Tonight, more fixes and balancing (especially for larger dungeons). A lot changed during the beta period, and I am grateful for your feedback regarding the game's balance. I have heard a few say that the early game is too rough, so I will be looking at that for the next update, but this update is more for those who say the late game is too easy.

Hero checkpoints now fortify by number of floors built rather than number of floors fortified; the previous checkpoint now fortifies when a new one appears. This way, you can't avoid fortifying floors in order to prevent heroes from adding portals; this also means dungeons brought over from a previous game will begin with hero portals throughout--should be more interesting this way, but let me know what you think! Drop rates have been tweaked a bit, the XP ramp has been bumped up, and hero spawn rates have increased slightly for later waves.

In combat, minions are now always on the left and heroes are always on the right. This should help with some confusion identifying sides in the heat of battle.

There are Liches in the air! The Macabre Mausoleum hosts a suitably powerful undead/eldritch enemy with high ward defense and a big arcane damage buff--they also raise Skeleton Acolytes, the same way Necromancers raise Skeleton Warriors. The Acolytes deal arcane damage and heal undead, so this is some great stuff for undead or magic-focused dungeons.

Keep the feedback coming, and let me know what you really think! I appreciate it :totbacon:.

Additions:

• Macabre Mausoleum (Nexus + Offering); produces Lich

Changes:

• Minions should now always be associated with a particular slot when stationed, if you do not target a specific slot, a suitable one will be selected
  
• Tweaked drop rates to vary by number of heroes in the dungeon (heroes should drop more stuff when there are fewer around)
  
• Increased hero spawn rate for later waves
  
• The previous hero checkpoint now fortifies when a new one is built
  
• Level ramp is significantly steeper
  
• Minions are always on the left side of a battle, and heroes always on the right
  
• If a target character perishes before all opponents have taken a stab, the turn swaps to the other side instead of finishing out unnecessary moves

Fixes:

• Shuffling floors would lose slot assignments for characters on that floor
  
• Resolved a couple of issues with unused controllers while using the menu
  
• Quaff was stacking with itself, allowing for very large ranged damage buffs

Tonight, more fixes and balancing (especially for larger dungeons). A lot changed during the beta period, and I am grateful for your feedback regarding the game's balance. I have heard a few say that the early game is too rough, so I will be looking at that for the next update, but this update is more for those who say the late game is too easy.

Hero checkpoints now fortify by number of floors built rather than number of floors fortified; the previous checkpoint now fortifies when a new one appears. This way, you can't avoid fortifying floors in order to prevent heroes from adding portals; this also means dungeons brought over from a previous game will begin with hero portals throughout--should be more interesting this way, but let me know what you think! Drop rates have been tweaked a bit, the XP ramp has been bumped up, and hero spawn rates have increased slightly for later waves.

In combat, minions are now always on the left and heroes are always on the right. This should help with some confusion identifying sides in the heat of battle.

There are Liches in the air! The Macabre Mausoleum hosts a suitably powerful undead/eldritch enemy with high ward defense and a big arcane damage buff--they also raise Skeleton Acolytes, the same way Necromancers raise Skeleton Warriors. The Acolytes deal arcane damage and heal undead, so this is some great stuff for undead or magic-focused dungeons.

Keep the feedback coming, and let me know what you really think! I appreciate it ːtotbaconː.

Additions:

• Macabre Mausoleum (Nexus + Offering); produces Lich

Changes:

• Minions should now always be associated with a particular slot when stationed, if you do not target a specific slot, a suitable one will be selected
  
• Tweaked drop rates to vary by number of heroes in the dungeon (heroes should drop more stuff when there are fewer around)
  
• Increased hero spawn rate for later waves
  
• The previous hero checkpoint now fortifies when a new one is built
  
• Level ramp is significantly steeper
  
• Minions are always on the left side of a battle, and heroes always on the right
  
• If a target character perishes before all opponents have taken a stab, the turn swaps to the other side instead of finishing out unnecessary moves

Fixes:

• Shuffling floors would lose slot assignments for characters on that floor
  
• Resolved a couple of issues with unused controllers while using the menu
  
• Quaff was stacking with itself, allowing for very large ranged damage buffs

We are super excited and happy to make the announcement that BlackShot, one of the world's leading mercenary groups has finally been launched on Steam!

The world the way we have known it stopped existing and has been replaced by a state of chaos in which the most powerful nations are in war for money and resources.
In order to wage the war, huge armies of clone soldiers have been conducted to fight the ultimate war on dangerous and gritty battlefields.
Every mercenary has the chance to rise from a lowly recruit all the way up to a commander-in-chief if they are brave and skilled enough to make it through all the battles.

In BlackShot, players can experience deep character customizations with the opportunity to choose from of a large variety of weapons such as snipers, assault rifles, shotguns, SMGs and many more, as well as different tactics and equipment.
By rising up in ranks and expanding their skills, gamers can develop their mercenary into a lethal weapon.

Are you brave enough to become one of the elite soldiers in BlackShot’s ultimate warfare?

We are super excited and happy to make the announcement that BlackShot, one of the world's leading mercenary groups has finally been launched on Steam!

The world the way we have known it stopped existing and has been replaced by a state of chaos in which the most powerful nations are in war for money and resources.
In order to wage the war, huge armies of clone soldiers have been conducted to fight the ultimate war on dangerous and gritty battlefields.
Every mercenary has the chance to rise from a lowly recruit all the way up to a commander-in-chief if they are brave and skilled enough to make it through all the battles.

In BlackShot, players can experience deep character customizations with the opportunity to choose from of a large variety of weapons such as snipers, assault rifles, shotguns, SMGs and many more, as well as different tactics and equipment.
By rising up in ranks and expanding their skills, gamers can develop their mercenary into a lethal weapon.

