Endless Online 0.4.45 : Dev Post
Item System Upgrades
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Dev Post:
The world continues to grow at a steady pace, with over four hundred maps, two hundred unique quests, and more than two thousand items. This stage is not the endgame. It is a step toward a nice endgame. To reach that stage, ongoing issues in the current build need to be addressed so that the experience improves for all players. This post will dive into what patch 4.45 has in store..
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About: Item System Direction
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The existing Endless 4X engine has a complete system for instanced and unique items built in from the very start. It has been part of the client and server since version 4.01, integrated into every part of the game from trading and locker storage to inventory, item stacking, ground drops and a way to store it clverly in a database. This is complex work equal to multiple full patches, already done completed and fully running in the background.
Holding back on using this systems until now has proven to be a good decision, as two years of playtime have made it clear which critical things are still missing in this system. With that knowledge, the system can now be slightly adjusted, within what's still possible, to address those gaps and improve what is truly needed at this stage.
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About: Using the item system to solve issues
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The current game world has been shaped to offer a fun and easy way to reach the higher levels (50+) through lightweight gameplay, but the best items are perceived as difficult to obtain. The unmanaged rare random drop chances can demand tens to hundreds of hours for a single item, with even no clear end in sight. This is one of the big issues that should be addressed in this patch.
Goals of the Update:
- Item base randomizing: Adjusting the item-drop sytem and rates, so that certain key items are easier to obtain, while still leaving room to farm the same items for improved or rarer versions.
- RNG safety net: Implementing a smart fallback system to help unlucky players, lowering the risk of burnout and ensuring that all time invested in the game feels meaningful.
The challenge remains in balancing fun progression, where results can be seen within hours, with rewards that recognize long-term dedication. The goal is to create a solid middle ground that works for every type of player, while laying the foundation for a true endgame where items can be tiered and improved in multiple interesting ways.
More details of the full capabilities of the 4X item system will be explained below.
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About: Item Instancing | Introducing 'Real' Bound
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The item system has been changed to track items individually for bound and sealed state at the instance level, while still respecting the item DNA (pub file definitions) for Lore. This separation was necessary to streamline item distribution and drop logic. Let's look into this after introducing the new 5 states..
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'' The 6 Item States ''
Normal - Freely tradable.
Master (pubfile) or instance has no restrictions on this item.
Lore - Pubfile-only.
Always untradable/never unbindable items by item pubfile definition.
Quest - Pubfile-only.
Always untradable/never unbindable items by item pubfile definition.
note: Although the behavior is the same as Lore, this was added to make distinction.
Bound - Instanced Items
Means: this item could have been Normal, but this one is permanently soulbound.
Binding* - Instanced Items
ADDED
Means: this item is unbound but will become Bound on Equip (first owner)
Sealed - Instanced Item
A Normal item that dropped with seal locks, bound but can be unsealed with breakers.
note: For example: Sealed (3/6 Locks Remain)
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All items currently in the game tagged as Bound will be redefined in the pubfile as either Lore or Quest and remain untradable. This allows the game to spawn instanced items using the Bound status, making it easy for players to recognize that an item with either Bound or Sealed could have also existed as a Normal (freely tradable) drop.
This change is part of a larger plan to make all item drops easier and to introduce an RNG safety net. For example, players may be able to charge a meter that increases drop chances or even guarantees a boss drop of their choice, but the item will be Bound to the player (this will require a new UI).
The Goal:
With this system, easier drops can be instanced as Bound or Sealed, without flooding the market, since only the pure (hard-to-get) RNG items remain unlocked. This gives players easier access to the items they want, while still allowing grinders to pursue slightly better versions using the same system. Bosses could also reintroduce the very rare 1:10000 RNG drops for unbound items, for those looking to trade on the market.
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About: Introducing Variants + Class
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Variants enhance the base stats of items. Each variant always adds extra bonuses, making the item stronger than its unworked version. Items can now also have unknown variant until identified, revealing the variant and its bonuses.
Variants can be assigned randomly by the server on crafting or npc drops, etc. Resulting in various versions of the same item ID. Each variant can also have a level, called variant class, which increase the strength of the bonuses. The class is shown in the name, such as 'precise-I', 'swift IV' or 'strong V'.
