Latest Development Pipeline
10 / 09 / 2020We’ve posted our latest version of the Developer Pipeline, which represents a large collection of the upcoming projects you’ll likely be seeing on Outlands in the near future! Next week we’ll be doing a Dev Debrief where we’ll have a roundtable discussion about the contents of the pipeline. Happy reading!
Howdy folks!
This post represents a large collection of the projects we’re currently working on for Outlands, and players are likely to see in the coming week and months
While this may seem like a lot of content, it actually only represents about 50% of the current in progress and planned projects and changes we currently have in development, with a number of upcoming systems and changes purposefully being left out of this post for various reasons. Some we want to keep as surprises, while others we don’t want to have impact the economy or affect player markets for items / housing locations / etc before we have their related systems ready to go. Some we dont want to post until we’re absolutely sure we can pull them off
This list is also not final nor does it represent the only things we’re working on in the coming / weeks months: there are a large number of QOL (quality of life), bug fixes, and mechanical adjustments that we’ll be tackling in the short term future here too. This post reflects some of the larger or more notable/interesting changes, but we’ll still keep working on the little things as we work on the big things listed here
We also may have forgot to post some systems/changes in here as well: so consider this a fluid document that will be updated as we go and our memory returns to us 
Also, not everything listed in here is guaranteed to make it to the live server: a lot of things listed in here will likely end up quite different than how we initially envisioned them, and some of our projects in here right now are simply “loose concepts” that we’ll flesh out more when we tackle them. But this list reflects a good collection of the ideas and concepts we want to tackle in the next few months, so hopefully most of them you’ll see at some point in near future!
So enjoy!
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Archery Overhaul
Development Status: 20% Complete
Revisit ammunition recovery handling
Tweak Archery damage to increase PvP utility
Quivers
Quivers are craftable containers that players can use to modify their Archery attacks for Bows, Crossbows, and Heavy Crossbows when attacking against creatures (PvM). We have brand new, custom to Outlands artwork (made by Belial) for this system!
Similar to Mastery Chains, players can elect to wear their quiver or keep it in their backpack, but players may only have one active quiver at a time
Players can change their active Quivers up to once every 60 seconds
Some examples of potential quiver types:
Pincushion Quiver
Each successful hit on target increases player’s Accuracy against target by 2% (scaled based on weapon speed) for 30 seconds
Longshot Quiver
Increases Attack Range by 4 and adds +1% Damage for each tile of distance between player and creature
Incendiary Quiver
Successful hits on target will also damage a random target within 1 tile for 20% of the original attack’s damage
Maiming Quiver
Increases Hinder duration on targets from Archery Special Attacks by 50%
Broadhead Quiver
Increases target’s Armor Rating by 100% of normal, but increases Damage by 20%
Bodkin Quiver
Reduces target’s Armor Rating by 50% of normal, but reduces Damage by 10%
Dexer Overhaul
Development Status: 10% Complete
Revise handling on Weapon damage in PvM to boost DPS of Dexer templates
Dexers are unique in that they are one of the only templates that is fully at risk from monster damage, whereas Bards, Tamers, Trappers, Mages rarely go toe-to-toe with monsters, so Dexers should be rewarded for that risk they take by having either the highest or close to highest DPS among templates
Taming Overhaul
Development Status: 10% Complete
Rebalance “Weaker” tamed creatures that players currently don’t use
Cap abilites that have infinite scaling for damage output, namely AOE Effects; potentially cap tamed creature max number of AOE targets to equal creature’s Control Slots
Revise Traits to address “Weak” traits players rarely pick and add new traits, such as ones that can boost AOE max targets
The Prevalian Zoological Cooperative
A weekly challenge board where players earn reward points by farming content (earning gold) while using “unpopular” pets
System will track on a weekly basis which pets are not commonly being used for farming, and will create a pool of “unpopular” creatures
At the start of each week several of these “unpopular” creatures will be randomly selected, and players will earn reward points throughout the week if they farm a target amount of gold while using these specific creatures
Omni Boss System Overhaul
Development Status: 75% Complete
Abilities Overhaul
Omni Bosses will have their abiltiies overhauled to become more of a threat to players
Summoning Omni Bosses
Revise Omni system to allow for up to 3 Omni Bosses to be summoned simultaneously, using all three 3 Omni Realms available
