Class Balance Update — Phase 2
After the Marksman Reborn post earlier this week, I ended up in one of those “I’ll just fix this one thing” sessions that turns into an entire evening of balancing spreadsheets, class roles, and damage curves. The Marksman rebuild became the prototype, and now every class is being brought into the same progression and scaling framework.
Warrior and Paladin now feel like proper frontline anchors, Rogue and Marksman sit in their sustained/burst DPS lanes, and Mage finally behaves like the AoE–utility hybrid it was intended to be. Attributes, resource pacing, and level curves have all been tightened so each class grows predictably and plays its intended role.
Most of this came from a mix of manual tuning and automated curve checking — the kind that quickly warns you when a level 60 ability suddenly wants to break physics. With everything unified, the RPG framework finally has a backbone instead of five disconnected prototypes.
For those who like numbers, stat ladders, comparison graphs, or just want to peek behind the curtain, the complete technical document is now on the wiki:
Full 5-Class RPG System — Technical Breakdown
Last night’s session ran longer than planned — I ended up chasing down a scaling issue where Rogue’s late-game burst tried to exceed reasonable physics limits. Everything is stable now, and the full class ecosystem is finally balancing against itself instead of fighting back. Fatigue: ■■■■■■■□□□□ 65%
Fritz-cola: ■■■■■■■■■■■□ 115%
(System operational. Minor caffeine-related vibrations remain within accepted limits.)
Marksman Reborn — Full Progression, Weapons, Armor & Skills
It’s 3AM, I should absolutely be asleep, and my brain has dissolved into particle effects… but the entire Marksman class is now fully rebuilt from the ground up.
This isn’t a tweak — it’s a full RPG-class overhaul: weapons, armor identity, skills, level progression, restrictions, flavor… the works. Marksman finally feels like its own real class instead of “guy with a bow who hopes for Power V”.
🏹 35 Bow Tiers (Yes, Thirty-Five)
The Marksman now travels through five mineral-themed RPG tiers: Wood → Copper → Silver → Gold → Emerald, with 7 bows per tier (six themed builds + one “what the hell is this” joke bow).
| Tier | Level Range | Core Style | Joke Bow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wood | 1–20 | Early Power, small boosts, basic tricks | Durability + Curses |
| Copper | 21–40 | Better knockback, stronger impact | “Why is this so slow?” meme |
| Silver | 41–60 | Precision, mobility, small utility | Low velocity chaos |
| Gold | 61–80 | Sustain tools, strong attacks | High recoil disaster |
| Emerald | 81–100 | Maximum damage + custom flavour | High spread “I can’t aim but everything dies” |
And yes, crafted “shortcut” bows are now blocked — progression must be earned, not cheesed with lucky enchant combinations.
🛡 Armor Identity Lock — Light & Agile
Marksman also received a proper armor class identity. You now grow through a full set of light/agile gear designed specifically for your playstyle:
- Movement-focused defense
- Dodge mechanics
- Projectile protection
- Light armor only — no more wearing plate and pretending to be a heavy tank
The days of Marksmen running around in random iron gear are over. You have your own progression now: leather → reinforced → specialized → elite light gear.
🧠 Full Skill Tree (7 Abilities)
Marksman now unlocks seven skills as you level, covering:
- burst damage
- mobility and evasive rolls
- crowd control
- critical strike windows
- invisibility and tactical repositioning
- massive AoE ultimates
Skills are unlocked through progression and the quest/NPC system, making your class feel like a journey instead of a menu.
I am extremely tired, mildly delirious, and running entirely on caffeine — but Marksman is finally a real class. Weapons, armor, skills, progression… all aligned. Now I’m going to collapse.
State of the World & Roadmap — November 2025
November has been a massive month behind the scenes for A Game of Cubes. While public updates were quiet, development never slowed. Systems have been rebuilt, combat has been unified, new progression layers were added, AI was rewritten, and the foundations for a long-lasting RPG world took shape.
Nearly every core component of the server now runs on the latest versions — tested, validated and tuned. From Towny to MMOCore, from MythicMobs to Quests, across Citizens, Denizen, navigation logic, world protection layers and early-game progression systems — November was about strengthening the engine that everything else will rely on.
Our goal remains the same: to open the server to the public before Christmas 2025. But to get there, we’ll need testers — explorers, theorycrafters, troublemakers, and players willing to push systems hard and give honest feedback. Every dungeon, class, mob and market needs real-world pressure to shine.
AGOC is, and always will be, free to play. No pay-to-win, no donor shortcuts, no monetised progression. This project is built for fun, for challenge, for experimentation, and for the joy of discovering a world that doesn’t hold your hand.
This world is built with you — not sold to you. Testers wanted, ideas welcome, feedback appreciated.
