Now this is how you handle patches!  Those who are planning on playing the Darkspore beta this weekend have the following changes/fixes awaiting for you to download.  Thanks to Terraspore for the notes.

General

  • Placed tooltips throughout the game.
  • Popup dialogues now have more details.
  • Updated hero tags in the arsenal and editor.
  • Improved the spaceship camera.
  • Added up and down arrows to indicate hero advantage/disadvantages vs NPCs on the planet screen.
  • Updated timer countdowns on all relevant screens.
  • Disconnected players now retain XP gained in a game.
  • Updated the game manual in the Helix Computer.
  • General optimization pass.
  • Improved hero animations when chasing enemies.
  • All Ravagers now have reduced health, increased dodge, increased critical strike chance.
  • All Tempests now have reduced health, increased resistance, increased power.
  • Updated many ability icons for heroes.
  • The game in general has been tuned to be more difficult.
  • Updated Crogenitor XP leveling curve. Playing in levels too far below your Crogenitor level will now result in reduced XP gain.
  • Party invite improvements.
  • Darkspore Operatives now appear on 2-1 and later.
  • When players hit the max cap progression in the beta, they will be able to play the last threat level with randomized planets.

Chat

  • Increased the frame size and decreased text size so that more lines of text are visible.
  • Esc key now removes focus from the chat box input.
  • The chat window only scrolls to the end of a new message if you are at the last line already.
  • Chat history is no longer cleared when changing rooms or levels.
  • Messages are no longer lost when transitioning between rooms or levels.
  • The chat window buffer can now hold more messages.
  • Chat channels are now displayed in the input field with the correct colors.
  • /setprofanityfilter will turn chat filtering .

Collect Reward Screen

  • Players can now go directly from the reward screen to the editor.
  • Notification messages are now sent to the chat window when players choose to collect their reward or cash out.
  • Roll bounds are now displayed for different value items.
  • Updated item medal calculations.
  • Background color and roll color now match the rarity of the loot you found.

Level Results Screen

  • Results screen displays correctly from the collect reward screen.
  • Enabled tabs for both the summary and last planet stats.
  • The last planet played stats are displayed by default.

In-Game HUD

  • New health and power bars for players, allies, pets and enemies.
  • Enemies now show their type in their health bars.
  • Fixed a bug where the health and power bars would flash when the player was not taking damage.
  • The minimap has been zoomed out to show more of the level.
  • Added text to the tutorial to supplement the voiceovers.
  • When a Darkspore Operative locks down a player, feedback is sent to all players.
  • Applied general art polish to the HUD.

Arsenal

  • Improved hero animations on the hero line.
  • The “Add hero” button is now easier to click on.
  • Heroes in the arsenal are now easier to click on.

Hero Editor

  • Improved display of stats window.
  • Added better feedback for when the hero is over budget.
  • Improved animations for stat bar changes.
  • Equipped items now have a new icon state.

Loot/Items/Upgrades

  • In game loot drops are now sized correctly.
  • Loot drops now have a sparkling effect to call attention to them.
  • Some loot drops now have an XP bonus.
  • +DNA bonus loot now correctly gives the appropriate amount of +DNA
  • Updated weapon damage calculations.
  • Destructible objects in the game will occasionally drop DNA.
  • Added weapon damage to tooltips.
  • Adjusted upgrade costs for some items.
  • Inventory size upgrades are now available earlier.
  • Fixed bug where +Pet Health gear was not granting health.
  • Updated loot text to be less confusing.
  • Increased DNA drop amount.
  • Attack speed and AoE damage loot can now be found in earlier levels.
  • Updated catalyst stat formulas.

UI (User Interface)

  • Hero profile now shows correct profile information, icons, rollovers, etc.
  • Added reporting option to the context menu for lobby and ignore list.
  • Improved login and inventory screens for multiple resolutions.
  • Improved scroll bars display.
  • Smooth transitions when entering games.
  • Added a wait cursor when the game is loading.
  • Right clicking on names in the friend’s list will now bring up a context menu with options.
  • The lobby list no longer shows yourself.
  • The friends list can now be sorted.
  • Inventory search is now functional.

