Our Design Pledge: The Value of Effort, the Level 99 Cap and the Systems We Will Not Add

The biggest fear of anyone who gives years to an MMORPG is seeing that effort lose its value in a single update: a new layer of power arrives, and gear that took months to build becomes ordinary overnight. We took that fear seriously when designing Ancient Online: Remastered. This post sets out our design pledge: in this world, what counts is effort; the maximum level is 99; and we will not build systems that break the balance of the game or that players dislike.

This post is a statement of design principles. The game is in development; numbers and details may be tuned before launch, but the direction described here does not change.

The core idea: in this world, effort is what counts

Your character's power comes from three places: what you earn by playing, the mastery you build as you learn the game, and the people you play with. You level up, you upgrade your gear, you advance your skills, and you take on harder goals with your guild. All of that takes time and attention, and that is exactly why it is worth something.

Our job is to protect that worth. Before a system goes into the game, the first question we ask ourselves is this: does it cheapen the effort players have already put in? If the answer is yes, that system does not go into this game.

The maximum level is 99

In Ancient Online, the maximum level is 99. The experience table is defined from level 1 to level 99, and a character that reaches 99 stops gaining experience. This is not a temporary limit put in place to be raised later; it is the fixed ceiling the game is built on.

Why a fixed ceiling?

• No level inflation. Every time a cap goes up, the earlier levels, and the gear and achievements earned there, mean a little less. A fixed ceiling makes 99 mean the same thing today and years from now.
• The goal is clear. You know where you are heading. The feeling of "I had just caught up, and the bar moved again" does not exist in this game.
• Old content does not die. With a fixed cap, regions, dungeons and monsters keep their meaning in their own level ranges; the world does not turn into a place where only the maximum level matters.
• New players can catch up. Someone who starts later is not chasing a moving target; there is a fixed, reachable road ahead of them.

Reaching 99 is not the end of the road. Upgrading your gear, advancing your skills, trading, guild wars and the rivalry between empires all carry on after you reach the cap. A fixed ceiling keeps the value of those pursuits fixed as well.

The systems we will not add

We have deliberately left the following kinds of systems out of the game. What they have in common is this: they stack a new layer of power on top of existing progression, and in doing so they overshadow the effort that came before.

Alchemy and power stone sets

We mean sets of stones collected in a separate inventory and grown tier by tier through a long, luck-based upgrade loop. A system like this opens a second layer of stats alongside your weapon and armour.

• Effect on balance: It widens the gap between two characters beyond anything gear and skill can explain.
• Effect on effort: Gear that has been upgraded for years becomes secondary next to the new layer.
• Effect on the economy: The market locks onto a single chain of materials, and everything else loses value.

Shoulder sashes and absorption

Accessories that absorb another item's bonuses and carry them as their own make the strong even stronger: the player with the best weapon gets to carry that weapon's bonuses a second time.

• Effect on balance: The advantage compounds; the gap widens instead of closing.
• Effect on effort: When the absorption rate depends on luck, a roll of the dice decides what your effort is worth.
• Effect on the economy: Value gathers in a handful of flawless pieces, and everything else turns into scrap.

A belt slot and belt inventory

An extra equipment slot, and the consumable pockets that come with it, look harmless, but they increase the number of potions you can carry into a fight.

• Effect on balance: PvP comes to depend less on who plays better and more on whose pockets are deeper.
• Effect on effort: Every character faces a new, unavoidable gear step; playing an alternate character turns into a penalty.
• Effect on the economy: Demand for consumables swells until it crowds out the rest of the game.

Aura layers

Aura outfits that grow and evolve through absorption repeat the logic of the sash system once more: one more layer on top of the power you already have.

• Effect on balance: Every stacked layer raises the wall that new and returning players have to climb.
• Effect on effort and the economy: The same as the other absorption systems; value gathers in a few pieces, and earlier effort is pushed into the background.

Third-party anti-cheat software installed on your device

We do not make you install separate third-party anti-cheat software along with the game. We protect fair play another way: we verify the rules on the server. The server decides the outcome of movement and combat; the player's device only shows what the server reports. Unusual behaviour is tracked on the server side, and Game Masters review reports of cheating and harassment. No measure is perfect; but placing the trust in the server rather than in your device is both fairer and more respectful of the player.

What actually protects effort in the game today

Promises are easy to make; what matters is that the game backs them up. This is what exists in the development build today:

• Server-authoritative gameplay: Position, damage and combat outcomes are calculated on the server.
• No paying to win: The in-game shop only offers costumes, appearances and convenience items — nothing that grants combat power, experience or in-game currency. Details are in the no pay-to-win post.
• Progress built on effort: Levels are earned by playing. Gear is upgraded at the blacksmith through attempts that have a cost and a risk. The books needed for the higher ranks of your skills are not sold in the shop; they are earned in the game.
• An economy made by players: Players decide what an item is worth; you trade directly and through the offline market. Items bought from the shop arrive bound and cannot be sold into that economy.
• A permanent character: There are no seasonal resets; the character you build stays with you.
• Rules that protect newcomers: Characters below level 15 cannot be attacked in the regions of their own empire.

The four questions we ask before adding a system

This game will grow, of course. But every system we add first has to pass these four questions:

1. Does it break the balance? If it widens the gap between two players beyond what effort and skill can explain, it does not go in.
2. Does it cheapen earlier effort? If it makes what has been earned so far ordinary overnight, it does not go in.
3. Does it give an advantage to those who pay? If it turns real money into power, experience or in-game currency, it does not go in.
4. Do players want it? We will not present something the community clearly dislikes as "content".

For the fourth question, we need your voice. You can share your ideas in our Discord community and through the contact page on the studio website; inside the game, you can also reach the Game Masters.

Frequently asked questions

Will the maximum level be raised in the future?

We have no plans to. The cap was designed to be 99, and the game's balance, content and economy are being built around that fixed ceiling. New content should come from widening the world, not from raising the bar.

Will an alchemy, sash, belt or aura system be added?

No. These kinds of systems were deliberately left out of scope; the reasons are above.

So will no new systems ever be added?

They will; the ones that pass the four questions. The test is not whether something new is added, but whether what is added protects effort.

How do you fight cheating without anti-cheat software?

By verifying the rules on the server, tracking unusual behaviour and reviewing reports. We do not go into detail, because those details are most useful to the people who want to cheat.

Is this a guarantee?

It is a design pledge: we are stating openly which principles we develop the game by and which lines we will not cross. Whether we stand behind it is something players will see in every step we take.

Next step

You can read the payment side of the pledge in no pay-to-win: our Fair Play Pledge, and the text that applies to all of the studio's games in the Fair Play Pledge section. To get to know the game itself, head to What is Ancient Online: Remastered?; to see how progression works, read the character classes guide.