devtrackers.gg
4 days
ago -
Silmaril
-
Direct link
Dear Humans and Elves,
After sharing the recent blogpost about upcoming Spire Improvements, we gathered some of the most common questions and prepared this FAQ so you can have a deeper understanding of the new features and continue to give us feedback!
How does the Spire Skill Value (SSV) progression work?
The SSV is calculated and updated for every player once a week. During your Spire run, it collects the information needed for the calculation. When you finish the Spire, or latest when the Spire ends, this calculation is completed, and your new SSV is applied in the next Spire run. For this calculation, the system basically does two things: First, it checks if an encounter is solved through fighting, negotiating, or not solved at all. Second, if the encounter is solved with fighting, it checks how many Squads survived at the end. All Squads that have at least one unit surviving qualify. Thus, you can have unit losses and "damaged" Squads and still achieve a perfect score (perfect = all 5 Squads survive). Just keep a fraction of each Squad alive! Solving an encounter with negotiation is better than not solving an encounter at all for the SSV calculation—especially since it allows you to progress to the next encounter, while not solving it at all will prevent you from solving any more encounters. When we release the feature, everyone will start at the same SSV value of 800. Then, depending on their performance, that value will increase or decrease. For example, after six weeks (one Spire Iteration):
This value is applied to your enemy Squad size as a factor. Every point corresponds to 0.1%. So an SSV of 1000 means the enemy Squad size is multiplied by 100%, resulting in the Squads staying the same. When the feature is introduced, we all start with 800 (i.e., 80%), so all enemy Squads in the Spire are at 80% of their usual size. This means the Spire fights will be 20% easier in the first week.
Spoiler 1.png)
Spoiler 2.png)
Which would be the differences between fighters, negotiations and a mixed approach to progress in the Spire?
As you know, fighting and negotiating can be difficult to compare due to two major differences: First, in negotiating, you always lose resources. You cannot win a negotiation "for free." As a fighter, if you pick the right unit combination and boost your units sufficiently, you can theoretically win an encounter without losing any units. Secondly, there is always an element of luck involved in the negotiation game. In theory, you could choose the correct resources in the first round, but more often, you'll need a second or third round to solve the puzzle.
In short, the cost range for fighting is wider (experienced fighters can finish the Spire with minimal costs), and negotiating requires more luck than skill, while fighting requires more skill than luck.
For these reasons, the SSV will only affect fights and not negotiations. Instead, we will introduce a different feature for negotiators, the Combo Factor. If you keep winning negotiation games, you will receive more of the new reward currency. If your combo breaks, you will still receive a base amount. The combo will not break if you finish an encounter by fighting. So, if you only negotiate some encounters, you can still build up a combo. Moreover, the combo will not break if you exit a negotiation game early, before convincing any of the Spirits (none of them got what they wanted); feel free to leave and try again.
This way, negotiators can receive similar amounts of the new reward currency as fighters. However, unsuccessful fighters can drop lower, and skilled fighters can earn more. For players with a mixed approach, this means they will likely end up somewhere in the middle, similar to negotiators.
To give two examples:
1. If you always negotiate and win (maintain your combo), you will receive as much Reward Currency as a fighter whose SSV is at 1250. Fighters with an SSV above 1250 can earn even more.
2. If you always negotiate but win every game only on your second attempt (or later), you will receive as much Reward Currency as a fighter whose SSV is at 820. Fighters with an SSV below 820 will earn even less.
What is the difference between Eldian Sapphires and the "radiant stones" / new currency?
Eldian Sapphires primarily provide access to premium culture buildings, but you can also exchange excess Eldian Sapphires for the new SSV currency. Additionally, the same functionality is planned for Broken Shards, allowing you to exchange them for the SSV currency.
What will Harold's Spire shop have in stock?
We knew this would be a common question. The complete list of items we currently plan to make available at Harold's shop: Teleport Building, Spell Fragments, Vitality Surge 5%, Runeshards from the last two Ancient Wonders that you unlocked, Ancient Knowledge 30, Pet Food, Combining Catalysts, Tomes of the Fruitful, Royal Restorations, Current Artifacts, Tomes of Mayflowers, Tomes of Frozen Goods, Frog Kings, Carting Libraries, Goddess' of Wishes, and Wishing Wells.
These items will have varied prices, and depending on your performance, you'll be able to acquire several of these items or save for the most exclusive ones. What do you think? Let us know if you have an idea for another item or resource!
How long would it take a player to get some of those items in the Harold's Spire shop?
