Dev Blog - Reputation System (Revamped)

Friday, June 16, 2023

New Reputation System

Welcome to a new DevBlog, Adventurer!

It has been a while since we brought out our last DevBlog to talk about gameplay updates. Since we successfully completed the Open Beta 1, our team has been hard at work not only to improve the mechanics that you already know and love, but also to come up with new exciting mechanics in this last sprint towards the release.

This time around, we want to share the new (revamped) Reputation System that is coming to Ravendawn! Starting from Open Beta 2, you will be able to venture out with a new and much more dynamic Reputation System! Let's check out the reasons that led us to make changes to this system and how it turned out after the revamp?
 

The Reasons Behind the Reformulation

The decision to make an overhaul of the old Reputation System came from two fundamental sources: player feedback and the nature of our core game design beliefs. Setting aside the rigidity of following a specific Reputation path, players felt misguided or frustrated when frequently faced with two significant and sometimes conflicting choices: selecting an advantage for the sake of the lore or for pure character progression.

Through internal tests and community feedback, we realized that the system was designed in a way that often conflicted with the freedom we always want to promote in the gameplay, whether in terms of narrative or in terms of character customization. In order to maintain both aspects within the Reputation System, we felt that a rework was necessary.

As you all know, the old design had three different and predetermined paths to be followed (Order, Mercenary and Criminal), where the points gained from interactions throughout the world were divided and had to be spent into the same path to reach higher tiers with progressively better perks.

The new Reputation system will have a more horizontal perks tree instead of completely dividing the paths, and you will now be able to choose the perks that best suit you while also selecting dialogue options that align with your roleplay style. This is possible due to a new cumulative score that combines points from the three existing Reputation paths that are obtained through dialogues and interactions. In short, you will never be prevented from choosing a specific perk just because you didn't want to follow a specific Reputation path, which fulfills the goal of the reformulation. Let's check out more details of the new Reputation System?
 

The New Reputation System


The core of the new Reputation System is structured around your total Reputation points, which means that the total amount of Reputation points (be it Order, Mercenary or Criminal) obtained during your adventure is what matters at the end of the day. These points will be used not only to purchase the desired perks but also to enable interactions with several NPCs scattered throughout the world that grant various benefits, such as the acquisition of land deeds to claim your plot of land in the world of Ravendawn and powerful enchantments to boast your combat prowess.

Yes, Reputation NPCs will not be locked into specific Reputation paths anymore: the interactions will be available as soon as the player reaches a certain total amount of Reputation points obtained through their journey.

To improve the overall gaming experience in different areas of the game, such as combat, economy, movement, crafting and more, perks will now be divided into 7 different tiers. You will be able to spend your Reputation points on the first level, and in order to choose a higher-level perk, you will need to proportionally have at least one perk at the previous tier.


For example: In order to choose 1 perk at Tier 5 (Reputation Tree), you must have at least 1 Tier 4 perk. To choose 3 Tier 5 perks, you must have at least 3 Tier 4 perks. To choose 3 Tier 4 perks, you must have at least 3 Tier 3 perks, and so on.

Now... We know you must be wondering what the difference will be between choosing different dialogue options and whether the different Reputation paths will still have any impact within the game. And of course that we’ll make sure that you will still be able to become an orderly knight, a known mercenary or a ruthless criminal in the world of Ravendawn. We are preparing some cool features for the near future to keep the roleplay alive and to give a new and meaningful purpose to your alignment choices without taking the freedom of character building that our team strives so much to sustain from the very beginning!

Reputation points will still be rewarded upon completing Story Quests and engaging in dialogues with NPCs around the world. However, we will also have a completely new source of Reputation points for those who are natural explorers, but we will have that as a surprise for the upcoming DevBlogs…

 

New Perks

With the revamp of the system, we also needed to look more fondly on the perks that it provides. Let's take a look at all the perks of the new Reputation tree? All tiers have 2 combat perks, 1 movement perk, and 6 miscellaneous perks!
 

Tier 1

Ring Mastery I

Increases the stats from Rings by 5%.

 

Amulet Mastery I

Increases the stats from your Amulet by 10%.

 

Swift Rider I

Increases the Speed of your Moa by 5%.

 

Monster Slayer I

Increases experience received from Creatures by 2%.

 

Gathering Proficiency I

Increases experience received from Gathering by 3%.

 

Crafting Proficiency I

Increases experience received from Crafting by 3%.

 

Scavenger I

Increases the drop rate of Items from Creatures by 3%.

 

Prosperity I

Increases Silver dropped from Creatures by 3%.

 

Good Fortune I

Increases the chance at finding Rare Materials when Gathering by 3%.

 

Tier 2


Improved Gunpowder I

Increases the damage of your Ship Cannons by 5%.

 

Gadgeteer I

Reduces the cooldown of your Trinket by 10%.

