Changelog | Oct 22 | 2021

October 2021 Changelog
The following is our Changelog & Patch Notes to accompany the Phase 1: Avatars update, on Oct 22, 2021. This changelog contains minor updates to the game, with a majority revolving around UI & UX, changes, updates, and fixes.

Technical Updates
• Added Avatar Shop to Crypt

> Avatar Shop displays [6] randomly selected, daily shop-exclusive avatars
> Avatar Shop’s avatar selection will automatically refresh after 24hrs to display new avatars
> Avatar Shop contains a rollover timer to indicate when a new avatar selection will arrive
> Avatar Shop contains a Refresh option, which requires Favor Points. When initiated, the Avatar Shop will update with a new selection of avatars and withdraw the Favor Point Refresh cost
> Avatar timer will reset to 24hrs each time the Refresh button is used

• Sparring Points have been deprecated. Sparring point have been changed to Instinct Points game-wide

> Players with previously purchased Sparring Points will find their current amounts now listed as Instinct Points. Original points have been carried over with equal values and updated for the new point system

> Free Spars continue to operate as expected. When all free spars are used, Instinct Points will be required to continue to spar

• Removed fusion recipe for "Sparring Points" from Fusion > Filter by Quid Pro Quo. Instinct Points are a premium currency and do not qualify for acquisition via fusion.

• The ability to purchase Sparring Points from the Crypt has been removed

• The ability to purchase Instinct Points (premium currency) has been added

> Instinct Points are a premium currency. Premium currency may only be purchased and are not available to be earned for free

• Free Spars have been updated to work independently of any other feature's free points relational to Instinct Points

• Implemented several platform-specific, backend shop updates and additions to accommodate Premium Currency and price changes

• Price Differences between iOS and Android:

We have the unfortunate job of informing our iOS community that Apple uses predetermined price decimals for in-app-purchases. Basically any dollar amount must end in ninety-nine cents [.99]. We’ve adhered as closely as we could to our vision for lowered pricing on your platform, however predetermined price decimals resulted in a forty-cent difference on three of our mid-tier packages vs Android prices. We assure you that we are very unhappy about this, but it is completely out of our hands. Any concerns you may have are understandable, and should be raised directly with Apple.

• 10/22/21 - Update Day Edit: Due to a technical issue, Instinct Points prices will display on all devices ingame using Apple pricing. Android users will see their correct pricing at checkout. We're sorry for this inconvenience and we'll be looking into a fix.

Home Screen UI
• Minor layout shift, to move player name above Home banner. It’s your game, you should be on top!

• Home screen has seen minor layout changes to accommodate IP

> Cleaned up navigation buttons stacks to offer more screen space
> Removed the word “Your” on Coven/Dark Mark/Favors for better aesthetic weight
> Added your current Instinct Points amount to display with Favor Points
> Added new Home page banner, featuring updated art and character models
> Added a new Crypt power banner. This will change to alert you when a new crypt power is here, then revert back after interacting with it

• Added locked Prowl button for future feature release

> This button will remain locked until the feature is ready. Once unlocked it will match all other screen buttons

• Updated graphical text on Home screen buttons for better display and ease of use

• Corrected invitation button to now correctly reflect that invitations may only be sent via Email.

*Note: Previously we also allowed for VDR invitations via text, which required contacts permissions. Permission for VDR to access your contacts was removed long ago by player demand.

Home Screen > Welcome UI
• Added Instinct Points totals along with remaining Free Spars

Fight & Hitlist Screens UI
• Padding fixes and bar adjustment for player names on fight screen to improve speed of identification

• Hitlist now has new, 4k compatible banners featuring new images and characters

• Removed Hitlist header bar. We’re now relying on the new banner to describe the page’s function

Missions, Powers, & Slaves Screens UI
• Padding fixes and font-size adjust on mission & power titles for improved legibility

Trinity (Sparring/Alignment) UI
• Sparring & Alignment: Updated Dark Trinity character models in all instances to allow for higher resolution images

• Sparring & Alignment: Updated written short-lore for all Dark Trinity to more clearly represent the characters and which disciplines they have mastery over

• Sparring: Added remaining Instinct Points totals to accompany remaining Free Spars totals

• Sparring: removed redundant plain text for point purchase

• Sparring: Purchase buttons now identify that you’re purchasing Instinct Points [IP]

Profile UI
• Improved button stacking to take up less screen real estate on your own profile page

• Added Gallery button for avatar collection

• Cleaned up Dark Rising Stats background to have a cleaner gradient. This now uses CSS rather than that cheesy image we had before.

