COMMUNITY - FORUMS - SOULS, TALENTS, & REINCARNATION
Spark of life vs soul?

what is the difference between the two? in regards to the store packages


9/18/2017 3:35:17 PM #1

You select between souls. Some of these have already lived a couple of lives. Sparks "breathe life" into these souls.


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9/18/2017 3:42:49 PM #2

A spark and a soul are needed to make a character.

The soul is your progress in the world and it can be used multiple times giving your next character a boost in skills you learnt before. It is like a character slot, you can buy more but you can easily play with just the ones the game comes with.

The spark is your game time, it is how you pay to play the game. You get a maximum of 12 months of play time with a character, though it can be less depending on how many risks you take in the game. After that, your character dies, and you will need to buy a new spark to start a new life or use one of the sparks that came with your pack.


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9/18/2017 3:55:52 PM #3

Think of a soul as your character, if you will. It will contain your skills of what you had in previous lifetimes in the form of skill ramps, as well as progressing storyline devoted to it alone as you continue to play it.

Your soul's affinity can be devoted to light, dark or in-between, the choice is completely up to you.

A "spark of life," is CoE's answer to a MMO subscription in a way, the average lifespan for them is 52 weeks provided if one doesn't die too often to reduce the time. There are different levels of reputations that can effect it, Gentry or Aristocracy shouldn't have a problem but with Nobility it can be an issue if they die too often.


9/18/2017 3:59:12 PM #4

Every PC in Elyria has a soul. A soul is the complete set of memories, experiences, and past lives of a character. When transferred from one character to another (when the current character dies and the soul is passed on to an heir or new character), the soul brings with it achievements and accelerated skill development in skills that previous characters have been proficient in, providing a feeling of continuity and progression.

According to Elyrian lore, souls are said to walk through the halls of the Akashic Records. There, the soul may read the deeds of its past lives and learn from its past successes and failures while also attaining an increased affinity for the skills and crafts the soul's past lives had trained in. This translates to a skill ramp in game, where the player is able to quickly reach the level of proficiency attained in previous lives.

...Every account has a 'soul pool' and you can choose one of them and inhabit a character using a spark of life. Also you can use another spark of life to inhabit a new character using one of the unused souls from the pool. The other souls would be residing peacefully in the Akashic Records, waiting to be given life.

From the Wiki.

So basically your soul is your character's progression and your spark of life is your game subscription. Though how far that subscription goes is dependent on how reckless or unfortunate you may be in game. Amount of spirit loss is based partly on fame and a few other factors. So a combat based monarch might only have a couple of months of life. While a noncombat farmer who never does anything of note may get the full 12 months.

All about risk versus reward which in this case the risk is Real World Money.

9/18/2017 5:04:56 PM #5

Some see the distinction as a Souls is akin to a character slot and a Spark of Life being the subscription. With the purchase of the basic game you are given 3 souls from which to choose (more can be purchased from the store) and a single spark of life (some packages come with more). You can apply the Spark to any of your souls to make a character. When your character dies from old age at the end of the 8-12 months of game play you will need to purchase another spark of life to reanimate that character by applying it to the same soul or apply it to another soul you have.

As far as the store is concerned many of the packages come with multiple Sparks for either more than one character or for a few lifetimes. It is hinted that the cost per spark will go up at launch to around $30 so if you buy them now you can save a little money over the life of the game.


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9/30/2017 5:27:52 PM #6

So then, say you have multiple souls but only one spark of life, does that mean you can only use one soul(character slot) for that allotted time, or does it stretch across multiple characters?

Would you need to pay for additional sparks of life, if you wanted to play across multiple characters?(E.G if you wanted to try or play as a different Tribe)


9/30/2017 5:32:25 PM #7

Posted By Gsty at 9/30/2017 5:27:52 PM

So then, say you have multiple souls but only one spark of life, does that mean you can only use one soul(character slot) for that allotted time, or does it stretch across multiple characters?