NPC Abilities

  • Minibosses at the end of each level are tougher and will deal more damage.
  • Updated NPC names and descriptions.
  • Animus resurrection ability now has longer cooldowns.
  • Changed NPC flee behavior.
  • Improved Undermind NPC casting animations.
  • Carrion Shambler NPC now gains health as he consumes corpses.
  • Improved Charging Grendel NPC charge ability.
  • Improved Lighting Juggernaut NPC charge ability.
  • Improved Nashira Boss animations.
  • Improved NPC death animations.
  • Stealth Hunters now start out stealthed.
  • Fixed a bug where the Spectral Drifter could get stuck in his charge.
  • Throns NPC affix no longer applies difficulty scaling
  • Shadowers now always apply their physical vulnerability debuff.
  • Made general animation improvements to NPCs.
  • Elite NPC shields now scale up with the number of players.

Heroes Abilities

  • Cooldown and power costs are no longer deducted if a hero is interrupted early in casting.
  • Char’s ranged basic ability has improved hit detection.
  • Teleportation abilities are now more accurate.
  • Proximity Mine is now on a passive trigger.
  • Pets now use the correct primary stat, and tooltips match that value.
  • Plasma Wreath is now a buff and can be stolen by Meditron.
  • Goliath’s Target Reticule damage increase decreased from 25% to 15%.
  • Seraph’s Attractor Bomb now places where you click instead of right next to you
  • The casting time of Char’s Elemental Guardian reduced from to 1.3 seconds from 2 seconds.
  • Delaying Sphere has been increased in size to 5.5 meters from 3.75 meters.
  • Seraph’s Contact Grenade has been reduced in range to 15 meters from 12 meters.
  • Enemies will no longer run as far due to the fear from Death’s Embrace.
  • Increased chain lightning damage and reduce its power cost. Increased chain lighting damage fall off.
  • Webbed Lightning casting time has been reduced to 2 seconds from 1 second, and it now reports the correct shock duration.
  • Reduced damage of individual Thunderstorm bolts.
  • Greatly increased the chance that a Thunderstorm lightning bolt will land on an actual target.
  • Increased damage of Revenant’s terrify.
  • Slightly increased duration and cooldown of Revenant’s Psychic Storm.
  • Increased damage of Thornado.
  • Reduced the primary target damage of Virulent Vines.
  • Increased the effectiveness of damage and attack speed catalysts.
  • Increased damage and reduced cooldown of Celestial Comet.
  • Reduced power cost and cooldown of Repulsion Sphere.
  • Force Pulse casting time reduced.
  • Celestial Comet casting time reduced.
  • Dazing Shot casting time reduced.
  • Jinx’s Skullbomb casting time slightly faster.
  • Reduced casting time on Wraith’s Death’s Embrace.
  • Increased casting time on Lumin’s Chain Lightning.
  • The Electron Sphere now appears slightly earlier in the cast.
  • Reduced casting time on Krel’s Supernova, and Twinblaze.
  • Reduced casting time on Sage’s Rejuvenating Blast.
  • Reduced casting time on Viper’s Expunge.
  • Reduced casting time on Entangling Rush and Arboreal Might.
  • Reduced casting time on Orion’s abilities.
  • Reduced casting time and increased damage of Shooting Star.
  • Reduced casting time on SRS42’s Homing Missile and increased casting time of Omni Shield.
  • Reduced casting time of Zetawatt Beam and Proximity Mine.
  • Reduced casting time of Goliath’s Arc Weld and Cauterize.
  • Fixed casting time of Savage Ally.
  • Fixed a bug where Shooting Star was missing some targets it should have hit.
  • Switched Chrono Blink’s damage type to energy from physical.
  • Suppression abilities now stop all melee attacks.
  • New tree graphics for Sage’s Tree of Life ability.
  • Reduced Omni Shield’s cooldown in PVE.
  • Fixed cooldowns for Aborous’ Entangling Rush.