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Let's take a look at the possible item variants:
Variants:
- Life, enhances vitality
- Magic, enhances aura
- Precise, enhances hitrate
- Strong, enhances power
- Sturdy, enhances armor
- Swift, enhances agility
Some examples:
- Swift Twin Blade
- Strong-III Twin Blade
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About: Introducing Item Charging + Tiers
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Energy and tiers enhance the effective output of items (which are power,hitrate,evade,armor and crit)
The idea here is when the player worked their items all the way up to 100 energy, the item can be tiered up (if the max Tier of the item and server allow it). If the current maximum tier is reached, players can continue to overcharge the item above 100 energy, still gaining additional benefits. Overcharging is likely to be more expensive (has to be reviewed later)
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Energy + Tiers
This item tiers should make a nice endgame progression system that can scale as the world continues to grows with more content, enabling items to become really powerful.
Endless combinations
Item energy and tiers, combined with base stats, variants, elements, and sockets, create a rich and deep item enhancement system that allows for significant variation, diverse use cases, and extensive customization.
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About: Introducing Item Elements
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Elements add an additional layer of power to items. Each element determines what type of forces or enemies the item can interact with, creating strengths and weaknesses across combat. Items may also hold an unknown element until revealed, showing which type of power is bound to it.
Elements can be assigned to items by the server on crafting, npc drops, or through optional enhancement methods, resulting in multiple elemental versions of the same item ID. Higher elemental levels may also be unlocked later.
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Let's take a look at the possible item elements
Elements:
- Light, effective against dark-aligned creatures and shadows
- Dark, effective against holy or light-bound creatures
- Water, effective against fire and heat-based creatures
- Earth, effective against wind and unstable or flying creatures
- Fire, effective against nature, ice, and heavily armored creatures
- Wind, effective against earth and slow-moving creatures
- Divine, effective against all types, but very rare
Some examples:
- Fire Longsword (strong against ice beasts)
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About: Introducing Item Socketing and Rerolls
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Items can hold up to three sockets. These sockets may be randomly assigned by the server during crafting or item drops, or added later through special socketing items. Socket contents can vary and may even be combined into larger, more powerful gems. While sockets will not be activated in this patch, the system is already fully implemented in the background.
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The item system also has reserved functionalities for future dye variations, seal locks, and roll counters. These systems are not activated, but the groundwork is in place. Future updates can build on this foundation but will require additional code and pixels.
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Now that everything is built and working, what's coming in this patch, and what's being held back?
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 Bound Items: Will be used to control hard/easier items to spawn without flooding the market.
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Variant+Classes: Items can be crafted and dropped with different variants (for example Strong-II or Magic-III)
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Elements: Items can be crafted or dropped with an element, with a very rare chance on being Devine
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 Energy+Tiers: Will be very rewarding but more content is needed before raising the Server Tier Level.
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Sockets: Will be very rewarding but more content is needed before this can be released.
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 Others: Buildin item options like dye-versions and rerolls are implemented, but will need more work and content in future updates.
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A controlled distribution system for item spawning has been added on the server side to manage variant versions of items, where item variant,class and element can slightly vary for items that are coming from crafting, npc drops, shops, or other sources of item creation. This system should bring more interesting variations in the base item into the game.
What was made?
The item master list (pub file) has been updated, and new configuration files have been added to define distribution profiles. Each profile sets the chances for item variants, class levels, and optional elemental attributes, and can be linked to individual items. A hard element override is also available, giving precise control over an item's variant and element. This system should provide enough flexibility for designing the new semi-endgame gameplay while keeping item management enough centralized.
- Item Variant
- Item Variant Distro (linked profile)
- Item Element
- Item Element Distro (linked profile)
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The #item lookup now shows the maximum tier, energy, and sockets an instanced item can reach. It also indicates which variants or elements the item can have, and which ones it can roll randomly. For random rolls, the tooltip lists the possible variant levels (I-V) or element rarities.
This allows players to understand the full potential of an item before it spawns.
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What was made?
Patch 4.45 will introduce a new lookup dialog, designed to simplify item browsing by presenting all available items in a searchable list. The interface supports direct selection through scrolling, or quick filtering by typing into the upper-right search box.
#item
The new dialog integrates with the #item command when no item id or name is provided, and is also planned for usage in the special RNG safety dialog, allowing consistent handling of item selection across different systems .. more about this in the next paragraph
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About: RNG Safety Net / Lucky Charm
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What was made:
A new system has been added. The new Drop Boost UI allows players to increase the chance of specific targeted item to drop more easy. However players must be level 30, and only monsters level 30+ or higher will contribute to the charge: Regular monsters add 1 point to the Drop Boost, while bosses add 3 points. Players can select an item using the new Item Select/Search dialog, or by dragging an existing item into the slot. Once selected, the drop boost takes effect!
The Drop Boost bar has three milestones: 500, 750, and 1000 points. Below 500 there will be no effect and only a full bar (1000+) grants the maximum boost, while the lower milestones provide a partial bonus. Once the target item dropped for the player, it will reset the player's Drop Boost to zero.
