Jun 8, 2015

Villagers and Heroes - Eltu

(continued from part 1)

There are three different categories of supplies, and each yields a greater benefit to the player who has equipped their tools with them. However, it is not a requirement that one must equip their tools in order to gather.

Using No Supplies

Results in a 5 second gathering time
50% chance to find gathering material (e.g. fish, ore, wood, etc.)
100% chance to find 1-2 common gathering supplies for the current skill
0% chance to find supplies for another skill

Using Common Supplies
Results in a 3 second gathering time
100% chance to find gathering material (fish, ore, wood, etc.)
50% chance to find supplies for another skill (nectar, grindstones, etc.)

Using Superior Supplies
Results in a 2 second gathering time
100% chance to find gathering material (fish, ore, wood, etc)
75% chance to find gathering supplies for another skill (grindstones, nectar, etc.)

Using Premium Supplies
Results in a 1 second gathering time
100% chance to find gathering material (fish, ore, wood, etc.)
100% chance to find supplies for another skill (grindstone, worms, etc.)

Superior and Premium Supplies are fully trade-able. Common supplies, unlike the others, are not trade-able. However, every 22 hours, all players will have a stock amount of Common Supplies replenished for free, if they visit certain NPC's. These NPC's, Distributors, belong to a special group known as the Coterie of Gatherers (C.O.G. for short) and they can be found in Ardent City, Summer’s Hollow, and on the shores of Lake Kiwa, with the other members of their Coterie. C.O.G members are easily recognizable in their green robes and blazing gold emblems.

Who are the members of the C.O.G, and what do they do?

Distributors: C.O.G Distributors will serve out daily rations of supplies to all players. There is a C.O.G Distributor for Fishing, Mining, Plant Lore, and Bug Lore. Visit each of them once per day to collect your share.
Patrons: C.O.G Patrons will take Common Supplies from you in trade for C.O.G. coins. C.O.G. coins can be redeemed at a C.O.G. Quartermaster.
Quartermasters: C.O.G Quartermasters will sell you Common Supplies in exchange for varying rates of C.O.G coins.
Vendors: C.O.G. Vendors will sell Common Supplies for varying rates of gold, the official currency of the Seven Realms.

* C.O.G npc's only deal in Common Supplies, not Superior or Premium.

Motes of Yorick

When gathering, players will have a chance to find a Mote of Yorrick. These small energy orbs can be used to rapidly craft (in lieu of a mass producer.) These special Motes can also be purchased for gold, but they will not be sold in the item shop. Mass Producers will continue to be sold in the item shop, as will Clockwork Harvesters.

Where are all of these gathering supplies kept?

A tool bar will appear whenever players are engaged in a gathering skill. There are 3 slots in the bar, each slot relegated for common, superior, and premium supplies. Each slot holds 2500 supplies. Each of the four gathering skills have three such slots. (All of these slots are free.) The Character Window, in the ‘Skills’ section, also displays a player’s supplies.

Additionally, we have increased the inventory amount in bags, vaults, and lockers to 1000.

What happens to all your Vim and Vim-related items?

Vim has been removed entirely from the game. When you log in, all vim-related items will no longer be in your possession, but will have been converted into a special in-game currency called Crystallized Vim Shards. You will now have a choice of what you want to spend the Shards on. If you want to buy back the same items, which have been altered to fit the new system, you can. Or, if you decide you'd rather spend your Shards on other items within the new gathering system, you can do that as well. The choice is entirely yours.

In Ardent City, up near the castle, are a group of special NPC's dressed in purple. They will exchange items with you.

Here is a list of vim-related items, and how they now fit into the new system:

Cornucopia:

Old System: Gave a small amount of Vim.
New System: Eating a cornucopia gives you a charged buff (similar to how a deluxe clockwork harvester works.) With the buff, the next time you gather you have a 90% increased chance to find a Mote of Yorick. The effect expires after a total of 3 gathers (charges). The charges scale up with the cooking/charter recipes.
Note: The Overflowing Cornucopia recipe now requires 30 Cornucopias instead of 20, but it's Charter cost was reduced from 850 to 600 tokens.

