Post by Belouch on Jan 1, 2019 16:08:30 GMT 1
Briefing on Agonia
How was Agonia created
To understand the new changes, and what can be expected in the future, it is important to understand the process we are following to create and improve this new game-world.
What we started by doing was basically cloning stax, without the data (so we start with same game, but no map, no monsters, no encounter or explore tables, no weapons etc…). Then the work is divided into four areas:
:arrow: First area of work was to make this clone functional by fixing the many bugs (cloning something that works doesn’t give you something that works unfortunately). This part is complete, but some hidden bugs might still be there so we count on players to report early any issue.
:arrow: Second area of work is to populate this new world (map, monsters, encounter tables, etc…), this part doesn’t require any coding, but hundreds of hours of work via admin tools.
:arrow: Third area of work is to make the gameplay changes in the code (formulas, new features, systems etc that you will read about below). As we do this, entire parts of the code are sometimes recoded from scratch.
:arrow: Fourth area of work is to recode all pages of the game entirely, one by one overtime, from scratch. So, at the beginning, most pages will be identical to the game you know but over time they will be recoded from scratch so that in the very long run we have an entire, clean new code.
Second, Third and Fourth step will never quite be finished, and will be ongoing work even once the game is fully functional and open; as we will always be working on those (populating new monsters/items/events, adding new features, recoding pages).
:!: This means that the look and feel of the game will initially be extremely similar as TPS1 (same pages etc). So do not be disapointed by the first impression. Page design was not the priority. We have focused on world creation, gameplay features, char-building diversity and balancing as key priorities. If the game launch is a success, (ie more than 200 players), the look and feel will change as we redesign the web pages and the map.
The list below summarizes the main changes. Unless specified, these changes will all be active as of the very first day of the game.
Storyline (super short version)
Eight tribes flee their home continent for unknown reasons on two different sailboats. Apart from the crew, all passengers are fast asleep. The Ancients have combined their powers to cast the biggest spell possible. A stasis and amnesia spell. Therefore, all passengers remember nothing of the old continent, their previous lives and the reasons for this forced exile. After weeks of sailing, and as the sailboats are getting closer to their unknown destination, the first passengers start to awaken.
World
Map: a whole new map was created. It is an island on a 400x400 map. It is about 70% of the size of Stax at the beginning, with possibilities of expansions depending on player-base size in the future.
The map will never be revealed to players. Since the island is newly discovered, the map will be completely unknown to players, and it will be up to them to scout, document, and map the territories.
Tileset: a new tileset (appearance of terrains) was designed. It will most likely be improved in the short future by a real designer.
Terrains: swamps have been removed, but deserts, snowy plains and snowy mountains have been added.
Monsters: a whole new fauna has been created. Agonia is basically a wild island where no one has stepped foot before. Mosquitoes are the size of rats, rats are the size of racoons, wild dogs the size of pigs and snakes the size of … well…. You don’t really want to know. Nature created all sorts of new creatures as well, and most of them are no pets… They are also made more realistic (no more soloing 2 dragons with a knife...). Some fantastic creatures will still be there but they will be rare and extremely strong (e.g. Dragons might appear every so and then, but they will require about 15 or 20 people to fight it).
All encounter tables (monsters found by exploring) were redone from scratch.
All explore tables (items found by exploring) were redone from scratch.
Capitals: the game will start on the sailboat. After a certain number of characters finish the boat quests, the boat will arrive on the shores of Agonia. The first task of each faction will be to set-up their base-camp which will later turn into their capital. There will be only 1 capital for each faction (+ possibly a resurrection point for neutrals or independents), at least in the first months/years of the game.
Races
-You will be able to choose one of 8 races/tribes. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. They are extremely different in terms of profile (more than in tps1) but there is not one better than the others.
-You can find the detailed profile of each race here:
Dwarr
Mythos
Leafborn
Lightfoot
Norsk
Nuruk
Kiith
Giant
-Apart from Giant and Lightfoot, each race will have one terrain type where they are better than all other races. Since encounter XP will be the same for each terrain type (and calibrated on the moves of the best race), this means that no race will have a benefit in terms of move-training (eg: a dwarr training on mountain will get the same xp as a leafborn training in forest or a nuruk training in plains). That also means the Nuruk's movement advantage does not mean they will train faster, it just means they'll have more terrain options for good training.
