v1.00 Changelog

Gameplay:

* replaced Hippogryph's Precision with Feather Storm (aoe damage)

* replaced Chaos Peon's Improved Masonry with Fix (instant aoe heal including structures)

* replaced Marksman's Charged Shot with Exploding Shot (aimed aoe damage and stun)

* replaced Sphinx's Spirit Hull with Seeking Death (slow homing stun missile)

* reworked Sorceress: its spells are 6-level, removed Elemental Mastery, added level 21 Triple Finish super-ultimate

* reduced Spirits' Finger of Death default damage to 75; Spirit Bottle upgrade is unaffected

* reworked Outpost and Observatory mechanics slightly: they have full health when captured, but do not repair

* Oupost towers have been weakened to 750 hitpoints and 60-70 base damage

* Boss creeps now act smarter and cannot be lured out of base as much

* basic melee spawn creeps now have medium armor

* extended shopping range to 900

* Arena mode kill requirement now scales with number of players, with the requisite being 5x number of human players

* Faerie Dragon's Energy Beam no longer damages self

* Teleporters no longer cost gold

Fixes:

* Spider's Nerve Poison no longer has a slow effect

* fixed Silencing Shot leveling glitch and mana cost

* fixed Infiltrate and Thief Rage to work properly

* fixed a crash glitch with Beastmaster

* fixed Conjurer to gain Life Orbs if Spirit kills a hero

* fixed some stacking issues with hero buffs

* fixed Shadow Bolt to be able to hit Chaos Peon

* fixed Dazing Gemstone to not slow movespeed

* fixed Blade of the Monkey to not mess up with Shadow Sight

* fixed a few typos

Balancing:

* Afflictor: decreased Shadowbolt damage to 2.2x int

* Arcane Wizard: reduced Arcane Strike damage to 400/600/800/1000

* Chaos Peon: lowered tower attack range to 600, increased tower build time to 6 seconds

* Chaos Peon: increased Summon Peon build tower cooldown to 30 seconds

* Conjurer: changed Detonation damage to 50/100/150/200/250 + Int

* Conjurer: increased Conjure Tome cooldown to 120/105/90/75/60

* Conjurer: changed Restoration Potion healing to 20% max hp and mana

* Death Knight: changed Lich King's Pact required hp from 33% to 20%

* Demon Hunter: reduced stats slightly

* Ghost: allowed Lockdown to cause 25/50/75/100/125 damage

* Ghost: improved Ocular Implants agility bonus to 5/10/15/20/25

* Giant: nerfed Ring of Fire damage per second to 50/80/110/140

* Grunt: lowered stats slightly

* Helicopter: lowered Auto Gunships damage per bomb to 12

* Holy Priest: lowered stat gains slightly

* Knight: gained an innate ability: Burst, increases movespeed by 100% for 2 seconds

* Mountain Giant: reduced Tree Smash bonus damage to 35/70/105/140/175

* Naga Warrior: nerfed Snap Dragon armor and damage signficantly

* Naga Warrior: reduced Draining Blade lifesteal to 15/17/19/21/23%

* Necromancer: lowered strength slightly

* Necromancer: changed Curse of Ner'zhul to have constant 7 second duration

* Nerubian: lowered Web mana cost to 100 constant

* Ogre Fighter: nerfed Force Slam shockwave damage to 50/80/110/140/170

* Shadow Hunter: reduced Serpent Ward normal ward duration to 20 seconds

* Shadow Hunter: lowered Voodoo Spirits duration to 30 seconds

* Shadow Lich: changed Wisdom of the Dead to add 2/4/6/8/10% ms and ias, and increase base int by 2/4/6/8/10

* Spirit Watcher: added one additional target to Lightning Blast, lowered its damage gain to 15% per hit, reduced cooldown to 6 seconds

* Spirit Watcher: allowed Empowered Spirit to act as an aura and lower Rain of Fire cooldown by 3 per level

* Tuskarr Mage: nerfed Frost Bolt damage to 75/125/175/225/275

* Tuskarr Mage: reduced Snowball damage to 65/130/195/260/325

* Warden: improved Fan of Knives base damage to 50/100/150/200/250

Items:

* Axe of Might: decreased splash amount from 55% to 42% and removed the +20 fixed damage bonus

* Blade of the Monkey: increased recipe cost from 2000 to 2300

* Sorcerer Robe: improved armor bonus from 4 to 8

* Vacuum Wand: nerfed aura to deplete 1% max mana per second (instead of 2%)

Others:

* added a new game lobby minimap image (Thanks Anj)

* destinations of the three base-to-lane teleporters are now marked with circles of power

* upped the size of several hero models


This will probably be the final version. I've had a great time with this map. But now, I think it is now time for me to move on to other things in life. I'll still visit occasionally.

v0.99, v0.99b, and v0.99c Changelogs

Changelog for v0.99

Gameplay:
* added new hero: Tauren Chieftain (High Elf)
* completely remade Shadow Priest
* added an innate ability to Afflictor: Shadow Bolt (1.1 sec cast time, deals damage equal to 100 + 2x int, costs 17% max mana)
* replaced Spirit Watcher's Reincarnation ability with Empowered Spirit (increases mana regeneration, improves Spirit's Rain of Fire damage, and causes spawned Spirit to have the Renew ability)
* replaced Footman Cold Sword ability with Shield Slam (causes damage, silences, and slows)
* widened the Undead outpost path terrain a bit
* removed teleporter cooldowns (this made Only-Mid mode very one sided as only one person could teleport in at a time against an entire team)
* cut Outpost teleporter gold costs in half
* improved Outpost towers' attack damage significantly
* moved bottom lane level 1 High Elf tower a bit
* reduced lane creeps' armor values slightly
* Mountain King's Counter Slam now does not activate from illusion attacks

