Slay Creep Cakes and Dust Bunnies in these Spiral Knights updates

Players of the Sega published, Three Rings Designs developed free-to-play MMORPG Spiral Knights will have had their work cut out for them lately duet to a couple of updates.

The Birthday Celebration update was released to celebrate Spiral Knights second birthday and adds special birthday related items and the monstrous Creep Cakes for players to battle. The birthday content is available until April 16th, however the included user interface re haul will last indefinitely and significantly enhances the playability of the entire game.

The Compounds and Mini-Monsters update adds 15 new sets of randomised levels called Compounds and also adds three new types of Mini-Monsters; the Dust Bunnies, Glop Drops and Grave Scarabs.

Both updates come with a handful of bug fixes, all of which can be read after the jump.

It’s a Caketastrophe!
Visit the Haven Town Square to meet the Skylark’s Head Chef, Biscotti. She will inform you of a ‘situation’ at hand that involves hordes of monstrous cakes known as ‘Creep Cakes.’ Helping her solve this ‘situation’ will reward you with cake helms and prize boxes! Features include:

– A Prestige Mission, ‘Total Caketastrophe’ is available during the event
– Biscotti, Maskwell and Bulky can be found in the Haven Town Square
– Creep Cake nests can be found randomly within the Clockworks
– Participating in these events will reward you with Cake Slice tokens
– Maskwell now trades Cake Helms and Anniversary Prize Boxes in exchange for Cake Slices
– Bulky now sells confetti and Cake Slice tokens

Please note, the Frosted Helm and Foiled Frosted Helm will expire on April 30th 2013, however the Prismatic Frosted Helm lasts forever!

Anniversary Prize Boxes
Anniversary Prize Boxes can be purchased from Maskwell in exchanged for Cake Slice tokens. Anniversary Prize Box contents include:

– Handfuls of confetti (always included)

One accessory (always included):

4% Chance:
– Cool Birthday Candle
– Regal Birthday Candle
– Military Birthday Candle
– Heavy Birthday Candle
– Fancy Birthday Candle
– Dusky Birthday Candle
– Toasty Birthday Candle
– Cool Party Hat
– Regal Party Hat
– Military Party Hat
– Heavy Party Hat
– Fancy Party Hat
– Dusky Party Hat
– Toasty Party Hat
– Cool Party Blowout
– Regal Party Blowout
– Military Party Blowout
– Heavy Party Blowout
– Fancy Party Blowout
– Dusky Party Blowout
– Toasty Party Blowout

2% Chance:
– Volcanic Party Hat
– Divine Party Hat
– Prismatic Party Hat
– Volcanic Party Blowout
– Divine Party Blowout
– Prismatic Party Blowout
– Volcanic Birthday Candle
– Divine Birthday Candle
– Prismatic Birthday Candle

1% Chance:
– Shadow Party Blowout
– Shadow Party Hat
– Shadow Birthday Candle
– Sprinkle Aura

As a special bonus, each Anniversary Prize Box has a chance of containing DOUBLE PRIZES!

UI Overhaul
As part of our second anniversary celebration, we’re rolling out a new UI for Spiral Knights! The new UI contains a number of improvements and an easier to understand layout. These changes include:
– A visible character portrait
– A new way of viewing health: health pips now change from red to silver and finally gold as more health is accrued. Additionally, a percentage health display is present.
– A shield power meter under health
– A weapon selection ‘wheel’ that allows you to see the name and icon of your weapons
– A much more detailed mini map, featuring enemy locations, NPCs and more
– A new Targeting UI that displays information about whatever you are targeting. For monsters this includes health, attack types and weaknesses. Handy!
– An Activities Panel that contains all the various activities that you can perform in a given zone
– A zoom button that allows you to zoom in when in Haven
– A general layer of shininess across all the other interfaces

Other Changes
– Monster and player damage flash effects have been revamped for better clarity in combat.
– Vials and Capsule pickups have had their icons updated.
– Art for unbreakable blocks in the Clockworks has been updated.
– A player’s rank will now be shown with their name above their heads.
– Items will now show a message when they cannot be picked up.
– Player names are now white, green if a guildmate and blue if a friend. This color scheme is also used on the mini map.
– Vitapods can no longer be dropped, only replaced by superior versions.
– Devilite difficulty has been balanced, including reducing their attack range and dodge frequency.

Bugfixes
– Dusky Long Feather added to the Iron Lockbox drop table

Mini Monsters
A new class of monsters known as ‘minis’ now roams the Clockworks. Experienced knights shouldn’t have much of a problem dealing with them, but beware, minis are prone to swarm in packs dozens strong.

– Dust bunnies: These beast-family minis are a hopping mad mess of fangs and fur. They are always hungry.
– Glop drops: The newest member of the slime family will slowly ooze their way toward their prey as a nasty blanket of spikes.
– Grave scarabs: These undead insects are always on the lookout for fresh corpses. Their limited flight signals their attacks.

Minis will appear in select levels of the Clockworks and will eventually find their way into many more in future updates.

The Compounds
A new set of random levels have been added to the Clockworks, known as the Compounds. The Compounds feature the remains of some sort of unknown facility, where more intelligent monsters await, harvesting resources or perhaps attempting to power up the derelict machinery. However, just outside the confines of the facilities, hordes of mini monsters await in the brush, waiting to strike.

Compound levels include:
– Ruined Compound: Creeping Colony
– Ruined Compound: Ravenous Warrens
– Ruined Compound: Chittering Burrows
– Charred Compound: Creeping Colony
– Charred Compound: Ravenous Warrens
– Charred Compound: Chittering Burrows
– Frozen Compound: Creeping Colony
– Frozen Compound: Ravenous Warrens
– Frozen Compound: Chittering Burrows
– Blighted Compound: Creeping Colony
– Blighted Compound: Ravenous Warrens
– Blighted Compound: Chittering Burrows
– Shocked Compound: Creeping Colony
– Shocked Compound: Ravenous Warrens
– Shocked Compound: Chittering Burrows

The Compounds are unique in that they combine two monster families and only appear in Tier 2 and 3 of the Clockworks.

Currently, Compounds levels will only appear in the Arcade but will be added to some missions in future updates.

*Please note, in order for the new Compound levels to populate the Arcade gates, it was necessary to shuffle current gates. We apologize for the inconvenience.*

Bugfixes
– Rockets will no longer sneak behind barriers in the Firestorm Citadel
– Fixed going ‘Back to Haven’ in Guild Halls