Alignment, Race Wars, Duel System and Connectivity Update.
Rogue
The treatment of rogue (grey) players differs. There are now only two stances: Lawful and Lawless (previously known as Hostile). A player can temporarily become rogue while in the Lawful stance and is permanently rogue in the Lawless stance. In summary:
The only way for a Lawful player to become rogue is to enter a lawless (red) tile. Other methods for a Lawful player to become rogue, such as entering a clan city, are no longer valid.
A Lawful rogue player can now join Lawful parties and clans.
A Lawful rogue player cannot harm a non-rogue Lawful player or assist a Lawless or enemy race player, unless in a lawless tile.
Rogue players can be killed and looted by anyone, anywhere.
Rogue players always drop their full inventory upon death, just like Lawless players, regardless of their location.
A Lawful rogue player will lose rogue status after leaving lawless territory for a short period, but their rogue timer extends whenever they take damage.
Stances
It is no longer possible to change stances while in an NPC city, player city/hamlet, clan, village, or during combat. Changing from Lawless to Lawful is only possible by paying gold at a chaos church with at least 0 alignment.
Kill Assists
The assignment of PVP kill assists has been slightly modified. It now considers recent heals and damage/drains to any of the 3 main vital stats (health, stamina, mana) for assist eligibility. Previously, a bug excluded all damage over time and heals from consideration.
Faction Cities
All clan cities and hamlets in lawful territory are now faction cities, blending aspects of clan and NPC cities. They:
Start with a bindstone and can be captured by a Lawful member of any of the 3 racial factions by destroying the bindstone.
Receive guard towers for free upon capture. These towers:
Have significant health regeneration, requiring a concerted effort to overcome.
Attack Lawless, rogue, and enemy race players without needing line of sight and deal increased damage to Lawless players.
Can be captured by Lawful members of another faction during two daily vulnerability windows. The takeover process includes disabling guard towers and then destroying the bindstone, with the most damaging faction in the preceding 10 minutes claiming ownership.
Feature live groves/mines during vulnerability windows, with resource amounts scaling based on last emptying.
Lack portal chambers, wonders, system messages, or local city buffs but include functional obelisk altars, benefiting all Lawful players of the owning faction globally.
Impose alignment requirements for certain actions, e.g., a player with 50 alignment cannot open gates or use the bindstone.
May allow mastery crafting, subject to change based on ongoing decisions.
The construction of faction cities is incentivized by an Area of Influence mechanic, where certain activities near the city increase its prosperity, leading to new buildings or upgrades.
Duel System
The original duel system design has been revised to uncouple duel teams from parties and make damage non-lethal, allowing for duels without constant rebuffing, except in Lawless tiles where combat can continue post-victory.
Connectivity Update
We're currently facing ongoing connectivity issues with Cloud South, causing operational delays. We are actively searching for a new hosting solution in the New York City Region.
Regards,
Toxic Rain Studios