PTR Launch

Greetings Adventurers!

Welcome to the first release version of the MythForce PTR. In case you aren’t familiar with the acronym, PTR stands for “Public Test Realm,” an old MMO term. The PTR is a place where we are rolling out prototype work that we’ve been doing to demo new features and gather feedback on a number of big changes.

Unlike our other releases, the MythForce PTR is going to be a very different creature. You’ll be seeing unfiltered game development, often completely unpolished, in some cases also very abstracted from the final version of the features. We’re including you in the process and want you to know that it WILL be buggy and very exploitable in many ways. We’re asking you to look past the broken windows and focus on the concepts on display.

In this first PTR, we’re focusing on a pivot to how you progress through the game, both in-session and out. Within the session, we’re making big changes to how you progress through the dungeon and how your character powers up over the course of a run. And out of the session, we’re taking our first steps in really improving the way you interact with the long-term progression of your character. The largest focus for this PTR is the in-session changes that support the metagame improvements.

The experiments are each individually extensive, so let’s take a look one at a time.

Weapon Loadout Prototype

Based on your feedback, most players choose one weapon and stick with it, creating a build around the selected weapon, including perk choices. To support this style of gameplay, weapons are now chosen prior to entering the dungeon. You no longer pick up weapons dropped by enemies or found in chests to grow your power throughout the run; instead, you upgrade your weapons at regularly placed forge shrines throughout the adventure.

How it works:

• Select one of three weapon types per character from the “Select your Character” screen.
  • Victoria can choose from a Greatsword, Mace + Shield, or Sword + Shield.
  • Maggie can choose from a Fire Book, Ice Book, or Lightning Book.
  • Hawkins can choose from an Ice Bow, Physical Bow, or Arcane Bow.
  • Rico can choose from a Sword + Dagger, Sword + Shield, or Greatsword.

• Weapon loadouts are currently accessible through the “Infusions” menu—displaying currently as your “Class Perk.”
• Once a weapon is selected, that weapon will be set as your starting gear.
• Currently you can only choose one weapon set. An added switchable set may be added.
• Weapons are now upgraded at mystic forges as room-end reward.
  • When upgrading at a mystic forge, you have a choice of upgrade to your weapon. All weapon upgrades are permanent for the duration of the session, with the exception of element type upgrades, which are replaced if another element is selected.
  • Element upgrades are a separate room-end reward choice.
• Trinkets behave as they do in the main game.
• Now that weapons are fixed on a per-run basis, they can no longer be interacted with in the hotbar.

Perk Filtering Prototype

When you receive a perk in-game, your choice is now based on the character you’re playing instead of all characters having access to all perks. This means that you should no longer receive Bow-related perks if you aren’t playing Hawkins or Spellbook-related perks if you aren’t playing Maggie, and so on.

We believe this reduces the frequency of “feel bad” moments when you receive a selection of perks that don’t support a playstyle suited to the character you’ve chosen.

Note: Currently perks are not filtered by weapon type, only by character, so when playing Victoria, you may receive perks for Swords or Maces when the opposite is chosen.

How it works:

• When you select a perk in-game, the perk list is based on the character you have chosen.
• Perks are no longer awarded as level-up rewards but instead as selected room-end rewards via Skill Shrines.

“Branching Path” & In-Session Rewards Prototype

We’ve identified some linearity and repetitiveness that runs against our desire to offer frequent and interesting choices. We want to give you agency over how your adventure pans out as the structure of rewards plays out similarly for each run.

This prototype aims to simulate the concept of branching player choices within the dungeon. You can choose the rewards you need, balancing in-game and metagame rewards. Instead of the dungeon branching physically, we created a simple selection between rooms that creates a slightly different experience based on your choices. We hope this increases the rate at which you make impactful decisions during the course of your run.

Note: Challenge difficulty is not yet tuned, and elite monsters do not scale for the dungeon depth. If you encounter a Goliath or Warchief in the first room as a room choice, the challenge will be very difficult. Additionally, there are no “No challenge” options in the current PTR iteration, so overall difficulty will be higher.

How it works:

• Before each room, you are presented with a token that modifies the room and changes the room-end reward. One slot must be chosen before moving forward.
• Possible room challenges are as follows:
  • Elite monster: Adds a Necrolyte, Forest Goliath, or Warchief to the encounter.
  • Champions: Many of the monsters in the room are upgraded to champions.
  • Curse: A curse is applied for the duration of the time you are in the room.
• The following curses can be encountered:
  • Curse of Battle Scars: Lose 5 Max HP every time you’re hit.
  • Curse of the Leaky Coin Purse: Lose 5 gold every second.
  • Curse of Lethality: Champion monsters do 50% more damage.
  • Curse of Predators: Champion monsters move 50% faster.

