Varlyndria: Ascension - Coming Summer 2013

[Drakiyth]

Ascension is the ultimate upgrade to Varlyndria that will change the game forever in a better and more balanced direction. The elimination of the level grind will be very popular among the changes and the fact that level 80 is min/max forever means development to get everything perfect on balance is going to be much easier. No more pets being OP at early levels, no more scaling problems.. Everything will be on a even playing field and progression will be gear, vses and AA points only, which will give players a much more enjoyable experience. Players will be able to simply join in on the fun with other players without worry of being low level. This will encourage grouping and getting a guild right out of the box. Also with the new guild NPC players can simply join the default guild now if they enjoy a more solo role but want some guild benefits.


STORY
The Gods are slowly fading and dying off and their power has leaked down into the mortal plane because of it. All creatures in Norrath, Luclin and even the planes have grown into super versions of themselves, reaching their peak at an early stage of life. Varlyndria has new threats coming in at all angles now with creatures being so enhanced and hungry for power. However, the energy of the Old Gods has also imbued the champions of Varlyndria as well.


FEATURES COMING
• Default Guild called Heroes of Varlyndria will be added that all players can join by talking to an NPC.
• More race class combinations. High Elf Shadowknights, Ogre Clerics etc.
• All players start and end at level 80 and cannot lose experience any longer.
• Players do not have to worry about a level grind, they can jump right into progression now.
• A new starting zone where players ascend into the story line will be coming following a nice tutorial to get players started.
• A new organized hub is coming for the Ascended Varlyndrians. New Kelethin is going to be abandoned.
• Spells are balanced towards level 80 and this allows for paths to have a solid balanced spell set now of 6 or more abilities to play with. The power of your spells is of course increased as you get stronger ranks with the Varlyndrian Statistical Enhancement System.
• All mobs in every zone are now level 80 with different power levels. (progression)
• All pets and temp pets are level 80 now and fully balanced.
• 16 New Paths are coming, 1 for each class guild.
• The Path Remover will no longer de-level players.
• AA points are the main source of leveled progression now and players can get many helpful buffs and items this way as well.
• Donation item fixes and revamps and many new additions to the tier system.


RELEASE DATE
April 2013. (The server is going offline for a while until Ascension is ready to launch.)



FAQ

QUESTION: Am I going to lose my stuff with Ascension?
ANSWER: Not at all. Players will be automatically leveled to 80 upon arriving in the new hub. New characters will be automatically leveled to 80 as well.

QUESTION: With everything being level 80 now how are we going to tell where to go first?
ANSWER: The teleporters will have power levels instead of levels now displayed on their names. Example: Power Level 1, Power Level 2 etc etc.

QUESTION: I don't think I've ever seen any mmorpg do this before. Why is everything going to be 80 and no higher?
ANSWER: The fact that there is so much more to progression than just leveling is a big factor. There is also the factor of balancing 100s of pets and temp pets per every few levels that honestly are just passed up quickly. Levels pretty much have no purpose on Varlyndria anymore. They are more annoying than anything else. This new system lets players get right into the action and have fun while still having the Varlyndrian Statistical Enhancement System to upgrade them as they get better gear as well as all the AA points you'll be working on immediately. It allows the devs to not have the burden of level 1 to 79 balancing and get right to the point of end-game focus.

www.varlyndria.com

[Drakiyth]

Starting at level 80 with level 1 mobs running around, sure. That fails. But every single mob in the game is 80 with distinct power levels to determine progression. I could of said every player is level 5 and all mobs are level 5 if I wanted to. The fact is this is not like what other people tried, trust me on that. You'll see when Ascension launches if you're willing to give it a shot. The level 1 through 80 is completely overrated and I'll prove why. Progression can be many things besides leveling. Consider this like a skill system mmorpg now where you don't level but just improve yourself with other means and you're on a balanced playing field right out of the box.


Example of Ascension for a new player: Player creates a character and joins in, he/she starts in the nooby area and is leveled to 80 as soon as she enters. She goes down and talks to NPCs and finds out that level 80 is because she is of ascended power from the gods energy that has leaked into the world but it's only the beginning and some other ascended beings are right at the front lines waiting to attack. You grab some newbie weapons/shield and your power source and head into battle against newbie level 80 mobs that are balanced to fight your gear level. Do you see how that works now? Just because they are 80 doesn't mean anything. Also, experience is going to be modded for certain power level areas. You won't be getting mad AA points in the nooby area but will be later down the road fighting stronger monsters. AA points are vast in Varlyndria and offer the player more options of development than just what EQ gives you. There is a vendor infact that you can spend AA points at and get upgrades.

