The Dungeon Runners beta server will be taken down at 10am Central on 8/11 to publish the following:

Major System Changes:



• All players will need to re-download the client on patch day. Patching of the current live version to version .29 will not be supported.
  
  
• All of the sound effects for the game have been converted to use a smaller format. This helps reduce the download size considerably.
  
• Many textures have been reduced in size significantly. This helps reduce the download size considerably.
  
• Dungeon Runners is now using the new NC launcher! Players will notice the new launcher when they run the game.
  
• The install process for Dungeon Runners has been revamped. This fixes annoying issues with the previous installer that forces players to use a specific install folder.
  
• All character data has been wiped.
  
• The DR servers have been revamped to use a new character storage system:
  
  • Players will be limited to a single character per account. Beta players will be receiving two more account codes via e-mail to provide access to three characters total.
  • Characters should be saved properly on server shutdown or crash.
  • As we add more servers to the game, players will be able to seamlessly log their character into any of them. Player characters are not tied to a particular server.
  
  
  
  World Design Changes:
  
  
  
  The world of Dungeon Runners has been redesigned to help improve replayability and future expansion options:
  
  
  • Craise has been renamed to Townston.
  • Townston has two new magic item vendors in it (for a total of three). These vendors provide items appropriate for various level ranges.
  • A new tutorial area has been added to the game. All new players will be started in this new area.
  • The existing quest lines in the game have been removed. New random quests will be showing up in the dungeons in a coming build.
  • The various dungeons that existed before have been consolidated into a single large dungeon (roughly 50 levels). We will continue to add depth and content to this dungeon as we approach launch.
  • Treasure chests are spawning in some dungeon levels.
  
  
  
  Gameplay Changes:
  
  
  
  
• The balance of character attributes has been adjusted to improve feedback and usefulness for each point spent when leveling up.
  
  Strength
  
  • Each point spent increases melee damage and defense rating.
  
  Agility
  
  • Each point spent increases ranged damage and attack rating.
  
  Intellect
  
  • Each point spent increases spell damage and power points.
  
  Endurance
  
  • Each point spent increases health significantly.
  
  
  
• Attribute increases received from magic items have been adjusted to accommodate new character balance.
  
  
• Each class has been tweaked to help improve balance:
  
  Warriors
  
  • Receive more health per point of endurance than any other class.
  
  • Receive less power per point of intellect than any other class.
  
  • Starting attributes: 15 strength, 15 agility, 5 endurance and 5 intellect.
  
  • Receives 25% attack speed bonus when using melee weapons.
  
  • Starts with two skills: butcher and stomp.
  
  Warlocks
  
  • Receive less health per point of endurance than any other class.
  
  • Receive more power per point of intellect than any other class.
  
  • Starting attributes: 5 strength, 5 agility, 15 endurance and 15 intellect.
  
  • Receives 25% damage bonus when attacking with spells.
  
  • Starts with two skills: fire bolt and shadow lightning.
  
  Rangers
  
  • Receive an average amount of health per point of endurance.
  
  • Receive an average amount of power per point of intellect.
  
  • Starting attributes: 5 strength, 15 agility, 15 endurance and 5 intellect.
  
  • Receives 25% attack speed bonus when using ranged weapons.
  
  • Starts with two skills: stinking aura and poison shot.
  
  
  
• Monster balance has been adjusted to improve the game experience:
  
  • Monsters will now become aggressive from a longer distance.
  • Aggressive monsters will be more successful at bringing their aggressive friends into battle.
  • Monster flee mechanics have been improved. Monsters will tend to aggressively pursue the player, but may stop following the player after some time. Bosses will very rarely stop following the player.
  • Monster health and damage has been changed to allow for more massive battles to occur.
  • Monster levels are no longer displayed. Player will have to rely on the coloring scheme to determine relative monster difficulty.
  • Monsters now wander on their level, giving rise to potential ambush situations.
  
  • The Fade Banshee slow ability has been removed until we can give it some balance attention. (The Banshee boss still has this skill)
  • Agrock’s charge ability had its cool down increased significantly..
  • Monster density in the crypts has been reduced.
  • Boss encounters no longer re-spawn.
  
  
• Location-targeted spells no longer move the player into range or around obstacles. Consequently, players will have to aim these spells. Fire bolt is a prime example of such a spell.
  
  
• Instances will not reset until 15 minutes after the last group member logs out (unless the group leader clicks “Reset Instances”). This allows players to reenter their instances if their client crashes or disconnects.
  
• Skills have been given some improvements:
  
  • Skill books are now available from two vendors in Townston.
  • Passive skills no longer increase in effectiveness with more intellect.
  • All skills increase significantly when higher levels are purchased.
  • All skills have been revisited for balance tweaks.
  
  
• Loot generation has been improved:
  
  • More items have been introduced to the game:
  
  -One-handed staves.
  
  -Two-handed crossbows.
  
  -Two-handed guns.
  
