AC2:March 2005

http://web.archive.org/web/20060211060518/ac2.turbine.com/index.php?page_id=332

=SYSTEM CHANGES=

Monster Categories
It has been discovered that all of Dereth's monsters seem to fit into one of the following fundamental categories:


 * Decay (evil or undead)
 * Arcane (magical, or derived from energy)
 * Martial (weapon-wielding)
 * Nature (plant or animal)

=UI CHANGES=

Pet Command Panel
Pets will now be accompanied by a new GUI window that appears whenever you have pets active. One of the new features of the Pet Command Panel allows you to set the AI mode for each pet, to dictate the pet's behavior mode. The options for pet mode are:


 * Aggressive: Pet attacks any monster it sees. Default mode for turrets and loot-generated pets such as the Sangog Brothers
 * Opportunistic: Pet will attack any monster that it sees, preferring weaker targets over stronger ones
 * Courageous: Pet will attack any monster that it sees, preferring stronger targets over weaker ones
 * Protective: Pet will only respond to foes that threaten its master
 * Cooperative: Pet will attack targets that its master attacks, but will also freely defend itself
 * Assisting: Pet will attack targets that its master attacks, and will respond to foes that threaten its master
 * Defensive: Pet will defend against threats to itself or its master
 * Supportive: Pet will only attack targets that its master attacks first. Default mode for most class-based pets such as the lasher, sand fiend, and shreth
 * Idle: Pet will not get involved in any combat. Default mode for the Tumerok Invoker's Spirit Pets

The Pet Command Panel also has "Quick Command" buttons that let you order your pets to attack, return, heal you, or buff you as applicable. These buttons override the pet's mode setting, so you can always get control of your pet no matter what situation arises.

=CRAFTING CHANGES= For more details about the March Crafting changes, see Citan's Letter to the Players

Durability
Durability has been removed from all crafted weapons and armor (crafting tools still posess durability)

Bind on First Use
Crafted items are now Bind on First Use. The first time an item is equipped and used in combat (either hitting or being hit), the item becomes bound to that character. The names of binding items that have not yet become bound to a player will appear in green. Binding items can be sold in shops until they are bound to a player, and items that have been bound will contain a warning message in their description.

Lodestones
Lodestones are special magical spheres containing ancient energies. Miners have a small percentage chance of finding a lodestone each time they mine. Monster corpses, too, may contain Lodestones if the monster is no more than one level lower than the player who killed it. The Shaper's Guild has been instrumental in helping to find several uses for these strange objects:
 * Each of the 5 mining skills has a new recipe to craft Lodestones into Delving Stones, which will summon a mine for the user.
 * Spellbinders have a new recipe to craft Lodestones into Harmonic Stones, which will allow players to turn their weapons into Harmonic Weapons.
 * Other crafters may be able to transform the mysterious energies of the Lodestone into enhanced knowledge of their craft

Harmonic Weapons
Using the newly discovered Lodestones, weapons can now be created which "learn" to do more damage against monster types they are used against repeatedly over time. Only crafted weapons can become Harmonic.

Trait Mines
The Guild of Shapers has discovered massive underground resource caches. Keys may now be obtained that will grant you and your fellowship temporary access to one of these underground mazes. Move quickly, these mines are unstable!

=MISCELLANEOUS CHANGES & FIXES= (includes fixes from March 16th update)


 * As part of performance optimization, we've reduced the radar radius at which the "V" key will identify the names of players, monsters, and items
 * Crafted Human Helmets that are dyed light green no longer show as dark-green
 * The Lugian Juggernaut's Brimming Heart is no longer overridden by other healing effects
 * Shop vendors now list the number of items available in each category
 * Totems that weren't in their correct categories should now be categorized correctly
 * Totems can now be searched by "Target Level" and "Target Lore"
 * Tools should now be sorting by their required craft skill
 * Some minor fixes and improvements to pet pathing

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