March was a really successful month for development of Gloria Victis, bringing to life lots of important improvements to the gameplay formula, user experience and immersion.
Some of the last updates have introduced, among other things, a reputation system, massive expansion of the available world and numerous improvements to the combat system.
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First of all, the reputation system has been implemented. It reflects various actions performed by players – for example, partaking in events will increase it, while oppressing the players countrymen will have a negative impact. Actions affect the character’s social status, giving every player a chance to earn a noble title for himself – or to be banished and marked as an outlaw who would eventually get the redemption through the hard work in supporting their nation. In the nearest future the system will be expanded with the heroes system, which will reward players who, at a time, have served their nation the best and therefore they will be able to inspire their countrymen, as well as to initialize events for an entire nation on their own.
Guild reputation has been added as well – it reflects all meaningful actions taken by the guild members, rising when they fight the enemy warbands, claim lands or develop structures under the control of the motherland. On the other hand, oppressing the countrymen and, in future, waging wars against the ally guilds will have a negative impact on the guild’s image.
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New bosses have been added as well – the tough individuals of the numerous species of animals, which were inhabiting the primeval, medieval forests, such as bears, wolves or aurochs. They impress with their age and size and their hides are required to craft brand new unique items, which will be a great reward for any hunter who manages to slay any of those.
Moreover, the available world has become 25% larger, introducing new vast areas for either newcomers and more experienced players. These lands will soon be filled with numerous bandits camps and outposts held by deserters, as well as new challenging event chains. This expansion will make it possible to handle more players when Gloria Victis finally moves to Steam Early Access, which is going to happen within the next few months.
There are also two massive islands placed North to Stoneholm, where the players exiled for criminal behaviour will be respawning in isolated penalty camps until they earn enough positive reputation. As long as they are exiled, they have no access to the storage chest or vendors, except the ones from an unguarded inn located in the wilderness, where another players can attack them at any time.
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Locations surrounding the starter towns have been filled with points of interest, such as camps inhabited by various groups of NPC enemies, including outcasts, poachers or Midlandic partisans who try to push back the Ismirean raiders. The latter are also a part of a new event chain designed for the new players, in which they attack the Mereley fort. With these changes, newcomers will be smoothly guided through the first hours of playing, so that learning the core gameplay mechanics will become much easier.
Expansion of the world has also introduced the completely reworked Mereley – main town of Ismirs – which has turned into a massive wooden fort, plundered village and calm fishing docks. In total, the entire town is now more than three times larger, greatly improving the experience of newcomers.
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Combat system has also been greatly improved, increasing dynamics of the encounters. Basing on the players feedback, the input latency has been reduced. The powerbar loading times are now synchronizing with the actual animations of attacks. Players can also perform quick attacks, which, despite being much weaker, can be a very useful technique in hands of an experienced player. Bowshooting mechanics has also been modified, so distance of the flight of arrow depends on the bow’s draw power – thanks to this archery became even more skill-based!
The perfect blocking mechanics has been added as well. When a player times their parry properly, blocked attacks will drain reduced amount of stamina, but being obviously late or holding parry for a long time will effect in higher stamina cost. This change rewards the player’s skill even more, however the learning curve hasn’t been significantly increased.
Overall progress done on development of Gloria Victis in March is an impressive success – a milestone achieved on the way to Gloria Victis launch on Steam, which is going to happen within the next few months. Be prepared!
