Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?
“With your help we expect to go to full launch in three to six months from Early Access launch.â€
~Idle Champions, September 2017
Looking back, we were pretty ambitious in thinking that we would be able to fully develop all the features we were planning for Idle Champions within six months of launching on Steam. Since then we have expanded upon our vision, developing features that are the foundation for a long term live service game. It has been a long journey to get to this point, and we are eternally thankful to the community and the team here at CNE for helping us to get to this point. Thank you!
The time has come to leave Early Access, and to officially launch Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms v1.0!
If you're interested in learning more about what's coming with today's update, you've come to the right place...
Table of Contents
Spring Extravaganza
With the launch of Idle Champions v1.0 we wanted to have a bit of a celebration. We decided upon doing something similar to our
Second Anniversary Celebration, with daily rewards you can claim once each 24-hours. Players who claim rewards on at least four days will be able to earn exclusive rewards!
Daily Rewards
Each daily chest grants you four awesome items, hand-picked by the team here at Codename Entertainment to help you in your adventures.
These rewards are unlocked once you have claimed at least four days worth of rewards during the Spring Extravaganza.
- Exclusive "Champion Minsc" Skin
- A Rare "+1 CON" Feat for Celeste
- 5 Gold Chests
General Updates
Today's update includes a number of changes to Idle Champions, some of which we expect to create significant changes to the meta, including: a Formation Saves update, changes to Ultimate ability balance, a Champion Balance update, and a Level Soft Cap Increase.
Formation Saves Update
For a while now, we received requests to expand the ability to save formations from our current three save slots to reflect the changes in formations needed over the course of a run, and also allow for more flexibility to try new formation combinations.
Today we have increased the number of formations you can save from 3 to 50(!), and included an updated UI to allow players to better track individual saved formations for each of their campaigns.
For more information, including our Formation Saves FAQ, check out our
Formation Saves Update Dev Blog.
Ultimate Balance Changes
Ultimate attacks will no longer have their damage increased by debuffs on enemies.
Affected abilities include, but may not be limited to: Minsc's "Go for the Eyes!" (ultimate debuff portion), Gromma's "Spiked Shell", Strix's "Poor Hygiene", Catti-brie's "Mark for Death", Donaar's "Command: Flee", Warden's "Hex", Aila's "Storm Soul/Storm Aura", Spurt's "Wa-speration: Skunky", Krull's "Plague: Pain", Minsc's "Favored Enemies", and Regis' "Ruby Weakness".
For information on the rationale behind these changes, check out our
Champion Balance Update (March 2020) Dev Blog or the in-game Change Log.
Champion Balance Update
Today's update sees updates to the remaining Champions not included in
last year's update to Year One Champion Balance update. Champions included in this review are Deekin Scalesinger, Ishi Snaggletooth, Dhadius the Scarlet, Krond, Hitch, Birdsong, Barrowin Undurr, Strix Beestinger, and Azaka Stormfang. Two of these Champions, Gromma and Azaka, received little-to-no changes; we are keeping our eyes on how the anticipated meta shift with this update affects these two, and we may make changes to them in the future.
For Detailed information on these changes, check out our
Champion Balance Update (March 2020) Dev Blog or the in-game Change Log.
New Patron: Strahd von Zarovich
Another
Patron has arrived! Count Strahd von Zarovich joins Mirt the Moneylender and The Blackstaff, Vajra Safahr, as the third Patron in Idle Champions. Those seeking to serve the Lord of Castle Ravenloft will need to unlock at least 40 Champions (including Core and Evergreen Champions) and complete the
Towering Expectations adventure in the Grand Tour of the Sword Coast campaign. Once these criteria are met, players can spend 10 Rare Bounty Contracts and 20 Silver Chests to unlock Strahd von Zarovich as a Patron!
Strahd suffers no fools to run his errands. With Strahd as your Patron, only Champions with an INT score of 13+ can be used.
New Patron Familiars
New Familiars have appeared in the Patron Shops! Complete weekly challenges and Patron variants for Mirt the Moneylender, Vajra Safahr, or Strahd von Zarovich to earn your Flameskull, Spider, or Toy Werewolf Familiars.
New Patron Skins
Champions who find themselves in service of Strahd von Zarovich will have access to unique rewards, including the Vistani Regis Skin and the Vampire Catti-brie Skin through the Patron Shop.
New DLC Packs
Two new DLC Packs are now available!
The Shade Artemis Skin & Feat Pack unlocks the Artemis Shade Skin, the ‘Part Shade’ Epic Feat, 7 Gold Artemis Chests, and a Potion of Polish. It will also unlock the Artemis Entreri Champion if you don't already have them.
The Iron Pup Familiar Pack will unlock the Iron Pup Familiar, an assortment of epic potions and contracts, and two Potions of Polish.
Feedback Wanted!
These changes are scheduled to go live at approximately 9:00AM PDT on Wednesday, March 25th. We very much look forward to your feedback, so please let us know what you think in a Community Q&A or feedback post on the Idle Champions Subreddit, a post on the Steam forums, or on the Official Idle Champions Discord!
Enjoy :)
