By Mod EdHey everyone, it's me again with another update. Hope you're not getting tired of me yet, because if you are, get used to it, this is how it's going to be!
With the release of Patch 17.1, we finally submitted Levla to the app stores. Google was quick to accept us, but we're still awaiting a review from Apple, which apparently can take up to 7 days the first time. Even then we might not get accepted and could need to make some changes. That's all good though, since it gives me more time to polish and finalize the things that were meant to roll out with the official launch anyway.
I also mentioned in Patch 17.1 that there'd be a follow-up patch with some things I couldn't squeeze in, and that's what's rolling out today. So let's get into it!
Levla Has Been Unofficially Launched!
With this update, we've completely wiped our economy and all character progress. This means the playtest has officially ended, and Levla has unofficially launched.
There will be no more resets, and your current character will now be persisted for the rest of eternity!
This doesn't change much though, there are still plenty of bugs to be found (especially in this patch), features to be built, and things to be cleaned up.
Let's get started on that right away!
THANK YOU ALL, YOU ARE AMAZING <3
I've been an entrepreneur for over 10 years now and built countless websites, products, communities, and stupid apps throughout my career.
And I just want to say that building Levla has been BY FAR the most amazing experience out of all of them. You guys are truly amazing, and I am so grateful to have every single one of you here with me on this journey.
The app would not be anything without you, so give yourself some credit, really.
But as I've mentioned before, the journey is only just beginning, and I am so excited to see where we all go, both as a community, as an app, and as people who all want to improve themselves and be productive.
Much love from me <3
Let's get into today's patch.
NOTE: As per usual, I couldn't fit everything into this patch, so 17.3 will be the final (final (superfinal)) patch before the "official launch"!
Early-Game Guild Content
We're starting off 17.2 strong with the introduction of our new early-game guild content!
Introduction
Our guild system is probably one of the features with the most potential, but it's also one of those features that requires a lot of time and effort to make good.
So see Guilds as an ongoing project, similar to the Game World Content. It will grow and get more vast content as time goes on. And as you might understand, I'm juggling like 500 different tasks right now ahead of launch, so finding time for this has been quite hard.
With that said, I'm quite happy with what I'm dropping today, but please see it as the first stepping stone toward something very big and cool. Thank you for your patience with this system!
So let's get into the specific guild content that just released today, and please let me know your feedback and what you'd like to see more of!
General Guild Content
Let's start by going through what's new for both guilds but isn't unique to either one except for the branding.
Reputation Tier: Friendly (250 REP)
Becoming Friendly within either guild will now give you access to two new features in our Discord server, in addition to the current in-app profile show-off:
- NEW: Guild-specific channel access (Harmony's Rest & The Gauntlet)
- NEW: /emblem command to toggle the guild's emblem and show it off next to your name
To get access to these, you'll first need to link your Discord account with your Levla account, which you can now do by running the command /link!
Reputation Tier: Honored (900 REP)
Once you've reached the Honored tier, you'll get access to the guild's General Store. Here you can now purchase the guild's cosmetic Tabard to show off your dedication to the guild on your character.
Guild: Harmony's Rest
Now let's see what's new within Harmony's Rest.
Reputation Tier: Trusted (500 REP)
At this tier, you unlock the first guild-specific quest, which can be started by talking to Brother Omar.
Quest: Saving The Garden
The Garden of Tranquility within Harmony's Rest has been hit with an odd pest, and Brother Omar needs your help to clear it out!
Rewards: 1,500 Alchemy XP, 2,000 Farming XP, 2,000x Coins, 3x Lotus Tea, and access to the Garden of Tranquility.
Location: Garden of Tranquility
After completing "Saving The Garden", you'll have access to the Garden of Tranquility. Here you can farm Lotus Flowers for use in future recipes, and also gain passive Farming XP.
More resources and other content will be added to the Garden in a future update.
🙏 Practice: Gratitude (DEMO!)
And now to the highlight of the guild content: Practices. Practices are guild-defined habits (similar to Habit of the Month) that a guild asks you to take up.
The goal here is to nudge you toward new healthy habits. I know this won't be for everyone, which is exactly why it's completely optional!
And if you're someone who already does these things, a Practice is just a little extra motivation to keep them up.
