Hello Vampires.

We’ll be patching V Rising today at 11:00 CEST. (EDIT: The patch did not go live at 11:00 CEST due to technical difficulties, but will be updated later today once they are resolved.)

Rising from our crypts once more to bring you a heavier hotfix, today’s patch includes a massive triple-digit grab bag of general, UI, and bug fixes, as well as a hefty dose of game balance adjustments.

We highly recommend restarting the game to ensure you get the latest version.

This update brings the following fixes:

• Increased the strength of haptic feedback by 60%.

• Fixed stuttering that can occur when scrolling through the player list on servers with a lot of players.
  
• Fixed stuttering that can occur when using the map with a gamepad.
  
• Fixed an issue where the selection options would extend outside of the screen space in the social menu on servers with a lot of players.
  
• Made it easier to see which server ruleset is selected in the Game Settings Ruleset tab.
  
• Fixed an issue where players could get an inconsistent ordering of clan mates in the HUD.
  
• Fixed an issue where players would sometimes not show in the clan HUD.
  
• Fixed an issue where the tooltips on weapons would show incorrect information after the weapon had been unequipped when playing on a gamepad.
  
• The Host game and Join game buttons are no longer visible when reading the Server Info in the server list.
  
• Added gamepad UI optimizations.
  
• Fixed issues with scrolling in the merchant UI while using a gamepad.
  
• Fixed some layout issues in the Castle Heart menus when using a gamepad.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Vampire Powers menu would forget what a bear is when playing with a gamepad. (Don’t ask.)
  
• The Emote wheel is no longer displayed as empty when riding a horse.
  
• Improvements were made to the feel of the V Blood menu when playing on a gamepad.
  
• Fixed a rare “range exception” error that could occur when using a gamepad in the build menu.
  
• Fixed UI issues that would occur when playing with HDR enabled.
  
• Optimized the performance of health bars.
  
• Fixed the selector being stupid and not showing the last items in the character creation menu if the selector was placed in a row with no additional items.
  
• Fixed the “sun is rising” text getting stuck on the screen when teleporting to Dracula’s throne room.
  
• Fixed an issue where the difficulty filter could not be selected with a gamepad in the dedicated server list.

• Prevented accidental double taps when opening the map with a gamepad. This stops the map from opening and then immediately closing.
  
• Fixed issue where adaptive triggers would stop camera input when playing with Controller Layout 2.
  
• Fixed an issue where the navigation could break when swapping between the social menu and the systems menu with a gamepad.
  
• Fixed an issue where navigation would become unresponsive when pressing the D-pad when editing settings with a value input.
  
• Made the Tutorial System more optimized to help lower-end systems.
  
• SYSTEM messages no longer display two timestamps.
  
• The brightness slider on first startup is no longer affected by framerate issues.
  
• Fixed a bug where the client would use the next parameter if provided with an empty value for saveFileName.
  
• Fixed some issues with the pathfinding for the map marker guidance that would lead players down the wrong roads.
  
• Fixed an issue where options were not properly saved if an autosave was occurring just as the option was changed.
  
• Fixed an issue where the aim previews for the Great Sword would sometimes lock up.
  
• Pressing Esc no longer closes the whole Private Game Setup when trying to deselect a text input field.
  
• Fixed the missing walk animation for the Vampire Cultist when the unit is engaged in combat.
  
• Fixed the Aim Preview for Ice Block to work properly when targeting allied players.
  
• Fixed a performance issue with the bombs from the Gattlers and Zappers.
  
• Improved the performance of the lightning strikes in North Gloomrot.
  
• Improved performance of AI units to make the game run smoother.
  
• Improved performance of bushes.
  
• Sentry Officer Servants now bring their turrets with them when going on a mission.
  
• Optimized the occlusion culling for animators
  
• Servants now properly find their way home after a mission even if the castle was relocated while they were away.
  
• Spells can now be properly thrown through archways in hedges.
  
• Fixed some clipping issues for vampires with long hair.
  
• Updated the visual effect on the EMP Bomb explosion to be more performant.
  
• Improved the performance of several Frost and Storm spells and abilities.
  
• Improved the performance of the Slashers’ Elusive Strike.
  
• Fixed performance issues with Meredith the Bright Archer’s abilities.
  
• Fixed performance issues with Quincey the Bandit King’s abilities.
  
• Fixed performance issues with Matka the Curse Weaver’s abilities.
  
• Fixed performance issues with Terrorclaw the Ogre’s abilities.
  
• Improved how the game handles LODs to improve performance.
  
• Improved performance of rendering characters.
  
• Carriages no longer sometimes leave their colliders behind after being despawned.
  
• Player characters can no longer move through collision when already in collision and SpellControlled.
  
• Timers on buffs now properly update the time formatting when changing language.
  
• Text on the arrow waypoint now updates when changing language.
  
• Fixed a problem where the animator would be activated when the unit is in ragdoll state.
  
• The vampire no longer sometimes turns white when dashing through lightning beams.
  
• Fixed a number of bugs which could make parts of the vampire turn invisible when dashing to exit a shapeshift.
  
• Fixed a crash that could occur when visual effect materials were incorrectly destroyed.
  
• Fix for ledge jumping with bat form.
  
• Chess boards now have the correct layout of black and white squares.
  
• Fixed a bug where cooldown reduction on equipped Jewels lost their effect on server restart, until the Jewel was re-equipped.
  
• Fixed the issue of not being able to set an empty value for AutoSaveSmartKeep via the command line parameter (-saveSmartKeep) by now allowing a value of "-".

