Greetings, Adventurers! Announcing a big update to Puzzle Quest 3; Update 0.37 .

This update focuses on a few areas of the game that we felt needed attention. The major changes in 0.37 include a Shop UI Rework, Chapter Packs + Bundle Deals, Relic Trading, and Gear Set Bonuses.

Changes in Update 0.37

There are a number of changes in this update, and we have outlined the major ones below. Where possible we have included the reasoning and intention behind these changes. 

The world of Etheria has a lot to explore, and now there is more to discover. 

• 17 new environments added for the Story mode Chapters based on the location of the story.
• Replay Dungeons or Skirmishes in the Challenges mode or complete battles in the Story Chapters to see these environments.

With the release of Update 0.37 these are the changes we have made:

• Enemies have had their health decreased by about 20%. Enemy damage also has seen some adjustments, both increased and decreased at various levels to improve the play experience.
• We have removed an Elemental Damage bonus from enemies that were being applied to the hero.
  • Previously, an enemy would do extra damage to the hero based on the hero’s highest mastery. For example, Dark (Purple) damage would do extra damage if the Hero’s highest mastery was yellow/Light. Or Fire (Red) damage would do less damage against a Hero who had the highest mastery of Blue/Ice.
  • This bonus is no longer taken into account when applying elemental damage to the hero. However, this bonus still applies when the Hero deals Elemental damage to Enemies.
  • This change was made to stop some attacks from the enemy being overly powerful.
• Critical hit damage from the enemy has been reduced, so Enemies will be less difficult
  • Critical hit damage caps out at 50% at the start of battle, however, the Enemies’ Spell or Passive may still increase the Critical Damage during a battle

• We have made a number of changes across the Prologue (Tutorial) battles to make it easier to kill enemies and to empower the Hero, making the tutorial more fun and enjoyable for new players.

Gear is important to the core loop of Puzzle Quest 3. We wanted to make gear feel more empowering to use in battle and give more purposes to collecting Gear. With Update 0.37 if you collect enough pieces of Gear, forming a “Set”, you gain various bonuses to use in battle.

• Gear now belongs to sets with a unique bonus given after collecting enough Gear from the same set.
  • Each set has bonuses at 2, 4, or 6 pieces equipped.
  • The bonuses apply a passive effect in battle.
  • The bonus applied is affected by the lowest rarity item in the set.
• Gear now shows which set it belongs to.
• The gear UI has been updated so that passive abilities of gear can be viewed even when unlocked, and lore of gear can be viewed even when a passive ability is unlocked.
• There are 15 Gear Sets available themed around each Chapter of the Story.

There were a few issues with the way Weapons were available between several Heroes across one account. In some cases this made lower level Heroes too powerful. To balance this we have adjusted how Gear works with Heroes across different levels:

• Gear Attributes increase based on the level of the Gear rather than the Gear’s Rarity.
• However, Rarity still dictates the highest level an attribute can go.
  • The maximum Attributes are (0/1/2/3/5/8) for each rarity.
• Gear Attribute levels are now capped to your currently selected Hero’s Level.

We made these changes to prevent the full stats of powerful end-game weapons from being equipped by lower level heroes. We acknowledge that this is a nerf, but the alternative was to lock lower level heroes from using higher levels items completely. We didn’t want to do this as upgrading weapons is an important part of gameplay, and doing so would mean that players would have to upgrade new weapons instead of using existing weapons which they have invested time and resources into.

As we grow the game and add new features, optimize what we currently have and release more updates we’ll need a way to share those changes with you. The News menu will allow you to read the latest information, patch notes or news on the game. In the future, we plan to use this menu to showcase in-game content or events.

• Select the news (paper scroll) icon from the top menu HUD bar.
• Pressing the button on the news should take you to the appropriate location in the game, or to an external web page to find out more information.
• News and information will change periodically.

The Shop had some good foundational packs to it. However, we’ve added new packs that will more directly help you progress, upgrade Gear and even collect Relics. The Shop menus have also been updated to reflect a new interface style that we are trying to deliver more information.

• There is a new menu layout and style with horizontal scrolling.
• Access the VIP Pass, Daily Deals, Bundles and other Packs from the main menu.
• The shop now offers timed packs including packs with Relics.

Bundles 

Bundles are a new type of pack that give access to resources and items. After receiving feedback regarding our current Shop Offers, we’d like to try giving juicier things in packs with the trade-off that they’re only available for a limited time or with a set amount of stock.

• Access Bundles from the front page of the shop.
• There are four main types of Bundles: Keys, Shards, Evolution and a selection of Other bundles (such as Crystals and Loot tickets).
• Some Bundles are timed offers and some have limited Stock .
• Certain Bundles are available to VIP Pass members only.

We are considering adding more Packs in the future which offer randomized rewards such as Shards and pieces of Gear like weapons or Armor.

It wasn’t easy to prepare your Gear (Weapons, Armor and Accessories) for certain situations in the game; such as defining a loadout for PVP Tourneys, or something specific for Skirmishes.

• We have increased the available loadouts from 3 to 8.
• Loadouts can be selected via drop-down list before battle on from the Gear table loadouts via a dropdown list.
• Loadouts can now have customized names.

We are hoping this helps our players have more sets for specific parts of the game easily accessible, and save time.