Stats
New stat names:
-Dexterity becomes Agility
-Constitution becomes Health
-Willpower becomes Will
-Intuition becomes Instinct
-Empathy becomes Faith
-New stat bonus system: probably the most important change in terms of gameplay. It deserves a specific topic of its own.
-Strengths coefficients in weapon damage: the impact of strength on the damage dealt now depends on the tier of the weapon. For example, someone with high strength, will deal much more damage with a tier 5 weapon, but only a little more damage with a training weapon (this is to minimize the negative impact of strength on training).
Agility: primary stat for hitting/dodging (gives 2 Defense Power and 2 Attack Power) but does not increase damage.
Strength: secundary stat for hitting/dodging (gives 1 Defense Power and 1 Attack Power), only stat affecting damage (more than in tps1, so that strength and agility are very much equivalent in terms of power). Also increases carrying weight by 1kg.
Intelligence: lowers the amount of XP required to skill up. Its effects applies to all weapon skills and all general skills, no matter the level. Also pirmary stat for Mana points (gives 2 MP).
Health: primary HP stat (gives 5 Health points). Helps with auto-regeneration of HP.
Endurance: secundary HP stat (gives 2 Health points) and secundary MP stat (0.5 MP). Increases carrying weight by 0.25kg. Helps with auto-regeneration of HP.
Instinct: increases chances of critical hits, spirit catching, item finding, fleeing, blocking someone from fleeing and pretty much everything with a luck factor. Gives a small attack power bonus if lucky.
Will: increases elemental protection by 1%, Mana points by 0.5 and Carrying weight by 0.25kg.
Faith: nothing you need to know for the moment
Weapon Skills
New Skill names
-ShortSword becomes Dagger
-Longsword becomes Sword
-Blowpipe becomes Blowgun
-Articulated weapons becomes Flail
-Unarmed becomes Fist weapons
Spear is now a 1-handed weapon, to be used with a shield.
Crossbow was removed.
Dual sword was added! This weapon skill will work quite differently from others. It will be a 2-hander (obviously...) but with normal damage. However, it will benefit from a very high attack power bonus (more chances to hit when you have two swords!).
Fist weapons is an odd one. It will not be a main weapon skill (you are still free to pick it as a main skill but we discourage it as it has much lower attack power and damage than others). It will be worth training it for secundary stats, but also for the annual MMA tournaments where only fist weapons will be allowed!
In a similar fashion, Bow will deal less damage than other 2handed weapons, but will have a big attack power bonus (it's very hard to evade an arrow, but they usually hurt less than a THA hit).
Each race will have preferred weapon skills. Those skills will be 2% easier to train that the others. You are still free to pick a main weapon that is not the preferred weapon skill of your race (but also lookout for the strengths/agility requirements).
General Skills
Mining is removed.
Medicine skill is added (future use to be determined)
Alchemy is simplified a lot. Learning recipes is easier (but depends on intelligence), does not cost mana anymore, and cost in turns were divided by 10 (from 120 to 12). Once a recipe is learnt, it works just like the other crafting skills.
Sorcery: catching a spirit gives you XP in sorcery. The amount of XP is exponentially linked to the sorcery skill required to catch the spirit.
Uncrafting items: to uncraft an item will cost 25% of the turns required to craft it (vs 75% for Stax/Lambe). The chance to recover each item was increased from 50% to 60%.
Leadership: cannot be trained at all (alone or with master). The only way to raise your leadership skill is via kills, quests, events, tournaments etc. This skill will somewhat represent the notoriety of your character.
Weapons, armors, items
Some new weapons, armors and shield were added to the game
All recipes were redone from scratch
Training weapons are now very easy to craft by anyone, including new characters, with basic elements
The range of damage is increased, there are more different types of weapons (not all 2-handers deal the same damage for example)
Formulas
Most of the code's formulas have been changed:
-XP formula was changed. Raising skill will generally be slower than in TPS1.
-Hit-rate formula: this is the chances to hit a player or a monster based and your Attack Power and the target’s Defense Power. The formula was adjusted to fit the new XP system.
-HP formula: Total HP = 5 x Health + 2 x Endurance
-MP formula: Total MP = 2 x Intelligence + 0.5 x Will + 0.5 x Endurance
-Carry weight formula: Max capacity = 10 + 1 x Strength + 0.25 x Will + 0.25 x Endurance
-Damage formula was changed to fit to all other formulas. A trainer weapon only uses 15-20% of the char's strength (this is to limit the negative effect of strength on training). The effect of strength on battle weapons is much higher than in TPS1 (this is to make strength and agility equivalent in power).
