Greetings adventurers! We’re back with another development update for Point Release 10. In our previous installment, we barely scratched the surface on all the new environments and encounters that players can look forward to in the Frozen Tundra. Today, we’ll be exploring this frigid landscape in more detail with a focus on two landmarks—the Coliseum and the Avalanche Village. We’ve also got new details about the upcoming Profession Traits, which offer players greater flexibility and versatility in their character builds. Lastly, we’ll see what’s new with the Lore system, and how we’re enabling players to discover stories by interacting with landmarks throughout Celador.

 

Matt: Ruins & Yetis

 

Last time, I discussed how one of our primary goals for Frozen Tundra is having a wide variety of unique locations. This week, we’re excited to showcase more of the locations we’ve been cooking up.

 

 

As discussed previously, recent volcanic activity in the Tundra has impacted the landscape vastly. One of the worst hit places being the Avalanche Village. Our goal with this location is to provide a vertically driven overworld encounter similar to the Ruins of the Artificer in the Barrens.

 

 

Inside the village you’ll encounter looters trying to nab the last of the goods. You’ll also encounter wild Yetis that have made their home in the wreckage. But the dangers near the peak of the village are far worse than either of these encounters. Details on that will be for another blog.

 

 

Even though the recent volcanic activity has destroyed much, it has also continued to reveal more old world wonders beneath the snow. Uncovered is a long forgotten ancient city buried in the snow. Perhaps it’s most incredible feature being the vast ruins of a coliseum located in the middle. But I’ll let Rachel talk more about that below. 

 

We know you’ve been excited for Frozen Tundra for a long time, and we’re doing everything possible to make sure your time in this new environment meets those high expectations. It’s going to be one of our most unique locales yet, and we’re incredibly excited to share more with you over the coming weeks.

 


 

Rachel: Architecture & New Ice Weapons

 

As you explore the Frozen Tundra, you’ll come across signs of older civilizations that have been destroyed or buried in the snow, such as the ruins of the Coliseum or the Avalanche Village. I was responsible for creating the Coliseum; this involved modeling and texturing the base of the structure, sculpting and texturing stone tiles for the ground inside of the Coliseum, and re-texturing archway assets to fit the color scheme of the rest of the area.

 

The Coliseum has crumbled from a once grand structure to a shortened ruin. You’ll see hints that it used to be taller and grander—its old archway walls, now crumbled and broken, are littered on the ground around it. The inside of the Coliseum works a bit like an amphitheater. You can go down to the ground level (what would be the “stage” area) or you can watch the action from the walkways that line the stands.

 

 

While getting the Coliseum just right has taken up a good chunk of my time, I’ve also been making progress on new ice weapons. The focus has mainly been on melee weapons thus far, since I have the clearest idea of what those will look like, but other weapon types are on their way.

 

 

Ben: Profession Traits in More Detail

In our last update we discussed fleshing out the remaining professions and allowing players to specialize their characters through single skill professions. We decided early on that any profession that allowed players to produce something should give them a bonus when consuming those productions.  Scribes, alchemists, and cooks all fell into this category, and will be awarded the following bonuses for completing their respective tiers:

 

Cooking

  • Journeyman: 5% bonus to food effects.
  • Master: 10% bonus to food effects.
  • Grandmaster: 15% bonus to food effects.

 

Alchemy

  • Journeyman: 10% bonus to potion effects.
  • Master: 30% bonus to potion effects.
  • Grandmaster: 50% bonus to potion effects.

 

Inscription

  • Journeyman: 30% reduction in scroll cast penalty, %5 damage bonus to scrolls.
  • Master: 60% reduction in scroll cast penalty, %10 damage bonus to scrolls.
  • Grandmaster: 100% reduction in scroll cast penalty, %15 damage bonus to scrolls.

 

For those players that came from an Ultima Online background, you likely remember that some skills gave a passive bonus to specific weapon types.  We wanted to make sure we provided a similar mechanic in the new trait system.  With that in mind the following skills currently increase weapon type damage:

 

Lumberjacking

  • Journeyman: 5% increase to slashing/lancing damage.
  • Master: 10% increase to slashing/lancing damage.
  • Grandmaster: 15% increase to slashing/lancing damage.

 

Mining

  • Journeyman: 5% increase to bashing/piercing damage.
  • Master: 10% increase to bashing/piercing damage.
  • Grandmaster: 15% increase to bashing/piercing damage.

 

Note: These values are subject to change and will undergo thorough testing on our internal and experimental servers. 

 

The astute observer might realize that some skills are still missing from this line-up, the most notable of which are the Tamer and Bard professions.  Because these professions require players to master multiple skills they will be receiving their very own prestige abilities.  And that… is a story for another blog.

 

Andrew: Interactive Lore Encounters

 

Talking Objects

We are working on a variety of ways that players will interact with the world of Celador when seeking out Lore. We previously mentioned conversing with NPCs to hear traditions, stories, and opinions, but that won’t be locked to humans only. Our extended dialogue system allows us to give a voice to anything with a spirit and some knowledge to share.

 

Lore Catalog

The Tome System now has a catalog to provide players feedback on their Lore discovery progress. The current plan is for this Blessed item to be needed in a player’s backpack when recording a Lore Entry. Once all Entries of a topic have been recorded, the catalog can transfer the Entries into a unique Tomebook. The top half of this next screenshot is a work-in-progress of the pages of the catalog while the bottom half are the table of contents of a completed Tomebook.

 

Stay Tuned for More

 

Development for Point Release 10 continues to progress at a smooth and steady pace, and we’re on track for releasing in the month of June. In Part 3 of our development series, we’ll be uncovering more Frozen Tundra landmarks, as well as some target dates for experimental server testing. Head on over to the Legends of Aria Trello board for the latest development updates!

 

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