Hi, fellow gamer and MMO enthusiast!
A toast to 2021 and to the fastest feedback loop ever: on Friday, January 15, at 2pm CET (8am EST), game servers will be opened again to all registered users for a new open playtest that will be running until Sunday night!
This is the first time we run two open playtests so close to each other, and here’s why:
- The first one was around New Year’s Eve, which meant many of you weren’t able to participate;
- We’ve introduced massive client performance improvements and we’re looking for feedback on them;
- We’ve added manual combat mode toggling and various balancing changes (to be detailed in an upcoming forum post);
- We’d like you to re-assess PvP balancing with enchanted gear.
Like last time, the event is all about testing PvP, so:
- Characters start with all existing abilities unlocked and all 60 talents points already earned;
- Your bank can generate all armor sets and weapons, plus enchanting reagents;
- Everyone can harvest resource nodes (they’re not connected to a city).
Also, like last time, you can win a key for the Winter Alpha! More info below!
Client Optimization
While on average the community has deemed the performance of the game client to be good, with solid framerate and no stuttering, things have been noticeably problematic with many players on the screen.
The issues some of you faced were mostly caused by memory (RAM) usage and CPU usage, rather than GPU usage. In fact, memory could become so bloated with 50+ players on the screen that it would cause disconnections on older computers!
All these issues have been fixed and we’re eager to see how the Fractured client performs on different machines now that:
- Memory usage / player on screen is ~90% lower;
- CPU usage has been heavily optimized;
- Commit memory reserved by the client is ~50% lower. This change is not something you see in the Task Manager on Windows but rather in the Performance Monitor.
Enchanting
When it comes to defining your strengths and weaknesses in battle, the types of armor and weapons you’re using and the material they’re made of are crucial… and so are the enchantments you put on them!
Enchanting is a complex process that requires gathering reagents from all over the world, which is clearly not suitable for a short-lived test. This is why we’ve introduced the following changes:
- As mentioned before, you bank can now generate enchanting reagents too.
- The cost to claim a land parcel in the wilderness has been decreased from 1,000 gold to 200 gold.
- The cost to claim a city has been decreased from 5,000 gold to 1,000 gold.
- Smelting ores, processing hides and burning charcoal is almost instantaneous.
We can’t wait to see what builds you’ll be able to come up with!
Play Free, Win A Key
Yes, you can get free access to the Winter Alpha (or even permanent game access) by playing during the January 2021 Open Weekend! To do so, you must be ranking high in one of 5 dedicated contests:
- Highest PvP Ranking
- Best Game Footage
- Best/Most Creative Character Build
- Most Knowledge Acquired
- Coolest Land Parcel
This is how it works:
- The winner of each contest gets a key that grants permanent access to the game, from here to full release and after!
- The highest ranking competitors of each category get a key that grants access to the next test, the Winter Alpha!
- Everyone who participated with a meaningful contribution gets 1,000 Foundation Points.
Check out the post of the last open playtest to discover the details of each contest!
See you soon in game, and let the fight begin… smoother & better! 😉
DISCUSS
