As I’m writing this, I’m wrapped up in a blanket cocoon with a bag of cough drops and a 32 oz. Gatorade at the ready. Nature couldn’t have picked a worst time to smite me with the sick bug. But there’s no time for rest when there’s so much to talk about! (Also, I can’t sleep when I’m sick, but that’s beside the point.)

New Faces

Before we jump in to the DunDef-specific news, we’d like to welcome a familiar face to the Trendy family. You may have seen him kindly helping strangers out in the PC Tech Support forum. It gives us great pleasure to welcome IceArrow to the Trendy team! Ice will be our new tech support guru and all around bad mamba-jamba.

Also, a few of our forum moderators are stepping down and passing the torch to fresh blood. We’d like to give a very special thanks to Naed.draagur, Jetah and KanibalKittN for all of their hard work. Taking up the mantle of forum defenders are Alhanalem, Immortal D and Dredd, who have already shown tact and kindness in their new roles. Keep up the great work!

Love is in the Air

For all of you love-struck Defenders, the Etherian Festival of Love is now available to download! Play matchmaker for the appropriate “boy” and “girl” goblins, and then rise up to defeat Mega Cupid!

Of course, we wouldn’t leave your matchmaking efforts unrewarded. The V-Day DLC brings new skins and a lovable new pet to the mix. My personal favorite? The Squire’s new skin — a full suit of armor. No more running around like the King of No Pants!

The Etherian Festival of Love will be free for another two weeks. If you’re having trouble beating the map, head on over to the Sky O’ Love thread, where our best and brightest have gathered to share their tips and strategies.

V-Day Card Contest Winners

Last week, we asked you to create an awesome Valentine’s Day card. The first-place winner of our V-Day Card contest is … Thomas Mortensen! Thomas went above and beyond the call to make an animated V-Day card using the DDDK!

For your effort, we’ll be sending you a signed Dungeon Defenders art print, a Steam copy of the game and all of the DLC to date!

And now for our second- to fifth-place runners-up! These fine men and women will receive the game and all DLC to date!

Artemis251

Marián Opial

Tina Neill

Hardband1

Congratulations! And thanks to everyone who submitted an entry.

Eternia Shards Part I is out now for EU PSN

You read that right. The first part of the Quest for the Lost Eternia Shards is finally out on EU PSN! And because of the delay, we’ve partnered with Sony Computer Entertainment Europe to bring it to you for the low, low price of free! Woohoo!

A Word from the Beta Team

Starting this week, we’re going to designate a part of our Digest to the beta team. You’ll get to hear straight from the horse’s mouth on beta progress and help contribute by participating in weekly discussions!

Take it away, gang!

“There’s been a lot of talk recently about the beta team, and Trendy thought it might be nice to give us a small spot of this digest each week to speak a little to the public!

The beta team is still growing, we’ve gotten our PC team pretty much filled out, and are still open for Mac applicants. (If you didn’t know, we’ve added a post to the forums for recruiting and suggestions on specific topics.)

Our new suggestion topic will be posted each week within the digest. If you’ve got constructive suggestions you’d like to share, you can PM our “Official Beta Test Group” account, we’ll read it, post it on our beta forums, and send you a quick reply. (Sometimes, we’ll even ask for additional feedback.)

This week’s topic is, “How would you adjust challenges to better fit the game’s progression?”

We wanted to share some insight into the beta team’s workings. With that thought in mind, here are some conversations overheard among the beta team over the last week. Sorry some details had to be !

***************
Lead: Here’s the upcoming schedule:
Member: Wow, that’s a lot of stuff! And I had no idea about the
Lead: Yes, it’s awesome and unexpected. Trendy loves their customers.

***************
Lead: V-day challenge is a new map. Get male and female mobs to get jiggy in the center of the map
Lead: you lure them, get them to pair off
Member: Wow, that’s different… (who uses the word jiggy anymore?)
Lead: I hate you…..

******************

This is why we can’t have nice things.

