Hey Travelers,
Over the last few years, the world has collectively been figuring out how to exist during a global health crisis. For us at Northern Forge, we knew from early in the pandemic that we had a responsibility to keep our players safe. Since our game is GPS-based and requires players to get outside and experience the game, we knew this meant that we had to offer more for them to do in-game from the safety of their homes.
This led us to the implementation of the buff you see on your Events tab called “It’s Definitely Still Dangerous Out There” – which gives players increased Orns earned and offers reduced Gauntlet cooldowns so that playing from the comfort of your home was made easier.
We’ve watched other games remove their pandemic related changes, and have found it to be unfair. These changes have been the norm for many players; we believe that players should be able to enjoy Orna the way they want to play, and for many players, the removal of the “Dangerous” buff would drastically change the way they’ve come to experience Orna.
We’ve decided that we will be keeping this buff enabled permanently and making it the new normal of Orna.
This means that you will no longer see the buff in the Events tab or on your buff panel but will instead just be merged into the game as the standard experience. We believe that players should be able to enjoy Orna their way and for many, the removal of this buff would drastically change the way they experience Orna. With the addition of Memory Hunts and other upcoming GPS features, we are confident that Orna can keep its identity as a GPS game while also allowing those who cannot or prefer not to move around to enjoy the game as well.
We’ve got a lot of great things coming for our players over the next few months. With Hero of Aethric inching closer to release, a brand-new class line, and the new endgame content: Towers of Olympia, we’re excited to keep growing the Ornaverse alongside you, Traveler.