Gloria Victis News

Greetings, Warriors!

As we have announced, today marks the arrival of a significant update to the game. This is the first step towards completion of the final milestone before we will release Gloria Victis 1.0!
This update brings a lot of changes that, in our eyes, will introduce new and interesting strategies, and create new battlefields!
We are also introducing a brand new Christmas event for you to enjoy during this festive period!

We have also released the very last Devlog this year, so be sure not to miss it!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Let’s take a look at what today’s update brings!



The screenshot’s authors were awarded. Jorwet, DDF, Boba, BlazeYemarys and Mormo – check your Ambers!



[h2]New Glory Season[/h2]

Today’s update marks the end of another Glory Season. Even though it was one of the shortest seasons we’ve ever had in the game, it was also one of the most historic ones as its end means a start of a new chapter in the development of Gloria Victis. We would like to congratulate all players who competed for the highest spots on the leaderboards for themselves and their guilds.

As this season marks the end of the Guild Castles in their current form, we would also like to congratulate the guilds that were the owners of these marvelous castles on all the servers, whose guilds will be forever immortalized on in-game monuments located in the locations that once were the Guild Castles!

A little explanation for the new players: Glory is a season-based ranking that rewards you for activity in the faction v faction v faction PVP. The seasons last around 2 months (depending on the current updates schedule) and the top players are rewarded with unique titles and gold. Also, every Thursday night you’ll get Contribution Points – an in-game currency used to purchase special items from the Glory Quartermasters. The amount of earned CP depends on your position in the leaderboard, so climb up!



[h2]5v5 Tournament[/h2]

We would also like to invite all of you to our 5v5 tournament that will take place this week, that is 17th of December at 12 PM UTC on the Dukla server! We will be giving out rewards to all who attended the event — both as viewers and participants. There will also be a special reward for the team that wins the entire event. Be sure to join us!



[h2]National Castles replacing Guild Castles[/h2]

Today’s update replaces Guild Castles with National Castles in the middle of the map. We think it’s a good time to introduce this change, as normally this update would start the holiday grace period we have done each year, where State of War sieges are disabled. This year, however, will be a bit different, as instead of disabling the State of War (and in fact pausing the majority of PvP action that takes place in the middle of the map), we will introduce the updated middle of the map which will change the current Guild Castles back into Nation-controlled Castles.

Some of the players that keep supporting us in the development for years now might still remember the glorious fights at the old National Castles that will be back in an updated form! What’s more, these battle-hardened veteran players might find the new National Castle designs familiar, as we wanted to give these castles some part of their old charm!


⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀      Order of Original Faith Keep

This is a much-needed change, as the current Guild Castles imposed stagnation to the map outside of the State of War periods, as the guilds could sit in their castles safely, just waiting for some action close to their castle. Not only did it enforce the “zerg” meta, as a big guild that controlled a castle could teleport to it and rush to the action in no time, but it also created inactivity on the map, as players felt urged by the design to sit in a safe place and wait for content instead of being encouraged to go for conquest. What is more, changing the Guild Castles to a clustered solution will greatly improve the performance and help us solve a number of possible problems, which is very important for us at the games’ upcoming final release.

With this in mind, we have decided to revert the castles in the middle of the map to Nation-controlled Castles, while giving them all the benefits of the Guild Castles, excluding just one – safety. Nation-controlled Castles in the middle of the map, just like any other Nation-controlled Castle, will be possible to be sieged at all times, making the defense and conquest of them one of the key features of the middle of the map.

The new Nation-controlled Castles will become some of the most important castles for a nation to own, as they will still provide +4 workshops, the highest quality farms, as well as mines, lumber mills, and even storehouses, just like the current Guild Castles! There will also be a 45 minute teleportation cooldown upon teleportation to a castle in the loot zone, just like it was with the Guild Castles.

The newly added National Castles will have a maximum level of walls as follows:
Tier 4: Norfolk, Greatfall, Lublin
Tier 6: Audunstede. Skergard, Aquitania, Twinfall, Leaktown, Order of Original Faith

On top of that, the new Nation-controlled Castles will become an essential asset during the Deadly Harvest event, as they will provide a high yield of points, greatly increasing the chances of winning.

Capturing these locations will also grant a buff for controlled locations, just like the Guild Castles did. However, now the rules for gaining it will change. The maximum buffs strength will depend on the number of castles that a nation controls in the loot zone:
— 4 or more castles increase the max buff strength to 30%
— 1 or more castles increase the max buff strength to 22%
— Having no control over castles in loot zone gives a maximum value of the buff of 15%

This change should offer a good incentive for PvP content in the middle of the map, especially during the entire Christmas break, instead of the regular stagnation caused by the disabling of the State of War.

Worry not about the Guild Castles though, as they will shortly be reintroduced to Gloria Vicitis in a new, shiny form that we hope you will like even more because all guilds will be able to own their own piece of land!

Due to the changes in the terrain, furnaces placed in Guild Castles might be impossible to reach. In such a case, please destroy them using the “My constructions” window (default: [J]). The items inside will be sent to the market “My offers” tab.



[h2]Map changes[/h2]
This update brings a vital change to the world map. We have been looking at the situation in the open world for some time, and the current meta was making roaming not a viable option. The meta also evolved into a very defensive playstyle — nations became more willing to defend their castles instead of trying to conquer other nations’ castles. We found out that one of the main factors reinforcing this playstyle is that the majority of the world was a loot zone.

Our data clearly shows that non-loot PvP events attract more players, which results in more challenging and interesting fights. This is why we have decided to change the entire outer ring of the map to a non-loot zone while the middle of the map, which takes up 30% of the total landmass, will stay as a loot zone. This change brings a better distinction between loot and non-loot areas and enables players to choose which part of the map better caters to their gameplay. We believe that the change will enable players to participate in big-scale PvP content on the non-loot areas while still giving a good chance of finding a riskier, yet more rewarding fight in the loot zone in the middle of the map.

