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MMORPG.com Developer Journal #11
Original Article found: here
By: MMORPG.com
Date: June 25th, 2006
"Wyr Would You Like to Go Today?" by Jay Miller
 So I was trolling through the forums today - you know, chattin' it up with the little people, listening to their plights, beheading the odd finger-pointing, nay-saying miscreant - when I discovered a startlingly alarming statistic: of all the gamers across the globe who follow Hero's Journey, we haven't a single Merfolk among our ranks! Now I know what you're thinking: "There's no such thing as Merfolk, ya bleedin' maroon!" But how can we know that? For all we know, the oceans are teeming with the fellers and all we have to do to lure them out is give them something amazing to get excited about!
It got me thinkin', it did! If we could bring out something so phenomenal, so undeniably brilliant that no one – man nor mer – could deny its greatness, then I'd say we stand a pretty good chance of luring those feisty little buggers out of their hidey-holes and into LAN gaming centers everywhere! Hell, maybe with the extra income I can stop sleeping on the floor of the office and get a flat of my own!
So here's what I figure I'm gonna do. I'm gonna set a trap. A big one. I'm gonna open Pandora's box and let every last ounce of ooey-gooey Wyr goodness leak out. And then I'm gonna wait. If the Merfolk show up, I'll do a little dance and smite me some more nay-sayers. If not – well – there's always the circus.
So what are we waiting for? Let's dig into Wyr!
When I think of Wyr, my mind doesn't immediately lock onto the mechanics of the things. I don't think about sockets or customization, buffs or abilities, or how awesome it'll be to walk around guttin' Ukar with a sword that has little chunks of fallen heroes socketed to it. No, when I hear the word Wyr, I get all misty-eyed because I know they came as blood payment for all those poor, unfortunate souls who died during the Sundering.
Y'see, Wyr are far more than just wicked-cool trinkets you carry around with you to make you stronger, faster, and glowier than ever. They’re living history, magically-infused kernels of Elanthia’s past and the embodiment of Elanthia herself. They take on the voice of a planet so riddled with tragic history that you'd be hard pressed to take a single step in any direction without stepping all over the bones of somebody's ancestors. Wyr are the voice of the planet, and they scream bloody murder.
When the world was Sundered, all magic was broken. Wards were shattered, levitating cities came crashing to the ground, and little doggies everywhere were released from their masters, free to pee on everything and everyone in sight. Heroes died that day – a whole world full of ‘em – and in the blink of an eye, every nation and every faith lost some of their greatest and most influential leaders, warriors and great thinkers. The fires blazed, and not even the hordes of giddy pee-doggies could quench their thirst.
Out of the twisted wreckage of a world-gone-jigsaw came little glimmering reminders: artifacts bound with the spirit, honor, and essence of the many heroes who fell that day. To preserve its history and keep the spirit of these legends alive, Elanthia worked her money-maker and lo and behold: out of the endless night that had washed over her, Elanthia gave birth to thousands of magicked relics – living nuggets of history and tributes to heroes from ages past. Surviving until the present-day, these artifacts would serve is constant reminders of Elanthia’s dark past while keeping alive the hope and wonder of that bygone era.
In-game, these tasty little morsels show up as ancient relics and artifacts hundreds of years old. Each one ties in to the history of a single hero of Elanthia's past and gives you a glimpse into their lives as they lived them in the age of legends. Coursing with magical energy, they can be socketed into weapons, armor, spells, and even your hero herself! “Pick me!” they'll shout, and when you finally scoop one up and stick it into your fancy-schmancy Vorpal Sword of Smashing – voila – instant baddie puree.
This adds a whole new dynamic to item customization. Far beyond the basic socket-and-smash melee found in games like Diablo II, Wyr allow your abilities, spells and physical attributes to bend and change as your needs require. For instance, Lynch's Spark and Ashog's Frozen Heart (shown later in this article) can be socketed into the Wizard's Elemental Helix ability, transforming it from a simple arcane spell to one infused with fire or ice energies, respectively. When placed in the weapon of the wielder, however, your attack gains the elemental attribute, instantly transforming you from a stoic elemental spellcrafter into a down-and-dirty fire or ice warrior-mage. The vast number of possible Wyr combinations produce an almost limitless set of strategies and play styles – not only can you socket your Wyr in any one of dozens of slots, but you can also equip more than one Wyr per slot in many cases. The sky's very much the limit to what you can do.
