Maintenance 2016-04-10

All Servers

• New Client!
  • A new client has been released, and with it comes a whole swathe of fixes and brand new content!

• Battlegrounds Revamp and Queuing System
  • The button was there on the old client too, however was useless. It was here on the new client too, but also useless... so instead of having it just sit there, I've revamped Battlegrounds to instead use this instead of the old method of queuing inside waiting rooms!
  • Now for the ins and outs of queuing!
    • You may sign up for Battlegrounds at any Town map. This includes, well, all towns, as well as the Eden Group maps and most inside-town maps. If you notice any maps that you think should be designated as a town, please let us know!
    • If you move to a non-town map, your position in the queue will be vacated and you will have to re-join the queue at the end!
    • Currently you may sign up either as an individual or as a party (there is a guild button, but we are unsure how we want to implement this yet). Please note, that the queuing system may split your party if it deems it necessary to balance teams.
    • Team balancing, currently, works "linearly", i.e. it will iterate through the queue adding people to each different team. This may be changed to random compositions or even a weighted, balancing system. We will keep a close eye on this and change it if we deem it necessary.
    • In the arena rotation are nine - nine! - different Battleground rounds! Each round requires a minimum of 5 people per team to start, and can increase up to 40 people per team if there are enough people in the queue!
    • If you queue whilst a game is in progress, and there is room in the game, you will automatically be added to the current game in progress. If the game is full, you be will placed at the end of the queue and must wait until a space becomes available. Please note, there is a maximum amount of people allowed in the queue at one time of 150.
    • There will be roughly a 2 minute break between each game in which you can re-supply if you need it. During this time, you may use @veto, which counts a vote against the next game in the rotation. If enough people @veto the next game, it will be skipped. If a game is vetoed, the next game in the rotation cannot be vetoed and will begin within 30 seconds.
    • At any point, you may leave the queue using the Battle button. You can do this inside Battlegrounds as well if you need to leave early.
    • There have also been some new features added to be used during a Battleground's game!
    • Each team now has a designated "leader" who gain some of the same skill-based buffs as a guild leader does!
    • BG Teams are now also considered as "fake" guilds, so you may now see where each of your teammates are on the mini-map!
    • The leader of each team may use @order: this displays a message akin to @guildmes to all people within their team!
    • If a player is unhappy with being the leader, they may use @leader to swap leadership to another person on their team.
    • In order to aid teams against AFKers, a system is in place that determines whether or not a player is AFK. The team leader can use @reportafk to kick the person from their team if the system deems them as AFK also.
    • If a player is AFK at the end of a match, the queuing system will automatically remove them during the down-time until the next game starts.
    • We will be monitoring the usage of this command and whether or not people AFK in BG. Those people who are found to be serial AFKers will be dealt with appropriately; so please don't ruin the fun of everyone else!
    • And now for a brief description of each game mode!
      • Capture the Flag
        • This game takes place on the Flavius map. Each team must work together with their teammates in order to capture the opposing team's flag and bring it to their own! Whilst carrying the flag, your walking speed is reduced and you cannot use any items or skills, and your HP will deplete rapidly! But watch out, if the opposing team has your flag then you cannot capture theirs, so a good defence is also a good offence! First to three points win!
      • Eye of the Storm
        • This game takes place on the Tierra map. This mixes together base capturing and CTF!
      • Triple Inferno
        • This game takes place on a PvP map, and consists of three teams! Each team works together in a team deathmatch-style game mode in which each player killed drops a skull of the colour of their team. You must then run this past the Totems near each group's spawn point in order for the points to count; except, if you die with the skulls they will be lost! First team to 80 wins!
      • Team Deathmatch
        • This game takes place on the Flavius map. It is a classic team deathmatch scenario with each team battling to score the most defeats! Score counts down from 99 to 0 and the first team to 0 wins!
      • Bossnia
        • This game takes place on the Tierra map. It is a mixture of PvP and PvM, with each team having to capture and hold a neutral flag in the middle of the arena. Capturing this flag makes the opposite team's Boss vulnerable to attacks! Each team has 5 Bosses and they get continually harder each time! After each Boss' death, the central flag returns to neutral, meaning either team must re-capture it in order to damage the opposite team's Boss. Once all 5 Bosses of a team are dead, they are declared the winner!
      • Conquest
        • This game takes place in a Schwartzwald Guild Castle. This is a WoE 2.0 simulation, with one team sieging the castle and the other defending it!
      • Stone Control
        • This game takes place on the Flavius map. In the central area there are six stones that each team must try to carry back to their base. As with the flag, the player carrying a stone is left incredibly vulnerable, so good team-play is a must! The first team to acquire all six stones - or the team with the most at the end of the time - win!
      • Domination
        • This game takes place on the Tierra map. This is a cross between capture the flag and base capturing. Both bases on the map are considered neutral and may be captured by either team. In the central area of the map is a neutral flag that may be captured and returned to a team's captured base for bonus points. Each captured base generates a score of one per tick, with a captured flag netting the team a bonus score of five! First team to 99 points win!
      • Rush
        • This game takes place in a Baldur Guild Castle. This is a WoE FE simulation but with a twist! Both teams spawn inside an empty castle and must rush to capture and defend it from the other team! The twist is, however, both teams spawn together and must quite literally rush to break the Emperium; except, when the Emperium is broken, the other team are not warped out but remain where they are, making this a very interesting take on an old yet most popular version of PvP in RO.
• As for rewards, please note the change in that there are no longer three different types of BG Medals and now instead there is only one standardised version. These can be used to purchase items either at the Garden of Eden on Loki or in the Battlegrounds waiting room on Thor. There is also be an NPC there that will trade your old medals for the new type at an exchange rate.
  • Miscellaneous Fixes and Additions
    • [Added] The new client also brings with it some awesome new features and fixes, which I have detailed below!
    • The client will now no longer force-close when it is disconnected; instead it will take you back to the login screen.
    • You may now easily view replays from the "Select Service" screen after logging in.
    • The Status window has been detached from the Equipment window, as in previous clients.
    • The Inventory window may now be resized in order to please both sets of people who prefer smaller or bigger window sizes.
    • The Bank window has been cleaned up and made easier to use - it holds a max of 2.1bn Zeny. Please note, the Bank NPCs will be removed soon to co-inside with this.
    • [WIP] @mail sadly has met its end and is replaced with RodEx - which is a work in progress. We will be working out hardest in order to make this work as soon as possible.
    • /cashshop is now a thing that toggles the button for the Cash Shop.
    • You can now ctrl+right click on items in your Inventory to identify them - this requires a magnifier though! In future, on Loki, we will expand this to people who have @magnify to not need the item.
    • Most official items now specify whether or not they are tradeable in their descriptions. We will be expanding this to custom items soon!
    • The mini-map has been updated to display your co-ords at all times. You can now also maximise the mini-map and place comments on there for your own reference!
    • As much as we have tried, we cannot cause the floor glitches that plague PvP and WoE; so we'd like to tentatively announce the death of the floor glitch!
    • Ctrl+F12 now cycles your hotbars.
    • ... Increased general stability and usability!
    • [Added] AFKers will now no longer receive EXP or loot when deemed suitably AFK.
    • [Added] A message will appear when using a costume-changing item detailing how to get rid of it, i.e. by PMing Server with nocostume.
    • [Changed] #deathmatch channel has been changed to #battlegrounds. Deathmatch announcements will still occur in #battlegrounds, and all BG player announcements will occur here too, except when a game begins, which will still be broadcast to the whole server.

