Project: Gorgon News

This is a bug-fix update. Here are the fixes:

• Fixed bug causing some entities to be invisible and some particle effects to be permanent
  
• Fixed issue that prevented monsters from fully loading, causing a permanent loading screen
  
• Prevent placing a saddlebag inside of itself
  
• Put an ability on cooldown only when the ability successfully completes
  
• Added crossbow mods back to crossbows. This also fixes crossbows thinking they are legacy because they have crossbow mods on them
  
• Fairies now sit on horses properly
  
• Fixed the avatar pictures on the login-screen & persona window when character is on horseback
  
• Elevation changes while flying are now smooth when Camera Vertical Smoothing is turned on
  
• Remove duplicate "Read more about V.I.P." buttons from UI
  
• Bring horse to a full stop before interacting with an object after moving via right-click (and bring the horse to a stop quicker). This fixes the issue with the player attempting to collect something with a delay but not actually collecting the thing
  
• Forbid mounting/dismounting while performing an attack. This should prevent some edge-casey bugs that prevent you from using abilities
  
• Toggle saddlebag window instead of showing it every time the button is clicked
  
• Show floaties again for DoTs on self
  
• Properly dismount horse when un-mounted due to a DoT
  
• Change "Mount Anxiety Cost -20" to "Mount Anxiety -20" for horse calming abilities
  
• the Riding skill gives bonus Max Health and Max Power when active
  
• Mount doesn't gain or lose anxiety while the client is still showing the loading screen
  

This update introduces mounts! There are also a LOT of new user-interface features. Read the "UI Improvements" section carefully, it's full of useful stuff!


In this update, you can learn to ride a horse. This mount is useful for traveling and can also serve as extra storage. All the horses in this first version look and behave exactly the same. In the future there will be multiple breeds of horse that use the genetics system to allow a huge variety of mounts, but first we need your help testing the basics! We'll continue to polish and improve the basic functionality for a few updates, and when things seem good, we'll start introducing more mount types.

We don't want to explain all the ins and outs of how mounts work because we're hoping it's understandable enough that you can figure it out in-game. If it isn't, we'll need to make things more obvious! But here are some basics you should know:

• You can purchase a horse from a trainer in Hogan's Keep, Eltibule. The total cost is 6000 councils. You'll also need an empty stable slot to store the horse.
  
• All players who log in this month can redeem a pack of basic horse tack. Click the redemptions button at the bottom of the Persona window.
  
• There is also a new crafting skill that lets you create better tack. The trainer is in Amulna and the skill requires Leatherworking 50 to learn.
  
• Players in an animal form can't ride horses. However, they can access the saddlebag even when not on the mount, so there's still some benefit. (Animal forms will eventually have a travel mode, but we haven't decided how it will work yet.)
  
• We've talked in the past about revising how "sprint gear" works, and we still intend to do that, but not until mounts are more thoroughly tested. For now, there are no changes to how gear works.
  
• You can access your saddlebag while on your mount, and you can also access it while NOT on your mount, as long as you're in an area where you could theoretically ride the mount. (In other words, you can't access your saddlebag in dungeons.) The Red Wing Casino is a special case: even though you can't ride a mount there, you can still access your saddlebag.
  
• If you have a backer package that includes a horse, basic riding skill, and a saddlebag, you can now redeem that feature. Click the redemptions button at the bottom of the Persona window. NOTE: horses require a stable slot. If you don't see the redemption, make sure you have an open stable slot!
  
• If you have the "Thoroughbred Breeder" package, those horses are not yet available -- they'll be added when horse genetics are in. You can safely redeem the free horse+riding skill+saddlebag now; you'll get the two "breeder" horses at a later date.
  

• Added a new window for cosmetic pets, accessible via a button in the Persona window. Pets are summonable from the window directly or can be placed on the sidebar like before. All cosmetic pets have been moved here from the Skills & Abilities window.
  
• Added a "Hotbar Layout" option for attaching the sidebar to the main hotbar, which turns it horizontal and places it underneath the active skills hotbar. You can access this in Settings, under GUI/Features, or by right-click the sidebar and selecting "Attach to Hotbar", or "Detach from Hotbar" when attached.
  
• Added the setting "Camera Vertical Smoothing" under Controls in the Settings window. This causes the camera to smoothly follow the player vertically instead of being directly tied to them. Enabled by default.
  
