Just a heads up for everyone, this is an IMMENSE blog.
There is a lot of information shared here about the upcoming 9.2 update.

I have tried to anticipate what would be asked, with the help of our wonderful beta, and keep as simple as possible in the Overview section for anyone who doesn’t want to read this whole thing.

There is a better formatted version of this blog available on the website.

We are just a week away from 9.2: Crystal Kingdom releasing! With this update we are refreshing our Kingdom upgrade system.
Currently, to upgrade your Kingdom it is split into two tracks;

• Completing Kingdom tasks to increase your Kingdom Power
  
  • You need to complete all 3 Kingdom tasks to increase your Kingdom Power before you get a new set of 3 tasks
• Purchasing Kingdom levels
  
  • Spend Gold and then later, Deeds, to increase your Kingdom level

Also, Kingdom Level was capped at 20 and Kingdom Power was capped at 30.
Coming in 9.2, we have streamlined upgrading your Kingdom into one path, Kingdom Prestige levels and completely removed any level cap on progression.

You will now earn Kingdom XP and Crystals (which can be converted to Kingdom XP) to upgrade your Kingdom Prestige level, unlocking Kingdom bonuses.

So, instead of levelling a Kingdom and completing Kingdom tasks to earn Kingdom Power, you will now be able to complete Kingdom tasks to earn Crystals, but also earn Crystals from events, to increase Kingdom Prestige levels.

To put it simply..

1. Earn Crystals and convert them into Kingdom XP OR Complete Kingdom Tasks and earn Kingdom XP
   
2. Upgrade Kingdom Prestige Level
   
3. Unlock Kingdom Bonuses

With that we are removing (and converting) players Writs and Deeds into Crystals.

• Bundles of Writs will be converted to Rainbow Crystals
  
• Bundles of Deeds will be converted to Colored Crystals, of matching color
  
• Books of Deeds will be converted to bundles of Colored Crystals, of matching color
  
• Imperial Deeds will become Rainbow Crystals

Your current Kingdom Power and Kingdom Level will also be converted to the new Kingdom Prestige level.
The specifics on resource exchange numbers and Kingdom Level/Power conversion are shared in the Update Conversion section

If you just want just information on how you now level your Kingdom, the Crystals, Prestige (just the initial text) and Population text, will be the most relevant sections.

Crystals are now used to upgrade your Kingdom Prestige level, and there are three different types of Crystals.

A full list of Kingdom Crystal icons will be added to the Kingdom and Faction game guide, but they look like the above Mydnight Crystal, but with their matching Kingdom Crest.
The most obvious one, a Kingdom Crystal is a Crystal specific to one Kingdom. These can be earned from;

• Kingdom Tasks
  
• Weekly events
  
• The Underspire

Once rewarded, they are automatically applied to the Kingdom they match.
Kingdom Crystals are also referred to as Kingdom XP.

There is a Colored Crystal for each Mana color.
These can be earned from;

• Weekly events
  
• Campaigns
  
• Dailies (Daily Plunder)

Players can convert Colored Crystals to Kingdom XP for Kingdoms that are the same colour. In turn increasing Kingdom Prestige, once you have the required amount of Kingdom XP.

Eg. To upgrade Zhul’Kari you can spend either Green Crystals and/or Rainbow Crystals.
Colored Crystals are worth 100 Kingdom XP.

Rainbow Crystals are all Mana colors. You can use Rainbow Crystals to upgrade all Kingdoms

Rainbow Crystals are in the Elite Campaign Pass and have a chance to drop in Underspire Treasure Rooms.

Rainbow Crystals are worth 600 Kingdom XP.

There will also be various Shop offers for Crystals which can be purchased with Gems or real money, just as there are various offers for Deeds and Writs.

Note from Jeto: Crystals at this stage will not be available normally to craft in the Soulforge. When you upgrade your Soulforge and are rewarded one time recipe crafts, you can be rewarded a one time crafting recipe Colored and Rainbow Crystals.


From level 28 onwards, Kingdoms will continue to require 1,000 XP to progress each level.
Also, the XP required displayed about is how much XP you need to earn to progress to that level and not your XP TOTAL you have earned

For example: You need 780 XP to progress to level 16 from level 15, so you would have a TOTAL of 8,820 XP and need to reach 9,600 XP.

