Minion Masters Thursday

Minion Masters!

We're changing up our blog schedule to release on the same day as our new E-mail Newsletters - Thursday! Our main reason for doing this is to avoid major content overlaps between them and to align better with future Update days.

Developer Stream Incoming!

The Quest for Mountainshaper is releasing next week, Masters! After the short delay for our Mini-Update in Malshaar's Malicious Malediction, the new release date of the 5th of December is almost upon us. Have you been keeping on top of all of the latest reveals from our Update Site?

We've got a Developer Stream coming up on Monday the 2nd to show off all of the new content you'll be able to play with, including all the new cards and a live demonstration of Adventures. You can find it on our official Twitch Channel at 1900 CET - We hope to see you there!

Fan Card Suggestions - Aymeri

Thanks for all the submissions we've received regarding your card ideas so far! A lot of them have been really interesting to read through, and today we're highlighting Aymei's set of Accursed cards, including a new mechanic:

New Mechanic - Accursed Bones: Bones are dropped from certain Accursed cards, like the Undying Skeleton. It is used as a resource to cast certain abilities.

Corpse Explosion - 3 Mana Spell. Destroy bones in the target area, dealing 100 damage to ALL units. Can only be used in your arena.

Ghoul - 5 Mana Minion. Consumes all bones on the map, getting bigger and stronger. Gains 75 HP and 10 damage per bone consumed. Base 150 HP and 20 Damage.

What we like most about this set of suggestions is the idea of creating a long term win condition through the new Bones mechanic and creating powerful cards that take advantage of them, but with major drawbacks to including them in your deck to offset their lategame potential. Corpse Explosion for instance would do nothing without any Bones in your field, requiring you to set it up first, while Ghoul only becomes valuable when there's a large number of Bones on the field, making your strategy predictable to your opponent in exchange for the raw potential.

Want your card suggestions featured on our blog? Send your ideas to thatsprite@betadwarf.com !

Mysterious Teaser

Lastly, we've got a little bit more to show off regarding that Crossbow Dude and the Priestess from a few weeks ago. 10 seconds more, in fact:

The keen eye will notice this Priestess looks a little different to what we currently have in game. What could it all mean? You'll find out soon!

Cheers from BetaDwarf!

Minion Masters Friday

Minion Masters!

The Mini-Update has just dropped containing the balance changes from Version 1.7 as well as the new Mal'Shaar's Malicious Malediction Mayhem. Are you having fun with them? Let us know! In the meantime, there's two weeks until The Quest for Mountainshaper releases, and this week we'd like to look back at the past.

Summer 2016 Minion Masters Footage

Long time Minion Masters player Ecke brought this video to our attention from the BetaDwarf Archives. What you see is one of the first Minion Masters prototypes from its early infancy back in Summer 2016, using lots of early graphics and models from our previous project Forced Showdown. Lots of weird animations back then, too - Check out that sway on Ratbo, and how Sniper Scrat doesn't even take aim. It even features Ratbo's old second perk where he could attack at global range if he had more than 10 minions summoned at a time.

It's great to look back at old footage like this and see how far Minion Masters has come since then. Thanks again to Ecke for pointing us to this!

Remote Play Together in FORCED!

Forced was the first game BetaDwarf made out of university, for which you can read our incredible startup story here. Forced was acclaimed for its great co-op gameplay in a time where games had begun to focus on more solitary, less social experiences. With our next project having that same focus of connecting people together with Friendshipping, it's great to look back at where it all started for inspiration.

Steam Remote Play Together allows you to play local multiplayer games with your friends online across the world, as if they were sitting next to you with their controller plugged in. For Forced, this could mean you'll have less connection issues when trying to play with your friends as you're using Steam's new and improved feature rather than our old and non-optimized multiplayer setup.

To celebrate the release of Remote Play Together, Forced is currently on sale until November 25th on Steam. We hope you'll take this opportunity to play through BetaDwarf's first adventure into the games industry as we prepare to expand in new and exciting directions!

Version 1.8 & First ranked season of The Quest for Mountainshaper

We decided we'd like to get ahead on communicating upcoming content around the Christmas period, so we have some information for you about what we'll be up to. Version 1.8 is currently scheduled for the 18th of December and will include a Christmas Event, Balance changes and a couple of things that didn't make it into Version 1.7.

