v0.96, v0.96b, and v0.96c Changelog

Changelog for v0.96

SMotA now stands for Sacred Masters of the Arctic

Gameplay:
- added a new hero: Beastmaster
- implemented a Spirit system; dying heroes at least level 2 will spawn a Spirit lasting until revival; Spirits are invisible, flying, but vulnerable; they travel very fast and can scout nearby areas; have a long-range Blink and low-damage Finger of Death and Rain of Fire abilities
- allowed summoner heroes to teleport their nearby summons with them when using base-to-lane teleporters
- reworked Naga Warrior: its Naga Training ability has been merged with the ult Poison Blade, which now increases attack speed but not movement; Soul Blade is now and active ability and is renamed to Draining Blade; a new ability, Leg Slice, deals moderate aoe damage
- allowed Ether Burst to bypass the 60% hp rule when target has less than 1000 current hp; changed damage type from Spell to Exact
- changed Dragonhawk Rider to an agility hero

Fixes:
- fixed a glitch that randomly activated Only Mid Mode
- fixed a tower bounty glitch with the Demonic side
- fixed Wisdom of the Dead to work properly
- fixed Counter to reflect damage with correct chance
- fixed Death Roar's actual knockback amount
- fixed Water Bolt projectile issue
- corrected a typo with Leap's mana cost
- updated Warding Boots tooltip
- fixed Prophet sound set

Balancing:
- improved Beetle hp by 75 at all levels
- reduced Black Arrow summon duration to 35 sec; Skeletons now cannot spawn more of themselves on kills
- reduced Chaotic Power damage bonus to 20/35/50/65/80%
- nerfed Charged Shot damage to 70/125/180/235/290
- improved Exploding Arrow damage by 100
- improved Felhounds' feedback amount to 30
- increased Gold Stash mana cost significantly
- changed Last Reprisal's agility bonus into an attack speed bonus
- reduced Life Orb's mana cost to 25
- improved Lightning Fury damage to 85/125/165/205 per bolt
- reduced Mass Purge damage to 4x int
- nerfed Nature's Curse duration damage to 9/13/17/21/25
- improved Omniscience duration to 5/10/20/30 seconds
- nerfed Phantom Scream effects across the board
- increased Play Dead cooldown by 5 sec
- reduced Quick Attack cast range to 500
- changed Rage hp cost to 2% of current hp rather than str/2
- reduced Rifle Upgrade damage bonus to 12/24/36/48
- nerfed Skeletal Form stats significantly
- reduced Skeletal Mastery bonuses; bonuses now apply to hero as well
- made Sludge Monstrosities not immune to magic
- changed Snap Dragon damage type from Piercing to Normal; increased its hp and damage output
- nerfed Spear Mastery damage bonus to 15/30/45/60
- reduced Storm Crow hp to 400/550/700/850/1000; removed Fierce Claw
- reduced Summon Zombies summon amount to 3
- reduced Unholy Conversion cooldown to 12
- improved Vindication max hp per second cap to 11/9/7/5%
- improved Voodoo Spirits damage significantly

Items:
- added stats regarding stacking on the Orbs' tooltips

Others:
- added visual indications for Counter and Spirit Hull
- changed Culling Strike animation
- reduced size of Incinerate (Firelord) and Fire Wall
- added new icons for Infestation and Void Blast
- added floating text for Mana Disruption
- clarified Dark Volley tooltip for buildings
- added new model for Mind Control Orb
- rearranged Helicopter skills slightly
- reworked Demon base building layout
- added some floating doodads to the Orc outpost

The primary addition was the new Spirit system. When a hero dies, it will turn into a Spirit until it respawns. Spirits are invisible and have extremely fast flying movement; however, with 100 hp, they are quite vulnerable against truesight as well as area-of-effect spells, and they also do not attack. They do have the Blink ability, which allows them to travel across the map instantly. Two damaging spells, Finger of Death and Rain of Fire, can be used by Spirits to hit single targets and areas respectively.

The new Beastmaster is a powerful tank, healer, and summoner. It can summon Quilbeasts that have many bonuses, including an explosive effect that can prevent the summoning of Spirits if an enemy hero dies. The Mending Wave spell can heal the Beastmaster and his allies, acting as a splashing chain heal. Natural Affinity, a passive ability, increases the hitpoints, damage, and speed of Rexxar and his summons. Finally, as an ultimate, he can summon a Spirit Bear with an incredible amount of hitpoints, also with a variety of bonuses.

