Titan Quest II - Early Access Feature Update Hero Monsters and Buff Shrines

Build Version: 0.7.1-public.144378+win.3193

Heroes!

Today we launch the first of two Minor Updates leading up to our 1.0 Release.

Before we jump into the changes and additions for the update, we wanted to mention one thing: There seemed to be some confusion after our "Road to 1.0" post that we wanted to shed some light on. Some of you feared that work would stop after the 1.0. We just wanted to reassure you that this is not the case. We will keep developing and supporting the game after it launches into 1.0 and expand it with future updates. Now, let's hop right into the new stuff!

Major Topics

Added Ability Slots

In a previous update we removed 2 ability slots and added the Sustained Ability UI. This has been a very controversial change and we have decided to roll it back based on your feedback. With this update we are adding in 2 ability slots again. Please note that this might prompt a reset of certain keybindings, so it is worth taking a look at your custom bindings again. You should see a popup when starting the game if that's the case for you. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

Hero Monsters

With this update we add a first set of Hero Monsters to the game. This feature has been requested for quite a while and is a beloved ARPG staple. In Titan Quest II, Hero Monsters are powerful creatures from various factions. They have a unique set of abilities and offer a bigger challenge than many others in their factions. Hero Monsters can randomly spawn throughout the world in areas where their factions exist. In addition to spicing up your gameplay with some uncertainty and a bigger challenge, they also offer great rewards on kill. Every Hero has a high chance to drop Relic fragments of the Chapter you encounter them in, so hunting them down will allow you to complete your Relics more efficiently.

Buff Shrines

Another ARPG staple finally finds its way into Titan Quest II. These shrines are now placed throughout the world. The effects they offer are randomized when you load the world, so, like the Hero Monsters, they add variety. These shrines will give you powerful temporary buffs like increased Experience, Defenses, Power or Speed.

Changes to Gameplay and Balance

Masteries

Overall

• Skills with cooldown - Fixed a bug where some skills could get stuck on a visual permanent cooldown

Forge

• Force Field: Changed modifier Projectile Glancing to Glancing Protection, which grants 6% All Glancing instead of 10% Projectile Glancing.

Storm

• Storm Protection: Now grants All Glancing instead of Projectile Glancing.

Items

• Changed the functionality of the Junk/Favorite System. We have completely removed the "Junk" rarity, as we got feedback that it mostly resulted in extra clicks. Players can now only mark items as "Locked", which prevents them from being salvaged, sold or dropped. The "Sell All" and "Salvage All" functions now affect everything that is not "Locked". This removes the step of manually having to mark things as Junk before being able to use them.

Crafting

• Increasing an Item's level can no longer downgrade affix tiers.
• Increasing an Item's level can no longer lower values if the affix tier stays the same. Note: It is still possible for an affix to roll a lower value. This can happen if the tier gets upgraded but the previous roll was very high and the new roll in the higher tier is very low. We are looking into preventing this as well for the next update.

UI and Other

• Added a "Sell All" function to vendors, which sells everything that is not marked as "Locked".
• Added 2 additional Ability Slots to the ability bar.
• Savegames without a proper character portrait now re-save the header after rendering a new portrait in the character selection screen.

Bugfixes

Masteries

General Mastery Fixes

• "Reduced Damage Taken from Overload" reduced the damage from all sources while the player was affected by Overload. It now applies to Overload damage only. This affects Magma Shell, Overcharge, and Storm Adaptation.
• Fixed Summons sometimes not respawning after the player dies.

Spirit

• Reap: Fixed Reap sometimes rotating in the wrong direction.

Creatures and Bosses

• Fixed Lost Souls (shades and certain undead) having unintentionally high life steal.

Quests and World

Overall

• Fixed an issue where the "Ancient Embers" quest would not progress after spending embers.

Chapter 1: Flooded Farmlands (including Intro)

• Proti Island: Fixed a broken house in Proti Village so it becomes transparent when walking inside.
• Secluded Grotto: Reworked hanging vine to prevent it from blocking the player camera.
• Fetid Wine Cellar: Fixed pathfinding issues.
• Moirai Dungeons: Fixed pillars blocking the camera in a few places.
• Realm of the Moirai: Fixed a few pillars that were not fading and were blocking the player camera.
• Realm of the Moirai: Fixed some rendering issues.
• Pyrgos Village: Fixed camera being obstructed when standing near the elevator.
• Passage of Atropo: Reworked pillars in the temple area to no longer block the passage.
• Southern Flooded Farmlands: Fixed camera view being blocked when looting a chest near the destroyed bridge.

Chapter 2: Northern Beaches

• Eastern Wilderness in Northern Beaches: Caged Pirate Tower's stairs are now climbable.
• Burial Caves: Fixed a tree blocking the player camera.
• Burial Caves: Fixed cave walls blocking the camera when trying to exit the cave.
• Gates of Fate: Reworked walls to no longer block the camera at certain points.
• Coastal Foothills: Fixed cave walls blocking the camera when entering Burial Caves.

Chapter 3

• Tegea Sewers: Fixed camera getting obstructed by a wall in the treasure room.
• Doliana Quarry: Reworked the area just outside the Tomb of the Wanax, where players could get stuck after dodging.
• Tomb of the Wanax: Reworked stairs to avoid players getting stuck when running up them.
• Tomb of the Wanax: Removed duplicate lion statue

Chapter 4: Wild Lands

• Blood Vow Vault: Removed invisible wall blocker.
• Crawling Caverns: Reworked entrance to avoid players getting stuck after entering.
• Labyrinth: Fixed several braziers that players weren't able to interact with.
• Lake Sapros: Fixed a tree obstructing the camera during the Where Poison Festers quest.
• Fetid Lair: Fixed broken stairs and improved navigation in a few spots.
• Gloomy Cave: Fixed an issue with an invisible wall blocking players.
• Ancestral Tombs: Reworked areas where the environment was blocking the camera view.
• Poisoned Fields: Fixed areas that were showing the incorrect location name.
• Poisoned Fields: Fixed multiple locations where players could be hidden behind walls and other obstacles.
• "Secrets in the Sand" - Vault of Hyperion - Fixed an issue where the boss arena was blocked after being killed
• "The Sickle of Kronos" - Miniboss "Temple Gardener" - Fixed a bug where characters would be below ground when using a Death Echo portal after dying
• Event "Forest Temple Pit" (Statue Waves) - Fixed a bug where dying during the event could prevent progress

Multiplayer

• Fixed a bug that caused certain crafting options to not work properly on clients in multiplayer

Other

• Fixed a bug with alternate gamepad control scheme where using a ladder could disable the ability to use potions.
• Fixed a bug where players could be stuck and camera moves to a broken position after death