Originally posted by warby in #announcements / Heartwood Online Discord:

We've decided to drop an unscheduled partial update!

As you all know we're currently deep in development working on the Shadowfang region. Due to the scale of this expansion it needs more time in the oven. There are a lot of moving parts and new features so we have to make sure everything is in order before unleashing the wolves!

Today's Update

Originally we planned to release PvP with the Shadowfang update. But you've waited long enough to get revenge on your enemies. So today's your lucky day...

⚔️ PvP is now live at the Bawlow Arena, along with 1v1 duels!

1v1 duels can be initiated anywhere in the world similar to the player trade function. Remember, Heartwood is still in early access so PvP is in the early stages right now. We'll be adding dozens of new abilities and a talent tree overhaul over the next few months. Expect many tweaks and changes as we monitor player battles. Become a master PvPer early so you can crush your foes in battle grounds and other PvP events when we add them in the future.

Next Update

What does this mean for the crafters and PvE players? Well we have more good news. Fishing & cooking is almost ready. The next update will include fishing and some other surprises like trophy catches! 🏆 🐟

Originally, we wanted to include fishing & cooking in the Shadowfang update but we're releasing it early to make sure that content is coming out more frequently for you guys. Game development is very iterative process, plans change frequently. As much as we'd like to stick to the plan of 1 BIG update, breaking it up into a few smaller updates will add some extra spice to your play sessions. (And keep some folks from yelling "WHEN UPDATE!!"...right? 💀)

In other news, we just hit 40,000 discord members! Thanks for being part of the heartwood community.

Originally posted by Davro in #patch-notes / Heartwood Online Discord:

v0.4.6 - Patch Notes

Patch 0.4.6 is introducing some exciting new mechanics that we felt could use some more explanation so players may better understand our goals with the update. To help with this, we've broken up the patch notes into a few sections.

PvP

• PvP has been enabled at the Bawlow Arena!
• A 'Duel' option has been added to the player inspect UI

New Abilities

Next up we have some new Abilities. Each spell is class specific, and will replace the base 'Self Heal' at level 10. All healing effects and buffs from these spells will be improved with player levels in an effort to keep soloing more viable throughout the leveling experience.

• Stone Skin (Warrior)
  Heals you and grants an Armor bonus that lasts for 5 seconds.
• Evasion (Rogue)
  Heals you and grants a Dodge bonus that lasts for 5 seconds.
• Barrier (Mage & Priest)
  Heals you and grants a protective Barrier that prevents a set amount of damaged based on your level. Barrier will fade after 10 seconds even if it has not been depleted.

Shields

Outside of the Overseer's Gaze, shields are often overlooked in favor of more damage. While shields do help with survivability, we wanted players to see a more noticeable increase in defensive capabilities when opting out of damage. This update marks the start of some changes that we will be introducing to shields that should make them a more viable option for players who want to feel more durable.

• Block Chance and Block Value have been introduced for ALL shields in the game
• Block Chance determines the likelihood that an incoming attack will be blocked
• Block Value determines how much incoming damage is reduced by when an attack is blocked
• Bonus Armor from certain shields has been converted to Block Value

Stat Adjustments

Lastly, we have some sweeping changes to the amount of stats that players gain from gear and leveling. The goal here is to introduce fast paced PvP without having to increase player damage drastically. We also wanted the current feeling of PvE to remain the way it is now. To achieve this goal, we're reducing player health gains across the board and lowering monster damage to match them. Additionally, all classes have had some stats removed from their level gains and have been given Health Regeneration in return. This is an early step towards our upcoming talent overhaul, and is also a way to reduce downtime in PvE for classes with fewer healing options.

• All Health gains have been reduced to ~1/3 of their original value. This includes Health gained per level and Health gained from all types of gear.
• To compensate for this change, all enemy damage has been reduced to 1/3 of their original values. This includes basic attacks and abilities from all monsters and bosses.
• Dodge, Armor, Cooldown Reduction, and Focus are no longer gained from level up. These attributes can still be improved through gear and the current talent system.
• All classes gain the following stats when reaching a new level:
  • Health
  • AP/MP based on class
  • Health Regen
  • Self Heal amount has been reduced to match new Health values
• Due to the sweeping changes to player stats, all talent points have been refunded for free

Class Specific Changes (Priest)

• Holy Nova healing reduced to match new Health values
• Purify healing reduced to match new Health values
• Purify healing reduced by 50% unless cast on allies

Misc. Changes

• 'Level Up' event is now viewable by all players
• A new mount has been added to celebrate the bloodshed in Bawlow Arena
• Added a channel time for 'Teleport' that can be interrupted by damage or input from the caster
• Dispel animation now properly plays over targeted affected when removing negative or positive effects