Devblog: The Future of the Ecology 2019-10-11 17:00

In 2020, we intend to improve the ecology and ecosystems considerably.

Over the past few months, we've evaluated several possible evolutions and would like to tell you about the one that seems to have the most potential and get your feedback on it.

This isn't a devblog post describing how the ecology will function in exhaustive detail, but rather an overall presentation before we start developing this feature.
 

Overall Vision

Here is how we can summarize our vision for the ecology and ecosystems in WAKFU:

• Monsters and resources are part of ecosystems through food chains.
• Players can modify ecosystems in depth to obtain rewards and personalize their world.

Possibilities

We would like to give players more control by offering new possibilities:

• Shape ecosystems by moving species (monsters and resources) between zones and deciding to favor certain species over others.
• Unlock considerable bonuses for experience, loot and species spawn rate with a high level of satisfaction (bonuses applied to dungeons as well).
• Allow species to reproduce and proliferate on their own in their zones without the need to "plant" them.
• Adjust the value of certain resources by controlling the availability and rarity of each species.

How It Would Work

We can summarize the future ecology mechanic with these four major mechanics (note that what we're using the word "species" here to refer to both monsters and harvestable resources:

1) Capturing and Releasing Monsters and Resources

Players will be able to capture species and then release them in other zones to make them flourish elsewhere.
We would like to allow players considerable freedom to shape ecosystems in the game, and players' actions must have visible repercussions in the world.

The levels of the zones will remain set, and the monsters' level, power and experience will adapt to the level of the zone in which they are present.
It won't be possible to release a monster whose level is higher than the level of the zone (where the player is trying to release it).

Example: Players have captured Moogrrs (level 44 on average) and released them in a different, level-120 zone. The released Moogrrs and those that will appear in the zone will be level 120.

 

These little scenes illustrate Greta the ecologist who has captured a Boowolf, brought it to another zone (inhabited by Bliblis) and released it.

The Boowolf will then devour the Bliblis and proliferate, and the zone will become inhabited by Boowolves!

2) Species Satisfaction

Each species will have a satisfaction "gauge" that will be influenced by the availability of food, the conditions in the zone (temperature and humidity), and the absence or presence of predators.

Players' actions on ecosystems will therefore be important, and if they want to maximize species' satisfaction, they will have to ensure that they are living in zones that are suitable, have enough food, and are not eaten by other species in the zone.

Example: Players want to maximize Gobballs' satisfaction, so they will bring them to a zone where the temperature and humidity are suited to the species. There, they will try to grow abundant nettles (because Gobballs eat them) and ensure that there aren't any Boowolves in the area (Boowolves eat Gobballs).

3) Rewards

The more satisfied a species is, the higher its loot and experience bonus will be.

This bonus will also apply to dungeons.

Example: The Boowolves have a high level of satisfaction, so combats in the Boowolf dungeon have a large loot and experience bonus.

Species satisfaction levels will also have an impact on the spawn rate and rare species rate.

Example 1: The Tofus have a high satisfaction level, and so the Tofu and Tofu Archmonster groups will appear more quickly.

Example 2: The Ashes have a high satisfaction level, and so the Jonik Ash (the rare version of the Ash) will appear more quickly.

4) Automatic Proliferation and Reappearance

Monsters and resources will no longer need to be "replanted", and species will proliferate on their own in zones as long as there is room for them.

A zone could never remain permanently empty of monsters or resources, as species would reappear on their own without player intervention.

This way of operating lets us ensure that the ecology is not unnecessarily punitive for players by depriving them of activity in certain zones.

In the current system, the risk is having zones that are empty of monsters and resources; we would like to shift toward a system in which the risk is not finding the specific species you are looking for.

Example: Some players decide to kill all the Boowolves and others decide to harvest all the Ashes in a zone. While they are fighting and harvesting, the species continue to reappear. If the players fight and harvest faster than the species spawn, they can achieve a state where there are temporarily no more species available in the zone. If they leave the zone or wait a while, the species will progressively reappear.

This scene illustrates the passive reappearance of trees after they were savagely chopped down by Popol Sonaro.

Guarantees

We would like to give players much more control and make it so their actions have consequences, but we nevertheless want to provide the following guarantees:

• There will always be a way to reintroduce a species that has disappeared.
• Any given zone will never be entirely empty of species (thanks to passive proliferation).
• The species satisfaction system will not provide penalties, only bonuses.
• No living species and no developers will be harmed during the development of this feature.

Share Your Opinion

Feel free to share your opinions on this evolution of the ecology by answering this survey and adding your comments below this article.