Welcome to the Dalimond Peninsula Preview, the upcoming Winter 2009 Content Release for Istaria: Chronicles of the Gifted. Unlike our previous Dralnok's Doom Content Update that was focused on tier 6 and high-level players, this update will be focused on those who are still learning the game and will be focused entirely upon tier 2 (levels 21 to 40). This update contains three key components we wanted to preview for you.
First, and probably the biggest, is the revamp of the landscape of the Dalimond Peninsula. No longer will you wander from Bristugo to Heart without seeing more than two trees and without seeing any monsters. Now, as you follow the roads you will encounter new sights, sounds, and many a monster!
T
he entire landscape of the peninsula has been revamped with some extreme changes (Look north and west of South March!) and others less extreme, but still surprising (west of Bristugo and south of King's Cross). Off the roads you will find new locations, tombs or ruins, undead outposts, lairs, and much more. Even the older areas have been touched, including the Dead Pool, the Chiconis Battlefield and the Observatory Outpost, and completely new adventure centers have been added.
Second, quests. This update contains more quests than the Dralnok's Doom Update (almost 200 in all!) including five distinct storylines (each with five or more quests) that introduce new enemies to the Peninsula, as well as bringing back old ones and tying them together into storylines that we hope you will enjoy.
In addition to the core storylines for the peninsula, there are also four school/race specific storylines - one for Healing schools, for Mage schools, for Warrior schools, and one for Dragons. These storylines are meant to replace the old quests that were given out by trainers every 10 levels and give an expanding story that ties directly into the world and complements the core storylines for the Update.
As players make their way overland they'll find that there are many new settlements that have been built across the landscape. While some of these are populated by friendly neighbors who will often have a quest or need help from one of the Gifted to build their homes, not all the new settlers are friendly. In particular, the skulks that have invaded the forests, erecting tents to form small villages, have proven a real menace to anyone traveling from Sable Shores to Bristugo and beyond. These skulks hide among the giant oaks which grow in the forests and will attack the unwary travelers and crafters who are out gathering wood to build their homes.
Finally, mini dungeons. With this Content Update there will be two mini-dungeons as we are calling them. These are small (compared to Dralnok's Doom) but we hope will still provide a fun experience for players. Both dungeons will contain sights never-before-seen in Istaria including an entirely new monster race that we previewed for you briefly back in July.
Well, that's it for this first preview of the forthcoming Dalimond Peninsula Content Update. We're excited about this update and know it's going to make a big difference for Tier 2 players, as well as anyone else passing through the area. We hope you enjoyed the preview and thank you for playing Istaria: Chronicles of the Gifted.
Happy Gaming!
Virtrium Team
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