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DEVELOPER'S BLOG
Future Silver Adjustments
Greetings, Saviors. It’s your dev team, here to talk about some changes that are being planned regarding the use of Silver in Tree of Savior. After the last Rank update, our game was affected by a Silver inflation that has been growing more and more severe as time goes by. For an economy-based MMORPG, inflation is one of the most telling signs of danger, which is why we need to look for ways to adjust the routes of Silver supply and consumption in TOS. Our plan to prevent this inflation from growing is to introduce new Silver-consuming content and revise current Silver systems. As far as the consumption of Silver is concerned, we want to steer away from adding Silver fees to features catered to the general player base. Instead, we’re looking to increase Silver consumption mostly through new higher-end content or growth/EXP-related functions. To put it in perspective, the measures we want to implement are less akin to increasing the price of public transportation, and more like raising taxes on luxury sports cars, for example. Our goal is to expand Silver consumption not on essential functions, but on optional ones. Some examples of game features through which you can expect increased Silver requirements would be the previously introduced Velcoffer Legend gear system, Lv 100 enhancement attribute bonuses, and future PvP content (which, by the way, is already being tested). So that’s our plan for adjusting Silver consumption. But what about the supply? Well, the supply of Silver as a whole is not a problem, but there is an issue with instanced dungeons. Up until Character Rank 8 (Lv 330), Castle Dungeon had a relatively higher degree of difficulty, and the Silver it generated wasn’t yet enough to escalate the supply up to alarming levels. In regular, level-adequate play environments, the Silver supply from instanced dungeons wasn’t excessive. With the arrival of Character Rank 9 (Lv 360), however, it became feasible for stronger characters to earn large amounts of Silver from Castle Dungeon a lot more easily. As many of you may have experienced, it is now possible for a party of one or two maximum level characters equipping decent gear to clear Castle Dungeon in only 3-4 minutes. This means that, not only are stronger characters making easy Silver, average characters can benefit from it as well by accompanying them in parties. Even a player with no significant combat investments can round up 220,000 Silver every 5 minutes for as many characters as they possess. That said, the fact that we didn’t add a new instanced dungeon adapted to Character Rank 9 was intentional. We wanted to scale down the role of instanced dungeons as the be-all, end-all of PvE gameplay, and lead players into regular fields and Hunting Grounds. That’s why we introduced the Challenge Mode, the Unique Raid Dungeon and better Hunting Grounds rewards. Being mostly disconnected from TOS’ storylines and scenarios, instanced dungeons were created to act not as staples of everyday gameplay, but as bonus content that helps you catch up to the latest Rank more conveniently (especially for new and returning players). Convenience was, after all, the reason why we moved all instanced dungeon entries to Klaipeda. What’s causing the problem we’re seeing now is that, while EXP gains vary according to your level, Silver is supplied in fixed amounts. That is why we came to apply Silver restrictions in instanced dungeons, similarly to what already happened with EXP. In the future, instanced dungeons will continue to serve as EXP/Silver boosts until the next highest Rank. As such, a Lv 330 dungeon will be added only when the maximum character level increases beyond the current Lv 360 (with the addition of Character Rank 10). That way, characters can quickly get to Rank 10 while earning a prescribed amount of Silver, but after reaching that maximum Rank, they’ll be encouraged to pursue EXP and currency gains through regular fields, quests, Hunting Grounds, and various challenges and raids. This means that, overall, the supply of Silver in instanced dungeons is expected to slow down. Besides these measures, we also have plans to increase the supply of Silver and goods in gameplay content that doesn’t contribute to inflation. We’re currently working towards reintroducing the old advancement quests as Class Master quests with Attribute Point rewards, and we want to expand the rewards of other existing quests with not only Silver but also Attribute Points and other useful assets. Finally, we realize the importance of protecting the value of Silver as the de facto in-game currency, while keeping in mind the balance between its production and consumption. Any new content or system changes that come out of this endeavor will be duly announced through our dev blog and the patch notes, so keep checking in for more updates. Thank you.
NPC Origins – Matador Master
NPC Origins – Matador Master Who is Matador Master Chridela Otero? Chridela Otero has both the impressive martial art talent and hard-working spirit needed to reach the level of Master. And what others might find interesting is that she holds weapon mastery and femininity in the same regard. On top of that, she finds that others misjudge her due to her appearance and, thus, she has mastered the art of letting her skills speak for themselves. After her family lost their noble status, she was forced to mature when faced with the difficult decision of either finding a trade or getting married. But, she met a sponsor who saw her potential. He trained her in fencing and swordsmanship but the opportunity for her to become a Master in such things did not come. Unable to find a vacant seat, Otero continued to look for ways to unleash her talent as a Master and discovered the Matadors. Due to her skills and determination, she overcame the gender basis against her and, today, her success can be seen from her status and her position as Master of the Matadors. Chridela Otero Diaries Pt. 1 In a small, tattered house, an old man reached out his hand from the crude bed where he lay. Chridela took her father's hand into her own. “I'm sorry, Chridela. It's my own fault that I wasted my noble blood only to die like this. I only regret never having done anything for you.” The girl shook her head. “Please don't say that. You have to get better.” “If only I had the fortune of your grandfather, your future would have been very different.” “I can take care of my future.” “I'm sorry.” Her father repeated