Fixes:
* fixed a minor crash bug
* fixed a Demonic Charge bug
* fixed a bug with Conjurer teleporting with orbs
* fixed Thief Rage to work correctly
* fixed Ether Burst to deal the correct damage to low hp heroes
* fixed an abuse with Midas Touch and Assassin's Blade
* fixed a camera movement inconsistency after selecting a hero
* fixed Blood Sphere and Feral Soul sell costs
* fixed Mana Disruption damage
* fixed Stratoblast buff icon
* fixed Blood Pact, Burning Wave, and Demon Morph typos
* fixed typos on Medallion of Courage, Helm of Valor, and Hood of Cunning

Balancing:
* Abomination - nerfed Regurgitate stun duration to 1 second
* Archmage - nerfed stats slightly
* Archmage - increased Mind Blast cooldown to 14
* Archmage - improved Teleport cooldown to 50/40/30/20/10 seconds; increased cast time to 3.5 seconds
* Blood Fiend - Bloodthirst now heals 1% max life on attacks in addition to increasing movespeed; increased aoe to 1500
* Conjurer - hero kills now grant +4 life orbs
* Conjurer - reduced Conjure Potion cooldown to 25/19/13/7/1 seconds
* Death Knight - changed Lich King's Pact to reduce 40/50/60/70% damage when below 35% hp
* Doom Guard - reduced strength growth from +3.3 to +2.8 per level
* Doom Guard - lowered Demonic Charge damage to 100/125/150/175/200
* Earth Revenant - increased Hurl Boulder cooldown to 12 seconds and reduced damage to 100/150/200/250/300
* Earth Revenant - lowered Earth Blast damage to 100/150/200/250/300
* Earth Revenant - reduced Aura of Might damage bonus to 6/12/18/24/30%
* Earth Revenant - improved Earthen Presence damage bonus to 100/150/200/250; improved half-damage aoe to 500
* Eredar Diabolist - improved Demonic Curse ministun duration to .5 sec
* Eredar Diabolist - allowed Infiltrate to drain a slight amount of hitpoints (20/25/30/35/40 hp per sec)
* Faceless Terror - nerfed Faceless Strike bonus damage to 20/40/60/80/100, changed mana cost to 100/115/130/145/160 and cast range to 700
* Faceless Terror - changed Incredible Reflexes attack speed bonus to 5/10/15/20/25%
* Faceless Terror - lowered Pummel chance to 10/13/16/19/22% and bonus damage to 30
* Faceless Terror - reduced Doom duration to 5/6/7/8
* Footman - improved Rage damage to 3/5/7/9/11% missing hp
* Footman - improved War Cry bonus stats to 16/24/32/40
* Gargoyle - increased Sonic Blast cooldown to 11 seconds
* Grunt - reduced Beserker Strength bonus to 5/10/15/20/25 bonus str
* Harpy Stormwitch - improved Cyclone base attack time to 1 second
* Hematologist - lowered Hyperventilate armor reduction to 5 and movespeed bonus to 50%, increased cooldown to 14
* Hematologist - reduced Coagulation life regeneration bonus to 2/3/4/5/6 hp per sec
* Hematologist - nerfed Blood Transfusion to 150/225/300/375 health transferred and reduced mana cost to 200/300/400/500
* Holy Priest - Divine Intervention now removes all debuffs in addition to granting invulnerability
* Hydra Hatchling - reduced Hydra Split duration to 20 and cooldown to 120, lowered bounty on each Hydra to 30; changed one of the Hydras into an Hydra Elder with additional abilities
* Hypnotist - buffed Mass Replica damage output to 20%
* Huntress - allowed Sentinel sight range to remain constant at 1200; its mana cost scales 100/80/60/40/20
* Illusionist - increased Phantom Strike chance to 10/12/14/16/18%; made illusions unable to proc illusions
* Kobold Digger - reduced Bash chance to 10/15/20/25%
* Kodo Rider - reduced War Drums damage bonus to 5/10/15/20/25%
* Marksman - lowered starting stats slightly
* Merchant - lowered Steal stun duration to 1 second
* Mountain Giant - improved Tree Smash to last 2 attacks
* Mountain King - lowered Counter Slam damage to 50/65/80/95/110
* Nerubian Lord - increased Web aoe to 350
* Ogre Fighter - lowered starting strength and strength growth significantly; improved agility slightly
* Pit Lord - lowered Brute Force strength bonus to 5/10/15/20/25
* Raider - rebalanced stats (lowered str by .3/level and agi by .5/level, increased int by .3/level; lowered starting str by 2 and increased starting int by 2)
* Reaper - increased Dark Bolt cooldown to 12, reduced stun to 1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2 sec, changed damage to 100/140/180/220/260
* Reaper - nerfed Zombie armor to 2 constant; increased Summon Zombies cooldown to 40 seconds
* Reaper - lowered Crippling Void duration to 5 seconds
* Sludge King - nerfed starting strength and strength growth; increased agi and int slightly
* Shadow Hunter - reduced Red Lightning dmg/heal to 100/160/220/280/340
* Shadow Hunter - reduced Hex duration to 1/1.75/2.5/3.25/4 seconds
* Shadow Lich - lowered Death and Decay cooldown to 16; lowered its structure damage factor to 25%
* Spider - improved base strength from 16 to 20
* Spirit Watcher - nerfed Ancestral Shield duration to 1/1.5/2/2.5/3
* Time Keeper - increased Time Bomb cooldown to 12 seconds
* Void Walker - lowered Void Blast damage to 50/100/150/200/250, changed cooldown to 15 flat and mana cost to 100/125/150/175/200
* Void Walker - increased Energy Absorption cooldown to 45/40/35/30/25, lowered mana cost 100 constant
* Void Walker - nerfed Vortex max duration to 5 seconds flat, increased mana cost to 400/600/800/1000 and cooldown to 180
* Witch Doctor - reduced Curse of Weakening duration to 5 seconds
* Witch Doctor - nerfed Voodoo Ward hp to 200/300/400/500 and armor to 2/4/6/8