Bounty Bosses:
Old System: Killing a bounty boss in your level range restored 2 Vim.
New System: All bounty bosses (regardless of level difference) reward a crate that contains various types of supplies. The level of supplies depends on the level of the bounty boss.
Old System: Killing a bounty gave you 1 stack on a buff that stacked to 75, each stack increased your maximum Vim by 2.
New System: Bounty power works the same (1 stack per kill, stacks to 75). The buff now grants bonus chance to find supplies while gathering, and when you do find supplies, it increases the amount you find.

Bugs:
Old System: Increased max Vim.
New System: While gathering, the chance to recycle (not use your selected supply) is increased.

Herbs:
Old System: eating herbs restored Vim.
New System:
22 hour Herbs - Grants the Abundant Earth effect: While gathering, your chance to find supplies is increased. Additionally your chance to find a Mote of Yorick is increased. Lasts for 5 minutes.
2 hour Herbs - Grants the Bountiful Earth effect: While gathering, your chance to find supplies is increased. Additionally your chance to find a Mote of Yorick is increased. Lasts for 5 minutes.
Abundant Earth and Bountiful Earth may be active simultaneously.

Magical Seeds:
Old System: could be grown and consumed to increase max vim and replenish vim.
New System:
Magic Vegetables now grant a large boost to gardening experience (the harvest can then be sold to a vendor or destroyed).
Magic Spices now grant a boost to sale price (gold).
Note: Magical seeds no longer tie into the gathering or crafting system.

Cooking Potions:
Old System: Increased Vim regeneration.
Renamed: Potions of the Triad (the Legendary Three)
New System: Your luck and prosperity while gathering, crafting, and working in your village is boosted. This includes recipe cost reduction while crafting, abundant harvests while gardening, and both lucky find and bonus supplies while gathering.

Yorick's Jewelry:
Old System: Increased Max Vim
New System: You have an increased chance at finding a Mote of Yorick while gathering. Additionally, your chance to find supplies is boosted.

Xinzen Carp:
Old System: Could be consumed to give a swim speed boost and make it so you would gain Vim rather than spending it.
New System: Can now be filleted to find what the fish has been munching on. Contains a swim speed potion and various large amounts of COG coins (used to purchase gathering supplies).

Charter Rewards:
Old System: Vim potions could be purchased for various amounts of Charter Tokens.
New System: All charter vendors now sell superior gathering supplies.

{continued in part 3)

Jun 8, 2015

REBORN Patch Notes - Part 2

Villagers and Heroes - ivarhill

Using No Supplies

Results in a 5 second gathering time
50% chance to find gathering material (e.g. fish, ore, wood, etc.)
100% chance to find 1-2 common gathering supplies for the current skill
0% chance to find supplies for another skill

Using Common Supplies
Results in a 3 second gathering time
100% chance to find gathering material (fish, ore, wood, etc.)
50% chance to find supplies for another skill (nectar, grindstones, etc.)

Using Superior Supplies
Results in a 2 second gathering time
100% chance to find gathering material (fish, ore, wood, etc)
75% chance to find gathering supplies for another skill (grindstones, nectar, etc.)

Using Premium Supplies
Results in a 1 second gathering time
100% chance to find gathering material (fish, ore, wood, etc.)
100% chance to find supplies for another skill (grindstone, worms, etc.)

Who are the members of the C.O.G, and what do they do?

Distributors: C.O.G Distributors will serve out daily rations of supplies to all players. There is a C.O.G Distributor for Fishing, Mining, Plant Lore, and Bug Lore. Visit each of them once per day to collect your share.
Patrons: C.O.G Patrons will take Common Supplies from you in trade for C.O.G. coins. C.O.G. coins can be redeemed at a C.O.G. Quartermaster.
Quartermasters: C.O.G Quartermasters will sell you Common Supplies in exchange for varying rates of C.O.G coins.
Vendors: C.O.G. Vendors will sell Common Supplies for varying rates of gold, the official currency of the Seven Realms.

* C.O.G npc's only deal in Common Supplies, not Superior or Premium.

Motes of Yorick

Where are all of these gathering supplies kept?

