Scourge of the Skulks

Scourge of the Skulks
Scourge of the Skulks - Heavy Tier 2 revamp with a lot of new quests, content and monsters!
Release Type:	Content Update
Rollout Live:	2010/02/10

Scourge of the Skulks

Welcome to the Content Update known as "Istaria: Scourge of the Skulks". This update consists of significant changes and additions to the game world that include the following:

• The City of Dalimond has been rebuilt!
• The Dalimond Peninsula has been entirely revamped, and includes new areas to explore, more NPCs and lots and lots of monsters!
• Tons of content designed for players levels 20 and up!
• Over 100 quests!
• New locations to explore and discover! Look for the ruined gnomish worker's town of Rastiphan or the Tower of Abbathes!
• In-depth storylines that span the entire peninsula, including three that are specific for individual schools!

Additions

Quests

• Quest "Imperial Army: Stop the Kwellen Raids" to Burris the Scout
• Quest "Naithis' Lost Knowledge" to Naithis the Watcher
• Quest "Gerix's Quest: Visit the Cities of Dragonkind" to Gerix in Kion
• Quest "Seeking the Path of the Fist" to Allanti the Initiate on New Trismus

Spells and Abilities

• Primal Attack spell to treasure tables
• Conjurers now get Multicast IV at level 95.
• Sorcerers now get Clarity II, a non-masterable ability, at level 84 that will give the target a brief immunity to stuns and mezzes (and will also remove any currently on the friendly target).
• Monks now get additional passive Dodge abilities at level 34, 64, and 94.

Other

• Master Leather Backpack and Master Scalepack formulas to loot tables.
• Distillery Workshops are now available for construction on player plots
• Solistan will now give out a Master Builder emblem to qualified players.
• The skulks had another gathering. After a great discussion, they now be seen using new methods for old combat and magic tricks.
• A group of treants eavesdropped on the skulk gathering and got some ideas of their own.
• Lower Bridgeview now has a destination pad that is accessible from Bristugo and racial gates once you have attuned.
• Private Asenath of the Kion Militia has been stationed in Lower Bridgeview and will offer to attune anyone who wishes to the local destination pad.
• Spawns of level 1 Tiny Grass Beetles and Skalkaar Grulets have been added to the Skalkaar Forest closer to the road. This should allow level one players to find something to fight which is more appropriate to their level.
• Spawns of level 1 Tiny Grass Beetles and Spirit Isle Grulets have been added to Spirit Isle near the roads. The level 1 grulets especially should now be the first thing that a newly Gifted adventurer now encounters as they travel down the hill.
• The Festival Grounds near Dalimond are once again haunted by spooky spiders and scarey zombies! Jacques and his companions have also returned for another year.
• Greymane Wolves now have different trophies based on their level. Greymane Pups and Juvenile Wolves give tails, Seekers give teeth, and Alphas give Fangs. The trophy hunters in Kion and Sslanis are on the lookout for these trophies.

Changes

NPC Changes

• Margaret the Vaultkeeper in Dalimond is now known as Maggie Tinnagin
• Tomas the Elemental Archer Trainer is now known as Tomas Alerras
• Crafting Trainers on New Trismus no longer talk about Imperial Lore Tokens.
• Cleric Trainers no longer give out Adventure Tasks (old-style).
• Mage Trainers no longer give out Adventure Tasks (old-style).
• Delgarath Guards no longer assist in combat.
• Scout Trainers no longer give out Adventure Tasks (old-style).
• Warrior Trainers no longer give out Adventure Tasks (old-style).
• Druid Trainers no longer give out Adventure Tasks (old-style).
• Spiritist Trainers no longer give out Adventure Tasks (old-style).
• References to Imperial Lore Tokens have been removed from craft trainers so as to not confuse new players.
• Updated Kazrok the Guardian's dialog to be more Sslik-ified and modified it so that OOC data about level and skill requirements for the Guardian school are displayed in a blue tutorial box.
• Updated Revanus the Batltemage's dialog and modified it so that OOC data about level and skill requirements for the Battlemage school are displayed in a blue tutorial box.
• Updated Rea Telsun the Berserker's dialog and modified it so that OOC data about level and skill requirements for the Berserker school are displayed in a blue tutorial box.
• Updated Kaliphar's dialog to be more Helian
• Allanti in New Trismus no longer gives out monk quests, has a much cleaned up persistent dialog tree, and is wearing less armor now.

