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Updates Post #2: Legacy Roadmap
Welcome to the first proper update post!
After last month's legacy mode news, we have been working hard to figure out what that means for the game as a whole. We've made some immediate changes to lesson, wondercrystal, and credit gains, but those barely scratch the surface of how deep monetisation has been woven into the fabric of the game. The reality is that much of the game's systems were centered around monetization and many choices, some not beneficial for the game's health, were made over the years. From our perspective, legacy changes are not just about replacing what is now missing (credits, etc), but addressing many of these problems as well. Not all of these are easy decisions to make and not everybody will agree with every one of them, as such we want to explain our thoughts and ask for input where relevant.
First of all, no changes are going to happen overnight. We are a small and entirely unpaid team of volunteers, with our own lives and priorities. So we would like to preface the release of this roadmap with a note that this is merely the first phase - the items which require addressing more immediately. Iteration and feedback will be part of the process, and we have to account for everything happening behind the scenes as well, so we will not give timelines for anything below.
If you feel something is urgent but not mentioned below, it may well be reserved for a future implementation phase, but please do mention it anyway. The more input and discussion we have, the easier it is to set priorities around your needs and pain points. This update will create a post on the forums for you to comment on as having comments in one place makes things a lot easier for us. Understandably, many valuable comments will be made on Discord too, but those get lost very easily. Please be sure to transfer your thoughts to the forums later.
Legacy Roadmap
------------------
Credit Availability
Credits require immediate addressing as the primary way to receive them has been removed, as has a tertiary method in the form of the credit market. This limits the availability of lessons, artifacts, and similar to players. This is a top priority for us to address, and the current consensus is to make immediate use of a system to tie them to a set gold cost. This gold cost will be set at a reasonable amount and is considered to be a soft upper limit. We will be encouraging players to sell between themselves and make use of org credit sales (see Announce #2909 for how orgs gain these now) for discounted credits as well, and daily credits will continue to exist.
Going forward on the roadmap, we also intend to look toward improvements to the daily credit system, such as adding new ways to receive daily credits and some way to mitigate the fear of missing out that comes with a daily reward system. We definitely want to add more social ways to gain daily credits and want to stick to the golden rule that doing one's dailies should take no longer than the prescribed 2 hours, no matter what the final max daily credit limit may be.
In addition, we will be making changes to contest rewards. While all details are not written in stone, artisanals and bardics are to have their prizes doubled starting with the September contest. All player helper positions will also see their rewards adjusted - those being guides, reviewers, builders, and coders.
Aethergoop
Aethergoop (and previously Dingbats) were added primarily as a secondary premium currency which was not directly sold on the website in order to make use of in promotions. Later on, due to player demand, systems were added which in their unchecked and unbalanced state caused an excess of aethergoop to flood the game, heavily devaluing it while also making it difficult to handle as a premium currency. Given our new reality of not requiring this separate premium currency, as well as the difficulties that have been created by this system in general, we intend to retire the currency altogether, as well as associated systems such as aethertrading.
At this time, the plan is to convert aethergoop at a set ratio to credits automatically. The amount that is to be converted is likely going to be a capped amount, as due to the aforementioned unbalanced systems a small number of outlier players have hundreds of thousands (and in a few cases, millions) of aethergoop on hand. Once this is officially announced, we will give you an adequate amount of time to decide how you would like to proceed with your stockpile - use it up or leave it for us to convert.
Systems which interact with aethergoop such as aethercrafting of candies, scarves, and buttons will be moved to interface with gnomish trading instead to help encourage the use of aetherhunting in changes which may happen later down the line. All goop producers will also be adjusted accordingly. That said, there is still a need for discussion and input around these changes, and we will be opening a report for thoughts about this change, as well as exploring sinks for those who are more interested in spending their aethergoop rather than having it converted.
Artifacts
We are sure everybody reading this post can, with very little effort, think of at least one artifact which they would label as unhealthy for the game. The coal trowel's pit effect, nature discs, and the massive glut of artifacts with trueheal effects are three examples which are likely near the top of the list; items so notorious for their effect on the game that they have to be balanced around.
While many of us certainly have our own thoughts on them, a larger discussion is certainly required to determine not only which artifacts are problematic, but also what to do about each of them. For some, changing the effect may be more appropriate, while for others removing it entirely may be best. To best address this, we will be raising an initial report to gather player opinions on existing artifacts, and based on this feedback and internal observation and statistics, we will initiate the changes or, in some more extreme cases, open reports for player feedback regarding individual artifacts.
General Roadmap
------------------
While the three above are the most immediate, we are not sitting still on the rest of the roadmap. Other items we are looking into and prioritizing include, but are not limited to, the following:
Newbie Experience
It is not wrong to say that our current newbie experience is confusing for new players and non-ideal for returning players. The Pools quests have usability issues, the intro barely covers any subjects while also locking you in if you already know all of it, there is little guidance on what to do past newbiehood, and collegium experiences are very inconsistent across orgs. We are looking into solutions for these issues to assist with retaining new players. Alongside that, we will be further improving the newbie experience vis a vis legacy changes with additional lessons for tasks and college quests, and other catch-up mechanics so newbies are not on such a hopelessly uneven footing with established players. Tis might, for example, involve a newbie quest that rewards an artifact vial/rune to help outfit newbies with what is often considered the bare necessities.
