Update 132

May 8th 2019

New

• Follower pets now attack whoever the owner is attacking. Damage is calculated based on the owner's damage stats and weapon's level or wrestling skill if no weapon is equipped
• New building, Hall of Heroes in Yorkhill
• Yorkhill monastery has received a visual rework

Changes

• House decay timers are temporarily disabled until further notice

Bugfixes

• Mobs now respawn normally even if there are no players around
• Pets not able to move in PvP arena
• House rotation sometimes resetting
• Invisible cows
• Broken Bal Sardan vines textures
• Achievement "Discover Lakhmu's basement" not unlocking correctly
• Swordsmanship ability Energy blade is no longer triggered by typeless damage
• Cancel attack button allowing crossbows to attack too fast

Devblog: Gran Skrea Online development plan

Current state of the game

Through our own testing, communicating with our players and the hundreds of much appreciated bug and feedback reports we have found many underlying issues in the game that need to be addressed sooner or later. While we would love to focus on purely fresh new content and keep expanding the game, those issues will need to be addressed, because in the long run they will eventually grow big enough to prevent us from moving forward with development.

Temporarily shifting focus

We believe that there is a future for GSO and we are going for the long term success of the game, and for that reason we are shifting some focus from new content to addressing these problems. This does not mean that there will be no new updates during this time, we just wanted to make this decision public to give an explanation in case the development sometimes feels slow.

Some changes are related to how we have internally organized our project, code reworks, updating old clunky tools and systems. Basically all kinds of time consuming (and often extremely boring) tasks that are not immediately visible to the player, but in the long run they will allow us to develop the game much more efficiently and preemptively fix some major problems before they can cause any damage.

Some of these changes will directly improve the player's experience, things like improved performance through reworking 3d assets or replacing old tools to fix some annoying issues like the UI not scaling properly on high resolution monitors.

Reworking environment 3D models, poly count comparison. Oof.

Temporarily shifting focus to addressing these issues also means that we won't be able to pump out as many new content updates as we would like to. Rather than ignoring these issues and going for short term success by focusing purely on band-aid bugfixes and hyped up new content to boost our sales, we made the decision to fix these issues first and then go for the long term plan, and keep our eyes on the polished and healthy full release of the game.

 

Announcing Patreon page

However, this also means that we won't be able to focus as much on marketing and increasing our sales, and this in turn leaves us with a need to find additional funding. For this reason we invite everybody who believes in the game's long term success like we do to support us through our freshly opened Patreon page. The funding helps us cover our fixed monthly costs, and allow us to dedicate more of our time to developing GSO. We are a small team developing the game on our free time, and with funding we will be able to spend less time flipping burgers for a living (literally), and spend more time on GSO.

Rewards

We have prepared a bunch of neat rewards for our Patreons to thank them for the support. A new Patreons-only VIP Discord channel has been opened, and we will make an effort to post frequent development progress screenshot and video updates of whatever we are currently working on, as long as it can be considered even remotely interesting. We will also make an effort to answer all of the questions in this channel, and we will consult the VIP chat for content ideas and prioritize their ideas when it comes down to deciding which piece of content we should work on next.

Every patreon pledger will get a shoutout in the game's credits as a supporter. The names of the higher tier pledgers will be immortalized in game in the Yorkhill Hall of Heroes in the form of a name plaque or a statue.

Higher tier pledgers will also be able to claim the new Patron's cloak in the Hall of Heroes. The cloak is an untradeable item, it uses real time cloth physics, and it has roughly the same stats as a vine backpack.

Pledgers will also get access to the custom name badges and name colors, accessible through the "Patron perks" menu.

 

Roadmap and ideas for the future

 

While we are focusing on the boring things for a while, we still have tons of exciting new ideas for the future and we would like to share a sneak peek to these ideas. Most of them are still just ideas, and a subject to change, so take them with a grain of salt and as always let us hear if you have any feedback.

New areas & Quests

We are currently working on the island of Deepheart, and it will be the next major content update to be released(Date TBD). Located north of West Athagos and West of Goldon, Deepheart is an island ruled by a monarchy used for war over the centuries as a naval base. Precious metals in the mountains of Deepheart are heavily exploited in the numerous mines around the island. Valuable gems occasionally found in the mines attract prospectors from around the world, and where there is fortune to be found, there will always be those with ill intentions to cause conflict.

Deepheart will feature one new city and multiple smaller towns. Players will be able to learn from the master jewellers in town to craft jewellery of their own. New precious metals and gems can be mined in the several mines scattered around the mountains. The largest coal mine on the island will introduce a new minigame, whose rewards naturally include heaps of coal, mining experience and new gems.

Port of the largest city in Deepheart

Road leading to the mountains

We have lots of ideas for new larger dungeons and raids for high level players. The sewer spider Nirish's lair was our first attempt at making more advanced dungeons and boss mechanics, and we are quite happy with the way they were received, so we will continue on that path: larger, longer dungeons and more challenging mechanics. (Not to mention it was one of the most enjoyable pieces of content to develop so far!)

