L.A. Noire Precinct

Durham, USA – March 30th, 2011 – Funcom and NVIDIA have announced that Funcom’s proprietary Dreamworld 2.5, a leading game engine for massively multiplayer online games (MMOs), is the first game to incorporate server-side NVIDIA® PhysX®. This unique implementation into the Dreamworld engine results in more than a doubling in the speed-of in-game physics processing vs. traditional client-side PhysX technology, delivering realistic collision effects within the online gaming environments.

Dreamworld currently powers two of the world's most popular massively multiplayer online games: ‘Age of Conan’ and ‘Anarchy Online’, with a third, ‘The Secret World’, currently in development. The updated Dreamworld Engine 2.5 with server-side PhysX is now live in ‘Age of Conan’.

"We are excited to be working closely with NVIDIA to integrate PhysX technology into our Dreamworld 2.5 engine," said Rui Casais, Chief Technology Officer at Funcom. "Server-side collision using PhysX will allow us to add a new level of realism to our online worlds, and we look forward to implementing other enhancements as well, including NVIDIA APEX clothing and destruction, to make our games even more interactive and immersive."

Recently, Funcom also introduced an entirely rewritten render engine to ‘Age of Conan’. You can download a video teaser that provides a look into the new improvements from the Funcom FTP site.

"We are also proud to have launched a fully rewritten render engine for ‘Age of Conan’, yielding major performance increase on high-end systems and enabling several new visual features for lower end machines”, said Casias. “We have been collaborating closely with NVIDIA in continuously improving the quality of the Dreamworld Render engine, resulting in fully new effects such as shader-based anti-aliasing techniques now being implemented in ‘Age of Conan’. The launch of the new engine is a major milestone towards the high requirements for visual performance in virtual adventures required for ‘The Secret World’."

Emmy-award winning writer Mike Fasolo (“Robot Chicken”) working on web comedy series utilizing the “Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures” game engine

Beverly Hills, CA (December 17, 2010) – Paradox Entertainment is happy to announce the production of the first episode of “Age of Conan: Hyboria!,” a comedy web series set in the legendary Conan universe. The web series will utilize the characters, locations and graphics engine from the hugely popular and best-selling massively multiplayer online PC game “Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures,” developed by Funcom and released in 2008 to raving reviews. The episode is written by Mike Fasolo, the award-winning writer of “Robot Chicken,” the number one rated show on Cartoon Network’s “Adult Swim.”

In addition to Mike Fasolo, several other renowned stars are joining the web series project. Comedian Harland Williams of “Dumb and Dumber” and “Half-Baked” will lend his voice to one of the characters. Dan Milano, who has voiced characters for “Greg the Bunny,” “Robot Chicken,” and “Titan Maximus,” and who also directed multiple episodes of “Greg the Bunny,” and MTV’s “Warren the Ape,” will both be directing the first episode and voicing one of the characters.

“Collaborating with Funcom on the web series is a great experience,” says Fredrik Malmberg, President and CEO of Paradox Entertainment. “We are lucky to have the unique blend of Mike Fasolo’s edgy comedic talent set in the spectacular world of one of the most successful MMO games released in recent years.”

“We are very excited to be working with Paradox Entertainment on realizing this web series,” says Funcom’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Morten Larssen. “Our online rendition of Hyboria has been praised for its amazing graphics and its unsurpassed level of atmosphere, and there is no doubt that the game lends itself perfectly to this project.”

Producing the series at Paradox Entertainment, alongside Fredrik Malmberg, is Gudrun Giddings, Producer and Vice President of Business Development. In addition to the new web series, Paradox Entertainment is also working with Millennium Films and Lionsgate on the new feature film “Conan the Barbarian” which is currently in post-production and slated for a US theatrical release on August 19, 2011. The movie is directed by Marcus Nispel and starring Jason Momoa, Ron Perlman, Stephen Lang, Rachel Nichols and Rose McGowan.

Need an answer to your gaming question? Good! Head on over and check out IGN Answers for all your gaming Q&A; needs. Ask a game related question and get an answer quick.

IGN Answers

GENERAL
* Breast Enlarging and Arm Enlarging's cooldown will no longer be reapplied after zoning if the effect is currently running.
* The Fu Dog and Idol of Yag items now have descriptions.
* The Drinking Cape should now have its original description.
* Veteran paths should always put you in the normal instance of the destination playfield.
* Solved an issue which caused the server to stall for several seconds.

CLASSES
* Many feat, combo, and spell description fixes for several classes have been done.
-Assassin
* Added a new icon for Sins of the Flesh.
* Swift Strike I has had its combo-starter changed from UP to UL.
-Barbarian
* Swarm Fighter and Overpower will no longer go on cooldown when you don't get the effect due to being unable to cast the spell.
-Conqueror
* Overcome the Odds should no longer go on cooldown with no effect if executed when stunned or knockbacked.
* 'Discipline: Precision' will now co-exist with any Magic or Combat rating based group buff.
-Dark Templar
* Vindication should no longer override Shadowed Soul.
* Scarab knight ability should no longer go on cooldown when used while charging
-Guardian
* Stall the Advance will no longer go on cooldown when executed while stunned or knocked back.
-Necromancer
* Withered Soul should now be consumed when hitting destructible objects.
Priests (Archetype)
* Fixed a bug with the cone area of Celestial Gaze. This spell should now be more predictable.
-Priest of Mitra
* Manifestation of Mitra should no longer be affected by crowd control effects.
* Clarified tooltip description for Wandering Disciple.
-Ranger
* Leghold Trap's duration will again be correctly increased by training Ranks 2 and 3.
-Tempest of Set
* Ether Discharge should now return mana for every healed target.
* The Idol of Dark Rejuvenation pet will no longer disappear before the buff expires.

COMBAT
* Fixed some lag issues with casting spells (like Wave of Life) for spell users.

GUI
* The token GUI windows should now word wrap properly (ie. no more huge token reward windows).

GUILDS/GUILD RENOWN
* Renown/Crafting: Master Architects in guilds Renown level 19 or higher may now seek out Architects in their city to learn how to craft superior Megaliths.
* The costs of creating all city decorations have been reduced by roughly 25%.
* A few dozen new guild city decorations are now available, from various sources across Khitai.
* A few Guild Renown rewards are now available at different levels:
- The Tavern city building and its plan are now unlocked at level 3 (not 7).
- The Farmer selling social pets is now unlocked at level 5 (not 6).
- The Cultural Retreat may now be entered from level 6 (not 16).
- The Horse Armorsmith now moves in at level 7 (not 5).
* The Sculptor vendor should now spawn in the Architect Workshop I at the proper time.
* The Sculptor will no longer tease you by showing you items of a higher renown level before your guild qualifies to buy them.

