News

Hi, fellow gamer and MMO enthusiast!

We are aware you’ve wanted a proper roadmap for a while, and we apologize for having you wait for so long. Here it finally comes, packed with a lot of updates, several already under development and coming this month!

Check out the picture below for an overview, then read the post for all the details!

Access Pack

Since the game’s inception, buying access to the game has been equivalent to buying the Adept founder pack. As the latter costed €24.99 and contained €25 of value (1 month VIP + 2,000 tokens), this de facto priced access to €0. This was also true for players buying the game on Steam, although many didn’t realize they received an Adept pack until they logged into the game!

This offer for early access backers is coming to an end. Access to the game will be sold alone on our store and priced €14.99. Buying a copy on Steam will cost the same (except for regional discounts) and only give access.

Upgrades to the existing Founder Packs will be possible (will subtract the cost of access), but the base price of those will be more expensive. Here’s the new price structure recapped:

• Access: €14.99
• Adept: €34.99. Now includes 1 additional character slot (this is retroactively applied to all packs bought previously).
• Master: €59.99
• Legend: €99.99
• Champion: €149.99
• Eternal: €299.99

If you want to still get the Adept, Master and Legend packs for their current lower price, buy them now (for Adept, you can buy a game copy on Steam), as the pricing will be changed in a few days once the Store & VIP update goes live!

Full Release

Fractured Online is officially going into full release in the early summer of 2024! The exact date will be announced soon, but we can already disclose it will be set around the very end of June or early July.

Let’s get into what is coming before that, then!

Fresh Server

This is likely going to be the most contentious point of this post, so let’s discuss it properly.

At full release, we are planning to launch a new server (codename: Elysium) to go side by side with the current one (codename: Genesis). We know this is controversial, because most new players will go to Elysium by default, possibly leaving Genesis underpopulated if the influx isn’t strong enough.

Why not just keeping Genesis then, and spinning up a new universe only if needed? There are 3 main reasons:

• A new server has been listed by so many guilds and groups (including several who had already played during Beta) as a strict requirement for them joining in / coming back, that hitting full release without it would be a death sentence for the game.
• Launching an MMO with a strong PvP component without a fresh server will lead to harsh criticism and negative reviews from many who join and find out. This we were aware of, but not to the extent we fully realized now. New players will simply feel the playing field is not even. And sure, we know that 2 months after full release, new players will be in the same situation. However…
• …the economy on the current server is not in a terrible state (except for the lack of activity), but not in a good one either, due to hacking (duping) and major balance changes. Too many items that should not exist are around. It would actually be unfair to new players.

Because of this, the new server is a forced decision for us. As a token of our gratitude for being here before, if you have reached rank 30 with at least one character on Genesis before this post was released, you will get:

• An exclusive mount skin, armor recolor and title.
• Free VIP time and tokens.

We will consider additional VIP and token rewards for the players who really played a lot – with thresholds and amounts to be defined!

Store & VIP

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This patch is actually undergoing QA testing already and should be out in a few days. It includes:

• Buying the VIP membership and activating the VIP time coming from Founder Packs.
• The Token Exchange.
• Buying and applying mount skins.
• Buying and applying armor recolors.
• Applying in-game titles.
• A system that saves items in chests in a land parcel when the latter is abandoned/decays. They can be recovered later from the area of the city the land parcel was located in.

Check out these awesome mount skins! <3

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New PvP Rules

Here comes another very contentious decision – but one we firmly believe in.

The original PvP system of Fractured Online, based on the “3 races, 3 gameplays” motto, has failed on all fronts:

• The promise we made to PvE players that they could “complete their characters” without engaging in PvP has been betrayed, since everyone needs to clear Aerhen almost in full to reach rank 50 and get all the abilities. This has caused a lot of our PvE-focused players to quit.
• To mitigate #1, we implemented a protection system for new players. That doesn’t really fix #1, and is widely exploited and hated by the PvP community.
• To mitigate #1, we also implemented a very harsh criminal system on Aerhen. That doesn’t really fix #1 because griefers can still operate, and it’s annoying for more “legit” forms of player killers. It’s also very imbalanced since Bounty Hunters can operate with no risk vs reward.

Because of this, we are changing the rules of PvP engagement as follows:

• The basic rules of both planets become identical. It’s what we call “Safe” ruleset, similar to what exists now on Terra.
  • A Good player who is not a Bounty Hunter can’t be attacked nor attack anyone. This means that if you choose to be Good, you are completely excluded from PvP.
  • Neutral players can still attack one another and Evil players. Neither incur into Karma losses.
  • Bounty Hunters can only be Good characters with high Karma. They can attack and be attacked by Evil players.
  • Evil players drop all equipment by default, and the same is true for Bounty Hunters.

Where has all the PvP gone then? Read on… 😉

God Trials

With the ruleset changed, we want to protect pure PvE players from harm. With God Trials, we want to give powerful incentives to engage in PvP in selected areas (that go way beyond flagging Neutral for a 30% Divine Reward drop rate bonus).

