December Stress Test Play Guide

by Director

The Stress Test will start Saturday December 3rd at 7:30 PM US Central Time (Countdown) and last for around 2 hours.

Client Download: https://community.orbusvr.com/t/december-stress-test-client-download/232

You need to download the client (in the above link) to play in the Stress Test. The client from the last test will not work.

Welcome Back to OrbusVR

If you joined us for the first Stress Test, welcome back! I think you'll see that we listened to your feedback and have made lots of improvements to the combat classes and overall gameplay. If it's your first time, we're glad you're here!

Feedback During the Test

We have a forum post here where you can chat with us during the test itself:

https://community.orbusvr.com/t/december-stress-test-feedback-thread/231

We'll try to monitor that thread during the test so if you run into a major bug or something, we'll do our best to help. However, keep in mind this is basically a prototype, so it may break and we may not be able to fix it in 2 hours. If there's anything crazy going on, like we need to restart the server or end the test early for some reason, we'll post in there. It's probably worth keeping that thread open in a browser window while you're playing so you know what's going on.

Playing the Game

The first time that you log in, you will be a Ranger and start in the Village. If you ever get stuck while playing the game, use the "Teleport to Town" feature in the Menu (more on that below). Note that if you close the game and re-open it, you will start as the Ranger again.

Switching Classes

To switch classes, use the class stones in the Village marketplace (head back toward the village houses and the giant dead tree from where you start.) Just walk up to a stone and you'll change to that class after about 2 seconds.

Getting Around

The default locomotion is Teleportation. For the Ranger, you use the arrow controller to teleport. Just press down on the Trackpad to bring up a green line, then let go to teleport. You will notice a grid building up, showing how far you can teleport. The longer you wait, the farther you can teleport.

Note that the controller you use for teleporting varies by class currently. For the Runemage and Orbhealer it's the left, for the Ranger and Fisher it's the right.

In addition to the Teleportation locomotion, you can turn on Trackpad locomotion in your Player Menu. Once this is active, you use the trackpad on the teleportation hand to move around. Just touch the pad toward the top to move forward or bottom to go backward. The farther from the middle you touch, the faster you go. You will travel in whatever direction your controller is facing. Note that once you are in combat, you can only Teleport, and Trackpad locomotion will resume once combat ends.

If you get 'stuck' in combat (which can happen sometimes), and your Trackpad locomotion won't work, there is an option in the Player Menu that says 'Stuck in Combat', press that and it will fix the bug.

Leveling Up

You will start at level one. You gain XP for each monster you kill. You can advance to level 4 in the current prototype. If you look up you can see a green XP bar to show your progress. We forgot to add a place for you to see your own level...and it's too late to add it now. Whoops. :-) Just try and keep track of how many times you ding.

Note that the level of the monsters in the game is displayed next to their names, so don't fight things that are way higher level than you. No monsters in the game currently aggro on you unless you attack them first.

Dying

If you die, you just go back to the starting Village. No other penalty right now.

How do I talk to the other players?

By default Voice Chat is enabled, so be sure that on your PC your Input device is set to your Vive's microphone (it shows up as 'USB Device' for me). There are options in the Player Menu to disable your own voice chat, or to mute other players. The Voice Chat is currently only proximity based, so you will hear people nearby and not hear people far away. Just talk in a normal inside voice, there's no need to shout.

NPCs

There's currently just one NPC in the game, it's near where you spawn in at originally. There is an exclamation mark above her head, and if you move close to her you can have a conversation with her. Use your controller to point at the dialogue box to choose responses. Note that currently she doesn't actually give a quest or anything and the exclamation mark just stays there.

What about looting, quests, crafting...?!

This is just a test of the networking of the game. At this point we are still a long ways from having all that stuff in. But hey at least you get to fight stuff right? :-)

Can I record video or stream the game?

Absolutely! It would be nice if you would note that this is only a prototype when you inevitably broadcast a game breaking bug to all your viewers, but we're flattered you'd like to show off the game to others! Thanks!

The Player Menu

The Player Menu is the way that you can change your settings for locomotion, voice chat, mute other players, and get help if you need it.

To activate the Player Menu, just press the Menu button on either controller. A menu will appear in the air in front of you. To navigate it, point your controller at it, and then use the Trigger on your controller to make a selection. The controller you use to select things is either your Hand (if you have a Hand available), or it's the Right Controller as a fallback for classes like the Ranger that don't have a free hand. We're working on making this way more intuitive in the future.

The top-most option allows you to view a list of all players nearby. Select a player and then you can select "Mute" to mute their voice chat if they're being annoying.

Under the Gear icon, you can change your own settings, including to change if you want to enable or disable Voice Chat (which will stop you from broadcasting your voice to other players), and what type of Locomotion you want to use.

The Life Raft icon provides you with two temporary but helpful during alpha options, one which will return you to the Starting Village, and the other which will put you out of Combat if you seem to be stuck in combat and can't get around quickly anymore.

Finally, the Power icon allows you to Logout of the game. For now.

The Classes

Here's a quick guide to each class and how to play it.

The Ranger

The Ranger is pretty straightforward to play. It's a bow and arrow archetype, which lots of VR games have already done. Put the bow controller in your off hand and the arrow controller in your dominant hand. Then just put the arrow near the bow string, pull the trigger on the arrow hand, and pull back and release to fire. The distance that you draw that arrow back determines how far the arrow will fly. The direction of the arrow is guided by the position of your arrow hand relative to your bow hand.

In addition to the basic arrows, the Ranger has 2 special arrows to choose from. They will appear on your waist belt when they are ready to use. To use them, just hover the arrow controller over the arrow you want to grab, and use the Grip button the controller to grab the arrow. Then just fire it like normal.

