What's new?
This month's patch brings a number of QoL updates, performance improvements, new quests, and new Ember Veins! Don't forget to pop in during our Free Weekend June 2nd through June 4th!
Bug fixes / improvements:
Shadow Performance Updates
This month's patch brings a few critical performance improvements to shadows. Embers Adrift's day/night cycle requires that our directional lights cast real time shadows - which are very expensive to render. When night falls many point lights turn on (torches, lanterns, candles, etc) which impose even more of a performance cost for some graphics cards.
I spent some time this past weekend investigating our light culling code and found a few bugs that needed smashing. In addition, I found some code that I wrote about 3 years ago but for some reason never used? Needless to say I integrated this new code into the game, fixed some bugs, and adjusted some settings which I hope will drastically reduce the rendering cost of shadows for certain systems. The changes are as follows:
The quest log has been extended to include tutorial information. Tabs have been added to the top of the window to allow you to switch between "Quests" and "Tutorial", and the window has been renamed "Log". The new tutorial section serves as a place to revisit previously viewed tutorial tooltips. We hope this new resource will help new players more easily navigate the early game.
Weapon Positional Changes (note that Flanking has been renamed Positional!)
Most weapons have a Primary and Secondary positional, typically denoted by a reduced base positional value. For example Maul's have +5DMG from rear (Primary) and +3DMG from the front (Secondary). This was meant to offer a less optimal but still useful way of using weapons with positional bonuses. We have changed this system so the Primary direction will now get a bonus to the positional stat, but the Secondary will only receive the base value of the positional stat.
For example: a Crossbow has +5DMG Side Positional (Primary) and +15 Hit Rear Positional (Secondary). An example of how the math plays out for a player with +25 Positional is as follows:
The primary position from the side will have Base+125% Positional to DMG, or 5 + 25*1.25 = +36.25 DMG
Whereas the secondary position from the rear will have Base+100% Positional to HIT or 15 + 25 * 1 = +40 HIT
Please note: Some weapons do not follow traditional conventions and have higher base values. These weapons have kept their higher base bonuses, but have reduced contributions from +Positional that go below 100%
Resilience Update
Resilience currently serves as a "saving throw" when your health drops to zero. We have expanded the functionality of Resilience to now also reduce the damage bonus of incoming heavy and critical hits. Reminder that resilience only works in combat stance!
Tooltip Renovations
Tooltips play an important part in Embers Adrift by providing you with all the juicy details about abilities, equipment, weapons, and consumables. For the longest time our tooltips have been a bit lacking in the "clarity" department as they are procedurally generated based on the data. In other words: they were hastily put together by programmers who just wanted to verify what data was present and ignored the need for readability.
This month we have revamped tooltips for weapons, equipment, consumables, and abilities to bring a bit more clarity about. Another goal of this revamp was to trim some of extra bits to keep things short and to the point - all while providing a way for you to explore that additional data when necessary. To that end we have made the following changes:
New Hats
Two new hat variants have been added to the game. To match the visuals some have been renamed from "hood" to "cap". We are still working on proper "hoods" and hope to bring them to you one day soon. The hats that got these visuals are:
New Ember Veins
Two new Ember Vein zones have been added with new treasures to be found. The first is located in Redshore and caters to levels 25-26, while the other can be found in Grimstone (part II) and caters to levels 48-49.
This month's patch brings a number of QoL updates, performance improvements, new quests, and new Ember Veins! Don't forget to pop in during our Free Weekend June 2nd through June 4th!
Bug fixes / improvements:
- Tech
- Fixed a bug where NPC dots from the same NPC type could not stack. This could make spiders a tiny bit more dangerous.
- Fixed issues with AoE line of sight checks impacting which targets were selected during an AoE. This should make abilities like Intimidate easier to use.
- Fixed interaction issues with Ember Vein exits.
- Fixed an issue where weapon augments were only being consumed by the off hand weapon while dual wielding.
