Patch 29 is now live and we’re getting better at the process, so we can start moving into heavier additions! Meanwhile, population is growing and we’re getting some pretty dedicated Throne Room parties.

Major additions for Patch 29:

TOS BATTLE ARENA

You can find the underground Battle Arena of Kraanan through the new back entrance in Tos East Ende. Here, warriors may stage tremendous territory control struggles. Say ‘begin countdown’ to initiate a battle. All warriors present when the countdown ends will be randomly assigned to teams. If four or more warriors are not present when the countdown ends, the battle will be canceled.

Teams accrue points during the battle by controlling territory and slaying opponents. Stand in any of the three circles to begin capturing that area. Capture is not possible while enemies are with you. The team with the most points at the end wins.

Drop shillings anywhere to add them to the arena jackpot. Only increments over 10,000 are accepted. Say ‘jackpot’ to see current totals. The jackpot is split between all participants at the end of the battle, but winning team members get far more.

ELEMENTAL STATUS EFFECTS

As of now, all elemental damage causes related status effects that diminish quickly over time. Partially magical attacks such as touch spells deal half as much status effect as a fully magical attack. All effects diminish rapidly over time.

Fire damage will cause players and monsters to burn for delayed extra damage. This small amount of burning damage does not come with a ‘scream’ or text message, making it deadly to the unaware.

Cold damage slows players and monsters, increasing the delay between attacking or casting. If you get hit with substantial amounts of cold damage, choose each action wisely.

Shock damage lowers player and monster defense. Defense can’t go below zero. If you’re facing an enemy you just can’t hit, shock is a new option.

Acid damage lowers player and monster armor. Armor can’t go below zero. Can’t damage a monstrous enemy because it’s armored like a tank? Try dealing some acid damage first.

Holy damage lowers all player and monster resistances. The effect is very limited, as the only sources of holy damage at the moment (weapon enchant and touch spell) are partially magical attacks and thus deal half effect.

Unholy damage inhibits all player and monster healing. The effect is most noticeable against small rapid heals. An enemy can major heal substantially, for example, but heal rods or minor heals may be completely negated.

SHAL TEMPLE / MARION ADDITIONS AND CORPSE SUMMONING

The citizens of Marion have built a new barn and pathway and extended the no-combat effect of their town to the Temple of Shal’ille.

Xiana, the Priestess there, will now summon your last corpse if you say ‘summon’ to her.

— IMPORTANT: CORPSES NOW CONTAIN THE ITEMS OF THOSE THAT DIE. Corpses can only be searched if you are close enough; if a player died to a monster, you can take any of the items. If a player was the killer, only that player and the victim can loot items.

Summoned corpses carry their loot with them.

Updates and improvements:

* Purge now reduces spellpower of buffs rather than removing them instantly. Key buffs are less resistant to Purge than other implementations of this system. Examples: Gort’s purge factor is 40 up from 20; EE’s purge factor is 50.

* Killing monsters while at max HP will result in triple training points.

* Stars should now show up on your minimap for rare items and ancient trinkets.

* Names should display in Ogre.

* Might is now half of all weapon damage.

* Trinket drop rate default was doubled.

* Your riija sword will now retain your name when you reincarnate as long as you don’t have it on you – since carried items are deleted when reincarnating.

* Pants and shirts can no longer roll +armor from shards. They can still get small amounts of defense and resistance.

* Jewel of Froz will self-heal while killing.

* Major Heal no longer has karma loss when cast on negative karma players, has had the reagent cost lowered from 5 to 4 herbs, improve chance lowered from 20 to 15, and TP cost raised from 50 to 75.

* Hospice has had its reagent cost lowered from 3 to 2 herbs, improve chance raised from 15 to 20, the mana cost raised from 10 to 15, TP cost raised from 30 to 40 and the focus time removed.

* Minor Heal has had its mana cost raised from 3 to 9 and the focus time removed.

* Being purged with Kara’hol’s Curse active but not having the spell removed will no longer hold the player. Hold effect still occurs if Kara’hol’s is removed.

* Mana Convergence, Dement, and AMA boost and reduce spell items respectively (wands, scrolls, potions).

* All Robe resistances standardized.

* The Cor Noth Clock Tower is now visible from East Merchant Way, Main
Gate of Cor Noth, and Outskirts of Cor Noth, complete with accurate time
and accurate placement within the walls. The tops of other prominent
buildings can also be seen.

* Renamed duplicate King’s Way as “Outskirts of Cor Noth” to eliminate
confusion and make city area names consistent.

* Smoothed steppes into slopes in East Merchant Way and Outskirts of Cor
Noth. They’re now hilly and smooth instead of jagged and jumbled.
Added crenellations above Cor Noth Main Gate to make it consistent
with the city’s other gates.

* Created ‘Drought’ and ‘Flood’ weather modes for the terrain. CN Main
Gate and Cor Noth itself don’t do anything for flood mode (they are
already heavy on water / it doesn’t look good), but all four areas can
go ‘drought mode’ and have their water drain into mud / muddy water.

* Outskirts of Cor Noth floods significantly when it randomly rains.

* Smoothed out some weird kinks in the walls of the Clock Tower in CN itself.

* Tos Main Gate steppes changed to slopes. Pools appear in the lower areas when it rains. Flagpole moved.

* Dark blue named Moderator statuses have been removed.

* Invis rings now require -50 karma.

* Unbound Energy implemented. You’ll be able to cast spells for free while building.

* HP gain chance has been converted to a traditional XP system.

* Damage rods and shield rods have been removed.