ITEMS
* Changed gem socket type on 'Swiftsilver Partisan' to White.
* White Hand Valewalker Cinch will no longer spawn into the quest inventory.
* The Reaper dagger will now have a visual look on the icon and when equipped.

MOUNTS
* Terrifying Howl can now be used while moving! However, it no longer affects players on Siege Mounts.
* Quick Dismount should not go on cooldown if executed when stunned.

NPC
* Eiglophian Mountains: All instances of the name Haldr Flamebeard have been changed to Haldr Firebeard in the quest description, to match the NPC's actual name.
* Northern Grasslands: Cang Jei should no longer despawn during his dialog.
* Northern Grasslands: If you accidentally escape from dialog with Cang Jei during the cutscene, you can now finish the Making Contact quest by speaking to Sethos.
* Paikang: Huan and Cheng-en of the Paikang Brittle Blade will now speak to you - even if you are neutral with both Brittle Blade and Shadows of Jade.

PVP
* Players will no longer get their PvP kills and Deaths incremented in the taverns and social arenas.
* The PvP level requirements on the minigame PvP set have been adjusted to more reflect the power of the item set.
Minigames
* This patch introduces first version of the PvP group balancing changes. Players will still be able to sign up with a group, but their group will be disbanded and subjected to class and team balancing criterias.
* The cooldown of the minigame quests has been reduced to 6 hours.
* Players should now always get Coward's Shame when leaving a minigame.
* The minigames will now play a sound when the join window appears.

QUESTS
* BRC: Dexitheus should now correctly offer the quest Army at the Gates of the Abyss.
* Chosain Province: You should now be able to complete the quest "The Hidden Path to Yun Rau".
* Chosain Province: You can now correctly turn in the quest "The Leader Shall Fall" to Tamarin.
* Chosain Province: The waypoint for the quest "The Leader Shall Fall" should now be in the right place.
* Chosain Province: The "Tiger's Indoctrination Camp" quest is now repeatable.
* Chosain Province: You should now be able to destroy the Fishing Boat in the quest "Standing Tiger Orders".
* Gateway to Khitai: You will no longer lose your Essence of Corruption item when failing the "The Demon of the Sands" quest during the encounter.
* Kara Korum: Waypoint objectives for "Cai-yun's Deadly Components" will now appear on the map.
* Northern Grasslands: Players can now resume the "Milestones" quest after deleting it by having it shared by a party member.
* Paikang: Killing the Nightmare Demon will now update the quest "The Emissary's Return".
* Last Legion: The Splinterspar Slaughter is now a repeatable quest.

RAIDS/GROUP INSTANCES
* Abyss of Kun Whu : Fixed a bug which sometimes meant players could be locked out of their own instance before picking up the loot.
* Enigmata of Yag: Fixed a bug which made it impossible to take the Containment Receptacle below 25%.
* Jade Dugout: Lao Che kill Quest should now always update correctly.
* The Brittle Blade quest to kill Air and Water will now update after defeating the encounter when you interact with the Pool of Shallow Water.

The Call of Jhebbal Sag
This patch introduces the first version of the new minigame to allow us to test certain mechanics and make adjustments where needed. The purpose of this version is to test the actual scoring mechanics, the number of objectives, and the location of the objectives.

The minigame comes with 3 new PvP quests which are automatically added to the quest journal upon joining the minigame:
* The first quest is to win this minigame.
* The second quest is to participate in the minigame.
* The last is to obtain Jhebbal's blessings.

* Adjusted the scoring mechanics. Doubled the amount of tickets that the teams start with, but the "ticks" will now happen twice as frequent. This should more defending an objective more beneficial.
* Some world design fixes were done to the map.
* It is no longer possible to use non class specific pets in this minigame.

With two solo quests, and an additional team quest, players will have to track down and defeat three Lost Souls. The quests will take you to places you thought you knew, but this time of year casts a shadow over things you once found familiar. As with last year’s events there are some fantastically fun seasonal items to acquire. Those that seek out the Lost Souls will find themselves facing the true dangers that lurk just beyond the firelight.

These new rewards also mean that even if you braved the Nights of Lost Souls in the past, you will be able to get some brand new grim and macabre social items.

RAIDS
Thoth-Amon's Stronghold
* Players should no longer be able to fatality the Acheronian Soul.
* Precognition of Doom and Shadow surge are now "world particles".

GENERAL
* Northern Grasslands has had some optimization done and should run more smoothly!
* The Jade Citadel now has a lobby with a rez pad, which will hopefully help alleviate long loading times when resurrecting.
* Fixed a problem where resources were not downloaded even though they were selected in the patcher options.
* Some items that previously had +Health have had their +Health bonuses restored.
* Abyss of Kun Whu - Hardmode should now be triggered correctly.
* Resolved an issue where your preferences would sometimes get too large to be saved on the server, and another issue where this message would pop up for no reason.

CLASSES
Dark Templar
* Any Rank of "A Soul for Our Feast" can now overwrite any other rank of this buff. The lower ranks of this buff still provide their normal amounts of effect.

Ranger
* Ranger directional buffs should now be applied more reliably.
* Deft Stabs with one or no directional bonuses should now do more damage.
* Exhausting Traps now lasts for 6 seconds with double tick burst effect.
* Fixed an issue that prevented Leghold Trap from initiating the Master Trapper buff.
* Pin Down now has an increased snare effect.
* Incendiery Shot should no longer break from its own damage.
* Vigor should now restore slightly more stamina when an advantage is used.

<sup>The new minigame is known as - The Call of Jhebbal Sag - and takes place in the Pictish Wilderness, where players will fight over control of a strategic region of the wilderness.

The new Conquest mode plays out in a different way to the existing mini-games. We really tried to aim for something more dynamic that would concentrate on the combat. In this rule-set, each side starts with a certain amount of resources. Resources are then lost for each capture point that the enemy holds for a certain time or if your allies fall in battle. If a side runs out of resources they can not continue and their opponents are victorious and they are forced to retreat, to attempt to fight for this region another day.

Each side in this minigame has two teams. So the battle is a 12 versus 12 encounter. Victory is defined by forcing your opponent down to zero resource points. There are several capture points on the map that you have to fight over. The more points your side holds more resources the other team loses every ‘tick’ of progression. The points will have different resource values depending on their location and proximity to a respawn point. The further afield you venture the greater the gain.