the words one more time when, as if all energy had left him, he closed his eyes and fell asleep. Chridela, having skipped already two meals in a row, succumbed to hunger and fatigue as she, too, went to sleep. When she woke up, her father had already left the world. After the humble funeral, arranged with the help of the villagers, young Chridela could do nothing but cry in her empty house. Her tears had only just dried out when she heard someone knock on the door. Chridela didn't answer, but the door wasn't locked, and they came in through the open door. There were two of them; one was the village elder, the other was a man she didn't recognize. The man took one look at Chridela and sighed. He said to her, “I know your father met someone like me not long ago, and I know it won't be easy hearing what I have to say to you, but...” Before he could continue, Chridela wiped her tears to stare boldly at the man. “An Otero never avoids responsibility, for better or for worse. What is it that you came to tell me?” The man looked back with a hint of surprise on his face. “You are brave for such a young girl. People used to say no one in the family was half as good as Manel Otero.” The man observed Chridela's expression, but the fact that he had just insulted her family didn't seem to bother her. It wasn't that she didn't understand, she was only being cautious. The man was again surprised by her attitude. This time, he addressed her in a serious tone. “Manel Otero, the founder of your family, was granted noble status under His Majesty, King Termanel, the 38th ruler of our Kingdom. By the third generation, all of your family's property, assets and valuables had been either sold or impounded. Paintings by Sakkurrhe, the great artist of King Wardel's era, were let go at a price that doesn't nearly compare to their value. A most regretful decision, if I may say. Your father had nothing but the noble status of his name, and now he is no more.” “You don't have to tell me what I already know. You should start by telling me who you are.” “Oh! Where are my manners? I am Kdit, from the Kedora Merchant Alliance. I can't really say it's nice to meet you at a time like this. Alas, this is how we had to meet. I'm surprised you were already aware of all of that. But there's something you need to know.” Chridela waited for the man to continue. “Your father may have been born to a noble family, but under our law, that privileged status does not last forever. The Otero family has never made significant contributions to the Kingdom. What's more, they wasted their reputation and wealth throughout the generations. That is why your noble status has been revoked. Your family will no longer receive the benefits granted to the noble class, particularly in the fiscal sector. Perhaps, fortunately, your family has no more wealth to benefit from. This house and all it contains will also become property of the Kedora Alliance. It's a fortunate thing your father owes us and not another agency. We are not the type to strip a poor orphan girl of all her belongings to avoid losses. That said, we can't let you stay in this house anymore. What’s more, it's not just a matter of paying off your father's debt. You need to live with a legal guardian until you're an adult.” “A guardian?” “Or you can be sent to an orphanage run by the clerics, though I do think a guardian is your best option. You'll be sent to your ruling lord, where you'll receive work and education. Most take the chance to learn a profession they can follow as adults. If you're talented enough, there's nothing you can't learn. The lord is required by the law to pay for your upbringing, no matter how costly. Of course, if you're looking for more than basic education, you'll have to pay it all back to the lord once you become an adult.” “So I get to live in the lord's castle?” “Not quite...Normally that is what happens, but your case is different. Someone else has volunteered to be your guardian.” “Who?” “I cannot tell you; not yet. But don't worry. Becoming an orphan's legal guardian is not only a matter of wealth or will, and we at the Kedora Alliance would never disregard the safety of a child.” Kdit paused for a moment. “You don't have to call a neighbor, we will be taking you to your guardian ourselves. Forgive me for this remark but, financially, what we're doing here is a loss for the Kedora Alliance. This old house and everything in it is not enough to repay your father's loan. However, we will allow you to take anything you want with you. That includes objects you may have hidden outside the house, of course, as long as you're able to carry them. Make sure to take anything you think is necessary or important. We won't check even if you're hiding gold bars or other valuables, so I recommend you take as many as possible. Everything you leave behind will be appropriated and reutilized by the Alliance. We will you give you a few hours to prepare. When we return, I expect you to be ready to leave.” Chridela acquiesced and Kdit gave her a short nod before exiting through the front door. The village elder quietly expressed his condolences to the girl before leaving the house. Kdit was still nearby when the elder came out. They had promised Chridela time to prepare, so they began walking towards the village. A few steps on their way, the elder turned to Kdit. “I have to say, the Kedora Alliance is much more... generous than I had imagined.” Kdit smiled abashedly, “There's always something to be gained in everything the Alliance does. We give when we must give, and we take when we must take. It's only a question of maintaining balance. In a way, we can afford to be generous because of how effectively we make a profit.” The village elder didn't quite agree with Kdit, but he chose not to contradict him. Instead, he said, “I'm glad you found a guardian for Chridela. Our village doesn't have the means to look after the girl, and sending her to work for the lord would mean an entire life of menial jobs. She would probably end up in someone else's land, the poor girl...” “That doesn't sound like a bad life at all.” “But considering that she comes from a noble family, I would rather she followed another path, that's all.” Silently, Kdit nodded in agreement. In his mind, however, the Kedora Alliance official had other thoughts. 'If she fails to prove herself to her guardian, she might as well marry a farmer and live a quiet life in the countryside. She may not have a choice right now, but with her attitude, there's no telling what the future of this girl will be...'