How it works
Practices aren't your everyday check-off habits. They have some special functionality built into Levla, they take a bit more effort, and you can't just tap them complete. That makes them harder to fake, and more meaningful to finish.
Each Practice lives within its guild and has a goal number of completions. For example, Harmony's Rest might ask you to:
Write down one thing you're grateful for, every day, 20 times.
You can complete a Practice once per day, and your progress adds up over time, so missing a day won't wipe what you've earned. Reach the goal, and you're rewarded with a cosmetic!
Reward: Monk Robes
Complete the Gratitude Practice and Brother Omar will hand you a set of Monk Robes, worn proof of your devotion to the Rest and its quiet way of life.
Reputation Tier: Honored (900 REP)
Becoming Honored within Harmony's Rest will give you the first iteration of the guild's passive effects.
- CHANGED: Stamina Cap increased by 50 (previously 100)
- NEW: Gathering Yield Boost (+2%)
- NEW: Farming XP Boost (+5%)
- NEW: Alchemy XP Boost (+5%)
Becoming Honored will also give you access to the guild's General Store, where you can now purchase Empty Cups.
Reputation Tier: Respected (1400 REP)
Once you've reached the Respected tier within Harmony's Rest, you start unlocking some new guild-specific content!
Recipe: Lotus Tea
The first unlock you get is the ability to create Lotus Tea, a very powerful tea that takes a long time to brew. Lotus Tea applies the "Rested" effect to your character, which gives you +30% Stamina from all sources for a period of time, great to use before checking off a lot of todos or habits!
To create Lotus Tea, you need 1x Empty Cup, which you can purchase from Brother Omar's shop, and 1x Lotus Flower, which can be harvested from the guild's garden!
Reputation Tier: Exalted (2750 REP)
Exalted members of the guild who have also upgraded to our Members/premium tier get some new Alchemy content.
Recipe: Flask Potions
Flask Potions are an extended version of all our potions. It's a very basic concept: each potion in our game can now be turned into a flask version of itself. Each recipe takes 2x of the potion and 1x Empty Flask.
Flask Potions double the duration of a single potion, and for Stamina pots, they grant 100 Stamina instead of 50.
You can purchase Empty Flasks from Brother Omar's shop as well.
The flask variants of potions are all Members Only.
Reputation Tier: Legend (4500 REP)
Becoming Legend within Harmony's Rest will give you the second iteration of the guild's passive effects. These stack with the previous passive effects, giving you boosted versions.
- NEW: Stamina Cap increased by 50 - Total: 100
- NEW: Gathering Yield Boost (+3%) - Total: +5%
- NEW: Farming XP Boost (+3%) - Total: +8%
- NEW: Alchemy XP Boost (+3%) - Total: +8%
Guild: The Gauntlet
I also started working on the starter content for The Gauntlet. Unfortunately time ran out and I didn't get it as fleshed out as I wanted, but it's a start, more content is dropping in a follow-up patch, pre or post launch.
Reputation Tier: Trusted (500 REP)
Coming in a follow-up patch!
Reputation Tier: Honored (900 REP)
Just as in Harmony's Rest, becoming Honored within the guild will unlock the first iteration of its passive effects.
- NEW: Permanent +2 Attack Level
- NEW: Permanent +2 Defense Level
- NEW: Blacksmithing XP Boost (+5%)
- NEW: Melee Combat XP Boost (+2%)
Becoming Honored will also give you access to the guild's General Store, where you can now purchase the guild's Tabard, Bucket of Water, and Raw Boar Meat.
Reputation Tier: Respected (1400 REP)
Once you've reached the Respected tier within The Gauntlet, you start unlocking some of the guild's unique content.
Recipe: Boar Stew
As a Respected member of The Gauntlet, you can now create Boar Stew, which requires the following ingredients:
- 1x Wooden Bowl
- 1x Bucket of Water
- 1x Raw Boar Meat
Boar Stew is a mid-game healing food (+16) with a low Cooking requirement. It can essentially be bought, and it doesn't burn when cooked.
Eating a Boar Stew also applies a "Well-Fed" buff that increases your max health by +6 for the next 8 hours.
Practice: ???
Coming in a follow-up patch!
Reputation Tier: Exalted (2750 REP)
Coming in a follow-up patch!
Reputation Tier: Legend (4500 REP)
And once you reach the Legend tier within the guild, you unlock the second part of the passive effects!
