Shotbow

Hello everyone. We hope you’ve been enjoying the amazing release of MineZ: Origins. We took a bit of a break from WiR to let everyone soak in the greatness that is the latest MineZ update. We’ve had two weekends in a row without an Alpha Test, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t spend that time pouring more love into our favorite little rogue-lite.

When in Rogue Alpha Weekend #3 opens at 6pm CST today. We will be conducting a PUBLIC STRESS TEST from 6pm to 10pm tonight, so anyone can join. Bring along your friends! We don't expect things to crash, but if they do, please excuse any interruptions as we work out issues.

After the public stress test we will resume the premium only alpha test for the remainder of the weekend.

Top Artifact Collectors from Weekend Test #2

Last weekend we wanted to see who could collect the most artifacts. Here are the results:



Thanks to JonnyDvE for finding an easy way to collect these. We plugged that little glitch.

This weekend, we challenge our testers to see who can be the first to complete Jungle on HARD difficulty. We will be calling out the top 20 folks (if that many can do it) on the change log for next weekend.

Changelog

• Jungle is back! Now with a ton of new doodads. Experience a handful of new mobs, a beautiful jungle theme, and see if you can beat the (slightly) harder jungle experience.
  • Sorry, no boss fight for this theme quite yet. We focused on a number of other things this time.
• New sub bosses for Jungle. One can grasp you with its thorns, the other is sure to heat up any situation. Good luck beating these new custom AI sub bosses.
• Starting health is now 5 hearts, with a maximum health of 20 hearts. This is an increase from the original 4 hearts and maximum 10 health.

Dev commentary: Why? Simply put, more health means more variation in the types of damage we can throw at you. Some mobs may hit like trucks, some mobs may slowly peck at you. By increasing the overall health pool we give players more time to react to and plan for varying degrees of damage.

• Full mob overhaul
  • Mobs broken into three distinct classes: common, special, and elite
  • All mobs now grow in both health and power as you go further down the levels. Previously we had one or two of each type for the dungeons, but now you’ll run into mobs that are more powerful each level. Don’t worry, with more risk comes greater reward in the form of gold dropped.
  • To help distinguish between each of these new incremental power changes, nearly every mob has a progression in their visual look. As things LOOK more powerful, they are more powerful.
  • Creepers now honor our damage system. This is both a nerf and a buff. They will not be nearly as deadly as before, but are also not as deadly to the mobs you hit them into. We’ll see how it plays out.

Dev commentary: Part of playing When in Rogue is a different experience each time you go through the dungeons. You might get an unlucky spawn with a ton of uncommon and elite mobs, or on the flip side one that is all common that are from the prior level. Seeing what spawns and reacting to what mobs to go after is core to this game. This is a major overhaul, so expect some mobs to be too hard, and some to be too easy. We’ll be tweaking extensively.

• Artifacts are here. As you work your way through dungeons, you will be given the opportunity to escape with artifacts with varying degrees of rarity. Upon escaping with an artifact, you will discover a very fun way of determining what you got out… but artifacts are useless until powered up by completing a variety of quests! These powerful relics can be imbued to your armor, sword, and bow, granting a variety of advantages such as additional health, damage, and protection.
  • Artifacts drop as common, uncommon, rare, epic, legendary, and unique.
  • The more rare, the greater the ability on the artifact, but also the higher the quest requirement to unlock its power.
  • Unique artifacts are not in the game yet, but will eventually be so powerful that only one unique at a time can be equipped to a character. However, these have the potential to unlock new abilities.

Dev commentary: Since we cap health, mana, and equipment to a certain amount based on the theme you are in, Artifacts are one of the few elements in the game that let you become more powerful than the base equipment cap. In fact, right now, each theme is balanced to be harder than the first even with fully upgraded equipment. While we anticipate some daring players to be able to complete the full game with no artifacts, most players will need to capture artifacts, power them up by completing quests, and then equip them to fit their play style.

Bug fixes

• Fixed issue with corpses spawning in lava
• Added minimum room size to lockdown rooms.
• Adjusted valuable spawn frequencies.
• Fixed being able to revive players with 0 lives.
• Fixed warrior charge bypassing barriers.
• Fixed the locked door sometimes having blocks in front of the keyhole.
• Added better tracking of mobs for lockdown.
• Added automatic unlock of lockdown in the event that a mob gets lost.
• Added an additional arena for "Fight for your life!!!".
• Fixed the party sometimes being stuck after grabbing an artifact.
• Players now spawn facing the exit to the first room of the dungeon.
• Made modifications to the party system to make it easier to party up.

Localization Team Applications Are Now Open

Hi everyone!

Today we're happy to announce that Shotbow is opening up staff applications for the Localization Team.

During this round of applications, we are especially looking for applications for the following languages;

• Chinese
• Spanish
• French
• German
• Korean
• Dutch
• Irish
• Portuguese
• Slovakian
• Turkish

However, if you'd like to apply with another language, feel free to do so.