After introducing a new item progression system and Relics in Update 0.35, we felt that Eveline’s crafting didn’t offer as much value to the collecting of resources and upgrading in the game. Eveline can now exchange the extra Relics you don’t need to help you out a bit more. 

• Eveline can exchange Relics after Level 5 and beyond.
• Upgrade Eveline to exchange relics for the same or higher Rarity Relics.
• There is a tutorial for trading Relics with Eveline at Level 10, where you can exchange Tier 1 Relics.
• Due to these changes Eveline no longer has a crafting ability. Due to this, we are looking at potentially giving her previous ability to other Followers in the future. (Spoiler alert!)

To help remember when to return to parts of the game or finish completing a task you can now receive push notifications. We are open to feedback on other areas where push notifications are useful. 

• Notifications are available for Shop Offers, Followers, Minions, Events, Friend invites, and the Kingdom part of the game.
• Enable or Disable Push Notifications from within the Settings menu.
• A tutorial appears for the first Minion that returns or a tutorial that appears with a push notification.

We received feedback from our player base regarding how the Citadel unlocked. A common note was that before unlocking the Citadel, any XP earned past Level 50 would feel wasted as it wouldn’t go towards the Citadel. We saw how this wouldn’t feel rewarding, and have changed how this works in game. 

• The Citadel is now earned at Level 50 rather than the end of the story so that the XP always counts towards something within the game.
• If you are already Level 50, the Citadel will unlock upon logging into 0.37.
• Given the amount of time people have been Level 50, likely without a Citadel, everyone who has a Level 50 Hero will receive enough Citadel XP to reach Level 7 in the Citadel.

We have made some optimizations to the game to make using a controller easier:

• New shortcut buttons have been added for controller.
• The X/Square button can be used in several areas (e.g. to skip a conversation).
• It is now possible to move between Spells in battle using the bumper buttons, cast them using the X/Square button and view their help using the Y/Triangle button.
• D-Pad will now scroll to the next button on any hovered over scroll lists.

Miscellaneous quality of life changes and improvements to the game.

Thank you for your ongoing suggestions and ideas on the game. We’ve addressed a number of miscellaneous issues and updated Puzzle Quest 3 in the following small ways. Here are just some of those changes:

• Resources earned from the mail that have a cap (e.g. Gold) can now go over the cap.
• The wallet UI remains on screen when earning Rewards rather than disappearing (e.g. when Salvaging).
• If you can no longer make matches in-game, the timer will end and a notification will pop up informing you that there are no moves left.
• Dungeon Altars now scale up in effectiveness based on the level of the Dungeon.
• There is now a visual indicator of rest points in Events or Altars in Dungeons. This is indicated by a flag icon which shows next to the enemy portrait for when a rest point is coming up next.
• Item Abilities in the Battle Summary now use the Item’s name rather than the Ability Name (e.g. Serpentine Shield now displays instead of Fanged Shield).
• The Evolve Gear tutorial at the end of Chapter 1 now uses a Hammer and the game will give you a key if you do not have enough to open a chest.
• Added Chest Level to the chest replace/salvage menu.
• Tourney and Event Leaderboard improvements:
  • Within the Leaderboard players can now be tapped on to view their profile.
  • The current user will also show underneath the Leaderboard, even if they are unranked.
• Lore can now be viewed for gear that also has a passive ability unlocked. Previously if the gear had a passive ability it would no longer show the lore.

We have fixed a number of issues:

• Fixed an issue where Ultimate mana would not update visually until a spell was cast.
  • This was also the cause of the Runic Ring issue.
• The Silver ‘Clean Up’ bounty showed 10 Enemies instead of 20. This has been fixed.
• Fixed the issue where the Troll Stench Spell would prevent Resistance from being gained again when using Saviors Pants.
• Fixed an issue where uncompleted matches will take place on the next turn if the timer hits 0.
• Fixed the issue where the Ultimate Spell Mana was not updating immediately.
• Dungeonmaster Bounties now behave correctly when completing Quick Battles or Challenges.
• Dungeon Challenge rewards were different to Dungeon Rewards – they are now the same.
• Collecting crafting items from all Followers would now correctly progresses the Goal “Craft 10 Weapons, Armor, Accessories, Spells or Minions with Followers…” 
• Fixed an issue where being unranked in an Event Dungeon shows as rank 1.
• Fixed an issue where Gems locked after numerous Spells were queued.
• Fixed an issue where The UI incorrectly displayed accumulated mana totals for a round when at least 100 mana of the same color was collected by the player in a single turn.
• The issue where it can be impossible to continue during a Follower tutorial with Eveline for Crafting has been fixed.
• Fixed the issue where the Elven Owl Helm was not giving Mana.
• Fixed the issue where Runic Ring experienced a visual effect delay.
• Corrected some spelling mistakes in game.

Known issues

• The in-game webview when opening links is currently not working on Android.
  • The workaround to this is to select the “Open in Browser” option instead when available
  • This is also affecting the “Help Center – Guide” area where a contextual article is supposed to show in-game.
• The spell Grim Scythe deals fire damage instead of dark damage.
• The Leaderboard in Events isn’t displaying all information.
• The game can crash while players attempt to play co-op.
• Gear unequipped in Restricted Tourney disappears from Gear Vault until game is force closed.