Jun 17, 2024

Soulmask - Peter

Hello, chieftains!
It's Peter here. With the game now released, how's your journey in Soulmask going? If you want to review the first three episodes, you can click here:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2646460/view/4150709171077410039
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2646460/view/4152961604365703736
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2646460/view/4152961604369532190

This week, we've received a lot of questions about the later stage content, so ZIMA and I are here to address some of them!

Let's dive right in!

Q: Solo play gets really tough in the later stages!

A: We understand the frustration of struggling after investing so much time and effort. We admit that the mid-to-late game experience in Soulmask needs improvement. After extensive discussions, we plan to make the following changes:

Rebalancing certain stats after level 40 for a smoother mid-to-late game flow.
Increasing the cooldown for Stamina Recovery initiation to improve combat fluidity.
Introducing respawn points in some large Ruins.
Optimizing late-game enemy HP (without altering ATK stats) for faster-paced, thrilling battles akin to a "game of the brave," rather than a sluggish grind.
Optimizing enemy camp aggro mechanics to limit the number of foes Chiefains encounter simultaneously.
Adjusting the number of certain enemies (e.g., Plunderer, creatures) in some Ruins for a more manageable solo combat experience.
Enhancing Followers' HP, ATK, and DEF.
Decreasing the chance of enemy archers rolling/dodging after firing arrows.
Shrinking random dungeon sizes to reduce the time needed to find the BOSS location.

These changes are planned to roll out in the next 2 to 3 weeks. We believe these updates will make the late-game adventure smoother while keeping the challenge intact. If you have any suggestions, drop a comment; we’re all ears!

Q: My Followers are too weak and only get in the way!

In addition to boosting Follower stats, we’ve upgraded the AI. Now, in Assist mode, Followers will actively attack targets you’re fighting! This update was implemented in last Friday’s updates.

Upgrading AI is an ongoing process, but we know clearly how important Followers are, especially for solo players. We’ll keep enhancing their combat and survival abilities to ensure they are your best allies from exploration to BOSS fights.

Q: My Tribesmen are getting dumber as the game progresses!

We've noticed that as your tribe expands and the number of tribesmen increases, your AIs become less reliable. This may result in behaviors such as idling, getting stuck, or clustering together...

Our next focus will be optimizing the AI for tribesmen. In last Friday's update, we've addressed the issue of tribesmen clustering together without any apparent reason. Moving forward, we'll prioritize addressing various pathfinding-related problems that are hindering their work efficiency. Our goal is to ensure that each member of the tribe can contribute effectively.

Q: Can I fast travel during exploration? It’d be great if my tribesmen could come too.

Originally, we introduced alpacas at various Outcast Camps to make travel easier. However, we encountered an unexpected issue: obtaining materials for alpaca saddles turned out to be quite difficult, preventing chieftains from riding these delightful creatures. We'll adjust the alpaca saddle materials to make them more accessible, so you can embark on joyful alpaca-riding adventures!

More importantly, we plan to introduce portals at key travel points. For example, after defeating the Saber-toothed Predator, you'll unlock a portal at that location, saving you from long treks.

Oh, and the portals won't just benefit you – your accompanying tribesmen can use them too!

Q: So, as a player from Central/South America or Oceania, will we ever gain access to the smooth, official servers?

We sincerely apologize to our players in these regions. We truly appreciate your support and enthusiasm! Unfortunately, due to technical limitations, we are currently unable to provide official servers there. However, we are actively collaborating with server providers to offer free servers support for these areas, ensuring you can enjoy online play. Please stay tuned for further updates!

Q: The BOSS suddenly disappeared!

A disappearing BOSS, especially in the final battle, is unacceptable. This bug was fixed in last Friday's update. Rest assured, it won't happen again.

Q: Will we have any special Easter eggs hidden in the game?

Absolutely! While a few chieftains have already uncovered some of our well-hidden Easter eggs and shared their findings on social media, it's clear that some secrets remain undiscovered. I encourage you to interact more with the animals—there might be some peculiar surprises waiting to be found.

We know there are more issues! If your concerns weren't covered here, don't worry. We're collecting feedback weekly and will keep you updated. Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments. See you next time!

Community Manager Peter
Lead Producer ZIMA

Join discord: https://discord.com/invite/4G2K7FDbtp

Jun 17, 2024

The Road Ahead

Pax Dei - Cindaïlama

Hi Paxians!

Here is the second part about our vision for Pax Dei. The first part talks about the high-level vision and the genre of Pax Dei—a social sandbox MMO, if you have any doubts.

Now, let’s look at the road ahead! As indicated, Early Access will last at least until June 2025. The game will change heavily in this timeframe as we keep building towards our vision.

We know where we want to go and how, but we also know that our plans will have to stay dynamic and will change to adjust to reality and the feedback our Founders will provide. All that to say - while this document aims to give you a good idea of our priorities in the next few months, please don’t consider it carved in marble.

Homestead

As you’ve maybe seen in the playtests we’ve run so far, the village building, crafting, and resource loops are starting to work and feel nice. There’s something magical about wandering around in nature in Pax Dei and collecting the herbs and mushrooms in the forest, watching a sunset from a cliff, or discovering a little house hidden in the woods. Our system already supports many types of buildings, from little huts to gigantic castles through mansions or factories.

