GF2-I: Changes in 1.02

[alhoon]

I would like to know more about the changes in 1.02. How things were and how things are now.

 

Steam says this: 

 

 

* To see one of your creation’s resistances, you can now mouse over its health in the editing window.
* Genevforge 2 now defaults to Whole Screen drawing mode. (If the game is already installed, you can switch Game Screen Area to Whole Screen in the Settings window.)
* Players with very large monitors get a more helpful resolution selection window.
* The gazer in the Radiant College will be less of a problem for Pacifist players.
* More advanced versions of Sharon’s Bracelet are better.
* Problems with the Zhass-Uss Outskirts stairway are fixed.
* A rare bug that caused characters to get stuck in the architecture should be better now.
* Zensital no longer turns on you when you make the nearby faction angry,
* Damaged pylons now take longer to return to functionality.
* Weapon Shaping now works with the Feisty Slap Glove.
* Your magical creations can be augmented in more useful ways.
* The rotghroth Rotting Lunge attack now takes a full turn.
* The Creation Haste upgrade now has a 50% chance to work.
* The Creation More Criticals upgrade now has a 40% chance to work.
* Hannah’s coin is now upgraded correctly.
* Slow and Wrack statuses go down less quickly on bosses.
* Added clarity to the message when trying to equip a weapon you don’t have the stats for.
* The standard array of minor tweaks and typo fixes.
 

 

 

So, my questions are: 

* More advanced versions of Sharon’s Bracelet are better.
How it was and how is it now? I don't use the Bracelet because it used to help the melee creations. A ring that gives me +10% magic damage to creations is much more useful to me. But I wonder what changed, in numbers. 

 

* Your magical creations can be augmented in more useful ways.

I don't have magical creations; I was about to start experimenting with them. What changed? What were the previous augmentations and what are the current ones? 

 

* The rotghroth Rotting Lunge attack now takes a full turn.

There is a discussion that this dropped Rots from Tier 1 to Tier 4 creation... but they have haste (see below)! Why did that, which I think it was 6 AP is considered so bad? 

Are there other changes in their stats? 

 

* The Creation Haste upgrade now has a 50% chance to work.

This is a big deal. It is hard to overstate how useful haste is.

TL;DR details

 

 

As a 16th level Shaper, I used to have 4 Drayks, 2 Drakons (and Xavier). Then I parked (long story) one of my Drayks to make a new drakon. Less than two hours later, The update hits! A hasted Drayk now gets two attacks very often. I don't mind the essence cost of the Drakons (38 essence vs 26 for Drayks) because I have suboptimally invested in Essence Mastery to be able to have a bunch of powerful creations early.
But now... 4 Drayks / 2 Drakons would be better than 3 Drakons / 3 Drayks! It's not Essence that is the issue, it is that while Chain Lighting is good in taking a bunch of enemies, my 22 level Drayks (I found a canister!) have breath that does more damage and hastes very reliably even without speed. Breath does not have as much range as the chain lighting but... when my creations are 22-23 level, and those annoying plants are level 15 or something so their chance to hit is low and they don't do enough damage to threaten my creations even if they don't go out in the first blast. 
 

 

 

* The Creation More Criticals upgrade now has a 40% chance to work.

LOL... It was 25% wasn't it? 
How does that combine with the items that increase that chance? The usual way of "You roll them separately" ? I.e. 40% from that (Lol), then you roll the 10% from the item, then the usual chance for criticals (how much is it? I crit a lot without these upgrades). 

 

* Hannah’s coin is now upgraded correctly.

Hannah of the eggs? What coin? I have brought her an egg and got no coin.

Well, I got a ton of money, but not a magic coin. 

 

* Slow and Wrack statuses go down less quickly on bosses.

How fast did they used to go down and how "less quickly" they do go down now? Does it pay to buy the upgrades? 

I don't have mind 2 to cast wrack, but I have mind 1. Is it worth the update? (Shaper; it's 4 points for me) 

 

OTHER: I read that battle Alphas are now ... tier 1. 

Huh? 
I didn't even bother to buy the way to make them before. How were they in 1.01 and how are they now? After buying the Drakon-2 training, I am down to double digits in coins. I can't afford to buy "luxury" upgrades. 

EDIT: I was mistaken 

 

 

 

Edited May 9 by alhoon

[ex post slarto]

If that last comment is a reference to my analysis thread, but you're posting it here for some reason: Battle Alphas are absolutely not tier 1, and that was not stated anywhere.  Rotghroths are simply much worse.  Battle Alphas did not get better.  My assessment has them at tier 3, which is better than anything else in battle shaping.

 

EDIT: re Magical Creation augments, I think this is just a reference to the stat augments.  Glaahks used to have a Str+ augment for example, but their melee attack doesn't use Strength (because it does energy damage), so that was changed to Magic+.

[Randomizer]

" Hannah’s coin is now upgraded correctly.

Hannah of the eggs? What coin? I have brought her an egg and got no coin. 

Well, I got a ton of money, but not a magic coin. "

 

Turning in the second egg gets access to a chest with the Trader's Coin. Coin can be upgraded twice for each extra egg and provides a small discount from items purchased from merchants.

 

Turning in all 4 eggs is only really good for th experience and loot from the first egg.

[ex post slarto]

Items and training purchased from merchants.  Definitely worth pursuing early if you intend to buy 2 levels of training in everything for some painful reason.

[alhoon]

1 hour ago, Slariton said:

Items and training purchased from merchants.  Definitely worth pursuing early if you intend to buy 2 levels of training in everything for some painful reason.

I wish I knew that... I plan to buy level-2 gazers and level-2 Rots. I have spent over 20000 on training.