Hello guys, this is Ben!  I am one of the game designers here at Citadel Studios and have some information for you on the newly released cooking revamp and gardening system.  First I would like to start with some basic information about myself to help explain why I took on these two projects. I was a Ultima Online veteran for many years and have played numerous MMOs all from the lense of a crafter and trader.  I have always enjoyed the interaction with other players that comes with having a skill set or product that is highly desirable, and that sets the stage for our story.

The Problem

Cooking was a flat trade skill — it didn’t offer much to the player base other than the ability to regenerate stamina and health.  There was really no reason to invest your time into cooking unless you thought it would be revamped in the future.

The Solution

And that is exactly what we have done with this update!  Cooking now allows players to create food items that can buff a players mana pool, health pool, stamina pool, and weight capacity.  As your skill in cooking improves you will be able to create more and more powerful foods to buff these attributes.

Additionally, I didn’t want cooking to simply be a skill that you have “templates” that you could craft for each various food and buff combination.  So the ingredients you use in cooking actually determine the buffs that will be applied when the final product is consumed. This will allow cooks to cater their food items to specific play styles.  Do you value stamina and mana in your build? Or perhaps you’re a crafter/gatherer that wants health/weight capacity? By mixing ingredients cooks will now be able to create food that is suited to YOUR needs.

The Need for Gardening

With the addition of an ingredient centric cooking system there was a need to create a means to cultivate and create rarity around specific ingredients.  I was a big fan of gardening in Ultima Online, it was always one of my favorite past times and I would often login just to check on and care for my plants.  I wanted to bring that feeling into Legends of Aria. Gardening allows for players to growing all the non-meat based ingredients that are currently used in cooking!  

Gardening for All!

It is important to mention here that gardening is not a skill based system and can be used by any player.  There are two types of containers for gardeners; pots and raised beds (planter beds). Pots can be used anywhere, they can stay in your backpack, your bank, a box in your house, your friends house, my house, really anywhere!  This allows all players, even those who don’t have land of their own, to enjoy gardening. In contrast, raised beds can only be placed on plots or within houses, but open up more plant varieties and give a boost to harvest yields.

The Future

In its first iteration gardening just allows you to plant and gather ingredients for cooking.  This is by no means where it is stopping. We have plans to allow for decorative plants and the ability to grow items that will not be cooking specific.  Getting this first version of gardening out to you will allow you to play with it and tell us what you like and don’t like about it.

Discover a world forged by players, where your choices write the story. What role will you play?

Key Features:

• • A Living, Breathing MMORPG: Explore a true open world without limitation. Build, explore and adventure with thousands of players in a living breathing world defined by you.
  • Skill-Based World: Legends of Aria returns to a true skill based system. Build your character your way, be you a crafter, adventurer, merchant or humble fisherman. Hone your skills through use and play your way with a choice of over 32 unique skills.
  • Return to a True Sandbox: Legends of Aria is inspired by the original sandbox MMORPGs. Experience a world that does not hold your hand. A world that is driven by you and shaped by our community. A world of dangers, where friendships, enemies made and your actions written into legend.
  • Community Servers and Modding: The first MMORPG to fully support player run servers. Legends of Aria is designed to be modded from top to bottom including custom gameplay rules, custom content and even entirely custom created worlds.