The simplest way to explain Kingdom Prestige is thinking of it as your Kingdom Level and Kingdom Power rolled into one system.

As you increase your Kingdom Prestige, you unlock Prestige Level bonuses, your Kingdom Population increases, as does Tribute and Kingdom Income etc!

Just the same as you always have when you increase your Kingdom Power or Kingdom Level.

When earning Kingdom XP from Kingdom Tasks, your Kingdom will automatically upgrade the next time you go into that Kingdom, as long as you have also met the Global Kingdom Population requirement for that level.

There will be a little green icon on your Kingdom to let you know you have an upgrade available.
If you do not meet the Global Population requirement, but continue to earn Kingdom XP, your Kingdom XP will be held until your Global population increases.
Kingdom Mana Mastery: This is the Mana Mastery of that Kingdom.
Kingdom Skill: This is the main skill of the Kingdom.

These are unchanged from the current system. For example, Zhul’Kari is still Earth Mastery and Life skill.

+X Shiny Dust bonus will apply when you are rewarded Shiny Dust for converted max Shiny troop tokens.

These are Kingdom specific, so if you get Shiny dust for a Zhul’Kari troop, your Zhul’Kari Prestige bonus would apply.

Because there is no longer a Kingdom level restriction, tables in this blog will only show up to level 70 or 100.



After level 50, your Tribute chance is capped at +100%.



During 9.2’s development, we discovered there has been a long standing bug with Tribute chance.
Where it was triggering up to 80% more frequently than originally intended, due to Kingdom Tribute chance bonus going all the way up to level 20, when it was originally designed to cap at level 10.
Once a player had level 20 Kingdoms and a x5 Tribute bonus, there was a 106% chance to trigger, rather than an intended 56% chance.
In 9.2 we have resolved this bug.

Does this affect how many resources I earn from Tribute now, compared to what I was in 9.1?
No. We have adjusted the new Tribute chances in 9.2 to mimic what you were seeing already in 9.1 with the bug.
There should be minimal change in the amount of Tribute you are collecting in 9.2.

As mentioned above, your Kingdom Population will increase automatically with each Prestige level.
Increasing Kingdom Populations across Krystara (global population) is a requirement to continue increasing a Kingdom’s Prestige level.

It is not a variable you can increase in any other way, other than increasing a Kingdom’s Prestige level.

Kingdom Population as well as Global population information will be accessible from the Kingdom Map.
Note from Jeto: There is already feedback that has been shared to make Global Population accessible from the World Map. Also, general UI feedback from myself and the BETA that has already been passed onto the team. Because I anticipate the community will have the same feedback.
You can only upgrade a Kingdom if you have enough Kingdom XP and meet the Global Population requirement.

In the example below, I have plenty of Crystals to be able to increase the Prestige level of Mist of Scales from 10 > 11
Crystal totals are displayed in the top right, it’s just been cut from this screenshot to save space.
Your Global population and the amount required is displayed under the XP bar. Green total population required means you have met or exceeded the amount required.

But when going from 12 to 13, I do not have enough Global population (shown in orange). So, I am unable to exchange any further Crystals for Mist of Scales. Also, the Exchange button is greyed out.

What does that mean?
To increase your Global population, you need to increase the Prestige levels of other Kingdoms that you have met the population requirement for.

Continuing with my example, to increase my Global population, I can go to Forest of Thorns and upgrade their Prestige level, adding to my Global population!
And so on.

Why do I have to increase my total Kingdom Population to be able to upgrade single Kingdoms? I just want to upgrade X Kingdom.
From Sirrian:

Population limits exist to stop anyone hyper-focusing on just a couple of Kingdoms and leveling them exclusively at the expense of all the others.

The game plays better and scales better when things level at a similar rate - that was inherent in the old system because it was capped, and difficult to hit later levels, and bound by content releases.

We've removed all those limitations, which is a good thing, but at the same time, the price we pay is that now things could get REALLY uneven.