What’s New: Rank Down, Gems, Monster Cards
Greetings, Saviors! This week’s content update brought in its fair share of new features and additions. In this post, we’re breaking down some of the most important gameplay changes from last maintenance to get you on top of the latest updates. For the full list of changes and additions, make sure to check out the patch notes from February 20, 2018. Rank Down System Advanced into a class you didn’t mean to or ended up not liking? The Rank Down system was made for cases like yours. Here’s what you need to know about it. 1) The Rank Down system allows you to revert back to the Rank you were before your last advancement. 2) When you use the system to go back one Rank, all the skill and attribute points you used on your latest class/circle are returned to you. 3) Your total Class EXP will also reset back to the value it was right before your latest advancement. 4) You can only use the Rank Down system one time per Rank. 5) After using the system to go down one Rank, you can no longer use it to go back to a Rank lower than that. <The requirements for using the Rank Down system are the same as the Rank Reset Voucher. Make sure to read all the instructions before rolling back your Rank!> Traveling Merchant Geraldas Geraldas is a new Gem merchant NPC that appears every 3 hours (from 00:00, server time) in the city of Fedimian. At this NPC, you can trade Silver or Ancient Gold Coins for one random Gem, but there are a few things you should keep in mind: 1) Only characters of level 100 and above can use this NPC. 2) Geraldas stays in town for only 1 hour at a time. 3) Every time you buy a Gem from Geraldas on the same day, the price goes up (resets at 06:00, server time). There are two ways to purchase Gems from Geraldas: A. With Silver - Base price 10,000 Silver + 5,000 per purchase (starting from the second purchase of the day) - Lv 1-6 Red/Blue/Green/Yellow/White Gem or Monster Gem B. With Ancient Gold Coins - No Silver fee; you can obtain Ancient Gold Coins from the Hunting Grounds - Lv 4-6 Red/Blue/Green/Yellow/White Gem or Monster Gem White Gems <This is what the new White Gems look like.> If you follow our dev blog closely, you may have noticed these Gems making an appearance in a previous post… White Gems are a new type of Gem you can get from Hunting Grounds, which have the ability to increase your Looting Chance when equipped. These Gems are rarer than other types of Gems and can be equipped on top, bottom, weapon, subweapon, boots and gloves equipment items. Because of their effects, White Gems are best used on gear with some Looting Chance to create equipment sets for farming purposes. Besides White Gems, we also added 40 new types of Monster Gems, the full list of which is included in the patch notes for February 20, 2018. Monster Cards <The new Monster Cards added last February 20.> A new roster of Monster Cards is here, including cards from all 4 colours. Have a look at the table below. Color Card Effects Red Froster Lord Card [★/2]% chance per attack of freezing the enemy for 4 sec Blue Woodspirit Card 10% chance of recovering [★*70] HP when attacked Armaos Card 10% chance of generating [★*100] Shield for 10 sec Green Stone Froster Card CON +[★*1.5] for 10 sec when using HP potions Lavenzard Card SPR +[★*1.5] for 10 sec when using SP potions Rafene Card STR, CON, INT, SPR, DEX +[★/3] Gorkas Card Looting Chance +[★*5] Purple Succubus Card Provocation per attack increase -[★]% We also edited the tooltips of 18 existing Monster Cards to make their effects clearer to understand. Here they are: Card Edited Tooltip Biteregina Card [★/3]% chance per attack of poisoning the enemy for 6 sec Canceril Card [★]% chance of recovering 2% HP when attacked by Medium-sized monsters, cooldown 15 sec Cerberus Card [★]% chance of recovering 1% SP when attacked by Medium-sized monsters, cooldown 5 sec Deathweaver Card [★]% chance of recovering 3% HP when attacked by Large-sized monsters, cooldown 15 sec Ferret Marauder Card Provocation per attack increase +[★]% Giant Wood Goblin Card Increases [★]% damage against stunned enemies Hydra Card Increases [★]% damage against frozen enemies Ironbaum Card Increases [★]% damage against sleeping enemies Mallet Wyvern Card [★]% chance of recovering 3% SP when attacked by Large-sized monsters, cooldown 5 sec Marionette Card [★/3]% chance per attack of slowing down the enemy for 3 sec Mineloader Card [★/3]% chance per attack of shocking the enemy for 3 sec Moa Card Increases [★]% damage against Demon-type monsters Moldyhorn Card Increases [★]% damage against petrified enemies Prison Cutter Card Increases [★]% damage against bleeding enemies Rajapearl Card [★/3]% chance per attack of bleeding the enemy for 6 sec Velnewt Card [★]% chance of recovering 0.5% HP when attacked by Small-sized monsters, cooldown 15 sec Velnia Monkey Card Increases [★]% damage against poisoned enemies Werewolf Card [★]% chance of attacks being registered as rear attacks
[iTOS EXCLUSIVE] Dev Comments: Intense Balancing (Feb 20)
Greetings, Saviors! As you may know from this week’s patch notes, today’s content update includes a serious balance rework in classes of all trees. We at the dev team have previously discussed many of these changes in the Intense Balancing post series, and now that they’re being applied to the game, we thought we’d chime in with some additional comments for our iTOS audience about how certain skill adjustments came to be and what our intention behind them was. Keep in mind that this post doesn’t cover all that’s being applied in this patch. For the full list of changes, check the patch notes for February 20, 2018. : Falconer Roost - Falconer skills within 100 range from the roost will now deal 50% more damage. - Duration decreased from 120 to 20 sec. - Cooldown decreased from 60 sec to 20 sec. This one is simple: Roost didn’t serve much of a purpose before, but with this change the skill takes on the role of focusing the Falconer’s attacks. Circling - Will now decrease AoE defense ratio to 1 regardless of skill level. - Effects will now be maintained even when the character moves (the Hawk will follow). - Duration changed from 10 sec to 10 + (skill level * 1) sec. Circling is one of the most recognizable Falconer skills, and a very appealing one at that. The downside to its unregulated power was that, not only were bugs frequent, but under certain circumstances it could become too much of an overpowering skill. To address this, we cut the AoE defense ratio decrease and made it a “mobile” skill where the Hawk follows the casting character. With this, Circling can no longer be used for unlimited attacks, but it remains just as powerful and important in the Falconer repertoire. Pheasant - Damage to Beast enemies increased 50%. - Max. targets changed from unlimited to 15. - Skill factor changed from 660% with 36.3% per skill level to 990% with 54.5% per skill level. - Cooldown reduced from 40 to 25 sec. Despite being a red icon