Items:
* added 3 new items: Axe of Might, Sorcerer Robe, Vacuum Wand
* removed Shield of Honor, Killmaim, and Killmaim II
* moved Blade of the Monkey and Mask of the Vampire to the Armory
* nerfed Essence of Aszune/Heart of Searinox/Soul Core series: lowered life bonus, str bonus, and heal on each; Essence of Aszune now does not require Ring of Regeneration and costs 700 to combine; Heart of Searinox costs 1400 to combine
* lowered Curve Bow/Wind Bow stuns to .1/.25/.5/1
* reduced Healing Salve cost to 65
* reduced Lesser Clarity Potion cost to 35
* Blood Sphere - nerfed fixed steal to 7/14/21/28/35/42 life
* Feral Soul - improved damage bonus to 30/52/69/82/92/99
* Paralysis Prism - changed bonus damage to 30 constant
* Gloves of Magic - nerfed duration to 2 seconds
* Crown of Kings II is now Golden Crown

Others:
* added new icons for Battle Roar, Bloodthirst, Coagulation, Hemorrhage, Natural Concealment, Piercing Shot, Rifle Upgrade, Sentinel, Vital Reversal
* added animation to Holy Shock's periodic damage
* changed Marksman attack projectile to the original Charged Shot projectile; changed Charged Shot projectile to old Goblin Sapper attack projectile
* added new Fountain attack animation
* added new Gunner model
* renamed Footman to Warrior
* changed Shadow Priest's proper name to Horror (from Dark Horror)
* reverted Desert Advocate's skin to default
* reverted Ghost model and skin to non-custom
* allowed Firelord's Burning Wave to burn down trees
* renamed Banshee's Shadow Rip to Soul Tear

Development Notes:

The newly added hero, Cairne the Tauren Chieftain, is a powerful melee damage dealer and tank. Its primary ability, War Stomp, stuns nearby units and damages them, and also gives the Chieftain a short strength boost. Its Pound ability causes single target damage and ministuns, with a very short cooldown and low mana cost, although it can only work at melee range. Cairne also can summon a Earthspring Totem that increases armor and heals life and mana like a fountain for a short duration. His ultimate, Reincarnation, allows the Chieftain to come back to life when he runs out of hitpoints; this has a fairly long cooldown.

Also, the Shadow Priest was completetly revamped with 4 all-new abilities. It is now modified off the Shadow tree spells from the World of Warcraft Priest. Mind Flay is a channeling ability that slows a target and drains its life. Devouring Plague deals damage over time and heals the Shadow Priest for a portion of the damage inflicted; it also causes a slight slowing effect. Vampiric Touch causes damage over time to a target and restores mana to any allied hero for a proportion of any damage the target suffers for a duration. Finally, Dispersion allows the Shadow Priest to resist all physical damage and heal from spell damage. Overall, the new Shadow Priest is a powerful support caster with great survivability.

The Afflictor gained the Shadow Bolt innate ability, which is special in that it has no cooldown but a decent cast time. In addition, the Spirit Watcher's Reincarnation and the Footman's Cold Sword abilities were replaced by Empowered Spirit and Shield Smash respectively. Numerous balances and fixes occurred.

Three new items were introduced as well. The Axe of Might is a powerful weapon that adds strength and damage, and also grants a splashing attack for melee heroes. Part of its damage bonus scales with the base damage of the hero, making it a fearsome item for late game.

The other two items were made for intelligence heroes. The Sorcerer Robe is an enchanted robe that adds intelligence, mana, mana regeneration, and armor. It also grants the passive Invocation ability, which increases the damage of single-target abilities by 100. This effect only works on intelligence heroes. Also, targeting allies will result in a +100 heal.

Finally, the Vacuum Wand is a utility item that also has potent combat value. It lowers nearby enemies' armor and mana regeneration, and adds a slight amount of damage. It can be actively used to restore a sizable chunk of mana, although this effect dispels upon taking damage, similarly to the Clarity Potion.

