With the release of the Hard Mode Raids this last Tuesday, I wanted to take some time today and go over the plans we have for the new and exciting content just around the corner, as well as some more long range goals we have for the game.

July 23rd

This patch will contain five new hairstyles (including bald for all those out there missing their old looks). New hairstyles wouldn’t be any use though unless you could change what your character looks like, so we are also introducing the “Barbershop Tokens.” Once purchased and used, these tokens allow you to re-make your characters appearance. So if you rushed through making your character the first time, or you see a new style that better suits your taste, or even if your character has been clearing dungeons like crazy and you want to show progression in your avatar by changing their body shape, it will be possible now. These tokens will be available through the Odd’s N End’s vendor on the lower floor of Highsteppe for Dram. We will continue to add more options for hair, eyes, ears, nose, etc in the coming months, so if you don't see what you were looking for be sure to leave some feedback on the forums of what you would like to see.

August 6th

This patch will contain some long-anticipated Shaman class fixes and changes. We took the feedback from the community and will be tweaking a few aspects of the class. For example, we are going to change the respawn timer on the orbs to begin from the time you release the Orb as opposed from when the Orb hits the enemy to allow Shamans to play from the range they feel comfortable without losing out on the DPS of being farther back. Another change will be the shield totem will have a role (which we will explain further in a future post); there will also finally be a 3D representation of the Shaman mask visible on other players in the world.

Along with the Shaman changes, this patch will also include the new level 30+ Level Up Perks. These are meant to improve the experience of those players that have already reached level 30 on at least one class. Each time you level past 30, in addition to the existing large reward crate, you will now also receive a perk point which you can assign into the new 30+ Perk Tree. The Perk Tree is separated into 7 categories, with 5 levels within each category. Some of these categories include carrying capacity, longer windows on potion aging, luck boosts, etc. Each time you level up within a category the price of each perk goes up. For example the first perk in each category costs 5 perk points, while the last perk in each costs 25 perk points. We are hoping this improvement will give players some additional long term goals while doing activities at max level, while providing progressive ways to improve your game experience.

Since the launch of OrbusVR: Reborn we have been taking player feedback and trying to improve the game in a way to bring more players in, along with helping out the existing community. One such improvement will be the new Dynamic Map. This map will not only show an overview of the entire continent of Patreayl, but also allows for closer inspections of the zones you are in, along with an marker to show exactly where you are at. You can assign a waypoint on the map, which will place a white beacon on the map along with a white light beam (similar to the public event beams) inside the actual 3D space of the world. We are hoping that this will fill the void of new players feeling lost in the new large world, but by not having things like specific waypoints that auto appear for missions, still have a sense of wonder and adventure by exploring the zones you haven’t been to. There will be more information along with a preview of the map in a forum post closer to release.

The last content of this patch will be the reintroduction of the old OrbusVR gear. The sets of gear are the Ancient gear (Normal Raid), Spiro Gear, and Techno gear. This will also include the weapon sets that associate with those levels. I will go into more detail in a future blog post, but new players can look forward to earning these armor sets from future content coming in the next few months. This will also give an exclusive window for those players from the old game that have previously earned it to show off their gear by using the transmog cabinet.

August 20th

We are excited to announce after a long rebuilding process the townspeople of Highsteppe finally feel cause for celebration again, thanks to the efforts of the heroes of the realm. In keeping with the traditions of the area of Patreayl, they are redecorating the city of Higshteppe for the “Harvest Festival.” One particular activity for the festival will be capturing the elusive Brezurple Snatcher that flood the area when the harvest comes in to steal any and all food they can find. They haven’t been seen for a while, but now with their re-appearance and the “Harvest Festival” threatened, the townspeople will need some brave adventurers to help with the nuisance.

From a game play perspective the Harvest Festival will see some limited time redecoration of the Character Login screen, certain areas around Highsteppe, as well as two new monster types that will be in the area. There will be new cosmetic gear available through completing tasks during this limited window. The Harvest festival will run from August 20th through September 17th. There will be a blog post with additional details about the event closer to the release date.

Long Term Road map Looking a little further ahead, we are excited to start giving more information about what will be coming out before and during Content Patch 1. We are excited to put out two new dungeons before the content patch, along with the second Raid, Tinkerer class, as well as the first phase of player house customization in the content patch coming out later this fall.

Along with this new content we are also pushing out bug fixes on a regular basis, along with some longer term bug fix goals including fixing class issues, continuing to work on improving voice chat in game, fixing fellowship logs, adding an in game way to report bugs and send output logs on PCVR and Quest, and more!

I hope that the community is as excited about the new content as we are, and you can look forward to future blog posts soon which will dive into more details on all these fun new things coming to the world of Orbus!