Quest Changes

• Bounty quests now conflict with one another (you can only have one at a time).
• Quest "Imperial Army: Investigate the Source of the Raids" no longer requires you to kill Daknor to get the Singed Scrap of Hide.
• Dralnok's Doom: "Instructions for Empowering the Artifact" formula now uses Intuition instead of Ingenuity
• Updated quest "Avariatus' Quest: Learn about the Helian faction!" to no longer require you to visit Chiconis.
• Updated quest "Avariatus' Quest: Learn about the Lunus faction!" to no longer require you to visit Dralk.
• Updated quest "Dragon: Bolster your attack with Gold Rage" to use only Gerix instead of Wintheria
• Updated quest "Dragon: Gain the knowledge of Spiked Scales" to use only Gerix instead of Wintheria
• Updated quest "Dragon: Gain the power of the Draining Strike" to use only Gerix instead of Severant
• Updated quest "Dragon: Improve the Accuracy of your Breath Weapon" to use only Gerix instead of Luadius
• Updated quest "Dragon: Learn the power of healing" to use Gerix instead of Frall
• Updated quest "Dragon: Learn to damage opponents from a distance" to use Gerix instead of Bentaras
• Updated quest "Dragon: Prove yourself worthy of the Gift of the Dragons" to use Gerix instead of Kaliphar
• Dragon Quartermaster quests are now obsolete
• Updated quest "Dragon Quest: An Extension of Primal Knowledge" to use Gerix instead of Lasandria
• Quest "Envenomed Arrow I" is now known as "Jacinda's Envenomed Arrow" and requires you to be an active Ranger to complete all steps.
• Quest "Envenomed Spear I" is now known as "Adeshine's Envenomed Spear" and requires you to be an active Spearman to complete all steps.
• Vladtmordt now gives the quest "Vladtmordt's Replica Tempered Scale" and "Vladtmordt's Replica Scale of the Prime" out using the quest bucket system and requires Dragons to be at least level 30.
• Quest "Dragon Quest: Replica Tempered Scale" is now known as "Vladtmordt's Replica Tempered Scale" and contains better directions to Winter Wolves and Dark Crawlers.
• Quest items used in the Replica Tempered Scale quest are now stackable but no longer tradeable.
• Quest "Dragon Quest: Scale of the Prime" is now known as "Vladtmordt's Replica Scale of the Prime" and contains better directions to Ulmus Beetles and Ruxus.
• Updated quest "Mage's Quest: Speak with Maester Larson in Dalimond" and added it to the quest bucket of Rennis
• Updated quest "Scout: Seek out Jyrris Wind in Dalimond" and added it to the quest bucket of Geela
• Updated quest "Warrior's Quest: Deliver a Report to Sergeant Addlier in Dalimond" and added it to the quest bucket of Mattias
• Quest "Dragon Instant Heal III: Dark Crawler Breeders" now uses kill_keyword and has updated dialog and directions.
• Quests calling for Frost Pygmies and Frost Ogres have been updated to reference Ish'kuk Warriors and Gatherers. They have also been updated to reference the proper locations for these monsters.
• Quest "Dragon's Reach II" now calls for Forest Gruok Younglings instead of Ferocious Gruoks.
• Due to revamps and changes in monster spawns, the Attunement to Aedan quest now requires you to be at least level 20, and only wolves of rating 21 or higher will advance the quest.
• Trials of the Gifted quest is now a linear series of quests which starts with Steward Pratt. Players must have completed Steward Pratt's tour of New Trismus quest prior to being offered the Trials of the Gifted quest. All quests are also now offered through the NPC's quest book rather than persistent dialog.
• Town Marshall quests for tiers 1 and 2 have undergone a revamp. They now offer a consistent amount coin for all quests of the same level range. In addition, they now offer a bit of experience when you complete the quest (with decreased experience after the 10th completion). The intention is to give players repeatable quests targeted to their level range to both direct them to the appropriate areas to gain experience and give a bit of a boost to the leveling curve.
• All level 10 dragon crafter mastery quests now use Xarinnis in Parsinia rather than starting with various NPC's around the world.

