Originally published at: 4.6 Update – Gems of War
Explore has been reworked with a new system. Explore will still remain the most efficient method for getting Traitstones, and while there is no nerf to Traitstone farming, end-game Players can optimize it a tiny bit further with the new system.
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Explores are now organized into an “Explore Run” – a series of 5-6 battles that play with a chosen difficulty, and drop loot based on that difficulty.
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Explore Runs are completely pick-up/ put-down; they are not required to play in a single setting, and never reset by themselves (eg. at daily changeover).
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Explore Runs end in a Mini-Boss battle, who has a higher chance to drop an Arcane. Traitstone. (Regular Explore battles drop Arcane traitstones slightly less often to compensate, but this system makes it less prone to RNG, and overall the drop rate should now be slightly higher).
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Mini-Boss Battles will ALSO drop Mythstones. The number varies based on the difficulty, but collecting 100 Mythstones, will allow Players to fight an extra battle… The Mythic Boss battle.
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Mythic Bosses ALWAYS drop an Arcane Traitstone, and (more importantly) they will also drop a new collectible – Tokens. ,em>(More on Tokens and the Medal System below).
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All battles in each stage of an Explore Run will use the team builder system to create teams using Troops from the Explore Kingdom.
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The Explore button in the Kingdom Menu has had some minor text changes to reflect the new system.
Explore Bonus
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At any time, a number of Kingdoms will be marked for an EXPLORE BONUS. This gives them 20% bonus Mythstones (rounding up).
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Kingdoms with the Explore Bonus can be seen on the World Map marked with an orange icon (this will overlap the Class Quest icon until the Explore Bonus moves on).
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Players will also see the Mythstones written on the Explore Button in the Kingdom Menu.
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Once a player completes an Explore Run that has this bonus, the Explore Bonus is removed and a different Kingdom will gain the Explore Bonus.
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Your Mythstones for all Kingdoms are shared, so Mythstones collected in one Kingdom will add to the tally of those collected in any other Kingdom (this allows you to chase the Mythstone bonus around from Kingdom to Kingdom and have all of them work together).
Explore Difficulty
- Explore no longer allows players to select a difficulty in the same manner they were able to in previous updates.
- Now there are 12 levels of Difficulties in Explore. Each difficulty affects:
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All players will start with Difficulty 1 and Difficulty 2 unlocked.
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The next Difficulty is unlocked when an Explore Run is completed at the highest available difficulty. (eg. Difficulty 3 is unlocked when defeating the Mini-Boss on Difficulty 2).
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Difficulty unlocks are global so unlocking a new Difficulty in a Kingdom will unlock it for all Kingdoms.
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Difficulty cannot be changed once the Explore Run begins, however players who find themselves in trouble or lose an Explore battle will be given the option to lower the difficulty. (Please note that changing the difficulty will restart the Explore Run from the beginning again, and any progress will be lost).
Playing an Explore Run
Explore Runs contain various phases which players will go through during the Explore Run.
Difficulty: Players choose the difficulty on which to attempt the Explore Run.
Explore: Players need 4 successful regular Explore battles to progress to the Mini-Boss Battle. These battles will not contain any Troops higher than Epic rarity.
Mini-Boss: Players will fight against a Mini-Boss (always a Kingdom Legendary), no other troops than the Mini-Boss will be Legendary. Explore Runs will often end here (regardless if the Player wins or loses) if the player has less than 100 Mythstones. Also note: If the Player loses, they will only gain half the amount of Mythstones compared to if they would have won.
Mythic Boss: Winning the Mini-Boss Battle and having 100 Mythstones will allow players to continue their Explore Run against the Mythic Boss. The Mythic Boss will always be a Mythic Kingdom troop (which will be the only Mythic troop on the team). Defeating it will grant the Boss Chest.
Boss Chest: Players can open the Boss Chest to earn some Tokens from the Explore Run. Explore Run will restart after Players receive their Tokens.
