Enter a MMORPG of your own design.
In Avalon, only you matter.
In this ancient world, everything is a living breathing system.
Kill enough monsters in one location, and they migrate or get wiped
out entirely. Cities and towns can be sieged by players and
monsters alike. It's your world, don't take care of it, and monsters may over-run it, take control of
cities and towns.
There are over 500 spells (and this isn't with 3 heal spells with
different names, these are unique), over half of them rare. Play for
3 years, and you'll still see something new every week.
Play without limitations. There are no skill caps. Your character
never stops growing, never stops improving (though the rate does
slow as he grows). Character classes enhance characters, and do not
limit them. Want to be a sorcerer with sneak or combat abilities? No
problem. This world is so rich, you can always find something new to
learn.
And your character learns. Kill hundreds of skeletons with a
sword, and you'll find that your increase in sword skill tapers off.
After all, how much can you truly learn fighting just one monster.
Yet your skill against skeletons alone continues to improve.
Specialize against certain monsters if you wish, or tackle them all
for greater breadth and depth of growth. And the unique experience
system distributes experience points specifically (to the skills you
use) and generically (for you to place in any skill or spell you
want).
FAQ
How is it you can have so many
different spells?
If there are no skill caps, does this
mean skills can grow forever?
Is there a total skill cap?
Do Skill Bonuses apply to this
logarithmic calculation
How many Characters do I get per
world?
How far into development are you?
How do
Quests work?
Is
PVP/PK allowed?
How Will Housing Work?
I hear that there is siege combat. Tell me
more...
How do Guilds work?
Tell me more about spells and skills...
Is there a method of discouraging
Camping?
Will you allow Macroing?
How is it you can
have so many spells?
Well, part of it is creativity- We have
a great team of developers here. But also, this is really a role
playing game. Many online role-playing games focus on battle, and
thus only use combat oriented spells. But most pen and paper (and
even computer based) role-playing games have hundreds of spells.
Sure, we have a large number of combat
spells. There's also divination spells, spells to help you interact
with NPC's, espionage spells, merchant/enchantment spells, travel
spells, creation and destruction spells, spells for walking on
water, making fog or storms, spells for seeing over long distances
or through walls, swimming and flying spells, summoning spells...
And of course, combat spells of every kind- spells which attack the
player as much as the character (Like "Maze", which transports the
character into an ethereal maze until they find their way out or the
spell time expires).
And while roughly 150 of the spells are
"Common", a number can only be obtained through quests or by looking
for them. There are entire schools of magic which will simply be
open only to the first guild which finds them. Over 200 spells are
rare or ultra rare- possessed by less than 1/2 of a percent of the
players (though many mages will know at least one rare spell).
As of this writing, there are 483
spells.
If there are no skill caps, does this mean skills can grow forever?
Sort of. The theoretical skill cap is
50.0 in each skill. However past a skill of 15, growth is
logarithmically calculated.
Skills are
based on a hyperbolic formula, meaning that you can actually never
truly attained 50.0, although you can ALWAYS get closer (and even at
49.997 skill, a 0.001 increase is meaningful).
This means you
are always gaining in skill. If you've been playing for three years,
you will be stronger than someone who's been playing for two years.
There is no upper limits on how strong you can get. And with the
generic/specific EXP system, whenever you use a skill, you get
experience both for that skill (and thus the skill goes up), and
generic experience (to use on any skills or attributes you see fit),
giving you control over your character's development.
Is
there a total skill cap?
No. Though there is the same logarithmic
formula. Once all of your skills total 1,000, it begins to get
progressively harder to improve any one skill. Advanced characters
may get as high as 5,000, though 10,000 and even higher is possible
(and players who play for long periods of time may well achieve it).
Players may also lock skill growth, and even forget skills over time
if they so choose, making it easier to learn other skills. Basically
there's nothing you can do to your character that can't be "undone"
over time.
Do
Skill Bonuses apply to this logarithmic calculation
No. If you use a sword to slay 1,000
skeletons, and then attack a giant, you'll still have your base
sword skill against the giant. But if you fight more skeletons, you'll
find that you now have a bonus against them, because you've fought them
so much... You'll also find that while you can improve this bonus,
your sword skill itself will not rise as quickly, because you are
fighting only one type of monsters. This means that players can
actually specialize, and get major bonuses against certain creatures
("Godrick the Dragon Slayer").
How many Characters
do I get per world?
