Ideas that will be ignored, number 462: Reinventing the gift system

Gifts in Istaria are a nice thing - they can be cast on you by other players (or yourself) with each adding a temporary, but long, two-hour bonus to a statistic. As you go up in levels, you get additional gift slots, so these nice little bonuses can stack up. The power of the bonuses also increases as the caster gains levels and although they aren't huge, they can make a real difference.

Since the game was launched, though, there has been a static number of gifts - namely bonuses to the games four main stats (Strength, Dexterity, Power and Focus) alongside Speed, Alacrity (which speeds up your casting) and Armour. In addition, dragons get Velocity (for flying speed) and Dragon's Gift (adding to their specific abilities).

Now I'm not criticising the system, quite the opposite - gifts are useful, scale well and are a good element of the game. However, I think the developers are missing a trick with them. I expect they would be a relatively easy thing to introduce more of, so why not firstly have some fun, and secondly add some really good high level ones to quest for?

Seasonal things, for example, could be fun. Istaria does good events for the likes of Halloween and Christmas, but they could be spiced up with some fun gifts - silly stuff that, when cast on you, you had the choice to accept. You could jingle as you walked, have a different appearance, or sprinkle snow behind you as you ran - who knows. But they could also be a little malicious too - perhaps there could be an extra slot for pranks at Halloween, for example.

At the other end of the scale, you could add quests where the reward was a high level gift ability (not formula, so keeping it as a hunting prize), perhaps in line with a character's class. It would be good if they were level 100, say, but each character could learn achieve only one, aligning them to a certain class (which is sadly lacking nowadays, with so many multi-level 100s roaming around).

Thee bonuses could add extra bonuses when fighting certain types of creature, or in certain places in the world, maybe they would buff healing spells or increase fire damage versus the withered Aegis. The list of possibilities is endless. If you've got any ideas, please post a comment. You may even get a prize for being the first ever person to comment on my blog :p

If you happen to have landed here from the moon and haven't realised this blog is about the MMO (that's 'massively multi-player online' game) Istaria, which you can play for free, go check out its official site at www.istaria.com

Beginners guide to Istaria, part 2: Here we go!

Once you've chosen the race, sex and look of you, and then chosen a name, and clicked that you're ready to go, a brief wait will see you arrive at your first location in Istaria - the basic training area.

You will see the blue window pictured to your right, which asks if you want to continue with the tutorial. If you've played any kind of 3D MMORPG before, you can probably skip this section, as it will largely be telling you how to suck eggs. That said, in truth it's pretty short and some of the controls in Istaria are a tiny bit different to most other games like it, so its probably worth doing just to get your bearings somewhere safe!

Istaria can be a harsh game, compared to most MMOs. On one hand, when you die you don't actually lose anything - equipment, experience points etc. However, you do get 'death points' (or DPs) once you get up a few levels. These can seriously slow down your hunting for the day, as they reduce your stats cumulatively, so it's worth trying to stay alive as much as possible!

If you've decided to stick around, and are completely new to this type of game, it's worth taking a look at a few of the graphics that have just appeared around the edge of your screen (see picture, right). These boxes make up the GUI, or 'graphical user interface' - they give you important information about your character, your surroundings and other players/non player characters (NPCs), as well as options as to what you can do in the game.

One of the great things about Istaria is that every part of the GUI can be moved around your screen to suit the way you want it to look. When you're playing in windowed mode (which means you can still see your Windows bar across the bottom of the screen), you can even make the viewable playing area shrink down to leave a border round the edge for your various menus and tool bars.

However, for now I suggest leaving things where they are, mainly because you'll probably change your mind about what you need to see, and how clearly, once you get a few game hours under your belt. It will also make this tutorial easier to follow!

First, look at the menu at the top left of your screen, pictured right. Note that this, and all the other boxes on the screen, can be 'right'clicked' to change a few attributes - namely window/border transparency, whether the particular window is locked in place on the screen, and options to show the 'title bar' and to 'auto hide' the box until you scroll over that area of the screen.

In addition, some - such as this one - have a 'simple mode' option. Generally, this reduces the size of the particular part of the GUI by removing the text and just leaving bars and icons. This is probably worth doing once you've become accustomed to how everything works, as it can greatly reduce clutter on screen.

This first part of GUI is the 'Actions' box. You'll notice four of the eight sections are currently greyed out: this is because something needs to be selected/highlighted by you (such as an NPC, resource, enemy etc) before you can do these actions. To select someone or something, simple hover the cursor over them/it and click the left button - you can try this now by clicking on one the guys in front of you (don't worry, their on your side!).

This menu is fairly straightforward, but is one that personally I only tend to use two buttons of - the top two. 'Recall' teleports you back to wherever you are 'bound'. There is one of these binding points just the other side of Ryson, the guy standing before you.

As your character moves through the world, you'll find it very useful to be able to instantly return to a certain town, or property - for example, to complete a quest or return with resources. This button takes you to that spot. 'Stop action' does what it says on the tin - it will stop you fighting or casting mid spell, or stop crafting etc.

'Attack', 'Greet', 'Trade' and 'Gather' should be self explanatory, starting the action as long as you have the correct type of person or resource selected - you'll find you can normally do these actions by right-clicking the selected object too, which I tend to find more convenient. 'Create' opens the create item menu - more on that later - while 'Sit/Stand' makes you do just that.

The top right corner, pictured here, contains some crucial information. The large box on the left ('Self Status') is particularly important, as it displays some details vital during every combat. The two square boxes on the left show the current action being performed and the next one that is queued up to happen. So, if casting spells in a battle, the top icon will be the spell being cast, and the second the one you have ready to go off immediately afterwards.

Next to this you have four horizontal bars. The full red one at the top shows your current health, as does the number next to it. You'll be keeping an eye on this in combat, if you know what'd good for you! The next two below will track your adventuring experience and crafting experience, showing how close you are to the next level in your currently chosen schools, while the bottom one represents how close to your full carrying capacity you are.

Right of the Self Status box is your compass. A right-click of this will give you the option to 'show position' - you'll find this handy to have on if people give you co-ordinates, or you want to let people know where you are. There is also a 'show map' option, although it's a lot easier to just press 'm' on the keyboard. You'll see the map also shows co-ordinates and allows you to post points of interest, which can be extremely handy! More on the map later though.

Below the compass are two boxes that are also crucial. The first shows any effects that are currently helping, or hindering, your character. Currently, there will probably be a 'Road Bonus' in effect, as you're standing on a road section - move onto the grass, and this will disappear. You need to keep a close eye hear, especially in combat, as effects cast on you by creatures often need to be dispelled before they do some serious damage.

You'll notice a square in the box too, in brown, like the ones in the self status box that show spells you're casting. Here it represents a 'Gift Slot' - these are two-hour bonuses that can be cast on you by players. As you advance in levels, the amount of gifts you can have cast on you at one time will increase.

The black 'Target' box below this contains details about whatever you've currently selected by left-clicking it. If it's a creature or person, it will show the direction they're in, their name, their health and their rating (rating is basically their level). If something doesn't have a rating close to yours, its probably best not to take it on!

Next we have the boxes in the bottom left. The large one is a chat window, the same as the one on the bottom right of the screen. These are very customisable - more on them later.

The vertical bar with the ten numbered squares is again important, as it contains 'Hotkeys'. This is where you can drag various functions such as spells and special attacks to be easily able to use them quickly. You can have lots of these open at once, and once you go up a few levels you'll find you'll probably have at least two or three open at once. If you right click on this Hotkey bar you'll see an option for 'New Hotkey bar'. Once you've clicked this, a second one will appear.

