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Game updates/2016-02-02

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==Feb 2 Update==

:Lots of changes in this update. The bad news first: there's lots of equipment nerfs. But also new quests, dungeon tweaks, new targeting commands, a major revamp to the crowd-control system, and guild storage vaults. Plus bug fixes. I expect the next major update will be the one with the new content area.

===Equipment Nerfs===

:All equipment effects were analyzed to see if they were too powerful (or, in a few cases, much too weak). Each equipment effect was adjusted individually, so there's no way to predict how big an impact this will have on your combat ability, but I expect that an "average" player (wearing greens, blues, and reds) to be modestly impacted -- maybe 10%-15% weaker, depending. Players with a lot of epic/legendary gear will naturally be impacted more because they have more equipment mods to be impacted -- and of course some builds will be much more affected than others. See "Equipment Change Details" below for details on a few significant changes.

:I know nerfs suck and I'm sorry to have to do it, but, well, this is alpha and it happens.

===Experimental: Monster Evasion===

:This is an experiment -- your feedback is desired here! Is this a mechanic you can tolerate well or would you rather I just crank up the monsters' health and armor another 15% instead? (Or do other things toward my goal of making combat last longer.) One advantage of this is that it can create some new dynamics -- new buffs/debuffs to alter evasion. But being evaded isn't fun, so it's hard to tell if this is worthwhile.

:If we keep this experimental system permanently, I'll probably diversify things more -- giving bosses thematically appropriate kinds of evasion (e.g. The Fog can evade projectiles very well, but not burst attacks -- that sort of thing) but at the moment the evasion is blanket for all types of attacks.

===Guild Features===

:- It now seems much less likely that we will have to wipe the existing guilds, so I've removed the warning message saying the guilds are temporary.

:- Creating a guild now costs 10,000 councils instead of 250. (This is still much simpler than it will be in the final game, where you'll need a bunch of signatures plus 1000 potatoes. Or something.)

===New Quests===

:I have big plans for quests! Area quests, guild quests, trainer quests, druid quests... but first, the quest system has to become more powerful. This is step #1 on the road to quest power.

:In this update we've added a new NPC in [[Serbule]]. He has dozens of quests -- he'll give you a random one each hour. Each quest is actually a test of a different feature of the quest system. (Some may look very similar to existing quests, but they're all doing something different under the hood.) So expect some bugs! And report them!

:These quests are intended for newbies, but can give items that even high level players might find useful. (He has an extremely varied random-loot reward table.) If players like this sort of NPC, I could do a higher-level version for the upcoming city of Rahu.

===Experimental: Changes to Targeting===

:- There's a new keyboard command "Select Next Non-Elite Enemy". Useful for off-tanks, maybe...

:- Not a change, but a note for newer players: you can select group members with the function keys (F2, F3, F4, etc.) or by clicking on their name in the Group tab of the Social window. You can select yourself with F1.

===Lore Recalculated===

:Throughout the long development cycle there have been many bugs that let players get lots and lots of [[Lore]]. Lore is actually supposed to be pretty hard to raise -- a level over 20 should be impossible right now! It's a skill like Gourmand or [[Dying ]] -- doing new things is the main way to level it up. But there've been bugs that let you level it up very quickly, and recipes (words of power) that give repeat XP -- which was intentional, but I've decided was a mistake after seeing people farming thousands of words of power just for the 1 XP apiece.

:So your Lore skill has been recalculated to only include XP from one-time actions, such as reading a book or using a recipe for the first time. As a plus-side of the work I had to do, there's a new feature: you can now see exactly which things you've done to earn Lore XP. It's a button on the Lore panel of the Skills tab.

:Like anything, there might be bugs in how your Lore was recalculated, although I took some pains to try to get it right. But there are a couple of sources of Lore that I couldn't automatically re-give you. You will need to redo these things to re-get the Lore XP for them:

:- Teaching Golem – you can redo this to re-get lore XP

:- The sacrificial altar in [[Sun Vale ]] that takes eyeballs can be repeated to re-gain the Lore XP (other altars are automatically included)

===Crowd Control Changes===

:- Slow/Root: if a monster is hit by more than one slow-down or immobilization effect, the second and subsequent ones will be weaker and have shorter duration.

:- Note: these changes apply to monsters using stuns, roots, and slows, as well as player abilities. In particular it makes chain-stun monsters much less dangerous... possibly too much so.

===AI Fixes===

:- Tweaked AI to try to keep monsters' bodies from intersecting your body while they fight you. Works better on small/mid monsters, but large monsters still have lots of problems

:- Similarly, fixed bugs where pets would sometimes run right up to you -- even running inside your body. They should stay outside of your personal space now (about 4 meters away)

===Dungeon Tweaks: [[Wolf Cave]]===

:- Note that only the front "half" of the wolf cave network is supposed to be soloable; when you reach the barricade and find Insatiable Werewolves and Insane Matriarchs, that's still not soloable.