Additionally, the first ranked season for The Quest for Mountainshaper will have a longer duration than normal. The current season has been extended to the 5th to coincide with the release of our new expansion, and because Version 1.9 won't be until the 16th of January (as currently planned) the next ranked season will end there. 

BadAsAFish80's 2v2 Tournament

Following a recent string of tournaments he's hosted, BadAsAFish80 is back and venturing into the relatively untapped realm of 2v2 Tournaments. Here's what he had to say on Reddit:

Many of you have asked for me to provide a 2v2 tournament therefore I'm excited to announce that we are doing it! Since this is the first of our 2v2 tournaments it will be designated as a test event so that we can see how the scheduling and rules are applied to this game mode, therefore I need your help to get as many people into the tournament as possible. There is no cash prize pool for this event but the first "proper" 2v2 tournament will be supported by BetaDwarf providing a $200 prize pool with registration starting for that event on the 1st of December.

https://www.toornament.com/en_GB/tournaments/3055972701168066560/information

I'm really excited to get the 2v2 tournament scene up and running and I hope that you all can join me in this and future events to have a lot of fun, to support the community and of course win some prizes!

Many thanks

Fish

Cheers from BetaDwarf!

Mayhem Mini-Update - Mal’Shaar's Malicious Malediction!

Minion Masters!

As previously announced on our Blog and Newsletter, we unfortunately had to delay the release of The Quest for Mountainshaper. However, we don’t want to leave you with nothing for the next two weeks, so we put together this Mini-Update containing all the balance changes from Version 1.7, a brand new Mayhem, and extensions to the Conquest and Battle Pass deadlines. There will also be a free Shop Offer in the store once the deals change today, make sure to pick it up!

New Mayhem: Mal'Shaar's Malicious Malediction

Replacing Two for Free for this week is this brand new Mayhem teasing the upcoming community voted card Mal’Shaar! In this Mayhem, all minions are granted Stealth when summoned. You’ll need to tool your deck up with ways to detect or reveal enemy minions, otherwise they’ll walk straight past each other. As part of this update you can also complete a special Quest of playing a Mayhem match to earn yourself the Banshee Morellia skin.

Balance

• Accursed Ascension
• Spectral Essence required from 20 to 15
• Developer Comments
• We felt Accursed Ascension required too much dedication to play properly, especially outside of Morellia decks. With this change, you have more deck options while still being able to reach Ascension.

• Boomer
• Now has Voidborne Wound: Reduce Mana Cost by 1
• Developer Comments
• Boomer has felt underpowered for a while, this change should bring it up to speed while bolstering Voidborne decks.

• Bridge Shrine
• Duration decreased from 60 to 45 (Still generates the same amount of total XP)
• Developer Comments
• We like the dynamic Bridge Shrine adds to the game, but the recent change to building placement affected Bridge Shrine too much. With this change, Bridge Shrine should become more of a threat that your opponent has to deal with faster.

• Caged Prowler
• Health increased from 300 to 400
• Developer Comments
• It was too difficult to get decent value out of Caged Prowler because it could be stopped by spells easily. With this change, you are forcing your opponent to deal with it with Minions, or using a more expensive spell.

• Chain Lightning / Stormy
• Now has a maximum of 10 bounces
• Developer Comments
• Chain Lightning is infamous in 2v2 especially because it could bounce around the entire arena. This change stops those situations while retaining Chain Lightning’s intended power

• Diona
• Decoy Trap Mana Cost reduced from 1 to 0
• Developer Comments
• Diona has fallen behind the other Masters lately. This change should make her Decoy Trap easier to use and combine with other cards.

• Dragon Nest
• Dragon Whelp Mana Threshold decreased from 5 to 4
• Duration decreased from 35 to 30 seconds
• Developer Comments
• Dragon Nest is a fun card to build a deck around. This change should give you more freedom of choice when picking spells for your Dragon Nest deck. 

• Morellia
• Basic Attack no longer slows enemy Minions
• Damage 5 > 6
• Developer Comments
• Morellia’s slow can feel extremely punishing to play against, especially in the early game, so we opted to remove it.

• Netherstep
• Now only affects Ground minions
• Now has Voidborne Wound: Reduce Mana Cost by 1
• Developer Comments
• This change should add a new tool to the Voidborne tool kit that embraces an aggressive playstyle.

