Build Notes 5164

Build notes for 5164#5164 Build Notes
This build is Greek-only.
== Campaign Updates ==
* Home Cities now begin with: DLC Store, General Store, Embassy and a 16-slot Warehouse
* Greek Quests Levels 1-4: full update, revision, and redesign pass. Changes cover additional help info, restructuring of the quest progression, introduction of Novice gear (a selection of uncommon introductory gear for all players), and updates to objectives and story content.
* Greek Quests Levels 5-10: full update, revision and redesign pass. Changes are focused on exposure to signature Greek content as well as the introduction of primary quest types (see specific quest details for more info).
* Greek Quests Levels 1-20: quest text updates and objective standardization pass.
* Argos: quest text updates and objective standardization pass.
* Challenge Quests are now called out with a unique prefix.
* The Bandit Leaders global quest is now tied to three specific side quests to deal directly with Draco, Clitus, and Homer.
== Server Updates ==
* Server backend system overhaul to better support scaling needs.
* Ongoing stability updates to better handle nonconforming systems.
* Datastream optimizations to meet concurrent user goals.
== Quest Improvements ==
* Our First Enemy
** New objective added: Treasure!
* Food Equals Villagers
** Updated objectives to incorporate most forms of food gathering.
** Scouting is now a part of the design.
* Wood Equals Buildings
** Updated objectives to highlight both the value of key buildings like the Storehouse as well as the mechanics of population.
* Gear Haul
** New Quest. The Gear Hall (formerly Gearatorium) is now a must-build building for this early level quest. New Novice gear has been added to many of the early quests to take advantage of the Gear Hall.
* Iron Age Technology
** New Quest. Using the tech tree at the start of Age II is now a requirement for the early game.
* Bright Lights, Big City
** Updated quest objective to require completion of the quest, “Help the Mycenaean Trader”
* Help The Mycenaean Trader
** New Quest. The Mycenaean Trader has the blueprints you need, but he also wants your help rebuilding his Village and rescuing his family.
** This quest now introduces the age up process, farms, repairing, and the usage of Transports.
* Mow 'Em Down!
** Full quest revision to support this quest living up to its name.
** Earn your choice of Freelancers gear as a quest reward.
** Gain the new Empire Store blueprint as a reward.
* Ready For Some Farming?
** New Quest. This new optional Age II training quest serves as a chance to practice the age up process and farm building.
* Up For A Bit Of Fishing?
** New Quest. This new optional Age II training quest serves as a chance to practice naval activities.
* Get The Goods
** Revised to have more activity and now with 700% more missing carts.
* A Show Of Support
** Re-designed. Help the refugees reach safety.
* Here They Come!
** Revised. Defend your sheltered base against many incoming attacks. For a real challenge, attempt to conquer the enemy base while defending at the same time.
* We Found Them
** Re-designed. Not only did you find them, but with the help of an increased compliment of Hetairoi, you will now send them running.
* Helping Out A Neighbor
** Re-designed. Your Ally is under assault from two directions. Build up quickly and defend them. Then take the offense and defeat the enemies.
* Baby Steps Back To The Throne
** Re-designed. Agamemnon needs you to destroy the enemy Stables so that the Siege of Mycenae may begin. Hold the line until reinforcements arrive, then take out the Stables.
* Show Our Power
** Re-designed. While the siege of Mycenae continues, set-up and execute an ambush Thyestes' reinforcements.
* Draw Them Out
** Re-designed. Ensure no additional reinforcements will come to Thyestes' aid by wrecking nearby military camps with a compliment of Battering Rams.
* Reclaiming The Throne
** Revised. The final battle to take back Mycenae, now with a bigger scale and big opener.
* Challenge: Kill The Docks
** Revised. This quest is no longer co-op required. It is also now flagged as a Challenge quest.
* Draco's Legion
** New Quest. Defeat Draco and his lackeys in a head-to-head skirmish.
* Clitus Attacks
** New Quest. Survive Clitus’ assault of your base, and be prepared to take out the War Chieftan himself when he shows up.
* Homer Run
** New Quest. Homer is extorting money from nearby villages. Stop him!
* Fishing Our Waters
** Revised. Triremes are now required. Really required.
* The Bandit Armada
** Revised. The Enemy Base layout should be more approachable, and there are now opportunities to assault by Transport or by Sea.
* Battle Between Friends
** New Quest. This quest introduces the Arena, where you and your friends can battle in PvP conflict.
* Looking for a Fight
** New Quest. This quest introduces the Mercenary Hall, where you can find a PvP match with players around your level.
* I'd Like An Advisor With That Hall
** New Quest. This quest introduces the Advisor Hall (now several levels earlier than before). Receive an Advisor reward on completion.