• Both room modifier and reward are displayed when viewing the token slots.
• Level ups now only reward the player with a fixed attribute progression.
• The following rewards are available:
  • Cosmetic/Ability/Infusion/Artifact/Perk Gems: A large number of gems of the specified type appear in a chest after the next room.
  • Perk: A Skill Shrine appears after the next room. Each player in the session gains one perk when it is used.
  • Loot Upgrade: A Mystic Forge appears after the next room. Each player in the session gains one weapon upgrade when it is used.
  • Element: A Mystic Forge appears after the next room. Each player gains an element selection that changes your weapon element type when it is used.
  • Healing: A Healing Shrine that heals all players when it is used appears after the next room.
  • Attribute: You can select an attribute upgrade or healing.
• The majority of the above rewards must be accessed with the “Choose a perk” key (Default T/Hold Select).

Metagame Currency & Character Upgrades Prototype

We’ve found that the Rank progression feels much more passive, and there is a lack of agency or engagement with character upgrading beyond making one-time decisions at each increase. We’re aiming to improve the overall metagame of permanent character progression by introducing a much more in-depth metagame currency and metagame unlocks system (of course, all earned in-game).

Instead of Rank XP as the be-all-and-end-all of progression, we are testing a system in which you must find rewards within the dungeon and spend them toward unlocking your character upgrades back in the metagame. This prototype aims to simulate the loop of gathering in-session rewards and spending them in the metagame by taking our existing character progression and spreading it out across a number of unlocks.

Note: This does not represent our intended final upgrade path. Infusions, starter perks, and so on will also be subject to an overhaul offering much more granular decision making in a future test build.

How it works:

• Chests and breakables no longer drop weapons, only gold, potions, trinkets, and gems.
• Now character upgrades are not based on rank; instead, upgrades are purchased with gems found during your adventure.
  • Perk Gems can be spent to purchase new perks to add to the pool.
  • Infusion Gems can be spent to purchase infusion levels.
  • Ability Upgrade Gems can be spent to purchase ability upgrades.
  • Artifact gems can be spent to purchase new artifacts.
  • Blood Gems are unchanged from the main game.

• Gems (except Blood Gems) can be spent via the Metagame Shop button on the main menu.
• Rank XP is no longer awarded at the end of the session. Total gems found are displayed instead.

Difficulty Modes

We’re experimenting with retuning the difficulty by allowing you to choose before starting an adventure how difficult you would like your session to be. Instead of only stat manipulation, though, we want difficulty to represent the game becoming more or less actually difficult, not taking more or less time to finish the same tasks because an enemy has more HP.

In the difficulty modes experiment, we’ve focused on easier modes - you can now select Easy and Casual, and aside from some reduced health/damage from enemies, their aggression, and the enemy population will also change. This is the barest form of difficulty scaling, and there is likely more to come.

How it works:

• On starting a game, you will choose from Casual, Easy, or Standard difficulty.
• Casual Difficulty:
  • Enemy stats are reduced by ½ compared to Standard.
  • Enemies are less aggressive (Fewer enemies will actively attack at once).
  • Enemy level and population scales ½ as quickly compared to Standard.
• Easy Difficulty:
  • Enemy stats are reduced by ¼ compared to Standard.
  • Enemies are less aggressive (Fewer enemies will actively attack at once).
  • Enemy level and population scales ¾ as quickly compared to Standard.

MythForce Meter “Overdrive” prototype

In the interest of further supporting the power fantasy of being a Saturday morning cartoon hero, and creating exhilarating “comeback” moments in the thick of combat, the PTR introduces a new mechanic called the MythForce meter. As you combat enemies, your meter will slowly fill, and when it is completely full, you can expend your meter to gain a short burst of power, which can be used to turn the tide of battle against a dangerous foe, or grasp victory from the jaws of defeat.

How it works:

• The MythForce meter fills slowly over the course of gameplay.
• Certain character actions contribute extra progress toward the MythForce meter.
  • All heroes gain extra MythForce meter when they:
    • Defeat Enemies.
    • Perform a perfect action.
    • Perform a charge or power attack.
    • Successfully get a critical hit with a back attack or headshot.
    • Hit multiple enemies with one attack.
• A temporary HUD element has been added to show when the overdrive is active.
  • Gray text = Inactive, yellow text = active
• When the meter is completely full, an audio cue plays to notify the player it is available.
• While the MythForce meter is full, press M to activate Overdrive.
• Activating Overdrive instantly pushes back all enemies, as well as the following effects.
  • All attack stats are increased by 10x.
  • Your health regenerates at a rate of 5HP per second.
  • All ability cooldowns are instantly refreshed.
  • After using an ability, cooldown is 30% faster.
• Overdrive lasts for 12 seconds.

A Note on Saved Games

PTR save games are distinct from Retail branch save games and so should not interfere with one another. Saved games for this PTR branch have the words “PROTO4” appended.

For a list of Known Issues for the PTR, read here -> https://bit.ly/ptrknownissues