Early Access Update #6 (v0.1.6a) is a balance patch featuring changes to some equipment abilities that weren't quite living up to expectations (Starlight Sword, Silkweave Cloak, Mage's Ring, Ludriel's Armor). Additionally, I've made some adjustments to enemy Magic Resistance (which governs the success rate of Magic Bolt/Blast). For the affected enemies, these two spells should be a bit easier to land in exchange for dealing a bit less damage. There are also various changes/fixes, such as adding a Sprint Toggle to the options menu. Full details below:


Balance Changes Overview:

• Ability changes for Starlight Sword, Silkweave Cloak, and Mage's Ring should now make them more desirable and impactful. Additionally, the Spectral Talent has less of a downside, making it a more valid option for the Starlight Sword.
  
• Enemy magic resistance has been lowered in many mid-late game enemies; however, that magic resistance has (in most cases) been converted in to "Magic Damage Reduction". This means Magic Bolt and Magic Blast will land on targets more often, but still be balanced and best when casted with Mage supported equipment.
  
  • Please note: some enemies still have a decent chunk of Magic Resistance! While it's overall easier to land Magic Bolt/Blast (in some cases by a little, in others, by a lot), if you want to increase your odds or guarantee these spells land you'll still need to invest in Mage equipment Magic Resistance Pierce.
• Ludriel's Armor has been buffed, the "Spirit" ability reworked.
  
• All balance changes can be found in full detail at bottom of the patch notes.

Other Updates:

• Added "Sprint Style" to the options menu, Sprint can be set to "TOGGLE" or "HOLD"
  
• Fixed a bug when trying to sell more than 8 pieces of equipment (the page loading is working properly now, similar to the item list)
  
  • This also fixed a downstream effect where, under certain circumstances involving this bugged menu state, a player could generate infinite gold.
• When trying to sell Ludriel's Shield, the price is now listed as "0" to help indicate that it's "priceless" and can't be sold.
  
  • This matches the behavior with Ludriel's Sword/Armor.
• Fixed an uncommon world-generation issue that would cause the character to appear in a black void, forcing the seed# to be re-rolled.
  
  • This updates the internal Randomizer version, but should only affect seeds that were previously unplayable.
• When receiving "Aedma's Blessing", it will now always be put at the end of your item list.
  
• Fixed an issue where, when adjusting the Exp Trainer's settings in the randomizer, the "Enchant" option wouldn't display when scrolling left.
  
• Various text adjustments.

------------------Detailed Balance Changes:------------------


Starlight Sword buffs:

• Celestial Slash:
  
  • Updated to: "Landing an attack nullifies enemy magic resistance for your next damaging spell."
    
  • Previously: "Landing an attack nullifies enemy magic resistance for 1 turn."
    
  • Notes: The 1 turn restriction really hindered the likelihood of the sword's combo going off. You can now take as many turns as you need in between your attack and your next damaging spell (such as Magic Blast or Magic Bolt). The attack still needs to land.
• Arcane Infusion:
  
  • Updated to: "Your next attack gains +ATK equal to 30% of the damage dealt by your most recent damaging spell."
    
  • Previously: "Increases ATK by 30% of magic spell damage dealt last turn."
    
  • Notes: Same reasoning applies here, the "target combo" requiring 3 turns (Attack->Magic Blast->Attack) was far too restrictive without heavy investment. You now store your most recent damage from Magic Bolt/Magic Blast, empowering your ATK until you land an attack.

Silkweave Cloak buffs:

• Soul Steal:
  
  • Updated to: "Defeating an enemy with a damaging spell refunds 100% of the spell's MP cost."
    
  • Previously: "If Magic Bolt kills an enemy, restore +2MP."
    
  • Note: This effect was a bit weak and only relevant in the early game. Expanding it to Magic Blast and refunding the entire cost should make this a more interesting and lucrative to pull off.
• Focused:
  
  • Updated to: "Magic spells deal +30% more damage, but cost +20% MP."
    
  • Previously: "Magic spells deal +20% damage, but cost additional MP." (previously +10% MP)
    
  • Note: Other sources of increased magic damage (especially Crescendo), were causing the +% damage effect of this spell to be diminished. This is now a multiplicative effect on spell damage (as implied by the word "more"). Due to how the MP cost rounds up, going from +10% MP -> +20% MP has no effect on Magic Bolt (4 MP total), but means Magic Blast will cost 10 MP.
• Stifle (lowers enemy atk when they're silenced) has been replaced with "Steelweave".
  
