Nevergrind Online News

198: Early Access 0.12.35 - July 1, 2022 4:25 PM EST
• Fixed a bug that caused undefined to be all over the place, but only for users that were loading the app for the first time. Also... back from vacation 😎

I am happy to announce that I am working with three native speakers who are eager to translate the game into German, Japanese, and Chinese. These are planned to be the first three alternate languages available in Nevergrind Online. The translators already have the game text and it will be in the game as soon as possible. The store pages will be translated as well! I made the decision to translate as much as reasonably possible. Skill names, lore, UI text, tooltips, combat logs, and more will all be translated. There is quite a lot of text in Nevergrind Online, so this is an ambitious task!

At this time, we did make the decision to not translate the item names for various reasons. Perhaps I will revisit this in the future, but I couldn't think of a great way to do this without introducing a myriad of other issues. We will consider this the first wave of localization and it will certainly make it much more accessible to customers around the world. I see this is a key to growing the user base and signaling our commitment to Nevergrind Online's future.

After implementation I will monitor its impact and determine how to prioritize moving forward. Exciting days ahead!

• Made billions and BILLIONS of changes underneath that will aid with the localization process. Be on the lookout for undefined references in game text and let me know if you find any.
• Fixed Barbarian's ice spell damage bonus.
• Adjusted the mob-to-player damage mitigation on (ENC) Stasis Field. It does more mitigation at lower levels, but less at higher levels. The player-to-mob ratio was not changed.
• Changed (WLK) Bloodfire to a fire spell + DoT from blood.
• Reduced (SHM) Poison Nova's cast time from 4 to 3 seconds.
• Reduced the cast time of (WLK) Blood Fire and Demonic Pact by half a second.
• Reduced the duration of several WLK DoT spells. This makes their debuff time shorter, but they will do more damage as a trade-off.
• Reduced (TMP) Primordial Sludge's duration from 45 to 30 seconds.
• Reduced the threat on (CRU) Benevolence from 250% to 80%.
• Introduced caps for how much mobs can be slowed by mob tier. For example a boss cannot be slowed as much as a regular mob. Slows are also less potent against higher tier mobs. For example, a 25% slow will not reduce a boss's attack speed by the full 25%.
• Reduced (BRD) Euphonic Dirge's duration from 21 to 18.
• Reduced (BRD) Subverted Symphony's duration from 30 to 24.
• Added a 25% slow to (SHM) Vampiric Gaze giving them a bit more utility in a group. Also made it instant cast.
• Reduced (SHM) Scourge's cast time from 3 to 2 seconds.
• Reduced duration of Scourge from 18 to 15 second duration.
• Reduced (SHM) Affliction from 27 to 18 second duration.
• Reduced (SHM) Poison Bolt from 3.5- to 3-second cast time.
• Disabled target toggle when clicking a player card or hitting the hotkey repeatedly.
• Redesigned the skill tooltip to be more readable. The skill description section now focuses more heavily on pure description without inserting dynamic numbers throughout. This will be handy later for localization and future buff descriptions.
• Warrior's Shield Slam now taunts, but has a short 7-second cooldown.
• Fixed an order-of-operations bug that caused a bunch of undefined references in rare cases.
• Bard's Bellow now taunts your target. This could be handy for off-tanking single mobs.

Many have asked and now ye shall receive! Be advised that this shalt be regarded as a living, breathing document that provides Nevergrind Online enjoyers a prophecy of the glory that is yet to come. Feel free to bookmark this page and refresh it to check on the progress I have made. I will continuously iterate upon this document in order to fully elucidate the sumptuous nooks and crannies that I will reveal in due time.

I will do my best to complete everything on this list and subsequently submit Nevergrind Online for a full release here on Steam. Predicated upon this foundation, I should forthwith highlight the constraints thereby that will impede the progress thereof. Try to remember that I only work on this project part-time. I am also married and we are raising three young children. Oh, yes, and a golden retriever. She needs attention, too! My family loves the project and I would not have been able to finish it without their love and support. My kids play it together on our computers and my amazing wife supports me by taking care of all of the tasks that I am not good at and/or don't have time for (we're both prior military btw!).

Aside from real-life getting in the way, development will continue just as it has for the last five years, so don't expect any slowdown. I love this project and nothing will stop me from completing it and supporting it for many years to come. I may not have as much free time as other developers, but I work fast and I am very consistent.

Note that I reserve the right to adjust anything and everything as I see fit, but this pretty much represents what I have in mind. Perhaps certain small things will get pushed to post-release. Perhaps I'll expand upon certain features more than I expected because they were more entertaining than I anticipated.

You can also check the Nevergrind Online Trello Board if you want to see what's on my radar.

