Devblog: Changes to Haven Worlds 2020-02-27 15:00

Removing Ecosystems from Haven Worlds

Each Haven World currently requires ecosystem management to ensure that monsters and resources function properly.

This system presents three major issues:

1) The current management of ecosystems in Haven Worlds consumes a great deal of resources for the game servers.

Once we start merging game servers in the next few months, we're bound to increase the number of Haven Worlds per server. Our initial research indicates that we won't be able to provide satisfactory game conditions if we double or triple the number of Haven Worlds on a game server while maintaining their current ecosystems.

2) Haven World ecosystems result in especially unbalanced experience gains.

Players with access to Haven Worlds are able to engage in extremely fast and profitable fights by over-customizing combat areas.

Currently, battles completed in Haven Worlds provide a total of 30 times more experience than those in standard areas. This presents an excessive imbalance between experience gains in Haven Worlds and those in the rest of the game.

3) Not all guilds can access a Haven World.

Most characters have no way to access a Haven World because only a limited number of these are available on any game server. Only one active character (doing combat to level up) out of 20 engages in combat in a Haven World. This has created a significant disparity between players with access to a Haven World and those without it.

For these reasons, we've decided to remove the ecosystem mechanic from Haven Worlds. Resources and monsters will no longer respawn in Haven Worlds.

When a Haven World doesn't contain any player-controlled characters, it will be "paused" and will stop using up computing time for the game servers.

It will no longer be possible to battle monsters or gather resources in Haven Worlds.

It will still be possible to place resources and monsters in Haven Worlds, but these will only be cosmetic now.

Having studied several alternatives, we think this solution is the most robust and appropriate to address these three major problems and make it possible to merge servers.

Haven Worlds for All Guilds

Due to the fundamental changes we've had to make to Haven World management, we no longer need to limit their quantity per game server. We can therefore make Haven Worlds accessible to all guilds in the game.

Here are the new rules for accessing Haven Worlds:

• Haven Worlds are purchased through the guild interface.
• The guild must be at least level 10.
• A Haven World costs 100,000 guild points.

Getting a Haven World should remain a big milestone for a guild. Our aim is to give all guilds the chance to obtain a Haven World through a major commitment on the part of the guild's members.

This change to Haven Worlds allows us to offer players a much more equitable situation, and potential changes to Haven Worlds down the road would now affect the entire community.

Please feel free to share your feedback on the forums.

Questions & Answers

What will happen to resources and monsters placed in Haven Worlds when Update 1.67 goes live?

Resources and monsters placed in Haven Worlds prior to 1.67 will remain, but they will only be cosmetic.

Will access to Haven Worlds change for other guilds?

This won't change for other guilds; Haven Worlds will still be accessed from cities.

What will happen to the Contrabandit Chest?

The Contrabandit Chest will become a standard guild chest.