OrbusVR News

With the Battlegrounds + Anniversary patch out last week, we’ve officially turned our focus to the rest of the year, which means it’s time for a roadmap!

The Dev team has spent a lot of time balancing ideas and resources and figuring out what we can do to continue the tradition of the game while also improving upon it. This year the community will have the opportunity to explore exciting new worlds as we finally go to the Chaos realm with two new dungeons. We'll bring some much needed guidance to new players with a revamped tutorial. And we'll expand and add more content to many of the game's core mechanics, including dragon racing and breeding, critter capture, tinkering and more. We'll devote plenty of time to finding fixes for issues such as stuck combat and invisibility bugs, while also implementing some requested quality of life improvements, including an update to the Transmog wardrobe and some inventory management improvements later in the year.

That said, here's a look at what you can expect in the first half of 2022!



[h2]Player House Renovations[/h2]

Since Highsteppe got a major update last year, it seems only fitting that the Player House should get some love, too. We’ll be overhauling not only the general aesthetics of the Player House but its overall layout as well, with every single room receiving attention.

This will tie in with some plans for later in the year to upgrade the furniture system, allowing you to use items such as pets as furniture (and also creating additional storage opportunities for those items).

[h2]Tutorial[/h2]

We know that Orbus is a challenging game for beginners and that the steep learning curve often prohibits some players from joining the community and fully enjoying the game. To ease new players’ transition into the game, we're going to spend a little time in Q1 revamping the tutorial. It’s been a wish-list item for the Dev team for awhile now, and we’re excited to finally be working on this project for the next generation of Orbus players.

[h2]Quests[/h2]

Each quarter we’ll be releasing a bank of new questlines. Some will be focused on building out the overworld, some a continuation of the MSQ or the mission vendor lore quests. Either way, you should have some new content to peruse (and a few new characters to meet) each couple months.

And speaking of quests, Spring Fest will also be returning late February, so if you’ve got the winter blues and are ready for a brighter landscape, just hold tight. The Skogtrolls are coming.



[h2]Chaos Dungeon[/h2]

We'll be putting out two new dungeons in 2022, one for each half of the year, but both will take place in (are you ready for it?) the Chaos realm!



Hop through an interdimensional portal to Taella Bruha. Take in the sights. Fight some weird monsters. And don’t forget to duck the tentacle arms that appear to be growing out of the earth.



The first dungeon will release in mid-Q2. Trash mobs will feature all-new chaos enemies, and we'll have two trippy dungeon bosses for your group to take down. After talking about the Chaos realm for so long, we're excited to finally take the community there.

[h2]Tavern Games[/h2]

In an effort to lure in more business (and keeps its customers there longer), the Highsteppe tavern will be introducing a new fun activity for tavern-goers to enjoy. The idea is to provide you and your party with something to while away the time between dungeon runs or raid attempts. While we haven't ironed out the details just yet, expect something in the vein of axe or knife throwing.

[h2]New Tinkering Items[/h2]

Late spring/early summer we'll be putting out a handful of new one-time use, limited-duration tinkering items. Currently we are looking at adding:

- Mobile-repair NPC: Fix your gear from anywhere in the overworld, no apprentice smith needed.
- Teleport Cheat Sheet: Can't remember the spells for the teleport pillars in each zone? With this handy little billboard, you won't have to.
- Campfire: Throw down a campfire for you and your friends to sit around in the overworld.

We'll also be adding a few new pieces of tinkering furniture at the same time, providing additional decorating opportunities for your newly revamped Player House.

[h2]New Missions and Quests[/h2]

We'll also have more new quests in Q2, along with Summer Fest returning in late May. In addition to quests, we will also be adding a few new dragon races and critters for capture, as well as updating the weekly missions for various mission vendors.

Among all of these new features and content, we are also planning on devoting time to working on bug fixes. We'll put out more blog posts as we get closer to individual patches with more info on each one of these new features. We are excited for another year of Orbus!

Next Tuesday (January 18th), we will be releasing a new Battlegrounds map. The patch will also include the Four-Year Anniversary Scavenger Hunt.

[h2]Temple of Ma’at Battlegrounds[/h2]


The old Battlegrounds has served us well over the last two and a half years, but we thought it was time for a change. Introducing our new battleground: the Temple of Ma’at. The goddess of peace and creativity, Ma’at’s desire for order and prosperity stands in contrast to her Gods of Chaos siblings. Her temple, along with its well-manicured grounds, reflect that desire for order. So it seems only right that we introduce a little chaos into it.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

• The new Battlegrounds can still be accessed through the Player Menu (Social - Activities - Battlegrounds). The old Battlegrounds will no longer be accessible after the patch.
  