 

Seadog I

Increases the Speed of your Ship by 5%.

 

Caravaneer I

Increases Speed while pulling a Wagon by 5%.
 

Rider's Bond I

Increases the Bond Experience received by your Moa by 5%.


Nourished I

Increases the Duration of Food Consumables by 7%.

 

Proficient Alchemy I

Increases the Effectiveness of Potions by 5%.

 

Ranger's Valor I

Increases the number of Prestige Points received from Rangers Company tasks by 7%.

 

Artisan's Touch I

Your first Touch action has a 10% chance to double the Quality given during crafting.

 

Tier 3

Swift Artillery I

Increases the Reload Speed of your Ship Cannons by 5%.

 

Reinforced Hull I

Increases the Health of your Ship by 5%.

 

Seatrader I

Increases the Speed of your ship by 5% when carrying Tradepacks.

 

Moa's Vigor I

Increases the Strength of your Moa by 7%.

 

Moa Proficiency I

Reduces the Cooldown of your Moa's abilities by 10%.

 

Bartering I

Increases the value of Tradepacks by 5%.

 

Fisherman's Luck I

Increases the value of Fish by 5%.

 

Skilled Salesman I

Increases the value of Creature Products by 5%.

 

Sellsword I

Increases the number of Bounty Marks earned from Rangers Company Tasks by 10%.

 

Tier 4

Retributioner

Increases damage dealt to Murderers by 5%, and recovers 30% of your maximum health when you kill a Murderer. Not available to those with active Murderer status.

 

Insidious

Increases damage dealt to Innocent players by 2%, and recovers 15% of your maximum health when you kill an innocent player. 

 

Weapon Mastery

Increases the stats from your Main & Off Hand equipment by 5%.

 

Looter's Haste

Increases movement speed by 15% when carrying a Tradepack stolen from a killed player.

 

Trader's Agility

Increases movement speed by 10% when carrying a Tradepack on foot.

 

Skilled Rider

Decreases the chance of being dismounted when first struck by another player by 50%.



Diplomatic Exaltation

Humans/Dwarves/Goblins/Elves 5 levels below won't attack you.

 

Fortified Convoy

When first attacked by a player while riding a Wagon, receives a shield equal to 25% of your max health for 10 seconds. 2 Minute Cooldown.

 

Trader's Safeguard

When first attacked by a player while carrying a Tradepack on your Ship, receives a shield equal to 25% of your max health for 10 seconds. 2 Minute Cooldown.

 

Tier 5

Ring Mastery II

Increases the stats from Rings by 10%.

 

Amulet Mastery II

Increase the stats from your Amulet by 20%.

 

Swift Rider II

Increases the Speed of your Moa by 10%.



Monster Slayer II

Increases experience received from creatures by 4%.

 

Gathering Proficiency II

Increases experience received from Gathering by 7%.

 

Crafting Proficiency II

Increases experience received from Crafting by 7%.
 

Scavenger II

Increases the drop rate of Items from Creatures by 7%.

 

Prosperity II

Increases Silver dropped from Creatures by 7%.

 

Good Fortune II

Increases the chance at finding Rare Materials when Gathering by 7%.

 

Tier 6

Improved Gunpowder II

Increases the damage of your Ship Cannons by 10%.

 

Gadgeteer II

Reduces the cooldown of your Trinket by 20%.

 

Seadog II

Increases the Speed of your ship by 10%.

 

Caravaneer II

Increases Speed while pulling a Wagon by 10%.

 

Rider's Bond II

Increases the Bond Experience received by your Moa by 10%.

 

Nourished II

Increases the Duration of Food Consumables by 15%.

 

Proficient Alchemy II

Increases the Effectiveness of Potions by 10%.

 

Ranger's Valor II

Increases the number of Prestige Points received from Rangers Company tasks by 15%.

 

Artisan's Touch II

Your first Touch action has a 20% chance to double the Quality given during crafting.

 

Tier 7

Swift Artillery II

Increases the Reload Speed of your Ship Cannons by 10%.

 

Reinforced Hull II

Increases the health of your Ship by 10%.

 

Seatrader II

Increases the Speed of your ship by 10% when carrying Tradepacks.

 

Moa's Vigor II

Increases the Strength of your Moa by 15%.

 

Moa Proficiency II

Reduces the cooldown of your Moa's abilities by 20%.

 

Bartering II

Increases the value of Tradepacks by 10%.

 

Fisherman's Luck II

Increases the value of Fish by 10%.

 

Skilled Salesman II

Increases the value of Creature Products by 10%.

 

Sellsword II

Increases the number of Bounty Marks earned from Rangers Company Tasks by 20%.

 

We are feeling very confident with these last game design choices that we made, mainly because they were taken having player feedback as one of its solid bases. We look forward to the upcoming Open Beta 2 and to see how many new ways of building a character our community will come up with.
See you in the next DevBlog!