What happens to all your Vim and Vim-related items?

Cornucopia:

Old System: Gave a small amount of Vim.
New System: Eating a cornucopia gives you a charged buff (similar to how a deluxe clockwork harvester works.) With the buff, the next time you gather you have a 90% increased chance to find a Mote of Yorick. The effect expires after a total of 3 gathers (charges). The charges scale up with the cooking/charter recipes.
Note: The Overflowing Cornucopia recipe now requires 30 Cornucopias instead of 20, but it's Charter cost was reduced from 850 to 600 tokens.

Bounty Bosses:
Old System: Killing a bounty boss in your level range restored 2 Vim.
New System: All bounty bosses (regardless of level difference) reward a crate that contains various types of supplies. The level of supplies depends on the level of the bounty boss.
Old System: Killing a bounty gave you 1 stack on a buff that stacked to 75, each stack increased your maximum Vim by 2.
New System: Bounty power works the same (1 stack per kill, stacks to 75). The buff now grants bonus chance to find supplies while gathering, and when you do find supplies, it increases the amount you find.

Bugs:
Old System: Increased max Vim.
New System: While gathering, the chance to recycle (not use your selected supply) is increased.

Herbs:
Old System: eating herbs restored Vim.
New System:
22 hour Herbs - Grants the Abundant Earth effect: While gathering, your chance to find supplies is increased. Additionally your chance to find a Mote of Yorick is increased. Lasts for 5 minutes.
2 hour Herbs - Grants the Bountiful Earth effect: While gathering, your chance to find supplies is increased. Additionally your chance to find a Mote of Yorick is increased. Lasts for 5 minutes.
Abundant Earth and Bountiful Earth may be active simultaneously.

Magical Seeds:
Old System: could be grown and consumed to increase max vim and replenish vim.
New System:
Magic Vegetables now grant a large boost to gardening experience (the harvest can then be sold to a vendor or destroyed).
Magic Spices now grant a boost to sale price (gold).
Note: Magical seeds no longer tie into the gathering or crafting system.

Cooking Potions:
Old System: Increased Vim regeneration.
Renamed: Potions of the Triad (the Legendary Three)
New System: Your luck and prosperity while gathering, crafting, and working in your village is boosted. This includes recipe cost reduction while crafting, abundant harvests while gardening, and both lucky find and bonus supplies while gathering.

Yorick's Jewelry:
Old System: Increased Max Vim
New System: You have an increased chance at finding a Mote of Yorick while gathering. Additionally, your chance to find supplies is boosted.

Xinzen Carp:
Old System: Could be consumed to give a swim speed boost and make it so you would gain Vim rather than spending it.
New System: Can now be filleted to find what the fish has been munching on. Contains a swim speed potion and various large amounts of COG coins (used to purchase gathering supplies).

Charter Rewards:
Old System: Vim potions could be purchased for various amounts of Charter Tokens.
New System: All charter vendors now sell superior gathering supplies.

{continued in part 3)

Jun 8, 2015

REBORN Patch Notes - Part 1

Villagers and Heroes - Eltu

Here are all the new features of Reborn summed up in detail:

New Features and Major Improvements

New Character Create
New Graphical User Interface
New ‘Personality’ animations for players’ characters
5 new starter zones
New storyline with involved quests
Voiced dialogue
New intro video with a fly-over camera
New Music
New starter outfits
New Crafting tutorials
Older zones and villages have been given artistic makeovers
‘Rebirth’: a new feature for capped players, or those over level 30

Character Create (main new features)

Voiced Narration -- A character from the story audibly prompts the player through the creation process. A sub-titles feature has also been added.
Origin Starter packs -- players are given a free supply pack of various perks, each one corresponding to the realm of origin selected.
Biography profiles -- players can choose their origin and background, as well as personalities which provide flavorful summaries of the characters they are creating.
Personality animations -- players can choose between seven new animations and ambients: Heroic, Glamorous, Thoughtful, Pious, Brutish, Fearful, and Normal.
Faces Improved -- new textures have been added, as well as a new head.
Height Option -- players can choose the height of their character.
Realm images -- Background scenes of each realm of origin are now depicted.
Villager Options -- Choices for the crafting aspect of the game have been added, and are presented as being equally important as those of the adventuring aspect. Furthermore, XP levels for chosen skills have been increased to level 5 for all new players.
House Selection -- players can now select their house styles in character create, and are provided with the information about the various housing perks.

