Dev Update #1 - We have a name: Fellwake. Plus the Defender nears completion.

The game is now Fellwake, and the Defender is nearly finished. Every skill is in, combat reads at a glance, and clicks hit the body.

Fellwake is the new name for the grimdark, partial-loot PvP MMO we've been building (previously codenamed Grimhollow). The website is now live at https://fellwake.com.

Most of the past few days went into finishing our first profession, the Defender (the tank).

The Defender

  • Every Defender skill is now in, all running on the server: Challenge, Rallying Challenge, Shield Bash, Shield Slam, Hamstring, Charge, Intimidate, Cover, Intercept, Sacrifice, Spell Reflect, Active Guard, Ultimate Defense, Defiant Stand, Draw Cut, Revenge and Onslaught.
  • New capstone picks: The Banner (taunts everything nearby every second for 20 s), Defensive Aura, AoE Spell Reflect and AoE Redirect.
  • Blocking now works on a ladder, with bonuses against whoever you've marked. Your armour comes from the gear you're actually wearing.

Readable combat

  • Effect colours now carry meaning: gold is threat, blue is protection, purple is fear. You can read a fight at a glance.
  • Cover raises a honeycomb barrier that stops attacks crossing it. It starts blue and turns red as it nears breaking. A stun or fear drops it. A root doesn't drop it, but it holds the caster in place.
  • Intimidate: purple smoke bursts over each scared enemy, and a laughing smoky skull rises from it. Their selected target freezes while the others flee.
  • Ultimate Defense: three blue shields orbit you for the whole duration.
  • Stuns show barrier-style stars, and there are no more floor rings cluttering the ground for taunts and shouts.

Feel

  • Clicking a target now hits the character's body, not an invisible box around it.
  • In combat you now jog by default instead of walk.

Behind the scenes

  • A Tank Showcase test map: one room per skill, each firing its skill for real, so every change gets checked by eye before it ships.

Next up: finishing the Defender's audio (distance falloff, echoes, grunts and armour sounds). After that we build the first town, then the Wizard.

All of this is from a development build. Numbers are provisional.