This update has two major focuses – the first is a system for ranking players in PvP (the PvP Honor System). Each player starts with a set number of points, and will gain or lose points as they win and lose PvP battles. Points are lost on both penalty and death, and are awarded to all attackers provided they are close enough to the victim (adjacent or same room). Each participating player will have a PvP rank displayed in their bio/description, and a list of the top 10 highest ranked players is displayed in the real death arena in East Tos (behind the Arena of Kraanan).
The second focus of this update is the addition of several anti-cheat/anti-exploit measures to ensure gameplay remains fair in the future. While the vast majority of players do not cheat in any way, these additions are intended to give all players some peace of mind regarding what is possible and what is not (or what will be caught). To discourage unfair play in guild wars, players exiled from a guild while logged/phased in PvP will immediately take the penalty, removing a loophole used to avoid penalties. Objects on the server now have their height tracked, allowing far more complete move validation on player moves – almost all instances of ‘wallhacking’ should now be impossible. The server will also randomly test all logged-in clients for the presence of automated logging/phasing tools, showing a false low HP to the client and tracking response time.
General Changes
- Upgraded tree and shrub graphics.
- Upgraded some room textures. This is an ongoing process so please feel free to point out any textures that seem newly out of place, or any that should be prioritized for upgrading.
- Increased the cash reward for signet ring quests 5x.
- Curse Weapon can now be cast on any monsters that hold a weapon, lowering their aim/chance-to-hit.
- The node portal in The Underworld will now only teleport a player back to their body if they have obtained the node, preventing players from being teleported away before it can be used.
- Reduced the number of Faction (Jonas/Princess) bonus messages, which were displaying far too often.
- Removed the door sound when entering the Mollusk cave in the Forest of Farol.
- Reflections now teleport to their master if they become stuck.
PvP Honor System
- Players gain or lose honor points by actively participating in PvP.
- Every character over 100 HP with at least 5 levels can participate.
- Points are awarded for kills and penalties (phase/logoff), and are shared between any attackers.
- To receive points, attackers must be in the same or an adjacent room at the time of death/penalty.
- Titles reflecting a player’s standing in the honor list are shown in the player’s bio, if the player chooses to display it.
- There are 5 ranks, each with ‘good’ and ‘evil’ titles to select from.
- The amount of available ranks scales by default with the number of active participants in the system. Rank 1 for the best player, Rank 2 for the top 10%, Rank 3 for the top 10-30%, Rank 4 for the top 30-80% and rank 5 for everyone else.
- The current top 10 players are shown in the real death arena in Tos. Here players can also choose which title to display, or turn them off.
- Characters who haven’t gained or lost points in 60 days are not counted in the rankings, meaning active PvP is required to stay on the list.
- No honor points are awarded for victory over a character that has died or taken too many penalties recently, preventing abuse/point farming.
Anti-Cheat and Anti-Exploit Changes
- Exiling a phased or logged player from a guild will cause them to immediately receive the logoff penalty, to discourage players being deguilded during PvP.
- Added missing wall-hack protection to Konima’s Abandoned Dwelling.
- Chance-to-hit and spell success chance are both halved when an attack is directed against an invisible player, if the attacker does not have the Detect Invisible enchantment active.
- Object height is now properly tracked by the server, allowing impossible player moves to be rejected (over walls etc).
- Added automated auto-log/auto-phase testing. The server will randomly show all online clients a false low HP for a short period of a time (HP and time randomized), flagging any clients that log exceptionally fast. The server does not take action itself, but the data logged can be used to confirm the use of an auto-logging tool.
Bug Fixes
- Fix classic client disconnecting when UAC prompt or ctrl-alt-del open long enough for the server to consider the client inactive. Client will continue to send pings during these events now. (hotfix 2.4.1)
- Fix classic client freezing sometimes during char select. (hotfix 2.4.1)
- Fixed some out of place room geometry in The Chasm.
- Fixed Den of Shadows being inaccessible due to a bug in Lake of Jala’s Song.
- Fixed the Identify spell not showing all information about enchanted items (e.g. % chance of enchantments to fire).
- Players will no longer get stuck in the blink spot in the second Badlands screen.
- The new Brax maps (Lair of the Necromancer, Excavated Hallway) now receive the ‘Brax opening’ message when the platform is raised.
- Players who have opted-out of PvP can now cast Purge on themselves.
- Fixed player leg animations freezing in rare circumstances (i.e. player moving without corresponding leg animation).
- Reduced/removed the rubber-banding effect when using intra-room doors (e.g. Castle Victoria, Brax ‘red room’).
- Fixed players keeping some Second Wind bonuses after forgetting the Second Wind skill.