The middle of the map will become an important place not only in terms of PvP but also a place with the best resources that are needed to craft top-tier items and more rewarding PvE content.
Currently, there is a selection of unique events that occur exclusively in the middle of the map, and we want these events to be the most rewarding due to the higher risk factor. These events, range from regular PvE activities (Echoes of the Past, Pride Long Forgotten, Kargald Champions) to places to gather the top-tier supplies (Supply drops, Golden Pickaxes and Meteorites).
Loot zone is very important to us, and we want the risk factor of the loot zone to be properly rewarded and we will be working further on balancing the rewards on the map to reward players for their activity.

After this change, the map of loot and non-loot zones will look like this:



The former Guild Castle Strongholds — Twinfall, Leaktown, and Order of Original Faith’s Keep are getting moved away a bit to the outer ring, joining the castles that will now be in the non-loot zone.

[h2]New Siege Camp[/h2]
Unlike the castles on the outer ring of the map, the new National Castles in the middle of the map will have no dedicated siege camps. Instead, players will be able to craft a new type of siege camp — a Field Siege Engines Workshop! This new structure is a cheaper version of the siege camp known from Guild Castles sieges, which will let players spawn battering rams and trebuchets as an aid to siege the castles.

We believe that the introduction of the Field Siege Engines Workshop will let players come up with new and unique strategies for sieging castles that will lead to exciting battles taking place all around the map!

You can find both the recipe and item at the general goods vendors in capitals and castles!



[h2]Reworked Rankings and Achievements Windows[/h2]

This week we are also introducing two newly reworked windows: Rankings and Achievements. These are one of the last big windows in Gloria Victis that needed to be reworked to the new UI system, and the work on the remaining ones is already in progress!


⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀   Rankings window


⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀      Achievements window

[h2]Christmas Event[/h2]

This year we are coming to you with a couple Christmas activities! Be sure to talk to Santa’s Helper in your Nation’s Capital as he needs your help! Fill the air with the aroma of special event gingerbread you can bake in your furnaces and later eat or exchange for unique rewards!

Lastly, don’t forget to look at the skies, as you never know when or where Santa’s sleigh might crash! The event will take the place of our meteorite event and will offer meteoric iron as a reward as well as special gift boxes with different rewards — including a full Santa outfit!



[h2]Every-two week Video contest[/h2]
We cannot stress enough our happiness and gratitude to see such fantastic videos posted by our active community! This week, we have chosen a few combat videos that will be rewarded with the main reward of 2000 ambers:

Sorven, for his video showing a glorious defense of the Ismir Homeland:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTb0US1E_uI

Gwardia GV, for a fine video from last weeks’ State of War preparations:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIS_nlWGeWY

WekizZ, for showing off his duelling skills in the arena:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEtDlE4Yf1A

We would also like to award WekizZ and voyager0ne for their gorgeous gif images with additional 500 ambers each!


⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀  voyager0ne

⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀      
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀      WekizZ

Be sure to use always use #gloriavictis and #playgloriavictis hashtags in your video descriptions. It greatly helps us and others to find content based on our game, and increases your visibility!


[h2]Quality of life[/h2]

— From now on tier 4 tools will also become base items for skins, meaning that tool skins will be possible to equip for tools of tiers 4 and 5.
— Removed NPC and Guard markers from the minimap making it easier to read.
— From now clicking on the “Escape” quick menu item (near minimap) opens/closes only the “Escape” panel, ignoring other opened windows.
— Workshops and other small objects should be visible on the "Focus - player" zoom scale on the map.
— Improved AI for the NPC enemies. AI will now have a slight chance to chase players by walking instead of running to allow players to disengage easily. Also if a mob lands a hit while performing a maneuver, it will try to pick a new maneuver immediately, which should make combat more fluid.
— Hearing the feedback of our Community, we are introducing a rule, that after 180 days of inactivity (no characters in a guild have logged in during that period), a guild will be deleted, making the name available again. This rule is active since today, meaning we have made the first round of deleting such guilds.

[h2]Fixes[/h2]

— Personal and Guilds’ COA can be now set on the Myrmidon's light shield.
— Fixed a memory leak in the Skybox Renderer, which affected the game’s performance after using the architects' table

[h3]Sneak peek into the clustered Guild Castles[/h3]
With all these changes just around the corner, we would also like to provide our Community, with a sneak peek at what can be expected at the very start of 2023. Next year will be very important for Gloria Victis, as we are just a few months away from launching Gloria Victis 1.0 and one of the remaining steps before the release will be the clustered Guild Castles, which will have their first iteration going live in January 2023.

The clustered guild castles will not only offer a chance to own a Guild Castle for smaller guilds but will also enable these smaller guilds to have a chance of building their own content around building and developing their Guild Castles. The Guild Castles will become a feature that will provide a space for guild gatherings, and give a better reason to roam around the map on the lookout for rare materials for castle building as well as fight to boost the Guild’s level. With the clustered Guild Castles, the importance of technology points will be greater, as guilds will have more technologies to unlock, as well as they will be able to develop more technologies at the same time. This change will make map roaming and participating in the new State of Wars a key to becoming one of the top guilds of a server. The newly added technologies will augment many aspects of the clustered Guild Castles as well as provide buffs and features that will help the guilds to compete at the highest level.

