Age of War – Chapter 4 is here. Jhebbal Sag Calls!

02 Apr 2024Developer post

Source: Steam Community (opens in a new tab)

Greetings Exiles,

This is a big one. Jhebbal Sag, Lord of Beast, has declared his Sacred Hunt. Will you rise to the challenge?

The Sacred Hunt

Prove yourself worthy of Jhebbal Sag’s attention by challenging his savage champions. Seek out a new hub area, acquire many new recipes, such as the Throne of Jhebbal Sag and the Werehyena Hunter Companion, and gain insight into the nature of gods.

Fatalities

Making a glorious return from Age of Conan, Fatalities are here! Slay your opponent in savage new finisher animations that grant a damage buff. Each weapon type comes with a unique animation. Bring your enemy to zero health for a chance to daze them, then let the chopping begin. Fatalities only work on human NPCs.

Expanded Purges

Hold off a range of new Purge attackers such as thieves, golems, the Stygian Champion and his guards, and the meteor-summoning sorcerer. A well-aimed shot from the new defensive ballista will make short of any foe, provided you can hit them!

Inventory and Follower Quality of Life

In Chapter 4, we’ve made major improvements to Follower UI and radial wheel, making it much easier to use on both keyboard and controller. The inventory screen has also received better item filtering, sorting, and more.

Battle Pass Progression

Progress through your Battle Pass by performing almost any action that gives XP, such as killing, harvesting materials, and crafting. The number of Challenges has been reduced, but they award more XP and involve more steps to create a more engaging quest.

Chapter 4 Battle Pass & Bazaar

The paid cosmetics in the Chapter 4 Battle Pass and Bazaar elevate the already wide variety of base game decorations, gear, building sets, and more to a new level.

Build a maze of dank, winding tunnels and raise grim castles with the expanded Lost Dungeon set. Ride for glory with the fabulous Poitain Heavy Plate Armor, Joust Caparison, Lance, Shield, Banner, and Barriers.

The time has come to embark on the Sacred Hunt! The night teems with both predator and prey. Go find out where you place.

We always appreciate your feedback, so do not hesitate to report any bug or feedback you may have.

This is the final Chapter in the Age of War. What Age do you think will come next? Let us know, and follow us on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram for all the latest news.

Slay and Survive, Exile!

Features

“The Sacred Hunt” Limited-Time Event

Underneath the blood-soaked wilds stirs a primal force, a calling of the hunt. Be you predator or prey, Exile? Rejoice, for both are sacred!

Fatalities

Chance for enemy humanoids to go into a “Dazed State” upon death strike

Once dazed, the player can perform a fatality if facing the front of the dazed enemy and attacking using a melee weapon

Performing a fatality adds a buff that stacks

Follower Overhaul

Control over follower behavior has been removed from the follower radial and replaced with a new menu in the follower's inventory panel

Follower Command Radial has been reworked for ease of input, it now makes selections on release rather than requiring a second click/button tap

New "Flee" command will instruct your followers to run from combat and regroup with you

New "Wait/Defend Here" command will instruct your followers to stand in the indicated location until instructed otherwise. Aggressive and Defensive followers will fight to defend the location while Passive and Pacifist followers (such as mounts) will avoid combat while staying near the location.

"Attack" and "Return" commands have been reworked to be more reliable when the follower is already in combat

"Stop" command has been removed

Destructible Camps in Siptah

Small camps that are destructible at X’Chotl and New Luxur in Siptah

Enemies do not respawn until base reset

Base reset occurs on timer if no one is nearby as well as after the boss is defeated and all players leave the vicinity

New Purge Encounters

Thieves, Champions, Golems, Starcaller
- These encounters are aimed at higher difficulty purges and offer the purge new ways to counter your defenses. Good luck!
Purges above difficulty 9 no longer have Prisoner waves

New Buildable Siege Weapon - the Ballista!

Ballista is unlocked via the knowledge menu tab at level 30
Built on a Siege Weapon Base, which is built on top of a Siege Foundation. The Siege Weapon Base can then be upgraded into either the Trebuchet, or the Ballista
Interact with the front of the Ballista to open its inventory, and the back (where the cranks are) to operate it.
- Hold down secondary/heavy attack to charge up the ballista
- Fire with primary attack
Ballista ammunition is crafted inside the Ballista
Two different kinds of ammunition, each with 3 tiers: Bolts and Balls.
- Bolts are excellent against living targets, and have a particular effectiveness against avatars
- Balls deal good point-based siege damage
Ammunition can be selected in the Ballista's inventory, just like the Trebuchet

The Bazaar

The Bazaar is receiving new offerings in Chapter 4, including a Poitain Jousting item set, an expansion for the Lost Dungeon building set, and a soothing Yamatai onsen placeable set. Additionally, more favorites from across the previous Chapters and Age are returning in special bundles!

