Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen news & patch notes

The bug squashing continues – and some new stuff too. Check out what we’ve been working on below:

Design and Narrative

• Final pass on NPC population for Detihauna.

• Adding a few new fish to the waters around Badia de Cara to help increase biodiversity.

• Working on implementing Enchanter mastery.

• Finishing touches for Ranger mastery.

• Additional tuning and itemization work for levels 1-40.

• Continued bug destruction and tuning adjustments.

Worldbuilding and Environment Art

• Working on some additional lighting and atmosphereic touch-ups for various parts of Badia de Cara.

• Investigating a pesky issue with terrain textures that is creating poor visual performance in some parts of the world.

• Continued optimization of object collision across all of Badia de Cara and the Port of Rulun.

• Continuing to work on large environmental props for areas of Faerthale outside the city.

• Finalized concepts for an elven dwelling kit which will be used to create many of the buildings in Faerthale.

Character Art and Animation

• Touchups and optimization on some Badia de Cara creatures and their aniamtions.

• Finalizing import process for updated armor system.

• Continuing detailed concepts and blockouts for Lucent, Ashen, and Ember elf customization options including hairstyles and hair colors.

• Building out Faerthale NPC asset list to help inform asset creation.

Programming

• More water-related fixes for Badia de Cara, and further preparation for hooking up boats.

• Created a new tool that designers can use to help quickly populate large open areas of the world with various NPCs.

• Preparing for revisions to core server processes to help improve scalability and performance (this is a large effort and will likely take several months to complete, but is required to enable several important gameplay-related features).

• Working on data connections for the Market system UI.

• Enabling additional functionality to help support class abilities and mastery.

• Bug investigations and fixes.

Over this past week we’ve been working hard to get some new things ready for the Public Test Realm next week. Check out what we’ve been working on below:

Design and Narrative

• Adding “extra” NPCs to Detihauna and making sure the town feels like a place where people live.

• Filling out NPC population in various areas, including in and around shipwrecks on the shore.

• Continuing to add more sharks and other sea life to the waters around Badia de Cara. You can never have enough sharks. Also making sure the sharks are appropriately hungry.

• Finishing up implementing new Wizard abilities and mastery options.

• Starting on implementation of Enchanter mastery.

• Finalizing the designs for Rogue and Ranger mastery.

• Additional tuning and itemization work for levels 1-40.

• More Faerthale planning, including mapping out various class starting locations within the city.

• Continued bug destruction and tuning adjustments.

Worldbuilding and Environment Art

• Working on some additional lighting and atmosphereic touch-ups for various parts of Badia de Cara.

• Optimizing object collision across all of Badia de Cara and the Port of Rulun.

• Starting to work on large environmental props for areas of Faerthale outside the city.

• Continued concepting and asset construction work for Faerthale city.

Character Art and Animation

• Wrap-up work on Badia de Cara NPC models, and picking up a few final things for the zone that have been requested by the design team.

• Continued setting up for test run on universal armor meshes to make sure everything works properly in-game.

• Continuing detailed concepts and building blockouts for Lucent, Ashen, and Ember elf customization options including hairstyles and hair colors.

Programming

• Water-related fixes for Badia de Cara, and preparation for hooking up boats.

• Working on some tools to help the design team move faster.

• Preparing for revisions to core server processes to help improve scalability and performance (this is a large effort and will likely take several months to complete, but is required to enable several important gameplay-related features).

• Refinement work on market system UI (browsing/search window, listing management) and beginning hookups for data connections.

We have been busy this week getting things prepared for our next update to the Public Test Realm. Here’s what has been happening this week behind the scenes:

Design and Narrative

• Finalizing NPC population work in Detihauna.

• Continuing NPC population work in Kosa Minor.

• Filling out NPC population in parts of the Sea Dragon Hatchery.

• Adding more sharks and other sea life to the waters around Badia de Cara.

• Finished updating mastery options for Paladin and Dire Lord.

• Polishing work on the Mastery UI for Cleric, Shaman, and Druid.

• Began implementing new Wizard abilities and mastery options.

• Working on the designs for Rogue and Ranger mastery options.

• Additional tuning and itemization work for levels 1-40.

• Building out NPC roster and potential quest hooks for Faerthale.

• Squashing bugs and making tuning adjustments to class abilities based on bug reports, feedback, and observation data from the Public Test Realm.

Worldbuilding and Environment Art

• Atmospheric and visual effects for various areas in Badia de Cara.

• Additional set dressing in some areas of Badia de Cara that were feeling a little sparse.

• Detailed set dressing for Detihauna.

• Optimizing object collision across all of Badia de Cara and the Port of Rulun.

• Tweaks to lighting behavior for underwater environments.

• Continued concepting for modular Elven dwelling kit for Faerthale City and outlying areas.

Character Art and Animation

• Wrap-up work on Badia de Cara NPC models, and picking up a few final things for the zone that have been requested by the design team.

• Updated player swimming animations, including making death by drowning more dramatic.

• Setting up for test run on universal armor meshes to make sure everything works properly in-game.

• Continuing detailed concepts and building blockouts for Lucent, Ashen, and Ember elf customization options.

Programming

• Several fixes for problems that were impacting NPC pathfinding, especially where water was involved.

• Tackling bugs and requested changes from the design team, one at a time.

• Chewing through some back-end data optimization to help reduce performance overhead on the server.

• Preparing for revisions to core server processes to help improve scalability and performance (this is a large effort and will likely take several months to complete, but is required to enable several important gameplay-related features).

• Continuing work on market system UI (browsing/search window, listing management) and prep for data connections.

This week, we introduced Mastery for the Cleric and Druid classes, alongside a major update for the Warrior class. Since then, we have been hard at work fixing bugs reported by our players, as well as continuing to forge ahead on some upcoming changes and additions. Our top priorities right now are getting Class Mastery fully implemented and functional for all of our active adventuring classes and investigating problems related to NPC pathfinding and movement through water.

Design and Narrative

• Finished adding interactive doors to the Port of Rulun.

• NPC population work in Detihauna and Kosa Minor.

• Updating base abilities and Class Mastery for Paladins and Dire Lords.

• Finalizing the design for Class Mastery for Wizards, Enchanters, and Summoners.

• Additional tuning and itemization work for levels 1-30.

• Systematically investigating and fixing bugs reported by our players.

• Continuing to evaluate player feedback on Class Mastery and combat.

Worldbuilding and Environment Art

• Adding some mysteries to Badia de Cara for players to discover.

• Final polishing for cavern areas in Badia de Cara.

• Detailed set dressing for Detihauna.

• Finishing touches and more collision fixes for the Port of Rulun.

• Verifying LODs for props used in Badia de Cara and Port of Rulun for optimal client performance.

• Continued concepting for modular Elven dwelling kit for Faerthale City and outlying areas.

Character Art and Animation

• A few last NPC variations for BDC named and rare opponents.

• Finished the Obsidian Crocodile NPC model.

• Working on updating some player character animations.

• Race/Gender adjustments for universal armor meshes and prep for import into engine.

• Continuing detailed concepts and building blockouts for Lucent, Ashen, and Ember elf customization options.

Programming

• Investigation into pathfinding and water-related bugs with NPCs.

• Investigation into bugs impacting class abilities and class mastery.

• Continued work on itemization and crafting data support.

• Continuing work on market system UI (browsing/search window, listing management) and prep for data connections.

It is the Frail Age of Terminus. Since the Deicide War, true communion with the Celestials has become nearly unheard of. For this reason, Clerics bind themselves to the ancient Tomes of their Order; sacred vessels preserving the last echoes of Celestial power from an age when such communion was still possible.

Weapon Skills

• Blunt (Hammer, Mace, Club)

• Great Hammer

• Martial Staff

• Long Staff

• *Flail

Combat Skills

• Shield

• Dodge

• Parry

Spell Skills

• Augmentation

• Conjuration

• Consecration

• Fortification

• Invocation

• Manifestation

• Restoration

Base Class Abilities

Ability

Description

Rebuke

Rebuke an enemy with a shock of divine energy, dealing Divine damage.

Healing Spark

Release a swift burst of healing light, directly healing your target.

Ward Undeath

Judge an Undead target with divine power, dealing Divine damage.

Awaken Courage

Awaken a sense of courage in an ally, increasing their Health and Armor Class.

Sacred Shield

Envelope the target in a luminous shield, absorbing damage plus a portion of your maximum health before dissipating.

Dawnfire

Blast an enemy with a cantrip of fiery light, dealing Divine damage.

Resurrection

Brings a fallen ally back to life at the location where they were slain.

Symbol of Korcera

Bless an ally with the symbol of Korcera, increasing their attributes.

Shackle Death

Bind an Undead enemy to the ground, rooting them in place.

Exhortation

Rally the spirits of your allies, increasing your group’s Attack and Spell Power.

Signet of Force

Invoke a signet of divine power, stunning the enemy.

Spook the Dead

Instill a surge of dread in an undead enemy, causing it to flee in fear.

Signet of Peace

Invoke a signet of divine power, reducing an ally’s Threat Generation.

Divine Favor

Bless a target’s weapon, giving their successful auto attacks a chance to restore a small amount of their health.

Invigorate

Bless your target with renewed vigor, recovering their Endurance and increasing their Endurance regeneration rate.

Awaken Honor

Awaken a sense of honor in your ally or group, increasing their Health and Armor Class.

Divine Aura

Consecrate yourself in divine power to become invulnerable for a short duration. While under the effects of Divine Aura, your movement speed is reduced and you are unable to attack or cast spells.

Cleric Mastery

Mastery

Description

Ability Unlock: Arc of Light

Hurl a bolt of restorative light at an ally, healing them. After the heal occurs, jumps to the most injured group member.

Ability Unlock: Celestial Light

Surround the target in restorative light, directly healing them.

Ability Unlock: Bond of Protection

Form a bond of celestial light with a group member. Whenever that player takes damage, a percentage of the damage will be redirected to you.

Ability Unlock: Flash Heal

Release a surge of healing light, instantly healing your target.

Ability Unlock: Bolster

Encase the target in a celestial guard, granting immunity to Stun and Knockdown effects and reducing incoming Physical damage.

Ability Unlock: Word of Radiance

Utter a divine word that releases a surge of radiant light, healing each member of your group.

Inspiration

Healing Spark’s critical heals refund a portion of Healing Spark’s Mana cost.

Soul-Tending

When Flash Heal heals a target protected by Sacred Shield, it reduces Fatigued Spirit’s remaining duration by 2 sec. If it is a critical heal, Fatigued Spirit’s remaining duration is reduced by 4 sec.

Permeating Light

Your healing spells ignore 30% of healing reduction effects on the target.

Fractured Shelter

When Sacred Shield breaks from absorbing too much damage, the target gains Fractured Shelter for 6 seconds. Casting Celestial Light on the target will consume Fractured Shelter and increase Celestial Light’s healing by 25%.

Sudden Life

When Flash Heal critically heals, your next Healing Spark is instant cast. When Healing Spark critically heals, the cast time of your next Celestial Light is reduced by 2 sec and its chance to critically heal is increased by 10%.

Threaded Mercy

If an Arc of Light jump critically heals, it will add an extra jump to its lowest-health ally progression. Cannot exceed 4 total jumps after the initial heal.

Arc Returnal

The initial heal of Arc of Light also heals you.

Unbroken Spark

Consecutive Healing Sparks on the same target increases Healing Spark’s healing on that target by 2% for 6 sec. Stacks up to 3 times.

Aegis

Healing Spark’s critical heals apply an absorb shield equal to 20% of the healing done. If Sacred Shield is already active on the target, the absorption from Aegis will be added to the amount remaining for Sacred Shield without altering Sacred Shield’s duration.

Triage of the Order

When your Bond of Protection target falls below 20% Health, your next Flash Heal is free and guaranteed to critically heal. 

