Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Update 81

Minion Masters!


The Memote Mêlée has finally ended, with Team PuffChamp having the most members by a landslide. Thanks to everyone who participated and got involved with the community during the event!

But with that out of the way, we’ve got the long awaited Wheel of Doom release as well as some new features for our Streamer audience!

Wheel of Doom


The Wheel of Doom is finally here! This legendary card is the easiest way to create some chaos on the battlefield and was the winner of the Best of House Valor event quite some time ago. Everyone who completed that event will receive a free copy of the card, whereas for other users it’s available for crafting as of this update. But what is the Wheel of Doom, you ask?

It’s a 4 mana line AoE spell, firstly. Think about it like how Milloween’s Arcane Missiles are cast in that regard, but with a larger radius. This spinning death wheel will deal two instances of 150 damage to any unit it comes into contact with (including your own), dealing a total of 300 damage (50% to Master tower). However, if any unit survives both hits, the wheel will shatter and the spell will end, leaving everything behind the unit unharmed. Get out there and cause some mayhem!

Streamer Arena


This new arena you’ll notice on the Arena selection will become available when the game detects someone is streaming through the Twitch Boost feature. It’s like the default arena, but your audience can pop in to cheer you on in your matches as puff fans! They can emote and jump around while you’re in the menus or while you’re playing the game using commands in twitch chat. You can find all of the currently available commands here: http://minionmaster.com/streamerboost

To disable this feature, simply select another arena. This is a first iteration, so we’re looking forward to getting your feedback on what we can change or improve! Make sure to give us your feedback on our Stomt, Discord or Steam Forums.

Steamer UI


We’re also including an optional alternate UI designed to help streamers find the space to fit all of their graphics and cameras. Selectable in the Settings menu under either Twitch Boost or the Visual settings, this will rearrange parts of the UI to give you plenty of space at the bottom of the screen to put your webcam, streamer graphics, and anything else you want to store. Give it a try and let us know what you think!

Misc


  • The Twitch Memote Melee event has ended, and Watch & Win codes are back to giving 200 Gold again.
  • There is now a notification underneath the Battle Pass if you have unclaimed rewards.
  • The Featured Shop Offer slots now rotate between two different featured offers. This means there are now four featured offers at a time.
  • Added a button on the menu that will take you to a Youtube search for Minion Masters videos underneath the Twitch Panel.
  • The Master Tower ragdoll has been updated to better fit the new one.
  • The Gold tooltip has been updated to mention Shop Offers, Draft Tickets and Mayhem Runs - Thanks Steven!

Bugs


  • Fixed an issue with the Russian translation that would crash the game.
  • Fixed an issue with the Spanish translation that would make 1 mana Soul Stealers invade the Deckbuilding.
  • Fixed Assassin not benefitting from King Puff’s second perk properly - Thanks Mutrock!
  • Fixed Raging Reinforcements missing its high resolution Card Art.
  • Fixed an instance where Zeppelin Bomber could hit Troubadour from a long distance - Thanks Greywolf!
  • Fixed the Armored Escort icon not appearing on the enemy master when cast.
  • Fixed the Mana Surge bar not appearing if you had a Mana Surge card in your opening hand.
  • Fixed Morgrul the Swarmer King not properly granting on-kill benefits to Soul Stealer when killed - Thanks Xiniu!
  • Fixed the friends list being bugged sometimes in Expeditions - Thanks Crabhead!
  • Fixed Re-boomer being stuck in a Sacrifice state if killed while under the effects of Gor’Rakk Sacrifice - Thanks BOB!

Cheers from BetaDwarf!

Monday, October 29, 2018

Minion Masters Monday - Spin the Wheel of Doom!

Minion Masters!

A new week starts and we have the next update in the pipeline. While currently being finished and polished, Update 81 is scheduled for Wednesday, October 31st! The live servers are expected to go down around 8am UTC if everything goes to plan. What do we have for you in Update 81?


The Wheel of Doom comes to Minion Masters!


Sorry for the long wait, Masters! Originally announced as the winning card of the last Tri-Team tournament, the Wheel of Doom took longer than expected to cause the maximum mayhem on the flying arenas. Mordar made sure that this little wheel, invented by a madman and infused with magic, destroys friend and foe alike.

It will be a spell, it will cost...

Let's stop right here! What follows will not be pleasant, but we will not reveal the stats just yet! Why? Because we have a new Dwarf stream incoming, tomorrow ;)


But first, we have a Halloween special to announce!


Well, to be honest, Edelweiss and Kishin are the original announcers. Both of them are well-known community members and because they love Halloween so much, they decided to host a Halloween-themed tournament on Saturday, November 3rd at 15:00 UTC. The whole tournament comes with scary in-game prizes sponsored by BetaDwarf Entertainment, and on top of that, every participant will get a prize for sure!

Check out the tournament sign-up page, read the rulebook carefully to know what scary cards you might have to include in your decks, and sign-up for the fun today!


Dwarf stream someone?

"Book me in!" That's what we wanna hear! That Sprite & Erythais will stream for you again on Tuesday, October 30th at 18:00 UTC and, of course, the Wheel of Doom will be the highlight. We'll reveal everything about the favorite tool to cause maximum mayhem on the flying arenas, we answer your questions, we talk a lot of nonsense, and we just have fun together!