- Added to make everything feel more rewarding
- Added to make harder rng drops a little more casual (safety net)
- Dropped items from this system will always be player Bound
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About: RNG Safety Net / Lucky Charm Explained
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Why is it made:
The problem was clear from the start. Players who focus on one specific rare item often spend week(s) grinding with no results. An optional system was needed to offer some relief to keep the game more casual and prevent burnouts. The idea was a safety net that provides relieve in return for effort, while keeping those items still rare and meaningful ..Not an easy..
During development the challenge became keeping this purpose in sight, without letting the system turn into another source of frustration or an easy way to have a shot at anything. This is how it turned out:
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Two phases:
- Charge Phase (0-500) No drop bonus applies.
- Bonus Phase (500+) Drop bonus applies.
- Switching below 500 the player can switch target item freely without cost.
- Switching above 500+ will reset the charge reset back to 500 (losing up to 500 max)
Full bonus:
- Full drop bonus only applies at 1000+ charge.
Limitations:
- Adds an additional personal roll, just for you, on npc kill.
- Once the system rolls your item, it will be personally delivered to your inbox.
- Items rolled by the system will always be Bound.
- After rolling an item, the charge will be reset to 0.
- The system can only be used once per week (weekly limit).
From 500 drop charge onward, the player begins to lock down on a single item. This prevents constantly swapping the target item for a free go at everything, which is not the purpose of the system. Changing targets is still allowed, but it comes with the cost of reset back to 500. After weighing potential frustration against fairness, this was determined to be the best design.
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Item Behaviour: Collectable (experimental)
ADDED
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A new experimental feature will also be introduced in this patch: the collectable (COL) tag for items. Items marked as collectable (COL) are unselectable in the Lucky Charm, with a discouraging message to pursue them.Mmeaning they are not protected by the new RNG safety system. For now, only the Sombrero is marked as collectable, meaning rare drops like the Boneguard (0.01) and Griffon Warrior (0.01) will be made available for the Lucky Charm.
The intention is that only a few items will eventually carry the collectable tag, this approach is experimental (only Sombrero) for now to see how it works in practice.
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Item Behaviour: Binding* / Bind On Equip
ADDED
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Another addition introduced to EO is the bind-on-equip state. Items with this state remain tradable until a player equips them for the first time - at which point they become permanently bound to that player.
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New Area: Dream World
IN PROGRESS
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Revisiting Dream World
The Dream World was a place of puzzles, secrets, and rewards that tested the patience of every adventurer. Its winding paths and hidden patterns became memories etched in many minds of those who dared to enter.
Now. The Dream World has been remastered, with updated maps, refined atmosphere, and new stories to unfold. What once was a standalone (kinda ranom) idea should slowly become a world on it's own, designed not just as a one-time quest, but as a realm that can evolve in future updates.
Dream Puzzle
The infamous puzzle paths to enter the Dream World have also been upped. What were once a simple map with invisible walls are now surrounded by haunting details fractured structures, distorted scenery, and purple lights, that add to the sense of unease. Solving these paths is the only way to break through the dream surface and gain access to the deeper layer, where dark knowns and new monsters lurk in the shadows..
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Special Quest: Lucky Dreams / Charm
UPDATE
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SPECIAL Quest: Lucky Dreams (L32+)
Quest Giver. ???
Map. Dreamworld
Rule. Rescue 10 Twinkles
Reward. Lucky Charm, 77777 Exp
A special kinda npc needs your help, as the Twinkles have fallen into a mysterious portal.
Descend into the Dark dreamwell, and bring back the Twinkles, so the dream guardian can weave a Lucky Charm for you.
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Rebalance: Introduction
ADDED
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The current issue
One of the issues with the current design is the long grind required for the most wanted gear and weapons (which will continue to be the best in the game). However, as stated, they require a significant amount of time and effort.
Several players have raised this concern, and their points are valid. In fact, a well-known feedback post in Discord captured the frustration and sparked the discussion that led to this rebalance:
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Why this happened?
When remastering the game from scratch, the gameplay and item pool were very limited. Some players prefer a fast/casual experience, while others enjoy grinding for hours. With only a handful of engine options, items, and mechanics available, the only outcome was to stretch the content to keep everyone engaged. This worked to some extent in the beginning, but over time it made the game feel too grindy.
That said, it is worth noting that boss items are still the best gear in the game, and the gap between entry-level (1-core) and top-tier (8-core) items has never been as large as it might seem. For example, a weapon with 8 cores is not eight times stronger than one with 1 core. So even the 27 hours spent obtaining a level 10 weapon was still meaningful, as it provided a significant upgrade.
