Aug 2, 2022

Realm of the Mad God Exalt - Deca_Acalos

Realmers!

The long-awaited time of the year has finally arrived. After today's maintenance Realm of the Mad God Exalt will celebrate the Month of the Mad God. This Update offers new ways of experiencing your time in the realm with six brand new weapon types, two class reworks, the introduction of the Battlepass the Vindication Event and so much more.

We have not forgotten our Veterans. If your Account is older than 7 years you will be able to purchase the special Veteran Skins in the Shop until MotMG ends. Additionally, we want to thank our Artists, Beige, Coomi, Sorcerer, Trensient for providing amazing Art. The same goes for our Future Seekers who provided a lot of feedback and discussions over the past months. And let's not forget every single one of you that joined our Public Testing Sessions and provided valuable feedback.

Let's jump in and have a look at the Syndicate. And remember… don't forget your coins.

Vindication

Does the end justify the means?

The Vindication event will put you against the shady Syndicate, an organization of outlaws who have been hired by the Wanderer. They enter and exit different places of the Realm trying to accomplish some kind of secret plan that can potentially put an end to Oryx… and everything else too. A radical solution for a radical problem.

While the Syndicate are alleged enemies of Oryx himself, they are also no friends of the Heroes of the Nexus. As told by one of their renegade members who have decided to escape and inform the Heroes, the Wanderer’s plan might end with the destruction and collapse of all that is known, Realm and Nexus included.

Black Coins

In the Realm and some dungeons, you will be able to find the different Syndicate members. If defeated, they will drop several valuable items, from some of the new weapon types, to the mysterious Black Coins.

The Shady Vagrant

During the event, you will find the Shady Vagrant in the Quest Room, taking the role of the Tinkerer. This strange character will give you different missions and will allow you to exchange the Black Coins obtained from the Syndicate for Hidden Keys.

At some point, it will also be possible for you to find the Shady Vagrant in the realm. If you get close to him, your Hidden Keys can be activated, opening a portal to the lair of the Syndicate: the Interregnum.

The Syndicate

Minions

The Syndicate has recruited numerous desperate and dangerous souls to serve as foot soldiers. They range from tough, flail-wielding fighters to powerful battle mages. Whenever the dangerous mercenary captains appear in the Realm, these minions are not too far behind.

Pirate Queen Ramm

Not everyone is content to leave the high seas under the control of Oryx’s Hermit God. One piratical soul yearns for the heady days of high adventure and will do anything to bring them back.
Pirate Queen Ramm can appear in the realm after you defeat a certain number of Heroes of Oryx and sometimes in the following dungeons: Forbidden Jungle, The Hive, Ancient Ruins, Sprite World, and Snake Pit.

Izel the Grand Shaman

Jungle tribes have begun to worship Oryx as a means of deflecting his wrath. Taking what is due to the true gods and offering it to this usurper is an act of deep and unforgivable blasphemy to this priest.
Izel the Grand Shaman can appear in the realm after you defeat a certain number of Heroes of Oryx and sometimes in the following dungeons: Puppet Master’s Theatre, Undead Lair, Mad Lab, Abyss of Demons and Haunted Cemetery.

Nefret the Pharaoh

Over the ages, rule of the desert slowly but surely fell into the hands of Oryx. Consequently, both denizens and rulers have been forced to kneel in the wake of this conquest. There is still one pharaoh who will not bow down, and who seeks to right this humiliation.

Nefret the Pharaoh can appear in the realm after you defeat a certain number of Heroes of Oryx and sometimes in the following dungeons: Parasite Chambers, Woodland Labyrinth, Deadwater Docks, Mountain Temple and The Third Dimension.

Black Blade Ozuchi

It was not only humans who felt Oryx’s wrath: the powerful Oni clans were ground down by attrition to prevent them opposing Oryx. Now they are crushed and broken, but not all of them have given up on the fight.
Black Blade Ozuchi can appear in the realm after you defeat a certain number of Heroes of Oryx and sometimes in the following dungeons: Fungal Cavern, Crystal Cavern, The Nest, Cultist Hideout, The Void, Lost Halls and The Shatters.

The Wanderer

Losing everything uncovered The Wanderer’s hidden ability to travel through portals to distant lands. There she honed her abilities until she was ready to unleash her vengeance upon Oryx for destroying her old life.

The Wanderer can appear in several dungeons of any level, but only if none of the other Syndicate mercenaries do.

