Nov 2, 2021

Enter The Temple of Death! AdventureQuest 3D’s toughest challenge yet...

AdventureQuest 3D - Didgeridoo McKangaroo

"You think you’ve defeated me? You can’t even begin to imagine my full power!"

Skorpienne is back, bigger and badder than before! You’ll need to gather your most powerful friends to help you face her at full power in The Temple of Death…

The Temple of Death - Raid

Defeating Skorpienne in The Temple of Death is no easy task, with multiple phases to battle through, and new tactics that will end the fight if you fail to defeat her. Be careful, and don’t get overwhelmed by her armies! Shatter her Destruction Diamonds before she destroys the whole Temple and defeats you all.
Pick up some quests from Sekt before heading to the Great Pyramid to join the Temple of Death raid. We used a similar queue system to the Battle Arena. Make sure you have at least 751 total average power equipped. Skorpienne will only face worthy opponents. When all ten players are ready, you will be teleported to the Raid.
*Note: You can check your average power in the Equipped Gear section of your inventory.

The Rewards

This week’s release is packed with epic rewards for defeating the fully powered Skorpienne!
Defeating her in battle gives you a chance to obtain the following from the reward chest…

Hollowed Champion Bow
Hollowed Champion Dagger
Hollowed Champion Greatsword
Hollowed Champion Scythe
Skorpienne Carapace (crafting materials)
Skorpienne Crystal Fragments (crafting materials)

If you destroy all of the Destruction Crystals and prevent the temple from being destroyed, a second special chest will drop with…

“Battalion” Title
Extra Skorpienne Crystal Fragments
Extra Skorpienne Carapace

Of course, there are also a couple of extremely rare items in both chests, but we’ll just let you find out what they are :)

Hollowed Champion Crafting

Visit Sekt to craft the Hollowed Champion armor set and weapons after you’ve slayed Skorpienne again!

Hollowed Champion Armor
Hollowed Champion Belt
Hollowed Champion Boots
Hollowed Champion Cloak
Hollowed Champion Crown
Hollowed Champion Gloves
Hollowed Champion Plates
Hollowed Champion Dual Daggers
Hollowed Champion Greatsword and Dagger

The Masquerade

We made a video to show off the Masquerade of the Macabre, go and watch it, and tell us if you want us to make more videos like this!

There are still secrets in the haunted ballroom, do you dare to find them?

Talk to Umbra, a mysterious interloper at the Masquerade when your reputation is rank 10...
A creature of the night made off with one of her valued heirlooms, and she needs help getting it back.

Dungeons & Doomknights is at Midwest Gaming Classic Convention!

Curious about Dungeons & Doomknights? Want to meet Artix? Head over to the Wisconsin Centre in Milwaukee, WI, from November 5th to November 7th.

HeroMart

Check out the new real-life drops at our online shop, https://www.heromart.com/.

How to level up quickly!

Eager to play the challenge? Here’s a list of some of the quickest way to level up!

Finish the Sandsea Saga
Play some PvP
Visit the Masquerade of the Macabre
Play through the story

The most efficient way to get your average power level to 751 is to utilize a combination of the following gear:

Infuse pieces of the Void Sharken to +15 power offset or 15/15 infusion.
Use Zhoom’s Bow; rewarded by completing the Sandsea Saga or any other weapon that can be infused to +15 or 15/15.
Infuse additional pieces of Crocos gear to +10 or 10/10.

You need at least 2 items fully infused to 755 Power level and the rest infused to 750 power level to get access to the raid. You can keep checking your average power by clicking Equip Best in your Inventory until the average equals 751 or more.
See you in game.
Battle on!
Artix, Glisel, Rellik, and the AQ3D Team

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Website: https://www.artix.com/

Nov 2, 2021

EmergeNYC Rescue Update 0.9.3 now Live on All Branches!