-Skill-cap: we start with a softcap at 350, and a hardcap at 450. Once someone reaches 450, both caps will increase over time. A difference of 100 skills will always remain between soft and hardcap, to avoid older payers from camping at softcap to raise giant secundaries. The purpose is so that even after several years of playing, some new char can skyrocket to softcap and catch up more easily to the older chars who will have done most of their skills the hard way.
-Intel formula: intel now impacts all skills with no limit. The effect slightly decreases as the intel rises (for example the difference between 8 and 12 intel is bigger than the difference between 38 and 42 intel). However, the effects remain non negligible even at very high intelligence points. Someone at 40 intelligence still get +1% xp bonus compared to someone with 35, and that combined for 26 different weapon and general skills and endless effect-duration can make a considerable difference.
-Stone-cutting and wood-cutting formula were adapted to be more realistic
-Move regeneration: now 150 movement / hour. Max movement remains at 1500.
-Health regeneration: vastly increased, and proportional to the max HP of the character. This means that auto-heal is now the major way of healing, which you can complement with craftable healing items.
-XP from monsters: XP/hit is now a fixed value for each monster (does not depend on your attack power). This makes balancing encounters much easier on an admin side. Calibration of encounters was done meticulously, unlike TPS1.
-Skill-up XP: no more randomness, if the skill asks for 885xp, you will skill-up at 885xp sharp. The amount of xp needed will depend on your intelligence.
-Fleeing formula was nerfed down. Instinct will also play a bigger role in fleeing / blocking.
Character creation
Resources at creation: you start with 200 turns, full movement, a cotton shirt and a training weapon that depends on your race (you are of course free to change weapon as soon as you find/craft/trade another one).
Stats and skills at creation: your starting stats depend on your race. Unlike TPS1, you do not choose any stat at creation (to avoid future regrets for new players). Your starting skills also depend on your race, each race starts with 5 weapon skills at 40 (including the one matching the training weapon) and other at 10. General skills start at 10 except for those preferred by your race which can start at 40 or sometimes even 60 (when your tribe is excellent at it).
Spells: Your character will know automatically all the spells that are available for his/her race, no need to research it. So far all spells exist only as level 1. As the game evolves, future levels will be added to increase the power of the spells.
Noob protection at resurrection: characters under 10 days old will not suffer any inventory loss upon death/resurrection. After 10 days, items are dropped upon death and a resurrection pack is given (leather armor + trainer). Characters under 50 weapon skill will not lose any skill when resurecting. Others will lose 1.
Economy
Gold on explore: removed to avoid an uncontrolled input of gold in the world
Work for gold: removed for the same reason but also to avoid money-mining multies.
Shopkeeper: removed completely to avoid an uncontrolled output of gold from the world and to promote in-between-player trading.
General economy: will be controlled much thinner than in TPS1, to ensure that gold has a real value in the game and that being rich can give you an edge. There will be no uncontrolled input or output of cash in or out of the gameworld, to ensure a steady total amount (meaning no or little inflation and no devaluation of gold) and to promote character-to-character trading as well as crafting rather than character-to-NPC interactions.
Misc
Resurrection pack: characters resurrecting in capitals now receive a base armor and a training weapon depending on the highest weapon skills. HP will be full (99% full to be specific), MP at 50% and movement at 1000.
Ghost movement: it is now impossible to move as a ghost to avoid ghost spying or scouting the unknown parts of the map. Once you’re a ghost, your only choice is to teleport to a cap.
Runes: there is no rune-drops from normal encounters. Runes are obtainable through special events only and will be very rare and valuable items.
Mining: there will be some copper/tin/iron/charcoal/etc mines, but they will require you to explore to find the ores. This allows to better regulate the flow of ores in the game and discourages mining multis.
Resources: Valuable resources and drops will be found in tough areas. This is to avoid multis farming.
XP is replaced by a XP bar showing progress until next skill-up.
Faction: players will automatically join the faction of their tribe at creation, but they will be left with the option to change it, should they wish to do so. However this change will be irreversible, so better think it through!
New admin tools
You will not really see those, but a lot of work was done on the back-end and on the admin tools to make everything smoother and easier to change in the future:
-Race creation
-Race movement
-Race starting skills
-Race starting stats
-Resurrection pack
-Map editing
-Capital creation
-Improved anti-multi tools
-Improved script detecting tool
-Improved security against hacking
-A whole set of monitoring tools
How was Agonia created
To understand the new changes, and what can be expected in the future, it is important to understand the process we are following to create and improve this new game-world.