Notice the difference in colour - one has a blue line shading down the centre. This is the 'primary' bar, and can be changed by right-clicking another bar and selecting 'Set as primary'. While you're playing, you'll be able to cast any spell or use any effect in these bars by left-clicking them with the mouse when your cursor is over it. However, the primary is also connected to the numbers on your keyboard, which many people find much easier to use in dicey situations.

And finally for now, the blue button bottom left. This is a key area, as it takes you to a mass of menus that open up all kinds of goodies - including any of these boxes if you've closed them by accident! I'll leave you to mess around in here, while I go and get a well-deserved coffee...

For more information, check out the official website at www.istaria.com

Blight Update 180: Nothing to moan about?!

Well, by the looks of the boards so far, this is the least controversial update for a while. The sslik racial skill 'improvement' looks a bit lame compared to the ones other races have had recently, but that said our other racial skill, Sslik Regeneration, rocks, so no complaints.

It has been a bit of a bind having to go and attune to some of the gates I've happily going to for years, as they've made changes to them, but actually its been nice to go to some areas of Istaria I haven't been to in a while.

I'm saving my trip 'home' to Sslanis until last, as it will be good to see the old city again.

Check out the official website at www.istaria.com

Additions

• Dragons can now get a technique called Claw Socketing that creates a weapon socket for Dragon Claws and requires Sandstone Bricks instead of Cedar Boards. Melli in Sslanis carries the new technique for sale.

Changes

Abilities and Items

• Steelsilk Sack is now usable at Level 100
• Primal Rage no longer conflicts with other Primal boosts.
• Ice Barrier will no longer conflict with other damage shields.
• Wolf-Hunter ability now applies only to Ranged attacks.
• Talisman and Scale formulas now have coin value, but are no longer tradeable.
• Satyr Silver and Slate formulas are now stackable, have a coin value, but are no longer tradeable.
• Sslik Innate Armor no longer boosts base armor that Sslik don't have. Instead, it now has a chance to reduce incoming physical damage by 5%.
• Boar's Rage effect will now overwrite Reklar's Winds of Fury effect as well as other epic effects.
• Mental Bane now gives an augmentation when it fires instead of straight damage.

Monsters

• Forest Skulk now drop coin
• Spider Bite will now do pierce damage.
• Tweaked the treasure tables of Magma Kwellen
• Tweaked the treasure tables of Pale Hatchlings
• Tweaked the treasure tables of Ghostly Dragons
• Ghostly Dragons are now members of the Aegis Dragon Mage school, do spirit damage, and are incorporeal.
• Pale Hatchlings are now members of the Aegis Dragon Warrior school.
• Tiny Grass Beetles are no longer social. Levels 5 - 8 Tiny Grass Beetles are still aggro.
• Tweaked the Massive Elm Treant spawns so that only Rumbleknot's crosses the roads.
• Forest Skulk Elders no longer carry the Darkoak Quarterstaff, but instead a less powerful quarterstaff.
• Tweaked the treasure tables of Small and Regular Snow Beetles
• Frostbite the named Snow Beetle now has a range of levels when spawning.
• Small Snow Beetles and Frostbite are now scaled according to their rating.
• Mimics now have resistances and vulnerabilities that fit their proper type (Metal, Wood and Stone).

NPCs

• Alistair at the Festival Grounds now carries all costumes for sale.
• Quartermasters now charge coin instead of Bounty Markers for Techniques.
• Quartermasters are now tiered:
• Melli the former Consigner in Sslanis now carries all Tier 1 Techniques including Socket techs.
• Elmond in Dalimond now carries all Tier 2 Ability, Adventure, Defense and Statistic techniques.
• Nalithess in Chiconis now carries all Tier 2 Craft and Spell techniques.
• Holm in Mahagra now carries all Tier 3 Ability, Adventure, Defense and Statistic techniques.
• Edison New Rachival now carries all Tier 3 Craft and Spell techniques.
• Grendan in Aughundell no longer carries crafting techniques, but instead carries Weapon Dyes
• Janner Cinderfall has relocated home to Feladan and still carries Armor Dyes.
• Bacharath at the Satyr Refugee Camp now sells ore and slate that were once found on the Satyr Islands and the formulas needed to process them
• Bacharath now sells the Talisman and Scale formulas used for fighting the Satyr Island Wisps
• Toraebel has departed for the Forbidden Zone
• Ella and Sela in Dalimond are sisters and now have the last name of Verin.
• Guard Marie Annis no longer carries a sword.
• Fillet in Sslanis is now a member of the Confectioner school

Quests

• Moved the location for locating the Skulk Village in quest "The Forest Skulk Artifact III" so its more intuitive.
• Chance of getting each of the components needed while on Assist Balit with his Research quest is now greater.
• Refactored quest "Tooth and Claw VIII: Icy Dire Wolves" to use a kill_keyword and to include better directions.
• Refactored quest "Tooth and Claw VII: Western Deadlands" to use the proper kill_keywords and to include better directions.
• Refactored quest "Tooth and Claw VI: Academy of Draak" to use kill_keywords and to include better directions.
• Refactored quest "Tooth and Claw II: Silver Golems" to include better directions
• Quests "Cleric's Quest: Speak with Mera in Kion about further training", "Warrior’s Quest: Speak with Mattias in Kion about further training", "Scout's Quest: Speak with Geela in Kion about further training" and "Mage’s Quest: Speak with Rennis in Kion about further training" are no longer level-based, but will appear after you complete the regular school quest lines.
• Quest "Gerix's Quest: Visit the Cities of Dragonkind" is now known as "Gerix's Quest: Visit the Grand City of Chiconis" and only takes you to Chiconis. It includes better directions for reaching the city and also you can speak with NPCs along the way.
• Quest "Druid: Avenge the Fallen Druid" is now only given by Grosok and all dialog is now "sslik-ified". It also contains better directions.
• Updated the "Breath of Fire III", "Breath of Lightning" and "Breath of Ice" quests to properly reference Bacharath instead of Toraebel and to also reference the new situation with Satyr Silver.
• Updated the dialog in quest "The Forest Skulk Pledge" to remove confusion regarding the tombs and the skulk.

Other

• The portal to Drakul for Naka-Duskael was bugged beyond all recognition and so has been removed.
• The spawn of Cerulean Azulyte which had once been at the bottom of the Chiconis Community Lair is now above ground in approximately the same location.
• World Map An updated version of the world map (the Istaria map) was added with this patch. Of note, the Istaria map now has more some new filters that indicate where different locations are on the map. Players will find locations sorted between cities, settlements, communities, geographic areas, and points of interest. Settlements are generally towns where players can buy plots, but also may find NPC's that give quests. Communities are the "guild communities" of the world. Geographic areas are large regions of the world, whereas points of interest are generally smaller areas.