[h2]❌Talent Trees[/h2]
❌Warrior
❌Crusader
❌Shadow Knight
❌Monk
❌Rogue
❌Ranger
❌Bard
❌Druid
❌Cleric
❌Shaman
❌Warlock
❌Enchanter
❌Templar
❌Wizard

[h2]❌Exceptional Unique Items[/h2]
❌Amulets
❌Belts
❌Boots
❌Bows
❌Bracers
❌Charms
❌Chests
❌Cloaks
❌Focus
❌Gloves
❌Helms
❌Legs
❌1HB
❌1HS
❌Piercers
❌Rings
❌Shields
❌Shoulders
❌Staves
❌2HB
❌2HS

[h2]❌Exceptional Set Items[/h2]
❌Warrior
❌Crusader
❌Shadow Knight
❌Monk
❌Rogue
❌Ranger
❌Bard
❌Druid
❌Cleric
❌Shaman
❌Warlock
❌Enchanter
❌Templar
❌Wizard

[h2]❌Elite Unique Items[/h2]
❌Amulets
❌Belts
❌Boots
❌Bows
❌Bracers
❌Charms
❌Chests
❌Cloaks
❌Focus
❌Gloves
❌Helms
❌Legs
❌1HB
❌1HS
❌Piercers
❌Rings
❌Shields
❌Shoulders
❌Staves
❌2HB
❌2HS

[h2]❌Elite Set Items[/h2]
❌Warrior
❌Crusader
❌Shadow Knight
❌Monk
❌Rogue
❌Ranger
❌Bard
❌Druid
❌Cleric
❌Shaman
❌Warlock
❌Enchanter
❌Templar
❌Wizard

[h2]❌Quality of Life[/h2]
❌Item Buy-Back
❌LFG flag
❌AFK flag (ignores invites)
❌Item linking

[h2]❌Nightmare & Hell Difficulty[/h2]
❌Level 99 level cap
❌Additional champ traits by difficulty
❌Reduce all resists by difficulty
❌New talent skill caps

[h2]❌Language Support[/h2]
✅Chinese
✅German
✅Japanese
❌French
✅Russian
❌Spanish
❌Portuguese
❌Korean
❌Italian
✅Polish
❌Maybe others if volunteers emerge?

[h2]❌Miscellaneous[/h2]
❌Various potion types (resists and whatever else I think seems fun)
❌Add a multitude of artflow.ai avatars for each race/gender combination.

[h2]❌Crafting[/h2]
❌Blacksmith allows the ability to purchase new crafting recipes
❌Allow users to combine items to create new ones
❌Add runes + runewords
❌Add sockets to items
❌Put gems and runes in sockets

I don't even know where to begin. I barely slept this weekend due to being 24/7 wired on the dopamine rush of an early access launch that obliterated all of my expectations. Sure, we had a few bumps along the way supporting hundreds of users, but I worked through it and everyone was quite patient as I worked on putting out fires. By the way, keep in mind that this has all been accomplished with zero legitimate marketing effort. The only reason it shot off like a rocket was due to gamers finding exactly what they were craving in Nevergrind Online.



If you don't have time to read everything, here are the metrics throughout the first four days:

• Easily clearing 1,000 copies sold
  
• 118/118 positive reviews for a "Very Positive" 100% rating
  
• #3 Hot Release on steamdb.info and still trending UPWARD

Without a doubt, my favorite part is the 118/118 positive reviews! I want every player to feel that every penny was money well spent! I know that, for many, finances are tough right now. I have been there, so I understand how difficult that can be. That's why I have complete respect for every dollar that is spent on Nevergrind Online. That's why I will never put microtransactions in the game. That's why I pack so much content, features, and replayability into an online game that costs a mere $20. I will never sell out to the outrageous monetization practices in the gaming industry that are destroying my childhood hobby. Once you buy Nevergrind Online, it is yours to play forever. I want my customers to think that my game is underpriced.

My passion is to design a multiplayer world where players socialize, make friends, organize, and overcome challenges in the game. I love watching players theorycraft in Discord and seeing "lfm", "lfg" in game chat. The game world feels so vibrant and alive with players that are excited to tackle the next challenge. It reminds me of the early days as a player on Fennin Ro when EverQuest was released in 1999. And that's exactly the kind of excitement that I wanted to generate with Nevergrind Online!



I also want to say THANK YOU for all of the incredible support. I believe in Nevergrind Online. I know how hard myself, the artists, and the testers have worked on polishing it to its current state. I know all of the nitty gritty details that required strenuous attention to detail to get certain key features engineered to perfection. However, even I did not expect the overwhelming support and positive responses that the game has enjoyed on Steam in its first four days. Thank you for taking time to write those reviews, to stream the game on Twitch, to join the Steam group, and to share it with your friends. Remember, almost all of Nevergrind Online's success has been via Steam Store presence and by word of mouth. I haven't paid a dime for advertising or promotion.



Also, I would like to say thank you for your patience. I easily could have earned a negative review with a few of the bugs that players endured throughout the first four days, but players have been very forgiving and understanding about the complex nature of running Nevergrind Online, the world's first multiplayer blobber with real-time combat (I may need Snopes to debunk me on this).



Last, but not least, yes, a road map is coming! It is all in my head, but I will create a dedicated steam news release with all of the planned definite (and potential) changes that I would like to have in the game upon full release! That way players can bookmark it and I can update it at intervals whilst players check on the progress and hold me accountable 😉

If you are enjoying the game in its current form, then you're going to love what I have in store!