Would you need to pay for additional sparks of life, if you wanted to play across multiple characters?(E.G if you wanted to try or play as a different Tribe)

A spark is a single use item. You in essence plug it into a soul and play that soul. You cannot then remove the spark and use a different soul.

9/30/2017 5:37:18 PM #8

Okay, so you would need to purchase more sparks of life if you did want to have multiple characters (again, say someone picked a tribe, realised it's not for them and wanted to change up). Best hope my first choice is a good 'un! D:

But thanks for the info.


9/30/2017 6:02:13 PM #9

As far as I understand it, a spark starts a life and the soul lives forever. You still need a spark again when the character, you are playing, dies. But since it has the initial soul, parts of the memories are in the heir. When you have no heir, you can still take over an other family member, if that is not a child or grandchild of the initial one, the soul is different, it has different memories, if any.

The longer I think about it, the lesser I understand it :P

I think the soul only lives forever if you continue with a heir. When a single character dies and never had children, the soul disappears.

10/1/2017 12:08:21 AM #10

Souls transcend a single life. It is passed down by generation and generation becoming more skilled in areas which cause them to be easier to level. (a blacksmithing family will level this skill quicker each subsequent generation allowing them to reach a higher skill cap)

A spark gives you access to a soul for a single life.

If you have a couple sparks you can stockpile them or you could have two characters running. Maybe have a soul for combat and another for crafting. Luckily OPCs are a thing (offline player character (your character does scripted things while you are offline)).


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12/21/2017 12:32:39 PM #11

so let me see if i understand this..... if i have 3 souls, i have 3 "character slots" however, if i only have 1 spark, 2 of those character slots will be dormant until i purchase more sparks, which last (up to) 12 months.


Honor is a fool’s prize, Glory is of no use to the dead.

12/21/2017 1:01:53 PM #12

Posted By Silus at 07:32 AM - Thu Dec 21 2017

so let me see if i understand this..... if i have 3 souls, i have 3 "character slots" however, if i only have 1 spark, 2 of those character slots will be dormant until i purchase more sparks, which last (up to) 12 months.

Put simply, each soul allows you to play a character and each spark allows you to use a soul for, yes, up to twelve months. Everytime your character dies, that same soul can be used in a new one.

9/12/2018 10:03:24 AM #13

Posted By Loyheta at 5:08 PM - Sat Sep 30 2017

If you have a couple sparks you can stockpile them or you could have two characters running. Maybe have a soul for combat and another for crafting.

I'm hoping that this is true. Has a dev ever commented on this?


9/12/2018 12:44:57 PM #14

A soul is like a character slot, it also keeps track of your “progress” between lives.

A spark is like “game time” and it will breathe life into your soul.


Count LizenÇace VeLeîjres of Mydra's Crossing, VII of the order of the IX.

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9/12/2018 1:00:36 PM #15

Posted By ExMudder at 9/12/2018 10:03:24 AM

Posted By Loyheta at 5:08 PM - Sat Sep 30 2017

If you have a couple sparks you can stockpile them or you could have two characters running. Maybe have a soul for combat and another for crafting. Luckily OPCs are a thing (offline player character (your character does scripted things while you are offline)).

I'm hoping that this is true. Has a dev ever commented on this?

Umm yes it’s true, it’s in the basic game guide.

Your character maintains their place in the world even when you sign off, and aging happens whether you’re online or not. But this creates another problem. In a game where your character ages and dies, you want to get as much life out of them as you can."

To remedy this problem, CoE introduces the concept of Offline Player Characters (OPCs). Whenever you sign off, Artificial Intelligence takes over and plays your character for you. But, we all know AI is never as good as the real thing, so we’re working on a system that allows you to create and trade scripted behaviors for your characters.

If you buy a soul pack and enough sparks you could have 6 characters running concurrently. You won’t be able to play all six at the same time but you can play 1 and the other 5 will run on OPC scripting.

As long as you have an available soul and a spare spark you can create a new character.

And yes this is a very very old post but looks like what’s been mentioned thus far is still the way the system will work.