Weekly Development Activities

October 2, 2006

<!-- if (!document.phpAds_used) document.phpAds_used = ','; phpAds_random = new String (Math.random()); phpAds_random = phpAds_random.substring(2,11); document.write ("<" + "script language='JavaScript' type='text/javascript' src='"); document.write ("http://ads.tentonhammer.com/adjs.php?n=" + phpAds_random); document.write ("&amp;what=zone:81"); document.write ("&amp;exclude=" + document.phpAds_used); if (document.referrer) document.write ("&amp;referer=" + escape(document.referrer)); document.write ("'><" + "/script>"); //-->

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 Module 3.



General

• NEW - You will now slowly regenerate Hit
  Points and Spell Points while walking around the city and not just in
  taverns.
• NEW - A number of new emotes have been
  added to the game:
  • /beckon
  • /hug
  • /flex
  • /groan
  • /grovel
  • /kiss
  • /no
  • /poke
  • /sigh
  • /taunt
  • /yes
  • /cheer2
  • /dance2
• The
  Silver Flame has recognized that the brothers stationed in Taverns have
  been casting an inferior version of Restoration. From now on, the spell
  cast in taverns will remove 1 negative level in addition to all the
  other Restoration effects.
  
• NEW -
  Raid parties for the Dragon or the Warforged Titan will now have the
  option of setting the raid loot shards to go to a random member of the
  party rather than to the leader. The leader can switch the shard
  designation by right clicking on the party health-bars (in the same
  place he/she clicked for "convert-to-raid"). All members of the party
  will be notified in party chat when this happens, and later arrivals
  will be notified when they join the party. Once the party has been
  switched to "random loot", it cannot be switched back. Shards will be
  randomly assigned to any member of the party who is alive and still in
  the dungeon as soon as someone attempts to pick up the shard.
  
• Fixed a bug which prevented the player's encumbrance from being
  updated when sending an item through the mail.
  
• Players will no longer get stuck while dismounting from ladders.
  
• We
  are pleased to announce the addition of the /showhelmet <on |
  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.
  
• When you successfully swap a spell, you will now get an alert
  telling you that it worked.
  
• Poison dart and poison grenade traps will now actually poison you
  instead of doing poison hp damage.
  
• Lava Cam! When your camera is in lava, it now looks more like
  it's in lava, as opposed to water.
  
• Made
  some small tweaks to our avatar animations. For example, human female's
  wrists won't twist in the dual weapon combo attack, dwarven arms won't
  over-extend when they use an axe to cleave, etc.
  

Performance

• The landscape renderer has been overhauled to provide better
  performance (especially load times). In addition, the new landscape
  engine enables huge draw distances that were not possible before.
  
• The overall frame rate has been improved and ‘hitching' reduced.
  
• Avatars
  and monsters are now a bit brighter than other objects (the intensity
  depends upon the environment and lighting conditions).
  
• 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).
  

UI Improvements

• The text on the XP bar has been clarified to make it more
  obvious that you have not lost the XP you were accruing toward your
  bonus AP when you die and get an XP debt while you are working toward
  bonus action points.
  
• Mail
  
  • The "New Mail" icon will now appear on the Focus Orb even if
    it is minimized.
    
  • NEW - The "New Mail" icon will now
    vanish from the Focus Orb when the last new letter in your mailbox has
    been opened.
    
  • NEW - It is no longer possible to
    put too much text into the Compose Mail' "To," "Subject," and "Message"
    fields.
    
  • NEW
    - It is no longer possible to compose new mail while your mailbox is
    full. The Mail Box is considered full when it has fifty or more letters
    inside of it.
    
  • The "To" and "Subject" line of the Compose Mail UI no longer
    accept carriage returns.
    
• NEW - In an effort to help clear up some
  confusion Ranks will now start at 1 instead of 0.
  
• NEW - ALT-Z will now hide/show the main
  UI.
  
• NEW - You will now see the dice rolls
  for dispelling.
  
• NEW
  - When using something other than the mouse to move the mouse cursor
  (for example, an Xbox 360 controller), the mouse cursor will not be
  allowed to move outside the game window.
  

Monsters

• NEW - Monsters can no longer remain
  stealthed/invisible when they are casting harmful spells on you.
  
• NEW
  - Adjusted some monster sneak attacks to function properly – some were
  not being blocked by fortification, while others were not triggering in
  situation where they should have (for example, with a blinded target).
  
• NEW - Monsters will now deal properly
  when hit with multiple behavior states (for example, mesmerized while
  dancing).
  
• NEW
  - Liches can no longer be affected by command undead, halt undead, the
  undead fear portion of the chill touch spell, or control undead (not in
  game yet).
  
• NEW - Mephits now fly faster.
  
• NEW - Most named troglodytes have been
  given more hp on the hard and elite settings.
  