You can see in the examples above how much currency you can potentially earn per week. The offers in the Spire Shop can only be purchased a limited number of times per player, but this will reset every six weeks. With this in mind, here are some examples of what you can expect:
3000 Spell Fragments for 1000 reward currency, which you can buy up to 6 times every 6 weeks.
5 Royal Restorations for 5000 reward currency, up to 3 times every 6 weeks.
The Frog King for 20000 reward currency, available once every 6 weeks.
Will negotiating costs increase with higher SSV?
No, the SSV is not influencing your negotiation costs.
Will SSV be adjusted according to players using boost buildings, pet boosts, etc?
It might lead to some "non-push" weeks being extra hard after a round of spire boosted by a lot of effects.
No, the SSV will not evaluate how you achieved your outcomes. If you have "push" and "non-push" weeks, your SSV will likely fluctuate slightly. However, because it changes gradually, there won't be a significant difficulty spike (up or down). It won't feel much different from the current situation.
How does this system (SSV) ensure fairness between beginners with smaller troop sizes and experienced players with significantly larger troop sizes?
We believe the current system is not fair enough. It presents the same challenge to everyone, regardless of how far they have progressed through the game. We have observed that more established accounts manage to finish the Spire more easily than newer accounts. Now, it will be fairer because everyone will have a better chance at completing the Spire.
Experienced players with significantly larger troop sizes might reach a higher SSV and earn more reward currency due to that. However, keep in mind that the main reason to play the Spire remains the rewards from the chests you collect during your run. These stay the same and are now available to a broader audience. Having a low SSV is not a bad thing—though it does mean receiving less reward currency. However, a low SSV enables everyone to finish the Spire and collect all the cool rewards along the way.
Will there be a leader board?
It's something we considered, but for now, we wanted to focus on other important features. We may revisit this idea in the future.
When will this feature be implemented on live servers?
We plan to release it to Beta around March 2025. While on Beta, we intend to collect feedback from our players and let these features run for an entire Spire cycle of 6 weeks. The Live release will depend on that process, so it's a bit too early to specify an exact date.
We hope this FAQ has answered your most pressing questions, and look forward to your feedback in the discussion thread.
Kind regards
Your Elvenar Team
After sharing the recent blogpost about upcoming Spire Improvements, we gathered some of the most common questions and prepared this FAQ so you can have a deeper understanding of the new features and continue to give us feedback!
How does the Spire Skill Value (SSV) progression work?
The SSV is calculated and updated for every player once a week. During your Spire run, it collects the information needed for the calculation. When you finish the Spire, or latest when the Spire ends, this calculation is completed, and your new SSV is applied in the next Spire run. For this calculation, the system basically does two things: First, it checks if an encounter is solved through fighting, negotiating, or not solved at all. Second, if the encounter is solved with fighting, it checks how many Squads survived at the end. All Squads that have at least one unit surviving qualify. Thus, you can have unit losses and "damaged" Squads and still achieve a perfect score (perfect = all 5 Squads survive). Just keep a fraction of each Squad alive! Solving an encounter with negotiation is better than not solving an encounter at all for the SSV calculation—especially since it allows you to progress to the next encounter, while not solving it at all will prevent you from solving any more encounters. When we release the feature, everyone will start at the same SSV value of 800. Then, depending on their performance, that value will increase or decrease. For example, after six weeks (one Spire Iteration):
- A player who wins all fighting encounters with a perfect score (avoids losing a Squad), will reach 1116 SSV
- A player who negotiates all encounters will reach 872 SSV
- A player who didn’t play the Spire, will have 619 SSV
This value is applied to your enemy Squad size as a factor. Every point corresponds to 0.1%. So an SSV of 1000 means the enemy Squad size is multiplied by 100%, resulting in the Squads staying the same. When the feature is introduced, we all start with 800 (i.e., 80%), so all enemy Squads in the Spire are at 80% of their usual size. This means the Spire fights will be 20% easier in the first week.
Spoiler 1
Spoiler 2
Which would be the differences between fighters, negotiations and a mixed approach to progress in the Spire?
As you know, fighting and negotiating can be difficult to compare due to two major differences: First, in negotiating, you always lose resources. You cannot win a negotiation "for free." As a fighter, if you pick the right unit combination and boost your units sufficiently, you can theoretically win an encounter without losing any units. Secondly, there is always an element of luck involved in the negotiation game. In theory, you could choose the correct resources in the first round, but more often, you'll need a second or third round to solve the puzzle.
