For us here on the Allods Team, beginning Open Beta was a long-awaited milestone in the Skyforge development timeline and marked the first time players would be leaving their permanent mark across Aelion. Open Beta is not only an opportunity to share what we’ve dedicated ourselves to over the past several years, but the turning point in our project’s life. The transition from developing a game to providing a service means maintaining a live product, actively communicating with players, and continually improving Skyforge.

One of the important elements of this is the processing and collection of player statistics through the game itself in conjunction with collocating and reviewing the feedback topics discussed on the forums. Understandably, certain topics can arise that become a focal point for community discussion and we need to make an effort to address these concerns. Currently, the most active discussions revolved around players feeling they cannot easily continue their progression in a meaningful way after reaching their weekly Sparks of Insight limit.

For many players, around the time they reach Naori Island, they stop receiving Sparks of Insight as they’ve reached the first weekly limit for this reward. This gives the illusion that players are unable to develop their characters further since no progress can be made on the upper level of the Ascension Atlas which prevents players from gaining further prestige through traditional node unlocks. We noticed that players within the prestige range of 2500-3500 began asking what else was available to participate in after reaching these limits. However, even with these limits in place certain players have managed to reach upwards of 5-7k prestige, which is up to two times higher than what others perceived as their “hard-cap” on prestige.

Players accomplished this by continuing to play and earn resources for other aspects of Skyforge, specifically the Order system, in order to fully develop their character. In Skyforge, a player’s overall strength (measured by prestige) has three major sources – the Ascension Atlas, Equipment, and Order. The Order, a major source of strength, is unfortunately overlooked by many players who have reached the limit for Sparks of Insight. This is a grave oversight, as the Order provides many statistical bonuses which are only obtainable through this method, including major boosts to their health totals and other customizable stats.

It was clear to us that we were unable to convey how significant this element truly was as it not only allows for continued play, but unlocks a noticeable portion of a player’s potential power as well. Currently, our designers are working to make this point much clearer through Skyforge’s interface and the Order upgrades themselves.

Reaching the Order systems full potential is not possible by solely sending your adepts out on missions, but also requires players to complete Adventures to obtain some of the necessary resources needed to complete the desired mission!

Adept missions are divided into three distinct types:

• “Yellow” for Gathering Resources (Supplies and Ammo)

• “Blue for spending Supplies to bring in more followers and earn charms

• “Red” for spending Ammo or Supplies to gain Gifts from those you’ve helped

To send your Adepts on more rewarding missions it is necessary to obtain resources from “Yellow” Gathering Resource missions followed by spending them on “Red” Combat missions or “Blue” Order Development missions. However, the resources you earn from Yellow missions will become scarcer the more Blue or Red missions you decide to take on, requiring you to obtain more resources from outside the Order. To help cover this difference players are capable of completing Adventures in exchange for Ammo and Supplies after reaching certain resource limits.

Power your character obtains through this method is primarily contributed by your Order’s temple within each province. With each rank earned, you become imbued with higher might, stamina, or health. Increasing a temples rank can be accomplished through the use of Gifts and Holy Texts, the latter of which can be purchased on the market or provided as an Adventure reward.

Increasing a temple’s rank beyond level 5 requires reaching the second Order rank, which is earned upon obtaining 800 loyal followers. To reach this goal, adepts can be sent on “Blue” Order Development missions to recruit more followers to your Order.

As you reach higher ranks you will require a larger Greatness stat which are available through specific nodes on the Ascension Atlas. Many of these nodes are impossible to pass by, ensuring you still earn this stat passively over time, however obtaining the maximum Greatness can only be achieved by deliberately moving towards these nodes.

The information provided here doesn’t go into all the details involving the Order, only parts of the system that will ease you into the Order system and enable you to naturally explore as you progress – and of course, push you towards even greater prestige levels. More importantly, even if you have not been actively using your Order you can still catch up as your currency limit continues to build and carry over from week to week.

Even still, as Skyforge continues to expand, we will continue observing the active discussions related to player progression as well as other controversial issues. These efforts on our part are crucial if we want to ensure we are making the kind of changes the game and the community will benefit from moving forward.