Version 0.5.2.4 2026-05-13

• 📱 iOS PWA Top Bar Fix: Fixed hamburger menu being untappable on iOS devices due to CSS layout conflicts and insufficient touch target sizing. The app-container now correctly accounts for safe-area-inset on all breakpoints, and the hamburger button has a proper 48×48px touch target.

Version 0.5.2.3 (Combat Stability) 2026-04-26

• 🛡️ Round 100 Auto-Defeat Fix: Reaching turn 100 in combat will no longer stall the game. The combat engine now safely processes the timeout and correctly applies an auto-defeat.
• ✨ Friendly Buff Fix: Resolved an issue where friendly buffs (like Holy Aura or Haste) could be accidentally resisted by your own party members. Friendly actions now correctly bypass Status Resist checks. This applies to monster buffs too! Thank you sukrih for the report

Version 0.5.2.2 (The Big Swap — Landing/Game URL Split) 2026-04-24

• 🧭 Routing Split: The marketing landing page now lives at /index.html while the playable game has moved to /play.html.
• 💾 Resume Shortcut: The landing page now detects existing local saves and upgrades the main CTA to Resume Game.
• 🧪 Tooling & Cache Hardening: Tests, static generators, version sync, manifest, and service worker precache were updated to follow the new page split safely.
• 💬 Discord Support: We fixed the Discord link. If you experience any issues with the PWA migration, please join our Discord for support!

Version 0.5.2.1 (The Balance & Scaling Overhaul) 2026-04-13

• ⚖️ Scaling Re-balance: Adjusted Dimension-based monster level scaling. Dimension 10 monsters now target Level 944 (down from 1444) for a smoother, more sustainable difficulty progression.
• 💰 Economic Realignment: Overhauled gold reward tiers to follow a stepped decay curve similar to XP. High-level gold rewards remain significant without inflating into the millions too early.
• 📈 Dimension Multiplier: Reduced the global dimension scaling factor from 1.3 to 1.24 to prevent extreme level spikes in deep dungeon runs.

Version 0.5.2.0 (The Forge Bulk Actions Update) 2026-04-12

• ⚒️ Mass Forge Management: Introduced the "Bulk Command Center" in the Blacksmith. You can now Sell, Scrap, and Upgrade multiple items in a single transaction.
• 🔍 Advanced Selection Filters: Integrated Armory-grade filters into the Forge. Quickly isolate items by Category, Rarity, or Level to perform mass actions.
• ⚠️ Include Affixes Safety: Added a dedicated "Include Affixes" toggle. Standard mode now protects your rare and enchanted gear, while the toggle allows for advanced bulk processing of affixed items.
• 🛡️ Transaction Safety: Implemented a "Hold-to-Confirm" verification for all bulk actions. All upgrades are processed in atomic batches to ensure state integrity even during achievement unlocks.
• 💰 Visual Clarity: Updated confirmation modals to use the high-fidelity Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Copper currency icons for accurate profit/cost tracking.
• ⚡ UI Performance: Optimized the Forge inventory rendering using DocumentFragments and batching, ensuring smooth performance even with 200+ items.

Version 0.5.1.4 (Enemy Skill Rebalance) 2026-04-07

• ✨ New Skill: Smite: Added a Tier 1 Holy offensive spell for enemies. Deals moderate damage with a 60% chance to reduce the target's Attack power.
• 🛠️ Data Integrity Fixes: Resolved long-standing "broken" skill references. shield_wall now correctly maps to iron_wall, and flurry has been replaced with pummel for multi-headed enemies.
• ⚖️ Elite Scaling & "Mega" Downgrades: Rebalanced 11 Normal and Elite enemies that were incorrectly using Boss-tier (T3) skills. These have been replaced with thematic Tier 1 and Tier 2 skill pairs to ensure a challenging but fair difficulty curve.
• 🌌 Endgame Depth: Populated the "Hollow" Dimension 10 enemies with unique skill kits. Void Creatures and Shadow Demons now feature active abilities, making the final climb mechanically distinct from earlier dimensions.
• 🛡️ Elite Specialization: Enhanced late-game Elites (Dimensions 9-10) with 3-skill tactical kits and new stealth tag assignments to increase their threat level without relying on overpowered Boss abilities.

Version 0.5.1.3 (The Combat Clarity Update) 2026-04-07

• 👁️ Enhanced Buff Visibility: Active skills like Arcane Bolt, Iron Wall, and Serenade now correctly display status icons on character combat cards, making temporary buffs much easier to track.
• 📐 Flat Stat Support: Overhauled the combat engine to support flat stat bonuses from status effects independently from percentage multipliers.
• 🎻 Music System Migration: The Bard's repertoire of Songs, Ballads, and Anthems has been fully migrated to the status effects system for better UI integration and technical consistency.
• 💪 Stat Stacking Clarification: Refined the StatCalculator and confirmed Traits, Bestiary bonuses, and Status Effects stack additively, preventing unintended power spikes or "explosion" bugs. This might change in the future but require a complex change in the pipeline and is currently deferred
• 🛡️ Engine Stability: Fixed a calculation error where flat status bonuses were occasionally misinterpreted as massive percentage multipliers.

⚠️ Note:This update lays the groundwork for more advanced Battlefield and Zone effects in the future. By unifying our buff system, we can now ensure that every strategic choice you make is clearly reflected on the UI.

