Build 162 Goes live!

rhinok

Dungeon Runners has been in kind of a limbo state due to all the NC Austin / NC West turmoil this year.  That's all been resolved and NCSoft and the Dungeon Runners devs have a lot of great things they're working on for the game.  Today, the first of many new patches has been deployed and there are quite a few changes:

Patch Notes for Build 162

July 22, 2009

Here are the patch notes for build 162.

General Changes

• We've upgraded compilers yet again. Nothing too big, but it opens up more features in the future.
• We've added improved texture management to the game client. This will help keep the game's memory footprint lower. This is good for players that have minspec machines.
• We've upgraded the graphics autodetect feature to better estimate the capabilities of your hardware.
• We've added shadows to the game. You'll notice a new graphics configuration option to control the quality level of the shadows.
• No more ads!
• Improved DirectX detection to deal with compatibility problems. You may be prompted to update DirectX when you start the game. This will direct you to the Microsoft website for free upgrades.
• Lots of optimizations for performance and database size.
• Laying the groundwork for live game content streaming.
• The PvP World will be taken offline. We are in the process of updating our server hardware and will soon have a two higher capacity worlds for your enjoyment.
• Loot icons in your inventory, bank and merchants now have quality halos around them. This helps you see, at a glance, the quality level of items.
• We've optimized the lighting system to help with performance. Some players will notice up to a 20% speed improvement.

Bug Fixes

• The nasty monthly mass crasher in Town is fixed.
• You can no longer shoot projectiles through walls.
• Some item generator bugs have been fixed.
• A bug that caused lag when scrolling the chat window when it had a lot of text in it has been fixed.
• We've fixed the loot bug where a larger group can be used to spawn creatures with higher loot drop percentages. Folks were doing this, then downsizing the group before killing a boss, thus allowing a single player to get the loot drops for the entire group. Loot drop rates are adjusted on already-spawned monsters as soon as a group member leaves. Adding group members does not modify the loot drop rate for already-spawned monsters.

World Changes

• We've got some placeholder artwork for where the TURD vendor will go. TURDs are delayed until October (at the soonest) as we work toward integration with NCcoin.
• The Amazon vendor in town is on sabbatical.
• Monsters have been given some tweaks for difficulty and awesomeness.

PvP Changes

• PvP is now allowed on all worlds. There are no more PvP worlds.
• Duels can only be sent to players that are in Pwnston.
• PvP notifications are only received if you are in Pwnston or a PvP match.
• Pwnston has been added as a destination on the Obelisk. The old teleporter has been removed.
• A new PvP channel has been added for global PvP discussion. You can access this channel with "/pvp" or "/qq". If you've ever played a PvP match before this update, you will automatically be joined to the PvP channel. Otherwise, you'll need to join it manually.

Item Changes

• All Unique and Mythic drops are now Membership Required. Kings Coin purchases are, as always, usable by anyone.
• The chance for a non-member to use a Rare drop has been reduced to 5%.
• Lots of new items have been added. It's crazy!

~Ripper