If you were previously denied for not having a high enough level of translation, and you feel that you have improved, please give it another go!

Before you check out the application, here's some background about what this team does for the network.

If you don't know what "localization" means, it is essentially a fancy word for translation. On the Localization Team we translate things like the rules, YouTube videos, ban appeals, game phrases, and much more. The goal is to have access to as many languages as possible in order to reach a wider audience; and that is only possible with your help.

As the team grows, I would like to have language support in places like our Discord but in order to do that, we'd need the people to help, which is where you come in.

If you want to know who is already on our team, just check out the Shotbow Staff wiki page at the bottom and you'll see what languages we currently support.

All new translators start from Forum Helper - their main job is to translate official announcements to their language. After some probationary period, you will be promoted to Jr. Localizer, where you will also translate unreleased documents. If we reach a conclusion that you're a trustworthy person, you'll be promoted to Localizer - and will be granted access to the most SECRET stuff!

Below is the application: follow and read it carefully and we will start to go through the applications after a week or so. Even if you are not accepted on the team, we will send you a reply on the forums, so keep an eye out for that! Replies will come anywhere between 1 week and 2 weeks, so be patient!

Thank you for reading and good luck!

- Windex & the Shotbow Staff Team

Click here to apply!

Happy Friday everyone,

Nearly one week ago, we launched MineZ’s latest update: Origins. For a detailed changelog of the update, please see here. Throughout the past week, the MineZ team has been hard at work fixing bugs in the map and code, as well as increasing overall stability. There is still more work to be done, but we are getting closer by the day. You can view our updates to MineZ since the Origins release here.

As promised, we have updated the web map and you can now see all the new locations throughout the world. This should help those of you who explore by map greatly. The reworks done to the swamp and the east are absolutely gorgeous, and there’s tons to see and do throughout the map. I highly encourage you to explore them if you haven’t already!

Additionally, our Wiki Team has been hard at work updating location information as well as providing detailed write-ups on all of the new locations! Huge shout-outs to their hard work!

Summer 2020

This summer is shaping up to be very exciting for Shotbow and MineZ. As stated in the changelog, we do not intend to sporadically release content anymore. We will be shifting to routine smaller updates that provide a steady stream of content across the entire game from dungeons, towns, locations and new features.

Our next content update will be coming by the end of May. Our current efforts revolve around fixing bugs in dungeons, balancing loot and reducing lag, so once we are confident MineZ is in a stable spot, we can move forward towards new content!

Zerbia Challenge

While a vast majority of Origins content has been thoroughly played through, one daunting task remains. In the north exists a grand tree, sprouting out of the sea. This once great fortress for pirates and renegades alike now sits abandoned. Those pirates bored deep below their fortress and now its depths are open for exploring - if you dare.

The Zerbia Depths dungeon is and will remain the most difficult dungeon in the game. It is an incredibly expansive dungeon that will test even the most seasoned of dungeoneers (as we’ve seen). To incentivize the community to come together and conquer this undead-pirate infested dungeon, we are creating the Zerbia Challenge starting today and ending on June 15th.

As a reward to any team that can beat it, we will be offering a myriad of rewards. First and foremost, you will receive the Pirate’s Rally cosmetic.



This cosmetic will only be given to those that complete this challenge, and it doesn’t stop there. Survivors of the dungeon will receive some exclusive special items, be able to plunder the largest loot room in the game, and receive the legendary weapon Blunderbuss.

Rules

• To be eligible to receive this prize, you must record the run and all members must be clearly shown. Only those that make it through the entire dungeon will be awarded these prizes. This is being done to prevent artificial team inflation. Please have something that shows the date and the time of completion.
• You must be one of the first three teams to beat the dungeon. The specific amount of prizes you will be awarded depend on whether you are first, second, or third. A team can have duplicate members, but you can not receive more than one tier of prizes. This means if you beat the dungeon first, you can not receive second place prizes as well.
• You must complete the dungeon before June 15th.

Prize Details

1. First Team: Each surviving member receives the Pirate’s Rally, 20k XP and two special items.
2. Second Team: Each surviving member receives the Pirate’s Rally and 10k XP
3. Third Team: Each surviving member receives the Pirate’s Rally.

We encourage you to get together with as many of your friends as possible and to give this dungeon a shot. This dungeon will require a large group and will test you in every way.

New Cosmetics

As you’ve seen, MineZ is entering a new age. With the addition of Hestril’s Light and Pirate’s Rally, MineZ is finally getting interesting and flashy cosmetics.



Coming soon, you will be able to summon the very symbols of the elemental gods. These will be available for purchase in our shop. A release date for these will follow soon.

Closing

As always, it is our goal to provide you with the best experience and we are actively working to ensure the servers are stable, the loot is balanced, and the gameplay is fun. If you find any problems, we encourage you to report them here and we will address these issues as they arise.

Sincerely,

The MineZ Team