• • Cashshop Update!

• • • Both servers have received a Cashshop update! This time, our motif is Animals!
    • [Loki] [Thor] Horse Head - "A Horse Head mask that would make any prank x100 more funny and effective!"
      • Effect: Costume
      • Cost: 150P for 7 days, 500P for 30 days and 1,000P for permanent.
    • [Loki] [Thor] Gorilla Head - "A Gorilla Head mask with a pretty flower - you look both daunting and yet pretty?"
      • Effect: Costume
      • Cost: 150P for 7 days, 500P for 30 days and 1,000P for permanent.
  • With the new client, we are also able to offer some new, exciting items and headgears that were not possible before! At the minute, we have implemented one of these items, as well as one of these headgears:
    • [Loki] [Thor] Gender Change Ticket - "Changes the gender of only the character you use this ticket on! The rest of your account remains the same."
      • Effect: As it says! Literally changes only the character you use this item on. It does work with gender-locked classes (Bard/Dancer and Kagerou/Obero) no problem!
      • Cost: 150P
    • [Loki] [Thor] Ljosalfar - "Meaning "Light Elf" in old Nordic, this causes special glitter and effects to appear around you! Come celebrate the release of the new client with us by showing off with this awesome new headgear!"
      • Effect: Costume
      • Cost: 175P for 7 days, 600P for 30 days, 1250P for permanent.
    • And finally, in addition to all that...
      • [Loki] Sale! In order to welcome and celebrate the new client, and in order to get people up to speed with leveling (as well as our goofy "Animal motif"), a few items may be found in the Special tab that are cheaper than normal!
        • Field Manual Box (10) 40% off: was 500P, now 300P!
        • Battle Manual X3 40% off: was 500P, now 300P!
        • Fox Ears 10% off: was 2,000P, now 1,800P!
        • Fox Hood 10% off: was 2,000P, now 1,800P!
        • Stuffed Panda 10% off: was 2,000P, now 1,800P!
        • Teddy Bear Hat 10% off: was 2,000P, now 1,800P!
        • Twin Bunnies 10% off: was 2,000P, now 1,800P!
        • Star Wings 10% off: was 2,000P, now 1,800P!
        • Rose 20% off: was 1,000P, now 800P!
        • Angeling Card 10% off: was 1,000P, now 900P!
        • Ghostring Card 10% off: was 1,000P, now 900P!
        • Deviling Card 10% off: was 1,000P, now 900P!