The simplest solution is to introduce an in-world system that just helps things stay within a broad range of each other. It's not OVERLY restrictive - you can still push your favorite few kingdoms well up above others, but it just keeps things in a level-band that we're comfortable with.

Kingdom Tasks are remaining mostly unchanged, other than some new/replaced tasks, but now you can complete a task and it is instantly replaced with a new one!

Removing the requirement to complete all 3 tasks, before you can get new tasks.
Note from Jeto: There will be instances where you cannot complete a task because you have progressed to a point where the game content has not caught up.
For example, upgrade X troops from Y Kingdom to Shiny level Z - if that Kingdom does not yet have new Shiny troops.

When you launch into 9.2 from 9.1, your new Kingdom Tasks will be matched to what your Kingdom Power was.
The specific Kingdom tasks you had active will not necessarily be the ones you have active in 9.2.

It should go without saying, all tasks are specific to the Kingdom you are upgrading. Just the same as Kingdom Tasks have always been.
The Weapon, the Pet, the Troop, the Trial, the Faction etc, all need to be for the Kingdom you are specifically upgrading - if that is not already very clear.


With Deeds and Writs no longer in-game, there are a number of places they have either been replaced or removed.

• All Weekly events (Raid Boss, Tower of Doom, World Event etc) will have Kingdom XP and Colored Crystals
  
  • For example: Portal 5 in a Raid Boss event now includes Colored Crystals as a reward.

• Rewards that gave Deeds or Writs before will now reward Colored Crystals
  
• Books of Deeds in the Campaign Pass have been replaced by Rainbow Crystals

• Deeds have been replaced with Kingdom XP and Colored Crystals
  
  • Journey compared to other weekly events will reward a higher amount of Crystals

• Deeds have been replaced with Kingdom XP

• Deeds have been replaced with Kingdom XP

• Garnet mini boss now rewards Kingdom XP instead of Writs
  
• Emerald mini boss now rewards Kingdom XP instead of an Imperial Deed
  
• Treasure Rooms have a chance to reward Kingdom XP, Shiny Dust and Rainbow Crystals
  
• Trap rooms now can reward Shiny Dust instead of Writs
  
• Treasure Guardians have a chance to reward Star Stones, instead of Writs

• The Merchant and The Angel will no longer reward Deeds, and will not reward Crystals in their place.
  
• Daily deal offers for Deeds have been replaced with Crystals
  
• In the Shop
  
  • The Weekly Event Kingdom Bundle now includes Colored Crystals
    
  • There are now 3 tiered offers for Crystals

• Tasks that rewarded Writs, now reward Shiny Dust (Green Tasks)
  
• Tasks that rewarded Colored Deeds have been replaced with Star Stones (Epic Task 11)

• Forge Scrolls will now be crafted with Souls, Mythic Ingots, Cursed Runes and Celestial Traitstones
  
• All recipes for Deeds, Books of Deeds and Imperial Deeds will obviously be removed
  
• When you upgrade your Soulforge, you can now be rewarded one-time recipes for Colored Crystals and at Soulforge level 9 you get a one time crafting recipe for 1 Rainbow Crystal
  
  • Reminder: These are recipes you need to CRAFT, you are NOT being rewarded the resources themselves.

• The Random Book of Deeds has been removed, and not replaced with a new offer.

• Writs in the Special Weekly goal have been replaced with Kingdom Crystals/XP
  
• Colored Crystals have a chance to appear as a reward for Dailies

• The Kingdom tutorial now rewards a Colored Crystal
  
• The Treasure Gnome tutorial now rewards a Rainbow Crystal

Update 9.2 is releasing in the middle of the week, what is happening to the active events?

• Campaign, Guild Tasks and the Underspire
  
  • Once you update to 9.2, the rewards in those events will transition from Deeds and Writs over to Crystals
• Invasion week
  
  • For the duration of the week 9.2 is releasing, you will not see any changes to the rewards for this event. Then, the following week, the weekly event rewards will transition over to the new rewards

What Kingdom Tasks will be active once I updated?
As mentioned above, when you launch into 9.2 from 9.1, your new Kingdom Tasks will be matched to what your Kingdom Power was.
The specific Kingdom tasks you had active will not necessarily be the ones you have active in 9.2.