******************

Lead: President’s Day… is a event.
Lead: With… - … so the two
Member: That’s… crazy.”

Dead Prez

I can’t wait until you see what the beta team was talking about with President’s Day. It might be the single craziest thing we’ve ever done. We’re not going to ruin the surprise — you’ll just have to see for yourself on Monday.

Fear the VAC

A new wave of delicious VAC bans are about to be delivered. If you see a flood of tears and blood on the forums, you know why.

The Battle is Near

If you saw the Digest from Jan. 18, you’ll know I’m kind of a Lord of the Rings nut, which is why I’ve been hawking Cr4zy’s thread waiting for updates. Yesterday, he posted these beautiful, work-in-progress images of Helms Deep. WANT.

Keep up the great work!

Screenshots of the Week

Of course, we couldn’t end this week’s Digest without some community-flavored eye candy.

Courtesy of Black Mamba

Courtesy of deathsythe

Courtesy of GeniusBug

Have a cool photo you’d like to share? Send it cool to contest[at]trendyent.com with the subject “DunDef Screenshot”! Be sure to include your forum username or Steam username in the email. Our favorites will appear in future Digests!

Until next time,
Hitmonchan

Discuss this Digest here!

One million paid downloads. It’s a milestone that most indie companies dare not dream. And yet, through some cosmic force of chance, luck and loyal fans, here we are.

Contrary to popular belief (i.e. that one dude who said something), we didn’t host a Social Network-esque million download party. It was life as usual for most of us here at the office — Nerf gun fights, office trolling, hard work, the usual.

But as big as that news was, nothing compared to finally sharing some good news with our console fans.

Console Patch Notes (plus Q&A)

The patch notes to our first console patch went live yesterday! Here’s the rundown:

PS3 and Xbox 360:

- Tower Attack Rate scaling improved to PC specifications
- Pet Attack Rate scaling improved to PC specifications
- Giraffes are now awarded at Wave 25 and survival stability is also correspondingly improved
- Mistymire weapons now have their appropriate artwork and will save on your hero. (Which means Mistymire reward weapons should not disappear!) Added DLC 2 (Desert Town) weapons/pet as well for that upcoming release. (There’s a technical issue with the Mistymire pet, so we’re unable to bring that to you. Sorry about that!)
- Raised Level Cap to 78 and added higher-quality items as a result
- Fixed last-minute hero-swapping bug
- Fixed Treasure Hunt skipping issue
- Fixed a potential save corruption case (We never reproduced it here in the office, so this potential fix is mostly guesswork.)
- Fixed bandwidth issue with projectile towers that will also resolve various online latency issues (weapons not appearing, invisible enemies, etc.)
- Squire Towers are a bit less damaging
- You can now have spaces in hero names from the initial Create Hero UI
- Fixed Obedience Training accomplishment to include certain extra Pet variants
- Made Achievements/Trophies attempt to unlock at regular intervals when the Accomplishments are checked (catches any cases where the Achievement or Trophy was not awarded at the time)
- Non-DLC players should no longer have trouble joining DLC Taverns
- Increased the Hero Cap value of all Stats (except for Run Speed) from 70 to 120
* Plus one additional note found in the Q&A below [Hint: It’s in the first question asked.]

Xbox 360:

- Fixed tavern unlock glitch

PS3:

- Left Analog stick fix
- Added French, Italian, German, Spanish localization for DLCs
- Fixed case where owners of PS Plus exclusive DLC (Monkey & other Pets) may not have been able to connect sometimes online with other players

Note from Jeremy: Sorry about the not-earning-Trophies-on-secondary accounts. We wanted to do this for the original game and originally had it like that, but it was a Sony Technical Requirement for Certification that such functionality be disabled.

