Tuesday, October 30, 2007

HGL 003: Shacknews Interview with Roper

Source: http://www.shacknews.com/featuredarticle.x?id=649

So, a summary for those people who can't read the article:

- December is when they're targetting Patch 1 for

- Patch 1 is around 300mb as opposed to Patch 0 which is about 30mb

- Patch 1 will have a new hub: Stone Henge.

- Stone Henge will serve as the launching point for the new areas in post-release content

- "new monsters, items, quests, and even potentially new classes; the latter has been promised to come to subscribers in content patches, though it is not clear if Patch 1 will include new classes"

- Flagship is already hiring new staff, and have used the Guy Fawkes content to figure out how long it takes them to produce content

- They're planning on having major patches every quarter, in addition to their smaller stuff like Halloween

- Auction houses and mail are a high priority and won't wait until a quarterly patch

- As we've seen they've changed how the environments work to make them less repetitive and more in line with the division of the acts

- They're trying to fix the weapon rating thing, but it's really complex to try and find a way that accurately represents all the relevant data about a weapon

- "If someone comes up with a better way to do it, we'll look at it." in reference to game mechanics

- "Even as the game goes on after months and years, we want to make sure the free players don't get forgotten but on the flip side, we want the subscribers to feel like they have a reason to be paying, getting the cool new areas and monsters and everything."

- "both tiers of users will be getting broader game-wide features such as PvP duel and free-for-all combat, guild support, auction houses, and mail"

- "These achievement points will eventually be able to be spent on special rewards; Flagship is toying with the idea of having two tiers of available rewards, one for subscribers and one for non-subscribers."

- "I think we would consider a retail expansion," Roper said. "I think it would be geared towards some kind of entirely new experience, some completely new story or something. We might look into other new locations."

- "Still, Roper clarified that one reason Diablo II had a traditional expansion was simply because there was no real mechanism to update the game and add originally planned features--indeed, longtime fans may remember that guild support, promised before the game was released, never even made it into the expansion. Hellgate's capability to be updated extends patch content, and will be used for regular class and weapon balance post-release."

- "A fairly simply repeatable "trick or treat" quest will grant players randomly selected treat items."

- "Others are entirely visual: ghost candy gives players the translucent glowing effect seen when retrieving your corpse, and dragon's breath candy douses your character in flame."

- "The best part: Zombot features a Thriller-like dance animation."

- On November 5, in recognition of the foiling of Guy Fawkes and the other members of the 17th-century Gunpowder Plot that attempted to blow up England's Houses of Parliament and assassinate King James, Flagship will be launching a week of Fawkes-themed content.

For the duration of the celebration, players will have a chance to acquire Fawkes' Flame Guards, a set of rare flaming gloves. The Fawkes property, which gives weapons or armor an increased chance to ignite and which adds a visible smoldering effect to the equipment, also has a chance of spawning on drops. When entering non-hub areas, there is a chance that levels will spawn as "bonfire" versions of themselves, featuring fiery skies and higher chances to spawn Fawkes-related items.

Flagship has created some 30 to 40 in-game recipes for a number of candies traditionally eaten on Guy Fawkes Night (some call it "Guy Fox Day," apparently), including bonfire toffee and toffee apples. They seem to be more varied and useful than the Halloween candies, with a tiering system that sees some rarer recipes combining multiple common recipes to create particularly powerful consumables. One of the more easily-obtainable recipes produces grenades; Roper explained that the team wanted to give non-Marksmen the opportunity to hurl grenades from time to time.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

HGL 002: Special Effect attack chances

Source: http://forums.hellgatelondon.com/showthread.php?p=190860#post190860

Peter Hu's explained the way the chance to land a special status effect works below. Note that LCS apparently stands for Lying Character Sheet.

the sfx defense is applied to the chance you have of being affected by a sfx attack. it's compared to the attacker's sfx attack rating, which draws from their level (for monsters), monster type, weapon, magic properties, and their skills.

the formula used is: chance = sfx_attack / (sfx_attack + sfx_defense).

this is further modified by various weapon properties, such as weapon speed (a fast-attacking or area weapon has its chance reduced per hit, for example).

we are evaluating whether or not the amount of damage done vs. the amount of damage mitigated (by shields/armor/etc.) should factor into this calculation.

on the to-do list is to add a more informative display to the sfx_defense field on your character sheet (possibly showing something along the lines of the actual % chance vs. the last attack that hit you or the average monster of that level or some such ).

also, the LCS will eventually show you your sfx_attack ratings with similar information.

