Playable Worlds will have another Stars Reach playtest this weekend, and the team is sharing how testing is expanding to start including some game features and systems. This time, skills, exploration and combat related.
In the previous tests, the focus was mostly on stability and scaling, in addition to testing features in isolation. They've learned enough from performance testing to begin introducing some features and systems slowly to see how they interact and of course, if they work well.
Stars Reach won’t have classes, it will have a skills-based progression system with professions. While there was a paver tool in a prior test, there wasn't really crafting as most of us know it. That tool would have needed skills from the Civil Engineering profession to use. Learning one can unlock others, and will be up how you want to play, and some of these professions will complement each other. The devs want to open up possibilities.
This weekend's test will let participants test limited parts of the Ranger tree: camping and surveying. The full Ranger tree has five different planned connected professions, with the others being cartography, orienteering, concealment, and wilderness survival. Yet camping and surveying will be very important, especially early.
The devs are warning to get ready to die, because they're intentionally making the creatures aggressive and challenging. Camping means you can start creating bases, so if (or when) you do die, you won't have to start at the beginning of the planet again. The other part of the tree in the test will be surveying, with some of these skills available. You'll also want a camp so that you can start going out to map out the planet and have a safe place to return to.
You will be able to survey but you won't be able to share data points just yet, although when the game is out knowledge will be valuable and tradeable. starting with these Ranger skills is important because they are also evaluating exploration as a potential playstyle to support on its own. Those of us who love exploration are certainly paying attention.
The full devblog goes into some details Some of the skill trees and professions and how they might interact, as well as more details about this weekend's play test and what you'll see if you join.
Stars Reach is still welcoming potential testers into its pool over at the official site.
