Fresh from his time at the Monastery, it’s time to meet…

The Monk!

On his hero page, you can learn about his journey to the ancient temple and the powers he learned alongside his father.

Increase your desktop’s radiance with the Monk’s wallpaper. You can download the 1920×1080 wallpaper on the Media page.

How do you feel about the Monk? Let us know in the comments section. Our favorite comments will win a DD2 beta code! Winners will be chosen on May 30.

Dear Defenders,

There’s no easy way to say this, so here goes.

As of May 30, I will no longer be working at Trendy Entertainment. (Waits for tears.) I’m moving on to another opportunity — one that will let me enjoy the mountain air and enjoy my youth while I can. (Waits for nods of approval.)

Laura and Angela will be on the community team to split my responsibilities for the time being. We’re looking for another community manager to help out with the future of Trendy Entertainment. If you’d like to submit your resume, you can look at the job posting and follow the directions on that page. I know there are many talented individuals in our community who would be capable of such a task, and I would be sad if not one of you tried for the position.

The wonderful community events, the passionate posts on the forums, the in-depth guides and Let’s Plays — time and time again you have uplifted my spirits and enriched my life with your presence. I mean that. I think of you as my family — to some degree, even closer than my blood family. We have some crazy uncles and a few crazy cat ladies in our midst, but most of you are sane, rational people that I would invite to my Trendy family reunion. You, dear community members, are the sole reason I was hesitant to take the new position. I have been incredibly blessed to hang out with you every day. This has been the best job I have ever had. But some opportunities are too good, too timely, too alluring to pass up.

To my wonderful moderators, both past and present — Alhanalem, Classic22, DarkPython, Dredd, Finally, Immortal D, Iyashii, Jetah, KanibalKittN, Naed, TitoDaddy, Victoryoftheppl — thanks for going above and beyond to keep the forums clean. Your feedback concerning community ideas and changes have helped the community more than they could ever know. I hope that you will still be around to help Laura and Angela in the same way that you have helped me.

To the beta team members, whose names are too plentiful to list, you have been vital to the success of Dungeon Defenders and the future success of Dungeon Defenders II. Your dedication to the team and honest (sometimes brutal) feedback humbles us and makes us want to make better content. We can never thank you enough for taking a chainsaw to our DLCs and beta content and carving them into works of art. (Hanging phallus and all.)

To the community event hosts, there are absolutely no words for the time you put in to entertain the community week in and week out. Hands down, your creativity increased the longevity of our tiny $15 game tenfold. Your events remain the only reason why some members are still playing the game, and for that, we are eternally grateful. After seeing the community event map today, it’s great to see that a year and a half after the first events, you haven’t slowed down. Keep up the great work.

To the community map makers, your creations revolutionized the way Dungeon Defenders is played. From maps with dynamically evolving levels to interactive secret elements to entirely new game modes, your maps have stunned everyone here at Trendy. I sincerely hope that you continue to make maps long after this current Map Contest.

To everyone else not mentioned here, you are no less brilliant, no less wonderful than the amazing people above. I look forward to hearing from Laura and Angela about all of the wonderful things that you’ll do.

I’m incredibly excited for the rest of the team to release Dungeon Defenders II. I can’t wait to fight against you in the PvP and defend Etheria once again in the co-op. The team hasn’t begun to reveal all the best secrets about the game. I’m sad I won’t be the one to share them with you.

If you’re curious about where I’m going, follow me on Twitter and you’ll find out very soon. I’ll be sure to livestream games every now and then on my personal Twitch account.

Stay classy, Etheria. I’ll miss you.

Sincerely,
Hitmonchan/iamisom

It’s time once again to reveal how our competitive mode separates itself from other games in the genre. This week, we’re going in-depth with a feature we’re really excited about — persistent hero leveling.

In our competitive mode, heroes are leveled up individually. Your Man and Machine can be level 15 while your Huntress can be level 7. Cooperative and competitive levels for a hero are separate.

After every match, your hero will earn XP. Some matches will award additional XP, such as the first matches of the day. Eventually, your hero will level up. Each time you level up, you will receive a random reward (loot, gems and more), and you will be able to put a point into a stat of your choice. Some of these stats include your hero’s health, mana, and armor. These stats are currently balanced around giving players a slight edge and sense of progression, but not an un-balanced advantage. There will be respec potions if you wish to change the way a hero was specialized.

When you reach level 10, you will unlock that hero’s Hero Spell. Hero Spells are an additional ability to complement your original suite of four abilities. These unlockable Hero Spells can be used with any hero, so the Apprentice’s Mana Infusion Hero Spell can be used with the Squire. There are currently six Hero Spells that are unlocked from the beginning, so you will always have a Hero Spell to use throughout your competitive mode experience.

There will be boosts that can be found in the game. The idea behind the system is that people playing for free and people who are paying for boosts should both be able to reach level 10 at a reasonable pace, so the Hero Spells are not locked behind a time/pay wall.

As you level up, you will be able to equip your hero’s gear with higher-quality gems. Gems are what give your gear stats. Lower-level heroes will not be able to equip high-tier gems. This is to ensure that new players cannot trade/buy their way to a powerful hero. They will need to put in the time to level up the hero in order to use those stats. We’ll have more details on the gem system in full in a later blog.

How do you feel about the persistent hero leveling? Let us know in the comments section below. The most constructive comments will receive DD2 beta codes! Winners will be chosen on May 29.

Ready for round three?

In this week’s PvP Hero Showcase, the Huntress is in the spotlight. Watch the video to see her abilities in action.

Now that we’re three videos into this series, how do you feel about the PvP Hero Showcase — good, bad or otherwise? The most constructive comments will receive a DD2 beta code. Forum winners will be chosen on May 29.

Come back every Wednesday for a new PvP Hero Showcase.