Rivals: An Upgrade

Suggestions
Rivals: An Upgrade
effort 4.9 10 quality 4.916666666666667 12 reasonability 4.636363636363637 11
1

Rivals

You’ve spent the last few hours stalking through the forest on this island, your long term nemesis, notorious criminal Rogers is hiding out here based on recent navy reports.

Rivals are a cool feature. They can be slightly powerful at times but they’re still a great addition to Arcane Odyssey. Your ability to have a random NPC saved to your file and grow with you is really neat.

However, one issue. They currently only “Grow” with you by their level increasing and abilities unlocking. Less neat.

Proposal: Various additions and upgrades to the Rival feature.

Addition 1: The Juraserva Shop

On Palo Town and Sameria in Amarut, two new NPCs will be added. Before completing the Juraserva questline, they will be labled as “Travellers” or “Reporters” but after defeating all the Juraserva bosses, their identities will be revealed as members of the Juraserva. From these NPCs you can buy various useful items, but importantly for this change will be The Letter to The Agora

"Dear The Juraserva,
*I am writing this letter to [Tell/Warn] you of the [Dangerous Criminal/Assassin/Hero/Grand Navy RANK] NAME the [Title Box]. *
[They have been troubling these seas recently, and I have been attempting to bring them to Justice / They have been recently spotted in these seas, and I would like to bring them to your attention.]
With respect,
Player Name"

The Letter is an item which can be used to unlock your Rival’s capabilities and allow them to use other features. In this letter you will be able to give your Rival a title, whether via a text prompt like Ships or a system like Notes. Once sending this letter:

  • Your rival will spawn with this title
  • Occasionally the Agora will mention your Rival as a potential threat, and detail what abilities they have.
    E.g. “Dangerous Criminal Moreno the Frostbite has been spotted sailing these seas recently. Merchants beware as they are armed with multiple weapons and are rumoured to wield magic, as well as being skilled in direct hand-to-hand combat.”
  • When your Rival spawns, a unique Agora article will appear detailing their location.

Addition 2: Positive Reputation / Assassin Rivals

This has been suggested before but I don’t see why it shouldn’t be added. Criminal players should be able to become rivals with Heroes or Grand Navy Members, and all players should be able to become rivals with randomly spawning Assassins. They will have unique lines and appearances. Grand Navy and Assassin Rivals will also rank up as you progress through the game.

Addition 3: Rival Theme

Rivals should gain a unique theme to separate them from other high levelled NPCS. In a perfect world each rival type could have a different theme (Criminal/Hero/Navy/Assassin) but sourcing music is difficult I understand so I’d be happy with there being one “Rival Theme” which plays only when fighting your own rival. If there were to be different themes please let the Grand Navy rival theme have horns and trumpets. They aren’t the Grand Navy for no reason.

Addition 4: Rival Ships

After The Letter is used, Rivals should be able to spawn on their own ships. These can spawn rather than your Rival spawning on an island. Their ships will also develop along with them, upgrading along with you. They will have a randomly generated name that will not change, similar to The Ironfang. For even more added detail their Quartermasters should have saved loadouts and names, like small mini rivals.

Addition 5 & 6: Raids and Ambushes

Just like how you show up and ruin the day of the Rivals, they can show up and ruin yours. If you’re in a wilderness area for long enough there’s a chance that your Rival will spawn close. This will be announced in chat with the message “You feel somebody following you nearby.”

Additionally, while on an island your clan has claimed, the Rival’s ship can spawn close by and sail to your island. While doing this, their ship takes reduced damage from your island based siege weapons. During their raid, they will attempt to destroy your walls and create a breach where they and their crew will push through to raid your island. If you die during the Rival Raid they will despawn and you will gain nothing, if you kill them and their crew, sealed chests will drop on the ship and you can loot it.

Reason for Proposal

Rivals deserve better they’re a nice feature
there we go
totally won’t write an extract on this

11 Likes
2

I just want to get rid of these fuckers but vetex said no

3

The reason hero rivals don’t exist is because you can easily switch between negative and positive rep.
Villains can attack villains (while also making sense why), but heroes can’t attack heroes.

Other than that though it’s a good suggestion

4

It’s just… so peak…

“Notorious Criminal Byrd the Melting Phoenix has been spotted around the Bronze Sea! Beware, as he is noted to wield powerful Plasma and Magma magic.”

1 Like
5

gat!!

6

Rivals are a really cool feature and idea but there’s little more to them other than “You can hunt this guy alot now for charts and also he has new dialogue.”. I legit forget my rival even exists until I accidentaly bump into him on an island.

2 Likes
7

really good suggestion but maybe instead of a text prompt titles should be a list of words like name selection and notes considering this games community

1 Like
8

Build-a-bear! A murderous bear!

I like the idea of PvE island siege and Hero rival. Current rival is just a slightly more boosted Nimbus NPC, saved to a character slot. They don’t feel unique anymore with higher level roaming NPCs dropping treasure charts all the same.

2 Likes
9

it should be like spell names instead of notes

10

yeah thats a better example, thats what i meant but i forgot you can name spells ngl

11

Yes finally rivals are no longer criminals but kinda special and they now feel like actual rivals and threats

12

Yea but once ur rep is set to neutral ur rival is reset

13

so? if you’re a good rep with a good rep rival just turn it into a friendly rivalry, like a “alright, let’s try some sparring!” or if you went from bad to good “hmm, so you’ve been trying to do good, have you? Glad to see it! But, I wanna see if your strength has grown alongside your morals. How about a spar, for old time’s sake?”. If your rival is a bit stubborn or hotheaded, it can easily be “So you’re a ‘good guy’ now aren’t you? Pfft, we both know it’s just an act. I can’t let a criminal like you bide your time before the next big heist!”

4 Likes
14

We really need something like this to take rivals to the next level lol

also they could still be good rep but not have a friendly rivalry it could be like a clash of ideals or something

15

Yeah that can be a good rep to good rep stubborn rival

16

Vetex watching as several people give their rival the title “Black Monkey”

17

Hell yeah

“Dangerous criminal Holden the Balls have been spotted near Sailors’ Lodge, often going inside to stay for the night.”
^people will make that shit up

18

byrd the bird

19

I like the idea of adding more depth to rivals, it’s a nice system for players who want a challenge. One thing I wish that vetex would address, however, is the fact that rivals can attack anyone that stumbles across them. If they remained in areas that suited their level, then it wouldn’t be much of an issue. But when a level 185 rival follows a max level to the bronze sea and spawns at limestone key for example, then there is suddenly the possibility for an enemy over the current level cap to annihilate a new player at level 40 just trying to explore. In my opinion, the rival ships in this suggestion could provide an elegant solution with a few tweaks. Land battles with rivals would stay in the furthest sea you’ve reached so far, however they will occasionally sail to your location if you return to the bronze sea, for example.

1 Like
20

simple solution: npcs shouldnt naturally attack people who are either
A. 75+ levels below them
B. half their level
C. both
e.g. if im level 25 level 50+ npcs shouldnt attack me and if im level 100 level 175 npcs shouldnt attack me
they should say something like “Tch… You’re too weak, get out of my sight.” and then start a 15 second timer
if the player doesn’t get out of the npc’s line of sight then the npc will aggro onto the player

3 Likes