Guild Saga: Hero NFT & Buying Guide
1. Introduction to Hero NFTs
Guild Saga Hero NFTs (referred to interchangeably as “Heroes”) are 10,000 unique NFTs on the Solana blockchain minted on February 25 2022.
Each Hero comes with a set of attributes including Rarity, Traits, and up to 12 Equipment pieces (Fig 1). Equipment pieces have stats which affect gameplay (view here) and rarity which affects World Mode loot quality.
These 10,000 Heroes will be the only ones to ever exist, meaning no more shall ever be minted again.
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2. Benefits of Hero NFTs
Hero NFTs provide holders with multiple benefits across the game’s various modes, especially in World Mode — a gamified staking platform built for holders of one or more Heroes to accrue passive earnings.
It is important to note that although beneficial to have, Hero NFTs are optional to fully enjoy Guild Saga’s Story, PVE, and PVP modes.
Here are the benefits Heroes will provide:
Story Mode Jumpstart: Load your Hero NFT into Story Mode during Character Creation to start with their equipment as opposed to using a fresh, “naked” character
Story Mode Earnings Boost: Significant increase in $GGLD (primary currency token) earnings rate
World Mode Questing: Stake your heroes and send them on various types of quests to earn $GGLD (locked $GGLD before full release), $GGEM (secondary currency token), and loot (Item NFTs, Fig 2)
World Mode Mercenaries: Heroes will be required to summon Mercenary NFTs when they become available
Hero Rental, Other Perks: Learn more in this section of the whitepaper.
As of the time of writing, the only released feature is Difficulty-based Quests in World Mode. You may find details and instructions on how to stake your Heroes here.
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3. Evaluating Hero NFTs
Although most NFT projects in Solana and many other ecosystems are largely driven in price by “rarity ranking”, it is generally not the case for Guild Saga Hero NFTs.
How much a Hero is desired and costs to buy is generally determined by the following (in rough order of importance):
Rarity Trait: A Hero’s Rarity (Fig 3) reflects their approximate power level based on an aggregate of their total equipment quality. Rarity does NOT affect gameplay or $GGLD earnings boosts in Story Mode, PVE; and WILL greatly influence quality of loot and quantity of tokens obtained in certain World Mode quests.
Strong Primary Items: The strongest items in the game are Unique (red) or Ancient (yellow) in rarity, and the slots which matter the most — your weapon, offhand, and chest — or “primary slots”, provide larger stat boosts as compared to others such as gloves or boots. If you have equipment in these slots at high rarities, you will enjoy a huge story mode jumpstart.
Strong Items in Other Slots: Though “non-primary” slots may not provide as much of a boost, their items of higher rarities still provide many stats and attributes which are essential in min-maxing endgame builds.
Build Synergy: Having multiple items that play well with one another can be very beneficial especially at the beginning of the game. By focusing stats and attributes into fewer schools, you will end up with more firepower in individual skills as opposed to a diverse set of weaker ones. See what stats and attributes items provide in the official item database.
Individual Items of Higher Rarity: It’s better to prioritise obtaining a few stronger items (Epics, Legendaries) rather than aiming to fill all slots with weaker ones (Commons, Uncommons). As you will find items while playing through the game, you’ll want the ones on your Hero NFT to stay relevant for longer.
In addition to those, certain factors can sometimes greatly affect a Hero’s price, such as aesthetics and 1/1 items (equipment that appears only on 1 minted hero, but are of the same quality as the others within their rarity).
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4. Available Features to Consider
These are the current released features to consider when deciding which Hero NFT to purchase.
(1) World Mode Quests (Difficulty-based)
Heroes can be sent out on 5-day quests, or staked, to earn $GGLD, $GGEM, and possibly loot/Item NFTs which will be usable in-game or in World Mode.
Depending on the rarity of the Hero NFT, the amount of tokens and quality of loot they bring back varies (Fig 6).
In the case of these Difficulty-based quests, higher rarities heavily outperform their counterparts, and have been priced accordingly on the secondary market — especially considering only Elven, Arcane, and Gold (small chance) Heroes have a chance at obtaining loot of Ancient or Unique rarity.
Read more about difficulty-based and other planned quests in the World Mode section of the whitepaper.
Learn how to stake your Heroes in this World Mode guide.
(2) Discord Holder Roles and Benefits
Owning Heroes will grant you Discord roles which will entitle you to periodic rewards such as loot NFT airdrops — though there is no schedule set for any such rewards.
The roles you may acquire by linking your wallets through Matrica in the Guild Saga Discord are:
Baron: 5 Heroes
Lord: 15 Heroes
Viscount: 30 Heroes
Exarch: 50 Heroes
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5. Unreleased Features to Consider
These are some planned, unreleased features to consider when deciding which Hero NFT to purchase.
(1) Story Mode
Hero NFTs provide both a gameplay boost (starting equipment) and $GGLD earnings boost when you import them into Story Mode upon release.
Equipment Boost: Importing a Hero NFT to your playthrough will allow you to begin the game with their gear. These items can be split among your party to be equipped as you wish, but cannot be sold or destroyed. When the Hero NFT is returned to your wallet later, they will take back whatever they brought along with them.
In addition to allowing you to clear content quicker and more easily, stronger starting equipment allows you to tackle optional areas/bosses and unlock scenes or rewards which may not be accessible in a normal playthrough.
$GGLD Earnings Boost: Heroes of all rarities provide a $GGLD earnings boost when playing through the various modes of the game. This boost remains the same across all rarities of Hero NFTs.
