Greetings, warriors!
This week we are laying the foundation of upcoming changes in response to our Community’s voice. We were receiving a lot of suggestions and feedback related to the party system and its user interface, so today you will receive the first iteration of the updated party system that will be extended in the following weeks.
We can also show you the first look of player-made stalls that most likely will be introduced in the next update. We need some more time to introduce that new feature since we are extending the possibilities of trading and sharing items between players with that system and it needs meticulous testing. The most interesting thing that player-made-stalls will bring would be horse-trading, which with an extension of visual diversity and customization of horses will become a new branch of ingame economy.
As we are working on the updated client engine in the background. We received very positive feedback so far regarding improved FPS ranges and overall game performance. Still, there are some bugs that need to be addressed first, before we fully use the new engine on global servers.
Like in every update, we are delivering a lot of Quality of Life improvements and bugfixes, in huge part as a response to your reports and opinions.
Read below for details, and see you in battle!
The screenshot’s authors have been awarded. sh0tz, POM_Hephoof, MorbidReich and John – check your Ambers!
Changelog v.0.9.6.4 Beta
Party, people!
In response to community suggestions, we are introducing the updated system of party interface. First, from now on, you can adjust the size of the window to your liking, making the list of players in the party longer and/or wider, with more columns. Second, if you turn on in the game options a special “Medic mode”, the fallen players in the party will be sorted to the top, over the special divider, which will help battle medics to find and help players that need to be revived. Please have in mind that fallen players sorted above the divider are the ones in your area, but not always in the range of interaction. Those who are in range will be highlighted.
We are still working on that feature and there are some known issues, like the one causing the dead player would stay above the divider despite there being no option to help him already, but the system works well enough to start gathering your feedback, so we are counting on you!
Another important change in the party system, also as a result of one of the most upvoted player suggestions, is a new type of party used in world events. From now on the automatic party on Siege events, Volcano, Sea Wraiths, and Rites will be a “no leader” party at the beginning and will allow more experienced players to claim the leadership. This will also limit the cases where inexperienced players received the leader role and could struggle to manage it. We are taking a closer look at the system and thinking about further improvements in its regard.
Player-made stalls
We are continuing our work on player-made stalls, which will create the possibility to create your own shops and collection points. In addition to that, you will be able to trade horses!
Another interesting feature of stalls will be the possibility of automated distribution of items – for example, bandages or warm food – between players. You will be able to offer items without a price, and limit the number of items that one player can take from the stall, so everyone will be able to share supplies in a faster and more efficient way than trading each player manually when the time is important – during sieges or events. It will be a great addition to the ingame economy and create a new type of market and activity!
And here is a small sneak peek of how the UI of it may look in the game. Please have in mind that this is still a work in progress! Since we are working on refreshing the game user interface, the new windows are already designed to be suitable for the new system :)
Siege engines
Looking at the current siege meta, we want our sieges to be based more on siege machines instead of archers and axes. Especially in SoW battles, there is a lack of siege machines, because players need to wait too much to spawn another one, and castles are too defensive. Right now regaining one “ready siege engine point” takes 2 minutes, so to spawn 5 machines to break through ballistas fire we need to passively wait 10 minutes. To have a better chance, we need 10 machines, but it takes twice that time. Leaders can't risk too much spending so many points in Siege machines without a guarantee those will be successful, so they push every single machine to castle without grouping them. A single machine is an easy target and this is why ballistas are that deadly. Even if any leader will group machines, spending most SoW time in siege camp, spawning siege machines, this isn't something players want to do. This is why we want to speed up the siege engines' respawn possibilities.
Getting ready to deploy a siege engine point (from zero points to 1) will take in one and a half instead of two minutes, which means 25% faster. If people will spawn their machines immediately when they will be available to keep the respawn timer low, there will be 25% more machines spawned at the same time. Same work for defenders, they will have more trebuchets, and this will bring more machines combat, and frequency.
This change shouldn't change much in nation castle sieges, because right now people don't use fully "ready siege engine points”.
Quality of Life
– From now on, the party window is resizeable, allowing to adjust its size to the players liking
– Added a special “Medic mode” for the party window, available to turn on in the game options. The fallen players in the party will be sorted to the top, over the special divider, which will help battle medics to find and help players that need to be revived.
– Generic UI windows are closing when the player will move away from a specific point (e.g. NPC). For now, it is implemented for siege tents, shops, and Auction House windows
– Improved synchronization between client and server
Who understood the reference without looking o the miniature on the bottom left corner?
Fixes
– Fixed the issue causing the last selected character was not selected by default in the next game session
– Fixed the appearance of Midland City Guard Veterans in Audunstede, which were looking like other nation guards
– Fixed the wrong, too long mob spawn timers at "secrets of..." events of every nation - at the place just before quest chest (teleport), and in the room where there are 2 static chests to gather
– Fixed an issue preventing players to proceed through the Midland questline
– Fixed an issue causing wrong calculation of guild activity for group activities like an SOW and dynamic events. For calculation all players in the party were included without checking that they are in the area of activity, it caused that players from the capital were included in the calculation but they shouldn't
– Fixed the issue causing culling on the character could have been broken after the creation of character without hair or beard
– Fixed the issues regarding free building restrictions: Players should not be able to build:
1) gate next to the gate, stone keep, wooden keep
2) tower (straight and corner) next to the tower, corner tower, stone keep, wooden keep
3) keep (wooden and stone) next to the gate, tower, corner tower
Earlier we were missing a restriction like you couldn't build keep next to the gate but you could build a gate next to the keep
And at the end of this week's changelog, allow us to share with you a great beginner's guide created by our community member! Be sure to follow the Shimmering channel on Youtube and check other videos!