Version 0.5.1.2 (Combat Log Improvements) 2026-04-06

• 📊 Detailed Damage Math: Combat log now shows the full damage formula — base power, crit multiplier, variance, elemental, and mitigation.
• 💥 Critical Hits: Critical strikes display their damage multiplier (e.g., 2.63x) so you can see exactly how crit damage is calculated.
• ⚡ Elemental Damage: Fire, ice, lightning, and other elemental attacks now show their element icon in the damage breakdown.
• 💚 Healing Math: Healing spells display healing-specific math instead of damage formulas.
• 🛡️ Status Resistance: Debuff attempts now show success chance vs target resistance (e.g., "50% base - 10% resist = 40% chance").
• 🧹 Cleaner Utility Skills: Buffs, taunts, and utility skills no longer show meaningless "0 damage" lines.
• ⚡ Triggered Effects: Effect triggers now indicate where they're applied (e.g., "Defender's Aegis triggers → All Allies").

Version 0.5.1.1 (The Traits Update) 2026-04-06

• 🧬 12 New Hero Traits: Expanded the trait system with fresh options for customizing your heroes — Vital, Arcane Flow, Piercer, Savage, Bulwark, Reckless, Healer, Spell Vampir, Arcane Master, Taunter, Dodger, and Marksman.
• 📖 Wiki Trait Browser: Added a new "Traits" section to the Codex Wiki — browse all 32 traits with detailed effect breakdowns, tier info, and search functionality.
• 🔧 Trait System Fixes: Corrected the Scavenger trait's internal stat name for consistency, and tuned Relentless and Glass Cannon for better balance.
• ✅ Verified Traits: Double-checked all trait calculations in the stat system to ensure every bonus applies correctly during combat.

Version 0.5.1.0 (The Enemy Visual Update) 2026-04-05

• 👹 High-Fidelity Enemy Portraits: Added 80 unique, high-resolution portraits for all enemies across all 10 Dimensions. No more generic icons — every monster now has a distinct visual identity.
• 📖 Bestiary & Wiki Integration: Your tracked kills and the Codex Wiki now feature full-color enemy portraits, making the Bestiary much more rewarding to complete.
• ⚔️ Combat Visuals: Enemy cards in the arena and the turn initiative rail now use these new portraits, improving readability and immersion during battle.
• ✨ Optimized Performance: All portraits are served in transparent WebP format, providing sharp visuals with a minimal footprint.

Version 0.4.9.23 (Narrative Expeditions & Save Integrity) 2026-03-23

• ExpeditionReportGenerator: New shared utility class generates narrative reports from expedition and offline dungeon results. Includes floor milestones, encounter highlights, and thematic story text.
• Offline Spoils Narrative Toggle: Offline dungeon spoils popup now supports toggling between narrative view (story-style) and detailed log view (run-by-run breakdown).
• Milestone Notifications: Optional notifications when expeditions reach floor milestones (10/25/50/100/150/etc). Estimates are clearly marked as approximate.
• Memory Leak Fixes: Fixed untracked setInterval in ExpeditionsUI causing memory leaks on tab reinit. Added onDestroy cleanup for _preflightCache.
• Critical Save Fix: Fixed bug in SaveSystem.serializeEquippedItem() that was causing equipped items to be lost during save/load cycles. Items now properly serialize with uid, baseId, iLevel, level, prefixes, and suffixes.

Version 0.4.6.1 (Unified Item Display & Offline Progress Fix) 2026-03-22

• Unified Item Display: Completely refactored the item display architecture. A new ItemDisplayService now acts as the single source of truth for all item naming, colored affix pill rendering, and stat block generation across the Armory, Forge, Dungeon Spoils, and Inspector tabs.
• Offline Loot Calculation Fix: Resolved a critical "params is not defined" error that caused expeditions and offline simulation to occasionally fail to award loot due to a variable scoping bug in the DungeonSimulationService.
• Affix Data Integrity: Fixed a data contamination bug where item drops from background simulations were storing entire definition objects instead of string IDs, which previously manifested as "Silver Belt [Object Object]" in the UI.

Version 0.4.6.0 (Class-Specific Equipment & Loot Revamp) 2026-03-22

• Class-Specific Equipment Restrictions: Equipment is now restricted to specific character classes. Heavy armor (Plate, Chainmail) is exclusive to front-line tanks, while cloth robes are caster-only. The Armory UI greys out restricted items with red "Equippable by" warnings.
• 7 New Equipment Items: Added Hammer and Crossbow weapons; Brigandine, Gambeson, and Lamellar armor; plus Bracers and Talisman accessories. Each fills strategic gaps in the equipment matrix (e.g., Tinkerer now has dedicated gear).
• Revamped Loot Pools: Reorganized Classic, Advanced, and Specialist pools so every class has at least one weapon and armor available from the start. Loot now progresses thematically: Classic for basic gear, Advanced for specialized equipment, Specialist for end-game artifacts.
• Auto-Equip Intelligence: The Auto-Equip engine now respects class restrictions, only recommending gear your hero can actually wear. No more suggesting Plate Armor for your Mystic!
• Equipment Validation: Added server-side enforcement in InventorySystem.equipItem() to prevent equipping restricted gear via exploits or console commands.