- Fixed some minor rendering issues with targeting reticles.
- Fixed a per-frame allocation in the skybox rendering.
- Augments can now be "stacked" up to a maximum of 5x on a single item. Stacking only extends the life of the augment (additional hit counts for weapons and additional duration for armor); the stat granted by the augment remains the same.
- Shadow Performance Improvements (see below)
- Environment / Art
- Fixed stuck spots in Forgotten Depths and Redshore.
- Fixed some environmental bugs in Meadowlands, Northreach, and Dryfoot.
- Fixed some lighting issues in some dungeon rooms.
- Added some props to Forgotten Depths.
- Adjusted LODs on a number of props.
- Replaced water planes in Central Veins, Aquifer, Ember Veins, and other dungeon rooms. It should look a bit more like water now.
- Characters on the login selection screen with now show weapons and ember stones.
- Disabled lighting in Dryfoot Castle until it is populated
- Added some lighting to Dryfoot Stronghold
- Audio
- Eagle Eye ability now has associated audio.
- UI:
- Fixed a bug on the social server that was causing intermittent issues with player status updates. This could result in incorrect info being shown in the guild, friends, and group windows.
- Fixed typos in NPC calls for help and emotes.
- Fixed crafting UI not remembering position between sessions.
- Added a tooltip to damage types in the combat log. Hovering over damage values will show the specific damage type (physical/mental/chemical/ember) in most cases.
- Added a tooltip to Armor Class in the equipment UI.
- Added icon tinting for refined logs.
- Added a different icon for higher level dopants.
- Added a chat notification when a group member falls unconscious.
- Added tutorial log tab in the old quest window (see below)
- Stats enhanced by Inner/Outer armor augments are now colored green in the stat window.
- Selected stat tab (Stats/Combat/Resists) will now remember your selection between sessions.
- When using a repair kit with a stack count greater than 1 your mouse will remain in "repair mode" until the stack is depleted or you cancel repair mode.
- Aura volume slider removed from audio options as it currently serves no purpose.
- Tutorial text should now show dynamic keybinds.
- Confirmation dialogs (monoliths & egress points) will auto-cancel if you move too far away from the interactive.
- "Flanking" stat renamed to "Positional" (see below)
- Tooltips for weapons, items, consumables, and abilities have been revamped (see below)
- Group Window Updates
- When a group member is in a different zone or out of range their level and role will still be shown.
- Simplified the method in which we update the group window when members leave/join. This should fix the issue of keyboard shortcut labels being incorrect.
- Nameplate outline color will now change depending on the health state of the group member.
- Cyan: unselected
- Blue: selected as your defensive target
- Red: unconscious. Can be brought back via healing/smelling salts.
- Purple: selected and unconscious
- Black: given up. Can no longer can be brought back with healing or salts.
- Design:
- Fixed skinning and resource level on Stark the bear.
- Fixed armor weight on Scale Mesh Mask to zero.
- Fixed Ash consumable sharing a cooldown with potions.
- Fixed missing icon on 1^ Hulking Spider.
- Fixed incorrect XP modifier on Great Axe recipes; they should now grant full experience.
- Fixed Renewing Resonance to be group only.
- Fixed Bat's Screech should no longer stack.
- Fixed level on Dyed Jack Trousers
- Fixed Insulated Trousers to provide Chemical Damage Resist instead of Chemical Damage
- Fixed Scurry Boots to provide Ember Damage Resist instead of Ember Damage.
- Fixed Ant Hills and Rat Nests not properly calling for help when attacked at max range.
- Fixed level requirements for harvesting named Stonecoats.
- Environmental spider webs are now quite a bit stickier (movement reduction is now 50% along with a 35% haste reduction).
- Damage from the Ember Ring's Burn now does a fixed fraction of your health so that it is equally dangerous at all levels.
- Reduced memorization time for Lay of the Land & Resuscitate to 1s.
- Reduced durability lost from incoming hits by 10%
- Repair kits are now Advanced Repair Kits.
