[Balanor]

- The Nethwatch Keep interior is complete. PCs who join the Lapendrar Legion will have access to all levels of it through the use of their Legion cloak – including access to the roof of the Keep itself

- The upper level of the extensive dungeons below Nethwatch Keep has opened. Only skilled adventurers of 7th level or higher should make plans to brave their horrors though...

- The encounter system has been modified so PCs may begin to see more creature types spawning together, as well as upper level spawns being created differently

- The Temple of Mystra is joinable...if you can find it

- The Harpers (yes, THOSE Harpers!) are joinable if you can find their contact in Thay...

- Upon respawn, a PC will be healed to full hit points

- PCs no longer receive an XP loss upon respawning. However, remember that Thay is a permadeath server with a limited number of times your mysterious allies will save you from death (i.e. - allow you to respawn). So respawning is *still* not good because your character is one step closer to death.

- Cloaks of Invisibility have been added to the game. When donned, these rare cloaks make their wearer invisible

- Additional NPC news and rumors have been added to the rumor mill system

- The following bugs have been fixed:
1. A nasty problem where the area reset was destroying PC corpses has been fixed. PC corpses will *always* remain in an area, no matter how much time has passed
2. Various spelling errors fixed
3. And issue with PCs being jumped to an overland area when logging out and back in to an area like Bezantur should be (mostly?) resolved. This fix should also eliminate problems with areas being completely wiped of merchants, dockhands, and signposts.

[Balanor]

In most cases, updates that address exploits are not detailed, however I wish to detail a specific change that has affected a couple individuals.

- Certain items, weapons primarily, can no longer be instantaneously switched in melee combat. Shields can now never be unequipped in melee combat

- Instead, when an item is unequipped in melee combat, the PC will break out of their current combat round and pause for a short amount of time to simulate sheathing and drawing different weapons. Most likely, this will result in at least one 'free' attack by any creature(s) within melee range

- Once the PC has completed the process described above, they will need to actively re-engage in combat (click on an enemy)

- If you want to avoid giving your enemies a free attack, move out of melee range (approximately 4 meters from your enemies), or unequip/change the items before your enemies close to melee range

- Just to reiterate; this delay will only occur if the item is unequipped in melee combat. Equipping items outside of melee combat does not trigger this system

- I understand this may not be a popular change. It was primarily put in place to fix an exploit I will not mention here, however it also serves to limit what I (The Thayan) view as unrealistic battles in which PCs could switch between many different weapons or items within one round if they have good real-life 'clicking skills'

- If you have any questions, concerns, problems with this change not acting as detailed above, or would like to voice your opposition or frustrations on this system, please PM or e-mail me. It is possible limited changes may occur based on feedback; however this system, in some form, will still remain to address the primary exploit it was implemented to eliminate

[Balanor]

- Serene "The White Wench" Blake is available as a new questgiver. Those that help her are rewarded with what should prove to be a *very* useful item that can be obtained nowhere else

- The Council Hall in Murbant is complete. This provides a Vault, Deed and Merchant master in that town

- Respawning will now only take up to 10% of total notoriety (as opposed to 15% previously)

- Treasure drops have been added to and expanded, primarily high-level treasure. In addition, monsters should begin possessing and leaving slightly better items

- XP is no longer taken when removing magical properties from an item using an Enchantment Forge

- The following bugs have been fixed:
1. Many fixes and enhancements to counter hackers and exploiters, including character and DM validation checks upon login and character level-up
2. Cold Effects should no longer occur in the current overland and static areas. If your character should somehow suffer cold damage, and you are not somewhere like the Temple of Auril, let me know
3. Players will no longer suffer the affects of HTF while in the Fugue Plain or in certain OOC areas
4. Reduced, and hopefully eliminated, the occurrence of a 'Too Many Instructions' error that everyone would receive on the server when any one PC might enter certain placeable-heavy areas
5. Took steps to prevent hostile creatures from attacking each other if they got hit by an area of effect spell cast by someone of their faction
6. The chance of finding standard, rather than Thay PW modified potions, healing kits, and thieves’ tools has been considerably reduced and hopefully eliminated

[Balanor]

- After some extensive testing, I'm happy to announce a pretty large new feature - Lycanthropy! Be on the lookout for werewolves and other were-creatures as they *can* infect your PCs (which may or may not be something you're looking for).
Click Here for the details on it, or type in !lycan in-game for the Lycan Menu which will provide you all the details on the new system.

Happy hunting!

