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Avatars, Please read this entire message, as well as the linked instructions and known issues. Release 38 is one of our larger releases because some of the work was started before the holiday break and some of the content has been worked on for several releases (Xenos, Blood Bay, Scaled Crafting). Perennial Coast Improvements (Architecture/Flora): In Release 38, we are moving through all the scenes along the Perennial Coast and updating the flora and architecture to match the new Asian influence we first showed in Ardoris during Release 37. This includes replacing all the exit arches, adding in more bamboo (along with other flora), adding or swapping out Asian architectural elements, along with other details. The only scene we are not touching in R38 is Celestis, which is getting its own specific un-cloning task in a future release.
Perennial Coast Improvements (Character): All NPCs along the Perennial Coast are now using custom regional Asian influenced outfits including the Guards, Citizens, Farmers, Merchants, and Nobility. Additionally all Guards along the Perennial Coast are now equipped with Katanas. This, of course, includes Ardoris itself. Solania: The small town of Solania is located in the Perennial Coast region in the southeast of Novia. Solania is located on a high point in the Celestial Swamp that lines the southern shore of Celestial Lake, so getting there can be quite dangerous. Like the other Perennial Coast scenes, Solania got a polish pass to incorporate the Asian influence. This included updating all of the NPC buildings with new rooflines (blue tiles) and wall textures, putting in a new perimeter Shogun style wall, updating the foliage, and adding in various other details. As with all polish and un-clone passes we make on maps we do NOT change lot placements. We only make cosmetic changes of building styles, terrain, and foliage.
Brookside: Brookside is located in the Drachvald region in the northeast of Novia directly south of Spite. It is the hometown of Samael and was overrun by the Undead armies of Anapa not long ago. Starting with Release 38, players will encounter this town when following their quests along the Path of Love. Brookside started as a cloned scene using one of our PRT/POT templates based off of the Forest 02 POT template (a forested variation of the Grasslands POT template). In Release 38, it is was rebuilt with new flora, new atmospheric settings like permanent fog, a graveyard, and other unique features for the plot including Samael’s farm. Note that when we un-clone these scenes, we do NOT change lot placements. We only make cosmetic changes of building styles, terrain, and foliage.
Highvale Polish: Various changes were made to this starting scene on the Path of Courage. The scene in general has been given a level of polish with the addition of many more difficulty-appropriate monsters in previously unused areas, fixing of outstanding bugs, fixing pathing errors, etc., so that it is comparable to the other two tutorial areas. A new optional quest has been added to the tutorial as well—visit the central keep to begin. Courage Path Polish: Various changes were made to the Path of Courage. In addition to other bugs addressed with quests in Resolute and post-tutorial Highvale, players who were unable to progress the Path of Courage due to a certain uncommunicative NPC within Valhold Keep will find the path open to them now. Vauban Pass: Vauban Pass is one of the numerous Control Points that limits travel between regions in Novia. It is located between the Grunvald and Drachvald regions and is controlled by the Undead armies of Anapa. Vauban Pass started as a clone of Sanctus Spine but now has been completely rebuilt for Release 38; making all the Control Points unique scenes.
Xenos: Right before we went persistent, we uncloned Xenos and made some modifications to it for specific plot points. However, we were not satisfied with the level of polish, so we chose to do a major rebuild of this scene to bring it up to the quality it needed to be at. Xenos is on the island of Elysium, southwest of Novia, and is a critical juncture on the Path of Truth. The modifications focused on bringing out the Greco-Roman character of the region as well as highlighting the various aspects of the Lottery of Artifice—including pilgrim encampments, an ancient caravanserai, and the temple of Boreas. We also greatly expanded the aqueduct system, rebuilt the dock area, and added a Lagoon of Pleasures.