New User Interface (main new features)

Quest Journal -- quests can be sorted by level or name, have been color-coded, can be filtered by the type of quest, and an option to view only certain quests at a time has been added.
Character Window -- Broken down into four sub-categories, the character window replaces the previous ‘outfit’ window, and now separately displays: Stats, Talents, Skills, and player Bio.
On-Screen Character Portrait -- An image of the player’s character is displayed at all times in the upper left hand corner of the screen. (Clicking on it will also open the ‘talents’ window.) Additionally, upon joining a party, pictures of all party members will also be displayed on screen.
Inventory -- items in bags are now color coded according to the category they belong to.
Shortcuts -- Shortcut icon tabs have been added on screen for the quest journal, friends lists, achievements, and the character window. These have all been removed from the ‘Menu’ tab.
Quest tracking bar -- the icons for the five quests being tracked are now in upper corner of screen, aligned horizontally instead of vertically.
Character select screen -- new background images based upon a player’s origin selection for their character now appear on the select page.

New zones, New quests, and New Tutorials

5 brand new zones -- Ethos Island, Lower Ethos Island, Cronk Island, The Briny Caverns, and the Underground Sanctum. (The now much-changed town of Summer’s Hollow has moved, and can be found on Ethos Island.)
Fly-cam video -- an introductory video takes the player on a brief tour of Ethos Island before setting them down in front of Summer’s Hollow.
New Quests -- A series of lengthy, story-driven quests will keep players busy in all the new zones.
Voiced Dialogue -- Over 60 different NPC’s in the new zones have speaking parts.
New ‘Story Icon’ -- A purple exclamation mark over an NPC now indicates that the quest is part of the main storyline. (Yellow exclamation marks indicate side quests.)
An Improved Crafting/Gathering Tutorial -- Extensive tutorials for all 8 skills have been added in the new zones.

Old Zone Makeovers

Artistic Touch-ups to old zones -- Ardent City, Ardent Castle, Lady’s Lake, Elk’s Meadow, Memorial Pond, Vinton, Mounds, Moonglade, Oak Valley, Kingsport, Southern Coast, Shadow's Den and Villages have all been enhanced.

'Rebirth' - A feature which enables players at level 30 or above to begin anew with special advantages

Players can return to level 1, and will be given 5 bonus talent points.
Players will keep all of their prior crafting skills, elder levels, items, bags, gnogmentation packs, achievements, travel pad locations, and portal keys they earned before rebirthing.
Players will lose all prior combat levels. All quest status,’ progress, and completions will be reset, as well as bounties and kill counts. All talents will be reset, and any talent points gained by leveling will also be lost. However, players will keep any talent points received for performing the rebirth.
In addition to the five bonus talent points given, players will also receive a special hero experience bonus that stacks with all normal experience boosts. This bonus scales with level, becoming increasingly powerful upwards of a 400% boost.
Players who undergo the rebirthing process will also receive a special emblem displayed in their player cameo text, which will indicate how many times they have been reborn.

Please note: at this time, such items as Yorick's Gathering Hat, Cheetah Boots, and Golden Winged Helm will lose their proficiencies after a player performs a Rebirth. However, we will be implementing tech in several weeks time, which will ensure that the proficiencies on the items will remain.

A new gathering system

How does it work?

Gathering from any resource requires a specific tool. Fishing requires a pole. Mining requires a pick-axe, Wood, fruit, and mushroom picking require a scythe. Bug collecting requires a magnifying glass. Each tool can be equipped with unique supplies which provide special advantages to the gatherer. These supplies are found in the different gathering nodes within the world, and are interdependent upon each other, thereby forming a circle of life.

Mining supplies can be gained while fishing and mining.
Plant Lore supplies can be gained while mining and doing plant gathering.
Bug Lore supplies can be gained while doing Plant Lore, and collecting bugs.
Fishing supplies can be gained while doing Bug Lore and fishing.

