Our next stress tests are scheduled for:
What's new?
This week we introduce the next crafting overhaul! Any crafting professions (NOT gathering) you had previously will still exist but must be forgotten as there are no longer associated recipes. Outside of that we are adding npc hard leashing, a few misc. fixes, and monolith costs.
We are seeking focused feedback on these items this week:
Bug fixes / improvements:
Npc Leashing Updates
Npcs now have two types of leashes. The first is a "soft" leash which is only triggered when the Npc has no targets and wanders outside of their intended range (this has been present for a long while). This week we are adding a second "hard" leash which is based on the distance from the point a valid target was acquired. While resetting the Npc will move very quickly, regen at an accelerated rate, and avoid all incoming damage. In theory, you should only encounter this behavior when running for a long while from an Npc. Please let us know how this works out!
Crafting Profession Revamp
The original three crafting professions have been deprecated. Your character will still have them but you will no longer have any recipes associated with them. You will want to forget these and pick up one of the new ones. There are now 8 crafting professions:
Monolith Costs
There are currently 5 overland monoliths resulting in 10 unique "connections" between them. The cost to use each connection is proportional to the distance traveled. When right clicking on a monolith it will now say "[<cost> EE] To <zone>" and the button will be enabled/disabled depending on if you have the appropriate amount of ember essence. The presentation of these costs need some love but I wanted to get this in sooner than later. Here is a table of the current costs for reference:
Works in progress:
To see a full list of what is currently in progress head on over to this thread. I will do my best to update this list on a weekly basis and highlight the differences from the previous week with bold font. Below I will highlight some of the upcoming changes in more detail.
Shader Updates
The tool we use for custom shaders should be getting an update this week which "should" resolve some lingering rendering issues. The most prominent of which is the spiderweb flickering.
New Patch Server
We are working on improving your patching experience by moving everything over to a "content delivery network" or CDN. This should give more reliable download speeds throughout the world and be throttled far less often.
New Compression Algorithm
We are in the midst of trying a new compression algorithm for the project which has so far reduced the size of the client by a considerable amount. Ideally this should result in smaller and quicker patches. However, due to this new compression algorithm some of the individual files have become much larger; this means we have some work to do to break these files up a bit more to avoid you having to download the same large file for minor changes.
Known Issues:
Wed. September 21st @ 8pm central
(Thurs. September 22nd @ 1am UTC)
The developers will meet in Discord and test for approximately one hour. However, the servers will remain open for roughly 4 hours. The most up-to-date client can be retrieved via the patcher found on your account page.(Thurs. September 22nd @ 1am UTC)
What's new?
This week we introduce the next crafting overhaul! Any crafting professions (NOT gathering) you had previously will still exist but must be forgotten as there are no longer associated recipes. Outside of that we are adding npc hard leashing, a few misc. fixes, and monolith costs.
We are seeking focused feedback on these items this week:
- Did the performance adjustments made have an impact on your performance?
- Do you notice any visual quality difference from us lowering the quality of some post process effects, adjusting the shadow cascade distances, and adjusting zone fog quality?
- Have you encountered NPC hard leashing? If so what are your thoughts?
- Thoughts and comments on the crafting restructure?
Bug fixes / improvements:
- Launcher Updates:
- Updated to build 82 (can be seen in the upper left corner when the options tab is pulled down)
- Added a few new concept pieces to the cycle.
- Code fixes to download methods for more reliable file downloads.
- Enabling data compression on launcher files to slightly reduce the launcher's size on disk.
- Tech
- Fixed: when forgetting a profession and picking another one sometimes it would not allow you to harvest with a generic "Error" message.
- Fixed: AoE distance checks were not playing by the same rules as single target distance checks. They should now be consistent.
- Fixed: issue where swapping out a weapon would negate the stats of something equipped in the opposite hand (i.e. swap swords with a banner equipped)
- Fixed: mobs that are both stunned AND feared will no longer act as though they are feared until the stun wears off.
- Fixed: Npc interact on hail triggering when too far away
- Fixed: misc issues with saving and updating custom resolutions
- Reduced maximum range on camera impulse sources. This should slightly dampen the effect of large creature footsteps/falls.
- Performance Adjustments
- Reduced shadow resolution on most light sources.
- Reduced shadow cascade distances for all quality settings
- Reduced shadow cascade count for Potato & Performant
- Increased shadow cascade count for High Fidelity
- Reduced quality of scene fog.
- Reduced quality of AO and Bloom post process effects.
- Enabled dynamic render pass culling optimization
- Environment / Art
- Meadowlands Nav Mesh rebaked to properly account for the river.
- Fixed: female scale greaves were not showing on the right leg.
- Scene fog (not localized fog areas) for Newhaven Valley, Northreach, Meadowlands, and Redshore will dissipate as the sun rises and will be much less prominent around noon. It will stay this way until later in the evening when fog will build back up through sunrise.
- UI:
- Striker abbreviation is now STK instead of STR to avoid confusion.
- Reagent tooltips now state which ability they are consumed by.
- Fixed: issue that was causing button click zones to be off when running in windowed mode with multiple monitors.
- Group member direction indicator has been replaced by a rotating GPS marker just below and to the right of their portrait
- Quests:
- Fixed: various errors in dialog
- Fixed: Balgar quest not progression past the first reward
- Fixed: typo in Sergeant Faslock's dialog
- Design:
- Added: merchants to Redshore.
