In the recent update we have changed Fate rewards from missions drastically: Fate is now rewarded based on Power Rating difference. The base reward is 2 Fate, and every 50 Power Rating difference gives +1 Fate.

First of all, sorry for the huge balance variances between updates, this was not how we planned this. Usually, as you have experienced it previously, we follow the methodology of balancing stuff with an outcome that is a bit on the hard/difficult side, and then ease it down gradually on the difficulty scale (instead of jumping between easy-hard, using the averages).

The drastic change of Fate rewards was due to the fact that the previous reward amounts (20+ Fate per mission) were due to a bug.

What we can proimise is to raise the amount of Fate rewarded from quests. The bad news is that we will not restore the previous (bugged) state where players could gain 20-30 Fate per mission. We will also have to leave the daily Fate limit at a logical value.

Why do we need this?

To answer this, we'll have to go back to the basics - what is Martyr after all?

As it is somewhat clear even during this alpha, Martyr is not your classic ARPG. It is a game that retains the base elements of an ARPG, but there are a lot of other genres mixed in as well. You can see the tactical elements of the game already, but the story mode that comes later won't be at the same complexity level as an average ARPG either.

Our goal is the following:

There will be a base, single-player oriented, story based campaign. You can breeze through it in 10+ hours, but doing all the main/side investigations will take ~20 hours for an average player.

Following this story mode comes the "endgame" which will have a much greater emphasis in Martyr than an usual NewGame+.

It will be more complex and multi-layered, and here is where the interesting part begins. We will nurture this part of the game with content updates for at least two years. And this does not mean a DLC per six months, oh no.

There will  be two huge expansions with new storylines, enemy factions, and classes (!). These will be big, paid updates, we are planning on introducing one per year.

Besides these, there will also be smaller DLCs, mainly based on loot and smaller storyarcs. They will be cheap, and you will be able to buy these for Fate too, not just cash - you won't have to give us your money for these… your Fate will suffice :P

And last but not least: in the upcoming 2 years (or 3, if enough of you guys will be interested), there will be seasons. Every year will have 3 seasons, opening up new subsectors, introducing new enemy units, new types of loot, and allowing for more character progress - sometimes unlocking new game features, too! Seasons will all have a core story theme, and this will include new investigations and global events.

And, good news is that of course, Seasons will be completely free. Bad news is that we need time to make them.

Leveling

This is why we planned Martyr to have a complex leveling system, preferable for both hardcore and casual players. This is why we have divided up leveling into multiple layers.

There are the basic leveling systems (Inquisitor Rank/Account Level) - we have to keep these between soft and hard limits, because otherwise we wouldn't be ready with the upcoming content updates. However fast we are, some of you guys will definitely be faster and will reach the hard limit before we are ready to ship the content update, this we are absolutely sure of :)

Inquisitor Ranks can only be gained from story missions and Tarot Missions - and the latter one needs Fate.

Our goal with the first, current subsector is to have a limit of Acc/Inq. Level limit of 40-50 (soft and hard limits, respectively). After the full game release (Q1 2018), we open up the first big Season with the second Subsector. Following this, we will release a new Season approximately every 3 months.

From all this, you can probably guess why we needed to tone down Fate farming - either all HC players rush forward and then does nothing at the end of a tier for a month until we are ready (disrupting our plans with story difficulty, global events, etc.), or we implement a multi-step hard limit into the game (Solar System unlocks), or we stick to the change that we made now.

We feel the latter solution to be the least intrusive, and we hope that you agree. Even more so as we plan to implement a bunch of secondary objectives to the game for the hardcore playerbase. And if you have read this far, you are indeed one of them.

When you are done with the dailies and farmed all the Fate, new challenges will appear. This will have some effect on the base leveling system, meaning that HC players will have an advantage before casual players, but this is not the main aspect of these challenges.

• One of these challenges is the Protector challenge, where players can max out the influence of a solar system, becoming the Protector of said solar system, gaining some awesome rewards.
• Another similar mechanic is the Glory system that rewards players not only after reaching a milestone on the Glory bar, but after reaching the top 50,10, or 1 rank on the Leaderboard.
• An additional system is the Endless Arena. These will be located around the end of a Tier, with strong enemies, strong loot, and a separate leaderboard.
• Farming Faction Reputations, reaching either end of the Morality Chart, and some Heroic Deeds won't be for the faint of heart, either.
• Every couple weeks there will be global events with their own leaderboards and reward system.
• And finally, there will be an ultimate challenge, the Hall of Fame. This is a special leaderboard. To even be able to gain points for this leaderboard, you will have to be one of the best, doing Glory, Protector, Events, and all sorts of endgame stuff. The rewards will be glorious - skins, ranks, titles, emotes, free DLCs, and expansion content will be rewarded, depending on where you'll be placed on this leaderboard.

We hope this looks promising and that you'll understand why we made this change.

The Emperor Protects.

Update: You won't be able to buy Fate for cash. We will never be pay to win.