There's a new patch now available. In particular:

Has a new implementation for playing video cutscenes which should hopefully resolve the crash issues some users were experiencing, as well as provide better performance.

Enables Static Batching for increased performance in some areas.

Fixes the auto-run so that it will not trigger when you press the Grip button while grabbing other objects such as your Pickaxe or Compass while moving.
Adds the ability to grant surnames to Level 20 Characters.

Fixes a bug where blocking attacks of neutral NPCs (such as the Pilgrim) with your shield would cause them to aggro you.

Updated graphics in various places of the world including the walls around Guild City, as well as additional decorations and “static” NPCs throughout the world.

Fixed an issue where players on the SteamVR version of the game were no longer sending data to the server when their SteamVR overlay was active. This was probably leading to all kinds of weird behavior including getting disconnected or even crashing.

Fixed numerous reported crash-causing bugs and exceptions.

Added an additional locomotion option under the Turning options called “Strafe + Snap.” This is the same as the “Strafe + Turn” option but uses 45-degree snap turning instead of smooth turning.

Made the Ranger trap lighter weight so it’s easier to throw. Also increased the size of the collider for detecting if an enemy walks over it by approximately 50%. Finally, the trap’s cooldown will no longer trigger if the trap is thrown and doesn’t land on the ground. So now if for example you throw it on top of an enemy and it gets stuck there, you can try throwing it again a couple of seconds later.

The Character Login screen, when logging into your account the first time, should now correctly support all characters that are available on our keyboard. In addition, when you press “Enter” after entering your password it will show as asterisks like a standard website form.

The aggro ranger of low-level characters in the Wilds has been reduced to make up for the fact that the Wilds elites have a much larger-than-usual aggro range in general. In addition, we’ve moved the spawn points of the Wilds groups so they are less-close to the graveyard and zone entrance.

Increased the spawn rate of the Redtails at Cenn’s Farm – there are still a lot of new people joining who are getting stuck there waiting.

Re-did grass in the Jungle so the main road is more obvious.

There's a new patch now available. In particular:

Has a new implementation for playing video cutscenes which should hopefully resolve the crash issues some users were experiencing, as well as provide better performance.

Enables Static Batching for increased performance in some areas.

Fixes the auto-run so that it will not trigger when you press the Grip button while grabbing other objects such as your Pickaxe or Compass while moving.
Adds the ability to grant surnames to Level 20 Characters.

Fixes a bug where blocking attacks of neutral NPCs (such as the Pilgrim) with your shield would cause them to aggro you.

Updated graphics in various places of the world including the walls around Guild City, as well as additional decorations and “static” NPCs throughout the world.

Fixed an issue where players on the SteamVR version of the game were no longer sending data to the server when their SteamVR overlay was active. This was probably leading to all kinds of weird behavior including getting disconnected or even crashing.

Fixed numerous reported crash-causing bugs and exceptions.

Added an additional locomotion option under the Turning options called “Strafe + Snap.” This is the same as the “Strafe + Turn” option but uses 45-degree snap turning instead of smooth turning.

Made the Ranger trap lighter weight so it’s easier to throw. Also increased the size of the collider for detecting if an enemy walks over it by approximately 50%. Finally, the trap’s cooldown will no longer trigger if the trap is thrown and doesn’t land on the ground. So now if for example you throw it on top of an enemy and it gets stuck there, you can try throwing it again a couple of seconds later.

The Character Login screen, when logging into your account the first time, should now correctly support all characters that are available on our keyboard. In addition, when you press “Enter” after entering your password it will show as asterisks like a standard website form.

The aggro ranger of low-level characters in the Wilds has been reduced to make up for the fact that the Wilds elites have a much larger-than-usual aggro range in general. In addition, we’ve moved the spawn points of the Wilds groups so they are less-close to the graveyard and zone entrance.

Increased the spawn rate of the Redtails at Cenn’s Farm – there are still a lot of new people joining who are getting stuck there waiting.

Re-did grass in the Jungle so the main road is more obvious.

A new patch is now available for download. The changes include:

Re-worked the way that the Ranger bow’s rotation works such that it should now no longer “go crazy” on Rift setups when holding your wrist straight. The actual aiming of the bow remains unchanged, but it should just no longer rotate in crazy ways when drawing it back.

Players who have been a bandit in the last 24 hours (real-time) will now have their name presented in Orange rather than white.

In the Cave Dungeon, the stalactites will now respawn every 30 seconds to help prevent a situation where there are no stalactites left to fight the boss with.

