Post by FunkySwerve on Jul 9, 2010 6:02:10 GMT
Greetings from Higher Ground! It's been a long time since we last sent out a mailing, but we've been up to a lot since then, and want to let you in on some of what we've been doing, and what is coming in the future. Of course, many of you already know what we've been up to in recent months, so there is a separate section for upcoming changes at the end, which you can skip straight to at your leisure. For the rest of you, there have been far too many changes to list, but we'll cover the largest in broad strokes. As always, our forums have detailed update information:
highergroundpoa.proboards.com
Recent Changes
=====
A) New Areas
We've added a huge number of areas in the period since our last mailing. First came the depths of Shuzantuhal, a sprawling two-part run ending in the Far Realm, the demesne of the aboleths, areas intended to challenge even the most veteran players (levels 60+). Soon after came the Pit of Moliation, a lair of meenlocks being manipulated by the vile yugoloths of Hades, designed for levels 52-58. Next came a trio of area groups, the Toyshop (levels 45-50), the Catacombs of Dulvuroth (50-55), and the Hive (52-57), all designed to provide alternate leveling zones in those level ranges, and a variety of enemy types and challenges. Next was the Locathah Depths, an underwater area group off the coast of Ascension, home to the deadly locathah, and designed for levels 48-54. Then came the Feywild, a group of 11 areas home to the fey, and linked via mystical portals at numerous points throughout Ascension. The areas are designed for levels 38-44, and many of the creatures there drop alchemical reagents that can be used to brew powerful potions in Town. After the Feywild, we added yet another set of areas designed to provide alternative places to level, the Elemental planes. All four primary elements are represented, each having three differing depths, with increasingly dangerous foes, designed for levels ranging from 44 for the easiest, to 56+ for the most difficult. In addition, many of the enemies there drop elemental gems useful for weapon crafting, as well as some potion reagents similar to those in the Feywild. You can find some screenshots of the Elemental Planes here:
highergroundpoa.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=Tavern&thread=14434&page=1
Most recent is the greatest of our additions to date, the Abyss. Collectively it comprises well over 50 areas, ranging across 6 different layers of the Abyss, and is at Hells difficulty, designed for repeated level 60+ play. It brought our area design to a new plateau, utilitizing all the skills and tricks our development team has spent the last 6 years acquiring. Players have the opportunity to face down, or ally with, myriad demon lords, including the genre's most recognizable - Demogorgon, Orcus, Grazzt, Juiblex, and Obox-Ob, in the quest to repair or destroy Orcus' fabled Wand of Death. There are a number of screenshots of various Abyssal layers in this thread:
highergroundpoa.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Tavern&action=display&thread=17448
B) Loot
We've added hundreds of new loot items since our last mass mailing, both as random loot, and as set loot for given bosses or runs. But we've also done far more than that. Most random loot items are now randomized when they are created, which can result in added or lost properties, and an increase or decrease in the quality of existing properties - up to +14 for abilities, now, instead of the old cap of +12. Set loot is not affected, and existing loot was not changed, though we did add a !randomize command to allow players to randomize nonrandom items as they wish. Further, we added augments, or sets of magical properties, which occasionally are applied to random loot, and augmenters, which players could use to add specific augments as they choose.
To prevent these changes from slowing down loot splits, and to decrease wasted playtime, we also added several features. The !autosell command automatically (and configurably) converts less valuable loot into gold as it is picked up, and the !bulksell command allows items left over from loot splits to be sold en masse when the split is done. The new bazaar channel is dedicated to item trading, and can be heard by everyone, but players can opt out of hearing it to decrease chatter.
C) Spells
We've continued to tweak and modify spellcasting in a variety of ways. We implemented the pen-and-paper spellcasting abilities of assassins and blackguards, giving them spellcasting abilities akin to the ranger or paladin, instead of the handful of spell-like abilities they received in vanilla Neverwinter Nights. Further, we added items with 5th-level paladin, ranger, assassin, and blackguard slots and 7th-level bard slots, which allow those classes to use metamagic feats above their normal limits. We also made the lore skill much more useful, giving damage spells up to a 100% damage boost at very high skill levels. And, of course, we've continued to add new spells, a dizzying variety of them. Here is a list by class - just to give you an idea - the details can be found in ingame documentation.
