Beastieball News

Hello again! We're putting up a minor update to the Experimental Branch to test a few more adjustments. These changes apply on top of the Experimental Changes we previously announced!

[h2]Balance Updates[/h2]
[h3]Traits[/h3]

• Trapper
  • New effect: Adds +1 trap to opponent field at the end of every turn
    
• Clamor
  • New effect: When tagging in, feel NOISY and ally feels +1 ANGRY

[h3]Plays[/h3]

• Splinter
  • POW to 70 (from 80)
• Cook
  • POW to 60 (from 65)
• Pierce
  • POW to 60 (from 50)
• Introduce
  • Added to:
    • Merrifly, Cherrily, Mascurry
  • Removed from:
    • Turogue, Turtaneer, Tortanchor

[h2]Fixes[/h2]

• A potentially large fix for netcode; previously, large messages were not handled correctly, which led to some messages being dropped (most notably this would manifest as failing to join a lobby for no apparent reason)
  
• Improved selection of Beasties when selecting a target to tag in, in Field View, when one Beasties is offset due to floating in the air in front of another
  
• "Treat" trait now triggers when applied via Trait Dance
  
• "Chill" trait no longer prevents them from being made ANGRY by allies (this matches our intention, and the description of the trait)
  
• Added a missing "-" character to the font that displays team titles in the team title edit menu
  
• Beasties in inaccessible sections of certain areas will no longer spawn to avoid an unrecruitable Raremorph appearing somewhere
  
• Deprecated news post images are now automatically deleted on game start
  
• More safety checks to prevent players from exiting Expedition mode by mashing the "back" button, and some auto-reporting to help us find if and how this interaction might still be possible
  
• Fixed an issue with the wrong item being selected when navigating to a deeper layer of the Info menu
  
• Beasties traits and boosts now reset at the end of every turn while on the bench, correcting rare interactions with Beasties being moved off the field at strange moments during the offense turn
  
• Beasties recruited from Expeditions now remember special plays they learned during Expeditions. They also remember their recruitment location from the Expedition, and will have an event/memory of their journey to the summit.
  
• Added Ball shrooms to an area of Quartz Canyon which was missing them
  
• Attempted fix for an obscure crash that could happen after matches when certain scenes triggered after certain events
  

[h2]Fixes to bugs added in the last update[/h2]

• Adjusted some of the player idle poses to work better with bare feet
  
• Fixed blurry text in the outfit edit menu
  
• Updated text when selecting a target for Flight
  
• Damage previews for Flight were changed to be more accurate
  
• Fixed an issue with Demanding Set not matching our intended effect
  
• "Agile" trait Beasties now always get a boost from using Juggle (as the ball it always "hittable" for them)
  

On PC ONLY, we've got a big update to test in the Experimental Branch! It features a number of new features and sweeping balance changes. Jump on the Experimental Branch to take a peek and help us test these balance changes before we bring them to the main Steam release.

Note: Some fixes and new features may not be documented in these patch notes, and other changes are being held back for the next update. Our primary intention for now is to make sure our balance changes are working well!

[h3]Known Issue[/h3]
We haven't yet updated Beastie playbooks in the Tower Tourney or other encounters to reflect the balance changes in this update. We will be working on these and have everything up to date when we bring these changes to the main Steam release.

[h2]Balance Changes[/h2]
We updated these changes slightly in a subsequent update. You can see the updated details here! There are many tweaks! This update features a collection of brand-new attacks as well as adjustments to many plays which were a bit too easy to abuse. There are a smattering of stat and trait tweaks, but this time we mostly focused on re-allocating plays between different Beasties.

[h3]Field Effects[/h3]

• Trap
  
  
  
  • Max stacks reduced to 4 (from 5)
    

[h3]Traits[/h3]

• Shanty: Sets RHYTHM when this Beastie uses a BODY attack
  
  
  
  • Given to Tortanchor in place of Groove
    
• Groove:
  
  
  
  • 1.2x damage (from 1.3x)
    
• Foggy:
  
  
  
  • Only ignores opponent’s buffs (previously ignored debuffs as well)
    

[h3]Plays[/h3]

• (NEW!) Splinter - Mind attack, 80 POW, lowers target mind DEF by 2
  
  
  
  • Via level up
    
    
    
    • Albrax
      
    
    
  • Via friendship
    
    
    
    • Plumask, Crawlurk
      
    
    
• (NEW!) Flight - Spirit attack, 70 POW. Always targets straight ahead. User TAGS OUT with selected benched ally.
  