One of the coolest things about Wyr is what they do for character customization. How many times have you gone to the auction house in your favorite MMO, tracked down and bought those "perfect" new frost-themed threads, and then fifteen minutes later scavenged off of some half-eaten corpse an even better equip that you felt obligated to wear because it had better stats? Sure, it's an ugly hue of yellow that clashes with your boots and barely comes down past your knees, but it gives you a nice +22 to butt-kicking, right? Nuh-uh – that ain't good enough.
What if, instead of being forced to wear whatever equipment you happen to trip over on the killing fields, you get to tweak and fine-tune a look that's just for you? Instead of spending hours comparing stats between your old breastplate and whatever hot item happens to be popular in the marketplace, what if all you needed to look at was how cool the new threads look on your character? In Hero's Journey, the bulk of attribute boosts and skills aren't tied into the equipment at all – instead, players find new equipment, pop their ultra-cool and ultra-powerful Wyr out of their old stuff, and shove it in the new. In the end, you get to upgrade your look without sacrificing the perks and benefits conferred by your old equipment. No dismissing equipment just because it doesn't have that perfect skill or stat boost.
This doesn't make equipment upgrades completely useless, mind you. Each time you get a new sword, piece of armor, or glittery new accessory, you'll find that it has a specific number of Wyr slots assigned to it. The more powerful the item, the more slots it has – and the more slots it has, the more Wyr you can fit inside (consequently, the more powerful you become). In the end, then, the power is going to lie not with the items you're wearing, but in the myriad Wyr you've collected and decided to use (or not to use) in whatever setup you're using at the time. Get sick of being fire-based? Swap out a few Wyr. Want more stamina? Grab a new Wyr. All the while, though, you can retain exactly the look you want – no strings attached.
Basically, our motto is: Your hero, your look, your style, your choice. Pirate, ninja, loud-mouthed bandit, or poop-flinging monkey, you set up everything from your swagger and scars to the polish of the buttons on your little red boots. When you're out tenderizing the faces of pasty-faced Broken with your maul in the Fields of Sorrow, count on your Wyr to give you the oomph you need to make it out alive. But know that they not only exist to give you the strength to brandish your kris in the nastiest of ways, but are also entirely responsible for your one-of-a-kind opportunity to look damn fine while doing it. It's a new way of thinking, and we think it'll stick.
Before I bid you all adieu and return to my game of cat-and-mouse on the forums, I want to give you a short look at some example Wyr. Better than prattling on about what they are and what they do, I can give you real live examples from the game as it stands. Each Wyr is a link not only to Elanthia's past, but also to a specific hero from the age of legends. Each has a story snippet to grant you a look at Elanthian lore, a rarity to determine its effective power and placement within the game, and a set of benefits and weaknesses that – when socketed – will combine with other Wyr to produce a wide variety of bonuses and effects. Some Wyr are even part of a set which, when united, grants amazing set bonuses.
So let’s take a look at some of these bad boys, shall we? Stay tuned in the coming weeks as we explore these guys in more depth, and feel free to enjoy the Wyr snippets below. And if you spot any Merfolk coming our way, do give me a holler, won't you? I'm just dying to see if my theory holds up.
Lynch’s Spark
- Description: "A fire, you say? Burned your competitor's business to the ground, you say? My my. What a tragic...accident. Yes. Accident."
Ashog's Frozen Heart
- Description: "You will sleep under ice, and only the spirits of the snows will know your grave!"
Val Zeair's Luck
- Description: “One drake cannot stop me! Ten drakes cannot stop me! The kingdom will be mine!"
Val Zeair’s Strength
- Description: "Why do you weep, my lady? My hands may be scarred, but they are still strong enough to lift you and keep you safe."
- Jay Miller, Simutronics
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