Assassin:
Caustic Weapon (1), Expeditious Retreat (1), Grease (1), Sleep (1), True Strike (1), Cat's Grace (2), Darkness (2), Fox's Cunning (2), Ghostly Visage (2), Invisibility (2), Web (2), Clairaudience/Clairvoyance (3), Find Traps (3), Haste (3), Iron Silence (3), Poison (3), False Life (4), Foebane (4), Heartbane (4), Improved Invisibility (4), Wrack (4)
Bard:
Gembomb (5), Illusory Pit (5), Know Vulnerabilities (2), Lesser Mind Blank (5), Mass Cure Light Wounds (4), Mass Cure Moderate Wounds (5), Mass Cure Serious Wounds (6), Needle Point (3), Rainbow Pattern (4), Iron Grasp (2), Iron Silence (2), Silver Tongue (1)
Blackguard:
Corrupt Weapon (1), Doom (1), Frost Weapon (1), Inflict Light Wounds (1), Magic Weapon (1), Scare (1), Summon Creature I (1), Bull's Strength (2), Darkness (2), Eagle's Splendor (2), Endurance (2), Lesser Restoration (2), Negative Energy Ray (2), Summon Creature II (2), Bestow Curse (3), Contagion (3), Greater Magic Weapon (3), Inflict Moderate Wounds (3), Protection from Elements (3), Summon Creature III (3), Death Ward (4), False Life (4), Freedom of Movement (4), Inflict Serious Wounds (4), Summon Creature IV (4)
Cleric:
Mass Cure Light Wounds (4), Mass Cure Moderate Wounds (5), Mass Cure Serious Wounds (6), Mass Cure Critical Wounds (7), Mass Inflict Light Wounds (4), Mass Inflict Moderate Wounds (5), Mass Inflict Serious Wounds (6), Mass Inflict Critical Wounds (7), Blistering Radiance (5), True Resurrection (9),
Druid: Desert Sirocco (2), Mass Cure Light Wounds (5), Mass Cure Moderate Wounds (6), Mass Cure Serious Wounds (7), Mass Cure Critical Wounds (8), Defoliate (4), Vitriolic Ray (4), Word of Balance (7)
Paladin: Light (1)
Ranger: Foebane (4), Inquisitive Eye (1)
Sorcerer/Wizard: Needle Point (3), Rainbow Pattern (4), Weapon of Impact (3), Corrosive Grasp (1), Lesser Orb of <Element> (1), Shocking Grasp (1), Flurry of FUmes (2), Snowball Swarm (2), Orb of <Element> (4), Vitriolic Sphere (5), Freezing Sphere (6), Greater Orb of <Element> (7), Greater Spell Breach (8), Polar Ray (8), Freezing Fog (5), Detonate (9), Shock Weapon (2), Vocalize (2), Wrack (5)
D) Other Character Ability Edits
Along with the changes above, we've continued the HG tradition of tweaking and inventing abilities, classes, skills, feats, and the like. We added a new quasiclass, the Dragonstorm Mage, electricity's answer to the Bloodfire Mage. We also completely revamped the Shifter class, adding many new forms like Leonal, Gelatinous Cube, Beholder, and Wyvern; we also completely reworked their ability use system to allow them to shift more freely between forms. Purple Dragon Knights have been edited to make them a viable splash class on HG, with abilities granting powerful defensive benefits to both the PDK and their party. Shadowdancers can now gain the ability to Shadow Step to distant targets, and bard song has been reworked to a point-buy system, to allow parties to benefit from having more than a single bard in a party. Sorcerers and bards have been given additional spells known, and the ability to learn still more with brand new feats.
In fact, we've added a large number of completely new feats, based on pen-and-paper, and altered our custom feat system to make them display on the character sheet. Aside from the Extra Spell Known feats mentioned above, characters on HG can now take weapons feats for ANY CEP weapon, thanks to one of acaos' engine hacks. In addition, there are now Greater Weapon Focus, Power Critical, and Superior Critical feats available for every weapon. Intuitive Attack allows the use of your wisdom for your AB abilty for some weapons, while Rapier Wit allows the same for charisma for rapiers, and Brutal Throw for strength and throwing weapons. The Legendary Slippery Soul and Legendary Valor feats increase saving throws, much like Legendary Hardened Soul.
We didn't stop there, though. Characters can now pick up fallen comrades after they are knocked down, with the (free) Assist Other feat. We also altered enemy AI so that Taunting them will often draw their attacks, and Bluffing will cause them to seek some other target, in order to expand the number of tactical options available to players in combat.
