Greetings! We are doing a release tonight that brings with it lots of changes, so please read the following notes.

**Many of these new features are still in development! Please be aware that there may be missing components to new content, lack of information, etc.**

There is an all new gate creation system

This new system offers much greater transparency into gate creation and how minerals generate levels. When depositing minerals, players will have the option of depositing them into different groupings of floors, called 'stratums.' There are two stratums in every tier. The 'default stratum' is always preselected upon opening the deposit interface.

You are now paid in crowns for every mineral deposited. However, opting not to deposit in the default stratum will probably cost crowns per mineral for the privilege of depositing into deeper stratums earlier.

You can also 'boost' the payouts mineral types in stratums to encourage other players to deposit the minerals you want.

Stratums have themes

As you deposit minerals into each stratum, you will see the 'theme' of that stratum change. The theme dictates what kinds of levels will be created.

Many new levels and monsters have been created to support these themes. They will be further fleshed out as we continue to develop this new feature.

Status conditions have changed

Status conditions are undergoing some changes. Here's what's different so far:

- Freeze now lasts for a long time and breaks on a single hit. It is intended for crowd control on monsters. If the ice breaks naturally, the target receives some damage.

- Shock now prevents monster movement and damages other targets around it on spasm intervals.

- Fire damage has been decreased.

- Poison now damages monsters when they are healed and gives an attack and defense debuff.

- A bug with curse has been fixed

An important notice regarding exploits:
Over the weekend, a bug was discovered that some players exploited. Those players have been banned.

Please remember that the purpose of this preview event is to give us good feedback and help us improve Spiral Knights. Helping us discover exploits and reporting them- good. Discovering exploits and using them to damage the game- bad.

Other additions

- Some monster defenses have been altered.
- Loading screen images have been added
- The core approach terminal has changed
- As always, lots of random bug fixes