Fixes

• Corrected the step dependencies in quest "Plundered Tombs: The Tomb of Crankenspank" so that finding the Tomb will now progress properly to the next step.
• Emblem "Defender of the Iron Guard" now has the correct description.
• Giant and Tremendous Sand Beetles now have the proper loot.
• Gerix will no longer allow dragons to have all his quests at once.
• Gerix's Tooth and Claw Mastery quest now depends on you speaking only to him, not to his too-closely named cousin Xerix in Dralk.
• Removed the lame attempt at a treehouse from the tree near 22591, 22392
• Corrected the terrain near the Dalimond March Gate so that it covers the edge of the wall.
• Removed the odd terrain patch near the Clothworking factory west of Dalimond.
• Ssoren the Town Marshall will again speak with the Gifted.
• Slayer of the Myloc Queen banner and mural now properly require Myloc Queen Hair.
• Quest "Outfitter: These Boots Were Made For..." now deletes the Flaxen Boots instead of giving you five more.
• Source of Power: Astronomical Observations now properly asks players to return to Minisia with just one copy of the Astronomers Letter, not 5.
• Instructions for Empowering the Artifact formula will now truly use Intuition.
• Forest Skulk Hunters will now use Spears instead of Bows and are members of the Forest Skulk Spear school.
• Corrected duplicated dialog in quest "Iron Guard: Disturbing Rumors"
• Metanl Bane technique now attunes spells on install.
• Calimir's Hide Grip technique now attunes weapons on install.
• Guran the Blacksmith will no longer automatically join you to the Blacksmith school.
• Expert Metal Transmutation no longer requires both Platinum and Cobalt bars to transmute Mithril Bars, it only requires Cobalt Bars. It also now requires Tainted Bright Essence Orbs instead of just Bright Orbs.
• Corrected the XP awards for transmutation in the Expert and Journeyman Metal Transmutation formulas.
• Relstaroth now sells Journeyman Lairshaper formulas
• Kriegan, Kiva and Huma Clothspinner will again show up in the world.
• Steward's Tour of New Trismus can now be attained and completed by dragons.
• Biped Festival Masks are now usable only by bipeds.
• Dragon Festival Head Scales are now usable only by dragons.
• A new version of the community lair just outside Chiconis exists. The bugged one was removed completely. Players will need to clear their world cache in order to ensure they have the correct version of the world in this area.
• Fixed some minor bugs in quest "Outfitter: Forest Walkin In Style"
• Improved the Grulet and Spider Hatchling spawns on Spirit Isle
• Spirit Isle Tutorial will now reference the proper bound key for Jump.
• Outfitter: Replenish The Village's Stock of Fax Spools now has you speak to the correct NPC (Johald) after you've created the spools.
• Brownback Stalkers will now use the proper treasure table (instead of the one for Outliers)
• Trophy quest "Go Bag 5 Brownback Ears" now properly expects Brownback Ears instead of Brownback Skulls
• Clerash, the Chiconis Town Marshall, now correctly offers quests to characters between levels 31 and 35.
• The Drain Strike quest series now has the proper level constraints associated with each quest.
• Fixed a broken link in Kazrok the Guardian Trainer's dialog.
• Sshranu the Alchemist Trainer will no longer auto-join you to the Alchemist school when greeted.
• Dragon Healing Adept quests will no longer be offered to naka!
• Kerian's final quest to send players to Gerix in Kion now will be given to players who have completed Avarius' quest "Learn about factions" after they have completed the quest.
• Jacques Alantryn has been replaced with his semi-identical twin, Jacque Alantryn. The new Jacque will offer the same list of masks and headscales on all three servers from events over the years. The new Jacque also charges the same price for all masks and headscales. Masks and Headscales should now also have the same bulk (of 1) and all be stackable so long as they are of the same type. He still requires candy as payment, and has added new items to his inventory for this year.
• Primal Attack and related objects now has their icons.
• Many tier 2 items now have icons
• The Battlefields: Identifying the Leader quest will now properly give out Rank Badges.
• Knut Granite-Skull now properly shows the items he spends all year stocking.
• Cleaned up quest "The Head of Urden the Traitor" and fixed it so that it will now properly delete Urden's Head
• Quest "Priscilla the Shoulder Parrot" will now use the proper Tomas Agua
• Quest "Go Bag 5 Forest Skulk Arrowheads" is now properly known as "Go Bag 5 Forest Skulk Slate Arrowheads"
• Shadow Dragon and Lem the Cold will now properly have vulnerability to the Lunus Phylactery
• Tint on Dye Kits will now match the tint's intended color.
• Technique "Craft: Alchemy II" no longer lists its requirements twice.
• Piercing Winds V dragon technique now offers the proper reduction in delay.
• Cleaned up quest "Gold Rage IV: Snow Beetles" and updated it to accept the killing of Frostbite the named Snow Beetle.
• Fixed the title for Allanti the Initiate on New Trismus
• Fixed a broken chat link in Dreveon and Revanus
• Corrected Vladtmordt's dialog to properly tell you the level requirements for the Replica scale quests.
• Barin the Watcher in quest "Cleansing the Corruption II" will now tell you he is giving you an ability, to try and minimize confusion.
• Phoenix Tech Kit now has an icon
• Flaming, Frozen and Blight Weapon Tech Kits now have icons
• Calimir's Hide Grip now has an icon
• Bone Arrowhead Tech Kit now has an icon
• Cooking Knife formula now has an icon
• Quest "The Withered Bane" now deletes the items you collect for Frelic immediately upon returning to speak with him. Also, if you choose to create the Cedar Boards, Frelic will now properly speak and end the quest instead of going silent and ignoring you.
• Quest "The Forest Skulk Threat I" will now properly track the scouting of three sides of the Forest Skulk Village
• Quest "The Forest Skulk Threat II" will now give feedback after completing each step in the village assault.
• Dark Crawler Silk no longer lists "Craft: Spinning II" as a technique it is used in.
• Aviculara Scavenger Silk now lists technique "Craft: Spinning II" as a technique it is used in.
• Tier 2 techs that called for Aviculara Aggressor Silk now properly reference Aviculara Scavenger Silk instead.
• Technique Craft: Tailoring II now properly lists Ish'kuk Gatherer's Ear as a component.
• Techniques Ability: Smash II, Adventure: One Hand Crush II, Craft: Lumbering II, Craft: Woodworking II, and Defense: Spirit Resistance II all now properly list Ish'kuk Gatherer's Shrunken Head as a component.
• Techniques Statistic: Health II and Statistic: Speed II now require Corpse Fly Wings instead of Muck Fly Wings.
• Fixed step in quest "Dragon Instant Heal II: Ish'kuk Gatherers" so that it will be visible while killing Ish'kuk Gatherers
• Fixed a broken chat link in quest "Relic Preserver: Learn about the Dragon Settlement"
• Quest "Outfitter: Excess Shoulders" will now properly complete after you return to Johald with the crafted items.
• Hero's Resolve will now properly give the Hero's Resolve effect instead of Heroism.
• Named mobs used in quest "Medallion of the Storms" now have the proper keywords so that you can loot the necessary items.
• Corrected an invisible step in quest "Corruption on the Battlefield I" and added additional feedback when you killed sufficient Tainted Spirits.
• Stoneworking Mastery IX now has the proper constraints so will be given out by as it should.
• Fixed the constraints on quest "Gerix's Quest: Visit the Grand City of Chiconis" so that it can only be obtained by Dragons.
• Satyr gathered and processed silver and slate resources now have proper keywords.
• Morrigan the Alchemist will now properly greet Alchemists.
• Corrected the description in quest "Earn Title: Grave-Digger"
• Stone of Revelry now uses a Weapon Crystal icon.
• Corrected a step dependency problem in quest "Relic Preserver: Recover a Memory Stone" and fixed it so that you speak with Karane, not Dennison, after you have looted the Memory Stone.
• Corrected a step dependency problem in quest "Relic Hunter: Recover a Memory Stone"
• Ella the Tailor Trainer in Dalimond now has a proper tag beneath her name.
• Weak Arbotus will now spawn near King's Cross
• Quest "Alis' Squirrel Stew" will now properly direct you to the Weak Arbotus
• Modified Baltorros' persistent dialog so that players won't be told to go to the wrong trophy hunter.
• Modified spawns on Spirit Island so that they are more consistently available to new players.
• Quest "Gaileach: The Myloc Queen (Part 2)" will no longer become disabled mid-way through the quest.'
• Frig Tallowgar at the Imperial Outpost once again will offer crafting quests.
• The shy NPC's who were hiding behind an invisibility cloak have now reappeared in the world. There should be no more invisible NPC's.
• Jyansix will once again speak to dragons and should give quests to those who qualify.