Players can also bring their mounts to this mini-game, which will add another different mechanic to the area that you haven’t seen in the other mini-games. Finally there are also random buffs/debuffs located around the mini-game that can tip the tide of battle. Each node though is not guaranteed to be beneficial. Will you receive the blessing of Jhebbal Sag or his curse? Hopefully it will all add up to a pretty exciting new game mode that will also come with a suitable selection of associated quests.

Lastly, and this is something we know players have wanted, we are also taking the opportunity to address how the sign-up queue works. We will be ensuring that single teams cannot dominate a queue and that the new sign-up queue always evenly distributes players between the teams, regardless of whether they were in a group when signing up. That will apply to all the old mini-games as well.</sup>

The Guild Events are new social mini-games held in guild city taverns ("outdoor") or in the guild city cultural retreats ("indoor"). There are five Event types introduced in this patch:

• Treasure Hunt - (outdoor only) Pick up randomly scattered treasures across the zone for the highest point total.


• Demon Hunt - (outdoor only) Find your compatriots that have become demons and catch them for points. As a demon, survive without being caught for points.


• Ymir's Hunt - (indoor only) Freezetag! Run away from the Ymirish or you'll be frozen. Survive or unfreeze others for points.


• Storytelling - (indoor or outdoor) Take turns telling a story and vote for the finest storyteller over multiple elimination rounds.


• Insult Contest - (indoor or outdoor) Skillfully insult a given target using the theme provided and vote for whoever you feel is the best at slinging the proverbial mud to give them points.

^{Horse Racing is for groups in Old Tarantia. Some of the more observant amongst you may have noticed the area being prepared some time ago! Any group may pay Marcellus, the racetrack owner, to use his course for whatever race they like - it is up to the group to decide what kind of steeds (if any) to use for their race. We expect the typical race setup to be three laps with a random assortment of obstacles and speed boosts, but players may also choose one-lap or no-obstacle variants. Keep an eye out for barrels, sticky mud, and horse-spooking adders - and stockpile carrots and sugar sold nearby to keep your steed up to speed.}

^{Renowned players can learn the dances of other races by seeking out quests across the world. Old Tarantia hosts a "VIP Area" on the rooftops near the tradepost, complete with drinks, dancing, and fireworks, accessible only by members of the top-ranked guild and their guests. In addition an assortment of over 30 new city decorations is also available in Khitai, from a few different sources.}

Despite the rough beginnings (and its first year and a half), AOC has been revamped, rehashed and reworked into a staggeringly pretty and mature title it strived to be. Even though it can't boast becoming a WOW-killer, it's now arguably in its best shape as a game, and possibly, worst as far as populace goes. The road so far and reasons for which you should retry it are given in the newest video review by GameOlio. Watch the vid below, or check out their revisit back at GameOlio!


^{This video (c) GameOlio. Check the video back at Youtube or directly at GameOlio.com}

CLASSES
Rogue Archetype
* Cheat the Reaper should work more reliably now.

Assassin
* Cover of Dusk will now be removed if a soldier switches to frenzy stance.
* Cover of Dusk should no longer affect characters that have Distraction running.

Demonologist
* Cursed by Hell should be more reliable now.

Necromancer
* Chill Rank 6 can now trigger Set's Pestilence, as intended.

Ranger
* Hunting Hawk should now properly go on cooldown.
* Reduced the proc rate of the Shred Armor feat.
* Exhausting Traps will now refresh the duration on any running debuffs in PvP, while keeping the same mechanic with one debuff per Ranger in PvE.
* Rebalanced all ranger combos, lowering damage on most combo lines. The combos should now also properly reward those who get the upper and lower attack bonuses.

COMBAT
* All one step combos have had their damage rebalanced.

RAIDS/GROUP INSTANCES
* Significantly increased the AA XP gain for killing Tier two and Tier three raid bosses.

Crow's Nest
* It is now possible to choose between Normal or Epic mode when going back to Tarantia Commons using the ladder.

Den of the Crowmen
* The Royal Hatchling will now drop loot in Trial of the Godslayer mode.

General Sheng
* Reduced the radius of several large AoEs, increased the time between aura pulses, and increased enrage timers.
* Increased the time it takes before the second wave of enemies aggroes.

Enigmata of Yag
* Fixed an issue which caused the quest "Unraveling the Undone" to not update in Trial of the Godslayer mode.

Leviathus
* Fixed an issue which caused the "Sanguinary Guardians" to not despawn correctly.

Thoth-Amon's Stronghold
* Reduced the health of trash mobs.
* Grim Demonic Lancers should now properly despawn after a wipe.
* Reduced the chance of Thoth-Amon spawning hazards on trash pulls significantly.
* Made the trash slightly more vulnerable to melee attacks.
* Renamed certain spells in the tier 3 crafting encounter.
* The target of "Set's Curse" will no longer be teleported for the "Mark of Acheron" event.
* Arbanus : Blood Draw cast time has been increased by 1 second.
* Favored of Louhi : Unholy retribution proc rates have been adjusted.
* The Hollow Knight will no longer target pets
* Shawabti in Thoth-Amon's Stronghold now sells a very rare shard in exchange for simple relics.
* The Keeper of Artifacts:
o The singing swords will now despawn after killing the boss.
o Reduced the HP of The Keeper and the Hollow Knight.
o Made it less likely for the same type of artifact to arrive two times in a row.
o Increased the damage of Bore.
o Decreased the DPS of Searing Armor, Searing Heat, and Blaze.
o Demolish now ignores line of sight.
o The Hollow Knight should now correctly display target's target.
o Hollow Knight's target now receives a stamina regen buff if the target can't use stamina potions.
o Increased the Singing Sword melee vulnerability.
o Fixed a bug which caused the Demolish particles to not be visible.
o Reduced the power of Demolish.
o Fixed an issue that prevented The Keeper of Artifacts from summoning his artifacts.
* Thoth-Amon:
o Acheronian Soul is now immune to fear and charm.
o Adjusted the health and resists of the Acheronian Soul.
o Reduced the health of Thoth-Amon.
o Decreased the spawn rate of the adds.
o Reduced the amount of adds players need to take down to trigger the next phase.
o Thoth-Amon is now slightly more vulnerable to melee attacks.
o Added particle effects to better visualize the next phase triggering.
o Added particle effects to better visualize where the adds spawn.
o Reduced the range of the adds spells.
o Thoth-Amon will now teleport to his target.
o Reduced the amount of pressure plates in the encounter.
o Thoth-Amon now loses some health when you solve one of the puzzles.
o Fixed an issue which caused the puzzles in the Thoth-Amon encounter to not reset properly after a wipe.

