Roadmap 2015

[Adrian]

Last year was the start of a change of focus regarding game development. Through a reassessment and reconsideration of priorities, we started to analyse the current situation and what deserved more immediate attention. A list of the most urgent issues was obtained and therefore a Roadmap to expose that focus. Needless to say it was pretty ambitious.

As everyone knows, by being new managing the game, we faced several challenges that put to test all our capacity. Although a part of that list wasn’t accomplished, we obtained something of significant importance: the knowledge to confront new stages in a more clear and possible way.

The beginning of this year was complicated. It wasn’t expect that an external problem was to burden us so much. We recognize our errors and we try to act as quick as possible to solve critical matters as the access to the game. Nevertheless, this time there was not so much we could do other than waiting and test new locations (which takes plenty of time) to avoid the unexpected issue. Once all of the world servers were relocated, without any change to the code, everything went back to normal in order to let us continue with our plans.

Although this generated a delay in those plans, we obtained new tools regarding infrastructure, such as the adaption of many of Regnum’s services to the Cloud, which will add more dynamism to future relocations to swiftly sort out problems like the aforesaid, that had us weeks without a chance to act. So, there’s always something good to be brought from the bad.
So, back to our normal activity, we readapted those plans a bit and here they are for you to check out.

Relocation of the server hive (unplanned)

Fulfilment of an analysis of the traffic behaviour and create tools for such purpose.

Relocation of the servers that host Regnum worlds and the adaption of the services they depend on to make them portable to other locations easily.

Estimated date: Mid February. Finished. ✓

Combat formulas

Reconsideration of the RNG (Random Number Generation) for the combat functions that depend on chance percentage work correctly, be in in the short or long run. This, being the base of resistances, evasions and blocks, will be the solution for a key problem.

Give more information regarding the influence of the attributes in combat and provide clearer information about them in the user interface, without giving predictability in order to avoid abuse.

Estimated date: Mid April. Finished. ✓

Character progression

Enhance rewards, quests and the time it takes to get to a useful level for war. Also, in high levels, gaining experience will be more profitable in war than with creatures.

Provide bonuses regarding progress towards war for new characters as much as bonuses for characters in the higher levels for their progress in war. Also, make them understandable and present in the game interface.

Redistribution of creatures in all the world. Avoid the accumulation of unused creatures and perform a diversification of the levelling zones.

Estimated date: Mid October.

Clans, community and retention

Enhance the administration of clans and give tools to perform activities and create objectives for their members. Provide utility and more variety to the Ranking and the Achievements. Reconsider the Friend List, as in how it works and also the interaction with other functions of the game.

Give rewards for being a frequent user or a long-term one.

Estimated date: Beginning of November.

End gameplay

Amplify the amount of end gameplay options: readapt the access to the Battlezones for them not to affect war. Give more options for the Coliseum. Add random objectives in the War Zone to make use of the terrain.

Estimated date: End of November.

Recurrent events

Expand the current event system that allows their real-time activation. Creation of simple events for recurrent use and enhance the interfaces to clearly understand what to do, when and how.

Creation of an Event Calendar to be up to date about programmed events.

Estimated date: Mid December.

Annual general revision

Collection and summary of the feedback to provide a new Roadmap. Updates only for error repair.

Estimated date: End of December.


Balance, bug fixing, event creation and the addition of general or premium content are recurring tasks that can happen any time during or in between any development stage.


We are not detailing specifically each and every item because it isn’t possible to promise features in particular, but it is in general. Meaning that something will be done about them but it will be detailed while we’re at them or when they are open for public testing. Please bear in mind that if any complication arises there could be change of plans, but the main idea will be kept.

Also, in this thread we’ll post some details, from time to time and if possible, on how the compliance of this Roadmap is going.

Hope you like what’s coming for Regnum. We’re excited too!

Note: please create new threads for each of the topics above or any of the news below. This is in order to avoid confusion.

[Adrian]

Hi Community,

As you may know, we're currently working with the RNG. We messed with, for you to imagine, what would be entering a dungeon with all the superbosses together: the combat code.