Changelog for v0.99b

Gameplay:
* replaced Shadow Priest's Devouring Plague with Mind Blast (causes aoe damage and stuns)
* replaced Archmage's Mind Blast with Arcane Blast (causes aoe damage and increases int temporarily)
* replaced Marksman's Rifle Upgrade with Silencing Shot (causes damage and silences the target; increases Marksman's attack damage temporarily)

Fixes:
* fixed Vacuum Wand disabled icon
* fixed Far Seer and Tauren Chieftain scorescreen icons

Balancing:
* Afflictor: changed Shadow Bolt damage to 2.5x int
* Afflictor: reduced Corruption base damage to 90/160/230/300/370
* Afflictor: reduced Curse of Agony base damage to 90/150/225/315/420
* Arcane Wizard: increased Arcane Channeling cooldown to 45/40/35/30/25, reduced mana cost to 50
* Tauren Chieftain: changed Pound mana cost to 60/50/40/30/20

Changelog for v0.99c

Fixes:
* fixed a minor item exploit
* fixed Archmage and Shadow Priest hotkeys

Random Facts About SMotA

Here are some random facts about SMotA as of v0.99.

• There are 110 heroes.
  
• Marksman, Meat Wagon, and Lurker are the only 3 heroes able to out-range towers with normal attacks, with the Rifle Upgrade, Improved Targeting, and Piercing Spikes abilities respectively.
  
• Only Lurker, Conjurer, and Afflictor start out with innate abilities; they are Burrow, Life Orb, and Shadowbolt respectively
  
• Heroes have 1800 sight range by day and 800 at night.
• There are 8 heroes with global abilities: Far Seer, Prophet, Tauren, Nerubian Lord, Spirit of Vengeance, Archmage, Footman, and Royal Guard. Of these, the first 4 affect enemies, the 5th and 6th affect self, and the last 2 help allies.
• Shackling Ward (Warden) nullifies blinks and teleports.
• Mending Wave (Beastmaster) will not bounce if every friendly unit nearby is at full hp after the first hit.
• Skinkapulter is able to repair towers with his Skink Companion.
• Afflictor's Curse of Agony normally causes just slightly more damage than Corruption, but when Extend Suffering is activated, the former can far exceed the latter in damage, because each tick will cause more damage the the previous one.
• The Ancestral Guardians summoned by Keeper of the Grove act as Moon Wells in ladder; an ally can right-click on an Ancestral Guardian to be healed.
• Undeath makes the Scarab Lord virtually invulnerable when he has allies near him.
• The Dazing Gemstone orb does not stack with Drunken Haze (Fire Panda).
• The Radiant Shard orb and Faerie Fire (Druid of the Talon) do not stack.
• Divine Intervention (Holy Priest), Ancestral Shield (Spirit Watcher), and Voodoo Ward (Witch Doctor) are the only 3 abilities able to grant true invulnerability temporarily.
• The Amulet of Spell Shield item is unable to prevent many targeted spells. Neither can Spell Block (Spell Breaker).
  
• Normal frost effects slow 20% attack speed and 30% movespeed. These effects are on Frost Claws (item), Frost Nova (Polar Furbolg Shaman), Chilling Armor (Polar Furbolg Shaman), and Winter Chill (Tuskarr Mage). Note that this does not affect Cold Sword (Footman), Freezing Arrows (Naga Sea Witch), Ice Storm (Polar Furbolg Shaman), and Winter's Bane (Shadow Lich). The slows on these are stated in the game.
• If an enemy stands close enough to Force Slam (Ogre Fighter) or Strafe (Burning Archer), he may take damage from more than one wave.
• Stun Trap (Gnoll Assassin) takes 1.5 seconds to activate, detonating in a 450 area. It will activate when an enemy passes within 250 distance of it.
• Purify (Paladin), Harmony (Dryad), Divine Intervention (Holy Priest), and Dispersion (Shadow Priest) are able to remove debuffs.
• The Mistress of Pain is the only hero that can take down a boss creep in less than 5 seconds without any single player cooldown refreshes. A maxed out Thunderlizard Diamond or other high-damage item is necessary.
  
• The Druid of the Claw is the only hero with 5 hero abilities (i.e. not including any innate). Rejuvenation and Lacerate are leveled together, and are available in Druid Form and Feral Form respectively.
• Holy Blessing (Holy Champion) is by far the longest lasting buff, with a duration of 5 minutes. Chilling Armor (Polar Furbolg Shaman) comes in 2nd place at 2 minutes. Theoretically speaking, it is possible for Hemorrhage (Hematologist) and Epidemic (Abomination) to last forever, though the conditions for such to happen are extraordinary.
• The Huntress's attack while using Glaive Attack can bounce on the same target multiple times.
• All heroes have at least 2 active abilities. The max is 5: Conjurer with its innate.
• The only hero abilities that grant lifesteal are Taste of Blood (Blood Fiend), Draining Blade (Naga Warrior), and Zerginate (Zergling). Ironically, the Dreadlord does not have a lifesteal ability, although the item Mask of the Vampire grants lifesteal. The Blood Sphere orb can grant lifesteal as well.
• Tidal Manipulation (Royal Guard) actually summons a dummy unit with a speed aura. Hence if the Royal Guard dies and revives, he will still have the Tidal Manipulation buff if it has not run out.
• The buff from Vindication (Knight) cannot be removed by Mass Purge (Shaman) or by the Shamanic Totem item. Tidal Manipulation (Royal Guard) also may not be dispelled.
• Web (Nerubian Lord) will have no effect if casted on an empty area.
• The Chaos Peon's Watch Towers can be affected by many abilities as if they were normal units, not structures.
• Crossbow Mastery (Gnoll Assassin) and Vampiricism (Dreadlord) grant the same average damage bonus; Vampiricism offers much higher crits but with a less accurate chance.
• Conjure Potion (Conjurer) is the only hero ability able to create items.
• Counter (Footman) can affect any damage, not just damage from attacks. The same applies to Shift (Desert Advocate), Callous Scales (Skink), Hardened Carapace (Scarab Lord), and Lich King's Pact (Death Knight).
• Nuclear Launch (Ghost) can kill a level 1 tower in one hit in Short Mode, with the nuke at level 4. Ghost is the only hero that can one hit kill a tower.
• Speed Drain (Elven Ranger) does not increase the Ranger's movespeed based on the amount lowered on the enemy.
• Armor Rip (Demolitionist), Steal (Merchant), and Liquid Fire (Troll Batrider) are the only three single-target abilities that can affect towers.
• Exploding Arrow (Burning Archer) has 900 sight radius while in flight and gives that vision for a few seconds after it explodes.
• Life Orbs (Conjurer) will grant 500 sight range when the Conjurer dies in that area.
• Only Flight Form (Druid of the Talon) grants true flight movement.
  

