Release date: 05.12.2019 at around 17:35 - There will be a small server restart. Reconnect is not guaranteed so make sure to be online.
After thousands of lines of code and hundreds of tests we are ready to bring you a reworked from scratch Mercenary Squad system, that we would like to simply call it Mercenary Squad V2.
Special thanks to @minimal.ro for his feedback and suggestions that inspired the V2 rework.
Note: A full reset to Mercenaries will be made.
Note2: Don't forget to update the client after the patch is live!
Mercenary System V2:
New Features:
[ADDED] Mute List Feature
Now when you start a quest you will receive Mute on characters online & on any new character you try to log in as well as disabling the option to open a store.
Mute will be removed when Quest is failed, retried, repelled or finished, along with the store access restore.
This will prevent "friendly quests" as we got used to.
[ADDED] Black List Feature
Whenever you finish a quest with a Target (kill or repel), the target will be added to the blacklist.
Blacklist targets can't appear as quest targets for up to 7 days since they were added to the blacklist.
[ADDED] Challenge Feature
Now when you are being targeted in a Quest, you will receive a global message, "You are being Hunted!", every 1 minute, in first 5 minutes from quest.
During these 5 minutes, you can type /challenge.
If you do this, you and your Target (which you don't know) will be moved to a Colosseum Arena, each one in a different side.
The first one that will die will lose (means Target will successfully Repel or Hunter will successfully finish the Quest).
Both players won't be able to move from the Map until the "duel" is over, or one of them will exit game.
If Hunter leave the game before any of them dying, he will fail the quest & lose 50 points.
If Target leave the game before any of them dying, he will lose 100 Points and Hunter will get to retry the quest.
In Colosseum, both Repel points reward and Quest points reward are increased, for the Challenge.
You won't gain any PK level in the Colosseum.
[ADDED] Quest Normalizer Feature
Now Mercenary Quest will first try to assign you targets based on resets interval as following:
It will look 5 times for Target with same reset like you.
It will look 6 times for Target with -1/+1 reset compared to you.
It will look 7 times for Target with -2/+2 resets compared to you.
It will look 8 times for Target with -3/+3 resets compared to you.
It will look 9 times for Target with -4/+4 resets compared to you.
It will look 10 times for Target with -5/+5 resets compared to you.
If it doesn't find any target during this 45 tries, it will look for Target with any reset.
[ADDED] PvP Info
From now you can see anyone's PvP info (including yourself) when writing /info CharName.
By default it will show only PK Kills.
If the player is part of Gens it will also show Gens Family.
If the player is part of Mercenary Squad it will also show Mercenary Points, Quests and Repels.
[ADDED] Mercenary Bounty
The old reward (gemstones) is now replaced with Mercenary Bounty.
Mercenary Bounty can only be gained from Quests & Repels.
Mercenary Bounty drops can be adjusted in time based on economy & stage.
Mercenary Bounty drops:
82% chance for Gemstone, Jewel of Harmony, Jewel of Creation.
15% chance for IT Ticket(1), EDR/CRIT/DMG/SPEED Scrolls, 100 Antidotes.
3% chance for TOCA, Flame of Condor.
Updates:
[UPDATED] Now when you are in Battle Maps you won't gain Mercenary Points.
[UPDATED] Now when you are in Battle Maps you won't be targeted for Quests.
[UPDATED] Now you will gain Mercenary Points only out of safe-zones.
[UPDATED] Now you won't gain Mercenary Points in Events maps & other inaccessible quest locations.
[UPDATED] Now you will gain 1 Mercenary Point every 7 minutes instead of every 10 minutes.
[UPDATED] Now if you leave game or go to Server 20 during quest time you will fail the quest.
[UPDATED] Now Points earned from Quests/Repels are Dynamic:
Now Points are based on the kill type (normal or challenge), repel (normal or challenge) and reset difference.
Now Default *Normal* Quest Points reward is 35 Points.
Now Default *Challenge* Quest Points reward is 45 Points.
Now Default *Normal* Repel Points reward is 45 Points.
Now Default *Challenge* Repel Points reward is 65 Points.
Now the formula of points added is DefaultValue +- ResetDifference*2.
Minimum points gained: 10.
Maximum points gained: 85.
