Planet Arkadia Update 2012.7 (4th December 2012)

Rebalancing

The team at Arkadia Studios has been working hard on major new content for next year's first update. We can't talk too much about it for now, but let's just say we're quietly excited!

Today's update, however, is focused primarily on rebalancing and bugfixing. Changes are as follows:

Creature Stats

As mentioned in the Entropia Universe 12.10 Release Notes, universe-wide change to balancing requirements for creatures has resulted in the need for review of all creature statistics. In most cases, our creatures were already well-balanced, however the following creatures had changes made:

Scoria
Kadra
Riptor
Nusul
Magurg Female
Oratan Lancer
Aakas Defender, Aakas Paladin, Aakas Sentinel, Aakas Warden
Dehera Attacker, Dehera Brute, Dehera Charger, Dehera Destroyer, Dehera Exterminator, Dehera Furion, Dehera Giant, Dehera Hero, Dehera Infuriator, Dehera Juggernaut

Weapon Stats

A universe-wide change to balancing requirements for weapons has resulted in the need for review of the Herman Industries weapon range. In our cases, this includes the entire ASI, ARK, CAP and LAW pistol and rifle series.

The requirement was that the whole range of weapons needed to have Skill Increase Bonus (SIB) figures adjusted in order for the rest of the statistics to remain the same. As a result, in general the SIB levels have increased for these weapons.

We understand that for those colonists who own such weapons (and the relevant Blueprints), this means a higher skill requirement to continue to be able to use the weapon. We realise this is an inconvenience and we apologise.

On the other hand, we took the decision to make this change, because it now appears to mean the weapon availability will improve. We hope this will be particularly noticeable at the higher ends of the ASI, ARK, CAP and LAW weapon series.

We are aware also that these changes open up SIB level gaps between the various weapons. This of course is an unintended consequence, and we are already looking at the possibility of new ranges of weapons in future, in order to fill these gaps.

Please understand that we are doing our best to look after you, our colonists, and we believe this change to be in the best long term interest of your community.

Fixes and Improvements

In the first of many future terrain updates, the area around Celeste Quarry has had some terrain changes. We encourage you to take your Hoverpod for a drive, so you can see what the future of Arkadian terraforming and landscaping holds.
A new Gallard spawn has been added to the north-east of Celeste Quarry. This is easily reached by following the tunnel through the hill from the Quarry, the entrance for which is at 31254, 9598.
Terrain and path updates have also been made around the Nusul Spawn area, primarily beginning from Celeste Outpost at 27267, 10933, and up through the hills to the north-west, all the way to a new entrance of Fearless Firebase Academy at 25047, 15354.
The ACA Representative's missions have been adjusted so that it should now be possible to complete all missions.
All ten existing instances under the ancient city of Aakas should now be operating correctly. It should now be possible to exit the instance directly after looting the Treasure Chests.

Known Issues

Gallard's collision box is the wrong size, and has already been adjusted. This change will come through with the upcoming patch, expected next week.
The instance behind the Arkadian Golden Door is still causing the server to crash. We are hopeful to have this rectified by the next update.
Arkoin Brokers are still not operational. At this stage we are unsure of a time for the fix, however we are hopeful of having it for our first update of 2013.