Vendors will now auto-close when you are walking away from them.

Fixed a bug where the game would begin to lag when walking far away from a Market Stall vendor with the window still open.

The next time you login, any achievements that you previously earned but were not yet recorded on Steam/Oculus (e.g. because they were earned during the Head Start period) will now be credited.

Adjusted the spell pages for the Frostbolt Level 1, Ice Lance, and Arcane Ray spells to better match what you need to do to cast them. The actual spell detection of these spells has not changed.

Fixed a bug which could cause players to be incorrectly labeled with the wrong name and appearance sometimes.

If you die before an enemy dies (such as a boss), you will now always have the same chance of getting loot as everyone else in your party, even if you don’t make it back to attack the boss before it is killed.

When you receive XP for killing a monster, if your current combat class level is less than that of your highest combat class, you will now receive a 33% bonus to the XP to adjust for the fact that there are not many quests to do while leveling your secondary classes.

Fixed a bug which was assigning stats such as Armor to capes from World Boss drops. We have also adjusted all existing inventory to remove these stats from existing capes.

The radius of the Warrior’s taunt horn-blast ability has been extended by approximately 30%.

Fixed a bug which was preventing shards from being acquired from breaking down all items. Now every time you break down a piece of equipment (except Fishing Lures) you should receive a shard.

Warrior shields now have 0 weight in your inventory.

Numerous bugfixes to help prevent client crashes.

A new patch is now available for download. The changes include:

Re-worked the way that the Ranger bow’s rotation works such that it should now no longer “go crazy” on Rift setups when holding your wrist straight. The actual aiming of the bow remains unchanged, but it should just no longer rotate in crazy ways when drawing it back.

Players who have been a bandit in the last 24 hours (real-time) will now have their name presented in Orange rather than white.

In the Cave Dungeon, the stalactites will now respawn every 30 seconds to help prevent a situation where there are no stalactites left to fight the boss with.

Vendors will now auto-close when you are walking away from them.

Fixed a bug where the game would begin to lag when walking far away from a Market Stall vendor with the window still open.

The next time you login, any achievements that you previously earned but were not yet recorded on Steam/Oculus (e.g. because they were earned during the Head Start period) will now be credited.

Adjusted the spell pages for the Frostbolt Level 1, Ice Lance, and Arcane Ray spells to better match what you need to do to cast them. The actual spell detection of these spells has not changed.

Fixed a bug which could cause players to be incorrectly labeled with the wrong name and appearance sometimes.

If you die before an enemy dies (such as a boss), you will now always have the same chance of getting loot as everyone else in your party, even if you don’t make it back to attack the boss before it is killed.

When you receive XP for killing a monster, if your current combat class level is less than that of your highest combat class, you will now receive a 33% bonus to the XP to adjust for the fact that there are not many quests to do while leveling your secondary classes.

Fixed a bug which was assigning stats such as Armor to capes from World Boss drops. We have also adjusted all existing inventory to remove these stats from existing capes.

The radius of the Warrior’s taunt horn-blast ability has been extended by approximately 30%.

Fixed a bug which was preventing shards from being acquired from breaking down all items. Now every time you break down a piece of equipment (except Fishing Lures) you should receive a shard.

Warrior shields now have 0 weight in your inventory.

Numerous bugfixes to help prevent client crashes.

There's a new patch out now that should auto-download via Steam. Here's the highlights:

We’ve added sound effects to the UI when opening menus, swapping gear, and selecting options.

There are now long-range grab indicators on the chests in your Player House. You can use them to grab and open the chest from farther away, which allows you to open the chest while standing up and keeps your inventory menu from clipping inside of the chest.

The in-game keyboard has been re-worked such that there are more special characters available, and they are accessible by pressing the Shift key along the number row (just like a normal keyboard).

Re-worked the Zoological Gardens in the Rainforest area with new graphical assets to make it look more like a zoo and less like a torture area for captured animals.

Fixed invisible colliders causing spells/arrows to randomly explode in odd places in the Desert

Re-worked the voice chat range of Other Players such that a) you shouldn’t hear other players talking loudly from really far away, and b) you should now be able to better tell from what direction someone is speaking.

Lowered the spawn rate of Queen’s Ear in Highsteppe back down to normal levels.

The Apprentice Smith vendors have adjusted the prices they are willing to pay for some items. The price of a gatherable ingredient (such as herbs and ore) will now be based on its rarity. Common and uncommon items now sell for much less than they did previously. The price of Minor and Major shards has been increased to help make up for this reduced income stream.

