*The game update will be available at 9a PST (12p EST / 17:00 UTC) on February 23rd.*
Eternal Dawn introduces a few high-impact changes to Gigantic and welcomes Zandora - a lance-wielding melee/support hybrid hero. As with our other major updates, we'll be releasing additional content each week: gradually adding new Champion of Aurion skins for Beckett, Vadasi, Voden, and Zandora, as well as a powerful new creature, the Storm Drake. If you're eager to play with all the new skins, hero, and creature right away, you can also unlock all the new content immediately by purchasing the Eternal Dawn bundle, which unlocks everything on day one at a huge discount to the total cost.
We've added a few new features, as well. One of the most notable additions are the Eternal Light weapons, which can be earned for each hero at Hero Rank 10. These hard-earned items are designed to take the visual theme of the Eternal Master skins - which are unlocked at Hero Rank 5 - to another level of flash and polish.
The next big improvement is the new guardian damage preview, which shows exactly how much damage an attacking guardian will deal during the rampage. This offers a clear indication of whether the attack will automatically inflict a wound, or whether you and your team need to go on the offensive to secure the wound yourselves.
We've also added new "Honor Bonus" rewards for playing out a match short-handed. Rest assured: we have additional changes in the works to reduce the number of imbalanced matches that take place in the first place, but we wanted to ease the pain a little bit right now.
Finally, your crosshair now changes based on what kind of attacks you're performing. Switching weapons as Beckett, fortifying as HK-206, or zooming in as Imani will dramatically change your crosshair to match the weapon and attack you're using. Heroes that don't have an obvious weapon-swap will also benefit from this new feature: for example, being disrupted as any hero will change your crosshair to a black X.
As always, we've included several balance changes and bug fixes in the update. A few of the highlights include a dramatic rebalance to the guardian damage and shields to reward more aggressive play, some reductions to Vadasi to make her easier to kill, numerous AI fixes, and modest buffs to Griselma to walk back some of the changes made during the last update. The guardian damage changes will be the most extreme, immediate change; you may find it much harder to defend your guardian unless you make an effort to repel attacking heroes before they dive on the wound. As always, balance is a work in progress, and we will continue to make adjustments based on player feedback, analytics data, and our own observations over the next few weeks.
Eternal Dawn includes many more changes, of course. Read on for more details, and we'll see you on the airship!
NEW FEATURES!
INTRODUCING: ZANDORA!
Although most easily paired with another melee hero, Zandora has the speed and versatility to lead any team to victory. An Eternal who has chosen to walk among mortals, Zandora can act as melee bruiser or a support hero for her team. Her skills allow her to switch between three different auras that provide speed, healing, or damage to herself and allies around her. Each strike of her lance renews her current aura, allowing Zandora and her companions to stay in fights longer and to rapidly switch tactics whenever the situation requires. When things get tight, her focus, Vow of Shielding, provides a defensive shield to all allies around her.
Try her out in the Practice Arena before unlocking her in the store! Founders unlock Zandora for free, and can play with her right away!
NEW! ETERNAL LIGHT WEAPONS!
After reaching Hero Mastery Rank 10 with a hero, Eternal Light weapons will be unlocked for that hero in the store. These prismatic weapons come with their own special effects to show off your mastery with the hero and favor with the Eternals!
NEW! GUARDIAN DAMAGE PREVIEW!
Gigantic is meant to be an intense mix of teamwork, player skill, and strategy. One key strategic element is knowing whether an attacking guardian will deal a wound on its own or if heroes will need to try to go in for the wound. This will no longer be a guessing game. We've updated the guardian health UI to show, in advance, the amount of damage the vulnerable guardian will take as a result of the rampage.
- The amount of health that will be lost which is determined by the amount of shield the defending guardian has will now flash until the guardian is struck.
- If the guardian will take enough damage to finish the wound, the heart on the guardian's health bar will also flash.
KNOWN ISSUES
- Zandora: Gigantic's newest hero is unfortunately missing the icons associated with her Level 5 skill specializations. These will be properly implemented in an upcoming build.
- Eternal Dawn Bundle: The bundle incorrectly states that the Storm Drake will be available on March 2, when it will actually be available for purchase on February 23.
You can find a full list of known issues with the beta build over on the official forum. We'll keep this list up-to-date with the biggest issues (and solutions) that are reported during the Open Beta:
We'll also be tracking the most impactful issues - as well as any workarounds or known solutions - on the official subreddit:
GENERAL UPDATES
GENERAL
- Fixed a bug where crews would not be able to re-enter matchmaking if a member left the crew during matchmaking.