Version 0.4.5.0 (RNG Entropy & Stat Precision) 2026-03-21

• RNG Entropy Overhaul: Broken the "Weekly Time Loop" by injecting a unique runCounter into all random seeds. Every dungeon run (active or offline) now features unique enemy compositions and loot tables, even on the same floor in the same week.
• Run Continuity Sync: Fixed a critical "Time-Travel Paradox" where live runs resumed from offline simulation would use stale RNG seeds. The game now automatically "Fast-Forwards" your save file counter to match simulation progress during Dungeon resolution and Expedition recall.
• Stat Rounding Standardization: Centralized all numeric precision logic in StatCalculator.js. HP and MP are now strictly integers, while combat percentages (crit, accuracy) utilize 4-decimal precision. This eliminates floating-point "noise" in combat logs and character sheets.
• iLevel Visual Variety: Added a deterministic ±3 random jitter to item levels. Items found on the same floor now display natural variation (e.g., Level 108, 110, 114) instead of always landing on the same dimension-encoded numbers.
• Simulation Fidelity: Updated OfflineProgressSystem to maintain its own local entropy counter during auto-restart loops. Retries after a defeat are now unique, allowing teams to potentially overcome floors they previously failed.

Version 0.4.4.3 (Critical Fixes & Memory Management) 2026-03-20

• Event Listener Memory Leak Fixes: Created UIBaseComponent.js with automatic cleanup for DOM events, EventBus subscriptions, gameState subscriptions, and timers. All 18 UI components refactored to extend UIBaseComponent, preventing memory accumulation during tab switching.
• Data Integrity Fixes: Fixed three critical data bugs: (1) Added CHARACTER_UPDATED event to EventBus.EVENTS constant, (2) Added missing mind: 0.2 to Gambler class statGrowth, (3) Added elementalAffinity: arcane to voidMage enemy data.
• Combat Bounds Checking: Added division-by-zero guards to StatusEffectSystem.js tickDamage and tickHeal calculations to prevent NaN when maxHP is 0.
• CSS Architecture Cleanup: Extracted 271 inline styles from JavaScript to CSS classes. Removed 106 hardcoded hex color fallbacks from CSS var() declarations. Fixed dismiss button positioning (top: 24px) across all character cards.
• Basic Accessibility (ARIA): Added role="tab", aria-selected, aria-controls to navigation. Added aria-live="polite" to gold/essence displays and combat log. Added role="tabpanel" and aria-labelledby to all content sections.
• InspectorUI Bug Fix: Fixed InspectorUI singleton instantiation in PartyUI and ArmoryUI to use InspectorUI.getInstance() instead of new InspectorUI(), preventing modal initialization failures.

Version 0.4.4.2 (Inspector UI Lock Fix) 2026-03-21

• Inspector UI Persistent Lock Bug: Fixed a critical bug where the Skill, Skill Tree, and Tag Tree tabs would remain permanently locked (🔒) for all characters after inspecting any "busy" hero (e.g., a recruit in an active dungeon run).
• DOM Lifecycle Refactor: Refactored the InspectorUI singleton to use conditional visibility (display toggling) instead of destructive innerHTML replacement. The pane structure now persists across character context switches, eliminating silent render failures when switching from busy to available heroes.

Version 0.4.4.1 (Simulation Parity & Tooltip Fix) 2026-03-20

• Offline Simulation Full Parity: Fixed offline and expedition combat simulations underperforming because CombatCore.simulateFull() was not receiving the 5 combat pipeline dependencies (SnapshotFactory, Resolver, Applier, SkillSystem, StatusEffectSystem). Actors now use skills, status effects, and the full resolver pipeline — matching live combat fidelity.
• Skill Tooltips in Inspector: Fixed skill hover tooltips not appearing in the Character Inspector overlay. The tooltip listener was delegated on #app-container, but the Inspector renders on document.body as a sibling — events never bubbled across. Listeners now delegate from document.
• Inspector Stats Tab Hoverable Skills: Added .skill-hoverable class and data-skill-id/data-character-id attributes to the Stats tab skill list, enabling tooltip display on hover (matching the Skills management tab behavior).

Version 0.4.4.0 (The Balanced Progression Update) 2026-03-19

• Anti-Boosting Mechanic (Party XP Penalty): If the average level of the surviving party members is significantly higher than the monsters they are fighting, the total XP pool for the entire room is reduced (3% penalty per level beyond a 10-level grace period, hard capped at a 10% minimum yield). This prevents end-game heroes from easily "boosting" low-level heroes through trivial content.
• Individual XP Scaling: Replaced the flat XP split with a dynamic per-hero scaling system. Heroes now receive XP based on their individual level relative to the monsters (10-level grace period, then -5% per level, hard floored at 1%). This prevents high-level "safe farming" while still allowing for mild carry strategies.
• Balanced Weapon iLevel: Flattened the end-game power curve by adjusting the weapon iLevel exponent from 1.15 to 0.83. This reduces extreme stat inflation at iLevel 1000 by 75% while maintaining a strong progression feel.
• Victory Screen Redesign: The end-of-floor summary now uses a "Receipt Split" design. It clearly separates the This Floor results (including individual XP breakdowns) from the Run Totals accumulated across the entire dungeon run.
• Run Gold Tracker: Added a totalGoldEarned property to track and display true accumulated gold in the run summary, resolving an inconsistency where banked gold was hidden from the "Pending Loot" label.
• Expedition XP Transparency: The Expedition and Offline Progress reports now display the individual XP earned by each party member, reflecting the new dynamic scaling rules in background simulations.
• UI Polish: Cleaned up the Character Inspector by removing the redundant "Costs" label from Respec buttons for a sleeker look.

