• New Item Lore Entry: Blast Shower
  
• New Item Lore Entry: Lepton Daisy
  
• New Item Lore Entry: Shattering Justice
  
• New Item Lore Entry: Topaz Brooch
  
• New Item Lore Entry: Ocular HUD
  
• New Item Lore Entry: Unstable Tesla Coil
  
• New Item Lore Entry: Milky Chrysalis
  
• New Item Lore Entry: Will-o’-the-wisp
  
• New Item Lore Entry: Gnarled Woodsprite
  
• New Item Lore Entry: Halcyon Seed
  
• New Item Lore Entry: Purity
  
• New Item Lore Entry: Glowing Meteorite
  
• New Item Lore Entry: Preon Accumulator
  
• New Item Lore Entry: Aegis
  
• New Monster Lore Entry: Clay Dunestrider
  
• New Monster Lore Entry: Alloy Vulture
  
• New Monster Lore Entry: Imp
  
• New Monster Lore Entry: Void Reaver
  
• New Monster Lore Entry: ???
  
• New Monster Lore Entry: ???
  
• New Monster Lore Entry: ???
  
• New Stage Lore Entry: ???
  
• New Character Lore Entry: Huntress
  
• New Character Lore Entry: Captain
  
• New Character Lore Entry: MUL-T

[/list]

• General

[/h3]

• Bleeds now refresh all existing bleed durations on that target. This affects both enemies and players, and is a huge change for how bleeds will work.
  
• Increase difficulty rate over time for all difficulties by +10%.
  
  Developer Notes: In this update, we’ve buffed a ton of items - and also given players way more agency over the way a run progresses. Our goal is for players to be more engaged with the game - what we don’t want is for the game to be suddenly much easier. This is a bit of a sanity check, and shouldn’t dramatically change the difficulty.
• Slightly reworked OSP. The goal is to fix inconsistencies and make it actually protect you from one-shots - while also fixing some abuse cases with curse.
  
  • The threshold for OSP is now displayed on the healthbar with a faint graphic.
    
  • Now has a lingering 0.1s duration when activated.
    
  • 🌧 Now is subtracted via Curse (Shaped Glass, Artifact of Glass, etc), i.e a curse of 10% will remove OSP entirely.
    
  • 🌧 Update OSP logic so it still triggers if you receive multiple sources of damage in the same frame that go past OSP values, i.e Malachite Lesser Wisps

Elites

[/h3]

• Blazing, Overloading, Glacial
  
  • 🌧Health Bonus: 470% ⇒ 400%
• Malachite, Celestine
  
  • 🌧Health Bonus: 2350% ⇒ 1800%
    Developer Notes: We’ve had a lot of feedback that elite health has always felt a bit bloated - and that subsequently, it makes the Old Guillotine feel required. Our intent is to make characters less reliant on the Old Guillotine, and to make it feel more like an elite hate item - and less of an overall DPS item.

Survivors

[/h3]

• 🌧🌧🌧 Mobility skills are now considered ‘sprinting’, scaling with sprint speed multipliers and also sprinting after use.
  
• Melee Survivors
  
  • 🌧 Melee skills will now perform more consistently at high attack speeds.
    
  • Melee skills will now scale hitpause duration with attack speed - since the pause when hitting enemies were static, melee characters actually scaled poorly with attack speed.
    
  • Melee skills will now ‘hold’ you in the air better at high attack speeds.
• Added a ‘Keyword’ system. Keywords are just words to describe common repeated behavior without explaining it every time. Added the following keywords:
  • Freezing
    
  • Stunning
    
  • Shocking
    
  • Poisonous
    
  • Regenerative
    
  • Agile
    
  • Percent HP
    
  • Sonic Boom
    
  • Weaken
    
  • Expose
    
  • Heavy
• MUL-T
  Developer Notes: MUL-T has gotten some love from this patch to really push forward the idea that his weapons are strong in specific roles. Faster swap time and more responsive actions for the weapons will (hopefully) make weapon swapping feel better. We’ve also admittedly creeped cooldowns down over time, and MUL-T felt a bit left behind.
  • Base Acceleration: 25 ⇒ 30
    
  • Rebar Puncher
    
    • Now charges after firing, rather than before.
  • Scrap Launcher
    
    • Now behaves like a rocket instead of a grenade
      
    • Lifetime: 3s ⇒ 4s
      
    • Explosion Radius: 5m ⇒ 7m
      
    • Velocity: 70 m/s ⇒ 100 m/s
  • Nail Gun
    
    • No longer has an initial shotgun of 6 nails.
      