- NEW: Permanent +1 Attack Level - Total: +3
- NEW: Permanent +1 Defense Level - Total: +3
- NEW: Blacksmithing XP Boost (+3%) - Total: +8%
- NEW: Melee Combat XP Boost (+1%) - Total: +3%
Loadout System
In preparation for a much deeper cosmetic system in one of the post-launch follow-up patches, and for some of the cosmetics rolling out in today's update, I also decided to squeeze in the first version of our new loadout system!
With the loadout system, you can create equipment presets. These are very convenient if you want to do some extra roleplaying by changing equipment based on activity, or for when we eventually add gathering-boosting equipment!
Free users can create two loadouts and switch between them as they wish, while anyone on our Members subscription can create an unlimited number of loadouts.
Members can also use the auto-equip functionality, which automatically switches a loadout based on conditions you set. Some examples:
- A special set when hunting a specific monster
- A special set when fishing shrimp
- A special set when woodcutting or mining!
Give it a try and let me know what you think!
New Equipment & Changes
Also in this update, I'm releasing some new items and updating some old ones.
New Item Models
One cool change in this patch that fits well with our loadout system is that pickaxes and axes are now equippable.
So as we get more cosmetics moving forward, you can create custom loadouts for when you're mining or woodcutting, or if you just want to cosplay as a passive player!
We've also gone ahead and updated some other items. I think the change to Scratch's Dagger is the coolest-looking item in the game right now!
- NEW: Scratch's Dagger has received a visual overhaul to look more significant
- NEW: Our helmets have also received a slight visual change to look less boring
- NEW: All pickaxes & axes are now equippable
Item Icon Updates
All our metal-related items have also received new item icons to look more polished, but most importantly to match the colors of the actual equipment your character is wearing.
- CHANGED: Helm icons
- CHANGED: Platebody icons
- CHANGED: Platelegs icons
- CHANGED: Shield icons
- CHANGED: Boot icons
- CHANGED: Glove icons
- CHANGED: Pickaxe icons
- CHANGED: Axe icons
- CHANGED: Dagger icons
- CHANGED: Sword icons
- CHANGED: Scimitar icons
- CHANGED: Battleaxe icons
- CHANGED: Mace icons
- CHANGED: Spear icons
- CHANGED: Ingot icons
New Base Equipment: Full Helm & Kiteshield
Also in this update, we're releasing two new pieces of our base armor sets: the Full Helm and the Kiteshield.
These are upgrades over the regular Helm & Shield, and can of course be crafted as of today's patch.
Kiteshields and Full Helms will only be craftable for now, but might be introduced as drops in a future patch.
With this change, the crafting recipes for the old Helm & Shield have also changed, both had a cost reduction of 1 Ingot per recipe.
Both the Kiteshield and Full Helm can also be trimmed using our Trim Kits!
Other Item Changes
- REMOVED: Admin test items
- CHANGED: Logs, Gems, Ores, and Herbs now each have their own subtypes for better sorting!
Combat & Forecast Improvements
In this patch I've also made some slight improvements to our "simulated" combat systems to make them clearer and better in general.
Food Prioritization
Your character now prioritizes the highest-healing food you have available and bring into a dungeon/hunt. This solves a lot of issues. Previously, bringing low-healing food to a tough foe could actually make it harder to succeed than bringing no food at all, since your character replaces an attack turn with a healing turn. If that food was low-healing, it would essentially make things worse, because you couldn't outheal the damage the enemy was doing.
Pre-selecting Food
Dungeons now pre-select supplies based on the forecast, so you no longer have to "select" the food you want to bring. It always brings the lowest amount needed, and it also pre-loads potions if available.
Bringing Protective Potions
If you choose to bring a protective potion such as the Frostward Potion or an Antipoison in your supplies, it will now let you start the dungeon even if you're not currently protected.
New Spells: Steel Skin & Dragon Skin
Two new Members-only spells have been added to the game.
Steel Skin
Unlocked at level 40 Intelligence. Gives you 20% damage reduction for the next 4 hours.
Dragon Skin
Unlocked at level 70 Intelligence. Gives you 30% damage reduction for the next 4 hours.
Hans, the Discord Bot
As we get closer to launch, I want to invest a bit more into the community aspect of Levla, which of course is fully optional, as it all currently lives on Discord!