- Fixed: "Flax Cloth" material category to correctly be listed as "Linen Cloth"
- Fixed: Open Wounds not requiring combat stance to execute at higher levels
- Added: Mandrake creatures are now showing up in Meadowlands & Redshore
- Second Lieutenant Exile name shortened to Second Lt.
- Ruptures have been spotted in Dryfoot and Redshore.
- Hot fixes from last weekend:
- Minor code changes attempting to fix issues where loot rolls are not triggered
- Exile sentries reverted to use long range sensors
- Fixed: bug where players would sometimes show as offline and could not be invited/etc.
- Fixed: bug where some discovery quest objectives were not triggering properly.
- Added: merchants to Meadowlands
- Added: scale armor visuals
- Fixed: some random server exceptions.
Npc Leashing Updates
Npcs now have two types of leashes. The first is a "soft" leash which is only triggered when the Npc has no targets and wanders outside of their intended range (this has been present for a long while). This week we are adding a second "hard" leash which is based on the distance from the point a valid target was acquired. While resetting the Npc will move very quickly, regen at an accelerated rate, and avoid all incoming damage. In theory, you should only encounter this behavior when running for a long while from an Npc. Please let us know how this works out!
Crafting Profession Revamp
The original three crafting professions have been deprecated. Your character will still have them but you will no longer have any recipes associated with them. You will want to forget these and pick up one of the new ones. There are now 8 crafting professions:
- Light Weaponsmith: Most 1-handed weapons (everything but daggers) and small to medium sized shields.
- Heavy Weaponsmith: Most 2-handed weapons (everything but quarterstaves) and large shields.
- Woodworker: All ranged weapons, Quarterstaves, and wooden versions of small and medium sized shields (visuals may be metal, still a work in progress).
- Tailor: Inner armor (everything but Belts) and Banners.
- Leatherworker: Leather armors and Belts.
- Armorsmith: Metal armors.
- Provisioner: Food, Drink, Potions, Tools, Ground Torches, and Repair Kits.
- Tinkerer: Jewelry, Daggers, Throwing Knives.
Monolith Costs
There are currently 5 overland monoliths resulting in 10 unique "connections" between them. The cost to use each connection is proportional to the distance traveled. When right clicking on a monolith it will now say "[<cost> EE] To <zone>" and the button will be enabled/disabled depending on if you have the appropriate amount of ember essence. The presentation of these costs need some love but I wanted to get this in sooner than later. Here is a table of the current costs for reference:
| Zone A | Zone B | Essence Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Newhaven Valley | Northreach | 5 |
| Meadowlands | 15 | |
| Dryfoot | 15 | |
| Redshore | 25 | |
| Northreach | Meadowlands | 10 |
| Dryfoot | 10 | |
| Redshore | 20 | |
| Meadowlands | Dryfoot | 20 |
| Redshore | 10 | |
| Dryfoot | Redshore | 10 |
Works in progress:
To see a full list of what is currently in progress head on over to this thread. I will do my best to update this list on a weekly basis and highlight the differences from the previous week with bold font. Below I will highlight some of the upcoming changes in more detail.
Shader Updates
The tool we use for custom shaders should be getting an update this week which "should" resolve some lingering rendering issues. The most prominent of which is the spiderweb flickering.
New Patch Server
We are working on improving your patching experience by moving everything over to a "content delivery network" or CDN. This should give more reliable download speeds throughout the world and be throttled far less often.
New Compression Algorithm
We are in the midst of trying a new compression algorithm for the project which has so far reduced the size of the client by a considerable amount. Ideally this should result in smaller and quicker patches. However, due to this new compression algorithm some of the individual files have become much larger; this means we have some work to do to break these files up a bit more to avoid you having to download the same large file for minor changes.
Known Issues:
- [FIXED]
Skydome occasionally gets "stuck". When this happens you should notice that the clouds stop animating. When this occurs change your quality setting to something else, then back and it should "reset" the skybox. - Loot roll occasionally does not trigger leaving the loot open to anyone. We are currently investigating.
- After resizing your game client some of the buttons in the upper right may no longer be clickable.
- Terrain textures have a bit too much tiling. This will be resolved shortly.
- Characters can get stuck in any looping animation if they do not properly complete. This is most noticeable for strikers using a bow.
- Not all ember rings and/or POIs are proper map discoveries. This is especially true in Dryfoot, Dryfoot Stronghold, and Redshore. Discoveries and map uncovering is a WIP and will be revisited soon.
- Deconstructing crafted items returns junk 100% of the time.
- cannot roll on loot while unconscious
- not all clothing/armor has visuals
- Dragging a group-nameplate in the group window will set the wrong pivot point for the group window and the whole thing will drag a bit weird.
- typing chat text may occasionally become invisible. unfocus your chat window and trying again a few times typically resolves this.
- Sometimes when you respawn you don't end up at the proper Ember Ring --> if this happens please report the position where you died via the "/report" command or "/debugposition" (if using debugposition you'll need to paste the value here)
- MacOS:
- Zooming the camera while holding the right mouse button can cause your chat window to scroll. This is not intended behavior.
- At some camera angles the sun may go dark. This should not happen frequently but is readily reproducible at some locations. Investigating a fix.
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