We're testing new formulas, new methods to determine chance and the influence of attributes. At the beginning we were afraid to touch something so fragile, but as soon as the good results started to come we were gaining more confidence.

http://www.championsofregnum.com/images/common/dev_update_2015-03-12_resists.jpg

As you see in the picture, which is a small sample of the results, you can notice an advance regarding the compliance of the chance percentage. For example, with a test spell that gives 30% of absolute power resist chance we got both in the short and middle run results pretty close to that percentage. With the previous formulas it fluctuated with high irregularity, specially in the short run.

Also, in the base spell resistance (the one given by attributes and bonuses) it behaves in a similar way although is strange that you get two resists in a row and almost impossible to see three, ruling out resists as a problem and something less frustrating.

When we have a testable version we will let you test it in Amun. Hey, hold your horses! There's still a lot of work to do!

At the same time, we're analyzing the problems regarding Invasions. The changes to the relics were a complete success, but nevertheless, from wall vulneration and on there are still problems and we have in mind several changes that are yet to be tested. The objective will be avoid morning invasions and make the ones at peak hours more possible. This, through incentives and compensation of low population. We will provide more news about this. But beware with suppositions! They're no good for mental health.

Regards!

[Adrian]

Hi everyone!

We are very close to a polished and testable version. The changes to the combat system were always something that "gave us the creeps" due to being a very complex system which is related to the core of the game. We are very pleased to know that we obtained amazing results and we can proceed to verify the performance of the server with these new calculations.

Next week, maybe on Wednesday we will be having this version available. Also, we're working on some extra details for Invasions, such as enhancing the reward system.

When a fort/castle or wall is captured, there will be various ways to obtain a reward be it for a successful attack (keep for X minutes, obtain the relic, invade) or defending (recapture before the relic cage opens, or before X minutes pass, etc). This reward will be Warmaster Coins basically, but we're checking if we can add more diversity.

http://www.championsofregnum.com/images/common/reward_gui.jpg

To know how much time remains until the reward (and details about it) there will be an indicator on screen (work in progress!).

And you will ask yourselves: what to do with so much WM coins? Well, our intention is that in the future we put in availability new items and services with these coins.

We delayed a bit more than scheduled, but this version comes loaded with key fixes for Invasions and combat. Next step will be Levelling and when it's finished, the game will have a new opportunity to face interesting horizons.

Our kindest regards and thank you for your eternal patience!

[Adrian]

Hello everyone!

We're dropping by to refresh you on what we're currently working on-

First of all, we'd like to clarify that it all got delayed due to issues that have shown up in the rewarding system. We've fixed most of them already and we're seeing that, according to the numbers, the rewards are being delivered in a much more balanced way. There are several adjustments left to do but the situation is now normal.

We're currely readapting the quests to reach a character level that's useful for war in a short while. Basically we'll accelerate the process because we think it's very necessary to continue moving through this roadmap, especially regarding the much needed Clans and Retention update.

Along with the improvement on quests, for this update we'll readapt the benefits for those realms that are at a disadvantage to, finally, achieve that fighting for them is not demotivating.

Don't hesitate to write down your suggestions in the forum's section for that purpose. Yes, we do read them all and they're very important for the development process.

Regards to everyone, and thank you!

[Adrian]

Hello!

Let's update a bit in what we are currently working:

We are adjusting all quests in order to be able to go to the War Zone at level 30. You'll surely ask: how?

After rearranging the quests, their rewards be it in experience or items, the objective is to get to level 30 as fast as possible with useful equipment and the history of the realm "fresh" in your minds. When entering the War Zone, levels from 30 to 49 will have a boost in some stats that will get you closer to those of a level 50, obviously without the power points and other benefits of making the effort to get there.

This will allow a more bearable participation, a reinforcement of players in war and a more entertaining levelling since the very first days of playing the game.

We estimate that you'll be able to get to level 30 in a pair of days or a bit longer for those that take it slowly. Afterwards, there will still be quests and creatures inside the realm, but we think that going to battle will be more appealing. This way, we give another option on how to progress with your characters.

It's essential that getting to level 60 has its effort, but equally important is that, as soon as you start the game it provides you with its best feature as quick as possible. Be it if you're a new player or trying a new class.

If you please, comment creating a new thread or suggestions.

Best regards!

[Adrian]

Hi Community,

As some of you know, there are connectivity problems. This has already happened in the beginning of the year and we were able to solve it by moving to a different location inside the same datacenter. As time went by, the datacenter applied changes to security and several other kinds of them. We believe that their systems are not sophisticated enough not to affect the communications of something as particular as a massive game. As we can't wait for them to solve it, we had to make a decision.