dealer class, Falconers didn’t really have a representative attack skill. What’s more, considering the unique concept of the class, it was lacking a true attack that made proper use of the Hawk. Pheasant was the obvious choice for the role, so in this patch we wanted it to be reborn as the skill to go to for a powerful blow. Along with its various attributes, we hope Pheasant will become the staple Falconer tile skill in the eras to come. Pre-emptive Strike - Skill can now be turned ON/OFF at any time. - Increased damage of Sonic Strike and Hovering activated by Pre-Emptive Strike (skill level * 10%). - Added cyclical SP consumption effect that applies whenever Pre-Emptive Strike is active. - The buff disappears if SP is low. - Duration changed to unlimited. - Cooldown changed to 0 sec. We at the dev team were happy with the concept of Pre-emptive Strike, but we had a few issues with its low performance and lack of overall convenience. In this patch, we applied a solution to those problems by allowing the skill to be switched ON/OFF and increasing the damage of Sonic Strike and Hovering under its effects. Hawk Hunt - New attribute. - After performing its skills, the Hawk remains in standby mode and does not leave. - Max. level 1. Circle 3 Falconer may have Pre-emptive Strike and Aiming, but we felt like it was missing a certain charm, so we decided to add a new attribute that would facilitate the process of managing the Hawk. It’s at C3 that Falconers can really prove themselves as veteran hawk hunters now. : Musketeer The Musketeer is a widely attractive class with a fanbase of its own, but its skills weren’t quite living up to the appeal. Our main gripe (and that of many players) was that the most powerful attack skills were all concentrated in Circle 1, so making a satisfying investment of your early skill points was almost impossible. Our goal with these Musketeer changes was, then, to redistribute and improve the performance of the class’ skills in order to simplify skill point investment while staying true to the original Musketeer concept. Subweapon Attack - Musketeers can now use subweapon attack (C) when equipping a Musket. With Butt Stroke gone, we brought in subweapon attack so that players can use it in conjunction with the new attribute as an escape move. This, we hope, can add to the technical repertoire of the class. Covering Fire - Charging time removed. - Reduced pause after casting from 2 sec to 1.5 sec. Covering Fire is a good option for making up for the lack of AoE attack in the Musketeer class, but the long charging time and cast delay meant that it was far from practical. With these changes, the skill becomes considerably easier to handle. Snipe - Skill moved to C2. - Skill factor increased from 2266% to 2833% (567% increase). - Damage increase per level increased from 124.6% to 155.8% per level (31.2% increase per level). - Reduced pause after casting from 2 sec to 0.5 sec. Having Snipe in Circle 1 was somewhat of a disadvantage to Musketeers due to the limited performance of the skill and the amount of points required for properly investing in it. By moving it to Circle 2 and adjusting the damage, Snipe can now be free of its main restrictions. Bayonet Thrust: Reduced Recovery - Attribute removed. Butt Stroke and Bayonet Thrust were not only ignored by most players, but they also didn’t fit right with our vision of the Musketeer class. For this reason, instead of finding a way to make players use these skills, we decided it was better to delete them (with our sincere apologies to bayonet fans) and create new skills that more accurately represent the Musketeer technique. Grooving Muzzle - New skill. - Maximum level 15. - Increases accuracy +100 when using skill. - Ignores 15% of enemy defense. - 30% chance of changing basic attack to 3 consecutive critical attacks. - Duration 10 + (skill level -1) sec. - Cooldown 35 sec. In order to improve on the Musketeer’s compatibility, we decided to add in a new basic attack skill. Not only is Grooving Muzzle a handy addition to any class build, it can be used during the cooldown of your other skills in place of raw basic attacks. Volleyfire - Changed from AoE ratio of 5 to fixed value of 8 targets. - Changed from “effect” multi-hit to true multi-hit. - Overheat increased from 1 to 2. - Cooldown reduced from 26 sec to 20 sec. While Covering Fire and Volleyfire can both be considered as the go-to Musketeer skills for AoE attack, the latter was significantly less popular. Now, with increased overheat, reduced cooldown and differentiated features, players will have to think twice before forgoing Volleyfire. Sniper’s Serenity - Added ability to walk slowly when in Sniper's Serenity status. - Movement speed is fixed to 10 and unable to move during basic attacks. - Using skill while on the buff deactivates it and applies cooldown. - Cooldown reduced from 20 sec to 1 sec. - SP consumption changed from 370 (+41 per level) to 111 (+12.3 per level). We at the dev team are very satisfied with how Sniper’s Serenity performs. It’s a favorite of in-game Musketeers, too. However, we did feel like the way it was structured resulted in too many gameplay restrictions. Because of this, we wanted to make a few changes that would improve the feel of the skill without tampering too much with its performance. Prime & Load - New skill. - Maximum level 1. - Cooldown 25 sec. - Using skill resets Musketeer's C1 and C2 attack skill cooldown. - Additional cooldown is applied according to the reset skills. As we said earlier, although the initial concept of the Musketeer is fairly attractive, it was lacking in compatibility with lower Rank classes. We tried to amend this in previous patches, but it wasn’t enough to solve the main problem at hand. Here, too, we came to the conclusion that instead of forcing the use of unrelated skills, the answer was to reinforce combat in the style of the Musketeer. That’s how we came up with Prime & Load, which can be used to deal powerful blows without interruption or fill in the gaps of other skills. : Hoplite Stabbing - Increased piercing speed by approx. 2 times. - Damage now increases up to 2 times with consecutive pierces. Stabbing is an appealing skill, but due to its subpar efficacy it was never a favorite of Hoplite players. We wanted Stabbing to become a somewhat risky skill with the payoff of dealing large amounts of damage from one spot, so we had damage increase over time to make that risk worth taking. We also improved on the general feel of the skill by upping the stabbing speed. Long Stride - Damage now increases with weight (100% weight = +100% damage). - Increased range by approx. 