Sounds like something you don't wanna miss tomorrow? Then follow our official Twitch channel to get notified as soon as we are live!

Important message from C-SAR (maybe just UncleOwnage) at this point:

You love teasers? Ready for the maximum hype despite the fact that Wheel of Doom is already enough? There are no brakes on the hype train, though: we have a special streamer feature coming with Update 81. Let's just say that the flying arenas will finally be filled with YOUR AUDIENCE [insert favorite hype emote here]!

Last, but not least...


...we have a bit of a sad message for you this day. As with everything in life, people come and go. Some are seeking new adventures, while others have to deal with more important things than Minion Masters (is there really anything more important?).

Today we announce that your favorite Community Manager, Erythais, is leaving. By his own choice, he will hand over all Community Management responsibilities to That Sprite on Friday, November 9th. There are various reasons for this move, but instead of speculating we want him to speak for himself:

Hello Masters!

After being able for more than a year now to enjoy my stay with you as a Community Manager, I have to say goodbye. Well, not a total goodbye, but I will no longer be able to fulfill my responsibilities as a Community Manager coming November 9th.

BetaDwarf and I leave in good terms and my decision to quit my job is based mainly upon personal reasons. Especially my health condition was getting worse lately. I have a chronic disease to deal with and adding the higher workload due to the recent Discord launch, as well as stress due to several factors to it, the situation got to a point where I had to take actions. Unfortunately.
That being said, I will still be with you as part of the King Puff Cup staff! Let's bring competitive Minion Masters to new horizons and let AMD & SteelSeries just be some sponsors ;) I will also be a Discord & in-game moderator. So behave, as I will be able to swing that ban hammer further :P

I don't want to write multiple pages, as everything is said, already. Last, but not least though, I want to thank all of you for a great time, amazing talks, hilarious rants, and your general support for BetaDwarf as an amazing company, Minion Masters as an amazing game, and, of course, this awesome community! Keep giving feedback, keep reporting bugs, keep suggesting, keep whining, keep ranting at times, as all of that will help the Dwarves to make Minion Masters even better. Thanks for letting me be a part of that exciting journey, Masters & Dwarves!

Cheers from Erythais

BetaDwarf wants to thank Erythais for all he has done for us as a company, Minion Masters as a game, and you as the community. We will miss him as a Community Manager, but we’re thrilled that he decided to stick around as an active member of the King Puff Cup staff and moderator. Thanks Erythais and best of luck!

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That's all for today, Masters! Have a nice start to the week, make sure to tune in for the Dwarves live on Twitch tomorrow & prepare for the Halloween tournament this Saturday ;)

Cheers from BetaDwarf

Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Update 80



Minion Masters!

The Memote Mêlée is nearing the end, with only 7 days left, you must hurry and get your time-limited memote!

This week we’ve got some great new stuff for you Masters - 2vs2 Mayhem functionality!
It took some work, but you can now join mayhems with your friends or play with randoms in addition to playing 1vs1!

2v2 Mayhem


  • You can now create Team lobbies in Mayhem
  • You’ll be able to search alone for a Team Battle or join with a friend.
  • You can even play 1 vs 1 battles with the same deck, seamlessly switching!
  • The rewards and game modes are the same, except for the usual changes from Battle to Team Battle

Balance


  • Crystal Construct
    • Mana refunded from 2 to 1


--- Developer comments ---
The 2 mana refund mechanic of Crystal Construct was originally intended to make the card act as a “3.5” mana card. Unfortunately, sometimes experiments don’t work out, and the card ended up being stronger than we would have liked. The mana refund was also a little problematic in Mordar decks as it allowed him to snowball quickly with a unit that was easy to support with any other backup.

  • Rabid Prowler
    • No longer gains Frenzy when the condition is met.

--- Developer comments ---
Rabid Prowler’s power level after the recent buff made it a far more oppressive strategy than we had hoped for. The combination of both Rage and Frenzy required a near instant reaction to avoid the card dealing massive amounts of damage to either the minions or your master tower.
This change leaves us with a final movement from Frenzy to Rage, where Rage should have more impact on the Rabid Prowler because it has more synergy with the pounce.

  • Dragon Ball
    • Mana cost of minion required to activate effect from 3 to 4

--- Developer comments ---
Dragonball had been a popular card since its inception due to its versatility combined with how many decks ran 3 mana cost minions such as Plasma Marines, Xiao Long, etc. The card was ultimately a bit too strong as a result, and the conditional effect never really felt like something that you had to actively consider. By making it a 4 mana cost requirement there should hopefully be more of an involved thought process when playing the card, but still retain the exceptional value the spell was known for.

  • Crystal Sentry
    • Health from 250 to 275
    • Damage from 50 to 55

--- Developer comments ---
Crystal Sentry was very slightly underperforming to our expectations. Its health was just shy of making it useful as the ranged tank we were hoping it could be.. Therefore we’re hoping a minor stats increase can make the card a bit more viable.

  • Musketeer
    • Health from 200 to 230

--- Developer comments ---
Musketeer, while providing a strong niche counter to some specific units and having solid DPS, would often struggle to see use outside of its specific scenarios due to its low health, which made it vulnerable to multi-unit cards or ranged attackers. This minor HP increase shouldn’t take away from its role as a glass cannon parry unit, but still, give it an extra boost in survivability.

