Dev Interview: Adventure Journal Overhaul

Greetings, Saviors!

If you keep up with our Announcements here at the website, you’ll know that the devs are getting up to some pretty major changes to the old Adventure Journal. Today we sat down with the developer in charge of the transformation to find out what's in store.
 

Staff: Well, hello, Mr. Adventure Journal Dev, it’s nice to have you. How do you feel today?

AJD: To be honest, this is my first interview ever, so I do feel a little nervous.

Staff: Don’t worry, I won’t bite… I want to start by asking about how the process of revising the Adventure Journal came about. I remember the first notice from a few months ago that got players excited about the new version of the Journal, and it seems you’re now making real alterations to it. What made you want to revise this feature of the game?

AJD: With the Adventure Journal the way it is now, there were always times when we felt like it displayed unnecessary information, or that it was shown in an ineffective way. We also felt that the rewards players got from the achievements weren’t always the best incentives for exploration. With this in mind, we decided to reorganize the information in the Adventure Journal and introduce new rewards that would better motivate players to complete different achievements.

Staff: As a developer, what part of the process of changing the Adventure Journal concerned you the most?

AJD: The biggest worry for me was the new reward system; figuring out which rewards would better suit each achievement and what would get players exploring the maps in a way that felt satisfactory.

Staff: That certainly sounds like a challenge, although as a player of TOS myself, it also makes me excited for the changes that are to come. Now, onto the next question. The latest announcement about the Adventure Journal mentions that some of the new content is going to be reset every month. I would like to know more about what this content is, how it will be different from the permanent-type content, and why you decided to divide it into these two categories.

AJD: The types of content we’re thinking of including in the resetting category are monster kills, item drops, item crafting, personal shops, fishing and dungeons. The difference between the two categories is that you won’t be able to access your records for the resetting content after the period corresponding to that month is over, while the permanent content will remain recorded in your team’s Journal for as long as it exists. The content we put in the permanent category is there mostly for practical reasons; like quests, for example. I don’t think most players would be too happy if all their quest records were deleted every month and they had to create another character just to fill them up again… As for the resetting content, we thought the current ranking system made it hard for new players to try and make it into the top spots, a problem which is only aggravated as the game’s service continues. We wanted to give more of our dedicated players the chance to compete for meaningful rewards.

Staff: That sounds fair. If you make the scores appear in real-time on the Adventure Journal, that’s definitely going to increase the competitive aspect of Journal achievements. I’m sure you know better than anyone that, in the current system, to be a top ranker you really need to step up your enhancement investments. This time, however, it seems you’re shifting the focus towards monsters and items; is there a reason for this?

AJD: Well, we thought that, if we’re going to revise the achievement rewards, we should focus on those related to the content that the players most easily and commonly encounter in the game.

Staff: I see. Does that mean it will be easier for players to get points for their Journal? And if so, what would you say is the best method for getting into the top ranks of the Adventure Journal under the new system?

AJD: We’re increasing the points attributed to monster kills, item drops and crafting, so hunting more varieties of monsters and crafting different types of items is probably your best bet. This isn’t set in stone, however. After the big Adventure Journal changes are applied, we’re going to continue monitoring the way players use the new system and adjust the content as necessary.

Staff: Considering the rewards that are at stake, and the fact that players will have to compete to get them, I think we can expect people to eventually devise more efficient, “pain-free” ways to achieve their goals… What are your thoughts on this? Does this match the purpose you have in mind for the Adventure Journal?

AJD: The main purpose we envision for the Adventure Journal is to record your team’s activities within TOS. I believe the players will always be clever enough to come up with optimized ways to play whatever content we put out – the Journal included – and we’re certainly not against it. That said, if we find that there are any tricks or any harmful ways to achieve those goals beyond honest competition, then we will have to revise the content accordingly.