[UPDATED] Now you will lose Mercenary Points when you are being killed as Quest Target (and only Quest Target, not for Repel).
Formula: 1% of current Mercenary Points.
Minimum points lost: 5 Points.
Maximum points lost: 60 Points.
Note: If you already passed the Seal Upgrade requirements you won't lose the Upgrade no matter if you go back under Points requirement.
Note2: Points lost by dying as quest target or by leaving the Challenge can't go under 0 (minimum points value is 0).
[UPDATED] Quest Retarget won't happen automatically anymore. You can retry by typing again /pvpquest when your target is gone/inaccessible.
In this way you can choose for how many times you retry.
[UPDATED] Now Quest extra reward is progressive:
You gain 0 Mercenary Bounties as extra reward when you have < 500 Points.
You gain 1 Mercenary Bounty as extra reward when you have between 500 and 999 Points.
You gain 2 Mercenary Bounties as extra reward when you have between 1000 and 1999 Points.
You gain 3 Mercenary Bounties as extra reward when you have over 2000 Points.
You gain +1 Mercenary Bounty for every extra 1500 Points after 2000 (at 3500,5000,etc.).
[UPDATED] Now Repel extra reward will always be the same amount of Mercenary Bounties that the Hunter would get based on his Points (if target has 0 Bounties as reward Repel will be 0 Bounties, etc.).
[UPDATED] Seals System:
Now you will have both ML Seal & Normal Seal active in the same time.
Now each Seal will show you current seal level & bonuses. Normal 3rd level seal and ML 2nd level seal visuals are different.
Now Normal Seal will give you +5%/+10%/+15% EXP based on level.
Now ML Seal has only 2 levels:
Level 1 = +6% ML EXP, and it is gained when Normal Seal reach Level 2.
Level 2 = +12% ML EXP, and it is gained when Normal Seal reach Level 3.
Requirements for Level 2 changed from 1200 Points & 10 Quests to 1600 Points, 8 Quests & 4 Repels.
Requirements for Level 3 changed from 3500 Points & 30 Quests to 4500 Points, 25 Quests & 12 Repels.
[UPDATED] Bonus EXP on Battle Maps is now +12% instead of +15%.
[UPDATED] Mercenaries no longer gain Gens Points from online time in Battle Maps (only from RAIDs).
The new Merc System will try to make sure that the playerbase is split in both Battle Maps and normal maps.
In our vision, the new changes should make the gameplay balanced for 3 types of players:
Casuals can play normally (without battle-maps and merc squad) with 100% EXP and no extra rewards.
Semi-Casuals can play normally + battle maps when they are active, for extra 12% EXP and chance for Gens Rewards.
Active players can play fully with Merc Squad (higher gain in long term).
Advantages & Disadvantages between Battle Maps & Merc Squad:
Advantages for Battle Maps:
Battle Maps are giving constant high EXP bonus without any effort except online time.
Battle Maps are safer than being Merc, as there are only 3 RAIDS per day to motivate killing AFKs.
Chance for good rewards.
Can be killed only by "half" of players (different Gens).
Disadvantages for Battle Maps:
Less maps/spots to play around.
Harder to find/make party due to Gens Family restriction.
First levels can't be played in Battle Maps as there are no very low Battle Maps.
Lower ML exp in Vulcanus (even with the extra 12%) compared to Swamp Merc.
Not guaranteed rewards & unscalable rewards.
Monthly Contribution resets.
Advantages for Merc Squad:
High amount of maps and spots to play around.
Easier to find/create party due to no Gens restriction & enough casuals playing in the normal maps.
EXP bonus can help you in first Maps.
EXP bonus has impact on Events (BC/DS).
Higher ML EXP compared to Gens (in Swamp).
Guaranteed rewards that are scaling.
No further Merc resets.
FUN.
Disadvantages for Merc Squad:
You need to reach at least Seal Level 2 to surpass Gens Bonus (with BC/DS extra EXP).
Never safe AFK except in Crywolf.
All PvP restrictions are removed versus other Mercenaries (for some this is an advantage I guess).
No short-term gain. You need good effort to progress in the Merc System that will pay-off only in the long-term.
We hope that you'll love the Mercenary Squad V2 as much as we loved to work on it!
Zmora reacted to ADMIN in Patch 3.9.6.0 - 05.12.2019