  • Dragon Nest
    • Mana from 5 to 4
    • Duration from 45 to 35
    • Health from 300 to 250

--- Developer comments ---
Dragon Nest has definitely presented a challenge to us, and since the last changes made, it hasn’t seen much use.
We felt it was time to try a middle-ground between what we’ve had previously, and this change should make it easier to get on the field, but still possible to deal with for a variety of decks, as the summoned dragons remain flightless.

  • Raging Reinforcements
    • Crossbow Dude count up from 3 to 4

--- Developer comments ---
Crossbow Dudes would typically feel like the “bad” outcome of Raging Reinforcements, as their overall DPS and low survivability generally made them inferior to the Warrior and Dragon Whelp. By adding a fourth Crossbow Dude their DPS is more in line with the other options and should become a strong unit for supporting other units.

  • Cannon Roller
    • Attack Delay from 800 to 600

--- Developer comments ---
One of the major issues with Cannon Roller was that it would have a hard time attacking ranged minions, causing it to inevitably take large amounts of damage. While it was intended to be weak to Ranged enemies this leaves it with two heavy counters; flying and ranged. This Attack Delay buff should help to reduce the amount of chip damage it takes, making ranged slightly less effective, but still a counter.

Misc


  • On hover cards now give a description of the buffs they have.
  • Power Tokens now have proper physics when you buy multiple tokens at once.
  • Removed the “Recruit a Friend” menu point while you’re in a match.
  • Hover tooltips from card descriptions now display at the bottom in situations where the description itself is a tooltip. E.g. in a match or in deckbuilding overview, you will now see mechanics explanations since you can’t hover the mechanics themselves.
  • You can now purchase offers with Gold prices using Rubies. It was strange when you didn’t have a chance to purchase a gold offer because you hadn’t saved up, and it wasn’t possible to grind the gold during the time frame.
  • Expedition battles now save replays.
  • Disabled some cheat codes not intended to be exposed for users, even though they didn’t work for matches.
  • Unclaimed rewards from previous Battle Passes should now be claimed automatically upon logging in after a new Battle Pass comes out. This applies retroactively to Battle Passes 1 and 2.

Bugs


  • Fixed Morgrul the Swarmer King being able to cleave.
  • Fixed an issue where some users would get watch and win codes when not streaming, and streamers not getting watch and win codes.
  • Fixed a translation issue on the buffs of some cards, thasnks DjCube32
  • Fixed an issue where login would mess with some data and display twice your collection - Thanks Bryan Ford
  • Fixed an issue where Settsu’s Jump would cause enemies to target points in the sky - Thanks JimmyNavio
  • Fixed a bug where some Melee units would use projectiles as if ranged, which could make them hit things after they died (specifically Dragon Whelp and Flightless Dragons) - Thanks Optimist.
  • Fixed a bug where Minions with Mana Surge would lose Mana Surge when coming out of a Black Hole - thanks Jules.
  • Fixed some issues where Premium Upgrades would not award properly on Discord after buying.
  • Fixed a bug where the Mana Surge indication would not appear on the Mana bar if you did not have a Mana Surge Minion in your deck, but still obtained one
  • Fixed a bug where Spear Throwers would not show aggro indicator on flying Minions - thanks Omicron666
  • Fixed some wording on the Rank Up intro quests.
  • Fixed some issues with quests and achievements not claiming properly.
  • Fixed an issue where card frames would display wrongly when spectating - thanks Kishin.
  • Fixed users who had non-english characters in their install directories having their decks wiped.

Cheers from BetaDwarf

Monday, October 22, 2018

Minion Masters Monday

Minion Masters!

We can finally come back to our usual update schedule with patch days on Wednesdays. The next update will be Update 80, scheduled for Wednesday, October 24th. If everything goes to plan, we'll shut down the live servers at around 08:00 UTC in the morning.


Masters, get ready for upcoming balance changes!


We know that balance changes is the part most players get excited about. For Update 80, we plan to adjust units like the Musketeer and Cannon Roller, but also a building called Dragon Nest. Here's the complete list of planned balance changes, but please keep in mind that the following is still subject to change and the official patch notes published on Wednesday could differ.

  • Will not gain Frenzy anymore, but Rage when you have a friendly unit with rage on the field.
  • Refunded mana down from 2 to 1
  • Health up from 250 to 275
  • Damage up from 50 to 55
  • Health up from 200 to 230
  • Amount of Crossbow Dudes being summoned by this spell up from 3 to 4
  • Will not activate from 3 mana units any longer, but 4 mana units instead
  • Attack delay down from 800 to 600
  • Mana cost down from 5 to 4
  • Duration down from 45 to 35
  • Health down from 300 to 250
We already gave a short reasoning for the upcoming balance changes last Thursday during our developer stream & you will find the usual 'Developer Comments' in the official patch notes on Wednesday.

Mayhem x2


We'll also introduce a 2vs2 mode to the Mayhem game mode. Enjoy all the craziness of Mayhem game rules with your best friends! The score will be the same for 1vs1 and 2vs2 so you can hop in and out of team play whenever you want.

