Ravendawn

Overview

Ravendawn (as known as RD) is a top-down sandbox MMORPG that has been under development for 5 years. By playing Ravendawn, the players can tread their own paths by choosing their Archetypes, engaging in activities like Quests and Professions, choosing where to build their houses and exploring an open-world map with their friends.

From September 28th to October 20th (2022), Ravendawn had its Closed Beta, registering over 25,000 unique players during this development phase.

Currently approaching its Open Beta (Q1/2023), Ravendawn’s Official Release is planned for 2023, and the game is completely Free to Play.

Genesis

Lyderia, the old continent, used to be home to the people who now live in Ravendawn.

During the Second Era, Lyderia began to break apart. Parts of the continent sunk below the ocean and whole cities lost beneath the waves. The people had never ventured beyond the Endless Seas, but the bravest among them took to their vessels and voyaged across the great waters, in search of a new home.

Lucien Ravencrest was one such hero. He and his famous band of adventurers vowed to find a new land, or die trying. They sailed west, with nothing but the stars and moon to guide them.

As the story goes, every morning Lucien released his ravens to see if they would find land.They always returned to the ship. After months of seeing nothing but an endless blue horizon, the crew was losing hope.They were running out of food and fresh water. They would not survive much longer. Still, Lucien continued to release his ravens. Still, they returned to the ship.

Until one day, they didn’t.

Finally, on to the horizon, a new continent appeared. In honor of the ravens and the golden sun cresting over this new land, the adventurers named it Ravendawn. Their landing began the Third Era, and with it, a small flicker of hope where before there was none.

Gameplay

Getting Started

When creating a new account, the players can also create their first character. Each account allows for up to 4 characters. The first decision to be made by a player when creating a new character is their choice of first Archetype. In Ravendawn, there are 8 Archetypes to choose from, each one with its own Skill Tree containing 12 Active Skills and 6 Passive Skills. The choice of the Archetype will accompany the player during his initial progress, until the moment he is able to choose 2 more Archetypes and even to change them.

After selecting the character’s gender, choosing a name and the first Archetype, the player can start playing the Tutorial, which tells a bit of the story of how the citizens migrated from Lyderia to Ravendawn, a new continent where the game takes place.

Archetypes

The Archetype System resembles the class system already widespread in MMORPGs and RPGs, but despite the similarities, there is no fixed class system in Ravendawn. At the beginning of the adventure, the player will select one Archetype to start playing. When reaching level 7, the player can choose his second Archetype, and following the progress, the third and last Archetype can be chosen on level 15. From then on, with 3 Archetypes and its formed class, the player is free to change any of his Archetypes.

Each Archetype has its own Skill Tree, containing 12 Active Skills and 6 Passive Skills. Skills can be unlocked to be used in battles as players progress in the game.

Archery

This Archetype specializes in ranged combat. The players who choose it will be able to shoot arrows and use Skills at their enemies from a safe distance. If the enemies get too close, Archery has disengage skills that will make them slow down or even freeze them, giving the player time to move away again.

• Role: Damage
• Type of Damage: Ranged Physical
• Characteristic: AoE, DPS, C.C.

Holy

Holy is the primary healing Archetype in Ravendawn, and its Skill Tree has several abilities to keep allies always alive on the battlefield. Furthermore, Holy can also surprise when it comes to damage, if users of this Archetype know how to channel the Holy Force.

• Role: Support
• Type of Damage: Ranged Magical
• Characteristic: Heal, HoT, Cleanse

Protection

The preferred Archetype of the Ravenguard. Users of Protection are those who defend their allies and bash the skull of their enemies. Their morale in battle is a powerful force, affecting both friends and foe alike.

• Role: Tank
• Type of Damage: Melee Physical
• Characteristic: Damage Mitigation, Buff, Self Heal

Shadow

Shadow makes use of toxins and deception to weaken their enemies, extinguishing their lives with daggers, with fast movements and impairing effects, killing an unaware foe becomes an easy task. While other Archetypes shine in the battlefield, shadow users rather defeat their opponents in the darkness.

