Shifting Tactics

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January 2009 - Announcements Page

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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."

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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, "Some mage called me a gimp the other day."

Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "I asked him what a gimp was and he said "You, Gimpy! What kind of a gimp mage has a 40 Focus?""

Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "So I portaled him to that new valley everyone is talking about to find out what kind of mage he is."

Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "I guess he didn't realize that I had used a few attribute transfer gems... What a gimp."

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."

Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "There aren't a lot of stimulating people to talk to around here."

Ulgrim the Unpleasant tells you, "I don't mean you of course, you're fascinating."

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New Quests

Monthly Game Hunter

Speak to Rand, Game Hunter for monthly kill tasks. He awards 1 Adventurer's Token every 24 hours upon completion of 1 (of 5) kill tasks. 10 tokens give a Mana Forge Key. More details here

Dereth Exploration

Speak to Sean the Speedy in Holtburg and start exploring dereth for 10 Exploration Markers. This quest will be updated with new locations frequently. More details here.

Tactical Defense Game

You must be a Master rank to play this minigame. Each round costs 5 Commendation Ribbons and has you place various towers on a life size gameboard to keep a steady stream of mini creatures from making their escape. More details here.

Live Events

• Summoning of 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 thread for some test results.

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New Items

• Adventurer's Token
• Empyrean Crystal - 25 Colosseum Coins - Improves Colosseum Ring
  • Enhanced Blue Empyrean Ring
  • Enhanced Green Empyrean Ring
  • Enhanced Red Empyrean Ring
  • Enhanced White Empyrean Ring
  • Enhanced Yellow Empyrean Ring
• Exploration Marker

Tactics Game

		Tactical Defense Coin		Archer Tower Token		Flame Bolt Tower Token		Ring Tower Token
		Trap Tower Token		Uber Tower Token		First Upgrade Token		Second Upgrade Token
		Third Upgrade Token

New Clothing

• Gladiatorial Leggings - 25 Colosseum Coins - Major Coordination
• Gladiatorial Tunic - 25 Colosseum Coins - Major Willpower

• Bonus spells for wearing both Gladiatorial Tunic and Gladiatorial Leggings are Epic Endurance, Warrior's Ultimate Vigor, and Wizard's Ultimate Intellect.

• Protective Leggings - 10 Small Olthoi Venom Sacs - Major Piercing Ward
• Protective Tunic - 10 Small Olthoi Venom Sacs - Major Slashing Ward

• Bonus spells for wearing both Protective Tunic and Protective Leggings are Caustic Boon, Boon of the Blade Turner, Boon of the Mace Turner, Fiery Boon, Boon of the Arrow Turner, and Executor's Boon.

• Ceremonial Leggings - 25 Ancient Mhoire Coins - Major Stamina Gain
• Ceremonial Tunic - 25 Ancient Mhoire Coins - Incantation of Regeneration Other, Incantation of Rejuvenation Other

• Bonus spells for wearing both Ceremonial Tunic and Ceremonial Leggings are Major Health Gain (+30% Health Regeneration rate) and Essence Glutton (+30 Health).

Updated Items

• Mana Forge Chests - 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.

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New Item Sets

• Ceremonial Clothing Set
• Gladiatorial Clothing Set
• Protective Clothing Set

*Django has reviewed the set clothing items, and has made some changes to the sets that will be effective in February's patch.[1]

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New Titles

Note: This information appears in the character title table in portal.dat. It is speculated that many of these titles are for content coming in future months, which is a practice that Turbine often employs (and is otherwise known as preloading.)

Known Available Titles

• Mountain Climber - Dereth Exploration

• Tactical Aid - Beating Tactical Defense one time.
• True Tactician - Beating Tactical Defense 10 times.
• Tactical Fantastical - Speculation: Beating Tactical Defense a certain number of times?

Titles Preloaded for Future Content

• Amateur Explorer
• Experienced Explorer
• Adept Explorer
• Master Explorer
• Elite Explorer
• Daredevil
• Sky Diver
• Spelunker
• Party Goer
• Crater Crasher

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New Creatures

Banderling Mini Banderling Burun Mini Burun Ruuk Savage Mini Burun Ruuk Shaman Mini Guruk Mini Guruk Brute Chicken Mini Thunder Chicken Chittick Mini Iron Spined Chittick Mini Obsidan Chittick Mini Stinging Chittick Cow Mini Cow Mini Very Mad Cow Drudge Mini Drudge Eater Mini Eater Elemental Mini Elemental Protector Mini Harbinger Fiun Mini Fiun Ghost Mini Spirit Golem Mini Copper Golem Mini Diamond Golem Mini Coral Golem Mini Oak Golem Mini Obsidian Golem Grievver Mini Bane Grievver Mini Grievver Gromnie Mini Brass Gromnie Mini Emerald Gromnie Mini Sapphire Gromnie Hollow Minion Mini Blight Hollow Minion Mini Hollow Minion

Human Mini Tanada Nanjou Shou-jen Lugian Mini Lugian Margul Mini Stalking Margul Mini Helcan Margul Mini Creeping Margul Mattekar Mini Mattekar Mini Swarthy Mattekar Misc. Creature Class Mini Aerbax Mini Gaerlan Mini Jester Mini Martine Moarsman Mini Moarsman Monouga Mini Crude Monouga Mosswart Mini Mosswart Mini Mosswart Zealot Mukkir Mini Mukkir Niffis Mini Niffis Mini Sleech Olthoi Mini Baby Olthoi Mini Olthoi Eviscerator Mini Olthoi Queen Mini Olthoi Warrior Penguin Mini Penguin Phyntos Wasp Mini Black Phyntos Wasp Mini Gold Phyntos Wasp Mini Mire Phyntos Wasp Mini Red Phyntos Wasp

Rabbit Mini Black Rabbit Reedshark Mini Reedshark Remoran Mini Horrid Remoran Mini Remoran Corsair Mini Remoran Raker Ruschk Mini Ruschk Scarecrow Mini Scarecrow Sclavus Mini Sclavus Shadow Mini Bael'Zharon Mini Shadow Mini Shadow Aspect of Grael Skeleton Mini Pyre Champion Mini Pyre Minion Snowman Mini Abominable Snowman Mini Snowman Tumerok Mini Tumerok Mini Tumerok High Priest Mini Tumerok Gladiator Tusker Mini Tusker Mini Tuskie Sprinter Undead Mini Mu-miyah Virindi Mini Virindi

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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.

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.

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