In the last update, our main focus was on adjusting the harvesting system and its related profession skill trees to make them more satisfying to use. We also introduced the first factions which are now actively involved in a faction war. Finally, we listened to your feedback and reduced the repair costs for common and higher-quality items, making repairs more affordable and at the same time improving the graphics of the game. Read everything you need to know here!

All about Harvesting

With this update, all harvestable spots now require a tool of a specific quality, which will be clearly displayed on your screen. The further you venture from Junction, the higher the quality of tool required to harvest. To put it simply: You can use poor-quality tools for harvesting in Junction, but in the outer rings, higher-quality tools are necessary. There are a two key details to keep in mind with this new system. Firstly, higher-quality tools can still be used to harvest resources with lower quality requirements. Secondly, when two eligible tools are in the same container, the system will automatically prioritize the lowest quality tool that meets the requirement. For instance, if you need a remarkable lockpick to open a coin door and have both a remarkable and a superior lockpick equipped, the system will select the remarkable one.

Improvised Weapons as Tools

These changes also affect improvised weapons which can be used as tools. While they are available in all qualities, their damage does not scale with quality, and they cannot be upgraded or have mods as they are intended primarily for harvesting rather than combat. Its not all bad news though! Weve added bonuses to improve their effectiveness in harvesting. These bonuses are: Higher Quality: Tool can be used to harvest one quality higher Faster Harvesting: +25% increased harvesting speed More Skill XP: +50% increased skill XP while harvesting No Loss: No durability loss while harvesting Better Loot: +25% increased chance of rolling better loot values while harvesting
These bonuses are randomly rolled on your improvised weapon tool when you acquire it. Items you already own are not affected by this change. While these bonuses are very helpful for harvesting, they are temporary. Each bonus has a limited number of charges, which are consumed every time the tool is used for harvesting. Once all charges are depleted, the tool loses its bonus but remains usable. The bonuses cannot be restored - however, with the Maintenance skill of each profession skill tree, you have a chance to preserve a charge when using the tool. Please note: Since there is no skill tree for the wire cutter, it isn't available in different qualities and won't be rolled with any bonuses.

Profession Skill Trees

We have received a lot of valuable feedback from you regarding the profession skill trees - thank you! Based on your input, weve made several changes to improve the overall experience. As a result, weve adjusted the progression of the skill trees so that all professions should now take roughly the same amount of time to level up. Additionally, weve sped up progression in the initial levels of the skill trees and harvesting in higher rings now grants more skill XP. The higher the ring, the more XP youll earn. But wait, theres more! Weve also adjusted the passive skills. Before the update, the passive skills in the woodworking tree, for example, included: Beginner: Faster Logging 1 & Lumberjacks Maintenance Advanced: Faster Logging 2 & Under Open Skies Proficient: Master Forester & Gymnastics
Now, the passive skills include: Beginner: Efficient Forester 1 & Faster Logging Advanced: Lumberjacks Maintenance & Under Open Skies Proficient: Efficient Forester 2 & Gymnastics
The most important change to mention, is that the maintenance skill in each skill tree has been moved from the beginner tier to the advanced tier and now includes a 10% to 50% Chance to retain a tool bonus charge. Additionally, the "Master" and "Faster" skills have been swapped: there is now only one skill that increases the harvesting speed ("Faster"), while two skills now increase the chance for additional loot (formerly "Master", now "Efficient"). This means: "Efficient 1" is part of the beginner tier and provides a 3% increased chance of additional loot per skill point Faster is part of the beginner tier and provides a 5% increase in harvesting speed per skill point "Efficient 2" is part of the beginner tier and provides a 5% increased chance of additional loot per skill point

Factions

This update brings significant changes to the factions as you knew them. First, the Dustmen and Haulers have been removed. Additionally, the Cult of the Atom has also been removed. While the Dustmen and Haulers are gone for good, the Cult of the Atom will make a comeback in the future. Replacing the removed factions are "The Heritage Society," located in Beckwood and "The Thatcher Cooperative," based around the Farm. Each faction comes with a starter quest and a further questline for you to follow. But be careful! These factions are at war, so you can only side with one. If you are friendly with one faction, the other will attack you on sight, just as they attack each other. Both factions have their own bunker entrances for testing purposes, so you no longer need to return to Junction to access the bunker. While all entrances lead to the same bunker, you can only enter through the one controlled by the faction you're at least neutral with. We've also added the Raiders to up the level of challenge. They are hostile towards you, so they will attack you on sight when you're wandering around Ashwater.

Other new features

A new feature that we are very excited about is our introductory questline Humble Beginnings! This quest is designed to help new players ease into the game without feeling pressured into specific actions at pre-defined times. In other words: You can skip it entirely if youd prefer to explore the game on your own. The quest includes basic explanations, some of which are supported by videos, to ensure a smooth start. In this way, new players will be able to find their way around the world more easily while ensuring the player freedom that will characterise the gameplay of Persist Online. Existing accounts must either complete the "Back on Your Feet" quest, which is the first quest in the introductory questline, or skip the starter quest to access the bunker. Additionally, we're introducing the journal, which can be opened with the shortcut J. This journal is designed to help you get familiar with all the important game mechanics by providing various entries, such as explanations of buffs and debuffs, how mods work, and everything you need to know about our skill system. Another change - and the most noticeable one - is the new shader weve added to our game world. We received a lot of feedback that the world felt too flat, plain, and inconsistent, so this was something we definitely wanted to address. This new shader adds visual depth to the game, making the world of Persist Online look dirtier and more rugged, creating a more consistent post-apocalyptic feel throughout.
Last but not least, weve made changes to how cash works for greater convenience. Previously, cash was collected in your inventory and had to be sold before being added to your family's balance. Now, any cash you find will be added directly to your family's balance, without the need to collect and sell the cash item first.

Further Changes

After introducing the repair kits and the associated changes, we received feedback that the repair costs for common and higher-quality items were too high. In response, we have reduced these costs to create a better balance. Additionally, we have improved the game's accessibility by optimizing performance and reducing client memory usage. As a result, the game should now start and run more smoothly on computers with 16 GB of RAM. We also renamed and removed several items, which means these items will no longer be available in your inventory or bunker storage. Another noticeable change is the partial rework of the park. There were many spots where trees obstructed the camera view, so we opened up these areas to allow a more seamless exploration of the park.

Whats next?

Our main focus is now on the overhaul of the entire bunker. We've been working on this major feature for quite some time and will continue to push forward at full speed to introduce it to you as soon as possible. The new bunker will function very differently from the current one and will offer more content than it currently does. Additionally, our game currently lacks a sufficient number of available quests. Therefore, we plan to focus more on quests in the coming months. We truly appreciate your continued support and patience over the past few months, and we're incredibly grateful for all the feedback we've received. Please continue being such an amazing community and help make Persist a better game every day by contributing through Discord or here on Steam. Your Community Management Team