Mastery

Description

Ability Unlock: Smite

Smite an enemy with a torrent of divine power, dealing Divine damage.

Ability Unlock: Searing Light

Burn an enemy with searing light, dealing Divine damage and then additional damage over time.

Ability Unlock: Tribunal

Landing a critical hit with Rebuke will activate Tribunal. While Tribunal is active, Smite deals increased damage and gains increased critical hit chance. Each consecutive Smite cast during Tribunal reduces Smite’s cast time. When Tribunal ends, you gain Repose for 10 sec. Tribunal cannot be triggered while Repose is active.

Ability Unlock: Castigor’s Rage

Stoke your righteous indignation, increasing the casting speed of your Divine damage spells and reducing their Mana cost.

Ability Unlock: Writ of the Sage

Recite a blessed writ, granting you the mind of a sage, increasing your Wisdom and granting your spells a chance to restore Mana.

Righteous Verdict

Restores a percentage of your total Mana when Tribunal ends.

Divine Fervor

Reduces the duration of Repose by 5 sec.

Break of Dawn

While Tribunal is inactive, Dawnfire extends the duration of Searing Light by 1 sec, or 2 sec when Dawnfire critically hits.

Arcing Wrath

When Smite critically hits, 50% of the damage will jump to another target within 6m that is affected by Searing Light.

Resilient Pages

Having a Tome equipped increases your resistance to spell pushback.

Condemnation

Critical hits with Smite during Tribunal grant Condemnation, stacking up to 5 times. Each stack of Condemnation increases Smite’s critical hit chance by a percentage.

Unyielding Light

Ward Undeath deals extra damage against Undead below 25% Health. If the target is affected by Searing Light and Ward Undeath deals the killing blow, 50% of the Mana cost is refunded and Searing Light will spread to one Undead target already in combat within 6m.

Dawncaller

When Tribunal ends, consume all stacks of Condemnation. Your next Dawnfire will be instant cast and will deal 5% more damage for each stack of Condemnation consumed.

Indictment

While Writ of the Sage is active and you have Tome of Judgement, Tome of Divine Fury, or any of the Sacred Tomes equipped, Righteous Verdict will restore 5% additional Mana when Tribunal ends.

Inescapable Judgement

While Tribunal is active, critical hits with Smite will reduce the cast time of your next Smite by 50%.

Judged in Light

During Tribunal, each consecutive Smite against a target affected by Searing Light increases Searing Light’s next periodic tick by 2%, up to a max of 20%. Additionally, when Searing Light’s periodic damage critically hits during Tribunal, you will gain +1% of your total Mana.

The wild-eyed Druid has answered a dangerous call: to embrace the natural world of Terminus and peer into its mysteries. With the manifold fragments of other worlds and realms now rooted into Terminus, the land has become beautiful, volatile, and treacherous beyond measure. For this reason, Druids are often revered as visionaries; mystics able to look beyond the fractured terrain and sense the living pulse beneath it.

Weapon Skills

• Blunt (Hammer, Mace, Club)

• Sword (Scimitars only)

• Long Staff

Combat Skills

• Shield

• Dodge

Spell Skills

• Augmentation

• Conjuration

• Enervation

• Evocation

• Fortification

• Manifestation

• Restoration

Base Class Abilities

Ability

Description

Wild-Eyed Wanderer

Your covenant with the natural world has cultivated a unique sense of trust from the animals of Terminus, making most of them unlikely to attack you unless provoked.

Beckon Hirode

Beckon Hirode, the Ward of Masae, as your companion.

Hirode’s Flame

Ask Hirode to release a surge of Verdanfire, healing an ally.

Rockvine Tangle

Entangle an enemy in a snare of rockvines, reducing their movement speed.

Nature Shroud

Imbue an ally with mystical energy, increasing their Resistances, Spell Power, and Health Regeneration.

Talisman of Regrowth

Bind a talisman of enchanted vines to an ally, causing incoming damage to heal the shielded target.

Stinging Swarm

Unleash a swarm of stinging insects at an enemy, dealing Nature damage over time.

Cleanse

Cure yourself or an ally of harmful Poison and Disease effects.

Rebirth

Beseech Masae to bring a fallen ally back to life at the location they were slain.

Thorncoat

Form a coat of protective thorns around an ally that deals Nature damage to attackers.

Spirit of the Wolf

Imbue the spirit of the wolf into an ally, increasing their movement speed while active. This movement speed bonus will scale with your level.

Treeform

Transform into a rooted tree, preventing all movement while increasing your Health Regeneration. While in Treeform, most enemies will ignore you.

Umbravines

Conjure umbravines to eat away at an enemy’s magical protection, reducing their Resistances.

Swiftgill’s Fin

Imbue the aquatic nature of Swiftgills into an ally, increasing their swimming speed and breath capacity.

Stone of the Pass

Teleport yourself and group members within 10m to Avendyr’s Pass.

Cloak of Leaves

Gather enchanted leaves to yourself and form them into a cloak of invisibility.

Galeweaving

Weave the wind into a small tempest around an ally, absorbing damage.

Panic Animal

Manifest a sense of panic in a target animal, causing it to flee in fear.

Spirit of the Owl

Imbue the spirt of the owl into an ally, increasing their Intellect and Concentration.

Spirit of the Tiger

Imbue the spirit of the tiger into an ally, increasing their Agility and Attack Power.

Charm Animal

Leverage your communion with the wilds to charm an animal, allowing you to command it in battle.

Wolf Form

Manifest your deep communion with the animal world, taking the form of a wolf. In this form, your movement speed is significantly increased.

Valehawk Form

Manifest your deep communion with the animal world, taking the form of a valehawk. In this form, you are able to glide through the air.

Vinewoven Bridge

Form a bridge out of interlocking vines, allowing you and others to cross a gap that is too wide to jump across.

Druid Mastery

Mastery

Description

Keeper of the Grove

Increases your Mana Regeneration rate while inside of Verdanfire Tree’s healing radius.

Blooming Regrowth

When Talisman of Regrowth fades, spends its last charge, or is overwritten by another Druid’s Talisman of Regrowth, it will bloom, healing nearby allies of the original target for 250% of Talisman’s per-charge healing amount.

Verdant Canopy

If Verdanfire Seed blooms on a target standing within Verdanfire Tree’s healing radius, the bloom heal will splash to up to 4 nearby allies.

Root Memory

Recover a portion of Talisman of Regrowth’s mana cost if the spell expires naturally.

Bark Skin

While Talisman of Regrowth is active, the target gains a Physical damage reduction on the first and last hits that consume a charge.

Heartvines

Talisman of Regrowth has a chance to not consume a charge when the target is below a certain health threshold.

Ability Unlock: Verdanfire Seed

Protect an ally with a mystical seed that absorbs incoming damage. When the seed absorbs the maximum amount of damage, or the duration ends, the seed will bloom and heal the target for a moderate amount.

Ability Unlock: Preserver’s Wildfire

Unleash a surge of Verdanfire in a 120 degree area in front of you, restoring Health to allies.

Ability Unlock: Verdanfire Tree

Create a tree of pure Verdanfire near you, periodically healing group members within 15m of the tree.

Masae’s Exchange

When Hirode’s Flame effectively heals a target, it will restore a charge of Talisman of Regrowth. (Limited occurrences in a short period of time).

Sturdy Vines

Increases the healing charges of Talisman of Regrowth.

Reverberating Vines

When a player is critically hit while under the effect of Talisman of Regrowth, the healing received is doubled.

Genesis Thread

When a Talisman of Regrowth charge overheals an ally, a portion of the overhealing is stored. When the final charge is consumed, the stored amount is released on the target as a direct heal.

Cleansing Echo

After successfully cleansing a Poison or Disease effect from an ally, Cleansing Echo will remain on that target for a duration of time. If the target is afflicted with another Poison and/or Disease effect during that time, Cleansing Echo will react by curing the effect(s) and then jumping to heal the lowest health group member.

Mastery

Description

Kindling Lash

Using Vine lash against targets affected by Ignite or Stormfire causes a tick of their damage to proc. This does not count against Ignite or Stormfire’s remaining ticks or duration.

Storm Battery

If Call Lightning critically hits, it will refund a portion of its Mana cost. Additionally, Calling Lightning now bypasses a portion of the target’s Shock Resistance.

Ability Transformation: Talisman of Storms

Transforms Talisman of Regrowth into Talisman of Storms. Bind a talisman of a harnessed storm spirit to yourself for 60 min, gaining up to 3 Talisman of Storm charges. Each charge increases your Spell Haste. When you take damage, the talisman retaliates against the attacker, dealing Shock damage with a chance to stun. While active, direct damage from eligible spells has a chance to generate 1 Talisman of Storms charge.

Ability Unlock: Storm Wisp

Conjure a storm wisp that attacks your enemy with bolts of lightning. The storm wisp cannot be active at the same time as Hirode.

Conductive Roots

Direct and periodic Shock damage against targets affected by Rockvine Tangle further reduces the target’s movement speed.

Ability Unlock: Spirit of the Sylphid

Imbue yourself with the spirit of the sylphid, increasing your spell pushback resistance while casting Ignite, Verdanfire Bolt, Stormfire and Call Lightning. Additionally, increases the damage you deal with Nature and Shock spells and increases your Mana Regeneration.

Ability Unlock: Call Lightning

Call a bolt of lightning to strike an enemy, dealing Shock damage.

Ability Unlock: Impending Storm

Your Storm Wisp’s Spark of Lightning has a chance to apply a stack of Impending Storm on the target. When you cast Call Lightning, all stacks of Impending Storm will be consumed, increasing Call Lightning’s damage and critical chance. Impending Storm can stack up to 5 times.

Thorn-Covered Vines

Rockvine Tangle now deals Physical damage over time. The amount of damage scales with your level.

Ability Unlock: Wisp Form

Manifest your communion with the storms of this world, taking the form of a storm wisp. In this form, your Verdandire Bolt becomes Crackling Verdanfire, dealing Shock damage, reducing its cast time and its cooldown. Additionally, the damage you deal with Call Lightning is increased.

Ability Unlock: Living Storm

It is said when a Druid is present, they become the heart of any storm. Your Call Lightning spell will become more powerful during rain and thunderstorms.

Storm Keeper

Your communion with the forces of nature is now absolute, allowing you to maintain your Living Storm bonus at all times. Additionally, casting Call Lightning while outdoors has a small chance of forming a localized storm. When this phenomenon occurs, you gain Eye of the Storm, reducing the cast time of Call Lightning and giving it a chance to strike the same target twice.

The Storm Rages

While in Wisp Form, critical hits with Call Lightning immediately refresh.

Lightning Step

Consume 1 charge of Talisman of Storms to teleport 20m ahead, breaking free of movement impairing effects and increasing your movement speed for a short time.

The Shaman

It is rumored that Shamans live in every age at once. To walk the path of the Shaman is to hear the voices of those who came before, to sense the movements of unseen forces, and to understand that every living thing on Terminus is shaped by its past.

Shamans possess a second sight that reaches beyond the present moment. Through this gift, they can discern the lineage of friend and foe alike. This knowledge may be offered as a boon, strengthening allies through ancestral favor and restorative magic, or turned against enemies as a bane, exposing weakness, burdening the spirit, or invoking maladies from ages past.

Yet the Shaman is also an intimate vessel of the elements of Fire, Wind, Earth, Water, Animus and the Ancestral. The Shaman recognizes these elements as ancient powers with their own will; the oldest ancestors of all, bearing witness to the rise and ruin of countless worlds now bound to Terminus.

These elemental bonds allow Shamans to draw upon cleansing waters and ancestral spirits to protect, strengthen and restore life, or bend these elements into rites of disruption, weakening and ruin. They are both healers and manipulators of fate; able to both preserve the life of their allies or unravel their enemies by calling upon the forces that shaped them long before they ever drew breath.