:- Also: note that the yeti cave dungeon is easier than werewolf cave, and should be your first stop in the 40s range for soloing. Wolf cave has 45-50 level monsters

===Dungeon Tweaks: [[Myconian Cave]]===

:[[Myconian Cave ]] is a 25-30 semi-soloable dungeon -- it's hard to solo at level 25, but should be achievable with enough potions and preparation. (Duoing is ideal -- it was originally designed as a duo dungeon.) These changes are to make the cave more rewarding.

:- Added a chance for Myconians to drop equipment.

:- Raised myconians' effective level to 25 (so that their equipment drops are decent).

:- Added three solo-reachable loot chests to Myconian Cave.

:- Added some new ways to get Myconian Jelly: the new loot chests, as well as [[Greta ]] the named monster

:- Improved rarity profiles of solo loot chests in general (not just in this cave)

===Dungeon Tweaks: [[Ilmari|Desert]]===

:- [[Rakshasa ~~Bandits~~ Bandit]]s now spawn out in the desert, all around the two "abandoned outposts". (They still spawn heavily in the outposts themselves, but they are more spread out in the desert, making them easier to solo.) Slightly toned down the stats on the desert rakshasa.

===Equipment Change Details===

:- "Bow Bash gives you +N absorption of any physical damage for 10 seconds" -> this no longer stacks with itself. And since now only one copy is useful, this effect is now only for Main Hand. (Rings with this effect become Legacy Items).

:- Some damage-over-time effects have different pulse rates than before. E.g. something that did "10 damage over 10 seconds" may still do that damage, but instead of doing -1 damage 10 times, it does -2 damage 5 times. This affects how other buffs and debuffs alter the damage.

===Ability Changes===

:- [[Battle Chemistry ]] golem's "invigorating mist" ability now has a 20 second cooldown instead of 5 seconds. It also restores more power. (But overall this is a nerf if you had it using invigorating mist constantly)

:- Battle Chemistry golem now correctly handles the rage abilities (Rage Mist, Rage Acid Toss)

:- Battle Chemistry golem's attacks now generate small amounts of rage (Doom Admixture, Taunting Punch, Poison Bomb Toss)

:- Improved the taunt of Battle Chemistry golem's Taunting Punch

:- Improved the base damage of Battle Chemistry golem's Rage Acid Toss a bit

:- [[Battle Chemistry ]] golem's "Fire Balm" ability now has a 15 second cooldown and lasts for 15 seconds. (This is a buff: you get the same effects but only have to use it 1/3 as often.)

:- Necromancer's "Rebuild Undead" ability is no longer a single-target pet heal; it now heals all undead pets within 20 meters. Its reset time has increased to 20 seconds and equipment has been re-statted accordingly

:- Necromancer's "Death's Hold" costs a little bit more Power to use and has a 12-second reset instead of a 10-second reset

:- Safe Fall is now categorized as a Staff ability (functionality should be unchanged, but the icon will be in the Staff grouping in the Persona tab)

:- Higher-level versions of Tell Me About Your Mother now have a slightly increased chance to overcome bosses' mental defenses

===Other Bug Fixes and Changes===

:- List of players on character-select screen is now sorted by last login time

:- Fixed more bugs related to friends-list "last time logged in" display

:- [[Teleportation ]] recipe "Recall Heart's Home" should now work as indicated:- [[Teleportation ]] recipe "Recall Alternate Circle" now has lowered ingredient cost (no longer needs Fire Dust x 3). But it's still quite expensive, intentionally:- The harp instrument is now in-game (requiring 10 in Strings Performance to equip). It is actually something you'll find in the upcoming city of [[Rahu]], but for now it is a rare (8%) bonus loot item from any of the bosses in the necromancer tower: Keerla, Lomas, Gravamux. It looks really buggy in-game, even for placeholder art... we'll work on that.

:- Fractional movement speeds didn't work right (e.g. something that added 1.5 sprint boost only added 1, in most scenarios)

:- Removed the "moo" sound effect from feral cows/bulls' basic attack (they still have it for their rage attack)

:- Fixed bug with mez which could let the monster "half-evade" the mez effect. In this rare scenario, the monster was still fully able to move and attack, but could not be attacked themselves, with hilarious results.

:- Slimed Legs curse is slightly less terrible. (New victims only -- existing curses are unaffected)

:- Fouled Lungs ([[The Fog]]'s curse) is slightly less terrible. (New victims only -- existing curses are unaffected)

:- Spot no longer automatically assumes all deer are assholes

:- Fixed several bugs in [[Viedesi]]'s conversational logic

:- Tweaked some monster loot profiles; most notably, Droaches can now drop equipment. (I don't know where they're carrying it. Probably under the shell.)

:- The "concussed" status effect (such as can be found from some Hammer equipment mods) is more effective

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