2-3 times. - Targets increased from 5 to 10. - Cooldown decreased from 49 to 30 sec. Long Stride was originally intended as the go-to Hoplite AoE technique, but in reality it turned out to be a little too impractical. For this skill, we doubled the range and number of targets, and we reduced the cooldown time to improve the overall utility of Long Stride. : Cataphract As developers, we always felt sorry for how the Cataphract class was being used mostly for Trot. We tried to come up with ways of improving it more than once, but it wasn’t enough to transform the class in the we had hoped. This time, we decided to go all out and not only add different effects to the skills, but also develop new skills to help cement the Cataphract’s offensive side. Earth Wave - Changed to increase damage by 50% on knocked down enemies. - Removed casting time. - Overheat changed from 1 to 3. - Cooldown decreased from 12 to 10 sec. Our goal here was to make Earth Wave a more quintessential Cataphract skill. The increased overheat and shorter cooldown make it more readily available, while the absence of casting time gives way to an easier application. Steed Charge - Reduced staggering effect that occurs after the skill is cast. - Skill can now be used one more time within 1.5 sec of being cast. Although charging is an important concept to the Cataphract class, it wasn’t always explicitly represented in skills other than Trot. That’s why we’re reducing the staggering effect of Steed Charge, allowing players use the skill again within a shorter amount of time. Hopefully, Steed Charge can now be used as a better technical tool to quickly rush to the enemy or retreat when necessary. Acrobatic Mount - New skill. - Increases the damage of skills only able to use while riding by + (skill level *5)%. - Increases SP consumptions by + (skill level *10)%. - Only able to use while riding (deactivates when dismounted). - Duration 40 sec. - Cooldown 60 sec. Another distinctive trait of Cataphracts is mounted combat. Sadly, the heavy mounting restrictions on skill use all but nullified any merits the class had in cavalry play. Our solution to this was enhancing mounted skills with an added buff, which gives Cataphracts the ability to deal high degrees of damage in exchange for increased SP consumption. With Acrobatic Mount, it’s up to the players to decide whether they want to take the high risk, high return route or give up some of the damage boost for a more comfortable management of their SP. : Dragoon Dragon Soar - Damage on Flying enemies increased 30%. - Overheat changed from 1 to 3. Our plan for Dragon Soar was to create a handy skill players can use to fill in the gaps of other Dragoon techniques. We think the skill’s damage and overall performance are good enough for its purpose, so we went for an overheat increase as the main change. Dragontooth - Casting time changed to 1 sec regardless of skill level. - Critical rate now doubles when the skill is accurate. - Additional effects are now applied according to the type of spear equipped. - Two-handed spears ignore 50% defense. - One-handed spears increase critical damage by 10%. The problem with Dragontooth was that, as you increased in level, the casting time grew significantly longer, which severely constricted the skill’s usability. That is far from the vision we had for Dragontooth, so in this patch we worked towards improving its synergy with other aspects of the class. We added weapon bonuses and reduced the casting time in order to give Dragoons enough room to play around with the skill and make the most of its performance. : Quarrel Shooter Running Shot - Additional attack calculations changed from multiplication to addition formulas. - Base 80%, per-level increase 30%. - Buff can now be right-clicked to cancel. - Duration changed to 300 sec. We know Running Shot was already a fairly popular skill, but with the introduction of Double Gun Stance and other high rank skills, it was threatening to become a little too OP. So, in consideration of future basic attack skills, we decided to modify Running Shot’s calculation formulas into producing more reasonable results. : Linker Hangman's Knot: Splash Defense - Name changed to Hangman's Knot: Focused Attack. - Effects changed to set the AoE defense ratio of linked enemies to 1, and increase damage received by 5% per attribute level for 3 sec. Having Hangman’s Knot reduce the AoE defense ratio of enemies below 0 could sometimes make the skill unintentionally overpowering, so we limited that reduction to a maximum of 1. To compensate, we added new effects to Focused Attack in an attempt to maintain some of the performance of the original attribute without restricting it excessively. : Matador With our tweaks to the Matador class, our goal is to cement its role in situations where the casting character is being targeted, as well as increase its overall technicality. This was only our first step towards achieving that goal, but we have more plans to continue working on the Matador in future patches. Muleta - Added buff that increases critical rate by 10 per skill level for 20 sec when the counter-attack is successful. - Changed cooldown and SP consumption to apply immediately when the skill is cast. - Blocks physical melee attacks when counter-attacking. - Duration increased from 0.5 sec to 1 sec. - Cooldown increased from 8 to 10 sec. Muleta was a rather difficult skill to use against continuous enemy attacks. Because of this, we made a few changes to help it block consecutive attacks more easily after the first counter-attack. Paso Doble - Skill range increased by about 33%. - Skill length increased from 40 to 60. - Cooldown reduced from 25 sec to 20 sec. - Character no longer takes damage while the skill is being cast. - Increased AOE ratio by 5. We felt that Paso Doble wasn’t performing as well as we had hoped, so we started by adjusting the cooldown, range and AoE ratio. Then, we added the “no damage taken while casting” effect to give players better control in escaping dangerous situations. Black Slide - 100% chance of evasion during the maneuver. Allowing Back Slide to be used at the right time to evade enemy attacks is one example of the measures we took to increase the technical aspect of Matador combat. : Lancer We were already pretty satisfied with the situation of the Lancer class as a whole. We only felt like the SP consumption was a tad excessive for a Swordsman tree class, so we decided to reduce the overall SP requirements of its skills. : Inquisitor Breaking Wheel - Breaking Wheel: Additional Damage attribute activates up to 15 hits regardless of the wheel's durability, and the wheel remains even after 15 hits. - Breaking Wheel can no longer be destroyed, even when hit by enemies. Using Breaking Wheel with an attribute to deal additional damage is in no way a flaw in the design of the skill. However, under certain unconventional situations, this skill did allow for unlimited hits, or for the number of hits to be increased beyond what we intended. Since we had no problems with the basic performance of Breaking Wheel, instead of nerfing it, we simply put a stop to its unintended use. In fact, now that the wheel can’t be destroyed by enemy attacks, the skill can perform even better than before in normal circumstances.