One thing too I forgot to mention is I will be cutting many spells out of all spell books and just making all spells that are worth while level 80. You won't have hundreds of spells to browse through. It's pointless. On top of BASE class spells there will also be Path spells which can only be cast when you have the charm reagent for that certain path. (this has already been in the server for months).

[Drakiyth]

Just a quick update here: Ascension is actually going to start and end at level 70 not 80. I have decided to do this after many hours of testing and finding out just how buggy some level 71+ spells are.

[Drakiyth]

Here are some screenshots of Ascension and some of the features coming that I recently added to my blog. My goal with Ascension is to get rid of the easy mode laziness of AFKing like old Varlyndria, but reward players who have to work/school/can't play by speeding up their game play when they get home if they stay online with a new point system and consumables they can purchase from a special npc.

ASCENSION UPDATES AND FEATURES COMING

• Updated over 60,000 items to be priced based on each and every stat they have by a point system. There will no longer be finding items with good stats on them that can be traded but have no vendor value.

• Removed NO DROP from almost all items in the game. Only some items still have it, like donator, path and quest items.

• Mobs drop money now based on their HP (This gives 100% balance to the server with risk vs reward now.)
• /100 = Max Copper Dropped
• /200 = Min Copper Dropped

• Removed all focuseffects and worneffects from every item in the game. I will be adding my own to certain pieces of gear but no more being confused on what does what. There will be a detailed chart of worn and focus effects on the website. Every single one of them will be custom and there won't be too many like original EQ which is by far the
most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. They have well over 1000 focus effects alone and I feel it's just pointless to do that when you can organize and categorize certain ones instead of having hundreds of the same type with different names. BLARGH!

• Changed Enhanced Weapon Damage (Old Worn) into Piercing Blow, which is a single target mitigation debuffer
clicky that comes with some items.

• Pet Focus is being removed from the game. With pets being level 70 like their masters it simply just gives them too
much power since they already get VSES.

• VSES (Varlyndria Statistical Enhancement System) is having its numbers revamped on many things to make scaling
with the PR and BPR (Power Ranking and Boss Power Ranking) more balanced.

• All items with stamina now have that value of stamina divided by 6 for agility. Agility will always be extremely low
on items because of the invincibility bug but players can acquire small amounts of it now instead of none of it. Items will never have Heroic Agi as it's far too OP. Players will no longer gain the 150 AGI bonus at the start. Stats will be reset to 5 across the board since players can now gain very small amounts of AGI on items now + their AA points.

• The entire LDON system where players can buy relics is being axed. Ldon costs are going down considerably and players need to run the dungeons to get that gear. I am also going to axe AFKing for money and ldon points.

• There will be a new system added to Toskirakk (the main city in Ascension) that will reward you with a special type
of point called (Dedication Points (DP)) for every 5 minutes you're online. DP can be used to purchase experience potions and other useful consumable items to help you get back into the game faster when you can play again after your long hard day of work or whatever else prevented you from playing. The donation tiers will now offer bonus DP to this system every 5 minutes instead of the older money/ldon points.

[Drakiyth]

Varlyndria: Ascension has been pushed back towards mid May. The server still has tons of work that needs to be finished on it and all 64 (16 are new) of the class paths will now have 6 core abilities each (on separate timers) that make them interesting and fun. My goal here is to deliver a true unique and addicting experience to the emulator community unlike anything before. I am also planning on getting PVP with a reward system of Gladiator Points into Ascension since all 64 paths will be a lot more balanced this time around.


I'll keep you posted as always.


Below is a look at some of the Warrior paths and their abilities in Ascension. All 64 paths will be receiving this treatment on their pages.

http://www.varlyndria.com/warrior.html

[Kavanah]

It's looking good!

[satora54]

Take your time man, it's looking GREAT!

[Thrash!]

Could you talk more about the PvP system being put in place?

[Drakiyth]

The player vs player in Ascension is going to be really cool. Here are some things about it:

• Players will use a special NPC to get to the battle zones, and when they enter the zone they will be placed in a random location.

• Battle zones are not huge, they are all decent sized and fit for PVP.

• A special NPC with a massive amount of HP will spawn in the zone that needs to be killed. This NPC will only spawn WHEN the criteria of players is met in that area. For instance: when 4 players enter that NPC's parameter the NPC will spawn. It's than a Free For All and may the best man or woman win. The NPC its self is not a threat.

