[Threshold] Fall 2016 Content Plan

[Aristotle]

We have a lot of exciting stuff this fall and we wanted to share a bit of it with you.

Aetherial Expansion

• This large-scale, admin run RP storyline continues. By our estimation it has about a month left before a dramatic conclusion.

Demigods

• As hinted at already, we will be introducing demigods into the game. There will be a large number of "lesser" gods that serve under a God (the current type of deities). You will still join the religion of a God. But once you have done that, there will be a process by which you can also follow a demigod.
• Your God can also be your demigod, and it starts out this way.
• Your demigod will be represented on your SCORE sheet and the RELIGION who list.
• There will be actual game mechanic effects related to your demigod choice.

Miracles

• Deities will begin granting their followers the ability to perform miracles appropriate to their domain.
• Miracles will have a long timer and their functionality will be affected by dominance rank.

Deity Heal changes

• The power of Global Deity Heals are now channeled differently.
• Followers of a God benefit from a direct connection to their God.
• For other mortals, the power must first pass through their God before it reaches them.
• As a result, the amount of healing mortals receive depends upon the strength of their god (measured by dominance rank).

Deity Buffs

• Deities will be able to grace mortals with buffs in addition to heals.
• This energy is channeled in the same manner as deity heals.
• The magnitude of the buff you receive is affected by your god's dominance rank.

Exemplars

• Exemplars will no longer be around 100% of the time.
• Exemplars will only be conjured by the Gods for special purposes, events, and challenges.
• There are major lore reasons for this that will be explained during the Aetherial Expansion event.

Clans

• 1 new clan ability per path.
  • Leadership - Regroup - Focus all clanmates in a party to switch focus to caster's, also each person gets a free strike.
  • Soldiers - Solidarity - Passive, all clanmates in a party (must have at least 2) do additional damage via clan spells.
  • Fire - Pillar of Flame - 1 minute AoE fire dot to everyone but clannies (stationary)
  • Air - Pillar of Air - 1 minute periodic buff to all present clannies to critical strike (stationary)
  • Water - Pillar of Water - 1 minute periodic heal to hp/sp/ep to all present clannies (stationary)
  • Earth - Pillar of Earth - 1 minute periodic buff to natural armor class to all present clannies (stationary)

Guilds

• 1 New ROLE RELATED ABILITY per guild. This new ability will help the guild further specialize in their primary role (tanking, healing/support, buffing, debuffing, crowd control, utility, damage, etc).
• 1 New FLAVOR ABILITY per guild. Flavor abilities are the non-combat related abilities that add a lot of personality and charm to your guild.

Hegemony

• 2 new Mystical abilities
  • Sanctuary - make a room no steal, no attack, no teleport, no scry, no eavesdrop, no sneak, and no peek for 1 minute * point
  • Martyrdom - cannibalize one's hp/sp/ep and transform it into damage toward one's foe.
• 2 new Martial abilities
  • Enfeeblement - A tremendous roar that lowers all foes' natural armor class by 5 + point for 1 minute per 2 points.
  • Empowerment - Lay a hand on a friend to increase their armor by 5 + point for 1 minute per 2 points.

More NPC Interaction

• A discussion about this began at FroggaCon 2016 and Gesslar, Dalaena, and I have continued to focus some dev time in this area. We are working on tools and policies for trustworthy volunteers to bring more NPCs to life for engaging and meaningful RP.
• These tools will hopefully add even more unpredictability and excitement to the world.

Quality of Life (QoL) Improvements

• There are a number of features in the game that we are examining to make sure they are performing the goals they were intended to achieve. One example is Vulerability. We are studying to make sure it is adding more than it is taking away from overall fun. There are other features we are giving this type of serious thought to as well.
• Definitely feel free to use idea and other reporting/feedback methods if there are game features you believe are underperforming and should get a serious analysis pass.

New Area

• Another new area to explore!

New Feature

• We are tinkering with a few other feature ideas and aren't sure which one is going to make the cut for this content plan.

As you can see we have a LOT on our plate for the next few weeks and months. Things will roll out as they are developed rather than saved up for a huge release. Past experience has shown that this method is far superior and ultimately makes people happier.

We are very excited about this plan. It should be a lot to enjoy in the very near future!

[Aristotle]

A lot of this stuff has already been coded and is currently in testing.

Much of the rest has already been designed.

We are really psyched to get this stuff in the game.

Please reach out to us about any "Quality of Life" type things you want us to examine. QoL stuff includes features or systems in the game that have grown stale over the years, no longer serve their original purpose, or detract from fun too much to be worth the upside of whatever goal they might have. Or also things that just seem unnecessarily clunky, cumberstome, or annoying.

Keep in mind, some things are annoying/difficult on purpose, but it doesn't hurt to send us your ideas/thoughts.

threshold@frogdice.com