Setting update

By PlaneShift Team, May 11th 2014      15 comments.

We have just released a quite large setting update! This update has been a long time in the planning, construction, production and testing. We must thank every Developer, Prospect, Contributor, and Player who helped us put this simply enormous collection of new work together.

Here is a list of all the changes.

Books

There are now 25 new books. This is an increase of over 25% over the previous amount so we now have more than 110. The books cover a range of topics from cultural information like marriages, greetings, and games to topics like Dark Way magic to selections of stories and diaries. These are spread out over the game world so good luck finding them all. We have also reorganised Jayose's library to try and better seperate the book topics, so you might need to spend some time finding where all the books are now.

Quests

We have released 20 new quests, which gives us more than 400 in total. These are some of the most 'advanced' quests so far written. Some are just plain silly, some fun, and some infuriating. These include much more interaction with the world, we will have players acting out breaking into a house through a window, poisoning barrels with glyphs, and cleaning dusty shelves. This is done via finding the right item and right clicking on it, exactly like you do when entering a house via the door. Due to the fact this is the first time we are being this adventurous with quests there will be the odd little bug, please let us know if you find one. The quests which use these have pointers in the quest notes to help you work out what you need to do. We also have a nice selection of quests which allow for gathering new crafting books such as those for mace crafting, heavy armour crafting, and Kran cooking.

We have now completed the quest chain re-work project. Most of the current quests have been fitted where suitable, and as well as we possibly could, into chains. We have also added dialogue to most quests so once one is completed you are pointed onto the next one or at least given hints to others in the chain. This is done by the NPC telling you and/or a comment in the quest notes. Quests in the 'main chain' are always pointed to. But not all individual side quests are. So there will be times when you will still stumble across new quests which you may not have done. We are doing this as there is no need to point to every quest, and if we did it would be like releasing a quest chain map, and we wanted to keep some things a surprise and tougher to find. If you did a quest after auto quest notes were added, the notes will automatically be updated. So if you've already done a quest, you might want to look in the notes to see what new information is stated to lead you to subsequent quests.

A long overdue change is that all glyph rewards have been reorganised such that there is a much greater variation of rewards. We can now tell you that every glyph (55 in total) is now set as a reward in at least two quests, this excludes those you can buy and excludes those in a quest which you can repeat. But be careful with some quests which rewards glyphs, if you don't do what you are asked you will not get the reward, but if you do, rewards for all. This re-organisation will make it MUCH MUCH easier for new and current players to get important spells, and glyphs. For example sleep and water, two important glyphs for early mages, are now obtained much early in their respective chains which in turn will make it easier to be a new mage. Because of these changes many of the quests with new glyph rewards will be 'reset' so that players can do them again. We have made some changes to the rewards to the magic circle quests but we HAVE NOT reset any of these, this is because it can be hard to find items to progress up the chain so did not want to force players to do this again. And as every glyph can be obtained else where no player will miss out on the chance to get every glyph. Oh, and there are 4 new glyphs, each with a spell(s) to get, one of these glyphs no one in game currently has.

Since we released the tutorial we were often asking for feed back and we have made lots of small changes. This includes lots of dialogue fixes and small menu changes, Krans now get Kran food from Abelia due to the skill release, and maps are given before entry into the main game (these are the ones you can buy from Jayose).

Since we now have the ability to give specific quality items as quest rewards, this has now been done in some key areas, especially the replacement of master crafted tools. Quests that reward those tools now give regular tools with higher quality. (Instead of a Master Crafted Rock Pick, you now get a 150 quality Rock Pick.) At some point those who already have Master Crafted tools will have those items automatically replaced. You will not have to do the quest again. This also eliminates having to have multiple entries in crafting books for each type of tool.

As always we have been asking players to report quest bugs to us and we think about 100+ quests have had at least one dialogue fix. It's hard to know exactly how many (BIG thanks to all the players who keep reporting them). If you come across a mistake in any new (more likely) or old quest (less likely) please tell us so we can fix them.

We have also added little things such as an alternate paths in Without a Way so you don't always end up having to listen to Levrus talk for ages, and small changes such as the removal of faction rewards from repeatable quests which is the first step into making the faction system 'functional'.

