Descent Content Update

After many months of hard work we are hyped to release the long anticipated "Descent" content update!

In this post we will go over all the new features, improvements, balancing changes and fixes that version 0.9 will bring to you

Patch notes

🌟New Features:

• Descent Defense : A new tower defense like game mode with new run specific currency.
• Descent Expedition Dungeons : Upgradable dungeons utilizing the new currency.
• New Trinket System : 31 unique trinkets added to the game featuring legendary trinkets and new active abilities (shapeshifting, healing, attacks, skills, stats).
• Active Abilities System : Next to your main attacks you can now find trinkets that grant a second ability that you can trigger on "Q" by default (can be changed in options) and "RB" on controller.
• New Attack and Ability UI : We added a new attack and ability UI for more responsive combat
• Maps and Enemies : 2 new maps: Beach & Courtyard featuring 6 new enemies, 6 new map bosses and 2 new gatekeepers to fight.
• Gatekeeper Weapons : 2 new gatekeeper weapons have been added, featuring a melee weapon that triggers projectiles and a ranged weapon that enables mine throw play styles.
• Bloodstained Chest : Engage in this new mysterious world event.
• Rewoked Tree Of Light : The legacy skill tree got a complete rework and new kind of skill nodes have been added to the legacy tree (like companion/projectile/melee/condition/crit damage node) for even more specialised runs.
• City Plaza : The city has been redesigned and a new plaza was added to the city where you can now find the leaderboards in online mode.
• Awakened Leaderboards : There is now a new leaderboard tracking your progress and the time and date when you have defeated all 11 awakened gatekeepers in the current season.
• Enemy Designs : All "old" enemies have been completely redesigned (6 enemies in total and 1 new enemy and map boss added to older maps).
• Gatekeeper Arena : A new battleground awaits.
• Awakened Gatekeepers : Fearsome foes that spawn at map tier 6 and beyond. There are band new achievements for defeating those Awakened Gatekeepers.
• New Soundtracks : 5 new tracks with over 18 minutes of playtime. Prepare for some of the darkest sounds Striving for Light has seen so far. This takes our SfL OST to a total playtime +77 min
• Softcore Mode : Softcore mode now grants 1 more shield and features the same leveling experience as the hardcore mode.
• New visual effects : A big portion of older visual effects got a complete rework and got optimised for improved performance.

⚙️ Major changes and improvements:

• Player Movement Speed : The base player movementspeed got increased.
• Player Skills : Numerous abilities have been redesigned with fresh visuals.
• Blazing Dodge : It's not just a dodge with a burning dot anymore - leave a burning trail in your wake!
• Accurate Enemy Spawns : Enemy spawn algorithm got a complete rework. All enemy spawns are now indicated by a red dot and do not spawn upon your current player position.
• Enemy Attacks : Redesigned to offer a fresh challenge.
• Map Unlocking System : A map unlocking device was implemented that you can find on maps to unlock new environments.
• Extended Map Modifiers : A new map modifier has been added that increases elite enemy spawn rate and increases trinket drop rates
• Crafting UI : The crafting UI got a redesign
• Map Redesigns : Old maps have been given a visual overhaul.
• Performance : Game runs smoother with our latest improvements.
• Map Lighting : Map lighting got a complete rework granting more vibrant colors and removes this feel of a dark vail covereing the screen
• Old Content Updated : Plenty of tweaks and improvements to older content for a fresh feel.
• Improved Hitboxes : Plenty of enemies have received improved hitboxes. No more invisible hits from corrupted merchant or devourer.
• Improved Controller Support : Stats window got improved controller support to be ableto view tooltips on weapons, character and the new trinkets. Improved controller support for the skill tree and skill tree UI navigation.
• More World Event Variation : World event spawnrates got adjusted to not overload maps with events. Now there are more different events on maps for more variety.
• Consitent Arena Music : The music in the aeodra arena is now continuously playing and not jumping to the action loop on each wave start.
• Consistent Naming : Remove items at darokin in town for gambling has been renamed to "convert items" as it now also converts left over trinkets and weapons to light fragments

⚖️ Balancing changes:

• Phoenix world event now has a lower skill shard drop rate (was 100% before)
  
• Elite enemies now only have a chance in dropping additional huge light fragments containing a light fragment and additional exp (was 100% before)
• Life leech got buffed to 1HP/120 defeated enemies on the first node taken (was 1HP/150 before)
• Plenty of enemies got improved and changed attack patterns
• Softcore mode now has the same required exp scaling as hardcore mode

🔧 Fixes:

• Fixed some crashes on some weapon skill combinations
• Fixed controller issues in the skilltree
• Fixed not being able to go back to map from the gatekeeper arena
• Fixed some missplaced enemy hitboxes and colliders
• Fixed and cleaned up old art that had some artifacts on borders creating weird red lines floating around enemies when highlighted enemy option was enabled
• Fixed various cases where using a portal has removed the collected map chest key

We want to thank you for your patience and the ongoing support!
If you want to stay up to date with the ongoing development and chat with fellow players about the new update, you are invited to join our discord.