I've been hard at work on 2.0, putting in some very long nights to come up with some fun new ideas and a massive content patch for Journeybound. 2.0 is going to be a free update, despite being a truly DLC-sized update. It will be releasing later this year, with quite a lot more to do in the game!
Currently, a 100% Completionist run takes about 800 to 1,200 hours for all achievements, completing the Collection Log, hitting Rank-S, and reaching 25 million experience in every skill. 2.0's content will unlock once you reach 25M all, adding several hundred more hours of fresh content! Just some of the new things coming are listed below:
S+ Ranking! The new highest rank is now going to be S+, called "Ascended". The prior level 99 cap is going to raise to 150 once you reach this point of the game.
Every Skill with an Ascension Twist! No skill will have the exact same mechanics as the 1-99 section of the game. Not even things like Grovecraft or Stonecraft, which are typically the most simple of gathering skills in most games. There will be new systems, optimization paths, and mechanics to solve game-wide. Production skills are going to produce all new types of items and consumables, especially to go with the details for the Combat Expansion :)
Combat Expansion! The 1-99 section of the game has one-on-one battles against a wide variety of enemies and bosses. Ascended's 100-150 will feature combat against up to three enemies at a time. This will introduce a huge amount of change, with brand new weapons and abilities with various targeting capabilities. AoE is going to be an important mechanic, and the defensive requirements higher than ever, with much stricter combat tuning in terms of difficulty.
Combat is deserving of its own teaser in the future, so keep an eye out!
New Skills! The roster of skills will be both changing and expanding. You'll have a brand new gathering skill called Cosmicraft, and a new production skill called Relicforging. I don't want to spoil too much, but rest assured, these will be very unique and fun new activities alongside the skills you already are enjoying :)
Item Upgrading! Level 100-150 is considerably longer than 1-99, with a lot more horizontal progression. I've always loved the Everquest style of combining copies of items into more powerful ones, but I prefer a system with some risk to it. You'll be able to combine duplicates of items you craft and find into more powerful ones! But you'll have to decide how far to push it, because if your upgrade fails, your item will revert to the base +0 version. Don't worry! There will be many farmable and grindable consumables to increase the odds of your success, or even guarantee it all works out! Journeybound Idle will never have pay-to-win or a cash shop, so everything is strictly acquirable through playing.
An Upgraded Iteration of Sanctum! 1-99 has a system called Sanctum, where you slot relics into your Sanctum-grid of various shapes and sizes, trying to maximize your bonuses. The Tree of Creation is a new system in Ascension. The Tree of Creation is a far larger grid with more complexities, a true puzzle for you to plan out and solve for your build.
Pets, pets, pets! Ascension is going to have quite a few pets for you to unlock and discover, all completely new to the game!
And so much more! New achievements, a huge number of items, more themes and songs to unlock, and a ton more. Everything I've learned through the creation of 1.0 is being put to good use. I make games that I enjoy playing myself, and I think you'll have a great time with what is to come!
Very little is going to remain the same once you reach Ascension. Today, I'd like to preview some of those changes. Even the gathering skills will have their own new mechanics and twists, and those are what I'll be giving a preview of in this post. Everything here is a work-in-progress, and subject to change (for the better!). The numbers themselves are just placeholder, but I think I'm far enough along to share some of my hype with you!
I am very excited to bring the Ascended Lands to life after a lot of hard work and planning. These are just the very basics of what is coming, and even these skills will have more to them. I was too excited to wait to share!
If you're interested in future sneak peeks, you can join the community at https://discord.gg/NsCYAX7HNV. And to reiterate, no future content will ever come with a price tag. This is a free update for all players.
With the game currently on sale, there is no better time to get started on the grind through the Guild Ranks, complete your quests, and cap your XP in preparation to enter with the rest of us on release!
Thanks for being a wonderful community and for reading!
-Nick from Journeybound