Dev Stream Notes
Why were hero classes re-worked?
A: 3 pillars of design regarding features:
– Dev’s vision of feature, player feedback, analytical (in-game performance) feedback
– 2 out of 3 need to be out of alignments for a change/correction to be considered.
– Analytic data reported that heroes weren’t being used by players.
– Dev’s vision were for players to use heroes, and feedback was harsh regarding Dawnbringer in arena.
– Thus hero classes were reworked.
Q: Do mana bonuses at start of combat stack?
– No, highest bonus takes priority and is applied.
Q: Thoughts on talent trees:
– Perks were outdated and underpowered.
– Perks were limited and resulted in everyone having the “same” hero character for a class.
– Looked at other RPGs for inspiration for talent system.
– On why some talent trees are shared between classes → too similar for too many classes to be unique.
– Next class: Runepriest. Coming this weekend. Talent trees: Stone, Knowledge, Guardian. class weapon: Runeforger.
– One talent tree (Water) is not currently available, because there is no class (yet) that specializes in polearms.
Q: Weapons and Ingots
A: – Reworked through the same logical processes as hero class (see above)
– Old weapons were outdated and not in-line with current power levels in-game (in general)
– More “Dawnbringer-like” weapons coming in the future. (Not designed yet, possible forum design competition?)
– Ingot feedback
– VIP chests - yes. LT tasks - no Explore - no
– Sirran was receptive for ingots dropping out of 40k seal chests (not below 40k)
– New mode coming in 3.6 to earn ingots
– Old weapons will remain in glory/cash shop. New weapons coming in the future (3.6?) to deal with kingdom level issues.
Kingdom Rework
– Old system was very outdated, was only designed to 5 stars and was band-aided to reach 10 stars (hence the soft cap that was in place).
– The need to expand beyond 10 stars granted the opportunity to re-do the kingdom power system to be designed for the future, instead of band-aiding the band-aid.
– New system allowed for tasks beside just leveling/traiting troops to earn kingdom stars. More task types could be added in the future, if designed.
– Next old kingdom rework: Pan’s Vale (in progress). Kingdom theme will be stat stealing.
– More kingdom reworks coming in the future.
On teams starting with half mana (Ex: Divine Ishbala)
– Devs are observing the issue currently.
– More half mana start troops coming in the future
– Corrections may be made (no promise)
The future
– New world map (higher res) coming in 3.6.
– More space for more kingdoms (think map zooming out than where the camera is now)
– Room for one more kingdom in old map → Called Sin of Mirage (next kingdom).
– Occupies empty space in SW corner of map.
– Quest giver will be Luther to acknowledge that Luther was the first quest giver and will be the last quest giver on the old map “to end the current story”
– Staying quiet on new 3.6 game mode. “Core game mode”, like Treasure Hunt but “different”, involves fighting AI teams?
– PvP mode looking to re-worked in the future (post 3.6). More ranking modes/leaderboards being considered. Design theory to avoid fighting the same 2-3 meta teams all the time at the high-end. Improved matchmaking.
Lore
Human kingdoms at peace with each other? Generally, with standard human disagreements. Originally came from the same mega-kingdom; split into factional kingdoms at some point.
Misc/ Speed Round Questions
– Pet food as shop bonuses: Being considered
– Dev thoughts on 3.5 → Likes: Game retention rates are very high, high user playtime. Dislikes: PvP metas block out other teams. Some game modes are still outdated.
– Guild Wars looking to be reworked in patch after 3.6. Possible entire system re-do. "Want to correct guild issues “right”.
– Treasure maps → Thoughts being considered for what to do with the mountain of maps. Sirrian wants to do more than just “spend more maps at once to earn greater rewards” as a band-aid.
Something, something, Worldbreaker’s parents fan-fiction.
This week’s mythic has a rather interesting name anagram.
Chat went fast this time, so I might have missed something somewhere along the session and might have paraphrased something incorrectly when I was rushing to keep up at certain parts of the stream.