Archived:GU61 - Game Update 61

==Game Update 61 - NOW LIVE==
The War of Zek (Game Update 61) was originally announced to go live on Tuesday, August 23 during SOE Podcast #115. This evening Amnerys posted an update that it will be pushed back two days to Thursday, August 25:
::Hail, friends!
::In order to make sure that Game Update 61: The War of Zek gets ample testing time, we will be launching this update on Thursday, August 25th.
::We look forward to sharing the new features and content with you, and will have more specific information on the downtimes for the update later in the week.
This update will include a reset of all Alternate Advancement points and all gear being unequipped and unattuned. Ensure that you give yourself ample time to prepare for this the night before.
We also welcome you to take another look at the six Game Update 61 Preview articles shown below!
==Beastlord Prelude Event==
The first half of the Beastlord Prelude Event will be released with Game Update 61.
Beastlords disappeared from Norrath as the Truespirit, powerful spirit guides, retreated along with the gods. Since the Age of Cataclysm, their power has been slowly re-entering the world, but their very existence is in danger from a corruption called the Blight.
Some spiritually attuned persons have been investigating an emergence of spiritual energies in both Antonica and the Commonlands. Both good and evil aligned players will be taken on a unique adventure to help the Truespirit cleanse the corruption. Discover the remnants of the Cult of Sellok and assist the wise spirits Ilfanul and Ravinus with a ritual that will herald the New Awakening.
The first half of the Beastlord Prelude Event will be available when Game Update 61 goes live on Tuesday, August 23rd. The prelude's conclusion is anticipated to be released around halfway between GU61 and the Age of Discovery.
==Velious Adventurer Quests==
Adventurers will aid Stormfeather's Pride and the Thrael'Gorr Clan in Game Update 61.
For many adventurers in Velious, the Eastern Wastes has seemed like a short venture for questing. With the most recent update this zone will be augmented by two more quest series, which continue the stories of the Goahmari Stormfeather's Pride and the Thrael'Gorr Clan of orcs.
Stormfeather's Legacy begins in Great Divide and is available to adventurers who have completed their gryphon mount quests. Players learn that the Goahmari want to introduce some of their gryphons to the Eastern Wastes and quickly move on to there to assist with the efforts. The wild griffons of the region must be figured out and even helped before adventurers can secure the future of the pride.
Rise of the Thrael'Gorr continues the story left off when the pale barbarian, Ragebourne, disappeared. The Thrael'Gorr orcs are prepared to establish a home of their own but must remain hidden from the prying eyes of Kael Drakkel. Adventurers will speak to their contact in the Ry'Gorr Keep and assist the Thrael'Gorr with the ancient awakened beings, ettin spies and more before becoming a champion to their cause.
These two quest series will be available when Game Update 61 goes live, with an expected release date of Tuesday, August 23rd.
==Carpenters Get Crafty==
In GU61, Carpenters learn the art of creating floor tiles, stone dividers and more.
Since the introduction of floor tiles to the Moonlight Enchantments and City Festival events, Carpenters have been asking for tile recipes of their own. At Fan Faire this request for stone dividers was presented and got a positive response from developers. Also revealed were house signs, which allow players to modify the text to create a custom message for visitors.
Carpenters got their desires and more. Five new crafted dividers will be available, four of which are stone and one with a Halasian-themed wood grain. These recipes were added into the Carpenter Essentials books between levels 3 - 83 and players who have already scribed them will automatically have those added to their recipe book.
A total of 16 floor tiles, which match many of the crafted dividers, will be released with this update. Like the dividers, the recipes are also available through the levels 3 - 83 essentials books. For any level 90 Artisan who has completed the Fortress of Drunder tradeskill quests, the Relics of Drunder recipe book will be available on Brontis and offers 10 Drunder-themed floor tiles.
Crafted house signs were added to the Advanced Carpenter recipe books between levels 19 and 89. These signs require rare wood components to create. Once placed in a house or guild hall, players can set a short sign name and longer description text (up to ~250 characters).
Another added bonus for Carpenters who have completed Brontis' quests and purchased their class-specific recipe scroll is that two new beautiful house items will be added to their book. A Fan Faire request for fewer orc pictures yielded The Halls of Fallen Guk and Odus Wastelands paintings.
Finally, avid decorators will be pleased to hear that the Housing Directory will be introduced. Players can publish their homes and others will be able to visit and rate them based on Creativity and Style. Higher rated homes will receive awards on the leaderboards and once enough awards are accumulated they may be featured in the Hall of Fame.
