Friends & Foes - Patch 14.9
Hello Shopkeepers! Happy 2025!
We hope you all had a good end to last year and are starting with an even better 2025!
We took some time to rest and are excited to be back with another update.
[h3]Highlights[/h3]
Once you complete quests for various NPCs, they can appear at your shop as customers!
These special customers have additional patience for your shop and some fairly large wallet sizes, so accumulating them should give you a small but welcome boost to the quality of your clientele.
Not every quest NPC can be a customer yet, but most NPCs associated with the main quest can. A few of our favorites from side quests will show up, too.
We plan on adding this functionality to more NPCs, so if you have a favorite character you want to see at your shop, let us know!
The NPCs available in this update are:
This was one of our earlier ideas when we started implementing the main quest into the game.
For various reasons, it didn't make it into the build until now, but we think it adds a nice connection between the story and your shop progress.
If you have already completed the associated quest for these characters, they should unlock automatically when you load your save on this update and start showing up at your store.
[h2]Quest NPC Customer Invites[/h2]
Right now, these special customers can be a bit rare to spawn, but you can change that by asking them to come to your shop!
Once you complete the associated quest for these characters, most will have a dialogue option where you can invite them to your shop.
Once you do, they will show up at the next shop you go to (or choose from one of your shops if you have friends running them in multiplayer).
So if you're ever low on customers, or just want one of these characters to drop by your shop, head over to them and just ask!
In update 14.4.0, we added an experimental feature where you could see your progress for clearing out enemy outposts, receive a reward when defeating all the enemies in the outpost, and see how long until the outpost was reinforced and refilled with enemies.
In that update, we only added this feature to 3 outposts so we could try out the feature and get feedback on it.
You all seem to really like that mechanic, and we do too! So, we decided to add it to this update.
[h3]Ping Remaining Enemy[/h3]
One of this mechanic's biggest shortcomings was not finding the last few enemies in the outpost to clear it.
To address that, we've added this ping button that will appear once you've cleared more than 60% of the outpost.
Pressing it will ping one of the remaining enemies so you can hunt them down.
To ping the next enemy, you have to wait until the previous one is dead and their body has despawned, so you probably can't just spam pings and kill enemies, but this should help direct you to the next group or straggling enemy if you get stuck.
[h3]Outpost Retaliation Raids[/h3]
We also added the ability for the enemy factions to attack you in retaliation for clearing their outposts.
Every outpost that shows clear progress and gives a reward for completing it has a percentage chance to have the faction who owns that outpost send a retaliatory raid.
The chance of a raid and the size of that raid depends on the size and strength of the outpost you clear.
If you trigger a raid, you will see this Raid Incoming tag under the outpost UI once you clear it and the reward is spawned.
The raid will come after you in the next few hours in-game, so you can try to prepare wherever you are, or you can go back to your shop or base to hunker down behind some turrets and spikes.
Because this mechanic introduces additional attacks that can target you and your shop, we understand not everyone will want to play with it enabled. So turning off the Peaceful Shop setting will completely disable these raids from spawning.
This setting was previously named Peaceful Nights as it also turns off nighttime attacks from ghouls, but we renamed it this week for these new outpost raids as they can occur during the day.
[h3]New Outposts with Rewards for Clearing[/h3]
With these new additions to our outpost clearing mechanic, we have also added functionality to more outposts throughout the world.
In addition to the 3 original outposts with the mechanic, we're adding 9 more outposts that track your clearing progress and provide rewards (and raids) when completed.
8 of these outposts are Outlaw controlled in the Wetlands. This area should be an even cooler place to adventure and fight with all the outposts concentrated around the environment.
We also added the functionality to the small Ronin outpost on the southern edge of the Shepherd Ruins, as new players commonly frequent it.
We hope you enjoy clearing these outposts, reaping the rewards, and fighting off the forces that the Outlaws and Ronin send after you for revenge!
We introduced the scrap all button back in update 14.3.0 and have enjoyed being able to quickly scrap loot that we don't want.