Future Updates: Guild Promotion, Quests, Title Collection
Greetings, Saviors! We’re back today with another series of neat functions that are being developed for future patches. In this post we’re going to show you our plans for a new guild promotion feature, some quest improvements and a nice addition to the title system. Don’t forget that these plans aren’t final, so the actual content may end up looking a little different when it is applied to the game. Guild Promotion Board We’re creating a notice board which guilds can use to promote themselves and recruit members. The promotion board includes different information about the guilds like guild level, activity (Adventure Journal points), average team level, etc., which all players can access. The board allows players to directly send join requests to the guilds they are interested in, and guild administrators can then use the promotion board to manage and process the applications. In order to register the guild at the promotion board, the guild master must upload the guild’s banner (512 x 200 png) and cover page (1024 x 768-3840 png). Guild masters can set up the guild’s banner, cover page, intro text and promotion status under the guild settings menu. Players interested in the guild can look at the Info tab for more details and use the Apply button to send a join request. Since any player can apply to join a guild through the promotion board, there is no need for the applicant and the guild master to meet in-game in order to process the request. The guild’s administrator can simply access the board and accept or decline the application. Master Quests With the omission of advancement quests from Ranks 2 to 8, the function of Class Master NPCs became limited to selling attributes and consumables. Now, we want to bring quests back to the Class Masters. Starting from the lower levels, each Master will include their own independent subquests, most of them rewarding your character with Attribute Points. We expect to update Master quests over multiple patches in the future. Daily Quest Rewards We have plans to update the rewards and frequency of the Mercenary Post’s daily quests. First, we’re going to make these quests playable 2 times per day, per character. The quests will consist of simple monster hunting (adjusted to your character level), without the current item gathering component. The basic EXP rewards, on the other hand, are getting big boost with added Silver and Attribute Points. According to the day of the week, the daily quests will include only one of the new rewards: Silver from Monday to Thursday; Attribute Points from Friday to Sunday. Silver rewards will be calculated based on your level (level x n Silver), while Attribute Point prizes are awarded as 1 or 2 tickets of 100 Points (or up to 3 tickets if you’re at maximum level). Title Collection Finally, we want to introduce a system that grants characters minor passive stat increases according to the total amount of titles they possess. The image above gives you an idea of how the system works. We don’t want each stat to depend on a different kind of title, so we expect it to apply the stat boosts based only on the overall number of titles. Stay tuned to the News page for more updates!
NEW Hidden Class: Nak Muay
Greetings, Saviors! The Nak Muay is our next hidden class in the Swordsman tree that's coming out on February 20! Today we bring you a sneak peek of what this class is about. "The combat style of the Nak Muay is very different from other kinds you may know. We attack the enemy with our hands, feet, elbows, and knees. The risk of injury is high, and it is not an easy style to learn. No matter how strong you are, you must never underestimate your opponent. If you do, the Nak Muay technique becomes nothing but a means for violence." - Khanom Caolaw, Nak Muay Master Alma Generosa (Nak Muay Main BGM) Composed by Kevin See you soon on February 20!
Velcoffer’s Nest and New Legend Gear
Greetings, Saviors! We’re very excited to bring you a preview of the brand new set of Legend-grade equipment we’re developing and all the fresh content that’s coming along with it. Just keep reading to find out what we have in store, and remember that the actual content can always end up looking a little different from the plans we’re presenting here. Velcoffer’s Nest Dragons are known to have existed since ancient times, but their entire species was confined long ago after a great war between goddesses and demons. Then, with Medzio Diena, the seals that imprisoned them grew weaker and, one by one, the dragons began to awaken. One of the first ancient dragons to escape confinement was Velcoffer, who now inhabits Section 5 of the Tevhrin Stalactite Cave. Velcoffer’s Nest can be entered via the Gatekeeper Kupole standing guard in the area. The 5-player raid mission is structured like an instanced dungeon, the rewards consisting of Cubes that drop Velcoffer Spirit Fragments (character-bound). You can collect these fragments and deliver them to Blacksmith Teliavelis for Legend-grade Velcoffer equipment. The new Blacksmith Teliavelis NPC, who produces Velcoffer equipment from the Spirit Fragments, will be added to the city of Fedimian. All items in the Velcoffer series, as well as future Legend equipment, will be enhanced, transcended and maintained only by Blacksmith Teliavelis. Velcoffer’s Nest will share its clear count with the other Legend raids: Earth Tower’s Lolopanther and Solmiki Areas. Entrance will be limited to one time per week, per character (two times for Token users), but each entry will count only if the mission is cleared, so you can keep trying until you succeed. Unlike Earth Tower, where each area drops a different kind of item needed for the equipment, in Velcoffer’s Nest there is no division. Velcoffer Spirit Fragments can be found in the entire map and are used for all types of Velcoffer weapons and armor. Velcoffer Gear The Lv 360 Velcoffer Legend series comprises weapon and armor items of all kinds, plus costumes (you will no longer get Legend accessories from raids; instead, we’re making future Demon Lord field boss accessories Legend grade). When complete, a set of Velcoffer equipment has the potential to surpass not just Lv 350 Unique items (Primus, Masinios, etc.), but also the next generation of gear in terms of performance. For this reason, set and individual stats are going to be applied to the Velcoffer series through a system different from the current Lolopanther and Solmiki ones. Individual Stats Newly created Velcoffer items will not come with their own stats. In order to apply individual stats to a piece of Velcoffer equipment, players will need an item called Ichor, which can be extracted from equipment of other grades. The chances of extracting Ichors from equipment are low. If you succeed, however, the host item is consumed and replaced with an Ichor that contains all of its stats (the extracted Ichor will also be tradable regardless of the state of the original equipment). Failed attempts consume 1 Potential, and items with 0 