Examples of supplies:

Grindstones aid in plant lore, and can be used to sharpen scythes.
Fishing Worms aid in fishing, and act as tantalizing bait.
Natural oils aid in mining, and can improve the metal of the pick-axe.
Nectar aids in the collection of bugs.

(continued in part 2)

Jun 8, 2015

REBORN Patch Notes - Part 1

Villagers and Heroes - ivarhill

Here are all the new features of Reborn summed up in detail:

New Features and Major Improvements

New Character Create
New Graphical User Interface
New ‘Personality’ animations for players’ characters
5 new starter zones
New storyline with involved quests
Voiced dialogue
New intro video with a fly-over camera
New Music
New starter outfits
New Crafting tutorials
Older zones and villages have been given artistic makeovers
‘Rebirth’: a new feature for capped players, or those over level 30

Character Create (main new features)

Voiced Narration -- A character from the story audibly prompts the player through the creation process. A sub-titles feature has also been added.
Origin Starter packs -- players are given a free supply pack of various perks, each one corresponding to the realm of origin selected.
Biography profiles -- players can choose their origin and background, as well as personalities which provide flavorful summaries of the characters they are creating.
Personality animations -- players can choose between seven new animations and ambients: Heroic, Glamorous, Thoughtful, Pious, Brutish, Fearful, and Normal.
Faces Improved -- new textures have been added, as well as a new head.
Height Option -- players can choose the height of their character.
Realm images -- Background scenes of each realm of origin are now depicted.
Villager Options -- Choices for the crafting aspect of the game have been added, and are presented as being equally important as those of the adventuring aspect. Furthermore, XP levels for chosen skills have been increased to level 5 for all new players.
House Selection -- players can now select their house styles in character create, and are provided with the information about the various housing perks.

New User Interface (main new features)

Quest Journal -- quests can be sorted by level or name, have been color-coded, can be filtered by the type of quest, and an option to view only certain quests at a time has been added.
Character Window -- Broken down into four sub-categories, the character window replaces the previous ‘outfit’ window, and now separately displays: Stats, Talents, Skills, and player Bio.
On-Screen Character Portrait -- An image of the player’s character is displayed at all times in the upper left hand corner of the screen. (Clicking on it will also open the ‘talents’ window.) Additionally, upon joining a party, pictures of all party members will also be displayed on screen.
Inventory -- items in bags are now color coded according to the category they belong to.
Shortcuts -- Shortcut icon tabs have been added on screen for the quest journal, friends lists, achievements, and the character window. These have all been removed from the ‘Menu’ tab.
Quest tracking bar -- the icons for the five quests being tracked are now in upper corner of screen, aligned horizontally instead of vertically.
Character select screen -- new background images based upon a player’s origin selection for their character now appear on the select page.

New zones, New quests, and New Tutorials

5 brand new zones -- Ethos Island, Lower Ethos Island, Cronk Island, The Briny Caverns, and the Underground Sanctum. (The now much-changed town of Summer’s Hollow has moved, and can be found on Ethos Island.)
Fly-cam video -- an introductory video takes the player on a brief tour of Ethos Island before setting them down in front of Summer’s Hollow.
New Quests -- A series of lengthy, story-driven quests will keep players busy in all the new zones.
Voiced Dialogue -- Over 60 different NPC’s in the new zones have speaking parts.
New ‘Story Icon’ -- A purple exclamation mark over an NPC now indicates that the quest is part of the main storyline. (Yellow exclamation marks indicate side quests.)
An Improved Crafting/Gathering Tutorial -- Extensive tutorials for all 8 skills have been added in the new zones.

Old Zone Makeovers

Artistic Touch-ups to old zones -- Ardent City, Ardent Castle, Lady’s Lake, Elk’s Meadow, Memorial Pond, Vinton, Mounds, Moonglade, Oak Valley, Kingsport, Southern Coast, Shadow's Den and Villages have all been enhanced.