Mastery Path 1: Oracle (Healer) Mastery Path 2: Fateweaver (Support) Available Races: Dark Myr, Dwarf, Elf, Human, Ogre Weapons: Hammer, Mace, Club, Short Spear, Long Spear, Long Staff, Great Hammer Armor: Up to Leather Shields: Buckler, Small Shield

Weapon Skills

Weapon skills represent proficiency with different weapon types. They determine which weapons can be wielded, influence your chance to successfully hit an opponent, and contribute to the damage dealt when using that weapon type.

As your skill with a specific weapon type increases, you may learn new weapon techniques associated with that weapon. At the highest skill levels, a weapon skill may grant access to an exotic version of that weapon type or unlock additional benefits.

• Blunt (Hammer, Mace, Club)

• Great Hammer

• Short Spear

• Long Spear

• Long Staff

Combat Skills

Combat skills govern the effectiveness of various aspects of combat, including the performance of certain class abilities. Reaching higher levels in these skills may unlock additional abilities or Mastery selections for the Shaman to choose from.

• Shield (Up to Small Shields)

• Dodge

Spell Skills

Spell skills represent your proficiency with different schools of magic and determine which spells your character can cast.

As your skill in a school of magic increases, spells from that school are less likely to be resisted.

• Augmentation

• Conjuration

• Enervation

• Evocation

• Fortification

• Manifestation

• Restoration

Base Class Abilities

Note: This is not a complete list of Shaman abilities available in the game. It is intended to provide a general overview of the class. Many abilities also have upgrades, variations, or specialized forms that become available as the character advances.

Ability

Description

Omen of Fangs

Release a blast of searing venom at an enemy, dealing Poison damage.

Mantle of Mist

Surround an ally with a mantle of soothing mist, restoring health over time.

Serpentine Strike

Swiftly counterstrike an enemy for Physical damage after receiving damage.

Grip of Stone

Imbue an ally with the fortitude of stone, increasing their Strength.

Bane of Venom

Inflict a virulent bane on an enemy using the essence of poison, dealing Poison damage over time.

Cleansing Flame

Cure yourself or an ally of harmful Disease effects.

Weathering

Erode the earthen elements in an enemy’s armor, reducing their Armor Class for some time.

Mark of the Fireclaw

Manifest the ancestral protection of the Fireclaw in an ally, increasing their Fire Resistance.

Paradox

Reunite a fallen ally with their remnance, bringing them back to life at the location they were slain.

Headwinds

Assail an enemy with gusts of wind, reducing their chance to hit with attacks and spells.

Ancestral Companion

Echo through the ages to call your ancestral companion to your side.

Wind Strider

Accelerate an ally’s Sprinting Speed.

Chronoburn

Sacrifice Health to record the amount of Mana you currently have. After X sec, your Mana pool is restored to the amount recorded at the moment Chronoburn was activated.

Agewalker’s Gift

Impart the mind of an ancient to an ally, increasing their Wisdom, and total Mana.

Chains of Bedrock

Restrain an enemy with chains of bedrock, rooting them to the ground.

Reptilian Veil

Manifest the ancestral protection of the great reptiles, increasing an ally’s Poison and Nature Resistance.

Shrink

Shrink yourself or an ally, allowing you to fit into tight spaces.

Walk the Ages

Mark your current location. When you activate this ability again, you will instantly return to the marked location.

Torrent

Call forth a surge of energy, restoring Mana and dealing Nature damage to surrounding enemies, knocking them back and rooting them.

Shaman Mastery

Shamans may specialize into one of two primary Mastery branches: Oracle or Fateweaver, while still retaining the freedom to hybridize their build by drawing select options from both paths.

The Mastery abilities shown below are intended as select highlights only. They represent a small sample of the options available within each branch, not the full list of Mastery choices.

Oracle Mastery Examples

The Oracle Shaman is a restorative mystic who draws upon elemental power to mend wounds and preserve life across the shifting flow of battle.

Mastery

Description

Ability Unlock: Rushing Waters

Consume Mantle of Mist on an ally with a rush of healing waters, restoring Health over time.

Ability Unlock: Echo of the Rainlands

Cast a veil of soothing rains over your group, restoring each member’s Health over time.

Ability Unlock: Hurry the Past

All of your active, periodic healing effects will instantly finish their durations, directly healing their targets for the remaining amount.

Ability Unlock: Interlocking Stones

Surround the target with resilient stones, absorbing up to X Physical damage and then reducing incoming Physical damage by Y while the effect lasts.

Ability Unlock: Part the Veil

Part the veil and return to your body at the moment of death, bringing you back to life with X% Health and Mana. Part the Veil does not incur an experience loss.

Stonewater Shelter

Each tick of healing from your Replenish on a target affected by your Interlocking Stones will increase the Physical damage mitigation of Interlocking Stones by a certain percentage while it remains active.

Twin Currents

Casting Mantle of Mist will grant Twin Currents, making your next Mantle of Mist instant cast and reducing its mana cost by 50%.

Mist-Fed Rains

Increases the amount healed by Echo of the Rainland’s period healing on allies affected by Mantle of Mist.

Restorative Timing

If Mantle of Mist is consumed by Rushing Waters when it has less than 5 sec remaining, your next Mantle of Mist will cost 25% less mana.

Heavy Downpour

The first healing tick of Echo of the Rainlands heals for an additional 25%. Also, while Echo of the Rainlands is active, increases the spell pushback resistance of effected targets by 50%.

Mist-Fed Current

Each tick of Replenish on a target affected by your Mantle of Mist increases Replenish’s final tick healing by 5%, up to a maximum of 25%.

Critical Mending

Increases the critical hit chance of your direct and periodic healing abilities.

Mantle’s Memory

When Mantle of Mist is consumed by Rushing Waters, its remaining healing will be applied to the lowest health ally in your group.

Unbroken Current

You can now move while channeling Replenish at 50% of your current movement speed.

Fateweaver Mastery Examples

The Fateweaver Shaman is a mystical support caster who bends elements and ancestry to empower their allies and weaken their enemies.

Mastery

Description

Spell Unlock: Bane of Fire

Inflict an excruciating bane on an enemy using the element of fire, dealing Fire damage over time.

Spell Unlock: Scorched Fog

Engulf an enemy in heavy fog, slowing their attack and spell casting speed.

Spell Unlock: Primordial Curse

Apply an insidious curse on an enemy through your ancestral companion, dealing Curse damage over time.

Spell Unlock: Speed of the Skymane

Manifest the ancestral speed of the Skymane, increasing your group’s attack speed.

Spell Unlock: Shackle of Blindness

Manifest a malady in an enemy’s ancestral line, blinding them.

Spell Unlock: Primal Rage

Amplify an ally’s combat prowess, increasing their Physical Critical Chance.

Spell Unlock: Ancient Avatar

Draw ancestral power through the ages and impart it to your group, increasing each of their attributes.

Firmament

In addition to Strength, Grip of Stone now increases the target’s Stamina and reduces the mana cost of Grip of Stone.

Heavy Venom

Your Bane of Venom damage ticks have a chance to apply 1 stack of Venom Burden to the target. Each stack of Venom Burden reduces the target’s outgoing Physical damage.

Stonewrought

Physical attacks by allies affected by Grip of Stone have a chance to apply a stack of Pressure to the target. Each stack of pressure increases incoming Physical damage to that target by 2%. Stacks up to 3 times.

Cadence of Mind and Body

Speed of the Skymane now increases spell casting speed by an amount equal to its attack speed bonus.

Slow Circulation

The damage ticks of Bane of Venom are 10% less likely to break Chains of Bedrock. For each stack of Venom Burden on the target, the break chance decreases by 5%.

Flowing Strikes

Speed of the Skymane now grants the target a chance to perform a second attack when autoattacking with the primary melee or ranged weapon. Additionally, increases the chance a weapon will proc.

Malediction

Applies Malediction to the target when your Bane of Venom, Bane of Fire and Primordial Curse are all active at the same time. Malediction increases the tick damage of Bane of Venom, Bane of Fire and Primordial Curse and reduces each of the target’s resistances by 8.

This week, we introduced the Shaman mastery system and crushed some server performance issues on the PTR. We want to send a big shout out to our player community for continuing to help us test in spite of the stability problems, and for continuing to provide valuable feedback and bug reports.

Design and Narrative

• Adding interactive doors to the Port of Rulun.

• Beginning population work in Detihauna and Kosa Minor.

• Finalizing the implementation of cleric mastery and druid mastery.

• Additional tuning and itemization work for levels 1-30.

• Continuing to wage war upon bugs reported by our player testers. Service guarantees citizenship.

Worldbuilding and Environment Art

• Set dressing shipwrecks on Kosa Ull.

• Additional set dressing for the ocean floor in Badia de Cara.

• Building out the main point of interest within the Screaming Stones.

• Building out the entrance passage to \.

• Continued buildout for Detihauna.

• Collision and NPC navigation fixes for the Port of Rulun.

• Continued concepting for modular Elven dwelling kit for Faerthale City and outlying areas.

Character Art and Animation

• Finishing up NPC variations for BDC named and rare opponents.

• Created the Obsidian Elemental NPC model.

• Starting work on the Obsidian Crocodile NPC model.

• Finishing touches on animations for some of the Kosa Ull NPCs.

• Special attack animations for \.

• Prepping universal armor meshes for race/gender adjustments and skinning.

• Beginning detailed concepts for Lucent, Ashen, and Ember elf customization options.

Programming

• Mastery UI refinements and bug fixes.

• Assisting design team in the ongoing war against the bugs. We’re doing our part.

• Continued work on itemization and crafting data support.

• Continuing work on market system UI (browsing/search window, listing management).

• Change requests from Design team related to class parameters and mastery implementation.

This week, we activated the mastery system on our public test realm for initial testing. Much of the team’s focus has been on bringing this system online, and bugs/issues related to that system are being prioritized highly. However, we are still working on some other things in the background (listed below)!

Design and Narrative

• Continuing population work for the Sea Dragon Hatchery and underwater areas of Badia de Cara.

• Finishing touches on Port of Rulun NPC placement and pathing, setting up player services.

• Prep for NPC placement for Detihauna and Kosa Minor.

• Activated mastery system with initial warrior, paladin, and dire lord mastery arrays.

• Implementation of mastery arrays for healer classes.

• Additional tuning and itemization work for 1-20 content areas.

• Fixing bugs as quickly as possible.

Worldbuilding and Environment Art

• Completing polish pass on Kosa Ull Jungle and Caldera.

• Continued buildout for Detihauna.

• Continuing final detail buildout for Screaming Stones POI area.

• Concepting for modular elven dwelling kit for Faerthale City and outlying areas

• Finishing collision and navigation fixes for Port of Rulun.

Character Art and Animation

• Additional NPC variations for BDC named and rare opponents.

• Continued polish work on human jogging/run animations.

• Continuing work on ambient life VFX for Badia de Cara.

• Continuing work on updated base meshes for all non-robe armor types.

Programming

• Mastery UI refinements and bug fixes.

• Refinements for swimming and underwater physics to better support underwater combat.

• General bug fixing.

• Continued work on itemization data support.

• Continuing work on market system.

• Working with Design team to make combat tuning adjustments based on data and PTR feedback.

• Planning sessions for upcoming major server updates later this year.

A Message from our CEO

Before diving into Mastery, which is shipping in early form to the Public Test Realm today, I’d like to update you about when the full Combat & Progression update will ship to Production Servers and the accompanying wipe.

We have decided to postpone the wipe. Combat & Progression simply isn’t ready, and we don’t want to risk shipping something that could force another wipe soon.

Expect to see eleven classes with Mastery on the Public Test Realm by July 17, then on Production soon after. Please log into the PTR, try the classes and mastery, and provide your feedback. Expect several weeks of updating, testing and tuning.

