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Enhancing Guardian Radiance and Enlightenment Mechanics
TLDR;
- The RNG Radiance system has been replaced by a reliable Radiance XP progression system. Radiant Souls provide 1 XP point, and once per Radiance Tier a player can consume a Duplicate Radiant Guardian for bonus Radiance XP. To increase Radiance players fill the XP bar to 100%.
- The structure for the number of Duplicates used Enlightenment progression has been flattened and simplified (1x Duplicate Guardian required per Enlightenment Tier)
- The total cost to achieve Max Enlightenment & Radiance for a Legendary Guardians is approximately the same as the old system. Epic and Rares have overall costs slightly reduced.
- The optimal progression path to fully build out your Guardian and minimise total costs under this system is:
- Ensure Guardian is Ascended (i.e. a NFT)
- Make sure to use a Duplicate Radiant Guardians during Enlightenment Advancement
- Fill Radiance XP bar to Max Value before undergoing advancement to the next tier of Enlightenment
- If players deviate from the optimal progression path they will receive a notification advising that this is an inefficient use of resources
Introduction
Hello Commanders!
We understand that enhancing your Guardians’ Radiance and Enlightenment is a core part of the game experience. We’ve listened to your feedback and know that the current system can feel frustrating, costly, and sometimes lead to situations where Guardians are rendered inefficient — or “bricked.”
To address these challenges, we’re proposing significant changes to improve your experience. These changes aim to make Radiance progression more reliable, reduce frustration, and ensure that all Guardians, even those previously “bricked,” can become viable assets again.
We acknowledge that any changes to the Radiance and Enlightenment system can have a significant impact on Guardian value, we want to take special care to ensure that we can improve the player experience and minimise price impact. Therefore, we are clearly and transparently outlining the proposed change so that the community has the opportunity to comment and give feedback. We will not deploy this change unless a very high level of reasonable consensus has been achieved.
We invite you to read through the proposed changes below and share your thoughts, suggestions, and concerns. Your feedback is essential to making this system better for everyone!
Problems with Current System
There are three major problems we have received feedback from with respect to the current radiance system
Problem 1: Fatigue from Real Money Costs & Random Success Rates:
Many players feel disheartened by the real-money investment and randomness associated with upgrading Guardian Radiance.
Problem 2: “Bricked” Guardians:
When Guardians repeatedly fail Radiance upgrades but succeed in Enlightenment, they can become “bricked,” making further investment inefficient and unrewarding.
Problem 3: System Complexity
It is difficult for players to understand the interlinked Radiance and Enlightenment systems and their interactions
Design Goals
To solve these issues, our proposed changes focus achieving four objectives
1. Guaranteed Radiance Progression:
Eliminate the randomness in Radiance upgrades and provide a reliable progression path.
2. Eliminating “Bricked” Guardians:
Ensure Guardians can’t be “bricked” by design flaws and offer a way to revive already “bricked” Guardians.
3. Preserve Guardian Value:
Maintain the relative costs and values of Guardians that have already been upgraded under the current system.
4. Simple Rules for Advancement
Players are able to explain the rules for Enlightenment and Radiance advancement in a simple and intuitive way to new players
Proposed Design
New Radiance Progression System
We’re making Radiance progression straightforward and failure-free:
Radiance XP System
- Radiance will now increase by filling a “Radiance XP bar” to 100% for each tier of Radiance
- Please refer Tables in Appendix for numerical values and comparisons
Radiance XP Sources:
- Increase Radiance XP by consuming Radiant Duplicate Guardians or Radiant Souls
- Radiance XP cannot be reset or recovered
Duplicate Radiant Guardian XP Bonus:
- Using a duplicate Web3 Radiant Guardians will provide a one-time XP bonus per Radiance Tier for the each of the final 9 tiers of Radiance (i.e. excluding Rad 0 to Rad 1 advancement)
- Using higher duplicate Radiance Guardians does not confer any additional Radiance XP bonuses when compared to using Radiance 0 Guardians
TIP: Players can obtain the one-time XP bonus at any point per Radiant Tier, however to make efficient use of resources it is recommended that players make use of this bonus during Guardian Enlightenment
Radiance XP Overflow:
- Excess Radiance XP will carry over to the next Radiance tier (e.g., in the case of using a Radiant Duplicate Guardian).
