Update 2.3: Smithing, Rebuilt

Smithing, rebuilt

The midgame Smithing grind was the worst offender in the game, so this update tears it down. Metal bars no longer need logs as fuel. You smelt with ore, plus coal from steel on up, and nothing else, and forging tools, weapons, and armor no longer needs planks at all. Want a chestplate, you need bars, full stop, no side trips through Woodcutting and Crafting just to start smithing. On top of that, smelting a bar is now a single action worth far more experience, so it is finally worth doing on its own, and start to finish the smelt and forge loop runs several times faster than before.

Faster across the board

Cooking, Crafting, and Woodcutting all had their experience rates raised to sit in line with the rest of the skills, so no single skill feels like a slog next to its neighbors. Cooking also burns less food while you are still learning a new fish, so more of your catch makes it to the plate.

Cook smarter, not harder

Cooking no longer eats a matching log for every single fish. Instead you choose which log keeps your fire going, and a higher tier log burns far longer before it needs replacing. A single elder log now fuels dozens of cooks, so your woodpile goes much further, and a new readout on the skilling bar shows the log you are burning and how many cooks it has left.

Arrow shafts

Fletching arrows now starts with arrow shafts, carved from whatever logs you have on hand. A better log yields more shafts per cut. It is a cleaner supply chain, and it means arrows no longer demand one specific log tier. Pick your wood, cut your shafts, fletch your arrows.

A new rune, and a new spell

The Astral rune joins the Runecraft altars at level 54, filling the long stretch between Nature and Death with its own animated altar. It powers Vengeance, a new passive that turns part of every blow you take back onto your attacker. Keeping a passive active now also trains your Magic as you fight, so the runes you spend in combat are never wasted.

The character comes alive

Your companion is livelier than ever. Bigger celebrations burst out on level ups, rare drops, pets, and nest opens, combat hits land with their own impact effects, distinct for melee, ranged, and magic, and subtle ambient touches drift around you while you skill, themed to whatever you are doing. There is also an optional Session Pulse panel that tracks your live experience per hour, your session total, and the time to your next level. Combat impacts, ambient effects, and Session Pulse can each be switched on or off in Settings.

Your progress carries over

If you have already put time into Smithing, Woodcutting, or Cooking, none of that resets. The first time you load in, your stored experience in those skills is scaled up to match the new rates and your levels are recalculated to fit, and leaderboard scores are normalized the same way, so you land exactly where you would be if these rates had always been in place.

The rest

Crafting planks are now a standalone product, and enchanted cloth can be crafted into wizard robes. Recipe descriptions were rewritten to match the new requirements in every supported language, and there is the usual round of balance, economy, and leaderboard tidying underneath. The full notes are on Steam.

— Vosk