• Role: Damage
• Type of Damage: Melee Physical
• Characteristic: Burst Damage, Invisibility, Mobility

Spiritual

Creating barriers of wind to protect allies, hastening their movements and refreshing their Mana. This is how Spiritual is imposed on the battlefield, and the players that choose to summon these forces to aid their allies are invaluable to any team.

• Role: Support/Damage
• Type of Damage: Ranged Magical
• Characteristic: HoT, Shield, Buffs, C.C.

Warfare

Orcs and Barbarians are rather fond of this Archetype. Using brutal force, its Skills allow its users to keep themselves alive in the battlefield with several self-healing abilities and tons of mobility, using their bloodlust and hatred to empower them and becoming stronger as their life goes down.

• Role: Damage
• Type of Damage: Melee Physical
• Characteristic: DPS, Sustain, AoE Damage, Mobility

Witchcraft

This Archetype’s main focus is to exploit its enemy weakness, imposing curses, removing defenses, cutting healing effects and other impairing effects, while their damage is not high, it is an unreplaceable ally that provides a lot of advantages in combat.

• Role: Damage/Support
• Type of Damage: Ranged Magical
• Characteristic: DoT, Debuffs, C.C.

Wizardry

Users of this Archetype can adopt a more damage oriented build, with Fire Skills, burning their enemies, stunning them, or even creating giant fireballs that rain from the sky, or impairing their enemies with Ice skills that can slow or even freeze their foes. With a high level Wizardry, the player can follow both paths and be a master of the Arcane forces, changing the tide of the battle.

• Role: Damage
• Type of Damage: Ranged Magical
• Characteristic: AoE Damage, C.C.

Character Advancement

Character Progression

When playing Ravendawn for the first time, the player will experience the Tutorial at Lyderia, where he will learn the controls and how the basic mechanics of the game work, such as the combat system, learning a new skill, interacting with items and NPCs and a few others.

Once the player completes the Tutorial part at Lyderia, he travels to Ravendawn, the continent where the game takes place. In Ravendawn, he will have the possibility to explore the entire map, finding several ways to evolve his character:

Creature Hunts

The world of Ravendawn is full of creatures of the most varied species. When killed, these creatures provide Experience Points, Infusion Stones and Silver Coins, being one of the best methods of evolving the character.

Story Quests

While exploring the map, the player will encounter many different NPCs. Some of them have Story Quests for the player to complete, and the rewards can include Experience Points, items and trinkets. Currently, Ravendawn has 75 Story Quests, and more Quests are being developed as the game evolves.

Dynamic & Environment Quests

Besides the Story Quests, Ravendawn also offers more than 60 Dynamic and Environment Quests. These Quests depend on the environment to arise and have some challenges like encountering and killing bosses.

Profession

Ravendawn offers in-game activities for the players to choose how they want to progress their characters, and the Professions System also provides Experience Points to the character while they progress the profession itself.

There are 10 Professions available in Ravendawn, and players can choose to progress as many professions as they want:

• Blacksmithing: Crafting items, equipment and apparels.
• Carpentry: Allows for the creation of furniture for the houses, and also items such as fishing rods and shark-catchers.
• Weaving: Crafting attires and apparels by handling cloth and leather.
• Cooking: Handling ingredients to cook food that may contain buffs or debuffs.
• Breeding: Combining Mounts in order to obtain new mounts with different status.
• Mining: Exploring caves and collecting rare ores that can be used for Crafting.
• Woodcutting: Chopping trees to obtain materials for woodwork.
• Farming: Planting crops and collecting resources for Tradepacks/Crafting/Cooking.
• Husbandry: Setting up a farm to take care of your animals, reaping the benefits of what they produce.
• Fishing: Catching the largest and rarest fish in Ravendawn's oceans to make a profit from them.