• Team colors are now Blue and Gold. A color-coded mini flag will appear underneath your status bar up top so you can easily identify which team you are on.
  
• Flags will start out a neutral color but once captured will change to match the color of the capturing team.
  
• Each flag will also have a beam of light above it in the sky (similar to the public event beacons). Uncaptured flags will display a white beam. Once captured, the beam will change to match the color of the capturing team.
  
• To spice up the current dynamics, we are also introducing a few elite enemies to the Battlegrounds. These enemies will drop aged invisibility potions, which will have a short duration and can only be used within that Battlegrounds instance. (You will not find them in your inventory upon leaving the Battlegrounds, and they won’t show back up next time you re-enter the Battlegrounds.)
  
• The temple grounds will be color-coded as well. For example, the Sapphire Dome Flag hall will have blue floors, the Violet Dome Flag hall will have purple floors, etc.
  

To celebrate the release of our new Battlegrounds map, we’ll be holding a Battlegrounds with the Dev team event on Thursday, January 19th from 4 to 5 PM CST. To join the event, simply log in and queue up for the battlegrounds from your Player Menu.

[h2]Four-Year Anniversary Scavenger Hunt[/h2]

The next patch will also include our Four-Year Anniversary Scavenger Hunt.

• Pick up the first quest from the Anniversary NPC near the community billboard outside the Player House.
  
• Complete the scavenger hunt to earn a Penguin Transmog set.
  
• All players who log in during the Anniversary Event will receive a four-year anniversary cape and cake (Player House decor), which can be picked up from the Rewards NPC near the Critter Capture shop.
  

We'll have more info on the anniversary in a look-back post next week!

With tomorrow's patch, get ready to tackle a fourth world boss, embark on some new long-term missions, and celebrate the Winter Festival of Strangers.

[h2]New World Boss: the Rock Giant[/h2]

Just when it seems the balance of power might be shifting in favor of Patreayl’s heroes, a new enemy emerges. Travelers from the far corners of the country have returned with tales of a massive, violent rock golem with the power to summon burning boulders from the sky (or so some claim). Is it an ancient guardian? Continued corruption of nature from Chaos radiation? It’s too soon to know many details -- but not too soon for the heroes of Patreayl to step up and take it down…if they can.



With this patch we are pleased to introduce a fourth world boss: the Rock Giant. Discovery is half the fun, so we won’t tell you where to find it or how to enrage it, but we can tell you that the Rock Giant utilizes a variety of different techniques, including some from the old Esasa world boss in original Orbus.

As with the other world bosses, players who defeat the Rock Giant will have a chance at a cape, a “windup” miniature rock monster pet, and a new ring. This new ring, dubbed “The One,” has the ability to combine the powers of ALL the other world boss rings, as well as a luck ring.

To celebrate the introduction of the Rock Giant, we’ll be hosting a world boss event on Thursday, December 16th at 6 p.m. CST. Interested parties can meet in Fellowship Court at the appointed time (or go directly to the world boss location for those who have already figured out its whereabouts in the overworld).

[h2]New Long-Term Missions[/h2]

With this patch we are also adding four new long-term missions. The objectives of the new missions are to:

* Kill all world boss
* Kill all dungeon bosses
* Catch legendary fish
* Complete public events in Flooded Rainforest, Hulthine’s Basin and the Wastelands

Each mission has its own unique reward. Catch enough legendary fish and you'll earn an aquarium for your Player House. The aquarium even hosts a couple of magical fish, which you can watch swim around from the comfort of your new throne, the reward for completing the dungeon boss mission. Show off your accolades outside your Player House by completing the public events and world boss missions to earn an Airship Mount and Royalty Spaulders, respectively.


Top: Aquarium; Bottom: Airship Mount, Royal Throne, Royalty Spaulders

To pick up one of the new missions, visit the LTM NPC on the top floor of the tavern in Highsteppe City.

[h2]Winter Festival of Strangers[/h2]

And finally, the Winter Festival of Strangers is officially back with this patch! To pick up all the relevant mission and quests, visit:

* Festival NPC (outside the gates of Highsteppe) for the main “Strangers” questline
* Festival Farmer (outside Critter Capture shop) for the Floating Lights scavenger hunt
* Pierre Cenn (inside the Critter Capture shop) for the Snowman Critter Capture mission



The Snowman transmog set will be back again this year, available through the main Strangers questline, along with a toboggan mount and a celestial-looking winter cape. For completing the Critter Capture mission, you’ll also earn a new Snowman pet, this year themed to look like a mechanical gingerbread man.