Some of you guys had very pertinent questions. Others had ridiculous, outrageous questions. (You know who you are.) Our commander in chief, Jeremy Stieglitz, has graciously taken the time to answer a few of your questions:

—————————————-

“Any plans to raise the forge limit past 10 pages or to increase the mana cap past 15 Million?” – Jaws_420
I’ve just increased the Mana Limit to 200 million and added four more forge pages, since you asked nicely.

“What exactly do you mean by higher-quality loot?” – trobos
Loot at the high-levels can have more potential level-ups and better stats. It’s not exactly super-loot by PC standards, but it’s a step in that direction. This loot has higher level requirements, such as Level 74 or Level 78 depending on how good it is.

“Can you define ‘a bit less damaging’ for Squire towers?” – Gashen-Sai
They will have the same ramp as the PC version, which is about a 30% reduction from the console version give or take (depends on the level).

“Will we be getting ALL of the new weapon skins from the PC version?” – AnyaMirskii
All of the skins from DLC 1 and DLC 2.

“Will Survival drops get better?” – AnyaMirskii
Yes, in accordance with the higher-quality loot noted above.

“What about the cheaters/hackers/modders on console? Is there anything about them?” – XEQU
We’re adding in protection to try to identify and delete hacked save data, but it’s unknown how much of a widespread positive effect this will have.

“When will you guys submit the patch to Sony/Microsoft or release the patch for PS3/360?” – Zero_BladeZ
We’ll submit it this week, and it will release simultaneously with the DLC 2, the release date of which should be announced soon.

“Any word on whether there will be auto attack on the consoles?” – echo98
“What about the “Step to attack” function?” – Iyashii
Those functionalities have to stay as they are, but potentially for future TU.

“Will survival/pure strategy stop at wave 25 or will it continue till wave 30?” – Cladun
It’ll stop at Wave 25.

“What about the trading system for the 360?” – Ricky Reb
It’s too complex to integrate in the time we have for this Update, but potentially for the next TU after this one.

—————————————-

Be Our Valentine

Continuing the spirit of being gracious and kind, it’s almost time for the Etherian Festival of Love. Started by two major candy factories in Etheria, this annual festival features more than just chocolate and cuddles. In fact, you’ll have to play matchmaker for Etheria’s goblins and orcs, making sure they find their mates this holiday!

Valentine’s Day Contest

But that’s not all. We’re giving away a signed Dungeon Defenders art panel! Interested? All you have to do is make your own Dungeon Defenders Valentine’s Day card. Our favorite card will win the signed art print, a Steam copy of Dungeon Defenders and every DLC available to date, and four runners-up will receive a Steam copy of Dungeon Defenders and every DLC available to date. To enter, send your entries to [email]contest@trendyent.com[/email] with the subject “V-Day Card Contest.” All entries must be sent to us by Monday at 11:59 p.m. EST to be eligible to win.

Here’s a layered psd to do your art-magic with: www.dungeondefenders.com/valentinewallpaper.psd

If the only picture-editing software you have on computer is MS Paint, fear not! You can use Gimp, a free photo-editing software, to open the layered art file and have at it!

PvP Console Event

You didn’t think it was all hugs and love from us now, did you? This week, it’s a no-holds-barred free-for-all featuring our console fans and our community team, including Triple S, The Cowy Llama, Matt Power, Alex the Kid and, yours truly, The Boss.

This Thursday (PS3) and Friday (360), from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST, experience the excitement as all of these powerhouses compete for the grand prize, the Krayt Junior pet. (And by compete, we mean we’ll give you the pet whether you win or lose.)

The match will take place on Lifestream Hollow, so you must have the Quest for the Lost Eternia Shards Part I in order to participate. Send a message to TrendyEnt1, TrendyEnt2 and TrendyEnt3 for your chance to enter!

PS3 Community-Hosted Events

Of course, we mustn’t forget our community-hosted events. While our 360 fans have Dredd and WarpedReality’s Winter Olympics events, two fine members of the PS3 community have stepped up host two separate events of their own: TheDarkCrucible with his Defenders of Eternia PSN Events and CaptBoxershorts with his own Winter Olympic events. Go check ‘em out!