    • Now has a final shotgun of 12 nails.
      
    • Now fires in a consistent corkscrew pattern
      
    • Proc Coefficient: 0.4 ⇒ 0.6
      
    • Damage: 60% ⇒ 70%
      
    • Wind-down duration: 0s ⇒ 1.152s
  • Retool
    
    • Swap duration: 0.7s ⇒ 0.4s
  • Transport Mode
    
    • Cooldown: 8s ⇒ 6s
• Mercenary
  Developer Notes: The Mercenary was always supposed to be the highest skill-cap survivor. However, in actual gameplay he became very flow-charty, using abilities directly off cooldown while holding down M1. The intent for all these changes is to allow skill expression, dynamic cooldowns, and higher risk vs reward in fight with the new ‘Exposed’ debuff. The hope is that the character will be stronger for advanced players, but weaker for new players.
  • Base Health: 140 (+42 per level) ⇒ 110 (+33 per level)
    
  • Base Regeneration: 2.5 health / second ⇒ 1 health / second
    
  • NEW Debuff: Exposed
    
    • Striking an Exposed target reduces all cooldowns by 1 second and deals an additional +350% base damage
  • Laser Sword
    
    • Third Strike Damage: 300% ⇒ 130%
      
    • Third hit now applies ‘Exposed’ debuff
      
    • The second and third hit of the combo can no longer be started in the middle of other attacks
  • Whirlwind
    
    • Ground Speed Multiplier: 6 ⇒ 8
  • Blinding Assault
    
    • Cooldown: 7s ⇒ 8s
      
    • Can now be canceled mid-attack by both Whirlwind and Rising Thunder
  • Slicing Winds
    
    • Last hit now applies ‘Exposed’ debuff
• Acrid
  Developer Notes: Acrid has always been a melee-ranged hybrid. We want greater rewards for engaging in melee and completing your M1 combo for players who enjoy a more aggressive playstyle.
  • NEW Buff: Regenerate
    
    • Regenerate for 10% health over 0.5 seconds.
  • Vicious Wounds
    
    • Third hit of the combo now grants ‘Regenerate’ buff
  • Ravenous Bite
    
    • Now grants ‘Regenerate’ buff
  • Frenzied Leap
    
    • 🌧Now (properly) stuns
• Artificer
  Developer Notes: We want to enforce the Artificer’s role as a high-damage, high AoE character. Nano-Bomb in general was core to the fantasy, but was pretty much inferior to Nano-Spear in every way.
  • Plasma Bolt
    
    • Blast Radius: 4m ⇒ 6m
  • Charged Nano-Bomb
    
    • Now has slight gravity
      
    • Blast Radius: 10m ⇒ 14m
      
    • Blast Damage, Max Charge: 1200% ⇒ 2000%
      
    • Blast Force: 1300 ⇒ 3000
      
    • Lifetime: 5s ⇒ 10s
      
    • Improved FX for clarity
  • Ion Surge
    
    • No longer has -75% damage falloff at the edge of the blast

Items

[/h3]

• Monster Tooth
  
  • Healing: 8 (+8 per stack) ⇒ 8
    
  • 🌧Now also heals for 2% (+2% per stack) of maximum health
• Medkit
  
  • Healing: 24 (+24 per stack) ⇒ 20
    
  • 🌧Now also heals for 5% (+5% per stack) of maximum health
• Repulsion Armor Plate
  
  • Now properly reduces damage from environmental effects
• Warbanner
  
  • 🌧 Now also places a Warbanner when activating the Teleporter
    
  • Improve VFX to be less opaque, since it will always be near the Teleporter
• Death Mark
  
  • Debuff Duration: 7s ⇒ 7s (+7s per stack)
    
  • 🌧Remove text stating that the damage bonus scaled with stacks
• Old Guillotine
  
  • Execute Threshold: ~20% (+20% per stack) ⇒ 13% (+13% per stack)
    Developer Notes: Since we’ve re-tuned the health of elites across the board, the Guillotine should be appropriately re-tuned as well.
• Runald’s/Kjaro’s Band
  Developer Notes: The two rings have undergone a bit of a rework, working off of an internal cooldown rather than a chance on-hit. We’re hoping that this can help diversify one of our “on-hit” items to be more than just attacking enemies and hoping things activate. We’ve also changed the behavior of Kjaro’s to be more of the AoE option, while Runald’s is the single target option.
  