In addition to those 10 Professions, Tavernlight Games has already announced 2 other professions that will be available in Ravendawn: Alchemy and Herbalism.

Infusion

In Ravendawn, evolving the character is not only about leveling it up, but also about making the equipment stronger. That's what Infusion Stones are there for.

Infusion Stones are obtained through Story Quests rewards or creature drops, and they can be used, combined with Silver, to improve the Grade of the equipment.

By improving the Grade of the equipment, it will receive more Attributes, making it stronger, which is essential for the player to feel his evolution in combat and for him to continue evolving.

Reputation

Reputation is an essential part of Ravendawn, both for roleplay and for the evolution of the character itself. The interaction with the NPCs that live in Ravendawn sometimes require the player to make a choice. The choices he makes during his journey will shape their character in one of the following three paths, through Reputation Points:

• Order: The principle of Order is upheld in order to maintain justice in this new world. This involves protecting the vulnerable from harm and working for the benefit of all. Those who choose to follow the path of Order are known for their honorable reputation, and while the rewards may not always be immediate, the respect earned can bring other valuable benefits. Those who follow the path of Order strive to live virtuous lives, gaining honor through their actions and bringing light to the darkest corners of Ravendawn. By choosing Order, individuals may witness wickedness retreat.
• Mercenary: Mercenaries are often thought to have no morals, but this is not necessarily true. Mercenaries prioritize their own well-being and that of their comrades. They tend to avoid extremes and seek profit in various ways. They have the ability to navigate rules without breaking them, and may shift their loyalties if survival is at stake. Mercenaries are not beholden to society and as a result, they are often skilled merchants and diplomats. They are known for being well-traveled and worldly individuals, driven by their own inner desires.
• Criminal: Individuals who choose a criminal lifestyle do not abide by traditional rules or regulations. They choose to forge their own path and live by their own set of laws, making decisions that align with their own interests. They are not constrained by moral or ethical considerations and often have no qualms with making difficult choices. Whether someone identifies as a true criminal or has a specific inclination towards financial gain, their choices shape their unique character.

Reputation Points

To evolve the characters along Reputation paths, the players will need to obtain Reputation Points, which can be spent on a tree, unlocking benefits for that player.

As an example, a player can only become a Landowner and engage in activities within the Housing System if they buy a Land Deed, which can only be purchased through a Reputation NPC. To unlock the possibility to trade with that NPC, they will need to convince him ー and only those with a certain level of unlocked Reputation benefits will be able to do such a thing.

In order to obtain Reputation Points, the players can:

• Answer NPCs, gaining Reputation Points based on the chosen answer.
• Kill a Murderer, gaining Order Reputation Points.
• Turn in the own Tradepack, gaining Mercenary Reputation Points.
• Turn in the Tradepack of someone else, gaining Criminal Reputation Points.

Now, when it comes to character level progression, Ravendawn divides it into 3 types:

Effective Level

The Effective Level is the most important one and the one that most represents the combat power of the character, as it is the average level of the 3 chosen Archetypes. The Experience Points obtainable around the world with different activities are equally distributed into the Archetypes, which means that while they progress together, each of them has its own experience bar (since the players can swap 1, 2 or all the 3 Archetypes if they wish).

Archetype Level

Each Archetype has its own experience bar and, although they progress together, this allows for the player to switch Archetypes (if he wants to), having a new Effective Level based on the new average, since new Archetypes do not keep up with the level of those previously equipped.

Character Level

The Character Level always goes up and exists to demonstrate the total amount of Experience Points already gained by that character, regardless of changing Archetypes and so the Effective Level.

The player obtains 1 Skill Point to spend on the Skill Tree and learn a new skill every 3 Effective Levels. The Effective Level reaches its softcap at level 75, at which point progression slows considerably (but the Skill Points continue to be distributed after 75).