Desert Heat

Beyond the scope of the immediate lies a desert. This barren land has been wrathed by foul heat and little water for eons. But in this forsaken land, tucked far away from prying eyes, is the city of Moraggo. Within its clay walls, fresh water flows and a fair breeze blows. This once-great desert oasis for travelers has long since turned into a nest for creeps and monsters. Unfortunately for our heroes, it’s also the resting place of the next Eternia Shard.

Before you can get your hands on the prize, we need to sift through the sand for bugs and other unspeakable things. We’ll keep you posted on when you can expect to search for the next Eternia Shard.

A Serious Evolution

The Barbarian is a man of many talents, but sometimes, the situation calls for a more tactical approach. Enter Series EV.

In addition to some awesome hero and weapon capabilities, Series EV brings a completely unique defense type to the table, opening up a whole new paradigm of strategic gameplay.

What’s that, you say? What is this new defense type? Soon, young padawans. Soon.

Screenshots of the Week

I had so many pictures to choose from this week, but somehow, I narrowed it down to three. Keep it up, gang!

Courtesy of David Vlasoff

Courtesy of sykl0ps

Courtesy of Kurt Kn1sp3l

Have a cool photo you’d like to share? Send it cool to contest[at]trendyent.com with the subject “DunDef Screenshot”! Be sure to include your forum username or Steam username in the email. Our favorites will appear in future Digests!

Thank you to everyone who has supported us. You are the sole reason for our success. <3

Until next time,
Hitmonchan

Discuss this Digest here!

Last night was our first content release since I’ve stepped into Trendy’s community manager shoes, and I am exhausted. I have an IV drip of crangrape juice injected straight into my veins, so hopefully that heavenly combo of bitter cran and ripe grape will have me in full form again tomorrow. Thankfully, Pmasher has graciously offered to step in and help me tag team this week’s Digest. (Which means you should give him all of the credit for the really cool and giddy parts.)

Ninja Nerf

Before we explain why this happened, we want to explain that this is NOT a justification of it happening. There is no justification. Events like these only hurt us, Trendy Entertainment, and more importantly you, our player base. Anyone who says or speculates otherwise is patently wrong.

These nerfs (and buffs) were made to the game before Christmas break. Over the course of the break, moving offices, and life-in-general the exact changes were misplaced and thus mistakenly left off of the patch notes. Last night was the first us, the employees, or the beta testers began discovering about these undocumented changes. We were not sitting here stroking our cats, waiting until you were mad enough at us to post about our secret changes to the patch notes that we kept in our secret lair with (secret) swimming pools of money. We were getting to the bottom of what happened and what those changes were. As we were clarifying things internally, we began posting the revised Patch Notes to the Patch Notes section.

Yes this has happened before, and we will be working hard to make sure it does not happen again. We will try our hardest to ensure that the patch notes are transparent, both for you in final release and for our Beta Testers so they can accurately test and balance the content.

Furthermore, we’d like everyone to remember that Nightmare mode is currently in pre-release. That means the goalposts and balancing of it will change, perhaps dramatically. There’s still 3 upcoming QftLES, all of which will incorporate an entirely new enemy into that campaign before it’s finished, and more that will affect it on their way. We understand how frustrating it feels to turn on the game and feel like everything you just worked toward undid itself. But it’s important to keep in mind that Nightmare Mode is not the current end-game; it’s a piece of the future end-game. When it does reach that point, we hope all of you are satisfied with it and enjoy the challenges it presents and chance to play it while it’s evolving.

They’re Here

Patch 7.16, the Barbarian, and the AMP all released this week. It was a little hectic, and we’re already one hotfix in, but we hope you’re enjoying the new content. Also, we want to state with absolute certainty that the Arnold Rave video on YouTube is not why the Barbarian is using lightsabers in this video. There’s just something intrinsically awesome about a barbarian with glowsticks.