  • Proc Chance: 8% ⇒ 100%
    
  • Now has an internal cooldown of 10 seconds
    
  • Now has a minimum threshold of only triggering on attacks that deal 400% or greater damage
    
  • Runald’s Band
    
    • Ice Blast Damage: 250% (+125% per stack) ⇒ 250% (+250% per stack)
      
    • Ice Debuff Duration: 3s ⇒ 3s (+3s per stack)
  • Kjaro's Band
    
    • Fire Tornado Damage: 500% (+250% per stack) ⇒ 300% (+300% per stack)
      
    • Fire Tornado Hitbox Width: 4.8m ⇒ 13m
      
    • No longer moves
• H3AD-5T v2
  
  • Reworked logic for calculating fall speed so it scales better while falling farther. Now has the following behavior:
    
    • Damage Coefficient: 1000% - 10,000% at maximum speed
      
    • Explosion Radius: 5m - 100m at maximum speed
      
    • Improved FX
• Interstellar Desk Plant
  
  • Healing Radius: 3m (+1.5m per stack) ⇒ 5m (+5m per stack)
    
  • Healing: 5% max health every 1 second ⇒ 5% max health every 0.5 second
• Milky Chrysalis
  
  • Now grants true flight and antigravity instead of jump-to-hover.
    
  • Pressing jump now performs a short dash in the direction of movement with a 0.5s cooldown.
• Strides of Heresy
  
  • No longer puts you in combat
• Helfire Tincture
  
  • Helfire Radius: 10m ⇒ 15m
    
  • Helfire Duration: 8s ⇒ 12s
    
  • Improve VFX and SFX
• Effigy of Grief
  
  • Now placed at where you’re aiming, rather than at your feet
    
  • No longer is consumed on use.
    
  • Now limited to 5 per map per character.
• Little Disciple
  
  • Fire Rate: 0.5s ⇒ 1.6s
    
  • Damage Coefficient: 100% (+100% per stack) ⇒ 300% (+300% per stack)
    
  • 🌧Fire Rate now scales with movement speed

Stages

[/h3]

• 3D Printers will appear more often on all stages, ~50% more
  
• 3D Printers will cost less to spawn on all stages, ~50% less
  
• The new interactable, the Scrapper, can now appear on all stages
  
• Titanic Plains
  
  • 🌧 Update with new visuals to make it depressing
• Sky Meadow
  
  • Update with new visuals and functionality that leads to the final stage
• Bazaar Between Time
  
  • Base Portal Chance: 25% for the first portal ⇒ 37.5% for the first portal
    
  • Lunar Buds: 4 ⇒ 5

Monsters & Bosses

[/h3]

• Mini Mushrum
  
  • 🌧 Base Health: 360 (+108 per level) ⇒ 290 (+87 per level)
• Parent
  
  • 🌧 Base Health: 1200 (+360 per level) ⇒ 900 (+270 per level)
• Lesser Wisp
  
  • Now properly stops charging attack sound when interrupted
• Imp Overlord
  
  • 🌧Maximum Blink Distance: 600m ⇒ 300m
    
  • Now throws Void Spikes in a staggered fashion, rather than all at once
• Magma Worm
  
  • 🌧Maximum “Blink” Distance: 600m ⇒ 300m
    
  • Now considerably more aggressive and better able to hit targets
    Developer Notes: The blink behavior of both the Imp Overlord and the Magma Worm allows it to follow players between platforms, but it leads a lot of the times to the bosses blinking across the map to attack drones and turrets. While they may still do that, it’ll be a bit less pronounced.
• Void Reaver
  
  • Now attempts to lead its Void Bombs in a straight line against its target
    
  • Updated AI to fire more aggressively and backpedal when its target is too close
    
  • AI now has 360° vision
• Bison
  
  • 🌧 Add spawn effect and animation (finally!)

[/list]

• 🌧 Added a language dropdown menu to the Main Menu
  
• Audio has received an overall mix pass
  
• Reduced the audio levels of the Magma Worm, Imp Overlord, and Clay Dunestrider
  
• Updated the Teleporter model
  
• Updated the Ukulele model
  
• Improved Infusion VFX to be more noticeable
  
• Reduced brightness of some Mercenary effects to they are less white and have more color
  
• Fixed dithering for several on-character item displays
  
• Updated the kick system to be able to supply detailed messages and enforce version matching when connecting to a server
  
• Added functionality for servers and lobbies to provide mod info and reject players for mismatches
  
• Servers can now define behavior to run upon entering character select by supplying a "server_pregame.cfg" config file
  
• Updated “MUL-T: Gotcha!” challenge to allow Preon tendrils to count toward completion
  
• A bunch of other stuff we probably forgot!

