[UPDATED] The Dev Shack #05 – A Long, Long List of Changes

Welcome back to a special Dev Shack!

Hello rangers Today we have got a HUGE list of changes for you which is basically what our update will be comprised of—but it is still subject to change! NOT FINAL! We are incredibly interested in your personal opinion, but we are also aware how HUGE this list is (click on each section to see the changes in that section)! Take your time

This is What We Are Testing Right Now

Once again please note that this is a TEMPORARY LIST!
It is subject to change while we are carrying out our tests.

NONE OF THIS IS LIVE ON THE GAME SERVERS (YET)!

! Updated this list with the following changes:
http://forum.dinostorm.com/viewtopic.php?f=238&t=15090&start=60#p36939
http://forum.dinostorm.com/viewtopic.php?f=238&t=15090&p=37287#p37287

Major Features

Game Progression & Pacing

The game's maps are now connected back-to-back to provide a better progression (Dinoville -> Goldfields -> Mokon Woods -> Green Volcano).
Each map has been restructured to support the progress flow introduced with the new map connections.
Introduced additional intermediate levels for mobs and NPCs to more closely match current player strength.
Added 6 new NPCs with new quests.
Added a marketplace building on each map for selling loot without the need to return to Dinoville.
Increased the amount of dropped items that are of a lower level than the unit that drops them.
Removed the instant dinosaur slowdown when getting into combat. The slowdown will now only occur once the player gets hit.
Adjusted dinosaur base move speed to a more believable amount without reducing the maximum speed. Dinosaur speed will now increase more sharply when leveling up.
At the market, some loot items will now fetch higher Dino Dollar prices than before; in general, more loot items are dropped.
Every unit now drops upgrade items from two tiers instead of just one. This also helps increasing the Dino Dollar income through farming.
Reworked the upgrade recipes and Dino Dollar price to match the new drop situation.
Some upgrade items have become deprecated; these items can now only be sold for Dino Dollars at the marketplace.
Increased the progression flow speed in Dinoville so that players can move on faster to the next map (Goldfields).
Reworked the Game Guide chapters to reflect the map and progress flow changes.
Players that are currently located outside of Dinoville will be automatically moved to Dinoville when they first log in after the update has been deployed.

Finishable NPCs

NPCs can now be "completed" by playing a certain amount of quests until the NPC's gratefulness towards the player cannot be increased any further.
Dinosaurs, Guns, Dinosaur Implants and Weapon Tech Modules that formerly were unlocked by reaching a certain ranger level are now unlocked through completing NPCs.
Replaced Dino Dollars with Gold Coins as an additional reward for making progress when players are working towards completing an NPC.
Added new achievements for completing NPCs.
The maximum possible rewards players can get through completing a group quest are now being displayed when starting the quest.

Fog of War and zone map

Implemented a new "Fog of War" feature that enables the player to discover the map by uncovering locations, NPCs and sites.
Added the ability to see all other maps and map instances from the current zone map window.
Replaced the world map window with a simple zone selection list.
Many icons in the zone map now display useful information in tooltips when the mouse pointer is hovering over them.

Supply Camps and Teleporter Overhaul

Renamed "Supply Camps" to "Travel Gates".
Changed wording from "building" to "site".
Added teleporting functionality to Travel Gate sites and removed the old Teleport Gate buildings.
Adjusted locations of existing Travel Gate sites on the maps and also added additional sites to provide a better network of Travel Gates.
Choosing a destination Travel Gate is now done by selecting the desired site location in a window based on the zone map.
Travel Gates can now be used through paying a Dino Dollar fare instead of investing a Teleport Matrix item. Fares increase with travel distance and ranger level.
No more loading screen is being displayed when traveling between Travel Gates within the same zone.
Ability to quick travel via zone map window from any location to teleport to NPCs, players and sites using the Teleport Matrix item.
Unsupplied Travel Gates cannot be traveled from or to using Dino Dollars.