GENERAL
* Corrected several issues with collision that could result in the player becoming stuck, and issues that were impeding gameplay.
* The Trader of Fortunes now offers Simple Trophy Receptacles in her shop.
* The Trader of Fortunes can now exchange for Marks of Acclaim as well.
* Increased the drop rate on all combo/spell books.

FACTIONS
* Faction quests in Kara Korum and Paikang have had their amount of Mark of Acclaim tokens increased.
* The amount of faction gained from faction quests has been increased. Higher ranked quests will give even greater amounts.

QUESTS
* Chosain Province: "Neglected Duty" quest will now update after setting fire to the tents.
* Tarantia Commons: For the quest "The Tarantia Tea Party", all of the barrels should now be located on the Tarantia Commons side of the river.
* Players with Insurrection quests completed can now progress with RotG storyline quest ’Allied against the Darkness’.

NPCs/MOBS
* Brutish Jang's Iron Skin will now be removed by the Finely Honed ability.

GUI

* Readded command parameter expansions (%t for current target and %m for player name) to the following commands:
/afk
/ignore
/invite
/petition
/reply
/target
/tell
/who

Dreamworld Technology Integration
I talked about this at length in the June letter, so won’t go into the details again here, but it is coming, and it helps improve our infrastructure and tools.

New PVP content
Mini-game fans can rejoice, the focus for PVP fans in the update series will be both adding a new mini-game (most likely a 12v12 map). This option came out on top in the summer survey, and as an area that hasn’t really been added to since launch we have decided that this will be the new content addition for 2.1. We will also be taking a look at what tweaks and pokes we can do to improve the progression through mini-games as well.

New Raid content
Tier four raiding will continue as the next set of encounters will be released to the live game. There will definitely be a whole new instance with the next three encounters. There is also a final instance with the last climatic set of encounters for Khitai planned, which is currently in-between updates, so those additional encounters might be part of the 2.1 series, but they may also end up in 2.2. You will though at the very least get the next three tier four encounters in the 2.1 series.

New PVE content
Players will get to explore a little more of the city of Pai Kang itself, as two districts of the imperial capital open up for group exploration.

New Social and Guild content
Lastly but by no means least, we also have some cool smaller additions coming for guild and social play.

Guilds will be treated to some cool new NPCs that allow for having some specific guild social events. This addition will allow you to hold certain new events amongst your guild, like a treasure hunt, a storytelling competition or a demon hunt.

Then we have a new social feature of horse racing. Players will be able to sign up for some new ‘just for fun’ horse races at a track near Old Tarantia, or you might just fancy going along to watch.

The rooftops of Old Tarantia are also now home to an exclusive venue that only most esteemed of guilds can reach, as a little extra fun reward for topping the rankings.

There's a few factions that are not present in grasslands.

The Timarin Tigers and the Scholar’s of Cheng-Ho - These are present in Chosain only and you can get the quest started to make a choice between them right at the entrance of the playfield.

The Jhian Chi and the Insurrection - These factions are a exception compared to all the others, none of them have a enemy faction, and you are not given a quest to reach a faction speaker, you need to discover how to reach and befriend them. I advise you to do both quest lines, the jhian chi in Kara Korum (hint hint) have very interesting things to sell and the storyline is very interesting, the same goes for the insurrection in Paikang (hint again) with the added bonus of giving you follow up quests that lead to T4 raiding.

Funcom has just announced their new gametime purchase camapign. In it, you can obtain a lot of goodies for the duration of the campaign if you purchase additional gametime. The bonuses range from XP/AAXP pots to teleport items and offer additional levelling options (up to 15 levels). Check the list below or click the image below to go directly to your account - the Warlord's Cache looks EXTREMELY enticing!

• 6x Refined Elixir of Ingenuity (increase experience gain from killing monsters by 20% for 4 hours): Duration does not count during off-line time, survives death. Level 20 required.


• 6x Major Elixir of Accession (increase Alternate Advancement experience gain from killing monsters by 20% for 4 hours): Duration does not count during off-line time, survives death. Level 20 required


• 3x Scrolls of Teleport to each of the main cities of: Stygia, Cimmeria and Aquilonia.


• 3x Scrolls of Teleport to each of these dungeons: Fire beacon lookout (Field of the Dead), Hunting Lodge (Eiglophian mountains), Iron Tower (Tarantia), Kheshatta City, Prison Colony (Thunder River), The Lair (Atzel's Approach).


• 6x Excellent Roast Capon (Level 40 superior hit point buffing food): increases your hit points upon consumption. Level 40 required.


• 6x Excellent Witchwater (Level 40 superior mana buffing drink): increases your spell points upon consumption. Level 40 required.


• 6x Excellent Amrita (Level 80 superior hitpoint buffing food): increases your hit points upon consumption. Level 80 required.


• 6x Excellent Etherdew (Level 80 superior mana buffing drink): increases your spell points upon consumption. Level 80 required.

We're slowly returning from the much needed time-off and there's some interesting developments on FC side of things as well. First of all, Famine had posted a community update (to go along Silirrion's promised Letter of GD that will supposedly reveal new and exciting stuff), where he describes the current state of affairs at FC and how the next update is shaping up. FC AOC team is now apparently almost fully relocated to Montreal so expect some Canadian fairness and flair to accompany the upcoming content additions and improvements.

Update 2.0.7 is gearing up towards many Raid encounter and Faction grind balancing, allowing, in particular, exchanging MoAs for Tokens, thus opening up epic items for solo players. In addition, T3 raid encounters (TAS) are being rebalanced to allow a more flexible guild/group approaches (Keeper of the Artifacts targeted).

Some juicy recalculations for AA XP for kills in T2 and T3 are also there, allowing a MUCH needed upgrade and incentive other than items/tokens to participate. This update is also comprised of some unannounced tweaks and tidbits that didn't make notes so far; Slith's blog notes social instances in OT and finally a fair-ruled NPC approach to the racing track introduced (informally) way back.

Check the current composite TL notes for 2.0.7 after the jump!

