BetaDwarf has been hard at work in early 2020 with everything they’re adding to their flagship strategy game, Minion Masters. The upcoming expansion, Saving Jadespark Jungle, will be adding a great amount of content (though it was, unfortunately, delayed).
However, not all changes are created equal, and sometimes you have to apply a hotfix… to fix a hotfix. BetaDwarf found themselves in that situation recently after a recent change buffed a card, with that buff now being reverted not long after.
Specifically, they’ve taken out the Empyrean Army buff that was applied to Legionnaires, which gave the already-strong card a considerable buff when used with enough other Empyrean cards in your deck. Other fixes included giving Arcane Golems the accurate amount of health after being duplicated via Spawn of Fury, and fixing Guardians reducing the damage of other Guardians.
Masters! We've released a Hotfix for some gameplay issues and to address Legionnaires. Check it out here: https://t.co/52NPNBIV3g
And check out our Blog Post here, where we talk about the hotfix and changes to Ardent Aegis since its reveal: https://t.co/sedxWYtXgR pic.twitter.com/icbpqh61QN
— BetaDwarf | Working on Project F4E (@BetaDwarf) February 14, 2020
These fixes come almost simultaneously with BetaDwarf’s announcement on transparency. To that end, they’ve announced changes that they’ve made to the upcoming card Ardent Aegis since it was announced in response to what the community had to say about the notably-strong card. The following changes were made:
- Mana cost increased from 3 to 4
- Summons 2 Crossbow Dudes instead of a single Crossbow Dude
- Defensive Spell, can only be cast in the player’s own arena
- Units summoned have no Summoning Sickness
- Delay increased from 4 seconds to 5
“Typically cards continue to be balance tested behind the scenes after their reveal, and we’re now trying to make a conscious effort to incorporate the feedback we receive from the community when particular cards are shown off as well,” BetaDwarf states in their response. They also spoke on how they’re “always looking for ways to improve, especially when you provide us with all the excellent feedback about the state of the game. In particular, we’re examining how we maintain a smooth production with the regular updates, and whether they could be more frequent, or if smaller in-between actions like this are more appropriate.”
It’s fantastically refreshing to see a development team responding directly to the opinions of their audience not just so accurately, but also so swiftly. Acting so fast to make a few changes just to improve gameplay instead of simply waiting to do it with (or after) the upcoming expansion is a wonderful move by BetaDwarf. Though the upcoming expansion was delayed a week until the fifth of March, it won’t be long until we see all of the cards that have been revealed – along with dozens of other features – added into this ever-growing game.
