Devlog: Profession Overview, Essence Infusion, Vocations
Hello everyone! You know what time it is… It’s Devlog time! For this one, you are provided with a brief overview of the different professions which will be available at launch, which is under 6 months away now! Additionally, we will cover the remaining Mystic ascensions (Enchanter, Priest, Spiritualist) and also go through the lore behind infusion and necromancy.
[h2]Profession Overview[/h2]
In Ethyrial, we take our professions very seriously. For each of us in Gellyberry Studios, gathering and crafting have been about as much of a game in its own right as the rest of the content in an MMORPG. While there have definitely been some crafting systems we have enjoyed throughout the years, we felt that crafting was never as impactful in any of the MMORPGs we played as we wanted it to be. A quick example of this can be tied to the player gear of course, where top-level gear is usually obtainable through end-game content such as dungeons and raids. Crafting gear always just served a purpose of a “baseline” you could craft and achieve before delving into other content to upgrade your character. Well… That’s not how it’s gonna work in Ethyrial. In Ethyrial, the highest skilled and dedicated crafters will be able to create gear on the same level as the highest available content. Of course, getting to this level of crafting as well as the materials for achieving such a feat will be extremely difficult, and only reserved for the most dedicated of crafters, but that’s part of what makes it magical.
Additionally, we wanted to make it so that professions have an effect on the world itself. It always felt kind of dead to us that players would craft hundreds upon hundreds of items solely to reach a certain skill level, then only to have “peaked” their crafting and have nothing more to do with it for the rest of the current content tier. In Ethyrial, crafters will be important for a multitude of reasons throughout the world. Villages and Towns might have crafting tasks in which they are seeking craftsmen to strengthen their prosperity or defenses, Raids and Dungeons might have special events or pre-phases to them that require certain materials or craftsmen to mitigate mechanics or damage, and people throughout Irumesa will have use for skilled crafters and gatherers for a variety of other things.
These are the professions that will be implemented for release:
[h3]Crafting[/h3]
Alchemy
While the primary focus of alchemy is creating potions of various effects, we wish to also use alchemy for transmutations and other effects to further enhance its usefulness. Additionally, we are making a lot of different consumables that have unique effects, instead of just solely providing stat boosts. Potions that provide light, dragon-breath potions, and many more!
Blacksmithing
It’s pretty much near impossible to imagine a fantasy game without some sort of blacksmithing system. Blacksmithing mainly focuses on the creation of metal-based weapons and armor, but there will also be some miscellaneous items needed for other professions. You can pretty much imagine that anything requiring some form of metalwork will potentially need a blacksmith to assist. Examples of this could be a bronze statue for a guild hall or miscellaneous items used in other professions.
Construction
This profession encompasses everything tied to player housing. From the construction of actual infrastructure to the creation of furniture. While some specialized pieces will tie in with other professions (such as blacksmithing for massive statues, or leatherworking/tailoring for intricate carpentry and whatnot), this profession will still be the general skill of your character to build things. While player housing is a massive part of the game, there are also applications for Construction for non-player cities and towns as well. Players with high enough reputation and construction will be capable of partaking in building projects within NPC towns as well to further enhance those towns.
Cooking
We are very excited about cooking for Ethyrial. Food buffs will be a massive part of the game, and the way you improve as a chef and discover new recipes using exotic ingredients is going to make cooking a very interesting profession for those who choose to focus on it. While a lot of recipes can be conjured around a fire, some more exotic ones will require the chef to have access to better facilities and the knowledge of how to prepare and create special types of ingredients.
Fletching
The primary profession for crafting bows, staves, wands, and scepters. However, for magical weapons such as a staff, wand, or scepter, there are special requirements and steps a fletcher must go through to complete them. Through their woodworking skills, fletchers will also provide some crafts that are valuable to other professions.
Leatherworking
Any crafted leather-based armor will pass through the hands of a leatherworker. While providing well-balanced armor is of utmost importance, leatherworkers can also find jobs tied to rugs, special cloaks, or other types of crafts.
Tailoring
Cloth-based armor, intricate carpets for houses, or a magnificent guild banner. When it comes to working with cloth, a Tailor is who you go to.
