Work on the development server is going well, staff will be retaining their accounts any players wishing to come test will be starting from level 1. However, all the increased speed and free gift stuff will be in there. Avatars only as before.

Not sure when it will go live yet, still got to get the front end for the new combat system done, there are some other things to test as well.

Platinum sale is now live until 12:00 on Monday the 18th and if you purchase 30,000 platinum or more you'll get a free one time pink cow outfit item!

Just a quick progress report, the new AJAX based combat is coming along nicely with 1200 lines of code and counting. It is by far the most complex script I've had to write as it handles PvP in the wasteland and hive, hunting groups, hunting special NPCs, fighting guards and fighting roaming NPCs. All in one really big script.

Not sure when it's going to be done yet, the back-end is about 80% complete with work on the front end not started yet. Once it's done the Development server will be wiped clean and be coming back online for Avatars to test.

It also incorporates the new method for distributing items and stats to NPCs and the new combat equations that at present increase a players chance to hit from as low as 20% in the current system to an average of about 80% between 2 equally matched opponents. You wanted less randomness in combat, you're about to get it, only testing will decide how well it works.

So, I guess you're wondering what I'm working on right now. Apart from some template stuff for Fallen Sword, my main project right now is the AJAX based combat system. As I know this is what most of the old players want, incorporated in to this we're also running the current combat system through lots of testing.

My aim with our combat equations is to remove as much randomness as possible, without upsetting the game balance or levelling speed as I'm happy with those. Right now we're thinking of scrapping our current equations for new ones that would see your stats have a significantly bigger impact on fight outcomes than they do now.

We may also make you hit a lot more frequently, but increase the energy cost for each attack... so players don't level a lot faster from the shorter fights.

The hunting NPC stats and items are also under review, there is a post up in the Elders forum demonstrating my new hunting NPC generating functions. The aim being to make initial NPCs a lot easier, then gradually make them harder, with the 40 - 80 hunting groups being as challenging as possible... which currently they are not.

Work is now under way on the new Legacy wallpaper that will be the default for new players. We plan on including Tyran, Seraph and our new level 90 hunting boss that has yet to be released. Needless to say drawing them as high resolution characters presents and interesting challenge.

OldLace is collecting feedback on the main forum, feel free to post comments here though. Below is the work in progress drawing our level 90 guy, click for a full resolution version.