EU PSN Eternia Shards

Finally, a date! Wait no longer EU PSN players, Dungeon Defenders Quest for the Lost Eternia Shards Part I is finally coming to Europe on Feb. 15. We are truly sorry for the delay (for both this, and the EU version of Dungeon Defenders), so to make it up to you… Quest for the Lost Eternia Shards Part I will be releasing for free in the EU.

Console Patch Details Coming this Week

For our eager console fans scouring this Digest for patch details, we have good news for you! This week, we’ll be revealing the patch details for our first console patch. Hallelujah! Keep your eyes peeled on the Console Discussion forums, which is where we’ll be dropping this information. (And we’ll post those details again here next week.)

PvP Console Event — Feb. 9 and 10

Next week, on Feb. 9 (360) and Feb. 10 (PS3), we’ll be hosting a PvP console event on Lifestream Hollow! If you would like to participate, you must have the Quest for the Lost Eternia Shards Part I. The fragging and fun will go from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST. each day. We’ll let you guys know more about the event in next week’s Digest.

The Defenders Store is getting BIGGER and BETTER

We can’t thank Maydie enough for his work on the Defenders Store. If you haven’t noticed, the latest PC patch added the support to Sync All Items from your AFK shop to the site, but that’s just the beginning. There’s now Grid View to help you find better items for your hero and so much more. Here’s the full list of changes:

New Features:

• All items are sync’ed from the game with a single button click now, without logging in to the websiteEquip item: equip an item on your site, and it can then be compared with other items from the same slot
• View-as-Class: will change the stats icons according to the class you have selected
• Wish list
• Report abuse: Report a potential hacked item / user
• Grid view: minimalist listing with numbers only
• Comfortable view: easy to read listing, good for small screens + show total stats for tower / resist / hero

Tweaks:

• Merged shop / item box
• Updated home page with cool look
• Updated the look of the shop and item pages
• Major database tweaks & optimizations

Anyone who uses Dungeon Defenders Shop feature should definitely check this site out.

The Banhammer is in Full Swing

Hackers on Steam, beware: Our banhammer is armed and swinging. If anyone sees any suspicious activity, please use the Report a Player sub-forum. And be sure to use the new Report Abuse function in the Defenders Store. For more information on reporting hackers, please refer to this handy-dandy reporting guide.

To our legitimate players, our intent is not to frighten you. We’re here to make your playing experience better. If you feel that you have been unfairly banned, send an email to feedback[at]trendyent.com.

Internal Mac Beta this February

Good news for all our Mac Dungeon Defenders fans… the Mac version is entering internal beta this month! We’ve taken some extra time with it, but it sports all the features of the PC version, allows you access to your TrendyNet characters, and has cross-play with its PC brother (or sister, depending on how you see it).

Squire Racing

Dredd and WarpedReality continued their proud tradition of making outside-the-box events with Squire Racing, a kart-racer-inspired take on Dungeon Defenders. The event was the first of the updated Winter Olympics event for the 360. Head on over to their thread to see the rest of the events they have planned!

Our Modders Being Awesome

Do you like the color purple? Well we do, and “Twisted Garden” by TitanSloth has plenty of it. It’s also an awesome co-operative experience that all of you should check out when you have the chance.

Screenshots of the Week

Steam user [SEA]GodsPlague emailed us this awesome photo of him and a friend prepared to do battle on the Barbarian’s launch day:

And we don’t want to go all modern-video-game journalism on you and give you all your news straight from Reddit, but Volkamar posted this awesome screenshot of the new reward for Mythical Defender and we just couldn’t resist:

Now that we’ve added our new vanity options, keep sending us your cool photos to contest[at]trendyent.com! Be sure to include your forum username or Steam username in the email. Our favorites will appear in future Digests!

Before we leave, all of us here at Trendy would like to give a shout out to Senior Airman Nathan Blackmer. Thanks for everything you do.

Until next time,
Pmasher and Hitmonchan

Discuss this Digest here!