Version 0.611alabama

[Teddy]

Patch 0.611alabama - SHROOOMS

Summary: This update was supposed to be called 0.615 buuuut well hello! We add the core experience of Mount Bloom. Kind of like what the Toy Factory micro-arc was for Seasonne! Sidequests and secrets will come next.

Update Description

I probably don't need to talk that much about Mt Bloom itself. You can now continue the story from where it was left after the festival, and venture into Mt Bloom! The current content ends when you "exit" the mountain into the next temple. This is one of those real Frontline updates, meaning the polish level is at maybe 80 % or so. Place holder sounds, some missing effects, etc! The older timers will know what to expect!

Also, this update actually brings a ton of changes under the hood. Not only has the "new" network code been applied to the beginning of the game (except Giga Slime because I, uh... forgot him), but the Phase Shifting has been reworked almost completely code wise and visually, to allow for full client control. This means stuff might be really broken! It seems like they're not, but you never know...

Speaking of the network changes, they should improve the performance of players that have stable but high latency connections (good connections but long distance, usually). If your connection gives you freeze lag and stuff, the new code won't help you, but if your main problem is that things are too much out of sync and you can't dodge or shield, you should have a much better experience.

We'll gladly take your feedback on the patch right here in the thread! If you want to provide feedback for enemy encounters etc, please provide your character level and primary skills used!

EDIT: Forgot about the beta commands!

/spinsectreset will reset the first challenge of MtBloom
/flowerreset will reset the second challenge
/phasereset will reset the last challenge
/mtbloomreset will reset the entire mountain

Not that these commands only work chronologically, except for mtbloomreset! In other words, you can't do a /flowerreset when you've already begun the final challenge.

Anyway, here's some patch notes!

Additions

• The 'core' of Mount Bloom can now be played through, meaning four new enemies, a miniboss and a bunch of challenges!
  
• Four new weapons have been added to Seasonne/Temple of Seasons - three as knight drops and one crafted

Changes

• Small netcode improvements for players with low to medium ping (< 125) (up to Marino!)
  
• Pretty significant improvements to the netcode for players with high but stable pings (125-175) (up to Marino!)
  
• The Phaseman and GUN-D4M bullet hells should now be much lighter network wise
  
• Phase Shifting now has new graphics
  
• The automatic backup recovery system should now be able to identify more kinds of save corruption
  
• Buffed the Club weapon a bit (55 -> 60)
  
• Nerfed the Laser Sword weapon a bit (80 -> 75)
  
• Changed the dates of Professor Pine's log entries to make more sense
  
• You can now phaseshift and stuff while dead!
  
• You now get an Essence for ever 100k points TOTAL score instead of RUN score

Bug Fixes

• The Lantern Jack Shawl drop rate has been fixed (was 0.25 % instead of 2.5 %)
• The Yeti ice patches are now once again slippery for clients as well
• The meteor no longer has weird dead zones where it can't hit the targeted spot
  
• You now only need 10000 gold to get the 10000 gold achievement (used to be 10001 *gasp*)
  
• Your father no longer tries to weird you out with jazzhands in the opening cutscene
  
• The Frosty Friend, Cloud Strike and Shadowclone no longer need to be recast to gain spell level bonuses
  
• The loading system should no longer be able to perform a double load, essentially doubling player level, skills, etc.
  
• The mythical bug of the disappearing second save slot should not appear anymore (but as with Sauron, you never know)
  
• Fixed some visual bugs with certain hairstyles and hats

Bug Fixes (Alabama)

• Clients can now detect phase shift mirrors properly
  
• The game should no longer crash when Season Knights walk through thorns and destroy them
• Knocking up or away Shroomies should no longer turn them into Jumpkins!
• Spinsects should no longer be able to escape the first poison gas battle by spinning through the bars
  
• The Season Orb outside of Mt Bloom is no longer active from the beginning of the game
  
• The Season Orb no longer makes epic noises when you hit it after its first activation
  
• POISON GAS!!!

Next Patch, 0.612 Frontline: Side quests and other wonky stuff will be added to Mt Bloom! Also... some sound effects!

 

[TsReaper]

Finally! I've been looking forward to the adventure in Mt. Bloom the moment I saw the pictures in dev blog.