All of these recipes will be available when Game Update 61 goes live, with an expected release date of Tuesday, August 23rd.
==Fae and Arasai Take Flight==
Velious. With the rediscovery of this icy lost land Norrathians got Public Quests, Prestige Housing and a wealth of goodies including... flight. Mounts that soar above the lands and speeds never before experienced. Everyone got the opportunity to fly - even the vampires got trained bats.
And Norrath's winged residents cried out: "HEY! What about us? See these flappy things on our backs? Have the gods forsaken us?"
The answer to that is no, the faefolk had to simply look deeper into the power of flight. In the upcoming update, all Arasai and Fae who are level 85+ in adventuring or crafting will be able to learn how to fly. In the snowy peaks above the Goahmari Village Rookery seek out an inquisitive faefolk who has realized that harnessing the Goddess of Air's power may unlock the secrets of flight.
This journey into discovering why Arasai and Fae could not fly and receiving the ultimate blessing of soaring through the skies will be available when Game Update 61 releases, expected on Tuesday, August 23rd.
==Alternate Advancement System==
Alternate Advancements undergo some changes and new tree is added in GU61.
In Game Update 61 the Alternate Advancement system is being revamped and a new AA tab will be added. As a result of the revamp, every character will have all of their AA points reset. Several classes will also see changes, removals or replacements of existing AA abilities, which will be further detailed when the final Live patch notes are released.
The Class, Subclass and new Tradeskill trees are available at level 10. The Subclass tree was reorganized, placing the available Advancements in rows which are unlocked as you spend AA points in the tree. The final AA is available after spending 80 points in the Subclass tree.
A change to the Shadows tab is that it will now be locked until level 50. This was perhaps the most controversial topic on the Test forum as the General AA line in that tree is beneficial to all characters regardless of level.
The Heroic tree, introduced in Destiny of Velious, will now unlock at level 80 (it was 85 prior to the revamp). Alternate Advancements for the Sentinel's Fate subclass branch will also unlock at level 80. Both trees still require a certain number of AA points to be spent in other trees before you can invest into their abilities.
A new addition to the Alternate Advancement system is the Tradeskill tree, which is unlocked at Adventurer level 10. The harvesting and tradeskill related AAs from the Shadows tab have been moved over to the new tree. Most of the AAs are new, ranging from durability increases, to higher critical success chances and even an increased chance of harvesting rare materials. The AA points used in this tab are from the same pool of AAs used in the adventuring tabs and a maximum of 25 AAs can be spent.
The Alternate Advancement revamp will likely be met with mixed reactions. The openness of the Subclass tree will be a breath of fresh air to many players who were forced to take undesirable abilities for their game play style before. Crafters will enjoy the new Tradeskill tab though players who choose to both adventure and craft may be torn between where to spend their points. Level-lockers, such as the Tier 4 Battlegrounds players, will be disappointed at losing beneficial abilities such as increased health and mount speed from the Shadows tree.
This revamp and the new Tradeskill AA tree will be available when Game Update 61 goes live, estimated to happen on Tuesday, August 23rd.
==Dynamic Dungeons==
GU61 Preview: Dynamic Dungeons
Two new dynamic dungeons will be introduced in Game Update 61.
Two new Dynamic Dungeons, originally announced at Fan Faire, take popular older zones from Desert of Flames and give a new take on them. These dungeons scale from levels 60 through 90 and are intended to be fun group content.
The concept behind dynamic dungeons is that their population may change each trip. An example given in Podcast #115 was that the Silent City dynamic dungeon has 15 different "population sets". These dungeons were designed to be defeated by a group of average geared players.
The Palace of Sabaron is a take on the Djinn Masters Prism raid zone. It is accessible through a genie lamp near the entrance to Silent City. Skeletal cobras and prismatic defenders populated our brief run through this instance with the mummy boss General Dal'Zark pulling out all the stops and halting our trip.
We visited Silent City: The Delving Dead twice and witnessed two different population sets for it. The first was gnolls and gelatinous cubes and the second trip had spectral warriors and oozes. Deeper in the instance we encountered walking bonepiles, gazers and gnolls. A total of five boss mobs are in this dungeon, each with some interesting tricks up its sleeve. Several quests in this zone also give an alternate way to earn a few Primal Velium Shards.
Dynamic dungeons breathe new life into older content and allow more players to enjoy them with the scaling levels. They can also be a fun way to equip younger characters as we saw several legendary armor piece drops due to the new reitemization being done this update. These dungeons will be available when Game Update 61 releases, expected on Tuesday, August 23rd.
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