Shadow Realm? Excited? Not sure what to expect? Let us explain! The Shadow Realm is coming to Endor as inevitably as winter comes to Westeros. It brings danger and new challenges. Beyond the gates, monsters from another world are already waiting, beings that defy the physical laws of Endor. Fighting them will be difficult, perhaps even impossible, unless we adapt our weapons to exploit their weaknesses.
Shadow Realm will introduce new enemies, locations, dungeons, and game mechanics. A key feature will be collecting crystals, combining them into powerful infusions, and transferring their strength to weapons and armor. Without these infusions, fighting the creatures in the shadows will be nearly impossible. As you progress and encounter stronger monsters, you will find that infusions will become increasingly essential. The tougher the enemy, the more infusions you will need.
Before entering the Shadow Realm (SR), players will first need to unlock the ability Shadeshift. With this ability, any blue player will be able to travel from our world to SR and back again from anywhere. In SR, other forms of teleportation, such as recalls, will not be possible unless you are an player killer.
The opening of this new world also brings changes to the existing world. Our goal is to make it easier for less experienced players to start the game without unnecessary difficulties. The entire world of Endor, its cities, wilderness, and dungeons, will be free of unwanted player-versus-player (PvP) combat. The primary risks will come from battling monsters. However, we do not think it would be fair for players to acquire powerful gear in this safe environment without ever venturing into the SR world. Therefore, endgame equipment, strong enchants, rare runewords, advanced magical items, larger iridium, rare ores, and wood will only be obtainable in the Shadow Realm. This world will retain the existing risks of PvP combat, theft, and murder.
As part of the Shadow Realm, we also plan to revamp how gear is acquired. Loot will be redistributed to allow players to farm specific dungeons, locations, or bosses for specific items. For example, while some enchants, runewords, or set items will still be available throughout the world, desired items, for example a druid’s set robe or the best enchanting scroll, will be easier to find in particular dungeons where their drop rate will be higher.
For a long time, we have been observing player behavior in dungeons and looking for ways to make the entire dungeon experience engaging, not just the chests at the end. Over the past year, we have made adjustments to prevent players from simply rushing to the final boss. However, we believe it is also possible to motivate players to explore by improving loot outside of chests and bosses. Therefore, across the entire world, not just in dungeons, rewards from regular monsters will be enhanced in comparsion to dungeon chests.
The ability to farm specific gear, coupled with the stronger monsters and better loot in SR, led us to the decision to implement level requirements for items. We understand that players were not thrilled about this change, and we get it. It is frustrating to lose access to powerful gear. You have worked hard to collect it and looked forward to using it to crush your enemies. However, Endor Revived has only been active for a little over a year, and we, the Endor team, have no intention of stopping development. We regret that this change may temporarily inconvenience existing players, but we firmly believe that over the coming years, through the introduction of new locations, easier gear acquisition, and all the planned improvements, we will deliver a better overall experience.
Since we are planning for Endor in the long term, we are aware of the fact that gear does not naturally disappear from the game world. Through recyclers, players gain access to increasingly powerful equipment, creating a growing gap between new players and the most experienced veterans. Other games address this issue with periodic resets, leagues, seasons, and similar systems. We believe that this approach does not fit Endor, so we are keeping a close eye on the situation. To address this, we will introduce a system where gear repairs will require not only iridium but also ingots, wood, and enchanting materials. All those surplus magical items gathering dust in your storage will hopefully gain a new purpose.
We also acknowledge the current disparity in gear repair needs between classes, for example, tanks versus druids. As part of this update, we will balance durability consumption across classes and roles so tanks will not consume all the iridium. Additionally, we will make it easier to farm basic iridium, so new players can keep up with the challenges.
The year 2024 brought many new mechanics to Endor: Forgotten Realms, Rebirth, Meteors, Slayer Titles, and God’s Blessing. It also brought improvements to existing systems, such as pet behavior, individual Treasure Maps, an overhaul of experience gains, and improvements to skill leveling outside of afk play. In 2025, we do not want to focus solely on the Shadow Realm. We are also planning updates to crafting, so that every profession remains relevant in the endgame. Currently, professions like alchemy, enchanting, and blacksmithing dominate. We are revamping Antonio’s quests to make them more accessible to more players. We will adjust summon behavior to match the improvements made to pets. We are rebalancing the Heretic class, introducing new paperdolls tied to world bosses, reworking runewords, which is already being tested on the PTR, and making various bug fixes and balance adjustments.
We welcome new players and greet all existing ones. We believe we are offering a unique experience you will not find in any other game. Thank you for being with us. A special thank you to all our Patreon supporters, without whom Endor as we know it would not exist.
