Welcome to Octobers 1st The Road Ahead - Plans and Discussions
This is where we talk through our ideas, discussions and planned work. This could be right around the corner or a little further down the line.
Balance
Once the treasure system and new server events are implemented, balance will be the word of the month. I'm sure things may feel too easy or too hard while these systems are finding their place in the progression of the game. Just know we will be making tweaks, some good and some bad, until we hit the right spot. We want treasure to be a meaningful aspect of teching up while also not being so important that an ambush on a treasure run means the end of your wipe. We have also been finding that 3x seems a little over tuned, we are going to be trying 2x instead to see if that feels a little better.
Traps
A big one being discussed internally is our first iteration of defensive traps. These could come in the form of Bear traps, Caltrops, Tripwires, Crossbow Turrets, Oil Pots, False Floors and of course pressure plates with swinging weapons. A great option for extra base defense against unwanted intruders, both those that have raided in or those who have snuck in. Nothing screams get out like a face full of hot oil. To keep things simple, we will start with a select few, making sure they function as intended and then expand our options over time.
Mission Systems
At the end of the day Renowns progression boils down to one thing, collect gold and research new items, craft said items with components and resources and bobs your uncle. We have always intended it to be a simple, easy to understand system, one which we can add to over time. The mission system is one of the first steps in the direction of adding options to our players choice of progression. Players will be able to accept these from mission givers dotted around the map, each providing a task and reward, usually in the form of gold, components or treasure. Once balanced correctly this should be a valid option and change of pace for players tired of farming the same pois over and over without a loss in efficiency. The expansion options of a system like this is endless, such as reputation unlocks allowing an almost nomadic play style operating through purchases from traders, or functionality for player created missions to allow others to become mercenaries or farmers. The options are endless and we are excited to explore where we could take it.
The New Player Experience (Combat)
A problem im sure all our players are aware of and that is our new players experience and especially those regarding combat. Renowns combat is incredibly hard to grasp for someone without any experience in this genre, and to compound that issue we are a full loot game with quite a fast TTK. New players rarely get to experience the combat at any meaningful length before they are killed, usually to something they can't understand. Those issues combined with our massive variance of weapons and attack speeds as well as the bugs such as desync and phasing creates a not so great experience for a first timer to say the least. Our team is open to any option that works for our community, and are currently exploring different methods to hopefully assist in the onboarding of new players and allowing a more meaningful, enjoyable combat experience for everyone. We don't have the answers just yet but we wanted to let everyone know we are working on the issue.
Player Count Concerns
We have been seeing some valid concerns about the lowering of player counts and I just wanted to quickly address these. We have had issues and bugs plaguing the player base since the EA launch of Renown, which has had a clear effect on the current player population, these are mostly performance concerns and EAC connection issues. Both of these points are our number one priority right now and we are already working on some large performance improvements and the EAC issues should also be squared away soon as well. For those worried about the continued development of Renown, I'd like to quell those worries, our team believes in the vision of Renown and what it can become in the future, the team has been working on Renown for the better part of 5 years and we aren't going to be stopping any time soon. EA Release has given us the ability to increase the speed at which we are able to develop and iterate on the game and we haven't been as excited as we are now to smash out the work. If the current state of Renown is not to your liking there's no problem with taking a step away and returning when we have made those leaps and bounds in the right direction.
Thats all from us for now, have a great day!