- Fixed an issue where certain players would encounter long loading times on the initial splash screen.
- Fixed a crash where pressing ESC and quitting out of a match would result in a client crash.
AUDIO
- Decreased the overall game volume by 3db (25%) - make sure to reset your sliders!
- Adjusted audio levels so that enemy heroes are slightly louder than teammates.
UI
- The in-game friends list is now sorted alphabetically to make it easier to find and party with your friends.
- Fixed a bug where friends on the in-game friends list would always appear online regardless of their status.
- Fixed a bug where the crown and ruby totals displayed during the end-of-match screen would not be consistent with the correct totals displayed in the game lobby.
- Fixed a bug where boosts would not appear to be consumed in the end-of-match summary after winning a match.
- Fixed a bug where an incorrect number of bonus fortune cards would be displayed rather than the actual number of free draws.
- Fixed a bug which prevented users from rearranging their creature loadout when using an Xbox controller.
- Fixed a bug where all summoning point icons would display as enemy points after disconnecting and reconnecting to a match.
- Fixed a bug where players would see "Building Teams..." in the hero lobby rather than the countdown timer to the match.
- Fixed a bug where players would see their original gamertag on the hero confirmation screen rather than their current gamertag.
We've reorganized the hero selection screen to more clearly highlight information about the heroes you have available. This includes everything from the hero rank to the number of fortune cards you have unlocked for the hero.
- On the hero selection screen, you will now see the selected hero's rank, the amount of experience needed for the next rank, and the number of active fortune cards for that given hero.
UI: CROSSHAIR VARIANTS
If you've ever played a shooter, you probably noticed that your crosshairs change when you swap between different weapons. We've now added a similar feature as a playability improvement to Gigantic. This change will be most evident for heroes who change weapons or states such as Imani (scoped vs. non-scoped), Beckett (pistol vs. cannon), and HK-206 (fortified vs. non-fortified) though the crosshair change will also be evident based on whether you're playing a melee or ranged hero.
As this is the first iteration of the feature, we expect plenty more adjustments to the exact look and usage of the various crosshairs in the future. We do not have immediate plans for allowing players to choose and customize their crosshairs, but we do know that you'll want that functionality eventually.
- Your crosshair will now vary based on your hero and the skills you are using.
- Being disrupted (interrupted, stunned, pulled, launched, dazed) will now turn your crosshair into a black X.
HONOR BONUS
We are continuing our efforts toward improving games where one or more players leave or disconnect from the match this while also decreasing these occurrences in the first place, of course. In addition to the respawn time reduction for being down a player which gives teams a better chance to stay competitive when someone leaves we wanted to reward those who continue to play all the way through to the end of the match.
- When one team loses a player for an extended period of time, the Honor Bonus kicks in for any players who remain in the match. This bonus provides extra prestige and crown rewards at the end of the match.
- Prestige and crown bonuses increase for each team member who leaves the game. If you win the game while you have an active Honor Bonus, you will receive even more rewards.
- The strength of your Honor Bonus is displayed on the scoreboard screen.
CONTROLS
- Fixed a bug where controller users could get the scoreboard stuck on the screen by opening the scoreboard and upgrade menu at the same time.
- Fixed a bug where the D-pad would not function properly for controller-users navigating the hero selection screen.
SHOP
Introducing the Eternal Dawn bundle! This discounted bundle comes with all the heroes, creatures, and skins that will be released throughout the Eternal Dawn update. You can unlock them NOW at a discounted price by picking up the bundle today, or can wait for them to release over the next several weeks:
- February 23: Zandora + 2 color variants, Zandora's "Champion of Aurion" skin and 2 color variants
- February 23: Storm Drake (Creature)
- March 9: Beckett's "Champion of Aurion" skin and 2 color variants
- March 16: Vadasi's "Champion of Aurion" skin and 2 color variants
- March 23: Voden's "Champion of Aurion" skin and 2 color variants
We've also made a few quality of life changes to the shop:
- Introducing a new shop layout to quickly find the heroes, creatures, skins, and boosts that will help you get the full Gigantic experience!
- We've added a new 'Creatures' section to the shop, where you can find and unlock all the available creatures using your in-game currency or rubies.
- Fixed a bug where players would have to select a hero skin multiple times to preview the skin or color variant on their hero.
- Fixed a bug where selecting the 'Unlocked' filter in the shop would display several placeholder images in the heroes list.
- Fixed a bug where players could only view 13 total items for each hero in the store.