Istarian storage buildings: A capacity list

One of the key parts of playing Istaria is having your own plot of land to work on - and one of the key advantages a good plot gives you is buildings that can hold more equipment and resources.

There used to be a really good resource over at Gamersinfo.net website that listed al the buildings you could create in Istaria, listing how many resources were required and what capacity it would give you once you'd built it. However, sadly that site has completely changed format and the info is no longer there.

Below I've put together a basic list of all the storage buildings you can make in game and what their capacity is. There is a much more detailed list at the Crimson Dawn guild's very useful website, but it is a little hard to navigate if you just want these basics. Hopefully this will be useful for someone other than me!

Structures are listed in the following way: Bulk capacity (number of items) name (item type restrictions, or tiers of resources required on old structures)

The ones that are 'Tier 1' etc will require up to that tier of resources to create, so if you need the storage space pronto don't over extend yourself! you can always upgrade later, although you'll need somewhere to put the items in the mean time when you do so.

I would highly recommend taking at least one Tier 1 Human House (small, easy to make and good capacity ratio, if a bit ugly!) and the T2 Human Guildhouse (probably the best size to capacity ratio).

1,200 (10) Cloth Tent (T1)

3,600 (30) Dwarven Small House (T1-2)

6,600 (55) Dwarven Large House (T1-3)

7,200 (60) Fiendish Large House (T1-2)

4,800 (40) Human Hut (T1)

7,200 (60) Human Large House (T1-3)

7,200 (60) ?? Human Medium House (T1-2)

6,000 (50) Saris Medium House (T1-2)

8,400 (70) Saris Manor House (T1-3)

3,000 (25) Saris Tiny Hut (T1)

6,000 (50) Sslik Medium House (T1-2)

2,400 (20) Tier 1 Human House

4,800 (40) Tier 2 Human House

7,200 (60) Tier 3 Human House

9,600 (80) Tier 4 Human House

12,000 (100) Tier 5 Human House

14,400 (120) Tier 6 Human House

18,000 (150) Human Guildhouse (T1-2)

7,200 (60) Tier 1 Human Guildhouse

14,400 (120) Tier 2 Human Guildhouse

21,600 (180) Tier 3 Human Guildhouse

28,800 (240) Tier 4 Human Guildhouse

36,000 (300) Tier 5 Human Guildhouse

43,200 (360) Tier 6 Human Guildhouse

100 (50) Tier 2 Human Library (forms only)

150 (75) Tier 4 Human Library (forms only)

200 (100) Tier 6 Human Library (forms only)

22,000 (4) Tier 3 Storehouse (food only)

34,000 (4) Tier 5 Storehouse (food only)

20,000 (1) Tier 1 Human Silo

32,000 (1) Tier 2 Human Silo

44,000 (1) Tier 3 Human Silo

56,000 (1) Tier 4 Human Silo

68,000 (1) Tier 5 Human Silo

80,000 (1) Tier 6 Human Silo

Check out Istara at www.istaria.com

February 2010 Content Patch

It's amazing what you can with a dedicated team with limited resources - and if you ever doubted that, simply check out the impressive patch notes below.

While the massive addition of content for the Dalimond region is welcomed to try and help keep newer players in the game, the large number of fixes - especially of problems that seem to have been around forever - are massively welcome from older players too.

I just hope that all the hard work doesn't go to waste - the game needs more players! I have a really hard time trying to convince people who played at launch to come back, as many were badly burned the first time around. It's such a shame, especially as there is a real dearth of good new games around.

Also, I fear a lot of players will leave the genre of MMOs, as I'm losing count of the amount of duff releases have happened since WoW/LotRO lit up the online RPG world. Even they had pretty poor releases in terms of bugs etc.

Istaria has led a pretty charmed life to get this far, and seeing as its free to play as a human right now, what have you got to lose? Simply visit the official website at www.istaria.com

But without further ado...

February 2010 Content Patch

Welcome to the Content Update known as "Istaria: Scourge of the Skulks". This update consists of significant changes and additions to the game world that include the following:

* The City of Dalimond has been rebuilt!

* The Dalimond Peninsula has been entirely revamped, and includes new areas to explore, more NPCs and lots and lots of monsters!

* Tons of content designed for players levels 20 and up!

* Over 100 quests!

* New locations to explore and discover! Look for the ruined gnomish worker's town of Rastiphan or the Tower of Abbathes!

* In-depth storylines that span the entire peninsula, including three that are specific for individual schools!

=== Additions ===

==== Quests ====

* Quest "Imperial Army: Stop the Kwellen Raids" to Burris the Scout

* Quest "Naithis' Lost Knowledge" to Naithis the Watcher

* Quest "Gerix's Quest: Visit the Cities of Dragonkind" to Gerix in Kion

* Quest "Seeking the Path of the Fist" to Allanti the Initiate on New Trismus

==== Spells and Abilities ====

* Primal Attack spell to treasure tables

* Conjurers now get Multicast IV at level 95.

* Sorcerers now get Clarity II, a non-masterable ability, at level 84 that will give the target a brief immunity to stuns and mezzes (and will also remove any currently on the friendly target).

* Monks now get additional passive Dodge abilities at level 34, 64, and 94.

==== Other ====

* Master Leather Backpack and Master Scalepack formulas to loot tables.

* Distillery Workshops are now available for construction on player plots

* Solistan will now give out a Master Builder emblem to qualified players.

* The skulks had another gathering. After a great discussion, they now be seen using new methods for old combat and magic tricks.

* A group of treants eavesdropped on the skulk gathering and got some ideas of their own.

* Lower Bridgeview now has a destination pad that is accessible from Bristugo and racial gates once you have attuned.

* Private Asenath of the Kion Militia has been stationed in Lower Bridgeview and will offer to attune anyone who wishes to the local destination pad.

* Spawns of level 1 Tiny Grass Beetles and Skalkaar Grulets have been added to the Skalkaar Forest closer to the road. This should allow level one players to find something to fight which is more appropriate to their level.

* Spawns of level 1 Tiny Grass Beetles and Spirit Isle Grulets have been added to Spirit Isle near the roads. The level 1 grulets especially should now be the first thing that a newly Gifted adventurer now encounters as they travel down the hill.

* The Festival Grounds near Dalimond are once again haunted by spooky spiders and scarey zombies! Jacques and his companions have also returned for another year.

* Greymane Wolves now have different trophies based on their level. Greymane Pups and Juvenile Wolves give tails, Seekers give teeth, and Alphas give Fangs. The trophy hunters in Kion and Sslanis are on the lookout for these trophies.

=== Changes ===

==== NPC Changes ====

* Margaret the Vaultkeeper in Dalimond is now known as Maggie Tinnagin

* Tomas the Elemental Archer Trainer is now known as Tomas Alerras

* Crafting Trainers on New Trismus no longer talk about Imperial Lore Tokens.

