Valor System – Friendly Competitive Renown
What it is: PVE Renown (friendly, competitive)
Scope: Player Level
Core Design Goals
- Encourage positive interaction and cooperative play between various players
- Reward a variety of playstyles (combat, exploration, trading, building, etc.)
- Avoid turning into a leaderboard-only grind or fame/bounty clone
How to Earn Valor
Valor is earned by performing valuable and community-enhancing actions. Here are categories with example actions:
- Exploration Valor
- Discovering new Dark Sea island biomes, earning high risk titles, and special lore points
- Safely returning with Dark Sea loot or knowledge
- Civic Valor
- Contributing resources or aid to another crew or guild (food, materials, money)
- Restoring ruined structures, planting trees or flowers, and cleaning up cursed zones
- Winning public events like fairs or fishing derbies
- Competitive Valor
- Winning friendly challenges like:
- Daily fishing contests
- Building competitions
- Puzzle/dungeon races
- Treasure map completion contests
- Boss raids (not elysium)
(A new server maybe called the competition sever would have to be added for the things above with a large map dedicated to these daily challenges, but the multitude of islands will be randomly generated with some lore and stuff in them like how the dark sea has statues and symbols)
- Dark Sea scavenger hunts
- PvP duels with honor rules (non-lethal, agreed-upon terms)
- Destroying enemy NPC towers built on islands under threat (as planned in the trello)
- Defensive Valor
- Repelling pirates, sea monsters, or cursed creatures from community zones
- Escorting trade ships or protecting allied crews
Valor Decay & Consistency
(Yes I am including this because it is necessary and gives other players a chance to climb a valor leaderboard)
If you have over 120,000 valor, it will slightly decays over time by 2% of its maximum amount if you become inactive for more than 3-4 days.
However:
These methods can save up to a maximum of 30% of your total valor and and come into effect once 70% of your total valor is lost either if you have been consistently inactive, or have lost valor through another way:
- Players can “preserve” Valor by passing down their stories via journals or statues.
- Guilds can “bank” Valor through monuments, community-built halls, or shared vaults.
- (I will make a thoroughly detailed suggestion on a valor preservation system later)
Positive Reinforcement Features
- Titles & Flair: “Wayfarer of the Waves,” “Shield of Serenity,” “Skylight,” etc.
- Public Displays: Statues and plaques on kingdom islands showing monthly valor champions
Leaderboard of Valor
The leaderboard would be divided into 4 different segments depending on the type of valor you have (also there are 4 different types you earn when shown in the bar that says + or - renown, but all equal into one general stat called valor which is shown when you hover over a player’s info).
The highest earner in the defensive valor will have a title called “Serene Shield”
The highest earner in the competitive valor will have a title called “Harmonic Harbinger”
the highest earner in explorative valor will have a title called “Intuitive Wayfinder”
etc. etc.
Social Element: “Tales of Valor”
Each hour, the server may spotlight a few player or guild achievements in a story-style feed on the agora:
“The crew of the Indigo Tide escorted two new players safely through a Dark Sea storm earning them 250 Valor and the title ‘Storm Shepherds’.”
Light Competitive Seasoning
- Monthly “Valor Cycles” can have themed challenges (ocean cleanup, lighthouse defense, lost treasure race)
- Top guilds earn medals instead of domination and purely aesthetic bragging rights
- Friendly rivalry is encouraged through in-game banter features, not through overwriting others’ progress
HOWEVER, for people who wish to be villainous, here is something for you:
Dread System The Villainous Renown Counterpart to Valor
What is Dread?
Dread is a reputation system for players and guilds with negative PvE renown, who engage in sinister, chaotic, or selfish behavior not by killing other players, but by disrupting the environment, manipulating NPC factions, and turning the world toward entropy.
It’s morally ambiguous roleplay with gameplay weight, aimed at:
- Villains
- Anti-heroes
- Rogue guilds
- Dark explorers, etc.
