Dev Blog: The Pathfinder & New Content
Dear Settlers,
A Dev Blog provides a glimpse behind the curtain. It's written by our Game Design Team and it's not translated to avoid information loss or unintentionally changed facts. This time, BB_Alex provides background information and explains certain development decisions related to The Pathfinder and new additional content.
New Content: Approach & Goals
Greetings Settlers! Here I am again and it's a pleasure to be able to talk to you through this blog. Thank you for your feedback related to "The Pathfinder" feature! It shows how much you care about the future of The Settlers Online. I can understand your feelings of uncertainty when it comes to this feature and to future content for the game. There are a lot of open questions that have to be answered. I will try to clarify some of them. My goal is to let you know in which direction we want to go and how "The Pathfinder" fits into it.
"The Pathfinder" & the Level Cap Raise
Everything started with the Level Cap Raise update last year. The update was very well received, because you waited so long for it. "The Pathfinder" was thought out as part of the Level Cap Raise from our perspective. The design for this feature was done as part of the Level Cap Raise in order to cover the high level range (73+). At some point we realised that we wouldn't be able to release both features at the same time and still be pleased with the outcome, so the focus was shifted to the Level Cap Raise update. When the update was released, some parts of "The Pathfinder" feature were already finished. We kept on working on the feature, because we didn't want to leave it in this condition and take the risk of losing the development progress completely. With the release of "The Pathfinder", the Level Cap Raise update content is finally complete.
Why not lower the unlock level for "The Pathfinder"?
"The Pathfinder" was designed to cover the high level range of the Level Cap Raise update. This focus was kept during the implementation and several quests establishing the foundation for "The Pathfinder" were already implemented into the game with the Level Cap Raise update last year. We decided to move this feature to level 70, as this had a manageable impact on existing content. Changing this focus further by lowering the requirements would have resulted in several additional changes to the existing quests, progress, balancing and texts. This enables us to focus on new content aimed at level ranges below 70.
New Content
The progress in The Settlers Online contains several level ranges with a low amount of content. The most important ones are:- 28 - 29
- 33 - 34
- 37 - 39
- 44 - 46
- 58 - 59
- 63 - 69
We want to fill those level ranges with content for a more entertaining player experience. I can't tell you what exactly this content will look like, but I can give you a rough overview. This content is based on existing mechanics, while creating a new experience, that evolved out of a combination of those mechanics. An additional goal is to make progressing through those level ranges more fun by providing additional opportunities to gather experience points and cool items, that might in their turn provide new opportunities.
Is new content for all level ranges planned for the future?
Yes. The Summer Event will start soon and we prepared a little surprise for you before it starts. We will continue to fix bugs and to create new content for The Settlers Online. Each new update of the game is a step establishing a foundation that might be used later on to create new content or mechanics. Item stacking, zone wide buffs & culture buildings, the button returning Military Specialists to the Star Menu and several bug fixes are small steps aiming to improve the experience and create an interactive and diverse player experience. There is a bigger picture behind each single step and it will all be revealed in time.
Anything else?
I know we say this very often, but it still remains true: Your feedback is important. I am following and reading several threads on the forums personally: feedback to each new live update, test server feedback and your suggestions for the game. On top of that, we also get constant feedback updates from the Community Management Team. We are not able to react to each single question or suggestion, but we want to let you know that we do listen to your feedback and to your concerns. That is why we increased the frequency of the Dev Blog. It's an opportunity for us to share parts of our vision for The Settlers Online.
Thank you for your contribution and we are looking forward to your feedback!
BB_Alex
You are invited to provide feedback >
here <
