Wizard Wednesday Recap, 2024-09-11

Introductions

The team channels in from the Quantum Downs with Tad Major, who says he has been released from the "Ticket Dungeon" which he jokes has "terrible drops."

After a bit of interference, Dotta connects and asks what level everyone is in the Runiverse game. Elf says he's level 13 and Bear says that he's level 7. Dotta says that he is level 15 and that he's "got to get to level 20."

Land Exploit

Elf asks Dotta to speak about the Runiverse Land hack that occurred on the morning of the show. Dotta mentions that there was an exploit of the Land minting infrastructure, which he says was, "not great." He says the exploiter was "relatively friendly," and what he would consider a Gray Hat, as they sold some of the plots they minted, but felt a bit bad about it because they really liked the game, and they returned some of the plots.

Dotta commends the Bisonic team's actions as they took care of the exploit. He also notes that the minting process will likely move to a delay system when the Runiverse full game goes live in order to better detect anomalies.

Elf asks Dotta if he invited the exploiter to Join the Cult after his "hostage negotiation." Dotta says he didn't and calls it "a miss."

Are Land Owners Part of the Cult?

Dotta says this brings up the question of if owners of only Runiverse Land are considered a part of the Cult.

Bearsnake says yes:

"You own a piece of the Runiverse? That screams 'Cult' to me."

Corrupted Land

Dotta answers a question about this exploited Land becoming Corrupted—as in having the "Corrupted" trait on-chain. He says the plan for that is, "No."

Dotta notes another Land exploit that happened earlier in the Runiverse Open Beta test, saying the team were trying to "make lemonade" and make something fun for folks to have out of that situation by giving them unique traits specific to those Land plots that "grant bonuses in the full game's release." He says there was pushback about that, saying that the "reward" should just be the cheap Land, stating members in the Discord were questioning the morality of buying the "stolen" Land. Dotta confirms that there will be no unique trait for the most recently exploited Lands.

Land Browser

Dotta segues into conversation about the Land Browser (or the Runiverse "Zillow"). He says he isn't sure that anyone outside of the team understands the size of the Runiverse, mentioning the Beta Tests' heavy reliance on teleportation for travel. He says he thinks the scale of the game world will be revealed once the Land Browser is released. Dotta notes that not all of the game's Land will be revealed upon release of the first full build, "but you'll be able to get a sense of scale of the continent."

He says the full game will be open-world with the ability to walk from place to place.

"Really and truly, you're going to need those mounts, because the world is just massive."

Expanded Content Alpha

Madotsuki joins to say that this still won't be all of the content in the game, as they plan to expand into other areas after the game's full release. Entropy also mentions "everything that's underwater in Atlantis" could be a whole DLC package.

The Team Talks Most Wanted Land

Elf says that it's already been fun browsing the Land plots on Mavis Market, saying that he really needs a plot in the Thorn.

Bear says to join him in Dream Master Lake.

Elf asks Dotta where he would like to settle, to which Dotta says that he thinks the Lore is in the Dotta Token's name. Entropy says he has a Carnival Pass Plot for trade if Dotta wants.

Elf asks Entropy about his favorite plots of Real Estate. Entropy says that out of the plots he owns, his favorites are probably in the Fur Gnome Wold or the Blood Dunes.

Madotsuki says that he was able to grab a plot in the Fey that is right beside a few giant mushrooms, and that he's very happy with that location—nodding to his Wizard Magus Devon and her affinity for Quantum Mushrooms.

Dotta asks if anyone in the Cult plays GeoGuessr—a game about guessing geographical locations from Google Street View—before saying that he has a Runiverse GeoGuessr game on his wishlist.

Runiverse Success

Then, Bearsnake says they should talk about how the game is the 13th most used dApp in the world.

Dotta says that Crypto Twitter is "so dead right now."​

He asks:

"Who would have thought the Runiverse game would been doing more transactions that Uniswap V2?—and that includes Ethereum and Base."

He says that these numbers are from DappRadar.