Late Night Update — Stress Tests, Effects Passes & Hub World Design
Today’s work focused on testing, polishing and validating everything we’ve built across the month. With so many systems upgraded and integrated, the goal was simple: push things hard and confirm the world behaves under pressure.
We ran stress tests on combat, world navigation, class abilities, NPC interactions and chunk loading under rapid movement. Effect triggers, visual cues and ability feedback also received a full pass to ensure they behaved consistently with the class and mob scaling systems.
Meanwhile, the design team has been hard at work shaping the new spawn hub world. This includes layout design, visual theming, wayfinding improvements and preparing space for the early questline NPCs, portals and guidance flow. The hub is becoming the beating heart of AGOC’s early-game experience.
- 🧪 Combat stress testing across multiple regions
- ✨ Ability & effects consistency testing (players and mobs)
- 🚶 Navigation and world loading checks under high movement
- 🎨 Spawn hub redesign in progress
- 🧭 Improved wayfinding and new-player flow
- ⚙ Final stability tuning before December’s sprint
“Long day today. A lot of fixes, a lot of testing, and a lot of small things no one ever sees but matter for the whole experience. I’ve learnt plenty during this push — more than I planned — and I really hope it pays off when players start walking around this world. Even a handful of testers would make all of this feel worthwhile.”
Stress tests done, effects checked, hub layout tightened up, NPC paths corrected, scaling verified under load. It wasn’t glamorous work, but the game feels more solid tonight.
Update Stability Check & Version Validation
Today wasn’t about adding new features — it was about making sure everything we’ve updated over the last two weeks is actually behaving the way it should. With so many systems upgraded to their latest versions, this was a full-scale stability pass to confirm all the moving parts are playing nicely together.
MMOCore, MythicLib, MythicMobs, Towny, Citizens, Denizen, Quests and the rest of the stack all received compatibility checks. We verified that classes load correctly, NPCs behave consistently, world protections work as intended, and no plugin updates introduced strange edge cases or conflicts.
These deep-dive checks don’t make eye-catching headlines, but they’re crucial — especially with so many core components upgraded in a short period. Everything is stable, synced and ready for the larger content drops coming on the 27th.
- 🔍 Full compatibility pass across all updated plugins
- ⚙ Verified latest versions of core systems are stable
- 🧠 NPC logic & scripting tested after updates
- 🛡 Towny protections and region logic revalidated
- 🎯 Class loading, scaling and ability hooks checked
- 🌐 World & navigation sanity checks completed
“Stability first. New features mean nothing if the foundation isn’t rock solid.”
Version validation completed, update conflicts resolved, systems confirmed stable across the board after major upgrades.
Discord Verification & Anti-Abuse
To keep the world safe from trolls and bad actors, AGOC now requires every player to link their Discord account before leaving the protected spawn area. A dedicated verification NPC has been placed at the entrance, guiding new players through the process.
This wasn’t added lightly. Even during the earliest testing phase, we had someone (and yes, we all know who) spam swastikas and insults around spawn. That confirmed what we already suspected — we want to spend our time building the world, not cleaning up after people who join just to cause problems.
The verification system stops most of that instantly. Real players get in, bots and trolls don’t, and the community stays focused on exploration, adventure and fun instead of policing drama.
- 🔗 Discord verification required before leaving spawn
- 🧍 NPC guide added to walk new players through the process
- 🚫 Prevents trolls, bots and throwaway accounts
- 🛡 Protects the world from early-stage griefing
- ✨ Keeps development time focused on world-building
“Verification isn’t about control — it’s about keeping the world fun for the players who actually want to be here.”
Verification NPC deployed, Discord link system activated, spawn protection reinforced after early abuse incident.
Community Rules & Ethics
AGOC comes from a long history of brutal, sandbox-heavy games — EVE Online, Darkfall, full-loot PvP worlds where deception, ambushes and scamming are just part of the game. We embrace that spirit of chaos and creativity inside the gameplay itself.
But there is a hard line between competitive gameplay and antisocial behaviour. We do not tolerate harassment, personal attacks, slurs, real-life threats or anything that crosses into targeting a player as a human being rather than as a character in-game. The world should be harsh — the community should not.
This system lets us focus on building the world instead of policing constant drama. If players want to be ruthless competitors in-game, that’s great. If they want to bring toxicity into the community, they’re gone.
- ⚔ Brutal gameplay is encouraged
- 🕵 Scams, ambushes & deception allowed as game mechanics
- 🚫 Zero tolerance for harassment or hate speech
- ❌ Real-life threats or targeted abuse = instant removal
- 💬 Community stays fun while the world remains dangerous
“Chaos in gameplay is fine. Being a terrible human is not.”
Ruleset finalised, communication boundaries defined, community safety logic implemented to reduce moderation overhead.
Player Shops & Marketplace
We considered building an entirely new trading system from scratch, but the reality is simple: players don’t want to relearn something that already works beautifully elsewhere. So instead of reinventing the wheel, we chose the best of the best and built around it.