Potential are destroyed. Ichors can be extracted from Lv 350 weapon and armor items of all grades, and the process requires a set amount of Nucle Powder and Sierra Powder to complete. The following is a list of current items you’ll be able to extract Ichors from. Type Magic Rare Unique Weapons (incl. Shields) Raffye Berthas Raffye Primus Raffye Masinios Armor Basticle Jevenellis Irellis Berthas Basticle Berthas Jevenellis Berthas Irellis Primus Basticle Primus Jevenellis Primus Irellis Ausura Fietas Laitas Once you have an Ichor, you can apply the stats it contains to a Legend grade item. Ichors are categorized according to the type of equipment they are extracted from, and can only be used in Legend items of the same type. Weapon Ichors are divided into One-handed Sword, Staff, One-handed Bow, etc.; similarly, Armor Ichors come in Top, Bottom, Gloves and Boots varieties. Below are a few examples of how different Ichors can be used on items of the same type. A) Primus Raffye Sword >> One-Handed Sword Ichor >> Velcoffer Sword (One-handed) B) Ausura Greaves (Plate) >> Boots Ichor >> Velcoffer Greaves (Plate) C) Ausura Greaves (Plate) >> Boots Ichor >> Velcoffer Shoes (Cloth) And these are examples of how Ichors cannot be used, since they aren’t intended for items of their own type. A) Primus Raffye Sword >> One-Handed Sword Ichor >> Velcoffer Two-handed Sword B) Ausura Greaves >> Boots Ichor >> Velcoffer Leather Gloves In conclusion, getting an Ichor with top-notch stats will not be an easy task, but you can replace the Ichor you have on a Legend item at any time. Replacing the Ichor in order to apply better stats on your equipment will not reduce its potential, nor is there a chance that the attempt might fail. Set Effects Applying set effects to Velcoffer equipment is going to require a special item called Faerytiris Solution that’s able to store EXP when activated. The solution can be purchased from Alchemist Master Vaidotas Winterspoon and it absorbs part of the EXP you obtain when hunting monsters. Your character will still receive their full share of the EXP, however, and the solution will store it even if you’re already at maximum level. Once you collect enough EXP in your bottles of Faerytiris Solution and use them on your Velcoffer gear, a random prefix is generated. There are a total of 5 different prefixes that act as key tags from which you can compose sets of 3-5 by equipping items that have the same prefix. You need 4 bottles of the solution for each weapon, and 1 for each armor item (the bottles can be used more than once). Velcoffer weapons also count towards the set effects, so in total you can go for one set of 4-5, or two sets of 3, considering all the combinations (left hand, right hand, top, bottom, gloves and boots). Plus, the set effects will include not just the usual passive and conditional stats, but new active skill effects as well. Finished Items The regular way to obtain Velcoffer gear is, as we mentioned, doing raids and collecting the required Spirit Fragments little by little. However, if you’re lucky, there is a (slight) chance you might get a finished Velcoffer item at random from one of the reward cubes. The finished items all possess the same stats and performance but they are character-bound, meaning they can’t be traded or moved via Team Storage regardless of their potential or transcendence status. If you don’t need the item or it doesn’t match your character’s class, you have the option to dismantle it for some Nucle and Sierra Powder, plus a few Velcoffer Spirit Fragments. Finally, along with the Velcoffer equipment we’re introducing the Velcoffer Costume and Helmet. The Velcoffer Costume and Helmet can be obtained only through the rewards cubes (they can’t be created from Spirit Fragments), but they are 100% tradable. Besides the cosmetic appeal, wearing both the costume and the helmet as a set also has the effect of reducing all damage taken inside Velcoffer's Nest. What do you think? We are still polishing the details of the new Velcoffer gear, but our hope is that this will introduce some variety to TOS’ roster of equipment items, as well as the mechanics of how they are obtained and processed. Make sure to keep following our News page for more details!
The Lore You Know: Zealot
February is the month of love, so why not shine a light on our more fanatical of Goddess-lovers, the Zealots. For those of you who are not as familiar with this Cleric-tree class, our Zealots do not call upon the power of a specific Goddess but instead sacrifice their life energy and similar forces to invoke a different type of power to use in battle. There are also rumors that they tortured and assassinated demons during their search for the missing Goddesses. But in regards to this, how does our MMORPG version of the Zealots differ from that of history? First, let’s break down the etymology of the word "zealot". Zealot comes from the Greek word, zelotes, which means, “one who is a zealous follower.” Zealot is also the common translation of the Hebrew word, kanna’im, which means “one who is zealous on behalf of God.” In this historical context, this term was used to characterize members of a 1st century Jewish sect who fought against the Roman rule in Palestine. The more extreme members of this group participated in acts of terrorism and assassination in order to fight against the pagan Romans. When discussing this sect, the word zealot is usually capitalized. The Zealots were adamantly opposed to the pagan Romans that ruled over them. And their views were so extreme that they also opposed any idea of peace between the two political bodies. As Zealots believed they were the defenders and true devotees of the law of God, some Zealots even carried daggers beneath their cloaks to stab anyone they believed were committing a sacrilegious act or who were being too friendly to Rome. A lot of our knowledge about the Zealots during the 1st century comes from the historian and scholar Josephus (37-100AD) who wrote influential works on Jewish history and the political climate of the time. However, Josephus labeled the Zealots as dangerous fanatics and pointed them out as a possible reason why the Romans destroyed the city of Jerusalem. With all of this in mind, it is also important to state that although Jewish Zealots are seemingly the more popular mention, there are zealots in other areas of history as well. The Zealots seen in TOS are not a reflection of the Zealots from the 1st century but more of an interpretation of the word’s core definition “one who is a zealous follower.” Our Zealots express themselves through various skills that reflect the actions of a zealous follower. Skills that involve blind fate, fanaticism, and immolation. Therefore, as you search for the Revelations of the Goddess, have you also given thought to devoting yourself as their follower and becoming a Zealot yourself? References Poole, G. 2017. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Flavius Josephus. [Online] The Editors, 2014. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Zealot. [Online] Etymoline. Zealot. [Online] Jewish Encyclopedia. Zealots [Online] Wikipedia, 2018. Zealotry in Jewish History. [Online]
