Harder, better, [strike]faster[/strike], stronger. These are the exact thoughts we want you to have when you upgrade your favorite Hunter! This progression feature can be described as one of the cornerstones of the gameplay loop: Unlock a playable character → Get into a match → Gather resources for upgrades → Choose an upgrade → Get back into a match → Max out your chosen character → Obtain a new one to play with. Although such a sequence might seem basic, it's the golden formula for most video games. Playing with your favorite character might seem satisfying enough, but without the feeling of a goal or purpose, it will become bland really fast. [img]https://sh-publishing-static.gcdn.co/sh-publishing/the_forge/hunter-progression/img/p01_v032_Assets_1920x442_EN_The-Forge_Levelling_Game-Loop.png[/img] Before we start delving deeper into this complicated topic, let's define some terms first. There are differences between Hunter progression, account progression, and in-match progression: the latter addresses only the growth happening during the battle and is closer to the game design stream, whereas Hunter progression is a set of complex features designed to ensure the growth and development of a character outside the battle and is closely connected to the meta. Account progression is an overarching feature that reflects a player's experience and proficiency in the game: account progression grows with Hunter progression and Hunter-related activities, whereas Hunter progression is based on the matches played and missions completed. In the case of Steel Hunters, the features that define growth are: Hunter leveling, Mods, System upgrades, and Gear. In this Forge article, we'll look at the past as well as explain the latest innovations that will take effect with the upcoming playtest. [h2]Progression 3.0[/h2] Before we start talking about the current changes, let's take a short look back in time. Truth be told, it's not our first rodeo. The last major pass on Hunter progression was performed in fall 2022 throughout Updates 0.17–0.19. Back then, we took a significant risk and introduced the novel system with Systems and Mods right before the first big playtest. Prior to 0.19, leveling up and upgrading Hunters was absolutely in the hands of the player, and it created infamous combinations like [i]Fenris' "InvisiBomb"[/i] (teleporting behind an enemy and one-shotting them with Plasma Arc, just because). We decided to rework the countless possibilities into archetypes, which are more understandable and easy to manipulate while still providing room for personal preferences. [img]https://sh-publishing-static.gcdn.co/sh-publishing/the_forge/hunter-progression/img/p02_v032_Assets_1920x1080_The-Forge_Levelling_Old-Systems_01.png[/img] [img]https://sh-publishing-static.gcdn.co/sh-publishing/the_forge/hunter-progression/img/p02_v032_Assets_1920x1080_The-Forge_Levelling_Old-Systems_02.png[/img] For clarity, let me show the terminology that we currently utilize in Steel Hunters. [table equalcells=1] [tr] [td] [b]Term[/b] [/td] [td] [b]Description[/b] [/td] [td] [b]Example[/b] [/td] [/tr] [tr] [td] System [/td] [td] [list] [*] Four different Systems are available that modify your main weapon, two abilities, and Mainframe. [/*] [*] Each System offers a choice of Mods that change how your Hunter's weapons and abilities work. [/*] [*] Systems are upgradeable, with each upgraded level providing a stat increase and some levels providing a boost to Mod effects or a new Perk at max level. [/*] [*] You can freely switch between available Mods regardless of the System's level. [/*] [/list] [/td] [td] Ursus has four Systems: [list] [*] Weapon [/*] [*] F.A.N.G. Rocket [/*] [*] Glacial Armor [/*] [*] Mainframe [/*] [/list] [/td] [/tr] [tr] [td] Mod [/td] [td] [list] [*] Mods are available components within one System. [/*] [*] Mods not only change effects (i.e., deal 5 damage; get more Shields) but can also change base stats (i.e., different base damage, different number of bullets in a magazine, etc.). [/*] [/list] [/td] [td] For the Glacial Armor System, [i]Ursus [/i] has three Mods: [list] [*] Centenarian Mod [/*] [*] Gainer Mod [/*] [*] Freejack Mod [/*] [/list] [/td] [/tr] [tr] [td] Effect [/td] [td] [list] [*] Active effect provided by the Mod. [/*] [*] Each Mod has multiple effects which are unlockable at different stages of Hunter progression. [/*] [/list] [/td] [td] Some effects of the Freejack Mod: [list] [*] While the shell is active, [i]Ursus [/i] gets unbreakable supersprint—it can't be stopped by incoming damage. This stays in the effect for the whole duration of the shell. [/*] [*] Applies protection aura to Ursus. Protection aura reduces incoming damage by 40% to Ursus and her Squadmate when within a 50 m radius. [/*] [*] If the shell remains intact, grants invisibility to Ursus for 8sec. [/*] [*] If the shell is destroyed, doubles the Glacial Armor ability cooldown. [/*] [/list] [/td] [/tr] [/table] Another meaningful addition to the game that happened during those times and has stayed so far