v0.98, v0.98b, and v0.98c Changelogs

Changelog for v0.98

Gameplay:
- each player (even those not playing) now have a Circle of Power at the start of the game
- made secret shops much more visible, moved their starting locations a bits
- renovated much of the terrain; most paths are now significantly narrower
- removed spawn creeps' Heal and Slow abilities
- made Crush and Stratoblast unable to knock units over cliffs or through major obstacles
- changed the way the Mind Control Orb operates; the controlled unit now follows the Orb by a short distance, the Orb is confined by collision, and the leash range is removed
- Conjurer's Orbs now grant vision of a small area when the hero dies
- allowed Blind Rage to work with Amulet of Spell Shield; if the Amulet triggers, the attack speed bonus will be kept but the miss chance will be blocked
- the affected unit is now selected automatically after Chomp finishes
- added buffs for Blazing Agility, Corruption, Curse of Agony, and Moonfire
- changed Spirit abilities to be unable to affect structures; shortened their cooldowns significantly; increased Rain of Fire damage slightly (30 to 35 per wave)
- increased hero base attack damage by 10 globally
- reimplemented a 5 second team cooldown for base-to-lane teleporters
- added a gold price to using teleporters: lane-to-base teleports now passively cost 2x % missing hp (e.g. teleport with full hp costs zero; half hp, 100 gold; 10% hp, 180 gold)
- reduced amount of gold given by Faceless and Magnataur creep camps by about 33%
- reduced Blue Dragon's slow duration to 2 seconds
- reduced Super Creeps mode creep hp bonus to 500 and armor bonus to 5
- reduced Observatory sight range to 4000
- increased Outpost tower hitpoints to 1250 and regeneration to 3 hitpoints per second, decreased armor to 10
- decreased non-Outpost tower hp, armor, and regeneration rates significantly
- lowered non-Outpost tower damage to 70/90/110/130/150
- decreased barrack structure hp to 2000, armor to 20, and regeneration to 1 hp/sec
- cut Demonic Portal and Well of Eternity hp in half
- reworked item combination triggers to run much more smoothly and to allow for buying recipes with full inventory
- added "-clear" command to clear screen of text messages
- changed Nuclear Launch ping to allies only

Fixes:
- fixed Allrandom mode glitch for player 12
- fixed Crown of Kings disappearance glitch
- fixed mode combining bug
- fixed a glitch from teleporting that occurred in replays
- fixed Nerve Poison movespeed glitch
- fixed Mending Wave crash glitch
- fixed Undeath to work correctly
- fixed Corruption and Curse of Agony to deal the correct damage
- fixed Lich King's Pact healing glitches
- fixed respawning heroes to have correct altitude after being killed by Vortex
- fixed Tree Goddess bounty amount
- fixed Demon Hunter game end score screen icon if he was morphed
- fixed Nuclear Launch glitch
- fixed Drench to have the correct slow factor
- fixed Fire Aura damage range
- fixed Coagulation, Forgotten Prophecy, and Pummel to level correctly
- fixed Cannibalize cast range glitch
- fixed Skinkapult to be unable to throw corpses
- fixed Silk Trail graphic bug
- fixed Storm Crow buff
- fixed Lethal Injection to display the correct damage
- fixed Illusionist typos
- fixed Hyperdimensional Warp, Nuclear Launch, Scare, and Vindication tooltip typos
- fixed a typo on Wind Boots