We're continuing to show the weekly renown rankings from CROM, the biggest PVE General server in AOC and provide a brief commentary on the guilds' progress/regress. You can also check numerical stats for current week globally at the official AOC Online Guild Rankings site, http://guilds.ageofconan.com/


Weekly Summary

It's almost August but the servers seem to be still in a lull. CROM has seen a rather visible drop in all activities across the board (save for PVE), and this week has thus some pretty surprising guilds among the top 3s. Tainted Souls managed to climb to the 3rd spot in Totals, despite losing speed in Valor and Glory due to somewhat higher amount of Artistry. The Unforgiven concentrated fully on PvR&T; and PVE and it paid off - they're now 2nd. However, the biggest surprise was seeing Carnage climb all the way to the top. Yes, it's that persistent guild that went through pure-PVP to pure-Crafting transformation in the last few months and was seemingly content with staying at the 3rd spot in Artistry for almost as long a time. However, an overall decrease in productivity on the server meant that their contuing, stable performance granted them a noticeable boost - to no.1. There's a few more surprising moves on the rankings aside from the top 3 Totals. {EzO} managed to finally gain on Tainted Souls and BoB in Valor, becoming no.1 PVE guild. In Glory, the Northern Legion managed to gain the 3rd spot. And finally, Tainted Souls had been propelled to no.3 in Artistry owing to an overall decrease in crafting.

The lull in activity is very visible in numbers. Artistry has gone down the drain, considering only two of the top guilds even managed a score remotely close to the previous weeks. While Valor had even grown somewhat, Glory and Artistry - and thus, Totals - have been shown neglect. This will change as the holiday season is drawing to a close, but until then - CROM is surprisingly silent.


See the details and screenshots below!

^{Total Renown rankings for week 25, CROM EU, July 18 - July 25, 2010}

^{VALOR, ARTISTRY and GLORY Renown rankings for Week 25, CROM EU, July 18 - July 25, 2010}

TOP 3 TOTAL RENOWN GAINED:

• Carnage (519 members - 14 more) - 33.4 million points (up by 3, first time at the top!)


• The Unforgiven (386 members - 5 more) - 31.1 million points (2.7 million less, but gains 1 spot - even though dropped one compared to last week!)


• Tainted Souls (489 members - 12 less) - 28.3 million points (up by 2)

TOP 3 VALOR RENOWN GAINED:

• {EzO} Circle of Eternity (364 members - 2 more) - 21.1 million points (4.1 million more, back at PVE top, +2)


• Tainted Souls (489 members - 12 less) - 20.3 million points (almost exactly the same score as last week, but ousted by {EzO} nonetheless, -1)


• Band Of Brothers (519 members - 48 less) - 18.6 million points (similar score to last week, but still dropped by 1, ousted by TS who were ousted by {EzO})

TOP 3 GLORY RENOWN GAINED:

• The Unforgiven (386 members - 5 more) - 18.8 million points (1.3 million less, still dominating Glory.)


• Predator (176 members - 6 more) - 16.2 million points (2.1 million less, continues to slow down but no change in place.)


• The Northern Legion (562 members) - 5.1 million (first timers in Glory top 3, up by 2 and ousted TS)

TOP 3 ARTISTRY RENOWN GAINED:

• Carnage (519 members - 14 more) - 22.7 million points (1.5 million more, and owing to other guilds' slowdown in Crafting thus gain no.1 in Totals too!)


• AmbrosiA (688 members - 12 less) - 16.2 million points (almost 5 million less, no change - no competitors in Crafting aside from Carnage and AmbrosiA anyway...)


• Tainted Souls (489 - 12 less) - 5.6 million points (ousts BoB and finally in crafting top 3, up by 2)

Carnage continues the winning streak this week. After last week's progression, this week's gain is very visible as Carnage went for no.1 in Totals, not just crafting.

Carnage are not the only ones that go from strength to strength. Tainted Souls managed to gain a position in top 3 owing to diminishing Crafting efforts on the server, and even they dropped slightly in Valor and Glory, their superb score in Artistry propelled them to no.3 in Totals this week.

This week's significant runner-up is, without a doubt, SolidLine. This pretty experienced guild usually shies away from the spotlight, but they managed to sneakily increase their overall power by breaking into Valor and Artistry top 10. This resulted in them showing up at the very bottom of the top 10 guilds of the server (Totals), but their achievement is there nonetheless. In Valor, SL managed to gain 6 spots (9. position) and in Artistry they grew by 5 spots (5. position). This last gain is owing to the overall decrease in top guilds' Artistry efforts, since the 10+million earners are simply not there to take the first few spots. Should SL manage to turn this further to their advantage, they might rise quite high in the Totals as well.

We're continuing to show the weekly renown rankings from CROM, the biggest PVE General server in AOC and provide a brief commentary on the guilds' progress/regress. You can also check numerical stats for current week globally at the official AOC Online Guild Rankings site, http://guilds.ageofconan.com/


Weekly Summary

The summer is in full swing now and the hotter it gets the less inclination there is to be super competitive in AOC, it seems. Last week saw the incredible drop in Totals numbers, and a relatively unmitigated march to no.1 from the Unforgiven. Previous top 3 guilds have all been down by at least 1, with the exception of Carnage who were able to pick up the Artistry flag amidst the slowing down server activity, and BoB who managed to regain one spot in Valor but still lost to the Unforgiven in the Totals.

Numbers this week are pretty odd. The scores were dropping left and right except Valor, but the competition in Totals seemed to be very balanced with top 3 sharing not only the podium but also the numbers themselves - 33 million each, the top guilds (at Sunday's counting) only differed by minute amounts. Valor scores did increase somewhat promising a return to the basics (i.e. raiding, doing instances, grinding factions) on the server. With Komodo guild disbanded/gone, the situation on the server might be unstable for a few weeks as previous Komodo members find their new homes in other guilds.


See the details and screenshots below!

^{Total Renown rankings for week 24, CROM EU, July 11 - July 17, 2010}

^{VALOR, ARTISTRY and GLORY Renown rankings for Week 24, CROM EU, July 11 - July 17, 2010}

TOP 3 TOTAL RENOWN GAINED:

• The Unforgiven (381 - 67 less!) - 33.8 million points (up by 3 and this week's winner!)


• Band of Brothers (567 members - 12 more) - 33.3 million points (6.4 million less - you're slowing down, guys! Dropped by 1.)


• AmbrosiA (700 members - 16 less) - 33.0 million points (3.3 million less, down by 1.)

TOP 3 VALOR RENOWN GAINED:

• Tainted Souls (501 members - 9 less) - 19.1 million points (almost exactly the same score as last week, steady no.1 PVE on the server.)