The Interregnum

This strange world is a pocket dimension created by the Wanderer. It exists outside the Realm, like the Nexus, but it is very unstable. As a result, this area has become inhabitable for long periods of time. That makes it perfect, however, for the mercenaries of the Syndicate. They use this strange, abandoned dimension to meet, and they are preparing some sort of obscure plan with which to take over Oryx (and the rest of the realms with it).

Crossing to the interregnum is forbidden without permission of the Syndicate, but there’s a loophole. Thanks to the help of the Shady Vagrant, he can open temporary portals to it if you find him in the Realm and use a Hidden Key in front of him. This is the only way of using these keys.

Inside the Interregnum, the Syndicate is meeting, always on high alert against potential intruders. They won’t take you lightly and they’ll fight you to their last breath! Prepare for an epic multi-boss battle in which you fight each of the Mercenaries and then lastly, the Wanderer herself.

But before you enter, there are some things you need to know first:

The Interregnum is a small dimension tightly controlled, so the portals can only allow a small number of Heroes at the same time. The maximum players allowed through a portal is 15.
The loot that you can obtain in the Interregnum can be different than outside it! Some unique items can only be obtained here.

Special Loot

Reskins

They are available via the Battlepass.

Wanderer's Cape (Robe of the Grand Sorcerer Reskin)
A simple, weather-beaten green cloak. It doesn't endow great powers - it conceals them until the time is right.

Pirate Queen's Brigandine (Hydra Skin Armor Reskin)
Stained by sea salt and equipped with bandoliers - the armor of a captain who fights at the forefront of her crew.

Cuirass of the Black Blade (Acropolis Armor Reskin)
A hereditary armor constructed of intricate scales. The crest of the Oni Clans that adorns it can still be identified.

Amulet of the Great Shaman (Ring of Unbound Magic Reskin)
The bearer of this ring is linked with the spirit world, and may channel the power of a deity.

Emblem of the Empire (Ring of Unbound Health Reskin)
Handed down through generations of Pharaohs, it holds power over more than just the wills of Nefret's subjects.

Quests

Vindication Quests are split into different Acts and an Epilogue.

You can find a list of all Quests for all Acts down below. Additionally, 3 quests will be available throughout the Month of the Mad God.

For a list of all quests, have a look at our blog.

Seasons

One of the big, permanent changes that will start this Month of the Mad God are seasons. From now on, seasons will be periods of time (usually around 2 months; the exact calendar will be announced and notified ingame) with a particular theme or point of interest for the whole playerbase.

Seasons will continue each other, so when the current season is over, the next one will start immediately after. This way, there will always be a “current” season.

Seasons exist because we believe that it’s time to give a proper structure to the releases. From the production side, having a flexible but predictable calendar allows us to better deliver content and plan our updates. On the community side, seasons provide a stable, non-pressuring calendar to set your goals and enjoy the game at your own pace, including the new content that will be tied to these seasons.

While we think seasons will be a great addition to the game, we have made sure to make any system changes non-disruptive for players who enjoy a straightforward playstyle and prefer to omit all the new systems. While we invite you to try those systems, nothing in the game or the character progression you know has been disrupted - seasons live on top of the game, but don’t disturb players who prefer to ignore them.

That being said, in the months to come we will present you new features tied to seasons. Every two months, when the new season starts, these features will reset and/or change in several ways. For this Month of the Mad God 2022, we want to showcase to you the first system that will be tied to seasons: The Battlepass.

Battlepass

BXP

The Battlepass is a very straightforward progression ladder. It works by collecting a new resource, Battlepass XP (or BXP for short). In general the rule is simple: Any enemy that can give XP, can also give BXP.

The proportion is slightly different though, so there’s not a 1:1 correlation between the XP granted and the BXP granted, and please bear in mind that in this first iteration of the system we will be monitoring closely the BXP growth of players so we can keep adjusting it for the most satisfactory experience. Right now 1 Fame is roughly 10 Battlepass XP.

When you are collecting BXP in the realm or dungeons, you can press 'K' (the default key for showing the logs) and see how close you are to the next milestone in the Battlepass ladder.

The Battlepass Menu

The Battlepass Menu is a new menu only accessible from the Nexus and the Vault. Click on the top-left panel under your username to access it.

This menu has several functions but the most important one is to allow you to see your current progress and claim prizes. This ladder is connected to the current season; so next season the ladder will reset and the prizes will completely change.

