Shattered Kingdoms

We are over 90% finished with equipment overhauls on the entire game. There are thousands and thousands of items out there, so you can be sure that we missed a few things. If you come across something that you think is glaringly unbalanced, please typo log it. Some areas will still be in flux for a little while, specifically those where major RP is happening.

On the whole, equipment was updated. Furthermore, the distribution is now such that the best pieces are found in the hardest zones, and/or are available upon completion of quests. There are a lot more good, but not great, pieces available in the more moderate zones. What this means in specific terms is that a lot of items that had obsolete bonuses, such as heavy armor pieces with pure MP or armor with relatively useless ability score bonuses, have been modernized to have a more balanced and desirable range of innate bonuses. In some cases, items that had no bonuses at all were given some bonuses. Ultimately, it should now be easier to get a serviceable set of equipment, but more difficult to get a legitimately elite set.

In addition to equipment bonus updates and redistribution, device and scripted casting levels were tweaked and, in general, lowered. Many devices in the game have been the same since before art was implemented, never mind the more recent enchantment update. This has led to some previously powerful devices becoming overpowered. Natively cast spells by high level characters should now be substantially more fearsome and effective than spells off of devices or scripted items, though devices will still work well against a variety of NPCs and characters who can't bother with even a halfway decent kit. Astute players will notice that this change meshes well with there being more good second-rung gear available. Moderate innate endowments should have a lot more value than they used to, now that opponents' devices aren't as strong on average.

Items and scripts that provide means of transportation that mimic gates or teleportation have been and will continue to be overhauled to also mimic the limitations of the gate and teleportation spells. Please do not rely on scripted items to bail you out of a jam just because they used to work that way. If you have such items, expect them to function more like the spells they seem to mimic either now or when they are addressed in the near future. The portal rings are still exceptionally powerful in this regard, but now have more limitations in place that are in keeping with the original intent of their creator. You can expect to see very few exceptions to the general rule that transportation items will be limited in similar ways to gate, rift, teleportation, and word of recall, and you can count on any that aren't as limited in functionality as those spells being hard to get or requiring a specific set of conditions to be met to be useful. To all those veterans who wanted a more challenging PvE experience and have said PvE is too easy: you got your wish. These items will be restricted and, on top of that, areas have been expanded and made more difficult. You can expect more new challenging high level additions in 2015, too.

You will see a lot of new scripted items in the game now. Some are brand new and some are items that were not scripted before. You will also see a lot more functionality in terms of sets of equipment. Most of you are familiar with the sacred sets and how they work, but now there are many more sets, each with its own powers, restrictions, and limitations. Some sets are just sets for thematic reasons and may or may not have any special powers. You'll have to figure that out for yourself, but in most cases it will be obvious. Bards can help determine if items are part of sets or not and, if so, how they function.

You will see a lot of new griffon weapons. Most of them are not all that great, and are not meant to be, but there are at least more now. This change is happening as a consequence of updates to weapons carried by monsters with claws, who you can now expect to be using their weapons again. That said, a few of the new weapons available to griffons are good.

This represents just our first major step toward a more balanced and fun game, with new PvE challenges and rewards. There is still a lot of work to do, but you may consider the equipment side of things largely finished. More new things will be added in due time, but the old stuff is ready for action. Sacred equipment is also being reviewed and updated, with new quests and challenges being added to obtain it. Some of you have noticed these additions already. The goal is to make it roughly the same degree challenge to get any of the suits and have the suits be better updated and roughly equally useful (not identical). This won't happen overnight, but it will happen.

Some of you will come to notice that you have "grandfathered" equipment (some aspects of existing equipment change with updates like this, and other aspects do not). In some cases this equipment will be advantageous to you, but in others it will be obsolete. You are entitled to keep it if you want, since you no doubt put time and effort into acquiring and enchanting it, but please just destroy it when you're finished with it. The same applies if you win it in PvP; keep it if you will use it, but otherwise just destroy it and let the updated items cycle into the game.