This decision involves building our server hive completely from scratch in other datacenter to test the functionality of the game outside the network that is causing us problems, because we believe it has nothing to do with our systems.

This has obviously taken us out of our roadmap, and above all, has costed a lot of time. Anyway, it is a critical matter and there is no more time to lose.

During these days we were building everything and slowly we're closer to a migration test. The plan is the following:

- Update the game with some minor fixes and some changes to Invasions. A mini-update to solve some issues.
- We will test the new location in the United States to analyse how the game behaves LIVE from the different locations where the game is accessed.

This testing stage, when we launch it, will last a week or two. We will determine what to do then. If we stay on that location or another after analysing the obtained data.

What's most important of all is that the game is working properly and that everyone is satisfied as much as possible. Meaning: that the game experience is the proper one.

Of course, we are very sorry for all these problems and delays. But bear in mind that we're always aware and making everything that's possible for, step by step, advancing towards the best Regnum possible.

Best regards!

[Adrian]

Hello everyone!

We are still building the network in the new datacenter.

All servers, databases and most of the systems are up and running and duly tested. Currently we're with the auxiliary systems such as Ranking processing, security backups, maintenance tools, etc.

Also, we made some steps forward regarding fixes to the current version of the game and changes to Invasions to solve the most urgent issues such as abusive amount of wall captures and lack of options when your numbers are lower than the attacked realm.

We hope that next week we can announce a date, which will probably be during the same week.

The changes look promising! We eternally thank your endless patience!

:hat:

[Adrian]

Hey!

After several tests and ideas being analyzed, we came up with a design regarding Invasions changes, to be launched along the migration of the servers to the new datacenter.

We're already working in these changes, and estimate that we'll be applying them sometime during the morning of Wednesday, 25th. An exact time shall be given soon. It's also worth mentioning that this will take several hours, instead of approximately one, as it has been the case in recent updates.

The changes to Invasions are not strictly related to mechanics, but to rewards, which will give back the current mechanics, the natural flow they used to have. If further modifications are needed regarding mechanics, we'll perform them without a doubt.

To sum up:

- All rewards target will be removed, like those being granted when opening a relic cage or capturing a realm wall.
- The dragon wish that grants WM Coins will be removed, and replaced by others far more attractive, that don't affect balance in any way, as the WM Coins wish currently does.
- The coins obtained from eliminating enemies will of course be counted. These, shown in the character sheet as "Accumulated Coins", will be withdrawable, along with bonuses if they correspond, each time one of the main objectives of the game is completed, such as successfully stealing a gem. This coins will be the ones obtained in the last week played.

This will achieve that realms seek to fulfill the game's main objective in order to obtain the benefits that the Warmaster Coins provide. In other words, only if you eliminate enemies or if you complete the main war objective, you'll be able to obtain WarMaster Coins. Makes sense, right?

Basically, the counter will go back to zero each time a gem is stolen and withdrawn. In order to obtain a new sum of coins accumulated afterwards, your realm will need to steal at least a gem again. This objective is completely possible, even with low numbers.

However, a series of population balance-related bonuses will provide an extra help, if necessary. We are also working on changes to make it possible for these objectives to be fulfilled by any realm, I insist, even with low population.

It's worth mentioning that all of these changes are subject to modifications.

More info coming soon.

Regards!

[Adrian]

Hello everyone!

Due to the nature of the changes, we will need a few more days to finish the details of Invasions. Specifically related to redeeming coins and dragon wishes. We need to perform more tests and some other details.

And there are good news as well. We prepared everything for the update to take place in the new datacenter meaning that the only thing to migrate will be the databases. Those can be done simultaneously and instead of having the game offline for a lot of hours, we can reduce it to one or two hours if no complications arise.

I suppose that on Friday morning we will be applying these changes. Tomorrow will be another long day of work but we're giving all that we have for everything to go as good as possible!

Best regards!

[Adrian]

Hello!

Everything's almost ready. Just some remaining tests and we will be ready for the migration. Tomorrow we will let you know the exact hour, but it will be that very day. We can't be accurate because we are working against the clock to avoid having to postpone it until Monday.

Thank you for your patience!

Regards!