When players summon an Omni Boss, they will now be able to customize the difficulty of the Omni-Boss, which will adjust the total number of Mastery Chain Links possible
Omni Bosses will begin with 2,500,000 Hit Points and be worth 5 Mastery Chain Links (one for every 500,000 hit points)
Players summoning an Omni Boss can chose to have the creature be worth anywhere from 1-10 additional Mastery Chain Links (to a maximum of 15 total), with each additional Mastery Chain Link added increasing the Hit Points of the creature by 500,000 and also increasing its Damage Inflicted by 2%
Joining and Raiding Omni Bosses
Currently, Omni Bosses only become open to the public (via the Omni Runeraiding system) once an Omni Boss has been alive for 60 minutes or longer
Omni Bosses will now also become open to the public once it is reduced to 25% Hit Points or lower
Players will now always need 1 Omni Rune to enter the Omni Realm (including friendly ones)
Players at any Omni Gate (including the one they summoned themselves) will be able to see a list of all Omni Realms that they currently can enter, including both “friendly” and “hostile” ones
Dungeon Boss Summoning System Overhaul
Development Status: 15% Complete
Once a guild summons a boss, there will be a 24 hour cooldown added before that guild may earn progress again towards summoning that same Mini-Boss or Boss again (some guilds are summoning dozens of bosses a day currently)
Similar to our overhaul for Omni Bosses, guilds who summon a Mini-Boss or Omni Boss will now have the option to custom the creature to increase it’s difficulty, but also adjust its rewards
Potential adjustments for a boss might include making the Boss Lair become Lawless (grey zone), Become Publicly Announced, or Increasing the Minion for the boss. Other adjusts may increase the overall Hit Points and Damage Dealt by the Boss.
Depending on which options are selected, bosses will have greater loot and potentially drop new rewards not normally possible.
Dungeon Expansions
Development Status: Varying
Nusero 3: 85% map
Mausoleum 4: 75% map
Darkmire 2.5: 25% map
Our Dungeon expansion plans currently include Nusero 3, Mausoleum 4, Darkmire 2.5 and a brand new 3 level dungeon.
Society Jobs Overhaul
Development Status: 33% Complete
Overhaul the algorithms for Society Job creation to fix balancing issues for job “costs” and relative time/effort related to reward value for jobs
Add IP restriction for Society Job completion (address issues of players using 3x accounts for cranking out crafting jobs)
Mastery Chain Overhaul
Development Status: 5% Complete
Review all the current bonuses for Mastery Chain Links and rebalance them, focusing on making the “weak” ones better, and potentially adding new bonus types
Aspects
Development Status: 0% Complete
Look at potentially increasing Aspect Tier maximum to Tier 14 and look at introducing 1-2 new Aspects
Antiquities Updates
Development Status: 0% Complete
Add new Antiquities to categories
Re-evaluate the drop rates on existing Antiquity categories to address which types are not occuring often, and potentially dialing back ones occuring too often
Town Invasions
Development Status: 10% Complete
Taking advantage of our new comprehensive Region Manger, we’ll be adding support for Town Invasions with a lot of potential unique coding for creatures, including Waypoints + Scripted location handling and interactions
Corrupted Castles
Since we have removed Castle Sieges from the rotational PvP schedule, the castles located in Prevalia, Cambria, and Andaria now lay dormant and are now available
We may use these locations as the origin point of certain town invasions, such as NPC “Prevalian Rebels”, “Cambrian Freebooters”, “Andarian Separatists” spilling into their related cities and requiring players to put them down to end their incursion
Dungeon Keys and Epic Dungeon Chests
Development Status: 25% Complete
With the introduction of our Stygian Rifts system, each Stygian Rift Zone in every dungeon now contains an ancient stone table upon will rest an Epic Dungeon Chest unique to that dungeon
Epic Dungeon Chests
Each of these Epic Dungeon Chests will be locked and unpickable by players
Whenever a creature (including Bosses and Boss-Minions) in that dungeon dies and its corpse decays, any gold, special loot, or rare loot remaining on the corpse at the time of decay will automatically placed into that dungeon’s Epic Chest (stackable items will be stacked, and all gold will be combined into a special non-blessed Bank Check for the total gold amount)
Additionally, several times a day a random special or rare loot item will be dropped into the Epic Chest as well
Each Dungeon Chest when single-clicked will display how long it has been since it has been unlocked (i.e. how long items have been accumulating)
Dungeon Keys
While fighting monsters and picking standard chests, players will have a rare chance at uncovering a Dungeon Key specific to that dungeon that unlocks the Epic Dungeon Chest for that dungeon
IDOCs Overhaul
Development Status: 25% Complete