• Added options to individually lock most HUD elements, either by right-clicking on the window's titlebar or by clicking a lock icon. To enable the lock icons, go to Settings->GUI->Features and check the "Show GUI Locks?" option.
  
• Added confirmation to stable slot purchasing.
  
• The Transmutaion window has been redesigned. Due to its complexity, we'd like your help testing it! When you use an item workbench, you can choose between the old and new interface. Please try out the new interface first. We're leaving the old one available in case there are bugs. (Both interfaces use the same server-side transmutation code "under the hood"; only the interfaces are different.)
  
• The "Hide Known Recipes" toggle is no longer displayed when the Sell tab is selected.
  
• Added a hotkey in Settings, under Keys, that bypasses players and pets when clicking, titled "Hold to Bypass Clicking Players & Pets". For example, while holding this key you can click on a player who is blocking your view of a corpse and select the corpse, not the player.
  
• When a party member dies, the party status window should now display the text "DEAD" in all of the attribute rows, rather than 0's or, worse, incorrect non-0 values.
  
• Added a search bar to Special Abilities in Skills & Abilities window.
  
• Added a news ticker of player activity to the login screen.
  
• The skills window now lists previously-earned skill rewards under the list of upcoming rewards.
  
• There's a new hotkeys to summon your mount. It defaults to Shift+NumLock. (The Auto-Run key defaults to NumLock, so you can press Shift+NumLock, then NumLock, to start traveling.)
  
• There's a new hotkey to view your saddlebag. (It doesn't have a key by default.)
  

• We now take animations into account when attempting to queue an ability. E.G. When summoning a pet and then queueing up another ability, the summoned pet animation will finish (thus actually summoning the pet) before firing the queued ability.
  
• Polished all Necromancy animations and particle effects.
  
• Sped up animation and removed the movement slowdown for Dig Deep & Push Onward.
  
• Slightly sped up animations for First Aid and Patch Armor.
  
• Improved Fae Bee attack animations.
  
• Fixed a bug with players not standing back up after dying.
  
• When initiating flying mid-jump, the jump will properly be canceled and the character can no longer fly sideways/diagonally.
  
• We now delay shooting of some archery projectiles until the proper moment; they were shooting right away.
  
• Fixed LOD issues with buildings and some terrain objects in Rahu.
  
• Adjusted camera settings and draw distances in Eltibule to reduce the horrendous pop-in. This change may impact performance for some users on low-end machines, but hopefully not too badly!
  

• We've cleaned up the half-assed VIP panel in the settings window. It now explains what VIP is, and has a link to the Steam store page for non-VIPs that may want VIP.
  
• Most of the features under the VIP section now actually require VIP. The exception is basic chat logging, which will remain permanently available to everyone. The option is still in the VIP section, labeled as a "VIP preview feature". Note that combat logging does require VIP.
  
• Added new combat logging options, including ways to log indirect damage and healing amounts. (These options show the raw damage/healing amounts, but it's not always easy to tell which ability caused which indirect damage/healing. This is something we want to show in the logs, but it will require some rearchitecting. So this is an incremental improvement.)
  
• VIP members who log in during Jan 25 - Feb 28 can redeem a February VIP gift package: a Sturdy Music Box.
  
• New permanent VIP benefit: VIP players gain +15 saddlebag slots.
  

• We realized that many NPCs did not have their target level set in data, effectively making them level 0 NPCs. This made them more receptive to gifts than intended. We've fixed these NPCs, and as a result they will give somewhat less favor for gifts. (This is a bug-fix, not an overall balance change. We're fixing bugs in preparation for balance work.) Affected NPCs include:
  • Gorvessa in Hogan's Basement
    
  • Yalox in the Goblin Dungeon
    
  • Glajur in Kur Tower
    
  • Percy in Eltibule
    
  • Sem in Snowblood Shadow Cave
    
  • Rubi and Cassie in the Warden Cave
    
  • Laura Neth in Kur Mountains
    
  • Ratuk the Thinker in Kur Mountains
    
  • Mope in Povus
    
  • Hirochi in Rahu
    
  • Ichin in Rahu
    
  • Wintria Irasca in Rahu
    
  • Silvia in Sun Vale
    
• Several NPCs who said they liked "Magical Equipment with Skill X prereq" actually liked anything with that skill prereq, including textbooks. Now they only like actual magical (i.e. loot and crafted) equipment. Those NPCs are:
  • Alravesa in Ilmari(Archery)
    
  • Falkrin Overstrike in Ilmari (Hammer)
    
  • Sand Seer in Ilmari (Fire Magic)
    
  • Sugar in the Warden Cave (Deer)
    
  • Leah Bowman in Povus (Animal Handling)
    
  • Ashk in Rahu (Mentalism)
    
  • Lady Windsong in Rahu (Druid)
    
  • Jumper in Sun Vale (Deer)
    
  • Raul in Sun Vale (Cow)
    
  • Silvia in Sun Vale (Druid)
    
• Crafted belts and buckles now count as 'magical equipment' for favor gifting.
  
