Every day, members of the Nidarian Guard will find up to a dozen Daily Quests offered by Nidarians and others on the ground, each with a specific task to accomplish that day.  For example, Cypress will have a Daily Quest to hunt down a new breed of Mimic, while Admiral Stanton may have you fighting Mimic Guardian bosses in other areas on the Ground.

While the theme of each Daily Quest will be similar from day to day, you won’t be doing the same thing each day when you start the Daily Quest:  On Monday, Cypress may ask you to hunt down the new breed of Harpoon Mimics that have invaded Steam City Ruins, while on Tuesday his Daily Quest may instead have you searching for Coaltossers in Camp Calluna.  Even if you eventually have to hunt Harpoons again in Steam City weeks later, you’ll find them in different locations this time on the Ground.

When you finish a Daily Quest, you’ll be rewarded with one of the three types of Coins, which you can accumulate to buy items from the Traders in town.  That Daily Quest will be complete until tomorrow, when it may change to a different task - though you’ll still have multiple other Daily Quests from other NPCs to do that day, earning you even more Coins to spend.

Once you’ve collected some Coins - the Aeronaut Shiners, Ferric Hatches, or Crag Tinchips - you can shop with a Trader in Nidaria who accepts each type of Coin.  You might find some familiar items that are available in other Nidarian shops, as well as exclusive items only available with these Coins.  The Traders may also occasionally get an early-bird special on clothing and furniture that haven’t shown up in stores yet, so Nidarian Guard members can pick up some items before their fellow recruits.  For players that would regularly make store purchases in Kreds, the Nidarian Guard package gives you a new rewarding way to pick up high-quality items without spending more.

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Posted by Matt under Game Design, Gameplay | Comments » (11 comments) |

We’ve been busy working on Remnants of Skystone, fine-tuning and adding features since our closed beta started in May.  Things have been quiet lately in the beta, but we’re happy to finally announce some of the new exciting additions we’ve been working on for Skystone!

We have a number of changes and improvements to the main game in store, including a new context-sensitive training to help new players learn about Spores, Geodes, and map-traveling early in the game.  We’ve also been working on improved drop rates, new critical attacks and dodging, and enemies that level-up in difficulty.

The biggest addition however will be arriving as a massive package of brand-new features and content, available for members of the Nidarian Guard!  The Nidarian Guard will be offered as a monthly subscription, where players can enlist to gain a ton of new abilities, power-ups, quests, and rewards in Skystone.  As we get closer to testing and release we’ll go into more detail, but here are some of the new additions in store for Nidarian Guard members:

New Attacks

We’ve listened to player requests for alternate weapons and attacks, and crafted two special attacks for each character class.  Each character will have a close-range Melee Attack that can be used by holding down the attack key, useful when in tight places or when surrounded by Mimics.  Each class will also have its own Charged Attack, which can be charged and unleashed for a more powerful attack.  These new attacks are powered by the player’s Skill meter, and can be improved by boosting the Skill and Stamina stats using another addition for members:

Spectra Circuit

The old Tube Circuit has been removed and replaced by the Spectra Circuit, which members can use to permanently boost their player stats.  Members will earn Circuit Points along with the usual Experience Points when fighting Mimics, which can be used to add and upgrade Sockets on the Circuit.  Ores and Geodes can then be used to craft Etherillium Tubes to use on the Circuit, which won’t burn out like the older Tubes.  The Spectra Circuit pattern can be designed any way the player likes, with some combinations of Tubes and connections giving boosts or drains to the affected stats.

Members Co-op

Each week, members will have access to a special Co-op Trailblazing map with brand new Mimics and new bosses to fight.  These new Mimics will only be available in these Co-op maps, and each will have a series of trophies to earn for your display case or Float.  Newer, more aggressive bosses will end each of the trails, offering a new challenge in combat and ranking on the leaderboards.  Non-members don’t have to be left out either:  Members can send an invitation to team up with anyone in Floats or Nidaria, so everyone can get a piece of the action.

Daily Quests

Along with the usual missions and quests, members will have access to new Daily Quests in Skystone.  Every day, a number of these new quests will be available, which can be completed for experience and rewards.  Some Dailies will task you with finding certain items on the Ground, while others will feature more brand-new Mimics and new methods of playing the game.  Many of the Daily Quests will also have trophies involved (such as for new Mimics), and each will earn the player a special Coin:

Class Coins and New Nidarians

Starting with the Reclamation Effort in recent years, Spores have become the primary currency in Nidaria.  Before this point however, each culture had its own type of coins used for exchange.  Some groups continue to use these older currencies, and a number of traders have recently arrived in Nidaria who will only accept these coins when selling their goods.  Each Daily Quest will reward the player with one of these coins, which can be redeemed for a number of different items and exclusive wares from these traders.

And More!

We’ve just scratched the surface of these new features, which pump a lot more content and depth into the core game.   Over the coming weeks we’ll go into more detail about the Nidarian Guard and more of the improvements we’re working on for Skystone, for Guardsmen and recruits alike.  Stay tuned!

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Posted by Matt under Game Design, Gameplay, Personalization | Comments » (10 comments) |