EmergeNYC - FlipSwitchGames

New Content:

New physics based collapse calls

https://youtu.be/KT-x_kNKyKY

New trench rescue calls

https://youtu.be/uckhBNJtMVc

New man under bus and train calls

https://youtu.be/dLmYjFMlMzs

New EMS UI and treatment system & ragdoll physics

New fire calls in Manhattan and Brooklyn

New Stillwater & Montgomery County Units: Rescue Engine Spare, Engine 33-2, Stillwater Tower Ladder

New & Improved Q Sirens, PA300 Sirens, Airhorn sounds and more!

https://youtu.be/u_JAp48gllg

New Rescue equipment and tools: Cribbing, Airbags, Bottle jack, Rope Rescues, Concrete drill, Torch

Added a lock camera option, by holding C it will freeze movement of the character camera which makes it easier to drag people out from under trains, busses, and collapses as well as positioning airbags and cribbing

https://youtu.be/wYiQwMMfOLU

Added a button AI option to Lay In (Only in Brooklyn right now). Deploys a relay line length, connects to the nearest hydrant, allowing you to stay in the rig, capture a hydrant, and drive away and let out lengths behind you. Once you hop out just disconnect it from the hose bed and connect to the pump for water supply. The hydrant will already be charged.

Added ability to pull hose lengths off the hose bed now by pulling the first one off and then pulling that hose with the mouse and it will pull out more lengths

Added an Old Q Siren on Engine 32 Old

Added an Old Q Siren to Ladder 176

Added notepad to new EMS UI which is updated with vitals and patient name etc.

Added UI to notify player to press H to bring up new EMS UI

Added 1990 Engine 222

Added 1990 Engine 32

Added 2021 Engine 310

Added MCPD Units to Fire Academy

The long awaited Rescue update is finally available for the public on all branches. We spent all of October working with our exclusive members and then opening up to the staging branch to track down the most problematic issues. While there are still quirks and things to be ironed out, I am confident that this update is ready for you guys to begin messing with and that it is more stable than the previous update.

What took so long?

Life changing things in my personal life arose in September and October which caused me to move back home and be with family as my future was uncertain. I was still working but the time I could put into the project was drastically reduced as I had other things that needed my focus. Now that those things have passed I have been able to get back to full time focus on the game.

Where do we go from here?

I will continue to work on bug fixes, stability improvements, and performance improvements. While LC will continue doing his thing introducing new and revamped units, sound and lighting improvements and he’s now learning level design as he plans to add a Stillwater map to the game at some point in the future.

I myself will be working on making sure that the EMS system functionality is fully completed and Firefighter AI is next up as my main priority now that I have the time and experience needed to fully accomplish that feature I previewed late last year. This will be something that really transforms the single player experience and if you haven’t seen the preview go check it out here:

https://youtu.be/khPw2eg66AE

Once that is completed I plan on focusing on the Police mechanics of the game as it is the last department needing to be completed. Along with that will be additional rescue calls like water rescues and more that ESU will be involved in. Of course there are a ton of other things we are excited to eventually add such as throwback units which some have already been included in this update, map expansions, new firehouses, and units. But right now I want to get these main things out of the way first so the game can make the leaps it needs to make towards an eventual beta stage with all of the promised features.

Thanks all of you for your continued patience. I hope you guys enjoy!

0.9.3 Change Log

New Content:

New physics based collapse calls

New trench rescue calls

New man under bus and train calls

New EMS UI and treatment system & ragdoll physics

New fire calls in Manhattan and Brooklyn

New Stillwater & Montgomery County Units: Rescue Engine Spare, Engine 33-2, Stillwater Tower Ladder

New & Improved Q Sirens, PA300 Sirens, Airhorn sounds and more!

New Rescue equipment and tools: Cribbing, Airbags, Bottlejack, Rope Rescues, Concrete drill, Torch

Added ability to pull hose lengths off the hose bed now by pulling the first one off and then pulling that hose with the mouse and it will pull out more lengths

Added a lock camera option, by holding C it will freeze movement of the character camera which makes it easier to drag people out from under trains, busses, and collapses as well as positioning airbags and cribbing

Added a button AI option to Lay In (Only in Brooklyn right now). Deploys a relay line length, connects to the nearest hydrant, allowing you to stay in the rig, capture a hydrant, and drive away and let out lengths behind you. Once you hop out just disconnect it from the hose bed and connect to the pump for water supply. The hydrant will already be charged.

Added an Old Q Siren on Engine 32 Old

Added an Old Q Siren to Ladder 176

Added notepad to new EMS UI which is updated with vitals and patient name etc.