Version 0.4.3.0 (Unified Expeditions) 2026-03-18

• Full-Fidelity Expeditions: Expeditions now use the same CombatCore simulation engine as offline progress. Every combat turn is resolved with real math — no more fake timer-based rewards. Deploy your benched heroes and recall them to see exactly what they fought, looted, and earned.
• Deploy & Recall Flow: Assign a team, pick a dimension, and deploy. Heroes are fully locked (no equip/unequip/dismiss) while deployed. When you recall, all elapsed time is simulated at once via OfflineProgressSystem.checkAndSimulateParty(), producing a detailed spoils popup identical to the offline progress screen.
• Expedition Slot Progression: 5 expedition slots unlock as you reach higher floors (0, 50, 100, 200, 300). Each slot operates independently with its own dimension and Lock Dimension toggle.
• Preflight Viability Check: Before deploying, the system runs a quick 5-floor stress test to show whether your team can survive the chosen dimension. A warning badge appears if the party wipes early.
• Expedition Achievements: Added 3 new achievements — deploy all unlocked slots simultaneously, reach 100+ floors in a single recall, and send an expedition to Dimension 4+.
• Hero Busy Guards: Heroes on active expeditions are now blocked from equipping/unequipping gear via InventorySystem as defense-in-depth, in addition to existing UI-level filtering.
• AfkRewardSystem Removed: The legacy timer-based AFK reward system has been fully replaced by the Phase 2 Offline Progress System. All AFK references, event mappings, and script tags cleaned up.
• State Migration: Existing saves with old expedition data formats are automatically migrated to the new shape (deployedAt, floorSnapshot, lockDimension) on load.

Version 0.4.2.0 (Offline Progress System) 2026-03-18

• Offline Dungeon Simulation: The game now detects when you've been away and simulates dungeon progress floor-by-floor using the full combat engine. Every turn of every fight is resolved at full fidelity — the same math as live play. Configurable rate of 5 minutes per floor, up to 500 floors and 24 hours of offline time.
• Offline Spoils Popup: On returning to the game, a detailed summary shows your total floors cleared, enemies defeated, gold/XP earned, items found, and crafting materials gained. An expandable run-by-run log lets you review each dungeon run's outcome and loot breakdown.
• Deferred Rewards: XP distribution, level-ups, bestiary kill tracking, stat counter increments, and achievement evaluation all happen at collection time when you click "Collect & Continue" — ensuring nothing is lost and everything is properly attributed.
• Floor-Start Snapshots: Party HP/MP state is now captured at the start of each dungeon floor, enabling accurate offline simulation from the exact point where you left off.
• Auto-Restart Support: Offline simulation respects all automation flags — Auto Advance, Restart on Defeat, Lock Dimension, and Resume Progress. Multiple runs are simulated if your party is defeated and auto-restart is enabled.
• Seeded Offline RNG: All offline combat, encounter generation, and loot rolls use deterministic seeded randomness via GameRNG, ensuring consistent and fair results.
• CombatCore.simulateFull(): Added a synchronous full-combat resolver to CombatCore that runs an entire battle to completion and returns the outcome — the backbone of offline simulation.

Version 0.4.1.0 (Combat Core & Dimension Control) 2026-03-18

• CombatCore Extraction (Phase 1): Extracted the core combat execution loop from CombatEngine into a standalone CombatCore.js module (802 lines). This pure-logic layer handles turn resolution, action selection, skill execution, and round progression — fully decoupled from UI, events, and dungeon state. Enables future offline simulation and expedition combat reuse.
• Lock Dimension Toggle: Added a new dungeon configuration toggle that prevents automatic dimension advancement. When enabled, completing floor 100 restarts the current dimension from floor 1 instead of advancing to the next dimension. Combines with Resume Progress to start from a calculated deep floor within the locked dimension.
• Dungeon Toggle Rename & Reorder: Renamed and reordered the pre-combat configuration toggles for clarity: Starting Dimension, Auto Advance (was "Auto-continue"), Restart on Defeat (was "Auto-restart"), Lock Dimension (new), Resume Progress (was "Start from deep").
• State Defaults Cleanup: Added autoContinue, autoRestart, startFromDeep, and lockDimension to StateManager initial defaults, ensuring consistent state initialization for new saves.

Version 0.4.0.0 (The Armory Optimizer & Intelligence Update) 2026-03-16

• Smart Auto-Equip Engine: Implemented a 2-stage optimization pipeline. The engine now uses fast heuristic pruning followed by a full StatCalculator simulation to find the mathematical "Best-in-Slot" for every hero.
• Per-Hero Optimizer Settings: Added a configuration menu (⚙️) for each hero. Tailor individual equipment strategies with checkboxes for "Include Bench" and "Farming Mode," and a real-time weight-balance slider.
• Build Focus Balance: Introduced a "Balance Beam" slider that initializes to class-specific defaults (e.g., Healers prefer MPS, Scouts prefer DPS). Shift your build toward Pure Offense or Pure Defense while maintaining a consistent "Weight Budget."
• Advanced Multi-Facet Filtering: Replaced the basic dropdown with a full-screen filter overlay. Filter your inventory by Slot, Rarity, iLevel, Material, specific Stats, and dynamic Keywords.
• Searchable Affix Modal: Added a dedicated secondary modal with a 150ms debounced search. Easily find and toggle specific prefixes and suffixes among the pool of 100+ items.
• Equipment Locking System: Added 🔒 toggles to every equipment slot. Protect specific gear from being touched by the Auto-Equip engine during optimization runs.
• "Theft Guard" Logic: The engine now intelligently respects hero status. It will never pull gear from heroes in the active party or those deployed on expeditions/dungeon runs.
• Performance Sorting: Added new high-utility sort methods: iLevel, DPS Gain, and MPS Gain. Sorting by Gain now runs a real-time simulation relative to the selected hero's current build.
• Mythic Rarity Tier: Expanded the rarity ladder to include the 6th "Mythic" tier in the filtering engine for end-game gear management.
• Legacy Purge (MAG): Fully removed the legacy mag stat from the codebase. All magical scaling, UI labels, and data nodes now strictly utilize the magAtk (MATK) standard.
• Toggleable Slot Filters: Clicking a hero's equipment slot now acts as a smart toggle, instantly filtering the inventory to compatible items or clearing the filter on a second click.
• Bug Fix (iLevel Regression): Resolved a critical bug where equipping/unequipping gear would reset its iLevel to 1. Existing gear power is now fully preserved during swaps.
• Bug Fix (Affix Identity): Fixed a rendering issue where suffix-based keyword chips (e.g., "of Might") would display as "undefined" in the filter UI.