[h3]Gathering[/h3]
Fishing
Fishing in Ethyrial follows various rules. Each lake can hold different fish, and there is a difference between salt and fresh water. Additionally, geography plays a significant effect, and so do seasons, time of day, and a multitude of other factors. Some fish might only be available under the light of a certain moon, whereas other fish can only be caught in the springtime. As a result of this, avid fishermen who learn the seasons and weather, as well as find the most unique fishing spots, might come out on top as the most reputable (and richest) anglers!
Herbalism
The obvious use for Herbalism is to pick the various herbs available across all of Irumesa, but it is also how you gather hemp, flax, cotton, and other types of materials used for Tailoring. As such, herbalists are important for alchemists and tailors alike.
Mining
Irumesa is filled with various minerals hidden within rocks. A miner is skilled at extracting these minerals from said rocks and then refining them. While Irumesa has the standard minerals you might come to expect (Copper, Tin, Iron, Coal, Silver, Gold), it also features some magical metals and minerals which exist due to the infusion of various titan energies in the rock. These energies can occur in a variety of ways, but a common one is asteroid impacts that hold some sort of energy infused by the titans themselves. As with fishing, some of these could be seasonal, and some might even require special types of items to be harvested.
Skinning
Skinners can skin live animals and process their furs/pelts into various types of leather or similar. While processed leather is used for many different types of things (leatherworking being an obvious example), master skinners can also learn to skin some more exotic and unique animals for interesting materials such as dragon scales or unique types of pelts and furs.
Woodcutting
Although most people can put in the effort to cut any common tree in a forest, woodcutters are obsessed with finding rare and unique trees that only they have the skill to harvest and process. The progressional path of woodcutting follows the same style as the other gathering professions, where the rarer and sturdier trees are mostly just available to players who have progressed their skills in woodcutting to a high degree.
That’s it for the various professions available at launch. A profession we are sad to see go for now is Enchanting, which will be used for infusing gear and also magical materials down the line. However, we wish to take our time with it to make it a truly unique and interesting system, so as a result, Enchanting will instead become a part of a major patch, or potentially the first expansion.
[h2]Vocations[/h2]
In our last vocations post, we took a look at the Cultist and Warden. This time, we will look at the remainder of the Mystic classes, and then for our next Devlog, we will cover all the ascensions of the Rogue vocation.
[h3]Priest[/h3]
“The Great Flame burns in us all, fellow believers. We are at its mercy, but also its grace. It seeks to protect those who revere it, and it is our duty to spread its love and grace throughout the land.”
Theoril, High Priest of the Grand Temple of the Flame
Priests are devout followers of The Great Flame and gain their magical powers through invoking its name. Typically, priests are trained in magics that help treat the wounds of allies, but they are not to be underestimated in combat, as a priest can bring the divine wrath of the Great Flame upon their enemies.
Priests are considered to hold a supportive role in a fight, and primarily focus on keeping their allies healed up and cleansed of any ailments. Their offensive rotation revolves around building up marks of the great flame on the target, which unleashes a nova of healing energy upon reaching a certain number of stacks. Their primary healing rotation revolves around powerful single-target heals and defensive cooldowns in order to keep their ally at their strongest.
[h3]Enchanter[/h3]
“If you think the elements only hold power in destruction, you are missing out on the true potential of mastering them. We have learned to use the elements to aid our allies in battle and unlock their true potential.”
Liendra, Archmage.
Enchanters are essentially elemental mages who have chosen a path of mastery in air and water to enhance themselves and their allies. They have also tapped into the rejuvenating properties of water in order to heal their allies.
Enchanters significantly buff their allies through the use of enchantments that infuse an ally's weapons or body. Enchanters are also capable of direct healing, but their true strength lies in damage mitigation and buffs for allies that ensure they can keep the fight going with as much power as possible. Their deep understanding of air and water magic also gives them tools to weaken their enemies and keep themselves in battle.
[h3]Spiritualist[/h3]
“To live without the spirits is to live in silence. The spirits make our world the vibrant and beautiful place that it is, and without them, we would be lost.”
