Jun 9, 2023

Manias & Disasters: a new major EA update for Potion Tycoon has arrived!

Potion Tycoon - πceratops

Greetings, potion magnates!

We’ve been looking forward to enriching Potion Tycoon with exciting additional contents and mechanics from its first day in Early Access. And despite a slight detour we took with the previous quality of life update, we kept working hard on some new features that would make Potion Tycoon’s core gameplay more dynamic, more varied and, ultimately, more entertaining. Today we finally began to realize our original EA roadmap as the game’s first proper content update, “Manias & Disasters'', has just gone live!

First and foremost, this major update brings a bunch of brand-new random events to your shopkeeper’s table. Not only will these spontaneous encounters change how Potion Tycoon looks, sounds and feels every so often - they will also affect the way you play it on a more fundamental level. Unprompted and rampant, they are going to catch you off-guard and shake up your firmly established business flow with amended needs to satiate, sudden threats to avert and fleeting opportunities to seize. Simply put, expect less routine and more chaos with their arrival. But remember - it’s that kind of chaos that can turn the tides and bring fabulous rewards!

Additionally we'll introduce two public branches which are inteded to smooth out your playing experience during early access. See more details in the changelog below.

But enough words - just go explore firsthand what this new Potion Tycoon update has to offer. Hey, and don’t forget to let us know how you liked it - we hold our breath for it!

Bewitchingly yours,
Snowhound Games and Daedalic Entertainment

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Changelog:

Changes:

Added random events of two types:
[**] Manias (Bone Fever, Monster Mania, Calling The Ghosts): manic customers run into the shop searching for a specific type of potion;
[**] Disasters (Skeleton Invasion, Monster Emergency, Ghostly Mess): monsters emerge and spook both approaching workers and customers, though workers can be commanded to banish them if the corresponding repelling potion is in stock;
[**] Disasters usually follow upon Manias of the corresponding type;
[**] All events are accompanied with themed visual environmental effects;
[**] All events have custom music themes played in the background.
Added 3 new reward artifacts for ending invasion events: Skeleton Memorial, Stone Ogre and Phantom Statue.
The event widget shows the approximate duration for the active event.
Potions that are trending (Hot) due to an active event will now sell better.
Added more custom animations for the Supporter Pack witch.
Added two more department sizes. Departments can now be Small, Medium (previously Large), Large (previously Grand), Grand or Royal.
Added 3 new goals (Pharmacy, Sorcery Superstore and Adventure Arcade), one to each goal branch.
Enabled all artifacts to be placed anywhere in the house, including staircases.
Event requests' deadline cannot be extended anymore. You can only deliver something immediately or fail the quest when time runs out for a request.

Balancing:

Major balancing update to improve the pacing of the game:
[**] early game made slightly easier
[**] reduced likelihood of randomly getting unfavorable starting conditions
[**] more steadily increasing challenge as the game progresses
[**] numerous balancing changes across the board:
[***] potion price points
[***] container prices
[***] alchemy modifier values
[***] ingredient properties
[***] potion attribute appeal modifiers
[***] worker salaries (and some worker traits)
[***] purchasable item prices
[***] request requirements
multiple changes to research paths
both difficulty levels affected.
Product creation update:
[**] Added Neutral price tag which replaces Fair price tag as the 0% appeal tag. Fair now gives +5% appeal and is one step below Neutral. All other price tags below Fair were shifted down one step.
[**] Changed price bracket colorization to have 3 "optimal" green spaces (Neutral, Fair and Bargain), 2 "viable" yellow spaces (Pricey and Blowout) and all of the rest are with red implying either no benefits or heavy penalty on appeal.
[**] Price point now increases by one step whenever grade surpasses the next whole number. Previously price points were at: 1st price point: 0.5-1.49 grade, 2nd price point 1.5-2.49, 3rd price point 2.5-3.49. Now price points are at: 1st price point 0-0.9, 2nd price point 1-1.9, 3rd price point 2-2.9 and so on.
Increased the Welcoming trait customer action point bonus from 4 to 12.
Increased the customer action point bonus for every curiosity artifact (from 8 to 12 for Jar Of Wishes, Wisebeak, Spirit Trap, Old Friend, Mystery Object, Unicorn Shoe, Preserved Troll, Petrified Skull, Grim Pumpkin and from 6 to 8 for the Wheel Of Divination).
Marketing Rite now requires a Veteran Clerk (instead of Master), costs 15TP instead of 20, has a base success chance of 50% (instead of 30%) and yields bigger boosts to launch marketing.
Grand Cooker, Big Kettle and Big Mortar now require Veteran workers (instead of Adept).
Re-adjusted Fame and Appeal increases in all marketing and branding actions.

