Wayfinder Transfer of Service Update

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

Job Board Preview

Job Board Preview

Hello Wayfinders and Happy New Year! The team is back and recharged from the holidays, and we are ready to introduce the next set of features into Wayfinder!

We discussed at the end of last year having more meaningful updates faster, and this is the first real test of that adjusted philosophy where we are releasing content a little earlier than “done” so we can solicit feedback before fully releasing it.

The goal of working alongside all of our players remains the same: Make sure things are both functioning as well as fun and rewarding. Going forward, we’ll be calling these events/features in this state “Previews.”

The Job Board

The goal of the Job Board Preview is to provide players with another source of XP for the player’s Wayfinder and Weapon, as well as their Reward Tower. It’s also a place where you can get some memory fragments, gloomstone shards, dyes, cosmetics, and more!


Do you find jobs fun? Do you have ideas for jobs? Did you find a bug associated with the board or the rewards? There will be a dedicated Feature Upvote Board specifically for answering these questions and posting whatever other feedback associated with the Job Board during this preview.


NOTE: As we have previously mentioned, this was the most efficient and direct path towards earning Reward Tower keys, and as such, we have also adjusted Reward Tower XP rates down slightly and will be monitoring them in the short and long term.

We are excited for all of you to tackle some of these jobs to help out the citizens of Skylight and share with us what you think at https://jobboardpreview.featureupvote.com !


Q1 Roadmap

As we discussed last year, we have a big year planned for 2024. We recently updated our public facing roadmap. Check out those changes here! 


We also discussed a lot of these systems on our final 2023 dev stream we had last month. If you haven’t seen that yet you can view it here. 


While things are always subject to change since game dev is hard and always shifting, we are currently on track to deliver the following in Q1 of 2024.  

  •  Job Board

    • The foundation version of this system introduces daily and weekly rewards for players. Rewards include Gloomstone Shards, Memory Fragments, Reward Tower XP and exclusive items and cosmetics!

  • Armory Rank

    • Armory Ranks are a new form of progression. When you level a weapon to 30, you’ll gain an armory rank. At certain ranks you can expect to gain bonuses such as base weapon stat Increases or weapon echo capacity. You can also unlock additional tempers granting more echo sockets. The max Armory Rank for now will be 20.

  • Archetype System

    • When implemented, the Archetype Accolade track will have you earning bonuses such as increased max equipment level, affinity points, and archetype specific passives as you play with various Wayfinders. The second version of this will be the Archetype Talent Tree which will include branching paths and choices for players to really customize their Wayfinder + playstyle.

  • Mythic Hunts

    • They may be the fights you know and have memorized, but they will be designed to present an extreme challenge for players and in return have drastically increased accessory and crafting component drop rates, Mythic Rush echo variants, new accessory sets and Black Gloomstone drops to use alongside the increased Affinity Cap. Mythic Hunt Bounties will also be introduced which upon completion, guarantee an Essence or Vestige for Awakening levels 4 + 5.

  • Frostmarch Expansion 

    • Our first new open world zone since launch will be 2x the size of the current Highlands. Here you’ll find POIs that contain challenges, quests, events, world bosses and even some secrets... 

  • Mounts 

    • We can’t introduce a massive new zone without making it a breeze to travel around can we?! Mounts will allow you to traverse Skylight and open world areas with ease with Founder’s finally getting to show off their Highlands Strider!

  • Grendel + New Reward Tower

    • Grendel as well as his associated Reward Tower will be smashing their way into Evenor. All players who purchased a founder’s pack with the FS2 Reward Tower will be getting Grendel and his tower!


All of these systems will culminate in the ultimate challenge - our 1st 6 player Raid. The Raid will launch early in Q2  to allow Wayfinders to gear up and prepare themselves and their squad. We're incredibly excited about this challenging end-game content we’re designing so stay tuned for more info as we get closer!


In between these large releases we will continue to focus on hotfixing the game to improve performance + server optimizations,balance, bug fixes and more. 


2024 is the year we see our original vision for Wayfinder coming to reality. We’re incredibly excited about the future and as always thanks for playing and being a part of this growing and awesome community!