Monster Changes

• The Avatar of Pain will now have proper stats for its level
• Tweaked the Emerald Golem treasure tables
• Cleaned up the Sand Pygmy treasure tables.
• Adjusted the spawn rates on Skalkaar and Spirit Isle and New Trismus. The same number will still spawn, but fewer should instantly respawn and the spawn should be more gradual.
• Additional Thornwood Trees will spawn outside of Harro
• Large and Massive Thornwood Trees can now be found scattred among Thornwood spawn areas
• Tweaked the treasure tables of Thornwood Treants
• Large Thornwood Treants now count as Rich nodes
• Massive Thornwood Treants now count as Motherlode nodes
• Slate and Silver will no longer spawn on the Satyr Islands
• Tweaked the spawn rates of all monsters on the Abandoned Island
• Lowered the evasion of Sand Crabs on the Island of Talinis
• Updated the treasure for Winter Wolves
• Nipper the Winter Wolf will no longer spawn on Scorpion Island, instead a Winter Wolf Alpha will spawn
• Drastically reduced the spawn density and rate of Winter Wolves on Scorpion Island
• Updated the treasure of Snow Ogres and assigned them an AI template
• Updated the treasure of Frost Beetles and assigned them an AI template
• Small Frost Beetles will now spawn along with Large Frost Beetles
• Frost Beetles are now known as Large Frost Beetles
• Tweaked the treasure tables of Lapis Lazuli Golems
• Tweaked the treasure tables of Silver Golems
• Dark Crawlers (formerly Brighter Spiders) can now inflict poison on their prey
• Lowered the spawn rate of the Bhal'kuk Chieftain
• Ruxus are no longer aggressive and have a slower wander frequency.
• Frost Ogres are now known as Ish'kuk Warriors
• Frost Pygmies are now known as Ish'kuk Gatherers
• Cleaned up the treasure tables of the Ish'kuk
• Tweaked the Ish'kuk spawns on both Abandoned Island and Scorpion Island
• Updated the Small Flame Beetles and Giant Flame Beetles to spawn a level range and marked the others obsolete.
• Updated the Flame Beetle (all sizes) loot drop rates.
• Updated the drop rates of beetle tables on all sizes of Fire Beetle
• Ice Gnawer now only spawns at the top of the mountain in the area called Glacier Canyons, rather than throughout the Frozen Wastes.
• Improved the respawn times of named monsters on Lesser Aradoth.
• Removed the minimum spawn quantities of some spawns on Lesser Aradoth.
• Removed the minimum spawn quantities on spawns in Old Rachival, Delgarath, the Proving Grounds, the Fallen Outpost, Bannock's Ridge, the Abandoned Shore, the Island of Talinis, the Stormy March, the Valley of Tears, Dralnok's Doom, the Myloc Colony, the Valley of Tolrath, and the Staging Grounds. This means that monsters in these areas should no longer instantly respawn on top of you.
• The Blight Anchor outside Delgarath has proven itself to be more elusive than intended. Though the growing presence of the Gifted around Delgarath will still make it impossible to find sometimes, time and persistence should pay off. (Lowered the respawn timer, but it is still on a long timer so as to not overwhelm that area with wandering WA due to the anchor's presence.)