• Nyrvir the Fallen
• Damage per Second decreased from 50 to 40
• Health decreased from 2200 to 2000
• Developer Comments
• Nyrvir has been extremely hard to deal with, especially for newer players. This should make her less overwhelming.

• Ratbo
• Perk 1 & 3 now summon Armored Scrats if the minion costs 5 or more Mana
• Developer Comments
• Ratbo has always been forced to play with cheap Minions. This change should give Ratbo players some more interesting options to choose from, as they will now benefit from adding higher-cost minions to their decks.

• Ritual of Servitude
• Mana Cost increased from 2 to 4
• No longer has a cap on the minion summoned
• Developer Comments
• RoS was intended to add value to high-cost decks to make up for their lack of bridge control. Due to the low cost however, it added too much value. With this change, 7+ mana cost are still an option, but with less free value gained from this card. 

Misc

• The Battle Pass and Conquest end dates have been extended to reflect the new release date for The Quest for Mountainshaper.

Cheers from BetaDwarf!

Minion Masters Friday

Minion Masters!

Version 1.7 Release Changed

We've got good news and bad news - Let's start with the bad. We try to align expansions with promotional opportunities because they enhance the opportunities we have to bring more players to the game. Unfortunately, a lot of things are conflicting currently, meaning our opportunity doesn't align effectively, meaning fewer players. It's important to us that the game keeps growing, so we have to delay Version 1.7 and The Quest for Mountainshaper to the 5th of December. We know you've been excited about things, but we truly believe it's better for the game if we wait just a bit longer.

To make up for it, we're releasing a new mayhem mode on the 21st, as a teaser for the upcoming community-voted card, Mal'Shar! We'll have a special prize for playing the Mayhem, and the Mayhem is replacing the "Two For Free" one currently scheduled. We'll also be doing a mini-update on the 21st that includes all of the balance changes that were intended for 1.7. The ranked season will not, however, be resetting until Version 1.7's release. Here's one of the balance changes we intend to be making:

• Ritual of Servitude
• Summoned Card cap removed
• Mana Cost 2 > 4
• Developer Comments
• With our previous change to Ritual of Servitude we wanted to ensure that we could limit the power level of the high cost decks that made the most use of it without harming the effectiveness of the lower cost decks that were less explosive in their usage of the cards. Unfortunately, some times balance changes don't work out, and it ultimately had less of an impact on the metagame as we had hoped for. We determined that a mana cost increase to 3 wouldn't be significant enough either due to the mana advantage gained. We're hoping that 4 mana is the right place for the card to be.

The Conquest and Battle Pass will also be prolonged, meaning you have more time to get any last rewards you have to collect. Additionally, the last few reveals on the Update Site for the expansion are having their reveal dates changed to reflect the delay. The release of the third chapter of Adventures and the intended December 1.8 patch are also delayed - More information will follow soon.

We want to hear about your card ideas!

We'd like to start a new feature on our future Blog Posts where we can highlight some of the brightest creative minds in the community - And what better way to do that than to hear what kind of cards you think should be added to the game? 

• Mail your card ideas with as many details as you want to thatsprite@betadwarf.com 
• It can be about anything - Existing factions, or maybe something new? Building up on existing cards in a clever way or adding something entirely unique to the game. 
• We'll try to pick out our favourite submission each week to showcase on the blog. 
• (Please note that we're unlikely to actually implement the cards into the game even if they're featured on the blog - This is something we're doing just for fun :) )

We're looking forward to see what you can come up with!

Streamer Spotlight: DoctorZox

Today we're featuring the remarkable story of Twitch streamer DoctorZox!

Zox earned his PhD in Kinesiology; Master’s in Psychology and a Bachelor's in Philosophy almost 20 years ago. His path was set until this all changed in 2009, when a life changing accident left him disabled and unable to work.

In a struggle to find a new path, he turned to gaming to take his mind on a new, and never ending journey. World of Warcraft followed by Hearthstone was the start.

Achieving PVP Gladiator in WoW Arena and Legend multiple times in Hearthstone with a high rank of Legend 69 left him wanting more.

He found his way to Twitch Affiliate July 9th 2018 streaming Hearthstone. Then transitioned to Minion Masters full time on July 1st 2019, where he was able to achieve GrandMaster in just 2 short weeks! He is known in the wonderful Minion Masters community as DoctorZox to his Twitch family and friends, where you can find him live with his faithful and loyal companion Kiaya!

Check out DoctorZox's twitch stream here!