Overhaul the current handling on IDOCs for several elements:
- Handling for players seeing the Decay State of houses
- Handling for items left behind when a house decays
- Handling for being able to place another house after decay
Book of Grudges (Kill Books)
Development Status: 0% Complete
Luxury purchase for players that automatically tracks and sorts which Guilds and Players they have killed (including totals) and Guilds and Players that have killed them
Regional Bounty Contracts
Development Status: 0% Complete
Overworld “society-like” jobs to kill monsters at specific areas, particularly POIs to add farming diversity and get players into the overworld, especially in areas not commonly visited
Curio Fragments
Development Status: 0% Complete
When players kill Creatures or do Treasure Maps at POI locations in the overworld, they’ll have a chance at looting a “Curio Fragment” specific to that location (i.e. “a curio fragment from the Druid Cabin”
Players will be able to combine certain combinations of Curio Fragments from different locations together and assembly completed “Curios”
Companion System and New Player Experience
Development Status: 20% Complete
Companion System
Implement a Discord-linked Companion system where Young players have a “Companion Menu” that appears for them on login (and stays up) that lets them request Companion support or help at any time (players will have options to close or permanently opt out of the companion menu)
Companions will be automatically assigned players who request help and will receive pings in game as well as in Discord when their assistance is needed
NPC Guides
Add support for all Town NPCs to be able to point to “Where is Vendor X” when asked by players, for any vendor request type, similar to our current handling for Innkeepers
Character Creation Templates
When players create a new character they will be prompted with the option to choose from one of several Character Templates
Character Templates give new characters a jump-start on their character development process, by giving increased Stats and Skills and some additional starting items specific to the individual Template chosen. Additionally, character templates will provide players with a road map towards building a final template that is both attainable and functional in terms of actual gameplay
Each Template will represent an actual, commonly used Template by players (such as Bard Dexer, Tamer Mage, etc) and new players can click on any button in the Template’s page to see a description of what that Item, Stat, or Skill does and how it will be relevant to their gameplay experience if they choose the template
Each Template will also have a Wiki Entry associated with it that players can view that also has wiki links to all relevant stats/skills used by the template, as well as player-guides for how to use the template at different phases of development (starting, mid-game, end game)
After character creation, players will be able to view their chosen character template’s page again ay any time by typing [Template so they can view their progress towards reaching the “Ideal Target Stats / Skills” of the template or to review what individual stats/skills do for their character
Strangelands Overhaul
Development Status: 25% Complete
Convert system to a 45 minute structure, with several events per week (potentially Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays)
Readjust handling on Food / Water to make dying of thirst or starvation more of a threat
Rebalance templates to close the effectiveness gap between Burst (i.e. Mage) and Non-Burst (Dexer) templates
Event Modifiers
Add randomized “Event Modifiers” that will occur at the start of each Strangelands Event to tweak the handling on the event and keep things fresh
Some example modifiers might include:
Plaguelands
95% chance of creatures spawn as Diseased variants
Strange Merchants
Several Merchant NPCs will spawn in building locations that players can drop Weapons, Armor, Spellbooks onto to receive bonus points
Ruins
Increase the spawn rate of Supply Containers by 200%
Hunters
Strangeland Plant spawns will occur as extra normal spawns throughout the map
Tattoos and Skin Modifications
Development Status: 25% Complete
Update paperdoll and player handling to support players adding new Tattoo and Skin Modifications
Update Wig Stand mechanics to support players switching between unlocked Tattoos/Skin Mod items similar to switching beween unlocked Hair / Skin hues
Mount Token Hues
Development Status: 10% Complete
Create new versions of Mount Tokens for Llamas and Ostards in the Reward Hues (Societies / Guild / Strangelands / Arena / etc)
Create system allowing players to push Mount Breeding hues to special versions of Mount Tokens
Classic Dungeons
Development Status: 10% Complete
Implement OSI-style classic dungeons for limited durations. Currently Deceit has been updated (map fixes), and others will surely follow. We are unsure of their introduction thus far and the purpose they will serve, but we seek to embrace nostalgia and add contrast to our current dungeons.