Development Process and Prioritization
Our current development process is very much ad-hoc and there is no formal design philosophy written down; instead, it changes by the coder and project. Likewise, there is a large number of systems that got implemented and immediately abandoned, which has led to massive bloat of half-finished features. While this is a less visible change to players immediately, it is a huge benefit for the long-term health of the game as it gives us a framework to decide how to make changes and ensure systems remain supported.
Helpfile Modernization
Many of our helpfiles have not been kept up to date with changes being made over the years, or do not give information that is necessary for players, creating an almost invisible oral tradition which makes the game near impenetrable for players. Then there is also the wealth of changes necessary for legacy mode. We have already started an audit of helpfiles which are out of date, and are looking to expand the scope of the helpfile system altogether, both in terms of mechanical features and the scope of topics it covers.
Org Development and Health
Many of our orgs are in a situation where they need attention or have requests sitting for some time. Addressing these is a priority. As mentioned before we will start with an audit of requests - first internal and then with org leadership - and see how to move forward.
Combat and Conflict
Combat-focused reports have been sporadic in the last few years due to limited resources. As mentioned previously, we have mortal coders who have been instrumental in finishing the last batch and who have a high interest in focusing on combat balance. We are working with them to determine the best schedule for further reports.
The most recent batch is almost done, but two reports from it have been put on hold due to legacy mode changes taking priority. That's report 565 and 568. We will get around to them but we need to wrap up some legacy changes and other reports first.
Other
The above are just our immediate plans for legacy mode, and not an exhaustive list of everything that we are working on. We plan to take player input and rely on our own observations and statistics to decide where to go next.
Thank you,
The Lusternia Team
After last month's legacy mode news, we have been working hard to figure out what that means for the game as a whole. We've made some immediate changes to lesson, wondercrystal, and credit gains, but those barely scratch the surface of how deep monetisation has been woven into the fabric of the game. The reality is that much of the game's systems were centered around monetization and many choices, some not beneficial for the game's health, were made over the years. From our perspective, legacy changes are not just about replacing what is now missing (credits, etc), but addressing many of these problems as well. Not all of these are easy decisions to make and not everybody will agree with every one of them, as such we want to explain our thoughts and ask for input where relevant.
First of all, no changes are going to happen overnight. We are a small and entirely unpaid team of volunteers, with our own lives and priorities. So we would like to preface the release of this roadmap with a note that this is merely the first phase - the items which require addressing more immediately. Iteration and feedback will be part of the process, and we have to account for everything happening behind the scenes as well, so we will not give timelines for anything below.
If you feel something is urgent but not mentioned below, it may well be reserved for a future implementation phase, but please do mention it anyway. The more input and discussion we have, the easier it is to set priorities around your needs and pain points. This update will create a post on the forums for you to comment on as having comments in one place makes things a lot easier for us. Understandably, many valuable comments will be made on Discord too, but those get lost very easily. Please be sure to transfer your thoughts to the forums later.
Legacy Roadmap
------------------
Credit Availability
Credits require immediate addressing as the primary way to receive them has been removed, as has a tertiary method in the form of the credit market. This limits the availability of lessons, artifacts, and similar to players. This is a top priority for us to address, and the current consensus is to make immediate use of a system to tie them to a set gold cost. This gold cost will be set at a reasonable amount and is considered to be a soft upper limit. We will be encouraging players to sell between themselves and make use of org credit sales (see Announce #2909 for how orgs gain these now) for discounted credits as well, and daily credits will continue to exist.
Going forward on the roadmap, we also intend to look toward improvements to the daily credit system, such as adding new ways to receive daily credits and some way to mitigate the fear of missing out that comes with a daily reward system. We definitely want to add more social ways to gain daily credits and want to stick to the golden rule that doing one's dailies should take no longer than the prescribed 2 hours, no matter what the final max daily credit limit may be.
In addition, we will be making changes to contest rewards. While all details are not written in stone, artisanals and bardics are to have their prizes doubled starting with the September contest. All player helper positions will also see their rewards adjusted - those being guides, reviewers, builders, and coders.
Aethergoop
Aethergoop (and previously Dingbats) were added primarily as a secondary premium currency which was not directly sold on the website in order to make use of in promotions. Later on, due to player demand, systems were added which in their unchecked and unbalanced state caused an excess of aethergoop to flood the game, heavily devaluing it while also making it difficult to handle as a premium currency. Given our new reality of not requiring this separate premium currency, as well as the difficulties that have been created by this system in general, we intend to retire the currency altogether, as well as associated systems such as aethertrading.
At this time, the plan is to convert aethergoop at a set ratio to credits automatically. The amount that is to be converted is likely going to be a capped amount, as due to the aforementioned unbalanced systems a small number of outlier players have hundreds of thousands (and in a few cases, millions) of aethergoop on hand. Once this is officially announced, we will give you an adequate amount of time to decide how you would like to proceed with your stockpile - use it up or leave it for us to convert.