Cheers from BetaDwarf!

Minion Masters Monday

Minion Masters!

Welcome to a special edition Minion Masters Monday! We've got lots to talk about in terms of our upcoming brand new game mode, Adventures! Let's not waste any time and get right into it:

Adventures

Adventures is a brand new PvE game mode where you play a single-player story with unique mechanics and content!

The Quest for Mountainshaper

In our first Adventure, you join Milloween as she attempts to recover the Mountainshaper, an ancient artifact required to save the world from an unknown but terrifying threat.

With plenty of dangers along the way, she’ll need to enlist the aid of likely and unlikely heroes.

Features: 3 chapters - Chapters 1 & 2 available at release, Chapter 3 will be available on the 4th of December.

Build your deck as you go. Start with a Master-specific deck and with each victory, you get a choice of cards to add to your deck. 5 Unique Masters with completely new perks and unlockable "Affinity cards". 23 NEW Boss fights Powerful relics and treasures to earn

Unlockable Hard Mode - Unlocked by completing Chapter 1, challenge yourself against even tougher opponents packing special modifiers! Earn special rewards to show off your Adventures mastery against other players! Earn Rewards - Through all the chapters you'll earn plenty of tokens and experience, as well as 5 Rare, 3 Supreme & 1 Legendary cards. Completing hard mode awards an exclusive rare and Supreme avatar. Price - Chapter 1 will be free forever, while Chapters 2 & 3 cost 1400 Rubies as a package, or 1000 individually. You can play owned chapters as much as you want.

Let's take a closer look at two of the Masters that will be available, Milloween and Fergus Flagon Fighter and their unique perks:

Milloween

Basic Attack - Fires 3 Arcane Sparks for 8 damage each. Mana Surge (+50% Attack Speed if you have 6 or more Mana).

Perk 1: Arcane Synergy - Add an Arcane Missiles card to your deck for every two spells in your deck.

Perk 2: Crystal Escort - All Ranged Minions you play are accompanied by a Crystal Sentry.

Perk 3: Arcane Overcharge - Your Spells are cast twice.

Fergus Flagon Fighter

Basic Attack - Uses his regular Minion attack, but can hit both Flying and Ground.

Perk 1: Go Big - Whenever you play a 5+ cost minion card, give nearby friendly minions Frenzy  (+50% Movement and Attack Speed, removes Slow) and nearby enemy minions Slow (-25% Movement and Attack Speed, removes Frenzy).

Perk 2: Bigger is Better - The minion card in your deck with the highest health gains double health and Rage (+50% Damage) permanently.

Perk 3: Clan Loyalty - Summon 4 random Stoutheart minion Cards.

Interview with a PTR Tester

Today, we have an interview with one of our PTR Testers Jamez28 from the Official Minion Masters Discord. We wanted to ask him personally what he thought about our new Adventures feature.

BD: Thanks for taking the time to be interviewed. Can you introduce yourself and how long you've been playing Minion Masters for?

Jamez28: Heyo, Im Jamez28, moderator and tournament competitor and ive been playing Minion Masters since early 2017 so around 2 years at this point.

BD: So, you were among the first to test Adventures for us in the PTR. What did you enjoy most about playing it?

Jamez28: I really enjoyed discovering all the different bosses you could encounter during the adventure, many familiar faces from expeditions but tons of new and interesting ones.

BD: Do you have any general advice to give new players getting started in Adventures?

Jamez28: Yeah, adventures are gonna be tough and sometimes they might even feel unfair but then you're gonna have some runs where you sweep the floor vs the bosses and you'll feel like a strategic mastermind.

BD: Who was your favourite of the five masters you could play as?

Jamez28: If I had to make a choice it'd be Jolo, the Hero Scrat, stealing cards from your opponent was phenomenal in establishing tempo and really wrestling control of the game back to you.

BD: Thanks again for your time. Do you have any shoutouts you'd like to make?

Jamez28: Yeah, I'd shoutout the TCL, theyre putting on a lot more tournaments regularly and its a great way to play versus some of the best of Minion Masters and earn some nice rewards along the way, i'd recommend anyone to sign up even if you think you aren't good enough.

Cheers from BetaDwarf!

Minion Masters Friday

Minion Masters!

The Quest for Mountainshaper Reveals

Our new Battle Pass Expansion is rapidly approaching, and we've got lots of juicy details about new cards and our Adventures mode to talk about.

