New opponents! New armors! New music! Ranked multiplayer! Better gameplay balance!! Better replays!!! THE FIRST UPDATE IS HERE!!! :D

Whew. Sorry, I just get really excited! In the first week after launch, people have already played over 15,000 hours in total, including over 35,000 multiplayer duels. With all those people playing Ironlights, I'm anxious to make the game as great as it can be!

This is the first of many major updates to Ironlights, and I think you'll be very happy with it. We've improved almost every part of the game, and we've tried to address a lot of the issues that people found after launch. There's a lot more to come, too! Our future plans include new classes, unlockable cosmetics, and a much expanded multiplayer system. This is just the first step on that road. If you want to stay up to date and be a part of the Ironlights community, be sure to join the Discord and the subreddit!

We've got detailed patch notes below, but for those who just want to get to the good stuff, here's a quick tl;dr version.

HIGHLIGHTS:

- All classes have been rebalanced, including significant nerfs to the Ninja and to the Duelist's stabby spammy attacks.

- Hits to the lower body now deal less damage than hits to the torso or head.

- Energy regeneration has been made much faster.

- The single-player Campaign has been revamped, including lots of new opponents!

- A basic multiplayer ranking/league system has been added.

- 3 new Armor options are available in the Armory.

- 2 new menu music tracks have been added.

- The Replay system includes some fancy new options so your GIFs will look even better!

This is version 65. Here's the details on all the changes from the launch version (v59):

FEATURES:

- Added basic ranking system for multiplayer. (Players are now assigned a “league” as their rank, which is adjusted after winning or losing a match. Defeating stronger opponents will increase your rank faster. Matches between drastically mismatched opponents will not count, nor will private matches.)

- Added over 20 new AI animation sets to the Campaign. Names, colors, and personalities of all AI opponents have been shuffled and/or revamped.

- Gallant armor, Shogun armor, and Balor armor have been added to the Armory.

- New options added to the replay/GIF system, including faster melee playback and health bars.

- Added 2 new menu music tracks.

- Hit effects have been improved, and VFX will appear larger in replays.

- Faster Quickmatch matchmaking (less wait time before hosting).

- Added “seated mode” to the options menu.

- Expanded Credits section, including special thanks to top-tier Kickstarter backers.

BUG FIXES:

- Fixed bug that prevented Gold/Silver opponents from getting their 50/100% damage bonus in the campaign (making Gold/Silver matches much more difficult).

- Quitting at the end of a multiplayer match will no longer cause the opponent to immediately quit as well (so it should now be possible to save replays even after your opponent quits).

- Shields now properly disappear in multiplayer when destroyed completely.

- Coins are now correctly awarded after multiplayer matches.

- Removed “Beta Footage” label from replays.

- Adjusted collision detection in multiplayer for more visually accurate collisions.

- Fixed issue that sometimes caused pre-match damage when connecting to Quickmatch opponents who were playing single-player games.

- Adjusted visual smoothing in multiplayer for Crusader’s flail, aiming for more natural-looking motion.

- In multiplayer rematches, opponent’s weapon selection will no longer cast a shadow.

- Attempted fix for Windows Mixed Reality controls on SteamVR version.

- Fixed issue that sometimes prevented blocked projectiles from properly disappearing.

- When fighting multiple AI opponents, flail ranged attacks will now seek onto the correct opponent.

- Weapons no longer slowly rotate when let go.

- Players who join a multiplayer match directly from a campaign game will now properly switch into their multiplayer outfit.

- Attempted fix for multiplayer issue that caused some weapons to collide twice (i.e. a rapier blocking both halves of a greatsword).

GAMEPLAY:

- Significantly increased energy regeneration rate (minimum, maximum, and acceleration).

- Increased cost of all ranged attacks to compensate for increased energy regeneration.

- Reduced amount of vulnerability recovered from dealing damage.

- Slightly increased speed of energy regeneration when charging up.

- Surrendering or disconnecting in multiplayer matches will now count as a loss.

- Hits to the waist and legs now deal 30% less damage.

- Charging up while holding a damaged shield will no longer drain extra energy to repair the shield. Shields now rely on passive regeneration only.

- Changed self-hits to only trigger when hitting oneself in the head instead of the torso, and disabled self-hits entirely for shields.

- Adjusted upper height boundary to be lower to accommodate new seated mode.

BALANCE:

Knight:

- The greatsword is now faster when held one-handed (though still not as fast as when held with both hands).

- Made it easier to grip the greatsword with both hands.

- Adjusted melee “reload” settings to be slightly easier to reload with rotation (e.g. swings) rather than pure position movements (e.g. thrusts).

Duelist:

- Adjusted melee “reload” settings to make stabby spammy attacks more difficult.

- Rapier must be pulled slightly further back to restore after shattering.

- Slightly decreased rapier melee damage.

- Ranged attacks deal less damage and move more slowly.

- Adjusted shield stats to absorb more damage, but regenerate more slowly.

Monk:

- Slightly decreased max speed of ranged attack projectiles.

- Slightly decreased ranged attack damage.

- Both sides of the staff now extend their hitboxes into the center section, allowing Monks to block twice with the center of the staff.

Ninja:

- Ranged attacks are now smaller and faster, but more costly.

- Rescaled ranged attack damage to do less damage than before, but more damage after charging up.

- Slightly “loosened” katar physics, making spammy attacks more difficult.

- Katars must be pulled slightly further back to restore after shattering.

- Slightly decreased katar melee damage.

Crusader:

- Adjusted ranged projectile curve / targeting.

- Ranged projectiles now move faster.

- Ranged attacks are now more sensitive to the speed they are fired at.

- Flail is now very slightly easier to restore after shattering.

- Adjusted shield stats to absorb more damage, but regenerate more slowly.

- Pushed back default melee distance very slightly.

Note: This is not a hard rule, but usually when I write "slightly", it means less than 10%, and "very slightly" means less than 5%.