While we were looking at changes to make for this balance update, we reached out in a few public and private discords to get some community feedback on the most pressing issues related to PvP in the game right now to get the best idea we could do to alleviate current frustrations.

With that in mind, the changes we’re making are restricted to numbers adjustments to spells that needed a little tuning down like the defensive counters and buffs, but just as importantly some others that need a little boost to help make more options viable.

Some motivations for changes are as follows:

• We received a lot of feedback that the Whip is too strong due to its attack speed and overall damage compared to other weapons that are harder to aim. Even though the whip overall has the lowest DPS(damage per second), we increased the primary attack’s cast time to make it slightly more reactable while also lowering the DPS. This will bring it more in line with other weapons.
  
• In general, defensives have been pretty oppressive. We’ve tuned down the numbers on some of the shields and defensives provided. There are other issues with strengths on defensives that can’t solved with a simple numbers adjustment, but this will have to do for now!
  
• Void is omnipresent in raiding when combined with scholar blood, having a large radius that it’s very difficult not to get value out of in narrow hallways when used excessively by many Vampires at once. We’ve reduced the radius to make it a bit easier to dodge and a bit harder to get value out of when used in large groups.
  
• Many projectiles and targeting offensive abilities have had their damage tuned up to make them more competitive options compared to defensive spells.
  
• There’s been some rebalancing in the frost school, off-setting some of the frustrating nature of the freeze setups by increasing the shielding the freeze gives a player, which should soften the blow of the first guaranteed hit they receive when being broken out of their frozen state.
  
• Some underutilized ults have gotten some buffs!

Right now we’re starting work on the next update, and in that we’re going to be able to do more of the things we weren’t able to do now. For instance, we’re aware there are concerns in pvp around how much offensive utility directional shields have, but there’s no way to adjust them properly without changing their functionality significantly, which we’re restricted from doing in a minor patch such as this.

We’re also working on some fun systems that you can look forward to that are targeted at pvp lovers, like the much requested duel system.

Until then, please enjoy these adjustments that should make it a bit more fun to murder your fellow Vampire over, and over, and over again.


Whip

• Increased cast time of the primary attack to 0.5s from 0.45s and tweaked movement speed on cast.

Blood fountain

• Increase damage done from 75% to 90%
  
• Reduced cast time from 0.5s to 0.4s

Crimson beam

• Increase damage done from 250% to 275%

Blood rage

• [Jewel] Reduce spell mod shield from 40%-60% to 30%-45%
  
• [Jewel] Reduce shield duration from 4s to 3s

Aftershock

• Increase damage done from 130% to 140%

Void

• Reduce radius from 3.2 to 2.2
  
• [Jewel] Reduce cluster bomb radius from 2.2 to 1.6
  
• Reduce time to impact from 1s to 0.8s
  
• Reduce knockback distance towards center from 2 to 1

Unholy skeleton summons

• Drastically reduced dynamic collision size against players
  
• Improved accuracy of skeleton apprentices projectile cast

Changes to jewels spawning Wisps

• [Jewel] Increase speed of wisps
  
• [Jewel] Reduced lifetime of wisps from 22s to 10s
  
• [Jewel] Reduced healing from each spell mod wisp from 30%-60% to 30%-50%

Wisp Dance

• Increase recast projectile damage done from 100% to 110%

Spectral wolf

• [Jewel] Increase the number of bonus bounces from 1 to a range of 1-2.

Mosquito

• Increase damage done from 100% to 120%
  
• [Jewel] Change spell mod wisp move pattern to shoot out from the center a bit stronger to make it harder to quickly catch all 3 wisps.
  
• Made players only capture 1 wisp when hugging the mosquito as it explodes.

Wraith spear

• Reduced cast time from 1s to 0.8s
  
• Reduced travel distance from 5 to 4 units
  
• Reduce damage from 170% to 160%
  
• Canceling the cast now sets the cooldown to 50% of full cooldown

Phantom aegis

• Reduce shield absorb value from 200% to 180%

General

• Increase absorb value from 50% to 65% of the frost freeze buff.

Ice nova

• [Jewel] Increase damage done to chilled and frozen targets from 25%-40% to 35%-50%

Crystal Lance

• [Jewel] Increase damage done to chilled and frozen targets from 30%-60% to 40%-70%

Frost bat

• Increase damage done from 110% to 115%
  
• [Jewel] Increase impact blast area damage from 20%-40% to 40%-60%
  
• [Bug-fix] Fixed impact blast effect size to better match hitbox

Cold snap

• Reduce shield absorb value from 100% to 80%
  
• Reduce freeze duration from 2.5s to 2s (1.25s -> 1s vs players)

Veil of Frost

• [Jewel] The jewel perk now applies a 3s Freeze, down from 4s. (2s -> 1.5s vs players)

Ice Block

• Now shields for 500% of your spell power, up from 450%.
  
• Now deals 150% initial magic damage, up from 100%.

Arctic Leap

• Now deals 225% magic damage up from 200%.

Polarity Shift

• [Jewel] Increase damage of travel start and travel end lightning nova triggers from 25%-50% to 40%-60%

Ball Lightning

• [Jewel] Increase Detonate early spell mod damage from 25%-50% to 40%-80%

Lightning Curtain

• Increase damage dealt per tick from 25% to 30%
  
• [Jewel] Reduce shield gained by passing through the wall from 40%-60% to 30%-50%

Lightning Typhoon

• Now gain a 125% fading haste, up from 100%.
  
• Now occurs over a duration of 4s, up from 3.5s.