Castle Age: Heart of Darkness

Castle Age: Heart of Darkness is a new game by Phoenix Age that takes from the original Castle Age game with a Flash layout.

It was launched initially as a Festival Game in the Castle Age Festival but was later pulled out and made into an independent game.

The game is a pre-release according to the developers.

= Sanctum =

Home
Contains game news, Battle News (or Battle Feed) and a monthly FP offer.

Crusaders of Darkness
Allows players to vote for content they want to see next or issues they want addressed as priority. Must sign up first by confirming their email address they signed up with on Facebook. Once confirmed, they will be sent a confirmation code for validation. Once validated, they will be finally be an official Crusader of Darkness and give access to the Crusader polls.

Players can also gain bonus skill points for inviting inactive players to return and play Heart of Darkness again.

News
Contains more detailed updates on the game. It may be additional content, bug fixes or outage and other announcements.

Visit the Heart of Darkness News Archive for the list of news announced on the game.

Battle News
Contains the battle log of players challenging you in PvP duels. It displays how much damage you've taken and the amount of gold that you won or lost. You also gain experience points should you be victorious. Although it is not shown here, battle points are also won or lost should you and your challenger be near in rank.



Revenge button was added and will allow you to challenge back those who have challenged you in an attempt to claim back your honor, lost gold and battle points. See if their defense is as good as their attack! {C}

Player Stats
Contains the Player's name, battle rank and stats (Attack, Defense, Energy, Stamina, Health). Players can allocate their stat points here. This is also where players can heal their health with gold. The currently equipped guardian is the one who will offer to heal the player.

Treasury
Players can stash their gold here for a 10% tax fee. Guardian Persephone will help reduce the tax fee (upto -40% at level 4).

In case a player wish to use cash for either purchasing or healing, the game will not recognized any amount of cash stashed in the treasury, it will only recognized cash on hand rather.

The player's owned items, heroes/guardians and alchemy ingredients are also listed here.

Battle Rank
Displays the player's battle rank as well as all available ranks and corresponding rewards. It also shows the player's completed quests, battles won and lost as well as times eliminated and the number of enemies eliminated. {C}

Town
''Buy the finest item to fill your inventory! Items help you fill the requirements needed to complete quests. Additionally, items also increase your strength in battle skill''

The Town displays items you can buy with gold as well as other items that you own. You can see the stats of the items here. The guardian at the top is the one who is currently equipped. {C}

Guardians
''Gather powerful guardians to join your forces! Each guardian has a different special ability to help you along with your journey!''

Guardians are heroes in Heart of Darkness. Those who can be recruited by gold are listed in the Recruit Guardians tab. All guardians owned can be found and equipped in the Equip Guardians tab as well as the Treasury tab in the Keep. Guardians can level up to increase their stats and abilities. The maximum level a guardian can power up to is level 4. Some Guardians are attained by defeating monsters.

Guardians also have 6 Equipment Slots that can boost their abilities and stats. Equipment must be specific to the guardian.Equipted Guardians are also known as generals.

List of Available Guardians

 * Zelfik
 * Vargas
 * Gareth
 * Saika
 * Torran
 * Krovax
 * Aroldir
 * Raazel
 * Talia
 * Persephone
 * Virgil
 * Ayana
 * Faust
 * Voltair
 * Althaea
 * Selenia

See Guardians page for more info. {C}

Alchemy
Here you can perform alchemy to create equipment or summon monsters which you can fight for loot. Alchemy page has two tabs: Ingredients and Recipes.

Ingredients lists all the alchemical components that you own while the Recipe page shows the list of items or summons that you can make from your alchemy ingredients.