Added UI to notify player to press H to bring up new EMS UI

Added 1990 Engine 222

Added 1990 Engine 32

Added 2021 Engine 310

Added MCPD Units to Fire Academy

Bug Fixes:

Fixed Rescue reverse speed bug

Fixed an issue entering L44 Bucket

Fixed Engine 227 AI

Fixed Rescue 9 AI

Fixed L44 License Plate attached to bucket

Significantly improved stability of bus and train physics (Busses and trains will only be unfrozen if an airbag is being inflated or deflated under it, a bottle jack is being used, and will freeze if a player runs into them in order to avoid wonky physics interactions

Fixed Stokes, Backboards, airbags, cribbing and more falling under ground when dropping or positioning them

Fixed patient teleporting back to the original position when placing on a blackboard

Fixed not having the option to drop off the patient

Fixed putting on an arm splint causing the patient to go flying

Fixed player running into a stokes or backboard patient being carried causing the patient to fly away

Fixed not being able to grab backboard and stokes after first use and other issues with tools and items not being useable via radial menu sometimes especially in MP

Fixed Ladder 176 Q Siren

Fixed Engine 78 New Q Siren and horn

Fixed AI Units which sirens would not work after returning home

Fixed L74 Old AI not working

Fixed Engine 31 Old

Added sheriff role to academy for MCPD Cars

Fixed Stillwater Tower Ladder max speed

Fixed Stillwater Tower Ladder turntable exit causing you to get in the back seat

Fixed Engine 222 and 32 Old deckguns

Fixed Engine 222 and 32 Old floating highrise packs

Fixed Engine 1 respawn lights not turning off

Fixed Collapse in Manhattan spawning a floating fire in the street

Made it so AI teleports to destination if they hit the border walls in Brooklyn

Added sound trigger to Brooklyn Train station to remove outdoor ambience

Fixed reversed Tower Ladder spray in Multiplayer (Needs testing)

Fixed highrise bulkhead door being too short for player to exit

Fixed MC Tower Ladder being massive sometimes

Fixed Squad 28 rear wheels sticking out too far

Fixed an invisible rollup door on the side of E33-1

Fixed not being able to spawn on the Stillwater Brush truck if another brush truck was spawned

Fixed anyone being able to control the train horns in Multiplayer

Synced Train horns

Fixed floating street sign on Monroe Ave in MC

Fixed Hazmat ticket with wrong address in Brooklyn

Added Tones to all new calls in Manhattan that didnt have them

Fixed wrong version when returning to main menu

Fixed 5th Battalion AI in Manhattan

Fixed Division 4 AI in Manhattan

Fixed Engine 78 New AI Lights not activating

Fixed Engine 32 Door texture not aligning

Fixed some lighting on Engine 1 in Montgomery County

Fixed Tower Ladder 57 New’s front right wheel being too far back

Fixed Engine 227 AI lights not activating

Fixed a floating fire on the roof of a setback in uptown manhattan

Siren & Horn Improvements:

New old school Q2b siren

Improved the classic grover horn on the Quint

Fixed Q2b B version 3

Improved Vcon Siren

Improved the 2014 seagrave horn (Engine 32, Ladder 175, Squad 1)

Quint: Fixed horn and improved auto siren

Rescue 1: New horn and new Q2b

Rescue Engine spare: fixed auto siren, gave it the classic grover horn, gave it the Old Q2b siren

Stillwater Ladder rear mount: Fixed Q2b, Improved airhorn

Ladder 111 Spare: Changed Airhorn and Q Siren

Ladder 68 spare: Fixed horn, New pa300

Ladder 66 Spare: New Horn and pa300

Ladder 174 spare: fixed horn

Engine 32: Fixed horn

Squad 1: Fixed horn

Ladder 175: Fixed horn and Q

Ladder 57 New: New Q Siren

Engine 1 MC light fix and new horn

New Mack Q siren

Nov 2, 2021

Itemization in 7.0

STAR WARS™: The Old Republic™ - SWTOR Community Team

In our July Legacy of the Sith announcement stream, we shared some high-level information about Combat Styles and Loadouts. With several Combat Styles now available on our Public Test Server and the introduction to Legendary Items, we wanted to dive further into how gearing and itemization will work in 7.0. The feedback that players have provided over the years has always helped us shape the future of Star Wars™: The Old Republic™, so we are excited to talk about what to expect with Legacy of the Sith.