Systems which interact with aethergoop such as aethercrafting of candies, scarves, and buttons will be moved to interface with gnomish trading instead to help encourage the use of aetherhunting in changes which may happen later down the line. All goop producers will also be adjusted accordingly. That said, there is still a need for discussion and input around these changes, and we will be opening a report for thoughts about this change, as well as exploring sinks for those who are more interested in spending their aethergoop rather than having it converted.
Artifacts
We are sure everybody reading this post can, with very little effort, think of at least one artifact which they would label as unhealthy for the game. The coal trowel's pit effect, nature discs, and the massive glut of artifacts with trueheal effects are three examples which are likely near the top of the list; items so notorious for their effect on the game that they have to be balanced around.
While many of us certainly have our own thoughts on them, a larger discussion is certainly required to determine not only which artifacts are problematic, but also what to do about each of them. For some, changing the effect may be more appropriate, while for others removing it entirely may be best. To best address this, we will be raising an initial report to gather player opinions on existing artifacts, and based on this feedback and internal observation and statistics, we will initiate the changes or, in some more extreme cases, open reports for player feedback regarding individual artifacts.
General Roadmap
------------------
While the three above are the most immediate, we are not sitting still on the rest of the roadmap. Other items we are looking into and prioritizing include, but are not limited to, the following:
Newbie Experience
It is not wrong to say that our current newbie experience is confusing for new players and non-ideal for returning players. The Pools quests have usability issues, the intro barely covers any subjects while also locking you in if you already know all of it, there is little guidance on what to do past newbiehood, and collegium experiences are very inconsistent across orgs. We are looking into solutions for these issues to assist with retaining new players. Alongside that, we will be further improving the newbie experience vis a vis legacy changes with additional lessons for tasks and college quests, and other catch-up mechanics so newbies are not on such a hopelessly uneven footing with established players. Tis might, for example, involve a newbie quest that rewards an artifact vial/rune to help outfit newbies with what is often considered the bare necessities.
Development Process and Prioritization
Our current development process is very much ad-hoc and there is no formal design philosophy written down; instead, it changes by the coder and project. Likewise, there is a large number of systems that got implemented and immediately abandoned, which has led to massive bloat of half-finished features. While this is a less visible change to players immediately, it is a huge benefit for the long-term health of the game as it gives us a framework to decide how to make changes and ensure systems remain supported.
Helpfile Modernization
Many of our helpfiles have not been kept up to date with changes being made over the years, or do not give information that is necessary for players, creating an almost invisible oral tradition which makes the game near impenetrable for players. Then there is also the wealth of changes necessary for legacy mode. We have already started an audit of helpfiles which are out of date, and are looking to expand the scope of the helpfile system altogether, both in terms of mechanical features and the scope of topics it covers.
Org Development and Health
Many of our orgs are in a situation where they need attention or have requests sitting for some time. Addressing these is a priority. As mentioned before we will start with an audit of requests - first internal and then with org leadership - and see how to move forward.
Combat and Conflict
Combat-focused reports have been sporadic in the last few years due to limited resources. As mentioned previously, we have mortal coders who have been instrumental in finishing the last batch and who have a high interest in focusing on combat balance. We are working with them to determine the best schedule for further reports.
The most recent batch is almost done, but two reports from it have been put on hold due to legacy mode changes taking priority. That's report 565 and 568. We will get around to them but we need to wrap up some legacy changes and other reports first.
Other
The above are just our immediate plans for legacy mode, and not an exhaustive list of everything that we are working on. We plan to take player input and rely on our own observations and statistics to decide where to go next.
Thank you,
The Lusternia Team
2
(c) Iron Realms Entertainment 2012.
Comments
There are so many artifacts in Lusternia which are gated behind gamble mechanics (e.g. everything fortune cookie related, curios, etc.). It seems reasonable to transition away from that by simply allowing players to choose what they'd like to get out of the gamble pool.
In a similar vein, if there are to be some artifacts which are powerful and rare, we could move back to org-items a la champion helms in the past. This potentially adds some RP considerations instead of simply wealth accrual for min maxers. If this approach is adopted there could also be artifacts which are temporarily controlled by orgs via conflict mechanics. I know that this suggestion opens a whole can of worms, but it could also be an interesting alternative to simply buying might.
I very much agree with the assessment that this sort of thing is what's needed because it feels like the roleplay and lore of Lusternia are generally at the top of everyone's list of what makes Lusternia great. This stuff was happening when guilds were flourishing, so it makes sense to me that it's happening less when guilds struggle. It also lines up with the thing I've noticed, the game that Lusternia was seems to be the game that appeals to my friends who love TTRPGs, the people who want to get into roleplay groups but timing and schedules are a pain, they're interested when it's stories about things like Seren performing the ritual during the Li'varili event even before I mentioned admin involvement and they thought we were just players roleplaying.
I hope there is consideration for why this sort of thing isn't happening as much because players were deciding to do this in the past. After all, there will be reasons whether or not people are conscious of it.