Mythos 036: First level 50 character after Zone 2

Source: http://ww2.mythos.com/mythostavern/showthread.php?p=41855#post41855

Hobbit has managed to hit level 50 in about a week after the release of the Zone 2 patch. Here's the proof:

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

HGL 001: Max Schaefer on the payment system/ads

Source: http://ww2.mythos.com/mythostavern/showthread.php?p=41741#post41741

Max steps in to explain how Flagship sees what they are providing with Hellgate: London's free/pay play models.

Hellgate: London's payment method is much misunderstood. Here's how it really works: People liked the D2 model where you get a box and play online for free. So we made it like that. People also want content added over time, like in WoW, so there isn't a static world. For people who want that, there is a very fair subscription fee, and we have a large team dedicated to making that content (no we haven't already made it, we've spent the last four years making what's in the box). It's that simple. We packed a box with a heck of a lot of gameplay, and gave it a free, secure online model. As long as there is a Hellgate, you don't have to pay a dime more than the box cost. Like GW. And ther's a subscription for those that want additional content over time.

The ads issue is also kinda overblown. Have you played HG:L in beta or demo? That's it. That's what the ads look like. We wanted to add realism by having actual realistic posters and ads on the walls. You can't make London without it. So our choice was to make up fake companies, which can look cheesy and contrived, or contract with an add provider to stream in real ones. They will be weathered and torn just like they are in game now. We don't expect to make much money from it, and honestly it all came from the background department's request to have realistic posters and things so it would look like London. Check it out - look at screenshots or whatever. Judge for yourself!

You can't please everyone, but we're trying to do all the cool things that are possible with our business models and our continued development.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Mythos 035: New classes

Source: http://ww2.mythos.com/mythostavern/showthread.php?p=41119#post41119

What we REALLY want to do is have more classes, rather than even more differentiation in the ones we have -

So if we do other elemental classes, we want to do each element fully, sort of thing - a Frost Mage, or what have you.

Mythos 034: Mythos Roadmap

Source: http://ww2.mythos.com/mythostavern/showthread.php?p=40977#post40977

This is a big one! Travis lists out the priorities they have for ongoing development of Mythos.


a) More content ( new zones, more bosses, more unique quests, more uniques, more items, more interesting stuff to do ) - we aren't even close really to what we'd consider a 'critical mass' of content. I don't think we'll have that until we have at LEAST 4 completed zones - and Zone 2 isn't really complete yet.

b) PVP - dueling, as well as various group PVP modes

c) An Achievement system for getting various bonuses or benefits for completing special far-reaching goals

d) Crafting, for a sideline to advance

e) More races and classes, so that after we have all this content, you'll be able to play through it again for a decent period of time and have a pretty different experience.

f) An Auction house, so that crafting is worth doing

g) Guilds, and guild rankings

h) Hardcore mode, as well as an Elite difficulty option

That's where we're heading right now anyway, so we're hard at work on Zone 2 love, Zone 3, PVP, and crafting at present. We'll squeeze anything that we can into the next big drop. Hopefully it will be as significant to you as this patch was to the previous beta.

Mythos 033: Future Hireling Changes

Source: http://ww2.mythos.com/mythostavern/showthread.php?p=40967#post40967

I really want a more interesting pet/hireling system overall, more like what we had in Fate - not only equippable slots, but variable inventories so that you can use pets/hirelings as packmules that can go sell your stuff - and that different inventory sizes, skills, and equipment slots and attack bonuses makes for some interesting and fun choices in what you choose to be your hireling/pet.

Mythos 032: Tier-Unlock Skill Bar Possibilities

Source: http://ww2.mythos.com/mythostavern/showthread.php?p=40963#post40963

Yeah, we've been talking about having passive bonuses for investment in the Skill Bar, ala Titan Quest for exactly this reason. I think we'll probably do it. We just need to hammer out exactly what they are and do a lot of balance checking - enough so it's meaningful, but not so much that it's ridiculous.

And we need to decide whether it'll be custom per-class, or just a general bonus that everybody gets - either way, if it affects stats to any appreciable degree, we just need to be careful what we pick to do.

Mythos 031: Shields

Source: http://ww2.mythos.com/mythostavern/showthread.php?p=40570#post40570
Source: http://ww2.mythos.com/mythostavern/showthread.php?p=40957#post40957

Travis confirms what was touched on before in regards to how defense rating and then shields work:

The primary benefit of a shield is the %chance to block - but the chance of it might not be high enough, perhaps ( later shields have a much better chance )

Basically, if a monster actually gets past your defense ( attack roll vs defense rating ) THEN it rolls against your shield's %chance to block. If you're successful, all damage is mitigated -


He then follows up with a post noting that shields can block spells and AoE as well, with a ceiling of 95%, just so you can't be a 1-HP invincible machine of destruction.