• Fixed an issue with spread from bloom being applied to both minimum and maximum spread (ie you could never have a bullet travel dead-center when your spread bloom is at maximum) for Commando’s Phase Blast, Huntress’ Ballista, and MUL-T’s Rebar Puncher
  
• Fixed potential physics crash that could occur if a character attempts to use a melee attack after crossfading into a new animation from a paused animation
  
• Fixed immobilization from Void Reavers and REX’s Tangling Growth becoming permanent if using Wax Quail while affected, which would also sometimes lead to a crash upon getting killed
  
• Fixed Repulsion Armor Plate not applying against posthumously dealt damage
  
• Fixed Visions of Heresy allowing Huntress’ Ballista to exceed three shots
  
• All gameplay stats are now forced to update before generating the final run report to make sure all values are up-to-date at the end screen
  
• Fixed MUL-T’s Nailgun not properly animating over the network
  
• Fixed some projectiles not playing their pre-expiration sounds over the network
  
• Fixed several sounds not being played over the network
  
• Fixed a timing issue in which lobby player count would not update immediately after a player leaves the lobby
  
• Fixed a variety of other bugs we also probably forgot!

• There are none, this game is perfect

[/list]

And… scene. This patch is enormous for us, and we really tried hard - I hope you all like it. As always, we’re listening to feedback and tracking any bugs that we find for 1.0 release. We’ll do a Dev Thoughts later this week to compile everyone’s feedback. See you on the planet.

Hey! Being the final Dev Thoughts before 1.0 release, we thought it’d be fun if we got into a bit of the details of how we design stuff. This is a long one, so buckle up.

=== Player Agency===

‘Player Agency’ is a term that we use to describe how much influence a player has over the result of their game. Internally, we refer to player agency, or player choice, to be on a ‘micro’ or ‘macro’ level.

On a micro level (using abilities, dodging enemies, hitting attacks, etc), player agency is high in RoR2. You have many opportunities to land good hits, or to dodge powerful attacks.

On a macro level (what build you’re doing, how quickly you want to progress, etc), RoR2 has always been a little lacking - and we’ve received feedback on that. Although it is a roguelite - and therefore random to a degree - it always felt a bit that you’re along for the ride, and that you pick a similar pool of items every run.

For 1.0, we’ve tackled this issue in two different ways:

1: We’ve touched up a lot of items - and introduced new ones - in hopes that more meaningful build decisions can be made.
2. We’ve introduced new avenues to allow more player agency on a macro level - with the star being the new ‘Scrapper’ interactable, which we will touch later on.

=== New & Redesigned Items ===

We’ve carefully combed through items for 1.0, and we have a few fun examples to show our direction going forward when it comes to items.

Example #1 - New Items
For this update, we focused on making sure that all of our new items had interesting synergies with both items and survivors.

Not only that, but all new items in the 1.0 release are Lunar, Equipment, or Boss drops. We found that those item categories struck the right balance between being chase items and being core items. We also didn't want to pollute the standard item pool with a bunch more of synergy-dependent items. Boss drops for higher-level bosses makes some of the most difficult encounters the most exciting as well.



Example #2: Bleeds
Sometimes you can make great changes from small tweaks. For 1.0, we’ve updated bleeds so that when a new stack of bleed is applied, all existing stacks of bleed are refreshed in duration. This means that you can maintain way higher stacks of bleeds than before - and that at high bleed chance and attack speed, bleeds never fall off as long as you keep reapplying fast enough.



For the specific meta details of how bleeds work in RoR2, bleeds:

• Bleeds do not scale from critical strikes
  
• Bleeds do not scale from proc-chains
  
• Bleeds do scale from damage boosts, such as Focus Crystals and Shattering Justice
  
• Bleeds, specifically from Tri-Tip Dagger, do scale with attack speed, because it lets you apply more bleeds quicker.
  
• Bleeds do need maintaining to keep at ludicrous stacks, which we have found is challenging in a fast-paced game like RoR2.

We’ve found that just that one change for bleeds dramatically improved the value of bleed items, attack speed items, and high proc-rate skills, and has added a new way to scale in the game that is also still fun and engaging. Bleeds require a different set of stats to maximize compared to stacked proc-chaining.