The Naga Warrior received a partial makeover. The Snap Dragon was buffed significantly, and its Soul Blade life-draining passive was remade into an active and renamed Draining Blade. The old speed passive, Naga Training, was merged with the ultimate Poison Blade, which retains its name, but is now much weaker although it adds a slight attack speed bonus. A new ability, Leg Sweep, was added, allowing the Naga Warrior to deal area of effect damage.

Again, numerous fixes and balances were made, and quite a few visual enhancements were done.

v0.96b
- fixed a major glitch that occurred in multiplayer

v0.96c
- fixed a major glitch with Beastmaster's Mending Wave
- fixed Bandit Rage, Draining Blade, and Quick Attack typos

v0.95 Changelog

Changelog for v0.95

Gameplay:
- mode entering can be done in one line
- reduced gold income slightly (gold comes every 2 sec instead of 1.5 sec)
- lowered neutral creep xp gain by 30%
- reworked Sphinx's Mana Burn to burn mana based on target's missing mana; it is renamed Mana Disruption
- reworked Death and Decay to raise up to one dead unit per second, these
units now last twice as long and inherit upgrades
- allowed Nuclear Launch to destroy trees

Fixes:
- added a max range to the Mind Control orb
- fixed Dark Ranger's Last Reprisal to not trigger from illusions
- fixed Seeker Lightning to target heroes correctly
- corrected Corrupted Greed tooltip
- corrected Glaive Attack bonus icon position

Balancing:
- increased Priestess of the Moon base damage by 10
- lowered Black Arrow skeleton summons' max damage by 5
- reduced Dark Volley number of arrows (30 to 25)
- nerfed Forked Lightning damage (100/175/250/325/400 to 110/170/230/290/350)
- nerfed Global Stomp's stun to a constant duration (1/2/3/4 to 2 sec)
- reduced Hyperdimensional Warp cast time (3.5 to 2.5 sec) but increased the
cooldown (120 to 180)
- nerfed Lethal Injection slow to stay constant (10/15/20/25% to 15%)
- reduced heal on Lich King's Pact (15/25/35/45 to 12/20/28/36)
- improved Lockdown cast range (800 to 1000)
- lowered Mesmerize max duration (2/3/4/5/6 to 2/2.75/3.5/4.25/5 sec)
- improved Pick Toss damage (150/175/200/225/250 to 150/195/240/285/330) but lowered its stun duration slightly
- reduced Seeker Lightning cooldown (20 to 16 sec)
- reduced Strafe damage per arrow (30/60/90/120/150 to 30/50/70/90/110)
- lowered Tainted Charge cast range by 100 at all levels
- added slight move and attack speed bonus on Wisdom of the Dead (1/2/3/4/5%)

Items:
- reduced Ironwood Branch stat bonus by 5 in each attribute
- added a +3/6/10 agility bonus to Power Gauntlets I/II/II
- added a +15 agility bonus to Wind Boots
- allowed Crown of Kings to be bought directly with the appropriate amount of gold (3300); the combination method is still valid
- rearranged Goblin Merchant items slightly

Others:
- changed the loading screen
- added new Storm Panda attack animation
- added new Particle model in Chain Reaction
- added new Lockdown missile animations
- added new Lubrication, Maelstrom, War Cry, and Winter Chill buff animations
- added new Hyperdimensional Warp effect, it is now much more obvious
- added additional Nuclear Launch explosion effect
- added new icons for Magic Pause and Poison Blade
- improved Vortex spin animation
- moved Brilliance Aura, Naga Training, and Rage attachment points
- added new Dark Impact, Glaive Frenzy, and Wisdom of the Dead effect models
- changed Glaive Frenzy icon
- renamed Essence of the Dead to Essence of Blight
- added Abomination attack sound

A version heavy on fixing, balancing, and special effects.

v0.94b Changelog

Changelog for version 0.94b

Gameplay:
-gave a collision to the Mind Control Orb so that it cannot be used to strand heroes

Fixes:
-fixed -ar bug
-fixed Apocalypse delay time
-fixed Infestation to heal properly
-fixed Power Gauntlets price change
-fixed Warding Boots to heal from hero-casted spells only
-fixed typo on Ill Omen
-fixed typo on Mass Replica

Balancing:
-improved Prophet intelligence slightly
-Chaos Peon's towers' range decreased to 700
-Ill Omen now deals 35% damage to structures
-Leap cast range decreased to 600/700/800/900/1000
-Mind Control mana cost reduced to 250/350/450/550
-Predestination now heals 30% more when preventing death
-Sand Slide cooldown increased by 3 sec and mana cost now increases per level
-Undeath aoe increased to 200/400/600/800

Find 0.94 changelog here.

