Character Development

Simply put, with the new character development system you will no longer have to spend a long amount of time trying to figure out the intricacies of the various stats and pondering which would be the most useful for your preferred class. You will not be able to make a mistake by boosting the “wrong” nodes in the atlas that would partially delay you in catching up to other players who followed a more effective path straight away. Symbols and passive bonuses will now be brought together into several groups by their type of action, making selections between them more convenient. By unlocking new buildings on the Regional Map, completing quests, and undergoing adventures, your character will become stronger. The bonuses received through these means will be useful regardless of what class you select or what style of play you prefer.

What will happen to my character's progress in the update?

All previous stats received from the Ascension Atlas will be replaced with Might, which determines the character's damage and health. The replacement will take place in proportion to how much of the atlas and its various power sources (atlas, upgrades, vectors), are developed. You can also obtain the Might stat by upgrading the Cathedral and Analyzer.

The new system will remove all types of Sparks, which were previously required for atlas exploration. They will be replaced with other resources or recalculated into stats. Unspent Sparks of Insight will bring you as much progress in the new system as they would if they were invested into the atlas itself. Sparks of Evolution that remain on the character’s account will be recalculated into credits at a rate of 10 credits per spark. Vectors will be moved to the Analysis Center.

Spark Replicators will be replaced with Stimulants which are used to quickly complete quests in promotion. In the Ascension, Stimulants will be able to be used for instant completion of Campaign quests and promo events. All unspent Replicators will be recalculated – those already in a character's account and those still in capsules.

Classes

How do you unlock a new class?

To unlock a new class, players now have to get to its temple on the Regional Map. By completing quests in Squads, you unlock access to other nearby quests, such as Group adventures, open locations and Class Temples. For example, the Temple of Fury gives you access to the Berserker class, the Temple of Harmony to the Monk.

Class Development

The unlocked class has a limited amount of predefined starter skills, which still allow you to go into battle. To obtain new abilities, you must complete the quests issued in the class temple. Usually, they will be linked to defeating enemies with that specific class. Characters can only have a quest from one class temple active at a time but as soon as it has been completed, a new one can be started either in the same temple or in any other that is available to you. As the class temple is developed, you will get access to new Talents and Skills. First you will develop the class by exploring basic skills, which will be active amid any selected set, the latest of which is the Ultimate ability.

PvE- and PvP ability branches

Later, class development will be divided into two branches. One will have skills and talents that prove useful in battles with monsters and bosses while the second will be provide benefits for battles with other players. By completing quests issued in the temple, you will gradually unlock new abilities in either branch. It will be up to you to choose what order to explore them in - explore one completely and then go on to the next, or explore them at the same time. Switching between the PvP and PvE ability sets is automatic. In arenas and duels, your skills change themselves to PvP, and in all other situations, PvE skills will be active.

Now the variety of character development is achieved through a selection of symbols (which you can read more about below) and during class enhancement the main aim is to fully explore all of its branches. The number of active and passive abilities is reduced - Some will be completely removed from the game and some Talents will become part of the skills they were previously linked to. Certain Talents will be unlocked independently from skills, offering a separate step in class development. In addition, the effect, length, or strength of certain Abilities will be changed as well.

I explored a class before the update, what will happen to my character?

If you have already unlocked a class before the update - it will be immediately available to you. If you have reached the Ultimate skill, you will receive the entire range of abilities, ending with that skill. However, PvP and PvE abilities will have to be explored again. If you fully explored a class before the update, then in the Ascension you will receive the class with all of its abilities unlocked.

Class symbols, previously issued for full exploration of a class, will be removed from the game.

The value of items acquired during promotions or on the market for Victor's Medals that are no longer required by players because of the changes (for example, skill sets or additional slots for talents), will be returned to character accounts.

Strongholds

In the Ascension update, you will no longer have to choose which stat to explore and what adventure to go on for maximum development efficiency. The new way to improve characters will be much easier and more interesting.

On the map of each Region there is a special building - a Stronghold, which you should go to after visiting the rest of the region. It will issue players with a quest and once that has been completed, you can upgrade the stronghold and boost the Might stat, which impacts your character's damage and health. Here you will also unlock Symbols and passive bonuses, which are different for each stronghold. They are issued upon achieving certain levels for the building.

Stronghold Quest Log.

Quests are created when a special button is clicked on the interface that allow you to receive the quests once daily for both Credits and Argents individually. The ability to take a new quest is accumulated every day throughout the week, even if you have not visited the game. If you do not use the saved quests for more than seven days, no more quests will be saved until you use up those that you have already earned.

One click of the button will create four quests, all of which are only performed in the one Region to which the stronghold belongs and are only visible in the interface as well as in the adventures of the Region where they can be completed. If players still have previous tasks that have not been fulfilled when the quests are issued, they will be cancelled.

Thus, someone who plays every day can complete up to four adventures daily, boosting Might. Players who have not played all week and saved up seven currency units will get the chance to activate the button seven times and complete all 28 quests. If you have unlocked several Strongholds, you can use the quest issuing button in your choice of one or several Regions.

You can perform any quest without completion, by spending a unit of Adept Gear currency. You can receive the currency by entering the game daily or you can buy it for credits on the market.

Symbols

In the new version of the game, each character can unlock up to 32 symbols. They will replace all the previous symbols from the Ascension Atlas. By completing quests and developing each of the eight Strongholds, you will sequentially explore the four symbols available in each of them. When you upgrade your character to a maximum and unlock all possible symbols, you can use 8 of them at the same time but you can only select one from each stronghold.

Below you can see a table showing all 32 symbols. Each column is a separate region. You can view a more detailed description of the symbols in the game and by expanding the drop-down menu below you can see general information about each group.

Passive bonuses

In each stronghold, along with symbols to explore, players will have access to passive bonuses which are permanently active and do not require special conditions for activation, apart from those specified directly in their description. New bonuses will replace part of the previous symbols from the Ascension Atlas. As buildings are upgraded, they will be unlocked linearly, in a specific order. Each stronghold has 6 slots, exploration of which either unlocks a new unique bonus, or increases the rank you already have, similarly to how symbols and their ranks were previously explored. There will be a total of 20 unique bonuses.

Half of the strongholds contain attacking bonuses, and the other half protective bonuses. Each bastion can only contain one type of bonuses. The first impact the likelihood & strength of critical damage, strengthening companion attacks and increasing a character's own damage. The other type helps you survive in battle - extra dashes or speed up their recovery, increased running speed, more health and healing efficiency, reduced incoming damage, or protection from control skills. A more detailed description of all passive bonuses will be available in game.

After unlocking all eight Strongholds, you can randomly select which one you want to develop first and, correspondingly, you will decide which symbols and passive bonuses are the first you obtain!

Check back regularly for more news and updates regarding Skyforge’s Ascension at Skyforge.com!

This material is devoted to content which is still currently in development. By the time the update is live, character development may change.