• Band Of Brothers (567 members - 12 more) - 18.0 million points (2 million higher and up by 1.)


• {EzO} Circle of Eternity (362 members - 5 more) - 17.0 million points (1.2 million more but lost out to BoB dropping by 1.)

TOP 3 GLORY RENOWN GAINED:

• The Unforgiven (381 members - 67 less!) - 21.1 million points (1.9 million more and finally able to oust Predator from no.1 spot.)


• Predator (170 members - 19 more) - 18.3 million points (3.8 million less, drop by 1)


• Tainted Souls (501 - 9 less) - 5.7 million points (2.6 million less but holding still at 3.)

TOP 3 ARTISTRY RENOWN GAINED:

• Carnage (505 members - 24 more) - 21.2 million points (6.1 million more and thanks to that finally no.1 in Crafting after weeks at 3rd spot!)


• AmbrosiA (700 members - 16 less) - 21.1 million points (3.4 million less, no change.)


• Band of Brothers (567 members - 12 more) - 14.7 million points (almost 10 million points less and that's what caused them to lose no.1 in Totals!)

The biggest winner this week (as of Sunday's counting) was the Unforgiven, a usually PvP/PvR&T; guild. They managed to rise not only due to Glory score, however, as they managed to rise somewhat in Valor (almost breaking into the top 3) and have a minute presence in Artistry. Their win is not only the result of them increasing their overall score, however. This week top guilds had a slower pace than usual, resulting in all top 3 Totals being separated by mere thousands of points. This means that should top guilds regain their footing and find some time to do somewhat more of PVE and crafting, the situation among the top 3 might change.
Another winner this week is Carnage - a guild that seemed to be deadlocked at no.3 in crafting finally managed to get there to the top, with a higher score than last week.

There were no significant runners-up this week. {EzO} managed to rise by 3 in Glory, but fell by 1 in Valor. Destiny gained 5 in Valor, but failed to reach above no.10 in other rankings. Auditor Fortunata Juvat seemed to get a high increase (+9) in Totals, owing to their increase in Artistry (+5) and held no.10 at Valor, but still lost momentum in Glory (-2). It's not clear if someone is indeed gearing up for the top 3 - we'll have to wait till Saturday night for that to become a little more obvious.

We're continuing to show the weekly renown rankings from CROM, the biggest PVE General server in AOC and provide a brief commentary on the guilds' progress/regress. You can also check numerical stats for current week globally at the official AOC Online Guild Rankings site, http://guilds.ageofconan.com/


Weekly Summary

Last week brought not only heat waves, but also some changes to the overall situation in the top 3s. In Totals, BoB is still ruling supreme, but hot on its heels come AmbrosiA - who are finally regaining their ground, and Tainted Souls - who are dominating all the rankings except Artistry, where they just can't seem to move above 4th spot. Cracks are beginning to show in the Band's facade as they are dropping continuously in Valor and seem to only excel at Artistry these days. Still, it's summertime, many people are absent and those who aren't may not be operating at full speed owing to the pervasive heat.

From the numbers perspective, CROM saw a slight increase in overall achievements, with Valor leading the field. It seems that Tainted Souls is on the road to earning the most Valor while also having a notable presence in Glory and Artistry. The Glory numbers are also on the slight up and its probably owing to continuing struggle between the top dogs, Predator and the Unforgiven.


See the details and screenshots below!

^{Total Renown rankings for week 23, CROM EU, July 4 - July 10, 2010}

^{VALOR, ARTISTRY and GLORY Renown rankings for Week 23, CROM EU, July 4 - July 10, 2010}

TOP 3 TOTAL RENOWN GAINED:

• Band of Brothers (555 members - 37 more) - 39.7 million points (almost no change in numbers but definitely slows down.)


• AmbrosiA (716 members - 19 less) - 36.3 million points (9 million more on last week! Consequently, up by 1.)


• Tainted Souls (510 members - 8 less) - 33.4 million points (up by 1 and seems to be leading the assault on all fronts at once!)

TOP 3 VALOR RENOWN GAINED:

• Tainted Souls (510 members - 8 less) - 19.2 million points (4 million more, after ousting Royal Ultima last week now they have won over BoB proving themselves the best in PVE)


• {EzO} Circle of Eternity (357 members) - 15.8 million points (back in top 3 and seem to be quite keen on dethroning whoever is ruling PVE! Increase by 2!)


• Band Of Brothers (555 members - 37 more) - 15.7 million points (400k lower and seem to be gradually losing out. Drop by 2!)

TOP 3 GLORY RENOWN GAINED:

• Predator (151 members - 9 more) - 22.1 million points (up by 1)


• The Unforgiven (446 members - 18 more) - 19.2 million points (4 million less again, drop by 1)


• Tainted Souls (510 - 8 less) - 8.3 million points (1 million less but reatin their spot for another week!)

TOP 3 ARTISTRY RENOWN GAINED:

• Band of Brothers (555 members - 37 more) - 25.4 million points (up by 800k and still no.1 but slowing down in PVE!)


• AmbrosiA (716 members - 19 less) - 24.5 million points (almost 7 million more but no change!)


• Carnage (481 members - 13 more) - 15.1 million points (Carnage is the most stable guild in AOC at this point, proving steady 3rd position in at least one ranking for almost half a year now!)

There were two winners this week - AmbrosiA, who are keen on regaining their former glory and recreating the CROM ABCs with BoB and (possibly though unlikely) Carnage, and Tainted Souls, who are trying the jack-of-all-trades approach to the rankings. Surprisingly effective so far considering their continued improvement in PVE (in fact, 1st spot this week!) and decent PVP rating (3rd position) as well as stable 4th in Artistry. AmbrosiA, on the other hand, is slowly regaining confidence in Glory (+1) and Valor (+1) but still far from performing as universally as TS.

There were no super-big surprises this week. Awakening managed to gain 10 spots in Totals (+8) but at a cost to their Glory spot (-3) and with slight increase in Artistry. The more intriguing runner-up is the Unforgiven - a mostly PvR&T; guild that usually only dominates Glory ratings has apparently branched out into the world of PVE and this week grew by 4 spots reaching a respectable no.5 in Valor. It's going to take more than those increases in various rankings to threaten the current winners, though.