Are you brave enough to become one of the elite soldiers in BlackShot’s ultimate warfare?

In order to celebrate Ascension, we’re putting together a series of special gifts and limited time quests. Veterans, returning players, and new players alike will find new items in their mailboxes. Guilds will also find special items in their Prestige Shops! Read on for all the juicy details, and look for these items after the launch of Ascension on May 31st!

Get all of the details at the Official Forums!

In order to celebrate Ascension, we’re putting together a series of special gifts and limited time quests. Veterans, returning players, and new players alike will find new items in their mailboxes. Guilds will also find special items in their Prestige Shops! Read on for all the juicy details, and look for these items after the launch of Ascension on May 31st!

Get all of the details at the Official Forums!

The fated day has come, and ArcheAge: Ascension is now available! This massive update comes with amazing new features including…



Take the steps to become a Sovereign and rule over your own land. Strike up diplomatic relations with Nuia or Haranya while you collect taxes from the territories under your control. Rule the land and skies with the brand new Sovereign-only mount, the Golden Wyvern.



Build markets, farms, warehouses and more as you form the foundation of a new type of economy on Auroria. Even if you’re not in a guild that holds a castle, your work is crucial to the construction of these new buildings and you’ll get paid handsomely in return for your assistance!




Bigger. Badder. More powerful than ever before. Tier 7 Obsidian items are here and waiting for you to claim their might. Plus, Tier 5 and Tier 6 now require less wisps to craft, allowing you to reach new heights of power.




There’s a new format for siege bidding in town, and it’s aimed at making sieges better for everyone involved. Plus, the Arena now features matchmaking to help keep battles balanced and fair for both sides.


Read these changes and more great features in the Official Patch Notes, and make sure to log in and play today!

The fated day has come, and ArcheAge: Ascension is now available! This massive update comes with amazing new features including…



Take the steps to become a Sovereign and rule over your own land. Strike up diplomatic relations with Nuia or Haranya while you collect taxes from the territories under your control. Rule the land and skies with the brand new Sovereign-only mount, the Golden Wyvern.



Build markets, farms, warehouses and more as you form the foundation of a new type of economy on Auroria. Even if you’re not in a guild that holds a castle, your work is crucial to the construction of these new buildings and you’ll get paid handsomely in return for your assistance!




Bigger. Badder. More powerful than ever before. Tier 7 Obsidian items are here and waiting for you to claim their might. Plus, Tier 5 and Tier 6 now require less wisps to craft, allowing you to reach new heights of power.




There’s a new format for siege bidding in town, and it’s aimed at making sieges better for everyone involved. Plus, the Arena now features matchmaking to help keep battles balanced and fair for both sides.


Read these changes and more great features in the Official Patch Notes, and make sure to log in and play today!

I updated with just a small hot fix for servers.

• Anti-cheat was banning players for no reason if the server was running at low FPS. This has been fixed and tested.
  
  
• Occasionally, servers will have a map corruption error when the map isnt actually corrupted, thus stopping the server for no reason. The server will automatically restart when this error happens. So if your server enters a restart loop, your maps probably ARE actually corrupted. If you have logging enabled, the error will appear there instead to confirm.
  
  
• You may have noticed banned.txt is now bm_settings.ini_banned.txt. This is for running multiple servers with different config files, so each server has its own ban list. Not as convienient as a global ban list, but it was causing file writing issues.
  
  
• Lastly, you may have also noticed symbols at the end of IP address bans. These symbols help you determine what ban method was used quickly.
  
  
  @ = Anti cheat ban $ = Vote ban None = Banned by server owner
  
  IP addresses with $ at the end of them are automatically removed every hour or so. You can use this to your advantage to also temporarily ban players yourself. Just ban them, then open the ban list file and add the $ at the end of their IP address yourself.
  
  IP addresses with the @ are NOT automatically removed. They are merely there to tell you the anti-cheat took action against someone. I suggest investigating each issue then deleting the @ to "permanently" ban them or delete the whole IP address if you believe it was false. That way you can keep track of new bans that happened recently.

This update isn't MANDATORY but its recommended. People will still be able to play on your servers if you don't update right away.

Thats it. Sorry if you found this news post disappointing. Have a dancing pumpkin man to feel better.

I updated with just a small hot fix for servers.

• Anti-cheat was banning players for no reason if the server was running at low FPS. This has been fixed and tested.
  
  
• Occasionally, servers will have a map corruption error when the map isnt actually corrupted, thus stopping the server for no reason. The server will automatically restart when this error happens. So if your server enters a restart loop, your maps probably ARE actually corrupted. If you have logging enabled, the error will appear there instead to confirm.
  
  
• You may have noticed banned.txt is now bm_settings.ini_banned.txt. This is for running multiple servers with different config files, so each server has its own ban list. Not as convienient as a global ban list, but it was causing file writing issues.
  
  
• Lastly, you may have also noticed symbols at the end of IP address bans. These symbols help you determine what ban method was used quickly.
  
  
  @ = Anti cheat ban $ = Vote ban None = Banned by server owner
  
  IP addresses with $ at the end of them are automatically removed every hour or so. You can use this to your advantage to also temporarily ban players yourself. Just ban them, then open the ban list file and add the $ at the end of their IP address yourself.
  
  IP addresses with the @ are NOT automatically removed. They are merely there to tell you the anti-cheat took action against someone. I suggest investigating each issue then deleting the @ to "permanently" ban them or delete the whole IP address if you believe it was false. That way you can keep track of new bans that happened recently.

This update isn't MANDATORY but its recommended. People will still be able to play on your servers if you don't update right away.

Thats it. Sorry if you found this news post disappointing. Have a dancing pumpkin man to feel better.