• When the NPC is killed the player or team who landed the blow will get Gladiator Points when they loot. Gladiator points can be spent at the Gladiator vendor and there will be many awesome rewards you can buy with them. The items you can purchase will mainly be things like consumables that help with player vs player combat, like scripted items that remove debuffs, snares and fears or healing potions. There will also be armor, weapons and special pets you can buy for a lot of points.

• PVP battle zones are constantly up and running, even if there are no players in it. This will prevent players from zoning back and forth and manipulating the spawn.

• The battle zones have anti-boxing rules and you cannot enter them with more than 1 character per IP address. If you try to enter the zone with your box team, they will be kicked out. This rule was made to encourage fair play.

[Drakiyth]

VARLYNDRIA: ASCENSION - CHANGES (MORE PATHS COULD BE INCLUDED)

After looking at most of the paths over and over again throughout the months I have decided to change some of them
into similar but different versions of themselves with a new name. These paths seemed extremely generic and were getting
difficult to get "into" their design process. Many of these paths will now do some new things and work differently than before.


• Axe Throwers are becoming Marauders


• Star Throwers are becoming Ninjas


• Poisoners are becoming Nightshades


• Snipers are becoming Woodland Archers



More detailed info on these paths will be introduced when I start work on them. I can tell
you this much so far:

MARAUDER: This path will be a combo of Axe Thrower/Melee and Temporary Pets. The story is they are berserkers who
have been raised by the underground evil societies and are all about ravaging, raping and pillaging and use vicious War
Boars which they grew up with down in the pits to aid them in combat.

NINJA: This path will introduce Ninja Swords that monks can use, have some mystic powers along with star throwing.

NIGHTSHADE: This path will be very similar to the old Poisoner, but will have a strange plant twist since
plants produce poisons. They might even be able to throw deadly man-eating plants at their victims. Think Poison Ivy in
batman meets a rogue.

WOODLAND ARCHER: This will be a ranged/pet class. Woodland Archers will be able to summon a powerful animal companion
that helps them deal damage with archery. This is the closest a ranger can get to a hunter in world of warcraft in Varlyndria.



WWW.VARLYNDRIA.COM

[Drakiyth]

The Death Penalty has been officially established.

• Players will lose 20 minutes worth of Dedication Points (20 points if OUTSIDE a pvp zone.)
• Players will lose 20 Gladiator Points (If killed inside a pvp zone.)


PVP rules

• When killing a player in a battle zone they will spawn a spirit with 1 hp. This spirit can be killed for up to 20 Gladiator Points. Drop rate = 50% up to 20 total.
• Boxing/Friends fighting with each other on same IP is absolutely 100% not allowed in Battle Zones and we have scripts that will remove your characters instantly if you try it.


There are new path changes coming to monks.

Dragon Apostles are turning into a hybrid of Tiger Disciple and Dragon
Apostle called the Dragon Disciple with some other cool features, making
them the ULTIMATE hand to hand or staff monk.


Tiger Disciples are changing into the Samurai path. Samurai will use
the same Martial Type Swords as Ninjas but will focus more on melee
combat with Bushido powers.

[Mariomario]

You are putting some serious time and consideration into the changes. Everything is looking rather exciting.

[Drakiyth]

Thank you very much, Mario. This is round 2 in my opinion. The old Varlyndria was my very first server
and now that I have learned a lot more about sql and perl and have had a plethora of help it's time to
show what I really want to do with the Varlyndrian world.


Here are some examples of the system I am using for all 64 paths in Varlyndria: Ascension. I am doing
what I can to make them flavorful and unique from each other, and I strive to bring all of my players
something they can get into that fits their personality. Variety is the spice of life. These paths below
are tested well and ready to go for launch. Check out our website for much more info on other paths
and the server.

NOTE: Pets and Temporary Pets are now scripted (over 160 pets) to scale with their master's charisma.
This includes their spell damage as well.

Varlyndria: Ascension currently does not have an ETA on release. It's done when it's done, as Blizzard Entertainment would say.

www.varlyndria.com

[Drakiyth]

THIS WAS ACTUALLY Disc CD SLOT = 15 and it can be used along with other Bloodthirster attacks.


BLOODTHIRSTER: DESTRUCTIVE RAGE: 16 SEC CD, ENDURANCE COST 640, (Disc CD Slot = 15)
• SPELL SLOT 1: Spell Triggers Added: Unleash 4 brutal swings of your weapon on a target that deals 420
base damage each. Attacks released this way count as their own entities.

[Drakiyth]

Heads up!