List of Currently Available Ingredients

 * Orb of Acheron
 * Orb of Carmilla
 * Orb of Belial
 * Orb of Faust
 * Orb of Selenia
 * Armor of the Undead
 * Nightstalker Armor
 * Armor of the Depths
 * Armor of the Burning Depths
 * Rune of Mists
 * Rune of Leaves
 * Rune of Embers
 * Decimation Sword
 * Amulet of Betrayal
 * Blood of the Betrayer
 * Essence of Undeath
 * Claw of Thanatos
 * Necrotic Heart
 * Spinal Blade

Summons

 * Summon Acheron, the Wraith of Despair
 * Summon Carmilla, Princess of Darkness
 * Summon Belial, Enslaver of Souls
 * Summon Faust, Betrayer of Light
 * Summon Thanatos, the Reborn
 * Summon Selenia, Queen of the Succubi

Recipes

 * Armor of the Depths
 * Armor of the Burning Depths
 * Armor of the Undying
 * Scale Slicer
 * Faust
 * Selenia
 * Gold Alchemy (Creates 290,000 - 390,000 Gold)

{C}See the Ingredients and Recipes page for more info. {C}

Quest
Immerse in the game's story by expending energy in your Journey. Earn gold, experience and skill points to strengthen your character as well as items that will unravel the game mysteries. Each quest has 5 levels. Completing 1 level earns 1 Skill Point. The quest's flame will also change color according to it's level:
 * Level 1: Golden Flame
 * Level 2: Red Flame
 * Level 3: Blue Flame
 * Level 4: Purple Flame
 * Level 5: White Flame

Higher level questing is only unlocked once you have completed the Land's special quest. {C}

Notes: 
 * Questing is based on Lands/Regions and each Land have quests that the player must complete sequentially within each land.
 * Progress in questing is halted until you finish quests in propers sequesnce i.e. Solace/Edge of Town is locked untill you finish Solace/Through the Town Gates (at least first round - level 0)
 * Unlike the original CA questing, each quest have 5 levels insted of 4 (flame color change is the indicator) with the exception of a non-skill point giving mission: Abandoned Mine.
 * It is considered a very good opportunity to collect as much skill points as you can in case you finished almost all activities, and left with Dueling only!

Upon finishing each Milestone, there will an assured drop of an orb for a special monster:


 * Solace - Darkest Hour : Orb of Acheron
 * Catalyst - Portside Tavern : Orb of Camilla
 * Provacation - Demonic Circle : Orb of Belial
 * Awakening - Castle Throne Room : Orb of Faust
 * Rapture - Mount of Hell : Orb of Selenia

Select Stage
{C}

= Monster =

Summon Monster
This is where you can summon monsters to fight. It requires a specific ingredient to be able to summon a monster. This page also records your best time and damage against specific monsters.

When battling monsters, players use stamina to hit and chip away at a monster's health. For every hit, they will be able to log damage done depending on their attack power. The higher the attack, the higher the number damage (though irrelevant against stamina-based monsters). Players will also earn experience, gold and demi points for each click as well as lose some health. A minimum health of 10 is needed.

The monster must be defeated within the designated time limit in order to be eligible collect equipment loot from the monster. The higher the damage logged (or stamina invested) on the monster, the higher the chance to collect more rewards although there is a maximum limit to the number of loot that can be obtained per monster.

Links to Google Spreadsheet for monsters that show the chance of items at certain damage and info on mine quest and more:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AnliGwolxrpqdFQyLW5FUFpTcURuSEF1N0w4MTctLUE&hl=en_US#gid=3

Level 41-80
spews

Monster List
This lists all the active monsters that the player is involved in. The red battle button will change into a blue collect button once the monster has been defeated. It will change to a blue view button once the player has collected loot from it or if it fled. The player can remove the monster from the list using the red X mark that will appear on the upper left corner of the monster image once loot has been collected.

If the monster is not removed from the list after 72 hours of the monster being defeated, the monster code will change to N/A and will be removed automatically once the player leaves the monster page. If the player decides to view the elapsed battle, the game will say "You do not have such monster" and automatically remove the monster from the page. If the summoner summoned another monster before this happens, the player can access the new monster fight using the old link.

Public List
Public List contains summoned monsters that are declared public. Players who have few friends playing Heart of Darkness can turn to public monsters to look for monster fights as well as recruit people to aid in taking down a summoned monster. Only the summoner is allowed to declare the monster public.