Healing & Banking UI
• Both pages now have new, 4k compatible banners featuring new images and characters

• Cleaned up some text on these screens

Fusion UI
• Updated Fusion button. Fuse button now displays a larger, more detailed button

• Updated Recipes display. You should now be able to more clearly see the required power images, as well as the number needed and number owned.

• Updated Attack/Defense icons to a solid color to ease text clutter

Crypt UI & UX
• Added new interactive entry point icon for Add-ons Gallery

> Touch the new Add-ons Gallery image to enter

• Added new interactive entry point icon for Avatar Shop

> Touch the new Avatar Shop image to enter

• Crypt Power verbiage has been changed to now say Featured Power

• Several minor adjustments to Featured Power display, including enlargements to Stats, Power name, and icon sizes for increased visibility

• Updated Crypt Power’s Attack/Defense icons to a solid color to ease text clutter

• Instinct Points purchase options has been added

• Favor Points purchase option icon now displays updated FP icon

• Sparring Points purchase options has been removed

Avatars Shop UI & UX
• Added interactive entry point for Avatar Shop to Crypt

• Avatar Shop will display your Instinct Points at the top

• Avatar Shop will display (6) avatars at random every 24hrs

> Note that this means no players will see the same available avatars

• Avatar timer indicates how long until the shop rolls over with new avatars

• At the cost of 25 Favor Points, avatars can be instantly refreshed with a new selection

> Note that each refresh of the avatar display will reset the Avatar timer to 24hrs

• When purchasing avatars, a confirmation is present to prevent accidental purchases

> Note that avatar purchases are non-refundable

Tutorial UI
• Updated miscellaneous text for brevity

• Updated all Dark Trinity images to reflect new character models

• Updated all references to Sparring Points to now say “Free Spars”

• Updated Gender/Avatar selection to now only offer a single, non-character avatar

> Also updated text to describe ability to change avatar

General UI Improvements
• New 4k compatible Buttons and Tabs gamewide

> Buttons will now animate during pressing interactions

• General padding fixes on title texts to improve readability

• All drop menus now have a new color and distinctive style which better communicates their purpose

• All basic “Little Red” buttons now have improved padding (Scream, Refresh, Delete, etc) around text. Sorry to everyone who has big fingers, we hope this helps!

• Favor Point icons have been updated to a new look. This change was implemented to aid in visual separation between the Favor Points and Instinct Points icons

• Updated Dark Trinity character models in all instances to allow for higher resolution images

> Andilaveris can now be seen in his fullest glory, commanding the mysteries of the supernatural
> Lillith has now unleashed her mind’s darkness while remaining as tempting as always
> Caine has seen some intense adventures that have given him an entirely new physical form—and he is now more powerful (and deadly) than ever!

Known Issues
We are aware of the following issues which may affect all devices. As they are not directly impeding gameplay in any way, they may not be resolved until a future update.

• Avatar Shop avatars are displayed randomly, but may occasionally display avatars that have already purchased

• Button press animations may stick on long-press interactions

• Button press animations may stick when tapping a button with a plain-text label

• Buttons with plain-text labels will only activate when touching the text. This applies to all text-based buttons, such as Accept (Heal), Withdraw and Deposit (Banking), Buy & Purchase Buttons (Crypt), etc. Buttons with graphical labels continue to activate anywhere on the button

• Dark Encounters tab may occasionally see a graphical hiccup when changing tabs. This happens from a minor web-view caching issue

• Some system-related dialogs (such as confirm buttons, etc) may retain original button style

• Healing, Hitlist, and Banking image banners may see a split-second loading delay depending on slower connection speeds. This is due to the files size of 4k resolution graphics

• The featured power, its stats, and discipline may not center perfectly on devices which require dramatically more horizontal space, such as tablets