 

The direction after Deepheart is still to be decided. One thing is certain though, now that we have covered the islands around the starting area, it is time to move on to one of the 6 regions on the main continents. This is also something that we would love to hear your opinion on, so let us know!

Improving performance & UI Rework

We hear the feedback loud and clear, the game performance could use some improvement. The poor performance is mostly due to the outdated (and poorly designed) UI, and unoptimized environment assets, such as 3D models. Both of these issues will take a while to fix, but they are the biggest two factors causing problems, so reworking them is worth the time and will make a big difference.

The UI will receive a complete rework to improve performance and the overall design. With this rework we will also implement some highly requested features, such as rearranging inventory items and bank tabs. This new reworked UI will also be fully scalable for high resolutions, so players with 4K monitors can finally play without a magnifying glass.

Skills and balancing

The goal is to have two ways to train each skill. The first way is a less intensive, less rewarding way, such as crafting or gathering. The second way is a more intensive way that requires more attention and rewards the player with more experience and items. An example of this is the alchemy skill that offers gathering and crafting as the low intensity methods, and the Myra's herb minigame for extra intensity and rewards. The next skill to receive alternative ways of training is mining, in the form of a coal mine minigame in the mountains of Deepheart.

Healing

We want to redefine what the healing skill should be. It is currently a mixture of ideas that we originally had for two different skills, and we want to separate these two. Healing will be more of a non-magical “medical” healing skill, using bandages, potions and herbs to cure wounds, poisons and illnesses.

Healing will focus on the strongest, short-range single target heals, such as bandages, and removing harmful effects. Healing will be the only skill to completely cure long term diseases, so long term that it might even be permanent until cured by a skilled enough healer.
 

Musicianship

The healing skill is getting stripped of it's magical AoE heals, so we want to add a new skill to fill this gap, and add some new elements in it that wouldn't have necessarily fit in the healing skill to begin with. Introducing Musicianship, the new home for lutes and other upcoming instruments. Musicianship is designed to be the traditional support skill, with medium strength AoE heals, shields, some damage and a bunch of helpful buffs. And while we are adding new instruments, why not add the ability to compose and play your own music?

Jewellery

Jewellery will be a new crafting skill to be released at the same time as the island of Deepheart, taking raw materials of metal and gems to create decorative, and valuable ornaments. Item options in the ring, amulet and accessory slots are quite limited at the moment, so the new items introduced with the skill should bring some much requested build customization options.

Different jewellery will have subtle passive effects such as a temporary shield that activates when taking damage, or inflicting poison on the attacker. When the effect is activated, it will go on a cooldown before it can be activated again. The effect an item has depends on the gems used for crafting it. 

Animal lore

We have already added one pet in the game, but rather than simply having it as a follower to show off, we want to add more functionality to pets. We want pets to fight for you, grant stat boosts to the owner and have unique abilities. After the island of Deepheart is finished we will be moving to the large main continents, so land mass and distances will increase drastically. Therefore some pets you should be able to ride for faster transportation. (you'd probably call them mounts at this point?)

Players can obtain new pets by defeating creatures in battle, or by using an animal taming ability. The chance of taming a creature for a pet depends on the player's animal lore skill and the creature's level. There will also be ways to obtain temporary pets, which means that if the pet is killed in battle, it will not resurrect like a permanent pet, and the player will need to obtain a new one to use that pet again.

Rather than having access to all of the pet's stats and abilities, there will be a separate leveling system for pets. When you obtain a new pet, it will start at level 1 and gain experience with you. As your pet levels up it will gain stats, learn to fight and use it's abilities.

Leveling up your pets and mounts will also increase your animal lore skill, and there will be animal lore level requirements to use certain pets.

To keep PvP balanced, there will be common equivalents to rare pets with similar stats, but different appearance (to preserve that show-off factor).

Firearms & Gunsmithing

Firearms and gunsmithing will be two linked skill likely to be released at the same time. Firearms is the combat skill to use different firearms and related abilities, and gunsmithing will be the skill to craft such weapons and accessories.

The firearms skill will not be only limited to handheld weapons (e.g. pistol, blunderbuss, rifle), but it will also include heavier weapons such as cannons and explosives. You will be able to place cannons on ships to create gunships, and on the roof of your house to create a stationary weapon.

Astronomy

Astronomy is a new skill to observe the skies using telescopes. Predict and observe astronomical events to earn Blessings and Enchants. Blessings are various types of temporary buffs, Enchants can be used to upgrade your items (see next chapter). Astronomy relies more on precise timing and being at the right place than monotonous grinding. The better your positioning and timing, the greater the experience and rewards will be.

 

Enchanting

There is a lot of randomization when it comes to looting and crafting items. Rather than forcing players to keep obtaining new items until they get the stats or abilities they want, we want to offer a way to modify existing items' stats and change their abilities.

Not only modifying existing stats, but it will be possible to add completely new stats to items. If you really require that Oak Bow with 2% ice resistance to complete your dream build, with the right Enchanting level, the right ingredients and a little bit of luck, you can make that happen.