And...There is a little bug about the sound of the "winter orb" at the entrance of Mt. Bloom. When I hit the orb a second time it should just give off a "clicking" sound, not the magical season-transforming sound.

 

[Own]

Time to dig.

Winter bestiary: 'artficat'

Hydras: Level 0? Also, it's strange that the Fae and Winter himself are 12, since it's impossible to actually reach them at level 12. You're stronger than them the instant you set foot in the Temple of Seasons. Even the Knights are 14.

Marino, Bossling, Rune Block and Toy Machine are still missing, even with the new bosses added.

Dad keeps his [!] even after giving me the quest. And Gaan'tlet is missing like Amalet was way back when for me, but I assume this is just an old-ass-save issue.

Hitting the Winter Orb outside of Mt. Bloom more than once still makes the 'season changing' sound. Not that I mind, it's a nice sound, it's just inconsistent.

This mushroom can be walked on, and is beneath the character. The purple one left of it is also collisionless.

Will do more later.

 

[Own]

Shroomies don't feel significantly different from Jumpkins. Their mushroom blindness lasts for a tiny fraction of a second, and that requires you actually walk over the mushrooms they leave behind and stay in the cloud. The blindness mechanic on them feels a bit pointless as-is. I think they should leave mushrooms behind and also a spore cloud erupt around them when they die, blinding anyone who stays near them during their death animation for a full second or two. Unless the blinding mechanic is for people grinding them for a long period of time, when the spores become inescapeable.

Can we not perfect block Larvacids as they fast-squirm at us? I kept trying to. Even if it's not a damaging attack, being able to do it to stun them in place would be nice.

Are Toxic Tulips spores/roots a placeholder?

The Giant Icicle is kind of a ridiculously good weapon, for something you can get from grinding Ice Slimes. I love it! Surprised that Yeti Fur isn't a requirement.

Considering that I have 100,000 gold... actually, 10,000 to go into the cave means nothing to me. Lemme in there!

Already got a Toxic Tulip card in under 10 kills. Woo!

The big purple mushroom is also collisionless here.

I can walk on these rocks! Fun, but I don't think I'm supposed to.

I love the mushroom shield! Cursed equipment, woo!

Whoa, I got Mushroom Shield and Larvarmband pretty quickly. That's new. And another Mushroom Shield... always lucky?

The Spinsect Challenge was fun, but I'm hoping it's far crazier/faster on hard. I'll give this place a rushthrough with my Hard-speedrun guy later!

Gotta close the game, back in a while.

 

[Own]

Loaded back in, killed 5 Shroomies, Shroomy card get. What are the card drop % rates on Mt. Bloom enemies? Feels -far- higher than 1/300, or whatever it is for enemies elsewhere.

One minute later, after killing 5 Larvacid, I get the Larvacid card. ... Cards have never dropped this commonly before. They're not on some special developer-testing card drop rate, I hope? I love grinding for cards. ): This seems too easy.

Ooh, 10,000 gold guy was story-related. Damn, I was hoping for something to dump my gold on.

The Power Flower was fun on normal. Hopefully it's a lot crazier on Hard!

Posion gas.

So I teleport right, there's poison, there's a spinsect spinning. I hit the spinsect. And he goes through the bars. Thankfully he didn't have to die for the bars to go down, still weird!

Another no-collision, reporting in!

 

[GarlicJelly]

Loaded back in, killed 5 Shroomies, Shroomy card get. What are the card drop % rates on Mt. Bloom enemies? Feels -far- higher than 1/300, or whatever it is for enemies elsewhere.

One minute later, after killing 5 Larvacid, I get the Larvacid card. ... Cards have never dropped this commonly before. They're not on some special developer-testing card drop rate, I hope? I love grinding for cards. ): This seems too easy.

Ooh, 10,000 gold guy was story-related. Damn, I was hoping for something to dump my gold on.

The Power Flower was fun on normal. Hopefully it's a lot crazier on Hard!

