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Wayfinder Echoes Preview Event is Live

Founders!

[h2]Welcome to the Wayfinder Echoes Preview.
[/h2]
We're incredibly excited to bring the Echoes Update to our Founders starting today!

During this time, we'll be looking at bugs and feedback while we work towards a day 1 patch for new players when Wayfinder returns to Steam on June 11th 2024. Please remember that we are still in Early Access and there are bound to be bugs and issues. As previously announced, no save data will carry over from last week's beta. Attempting to bring these files to the game will result in various quest and progression issues that we are unable to support.

Please visit our new Feedback Board to tell us about your experience in Echoes: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1171690/discussions/2/


What is The Echoes Update?

When online games such as Wayfinder reach the end of their service, they tend to disappear forever. This is the unfortunate reality when games lose funding, can't cover the costs of servers or staff, and face countless other challenges.

Having all played titles that have gone through this cycle, we wanted to take a different approach. We cherish the world our team has created and the characters we've introduced to our players, and we don't want them to be lost in the Gloom. Our goal is to leave players with a product they can enjoy indefinitely.

This shift enables the game to exist perpetually. Players can download it to play solo or enjoy co-op gameplay with up to two friends.

Wayfinder Echoes introduces significant changes from the previous version of Wayfinder, those changes are outlined below.



Patch Overview

[h2]Monetization & Founder’s Packs
[/h2]
  • All Founder’s Items (excluding currencies) are now available in-game
  • These items will be granted to you upon completing your first entry into the Gloom.
  • Reward Tower 1 & 2 are available in-game for all players
  • Completing quests and objectives grants keys, which can then be used to unlock rewards
  • All monetization has been removed from the game.
  • All content is now unlocked in-game via loot & rewards.
  • NEW! Founder’s Coins
  • Founder's Coins will be awarded to players according to the total lifetime amount of Runesilver they held in their wallet (including Runesilver from Founder’s Packs).
    • 500 Runesilver - 2400 Runesilver = 1 coin
    • 2500 - 4400 = 2 coins
    • 4500 - 6400 = 3 coins
    • 6500 - 8400 = 4 coins
    • 8500 - 10,400 = 5 coins
    • 10,500 - 12,400 = 6 coins
    • 12,500+ = 7 coins
  • Founder's Coins can be spent on exclusive rewards like Wayfinder Styles, Mounts, and Pets from a vendor in Skylight.
  • There are no other ways to get these items in-game.
  • Wayfinder token from Founder’s Packs are converted 1:1 to Founder’s Coins and are included in the amount you will receive upon login


[h2]Wayfinders
[/h2]
Niss, Silo, and Wingrave are unlocked upon completion of the tutorial.
NEW! Wayfinder Memories Collect all 10 memories to learn about each Wayfinder’s past before the Gloom!
NEW! Wayfinder Voices You’ll now hear your Wayfinder talk!
Additional characters can be discovered through playing, and also have guaranteed drops on specific bosses. These locations can be seen by visiting the Discovery Book in-game.
  • Find and summon Kyros out of the Gloom.
  • Unlock the secrets of the Deceivers to summon Senja from her mysterious confinement.
  • Eradicate the Night’s Maw infestation to unleash the power of Venomess.
  • Challenge the Bloodspawn to liberate Grendel from its grasp.


NEW! Wayfinder Rank to incentivize players to experiment and branch out with their playstyle!
  • Caps at 30 Ranks.
  • An account wide XP bar that all Wayfinders can contribute to.
  • Each Rank grants a Talent Point to be spent in the Talent tree.
  • Certain Ranks will also give bonuses such as increased base stats, affinity points, echo capacity & slots, and archetype specific weapon masteries & defensive powers.
    • Weapon Mastery system has been removed and consolidated into the Wayfinder Rank system.
  • NEW! Talents to give players a way to customize their combat playstyle per Wayfinder!
  • A diverse talent constellation tailored uniquely to each of the 3 Wayfinder Archetypes.
  • Wayfinders within the same archetype will be able to manage their own individual talents.


