October 23rd, 2014 -- You play in dirt, you get dirty

[Hoss]

"You play in dirt, you get dirty" -McNulty

I wanted to briefly provide some details on a few of the changes we have in store for you.

Rent Changes:
-The number of places you are able to rent has been drastically reduced. Players can now only rent in the following locations: Solace, Tarsis, Balifor, Kalaman, Neraka, Palanthas and established clan inns.
-The cost of renting in a clan inn has been increased. Clan inns are now more expensive to rent in than major cities. #clantax

Race Updates:
A brief refresh of the races was completed. Racial bonuses have been added to the help files e.g. HELP RACE HUMAN will now show what racial bonus they receive. Racial bonuses have been adjusted to never be offensive or directly PvP related (things like bash_mod and +damage were removed). In addition to racial bonuses, the stats for races have also been slightly adjusted. You should find it easier to roll in playable range than before.

-Silvanesti: improved concentration, reducing the chance for spell failure. Primary attributes: Intelligence, Dexterity
-Hylar: improved healing % received. Primary attributes: Constitution, Strength
-Kender: improved chance to flee. Primary attribute: Dexterity
-Human: improved chance to learn skills and spells. Primary attribute: Wisdom, Strength
-Minotaur: added resistance to elemental damage (cold, heat, electricity). Primary attributes: Constitution, Strength
-Goblin: increased movement regeneration. Primary attributes: Dexterity, Strength
-Gnome: improved resistance vs. magic. Primary attributes: Intelligence
-Half-Elf: improved regeneration. Primary attributes: Charisma, Intelligence
-Kagonesti: improved movement regeneration. Primary attributes: Dexterity, Strength
-Hill-Dwarf: improved chance on all skills. Primary attributes: Strength
-Qualinesti: improved healing % done. Primary attributes: Wisdom, Intelligence
-Half-Ogre: improved resistance vs. dragon breath. Primary attribute: Strength, Charisma
-Theiwar: improved resistance vs. magic. Primary attributes: Intelligence, Dexterity
-Gully-Dwarf: improved protection vs. backstab. Primary attributes: Constitution

Class Updates:
-Paladins can only be of Human of Half-Elf races.
-Dark Knights can only be of Human or Half-Elf races.



There is more to come, just wanted to throw out this information so you can plan accordingly.

[Hoss]

MOAR Updates:

Items Sets have been a thorn in my side for several wipes now, always a mish-mash of random junk and haphazardly balanced vs. other gear. I think we hit a good spot last wipe with the druid set so we expanded from there. The new item sets should be 'good' enough so that a player will want to maintain them, but not too 'good'. At some point in a players career they will have to make a choice to break the set to replace it with better gear. Each set will allow for a minor and major set bonus, the minor requires 4 pieces to be worn and the major requires all 6. We really do hope that you enjoy the new sets and learning where they load.

There are a number of various tweaks and changes that we are not going to divulge, we leave these for you to find and complain/rave about at your leisure.

Finally, I wanted to offer special thanks to the creation staff. It has been very exciting and rewarding to me to watch you all develop and learn the ropes. Special thanks for this wipe go to Jorquin, Noldor and Flook, with a JV kudos to Dralan.

Grab your juice-boxes and Cheetos and get ready.