So, what’s the future of this part of the game? We have plans for advanced features, but right now, we are focusing on improving balancing and skill progression, polishing the first hours (yes, ‘pin a recipe’ is on the list), and adding more depth to the crafting system. The first content update after the Early Access launch will bring additional building pieces to complete some of the current sets (among them, new walls adorned with grapevines - a great way to add some cachet to your buildings!). We’re also happy to confirm that prop signs are coming to label storage or specific areas in your village - this has consistently been one of the most requested features for that part of the game.

Adventure

Yes, the combat system needs work. Following player feedback in Alpha 2, we’ve spent the last few weeks focusing on improving the characters’ responsiveness in combat. We don’t think we’re there yet. Currently, our PvE is at a minimum functional baseline, and PVP is kind of fun but definitely not where it needs to be for the game vision to come together. The current PvP system is a test implementation and will be radically different moving forward. Overall, this part of the game will remain an ongoing priority for the foreseeable future.

Our mission here is challenging. We’ve taken an action-oriented approach to combat and want the skill ceiling to be relatively high. As an RPG, we also want gear and skill progression to offer depth and feel meaningful. Finally, we’re also an MMO, so the game needs to work for group combat in dungeons all the way down to a solo player hunting in the woods.

We’re assuming getting each of these aspects right and finding a good balance between them will take time, as the work related to fine-tuning responsiveness, animations, and NPC behaviors… is inherently slow. Our plan here is to keep improving things with every patch and engage with all of you in our Discord so that we can figure this out together.

In addition to tuning the combat feel, we’ll be adding more content—more weapons, armor, enemies, and spells. On the mechanics side, we are also focusing on combat flow from a tactical level, such as improvements for crowd control, role specialization, along with balancing special maneuvers and spells so they work both for PvE and PvP.

Finally, we will also start unveiling the game’s lore. It will be a progressive and iterative process, adding depth to the world through indirect storytelling. Who knows, mythical creatures might even start being sighted in remote corners of the world at some point…

Civilization

This pillar is the part of the game where an active player community is critical to continue development meaningfully.

Our goal is to eventually offer a choice of roles and systems, allowing a rich social fabric to emerge in all the shards. All of it will be player-controlled and structured so that you can participate in the political intrigue or warfare as much (or as little) as you want. Ultimately, players will be able to create social structures above and or across the clans and go to war… or have eternal peace if they choose so.

Getting to that vision will happen one step at a time. In this area, we currently have the baseline player clans but almost no other features. This part of the game will be one of our main focuses in the coming months.

In Pax Dei, (almost) everything is player-made, whether creating coal for the blacksmith, baking a cake, or crafting a piece of magic armor using the rarest of Relics found in the bottom of the deepest dungeon. We’re convinced that trade will completely shift the game's dynamics, making it easier for players to specialize and collaborate at scale. No matter what part of the game you want to focus on, there will always be things you can produce that are useful to others.

How will that materialize in-game? Our team is working on bringing (back) gold into the game and introducing the first system allowing trading between players via a new type of item: the market stall. You will be able to build a market stall on your plot in the same way as any other prop. The market stall will unlock asynchronous transactions with other players, using gold as the currency. Gold, in turn, can be earned either by selling items and resources to other players or as loot from PvE.

This continues further. More features will be added to this corner of the game during Early Access, including altars and miracles - the regretted teleport feature may make a comeback. And also some ‘roles’ that will sit outside of clans. The first such roles we want to introduce are the knight and the soldier. But this is a story for another time; we’ll tell you more about them as we get closer.

Just the beginning

For us, Pax Dei is the game of a lifetime. We’re fully committed to developing it for years to come and invite you, the players, to be part of this journey. If you believe in the game's vision and want to support a team making something fresh in the MMO space, please join our Early Access and help us build the virtual world you can inhabit for years to come.

Jun 17, 2024

活动预告 | 福利赚大发！

Community Announcements - c.x1ang

活动时间：

2024-6-18 00:00~2024-6-24 23:59

限时礼包：

sgzlx24621：随机名将将魂*10、随机良才将魂*20、初级行军令*8
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sgzlx24625：宝物精华*300、初级军备箱*10、初级残卷宝箱*10
sgzlx24626：精炼石*300、初级经验书*30、狩猎号角*3
sgzlx24628：强化石*300、洗练石*300、银两*800000
sgzlx24629：粮食*800000、10分建筑加速*20、随机兵符宝箱*30

活动介绍：

累计充值、欧皇降临、直购礼包、双倍充值重置

活动详情：

累计充值
完成累计充值任务，领国士将魂宝箱、限时招募令、资质突破丹、祥瑞红包等极品道具！
欧皇降临
6月18日当天12点至19点共12场占卜活动！无双武将曹丕将魂、150级套装、国士将魂、元宝等极品道具每天放送！
直购礼包
6月18日当天，欧皇降临活动道具占卜卡限时直购！
双倍充值重置
6月18日当天登录可重置元宝首充双倍！

以上就是游戏内即将推出的618活动，再次对于主公们的支持表示真挚的感谢，提前恭祝诸位618快乐！
如您对于活动有任何的问题或意见，麻烦联系我们的客服解决，感谢配合~

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