Recent Updates

[Drac-Terrak]

I was curious if perhaps someone can recap the recent additions or fixed for dragons. I've went through most of the news updates but it does not appear much has transpired since I cancelled my account.

I see the dragon claw slot made it to blight though I did not see it posted to the live shards, though I could have very well missed it. Also has there been any changes or updates with the ARoP? I've noticed Kumu's post in regards to the requirements. Is there a dateline for when its going to blight or live, or have they disclosed the benefits? Have dragon lairs seen the light of day, and lastly have the dragon quests finally caught up to the higher level dragons.

I've scanned through a few hundred posts within the entire forum but really have turned up anything that aludes to this information, I apologize if its there and I missed it, but I appreciate any updates anyone can offer on my above questions, thanks in advance.

Drac-Terrak
Spirit

[Pharcellus]

What you see is what we got.

You see nothing? Guess what? [:)]

There have been a few minor quest bugfixes and all of our crafting skill quests now work to 100 (except a few low-level ones that have been reportedly broken). Outside of that, everything is in a holding pattern until the big stuff hits.

[Drac-Terrak]

How disappointing to hear. I guess I'll wait a bit longer before I return, maybe mid march or so things will start to look up. Thanks for the response Pharcellus.

[Jaraiden]

Mar. 2003
- Horizons: Here There be Dragons (http://pc.ign.com/articles/391/391273p1.html)
. . . . "The customization screen previews your elder dragons"
. . . . "As you'd expect, adult dragons also gain a considerable increase to their primary physical attributes"

Jul. 2003
- David Bowman in Developer Interview (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/horizons/media.html)
. . . . At 3 minute point he talked about dragons and what was needed to attain adulthood:
(real life time, "series of activies . . to prove you're worthy of becoming an adult dragon," and involvement of dragon community
. . . . All three did not make it to the hatchling RoP to adult
. . . . Nice screen captures showing an adult dragon in flight

Nov. 2003
- Official Trailer - Dragon Character (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/horizons/media.html)
. . . . Nice video showing an adult dragon in flight though
. . . . Ancient Dragon had some spiritist attack (due to sound, 33 and 37 seconds with particle effects)
. . . . Ancient Dragon had Whirwind attack (50 seconds into it)
. . . . Nice head turning fire and lightning breaths

Dec. 2003 (end of beta)
- "Floating island" style of lairs would be delayed (per Kumu in his Dragon Issues)
- Dragon adventure schools were removed

Horizons was released to retail in U.S. on December 9, 2003. The following are approximate dates:


For the Honor to Soar the Skies, The Wisdom and Power of the Ancients (Nov. video)


Dec. 2003 - Missing Dragon content that made it to the Official Strategy Guide
* Deflect blows (Defensive melee - I 14, II 34, III 54, IV 74, V 94)
* Induce hesitance and Dimishing glare (listed as De-buffs)
* Stunning Claw and Syphon abilities (every 10 levels)
* Rend Armor ability (every 20 levels)
* Whirlwind I and II abilities (at level 50 and 100)
- - The above may be for Ancient Dragons (like Whirlwind in Official Trailer - Dragon Character)
- - Missing then added since release
* Prime Bolt and Imp. Prime Bolt spells (Feb. 2004, all other adventure classes had similar)
* Augmentative buffs (Feb. 2004's True Grit and Promote Vitality, similar to Cleric class)
* Long Range Bolt ability (every 10 levels) - replaced by Dragon Reach ability (Feb. 2004, but to level 40)
(The Official Strategy Guide listed no Primal spells)

- - - -

Feb. 2004
- Steve Snow - "Dragons and their roles in communities. We are going to get a more solidified concept regarding how a dragon fits within a community and what that means in terms of gameplay. This is a very long term deliverable"
- Prime Bolt and Imp. Prime Bolt spells added (but is currently a Flame Bolt animation doing primal damage)
- Primal spells of Breeze, True Grit, and Promote Vitality added
- Primal techniques of Primal and Dragon Breath added
- Dragon Reach ability added (only to level 40)
- Burning embers quest added (Armor crystal to add DoT to breath weapon, 33% chance)
- Vladtmordt the Chronicler's scale quests added (hatchling levels 1/25/50 for Helian and Lunus)

