Hi everyone! This week we wanted to share some more information on several different aspects of the upcoming Combat and Progression Update. This is a big update for the game, and there are a lot of different pieces to it that are being worked on in parallel. Anyway, here’s some updates on the update!

We don’t have a date for the Public Test Realm that we can share just yet. What we can share is that we are in the final stages of testing the infrastructure that you all will use to connect to that server. That doesn’t just include the server and its database, but also the client and the methods that players will use to get that client – including being able to access it through Steam for our players there. This server is going to be the place where we try out new gameplay systems and server code changes before they come to the live servers, and so we need to make sure that the foundation it sits on is robust enough to handle any of the crazy things we will be throwing at it. At any rate, we hope to be able to announce a date for this server opening very soon, along with information about what you can expect and how connecting to the server will work.

One of the big changes we are making in the Combat and Progression Update is the move to a “First to Engage” system for determining kill credit and loot rights, for most of our NPC content. We’re working on implementing that system this week so we can begin testing, and so it seemed like an appropriate time to bring it back up. We believe very strongly in a shared open world, and we don’t have plans to start separating our players from each other, but our old approach put us in a situation where players could often accidentally steal credit for NPCs that other players were fighting. That not only degraded the gameplay experience for many players, but it also generated an inordinately large number of customer service tickets.

While competition can bring out the best in some people, it can also bring out the worst in others. All of us have played multiple other MMORPGs and we are very aware of the various dirty tricks that some unscrupulous players will use to try and game any system that we introduce. Our FTE system includes some provisions to help prevent or mitigate those scenarios. For example, when our NPCs spawn, there will be a small delay before they can be targeted and attacked (even with an area effect), so that everyone nearby has a fair shot at tagging that NPC. Likewise, we’re making some provisions so that players can’t tag an NPC and then kite it endlessly with no intention of fighting it. We feel that this will help discourage most of the bad behavior that we can predict and allow everyone to focus more on the adventure they’re having rather than conflicts with other players. This system will be in place when the Public Test Realm opens, and we will definitely be watching for any bugs or problems that may come up with it.

Another part of the change coming in the Combat and Progression Update is the introduction of binding for items. Like many other MMOs do, we are going to be introducing a system where most equipment items become bound to your character when they are equipped and thus are no longer tradable.

There are a few reasons for this change: First, the game’s itemization has been a constant source of feedback and player frustration since the beginning of Early Access. A big part of this problem was our desire to keep nice loot somewhat rare. After all, if everyone has something, then it’s not really very special. However, it’s also true that loot is an important part of the game experience. It’s no fun to go fight a dungeon full of enemies and come out of it with nothing except a few coins, some pocket lint, and some junk that’s worse than what you’re wearing. Second, just like every other MMORPG we must think about our game economy. If we just let all those items pile up and constantly recirculate in the economy, eventually rare items become common, and the player experience changes from going on an adventure and finding a nice item, to just farming up money to buy someone else’s used copy of that item. We want our content to stay relevant and engaging for players over the long term, so that means we also need to have several ways for items to go out of circulation, so that there is room for more of them to enter the game. Bind on Equip isn’t the only way we’re tackling this problem, but it is part of what will help keep our game economy healthier going forward. More importantly, it also means that there will still be a sense of accomplishment when you loot a powerful item, even months or years after the game has launched.

Along with introducing Bind on Equip, we’re also making some changes to item tooltips to make it clearer to players when they do find a powerful and rare item. The biggest change we’re making is that tooltips will now show the item’s rarity, both as text and through color coding. This is similar to what many other MMORPGs do, and it should help make it obvious when you’ve looted something special – and help you to better gauge the value of what you are picking up in the world.

Along with these changes, we’ve also cleaned up the way that various stats and effects are displayed on the item tooltip. For example, if an item gives you a bonus to parrying attacks, you’ll now see the actual effect of that bonus instead of just a number with no context.

Let’s be honest here. Our current leashing functionality for most NPCs is very… basic. It can often be very difficult to escape a fight that is going poorly, while at other times you can end up causing an NPC to leash back to its spawn point without intending to do so. Both of those situations are very frustrating for players, especially at lower levels when you’re much more likely to accidentally get into a fight that you can’t win.

As part of the Combat and Progression update, we’re improving this functionality to work in a more believable and scalable way. As we go forward, different types of NPCs will behave differently. For example, a wolf might chase you until you leave its territory, while a bandit might chase you until you get enough distance and break line of sight to “lose” them. The behaviors and the distances involved will also be able to scale based on the level of the NPCs and the areas where they are found. This means that we can make encounters in low-level areas a bit more forgiving, while still preserving the challenge in higher-level areas. In our internal testing so far, we’ve found that these updates make escaping from an NPC feel much better and more believable than what we had before.

As part of the Combat and Progression Update, we are going to enable a Rested experience bonus for your characters. When you log out, you’ll accumulate rested experience, and then when you log in and play, your experience gain will be boosted slightly until you run out of that rested experience. The bonus is there to help people who may not have as much time to play keep up with their friends more easily, while still ensuring that progression can feel meaningful and that those levels feel earned.

As mentioned, there are a lot of smaller pieces in this update – too many to talk about in detail in this dev diary. But here’s a quick list of some of the other ones:

• Abilities that can have multiple uses that refresh over time

• Spell Pushback – the chance that if you’re hit while casting a spell, your casting time will be slowed down slightly

• Bane damage on items – for example, finding a dagger of spider slaying that does additional damage to spiders

• Hotbar simplification – consolidating our different types of hotbars and giving you more freedom to control the layout of those buttons

• Introducing the Charm mechanic which will allow characters with the right abilities the chance to temporarily take control of NPCs (with an appropriate level of risk)

Design and Narrative

• Continuing population of Kosa Ull in Badia de Cara

• Continued baseline testing for Unified NPC templates and core combat mechanics

• Initial testing for new/updated Dire Lord abilities and Blood Debt mechanic

• Bug fixes and refinements for Warrior, Paladin, and Dire Lord abilities

• Implementation work for Dire Lord Mastery

• Beginning Implementation work for Cleric and Druid base abilities

• Continuing work on Mastery for Cleric, Druid, Shaman

• Continued work on NPCs and Dialogue for the Port of Rulun

• Early work on NPC dialogue for Faerthale City

Worldbuilding and Environment Art

• Continued finalizing set dressing for Mawnok villages

• Completed finalizing Rulun building interiors and exterior set dressing

• Began work on the floating town of Detihauna

• Fleshing out undersea biomes with additional kelp and other flora

• Building ship graveyard area at the Screaming Stones

• Beginning Faerthale City asset creation (large structural assets)

• Starting on second round of structural/prop concepts for Faerthale City

Character Art and Animation

• Completed animations for Sharks and Hydryn models

• Beginning animations for Sirens and smaller creatures

• Continued modeling/texture work for minor/ambient BDC creatures

• Continued texture work for Coastal Khroon

• Continuing work on ambient life VFX for Badia de Cara

Programming

• First round of mastery system bug fixes, identified and tested UI flow scenarios

• Completed item transfer components of mail system, case testing

• Completed shader list for technical evaluation

• Added support for NPC leashing controls

• Further updates to item tooltips

• Updates to ability system to support mastery options and new ability types

• Setting up rested experience bonus

• Setting up first to engage logic

• Preparatory work for market system

• Final setup for Public Test Realm and build pipeline testing