• Spiders
  
  • Some mid- and high-level (mostly CR 7 and up) spiders have
    new stronger poisons.
    
  • Most
    spiders on the hard and elite settings have had their attack damage
    reduced significantly, particularly those on the elite setting.
    
  • Widow type spiders will once again shoot functional webs.
    
• The mind flayer and vampire's dominate abilities no longer dispel
  protection from evil.
  
• Some ogres have been eating their veggies and will be able to see
  and hear better than they could before.
  
• Several
  bow wielding enemies will now shoot various energy arrows like flaming
  arrows or cold arrows. These will do the typical piercing damage (1d6
  and up) in addition to various amounts of energy damage.
  
• Several
  resourceful enemies have begun using various alchemical substances in
  battle. In most cases, these will affect players as energy damage over
  time.
  
• Elemental Empathy will work properly on Earth Elementals that
  have used their Earthgrab ability.
  
• More
  powerful versions of Mummy Rot are now labeled accordingly: Pernicious
  Mummy Rot is more dangerous than regular Mummy Rot, and Virulent Mummy
  Rot is even more lethal.
  
• Female humanoid villains will no longer charge into melee range
  if armed with spells or bows.
  
• We
  are fixing an issue with the death animations of Arcane Skeletons. They
  will no longer "eat collectables" they should be creating.
  

Combat

• All enemy trips and knockdowns now have dual saves (an initial
  save and a secondary save). Most give you an ability modifier check for
  the initial save to determine whether or not you fall. This is usually
  your Strength or Dexterity modifier, whichever is greater on your
  character. Some knockdowns like grease give a reflex save as the
  initial save. Once you fall down, your secondary save checks will occur
  every two seconds and are versus your balance skill to determine when
  you stand back up.
  
• NEW -
  Warforged who take the fighter's armor mastery enhancements will now
  see it affect the max dex bonus from their armored body feat.
  
• NEW - Smiting weapons and other death
  effects now give better combat feedback in your chat box.
  
• NEW - Boss monsters will now give better
  feedback on spells that they are immune to.
  

Spells



Spell Changes

• NEW - The valid arc for casting spells
  on a target has been increased from a forward 90 degree arc to a
  forward 120 degree arc.
  
• Resist
  Energy is now available for clerics, paladins, rangers, and wizards.
  Protection from Energy is now available to Rangers, Wizards, and
  Clerics. This change allows these classes to cast Protection From
  Energy and Resist Energy the same way a sorcerer can, by memorizing a
  single spell and then choosing which damage type to ward against. The
  days of memorizing several Resist Energy: (Element) are no more!
  
• Protection
  from Evil has been fixed to work correctly. It no longer protects
  against *all* charms and compulsions (including Otto's, command, hold
  monster/person, etc). Rather, it only protects against charms and
  compulsions that give ongoing mental control, such as the vampire's
  dominate ability. Also, as per D&D rules, it no longer protects
  against mental control from evil creatures, but ALL mental control,
  regardless of the target's alignment.
  
• Phantasmal killer is now a fear effect.
  
• NEW - Players will now be immune to
  charm and suggestion spells. Players will no longer be immune to
  command spells.
  
• Holy smite will now damage spiders.
  
• The
  Teleport spell no longer has a Somatic casting component so players
  will not suffer an arcane spell failure chance for Teleport while
  wearing armor.
  
• NEW - The Dispel
  Magic spell (for bards, clerics, paladins, sorcerers, and wizards) no
  longer requires a material component to cast (as per P&P rules).
  
• Niac's cold ray now uses the proper ray cast animation.
  
• NEW - Mind Blast now affects all enemies
  within the area of effect.
  
• NEW
  - The flame arrow spell now allows the caster to choose what type of
  ammo he/she would like to add the "flame" property to. Choices include
  Arrows, Bolts, Throwing Daggers, Throwing Axes, Darts, and Shuriken.
  Each requires 1 base unmodified type of that ammo (so Flame Shuriken
  requires 1 plain shuriken) and produces a stack of 50. All players and
  items that can cast flame arrow will now cast the "new" version.
  
• NEW
  - Stoneskin and Protection from Energy spells now work as per PHB -
  they have a total amount of damage that they protect you from, after
  which they will vanish.
  
• NEW - When blind, you will no longer see
  the names floating above the head of named friends/foes.
  
• NEW - Casting/Cooldown
  
  • Slightly reduced the cooldown timer of all level 5 spells.
    
  • Significantly sped up the casting time of Command to be in
    line with other spells of that level.
    
  • Significantly sped up the casting time of Flame Strike.
    
  • Significantly sped up the casting time of the Spell
    Resistance spell to be in line with other spells of that level.
    
  • Significantly sped up the cast time of the sorcerer's
    Dimension Door spell to be in line with other spells of that level.
    
