Forge more, spend less: no Essence up to +9 and gems worth more

The update goes live on Wednesday, October 7, at 1 PM Brasília time (16:00 UTC).

The Forge is back to gold only from +1 to +9: Essence is only for +10 and above, where a piece gets truly strong. Burning got new yields, with gems, stones and runes worth several times more, and the trash and closed chests now burn for Essence too. We also fixed the game taking a long time to open or being blocked by Windows after an update, and at the end you will find the record of the October 6 hotfix, which is already live. Nothing to do on your side: Steam downloads it automatically.

Forge: gold only up to +9

• From +1 to +9 the Forge is back to charging gold only, like before Essence: taking a piece up to +9 spends no Essence at all. Essence is only for +10 and above.

How much each item yields when burned

• Each item yields by rarity and by how hard it is to get: the rarer the drop, the more Essence. Gems now yield more than equipment of the same rarity, and Map Keys much less.
• Gem: Rare 1,446, Epic 2,893 and Legendary 5,786.
• Chance Stone: from 389 (Common) to 12,461 (Mythic). Rune: from 350 (Common) to 11,191 (Mythic).
• Skill Stone: from 75 (Common) to 2,389 (Mythic). Time Part: from 66 (Uncommon) to 1,056 (Mythic). Map Key: from 5 (Uncommon) to 88 (Mythic).
• Equipment: the yield now doubles with each rarity (it used to triple). At level 10: Common 10, Uncommon 20, Rare 40, Epic 80, Legendary 160 and Mythic 320, growing with the level. A level 300 Mythic yields 9,600 (it was 72,900), enough for 26 attempts from +10 to +15 on a piece of the same level.
• Why this is not a nerf: 9 out of 10 pieces of equipment that drop from chests are Common, and Common yields exactly the same as before. Gems, Chance Stones, Skill Stones and Runes now yield several times more, and the Forge no longer charges Essence from +1 to +9. What yields less is the single Mythic, and that is on purpose: items brought in from Steam now burn right away, and at the old yield just 12 level 300 Mythics bought on the Steam Market paid for a +15. This way +15 stays something you earn by playing, not something you buy.
• Closed chests: an Item Chest yields its level (level 10 gives 10, level 300 gives 300); Gem Chest 1,446, Chance Stone Chest 389, Rune Chest 350, Skill Stone Chest 75 and Time Chest 66. Cage: 10, 30, 80, 150 and 230, from Easy to Inferno.

The trash now burns for Essence

• Selling items for gold is gone. The trash in your bag and in the special chests now burns the item and gives Essence, just like Deconstruct.
• Every burn asks for confirmation and shows how much Essence you will get (the "Confirm important actions" option, on by default). Epic or better items, or forged ones, always ask, even with that option off.
• Closed chests burn too. A chest yields the same as the worst content it could give, so opening it never gives less than burning it closed.
• Chests and cages are never picked by Auto-fill: they only go into the fire if you choose them. Skin packs don't burn.
• Items brought in from Steam can be burned right away.

Baton Pass

• When a hero with Baton Pass enters the field, the whole team gets the damage bonus for up to 2 minutes. Now the bonus ends early if the hero who brought the baton leaves the field.

Deconstruct and interface

• In Deconstruct, the sort button became Categories: choose which item types show up in the list. Your choice is saved, and Auto-fill only picks what is visible.
• New option "Inspection always visible" (Settings, Game): shows item level and lock, and the names of the heroes in the field, without holding Alt. With it on, holding Alt hides them.
• The new-item dot got a white outline so it stands out more.
• Server stability improvements.

Fixes

• The game taking a long time to open, or Windows blocking it after an update (error 0x11C7, "An Application Control policy has blocked this file"): the game now ships in a separate file and the executable stays the same from one update to the next, so Windows no longer has to check everything again on every update.
• In the new version, clicking the crystal in the top bar opens the Shop straight on the Crystals tab.

October 6 hotfix (already live): Forge and Pass

• The hotfix went live on the server on the morning of October 6, with nothing to download on Steam. Here is the record of everything it changed.
• The Forge started spending much less Essence: up to +8, a quarter of what it used to cost; from +9 on, half. With this update, +1 to +9 becomes gold only.
• Failing above +10 started dropping the piece by just 1 level (it used to go straight back to +10), and it never goes below +10.
• The +11 to +15 bonuses got much stronger: +65%, +85%, +110%, +160% and +250% (+15 used to give +150%). Critical Chance and Cooldown Reduction kept the previous curve, which already comes close to their caps.
• The Protection Scroll got 2 to 4 times cheaper, from +12 to +15.
• The Pass started giving +30% XP and +30% drop chance (it used to be +15% XP). Gold stayed at +15%.
• If you forged before the hotfix, all the Essence you spent at the Forge went back to your balance, with a letter in your mail telling you how much.

Next patch: October 14

• Someone is coming to the mine. Nobody has seen his face: just two glowing eyes under the hood, a lantern and a backpack full of orders. On the 14th he opens his counter.