Once it’s properly tuned, we’ll wipe the Production Servers and release updated Combat & Progression there. We will publish the new wipe, Combat and Progression Update, and Badia de Cara target dates as soon as possible.

Chris Rowan, CEO

Week Six Highlights

Below are some highlights of today’s patch. For the full list of all of today’s additions and fixes with more details, check out the patch notes here.

This week, we are introducing the first iteration of the Mastery UI, along with mastery options for Warrior, Paladin, and Dire Lord. Mastery for additional classes will be added in the coming weeks.

This week’s Mastery testing will be focused on the functionality of the UI elements, any issues/bugs related to interacting with the Mastery system, and the nodes/upgrades working properly. The Mastery trees for the Warrior, Paladin and Dire Lord are still under heavy development, with many more options and overall tuning/balance improvements forthcoming. With this in mind, we are not looking for feedback on how “good” these Mastery trees are right now, but how well the system functions overall.

One quick note: The Mastery UI and node layouts are a work-in-progress. We will continue to update and improve the UI as we go forward, so expect changes from week to week as we refine it. You will notice some of the Mastery branches are visually busy with connection lines between nodes and other elements. Expect this to be refined heavily in the weeks to come.

Accessing Your Mastery

To access the Mastery UI, you need to be at least level 5. If you’re level 5 or higher, visit any ability in your Codex and click on the Mastery button. This will open the mastery UI. Make sure you are in a safe place when you do this, since the Mastery UI is currently a full-screen experience.

We’re planning to update the Codex in the future to make accessing mastery a little easier and more intuitive, but for now you can use this method to get into the system.

When you first open the Mastery UI, you will see a short opening animation and a popup dialog introducing you to the system. After acknowledging that dialog, you will be able to begin unlocking Mastery nodes for your class.

Spending Mastery Points and Unlocking Nodes

You unlock nodes using Mastery Points. Right now, you will earn one Mastery Point per level (which means you will have 5 points to spend at level 5 when you first unlock Mastery). Each node will cost 1 Mastery point to unlock. Nodes can also have pre-requisites, where you must unlock them in a specific order. You’ll see this reflected right now as lines between the nodes in the UI.

A few notes on the layout: The nodes in the center area empower some of your core class abilities. When you unlock one of these nodes, it will allow the effects of that ability to begin scaling up as you spend mastery points in your class mastery branches. This power scaling is still being worked on and may not function in this early build, but expect it to start functioning more fully in an upcoming update.

On either side are your two class branches, divided into rings. At Level 5, the first ring will become available to you, and at higher levels additional rings will unlock. Each ring also requires a minimum number of points spent in that branch before it will unlock, and individual mastery nodes may have their own pre-requisites as well (such as unlocking a specific node in the previous ring).

To unlock a node, first select it in the array by left-clicking on it. You will see the border of the node icon change color when you do this. If you did not want to select it, left-click again to de-select it. You can select multiple nodes as long as you have points to spend:

To confirm your selections, click and hold on the confirmation button at the top of the UI window:

You will see an animation play as your choices are locked in. Once you have unlocked a node, the benefits will apply to your character immediately.

Resetting Your Mastery

For testing purposes, we are allowing everyone to reset their mastery at any time and re-spend their points for free. Once the system is finalized, you will need to visit a specific type of NPC that will be found in most cities, but their services will not be cheap. For now, however, you can access the reset by pressing this button within the Mastery UI.

Testing Focus

As mentioned, this is the very first iteration of this User Experience, and as such you are going to be seeing a lot of placeholder art (like the UI background). Expect visual changes to come in over time, but for now what we are most focused on is making sure that it all functions properly. Please try spending mastery points in different ways and let us know if you encounter any problems while using the UI. Feedback on the experience and how we can make it better or more intuitive is also welcome.

For Warriors, Paladins, and Dire Lords, please let us know if you encounter a problem with any of the mastery nodes that you unlock. This is also the first iteration of mastery for each of these classes, and we are still planning to add several more mastery options for these classes as well before everything is done. Please make sure to report any mastery unlocks that don’t seem to provide their benefits as expected, so that we can investigate those as potential bugs. Feedback on balance is welcome. However, be aware that we may not act on balance issues right away as our top priority right now is ensuring everything works.

Looking Ahead

Now that we are testing mastery, here is what you can look forward to in future updates:

• Refinements and improvements to the Mastery UI and the Codex.

• Class Mastery options for other classes (healers will be coming in next).

• Additional mastery options, refinements, bug fixes, tuning, and improvements for all classes.

• Once Class Mastery is finalized, we will be bringing General Mastery online, along with ways to earn additional Mastery points to spend on that category.

As always, we want to send a big thank you out to all our players who are logging onto the Public Test Realm. Your bug reports and feedback are helping us refine the changes we are making so that when we are ready to push the Combat and Progression update out to all our servers, our game can deliver a compelling and fun combat experience at all levels.

Known Issues

• Shrink doesn’t shrink just yet.

• Standing under the elevator in Wild’s End will push players under the world (Don’t do that).

• Nocturnal Eyes is not functional.

• Water in Eastern Plains may not be swimmable.

• Sent mail may not immediately show up in the sent tab.

Design and Narrative

• Finishing population work on the Caldera in Kosa Ull.

• Beginning population work for the Sea Dragon Hatchery and underwater areas of Badia de Cara.

• Finishing NPC placement work for Port of Rulun.

• NPC Dialogue work for Detihauna and Kosa Minor.

• Finalizing implementation of Warrior, Paladin, and Dire Lord mastery for player testing.

• Tuning and itemization work for 1-20 content areas.

• Bug fixes.

• Additional refinements to charm mechanics.

Worldbuilding and Environment Art

• Final lighting and foliage pass on Kosa Ull, cave transitions.

• Continued buildout for Detihauna.

• Finishing pass on Sea Dragon Hatchery interiors.

• Beginning final detail buildout for Screaming Stones POI area.

• Finalizing second round of structural/prop concepts for Faerthale City.

• Continued collision and navigation fixes for Port of Rulun.

Character Art and Animation

• Additional NPC variations for BDC named and rare opponents.

• Continued polish work on human jogging/run animations.

• Continuing work on ambient life VFX for Badia de Cara.

• Continuing work on updated base meshes for all non-robe armor types.

Programming

• General bug fixing.

• Continued work on itemization data support.

• Working with worldbuilding team on lighting transitions.

• Continuing work on market system.

• Working with Design team to make combat tuning adjustments based on data and feedback.

Design and Narrative

• Continued population work on the Caldera in Kosa Ull.

• Prep for PTR level cap increase to 20.

• Implementing Rogue and Enchanter base abilities.

• Prep work for enabling mastery system for player testing.

• Review of 1-20 NPC data for updated loadout/ability assignments.

• Initial testing and bug fix pass on underwater combat with programming team. Fed the lead programmer’s character to sharks several times to test various fixes.

• Numerous PTR bug fixes.

• Continued NPC placement work for the Port of Rulun.

• NPC Dialogue work for Detihauna and Kosa Minor.

Worldbuilding and Environment Art

• Caldera areas of Kosa Ull.

• Continued buildout for Detihauna.

• Continued refinement pass on Sea Dragon Hatchery interiors.

• Finalizing second round of structural/prop concepts for Faerthale City.

• Collision and navigation fixes for Port of Rulun.

Character Art and Animation

• Wrapping up animation work on Siren and \.

• Polish work on human jogging/run animations.

• Work on color/texture variations of various NPCs to help add more diversity to Badia de Cara.

• Continuing work on ambient life VFX for Badia de Cara.

• Continued early explorations for Ashen, Lucent, and Ember Elf visual diversity.

• Finalized materials for updated player robes.

• Beginning work on updated base meshes for non-robe armor types.

Programming

• Bug fixes for mastery system, preparation for public testing.

• Final round of updates to ability system to support mastery options and new ability types.

• Participated in “shark tank” testing effort with design team to validate underwater NPC movement and combat.

• Bug fixes for water, underwater NPC movement, and underwater combat.

• Continuing work on market system.

• PTR Bug fixes and Investigations into player-reported issues.

• Working with Design team to make combat tuning adjustments based on data and feedback.

• Continuing work on itemization support features.

Below are just some highlights of today’s patch. For the full list of all of today’s additions and fixes with more details, check out the patch notes here. There is a character reset today due to the experience system changes outlined below.

Known Issues

• Global Cooldowns have some known bugs that will be addressed in an upcoming tech update.

• Water in some areas may not be swimmable.

• Standing under the elevator in Wilds End will push players under the world.

• When casting Hirode’s Flame, Hirode will heal the druid’s defensive target. If the druid does not have a defensive target selected, the heal will still be cast but will have no effect. Druids who are soloing should make sure to set themselves as their defensive target by pressing F1.

• Warrior’s Shield Block is producing the error “Failed ability cast: Cooldown.” This is a false flag, and the ability should be working as intended.

• Tome of Healing is doubling heal power.

Design and Narrative

• Continued population work on the Caldera in Kosa Ull.

• Implemented ranger base abilities.

• Lots of PTR bug fixes.

• Design work on Rogue and Monk base abilities.

• Continued NPC placement work for the Port of Rulun.

• Continued work on NPC dialogue for Faerthale City.

• Finalized experience curve adjustments based on data seen so far from PTR.

• Work with programming team to support some itemization efforts.

Worldbuilding and Environment Art

• Caldera areas of Kosa Ull.

• Continued buildout for Detihauna.

• Continued refinement pass on Sea Dragon Hatchery interiors.

• Finalizing second round of structural/prop concepts for Faerthale City.

Character Art and Animation

• Animation work for additional Badia de Cara creatures.

• Polish work on some player character animations.

• Work on variations of various NPCs to help add more diversity to Badia de Cara.

• Continuing work on ambient life VFX for Badia de Cara.

• Early explorations for Ashen, Lucent, and Ember Elf visual diversity.

• Finalizing materials for updated player robes.

• Beginning work on updated base meshes for non-robe armor types.

Programming

• Finalizing Mastery UI for initial MVP testing.

• Final round of updates to ability system to support mastery options and new ability types.

• Mail system bug fixes and polishing.

• Continuing work on market system.

• PTR Bug fixes and Investigations into player-reported issues.

• Implementation work on updated experience gain formula.

• Working with Design team to make combat tuning adjustments based on data and feedback.

• Starting work on itemization support features.

• Updated water plane behavior to better handle areas where rivers split/merge or spill into oceans.

• Setup for initial testing cases for underwater NPC movement and land/water transition logic.

Today’s PTR Patch Notes can be found here.

Known Issues

• Paladin Valiant Strike is not doing damage to undead targets.

• Tooltips may not display data (specific numbers) correctly.

• Mail attachments are still a work in progress and some items may not attach.

• Water in some areas may not be swimmable.

• The Falcon Strike I scroll is trying to scribe Howling Arrow .

• The Valeguard’s Stride ability is set to the wrong item on the vendor and is too expensive for a level 2 scroll.

• Warrior’s Mocking Blow is trying to scribe Commanding Strike.

• Some players may experience stuttering during peak population. This is being investigated.

For some time now, players who enjoy robe-wearing classes have given us feedback that our spellcaster robes just didn’t look very good. We agreed with that assessment. We’re pleased to announce that as part of the Combat and Progression update, we will be doing something about that.

This simple robe will be used (in different colors and hooded/hoodless variations) for many of our starting spellcaster equipment.

Here is a fancier robe in several different color variations. This is just one of many new player robe designs that will be coming into the game as part of the Combat and Progression update.

Today’s PTR Patch Notes are located here.

Also in Today’s Update

• Spell Pushback Mechanics – we talked about this a few weeks ago, but we have these mechanics ready for testing and will likely be enabling them on the PTR in the next update we do there.