Update 80 will also introduce bug fixes, amongst others Morgrul will stop cleaving.


King Puff Cup 26


Don't forget to sign-up for the first tournament of King Puff Cup Season 4 powered by AMD, SteelSeries & BetaDwarf Entertainment on Saturday, October 27th at 13:00 UTC. The staff around FFA is preparing for the next high-quality competitive season & invites everyone to participate!

You can find all necessary information right here or if you want to skip the brand new home of the King Puff Cup, here's the link to Toornament, the brand new tournament system of the King Puff Cup.


Halloween is around the corner!


And above you'll see a brand new skin for King Puff, being available on Thursday, October 25th in the in-game shop. But that's not all! Edelweiss & Kishin, two well-known community members, announced a tournament on Saturday, November 3rd at 15:00 UTC. While the complete announcement is not published yet, we know that they plan a 'Halloween Card Pool'. Sounds like a challenge for all of you deck builders out there ;)

Stay tuned for more information on that subject!

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That's all for today, Masters! Have a nice start to the week and get ready to cause some Mayhem with your friends coming Wednesday ;)

Cheers from BetaDwarf

Tuesday, October 16, 2018

Discord Store officially launched!

Minion Masters!

A while ago we announced our close relationship with Discord. Part of the said announcement was that Discord is going to release an own game store, kinda similar to Steam. What shall we say? Other than...


Minion Masters is now officially available on the Discord Store!

And the price is: for free! Discord launched their store officially today and we are part of the hype. Wanna check out our official Discord store page? Here you go, Masters!

Join our official Discord server, invite your friends to play the game with you (we have a sweet referring system, by the way) & share the hype!

On a side note: while we can only vaguely mention it, we have something special going on that involves this key: wUmpUs42isN0tGr33n


Celebrate Volco's Birthday!


It's not enough to have all the hype going on regarding the Discord store launch. We have a special code to share with you, Masters! Volco, one of our playable Masters in Minion Masters, celebrates his birthday, and you can claim him + 3 Power Tokens for free via this code:

MMVOLCO

How to use it? Simply enter the code in the in-game shop under "Redeem Code" in the top right.


The Dwarves live on Twitch!


We also have to share the announcement, that we will once again stream on Thursday, this week. We'd like to invite all of you to join the stream on Thursday, October 18th at 18:00 UTC. If you haven't already, follow the official Minion Masters Twitch channel today to not miss out even a single minute!


Neverending hype: King Puff Cup 26 announced!


FFA announced the start of King Puff Cup Season 4 for Saturday, October 27th at 16:00 UTC! The new King Puff Cup Season will be sponsored by AMD, SteelSeries & BetaDwarf Entertainment. Here's the schedule of tournaments for the upcoming circuit:

  • October 27th
  • November 17th
  • December 8th
  • January 5th
  • January 26th
  • February 16th
  • March 9th
  • March 30th
  • April 20th - King Puff Qualifiers
  • April 27th - King Puff Invitational

The King Puff Cup will use a brand new tournament system called "Toornament" & you can find a short version of the rules plus a rulebook right over here. Hint: click the image above with the button reading "Learn More" to visit the brand new website featuring the biggest tournament circuit in Minion Masters.

Please note that the prizes are still to be announced. More information on that subject will follow soon!

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That's all for today, Masters! Enjoy your time on the flying arenas & have good luck on your way to glory on the battlefields.

Cheers from BetaDwarf

Monday, October 15, 2018

Update 79


Minion Masters!

Our recent updates were big ones with long patch notes explaining new features, changes, and so on. Today, only one week after we released Battle Pass Season 3 - Guardians of the Crystal Spire, the patch notes won’t be that long, as Update 79 right here is a rather small update. But even the small things can have a huge impact ;)

On a sidenote: we are aware of various discussions regarding balance after Update 78. We have various cards on the radar and will look into balance changes in future updates.


Friend Referral System


  • A long while ago we announced it, now we’re introducing our very own Referral System with this update! You can find it on the menu by pressing the “ESC” key on your keyboard or opening your friends list and clicking ‘Recruit Friends’.

  • Invite your friends to play Minion Masters and get special rewards!
  • When your invited friend reaches level 10, you’ll be rewarded for your efforts.
  • Recruiting one friend grants both of you the new legendary High Five Puff Emote - An emote with some special functionality in 2v2 game modes.
  • With every further friend you’re recruiting, you’ll be rewarded with in-game goods.
  • If you go above and beyond and recruit nine people, you’ll receive the new Colossus avatar, currently available only through the Referral System. Use it to show off how awesome you are!

Misc


  • Ravenous Swarmers have been re-enabled in the random card pool.

