Weekly Development Activities

July 31, 2006

Check out the latest updates to the "Weekly Development Activities."
The goal for this feature is to give solid expectations on what you can
expect to see in future updates.

In QA

These items are in QA and should be a part of the next scheduled update.



Performance

• We are making some changes to the Twilight Forge to improve
  performance.

General

• NEW - The House Kundarak banking system
  will be opening a new branch in the harbor inside the Harbormaster's
  House.
• NEW - Tell messages will be displayed in
  all chat windows by default (for new characters and new chat tabs).
• NEW - Fixing a problem with the Mail UI
  that causes attached items to not display.
• Loot messages from other players will be tagged as loot messages
  and can be filtered out.
• Players will no longer get stuck while dismounting from ladders.

Monsters

• NEW - Wildmen will apply the feeblemind
  effect less often, generally on critical hits and/or their special leap
  attack.
• NEW
  - The effects caused by the warforged quori humanoids in the WFT area
  will no longer produce FX. Previously this on-damage effect could slow
  down performance due to the spam of visualized effects.
• Improved
  the dragon's spellcasting AI and line of sight recognition. For more
  information on possible changes to the dragon, please read href="http://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51101" target="_blank">this
  thread.
• Melee
  oriented Troglodytes will move closer to their targets - they should no
  longer attempt to make melee attacks from out of range.

Combat

• The critical threat range will no longer be doubled on the 4th
  swing in a combo.
• The feeblemind bestowed by wildmen will be curable by
  restoration.

Items

• Vorpal weapons will behead monsters as per the
  Players Handbook - you must roll a natural 20 and confirm a crit to
  vorpal your target.
• Niac's Cold Ray and Knock scrolls will be available at Lorna
  Wyrmtouched, Arcane Scroll Vendor in the marketplace tent.
• Items
  that cast Featherfall are getting an upgrade in usability. These items
  will be fast-casting and use a self-only version of Featherfall.
• The
  "of Destruction" weapon effect is a much weaker effect than intended.
  To make the effect worthy of its cost, "of Destruction" will reduce the
  target's AC by 4 the first time it hits. There is no saving throw for
  this effect.
• We are changing the names for Seeker +1, Seeker
  +2, Seeker +3 etc. items. These effects are being renamed to be
  consistent with other effect naming conventions - they will be named to
  match the bonus they give (Seeker +2, Seeker+4, Seeker +6 etc.)
• Laina the Excoriated will close her shop window properly.
• The
  Freedom of Movement effect on the Kundarak Delving Boots will ward the
  movement effects of Storm Giant weather control. It will no longer ward
  the Beholder's petrify eye beam or the Mummy's Despair ability.

Spells

• NEW - Hazadill is having
  such fun with Otto's Sphere of Dancing that he doesn't realize that he
  is breaking the rules of the universe and casting area-of-effect Otto's
  IRRESISTIBLE dance rather than area-of-effect Otto's RESISTIBLE dance.
  This will be fixed.
• We are fixing a long-standing issue with
  dispel effects that causes dispels from the Dispel Magic spell to be
  much harder than they should normally be.

Quests

• NEW - Caverns of Korromar
  • We are removing the intelligence requirement from the Daanvi
    Codex so any party member can use it to progress the quest.
• Gnarl's Tomb
  • Old
    Gnarl's ghost will open his door after a fight if he dispatches any
    would-be thieves. This will allow parties to attempt him again without
    resetting the dungeon.
• Restless Isles
  • The Runetusk Commander will no longer speak to you after he
    dies.
  • Several encounters are displaying their DM text repeatedly.
    This will be fixed.

Under Development

These items are currently in development and are scheduled for some
time after the next update.



Performance

• Overall bandwidth of the game will be reduced
  another 1-3%, and certain problematic dungeons and laggy areas will be
  significantly improved by 20-50% (when your client gets flooded with
  information about objects in your local area).

General

• We are pleased to announce the addition of the /showhelmet |="" off=""> command which can be used to hide your helmet graphic.
• We
  are improving the combat/damage feedback mechanism. This will not only
  eliminate "false" hits where the target would flinch but no attack roll
  would take place, but also give better feedback as to the strength of
  the hit.

Monsters

• Widow type spiders will once again shoot functional webs.
• Elemental Empathy will work properly on Earth Elementals that
  have used their Earthgrab ability.
• We
  are fixing an issue with the death animations of Arcane Skeletons. They
  will no longer "eat collectables" they should be creating.

Items

• We are also working on exempting Kundarak Delving Boots from the
  movement restrictions of Sleetstorm and IceStorm.

Spells

• Please disregard the previous entry regarding the
  Fragment of the Silver Flame. Protection from Evil is being worked on
  to bring it in line with D&D rules.

To discuss the weekly development activities visit the official href="http://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54210">DDO Forums.

href="http://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47816">