== Crafting Improvements ==
* Crafting Recipes will only drop for items that you're high enough level to use.
* Improved tooltip on Material items.
* Many new rare/epic materials and material recipes added to high level gameplay.
* Crafting Recipes retuned to use the new rare/epic materials.
* Designs renamed to Crafting Recipes.
* Standardized naming for the Crafting School buildings - choosing construction will give the Construction School, for example.
* Crafting Recipe tooltip revised to be a bit clearer.
* Guild Hall renamed to the Crafting Hall.
* Materials Workshops now all have 'Workshop' in their name for consistency.
* Advisors can no longer be crafted.
== UI/Naming Revisions ==
* New empire selection screen that supports more than two empires. Click on an empire for additional information or to see more options for your existing empire.
* First pass at new chat treatment (borders, background).
* New default chat tabs: General, LFG, and Ticker; Ticker is a one-way channel (as in, you can't type in it) to display all player and friend notifications.
* New permanent chat channels for Trade: Trade-Gear, Trade-Materials, and Trade-Consumables.
* Complete revision/redesign of in-game help system: new text, new pop-up layouts, new UI tips, new visual load screen tips, and notifications of when you receive pop-up tips.
* Added notification system for major events: when a tip appears, when new quests are available, etc. Left-click to view the notification; right-click to remove it. They do not persist between sessions or when you enter/leave a quest. This feature can be globally enabled/disabled on the UI tab of the options menu.
* Added friend notifications that appear when people on your Live friends list reach certain milestones or have certain in-game accomplishments. Left-click initiates a /whisper message to the player in chat, right-click removes the notification. This feature can be globally enabled/disabled on the UI tab of the options menu.
* Fixed some visual and functionality bugs in the Compose Mail UI
* New layout for Quest Tracker UI to improve readability against varied backgrounds.
* Minor redesign to the Quest Log, with all player-action elements on the left side of the UI; also added new map icons for accepted quests.
* Changed the quest con system to show difficulty relative to player level. The new ranges are: Orange (>6 levels higher), Yellow (3-5 higher), Green (2 higher - 3 lower), White (4-5 lower), Gray (>6 lower).
* Consumable item text revised to be a bit clearer.
* Advisor description text revised to be a bit clearer.
* Technology text in the Tech Tree revised to read better and provide information about their specific bonuses.
* Respec changed to Reset in the Tech Tree.
* References to Hit Points changed to Health.
* Capital City player 'Ages' changed to Bronze/Iron/Golden/Heroic
* Gearatorium renamed to Gear Hall.
* Consumable tooltips say 'Use:' instead of 'Cost:'.
* Unit and technology build preview tooltips (in-quest) revised to improve clarity and layout.
* Store icons made consistent
* Revised many hover tooltips for buildings in the Capital City so they are consistent and provide useful information.
* All unit hover-over tooltips revised for standardization and clarity .
* Map revisions for Greece.
* Load Screen backgrounds revisited.
== Gameplay Revisions ==
* Treasure Chests Level 1-4 only drop Materials. Other items will start dropping at level 5.
* Removed the ability to auto-garrison newly created units in a barracks or factory. Also removed the Eject button from units that can no longer garrison anything.
* Empire Point Stores can be purchased from a new store given to the player at the same time as Crafting.
* Modified level requirements for Advisors. Age I and Age II Advisors are usable at lower levels, Age IV Advisors cannot be used until later. They will also drop around these new level requirements.
* New 'Empire Store' available at level 4, sells general goods for Empire Points.
* Guarded Treasure Chests no longer respawn if you fail to kill all of them.
* Many stores and their inventories shifted around to have a clear theme.
* Treasure Chests now have three distinct variants, easy/medium/hard.
* Treasure Chests now always drop at least one treasure. Difficult ones have a chance to drop more. They no longer drop in-quest resources.
* Dock is no longer selectable.
* Added leashing behavior and set to default Aggressive stance. Revised Defensive stance to use a slight variation of the leashing behavior, with a shorter range leash.
* Revised stat bonuses on many pieces of equipment.
* Dock and Fishing Boats are now a quest reward instead of an optional tech tree purchase.
* Added a 'Lucky Ticket' item that can be purchased for Empire Points - has a chance to give an item worth different amounts of gold.
* Buff radius increased for consumable items.
== Known Issues ==
* Pre-release In-Game achievements not being propagated to Games for Windows Live Gamercard and Gamerscore. (By design)
== References ==
Category:Build Notes