Philosophy

Our philosophy for gearing and progression in 7.0 is to ensure that players have the gear they need to play the content they want and that they can grow their power over time. Whether a player is here for the story or to take on the most powerful challenges in the galaxy, we want there to be something a player can look forward to that makes their characters stronger.

Legacy of the Sith (7.0) will be reintroducing the vertical progression path for gearing. This type of progression is not new to the game; however, 7.0 will offer players new experiences and ways to obtain gear. Within a game update, a player can regularly work toward getting stronger and know that more power is on the horizon.

Another key component of our philosophy is to remove randomness (referred to as RNG) from the equation as much as possible. When RNG is used often, it causes a variety of issues, such as inflation in the game’s economy, bloat in a character’s inventory space, and removal of player control in acquiring and equipping gear. The Renown system was meant to mitigate issues caused by RNG by providing alternate opportunities to earn gear; however, it wasn’t effective in that goal. Issues caused by RNG can lead to a frustrating gearing experience, and we want to remove these hurdles.

There are two points players should keep in mind when it comes to upgrading their gear in 7.0. The first is that weekly content will be the fastest and most efficient way to obtain upgrades. Secondly, risk is rewarded. If a player chooses to complete content on a higher difficulty, they will be rewarded with better gear.

Gaining Power

The majority of gear upgrades will be offered through weekly mission rewards or by trading in reward gear to purchase an upgrade. When a player receives an upgrade as a mission reward, that upgrade will affect the player’s lowest rated equipped piece of gear. If it is being traded in, the player can decide which piece of gear to upgrade instead.

Instead of dealing with a large quantity of drops from bosses, players will receive one of two possible progress rewards: a type of currency that can be traded to a vendor as part of the gear upgrade flow or rewards that can be used towards an upgrade.

What does this mean for the randomness component that players are used to experiencing? As mentioned above, RNG and the RNG associated with the Renown system did not have a significant positive impact on the experience of the player. To support our philosophy about RNG, we are removing Renown and nearly all RNG in the 7.0 expansion.

Furthering our efforts to build a fulfilling experience for our players, we will be featuring different content on a weekly basis in 7.0. This content will rotate on a schedule to prevent farming of one specific piece of content, which has a negative impact on a player’s overall experience.

As an example, Group Finder will only feature a limited set of Flashpoints and Story Operations each week. Players who queue for this random set will earn a guaranteed upgrade mission reward to their lowest equipped gear slot as their weekly Group Finder reward. Players can run the content multiple times per week, but the guaranteed upgrade will only be awarded for the first three runs. Beyond the first three runs, players will receive currency that can be used towards upgrades.

With this updated flow in mind, let’s expand on what’s known as the gearing ceiling. New and more powerful gear will be released with each new major update, but game balance will remain the same throughout 7.0 patches. Content that may have been too difficult or intimidating at launch will eventually be out-geared, giving players an opportunity to level up to higher difficulties and also learn the mechanics of the content at their own pace. As expansion updates get released, we will also raise the “floor,” or the power of base gear, so new players who happen to join the expansion at a mid-way point aren’t left behind by this power growth.

Let’s take a look at what this could look like with example item ratings:

Players will start earning gear with a 308-318 item rating from levels 75-79. In 7.0, once a player reaches level 80, the base progression gear rewarded will be item rating 320. Gear obtained via Conquests can be upgraded up to item rating 326. In a future update, the base gear rewarded in that same content would be 322, and the upgrade limit raised to 330. These specifics are subject to change as we go through additional testing and feedback.

Nearly all gear that is rewarded and upgraded will be static and non-moddable to allow for a more convenient upgrade path for the player. Comparing stats and upgrading gear will greatly improve and become easier to understand. Players will still be able to use moddable gear, but this type of gear is not required for players to be effective in any content in the game. Access to a moddable gear vendor will be granted at item rating 334, which is the highest possible gear rating attainable in the major game update following 7.0. We plan to provide that additional layer of stat customization to those players who prefer to min/max their characters between major updates.

