Alpha 2, Passive Talents and Early Access

The following is an official news post, originally available here.

Hello everyone!

In this letter, we want to talk about the upcoming test at the end of May and our plans going forward. Naturally, all of this is related to game design.

First, we want to mention that we messed up with the video. We've picked up a great pace and are working diligently, but unfortunately, we simply ran out of time for the video. However, there are two pieces of good news: in just over two weeks, you will be able to test everything yourself, and we are also presenting all the passive talents of each archetype in this update, so you can familiarize yourself with the upcoming mechanics and possibly leave your feedback and suggestions in the comments to this post.

Now, let's get to the heart of the post.

Over the last few months, we've been working hard on delivering various progression systems, including endgame content, two of which will be presented in the upcoming test—8 branches of passive talents and 6 branches of weapon specialization upgrades.

Passive talents can be upgraded using passive talent points, which will be given one per level starting from the 5th level.

Weapon specializations will need to be charged with energy from consumables, which players can earn from quests and find in the world as loot. We aim to showcase these at the end of next week.

In this test, players will be able to level up to level 15 and will be able to combine any 2 branches. The ability to combine 3 branches will be unlocked in early access.

We want players to play around with different talent combinations, look for broken (fun) builds, and experience what the combat feels like with these systems in place.

We are also working hard on the world itself. For this test we decided not to extend it but to make it much more dense, packed with new settlements, NPC's and points of interest to explore.

We are working on balancing, and although the main adjustments will be made after the test before early access, we will mention some that will be included in this test.

Food regeneration has been significantly enhanced, and now players can regenerate effectively with food without a campfire, while consuming food at a campfire will provide a bonus to food regeneration and buffs if the food has any. We feel the system has become more tactile and logical to use. We'll be waiting for your feedback on that.

We will revamp crafting, but we will not release a more advanced version of crafting and itemization to the test. It will enter early access. However, a significant number of new items will be added to the test, including 5 very cool weapons for each hero. The logic of profession bonuses and efficiency systems will be revised at this test. In short, the main change is that profession bonuses will no longer be tied to professions but will be universal capabilities for all. That is, every player, regardless of profession, will have the ability to apply 3 alchemy buffs and 3 mystic runes, etc.

Also, we want to see the PvP activity of players in this test, how the world with new points of interest with loot will be perceived, and whether the contest for interesting points will be balanced and fair.

This is a rough focus of what we hope players will enjoy and have fun with during the test.

Let's move on to our plans and a small roadmap for the near future. If the May test is successful, by which we mean that people have fun and enjoy the game, our next step will be early access. Technically and content-wise, we will be ready for early access about 2 months after the May test. Considering that we are now delivering several key endgame progression systems for testing, and you will provide us with feedback for adjustments, we will have time and resources to focus on other tasks necessary for early access, many of which are almost ready.

Now, let's talk about early access as a roadmap.

First is localization. We want as many people around the world as possible to try Corepunk, but our capabilities have always been limited, and we could only afford English localization for objective market reasons before release. So to make Corepunk more accessible while we're still developing it we'll enable autogenerated localization of text and voiceovers. Our voice generation provider supports up to 26 languages. Next, we will improve the localization to a high standard, step by step for each language.

The maximum level for characters in early access will be level 20. Level 20 will be the endgame content throughout early access until the full release. There will also be the opportunity to upgrade and combine 3 branches of passive talents. Crafting of new types of items and overall itemization will be expanded in terms of possibilities and combinations significantly. For example, the full functionality of the synthesis machine will be implemented, which will balance the randomness of itemization and add a huge number of variations and combinations of crafting.

Early access will receive 2 new large settlements with new biomes and NPCs inhabiting them. All new locations will be level 20 locations.

And the most pleasant bonus there will be mounts on the early access and much more! :)

Overall, to summarize, we work actively and a lot. With great pleasure, the team is very motivated because we are now at a stage of production when there is an opportunity for interaction with the community through tests. Everyone can see their work by watching how people play. This is our magic, and with each test, the desire to do more and show more grows, to entertain our community with content, demonstrate our creativity, and receive feedback on it to become better.

Friends, thank you for reading us, watching, and being interested. Thank you for your trust!

Your Corepunk team.