In short, the cost range for fighting is wider (experienced fighters can finish the Spire with minimal costs), and negotiating requires more luck than skill, while fighting requires more skill than luck.
For these reasons, the SSV will only affect fights and not negotiations. Instead, we will introduce a different feature for negotiators, the Combo Factor. If you keep winning negotiation games, you will receive more of the new reward currency. If your combo breaks, you will still receive a base amount. The combo will not break if you finish an encounter by fighting. So, if you only negotiate some encounters, you can still build up a combo. Moreover, the combo will not break if you exit a negotiation game early, before convincing any of the Spirits (none of them got what they wanted); feel free to leave and try again.
This way, negotiators can receive similar amounts of the new reward currency as fighters. However, unsuccessful fighters can drop lower, and skilled fighters can earn more. For players with a mixed approach, this means they will likely end up somewhere in the middle, similar to negotiators.
To give two examples:
1. If you always negotiate and win (maintain your combo), you will receive as much Reward Currency as a fighter whose SSV is at 1250. Fighters with an SSV above 1250 can earn even more.
2. If you always negotiate but win every game only on your second attempt (or later), you will receive as much Reward Currency as a fighter whose SSV is at 820. Fighters with an SSV below 820 will earn even less.
What is the difference between Eldian Sapphires and the "radiant stones" / new currency?
Eldian Sapphires primarily provide access to premium culture buildings, but you can also exchange excess Eldian Sapphires for the new SSV currency. Additionally, the same functionality is planned for Broken Shards, allowing you to exchange them for the SSV currency.
What will Harold's Spire shop have in stock?
We knew this would be a common question. The complete list of items we currently plan to make available at Harold's shop: Teleport Building, Spell Fragments, Vitality Surge 5%, Runeshards from the last two Ancient Wonders that you unlocked, Ancient Knowledge 30, Pet Food, Combining Catalysts, Tomes of the Fruitful, Royal Restorations, Current Artifacts, Tomes of Mayflowers, Tomes of Frozen Goods, Frog Kings, Carting Libraries, Goddess' of Wishes, and Wishing Wells.
These items will have varied prices, and depending on your performance, you'll be able to acquire several of these items or save for the most exclusive ones. What do you think? Let us know if you have an idea for another item or resource!
How long would it take a player to get some of those items in the Harold's Spire shop?
You can see in the examples above how much currency you can potentially earn per week. The offers in the Spire Shop can only be purchased a limited number of times per player, but this will reset every six weeks. With this in mind, here are some examples of what you can expect:
3000 Spell Fragments for 1000 reward currency, which you can buy up to 6 times every 6 weeks.
5 Royal Restorations for 5000 reward currency, up to 3 times every 6 weeks.
The Frog King for 20000 reward currency, available once every 6 weeks.
Will negotiating costs increase with higher SSV?
No, the SSV is not influencing your negotiation costs.
Will SSV be adjusted according to players using boost buildings, pet boosts, etc?
It might lead to some "non-push" weeks being extra hard after a round of spire boosted by a lot of effects.
No, the SSV will not evaluate how you achieved your outcomes. If you have "push" and "non-push" weeks, your SSV will likely fluctuate slightly. However, because it changes gradually, there won't be a significant difficulty spike (up or down). It won't feel much different from the current situation.
How does this system (SSV) ensure fairness between beginners with smaller troop sizes and experienced players with significantly larger troop sizes?
We believe the current system is not fair enough. It presents the same challenge to everyone, regardless of how far they have progressed through the game. We have observed that more established accounts manage to finish the Spire more easily than newer accounts. Now, it will be fairer because everyone will have a better chance at completing the Spire.
Experienced players with significantly larger troop sizes might reach a higher SSV and earn more reward currency due to that. However, keep in mind that the main reason to play the Spire remains the rewards from the chests you collect during your run. These stay the same and are now available to a broader audience. Having a low SSV is not a bad thing—though it does mean receiving less reward currency. However, a low SSV enables everyone to finish the Spire and collect all the cool rewards along the way.
Will there be a leader board?
It's something we considered, but for now, we wanted to focus on other important features. We may revisit this idea in the future.
When will this feature be implemented on live servers?
We plan to release it to Beta around March 2025. While on Beta, we intend to collect feedback from our players and let these features run for an entire Spire cycle of 6 weeks. The Live release will depend on that process, so it's a bit too early to specify an exact date.
We hope this FAQ has answered your most pressing questions, and look forward to your feedback in the discussion thread.
Kind regards
Your Elvenar Team