Radiant XP is a Web2 Value and is not transferable
- XP is tied to your account, meaning it does not transfer if a Guardian is sold or traded. If this Guardian is transferred back to your wallet the XP bar to the next Radiance Tier is reset
Number of Radiance Tiers is Unchanged
- The number of Radiance Tiers is unchanged
- The rules for Radiant Advancement are unchanged. You cannot advance through Radiance Tiers faster than Enlightenment Tier
TIP: Is it optimal to advance Radiance to max, before undergoing further Enlightenment. This reduces the number of duplicate Guardians required and optimises for maximum Radiance XP generation
New Enlightenment Progression System
You will be able to increase Enlightenment through existing methods:
- The structure of duplicate guardian consumption for enlightenment has been flattened and simplified. Sacrifice 1x Duplicate Guardian (Web2 or Web3) and Faction Souls (variable) to advance Enlightenment
- Guardians that are Ascended (i.e. Radiant) can opt to sacrifice a Radiant Duplicate Guardian whilst Enlightening to also receive bonus Radiance XP (This bonus is only available only once per Radiance Tier)
- Please refer Tables in Appendix for numerical values and comparisons
TIP: It is recommended that players first reset their Enlightenment before Ascension to maximise their Radiance XP Bonus
Cracked Hearts Functionality
All Cracked Hearts will continue to operate as wildcard duplicate Radiant Guardians for the purposes of advancing Founder & Early-adopter Radiance XP
Full Hearts Functionality
Any Full Heart used in substitute of a Duplicate Radiant Guardian during Radiance Advancement will instantly advance that Guardian to the next Radiant Tier
- Full Hearts will generate 100% of the Radiance XP required for the current Radiance Tier (Any excess Radiance XP will overflow into next Tier)
- Once the new system is implemented future Guardians will no longer have Full Hearts available to them
Consultation Period
We will take feedback and consultation until 24-January-2025. We believe these changes will improve your experience by making progression reliable and ensuring that no Guardian is left behind. However, we want to hear from you:
- What do you think of the proposed changes to Radiance and Enlightenment?
- Do these solutions address your frustrations with the current system?
- What concerns or suggestions do you have to improve these changes?
Your feedback will directly shape the future of the Guild of Guardians and shape our design for Gen 2 guardians. Join the discussion and let your voice be heard!
Thank you for being part of our incredible community. We’re excited to build a better game experience together!
Share Your Feedback in our Discord here
FAQ
I just failed Radiance in my previous attempt. How will I be compensated?
We will compensate Radiance XP based on the number of failures since your last success. If you have failed a Radiance attempt using either Duplicate Guardians, Cracked Hearts, or Radiant Souls, you will receive a flat 50% of the XP required to advance to the next Radiance Tier.
Example: You have a Legendary Guardian and you have attempted to advance from 8/3 to 9/4 but failed, you currently have a 9/3 Guardian. When this update is pushed, you will still have a 9/3 but your Radiance XP Bar to get to Radiance 4 will be filled to 50%.
This new system still sounds complex, couldn’t you have simplified it more?
We considered various options to simplify the system further. One option was to allow unlimited Duplicate Guardians for Radiance Advancement (with an XP bonus to Radiant Souls), thereby further unlinking Enlightenment and Radiance progression. However, this would have affected the relative value of Radiant Souls.
We concluded that the harm to the overall value of Guardian NFTs would outweigh the benefits of a simpler system. However, we are open to community feedback and can consider additional tweaks either in this update (i.e. applied retrospectively) or in a future Gen 2 update (applied only to future Guardians)
Why even offer the option for players to pursue a suboptimal path?
