šŸ§Ŗ The Beta Beat (v23) [NOW RELEASED] ā€“ Sharing the Big Picture on What's Going on in Beta: Stronghold 22/23 & Alchemy Lab, New Challenge Event Heroes, New Knights of Avalon & Pirates of Corellia Challenge Events, Costumes, November/December HOTM

NOTE: Please do not, under any circumstances, share IMAGES OR VIDEOS from Beta in this or any public Forum thread. Violations can cause players to lose their Beta accounts, or threads to be closed down.


UPDATE: Version 23 Has Been Released (Release Notes)



:thinking: Whatā€™s this all about?

Click Here for Details About This Thread's Intention & Format

Often players on the Forum wonder about whatā€™s going on in Beta.

If youā€™re a regular reader of the Forum, then youā€™ll find that thereā€™s actually abundant conversation about whatā€™s going on in Beta at any given time.

And thatā€™s actually allowed!

Whatā€™s restricted is images and videos ā€” but discussion is ok:


The challenge is that information is often scattered around the Forum. Iā€™m aiming to help centralize it for those who are interested.

Iā€™m not sure yet how this thread (or probably series of threads, eventually) will work yet ā€” but Iā€™d like to start by giving some high-level guidance of whatā€™s going on in current testing, so players outside of Beta can be better informed.

Like Beta itself, this thread is experimental and will evolve based on your feedback.


Information from Beta is frankly often mostly useless, so donā€™t get too attached.

Details from Beta, especially brand-new Beta content, donā€™t tend to be very reliable for actual release.

Itā€™s incredibly common that heroes and features are changed during Beta testing, or sometimes even after testing but before release.

That is, after all, the purpose of Beta testing.

So I wouldnā€™t get too attached to any information from Beta ā€” itā€™s not unheard of for entire portions of hero skills to be removed or reworked, or for radical changes to hero stats to be made, or for large chunks of new functionality to be completely changed.


Often Incomplete Information Circulates

Many of us have seen screenshots and other information shared on LINE, Discord, Facebook, and other groups ā€” often without context or explanation.

These can lead to confusion and misunderstanding.

Often, early Beta information ā€” the least reliable or useful ā€” is circulatedā€¦and then updated information is missed.

Iā€™m hoping centralizing some high-level information on the Forum may help to reduce this as well.



Whatā€™s Going on in Beta Right Now

IMPORTANT: I wouldnā€™t get too attached to any information from Beta ā€” itā€™s not unheard of for entire portions of heroes or functionality to be removed, reworked, or radically changed beyond recognition.

For actionable recommendations based on current Beta, please see the ā€œImportant Recommendations Based on Current Betaā€ section below.

REFERENCE: Advanced Iron Storage Upgrade Costs (as seen in Beta)

Level Iron Food Time Capacity Capacity Increase
1 1502k - 10s 484k +27000
2 1598k - 2d 6h 497k +13000
3 1700k - 2d 21h 510k +13000
4 1812k - 3d 12h 523k +13000
5 1920k - 4d 5h 537k +14000
6 2013k - 4d 23h 550k +13000
7 2135k - 5d 22h 565k +15000
8 2275k - 6d 21h 579k +14000
9 2325k - 7d 20h 594k +15000
10 2407k - 8d 19h 609k +15000

REFERENCE: Advanced Food Storage Upgrade Costs (as seen in Beta)

Level Iron Food Time Capacity Capacity Increase
1 1501k - 10s 708k +10000
2 1598k - 2d 6h 725k +17000
3 1700k - 2d 21h 742k +17000
4 1811k - 3d 12h 759k +17000
5 1959k - 4d 5h 777k +18000
6 2085k - 4d 23h 795k +18000
7 2229k - 5d 22h 814k +19000
8 2334k - 6d 21h 833k +19000
9 2426k - 7d 20h 853k +20000
10 2437k - 8d 19h 873k +20000

Stronghold Levels 22 & 23

Discussion thread: premature; please discuss here for now

Stronghold Level 22 currently requires 4 Iron Storage to be Level 20, and 1 Advanced Iron Storage to be Level 5 for upgrading.

Stronghold Level 23 currently requires 4 Iron Storage to be Level 20, and 1 Advanced Iron Storage to be Level 10 for upgrading.

