Valve will not leave Artifact, no matter the cost. The dead game was revived again under the banner ‘Artifact Beta 2.0’. The developers have been releasing multiple updates every month to make the game better and more enjoyable for players.
Just one of those updates was released yesterday and it made tons of changes. Several balancing updates were made to Heroes, Items, Spells, and more. The Artifact UI was also tweaked and some minor bugs were squashed. A more detailed explanation is mentioned below and on the official site.
ARTIFACT BETA 2.0 OCTOBER 29 UPDATE PATCH NOTES
Experimental Rules: Multicolor Casting
We’re experimenting with a rule change: Heroes now enable other heroes in their lane to cast cards of their color. So if you have a red hero and a blue hero in a lane, for example, the blue hero can cast red spells and the red hero can cast blue spells. This should reduce the disadvantage multicolor decks have as compared to monocolor decks with regards to targeted stuns and silences, as well as reduce the disadvantage multicolor decks get when casting certain “caster”-related cards and enable a number of new interactions for multicolor decks.
Game Demos
A fiendishly difficult puzzle has been added as Kanna’s card demo. Spooky!
The existing demos for the red heroes (Axe, Beastmaster, Bristleback, Centaur Warrunner, Keefe the Bold, Legion Commander, Mazzie, and Magnus) have all been updated to be slightly more puzzle-y. Each of these demos has a "correct" play that leads to instant victory, some more obvious than others. You can lose some of them, others will just take you an extra turn to win if you don't find the optimal play.
Demos have been added for Abaddon, Chen, Dark Seer, Lady Anshu, Rix, Tiny, Underlord, and Wraith King.
Card Changes
Heroes
- Bristleback stats changed from 4/5 to 4/1/4.
- Keefe the Bold’s Stop Hittin' Yourself cannot be wasted if there are no attackers.
- Magnus’ Attack increased from 2 -> 3.
- Magnus' Skewer ability changed to move anywhere within range 5, not just unopposed slots. If an enemy is skewered to an occupied position, it will instead move as far as it can in that direction to an unoccupied position.
- Necrophos’s _Sadist _ability changed to restore mana for any enemy killed in-lane, not just those killed by Necrophos.
- Prellex’s Mega Creeps Attack reduced from 3 -> 2.
- Prellex’s Barracks changed to summon a Melee Creep every round, or build up charges if the lane is full and summon as soon as a spot opens up.
- Rix, Oathbound and his Twisted Path changed from colorless to black, at least for the duration of the multicolor experiment, and is now available in Hero Draft.
- Rubick’s Telekenesis ability no longer stuns the first unit you select for the swap, only its resulting neighbors.
- Tidehunter Health reduced from 10 -> 9.
- Underlord’s Dark Rift cannot target filled lanes and will always deposit units in the same order as grabbed.
- Venomancer’s Poison Sting ability now only triggers on physical damage.
- Venomancer’s Plague Wards now strike for physical damage at the start of the round.
Spells and Creeps
- Objective Vision removed from the game at least for the duration of the multicolor experiment.
- Smeevil Armsmaster Health increased from 1 -> 2.
- Smeevil Blacksmith changed to red and Health increased from 1 -> 2.
- Veteran's Insight text clarification to specify the bonus goes to units that started in the lane.
Items
- Colorless cards and consumables such as Greevil Egg and Strength Potion Twin Pack now require a hero in lane to be played.
- Animated Armor mana cost (if bounced – the creep, not the item) decreased from 5 -> 1.
- Broadsword cost increased from 15 -> 20.
- Helm of the Dominator cost decreased from 35 -> 30.
- Horn of the Alpha Health increased from +3 -> +6.
- Necronomicon Health decreased from +6 -> +3.
- Ristul Emblem cost decreased from 25 -> 20.
- Root Boots Decay increased from 2 -> 4.
- Sorla Khan’s Spear cost decreased from 35 -> 30.
- Spirit Vessel cost decreased from 45 -> 40.
- Warhorn cost decreased from 25 -> 20.
Shop
- If you run out of items and get a random tier one item instead, it is no longer added to your item deck, but instead shown just for that purchase.
- The random tier one items you get if you run out of items can no longer be a third copy of a card you already have access to.
- The random tier one items you get if you run out of items can now be either 10 or 15 cost (previously they were all 10 cost.)
- If you end up buying two of every tier one item then the random items you get if a slot is empty will be tier two, and so on, until you've purchased two of every item.
- Hero Draft and Random 2-Color decks now generate a 10-item deck with at least one item in each tier rather than relying on the old shop's pool of 20+ items.
UI
- Rubick’s Spell Steal now tells you the card it will copy when in your hand.
- The playtest constructed decks are now available in private lobbies.
- The shop now previews how much gold you will have leftover when you hover the buttons to buy items or skip shopping.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed buffs from Keefe’s Stop Hittin’ Yourself and Enchantress’s Enchant sometimes staying on for too long.
- Fixed a bug where Spirit Swordsman could get stomped by a Melee Creep after combat when moving to an almost-full lane that was spawning units at the same time (e.g. Plague Ward).
- The bot no longer casts Atrophy Aura on creeps.