Future Improvements: Character Slots, Inventory and More
Greetings, Saviors! For us at the dev team, there have always been certain UI/functionality improvements that we’ve wanted to bring into the game, many of which were also requested by players. We’ve been working on a few of them recently, and today we thought we’d share a little preview of the updates we’re preparing. As always, remember that the details of these updates can look different when they are actually applied to the game. Personal Shops (Repair, Spell Shop) What’s changing: - Comma (,) used to separate numbers. - Total amount included in new confirmation window. It’s not always easy telling how much you’re spending on a personal shop. Important price information doesn’t really stand out from the rest of the UI, so many of us end up clicking that confirmation button without fully knowing the total amount we’re paying. Less honest shop owners can take advantage of that to sneakily hike up their prices or otherwise cause trouble for unsuspecting customers. <The new confirmation window.> To combat that kind of problem, we’re going to start using commas in numbers (displaying “1000” as “1,000”, for example) and add a new confirmation popup window that tells you the total price of what you’re about to purchase. Lodge (Character Selection) What’s changing: - More character slots. - New character list organizing function. - New popup alert about items not transferrable via Team Storage. - New popup alert about deleting characters with cards equipped. We’re finally bringing in the much needed maximum character slot expansion. Also, we have plans for a new function that lets you reorganize the order of your characters in the list; that way you don’t have to fumble through the pages of your Lodge every time you want to login with your favorite characters. <This window alerts you when you are receiving items not transferrable via Team Storage.> As you know, some items in TOS cannot be transferred between characters through the Team Storage (namely timed items). To avoid mistakes by receiving this kind of items on the wrong character, we’re going to add a new popup window that asks for your confirmation before sending the items to the target character’s inventory. Gem Enhancement What’s changing: - Processed equipment items no longer used as materials for gem enhancement. We’re sure some of you will have made the mistake of accidentally using an important equipment item as gem EXP. All those resources spent on identifying, enhancing and transcending that one item, only for it to disappear in the blink of an eye… We know that can be tough, and we don’t think anyone would feed important equipment items to a gem in any case, so we’re going to remove processed equipment (items that have been enhanced, transcended or added sockets/gems) from the range of items that can be used to increase gem EXP. <Processed equipment items are blacked out and cannot be selected when you’re enhancing a gem.> <A message pops up when you right-click a processed equipment item.> Market What’s changing: - New categories. - Character name included in ‘sale completed’ message. - Less restrictions on search term length. Our plan for Market categories is to reorganize them into more specific subdivisions, in a way that makes it easier for players to find the item they’re looking for. In the future, this will also include advanced search options that let you filter items by stats, added sockets, etc. <This popup message will include the name of the character that sold the item.> If you’ve seen the alert that pops up whenever you have Silver to retrieve from the Market, you’ll know that it isn’t the most informative, especially when you have multiple active characters. Because of this, we want the popup message to start including the name of the character that sold the item, so you’ll always know where to go to pick up the Silver. Guild Hangout What’s changing: - Time frozen inside Guild Hangouts during maintenance. Guinea Pigs and guild crops can only be grown inside the Guild Hangout, with players needing to regularly check on them for food and water. <Guinea Pigs and Dilgele need to be fed/watered regularly.> This system can sometimes work against guilds when there’s a server maintenance going on, since guild members aren’t able to access the Hangout. That is why we’re working to stop time inside Guild Hangouts whenever the server is down, so you won’t have to worry about your growing crops or Guinea Pigs even if maintenance gets extended. Inventory What’s changing: - Improvements on the problem of undiscardable items. - New function to batch-delete selected items. - New function to filter and display items. - Grade/enhancement/transcendence displayed even with the tooltip off. <What do you do with a Kepa Doll?> Kepa Dolls and potions obtained from quests are only some of the items which can’t be deleted from your inventory. We want to allow players to delete these items at will, so we made plans to revise the Inventory UI in a way that lets you filter out the items you want and batch-delete those you don’t need. Dungeons What’s changing: - New ‘Return’ function for Mercenary Post missions, Saalus Convent missions and Uphill Defense. - New Hunting Grounds info UI. We would like missions to have the ‘Return’ function that allows you to go back to the original map without having to wait, the same way you can do with instanced dungeons. We would also like to add a proper Hunting Grounds UI like the Instanced Dungeons window (F10) since, currently, there is little information on them outside the World Map (N). <Instanced Dungeon cleared vs. Mission cleared.> We also considered suggestions to add a Storage NPC in Saalus Convent to make storing Blessed Shards easier after each mission, but we didn’t want to encourage players to permanently move their characters there, so in the end we decided against it. Error Popups What’s changing: - New execution error popup messages. We’re preparing new popup messages for errors related to the execution of the game. We’re trying to improve the source of the errors too, of course, but we also think the error messages should provide more information on how to deal with the issue when it occurs. <Example of a possible popup error message.> Other Future Improvements - Customizing the location of buff UI and monster HP bars. - Improving character stat visibility. These are only a few functions we’re working on at the moment, but we hope they give you an idea of the kind of improvements we’re hoping to implement in the future. As for when you’ll see these updates in the game, their development will likely depend on the progress of higher priority issues like bug fixes, new content, balance adjustments, etc. We will keep releasing more details about these and other improvements through the dev blog and the patch notes, so keep an eye on our official pages.