MoonWard v1.0.50 Patch Notes!
- Slaveyko Slaveykov
- Jul 11
- 7 min read
Hello! I'm Mr. Slate and here you can find the patch notes for v.1.0.50 of the Android and iOS (v1.0.52) versions of MoonWard! This is the latest and as of today current MoonWard patch version for both iOS and Android.
If you'd like to support me, please consider joining my Patreon for frequent updates.
This version introduced the Pirates of the Mesmer Sea expansion so there are quite a lot of new features and content as well as some much needed updates!
Let's get to the MoonWard v1.0.50 Patch Notes!
6 new pirate themed adventures.
Actually, in engine, I use the word adventure to mean each stage of a story (quest). So it's more like 10 new adventures!
Either way, the update includes a brand new multi-hour campaign featuring new characters and locations of the Mesmer Sea! You'll be part of an epic treasure hunt, ship battles with the Imperial Navy and swashbuckling duels with pirate kings and Naval officers. You'll discover strange structures and devices from a long forgotten past and fight the formidable foes guarding them! You'll be responsible for changing the fate of your crew mates for better or worse!
Two of the quests are optional and will show you new aspects of the world and feature great loot and boss fights if you choose to resolve them in a brawl!
4 new multi-stage boss fights.
Two in the main campaign of Pirates and two in the optional quests.
These fights against unique enemies, are quite difficult and require preparation, knowledge of the combat system and quick reflexes! Equipped with unique move-sets and AI behaviours, these should be a fun challenge! Some are more like puzzle fights where you need to find a weakness of the opponent, while others require quick reflexes and skilful execution!
I had fun making and fighting these so I hope you do too!
A brand new island area.
The expansion takes place in an entirely new island area. A brand new hub with a huge open map for you to explore!
This was a major technical challenge and I'm quite proud for overcoming it. The new map is entirely separate from Virmgild and the mainland and contains its own hub area, intro, music and ambiance. I tried to make the areas distinct and brighter than the mainland as I was aiming for a slightly more light-hearted feel for this expansion.
Almost 50 new items.
Yup, you read that right. Anything from new guns to new consumables, new outfits and even a new belt!
Something new I'm trying here is item variants. For example there are three headband variants in different colours, but otherwise identical. In all fairness there are only a handful of items with variants but I might add more in the future if you like the idea.
1 new enemy type with variants.
Continuing the tradition of adding a new enemy to the roster, this time I've added a high level elemental that doesn't even appear until a fair distance into the story.
The new creature is a Light elemental, called Prismal by members of the Scavengers Guild. It is a highly dangerous construct made of hard light. Part of faulty and decayed security systems, they sometimes protect ancient ruins from looters. There are three variants of this elemental, each with providing a distinct challenge.
30 new bounties.
The MoonWard company has no jurisdiction in the Archipelago, therefore, in universe, all bounties are just pieces of paper stuck on a bounty board. That made them quite fun to write, even though it was quite challenging keeping them generic, while still telling a story. More than usual, which was a bit of a shock when I started.
The new hub comes with 30 completely new bounty templates. With the new system preventing duplicate bounties to appear, this should provide for a varied experience for those who enjoy that game-play style!
The bounty descriptions also gave me a way to flesh out the area a little bit. For example, while the Empire is lenient when it comes to corporate entities, this area is essentially lawless. Pirates aren't the only ones to take advantage of this. An endless number of Imperial companies come here to conduct shady business. A lot of it involves otherwise illegal investigations and excavations of ancient ruins with little regard for the wellbeing of their employees.
18 new locations.
There are so many new location images that I'm willing to bet they're the main reason why the install size of MoonWard went up by about 10%.
I have pirate coves, coastal ports, ancient sea-bound ruins and more. I tried to keep them fresh, though many of them feature ships and the sea. A lot of sea, to be perfectly honest... I'm kind of done with the sea right now. The next expansion will be set on firm ground for sure!
13 new characters with portraits.
The new campaign takes you through some weird places and introduces some weird characters. Anyone with any significance have dialogue, and all of them have unique portraits. Except for a a couple generic ones for sailors and pirates.
