Development Update
On Wednesday last week, Henrik showcased one of the key items on the Sprint 8 Roadmap, Guild Heraldry! He also went into some details of how the Relic Wars systems will work, along with his usual QnA and MO2 key giveaway.
In this post we will be discussing these key items, along with revealing the date for the Sprint 8 PTR!
Here is a reminder of the key items coming in this next patch from our roadmap:
Guild Heraldry
During his stream Henrik showed off how the new system works and some of what you will be able to do once you get your hands on it.
- You will be able to select how many sections and of which shapes you would like to split your tabard into, with each section offering multiple options for primary and secondary colors , patterns and masking.
- You can also rotate, scale and skew the patterns you select, which allows for a surprising amount of visual variety for the base garment alone.
- You can then choose from a list of 100+ unique and custom made symbols to display on your tabard, with the ability to move them anywhere you like, change their size, rotate them, or create repeating patterns from individual symbols.
- You can add multiple symbols per design, allowing you to create many combinations of various individual items, such as a bear holding an axe, or two crossed swords behind a shield as an example. All of the designs shown above were created using the exact same system you will receive.
We are extremely proud of this one, and we genuinely can not wait to see what creative designs you all come up with when the patch goes live.
To display your Guild Heraldry, you will toggle it on via the Character Menu. This means you do not need to carry an item in your inventory, and allows you to wear your guild colors immediately after resurrecting.
Currently, only members of the guild who are rank 8 or above may update the Guild Heraldry design.
There will be a Gold and Prominence cost to updating your Guild Heraldry or setting it for the first time. This cost will also increase with Guild Tier.
Relic Wars
Rumbling like crashing waves bursts through the sky, fiery meteorites of unknown origin hurtle toward Nave and tremors ripple throughout the land like echoes of their terrible impact.
The time of Relics is almost upon us, so here are some additional details of how the various Relics are currently planned to work.
As mentioned in our last development update, there are five different types of Relics that we are working on at the moment, each offering a different gameplay experience.
Every Relic event begins by a Relic meteor flying toward the ground from the sky. If you find yourself in the path of a falling Relic, our best advice is to remove yourself from the area as quickly as possible, to avoid a quick and untimely death.
Once the Relic Meteorite has landed, a large golden beam will be visible above it from anywhere on the surface of the map, shooting up into the sky. Additionally, a set timer of 30 minutes begins, affording everyone who is interested in the Relic some time to approach the area and investigate.
After this timer ends, the Relic Meteorite will crack open, revealing which of the five types of Relics has fallen.
Reliquary Relic
Some may say these are the main event of the Relic Wars feature.
These Relics are unique in that they may be picked up once the Meteorite has cracked open, and carried by hand toward a Territory Control structure called a Reliquary. While holding one of these Relics, it will be visibly in your hands much like when holding a Boulder.
Once deposited into your Reliquary, these Relics will provide guild-wide Boons, which affect every online member of the guild. These Boons can vary wildly in the effects they provide, while some will increase the damage dealing potential of every player like the Relic of Empowerment, others provide more strategic Boons such as Supply generation from the Relic of Abundance, or increased Guild Defence from the Relic of Fortification.
Should someone wish to steal a Reliquary Relic from another guild’s Reliquary, they must use a new item called a Reliquary Siphon.
While held inside a Reliquary, these Relics are protected by a magical shield which prevents other players from removing them.
The “attacking” players must purchase a Reliquary Siphon which costs Gold and Prominence, and deposit it into the Reliquary underneath the Relic’s shield. The Reliquary Siphon will then begin to drain the energy from the Reliquary Shield. Once the shield has been drained completely, the Relic will be vulnerable and may be picked up by any player.
Should the guild owning the Reliquary not wish this to happen however, they may push back the attackers and interrupt the Reliquary Siphon to stop it from draining the shield’s energy.
While disabled, the Reliquary Siphon is no longer able to sustain itself from the shield’s energy, and will begin to deteriorate and eventually be destroyed.
This means the attackers must keep the Reliquary Siphon turned on for long enough to drain the shield’s energy, while the defenders must keep the Reliquary Siphon turned off for long enough to destroy it.
Once a Reliquary Siphon has been destroyed and the contest ends, there is a cooldown timer which prevents a new siphon from being placed, to allow the defenders some respite.
These Relics also have a set lifetime, afterwhich they will decay and leave the world.
Additionally, the more members a guild has, the more diluted the Boon’s effect becomes. This means a guild of say 20 people will receive a stronger Boon than a guild of 300 people. Whether this applies based on total guild member count or only the online member count is yet to be decided.
Lastly, Reliquaries can not be built inside Keep walls.
Mineable Meteorite Relic
This Relic type is a large meteorite which can be mined for valuable materials.
Apart from hopefully creating a contested location for those seeking to covet the resources for themselves, there is also a secondary element to this Relic, which will remain a secret for now.
Armament Relic
This Relic type is a particularly strong weapon or set of armor.
These Relic Weapons and armor pieces are arguably the strongest of their kind in the world, and will aid those who use them in performing great feats.
While holding one of these Relics, the glowing golden beam will follow your wherever you go on Myrland.
You also can not delete these Relic items, log out with them, put them in a bank, mail them, or otherwise remove or hide them from the world.
Additionally it may come as crestfallen news to those of you hoping to wield the fabled Sword of Tears once again, however as we want to take the time to create this legendary weapon with the attention it deserves, we will be introducing it at a later time when it is ready.
PvE Relic
This Relic type will attract specific groups of creatures and foes, which will increase in intensity and strength as you near the final waves.
We have also created a new type of loot which will primarily be found when engaging with this Relic.
Conquer Relic
This Relic has received some changes since we last talked about it, and will now spawn loot in set intervals, making it desirable to stay close to the Relic and fend off others who may seek it for themselves.
We may also adjust the name of this Relic before the patch goes live.
Broker Search Overhaul
The new Broker is already looking much better than the live version, and allows you to filter based on many different new parameters. You will now be able to for example, search for a bow with a Strength Requirement of exactly 123, or higher, as well as search for specific armor parts such as helmets with a blunt defence above 45.
You will also be able to filter Trinkets by metal tier and gem tier. We want to add specific filters for different Trinket effects, however they are slightly more complex and so we will have to see how many we have time to add.
The Broker UI window has also received some changes, allowing for more listings to be viewed per page now, and to give room for the additional filters in the UI.
Sprint 8 PTR Date
The Sprint 8 PTR is currently planned to go live next week on Wednesday the 4th of December!
We are very excited for you all to test out these systems on the PTR, and to hear your feedback on them. There are a lot of significant changes in many areas of the game to support these new systems, and as always we greatly appreciate everyone who hops into the PTR and tests things out.
As always we will be hosting our usual feedback survey, where you will be able to tell us any thoughts you may have about everything you can test.
To report any bugs you find on the PTR, please use the in-game bug reporter.
Note
Please keep in mind that as development progresses, any details described above may change or be adjusted where necessary.
See you in Nave,
The Star Vault Team