Hey folks!

As discussed in my previous post, one of the major elements of the next update are some balance changes based on feedback I've collected and my own observations during testing. Some of the changes are one off adjustments to this or that skill, item, or spell, but some are more broad and those are worth noting here:

First, all attacks have been given a boost to accuracy such that, unless you are attacking a target that has invested in Evade, are using an attack that has a built in accuracy penalty, or your accuracy has been debuffed, you should only Miss in very rare circumstances. Of course, the same is also true for enemies. The goal here was to reduce the number random Misses that could previously occur in cases where there didn't seem to be any reason you would Miss.

Secondly, warcries now require being on the front row to use. For awhile, I had noticed that Psionicists were far more likely to "sub" into warcries (WIL+VIT skills) than Sorcerers were to alchemy (INT+CUN skills), even though players tended to agree that all of the skills in question were powerful and useful. I finally realized it was because while most alchemy skills require a weapon to be useful, warcries didn't really have any additional requirement. Adding a front row restriction to warcries creates a soft requirement of investing in defense... well, that or being willing to risk being squishy and exposed to more attacks. Either way, it should make using warcries more of an actual choice instead of a freebie for Psionicists.

Third, I've increased the "encounter point" cost of monster species that are individually stronger than player characters, such as Lizards, Ogres, Thanes, Wyverns, etc. These enemies were already a bit more expensive than normal enemies, but still seemed to cause many players more trouble than their previous extra cost suggested they should. As a result of this change, these species should appear with fewer and/or weaker allies, making them a little easier to deal with.

Finally, I added some minor "off stat" requirements to many spell skills, sometimes also reducing the "main stat" requirement, but in a few cases this was a straight addition. This was done to create a bit more distinction between the various caster Origins: none of the new requirements exceed 11, and most are only 9, so there will usually be an Origin that already meets the new requirement, or is at worst only 1 point away from doing so. In the cases where the main stat requirement was also reduced, this also encourages a bit more experimentation with hybrid warrior/casters.

In the next update, I'll talk about the other main feature of the next update: new skills! :) Until then, good luck on your adventures!