Mar. 2004
- Hatching Rite of Passage to transform into an adult Helian or adult Lunus - http://www.istaria.com/page.php?pg=news&start=15 (thus flying, as seen on the retail box and the two 2003 videos)
- RoP became bugged then worked later per Fireclaw

May 2004
- Active Gift and +100 bulk dimensional pocket changed to Passive and + 150 bulk (every 10 levels)
- Hoard decay ended
- Primal melee spells of Gust and Barrage (tiers III and IV)
- Withered scales event (Mah 10th, ~4 days) gave dragons 3 scale techniques (Eminence, Primal Vengeance, and Vital Defiance) and Primal Flash (spell technique) along with high hoard value items (bells, coffers, scepters, crowns of brass/silver/gold/platinum/royal)

Jun. 2004
- Hoard value of crafted items were generally reduced (now based on crafted resources used - magic and gems, metal, stone, then organics)
- Hoard powered melee abilities - Silver Strike (replaced Vital Strike), Gold Rage (replaced Ice Strike), and Gold Shield
- Breath of Fire III for adult dragons along with Helian Ice breath or Lunus Lightning Breath
- Determination merged the old determination and mighty roar (melee buffs) while Primal Roar merged two others (spellcasting buffs)

Jul. 2004
- Primal melee spells of Gust and Barrage (tiers I and II)
- DB said in a July 26 interview, "No Dragon yet qualifies for the Ancient Rite of Passage" - thus the 230 days (at least) since creation requirement (http://web174.cyberwebserver-14.de/h...ntent&id=2)

Aug. 2004
- Dragon ability and spell icons (graphics, not brown snowflakes, except for Drain Strike)
- Added Dragon Ingenuity ability (at 10/level) which allowed dragons to apply components (crafted by NPCs) to the Nova machine (no other use for such mastered ability)
- Merging of shards (Aug. 30 to Sep. 1 --> 3 roleplaying to 1, 4 action to 1), thus creating many bugs (such as no wraith ectoplasm for RoP)

Sep. 2004
- High hoard value items generally absent from Istaria (much rarer)
- Characters had 1,000,000 bulk vaults, used to store then apply Novian resources to post-merge plots

Oct. 2004
- Primal Damage and Primal Range spell techniques (tiers IV, V added then tiers I, II, III)
- (Amon) patch notes of fixes (most to tasks broken due to merge) and database fixes (such as Mithril Dexterity Chest Scale having too high a hoard value)
- Dragon trainer for essence harvesting was added
- DB's "We want our anniversary to be very special for the Dragons" at http://www.gamersinfo.net/index.php?art/id:131 (but note his disclaimer)
- David Bowman in IRC - http://community.istaria.com/Web/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=12381
. . . . «David-BlightTesting» DLMyth: I've seen the initial lairs in game this week... they will take about two months of work is my estimate to make them what we want.
. . . . «David-BlightTesting» So, December looks good for lairs. ARoP is being developed and is also on track for that time... etc...
- Work on Dragon claw slot addition in IRC chat (above)

Nov. 2004
- End of 1,000,000 bulk vaults (Nov. 16), mainly used for craft grinding and re-building plots (now with increased functionality)
- (Amon) patch notes of fixes (most to tasks broken due to merge) and database fixes
- Spellcrafting Mastery tasks 80 to 100 (so 9/level effectively)
- Dragon trainer for essence shaping was added
- Dragon Tutorial Island in "planning stage" - DB in http://community.istaria.com/Web/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=22001

Dec. 2004
- Dragon lair preview of 3 screenshots - http://community.istaria.com/Web/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=30188
- (Amon) patch notes of fixes (most to tasks broken due to merge) and database fixes
- No "very special" month for dragons - no adult RoP to Ancient, no lairs, no anything
- Half-giants can quest for Brawn III ability (3 min. duration, 5 min. timer) for +67 strength - http://community.istaria.com/Web/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=28461

