VALHALL: Harbinger News

[p]Hey![/p][p][/p][p]We've just pushed a small hotfix to address a critical crash.[/p][p][/p][p]While we were at it, we also included a few smaller fixes from our upcoming patch.[/p][p][/p][p]Please note: This is not the full content update planned for December 8th. The new workstations and other features are still on track to arrive on that date.[/p][p][/p][p]Thanks for your bug reports and continued support![/p][p][/p][p]Skål![/p][p]Blackrose Arts[/p]

[h2]Greetings, Vikings![/h2][p][/p][h3]This patch arrives Monday, December 8th.[/h3][p][/p][p]We know the game needs deeper progression, it's coming, and this update is a step in that direction. We are laying a new foundation for the crafting system with specialized workstations, completely reworking durability to make your gear feel more permanent and meaningful, and adding several requested quality-of-life features.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Here's what it will bring:[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]The New Workshop System[/h2][p][/p][p]The Workbench is now the heart of your production. It’s a new station used exclusively for crafting your weapons, tools, etc. (Building is still done freely with your Hammer, anywhere you like. The Workbench is not required for that).[/p][p][/p][p]To unlock more advanced items, you'll need to build specialized stations around your Workbench. Placing an Anvil or a Forge Hearth nearby will automatically unlock recipe tiers in the Workbench menu, rewarding you for expanding your workshop.[/p][p][/p][p]You'll find that all current recipes are now part of this new system, creating a more logical crafting path.[/p][p][/p][p]Here are the new stations you can now build to expand your crafting capabilities:[/p][p][/p][p]Workbench[/p][p]The main hub for all your gear crafting.[/p][p][/p][p]Sawhorse[/p][p]The first upgrade for your workshop. Unlocks better wooden gear like reinforced bows and shields.[/p][p][/p][p]Forge Hearth[/p][p]Your entry into metallurgy. Allows you to work with early metals to craft basic tools and components.[/p][p][/p][p]Anvil[/p][p]The heart of any true smithy. Required to forge the full range of iron weapons and tools.[/p][p][/p][p]Grindstone[/p][p]The master craftsman's tool. Required to forge the sharpest weapons.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Weapon Repair & Durability Overhaul[/h2][p][/p][p]We’ve completely overhauled how durability works. Your crafted gear will no longer break and disappear when its durability reaches zero.[/p][p][/p][p]Instead, a broken item becomes unusable and must be repaired using resources. This change makes your hard-earned equipment feel more permanent while adding a new layer of resource management to your preparations.[/p][p][/p][p]Visit a Workbench to see what it costs to restore your gear and get it back in the fight.[/p][p][/p][p]As part of this change, enemies will drop weapon in a heavily damaged state, with very little durability left.[/p][p][/p][p]Crucially, these looted weapons cannot be repaired. Think of them as a temporary battlefield pickup. This change makes your own crafted and maintained weapons far more valuable.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Runestone Grave Marker[/h2][p][/p][p][/p][p]Dying in the world will now leave behind a runestone grave marker when the dead body disappears.[/p][p][/p][p]This marker securely holds all items from your inventory. The location of your grave is marked on compass. Simply interact with it to retrieve your gear.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Arena Matches[/h2][p][/p][p]The Arena has been updated and become more flexible. You can now start your own sessions, also allowing to challenge a friend to a 1v1.[/p][p]
[/p][h2]"Unstuck" Feature Improved[/h2][p][/p][p]In those critical situations where it can't find a safe spot to place you nearby, it will now send you to your respawn point instead of leaving you trapped. This ensures you always have a way out.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Two-Handed Axe Temporarily Shelved[/h2][p][/p][p]Yeah, we know. We've had to pull the Two-Handed Axe for a bit.[/p][p][/p][p]We've fixed the crashes it was causing, but its physics still go wild. It'll be back as soon as we've chained it back down to reality, likely in the next 1-2 patches.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Quality of Life & Balancing[/h2][p][/p][p]The welcome notification will now only be shown the first time you launch the game or when there is an in-game update showcase.[/p][p][/p][p]The Disarm/Sheathe weapon key is now rebindable in the control settings.[/p][p][/p][p]Bears are now less likely to attack from a distance, but they are significantly more dangerous up close. Tread carefully.[/p][p][/p][p]Boars are now a bit easier to take down. Slightly reduced thier amount. Early game hunting should feel smoother now.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Thank you for your incredible feedback and support![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Skål![/p][p]Blackrose Arts[/p]