is the Ability Power parameter (commonly referred to as AP). Each Hunter has AP as one of their base stats, and AP grows with leveling and through different modifications like Gear or stat leveling. An AP-based modifier is applied to every ability. In a nutshell, it's a useful tool for scaling Hunter stats up or down through a unified modifier, which ensures faster tweaking in the long run. Instead of making small changes to each ability manually, we can simply increase the AP modifier that applies a certain % of the current AP, thus making an AP-based ability stronger to the identified margin. [h2]Hunter Leveling: The Roots[/h2] Now that the retrospective part is out of the way, let's return to the present and explain the changes that are going to affect you now—the new skill tree. We're pretty much content with the idea of Systems and Mods, but we learnt quite a lot from our current implementation when enacting the next round of changes: 1) The old system wasn't scalable or intuitive: the previous interface required upgrading the System as a whole and then choosing the Mods you wanted to go with—it wasn't user-friendly. The new approach visualizes the progression more clearly; the scalability factor lies in the tree structure that can be easily modified for any node additions or cuts. 2) Upgrading was linear and lacked choices. You just upgraded the System, and that was it. Nothing else was expected from you; you just poured your System Points into one place and picked the Mod. When we were making the decision for the current version, we wanted to make the journey of reaching the full potential of a Hunter to be a number of different choices, where each person chooses their own path, but the destination ends up being the same place for everyone. All the aforementioned points have led to the idea of adding simple stat upgrades as an interim element between Mod effect unlocks. Thus, you have more options to explore while also having the security of your previous Mod experience. [h2]Skill Tree: Branching Out[/h2] So, how does it work? The first thing you'll notice is the disappearance of the Hunter leveling screen as it was. It's now integrated into the Hunter stats window, and all the rewards are automatically claimed upon reaching a new level, freeing you from manually claiming stuff. All you have to deal with is assigning the Skill Points to the respective Systems and their skill trees. One important thing is that you have to maintain the balance between your Systems: you can't pour all of your points into, for example, the Weapon System; you have a set minimum discrepancy within Systems that won't allow that. [img]https://sh-publishing-static.gcdn.co/sh-publishing/the_forge/hunter-progression/img/p03_v032_Assets_1920x1080_EN_The-Forge_Levelling_System-Tiles.png[/img] Each Hunter has four Systems, and each System now has its own skill tree with unlockable nodes. The nodes themselves can be divided into three categories: stats node, Mod effect upgrade, and new Mod effect unlock. Each one costs a Skill Point and Credits to unlock. [table] [tr] [td] [b]Term[/b] [/td] [td] [b]Description[/b] [/td] [/tr] [tr] [td] Stats node [/td] [td] [list] [*] A simple node that influences Flat stats of the Hunter. [/*] [/list] [/td] [/tr] [tr] [td] Mod effect upgrade node [/td] [td] [list] [*] Influences the numeric parameters of the certain effect for all Mods within a System. [/*] [/list] [/td] [/tr] [tr] [td] New Mod effect unlock node [/td] [td] [list] [*] Enables additional effect for all Mods within a System. [/*] [/list] [/td] [/tr] [/table] [img]https://sh-publishing-static.gcdn.co/sh-publishing/the_forge/hunter-progression/img/p04_v032_Assets_1920x767_EN_The-Forge_Levelling_Node.png[/img] So, the essence of the Systems and Mods is preserved, as all the latter are integrated into the new skill tree. The difference lies in paths and the necessity to choose the branch you want to unlock to progress. The whole structure is not flat anymore—you can't unlock the next node without the previous one. [h2]Gear: Turning a New Leaf[/h2] Gear is all about choice now. It might sound a little pompous, but the overhaul of the system was much needed and brings value to the table. Previously, Gear felt more like an afterthought where the higher the rarity, the better, and the only choice you made was when you had two same-rarity Gear pieces. Now you have a mosaic of rarity, tiers, and levels for each piece, and the Gear types have been renamed as attack or defense types. You see, it's all about trade-offs. [img]https://sh-publishing-static.gcdn.co/sh-publishing/the_forge/hunter-progression/img/p05_v032_Assets_1920x1080_EN_The-Forge_Levelling_Gear_01.png[/img] [img]https://sh-publishing-static.gcdn.co/sh-publishing/the_forge/hunter-progression/img/p05_v032_Assets_1920x1080_EN_The-Forge_Levelling_Gear_02.png[/img] Getting the terminology question out of the way: Gear has an attack/defense quality, a tier characteristic (I–IV), rarity (Grade 1–3), and level (1–10 (will be cut down to 5 in the next