Patch Summary

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Patch Summary

Patch v0.2 - Eventide

The team has been working tirelessly to prove to the world their capabilities and commitment to bringing Wayfinder as both Developer and Publisher.

The result of that heroic effort - over 2000 bug fixes, performance improvements, combat rebalances, Wayfinder reworks, system implementations, content enrichments, additional cosmetics and much much more. With that we say goodbye to Version 0.1 of Wayfinder, as this is indeed deserving of us moving to v0.2!

Full Patch Notes: https://www.airshipsyndicate.com/wayfinder-updates/2023/12/12/eventide-patch-notes

Patch Highlights:


Awakening System (part 1) - A major implementation for late game progression for players in Wayfinder. Upon reaching maximum level, Players can collect & craft Awakening Stones to add increased echo capacity, a buff to all of their stats on Wayfinders and Weapons, as well as overleveling their Equipment Level to equip level 30+  accessories. Right now the current cap is 3*. In the future we'll be expanding this system to 5* as well as implementing archetype levels and other horizontal progression for your Wayfinders and their entire archetype. Once Players reach level 5* Awakening they will unlock a whole new Echo Slot!

XP Caches - XP Resonance Caches for Wayfinders and weapons are now enabled! When we rolled out the 300% XP Buff, we had mentioned that we'll be adjusted XP once again to account for these scrolls. We have slightly reduced the overall gain from expeditions and hunts and put that difference into these XP scrolls. 


Performance - We know performance has been a huge pain point for many members of our community, this is the first of many patches were we’ll directly be working on performance + optimization. This patch delivers hundreds of improvements on backend optimizations as well as client changes that have a dramatic impact on overall performance. We aren't done with improving performance, but this should be a huge leap in the right direction. 


Senja Rework - As the Last of the Iron Sisters and Champion of the Imperial Arena, we didn't feel as though Senja was packing the punch we envisioned. Senja players should expect some major improvements to Sejna’s mobility, durability and offensive capability! These aren't only stat adjustments, but sweeping buffs/reworks to her core kit of abilities including a brand new Ultimate ability. 


Rifle Subclass Reworks - The goal with this subclass rework is to incentivise creative loadout compositions, depending on the challenge Wayfinders face. Rather than have every rifle weapon essentially perform similarly asides from their weapon ability, we want each subclass to have a distinct utility to distinguish themselves.

  • Shotguns - Significant break power and close quarter splash damage

  • Rifles - Mid-range Low break but high broken DPS

  • Railguns - Long range single target burst 


Underperforming Weapon Buffs - We want all weapons to be on a level playing field, with distinct strengths and weaknesses depending on the encounter. Sword & Shields as a weapon class are statistically less relevant compared to other weapon types, so there are a number of changes to weapons to bolster some of the less popular choices and give them a chance to shine.

Stat Rebalance - We want player builds to be diverse and interesting, with clear benefits for investing in the full spectrum of offered stats. Specifically Ability Power and Defensive stats were underperforming when compared to Weapon Power and Crits. To address this we are implementing some major buffs to AP builds, and fundamental improvements to Defensive stats as a whole.

Lost Zone Event items changes - Specific items in Lost Zones that may drop from a specific event now have a chance to drop in all events within that Lost Zone. Additionally, certain more rare events will now have a guaranteed drop chance of their specific resource!  


Inventory Management and UI upgrades - Players will now have improved sorting functionality for their Echoes, ability to view Affinities and Echo slot types in shop/inventory lists, and sell multiple instances of items with a single input! We have laid the framework for Mass Tag + Sell/Dust with a single click as well as Multi-Crafting, so stay tuned as we look to add these and additional functionalities soon!

New Wayfinder + Weapon Dye Tech - We love seeing the huge diversity of player expression with our style system and dyes, but more is always better! Take a look into the new Dye options to see additional slots for Wayfinder VFX, even more trim customization, and three new slots for Weapon Dyes!