  • Rain of Fire: Causes your next arrow to spawn an area of effect attack at the location (if you hit the ground it spawns there, if you hit an enemy is spawns on the enemy). Has a fire particle effect.
  • Poison Shot: Puts a poison on the enemy that does damage over time. Has a green particle effect.

Note that if you imbue an arrow with an ability and then miss your shot, you just wasted the ability!

In addition to that, once every 6 seconds you can super-charge a shot by notching an arrow, then pulling back all the way and holding the arrow for around 2 seconds. You'll see a purple "gathering power" effect, then the arrow tip will turn purple with power when it's ready to fire. This shot does significantly more damage, and can be combined with a special arrow like Poison to do a very effective shot.

Finally, the Ranger is the only class so far that has its Super ability in the game. When your blue bar fills up all the way, you can pull the Triggers on both of your controllers at once to engage your Super ability. Your bow will pulse with energy, and during this time you do increased damage and your abilities recharge more quickly. When the blue bar depletes, your super will end.

You build up your Super charge more quickly by chaining together hits of targets without missing, and by hitting targets from far away.

For those of you who played in the last stress test, currently the Ranger's trap has been removed from the game.

The Runemage

The Runemage is one of the most interesting classes we've been designing thus far. Rather than having a set of ability buttons to choose from, the player must memorize rune patterns that they then draw with their wand. Drawing the correct rune will cast the spell.

To draw a rune, just hold your Wand controller in front of you, and press down on the Trigger button. Currently the runes all require two strokes to draw. So you would draw one stroke, then release, then hold again to draw another stroke.

Once you've drawn the rune, press the Trackpad button on your Wand controller to "submit" the cast. If you were successful, you will see the spell appear on your Wand tip. Press the Trackpad button again to cast the spell. If you were not successful, no spell will appear, and you can try drawing again. If you mess up while drawing, just press the Trackpad button to clear the rune and start over.

After you cast the spell, you must guide it. While the spell is flying through the air, it will move in whatever direction your wand is pointing. The spell will collide with the first thing it hits, be it friend or foe (although currently there is no friendly fire). Also note that the spell will only go so far before fizzling out.

Here are the diagrams of the runes currently available:

Fireball -- casts a classic fireball spell that deals damage to the target.

Frostbolt -- casts a frost bolt at the target that slows its movement speed

Arcane Ray -- casts a ray that shoots out from the wand's tip that deals damage to all targets caught in its line.

Shield -- casts a protective barrier on the first friendly target it hits, decreasing damage taken

It may take some practice to draw all the runes correctly. Good luck!

Since the last Stress Test, we've added a particle effect that follows your wand around while drawing that other players can see.

The Orbhealer

The Orbhealer has been completely re-designed since the last stress test. It's now a gun-based class which focuses on buffs and debuffs, as well as healing, that can be used by loading the gun with special orbs.

You can fire the gun by just aiming and pulling the trigger. It will fire a basic bullet. To load it with a special ability, just use your other controller that looks like a Hand to grab (using the Grip button) an orb floating around the gun, then bring the orb near the end of the barrel (the opening) of the gun. It will "load" the gun with the orb, then you can fire it like normal.

Each of the orbs acts like a mini-grenade, so it has a small range from where it explodes. So for example if you have a group of enemies you can hit all of them with a single Poison orb. Feel free to aim for the ground instead of the enemy itself as well.

The orbs are as follows:

  • Renew: A yellow-glowing orb with a "charging up" effect. Heals allies over time.
  • Heal: A yellow-glowing orb with a "bursting outward" effect. Heals allies a medium amount immediately.
  • Bolster: A brown-and-green orb. Increases the armor of allies.
  • Weaken: A purple orb. Decreases the armor of enemies.
  • Poison: A green orb. Causes damage over time to enemies.
  • Frost: A blue orb. Causes enemies to move more slowly when hit.

In addition to the orbs on the gun, you have a 'turret' orb on your belt. To use it, just grab it using your Hand controller and then throw it up into the air. It will fly for a second and then start floating in the air. The turret will automatically attack any enemies that you attack or that start attacking you that are in its range. Once it is deployed it cannot be moved.

If you fire an orb from your gun and hit your turret, your turret will be destroyed, but the range of the orb will be greatly magnified. This can be really useful for healing your whole group or damaging a large number of enemies -- just make sure you don't upset too many of them! Your turret orb regenerates on your belt after about 12 seconds.

The Fisher

The Fisher is a new class with a fishing pole that can...go fishing! Once you've activated it, head out to the nearest body of water (there's a giant lake just waiting for you!)

To fish, just use the fishing pole controller to cast out your bobber, by pressing down on the trackpad, then releasing while in the motion of casting your line (just like using the 'button' on a real fishing pole). If your bobber lands in the water, you'll see a splash effect and your line will appear. If you hit land, your line will 'break' and your bobber will disappear -- you can then try again.

Once your bobber is in the water, use your Hand controller to grab the reel on the fishing pole (using the Grip button). Then just make a reeling motion by circling your hand around the reel to reel in the line.

If you're lucky, while you're reeling in the line you will get a bite. If that happens you'll feel a heavy rumble on your controller. Jerk back on the pole to hook the fish before it gets away! Then reel your bobber to the shore to get your fish. If you don't hook it in time, you'll get a message saying the fish got away.

Once the bobber is back at the shore, either with a fish attached or with nothing, you can re-cast the fishing pole to try again. You'll probably have to try several times before you catch your first fish.

Note that currently you just catch the same fish every time. Eventually you'll have to get certain bait to catch certain fish, and the fishing itself will be much more involved.

The Barbarian

We are still re-working this class so we chose not to include it in this stress test.

See you tomorrow night!