Ability Changes

• Evasive Style no longer conflicts with evasion boosts, but also now changes your combat stance.
• Intuition is now classified as a trade skill, even though it is still obtained through adventuring schools
• Glaring Quills no longer conflicts with Demon Skin and Ice Barrier
• Human Magical Aptitude now gives a boost to spell damage.
• Racial abilities, Enhanced Armor Use, Bow, Evasion, Ice Magic, Life Magic, and Magic Defense, and Increased Health all now grant a passive 10% bonus to the base skill/attribute value instead of a 5 or 10 point increase.
• Racial ability, Innate Armor, now grants a passive 5% bonus to Armor instead of a 5 point increase.
• Fireflies ability now reduces enemy movement speed on an increasing scale and has greater damage potential starting with Fireflies III and up. It also has a longer recycle.
• Blight's Favor now has a longer recycle, a much shorter duration, but greatly impacts your Blight and Nature skills.
• Pillage Spirit now has a shorter recycle, a slight post-delay, shares a recycle with Critical abilities, and does greater damage.
• Nerve Strike now shares a recycle with Power strike abilities and will overwrite some debuffs now. Fixed a bug where the Stun would conflict with the statistic debuff.
• Defensive Style, Power Style and Evasive Style now count as styles, not stances.
• Menacing Presence now uses the Wing Buffet animation and does mind damage instead of crush.
• Snarl will now do greater damage and of type mind instead of crush.
• Snarl debuff now lasts 20 seconds instead of 60 seconds, but reduces to-hit on the debuffed monster by an increasing percentage (instead of a static value) beginning at 15% and going up to 55%.
• Dragon Adventurers now get the Dodge passive ability
• Post-Delay of Determination is now half of what it was previously.
• Cloak of Thorns abilities now share a keyword.
• Cloak of Thorns is now ablative and can be removed after a damage/hit threshold has been reached.
• Demon Skin Ablative is now known as Demonskin Armor
• Ice Barrier and Demonskin Armor now count as Damage Shields for buff conflicts.
• Nature's Path will now overwrite Swift Feet.

Item Changes

• Ceremonial Tower Shield and Ceremonial Chest Scale now have a 25% of their effects firing instead of 100%
• The "Snowball" effect will no longer take up a Gifted slot.
• Deadly tech kit for Dragon Claws now gives 50% more bonus to DPS
• Squirrel Stew is now stackable
• Selling Tier 6 Technique Components to Pawnbrokers will go down in value after a number are sold.
• Dragon Hoard items now have coin values.
• New Warriors, Clerics, Scouts and Mages will receive additional refurbished equipment when they are starting out. This should help their survivability a bit more.
• The odds of getting good buffs from Tier 1 trinkets is now much greater.
• Tier 1 trinkets now have a hoard and coin value.
• Avariatus' Stone of Vitality is no longer tradeable.
• Kaasha's Sigil Ring is no longer tradeable.
• Ulaven's Experimental Gift of Wisdom is no longer tradeable.
• Stuns can no longer be dispelled/cleansed (Mezzes, however, can still be cleansed/dispelled).
• Updated techniques referencing Frost Ogre tech components.
• Techniques that used the Fyakki Stinger Tip now call for a Forest Skulk Fin instead.
• Increased the base damage of Valkor's Blood Talon
• Invisible Dyes can now be applied to Helms and Masks.
• Adventure: Eminence now requires a Tomb Scarab Carapace when applying the technique.
• Adventure: Primal Vengeance now requires a Diseased Brownback Fang when applying the technique.
• Spell: Primal Flash now requires a Twisted Automaton Gear when applying the technique.
• Quest items used in the Biggletorque quest series are no longer tradeable
• Reklar's Winds of Fury will no longer conflict with evasion and unarmed skill boosts.
• Avariatus' Stone of Vitality will no longer attune items it is installed into. Please note that this change will not fix any items previously attuned by the stone.

World Changes

• Sslanis now requires attunement to teleport to.

Sound Revamp

• Significant changes and fixes to the sound system have been made. Players visiting Dralk and other "lava" areas in the game should no longer have to relog in order to continue to hear music. New music has been added to some areas of the world, and the song list in others has been updated. Please be sure your game build is up to date with the new files, but if you experience problems with the sound/music system let us know.

File Structure Audit

• In addition to revamping the sound system, with this update we've also done a complete audit of the game's client side files. When players patch to Blight as of this update, they will find that a number of files need to be downloaded or removed in order to make their client build up to date with what assets are needed for the game. As a reminder, players logging in to Blight should also clear their world_cache folder by completely deleting the folder and allowing it to rebuild over time in order to prevent conflicts with the many changes that have been made to the world.