Stronghold Upgrade Costs

Level Iron Food Time
22 2367k - 9d 4h
23 2439k - 10d 9h

Stronghold 22 and 23 unlock additional buildings:

NOTE: Originally all additional Advanced Buildings unlocked at Stronghold 23, but:

It appears that at Stronghold 25, additional buildings will unlock:

  • Third Advanced Farm
  • Third Advanced Iron Storage
  • Third Advanced Food Storage
  • NO additional Advanced Mine (appears capped at 2)
  • NO additional Advanced House (currently appears capped at 1)
  • Hero Academy (this isnā€™t in Beta yet, though)

There is currently no indication that additional Hunterā€™s Lodges or Advanced Houses are a possibility, but itā€™s hard to say if that will remain unchanged.

Alchemy Lab

Discussion Thread: premature; please discuss here for now

BETA (May Change) Alchemy Lab Upgrade Costs

NOTE: Research for the Alchemy Lab will also require upgrades to Advanced Food Storage, and upgrades to the Alchemy Lab require upgrades to Advanced Iron Storage.

Level Iron Food Time Advanced Iron Storage Required Advanced Food Storage Required
1 2367k - 10s 1x Level 10 1x Level 6, 1x Level 5
2 2479k - 1d 8h 1x Level 10, 1x Level 2 2x Level 6
3 2495k - 2d 0h 1x Level 10, 1x Level 3 2x Level 7
4 2502k - 2d 22h 1x Level 10, 1x Level 4 2x Level 7
5 2521k - 4d 2h 1x Level 10, 1x Level 5 1x Level 8, 1x Level 7
6 2531k - 5d 13h 1x Level 10, 1x Level 6 2x Level 8
7 2551k - 7d 9h 1x Level 10, 1x Level 7 1x Level 9, 1x Level 8
8 2562k - 9d 6h 1x Level 10, 1x Level 8 2x Level 9
9 2573k - 11d 0h 1x Level 10, 1x Level 9 1x Level 10, 1x Level 9
10 2594k - 12d 13h 2x Level 10 2x Level 10

Alchemy Lab Abilities

The first version of Alchemy Lab works by taking a number of ingredients of a particular rarity, and giving you a random item of a specified rarity, depending on the level used in the Alchemy Lab.

Itā€™s a bit akin to a Training Camp for items, where you put in resources, and a while later one of several possible items for that level pops out.

It can transmute Crafting Ingredients, Battle Items, and Ascension Materials.

And to answer the obvious question: yes, there are Alchemy Lab levels that make it possible to produce 3* and 4* Unfarmable Ascension Materials ā€” but which item you receive is random.

In the first version of Beta, all of the recipes required a mix of Gems, Food, and items of the same type, which you can pick from any of the items of that type/rarity, e.g. you can transmute 3* Farmable Battle Manuals to try for Unfarmable 3* and 4* Ascension Materials.

In the second version of Beta, gem costs were reduced or removed.

UPDATED Beta Alchemy Lab Levels

NOTE: Transmutation times in Beta are now set to the real times, so Iā€™m publishing them.

A reminder that this is highly likely to change.

Iā€™ve included the Food costs from the previous Beta, with removals/changes and updates.

Alchemy Lab upgrade costs and durations appear unchanged from the first Beta, and are still posted in the top post of this thread from then.