  
  
  • Via level up
    
    
    
    • Zefyre, Blitzwift
      
    
    
  • Via friendship
    
    
    
    • Froofulks, Skiffrig, Conjarr, Skulkapi
      
    
    
• (NEW!) Scream - Spirit attack, 95 POW, target becomes NOISY 2
  
  
  
  • Via level up
    
    
    
    • Noizard, Grazada, Jellibat, Froofulks, Plumask
      
    
    
  • Via friendship
    
    
    
    • Skiffrig
      
    
    
• (NEW!) Cook - Spirit attack, 65 POW, lowers both opponents spirit DEF by 1
  
  
  
  • Via level up
    
    
    
    • Xiphosaur, Scauldra, Conjarr
      
    
    
  • Via friendship
    
    
    
    • Heliath, Diggum, Duggout, Squimage, Diabloceras, Froofulks
      
    
    
• (NEW!) Rattle - Mind attack, 50 POW, target becomes Stressed 2
  
  
  
  • Via level up
    
    
    
    • Noizard, Gastic, Wisper, Mistic,
      
    
    
  • Via friendship
    
    
    
    • Troglum, Varkabond, Yueffowl, Albrax, Crawlurk, Collarva, Wormask, Plumask, Rookee, Garood
      
    
    
• Introduce
  
  
  
  • Removed from
    
    
    
    • Diggum, Duggout
      
    • Jellibat, Froofulks
      
    • Noizard
      
    • Merrifly, Cherrily, Mascurry
      
    
    
• Dramatic Exit
  
  
  
  • Removed From
    
    
    
    • Noizard
      
    • Maraptor
      
    
    
• Drum
  
  
  
  • Added to
    
    
    
    • Noizard
      
    
    
• Muscle Memory
  
  
  
  • POW to 80 (from 70)
    
• Ego Blast
  
  
  
  • POW to 85 (from 70)
    
• Assess
  
  
  
  • Complete change to new effect: -1 Mind DEF to both enemies
    
• Overthink
  
  
  
  • User feels Tired 1 (no longer makes you stressed)
    
• Juggle
  
  
  
  • Only boosts Body POW if ball is hittable
    
  • No longer moves user to the side
    
• Challenge
  
  
  
  • POW to 90 (from 100)
    
  • Target feels 1 ANGRY
    
• Demanding Set
  
  
  
  • Complete change to new effect: SHIFTs ally to net. BODY, SPIRIT, MIND POW +1 to ally. Ally feels 1 STRESSED.
    
• Turnabout
  
  
  
  • Complete change to new effect: 55 POW, POW x2 when stamina is below 34
    
• Raw Fury
  
  
  
  • Always goes where it is targeted
    
• Supercommit
  
  
  
  • Removed from
    
    
    
    • Grazada, Jellibat, Froofulks
      
    
    
• Freezer
  
  
  
  • Changed name to Freezeray
    
  • POW to 80 (from 40)
    
  • Removed from
    
    
    
    • Plumask, Noizard
      
    
    
• Richochet
  
  
  
  • Can be used without volleying
    

[h3]Beastie[/h3]

• Plumask
  
  
  
  • Plays Removed: Floater, Prepared Attack, Jammer
    
  • New plays added (noted above)
    
  • Level-Up moveset tweaked
    
• Fetcham
  
  
  
  • Plays Added: Comeback
    
• Shloom
  
  
  
  • +10 BDEF
    
  • +10 SDEF
    
  • +10 MDEF
    
• Albrax
  
  
  
  • +5 BDEF
    
  • +5 SDEF
    
  • +5 MDEF
    
• Bandicraft
  
  
  
  • -10 BPOW
    
  • +5 BDEF
    
  • +5 SDEF
    
• Riplash
  
  
  
  • +10 BDEF
    
  • +5 SDEF
    
• Squimage
  
  
  
  • Plays Added: Juggle, Pump Up, and Heart Harden
    
• Opposur
  
  
  
  • -5 MPOW
    
  • +5 BDEF
    
  • +10 MDEF
    
  • Plays Removed: Spike
    
  • Plays Added: Vigor Beam, Raw Fury
    

[h2]New Features[/h2]

• Coach Vibe Selection: In the character creation menu (accessible when starting a new game, or by choosing to "Change Outfit" at any clothing shop) you can now choose your coach's default standing pose! Give your player character more of their own unique personality!
  