• Changes to Ability Types – We are also updating how abilities are organized and assigned to your bars. Previously, your spells/abilities were separated into 3 types: Ability, Utility, and Technique, each with its own dedicated bar and slot limit: 8 Abilities, 6 Utilities, and 4 Techniques. With this update, we are removing those categories by consolidating the 3 separate bars into one unified, 14-slot hotbar (more detail on the hotbar changes below). Players will be able to place any of their abilities into any slot on the new bar, without type-based slot limits. While this does soften some of the rigidity of the Limited Action Set design, it is not intended to remove that structure entirely. Players will eventually have far more than 14 abilities to choose from at any given time, and they will still need to make meaningful loadout decisions before entering combat, since abilities cannot be changed while in combat. In a future blog, we will also discuss how Techniques are being adjusted as part of this broader work.

• Updated Hotbars – as promised, we are going to merge our separate hotbars into a single, 14-slot hotbar with fewer restrictions on what you can put there. We are also removing the restriction that you need to keep buffs on your hotbar after you cast them, so you can buff up your party and then swap some of those hotkeys out for things to use in combat if needed.

  • A quick technical note here: Buffs will still sometimes drop on zoning for the time being, or if the character who cast the buff logs out or get disconnected. That’s not the behavior that we want long-term, but there are some technical issues related to server memory utilization that we need to sort out before we can fully stop this from happening. • As part of the hotbar changes you will also gain the option to hide your auto-attack hotkey if you so desire. And no, this one doesn’t count against the slot limit on your hotbar. • As another upgrade, you’ll have the flexibility to configure your hotbar in different layouts to suit your preferences.

Greetings, everyone.

Week One

• Warrior

• Paladin

• Dire Lord

• Cleric

• Druid

• Shaman

• Wizard

• Summoner

• Unified NPC Templates

• Updates to character attributes

• Updates to base class skills. Mastery will not be available week one, and will be made available after base skills have been tested more.

• New experience curve

• Rested experience bonus

• First-to-Engage (FTE) tagging mechanic

• Updated combat formulas (hit chance, avoidance, mitigation, haste, and critical hits)

• Bind on Equip support for items

• Full Mail System (send/receive items, send to your own characters, friends, guildmates, or guild if you’re an officer/leader) The ability to send to multiple individual users is disabled for now.

What to Expect After Week One (dates TBA)

• Most updated class mechanics will come online when their respective classes become available for testing.

• Mastery system

• Spell Pushback mechanics

• Market system

• Full Crafting and Gathering progression and difficulty

• Boats

What to Test in Week One

• Solo difficulty – Are low-level NPCs too easy, too hard, or just right?

• Small group difficulty – Does grouping trivialize content too quickly?

• Class abilities – What feels good or not good about abilities in the first 10 levels?

• First-to-Engage (FTE) mechanics – How does it feel in actual play?

• Experience progression – Too fast, too slow, or just right?

• Rested experience mechanic – How does it feel?

• Mail system – Use it heavily. Try to break it and let us know what you think.

• General combat – Pacing, how much gear matters, impact of skills, etc.

Tester Support & Expectations

Important Notes

• Bugs are expected, especially at the launch of the PTR. Please report everything you find so we can prioritize fixes.

• Tuning is very much in progress. Numbers may feel off (too high or too low) as we dial everything in.

• Wipes may occur with any weekly update if we determine they’re needed.

• We are actively gathering data on what players fight and kill. Please try to play “normally” so the data is as useful as possible.

• PTR Build Pipeline

See you on the PTR

Around the Team – What we’ve been working on this week

Design and Narrative

• Finalizing population of Mawnok villages in Kosa Ull.

• Continued baseline testing for Unified NPC templates and core combat mechanics.

• Tuning adjustments for Dire Lord Blood Debt and continued testing.

• More bug fixes and refinements for Warrior, Paladin, and Dire Lord abilities.

• Implemented Cleric and Druid base abilities.

• Started implementation on Shaman base abilities.

• Design work on Rogue, Ranger, and Monk base abilities.

• Continued design work on Cleric, Shaman, and Druid mastery.

• Continued work on NPCs and Dialogue for the Port of Rulun.

• Early work on NPC dialogue for Faerthale City.

• Implemented test case for charm mechanic.

• Minor adjustments to trainer NPCs in starting areas to prep for PTR opening.

Worldbuilding and Environment Art

• Continued finalizing set dressing for Mawnok villages (almost done!).

• Final set dressing pass on Port of Rulun.

• Continued buildout for Detihauna.

• Additional set dressing on undersea biomes.

• Continued building ship graveyard area at the Screaming Stones.

• Continuing on second round of structural/prop concepts for Faerthale City.

Character Art and Animation

• Continued animations for Sirens and smaller creatures.

• Continued modeling/texture work for minor/ambient BDC creatures.

• Completed texture work for Coastal Khroon.

• Continuing work on ambient life VFX for Badia de Cara.

Programming

• Second round of mastery system bug fixes, identified and tested UI flow scenarios.

• Completed Phase 1 work on mail system, merged into main codebase for testing.

• More updates to ability system to support mastery options and new ability types.

• Completed rested experience bonus and merged into main codebase for testing.

• Completed experience curve adjustments and merged into main codebase for testing.

Hi everyone! This week we wanted to share some more information on several different aspects of the upcoming Combat and Progression Update. This is a big update for the game, and there are a lot of different pieces to it that are being worked on in parallel. Anyway, here’s some updates on the update!

When PTR?

First to Engage

Bind on Equip

Item Tooltips

Escape Artistry

Well Rested

And More

• Abilities that can have multiple uses that refresh over time

• Spell Pushback – the chance that if you’re hit while casting a spell, your casting time will be slowed down slightly

• Bane damage on items – for example, finding a dagger of spider slaying that does additional damage to spiders

• Hotbar simplification – consolidating our different types of hotbars and giving you more freedom to control the layout of those buttons

• Introducing the Charm mechanic which will allow characters with the right abilities the chance to temporarily take control of NPCs (with an appropriate level of risk)

Around the Team – What we’ve been working on this week

• Continuing population of Kosa Ull in Badia de Cara

• Continued baseline testing for Unified NPC templates and core combat mechanics

• Initial testing for new/updated Dire Lord abilities and Blood Debt mechanic

• Bug fixes and refinements for Warrior, Paladin, and Dire Lord abilities

• Implementation work for Dire Lord Mastery

• Beginning Implementation work for Cleric and Druid base abilities

• Continuing work on Mastery for Cleric, Druid, Shaman

• Continued work on NPCs and Dialogue for the Port of Rulun

• Early work on NPC dialogue for Faerthale City

• Continued finalizing set dressing for Mawnok villages

• Completed finalizing Rulun building interiors and exterior set dressing

• Began work on the floating town of Detihauna

• Fleshing out undersea biomes with additional kelp and other flora

• Building ship graveyard area at the Screaming Stones

• Beginning Faerthale City asset creation (large structural assets)

• Starting on second round of structural/prop concepts for Faerthale City

• Completed animations for Sharks and Hydryn models

• Beginning animations for Sirens and smaller creatures

• Continued modeling/texture work for minor/ambient BDC creatures

• Continued texture work for Coastal Khroon

• Continuing work on ambient life VFX for Badia de Cara

• First round of mastery system bug fixes, identified and tested UI flow scenarios

• Completed item transfer components of mail system, case testing

• Completed shader list for technical evaluation

• Added support for NPC leashing controls

• Further updates to item tooltips

• Updates to ability system to support mastery options and new ability types

• Setting up rested experience bonus

• Setting up first to engage logic

• Preparatory work for market system

• Final setup for Public Test Realm and build pipeline testing

What does a mail system have to do with Combat and Progression, you may ask? Honestly, nothing and everything at the same time. While the mail system doesn’t directly impact your combat or adventuring progression, it does enable you to more easily trade that sweet, sweet loot that you’ll acquire during your adventures – whether that’s sending your guildmate a shiny item or transferring some crafting materials to one of your other characters. Our new mail system for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen is just about ready for testing, and so we wanted to give a quick overview of some of the features.

Accessing your Mail

• You can use the tabs at the top to view messages you’ve received or that you’ve sent. We store up to 50 received messages, after which you will have to clean up your mailbox to receive more.

• You can use the filter buttons to hide or display different types of messages – for example, turning on the Guild filter will let you see all messages that were sent to the entire guild, and hide the other types of messages.

• You can select any number of messages being displayed, which will let you delete them if you’re done with them, or export them to a file for posterity.

• You can click any message to open it up and read it. When you have it open, there’s a button to reply, as well as a button to report the message if needed.

• You can also click the button at the top to compose a new message to someone.

Sending Mail

• Anyone on your friends list

• Anyone in your guild

• Any of your own characters

Sending Stuff and Things

Why Mail, and When Mail?

• The mail system allows players to trade with other people without the other person having to be online.

• The mail system allows players to safely and securely transfer items between their own characters.

• The mail system is how you’ll receive items that you purchase from the Market.

• The mail system is also how you might receive items from us in the future as part of account rewards, or really any other scenario where we need to send out an in-game item to players for some reason.

Around the Team – What we’ve been working on this week

Design and Narrative

• Continuing population of Kosa Ull in Badia de Cara

• Baseline testing for Unified NPC templates and core combat mechanics

• Initial testing for new/updated Paladin abilities

• Bug fixes and refinements for Warrior and Paladin base abilities

• Second pass on itemization for Combat and Progression

• Continuing work on Mastery for Cleric, Druid, Shaman

• Continued work on NPCs and Dialogue for the Port of Rulun

• Continued implementation for Warrior Mastery

• Starting implementation for Paladin Mastery

• Implementing Dire Lord Base Kit and Blood Debt mechanic

Worldbuilding and Environment Art

• Continued finalizing set dressing for Mawnok villages

• Continued finalizing Rulun building interiors and exterior set dressing

• Continued Adding shipwrecks and ruin areas to undersea biomes

• Finalized underwater lighting settings

• Added more underwater flora including color variations

• Finalized concept work for Faerthale City structural elements (walls, gates, walkways/bridges, and towers) to begin asset creation

• Imported small player boat for in-engine testing

Character Art and Animation

• Continuing animations for Sharks and Hydryn models

• Continued modeling/texture work for minor/ambient BDC creatures

• Continued Detailed modeling/texture work for Siren

• Continued texture work for Coastal Khroon

• Beginning work on ambient life VFX for Badia de Cara

Programming

• Finished initial implementation of bane damage and bonus damage system for items

• Finished implementation of equipment proficiency system

• Updated item tooltips to display item rarity

• Finishing hookup of Mastery persist layer and UI functionality

• Finalizing Mail system UI, database hookup, and initial testing

• First pass testing for mastery code

• Additional prep for testing 3D NPC movement

• Compiling shader list for technical evaluation

• Begin adding support for additional NPC leashing controls

• Begin adding support for multi-charge player abilities

The Port of Rulun

Most trade in the Silent Plains comes through the Port of Rulun’s gates

Creatures of the Bay

Today we take a look into the upcoming class refresh for the Dire Lord. We will take a short break from the class refresh details and then resume again with more details on the other classes. As a reminder: what you see reflected below is meant to be a high-level conceptual overview of where we are taking each of these classes. Many details, like the level or skill requirements and effects for the different class and mastery abilities, are expected to change and fluctuate as we go through testing before the update releases. We are looking forward to everyone’s feedback once our public test realm is available, to help us with dialing all those details in so that each class feels fully realized, distinctive, and fun to play.

The Dire Lord

Class Mechanics

Weapon Skills

• Sword

• Great Sword

• Axe

• Great Axe

• Hand to Hand

• Whip*

Combat Skills

• Dodge

• Parry

Spell Skills

• Corruption

• Fortification

• Enervation

• Manifestation

• Augmentation

Base Class Abilities

Ability

Description

Abyssal Touch

Drain life from your target equal to your missing Health and deal damage equal to half life absorbed.

Corrupt Blood

Deal Fire damage over time to your target. Becomes stronger when applied with higher Blood Debt.