Alaria, Spiritualist of Angfen Grove
Spiritualists are powerful casters who attune themselves to the spirits in order to unleash their magic. As is in its nature, spirit magic is adept at rejuvenating allies while weakening foes, and if forced to it, Spiritualists can harm enemies with their spirit magic directly.
As a spiritualist in a group, you seek to mend your allies’ wounds and keep their spirits cleansed. Your primary healing rotation revolves around growing a seed of life in an ally, which can be spread to other nearby allies as well. This gives Spiritualists a very powerful AoE healing kit, but managing your cooldowns and seed growths will be important. Your core damage rotation revolves around unleashing powerful spirit magic on your foes to damage and weaken them.
[h2]Essence - Infusion and Necromancy[/h2]
A lot of players on our Discord have been curious about how Necromancy works in Irumesa. We thought we’d give you a little deep-dive into just what essence is, and how this can be manipulated to create a very unique form of necromancy.
First of all, the essence can from a simple perspective be viewed as a person’s soul or DNA. Each living thing has an “essence” tied to it, and upon death, this essence is released and then the person can rest. Since essence essentially is energy, powerful casters can take this essence and imbue it within another physical object in order to impart its “DNA” over to that object, allowing you to essentially raise something like a Skeleton with the same magic capabilities as a sorcerer who was slain. However, since this new entity is not a living breathable thing, a constant infusion of mana is needed in order for it to perform its actions.
It is also possible to infuse magic into things without requiring someone’s essence, but then you are essentially programming the entity's behaviors from scratch and giving it simple instructions, whereas an essence-infused construct would have a general sense of abilities and behavior.
In Irumesa, it is firmly believed that once something dies, its essence is released, and that process is vital for the dead entity to actually rest. As a result of this, using the essence for infusion is a strictly prohibited practice that is seen as incredibly taboo across the kingdom, and not to mention incredibly difficult. However, there are ways to dabble in this art and develop necromancy for your own characters, but this is a very high-level magic that is seen as banned across the kingdom, so casting any of its spells in the vicinity of other people is sure to make you an infamous criminal. But, again, it is possible (and definitely tied to a tier 3 ascension).
That’s all we have for this Devlog! Hope you found this exciting and make sure to go join us on Discord to discuss anything related to the game or otherwise.
Peace!
Amar Duranovic
Game Director
[h2]Profession Overview[/h2]
In Ethyrial, we take our professions very seriously. For each of us in Gellyberry Studios, gathering and crafting have been about as much of a game in its own right as the rest of the content in an MMORPG. While there have definitely been some crafting systems we have enjoyed throughout the years, we felt that crafting was never as impactful in any of the MMORPGs we played as we wanted it to be. A quick example of this can be tied to the player gear of course, where top-level gear is usually obtainable through end-game content such as dungeons and raids. Crafting gear always just served a purpose of a “baseline” you could craft and achieve before delving into other content to upgrade your character. Well… That’s not how it’s gonna work in Ethyrial. In Ethyrial, the highest skilled and dedicated crafters will be able to create gear on the same level as the highest available content. Of course, getting to this level of crafting as well as the materials for achieving such a feat will be extremely difficult, and only reserved for the most dedicated of crafters, but that’s part of what makes it magical.
Additionally, we wanted to make it so that professions have an effect on the world itself. It always felt kind of dead to us that players would craft hundreds upon hundreds of items solely to reach a certain skill level, then only to have “peaked” their crafting and have nothing more to do with it for the rest of the current content tier. In Ethyrial, crafters will be important for a multitude of reasons throughout the world. Villages and Towns might have crafting tasks in which they are seeking craftsmen to strengthen their prosperity or defenses, Raids and Dungeons might have special events or pre-phases to them that require certain materials or craftsmen to mitigate mechanics or damage, and people throughout Irumesa will have use for skilled crafters and gatherers for a variety of other things.
These are the professions that will be implemented for release:
[h3]Crafting[/h3]
Alchemy
While the primary focus of alchemy is creating potions of various effects, we wish to also use alchemy for transmutations and other effects to further enhance its usefulness. Additionally, we are making a lot of different consumables that have unique effects, instead of just solely providing stat boosts. Potions that provide light, dragon-breath potions, and many more!
