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So, I had been on big hiatus, many systems I was coding are in my source 90% done but not complete and ready to go live. A lot of people probably wonder if we're even doing anything? Some big big big alterations are coming that focus on the gameplay aspected of the server. Here's a brief list to give you guys ideas.
Encounters
One of the larger complaints on the server since... well... I can remember, has been encounter scaling and difficulty. The problem is switching encounters to be easy, medium, or difficult has always been a large problem as it makes content difficult to balance for what we would like a situation to bring, and secondly rewarding players became hard to figure out.
We will be introducing a redesign of what a redesign of encounters to follow more of a tier system with rewards such as gold, exp, and loot scaling with encounter difficulty. Players will notice encounters will have colored text which will be their difficulty to combat.
White - Fodder/Henchmen
These guys are like one shot or two shot. They give small exp and small loot. You get swarmed by them but they aren't tough. Even a bard could whack their teeth out most likely. Throw a fireball and you probably mow them all down.
Green - Soldier/Low Special
These guys are tougher, but not beyond being handled. They just don't get run over like the white. They're a little stockier, might have better abilities or what not. Probably about how sundren's encounters are now.
Blue - Champion/Elite
These guys are hard. Some people can solo them, but it's probably best to face them with 2 people. They're a pretty tough fight, but manageable.
Red - Boss/Leader/Head Honcho
These are the main fights that you should likely need help on. They're going to punish you, and you'll probably use resources to beat em. Two to Three people are recommended.
Purple - Legendary/Epic/Unique
These are the guys that make the names for adventurers and would probably need a party of 3 to 5 people to fight. Wanna take down that dragon? Maybe he's the epic Blood Maim that's dispatched scores of men and has a pile of skulls to prove it. You take this guy out and everyone is like GO YOU!
Concept
The idea is we want everyone to be able to solo but we want a difficult challenge for people who form groups and be able to easily tell what they can and cannot handle in a group. And we also needed a means to functionally scale rewards so people who beat the hard bosses feel accomplished for doing so. This means that people with "Weaker" builds can still progress and simply skip over the parts that might beat the hell out of them.
This also gives us utility for events and quests we didn't have before to help fill in the required difficulty when needed and not worry about who is killing what.
Loot Tables
The current loot system is being replaced with a newer version I developed after Sundren's was put in place. This will help use streamline and clean up loot to make it actually easy for developers to tell what's dropping where. It's also FAR easier to edit and build up quickly. We want rewards in player's hands but the current system has been hard to maintain.
Quests
With the new encounter systems coming out areas will be re-evaluated to give more flowing and story oriented quests. We'll also be introducing daily quests people can do for factions and otherwise in order to reap some rewards and gameplay in that front.
We're also kicking around the idea of an adventurer's guild that will give daily quests players can partake in.
All quests made from here on will be party friendly so get your friends and run out for adventure.
Rest
Rest is being redone to match the improved loot and encounter system so players can stay in the thick of things as needed. There will be more on this when we get closer to putting out all of these changes.
Death
Death is being redone completely after the encounters are redone (People should have more control over their death at that point) and take away the concept of trivialization of death.
Players will have a score that scales from 0 to 100, as you die this score will lower and the longer you go without dying it will rise back to 100. The closer to 0 a player is the more susceptible to harm they will be. When one reaches 0 they will be removed from the game permanently.
For PVP, the point loss will be dependant on the level of the person who killed you versus your level. If a high level beats on a noobie, the noobie will lose no points, but if players are on equal footing they will find they are susceptible to normal loss.
Areas & Stories
Major stories and changes to the world have been in the pipeline for some time but many of our developers have been bogged down by life. As many return you will begin to see much of Sundren being updated with brand new content and plots.
Conclusion
Sundren is not dead, and I am aware login counts have been low recently. This isn't new to Sundren's history and usually coincides with how often we update the world and it's status at the time. As changes come in it's likely many players will return.