What we started by doing was basically cloning stax, without the data (so we start with same game, but no map, no monsters, no encounter or explore tables, no weapons etc…). Then the work is divided into four areas:
:arrow: First area of work was to make this clone functional by fixing the many bugs (cloning something that works doesn’t give you something that works unfortunately). This part is complete, but some hidden bugs might still be there so we count on players to report early any issue.
:arrow: Second area of work is to populate this new world (map, monsters, encounter tables, etc…), this part doesn’t require any coding, but hundreds of hours of work via admin tools.
:arrow: Third area of work is to make the gameplay changes in the code (formulas, new features, systems etc that you will read about below). As we do this, entire parts of the code are sometimes recoded from scratch.
:arrow: Fourth area of work is to recode all pages of the game entirely, one by one overtime, from scratch. So, at the beginning, most pages will be identical to the game you know but over time they will be recoded from scratch so that in the very long run we have an entire, clean new code.
Second, Third and Fourth step will never quite be finished, and will be ongoing work even once the game is fully functional and open; as we will always be working on those (populating new monsters/items/events, adding new features, recoding pages).
:!: This means that the look and feel of the game will initially be extremely similar as TPS1 (same pages etc). So do not be disapointed by the first impression. Page design was not the priority. We have focused on world creation, gameplay features, char-building diversity and balancing as key priorities. If the game launch is a success, (ie more than 200 players), the look and feel will change as we redesign the web pages and the map.
The list below summarizes the main changes. Unless specified, these changes will all be active as of the very first day of the game.
Storyline (super short version)
Eight tribes flee their home continent for unknown reasons on two different sailboats. Apart from the crew, all passengers are fast asleep. The Ancients have combined their powers to cast the biggest spell possible. A stasis and amnesia spell. Therefore, all passengers remember nothing of the old continent, their previous lives and the reasons for this forced exile. After weeks of sailing, and as the sailboats are getting closer to their unknown destination, the first passengers start to awaken.
World
Map: a whole new map was created. It is an island on a 400x400 map. It is about 70% of the size of Stax at the beginning, with possibilities of expansions depending on player-base size in the future.
The map will never be revealed to players. Since the island is newly discovered, the map will be completely unknown to players, and it will be up to them to scout, document, and map the territories.
Tileset: a new tileset (appearance of terrains) was designed. It will most likely be improved in the short future by a real designer.
Terrains: swamps have been removed, but deserts, snowy plains and snowy mountains have been added.
Monsters: a whole new fauna has been created. Agonia is basically a wild island where no one has stepped foot before. Mosquitoes are the size of rats, rats are the size of racoons, wild dogs the size of pigs and snakes the size of … well…. You don’t really want to know. Nature created all sorts of new creatures as well, and most of them are no pets… They are also made more realistic (no more soloing 2 dragons with a knife...). Some fantastic creatures will still be there but they will be rare and extremely strong (e.g. Dragons might appear every so and then, but they will require about 15 or 20 people to fight it).
All encounter tables (monsters found by exploring) were redone from scratch.
All explore tables (items found by exploring) were redone from scratch.
Capitals: the game will start on the sailboat. After a certain number of characters finish the boat quests, the boat will arrive on the shores of Agonia. The first task of each faction will be to set-up their base-camp which will later turn into their capital. There will be only 1 capital for each faction (+ possibly a resurrection point for neutrals or independents), at least in the first months/years of the game.
Races
-You will be able to choose one of 8 races/tribes. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. They are extremely different in terms of profile (more than in tps1) but there is not one better than the others.
-You can find the detailed profile of each race here:
Dwarr
Mythos
Leafborn
Lightfoot
Norsk
Nuruk
Kiith
Giant
-Apart from Giant and Lightfoot, each race will have one terrain type where they are better than all other races. Since encounter XP will be the same for each terrain type (and calibrated on the moves of the best race), this means that no race will have a benefit in terms of move-training (eg: a dwarr training on mountain will get the same xp as a leafborn training in forest or a nuruk training in plains). That also means the Nuruk's movement advantage does not mean they will train faster, it just means they'll have more terrain options for good training.
Stats
New stat names:
-Dexterity becomes Agility
-Constitution becomes Health
-Willpower becomes Will
-Intuition becomes Instinct
-Empathy becomes Faith
-New stat bonus system: probably the most important change in terms of gameplay. It deserves a specific topic of its own.