• For the purpose of gifting favor only, textbooks now cap how much an NPC will value them. This does not affect their actual Council value, just how much favor an NPC will give for the gift.
  

We've made some small changes to how monsters react to players when they are on a horse. We'll be refining these ideas in the future.

• While you are mounted, melee-centric monsters have 33% reduced player-detection radius. (They still respond to help shouts at the same distance, however.)
  
• While you are mounted and not in-combat, melee-centric monsters ignore your out-of-combat pets. (But ranged attackers will still shoot at pets, which will bring the pets into combat. And then melee monsters will notice it! So best not to rely on this overmuch.)
  

• When mining in Povus, there was a chance to receive the message "You didn't find anything valuable that time, but you can still try again." This seemed like a failed skill-check to players, but it was actually just random. We've replaced this with an equivalent change to mine very-low-value items (such as Pebbles and Flint). This way it's clear that you haven't failed at anything, you just have more mining to do. (The total number of high-value items in each node is unchanged.)
  
• Items with shamanic infusions on them should now be transmutable. The infusions also show up differently in the UI with the new transmute window.
  
• Crossbows mods will no longer appear on non-crossbow off-hand items.
  
• We now prevent right-click movement when dead.
  
• Bulwark Mode is now fully dispelled on death. (Previously a few side effects of it would stick around.)
  
• Chat logs now include timezone offset when you login to the game (to aid automated tools).
  
• Fixed Amutasa's broken "Install Augment" option when your favor level is too low to augment.
  
• You no longer stop auto-running when using an ability without a channeling time. This functionality can be re-enabled via the "Always Stop Auto-Moving when Using an Ability" option in the Settings window under Controls. Note: You WILL stop auto-running if you use an ability outside of its range and have Auto-Move to Attack turned on.
  
• Added collision to the gates in Rahu.
  
• Fixed the MacHack3 special setting so that it works more reliably: you no longer have to re-apply it whenever switching areas.
  
• Removed MacHack1 and MacHack2 special settings because they didn't actually help Mac users fix the visual problem. You can now just type MacHack instead of MacHack3 in the special settings. (Although MacHack3 continues to work.)
  

In celebration of the new year and the outstanding level of support we have received from the PG community, we want everyone to start off the new year with a little something in their pockets! So, for ONE DAY ONLY (Jan 1), we have turned on a whole bunch of our special event buffs and cranked them to max, including double combat and crafting XP!!! These buffs will turn off at midnight server time (US EST), so get out there and grind it up while you can! Enjoy the super buffs and we thank you again for playing and supporting Project: Gorgon! Happy New Year!

There's a new level 85 group dungeon available for high level players who are Friends with Mope in Povus. Speak to Mope to get started. This one is intended to be a challenge for a group of six level 85 players wearing reasonably good gear. It's brand new in the sense that we finished it up last night, so no doubt it'll need some refinements. Remember to report bugs, and after you've been into the dungeon a few times, please share your balance feedback with us!

• Povus now has a Ri-Shin tree to set up; speak with Leah Bowman for more information.
  
• There is a small chance to receive a Live Event Credit when opening a Ri-Shin tree present.
  
• Tweaked the Ri-Shin Shrine event in various ways, changing the required item amounts, adjusting buff effects, and adding a small chance to receive a bonus Live Event Token each time you receive a Ri-Shin Token from Snowleaf.
  

• The basic effect of Sword items has been recalculated. Weapons that boosted "Sword Base Damage" now boost "Sword Damage" (to different amounts). This is a buff to high level sword damage.
  
• The basic effect of Dagger and Dirk items has been recalculated. Weapons that boosted "Knife Base Damage" now boost "Knife Damage" (to different amounts). This is a buff to high level knife damage, especially dual-wielding damage.
  
• Fixed brewing buffs that are supposed to buff damage versus a specific anatomy group (e.g. Bears). (Previously they did nothing.)
  
