Beta Realmers!
The highly anticipated Realm Rework is upon us! On April 12th, you’ll get to play it on Public Testing, and on the 23rd, you’ll be able to finally play the Open Beta on live servers! If you’re not sure what the Realm Rework is, have a look at this:
(Click here if you can’t see the trailer in the blog)
Once the beta launches on production, you’ll be able to play the new Realm on any of the servers. Each server will have 1 portal to the new Realm. Generally, it’s the first portal that spawns on the server, as it will also spawn alongside the old Realm in case you’re finding yourself overwhelmed with all the new content choices available to you now.
Still interested? Let’s take a look at the parts of Realm Rework that you’ll be able to see in Open Beta, as well as during the PT.
New Biomes
Oryx isn’t exactly known to be a builder of safe havens of civilization, but this anarchy is beyond even the Legion’s aptitude for mismanagement! Surely someone can tame these new, wild realms…
Not far beyond the shores, you can explore the seven Adept Biomes, each with Godlands-tier enemies and dungeons yielding Stat Potions. Each biome caters towards specific portals and rewards, allowing you to tailor your adventure. Try the Sprite Forest for your Dexterity needs, or the Dead Church for Wisdom!
Further north, you can venture into the five Veteran Biomes to face tougher challenges with new high-level rewards, such as the once dungeon-exclusive Life and Mana potions, as well as the Wine Cellar tier of equipment. And did someone just call out a Secluded Thicket in the Realm?
It’s not just about the hordes you’ll tear through- you’ll discover a vast selection of new (respawning) setpieces and encounter bosses, some of which have new rewards waiting to be discovered.
Realm Score
Oryx finally realized that Oasis Giant headcounts proved very ineffective for defense. In response, Legion officials adopted a more accurate method of measuring their level of control over the Realm. Early results have shown that this has only made Oryx more aware and enraged as a result.
Gone are the days of tiresome treks towards Ents and Liches to open the way to Oryx’s Castle. Instead, your progress is measured through Realm Score, a new system displayed in the top right sidebar. Every enemy and boss contributes to this score, ensuring that all playstyles can steadily propel you towards confronting (and hopefully defeating) the Mad God himself.
Beacons
Have you seen them before? Along the road junctions, these mysterious crystals have lit these paths for longer than anyone can remember. I’ve even heard rumors that they’re older than Oryx himself! What kind of ancient civilization could have made these? Perhaps it could be the work of a primal deity far older than anything we can imagine…
The Beacons function as convenient teleport waypoints that you can access from your minimap, just like teleporting to another Player. Once activated, a Beacon remains useful indefinitely, or at least until Oryx forcefully evicts you off the map.
Beware, as Oryx’s Legion has seized control of these crystals, seeking to harness their power. Defeating one of these Beacon Guardians may lift the curse from the site, restoring order to this part of the Realm. Such defiance is sure to enrage Oryx!
Biome UTs
You’ll be relieved to hear that behind all these new challenges ahead of you, there are new rewards available for the savvy heroes willing to seek them out and find them. All of these items are legendary-forge tier UTs that drop exclusively from the new Realm’s enemies. And worry not, you’ll find that all your coveted event whites still drop too. (Might I add, at better rates than before!)
Character Leveling Stats
We encourage you to play Seasonal and try a new character! After careful consideration of the time spent farming for potions, we’ve elected to improve the leveling stat growth of all characters in the game, especially in the Speed and Dexterity stats. You can even gain Defense from level-ups now! While we’d love you to spend a while enjoying the new Adept biomes, we’re also ready to help players progress past that part of the game to try more of the higher-tier Veteran content.
What to Expect
Since we’re releasing in open beta, expect a lot of things to be changing over the coming months. We want to work with you to create the best new Realm experience that we can, and while not everything is in a fully polished state right now, we thank you for all your patience so far and for bearing with us during the beta. We’re looking forward to hearing your feedback on one of the biggest updates the game has ever seen!