* Cleric Trainers no longer give out Adventure Tasks (old-style).

* Mage Trainers no longer give out Adventure Tasks (old-style).

* Delgarath Guards no longer assist in combat.

* Scout Trainers no longer give out Adventure Tasks (old-style).

* Warrior Trainers no longer give out Adventure Tasks (old-style).

* Druid Trainers no longer give out Adventure Tasks (old-style).

* Spiritist Trainers no longer give out Adventure Tasks (old-style).

* References to Imperial Lore Tokens have been removed from craft trainers so as to not confuse new players.

* Updated Kazrok the Guardian's dialog to be more Sslik-ified and modified it so that OOC data about level and skill requirements for the Guardian school are displayed in a blue tutorial box.

* Updated Revanus the Batltemage's dialog and modified it so that OOC data about level and skill requirements for the Battlemage school are displayed in a blue tutorial box.

* Updated Rea Telsun the Berserker's dialog and modified it so that OOC data about level and skill requirements for the Berserker school are displayed in a blue tutorial box.

* Updated Kaliphar's dialog to be more Helian

* Allanti in New Trismus no longer gives out monk quests, has a much cleaned up persistent dialog tree, and is wearing less armor now.

==== Quest Changes ====

* Bounty quests now conflict with one another (you can only have one at a time).

* Quest "Imperial Army: Investigate the Source of the Raids" no longer requires you to kill Daknor to get the Singed Scrap of Hide.

* Dralnok's Doom: "Instructions for Empowering the Artifact" formula now uses Intuition instead of Ingenuity

* Updated quest "Avariatus' Quest: Learn about the Helian faction!" to no longer require you to visit Chiconis.

* Updated quest "Avariatus' Quest: Learn about the Lunus faction!" to no longer require you to visit Dralk.

* Updated quest "Dragon: Bolster your attack with Gold Rage" to use only Gerix instead of Wintheria

* Updated quest "Dragon: Gain the knowledge of Spiked Scales" to use only Gerix instead of Wintheria

* Updated quest "Dragon: Gain the power of the Draining Strike" to use only Gerix instead of Severant

* Updated quest "Dragon: Improve the Accuracy of your Breath Weapon" to use only Gerix instead of Luadius

* Updated quest "Dragon: Learn the power of healing" to use Gerix instead of Frall

* Updated quest "Dragon: Learn to damage opponents from a distance" to use Gerix instead of Bentaras

* Updated quest "Dragon: Prove yourself worthy of the Gift of the Dragons" to use Gerix instead of Kaliphar

* Dragon Quartermaster quests are now obsolete

* Updated quest "Dragon Quest: An Extension of Primal Knowledge" to use Gerix instead of Lasandria

* Quest "Envenomed Arrow I" is now known as "Jacinda's Envenomed Arrow" and requires you to be an active Ranger to complete all steps.

* Quest "Envenomed Spear I" is now known as "Adeshine's Envenomed Spear" and requires you to be an active Spearman to complete all steps.

* Vladtmordt now gives the quest "Vladtmordt's Replica Tempered Scale" and "Vladtmordt's Replica Scale of the Prime" out using the quest bucket system and requires Dragons to be at least level 30.

* Quest "Dragon Quest: Replica Tempered Scale" is now known as "Vladtmordt's Replica Tempered Scale" and contains better directions to Winter Wolves and Dark Crawlers.

* Quest items used in the Replica Tempered Scale quest are now stackable but no longer tradeable.

* Quest "Dragon Quest: Scale of the Prime" is now known as "Vladtmordt's Replica Scale of the Prime" and contains better directions to Ulmus Beetles and Ruxus.

* Updated quest "Mage's Quest: Speak with Maester Larson in Dalimond" and added it to the quest bucket of Rennis

* Updated quest "Scout: Seek out Jyrris Wind in Dalimond" and added it to the quest bucket of Geela

* Updated quest "Warrior's Quest: Deliver a Report to Sergeant Addlier in Dalimond" and added it to the quest bucket of Mattias

* Quest "Dragon Instant Heal III: Dark Crawler Breeders" now uses kill_keyword and has updated dialog and directions.

* Quests calling for Frost Pygmies and Frost Ogres have been updated to reference Ish'kuk Warriors and Gatherers. They have also been updated to reference the proper locations for these monsters.

* Quest "Dragon's Reach II" now calls for Forest Gruok Younglings instead of Ferocious Gruoks.

* Due to revamps and changes in monster spawns, the Attunement to Aedan quest now requires you to be at least level 20, and only wolves of rating 21 or higher will advance the quest.

* Trials of the Gifted quest is now a linear series of quests which starts with Steward Pratt. Players must have completed Steward Pratt's tour of New Trismus quest prior to being offered the Trials of the Gifted quest. All quests are also now offered through the NPC's quest book rather than persistent dialog.

* Town Marshall quests for tiers 1 and 2 have undergone a revamp. They now offer a consistent amount coin for all quests of the same level range. In addition, they now offer a bit of experience when you complete the quest (with decreased experience after the 10th completion). The intention is to give players repeatable quests targeted to their level range to both direct them to the appropriate areas to gain experience and give a bit of a boost to the leveling curve.

* All level 10 dragon crafter mastery quests now use Xarinnis in Parsinia rather than starting with various NPC's around the world.

==== Monster Changes ====

* The Avatar of Pain will now have proper stats for its level

* Tweaked the Emerald Golem treasure tables

* Cleaned up the Sand Pygmy treasure tables.

* Adjusted the spawn rates on Skalkaar and Spirit Isle and New Trismus. The same number will still spawn, but fewer should instantly respawn and the spawn should be more gradual.

* Additional Thornwood Trees will spawn outside of Harro

* Large and Massive Thornwood Trees can now be found scattred among Thornwood spawn areas

* Tweaked the treasure tables of Thornwood Treants

* Large Thornwood Treants now count as Rich nodes

* Massive Thornwood Treants now count as Motherlode nodes

* Slate and Silver will no longer spawn on the Satyr Islands

* Tweaked the spawn rates of all monsters on the Abandoned Island

* Lowered the evasion of Sand Crabs on the Island of Talinis

* Updated the treasure for Winter Wolves

* Nipper the Winter Wolf will no longer spawn on Scorpion Island, instead a Winter Wolf Alpha will spawn

* Drastically reduced the spawn density and rate of Winter Wolves on Scorpion Island

* Updated the treasure of Snow Ogres and assigned them an AI template

* Updated the treasure of Frost Beetles and assigned them an AI template

* Small Frost Beetles will now spawn along with Large Frost Beetles

* Frost Beetles are now known as Large Frost Beetles

* Tweaked the treasure tables of Lapis Lazuli Golems

* Tweaked the treasure tables of Silver Golems

* Dark Crawlers (formerly Brighter Spiders) can now inflict poison on their prey

* Lowered the spawn rate of the Bhal'kuk Chieftain

* Ruxus are no longer aggressive and have a slower wander frequency.

* Frost Ogres are now known as Ish'kuk Warriors

* Frost Pygmies are now known as Ish'kuk Gatherers

* Cleaned up the treasure tables of the Ish'kuk

* Tweaked the Ish'kuk spawns on both Abandoned Island and Scorpion Island

* Updated the Small Flame Beetles and Giant Flame Beetles to spawn a level range and marked the others obsolete.

* Updated the Flame Beetle (all sizes) loot drop rates.

* Updated the drop rates of beetle tables on all sizes of Fire Beetle

* Ice Gnawer now only spawns at the top of the mountain in the area called Glacier Canyons, rather than throughout the Frozen Wastes.