Fixed a bug where the last spot in the Market Stall wasn’t showing its price correctly to the stall owner.

Fixed a bug where you would sometimes have to press a key twice to get it to register after pressing the Shift key on the keyboard.

Thanks!

There's a new patch out now that should auto-download via Steam. Here's the highlights:

We’ve added sound effects to the UI when opening menus, swapping gear, and selecting options.

There are now long-range grab indicators on the chests in your Player House. You can use them to grab and open the chest from farther away, which allows you to open the chest while standing up and keeps your inventory menu from clipping inside of the chest.

The in-game keyboard has been re-worked such that there are more special characters available, and they are accessible by pressing the Shift key along the number row (just like a normal keyboard).

Re-worked the Zoological Gardens in the Rainforest area with new graphical assets to make it look more like a zoo and less like a torture area for captured animals.

Fixed invisible colliders causing spells/arrows to randomly explode in odd places in the Desert

Re-worked the voice chat range of Other Players such that a) you shouldn’t hear other players talking loudly from really far away, and b) you should now be able to better tell from what direction someone is speaking.

Lowered the spawn rate of Queen’s Ear in Highsteppe back down to normal levels.

The Apprentice Smith vendors have adjusted the prices they are willing to pay for some items. The price of a gatherable ingredient (such as herbs and ore) will now be based on its rarity. Common and uncommon items now sell for much less than they did previously. The price of Minor and Major shards has been increased to help make up for this reduced income stream.

Fixed a bug where the last spot in the Market Stall wasn’t showing its price correctly to the stall owner.

Fixed a bug where you would sometimes have to press a key twice to get it to register after pressing the Shift key on the keyboard.

Thanks!

Over the coming weeks, we'll be working with the community to continue releasing patches on a regular basis to address major bugs and add quality of life improvements. For example, a few of the things we're working on now include:

• Additional locomotion options
  
• Fixing issues with the bow not working correctly if you hold your wrist straight on Rift
  
• Polishing the UI and adding sound effects
  
• In addition to that ongoing work which will always been happening on a regular basis, let's talk about our long-term plans for the game over the next 3 months.

Content Patch One: End-Game Dungeons

Our first content patch will be complete on January 29th, and will feature:

• The Tradu Mines dungeon, which is our end-game Level 20 Dungeon, including 4 wings.
  
• The third World Boss, which will be a boss summoned by gathering materials in the Tradu Mines, and fought in the shared area at the beginning of the dungeon.
  
• In-Game lore books spread throughout the world which will help further flesh out the lore and give some interesting new tidbits on the characters you've met thus far, as well as setting us up for Act 3.
  
• Surnames for those who have reached Level 20 and complied with our Name Policy.
  
• The first round of Market Stall auctions
  
• The Tournament of Mages, which is an in-game, GM-led event which will pit the most talented Runemages against each other in a quest to see who's the best at casting spells.

We've discussed our End Game Dungeons previously (https://blog.orbusvr.com/wilds-zones-and-end-game-content/), so I won't go into much detail on that here. The Tournament of Mages will be our first in-game, GM-led event, which is something we'd like to do on a regular basis. More details on this will be revealed as we complete work on it, but the general idea is that it's a competition to see which mages in the game are the best at casting spells quickly and precisely. We plan to hold the tournament at the end of January, and we'll have more details on how to qualify for it and the prize on offer as we get closer to time.

And before you ask, yes we are planning to hold tournaments like these for every class, we just have to start somewhere :-)

Note that although we are saying the content patch will be complete January 29th, some of these features will roll out ahead of that date as they are ready for you to use.

Content Patch Two: Shard Dungeons and Act 3

Our second content patch will follow and will include the Shard Dungeons, which are Level 20+ hard-mode versions of each of our existing dungeons. In addition, it will have the Act 3 story content, which will feature going into the Necropolar to handle some unfinished business from the Main Story quest, and setup the game's first Raid (which will come later). We'll also be looking to add additional avatar customization options.

Content Patch Three: Raids and PvP

Beyond Content Patch Two, we'll begin work on some exciting new PvP content as well as the first Raid in Content Patch Three, with more details to come and a launch date on that as we progress further in development.

All of these Content Patches, including the end-game dungeon, shard dungeons, in-game events, and raid, are all part of the base game that you have already purchased, and will come at no additional cost to our existing players!

Throughout this process we'll continue to get your feedback and work on additional bug fixes and quality of life features, these are just the main highlights we'll be focusing on for each patch so you know what's coming soon.