However, the downside of this button is when it is pressed accidentally and ends up scrapping gear you actually do want, either in an enemy death box or in one of your own containers.
To help avoid this issue and give you all a little more peace of mind, we've introduced a hold to confirm functionality to this button.
You can either hold the button on the UI or the keybinding to scrap the contents of the container you're interacting with.
We tried to dial in the timing so it doesn't slow down quick looting too much but will still give you enough time to stop pressing it if you hit it by mistake.
We made this feature live earlier this week alongside some of the more pressing code fixes in the full patch notes below, so you may have already tried it!
The prologue is the first impression of the game for a lot of players, so we're continually working to improve it and ensure players are smoothly introduced to Saleblazers.
Over the past couple of weeks, we've been working on overhauling the lighting in the prologue level to look nicer, better match the open world, and perform better.
In patch v0.14.8.15, we introduced the long-awaited cosmetic slot options so you can equip something stylish without sacrificing the stats of the gear underneath.
We asked to see some of your character creations using this feature on our Discord, and it's been great to see everyone's outfits.
From left to right, we have characters from Sei, KatVet, eaglescout, and Recette.
if you have a cool character you want to show off, please post it in the #characters showcase channel in the Discord. Thanks everyone for sharing!
[h3]New Community Loading Screen Tips[/h3]
We've got a few new loading screen tips to add to this update. Take note of the knowledge they bring!
We also have one more new loading screen tip inspired by some players on Discord, but that is coming as a slightly more official tip.
Thanks to everyone who shared loading screen tips and to everyone who is active on our official Discord, giving feedback, grouping up, and discussing the game.
[h3]➡️ Changes[/h3]
[h3]⚙️ Optimizations[/h3]
[h3]🛠️ General Fixes[/h3]
[h3]📜 Known Issues[/h3]
Hotfix v0.14.9.1 is out now that resolves this issue. Thank you for your patience!
A follow-up patch should be releasing later today with some additional fixes.
We hope you all had a good end to last year and are starting with an even better 2025!
We took some time to rest and are excited to be back with another update.
[h3]Highlights[/h3]
- Quest NPCs will now come to your shop
- Outposts can now send raids after you clear them
- You can now ping enemies remaining in an outpost one by one
- More outposts now feature rewards for clearing them
Quest NPC Customers (Friends)
Once you complete quests for various NPCs, they can appear at your shop as customers!
These special customers have additional patience for your shop and some fairly large wallet sizes, so accumulating them should give you a small but welcome boost to the quality of your clientele.
Not every quest NPC can be a customer yet, but most NPCs associated with the main quest can. A few of our favorites from side quests will show up, too.
We plan on adding this functionality to more NPCs, so if you have a favorite character you want to see at your shop, let us know!
The NPCs available in this update are:
- Tayada
- Mayor Yori
- Captain Latch
- Andrei Barnaby
- Aiden Kingsmithy
- Jones Fishingman
- Freda McQuillan
- Chef Pippo
- Ambrosia
- Cassandra Gale
- Samantha Cole
- Senhi Hideta
This was one of our earlier ideas when we started implementing the main quest into the game.
For various reasons, it didn't make it into the build until now, but we think it adds a nice connection between the story and your shop progress.
If you have already completed the associated quest for these characters, they should unlock automatically when you load your save on this update and start showing up at your store.
[h2]Quest NPC Customer Invites[/h2]
Right now, these special customers can be a bit rare to spawn, but you can change that by asking them to come to your shop!
Once you complete the associated quest for these characters, most will have a dialogue option where you can invite them to your shop.
Once you do, they will show up at the next shop you go to (or choose from one of your shops if you have friends running them in multiplayer).
So if you're ever low on customers, or just want one of these characters to drop by your shop, head over to them and just ask!
Expansion For Outpost Raids (Foes)
In update 14.4.0, we added an experimental feature where you could see your progress for clearing out enemy outposts, receive a reward when defeating all the enemies in the outpost, and see how long until the outpost was reinforced and refilled with enemies.
In that update, we only added this feature to 3 outposts so we could try out the feature and get feedback on it.