Version 0.3.2.0 (The Dimensional Itemization Overhaul) 2026-03-16

• Scalable iLevel System: Replaced the hardcoded 3-tier material system with a dynamic 1-1000 iLevel architecture. Item power now scales across 10 dimensions using a configurable "Gentle Exponential" curve (targeting 100x power at endgame).
• Dynamic Material Flavors: Introduced 10 Material tiers (Copper, Iron, Steel, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Mithril, Adamant, Obsidian, Celestial) that resolve automatically based on an item's iLevel. Includes dynamic naming and theme-variable color tinting in the UI.
• Generic Equipment Archetypes: Refactored all 22 items into generic archetypes (e.g., "Sword", "Plate", "Ring"). Items now inherit their name and visual style from their material, allowing for infinite combinations without data bloat.
• Stat Separation Strategy: Sanitized the gear system so that Base Items provide scaling Attributes/Vitals only, while Affixes handle static logic and utility. This prevents "stat death" in high dimensions.
• Rank-Based Loot Resolution: Implemented a hierarchical loot engine (Local -> Rank Default -> Global). Standardized gold and item drops for Regular, Elite, Miniboss, and Boss ranks across all 80+ enemies.
• Weighted Item Pools: Organized loot into Classic, Advanced, and Specialist pools. Added dimensionScaling logic, allowing rare Specialist gear to have a tiny "Lotto" drop chance in early dimensions that increases as you go deeper.
• Unique Affix Enforcement: Implemented a global guard against duplicate prefixes and suffixes. New drops, rerolls, and exalts are guaranteed unique. Added a "Self-healing" load-time migration that automatically rerolls legacy duplicates while preserving rarity.
• Equipment Tag Hooks: Equipment affixes like Divine or Infernal now correctly grant character tags (Holy, Fire, etc.), allowing gear to contribute directly to Party Synergy Auras.
• UI Info Density: Added iLevel badges and material glows to the Armory, Blacksmith, and Hero Inspector. Updated the naming engine to include iLevel brackets for better item evaluation.
• Wealth Multiplier Integration: Party-wide "Gold Find" from items like the Gold Ring or "of Wealth" suffix now correctly aggregates and multiplies all dungeon gold drops.
• Bug Fix (The Poison Pill): Resolved a critical TypeError in the Forge and Armory where numeric item IDs would crash the rendering loop and hide the player's inventory.

Version 0.3.1.0 (Expedition Simulation & Shared Logic) 2026-03-15

• Dungeon Simulation Service: Extracted core dungeon math (generation, loot, scaling, XP) into a stateless shared service. This ensures that any balance changes to the active dungeon automatically apply to idle expeditions.
• Expedition v2.0 (Dungeon Macro): Overhauled expeditions to act as automated room clears. Every 5 minutes of deployment now simulates a full dungeon clear at the anchor floor, using the exact same logic as active gameplay.
• Simulated PWR Requirements: Replaced arbitrary power formulas with a "Stress Test" model. The system now runs 5 virtual generations of the target floor to calculate a dynamic requirement based on actual monster stats and procedural spawning.
• Deterministic Reward Seed: Missions now generate a frozen numeric seed at dispatch. This guarantees that rewards are 100% locked and consistent across reloads, preventing "save-scumming" while ensuring fairness.
• Full Loot & Scrap Simulation: Expeditions now yield the full range of dungeon rewards, including Essence, Shards, and items with full affix generation. Integrated the Automatic Scraping logic into the simulation loop.
• Magic Stat Unification: Fully decommissioned the legacy mag stat. All magical scaling, UI labels, and item affixes now target magAtk exclusively.
• Aura Externalization: Moved party synergy aura definitions to a dedicated synergyauras.json file, allowing for dynamic expansion of party synergies without code changes.
• Constant Centralization: Purged dozens of hardcoded "magic numbers" from the codebase and centralized them in GameBalance.json (e.g., crit coefficients, HP scaling, loot drop rates).
• Recall Penalty Logic: Implemented a 1-gold minimum for very short runs and a randomized item pruning system for early recalls (discarding 50% of the item list) to maintain mechanical consistency with dungeon retreats.

Version 0.3.0.0 (The Unified Combat Refactor) 2026-03-15

• Unified Combat Engine: Replaced fragmented combat math with a centralized 3-tier architecture: CombatSnapshotFactory (Normalization), CombatResolver (Pure Logic), and CombatApplier (State Mutations).
• 10-Stage Damage Pipeline: Implemented a deterministic pipeline including Accuracy rolls, Base Power scaling, Elemental interactions, and Division-based Mitigation.
• Delivery & Elements: Introduced Melee, Ranged, and Spell delivery modes with inherent accuracy bonuses. Added 8 elemental types with a global interaction matrix (Fire > Nature > Lightning > Ice).
• Dynamic Skill Modification: Passive skills and equipment affixes can now dynamically override skill attributes (e.g., "Fire Attunement" converting all melee hits to Fire).
• K-Curve Mitigation: Replaced linear defense subtraction with a K / (K + DEF) curve (K=200). This ensures diminishing returns on extreme defense values while maintaining low-level relevance.
• Synchronized DPS/MPS: Overhauled aggregate stat formulas in StatCalculator to account for miss rates, new mitigation curves, and turn-timing constants. Added a Primary Stat Bias (MAX logic) to ensure specialized classes are accurately rated.
• Expedition Power (PRW): Linked the expedition team rating system to the new combat metrics and rebalanced the weighting to (DPS * 1.0) + (MPS * 2.0). This ensures that defensive survivability is correctly valued for long-term background missions.
• Legacy Purge: Decommissioned and renamed the old DamageCalculator. Neutralized 4 legacy fallback paths to ensure system integrity.