- Added Basic Repair Kit recipe (can be purchased in Newhaven City). These repair kits can be made using ingredients from a single gathering profession, but are less efficient.
- Reduced aggro radius of Redmane.
- Reduced the spawn rate of Shrieks in Grimstone Canyon
- Adjusted NPC patrols in Forgotten Depths & Grimstone Canyon to be less frequent.
- Added an Egress point to the Meadowlands' Ember Oasis.
- Whiskertooth Dagger now has a dagger visual.
- Increased damage output by 5-10% for mobs level 25+
- Feared mobs now have a chance to call for help when the fear wears off.
- Carrion Ravens, Redmane Prowlers, and Redmane Lurkers can no longer turn Ashen.
- Basilisk Tail Whip is now a conal attack.
- Knuckles & Claws are now referred to as 1H Fist types.
- Resilience stat improvements (see below)
- Monolith changes/updates:
- Can now only be used out of combat.
- Now have a confirmation dialog on usage.
- Redshore's Monolith has been moved to the West side of the zone to better accommodate lower level players (beach) and higher level players (freehold).
- Weapon Off Hand Ability Contribution (OHAC) updated for the various weapon types:
- Hatchet: 20%
- Sword: 30%
- Dagger/Fist: 35%
- Berserker:
- Fury execution time reduced to 1s
- Assault stamina cost progression reduced.
- Brigand:
- Mark execution time reduced to 1s
- Increased damage of Overpower, Hidden Strike, and Mark
- Reduced stamina cost of Overpower, Execute, Stun, and Hidden Strike
- Warden:
- Increased damage of Venom Strike and Acid Strike
- Increased the amount of +HIT from Eagle Eye
- Reduced stamina cost of Acid Strike, Viperid Toxins, and Assist
- Juggernaut
- Reduced cooldown on No Time to Die by 1m. Added info to the tooltip reminding players that it is only effective when weapons are drawn.
- Collateral Damage is now a proper AoE and has increased threat.
- Unstoppable now also prevents Daze.
- Perforate deals more initial damage while the DoT duration is reduced (total damage is the same)
- Increased multipliers on Breach
- Increased Roar's damage bonus and duration
- Reduced damage on Revenge
- Quests:
- New Quests Added
- Restoring a Legacy
- Fit for an Outfitter
- Brewing Up History
- Tinker's Tailor-Made Supplies
- The Blade Remade
- The Woodshaper's Request
- New Quests Added
Shadow Performance Updates
This month's patch brings a few critical performance improvements to shadows. Embers Adrift's day/night cycle requires that our directional lights cast real time shadows - which are very expensive to render. When night falls many point lights turn on (torches, lanterns, candles, etc) which impose even more of a performance cost for some graphics cards.
I spent some time this past weekend investigating our light culling code and found a few bugs that needed smashing. In addition, I found some code that I wrote about 3 years ago but for some reason never used? Needless to say I integrated this new code into the game, fixed some bugs, and adjusted some settings which I hope will drastically reduce the rendering cost of shadows for certain systems. The changes are as follows:
- Fixed a bug in the light culling code that was preventing far off light shadows from being disabled.
- Integrated new old tech for non-humanoid NPCs which disables their shadows at a distance. This can significantly reduce the number of shadow casters currently active which in turn should reduce the load on your graphics card.
- Added a new slider to the Video Options called "Shadow Casting Lights". The range of values available is 0-10 with 3 as the default. Changing this value allows you to adjust the maximum number of point lights allowed to cast shadows (the directional Sun/Moon lights are excluded from this count). By setting this value to zero you are effectively disabling shadows from all lights except for the Sun/Moon - which could help you squeeze a little extra performance out of the game while maintaining shadows from the directional light. Note that at low counts you may notice shadows toggling on/off more frequently as the camera location changes.