Balancing:
- Abomination: lowered strength growth from 3.1 per level to 2.8 per level
- Abomination: nerfed Putrid Odor to slow movespeed only
- Afflictor: allowed Corruption to scale 1% bonus total damage for every 2 int
- Afflictor: allowed Curse of Agony to scale 1% bonus total damage for every 2 int
- Afflictor: Life Tap now grants 2/4/6/8/10 additional base intelligence for 60 seconds in addition to its original effect
- Afflictor: made Extend Suffering increase total damage of Corruption and Curse of Agony by 1/2/3/4x int; you may type "-spells" or "-damage" to check your current spell damage on Afflictor
- Alchemist: reduced gold given by Chain Reaction to 2/3/4/5 per particle
- Arcane Wizard: lowered Arcane Wave damage to 75/125/175/225/275; reduced mana cost to 100/115/130/145/160
- Bandit: reduced strength growth from 3.0 to 2.5 per level
- Bandit: improved Grappling Hook initial damage to 65/130/195/260/325, improved moving damage to 25% of distance moved, changed mana cost to 100/115/130/145/160
- Bandit: nerfed Avoid chance to 10/13/16/19/22%
- Bandit: changed Thief Rage acceleration to a constant 5% ms and 20% ias every 2 seconds; accelerates for 6/8/10/12 seconds, lasts 20/22/24/26 seconds; changed cooldown to 100/90/80/70
- Blood Fiend: improved Bloodthirst duration to 14/18/22/26
- Burning Archer: increased Burning Arrows bonus damage to 6/12/18/24/30 and damage per second to 4/8/12/16/20
- Burning Archer: reduced Exploding Arrow cooldown to 40
- Chaos Peon: reduced all tower armor by 5
- Conjurer: improved Detonation damage to 3x int + 0/50/100/150/200
- Conjurer: reduced Life Orb cooldown to 25, added a 25% of creep hp heal to the Conjurer when it is casted, changed the mana restoration to 25% as well
- Dark Ranger: buffed Last Reprisal attack speed bonus to 13/26/39/52%, reduced its target death range to 600
- Demolitionist: reduced agility growth from 1.9 to 1.4 per level
- Demolitionist: lowered Armor Rip armor effect to 3/6/9/12/15 armor lost/gained
- Demon Hunter: lowered Demon Form duration to 6 seconds, changed cooldown to 70/60/50/40/30
- Destroyer: nerfed Orb of Annihilation damage bonus to 15/30/45/60/75, reduced mana cost to 30/40/50/60/70
- Doom Guard: nerfed Infernal Flame damage per second to 5/10/15/20/25, reduced duration to 3 seconds
- Dragonhawk Rider: improved Lightning Fury cooldown to 90
- Dreadlord: reduced Vampiric Haste ias to 7/14/21/28/35%
- Druid of the Claw: allowed Battle Roar to affect the damage of Lacerate
- Druid of the Claw: improved Feral Form stats slightly overall: faster morph; more armor, damage, and regeneration; bonus armor
- Druid of the Claw: improved Natural Haste movespeed bonus to 3/6/9/12/15%
- Druid of the Claw: reduced Rejuvenation mana cost to 50/60/70/80/90 and reduced healing time to 6/7/8/9/10
- Druid of the Talon: reduced Faerie Fire duration to 25
- Druid of the Talon: nerfed Words of Wisdom damage to 50/100/150/200/250 + 1x int
- Dryad: nerfed Harmony mana regeneration to 33% of its hipoint regeneration
- Elven Ranger: improved Poison Arrows slow to 6/12/18/24/30%
- Elven Ranger: improved Speed Drain speed change to 8/16/24/32/40%
- Faceless Terror: increased Doom cooldown from 120 to 150 seconds
- Faerie Dragon: increased Energy Beam max range to 2000 but kept the scaling of 100/200/300/400/500 max damage
- Far Seer: improved Omniscience level 4 duration to 40 seconds
- Footman: reduced Rage mana cost to 15 per attack
- Giant: lowered Ring of Fire effect duration to 7.5 seconds, increased damage to 85/130/175/220
- Gnoll Assassin: reduced agility increment from 2.9 to 2.6 per level
- Gnoll Assassin: rebalanced Camoflauge slow to 30/24/18/12/6%, backstab damage to 60/90/120/150/180, duration to 20, and cooldown to 40/37/34/31/28
- Gnoll Assassin: decreased Stun Trap delay time to 1.5 seconds (from 2.25 seconds)
- Hematologist: reduced Coagulation armor bonus to 3/5/7/9/11, regen to 3/5/7/9/11 hp per second, mana cost to 50
- Hematologist: nerfed Hemorrhage initial damage to 4/8/12/16/20
- Hematologist: lowered Hyperventilate armor reduction to 10, increased cooldown to 10, mana cost to 100
- Holy Knight: changed Holy Blessing cooldown to 8/7/6/5/4; improved life regen bonus to 1/2/3/4/5 hp per second
- Holy Priest: changed Meditation Aura to provide both hp and mana boosts for 3/5/7/9/11 every 8 seconds; improved aura regen rate to .5/1/1.5/2/2.5 mana per second
- Holy Priest: nerfed Touch of God damage/heal base to 50/100/150/200/250
- Hydra Hatchling: improved Hydra Split's Hydra base attack time to 1.05
- Hypnotist: lowered Mesmerize max duration to 2/2.5/3/3.5/4 seconds
- Jungle Stalker: lowered strength growth from 3 per level to 2.7 per level
- Jungle Stalker: nerfed Leap damage to 55/110/165/220/275 and increased cooldown to 18
- Knight: decreased Charge cooldown to 13
- Knight: improved Rush damage increase to 8/16/24/32/40 per second
- Knight: improved Vindication hp check rate, resulting in more continous hp change
- Kodo Rider: nerfed strength growth to 18 + 1.9/level
- Kodo Rider: increased Chomp cooldown to 120, made it scale through damage rather than duration: constant 3 sec duration, 70/110/150/190 damage per second
- Kodo Rider: nerfed War Drum strength bonus to 2/4/6/8/10
- Master of the Hunt: reduced Bite slow amount to 8/16/24/32/40%
- Master of the Hunt: reduced Mangle damage per second to 3/6/9/12/15
- Meat Wagon: increased Overrun cooldown to 12 seconds
- Meat Wagon: nerfed Toss disease effect to 15 damage per second
- Medicine Man: nerfed Medicinal Aura to be a fixed hp regeneration of 1.2/2.4/3.6/4.8/6 hp per second
- Medicine Man: reduced Medicine Field damage and heal to 90/130/170/210
- Mistress of Pain: replaced Mana Leech with Mana Surge, an active spell that grants mana for a duration, releasing it as aoe damage after a short time
- Mountain King: allowed Avatar to increase the chance of Counter Slam by 4/8/12/16% for the duration; its bash bonus is reduced to 4/8/12/16%
- Mountain King: reduced Counter Slam aoe to 225
- Naga Sea Witch: improved Freezing Arrow movement slow to 8/16/24/32/40%; attack speed slow to 4/8/12/16/20%
- Ogre Fighter: nerfed Final Strength bonus strength to 9/18/27/36/45
- Ogre Fighter: lowered Force Slam initial aoe so it cannot deal that much damage up close; reduced slow to 30%
- Priestess of the Moon: changed agility and intelligence growth to 2.3 per level (instead of 2.6 and 2.0 respectively)
- Priestess of the Moon: increased Shooting Star damage to 190/250/310/370; lowered mana cost to 100/125/150/175
- Rifleman: decreased base agility to 22, improved int growth to 19 + 1.7/level
- Satyr Thundercaller: quickened Lightning Ball movespeed to 300
- Scarab Lord: improved Beetle armor to 5, damage to 15/22/29/36/43, attack cooldown to 1 second, decreased bounty to 25, increased movespeed to 370
- Scarab Lord: buffed Crypt Curse duration to 15 sec
- Shadow Lich: added Dark Impact base damage of 30/60/90/120/150; lowered stun slightly to 1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2 seconds
- Shadow Lich: increased Wisdom of the Dead duration to 120 seconds
- Shadow Lich: improved Winter's Bane damage to 7x int and slow to 50%
- Shadow Priest: improved intelligence to 25 + 2.7/level
- Shaman: improved Nature's Curse cast range to 900
- Skinkapulter: allowed Skinkapult's damage to scale with a 1% increase for every 50 hp the thrown unit had; made it have 350/550/750/950/1150 hp
- Sludge King: improved Gush cooldown to 45 and cast range to 800/1100/1400/1700
- Sludge King: improved Sludge Grip cooldown to 13
- Sludge King: increased Sludge Monstrosities mana cost to 100/125/150/175/200
- Spell Breaker: reimplemented Mana Freeze's freeze mechanic: gives the Spell Breaker a 25% chance to stun the target for 1 second if the target's mana is below 10%
- Spell Breaker: made Spirit Drain mana drain more continuous
- Spider: lowered Lay Egg cooldown to 20
- Spider: improved Inject Venom damage per second to 3/6/9/12/15
- Spider: allowed Silk Trail to grant a small area of sight in its path
- Sorceress: made Elemental Mastery increase the mana costs of the Sorceress's spells
- Sorceress: improved Nova base aoe to 400, becomes 500/600/700/800 with Elemental Mastery; its cooldown is improved by 1 second per Elemental Mastery level as well
- Spirit of Vengeance: nerfed Shard of Vengeance damage to 100/165/230/295/360
- Spirit of Vengeance: made Spirit Ferry life drain more continuous
- Spirit Watcher: reduced attack range to 100 (melee)
- Spirit Watcher: increased Reincarnation cooldown to 390/360/330/300/270
- Tree Goddess: reduced Treant Guard xp given to a normal creep, lowered bounty to 65
- Vampire: made Cannibalize scale better: it now heals in less time and has a better cooldown when leveled; reduced mana cost to 50
- War Golem: improved base stats to 20/16/16 (str/agi/int)
- Witch Doctor: nerfed Voodoo Ward max duration to 10 seconds