v0.94 Changelog

Changelog for v0.94

Gameplay:
-added new hero: Prophet (High Elf)
-added new hero: Crypt Lord (Demon)
-added new hero: Hypnotist (Demon)

Fixes:
-fixed an issue with Energized Release and Seeker Lightning
-fixed Fire Aura to deal damage correctly
-fixed Mana Leech tooltip typo
-fixed Bandit Rage tooltip typo
-fixed Venom glitch near teleporters
-fixed Nerve Poison glitch with target dying while slowed
-changed Raider's slow % at level 4 (6% to 7%) to avoid a certain glitch

Balancing:
-improved Druid of the Claw stats slightly
-nerfed Beserk (Jungle Stalker) agility gained per hit (5 to 2)
-improved Bloodlust cooldown (5 to 5/4/3/2/1)
-added Chain Heal effect: heals the primary target for an additional 20% of its missing hp
-nerfed Death Roar aoe (200/300/400/500/600 to 300)
-nerfed Kodo War Drums damage bonus (15/30/45/60% to 14/26/38/50%)
-improved Lacerate damage slightly (100/160/220/280/340 to 100/165/230/295/360)
-added Moonfire late-game scaling: +1% damage per 2 int; reduced base dmg slightly, reduced cooldown slightly
-reduced Nuclear Launch damage to strucutures in ultra-short mode (50% to 25%)
-increased Pain Spike cooldown (140 to 180)
-improved Piercing Shot damage (70/140/210/280/350 to 100/175/250/325/400)
-nerfed Putrid odor range (300 to 225)
-nerfed Quick Attack bonus damage (1/1.5/2/2.5/3x agi to 30/55/80/105/130)
-improved Retribution Aura damage (5/10/15/20/25 to 7/13/19/25/31)
-increased Ring of Fire cooldown (120 to 140)
-increased Shackling Ward cooldown (120 to 180)
-added Soul Beacon effect: activates Corrupted Greed if cast on self (like Life Tap)
-increased Stone Form slow (50% to 75%)
-removed Unholy Conversion creep number limit, it now scales with duration
-increased Warp Rift cooldown (70/60/50/40/30 to 75/65/55/45/35)

Items:
-added new item: Warding Boots
-Charm of Wealth and Prosperity now give +25/50% gold in Short/Ultra Short modes respectively
-reduced Charm of Wealth income bonus (10 to 8 gold, every 7 seconds)
-increased Charm of Prosperity cost (700 to 900 gold)
-reduced Wind Boots and Power Gauntlets II/III movespeed bonuses and costs slightly

Others:
-added many new projectile and ability effect models
-reduced scaling size of spawned creeps in general
-improved Demonic base layout slightly
-changed Retribution Aura hotkey to R,
-changed Build Tower (Summoned Peon) hotkey to W, changed Peon (Summoned) to worker ai

This version included the addition of a bunch of new content, including one new item, three new heroes, and many new spell effects. The first new hero, Medivh, the Prophet, is an intelligence based caster with the ability to cast long range damage and utility spells, though with moderate delays in the effects, as he only foretells them. He deals area of effect damage with Ill Omen as well as with his ultimate, Apocalypse; he can also heal others with Predestination, which can even save allies from death. A miscellaneous skill, Deja Vu, can be cast as to alter the location of the target based on where he previously was.

Anub'arak, the Crypt Lord, is the second new hero and a formidable tank. With its ultimate, Undeath, he can passively deflect possible fatal damage to nearby allies, thus making him nearly invulnerable in allied presence. The Spiked Carapace skill increases armor and gives a chance to reduce damage taken based on the Crypt Lord's strength. He can also use Summon Beetle to create undead companions that can help take the deflected damage. Finally, Infestation can be used to damage enemies and heal beetles that attack them.

The final new hero, Lure, the Hypnotist, is a powerful caster and support fighter. Its Mesmerize can deal damage and disable an opponent for a long amount of time in certain situations. Mass Replica creates illusions of all nearby units for the Hypnotist, and Fade turns the caster invisible and creates an illusion that takes its place. Its ultimate, Mind Control, can temporarily control the movement of a target unit, and although channeled, it can be devastating in team combat.

The new item Warding Boots is an alternative to the commonplace Power Gauntlets. Instead of increasing movement and attack speed, the new item improves movespeed and magic resistance, as well as increasing armor and stats slightly. It gives the Warding ability, which heals the caster whenever he is targeted by an enemy spell.

Balancing and bug fixing was done as usual. In this version, a bunch of spell models and effects were added as well, and should lead to a more enhanced visual interface.

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