- Disabled Blupiter's light from updating the shadow map every frame during the evening. Given that this body is stationary in the sky we do not need to constantly update the shadow map. This yields a significant performance boost which should even out the performance cost of the additional point lights that turn on during the night.
The quest log has been extended to include tutorial information. Tabs have been added to the top of the window to allow you to switch between "Quests" and "Tutorial", and the window has been renamed "Log". The new tutorial section serves as a place to revisit previously viewed tutorial tooltips. We hope this new resource will help new players more easily navigate the early game.
Weapon Positional Changes (note that Flanking has been renamed Positional!)
Most weapons have a Primary and Secondary positional, typically denoted by a reduced base positional value. For example Maul's have +5DMG from rear (Primary) and +3DMG from the front (Secondary). This was meant to offer a less optimal but still useful way of using weapons with positional bonuses. We have changed this system so the Primary direction will now get a bonus to the positional stat, but the Secondary will only receive the base value of the positional stat.
For example: a Crossbow has +5DMG Side Positional (Primary) and +15 Hit Rear Positional (Secondary). An example of how the math plays out for a player with +25 Positional is as follows:
The primary position from the side will have Base+125% Positional to DMG, or 5 + 25*1.25 = +36.25 DMG
Whereas the secondary position from the rear will have Base+100% Positional to HIT or 15 + 25 * 1 = +40 HIT
Please note: Some weapons do not follow traditional conventions and have higher base values. These weapons have kept their higher base bonuses, but have reduced contributions from +Positional that go below 100%
- Hobfly Great Axe
- Galeeq's Fang
- Dread Maul
- Prospector's Pick
- "Fishing" Pole
- Encased Tendril
Resilience Update
Resilience currently serves as a "saving throw" when your health drops to zero. We have expanded the functionality of Resilience to now also reduce the damage bonus of incoming heavy and critical hits. Reminder that resilience only works in combat stance!
Tooltip Renovations
Tooltips play an important part in Embers Adrift by providing you with all the juicy details about abilities, equipment, weapons, and consumables. For the longest time our tooltips have been a bit lacking in the "clarity" department as they are procedurally generated based on the data. In other words: they were hastily put together by programmers who just wanted to verify what data was present and ignored the need for readability.
This month we have revamped tooltips for weapons, equipment, consumables, and abilities to bring a bit more clarity about. Another goal of this revamp was to trim some of extra bits to keep things short and to the point - all while providing a way for you to explore that additional data when necessary. To that end we have made the following changes:
- Revamped the procedural content of all weapon, equipment, consumable, and ability tooltips to more clearly present the relevant data.
- Hold ALT to view additional information when a tooltip is active. This includes dice, expanded definitions for any acronyms, etc.
- Hold SHIFT to view the next tier of an ability (if available) when an ability tooltip is active.
- Dice values have been replaced with a damage range that includes all self contained bonuses (previously shown as mods or 1d4+5 etc). No back-end math has changed - everything is still based on dice rolls (which can be viewed on the tooltip by holding ALT)
- More cleanly and consistently organized data in all tooltips across different items. Things like Stat bonuses are now sorted, along with consistent placement of timings, expirations, triggers etc.
- All duplicate data (i.e. augment bonuses) has been removed.
- Colors of items on tooltips should be a bit more consistent. Blue = player stats, Light Green = augments, Green = reagents. When viewing the requirements section blue = met, red = not met.
New Hats
Two new hat variants have been added to the game. To match the visuals some have been renamed from "hood" to "cap". We are still working on proper "hoods" and hope to bring them to you one day soon. The hats that got these visuals are:
- Silk Cap (was hood)
- Smuggler's Cap
- Relic Hunter's Padded Cap (was helm)
- Elder Marauder Cap (was hood)
- Lunatic's Lid
- Sanity Cap (was hood)
New Ember Veins
Two new Ember Vein zones have been added with new treasures to be found. The first is located in Redshore and caters to levels 25-26, while the other can be found in Grimstone (part II) and caters to levels 48-49.
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