-Strengths coefficients in weapon damage: the impact of strength on the damage dealt now depends on the tier of the weapon. For example, someone with high strength, will deal much more damage with a tier 5 weapon, but only a little more damage with a training weapon (this is to minimize the negative impact of strength on training).
Agility: primary stat for hitting/dodging (gives 2 Defense Power and 2 Attack Power) but does not increase damage.
Strength: secundary stat for hitting/dodging (gives 1 Defense Power and 1 Attack Power), only stat affecting damage (more than in tps1, so that strength and agility are very much equivalent in terms of power). Also increases carrying weight by 1kg.
Intelligence: lowers the amount of XP required to skill up. Its effects applies to all weapon skills and all general skills, no matter the level. Also pirmary stat for Mana points (gives 2 MP).
Health: primary HP stat (gives 5 Health points). Helps with auto-regeneration of HP.
Endurance: secundary HP stat (gives 2 Health points) and secundary MP stat (0.5 MP). Increases carrying weight by 0.25kg. Helps with auto-regeneration of HP.
Instinct: increases chances of critical hits, spirit catching, item finding, fleeing, blocking someone from fleeing and pretty much everything with a luck factor. Gives a small attack power bonus if lucky.
Will: increases elemental protection by 1%, Mana points by 0.5 and Carrying weight by 0.25kg.
Faith: nothing you need to know for the moment
Weapon Skills
New Skill names
-ShortSword becomes Dagger
-Longsword becomes Sword
-Blowpipe becomes Blowgun
-Articulated weapons becomes Flail
-Unarmed becomes Fist weapons
Spear is now a 1-handed weapon, to be used with a shield.
Crossbow was removed.
Dual sword was added! This weapon skill will work quite differently from others. It will be a 2-hander (obviously...) but with normal damage. However, it will benefit from a very high attack power bonus (more chances to hit when you have two swords!).
Fist weapons is an odd one. It will not be a main weapon skill (you are still free to pick it as a main skill but we discourage it as it has much lower attack power and damage than others). It will be worth training it for secundary stats, but also for the annual MMA tournaments where only fist weapons will be allowed!
In a similar fashion, Bow will deal less damage than other 2handed weapons, but will have a big attack power bonus (it's very hard to evade an arrow, but they usually hurt less than a THA hit).
Each race will have preferred weapon skills. Those skills will be 2% easier to train that the others. You are still free to pick a main weapon that is not the preferred weapon skill of your race (but also lookout for the strengths/agility requirements).
General Skills
Mining is removed.
Medicine skill is added (future use to be determined)
Alchemy is simplified a lot. Learning recipes is easier (but depends on intelligence), does not cost mana anymore, and cost in turns were divided by 10 (from 120 to 12). Once a recipe is learnt, it works just like the other crafting skills.
Sorcery: catching a spirit gives you XP in sorcery. The amount of XP is exponentially linked to the sorcery skill required to catch the spirit.
Uncrafting items: to uncraft an item will cost 25% of the turns required to craft it (vs 75% for Stax/Lambe). The chance to recover each item was increased from 50% to 60%.
Leadership: cannot be trained at all (alone or with master). The only way to raise your leadership skill is via kills, quests, events, tournaments etc. This skill will somewhat represent the notoriety of your character.
Weapons, armors, items
Some new weapons, armors and shield were added to the game
All recipes were redone from scratch
Training weapons are now very easy to craft by anyone, including new characters, with basic elements
The range of damage is increased, there are more different types of weapons (not all 2-handers deal the same damage for example)
Formulas
Most of the code's formulas have been changed:
-XP formula was changed. Raising skill will generally be slower than in TPS1.
-Hit-rate formula: this is the chances to hit a player or a monster based and your Attack Power and the target’s Defense Power. The formula was adjusted to fit the new XP system.
-HP formula: Total HP = 5 x Health + 2 x Endurance
-MP formula: Total MP = 2 x Intelligence + 0.5 x Will + 0.5 x Endurance
-Carry weight formula: Max capacity = 10 + 1 x Strength + 0.25 x Will + 0.25 x Endurance
-Damage formula was changed to fit to all other formulas. A trainer weapon only uses 15-20% of the char's strength (this is to limit the negative effect of strength on training). The effect of strength on battle weapons is much higher than in TPS1 (this is to make strength and agility equivalent in power).