Updated Music and Combat Sound Effects - We are already very proud of the music and ambiance in Evenor, but prepare for even further immersion with loads of improvements to Combat feedback sounds (Hits vs Crits, breaks, deaths, dodges etc.) and a new music system.

Helper Coin Shop Update -  It has been incredible to see how many Wayfinders take advantage of the Helper Queue system to help fellow players push back the Gloom. We want to reward that collaboration with a more robust Helper Shop! The new shop will include new and exclusive cosmetic items, rare crafting resources, dyes, housing items and will be refreshed with a rotation of future rewards as well!

New Weapons - Five brand new weapons await crafting. Bastion - Wingrave’s Signature Sword & Shield, Bloodsong - a bloodthirsty Scythe, Windmother’s Fang - a damage uncapping 2-hander, Umbros - Voidtouched Dual Daggers, and Voidbreaker - a soul-binding burst rifle!


Eventide Live Event - The citizens of Skylight are celebrating Eventide, but that means they’ll also need your help in making sure it’s the holiday the citizens deserve! Our biggest live event yet is now Live! Eventide features a vendor with exclusive seasonal housing items and cosmetics, a limited time Lost Zone with a new mini-boss, a Seasonal Hunt, an expansive quest chain, and lots of holiday cheer!


Event Timers on the map- No longer do you have to guess when events are happening or how long world bosses will be up! Our v1 of this system has real time countdown timers and markers on the map. In the future we'll be adding World Event names as well as more info there about drops, progress etc. Yes, this does include the global timer for the World Boss - Talon of Pyre!

A huge heartfelt thank you to the community for the flood of support messages and comments across the internet. We know this was not the road we expected to walk down, but life rarely goes the way you plan. We hope this patch demonstrates our team’s commitment to the players, proves that we are listening, and provides confidence to everyone that Wayfinder won't go quietly into the Gloom. Hope to see you in Evenor. 

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v0.2 - Eventide Press Release

v0.2 - Eventide Press Release

For Distribution 12/15/2023 | 3 p.m. CT



AIRSHIP SYNDICATE USHERS IN AN EXCITING NEW ERA AS PUBLISHER AND DEVELOPER WITH WAYFINDER V0.2 - EVENTIDE AVAILABLE NOW!

With over 2,000 changes and adjustments to the game, performance and UI optimizations, and brand new content & progression systems, Wayfinder is ready to say “HELLO” to 2024 and beyond!



 AUSTIN -  December 14th, 2023 - Airship Syndicate (Darksiders Genesis, Ruined King: A League of Legends Story) are excited to announce the launch of Wayfinder v0.2 - Eventide! This update is the first for Airship Syndicate as both Publisher and Developer as Digital Extremes transitions control of the game to Airship. While a monumental task for an independent developer, the team is hard at work delivering on their promise to support the game well into the future. That effort that starts today.


Wayfinder v0.2

This update introduces Wayfinder’s biggest fundamental update yet. With over 2,000 fixes and adjustments, almost every system, ability, weapon, enemy, location and Wayfinder has seen some improvement. 

Some of the exciting things players can experience in v0.2:

  • Server & client performance gains

  • UI updates

  • 5 brand new weapons to earn in-game

  • Reworks of Senja and all ranged weapons

  • Awaken Wayfinders, by empowering them with increased stats and echo capacity while breaking past the level 30 cap

  • Combat and movement changes

  • The ability to use XP Caches to level alts faster

  • Exclusive new cosmetics earned in-game

The full 79-page, 27,430 word Patch Notes can be viewed here!

Airship Syndicate invites players who haven’t visited Evenor since Early Access launch to jump in and play. Since the Early Access launch in August, Wayfinder has come a long way.  The crew has learned along the way and been listening to feedback from the community. v0.2- Eventide is the first step forward for an independent team and they’re incredibly excited. . 