Combat

Ravendawn's combat revolves around Skills (Active and Passive), Attributes and Ravencards, and to achieve maximum performance on a battlefield, players need to pay attention and evolve their characters paying attention to those 3 systems.

Skills

Each Archetype has 12 Active Skills and 6 Passive Skills. Active Skills are those that the player needs to press a button to use and normally have their own cooldown to be used again, while Passive Skills are those that are always active in the character after being unlocked.

Unlocking skills happens when the player spends 1 Skill Point (automatically obtained every 3 Effective Level) on the Skill that he wants to get. Passive Skills, however, can only be unlocked on a proportion of 1 Passive Skill for every 2 Active Skills already unlocked.

Active Skills fall into one of the following categories:

• Melee: Close range actions that are a tile of distance
• Ranged: Long range actions that are over a tile of distance
• Self: Actions that have the own character as the target

Furthermore, their effects can be of different types, based on their behavior:

• Direct Damage: Deals immediate and all at once damage to a target
• Damage Over Time (DoT): Skills that deals fractional damage over time
• Direct Healing: Instantly recovers a set amount of Health Points
• Healing Over Time (HoT): Recover Health Points over a period of time
• Buff: Grants a temporary bonus effect to a target over a period of time
• Debuff: Inflicts a temporary negative effect to a target over a period of time
• Area of Effect (AoE): Skills that affects an area or a set amount of targets

Attributes

In Ravendawn, the Attributes are key to character progression and combat.

In a primary way, every level gained, the player will receive 2 Attribute Points to evolve the amount of a Primary Attribute of his choice.

Primary Attributes

• Might: Increases Melee and Ranged Attack Power, Increases Max Heal
• Intelligence: Increases Magic Attack Power, Healing Power and Increases Max Mana
• Dexterity: Increases Attack Speed, Spell Haste (Cast Speed and Global Cooldown Reduction), Increases Physical Damage Mitigation
• Wisdom: Increases In-Combat Regeneration of Health and Mana, Increases Magic Damage Mitigation

Secondary Attributes

• Physical Attack Power: Increases Physical Damage Dealt
• Magic Attack Power: Increases Magical Damage Dealt
• Physical Defense Power: Lowers Physical Damage Received
• Magic Defense Power: Lowers Magical Damage Received
• Healing Power: Increases Healing Output
• Haste: Increases Attack Speed, Spell Haste and Global Cooldown Reduction
• Health: Increases Maximum Health
• Mana: Increases Maximum Mana
• Health Regeneration: Increases In-Combat Health Regeneration
• Mana Regeneration: Increases In-Combat Mana Regeneration

Equipment

Primary and Secondary Attributes are also present in equipment (weapons and armor), which are divided into Tiers & Grades.

Tiers

In Ravendawn, the base version of most armor and weapons in the game is created through crafting, with a few exceptions such as the Tutorial equipment. Crafters have the ability to create different types of equipment, and each type of armor and weapon can have 6 different Tiers, which means that a new Tier refers to a new piece of that equipment.

Tiers are important because the amount of possible Primary and Secondary Attributes that an item can have is based on its Tier, where the quantity of each of these Attributes are randomized when an equipment is crafted.

• Tier 1: No Attributes
• Tier 2: 1 Primary Attribute
• Tier 3: 1 Primary Attribute, 1 Secondary Attribute
• Tier 4: 2 Primary Attributes, 1 Secondary Attribute
• Tier 5: 2 Primary Attributes, 2 Secondary Attributes
• Tier 6: 2 Primary Attributes, 3 Secondary Attributes

Grades

In addition to the Tiers, each piece of equipment in Ravendawn is also assigned with 1 of 9 Grades, which can be identified by the border around the item. The initial grade of an item is Basic, and it can be upgraded to higher grades through Infusion. Upgrading the Grade of an item increases the value of its AP/DP, Primary and Secondary Attributes.