Version 0.2.9.0 (Unified Identity & Interface) 2026-03-14

• Unified Character Card System: Refactored Tavern, Party, and Armory screens to use a shared, stateless renderer. Portraits and card identities are now visually consistent across the entire game.
• Global Identity Tooltip: Implemented a singleton mouse-follow tooltip that provides high-detail character information (Rarity, Level, Traits, Tags) without cluttering the main interface.
• Character Classification System: Introduced Roles (Tank, DPS, Healer, Support) and Combat Styles (Bruiser, Nuker, Evasion, etc.). All heroes now display unique badges and icons representing their tactical function.
• Theme-Aware Item Affixes: Purged hardcoded affix colors. Prefixes and suffixes now use theme-native variables (--clr-gold-coin, --clr-info), ensuring perfect contrast in specialized themes like Emerald Crypt and Obsidian Forge.
• UI Layout Unification: Standardized roster grid padding and card sizing (48px sm / 80px md). Optimized the Active Party slots with a 160px minimum height to prevent card compression.
• Action Logic Consolidation: Unified the "Inspect", "Dismiss", and "Kick" behaviors. All character cards now use a standardized event path for recruitment and party management.
• Bug Fixes: Resolved a critical TypeError in party assignments, fixed a ReferenceError in the card renderer, and restored the "Inspect" functionality in the roster views.

Version 0.2.8.0 (Trait Revamp & Rarity Unification) 2026-03-14

• Trait Revamp System: Replaced hardcoded traits with a data-driven JSON architecture. Expanded to 20 unique traits with hybrid scaling (MAX(flat, %)) for end-game relevance.
• Recruit Rarity & Determinism: Implemented a 6-tier recruitment rarity system (Common to Mythic). Trait counts and properties are now generated using a deterministic seeded RNG stream to ensure stability across reloads.
• Unified Rarity Visuals: Standardized rarity indicators across heroes and items. Both now share a unified 6-tier ladder and visual border/glow cues, while name text remains theme-default for maximum readability.
• Utility Trait Ecosystem: Added Merchant (+Gold), Scavenger (+Item Drop), and Scholar (+XP) traits that integrate directly with dungeon gameplay systems.
• Stat Pipeline Optimization: Centralized and optimized the stat calculation engine. Multi-pass trait processing was collapsed into a staged pipeline supporting conditional triggers and hybrid bonuses.
• Centralized Item Logic: Moved item rarity logic to TextUtils.js, replacing legacy affix-count thresholding with a unified global standard.

Version 0.2.7.1 (System Integrity & Flow Refinement) 2026-03-13

• Dungeon Lock & Party Desync Fix: Resolved a critical bug where hard resets during combat could wipe the active party and lock the UI. Implemented non-destructive state migration, self-cleaning legacy data removal, and party integrity validation during run restoration.
• Data-Driven Sigil System: Refactored dungeon sigils to be fully data-driven. Modifiers for enemy stats, XP, and loot are now pulled directly from SigilData.json. Includes UTC-based Daily Mutation selection that remains frozen for the life of a run.
• Immediate Speed Toggles: The combat speed toggle now takes effect instantly mid-fight. The system now persists your speed preference across reloads and scales exploration/transition delays to match your chosen pace.
• Run Restoration Resilience: Implemented a "Minimal Marker" restoration system that resumes runs at the start of the current room after a refresh, ensuring progress and sigils are preserved.
• Loot Collection Fix: Resolved a bug in the reward system where material-only drops (Essence, Shards, Dust) were ignored if the money yield was zero.

Version 0.2.7.0 (Responsive Scaling & Native Foundation) 2026-03-13

• Hybrid Proportional Scaling: Implemented a dual-zone scaling system. Menus now use sharp rem-based "zooming," while the Combat Battlefield uses GPU-accelerated transforms to maintain tactical proportions without reflowing.
• Native App Foundation: Optimized the game for Capacitor and high-end mobile devices. Removed 300ms touch lag, added viewport-fit=cover for notch support, and implemented 100dvh for layout stability during keyboard/URL bar shifts.
• Currency Popover HUD: Hovering over your gold balance now reveals a detailed mystical resource breakdown, including Essence, Shards, various Dusts, and a real-time Total Souls counter.
• Dynamic Essence Icon: Replaced the Essence icon with a 🌀 (Vortex) to visually distinguish it from Magic Dust and better represent high-tier prestige energy.
• Mobile Gold Optimization: On small screens, the header now intelligently displays only the two highest available currency tiers, preserving space while keeping full details in the hover popover.
• Shell-Only Padding: Refactored the layout engine to centralize padding in the main shell. This ensures perfect vertical and horizontal alignment across every single tab (Tavern, Armory, System, etc.).
• Selective Text Unlocking: Restored mouse-based text selection for high-utility areas like the Combat Log, Save Details, and Statistics, while maintaining the "native app" feel for buttons and controls.
• Adaptive Sigil Interface: Redesigned the pre-dungeon sigil selectors to automatically switch from a clean horizontal row on desktop to an easy-to-tap vertical stack on mobile.