Blood Bay: Blood Bay is a tropical island that was smashed by shards of the moons during the Cataclysm. These shards triggered a massive volcanic event that is still happening today. Toxic minerals in the lava have stained the water red, giving the island its distinctive name. Obsidian Shards in the area make the Protection of the Oracle impossible, making the entire island an Open PvP zone where Outlanders slaughter each other at will. Due to the incredibly unstable nature of the island, only the most desperate and dangerous individuals dare live there: Pirates, Brigands, Thieves, etc. In response, some others who follow a more virtuous path have taken it upon themselves also reside here to keep a watchful eye on the miscreants of the island. Both groups have formed their own settlements on the highest cliffs opposite the volcano above the bay. These two settlements represent opposite ends of the spectrum of virtue and are known as Scoundrel’s Hold and Judge’s Watch, respectively. In future releases if your virtue is high, the townspeople of Judge’s Watch will interact with you, but if your virtue is low, they will refuse to have any business with you. The opposite will be true for Scoundrel’s Hold, where they will only interact with you if your virtue is low. For R38, the NPCs work just like other towns and the virtue mechanic does not yet factor in. Outside the towns, the island is filled with dangerous beasts and a landscape just as dangerous, filled with quicksand (slows you down), fields of poison gas, magic-boosting shards, magic nullifying shards, fields of confusion, and other hazards. This map is a testing ground for many of these new systems, features and ideas that we will then propagate out to other maps over the next several releases. Player housing is not yet available in Blood Bay but should be available in the next few releases.
Canyon Siege: We created another scene for use in the Town Sieges. This scene is a bridge across a canyon for use in towns near mountainous areas.
Control Points: Mages in control points now have spells that manipulate player position (much like the Daemon). Additionally, during the final wave there is a small chance a boss-level NPC will show up, of a type appropriate for the NPCs of that control point. Non-Hostile Overworld Encounters: Roving Encounters on the Overworld now have the ability to be flagged as Non-Hostile. We can use this flag for prey animals like Deer or domestic animals like Sheep as well as wandering merchants (when we add that encounter). This means that these particular encounters will no longer attack you on sight (we are very sorry if you enjoyed being chased by aggressive deer). Traps and Puzzles: We have implemented a set of new traps and puzzles for the game. Release 38 will include Pressure Plates (these can open doors as well as trigger traps), Flame Jets, Arrow Shooters, and updated versions of the old Spike Traps. We will begin propagating these throughout the game over the next several releases. In R38, you can find Arrow Shooters and Flame Jets in the Brittany Sewers. Keys & Locks: As you adventure throughout Novia and the Hidden Vale, you'll find that many keys now have a chance to break on each use. Keys may have a good chance to break (such as the keys for the locked passages that interconnect underground scenes and the cages found in wilderness scenes throughout Novia), while others break about half the time (such as the key for the Kiln Cistern Alchemist's Workshop), and some will never break (such as special keys required for quests). Moving Platforms: We now have the ability to move players on platforms for things like elevators, mine carts, etc. Our first example is an airship patrol of Blood Bay. We will be adding many more examples in upcoming releases.
New NPC Conversation Interface: We have updated the conversation window used for interacting with NPCs to make it both more immersive and easier to use. For immersion, we are hiding almost all of the other interface elements, including all other chat and the hotbar. We are also placing the chat in the very middle of the screen where you are looking at the NPC in order to keep you focused on the interaction. We have also tried to keep the interface itself as minimal as possible, with very few borders and as much transparency in the elements as we can. For ease of use, we are placing all the keywords in a toolbar at the bottom of the window. This toolbar will include every keyword you have uncovered with the NPC, including keywords relating to quests you are currently on and keywords learned from past conversations with that NPC. This saves you from having to scroll back to find keywords you might not remember. Players who preferred the older text-based conversation interface will find that still works as well, and in some cases will discover hidden secrets.
