Changing gears from an original goal of “combat, combat, combat,”
Funcom has approached the Rise of
the Godslayer
expansion with a mantra of “choice, consequence
and combat.” Throughout the presentation at GDC, Game Director and
Executive Producer of the game, Craig Morrison, pointed out just how
much these three elements are present in the expansion.



Beginning by taking feedback from the community who felt the game world
was too compact and closed off, one of the major things the developing
company has done with the expansion is to open up the game world to
make it feel wide, open, and expansive. The world isn’t the only thing
that has broadened. Players will also be able to enjoy the entirely new
playable race of Khitan who match the expansion’s theme of Asian
history and lore.



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Factions play an important part of the progression in style="font-style: italic;">Rise of the Godslayer with 10 main
factions along with two hidden. Every faction will offer its own reward
tree of which players can mix and match gear to best suit their class
and playstyle.



New mounts are also featured in the expansion. Two new mounts will be
introduced in the form of a tiger or a wolf. The unique spin on these
mounts is that players will need to complete a quest in which they
raise their mount from infancy and then select whether they wish to use
the mount as a pet in combat or a rideable mount.



The Alternate Advancement trees will receive a major upgrade. Hundreds
of new abilities have been added and the entire trees for each class
are now much larger and more robust offering more choice. These new
abilities will need to be swapped out by the player based on their
situational needs. While they may have hundreds of abilities available,
they’ll only be able to keep six active at any given time, so choice
again comes into play with how the player will customize their
character role experience.



To finish the presentation at GDC, Morrison took us through one of the
dungeons that will be launched with the expansion. The walkthrough was
nothing short of impressive as these new dungeons will feature puzzles
and combat unlike anything previously seen in MMOGs. The environment
will need to be used by the adventurers to solve the built-in puzzles
and progress through the dungeon. In certain areas players will again
need to make a choice as only three team members will be able to engage
in certain battles while the other three keep a bridge or other
obstacle opened for access. Eventually the adventure will climax into a
battle with a boss who will have its own set of weaknesses and
strengths that will need to be resolved through use of emotes and other
non-conventional means. Players will be given clues as to the solution
so they will need to pay close attention. For an extra challenge hard
modes can be unlocked which will offer better rewards as well as a
higher level of difficulty.



Once again Funcom has pushed the envelope in terms of creativity in
their games. The features in Rise of
the Godslayer
are both clever and well designed. Fans of the
game will not be disappointed with the new challenges and choices
they’ll have available to them come the expansion’s launch.



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Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

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