Another important change that the clustered Guild Castles will bring is a new version of State of War. While we think that the current State of War design is good, as it brings many memorable fights, we can see its drawbacks – Guild Castles are becoming more of a national asset making the guilds owning them reliant on the nation. This means that a shift of power between the nations may result in strong guilds losing their Guild Castles to weaker ones, but such that have a bigger support from the nation. Moreover, we have seen a number of toxic behaviors emerging from owning a Guild Castle, which is not a situation we are looking for. While changing the design of the State of War, we will be also looking for ways to keep the mass Nation vs Nation PvP in the open world, by adding new systems to the game.

The new State of War design is aimed more at Guild vs Guild, or Alliance vs Alliance, and everyday content. We want each guild to be able to adjust the castle to their needs, by tweaking the size of the battle they want to be having, and do they want to have the help of their allies or not. Moreover, guilds will be able to decide on the hour of the State of War as well as the frequency of the battles (as now they will be even possible to take place daily!). This way, fairer, and more challenging battles should take place. The new system will also get rid of the toxicity that spying, griefing or an unsuccessful State of War brings, as guilds will only lose points, not castles. The system will bring more rewards and fewer penalties, while still being a competitive feature giving guilds the ability to compete with each other.

[h3]What can be expected in the first iteration?[/h3]
The first iteration should feature buying a guild island, teleportation to and from the island to the open world, as well as castle building and workstation placement.
Once we get this iteration live we will be gathering your feedback to improve the clustered Guild Castles while working on re-enabling State of Wars in a new, reworked version that suits the new guild castle system!


[h2]Christmas wishes from the Developers[/h2]

As this is the last changelog of the year, we would like to voice our best wishes to all our dear Players worldwide. We wish for you all to spend this festive period in a joyful atmosphere with a Christmas tree big enough to fit all the gifts underneath it. We would like to thank you for your continuous support and we hope to see you in the upcoming year!



EDIT to Update 345: Clash of Nations 20.12.2022

[h2]Adjusted price of the Privilege item [/h2]
Listening to our Community’s feedback, we are adjusting the price of the Privilege item. From now on it will cost 300 Contribution Points instead of 1500. Players, who have Privilege items in their inventory will have the amount of the item increased, to meet the new price. Following this change, the Siege Engines Workshop recipe will now take 5 Privilege to craft, and the Field Siege Engines Workshop will now take 1 Privilege to craft.

[h2]Quality of Life[/h2]
— Added a reworked version of the UI for Siege Camps.
— Adjusted the farm quality to better resemble the risk factor of the zone they are at.
— Reworked early game tutorial hints, to make them more intuitive and better visible for the new players.

[h2]Fixes[/h2]
— Fixed tattoos on skeleton NPCs in the Catacombs event.
— Fixed a case where the sound of getting a whisper would be played even though messaging is blocked between the players.
— Fixed an edge case that would make a player’s weapon become invisible for other players.
— Fixed the chances of receiving a Santa box from the meteorite event.

Hello Community!

As you might know, we are preparing for a huge update that will be coming next week. This is a daunting task that requires all the team members to work hard in order to release it. Due to that, we have decided to skip today’s update and fully focus on the changes coming next week.

However, today we would like to make a few announcements and once again shed some light on the coming changes.



The screenshot’s authors were awarded. IsvRada, DDF and Pilot – Contact Coragon#2441 to receive your Ambers

[h2]5v5 Tournament![/h2]

We would like to announce that our Dev Team is preparing a 5v5 Tournament! The event will take place on the Dukla server on the 17th of December, 12:00 UTC. Be sure to join us for great rewards — both, for participants and viewers! The winners of the Tournament will receive a unique reward as well as be immortalized on the monument at the arena!

[h2]New Glory Season[/h2]

The New Glory season will start on Thursday, the 15th of December. Also, we’d like to remind you that the last day of the season – Wednesday, the 14th of December – will be a dedicated day of the season's end. It will not be possible to earn or lose the Nation Points on this day and the scoreboards of other season-based rankings (Glory and Arena) will be frozen then. However, it is the last chance to donate your NP to your guild as the Guild Points. When the new season starts, the Nation Points collected by a player will count from 0 as the new season will begin.

Please remember that this is also the last week of the Guild Castles in the middle of the map! Guilds who will own the castles at the end of the Glory Season will become immortalized on in-game monuments located in the National Castles take will take the place of the Guild Castles!
We would love to see your screenshots and videos of the last battles for these castles!

A little explanation for the new players: Glory is a season-based ranking that rewards you for activity in the faction v faction v faction PVP. The seasons last around 2 months (depending on the current updates schedule) and the top players are rewarded with unique titles and gold. Also, every Thursday night you’ll get Contribution Points – an in-game currency used to purchase special items from the Glory Quartermasters. The amount of earned CP depends on your position on the leaderboard, so draw your weapons and fight your way to the top!



[h2]Beginner Tutorial Video[/h2]

We would also like to give a shoutout to one of our Community members - WekizZ for his awesome guide on how to make money. We think that this video will greatly help new players as well as the current ones, who would like to bring their money making to a next level! Be sure to take a look at the video and see if you can find something useful for yourself! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NRtbCosw30


[h2] What is coming next week? [/h2]

Last week we have announced the changes that will be coming in the weeks to follow, with the first, significant batch going live next week! The changes that are coming required our programmers to rework many of our in-game systems, which will improve the server-side optimization resulting in smoother gameplay! We would still like to invite you to have your say about the changes on our official Gloria Victis Discord (link). We have a special forum channel #middle-of-the-map-feedback prepared for you to join, discuss and give us feedback on the changes!
Have you missed the announcement? You can read about the coming changes in the last weeks’s changelog: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/327070/view/3619234952562206742

Greetings, Warriors!

While the majority of our team is constantly working towards the upcoming release of Gloria Victis 1.0, we are doing our best to bring new features and provide Quality of Life improvements for you to enjoy every week!