Bugs


  • Fixed Illusory Cleaver’s death effect not displaying on lower graphics settings - Thanks Rabbit!
  • Fixed an instance where Mordar would not stop attacking even when he wasn’t hitting anything - Thanks Khazlariko!
  • Fixed an issue where two buildings could be spawned in the same place - Thanks Marmotte!
  • Fixed some minor skin description errors - Thanks Crabhead!
  • Fixed Lord Sentinel Thelec’s mana cost being cut off in the Collection View - Thanks Greywolf!
  • Fixed Spear Throwers sometimes not having King Puff’s Rage Buff at perk 3 - Thanks Greywolf!
  • Fixed an issue with the Mute List not working - Thanks HedonicBro!
  • Fixed an issue where Mana Surge indicators would appear for both players in 2v2, even if one of them isn’t using the relevant cards - Thanks Omicron666!
  • Fixed an issue where Motion Blur wasn’t disabled properly when watching a replay - Thanks Greywolf!
  • Fixed sfx and vfx being missing from enemy cards being played - Thanks Zgriptor and Steven!
  • Fixed Clear Skies increasing the intensity of the lighting every time it was played.
  • Fixed an issue where Screaming Scrat’s ragdoll wouldn’t disappear.
  • Fixed Crystal Arcanist’s hit effect being too large.
  • Fixed Crystal King Puff’s pillow not showing up on the master tower when previewed in the Battle Pass.
  • Fixed shards obtained from max glory cards staying on the master tower instead of disappearing.

Cheers from BetaDwarf

Tuesday, October 9, 2018

Update 78 - Guardians of the Crystal Spire


Minion Masters!

The third Battle Pass Season is here! Guardians of the Crystal Spire is the new season with the Crystal Elves having their debut as a new faction in Minion Masters!
We’ve revamped the Battle Pass with more rewards and better accessibility, and we have a ton of balance changes to come in this update as well. But that’s not all - we’re also starting a new event - Twitch Memote Mêlée! Let’s go full meme, Masters!

If you need to catch up on the new cards quickly, check out the official Guardians of the Spire reveal video!

Twitch Memote Mêlée


  • This event runs from the 9th of October to the 30th of October
  • The Masters have drawn up lines once more, and fight each for their own expression.
    • Team Puffa - Apep, Ravager, Settsu
    • Team PuffChamp - Ratbo, King Puff, Stormbringer
    • Team WutPuff - Volco, Milloween, Mordar
  • Collect keys for a Team by playing with its Masters.
  • Open the chest for that Team to receive its special Memote
  • You can only open the chest once!
  • The chest also contains additional rewards, but those are the same no matter your Team.
  • A counter will show how much each team is picked, but there will be no further consequence than the reward you’ve received.

Balance


  • Screaming Scrat
    • Mana Cost 2 -> 1
--- Developer comments ---
Screaming Scrat, while definitely have an unusual design worthy of being a Legendary card. Unfortunately, it was much harder to use than expected, with the taunt not being able to achieve enough value to justify its mana cost. With this change it should be a fun and impactful small card you can use without being punished too much in terms of mana.

  • Sun Burn
    • Mana Cost 4 -> 3

--- Developer comments ---
Sun Burn was simply too expensive to use in the majority of situations it was designed for, and its versatility was held back as a result as you would have to try and obtain optimal value from either of its effects. By reducing it to 3 it should make its abilities far more efficient to use.
  • Stormbringer
    • Damage 40 -> 35

--- Developer comments ---
Stormbringer, while he was in need of a buff, was unfortunately overtuned and became very frustrating to play against as he either whittled down your midrange units or made a lot of small cards completely irrelevant in his matchup alone. Hopefully by reducing his damage a small amount, he can still be an effective master without being too oppressive to play against.

  • Grenadier
    • Mana Cost 3 -> 2
    • Health 85 -> 60
    • Damage 50 -> 40

--- Developer comments ---
One of the oldest cards in Minion Masters, we’ve tried to buff it over time after it got phased out by better AoE cards like the Flame Imp, but ultimately this was unsuccessful. As such we have decided to redesign it and give it a new purpose as the cheap AoE with a major weakness.

  • Clear Skies
    • Mana Cost 4 -> 3

--- Developer comments ---
A card that was initially perceived as slightly risky to add to the game, Clear Skies ultimately didn’t seem to have enough value for either the healing or the buff removal at 4 mana. Hopefully this reduction emphasises those applications.

  • Banner Man
    • Mana Cost 2 -> 3
    • Health 100 -> 150
    • Damage 10 -> 15

--- Developer comments ---
Banner Man was a controversial card due to its ease of gaining value against spells in the hands of a skill player, with his instant effect blocking incoming spells with single damage instances. By increasing it to 3 mana you still retain the effectiveness of its ability to counter spells, but is less effective for cycling or bridge control.
  • Empowered Soul Stealer
    • Souls gained from friendly minion having rage 3 -> 4

--- Developer comments ---
Empowered Soul Stealer saw some minor interest, but it overall failed to meet expectations in its performance. However, we don’t believe a major balance change is required to improve the card to be viable, so a minor soul increase should make its condition more impactful.

  • Rabid Prowler
    • Now gains rage AND frenzy if you have a rage minion.

--- Developer comments ---
Frenzy was simply not worth it on a card that relies on its high impact damage to provide the basis for running the card, especially when locked behind a conditional effect on a high mana cost minion. By adding Rage to the card, it should be far more appealing to work into your deck.