This was one of the harder things to produce because I didn't have budget for new portraits. So I had to make do with what I had. I think I did a good job in creating a diverse cast of misfits. Hope you agree!
New hub, adventure and boss music.
The new hub location has a new intro, ambiance and music as I said in the new location section.
What I didn't mention was the overhaul I did of the hub ambiance. Prior to this release, all hubs had the same sounding patrons and fireplace. Now each hub has a distinct ambiance and patrons. Most of them don't even have a fireplace anymore. Each hub reflects its county much more now!
For example, the fifth hub has a lively crowd and the sounds of tropical birds. Unlike it, the third hub has the sounds of a sparse traffic, crickets and a much quieter and less enthusiastic crowd.
I also added multiple new boss tracks with multiple stages to them. My favourite is for the boss at the end of the campaign - it starts simple but the second stage gains an electronic/digital feel that really fits with the location and boss.
Deep and Occult damage scaling can be found on random items.
This was meant to be there on release in October 25! Well it's here now! You can finally find items that boost occult and deep damage scaling. This gives a much needed boost for builds that focus and rely on them!
In all fairness, I was aware that paladin and battle mage builds were underpowered at release. It didn't bother me much back then because they are underpowered in souls games as well. What did bother me is that I figured out a fix for the problem and didn't implement it. One less thing to bother me I guess!
Removed bounty duplication.
I already mentioned this. I added a system that prevents duplicate bounties to appear. It's still possible in very rare situations, but overall - very unlikely. This was another one of those - should have shipped with it - features.
It always bothered me, for example, that Eyl kept sending me to take care of old friends. I mean, Eyl is supposed to have a criminal past, but sometimes I got that bounty three times in a row. It was meant to be a bit more unique is all I'm saying!
Balancing pass (light weapons speed, enemy healing frequency + more).
I always do some gameplay changes in these big updates. For better I hope. The two big ones this time are the significant buff to light weapon attack speed and the amount (and type) of healing enemies were prone to do.
I always felt that light weapons were a bit underpowered. That's mostly by design because they rely on critical attacks to do the majority of their damage. But I felt there was something a bit unsatisfying about using a dagger. This buff makes them a bit meaner in general, spamming attacks, as much as I try to discourage it, is now a bit more viable with light weapons. I think that's ok - I think you should feel like you're landing a lot of hits with light weapons. Damage wise there's about a 10% to 15% more of it across the line but in context, that's not that much. You're still encouraged to use critical attacks. One thing it did change is the amount of damage you can do to staggered enemies - that's a significant buff. The reason I'm not worried about this is that the fastest light weapons tend to do low stagger damage. Either way - cautiously optimistic about this one!
Then there's the enemy healing frequency. That one I messed up in a previous balancing update. Back then I noticed barely anyone was healing, so I bumped the chance by a good chunk. It did the trick but I forgot about a very important part of the balance - enemy loadouts. At release, all enemy healing was done using either Aspects, or Snakeweed potions. The problem is even the weaker versions of those heal instantly. When it happens twice in a row it undermines the combat because it removes all your hard earned progress. So, I did a few things to fix this buzz-killer. I reduced some AI's chance to heal, I reduced the amounts most can heal and finally, I gave most bandit factions slow healing items - food and drinks. The latter heal over a larger period of time. With all three I think the problem is under control. I should make it clear that Luanar bosses, while healing a lot less, will still heal half a life bar with an aspect - they're meant to be like you - super beings - so this is intentional. The other exception is some Intelligence and Favor based enemies still use Snakeweed because they tend to have the shortest health bars anyway so they need the help.
Fixes and improvements.
Bugs, polish and fixed typos and dialogue flow across the board. As usual. And as usual, if you encounter anything new please let me know on Discord, social media, or directly at support emails!
So these were the MoonWard patch notes for v1-0-50. Let me know what you think in the comments or on our Discord server!
Thank you all for your time! I work hard on these patches so please consider giving MoonWard a try!
Have a great week and like always,
stay awesome!
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