Level Research Cost Research Time Advanced Food Storage Required Transmutation Transmutation Cost # Transmutation Ingredients (how many items must be put in) Alkashards Produced Transmutation Time
1 2952k Food 1d 0h 1x Level 6, 1x Level 5 Transmute UNCOMMON Crafting Materials from COMMON Crafting Materials 121k 31000 Food 30 Ing. 2 Alkashards 1h 0m
2 2975k Food 1d 0h 2x Level 6 Transmute UNCOMMON Battle Items from COMMON Battle Items 135k 42000 Food 15 Ing. 4 Alkashards 2h 0m
3 2999k Food 1d 0h 2x Level 7 Transmute UNCOMMON Ascension Materials from COMMON Ascension Materials 167k 57000 Food 24 Ing. 6 Alkashards 3h 0m
4 3009k Food 3d 0h 2x Level 7 Transmute RARE Crafting Materials from UNCOMMON Crafting Materials 142k 63000 Food 20 ing. 12 Alkashards 6h 0m
5 3025k Food 3d 0h 1x Level 8, 1x Level 7 Transmute RARE Battle Items from UNCOMMON Battle Items 159k 73000 Food 10 ing. 18 Alkashards 9h 0m
6 3051k Food 3d 0h 2x Level 8 Transmute RARE Ascension Materials from UNCOMMON Ascension Materials NOTE: This can only produce Battle Manual, Chainmail Shirt, Scabbard, and Tall Boots 1 Gem, 194k 86000 Food 18 ing. 30 25 Alkashards 12h 0m
7 3069k Food 7d 0h 1x Level 9, 1x Level 8 Transmute EPIC Crafting Materials from RARE Crafting Materials 25 Gems, 168k 94000 Food 10 ing. 7055 Alkashards 1d 0h
8 3088k Food 7d 0h 2x Level 9 Transmute EPIC Battle Items from RARE Battle Items 50 Gems, 181k 103k Food 5 ing. 100125 Alkashards 2d 0h
9 3105k Food 7d 0h 1x Level 10, 1x Level 9 Transmute EPIC and RARE Ascension Materials from RARE Ascension Materials NOTE: This transmutation has a 5% chance of producing an EPIC Ascension Material, and a 95% chance of producing a unfarmable RARE Ascension Material. 150 Gems, 207k 168k Food 12 ing. 700 Alkashards450 7d 0h
10 3127k Food 14d 0h 2x Level 10 Transmute an EPIC Ascension Material into a different EPIC Ascension MaterialNOTE: This transmutation will never result in the same item that was used as the ingredient. 250 Gems, 256k Food 1 ing. 1200600 Alkashards 7d 0h

If you see anything that doesnā€™t make sense, please ask! Itā€™s entirely possible that I have typos, so donā€™t leap to conclusions about the game design if something looks odd. :slight_smile:

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New Knights of Avalon Event

Discussion Thread: :test_tube: Early Information on New Knights of Avalon Challenge Event [Part of The Beta Beat V23]

please see above thread for all info

New Pirates of Corellia Event

Discussion Thread: :test_tube: Early Information on New Pirates of Corellia Challenge Event [Part of The Beta Beat V23]

please see above thread for all info

New Challenge Event Heroes

Discussion Thread: :test_tube: Early Information on the new Challenge Event Heroes (Pirates of Corellia, Fables of Grimforest, Guardians of Teltoc, Knights of Avalon, and Wonderland)

please see above thread for all stats and info

Costumes

Discussion Thread: :test_tube: Early Information on Costumes (Formerly Skins) [Part of The Beta Beat v23]

please see above thread for all info

New HOTM

Discussion Threads:

please see above threads for all info



Important Recommendations Based on Current Beta

Youā€™ll Need to Upgrade Your Advanced Iron Storage & Advanced Food Storage to Access Alchemy Lab

In the first version of Beta, a Level 10 Advanced Iron Storage and 4x Level 20 Iron Storage are required to upgrade to Stronghold 23. (Full list of upgrade times for Advanced Iron Storage is above.)

Additionally, the Research costs for Alchemy Lab will require Advanced Food Storage upgrades. (Full list of upgrade times for Advanced Food Storage is above as well.) Details on the current requirements in Beta are in the Alchemy Lab section above. To give you some sense of the number of upgrades required before the Alchemy Lab can be used, the first Research currently requires one Level 6 Advanced Food Storage, and one Level 5 Advanced Food Storage.

REMEMBER: ALL OF THIS MAY CHANGE.



:left_speech_bubble: Feedback?

Iā€™d love to hear thoughts on whether this information and format is useful, and how youā€™d like to see information presented in the future. Any thoughts or ideas?

Thanks! :slight_smile:

45 Likes

I seriously doubt Iā€™ll be using gems + anything to produce random stuff that is unlikely to be what I need. The amount of gems earnable in-game is negligible.

16 Likes

Itā€™s very possible that will change.

Initial feedback in Beta certainly contains a lot of concerns/criticism of gems being required, particularly when the items received arenā€™t guaranteed to be the ones you want.

28 Likes

If thereā€™s a 100% chance of transmutate ascension items Iā€™d probably consider spending gems. But, if the alchemy lab becomes a random lottery where people end up losing their gems and their ascension itemsā€¦ wellā€¦ I hope it doesnā€™t go in that direction tbh.

