DevNote #3

Developer Update—Equipment Optimization and Upgrades
Greetings, Gyldhunters! This is our third Developer Update, and this time, we'll be focusing primarily on equipment-related optimizations, adjustments, and development progress. Before we dive into the main content, we have an announcement: future Developer Updates will focus on specific major content areas, while smaller updates and optimizations will be shared through more efficient, bite-sized videos and posts within the community. Do let us know what you think about this new approach!
Regarding equipment system adjustments, the first major optimization focus is on separating equipment and affixes, which used to be bound together. You can now freely and flexibly adjust equipment affixes by socketing "Affix Gems" into your gear, allowing you to build your own custom builds.
Affix Gems can currently hold up to 2 affixes and have both levels and types, both of which determine whether the gem can be installed into an equipment socket. On one hand, the equipment socket level must be greater than or equal to the Affix Gem level. On the other hand, the gem and equipment socket must be of the same type. Both conditions must be met for socketing to be possible. However, there is one special socket type that ignores type restrictions and can accommodate any type of Affix Gem.
Currently, Affix Gems can appear as drops for players to find and loot from defeated enemies; they can drop alongside weapons and equipment, or appear with any forged equipment. Affix Gems themselves have no durability, but when the equipment they're socketed into reaches zero durability, the Affix Gem's effects will also be disabled.


The second optimization focus is on the in-game forging system. Our optimization direction this time aims to repurpose the forging system into a welfare system for players. From now on, forging will no longer consume Gyldenblod. Instead, equipment can be forged by spending materials and time—IRL time. This means the forge continues working even when you're offline! This change is aimed to satisfy hardcore players' progression needs while keeping equipment production frequency through extended forging times. This is to avoid the situation from the last test where the forging system led to major dysfunctions in the equipment trade market.
Additionally, the forging system's equipment output levels, time consumption, and other settings will be better fleshed-out and will be affected by Camp building levels. We've also made the Spirit Blacksmith the NPC for the forging system and given him more interaction options, including the ability to socket and unsocket Affix Gems (rest assured, you can still perform gem socketing in the Inventory/Warehouse!), further improving game immersion.

The third optimization is the addition of Equipment Standard Vouchers. This feature is aimed to make comebacks less excruciating for players who have to restart from zero, and to help players who don't want to bother with build optimization to quickly jump into battle. Equipment Standard Vouchers can be directly exchanged for a complete set of equipment and items. Currently, there are, tentatively, 4 basic types of Standard Voucher—Common, Refined, Excellent, and Epic—which correspond to different quality levels of equipment and items. Apart from the standard ones, there is 1 special type of voucher: Custom Vouchers, which will be distributed when we're promoting specific game modes or maps.
The Equipment Standard Voucher system creates a playstyle variation: After using a Standard Voucher, you can spend Gyldenblod to refresh the build style of the equipment set. As you switch between equipment builds, the system will give different recommendations for your skill/talent loadouts to maximize the efficiency of your build. Of course, you can also choose to ignore the suggestions and adjust your loadout according to your own knowledge. In the future, Standard Vouchers will become available through missions or from new buildings added to the Camp.
Note that after using an Equipment Standard Voucher, you will first need to complete a game and successfully extract using the set before the equipment set truly belongs to you. Then you can begin customizing your build. Before then, all customization options will be locked.

That concludes the major equipment-related optimizations we're currently going for. We will also be making balance adjustments to individual equipment stats based on overall combat performance in the future. Additionally, we've taken community feedback to heart and implemented an equipment return feature between friends. If you extract equipment dropped by a friend during a game, it will automatically be returned to your teammate via mail. This is a huge win for groups of friends playing together! Of course, if your teammates' equipment durability drops because of your actions, they will be receiving the worn equipment by the time you extract, so beware! (We do not recommend giving your friends unnecessary surprises with this feature!)

Regarding new equipment, we will be adding Legendary sets for all classes in the next test. Each class's Legendary set has its corresponding lore and set name: the Mercenary's [Champion Set], the Sorcerer's [Sacred Chamber Set], the Blackarrow's [Scaled Claw Set], the Shadowstrix's [Deathbringer Set], and the Seer's [Holy Saint Set]. We'll gradually release the related lore in the community.

(Mercenary - Bond of Rivalry, Mercenary - Skullcrusher, Sorcerer - Blind Eye Staff, Shadowstrix - Serpent's Whisper, Shadowstrix - Venomfang, Blackarrow - Deathclaw Hunter, Seer - Byrnes's Ash Urn, Seer - Absolution)
Please note: All names are tentative and are subject to change!

We also have even higher-tier equipment in development. These pieces not only possess powerful abilities, but are also strongly connected to bosses, such as the following sets (Please note: These are conceptual designs only, not final products. Subject to change! ):


That's all we have today for the developer update on in-game equipment! Let us know what you think in the comments section, or raise out any questions you may have! We'll respond to hot topics!