[h2]Greetings, Vikings![/h2][p][/p][p]Our next patch arrives on Saturday, November 8th. It will bring an overhaul to our AI logic systems, resulting in performance gains and allowing us to enrich the world with more life. We've also addressed highly-requested Co-op features, quality-of-life improvements, and bug fixes.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Here's what it will bring:[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Bot Logic Optimization[/h2][p][/p][p]We have overhauled our AI logic, specifically how the game handles characters and creatures at a distance, including in Co-op. This change reduces the performance cost of each individual bot.[/p][p][/p][p]Bots and animals that are far away from the player now use a fraction of the resources they did before.[/p][p][/p][p]The performance impact of dead bodies has also been reduced.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]More Populated World[/h2][p][/p][p]Thanks to the AI system upgrade, we've been able to make the world feel more alive. The number of animal spawners across the map has been substantially increased.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Boars[/h2][p][/p][p]The forests are now home to a new animal. Keep an eye out for aggressive wild boars (small). Watch your step, and happy hunting![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Co-op Session Improvements[/h2][p][/p][p]You can now add a password to your Co-op sessions.[/p][p][/p][p]A Friends Only option has been added.[/p][p][/p][p]Structures in Co-op no longer have automatic ownership. This means your friends can open doors, use your chests, and help you deconstruct. To protect your belongings from being altered by others, you must place a Banner in the area.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Other Survival & Quality of Life Improvements[/h2][p][/p][p]Fixed a critical issue that caused the player character's physics to break and become distorted after switching weapons. Note: We are aware of other issues with character physics and are planning further improvements for future updates.[/p][p][/p][p]The resource cost for building defensive structures has been slightly reduced again.[/p][p][/p][p]Adjusted the world events system to prevent events from repeating in a row (with the exception of the Frost event in Co-op).[/p][p][/p][p]Added a preparation countdown timer before the Challenge starts.[/p][p][/p][p]Regular wolves will no longer appear during the Frost Challenge. They have been replaced by a greater number of big snow wolves.[/p][p][/p][p]Increased the amount of pickable Stone to make it easier to find.[/p][p][/p][p]Implemented a more robust fix to prevent trees from respawning through player-built structures addressing issues from a previous patch.[/p][p][/p][p]Slightly increased the overall respawn time for trees.[/p][p][/p][p]A V-Sync option has been added to the graphics settings menu.[/p][p][/p][p]Fixed multiple collision and snapping issues where walls, ceilings, and other building pieces would not align correctly.[/p][p][/p][p]Fixed numerous terrain collision issues on islands that could cause players to get stuck.[/p][p][/p][p]Fixed trees that were incorrectly spawning inside lakes and other bodies of water.[/p][p][/p][p]Fixed a bug that caused the player to become permanently stuck if the ship they were controlling was destroyed.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Thank you for your feedback and support![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Skål![/p][p]Blackrose Arts[/p]

[p]Hey![/p][p][/p][p]We’ve just pushed a hotfix to the last patch to address several critical issues with the Frost Challenge ❄️[/p][p][/p][p]Fixes & Improvements:[/p]

• [p]Fixed visual bugs where dynamic fog was appearing instantly and then disappeared, and the snow effect on trees and grass was out of sync.[/p]
• [p]Fixed spatial audio for blizzard, you will now correctly hear muffled wind sounds when inside a building.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where cold wasn’t changing or causing damage in some cases, breaking the core of the Challenge.[/p]
• [p]Fixed snow wolves disappearing unexpectedly.[/p]
• [p]Made more plants disappear during the Frost.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a rare crash that could occur during travel.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where arrows hitting ships would stop them from sailing.[/p]
• [p]Fixed Glory Points not updating in the tab without restarting the session.[/p]
• [p]Snow will now properly extinguish campfires that aren’t covered.[/p]
• [p]Added clearer notifications and countdowns to signal the arrival of the Frost Challenge and how long you have left to endure it.[/p]