[h2]Grendel
[/h2]Grendel is an engine of destruction fueled by fury. Before the Fall he was an infamous warrior of the Maze, a brutal veteran of a hundred battles. He's more vicious than anything spawned by the Gloom, but he's on our side... for now.
  • (Passive) Blood Rage: Grendel enters into a Blood Rage when an enemy's guard is broken. While raging, Grendel gains increased damage and movement speed, and he takes less Break damage from incoming attacks.
  • Tremor: Stomp the floor, sending out a shockwave in a line, dealing high Break damage.
  • Whirlwind: Rapidly spin and strike all enemies around while moving for a short time.
  • Mighty Leap: Leap forward a short distance, damaging enemies around the landing point.
  • (Ultimate) Berserker Frenzy: Grendel explodes with rage, dealing heavy Break damage to enemies in a large area and causing Grendel to enter a Berserker Frenzy for 15 seconds. While frenzied, Grendel gains increased Weapon Power, Ability Power, Break Power, Movement Speed, and immunity to Break damage. When this state ends, Grendel explodes, dealing damage to enemies in a large area.


[h2]Loot & Progression
[/h2]
  • All cosmetic items and power items that we previously had are in-game drops with stats attached ala a traditional ARPG.
  • Increased drop rates of all items and loot across the board.
  • Added hundreds of secrets to find in each location, all with rewards for exploration.
  • Affinity Cap increased to 25.
    • 3rd Affinity Perk unlocked at 25.
  • Gloomstone costs for Affinities has been reduced by ~50%.
  • Max Equip Level has been removed.
  • Difficulty Spheres have been removed and Player power will no longer scale down to any content.
  • Lost Zones and Hunts now have a min/max power range that will auto-scale the content to players within that range, granting better loot as it rises.
  • No minimum power level requirement to enter a Lost Zone or Hunt.
  • Crafting a Relic Accessory now creates it at the level of the current Wayfinder.
  • Echo Changes:
    • Echoes are now uniquely equipped
      • You can only equip 1 echo from a certain creature.
    • Slot types are now a requirement;
      • For example: Attack echoes can only be slotted into Attack slots.
    • Cost of all echoes has been reduced by at least 50%, but no cost reduction bonus is applied when matching Echoes. (All echoes are essentially matching now).
      • Cross and Rush type echo costs have been reduced further.
    • Echoes now drop at the appropriate content.
    • Max rank is now 5.
      • All rarities can reach rank 5.
    • Capacity cost will no longer increase when performing Echo Fusion.
    • Rebalance of Echo slot types across the game.
    • Rebalance of Echo Slot Types on Wayfinders and Weapons.
      • Moved some echo slots from weapon to Wayfinder progression.
      • Since weapons will be swapped out much more often, we wanted to reduce the time managing sockets when trying out a new weapon
    • Echo limit is now 800
  • Consumable Updates:
    • Simpler recipes and reduced total number of consumables.
    • 30min durations that persist when traveling.
    • 1 offensive, 1 defensive effect allowed at a time.
    • 3% XP bonus added to each consumable effect.


[h2]NEW! Weapons
[/h2]
Weapons have undergone major changes from what they were before the Echoes update. Weapons have been converted to loot drops with fixed levels and stats. They can be found as drops, bought from vendors or as quest rewards.
  • Weapons no longer level up, but drop at different level ranges.
    • Weapon XP Resonance Caches have been removed.
  • Echo slots are randomly rolled each time you loot a new weapon.
    • Rush and Cross type echo slots are fixed.
  • Players can own multiples of the same weapon.
  • Awakening benefits all instances of the weapon.
  • Awakening levels are now easier to achieve.
    • Weapon Essences have been removed.
  • Weapons that were previously cosmetic only skins will remain the same, however they can be found as loot throughout the game and applied in the style menu
Oh, also…
  • 10 New Weapons!


[h2]NEW! Armor System
[/h2]
  • All styles & personas that were previously only available for purchase in the store have been converted to armor sets with stat bonuses.
  • Armor can drop, be bought from vendors or received as quest rewards.
  • Armors is collection based, so you only have to find each armor piece once.
    • Each Wayfinder will launch with 9 armor sets, and each set is made up of 5 individual pieces that can be mixed and matched.
  • Once you add armor to your collection, you also receive that style to customize the look of the Wayfinder separate from the gear that you have equipped.
  • Additionally, each Wayfinder has 2 Persona Styles to unlock.
    • You can unlock these via progression on that Wayfinder.
    • Personas are purely cosmetic and complete skins.
  • Each Wayfinder now has a few additional hairstyles.


[h2]Expanded Main Story Quest
[/h2]Wayfinder’s story has been refreshed to better accommodate players who’d prefer to jump straight into the action or dive deeper into the lore at their leisure. Significant updates to existing content have interwoven our Call of the Void and Loose Threads live events into the main story of the game, and new quest content has been added to the new Frostmarch overland area, leading to a grand finale in the Wayfinder’s fight against the Gloom.
  • New Hunts, Lost Zones and Quests added throughout the story line.


