New balance: every floor is one step harder

Version 0.1.1 is the first update of the open beta, and it is about balance. We rebuilt how the climb gets harder. The new build is on the download page

Until now the climb broke in two places. Almost everyone fell to the Guardian on floor 5, and whoever got past it walked easily up to floor 100. Now every floor is exactly one step harder than the one before it

Behind this is a single measure of strength, which we call gear score. Heroes, items, perks, relics, synergies, mobs and the wave of every floor are all measured by it. It is a hidden number, not a new bar on the screen: you will not see it anywhere. The game uses it to put each floor together, and we use it to tune the balance

Here is what changes in the climb

• Mobs grow differently. Their level now equals the floor number, there are more of them (up to 10 in one fight), and they carry real items, which you can see on the mob's sheet just like a hero's
• Experience for a fight goes only to the hero who lands the killing blow, like a last hit. A kill by a summoned unit, or by burning or poison, counts for the hero who called the unit or set the effect. The bench gets no experience for a fight. Experience from stops between fights and training work as before. The best hero reaches level 100 somewhere between floor 60 and 70 now, instead of around floor 40
• Heroes grow more slowly with level, and items no longer grow with the hero's level: what the card says is what the item gives. In return every item, every star and every perk counts for more
• In the second half of the climb there is less loot and fewer relics, so the late floors stand on what you managed to collect
• You start with 12 salt instead of 8, so there is something to build your squad with on the first floors
• Salt now comes for each floor you clear: 5 for an ordinary fight, 6 for an Elite, 7 for a Guardian and 8 for a Boss. Interest on your savings tops out at 3 per floor. Winning a fight and fight loot no longer give salt. Salt from events, caches and selling works as before. There is less of it, so every purchase weighs more

A climb saved in 0.1.0 will not continue, because experience, salt and waves are counted differently now. Start a new climb. The Lantern, the Household and everything else in your profile are still there

These are the first numbers of the new balance, and we will keep moving them based on what you tell us. How far did you get, where did the climb break, which floor felt too hard or too easy, was there too little salt? Write to us on Discord and on Reddit. We read everything