• Fixed brewing buffs that are supposed to buff Burst damage vs. Elites. (Previously they incorrectly boosted Melee damage.)
  
• Revised brewing buffs that were intended to buff Projectile damage vs. Elites; they now buff Ranged damage. (Previously they incorrectly boosted Melee damage.)
  
• Fixed ability "Toxic Irritant" not applying certain buffs/debuffs.
  
• Fixed minigolems' "Taunting Punch" not applying certain buffs/debuffs.
  
• Fixed pet rats' "Rat Burn" Special Trick not applying certain buffs/debuffs.
  
• Fixed the Problem Spider's curse.
  
• Fixed treasure effects that make Pixie Flare deal bonus damage vs. Demons.
  

• Items with only generic mods should extract properly now.
  
• Sunstone & Goshenite will now properly extract generic augments.
  
• Brought back the "Genes" window at stables.
  
• Stable pet previews should now always show.
  
• Persona window preview should now properly display at all times.
  
• Fae now float in the character select screen & persona window.
  
• Improved how effects line up with the attack animations.
  
• Polished & sped up hammer animations.
  
• Mushroom Box use level requirement changed from 0 to 1.
  
• Corrected tutorial text after researching your first fire magic spell. (The UI has changed since it was originally written.)
  
• Fixed typo in foods (mitigatation -> mitigation).
  
• Summon the correct skeleton with Free-Summon Skeletal Archer 6.
  
• Elite members of the "Evil Carnivore" gang (seen during a Povus invasion) now correctly have group loot instead of solo loot.
  

• Animal Handling: Fishing 42, Skinning 15, Feline Anatomy 19, Bear Anatomy 29, Animal Husbandry 25, Animal Husbandry 50, Animal Husbandry 75, Rodent Anatomy 19, Rodent Anatomy 39
  
• Archery: Meditation 25, Human Anatomy 19, Crossbow 25, Crossbow 50, Crossbow 75
  
• Armor Patching: Armorsmithing 15, Armorsmithing 45, Armorsmithing 70
  
• Bard: Art History 15, Art History 45, Poetry Appreciation 35
  
• Battle Chemistry: Mycology 30, Cooking 55, Iocaine Resistance 30
  
• Cow: Unarmed 27, Gardening 51, Gourmand 25, Foraging 26
  
• Crossbow: Fletching 21, Fletching 34, Fletching 53, Archery 32, Archery 58, Gadgeteering 15, Gadgeteering 45
  
• Deer: Unarmed 16, Psychology 17, Ruminant Anatomy 17, Cow 26
  
• Druid: Mycology 45, Rabbit 42, Pig 48, Nature Appreciation 38, Nature Appreciation 65
  
• Fairy Magic: Fae Anatomy 49
  
• Fire Magic: Battle Chemistry 20, Battle Chemistry 40, Armorsmithing 28
  
• First Aid: Priest 15, Priest 45, Compassion 15, Compassion 42, Phrenology 10, Druid 29
  
• Giant Bat: Animal Handling 46, Necromancy 55, Bard 40
  
• Ice Magic: Fire Magic 28, Fire Magic 39, Fire Magic 65, Armor Patching 55, Meditation 30, Battle Chemistry 30, Battle Chemistry 55
  
• Hammer: Unarmed 26, Mining 65
  
• Necromancy: Undead Anatomy 19, Undead Anatomy 49, Incorporeal Creature Anatomy 26, Spirit Fox 29, Paleontology 24, Paleontology 49
  
• Pig: Mycology 65
  
• Priest: First Aid 45, Pig 55
  
• Rabbit: Unarmed 10, Unarmed 38, Gardening 25, Gardening 53, Gourmand 30, Foraging 28, Deer 16, Animal Handling 28
  
• Shield: Armorsmithing 48
  
• Sigil Scripting: Calligraphy 10, Calligraphy 30, Calligraphy 45, Calligraphy 60, Battle Chemistry 11
  
• Spider: Psychology 19, Psychology 46, Arthropod Anatomy 13, Textiles 34
  
• Spirit Fox: Unarmed 49, Fishing 37, Gourmand 35, Psychology 51, Myconic 40, Foraging 47, Mentalism 30, Canine Anatomy 23, Fae Anatomy 29, Incorporeal Creature Anatomy 49
  
• Staff: Sword 42
  
• Unarmed: Staff 60
  
• Werewolf: Skinning 35, Canine Anatomy 19, Canine Anatomy 47, Butchering 34, Giant Bat 25, Animal Handling 60
  

Merry Christmas, and we'll be back with more updates soon!