I like the info about iron and food requirements for buildings and research. Even if it gets changed it will help people plan ahead of time :+1:

17 Likes

In beta youā€™re guaranteed to get an itemā€”you just donā€™t know what.

In the final (10th) level, you take a 4* item and 300 gems and get a 4* item, for sure. Thereā€™s even a bonus roll that can let you get two 4* items.

There is no way, however, to say ā€œhereā€™s 300 gems and a dart, give me a Damascus blade.ā€

8 Likes

But thatā€™s exactly what (I assume) most people wanted from the Alchemy Lab. ā€˜Hereā€™s a tome of tactics and gems, gimme a damascus bladeā€™ :rofl:

15 Likes

They donā€™t get people spending a ton of gems chasing the one missing mat to ascend their only 5 star that way. So of course they will set it up to be random to get maximum gems.

11 Likes

Wow 300 gems is crazy!! I absolutely dislike thisā€¦ Itā€™s basically a epic hero summon with almost the same randomnessā€¦ It this will become final itā€™s probably better to just keep buying the special offers where you get gems and ascension Matsā€¦
@Kerridoc, one quick question, do you need to use a 4* ascension mat or a 4* item in general?

14 Likes

The guaranteed 4* Ascension Mat level requires using a 4* Ascension Mat as the ingredient in the recipe.

So youā€™d put in, for example, a Mysterious Tonic, and get out a random 4* AM.

6 Likes

typical gambling mechanism.
very sad

15 Likes

Sad but true.

20 random 4* matsā€¦

3 Likes

A similar gem bar was removed from the tournament though so this will probably change too

1 Like

Sure you were HOPING but did you really think the game was going to offer you a guaranteed non-farmable ascension item of your choice?

Scarcity of ascension items is a fundamental part of the game, and will never go away. Swapping a surplus 4* mat for a guaranteed 4* mat (random; will be the one you wanted to be rid of 1/7 of the time presumably!) is the best that would fit the game.

Yes, I wanted it too ā€¦ but I wasnā€™t silly enough to think that the I was going to get it at the expense of thrashing game balance.

26 Likes

Looks like if we want to have the interesting advanced buildings (high level hunterā€™s lodge and alchemy lab), and research the things they can do, weā€™re pretty much gonna be maxing our advanced food storage and advanced iron storage as much as we can with the stronghold level weā€™ve got.

It slows down the build process / increases the resource cost for getting there ā€¦ but the path to stronghold 20, TC20, and Forge20 was similar but not quite as tight when it came to forcing you to upgrade iron.

Iā€™m guessing that that is due to the changes from VIP / 2nd builder. From talking to free players without the second builder, the smart way to build your stronghold was with iron storage nearly maxed so you wouldnā€™t overflow iron badly during long stronghold upgrades and waste itā€¦but with VIP and two builders, that changed, and the smart way was to upgrade iron storage the minimum needed to make the upgrades, since two builders could use it fast enough to avoid this problem at least most of the time.

While the game clearly still supports and allows free players, the lost opportunities by not having VIP are increasing quite a bit, and the general expectation is that most players will spring for that now.

12 Likes

Didnā€™t they say in the AMA that the alchemy lab would be F2P friendly? With how stingy they are on free gems, Iā€™d say this is definitely not F2P friendly :confused: granted, Iā€™m not F2P, but I am disappointed by this. I hope it changes.

22 Likes

IMO its rather useless as it is now. Remember, this is their ā€œwork aroundā€ for not implementing a trading system that people really want. With a trade I know exactly what Iā€™m getting.

Also - why not allow trading in of multiple items for one you want. How many times do we hear things like ā€œI have 18 telescopes but only 4 darts and I really want to ascend ā€¦ā€ So let them trade in two or three telescopes for one dart. You know they will want those telescopes later, so scarcity isnā€™t a good answer.

14 Likes

That sure is costly as hell for a chance at getting what you need.
I donā€™t see it being of any uses if the numbers stay the sameā€¦ Thought it would be a combination of 3 and 4*, but 300 gems, ouch.

8 Likes

Me too.

I donā€™t like much of anything about the current implementation, other than the visual design.

8 Likes

So is there a chance that you trade 1 4*AM for another and get the same one you traded

3 Likes