* Improved the respawn times of named monsters on Lesser Aradoth.

* Removed the minimum spawn quantities of some spawns on Lesser Aradoth.

* Removed the minimum spawn quantities on spawns in Old Rachival, Delgarath, the Proving Grounds, the Fallen Outpost, Bannock's Ridge, the Abandoned Shore, the Island of Talinis, the Stormy March, the Valley of Tears, Dralnok's Doom, the Myloc Colony, the Valley of Tolrath, and the Staging Grounds. This means that monsters in these areas should no longer instantly respawn on top of you.

* The Blight Anchor outside Delgarath has proven itself to be more elusive than intended. Though the growing presence of the Gifted around Delgarath will still make it impossible to find sometimes, time and persistence should pay off. (Lowered the respawn timer, but it is still on a long timer so as to not overwhelm that area with wandering WA due to the anchor's presence.)

==== Ability Changes ====

* Evasive Style no longer conflicts with evasion boosts, but also now changes your combat stance.

* Intuition is now classified as a trade skill, even though it is still obtained through adventuring schools

* Glaring Quills no longer conflicts with Demon Skin and Ice Barrier

* Human Magical Aptitude now gives a boost to spell damage.

* Racial abilities, Enhanced Armor Use, Bow, Evasion, Ice Magic, Life Magic, and Magic Defense, and Increased Health all now grant a passive 10% bonus to the base skill/attribute value instead of a 5 or 10 point increase.

* Racial ability, Innate Armor, now grants a passive 5% bonus to Armor instead of a 5 point increase.

* Fireflies ability now reduces enemy movement speed on an increasing scale and has greater damage potential starting with Fireflies III and up. It also has a longer recycle.

* Blight's Favor now has a longer recycle, a much shorter duration, but greatly impacts your Blight and Nature skills.

* Pillage Spirit now has a shorter recycle, a slight post-delay, shares a recycle with Critical abilities, and does greater damage.

* Nerve Strike now shares a recycle with Power strike abilities and will overwrite some debuffs now. Fixed a bug where the Stun would conflict with the statistic debuff.

* Defensive Style, Power Style and Evasive Style now count as styles, not stances.

* Menacing Presence now uses the Wing Buffet animation and does mind damage instead of crush.

* Snarl will now do greater damage and of type mind instead of crush.

* Snarl debuff now lasts 20 seconds instead of 60 seconds, but reduces to-hit on the debuffed monster by an increasing percentage (instead of a static value) beginning at 15% and going up to 55%.

* Dragon Adventurers now get the Dodge passive ability

* Post-Delay of Determination is now half of what it was previously.

* Cloak of Thorns abilities now share a keyword.

* Cloak of Thorns is now ablative and can be removed after a damage/hit threshold has been reached.

* Demon Skin Ablative is now known as Demonskin Armor

* Ice Barrier and Demonskin Armor now count as Damage Shields for buff conflicts.

* Nature's Path will now overwrite Swift Feet.

==== Item Changes ====

* Ceremonial Tower Shield and Ceremonial Chest Scale now have a 25% of their effects firing instead of 100%

* The "Snowball" effect will no longer take up a Gifted slot.

* Deadly tech kit for Dragon Claws now gives 50% more bonus to DPS

* Squirrel Stew is now stackable

* Selling Tier 6 Technique Components to Pawnbrokers will go down in value after a number are sold.

* Dragon Hoard items now have coin values.

* New Warriors, Clerics, Scouts and Mages will receive additional refurbished equipment when they are starting out. This should help their survivability a bit more.

* The odds of getting good buffs from Tier 1 trinkets is now much greater.

* Tier 1 trinkets now have a hoard and coin value.

* Avariatus' Stone of Vitality is no longer tradeable.

* Kaasha's Sigil Ring is no longer tradeable.

* Ulaven's Experimental Gift of Wisdom is no longer tradeable.

* Stuns can no longer be dispelled/cleansed (Mezzes, however, can still be cleansed/dispelled).

* Updated techniques referencing Frost Ogre tech components.

* Techniques that used the Fyakki Stinger Tip now call for a Forest Skulk Fin instead.

* Increased the base damage of Valkor's Blood Talon

* Invisible Dyes can now be applied to Helms and Masks.

* Adventure: Eminence now requires a Tomb Scarab Carapace when applying the technique.

* Adventure: Primal Vengeance now requires a Diseased Brownback Fang when applying the technique.

* Spell: Primal Flash now requires a Twisted Automaton Gear when applying the technique.

* Quest items used in the Biggletorque quest series are no longer tradeable

* Reklar's Winds of Fury will no longer conflict with evasion and unarmed skill boosts.

* Avariatus' Stone of Vitality will no longer attune items it is installed into. Please note that this change will not fix any items previously attuned by the stone.

==== World Changes ====

* Sslanis now requires attunement to teleport to.

=== Sound Revamp ===

* Significant changes and fixes to the sound system have been made. Players visiting Dralk and other "lava" areas in the game should no longer have to relog in order to continue to hear music. New music has been added to some areas of the world, and the song list in others has been updated. Please be sure your game build is up to date with the new files, but if you experience problems with the sound/music system let us know.

=== File Structure Audit ===

* In addition to revamping the sound system, with this update we've also done a complete audit of the game's client side files. When players patch to Blight as of this update, they will find that a number of files need to be downloaded or removed in order to make their client build up to date with what assets are needed for the game. As a reminder, players logging in to Blight should also clear their world_cache folder by completely deleting the folder and allowing it to rebuild over time in order to prevent conflicts with the many changes that have been made to the world.

=== Fixes ===

* Purple Kenaf Backpack Pouch now has a bulk capacity of 800

* "Frozen Weapon" tech kit can now be applied to Hand Wraps

* Updated quest "Gangaf Quest: Acquire a Stack of Cobalt Rods" to refer to Vasileos instead of Pylios in Kirasanct and updated the dialog to reflect the change from Consigner to Pawnbroker

* Ciowiel the Outfitter has had a gender change

* Regular chickens are no longer aggressive

* Quests "Ranger: Mani's Bounty" and "Calimir: Mani's Bounty" were improperly giving out Mani's Fang as extra loot instead of Mani's Head.

* Quest "Millie's Fish Fry" to not require a player to gather the swordfish to complete the quest.

* Quest "Calimir: Hunting the Direst Wolves" can no longer be obtained by Dragons

* Support and load window no longer reference Horizons

* The Head of Mani the Wolf is now attuned

* Updated resistances of Bioscholars to include all damage types

* Removed the tier keyword from quest "Iron Guard: Tochak's Bounty"

* Removed the tier keyword from quest "Iron Guard: Kalevala's Bounty"

* Enchanted Keys will no longer open normal chests. Chests which can be opened with Enchanted keys will be special, enchanted chests.

* Lanale the Vaultkeeper in Kion now gives out the Confectioner quest "Food for the Road"

* Updated Confectioner quest "Food for the Road" to use Lanale instead of Fellea

* Updated coordinates in quest "Biggletorque: The Archmage Darkstaff"

* Weapon Tech Kit "Calimir's Hide Grip" for Non-Rangers can now be applied to bows, crossbows and (oddly enough) hand-wraps.

* Calimir's Hide Grip for non-rangers will now work with melee attacks.

* Relstaroth will now properly give out Beginner and Journeyman formulas to qualified Lairshapers

* Lust for Blood will overwrite most flame DoTs now

* Brachina Beetles will now ignore player rating.