Defeat and Recovery Reworked

Recovery following defeat in combat now offers players free choice of the desired respawn location within the zone map, but requires Dino Dollars. Recovering in Dinoville is free of charge.
Replaced individual recovery timers with a global 15 seconds timer. Recovery time can be reduced to 9 seconds using the appropriate Power Gels.
The amount of Dino Dollars dropped in a defeat is reduced by 50%; also, players can now pick up the full amount of dropped Dino Dollars again.
Increased the time limit for picking up dropped Dino Dollars from 15 minutes to 1 hour.
All recovery options now restore 25% health. The amount of restored health can be increased to 70% using the appropriate Power Gels.
Auto heal when not in combat now takes about 5 minutes instead of 5 seconds to completely refill the health bar.

Sites (formerly buildings) Reworked

Reworked fame item production dynamic; sites now have a Yield value that determines the site's productivity. Claims and Travel Gates both produce items the same way (no more item production triggered by using a site for travel). Base production speed of items is 5 minutes; the interval gets shorter the better a site's Yield is (Good > Very Good > Excellent). Claims produce fame items of greater value than Travel Gates.
The Yield of a site changes every 12 hours (e.g. a Good site might become Very Good, Excellent or just stay Good).
Unified and simplified usability of the site interface for Travel Gates & Claims.
Introduced a minimum level for each site that players need to reach before they can supply, attack, defend and take items from the site.
Improved logic and icons shown on the zone map to display the status of the sites.
Replaced "Hold Buildings for x Hours" achievement type with new achievement type "Supply Site With x Supplies".
Items picked up from sites are now transferred to the clan inventory instead of the player inventory.
Items can be picked up even when the site is under attack.
Sites are now held by clans instead of single players.
Sites can now be supplied by any member of the clan holding the site to keep it running (as long as the clan member meets the site's minimum level).
Only members of the clan holding a site can defend it from an attacking clan.
Changed functionality of the site protection amplifier to increase the percentage point value added by supply packs used in a site.
A fully supplied site will now be depleted after 12 hours instead of ~28 hours.
A fully supplied, undefended site now takes 12 minutes to drain through an attack instead of 5.5 minutes.
Fame item values were adjusted to match the new production yield system of the site. Items already collected by players keep their old fame values.
All sites will start as unsupplied when the update is deployed due to the change in mechanics.
As long as a site is supplied it will always produce items, even when it is under attack.

PVP Dynamics

Increased PvP state (Duelist or Outlaw) cooldown from 5 minutes to 10 minutes.
A player's Duelist PvP state cooldown now increases with each invested supply pack instead of just staying as long as the site is supplied. Each supply pack adds 3 hours to the Duelist PvP state cooldown, up to a maximum duration of 12 hours.
The Teleport Matrix item cannot be used by players that have an active PvP state (Duelist or Outlaw).
Players that have an active PvP state can only use Travel Gates for traveling when they are not under attack.

PVP Protection

PvP Protection is now behaving like a toggle switch instead of like a PvP state with a cooldown; Protection can only be enabled & disabled at the single remaining Guardians Outpost in Dinoville.
PvP Protection can only be enabled when no other PvP state is active (Duelist or Outlaw).
PvP Protection is automatically enabled for new players right from the start.

Clan Organization

Only through clans, players are now able to hold sites or apply for an office in the Town Hall.
The Clan Inventory will now hold all fame items that are picked up from sites, from where they can be distributed to clan members.
New statistics for each member help clan leaders monitor their clan members' activity (fame points received from clan, supply points invested in sites, join date).
The new member role "Right Hand" offers the same powers as the officer rank, with the added ability of distributing fame items between clan members.
Clan member statistics can be reset (e.g. following a settlement) by the "Right Hand" or clan leader.
A confirmation dialog is now displayed when attempting to expel a member from the clan.
After creating or joining a players will not be able to join or create another clan for full 3 days.
Increased the fee for creating a new clan from 150 to 20,000 Dino Dollars.
Clan members can now be followed in the same way as friends.

