The action RPG Wolcen is getting a major update after a long time. The biggest part of the patch is new end-game content.
New end-game content.
After Wolcen was considered a possible Diablo competitor for a while, the catastrophic release with major technical problems dashed these hopes. In the test, we then had to downgrade the game because of its poor technical condition.
Lately, only (maximum 500 players) were playing the action RPG on Steam at the same time. Nevertheless, there is now a fairly (extensive update), which primarily targets the endgame and thus also attracts more players again. We summarise the most important new features for you.
Table of Contents
More Endgame Content
New Operations: Highlight of patch 1.1.5.0, also called Aegis of Stormfall, are the four new endgame activities that can be started at the also newly introduced War Table.
- In Cursebreaker you will accompany an ally to different areas where they will push back the darkness while you have to defend them.
- Storm pits you against increasingly powerful waves of enemies in an arena, all of which you must wipe out.
- Bounty Hunt, on the other hand, pits you against a single, particularly strong boss.
- The goal of sabotage is to steal a defence stone. In doing so, you must survive its defences and fight champions summoned by it.
War Table: The already existing end-game content, namely expeditions, scaled mandates and Wrath of Sarisel will also be selected at the war table in the future. There are always only three random operation types to choose from, the completion of an activity updates this selection.
Skull System: A new skull system has been added to replace the expedition system. You will now receive skulls for completing operations, the number of which depends on the length and difficulty of the activity. Once you have collected enough skulls, you level up and unlock new difficulty levels. Progress from the old system will be carried over.
Other new content
New enemies: You can now encounter two new enemy types. Mystagogues are former priests and apparently summon several servants to attack you. Architects, former guardians of primeval structures, are probably specialised in ranged combat and also deal area damage.
New Armour: The veteran armour of the Republic is only awarded to their best soldiers and also knows how to impress with its appearance.
New area: The Canyon is now available as a secondary area, here you can see some pictures:
Will the patch bring back players?
As mentioned at the beginning, Wolcen has been able to attract few regular players lately. However, after the release of the update, player numbers increased a little. The reactions under the announcement of the patch on Steam, however, are rather restrained. There is little enthusiasm to be felt here, even if some players view the update quite favourably.
What do you think of the new update? Will you give Wolcen another chance, or have you already been put off by technical problems or the abrupt end to the story?
Patch Notes
War Table
The War Table is the new feature introduced with Aegis of Stormfall, offering players the opportunity to participate in four new endgame activities in addition to Expeditions, Scaled Mandates, and Wrath of Sarisel. These are the new operations:
- Cursebreaker: An evil is sweeping the land! Accompany a new ally to certain key areas and defend them so they can push back the darkness. Beware the temptations and dangers that lurk in the suffocating and deadly blackness.
- Storm: Enter the arena of death and survive ever-increasing waves of enemies until none remain.
- Bounty Hunt: Enter the domain of a powerful boss and fight to the death. There can only be one!
- Sabotage: Take a powerful defensive stone from the enemy, but be warned: not only is the stone capable of defending itself, but it will summon champions to thwart your efforts.
The Skull system replaces the old Expedition system. In addition to a specific item, there are a certain number of skulls for each activity based on difficulty and length. Players must collect a certain number of skulls to unlock higher difficulty levels and thus level up. All progress made by players with the previous system will be carried over!
Other:
- The Wrath of Sarisel now exists independently of Expeditions: Players can encounter both on the war table selection screen.
- Mandates now scale beyond their original level limit and are now part of the war table rotation.
- As access to expeditions, and therefore hunts, is no longer 100% guaranteed at all times, the amount of hunt currency a player receives for completing a hunt has been increased.
- Consumable items (cards, incense, etc.) stored in the inventory or personal chest can be activated through the War Table UI without opening the inventory or transferring the items.
- All operations are available from level 1 if you have already unlocked the Champion of Stormfall mode.
- All operation types spawn a portal upon completion, which requires confirmation to activate and sends you back to Stormfall. This is to prevent you from accidentally clicking on the portal without having collected your loot.
- The experience you receive as a reward for completing an activity has been increased to make it easier to level up.
- Some operations will reward you with only one type of item, while others may offer a class of items. Players will be able to select your appropriate reward on the reward screen when they return to Stormfall.
- We will be monitoring player feedback regarding the rewards and their quality in order to improve them in the next patches.
New enemies
- Mystagogue: Once impartial priests who idolised the metal Halcyon, the Mystagogues now act as the armed hand of the Sleeper’s judgement.
- Architect: The Guardians once ensured that the Primordial Structures would last forever. Now they seek a new form of eternity alongside the sleeper
New Armour
- The veteran armor awarded to the Republic’s fiercest soldiers is more than just a defense: it’s a warning to enemies.
New Environment
- The Canyon is a beautiful new secondary area that will be available in the game.
New damage type variants
- Blade Storm can now be converted to Shadow Damage.
- Wrath of the Baäpheth can now be converted to Rend damage.
Bug fixes
- Fixed an issue where using dodge would sometimes cause the player to get stuck in terrain or fall off the map.
- Fixed an issue where “Flight of Gaavanir” would “softlock” the player on a recall.
- Fixed an issue where the Anvil Strike modifier “The Will to Smite” ability was incorrect when the player held the mouse behind the player character while charging.
- Fixed an issue that caused the Orb of Desolation to place two mines under an enemy when both the Honor to Humanity and Minecraft modifiers were selected.
- Fixed an issue where the minimap would not show where the portals were located during expeditions after killing a Hunt Boss.
- Fixed an issue where the party leader could skip the Sarisel reward screen for the entire party, denying rewards and causing other UI issues.
- Fixed an issue which caused the client to crash when using a specific project on the black market.
- Fixed an issue that could cause the player to spawn under Stormfall when entering the red portal on certain expedition floors.
- Fixed an issue that caused the AoE of certain hunting events to continue after the event ended.
- Fixed an issue that caused the player character to get stuck in a certain area of Act 2 after using Wing of Ishmir.
- Fixed an issue that could cause the map modifier altars that can be found at the beginning of expeditions to have no VFX, preventing the player from proceeding before selecting or rejecting modifiers.
- Fixed a number of issues that caused unusual behaviour and/or returned the player to Stormfall when the tutorial tooltips were first displayed in Mandates and Expeditions.
- Fixed an issue where after applying Anomaly to enemies, their animations would briefly stop playing.
- Fixed an issue that caused some cosmetic shoulder armour parts to appear on the wrong shoulder.
- Fixed an issue where micro-charging would occur if the player moved too fast in a certain area of the Uber Lambach arena.
- Fixed an issue that could cause the secondary objectives of the Oshara quest line to remain in the quest log if they were not completed or the player left the mission.
- Fixed an issue where pressing ‘Reset to Default’ in the graphics settings did not reset the selection in the ‘Graphics Quality’ dropdown menu.
- The ‘Friend Silhouette’ setting is no longer hidden and is accessible again.
- The biome parameters of certain consumable map items have been optimised.
- Miscellaneous black market location issues have been fixed.
- Miscellaneous audio fixes, including a fix for fine noise that continued to play after an “overkill”.
- Miscellaneous animation fixes and improvements.