Fixes:

Fixed some interactions between the quest deadline choice and delivery picker that could lead to UI problems.
Items carried by workers and waiting in machine outputs are now considered when checking storage targets.
The Continue button now behaves more consistently and should always reload the latest save. The game is also saved on exit.
Fixed crash when closing the game during intro videos.
The “For hire” workers list now avoids duplicate worker names. Existing saves may still have duplicates in the list until it is refreshed. (Also note that you can rename workers in the Ledger).
Various localization fixes.
Fixed event requests showing wrong portrait and letter icon in the quest reminder.
Fixed Sorbus generic "Thank You"-dialogue showing !loc warning for what's supposed to be an empty space except when the player had just completed the Field Trip quest.
Fixed Cabinet refills sometimes getting stuck if the worker could not find a crate.
Fixed Issue where a newly built item could stay outside a room after canceling construction in some situations.
Fixed customers sometimes turning around for a split second when exiting the shop.
Fixed tutorials and goals related to stocking potions getting completed in some places where they shouldn't.
Fixed customers sometimes spawning/despawning too close to the house depending on the entrance locations.
Fixed Growth Lamp not showing tooltip on hover.
Some animation-related optimization - should result in slightly less CPU load depending on the amount of objects.
Fixed issue where potion appeal wasn't checked properly in Ledger/Segments.
Fixed issue where player potions weren't shown properly in Ledger/Segments if the player didn't have any superior potions.
Fixed customers getting away without paying if they could not find their way to a Cash Register. Now they will go through non-shop rooms if necessary, and if they still can't pay, the potions are moved back to Shop Cabinets.
Fixed Alchemy Labs not being checked for existing potion orders when determining whether a potion can be deleted or not.
Fixed equipment status icon tooltips being covered by other item pop-ups when on top of each other.
Fixed a crash that could occur when a room construction order was canceled after being assigned to a worker.
Fixed issues where sorting player and rival houses in Ledger/Leaderboard based on multiple different stats wasn't executed properly.
Fixed issue where unprocessed ingredients weren't properly marked in Ledger/Ingredients if their storage targets were reached.

Public branches:
With this update we establish two public branches you can use if you encounter issues to see if the builds provided there help you to improve your experience. These branches are opt-in and of course our goal is to polish and improve the game continously to make these branches obsolotete as soon as possible.

rollback: in this branch you'll find the version without the latest update, in case you encounter issues with new content or features.
experimental-public: unstable and mostly untested iterations of the game that are currently in the works to be released soon that may help with issues we already fixed in this branch without having them rolled out to the public yet.

To get into these branches, right-click on the game in your library list, choose 'Properties' and then 'Betas...', in the following window, please choose the according branch from the dropdown menu.

Jun 9, 2023

New Units: Howler & Sunfang

Legion TD 2 - Multiplayer Tower Defense - AutoAttackGames

Expected patch release: June 12 (Pacific Time)

News & Updates
- Check out Lisk's Developer AMA and Jules' Gameplay & Balance AMA from this past month! These AMA ("ask-me-anything") events are run every month, so keep an eye on reddit for the next ones.
- Nekomata Cup: June 10-11. The first-ever tournament tailored for players in Asia, Oceania, Europe and Africa!
- Next Nova Cup: June 24-25
- Join the Tournament Discord to participate and receive tournament notifications. View all past Nova Cups here: Legion TD 2 Esports Portal.