Items:
- added four new recipe items: Blast Jar, Blade of the Monkey, Spirit Bottle, and Ice Crown
- added two new Orbs: Blood Sphere, Feral Soul
- changed Orb system: Blank Orb is now an info-only item; normal orbs are bought directly and cost 1400; over-limit orb refund to full price
- nerfed Paralysis Prism base bonus damage to 30 and base chance to 7%
- lowered Blazing Dynamo duration to 4 seconds
- added new icon for Sphere of Ignorance
- allowed Crown of Kings to combine normally if the buyer has all the required items, even if the player has sufficient gold to buy the item in one piece
- reduced Circlet of Nobility stat bonus to +4 to all stats, cost to 475 gold
- changed Gloves of Magic recipe to require Mindstaff, Pendant of Mana, and Cheese (since Blank Orb is now unbuyable)
- increased cost of Maul of Strength, Bloodfeather's Heart, and Ring of the Mind recipe combination costs to 300 (total costs to 900)
- changed Horn of Strength, Key of Agility, and Scepter of Intelligence, to require just one previous item and the recipe, increased price of recipe to 1500 (total to 2400)
- changed Crown of Kings II to require 1000 gold to combine (total cost of 8200)
- renamed Ironwood Branch to Emperor's Crown with new icon (total cost is now 11200 from changes above)
- changed Cloak of Evasion to be a non-secret item, changed combination cost to 500
- removed stock refresh time for Orbs as well as charged items (Healing Salve, Lesser Clarity Potion, Scroll of Town Portal, and Sentry Wards)