  • Ravenous Swarmers
    • Conditional effect now triggers upon any spell being cast

--- Developer comments ---
Ravenous Swarmers ended up being too specific with its relatively minor effect for it to be worth running over Swarmers. By greatly extending the rage of its Condition, the card should now be a great option in any deck that runs spells, but applicable in more situations.
  • Demon Warrior
    • Health 400 -> 450
    • Evolution health remains unchanged at +300
  • Propeller Horde
    • Scrats 5(10) -> 6(12)

Battle Pass Changes


  • The amount of Battle Pass Tiers have increased from 70 to 100.
  • 200 Season Bonus can now be gained at Free Tier 5. This should help both new players and experienced players progress through the new tiers.
  • There are now Weekly Quests where you win 10 games to earn 2 Battle Pass Tiers. The modes required for these quests will change occasionally, but for the first week it is set to 2v2.
  • There is a start of Season quest for winning 15 games in any mode to earn 4 Battle Pass Tiers.
  • If you have multiple tiers of rewards unlocked, claiming a tier will claim all unclaimed tiers at once. Multiple rewards of the same type will be consolidated into one chest - I.E. 3 Season Tokens will become one chest, rather than requiring you to open three.

Guardians of the Crystal Spire


  • This content season will last for 2 months
  • 8 new cards have been released! These are:
    • Crystal Archers - 3 mana Common Ranged Minion

These Crystal Elves are deadly at long range, but fragile up close. Their Mana Surge (+50% Attack Speed while you have 6+ mana) enables them to empower their attacks even further.

    • Crystal Construct - 5 mana Common Melee Minion

This relative of the Guardian acts as both the shield and stockpile for the magically dependant elven army. A huge chunk of HP with limited offense options, the Construct will grant its master +2 Mana when summoned.

    • Crystal Sentry - 4 mana Rare Ranged Minion

A tough elite warrior that uses his fancy (and deadly!) glaives to cut the opposition down to size. He also comes with Mana Surge (+50% Attack Speed while you have 6+ mana), making him a semi-tank more than capable of defending himself from ground and aerial assault.

    • Crystal Arcanist - 3 mana Rare Ranged Minion

A long ranged AoE caster with more fashion sense than practical combat clothing. She’s able to wipe out groups of enemies from afar thanks to her strong range and Mana Surge (+50% Attack Speed while you have 6+ mana) - Just make sure you keep her safe.

    • Mana Puff Madness - 2 mana Supreme Spell

Summons 4 Mana Puffs at the Master Tower for each team. Mana Puffs are attracted to the flow of mana, but you can never know what they will do when they appear - besides look cute!

    • Armored Escort - 6 mana Supreme Spell

Summons two Crystal Sentries to escort the next Ranged Minion you play. It’s good, efficient protection on the fly that can pack a serious punch.

    • Arcane Bolt - 5 mana Legendary Spell

This powerful Elven magic will stun the highest health unit in its radius, or instantly kill it if it has less than 400 Health. Use it to dismantle pushes or take out annoyances before they get out of hand at a premium.

    • Lord-Sentinel Thelec - 10 mana Legendary Melee Minion

Sworn to defend the Crystal Spire, Lord-Sentinel Thelec comes with his own legion of Elves. If you have 4 or more spells in your deck (including Master perks), Thelec will summon 6 Crystal Archers in a line directly behind him. It’s an all-in-one push package, but those archers are as fragile as ever.
He also has the Mana Surge ability (+50% Attack Speed while you have 6+ mana) and can pack a serious punch.

  • The new cards are available in Season Tokens found in the Battle Pass (see above)
  • They can also be Recruited for 3x the normal shard value of other cards
  • After 2 months, the cards will be part of the normal set, get their crafting costs set back to normal, and appear in normal Power Tokens
  • 3 new skins and 4 new emotes are also available from the Battle Pass.

Wheel of Doom Status

The Wheel of Doom voted into the game in the Best Of tournament some time ago hit some pretty large snags we didn’t expect. This meant we had to prioritize other things to make them ready for the upcoming Discord launch. We’re sorry about the delay, but are happy to inform you that it will be coming to Minion Masters in Update 81, as the Twitch event ends!

Misc


  • By popular demand, the old Emote menu is back! It can be accessed in-game just like before, so now you have the choice between carefully picking out the right emote for the situation or using the quicker Emote Wheel on the fly.
  • The new card Lord-Sentinel Thelec will not be available in random Card Pools such as Draft or Future cards.
  • Added some Grass to the Starting Arena - This can be turned off in the World Details graphics setting as part of Misc Objects, and doesn’t show up in a match.
  • Added instructions to the emote wheel in the Emote tab.

Bugs


  • Fixed Masters not showing on the Leaderboard.
  • Fixed visual errors occuring when some Battle Pass chests were opened too quickly - Thanks Dimac!
  • Fixed the Discord command’s text being incorrect.
  • Fixed an issue with the Summoning Mayhem not spawning minions with buffs
  • Fixed completed quests not disappearing properly - Thanks Steven!
  • Fixed an issue with clicking the avatar in the profile screen taking you to the Emotes tab instead of Avatars.
  • Fixed issues where the game would be stuck, or crash, when loading - Thanks Greywolf!
  • Fixed an issue where the Subscribe to Unlock button on the Winter Holiday Arena didn’t do anything.
  • Fixed an issue where you would be notified with a red dot when there is no news.
  • Fixed an issue with Volco’s perk description - Thanks ks!
  • Fixed the high resolution card art for Swarmers being missing - Thanks Edelweiss!
  • Fixed an incorrect parameters issue if the host of a lobby leaves while the player is ready.
  • Fixed a clipping issue with Shars’Rakk Twins.
  • Fixed an issue with minions aiming at the wrong part of Settsu.

