Hello Paxians,
We’re excited to introduce the big changes that will be coming to PvP in Pax Dei, starting with Verse 4! Whether you’re a seasoned fighter or just dipping your toes into the world of player combat, here’s everything you need to know about the reworked PvP system: what’s changing, what’s staying, and how you can prepare. All the details and concepts below are still a work in progress, and we’re eager to get your feedback and suggestions to improve them and ensure they suit your gameplay style.
Before we go into details, let’s first talk about where we are and what we aim to achieve.
We know some players hate PvP, some love it and others are in between - if the reward is worth the risk, they’ll do it, but the reward really has to be there and the risk has to be understood. As such, we still think PvP in Pax Dei should be a choice and players should have the ability to opt in, whether that’s through joining a PvP alliance or travelling to a PvP-enabled area in the game.
This brings us to Pax Dei: the peace of the divine mechanic that controls where PvP is available. At the time of writing this blog, the Home Valleys and the Wildlands are protected under Pax Dei and players are safe from PvP mechanics, while Lyonesse is a PvP-enabled forsaken area with no protection. You, as a player, have no control over this… yet. Our goal is to gradually change this over time, introducing elements that make the game more challenging in certain areas while giving you control of Pax Dei through specific mechanics.
The role of PvP in Pax Dei is multi-fold. We want to see the PvP systems result in large alliances being formed, castles being built, and drama unfolding in the field of war and politics, with spies, backstabbing and bribery. Getting to the top leadership positions should be hard work - but also attainable with cunning. A ruler leading the largest army in the game should never have to step on the field of battle if they and their subjects so choose. It’ll take time, but each update will take us closer to this vision.
We also want to create systems that allow competition - and create tension - along multiple axes of the game, not just PvP. Some players should be able to exert physical power, while a rich merchant should be able to use their gold for power.
All of this will result in a game where we hope to see a healthy player-driven economy, where the competition will lead into destruction and demand of goods, enabling those who love the crafting parts of the game to meaningfully participate and feel their work is appreciated. So while this document will detail elements some of you will not want to participate in, our goal is to make a better game for you all.
Let’s jump into a bit more detail on what we’re thinking.
Phase 1 - Verse 4
Lyonesse is becoming much larger. The updated Lyonesse is a full-blown 10x10 km area with 5 zones. Four of the zones are in the corners and contain entry portals, with a central zone in the middle, accessible from all four corners. Each area has PvE sites, with the center being significantly more dangerous than the other areas.
The four corner areas all have a Petra Dei inside them, with a Pax Dei protected area surrounding the Petra Dei. The Petra Dei has all the services you expect, with crafters and storage.
The thinking behind making Lyonesse larger is, as you’ll read below, that there’s a ton of gameplay we’ll be introducing to Lyonesse in subsequent updates, and this requires space. We’ve looked at the extraction gameplay in Lyonesse and with the gameplay that’s landing, the larger area was also warranted to allow players to dip in and out with significant PvP risk - but no guarantee of getting caught each time.
Lyonesse now comes with two new resources only found in the area. Ambergrasp and Canonite are refined using Alchemy and Jewelcrafting and will allow creation of Sanctified Oil, which can be used to Enchant any gear with Item Power, with up to a 125-point boost to the Item Power of the Enchanted item. The enchantment is permanent when applied to the item. The resources can be found on the ground, but are predominantly found as loot on NPCs in the area, and the most lucrative drops will be on NPCs in the central area of Lyonesse.
The goal of this update is to prepare for the future, but also give you a good reason to venture into Lyonesse in search of riches.
Phase 2
While Heartlands in Pax Dei will be sacrosanct and will not be wiped after the game launch, Lyonesse will feature seasons. The rules and gameplay will change in Lyonesse between the seasons, and the first one will likely last 6 months.
The PvP update after Verse 4 will introduce a new mechanism where clans will be able to claim a piece of land in Lyonesse and place plots in the area they’ve claimed. The plots will allow building exactly as if you were in Heartlands, with the distinction that the plot placement is only available to the members of the clan.
The number of spots that can be claimed will be limited. To capture a spot, the clans will have to have access to a new resource to pay for the claim - and upkeep - for the ownership. The resource will be constrained in availability, and clans who want to own land in Lyonesse will be either trading or fighting to get access to it.
Having land in Lyonesse will have huge benefits, bringing safety, storage and crafting to the clan. The claimed spot is likely to act as a respawn shrine for the clan in control of the site, so being in control of a spot next to a good PvE site will be extremely beneficial.
We are looking at improving some plot-level permissions as part of this work to facilitate creation of safe fortresses.
We’re also looking at changing the rules related to death and property. Right now, Pax Dei forces the same rules everywhere across the game world, and the need for corpse runs feels very harsh in the Heartlands. We don’t have final details yet, but it’s likely that going forward you no longer have to make a corpse run after respawning in a Shrine in Home Valleys, but also we’ll likely add a small chance for some stackable items being destroyed and will tune the death damage to any gear with health.
After phase 2
The following features are in the design phase, so the timing, order and exact design might still change, but we wanted to give you a glimpse of where the game is going.
Feudal Houses will allow a Clan to flag itself as a Feudal House, with the Clan leader becoming a Knight. Knights can swear fealty to each other, thus forming a larger alliance, which will affect the PvP flagging of all players in the alliance. We will likely require that the land in Lyonesse can only be controlled by Houses.
Houses are likely to get the means to claim areas outside of Lyonesse as their sphere of influence and gain benefits such as taxation rights in these areas. However, doing this will open the alliance up to war declarations, with the alliance being flagged for PvP also outside of Lyonesse when at war.
Market Towns will change the areas around the Petra Deis in Lyonesse. The areas will stay as safe harbors inside Lyonesse and feature plots that allow building. Where the plots elsewhere in Lyonesse require combat for ownership, the plots in the Market Towns will use economic competition and you will be bidding gold against other players for control of these plots. We’re looking at making these areas central trading hubs and are likely to make changes related to speed travel and resource transportation as the towns come online, but don’t have exact details to share on that yet.
Parishes will allow players to form an alliance to enable a Priest to collect large amounts of Grace. We’re looking at enabling the Priest to not only cast new very expensive Miracles, but also to control Pax Dei with Altars, securing claimed sites in Lyonesse from PvP. We’re also looking at new Positions of Power, where priests can anoint members of the Feudal Houses into new positions.
Get Ready for the New PvP Era
As you can imagine, these updates require quite a lot of work, changes, additions and adjustments, and not everything will be released all at once.
The new era for Pax Dei PvP will start with the new Lyonesse and Enchanting. Following this, we’ll add building in Lyonesse, with more to follow.
Please provide your feedback on Discord, in the dedicated thread.
Whether you’re looking to dominate the battlefield, build an economic empire in a Market Town, or just survive in the wilds, there’ll be something for every PvP player with these changes.
The real fight for Lyonesse will soon begin! 🔥
Bellum vobiscum,
The Mainframe Team