This is an incredible milestone for the team. This patch represents months of improvements to the game, a large part of which came directly from community feedback. The community’s passion for the game and desire to see it meet its potential is palpable, and the game is much better for it. We are excited to finally get these improvements and fixes in players’ hands! While this huge patch is exciting, it was also agonizing sitting on a lot of these fixes and improvements for so long. We’ll be keeping our more frequent, meaningful updates that we began last month rather than infrequent huge drops, so we can have a smoother back and forth with the community. We are especially thankful to our fans that have been supportive since we began this transition. It’s meant a lot to the team and we are super grateful.

Steve Madureira: Game Director


EVENTIDE

The solstice approaches. Darkness gathers and the elements converge. But briefly one might enter the Eventide Vale, where the vessels of winter wake to bring forth a bitter, unforgiving cold.

Eventide is Wayfinder’s first seasonal event! Spanning four weeks, Eventide invites players to hop into the game for some festive holiday events.

 

This event features a brand new quest chain, a new event boss, a seasonal expedition and dozens of challenges that players can complete to earn Revel Rubies which can then be exchanged for exclusive and festive cosmetics! 

Wayfinder is available in Early Access now on Steam, PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4. 

About Airship Syndicate

Based in thriving Austin, Texas, Airship Syndicate is a multi-platform game development studio that specializes in building compelling IPs. From Darksiders to Battle Chasers to League of Legends and beyond, Airship has helped create and expand on brands known worldwide. Our next project is Wayfinder, a free-to-play, character-based online action RPG. Set in a beautiful new world, this original IP is the culmination of our decades of experience and big ambitions.


v0.2 - Eventide Patch Notes

v0.2 - Eventide Patch Notes

v0.2 - Eventide is here! With over 2,000 changes and adjustments as well as significant performance and UI optimizations; jump into Wayfinder’s biggest update yet!

v0.2 - Eventide Preview Event

v0.2 - Eventide Preview Event

Happy Eventide

The day everyone has been waiting for is finally here, and believe me when I say, no one is more excited than the team here at Airship. The team has poured their hearts into this patch, which marks a huge milestone for us as the first major patch release as Publisher & Developer! We know a lot is riding on the success of this release and to be sure we get things right, we need your help!

Today we will be soft launching Eventide (v0.2) on Steam without the usual fanfare, or even acknowledging the update (keep reading as to why!). This patch will include all of the new player systems, improved QoL, Awakening, performance improvements and new weapons. It will not include the actual Eventide event (keep reading). The goal with this approach is to help identify any large, show-stopping bugs which can only be found with a public scale test audience, and quickly develop fixes before we fully launch Eventide and announce its release to the world later in the week! We are calling on all of you, our most dedicated supporters in the community to help us make sure this v0.2 is rock solid and truly delivers what our players have been waiting for.

Please report any major bugs you encounter, so that the team can get to work immediately on fixing them. For this quick turn around hotfix we are mainly focused on bugs that stop or block progression or access to systems and not overall feedback. If you truly feel strongly about feedback please feel free to post it, but know that acting on feedback quickly depends on the feedback, and usually isn’t as quick of a turn around time as fixing a bug.

For the purposes of this pre-release event, we ask that all bug reports go here: https://wayfinderbugs.featureupvote.com/
We weren't kidding about wanting to build this game alongside all of you, so this is the best opportunity we can provide to have y'all put your game dev hats on today!

Before the end of the week we will release a hotfix to address any large bugs YOU have discovered through this effort, and release v0.2 to the world!  Included in this will be enabling our Eventide Live Event! Featuring a unique new vendor with exclusive seasonal housing items and cosmetics, a limited time Lost Zone with a new mini-boss, a seasonal Hunt, an expansive quest chain, and most important of all: holiday cheer!

We are incredibly excited for all of you to finally get your hands on what we have been working on, and ready to prove this is a new beginning for Wayfinder. Thank you to everyone. Seeing the public shift the tides of the Steam Reviews into Mostly Positive in these last few days has truly put some strong winds in the sails of our Airship, and we have no intention of going anywhere until we realize those shared dreams. 2024 is going to be an exciting year and when we do launch v0.2 in the coming days be on the lookout for info on upcoming content drops… including a surprise that is currently under active dev as we speak thanks to YOUR feedback and prioritization.

See you in Evenor

-Wayfinder Team