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Why Change is Needed Now
Change is always a sensitive topic, so this needs to be explained thoroughly and carefully: This adjustment is necessary for the future health of the game and to create a solid foundation for future content. Currently, only about 30% of the database items have been added, and very few items are truly rare. Making this a good time to implement changes while the world design is still flexible and workable.
Now that the engine allows for many more item variants and classes, catering to grind-focused players, it also makes sense to make the items themselves much faster to obtain, accommodating the casual players. Shifting the focus from owning a specific weapon to obtaining interesting combinations of element, variant and class on the item.
This patch will drop and craft items with none, one or multiple elements,variants and classes. Which should make both casual and grinding players give things to look forward to.
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Rebalance: Cores And Weapons
ADDED
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Let's go through the changes step by step:
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Cores / Minicores / Boss Weapons
The main loop of the semi-endgame is obtaining a weapon, now with random variants, classes, and elements. Let's go through the changes, explain why, and do some math:
Core Drop Rate 0.20 -> 1.00
With about 7x7x3x2x2 ** variantions unlocked, it make sense to speed up Core drops, while still keeping the drop a special moment. The new 1% drop rate is good for 1 core / ~100 kills, coming down to a much more decent 1 core for every ~2-3 hour (100x90sec)
Minicores
The mini core system (map-shared, personally delivered) has always been the casual alternative 'failsafe' for players who do not hit the RNG drop rate. With cores now dropping five times faster, it makes sense to speed this up as well. However, increasing the current 20% chance would be overkill and spammy. Without spamming mini cores, the only viable option was to lower the exchange rate to 16 Mini Cores -> 1 Full Core. This still comes down to 16(x20%)=80 boss kills for 1 core. Next to the 1.00% RNG on a full core drop, keeping it limited to obtaining max 20minis / day (as-is)
Lucky Charm
The new lucky charm could provide an optional personal third roll of 30% on any core of the player's choice. As an additional rewarding way to progress, the player may choose to use the charm for this purpose. The lucky charm can only spawn max 1 item/week.
Weekly Quest: Core Rush
The weekly quest Core Rush, given by the Core Master, will remain available as another casual way to earn additional weekly cores. Since drop rates have increased by about five times, it makes sense to slightly improve this reward as well. However, because the mini-to-core exchange rate has already decreased significantly, the reward adjustment should stay at 20 minis for completing this one-time weekly quest (16 minis now equals 1 core)
Boss Direct Weapon Drops: re-added
Bosses will drop their core weapons again at low rng rate ( < 0.10%) giving lucky players a chance to obtain unbound versions, adding excitement for grinders. Meanwhile, casual or less fortunate players can also use the Lucky Charm to acquire this same weapon drop and a roll on all variants, at a much higher personal chance, but these items will be bound and max 1 item/week.
** Item energy , tiers , sockets and more* will eventuelly up this to 7x7x3x2x2x250x50x250x250x250 combinations per item, unlocked by player effort, in later updates (not releasing in patch 4.45)
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Summary and future ideas:
The core/weapon loop system is rebalanced to achieve two objectives:
- Accessibility: making the entry semi-endgame gear more approachable for new and casual players.
- Replayability: encouraging grind-focused players to replay and experiment with different item-variant combinations.
The new setup still has room for grindy expansion. High-value weapons such as the still unreleased Twinblade or Lens of Truth could require 10+ cores. These weapons will provide a modest increase of around 10-20 dmg points, placing more weight on visual prestige than raw power.
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Crafting has been rebalanced to feel lighter. Gloves, belts, and boots no longer require Eons to craft, since their costs were already low. All jewelry has been reduced in costs. Armors and hats remain unchanged, while variants are now unlocked for all jewelry and armors.
Key changes to all crafts:
- Most boots,gloves and belts no longer require Eons to craft *except lotus+ancient
- All jewelry (neck,ring,bracer,bracelets) require less Eons (~40-50%)
- Armor crafts will stay unchanged
New instancing:
- All jewelry (neck,ring,bracer,bracelets) can now roll a Variant *see: Introducing Variants + Class
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Armors crafts will stay as-is, but can now be crafted with Variant and Class *see: Introducing Variants + Class
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The bounty board has been rebalanced. The objectives remains the same, but all kill requirements have been reduced by 50%, making all bounty task more inviting, lighter and faster to complete:
- Normal monsters now range from random 20-50 kills (previously 40-100).
- Boss monsters now require between random 4-15 kills (previously 10-30).
