Tibia is one of the classic MMORPGs. This year, the game turns 25 years old. Some players have apparently become exceedingly strong over the long time and have achieved levels in the four-digit range. A nerf is now intended to remedy this.
Which MMORPG is it? The game is Tibia, one of the oldest MMORPGs ever. It comes from the game studio CipSoft and was released in 1997. At the beginning of 2022, the game celebrated its 25th anniversary.
The game boomed in 2020 so much that the employees received a significant pay raise.
Even though the game is somewhat older, it still has loyal fans today. Apparently, players have been actively playing Tibia for many years, becoming so strong that a nerf is needed to reduce the scaling of the values “damage” and “healing” per level.
Here you see the trailer for an MMORPG that combines Tibia and Ultima Online:
“Many already have characters over level 1000”
What does the nerf of the players look like? The nerf refers to the “damage” and “healing” of a character. The influence of levels on these two values will be reduced.
There is a new scaling regarding how much the values of damage and healing increase when higher levels are reached:
- Up to level 500: no change, damage and healing +1 every 5 levels
- Levels 501-1100: damage and healing +1 every 6 levels
- Levels 1101-1800: damage and healing +1 every 7 levels
- Levels 1801-2600: damage and healing +1 every 8 levels
- Levels 2601-3500: damage and healing +1 every 9 levels
- Above level 3500 it continues with the same logic (steps of 500, 600, 700, etc.)
Why are the players getting nerfed? According to the community manager of Tibia, the speed at which characters level up has accelerated, resulting in: “Many already have characters over level 1000” (via tibia.com).
The problem: Even at these extremely high levels, the character values of “damage” and “healing” continue to increase – every 5 levels by a value of 1.
The previous scaling of the values no longer works this way since players simply have too strong characters too quickly.
Furthermore, the game makers want to shift the focus of Tibia more towards equipment and skills.
This change also applies retroactively. This means: For characters over level 500, the damage and healing will now be lower depending on the current level than before the nerf.
In the end, the community managers of the game studio write: “We know this is a significant step, but it is necessary for the balance of the game, especially since the upcoming ‘Skill Wheel’ will make characters overall stronger than they were before tomorrow’s adjustment” (tibia.com).
What is the ‘Skill Wheel’? The ‘Skill Wheel’ is intended to be added as a new feature in the winter update for the game. A sneak peek from Tibia provides information about it:
This feature will allow the player further specialization of their character based on individual preferences and play style. The character receives points with each level, which can then be used to unlock further advantages.
Among the advantages are small changes, such as an “increase in total hit points”, but also stronger effects like access to a new spell.
What do you think about the player nerf in Tibia? Feel free to write it to us in the comments.
Here you will find an interview from MeinMMO with Stephan Vogler, one of the founders of the game studio behind Tibia.
