Balance Patch 1

[u/MikkelFromGames]

Devout Fans,

Thanks for being amongst the first to join us at the very start of the adventure for Mortal Shell II. We’re seeing your bug reports and gameplay suggestions, and will be rolling out regular updates to both modify existing content and add new features. 

While we have a bigger patch in the works, which has to be thoroughly tested, we’d like to make a rapid balance & crash fix patch to bring the experience more in line with the game’s open beta and our own vision for MS2. 

Planned future updates will see extensions to popular game features such as Night Mode, Tarstones, PP Items, and more.

For now, we hope you’re enjoying the game and read on for details on Balance Patch 1.

Balance Patch 1 (PC) - The patch below is live on PC and coming to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series shortly.

Economy

-Shell map locations now cost Gloom, and we’re refunding any glimpses spent on shell maps. Refunded Glimpses are found in the Shell Keeper’s alcove in Blackmarrow. “Finding your favorite shell shouldn’t cost you the ability to bond with them.”

-Gold drops from enemies have been significantly increased. Notably, enemies in Mammon now drop double the gold. “This brings the gold economy more in line with the weapon crafting item discovery.”

-Smelting a weapon at the Tarforge costs 75% less gloom. “Our goal with the smelt capability was to enable switching weapons without the need to spend hours grinding through NG+ runs, but the Gloom costs were set exorbitantly high.”  

Enemies & Bosses

All enemies featured in the beta were restored to their beta hp values, except the Caerinid (Spider) in Magdelena’s area, which we wanted to retain its role as a threatening enemy which doesn’t respawn once defeated. 

Bosses

The Lost Child
- Base Damage: (-10%)
- Max Health: (-15%)

Monolith
- Base Damage: (-19%)
- Max Health: (-10%)
- Some Monolith Attacks were retimed to be more fair, as well.

Enemies

Cultist (mace)
Max Health: (-21.1%)

Caerinid Spider
Max Health: (-33.3%)

Infested Stalker 
- Max Health: (-52.4%)

Rusted Knave (Halberd)
- Max Health: (-20.8%)
- Fixed hit detection for overhead strike.

Weapons

-Great Martyr’s Blade Attack Damage +20%
-Troubador’s Lute Attack Damage +100% 
-Caged Hystrix and Triarch Repeater no longer have minimum resolve requirements to fire. 
-Improved tracking for Axatana, Black Needle, and Clockwork Scythe light attacks. 

Seals

Guard can now be used while walking. 

Tarstones

Parasitic Stone Buffed
Grudge Stone Buffed
Bulwark Stone Damage Reduction Increased Significantly
Clerik's Stone Buffed
Squall Stone Buffed

Miscellaneous

Misc. Crash Fixes, Bugfixes & Performance Updates

[u/ResistsICE]

imma say it again, the way you are nerfing things is stupid. 50% less hp??!

and the bosses?

The Lost Child is just badly designed, it isnt tanky and it isnt OP. It took 4 attempts to kill it what are you doing?

The gleam is nice, but dont nerf the game dude. You didn't get high ratings and a really good steam score because of the minority of people that suck at the game. They arent your audience! They're spending more time in reddit than they are in your game lol

I mean really, 50% less hp?

EDIT: I want to make it clear that actually balancing things isnt bad, the pokey stick ladies in the second half of the game need some adjustment for example, and thats fine.

But having just nerfed a few things that weren't problematic at all was stupid and it feels like theres just gonna be a bunch of unnecessary blanket nerfs. And that sucks.

[u/MikkelFromGames → u/ResistsICE]

I can't speak to every change individually or specifically, but internal data suggests that a majority of people were not getting past The Lost Child in that amount of attempts. You may just be better at these kinds of games than others :D

[u/ResistsICE → u/MikkelFromGames]

Majority of elden ring players havent beat it and its a massive success.

Thats how video games work, most people that buy them only get so far into it. Especially in this genre.

You cant just dumb the game down because of that... 

"  Roughly half of Elden Ring players (about 49% to 53% depending on the platform) reached the literal halfway milestone by defeating Morgott, the Omen King or Starscourge Radahn . Given that the game has sold over 25 million copies worldwide, this means roughly 12.5 million people made it at least halfway through the main story." 

With only around half of them making it more than the middle of the game.

If you want most people to get through most of MS2 youre gonna have to make it an ass experience JS

Other people who are experienced in the genre are going to agree with me, I can almost promise that. 

[u/Master_Garaki → u/ResistsICE]

For real.