You may be wondering how aspects of customization, other than mods, are impacted by everything we discussed above. In short, Amplifiers did not add value to the player experience, so we are removing the system from the game. We are reevaluating how to handle stat customization post-7.0, which may include bringing back Amplifiers in a different form. This evaluation will take into consideration the behaviors we see in-game and player feedback.

We want the gear upgrade experience to be as smooth as possible, so we will be keeping the existing Augments at 7.0 launch. As we stated above, we’re taking a closer look at how to handle stat customization going forward, including improving the interaction between stat customization and other systems, such as crafting. For the time being, the existing Augments and Augmentation Kits will still be usable on 7.0 gear.

All of that being said, how does it fit into the various types of content in the game? Below is a breakdown of how gearing will work with playable content, including an expected flow for each type.

Flashpoints

Running a random Featured Flashpoint via Group Finder each week will yield a guaranteed upgrade to the player’s lowest equipped slot, unless the player is already equipped with fully-upgraded gear. In this scenario, players will receive gear that can be disassembled into currency that can be used for future gear upgrades.

Flashpoints will continue to drop crafting materials and vanity rewards, as they do today. In addition to these, Flashpoints will also drop upgrade currency or gear that can be disassembled into upgrade currency. Players can trade the following to upgrade gear: Flashpoint upgrade currency, daily/heroic currency, conquest currency, credits, and a piece of gear they choose to be upgraded.

Specifics and exact numbering are likely to change when 7.0 is live, but for the sake of example, if the base item rating of level 80 gear for 7.0 is 320, then Veteran Flashpoint players could upgrade their gear all the way up to item rating 324. Master Flashpoint players could upgrade their gear up to item rating 326. Essentially, gear dropped in either mode will be different and not identical to one another as in the past.

In a future update, this max would increase to item rating 328 for Veteran players, and item rating 330 for Master players.

Conquests

Players who wish to enjoy a solo-only experience will mostly upgrade gear by completing Personal Conquests. Using our example numbers above, if the base item rating is 320 in 7.0, upgrading via Conquests can get players to a max item rating of 326. In a future update, this would increase to item rating 330 for Conquest players.

PvP

The PvP gearing structure is similar to the Flashpoint gearing flow discussed above. Weekly Missions will award guaranteed gear upgrades, and crates for match completion will award upgrade materials and sidegrades that can be disassembled into upgrade materials.

PvP Warzones and Arenas will feature both a statistical floor and ceiling. This allows a wide range of participants to join, gives a clear gearing and upgrade path exclusively through PvP activities if desired, and will stat cap anyone joining with higher rated gear than allowed. At 7.0’s launch, PvP activities will award base gear starting at item rating 316, and allow for upgrades up to item rating 326. The floor and ceiling of gear earned via PvP Warzones and Arenas will all rise over time. We will share these details at a later time.

Operations

Operations will be divided into two categories: Legacy Operations and Current Operations.

Legacy Operations, or all Operations not introduced in the Legacy of the Sith expansion cycle, will allow upgrades with item rating caps determined by difficulty.

Current Operations will operate a bit differently. Gear tokens will drop directly from bosses and will be tradeable among the group. For example, after defeating one boss, a player may be awarded with a token for Pants with an item rating of 328. They could then either turn in the token and choose their piece of gear or trade it to another player. We believe allowing players who participate in large group content to gear up others quickly mitigates changes in the group dynamics when leaving or joining the group and is a crucial piece of this type of gameplay.

Based on the item rating examples discussed in the previous sections, Veteran Legacy Operations will allow upgrades at 7.0 up to item rating 326, while Master Legacy Operations will allow up to item rating 330. The Story difficulty for the R-4 Anomaly Operation will drop item rating 328 gear. The Veteran difficulty for the R-4 Anomaly Operation will drop item rating 330, 332, and 334 rated gear. Over time, as new difficulties or Operations are introduced, new, more powerful gear will also come with those updates.

We are excited for the possibilities the new systems in Legacy of the Sith will provide us and our players in terms of improving gameplay, customization, and overall experience with SWTOR. We look forward to sharing more information as we build up to celebrating both the launch of 7.0 and our 10 year anniversary!