  • All item enhancements have been given a balance pass.
  • Item drop frequency has been adjusted.
  • Item sell values have been adjusted to make getting rich a bit more difficult.
  
  
• Weapons have been improved this build:
  
  • Weapons now have various attack speeds. Larger weapons will do more damage but attack slower. Smaller weapons will do less damage but attack faster.
  • Weapons now have various damage types: piercing, slashing and crushing. Some monsters may be weak to specific damage types.
  • A new enhancement has been added that adds extra damage of a specific type to weapons.
  
  
• Grouping and dungeon scaling have undergone major changes:
  
  • Membership within your group will persist between disconnects of the client. This will allow you to more easily rejoin your group if you crash or get disconnected.
  • A new “/invite” command has been added to the game. Use this to invite a player by name from anywhere within the game.
  • You can now teleport directly to the group leader by clicking on the “Go To” button next to the leader’s name in the grouping UI.
  • The group leader can reset all of the group’s instances by clicking on the “Reset Instances” button in the grouping UI. This teleports all group members back to Townston and will reset the dungeon for replay.
  • Instances will not reset until 15 minutes after the last group member logs out (unless the group leader clicks “Reset Instances”). This allows players to reenter their instances if their client crashes or disconnects.
  
  • A new group looting system has been implemented.
  
  -Each loot drop within the dungeon will be assigned to a group member in a round-robin fashion.
  
  -Look at the top of the item tooltip to see who the item belongs to.
  
  -Loot can only be picked up by its owner.
  
  -Loot will not be generated for group members that exceed the group leader’s level by more than 5.
  
  • A new matchmaking system has been implemented to make finding a group easier:
  
  -Group leaders can open their group to allow other players to find them with the matchmaking system. Simply click the “ Make Public ” button in the grouping UI.
  
  -Any player can elect to automatically find a group. Simply click the “Find Group” button in the grouping UI to begin the matchmaking process.
  
  -Turning on “Find Group” automatically sets your group to “ Public ” status, allowing other players to join.
  
  -The matchmaking system will only match players that are within 5 levels of each other.
  
  -The matchmaking system tries to fill up groups before making new groups.
  
  -Once a suitable group is found, an invitation is sent to you for acceptance.
  
  -Players can use the “Go To” leader option to quickly teleport to the newly formed group.
  
  - NOTE: At the moment if a Player is set to “Not Finding Group” for their Seek Status but “Public” for their Group Rights, anyone in the level range that presses “Find Group” will be sent an invite from the Player above. The Player must have both “Not Finding Group” set for their Seek Status as well as “Private” for their Group Rights in order to prevent other people from joining his group. This will be fixed in a future build such that "Not Finding Group is sufficent to allow the player to play alone.
  
  
  
  • Dungeon scaling has been improved to accommodate the new grouping system:
  
  -Dungeons now scale to the level of the group leader.
  
  -Monster difficulty is increased as group size is increased.
  
  
• Town portals have been given an overhaul:
  
  • Bugs with the town portals appearing in multiple dungeons should be resolved.
  • Issues causing the player to change zones into a blue screen should be resolved.
  • Town portals now stay active until you create a new portal. You can use the same portal again and again without needing multiple scrolls.
  • Town portals will remain active between logins so long as the zone that they are connected to is still valid. So, you can use an existing town portal to reenter the dungeon if you get disconnected or suffer from a client crash.
  
  
  
  UI Changes:
  
  
  
  
• A first-pass implementation of the keyboard remapping system is in place.
  
  • You can access this UI from the Controls submenu under the Options screen.
  
  
• UI scaling is now implemented:
  
  • The game UI scales to the current resolution selected by the user.
  • This allows the game to be played in a wider variety of resolutions.
  • A new option to control UI scaling has been added to the Options screen.
  
  
• The Chat UI has received another pass of implementation:
  
  • The Chat UI now remembers the last kind of chat that the user performed and automatically uses it when the enter key is pressed.
  • Use the ‘R’ key to reply to the last person that sent you a private message. This will be extended in the near future to include the ability to cycle between multiple recipients. NOTE: This is bugged. Currently this responds to the last person in your chat box and not the last person who sent you a private message.
  • An audible sound is generated whenever you receive a group or private chat message.
  
  
• New options for the Options screen:
  
  • Graphics:
  
  -Anti-aliasing: Helps improve the look of the game at lower resolutions.
  
  -Foliage density: Provides control over the density of wavy grass bits in the forest areas.
  
  -UI scale: Control how big the UI is for the current screen resolution.
  
  
  
  Bug Fixes:
  
  
  
• Substantially improved client and server stability.
  
• Fixed another entity synch error related to having modifiers on the player during zone changes.
  
• Added the player level display back into the player tooltip.
  
• Fixed two bugs related to changing zones while active projectiles were flying through the air.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused damage to be erroneously applied when units where in a crowded situation.
  
• Fixed a bug that would keep charging monsters in charge mode indefinitely on the client.
  
  

Edited by CuppaJo (08/10/06 05:49 PM)