One. Many games give you five or more.
We feel this defeats the purpose of RPG's, simply because players
can create multiple characters to assist each other character
(create a carpenter to make money for your mage). We strongly
encourage players to play on multiple worlds- to have more than one
character, to really get into the breadth and depth of the game. But
we do not allow multiple characters on the same server.
How far into development
are you?
Not far. After the launch of Andromeda
Online, we anticipate Avalon becoming our next major project. The
design documentation and code specifications are complete. The world
map is done, the game engine is fully written out, all of the
monsters and spells are done. We will soon begin the graphic work,
and probably begin programming 2-3 months after that.
How do
Quests work?
There are four types of quests:
- Basic: These quests are
available to anybody. They may include a bounty on a pc/npc,
ridding a cave of monsters, rescuing a child, finding a lost
heirloom, escorting a caravan, and so on. These usually only take
1-5 hours total (not necessarily at one time) to complete, though
complex ones can take significantly longer. These quests are
sought out by players
- Intermediate: These quests
are ONLY open to players who select this in their preferences.
They are usually not voluntary quests. For example, you may
find yourself cursed by a high ranking monster. You then have to
travel to a far away town to research the curse in a library, and
find the cure (the ingredients for which you may need to track
down also). Most intermediate quests happen to you incidentally,
which is why players can opt-out of them (though they tend to have
significant bonuses to EXP).
- Advanced: Only players who
are signed up for intermediate quests, with a MINIMUM of 5-10
hours a week online will receive advanced quests. Advanced quests
actually change the world, and can have dramatic repercussions.
For example, a player might kill a monster. If he is eligible for
an advanced quest, he may find a sword on that monster- a sword
which is in fact an integral part of the game world... He may find
a large number of denizens following him around, or entire
civilizations wanting the sword back. These can take weeks to
solve.
- World: These quests affect
the entire game world. They are usually brought about by the acts
of a player or guild (A player finds a crypt, researches who's it
is, discovers it belongs to a powerful wizard, researches how to
open it, open's it, and a major plague is unleashed upon the
world), and have drastic effects (all spells throughout the land
begin loosing power, massive armies conquer the land, etc), and
require weeks, maybe months, to stop, and can involve hundreds of
players in dozens of component quests with multiple endings (not
all of them pleasant).
Many quests can be undertaken by groups.
For example, the leader of a guild may charge you with a quest, and
allow you a group of up to five players to help you. You can add and
remove players from this quest yourself, forming a dynamic party to
accomplish this mission. Also, most quests are not linear. If you
get a quest to find a rare weapon, and decide the reward isn't worth
it, you can keep the weapon (though this may affect your Karma, and
if you're open to Intermediate Quests, may find you with other
players given a quest to get the sword from you). Many quests have
time limits, or death limits (If you die once while attempting this
quest, you will automatically fail the quest).
Is PVP/PK
allowed?
Yes, but only following some rules. The
fact is this is supposed to be a "role playing game"... And most
PvP'ers are too vicious (and often exploitive) to fit into classic
role playing game models (Such as the Ultima Series, or Fallout).
Players should encourage role-playing, not make the game a slugfest.
Certain in game guilds and god
affiliations can lead to PvP situations. Some guilds are at war.
Certain players on certain continents as well, can and do engage in
PvP. Lastly, numerous quests allow for PvP (A good player may get a
quest from the town guard to protect a caravan... Meanwhile a thief
in a thieves guild may get a quest to rob the same caravan...).
Basically, if you want to PK, you'll
find many opportunities and methods, both for extended PvP/PK with
ramifications for the entire community, and for simple occasional
fights.
How will
Housing work?
There are three types of houses:
- Rentable: These homes are
pre-existing buildings in a player or game owned town. You can
rent them for personal use, or to set up a shop. You can also rent
rooms inside larger buildings owned by players/guilds/governments.
- Ownable: These are houses
you buy. You get a plot of land, and place your house. While we do
not have the ability to custom design houses, there are literally
hundreds of designs to choose from, and many of the designs will
be customizable.
- Conquerable: These are
pre-existing structures which have been overrun with creatures. If
the creatures are cleared out, players and guilds can use these
unique structures themselves as any "owned" property. Some of
these are vast structures, the size of cities in some cases. Be
warned, the structure is still conquerable, and other guilds and
cities may attempt to take these structures from you.
I hear there's
siege combat. Tell me more...