Cheers from BetaDwarf

Friday, October 5, 2018

Community Happenings - Battle Pass Season 3 coming soon!

Minion Masters!

We had an amazing stream yesterday thanks to you. So much hype, so much pleasant anticipation, even That Sprite & Erythais got hyped in the process! Some called the upcoming Battle Pass and related changes mental, others madness, most preferred to stick to PogChamp. For all of you unable to catch the stream live, here's the VOD, the Guardians of the Crystal Spire reveal trailer & in the following a write-up of the most important points.


Battle Pass Season 3 - Guardians of the Crystal Spire starts soon!


Yes, Guardians of the Crystal Spire is scheduled for Tuesday, October 9th! If everything goes to plan we will shut down the live servers at 08:00 UTC on Tuesday morning to start deploying Update 78 [insert favorite hype emote]

You may ask yourself what exactly changes with the new Battle Pass Season and before we jump right into the amazing new changes, here are two very important points to remember:
  • Existing Season Cards will be available via normal Power Tokens and their crafting costs will get normalized
  • Season Tokens you still haven't opened will get transformed into Power Tokens
Now, Guardians of the Crystal Spire comes with several changes to the Battle Pass itself. In general, we wanted to make sure people could continue to earn more rewards for a longer time. More rewards is always amazing, thus adding more tiers made sense. There will be more rewards in the Battle Pass, split out across 30 extra tiers from 70 to 100! And the best thing is: you get all this extra value for the same price, as the price for the Battle Pass remains at 1.500 Rubies or $10. The price for single tiers remains just as unchanged.


Now, yes. That means you'll have to play a little more, but progressing through the Battle Pass will be easier than ever before:
  • We will add an additional 200 Season bonus Glory for all players
  • We will introduce a Season start quest - 15 wins for 4 Battle Pass tiers
  • We will introduce a repeating weekly quest - 10 wins for 2 Battle Pass tiers
These changes will make it essentially so that you only have to complete 76 out of 100 tiers. With 76 tiers to complete, you’ll need a total of 53,200 XP per day, while the Battle Chest will already cover 44,550 XP. This is calculated with a total Glory of 1,485. Please note that Season bonuses are not considered here, so the total Battle Pass XP of the Battle Chest is even higher.


We will also add the following goodies to the Battle Pass:
  • 6 new player avatars
  • 5 times 120 Shards
  • New Emotes
  • New Skins (we'll replace a rare skin with a supreme skin)
  • More Season Tokens and other rewards in general
In order to not have empty spots, 150 Gold will be added on extended tiers for the Battle Pass. Profile XP in the free Pass has been doubled. Please keep in mind that extended tiers are meant to be less rewarding than the first 100 tiers.

We know, you wanna see the new cards, already! Now, here's a quick look at what will come with Guardians of the Crystal Spire:









We'd planned to show all the emotes & skins, in today's blog post, but then, we have a Battle Pass Hype website for a reason., right? Anyway, this beauty right here had to make its way in. Say "Hi" to Archmage Milloween:


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Wow, that's some amazing changes coming with Guardians of the Crystal Spire. But Update 78 comes with more changes! We will not only start the new Battle Pass Season, but we'll also introduce a special event [insert your favorite surprise emote here] & balance changes:
  • Screaming Scrat
    • Mana cost down from 2 to 1
Screaming Scrat was ultimately too hard to “get value” from at 2 mana, even with its unique taunt effect. By reducing it to 1 mana we hope that it relieves the necessity of having to kill enemy units for it to be valuable to you - Making the damage a bonus, rather than a goal
  • Sunburn
    • Mana cost down from 4 to 3
We feel that, for a versatile spell such as Sun Burn, its mana cost ended up being too restrictive to let you effectively choose between its effects without looking towards better options for either of its effects.
  • Propeller Horde
    • Amount of Scrats up from 5 to 6 if no friendly unit with Rage is on the field 
    • 10 to 12 if there is any friendly unit with Rage on the field
Propeller Horde ended up seeing less play than we would have expected, but we don’t necessarily think the card needs a major buff. 1-2 more scrats should hopefully put it in the right place but still be answered by the counters that were holding it back before.
  • Clear Skies
    • Mana cost down from 4 to 3
We initially held this card back as it was rather dangerous to print. It's the first direct master healing, but at its mana cost, it was simply too difficult to fit this into most decks where it could potentially be viable. By reducing the mana the opportunity cost of playing this after gaining an advantage should be lessened.
  • Empowered Soul Stealer
    • Souls gained from friendly minion with Rage up from 3 to 4
    • Thanks to everyone who got involved in the discussion, previously announced at 5 stacks but we decided to scale it back
Empowered Soul Stealer was a very high mana cost conditional card that had some very strong effects, but the amount of mana that needed to be invested in order to get the ball rolling with him was too high for what he offered. This change should make him just a little bit better at the start and justify that investment.
  • Rapid Prowler
    • Now gains Rage & Frenzy if there is a friendly unit with Rage on the field
Frenzy was simply not good enough on a burst damage unit like Prowler to justify trying to play around its condition. This change should hopefully make the card far more appealing.
  • Ravenous Swarmers
    • Now trigger from any spell
It turned out simply too specific to activate for such a low-cost minion. The versatility of Swarmers should stop this change from power creeping the card, but provide a nice option for decks that regularly include spells.
  • Grenadier
    • Mana cost down from 3 to 2
    • Health down from 85 to 60
    • Damage down from 50 to 40
One of the oldest cards in Minion Masters, we’ve tried to buff it over time after it got phased out by better AoE cards like the Flame Imp, but ultimately this was unsuccessful. As such we have decided to redesign it and give it a new purpose as the cheap AoE with a major weakness.
  • Bannerman
    • Mana cost up from 2 to 3
    • Health up from 100 to 150
    • Damage up from 10 to 15
Banner Man at 2 mana was a frustrating card to play against, especially if you relied upon spell removal. In the hands of a good player, you would simply never play removal against him as the mana advantage gained from countering it was too high. With this change, we want to buff the base unit up a little bit as well to provide some defensive value on top of the shielding in general, but make it less of a nuisance.
  • Demon Warrior
    • Base health up from 400 to 450
    • Rest remains unchanged
Our main focus of balance, for now, is the unactivated Demon Warrior. At the moment it feels too weak and hard to get value from when you do play it, even if it’s intended to be hard to pull off. Hopefully, this change can make her less punishing to use and grant her better trades.
  • Stormbringer
    • Basic attack damage down from 40 to 35
It turns out +10 damage can matter a lot when your master has global range. The change ultimately proved to be a little bit too much, so we’re hoping that 35 is the sweet spot since it will still be enough to kill Swarmers