You all seem to really like that mechanic, and we do too! So, we decided to add it to this update.
[h3]Ping Remaining Enemy[/h3]
One of this mechanic's biggest shortcomings was not finding the last few enemies in the outpost to clear it.
To address that, we've added this ping button that will appear once you've cleared more than 60% of the outpost.
Pressing it will ping one of the remaining enemies so you can hunt them down.
To ping the next enemy, you have to wait until the previous one is dead and their body has despawned, so you probably can't just spam pings and kill enemies, but this should help direct you to the next group or straggling enemy if you get stuck.
[h3]Outpost Retaliation Raids[/h3]
We also added the ability for the enemy factions to attack you in retaliation for clearing their outposts.
Every outpost that shows clear progress and gives a reward for completing it has a percentage chance to have the faction who owns that outpost send a retaliatory raid.
The chance of a raid and the size of that raid depends on the size and strength of the outpost you clear.
If you trigger a raid, you will see this Raid Incoming tag under the outpost UI once you clear it and the reward is spawned.
The raid will come after you in the next few hours in-game, so you can try to prepare wherever you are, or you can go back to your shop or base to hunker down behind some turrets and spikes.
Because this mechanic introduces additional attacks that can target you and your shop, we understand not everyone will want to play with it enabled. So turning off the Peaceful Shop setting will completely disable these raids from spawning.
This setting was previously named Peaceful Nights as it also turns off nighttime attacks from ghouls, but we renamed it this week for these new outpost raids as they can occur during the day.
[h3]New Outposts with Rewards for Clearing[/h3]
With these new additions to our outpost clearing mechanic, we have also added functionality to more outposts throughout the world.
In addition to the 3 original outposts with the mechanic, we're adding 9 more outposts that track your clearing progress and provide rewards (and raids) when completed.
8 of these outposts are Outlaw controlled in the Wetlands. This area should be an even cooler place to adventure and fight with all the outposts concentrated around the environment.
We also added the functionality to the small Ronin outpost on the southern edge of the Shepherd Ruins, as new players commonly frequent it.
We hope you enjoy clearing these outposts, reaping the rewards, and fighting off the forces that the Outlaws and Ronin send after you for revenge!
Hold to Confirm Scrap All
We introduced the scrap all button back in update 14.3.0 and have enjoyed being able to quickly scrap loot that we don't want.
However, the downside of this button is when it is pressed accidentally and ends up scrapping gear you actually do want, either in an enemy death box or in one of your own containers.
To help avoid this issue and give you all a little more peace of mind, we've introduced a hold to confirm functionality to this button.
You can either hold the button on the UI or the keybinding to scrap the contents of the container you're interacting with.
We tried to dial in the timing so it doesn't slow down quick looting too much but will still give you enough time to stop pressing it if you hit it by mistake.
We made this feature live earlier this week alongside some of the more pressing code fixes in the full patch notes below, so you may have already tried it!
Prologue Lighting Updates
The prologue is the first impression of the game for a lot of players, so we're continually working to improve it and ensure players are smoothly introduced to Saleblazers.
Over the past couple of weeks, we've been working on overhauling the lighting in the prologue level to look nicer, better match the open world, and perform better.
Community Corner
In patch v0.14.8.15, we introduced the long-awaited cosmetic slot options so you can equip something stylish without sacrificing the stats of the gear underneath.
We asked to see some of your character creations using this feature on our Discord, and it's been great to see everyone's outfits.
From left to right, we have characters from Sei, KatVet, eaglescout, and Recette.
if you have a cool character you want to show off, please post it in the #characters showcase channel in the Discord. Thanks everyone for sharing!
[h3]New Community Loading Screen Tips[/h3]
We've got a few new loading screen tips to add to this update. Take note of the knowledge they bring!
- Wanna run faster? Equip a pocket knife and drink some coffee! -Anonymous
- Stay curious. There might be a rune behind the waterfall. -Anonymous
- Dress up with the cosmetic slots! No one knows there is full body armor under your apron. -Anonymous
We also have one more new loading screen tip inspired by some players on Discord, but that is coming as a slightly more official tip.