Equipment Types & Weapon Skills

There are 7 different types of weapons within Ravendawn, and each type of weapon also has its own unique weapon skill, which further alters the playstyle of the player. The skill can be used like any other, and has a cooldown.

• Daggers: Teleport in front of the target.
• Sword: Dash 3 tiles forward.
• Axes: Apply Bleeding to all targets in front of the player
• Hammers: Stun the target for 1 second, interrupting casting.
• Scepter: Creates a shield around a friendly target, absorbing damage.
• Staff: Regenerates Mana every second for 5 seconds.
• Bow: Gains Attack Speed and decreases movement speed for the duration.

Regarding armor, there are 3 Types in Ravendawn, and when the player is wearing a full set of the same type, he gets an additional bonus:

• Cloth: +3% or 6% Max Health / +4 or 8% Healing Received / +5/or 10% Physical DP
• Leather: +4 or 8% Crit Chance / Reduces Stun/Slow Durations by 10 or 20%
• Plate: +4 or 8% Haste / +5 or 10% Magic DP

*The numbers vary according to the amount of set pieces equipped (2 or 4 pieces).

Ravencards

Ravencards are full-art cards with different rarities that players can obtain when opening Ravenpacks, and they are one of the ways the players can further customize their playstyle, diversifying their character builds from other players.

Each Skill has 2 unique Ravencards related to it that players can obtain by opening Ravenpacks. When the player owns and selects one of them to equip, the Ravencard will change and improve the functionality of that Skill, giving more possibilities for build diversification.

Ravendawn’s Open Beta will have 192 full-art Ravencards, with 2 Ravencards made specifically for each Skill.

Players vs Players

Infamy

Anytime you kill an innocent player (or their wagon) you will receive Infamy. Multiple players participating will all receive a minor amount of Infamy, with the player to do the last blow receiving more. Additionally, an added benefit to the Tradepacks you may have plundered, by committing murder you will gain Criminal Reputation as well.After murdering another player, you will have the murderer status for 15 minutes, all those who helped commit the murder for 5 minutes. During this time, other players are able to kill you and by doing so will not only reduce their own Infamy (if they have any), but also will earn Order Reputation.

While plundering other players has its rewards, it also has its downsides... By having too high amounts of Infamy, your strength and cunning will suffer for it.

Infamy will go down by committing useful deeds around the game world, some of these being charitable, others being nefarious.

Zones

The world of Ravendawn is divided into different Zones (regions), each one with a varying Zone Status. The Zone Status is determined semi-randomly and changes over time, and the players can always check the status of a region by entering it or by checking the World Map, which includes the status of all regions and their transition stage.

Peace Zones

While murderers can enter peace zones after committing a fresh murder, they can still be targeted by any players in this zone and are not safe like innocent players are.

Conflict Zones

In conflict zones, murder can occur. Conflict zones will last a set amount of time and guaranteed to go back to Peace after the conflict has ended. When we introduce War Zones, Conflict zones will have a chance to become War Zones based on how many murders are committed in the zone during its duration.

Warmode

For players who love Players vs Players, Ravendawn offers more than the Zone System. Warmode is a channel dedicated exclusively to PvP, where all zones on the map are always set as Conflict Zones. Any player can switch channels to Warmode, and by playing there, they can receive more Experience Points from creatures (increased by 10%) and more Silver through Tradepack runs (value increased by 10%).

Land

Real-World House Building

In Ravendawn, the players have the opportunity to own a piece of land basically in every region of the game, including forests, deserts and on top of mountains. The game features house and farm building mechanics, where players can build according to their will, be it a simple log cabin or a big stone mansion with a farm.

Being a Landowner in Ravendawn is important not only for the RPG, but also for the benefits it provides. One of the main ways to generate Silver in the game is the Tradepack, and having a piece of land in Ravendawn allows you to grow whatever you want, collecting resources to create these Tradepacks.