Scaling Masterworking and Enchanting: The higher your skill level in Masterworking and Enchanting the higher the power of the effect you add. Proportional Masterworking and Enchanting: The power of the effect added is now directly proportional to how many levels of masterworking/enchanting have been applied to better balance risk versus reward. So the power of the first effect added is much weaker than the sixth effect added. Weapons and Armor Enchanting Skills: There are now two specialization skills in Enchanting: Weapons and Armor. You will need to level these up in order to gain access to higher level enchantments (aka Major Enchants). The addition of these is to further our efforts to rewards specialization in crafting. Grandmaster Masterworking Maximum Durability: If you are a Grandmaster at Masterworking, you have a chance to add Maximum Durability back to the item you are working on instead of adding an effect. Grandmaster Enchanting Durability Hardening: Grandmaster Enchanters now have the ability to add an enchantment that hardens weapons and armor against durability reduction. Attunement and Resistance Enchantments: There are now attunement (weapons) and resistance (chest armor) available to enchanters where the effects are tied to the gem used. Food Buffs in Combat: Buffs and bonuses from food now work during combat as well as out of combat. Bone Armor: Bone Armor has been greatly increased in power. As a reminder, Bone Armor is classified as Light Armor but offers a level of protection similar to Plate while still being very light in weight and low in Fizzle. For R38, we increased the Damage Avoidance, increased Durability, and added some Damage Resistance. Obsidian Armor and Weapons: Obsidian Armor and Weapons have been greatly increased in power as well. Both weapons and armor have had their maximum durability raised to match other gear and had their weight reduced. Armor also had its Fizzle chance reduced greatly and Damage Resistance was increased. As a reminder, Obsidian Armor comes with a damage reflection bonus and Obsidian weapons have a high critical damage chance. Over 20 New Crafting Recipes: Including torches, Perennial Coast Outfits, Circlets, and new combat potions.
Clockwork Dragon: Kobold scientists at the K’rul (Kobold Research Underground Lab) unleashed these gigantic mechanical terrors on Novia to invoke panic among humans. Their program appears to be succeeding… You can find one in Blood Bay, if you dare.
Shock Monkey: Shock Monkeys are another mechanical nightmare from K’rul, developed for covert missions. These mechanical monkeys are a terrible version of their cute organ grinder cousins, with sharp claws and teeth plus a shocking electrical attack. They also have stealth abilities that allow them to completely disappear from view. They are rumored to have been found in Skrekk, Blood Bay, Sanctus Spine, and a few other location in Novia. NPC Preferential Targeting: We now have the ability to set preferences on creatures for which kinds of targets they prefer. Starting with Slimes who prefer metallic targets (players wearing metal armor) and Flesh Flayers who prefer fleshier targets (players wearing cloth and leather). NPC Stealth: Creatures now have the ability to go into stealth mode like players. The first creature to take advantage of this ability is the Shock Monkey (see above). NPCs Attack While Rooted: NPCs will now continue to attack while rooted (just like players). New Potions: Including Healing and Focus Potions of various strengths, stat boosts, regeneration boosts, and resistance boosts. Rare Loot: Players can now find rare Artifacts (non-craftable magical items) as loot on high level creatures they fight. They can also find recipes starting with the new potions we created this release (more recipes will follow). Here's a brief list of some of these artifacts:

• Ring of Brittle Brawn: Reduces hit points by 40% but adds significant (20-50) strength.
• Ring of the Frogkin: When worn you are able to jump slightly higher. However your skin turns green.
• Torch of Jerik: This large iron basket torch can be wielded as a mace.
• Belt of the Ox: Cuts your move speed in half but quadruples carrying capacity.
• Ring of Luck: Gives a small wishing well bonus.
• Slipshod Shooter's Sash: This belt gives a bonus to your Rapidfire skill, gives a small bonus to Rapidfire power, but decreases your Ammo Scavenger. So you can shoot more arrows but you lose more arrows…
• Lavalliere of the Lagomorph: This necklace of the rabbit greatly decreases your strength but increases your movement and attack speed.