• Steelweave: "Increases the wearer's DEF equal to 10% of Max MP."
  
  • Note: Steelweave is functionally similar to Stifle. However, some enemies are difficult to Silence (due to silence resistance) and silence targets often didn't hit as hard with their attacks already. For enemies that do hit harder, spending one or more turns to silence them wasn't often a desirable option. This removes that turn pressure while also gives Mage's another source of MP based scaling.

Mage's Ring buffs:

• Empowered:
  
  • Updated to: "+20% increased Magic Damage. Spells pierce enemy magic resistance by 15%."
    
  • Previously: "+10% increased Magic Damage."
    
  • Note: Mage's Ring was often overlooked compared to Thief's Cowl and Paladin's Tome. Paladin's Tome can fit comfortably into ANY build (especially with the Energized talent), and the Thief build's ample synergy with dexterity and evasion made it a desirable addition. Increases to magic damage is not only more valuable but has been buffed. Additionally, another source of magic resistance pierce will help make Mage's more reliable when casting spells and more flexible with their gearing when other magic resistance pierce options aren't readily available.

Ludriel's Armor Buffs:

• Base Def +10 -> +15
  
• Spirit reworked:
  
  • Updated to: "Every third turn, channel a free cast of Lesser Heal."
    
  • Previously: "Victory in battle restores +1MP."
    
  • Note: Ludriel's Armor was the least desirable of Ludriel's armaments, and often disappointing to get. The base Def buff and Spirited rework should make the armor more useful and interesting, while not devaluing the other armors/builds. Channeled spells aren't affect by Silence/Sleep and cost 0MP.

Spectral Talent buffed:

• Updated to: "-20% Enemy Magic Defense. Your Strength reduced by 20%."
  
• Previously: "-20% Enemy Magic Defense. Your Strength reduced by 50%."
  
• Notes: While the Magic Wand effectively negated the Strength penalty, it was a bit too steep for Starlight Sword users, and would sometimes prevent the player from having enough ATK to reliably land their first strike.

Enemy Magic Resistances:
Enemy Magic Resistances have been lowered for 24 enemies to varying degrees (mid-game+ enemies). This will make damaging spells (Magic Bolt and Magic Blast) hit more often across the board (and will often be guaranteed to land with investment in Magic Resistance Pierce). However, to keep Mage's the defacto Magic wielders and maintain balance, enemy Magic Damage Reduction has been increased to compensate. Casting Magic Bolt and Magic Blast will feel more consistent (with fewer "feels bad" moments), but deal less damage.

• Impervious Rockroot: Magic Resist 8/16 -> 0/16. Magic damage reduction = +8/16 to compensate.
  
• Heavy Knight, Enchanted Construct, Swift Knight: MR 2/16 -> 1/16. MDR +1/16
  
• Heartless Knight, Young Dragon, Dragon: MR 4/16 -> 2/16. MDR +2/16
  
• Frenzied Knight: MR 3/16 -> 2/16. MDR +1/16
  
• Glimmer, Shadow: MR 4/16 -> 3/16. MDR +1/16
  
• Masterful Conjured, Elite Swift Knight, Gemcapped Assassin: MR 8/16 -> 4/16. MDR +4/16
  
  • Note: This results in Gemcapped Assassin's have a VERY high Magic Damage Reduction rate, now at 12/16.
• Magi-Dragon, Voidwoven Construct: MR 12/16 -> 8/16, MDR +4/16
  
• Elder Dragon, Chaotic Construct, Berzerking Knight: MR 8/16 -> 5/16. MDR +3/16
  
• Great Wyrm, Necromancer, Invisible Construct, GL Balgus: MR 8/16 -> 4/16. MDR +4/16
  
• GL Halifax: MR 12/16 -> 8/16, MDR +4/16
  
• Dragon-mother Dreska: MR 15/16 -> 12/16. MDR is NOT compensated.
  
  • Note: Dreska already has very high MDR at 12/16, and each point is more valuable than the last. She might receive future adjustments, but this should help Mage's that are casting in the final battle.

Developer note on balance changes:
My goal with the equipment/abilities/talent buffs is to make underutilized equipment more desirable and reinforce its personal identity. Similarly, the "Magic Resistance" changes should encourage more use of Magic damaging spells across the board while keeping these spells balanced (and reserving the supreme mastery of magic to Mages). There are several very powerful abilities and combos in Splintered, and once everything has a level of desirability and identity, I'll work towards adjusting the numbers to help bring builds that are vastly outperforming the rest a bit more in line.