Be warned that even by making a monster public, it does not guarantee of hitters coming in to help. Likewise, it does not guarantee that players who will join in will help kill the monster or respect other people who also joined. Example: there can be 10 people who will join but only tag (i.e. hit once then leave) which can compromise a kill especially against harder monsters. Another is when reaching a certain damage threshold. There is a certain amount of damage needed to have a chance at an epic loot or to get into gold medal position. Players joining may not respect the efforts of other attackers and kill the monster single-handedly, hogging all the health and depriving others of a chance to obtain epic loot or get a gold medal. Be prepared for a "free-for-all" kill if you decide to make it public.

CALL TO ARMS: HoD Monsters

 * Acheron,The Wraith of Despair


 * Carmilla


 * Belial


 * Faust


 * Selenia

= = = =

= Battle =

Arena
'Get Ready! Arena begins Monday, October 3, 2011 at 12 pm PDT (19:00 GMT) and ends on October 26, 2011 at 23:59:59 PDT (06:59:59 GMT)! Come back when Arena starts to battle!'

Arena will be done in a Guild Battle format. However, unlike Guild Battles, you will be placed on a randomized team depending on your rank. Two teams will battle each other in a one [1] hour battle. You will be placed randomly in one of two towers created. Each team will consist of a maximum of fifty [50] members, with twenty five [25] members in each of the two gates. Each team will be comprised by individuals within the same Arena Ranks as you. You will also be matched against an opposing team of similar strenght.

Rules

 * Each action in the Arena Battle will require the use of Arena Tokens.
 * You will be provided a full charge of Tokens at the beginning of each Battle.
 * You will naturally replenish 1 Token every 5 minutes
 * You can use one [1] "Full Arena Token Recharge" action per battle, wether it is purchased with Favor Points or an Arena Potion is used.
 * An Arena Battle will start every two [2] hours on the hour and you will be placed onto a team with other participants based on your Arena Rank.
 * You can participate in a maximum of five [5] Battles per calendar day. The limit will be reset at 12 AM midnight PDT (7 AM GMT).
 * Win battles within an Arena Battle to earn Arena Points.
 * The battle portion of an Arena Battle lasts one hour or untill all players on one side are below 200 health.
 * If either team is unable to eliminate all other playres on the opposing team, the winning team is the one with the higher percentage of members still above 200 health.
 * The Arena Battle must be over in order for you to collect your reward wether that means all members of the opposing team are eliminated or time limit has expired.
 * You will have up to five [5] minutes prior to the start of the next Arena Battle to collect your reward.
 * You must collet your reward during the collection period to be awarded your Arena Points.
 * If you DO NOT collect your reward within the collection period, your Arena Points for that particular will be forfeited.
 * Members of the winning team will receive a 25% bonus to their Arena Points total for that battle (e.g 1000 Arena Points within an Arena Battle; reward is 1250 Arena Points.)
 * Members of the losing team will receive a 25% detriment to their Arena Points total for that battle (e.g 1000 Arena Points within an Arena Battle; reward is 750 Arena Points.)
 * THIS BONUS DOES NOT WORK AT THE PRESENT TIME If the winning team defeats the opposing team within 30 minutes of the start of the Arena Battle, the winning team will receive an additional 10% bonus to their collection of Arena Points for that battle (e.g 1000 Arena Points within an Arena battle; reward is 1350 Arena Points).
 * Your rank is based on the number of Arena Points relative to all other Arena participants.
 * At the end of each day, you will be rewarded with a rank relative to all Arena participants.
 * Your current rank at the end of the Arena season will determine your final rank and your rewards.

Ranking and Rewards
Rank 1 - Brawler (Top 81-100%) - Brawlers Doom Plate (Att: 0 Def: 5)

Rank 2 - Swordsman (Top 61-80%) - Swordsman Doom Greaves (Att: 4 Def: 3)

Rank 3 - Warrior (Top 41-60%) - Warrior Doom Gauntlets (Att: 2 Def: 5)

Rank 4 - Gladiator (Top 16-40%) - Gladiator Doom Helm (Att: 4 Def: 5)

Rank 5 - Hero (Top 6-15%) - Hero Doom Signet (Att: 4 Def: 3)

Rank 6 - Vanguard (Top 3-5%) - Vanguard Doom Pendant (Att: 5 Def: 4)

Rank 7 - Alpha (Top 0-2%) - Alpha Doom Blade (Att: 11 Def: 9)

Arena Rank Points Tiers and Values per day of Battle

(Not yet known)

Any information or charts depicting each rank progression with each day of battle according to gained battle points will be apreciated by all taking part and can be used as a general guideline and benchmark.

