Content is the main word of January, with a major content update coming out at the end of it. This is the update that will represent Journey Online progressing on to Open Beta phase. However, before I began working on the content update around mid November, I updated a few other things.
First thing on my plate was to create a legal policy update where we inform our new players what data we will be using, and focusing on being up to standard of the new GDPR regulations. I then moved on to the squad chat and the daily events.
Squad chat will allow players that play Journey Online cooperative to have in game tools in order to communicate and help each other while taking on the various challenges our game presents. I’m very happy that this is finally implemented, as it helps push forward the co-operative gameplay philosophy that the game is built on. I mean, what can be better than talking out tactics when defeating bosses and getting some hard earned loot.
Monthly events came to Journey Online in a previous version, so the next step should naturally be daily quests and events. The events, while being simple, are quite rewarding, Adventurers should do them every day, since completing all of them yields some amazing reward.
Before adding new content I had to revamp the entire balancing of stats, loot and fights. This means I completely revamped Fields, adventure battles and chest rewards. This was done in order to improve the progression balance of the game.
The bigger impact is the tier structure on Fields. Fields represent the most basic environment in which you can level up your adventurers and get some cool equipment. Each Field at release will have 5 tiers of difficulty. Each difficulty tier scales the stats, experience and tier of equipment you get as a reward. Each field will drop unique equipment that can be found only in that Field.
I have added a lot of new Adventure battles where the difficulty will scale depending on how well your squad formation is equipped, this helps us present the Adventurers with an appropriate challenge at their current equipment level, while presenting them with options to choose a harder challenge if they feel up to it. Adventure monsters now also come in 5 different difficulty tiers with some very rare boss spawns.
All of the above was currently done only for the goblin forest Field. However, there are three new Field themes planned before the end of January. Excluding field combat, there is expected to be over 300 different location monsters.
The first expansion of Monsters and Adventurers will be the Undead Crypt. New monsters that are coming with this theme are: Skeleton Warrior, Mummy and Lich. I am already implementing the new monsters into the world of Journey Online. Simultaneously I am putting preparation into the design and development of the next Field expansion.
We at Journey Online loved all the feedback that came from our Closed Alpha test, and it has shaped our plans going forward tremendously, we hope that you all will be pleased with our future content releases, so stay tuned for more blogs in the future.
This is the last blog of 2018, so to all our past, present and future players we wish a festive Christmas and the best of luck in the upcoming year!