Core Design Goals
- Encourage immersive villain/rogue playstyles without griefing
- Create a parallel progression path for players who enjoy subversion, sabotage, and dark world-building
- Make villainy feel meaningful, stylish, and rich with consequences
- Still support non-lethal, non-toxic, and community-inclusive PvPvE behavior
How to Earn Dread
Instead of contributing to society, Dread is earned by disturbing it, twisting it, or bending it to your will. Think corruption, manipulation, sabotage, forbidden knowledge, and dark rituals.
- Ruinous Exploration (Exploration Dread)
- Discover and awaken cursed ruins, forbidden temples, or sealed monsters (who knows, ormolu, goliath, or the omen
) - Complete Dark Sea corruption rituals (summon small storms and alter biomes every hour)
- Interact with ancient cursed artifacts that taint surroundings
- Return from the dark sea with
Title Example: “Abysswalker”
Highest Earner Title: “Depthmonger”
- Sinister Civic Acts (Civic Dread)
- Poison NPC farm crops or curse nature zones (corrupt trees, infect waters)
- Bribe NPCs and commanders to lower kingdom island guard presence or that kingdoms ship spawning rates in your server
- Commit vile actions in towns like stealing, vandalization, and killing multiple citizens (this would put the town under threat and call either the grand navy or the kingdoms more powerful guards, but it wouldn’t be an endless wave like in WoM),
- Summon cursed fog via dark weather
Title Example: “Foghand”
Highest Earner Title: “Veil Architect”
- Dread Arena (Competitive Dread)
- Participate in opt-in cursed dueling events in specific zones (arena islands or fog-claimed battlegrounds)
- All duels are non-lethal and only between Dread-marked players
- Spectators can bet cursed coins or back champions
(Also the competitions from the valor side are for everyone and you earn either dread or valor depending on your renown stat when you win one, so that is part of competitive dread)
Title Example: “Icon of Infamy”
Highest Earner Title: “The Veiled Victor”
- Dark Dominion (Defensive Dread)
- Subvert towns via influence rituals (NPCs start obeying or fearing you)
- Convert cursed towers into beacons of dread
- Repel valor players and valor NPCs from cursed sites unless they dispell using a certain mechanic
Title Example: “Ward of Shadows”
Highest Earner Title: “Twilight Bastion”
Dread Decay & Legacy
Like Valor, Dread will decay slowly after inactivity (~2% every 3–4 days above 120,000). But it too can be preserved through:
- Writs of Blight (dark versions of journals) stored in cursed tomes
- Effigies or monuments of fear crafted by guilds
- Unsealed Relics placed in deep zones to whisper the Dread-wielder’s name
Once a player loses 70% of their total Dread, their dark legacy kicks in, restoring 30% via the preserved record.
Positive Reinforcement for Dread
- Unique Flair & Visuals: Characters with high Dread may appear shadowy, leave trails of cursed mist, or have glowing eyes (cosmetic only)
- Special Gear Unlocks: Access to cursed versions of gear, haunted mounts, corrupted ship sails
- Lore-Based Interactions: Only Dread characters can see or unlock certain cursed ruins, rituals, or NPCs
“Whispers of Dread” Social Element
Every hour, a dark update might appear on the Agora:
“The guild Wyrmrest Pact defiled the lighthouse of Obsidian Reach. Fog now coils around the harbor, and civilians speak of vanished traders…”
Seasonal “Cycles of Dread”
Just like Valor’s random events, Dread has Dark Cycles, with themed goals:
- “The Eclipse Tide” – Corrupt the greatest number of beacons
- “Blight Bloom” – Spread nature corruption across 10 islands
- “The Silent Signal” – Sabotage all communication towers before dawn
Top guilds earn cursed medals and non-mechanical bragging rights.
Random but I think this should be a thing:
- Weather Buffs: Minor environment bonuses (faster travel, increased mystic fish spawn rate, etc.)
Kind of like the planned meteor weather, what if when you crack open a rare one you get unique weather exclusive armor?