Medals, Badges and Tokens are new collectibles that Players can collect. Each has a rarity, and name (usually based on an Krystaran Deity or important figure).
- As previously mentioned Tokens are earned from defeating a Mythic Boss. Though other means to earn Tokens will be added in the future.
- Tokens, Badges, and Medals have the following effects:
- Token: No effect, collecting 3 of the same type will evolve them in a Badge.
- Badge: Can be equipped in a Badge/Medal slot at the top of the Map Menu. It will give a bonus in puzzle battles when equipped, collecting 3 of the same type will evolve them in a Medal.
- Medal: Can be equipped in a Badge/Medal slot at the top of the Map Menu. It gives a greater bonus than Badges in puzzle battles when equipped, and can also be used to enhance Troops. (More on Enhancing Troops below).
- Players may view or equip any Badges or Medals they own by interacting with the new Slots located on the top of the World Map menu.
- Only 3 Badges and/ or Medals can be equipped at one time.
- Changing which Badge/ Medal is equipped will not consume the Badge or Medal.
- If the player has enough copies they may equip multiple Badges/ Medals of the same type if they wish.
- The type list for Medals, their rarity, and their effects are as follows:
More Tokens/ Badges/ Medals may be added in future updates.
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In the Troop Upgrade menu, players will find a new option to upgrade their Troop called “Medals”.
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Players will only be able to access this new menu once a Troop has reached Mythic Rarity (via Ascension if needed), Level 20, and is fully Traited.
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Enhancing a Troop will require Players to spend some Medals and Souls for a chance at an upgrade. Sacrificing Medals will consume them, so Players may lose an equipped Medal Bonus if an equipped Medal is sacrificed.
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Each Troop has a chance to upgrade based on the quality of medals sacrificed. This depends on the Troop’s Base Rarity along with how many Enhancements it already has received. This update supports 3 levels of Enhancement for all troops (Bronze, Silver, and Gold).
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Each Medal is worth points based on its rarity, and those points contribute to the chance to upgrade. As a general rule, a troop requires a single medal matching its base rarity for a 100% chance to upgrade to Bronze. Two of those medals for a 100% chance to upgrade to Silver. And three of those medals for a 100% chance to upgrade to Gold. The three upgrades must be performed in sequence: Bronze, then Silver, then Gold.
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Players are able to sacrifice up to 3 Medals at once to attempt to enhance a Troop. This can increasing their chance of successfully enhancing a Troop using low quality medals.
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Enhanced Troops will gain a special flair on their card – Bronze, Silver, or Gold.
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Upgraded Troops gain Skill Points with each new Enhancement, based on their Troop Role. This means that Defender Troops earn Life and Armor, while an Assassin Troop will earn Attack and Magic from enhancements.
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New Kingdom Power tasks beyond level 20 (not available yet), will require Players to enhance Troops from that Kingdom.
Lethal Damage
- Lethal damage has been updated so that it will dispel the target before killing them.
Orbweaver
- Orbweaver’s Legendary trait, Familiar, has had it’s chance to summon reduced from 50% to 35%
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To make room for the new Badge/ Medal equipping system, Chat has been relocated to the left under the Adventure Board, but will continue to work exactly the same in its new location.
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Mana Bonuses will now be displayed in the puzzle battle settings menu (with the other in-game battle information).
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Google Cloud saves have been enabled on Google/ Android platform. If a player loads the new game and a save is detected, the game will give the player the option to use the Cloud save.
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Players now have the option to decline the Rating Prompt and stop it reappearing later.
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Fixed an issue where Arcane Traitstones were not awarding correctly when completing Tier IV of Challenges.
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Fixed an issue where AI enemies in Faction quests were only appearing as level 1.
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Fixed an issue where gain Gold/ Soul/ Treasure Map animation would display in battle even if the Trait or Spell was giving 0 of those resources.
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Fixed an issue where the background on the new content callout would sometimes appeared blurry.
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Several other minor Bug Fixes.
