Hello Paxians,

The development team recently gathered for a dedicated Question and Answers session with the players, focused on Verse 3 – Path of the Adventurer. To make sure you don’t miss any of the key takeaways, we’ve compiled a detailed, topic-by-topic summary covering the most important insights, updates, and behind-the-scenes perspectives shared during the discussion.

Whether you're curious about upcoming features, design decisions, or the vision behind this new chapter, you’ll find everything you need right below.

Verse 3 Q&A with the devs - Recap

Verse 3 wipe

• Relics return: For non-unique relics, you will get back exactly what was used in the original item.
• Gear materials: Gear will be broken down into raw resources during the wipe. This includes items that will be removed with Verse 3.
• Unique relics: These will disappear entirely. Faction relics remain and can still be used.
• Resources: Steel gear converts to pure iron. Any raw material harvested stays intact.
• Items at 0 durability: These will also return their base materials.
• Resource refunds: General policy is that materials are returned in their base form during the transition.

Gear & armor

• Movement speed: Armor types do not passively affect movement speed. Speed boosts come only from spells (e.g., foot-slot buffs), and these are temporary.
• Armor quality levels: Common, Uncommon, and Rare are the tiers available.
• Threat mechanics: Threat is influenced by damage, specific stats (on heavy armor and shields), and abilities. Both spells and weapon specials can increase threat.
• Crowd Control (CC):
  • CC Power on tank gear makes effects like stun last longer.
  • CC Resistance reduces the duration of incoming CC.

• Armor types: Chain and Plate are both classified as Heavy Armor. Choice is mostly about material cost.
  
• Helmet visibility: No option to hide helmets in Verse 3. We plan to add it later, possibly with PvP exceptions (i.e., others may still see it).
  
• Dye system: Not in Verse 3. It is planned for the future, but time constraints prevented implementation.
  
• Physical resistances: All physical resistances (slash, pierce, blunt) are now unified into a single Physical Defense stat. The original types still exist under the hood for future use.
  
• Tanking: Tanks will be able to hold aggro on multiple mobs if supported by a healer.
  
• Durability: Durability will not be increased. You will still need 2 or more gear sets for longer hunting sessions.
  
• Gathering gear: Discussed internally, but it is not part of Verse 3.
  

Weapons & combat

• Item Power system: Item Power affects all stats and scales with item tier (+100 per tier), quality (+100 per quality level), and relevant skill (+100).
• Weapon switching: Still incurs a cooldown. No exemptions or changes planned for now. Bow functionality as a pull tool will eventually be adjusted.
• Zweihander: Not returning soon. The Great Sword model has been resized instead.
• Solo viability: Not all weapon/armor combinations are suitable for solo play. Some roles (e.g., tank/healer) are designed for groups.
• Animations: Most weapon skills use new animations; only a few reuse existing ones.
• Gathering tools: Require skill levels to equip. There are no sub-specializations.
• Damage scaling: Player skill level increases item power, which directly influences damage output.
• Weapon cooldowns: Default layout uses Q (short cooldown), R/F (longer cooldowns).
• Dual wielding: Might be added later, but only as fixed sets (e.g., “Dual Axes”). No plans for freeform dual-wielding.
• Skill progression: Combat skills can only be leveled by killing PvE enemies in Verse 3.
• Bow usage: Bows are good for hunting now. Ranger-style abilities and bow-specific specials are planned for a future update.
• Movement during combat: Characters move during attacks but cannot move freely until the attack animation finishes.

Skills, abilities & Grace

• Stamina bar: Only appears when stamina is not full.
• Ability canceling: Weapon specials are fully committed once activated. You cannot cancel or fake them currently. This may change in the future for some abilities.
• Grace & Miracles: No new Grace or Miracle content in Verse 3. These systems will be expanded later as part of broader social gameplay.
• Dodge system: A traditional dodge ability is not planned. Developers want group tactics over reflex-based mechanics. If dodge is ever added, it will have a long cooldown (20/30 sec).

Magic & spells

• New spell types: Divine Orb is a new healing projectile that requires manual aiming.
• Consecrated Ground: Reworked; now provides defensive benefits but no longer generates threat.
• DPS spells: No major damage spells in Verse 3. They are planned for future versions.
• Pilgrim’s Fire: Removed in Verse 3. Similar offensive spells will return as weapon specials later.
• Grace transfer: Not possible and Grace will remain non-transferable.

PvP & Lyonesse

• PvP experience: Killing players does not provide combat XP.
• PvP design: Abilities were balanced with both PvP and PvE in mind.
• PvP zone: PvP remains restricted to Lyonesse in Verse 3.
• Dueling: Dueling is a desired feature but not yet implemented. No ETA.
• Lyonesse 2.0: In development. Will offer unique rewards to increase PvP participation.
• Current Lyonesse map: No changes to layout in Verse 3.
• Resource incentives: Pure iron is now more abundant in Lyonesse. High-tier resource respawn timers encourage gathering there.
• Skill use in PvP: All armor/weapon skills are usable except Mesmerize, Haunting Memories, and Pacify.