This week we are bringing to you new skin, fixes, and QoL improvements, and a very important announcement about our plans for the weeks to come!

Let’s take a look at this week’s changes:



The screenshot’s authors were awarded. Jonathon the Chosen One, [TBP] Derayenic/Ayiina and Liutbert – check your Ambers!



[h2]Myrmidon Skin[/h2]
We are introducing a new cosmetic skin set to the game using a mix of heavy and medium items. The new “Myrmidon” cosmetic skin is waiting for you in the supporter’s shop (default: [K]).

You won't find a warrior more devoted to the team than Myrmidon. Their squad is like a family: they eat together, sleep together and go into battle together. Everyone has a partner for whom he is responsible and cannot abandon him, even if he lies dead on the battlefield.



[h2]Adjustment to the shield bash mechanics[/h2]
Last week, we have implemented a new way of performing a shield bash, and in response to our Community’s feedback, we have decided to implement an option to bind a shield bash to another key than the default. From now on you will be able to find a field in the keybinding options. After binding a new key to the shield bash, it will be possible to perform this type of attack by clicking the bound key while holding a block with a shield. What is more, binding the new key to shield bash, will make the “kick” button perform just kicks, meaning that it will work exactly like before the last week’s changes.



[h2]Every-two week Video contest[/h2]
We cannot stress enough our happiness and gratitude to see such nice videos posted by our active community! This week, we have chosen a few combat videos, that will be rewarded with the main reward of 2000 ambers:

Yotad, for his video highlighting the finest moments of his guild throughout the recent seasons:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gLhlcXB1bg
Ruffion, for a fine compilation of battles in a 2 man squad. Just look at that teamwork and combat awareness:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNE_dSExZho
Busegirly, for a great archer gameplay video. The accuracy and positioning are worth taking a look at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WV3lq-V3sAI
Be sure to use always use #gloriavictis and #playgloriavictis hashtags in your video descriptions. It greatly helps us and others to find content based on our game, and increases your visibility!



[h2]Quality of Life:[/h2]
– Adjusted the values of damage reductions for heavy armor as a response to the Community feedback we have received.
– Added character preview in the “Buy Summary” window
– Reworked the Guild Recruitation Announcement window to a new UI style

[h2]Fixes:[/h2]
– Fixed a bug that made it possible to perform a chamber with a fully loaded shield bash in certain situations.
– Fixed a tag for the new Seasonal Deal Pack in the Supporter’s Shop.
– Fixed a case where the title of the tutorial in the Lore Window would not fit into the space for some languages.
– Fixed a bugged spear throw animation for the throwing player.
– Fixed trimmed header caption label in option panel dropdowns
– Unified the icon of the supporter shop for fullscreen and quick bar
– Minor fixes and visual tweaks to the Supporter’s Shop
– Fixed the coordinates tooltip staying on screen after closing the map

[h2]WIP Insight[/h2]

Today we are coming to you with an announcement concerning the upcoming changes to the middle of the map. We announced this a while ago, but now, we are ready to shed some more light on what’s coming in the weeks to follow. The changes presented in this announcement may still vary slightly from the final version, and we are open to your feedback.

At first, when we were announcing the changes in the middle of the map and changes to how guild castles will work, we were expecting it to come all together in one big update, however, the scope has increased significantly since then and we have decided to split this huge change into parts.

The first, very significant, portion will be launched within the next updates, starting with the update on 15.12.2022, at the start of the Christmas and New Year holiday grace period we have done each year, where State of War sieges are disabled. This year will be a bit different, as instead of disabling the State of War (and in fact pausing the majority of PvP action that takes place in the middle of the map), we will introduce the updated middle of the map which will change the current Guild Castles back into Nation-controlled Castles (anyone still dreaming about the good old Original Faith’s Keep?).

OOF: https://gloriavictis.gyazo.com/e379f4e92ecb8ed5208d3cd4fdb76d6c
https://gloriavictis.gyazo.com/9f3d2afbf04a8acc6dd5294bac2e9642
Skergard: https://gloriavictis.gyazo.com/27a6fbf0c81699fc8244d3e7ec6c857b
Leaktown: https://gloriavictis.gyazo.com/7df8f0d36a4014292a9362c9935ee2de

This is a much-needed change, as the current Guild Castles imposed stagnation to the map outside of the State of War periods, as the guilds could sit in their castles safely, just waiting for some action that happens close to their castle. Not only does it enforce the “zerg” meta, as a big guild that controls a castle can teleport to it and rush to action in no time, but it also creates inactivity on the map, as players are feeling urged by the design to sit in a safe place and wait for content instead of being encouraged to go for conquest.

With this in mind, we have decided to revert the castles in the middle of the map to Nation-controlled Castles, while giving them all the benefits of the Guild Castles, excluding just one – safety. Nation-controlled Castles in the middle of the map, just like any other Nation-controlled Castle, will be possible to be sieged at all times, making the defence and conquest of them one of the key features of the middle of the map.

The new Nation-controlled Castles will become some of the most important castles for a nation to own, as they will still provide +4 workshops, the highest quality farms, as well as mines, lumbermills, and even storehouses, just like the current Guild Castles! On top of that, the new Nation-controlled Castles will become an essential asset during the Deadly Harvest event, as they will provide a high yield of points, greatly increasing the chances of winning. This change should offer a good chance for PvP content in the middle of the map during the entire Christmas break, instead of the regular stagnation caused by the disabling of the State of War.

https://gyazo.com/ef187fffaf9838574e9f24961ad3da67
(Work in progress, some parts of the map will still change in the upcoming days)

The previous paragraphs may have you thinking about what will happen with the current Guild Castles and guilds that own them. The Guild Castles will come back in a changed form, somewhere at the start of the next calendar year, and the current Guild Castle owners will be rewarded with a memorial obelisk in the new Nation-controlled Castles. Only two guilds per server will be rewarded for each castle – the guild that holds the castle currently, and… the guild that will hold the castle at the end of the current Glory Season.