[h2]NEW! Frostmarch
[/h2]The zone players Deepwood Holt has been massively expanded… we’re talking 3x the size of Highlands! What was Deepwood Holt is now a hub in the newly added overland Frostmarch! Players will find all the things that were previously in Deepwood Holt such as Graymourn, The Shrouded Woods, The Bone Orchard, The Hollow Heart, and Bal Duum Lost Zones.
  • The quests that were previously in Deepwood Holt have been overhauled to utilize the new zone.
  • 3 New World Bosses
  • 20+ quests and activities
  • 20+ New Events
  • Marks Event Reward Currency
    • Earn Marks by completing events in Frostmarch. Marks can be used to purchase Armor, Weapons, Cosmetics and Mounts from Warden Rust in Deepwood Holt.
  • New Patrol Quests
    • Patrol quests are repeatable content that you can find throughout the zone.
    • Completion of these rewards Marks


[h2]Housing, Jobs, Mutators[/h2]
Housing
  • All housing items have been converted to loot drops throughout the game.
  • Now when you find a housing item, you also receive the recipe to create more.
  • 20+ New housing items!
  • Increased Housing item limit!
  • Housing item limit raised from 125 to 550.
    • 500 for decorations
    • 50 for lighting items

Jobs:
  • Jobs now reward Helper Coins.
    • Helper Queue has been removed.
  • Endlessly cycles as jobs are completed. There is no longer a wait period to pick-up new jobs from the job board.

Mutators:
  • The 3rd slot will now provide unique boons to players based on which imbuement was slotted.
  • Shadow’s Embrace: You periodically erupt with shadow energy, launching tentacles that leech health from enemies.
  • Gloom Collapse will remain as the only 3 slot mutator, which by default will always give the Shadow’s Embrace boon above.


[h2]Post Game
[/h2]We’ve rebalanced the content up to and including Aturach the Deathless, and also added an Endgame system for those who want to be challenged!

Indie dev delists Steam game to remove all microtransactions

After delisting Wayfinder once it was given publishing control of the game, developer Airship Syndicate has announced some big changes coming to the online fantasy RPG. Namely, when it comes back to Steam there will be no microtransactions or an always-online requirement. Airship Syndicate admits that Wayfinder has had a "rocky past" during its Steam Early Access launch, but sees this pivot as better for the game and its players, especially compared to a complete shutdown.


Read the rest of the story...


RELATED LINKS:

Darksiders devs regain control, halt sales of online RPG Wayfinder

Your new favorite fantasy RPG just got delayed at the last minute

Wayfinder microtransactions will be a "fun twist" on Warframe's

Announcing Wayfinder Echoes - Forging Our Own Path



[h3]Wayfinders,

As previously mentioned, upon initiating the transfer of service from Digital Extremes to Airship Syndicate, the team began thinking long-term. How do we go about improving Wayfinder while keeping the game alive forever in a sustainable way?[/h3]


[h2]Removal of Online Requirements.
[/h2]
Wayfinder will be removing all online requirements and will be a single-player game with optional 3-player co-op. No queues, no login, no accounts. You can choose to play solo on your Steam Deck while on the go or engage in peer-to-peer co-op with friends from your home PC. We realize this is a big shift, but a necessary one to guarantee that the game is around forever. This also means that all progress will not be carried forward due to saves being local and not on a server. This major change will be the basis for what we’re calling Wayfinder's Echoes Update.





[h2]One Price, not microtransactions.
[/h2]
Removing the online requirement wasn’t our only major change. The industry has also shifted in recent years. With more and more games coming out, they’re all fighting for player’s time and attention. Players have more to play than ever, and they’re being asked to log into multiple games to check their daily quests, look at a store rotation, and be drip-fed content. Players today are more apt to outright purchase a game they know is full of content and also respectful of their time. In the Echoes Update, we’ll be charging one price—$24.99 USD during Early Access (increasing upon full release). No in-game microtransactions or in-game purchases, just one price. Founders who have already purchased the game will have access, and all the exclusive items included in each pack. Our Founder’s Packs will not be going back on sale. For anyone that supported us by purchasing in-game Runesilver, we’ve converted that Runesilver into a new in-game currency used to acquire exclusive cosmetics.



