17.9 Preview
We are happy to present a preview of the content we plan to release with the 17.9 update.
Steps of Madness – the nightmare continues
Neleb the Deranged sits in his cave, oblivious of the world outside and lost in the dark pits of his insanity. On the outside, a handful of people have long been convinced that Neleb is not a deranged mind with delusions of grandeur, but rather a misunderstood visionary. One of these people is more than happy to talk to people and will even supply quick and easy transport to the cave itself…if you dare venture inside, that is!
Steps of Madness, which was the first dungeon added to Anarchy Online back in 2001, is not going to be quite as you remember it! Recently, nostalgia got hold of us and we decided to give it a small facelift. Targeted for levels 30-60, Steps of Madness now has modified monsters (yes, before you ask, we have taken them off their insane diets and their hit points should be a bit more manageable now!), new and improved loot and some revised items and drop rates. We hope that both new and old players alike will find their way to this curious place where sanity balances on an edge.
The Escaped Prisoners
Quite recently, the prisons in Newland, Omni-Trade and West Athen accepted prisoners from the priests of Home. There were several things out of the ordinary about these inmates and now, to everyone’s horror, they have managed to escape!
This is a major crisis for the penitentiaries on Rubi-Ka, and they could use all the help they can get in catching these prisoners again. High level players should seek out the prison wardens if they are willing to help track down some of these dangerous foes and maybe earn themselves a bounty or two along the way. Some of the tools they used to escape might have uses in the outside world as well!
Dust Brigade – Locating the threat
It is no secret that the Dust Brigade is interested in Xan technology, but this knowledge has spawned more questions than answers. Why are they searching for it? Where is their base? Who directs them? What are they planning?
The ICC intends to find out at least one of these answers, and may accept help from those who have shown their reliability before.
Other content and updates
Of course there will also be the usual selection of tweaks, changes and improvements in this update including some of the following:
* Changes to the way Shade perk chains work. The perks will be changed to now check against the user rather than the target if they have recently activated the previous step in the chain. This means that shades will be able to carry chains forward from one target to another.
* Resolved several issues on the battlestations. Players should no longer get warped back by the decontamination buff, should no longer get the deserter flag when ending the round in the decontamination room, and neutral players should now be able to be buffed correctly by their chosen side.
* Loot channels will now report when a player deletes an item from a corpse as well as when they loot an item.
* New /rp command for roleplayers. This command will add visible characters to your name tag so that other players can see that you are currently ‘in character’
* Reduced the spawn times on many of the older Rubi-Ka unique mobs
* Reduced the spawn times of the boss mobs in the new player starting area.
Keep your eyes peeled for the full preliminary update notes when the update goes to the test dimension.
17.9 Preliminary Release Notes (4/10/08)
17.9 Preliminary Release Notes (4/10/08)
Edit April 16: More details about 17.9 posted by Chrisax a few posts further.
Last edited by Hyde on Thu Apr 10, 2008 7:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Nice that they are thinking of shades. Too bad its really not going to affect the core issues on them. The problem is less about chaining perks and more about LANDING perks in the first place. But, its something.
Get your Neleb robes NOW if you need them on lowbs ... I'd be surprised if they don't level lock the dungeon.
Get your Neleb robes NOW if you need them on lowbs ... I'd be surprised if they don't level lock the dungeon.
More details about 17.9
Fresh information.
- Steps of Madness will not be level locked very likely.
- Mode details about Steps of madness changes:
The cave itself is at it was, but the content within has been tailored towards a more enjoyable (and, some would say, possible) experience. This dungeon was underused due to the previous design and due to how different it was to the dungeon areas that were added later in the games life-cycle. The dungeon will be more approachable so that another generation of players can experience it.
The changes include modified monsters; more of them and spawning more regularly so that moving through the dungeon should be more of an exciting experience. Some of the inhabitants are also reaping the benefit of a new sense of style, some of them looking sharper and all of them have been taken off their insane diet, resulting in a hit point scale that is far more suited for the target group of players. Some new and improved loot has been added to their drop tables, including ways of improving some of the old items that some players may already have. In addition, the drop rates have been adjusted to be a little less harsh and hopefully allow more players to get their hands on a few new treasures!
- Escaped prisoners... and the Crypt of Home:
The escaped prisoners are a series of new Rubi-Ka bosses. The encounters are geared towards title level 7 players, and each fight varies from boss to boss. Some of their loot can help upgrade some old, familiar items to new and exciting ones.
High level players are invited to track down some of these dangerous foes and maybe earn themselves a bounty or two along the way. Some of the tools they used to escape might have uses in the outside world as well!
The intention with these bosses was to provide some new Rubi-Ka based encounters that are possible for players to attempt without too large groups and are varied enough to provide a little interesting experience if you fancy a little bounty hunting on the side!
The bosses each have a trick or two up their sleeves but should be possible to take on in small numbers.
There is also a repeatable quest available from worried prison wardens that players can take to earn extra rewards for tracking these foes down.
The prisoners also have some interesting new items stashed away. In prison they have learnt to make the most of improvised materials and their items reflect this. A lot of it may be improvised but its also effective.
In addition given that these prisoners were originally linked in some way to environs of the city of Home they seem to have some links to the nearby Crypt of Home and in particular have knowledge of how to upgrade one of the crypts most used items.
- Steps of Madness will not be level locked very likely.
- Mode details about Steps of madness changes:
The cave itself is at it was, but the content within has been tailored towards a more enjoyable (and, some would say, possible) experience. This dungeon was underused due to the previous design and due to how different it was to the dungeon areas that were added later in the games life-cycle. The dungeon will be more approachable so that another generation of players can experience it.