• Raremorph proximity hint: When a recruitable raremorph Beastie is nearby, your Beasties will occasionally react with a "sparkle," giving players a hard-to-miss visual indicator
  
• Raremorph display in the Beastiepedia: You can now press a button to change which palette is displayed on an individual Beastie's entry in the Beastiepedia, allowing you to more easily view alternative palettes
  
• Text Resolution Improvements: Text has been updated across the board to use a cleaner, higher-resolution render method. This means less blurriness on large text, and also less texture usage, surprisingly!
  
• Patch Notification: You'll now get a phone call from Craig when loading an old save file if your Beasties' plays have been altered due to a balance patch
  

[h2]Fixes and Other Changes[/h2]

• Added a short delay after turn changes where the "Skip Defense" button can't be clicked, preventing players from accidentally mashing through it. Also added more strict enforcement of selection position so that the player's first Beastie is always highlighted when new turn selecton begins.
  
• Away Teams no longer are summoned while the player is on Expeditions, preventing random low-level ones from appearing.
  
• Changed the game's texture page size from 4096 to 2048. This means that the game will load textures more frequently, potentially reducing performance, but it also means loads will be smaller in size, which should reduce many crashes due to memory allocation failure.
  
• Fixed an issue where clearing inputs in the Keyboard Config or Controller Config would clear inputs for both input methods. This bug also prevented custom controls from being saved unless both control methods had their inputs manually edited.
  
• Fixed various issues with the "VS" splash screen before a multi-point match sticking on the screen if a story scene or trait activated shortly after the match began.
  
• Fixed an issue with displays larger than 4300px not being recognized in the game's resolution settings
  
• Fixed Away Teams displaying in the wrong location on the map when appearing in the Chroma Sea
  
• Players' online name will now be updated to their in-game name if it is updated, so that Bash Results in newsletter etc. display the correct names.
  
• Beasties with the Self-Assured trait will no longer yearn to be BOOSTed.
  
• During Bigmoon Bashes, win counts now don't update until they are collected from the server, preventing accidental double-counts and incorrect displays.
  
• The Superorganism trait now checks whether the Beastie is wiped when the trait resets, so that Trait-Danced Superorganisms still recover from WIPED correctly.
  
• Fixed text display issues during the credits sequence
  
• Adjusted spacing on a few menu screens to fix badly wrapped text or improve readability
  
• Adjusted layout of a couple areas
  
• Improved Combo Play generation combining "full restore" effects with "heal" effects
  
• Alessia's interaction no longer reads "Tower Tourney" before the challenge is unlocked
  
• Fixed a rare issue where certain Riley "reaction" scenes could double-trigger
  
• Adjusted Marlin's tutorial AI to de-prioritize attacking open lanes
  
• Fixed typos
  

This weekend we held another BIGMOON BASH, an in-game event where players could challenge each other for 24 hours. This Bigmoon was a themed one, challenging players to use a form of Sprecko, thereby contributing towards their favorite’s global score. Here are the final results after a nail-bitingly close contest!




For details on top-ranked players, usage statistics and the last-used Beasties, check out the full spread of stats in our official newsletter!

See you in the next Bigmoon Bash!

This is a small patch to address a few common issues, in anticipation of this weekend's Bigmoon Bash!

[h2]Bash/Networking Changes[/h2]
We made several changes to address lobby instability, as well as making Rank updates more clear and consistent. Bash Wins are now shown by default rather than Bash Score, to make the game friendlier to casual players and also reflect the statistics we use for ranking players in post-event results.