Battle Pass

Age of War Chapter 4 Battle Pass will let you build a complete Zingarian Mercenary camp, including perimeter walls & gate, soldier & captain tents and armor, and other, diverse placeables. In addition, Battle Pass experience progression has received a major update in addition to some changes to Challenges. Read below for more:

Battle Pass Progression

As part of this update, Battle Pass progression has undergone significant changes. Most notably, the primary method of progressing your Battle Pass has shifted from Challenges into actions you would perform through just playing normally.

In-game actions that award Battle Pass XP:
- Killing Enemies
- Crafting items (not from your inventory!)
- Harvesting Resources
Changes to Challenges
- Completed Challenges award significantly more Battle Pass XP than before, but will also have more difficult or involved requirements
- Challenges now reset weekly instead of daily so you have more time to complete them

Social

Twitch Drops

Watch your favorite content creators on Twitch to claim free rewards!

War Paint - Red Slashes: April 2nd - April 16th

Blood Crystal Chakram: April 30th - May 14th

Gilded Oil Lamp: May 28th - June 11th

Quality of Life

Inventory Management Overhaul

We’ve been hard at work making the inventory and inventory management a better experience for all Exiles. Here are some of the changes:

13 unique item filters which you can use to sort and organize your inventory by, based on associated item tags and identifiers

Quick Stack and Quick Split

Quick Stack: Interacting with a container will now display a button to grab/offload all matching item types in the container and your inventory.
- Pressing the button a second time will place all/grab all non-matching items as well
Quick Split: Right Click/Right-Bumper will now instantly split half of the selected stack of items into a new separate stack
- Repeated uses will split the original stack further into the new stack
Updated Inventory action button layout
- Buttons at the bottom of the inventory will now always be in the same location
- Buttons will no longer be hidden in a sub-menu

Dye Changes

The dye functionality has been moved to the dyer’s bench, with a new inventory slot where you place your armor and then press the “dye” button to open up the available options.
Added several new icons
Cleaned up the interface of several windows
Introduced more visual consistency between crafting and inventory windows
Added new default keybindings:
- Select: A / No keyboard binding
- Back: B
- Use/Equip: X / F
- Split: RB / Right click
- Give: RT / R
- Give all/take all/quick stack/restock: LT / Q
- Info: A (long press) / no keyboard binding
- Drop: Y / Space
- Start crafting station: LT (long press)
- Cycle sort: R3

Combat

Added 'Auto face forward on attack' toggle under the Gameplay tab in Settings. Turning this option on automatically makes your character turn where your camera is facing while attacking.
- This option is turned OFF by default.
Stamina now begins regenerating 1 second after consuming or exhausting your supply (from 0.1 seconds)

Fixes and Tweaks

Bugfixing

Fixed a crash in the Black Galleon on Single Player for lower-spec PCs
Fixed an issue causing hunting-chests to have unintended loot
Fixed an issue prevent hatch-frames from being placed next to wedge ceiling pieces
Fixed an issue which allowed characters to use tools on nodes that are intended to be picked up by hand
- Exception: Sickles can still be used on bushes
Fixed an issue which would teleport players inside of the Wolf Cave outside
NPCs at Mek-Kamoses' spire will no longer stop spawning due to nearby landclaim
Siege foundations now follow overlapping rules better, and cannot be placed halfway into other building pieces
The White Tiger and nearby NPCs can now properly navigate their terrain
Fish Traps and Shellfish Traps have had their bait values adjusted to properly reflect their chances of catching specific fish with a given bait type
The cheer emote is now usable in the radial wheel after learning it
Characters will no longer hold dual axes incorrectly when in the relaxed combat pose.
Players may now target-lock limbs of Apes, Rocknose Kings, and the Kryllandian
The Scorpion Queen now has a 100% drop rate for a Scorpion egg sack
Tinkerer Journey step text has been updated to correctly identify the “Apprentice Armorsmith Knowledge” as the required knowledge to progress the journey
The last step of the Thrall Taker’s Journey will now properly complete when placing a thrall from the bench’s inventory
Fixed an issue where some epic weapons did not trigger the "Craft an Epic Weapon" Warsmith journey step
Finding a language dictionary will no longer notify the player that they have found a relic fragment
Repainted several transparent stones at the Mounds of the Dead
Adjusted collision detection for fish trophies so that they cannot be placed in unintended locations
It is now possible to dye all of the armor pieces from the Champion’s armor set
Craft and Craft-All no longer share a default key binding
Stormglass pieces no longer have rain pass through them
Thralls placed too close to one another no longer struggle to find their home-location after a fight
Several Avatars on Xbox have had their Potion of Invisibility revoked, and are now visible as intended
Items behind the Aesir wall can no longer be plundered from the outside
Dying in the Kurak dungeon no longer prevents the player’s corpse from being summoned
Followers now receive XP when killing an enemy with weapons that have the Execution effect
Isscar the Sellsword will now properly despawn (after 10 minutes) when freed from his cage in the Purge
- He will also realize that he has been freed, and stop asking to be let out of a cage he is no longer trapped in
Hyborian Fighters in the Well of Skelos will no longer fight the Serpent mini-boss in the same area
Removed floating flooring at Muriela’s Hope
Conan can no longer be target-locked, as he is ~~too~~ exactly as powerful as he should be

