Greetings, creatures of the night!
We hope you’ve survived the winter frost and long nights as well as us. The crypts at Stunlock Studios have been as busy as ever, our plans unfolding within the dusty depths to our sinister excitement. You have been quite patient with us, and perhaps we should reward that patience with a nugget of knowledge to fill the dark months with hope for the coming year. Before we begin, thank you all for the overwhelmingly positive response to the big console reveal during State of Play. We're thrilled to welcome a new audience to the world of V Rising, and delighted to offer elder vampires and new kin alike the opportunity to immerse themselves on your TV or experience it with the newly introduced gamepad support on your PC.
It's time to discuss a topic that players have been frequently requesting ever since first setting boot on the untamed soil of Vardoran. Players have long since been asking for more options in player expression, from a need to show your unique slaying style to a desire to specialize your gear with more focused and themed stats to match your combat preferences. From the decadent countesses to the ghoulish necromancers, you’ve wanted to show what makes your Vampire unique from your distinguished peers. In today’s update, we delve into the practicals, visuals, and aesthetics of everything equippable!
Early concept art for what would become the Bloodmoon Armor set.
To Go Even Further Beyond
As we’ve mentioned in earlier blogs, the full release of V Rising has us looking at the end of the player journey in the world of Vardoran. Rising to face the greatest foe to date, the ultimate rival, you’ll need every edge you can get. That means advancing beyond what we were once capable of and finding innovative means to conquer the threats swarming in from realms beyond.
Tapping into ancient powers and unlocking their secrets, we’ll craft an entirely new tier of armor and weapons to elevate yourself into feeling your true mastery of the Vampire arts. This is the apex of your journey, and it should feel that way. For this reason, we’re adding a higher equipment tier and adjusting the sets and rarities of the later equipment to give a smooth and satisfying progression.
In addition to obtaining higher tiers of armor, legendary weapons will undergo comprehensive rebalancing across three tiers. This update also introduces a groundbreaking tier of artifacts, featuring specific and distinctive weapons for each weapon type. These weapons won’t just be unique in their names and statistics, but they’ll entirely modify the way you play with advanced weapon skills.
There’s some potential here.
… but wait, there’s more!
Endgame PvP battles often involve competition for the Shards, buildings you can place in your castle and provide powerful stats and buffs to friendly Vampires who attune to these powerful monuments. To get ahold of one of these coveted items, a properly prepared Vampire needs to acquire them from powerful top tier V Blood Bosses or steal it from another Vampire’s stronghold.
So, why are we talking about the shards in this lovely update all about equipment if they’re a bunch of fancy buildings?
It’s because they’re not buildings anymore.
Shards will now be a necklace item with powerful stats and buffs and will also provide a unique ultimate ability that overwrites your currently equipped one. On a PvP server or server with the appropriate settings, this necklace will be one-of-a-kind! That means to use it, you’ll have to risk it. There will also be a running timer on the shard, and recharging it will require going out into the world and replenishing its energy at events that spawn in the final zone. It’s our hope that this encourages a more active and exciting experience for everyone while also providing interesting perks and innovative gameplay for Vampires who like to play it a bit more friendly. You might not like PvP, but you probably DO like a novel piece of gear with exciting abilities!
One possibility for a new shard ability.
The Vampire Court: Knights, Warlocks, and Assassins
So, we’ve heard you!
You've made it clear: you want to fully embody your Vampire fantasy in V Rising. Many of you have pointed out that sometimes, the night stalker you view yourself as isn't quite reflected in the world of Vardoran. It's not just about looks; it's about gameplay too. Some of you thrive on spell-slinging, others prefer the art of hit-and-run tactics, and then there are those who throw themselves into the fray and hammer enemies into a bloody pulp. Entirely valid! In fact, beautiful, you deserve to be the bloodsucker of your dreams.
Names, UI, and Icons are all subject to change.
As part of the equipment overhaul, every other tier of armor has been expanded. In fact, we’ve added four armor sets with unique stats and appearances for every second tier of armor after bone, represented by the core fantasy archetypes of the primary combat-focused archetypes: brute, warrior, rogue, and scholar. Over the course of your journey, advancing in your crafting will now offer you avenues of specialization. Warrior armor will offer more bonuses to physical damage. Scholar armor will offer more spell damage, and so on.
With 10+ new armor sets, you'll be more effective in your combat specialty and look even better doing it!
Concept art for one of the rogue-themed armor sets.
Infinite Impeccable Inspirations
Ah, perhaps even with all these shiny new armor sets, you're still feeling limited. Maybe you aren’t comfortable being put inside of a box, and your unique flair is something we couldn't have foreseen in our plethora of styles and options. Perhaps you enjoy mixing and matching sets, or your sinister warlock spellcaster prefers a stylish coat like a duelist's rather than a flowing satin robe. Do you dress in devilish reds, garish greens, or stick to the timeless elegance of pitch black?
Fear not, nightkin! It's time to cast off those shackles and embrace your freedom!
UI elements and color palettes may not be final, but this should give you an idea of the functionality of the system.
The equipment menu has been changed dramatically and now has a collapsible section attached to each armor piece. In this new section, there is a slot where you can place any armor piece, which will overwrite the appearance of anything you’re wearing currently. In this same menu, you’ll find a host of color palettes (currently 31 in total).
Here are just a few early examples of possibilities.
Go to war as a vicious death knight, or elegant moonlight warleader.
Mix magics as a devilish warlock or an arcane scholar.
Play the daring duelist or the rakish rogue.
Or you can wear nothing at all. Much of this UI is still under development.
Getting the Light Just Right
If you have particularly keen eyes, you might notice some subtle differences in the overall quality of the way the game looks. That’s because we’ve had a massive update to our lighting system! Time to crack open those vampire brains to take in a little technical art talk. Here’s a little peek behind the curtain and what it means for the overall look of V Rising!
Before, we relied on the "atmospheric scattering" of the sky for ambient lighting. This meant that you would encounter a bit of awkwardness here and there, like the inside of your castle being affected by the morning sun and nighttime gloom. We now rely on premade ambient lighting data that we blend in and out depending on time of day and the player's position. This gives the environments more suitable lighting and helps ground objects in the scene. It's also more lightweight than the previous system, saving on those precious frames per second!
That moonlight feeling.
The changes also have a big effect on the way materials are displayed, which is most noticeable in the textures of metallic objects. While it doesn’t allow for perfect reflections, we can simulate much more realistic-looking metal. Combined with all the new armor sets, this unlocks a whole other layer of appreciation for your fresh Vampire wardrobe.
So shiny.
The Night Fast Approaches
With the winter solstice behind us and the days growing longer, one might be mistaken for thinking the days of the Vampire are behind us… and we will, this once, forgive that ignorance. 2024 will be dense with delight, and this has been only the beginning of what is looking to be the most promising year for V Rising yet! Look forward to the 1.0 update, currently planned to drop sometime in the second half of Q2.
We look forward to uncovering more mysteries of Vardoran with you soon, and as always, you can get a little closer to the crypt walkers here at Stunlock by following us on all our socials down below.
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Lots of love and a pint of blood,
/The Marketing Team