Fixes

• Purple Kenaf Backpack Pouch now has a bulk capacity of 800
• "Frozen Weapon" tech kit can now be applied to Hand Wraps
• Updated quest "Gangaf Quest: Acquire a Stack of Cobalt Rods" to refer to Vasileos instead of Pylios in Kirasanct and updated the dialog to reflect the change from Consigner to Pawnbroker
• Ciowiel the Outfitter has had a gender change
• Regular chickens are no longer aggressive
• Quests "Ranger: Mani's Bounty" and "Calimir: Mani's Bounty" were improperly giving out Mani's Fang as extra loot instead of Mani's Head.
• Quest "Millie's Fish Fry" to not require a player to gather the swordfish to complete the quest.
• Quest "Calimir: Hunting the Direst Wolves" can no longer be obtained by Dragons
• Support and load window no longer reference Horizons
• The Head of Mani the Wolf is now attuned
• Updated resistances of Bioscholars to include all damage types
• Removed the tier keyword from quest "Iron Guard: Tochak's Bounty"
• Removed the tier keyword from quest "Iron Guard: Kalevala's Bounty"
• Enchanted Keys will no longer open normal chests. Chests which can be opened with Enchanted keys will be special, enchanted chests.
• Lanale the Vaultkeeper in Kion now gives out the Confectioner quest "Food for the Road"
• Updated Confectioner quest "Food for the Road" to use Lanale instead of Fellea
• Updated coordinates in quest "Biggletorque: The Archmage Darkstaff"
• Weapon Tech Kit "Calimir's Hide Grip" for Non-Rangers can now be applied to bows, crossbows and (oddly enough) hand-wraps.
• Calimir's Hide Grip for non-rangers will now work with melee attacks.
• Relstaroth will now properly give out Beginner and Journeyman formulas to qualified Lairshapers
• Lust for Blood will overwrite most flame DoTs now
• Brachina Beetles will now ignore player rating.
• Fixed the description on the Treasure Plunderer emblem to have the proper quantity of chests
• Treasure Chest within the Stormy March will no longer instantly respawn
• Fixed the Dung Pile's death animation
• Sand Pygmies on New Trismus will no longer automatically respawn.
• Quest "Sslanis Militia: Basic Stores Report" no longer sends you to Quartermaster Weiss.
• "Breath of Ice: Acquire a Splinder of Ice-Bone" and "Breath of Lighting: Acquire a Splinter of Energy-Bone" now properly use the skeletons in the Western Deadlands.
• Adjusted all tier 1 trophy quests to give consistent rewards for each level range. Quests begin at level 5, have unlimited numbers of turn ins possible, diminished exp rewards after the 5th turn-in and should be available from either the Kion or Sslanis Trophy Hunters. (Only applies to quests through level 20.)
• Lair Mural Slayer of the Myloc Queen has been fixed so that it now can be placed properly in lairs.
• Scary Zombie will give out proper amounts of treasure now
• Mental Bane will now work with any ranged spell instead of only ones using the Mind skill.
• Re-introduced Large Ruxus onto the Abandoned Island
• Fixed the "Part 3" New Trismus trainer quests so that they no longer ask someone to kill monsters that don't spawn. Also fixed Sadie's quest in particular so it doesn't ask the person to "kill" the Sense Enemies ability.
• Cenotaph Guardians were accidentally removed from the database and thus would no longer spawn. They've been added back, but with slight differences from how they were on the live shard.
• Technique "Adventure: One Hand Crush V" now requires 2 Bhal'kuk Jawbones instead of Thunder Ogre Jawbones
• Name of quest "Iron Guard: The Island of Alged" to have the proper spelling of the island and also updated some text within the quest to correct spelling and word choice.
• Spelling in quest "The Satyr: Stone of Revelry"
• Stone of Revelry can now be used by Dragons and Bipeds
• Lieutenant Acphlegm is now more of a boss mob and is lootable
• Tier 5 Mimics can now be looted
• Scale Forges will now have proper icons and sound effects
• Blackhammer's Fish Fry is now stackable
• Volcano spells will no longer consumed when cast after being scribed.
• Zhaguxal's Vanguard is now removable
• Quest "Island of Alged: Defeat the Taskmaster" now properly directs you to kill the Task-Master of Terror instead of the Machine of Inhibition.
• Quests no longer give Imperial Lore Tokens as rewards.
• Guran the Blacksmith on New Trismus will only give out the training quests for players who have not completed the Blacksmith quest series on Spirit Isle.
• Tier 2 Techniques now list the proper components that they require.
• Corrected the name of the Cenotaph Guardians
• Trophy Hunter quest "Go Bag 5 Snow Ogre Bludgeoners" is now given at a level appropriate for Snow Ogres