* Fixed the description on the Treasure Plunderer emblem to have the proper quantity of chests

* Treasure Chest within the Stormy March will no longer instantly respawn

* Fixed the Dung Pile's death animation

* Sand Pygmies on New Trismus will no longer automatically respawn.

* Quest "Sslanis Militia: Basic Stores Report" no longer sends you to Quartermaster Weiss.

* "Breath of Ice: Acquire a Splinder of Ice-Bone" and "Breath of Lighting: Acquire a Splinter of Energy-Bone" now properly use the skeletons in the Western Deadlands.

* Adjusted all tier 1 trophy quests to give consistent rewards for each level range. Quests begin at level 5, have unlimited numbers of turn ins possible, diminished exp rewards after the 5th turn-in and should be available from either the Kion or Sslanis Trophy Hunters. (Only applies to quests through level 20.)

* Lair Mural Slayer of the Myloc Queen has been fixed so that it now can be placed properly in lairs.

* Scary Zombie will give out proper amounts of treasure now

* Mental Bane will now work with any ranged spell instead of only ones using the Mind skill.

* Re-introduced Large Ruxus onto the Abandoned Island

* Fixed the "Part 3" New Trismus trainer quests so that they no longer ask someone to kill monsters that don't spawn. Also fixed Sadie's quest in particular so it doesn't ask the person to "kill" the Sense Enemies ability.

* Cenotaph Guardians were accidentally removed from the database and thus would no longer spawn. They've been added back, but with slight differences from how they were on the live shard.

* Technique "Adventure: One Hand Crush V" now requires 2 Bhal'kuk Jawbones instead of Thunder Ogre Jawbones

* Name of quest "Iron Guard: The Island of Alged" to have the proper spelling of the island and also updated some text within the quest to correct spelling and word choice.

* Spelling in quest "The Satyr: Stone of Revelry"

* Stone of Revelry can now be used by Dragons and Bipeds

* Lieutenant Acphlegm is now more of a boss mob and is lootable

* Tier 5 Mimics can now be looted

* Scale Forges will now have proper icons and sound effects

* Blackhammer's Fish Fry is now stackable

* Volcano spells will no longer consumed when cast after being scribed.

* Zhaguxal's Vanguard is now removable

* Quest "Island of Alged: Defeat the Taskmaster" now properly directs you to kill the Task-Master of Terror instead of the Machine of Inhibition.

* Quests no longer give Imperial Lore Tokens as rewards.

* Guran the Blacksmith on New Trismus will only give out the training quests for players who have not completed the Blacksmith quest series on Spirit Isle.

* Tier 2 Techniques now list the proper components that they require.

* Corrected the name of the Cenotaph Guardians

* Trophy Hunter quest "Go Bag 5 Snow Ogre Bludgeoners" is now given at a level appropriate for Snow Ogres

* Fixed Gerix's quest so that he is the one you should speak to after completing the task in order to tain your reward.

* Reinforced Hide Satchels made using the Expert Hide Satchel formula will now properly require Hide Strips

* All resources required by the Expert Hide Satchel now have consistent skill min/max values by tier

* Quest "Imbue the Orb With Your Spirit" now reminds you (both in dialog from Semeneth and in the journal entry) to have the Small Glass Vial in your possession when fighting Kaa the Shade.

* Small Glass Vial used in the Rite of Passage is now attuned

* Quest "ARoP - Ritual of Journey: Prelude" no longer refers to Narsi Tiradoc as a member of the Protectorate.

* T1 Town Marshall quests now have the proper constraints on them so they will only be offered at appropriate levels.

* Blood of the Myloc Queen now has a 10 minute recycle.

* Blighted Baubles now properly give Tier 3 instead of Tier 2 buffs.

* Sigrun's Letter parts are now stackable and sortable

* Myloc Queen Cannot Be Damaged" augmentation is no longer dispellable

* Safety II is now properly received by Sorcerers at level 40.

* Quest "Earn Title: Spider Slayer" so that it will proceed properly

* Confectioners who visit the Formulatrons will not receive post-revamp formulas, not the "old" formulas.

* Applied proper constraints to quests "Healing Adept" given by Lomak the Dragon.

* Fixed the step dependencies in quest "Tooth and Claw VI"

* Priscilla the Shoulder Parrot quest now properly refers to Archbishop Tomas Agua.

* Glacier Canyon is now spelled correctly.

* All level 75 Trophy Rewards have been adjusted so that they all provide the same amount of experience.

* Fixed the Attunement: Valley of the Moon quest so that the dialog should appear without having to "re-greet" the quest giver.

* Fixed the kill counter on quest "Primal Mastery I: An Extension Of Primal Knowledge"

* Fixed the step dependencies in quest "Spiked Scales III: Kill 20 Frost Beetles"

* Radiant Carpenter's Cog no longer mentions Confectioner in the description.

* Balit's Quest: Gather Rare Components for Balit's Research will now count werewolves correctly as you kill them.

* The lair outside Chiconis that is commonly called the "crystalshaping lair" has undergone some structural rebuilding. The gap leading out of the lair has been closed off, but this also required a general "shoring up" of the various chambers.

* Fangs of Fury, Primal Rage, and the Bard's Tail now TRULY reduce delay by 5%.

* Fixed Satyr model so that it will load properly at a distance.

* Fixed music around lava (hopefully for real this time).

* The Naka-duskael Gate to Drakul is now usable by bipeds that qualify for travel to the Dragon refuge.

* Drain Bolt will now properly display combat messages when it misses or hits.

* Antaniel at the Imperial Outpost will now properly give out the quest, "Medallion of the Storms", to Level 100 Storm Disciples who have completed the other school quests and who possess the Blighted Storm Core.

* Nambanora in Feladan no longer has a Consigner tag beneath her name.

* The destination pad for the community of Moroto is now named properly (instead of Motoro).

* Quest "Drain Bolt I: Primal Secrets, Fiendish Pride" will now properly delete Kamilari's Scroll at the end.

* Drain Bolt quest items are now keyworded and can be filtered and also no longer tradeable.

* Quest "Drain Bolt III: Into the Dead Pool" now contains feedback for the counter steps.

* References to the Island of Dabihi now correctly refer to Dahibi.

* Myloc Birthing Sacs can no longer be pulled from their spawn location.

* Mace of Divine Intervention will now properly show the skill used for healing upon death.

* Quest "Attunement to Serenity - Collecting Unblemished Bones" will now properly track the collection of Unblemished Bones.

=== Known Issues ===

* Many of the items handed out or looted or gathered as part of the Tier 2 revamp are still missing icons. These will be filled in as we move forward. We apologize for the delay on this, but unforeseen circumstances (a typhoon!) forced our resident icon guru to take an extended break as he got his life back together!

* Helian's Tomb and Ashlander's Tomb (the two mini-dungeons) did not make it into this content update as originally planned. They will be added at a later date as additional content.

* The Blighted region known as The Warrens is not yet complete. This will be filled out in conjunction with Ashlander's Tomb.

* The Dark Forest is not yet complete. This will be completed soon in an upcoming patch.

High level hunting in Istaria: Murial vs the Aegis

For this week's blog, I thought it'd be nice to look at a few in-game high level battle images. Over the next month or so I'l be mainly concentrating on taking a new character through its paces, but this gives you a pictorial idea of what things look like when you're nearer level 100 than level 1!