This brings us to the next announcement – the current Glory Season will be shorter, and will end on 15.12.2022 with the introduction of the new middle of the map. So, sharpen your weapons and head to battle for the Guild Castles and Glory for your guild to be forever remembered!

Let’s reveal some of the other important changes that will be implemented in this update:

[h3]Changes in non-loot and loot zones[/h3]
We are aware, that currently, activity on the map outside of the siege events is low. We find the cause of it being the “zerg” meta which makes small groups of players unwilling to roam around. This issue is even more visible due to the loot zones – a small group of players gets overrun by a bigger group they have no chance against, they lose the gear, and because of having no hope of winning another encounter, they chose to stay away from loot zones, and wait for a non-loot event. We find this state of open world to be something that goes against our goal of developing an open-world endless PvP game, where fights are happening constantly around the game’s world. In order to encourage players to do more PvP, we have decided to re-adjust the loot and non-loot zones around the map.
This change should enable more casual players to take fights in a safer environment of the non-loot, while still offering a high-risk high-reward PvP experience in the middle of the map, where looting will still be enabled, and smaller-scale PvP will be encouraged. Changing the arrangement of the loot and non-loot zones will help us to adjust the spread of valuable resources, events, unique animals, and key Nation-controlled Castles in such a way, that playing in the middle of the map will be more rewarding, while the outer ring of the map will provide a safer area.
After the update of the middle of the map goes live, there will be a significant change to the loot and non-loot zones in the game. The middle of the map will remain to be a looting zone, while the outer ring of the map will become a permanent non-loot zone. The borders of loot and non-loot zones can be seen here:



[h3]Considered new approach to the middle of the map fights[/h3]
Currently, the mixture of fast travel and horses makes it possible for players to quickly move between locations. While it is a good thing to travel between locations on the frontline, making the fights more dynamic, we have observed that it also makes roaming solo or in a small group almost impossible, as once engaged in a fight, the player can get quickly overrun by a group of mounted players and killed without a chance to fight or escape. We would like the reworked middle of the map to be a place for small groups to fight each other in a skill-based fight rather than the ones that are based on numbers.

We are still considering different options and approaches to that topic, as we would like the middle of the map to be a place where small groups can fight freely without the fear of getting overrun by a big group of mounted players that teleport to the nearest point and get into the battle in no time.

We would like to hear your feedback on that change, so please have your say on the newly added #middle-of-the-map-feedback channel on our Discord(https://discord.gg/gloriavictis).

[h3]New PvP tokens[/h3]
The reworked middle of the map will also come with new PvP tokens connected to the local quest boards. These unique tokens will be earned by doing events and quests in the middle of the map, and the Ruined Temple Raid. There will be 7 new quest boards added, divided into 4 zones with over 20 new and existing events that will award the new PvP tokens, as well as over 25 new quest board quests! PvP tokens will be exchangeable for interesting new and existing items that are useful in PvP battles.

[h3]Sneak peek into the clustered Guild Castles[/h3]
With all these changes just around the corner, we would also like to provide our Community, with a sneak peek at what can be expected at the very start of 2023. Next year will be very important for Gloria Victis, as we are just a few months away from launching Gloria Victis 1.0 and one of the remaining steps before the release will be the clustered Guild Castles, which will have their first iteration going live in January 2023.

The clustered guild castles will not only offer a chance to own a Guild Castle for smaller guilds but will also enable these smaller guilds to have a chance of building their own content around building and developing their Guild Castles. The Guild Castles will become a feature that will provide a space for guild gatherings, and give a better reason to roam around the map on the lookout for rare materials for castle building as well as fight to boost the Guild’s level. With the clustered Guild Castles, the importance of technology points will be greater, as guilds will have more technologies to unlock, as well as they will be able to develop more technologies at the same time. This change will make map roaming and participating in the new State of Wars a key to becoming one of the top guilds of a server. The newly added technologies will augment many aspects of the clustered Guild Castles as well as provide buffs and features that will help the guilds to compete at the highest level.

Another important change that the clustered Guild Castles will bring is a new version of State of War. While we think that the current State of War design is good, as it brings many memorable fights, we can see its drawbacks – Guild Castles are becoming more of a national asset making the guilds owning them reliant on the nation. This means that a shift of power between the nations may result in strong guilds losing their Guild Castles to weaker ones, but such that have a bigger support from the nation. Moreover, we have seen a number of toxic behaviors emerging from owning a Guild Castle, which is not a situation we are looking for. While changing the design of the State of War, we will be also looking for ways to keep the mass Nation vs Nation PvP in the open world, by adding new systems to the game.

The new State of War design is aimed more at Guild vs Guild, or Alliance vs Alliance, and everyday content. We want each guild to be able to adjust the castle to their needs, by tweaking the size of the battle they want to be having, and do they want to have the help of their allies or not. Moreover, guilds will be able to decide on the hour of the State of War as well as the frequency of the battles (as now they will be even possible to take place daily!). This way, fairer, and more challenging battles should take place. The new system will also get rid of the toxicity that spying, griefing or an unsuccessful State of War brings, as guilds will only lose points, not castles. The system will bring more rewards and fewer penalties, while still being a competitive feature giving guilds the ability to compete with each other.