As for people here and sticking it out, over the horizon will be much needed updates that will hopefully help to give a much better overall feeling to the world and give more enjoyment to your time on the server.
As always feel free to add suggestions to make the game better.
Encounters
One of the larger complaints on the server since... well... I can remember, has been encounter scaling and difficulty. The problem is switching encounters to be easy, medium, or difficult has always been a large problem as it makes content difficult to balance for what we would like a situation to bring, and secondly rewarding players became hard to figure out.
We will be introducing a redesign of what a redesign of encounters to follow more of a tier system with rewards such as gold, exp, and loot scaling with encounter difficulty. Players will notice encounters will have colored text which will be their difficulty to combat.
White - Fodder/Henchmen
These guys are like one shot or two shot. They give small exp and small loot. You get swarmed by them but they aren't tough. Even a bard could whack their teeth out most likely. Throw a fireball and you probably mow them all down.
Green - Soldier/Low Special
These guys are tougher, but not beyond being handled. They just don't get run over like the white. They're a little stockier, might have better abilities or what not. Probably about how sundren's encounters are now.
Blue - Champion/Elite
These guys are hard. Some people can solo them, but it's probably best to face them with 2 people. They're a pretty tough fight, but manageable.
Red - Boss/Leader/Head Honcho
These are the main fights that you should likely need help on. They're going to punish you, and you'll probably use resources to beat em. Two to Three people are recommended.
Purple - Legendary/Epic/Unique
These are the guys that make the names for adventurers and would probably need a party of 3 to 5 people to fight. Wanna take down that dragon? Maybe he's the epic Blood Maim that's dispatched scores of men and has a pile of skulls to prove it. You take this guy out and everyone is like GO YOU!
Concept
The idea is we want everyone to be able to solo but we want a difficult challenge for people who form groups and be able to easily tell what they can and cannot handle in a group. And we also needed a means to functionally scale rewards so people who beat the hard bosses feel accomplished for doing so. This means that people with "Weaker" builds can still progress and simply skip over the parts that might beat the hell out of them.
This also gives us utility for events and quests we didn't have before to help fill in the required difficulty when needed and not worry about who is killing what.
Loot Tables
The current loot system is being replaced with a newer version I developed after Sundren's was put in place. This will help use streamline and clean up loot to make it actually easy for developers to tell what's dropping where. It's also FAR easier to edit and build up quickly. We want rewards in player's hands but the current system has been hard to maintain.
Quests
With the new encounter systems coming out areas will be re-evaluated to give more flowing and story oriented quests. We'll also be introducing daily quests people can do for factions and otherwise in order to reap some rewards and gameplay in that front.
We're also kicking around the idea of an adventurer's guild that will give daily quests players can partake in.
All quests made from here on will be party friendly so get your friends and run out for adventure.
Rest
Rest is being redone to match the improved loot and encounter system so players can stay in the thick of things as needed. There will be more on this when we get closer to putting out all of these changes.
Death
Death is being redone completely after the encounters are redone (People should have more control over their death at that point) and take away the concept of trivialization of death.
Players will have a score that scales from 0 to 100, as you die this score will lower and the longer you go without dying it will rise back to 100. The closer to 0 a player is the more susceptible to harm they will be. When one reaches 0 they will be removed from the game permanently.
For PVP, the point loss will be dependant on the level of the person who killed you versus your level. If a high level beats on a noobie, the noobie will lose no points, but if players are on equal footing they will find they are susceptible to normal loss.
Areas & Stories
Major stories and changes to the world have been in the pipeline for some time but many of our developers have been bogged down by life. As many return you will begin to see much of Sundren being updated with brand new content and plots.
Conclusion
Sundren is not dead, and I am aware login counts have been low recently. This isn't new to Sundren's history and usually coincides with how often we update the world and it's status at the time. As changes come in it's likely many players will return.
As for people here and sticking it out, over the horizon will be much needed updates that will hopefully help to give a much better overall feeling to the world and give more enjoyment to your time on the server.
As always feel free to add suggestions to make the game better.
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