Mythos 030: Development of Zone 3

Source: http://ww2.mythos.com/mythostavern/showthread.php?p=40553#post40553

Travis has expanded on what Marsh said earlier regarding how the next few months are going to go leading up to the release of Zone 3.

Don't worry, we've got plenty left to do on Zone 2 -
a slew of bosses, quests, and a bunch of monsters we have the art for and didn't have time to do AI and skills for. Some more tilesets. Better AI and skills for the monsters that ARE in Zone 2. And some better spawnclasses - I'm not really happy with the monster spawns or dungeon setups in zone 2 yet. We've got a lot left we want to do.

We're going to have to try and work on 'em in parallel though, I think. A good bit of that Zone 2 goodness will happen in smaller bumps before Zone 3. I think we're going to TRY to leave Zone 1 mostly alone, except for maybe 1 or 2 perma-dungeons. We've retrod that ground enough I think. Apart from better spreading out the level ranges on the quests in Zone 1 - that still needs to be done, but shouldn't take long.

Mythos 029: Payment plans for Mythos

Source: http://ww2.mythos.com/mythostavern/showthread.php?p=40551#post40551

Travis has posted up some insight into how Flagship plan to support Mythos financially once they reach enough content to 'release':

The aim with Mythos is to do a dual-currency system. There'll be the copper/silver/gold you earn now, and a 'bought' currency. You can actually see that icon in the bottom-left of the inventory panel.

Some items will require both currencies, or one or the other. ( Not ALL items - just some, certain kinds, partially TBD )

Ingame, there'll be an exchange rate, and a way to trade copper/silver/gold for 'bought' currency, and vice versa. People who don't have any time and just want to buy stuff won't be able to necessarily just buy it - they'll have to trade for ingame currency. And certain items will require people who play and earn their cash to trade for bought currency.

In that way, people who want to play a lot and never ever pay a dime can still get access to EVERYTHING that a 'paying' individual could. And people with no disposable time whatsoever or short attention spans can trade for ingame currency with their bought currency to buy certain items.

Anyway, the core idea is that we really do want people to be able to play the whole thing without having to pay actual money. But we still need to make some. So we've been looking at the models that Three Rings uses for Bang! Howdy, and Yo-Ho-Ho : Puzzle Pirates as an interesting way to do that.

I probably didn't explain that right at all. It's sort of wierd.

Mythos 028: Future development

Source: http://ww2.mythos.com/mythostavern/showthread.php?p=40444#post40444

Marsh has posted on the forums letting testers know how they plan to release patches from now on. Patches will be smaller, with all kinds of content like bosses, quests and items, leading up to the patch that includes Zone 3. These patches should happen relatively regularly, and nothing like the 2 month gap between updates just recently. Internally, they're trying to get Zone 3 out the door before 2008 swings around.

Mythos 027: Dual wielding mechanics

Source: http://ww2.mythos.com/mythostavern/showthread.php?p=39932#post39932

Each weapon DOES swing at its own rate - it's just that the rate of the offhand weapon is improved by 25%.

So, for instance, just theoretically, if you had a club in your right hand that took .5 seconds to swing, and an axe in your left hand that took 1 second to swing, then your axe would ACTUALLY swing at .75 seconds instead - because you're dual wielding, the offhand weapon gets a little speed benefit during the changeover of hands.

if you had 2 identical swords in each hand, then you would attack faster than having just 1.

Mythos 026: Blood phase changes

Source: http://ww2.mythos.com/mythostavern/showthread.php?p=39923#post39923

Blood phase at the moment needs a bit of tweaking and there's a bit of discussion going on as to exactly how the final product will end up. There's some indication that it will have a Shift-key functionality that changes how the transport aspect of the skill works, to cater to the different playstyles that have turned up in testing.

The following is from Travis' post:

My initial thought was that we could have a SHIFT modifier for the skill - SHIFT modifying it would make it always shoot to max range or something, otherwise it would skip to the targeted location. Because me, personally - I like going where I click. John likes it better to blast quickly through things and not have to move his mouse away from his target to do so, which I understand.

Mythos 025: Uniques and balancing

Source: http://ww2.mythos.com/mythostavern/showthread.php?p=39923#post39923

The uniques that are currently in the game apparently need a bit more polishing before Travis and co are happy with them. In the thread linked above, he also asks for suggestions from testers for new unique weapons with the promise that they'll be included if they aren't too overpowered.