[h3]What can be expected in the first iteration?[/h3]
The first iteration should feature buying a guild island, teleportation to and from the island to the open world, as well as castle building and workstation placement.
Once we get this iteration live we will be gathering your feedback to improve the clustered Guild Castles while working on re-enabling State of Wars in a new, reworked version that suits the new guild castle system!

[h3]FAQ[/h3]
How long will it take for State of War to be back?
We aren’t ready to announce the exact date yet, but we are aiming to release State of War on the clustered Guild Castles as soon as possible after the first iteration goes live.

Will it be possible to travel to Guild Castles of other guilds?
Yes, this is a feature that we are planning on implementing. It will not be a part of the first iteration but will follow shortly after the first iteration is live. We want the clusters to feel like an additional part of the open world and not something separate.

Will it be possible to have PvP outside of the State of War on the clustered Guild Castles?
Yes, each guild will have the option to set their Guild Castle as a PvP zone (either non-loot or loot) in order to gain some additional benefits. Traveling to a castle that has its settings set to be a PvP zone will make it possible to fight other players at any time. We want the clustered Guild Castles to feel like a part of the open world, thus we want them to resemble the rest of the map as much as possible.

Who will be able to claim a Guild Castle once they are moved to the cluster solution?
Each guild of level 10 or above will be able to claim its own castle by paying a small gold fee. The entire process will be possible through the Guild Window, and each guild will be able to own one castle.

Will there be siege events in the new Nation-controlled Castles in the middle of the map?
As for now, we are not planning to implement such events (neither loot nor non-loot event) in the new Nation-controlled Castles. We want the center of the map to remain a looting zone at all times, and a place where there is a chance for some small/medium-scale PvP.

Why are you moving the Guild Castles to clusters?
Moving the Guild Castles to a cluster solution is essential for two main reasons:
Currently, with just 9 castles per server, the fun of running a guild castle is restricted to a very small amount of players, with freebuilding being a feature that only leaders of the biggest guilds could enjoy. We would like these features to become more available for smaller guilds too.
After the official release, we expect to have to add additional servers that may eventually be merged with others. The cluster solution will make it easier to merge servers, as no guilds would need to lose a castle in that process.

When the guild castles become national castles, what resources will be available there?
The new Nation-controlled Castles will have the same mines and storehouses like current Guild Castles. This will make them the most important mines on the map, and the value of such a castle will greatly increase for the nations. This change will not only enable all players of the nation to use the mine freely but also create a potential PvP hotspot, as these castles will be key to defend against attackers.

Will the clustered Guild Castles have farms or mines?
The clustered Guild Castles will have no mines, however, they will have a farming area, with ground quality ranging from 50% to 100% based on the settings the guild that owns the castle chooses from – for example, will the Guild Castle be loot, non-loot, or a safe zone (the higher the risk factor of a Guild Castle, the better the ground quality).

Will there be better rewards in the middle of the map because it will be a loot zone?
Yes, the middle of the map will still be the only place with the most beneficial events (Kargalds, Catacombs, Pride Long Forgotten etc.) as well as the castles located in the middle of the map will have the best workshops, mines, lumbermills, and farms. On top of that, the castles in the middle of the map will provide the most points for Deadly Harvest and offer a speed buff for the workstations, making them a valuable asset for a Nation that controls them.

What will happen to the buff for the Nation that holds 2 or more Guild Castles?
The buff will be now transferred to the new Nation Castles in the middle of the map. Owning these castles will grant buffs the same way as the Guild Castles do right now. The main difference is that the Nation-controlled Castles will be possible to capture at all times, making them a constant PvP hotspot.

Will there be changes to Pilgrim's Rock?
No, Pilgrim’s Rock is a special castle, and its rules will not be changed. It will remain unchanged as it remains to be an important spot for the middle of the map PvP/PvE gameplay.

Greetings, Warriors!

In today's changelog, we are happy to talk about the major update for the Gloria Victis MMORPG dedicated to combat system changes and balance.

Inspired by our player's feedback, and our own data we carefully noted and discussed various aspects of Gloria Victis' combat and found some matters worth addressing. As we are just starting a new Glory Season in the game, this is a perfect moment to introduce improvements and changes and fix some shortcomings of the combat balance. Watch the newest Dev Log for details!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
On the other hand, we are happy to introduce the next part of our Game Interface overhaul by presenting a reworked Supporter Shop in the game on Black Week!

As you may also know, it is time again to vote for your favorite games in Steam Awards! We are counting on your nomination and vote in the Labor of Love category!



And now,
let's check some details of the applied changes:

The screenshot’s authors will be awarded. Please contact Jesper#6555 on our official Discord to get your ambers!



[h2]Combat Changes[/h2]

We set ourselves several goals we want to achieve: Balancing the two-handed weapons against each other, rebalancing heavy armor as it is rarely found in the meta-level gameplay as a full set, and improving shield gameplay, focusing on its most visible flaws.

[h3]Heavy Armor[/h3]

Let’s start with one of the most significant changes in the latest update - the changes in heavy armor. For some time, we could observe that tank builds, using only heavy armor, were steadily falling out of the current meta. This was mostly caused due to high stamina drain and its fragility against blunt damage. These factors made it more beneficial to create builds that mix heavy and medium armor parts for smaller stamina drain and higher resistance to blunt damage, with the only tradeoff being sacrificing a small amount of slashing and piercing reductions.

In order to bring back full heavy builds to life, we decided to increase blunt damage reductions for heavy armor, while slightly decreasing the piercing reductions. This change should enable heavy armor users to become more resistant to all types of damage, making it the armor of choice for tank builds. We have unified the stamina mod for the chest and legs to avoid any situation where wearing a heavy chestplate will be unprofitable.