- You can place single items from an equipped stack in your hotbar.
Thanks to everyone who shared loading screen tips and to everyone who is active on our official Discord, giving feedback, grouping up, and discussing the game.
v0.14.9.0 Patch Notes
[h3]➡️ Changes[/h3]
- NPCs from various quests will now come visit your shop and purchase items from you
- You can now invite NPCs from various quests to visit your shop
- Enemy outposts with outpost cleared rewards now have a chance to send a raid after you clear them
- After clearing 60% of an outpost with clear percentage players can now ping the remaining enemies needed to clear the outpost
- Updated 9 outposts with names, raids, timers, and rewards for clearing, including the outlaw outposts in the wetlands
- Added tool tips to explain lobby options when hovered
- Scrap all button now has a short confirmation timer before it executes
- Reduced the damage for the charged attack on katana weapons
- Can no longer sneak attack bosses
- Rebalanced prologue level lighting and some art assets to match the rest of the updated game
- Updated ambient occlusion to be less visually heavy
- Grass now stays down for an extended duration of time
- Adjusted all the grass materials in the game for better reactivity
- Explosive Mines no longer damage structures
- Adjusted the distribution of some lootable items in the wetlands area
- Slightly improved the roof textures in Kazai Village
- Overhauled the lighting in the prologue level
- Characters now automatically get up from being knocked down into water after 3 seconds
[h3]⚙️ Optimizations[/h3]
- Optimized electricity wires to improve performance for shops with a lot of electronics and wires
- Slightly optimized water ripple effect for NPCs and enemies swimming or wading
- Optimized some animal spawners near the Decommissioned Shop Plot in the desert
- Minor code optimizations
[h3]🛠️ General Fixes[/h3]
- Fixed stick-to-wall placeable items like electricity extension rods/lights not properly saving and loading
- Fixed an issue that could cause clients to lose items in slots that had been added by Ambrosia when joining a host
- Fixed an issue where skill points would sometimes not save properly for clients who quit the lobby immediately after allocating them
- Fixed an issue that would cause some clients in a server to no longer be able to interact with certain doors or crates properly
- Fixed an employee pathing problem that caused them to wiggle back and forth while moving, which was reducing their efficiency
- Fixed NPC shop stock not randomizing their rarities based on calculated chances properly, resulting in an overabundance of high rarity items in shops
- Fixed a case where NPC villagers would talk to no one and become busy when they shouldn't
- Cleaned up character creation logic to reduce hiccups
- Fixed a case where Josef Heart could spawn twice
- Fixed a case where clients could not see the Researcher properly
- Adjusted Sketchy Kyle's spawn position and wander radius so he can't end up inside of Zena's Arena
- Fixed an issue where some quest rewards are spawned in an unreachable location
- Fixed a case where items inside Barry's Bazaar shops get duplicated on save and load sometimes
- Fixed restocking employees aren't showing the no proper storage emote above their head on containers that did not pass the category filter setup
- Prevented a case where shop vault money could overflow and cause issues above 2 billion dollars
- Fixed an early version of the spawner for the outpost revenge raids, sometimes firing endless spawns
- Fixed being unable to navigate to cosmetic slots with controller
- General stability fixes
- Fixed some slight clipping issues in Zena's cutscene
- Centered the prologue level to the world origin to fix various shadow artifacts and culling lag spikes
- Fixed floating crouch animation
- Fixed various collision issues in Kazai Village
- Fixed some backend issues with the Boba shop in Kazai Village
- Corrected some bad item setups for objects in Kazai Village
- Cleaned up some bad objects in the Wetlands
- Minor visual polish on the prologue level
- Fixed various minor localization issues
- Fixed various disconnection issues
[h3]📜 Known Issues[/h3]
Hotfix v0.14.9.1 is out now that resolves this issue. Thank you for your patience!
A follow-up patch should be releasing later today with some additional fixes.
- Clients sometimes see naked NPCs or NPCs with missing skin when transitioning from the prologue to the open world.