Shifting Tactics

January 2009 - Announcements Page

Teaser Images
Click image for full size version.

Town Crier Rumors
Free Rumors:
 * Town Crier tells you, "It seems people have been purchasing some new and interesting things off the exclusive vendors who don't accept pyreal. I never really understood how anyone could live without pyreal but from what I hear two of these vendors aren't even alive..."


 * Town Crier tells you, "News! The Dereth Explorers Society has embarked on a great mapping project of the island and invites all adventurers to participate!"


 * Town Crier tells you, "News! There is a new hunter who is studying the fauna of Dereth.  He's looking for adventurers to collect tokens from various creatures that he's tagged."


 * Town Crier tells you, "News! Owners of Runed Weapons can turn them in for practical training in the relevant skill!"


 * Town Crier tells you, "The Societies are training their members in the arts of war! They've developed some great big simulation to hone the tactical skills of their recruits."

Pyreal Rumors:
 * Town Crier tells you, "I've just been waiting for someone to give me some of those Olthoi venom sacs so I can go buy some protective clothing before the Olthoi make a comeback. We town criers really have to be prepared for anything!"


 * Town Crier tells you, "If you are a member of a Society, you may want to report to your stronghold for tactical training. I'm told the Tactical Officers of the Societies have developed a fascinating new method of war simulation."


 * Town Crier tells you, "If you have a Runed Weapon that you no longer need, you can turn it in to the Yaraq weaponsmith Bhravarn ibn Salizim for training in the relevant skill. How handy!"


 * Town Crier tells you, "The cartographers of the Dereth Explorers Society have announced a challenge to all exploration-minded adventurers in Dereth! Speak to Sean the Speedy in Holtburg for details."


 * Town Crier tells you, "The Hunter Rand in Holtburg seeks the help of adventurers comfortable with hunting in the wilderness. He has a variety of creature bounties to offer."


 * Town Crier tells you, "Well, I'm sure glad that awful T'thuun-thing was defeated, but it was kinda nice when his ambient magical corruption was keeping the weather warm."

Ulgrim Rumors
Free Rumors:
 * Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "I've been thinking of starting up my own shop where I sell things for ale. One can never have enough ale. And when one has ale, who has need for pyreal?"


 * Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "I've tossed back a couple of mugs with that Rand character who's sending people out on hunting expeditions. Nice guy, but he was way too interested in examining me for identifying marks."


 * Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "Oh yeah, I finally got off my duff and sent that T'thuun screaming down to his own private abyss again. But not a word of thanks, or even a mug of stout bought for me by a grateful populace, eh?  See if I defeat a demon lord of the cosmic chaos that lurks at the center of the planet again for you ingrates."


 * Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "Tactical Defense? Please. More like worst drinking game ever."

Stout Rumors:
 * Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "The Dereth Explorers Society is marking the island for map-toting adventurers, eh? I've marked parts of Dereth, too.  I figure old Berkholt's stout has seen most of this island, one way or the other."


 * Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "I hope you got all the Sclavus trophies you wanted. Clever creatures, those Sclavus.  Able to adapt to stop dropping those bits that people like to make trophies out of.  If I could adapt like that I'd grow a second liver and a third bladder."


 * Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "Ho ho ho, the snows came after the demon went howling down to defeat. No justice in this world, I tell ya.  As a wise man once said, we are slowly being digested by an amoral universe.  Some of us more slowly than others, naturally."


 * Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "Oh yeah, I saw Speedy Sean coming through here, marking targets for his map quest. I'll let you in on a secret, since you were so obliging with this mug of stout.  He marked the back of Claude's mask.  Yep, you're going to have to scalp that old trickster to finish the task."


 * Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "Tactical Defense was so easy I beat it with one eye shut... Maybe it was both eyes.  Actually I think I was passed out."


 * Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "Thanks for the mug, friend. Hey, you didn't drop one of Rand's hunting tags in here, did you?  I don't want to be trussed up and delivered to him for one of his weird little collection projects."

New Quests

 * Dereth Exploration
 * Monthly Game Hunter
 * Tactical Defense Game

Live Events

 * Summoning T'thuun - Most Friday nights.

New NPCs

 * Rand, Game Hunter - 42.2N 33.9E in Holtburg
 * He awards 1 Adventurer's Token every 24 hours upon completion of 1 (of 5) kill tasks. 10 tokens give a Mana Forge Key.


 * Sean the Speedy - 42.3N 33.7E in Holtburg
 * Starts the Dereth Exploration quest.


 * Tactical Officer - In north wing of each Faction Stronghold (same room as armor smiths).
 * Tactical Training Officer - Inside Tactical Arena
 * Tower Distributor - Inside Tactical Arena
 * Game Master - Inside Tactical Arena

Updated NPCs

 * Bhravarn ibn Salizim in Yaraq - Gives experience into your weapon skills for Princely Runed Weapons (7,500,000 maximum) Royal Runed Weapons (10 Million maximum). Xp is determined by how much it costs to raise the skill of the weapon you turn in. See |this thread for some test results.

New Locations

 * Tactical Arena - from faction Strongholds.

Updated Items

 * Loot profiles improved.
 * All armor sets now have the same chance of appearing (previously, some sets were more common than others.) In addition, sets, as a whole, are now more common.
 * Chalices, Bowls, Goblets, etc. removed from weapon chest loot (but still occur in other chests such as Advanced Equipment).
 * New max wield weapons are now more common, as well as 400 wield weapons with 420 wield stats.
 * Granite Key - Trade value has increased.
 * Marble Key - Trade value has increased.
 * Sturdy Steel Key - Trade value has increased.
 * Each of these keys open chests that can contain 0-2 Princely Runed Weapons or 0-2 Royal Runed Weapons, which are now worth up to 10 million xp into that weapon skill (if you have it trained/specialized) when turned in to Bhravarn ibn Salizim. If your weapon skill is capped, you will not get any xp.

New Titles

 * Mountain Climber
 * Tactical Aid
 * True Tactician
 * Tactical Fantastical

Portal.dat

 * [[File:Portaldat 200901.png]]

New Creatures

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Images
Click image for full size version.

Known Issues

 * The "Failed to enter chat room" bug persists.
 * Some players still see black dome at Monster Fights.
 * Zongo's Fist is still surpassed by Strength of Diemos.
 * Tusker spells (i.e. Tusker Leap) still have an inflated difficulty.
 * The cleanup NPC in the Tower Defense minigame is cleaning up monsters too early, counting them against the player. This occurs at the third turn from the end. Monsters that make it to this point will likely count against you.
 * Can not apply dye to Protective Clothing Set. Confirmed bug by Django on Turbine forums.
 * * Django has reviewed the set clothing items, and has made some changes to the sets that will be effective in February's patch.

Typos

 * The Tanada Nanjou Shou-jen and Bane Grievver creatures in the Tactics game are misnamed, and should be Mini Tanada Nanjou Shou-jen, or Mini Nanjou Shou-jen, and Mini Bane Grievver.
 * The Tactical Officer says he takes non-existent Slow Tower tokens.