I'd like to thank my guild mate Murial for the screenshots. That's her, standing over the freshly killed body of a Blight Hound, one of Istaria's nastier inhabitants. Murial's got multiple level 100 skills, which is one of the great features of Istaria. Many games only let you level one class, or perhaps two plus a couple of crafting skills. In Istaria, you can pretty much be everything all in one character, although they do make it tough.

Firstly, you will only get all the strengths of the one adventuring class you have currently selected: skills from other classes will either work at half strength, or not at all. Secondly, you have an overall rating that goes alongside your current adventuring level. This rating affects how much experience points you need to go up a level, and is adversely affected by the total amount of adventuring levels you have. So, the more you multi-class, the longer it will take to level up.

Some of these shots were taken on a high level hunt with two other members of our guild, Universal Soldiers - Neuvitas Silver and Vici Legends - with 'art' along for the ride. It's a lot more fun to hunt in groups and you get experience bonuses for fighting multiple enemies, so it works out well that way too. Groups can be big as well, where they are often restricted in other MMORPGs.

The first thing you'll probably notice from these images is the foreboding atmosphere in the backgrounds and the stark, broken lands on which they're walking. In Istaria, all players are essentially on the same side (although some dragons may dispute that) - all races have joined together to fight the threat that faces them all: the 'withered aegis'.

Areas blighted by the aegis are left dead and lifeless and are the most dangerous in Istaria. Yup, you guessed it - that's where the hardest adventurers head and where the best rewards are to be had. While Istaria does use a lot of the clichéd fantasy races and trappings, such as elves, dwarves etc, many of the races and creatures you fight are unique to the game.

Here's a good example - a winged Kwellen Berserker in classic 'before' and 'after' poses! The red beam you can see on the creature is showing this is the chosen target - this can really help on a crowded battlefield, where a creature may be stunned and you don't want to hit it and break the effect.

Something else you may get from the pics is that the graphics are hardly up there with the latest games. This is simply a fact - Istaria wasn't released yesterday and will never look like it was. However, the sky effects are top notch, the music atmospheric and the spell sounds and effects really add to combat. It's also a challenge - something many games nowadays shy away from in their desperate attempts to reach out to the lowest common denominator.

What's more, it's a challenge all the way through the levels. Istaria can be pretty unforgiving right down at low level, although you can still use the cheaty methods of power levelling found in all games, if you want to. But if you're looking for a challenge, you'll often find that fighting a single creature of your level will be a tough fight, and a single mistake could see you taking a dirt nap.

Fights can be incredibly frenetic and exciting, especially when you're grouped. All the normal MMO group combat rolls are available, with tanks, ranged damage dealers and healers on show - plus everything in between and combinations of them all. Here Neuvitas goes hand to hand with another Kwellen Berserker, while Murial casts from range. As a druid, she can both heal deal out some hefty damage, but her armour isn't the best, so letting someone else stand toe-to-toe makes sense - although I'm not sure Neuv here would agree!

And as I say, however bad ass you may be, there's always something wandering around Istaria that will bring you crashing back down to earth. Complacency can get you too - I've often been fighting a series of golems, only to suddenly to attack a named boss that looks the same and been dad before I knew it. I'm not sure Murial knew what she was getting into when she picked on Dalknor here, but the outcome is plain to see...

That said, there isn't much of a death penalty in Istaria: you get some stat reductions that, when they stack, can slow you down pretty hard. However, you don't lose items, or have to return to your corpse - you just need to take a bit of downtime. However, in a game that's as good on crafting as it is in adventuring, there's always something else to work on.

If you're interested in looking into the game Istaria, visit the official website at www.istaria.com

Beginner's Guide To Istaria, Part 1: Race and Appearance

Whether you're new to MMORPGs, or a veteran, you should always be looking for information about races before you delve into a new game.

Race, more than anything else in an MMO, defines who you are. Sometimes its just a visual thing, and even then you can soon be so covered in equipment you'll hardly recognise yourself, but it's still you. It might be the way you walk, your height, your hair colour - a crazy blue beard or mottled green skin. Whatever it is, it's yours and it helps define you.

In many of the more recent games that restrict you within an inch of your life (such as world of Warcraft (WoW)), your choice of race has a huge outcome on how you play the game. The next area we will touch on is class (your job, essentially), and in restrictive games your class can be narrowed greatly by your choice of race.

So, for example, in WoW, if you wanted to be a shamen character, you will be restricted to four classes - or just one if you play on the side of the alliance. However, Istaria doesn't take this narrow view. With the exception of dragons (who follow a very specific path), every race can be every (and indeed all) classes, both adventuring and crafting.

Personally, I think the Istaria way is a good thing: especially if you want to role-play, your appearance is important. However, play style can often be more so. This means that a person who really likes being a healer may be forced into a race they don't rally have a feel for in another game, which can take a lot away from the RPG gaming experience.

The images you see in the post are the first thing you'll see after successfully loading up Istaria and choosing to create a new character. You're presented with a list of races (on the right hand side of this image), with the one you're looking highlighted. There will also be a short description of the race and its racial traits.

Racial differences in Istaria come in two forms: your starting stats (strength, dexterity, intelligence etc) and your racial abilities (bonuses unique to your race). Frankly, you can ignore the starting stat differences. They are quite small, and once you've levelled up a little you'll barely notice them - any shortfalls are soon pretty meaningless.

Racial abilities are a bit different. To be honest though, if you've got your heart set on a particular race, just go for it - it's not a big deal, as I said before. However, if you're a certain type of player and don't mind about which race you are, a few of the racial traits stand out. This is obviously open to debate, but here are some of the ones that generally catch the eye:

Sslik regeneration: I guess I'm biased here, but the Sslik ability to regenerate is a real peach. It scales as you level, meaning it's as useful at level 100 as it is as level 1, and I've lost count of the time it has saved my green skin. Essentially, it's a heal over time spell that is cast instantly, uses no energy, and works very well indeed.

Gnomian prowess: For 30 seconds, you're twice as fast as normal in either fighting or crafting, which can be a big help.

Saris sprint: Getting around can be a slow process and most races get one brief sprint on a slow recharge timer. Saris characters get an extra one.

Dryad dazzle/Dwarven toughness: Excellent defensive ability, both of which give a short period of super high evasion/toughness - perfect for getting out of tough scrapes or winning close battles at the death. Fiends get a powerful defence against spell damage, which can work in a similar way to the Dwarven toughness.

There are some other pretty good ones too, but nothing beats just being who you want to be - it's not a game that will punish an early decision as many other do.

A note on dragons

Choosing to be a dragon can be both limiting and liberating, depending on your point of view. For many the ability to play a dragon is simply too much to resist, and there are definite advantages. You start as a hatchling (small and cute) but can become a huge, fire breathing and flying monster with an underground lair as you progress through a series of dragon specific tasks and quests.

However, you're just a dragon - there's no multi-classing and your crafting tasks are severely limited. I found it quite monotonous, and haven't really levelled by dragon alternative character much. But that's the thing - with a paid account, you can have the best of both worlds and have bipeds as well as a dragon.

Once you've chosen your race and appearance you'll be spat out into a small area to practice the basics such as movement. I'll take a closer look at this next time, as part of an ongoing attempt at a beginners guide. However, if you can't wait that long, just go into the help channel once you log into the game - there will always be someone around to help out new players.

Don't forget, if you simply want to check out the game for free, you can get an account and play a human for absolutely zilch (of course, once you get hooked, you can upgrade and get all kinds of cool races and housing plots going on). Just head over to the Istaria website and sign up for a free account - www.istaria.com