Posion gas. View attachment 1302

So I teleport right, there's poison, there's a spinsect spinning. I hit the spinsect. And he goes through the bars. Thankfully he didn't have to die for the bars to go down, still weird! View attachment 1303

Another no-collision, reporting in! View attachment 1304

I shouldn't have to do this but... http://secretsofgrindea.com/forum/i...takes-small-visual-errors-and-other-bugs.197/ Keep in mind that we are the role models of this forum! :O

 

[Own]

You should go back through previous patch note topics. We always churn out a list of all the new bugs/glitches in the comments of the patch itself. If they're still there after the next fixer-upper patch they usually get tossed to the bug reports forum.

 

[GarlicJelly]

You should go back through previous patch note topics. We always churn out a list of all the new bugs/glitches in the comments of the patch itself. If they're still there after the next fixer-upper patch they usually get tossed to the bug reports forum.

But just because we've done so in the past doesn't mean we can't do it differently now, does it? Besides it's easier to search for bugs if they are in the Bug section.

 

[Own]

The kitty screen item? Awesome!

The red lightsaber? Doubly awesome!

Hard to get chests in puzzle areas? Fantastic.

Poison rooms? I can't wait to see the inevitable treasure maps that point to somewhere in the poison fog. What a fantastic bit of hell that will be.

The lightning glove is a nice item, I find myself wishing that was a talent. 1% chance per level to zzzap.

Pushing shift puzzle felt like a great set-up for a harder puzzle using the same mechanic to follow. But that harder puzzle never showed up? Maybe in a future dungeon? I hope I get to see that again. Maybe since we're growing plants at the end of Mt. Bloom, those caves accessable by plants will have harder versions in them? I'd love that!

Going to farm the new weapons, I turned it to Spring, started farming the room. A wizard grew a bunch of spikes nearby. I charged up Gold Whirlslash to hit a bunch of units near me and the thorns at the same time. Game crash. Not sure if that's a new bug or not...? I've farmed that room plenty with gold charge whirlslash in the past, no issue.

Winter's Bite? Finally, a 2-handed mage weapon! All our dreams come true!

Another Winter's Bite with 4 more Winter Knights killed. Another Winter's Bite with 4 more Winter Knights killed. The drop rate feels... off, here. Same as the cards.

Another Winter's Bite literally the immediate one after I came here to voice my confusion after my last Winter's Bite.

That Autumn Knight sword. Hooooly crap. Looks like @JamesKT 's birthday came early this year.

Summer's Smite. Uh. Wow. A weapon that's built almost purely for use with skills and nothing else. That's essentially what I do. So many nice new weapons! Everyone gets a little something!

If Ski Goggles, The Scream, Masque and now Shroom Hat and Crystal Hairband award no stats at all, shouldn't they unlock in Arcade when you have them obtained Story Mode on any character...? Unless they're getting stats in the future.

Winter Helmet: +38 DEF. Autumn Helmet: +20. Summer Helmet: +20. Phaseman's Helm: +24. Blue Slime Hat: +20. Frostling Hood: +30. I see an item that requires 25 Large Crystals that only gives +20 DEF. So far I've gotten every card, every item drop and every craftable except this and I only have 7 Large Crystals. This implies it's going to take a lot, lot longer to make than any of the previous items. What am I missing about this craftable?

Also, anyone know of a better Spinsect / Large Crystal grinding spot than immediately right of the entrance of Mt. Bloom?

 

[KoBeWi]

OMG YOU CAN ENTER MT BLOOM JUST AFTER YOU GO DOWN PILLAR MOUNTAINS FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!!!

I mean, you can activate the orb without the ability.

 

[GarlicJelly]

OMG YOU CAN ENTER MT BLOOM JUST AFTER YOU GO DOWN PILLAR MOUNTAINS FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!!!

I mean, you can activate the orb without the ability.

This is where Teddy brings out the big OUPS!

 

[Fred]

Pushing shift puzzle felt like a great set-up for a harder puzzle using the same mechanic to follow. But that harder puzzle never showed up? Maybe in a future dungeon? I hope I get to see that again. Maybe since we're growing plants at the end of Mt. Bloom, those caves accessable by plants will have harder versions in them? I'd love that!

While it's not in the exact spot you predicted, we are going to add a much trickier puzzle course as and optional side quest in the next update.
We held back on the difficulty on the main story puzzles on purpose to avoid potential frustration. Since this one is optional though, we won't be holding anything back this time!

Can we not perfect block Larvacids as they fast-squirm at us? I kept trying to. Even if it's not a damaging attack, being able to do it to stun them in place would be nice.