The changes include modified monsters; more of them and spawning more regularly so that moving through the dungeon should be more of an exciting experience. Some of the inhabitants are also reaping the benefit of a new sense of style, some of them looking sharper and all of them have been taken off their insane diet, resulting in a hit point scale that is far more suited for the target group of players. Some new and improved loot has been added to their drop tables, including ways of improving some of the old items that some players may already have. In addition, the drop rates have been adjusted to be a little less harsh and hopefully allow more players to get their hands on a few new treasures!
- Escaped prisoners... and the Crypt of Home:
The escaped prisoners are a series of new Rubi-Ka bosses. The encounters are geared towards title level 7 players, and each fight varies from boss to boss. Some of their loot can help upgrade some old, familiar items to new and exciting ones.
High level players are invited to track down some of these dangerous foes and maybe earn themselves a bounty or two along the way. Some of the tools they used to escape might have uses in the outside world as well!
The intention with these bosses was to provide some new Rubi-Ka based encounters that are possible for players to attempt without too large groups and are varied enough to provide a little interesting experience if you fancy a little bounty hunting on the side!
The bosses each have a trick or two up their sleeves but should be possible to take on in small numbers.
There is also a repeatable quest available from worried prison wardens that players can take to earn extra rewards for tracking these foes down.
The prisoners also have some interesting new items stashed away. In prison they have learnt to make the most of improvised materials and their items reflect this. A lot of it may be improvised but its also effective.
In addition given that these prisoners were originally linked in some way to environs of the city of Home they seem to have some links to the nearby Crypt of Home and in particular have knowledge of how to upgrade one of the crypts most used items.
more details
Famine wrote:**Preliminary 17.9 Release Notes**
Here it is guys! I will edit this more so it's readable but until then check it out!
**New Content and Major additions**
- **Steps of Madness Changes**
- A new NPC can be found in Newland that can provide transport to the dungeon.
- Spawn rates on mobs in the dungeon have been changed considerably.
- More mobs have been placed out in the dungeon.
- The health levels of the mobs have been amended to more sane levels.
- New items avalailable for the dungeon.
- Several of the old items have been revamped.
- Drop rates improved on all the items in the dungeon.
- **The Escaped Prisoners**
- New high level encounters to seek out escaped prisoners that have recently managed to break out of the Rubi-Ka jails.
- Players can seek out the new Prison Warden NPCs for details.
- **Dust Brigade – Locating the threat**
- The Dust Brigade questline has been extended for those players who have already completed the exitsing parts of the quest.
- Added additional content to the end of the existing 17.7 Dust Bridage Questline to tie the new quest extention to the previous content.
**Perk Changes**
- The way Shade perk chains work has been changed. The perks will be changed to now check against the user rather than the target if they have recently activated the previous step in the chain. This means that shades will be able to carry chains forward from one target to another.
- The perk effect 'Incapacitate' should now be visible to players again.
- Added Splinter Preservation proc to the Bio Cocoon stacking line so it cant proc while Bio Cocoon is running.
**Nano Changes**
- New nano formula available for most professions from the new Dust Brigade quest (some professions have recieved an item rather than a nano)
**Item Changes**
- Reduced the tradeskill requirements for the Infused Dust Brigade Engineer Pistol.
- Items found in the new content can be used to upgrade the Engineer's master pistol even further.
- Fixed the missing transparency on three djellaba social clothing robes.
- Added icon to the Joker's Glyph, the Insignia of the Faithful and the Insignia fo the Chosen.
- Shades that complete the new Dust Brigade quests can finally enter the computer age with a spirit that has a degree of computer literacy!
**World and NPC Changes**
- Reduced the spawn times on many of the following Rubi-Ka unique mobs.
- Torrith the Ancient
- Daria Marie Walzer
- Commander Kelly Frederickson
- R-2000 Vermin Disposal Unit
- Professor van Horn
- Marcus Robicheaux, Poet Laureate
- Colonel Frank Kaehler
- Mick "Nugget" McMullet
- The Iron Reet
- The Escaped Gargantula
- Elian Zuwadza
- These mobs will now have a random chance to spawn every so often. The rates of the spawn will mean they appear much more often than before, but not as predictably.
- Reduced the spawn times of the boss mobs in the new player starting area.
- Some city-dwelling NPCs have realized their dresses were more like tightfitting cat suits and have corrected the problem.
- Changed dialog where Commander Kend Ash was incorrectly addressed as a man.
- Updated Kelly Fredrickson's chat to be more relevant and up to date.
- New NPCs can be found around the game world that provide simple quests that point players in the direction of existing points of interest like dungeons.
- Cerubin should now be much more manageable for a team of the intended level for his location in the Crypt of Home.
- Increase drop-rate of Pit Demon Heart and Necromancer Cloak in Crypt of Home.
**System Changes**
- New /rp command for roleplayers. This command will add visible characters to your name tag so that other players can see that you are currently ‘in character’.
- Loot channels will now report when a player deletes an item from a corpse as well as when they loot an item.
- MP Pets should no longer get disconnected from their master at the battlestation teleporters.
- It should no longer be possible to have 'phantom' pets on the battlestation.
- Pets will now always follow their master to the decontamination room.
- Players should no longer get warped back by the decontamination buff in the battlestation.
- Players should no longer get the deserter flag when ending the round in the decontamination room.
- Players should no longer die from DoT effects after a duel ends.
- Players must now be above 25% health to complete planting PVP attack beacons.
- Neutral players should now be able to be buffed correctly by their chosen side on the battlestation.
- Resolved an issue with heal delta not being taken into account on team mates healthbars, client sync on other team members health should be improved.
- Large characters should no longer get stuck in a warping loop around the teleporters in the battlestation.