Staff: In the current system, for example, the “easy” way some players have found to maximize their points is to buy items from the Market, slightly enhance them, then sell them back, which isn’t harmful to other players, but doesn’t really fit with the purpose of the Adventure Journal either. Will you be giving different points to items obtained from hunting monsters and those bought from the Market?

AJD: We did want to include purchased and re-purchased items in the total count, but the possibility of abuses like the one you mentioned made us rethink it. In the end, we decided not to have items obtained through the Market count towards the Adventure Journal.

Staff: Hunting is the way to go. Got it. I’m a pretty competitive person myself, so I couldn’t help wondering about that. Now that my curiosity is satisfied, I want to ask about the “life” content records you’ll be adding to the Adventure Journal. What are those about?

AJD: If records related to monsters, item drops and crafting are going to be the basis for the combat portion of the Adventure Journal, the “life” section is going to be about non-combat content, like fishing and shops.

Staff: Oh! I did notice the two tabs related to that content in the preview images, along with a little gap just big enough to house another tab… Could it be for a future content update, perhaps…?

AJD: Hahah, you got me. Yes, we wanted to leave a little room for any non-combat content that may be developed and happen to fit with the record-keeping function of the Adventure Journal.

Staff: The Growth category feels somewhat like collecting badges, I would say. I personally can’t stand seeing those empty spaces there left to fill, so I did some research and I found out that, in order to complete all the spots, you really need to raise a whole family of characters. Is this intended as part of the Journal achievements?

AJD: “Raising” characters of different classes is a big part of what makes Tree of Savior interesting, so we felt that it needed to be incorporated in the Adventure Journal as well.

Staff: I don’t know, I tend to feel very attached to my characters, but I’m worried that this kind of system might encourage players to create characters just for the collection, then throw them away. What are your thoughts on this?

AJD: Though some classes may be more popular, every class has its own value in Tree of Savior. I can see how some players would be tempted to create characters just for the Journal rewards, but our hope remains that it will help people experience different classes that they may not have tried otherwise. The Adventure Journal records are also proof of all the diverse activities the player has done within the game, so we believe it’s still a valuable addition.

Staff: The new Exploration tab was interesting, too. For one, it really makes you want to go back to all the spots you missed along the way. The Achievements section, on the other hand, was a little unexpected. I couldn’t figure out what else we’re supposed to do in this tab just by looking at the info on it. Was this intentional?

AJD: Yes, you can access that information from the Achievements section in the Character Info window. We didn’t want to have the same information repeated in two different places, so we opted for removing it from the Adventure Journal.

Staff: Since the permanent content won’t be reset, I’m assuming any rewards that come from that can only be received once per team, is that correct? What I want to ask is: exactly how much TOS would you have to play to get to, say, level 13 in Growth?

AJD: To get to level 13 in the Growth section, you need 5,600 points. That’s 100 points per team level and 50 points per class. The minimum you would need to achieve this would be 5 max-level characters, with 4 characters composed of 8 unique classes each.

Staff: That’s… a lot of work indeed. I should start planning. Now that the new Adventure Journal is finally gaining form, are you satisfied with how it functions, or do you have plans to keep working on it?

AJD: We’ll definitely keep working on it. Tree of Savior still has a lot of room to grow and integrate new content, content which will need to be recorded through the Adventure Journal. Besides, like I mentioned earlier, we also have to consider the players’ feedback to assess which parts need to be adjusted and how, so we’re confident that you’ll see more Journal updates later on.

Staff: Very well! I only have one final question. What does the Adventure Journal mean to you, as a developer?

AJD: Rather than answering that question myself, I would like to ask the players. I want to know how they felt about the Adventure Journal so far, and what they would like it to become in the future. We’ll always need to take into account the player’s vision of the Journal in our plans, so any feedback is more than welcome.

Staff: I’m sure the players will have a lot to say in the comments. Alright, as promised, that was my last question. Thank you for letting me pick your brain for this interview. I’ll look forward to more news on the Adventure Journal from you!

AJD: No problem, I’ll make sure to keep you updated!