[Balanor]

- Players now have the ability to become Vampires!!! The feature is much too large and complex to describe here, so I recommend reading about it at the following post, or typing !vampire in game to read the Vampire Menu for more information.
http://thaypw.7th-sphere.net/showthread.php?tid=157

- PC deletion can now be done through the Player Menu. This choice can be found under the Character Options section of the Player Menu

- If a level 4+ character dies and ends up in the Fugue Plain, it may be deleted to allow the next PC you create will start at a level half that (rounded down) of the deleted PC, with a maximum starting level of 9. This applies to any PCs that may have died in the past and are languishing in the Fugue Plain.
Important Notes:
1. This decision cannot be reversed. Once a PC is deleted, you will no longer see it in your player list when logging in to the server
2. You may not recreate a new PC with the same name as a deleted PC due to persistency settings
3. Note that after deleting a permadead PC, the creation of a new PC *must* be completed before the server resets, or else the bonus levels will not transfer to the new PC.

- New creatures; Vampire Spawn and Dire Bats, have been added to the encounter system. Additionally, enhanced lycans (werecreatures) and lycan bandits have replaced the old lycans in the encounter system

- Most forms attained through Polymorphing, including lycans in their hybrid form, will elicit a hostile response from normally neutral NPCs. In addition; virtually all NPCs will refuse to talk to PCs in this state

- The following bugs have been fixed:
1. Additional modifications to catch hacked characters
2. Changes have been made to eliminate current and future perma-haste and perma-true seeing items from the game. For any players that may have received these, I apologize for the bug and perhaps getting your hopes up, but these items were never intended to be in circulation
3. Curst Rangers and Curst Rogues will now spawn with at least *some* weapon. Sheesh.

[Balanor]

- A new quest type has been added! PCs (especially Wizards and Bards) may now be sent on ‘a quest for answers’. In other words, be prepared to head to the nearest library and do some searching to find out an answer a NPC may be seeking (or do some real-life Binging for the answer). When you return with it, you’ll need to speak it to them in chat (no multiple choice options here!) for your reward.
The higher the intelligence and lore ranks you have, the better chance you have of finding the answer in an in-game library however.

- The multi-level Warriors Crypt is available in the Keep of Sorrows for some new adventures (recommended for level 5+ PCs). See if you can find the final resting place of the tharchion Hargrid Tenslayer within it for a very cool item(s) - unless someone beats you to it...

- The Watchtowers in Nethjet and the Keep of Sorrows are available for members of the Lapendrar legion to rest and recuperate in

- The Temple of Gargauth is joinable, upon player request

- The XP and gold reward you will receive for taking a quest to deliver an out-of-town message for a NPC has been doubled

- The following bugs have been fixed:
1. PCs will no longer get attacked by Slavers or Assassins when speaking to someone about their patron god
2. Incapacitated or PCs with less than 1 hit point will not be able to use movement objects like swimming, jumping, etc
3. Quickly moving through a priest’s conversation to get multiple types of healing performed will no longer cause it to ‘lock up’ after taking your money
4. Many issues with the new vampire features have been fixed (thanks KTA for continued testing!)

[Balanor]

- The Nethjet Town Hall is available, providing a Vaultkeeper, Deedmaster, Merchant Master, and jail (for use by members of the Lapendrar legion) in that town

- The Thasselen Central Citadel is available, providing a Vaultkeeper, Deedmaster, Merchant Master, and ‘officers barracks’ for members of the Lapendrar legion in that town. In addition, the dreaded dungeons below the Central Citadel can be entered, however those that enter should be *very* careful they do not interrupt the ‘experiments’ of any Red Wizards they encounter while they are down there. It is recommended that PCs of less than 9th level not tempt fate in those dungeons at all...

- Five (yes - 5!!!) new factions are joinable thanks to the hard work of EdinSumar since he created the conversations to make them joinable. Those now interested may join the following Bezantur temples thanks to him:
1. Temple of Sharess (Clerics Only)
2. Temple of Sune (Paladins and Clerics)
3. Temple of Helm (Paladins and Clerics)
4. Temple of Talos (Druids, Rangers, and Clerics)
5. Temple of Tyr (Paladins and Clerics)

- It is now possible (finally!) to modify the design and color of cloaks using the tailor models

- The price when copying the appearance of an item (as opposed to actually buying the item) from a Tailor model has been significantly reduced

- Dragons have been added to the encounter system. While still uncommon, your characters may now occasionally run into them. Those of an evil nature will want to stay far clear of any metallic dragons, while those who are not should be able to pass by them unless they are provoked. Regardless of your character’s tendencies, it will want to stay far away from chromatic dragons though unless it is looking for a fight...

- The following bugs have been fixed:
1. Additional fixes and modifications made to the vampire feature (thanks to KTA’s testing)
2. Several issues with the starting sequence for new PCs, as well as having enhanced the starting areas
3. Getting stuck in the welcome area and/or the opening events not running for a new PC should be greatly reduced, if not eliminated
4. PCs infected by lycanthrophy will now (correctly) only be forced back to human form if they are truly in hybrid or animal lycan form. Due to some confusion/questions caused by this bug, please note that for a PC affected with lycanthrophy, you will not be able to voluntarily control your shape changes until you are involuntarily changed to a lycan form on the night of a full moon and then make an awareness check. The days of the full moon are the 26th, 27th, and 28th of each month (in-game).