It's time for Alharth's holiday season! All the townsfolk that you've befriended (meaning you have Friends favor-level or higher) will have gifts for you when you speak to them. Make sure to have your favorite combat skills active, because if they give you equipment, it will likely be tailored to those skills.

The human celebration of Ri-Shin is also in full force, and townsfolk in every town and settlement [except Povus] need your help setting up their Ri-Shin trees! Look for townsfolk wearing a red festive Ri-Shin hat. There are trees to set up in Serbule, Serbule Hills, Eltibule, Kur, Gazluk, Ilmari, Rahu, the Fae Realm, Sun Vale, and Red Wing Casino.

We've actually been working on a different Christmas present for our long-term players, a new level 85 group dungeon, but it's not quite ready yet! We'll do another update next week to introduce the new dungeon. In the mean time, if you have a high-level character, you may want to make sure you are Friends with Mope in Povus.

(Oh, and Povus doesn't have a Ri-Shin tree yet, but will get one in next week's update!)


As a small thanks for joining us this holiday season, there are new redemptions available - one for everyone (except demo players), and an extra one for our VIP members. You can access these through the button on the bottom right of the Persona window, or if you're old-school by typing /redeem in chat. Remember, these rewards are one per account, so make sure you choose which character gets it wisely!

• There is a new vendor filter: "Hide Known Recipes".
  
• You now auto-select the number box when splitting a stack, to allow quicker precise splits.
  
• Tooltips for the sidebar buttons (like the Inventory button) will now show the keyboard shortcut for that button (if any is assigned).
  
• You can more easily clear out social statuses ("Who's Online" status and "Friends" quote).
  
• Fixed bug where cancelling a confirmation window would accidentally confirm it instead. This could happen if, for instance, you quickly clicked "Erase This Loadout" twice in a row and then chose to cancel.
  
• The first time you open the recipe window from a world object (like a fire) in a play session, it will now start recipes at the top of the window instead of in the middle.
  

• Skeletons can now perform emotes and sit in chairs!
  
• Accounted for latency when performing attacks, so they should now line up better with animations on clients.
  
• Polished animations such as First Aid, Armor Patch, Dig Deep, & Push Onward.
  
• Sped up a few animations used by buffing abilities and made them able to be used while moving.
  
• Made pickup & eat corpse animations more responsive. (You can move more quickly after performing the animation.)
  
• Sped up dig animation, and use it when burying a corpse.
  
• Players are now placed into beds more appropriately.
  

• Bulwark Mode must now be kept on a hotbar in order to be sustained.
  
• You can no longer earn combat XP for "fake" auxiliary skills (like performing a song right before murdering a monster to get Stringed Performance XP from the kill). This was considered an exploit and is not the normal way to earn XP for these skills.
  
• Cheese casks & brewing barrels should no longer get stuck in walls.
  
• We now properly change your active skill on your first polymorph. For example, the first time Ciervos turns you into a Deer you will reliably activate the deer skill.
  
• Dead humanoids no longer have collisions (after being un-targeted).
  
• Removed duplicate descriptions from food items.
  
• Fixed description of cranberry sauces in their recipes. (Snacks -> Meals)
  
• Fixed Spicy Fried Tofu Cubes recipe typo. (Feeds two -> Feeds three)
  
• Made bed on Ivyn's farm (in Serbule) more easily usable.
  
• Renamed Cat Anatomy Decoction to Feline Anatomy Decoction.
  
• Ability "Spade Assault" now gains damage bonuses from gear that boosts Kick or Front Kick damage
  
• Higher tiers of "Spade Assault" have a higher chance of the shovel breaking (going from 5% to 7%)
  
• If you are Comfortable or better with Mope, you can stand at the base of the giant mushroom and say "Mope, Up!" in local chat. If you then stand still (and out of combat) for a few seconds, Mope will teleport you to him. (This is something he now tells you when you reach Comfortable favor-level, but if you've already reached Comfortable before today... well, it's a good thing you read the patch notes.)
  
• Adjusted the buffs from the Ri-Shin pool in Kur so that they last 90 minutes instead of 60, but can only be received once per day. Hopefully this makes them more useful without being too overpowered.
  

We'll be back with another update soon!