Thanks and we're looking forward to continuing to see you in-game!

If you'd like to discuss this post on our forums, you can do so here:

https://community.orbusvr.com/t/dev-blog-early-access-weekend-recap-and-next-steps/4150

Over the coming weeks, we'll be working with the community to continue releasing patches on a regular basis to address major bugs and add quality of life improvements. For example, a few of the things we're working on now include:

• Additional locomotion options
  
• Fixing issues with the bow not working correctly if you hold your wrist straight on Rift
  
• Polishing the UI and adding sound effects
  
• In addition to that ongoing work which will always been happening on a regular basis, let's talk about our long-term plans for the game over the next 3 months.

Content Patch One: End-Game Dungeons

Our first content patch will be complete on January 29th, and will feature:

• The Tradu Mines dungeon, which is our end-game Level 20 Dungeon, including 4 wings.
  
• The third World Boss, which will be a boss summoned by gathering materials in the Tradu Mines, and fought in the shared area at the beginning of the dungeon.
  
• In-Game lore books spread throughout the world which will help further flesh out the lore and give some interesting new tidbits on the characters you've met thus far, as well as setting us up for Act 3.
  
• Surnames for those who have reached Level 20 and complied with our Name Policy.
  
• The first round of Market Stall auctions
  
• The Tournament of Mages, which is an in-game, GM-led event which will pit the most talented Runemages against each other in a quest to see who's the best at casting spells.

We've discussed our End Game Dungeons previously (https://blog.orbusvr.com/wilds-zones-and-end-game-content/), so I won't go into much detail on that here. The Tournament of Mages will be our first in-game, GM-led event, which is something we'd like to do on a regular basis. More details on this will be revealed as we complete work on it, but the general idea is that it's a competition to see which mages in the game are the best at casting spells quickly and precisely. We plan to hold the tournament at the end of January, and we'll have more details on how to qualify for it and the prize on offer as we get closer to time.

And before you ask, yes we are planning to hold tournaments like these for every class, we just have to start somewhere :-)

Note that although we are saying the content patch will be complete January 29th, some of these features will roll out ahead of that date as they are ready for you to use.

Content Patch Two: Shard Dungeons and Act 3

Our second content patch will follow and will include the Shard Dungeons, which are Level 20+ hard-mode versions of each of our existing dungeons. In addition, it will have the Act 3 story content, which will feature going into the Necropolar to handle some unfinished business from the Main Story quest, and setup the game's first Raid (which will come later). We'll also be looking to add additional avatar customization options.

Content Patch Three: Raids and PvP

Beyond Content Patch Two, we'll begin work on some exciting new PvP content as well as the first Raid in Content Patch Three, with more details to come and a launch date on that as we progress further in development.

All of these Content Patches, including the end-game dungeon, shard dungeons, in-game events, and raid, are all part of the base game that you have already purchased, and will come at no additional cost to our existing players!

Throughout this process we'll continue to get your feedback and work on additional bug fixes and quality of life features, these are just the main highlights we'll be focusing on for each patch so you know what's coming soon.

Thanks and we're looking forward to continuing to see you in-game!

If you'd like to discuss this post on our forums, you can do so here:

https://community.orbusvr.com/t/dev-blog-early-access-weekend-recap-and-next-steps/4150

Patch 3.15 is now available to download. It’s a small patch with a couple of bug fixes/improvements:

When you see other players teleport and/or slide, you will now see a smoother transition from where they were to where they went. With sliding, it still looks like short bursts of teleporting rather than a totally smooth slide, but it should be much less jarring.

The game client will now better detect when you are DC’ed from the server and show you an error message.

Added a change that causes your locomotion to freeze for a very short period of time after you have a “hard transition” between two points (such as entering/exiting your Player House, or a dungeon). This should not really be noticeable, but it might help solve a bug for some people who were still getting stuck below-ground after leaving their house.

Thanks!

Patch 3.15 is now available to download. It’s a small patch with a couple of bug fixes/improvements:

When you see other players teleport and/or slide, you will now see a smoother transition from where they were to where they went. With sliding, it still looks like short bursts of teleporting rather than a totally smooth slide, but it should be much less jarring.

The game client will now better detect when you are DC’ed from the server and show you an error message.

Added a change that causes your locomotion to freeze for a very short period of time after you have a “hard transition” between two points (such as entering/exiting your Player House, or a dungeon). This should not really be noticeable, but it might help solve a bug for some people who were still getting stuck below-ground after leaving their house.

Thanks!