- - - -

Jan. 2005
- "Fixed bug where dragons with an equipped tool wouldn't animate correctly in combat" (an active crafting ability prevented combat animations, but was a frustratingly long bug)
- Equipment window shows Dragon claw slot (in awkward place, near cargo slot, not in front, near head)
- Blighted tier V dragon scale jewelry added (to complement other tier V blighted item content)
- Dragon Instant Heal uses Primal instead of Life (after 14 months)
- (Amon) patch notes of mainly database fixes
- New ETA for adult Rite of Passage to Ancient and Dragon lairs

Feb. 2005
- Semi-functional Dragon claw slot (with only Tooth and Claw and Weapon Socketing techniques = incomplete)
- Shield of Gold ability no longer takes a Gift slot, thus freeing up an extra Gift slot for a biped buff (or to stay empty)
- Silver Strike and Gold Rage use Tooth and Claw skill (seems was not skill based since the June 2004 change)
- Dragon Instant Heal broken to use Life, then re-fixed to use Primal
- (Amon) patch notes of mainly database fixes
- New ETA for adult Rite of Passage to Ancient and Dragon lairs

Mar. 2005
- Amon makes database fixes so adult NPC dragons reflect proper levels as adults
- New ETA for adult Rite of Passage to Ancient
. . . . (parts of RoP added to Blight)
- New ETA for Dragon lair plots
- Realistic time for adult Rite of Passage to Ancient and Dragon lairs (<-- I stated in January)


?XXX? 2005
- Dragon's role in the community addressed, per Steve Snow (Feb. 2004)

- Adventure ability tasks done to level 100 (Dragon issue)

- Blighted claws (obviously from WA dragons and not non-dragon WA monsters, to match Blighted item lore)

- Blighted dragon scale jewelry drop only from WA dragons and not other WA monsters (to match Blighted item lore)

- Revised hoard system (per Manga's comment of 26 million at level 100 hoard) with more appropirate drop rates (closer to pre-merge levels)

- Dragon Tutorial Island in game

- Dragons can quest for Dragon brawn III ability (to match Half-giants' Brawn III - 3 min. duration, 5 min. timer, for +67 strength) to be consistent with lore as the strongest race

- Vladtmordt the Chronicler scale quests for adults (levels 75 and 100) and factors in hatchling's efforts at level 50


- Dragon creation screen shows hatchling, adult, and Ancient dragon per IGN article (March 2003)

- - - -

Reference posts (unsticked) Dragon - AE character description http://community.istaria.com/Web/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=4907

Edit: Added hoard decay, redone hoard values
Edit2: Added stuff from other forum, thanks canusa
Edit3: March tweaks and ?XXX? adds
Edit3b - more
Edit4 - Half-giant brawn III means Dragons will get brawn III per lore
Edit5 - Amon edit from looking at patch notes (most were database fixes), thanks for the posts Amon
Edit 6 - Dragon Ingenuity
Edit 7 - reformatted and some adds (like 2003)

[Fireclaw]

Mar. 2004 - Rite of Passage to transforming into an adult Helian or adult Lunus - http://www.istaria.com/page.php?pg=news&start=15(thus flying, as seen on retail box)

Apr. 2004 - Adult RoP likely effectively working

Ah not quite. RoP went live in early March 2004 and was fully functional the day it went live. (Became an adult myself just 15 hours after it went live). However, my understanding is that a subsequent patch shortly after made it non-functional so that some dragons had to wait quite awhile before they could become adult.

Dec. 2004 - No "very special" month for dragons

Very very true. Dragons got nothing in December. Wanna bet we won't get anything in January either?

EDIT: 2003 changed to 2004.

[Fireclaw]

Horizons itself was released in December of 2003. So you most definatly were not an adult in March of 2003...

Ah lol OOPS!!! My bad, I meant 2004.[:$][:$][:$][:$][:$][:$][:$]

[Pharcellus]

The RoP was also very buggy still when it went live. Had plenty of Dragons that got stuck in several spots because the quests got all confused, or they would leave their items in the vault, and the quests would hang up. Esh for Lunus was particularly problematic.

