The time has finally come! Following a few months of hard work and dedication, we're ready to present an updated pre-alpha build of Valiance. As an homage to a game we all hold dear, we felt that a release on the anniversary of our city's closing would truly be most fitting.

For those not quite familiar with the current state of the game, we'll elaborate. The pre-alpha stage of development is the stage after the conceptual or prototype stage of development. The majority of the games features are still really early in development, and most will be changed or modified in some manner to better facilitate future releases. Please understand that Valiance Online is still in this early and most impressionable state of development. At this point, each of you supporter are far more important than you may be aware. During development of most commercial titles, developers rarely have true insight to their target markets. The Valiance team, however, has a solid foundation already laid before them. They are also backed by technology and support of industry veterans that are capable of providing even more guidance and input based on proven methods of production. So we look to you all for feedback of any kind. We simply ask that you all try to understand that this product is at the earliest stage of playable development, and will be actively expanding upon through patching over time. Without futher delay, here is what you can expect to experience during the initial release phase:

Archetypes and Power Sets:

Projector

Fire Projection

• Fire Bolt: launches a small bolt of fire towards their target. (DMG)
• Brimstone Bolt: launches a flaming brimstone boulder towards their target. (DMG + DoT)
• Dragon’s Breath: exhales flaming embers onto their target. (High DoT)
• Explosion: expels a massive burst of heat waves affecting all targets within its radius. ([Self-AoE] DMG + DoT)
• Ember Snipe: charges, aims, and launches a fiery brimstone shard at a precise region of their target, inflicting lethal damage. (DMG + Knockback/knockdown + Reduce movement speed)

Champion

Street Brawling

• Punch: throws a weak jabbing punch at their target. (DMG)
• Power hook: throws a sharp, hooking punch at their target. (DMG + Low chance to stun [dizzy])
• 3 Piece Combo: throws 3 heavy blows to 3 vital regions of their target. (High DMG + Medium chance to knockback/knockdown)
• Uppercut: throws a viscous, powerful uppercut to the head of their opponent. (High DMG + High chance to knockback/knockdown)
• Push: pushes their target away to gain more fighting space between them and their target. (Low DMG + Knockback/knockdown + increased down-time)

Commander

Drone Operating

• Optic Bolt: fires a weak bolt of optic power from palm device towards their target. (Low DMG)
• Charged Shot: inputs info, and fires a medium bolt of optic power from palm device towards their target. (Medium DMG)
• Taser Array : lobs a hand-full of taser darts towards their target. (Low DMG + Medium chance to stun)
• Shock Field: places a wave grenade at her feet that explodes affecting all targets within its radius. ([Self-AoE] Low DMG + High chance to shock [dizzy])
• Call Drone: summons lethal wardrone. (calls wardrone pet)

Sentinel

Transmutation

• Life Transit: casts a healing aura on self. (Low healing)
• Healing Surge: casts a healing aura to a single ally. (Low healing)
• Healing Absorption : casts a duration based healing aura to one ally. (Medium HoT)
• Encouragement: cast a healing and defensive aura to a single ally. (Medium healing + Increase defense [armor] + 50)
• Outreach: charges healing device and emits a burst of healing that affects all allies in its radius. ([Self-AoE] High healing + Low chance to stun [dizzy] aggressors)
• Life Leech: steal health from their target. (Medium health reduction[target]+ Very low healing[self])

These are all planned for the initial release of the pre-alpha. We'll start patching the power sets by taking in player feedback and balancing out existing powers from the available sets. Afterwards we'll introduce the Bastion archetype, and its primary power set "Iron Resolve"; a physical resistence buffing power. And yes Z.N., just that quick we decided to go with something with a more final representation of the Bastion. As expressed earlier on our Facebook, we'll still be bringing the Titan Hammer power set in as a melee secondary for the Bastion and a primary power set for the Champion AT. The Commander AT will see the improved Corporal power set, in which the player will be able to direct a squad of 3 cybernetic soldier (1-2 for the early stage of release for optimization reasons). The last of the immediately planned patches is the inclusion of Ice Blast and Energy Blast power sets of the Projector AT. As players will notice, fire blast has a ton of different damage over time effects (DoT). Ice Blast will have freezing effects that slow enemy movement and freeze them briefly, while Energy Blast has a lot of knockback/knockdown potential. We plan to pour more into the pre-alpha release before we close it down for the massive overhaul that is coming in December. But in the meantime, expect more news and updates as you help us decide what else to include in this release.

Combatants:

Light Enforcers

Tactics

• Range: the light enforcer is dominant at range warfare. Upon contact they will enter combat range and fire relentlessly at their adversaries. They fire 3 round bursts as well as high powered plasma bolts. Plasma bolts have a high chance to cause knockback, and standard rounds are fired with lethal precision. Light enforcers also have a high accuracy rating, so shots most often hit their mark.
• Close: the light enforcer is range dominant and will most always flee from a potential melee threat.He will always attempt to reach ranged assault distance to fire at the player. As they are relatively quick, they are able to reach firing range quite quickly.
• Stats: light enforcers are lightly armored with moderate HP. They don't do deal heavy damage, but in groups they can be lethal.

Thugs

Tactics

• Range: thugs are moderately efficient at range. Upon contact they will enter combat range and fire relentlessly at their adversaries. Unlike the light enforcer, they lack the training to be accurate marksmen, which explain their moderate efficiency at ranged combat. They are capable of firing 10 round machine weapon bursts.
• Close: thugs will aggressively attack players that enter melee range and attempt to floor them at all costs. As they are melee dominant, they will attempt to close in and stay closed to the player using powerful sprinting until their endurance meter depletes.
• Stats: thugs are unarmored and have high HP. They do heavy melee damage, and in groups they are the most lethal foes in the build.

Though a few other mobs are complete, a lot of their AI has yet to be perfected. As we improve the functionality of their AI you will see the Heavy Enforcer, The Bouncer (a high powered mech), the Heavy Thug, and a few other boss and villain mobs stop to appear in game. As mobs are designed, modeled, skinned, and animated, we'll work our hardest to get them into the game and start to fill the game world with more content for everyone to enjoy.

Missions

Types

• Delivery: the player must deliver a specific item to a specific individual of in another location.
• Kill # of aggressors: the player must kill a certain amount of combatant.
• Destroy # of items: the player must locate and destroy a certain amount of items.
• Kill named aggressor - the player must locate a specific target and eliminate it.
• Collect # items: the player must recover a specific amount of items.

This is a small fraction of the types of mission that are currently available, but reflect the most feasible to use at the current time of release. The development team is working extremely hard to create more missions, and will throughout the coming weeks. The writing division has quite a few mission developed, fully written, and are working to have them all in game before the close of this pre-alpha development stage. There will also be timed and puzzle missions where the player must think quickly and strategically, or risk failing a mission. We are also looking for players to voice their ideas for missions types to help us create a broader range of mission types.

This concludes the news for today, look forward to more updates from us as we build upon our current progression. As always thanks for your support, dedication, and direction, you have all made this venture truly satisfying.