Weekly Development Activities Update



Samera updates the coming changes with Litany of the Dead: Part 2.

Weekly Development Activities (Jan 8, 2007)



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In QA

These items are in QA and should be part of the next update, "Litany of
the Dead: Part 2".



General

You will now regenerate death XP debt slowly while in town (not in
dungeons) or while logged off.

We have fixed a condition where characters could periodically enter a
state where healing over time and damage over time effects (including
city regen, tavern regen, and food) were not working.

NEW – When running a dungeon in solo mode, there is no longer an XP
penalty for leaving and reentering.

NEW – Anonymous players will now be able to join parties and post LFM
messages without problems.

Displaying players only LFG in the Who panel should be much snappier
now.

Fixed several incorrect mapnotes.

Swimming underwater on low or medium graphics settings will no longer
produce a strobe-like effect.



UI Improvements

The /gather emote is now available.

The highlight on the activated action bar is now more visible.

When you are creating a party and someone asks to join your group, you
will now be able to send them a tell, accept or decline their
invitation, and even open the "create party panel" right from the chat
box. This is in addition to the old method of accessing these functions.

Auctions



All emails sent regarding auctioned items now include the item name.

NEW – When you successfully buy out an auction item, you will receive
an immediate chat tell message informing you about the successful
purchase.



If you switch from one character to another, you should no longer see
your previous character listed in the "Who" panel.



Monsters

Mummies will no longer occasionally heal themselves to death.

Wraiths should no longer attack or cast while invisible and
untargetable.

The "spin attack" of vampires will now actually do damage.



Combat

NEW – Ammunition that is Secured(Item Locked) will no long be
automatically loaded if you run out of ammo in your ammo slot.



Spells

Undead (except for incorporeal undead), vermin, and earth elementals
are no longer immune to the trip portion of the Cometfall spell.

Sorcerers will now be able to activate Level 6 spell scrolls using a
caster level check.



Skills, Feats, & Abilities

We have changed how Mobile Spellcasting works. Now all players can cast
while on the move with half their normal movement speed. However, with
Mobile Spellcasting, you can move at full speed. Consequently, the
Improved Mobile Spellcasting feat has been removed, as Mobile
Spellcasting will now have the same effect Improved Mobile Spellcasting
previously had. Players who had the Improved Mobile Spellcasting feat
will gain a single free feat respec.

The lockpick animation will now take the same amount of time for all
races.



Enhancements

Halfling characters should no longer be able to get themselves into a
state where they are stuck with more than 4 enhancements and cannot
swap them out.

The Smite Evil enhancements family has a new icon.

Favored Enemy (Gnoll) no longer has a blank icon.



Items

Drops of Ancient Bronze tokens have been greatly increased.

All Gnoll bane and Goblinoid bane weapons will now get their to-hit and
damage bonuses against the correct target types.

Monsters shaken by the "roaring" effect on several named items will now
have a "shaken" fear symbol over their heads.

Your ears will now be visible when equipping halo or tiara type
headgear.

Gauntlets will no longer be created with minimum required levels that
are higher than level 12 when looting chests in CR 12 dungeons on
Elite. Existing gauntlets will not be changed. If you have gauntlets
that are higher than minimum level 13 or higher you can either sell
them or hold onto them for when the character level cap is increased in
the future.

The Telekinetic effect on Whirlwind and Sirroco has been changed to use
a Balance check to resist the knockdown instead of a Trip save. This
means that in most cases monsters will now resist the knockdown more
than they did before because most of the monster bonuses (size, number
of legs, etc) are only applied to Balance saves.

Both the Planar Gird and the Cape of the Roc will now be found in the
Clothing section of the Auction House. Previously these items were
listed in the Jewelry section.



NPCs

NEW – The missing collectors from House Deneith are now in place with
new examples of alchemical goodness to distribute.



Quests

NEW – The Circle of Eternity



Fixed an AI issue that caused several fire elementals to become stuck.

NEW – The Court of Lailat



The first encounter with Queen Lailat will now reset if all the players
in her throne room die.



Three-Barrel Cove



The Fire Caves



Adjusted the lava depth and added a ledge to help ensure players could
reach a chest.



Haunted Library



Moved a trap control box so that it is actually accessible to players.



NEW – The Necropolis

Raddha Cross will now refer to the vampire using his proper name.



NEW – The Sands of Menechtarun

Vorvand Darkfur's chest should now unlock when he dies.



NEW – Spawn of Whisperdoom

Fixed several optional objectives so that they can now be completed.



NEW – Spire of Validus

Improved DM Text with better feedback regarding the Lich’s treasure
room.



NEW – Vault of Night



Prison of the Mind



This quest will no longer be counted twice for both House Kundarak
favor and Total favor.







Under Development

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



General

The elven female avatar now has the braided hairstyle available.



Monsters

The Hobgoblins have finally gotten their long-delayed and much-needed
shipments of bows. Now, wherever hobgoblins live, there is a chance
they will have some archers amongst their ranks.


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