Gear Progression Plan

 In this blog, we wish to introduce our plan for gear progression in Selene. We will go over the ins and outs of each of our decisions on this crucial topic. Additionally, this blog acts as a preparation for a finalized “Revised Gear Progression” feature card that will be unlocked later on and influenced by the community’s feedback on our plans. For dessert, we have a quick update regarding the development of Selene. # What is this feature about? As part of our game design, we have seen many issues with how vanilla pre-bb has its armors and accessories sorted out. We plan to revamp gears to create a more polished, incremental system that rewards players with better equipment as they level. To accomplish this goal, we have had to take an in-depth look into each category of gears and decide on a list of guidelines that will lead us to design each piece of equipment in the game. # The problems with classic gears The first issue we have addressed with gears is how poorly planned they are in vanilla. One bold example would be maple weapons, a set of weapons that make every other weapon during the second advancement irrelevant for almost all classes while also requiring little to no effort from the player to achieve as the weapons are commonly available. During our discussions, another thing that came up was how unnecessarily cluttered gears feel in vanilla, especially during the early to mid-game. Players barely spend time with a specific item before moving on to the next one. In terms of improving upon the existing systems, we believe players should gradually upgrade their gears as they progress through the game, having gear strength advance appropriately to their level instead of having one set be overpowered and carry a player all the way through till the end game. Our revamped scrolling system would further encourage players to partake in upgrading their low-level equipment as well. We also have a vision for how our end game gears will be obtained, which will be touched on later in the blog. # Equipment Tiers As previously mentioned in blogs and explained on the “Revamped Scrolling” feature card, every piece of equipment in Selene will be classified with a tier based on their respective level. | Tiers | Equip Level | Monster Level | |--------------|----------------|----------------| | Basic | Levels 1 - 49 | Levels 1 - 49 | | Intermediate | Levels 50 - 89 | Levels 50 - 89 | | Advanced | Levels 90 - 139 | Levels 90 - 139 | | Legendary | Level 140+ | Level 140+ | ### How many slots per item to expect? While we will not be revealing our full plan for every type of equipment (which would not be entirely true due to some that may act as exceptions), we can share an example. In the original game, Work Gloves (Level 10) comes with 5 slots by default. In Selene, these work gloves belong to the Basic tier, and as such, allow players to use up to 3 slots for scrolling. However, a pair of Level 140 gloves (Legendary tier) would have 7 slots available, on top of their increased base stats, making them far superior to their basic tier counterparts. Note that each type of equipment comes with a different number of slots within each tier. # Uncluttering job gears We have decided to remove one in every two sets to allow players “breathing space” between major job set upgrades. This change encourages players to use the revamped scrolling system, which is more beneficial toward lower levels than the original one since equipment sets stay relevant for longer before the next tier becomes available. | Set | Monster Crystal | Source | |----------------------------------|----------------------|---------------------| | Level 10 Weapons & Set | Basic (1-49) | Mobs in level range | | Level 30 Weapons & Set | Basic (1-49) | Mobs in level range | | Level 50 Weapons & Set | Intermediate (50-89) | Mobs in level range | | Level 70 Weapons & Set | Intermediate (50-89) | Mobs in level range | | Level 90 Weapons & Set | Advanced (90-139) | Mobs in level range | | Level 120 Weapons & Set | Advanced (90-139) | Mobs in level range | | Level 140 Weapons & Set (Dragon) | Legendary (140+) | Horntail & Crafting | * A “set” consists of the following items: Helmet, Top&Bottom/Overall, Gloves, Shoes which can only be worn by a specific job branch. * End game gears will be covered later on in this blog. Removed sets will act as either an NX cosmetic item or have identical stats of an existing set to provide some variety in appearance rather than being completely removed. # Accessories Accessories consist of the following items: Cape, Earring, Eye, Face, Pendant, Belt, and Ring. While most accessories are commonly shared between all job branches, we intend to keep some accessories exclusive to certain jobs. We have decided to treat accessories individually rather than make them part of a linear system. This gives us freedom in design and allows us to appoint levels and stats based on content instead of being restricted to a fixed progression. We still have some general guidelines leading us into designing each accessory: - The default approach is to keep an accessory at its original level. - Any items we wish to remove can be repurposed as a cosmetic cover of the item so that they are not entirely removed from the game for people who might be interested in them. # End game equipment We have a properly designed end game equipment system in Selene. End game equipment will always be part of the legendary tier, meaning it begins from level 140. Most of these equipment will be locked behind bosses. It is recommended to read the [Redesigned Bosses Plan blog](https://playselene.com/blog/post/12/) to