Upcoming update and the future of the Mod news - Le Royaume des Ombres mod for Diablo II: Lord of Destruction

After quite some time without news or anything, it's time to give you some informations about what is currently happening for the mod. So there we go :

Upcoming update :

It was first planned to release a pretty small update that would fix some issues here and there as well as introduce some news mecanics, but this changed when I got asked to beta test a new tool for modders that is going to change a lot of things. This tool is not released yet, but I plan to add it to the next version of the mod, and this is why it took so much time. Because of this, instead of just waiting until the tool is ready, I've decided to work on act 5 directly, and will introduce it in the next update.

So, here is what will be in the next update of the mod :

1. It's time to complete your adventure!
Prepare to complete your journey in a completely new act! Act 5 will be added and many surprises are waiting for you. Will you be brave enought to enter the Realm of Shadows ?

2. More weapons!
Version 5.00 introduce a new weapon type : the polearm. Polearms are two-handed weapons that have a high damage output and can hit foes while staying far from thems. Their damage is a bit more random than other two-handed weapons, but they have a decent attack speed to compensate. You will also be able to craft thems or buy thems at vendors, and act 2 hirelings can use thems!

3. A quiver to rule thems all
Bolts and arrows are both removed from the game, and replaced by quivers. Quivers can be used with all missile weapons such as bows, crossbows and hand crossbows. They can spawn as normal magic and rare, now have an upgrade slot, and the legend even tell that some unique quivers could be discovered.

4. Relics rebalance
As it was the case with monsters charm in previous version of the game, this time it's relics turn to be updated. Theirs bonuses will be improved and made better overall and the completition bonuses will be improved as well.

5. Gems rework
Gems are going to get a massive boost to make thems more interesting. Each gem will improve a specific stat, and the better the gem is, the more it improve the stat. You will also be able to put gems in any items, and not only some as it was the case before. This make gems dust and jewels obsolete, and as such, they have been removed from the game. Lastly, gems drops will be more accruately related to the area you are while you drop a gem.

6. A new shrine system
In this version, the shrine system will be completely redesigned. There is now way more shrines than before, but you never know what bonus you are going to get before using a shrine. Also, some shrines are more powerfull than other and givee you a super bonus for a short time. But beware ! Some shrines are cursed and will weak you instead.

I have no release date to tell you, but I hope it will be this year. Progress on act 5 is going well :)

The future

Currently, the mod have 2 majors flaws that I want to address :
- There is only 1 difficulty
- Things are pretty much unbalanced

Taking that into account, I've decided to focus on these flaws for the next updates.
There is obviously 2 difficulties missing, so there is at least 2 updates or that. About balance, there is at least 3 points to work on : Item balance, Monsters balance and Skills balance.

Here is the current plan for future updates :
- Version 6.00 -> Item balance and introduce news unique items (armors). Also introduce missings items related to act 5, such as last sets items.
- Version 7.00 -> Introduce Nightmare difficulty, all items related to this difficulty and allows you to reach max level (all 5 acts will be released at once)
- Version 8.00 -> Introduce Skill balance. All class skills will be rebalanced to make the overall game experience more enjoyable.
- Version 9.00 -> Introduce Monster balance. This include reworking all current monsters as well as adding news ones.
- Version 10.00 -> Introduce Hell difficulty. This will be the first End-game content, and is intended to be a very hard difficulty. (All monsters are stronger than you).

Please note that smaller updates not specified here may be released if needed.

And then what ?

I have a lot of ideas to put into the mod. Both for leveling content and end-game content. So even if you beat hell difficulties, there will be more to do after that. Some exemples :
- Elite areas
- Dungeons
- Random mini-dungeons
- Cursed chests and shrines
- Legendary items
- And probably more...