Example #3: Kjaro and Runald
A heavier change we made was to Kjaro and Runald’s elemental bands.

For 1.0, they no longer operate with a small chance-on-hit, but are always guaranteed to proc on any attack that deals “large” damage. After proccing, they undergo an internal cooldown before they can proc again. This allows for a bit of strategy for when you consume your rings, especially if you have heavy-hitting attacks like the Rebar Puncher, Frag Grenade, or Nano-Bomb.



Kjaro specifically has also been changed a bit, making the AoE of the tornado much larger but weaker, giving it a more defined niche as the AoE option.

Example #4 - Just ol’ Buffs
There were also some items that we just buffed because they underperformed. A few of these items are Monster Tooth, H3AD-5T v2, Effigy of Grief, and yes, the Interstellar Desk Plant. We don’t expect these items to become top-tier, but the gap should be smaller.

Example #5 - Doing Nothing At All
One of the biggest changes we noticed for 1.0 is that some underperforming items have improved simply because there is a proper final boss to prepare for. We’ve found that all items now have to be viewed through the lens of its viability in the final boss fight - items like Old Guillotine, Ukuleles, and Ceremonial Daggers, incredibly powerful items today, do little in the final boss.

Not all items will be the best, or the most “meta” - and we’re sure that there will still be a best build anyways - but we believe that at 1.0, more items will become more viable to use.

=== Scrapper ===

A small but influential piece of content we’re adding in 1.0 is the Scrapper.



The Scrapper allows you to select any number of items of your choosing, and convert them into Scrap. Scrap is prioritized first when using 3D Printers.

This adds a bunch of strategy to the game - when scrapping items, you become immediately weaker. However, it allows you to get rid of items that you know aren’t important for your build. Scrappers aren’t super common either, so you can’t always rely on being able to convert the scrap immediately. You may have to go through a few stages with scrap in your inventory instead of an item.

The goal of this interactable is for players to be able to identify what items are important to them right now, and to risk being weaker now for being stronger later.

There’s also been a few more supplemental changes aiming towards inventory management - 3D Printers are more common in general, and the Bazaar Between Time now has 5 pods instead of 4 to compensate for the significantly larger lunar item pool since release.

=== Eclipse ===

Well gee, that sounds like a lot of stuff. But I obliterate on Monsoon all the time, being the god gamer I am… so what can I use all these brand-new options for? In comes Eclipse.

Eclipse is a new game mode, similar to Prismatic Trials, that adds stacking challenge modifiers each time you beat the game, up to a maximum of 8. This is tracked separately per survivor.



In the same way that Artifacts are designed towards novel and fun experiences, Eclipse is designed entirely for challenge enthusiasts. Eclipse has no unlockables, achievements, or trophies. It’s purely for the challenge.

Eclipse was a bit of an experimental weekend project - and we’re considering the initial release of Eclipse as a test for whether or not this type of gamemode is any fun. Please let us know!

=== Here we go! ===

Having said all that… we’re very excited to see player reception for 1.0. This has been our most challenging update yet, and for so many reasons. We really hope you like it - and we’ll see you on the planet August 11th!

-Hopoo Games Team

Hello gamers,

It’s finally time -we are super excited to announce that we are launching the 1.0 version of Risk of Rain 2 on Steam on August 11th.

Early Access has felt like a crazy ride through uncharted space, and we can’t thank you all enough for supporting us over the last year and a half. We’ve had great fun steering through Early Access together, and we will always be thankful for the patience and excitement our community has displayed. We will have more information on the Console launch of 1.0 in the future - but it should follow a very similar cadence to the previous console launches.

As always, thanks for the amazing support - and we can’t wait to share the 1.0 update with everyone. See you then!



-Hopoo Games Team

Hey!

We have a variety of topics to cover in this Dev Thoughts so we gotta go fast NOW

Let's dive right in!

=== Hopoo Games is hiring! ===

As the title might suggest, we are hiring! This is big news for us, since we’ve always been an incredibly small company.

We’ve launched our new website http://hopoogames.com, where we’re hoping to start adding job listings over time. We also have a new official twitter https://twitter.com/hopoogames for Hopoo Games, where we will tweet company-related stuff. Our first listing is for a Lead Pixel Artist on a non-disclosed game. Stay tuned for that :-)

=== Console Update ===



With the launch of the console update for CU4 in June, see above our updated console Forecast! All three platforms were updated on June 23rd with the Artifacts Update. A major shout out to the team at PlayEveryWare who took our most complex update and knocked it out of the park.