-Skill-cap: we start with a softcap at 350, and a hardcap at 450. Once someone reaches 450, both caps will increase over time. A difference of 100 skills will always remain between soft and hardcap, to avoid older payers from camping at softcap to raise giant secundaries. The purpose is so that even after several years of playing, some new char can skyrocket to softcap and catch up more easily to the older chars who will have done most of their skills the hard way.
-Intel formula: intel now impacts all skills with no limit. The effect slightly decreases as the intel rises (for example the difference between 8 and 12 intel is bigger than the difference between 38 and 42 intel). However, the effects remain non negligible even at very high intelligence points. Someone at 40 intelligence still get +1% xp bonus compared to someone with 35, and that combined for 26 different weapon and general skills and endless effect-duration can make a considerable difference.
-Stone-cutting and wood-cutting formula were adapted to be more realistic
-Move regeneration: now 150 movement / hour. Max movement remains at 1500.
-Health regeneration: vastly increased, and proportional to the max HP of the character. This means that auto-heal is now the major way of healing, which you can complement with craftable healing items.
-XP from monsters: XP/hit is now a fixed value for each monster (does not depend on your attack power). This makes balancing encounters much easier on an admin side. Calibration of encounters was done meticulously, unlike TPS1.
-Skill-up XP: no more randomness, if the skill asks for 885xp, you will skill-up at 885xp sharp. The amount of xp needed will depend on your intelligence.
-Fleeing formula was nerfed down. Instinct will also play a bigger role in fleeing / blocking.
Character creation
Resources at creation: you start with 200 turns, full movement, a cotton shirt and a training weapon that depends on your race (you are of course free to change weapon as soon as you find/craft/trade another one).
Stats and skills at creation: your starting stats depend on your race. Unlike TPS1, you do not choose any stat at creation (to avoid future regrets for new players). Your starting skills also depend on your race, each race starts with 5 weapon skills at 40 (including the one matching the training weapon) and other at 10. General skills start at 10 except for those preferred by your race which can start at 40 or sometimes even 60 (when your tribe is excellent at it).
Spells: Your character will know automatically all the spells that are available for his/her race, no need to research it. So far all spells exist only as level 1. As the game evolves, future levels will be added to increase the power of the spells.
Noob protection at resurrection: characters under 10 days old will not suffer any inventory loss upon death/resurrection. After 10 days, items are dropped upon death and a resurrection pack is given (leather armor + trainer). Characters under 50 weapon skill will not lose any skill when resurecting. Others will lose 1.
Economy
Gold on explore: removed to avoid an uncontrolled input of gold in the world
Work for gold: removed for the same reason but also to avoid money-mining multies.
Shopkeeper: removed completely to avoid an uncontrolled output of gold from the world and to promote in-between-player trading.
General economy: will be controlled much thinner than in TPS1, to ensure that gold has a real value in the game and that being rich can give you an edge. There will be no uncontrolled input or output of cash in or out of the gameworld, to ensure a steady total amount (meaning no or little inflation and no devaluation of gold) and to promote character-to-character trading as well as crafting rather than character-to-NPC interactions.
Misc
Resurrection pack: characters resurrecting in capitals now receive a base armor and a training weapon depending on the highest weapon skills. HP will be full (99% full to be specific), MP at 50% and movement at 1000.
Ghost movement: it is now impossible to move as a ghost to avoid ghost spying or scouting the unknown parts of the map. Once you’re a ghost, your only choice is to teleport to a cap.
Runes: there is no rune-drops from normal encounters. Runes are obtainable through special events only and will be very rare and valuable items.
Mining: there will be some copper/tin/iron/charcoal/etc mines, but they will require you to explore to find the ores. This allows to better regulate the flow of ores in the game and discourages mining multis.
Resources: Valuable resources and drops will be found in tough areas. This is to avoid multis farming.
XP is replaced by a XP bar showing progress until next skill-up.
Faction: players will automatically join the faction of their tribe at creation, but they will be left with the option to change it, should they wish to do so. However this change will be irreversible, so better think it through!
New admin tools
You will not really see those, but a lot of work was done on the back-end and on the admin tools to make everything smoother and easier to change in the future:
-Race creation
-Race movement
-Race starting skills
-Race starting stats
-Resurrection pack
-Map editing
-Capital creation
-Improved anti-multi tools
-Improved script detecting tool
-Improved security against hacking
-A whole set of monitoring tools