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Paying/Death system

I read that you pay for extra sparks of life, what if you're playing the game as carefully as possible but there's just another guy who just runs around killing as many people as he can, like people that are logged off. Do you guys have an idea on addressing this like if you die within a week of getting the game to a player on a murder spree do you get a new spark of life automatically or are you just dead and have to buy a new spark?


3/27/2017 9:38:29 PM #1

Hello Asid, this is a frequently asked question and I assure you there is little to worry about if you're taking precaution. For starters I will link you this: https://chroniclesofelyria.com/blog/1772/DJ-16-The-Weight-and-Measure-of-a-Lifetime This design journal will really help you work out exactly what a spark of life is worth, and how long you can use it even in a worse case scenario ie:

"Now let's assume you die very frequently. You're out adventuring every day doing extremely dangerous activities. Every day you die once. That means every day counts as three days of play time. The average of 354 divided by 3 is 118 days. That's 16 weeks, or approximately 3.75 months before you need to buy a new Spark of Life."

Dying in a a PVP instance should be hard if you're taking precaution. For example if you know you're going to be leaving, I wouldn't suggest leaving a city alone, unarmed, and without a companion. This should be a fairly common idea for anyone with survival gaming experience. It doesn't mean you have no risk of dying when you AFK in a city. But remember, everyone values their Spark of Life, if anyone kills you in a public place, or in sight of someone who survives, it is against the law (depending on city laws). Those players risk their soul points and fame in doing so. They are paying as much to have a Spark as you are, I suspect that they'd take similar precautions to assure the longevity of their Spark. Also remember that being knocked unconscious and having a Coup De Grace performed on you are two very different things. If you keep your friends close, and do dangerous things only when you're actually online you should get a fair worth out of your Spark.

As it comes to earning a Spark of Life without having to pay for it, there is a design journal for that too, I recommend checking out: https://chroniclesofelyria.com/blog/4683/DJ-17-Bolstering-EarntoPlay


3/27/2017 9:38:55 PM #2

If you look at some of the Design Journals regarding this, you'd see they've thought about this. Plus they've elaborated elsewhere (if it wasn't included in the journal).

Basically, your basic commoner rank/no fame type character is designed to last, without deaths, 1 real life year before the Spark of Life is used up. So, that character has 365 days of real life time, to live their life.

Because their soul is not very matured (no fame/infamy, they don't impact the world around them as much) when they die their soul is not damaged overly so. So, for example, their death might only lose them half of a real life day. (THIS IS ONLY AN EXAMPLE, we don't know exactly the numbers of how a soul is affected.)

Now say they keep getting killed, the Devs have said they are going to create a 'cool down' of sorts on spirit loss, so you don't keep taking that soul damage. On top of that, those that are killing other people, their soul is more damaged because of their evil acts, and when they are finally killed their soul is more heavily damaged, thus making it a deterrent for people who just mindlessly kill when it is against the law. (Granted there are justified killings that would prevent this extra soul damage from being taken)

So even if you die often, and are griefed on occasion, your soul when you are just a common traveler is not overly damaged and you will still get months of play time.

The more fame/influence you have on the world, the more valuable your soul, the more impact it has on your overall soul life when you die, the more quickly you will reach permadeath. And even then, because you are more important to the story, you will earn story points, which can be used to purchase souls once you earn enough, though that doesn't mean everyone will be having free Sparks of Life all the time, but it is possible to earn them.

So long story short, it's probably going to be cheaper than your typically subscription based game, if not by a lot then at least a little.


3/27/2017 9:43:03 PM #3

I dont think you can perma die in a week regardless of how much you die, unless you are a king or some equivalent, and even then perhaps not. a life is supposed to last between 12-14 months and dying regularly may reduce that life span significantly but no where close to a week. Even if you die a lot, you should get multiple months of game play on a spark of life.

A few exceptions to this is if you manage to become extremely famous in the game, even more so than a king, if you become a lich or vampire perhaps you can be perma killed quicker although being tougher to kill, or dying during deep sea travel.


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3/27/2017 9:50:15 PM #4

Thanks! I've been doing a lot of reading today, I remembered an imgur post I saved like 2 years ago and came back to see how far you guys have come.


3/27/2017 10:09:48 PM #5

A lot has happened my friend, even though the game is not out yet. The community does so much everyday with the dance of Dynasties. They are doing a QandA on Saturday about survival, if you have questions about dying, maybe you should check it out. Read the last DJ!


3/28/2017 1:04:04 AM #6

Posted By Rysaiah at 3:09 PM - Mon Mar 27 2017

They are doing a QandA on Saturday about survival,

Wednesday actually :D


3/28/2017 1:28:58 AM #7

Just a few points however Rysaiah covered it very well. There are 3 forms of death and animals will likely just knock you unconscious meaning no spirit loss. Many of the common bandits may do the same as not wanting to waste time and being spotted. Now if they do take the time for a Coupe de Grace then of course spirit loss will occur. No one mentioned Fame as it also plays into the spirit loss. The more famous you are the more spirit you will loose per session, so a commoner will only loose 2 days of game play where a duke may loose a month for the same death. And fame is not just about privilege, if you are a world renowned maker of armor, the same will apply. And finally perma death will be very rare indeed, unless you are on the ocean fighting a Kraken or in some dark cave fighting a major monster or possibly of such a high enough fame that it will take more spirit than you have when you die, then perma death may effect you, otherwise I would not worry about it.


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