understand better how bosses would work in Selene. Continuing on the effort that has already been put to make more bosses viable, here is a list of end game gear that you can expect to find behind bosses between levels 140 and 200. | Content | Endgame Gear | Item Level Req | |-----------------------|------------|--------------| | Zakum | Helmet | 140 | | Ninja Castle Expedition | Cape | 140 | | Neo Tokyo | Earrings | 150 | | Horntail | Pendant | 160 | | Nightmarish Expedition | Shoes | 170 | | Von Leon | Gloves | 170 | | Pink Bean | Weapons | 180 | | Empress Cygnus | Armor | 200 | * Gears that don’t appear on the table, such as Face, Eye, and Belts, will be available from other sources. Most end game gears will be tradeable to encourage an active thriving market and incentivize people to attend bosses not only for the EXP and drops but also for the potential mesos gains. # Some additional considerations ## Common Armors Since we are moving to a linear path of progression of armors for each job, some popular common items in vanilla come into mind with thoughts on their purpose in Selene. For starters, note that common items usually come with inferior defensive stats while in vanilla this can easily be overlooked. We intend to introduce a number of changes to the defensive formulas that will make it more significant and much more accessible for players to understand. While we can’t cover every single item, let’s look at three examples of common items; Colored Bamboo Hats (Level 25), Sauna Robes (Level 30), and Facestompers (Level 50). Bamboo hats in vanilla originate from the “First Time Together” party quest (KPQ), which is also planned for Selene. These hats will still be available in Selene as rewards from the PQ, but we intend to make sure their stats are inferior to each job’s level 30 alternatives. Sauna robes in vanilla allow players to wear them without any stat requirements, making them very attractive for players who focus on a single stat (such as “Dexless” assassins). In Selene, these overalls fall under the Basic Tier, which means the number of slots on these overalls will match with other overalls in the same tier. While we don’t intend to introduce any stat requirements for these overalls, they are far less viable now due to the removal of maple weapons. Facestompers are usually considered end game shoes in vanilla, and at level 50, you can be sure they won’t be anywhere close to the end game in Selene. Being level 50 makes these shoes part of the intermediate tier. On top of that, and as already revealed on the [Revamped Scrolling feature card](https://playselene.com/features/scrolling/), we will have scrolls for Shoes for ATT, meaning shoes from higher tiers will surpass facestompers in potential. Zakum helmets, as mentioned in the previous section, are considered the end-game helmets in Selene. The level requirement to wear a Zakum helmet has been increased to 140, so it no longer interferes with any linear progression hats except the level 140 set hat. ## Maple Weapons Addressing this issue has been evident to us from minute one. As mentioned earlier, we wish to have a linear set of items for each job, which allows players to gradually improve about every 20 levels. Maple weapons, in their core, would ruin this progression all together by allowing players to not invest points into their secondary stats, which means they would not participate in any of the planned progression systems. To prevent that, we have decided to remove maple weapons initially while keeping them in mind for future events such as server anniversaries. They could come in the shape of rare NX covers, or (nerfed) alternatives to the linear progression path, or something else. ## Medals We intend to introduce a feature card aimed explicitly at medals and the plans we have for them. Expect it to be less of what medals are in pre-bb versions, and more of what medals are in later versions. ## Drop table We intend to build an entirely new drop table from scratch due to the massive changes that are planned to equips and scrolls. Players will be able to follow the changes by collecting Monster Cards that present the player with the full drop table of a particular mob. ## Gender restrictions This is an excellent opportunity to share that all gender restrictions are non-existent in Selene; you can use any piece of equipment, NX covers, hairs, and faces both as a male and as a female character. # The State of Selene A few months ago (in [dev blog 12](https://playselene.com/blog/post/12/)) we mentioned how our plans shifted from doing mostly client work to focusing entirely on our server source code, Sequoia. This time, we are happy to share with you that we are very close to reaching a point where we are happy with the source to get back to client development again. Once the work is done, we will make sure to update you on what has been done during the past few months with Sequoia which is now miles ahead of where it was 5 months ago. We are excited to get back to working on the client, knowing the source behind it is solid. With that said, 2021 will be a year where we will keep working hard every day to bring Selene to a ready state. We are fully aware of the hope (and hype) people put in Selene, and we hope none of you will be disappointed! # Conclusion None of the details here are final, the idea is to share this with you, the community, to see how it is received, and if there are any other suggestions that could work better. As always, if you have any questions, suggestions, thoughts, or anything else, make sure to join [Selene's Discord](https://discord.playselene.com) and share those with us.