Last Epoch - Patch 0.8.5 Overview

Here's the patch 0.8.5 overview for Last Epoch:

0.8.5 on the Horizon | Development Update January 2022

Development Update
December saw the introduction of the Eternal Legends update. This introduced one of the new endgame Dungeons: Temporal Sanctum, Legendary Items, an overhaul to crafting, and an overhaul to the Druid mastery. We're happy to say this new endgame system, and the addition of legendary items to provide further solid goals for players has been very well received. This patch resulted in not only continual growth of player numbers over the first month following release but the highest overall retention we've seen to date.

Looking forward to patch 0.8.5, we have some exciting news to share with you today. 0.8.5 will bring an exciting batch of content into the game for players in Eterra to explore. From endgame content like two new dungeons and updates to our Arena system - to visual improvements across the game, like new 3D models, weapons, and combat VFX and feel. We are also putting a lot of effort into improving our tools to find, track and fix performance issues.

In addition to the new content above, behind the scenes our 0.8.5 development cycle has a massive focus on multiplayer. We have more dedicated developers devoted to multiplayer this year than at any time in Last Epoch's history, and we are actively paving the way towards our first community test.

Forecast Update
As our development path towards 1.0 comes closer into focus, we have an update to share on some of our longer-term development goals for Last Epoch.

We now have a better understanding of what our focuses need to be for 1.0 to ensure Epoch is ready for a large audience, and live operations development for years to come.

As we've continued to develop and shape Last Epoch around community feedback (thank you by the way), we have realized that some features have needed to be re-evaluated in how they fit into the world of Eterra, and thus removed from this development card. This does not mean we have plans for any less content for Last Epoch, just that these items no longer fit into the core experience in a fun and fluid way as they were envisioned.

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I hope multiplayer gets released this year.
If someone is wondering, this is a solid diablo-like ARPG.
And for its asking price the content released so far is plentiful.

Originally Posted by Denril
I hope multiplayer gets released this year.
If someone is wondering, this is a solid diablo-like ARPG.
And for its asking price the content released so far is plentiful.

multiplayer most of the time is single player with trade in this kind of game, i'd rather see missing masteries first : falconeer, runemaster and warlock.

Originally Posted by They Live
multiplayer most of the time is single player with trade in this kind of game, i'd rather see missing masteries first : falconeer, runemaster and warlock.

Yes the missing masteries are also important.
About multiplayer i have a friend with who i want to play together, thats why i want it released asap.

Already a terrific game. Well positioned sort of in between Diablo 3 and POE. Each patch which is about 4 months apart adds a significant amount of content but there is already enough to have a blast.

Originally Posted by johnnysd
Well positioned sort of in between Diablo 3 and POE.

For me they have a lot of work to do before Last Epoch comes anywhere near any of the established Hack'n'Slays.

I've started playing with 0.8.4 and just this week I tried out the arena thing and the special dungeon they added with 0.8.4.
At the moment I don't feel like continuing to play for the single reason that Last Epoch lacks depths in a lot of aspects. It feels like there are just not enough possibilities to improve your character, crafting is limited and very simple, and besides crafting there just is nothing else - all the established Hack'n'Slays offer more.

For a 0.x version Last Epoch is a great game and I had a lot of fun - but a Hack'n'Slay is not about playing the story one time and be done with it.
Since they fix things like the map reset problem only when introducing multiplayer, I would be careful to recommend Last Epoch to anyone. With this annoying problem the game is just bugged.
Hopefully they rerwork the early chapters heavily - the difference in quality between the early and the last chapters is remarkable. Imo all the maps need more interactivity - atm they feel very bland.
Some things like the story that is heavily interwoven with a basic game mechanic may sadly be beyond repair. Strange they made this conceptual decision - the story should never be directly connected to game mechanics.