Town Hall

It is now required to be in a clan to apply for and hold an office in the Town Hall.
There can only be one applicant per clan and office (i.e. no two clan members can apply for the same office seat).
Leaving a clan will automatically cancel all active applications and a potentially held office.
Clans are now better visible in the Town Hall.
The deadline for entering an office application has been changed from 24 hours to half of the office's application period.

Duels with Friends

Added the ability to duel friends in PvP via the new "Allow duels with friends" option in the friends window (see screenshot). Players who enable this option can attack all of their friends who also have this option enabled.
Attacking a friend who has the duels with friends option enabled will make the attacker a Duelist, not an Outlaw.
Attacking a friend who does not have the duels with friends option enabled is no longer possible.
Enabling/disabling the duels with friends option as well as adding/removing friends is only possible when out of combat.

Clan Fund

Introduced the clan fund which clan members can contribute to by making Dino Dollar donations. Donations are converted into "Clan Dollars", a new currency exclusive to clan funds. How much a player has donated will be shown in the statistics tooltip in the clan member overview.
New clan seats and clan inventory slots now cost Clan Dollars instead of Gold Coins.
The clan fund can only be used for purchases by Officers and above, and only for extending the clan size as well as the number of clan inventory slots.

Slot Size Limitations

Implemented progressive pricing for inventory, warehouse, friend list, clan member and clan inventory slots. These items will start at a low price and gradually increase until the maximum number of slots is reached.
Implemented a maximum number for inventory, warehouse, friend list, clan member and clan inventory slots. Limits are set as follows:
Limited the clan inventory to a maximum of 240 item slots. If a clan has unlocked a greater number of slots already, then the clan inventory will downsize automatically once items are removed.
Increased the stack size of clan boosters from 1 to 15 items.
Limited the clan size to a maximum of 80 members. If a clan is already larger than that, it will downsize automatically once member slots are freed (e.g. by clan members leaving).
A clan that exceeds the maximum clan size will not be able to hold or defend sites.
Limited the friend list to a maximum of 80 friends. Players with friend lists already bigger than that will get to keep the extra slots.
Limited the player inventory to a maximum of 80 slots. Players with inventories already bigger than that will get to keep the extra slots.
Limited the warehouse inventory to a maximum of 240 slots. Players with warehouses already bigger than that will get to keep the extra slots.

Other Improvements

Greatly improved reaction times of the "blue footprints" pathfinding guiding players to quest locations.
Adjusted task notification animations to be less intrusive.
Extra Power bar now also fills when receiving damage.
Improved the overall playability on systems that only manage a low graphics refresh rate (fps).
The camera now takes a moment to refocus after changing maps to avoid confusion.
Improved graphics performance for the Green Volcano & Mokon Woods maps.
The sorting order of Power Gels in the profile window is now static (i.e. it does not change any more when select Power Gels are active/inactive).
…and many, many more small usability improvements.
Introduced an "item unlocked" task to direct the player to the appropriate store for newly unlocked items.
Map instances are now properly removed when they are not needed anymore (i.e. when no players are in them and no sites are held).
Eased the difficulty curve for fighting higher level mobs.
Lower level mobs cannot be killed with one hit any more.
Removed the chapters animation and instead implemented highlighting the game guide task for users who have just completed a chapter.
The inflicted damage output to units that are lower than the player are limited based on their strength, to even out level differences in pve as well.
Townhall application prices increased
Damage Boster that are dropped from mobs will have 250 items per drop instead of 25.

Bug Fixes

Fixed several client memory leaks and performance problems with certain graphics effects.
Fixed that the last target was automatically attacked after using a Compact Recovery Kit for recovery.
Fixed a bug that sometimes made clans disappear from the game server.
…and many, many more small bug fixes.

! Updated this list with the following changes:
http://forum.dinostorm.com/viewtopic.php?f=238&t=15090&start=60#p36939

[UPDATED] The Dev Shack #05 – A Long, Long List of Changes

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