Others:
- changed Arcane Wizard model and icon to those of the human Archmage (ladder version)
- added new models for Mega Bolt and Winter Bolt
- added new icons for Adaptation, Apparition, Blood Boil, Chaotic Power, Dagger Throw, Death and Decay, Death's Glance, Death Swarm, Divine Intervention, Elune's Grace, Energized Release, Ghost Form, Holy Blessing, Lightning Ball, Lower Resist, Medicine Blast, Meditation Aura, Metal Slam, Natural Affinity, Natural Concealment, Natural Haste, Phantom Scream, Raise Skeletons, Ranger's Blessing, Scare, Skeletal Mastery, Speed Drain, Steal, Strafe, Stratoblast, Tidal Maniuplation, Tracking, Voodoo Stab, Ultimate Swiftness, Undeath, Unholy Conversion, Vindication, War Cry, Water Bolt, and Wisdom of the Dead
- renamed Priestess of the Moon's Starlight Arrows to Moonlight Arrows, added a new icon
- renamed Mountain Giant (now Giant), Skeletal Mage (Reaper), Spirit Walker (Spirit Watcher), Elven Hunter (Elven Ranger), Crypt Lurker (Lurker), Rifleman (Marksman), Crypt Lord (Scarab Lord)
- renamed Scarab Lord's Infestation to Crypt Curse and added a new icon
- lowered scaling size of Giant a bit; changed proper name to Volcanus
- added new Goblin Sapper attack projectile
- renamed Frozen Armor to Chilling Armor, Hunter's Blessing to Ranger's Blessing, and Summon Sludge Monstrosities to Summon Monstrosities
- changed Paladin's proper name to Uther
- increased scaling size of Faceless Terror, Footman, Grunt, Holy Champion, Mutation, Void Walker, and Zergling slightly
- reduced summoned Zerglings' scaling size
- changed Hypnotist's attack animation to Spirit Watcher's old animation
- changed Counter Slam animation effects
- changed Faerie Fury faerie attack animation
- changed Corruption buff model on Afflictor
- added new effect for Infestation
- allowed Exploding Arrow to give vision of the area it explodes for a couple seconds
- changed Fire Wave missile
- changed Strafe missile to normal flaming arrow projectile
- replaced Flame Contraption's projectile with old Fire Wave missile
- changed Skink Companion and summoned Skinks' color so they different from the hero skink
- added wind immolation effect to Wind Cloak
- shortened lightning effect on Conductive Sphere slightly

Development Notes:

The map size increased from 1754 kb to 1927 kb mainly from a vast number of new icons. (See this post for more icon details.) Several new model effects also contribute to the file size.

Six new items were added as well. Blood Sphere and Feral Soul are two new orbs that can cause exact life drain and silence enemies respectively. They can be stackable, just like the other orbs; in fact, Blood Sphere is the only orb to stack directly instead of having diminishing returns.

Of the other four new items, one is a secret shop item (speaking of which, the secret shop is now in a different location but is much easier to notice), while three others filled the Mystic Miscellany shop, with the Cloak of Evasion item moving to be a standard recipe. The Blade of the Monkey is an weapon that improves damage, agility, and attack speed. It also gives a chance to deal exact bonus damage on an attack based on agility, and can be potent in the late game as it cuts through armor.

The Blast Jar is an inexpensive utility item that grants bonus stats and a life regeneration aura. It also provides the Blast ability, dealing single target damage based on hero level. It is intended as an early game item, but some heroes, i.e. those who may lack direct damage spells, may find this useful throughout the game.

A Spirit Bottle upgrades the player's Spirit, making it invulnerable and improving the Finger of Death damage significantly. (As a side note, Spirits now cannot hit buildings with their spells.) It also allows the hero to restore actively a small portion of life and mana. Finally, the bottle also improves stats, max mana, and mana regeneration.

The new secret shop item, the Ice Crown, is the most powerful item in SMotA by far, as well as the most expensive. At a whopping total price of 21150 gold, it practically doubles the next most extravagant item. In fact, its ingredients are the Wind Boots and the Emperor's Crown (which used to be the Ironwood Branch), combined with of course the Cheese. It basically combines the powers of both items, which were powerful enough to start with.

Regarding items in general, it is now possible to combine recipes even when the hero has a full inventory. The Orb purchasing system is now easier to use; the Blank Orb has become obselete and only the Orb is required. Also, it is now possible to upgrade orbs with full inventory.

Some core gameplay mechanics were also renovated. Teleportation from outpost to base now has a dynamic gold cost that increases as the hero has less hp. Thus, teleporting back to buy items is free, but barely surviving a hero fight encounter will cost a small price (in fact, this price is simply 2 times % hp missing).

Along with teleportation, the game was made a little easier to finish. While Outpost towers are now stronger, almost everything else has been weakened. Observatories now have 4000 sight range, down from 5000 (the 1000 trusight range is unaffected). Lane towers are much weaker, barracks are easier to kill, as they now have 80% the hp, 50% the armor, and 20% the regeneration of the barracks in v0.97b, and the final structures' hitpoint counts were reduced by 50%.

Many fixes and balancing were made, and this version is intended as a stable version as no new heros or hero abilities were introduced. Note that it is still a beta. SMotA will become officially released as non-beta on version 1.00.

Changelog for v0.98b

- fixed a few typos and a particular spell damage glitch

Changelog for v0.98c

- Afflictor's Extend Suffering tooltip now states the spell damage check command
- fixed a major creep wave movement glitch
- fixed Demolitionist hero selection
- fixed Midas Touch and Forceful Strike abuses
- fixed Chilling Armor hotkey to be C
- fixed Chaotic Power typo
- fixed an abuse with Blade of the Monkey
- fixed a small Ice Crown typo

Just as a reminder, if you have any comments, suggestions, or criticism, please post it at our forum rather than on this blog. Thanks to all who helped or are currently helping with the beta test!