Blacksmithing
It’s pretty much near impossible to imagine a fantasy game without some sort of blacksmithing system. Blacksmithing mainly focuses on the creation of metal-based weapons and armor, but there will also be some miscellaneous items needed for other professions. You can pretty much imagine that anything requiring some form of metalwork will potentially need a blacksmith to assist. Examples of this could be a bronze statue for a guild hall or miscellaneous items used in other professions.
Construction
This profession encompasses everything tied to player housing. From the construction of actual infrastructure to the creation of furniture. While some specialized pieces will tie in with other professions (such as blacksmithing for massive statues, or leatherworking/tailoring for intricate carpentry and whatnot), this profession will still be the general skill of your character to build things. While player housing is a massive part of the game, there are also applications for Construction for non-player cities and towns as well. Players with high enough reputation and construction will be capable of partaking in building projects within NPC towns as well to further enhance those towns.
Cooking
We are very excited about cooking for Ethyrial. Food buffs will be a massive part of the game, and the way you improve as a chef and discover new recipes using exotic ingredients is going to make cooking a very interesting profession for those who choose to focus on it. While a lot of recipes can be conjured around a fire, some more exotic ones will require the chef to have access to better facilities and the knowledge of how to prepare and create special types of ingredients.
Fletching
The primary profession for crafting bows, staves, wands, and scepters. However, for magical weapons such as a staff, wand, or scepter, there are special requirements and steps a fletcher must go through to complete them. Through their woodworking skills, fletchers will also provide some crafts that are valuable to other professions.
Leatherworking
Any crafted leather-based armor will pass through the hands of a leatherworker. While providing well-balanced armor is of utmost importance, leatherworkers can also find jobs tied to rugs, special cloaks, or other types of crafts.
Tailoring
Cloth-based armor, intricate carpets for houses, or a magnificent guild banner. When it comes to working with cloth, a Tailor is who you go to.
[h3]Gathering[/h3]
Fishing
Fishing in Ethyrial follows various rules. Each lake can hold different fish, and there is a difference between salt and fresh water. Additionally, geography plays a significant effect, and so do seasons, time of day, and a multitude of other factors. Some fish might only be available under the light of a certain moon, whereas other fish can only be caught in the springtime. As a result of this, avid fishermen who learn the seasons and weather, as well as find the most unique fishing spots, might come out on top as the most reputable (and richest) anglers!
Herbalism
The obvious use for Herbalism is to pick the various herbs available across all of Irumesa, but it is also how you gather hemp, flax, cotton, and other types of materials used for Tailoring. As such, herbalists are important for alchemists and tailors alike.
Mining
Irumesa is filled with various minerals hidden within rocks. A miner is skilled at extracting these minerals from said rocks and then refining them. While Irumesa has the standard minerals you might come to expect (Copper, Tin, Iron, Coal, Silver, Gold), it also features some magical metals and minerals which exist due to the infusion of various titan energies in the rock. These energies can occur in a variety of ways, but a common one is asteroid impacts that hold some sort of energy infused by the titans themselves. As with fishing, some of these could be seasonal, and some might even require special types of items to be harvested.
Skinning
Skinners can skin live animals and process their furs/pelts into various types of leather or similar. While processed leather is used for many different types of things (leatherworking being an obvious example), master skinners can also learn to skin some more exotic and unique animals for interesting materials such as dragon scales or unique types of pelts and furs.
Woodcutting
Although most people can put in the effort to cut any common tree in a forest, woodcutters are obsessed with finding rare and unique trees that only they have the skill to harvest and process. The progressional path of woodcutting follows the same style as the other gathering professions, where the rarer and sturdier trees are mostly just available to players who have progressed their skills in woodcutting to a high degree.
That’s it for the various professions available at launch. A profession we are sad to see go for now is Enchanting, which will be used for infusing gear and also magical materials down the line. However, we wish to take our time with it to make it a truly unique and interesting system, so as a result, Enchanting will instead become a part of a major patch, or potentially the first expansion.
[h2]Vocations[/h2]
In our last vocations post, we took a look at the Cultist and Warden. This time, we will look at the remainder of the Mystic classes, and then for our next Devlog, we will cover all the ascensions of the Rogue vocation.