Devour Strength

Drain some of the target’s Strength and grant it to yourself.

Life Tap

Deal Curse damage to your target and heal yourself for a portion of the damage dealt.

Provoking Phantoms

Affect an enemy’s mind with relentless apparitions. When you strike the enemy in combat, Provoking Phantoms will gain 1 stack. Each additional stack will increase the threat you generate on the target.

Devour Dexterity

Drain some of the target’s Dexterity and grant it to yourself.

Thresh

Slash the target, dealing Physical damage and inflicting Bleeding Essence, cause them to bleed rapidly for a short time.

Devour Presence

Drain some of the target’s Presence and grant it to yourself.

Blood State: Nightmarish

Manifest a nightmarish visage, causing additional threat every time you deal damage.

Blood Fiend

Gain a small amount of healing from all of your physical attacks, OR activate the effect to reduce some of your Blood Debt with each strike while the activated effect lasts.

Dark Revenge

Counterattack with a vicious strike after receiving spell damage.

Leaden Blood

Progressively slows your target’s movement speed until they are rooted to the ground for a short time.

Deafening Whisper

Interrupt an enemy’s spellcasting for a short time.

Blood State: Torrential Veins

Empower your blood flow, increasing the amount of damage converted to Blood Debt.

Dire Grip

Pull nearby enemies to your location and root them in place.

Harmshield

For a short time, reflect a portion of incoming spell damage back at your attackers in the form of Curse damage.

Splatter

Spread the Essence Bleed from Thresh on your primary target to other nearby enemies.

Spiky Bloodcoat

For a short time, reflect a portion of incoming physical damage back at your attackers in the form of Curse damage.

Essence Harvester

Rip into your enemy with corruption running through your blade, dealing damage and healing a portion of your Blood Debt.

Call of the Dire

Reduce your target’s movement speed and force them to walk towards you, unable to resist.

Blood State: Famished

Enter a bloody frenzy, increasing your chance to critically hit, and causing you to be healed for each critical hit while active.

Imposing Visage

Instill a primal dread in your opponents, forcing them to flee for a short time.

Darkfall

Sacrifice a portion of your health to reduce the enemy’s resistance to magic and destroy a portion of their Mana over a short time.

Canopy of Blood

Sacrifice a portion of your health to shield your group members from damage for a short time.

Essence Thief

Manifest at the location of an enemy and deal Curse damage to them.

Haunting Blade

Deal physical damage and purge a beneficial magical effect from your enemy.

Purge Essence

Sacrifice a portion of your health to cleanse yourself of Poison and Disease effects.

Dire Lord Mastery

Mastery

Description

Ability Unlock: Terrormancer

The duration of Fear effects on you is dramatically reduced.

Ability Unlock: Relentless Vitality

The lower your health becomes, the stronger your natural health regeneration becomes.

Phantom Recoil

When a target afflicted by Provoking Phantoms hits you with a melee attack, it suffers a small burst of Curse retaliation damage. This damage scales with stacks of Provoking Phantoms.

Debt-Fed Apparitions

While your Blood Debt is above 60%, each strike against a target afflicted with Provoking Phantoms will grant 2 stacks instead of 1.

Blood Shock

Corrupt Blood now does initial damage when it lands. Additionally, each instance of damage will generate a small amount of bonus Threat.

Calculated Infusion

When you are healed by Life Tap, 20% of the healing amount will be applied as Blood Debt reduction instead of healing you directly. Additionally, Life Tap is now immune to spell pushback.

Marked Blood

If Vital Cage absorbs or reduces Spell Damage, you gain increased resistance to the same spell school for a short duration.

Unyielding Leech

Using your Life Tap when you are below 50% health will reduce the damage you take for several seconds.

Baleful Ground

If Dire Grip pulls 2 or more enemies it will create a 6m area of effect beneath you for 5 sec. This zone increases your threat generation while you remain in the area of effect.

Bloody Provocation

Reduce the initial damage of Thresh, but increase the Threat generated by the attack.

Ruinous Carving

Blood Fiend’s passive healing effect when using two-handed weapons is increased. Additionally, the threat generated by offhand attacks when using the activated ability is increased.

Immutable Call

Call of the Dire is now effective against Iron-Willed enemies.

Nightmare Crown

A portion of the threat you generate when attacking a target inflicted by Provoking Phantoms is converted into Blood Debt reduction.

Mastery

Description

Ability Unlock: Bloodrot

Usable on targets afflicted with Bleeding Essence. Infect the wound, increasing the bleed damage per tick and causing the wound to burst at the end of its duration, consuming all stacks of Bleeding Essence and dealing higher damage based on the number of Bleeding Essence stacks consumed.

Ability Unlock: Sanguine Blast

Sacrifice a portion of your Health to form a blast of power from your own Essence, dealing Curse damage. Damage taken from Sanguine Blast will add to your Blood Debt.

Ability Unlock: Carnage-Soaked Adversary

You gain bonus damage and other ability-specific advantages the lower your health and the higher your Blood Debt.

Ability Unlock: Edge of Midnight

Deal damage to your foe and gain a stack of Malefic Power, increasing your own damage but reducing your armor for a short time. Stacks up to 2 times.. Can be used multiple times.

Debt-Fed Affliction

Increase the amount of bonus damage applied to Corrupt Blood based on your Blood Debt.

Open the Vein

Thresh is now able to apply up to 5 stacks of Bleeding Essence, increasing the damage per tick with each stack.

Baleful Pact

A portion of the damage inflicted by your Bleeding Essence, up to a cap, will contribute to your Blood Debt. Additionally, increase the damage bonus effect of Carnage-Soaked Adversary.

Bloody Chain

When Splatter spreads Bleeding Essence to nearby enemies, newly afflicted targets will inherit the same stack count of the original target if the Essence Bleed was at 3 stacks or more.

Memory of Rot

When Bloodrot bursts, the target will take increased Physical damage for a short period of time.

Overdrawn Malice

The malefic power generated by Edge of Midnight now grants more of a physical damage increase, but further increases incoming damage as well.

At the Brink

The Famished Bloodstate now grants additional critical hit chance and increased healing on critical hits while you are below a certain health threshold or your Blood Debt is above a certain point.

Waning Mind

Darkfall also dramatically reduces the outgoing spell damage of the target’s next damaging spell.

Key Changes for Dire Lords

• Dire Lords will now be able to equip Light Plate armor.

• Essence has been removed and replaced with the Blood Debt mechanic.

• Mastery selections focused on leaning into and empowering defensive abilities or offensive abilities.

• Unique abilities unlocked through mastery selections.

Around the Team – What we’ve been working on this week

Design and Narrative

• Continuing population of Kosa Ull in Badia de Cara

• Baseline testing for Unified NPC templates and core combat mechanics

• Continuing first pass on itemization updates for Combat and Progression

• Continuing work on Mastery for Cleric, Druid, Shaman

• Prep work for Rogue, Ranger, and Monk Mastery

• Continued work on NPCs and Dialogue for the Port of Rulun

Worldbuilding and Environment Art

• Finalizing dressing for Mawnok villages

• Finalizing Rulun building interiors

• Expanded set dressing for undersea biomes

• Concept work for Faerthale City structural elements (walls, gates, walkways/bridges, and towers)

• Final feedback pass on small player boat design

Character Art and Animation

• Finalized animations for Mawnoks

• Beginning animations for Sharks

• Beginning animations for Hydryn

• Continued modeling/texture work for minor/ambient BDC creatures

• Detailed modeling/texture work for Siren

Programming

• Continued implementation of combat formula changes for Combat and Progression Update

• Beginning implementation of additional item stat options

• Finishing hookup of Mastery persist layer and UI functionality

• Finalizing Mail system UI, database hookup, and initial testing

• Finishing initial implementation of 3D NPC movement system

Continuing from the Warrior last week, today we are taking a look into the upcoming class refresh for the Paladin. As a reminder: what you see reflected below is meant to be a high-level conceptual overview of where we are taking each of these classes. Many details, like the level or skill requirements and effects for the different class and mastery abilities, are expected to change and fluctuate as we go through testing before the update releases. We are looking forward to everyone’s feedback once our public test realm is available, to help us with dialing all those details in so that each class feels fully realized, distinctive, and fun to play.

The Paladin

Class Mechanics

Weapon Skills

• Sword

• Great Sword

• Short Spear

• Great Axe

• Axe

• Great Hammer

• Hammer

• Long Spear

• Hand to Hand

• Martial Staff

• Whip*

• Crossbow*

• Flail*

• Throwing Weapons*

Combat Skills

• Shield

• Parry

• Dodge

• Protection

Spell Skills

• Invocation

• Fortification

• Consecration

• Manifestation

• Restoration

Base Class Abilities

Ability

Description

Lay on Hands

Completely restore the Health of your target, with a very long cooldown.

Smite

Smite the target, dealing Divine damage and generating Wrath. Does additional damage and increased threat to Undead enemies.

Righteous Flame

Surround yourself in fiery light, granting several charges of Righteous Flame. When you take damage, one charge will be spent to deal Divine damage back at the attacker. This damage will generate a small amount of bonus threat.

Oathflame

Lightly heal a target ally.

Venger’s Vow

Generate some Wrath instantly while increasing the damage you deal and the damage you receive for a short time.

Cure

Attempt to cleanse a harmful disease effect from an ally.

Incite

Taunt your target, forcing them to attack you for a short time.

Hymn of Devotion

Chant a powerful hymn, increasing the healing power of your group members while in effect.

Valiant Cross

A sweeping strike that deals damage to all targets in front of you.

Armor of Faith

A blessing of protection, increasing your ally’s Armor Class.

Radiant Lance

Impale your target with a bolt of celestial light, dealing Divine damage. If the target is low on health, deals additional Divine damage and has a chance to stun the target.

Atone

Bring a fallen ally back to life, but does not restore lost experience. Causes Resurrection sickness.

Faithful Strike

Channel celestial light through your weapon, dealing additional Divine damage when you strike and healing yourself for some of the damage dealt.

Golden Aegis

Makes you invulnerable to damage and many detrimental effects for a short time.

Edict of Celestial Authority

Recite the edict of authority, stunning your target for a short time.

Edict of Celestial Fury

Recite the edict of fury, reflecting a portion of the next damage that you take back at the attacker and generating some Wrath.

Living Light

Channel your Wrath into a burst celestial light, healing the members of your group.

Hymn of Anticipation

Chant a powerful hymn, increasing the dodge rate of your group members while in effect.

Oath of Conviction

While in effect, your attacks have a chance to do additional Divine damage and generate additional Threat.

Oath of Wrath

While in effect, your attacks generate additional Wrath.

Turn Undead

Attempt to cause an undead target to flee in fear for a short time.

Hymn of the Stronghold

Chant a powerful hymn, increasing the physical defense of your group members while in effect.

Lightful Avenger

Temporarily increase your wrath generation and deal increased damage, especially against Undead opponents.

Hymn of Rites

Chant a powerful hymn, increasing the magical defense of your group members while in effect.

Wrathful Avenger

Each cast of your Smite line of abilities will grant a stack of Welling Wrath, increasing outgoing Divine damage per stack.

Unleash Wrath

Consume stacks of Welling Wrath to deal Divine damage to enemies in front of you. Does additional damage to Undead.

Paladin Mastery

Mastery

Description

Ability Unlock: Lightguard

Imbue your weapon with celestial light for 4 sec, reducing the next source of incoming Physical damage by 40%.

Ability Unlock: Wrathful Aegis

Radiate celestial flame that ignites enemies in a radius around you, dealing Divine damage and with increased Threat over time. Additionally, all Threat generated on a target while under the effects of Wrathful Aegis will be increased.

Judgement of Flame

Your Smite ability now brands the target with Judgement of flame for a short time. While branded, the target deals reduced damage to other players that aren’t you.