[h2]Major Gameplay Changes.
[/h2]
These aren’t the only changes, though. We’ve touched every major system in the game, and as a result, the gameplay is not only more refined, but through our various playtests with those outside the studio, the game performs and plays better than before. Some of these changes include all weapons becoming randomized drops with various slots, armor now having stats and being collectible, thousands of cosmetics and housing items available to collect, the removal of the grind to get new characters, eased requirements for awakening characters, increased housing item limits, adding four difficulties to choose from, incorporating traditional RPG talents into your progression, and much more. This update will also launch with the latest Wayfinder: Grendel, as well as brand-new Hunts and a new Overlands zone (three times the size of our last!) that’s overflowing with content and points of interest.



[h2]When Can I Play?
[/h2]
While we have lots more to share on these changes in the coming weeks, we have always felt that actions speak louder than words. Therefore, we’ll be soft launching Wayfinder Echoes’ changes on May 31st. From that point forward, all online requirements tied to Steam, including all player data, will be removed, and the game will be available for anyone that currently owns any version of Wayfinder on Steam. Wayfinder will once again be available for purchase on Steam in Early Access on June 11th. These changes will come to PlayStation 5 later in the year, and we’ll keep players updated once we have a concrete timeline. PlayStation 4 support will be discontinued, with all PS4 versions being upgraded to PS5 at no additional cost. In the meantime, PlayStation 4 and 5 players can continue to access the game as normal. Relaunching in Early Access on a single platform also allows us to be agile and make changes at a faster pace than before. We plan to leave Early Access later in 2024, but during that time, we’ll be adding gameplay refinements based on feedback, a new Wayfinder, a new location to explore, new expanded housing, and more. We’re also formally announcing that Wayfinder will be coming to Xbox Series X|S during Early Access, and we’ll provide an update on timing later in the year.




[h2]The Path Ahead.
[/h2]
We know that the path to get here hasn’t been easy, and the game has had a rocky past. We also know that this wasn’t the original game that we envisioned or that our fans bought into. When faced with the reality of where we are, we saw our options as shuttering the game fully as other online games have done before or making this pivot and releasing the Echoes Update. During this process, we quickly came to the realization that we’re making a superior game for both current and future players. We’d love to support Wayfinder for years. We have ideas for additional characters and new content, and we have the intent to do so if the players demand it and Wayfinder finds a new audience.



From everyone here at Airship Syndicate, our fans and supporters have been irreplaceable. All of the comments and support have helped push us to make Wayfinder the best it can be and to make sure it’s here to stay now and forever.

Darksiders devs regain control, halt sales of online RPG Wayfinder

The future didn't look too bright for Wayfinder, the online fantasy RPG game from Darksiders, Ruined King: A League of Legends Story, and Battle Chasers: Nightwar creator Airship Syndicate, just a few months ago. Its publisher, Warframe makers Digital Extremes, announced late last year that it was closing its publishing division and, as a result, would no longer be involved with work on Wayfinder. Now, however, Airship Syndicate has regained control over its project, halted sales of the Early Access game, and recommitted to further development efforts.


Read the rest of the story...


RELATED LINKS:

Your new favorite fantasy RPG just got delayed at the last minute

Wayfinder microtransactions will be a "fun twist" on Warframe's

Wayfinder preview - a solid RPG with something lost in The Gloom

Wayfinder Transfer of Service Update

Wayfinders,

We have reached an agreement with Digital Extremes to begin the transfer of Wayfinder to Airship in earnest. Until this moment, Digital Extremes has remained the publisher of record on Steam and PlayStation. We now begin the process of transferring those responsibilities to Airship.

We know Wayfinder had a rocky launch, but we still believe in the game and the world we created.

When we founded Airship it was to create great games in compelling worlds, with memorable characters and adventures. With those core principles in mind, we've spent the last several months working behind the scenes, challenging some of the core ideas in Wayfinder and creating an experience that remains consistent with our standards and beliefs. We did this while keeping in mind that we want to respect our founders and excite new players - all while staying feasible as a business model for us as a new independent publisher. We plan to share these changes soon, but we aren’t quite ready.

Due to these changes, we’ve turned off new sales of the game for the time being. Those who have purchased Wayfinder can still access and play as normal with no interruptions.

Airship is committed to keeping Wayfinder active and vibrant. There will be major changes, and major improvements, but we have no plans for it to disappear like so many online-only games we’ve all played and loved. We think Wayfinder can be something special, and be around to play forever.

Thank you so much for your support. Stay tuned to our social channels for more information in the next 4-6 weeks.

Airship Syndicate