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Dungeon Speed Running and Hard Mode

Categories: Aether Story Battle System Game Dev
Written by thephantom on Oct 30 2021

A new Dungeon Speed Running Leaderboard has been in the works the last few weeks and has just launched.  This new meta-feature will allow players to compete against each other in PvE content in both party and solo play.

A month ago I added logs to measure how long players took to complete dungeons and defeat bosses. These logs are required to power the new Leaderboard, not to mention will be good for us to measure which bosses are more difficult or popular than others. Sadly all dungeon runs before the logs were added are not included in the new leaderboard. 

 

Check out the new Dungeon Speed Running Leaderboard here.

 

Each dungeon has its own set of leaderboards: 

  • Party Full Clears - Defeating all bosses in a dungeon with a party (2 or 3 players).
  • Solo Full Clears - Defeating all bosses in a dungeon by yourself.
  • Each Boss Kill (both Party and Solo) - Each successful boss kill will be timed from the start of the fight until all enemies in the fight are defeated.

 

How does the system know its a Party run or a Solo run?

If at any time you enter a dungeon with another player, even if they player is not present for the boss kill, it will register all activity in that dungeon as a Party run. Reguardless of party size. Being the only player in the dungeon from start to finish will earn you Solo credit.

 

Hard Mode

Some dungeons have a Hard Mode difficulty.  This difficulty is designed to challenge the players involved more than the Normal version. All enemies are buffed to have more health and attack. And bosses will have new or altered mechanics. 

At this time the only dungeon that has Hard Mode is "The Lair of the Beholder", the dungeon introduced for the Halloween Holiday Event.  The reward for completing this dungeon on Hard Mode is an exclusive pet with a 100% drop rate, a mini-version of the Beholder boss.

Hard Mode difficulty will be reigstered in the Speed Running Leaderboards as its own categories. You may even try to attempt Hard Mode on Solo if you are bold enough.

 

Future Plans for Hard Mode

Not all dungeons will have Hard Mode difficulties, but when they do they will generally give you an exclusive cosmetic and sometimes even better gear and equipment than what could be found in Normal.

The plan is to introduce Hard Mode versions of leveling dungeons as content for max levels. For example, the Abandoned Windmill Dungeon is designed to be a Level 5 leveling dungeon. At level 20, this chapter's max level, we could introduce Hard Mode Abandoned Windmill that will be a challenge for well-geared level 20's. A fresh revisit to a familar dungeon, retuned for a revisit.

 

World Bosses

Just recently patched into the game, our first "World Boss", has been added. World bosses are found outside of dungeons. This mean that players will be able to find them in the world.  To prevent farming World Bosses unlimitedly there will be many different methods available, each boss will use one of the following methods:

  • Bosses will only spawn after you complete an item farm or quest
  • Bosses will rarely spawn on long timers and only remain around for limited amounts of time
  • Bosses will always be around but each player may only benefit from its loot once a day (or week)

World Bosses will be as difficult as dungeon bosses, some may even be harder. These are for well-geared players, and should require a party to defeat.

World Bosses kills may also be logged in the Speed Running Leaderboards discussed above.

 


What are you waiting for? Download the game and check out the game's latest Alpha patch now!

 

You may download the early Alpha access easily through itch.io:

We are really enthusiastic to have you play our game! Being a small indie game
dev company, we depend on your support to keep us going.
Please consider making a small donation to help us fund the continuous
development of Aether Story! It will really help us out.

If you already have Alpha Access, head on over to the Game Downloads page and download the new Launcher Setup Installer!

And don't forget to join us in Discord.gg/phanxgames to share your suggestions, find other players to play with, and hang out.

 

 

 

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