Potentially add Champion or Progressive Spawns culminating in Shrine Boss-type creature at the end, with Grey Zone handling.
Plants, Brewing, Food, and Horticulture
Development Status: 10% Complete
Plants
Introduce a number of new Seed types that will yield new special Plant Items that will be used in Brewing and Horticulture systems
Brewing and Food
Players will be able to use the Cooking skill to brew Beverages that will pair with the existing Food + Taste ID system to provide players with passive bonuses
Revisit the bonuses on existing Food to make passive bonuses more useful to Non-Mage templates
Horticulture
Players will be able use special plants obtained from the Plants system, as well as Alchemy, to craft several new items
Cleansing Potions
Cleansing Potions will be a new item that players can use to reduce the effects of Bleed and Disease currently on them
Players can use one Cleansing Potion every 60 seconds
Lesser Cleansing Potion
Reduces all active Bleed Effect ticks by 10 Damage Per Tick
Reduces all active Disease Effect ticks by 5 Damage Per Tick
Regular Cleansing Potion
Reduces all active Bleed Effect ticks by 20 Damage Per Tick
Reduces all active Disease Effect ticks by 10 Damage Per Tick
Greater Cleansing Potion
Reduces all active Bleed Effect ticks by 30 Damage Per Tick
Reduces all active Disease Effect ticks by 15 Damage Per Tick
Smokeleaf
Smokeleaf Cigarettes will be novelty items that are equippable and have a limited duration (but create in game effects and sounds)
Golems
Development Status: 5% Complete
Create new system for players to be craft summonable Golems that can be highly customized based on the player’s skills and slotting in certain items into the golem (such as Aspect Cores)
Golems will be 5 control slots and will be an opportunity for players with crafting skills to access a summon-type creature, that will be extremely customizable based on their specific skills and which items they choose to slot into the creature
New Customizations
Development Status: 10% Complete
Add large array of new player customizations for gold sinks
Possible examples include:
Llama Vortex (Energy Vortex)
Armor Customizations
Development Status: 10% Complete
Introduce new crafting options for players to be able to create different paperdoll versions of certain items (plate helm, plate arms, etc)
Art Collections
Development Status: 20% Complete
Implement our collection of 250+ paintings, with Art Collector Guide style tracking system for collecting and recording items (similar to Antiquities Manifest)
Pyrestarter
Development Status: 5% Complete
Pyrestarter is a variation on the classic CTF (Capture The Flag) concept, where teams of players compete to try to bring a giant ball of fire to the opposing side of the map and place it into a Pyre
Our current plan is to make Pyrestarter events occur randomly throughout the day, similar to Shrine Corruptions, but will have some lead-time warning so players can prememptively form up teams for the event
Alternatively, we may schedule server-wide special Pyrestarter events at various intervals (similar to how we schedule special tournaments)
Bomberman
Development Status: 15% Complete
We intend to introduce the Bomberman mini-game to Outlands, albeit with our own twist on the concept
Bomberman is unique in that doesn’t require players to compete based on their templates or PvP acumen, instead being a test of player creativity and planning
Ideally, we’ll implement Bomberman tournaments mirroring our current PvP tournaments structure
Stygian Rift Tournaments
Development Status: 5% Complete
Our plan is to introduce Stygian Rift Tournaments, mirroring our current tournament structure
Seeding for Stygian Rift Tournaments will likely utilize the existing ELO Rating for players currently tracked for players in our rotational PvP schedule for normal Stygian Rifts events
Monster Arena
Development Status: 5% Complete
Introduce a PvM focused Monster Arena where players tackle waves of different monsters, and compete against other players to try to reach the highest wave count and in the fastest times
Shipbreaker Bay
Development Status: 25% Complete
Ship-Based PvP event where players compete to destroy a land-based fortress which will occur at randomized times, similar to Shrine Corruptions.
