Grim Dawn v0.2.1.4 Beta Build Released

A post on the official Grim Dawn forums alerts us to the fact that an updated version 0.2.1.4 build of the action RPG has been made available, while also sharing news that the game's Act 2 content just might be available later this month or early in the next.  Good stuff:

Happy New Year to all and to all a new build... or something like that?

With B16 out, we should be starting internal testing for Act2 very soon and then, barring no major problems, it should hopefully be out by the end of Jan or early Feb.

Art:
  • Updated rock textures to improve detail.
  • Updated several terrain textures.
  • Added new laboratory dungeon set for Warden's lab.


Tech:
  • Fixed an issue with multiple instances of the same attribute being listed on an item tooltip instead of those instances adding up.
  • Fixed an issue with the Warden's one-shot chest respawning under certain circumstances.
  • Quest items that are no longer needed after the quest is complete will no longer drop (ex. Milton Hart's Amulet)
  • Added community localization support.


Game:
  • All Weapon components now also grant a skill.
  • Level requirement on low-level weapon components has been increased.
  • Mastery has been capped at 50. You can no longer increase mastery beyond its final tier. Warning: Any points invested this way will be lost on existing characters.
  • All one-shot chests now have a 100% chance to drop 1 epic (up from 70-80% with 20-30% of rare component). With the chance already so high, it seemed stupid to have the vast majority of people getting epics most of the time while some minority with bad luck could still end up getting nothing from multiple one-shots.
  • Physique now gives 2.5 life per point instead of 2.
  • Partially in response to the physique / life change, mastery life values have been adjusted slightly.
  • Attribute based damage bonuses have been shifted completely to percent-based bonuses. Absolute scaling was creating balancing issues at low levels, as well as causing the stacking small amounts of several different elements to be too effective.
  • Spirit based bonuses are now a little more even with the cunning based bonus for physical damage.
  • Enemy armor levels have been raised. They were woefully low and have been long out of date with more recent damage increases.
  • Enemy base physical and total damage has been increased.
  • Proc effects on items (Activates on attack/hit/low health/etc) now display the chance of the effect triggering
  • Skills granted by items now also display their stats on the item's tooltips (you no longer have to equip the item and add the skill to your quick bar to see what it does)
  • Skills granted by items now have proper icons
  • Increased the base energy regeneration provided by caster helms, caster torsos, and flat regeneration focus items
  • Slightly decreased the % energy regeneration provided by focus items
  • Class Skill prefixes on focus items should no longer generate nonsensical skill bonuses (ex. bonuses to dual wielding). This does not affect existing items.
  • Unholy Inscription's stats have been adjusted so it's not such a clear best-in-slot component for Hands
  • In preparation for the release of Crafting, component drop rates have been overhauled. Monsters now have more specific component drop tables (ex. no more Fur from slith), so you can more reliably hunt for specific components. If you notice that components you used to get in B15 are dropping extremely rarely, or way too often, please report it.
  • Occultist: Fixed a problem with Dreeg's Eye modifier Vile Eruption where the fragments weren't launching properly. Damage was scaled back to account for the increased AoE provided by the working fragments. Acid damage was also reduced to make the skill a little more reliant on item bonuses.
  • Soldier: Reduced dmg scaling on Fighting Spirit. Was originally intended to be +%physical but was instead +%total dmg, which makes it considerably more powerful. Left it as total dmg since that synergizes more with other masteries but reduced the scaling to compensate.
  • Some quest objects now display a star on the mini-map once you get close enough and if you already have the quest (ex. the trap door to Devil's Aquifer once you get the clearing the well quest). Objecties that you're supposed to find through exploration won't appear or will only display once you're very close (to the point where it is visible on-screen). Other things that are supposed to be obvious or where an NPC has given you explicit instructions, will appear from further away as though they were marked on your map (the new treasure quest, where the dying man tells you how to find his stash).
  • There are three new small undergrounds.
  • Various environments have been changed up to add more visual variety.
  • The teleport map now contains names for major and minor locations (some riftgate names are concealed until discovered). Eventually this will become a world map that can be opened from the aerial map.
  • There are two new small sidequests to be discovered out in the world.
  • Other stuff...?

This build includes community localization support. Instructions on setting up a community localized language for use will be posted in this thread.