There are over 24 different types of crops that can be grown, each with varying grow times, yields, and purposes. Additionally, there are 7 different types of animals that can be taken care of, and players can choose exactly what they want to grow on their land:

• Hares: Provide spool of hair & meat
• Chickens: Provide eggs & meat
• Pigs: Provide leather & meat
• Goats: Provide milk, meat & leather
• Turkeys: Provide feathers & meat
• Sheeps: Provide wool & meat
• Cows: Provide milk & meat

In addition to that, Landowners have the ability to build houses on their lands. The size of the house is determined by the size of the land, which also determines the limit of rooms that can be placed within it. To start, the player can build a Tier 1 house, and as he collects material, he can upgrade that house to have more rooms available.

Small Estate ー Sized 10x10 (100 Tiles) and Up to 2 Small Rooms

Medium Estate ー Sized 12x12 (144 Tiles) and Up to 3 Medium Rooms

Large Estate ー Sized 15x15 (225 Tiles) and Up to 4 Large Rooms

There are 5 different types of rooms that can be placed in the houses, each providing its own advantages within the game:

• Bedroom: Ability to teleport home (with cooldown)
• Kitchen: Cooking bonuses
• Armory: Blacksmith bonuses
• Workshop: Carpentry bonuses
• Weaving: Weaving bonuses

To become a Landowner, the player must buy a Land Deed. Land Deeds are available to purchase on Reputation NPCs, and players will need to evolve their Reputation paths to convince these NPCs to sell Land Deeds.

Economy

To establish a self-sustaining system, the economy of Ravendawn Online replicates an organic real-world system of supply and demand. The Tradepacks, a central component of the economy, has been developed using a self-balancing algorithm to simulate this real-world market. Because of that, there is no external interference in the economy, and the players are responsible for every resource gathered and item crafted in-game.

Tradepacks

In Ravendawn, the players can engage in activities such as Crafting and Gathering to obtain several types of products and resources. These can then be used to craft equipment, can be sold to other players, or can be combined to create a package, known as a Tradepack.

Tradepacks are a central feature of the game's shipping system and are intended to help strengthen the economy by simulating a real-world market dynamics of supply and demand.

They can be created using a wide range of materials collected by the players during their journey, including eggs, beef, wheat, ore and lumber, for example. By delivering a Tradepack to a Tradepost (NPC), the players will obtain Silver, primary currency in the game. The amount earned is based on the demand for the specific Tradepack at that Tradepost.

Tradeposts

Around the World, players can find a few locations known as Tradeposts. These locations serve as a place to create Tradepacks and also to deliver them in exchange for Silver, simulating a real-world market by adjusting the amount of Silver received in exchange of the Tradepack based on supply and demand.

When a particular type of Tradepack is frequently traded between Tradeposts, the demand for it decreases and the amount of Silver earned for trading it also decreases. On the other hand, when a product or Tradepost has higher demand (because it is traded less), the value of the products increases. This System allows for a self-balancing economy for a good part of the resources in Ravendawn.

While players can craft a pack in a given Tradepost, they cannot sell it at the same place. Shipping it to another post is a key step in the process, and that is why there are Moas (mounts), Wagons, and Ships in Ravendawn: to help in the locomotion not only of the player, but also of Tradepacks around the map.

Players can use the World Map to check the demand and supply of different types of Tradepacks in every Tradepost at any time, allowing them to decide whether to take a safe route or a more dangerous one for a higher demand and extra profits.

Transporting Tradepacks

Tradepacks can be heavy, and as a result, they can slow down the player's movement around the map when they are carrying them. Without any assistance, a player can only transport one Tradepack at a time. To make the process of transporting them more efficient and to increase the safety of the journey, players have the option to carry them using Wagons, which can be pulled by mounts, or use Ships instead, when it is necessary to cross the oceans. Both options allow the players to transport more Tradepacks at a time and at a faster speed.