THE FUTURE OF THE MOD

Greetings everyone!

With the AoC mod being more than 5 years old already, we want to update the approach we’re taking with the mod.
What does this mean exactly? Well, first and foremost we’re taking a new approach to our Patreon.
Before we dive into what’s to come in terms of Patreon and the future content of the mod, let me make one thing crystal clear.
The AoC mod and its content will always be FREE for everyone. This project is something we’re very passionate about and want to make as good as possible.
That said, offering quality content in form of new 3D models, artwork, soundtrack, and general mod content costs a lot of money to develop.
As this is a free project, we don’t have an income, and therefore all investments made on the mod are from our own pockets.
This ultimately means it’s not sustainable to add a lot of new content, such as new 3D models for armor, props, and weapons as an example.

To shed some more light on what we wish to do with the mod moving forward, we’ve set up a small list to give you an idea.
From a development perspective, this can lead to new, more polished, and reworked content, including:
– We want to make official guides
– We want to make more armor, weapons, and items from AoC’s world
– We want to model key characters from AoC
– We want to expand upon the story in the mod
– We want to create new building pieces (redesigned pieces) for each Faction
– We want to create new unique looking pets and mounts + saddles
– We want to create new gameplay features
– We want to try to expand upon accessibility features
And much more!

DISCLAIMER: While this list contains the content we want to create for the mod, it is subject to change, and we may or may not be able to pull it off.

PATREON

In order to supply our players/community with the highest quality content and the best gameplay experience, we ask for your help.
As stated earlier, the AoC mod will always be available for everyone. It will not be locked behind a paywall.
However, it is not sustainable to develop new content in our current state, and therefore we’ve reached the point where we’re asking for your support.

In an effort to offer something back to our supporters, we will offer the following through Patreon:

• Development Patch Notes (Knight Tier & Up)
  Follow along with our in-development patch notes to see what is scheduled for the next release of the AoC mod.
• VIP Access (Knight Tier & Up)
  Get VIP access to the AoC Discord. Get exclusive access to private channels, including voice channels and suggestion channels with the option to upvote content.
• Development Build Access (Knight Tier & Up)
  Get access to Development Builds for AoC. Try out in-development features as they’re being fleshed out and share your feedback on them before full release.
• Access to the AoC Exclusive Patreon Server (Knight Tier & Up)
  Get exclusive access to the Exclusive AoC Patreon Server (PvPvE – EU server). Server details and information will be available in the VIP section of the AoC Discord.
  This AoC server will always run the latest stable version of the Dev Build.
• Exclusive Updates (Noble Tier & Up)
  Get exclusive updates on new AoC content, such as new 3D models, artwork, soundtrack, and more.
• Access to Polls (Noble Tier & Up)
  Participate in polls regarding what content the AoC mod should prioritize next.
• AoC Exclusive Patreon Server for you + 2 friends! (Noble Tier & Up)
  Bring 2 friends along for the ride on the AoC Exclusive Patreon Server.
  Your additional slots will be freed up if the friend leaves the server or if they become a patron themself.
• Exclusive Content from AoC (Royalty Tier & Up)
  Get access to high-quality wallpapers of AoC official artwork.
• AoC Exclusive Patreon Server for you + 4 friends! (Royalty Tier & Up)
  Bring 5 friends along for the ride on the AoC Exclusive Patreon Server.
• Hall of Fame (Grandmaster Tier & Up)
  Get your name on the Hall of Fame within the Faction Hall of the AoC Mod!
  Thanks to your grand support, we wish to put your name in the Hall of Fame!
  Post your name in the #vip-hall-of-fame channel on the AoC Discord if you want to have your name in the Hall of Fame.

DISCLAIMER: This list is subject to change over time.

We hope you will consider supporting the development of the AoC mod moving forward!
We thank you from the bottom of our hearts, and we hope that you will enjoy the future of AoC!

Link to our Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/espengjohansen

UPCOMING CONTENT

With our updated approach to Patreon, our goal is to be able to offer better quality content for the AoC mod.
This also means a more customizable experience for our players and community, opening the doors for a more improved gameplay experience.
While we have our vision for what AoC is, we do recognize that our players want to play the way they prefer.
Therefore, we’re dedicating a lot of time to reworking our features to be more flexible in terms of gameplay.
This means that each server can customize a host of parameters to play the mod the way they want.

So, without further ado, let’s take a look at what is coming in this update!
With this update, we have quite a few new server settings coming:

• Multiple Factions
  The AoC mod is set up with only one faction per character in mind.
  However, we do recognize that depending on your server’s playstyle, you might want to allow for more factions on the server.
  With this setting, you can now enable multiple factions on the server.
• Added Magic Damage Setting
  You’ll now be able to customize the damage output for the overall magic weapons.
  If it’s too low or too high for your server, you change the settings to whatever suits your intended playstyle.
• Added Magic Armor Adjustments Setting
  The Armor Cap for mages is in place to balance between melee/ranged and mages.
  However, depending on what mods the server use, types of playstyles, etc. you can customize this to your liking as well.
• Added Profession Difficulty Setting
  Think the Profession Stations generate too much or too little based on what you want for your server?
  With this setting, you can now adjust the difficulty to increase or decrease the output of resources.
• Added Conan Eclipse Event Setting
  This setting will allow you to turn on or off the Eclipse feature that is tied to the base game event.
• Added Extreme Mode to Server Settings for those who want the ultimate challenge
  While AoC’s intended mode is set to be quite difficult and skill-based, we do recognize that some players just find it too easy.
  This is why we’re introducing Extreme Mode to AoC. The ultimate challenge to really test your skill!
• Added Colorblind Options to Server Settings
  In our efforts to make AoC more accessible to all players, we’re introducing the Colorblind Option.
  This will specifically target the Elarikan Plague in our first iteration.
  At this point in time, we have to run this feature on the server side and not on the client.
  Our goal is to make this available to clients and not on the server side moving forward.
  With this option, you can change the color of the Plague Smoke to White, Blue, Yellow, or the Default Green.
• Added Elarikan Plague Siege Setting
  With the Elarikan Plague being a major aspect of AoC, some of its features are just not for every server.
  One of which is the Siege Weapons that come with it. Elarikan Plague Mines, Barrels, and Barrages can be turned off with this setting.
• Added Quest System Setting
  The Quest System in AoC is being constantly worked on and improved as we move forward.
  However, depending on your preferred playstyle, you might not want Quests on your server at all.
  Not to worry, this setting will allow players to skip all quests.
• Added Tutorial Quests Setting
  While the Tutorial Quests of AoC aims at introducing new players to the basics of playing the mod, they’re not for everyone.
  Therefore, you’ll now be able to skip Tutorial Quests if the server allows it. Even with the option to skip tutorial quests, not all players have to.
• Added NPC Armor Setting
  You can now change the amount of armor that AoC NPCs have.
  Reducing it will make the NPCs easier to kill. Raising it will do the opposite.
• Added NPC Difficulty Setting
  Are the AoC NPCs too easy or too hard for your server? Now you can change the overall difficulty of the NPCs.
  This will change their damage, movement speed, and animation speed. Making them more responsive on higher difficulty levels.
  Additionally, it will also add or remove abilities from NPCs. Where the easier difficulties will prevent the bosses from using 1-hit ultimate attacks.
• Redesigned AoC Server Settings Menu
  We’ve also redesigned the Server Settings menu for AoC. Additionally, players can now view the server settings for the server they’re playing on.
  

For more details on what’s to come in this update, you can see the full list of Patch Notes below.

UPDATE XXV – THE FOUNDATION

V.3.91

Changes & Fixes:
– Adjusted volume of Arcane Magic
– Improved mod compatibility
– Increased overall magic DMG output by 25% when the Magic Balance System is ON and has the intended armor value
– Updated Elarikan Plague Barrel
– Updated Faction Tokens (They can no longer be dropped from the inventory. Admins can still move tokens around freely)
– Updated Magic Armors with full-set bonuses
– Updated durability of the Sword of Essari when obtained
– Reduced the overall HP of AoC PvE Content
– Increased the overall DMG of AoC PvE Content
– Removed AoC Journeys for now
– Fixed an issue with the Earth Shrine removing nearby grass
– Fixed an issue with the Construction Altar
– Fixed an issue with the Crucified Witch
– Fixed a material issue with the Plague Mine
– Fixed various icon bugs
– Fixed various bugs

Accessibility:
– Added support for Colorblind options for Elarikan Plague Gas (Server Setting for now)
– Reworked Elarikan Plague Gas to be easily visible during darkness

Server Settings:
– Added Multiple Factions
– Added Magic Damage Setting
– Added Magic Armor Adjustments Setting
– Added Profession Difficulty Setting
– Added Conan Eclipse Event Setting
– Added Extreme Mode to Server Settings for those who want the ultimate challenge
– Added Colorblind Options to Server Settings
– Added Elarikan Plague Siege Setting
– Added Quest System Setting
– Added Tutorial Quests Setting
– Added NPC Armor Setting
– Added NPC Difficulty Setting
– Reworked various server settings
– Renamed Admin Features to Server Features
– Server Features are now accessible for all players (Only Admins can change server settings, but this allows players to see the settings for the server)

Magic:
– Added Special Ability to Staff of Theron
– Added Special Ability to Divine Magic
– Added new equip animation for staves
– Added new combat stance animation for staves
– Added new combat animations for staves
– Updated Heavy Attack for Staff of Theron
– Updated Heavy Attack for Stormcaller Staff
– Updated Requirement Notification for each Magic Type
– Updated Summon Panther Familiar
– Updated Summon Ghoul Familiar
– Updated Summon Demon Hound Familiar
– Updated Summon Earth Element
– Updated animations for various magic attacks

Visuals:
– Updated Staff of Theron
– Updated Stormhold Soldiers Armor
– Updated Stormhold Soldiers Weapons
– Updated the Faction Hall (New Hall of Fame section has been added)
– Updated the in-game map with the AoC changes
– Overhauled Server Settings Menu for AoC

Weapons:
– Added Staff of the Harbinger