=== Pricing Increase for 1.0 ===





When we first launched Risk of Rain 2 on Early Access one of the initial questions was if we would be increasing the price on 1.0, and our initial answer was “Yes.”

We still plan on increasing the price at 1.0. The game has grown a tremendous amount, and we think the value of the game is increased. Our plan is to increase the game from $19.99 USD to $24.99 USD.

We’re also hoping to have another Dev Thoughts focusing more on our plans for Post Release, so be on the lookout for that!

=== Keywords + Survivor Updates ===

One of the curious things about game development is that you never know how a change in one area can completely alter the game in a different area.

Strangely enough, we’ve seen over time that the limited text size of the Survivor Select’s skill descriptions have subtly impacted the designs of Survivors. We can’t really add more effects to skills without the text getting tinier and tinier - some existing skills are already incredibly small to read.



One of the changes we’re making for 1.0 is the use of Keywords. This is just a UI change, but the idea is that common behaviors (like freezing, stunning, or attacking while sprinting) can be summarized as a Keyword, saving up precious text space for other behaviors. Hovering over skills in the Survivor Select will explain what the Keyword is.

An example of what this allows is our Mercenary changes we have for 1.0.

The Mercenary’s fantasy was always intended as the hardest-to-play survivor for sweaty nerds. However, the Merc is actually not that difficult to play; you have a set skill rotation that typically does not change.

Something we’re adding to the Merc for 1.0 is the ‘Expose’ debuff, which is consumed when an enemy with that debuff is hit. Consuming the debuff reduces all your cooldowns by 1 second and increases damage.




This allows for the Merc to have dynamic cooldowns, and for greedy players to get greater cooldown reduction at the cost of completing their M1 combo. To compensate, we’re reducing his base health - higher risk, higher reward.

Debuffs like ‘Expose’ would typically be contained inside of the Passive, but the Merc already has a passive. The Keyword system allowed us to add a new effect to the skill without making the text teeny tiny.

It’s not a super exciting system - and we’re not going to start overloading all character kits now that we can - but we’re hoping that it gives us a little more room to breathe when it comes to survivor designs, both new and old.

=== Looking Forward ===

As we mentioned in the previous Dev Thoughts, we are trying to do more frequent updates and shed more light into our development process. Let us know if there are any specific topics around tech, design, business questions or any other topics you would enjoy reading about!

As always, thanks for the amazing support during Early Access and we can’t wait to share the 1.0 update with everyone.

-Hopoo Games Team

Hey!

As we all know, the next update is 1.0, the last update until we leave Early Access. Earlier this month, I ran a quick tweet to get some feedback on what RoR2 1.0 may look like to you.



From that tweet, we not only learned that there’s quite a few areas of improvement we could work on, but also that you guys are passionate about what RoR2 1.0 could be - with many fantastic suggestions and ideas of things that weren’t in the original roadmap.

=== Updated Roadmap ===



We don’t take 1.0 lightly - we know a lot of players have been waiting for the full release to play the game, or have joined us early on in EA and are now holding off for the full release.

What we wanted to make sure was that RoR2 1.0 was truly a complete game experience, and that means not only completing and fleshing out content, but improving and iterating on old features and content that’s been left behind. In order to meet goals of what a 1.0 version of RoR2 can be, we want to let everyone know we will be releasing 1.0 in August 2020.

To be explicit: the timing has not been altered because of COVID-19 - we’re incredibly lucky in that our business was mostly unaffected. The timing has changed because we’re expanding the scope of the 1.0 Update. We almost completed the entirety of Early Access without any date changes! That said, we are pushing forward and can’t wait for everyone to experience the changes we’re bringing with the 1.0 Update.

=== Server Browser ===



The first of new expanded features and QOL updates that we are now going to address with 1.0 is the online experience - and struggles with quickplay.

Feedback we hear a lot is that Quickplay is a bit of a mess - especially after the addition of Artifacts. People leave, you get random ping, and now you may get game settings you don’t even want to play in.

Quickplay served an important function at launch, especially because we didn’t know how popular the game may become - but the QP featureset is barebones. Not only that, but the game has evolved past needing to just find a match - you need to find the right match. We think a built-in Server Browser (and hosting) will still allow you to connect and find other players easily while providing a lot of the features and choices you want to make before connecting to a game.

