Greetings, Taernians!
The time has come! Volkhard arrives in the world of Broken Ranks — a completely new boss designed for the strongest players. His monastery is an instance filled with mysteries, puzzles, and new mechanics that we leave for you to uncover. So prepare not only your weapons, but also your wits and simply… have fun. ;)
In the changelog, we’ve included a handful of the most important details regarding the new region and instance. However, they hide much more, so it is worth visiting them and speaking with the knights of the Order stationed there. We also encourage you to complete the quest related to the instance — who knows, perhaps it will make things a little easier for you in the Monastery?
Of course, alongside the “In Cold Blood” expansion, we are also introducing several other changes and fixes. You can read about them below.
P.S. On servers with a larger population of max-level players, we will temporarily increase mob respawn rates in the new region. They will return to normal once the initial “boom” settles down a bit.
Contents of the “In Cold Blood” expansion:
- Added a new skin set called Emissary of the Vampiric Bloodlines available in the Premium Store to celebrate the update. The set includes: Kruentor (helmet), Tenebros (body armor), Noktuses (legguards), Sanguerises (boots), Umbrelis (cape). The skins will remain permanently available from the moment the update launches.
- Added new weapon skins available in the Premium Store to celebrate the update: Sanguine Kiss (one-handed sword), Bloodthief (one-handed axe), Mark of the Curse (one-handed hammer), Night Hunter (bow), Sanguine Lust (two-handed sword), Blooddrinker (two-handed axe), Sanguinary Covenant (two-handed hammer), Claws of Eternal Hunger (knuckledusters), Mark of Eternity (staff), Bloodstained Executioner (staff), Bulwark of Darkness (shield). The skins will remain permanently available from the moment the update launches.
- Added a new area — the Monastery Grounds together with the adjacent Monastery.
- Added a new boss instance — Volkhard’s Monastery.
- Added new level 140 rare gear lootable from the boss: Praetoris (magical helmet), Exarchius (physical helmet), Arcana (magical boots), Sacrigar (physical belt).
- The boss entry item is Vampire Blood. A bundle of 7 can be purchased from Lorvend on the Monastery Grounds for 35m gold, 21 Grandmaster Glyphs, and 21 Beast Blood (obtainable through the new daily quest). Entries cannot be purchased individually. The waiting time before purchasing the next batch is one week, and the reset occurs every Wednesday at 4:00 AM server time. A player cannot buy another bundle of 7 if they already possess Vampire Blood in their inventory. However, if they fail to use all their entries during a given week, they will be able to replenish their supply back up to 7 (with the price reduced accordingly for the smaller amount).
- Added a new daily quest — “Leeching the Leeches.” The quest requires level 135 and can be taken from Vulgarf on the Monastery Grounds.
- Added a new side quest related to the boss instance — “To the Last Drop of Blood.” The quest can be started at level 140 from Albrecht on the Monastery Grounds. It is recommended for powerful characters with at least 20k Might.
Miscellaneous changes and new features:
- Lowered Sidraga’s tier in the loot system — it will now join the shared “pool” with other Abyss instances. The guaranteed drop counter will be set to whichever value is more favorable to the player from the two values they had at the time of the update. The number of boss kills required for a guaranteed drop in the special tier will be permanently reduced by approximately 20%, then reset and assigned exclusively to Volkhard’s instance.
- Adjusted the Greater Hawk and Wendigo events — duration extended from 10 to 15 minutes, increased respawn rates depending on the number of players on the map, replacement of single-mob groups with pairs (except on the Plateau), and addition of level-based aggression for groups (matching enemies in the given region).
- Added several options when right-clicking (or tapping on mobile) a player’s nickname in chat — the ability to report a message to moderation, see the player’s Might and guild name, and ignore the player.
- Added chat tab and private chat nickname saving after relogging.
- Improved the friends window — changed background transparency, moved the private message icon closer to the nickname, removed the guild shortcut icon (guild name will now be available after clicking the name), added sorting by clicking columns, added Favorite checkbox memory, added avatar enlargement on hover, swapped the positions of region and area names, removed region color information, and introduced other interface improvements.
- Changed the way class filters work — clicking a class icon will immediately filter by it (there will no longer be a need to deselect all others first).
- Increased the number of Yeti pairs on the Mountainside and accelerated regular respawn rates in Beirn.
- Other minor interface improvements.
Bug fixes:
- Fixed incorrect attribute gains or losses caused by the effects of Strength of Unity or Sacrifice in certain situations.
- Fixed a bug where players could still receive a skill effect despite dodging the attack thanks to Furious Reflex (e.g. Poison from Shadow Strike).
- Fixed a bug causing task cooldown timers to appear in strange places (e.g. on the resource bar).
- Fixed a bug causing guild invitations to freeze if the invited player was in the tutorial.
- Fixed a bug allowing players to switch to the Infusion tab while resetting Skills.
- Fixed a bug allowing the same person to appear multiple times in the friends list.
- Other minor bug fixes to animations, graphics, mechanisms, and text.
Mobile Early Access only:
- New Private Messages window interface.
- Added the achievement window.
- Added a list of players currently present in the Deposit.
- Added descriptions to certain options in the settings window.
- Fixed a bug where changing scroll sensitivity in the settings would only apply after restarting the application.
- Improved character list refreshing during login.
- Fixed incorrect display of certain values and descriptions in the Skills window.
- Other minor bug fixes and interface improvements.