Mythos 024: Priorities for the next big patch

Source: http://ww2.mythos.com/mythostavern/showthread.php?p=39921#post39921

The key priorities for the next big patch are PvP, Crafting and Zone 3.

Mythos 023: Damage reduction/negation in combat

Source: http://ww2.mythos.com/mythostavern/showthread.php?p=39884#post39884

Travis provides some insight into the way defense works in Mythos.

When you are attacked, your defense rating is the first thing to kick in. Dexterity and armour both contribute to this. It is intended to be a measure of avoiding damage either by moving yourself out of the way for a lighter impact or by having so much armour that it barely hurts.

Should you actually get hit after the defense rating calculation, that is when your block/parry comes into play for a chance to completely negate the attack.

Travis is of the view that "if Gadgets can tank better than Bloodletters, then I think our Strength armor needs to provide more of a bonus. My main issue with incremental damage mitigation from various pieces of armor is that it heavily devalues Vitality, and can make combat a bit more grind-y - but that's just my opinion."

Mythos 022: Hireling Exploits!

Source: http://ww2.mythos.com/mythostavern/showthread.php?p=39802#post39802

No way to heal them with Pots yet ( desperately want one, but haven't had time ) - but here's a dirty secret. If you change levels ( going up or down stairs even ) they'll heal to max. *shhhh*

Mythos 021: Future plans and some Flagship Seattle background

Source: http://ww2.mythos.com/mythostavern/showthread.php?p=39798#post39798

In regards to a question about when remappable keys will be available, Travis explains:

Our internal schedule for exact times on features shifts wildly, because there's so few of us, and small bumps in the road, ( or things like having to move offices at the end of the month ) can really throw them out of whack. Then I feel like a dork when we don't make them on time.

At present, there's only 2 of us programming on this, so there's only so many things we can hammer on at once ( apart from features we get from down south that happen on Hellgate ).

Right now it's on the plate with PVP, Crafting, an improved chat system, and any coding we have to do with Zone 3, so it's mostly just balancing act. We're trying hard to get another programmer on board so that things won't be so wild and crazy.

Mythos 020: Lucky shirts

Source: http://ww2.mythos.com/mythostavern/showthread.php?p=39594#post39594

Travis makes note that it is intended that you can enchant your shirts (I don't mean chest armour) in Zone 2. Apparently QA very much like their lucky shirts.

Mythos 019: Clearer identification of high quality/rarity items

Source: http://ww2.mythos.com/mythostavern/showthread.php?p=39563#post39563

Travis mentions that he's thinking of using icons like the stars in Hellgate: London to indicate the item level to supplement the rather confusing scale of colours that are used by Mythos at the moment.

Mythos 018: Removal of armour level requirements

Source: http://ww2.mythos.com/mythostavern/showthread.php?p=39559#post39559

Travis explains why armour had the level requirements removed, specifically pieces like shoulders and capes. As you might have guessed, he wants to give the players the flexibility to get really good equipment that requires high strength/wisdom/dexterity if they focus their stat points specifically into one stat.

Mythos 017: "Bladed weapon" skill requirements

Source: http://ww2.mythos.com/mythostavern/showthread.php?p=39167#post39167

Travis has cleared up the point regarding "bladed weapon" skill requirements. Any weapon combination that includes a bladed weapon of some kind (basically one that does slashing damage) should get the benefits of such skills as Deep Wounds and Parry.

Mythos 016: Two-handed weapons

Source: http://ww2.mythos.com/mythostavern/showthread.php?p=39161#post39161

Apparently what is currently slowing down the addition of more two-handed weapon types is the different animation sequences that need to be built (running, walking, attacking, casting). Now that they've fixed up all the existing animations, this is something that's more likely to happen in the near future.

Mythos 015: Future plans for levelling and permanent dungeons

Source: http://ww2.mythos.com/mythostavern/showthread.php?p=39149#post39149

Right now I think we need to do level range adjustment on a lot of the quests. We sped up progression overall but there's some work we need to do, going back through the quest chains and smoothing them and ramping up the levels on them to better fit current leveling progression.

We also really want to do more 'on-map' dungeons ( like Morag's Rest )that are just fun to go do - ideally, these will generally be higher than the level at which you first get to them, probably substantially so - but for advanced players or those that want a challenge, they should be fun and rewarding to run off and tackle. We hope.

Mythos 014: Supression Widget Buggy Behaviour

Source: http://ww2.mythos.com/mythostavern/showthread.php?p=39013#post39013

There's a known issue with multiple Supression Widgets targetting the same mob, and as the effect does not stack, it's considered a bug by the developers that's going to be worked on.