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Now, that's all for today, Masters! Don't forget to leave us your feedback on your favorite platform and have a nice weekend.

Cheers from BetaDwarf

Tuesday, October 2, 2018

Minion Master's Tuesday - Dwarf stream, Update 78, and a screaming Scrat

Minion Masters!

We had quite the activity on the official Discord server last Sunday, hadn't we? According to observations we had ~1.500 users last Thursday and peaked at over 8.000 users on Sunday. And to date? At the very moment of this blog post Discord shows whopping 8.922 users! We want to officially thank every single one of you for the massive support & all the kind words about Minion Masters! We are more than glad you like the game & enjoy your time battling on the flying arenas.


One live stream, two Dwarves


One's a professional bug buster, the other guy the community dude. Of course, we are talking about That Sprite & Erythais! This week, our bi-weekly Dwarf stream will happen on Thursday, October 4th at 18:00 UTC which has mainly to do with the new Battle Pass Season 3 - Guardians of the Crystal Spire being scheduled for Monday, October 8th instead of the usual Wednesday. 

The live stream will cover lots of details and information about Update 78, the new Battle Pass, new skins, new emotes & new Season cards! If there's time left after the reveal, we will also go through the other changes coming with Update 78, as well as internal news. Maybe, you even catch some leaks...

In any case, we recommend you to follow our official Twitch channel right away because missing any stream feels bad enough, but there's no excuse to miss a Dwarf stream!

Balance changes someone?


In Update 78, we will introduce balance changes. We're mainly looking at the current Season cards, as they will become available via Power Tokens as soon as the new Battle Pass Season starts on October 8th. The following is just a quick look at some of the changes and - as always - subject to change.


The Screaming Scrat is a little Armored Scrat that taunts all enemy units around (8 Range), has no summoning sickness, enduring enough to start to run immediately towards the enemy tower, and after 5 seconds of doing so it explodes for 100 damage to all nearby ground units. It also screams, maybe that's the reason behind it saw little to no play. Anyway, we will reduce the mana cost of Screaming Scrat from 2 to 1.


The Empowered Soul Stealer is a normal Soul Stealer with Marksmanship (+2 Range), which gives the unit a total range of 10, but makes it so that Stormbringer's Perk 2 doesn't affect the unit. Buffs don't stack. Soul Stealers also build up stacks (we call them souls), reducing the attack cooldown & delay by 20% per kill (10 souls are the maximum).

The Empowered Soul Stealer started his journey with 3 of these stacks if another friendly unit with Rage was already present on the field. We feel like that's not enough incentive to spend 2 more mana compared to the normal Soul Stealer, while also having to fulfill a condition. That's why we will change the souls on summoning if a friendly unit with Rage is present from 3 to 5.


Propeller Horde. A flying Scrat Horde (it's literally Scrats) if a friendly unit with Rage is already on the field. If there is no friendly unit with Rage, only 5 Propeller Scrats are summoned. Now, this card performed well. Well enough that we are confident the original design will perform just as well. We will, therefore, change the count of Propeller Scrats from 5 to 6 (no friendly unit with Rage) & 10 to 12 (friendly unit with Rage), respectively.

Before we come to an end with today's blog post, here's another goodie for you, Masters: we will bring back the little emote box which was accessible on the bottom left of the battlefield, containing all the emotes. That simply means that you will be able to use your 8 favorite emotes via the Emote Wheel accessible by pressing the "Y" key, but also all the emotes via the usual way ;)

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That's all for today, Masters! Wait... what? No details about Battle Pass Season 3? Seems like you have to wait for the Dwarf stream on Thursday :P

Cheers from BetaDwarf