The result is a clean, robust marketplace at the hub with eight dedicated player-run shop plots. These plots can be rented, upgraded and adapted over time — and their rent will evolve naturally based on market demand, economy inflation and competition.
This brings back the classic RPG merchant fantasy: players running real shops, competing for customers, cornering markets and building reputations as the go-to traders on the server.
- 🛒 Eight player-run shop plots in the hub
- 📈 Rent evolves dynamically with supply & demand
- 🏪 Players can run full merchant businesses
- ⚖ Stable, proven shop system chosen deliberately
- 🎭 Classic RPG trader fantasy brought to life
“You don’t need a new wheel — just a well-built cart. Let the merchants fight for customers.”
Hub market constructed, eight rentable shop plots added, pricing model set to scale with demand, trading loop stabilised.
Economy Systems — Physical Currency Returns
The AGOC economy is built on a simple philosophy: money should feel real. Instead of abstract balances safely tucked away in menus, we use a physical currency system. Players earn, carry and store actual money — just like classic RPGs.
This creates real stakes during exploration. Carrying your wealth into the wilderness is a risk, and forgetting to bank your earnings can cost you dearly. It brings tension, meaning and story potential back into something as simple as a pouch of coins.
There is no invisible safety net. Your decisions matter, and the world reacts to them.
- 💰 Physical currency system — money exists as real items
- ⚠ Carrying wealth is risky during exploration
- 🏦 Banking becomes essential gameplay
- 🪓 Death means potential financial loss
- 🎲 Classic RPG feel restored to the economy
“If you head into danger with a fortune in your pocket… that’s on you. Bank wisely.”
Physical currency enabled, death-risk economy balanced, banking logic completed, traditional RPG risk-reward loop restored.
Wilderness Camps & Early Settlements
Before towns come into play, players begin their journey as wanderers. Towns are expensive, meaningful and intended to be long-term goals — not something a fresh adventurer should immediately own. To bridge the gap, Wilderness Camps provide the first real foothold in the world.
These camps act as lightweight early settlements: a safe place to rest, stash loot, regroup with friends and prepare for deeper exploration. They keep the early game flexible while maintaining the long-term prestige of founding a proper town.
The progression is intentional and grows naturally: wanderer → explorer → settler → eventually a leader of a thriving town.
- 🏕 Temporary early-game Wilderness Camps
- 📦 Storage & rest points for new adventurers
- 🤝 Supports solo or small-group exploration
- 🧭 Bridges the gap toward founding full towns
- 🌲 Fits AGOC’s “earn your place in the world” philosophy
“You shouldn’t start with a kingdom — you start with a campfire, a chest, and a dream.”
Wilderness Camp system activated, early-game pacing refined, Towny progression balanced for long-term settlement growth.
Towny & Community Systems
Towny remains the backbone of AGOC’s settlement and political structure. After years of using it across different servers, it’s still unmatched in stability, depth and the level of control it offers. Towny can look intimidating at first, but with our menu layers and simplified options, players will find it easier than ever to build, rent and manage their own space in the world.
The core idea is simple: towns should be meaningful. Something built through effort, cooperation and time. Towny gives towns and nations a real identity while offering an enormous amount of depth through plot controls, upkeep, permissions and long-term growth.
This system ensures the world naturally evolves as players settle, expand and shape the landscape — with each town telling its own story as it rises (or falls) over time.
- 🏙 Full Towny integration for towns and nations
- 📦 Extensive plot management & control
- 🏠 Plot rentals for flexible living spaces
- ⚒ Long-term town growth and settlement progression
- 📘 Menu systems to make Towny easier for new players
- 📜 Designed for meaningful, lasting communities
“A town should feel earned — not just claimed. Build it, defend it, grow it, and leave your mark on the world.”
Towny configured with clearer protections, plot rules refined, menus added, settlement systems stabilised for long-term play.
Combat Scaling, Mob Behaviour & Persistence
AGOC’s combat is built to feel fair, challenging and deeply tied to the RPG systems that define your character. To achieve this, we’ve rebuilt large portions of mob behaviour, damage logic and combat persistence across the entire world.
MythicMobs now controls a wide range of custom mobs, biome-restricted spawns and unique scripted encounters. We’re gradually overwriting Minecraft’s default AI to ensure every region has personality, danger and surprises worth discovering.
Under the hood, MythicLib provides the shared damage, stat and scaling engine for both players and mobs. This lets us create a unified combat experience so everything plays by the same rules — no more cheesy one-sided gimmicks.
And to prevent “logoffski” tactics, we’ve enabled a persistence system for both mobs and PvP engagements. If you provoke something dangerous, logging out mid-fight won’t magically save you.