We're continuing to show the weekly renown rankings from CROM, the biggest PVE General server in AOC and provide a brief commentary on the guilds' progress/regress. You can also check numerical stats for current week globally at the official AOC Online Guild Rankings site, http://guilds.ageofconan.com/


Weekly Summary

The eighth week since ROTG came and went by pretty fast, owing to a lengthy downtime sessions for Update 2.0.5. The rankings changed once again, with The Unforgiven gaining enough power in Glory to oust Predator out of their top spot. The Unforgiven also bolstered their PVE capability by some amount (raising 8 spots in the process), but are still a largely one-dimensional guild. Band of Brothers is still the top dog, however; they're maintaining their high score in PVE and Crafting. AmbrosiA managed to retain its 3rd spot in Totals, but are losing momentum in Glory and raising a fraction in PVE. For a while now this guild seems to rely a bit more on Crafting than actual PVE. {EzO} Circle of Eternity are gunning for the top spots in all rankings however; if they continue their rise, it's likely they'll break into top spots in Totals very soon.

The numbers this week were steadily dropping across the board. Artistry, Glory and Totals were altogether lower, but there's a drastic drop in Valor among the top guilds, showing that now is the best time to reach for the top Valor spot while the big guilds are slowing down.


See the details and screenshots below!

^{Total Renown rankings for week 22, CROM EU, June 27 - July 3, 2010}

^{VALOR, ARTISTRY and GLORY Renown rankings for Week 22, CROM EU, June 27 - July 3, 2010}

TOP 3 TOTAL RENOWN GAINED:

• Band of Brothers (528 members - 26 more) - 39.6 million points (slowing down on total score by 5 million, still at the top though)


• The Unforgiven (428 members) - 30.1 (up by 2, but only in top 3 due to slowing down of the other top guilds)


• AmbrosiA (735 members - 3 more) - 27.3 million points (down by 5 million points, no change and pretty steady performance with somewhat lower numbers)

TOP 3 VALOR RENOWN GAINED:

• Band Of Brothers (528 members - 26 more) - 16.2 million points (almost 10 million lower but retain 1st spot)


• Tainted Souls (518 members - 19 less) - 15.2 million points (almost no change in numbers, but still manages to raise by 1 and oust Royal Ultima)


• **Royal Ultima** (185 members - 5 more) - 14.0 million points (8 million less than last week and consequently drops by 1)

TOP 3 GLORY RENOWN GAINED:

• The Unforgiven (428 members - 35 more) - 21.5 million points (4 million less on last week but managed to gain on Predator by 1 spot)


• Predator (142 members - 2 more) - 14.2 million points (down by 1)


• Tainted Souls (518 - 19 less) - 9.4 million points (2 million less but reatin their spot)

TOP 3 ARTISTRY RENOWN GAINED:

• Band of Brothers (528 members - 26 more) - 24.7 million points (2nd week on the top, almost no change in numbers.)


• AmbrosiA (735 members - 3 more) - 17.7 million points (down by 3 million, weakens for the 3rd week in a row)


• Carnage (468 members - 2 more) - 9.5 million points (down by 3.5 million, no change yet but they're dangerously close to dropping out of top 3)

There's been no great winners this week apart from a surprise performance from The Unforgiven, who managed to gain on Predator in Glory and managed to grow somewhat in PVE power. They're still not showing up in top 3 anywhere apart Glory and Totals, so it'll take some convincing if their top position is really earned. Apart from the Unforgiven, Tainted Souls managed to grow a little bit in Valor, which places them squarely at a versatile-yet-underachieving guild of the server.

This week saw overall activity on the server drop a bit, but that's likely due to the server's update and losing Rangers who are just learning how to play their class again. Runners-up this week were thus Sanctuary and {EzO} Circle of Eternity - while the big hitters were suffering a bit, those guilds took it to the top with PVE, PVP and crafting. {EzO} had been most active it seems, raising by 5 spots overall in Totals, which was achieved by their TREMENDOUS rise in PVE power - by 15 spots! They also rose by 2 spots in Glory and were ousted by Sanctuary only in Crafting. Sanctuary managed to rise there so high, in fact, that they also showed up in top 10 in Totals to a nice 9th spot (rise by 11). {EzO} seems to be gathering strength for a final push and it's going to be happening pretty soon - unless they lose their momentum.

<sup>NEW QUESTS
Dozens of new quests for level 80 characters have been added to the Paikang and Kara Korum playfields. Look for posters located in those two playfields to get access to these new repeatable quests.

PVP CHANGES
You can read more about these PvP changes in this article.

RANGER REVAMP
You can read more about the Ranger revamp in this article.

NEW RESURRECTION ENTRANCES FOR DUNGEONS
To reduce the time it takes to recover after being killed in some of the Expansion dungeons, we added new entrances to all dungeons in Northern Grasslands and Chosain Province. This means that you have to zone twice now to enter the actual dungeon but if you get killed, you will resurrect in this new small entrance and will have the chance to get back to the dungeon much faster and without going to the outdoor playfield.

The new entrances:
* The three Warmonk Monastery dungeons (Reliquary of Flame, Vortex of the Storm and Coppice of the Heart) share one entrance.
* The three Mines of Chosain dungeons (Den of the Crowmen, Jade Dugout and Abyss of Kun Whu) share one entrance.
* Kang Pagoda has an entrance.
* Palace of Yun Rau has an entrance.

CLASSES
Assassin
* Fixed the particle effect for Choking Powder.

Bear Shaman
* The AA perk ‘Spirit of Yggdrasil’ will no longer affect pets but the player instead – as intended.

Dark Templar
* Auras buffed by Sanguine Infusion will no longer continue to run when removing this perk from the hotbar.

Herald of Xotli
* Updated text for Expanded Inferno Curse, so it will now state the increase.
* Slightly reduced the delay before you are polymorphed when using Red Shadows of Xotli to resurrect.
* Using the ‘Quicking Death’ combo will now put the ‘Hunger For More’ perk on cooldown.

Priest of Mitra
* Divine Halo and Emissary of Elysium will no longer target pets.

Ranger
* Ranger characters get a feat reset to give them a chance to distribute the points again after the class revamp. Read this article to learn all about the Ranger revamp.

Tempest of Set
* Spending three Feat points on Storm Regalia should now properly give you the 80% increase to Storm Throne's mana heal, as intended.