When you get to certain amounts of BXP, you will be able to claim a prize. You can also see the entire ladder, up to the end. Some of the prizes you can see can be claimed by anyone, but others require you to have acquired the Exalted Pass.

Exalted Pass

Exalted Pass is a paid program that allows you to access unique, exclusive milestones in the Battlepass. You can purchase it through the Battlepass menu and its cost is 1200 Gold*

Note: All prices are subjected to change. Final price is the one presented in the game.
Big thank you to SaturnZCheery (@SaturnZCheery on Twitter) for providing the amazing Art.

Exalted Pass has also some additional benefits, like:

More rewards in the Battlepass.
Immediate access to “extra rewards” upon purchase.
A 10% permanent BXP bonus that lasts for the entire season.
The ability to boost Milestones for a Gold cost (this is unavailable to non-Exalted Pass users)

Next Season’s Discount Coupons

In the ladder there can be found partial discounts for the Exalted Pass of next season. They are automatically stored in your account when they are claimed, and they exist both for free and Exalted Pass purchasers. Each Coupon grants a 10% discount, so for example Coupon x2 equals to 20% and its tooltip points to the total discount amount you will get from that tier.

These discounts are accumulative, so it’s guaranteed that If you already have an Exalted Pass and you get to the end of the ladder, you will be gifted the next season’s Exalted Pass for free!

Special Status Icons

In the following months, we will have new types of status changes that can affect how you play the game. Some of them you are already familiar with: “XP Bonuses” or “In Combat”, for example.

Because we plan for them to grow both in number and complexity, we have revisited the UI. The special status icons have been moved to the upper-left corner and also have separated them individually, so it’s easy to see if a particular status effect is active or not at a single glance.

If you hover over them, you will see a description of all the different special status you have, alongside a description and a duration. In case you have multiple sources of the same status effect, here you will be able to see their duration too.

Accelerators

Starting this month, we're beginning an expansion on the types of bonuses players can gain. For example, some existing bonuses are Loot Tier/Loot Drop potions, but we've wanted to expand on the concept of timed boosts for awhile. With this update, we are introducing both new types of boosts with some being more commonly accessible. Others can become more powerful and provide interesting rewards during events or with other systems too! These boosters are collectively called "Accelerators"

Accelerators can last for a certain time, while you have an item equipped, or even be permanent for the whole season!

Another important characteristic is that Accelerators aren’t applied to any character in particular, so you can swap your characters and the accelerators would still be active.

Here are some examples of Accelerators you can find in this new update. More will come in the future.

*The Sprites are not yet final

Assassin and Sorcerer Rework

One of our most anticipated reworks has to do with classes that had an important need for a revision. Assassin and Sorcerer have been revamped! Here’s all the details:

Assassin

Assassin is a well-beloved class by many players however its previous role in battle was almost always overshadowed by other classes who had more versatile, more powerful (or both) options. This had a lot to do with how his ability, Poison, worked. In order to return Assassin to the spotlight, we have reworked how Poison works entirely. We believe it will now emphasize more the distinctively individualistic approach to battle of Assassin players, while still being able to contribute to the group if they carefully use their skills with good judgment.

Poison

Poisons can do damage and other effects in several ways, which varies depending on the Poison.. Poisons will now give the user an individual damage boost to all vulnerable enemies hit". If possible, bold the word vulnerable as well since the damage boost only applies under that condition. This means the enemy will take extra damage if you have applied your Poison first.

Other players' Poisons have no affect on your own damage boost, and if different Poisons are applied at the same time, only the highest damage boost will be applied.

In addition to this, we have implemented the idea of and expanded upon “wisMod” that some items have to the rework of Poisons. Now Poisons can have a boost based on another of your stats (not necessarily Wisdom). And this boost is not only for damage, with poison radius and impact damage also gaining the potential to be influenced by one or several stats. This flexibility in implementation allows us to create a wide variety of Poisons with which we believe will benefit Assassin!

To recap: Assassins now inflict extra weapon damage to enemies if you previously Poison them. Poisons can now be influenced by different stats (tiered Poisons are influenced by WIS for example), with damage, radius and impact damage all having the potential to be influenced by your stats!

Items

This is a showcase of the most important changes to items. Please have a look at the blog post.

Assassin St Set Changes

Acidified Assassin set bonus 3 and 4: removed -5 speed
Hivemind Circlet: +5 Wis -> +10% of your attack stat as wisdom

Stats

Lastly, Assassin’s stats have been rebalanced.
Please have a look at the blog post.