  • Significantly increased the cooldown timer of the sorcerer's
    Suggestion spell to be in line with other Suggestion spells.
    
  • Made
    several minor tweaks to casting times and cooldown timers of other
    spells to bring them in line with similar spells of the same level.
    
• NEW - The visual for the Grease spell
  now matches more closely the area of effect.
  
• You will now get chat feedback in the combat window when you hit
  someone with a non-damaging spell (like fear or slow).
  

Metamagic Fixes

• NEW - Characters using the Quicken feat
  will find their spellcasting greatly improved.
  
• Resistance, Restoration, Raise Dead and See Invisibility spells
  can now be used with the Eschew Materials feat.
  
• NEW - The spell point cost of using your
  Eschew Materials metamagic feat has been reduced.
  
• Find
  Traps, Ice Storm, Magic Missile, Scorching Ray and Searing Light no
  longer consume additional spellpoints while the Heighten Spell feat is
  active.
  
• Holy Smite and Niac's Cold Ray can now be used with the Heighten
  Spell feat.
  
• Dismissal no longer consumes extra spell points while the
  Maximize or Empower spell feats are active.
  
• Feeblemind and Waves of Fatigue no longer consume extra spell
  points while the Extend Spell feat is active.
  
• Ray of Exhaustion can now be used with the Heighten spell feat.
  
• Sleet Storm no longer consumes addition spell points while the
  Heighten spell feat is active.
  
• Wall of Fire
  
  • No longer consumes additional spellpoints while the Heighten
    spell feat is active.
    
  • Wall of Fire can now be used with the Extend Spell feat.
    
• Shocking grasp can now be affected by the Heighten Spell
  metamagic feat.
  
• Solid Fog and Grease no longer consume additional spellpoints
  when under the effects of the Heighten Spell metamagic feat.
  
• Melf's Acid Arrow no longer consumes additional spellpoints while
  the heighten spell feat is active.
  

Spell Description Updates

(these are just text changes, not changes to spell functionality)

• Spell descriptions now use color for greater readability!
  
• Player
  spells will now state in their descriptions if the spell has a saving
  throw to resist, and if so, the results of a successful save.
  
• Ray
  of Enfeeblement description fixed, it had been indicating an extraneous
  +1 STR damage that it did not do, and was missing max caster level
  information.
  
• Hold spells have been updated to state that they have a save
  interval.
  
• Player spells that have a max Hit Dice cap should now state this
  in their description.
  
• Melf's Acid Arrow description has been updated to list the
  correct interval.
  
• Wall of Fire description now been updated to include damage
  amounts.
  
• NEW - Scorching ray description now
  includes information about additional rays and their levels.
  

Skills & Abilities

• The magnitude of the bonus provided by Action Boost: Attack and
  Action Boost: Skills have been reduced at the higher level
  enhancements.
  
• Bards can now activate their singing
  abilities while moving! The activation time on their singing abilities
  has been reduced significantly as well. An animation glitch has also
  been fixed!
  
• NEW - Fixed a bug
  with some AOE abilities and spells. Formerly, if you had a dead monster
  targeted, Turn Undead would fail. Now, it will work, but will be
  centered on you since your selected target is dead. The same is true of
  other feats, skills (Intimidate, etc.), and spells (Burning Hands,
  etc.), for which the default behavior on an invalid target should be
  "happen, centered on me", or "happen, aiming directly forward".
  
• The
  description for the Paladin's Lay on Hands ability has been corrected
  to better describe the amount of healing/damage that the ability does.
  

Items

• NEW - There is a new weapon effect
  "Vicious". This effect causes the weapon to do an additional 2d6 of
  damage to the target, but also does 1d6 of damage to the wielder.
  
• NEW
  - The following bane weapons will now have the appropriate attack
  bonus. At the moment there is not a retroactive fix for older copies of
  the weapons who do not have the bonus but we are working on one.
  
  • Kelmar's Justice
    
  • Sword of the Giant Slave-Masters
    
  • Giant Stalker's Knife
    
  • Spider Spike
    
  • Spiked Mace of the Elements
    
• NEW - Crests will now sparkle to make
  them easier to see.
  

PVP

• NEW - Sneak attack works as follows:
  
  • If the target player is helpless, sneak attack applies.
    
  • If the target player is blinded, sneak attack applies.
    
  • If the target player is asleep, sneak attack applies.
    
  • If the target player is stunned, sneak attack applies.
    
  • If the target player is bluffed, sneak attack applies.
    
  • If the target player is dazed, sneak attack applies.
    
  • If the target player is flanked, sneak attack applies.
    

Quests

NEW - Tempest Spine

The "Bridge to the Inevitable" gate trap will now open after 3
minutes to prevent parties from getting stuck should someone run ahead,
trigger the trap, and then die.



To discuss the weekly development activities visit the official target="_blank" href="http://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47816">DDO
Forums