This adjustment makes bounty objectives faster to complete while still offering the same exp and Eon rewards. A more grind-oriented bounty board may be introduced in Hallodale in the future, featuring longer and higher-value bounties.
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Last but not least:
You keep everything as-is
- All gear already farmed will stay exactly as-is, fully unbound, not nerved, but just has no variation (as it never had a chance to roll any)
- While cores will become easier to obtain, old fully unbound cores (also that was obtained from minis) will hold a lot market value.
- Any cores in stock can instantly be used to have a shot on crafting new gear that can hold variations.
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Explaining the difference between Variation and Tiers:
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Variation
This are the element, variant, class, and bound status of the instanced item. Defining the identity of the item once it is created (by drop or craft). The system may allow limited per-item rerolls later.
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Tiers
This are the energy, tier, and sockets of the instanced item. Unlike variations, these can be improved through effort, giving players a chance to raise them to greater heights (not releasing in this patch)
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Recode: Instanced Crafting
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New backend needed
A nice surprise was to discover that the craft system turned out to be incompatible with the new item instancing. For example, two ingredient cores could now be one Normal Core + one Bound Core. This completely changed how the system had to work in the background, since it now needs to check, handle two (or more) items for a single ingredient and then update the inventory with everything taken and everything gained.
Handling craft results
Because the game UI only shows which ingredients you have and how many, it also raised the question of which items to use when crafting. The final design decision is that the server will always try to use your 'least valueable' Bound ingredients first. Another issue was whether Bound ingredients should affect the output etc.
While most of the UI remained unchanged, the entire background system has been rewritten to handle all of these situations as smoothly as possible. Here are some examples:
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Ingredient priority:
To avoid situations where valuable tradable items are consumed in crafting while unbound versions of the same ingredient were available, the system will always prioritize bound items first. Since this also makes the crafted output bound, the system provides clear visual feedback in both the crafting dialog caption and on the output item itself, showing (bound) or (lore). Additionally, a confirmation popup will ask you to double-check if you really want the resulting item to be bound. * this warning could be disabled in the Econfig.exe app
How to craft unbound items:
The best way to make fully unbound items is to make sure that none of your ingredients in your inventory are bound (if possible)
Exceptions:
Items that are designed to always be Lore, or are explicitly set to become Bound through crafting, will always result in a Bound output. In these cases, the input items no longer matter, as this behavior is intentional designed this way.
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About: Inventory Upgrade
UPGRADE
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What was made:
A third inventory tab will be introduced to provide 33% additional general storage space for items. With the incoming item expansion, this inventory upgrade will allow for more storage. The previous drop button, identified as redundant*, has been replaced with tab 3, resulting in much more well-needed available space.
- third inventory tab
- 33% more storage
- drag and drop between all tabs
* shift+rightclick will still direct drop any item from the inventory
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About: Future path to endgame
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This patch hopefully addresses the current issues while setting the stage for a better semi-endgame and nice endgame later:
Short term
Item variants, variant classes, and elements, which enhance the identity of each item. Variants add bonuses on top of the base item. This system also aims to make gameplay feel more rewarding by allowing more item drops while maintaining depth through variants and other modifiers, with built-in RNG safeguards on most items to prevent endless grinding compensated with making those items bound instead of the fully unbound version.
Medium term: auction house
With the more complex item system introduced in patch 4.45 and beyond, developing an auction house to create a more organized player market will likely be necessary and could provide an additional Eon sink. .. This is not released in this patch
Medium term: item breakdown + rerolls
A breakdown mechanic is likely needed to retrieve cores from items, but it should be designed carefully, as it can otherwise allow unlimited rerolls.. Introducing a new small 'cost' (currency) such as breaker items, can address this. Breaker items could be required to fully break an item, returning all cores (a complete reroll), or they could be used for more targeted rerolls on items that still have rerolls available. For example, a reroll could change only the element without affecting the variant, or attempt a higher variant class level. .. This is not released in this patch
Rerolls are limited and tracked per item, so once an item's rerolls are used, they are gone. This ensures that both breakdowns and rerolls remain strategic choices and cannot be exploited. .. This is not released in this patch
Long term
Energy, sockets and item tiering provide a way to progress items further. Players can add energy, tier items up when thresholds is reached, and overcharge items for additional benefits. This system should allow enough progression to make a steady endgame loop, allowing items to grow in power alongside player progress and new content such as new areas and dungeons.
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- Casting skill 'mount' while mounting, will now properly dismount the player again.
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Update patch 4.45 is a work in progress, expected to release around September 14-16th
Thanks for playing Endless Online we are glad you are here. You can find a list of contributers here
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