[p][/p][p]Sorry if these issues affected your first experience with the Frost Challenge![/p][p][/p][p]If the cold feels too punishing and you’re freezing faster than expected, let us know. Though remember, the goal is to endure it.[/p][p][/p][p]Note: Challenges currently occur once every 30–50 minutes.[/p][p][/p][p]Skål![/p][p]Blackrose Arts[/p]

[h2]Vikings![/h2][p][/p][p]Most of you haven’t had the chance to experience winter in the game, as it previously required too much playtime to trigger and was set to occur infrequently due to earlier issues. But now, you’ll definitely get to see it, as its upgraded version is part of the new Challenge in the Dynamic world event system we’re building.[/p][p][/p][p]This is the first Challenge event to take place globally across the realm and is available in Co-op too (not only in Singleplayer).[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]This patch arrives next Wednesday (October 8th)[/h3][p][/p][p]Here's what it will bring:[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]The Harsh Winter Challenge[/h2][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]It is a Challenge. You need to survive by overcoming the harsh winter until the very end to successfully accomplish it.[/p][p][/p][p]If you fail and die, you’ll simply respawn at your bed, but you won’t receive the reward.[/p][p][/p][p]As with all recurring Challenges, you will hear a horn that shakes the ground announcing its beginning and gives you some time to prepare. Then, the whole world will be covered by frost.[/p][p][/p][p]The winter during the Challenge is an intense blizzard. It is bitterly cold outside, and you must stay warm to survive.[/p][p][/p][p]Natural resources such as raspberries, flax, and mushrooms will disappear, so make sure to prepare food in advance. Regular animals like bears and deer will also vanish.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]However, formidable snow wolves will appear. They are more dangerous than their usual counterparts. During the Challenge, you can hunt them for rewards, both Glory and unique loot that only they possess.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]And finally... beware a terrifying new encounter you may trigger on your voyage home.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Co-op Host Performance Boost[/h2][p][/p][p]If you are hosting a Co-op session, you will notice a performance boost (up to 20% increase in frame rate).[/p][p][/p][p]In some cases, Co-op clients will also get a smoother experience.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Co-op Client Steering[/h2][p][/p][p][/p][p]Friends playing as clients in Co-op can now have and steer their own ships alongside yours (the host).[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Diverse Survival Improvements[/h2][p][/p][p]Increased the durability of walls and fences so bots can’t reach your chests too quickly.[/p][p][/p][p]Increased pickaxe durability.[/p][p][/p][p]Arrows can now be crafted in stacks of 5.[/p][p][/p][p]Made fighting wolves easier and improved auto-targeting when enabled.[/p][p][/p][p]Improved wolf sounds to make them less annoying.[/p][p][/p][p]Fixed a bug where the torch could get stuck and prevent weapon switching.[/p][p][/p][p]Temporarily disabled climbing for rework to prevent bugs (was rarely useful, but will become cool later).[/p][p][/p][p]Reduced the price traders pay for stones.[/p][p][/p][p]Fixed incorrect sound effects for Thor’s hammer.[/p][p][/p][p]Fixed remaining issues with collateral building destruction.[/p][p][/p][p]Adjusted several map areas to prevent players from getting stuck.[/p][p][/p][p]Fixed rain and snow not aligning with wind direction and foliage.[/p][p][/p][p]Adjusted a few problematic dual-wield attack animations.[/p][p][/p][p]Fixed an issue where animals would sometimes stop aiming and slide during attacks, breaking combat.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Thank you guys for your feedback and support![/p][p][/p][p]Skål![/p][p]Blackrose Arts[/p]