update)). Like before, each Gear piece is Hunter-specific. [table equalcells=1] [tr] [td] [b]Term[/b] [/td] [td] [b]Description[/b] [/td] [/tr] [tr] [td] Type [/td] [td] [list] [*] Attack or defense. Determines whether the effects provided enhance offensive characteristics or help with survivability. [/*] [*] Each type has its own single designated slot. You can't pick two attack/defense Gear pieces. [/*] [/list] [/td] [/tr] [tr] [td] Tier [/td] [td] [list] [*] Tier determines the number of special effects for a certain Gear piece. [/*] [*] The higher the tier of the Gear, the more effects it will have. [/*] [/list] [/td] [/tr] [tr] [td] Rarity [/td] [td] [list] [*] Rarity determines the value of the stats provided. [/*] [*] Certain special effects are available only for the higher-rarity Gear. [/*] [/list] [/td] [/tr] [tr] [td] Level [/td] [td] [list] [*] Level also affects the numbers in the stats, but to a lesser increment than rarity. [/*] [*] Level can be increased, which influences the increment on the stat bonus. [/*] [/list] [/td] [/tr] [/table] From the information given above, you can see that there are more variables to consider for now, and the higher the Arena tier, the bigger the chance to get better Gear. But in the meantime, the choice is yours about whether to upgrade the level of your existing Gear piece or apply a higher-tier one if it gives you more effects than the previous one. Or perhaps you might want to keep the piece with the highest rarity, as it has better stats. We hope that giving more choice spices up things in the Gear department and moves it away from the "higher = better" formula from before. [h2]Up in the Air[/h2] This Forge piece has the privilege to come out after Steel Lab, which already gave some of you a glimpse of the changes. So I would like to use this opportunity to address some of the points made during that session. [b] "After about 1 hour of gameplay, I understood that this is fundamentally the same way System Mods worked before 0.32, and I was super disappointed."[/b] One of the main ideas regarding the refurbished Hunter leveling system was that, in essence, it's the same thing with a different look. And you're mostly correct: you still have the Mods and Systems that you know, but the main focus of this change was not to uproot everything and create a completely different feature, but rather build an intuitive, scalable, and easily modifiable system upon already working practices. You can add to tree branches as well as cut them, and you can move components along paths, providing easier and faster iterations and much-needed flexibility for the development. It might not feel like a novel thing for some of you, but remember that you have been with the game for a while, and that's why you know how it was before. All the new players will see and experience the skill tree as their first experience. [b]"I think the term "skill tree" is a little deceptive. To me, skill trees allow choices between upgrades. Currently, that's not the case, as you unlock everything and there's no meaningful choice there."[/b] The second point is that the choice of the path seems meaningless for now, as selecting one branch doesn't lock you out from the alternatives. It might seem to be so, but the choice to go horizontal or vertical is also a choice. While we don't lock you out from all the nodes, whether to get to the next effect unlock or pour everything into the basic stats is completely up to you. [b]"It felt extremely expensive to upgrade Systems even at low upgrade levels."[/b] The last point I want to address is the unlock price and the value you get—the effect seeming too insignificant compared to the cost of the node. The thing is that this update carries only part of the changes designed to upscale the whole leveling loop, and I can assure you that additional means of earning currency will be added with the next one. This, in turn, will make unlocking nodes faster and boost your progression along the tree. And please remember that you were able to enjoy maxed out accounts for a long time, but a successful game is one that has longevity in mind, as well as player entertainment, as the cornerstones. [h2]Looking Forward[/h2] Development is like a river—it's never stagnant, and the upgrade loop mentioned in the introduction is a prime example of that. There's no such moment when you think "It's done" and don't push the feature further. So, most of the changes introduced within this update are not set in stone either—the functionality is here, but polishing is due in the next version with an available tweaking window based on the feedback from the playtests. While you're able to test the idea, we would like to emphasize that it's in a rather work-in-progress state and looking at it "as is" is no less important than accessing the final product. So, keep your minds open, your testing schedule free, and your friend list full! I hope this article was a good read. As usual, don't hesitate to comment and ask questions. We're all for improvement here, aren't we?