Mythos 013: Item Rarity Colour Progression

Source: http://ww2.mythos.com/mythostavern/showthread.php?p=38861#post38861

The scale for item quality/rarity in Mythos is Blue -> Purple -> Green -> Orange -> Yellow -> Teal

Mythos 012: Intended use of Pyromancer melee skills

Source: http://ww2.mythos.com/mythostavern/showthread.php?p=38807#post38807

Blazing Blade is intended as a bread-and-butter, low cost, all the time use skill, that hits multiple targets in front of you to multiply your damage, while Burning Arc is intended as a higher-cost escape or trash-mob killer.

Fiery Weapon is intended to just make normal melee more potent, at no mana cost -and later investment provides a free chance of explosion with radial fire damage.

Mythos 011: Next patch

Source: http://ww2.mythos.com/mythostavern/showpost.php?p=38816&postcount=3

Marsh has indicated that there should be another patch sometime in the next two weeks.

Mythos 010: Weapon type differences

Source: http://ww2.mythos.com/mythostavern/showthread.php?p=38801#post38801

For the Polearms, because you are investing in dexterity as well, you automatically get a defense benefit.
Polearms have been ratcheted up in damage and speed, and given their increased range, as you go on down the line HOPEFULLY they give you a nice damage return for your point investment. But we'll see - please let me know how they work out for you!

Crossbows have the additional ability to pierce multiple enemies automatically

Scepters - I think the main advantage of scepters is that for a caster their damage is better than most of the alternatives. I hope I'm not lying here, that's what I seem to remember, and I'm a bit groggy - and you can dual wield with a ranged ( pistol or wand ). The intent was for these to supplement a melee-caster class.

Mythos 009: Gambling Merchant

Source: http://ww2.mythos.com/mythostavern/showthread.php?p=38797#post38797

Several factors go into the 'bargain hunter' price - the item's quality, enchantments, and sockets, as well as a random range that allows you to get a good bargain, or a crummy one.

Mythos 008: Sockets on non-weapons

Source: http://ww2.mythos.com/mythostavern/showpost.php?p=38565&postcount=2

We want sockets on more stuff. Also a larger variety of gems.

Mythos 007: Hardcore Mode

Source: http://ww2.mythos.com/mythostavern/showpost.php?p=38555&postcount=4

We're definitely going to have some kind of hardcore option -
and possibly a difficulty setting. We're discussing the difficulty setting, but Hardcore I think is pretty much definite.

Mythos 006: Stats on Red Hand Summons

Source: http://ww2.mythos.com/mythostavern/showthread.php?p=38384#post38384

Bloodling and Imp stats follow their own level progression based upon your level, so they should keep pace with you without being mirrors of your actual stats. Hope that helps!

Mythos 005: Character Sheet Damage Display

Source: http://ww2.mythos.com/mythostavern/showthread.php?p=38379#post38379

Right now it shows the min and max dmg range taking both weapons into account, ( as opposed to the damage from just one )


Meaning that right now, if you are dual-wielding, your character display is showing you your possible damage range when taking into account the minimum and maximum of both your weapons.

Mythos 004: Chance to hit

Source: http://ww2.mythos.com/mythostavern/showpost.php?p=38458&postcount=6

You never have a 100% chance to hit - I believe that no matter what, there's a slight chance to fumble.

Your chance to strike is just a baseline calculation though - various monsters have better ( or worse ) armor classes that mean you are still more ( or less ) likely to fumble against them.

Mythos 003: Keyboard Mapping

Source: http://ww2.mythos.com/mythostavern/showthread.php?p=38280#post38280

We were hoping to get keyboard remapping in for this build, but it just didn't quite make it, and those are usually a bear to test all the corner-cases with. We're still committed to doing it though!

Mythos 002: Beta Update

Soon after the major Zone 2/skills revamp patch, a minor one was released to clear up the following issues. Travis Baldree's original post is available here.

Priority 1

*Goods for Goldenrod quest broken - (fixed)
*2 players report getting to town and being unable to turn in Damon's quest (fixed )
*Medium Level shaders causing mesh distortions ( fixed )
*Reports of a crash when spamming Boom Zippers from one player ( fixed )
*Fixed Consult an Expert quest
*Fix for minions spawning after their parent dies being unattackable by special attacks
* Fixed wierd 'secret' hive boss room
* Fixed Low quality shader glow issue in partial-screen modes