However, it is not a simple task to enchant an item. Failure will damage the item and instead of increasing stats, the current stats are lowered. Success rate depends on the item's level, enchanter's skill level and how close the stats are to the maximum stats. Boosting a low-end item will be much easier than an item that's close to perfect stats.

With enchanting it will also be possible to "over-enchant" items, which means that through enchanting it is possible to create items whose stats are slightly over the natural range that you would get from crafting or looting.

Guilds & Tax collection

We want to expand on the guild tax collection system, and instead of only collecting tax from a small area using tax collectors, the system would cover entire zones.

Instead of tax collectors placed on the ground, zone control uses guild owned static structures in the area, such as fortresses or watchtowers. Each zone consists of 3 structures, and the guild who owns the third structure controls the zone.

To attempt taking over a zone, a guild can declare war on another guild. This means that within the war zone, PvP is unrestricted between those guilds. The defending guild's first structure, or "line of defence", becomes vulnerable, and can be attacked by the attacking guild. When a line of defence is destroyed a truce is announced and the battle is paused for a day, until another line of defence can be attacked (or repaired by the defending guild). When the third line of defence falls, the attacking guild takes control of the zone.

The defending guild is able to build different structures to defend their zone. Some structures can be stronger and take longer to fall, and other structures might be equipped with cannon or ballista slots for extra firepower. It is possible to hire NPC mercenaries to defend your zone with you.

Controlling a zone gives the guild more options than the current tax collection system. The guild would be able to collect tax from mobs slain in the area, and also collect a percentage from crafting and gathering. Guilds will also be able to build workbenches, wayshrines, and other beneficial objects in their zone. These objects can be guild member exclusive, or opened up to the public as an investment to attract other players to gather/harvest/farm mobs in their zone for that juicy tax.

Combat 

 We are aware the combat system is not perfect. This is never an easy system for any game to make perfect (or even good). We have already made several tweaks to make combat smoother, and based on the positive reception we believe we are on the right track.

The first thing we would like to change is the way base health is calculated. Currently each combat skill level gives a flat amount of health. The amount per level is quite significant, so it forces players to level up all combat skills to get enough health to stay relevant in PvP and PvE. We want to change this calculation so that the highest 3 combat skills give the most health per level, and the other skills only give smaller bonuses. This way it is not necessary to level up all skills to have enough health to compete, but leveling all skills still gives a small advantage.

PvP 

PvP has always, and will probably always be a controversial topic. We are however committed to making the system as balanced as possible.

We want to encourage consensual PvP and PK fights between players around their own strength. The current criminal punishment system is already quite harsh, and it is not really an option to punish criminals any harder for slaughtering low level players. We wish to lower the punishments for PKing, and at the same time stop noobslaughtering in the starting areas. This can be achieved by placing some restrictions to PKing.

The plan is to introduce a new variable, the combat level. Combat level is the average level of a player's highest 3 combat skill levels. Players' combat levels will be compared when checking whether or not those players can attack each other. The higher the risk zone, the higher the combat level difference can be. This means that in low risk zones players can only attack other players around their own level, and in high risk zones PvP is more or less unrestricted.

With these restrictions in place we would be able to significantly lower the punishments for PKing, because (at least in theory) the player who is under attack should have a realistic chance of fighting back or escaping, and the low level player getting ganked in high risk zones should be aware of the risk of venturing into high risk zones.

Player housing

Houses around the world can be quite expensive to purchase, as it should be, but we also want to offer cheaper alternatives to those players who don't care about the location and cosmetics, and only want a house for the benefits it offers. We will be adding large inns in bigger cities, where players can purchase a cheap instanced room that will offer all the same benefits as a real house, without the luxury of having your own non-instanced house in a nice location.

We believe player houses should have more functionality and become more of a core element in gameplay, so we are planning to add many more usable items rather than just cosmetics. These items could, for example, grant small temporary buffs, restore health and mana, be used for teleportation.
Since so many of the players have created inhospitable living conditions with hoarding trash all over the house, we are going to be introducing storage chests for players to tidy up the mess. It will still be possible to store a limited amount of items on the ground.

The 30 day house decay timers will be removed and the 1 house per account limit will be lifted. They will be replaced with a house maintenance fee, which is calculated based on the total number of houses owned on the account, and the sizes of the houses. Players will be able to store silver in a coffer to pay for maintenance. If there is not enough silver in the coffer, the house will eventually decay and the plot becomes available for other players. If a house decays, any items stored in storage chests or on the ground will be sent to the owner's bank.

With all that said, the most ambitious improvement we are planning for player housing is a house builder tool. Players will still have the option to buy pre-built homes, but nothing will compare to the architectural marvels that will soon be seen with the new house builder tool that can be used to build fully custom houses, piece by piece.

 

We hope you have enjoyed this insight into the plans we have for the future of Gran Skrea Online. All feedback, criticism, further ideas and discussion are much welcome on our social media.

Thank you for reading

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