E) Accomplishments
In order to cater to the 'pokemon instinct' of some players, and to encourage veteran players to mingle with newer players, we added a series of bonuses for a wide array of pre-legendary accomplishments, for things like killing boss creatures, or completing story quests. These bonuses total +6% to all elemental damage immunity, at least +3% to all exotic and physical damage immunity, +5 to all skills (falling within the +50 buff cap), +3% spell damage, +2 points of physical damage per hit, and +5% earned experience. We also created a 'proxy' character system to allow old characters to obtain tags without starting over.
F) Miscellaneous
In addition to the many changes outlined above, we've made other changes in response to player feedback, and still more in our neverending quest to provide a unique, quality play experience. Using yet another custom engine hack, we added a variety of new damage types, called Esoteric, to add to the already-extant Physical, Elemental, and Exotic types. They include Ectoplasmic, Psionic, Sacred, Vile, Internal, and Subdual damage. In an attempt to ease new players into the high power, high challenge playstyle of HG, we added a new newbie channel, which, like the bazaar channel, all players hear, but can opt out of. We also eased reincarnation costs for characters with high xp totals, in order to take some of the sting out of the process for our veteran players.
Upcoming Changes
=====
As always, there is a whole array of changes lurking on the horizon - first and foremost, new areas to explore. The furthest along of these is Hades, home to the Yugoloths, a plain of drab colors, bleakness, and despair. It's designed to provide a solo/group leveling area, much like the Elemental Planes, but for characters who have already attained level 60 (more on why level 60s need a leveling zone below). Like the Elemental Planes and the Feywild, spawn sizes will vary in size and composition based on party size, in order to provide suitable challenge and reward for any group size. Furthermore, bard song and curse song will have no effect whatsoever in Hades, due to both the plane's drab, emotion-draining nature and our continuing efforts to mitigate the necessity of having any one particular class available in order to form a successful party. Within Hades, in addition to the free-ranging leveling areas, there will be a number of demiplanes, which will be cast in the mold of plot-type quest areas, the first couple of which will be the Glitterhell, realm of Abbothor, dwarven god of greed, and the Wasting Tower of Khin-Oin, stronghold of the yugoloths.
Next up after Hades will come the first of the Elder Evils, Atropus. The Elder Evils, much like all our additions of recent years, will be pulled more or less directly from pen-and-paper sourcebooks - in this case, the eponymous Elder Evils sourcebook. The Elder Evils are designed for campaign-ending play in tabletop Dungeons and Dragons, which makes them a perfect fit for our plans for HG. The Aboleths, along with the Hells, the Abyss, and the forthcoming Hades, represent the pinnacle of difficulty for level 60 play on HG. We want, however, to extend ourselves further still, opening up completely new horizons of power for players to explore. It is with that in mind that we will be uncapping our level limit to 80 with the release of the first of the Elder Evils, much as we broke the level 40 barrier all those years ago after the introduction of the Ssithraks. With an additional 20 levels, called Paragon levels, will come brand new feats to choose from, and characters will continue to gain additional hit points, skills, and more. Some departures will have to be made during Paragon levels from the Legendary level progressions, in order to maintain play balance, but we'll stick as close as possible for the sake of simplicity, making exceptions only where continued progression would create too large a power gap or other balance issues. Of course, with the increased challenges, will come an entire new class of random loot, not yet named, but surpassing beyond ultra rare - including, potentially, items with ability bonuses of +16.
Of course, not all our attention will be on top-level play. We have a host of lower-level areas planned as well, to continue expanding the variety of areas available for players to explore. Mount Leucrotus will (finally) continue beyond the barricaded area to the north of Mount P'reeth, and the Maze will be getting an expansion as well, containing even more dangerous guardians and more powerful treasures too valuable to be left in the Maze proper. Limbo is also coming, an expansive two-part run similar to the Aboleths in power, where players will have to face down the slaadi, pen and paper favorites of dungeon masters for decades. A bit further off are Mechanus, the home of the law-oriented modrons and formians, and the Demonweb Pits, the abode of Lolth. Lastly, The Avariel Eryie, to be located somewhere to the east of Ascension, will provide another venue for the use of levitation rings.
We're also continuing to expand pre-legendary play, by adding dozens of new 'tasks', similar to quests, that players will be able to learn of from NPCs in two new inns in the Docks - the Silver Moon Inn, and the Sooty Crow. The tasks, other than providing alternate sources of loot, gold, and experience, will help newer players to understand some of the more unique aspects of Higher Ground, and to add incentives to explore all the hidden nooks and crannies HG has to offer.