Jeldor Joins

Then, Runiverse Lead Jeldor joins the conversation. Jeldor nods to the community's overall patience with the team during the "fires" that have occurred during the OBT saying that it's inspiring and motivational for the team to see everyone's enthusiasm for the game. ​

Dotta says that he thinks it's important for people to see and hear the faces behind the game, because a lot of people had to work really hard over the last three years to get the game to where it is. He acknowledges that it isn't perfect and that it will get better, saying that the team has appreciated everyone's feedback and support.

Differences In the Full Build of the Game

Then, Dotta defers to Jeldor to answer a question about the percentage of the game content that has been seen so far. Jeldor says that first, progression in the Beta Tests has been condensed in that there will be a long range between levels and spells. He notes that the content, "won't be as quickly consumed." He also notes that there will be new outdoor areas, Quest lines, and Dungeons. Jeldor adds that they're also doing their best to incorporate stories from the Book of Lore.

Dotta and Jeldor speak about the game's metrics and the skepticism some community members have expressed for the organic numbers in data, such as Daily Donut minters. Jeldor notes his background working on games such as Elder Scrolls Online and other similar experiences, speaking to his ability to compare certain performance indicators. He says the global traffic of the Runiverse is not dissimilar in concurrent users to a game like Albion Online, which he describes as a mature game that has been active for around half a decade.

Game Economy

Bearsnake mentions that the economy for the game hasn't even really been "switched on" yet, and he thinks that the emergent economy from the starting player base will be fun to see. Madotsuki says that he's excited for all of the other features that will come along with Land plots, noting that there are other facilities besides homesteads that players will be able to build and benefit from. He says it will be interested to see the economy that builds around the locations where people build certain facilities like Forges that other players will be able to use. He mentions that everything surrounding Land is in early development and he's interest to see how it unfolds.

Giveahoot Joins

Giveahoot then joins to speak about the Dire Bear Challenge, which was an activation by the team to see who could build a party to defeat a toughened iteration of one of the Dungeon bosses. Giveahoot also nods to the announcement about the Land exploit, saying that it was the most well-crafted response to an exploit that he has seen in Web3.

Homesteads Capped

Dotta says that Runiverse Closed Beta Test reached the cap for Homesteads distributed through the Font of Memories. These were replaced with "Scalebound Chests," which he asks Jeldor to speak on. First, Jeldor notes that once the Land has been earned in-game that players still need to mint it, and they're seeing that there are players who still have not minted, so the on-chain data is not 1:1 with the cap.​

Jeldor and Dotta speak about the Land distribution with regard to areas of the game that have not yet been fully built out. They both speak to the desire to have distributed Land playable.

Runiverse Banners

Dotta asks Entropy and Bearsnake to speak about Guild banners. Bearsnake says that these in-game items were another opportunity to embrace the Ronin community and welcome them to the game "in the right way."

He says there are "a ton more planned" for the Cult. He says this is exciting as it was a way for the team to react to actions in the game in real time. Entropy notes that banners that are crafted in the game will be persistent through builds. He also adds that the door is open for more future similar collaborations.

Cult Questions

Runiverse Cards

Elf then says he has received a handful of Cult Questions that are tangential to the game, starting with one from SPZ, who asks if there are more cards than his current holdings. Jeldor reveals that there are more cards that will be available later in the game and a full set to collect.

Timeframe On New Donuts

Elf answers a question about the timeframe for new flavors of Donuts. He says there is no set time frame, and he has to leave it at that as Bear and Dotta disappear from the stage. He says he would guess in the next week or two.​

3D Halloween Warrior Event

Elf receives a question about the postponed 3D Warrior Event and responds that the team will be doing the 3D Warrior Event on Halloween. He says it will be the most fun yet, as it will include Wizards, Souls, and Warriors.

"There might be some Donuts involved."

Guild Support In The Runiverse's Future

The team takes another question about future support for Runiverse Guilds, to which Jeldor notes that the builds that are set up in the Hedge Wizard Encampment will be able to be built for use in other areas, noting that it would be possible for certain guilds to have the only available armor recipe in an area, for instance.

He says that this is leaning into the player-driven economy.

Cult Content

As the guild discussion winds down, the team reviews the Cult Content Chronicle—the creative contributions of the community at large—aggregated weekly by Tania del Rio.