Condemnation

Smite now applies Condemned. If the target dies while Condemned, you immediately gain some Wrath. The amount of Wrath gained increases if the target was Undead.

Smoldering Convictions

Whenever a charge of Righteous Flame is consumed, restore a small amount of Wrath.

Sacred Provocation

Incite now creates a window of increased threat generation on the target until the effect ends.

Sanctified Perimeter

Enemies are slowed while under the effects of Wrathful Aegis. If an affected enemy leaves the area of effect, they will suffer a burst of Divine damage and bonus threat.

Unrelenting Vows

While Venger’s Vow is active, incoming damage still increases, but you gain additional Wrath from hits taken.

Luminous Brace

Increase the incoming damage your Lightguard ability is able to mitigate. Additionally, if Lightguard’s full amount of mitigation is used, your next Incite will last twice as long.

Blaze of Glory

For a short time, greatly increase your armor, health, and outgoing damage. At the end of the effect, you are incapacitated.

Mastery

Description

Ability Unlock: Vigilance

Create a bond of celestial light with a target ally, causing some of your abilities to heal that ally when used. Additionally, a percentage of your healing on other targets will apply to your bonded target.

Ability Unlock: Battle Meditation

Stoke your fury while in battle, increasing your Wrath generation.

Ability Unlock: Glory and Honor

Your melee attacks will heal your group members for a small amount.

Hallowed Flame

Remove the bonus threat-generation component of Righteous Flame. Additionally, whenver a charge of Righteous Flame is consumed, heal the lowest-health group member for a small amount.

Kindled Oath

Oathflame heals for more when cast on your Vigilance target. If the target is below a certain health threshold, this bonus is increased.

Afterglow

Living Light restores a small amount of Wrath for each target healed.

Watcher’s Grace

When your Vigilance target drops below a certain health threshold, your next Oathflame or Golden Charge costs no Wrath.

Faithful Restoration

When Vigilance is active, Faithful Strike heals your bonded target for more and applies a short heal-over-time effect on the bonded target.

Empowered Healing

Your healing abilities become more potent, in some cases gaining additional effects.

Purifying Grace

Your Cure ability becomes Cleanse. Cleanse is guaranteed to remove 1 Poison and 1 Disease effect from the target. Additionally, targets cured by Cleanse will receive a bonus to their Poison and Disease resistance for a short time.

Righteous Fury

Your wrath no longer decays outside of combat.

Key Changes for Paladins

• Additional weapon skills and combat skills with more meaningful impact

• Rebalanced base ability kit

• Mastery selections focused on leaning into and empowering physical abilities or spellcasting abilities

• Unique abilities and powerups unlocked through mastery selections

Hi everyone,

The Warrior

Class Mechanics

Weapon Skills

• Dagger

• Great Sword

• Sword

• Great Axe

• Short Spear

• Great Hammer

• Axe

• Long Spear

• Hammer

• Martial Staff

• Hand to Hand

• Shortbow

• Whip*

• Crossbow*

• Flail*

• Throwing Weapons*

Combat Skills

• Shield

• Tactics

• Dodge

• Warfare

• Parry

Base Class Abilities

Ability

Description

Assault

A powerful strike that deals Physical Damage. Generates 1 Battle Point.

Strike of Breaking

A tactical strike that increases incoming damage on the target while increasing your Armor Class. Stacks up to 3 times.

Storm

Charge at the target with furious speed, stunning them briefly. Generates 1 Battle Point.

Rupture

A strike that deals Physical Damage and causes the target to bleed over time. Costs 1 Battle Point.

Shield Block

Raise your shield, reducing a major amount of incoming Physical damage and a minor amount of incoming Spell damage. This is a channeled ability that cannot be interrupted by damage. Costs 1 Battle Point for each second while channeling. Requires a Shield.

Quell

Follow up a successful shield block with a powerful shield strike, generating increased threat and a Battle Point.

Mighty Blow

A charged attack that consumes 1 Battle Point per second while charging. When released, Mighty Blow will deal bonus damage based on how many Battle Points were consumed.

Taunt / Angering Shout

Taunt an enemy in melee range, forcing its attention on you for 3 seconds. Release an angry shout, taunting an enemy up to 25 meters away.

Challenger’s Banner

Place a Banner of War near you that lasts for a short time. Remaining near the banner will increase the threat that your actions generate in combat.

Bash

Slam the target, dealing minor Physical damage with a chance to interrupt the target’s spell casting.

Formation: Conquest

Command your group into an offensive formation, increasing their attack and spellcasting speed, but limiting their mobility for a short time.

Banner of Arms

Place a Banner of War near you that lasts for a short time. Group members near the banner will have an increased chance to hit their foes, while enemies near the banner will suffer a penalty to their avoidance.

Cleave

Swing your weapon in a mighty arc, dealing damage to multiple foes in front of you.

Javelin

Hurl a javelin into an enemy at distance, dealing Physical damage and generating a small amount of threat.

Counterplay

Brace your weapon, retaliating with Physical damage to attackers whenever you successfully block or parry an attack.

Rallying Banner

Plant a Banner of War near you that lasts for a short time. Group members who remain near the banner will be less vulnerable to control effects, while enemies near the banner will become more vulnerable to these effects.

Formation: Unyielding

Command your group into a tactical formation, giving them immunity to control effects for a short time, but also making them more vulnerable to direct attacks for the same period.

Breaker’s Roar

Shake off the effects of a root or snare that has afflicted you.

Close the Gap

Leap to an enemy’s location and strike them with your weapon, temporarily stopping their movement. Generates 1 Battle Point.

Last Stand

Stand your ground, increasing your chance to block and parry attacks, and increasing healing you receive for several seconds. Only usable at low health.

War Horn

Sound your war horn to taunt all nearby enemies.

Devastate

Unleash a massive attack in an attempt to finish off your opponent. Only usable on targets with low health.

Warrior Mastery

Mastery

Description

Ability Unlock: Hammering Blow

Hammer the edge of your shield into the enemy, dealing Physical damage and increasing your Physical damage mitigation for a short time.

Ability Unlock: Shield Bash

Slam the target with your shield, dealing minor Physical damage, interrupting spell casting, and silencing the target for a short time.

Ability Unlock: Shield Throw

Hurl your shield at the target, dealing Physical damage and knocking the target down for 3 sec. While your shield is traveling, you will be shieldless and unable to use shield-based abilities.

Heavy Platemail Proficiency

Unlocks the ability to wear Heavy Platemail Armor.

Shield Prowess

Your prowess with the shield grants you the chance to gain a Battle Point on successful blocks.

Anchored Stance

While channeling Shield Block, you are immune to forced movement, including knockback and pull effects.

Hold the Line

For each Battle Point Shield Block consumes, you receive a 5% bonus to incoming healing for a short time.

Iron Mandate

If the target is immune to Taunt, using Taunt will instead grant increased Threat generation on that target for a short time.

Tactician

Using Assault on a target under the effect of your Taunt will generate an extra Battle Point.

Anchoring Arrival

The root effect from your Close the Gap ability lasts longer, and the target’s movement speed is reduced for a short time after the root ends.

Rallying Brass

If War Horn successfully lands on 2 or more enemies, refund 1 Battle Point.

Critical Recovery

When you activate Last Stand, immediately restore 5% of your maximum Health, then gain another 5% over 5 seconds.

Reinforced Shield Block

Increase the amount of Physical damage your Shield Block is able to mitigate.

Intercepting Spear

If the target struck by Javelin is more than 15 meters away, gain a short burst of movement speed and your next Storm within 3 sec generates an extra Battle Point.

Mastery

Description

Ability Unlock: War Lariat

Unleash a whirlwind of steel, attacking all targets in a 360 degree radius around you. Must have a primary and offhand weapon equipped.

Ability Unlock: Punish

Grants the Punish ability. Punish has a chance to become usable every time Rupture’s bleed ticks.

Ability Unlock: Furious Howl

Release a furious howl, generating 1 Battle Point and increasing your melee attack speed.

Brutal Trajectory

Javelin deals increased damage and gains increasing chance to critically hit based on the distance traveled.

Double Tap

Your Assault ability has a chance to strike a second time with your primary weapon.

Break the Line

Storm deals additional damage to targets above a certain Health threshold. If the target is below a certain Health threshold when Storm is used, Storm’s cooldown will be shortened.

Skullringer

Your Bash ability deals increased damage and is guaranteed to interrupt spell casting.

Deepening Wounds

Increase the bleed damage caused by Rupture.

No Quarter

If a target dies while bleeding from your Rupture ability, gain a short movement speed bonus and restore some Health.

Dual-Wield Specialization

Improve your overall effectiveness and damage output while dual-wielding.

Two-Hand Specialization

Improve your overall effectiveness and damage output with two-handed weapons.

Warbringer

Your critical hits now have a chance to generate a Battle Point.

Kill Engine

Gain the ability to move while charging your Mighty Blow.

Precision of Battle

Your AoE attacks, such as Cleave and War Lariat, will no longer break Root or Mesmerize effects on opponents, although they will deal reduced damage against targets under these effects.

Key Changes for Warriors

• Additional weapon skills and combat skills with more meaningful impact

• More complete and robust base ability kit, with abilities up to level 50

• Mastery selections focused on leaning into and empowering defensive abilities or offensive abilities

• Unique abilities and powerups unlocked through mastery selections

Around the Team – What we’ve been working on this week

Design and Narrative

• Continuing population of Kosa Ull in Badia de Cara

• First pass of NPC tuning for Unified NPC templates

• First pass on itemization updates for Combat and Progression

• Finalizing Mastery for Warrior, Paladin, Dire Lord

• Beginning work on Mastery for Cleric, Druid, Shaman

• Continued work on NPCs and Dialogue for the Port of Rulun

Worldbuilding and Environment Art

• Set dressing for Mawnok villages

• Finalizing layout for port of Rulun

• Beginning work on Rulun building interiors

• Continued set dressing for undersea biomes

• Continuing asset definition for Faerthale City to inform detailed concepts

Character Art and Animation

• Finalized modeling/texturing for Qha-Ladahn

• Finalized modeling/texturing for Aridola and Detidola clothing

• Finishing remaining spellcasting animations for Mawnoks

• Beginning modeling work for minor Badia de Cara creatures

• Initial modeling work on Hydryn

Programming

• Continued implementation of combat formula changes for Combat and Progression Update

• Continued work on persistence layer and Mastery UI

• Finalizing Mail system UI, database hookup, and initial testing.

Hi everyone! We’re here with another progress update for you this week as we march towards the Combat and Progression Update. In this dev diary, we want to talk about what should be a very important part of combat: mitigating damage.

Making Armor Matter at all Levels

What’s Changing for Armor and Physical Mitigation

• At lower levels, armor upgrades are going to feel very meaningful for players – even if they are wearing cloth or leather.

• At higher levels, the numbers get bigger, and players will want better armor (or better armor-enhancing buffs) to help mitigate that incoming damage.

Adding Value to Resistances

Resistance vs. Vulnerability

Around the Team – What we’ve been working on this week

Design and Narrative

• Continuing population of Kosa Ull in Badia de Cara

• First pass of NPC tuning for Unified NPC templates

• Further work on class mastery selections for tank classes and general mastery

• Continued work on NPCs and Dialogue for the Port of Rulun

Worldbuilding and Environment Art

• Finishing touches on the Kosa Ull Jungle

• Continuing rebuild and expansion for the Port of Rulun

• Beginning set dressing for undersea biomes

• Identifying structure and prop concepts needed to support Faerthale City

• Final check-in for Detihauna assets and additional prop creation for Detihauna

Character Art and Animation

• Beginning model creation for the Qha-Ladahn

• Creating the updated Aridola and Detidola Clothing

• Polish work on combat animations for Mawnok male and female

• Polish work on combat animations for Gurloks

• Finalizing animations for Kosa Panthers

• Concept work for minor Badia de Cara creatures

Programming

• Finishing implementation of 3D NPC movement and pathfinding

• Continued implementation of combat formula changes for Combat and Progression Update

• Finalizing code to support mastery node effects, beginning work on persistence layer and Mastery UI

• Finalizing Mail system UI, database hookup, and initial testing

Hi everyone! We hope you’re enjoying the Ability Loadouts feature, the Nightfall Crypt and our update to the Summoner class. We’re continuing to watch the feedback on each of those things, but now that they’re out, we’re going to be shifting more of our focus to preparing for the Combat and Progression update coming up in the spring.