Sorcerer

The rework of Sorcerer has also been focused on expanding his ability equipment, Scepter, with additional options that put the class in its potential. We think Sorcerer should be a class that benefits the most from a player who is able to consider careful timing and good aim to get the most of an ability that can be devastating if used correctly.

Scepter

Scepters will keep their basic functionality that chains lightning to nearby enemies: it discharges the lightning over an enemy pointed by the mouse and, within an angle, distance and other considerations, the lightning will expand to other nearby enemies.

With our reworked Scepters, enemies can become afflicted with shockblast if they are hit by lightning, becoming a source of area damage themselves. If an enemy is struck by the lightning, for a brief period of time they would transform into a “damaging AoE” which can deal damage to other enemies, potentially affecting even more enemies that weren’t hit by it initially. This damaging area could potentially inflict a status effect on some untiered scepters, in addition to damage.

To recap: if the enemy is struck by lightning, for a brief time it will start emitting a damaging radius that can damage itself and other enemies around it.

Items

This is a showcase of the most important changes to items. Please have a look at the blog post.

Stats

Sorcerer’s Attack and Dexterity stats have been increased by 5.
This changes Attack from 70 to 75 and Dexterity gets an increase from 60 to 65.

Berserk changes

The Berserk status effect now works with “burst” weapons. Rate of Fire of burst weapons is increased by 25% when you have “Berserk” on you.

New Weapon Types

We believe all classes should have different options for optimal play, and choosing your equipment is a major decision every player makes (and it’s very fun!). In order to expand the options for all classes, we are introducing new weapon types! These new weapon types have the same compatibility as the type they are based on. For example, Tachis are a type of variant of Katanas, so any character who can equip a Katana can also equip a Tachi.

The new weapon types follow the same rules as other regular items: there will be different Tiers that can drop from monsters. There are also some UT’s that can be dropped from monsters or acquired through other methods. Although the pool is increased in several monsters, we have also rebalanced the drop rates of all weapons and tweaked the “class bias” on certain enemies. That means that, in general, you are slightly more likely to obtain items compatible with the class you’re playing.
Currently, no Blueprints are available for new weapon types' UT’s, but in the future we plan to add them.

Dual Blades (based on Dagger):

Tiered: Dual Blades fire two shots slightly offset from the center (but still close enough together to hit the same target). Overall higher dps for decreased range and increased required accuracy when compared to normal daggers

UT: The “Fractal Blades” have the base shots pierce and at the halfway point and end of the blades range they split into two additional non-piercing projectiles adding more damage for spacing at either of those points. Drops from the Crystal Entity in the Crystal Caverns.

Tachi (based on Katana)

Tiered: Tachis shoot two shots offset to the sides and in front of the player, these shots are angled inwards to cross each other at a specified range in front of the player. Tachis provide highly increased damage with the downside of requiring much better positioning which can’t be circumvented by getting close enough to an enemy.

UT: The “Burial Blades” tachi have a shot pattern that switches every few seconds, this changes the hit zone from a smaller one to a longer one. Drops from Malus in the Cultist Hideout.

Flail (based on Sword):

Tiered: Flails fire a chain of 3 projectiles each with a different range, all of which will boomerang back to the player at the same time, creating a chain like effect similar to the Soul Cursed Scythe dagger. Flails aim to provide a piercing tool for melee players that are usually lacking them, this is balanced by the slow fire rate of the weapon as well as the difficulty in hitting all the projectiles.

UT: The “Barnacle Basher” fires a longer chain headed by an anchor, this flail is even slower than usual but does massive damage when hitting the endpoint. Drops from the Hermit God in the Realm.

Longbow (based on Bow):

Tiered: Longbows burst-fires 4 sets of 3 shots that meet at the end of their range. Unlike normal bows, these bows maintain full effectiveness and large amounts of damage at max range at the cost of requiring increased accuracy.

UT: The “Hama Yumi” is a hybrid of both regular bows and subtype bows, firing 4 shots in a burst with the outer arrows dealing armor piercing damage. Drops from the Jade Statue in the Realm. Kageboshi now only drops from the Garnet Statue,

Spellblade (based on Staff):

Tiered: Spellblades fire two shots that are stacked directly on top of each other. One of these shots deal higher damage while the other shot deals lower damage but pierces armor as well as multihits giving staff classes better access to piercing at a cost of raw damage.

