Upcoming changes to the Hall of Challengers
Starting tonight, I will begin development on a new event in Agartha. This gauntlet battle series will replace the current one inside the Hall of Challengers, currently known as "The Pit." So far, the Pit has done well as a place where players could just mess around without a higher goal, but the back end requirements of sustaining it are quite extensive. At first, I set aside over 600 Enemy and Troop slots to fill the remaining pit battles, but looking at it now, I'd rather have something similar that used what already exists and therefore would be easier to maintain. So here's a preview of the idea along with what it means for players!
• New event in Hall of Challengers to replace the Pit. The event is currently unnamed, but will be referred to as "Gauntlet" for the rest of this post.
- Gauntlet will use Enemy and Troop data from the world for non-bosses. This includes experience earned, gold obtained, and loot dropped.
-- For reference, The Pit used a handful of custom enemies with significantly reduced drops, similar to the Colosseum rift, in addition to regular world enemy data.
- Gauntlet will follow a 10 level per tier structure. For instance, to unlock the level 11-20 bracket, you must complete the level 1-10 bracket first.
-- Completing a bracket will reward a special prize the first time it is completed.
- To complete a tier of Gauntlet, the player must defeat three Regular Troops for each designated level and one Boss Troop as each graduation match. For instance, to open the level 11-20 bracket, Ruby must complete 31 battles - 3 for each level 1-10 plus one Boss.
- The enemies fought in Gauntlet are randomized from the collection of enemies which appear throughout the world at that level. You can tell what level an enemy is based on it's name, which usually looks something like this "An'ura Warrior (Lv. 1)".
-- Due to the randomization, it is possible to have a different experience each time Ruby challenges any given bracket.
- Pit Coins will not drop in Gauntlet for the time being. Therefore, after the next update goes live, the Challenger's Battleguard set will be temporarily unavailable.
- Gauntlet related currency will not drop directly from enemies, but rather roll for being rewarded after that battle is completed. This way, these same enemies will not drop the Gauntlet currency when they are fought elsewhere in the world.
-- Gauntlet currency will either drop relative to the amount of enemies faced or the level where they were faced, or some combination of the two. Details are not yet ironed out.
- Rare worldspawn enemies will also be similarly rare within Gauntlet.
-- Example: Rare wolf only spawns if dice roll 1-6 lands on 1, and then second dice roll 1-6 also lands on 1. This would also be true for its corresponding level in Gauntlet.
- An 'endless' version of Gauntlet is not currently planned, but may be built after the highest levels have been completed.
- Ruby's Party will not get a game over while in Gauntlet. Instead, party will be revived and given +50 HP after falling.
- All obtained characters are permitted to participate in Gauntlet.
- While development of Gauntlet is ongoing, the guard will not allow access to the teleporter and the Hall of Challengers will become Save Restricted. If I don't have to rush a patch for anything else in between starting and finishing this new event, players will not notice these changes as they will be lifted on release.
- Gauntlet is set to release with game version 5.0.5 barring any emergency fixes in between start and finish.
- Estimated time to build new event: ~3 days.
Looking beyond Gauntlet:
- Battle Series I is still in development and will serve as Cross of Auria's first battle and loot focused DLC. BSI will be released when completed.
- Battle Series X has entered planning stages and will serve as Cross of Auria's first free battle and loot focused DLC. BSX will be released when completed, and will be released prior for Battle Series I.
- The Halloween Event from 2020 will undergo a series of minor fixes and then return to the game as a permanent event. However, the event will not be repeatable.
- The Colosseum will see it's second dungeon event in the next few months. Both the new one and the current An'ura one are developed in a way where their levels can be easily scaled to the new cap as the main story progresses.
- Battlefront will see its next handful of zones over the next few weeks.
- Shoreline will open as the next Orc War related location soon.
• New event in Hall of Challengers to replace the Pit. The event is currently unnamed, but will be referred to as "Gauntlet" for the rest of this post.
- Gauntlet will use Enemy and Troop data from the world for non-bosses. This includes experience earned, gold obtained, and loot dropped.
-- For reference, The Pit used a handful of custom enemies with significantly reduced drops, similar to the Colosseum rift, in addition to regular world enemy data.
- Gauntlet will follow a 10 level per tier structure. For instance, to unlock the level 11-20 bracket, you must complete the level 1-10 bracket first.
-- Completing a bracket will reward a special prize the first time it is completed.
- To complete a tier of Gauntlet, the player must defeat three Regular Troops for each designated level and one Boss Troop as each graduation match. For instance, to open the level 11-20 bracket, Ruby must complete 31 battles - 3 for each level 1-10 plus one Boss.
- The enemies fought in Gauntlet are randomized from the collection of enemies which appear throughout the world at that level. You can tell what level an enemy is based on it's name, which usually looks something like this "An'ura Warrior (Lv. 1)".
-- Due to the randomization, it is possible to have a different experience each time Ruby challenges any given bracket.
- Pit Coins will not drop in Gauntlet for the time being. Therefore, after the next update goes live, the Challenger's Battleguard set will be temporarily unavailable.
- Gauntlet related currency will not drop directly from enemies, but rather roll for being rewarded after that battle is completed. This way, these same enemies will not drop the Gauntlet currency when they are fought elsewhere in the world.
-- Gauntlet currency will either drop relative to the amount of enemies faced or the level where they were faced, or some combination of the two. Details are not yet ironed out.
- Rare worldspawn enemies will also be similarly rare within Gauntlet.
-- Example: Rare wolf only spawns if dice roll 1-6 lands on 1, and then second dice roll 1-6 also lands on 1. This would also be true for its corresponding level in Gauntlet.
- An 'endless' version of Gauntlet is not currently planned, but may be built after the highest levels have been completed.
- Ruby's Party will not get a game over while in Gauntlet. Instead, party will be revived and given +50 HP after falling.
- All obtained characters are permitted to participate in Gauntlet.
- While development of Gauntlet is ongoing, the guard will not allow access to the teleporter and the Hall of Challengers will become Save Restricted. If I don't have to rush a patch for anything else in between starting and finishing this new event, players will not notice these changes as they will be lifted on release.
- Gauntlet is set to release with game version 5.0.5 barring any emergency fixes in between start and finish.
- Estimated time to build new event: ~3 days.
Looking beyond Gauntlet:
- Battle Series I is still in development and will serve as Cross of Auria's first battle and loot focused DLC. BSI will be released when completed.
- Battle Series X has entered planning stages and will serve as Cross of Auria's first free battle and loot focused DLC. BSX will be released when completed, and will be released prior for Battle Series I.
- The Halloween Event from 2020 will undergo a series of minor fixes and then return to the game as a permanent event. However, the event will not be repeatable.
- The Colosseum will see it's second dungeon event in the next few months. Both the new one and the current An'ura one are developed in a way where their levels can be easily scaled to the new cap as the main story progresses.
- Battlefront will see its next handful of zones over the next few weeks.
- Shoreline will open as the next Orc War related location soon.