New Content & Features

New Unit: Howler

Howler Stats

Tier 2 (Cost: 35g)
Role: Versatile
Melee / Pierce / Natural
Wolf Pack: Each attack applies a stack of Wolf Prey for 3 seconds (stacking up to 10 times). Deals 6% (3% to bosses) bonus damage for each stack of Wolf Prey on its attack target.

New Unit: Sunfang

Sunfang Stats

Tier 2 Upgrade (Cost: 160g)
Role: Versatile
Melee / Pierce / Natural
Wolf Pack: Each attack applies a stack of Wolf Prey for 3 seconds (stacking up to 10 times). Deals 6% (3% to bosses) bonus damage for each stack of Wolf Prey on its attack target.

New Feature: First Purchase Bonus

Starting this patch, the first time you purchase each premium essence bundle, you get a big chunk of premium essence for FREE!

Every premium essence purchase goes towards supporting the game’s continued development. Thank you to everyone who continues to support the game. Without your support, the game would not be where it is today.

P.S. Remember to enter a creator code for 10% bonus premium essence! (and supporting a creator in the process!)

New Unlockables

Cool off from the summer heat with three new summery skins, including one more honorable mention from the community skin competition!

New Skin: Beach Party Cannoneer

Original concept by Drachir

New Skin: Tropical Imp

New Skin: Cryo Fire Lord

New Cards: Campaign, King, and Worker Cards

Introducing new collectible cards for the 14 campaign opponents as well as Earth King, Sky King, and Worker!
- These are standard (non-secret) cards with legendary rarity
- These cards are only obtainable via the Card Trader (they cannot be found in-game)

Game Balance

General

Haste (4v4 Dual Building)

- Attack speed bonus to enemies: 2% → 3%
- AOE reduction for enemies: 45% → 47.5%. This nerf also affects Hades’ Necromancy.

Dual building is too strong when mastered and is currently a point of frustration.

King

- Upgrade Regen: 0.005% → 0.006%

Right now if your king takes too much damage, upgrading regen often seals your fate by giving up too much pressure. A regen buff makes recover + scale a viable alternative.

Legion Spells

Counterattack

- Mythium gained: 50 → 55
- Mythium gained per leak: 50 → 55

Low win rate and very low pick rate.

Divine Blessing

- Health: 2150 → 2000

High win rate and pick rate.

Fighters

Bone Warrior

- Health: 100 → 140

Bringing back Bone Warrior as an off-tank in the early game.

Dark Mage

- Damage: 34 → 32

Shifting power from Dark Mage to Bone Warrior.

Chained Fist

- Health: 210 → 220

More cheap unit buffs.

Pack Rat

- Health: 620 → 640

Low win rate.

Gargoyle

- Health: 270 → 280
- Attack speed: 0.89 → 0.91

Gargoyle promotes aggressive early game plays, which is a fun and interesting strategy. It was over-nerfed back when cheap unit spam was overpowered.

Harpy / Sky Queen

- Attack speed: 1.49 → 1.46

High win rate.

Angler

- Health: 420 → 380
- Damage: 19 → 17

High win rate. Nerfing Angler in the early game. Mid and late game, where Angler doesn't rely as much on its stats, it will be similarly viable.

Rogue Wave

- Delusion: ability damage amplification: 16% → 20%

Fire Elemental

- Attack speed: 0.806 → 0.82

Low win rate and pick rate.

Slime Siren

- Attack speed: 1.37 → 1.34

High win rate.

Nekomata

- Attack speed: 1.03 → 1.05

Low win rate. After the Slime Siren nerf and Nekomata and Gargoyle buffs, all the arcane tanks should be in a reasonably balanced spot.

Chloropixie

- Damage: 46 → 49
- Mythium gained: 6 → 5

Stronger when used as DPS, but weaker when used as fodder or in a split. Encouraging smarter use of Chloropixie.

Sakura

- Attack speed: 1.14 → 1.12

Shifting power from Sakura to Chloropixie.

Violet

- Mana regeneration increased by 5%

Slightly low win rate and pick rate.

Eternal Wanderer / Samurai Soul

- Attack speed: 0.83 → 0.85

Low pick rate.

