Welcome to the 2nd post of our “State of the Game” blog series for Dragon Eye Online (DEO). The intent for this series is to highlight some of the changes we have been working on since the last post and what to expect in the near future.

Alpha Is Still on Schedule for Q2 of 2019

Development has been going as expected since the last post, and we expect to be able to release Alpha 1 as planned. However, the date will remain tentative until Pre-Alpha is complete and through QA. At that point, we will give a two week notice of the exact date and put a hold on major development until we start working on the first update to Alpha 1. Remember, to participate in DEO’s Alpha phase, you will need to have purchased a pack at https://www.dragoneyeonline.com/early-access/.

What We Have Completed

Harvesting Is Ready for Alpha 1

The harvesting system overhaul is complete. Like the old crafting system, the previous harvesting system automated the process for you and then used a RNG (Random Number Generator) system to provide you with an outcome. This gave you no meaningful choices and felt really “grindy”. Here’s a look at the new system:

Once you have located a node to harvest and interact with it, you will enter a “Harvesting Session” and see two progress bars that include:

Node Durability – depleted when attempting to extract resources from the node. Once this hits 0, the session is complete.

Session Stamina – depleted when attempting any sort of Harvest Ability. Once this hits 0, the session is complete.

Your standard hotbar will be replaced with a harvesting specific one with abilities that include but are not limited to:

Power Harvest – attempt to harvest the node in a powerful manner, prioritizing quantity over quality.

Controlled Harvest – attempt to harvest the node in a controlled manner, putting equal priority on both quantity and quality.

Gentle Harvest – attempt to harvest the node in a gentle manner, prioritizing quality over quantity.

Study – study the node, forfeiting resources for increased experience.

Rest – rest and partially restore stamina (has a “turn” cooldown).

Abandon – quickly abandon the node (useful to escape danger).

Every step of the process is now dictated by your decision. Be sure to let us know what you think!

Crafting Is Ready for Alpha 1

The crafting system was nearly ready at the time of the previous post, but still had to be tested and tweaked until the “feel” was right. Here are some of the final tweaks, prior to Alpha 1, that we made:

Optional materials were removed and added as abilities. “Brand” is now an ability that allows you to custom name an item. “Dye” is now an ability that allows you to custom accent an item. “Complete” is now an ability that allows you to end a successful session when you are ready (useful for branding/dying items after success).

Food is no longer a sub-system (more details below).

The UI has been completely reworked to be more user-friendly and expandable.

Equipment Accents

While the crafting system was ready for accenting, the artwork still needed a lot of work to look right. The artwork is now ready for Alpha 1 and 11 different colors of dyes have been added. However, dyes, some more than others, will take effort on your part to acquire.

Food System – Take 2

Here we are again. The food system is now paired with the potion system. While potions are combat-oriented and provide buffs of short duration, food will focus on offering you longer buffs for a wide variety of purposes. This isn’t quite as innovative as we had hoped, but it finally “feels” right compared to our previous attempts. Nevertheless, this is the last pass on food until Alpha 1 and we get feedback from you all.

Starting Region/Zone Level Design

What was once a simple place to test out systems, is now a completely designed region. Packed with a guild area for each attribute, a market, an item bank and much more. However, it isn’t quite ready for Alpha 1. Once it is, we will be doing some gameplay video of harvesting and crafting. Soon. Promise.

Combat Progress

Equipment is now given a role-based rating to guide you as you set goals on what to obtain and when. We are sticking to the “holy trinity” for the most part but innovating what those roles do. Here’s a look at how things currently stand:

Defender (Tank/DPS)

Focuses on the Fortitude, Wisdom and Strength attributes.

Threat/taunting replaced with active mitigation. About to take serious damage? Use a mitigation cooldown. Is the bad guy after your clothy? Leap to and defend them.

Take enough beatings for your team and “Enrage” to deal massive damage.

Controller (Healer/DPS)

Focuses on the Wisdom, Intellect and Spirit attributes.

Heal spam and damage that tickles replaced with active crowd control (CC) and damage amplifying. Direct the flow of enemies with CC and misdirection. Amplify you and your party’s damage by interrupting enemy abilities and siphoning the mana.

“Overflow” from siphoning and deal game-breaking damage.

Assassin (DPS)

Focuses on the Strength, Agility and Spirit attributes.

Ability spam behind the enemy replaced with stealth-initiated combos. Safely move into position by stepping into and out of the shadows. Wisely use cooldowns to combo unsuspecting enemies.

Regenerate by leeching life from your victims.

What We Are Working on Now

More Combat

While we have gotten the core of the combat system working, it will remain our main focus until we think it is ready for Alpha 1.

NPCs/Questing

We have done some preliminary work here, but we wanted to keep it a lower priority until other systems were completed. As most systems are ready for Alpha 1, it is time to give NPCs and questing some much needed attention.

Chat System

The basic chat system has been implemented for quite some time, but before it is ready for you all, it still needs quite a bit of work.

Clan System

You wont see a very complex clan system in Alpha 1, but we are still at the concept stage here. We would like to get the initial state of the system up and running for Alpha 1.

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That is all we have for this update. As always, let us know what you think on our forums at https://www.dragoneyeonline.com/forums/.