What’s more, the upkeep cost of a full heavy armor has been significantly higher than the cost for any other type of armor. Not only fighting on the frontline means that more repairs are needed, but also, up to this point the only viable heavy armor in terms of its protection to stamina drain and damage decrease ratio was the heavy armor of the highest tier. In order to change that, we have decided to increase the reductions of heavy armor of all tiers, making even lower-tier heavy items more efficient on the battlefield.



[h3]Two-handed axes[/h3]

With the introduction of the recent changes, 2-handed axes have become a weapon of choice for many, as they provide many benefits like overhead damage and reach, with very few cons. We decided to reduce the slashing damage from side attacks slightly in order to balance out axes in comparison to other weapon types.

[h3]Two-handed swords[/h3]

We have observed that the craftable 2 handed swords fall short of their special equivalents like the crusher, or ancient longsword. We have introduced changes in attack release speed and attribute damage modifiers for the craftable 2-handed swords in order to make them a viable option in combat and to create a hybrid subclass based on strength and dexterity – fully focused on swords.

[h3]Changes in archery[/h3]

We have also taken a closer look at archery in our game. In connection with the heavy armor changes, we have decided to decrease the damage dealt by headshots, while increasing the damage dealt with hits to the body. This change will result in the max damage that can be done with a bow hit being reduced while narrowing the gap between headshots and body shots will result in dealing more consistent amounts of damage.



[h3]Passive shield block with a shield equipped in hand[/h3]

Another important thing that changed with the recent update is the ability to block incoming arrows with a shield in hand! From now on, not only a shield equipped on the back but also a shield in hand will block the incoming arrows. This change makes it possible for shield players to block arrows with a shield even while charging an attack, simply by aligning the shield with the direction which the arrows are shot from. We cannot wait to see how this change will be used by our players in battle!

[h3]Changes to the shield bash mechanics[/h3]

Have you ever tried to start an attack, but ended up performing a shield bash instead? We have heard the feedback of our community and decided to change the way to perform a shield bash. From now on, a shield bash will be only performed when a player holds a block with a shield and then presses the button bound to kicking (default Q). Holding these two buttons will result in the character holding a charged shield bash while unpressing the kick button will launch the shield bash. This change should improve the experience of fighting with a 1 handed weapon and a shield, and prevent unwanted shield bashes from happening.

It is worth noting that we have made those changes not only because of the above, but also to unify one-handed and two-handed weapons controllers, which have had various differences before which allowed us to unify attacks and feints speed. Timers for shield bash and “back to armed” state return have been tweaked, so it will be easier to land a fully loaded attack onto the enemy after a successful shield bash. Overhead and right-to-left attacks have been sped up.

It is quite important that you can now kick the enemy during your attack release, but you cannot do that when you are in the shield block state. All those changes will make kicks more interesting and give you the ability to master your timings and outplay your enemy.

Of course, chambering with shields and staggering after hitting a shield block is still present in the game.



[h2]Reworked Supporter Shop[/h2]

We have finished work on the first version of the reworked Supporter Shop interface. Our game is being produced based only on the game sales and Supporter Shop revenue, so we are very thankful for your support and we hope you will like the improvements prepared for you. We introduced this change on Tuesday, to have an extra day to fix any possible issues, so thank you for helping us test it. In the game, you have received a notification, that due to the full rework of the skins system backend, we have to unequip all activated skins on your characters. You need to open the Supporter Shop hotkey [K] to apply your skins again! Here is the list of the improvements we made:

– Fully reworked and improved interface.
– Removed the skin's window where you needed to activate the skin. From now on, you can check, buy and apply skins using only the Supporter Shop window.
– Added categories to make searching skins and items much more convenient.
– Grouped base items in categories to allow much easier switching between owned skins.
– Grouped usable items like cards to make searching for what we are interested in easier.
– Cosmetic skin sets banners are changed to vertical ones, showing the equipped armor.
– The Preview section of the Supporter Shop became a sort of cart. You can dress up your character in the preview and after that move to the list of picked items to buy all of them with one click.
– Skins that are not purchasable are present in the Supporter Shop to allow their activation.
– After buying something as an item, the “Bought” tab is automatically opened.
– From now on, each week you can collect a free gift in the Supporter Shop – it resets every Saturday.

We would like to warmly invite you to support our project and to check the offer of our ingame Shop and its new layout, and at the same time, we are happy to announce a series of discounts which will change every day throughout the whole next week! Happy shopping!



[h2]Quality of Life:[/h2]

– Replaced Valley of Death tournament affix vote button to the new one.
– Optimization of the map legend markers. It should greatly reduce any lag possibilities when opening the map window.
– Added a possibility to remove owned cosmetic skins from the Supporter Shop cart.

[h2]Fixes:[/h2]

– Fixed an issue in sheep shearing minigames where button interaction could not work properly.
– Fixed the issue with the improper tag in the "No rest for the Wicked" quest where the player was asked to kill boars instead of wolves.
– Multiple small fixes and improvements for the new Supporter Shop, addressing its performance and fixing visual issues.
– Fixed the issue causing decorations, interactable objects, and throwables cosmetic skins to not work properly.

ssds

Greetings, Warriors!

Today, we are happy to introduce tweaks to various mechanics and gameplay improvements, as well as fixes to reported bugs. But on top of that, this time we’ve focused on several balance–related improvements, such as tweaking the map zones and mirroring existing events.

Also, as you probably already know, we’re working on an update that we plan to apply for next week, along with the start of the new ranking season. It’s going to include several changes, such as the planned combat improvements, which we’re working on for a few weeks already.

Gloria Victis is currently on 60%sale on Steam, so it is a perfect opportunity to get some of your friends to play! Thanks to that we’re already glad to see so many new players on the servers. We believe you’re having a good time in the game, and you’ll stay with us longer. We wish you a joyful journey through the Gloria Victis world!

