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

Advanced mines and farms need a production per hour buff.

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Update: Beta is Now Closed

Typically this means theyā€™re working on a new version, possibly incorporating some of the feedback.

New Beta releases sometimes come quite quickly, and sometimes itā€™s a week or two, depending on how many changes theyā€™re making and other development efforts.

Iā€™ll update the thread with new information as soon as thereā€™s a new Beta release.

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Hey @zephyr1, two questions that I think youā€™ll be able to shine some light on for me, pretty please!

  1. It was mentioned (I think in the AMA chat) that some stuff requiring greater inter-alliance coordination was in the offing. Was this the availability of greater weaponry (and the presumed eventual re-introduction of higher level titans)? Or is there talk of something else?

  2. I think the answer is no, unless I missed it, but have the revised Pirates entered Beta? What Iā€™m trying to assess is my best guess of what the July event will be (it may affect my summoning and leveling plans). If the answer is no - not yet, then I feel like itā€™s unlikely Pirates is next monthā€™s event, in which case my best guess would be Grimforest. If you have any other info or a different guess, please share it with me?

I recall that as well, and I donā€™t know what specifically Tim was referring to ā€” but my guess is it wasnā€™t Giant Harpoons.

The initial implementation of Giant Harpoons was a solo activity. If you used Harpoons, you got Titan Parts.

There was no team effort in the initial design.

So my guess is that whatever Tim was referring to, we havenā€™t seen it yet.


No, though Finley was briefly accidentally released to Beta in an extremely early version a long while ago.

The Pirates havenā€™t yet returned to Beta for actual testing.

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Further Update: Alchemy Lab is undergoing revision

Weā€™ve been informed by Staff that feedback on the Alchemy Lab is being reviewed, changes will be made, and Alchemy Lab will return to Beta for further testing in the near future.

Testing of other new features will be upcoming in the meantime.

Beta is still currently closed. Iā€™ll update the thread again when new features are being tested.

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Beta Has Reopened with New Challenge Event Heroes

To avoid this thread becoming a cluttered mess of discussion of both the Alchemy Lab and new Challenge Event Heroes, Iā€™ve created a separate thread for the new heroes.

=> :test_tube: Is There Early Information on the new Challenge Event Heroes for Pirates of Corellia, Fables of Grimforest, Guardians of Teltoc, Knights of Avalon, and Wonderland?

Iā€™ve also added a link to the new thread in the top post for easy reference.

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Thank you Zephyr for keeping us up to date

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Apart from the new heroes (who will remain opponents only for the majority of the players, F2P and C2P, here due to extremely low chanc on summoning one), will there also be other changes to the monthly events?

  • new prize pool structure
  • old 4*/5* heroes easier available
  • other level structure, fourth difficulty tier
  • etc
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I hope weā€™ll see changes to the Rewards and Scoring, at the least.

Iā€™d also hope to see a new Challenge Event Summoning Token.

But nothing except the new heroes is currently in Beta, so I donā€™t have insights into any possible changed yet.

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Iā€™m really hoping for top 1% instead of top 1ā€¦ top 1 out of everyone to get the prize is ridiculous. 1% is probably my only chance to get The Hatter :stuck_out_tongue:

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Even top 0.05 % for a guaranteed 5* will most probably not comeā€¦ I would already be more than happy if the top 0.1 % got a guaranteed Jackal or HƤnselā€¦

Top 1 % would already be 10k players or so, awesome prizes for so many players will almost definitely not happenā€¦ Top 1 % might get an EHT or an event summon token that gives a small chance, but I fear that would already be the best to hope for :neutral_face:

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Yeah, probably. See the same top 1 in most events. I wonder how many copies of those heroes they needā€¦ Iā€™m not complaining about events, I think they are great. The PVP aspect, however, I have 0 interest in as it sits. Even if they did get rid of the guaranteed heroes, Iā€™d still be happy with top percentagesā€¦ that way Iā€™d have an incentive.

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I donā€™t know guys, but Iā€™m playing for 2 years C2P, and never seen such lack of food and iron now. I donā€™t know what to spend it on firstā€¦ Upgrading? Giving emblems? Training heroes? Making new buildings?

The drop rate is as low as 0.6% per hero for the sand empire. Can you imagine this? That means even if you do 100 pulls, you will have 0.6% of getting a 5* hero from the seasonal summonā€¦
This month I did 33 pulls, and I did not got a single 5* hero.
Many of my alliance old players retire from the game, they just canā€™t stand the loot drop %ā€¦

Too much greed will eventually brake the game, think of that.

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i just wanted to say that @zephyr1 rocks!
Often an E&P question will pop into my head. This morning it was ā€œI wonder how much iron SH23 will need, and how many advanced iron stores I will need for thatā€
A quick search of ā€œStronghold 23 ironā€ and there is the answer - from @zephyr1 at the top of the search list.

So shoutout to @zephyr1, and remember this motto - ā€œsearch before you askā€ - make @zephyr1ā€™s life easier.

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Nah, itā€™s fine to add things that help early game players. Itā€™s good when thereā€™s more loot in the game and easier access to decent materials at any stage of play.

I have reconsidered. While giving too much to the longest standing players seems unbalanced, a bit of a reward isnā€™t a bad thing.

But I do still believe that turning a pile of unusable junk items into newly useful ones requires caution.

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Why not make the alchemy lab work like the horadric cube from Diablo 2? Specific recipe of items x produces item y. The combinations can be just about anything in any quantity. Figuring out the combinations almost was as fun as the item itself. Just a thought.

*ā€œsave the whales, harpoon a titan.ā€

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I am progressing good with 21 done, multiple converts to most buildingsā€¦iron storage is next.

My question is: Does anyone have even a ā€œguesstimateā€ of when 22, 23 etc will start to unlock? I assume those are going to take weeks also to upgradeā€¦just wondering when that ā€œmayā€ beā€¦even speculation is helpful.

Alchemy Lab and Stronghold 22/23 exited Beta for reworking, so my guess is it will be a while before we see a final version released.

When they return for further testing, Iā€™ll update this thread accordingly. :slight_smile:

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oicā€¦thank you for the feedback.

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