Closed Alpha Begins Thursday!

by Director

As you (hopefully!) know, the official Closed Alpha of OrbusVR kicks off in less than 72 hours! We're all very excited to open the doors back up so you can all see what we've been working on since the Kickstarter campaign ended.

Here's a few items that we're already working on that you can check out.

  • You can download the game client here: https://community.orbusvr.com/t/alpha-game-client/1261
  • The new and improved Getting Started guide is now hosted on our Community Wiki, and takes advantage of all the great information that's been added there already by the community. Be sure to check it out if this is your first time in OrbusVR.
  • Our Patch Notes highlight all the things that have been added/changed/fixed since the last Stress Test. We'll keep adding to this as we do subsequent tests.
  • We've got a handy countdown going so you know exactly when the test starts.
  • If you have questions or comments about getting ready for the Alpha, you can check out the Community Forum thread.

We'll be sending out a newsletter to everyone tomorrow with all the final details including the download of the new launcher which will get you all ready to go. (We'll post it on the forums as well).

In particular, I wanted to go into more detail on a couple of new things we've added.

Warrior Re-Work

We've re-worked the Warrior class to what is hopefully its final form. In particular, we've now made it so that the Warrior's shield has its own pool of hitpoints equal to the Warrior's base hitpoints. So if you have 1000 hitpoints, your shield also has 1000, giving you a total pool of 2000 hitpoints. If your shield is between you and an enemy, it will now "block" basic attacks. So by using your shield, you can effectively double your own hitpoints. Blocking also generates aggro equivalent to the amount of damage blocked.

Of course, keep in mind that if your shield is between you and the enemy when you swing your sword, you'll block your own attack! So as a Warrior your basic gameplay loop is to keep that shield between you and the enemy timed so that their attacks are blocked but yours get through. In addition, now when you "plant" the shield onto the ground, the big shield will have the same number of hitpoints your shield had. So it's a bit of a gameplay choice between planting your shield early so it has lots of hitpoints to absorb AoE attacks, and keeping it in your hand so you can block basic attacks.

In our own testing this new mechanic makes the Warrior much more engaging and interesting to play, and it also makes the Warrior much tankier than other classes since it has more Armor and now effectively more than twice as many hitpoints as any other class.

Player Housing Prototype

We've added a prototype of the instanced Player Housing that will be included in the game. If you're in Highsteppe, just follow your Player Compass to the "Your House" marker, then open the door to enter. Your Player House location is shared with others in the game, but once you enter the house it's all your own, personal space. Right now there's not really anything to do in your house (other than throw a few bottles around), but eventually this is where a good chunk of the crafting in the game will take place, and where your Player Chest will be, which is where you can store items long-term.

There's a lot more than that in the new version, so check out the Patch Notes for all the details. See you soon!