Content Preview: 20.2 Live Update

[AmonGwareth]

Hello Istarians! We’ve been hard at work with our second update for the year of 2020 and we’re excited to announce what we have in store! These changes are in the final stages of testing, and we hope to release them sooner than later. We’re too excited not to share, though, so we’re releasing our notes early!

General

• Portliness and muscularity now have functions.
  
  • Portliness increases your defense, but lowers your attack speed. You require more food to decrease death point timers.
  • Muscularity increases your damage, but you must obtain and drink protein shakes to maintain your visage.
• Dragons and Sslik can now embark on the RoG (Rite of Gender) quest to obtain a defined gender. Dimorphism is included.
• Eating food which has been in a tavern for too long might give you a food poisoning debuff, making it important to make fresh food.
• The heat of Dralk will now cause bipeds to take intense damage unless wearing a Dragonscale Cloak.
• Standing in Lantenal’s lava pool will now result in him turning hostile.
• Gifted who stand too near the Tazoon whirlpool for too long will become irradiated and emit light for a short period.
• You now have to pay rent to the Empire on your vault. Defaulting may result in the Empire's tax collectors paying you a visit ingame - this provides a necessary coin sink.
• An epic version of Polymorph Splash Potions is now available - Polymorph Wave. These potions’ effects are city-wide and do not require grouping. Requires epic materials.
• Areas outside of cities, as they are not able to be monitored by the Empire, now allow PvP.

Dragons

• Dragon flight now has been given many improvements.
  
  • You now have a stamina bar that you must refresh by landing and resting at a 2:1 ratio of rest time to flight time.
    Losing stamina mid-flight results in crashing to the ground and causing fall damage. The higher your portliness, the more damage!
  • Hatchlings can now fly, but their flight times vary randomly with no set pattern due to unstable magic.
  • Bashing into things while flying has a chance to do damage. Too much damage might result in becoming injured and unable to fly. This can be healed by visiting a mender in a city.
• Dragons may now consume raw meat and gain buffs in return. Consuming a raw Dryad gives a bonus to magic damage for one hour. Think twice before resurrecting your allies.
• Higher hoard levels now have an inverse effect on your speed. You want to sit and brood on your large hoard, not go out adventuring and leaving it undefended. To make it easier to manage your hoard, hoard decay has been reintroduced.
• Flying in stormy areas now has a chance for you to be hit by lightning and killed instantly.

Bipeds

• Gnomes now have twice the nutritional value.
• Sslik can complete a quest to obtain their own reverse-khutit “half-dragon” form.
• Saris can now consume the drug Catnip, giving them immense combat boosts. However, they can go into withdrawal, requiring them to buy more catnip. Being found under the influence by guards can result in being charged with a CUI (cat under the influence).
• Dryads can now fly, but in return, can be killed immediately by passing dragon wings or crushed underfoot by other larger races when grounded.
• Dwarves have gained the passive “Love of Treasure” and can no longer sell or trade with anyone. In return, they have gained access to the Hoard mechanic, which has no gameplay function.
• Half-Giants have rediscovered their "Love of the Sea" and gain bonuses while in water, but penalties on land.
• Buildings that are not linked to your race will grant your character a “Feeling Out of Place” debuff when placed on your plot, resulting in a decrease in focus.
• New Plot Decor
  
  • Coin sink - it has hot and cold faucets and a handy drain into which you can toss your loose change.
  • Outhouse - Will result in a ‘Feeling Light’ buff when used.
  • Tiny House - Comes with tiny storage.
  • Guard Dog - Prevents other players from entering your plot without permission.
  • Garden Gnome - Requires monthly salary.

Adventure

• All archery classes now require the use of crafted arrows. Fletcher is required to craft them, they are attuned, and do not stack.
• Spearman ability ‘Throw Spear’ now has a 50% chance of consuming your weapon.
• Characters in groups with other characters much higher level than them now results in negative experience gain.
• Bipeds can no longer join more than five classes at once to balance them against Dragons.
• Repeatedly killing a certain monster has a chance to turn it into your "Nemesis" - a nemesis monster will track you no matter where you go in the world, appearing when you least expect it in a significantly buffed form. Vary your farming targets to avoid retribution!
• Blighted equipment is now significantly more powerful, but also slowly corrupts you, reaching full corruption will result in your character attacking allies!

Craft

• Raw materials now can be refined into ten of the final material. In return, you have a chance of breaking finalized items when crafting, deleting your materials.
• Experience gain in crafting classes is now dependent on rating like adventuring classes: the more classes you learn and master, the less experience easier materials give.
• Player-crafted items are now exceptionally more powerful, but in return, formulas are now single-use.
• Tools will now have a hidden durability meter and can break after multiple uses.

Quests

• Dragons’ RoP (Rite of Passage) quest will now be locked after a few hours of play every day. The quest will now take at least a week to complete to truly give the immersive experience.
• Upon completing the Plundered Tombs questline, the ghosts of the tombs will now occasionally “haunt” your character for desecrating them.
• Various settlements, like New Trismus, now have daily defend questlines that can result in the settlement falling if not completed by enough players.
• New Quest: The End of Eternity: A quest for end-tier characters who have nothing to do anymore as they search for a way to renounce the Gift and finally die - successful players may encounter a power greater than they ever knew. Unsuccessful ones may lose their characters!