The Age of Darkness/The Final Light [4/13/2020]

Ascensions And You

One of the most major changes from past Jessewipes is the structure of ascensions. Before, they were seemingly random, each race having a different number of ascensions and offering different tiers of power. However, after a rework to the system, there now exists a uniform 7 ascensions for every race. This means that progression is now far more streamlined, consistent, and easier to control.

What does this mean?

Well, I’m going to try a more proactive approach in enabling and rewarding people where I unlock their ascensions early or other things of that nature without them having to ask. While you can still apply, newer or lesser known players who do not generally do well with applications will have a chance at attaining their ascensions earlier than they otherwise would. Players who perform certain actions, such as being proactive during (or in causing) events, or have interesting rivalries, will be very likely to have these ascensions unlocked early. I intend for this system to heavily prioritize newer and lesser known players, and function as encouragement more so than it does a judgment of merit. 

This also means that player antagonists will be rewarded in a more straightforward, balanced way. Up and coming player antagonists will be given one ascension above the current curve, and as they become more prolific, they may be given two or even three ascensions above everyone else. This is something that you should apply for.

And, to give players a chance to establish their characters as an antagonistic figure, there will be a soft ban on killing for the first week of the wipe. I say "soft" because, while you will not require permission to kill someone, as someone who is acting really, really stupid should get their comeuppance, there is a very high chance that these deaths will be reversed.

"Earlier"?

Yes. At some points during the wipe, which will usually be defined by story thresholds, each ascension tier will be automatically unlocked for everyone who does not already have it, allowing players to gradually catch up to those who have had their tiers unlocked early.

And as far as transformations go...?

Further information on those will come at a later date.

Progression, Augments, And You

While tier S are likely not going to be phased out entirely, there will be significantly less of a focus on them in this wipe and any theoretical future wipes. Buff augments are basically the "replacement" to tier S; they are buffs that enhance any of the standard buffs and sometimes even carry special effects. In terms of raw power, they are roughly comparable to, if not slightly weaker than, tier S in their final forms (with some exceptions). You attain them on the skill tree, spending 500 RPP to purchase them once your ascension level is 4 or higher. You may also apply to obtain them early. Several old buffs will be re-purposed into augments, and almost every buff that was preciously application only will become publicly available, pending rebalancing.

Here are a few examples, but any of these effects are subject to change:

Alacrity
An augment to Focus. Boosts the user's speed and force. When the user drops below 30% health, it boosts both their power up rate and power up drain by 20%.

Nerves of Steel
An augment to Expand. Negates the speed loss from using Expand and boosts your endurance and resistance by a small amount, but makes your anger trigger at 35% instead of 50%.

The elemental buffs will be given two branching paths, as well: A Blessing and a Rampage. While the actual names will vary, they will all follow the same basic structure: Blessing buffs offer smaller boosts and increase your mana recovery rate, whereas rampage buffs will offer higher boosts but drain your mana. You will also be able to purchase extra max mana as a passive, allowing yourself to better build around these buffs and magic in general.

So how will we get RPP, Jesse???
This might be the most important part of the post, so I decided to make it BIG, BOLD, and COMIC SANS. I will be implementing an automatic reward system that will grant you RPP upon hitting certain character and post count thresholds. While I might expand it into a full-on level system where you can better customize both your stats and skills, I am not sure how such a system will impact the pace and feel of DBR and would rather implement it for something comparatively small first to see how it plays out. And unlike a certain other game owner a lot of us know, 'might' does not mean 'I will definitely do this thing and there's nothing any of you can do to change my mind, as the bad influences whispering in my ear have more weight to me than all of the rest of you put together.'

Players will also be given a certain amount of RPP upon their ascension tier going up. While numbers are subject to change, I'm thinking I'll go with 250 per ascension level.

This part is just an aside because I haven't fully hashed the details out yet, but I will also be greatly expanding the available skill options on the tree, too. Not just buffs.

Stay tuned for more information.