So today I also fully deployed our new official Levla Discord bot, Hans.
Hans is still settling into his role in our server, but he can already help with some small stuff, which I'll list below.
Got any suggestions for the Discord bot or how we can integrate it nicely? Feel free to post in our #suggestions channel!
Command: /link
This command links your Levla character with your Discord user. Hans will DM you a QR code or URL, which you can either scan with your phone's camera or click on if you're viewing Discord from your phone.
Once linked, Hans will know who you are, and you can start using the rest of the commands!
Command: /profile
A very basic command that posts a picture of your character, what you're currently equipping, and all your stats.
Command: /avatar
This command posts your current avatar or character portrait, which you can use however you wish!
Command: /emblem {guild}
If you've reached the third tier of a guild in Levla, you can toggle the guild's emblem to be shown next to your name in our Discord server!
Feature: Trading Post Listings
In our #trading-post channel, Hans will post any new listings made on Levla's trading post.
Feature: New Arrivals
Hans will also welcome any new users in our #new-arrivals channel with a picture of their character and their username!
Feature: Rare Events
Hans will also announce any super-rare events that happen to Levlans in #general. As of today, he only announces whenever someone crafts the rarest quality items!
Bug Fixes & QOL
- NEW: You can now disable push notifications for activities/adventures
- NEW: Changing character appearance now costs 5,000 Coins
- NEW: You can now toggle between showing all recipes / craftable recipes in the crafting screen
- NEW: Crafting sessions now show how many of an item you are crafting
- NEW: You can now change your billing plan in the settings by scrolling down to "Billing"
- UX: Increased the hitbox for completing habits and todos on the home screen
- UI: Updated the CTA colors in the Item Detail Sheets
- CHANGED: Crafting quality tiers renamed to: Inferior, Common, Refined, Pristine, Masterwork, Legendary, Fabled, credit to @Kneedecker in the Discord server!
- CHANGED: Guil
- OPTIMIZATION: The app boot should now be much faster
- OPTIMIZATION: Cleaned up some code that might help with battery usage
- FIX: Members only spells now properly handles members requirement.
- FIX: Quests now properly handle display only rewards and
- FIX: Quests now properly handle requirements
- FIX: Issue where consolidated guild rally notifications would send more than once
- FIX: Issue where listing items was bugged for premium users on the trading post
- FIX: Issue where you could buy premium items on the trading post even when not premium
- FIX (ANDROID): Issue where the character would not stand on the pedestal on the character appearance screen
- FIX (ANDROID): Issue where, in sort mode on the inventory screen, the sorting tab would render under the tab navigation
- FIX (ANDROID): Issue where the collapsible cards in the NPC & Item database would lose their header when opened/closed
- FIX (ANDROID): Issue where dropdown menus on Android would not layer properly on the trading post
- FIX (ANDROID): Lots of other dropdown-menu-related issues on Android
- FIX (ANDROID): Issue where the keyboard would sometimes get stuck if you focused an input in a sheet and closed it
- FIX (ANDROID): Issue where you couldn't delete todo lists because the keyboard wouldn't come up
- FIX (IOS): Character model clipping on the character screen
- FIX: Issue where changing body type in character customization would immediately flip back to the previous body type
- FIX: Issue on Tutorial Island where pressing a crafting step would not show the crafting UI
- FIX: Issue with the award overlays (again) where the backdrop would not render properly (hopefully fixed for real this time)
- FIX: Issue where, if you had Day Start time set to 01:00, it would still think it was the next day even before 01:00
- FIX: Very weird edge case where habits with "every X days" patterns weren't treated as actionable or due, causing them to lack skip/snooze/complete options when pressed
- FIX: Issue with random events and dialogues where the adventure log would break and not give any items
- FIX: A bunch of bugs and glitches with sorting, animations, and more
- FIX: Removed the option to set deadlines on recurring todos in the expanded edit/create sheet, since recurring todo deadlines aren't intended
- FIX: Recurring todos now carry over, so if an "every Sunday" todo wasn't completed on Sunday, it will show as overdue on Monday until skipped, snoozed, or completed
- FIX: The broken-equipment popup now shows when trying to start a combat-related adventure
- FIX: Adventure completion overlay XP progress bar animation
- FIX: Old premium gate for habit and todo
