Combat: hit chance and block chance rebalanced
High-level characters were taking almost no damage from lower-level mobs. Two formulas were compounding: outleveling a mob's level gave a large, uncapped boost to your chance to hit it, but also gave it the same-sized penalty when it tried to hit you, and gave you extra block chance on top of that even from modest defense investment. A well-built high-level character fighting a pack of lower-level mobs could end up blocking or dodging almost everything.
Level gap now has a much smaller effect on hit chance (a 40-level gap moves it by about 5%, not most of the way to the floor/ceiling). Agility is still the main stat for landing hits and dodging them, and a large agility advantage still gives real evasion, but it no longer stacks with the level gap to make you nearly unhittable.
Block chance no longer gets a free boost just for outleveling a mob. Defense and shielding investment are still the main way to raise your block chance, but it no longer saturates near the cap from modest gear.
Experience Curve Adjusted at High Levels
The XP curve now demands more experience per level as you get further into the 100+ range, so late-game leveling stays meaningful instead of flattening out. Levels 1-100 are essentially unchanged. Since level is based on how much XP you've actually banked, existing characters above the affected range will settle at the level their current XP supports under the new curve. A few examples:
Level 100 -> Level 96
Level 150 -> Level 142
Level 200 -> Level 186
No XP is lost — this only changes how much a given level costs, not how much experience you have.
Fixes
Fixed the active bonus mode notice (e.g. "Bonus Loot") and server announcement notice being re-sent every time you changed zones, instead of just once on login.
Fixed a stutter on every cast of an enemy resist-lowering AoE (e.g. Shadow Lord/Elder's Decrepify) when it hit multiple players at once, such as during a group fight.
Fixed players being able to cast attack spells while standing in a protection zone. Casting now stops the spell at the point of cast (no mana spent, no cooldown, no cast effects) instead of just silently voiding the damage.
Fixed trees and ore nodes sometimes still appearing choppable/mineable after being depleted, making gathering attempts silently do nothing until you moved away and back.
Fixed a server crash that was periodically disconnecting everyone and resetting the server.