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Delta 120 Discussio and Patch notes
shadowmage
Member UncommonPosts: 196
So, with a big patch like Delta 120 going to Blight we wanted to take this opportunity to discuss some of the big changes within. Some of these changes were in the works during the summer of 2006 and were cut short, while others have been made in the last few weeks as we’ve worked hard to create an update that has a positive impact for the community and propels Horizons forward.
First, for new players, we’ve worked to continue expanding the experience on both New Trismus and Lesser Aradoth. We’ve added some new Scout quests onto New Trismus and we’ve made numerous fixes to existing quests on both New Trismus and Lesser Aradoth.
But of course we didn’t stop there. We implemented some changes that had been promised over a year ago, namely rolling back the price increase on Nadia as well as re-adjusting the spawns on the Abandoned Island, Mithril Canyons and in some of the Tier 6 areas in the Eastern Deadlands.
Some of the new things we added and changed are meant to reduce the grind and encourage returning players. We’ve added a new line of storage structures in anticipation of the upcoming Confectioner revamp. These structures allow up to 4 stacks, but contain less maximum bulk than regular silos. In addition, they are limited solely to organic resources such as farm foods, meats, etc.
The other big change is for Lairshaping. We’ve lowered the construction requirements for all lair chambers and corridors, with the exception of Halls (including the Grand Hall). These changes are significant and are meant to spur construction, rather than stifling it like the previous requirements did. In particular, the changes are meant to make it far easier for players to construct storage chambers and corridors so that they can more easily build the rest of their lair.
Finally, the one big change is one that the development team had discussed prior to the EI sale, but had not had time to implement. Recast timers on spells are now linked within each spell line. What does this mean you may be asking? And what is spell linking? And finally, why is it important for Horizons that spells be linked?
Spell Linking refers to spells that have Recycle Timers that are linked together. This means that when one spell is used and becomes grayed out during its recycle time, any spells linked to it also gray out for a time and are unusable. Abilities are a good example of linking because it has been used there since the launch of the game. Linking is used quite often with abilities, such as Power Strike, Rend and Negate Attack. For abilities, different types of abilities are often linked together so that when one is used, the others become available in half the recycle time. That is, they share 50% of the recycle time of the ability that was used. So, if Power Strike is used and has a 60 second recycle, Rend is not available for use for another 30 seconds.
Spells, however, did not share this linked timer between types of spells. Casting Flame Bolt does not cause Energy Bolt or Lightning Bolt to also recycle. Unfortunately, this also extended to spells within the same line. So, casting Flame Bolt V did not cause Flame Bolt IV to be unavailable, casting Energy Bomb III did not cause Energy Bomb II to be unavailable, and so forth.
This part of the system was not working as intended and so it was decided that it needed to be fixed in order to ensure proper gameplay balance and also to form the groundwork for what we hope will evolve into a slow, measured and steady revamp of the adventuring side of the game over time.
We understand that these changes may disrupt the style of play for some and for that we apologize. However, we hope that you will use this as an opportunity to discover alternative styles of play and would encourage you to keep an open mind as we move forward. We're working very hard to improve Horizons and achieving a broad set of goals for the game.
To discuss this article and the changes in Delta 120, go here .
To review the full release notes for this patch (Delta 120) to Blight, go here .
To review the previous patch (Delta 119) notes to Blight, go here .
Emissary of Istaria
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Emissary of Istaria
How is the game performance now a days? Horizons was the "Vanguard" of its day.
I have not ever had that much problems with it my self, but then I was not typical I think. I currently can not say as I am waiting on the Vista Fix. But it still needs a new client that had some work done but I think is still a ways off.
Emissary of Istaria
Not to mention how ugly it looked
I can't say how sorry I feel about this, since I really wanted nothing more than to come back, but unless they do something completely revolutional with the client (yeah, maybe better to get a 100% new engine..), I will not be coming back
((
DB
Denial makes one look a lot dumber than he/she actually is.
I'm running 1280 X 960, terrrain clutter and shadows off, everything else maxed (including view distance), and getting a smooth 12+ fps in town. 2.6GHz P IV, 2G RAM, AGP 7800GS. This is typical of today's performance.
Is Hz listed as an exception in your anti-virus program?
There are some improvements to the client being tested on Blight, but it sounds as if there is something basic that's wrong.
25 is the lowest in "smooth" that i can accept. And a 4-5 year old engine on a 7800GS should have NO problem giving 100+ FPS with everything maxed out.
Yes, there must be something basic very wrong in that engine I'm afraid. The best would be to srap it an re-write or licence one
DB
Denial makes one look a lot dumber than he/she actually is.
The 12 fps is a minimum, in town, and it is consistent without stuttering. It therefore appears (to me of course) as smooth; there is no apparent difference between that and games where I run 25 fps or up. I played VG (briefly) and there 12 fps was terrible.
What matters is the subjective experience, and that's fine, and greatly improved over the early days.
The age of the engine matters less than the poly count, and in Hz it is very high, too high for its time. That was more a function of inadequately supervised model building. In addition, clipping and occlusion issues are also being addressed, with changes currently on the test server.