My idea for elder realms, my thoughts on exalt and my dreams for the future
Interdimensional travel
I’ve always liked the realms lore, how the enemies are all connected being revealed bit by bit through item description, enemy speech or by the environments aesthetic sort of like Minecraft, youtuber Minecraft Abnormals coined the term Quasilore which I like and would also like to use here.
The bits of lore that inspired me are the portals from which we traverse and how “we” and oryx himself seem to be able to open these portals, he can even close the whole realm down and transport the players to his main realm. This makes me think that the realms are each like their own world and we as the players travel around our universe, but something doesn’t seem right it’s like we are stuck in time eternally defeating oryx, which is fine he has been the undefeated champion going on 10 years and he IS the mad god after all.
And why might that be? In a world full of magical creatures with UNLIMITED POWER how can one mad boi be so powerful? Well as a prologue I propose that Oryx wasn’t always like that, but after uncovering the magic of interdimensional travel he went mad with power and started to control everything and everyone sort of like a peculiar pickle that you may know of. That’s why oryx is so powerful he is even in our vaults as a friendly reminder sort of like saying “hey, I can pop you and your gift chest y’know”.
Dance dance realmolution
But things don’t stay the same forever, with the addition and killing of O3 we now ask ourselves, what’s next? How can we keep improving and expanding on the game while catering to many playstyles? Well here is where my interpretation of a great fan idea comes in place and I call it, dance dance realmolution, yes it’s elder realms but I like realmolution.
Everyone has seen the videos, read the threads, bickuried the boxes and I want to throw my idea into the collective consciousness as well. So, what if when you killed O3 (I haven’t killed him), you finally either defeat him or weaken him enough so that the interdimensional magic can be discovered and used again and now we use that power to continue on forwards in time towards much older realms.
And what are these realms like? Well I think that they can be sort of like a look to a future without oryx with all the gods being freed from oryx’s grip, be it for better or worse, and how they are now able to use their full powers and continue on growing. I imagine these realms to be different from their younger realm counterpart but still have the aesthetic of their gods, minions and dungeons.
I use the term dance dance realmolution because i want these newer dungeons to focus and utilize the new unity engine with differences like how the HTT has dynamic shots, in order to make more interesting shot patterns to make us chimps dance sort of like the shot patterns of Xolotls final phase. I feel that having those dynamic fights, whether that be in a group or alone (TSR), helps keep the game feel consistent, challenging and fair like a good bullet hell should be.
Bigger dungeons could also help convey how much better or powerful these elder gods are, instead of the manor of the immortals, over time it has become the mansion of the undying and we could still have Ruthven but instead of being the main boss he is the treasure room boss with a newer younger god taking the main bosses position with shots that resemble ruthvens like those healing shots that he throws.
Let me in! Let me iiiin
And how do we gain access to these elder realms? I’ve seen ideas like making the portal drop from O3 but instead of locking it behind a fight, I think it should be unlockable like the other classes. I’ve recently come back to the realm after a 7 year break and I was able to go from light blue to red star in no time so I propose locking the elder realms and making it so you have to be a yellow or orange star to enter these realms. Having a 3 - 4.5 star average on each class shows experience and proficiency. Another idea is based on exaltations and you having to complete a certain number of exaltations in order for that class to be able to enter.
I do feel that if something like these realms is implemented, a lot of thought has to be put into this because being an expanding MMO, content scaling could be an issue and so we could look at other games like WoW and take notes on how to implement new content by expansions. Long term I could see Deca releasing new realms being sort of like the new expansions of the game showing different sides and times of the same in the game universe continuing to expand on the lore, story and gameplay.
And of course oryx can come back and this also opens the door to greater more complex stories, maybe on one realm when oryx was defeated he went to the void entity as a final gamble but the void entity crossed his fingers and their pact was invalidated so now its Realm of the Mad Void and the realm is engulfed in pure evil. This way realms are also reminiscent of another idea that rotmg had, the rifts events that were planned. That way the realm can keep expanding and telling stories breathing life into beloved game ideas that might have been neglected or played a lesser role in previous realm incarnations without having to deus ex machina everything.
Gimme the loot
But what would be the reward for these realms? How can we make this expansion interesting without making less of the existing realms? Well, what if we kill 2 birds with one stone and make these elder realms drop tradable uts, the lore reason behind it being that we are now able to share our items with our new magic, making them no longer soulbound.
These tradable uts should be as good as the old soulbound ones but maybe drop more frequently, and the new enemies could also drop new tradable ut items or enhanced versions of previous loved items now filled with more power. This way, being that experienced player with “x” stars allows you to be a more competitive player breathing new life into the games economy.
Now not all uts have to drop and maybe we could even make the existing uts tradable and not limit them to the elder realms, but diversity keeps the drops interesting and adds more strategy to the grind. And to keep the old realms interesting we could let those gods still drop the soulbound uts and being a relique from the past they could have an increased xp / fame boost while in these newer realms. That way new players are still expected to grind, and you can still get value from the normal realms, but you have a new goal and the grind can slow down once you achieve those stars (at least until the next expansion).
To infinity and beyond
So, is this the future of realm? Well it might be, keeping in mind that it is an MMO RPG going on 10 years, I would like to see more of these games genres’ intricacies implemented like better economics, maybe a crafting system and all around strategy and variety. Thinking of realms like expansions could breathe new life and help revamp realms playstyle as a whole making it less of a numb grind and keeping it fresh as new features arise.
The secret texts: Monetization
Realm is a game run by DECA who are looking to make a profit out of the game, releasing realm expansions like I proposed could make it so they can put in more effort with clearer numbers in mind allowing themselves to introduce new mechanics.
But you wouldn’t have to worry too much, the realm that we all know and love would stay there as the “base” game with other realms being added as dlc expansions giving the players more flexibility on how they want to experience the game while keeping what we already like.
Conclusion
These were my thoughts upon rewatching realm videos and thinking about the long term game. My intentions are not disregard the progress and good intent that deca has put because I think that they’ve done a good job now cementing a solid base with the unity port and It’ll be interesting to see in which direction they take the game. I’m no game designer but I would love to hear your opinion on my opinion and continue the conversation.
Hope Nox sees this, under k gang
Thanks for reading