In today's update, you'll begin the hunt for the new Legendary Shard Cosmetics, and discover new details of Patreayl with the three new quest chains found throughout the world!

[h2]Legendary Shard Cosmetics[/h2]

There will be five new legendary cosmetics available in this patch: a Squirrel Tail, Dragonfly Wings, Demon Horns, and new cat and raven pets.



These drops will be available only from enemies in shard dungeons and use the same system and rarity as the current overworld-only drops.

[h2]Overworld Structures and Questlines[/h2]

This patch also includes the new questlines teased in our previous blog post. There will be three new structures in the overworld in the Lamavora, Hulthine’s Basin, and Flooded Rainforest zones, each with new NPCs that will give out quests following a short line.

In the Flooded Rainforest, the Weird Sisters’ hut can be found near the Wagon Graveyard teleport pillar.



In Hulthine’s Basin, the new lighthouse can be found on a small island between the Bear’s Hollow and Flying High teleport pillars. This structure involves some extra work to get to (look for the “Climb Down” button at the edge of the cliff) and is also our first introduction of climbing into an overworld zone.

In Lamavora, the new Salvage Yard can be found down the hill from the Knight’s Fort teleport pillar.

We hope you enjoy the new questlines as much as we enjoyed putting them together!

On Tuesday, November 16th, we'll be releasing a patch with two major updates: new legendary shard cosmetics, which we'll cover in more detail closer to the patch, and several new overworld questlines.

The new questlines will correspond to new structures in three of the overworld zones. For more information on these, we turn to the pages of the Highsteppe Enquirer for on-the-ground coverage.

HIGHSTEPPE, PATREAYL - The big scoop in Patreayl this week is the opening of the new lighthouse in Hulthine’s Basin. The sailing community has been clamoring for this necessity for some time, and with trade flourishing at the docks (and invested parties growing richer by the day), it was only a matter of time before the port authorities conceded.

Hulthine's Basin lighthouse, in progress

No expense was spared in construction of the lighthouse - except perhaps for its staffing. While the position of lighthouse keeper was no doubt highly coveted, there has been much controversy over the appointment of Arlo Bateau, son of famed ship captain Arto Bateau. More qualified candidates were certainly passed over, and rumor is the younger Bateau left his previous position under shameful circumstances, though no source could positively identify what those were exactly. Whether he is up to the task of managing the lighthouse is yet to be seen - although any failure is certain to be seen as the beacon is highly visible and will be used by many.

The Hulthine's Basin lighthouse isn't the only new piece of construction out there though. Travelers through Lamavora may be pleased to find a new shop awaiting them in the former battlefields: the Lamavora Salvage Yards. (This is a separate enterprise from the Salvaging shop in Highsteppe, run by the mysterious girl child Whisper. And I know what you are thinking, dear reader, but yes, our great nation is still so covered in junk that we can now host two separate salvaging operations.)



Run by self-proclaimed enterpreneur and inventor Yorick Gundrun, the salvage yard will deal mainly in scrap armor, spare airship parts, and reclaimed building materials, though Yorick hopes to eventually pedal some of his inventions as well.

Yorick is perhaps best known for his invention of the Essence Grinder, though residents of Highsteppe may be familiar with some of his other work, including the ill-fated Feline Confinement Cube, which was designed to roundup stray cats in town but instead trapped several children for the better part of a week, as well as the Self-Operating Scythe, a farming device that has claimed the fingers of six novice farmers to date.

“That was a one-off incident,” said Gundrun. “Ok, two incidents. You’re not going to include that in the story are you? Nothing like that has ever happened with any of my other inventions. Well, at least my off-market kind, designed for scientific uses. Just ask the Travelling Companions of Science how useful my work is!”

A representative for the Travelling Companions of Science was not available for comment at this time.

And in other news, rumors of two old, ugly women touring the country have been bantered about between patrons of the Highsteppe Tavern. While strange creatures are a dram-a-dozen in these parts, these two unsightly hags drew extra attention from travelers due to their strange behavior at common landmarks and the appearance of unusual magick.

“It was real strange,” said Martel Drumand. “I was passing by the arch on my way back from hunting stag, and I saw them doing some kind of heathenistic dance around it. Bunch of weirdos.”



Whether the rumors are true that they have set up keep in the Flooded Rainforest and are now luring strangers to their home to participate in blood sacrifices has yet to be confirmed by this reporter.

But speaking of dram-a-dozen strange creatures, several sources have reported a new girl in town. What is her business in Highsteppe? Why does she only keep to the back alley behind Pierre Cenn's shop? And why are her eyes such a creepy shade of red? Those with information are encouraged to bring it to the offices of the Highsteppe Enquirer.