Of course, we'll also continue our tradition of expanding and diversifying the selection of classes and abilities available to players to choose from. New quasiclasses are coming, including the Herald of Storms and the Gnomish Inventor, with a host of others in design stages, like the Arcane Trickster, the Dashing Swordsman, the Blackrobe, and the Inquisitor, as well as something even more exciting. Using his ingenious engine modifications, acaos will be bringing us brand new base classes as well. Look for the Spirit Shaman and Favored Soul, spontaneous-cast versions of druids and clerics (like the sorcerer is for wizards), down the road!
As always, we look forward to seeing you ingame soon!
Best wishes and good gaming,
The HG DM Team
highergroundpoa.proboards.com
Recent Changes
=====
A) New Areas
We've added a huge number of areas in the period since our last mailing. First came the depths of Shuzantuhal, a sprawling two-part run ending in the Far Realm, the demesne of the aboleths, areas intended to challenge even the most veteran players (levels 60+). Soon after came the Pit of Moliation, a lair of meenlocks being manipulated by the vile yugoloths of Hades, designed for levels 52-58. Next came a trio of area groups, the Toyshop (levels 45-50), the Catacombs of Dulvuroth (50-55), and the Hive (52-57), all designed to provide alternate leveling zones in those level ranges, and a variety of enemy types and challenges. Next was the Locathah Depths, an underwater area group off the coast of Ascension, home to the deadly locathah, and designed for levels 48-54. Then came the Feywild, a group of 11 areas home to the fey, and linked via mystical portals at numerous points throughout Ascension. The areas are designed for levels 38-44, and many of the creatures there drop alchemical reagents that can be used to brew powerful potions in Town. After the Feywild, we added yet another set of areas designed to provide alternative places to level, the Elemental planes. All four primary elements are represented, each having three differing depths, with increasingly dangerous foes, designed for levels ranging from 44 for the easiest, to 56+ for the most difficult. In addition, many of the enemies there drop elemental gems useful for weapon crafting, as well as some potion reagents similar to those in the Feywild. You can find some screenshots of the Elemental Planes here:
highergroundpoa.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=Tavern&thread=14434&page=1
Most recent is the greatest of our additions to date, the Abyss. Collectively it comprises well over 50 areas, ranging across 6 different layers of the Abyss, and is at Hells difficulty, designed for repeated level 60+ play. It brought our area design to a new plateau, utilitizing all the skills and tricks our development team has spent the last 6 years acquiring. Players have the opportunity to face down, or ally with, myriad demon lords, including the genre's most recognizable - Demogorgon, Orcus, Grazzt, Juiblex, and Obox-Ob, in the quest to repair or destroy Orcus' fabled Wand of Death. There are a number of screenshots of various Abyssal layers in this thread:
highergroundpoa.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Tavern&action=display&thread=17448
B) Loot
We've added hundreds of new loot items since our last mass mailing, both as random loot, and as set loot for given bosses or runs. But we've also done far more than that. Most random loot items are now randomized when they are created, which can result in added or lost properties, and an increase or decrease in the quality of existing properties - up to +14 for abilities, now, instead of the old cap of +12. Set loot is not affected, and existing loot was not changed, though we did add a !randomize command to allow players to randomize nonrandom items as they wish. Further, we added augments, or sets of magical properties, which occasionally are applied to random loot, and augmenters, which players could use to add specific augments as they choose.
To prevent these changes from slowing down loot splits, and to decrease wasted playtime, we also added several features. The !autosell command automatically (and configurably) converts less valuable loot into gold as it is picked up, and the !bulksell command allows items left over from loot splits to be sold en masse when the split is done. The new bazaar channel is dedicated to item trading, and can be heard by everyone, but players can opt out of hearing it to decrease chatter.
C) Spells
We've continued to tweak and modify spellcasting in a variety of ways. We implemented the pen-and-paper spellcasting abilities of assassins and blackguards, giving them spellcasting abilities akin to the ranger or paladin, instead of the handful of spell-like abilities they received in vanilla Neverwinter Nights. Further, we added items with 5th-level paladin, ranger, assassin, and blackguard slots and 7th-level bard slots, which allow those classes to use metamagic feats above their normal limits. We also made the lore skill much more useful, giving damage spells up to a 100% damage boost at very high skill levels. And, of course, we've continued to add new spells, a dizzying variety of them. Here is a list by class - just to give you an idea - the details can be found in ingame documentation.