PvE, dungeons & loot

• Forts & ruins: Increased number, especially in Home Valleys. Respawn times may still be tuned.
• Group composition: Balanced around 1 tank and 1 healer. Players may discover more efficient setups.
• Cave updates: Slight spawn/difficulty updates; lighting and utility improvements ongoing.
• Boss mechanics: Not in Verse 3. Foundations for future dungeon content are in place.
• Named NPCs: Now reliably drop unique relics.
• Dungeon maps: No in-dungeon maps are planned.
• Loot system: Remains unchanged in Verse 3. Further balancing is planned.
• XP gains: Higher-tier and veteran mobs give more XP. Veteran enemies are group-oriented.

Clans & group features

• Clan roles: No expanded roles in Verse 3, will come later.
• Party visibility: Marking groups for visibility is on the QOL wishlist but not coming in Verse 3.
• XP bonus: Group XP scales with group size and enemy tier (especially veterans).
• Clan emblems: No new emblems or uses added in Verse 3, but planned for future updates.

Mobs & camps

• Mob rebalance: All NPCs have been rebalanced for health, damage, and difficulty.
• Named vs Bosses: Verse 3 adds named NPCs with relic drops. No true boss entities with phase mechanics yet.
• Solo experience: Small ruins and caves now explicitly support solo/duo play. Larger camps and dungeons are for groups.
• Zebian cultists: Receiving visual updates. More variety and improvements planned for later.
• Damage scaling: Enemy power increases by tier (1-4) and type (normal/veteran).
• Bear hunting: Bears are tougher but still soloable with good gear.

Resources & economy

• Upcycling: Wrought iron and impure iron can now be smelted back to pure iron (resource-intensive).
• Economy rework: More materials are used across all tiers, reducing obsolescence.
• Node spawning: Static spawn blocking fixed. Nodes and animals now reposition if obstructed or overbuilt.
• Stack sizes: We acknowledge this needs work; no changes yet.

Crafting

• Healing staves: Crafted via weaponsmithing.
• Crafting rarity: Determined by rare materials. No mastercrafting bonuses in Verse 3 yet.
• Recycling: Planned for the future but not in Verse 3.
• Skinning tools: Higher-quality knives offer faster results. Still being balanced.
• Cooking: Carcass yields and recipes have been rebalanced.
• Consumables: Minimal changes in Verse 3; full overhaul planned later.
• Crafting range: No ability to craft from nearby/plot chests. No plans to add this.
• Solo crafting access: Higher-tier gear can be learned and crafted solo with PvE materials.
• Enchanting: Planned as a future profession; not in Verse 3.

Audio, graphics and performance

• UE update: Verse 3 is not on UE 5.5, but asset streaming and server transitions improved.
• Audio: New ambient music, clearer mixing, better spell/NPC sounds. Work continues post-Verse 3.
• FSR support: Disabled due to crash issues; devs are still investigating.
• Performance: Significant improvements in NPC streaming and rendering stability.

World & map

• Wildlands & Home Valleys: World reshaped to add more Home Valleys, slightly reducing Wildlands.
• Terrain features: Large trees remain. Terrain is gentler with fewer steep cliffs.
• Water features: Ponds added. No creeks or flowing water yet.
• Map changes: Only Kerys and Merrie swapped. No changes to Ancien/Inis Gallia.
• Citadel: Remains closed. Content will be revealed in the future.
• Trees respawning inside plots: trees on plots still appear. Plot setting to suppress them planned.
• Construction bugs: Known issues like the “4-plot square hole” are not fixed in Verse 3, but will be later.
• Mountains: Still present, though slightly softened.

Travel & mounts

• Fast Travel: Remains unchanged. Petra Mea is the only travel point.
• Plot teleportation: Not available and not planned, but related systems are in early development.
• Mounts & travel gear: Horses and carts are not in Verse 3. Planned for future updates.

Building & furnitures

• Lighting/Decor: No new decor or lights in Verse 3, but assets (e.g., sconces, clutter) are being created for later.
• Granite foundations: Available with Verse 3.
• Limestone pieces: Released with Verse 3.
• Building rotation: No vertical rotation planned.
• Animal farms & pets: Desired but no ETA.

Market System

• Buy orders: Planned but not in Verse 3.

Food & consumables

• Food effects: Foods still offer specific defenses, though their effectiveness was slightly reduced.
• Balance pass: Full food and potion rework is planned but not included in Verse 3.

Miscellaneous

• First-Person camera: Might come for building only. No plans for full first-person gameplay.
• Lore content: No new books/scrolls yet, but the framework is being laid for future narrative expansion.
• Night time: Slightly darker in forests due to denser foliage. General night lighting remains unchanged.
• Fantasy setting: The world is low-fantasy inspired by Game of Thrones. Magic exists but must be discovered. There are no fantasy races like elves.
• Haircuts: No option to change hairstyle in Verse 3; not planned for now.
• Swimming/Diving: Swimming is simple and meant for navigation (e.g., reaching islands). Diving is not supported, and no plans for it yet.
• Keybindings: Most gameplay keybindings are rebindable. UI keybindings may not be fully configurable yet.