A Look At The Next Update: Skill Trees
Today we wanted to give you a quick look at what you can expect in the next update. In short, the next update will include combat skill trees, merchant ships, outpost islands, daggers, quests, sailing physics improvements, and some combat changes. We expect this update to be on the beta branch within a couple of weeks.
Let's dive in!
[h2]Skill Trees[/h2]
Character progression is an importer part of Salt 2 and so we're finally happy to add skill trees for primary skills. You will now have access to 45 different talents spanning across your primary skill trees: slashing, bludgeoning, piercing, and archery. If you've already earned your levels in certain skill trees, you'll have the points available to spend when the update is live.
[h2]New Dagger Weapon[/h2]
Along with the new skill tree talents we wanted to include a new weapon type: the dagger. This is a piercing weapon and will have some beneficial talents in the piercing skill tree to go along with it. There will be a few different dagger models and items you can look for in the world. Some can found on certain enemies, and some can be gained by completing a quest.
[h2]Merchant Ships and Outpost Islands[/h2]
One point of feedback we've heard from you is that you want to see more variety in content when sailing the sea. We started this process in the last update by including underwater caves. In this update, we're continuing that process by including a merchant ship and outpost islands.
Now while exploring you'll be able to discover a merchant on a ship who's a member of the High Seas Trading Company. You'll be able to buy some unique items from him once you complete a few quests. You'll also be discover Outpost Islands. These are hand-crafted, rocky type islands that look very different from the typical islands you see. They will often contain puzzles and buried treasure for you to find.
Adding more variety to the game is an ongoing process and we plan on adding more unique discoverable places at sea in future updates.
[h2]Sailing Changes[/h2]
Another point of feedback we've been paying attention to is that sailing can feel a bit too rigid and simplistic. We have some ideas in the future to expand on sailing mechanics, but for now we've made adjustments to the boat physics to allow for a little bit of side-to-side tilt which will make sailing feel more realistic. This does have a slight potential to cause motion sickness so if you're prone to that, we've added an option in the settings menu to disable ship rocking which should help with that.
[h2]Combat Changes[/h2]
Improving combat is another ongoing process for us and something we'll continue to work on and refine. In the next update, we've made a few changes that we think are a step in the right direction. First, blocking now mitigates 100% damage for most weapons. Often times before with the damage ranges we had, blocking sometimes didn't feel like it was worth it or doing anything. Now you can block all damage but it will require a good bit of stamina so you'll need to pay attention to your agility stat or keep some stamina potions on hand.
We've also added more stun effects and enemies will now often react to your regular attacks. Before, enemies really only reacted to a parry, but now they can have a slight stun reaction from normal or heavy attacks. In addition to this we've also added more weight and impact to some weapon swing animations and adjusted their speed so they they don't feel too light.
And of course a lot of new the talents along with the skill trees will encourage different playstyles and mechanics.
This update will also include a slew of bug fixes and balancing changes. Thanks for reading and we can't wait to get this update out soon.
Let's dive in!
[h2]Skill Trees[/h2]
Character progression is an importer part of Salt 2 and so we're finally happy to add skill trees for primary skills. You will now have access to 45 different talents spanning across your primary skill trees: slashing, bludgeoning, piercing, and archery. If you've already earned your levels in certain skill trees, you'll have the points available to spend when the update is live.
[h2]New Dagger Weapon[/h2]
Along with the new skill tree talents we wanted to include a new weapon type: the dagger. This is a piercing weapon and will have some beneficial talents in the piercing skill tree to go along with it. There will be a few different dagger models and items you can look for in the world. Some can found on certain enemies, and some can be gained by completing a quest.
[h2]Merchant Ships and Outpost Islands[/h2]
One point of feedback we've heard from you is that you want to see more variety in content when sailing the sea. We started this process in the last update by including underwater caves. In this update, we're continuing that process by including a merchant ship and outpost islands.
Now while exploring you'll be able to discover a merchant on a ship who's a member of the High Seas Trading Company. You'll be able to buy some unique items from him once you complete a few quests. You'll also be discover Outpost Islands. These are hand-crafted, rocky type islands that look very different from the typical islands you see. They will often contain puzzles and buried treasure for you to find.
Adding more variety to the game is an ongoing process and we plan on adding more unique discoverable places at sea in future updates.
[h2]Sailing Changes[/h2]
Another point of feedback we've been paying attention to is that sailing can feel a bit too rigid and simplistic. We have some ideas in the future to expand on sailing mechanics, but for now we've made adjustments to the boat physics to allow for a little bit of side-to-side tilt which will make sailing feel more realistic. This does have a slight potential to cause motion sickness so if you're prone to that, we've added an option in the settings menu to disable ship rocking which should help with that.
[h2]Combat Changes[/h2]
Improving combat is another ongoing process for us and something we'll continue to work on and refine. In the next update, we've made a few changes that we think are a step in the right direction. First, blocking now mitigates 100% damage for most weapons. Often times before with the damage ranges we had, blocking sometimes didn't feel like it was worth it or doing anything. Now you can block all damage but it will require a good bit of stamina so you'll need to pay attention to your agility stat or keep some stamina potions on hand.
We've also added more stun effects and enemies will now often react to your regular attacks. Before, enemies really only reacted to a parry, but now they can have a slight stun reaction from normal or heavy attacks. In addition to this we've also added more weight and impact to some weapon swing animations and adjusted their speed so they they don't feel too light.
And of course a lot of new the talents along with the skill trees will encourage different playstyles and mechanics.
This update will also include a slew of bug fixes and balancing changes. Thanks for reading and we can't wait to get this update out soon.