A key part of GOG’s meta-game is the strategic use of scarce resources. We designed the new system in a way that does not irrevocably punish players for making mistakes (see the question on bricked Guardians below). However, players are free to pursue suboptimal strategies based on their resource budget.
We will provide notifications and warnings to inform players attempting a suboptimal strategy, ensuring that new players understand the availability of more effective approaches.
I have a Max Enlightenment Guardian, you are requiring me to provide additional Radiant Duplicates to increase Radiance, what happened to all the Duplicates I already used?
If your Guardian has already Ascended, we cannot refund or compensate for Web2 Duplicate Guardians used to increase Enlightenment. These duplicates have already provided their benefits during Ascension and Enlightenment. Additionally, there are cases (e.g., Founders and Early Cases) where Web2 versions of these Guardians do not exist.
If your Guardian has not Ascended, we recommend resetting that Guardian’s progression to retrieve the duplicate constituents. You can then Ascend one of those Guardians and pursue the optimal advancement path.
What do you mean by “bricked” Guardians?
Deep Breath: Under the current system, players attempting to maximize Radiance Success face a risk of failure during Radiance Advancement when using a Radiant Duplicate for Enlightenment. If a failure occurs, the total expected cost to advance to Max Radiance is higher than for a Guardian that succeeded. This happens because the Radiance Bonus % modifier is only applied when Radiant Duplicates are used during Enlightenment. Failures effectively “exhaust” the number of Bonus % modifiers possible.
Under the new system, while it remains more efficient to use Radiant Duplicates during Enlightenment, the Bonus XP can be obtained at any time. As a result, the expected cost to advance to Max Radiance no longer depends on prior actions. In other words, it is no longer possible to “exhaust” the Bonuses for that Guardian.
For example, consider a Legendary Guardian listed as En: 15 / Rad: 9 on the marketplace. A buyer knows that the seller either did not attempt Radiance or failed during the 14/9 to 15/10 Radiance advancement. To max this Guardian to 15/10, the buyer now must use only Radiant Souls (55,500 XP) because the Enlightenment % Chance Bonus has been exhausted. Therefore, the expected cost is higher compared to a 14/9 Guardian that has not failed Radiance. This issue can occur for any Legendary Guardian that has previously failed Radiance.
Under the new system, regardless of whether the 15/9 Guardian failed Radiance previously, the buyer can still use 1x Duplicate Radiant Guardian to receive the XP Bonus. Thus, the total cost to max Radiance for a 14/9 and a 15/9 Guardian becomes identical.
How do you know values will be preserved?
It’s impossible to know in advance how the market will respond to these realised changes. We expect a more simple and intuitive system will help retain new users, we also expect more demand and utility for duplicate radiant guardians, however the “unbricking” on existing guardians could result in more 15/10 guardians eventually existing in the market. Overall we believe these changes benefit ecosystem health more than it harms.
The Full Hearts experiment for current Gen 1 Guardians shows that there is a positive reception to removing RNG mechanics in Radiance and creating a more intuitive advancement path based on Duplicate Guardians. We believe that the current changes represent a Radiance v1.5 adjustment, and is a partial step to a more complete revamp, the requirement to preserve value means that we do not have the freedom to make more sweeping changes and we will reserve some options for Gen 2 Guardians in future.
Appendix
Optimal Cost to Max Guardian Build
Resource Conversion Table
Radiance Cost Comparison
- The table below shows the costs under the most efficient advancement method in the new system (i.e. using radiant duplicates for bonus XP) vs the most efficient advancement method using the current system (i.e. using radiant duplicates during enlightenment).
- The costs for building out a max Radiance Legendary Guardian is similar under both old and new systems. The costs for Rare and Epic Guardians have been reduced slightly.
Enlightenment Cost Comparison
Note: Using Radiant Duplicate Guardians for Enlightenment will also confer Radiant XP Bonus