Challenges with Attributes Today

• Each attribute should have a distinct impact on character performance, although that impact does not have to be the same for all classes.

• Each character class should value multiple attributes for gameplay, both in terms of baseline combat performance and to enhance various class abilities.

• Each character class should present meaningful choices in terms of what attributes to emphasize. No single attribute build should allow you to be the best at everything you can do.

• The attribute bonuses provided by items should generally be useful to all classes who generally use that item type. As an analogy, our goal is that while a necromancer may prefer a slightly different robe from a wizard, both classes should still see a tangible benefit from wearing either option.

What’s Changing

Baseline Benefits from Attributes

Attribute Name

What it Represents

Passive Benefits

Strength

Raw Physical Power

Bonuses to Melee Auto-attack Damage and Carry Capacity

Dexterity

Hand-Eye Coordination

Bonuses to Ranged Auto-attack Damage, Parry Chance, and Melee Crit Chance

Agility

Reflexes, ability to move quickly

Bonuses to Dodge Chance, Base Armor Class

Stamina

Physical Health and Fortitude

Bonuses to Player Health Pool

Concentration

Ability to Focus and Ignore Distractions

Resistance to Spell Pushback* from being hit in combat and Resistance/Reduction to some hostile control effects (stuns, silences, etc.)

Intellect

Mental Acuity, Problem-Solving, Tactical Thinking

Bonuses to Mana Pool and improved chance of spell criticals for some classes

Wisdom

Rationality, Strategic Thinking

Bonuses to Mana Pool and improved chance of spell criticals for some classes

Presence

Social Impact, Force of Will, Focus, Aura

Vendor prices, Faction Gains, Utility Buff Duration, Power of charm and mesmerize effects

• Strength will be used to increase power on some physical melee attack abilities that rely on force for their effectiveness.

• Stamina will be used to increase power on some offensive and defensive abilities that are focused on shield or armor use or on absorbing or blocking incoming damage.

• Dexterity will be used to increase power on some physical melee and ranged attack abilities that rely on precision for their effectiveness.

• Agility will be used to increase power on some defensive abilities that rely on avoiding enemy attacks, as well as reaction- and movement-related abilities.

• Intellect will be used to increase power on some damaging spellcasting abilities that focus on manipulation of elemental or arcane energy.

• Wisdom will be used to increase power on some spellcasting abilities that focus on manipulation of divine or curse energy, or (in some cases) that impact the target’s mental and physical state.

• Concentration will be used to increase power on some magical attacks and abilities that rely on sustaining effects or channeling energy over time.

• Presence will be used to increase power or duration on some magical attacks and abilities that rely on willpower or manipulating the target’s mental state. This applies to many classes: Taunt abilities for tanks, crowd control abilities such as stuns and fears, charm and mesmerize, abilities that empower minions and pets, etc.

Class Name

Class Primary Role

Core Attribute

Secondary Attribute 1

Secondary Attribute 2

Secondary Attribute 3

Warrior

Tank

Stamina

Strength

Agility

Presence

Paladin

Tank

Stamina

Strength

Wisdom

Presence

Dire Lord

Tank

Stamina

Strength

Dexterity

Presence

Cleric

Healer

Wisdom

Strength

Stamina

Presence

Shaman

Healer

Wisdom

Intellect

Concentration

Presence

Druid

Healer

Wisdom

Intellect

Concentration

Presence

Ranger

Physical Damage

Dexterity

Strength

Wisdom

Stamina

Rogue

Physical Damage

Dexterity

Strength

Intellect

Stamina

Monk

Physical Damage

Dexterity

Strength

Agility

Stamina

Wizard

Magical Damage

Intellect

Concentration

Wisdom

Presence

Summoner

Magical Damage

Intellect

Concentration

Wisdom

Presence

Necromancer

Support

Presence

Concentration

Wisdom

Intellect

Enchanter

Support

Presence

Concentration

Wisdom

Intellect

Bard

Support

Presence

Strength

Dexterity

Agility

Around the Team – What we’ve been working on this week

Moving forward, we’re going to be including this section in our weekly web content as often as possible to help show you some of the progress that’s being made behind the scenes. Each of these items is a current area of focus for the team and part of the work we have to do for our upcoming releases.

Design and Narrative

• Beginning population of Kosa Ull in Badia de Cara

• Finalizing skills, abilities, and mastery selections for Warriors, Paladins, and Dire Lords

• Updated NPCs and Dialogue for the Port of Rulun

• Layout and Mood Paintings for Faerthale City to help inform building assets

Worldbuilding and Environment Art

• Finalizing jungle biome in Kosa Ull and beginning set dressing for Mawnok villages

• Beginning rebuild and expansion for the Port of Rulun

• Buildout and environmental asset creation for the Obsidian Depths

• Creating Detihauna structures, platforms, and walkway kit and progress on player sailboat

Character Art and Animation

• Touch-up work on Shark Models

• High-Poly passes on Hydryn and Siren models

• Finalizing concepts for Qha-Ladahn

• Finalizing concepts for Detidola clothing and update to Aridola clothing

• Finalizing animations for Mawnok male and female

• Finalizing animations for Gurlok models

• Finalizing Bone Merchant NPC clothing/armor

Programming

• Beginning work on 3D NPC movement and pathfinding for underwater and aerial environments

• Beginning implementation of combat formula changes for Combat and Progression Update

• Continuing implementation of mastery system components

• Initial implementation of mail system UI components and database hookup

Summoner Update

The summoner class has received a major update and restructure of its abilities. Players will now begin the game with access to the Fury pet and the Zephyr pet, and skillful control of the pet will be emphasized during combat. Highlights:

• Fury and Zephyr pets are available starting at level 1, with upgrades every 10 levels. The Zephyr is a melee-oriented, Rogue-like pet, while the Fury is a spell-oriented, Wizard-like pet.

• The Undine is available starting at level 20, with upgrades every 10 levels. The Undine is still the only pet that can be out at the same time as either the Zephyr or the Fury.

• The Titan pet is currently unavailable, but will be returning to the Summoner arsenal with the Spring update.

• Summoners will now deal the majority of their damage through their pets, using a combination of Wind Blade, Galestep and Tempest lines with the Zephyr, and Mana Bolt, Mana Flame and Mana Burst lines with the Fury. Additionally, Summoners have had their personal spell arsenal updated to include the Aether Dart, Mana Bomb and Clash Bomb lines.

• On the Utility side, Summoners will be able to make themselves invisible, as well as summoning a potion that will make others invisible. They have a full suite of summoned food and drink, gate stones, bandages, the Eye of Zohm for scouting and the ability to summon Toxic and Frigid glyphs.

• Summoners retain their beloved damage shields, a selection of buffs for their pets, and the ability to summon higher quality weapons and armor for their pets as they level up. **Note: the summoned weapons and armor for Summoner pets will be the only source of these items with this patch. Expect pet itemization to expand significantly with the Spring update.

This is a massive step forward for the Summoner class. But remember, the Summoner will be receiving even more updates alongside the other classes with the Combat and Progression update in the Spring. We can’t wait for you all to give the revamped Summoner a try and we look forward to the feedback!

Nightfall Crypt

• The first of several planned Nightfall Crypt dungeons has been added to the game. Nightfall Crypts are built to support a different style of dungeon experience, which you can read about in more detail in our Peek at Nightfall Crypts and the Story Behind Nightfall Crypt. Should you discover the entrance to this dungeon, gather your friends and prepare well, for a harrowing trial awaits you within its halls.

General

• Added the “Show In-world Combat Text For Your Pets” option to the General tab of the Settings window, which, when enabled, will show the damage and healing that your pets do in the floating combat text.

• It’s now possible to click and drag your pet’s cast bar to undock it from the pet’s window and drop it wherever you’d like on screen. If you’d like to re-dock it to the pet window, drag and drop the pet’s cast bar on top of its pet window. You can also adjust the size/scale and opacity of the cast bar by holding Control and right-clicking the pet’s cast bar.

• With pets that can equip items, if you have their pet sheet open, you can equip/unequip items on them using Ctrl+right-click.

• Skills are now grouped by their categories in the character sheet skills lists, and the skills lists are now collapsable by clicking the small tab with the arrow icon on the right edge of the skills list.

• If a group member has pets, and you are close enough to see those pets in the world, their health bar and name will now be displayed on the group member’s UI element. Left clicking on these pet health bars will defensively target that pet.

• Added “Keep Cast Bars Visible” option to the general settings, which forces your cast bar and the cast bar of your pet(s) to remain visible to make it easier to adjust their settings (ctrl+right-click on the cast bar to adjust its scale and opacity settings) and left-click and drag on the cast bars to adjust their position on screen.

• Added a Master Volume slider to the partial settings window that is used prior to entering the world.

• Added support for ability loadouts. You can now set up to four different loadouts, each with a different set of abilities. You can also rename each loadout (by right-clicking the loadout name) and set a hotkey for it.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue with NPC dialogues sometimes prematurely closing or kicking players.

• Fixed an issue where pet stats, such as armor, weren’t updating when the player equipped/unequipped armor on their pet.

• Fixed an issue where cancelling the taming process was leaving it in a bad state.

• Corrected the model for the Scorched Adventurer’s Hat.

• Fixed an issue where players would sometimes get stuck in the air when they got feared.

World

• The strange reality warping affecting parts of the city of Sorhiryth has been resolved, and the affected platforms have returned to their original size and position.

• The zoneline between the Silent Plains and Eastern Plains has been adjusted to resolve some areas where players were crossing between zones multiple times.

• Missing collision on several rocks in the world has been restored. The rocks should now properly behave as tangible objects.

• The first Nightfall Crypt dungeon has been added to the game, somewhere in the world. Explorers seeking to brave this location should be warned: Few who have ventured there have ever returned to tell the tale.

Items

• Added an additional section to Tel’Daedras’s loot table to house some extra items.

• The keys used to unlock various doors in Halnir Caves are now lifebound.

Known Issues

• Haste of all types has been temporarily disabled and will be re-enabled in a future update.

• Many robes may not animate properly while swimming.

Hi everyone! We wanted to take a moment to talk more about the Ability Loadouts feature that’s coming to the game in our next update. We think this is something that will be very useful for many of you, so you can think of this dev diary as sort of an “instruction manual” for how to use it.

Why Loadouts, and why now?

How Loadouts Work

Limitations

Buffs and Persistence

• If you have a buff or pet on two loadouts and switch between those loadouts, the buff or pet will stay active.

• If you have a buff or pet on your loadout and then switch to another loadout that does not have that buff or pet, the buff or pet will deactivate when the switch occurs.

by Nephele

Mail System and Market System

Combat System Enhancements

• Your weapon skills and spell skills will now contribute more directly to your chance to land an attack, and (at very high skill levels) those skills can help you bypass some of the target’s avoidance.

• Your defensive skills like dodge and parry will now have more of an impact when it comes to incoming damage – as those skills increase, it should make more of a measurable difference for you during fights.

• The shield skill (which formerly didn’t do anything except let you equip a shield) is now going to improve your chance to block attacks, making it work more like dodge and parry. Shields overall are going to be getting a bit of an overhaul to help make them useful without being overpowering – we’ll try to talk through that a bit more in the next progress update.

Class Updates