Sea Serpent

- Health: 660 → 680

Deepcoiler

- Health: 2010 → 2070

Very low pick rate.

Radiant Halo / Arc of Justice

- Attack speed: 1.15 → 1.13

High win rate.

Gatling Gun / Vulcan Cannon

- Attack speed: 2.2 → 2.17

High win rate. Partially reverting last patch’s buff.

Banana Bunk

- Damage: 65 → 68
- Barbs: Damage reflect: 15 + 10% → 13 + 10%

High win rate. Shifting power from the ability to autoattack damage to make it more consistent with Banana Haven. Still an overall nerf.

Gateguard / Harbinger / Lord of Death / Hades / Shadow Dancer / Dread Knight

- After a summoned unit has been alive for 50 seconds, it starts degenerating 10% max health per second

Weaker when holding for teammates, which was a point of frustration.

Mercenaries

Witch

- Attack speed: 1.43 → 1.35

Still the top performing mercenary.

Waves

Wave 6 (Rockos)

Damage: 40 → 37
- Impale reworked
— Old: Each attack has a 25% chance to deal 150% damage
— New: Each attack amplifies damage by 3% (1.5% to the king), stacking up to 10 times

This removes rng from the ability, rewards having multiple units partially tank, and incentivizes cheaper units in the early game.

Balance Watchlist

The dev team is constantly monitoring game balance, between looking at data and listening to community feedback. If specific units/spells are being more closely monitored than usual, they will be listed in this Balance Watchlist section. For this patch, the following are on the watchlist:

Treant + upgrades
Grarl + upgrades
Eggsack
Cartel

Improvements & Fixes

New Mouse Cursor

Long overdue, the mouse cursor has received a modern refresh!

Improvements

Emotes: Added a clickable button to use emotes. We’re still gathering feedback and will likely make other improvements to the emotes system in the future. (Screenshot)
Game Coach: Added the “Randomize Every Game” option in the Shop > Game Coach tab
Matchmaking: Improved match fairness for players with less than 10 ranked games in the current season. For such players, it will take into account last season’s peak Elo. This should greatly improve match fairness at the start of seasons, as well as for players who are returning from a break and starting the season a bit late.
Creditor: Earned gold message now displays “MAX” if you earned max gold (Screenshot) and a percentage if you earned less than max
Postgame Builds: Mousing over a unit icon now shows the unit name

Fixes

King Upgrades: Fixed a bug where a queued king upgrade wouldn’t go through if you hit 20 mythium just before the wave started (Credits to Kidev)
Parties: Fixed a bug where a party invite from a friend in another player’s party would display the invite from the party owner, instead of the friend
Cards: Fixed a bug where Game Coach cards were not able to be donated or sold
Nekomata: Fixed a bug where the max stacks re-texture wasn’t showing up

Known Bugs

Currently investigating a bug from last patch where the main menu background wrongly shows up in-game, preventing player actions.

Community Highlight

This weekend (June 10-11) is the Nekomata Cup! It's like the Nova Cup, but a new time schedule friendlier for Asia/Australia/African players, as well as European players!

Sign-up is FREE! Tune in to http://twitch.tv/ltd2 for casting by Shadowings on the days of the event.

Closing Remarks

With this update, we are excited to introduce new doggos to the game

. These units should be easier-to-use compared to some of the other recent new units, while still offering interesting strategies.

We're also excited to introduce the First Purchase Bonus to encourage more people to support the game's development; even if it's just a one-time purchase, every purchase really does help.

Thank you again for playing Legion TD 2! We hope you continue to enjoy the game.

If you've enjoyed the game, but haven't left a review yet, please consider posting a short review for the game! It really helps get the word out there.

If you enjoy these updates, please give it a Thumbs Up, too!

And as always, if you have constructive criticism, let's chat about it. Discord and reddit are our main channels of communication, and aside from the development team, there are community helpers who can ensure your feedback is heard, as well as answer pretty much anything you've ever wanted to know about the game. If you want a guaranteed answer from the devs, the monthly AMAs on reddit are your best bet.