DUNGEONS & RAIDS
* Kang Pagoda: The particle effect of Po-Sha’s Mental Assault buff should now show correctly on affected players.
* Kang Pagoda: Fixed an issue that sometimes made Po-Sha reset in the middle of the fight.
* Crater: The Twin Sisters should no longer reset when Dread Shadow and Frenzy are used.
* The waypoint for Thoth-Amon's Stronghold will now actually point to the entrance.
* Pillars of Heaven: Fixed an issue with Bhangi Khan getting stuck in patrol mode when doing the hard mode encounter.
* All Trials of the Godslayer (hard mode) encounters now have a chance to drop an additional Rare Trophy.
* Raid size is now capped at 24 players per raid, as intended.

PVP
* Improvements to the ‘Shrines of Bori’ have been made and a new mechanic called “Pyres” has been introduced with this update. You can read all about these changes and additions in this article.
* Coward's Shame should now work correctly again.
* The minigame quests will now be spawned on the players when they join a minigame.

FACTIONS
* Brittle Blade : You should now be able to get the repeatable version of the Brutal Murder quest after performing the first instance of it.

GUILD RENOWN
* The Tarpani Stallion should now have the same stamina sprint drain reduction as swift horses. It will also give the rider increased Protection.

QUESTS
Khitai
* Adjusted rewards (Tokens and Faction Points) of various quests in Khitai.
* The Summoning of Dagon repeatable quest can now be completed.
* ‘Back to Tortage’: the quest journal entry now shows a goal.
* Both quests ‘Milestones’ and ‘Forgotten Gods’ are now shareable.
* A Message from Paikang - Corrected an issue that put the waypoint on the wrong spot on the map.
* The quest ‘The Dark Legion’ has had it’s cooldown increased to 90 minutes.

Silk Road Random Encounters
* The size of the Kraken has been increased and he will now attack around midnight instead of during the day.
* Water Shortage: Fixed an issue that sometimes made the Cyclones invisible on some client configurations.

Tortage
* Decario now also gives out quests to Khitan characters.

WORLD DESIGN
Kheshatta
* It is now possible to zone directly from Kheshatta to Black Ring Citadel Wing 1 and 2.

Northern Grasslands
* A new resurrection point has been added near the Warmonk Monastery.

Kara Korum
* A new resurrection point has been placed in the Crater.
* The Western Corrupted Shelter resurrection point must now be discovered.

ITEMS
* The Veteran Vendor will now offer an item to teleport players to Shaulun. Unlike other veteran teleport items, this requires the player to be level 80.
* Crafted level 80 weapons and armors will no longer display a red level requirement text on the item tool tip when the level requirement is fulfilled.
* Added an item description to Gallbladder of a Yak.
* The 'Facemarking: Aquilonian Common Makeup' is now available at the Aquilonian Female Facemarking vendor.
* A new item has been added to a vendor in Shaulun : Manual of Minion Manipulation. This makes it possible for non-pet classes to learn the pet command abilities.

PETS
* All temporary pets had their cooldown reduced from 5 to 2 minutes.
* Resolved an issue with the Idol of Yag. The pet is now on a 120 second cooldown.
* Tweaked cooldowns on several of the pets obtained from the faction vendors.

MOUNTS
* The Vaaghasan (Tiger) mount now has the same base-speed as a Swift Horse.
* Vagashaan (Tiger) Mounts: Using Quick Dismount while stealthed on these mounts should no longer cause you to be permanently stealthed.
* You can now use any mountspell to dismount from your mount.
* Fixed an issue where your mount could become invisible.
* Tiger and wolf mounts now have the same attack cone range/size/direction as the horse.
* You should no longer receive an error message if another player attempts to use Terrifying Howl on you while you are mounted on a Ridden Death Wolf mount.
* Corrected an issue where the non-rogue quick dismount ability would end the running cooldown upon zoning.
* Added a confirmation window when speaking to Cho-yun so you can no longer accidentally give up your wolf mount.
* Adjusted the stamina drain of the wolf mount.

NPCs/MOBS
* Corrected a few issues with patrolling NPCs in Khitai.
* Field of the Dead: Toirdealbach now has a chance to drop unique boss loot again.
* The training Pikemen in the Last Legion camp should now not respawn as fast anymore.
* Fixed an issue which caused the Writhing Sandstrosity in the Gateway to Khitai to reset.
* Risen Hyrkanians now give XP when killed.
* War Monk of the Storm's reflect shields have been toned down.
* Fixed an animation issue with Goat NPCs.
* Stalker Tiger mob should no longer remain transparent during combat.
* Cavern of Malice : Fixed an issue that caused the encounter to reset during combat.
* Northern Grasslands : Fixed an agro issue with NPCs in the Brittle Blade camp.
* Northern Grasslands : Nui will no longer have flickering hair.
* Paikang : Fixed an issue which prevented some NPCs from attacking.

GUI
* The entrance to Paikang from Chosain Province is now labeled on the playfield map.
* The Khitan race has been added to the player search menu.
* Fixed an issue where a waypoint in Lacheish Plains was pointing to Eiglophian Mountains rather than Field of the Dead.
* The points under AA perks will now have a glow to them when the perk is fully trained.
* Buff icons and buff tooltips should now always show the correct time values.
* Added the resurrection point name and distance over the locations on the resurrection GUI list.

GENERAL
* Abyss of Kun Whu: Corrected the cause of a crash.
* Your target should no longer switch automatically if you are attacked while hitting a destructible object and you do not have autotarget enabled.
* Fixed an issue where your tombstone would not always appear.
* You will no longer be spammed with disconnect messages if you let your client idle and you are on the character selection screen.
* Players can no longer join PvP Minigames from areas were Path of Asura cannot be used.
* The Ravager of Jhil and the Loyal Kappa pets should no longer despawn when the player changes playfields.
* Fixed a graphical issue with the Female Khitan hair style Lotus Knot.
* Corrected many text issues and tweaked item visuals for quests in the Expansion content.
* The Full Moon buff from the moon child pet should now boost Natural Health Regeneration.
* Fixed some client crashes.
* Khitan characters should no longer be sent to Khemi when speaking to the smuggler.
* Corrected some sound issues with the ground in various playfields.
* Fixed a few issues with the online preference saving system.
* The timeout for re-inviting a player who left a guild has been increased to 48 hours.
* Fixed some collision issues in Khitai playfields.
* After being smuggled out of Tortage, Khitan characters under level 20 no longer are required to pay the Caravan Master for their transport to Khitai. This does, however, invite the risk of random encounters, as with any other free transport to Khitai.
* All combat rations should now have proper use requirements.
* All combat rations should not consume if you already have a similar effect running.
* You can now use the Wagoner Route Map in Atzel's Approach.</sup>