Version 0.8.9 is ready!

Hey everyone! We've got a new patch out today and some news!

First off, we're trying to commit to a patch schedule of one new patch every Monday.  This will usually be a bug-fix patch, but eventually as we finish new content and features we'll be releasing those, too.

The only exception is a few features we'll be holding back on until the full version 1.0 "gold" release, because they'll need some extensive testing, and many of them need to be released as a complete package to make any sense.

Here's what's fixed in the new patch!

1. Plugged the massive memory leak.
   The party screen had a massive memory leak. Just opening it would gobble up a big chunk of memory, and every time you clicked on a character button in that screen, it would gobble up an extra tiny bit that would never be released until the program was closed.
   
   That's all been fixed now. There might be other problems somewhere in the game, but this was the worst culprit by far. If you notice any additional slowdown, turn on your computer's memory usage tracker and see if you can pin down which screen and behavior causes the problem.
   
   
2. Fixed healer logic.
   Or at least I think I did. There were some situations where healers would just stop healing their friends, even when they were wounded. Now, the logic should work more or less like this:
   
   HEAL:
   If a friend is hurt, use best heal available, even if I have a higher-level attack. Otherwise use the best attack against enemies. Save ZEAL for healing.
   
   FIGHT:
   If an enemy is in range, use best attack available, even if I have a higher-level heal and a wounded friend. Otherwise use the best heal on a wounded friend. Always cast "ZEAL" if I have inspire.
   
   BOTH:
   Use the highest level skill if possible. If it's an attack and no enemy is in range, use the best heal instead if a friend is hurt. If it's a heal and no friend is hurt, use the best attack instead. If neither, case ZEAL if I also have "inspire."
   
   
3. Fixed ice mage skill display bug.
   The ice mage's "chill" % would sometimes show up with lots of trailing repeating fractions. This is fixed now. I've heard reports of ice mage chill debuffs interacting strangely with each other such that people are intentionally not using sleet/blizzard - I'm working on tracking this bug down but I don't think it's fixed in 0.8.9, and might need to wait until next week.
   
   
4. Fixed boss battle level trigger in Act VI
   To avoid spoilers, those who've experienced this bug know what it is. There's a certain battle where a level trigger was supposed to fire but wasn't always doing so on 4x speed. I think it's fixed now. Of course, that's what I said in the last two patches...
   
5. Fixed level cap bug
   Previously, you could level up past 40 and still get skill points even though you wouldn't gain XP. I've fixed this, so now it's a hard cap. In upcoming patches we will roll out more end-game content and we'll be making a set of challenge rewards that progressively raise the level cap by 5 to 10 levels or so each.  As you get into the higher levels, at a certain point the "skill cap" will be raised past 9, so that even at high levels, you can never completely fill out anyone's skill tree. This keeps your characters from all becoming the same.
   
   I'll also consider making it something you can just manually unlock from a menu if you want. The reason we have a skill cap is that the game balance hasn't really been fine-tuned for end-game play, so we want to generally discourage people from super grinding up before there's any real fun content to experience at those levels. We'll give you the tools to raise the level cap as soon as end-game is more properly balanced.
   
6. Fixed character menu lagIn the battle menu, if you swipe your mouse across the spells, or the character class tabs, the information will update but the game won't slow down. Previously, if you did this across the character buttons themselves, there'd be massive lag.  I did some optimizing and reduced the lag by 80%. It's still noticeable on some machines, but hopefully should be muuuuch better.
   
7. Fixed bonus hp bugPreviously, any passive traits that gave you bonus hp like "bulk up" and "fatten up" gave you HP that displayed in the party menu and battle preview menus, but NOT when you actually put the characters down on the field. It's fixed now - their in-battle HP's match what their preview stats say.
   
8. Fixed bonus range bug
   There used to be an exploit where you could get free bonuses to a ranger's range stat by upgrading "range focus" and then re-specing the character. This is fixed now.
   

We've got Windows, Mac, and Linux versions on the update server and are in the process of updating the store, which should be ready within hours of this post.  I've fixed it so in the new version, it will display the full path to the downloaded update file and won't close the game window automatically.

Of course, you'll all be using the old version to download that, so you won't get any benefit from this new feature until the next patch, if you follow me.

That being said, the official solution we have right now for anyone experiencing download problems is to email us at leveluplabs@gmail.com, and we'll send you some fresh links from the store (once we get that uploaded). I wish our store would just let us give you permanent download links, but they haven't been super helpful in that regard, and if they continue to do so I'll consider finding a new storefront provider. In the meantime email us if you have any problems!

Also - from now on we're changing the naming convention for the files. Previously it was "defq_mm_dd_yyyy.exe", so something like, "defq_01_31_2012.exe" for a windows installer created on January 31st.  

The new convention is "defenders_quest_x_y_z.exe", so, "defenders_quest_0_8_9.exe" is the windows installer for version 0.8.9. This should be easier to keep track of, and also is easier to find if you can't locate the file and need to use a search query.

I'm already working on bug fixes for 0.9.0, which should be out next Monday. My top priorities for that are additional slowdown/memory issues, battle glitches (including the ice mage problem), and lots of other stuff. The best place for the general public to report bugs for now is our bug-report thread in the forum:

http://www.defendersquest.com/theforum/viewforum.php?f=5

Thanks for playing!

-Lars