March 24, 2015

Server Rewrite Update: Combat

Monster Skills, Class Rebalancing, and More!

Alongside the weekly release updates and the other backend projects we're working on, Yorumi made a LOT of progress on the server re-write while I was on vacation last week! He is 70% done porting over the combat system, and 30% done with Phase 1 overall. Staff-only testing of the new combat system is scheduled to begin next week. We're still on track for a player-driven PTR server in September!

Yorumi says:

In the staff testing, we'll be checking to make sure the existing systems all work. Porting combat to the new server will also include some upgrades, which will need thorough testing, too:

• Monsters will get a working AI: they'll use HP, MP, and have indidivual skills and targeting
• General balancing because of changes to the stat system
• Testing to make sure each skill still functions as intended
• War meters will count monster kills directly. No need to turn in quests.

We will NOT testing a possible rank 7 skill yet; that is something the team wants to add in for Phase 2 (which cannot start until after Phase 1 is complete).

Server Rewrite Progress Chart

So that we all have a clear idea of where the server rewrite progress is at, we'll use server rewrite version numbering (SRV) and phases.

Phase 1: Porting the existing game over to proprietary server software (that we built ourselves. This is what Oversoul currently runs on).

Phase 2: Updating core game functionality on AQW 2.0. 

Phase 2 is where we're planning to make the changes you guys want - the buyback shop, better PVP and guilds functionality, bank item previews, friends list syncing, adding rank 10 passives to new classes, cross-server chat, better anti-bot and reporting functionality and more.

• SRV 0 - research begins
• SRV 0.01 - server architecture meeting with Zhoom
• SRV 0.02 - staff-only test of new combat system
• SRV 0.6 - full working Alpha stage
• SRV 0.8 - player live-test on PTR
• SRV 1.0 - full launch of Server Rewrite, Phase 1

Right now, we are less than a week away from the staff-only test of the new combat system. With the current calculations, we expect SRV 0.8 (the player live-test PTR) to begin in September. 

Reminder: Personal Buyback Shop in Phase 2

We've been getting a lot of questions about the personal buyback shop. The goal is to let players get back AC items they had sold or lost. The way we would do that is by reading your account history - the AC purchase log - and putting only those items into your personal buyback shop.

That means no rare items would be returning. You - and you alone - would regain access to only the items you had previously purchased. There will need to be restrictions on this so it cannot be abused, and we do not have finalized details on what items would be eligible, what price you would need to pay to buyback the items, or what kind of wait period would be required.

Because this functionality is so far out (we need to finish all of Phase 1 first), we've got plenty of time to plan the best way to meet the goals while addressing many of your concerns. We'll announce more details about this and other Phase 2 functionality additions as we get closer to the release date.

Keep an eye on the Design Notes for future progress updates! Give us your feedback on the Artix.com Design Notes post!