Kin Masks
Development Status: 0% Complete
Variations of the various masks we have in game, except when worn will replace the normal “Hurt”, “Death”, “Idle” sound effects of the player with ones matching the specific creature type (i.e. an Orcish Kin Mask that makes the player sound effects become orcish)
Jousting Lances and Shields
Development Status: 0% Complete
Novelty / Roleplaying items players can wear that when mounted and interacting (i.e fighting) with another player who is also mounted and wearing a Jousting Lance or Shield, will have jousting mechanics between the two players similar to our King’s Faire Jousting game (dismounts / shield breaking / etc)
Guild Lore
Development Status: 0% Complete
Guilds will have the ability to write Books and submit them for staff approval
If approved by staff, the books will spawn as loot in the game world for a limited duration
Chaos Shrine & Shrine Overhaul
Development Status: 5% Complete
With the removal of the Chaos Shrine during the Corpse Creek revamp, we’re left with a unique opportunity to create a “Chaos Shrine” event based on the corrupted shrine model, but amplified in difficulty – buffed monsters, more of them, dungeon bosses spawning – think total chaos
The Chaos Shrine will be located in a new region built specifically for this event.
Shrines additionally could see some attention
They’re currently too easy, easily farmed and don’t pose any challenge
Increase HP of bosses, increase number of monsters spawning, etc
Scale them dynamically based on attendance – how many people are attacking each wave determines the strength of the following wave, and ultimately how strong the boss is.
Pawn Shop and Pound
Development Status: 5% Complete
Two new NPC systems which allow players to recover “accidentally” abandoned pets and decayed house items for a high fee during a “buffer” period of decay.
Mastery Chain Restyle Deeds and Dyes
Development Status: 0% Complete
Allow players to swap between Mastery Chain styles, and allow them to be dyed using new Mastery Chain Dyes.
Tournament Enhancements
Development Status: 0% Complete
Create additional enhancements to tournaments such as:
- Best of 3 Final Round
- 3rd and 4th Place Runner Up Match
- Mana Nodes (similar to Stygian Rifts handling)
- Monthly or Seasonal Chaos Tournament
Player Requisition Vendors
Development Status: 0% Complete
Players will be able to purchase and place Requisition Vendors in their houses
Requisition Vendors, functionally speaking, are “reverse vendors” in that the owner of the vendor instead of selling items, dictates a price they are willing to pay for an specific item or stack of items from another player
For example, a player may be interested in purchasing “1 Command Core for 60,000 gold”
So they add an entry to their Requisition Vendor expressing that desire
Other players can double-click the Requisition Vendor to view the list of items that the owner is currently looking for
If the player has that specific item in their bank (in the amount requested) they can click to “fulfill” the request, which will transfer the item to the owner’s bank and transfers the gold amount from the owner’s bank to the seller’s bank
Thieves Guild
Development Status: 0% Complete
We are looking at overhauling elements of Stealing on the server for a number of potential reasons
The primary issue to address is Flagging for players, which right now comes across as confusing to many people, but there is potential for more mechanics to be added or tweaked when it comes to the actual handling for stealing items
We’ll most likely be reintroducing the Thieves Guild, with players now having Perma-Grey status while being members of the Thieves Guild
Murderers will still be allowed to join the Thieves Guild and have Stealing in their templates though, unlike standard OSI handling which prevents that
Detectives
Development Status: 0% Complete
The Forensic Eval skill be gaining new utility in the usage of Magnifying Glasses, which are crafted by Tinkering and have a limited number of uses
Players can double-click a Magnifying glass and target a creature, item or player to make a Forensic Eval skill check (which consumes one use on the magnifying glass)
If they succeed on the skill check:
When Targeting a Player
Will tell if that player is Perma-Grey via the Thieves Guild
When Targeting a Player Corpse
Will display a list of all players who damaged that player and who has accessed the corpse
When Targeting a Creature Corpse
Will display a list of all players who had looting rights to the corpse and has accessed the corpse
When Targeting a Container
Will display the last person to access the container