State of the Game Volume 9 - Let’s Talk v1.0

In our last State of the Game in December, we mentioned that we would share our release date as soon as we had it. While we don’t have specifics yet, we can safely say we’re aiming for a Q2 launch window, meaning we expect v1.0 to go live before the end of June! We’ll continue monitoring our production progress, and as soon as we can confidently set a more specific date, we’ll be sure to share it with you all.

However, we didn’t want to stop at just a release window—we also want to outline what to expect in the remaining time that Merchant’s Guide will be in Early Access, including both our development schedule and the final features coming at launch.

Wrapping Up the UI & Logbook

As many of you know, we’ve been hard at work on the UI evolution. It’s taken longer than we initially hoped, but we truly believe it will be worth it. Only a few major scenes remain to be upgraded, and once they’re completed, we’ll launch a closed beta test for the UI.

This test will be unique because we don’t want to delay UI testing for the Logbook. As a result, the initial closed beta will not include the Logbook. We encourage only those familiar with the game’s mechanics to participate, as testers will be going in blind—that’s part of the test. We want to ensure the UI is intuitive enough that experienced players can navigate it naturally. If not, we’ll refine any areas of confusion before releasing the new UI in the live version.

Now, let’s talk about the new Logbook. We’re making major upgrades, with far less (if not zero) required reading! Each topic will have an in-game video with voice narration, aiming to be under 30 seconds whenever possible. These videos will visually demonstrate each function and explain its best uses and potential strategies. Written instructions will still be available as an option, but we believe short, concise videos will be the best way to deliver this information.

Note that the initial version will be in English, with localization planned for the future—though other languages are not expected until sometime after v1.0 is already live.

What to expect in v1.0?

Campaign & Adventures

For those unaware, the campaign doesn’t end at Unjera Keep. The Shimmering Isles, a brand-new zone, is still to come—bringing major story elements that have yet to be revealed. However, we’re keeping the campaign’s details under wraps until v1.0.

What we can tell you is that storytelling is getting an upgrade. Instead of relying solely on text, we’ll be incorporating cutscenes to enhance the experience. We can’t wait for you to uncover what’s really happening in the realm!

As for Adventures, while we love the concept, we’re not happy with how they currently function. As a result, Adventures will be removed for now and won’t be part of the v1.0 launch. However, we have promising plans for their return—when they do, they’ll be much smoother, more interesting, and far more worthwhile!

Elite Dungeons

Elite Dungeons have been in development for a long time. Our initial tests were very engaging but introduced a completely different gameplay style.

These dungeons are designed to be extremely difficult versions of specific dungeons, requiring manual control of up to five officers. You, as the player, will cast their abilities, aim skills, manage targeting, and handle healing—essentially micro-managing the entire squad. Abilities can be queued to a certain degree, but the pace will be fast and challenging.

Because we want to maintain Merchant’s Guide as an accessible experience, Elite Dungeons are 100% optional. You won’t miss any core content by skipping them. However, since they’re designed as a high-skill challenge and staying optional, we’re not holding back—these dungeons will push your reflexes, strategy, and APM (actions per minute) to the limit.

We plan to launch with three Elite Dungeons to gauge player interest before expanding further. If they prove popular, we’re prepared to introduce Elite versions of every dungeon in the game, or at least the most popular and notable dungeons.

Guilds, Hero Spawns & Reputation

Right now, the guilds, hero spawns and reputation systems feel scattered and lackluster, but we have a major overhaul planned.

Currently, guilds exist in name only and rarely impact gameplay. In the new system, each city will have its own guild. Your guild will represent Terafell and additional guilds will represent Eastmire, Zar, Khor, and Neri. One guild for each city.

Each guild will have a reputation system—and yes, you can become hated by a fellow guild, but you’ll have to discover the consequences of that for yourself. 😉

Building positive relationships, however, will unlock exclusive loot via each guild's quartermaster, valuable materials, powerful allies, special activities and more. Note that Hemdall will remain your guild's quartermaster, based out of Terafell.

Additionally, hero recruitment is changing. Some heroes will spawn as members of other guilds, meaning they won’t be immediately recruitable. Heroes will also no longer spawn only at level 1—instead, their levels will match their guild’s strength, with Neri’s guild being the highest at level 18.

Each guild’s name and emblem will still be randomized per playthrough for added variety.

Crafting Rework

Crafting is getting a complete overhaul. The current system is too static—you gather materials, pick a recipe, and craft the item. Not very exciting. We want a much deeper, more customizable experience which allows player experience, skill, progression and even creativity to shine.

There are no more fixed recipes. Instead, you’ll find base items to craft on, each with their own specialties based on their type. For example, a 1H Axe might have higher crit chance, while a 1H Mace might have higher base damage. When you find these base items, they will have no affixes of their own, only differing rolls of their included base stats. For armor, some may be Armor heavy, some Ward heavy, and some will be more hybrid based with equal armor and ward.

Once you have your base items, you will be able to acquire new crafting materials which you will use to modify them. Affix shards to apply specific affixes, up to different limits, and other components to modify the base item, or the crafts you put on them. For example, you may find a component which will allow you to roll Cast Speed on an item twice, instead of being only limited to once. These crafting materials may be common, or very rare, but will often add unique and powerful capabilities to your item crafting, with a lot more interesting things coming than I mentioned here.

You’ll also have the ability to name your crafted gear and choose its icon for that added flavor. Though, we know not everyone wants to do that for every crafted item, so these will have an auto-assign option for those who just want to get back to the fight.

We have a lot more details on the crafting system, but we will share them in full detail a little down the road. This system blends determinism, progression, skill and luck, allowing for unique and powerful items. We’re excited to see what creations players come up with!

Wrapping Up

This post is already long, so we’ll stop here, but expect another State of the Game sooner than usual to cover additional upcoming changes and features, including but definitely not limited to: critical strike rework, realm map upgrades, elite rare spawns, star power system rework, new music, new sounds and environmental upgrades.

We are in the home stretch for the UI update, and after that are immediately entering the home stretch for Early Access!

We can’t thank you all enough for your patience as we buckled down during this UI update phase. It was truly a massive undertaking and we are eager to get it into your hands and get the final version out there.

Things will be moving much faster following the UI patch, and we are giddy as ever for the future of Merchant’s Guide!

See you all again in about a month with more details!

-Devs