Combat System Changes Dossier Pt. 5

Greetings, Saviors!

Now that the main combat system changes we’ve been discussing in the Dossier series have been applied to iTOS, the dev team is back for the final installation of the Combat System Changes Dossier, where we’ll reveal some of the improvement plans we have for the future.

Keep in mind that the updates we talk about here haven’t been decided on yet and some aspects may change.
 

Life After the Combat System Changes

The big combat system rework came with a character reset event (open until May 30, 2017!) to match all the big and small changes it brought about. We love seeing how players are involved in testing out different builds in the freshly revised combat system, and we're glad most seem to be taking full advantage of the event.

Our plan after this big rework is to assess the problems of specific classes in order to readjust and improve them. Our main focus is going to be on classes that are hard to fine-tune through general formulas alone, particularly those with skill set restrictions or problems related to summon AI, stat calculation, etc.; in other words, classes with very specific concepts that can be tricky to approach by your average player.

Some classes may take longer to readjust than others, but we hope to release a few patches containing changes for multiple classes at once. And by the way, we’re excluding Rank 7 and Rank 8 classes, which don’t have their upper skill set fully formed yet, from these plans.



Tree of Savior has a few classes with very particular structures and functions you don’t commonly see in an MMORPG, and it isn’t easy fixing them all overnight. We at the dev team feel truly grateful to all the players who decided for a class because they admire the concept despite that class’ lower combat performance, and we certainly want to work towards a TOS where no class is forgotten.
 

Field Boss Improvements

One update regarding combat systems we already hinted at in a previous video was field boss improvements.

First, we expect to lower the combat power and rewards of all bosses that appear after a certain period of time, effectively excluding them from the category of field bosses.

Our plans are to divide field bosses into two grades. One grade of field boss will be powerful enough to face multiple parties at once, and drop as main rewards recipes for new unique accessory items, with cubes providing other exciting items. These bosses will be the strongest types of monster existing in Tree of Savior



Defeating this type of boss will distribute rewards to all party members according to the damage contribution ranks (within the party), plus a bonus reward to the first and last characters to attack the boss (they’ll have to be present when the boss is defeated to receive these rewards). We believe these bonus rewards will be a fun incentive for players who dare to risk their safety to deal that first hit or the finishing blow.

The other grade of field boss will be a slightly toned-down version worthy of facing one-on-one with any character that has a decent combat build. These smaller bosses will appear in various fields of different levels and drop material items that can be used to craft equipment obtained from field bosses.

This lower grade of boss will appear at random times in random locations, but we want to avoid having it appear right before scheduled maintenance and remove any restrictions that keep characters from temporarily receiving rewards.

Along with these boss changes, we also intend to reduce the frequency of knockdown,  omnidirectional and single-target attacks in boss monsters, as well as revise their normal attacks.
 

Team Battle League

For our PvP sports content, the Team Battle League, we’re focusing on improving synchronization issues between server/client and location, as well as server speed.

First, we want to change Team Battle League matches from the current 2:2 and 5:5 formats to a single 3:3 setup. We also intend to balance out a few skills and systems that hinder the concept of TBL as sports content.

Some of the aspects we’re thinking of including in this rebalance are the immunity to multiple target devices (knockdown, stun, freeze and other ailments that cause the inability to control your own character), the duration and effect of long buffs/debuffs, and the stat gaps between different items. Any changes we make related to these, however, will only apply to TBL or other battle-type contents played in similar instanced zones.

Finally, regarding TBL, we also feel inclined to add some improvements to the current point and ranking rewards.
 

Guild Communities

One of the obvious differences between MMORPGs and games you play alone are the communities players create in the former. This aspect is especially encouraged by the guild communities present in most MMORPGs, a genre which established itself nearly 20 years ago. With this in mind, the somewhat restrictive and closed-off guild systems of TOS can seem to fall a little short of other games with user communities.

Currently, guilds in TOS cannot be created without a Templar character. The fact that Templar is a Rank 7 class is enough of an obstacle; add that to the relatively lower combat power and the lack of any noticeable benefits for Templars in the recent reset event, and you can see why guild masters are currently left in a bit of a tough spot.



The changes we want to bring to guilds include allowing anyone to create a guild consisting of a simple social community. Guilds led by Templar guild masters, on the other hand, will be able to use skills to access extended guild functions and participate in guild wars. Following these changes, of course, we intend to provide reset items to all guild masters for either skill or class reset options.

To match these guild system revisions, we also want to update guild wars (we’re not talking about the seasonal Regional Guild Battles, but the GvG play that takes place in open fields). Here, unlike what we’re doing for Team Battle League, we don’t intend to readjust level differences, skills/buffs or the number of participants, however.

These changes don’t mean that every guild will have to go to war, either. We very much appreciate the contribution of players who gladly take part in GvG contents, but not all players join a guild for the same purpose.

Finally, we want to push the aspects that differentiate Tree of Savior from more rugged MMORPGs by introducing new friendly living and productive activities, and our plan is to include these in guild contents, too.



Thank you to everyone who stuck with us throughout the Dossier series. We at the dev team want to make sure that TOS continues to grow into a fun game for all players.