'Rebirth' - A feature which enables players at level 30 or above to begin anew with special advantages

Players can return to level 1, and will be given 5 bonus talent points.
Players will keep all of their prior crafting skills, elder levels, items, bags, gnogmentation packs, achievements, travel pad locations, and portal keys they earned before rebirthing.
Players will lose all prior combat levels. All quest status,’ progress, and completions will be reset, as well as bounties and kill counts. All talents will be reset, and any talent points gained by leveling will also be lost. However, players will keep any talent points received for performing the rebirth.
In addition to the five bonus talent points given, players will also receive a special hero experience bonus that stacks with all normal experience boosts. This bonus scales with level, becoming increasingly powerful upwards of a 400% boost.
Players who undergo the rebirthing process will also receive a special emblem displayed in their player cameo text, which will indicate how many times they have been reborn.

A new gathering system

Mining supplies can be gained while fishing and mining.
Plant Lore supplies can be gained while mining and doing plant gathering.
Bug Lore supplies can be gained while doing Plant Lore, and collecting bugs.
Fishing supplies can be gained while doing Bug Lore and fishing.

Examples of supplies:

Grindstones aid in plant lore, and can be used to sharpen scythes.
Fishing Worms aid in fishing, and act as tantalizing bait.
Natural oils aid in mining, and can improve the metal of the pick-axe.
Nectar aids in the collection of bugs.

(continued in part 2)

Jun 4, 2015

Villagers & Heroes: REBORN will launch on Monday, June 8th!

Villagers and Heroes - Eltu

Mad Otter Games is very excited to announce the release date of Villagers and Heroes: REBORN, the latest in a long line of changes that brings a whole new life to the game. Not only can veteran players find exciting new content and features with this major expansion, but we have re-designed the entire game and especially the starter zone to make those first several hours in the game more exciting and immersive.

REBORN will launch on Monday, June 8th, at 11 am Eastern / 8 am Pacific.

REBORN includes these major new improvements:

A Mystery to Solve - Who is the Malicious Miscreant, and why are citizens of Summer's Hollow mysteriously disappearing?
The Circle of Life - An all new gathering supply system that completely replaces the unpopular ENERGY / Vim system formerly featured in the game. Worms for fishing, Nectar for bug collecting, Grind Stones for your plant sickle, etc.
Voice Acting and Musical Score - Professional voice actors for the major quests in the game
Complete Face Lift - Literally and otherwise- most of the world has been completely redone with new artwork (models and painted texture), completely new User Interface, and new character facial choices have been added.
Wider Breadth of Choices for your Character - Apart from choosing your appearance and class specialization, you can now choose your personality type (complete with appropriate body pose), your origin, and your skills as a villager.
Be Reborn! Enter the Temple of Rebirth to unlearn all your combat skills and start anew, but this time with the advantage of more skills to unlock, and without losing all of your character’s knowledge of gathering, crafting, gear and items, and greatly accelerated learning!

More information on REBORN can be found at www.vhreborn.com or the Steam Community page of the game.

Jun 4, 2015

Villagers & Heroes: REBORN will launch on Monday, June 8th!

Villagers and Heroes - ivarhill

A Mystery to Solve - Who is the Malicious Miscreant, and why are citizens of Summer's Hollow mysteriously disappearing?
The Circle of Life - An all new gathering supply system that completely replaces the unpopular ENERGY / Vim system formerly featured in the game. Worms for fishing, Nectar for bug collecting, Grind Stones for your plant sickle, etc.
Voice Acting and Musical Score - Professional voice actors for the major quests in the game
Complete Face Lift - Literally and otherwise- most of the world has been completely redone with new artwork (models and painted texture), completely new User Interface, and new character facial choices have been added.
Wider Breadth of Choices for your Character - Apart from choosing your appearance and class specialization, you can now choose your personality type (complete with appropriate body pose), your origin, and your skills as a villager.
Be Reborn! Enter the Temple of Rebirth to unlearn all your combat skills and start anew, but this time with the advantage of more skills to unlock, and without losing all of your character’s knowledge of gathering, crafting, gear and items, and greatly accelerated learning!

More information on REBORN can be found at www.vhreborn.com or the Steam Community page of the game.