Version 0.2.6.0 (Enhanced Control & UI Polish) 2026-03-12

• Expedition Auto-Disband: Added a toggle to automatically unassign party members when an expedition finishes. Each mission can be configured independently, and the toggle remains interactive while the team is deployed.
• Skill Mechanic Inspector: Skill tree nodes now display combat icons (✨, ⚔️, 💚) and primary stats inline. Hovering reveals a full "Combat Card" with damage multipliers, mana costs, cooldowns, and status effect chances.
• Dynamic Cloud Conflict UI: Redesigned the sync conflict screen with enriched data comparison (Gold, Progress, Roster size). Added a "Safe Migration" option to park local saves in Slot 3 and a protected "Overwrite Cloud" action for manual resolution.
• Beeline Optimization: The "Plan Ahead" logic now prioritizes speed, spending only the minimum 1/3 points in prerequisite nodes to reach your final goal faster.
• Pixel-Perfect Skill Trees: Standardized node dimensions (80px height) and unified border styling to ensure a perfectly aligned grid across all states.
• Smart Inspector Popups: Confirmation dialogs and alerts now automatically center within your current scroll position, eliminating the need to scroll up to confirm choices.
• Dynamic Version Tracking: The game now automatically detects changelog updates without hardcoded version strings, ensuring you never miss a feature highlight.

Version 0.2.5.0 (UX Refinement & QoL) 2026-03-12

• Skill Tree "Beeline": Added a "Plan Ahead" feature. Click any distant locked node in the Class or Generic trees to set it as a goal. The game will automatically spend skill points along the most efficient path as you earn them. Includes a "Ghost Path" visual highlight to show your planned route.
• Safe Party Dismissal: Dismissing a hero now automatically unequips all gear and returns it to your inventory. Replaced native browser confirmation popups with themed, high-fidelity modals that match the game's aesthetic.
• Header Protection: The game logo in the header no longer reloads the page when clicked, preventing accidental progress loss.
• Blacksmith Safety: Improved "Hold to Sell/Scrap" logic to strictly protect enchanted (affixed) and locked gear. The mass-action queue now only processes plain junk items of the same level, keeping your valuable equipment safe.
• Unified Skill UI: Standardized the appearance and behavior of the Generic Skill Tree to match the clean, simplified layout of the Class Trees.

Version 0.2.4.0 (Advanced Loot & Sigils Overhaul) 2026-03-12

• Hero Renaming: Recruited heroes can now be renamed in the Inspector UI (pencil icon ✏️). Includes length validation, sanitization, and real-time UI synchronization across the game. Renamed heroes display a "Dual Identity" (Custom Name + Class) in all major UI panels to maintain gameplay clarity.
• Essence Drop System: Essence is now a rare drop (5% chance) from Bosses. Uses a new data-driven ESSENCE_RATES configuration in GameBalance.
• Loot Level Cascade: Items no longer drop only at Level 1. They now scale from Level 1-10 based on current Dimension and Enemy Rank, using a new "cascade" probability model.
• Auto-Scrap System: Added a 40% chance (configurable) that items are automatically converted into raw materials (Shards, Dust) during the loot process. This reduces inventory clutter and provides a steady source of crafting resources.
• 5 New Sigils: Added Ethereal, Crystalline, Deconstructor, Alchemical, and Unstable sigils with unique high-risk, high-reward modifiers affecting Essence, Loot Levels, and Scrap yields.
• Sigil Hover Tooltips: Hovering over the Daily Mutation in the dungeon screen now displays its full description from the data file.
• Daily Mutation Fix: Resolved a bug where the daily mutation was not correctly applying its modifiers during dungeon runs.

Version 0.2.3.1 (Respec UI & Logic Polish) 2026-03-11

• Fixed Gold Check: Respec cost now correctly validates against your total money (fixed bug claiming not enough gold).
• Thematic Confirmation Popups: Replaced browser alert/confirm dialogs with a custom, high-fidelity overlay that matches the game's dark fantasy aesthetic.
• Context-Aware Respec: The respec button is now hidden for recruits in the Tavern and disabled for characters who haven't spent any points yet.
• Dynamic Cost Display: Respec costs are now formatted as colored currency tiers with icons in all UI messages.

Version 0.2.3.0 (Tag-Based Skill System) 2026-03-10

• Skill System Revamp: Skills are now decoupled from character classes and gated by a new 20-tag affinity system across 5 categories (Combat, Elemental, School, Thematic, Forbidden).
• Skill Repository: Centralized database of ~50 skills. Damage is now canonicalized through the damageMultiplier property.
• Class Skill Trees: 12 unique skill trees with 3 branches each. Spend points earned every 10 levels to unlock new tags, active skills, passives, and stat bonuses.
• Ranked Generic Tree: The 90-node generic skill tree now supports up to 3 ranks per node. Stat bonuses scale with rank, and key nodes unlock additional active/passive skill slots.
• Tag-Based Synergies: Combat synergy auras are now driven by the new tag system. Matching tags across your party unlocks powerful global buffs.
• Save Migration: Automatic migration of existing saves to the new skill and tree allocation format.

