2.8

Ogre Interface

In this update, we are thrilled to be able to present you with our new quest interface! This interface will play an important part in making the game more accessible to new players while, at the same time, saving our veterans a lot of hassle and annoyance.

While previous updates have brought numerous improvements to the internal structure of our quest engine and our ability to create new content, these improvements weren’t always directly visible to you, the player. This changes with the new quest interface: picking up quests and advancing them is now a total breeze!

Have you spent a lot of time chasing down Maleval to figure out why the heck he won’t offer you that quest? Not anymore! Requirements to pick up quests are now listed in transparent detail so you can stop wasting your time (and pestering customer support…)

In addition, cumbersome manual text triggers and clunky transactions are now a thing of the past thanks to automated quest advancement and item handling. No longer do you have to sift through your inventory to find that one scroll that actually advances the quest or memorize (or more realistically: copy & paste) lengthy texts to deliver the perfect reproach to an unwitting shopkeeper! Now you can rebuke an NPC for having “defiled the land with their ways.” at the simple press of a button!

“This is all nifty, but how would I, a new and innocent soul in these lands, even know that an NPC needs my help?” you may ask now. (You probably won’t, but just play along here.) Fear not! Desperate NPCs will now let everyone know about their plight by sporting a quest marker above their heads and their quests can now be picked up with a single click of your mouse. The quest interface will also guide you through any additional steps the quest may entail, marking all involved NPCs and monsters for your convenience.

It has been a lot of work, but this patch constitutes the final step in creating a rock-solid foundation for our quest system that will allow us to expand the game and deliver quest-related content in ways that would have been hard to imagine previously. (Watch this space!)

You can read up on all the details of our new quest engine as well as all the other improvements this patch brings to the game below…

General Changes

  • Removed the chance for node attacks to sever mana nodes completely. Deactivated nodes will now remain deactivated for a maximum of two hours.
  • PvP is now switched off in a room with a node attack.
  • The number of xeochicatls spawned at a node attack now depends on the number of players online (scaling from 4-10 xeos). Initially either 1 or 2 are spawned, with more added as they are killed or as more players participate. They will also spawn close to the node.
  • The first screens of Sewers of Japser and Barloque now spawn ‘sewer rats’ rather than giant rats. Sewer rats are slightly tougher (45HP) and drop better loot.
  • Adjusted low-level monster spawns in forest areas of the mainland, and increased skeleton spawn rate in Tos Crypt.
  • Slightly lowered the max shillings drop from mollusks (from 1500 to 1300) and thrashers (6000 to 4000), and raised it for shadowbeasts (from 1500 to 2000). Mollusks have gained some all-weapon resist (15%) instead of bludgeon resist (30%). Shadowbeasts have a slightly lowered chance to inflict bleed on the player.
  • Reduced inky-cap mushroom drops from skeletons, mollusks, and thrashers. These should still drop more than enough to build up stocks, but the amounts being dropped seemed a bit excessive.
  • Added weapon attributes for Slow, Burn, Fatigue, and Bleed. All drop off high-level monsters and require 50% in the corresponding weapon skill to use.

NPC Look

Room Changes

  • Widened steps in the forest of Farol mollusk map and adjusted passthrough wall flags to prevent players from falling off the stairs so easily.
  • Opened up the Raza gate so it is more clear to players that they leave the city that way, instead of via the old portal (which is no longer used).
  • Added a small roof to Tos Arena, and renovated the Arena entrance to more closely match the new East Ende.
  • Marion Crypt level 1 now has a different floor layout than the Raza Mausoleum.
  • Added a new throne room for the ghost of Far’Nohl, rather than using duplicate rooms for antechamber and throne room. Replaced the ‘object’ pillars in both rooms with pillars that are part of the actual room.
  • Many rooms have had texture changes, often to improve the appearance in Ogre client. Please let us know if you see any textures that seem out of place.

Quest System Changes

Quest UI

  • Quests can now be obtained and completed using a dedicated quest interface. This interface can be accessed in the classic client by right-clicking any NPC that offers quests and clicking the ‘Quest’ button in the description window.
  • There are three types of quest markers: yellow for NPCs that have a new quest for the player, green for NPCs that have a quest the player can continue/complete, and purple on monsters that must be killed for one of the player’s current quests. NPCs or monsters with quest markers also have a similarly colored ring on the minimap.
  • Accepting or continuing/completing a quest via the UI will cause the player to say the appropriate quest text (only visible to that player), or automatically give a required quest item to the NPC.

Classic Quest UI

Bug Fixes

  • Stopped Ogre client adding an extra “Re: ” on replies to news posts/mails.
  • Ogre client’s guild alliance dropdown box now displays correctly.
  • Fixed enchantments cast by a room (e.g. heat) not killing a player correctly if the player hits 0 HP.
  • Fixed players being able to move between bars (e.g. OPB lair) due to an edge case in the new movement code.
  • Fixed players in the classic client getting blocked from exiting the alcoves in Jasper adv hall.
  • Prevented the Vigor Boon effect from altering the player’s resting vigor permanently.
  • Prevented players from casting Apparition on themselves, because they can’t attack the resulting minion.
  • Fixed some bugs in the classic client’s software renderer which were causing crashes.

This patch brings significant improvements and fixes to the game. Stay tuned for further updates!

Written on February 10, 2019