Feb 2, 2014

Version 34 Update Notes

Client release 11. Despite barely working on anything since the last update, a few improvements have been made toward dungeon drop rates, and fixing a few bugs/exploits. General Notes
- Winter Dawning content is over, and disabled.
- Increased hitpoint limitations (experimental, may cause problems).
- Instance drop rates of blues and epics increased. Now 1:100 and 1:500, was 1:125 and 1:625.
- Base drop rate of legendaries set to 1 in 4000 (still instance only, level 45+).
- Base drop rate of greens inside Heroic scaled dungeons reduced to 1 in 45 (less clutter).
- Drop rate of Heroic1 and Heroic2 increased from 2x and 3x to 2.1x and 3.2x.
- Drop rate multiplier of named mobs increased from 2x to 6x.
- Added progressive drop rates for instances.
- Added blocking walls to the cliffs in Grimfrost's Lair.
- Disabled some spawn points in Southend Passage to reduce density.
- Relogging into active instances no longer resets the player to the start.
- Added the /instance command for basic instance info. Displays total kills by all players, even for overworld zones. Plus current progressive drop rate bonus.
- Scaled dungeons now use the profile chosen by the party leader.
- Fixed an old exploit that allowed swimming through the air after using Bind.
- The henge screen is more robust against bugs/exploits.
- Added creature size to attack range, as from EER. Melee players don't need to be as close to certain mobs.
- Changed how loot chests are chosen, armor and weapons always take priority over other stuff.
- Restored appearances for Corsica NPCs: Cheryl Cantrip, Cora Cantrip, Neville Nickblade, and Sylvia Shielding.
- Three new quests written by Liska: Report to Camelot (Level 19, Southshield), The King's Tunnel (Level 19, Camelot), and Fashionable Needles (Level 46, Bazaart).
- Fixed a bad quest marker for "My Dearest Darling!" in Corsica.
- Added three pre-lit candle props for groves. LitCandle1/2/3.
- Fixed a performance issue with mobs hitting leash range.
- Fixed a spawning bug responsible for the wrong giftbox spawn during Winter Dawning.
- Removed some obsolete/unused code, and other insignificant changes.
Expanded Mob Health
There is a technical issue that prevents mobs from having over 32767 health. Although it has no effect on normal gameplay, bosses in high level scaled dungeons often hit the limit and are weaker as a result.

This screenshot is an example of what it looks like when it breaks. If it causes any problems, we'll need to go back to the old way.

Progressive Drop Rates
Only works inside dungeon instances. Each mob kill (by any player) increases a bonus drop multiplier by a small amount. Normal mobs contribute the least, epic the most. The bonus will accumulate from each kill, and applies to all remaining mobs.

Although it may not be worth killing all the mobs in an instance for a marginally higher drop rate, it does provide a small bonus as you work your way through the dungeon toward the final bosses. Naturally it benefits larger dungeons.

The progressive multiplier begins at 1.0 and caps at 2.0.

Drop Rates
All drop rates bonuses are multiplicative. When all the multipliers come together, it can increase drop rates from particular kills by vast amounts.

So if you're doing a Heroic2 dungeon, made some kills along the way, and kill an epic boss, you might have something like this:
5.0 (epic) * 6.0 (named) * 3.2 (Heroic2) * 1.15 (Progressive) = 110.4

Although normal, non-named mobs won't be that high, bosses provide a moderate chance to find epic items, or legendary if you're extra lucky.