Game Update 0.19

Highlights

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Try Before You Buy!

See a cool Hero that catches your eye, but they aren’t currently in the Free Rotation?  Need a certain Hero to thwart your enemies, but you don’t own them yet?  Then try out our new Hero Rental feature!  It allows you to try out any Hero available in the game, even if that Hero isn’t currently in the free rotation.  Heroes are rented on the Hero select screen during a Scenario and once rented, they can be chosen as often as you like for the remainder of that Scenario.  For additional details on this exciting new ‘try before you buy’ feature, check out the patch notes on Hero Rental below.

Power Up Free Heroes!

You can now slot Masteries on Heroes while they’re part of the free rotation!  Deck them out in some tactics that you’ve won via chests or learnt off of other owned Heroes and see how they handle before you buy – just remember that you can’t learn from their Mastery Trees until you own them!  See the section on Free Hero Loadouts for more details.

Get Back in the Fight!

Sometimes running is the better part of valor, especially if you are trying to keep your streak going for that elusive perk!  Sure, when you get away clean and are out of combat, you heal up naturally, but now you can buy Health potions that will allow you to heal up immediately and get back into the fight.  These aren’t a “get out of jail free card”, since they can’t be used while you’re under attack, but they get you back into combat much sooner!  See the section on Health potions for all the details!

Patch Changes

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Hero Rental

Want to try playing a Hero to see what they're all about? You may now rent Heroes to try them out before buying them! Renting a Hero will allow you to use them for the rest of the current scenario, for just a small Gold cost.

• Heroes that are not owned or part of the current free rotation will be available for rental, with the exception of the newest Hero.
• New Heroes will be available for rental when the next new Hero becomes available.
• Heroes can be rented by choosing them from the Hero selection window at the start of a Scenario or upon respawn at any point during the game.
• Clicking the Rent button will present the cost for the rental and a confirmation box.  The cost for renting a hero is in Gold and will be deducted immediately.
• Once rented, a Hero is available for the entire Scenario and can be chosen any time you respawn.
• After a Scenario has ended, any Heroes rented will expire and need to be rented again for future Scenarios.

Health Potions

Health potions are now available in bundles from the store, individually or in bulk packs.  They can be used in game to restore your health to full.  Heroes will still slowly recover health over time once out of combat, but Health potions will allow you to get back into the fight faster!

• Health potions are sold on the store and stack in game.
• The amount of Health potions available is indicated in the lobby as well as in game.
• Health potions can only be used when a character is not fighting or being attacked.
• Health potions can only be used if the character is damaged.
• Using a Health potion will restore a character instantly to full health.
• Health potions will be grayed out on the in game UI if they are not usable at the moment.  They will glow green when they are usable.
• To use a Health potion, if you are out of combat, just click on the UI section for Health potions or hit the ‘P’ button.

Mastery Tree Relearning

Sold your Magmastorm for experience and now want it back without waiting for it to pop up randomly in a chest?  Now there’s a way to get it back. Heroes will now be able to relearn Masteries available in their Mastery Tree again once they have completely learned the Mastery Tree.

• Once a Hero’s Mastery Tree has been completely learned, you will have the option to Relearn the Mastery Tree and make all of the Masteries available again for purchase.
• Relearning your Mastery Tree will cost 10 Mastery Points to open the tree again for purchase.
• Note that using this feature will not affect any of the Masteries you previously purchased for Mastery points; it just allows you to purchase additional copies of the Masteries in that tree or regain a Mastery that was sold for experience previously.

Free Hero Loadout

Want to really put that free Hero to the test?  Well now you can do even more with a free Hero.  Heroes that are currently in the free rotation can now equip any available Masteries that are usable by that Hero.

• Free Heroes can now slot any available Masteries in inventory that are usable by that Hero.
• Once a Hero is no longer in the free rotation, any slotted Masteries can be removed from that Hero to reuse in other Heroes or left there until they are Free again or purchased.  They cannot be reslotted again if the Hero is not currently free.
• Note: If you leave Masteries slotted on a Hero after it is no longer on the free rotation, those Masteries will not affect the Hero if you choose to rent them via the new Hero Rental feature.
• Note: Free Heroes are still unable to learn any Masteries on their own Mastery Tree until the Hero has been purchased.

Tutorial

We’ve expanded the Tutorial so that new users will get a better walk through the basics of the game and lobby.  Don’t forget that by doing the Tutorial you’ll get Lucian as a Hero!

• The Tutorial will now be offered automatically to new users upon login instead of having to click on the Play button to find the Tutorial.
• At the end of the in game tutorial, the player will now be walked through the Lobby to explain how to spend Mastery points and equip Masteries to customize that Hero.
• Tutorial pop-up windows have been changed to be more readable and pronounced.
• If you want to get a refresher on the items covered in the tutorial, feel free to go into settings and click the ‘offer tutorial’ button to have it show up as an option again.

General

• The patcher window will once again link to the newest article from the Wrath of Heroes website.
• The option for reporting a player for Game play Violations now includes sub-categories to allow for more specific information to be relayed about the violation being reported.
• If you get knocked back during a leap, the knockback will now calculate from the current position rather than the origin point of the leap.
• Fixed an issue that would cause the camera to spin when attacking an enemy while rooted.
• The message “You have been silenced!” will only appear if you have an ability that is affected by silence.
• Heroes that are immune to an effect will no longer see the “Immune” text as frequently.
• Matchmaking will now factor in whether a player is in a Warband or queued solo as part of the search criteria for finding suitable opponents.  This means that pre-built groups will be greater than the sum of its parts in consideration for whom they will be matched against.  Note: Population and amount of players currently available for games will also factor into the queuing process as they have previously.