Priority 2

*Friends list close button doesn't work, you have to use F or the initial toggle ( fixed )
*Text in buddy list is clipped oddly, and the Whisper button starts out visually activated ( fixed )
*Icons over heads are extremely difficult to click on in certan zoom modes in widescreen - need to fix zoom placement ( fixed )
*Names in vanity view should get disabled ( fixed )
*Starting bloodlings might be a touch weak HP-wise ( fixed )
*Reduce Blood Phase cost a touch? ( fixed )
*Traveling Merchants still refresh too often. ( fixed - they now never refresh )
*'stuck at loading screen but can hear sounds' issue( fixed? )
*Fixed Rally happening from destructibles
*Fixed homing shot attacking destructibles
*Fixed Blood Command attacking destructibles
*Fixed all widgets not maintaining proper counts ( only destroying other widgets of the same type now when they go over the limit ) - same for turrets
*Fixed Rally stacking off of accrued values, instead of base
*Hirelings heal to full health after level transitions
*Tuning on Focused Shield and Blood Might
*Gadget Noxious Grenade is no longer insanely powerful
*Meteor does proper damage, and displays correct range
*Flaming Serpents nerfed, and using the actual mana costs ( instead of the wrong ones ) - damage ranges are a little wider, and you only get up to 6 bonus projectiles at the second tier. ( It's still amazing damage )
*Blood Rage times out properly for attack speeds on Bloodlings/Imps
*Footstep sounds tuned down
*If the character screen closes because there are too many other screens open, and stat point buttons were visible, they won't come back without a logout ( fixed - only code fix )
*Thermal Screen max damage absorption tuned down a little bit
*Urax Shaman green fire walls shouldn't hit you when you aren't near them ( ditto for Morag )
*Dexterity modified damage ( for bows, rifles ) should show properly in the character sheet
*Foe Reaper should not gain benefits from destructibles
*Hireling HP and armor/tohit boosted
*Vampiric Strike health draw improved


Priority 3
*Traveling Merchants now have more to sell
*Too much bass on Flaming dart sound? ( fixed )
*Blood Mist for Blood Boil not working properly? ( was working, just needed effect - fixed )
*Damage Resist affixes are improperly represented - was showing as damage effect resistance, but is really resistance to special effects( catching on fire, etc. ) ( was a display issue, fixed )
*Pistols now properly positioned in hands
*Tinker now starts in increments of 10%, instead of starting you at 20 and bumping up by 5-s
*Satyr female pistols now fire at the appropriate time
*Fixed tracker's shoulders positioning
*Fixed human male leather cap smoothing
*Wisp now 'bobs'
*Fixed bloodletter targeting rings not showing up at long distance
*Made rifle-only skills display the requirement
*Blade Breaker no longer falls back to regular attack, so you won't go running up to targets when you're out of mana
*Fixed some of the names in random quests
*Can summon a full 6 imps and 6 bloodlings, instead of getting capped at 10
* Skills that require rifles tell you so
* Bauble Traps can now reflect missiles
* Leather Boots have a requirement now
* Item counts don't clip in the bottom area of the stash
* Ravens aren't so dumb
* 'inventory full' messags play only for you ( not everybody! )
* Damage enhanced by Dexterity displays properly in character sheet
* Spiked caps properly show ears
* Blood Phase has a little larger hitradius
* Napalm and Noxious Grenade procs won't get the benefit of Black Powder
* Locked chests appear a little more, keys a little less
* Wands should not miss characters standing right up in your face
* Gold should autopickup from its original range again
* Keys can now stack to 10
* Gorestain Dagger quest text now says 'five' statues instead of 'ten'
* Meteor mana cost reduced a little bit
* Deafening Explosion can't be cast in town
* Reversed race/class order in create pane to line up with the descriptions on the left.

Mythos 001: Beta Update

On October 18th, Mythos was taken down for a major update. Primarily known for the introduction of Zone 2 and a revamped skills system, it was followed shortly after by a small patch fix update to sort out some of the issues reported by testers soon after the major update went live.

Following is a list of the patch notes posted by Travis Baldree which are also available here.

SKILL SYSTEM

* The Skill System underwent a massive overhaul. Quite a few of the old skills exist, but they have all been modified in some fundamental ways. The Skill Trees themselves are structured much differently, and Skill advancement has changed entirely.

* In combination with this, the leveling rate has nearly doubled. Mythos is intended to be a fast and rewarding game, and the previous rate of advancement was simply too slow, and too unenjoyable for us.

* Each of the 3 Skill Panes is divided into 6 Tiers, one of which is unlocked at the outset. By investing in the Tier bar on the right of the screen, you can unlock later Tiers and abilities. Unlocking a Tier unlocks it for ALL Skill panes, so your point is never wasted.