Items and Equipment

Adjusted placement of several items in the Construction Hammer menus
Updated build menu nomenclature:
'War Torn' item descriptions and notations received a consistency pass
'Beds' building category renamed to 'Bedroom'
'Shelves' category renamed to 'Cabinets and Shelves'
Yamatai Floor Pillow is now a proper seat you can interact with! This also means they are now valid spots for tavern patrons and followers to sit.
Freebooter Feline now grants Sorcerous Pet Food knowledge
Zamorian Dais clips less with crafting stations, building, and decoration pieces
Vendhya Treasure Cag is easier to place
Relic Hunter Pick is no longer missing its colored border
Forlorn Crypt Spiral Staircases are easier to rotate on foundation pieces
Floor Pillows can no longer be stacked
Zamorian Canopy no longer clips with crafting stations, building, and decoration pieces and with itself
The King Below will once again drop the Diadem of Kings
The Sword of Crom now properly deals damage to all enemy types, even when held by Thralls.
- Weapon stats have been adjusted as a result
Eldarium Cache and Bag of Essences now have updated icons
Camel Mount and Camel Saddles no longer mention horses in their long descriptions
Adjusted HP value of the Forlorn Crypt Iron Doorframe
The Training Dummy can now be spawned from the admin panel
Corrected a spelling error in Unholy Communion Armor #spelchekr
Updated the placement of several weapons in Weapon Display Racks
Spears with the Sweeping property can now be used while mounted
Re-positioned Thrall placement for the Improved Stove to prevent clipping
The Wine Cellar boss Thag now correctly drops Khari Steel
Nemedian Peasant and Decadence sets have had their crafting requirements updated to match other cloth-based sets
Characters can no longer enter a stance from a mysterious land and era after interacting with Smart Objects (i.e. chairs, emplacements). What depraved sorcery is this 'rootin and tootin'?
Purified Water no longer indicates that it has durability
Fixed a typo with the Potion of Invisibility
Rolling with a drawn bow will no longer result in the bowstring remaining stuck in the drawn state
Fixed an issue where several armor sets could not be delved
Heroic Treasures can once again be placed near coffers
Fixed missing audio on spears' heavy third attack

AndyB Edit: The following changes went live with the Chapter 4 update, but were missing from the notes. We apologize for any confusion caused by this omission.

Crafting Ingredient Rebalance

Significantly reduced crafting costs and required crafting time to alleviate the burden of time-investment for many aspects of the game

Steel bars now cost 3 Iron bars to make, down from 5
Steel bars now take 10 seconds to craft, down from 15
Steelfire now costs 1 Tar, down from 2
Steelfire now takes 10 seconds to craft, down from 20
Bricks now cost 5 Stone, down from 10
Hardened Brick now takes 10 seconds to craft, down from 15
Shaped wood now cost 5 wood, down from 10
Stone Consolidant now costs 5 Plant fiber, down from 6
Hardened Brick costs for buildings have been reduced by roughly a third
Iron reinforcement costs for buildings have been reduced from 7 to 3
Dry wood now takes 15 seconds to craft, down from 40
Dragonpowder now costs 75 Steelfire to craft, down from 100
Layered Silk now costs 1 Alchemical base to craft, down from 2
Layered Silk now takes 5 seconds to craft, down from 8
Hardened Leather now costs 1 Alchemical base to craft, down from 2
Hardened Leather now takes 5 seconds to craft, down from 8
Alchemical base now costs 1 Ichor to craft, down from 2
Alchemical base now takes 10 seconds to craft, down from 20
Perfected Light Padding now costs 10 Layered Silk, down from 17
Perfected Medium Padding now costs 20 Hardened Leather, down from 28
Perfected Heavy Padding now costs 30 Hardened Leather, down from 42
Perfected Paddings now takes 10 seconds to craft, down from 30
Oil now requires 1 fish (down from 1,5,10) and will always result in 1 oil (down from 2)
Oil now requires 5 seeds (down from 15) and will result in 1 oil
It is now possible to get Oil from any of the high quality fish caught in an Improved Fish-Trap by putting them into the Fluid Press

Official Servers - Server Settings Changes

Stamina Regen 0.1 to 1.0

This was reported in the original patch notes, but not implemented.
It has since been updated and will take effect on the next server restart

Harvest Rates

Due to the crafting ingredient rebalance, harvest rates on PVP and PVE-C servers have changed
PvP Gather Rate from 4.0 to 2.0
PvE-C Gather Rate from 2.0 to 1.0