UT: The “Crystalized Worm Spellblade” fires two worm heads from the left and right of the player. Accuracy and proper spacing allows for a skilled player to do significant damage. Drops from the Crystal Worm Mother in the Fungal Caverns.

Morning Star (based on Wand)

Tiered: Unlike regular wands, Morning Stars are shorter range and do not pierce enemies. In return they are a 5-shot shotgun allowing for big damage on a single target if you’re able to land all your shots.

UT: The “Beekeeper’s Flamethrower” only fires 3 shots as opposed to the tiereds 5, these projectile armor pierce and move slowly to allow for greater coverage. Drops from the Beekeeper in The Nest.

Player Titles

For this release we have also created a new cosmetic feature: Player Titles. Player titles are equipped through the Wardrobe in your Vault and can be unlocked by completing special requests, direct purchase, or other methods. Some Player Titles are exclusive for players who complete special achievements!

A Player Title appears in several places: On your character selection panel, when inspecting other players, in chat and notifications, and under the player’s name in the game. This last option was made configurable so if you prefer to not see yours and others' player titles under their character, you can disable it through the Options/Video menu.

HP Scaling

We have been listening to your feedback regarding the new changes as well as making some based on our own observations. This patch we will be rolling out the following changes and continue to listen to your feedback and observe the balance of the new scaling system.

In general we received some feedback that these changes were punishing realm groups too much, as such the lowest end of the HP scaling formula has been lowered a little to hopefully help with the size of groups you might find in a realm. In addition we observed the highest end of players being a little too powerful and have raised that end a bit to try to balance it out.

Please have a look at the blog post.

Skins

Month of the Mad God is going to bring some new wind into our skins! Let's have a look at the new skins introduced now to the game.

https://imgur.com/a/lRBmBI7

Resistance Leader Knight
Fur Trader Archer
Resistance Scout Rogue Skin
Syndicate Assassin Skin
Syndicate Sorcerer Skin
Syndicate Necromancer Skin
Syndicate Samurai Skin
Penguin Gunslinger Pet Skin
Dimensional Wanderer Pet Skin

Events

We did not forget about Events at all! You can always keep yourself updated by having a look at our Event Calendar for MotMG but additionally let's have a look at some of the Chest Events starting with this release. We will update you weekly with the loot for the next events as well!

The Nest

Parasite Chambers

Free Pack

The Syndical Arrival Pack is free to claim for everyone! It contains the following items:

1x Char Slot Unlocker
1x Candy of Extreme Defense
1x Candy of Extreme Speed
3x Black Coin x10
3x Unsigned Parcel
1x Ice Cream

New Nexus

The Syndicate has invaded the Realm and with it the Nexus got a new painting.

Other changes

Added a mechanism that will teleport players who don’t move from Shatters' bridge onto the Archmage fight.
Fixed a problem with the Dungeon Mod Mystery Tincture in Cursed Library, should work correctly now.
Fixed the forge description for “Headless Ted”. It wrongly indicated incorrectly that an “Ability” was required. The correct requirement is a “Ring”.
Fixed the forge requirements for Staff of Unholy Sacrifice, Skull of Corrupted Souls, Ritual Robe and Bloodshed Ring. These items have a requirement of 2 items from Lost Halls, Cultist Hideout, or The Void. They were incompatible with The Void’s but this has been fixed.
Training mobs in Guild Hall now do not increase player stats, like “enemies killed” count.
Fixed a visual bug with Void Prison enemy not showing its HP bar correctly.
We have applied a new solution in The Shatters for avoiding situations where players did not teleport to Archmage’s battle when the battle starts and stayed behind.

Fixes

Added an option to reduce the amount of AoE particles in the settings
Adjusted the Sorcerer’s Shock Blast tooltip description to be more accurate: “Triggers X times every Y seconds”
Added a limit to character you can put in chat - 228
Fixed an issue where loot bags would sometimes not have their items visible after killing certain enemies
Fixed an issue where the social tab tooltips would stay and follow the cursor after hovering over their menus
Fixed visual issue where drop rate % would show incorrectly in the Exaltation panel as 1025%, correct value is 35%
Fixed a small issue where a player would not get a notification the first time they try to teleport while it’s in cooldown
Say goodbye to the looong decimal points string you were seeing for the squares radius on poisons
Fixed an issue where Mythical ST Gem Dungeon Mod info was displaying for The Void or Cultist Hideout through a Solo Lost Halls dungeon

To find out more about our big update, visit the blog for a full overview!