October 29, 2012

Version 23 Update Notes

These notes were intended for the update a few days ago, which was an unfortunate failure. A critical bug delayed a proper release. It was fixed last night and the update has been applied. These are the general patch notes for the overall update.

Client Update

In-Game Forum (/igf)
- Ampersands no longer break the post layout. The '<' and '>' symbols are now usable.
- Reduced the size of post preview pane to reduce the chance of text blocking the buttons.
- Added a new [url] tag for proper addresses with custom link names.
- Added a [color] tag.
- The Show Tag Help pane has been updated with the new tag info.
- New buttons, Home and End, to immediately scroll to the top or bottom of the post display panel.
- The number of threads/posts and last update time is visible in the Navigation pane.
- Posts now include edit count, last edit time, and a separator line to make browsing easier.
- Editing a post will bump the thread.
- Creating or editing a post will update the edit time of its category, so it's easier to see if anything has been posted.

Item Preview (Ctrl+F10)
- You can now drag items directly from your inventory into the new slot in the Item Preview pane.
- Restore Appearance should now correctly reset your server appearance.
- Added a new button to preview the original look of an item. It only works if the item has been refashioned.

Prop Generator (/pg)
- Environment Marker generation has been added.
- Skill warmup sound effects added to the Sound Effect dropdown list.
- SpawnPoint and PathNode buttons (if you're really averse to typing).
- A new button to open the build tutorial on the website.

Server Update

- All abilities fixed for each class. Weapon, magic, and healing specialization fixed. Status effects like Invisibility, Root, Daze, Silence, and Disarm, and implicit actions like counter-attacks on parry.
- Heroism and luck are gained on kills. Heroism grants a proper health bonus at each tier. Does not generate while inside groves.
- Changed formulas for critical and super critical chances.
- Fixed a bug with props reappearing after deletion.
- Hate is now gained by attacking creatures. Mobs will switch targets if a new player has gathered more Hate.
- Light hits can no longer achieve critical.
- Successful actions like Parry no longer leave Miss notifications.
- Fixed a bug where passives weren't being activated.
- Auto-attacks now include offhand damage if applicable.
- Respec now properly updates passive abilities and equipment stats.
- Resurrect/Revive correctly modifies luck/heroism (but not in groves).
- Background channels no longer interrupt when the player is stunned.
- Fixed damage mitigation to properly include modified armor ratings.
- Dodge, block, and parry no longer work on magic attacks.
- New accounts are now automatically granted in-game forum permission.
- Deleting props now removes linked path nodes.
- Fixed a potential crash during internal prop lookups.
- Weapon specialization now affects outgoing physical damage.
- Maximum health is now calculated properly with Heroism and Vigor of Sargon.
- Swapping equipment no longer leaves empty health.
- Cooldowns are now enforced and saved between character sessions.
- Buffs will now cancel lower tier versions of the same buff category. Also prevents buff stacking.
- SpawnPoint Package and AI Module fields updated with new spawn options and AI script assignment (see below).
- Party skills now only work on parties, or yourself if not in a party.
- Changed how quest lists are handled. May reduce lag slightly when players log in.
- /who no longer provides coordinates for normal players.
- /partyall has been disabled for normal players.
- Fixed a potential crash when removing dead creatures.

SpawnPoint additions:

Package - This field supports new modifiers:
A - Spawn as friendly. It can attack and take damage (unlike F).
E - Spawn as enemy. May not work on certain NPC types. Mobs without an AI script will remain neutral unless given a script. See AI Module below.
M - Show the equipped melee weapon. This only works on characters from the Player Museum.
R - Similar to M, but shows the ranged weapon instead.

Remember to put # at the front of the package name, then any modifier letters, then the creature type number.

Example:
#AM20147

AI Module - Customizes the AI of the spawned creature.

See the AI Script List for a list of predefined scripts.

Example:
4_knight_30

Fixed abilities:

All class abilities have been restored, in an attempt to match their originally intended purpose. Each skill was tested individually as I completed emulation of previously broken status effects and modifier properties.

Buffs that modify stats by a percentage will not show proper numbers when you hover the mouse over the buff icon. However, the applied stat bonus will be correct.

Due to the mechanics of passive abilities and ability groups, you may only have one magic element specialization. Any others will not trigger.

Skill Discrepancies:

Can Opener: the actual armor reduction does not match the description. It says -350 armor for all tiers. It's really -350, -490, -630, and -770 at level 50.
Kick: Interrupts don't seem to erase the timer bar, but it will interrupt the skill.
Flame Spear: It says it reduces armor rating by 105 at all tiers, but it really has the same reduction as Frost Spear (-105, -175, -245, -315, -385)

Passive Channels:

These are "fire and forget" channels that operate separately from normal skills, allowing iterative effects while allowing the player to use other skills. Typically these apply damage every second.
Examples: Rend, Hemorrhage, Swarm, Healing Breeze.

You may only have one Passive Channel running at time. So if bleeding damage is being applied from Hemorrhage and you use Rend, it will cancel the bleeding damage.

Rend was originally a channel, but normal channels can be interrupted by attacks before the second hit is triggered. So now it works in the background, ensuring both hits.

Luck and Heroism

Killing a mob equal to your level grants 0.5 points of luck, plus an additional 0.5 points per level higher than you, up to 2.5 per kill. For each tier of heroism (corresponding to the graphic in the client) you gain a small percentage bonus of health (up to 10% maximum).

Right now, heroism only grants bonus HP, and luck only grants critical chance and super criticals. You won't see damage for supercrits, but the damage will be correct.

Luck will affect more aspects of gameplay in the future.

Unfinished experimental client feature:

If you're familiar with /tailsize and /earsize, there's a new command /savesize to apply these changes soon after you log in. Due to an oversight, this affects all characters you log into, no matter what race, so it's best used if you only play one character. I will try to resolve that in the next patch. You can't fully erase these changes within the client, but you can set a more reasonable size.

To fully erase these changes, go to your Earth Eternal folder, navigate to the folder
'/cache/planetforevergame.com/cookies' and delete the 'ModPref' file.

This will also erase your chatbox settings, but if you're careful you can edit the file yourself in the text editor.