Paragon has today released its V28 update and it brings with it a whole host of changes. You can read the full patch notes here and the TL:DR just below. In addition, I've just played a couple of quick matches to see what the changes really feel like in game. 

TL: DR

• You can't trigger Travel Mode any more, instead it triggers automatically when out of combat for 4.5 seconds. 
• The Jungle minion camps level up and respawn incredibly quickly. 
• Gideon got his Ultimate ability nerfed (no shield, can be affected by crowd control).
• Dekker had her stun duration lowered. 
• Mages had all their basic attacks reduced by 40%.
• Potions can now only be used twice.
• Towers had their health lowered but received armor instead. 
• There's a new UI (it's still ugly).
• They handed out lots of retrospective card rewards.
• Rampage got some love to his Ultimate (he can now throw boulders when using it).
• Being hit in Travel Mode no longer roots you.
• New weekly quests for rewards.

Hands-On

I suspect what many Paragon players are wanting to know is whether or not the removal of player activated Travel Mode has made any difference. The answer is, not really. While you can't use it as quickly as you normally would have, the difference is so small that it really hasn't altered anything. As long as you retreat in a team fight, or avoid fire, you'll still be able to engage as you always were (which is a problem Epic continue to complain about) and there's still a ridiculous ease to navigating the map. In that respect, Travel Mode is still as awful as ever. I will add however that I do like the fact the root is no longer in place, that at least is a welcome change. 

As for the other changes, I have to say I like them but Jungling is perhaps too good right now. Minions respawn in the jungle so quickly that you can be 60 card experience, and level 15 miles before anyone else. It gives Heroes such as Grux and Sevarog a huge boost to their potential. 

Where Mages are concerned, I'm not entirely sure it's a good change. Their damage late game is pretty terrible as it is and their higher scaling (it was 0.7 and is now 0.4) allowed them to finally compete - especially with their range increase. Now they hit for very little (around 100 at level 15) even if they pursue maximum damage. The one change I do like however is that mana isn't as freely available now that Potions only have two stacks, as opposed to three. It makes mana cards far more important.

Finally, Card Experience overall feels much quicker and although Towers now die too quickly (especially Tier 2) the Amber gain is more than welcome. Levels and Card Experience feel on some sort of parity now, which is great. More thoughts to come in the next week or so.