Our next stress tests are scheduled for:
What's new?
This week we introduce the next iteration of our reagent system, fix a number of crafting UI bugs, and make a number of improvements to the Dryfoot zone. The hunt still continues for the server's memory leak but we're constantly learning more about what it is not all while making small improvements to the server. We also made another balance pass at crafting so some items may have had their stats change.
REMINDER: the servers will be open for 4hrs Wednesday evening. The servers will open again on Friday @ 12pm central and close on Sunday at 11:59pm central. See events in Discord for timezone translations.
Bug fixes / improvements:
Reagent Improvements
Core reagent functionality has been refactored. Previously, reagents provided the combat effects, wherein now reagents augment the combat effects. This change brings some clarity to how reagents operate and should be more intuitive. Each reagent provides a set of baseline bonuses to the core ability which means low level reagents remain useful throughout the game. For example, "Crude Medicine" provides a +5 bonus to the healing amount on top of your base ability. As your ability grows in strength, this reagent will continue to provide a +5 bonus while higher tiered reagents will provide a larger bonus. Right now the set of parameters we can augment is limited, but this functionality will grow in time. In addition, when the ember essence upgrade program comes online we plan to have upgraded reagents add completely new effects to your baseline ability. In other words: the base ability will never change completely, but more layers can be added on top of it with reagent upgrades.
Ability tooltips will highlight the properties modified by the active reagent in an ember color.
Works in progress:
Stat Consolidation (timeline: ...)
We are planning to drop the per-damage-types for HIT & PEN which would clear up a number redundant feeling stats. The rough plan is as follows:
Reagent Upgrade System (2-4 weeks?????)
Unity Upgrade
Since Unity is dragging their feet on fixing some critical bugs in 2021 I decided to try a 2020 build. And to no one's surprise, the same bugs are present in their 2020 LTS version. Sigh. I will continue poking Unity about this bug in my quest to upgrade our project. Until then I will continue improving our current build and keep an eye on these bugs.
What do we get out of upgrading to Unity 2020/2021? Here are a few ideal gains:
Known Issues:
Wed. March 23rd @ 8pm central
(Thurs. March 24th @ 1am UTC)
The developers will meet in Discord and test for approximately one hour. However, the servers will remain open for roughly 4 hours. The most up-to-date client can be retrieved via the patcher found on your account page.(Thurs. March 24th @ 1am UTC)
What's new?
This week we introduce the next iteration of our reagent system, fix a number of crafting UI bugs, and make a number of improvements to the Dryfoot zone. The hunt still continues for the server's memory leak but we're constantly learning more about what it is not all while making small improvements to the server. We also made another balance pass at crafting so some items may have had their stats change.
REMINDER: the servers will be open for 4hrs Wednesday evening. The servers will open again on Friday @ 12pm central and close on Sunday at 11:59pm central. See events in Discord for timezone translations.
Bug fixes / improvements:
- Tech:
- Upgrading Unity a minor revision (2019.4.32f1 --> 2019.4.36f1). This brings minor bug fixes and updates. But you should not notice a difference (hopefully).
- Reorganized how backpacks are stored in the database. This change should be transparent to you as the player.
- A number of server code optimizations and updates. This is just more cleanup in my ongoing quest to hunt down this memory leak. The only noticeable change from this may be that the day/night spawn transition times may not match exactly with the skydome (as the precise day/night cycle code is disabled temporarily on the server - it still knows night from day, it just uses a fixed time rather than the altitude of the sun).
- Art / Environment:
- Updating a number of clothing and armor pieces to reduce clipping.
- Environmental bug fixes and updates to Newhaven N/S, Meadowlands, and Dryfoot.
- Closed off the northern section of Dryfoot. This will allow us to increase the mob density in some areas and focus on making the zone feel more populated. If your character logged off in Dryfoot they have been moved to a "safe spot" to make sure someone doesn't get stuck in the closed off section.
- UI:
- When attempting to sell an item currently equipped you will now be asked if you are sure.
- Consumables will now properly go from your bag to the bank when right click rather than being consumed
- Fixing some expiration times that were showing as 1s off from the duration.
- Removing obsolete attributes (block & time between) from shields.
- Revamped Crafting UI material selection logic
- Fixed issue where crafting would stop between stacks
- "Can Craft" count should now be correct more often
- Material selection should now deselect other usages of an item if there isn't enough left over to support the new component
- Removed average DPS info from weapons as it was misleading.
- COLOR SCHEME UPDATE: tooltip text colorization for requirements not met has gone from RED --> GRAY. A new "ember" color now represents reagent bonuses being applied (see below for reagent updates)
- Design:
- Crafted earrings values increased
- Bark removed from harvesting loot tables (you can destroy yours, this has no purpose anymore)
- Adjusted DOTs/HOTs to avoid fractional values
- Removed starter reagents from new characters. Starter reagents now do nothing and can be destroyed.
- Bandage recipes removed from players
- Chain mesh and hauberk recipes added to outfitters
- Chests are more rare
- Increased Halt number of hits to break from 1 -> 2
- Enraging strike adjusted to be more consistent. Duration increased to 10 for all levels, drops after the target attacks.
- Reinforce has been renamed to Replenish
- Fixed an issue with Quickstep and Stifle's levels. Stifle is level 14, and Quickstep is level 18.
- Fixed issue with Follow Through proccing on more than just autoattack.
- Dryfoot spawns updated for higher density, chests added
- Balance pass on crafting, harvesting and refinement for some resources may result in less items than previously
- Reagents are now more "generically" named so that they can be distributed to more loot tables.