Version 0.2.2.0 (Codex System) 2026-03-09

• Renamed Bestiary tab to Codex — a unified hub with sub-tab navigation
• Added Achievements panel with category filtering, progress bars, and manual reward claiming
• Added Statistics panel with grouped, collapsible stat sections and compact number formatting
• Added Achievement Unlock Banner — impactful drop-down notification with queue system and golden glow animation
• Bestiary now lives inside the Codex as a sub-tab (same functionality, new home)
• VIP sub-tab placeholder added (coming soon)
• Full mobile responsive support for all Codex panels

Version 0.2.1.0 (Anti-Cheat & Statistics Foundation) 2026-03-09

• Anti-Cheat System: Save checksums, localStorage obfuscation, seeded RNG for forge rerolls/exalts/dungeon encounters/expeditions/tavern, and state validation guards.
• Statistics Tracking: All gameplay actions now tracked — combat kills, currency earned/spent, blacksmith operations (dismantle/upgrade/reroll/exalt), expeditions, tavern hires, hero level-ups, and more.
• Achievement System: 29 achievements across 8 categories (Combat, Heroes, Dungeon, Blacksmith, Economy, Expedition, Tavern, Secret). JSON-driven conditions with composite logic (AND/OR/NOT) and party context checks.
• Extensible Architecture: New stats and achievements can be added via configuration — no code changes required. Supports per-class tracking, time-windowed stats, and derived metrics.
• All 8 Currencies Tracked: Gold, Shards, Magic Dust, Prefix Dust, Suffix Dust, Souls, Essence, and Caps — both earned and spent totals.
• Hero Level Milestones: Per-class max level tracking enables achievements like "Have a Mystic reach level 50".
• Bug Fix: Fixed StateValidator checking wrong key for shards (essenceShards → shards).

Version 0.2.0.0 (The Meta-Progression Overhaul) 2026-03-07

• Cloud Saves: Seamless PlayFab integration with Auto-Login and Conflict Resolution.
• ARPG Loot System: Equipment now drops with randomly generated Prefixes and Suffixes.
• The Forge: Dismantle junk for Shards/Dust, Upgrade items, Reroll affixes, and Exalt gear with Boss Souls.
• The Bestiary: Track monster kills. Reach milestones for global buffs, and hunt Bosses for their rare Souls.
• Skill Trees: Leveling up grants Skill Points. Learn generic stat nodes or class-specific ability upgrades in the Inspector.
• Party Synergies: Assemble a party with 3 matching tags (e.g., 3 "Holy" heroes) to activate massive combat auras.
• Dungeon Sigils: Select powerful modifiers (Volcanic, Armored, Haste) before entering the dungeon for better loot.
• Dimension Relics: Beating floor 100 grants Essence. Spend it in the Relics tab for permanent, account-wide multipliers.

Version 0.1.5.1 2026-02-25

• Fixed auto-portrait assignment at game load - portraits now correctly assigned when hero has no saved portraitId
• Added portrait HTML caching in combat - eliminates redundant HTML generation on every turn
• Removed redundant portrait assignment check from combat rendering (assignment now handled at load/create time only)

Version 0.1.5.0 2026-02-20

• Added dynamic portrait system for heroes — portraits auto-discovered from assets/portraits/heroes/
• Added PortraitManager.js — handles random portrait assignment on recruitment, save persistence
• Portraits now displayed in Tavern recruitment, Party slots, Armory hero details, and Inspector modal
• Added 5 size tiers (xs/sm/md/lg/xl) for different UI contexts with CSS variables
• Emoji fallback when portrait is unavailable (from CharacterData class icons)
• Enemy portrait API ready — code supports enemy portraits, images to be added later

Version 0.1.4.0 2026-02-19

• Added combat stat headers showing aggregate HP/MP/DPS/MPS for party and enemies — updated once per round
• Rearranged armory inventory buttons to "Sell All — Sell — Scrap — Equip" order
• Added aggregate stats display (HP/Mana/DPS/MPS) above active party slots
• Added "Download Save" button to System Actions — downloads save as ddungeon(YYYY-MM-DD).txt

Version 0.1.3.0 2026-02-18

• Added status effects display on combatant cards during combat
• Added combatant info popup — click any combatant in combat for detailed stats
• Fixed Iron Will passive skill not applying defense buff correctly
• HP, MP, and damage values are now always rounded to whole numbers
• Added "Sell All" button for inventory items with multiple copies
• Party roster now displays heroes in multiple rows instead of a horizontal scrollbar
• Added sorting controls to party roster (by Level, Class, DPS, MPS) with ascending/descending toggle
• Fixed mobile view scrolling so all pages are usable on portrait screens

Version 0.1.2.0 2026-02-17

• Added equipment warning when dismissing heroes with gear equipped
• Implemented tiered enemy scaling (5%/8%/12%/18% per floor in 25-floor tiers)
• Added money scaling by monster level (configurable 10% compound per level)
• Improved currency visibility with text glow effect across all themes
• Added mobile-responsive layout for portrait phone screens
• Added changelog system accessible from System tab
• Fixed bug: added "Go to Tavern" button in dungeon exploration views to properly clear dungeon state

Version 0.1.1.0 2026-02-16

• Fixed loot data (rareGold key separation)
• Fixed enemy position and abilities initialization
• Fixed skill system class ID lookup fallback
• Fixed acolyte healing skill configuration
• Added 5 visual themes (Dark Medieval, Abyssal Depths, Crimson Citadel, Emerald Crypt, Obsidian Forge)
• Added currency tier formatting system

Version 0.1.0.0 2026-02-07

• Initial release
• Core dungeon crawling gameplay
• Tavern recruitment and upgrades
• Party management system
• Equipment and inventory system
• Turn-based combat with skills and status effects