(2) Other World Mode Quests (Expedition, Occupation)
Expedition and Occupational Quests are very likely the next ones to hit World Mode.
Expedition Quests: These are quests with no lockup period and tiered rewards — meaning your Hero NFTs will intermittently send you better rewards (more $GGLD, $GGEM, higher rarities of loot) the longer you leave your them staked. Expeditions don’t care about your Heroes’ rarities, so Bronze Heroes provide the greatest value on expeditions.
Occupational Quests: Similar to Difficulty-based Quests, these will see your Heroes locked up for a certain number of days before they return with token rewards and loot based on their occupation (fish for fishing, ore for mining, etc.). Bronze Heroes once again provide the greatest value as the loot does not scale with rarity.
(3) Mercenary NFTs
Mercenaries are secondary NFTs which can be summoned with $GGLD and $GGEM using a Hero NFT, and subsequently fused to create ones of higher tiers.
Mercenaries are World Mode-only secondary NFTs that cannot be played in-game and will be able to go on their own quests or be stationed in your Keep for passive $GGLD, $GGEM, and in-game resources at a rate lower than Hero NFTs.
If you want to participate in the Mercenary summoning/breeding system, look to maximise your $GGLD and $GGEM gains by comparing Hero prices to earning ratios (in Fig 6 above). Considering current prices, Bronze or Silver Heroes greatly outperform their counterparts in $GGLD and $GGEM yield per SOL spent.
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6. Hero Purchasing Strategy
A simple method to deciding which Hero(es) is/are right for you is to simply identify your primary priorities or goals. Here are some common scenarios you may resonate with:
— Story Mode / Play-to-Earn —
“I just want to enjoy playing-to-earn when the game is released.”
To enjoy the increased $GGLD rate while playing the game, all you will need is a single Bronze Hero at floor price. Remember that this Hero can also be staked in World Mode in the time being to earn rewards!
“I want to blast through or complete everything in Story Mode.”
As previously mentioned, certain content may not be clearable in-game without powerful starting gear, making Heroes with multiple high rarity items (frequently Arcane or Elven) highly sought after as “playthrough heroes”.
Things to look out for are one (or more) of the following:
Ancient, Unique, and Legendary items — note that certain items such as the X-mas themed Uniques are not particularly strong for combat use, instead providing a large exploration boost
Strong weapon, offhand and chest armour — these are “primary” slots which will have a larger impact on stats than other equipment pieces
Item synergy —focusing attributes in fewer schools results in stronger individual skills and combat efficiency from the get-go, as opposed to a versatile selection of weaker skills; go tall, not wide
Though what many items do is still speculative, you can see the stats for some of them on https://db.guildsaga.com/items or guess which builds they fit into based on the name and art. The item database should receive another update in the coming weeks, but as usual, all items are subject to balancing and changes along the way.
Acquiring a strong hero will likely cost a premium, but keep refreshing the listings and a great deal will eventually pop up.
Additional Note: Items on minted Hero NFTs won’t drop in World Mode, and may be very difficult to eventually obtain. If you see one that’s essential to a build you may want to play later, it may be a good idea to prioritise getting it.
— Endgame / Competitive Focus —
“I’m interested in collecting high quality or the best equipment now.”
To obtain loot of the highest rarity without having to buy it off the secondary market, look no further than staking Elven or Arcane Heroes in World Mode. Gold Heroes also have a chance at obtaining Ancient or Unique items, but at a far lower rate.
“I’m want to compete and win in PVP / Ranked Ladder matches.”
It is difficult to say what will be the most effective route to gear Heroes with the eventual top-tier items to compete at the highest level. My take is that $GGLD should be able to purchase anything you’ll need, though the amounts necessary is anyone’s guess right now.
With that, the accrual of $GGLD through Bronze and Silver Heroes at current price-to-earnings (see Fig 6 and Fig 11) should be quite a safe bet. However, if you like a little more variance on the way there, Elvens and Arcanes may be able to farm these items in World Mode, albeit with a very low drop rate.
— Speculation / World Mode Focus —
“Expeditions or Occupational Quests sound appealing to me.”
These unreleased quests disregard the rarity of Heroes entirely, which bring a lot of value to Bronze Heroes that is possibly being overlooked now. One thing to consider is also the future crafting system which will allow materials and weaker items (after being dismantled) to combine into stronger items.
“I’m looking to breed Mercenary NFTs, or accrue $GGLD and $GGEM.”
At current price ratios (Fig 11), Bronzes and Silvers briefly fluctuate between one another as the best token earners — around 4x more effective than Elvens and 1.7x more effective than Arcanes.
If you intend to stack tokens for Mercenaries, marketplace trading, or other unreleased features, floor heroes are currently the way to go.
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7. Where to Buy Heroes
If you think you’re ready, head down to any of these marketplaces to get your hero!
MagicEden: https://www.magiceden.io/marketplace/guild_saga_heroes
Solanart: https://solanart.io/collections/guildsaga
Fractal: https://www.fractal.is/guildsaga
OpenSea: https://opensea.io/collection/guild-saga-heroes
If you still need help in deciding, some of our awesome community will gladly help you out in the Guild Saga Discord!
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Relevant Links
Official Guild Saga
Newsletter: http://blog.guildsaga.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GuildSaga
Discord: https://discord.com/invite/guildsaga
Website: https://www.guildsaga.com/
World Mode Web App
Extended Video Gameplay