- Reagent name changes:
- Bandages --> Medicine
- Supplies --> Tinctures
- Fumes --> Pheromones
- Reagent source changes:
- no longer sourced from harvest or crafting
- no longer dropped by humanoids
- all now have two non-humanoid drop sources
Reagent Improvements
Core reagent functionality has been refactored. Previously, reagents provided the combat effects, wherein now reagents augment the combat effects. This change brings some clarity to how reagents operate and should be more intuitive. Each reagent provides a set of baseline bonuses to the core ability which means low level reagents remain useful throughout the game. For example, "Crude Medicine" provides a +5 bonus to the healing amount on top of your base ability. As your ability grows in strength, this reagent will continue to provide a +5 bonus while higher tiered reagents will provide a larger bonus. Right now the set of parameters we can augment is limited, but this functionality will grow in time. In addition, when the ember essence upgrade program comes online we plan to have upgraded reagents add completely new effects to your baseline ability. In other words: the base ability will never change completely, but more layers can be added on top of it with reagent upgrades.
Ability tooltips will highlight the properties modified by the active reagent in an ember color.
Works in progress:
- Zones: 4x additional overland zones have had an initial art pass completed
- Redshore - accessed via Meadowlands & Dryfoot. Large tree forested region. Mid level range (approx 25-40)
- Highlands - accessed via Meadowlands. Hilly region with sparse vegetation and water features. Mid level range (approx 30-40)
- Gorge - accessed via Dryfoot. Large canyon-like area. Mid level range (approx 30-40)
- Grizzled Peaks - accessed via Highlands, Redshore, and Gorge. Mountainous region with a number of tunnels. High level range (40-50). Has a one-way exit to Newhaven North.
- Dungeons: 2 additional "large" dungeons have been laid out. Before implementation we are working on a general method for spawning these rooms so that they can be populated far quicker than we were able to do previously. This includes NPCs and gathering nodes.
- NPCs: fully custom Bear, Elk, and Spider models are complete and awaiting integration into the game. Ashen creatures are nearing completion as well.
- Design: implement high level abilities, loot table adjustments/population, advanced crafting recipes.
- Considering giving a native "bonus" to each of the roles. For example, maybe a base defender gets +10% damage mitigation, and if you take the defender flavored specialization as a striker/supporter you get +5% damage mitigation. Still working through what the bonuses would be for Striker/Supporter/Controller.
- Quests: a number of quests are in the queue for implementation/testing
- Tech: npc improvements, npc merchants, smoothing out sit/stand animations.
- UI: quest dialog redesign, tooltip redesign
- New clothing & armor is still in the works.
Stat Consolidation (timeline: ...)
We are planning to drop the per-damage-types for HIT & PEN which would clear up a number redundant feeling stats. The rough plan is as follows:
- DMG - split this up into 1H, 2H, Ranged, Ember, and Mental
- HIT - universal - applies to all damage types
- PEN - universal - applies to all damage types
Reagent Upgrade System (2-4 weeks?????)
- NPC's will drop a single type of Ember Essence (name is a WIP) that will "fill up" a permanently equipped Ember Stone. The amount of essence per creature will vary and it will be automatically split amongst group members similar to how coin currently is. Specific ember creatures such as ashen variants will likely drop more of this essence than others.
- The ember stone is not something you traditionally "Equip" - it is a permanent fixture to your character that cannot be removed, traded, banked, etc. In order to obtain ember essence you must earn ember essence through adventuring.
- Ember Stone's will have a maximum amount of essence they can hold. Later on down the line we may allow the player to unlock/earn an upgraded Ember Stone with a greater capacity via questing or something similar.
- Ember essence can be spent at special crafting stations to upgrade your reagents. The current rough plan is to start with two variants: a) make the reagent do the same thing but more powerful, and b) have the reagent change in some way to provide a different "flavor" which will vary contextually depending on the ability. As time goes on we will add more variants.
- We are also considering allowing players to spend their Ember Essence on the following (please note that all of these are CONSIDERATIONS and still up for discussion):
- use ember rings and/or hollows as a summoning stone (which could be a summon from within the same zone, or maybe across zones depending on the # of people involved)
- hearthstone like ability that would return you to the nearest ember ring/hollow (which would come with a long cooldown)
- adding a temporary "aura" to ember rings that would provide longer-lasting temporary buffs for those near the ring
Unity Upgrade
Since Unity is dragging their feet on fixing some critical bugs in 2021 I decided to try a 2020 build. And to no one's surprise, the same bugs are present in their 2020 LTS version. Sigh. I will continue poking Unity about this bug in my quest to upgrade our project. Until then I will continue improving our current build and keep an eye on these bugs.
What do we get out of upgrading to Unity 2020/2021? Here are a few ideal gains:
- Engine bug fixes
- Rendering bug fixes (black screen no more?)
- New decal tech
- New skybox tech
- (2021 only) New dedicated server build target. This lowers the memory footprint of the server which should yield better server performance.
- (2021 only) Potential for a native Apple Silicon build.
- Improved code & rendering performance
- Improved editor performance which would result in more productivity from the team
- Better performance analysis tools
Known Issues:
- your screen may at times turn all black. to fix open the options menu, toggle reflections on OR off for a moment, and then toggle them back.
- cannot roll on loot while unconscious
- not all clothing/armor has visuals
- Dragging a group-nameplate in the group window will set the wrong pivot point for the group window and the whole thing will drag a bit weird.
- typing chat text may occasionally become invisible. unfocus your chat window and trying again a few times typically resolves this.
- Sometimes when you respawn you don't end up at the proper Ember Ring --> if this happens please report the position where you died via the "/report" command or "/debugposition" (if using debugposition you'll need to paste the value here)
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