First up is the Legendary card Fergus Flagon Fighter. This 7 cost beer brawler likes his Frostberry Brew so much that he turned his mugs into weapons! He'll go for crazy spin attacks while he pushes his way through hordes of enemies, but all the inebriation will cause him to get dizzy. Playing other Stoutheart cards near him while he's dizzy will allow him to get back on his feet again and get right back to it.

On a similar note, we've also revealed the Supreme card Glenn's Brew. This 2 mana Stoutheart spell packs quite a punch and is sure to revitalize anyone in the middle of combat. A random minion in the small area the spell uses will gain 100 Max health and be healed for 400. After 6 seconds, however, the minion will mysteriously vanish, never to be seen again...

View more revealed cards such as Frostfeathers, Woodsman, Caber Tosser, Leiliel's Vortex and more at our Update Site!. Next week we'll be spilling all the details on Adventures!

Fan Interview

This week we're interviewing Steven from the Minion Masters Discord. Steven is one of our oldest players and contributes to the community in a variety of ways, and we figured we'd return the favour and let you know how awesome he is.

BD: Thanks for taking time to talk to us. Please introduce yourself and what you frequently do in the community.
Steven: Hello, I am Steven, also known as StevenEven. I am the main contributor  on the official Minion Masters wiki and I also am the one who keeps FFA's data spreadsheet up to date. You might also know me from: Moderating the official MM discord, the developer stream recap posts or my previous position at KPC.

BD: How long have you been playing Minion Masters for?
Steven: I have been playing the game since June 2017, so for about 2 years and 4 months. Time flies.

BD: What does editing the wiki usually entail?
Steven: Depending on the task it can be less or more complicated.

For example, when I first started I added "history" on each and every card and master, this meant i had to go trough all patch notes from all time and then write that information on the wiki in a structured manner. I am really proud of the result as new players can always get to look at how the cards used to be. Back when I started playing, I loved hearing the history of certain cards.

Other than that, i usually just need to add the cards and update others due to the balance changes.

When adding cards i just create a new page and copy another's card page, then edit it accordingly. When updating cards it's simply the addition of some text and tweaks of some numbers. It's actually really simple and anyone who knows how to type could do it.

I do however always make sure that all information is correct and integral, and that the history is updated.

BD: Which expansion has been your favourite so far?
Steven: It's kind of a tie between Guardians of the Crystal Spire (since it was the first season with brand new mechanics and minions), Rise of the Howling Moon (since it was the first time a master was added after I started playing and i also liked the theme) or Battle for Light's Reach (since it introduced factions, a feature i wanted and suggested from long before)

BD: Any shoutouts you'd like to make?
Steven: Shoutout to Videogamer77 and his group for being my friends since I started playing, they helped me integrate in the community and reach the point where I am. Also shoutout to FFA for, besides also being a friend, helping me evolve and improve myself both withim the community and in real life, as a person.

Steven can frequently be found hanging out on the Official Minion Masters Discord. Here's to you, Steven!

E-Sports Galore this week!

We've got tons of Minion Masters tournaments happening this weekend! The Challenger League will be running their Volco Cup 3 with a Halloween Edition on November 2nd at 1400 UTC.

Additionally, BadAsAFish80 will be hosting their 5th tournament on the 4th of November. Here's the details on that:

Building on and learning from the success of his previous 4 tournaments BadAsAFish80 is excited to announce that his 5th tournament is now open for registration.

$100 Prize Pool split $50 - First, $25 - Second, $12.50 - Third and Fourth

Top performers get invites to the next Sinobii's Battleground Invitational featuring even more cash prizes! (The number of invites awarded depends on the number of participants).

In game content available to top performers including the Morellia Dynasty Skin to the winner.

Format is Best of 3 Double Elimination.

Registration is currently open and matches are scheduled to begin on the 4th of November.

You are given 3 days for each round to complete it at your and your opponent's convenience.

Choose a master to ban for your opponent for each round.

https://www.toornament.com/en_GB/tournaments/2985229237972811776/information

BadAsAFish80 is looking forward to seeing you in the tournament and wishes you the best of luck and should you have any questions encourages you to reach out to him on Discord (BadAsAFish80 :fish:#0275).

Meanwhile, behind the scenes...

We got these two to put on some funny looking costumes you might recognize. What could that be for?

Cheers from BetaDwarf!