COMMUNITY - FORUMS - AGING & DYING
So I need to keep buying "Sparks of Life" as microtransactions?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but a "spark of life" is one lifetime right? So if I die in game, I have to keep purchasing "sparks of life"?

Been considering to get this game for months... but this new mechanic is making me hesitate.


2/18/2017 5:45:17 PM #1

Kind of, but not quite.

Each Spark of Life will last you ~a year of gameplay if you play smart. Every time you are killed in game by someone who wants to really kill you, some small amount of time is taken off of that year of gameplay.

Someone who dies very regularly will probably get ~3 months of gameplay per Spark of Life.

Think of it like a subscription that is keyed to how risky you play the game. You will almost certainly never pay more than you would for a subscription to any other MMO.

2/18/2017 5:49:13 PM #2

Like Morbis says, it's more like a subscription. If you play very dangerously and are dying every day, then you end up having to buy a new spark every three months or so (which equals a similar cost as paying $10 a month to any other MMO), but playing smart and safe without regularly dying will last between 10-14 months before you dye of old age and need to buy a new spark.


2/18/2017 5:51:16 PM #3

Give these journals a read, they outline both the dying mechanics and how the sparks work and last.

DJ#5

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2/18/2017 7:50:50 PM #4

Yeah it's not really a micro transaction, just a regular transaction that you'll do rarely at a natural break in play.


2/18/2017 10:52:38 PM #5

It could last you fewer than three months if you are famous and reckless. Or if you kill a lot of people and are caught.


2/22/2017 12:25:03 PM #6

As Kaynadin says, the most famous among us could die rather quickly. A king would only have to be killed once or twice to die permanently, which could theoretically happen within a day. However, said king would be exceedingly stupid if he didn't use his guards to keep out any assassins.

Altogether, you will almost certainly pay less than you would for other MMOs, no matter your career or position.


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2/25/2017 3:32:10 AM #7

I think if its been said if you like day once every 24 hours you still get like 6 months of gameplay.

This still gets less depending how famous your character is.

There also grace time after death i think were u dont lose more if killed like1-2 hours before already dieing (so you dont get punished for being killed over and over again).

There to note there is three states of death KO(knockedout)(normal MMO death) While knocked out players or really bad creatures can do some sort of ability to send your soul into ghost form. This is the stage you actually start losing spark time. There many ways to make your walk back to your body in the spirit realm and mate bonus soul tethering and even talents. The last state is of course perma death for that character,


2/25/2017 3:37:40 AM #8

Posted By Otharious at 9:32 PM - Fri Feb 24 2017

I think if its been said if you like day once every 24 hours you still get like 6 months of gameplay.

This still gets less depending how famous your character is.

There also grace time after death i think were u dont lose more if killed like1-2 hours before already dieing (so you dont get punished for being killed over and over again).

There to note there is three states of death KO(knockedout)(normal MMO death) While knocked out players or really bad creatures can do some sort of ability to send your soul into ghost form. This is the stage you actually start losing spark time. There many ways to make your walk back to your body in the spirit realm and mate bonus soul tethering and even talents. The last state is of course perma death for that character,

Well said, and yes it is important to keep fame in mind, I suspect there will be quite a few people who will forget that having higher fame brings risks.

There really isn't much more to add besides that using the term "micro-transactions" in this case is incorrect as it is more akin to being a subscription, and a cheap one at that compared to WoW.


3/24/2017 10:55:28 PM #9

I think if they extended the death penalty grace period to 24 hours it would be more fair, while keeping the PK penalty outside of wars to each time the character is arrested. That way it won't break the game when random people with lots of money decide to be griefers.

I'm also not entirely sure about the fame scale, I think that is pretty intense but I also think it would be hard to kill a king repeatedly.. at least until people figured out how to function in groups and hedge the penalties for themselves.

Perhaps if the jail time penalty reflected the level of fame of the person you killed. I don't know, I'm still not 100% sure on how well this system will work. It seems like it could go sideways really quickly and be a huge deterrent to anyone wanting to play the game who doesn't have a tone of money to pay out of pocket for being griefed. As it stands Griefers often tend to pay a lot of money for the privilege of being douches. On the other hand if they balance the penalties for pkers just right they might also ban themselves frequently...


3/24/2017 11:17:15 PM #10

The jail time of the pk accumulates for every kill not every arrest. So if you kill 50 people and get arrested and have 50 bounty tokens applied you take the cummulative penalties for all of those kills.

And jail time does reflect the fame of who you killed


3/24/2017 11:42:55 PM #11

This isn't a charity they're running


You may have erased my signature, but you can't corner the dorner

3/26/2017 9:36:40 AM #12

Posted By OrangeBoy at 1:42 PM - Fri Mar 24 2017

This isn't a charity they're running

Apparently it is. $10/year if you play safely? Might as well make payment optional, really.


3/26/2017 9:57:55 AM #13

A new spark of life is currently $25 in the store.

The numbers I've heard for Coup de Grace is that the lowest level of reputation will lose 2 days of game time each time they spirit walk, the highest (ie. kings), will lose two months. So, even a king will need to be killed six times before they permadie. The longer they live the fewer times they will need to spirit walk to permadie.

For murder, my understanding is that you will lose spirit and/or have spend time in jail based on the spirit loss of those you killed, but only if you get caught.


Shieldwall Strong!

3/26/2017 12:08:37 PM #14

I wonder if everyone involved in the attack of the person who was CDGed should get a bounty for the kill if not I picture people using alts to do the killing blows. Just get a throwaway alt, script it to follow you, you engage in PvP and knock the person out, and the throwaway alt does the killing blow and loots the body for you.


3/26/2017 12:49:25 PM #15

Also, and no ones mentioned this that I see, this is NOT a new mechanic, this has been stated since the beginning.

And yes 10/year isn't a lot, but that's a year for commoners (if they don't die), while someone who plays a count is going to go a good bit faster especially if they've any fame.

Granted, the pledge packages did have quite a fair few sparks...