The siege engine is unique. Players may
siege conquerable structures, most in game cities, and most player
towns. A guild must declare the siege, and can siege the structure
within 48 hours of declaration. Each siegable structure has a stone
(House stone, town stone, and so on). If this stone is destroyed, it
is replaced with a new one of the sieging guild. The new one is
invulnerable for one week. Sieging guilds may hire PC/NPC
mercenaries to help, and defending players may do so as well. All
structures may be given guards of many types, and can set their own
policies as to what people are allowed in and when to attack
players.
So how
do guilds work?
Guilds are a strong element (though
certainly not required)... Guilds can build their own cities, make
their own quests for players, and even receive quests for the entire
guild as a whole. The towns that they run may be open to the
public (or not), guarded, taxed, and so on. Guilds can rent out
buildings, build an economy on warfare, questing, or through
merchant trading. This is another reason only one character is
allowed per world, per account- it makes it harder to try to sneak
into an enemy guild as another player (though there are magical ways
to do so).
Many guilds are run by the server,
others by the players themselves. Players are not limited to the
number of guilds they can join except by the guilds themselves. Some
guilds may not want you to join more than one guild, others may not
care. A paladin guild may let you join other guilds so long as they
are lawful guilds.
Guilds may also bestow powers upon it's
members. These could range from attribute bonuses to spells with
little or no mana requirement. Player guilds can purchase powers for
their guild, granting all or certain members the gift of flight, or
the power to throw fireballs, the ability to summon weapons, or
special moves in combat.
Tell me more about spells and skills...
While there are certain skills which
enhance your spell casting, spells are actually their own skill. The
"Fireball" spell is it's own skill. Master it, and you'll deliver
fireballs of astounding power, or add more spells to your
repertoire. The spells are designed such that every one has a use
compared to others. Sure, fireball may be a basic spell, not as
advanced as explosive fireball or chain lightning... But it's faster
to train. You can get it to do more damage at a faster rate.
Players themselves can decide to focus
on damage capacity or versatility. But there are no wrong choices.
Every spell and skill can always be improved, always do more
damage, and always become more accurate. And if you don't like the
way your character is going, you can mark the spell/skill for
atrophy, get back some experience (and improve growth rate for all
skills), and improve another skill.
There are hundreds of fighter skills as
well. Aside from weapon skills, shield and parry skills, blind
fighting and ambidexterity, there are particular combat moves which
can be learned, from "leap" (the ability to jump far and long into
the fray) to blows able to strike multiple opponents at once.
Is there a method of discouraging Camping?
Yes. In fact, while combat is important,
there is far less combat than in most other MMORG. While the world
is full of spawns, many of them take an hour or more to spawn,
meaning that you have to travel to find more things to kill (but you
get a lot more experience for killing things... You don't have to
kill hundreds or thousands of monsters to see significant gains).
Again, this is a role-playing game, not a hack and slash.
Also, the environmental system is quite
complex. Spawns move based on a number of factors. If a human city
sets up near a spawn, the creatures may well attempt to relocate (or
be wiped out entirely). If aggravated enough, a group of spawns may
attempt to move INTO a city and take it over.
Will
you allow Macroing?
In the sense that you can macro keys to
quickly do common tasks, yes. In the sense that a player may use a bot to repeat tasks for experience, or lock down a key and leave,
attempting to gain loads of repetitive experience when he returns, then
no.
This game discourages experience gains
through repetition. Again, if you kill 1000 skeletons in a row, your
sword skill would go up 1/4 as much as if you had killed 100
skeletons, 100 mummies, 100 orcs, and 100 spiders (though with 1000
skeleton kills, you'll get a significant bonus to your skill against
skeletons). The same is true for merchant skills and spells. Using
the skill fewer times, in a greater variety of situations is far
more potent than more times in a few small situations. FURTHER, you
get a growth penalty when you switch. If you macro (unattended)
sewing to make yourself 1,000 silk shirts, you'll find that when you
return to actually play, it'll take hours of play before your skill
gains at it's maximum level. If you had skipped the macroing, you'd
start gaining at your max level immediately.
In short, you can gain in 1 hour of play
what would take you 10 hours to macro. And if you macro, it would
take an additional 5 hours of play to earn what the non-macroer
could do in another hour (so 10 hours of macro followed by 5 hours
of active play is roughly equivalent to 2 hours of just active
play).
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