Dofus’ summer update hits classic servers on July 4. However, during 3 weeks of beta, 2.68 has evolved well. A rather unprecedented situation that deserves a retrospective.
DOFUS 2.68: A delayed application beta
In the vein of Unity preparations, Dofus 2.68 is a smaller update focusing on substantive issues: removal of idols, recipes, and prospecting formulas. In other words, these are not very exciting subjects yet have a great impact on the long term. You will be dispensed with a reminder; you have all the information here.
If the recipes have had some adjustments, the points mentioned above have not had any revisions during the beta. We will only see “delayed” corrections or applications of announced measures. Temporal Anomalies, for example, were nerfed later in patch deployment. The differences were here to remember from the devblogs, with shooting corrections applied since. The “thoughts” around achievements were well implemented, with a drastic reduction in dungeon rewards.
The 3 weeks of beta have also made it possible to bring a lot of fixes to the various challenges and new achievements in the dungeon. In addition to gameplay impossibilities (Do not put out the fires in Founoroshi), a big test pass was carried out. The two systems, actually technically similar, were the second major area of change in this beta. Enough to ensure a good implementation once on classic servers.
Class balances: we are moving towards the good
On the presentation images or Ankama Live, Ouginak and Eniripsa were in the spotlight. Both classes benefit from a major balancing and for the second a complete overhaul. However, Ankama hasn’t stopped by advancing some changes a little over others.
Quantity or quality, there is no choice for Masqueraiders, Cra, Sadida, Huppermage or Eliotrope. Each of the classes undergoes heavy modifications, sometimes on a stagnant gameplay for several years. And not only did these balances fall randomly depending on the day, the Game Design team took care of backpedaling as needed. We regret a lack of communication on certain changes, with all the same some more details provided on the latest changelog messages.
The Dofus: where does this all come from?
A surprise that few people could have foreseen was the upgrade of several Dofus during a beta patch, once again a bit random. The astonishment is explained in particular by the notability of such balancing. The Dofus are only modified for major updates, generally with announcements well in advance (Ivory or Ebony Dofus in the first line). Here, everything was played on a few changes to a completely innocuous changelog.
Once again, we can wonder about the almost total absence of comments. Only the modifications of Dolmanax and Ocher were specified, downstream, with a nerve of their capacities.
Dofus 2.68, a good update or not?
The update doesn’t stand out for its lack of new content. On the other hand, it tries to offer “something”. The dungeon success will occupy the players for a while, if they are not disgusted to go hunting again after the Expeditions, then the companions. Dofus 2.68 also focuses only on its key areas, without deviating as usual with “bulk” modifications (ergonomic additions, ornaments, etc.). By reading the headlines, you generally have what to remember.
However, the changes remain very impactful for the economy. A first big work is done on the recipes that will have to be concretized later, in particular on the redesign of sets 199 to 200. giving way to a challenge system that has been neglected until now. If we note the absence of more substantial modifications on the Almanax for example, the monitoring efforts on the Temporal Anomalies are to be welcomed. Even the Infinite Dreams were reworked to integrate the new challenge mechanics and special achievements (for once, of course).
However, such beta management should be the norm for Ankama (especially considering the age of the company). It will now be necessary to analyze the next few months to measure the impact of an update with a good future for the moment.