1. Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era
  2. News
  3. Devlog #11: Game Mechanics pt. 2: Skills and Subclasses

Devlog #11: Game Mechanics pt. 2: Skills and Subclasses

[p]In the last devlog, we talked about magic and everything that’s related to it. Today, we’re going to have an in-depth look into skills and the subclass system. Olden Era, just like its predecessors, features a wide range of skills — various passive and active effects that your heroes can learn. We’ve taken a look at the way skills worked in Heroes III and V, and decided to build a system that’d effectively be a hybrid of the two by combining the classic Heroes III’s system and the versatile strength of Heroes V’s. [/p][p][/p][p]We also have a video devlog to go with this one. Check it out here:[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]
[/p]
If it works, don’t break it!
[p]
[/p][p][/p][p]The leveling system in Heroes games has been one of its core elements, which provided great variety to how you would play in any different scenario. We wanted to keep that feeling and only expand on it even further, as it is something tried and true which the community always loved. We’re not trying to revolutionise the game, but to improve it and because of that the changes we’ve done are additions to the levelling system rather than a full redesign.  [/p][p]
As with all previous titles, the basic requirement for obtaining new skills is experience. All heroes earn experience points by fighting, visiting certain adventure sites and picking up treasure chests. Once they earn enough of them, a hero levels up and can either improve one of their already picked skills or choose a new one. Additionally, they also gain a bonus to one of their four stats: Attack, Defence, Spellpower or Knowledge. Certain skills and artefacts can increase the amount of experience a hero gains from those sources. There are also some adventure sites that can teach your hero a new skill or improve one of their already picked ones. [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]
[/p]
Variety is the spice of life!
[p]
One of the most important quality of life changes we wanted to bring to Olden Era is skill variety. In previous Heroes games there were a few very powerful skills that players always preferred over others thanks to their raw efficiency. While it is a good system and worked for many years, it still has room to grow and become more interesting to both veteran and new players alike.[/p][p]
As we want to make it so that each faction feels unique to play in Olden Era, each hero always starts with their faction’s iconic skill, which we now have as a unique skill for each present faction (like Necromancers in Heroes III or all heroes in Heroes V) and, mostly, an additional one. These starting skills cannot be changed by any means and are influenced by the heroes’ specialisation — a unique bonus specific to each hero. For example, heroes that specialise in a specific school of magic will always start with that school’s skill. You can learn a total of 8 different skills, including the starting ones.[/p][p][/p][p]To further enhance the feeling of building a hero that reflects your choices, we adapted the core of Heroes V’s perks system into the form of subskills. Each skill has 5 subskills. When upgrading a skill to an advanced level, you get to choose 1 of the 3 first subskills and when upgrading it to an expert level, you get to choose 1 of the 2 last subskills. For example, when you level up and pick Advanced Logistics, you will be given a choice between 3 subskills, and when you level that to Expert, you have a choice between the last 2. Each subskill offers a significant bonus and can alter the effectiveness and role of your hero based on your strategy. Additionally, many of them become enhanced if you have a specific other skill, encouraging soft synergies during your hero development.

All of these additions serve as a means to offer flexibility, skill variety and a little bit of individuality for the player while letting them make different decisions every game during hero development. Various subskills will provide even more options and synergies now than what you might be accustomed to, making room for many build paths instead of just a “meta” one. We want players to feel that their choices matter and they’re not forced into making the same decisions every single match. Of course, we expect you to come up with various builds, for such is the nature of the game![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p]
New mechanics to explore!
[p]
Additionally, we’ve taken a look at Heroes VII and its subclass system and found it to be pretty interesting as one of the more defining features that game had to offer. We saw potential in it and how much additional room it offers when it comes to building a hero. By making the system optional in the Olden Era, we left the decision of investing into acquiring a subclass entirely in the players’ hands.[/p][p]
The subclass system allows players to unlock further enhancements to their heroes as they progress in levels and power. Each hero class has access to 2 subclasses that require specific skills and subskills to be unlocked. As you level up your hero, the game will notify you if a skill or subskill you decide to choose contributes to unlocking a subclass you’re interested in. [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Subclasses further empower each decision you make as they grant you a reward for developing your hero a certain way, yet you can still have a strong hero even if you ignore them entirely. The choice is yours![/p][p][/p][p][/p]
All the skills you can learn!
[p]
Without further explanations, here is a list of all the skills — some returning and some new — that will be present in Olden Era: [/p][p][/p][p]
There are still a lot of balance changes happening to subskills, which is why we’re not showcasing a list of them, however you’ll be able to explore them very, very soon by yourselves, so stay tuned for more![/p][p]
Follow news and updates: [/p]