3/23/2012 - Official Announcement

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Update March 23rd
3/23/2012
There is nothing in front of me but a blank slate, empty and white, mocking me as I try to determine a way to introduce this week’s update to you all. I have been reduced from an effervescent array of descriptive delight to a mere Neanderthal, staring at the screen in amazement that smashing button make funny picture on screen. Twinkle like picture. Picture look pretty…
This is madness I tell you.
I guess it’s somewhat fitting that it’s March. March and madness seem to go hand-in-hand for some people, myself included. It’s the time of year where the unthinkable almost always happens, and the crazy and irrational is commonplace. For instance, it has been snowing in Seattle for the last week. That’s right, snow, in March, in Seattle.
More fitting for most of you is the “madness” surrounding the anticipation for a release date for the Celts & Bugchilada, otherwise known as the Spring Patch. They are a coming. We will announce the official date just as soon as we can. We are still on schedule, I know we’ve said it a million times, but soon the blood-lust you all have will be subsided by sheer joy.
To help quell some of the anticipation I have brought with me another bit of the Bugchilada Patch Notes. Today we tackle changes to PvE:
Three major changes have been done to improve the overall gameplay experience:
*Age 3 and Age 4 have been moved to levels 7 and 15, respectively. Some items have had their minimum level requirements adjusted in order to support this change.
*All buildings and mobile units now unlock automatically at the start of their associated Age (they no longer cost tech tree points).
*Nearly all quests and game modes in the game have had their experience rewards boosted:
**XP increased by 10-300% for the Core campaign quests/ Argos and Cyprus
**XP increased by 30-60% for PvP match victories
**XP increased by 30-60% for scaling repeatable quests (like Neighborly Defense)
**XP increased by 20-80% for Defense of Crete 20 Waves
***20 Waves now averages more than twice the XP from 10 Waves, in recognition of the greater degree of risk of failure
**XP increased by 20-100% for Defense of Crete 30 Waves
***30 Waves now averages more than three times the XP from 10 Waves, in recognition of the greater degree of risk of failure
**XP increased from 150K to 250K for "The Elite Meet in Crete"
**XP increased by 20-100% for Skirmish Hall victories
**XP increased by 200-300% for Skirmish Hall globals
Quest Updates
*Argos Quest Changes:
**Argos quests have been re-organized, with changes made to several pre-requisites, and quest givers. This was done both to improve the overall experience of Argos and to lay the ground work for on-going improvements to the quality of this shared region.
**Players who have been actively playing Argos quests might experience a quest in their Quest list with the title “Oops” – this represents a now inactive quest.
**A few Argos quests have new maps, and more elaborate enemy content.
**The following quests now give an additional chest on quest completion. They have also been changed to be Daily (12 hour) repeatables:
***"Challenge: Breaking Eggs to Make an Omelet"
***"You Complete Me"
***"We Killed These Guys Already!"
***"Why Does It Have to Be Bandits?"
***"Left with No Choice"
*Greek Quest Changes:
**"Protect Our People" has been made less difficult
**"Challenge: Back to You Tenfold" is now set to be Daily (12 hour)
*Egyptian Quest Changes:
**"To the Open Desert" now starts the player with additional resources
**"The Fishin' Hole" has been updated with changes that allow the player to get up and running faster
**"The Golden Punch Bowl" has been updated to start the player at a higher age, and to increase the activity of the enemy attacks, while also decreasing the number of attackers per attack.
**"Hard-Won Gold" is now set to be Daily (12 hour)
*As a result of these improvements, several quests have been made inactive, and will no longer be offered to players. If you have one of these quests, it will now show up in your quest list with the title, “Oops!” These quests can be abandoned, or turned in to your City Ambassador for a small coin reward.
**Inactive quests include:
***Several Argos quests that were removed as a part of the first pass to update Argos
***The tutorial quest to learn the Storehouse tech (now granted for free)
***The introduction to the Ambassador quest (now streamlined with a pro-tip notification)
Additional tidbits:
*Legendary quests will now only drop Advisors and Equipment, and of Rare and higher rarity.
*Non-Legendary quests that can drop level 40 gear now have a chance of dropping Legendary gear.
*Gambled level 40 chests now have a chance of dropping Legendary gear.
*Equipment icons and unit visuals have been changed to be consistent in their looks based on rarity.
*When you "unlearn" a craft school, you lose all of the recipes associated with that school.
Tons of stuff is headed your way in a very short time. In addition to this update, we will be releasing the patch notes, in their entirety, for you all to gaze upon, feast, and digest. That wraps up this week’s update, but never fear, you will hear from us again soon.
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