Please add or post under this section:

Arena Class Your class for an Arena Battle is determined by the one selected within the Arena Class page at the beginning of the Arena Battle. You CANNOT change the class for the current battle once it has started. However you can change your class and have it take effect on the next Arena Battle. Also remember to set your Class Ability from the Battle Class Page.

Notes:
 * Your Arena Class is the same as the class used in Guild Battles. Changing one of these two will change the other aswell.

Battle
In this page, players engage other players in a one-on-one duel to see who is stronger. Players use stamina to attack. The winner of the duel can gain experience, gold and battle points. The loser may have gold deducted (if it has not been stashed in the treasury) and battle points. Both players lose health per attack. The winner will lose 1-6 health while the loser will lose 6-12. A player whose health is below 10 is not allowed to engage in a duel.



Players must click the Duel button and then Attack button in the new page in order to initiate attacks. If they are not confident about battling a chosen opponent, they can still back off by not clicking the Attack button in the Duel Page. This gives the attacker the chance to see the level of the enemies and their equipped guardian and gear, allowing them to 'scout' and decide if they want to battle or not.

Battle Rank
Battle Rank is a ranking system based on the number of Battle Points accumulated through PvP Battle.

There are currently 9 different battle ranks, and the 9 ranks are divided into 3 different tiers.

Notes
 * As a player reaches certain amounts of Battle points, they will be awarded an increased rank, a new title and a reward.
 * Once a Battle point amount is hit, a player will maintain the best TIER (NOT Rank) achieved, even if their battle points fall below the threshold.
 * Players that have not engaged in "Battle Rank" will have a rank of zero with the title "Minion".

Avatar
Customize your battle character from the Avatar screen. This page allows you to change the color palette of your characters hair and clothing. You can also change your character's gender in this page. Customizing is free and can be done multiple times any time.

Guilds
So far Guild funciton is enabled in this version of CA game. However, not that many of sub-functionalities are working (or enabled) at this time.

Working funtions: Not Working Functions:
 * Guild Creation
 * Guild Naming (once only)
 * Guild Emblem selection
 * Guild Mastership (usually creator)
 * Guild Officers Designations/Assignment
 * Guild Members promotions and demotions
 * Guild vs. Guild battles now available!!
 * Guild Classes now available!!
 * Class Powers now available!!
 * Guild Leaderboard now visible
 * Guild Battle Rank now visible on guild main page
 * Guild invites
 * Guild membership lock (must exit before enrolling in another Guild - Was not active upon launch!)
 * Member's Monster CTA-ed Battles listing
 * Each member is able to view accumulated Score Points from Monster Battles of all Guild Members
 * Guild Players' (ID) verification (i.e. Click to view profile)
 * Other Players Guild Identification
 * Guild specific monster summoning/battles
 * No Guild Rewards and/or Trophies
 * Guild members' Rank / Level

New Features not available in original CA:
 * Ability to expel a guild membership (kick out of the Guild!)
 * Awkward in-Guild Chat (still buggy; session-based; chat will disapear if session ends!)
 * Guild Creation Date (Guild birthday!!)

= Oracle =

The Oracle
The Oracle page is where players can use Favor Points and redeem various perks like refills and buying special FP-only gear. They can also buy FP with real money in this page.

Demi-Gods
The Demi Gods grant blessings to the faithful. These deities offer permanent stat point increases, depending on what the demi god specializes in, to players who choose to pray to them. They also give demi points on their own alignment. Special items are also awarded to those who have accumulated a certain number of their demi points.

For now the demi point limit is set at 1000, you can get more from attacks but if you pray for ure demi it will reset back to 1000.

= Army Bonus = Gain stat bonuses simply by inviting other players to join your army. The stat increases are permanent once you have fulfilled the condition for the bonus.

You can still add more players to your army even if you have obtained all the army bonus stat ups. It's good to see how they are progressing in the game and also grant easy access to their keeps for friendly duel sparring!

= Notes =