Hey everybody, Keeko here. This may come as a surprise, as in our delay announcement we said the reveal of this feature would come in December, but we’ve decided to push it out earlier to allow more time to collect responses and edit together the dev Q&A. Please note that this entire system is still a work in progress and is subject to change. We anticipate that it’ll require a lot of adjustments once it gets into your hands. Your feedback is invaluable!
Here we are, at the ancient Drehua Temple. This is where many have come to pay their respects to Drehmal, and is one of, if not the oldest site of worship in the realm. There’s a long and storied history here, involving great empires and mighty rulers, but that’s irrelevant for now.
This is the altar where the Drehua and the temple’s visitors present their offerings - and would you look at that, we just so happen to be a visitor! Now, what kind of offering would the divine serpent themselves like?
Aha! It seems as if the Final Aspect has recognized our gift. What other kinds of items would they appreciate?
A golden apple - quite a bit rarer than an ordinary sapling.
Great! That did even better. But, we still have yet to get our own reward. What if we keep the offerings coming?
There we go. Perennium, Drehmal’s unique Relic item. Admittedly, it seems a little… weak. Perhaps deepening our devotion even further will improve it. The next two rank ups will grant us themed items, such as large amounts of bone meal or potatoes for farming.
We could continue all the way up to +3 if we wanted. But how about we go check out what the other deities have in store for us?
Even some of the Aspects have their own altars, including unique rewards.
SUMMARY:
The three main deities and some of the Aspects have their own devotion altars and rewards.
Devotion altars can be found out in the world in special sites of worship.
Each deity/Aspect has their own list of loves, likes, dislikes, and hates. The player will have to figure out what these items are through the environment around them or through trial and error. Not every altar will be easy to figure out!
Offering a deity/Aspect something they like will move you closer to a rank-up. Offering them something they dislike will move you further away.
Your first rank-up will reward you with a basic, unupgraded Relic. Each deity/Aspect has their own special Relic, with some exceptions.
Every three rank-ups will reward you with an upgrade to your Relic. Other rank-ups reward you with themed items. For example, rank-up #1 grants you a Relic, #2 is a themed item, #3 is another themed item, #4 is a Relic upgrade, #5 is a themed item, etc.
Relics are a new item tier. They function as offhand items that give simple stat bonuses. Some are more complex than others.
Most Relics can be upgraded all the way to +4, while some like Drehmal’s only go up to +3.
Once you fully upgrade your Relic, you will have maxed out your devotion and can no longer give offerings.
GOALS:
Give more value to random loot items (This is the big one!)
Add even more depth to buildcrafting through Relics
Indirectly nerf shields by making you decide between a shield or a Relic’s stat bonus
Cool new lore - Max upgraded Relics have some very juicy secrets to tell
Interesting new locations to find, as well as reasons to return to them
So… that’s about it! The Devotion system is fairly simple but has a lot of implications for the broader gameplay experience. We believe that the current biggest issue with Drehmal is that most of the loot you find feels worthless. Hopefully, with this new system, alongside Artifact items, Artisan Merchants, and Adventuring Merchants, loot in Drehmal will truly feel special.
This whole system is still in development and some specifics still need to be ironed out, but feel free to ask us any questions you want - related to the devotion system or not - when our Q&A rolls around next month.
Unfortunately, there will most likely be no more of these ‘blog posts’ from us, at least until the v2.2 Beta. We need to keep some things secret, right? I know you’re all probably tired of hearing this - Keeko, stop hyping up 2.2 so much! Keeko, we get it! - but look forward to it.
See you in December.