I've spent the morning working on Tibos' combat simulator. Link to my new one can be found below, all open source so you can see exactly how it all works if you wish.

Link: http://jsbin.com/hiqujewe/13/edit?js,console

Using this new simulator I've tweaked the stats of Ventrix's drops. So that they give comparable results to an Avatar with 2 x Scythes equipped. It's never going to be perfect but this is as close as I've managed to get it.

Today I'm making the following item changes:

Void Sword: -10 Minimum Damage, -18 Maximum Damage, -5 Melee Skill
Rift Gun: -30 Accuracy, -10 Gun Skill
Prime Amulet: -10 Def Skill

These changes should bring the items back in line with Scythes. You're welcome to play about with the simulator and prove me right or wrong. The second Amulet Ventrix drops has been ignored from these tests as it was always intended to be an incredibly rare upgrade to current Misc Items.

I'm going to use this simulator to calculate exactly what percentage stats the new crystals should give, it's going to take some time though so please be patient. Have fun!

Sorry for the delay, the next warfare map is going to be the Void Map. We will once again be running it without Gang HQs. I'll also be updating you guys on the Ventrix changes later today as well as the upcoming Crystal Fusion update.

Objectives will be in the same places as the past Void Map although I may swap some around. Have fun!

Yesterdays update seems to have mixed things up a bit, that was my intention. There are a couple of threads in the Main Forum of importance.

Firstly the thread titled 'Ventrix drops!' includes an excellent combat simulator written by Tibos (once he fixes a small issue) along with some real numbers and explanations by myself. The stats of these new items are totally open for debate and I may tweak and change them as we delve more in to the mathematics behind combat. My aim is that the new items should NOT be stronger than Scythes, but they should feel different when used.

Secondly the thread titled 'Ventrix Crystals' is a discussion on whether the crystal drops should be tradable and what their sell price should be. The most interesting post so far is by 'GAGANB' and I may be open to an idea like that.

With all that said I'll be pushing the Crystal Fusion update back to April 2nd to give more time for this last update to settle. I can refactor item stats pretty easily but I dislike the idea of getting the new crystal stats wrong.

Ventrix is now up, he has four new item drops along with a guaranteed Small, Medium or Large crystal drop. I've spent all day experimenting with item stats to see how varied I could make the new items while keeping them equal to the Scythe.

He drops a sword that is designed to be higher damage than the Scythe, but not as accurate and a gun that is designed to be incredibly accurate, but much lower damage. In a test of 10,000 consecutive battles they got the same % wins as the Scythe would overall. That was with average Avatar stats though, so it may be different depending on your stat build and accompanying items.

Ventrix also drops two new Misc items, one is designed to be comparable to the Amulet. The other is a flat upgrade but it has a very low chance to drop.