Why do I have to increase my total Kingdom Population to be able to upgrade single Kingdoms? I just want to upgrade X Kingdom.
From Sirrian:
Population limits exist to stop anyone hyper-focusing on just a couple of Kingdoms and leveling them exclusively at the expense of all the others.
The game plays better and scales better when things level at a similar rate - that was inherent in the old system because it was capped, and difficult to hit later levels, and bound by content releases.
We've removed all those limitations, which is a good thing, but at the same time, the price we pay is that now things could get REALLY uneven.
The simplest solution is to introduce an in-world system that just helps things stay within a broad range of each other. It's not OVERLY restrictive - you can still push your favorite few kingdoms well up above others, but it just keeps things in a level-band that we're comfortable with.
Will Crystals be in the Soulforge like Writs and Deeds were?
Already mentioned in the Crystal section, at this stage they won’t be available to craft EXCEPT when you upgrade your Soulforge and are rewarded one time recipe crafts.
This is the only instance of Crystals being available to craft.

My Soulforge is already level 20, will I get access to the one-time Crystal recipes as well?
No, because those one-time crafts for Deeds and Books of Deeds would have already been earned if you are level 20.
Any already crafted would have either been used towards a Kingdom, and converted, or if they were still in your Inventory then they would have already been converted to their matching Crystal.
If you had not crafted the Deed and Book of Deed one-time crafting recipes, then they will convert to the Crystal one-time recipes.

As soon as your Global Kingdom population meets the requirements for any Kingdom with banked XP, you will see a little green arrow appear on the World Map on those Kingdoms.

When you next enter, they will automatically upgrade to the highest Prestige level they can!
After you update to 9.2, the next time you launch you will get a pop-up showing how your resources were converted.
You will need to scroll through the list of rewards before you can collect them.

• 1,800 Writs will be converted to 1 Rainbow Crystal
  
• 3 Deeds will be converted to 1 Colored Crystals, of matching color
  
• 1 Book of Deeds will be converted to 16 Colored Crystals, of matching color
  
• 4 Imperial Deeds will become 1 Rainbow Crystal

For example:
In 9.1 my Zhul’Kari is level 14 and Power level 6.
After updating to 9.2 it is now Kingdom Prestige level 15

Adana was level 5 and Power level 2.
updating to 9.2 it is now Kingdom Prestige level 5

Divinion Fields was level 11 and Power level 4.
After updating to 9.2 it is now Kingdom Prestige level 11

In the 9.1 to 9.2 conversion, Global population requirements are ignored.

You will be able to view your resource conversion by tapping on the Imperial Deeds icon on the right of the World Map, even after they have been collected.

After 8 days, your converted resources if left uncollected will be mailed out.
Note from Jeto:
The conversion of players' current Kingdom progress, as well as Deeds and Writs into the new Crystals, has been something we have spent a lot of time working on.
What you will see when 9.2 releases and your first login after updating has come about after a lot of back and forth between our Production and Publishing team, as well as our beta players and myself.
Working to find a balance between what these resources are worth in the most literal sense, as well as what the players perceived worth is.
As in, if something is hard to earn and what information is available in-game for players to view, determines perceived value.
Such as comparing shop offers and crafting costs in the Soulforge.

I have finished the Kingdom Quests, but the Map still is there and I can’t interact with any of it?

Coming in 9.3, we will be adding Explore battles into this new Kingdom map. It will not add any additional clicks or animations to your battle experience. You also won't have to click all over the map, there will be a static Explore button for the battles as well. 

Similar to how you will see Class Quests appearing on Kingdom Maps now. But more on that to come, in a future 9.3 blog!

And that's everything. Please at least read through the Resource Changes and Conversion section! Again, there is a version of this blog on our website where you can jump between sections easier.

We will be releasing the 9.2 Patch notes next week, ahead of 9.3's release, and it will link back to this blog as the patch notes will be a condensed list of changes coming in this update. Also, please bear with us (Gman and I) while we are still working through updating all the game guides that have any reference to Kingdoms.

All numbers, bonuses etc, are accurate at the time of me writing this blog, but are subject to change.