[h3]Priest[/h3]
“The Great Flame burns in us all, fellow believers. We are at its mercy, but also its grace. It seeks to protect those who revere it, and it is our duty to spread its love and grace throughout the land.”
Theoril, High Priest of the Grand Temple of the Flame
Priests are devout followers of The Great Flame and gain their magical powers through invoking its name. Typically, priests are trained in magics that help treat the wounds of allies, but they are not to be underestimated in combat, as a priest can bring the divine wrath of the Great Flame upon their enemies.
Priests are considered to hold a supportive role in a fight, and primarily focus on keeping their allies healed up and cleansed of any ailments. Their offensive rotation revolves around building up marks of the great flame on the target, which unleashes a nova of healing energy upon reaching a certain number of stacks. Their primary healing rotation revolves around powerful single-target heals and defensive cooldowns in order to keep their ally at their strongest.
[h3]Enchanter[/h3]
“If you think the elements only hold power in destruction, you are missing out on the true potential of mastering them. We have learned to use the elements to aid our allies in battle and unlock their true potential.”
Liendra, Archmage.
Enchanters are essentially elemental mages who have chosen a path of mastery in air and water to enhance themselves and their allies. They have also tapped into the rejuvenating properties of water in order to heal their allies.
Enchanters significantly buff their allies through the use of enchantments that infuse an ally's weapons or body. Enchanters are also capable of direct healing, but their true strength lies in damage mitigation and buffs for allies that ensure they can keep the fight going with as much power as possible. Their deep understanding of air and water magic also gives them tools to weaken their enemies and keep themselves in battle.
[h3]Spiritualist[/h3]
“To live without the spirits is to live in silence. The spirits make our world the vibrant and beautiful place that it is, and without them, we would be lost.”
Alaria, Spiritualist of Angfen Grove
Spiritualists are powerful casters who attune themselves to the spirits in order to unleash their magic. As is in its nature, spirit magic is adept at rejuvenating allies while weakening foes, and if forced to it, Spiritualists can harm enemies with their spirit magic directly.
As a spiritualist in a group, you seek to mend your allies’ wounds and keep their spirits cleansed. Your primary healing rotation revolves around growing a seed of life in an ally, which can be spread to other nearby allies as well. This gives Spiritualists a very powerful AoE healing kit, but managing your cooldowns and seed growths will be important. Your core damage rotation revolves around unleashing powerful spirit magic on your foes to damage and weaken them.
[h2]Essence - Infusion and Necromancy[/h2]
A lot of players on our Discord have been curious about how Necromancy works in Irumesa. We thought we’d give you a little deep-dive into just what essence is, and how this can be manipulated to create a very unique form of necromancy.
First of all, the essence can from a simple perspective be viewed as a person’s soul or DNA. Each living thing has an “essence” tied to it, and upon death, this essence is released and then the person can rest. Since essence essentially is energy, powerful casters can take this essence and imbue it within another physical object in order to impart its “DNA” over to that object, allowing you to essentially raise something like a Skeleton with the same magic capabilities as a sorcerer who was slain. However, since this new entity is not a living breathable thing, a constant infusion of mana is needed in order for it to perform its actions.
It is also possible to infuse magic into things without requiring someone’s essence, but then you are essentially programming the entity's behaviors from scratch and giving it simple instructions, whereas an essence-infused construct would have a general sense of abilities and behavior.
In Irumesa, it is firmly believed that once something dies, its essence is released, and that process is vital for the dead entity to actually rest. As a result of this, using the essence for infusion is a strictly prohibited practice that is seen as incredibly taboo across the kingdom, and not to mention incredibly difficult. However, there are ways to dabble in this art and develop necromancy for your own characters, but this is a very high-level magic that is seen as banned across the kingdom, so casting any of its spells in the vicinity of other people is sure to make you an infamous criminal. But, again, it is possible (and definitely tied to a tier 3 ascension).
That’s all we have for this Devlog! Hope you found this exciting and make sure to go join us on Discord to discuss anything related to the game or otherwise.
Peace!
Amar Duranovic
Game Director