Rewards

• The chances to gain a wooden chest from the reward spinners have increased!
• Chests earned from scenario reward wheels will now hold the same possible contents as a Wood Chest.
• The reward window will now show won gold from the spinners in a more readable manner.
• The reward window will now show the contents of a chest in a more detailed manner when you ‘claim’ rewards on the spinner.

Store Changes

• Olwyn Shieldbearer has been added to the Store.  See the Hero Lineup section for more information.
• Health Potions are now available on the Store.  See the section on Health Potions for more information.
• Wood Chest: This item has been updated with additional content.  This content includes tactics and perks available from the most recent Hero introductions.
• Look for new items to appear on the store periodically!

Hero Lineup

Olwyn has arrived! She is a powerful Dwarf Ironbreaker who thrives in the midst of battle.

• Olwyn is heavily armored and has the ability to shield herself from damage for a period of time.
• Olwyn has a snare to keep her enemies close, and is completely immune to being knocked back to stay in the fight longer.
• Olwyn’s first ability completely negates her target’s armor for a short time, increasing the ability of her teammates to damage more heavily armored foes.

The following Heroes are considered free and available to all during this week:

• Bax the Black Orc
• Ikkrik the Gutter Runner
• Volrik the Marauder

Note: The Heroes that are free to play will change on a weekly basis.

The following Heroes are available for purchase on the store:

• Aessa the White Lion
• Bax the Black Orc
• Drulg the Ogre
• Felicia the Bright Wizard
• Glowgob the Shaman
• Ikkrik the Gutter Runner
• Ilanya the Sorceress
• Nethys the Vampire
• Olwyn the Ironbreaker
• Volrik the Marauder

Keep an eye out for future additions to the Hero Lineup in weeks to come. 

Hero Changes

General

• Adaptation: This tactic no longer prevents critical heals while active.
• Perfect Adaptation: This tactic no longer prevents critical heals while active.
• Empowered: All Heroes with this effect now gain 3% damage per ally of the appropriate type, up to a maximum of 15%.
• Murderer: All Heroes with this effect now deal 15% more damage to targets of the appropriate type.
• Perks: Fixed an issue which could sometimes cause Perks to not display visual effects.

Aessa

• Elite Bodyguard: Fixed a bug which could cause this ability to heal significantly more than the damage Aessa took from it.
• Pounce: This ability no longer knocks the target down.

Glowgob

• Look It's Gork: The totem created by this ability now has a unique appearance to distinguish it from Look It's Mork's totem.

Ilanya

• Ilanya's passive Empowered effect has been changed, and is now a Murders High Elves passive bonus.

Lucian

• Lucian now has the Toughened by Empire passive effect.

Nethys

• Nethys's passive Empowered effect has been changed, and is now a Prolonged by Vampires passive bonus.
• Seduction: The stagger duration is now 4 seconds.
• Tainted Blood: This ability no longer requires Blood to use, and now gains 50% damage per stack of Blood.

Scenarios

• Black Fire Pass: If a Rune ever disappears from the scenario for any reason, it will now respawn in the center of the zone.

User Interface

• There is now a display for Health Potions located over your personal health bar that will indicate how many health potions are available.
• The Chat Window in game now includes a clickable button in the bottom left that indicates what channel you are talking in.  Clicking on the button will display any available channels (Team, All or Tells) to allow direct selection.  This display will include any personal conversations being carried on via /tell.
• Fixed an issue where sometimes the end-of-game scoreboard could be obscured by other windows.

Lobby

General

• The display for when you are queued for a match has been expanded.  This information is now all within the button where ‘Play Now’ was.
• The Queued button now indicates a general indicator of wait time.  Please be aware that this value is an estimate and may change over time as the calculations are refined.
• We’ve added a display icon to show you how many Health Potions are owned in the top right next to the gold / xp bonus icons.

Hero

• The Hero pages have been updated!
• The Hero page will now always show the following:
• Current Abilities (with any modifications based on slotted Masteries).
• Available Masteries and currently slotted Masteries.
• There are now two tabs available on the Hero page: Overview and Mastery Tree.
• The Overview tab now shows the following:
• Hero’s basic information. (Name, tags, passives, synergies, etc.)
• Hero backstory and stats. (via tooltip like hover windows)
• Skin selector/previews.
• The Mastery Tree tab shows the Mastery Tree for that Hero.
• The Mastery Tree tab will now blink if you have Mastery Points available that you can spend on that Hero.
• There is now an option to relearn the Mastery Tree for a Hero if you have learned all available Masteries in the tree.  See Mastery Tree Relearning section for additional details.
• Clicking on the ‘Purchase <Hero> in the store!’ banner on any Hero will now take you to the appropriate page in the store automatically.
• Clicking on the ‘Buy’ button for any skin on a Hero will now take you to the appropriate page in the store automatically.

Chat

• The Chat Window in the lobby now includes a clickable button in the bottom left that indicates what channel you are talking in.  Clicking on the button will display any available channels (Lobby, Warband, or Tell) and allows direct selection of that channel.  This display will include any personal conversations being carried on via /tell.
• Fixed an issue where you don’t get a confirmation that you sent a tell if the recipient is someone you are ignoring.

Graphics

• Fixed an issue that would sometimes cause the VFX to not play after using an ability.

Audio

• Fixed an issue that would sometimes prevent weapon impact sounds from playing.
• Fixed missing footsteps for Drulg and Lucian.