• Changed behaviour when joining lobbies to prevent occasional disconnects shortly after joining a lobby
  
• Previously, after a Bash match, the game would immediately locally update the player's Ranking, and then later update the Ranking based on final data from the server. This mostly worked, but in some rare cases there would be a discrepancy between the game's local rank and the rank calculated online, leading to ranking seeming to fluctuate slightly or go down unexpectedly. This behaviour was unintended and bad. The game has been changed to only display Ranking as calculated on the sever, or show it as "Updating" if no final rank has been received, so that incorrect data is never displayed.
  
• Similarly, Bash Scores update on a delay based on server activity, so often the Bash Score that displayed at the end of a match would in fact be the Bash Score held before the match started and not the most up-to-date one. This caused grief and confusion for some players who didn't see the score instantly update based on their most recent result, so this display will now show it as "Updating..." if the current latest data received is not up to date.
  
• Bash Scores are no longer shown by default; instead the game will show "Bash Wins" after players have progressed to Rank 5 and above. To view Bash Scores, players can change the score display in the SportNet menu.
  
• Made other changes to make disconnection handling and Bash scoring more accurate
  

[h2]Other Changes/Fixes[/h2]

• Fixed positioning of checkmarks in the Team Title menu (this bug was introduced by recent text changes)
  
• Fixed issue with player character sometimes holding an invisible ball and being unable to interact with other elements (this bug was introduced when fixing other throwable item bugs)
  
• Fixed issue with Riven's Beasties not moving correctly during a story cutscene before her Ranked Match (this bug was introduced by changes to how encounter beasties are stored and spawned)
  
• Fixed issue with the game log not being viewable after sending in feedback
  
• Fixed a bug with a story flag based on ranking when playing unusual (speedrun) routes
  
• Fixed movesets on some Beasties in encounters that weren't properly updated after the previous balance patch
  
• Adjusted code to avoid an extremely rare crash
  
• Fixed typos
  

[h3](A couple more things added in a tiny later patch)[/h3]

• Fixed an issue where users would fail to join private lobbies depending on connection speed
  
• Fixed issue with ball volley animation playing out of sync when replaying AI opponent actions
  
• Added team titles to replays saved of networked matches
  
• Added a hint when talking to the Merch Guy outside Crown Stadium when the player is qualified for the Crown Series but hasn't yet registered
  
• Recruitable Skulkapi raremorphs now use alternative AI that tries to leave lanes open
  
• Fixed an issue with Beastie nicknames containing "]" symbols freezing the game after some matches
  

Another BIGMOON BASH is beginning soon in Beastieball! During Bigmoon Bashes, coaches can challenge each other in open matchmaking for a limited time.

When: March 8, 2025 00:00 UTC to March 9, 2025 00:00 UTC (equivalent to March 7, 4PM PST to March 8, 4PM PST) Theme: Sprecko VS Bongus VS Surgus VS Illugus

This bash is a contest between 4 guilds: Sprecko, Bongus, Surgus and Illugus! Your wins and losses will count towards the global score of the Beastie you bring. When the Bash is over, only one of the theme Beasties will be declared the Bash Champion! Choose your favorite and fight to bring them to the top!

During the event you'll have a Bash Rank, which will improve based on your performance. After it's over, you'll receive in-game rewards based on your participation, such as Social Battery and Sports Points.

Players of all skill level are invited! All you need to do to participate is to play the game on that day and join the Bash on SportNet! SportNet is typically unlocked within the first 2 hours of your adventure, after beating your first Ranked boss. And if you aren't confident in your own Beastie team, you can use a randomly generated one instead - just go to Team Setup and set "Random Team" as your current team.

[h3]Official Game Rules:[/h3]
First to 2 Points wins
Standard time limit on move selection
No Undos allowed
No duplicate Beastie species allowed
Relationship Combos are disabled
All Beasties are set to Level 50

*Some players may be wondering about a certain other Beastie and whether they're also competing in this Bash. The answer is, for the sake of this event, they will be playing for the Sprecko guild.

[h3]Other Updates on Development?[/h3]
Following the last Bash, we got a ton of data and feedback which we're using to inform upcoming balance changes and fixes. We will likely have some small patches this week to fix minor bugs, but we will not be introducing any balance changes before this event. Rest assured that balance changes and updates are still coming in the future!