* At each level you will receive 2 Skill Points to invest. You may spend them on improving Skills you know, learning new Skills, or by advancing in the aforementioned Tier bar to unlock new Skills, or new abilities for existing Skills.

* Many more of the Skills in all of the Skill Trees are now active in nature. Instead of advancing along a linear path of improvement in a given skill, you can usually invest in different aspects of the skill by unlocking later nodes linked to it. As an example, the Bladebreaker skill in the Bloodletter's Marialist tree ( a ranged ground attack that may pierce multiple enemies ) has 3 primary nodes. Investing in the initial node improves the range and damage bonus of the skill. Investing in the second node ( Blade Splinter ) causes the primary missile to splinter on impact, striking more foes, while the third tier ( Blade Fan ) allows you to fire a set of shockwaves, and improves damage for all effects.

* This has two primary benefits - it lets you customize skills more completely to your style of play and encourages more uniqueness in builds, and allows late-game investment to be a lot more interesting than just incrementally improving damage on a skill you've had for ages. As a Bloodletter, you could have a short-ranged, high-damage fan of deathdealing, or an extremely long-range blast that fractures into many devastating splinters along the way – or both, if you’re willing to spend the points and that build meets your needs.

* The Gadgeteer no longer has a passive toggle pane - it has been replaced with the Grenadier pane, focused on tossable devices.

* Gadgeteer skills may now be tossed to specific locations, like grenades. Not only are the devices better and more interesting than before, but having the ability to explicitly place them adds immeasurably to their usefulness.

* The Skill Tree no longer scrolls - all nodes are visible onscreen at once.

Hopefully you'll find lots of nice surprises playing with the new skill system. We've tried very hard to bang it into a reasonable range of balance for this initial re-release of it, but I'm sure we've missed things, and we count on your feedback to help us continue the balancing process - ideally, it'll be a lot of fun to explore!

THE WORLD

* A new zone has been added - Bloodbristle Heath - as well as a new primary city, Tulin's Hope. The smaller town of Wethyn Cross can be found in the second zone, as well as a small Goblin shrine in the northeast.

* Each zone also has 'intermediate' hubs, that serve as stopping off points for meeting other players on the road, or for branching off to new locations. These intermediate hubs will serve to help fill out the landscape, and provide lore, NPCs, and later quests.

* Roads have been added - when moving between primary locations, you'll walk along actual paths in the direction of the destination, rather than randomly oriented wilderness. This helps anchor the world a lot more, and even though these paths are a little different each time you travel, they feel much more persistent.

* You can now run a full loop, exit to exit, after leaving a major city without ever seeing a map screen. Exits lead to the appropriate road in that direction, and heading to locations off the beaten path is done by using a Signpost. This also helps the world feel more coherent.

* The beginning of some 'flavor' content - NPCs with stories or information to give you that just add lore and interest to the world.

* Wilderness areas to all map locations now orient in the direction of the destination relative to the starting point. This makes a bigger difference than it has any right to.

* Dungeons and other areas now have a much higher degree of granularity in orientation, rather than just 90 degrees. This sounds a little silly, but it oddly makes the locations feel much more distinct.

* Various new outdoor tilesets have been added, from farmlands, to autumnal forests, to the deserts and heaths of the second zone

* Weather has been added, including rain, lightning, the shadows of passing clouds, and windstorms and dustdevils. Different areas are prone to different types of weather.

* An improved Vanity camera allows you to view your surroundings more thoroughly - outdoor areas also have skies. When in the Vanity camera, you do not see characters and monsters render behind objects, nor can you select or move around. This allows for a nice 'aquarium' view when in town. Because of the nature of a lot of our original artwork, a lot of the props are missing faces on the bottom which becomes readily apparent in this view ( and was before ), but we'll be addressing this shortly.

* You can now find locked chests. Keys may be found or purchased to unlock them. Locked chests usually have slightly better loot than their regular counterparts.

* Master Chests can now be found in many dungeons. Master Chests may only be opened by a Master Key, which is carried by one monster randomly placed within the dungeon. This encourages a certain amount of dungeon clearing, and we think is a fun little side diversion.

* There are some permanent dungeon locations on the map. We don't have too many yet, but we will be adding many, many more. These locations generally contain a Boss who has a chance to drop specific magical items, and may be revisited at any time.

* Stonehill got a small facelift, as did the intro splash screen

* Skyships are available at the skyship docks for instant travel between the large cities

* New Hive dungeon tileset

* New level layouts for more variety

* A whole new set of questlines in Zone 2 ( we'll be adding many more )

* New random questgivers in Zone 2

BOSSES

* There are ACTUAL bosses now - not just randomly renamed slightly bigger versions of normal monsters. Bosses have custom artwork, animations, weapons, and skills, and their own special lairs. Boss battles are much more of an event than they ever were before. We'll be adding a LOT more of these too. Tinus is no longer a Green satyr wandering around in a hallway.

