Dragonhold Patch Notes Archive

This archive compresses the first weeks of Early Access and the pre-launch roadmap into wiki actions. Exis Games shipped rapid quality-of-life patches after the November 10, 2025 Steam launch, then quieter hotfix cycles, then a public Road to 1.0 note on July 3, 2026. Major feature pages live elsewhere — Dragonhold 1.0, Hotfix 1.4, Ashen Dawn — so this page focuses on the November 2025 patch trio, Hotfix 1.3, and the July roadmap signal.

Treat dates as Steam-news timestamps. If a later 1.0 UX redesign renamed a menu, the intent (Unstuck exists, equipped gear survives death, Fate randomizes from the start) still guides play. Confirm button labels in your live build.

Patch Notes #1 — November 13, 2025

Three days after EA launch, Patch #1 answered the loudest stuck-and-punishment complaints.

Unstuck button — Added to the Pause / Escape menu. Teleports you somewhere safe when geometry or world-state glitches trap your rider. Full habits and misuse cases live in How to Unstuck. Use it for softlocks, not as a free reposition mid-fight.

Balloon popping — Sky balloons over Azarkeen became damageable; dragon fire is especially effective. Treat them as optional aerial targets during transit, not mandatory objectives.

Dragon camera zoom — Mouse-wheel zoom while mounted. Later reinforced in Hotfix 1.4; tune with Camera Settings.

Skell Warrens escape timer — Increased from 15s to 30 seconds, giving clearer egress windows in that encounter space.

Death updates — On death you keep equipped weapons, shield, and armor. You still lose gold, XP, charms, unequipped equipment, items, and resources. Internalize this with Death and Loot Rules before greed-pushing optional elites.

Patch Notes #2 — November 15, 2025

Multiplayer mission credit — Late joiners now receive mission completion credit and UI updates. Critical for friends who connect mid-objective; see Co-op Guide.

Intro cinematic loudness — Reduced about 20% (further reductions promised later). Hosts running shared setups should still check OS volume independently.

Randomized Hand of Fate — Mission cards randomize from the start instead of playing in a fixed order before shuffling. Every departure is a fresh risk read — Hand of Fate.

World state — Old Wounds / Arken Forest — Returning from Arken Forest no longer broke Azarkeen world state. If you still see odd terrain after mission hops, re-log and report with mission names; baseline fix landed here.

Patch Notes #3 — November 18, 2025

Inventory item descriptions — Hovering inventory slots shows a description box for identity and function. Pair with Loot Guide when learning fragment types.

Finnik Sharponose flyers — Reduced rate of fire and hit points after they shredded aerial transit. Expect continued flyer tuning in later combat patches and 1.0 enemy work.

UI flow and audio cues — Clearer objective direction and audio callouts for mission flow. If you play muted, compensate with HUD discipline from Mission Loop.

Hotfix 1.3 — November 25, 2025

Game pricing — Store price lowered during EA to widen access. Historical pricing is not a wiki guarantee of future sales.

Building placement refunds — Destroying a building via Delete in the building menu refunds the FIG building scroll, so you can re-enable placement without permanently burning the scroll. Re-plan plots with Town Buildings and Lair and Garrison.

Crash / EOS fixes — Startup and stability fixes tied to Epic Online Services networking. Dedicated hosts should still validate ports after networking patches — Server Port Checklist.

Road to 1.0 — July 3, 2026

Peter and Exis from the Exis Games team posted that version 1.0 would ship by early August at the latest, citing performance upgrades and gameplay changes already in progress. That note was the public bridge between mid-cycle hotfixes and the August 7, 2026 full release documented in Dragonhold 1.0.

How to use this archive in 1.0

1. If you are stuck in geometry — How to Unstuck.
2. If you fear full gear wipes — Death and Loot Rules.
3. If Fate feels unfairly sequential — remember randomization from Patch #2 is intentional.
4. If building scrolls feel scarce — Hotfix 1.3 refunds on delete still matter for castle experiments.
5. For feature-era systems (abilities, forge, voice) — jump to Hotfix 1.4 and Ashen Dawn.

Related hubs

• Updates hub — index of major milestones
• Guides — actionable walkthroughs
• Review — buy and hardware context after 1.0

This archive is not a substitute for Steam news. It is a durable player translation of the patches that taught Dragonhold its Early Access manners before the 1.0 polish pass.