ArcheAge Version 2.0, Build 7.3 Patch Notes -- The Winter Maiden Update

The Winter Maiden Festival is HERE!
"Even in the darkest night, against the snow our light is bright!"

Only the most joyous tidings to you, citizens of Erenor! The Winter Maiden has come again, and the cities of Marianople and Austera are fully decorated. Grab your festive stockings, crack open a few presents, and give thanks to the Winter Maiden as the festival proceeds from today until January 18th.

For more information about all of the different aspects of the festival this year, click here.

Ayanad Design Simplification, part 1
"Last time I did this, I remember it being much more complicated..."

To begin the tour of community requested changes, the first part of our Ayanad Design changes will be going live with the Winter Maiden Update! Our current 20 Ayanad Designs will be collapsed down into three generalized designs – Ayanad Weapon, Ayanad Armor, and Ayanad Accessory. Now, instead of hoping to get that very specific two-handed sword recipe (while you keep getting recipes for earrings or rings), all you’ll need is the Ayanad Weapon design.

In a future update, the Ayanad Designs will be moving away from a small drop chance to a scrap-based collection system.

Family size increased to 10
"After adopting all of these children, my dear, I think we're in need of a Godmother and Godfather."

Bring two more friends into your close-knit family in this update! Fulfilling another community request, the maximum size of families has been increased from 8 to 10. Share your wealth, your land holdings, and more, with more of your closest kin!

Protect your gems from mishap with Refined Lunagems
"These gems are a thicker cut, just designed by the diligent craftsmen of Austera. When hammered into an item, their magical resonance disperses harmlessly throughout the weapon upon failure, rather than resonating into the gems set prior. Wonderous."

It’s a terrible feeling when you place that last Lunagem into your weapon, just to have it fail and destroy the other 6 gems you had already carefully placed. However, with the introduction of Refined Lunagems, you can keep your previously slotted Lunagems safe from destruction.

Refined Lunagems can be made out of Fire and Wave Lunagems. They will require Handicraft and a few additional materials to create. Once a Refined Lunagem is made, you will be able to socket it as normal into an appropriate item. If the Refined Lunagem fails to socket, it will still be destroyed, but it won’t destroy the other gems still in the weapon!

Please note that once a Refined Lunagem is socketed, it will behave like any other gem in the future. If you socket another normal Lunagem on top of it and it breaks, all prior Lunagems (even refined ones) will be destroyed as normal.

Wave, Gale, and Honor Lunagems are not included in this first introduction of the system, but can be introduced in the future depending on community feedback and how the system performs in the game.

UPDATE: Thanks to PTS player feedback, XL will be modifying the Refined Lunagem system to allow the gems to be tradeable instead of Bind on Pickup. Thank you to our testers for your feedback! This change will be made to the game either next week, or the week after, depending on development time and testing.

Improvements to salvage crafting
"These new forges are much more efficient than the old ones. Less waste, less consumption, more reliability. After building these, I think I deserve to brag a little in this tavern, don't you think?"

Crafters will find a few improvements to the system in the Winter Maiden Update as we pull the system back from RNG surrounding upgradeable items. Now crafting from salvage up to the Magnificent Tier will always result in an upgradeable version of the item. There’s also been some rebalancing of mana wisps required to craft weapons from salvage in the Epherium and Delphinad tiers, reducing their costs significantly.

General Changes

• Key Faction Base NPCs in Diamond Shores will now be invulnerable for 2 hours after spawning (due to a server restart) to ensure an Alemine Attack does not result in the downgrading of a base that couldn’t be defended.
• Carrying a tradepack now prevents interactions with a spawn point for Auroria Mineral Water or Burning Logs pack bundles.
• Furling and unfurling sails to gain an abnormal speed buff is now prevented. A single buff is now applied and appropriately removed without stacking.
• Some monsters and bosses in Serpentis are now immune to damage if the attacking player is located in an inappropriate area.
• Fixed an issue where players are able to attack the Heart of Ayanad Guardian without taking any damage using the Treasure Guardian's Imprison ability.
• By community request, the Event Exchanger in Mirage Isle will now offer rewards for coins from the Sandeep Blue Salt Festival and the Rookborne Rum Runner Rapids past events.

Quests

• The quests to obtain the Larceny Mastery Titles “Takes, But Does Not Earn” and “Maestro Cutpurse” have received new objectives. The 90,000 skill title quest now requires the player to open 10 Stolen Prince’s Bags and the 150,000 skill title quest requires the opening of 50 Stolen Prince’s Bags. KNOWN ISSUE: The quest text still references the old Library bags instead of the new Stolen Prince's Bags. The quest still functions correctly.
• In the quest "One Last Job", Eldris is supposed to take off the mask but he instead remained wearing the mask. This has been adjusted so Eldris is no longer wearing the mask as the story unfolds.
• Fixed an issue where the quest "Reinforce the Ramparts" could not be completed due to an incorrect system setting.

Items

• Enraged Red Dragon's Legacy now properly increases Agility when the cloak proc is activated.
• A type of hat that provides additional labor while resting in a bed has been added.
• The drop rate of the Pink Dolphin Mount known as Fusciafin, obtained rarely from killing Dahuta in the 10 man Sea of Drowned Love, has been increased from 1% to 3%.
• Seasonal décor items have been added and will soon be obtainable through in-game events and the Marketplace. For more information, visit the Winter Maiden article, or check out our last livestream.
• A speed bug with the Enhanced Squirrel Glider Companion: Speed has been fixed.
• Texture and color have been restored to the loyalty-earned Spiked Goblin Fences, Gates and Lightposts introduced during the 2015 Hallowtide Season.

Crafting & Regrades

• The Leviathan’s Eye has been removed as a crafting component for Tier 6 Obsidian Weapons and Armor. It has been replaced by other rare drops from various world bosses like the Red Dragon, Anthalon, and The Kraken. The Leviathan’s Eye will likely be used in the future for an undetermined system.
• The amount of the refunded materials when an item is destroyed due to a Major Failure during the regrading process has been increased.
• The salvaging system has changed to allow the reforging of Magnificent tier items to always result in an upgradable version rather than a Sealed Magnificent version.