[JorgyNep]

Heh - that was always a hoot:

Dragon 1 "Let's work together to kill Esh since he is hard"
Dragon 2 "Great idea, he killed me last time. Let's get another friend to help."
Dragon 3 "Yep, he got me too a little while ago, I'll help"

Loooonnnnggggggg run back out there....

Dragon 1 "Oooooo, there he is!!"
Dragon 2 "Ooooo, there he is 2!"
Dragon 3 "Are there really supposed to be 4 of him wandering around?!?!"

SPLAT!!!!!

[Jaraiden]

Just a bump for dragon players to . . . appreciate the efforts of AE back in December 2003 and since then. Don't rush to fast to Ancient as some have "enjoyed" playing a dragonlongerthan 3 months.

K

Yes, I'm updating that post above . . . March, April, etc.

[Blue Hasia]

*Ignore*
*this is a fix it post*

[Blue Hasia]

*ignore again*
fix it post, some reason this post likes to hide itself on page 3*

[AmonGwareth]

There have been a LOT of recent fixes for Dragons, in December, January and February. Go check the patch notes yourself in the Announcements section.

There were some new Dragon head graphics released.

And the AROP is on Blight.

- Amon

[Khoal]

....
And the AROP is on Blight.

- Amon

AROP, as in AROP all of AROP? Or AROP, as in part of AROP?

[Nisse]

There is, as I hear, already quite a bit of it on Blight. Not sure how much, but a bit :)

[AmonGwareth]

Quite a bit of it, yes... Part of the AROP is better than none, or so I hear. [:D]

- Amon

[Death-knell]

There were some new Dragon head graphics released.


- Amon

Does that mean we can change our heads? If not <yawn> or do you expect us all to start new dragons?

[Fireclaw]

There have been a LOT of recent fixes for Dragons, in December, January and February. Go check the patch notes yourself in the Announcements section.

There were some new Dragon head graphics released.

And the AROP is on Blight.

- Amon

1. A few minor fixes to the database made over a few hours while listening to player feedback during one IRC session, while good, don't really constitute adequate work product for 3 months from all of Tulga.

2. The only really new content dragons got is the claw slot. And even then, all it does is let us use crystals. Since none of the good crystals drop anymore its simply a matter of checking your vault or trading for legacy crystals. Once that was done, the new content was over with. Also, Tulga promised major new dragon content in December, and this sure wasn't it.

3. Since most of us dragons probably aren't intending to start new dragons, new dragon heads are about the least important thing we were looking for. Rather than giving us unneeded extra dragon heads, shouldn't the art department have spent their time replacing the awful amateurish placeholder dragon spell effects with real spell effects?

4. ARoP is 3 months late with no new ETA. At the rate things are coming out, I wouldn't expect it for another 4-6 months at least. It means nothing that part of it is on Blight if the whole ARoP doesn't ever go live.

[evilkarl]

1. Those few db fixes from what I heard significantly improved the dragon combat experience. of course if they are so insignificant I guess you wouldn't miss not having them.

2. Claws were only ever inteded to allow the use of an extra tech or socket anyone who expected more was deluded a fair bit of time went into the addition of claws. I agree they would be better of more crystals were available.

3. Hmm I seem to recall something that makes the think additional heads would affect existing dragons but it was possibly tied into AROP

4. I agree its a saga I wish would end

[evilkarl]

I agree with Zodias? Run for the hills, for it is time for Armageddon...

Oh crap its spinning me out.

[Fireclaw]

1. Those few db fixes from what I heard significantly improved the dragon combat experience. of course if they are so insignificant I guess you wouldn't miss not having them.

I'm not saying those few database changes didn't help (though I disagree that they made a major improvement to the dragon combat experience). My problem is that this is insufficient output from Tulga given the period of time they've had since the last major update at the shard merge. In all these months, if all they can come out with are some database fixes that took a couple hours to do, then Tulga has a serious productivity problem.