[Balanor]

- The Abandoned Mines in the High Road Escarpment area (one league north of the Bezantur Market Town) are available. These old mines are a den for many of the bandits and some of the more dangerous humanoid and semi-intelligent creatures in and around Bezantur. It is recommended characters of less than 3rd level do not attempt to enter them...

- The Nethjet Barrows have once again become the playground for necromancers and the undead and are now available for hardy adventurers (level 3+) to test their mettle. The Barrows, along with the adjoining Nethjet Cemetery Catacombs make for a necropolis well over half the size of the City Tombs in Bezantur

- Parrick Gein is a new merchant available in Nethjet who sells various adventuring gear and arms, including other trinkets

- If hurt, lycan PCs in their hybrid or animal form will heal a random percentage of hit points every time they kill (most types of) flesh and blood creatures. This has been implemented since PCs in those forms are *very* limited in the items they can use

- *Laughs Manically* Mimics. *Uncontrollable maniacal laughter continues to echo throughout the forums and then slowly fades away*

- In addition to the above, those looting coffins and sarcophagi may run into a similar surprise....

- Darkenbeasts, magically created aberrations of the Red Wizards, have been added to the encounter system

- Dwarves of any class may now use Dwarven Waraxes. Bards may now use Rapiers

- The following bugs have been fixed:
1. Several issues with the Lycanthropy system have been fixed
2. Guards and Legionnaires will now correctly respond to try and stop a PC when they bash virtually any useable object near them

[Balanor]

- Permadeath (where you can permanently lose a character to death) is no more! Check out the updated Death & Dying post for full details.

- PCs now not only receive full XP for any kills made while in a party, but they will also receive a bonus based on the number of PCs in their party. See this thread for full details: http://thaypw.7th-sphere.net/showthread.php?tid=259
In short - it will now be *very* beneficial for you to party with as many other PCs as possible when adventuring

- The chance you find an item you are questing after when opening treasure containers now increases by 5% for each PC member of your party as long as they are in the same area as you. A special thanks goes to Karilynn for suggesting this idea!

- Certain ‘game balancing’ features have been put in place to ensure that those who have a considerable amount of gold draw some unwanted attention from Zukirs and/or certain criminals with a quick hand. After all, we do want keep things somewhat challenging for the PCs, and having enough money where it is no longer a concern isn’t all that challenging... ;)
The ‘good’ side of this addition is those extremely rich individuals targeted by the Zulkirs and certain criminals do receive a large notoriety bonus in each case...

- Shackled slaves may now break free of their shackles and escape if you let them get too far away from you

- Minor enhancements to the lootable corpse system

- Updated the in-game player guide with the same information on the quest system, death system, and combat XP system that have recently been posted here on the forums

- The following bugs have been fixed:
1. Fixed the White Wenches Stone of Recall from being destroyed on its first use
2. Changes to the scripts controlling area and secret door transitions in an effort to fix multiple reports problems when jumping areas with NPCs in your party
3. Multiple fixes to legionnaire spawns so they have appropriate armor and a reduced chance of graphics issues hiding their body parts
4. When knocked down by a Thug, a PC will now only get mugged once rather than multiple times right in a row
5. Addressed multiple exploits and bugs in regard to treasure and gold. A HUGE thanks goes to those folks who reported them - you know who you are!
6. Summoned faction aid (such as legionnaires) will now properly despawn when their PC Leader logs out

[Balanor]

This update is intentionally a little light and mainly consists of bug fixes since I will not be around for about 2-3 weeks to help quickly address any issues that might arise with the planned addition of some new features and areas. Look for those new additions to appear in the next server update in a few weeks however...

- When a PC begins bleeding or stabilizes from bleeding, they will no longer go invisible

- When a PC begins bleeding, their familiar will simply be unsummoned rather than killed

- The following bugs have been fixed:
1. Fixed an issue with mounts getting into, and then stuck, in interior areas
2. Summoned faction aid will remain in your party when the PC leader rests
3. Greater Magic Weapon and many of the other Thay-modified spells can now be properly scribed to a scroll, brewed into a potion, cast to make a wand, or stored in spell sequencers
4. Fixed an issue with Red Wizard Apprentices getting kicked out of the Red Wizard faction if they tried to purchase a merchant license after completing the Red Wizard Apprentice trials
5. When a PC-Owned merchant in a house absconds after its owner has not talked to it in 6 in-game months, any merchant signpost outside the house will now be properly removed as well
6. Fixed an issue with Players DMs becoming partially visible while in DM Mode when they transitioned to a new area