OrbusVR: Reborn Beta Test 4 test will commence on Friday, February 22nd at 12 PM (Noon) US Central Time and run until Monday, February 25th. Today we're previewing a small slice of some of the new things that you can expect to see in the test!

Dev World Boss

A sketch of Orrbain's Dev World Boss Armor

In the current, live version of OrbusVR, the community just wrapped up participation in an event called Defend the Realm. The citizens of Patreayl were called upon to contribute their strength and their resources to help build up supplies in preparation for the hard road ahead leading into the events which occur between the current game and Reborn.

Not only did players answer the call, but they contributed thousands of hours of time and many potions and ingredients in order to meet all the goals that we set before them. The highest goal to achieve was that of a World Boss fight against Orrbain, a.k.a. Riley, the game's director.

I'm pleased to announce that we'll be holding this event as a part of the upcoming Reborn Beta Test. The format of the fight will be pretty straightforward: I will appear in game at a pre-designated time and location. I will be equipped with a variety of boss-level mechanics which I can use to fight against the players who are attempting to defeat me. If I am defeated, all players who are online during that time will receive a special achievement which will carry forward into Reborn.

The Dev World Boss event will be held at the following times during the Beta test (all times are in US Central Time):

Friday February 22nd at 2 PM US Central Time

Friday February 22nd at 8 PM

Saturday February 23rd at 3 PM

Sunday February 24th at 10 AM

Sunday February 24th at 8 PM

We've tried to provide a variety of times that should accommodate all time-zones. Note that there is a limit of around 100 participants in the event due to the restrictions around players per zone. Therefore, we ask that you try and plan to attend the event that best matches your schedule. If you are able to successfully participate in an event earlier in the beta test, please be respectful of the community and allow others to participate in later events.

New Zone: Wasteland

There will be one new zone available in the next test. Whereas the people of Highsteppe banded together and pooled their resources to help one another stand against the encroaching chaos, the bandits and thieves of the Wasteland region turned against one another in a fight where only the strong survived.

The scavs have been spotted encroaching toward our walls again tonight. Merciless and desperate, they'd just as soon gut you and take your gear than say hello. Hopefully the Highsteppe guard patrol will be able to fight them back away from the roads so they don't become impassable like they did last season.

Responsive Healthbars

One of the key improvements that we are putting into the game which should be especially helpful for tanking classes are responsive healthbars. Whenever a healthbar enters responsive mode, it will "stick" to the top of your vision, so that if you are up next to a monster staring at it up close and personal, you will still be able to see its healthbar, status effects, casting bar, etc.

You can also choose to manually activate this by pointing for a few seconds at a far-off target; the healthbar will zoom in and become responsive for a few seconds, allowing you to better see things like the name or difficulty level of the enemy.

Fishing

Fishing will be making its return in this beta test as well. Instead of being a separate combat class, now Fishing is an activity (like Critter Capture or Public Events), with its own NPC that you can earn rep with by doing missions in order to unlock higher-level fishing poles, fishing transmog styles for gear, and more.

Rather than replacing your class item, you now equip your fishing pole and lure into the tool slots on your belt. Then just grab your pole off your belt and fish! That means you can now easily drop your pole and grab your weapon if you need to fend off an attack from a monster or another player, and you no longer have to worry about your health dropping to a very low level when you switch into fishing mode.

In addition to those basic changes to the way fishing works, Reborn will feature a few new fish to catch as well as some additional improvements to the rare fishing mechanism.

We'll have more details on the beta test, including the unveiling of the 4th and final new class, the announcement of the final beta test and launch date of Reborn, and more in future blog posts over the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned!