Patch Notes - 2022 August 30
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2022 3:44 am
The amount of content in this patch means there may be some additional weirdness; please submit any weirdness as a Bug Report. This was another big lift.
NPCs (Non-Player Characters) Have Been Implemented - NPCs are souls that, like player characters, are locked in the Nexal Struggle but have not fully committed to the Nexal Struggle - they still have ties to "the world before" and so perceive the Nexal world a bit differently (and are, in turn, perceived a little differently by Nexal natives such as pets). An exhaustive reckoning of the mechanics by which NPCs operate would take forever to write and read, but here is what you need to know.
Game Mechanics
NPCs (Non-Player Characters) Have Been Implemented - NPCs are souls that, like player characters, are locked in the Nexal Struggle but have not fully committed to the Nexal Struggle - they still have ties to "the world before" and so perceive the Nexal world a bit differently (and are, in turn, perceived a little differently by Nexal natives such as pets). An exhaustive reckoning of the mechanics by which NPCs operate would take forever to write and read, but here is what you need to know.
- Any time a new character is created, new, first-level NPCs will spawn nearby so the character will have something to interact with.
- NPCs start at level 1 but have methods to gain experience and level up just like other characters.
- NPCs can purchase skills after levelling up.
- Character respawning (i.e., every respawn after character creation) has a chance to force NPCs to respawn along with them; the lower-level the character, the higher it is that NPCs will spawn nearby. If the NPC does not respawn nearby, the respawn will happen in much the same way a PC respawn would (e.g., demon NPCs have a chance to spawn in Stygia and will never spawn in Elysium).
- NPCs may spawn in a "hidden" state or spawn indoors (happy hunting!) so their respawn may not be immediately obvious.
- NPCs do not join factions and will not enter a faction's stronghold (though if they are already present when a stronghold is invoked, they may stay inside though will not join the faction).
- Pets will not normally target NPCs (though they may target an NPC's pets).
- There are admin-controllable toggles to fiddle with the "living" population of NPCs. The exact population levels are likely to be tweaked as we go so you may see NPC levels rise and fall until we get to what we feel is the right mix.
- NPCs can move, hide, attack, etc. (NPC behavior is likely to go through several unannounced refinements over time).
- If you view the "Character Sheet" of an NPC, you will see "NPC" added after their name (no need to, for example, spend time inviting them to your faction).
Game Mechanics
- Mysteries long lost to the eons are stirring. The most powerful of Revenants may find that whispers of their ancient power can be heard under the right circumstances.
- Lightspeaker Crystal Guardians spawn with 60 AP/MP instead of 30. This was hotfixed live prior to the patch.
- Releasing or resetting a character now removes any Font traps or bars that the character created.
- Fog and the Elementalist's Elemental Fog keep Revenants from taking damage in sunlight for moves that started from within the fog.
- The character selection screen now tells you in big red letters if your class selection will kick you from your faction.
- Carousel Station's docking time has been changed to offset by 6 hours each time it spawns instead of always spawning at 0000 GMT. This will allow players across time zones the opportunity to interact with it at times more favorable to them.
- The portal to Carousel Station no longer vanishes if you don't have the Map tab open.
- Fixed an issue where Fallen who traded in Empyreal Bond for Hellspawn weren't properly losing Empyreal Bond.
- Resolved an issue where people who requested blessings from a Relic always got the type of blessing they asked for even if a blessing of that type wasn't actually stored.
- Shadow of the Wolf revenants with Howl or Echoing Howl didn't see their wolves abandon them if they shifted out of wolf form and to a different form (bat/dust).
- Game Stats no longer requires a credit balance to view.
- Fixed Shadow Wrap not showing an error when it fails due to hiding being impossible.
- Addressed an issue where Advocates who loaded a Relic were not told what Blessing was being loaded into the Relic.
- Revenants who got Harbinger of Death from biting an Exalted Harbinger weren't getting the kill bonus.