Moreover, every two weeks, we are also making a community showcase, rewarding our content creators and active members of the community with Ambers, and promoting their content on our social media hubs. Thank you for spreading the word about Gloria Victis, and helping our community to grow!

See you in battle!

The screenshot’s authors were awarded. Daeryk and JESNEK -= PL =- – check your Ambers!



[h2]New Glory Season[/h2]

The New Glory season will start on Thursday, the 24th of November. Also, we’d like to remind you that the last day of the season – Wednesday, the 23rd of November – will be a dedicated day of the season's end. It will not be possible to earn or lose the Nation Points on this day and the scoreboards of other season-based rankings (Glory and Arena) will be frozen then. However, it is the last chance to donate your NP to your guild as the Guild Points. When the new season starts, the Nation Points collected by a player will count from 0 as the new season will begin.

A little explanation for the new players: Glory is a season-based ranking that rewards you for activity in the faction v faction v faction PVP. The seasons last around 2 months (depending on the current updates schedule) and the top players are rewarded with unique titles and gold. Also, every Thursday night you’ll get Contribution Points – an in-game currency used to purchase special items from the Glory Quartermasters. The amount of earned CP depends on your position in the leaderboard, so climb up!

What will the new season bring in terms of combat?

The new season of glory is the perfect opportunity to correct the shortcomings of the combat balance. The goal is to balance two-handed weapons against each other and rebalance the heavy armor, which, as an independent entity, is rarely found in the meta-level, due to how much it costs ( not only gold but also attributes, stamina, and damage outcome) and how easy it is to counter, because of hammers. We are focusing on a greater ability to build cost-effective equipment setups. We also improve the possibilities to play with a shield, focusing on its worst flaws, such as unwanted shield bashes when attacking.



[h2]Events balance[/h2]

In order for all map sides to be equal in terms of events players can participate in, we are adding a mirrored Otton event to Sangmar – Midland link, with a reminder, that Ismir/Sangmar and Ismir/Midland links already have such an event.

Due to significant level design changes in that area, the sorcerer's tower placed nearby has been moved east. Ragi’s Hound became a boss for the new event, named “Hound's Lair”, and
Inn quests that could be found nearby have been tweaked and some will use the new location for their purposes.

Take part in the new event and collect great rewards!

[h2]Zones balance[/h2]

Thanks to reports from our players, we have found that an outdated version of the non-loot and safe zones layout has been present on the global servers. As well as the level design allows us we have adjusted the range of non-loot and safe zones in the game. Farms should be left in the lootzone area, where some were not before, and at the same time, we have ensured the siege camps are in a non-loot bubble. All sides of the map should follow the same rules now.

[h2]Quality of Life[/h2]

Spawners position polish:

– Beehives in Rodrock, Ulfgard, and Eaglenest Village.
– Eaglenest Village Lumber Mill building.
–Abbey and Eaglenest Village wood spawners.
– Lordly Heaven and Abbey building materials event spawners.
– Pulled out the well and the lumberjack NPC from inside Twinfall Lumber Mill.
– Some resource spawners all around the map.

Sheep shearing

We have added the last planned minigame to sheep shearing. In the minigame, you will be asked to press G, H & J keys in the correct pattern. From the top of the minigame UI, there are falling tiles. The player needs to press the right button once the tile is passing the bottom line of the minigame. While 40% of the wool loot table will always be received by the player, and the fraction of the following 60% is handed to the player based on the number of points earned from the minigame. Please mind that each key press costs 50 stamina.

Other improvements:

– Reskinned the spider's model in the game. You can meet them at Volcano, Ruined Temple raids, and Pride Long Forgotten events.
– Added a five seconds delay after delivering mushrooms before the Volcano event invitation will appear.
– Removed Halloween pumpkins, reward events, skeleton horse spawners, and special catapult and trebuchet projectiles



[h2]Fixes[/h2]

Announcement boards:

– Fixed the issue where the quest tab was not being automatically shown as active while opening the board which has quests available for the first time.
– Fixed an issue causing quests to not be visible if the player closed the board window on the quest tab and reopened it.
– Fixed the problem where a proper tag was not displayed, redirecting players to other boards if there were no quests on a given one.

Other fixes:

– Over 50 level design and terrain bug fixes
– Fixed an issue where workstations lists on Holds location cards were doubled
– Reworked the textures of models used mainly in siege camps, fixing improper color and distance visibility issues.
– Fixed an issue where spiders on the Volcano were attacking the mini-boss of the event.

[h2]Every-two week Video contest[/h2]

We cannot stress enough our happiness and gratitude to see such nice videos posted by our active community almost daily! This week, we have chosen a few more artistic approaches, rewarding players from all around the world for their love for Gloria Victis. The main reward of 2000 ambers will go to:

dRogu – for his creative approach in creating GoT Stannis Baratheon heraldry using our Coat of Arms editor: https://youtu.be/6ifdp2Tp9lk
Boba, for his next Gloria Victis gameplay, this time featuring a night-time Valley of Death Tournament. https://youtu.be/x5wl5CRut4w
DIDI Zhang, for making a short cinematic video about our game: https://youtu.be/Hpaesh3RVyQ
And we have two honorable mentions, rewarded with 500 ambers:
Runnin, for mistaking a falling meteorite with a soccer ball: https://youtu.be/0R6Z35Ksh0U
And Ghost With Heartbeats for his artsy screenshots mashup: https://youtu.be/_1bhiMHdZJo
Be sure to use always use #gloriavictis and #playgloriavictis hashtags in your video descriptions. It greatly helps us and others to find content based on our game, and increases your visibility!