Alongside the browser, the goal is that you can also now host public games (either via the Dedicated Server Tool or through the game itself as peer-to-peer) that are displayed in the browser. Then (hopefully!) people who want to play with the same settings and with similar ping will join your lobby.

While we still don’t have host migration, the hope is that if everyone is playing in a lobby with settings they like, people won’t be quitting for ping, difficulty, or any other fixable reasons. We’re also hoping that a built-in server browser can breathe some life into community-hosted Dedicated Servers.

=== Console Update===



For console players, the June update will still be arriving as promised and won’t be impacted. As expected, however, it will push the timeline of the 1.0 version for consoles as well.

=== Going Forward ===

Our hope is to be doing more frequent Dev Thoughts leading up to 1.0, highlighting any interesting features or additions we are adding that can really make 1.0 feel like a full release version of Risk of Rain 2. We truly do feel like this is the right choice for the game - and I hope you all agree when 1.0 rolls around.


-Hopoo Games Team

Hi!

This is a bug fix patch to address issues that came up in the first week of the Artifacts 2.0 Update most of which were reported by the community. As we mentioned in the Artifacts 2.0 Patch Notes, this was our biggest and most complex update so far and we are very happy to see so many players enjoying the new content. The number of new players joining in on Risk of Rain 2 and our community have been insane the last couple weeks, so thank you all so much.

• Change the way Artifact of Sacrifice works with initial spawns
  
• Remove Metamorphosis from being selected in Prismatic Trials
  
• Change the amount of Hordes of Many that were spawning as the teleporter boss
  
• Change the wording for challenge ‘Huntress: Finishing Touch’
  
• Change challenge ‘Commando: Godspeed’ completion requirement from completing the first stage to charging the first teleporter
  
• Recycler will no longer consume an equipment charge when activated without a target
  
• Perform Swarms artifact max health reduction after all other max health calculations (elite monsters will have less health than before)

• Fix the Recycler rolling the same item twice
  
• Fix Artificer being able to hit herself with projectiles when backed up against a wall
  
• Fix Artifact of Sacrifice working on allies
  
• Remove Overgrown 3D Printers from Hidden Realm: Bulwark’s Ambry
  
• Fix Focus Convergence from stacking with Engineer Turrets
  
• Fix a couple stuck spots on the Sky Meadow
  
• Fix some portals being tilted randomly
  
• Fix Automation Activation Challenge progress carrying over between runs
  
• Fix a typo in the Repulsion Armor log entry
  
• Fix an issue that caused the Pressure/Spider Mines cooldown to restart when opening the Thermal Harpoons target menu
  
• Fix an issue with Squid Polyps sometimes spawning underground
  
• Fix an issue with the challenge ‘Cleanup Duty’ not properly working online
  
• Fix the teleporter not instantly reaching full charge on killing the Prismatic Trials boss
  
• Fix and cleanup some SFX issues that were causing performance degradation over time
  
• Fix a floating Newt Altar spawn on the Stage Variant for Distant Roost
  
• Fix challenge ‘MUL-T: Pest Control’ not being properly awarded
  
• Fix enemies benefiting from Repulsion Armor more than players
  
• Fix the initial monster spawn on Hidden Realm: Void Fields not populating the HUD
  
• Fix the Hungering Gaze being reset by Thermal Harpoons
  
• Fix the Huntress being able to target herself with Artifact of Chaos on
  
• Fix the Artifact of Command drops not using the same collision behavior as pickups and getting stuck in walls/ceilings
  
• Fix an issue preventing Stone Titan regional skins from being used
  
• Fix MUL-T’s Power Saw skill not performing self-pull force on non-host clients
  
• Fix Void Reaver’s attack proc coefficient not actually being updated

Thanks again for everyone's enthusiasm and feedback on our latest update. With this patch out in the wild we are now transitioning to working full time on our 1.0 launch update..!

-Hopoo Games

And the Winner of the Survivor Vote Is...

The votes have been cast, and you’ve made your voices heard! This past week, we tasked you with an important decision--Risk of Rain 2’s next survivor--and you came out in droves. Some of you even got creative with your own campaigning!
After a whopping 124,000+ votes, we’re happy to announce that the survivor making its way to the 1.0 launch is…

A Brand New Survivor!