• Fixed Gerix's quest so that he is the one you should speak to after completing the task in order to tain your reward.
• Reinforced Hide Satchels made using the Expert Hide Satchel formula will now properly require Hide Strips
• All resources required by the Expert Hide Satchel now have consistent skill min/max values by tier
• Quest "Imbue the Orb With Your Spirit" now reminds you (both in dialog from Semeneth and in the journal entry) to have the Small Glass Vial in your possession when fighting Kaa the Shade.
• Small Glass Vial used in the Rite of Passage is now attuned
• Quest "ARoP - Ritual of Journey: Prelude" no longer refers to Narsi Tiradoc as a member of the Protectorate.
• T1 Town Marshall quests now have the proper constraints on them so they will only be offered at appropriate levels.
• Blood of the Myloc Queen now has a 10 minute recycle.
• Blighted Baubles now properly give Tier 3 instead of Tier 2 buffs.
• Sigrun's Letter parts are now stackable and sortable
• Myloc Queen Cannot Be Damaged" augmentation is no longer dispellable
• Safety II is now properly received by Sorcerers at level 40.
• Quest "Earn Title: Spider Slayer" so that it will proceed properly
• Confectioners who visit the Formulatrons will not receive post-revamp formulas, not the "old" formulas.
• Applied proper constraints to quests "Healing Adept" given by Lomak the Dragon.
• Fixed the step dependencies in quest "Tooth and Claw VI"
• Priscilla the Shoulder Parrot quest now properly refers to Archbishop Tomas Agua.
• Glacier Canyon is now spelled correctly.
• All level 75 Trophy Rewards have been adjusted so that they all provide the same amount of experience.
• Fixed the Attunement: Valley of the Moon quest so that the dialog should appear without having to "re-greet" the quest giver.
• Fixed the kill counter on quest "Primal Mastery I: An Extension Of Primal Knowledge"
• Fixed the step dependencies in quest "Spiked Scales III: Kill 20 Frost Beetles"
• Radiant Carpenter's Cog no longer mentions Confectioner in the description.
• Balit's Quest: Gather Rare Components for Balit's Research will now count werewolves correctly as you kill them.
• The lair outside Chiconis that is commonly called the "crystalshaping lair" has undergone some structural rebuilding. The gap leading out of the lair has been closed off, but this also required a general "shoring up" of the various chambers.
• Fangs of Fury, Primal Rage, and the Bard's Tail now TRULY reduce delay by 5%.
• Fixed Satyr model so that it will load properly at a distance.
• Fixed music around lava (hopefully for real this time).
• The Naka-duskael Gate to Drakul is now usable by bipeds that qualify for travel to the Dragon refuge.
• Drain Bolt will now properly display combat messages when it misses or hits.
• Antaniel at the Imperial Outpost will now properly give out the quest, "Medallion of the Storms", to Level 100 Storm Disciples who have completed the other school quests and who possess the Blighted Storm Core.
• Nambanora in Feladan no longer has a Consigner tag beneath her name.
• The destination pad for the community of Moroto is now named properly (instead of Motoro).
• Quest "Drain Bolt I: Primal Secrets, Fiendish Pride" will now properly delete Kamilari's Scroll at the end.
• Drain Bolt quest items are now keyworded and can be filtered and also no longer tradeable.
• Quest "Drain Bolt III: Into the Dead Pool" now contains feedback for the counter steps.
• References to the Island of Dabihi now correctly refer to Dahibi.
• Myloc Birthing Sacs can no longer be pulled from their spawn location.
• Mace of Divine Intervention will now properly show the skill used for healing upon death.
• Quest "Attunement to Serenity - Collecting Unblemished Bones" will now properly track the collection of Unblemished Bones.

Known Issues

• Many of the items handed out or looted or gathered as part of the Tier 2 revamp are still missing icons. These will be filled in as we move forward. We apologize for the delay on this, but unforeseen circumstances (a typhoon!) forced our resident icon guru to take an extended break as he got his life back together!
• Helian's Tomb and Ashlander's Tomb (the two mini-dungeons) did not make it into this content update as originally planned. They will be added at a later date as additional content.
• The Blighted region known as The Warrens is not yet complete. This will be filled out in conjunction with Ashlander's Tomb.
• The Dark Forest is not yet complete. This will be completed soon in an upcoming patch