GAME UPDATE 3 PHASE 1 DETAILS

Hey everybody,

It's time for some Game Update 3 news!

GU3 has been on test server for some time now with Ancient Port Warehouse (APW) being in closed testing. We are still fine tuning the game play experience, as well as polishing some performance issues. The good news is many of the performance fixes are ready to go live now and we want you to reap the benefit of those as soon as possible! For this reason, we're going to launch our Game Update #3 a little different this time by delivering it to you in 3 phases, the first of which we're planning to release next week.

GU3 - Phase 1 will include more than 2 months of bug fixes, performance fixes, and new content.

GU3 - Phase 2 will contain two new overland Raid creatures and the Raid functionality to drive it.

GU3 - Phase 3 will contain the Ancient Port Warehouse dungeon.

Thanks for your patience as we come to the final stages of Game Update 3.

Hasium



Currently we're on schedule to bring Phase 1 of Game Update 3 to the live servers next week. Here you'll find a detailed list of what you can expect to see in game then.

Guild Hall Trophies
The Guild Hall Trophy item can now be placed in a house or any Guild Headquarters. The buff from the Trophy will be shared by all guild members that are online.

The Guild Hall Trophy can only be picked up by the person who placed it.

Spam Filter to Combat Gold Spammers!
Ask, and you shall receive! It's been in the works for quite some time, but Game Update 3 unleashes the code that should help eliminate a lot of the spam you may receive in-game. The code works similarly to those featured in other SOE games, in that it automatically filters messages flagged as spam, and reports them to Customer Service.

Multiple Quest Lines added for Ksaravi Gulch!
The low to high teens adventuring area of Ksaravi Gulch in Qalia has been revamped. It now features new group and solo content, with many quest lines for either type of player as well as an enhanced storyline, additional items and the chance to fly into battle on an elite back wyvern mount.

Abundant Amenities!
All player housing areas should have a crafting center within one chunk's distance. You will find crafting trainers, vendors, taskmasters, and stations. In addition, a few select areas (including all of the islands) have had flying mount renters added.

Blood, Fungus, and Dust - Oh My!
Guildhall adventuring drops should now be much easier to obtain. Mnalus Fungus will now rarely drop off most mobs in Lair of the Mnalus. Mummy Dust will now rarely drop off most mobs in Nusibe. Fiend Blood will now rarely drop off most mobs in Rhaz Inkur.

Optimizations and Bug Fixes
-There have been over a dozen high-profile client crash fixes added.

-Placing items in your toolbelt will now prompt you to confirm that you wish to bind them if they are bind on equip.



-Sounds playing will now have their distances scaled to the size of the object playing the sound. This will result in waterfalls being heard farther away, but you will need to get closer to hear smaller things like torches. In general, this will provide a dramatic increase in frame rate for those with single-core processors.



-There is a new setting in the Audio tab called Distance. This value is used to calculate how far away a sound will play. If you have a single-core CPU you may see some performance increase from lowering this value. If you desire to hear sounds from further away, you can raise this.



-Failing feign death will now allow a monster to attack you.



-Fixed a bug with pet pathing that would sometimes cause them to run back to where they were before teleporting to their master, such as in cases where they got stuck somewhere and their master got too far away.



-NPCs will no longer open locked doors.



-Lights and shadows now display properly across chunk borders.



-Many NPCs have learned how to see through stealth... beware!



-Fix for high-level characters with certain configurations of gear getting "stuck" when trying to chunk.

-Bard song effects will now only display on targets for which that song has a valid effect.

-Many server-side optimizations were done related to how bard songs were being processed.

-Another source of client crashes has been found and fixed.

-Many optimizations have been done to raise frame rate in crowded areas. Group and raid encounters should see improved performance.



-Several issues related to player chests have been resolved.



-Any quests which involved multiple stacks of items should now no longer consume too many items.



-The functionality to split stacks has been greatly improved, with a new key for getting just one item from a stack, and a more functional UI for entering the number to break off from the stack.



-Multiple client-side optimizations related to the UI updating have been implemented. You should see significant improvements in frame rate from this change while in combat in a group or raid.



-NPCs will now pay better attention to you when you hail them.



-You can now see item links for items you loot.



-You can now swap equipped items with items in your inventory or bags, even if your inventory is full, as long as it is a one-for-one swap and does not require moving two equipped items, such as swapping out a weapon and shield for a two-handed weapon.



-Group members will now see a loot message regardless of their location.



-Fixed some issues where looted items in groups were not displaying the same for all members.



-You can now request that your character be copied (not moved, just copied) to the test server by using the new /copycharacter command. This command toggles your request to be copied on and off. Please type, "/help copycharacter" for more info.