BASE GAMEPLAY

* We have refocused on having a fast and enjoyable game. As a result, players now move 20% faster than before, and the pace of combat has increased as well.

* To balance this speed and still allow for some tactical play, the viewpont has been pulled farther out, affording you a better view of faraway monsters, and giving you time to plan and react before they descend upon you.

* Many animations and sounds have been improved to make combat more visceral.

* Some client-side predictive work has been done so that melee combat provides immediate feedback, rather than always feeling 'laggy' - this makes melee combat much more enjoyable, we think.

* All monsters are now interruptable, which again contributes to a more visceral and satisfying play experience.

* Item drops and qualities have been HEAVILY rebalanced, and should be much more satisfyingly plentiful. Higher-level magical items should have more appropriate rates of appearance.

* Normal items may now have varying qualities - Broken, Rusty, Superior, and Legendary. These modify the basic statistics, and provide a little more variety in item drops.

* A large number of interesting new magical effects have been added to be found on items.

* Over 200 unique items have been added to the game ( more will be coming )

* Hirelings have been added. In Tulin's Hope you may hire an Archer or a Warrior to lend a hand.

* Items may now be Enchanted - you can find 2 Enchanters in the world, and pay to have random magical effects added to your weapons and armor.

* Armor sets for the Pyromancer and Gadgeteer have been added to fill them out to match the Bloodletter - Shoulders, belts, gloves, boots, pants, armor, helms, and capes.

* A Character Details tab shows your resistances, and your chance to strike and dodge. We'll be adding more interesting stats to this pane ( it's gonna have to scroll, we know )

* There should be less 'popping' of monsters as they become desynched, as we mask and smooth the transition.

* No confirmation on exiting areas, and there is now a glow effect for all exits to make them easier to find and click on.

* Gems are generally not purchaseable, but must usually be found in the world. But they will be found a lot more OFTEN in the world.

* New and better quest rewards

* Warden Tigh is back at dungeon clearings, and can be paid to warp you to the deepest visited level

* Merchants now have proper level ranges, and the merchants in Zone 2 will be higher than those in Zone 1. This also makes Bargain Hunters a bit more interesting.

* Higher level map vendors

* Crossbow bolts pierce enemies.

* Load of weapon and armor balancing

* Shoulders and Helms no longer have level requirements.

* Ring level requirement lowered to 10

MONSTERS

* Zone 1 is no longer about slaying wolves and bears and bugs. All of the monsters have been reworked, with a focus on more interesting and nasty things to kill, with more enjoyable tactics and variety. Encounters with monsters should ideally be much more enjoyable, and less same-y. We continue to work on this, and have lots more to do, but we think this is a pretty good start.

* No more Bandits - they've been replaced with the Hollow.

* All the new Zone 2 monsters, including the reintroduction of the Goblins, who are a significant part of the questlines in Zone 2, and have their own hub.

* Lots of new and improved/fixed monster art.

FIXES

* Really, there are just too many fixes to mention. We've still got a big list of things to do, but we're plowing through just as fast as we can, and the number of things we’ve repaired is fairly formidable.

FLUFFY STUFF

* Class and race descriptions during character creation

* Improved character artwork ( less texture distortion at necks, fixed various problems with the meshes, fixed or improved many animations )

* New face and skintone art

* Many new hairstyles for everyone

* Selectable accessories( Satyrs and Male Gremlin right now, more coming! ) - you can select various combinations for the Gremlin's face, and different sets of Satyr horns

* Lots of art and polish changes throughout. Little things like being able to see Satyr hooves through their boots.

OTHER

* Options menu is available at the start menu.

* Lots of nice new music tracks

* Cartographer map display changed to only show the minimum level, and to color-code it for its range, to help you more easily parse them.

* Item reward icons are bigger, so you can actually see the darn things.

* Tips during loading screens ( and a new loading screen )

* Better display of Health/Mana regeneration stats on potions

* Health and Mana regenerate smoothly, rather than in chunks

* Destructibles now properly drop loot for the level of the area

* The download client now includes the level artwork. This means you won't have to wait so much for things to patch, and your play experience should be much more immediate.

* Skill and item tooltips shouldn’t be so flaky, popping and repositioning all over the place all the time.

* Anisotropic and Trilinear filtering options, for nicer textures ingame

* A bunch of stuff I'm forgetting.