Other

Players have also been reporting bugs in knowledge areas (KAs) to us so we have numerous fixes to piles of KAs (big thanks again to all players to report typos when talking to an NPC or have suggested new dialogue.) We have also expanded the current KAs, which is a slow but steady project. A number of new "action locations" (ALs) have been added in the world to add function to currently inactive objects like doors, and descriptions to other objects like trees (if you read one new books in particular you will see why). A number of current ones have also been adjusted as were broken. "Action Locations" can be triggered just by right clicking on map elements in game.

Known bugs

To give you a chance to get new glyph rewards in quests you may have already done, several quests have been wiped. One of them is The Coming Eclipse. But to complete it you need a letter for Datal. Since the quest that gives that item is the winch access quest, it's way too troublesome to wipe that one. So to get the letter, you can ask a GM, or if one is not available, file a petition. This goes for any quest where you need an item from a quest you've already done. Please do not abuse this. GMs will be checking if you have the right prerequisites.

Gameboards

Our efforts on gameboards continues, in particular we added games rules to the "Groffel's Toe" gameboard by Brado's tavern in Ojaveda: enjoy playing this simple draughts-like game with a friend and try to occupy the last two tiles of his/her board.

Fixed Bugs/Added Features

  • Bug#3396 Fixed Drinks in the deep incorrect dialogue appearance.
  • Bug#3983 We removed the second copy of Communicating with creatures from Jayose's library.
  • Bug#4492 Adjusted questions in "Enchanted Balls" quest.
  • Bug#5052 Adjusted dialogue in The value of gobble ears.
  • Feature#5306 Made quest chaining better.
  • Bug#5372 Quest dialogue was added to the Guards chain.
  • Bug#5372 Quest dialogue was added to the Science chain.
  • Bug#5432 Fixed item description in Crystal Way Glyph Training quest.
  • Bug#5434 Rebalanced all glyph rewards
  • Bug#5483 Corrected dialogue in Dangerous winds.
  • Bug#5575 Adjusted Jardets good bye dialogue to match his religion.
  • Bug#5580 Reward adjusted in Malco Broke Hammer
  • Bug#5688 Corrected "her father" reference in Gulm Ossoe and the Broken Legs.
  • Bug#5934 Item amounts corrected in cooking chain Apprenticeship Approval quest.
  • Bug#5988 Fixed earth glyph availability situation.
  • Bug#6009 Made changes to mistakes in Tools of the Cooking Trade.
  • Bug#6062 Adjusted menu lock logic for potions of the healer.
  • Bug#6103 Fixed reported tutorial errors.
  • Bug#6146 Added experience to Polyuntri Needs a Key.
  • Bug#6147 Made Tilavi is in Trouble text consistent with reward.
  • Bug#6155 Fixed bug with Making Magical Potions - Crystal way
  • Bug#6158 Corrected Harnquist is Hungry quest typo
  • Bug#6159 Corrected Harnquist Weapon Commission quest typos
  • Bug#6166 Corrected Typo at end of Aleena Teaches Herbalism
  • Bug#6168 Corrected Harnquist is Hungry Quest Description error
  • Bug#6185 Corrected "Telzanna's acting", wrong quest log descriptions.
  • Bug#6203 Corrected Grok's Delivery for Durok inconsistency
  • Bug#6213 Adjusted a number of KAs to correct mistakes.
  • Bug#6231 Corrected Dialogue Error: Without A Way; Levrus Dahrenn
  • Bug#6257 Adjusted Gulm Ossoe needs Gems dialogue inconsistent with reward
  • Bug#6265 Corrected Badly phrased NPC response in A Wife's Dilemma
  • Bug#6308 Corrected Inconsistencies in automatic quest notes
  • Bug#6310 Adjusted Typos: Joining the Guards
  • Bug#6311 Fixed all Without a Way: Grammar problem
  • Bug#6324 Fixed Grammar error in Liera's Cure
  • Bug#6327 Fixed bugs with Chrosor Soran Has Difficulties Training
  • Bug#6329 Fixed Misc Quest Dialogue typos
  • Bug#6385 Fixed Typo in "Merrinez's Bad Mood"
  • Bug#6398 Fixed Typos in description of Kolaim's Blush Bottle
  • Bug#6412 Fixed Typo in Becoming a Red Way Adept
  • Bug#6413 Fixed Introduction to The Food Association quest notes
  • Bug#6420 Fixed Red Way Master Training Typos