The servers will be coming down at 2:00pm CDT on 4/17/2007 to deploy build 53. I expect the downtime to last about an hour.

Bug Fixes

A server crash that was discovered in build 51 has been fixed.

A rare race condition that could cause a character to be locked at the loading screen should be resolved.

Quest Changes

Approximately 34 new quests have been added to the game.

Sam's Dungeon Wholesale now shows up more often in the levels where he's set up shop. The level range required for characters to buy from Sam has been increased by 5 levels.

Monster Changes

New artwork for the Poison Reaver, Poison Haunt, Poison Raythe and Poison Oracles have been added.

Treasure Changes

Several new treasure chest varieties have been added to the game.

Each dead end loot room in the dungeons will now have at least three treasure chests.

Treasure chests have been enhanced to possibly drop more than one item / loot piece when opened.

HDoL treasure chests now have better loot drops than normal treasure chests.

Crossbow drop rates have been revised to be closer in frequency to the drop rates of other weapon types.

Skill Changes

Many ranger skills have been changes from position-based targeting to enemy-based targeting. This will help alleviate some of the aiming problems that occur when using these skills. The affected skills are: Poison Shot, Noxious Shot, Fear Shot and Putrid Penetration.

New ranger skill "Monster Bait" has been added to the game. This ground targeted skill will summon an immobile turkey leg to lure your enemies away.

New ranger skill "Extra Crispy Monster Bait" has been added to the game. This passive skill doubles the health of your Monster Bait.

New ranger skill "Putrid Penetration" has been added to the game. This enemy targeted skill will shoot a penetrating bolt that has chance to knock hit enemies down.

New warrior skill "Holy Roller" has been added to the game. This enemy targeted skill will cause your character to charge an enemy, hit them and slow their movement speed for some time. It also generates a hefty amount of divine damage and has a chance to knock the target down.

New mage skill "Shadow Word: Smackdown" has been added to the game. This enemy targeted skill will toss affected enemies around the map, rendering them helpless against your attacks.

New mage skill "Improved Shadow Lightning" has been added to the game. This passive skill improves the effectiveness of your shadow lightning attacks -- by generating up to two extra bolts from each impact from your shadow lightning. Each bolt costs extra mana.

System Changes

A new "proc" system has been added to the game. This is in preparation for the upcoming classless RPG change. However, we're also putting it through its paces with two of our new skills: "Extra Crispy Monster Bait" and "Improved Shadow Lightning". Basically, this new system allows designers to cause special effects to happen based on chance when another event happens in the game. It will take the design team a while to fully utilize this new system... and the result will be far more interesting player skills, items and monster abilities.

Edited by Stephen (04/17/07 12:09 PM)