I'm all for this. Makes them a bit more manageable for skilled players, which could be very useful in hard mode!

 

[Reikokaz]

OMG YOU CAN ENTER MT BLOOM JUST AFTER YOU GO DOWN PILLAR MOUNTAINS FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!!!

I mean, you can activate the orb without the ability.

+1 to this just started a new charr and could enter it without ever going into the town

 

[Teddy]

OMG YOU CAN ENTER MT BLOOM JUST AFTER YOU GO DOWN PILLAR MOUNTAINS FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!!!

OUPS!!

My condolences to everyone who accidentally stumbles in there and get two-shot by Spinsects

 

[Reikokaz]

OUPS!!

My condolences to everyone who accidentally stumbles in there and get two-shot by Spinsects

I used it to powerlvl my charr :3 got lvl 15 in ~10mins

 

[Teddy]

I got like 10 Winter's Bite, also like 1000 cards in two minutes!! Teddy is still a total champ, though.

I'm curious to hear if this is happening to anyone else! I've double checked the drop rates on the weapons, and they are the same as the hats. 1 % that is! Also, the card drop rates in Mt Bloom is 1/300 for Shroomies, 1/100 for Larva, 1/200 for Flowers and 1/150 for Spinsects!

In other words, your numbers are super duper off. If there's a bug, it would be me somehow messing with the drop determination code itself! It kind of sounds like you've gotten 10x the drop rates on everything.

Did anyone else get the Mt Bloom cards and drops that quickly?

 

[KoBeWi]

You can now phaseshift and stuff while dead!

Finally we can do this, lol:

Spoiler: Look at the ghost

 

[GarlicJelly]

Finally we can do this, lol:

Spoiler: Look at the ghost

Naww. The game is all like: "I'm helping. :3"

 

[Reikokaz]

Did anyone else get the Mt Bloom cards and drops that quickly?

Yea me and my friend got the mushrom card so fast ~ 3 mins for both cards and also did my friend drop tons of stuff from the enemys ... maybe luck?

 

[Elswor]

I'm curious to hear if this is happening to anyone else! I've double checked the drop rates on the weapons, and they are the same as the hats. 1 % that is! Also, the card drop rates in Mt Bloom is 1/300 for Shroomies, 1/100 for Larva, 1/200 for Flowers and 1/150 for Spinsects!

In other words, your numbers are super duper off. If there's a bug, it would be me somehow messing with the drop determination code itself! It kind of sounds like you've gotten 10x the drop rates on everything.

Did anyone else get the Mt Bloom cards and drops that quickly?

It took me awhile to find the Bite, but the Fall's Edges kept dropping like candy. Unfortunately, any time I had that one room northeast of the main room with the 3 orbs and mage/knight endless spawns set to summer, whenever the summer mages spawned those root things, my game was prone to crash.

Not sure why that happened, but it did cause a lot of upsets when getting the drops

I've noticed as well that the Spinsects very rarely drop large crystals. It kept me playing, so I don't really mind. I still haven't found that one worm-like looking ring from the Larvacids either, not even after several hours of grinding. The Spinsect hat also didn't really make much sense to me either, its a straight downgrade from my Autumn Knight helmet, but it gains the perk of being able to use the face slot, but for crit rate, the Phaseman helmet easily has it beat (in defense too), and the only other thing I could think to use with it is the new Spinsect Feelers, which would go better when paired with a Season mage hat, honestly.

Basically the only thing that makes the Spinsect hat weird to me is the odd drop rate on the large crystals. They seem so rare, players would probably be more likely to find one of the items I listed from a drop than they would farming those crystals to craft that hat, honestly. 'Course, not everything has to be a direct upgrade! Variety is always good, and I do believe the Spinsect hat is the highest DEF craftable hat that can use the face slot. Same as the Blue Slime hat, but thats a drop.

The card droprates felt to be exactly what you stated them as, I got all of them from being there for awhile but none of them really came quickly.

I've also been noticing a very odd slowdown on my attacks at seemingly random intervals while in Mt. Bloom, but that's one for the bug report forums since I'll have to do some testing on it. It becomes very noticable when I break 200% attack speed with Berserker Style though.