Within both planets, multiple portions of the map can become the object of a Trial of the Gods. A trial can be Safe (no ruleset change), Lafwul (the current ruleset of Aerhen – PKing allowed with conquences) or Lawless (FFA PvP with no consequences, like Tartaros).

• Trial of Tyros (Safe). Slay “Exalted” monsters to collect more gold and gain the favor of Tyros, unlocking the ability to self-resurrect*.
• Trial of Nelena (Safe). Slay “Infused” monsters to collect more primal energy and gain the favor of Nelena, unlocking the ability to teleport back home*.
• Trial of Galvanos (Lawful). Slay randomly spawning Wandering Legends. Slaying any kind of legend lets you gain the favor of Galvanos, which allows you to challenge his Champions (start summonable and ultimate legends, which no longer require materials).
• Trial of Iridia (Lawful). Creatures have a chance to drop a Coin of Fate, which can be used to trigger a random outcome, ranging from gaining valuable items and resources to causing self-harm. Test your luck to gain the Favor of Iridia to increase the odds of positive results!
• Trial of Babilis (Lawless): Slay “Corrupted” creatures to collect Cursed Divine Rewards, which can be opened in a safe zone to receive great loot. Beware though, because nearby player can see if you are carrying one!

The rewards from Safe trials are always modest, with the real perk being the special ability unlocked. Lawful trials also have modest reward, but they improve considerably if you are Neutral. The Trial of Babilis has undoubtedly the highest rewards.

Areas of the map that will be subject to a trial can be seen on the world map menu, both when the trial is active and also largely in advance, so you don’t get caught unaware in one. Logging out in the wilderness has never been a good idea, but now is way less recommended!

*Abilities subject to cooldowns and other restrictions.

Tutorial Overhaul

The tutorial is being overhauled to be more complete, engaging and rewarding. Here are the changes in a nutshell:

• The starting backgrounds have been changed to be more unique and get properly developed in the course of the tutorial.
• The tutotial island is much larger, with more creatures to defeat to get new abilities and more resources to gather.
• There are new quests teaching horse capturing, shrine interactions, imbuing and enchanting.
• All quests now give rewards, too!

Summons

Summoning is coming to Fractured Online!

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Players now have up to 3 “summon slots” to be spent summoning creatures under their control. Each creature is connected to a specific new summoning ability which can be unlocked by reaching 100% of the knowledge of that specific creature. The creatures and their summon slot costs are as follows:

• Hunting: Bear (2), Wolf (1)
• Druidcraft: Sproutling (2)
• Pyromancy: Fire Primeling (2)
• Cryomancy: Ice Primeling (2)
• Aeromancy: Storm Primeling (2)
• Geomancy: Crystal Primeling (2)
• Necromancy: Zombie (1), Skeleton (1), Skeletal Archer (2), Skeletal Knight (2), Ghoul (3)

Summons can be controlled through hotkeys and new buttons, ordering them to attack a target, follow you or protect you!

Q3/4 2024

…and after release? Let’s find out!

Alliances & Seasons

Guild alliances and proper competitive seasons are going to be the number one focus for the weeks right after post-launch.

First, we need to give guilds the possiblity to band with one another through alliances. Second, we need to allow alliances to compete with one another!

A Season is set to last for 2-3 months. Season Points can be acquired in a variety of ways, involving both PvE and PvP. There will be rewards for all participants scoring good results, and the winners will receive a permanent representation in the game!

City Progression

As it stands, there are no reasons to level up player cities except for “bragging rights”. This has been the case since we removed the Tech Tree, which in our opinion was harming more than helping the game.

Instead of preventing players from expanding their city by blocking content through tech tree nodes, we have decided to give bonuses to players who manage to level up their city.

There are two approaches possible here. One is to give all cities a fixed bonus that becomes stronger with rank. The other is to allow governors to select different bonuses. We will have a round table with the community on the topic – but regardless of the final decision, bonuses they will be!

New Playable Races

If you’ve followed Fractured Online, you already know what they are: the Shadow Demons (Nightmares), the Udoadra (Wolf-Kin) and the Nheedra (Bear-Kin)!

Not much to add here yet, stay tuned for all the details!

2025

Our plans are already well defined for the whole of 2025! Upcoming content includes:

• Procedural dungeons – the ultimate end-game PvE challenge!
• Asteroids – an ever-changing, high-risk PvPvE playground with territory control for guilds and alliances.
• Player character transformations: Humans to Liches, Demons to Angels and Beastmen to Abominations!

You likely have noticed that Tartaros is not listed here. The reason is that, given the new PvP rules and the need to have more end-game content instead of yet more horizonal content (a planet contains mobs from CR 2 to 10), the original idea of an FFA PvP planet no longer makes sense in its original form.

We will open another roundtable with the community to figure out what you like best – scrapping the Demon planet as a whole to focus on other features, or re-envision it as end-game content. If it ends up being the latter, it could take priority over Asteroids, but only time (and your feedback) will tell.

That’s it for this massive update!

Excited for the release? Let us know what you think, as always!

Cheers!

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