It looks like you, the amazing community, want something completely different and new! Actually, we were caught by surprise with this choice as we assumed it would be either CHEF or Sniper, but love that the community continues to push us in new directions! This is certainly exciting, and something that allows us to think creatively, in new and innovative ways! With this in mind, we are going to go to the drawing board to further flesh out what a potential new survivor could be. It is a fun challenge for us and we cannot wait to bring it to the 1.0 launch.

We’re excited to get a new survivor in for 1.0 launch, but if your fave didn’t win, don’t despair! Just as we mentioned last week, just because a character didn’t win, it doesn’t mean they’re out for good. We have lots to share with you about post-launch support soon, so look forward to that and your brand new survivor in the future. Once again, thanks for a fantastic year of Early Access! You made this happen, gang. <3

-Hopoo

Hello video gamers. We wanted to give an update on how things have been going since the launch of the Artifacts Update - spoiler alert, it's been one of our largest and most successful updates yet! It has been a ton of fun for us to watch players work together on finding the Artifact codes and testing new combinations to alter the way they play. Apparently we should’ve hidden the codes better, since the community as a whole has discovered them all in like 4 hours.

=== Artifact Designs ===

One of the biggest topics when we were working on Artifacts 2.0 was “how are we going to balance Artifacts?” They require no resource, the trials require no investment of in-game time, and have wildly varying power. We’ve also seen some discussion about the balance of Artifacts in the community.

In development, there were many recurring points:

• How can we make the Command and Sacrifice Trial not always accessible, since it gives a bunch of items? Should time be running?
• Won’t certain Artifacts trivialize unlocks?
• How can we make Command balanced at all?

 
Each of these have legitimate solutions. Command COULD have reduced item spawn rate. Artifact Trials COULD be accessed only once per account. Unlocks COULD be blocked if an Artifact is enabled.

However, our final decision was that the design of Artifacts, and the systems around it, won’t prioritize balance.  For a system like Artifacts, it felt wrong to limit their strengths or reduce their access for the sake of the balance of a “normal” run. Unlocking them also requires reaching the 5th stage, which is not an easy task for all players.

The intent for Artifacts is to be fun and to add replayability, not to be balanced as a part of the core loop. Consider them almost like secrets or cheat codes: they make the game different. Sometimes harder, sometimes easier. Hopefully always fun.

=== Work In Progress ===

Since the release of Artifacts Update, we’ve been working and compiling the first patch. This is a collection of community responses and feedback from a variety of channels - keep 'em coming!

Some of the major things we’re working on right now are:

• Reducing the number of ‘Horde of Many’ spawns from the Teleporter - we’re not entirely sure why there seems to be more, but there will be less.
• Verify and improve Sacrifice’s drop spawn chance, especially at the beginning of the game, to make sure all enemies are properly dropping items. 
• Remove Metamorphosis from Prismatic Trials.
• Some users are experiencing crashes, semi-freezes, or the game not booting up properly. Output logs and crash dumps are super valuable to us so we can track it down and get it fixed.

Some minor things that we are working on are:

• Fix Artificer’s projectiles hitting behind herself, resulting in her dying with Chaos on
• Prevent the ‘Recycler’ from recycling the item into the same item again
• Fix ‘Recycler’ being useable with no targets
• Remove Boss 3D Printers in Bulwark’s Ambry
• ‘Focus Convergence’ stacking from turrets
• Huntress’ achievement requiring 7 Glaive Kills, despite it saying 6
• Portals are slightly tilted?
• ‘Automation Activation’ tracking of turrets purchased persisting between runs
• ‘Cleanup Duty’ not working online
• Some weird cooldown reset going on with Thermal Harpoons
• Squid Turrets appearing in the ground
• Prismatic Trials not letting you advance to the next stage after completing the boss
• Fixing a variety of bugs with Dedicated Servers

If there’s things you feel we missed or should be looked at, please leave us a comment!

=== COVID-19 ===

Since the beginning of March, Hopoo Games has transitioned to be entirely all working from home. While it was a transition at the beginning, we don’t expect any issues going forward - but it’s worth mentioning. Stay home and wash your hands.

=== Survivor Vote ===

The Survivor Vote is in full swing, and we’re thrilled by the reception and participation from all the members of our community. If you’re not familiar with what the Survivor Vote is - go check out our previous blog post and vote for your favorite Survivor for 1.0! It ain't over till it’s over!
As always, we’re super excited with the enthusiasm of the community for the Content Update and the Vote alike. We’re always re-energized whenever we release a new update, and we’re super excited for the last home stretch to 1.0. Cheers!

-Hopoo Games