Crowfall: Hunger Dome Changes; Mike McShaffry Interview; New Combat Chat

crowfall_Ranger_Watermark

There have been a number of updates posted to the Crowfall website over the last week-and-a-few-days. For those of you who’ve been engaging in the Hunger Dome combat testing, version 1.0 of that is slated to end tomorrow for North American players, with the final test taking place on the US and Singapore game servers between 8:00 PM and 10:00 PM Central Time.

Hunger Dome 1.1 and 2.0 were also announced; version 1.1 should be arriving in early November. This round of testing will feature two new character archetypes:

The Champion

…is our front-line, damage dealing powerhouse.  He isn’t as defensive as the Knight, or as mobile as theLegionnaire – but what he doesn’t have in defense, he more than makes up for in his raw ability to chew through his opponents. If you are looking for a straightforward, unapologetic skull-crusher, the Champion is the archetype for you.

And, pictured above, we have:

The Ranger

The Ranger is our first stealth class!  We decided to include the Ranger in the test because she gives us twodifferent (and very complementary) features to test: stealth (and the corresponding anti-stealth) activities and ranged physical combat powers. This archetype has a unique gameplay style as she is well-suited for scouting, laying traps, sniper combat and leans a bit closer to solo play (…though, to be clear, she will still likely need a great team to survive in the Hunger Dome!)

Crowfall also managed to reach another stretch goal in its ongoing crowdfunding efforts, meaning that the half-breed male Assassin archetype has been added to the game. At that same link, you can also find a link to a video interview with a pink-haired Mike McShaffry.

There is also a new combat chat video, in which Thomas Blair and Tully Auckland discuss lessons learned from the Hunger Dome combat tests.

Finally, there have been two new Founders Updates that have gone live. The first announces, among other things, expanded European support:

Expanding in Europe
Yesterday, we announced a significant addition to our Crowfall team, the rollout of our German website and our server support of the EU.  As promised with past stretch goals, we are starting to focus more on our EU customers by bringing in Andreas Weidenhaupt to drive our business in this region. He has significant experience and shares our values so we are thrilled to have him working on Crowfall.  Andreas can’t do this alone; we know it will be the Crowfall backers in the EU who determine our traction there, so I hope all of you will lend him your support.

The second update, building off the news above, announced one last Hunger Dome test to be held on the European server on October 4th, making that the true end date for that round of combat testing.

As well, ArtCraft will be changing how they go about presenting news beginning next week:

Starting next week, we will be adjusting our cadence of web updates.  Since the Kickstarter ended in March, we have been putting out about four updates per week (game content on Tuesday and Thursday, a Founders’ Update most Wednesdays plus a new issue each Tuesday of As the Crow Flies…, our weekly newsletter).

Rather than doling it out in pieces, we’re going to consolidate everything into one weekly web update each Tuesday; the newsletter will be published on Thursdays. You’ll still be seeing the same amount of information each week, it will simply be concentrated into a tidy all-in-one package.

That will hopefully make it easier to keep tabs on the project!