MoonWard v1.0.55 Patch Notes!

Hello! I'm Mr. Slate and here you can find the patch notes for v.1.0.55 of the Android and iOS 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.

I try to stay away from introducing new content - gameplay or art wise - but this time I had a handful of things left over from the Pirates expansion, so I couldn't help it! On top of that I did manage to introduce several bug fixes and quality of life improvements. Overall, this is a much bigger non-expansion patch than I will usually put out. Hope it's to your liking!

Let's get to the MoonWard v1.0.55 Patch Notes!

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1. Rebalanced dialogue skill checks!

In the original design skill checks were heavily inspired by classic Fallout (and New Vegas) where it's perfectly feasible that a character will have one or even two of their attributes at or close to max, as well as multiple skills that near 100%. All of that around a third of the way on a playthrough. The amount of points you get in those games lends itself to having skill checks in the entire numeric range of abilities and skills.

I said inspired, because I understood that MoonWard (and souls-likes in general) are much less generous when it comes to upgrade points. So even at release the numbers used in ability and skill checks were severely lowered (no higher than 70) to allow for the points economy. But around the time I was working on Outlaws I realised checks were still too high and even heavily specialised characters rarely saw most of their options. This is why the expansions have much lower thresholds.

I had planned to lower checks in original content for a while but there was always something more important. Finally, I got some time last week and lowered the required abilities and skills to see dialogue options based on a much more generous curve. Testing showed the experience is much more enjoyable now, with specialisation in any ability or the speech skill being rewarded with much more options in a playthrough!

2. Finished the Autumn Seasonal Event!

I finally managed to spend a few days finishing this event! It'll begin in September and will last 1 month!

When I say finish, I mean build the whole thing except for the systems and features allowing me to run the event. All the content had to be put together, including the new lore books and this pretty snazzy looking popup menu background!

When the event starts you'll get a similar popup and all of your characters will receive a seasonal trait which gives them a list of bonuses. I'll let you discover exactly what those bonuses are in September!

3. Added 2 lore books.

This is something I'd like to do more of but unfortunately writing these well takes a good amount of time and I don't know how many of you actually engage with that side of MoonWard! That being said, I'll keep adding more every so often and try my best to keep the quality and relevance high.

4. Added 1 new ring type and 1 rare variant.

A bit of a fumble, these were meant to go into the expansion but I ran out of time and had to prioritise. The new ring type is called the Coil, and it's fairly simple - it gives you backstab critical by default and can be found and bought pretty much anywhere. This ring rounds out the trio of critical damage rings, so now you have a good option for all three playstyles!

The Rare item is quite special. It gives you a brand new effect - you become immune to the de-buff of the shock affliction! Not the damage, you still take damage, but the penalty to your stagger regeneration is removed! That can be quite powerful for most builds. I like this effect and will expand on it or similar in the future!

5. Added new portraits for Pirates.

One of the things I wanted to do for the Pirates expansion was add a new set of icons for the pirate faction. Unfortunately, just like the new rings, I ran out of time. So I left it out of that release.

Once I had some time I managed to put a set of pirate portraits that feel a lot more appropriate for the faction. In lore these are all captains or commanders so most of them don't look like your stereotypical pirate. And others do. I tried to have a bit of variety.

6. Added one new location art.

This one I decided on after the expansion was out. One of the optional stories has a fairly long section inside a building, but it's all happening while you see a back alley. It didn't feel right. So I moved that part of the scene to a new scene and added an image showing the courtyard of the building. Simple stuff and not the first time I've done it, but I think it helps a little bit with immersion so I think it's worth it.

7. Greyed out skip button during choices.

I have several technical reasons. They're complicated. Mostly to do with very rarely breaking the dialogue portrait animations and the adventure transcription. On the other hand, you, as a player lose nothing by this change! It was an easy decision.

8. Hiding opponent portrait on loading screen if brawl is skipped.

There's a simple upgrade that I didn't even think about until recently. Previously, whether you were heading into a fight or not, you saw the opponent portrait slide in from the right during battle adventure loading screens.

With the change, all that happens is you don't see a portrait slide in if you've managed to bypass the fight through dialogue. I figure this makes it so you don't suddenly stress out for seeing an enemy. It gives you better feedback. It also means that in some adventures you won't know who the opponent is unless you fight them!

9. Fixed bugs & typos.

There are much less fixes this time, hopefully that's a trend going forward. Nothing game-breaking.

I also started addressing a whole group of non-game breaking bugs - item duplications. There are a few stories where if you perform certain steps during dialogue, you can end up with two of the reward items instead of one. I haven't fixed them all, but I'm slowly going through them.

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So these were the MoonWard patch notes for v1-0-55. 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!