- 🐉 Custom mob behaviours and rewritten AI
- 🌲 Biome-specific creature types & encounter themes
- ⚡ Unique scripted fights powered by MythicMobs
- 🧮 Unified combat formulas (MMOCore ↔ MythicLib ↔ MythicMobs)
- 🗡 Shared scaling rules for both players and monsters
- ⛓ Anti-logoffski persistence system enabled
- 🔥 Combat meant to be dangerous, fair and memorable
“If a monster is dangerous, running away should feel earned — not solved by pressing the logout button.”
MythicMobs AI updated, biome behaviours implemented, MythicLib scaling integrated, persistence logic active for PvE & PvP.
RPG Classes & Combat Systems
The core of AGOC’s RPG gameplay is now fully online. We’ve established classes, skill progression, weapon restrictions, ability paths and combat logic — tying it all together into a unified and consistent system. The focus is on meaningful roles, classic RPG identity and combat depth without overwhelming players.
MMOCore handles the core class system, with skills unlocking through quests, progression and story content. Players begin by choosing from five primary classes, each supporting a classic archetype and a defined combat purpose.
Gear progression is powered by MMOItems, linking our custom weapons and MythicMobs drops into a proper RPG loot and itemisation structure. This allows for rare items, special effects, ability-based gear and a progression path that feels earned instead of random.
- ⚔️ Five active base classes: Warrior, Rogue, Archer, Mage, Paladin
- 🔮 MMOItems powering custom gear, weapons and advanced builds
- 🐉 MythicMobs providing scripted encounters & enemy skillsets
- 🧮 MythicLib handling shared combat formulas for both mobs & players
- 🛡 Full skill and damage scaling synced across all systems
- 🎯 Weapon restrictions & role identity back in focus
- 📈 Future quests will unlock additional skills and class paths
“Classes should feel meaningful — not just stats, but identity. Your class defines your path, your strengths and your weaknesses.”
MMOCore initial class set active, MMOItems integrated with MythicMobs, combat formulas unified via MythicLib, weapon roles defined, skill progression path established.
Wilderness Camps & Early Settlements
While Towny will eventually define the political landscape of AGOC, we never wanted new players to feel forced into towns on day one. Towns are expensive, meaningful and end-game achievements — not something a fresh wanderer should instantly own.
To support natural progression, Wilderness Camps are now active. These temporary settlements give solo players and small groups a place to breathe, stash items, repair gear, rest up and prepare for deeper exploration without committing to a full town.
Camps are intentionally simple, but they form the first real “home” new adventurers get. A stepping stone from wanderer → explorer → settler → eventually a leader of a proper town.
- 🏕 Temporary wilderness camps added
- 🛏 Early-game safe foothold for adventuring players
- 📦 Basic storage & regroup point without full Towny costs
- 🧭 Smooth progression path toward founding towns
- 🌲 Part of the core AGOC exploration philosophy
“You shouldn’t need a kingdom on day one — just a fire, a chest, and a reason to keep exploring.”
Wilderness Camp system integrated, early-game progression smoothed, Towny barrier lowered without reducing long-term goals.
Faster Updates, Cleaner Deploys
Today was a “tools and polish” day. We tightened up the way the website and the Minecraft server receive updates, so small changes can be shipped much faster.
This doesn’t change gameplay directly, but it means you’ll see more frequent, smaller updates instead of giant drops.
- ⚙️ Website and server now have a safer update path
- 🛡 Player-facing pages stay clean — admin stuff moved to the private wiki
- 📣 Discord can post links to specific updates automatically
- 🧭 Public GitHub now mirrors progress for people following the project
More frequent, smaller updates help us move faster and keep you in the loop.
Refined publish → deploy → notify flow. Separated public updates from internal notes to keep this page player-friendly.
Party Commands & Group Play
The new party system is now live — team up, share adventures, and travel together across the world.
/party create— Create a party (you become leader)/party invite <player>— Invite someone online/party accept— Accept an invite/party part— Leave the party/party disband— Disband (leader only)/party list— Show members
Invites expire after 2 minutes. Leadership transfers automatically if the leader leaves.
Parties persist briefly after logout so you can reconnect without rebuilding your group.
Reworked chat and invite flow; clearer status messages for leaders.
Back to the Core RPG Spirit
After much internal debating, we’re bringing the server back to an early-RPG feel — the era of Baldur’s Gate, Ultima, Lineage, Guild Wars, early WoW, and even that “hard but worth it” feeling from EVE Online.
That means: fewer forced visual effects, more focus on the adventure and on the people you play with.
- ⚔️ Four base classes to start: Warrior, Archer, Mage, Cleric
- 🌍 Towny stays — still the core for land & social
- 💰 Bank and auction house planned
- 🖥 Lighter effects for players on non-gaming rigs
“Early RPGs were about the story and the people, not just the particles.”
World renamed, first dungeon layout planned, hub rebuild in progress.