Kings And Queens

Gather round citizens of Mercia, today we have a special reveal for you:

“KINGS AND QUEENS”

A massive content update is heading for Mercia and should be arriving in the next few weeks. Ready yourselves for a large variety of new content, including new enemies, weapons, buildings, items as well as new features and most importantly a new profession (Royalty).

Here's a full breakdown of what to expect in the coming weeks:

NOBILITY SYSTEM

There has always been something off about having to die to switch to another profession. Originally we wanted players to be able to switch profession whenever they wanted however this caused big issues with balancing the game...until now with our new nobility system.

Nobility points are gained by cleansing plague sources, ending the lives of infected people, rescuing prisoners and surviving the day in Mercia. Beware on your travels as death now carries a price as you will now incur a 5% loss of nobility.

Nobility can be used to purchase sought-after items from Town Earls, however it is more importantly spent on becoming any profession that you have unlocked. You can now also switch profession at anytime, keeping your XP/Skill Point progression as well as any items you had on you. Becoming the beggar requires 0 nobility but all others have a cost, the most expensive and most desirable being the new “King/Queen” profession.

Here's a more detailed example of nobility cost for professions.

KING/QUEEN PROFESSION

Kings/Queens are unlocked once the player has reach level 10 in all professions and is willing to part with 1000 nobility points. As a King/Queen you can earn double nobility points and gain access to an exclusive utility that has a wide range of royal craftable items, giving a distinct advantage to your guilds Kingdom. The high nobility point cost for this profession makes for a tense experience and in turn brings a whole new dynamic to The Black Death. Killing royalty means a great deal, you will want to protect your King/Queen for the good of your guild! Use your time wisely as King/Queen to earn as much nobility as possible to ensure your royal lineage continues.

PERSISTENT ATTRIBUTES

We will be adding new attributes to the game such as “Nobility” (the ability to gain more nobility from certain actions) but more importantly we will be making the attribute points system more persistent.

Now when you die you will only lose 3 attribute points from randomly chose attributes instead of a complete wipe. With this we keep death fairly punishing whilst prevent high level players slaying the weak risk free. We are also re-balancing the cost and amount of levels that you will be able to reach (looking at around 25 levels per attribute).

TOWN HALL & BARRACKS

We are continuing to expand the variation of NPCs that can be rescued, with plans to include some found in the infection zone. We also want to give the player the ability to customise them before placing them within their kingdom. The new town hall and barracks will act as a training grounds to upgrade NPCs to something more catered to your needs. Want a baker? No problem, build a town hall and speak to your newly recruited mayor, supply him with a peasant (contract) and turn them into something more useful. Want a bigger more deadlier guard? Why not visit your barracks and speak to the captain about improving your soldiers ability to defend. These utility buildings will provide a new range of NPCs unseen before such as crossbowman, plague doctors and carpenters.

CONTENT

Here at SIG, we realise that keeping The Black Death alive and kicking requires new content for players to encounter but also allows us to get closer to our goal of making the world a more filling/long lasting experience. So over the next few weeks we will continue to expand the A.I. system with new variations, implement weapons to loot and craft and of course expand Mercia with new areas to explore. Soon The Black Death will feel even bigger and more enjoyable than before so thank you everyone for your time with us and we look forward to bringing you this revolutionary new update.