Good morning everyone!
Later today we will be deploying Patch 6.95 on both the client and server with some exciting new changes for the game.
Dynamic Scaling
Beginning with this patch, we have the ability to designate some content in the game as dynamically scaled. What this means is that regardless of your actual level, the enemies that you fight will scale the damage that you deal and the damage that you receive such that it feels like fighting an “Even Match” same-level monster.
A few notes on this feature:
- You will still see the same damage amounts appear as when fighting any other monster in the game. So for example a Level 20 fighting a dynamically scaled monster might see 1200 damage from their attacks hitting, while a Level 5 might see 100. The amount of damage the monster is receiving based on how quickly their health bar is declining will be the same between them, though.
- If you attack a dynamically scaled monster, you will receive a buff that lasts for 1 minute which causes any healing that you receive to be scaled as well. This means that a Level 5 Musketeer can heal a Level 20 ally just as well as a Level 20 can. It also means that a Level 20 healer can’t just instantly top off a Level 5 ally with one Renew orb making them invincible.
- As a caveat to all of this, however, the way that the system works still allows for some scaling of damage above “normal” for highly-geared characters. So for example, a Level 20 in Raid-tier gear will do more damage than a Level 20 in basic gear. So you still do get an advantage for being better-geared for your level compared to other players of the same level. It’s just that you will no longer one-shot Level 5 monsters because you are Level 20.
- The rewards in terms of drops that you receive from killing dynamically scaled monsters are based on your level. So if you fight a monster as a Level 19, you will receive Level 19 gear. Note that this caps out at Level 19 gear and does not extend to Level 20+ gear, you still have to go do Tradu Mines and Shard Dungeons to receive that.
We are turning on this feature in this patch for the Cave Dungeon (Maeo’s Sanctum), Rainforest Dungeon, and Desert Dungeon. So you can now do any of those dungeons with a mixed-level group and still find a compelling experience.
Dungeon Queuing
This leads to our next major feature of the day, dungeon queuing. If you go into the Social tab and choose Activities, you will find a new feature which allows you to queue for dungeons. When doing so, you will be asked to choose a role (either Tank, Healer, or DPS – or a mix of these). Once you have selected your role, you will be entered into the queue and matched with an appropriate group.
When your match is found, you will be instantly teleported into the dungeon and placed into a party with your new group. (Note that any existing party you were in will be overwritten by this). After completing the dungeon, or at any time if you wish to end the dungeon run, you can exit through the dungeon entrance portal and you will be returned to the spot you were in the world when the queue “popped.”
In addition to queuing for dungeons, our queuing system now allows groups to join. When you are in a party, only the Party Leader can initiate a queue. Once they have done so, it will ask all party members to select a role. Then it will place you all into the queue together, and match your party up with other players to fill out your group appropriately. Note that depending on your group’s composition and roles, you may have to wait longer than when queuing as a single person.
The queue will (for now) only place you in the Cave, Desert, or Jungle dungeons, and since those are now dynamically scaled, that means any player in OrbusVR can join a queue and be placed with a group regardless of level. We’re hoping this really opens up the ability for newer and veteran players alike to join together and do a fun activity. Alongside this, the week’s Defend the Realm monster slaying requirement will be focused around these three dungeon’s bosses – so basically the best and quickest way to meet your Defend the Realm requirement this week will be to use the new queuing system!
We still have a lot of work that we want to do to further improve this feature, such as for example allowing you to choose to accept or decline the queue after it “pops”, to allow you to choose specific dungeons to queue for, and to offer daily rewards for veteran players for using the queue. But even in its current state, it should add a welcome new activity for players of all levels, and we’re excited to bring it to you!
Defend the Realm Rewards
We’ve updated the leaderboard with a list of all the possible Defend the Realm rewards. In particular:
- The Defender’s Crown will be a transmog hat style signifying your efforts.
- The Defender of Patreayl will be a title available to choose in the new titles system we are bringing to Reborn.
- The Dev Final Boss reward, if unlocked, will see us put in the time to develop a special type of World Boss that one of the Dev Team members can directly get online and control, so you can fight us as an actual boss in the world before Reborn launches.
Other Changes
- The Raid Shop vendors now allow you to purchase the pet for that raid for 75 tokens.
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