Kiel Hugel Odins
With March nearing a close, we reach our next content update which is Episode 10.4: Hugel! A few of our major updates are still works in progress so this update is lighter on the custom stuff and more vanilla than previous updates. For now lets just get into what is exactly different and what this episode brings to the game as well as other changes we've done with this update.
Contents
Kiel Hyre Quest
The Kiel Hyre Quest is mostly as you remember it. Partake in the lengthy the quest to gain access to Kiel Dungeon and take on Aliots, Alicels, Alizas, and Kiel himself. However we changed the quest to allow you to skip the entire thing altogether for a zeny fee. For 5,000,000 zeny you can choose to skip the entire quest. You do this by talking to the NPC that would begin the quest normally and choosing the option to skip the quest. IF you do this you will NOT receive an Old Card Album, Taming Gift Sets, or any other reward (including experience). You will only receive the quest flag to your character that marks the quest as done and the Luxurious Keycard that gives you access to Kiel Dungeon. If you choose to NOT skip the quest this cannot be undone and you cannot change your mind later so choose wisely at the start!
Also important to note that the 5,000,000 zeny is per CHARACTER, not per account. So you must pay this fee for every character you want to skip the quest on.
Otherwise, Kiel Quest is vanilla with no changes. The dungeon itself has had its Alice's and Aliza made to be instant respawn in the first floor.
Hugel and Odin's Temple
Hugel and Odin's Temple are mostly vanilla and have no real changes behind them. The Hugel mini games are there now and all the appropriate fields between einbroch/yuno/hugel are now updated to be fully connected now. The one change we have made to Odin's Temple is with the MVP: Valkyrie Randgris. She drops a Valkryie Shield at 50% chance in addition to all her normal drops. Additionally she teleports away if you try to pull her near a portal so no portal fisting shenanigans this time. You actually have to deal with her.
We've also fixed Valkyrie Randgris' Lord of Vermillion to function like the normal Pre-Re version before our skill update so she doesn't one shot you off the face of the earth. (she'll probaby still do this but maybe not with the first tick of Lord of Vermillion now)
Additionally I've always felt that Odin Temple not giving any job experience was just terrible. As such the Frus/Skogul mobs now give 50% of their base EXP as job EXP. Additionally, the Skeggiolds have had their base exp nerfed slightly in exchange for 60% of their base EXP as Job EXP. I hope this makes Odin's Temple more appealing to party at overall.
Skill Changes/Fixes
We've updated a few more skills with this update so let's go over what we did:
Priest/High Priest
Impositio Manus has been updated to be an area of effect buff that lasts 4 minutes long (to match agi/blessing buffs). In addition it gives 25 MATK to all party members on top of the 25 ATK it already gave. It has no ACD now and the SP cost remains the same. This will hopefully result in smooth party buffing for big parties with canto candidus/clementia. This effectively makes it function similarly to how it does in renewal/ro:zero.
Rogue/Stalker
Backstab updated/fixed to remove its ACD. This makes the skill ASPD based like it was always intended to be. Additionally we removed the jank position check that would prevent you from casting this if you were directly on top of the monster. It still can't be cast if there is no cell to snap back to behind the monster, however. This should hopefully make the skill feel a lot more smoother to play overall.
Star Gladiator
Star Gladiator skills were hard to keep track of which days you could use them on since they were based on the calendar year, not month. We changed this to month so now skills that can be used on "even" or "odd" days or "every 5th day" now make sense. If its March 2nd, thats an even day. If its March 3rd, odd. and 5th, 10th, 15th, etc. for every 5th day.
Blacksmith/Whitesmith
Blacksmith and Whitesmith have weird buff timers that don't really line up or match with each other which can be quite annoying for the Blacksmith player. As such we've normalized all of them to be 5 minutes at max rank so its easier to buff yourself up. This also extends some love by effectively lowering the zeny cost for Whitesmith on Maximum OverThrust since it lasts longer. Regular Over Thrust wasn't changed because we don't want to encourage dual client shenanigans with it.
Adrenaline Rush(not full ADR), Maximum Overthrust, and Weapon Perfection > durations normalized to 5 minutes to match crazy uproar.
Forged Weapons Options have been updated as well. Essentially what we changed was we shifted Critical Damage and Boss Damage from 1st Option > 3rd Option and Added Size Damage Options to the 3rd option as well.
This creates a blend where your first option is likely element or ATK/Crit and your 3rd option is going to be race or size. It can be pretty hard to roll useful options since many race combos don't go very well with elements so we wanted there to be more scenarios where your forged weapons weren't completely trash.
Alchemist/Creator
The Acid Terror changes have turned out really well and hit the mark for the power level we intended. However, the class is struggling with SP consumption with its new build, so we're lowering the SP cost of Acid Terror from 15 > 10 to help the STR build Alchemists spam a bit more often. We still think you'll want 20-30 INT on the build, but this should make the class feel more playable. Unlike Archer classes which have auto attack options when out of SP, alchemist can't really do much but rely on homun once they lose their SP pool.
Additionally, Greed is having its SP cost and ACD removed altogether. Since this is purely compensation for losing auto loot on homunc, we felt making it have no cost makes sense. No other class has an SP cost associated with looting, so it makes sense to use to just make Greed free.
Lastly, we have added what is likely our final Mass Brewing skill for Glistening Coats. This is in preparation for War of Emperium (which is coming soon) and should help brewing all the necessary supplies for WoE easy now. It works the same as all the other Twilight Alchemy's and attempts to brew 200 Glistening Coats at once/requires the mats to do so.
New Headgears
1.) Pecopeco Wing Ears (+1 AGI mid gear), Blush of Groom (3% Demihuman reduc mid gear), Hawk Eyes (+10 hit mid gear) all added to Silvervine Shop for 50 silv each.
2.) Pecopeco Hairband added to Silvervine shop at 50 silvervine.
3.) Ascendant Crown[1] (super novice only) added to Quest Headgears (requires 20 Super Novice Hat[1], Sticky Webfoot, Resin, Feather of Birds, Blue Hair, Rotten Bandage, Talon x 200 each)
+300 HP/+100 SP
All Stats +1
MDEF +5
MATK +2%
ATK +10
Crit +5
HIT +5
FLEE +5
4.) Benevolent Guardian[1] added to Quest Headgears (requires 3 Biretta[1], 1 Celebrant Mitten, 500 Worn-out Prison Uniforms)
Increases Healing Received by 5%
Increases your heal power by 2%
If +7, increase heal power by another 3%
Combos with Healing Staff, 1% more healing power per refine of Healing Staff
5.) Puppy Hat added to Baby Desert Wolf drops at 0.10% (+1 AGI, auto casts gloria level 1 at a low chance)
Mechanics Changes/Bug Fixes
1.) Double Death Packets return. When a monster dies it is very likely to Ghost out and remain after death on Alfheim. To fix this we delayed the death packet being sent by 0.7. This creates scenarios though where it technically is still clickable during this brief time which is annoying while mobbing or in parties/targeting. This can affect FAS snipers, Knights, and basically anyone trying to target the mob with a skill. As such we're reverting back to the previous behavior. This means the monster will die immediately, but a second death packet will be sent to make sure the mob doesn't ghost out. This doesn't completely fix the problem, but it does help prevent the annoying clicking on mobs that aren't really there due to the delay. This will create some pretty meme death animations where mobs die twice, but we've decided to just embrace the meme for the sake of smoother gameplay.
2.) Items drop already identified. Identifyall was a nice command, but its easier to just remove the need for the feature altogether by making items drop already identified.
3.) MVP Cards autoloot to the person with loot priority (not necessarily the MVP) regardless of how far they are from the MVP. We recently changed auto loot to not work if you aren't nearby when a monster dies. This will remain the way it works, with the only exception being MVP cards so as to prevent a tragedy.
4.) @killcount was not properly updating itself to accurately roll over after 7 days in some cases. This has been fixed.
5.) Mystical Amplifications icon now properly removes itself on single target spell casts. It still remains after AOE casts for some reasons, but we can't fix this just yet. Its important to note this is only a visual bug.
6.) Navigation can now properly update itself and find paths to maps you are not on which means you dont have to use third party resources to find out how to get to maps. This was particularly bad with field maps in Morocc Fields.
7.) Sitting Regen no longer stacks while sitting down then gives it to you all once when you drop items to lose overweight.
8.) Tapping EXP Now applies to every member in the party, not just everyone - 1. This means everyone can tap now. With another 50% tap the bonus becomes 100% efficient at two people meaning there is literally NO downside to playing with another human being.
BEFORE/LIVE:
Person Solo= 100% EXP
2 Person Party(1 tap)= 75% EXP each (50% tap)
3 person party(2 tap)= 66% EXP each (100% tap)
4 person party(3 tap)= 62.5% EXP each (150% tap)
5 person party (4tap)= 60% EXP each (200% tap)
6 person party (5 tap)= 58.3% EXP each (250% tap)
7 person party (6 tap)= 57.1% EXP each (300% tap)
8 person party (7 tap)= 56.25% EXP each (350% tap)
9 person party (8 tap)= 55.55% EXP each (400% tap)
10 person party (9 tap)= 55% EXP each (450% tap)
11 person party (10 tap)= 54.45% EXP each (500% tap)
12 person party (11 tap)= 54.16% EXP each (550% tap)
AFTER OUR CHANGES:
Person Solo = 100% EXP
2 person party (2 tap) = 100% EXP Each (100% tap) (NO PENALTY)
3 Person party (3 tap) = 83% EXP Each (150% tap) (-17% for 3rd)
4 Person party (4 tap) = 75% EXP Each (200% tap) (-8% for 4th)
5 Person party (5 tap) = 70% EXP Each (250% tap) (-5% for 5th)
6 Person party (6 tap) = 66.67% EXP Each (300% tap) (-3.33% for 6th)
7 Person party (7 tap) = 64.28% EXP Each (350% tap) (-2.39% for 7th)
8 Person party (8 tap) = 62.5% EXP Each (400% tap) (-1.78% for 8th)
9 Person party (9 tap) = 61.1% EXP Each (450% tap) (-1.4% for 9th)
10 Person party (10 tap) = 60% EXP Each (500% tap) (-1.1% for 10th)
11 Person party (11 tap) = 59.09% EXP Each (550% tap) (-0.91% for 11th)
12 person party (12 tap) = 58.33% EXP Each (600% tap) (-0.76% for 12th)
9.) Witch's Pumpkin Hat no longer gives 2 INT and 2 STR (this was an incorrect default script)
10.) Thanatos Tower's floors 7 and above now only require Base Level 80 for expanded classes and pre-trans characters.
11.) Performers Songs now automatically tap every couple seconds.
12.) Taekwon Missions updated to not include mini bosses, goblins, kobols, or rare spawn monsters/guild dungeon exclusive monsters.
13.) Kiel/Randgris added to Bloody Branch pool.
14.) Odin/Temple Kiel Dungeon mobs added to Dead Branch pool.
15.) All respective cards added to OCA/MCA pools.
16.) Amdarais drop table updated to include Spectral Spear[1] (20% chance), Ballista[1] (10% chance), and an MCA at 5% chance. Pole Axe[1] is removed. OCA removed from his table and moved to MVP reward at a 50% chance. Holy Robe[1] increased to 15% chance. We felt Amdarais was pretty difficult to take down, but his rewards weren't enticing enough to encourage players to group up to fight him.
17.) Nif_fild01 has had its Dullhans and other mobs made instant respawn. The number of Dullahans have been increased from 20 > 30 so hopefully this helps make the map more competitive for mid tier leveling parties.
18.) Jakks in Geffen Dungeon 2 have een made instant respawn, and 10 more have been added to the spawn table so farming tights isn't as miserable.
19.) Alice's made instant respawn in Kiel Dungeon, but random locations (no fixed spawns)
20.) Card based drops from those like Myst Case/Mimic have had their drop rates increased from 1x > 3x.
21.) Flare/Silver Bullets lowered from 20z > 3z each to match Archer's Arrows.
22.) Root of Corruption should now use Earthquake when below 30% HP on Attack instead of Idle now. He also casts safety wall on cooldown
23.) Kafra Cards can now be traded/stored/mailed/etc. like all other silvervine items.
24.) Abyss Lake 3 mobs for both Ferus/Acidus are made instant resapwn. These maps are extremely popular so to cut down on drama we're just letting them be instant respawn so multiple parties can play there without feeling like they are taking away from each other.
25.) HocusPocus/Abra buffed to have increase chance of Class Change. It should still be pretty low but closer to expected rates in classic.
26.) Hunter Job Change moved back to Hugel location. Bismarc clone removed from Comodo for Blacksmith job change now that Hugel exists.
27.) Airship updated to be vanilla now that Hugel is out.
28.) Warp unlockers Added for Hugel, Odin's Temple, and Kiel Dungeon.
29.) Treasure Hunt chests have new locations added. Three more glorious chests added in.
30.) Kiel D-01 has Old Blue Box MVP reward replaced with Costume Drooping Kiel at 1.5% chance. (OCA is moved up on the list and remains 20% chance)
31.) New Command: @fastregen. This basically enables or disables our sitting regen feature. It will be on by default but you can turn it off in settings or using the command anytime. This is mainly so Star Gladiators can reset their maps/feelings using the official doridori method.
32.) Autotraders now kicked off after 7 days. Auto trade also no longer persists through server restarts.
33.) Garrison[2] added to Aliot's drop table. We might come off as cheesy, but we wanted Gunslingers to have some fun with the new content update too.
34.) New Command: @eventexp brings up Sweet Annie from anywhere so you can get your exp buffs with Sweets Festival Coins without having to go all the way to the main office.
35.) Dead Branches/Bloody branches can now only be used in the instance Branch_Room with our NPC in the main office. (no more trolling!)
Coming Soon(TM)
There was a lot we wanted to get in with this update, but its just straight up not ready yet. The things we're currently working on are our MVP instance system and implementing Battlegrounds, and of course War of Emperium. Expect these to be the next focus first.
Beyond that, our next big project will be the rework of Expanded Classes. This is going to be a massive update/skill rebalance so expect more information in discord in the coming weeks/months.