Assassin:
Caustic Weapon (1), Expeditious Retreat (1), Grease (1), Sleep (1), True Strike (1), Cat's Grace (2), Darkness (2), Fox's Cunning (2), Ghostly Visage (2), Invisibility (2), Web (2), Clairaudience/Clairvoyance (3), Find Traps (3), Haste (3), Iron Silence (3), Poison (3), False Life (4), Foebane (4), Heartbane (4), Improved Invisibility (4), Wrack (4)
Bard:
Gembomb (5), Illusory Pit (5), Know Vulnerabilities (2), Lesser Mind Blank (5), Mass Cure Light Wounds (4), Mass Cure Moderate Wounds (5), Mass Cure Serious Wounds (6), Needle Point (3), Rainbow Pattern (4), Iron Grasp (2), Iron Silence (2), Silver Tongue (1)
Blackguard:
Corrupt Weapon (1), Doom (1), Frost Weapon (1), Inflict Light Wounds (1), Magic Weapon (1), Scare (1), Summon Creature I (1), Bull's Strength (2), Darkness (2), Eagle's Splendor (2), Endurance (2), Lesser Restoration (2), Negative Energy Ray (2), Summon Creature II (2), Bestow Curse (3), Contagion (3), Greater Magic Weapon (3), Inflict Moderate Wounds (3), Protection from Elements (3), Summon Creature III (3), Death Ward (4), False Life (4), Freedom of Movement (4), Inflict Serious Wounds (4), Summon Creature IV (4)
Cleric:
Mass Cure Light Wounds (4), Mass Cure Moderate Wounds (5), Mass Cure Serious Wounds (6), Mass Cure Critical Wounds (7), Mass Inflict Light Wounds (4), Mass Inflict Moderate Wounds (5), Mass Inflict Serious Wounds (6), Mass Inflict Critical Wounds (7), Blistering Radiance (5), True Resurrection (9),
Druid: Desert Sirocco (2), Mass Cure Light Wounds (5), Mass Cure Moderate Wounds (6), Mass Cure Serious Wounds (7), Mass Cure Critical Wounds (8), Defoliate (4), Vitriolic Ray (4), Word of Balance (7)
Paladin: Light (1)
Ranger: Foebane (4), Inquisitive Eye (1)
Sorcerer/Wizard: Needle Point (3), Rainbow Pattern (4), Weapon of Impact (3), Corrosive Grasp (1), Lesser Orb of <Element> (1), Shocking Grasp (1), Flurry of FUmes (2), Snowball Swarm (2), Orb of <Element> (4), Vitriolic Sphere (5), Freezing Sphere (6), Greater Orb of <Element> (7), Greater Spell Breach (8), Polar Ray (8), Freezing Fog (5), Detonate (9), Shock Weapon (2), Vocalize (2), Wrack (5)
D) Other Character Ability Edits
Along with the changes above, we've continued the HG tradition of tweaking and inventing abilities, classes, skills, feats, and the like. We added a new quasiclass, the Dragonstorm Mage, electricity's answer to the Bloodfire Mage. We also completely revamped the Shifter class, adding many new forms like Leonal, Gelatinous Cube, Beholder, and Wyvern; we also completely reworked their ability use system to allow them to shift more freely between forms. Purple Dragon Knights have been edited to make them a viable splash class on HG, with abilities granting powerful defensive benefits to both the PDK and their party. Shadowdancers can now gain the ability to Shadow Step to distant targets, and bard song has been reworked to a point-buy system, to allow parties to benefit from having more than a single bard in a party. Sorcerers and bards have been given additional spells known, and the ability to learn still more with brand new feats.
In fact, we've added a large number of completely new feats, based on pen-and-paper, and altered our custom feat system to make them display on the character sheet. Aside from the Extra Spell Known feats mentioned above, characters on HG can now take weapons feats for ANY CEP weapon, thanks to one of acaos' engine hacks. In addition, there are now Greater Weapon Focus, Power Critical, and Superior Critical feats available for every weapon. Intuitive Attack allows the use of your wisdom for your AB abilty for some weapons, while Rapier Wit allows the same for charisma for rapiers, and Brutal Throw for strength and throwing weapons. The Legendary Slippery Soul and Legendary Valor feats increase saving throws, much like Legendary Hardened Soul.
We didn't stop there, though. Characters can now pick up fallen comrades after they are knocked down, with the (free) Assist Other feat. We also altered enemy AI so that Taunting them will often draw their attacks, and Bluffing will cause them to seek some other target, in order to expand the number of tactical options available to players in combat.
E) Accomplishments
In order to cater to the 'pokemon instinct' of some players, and to encourage veteran players to mingle with newer players, we added a series of bonuses for a wide array of pre-legendary accomplishments, for things like killing boss creatures, or completing story quests. These bonuses total +6% to all elemental damage immunity, at least +3% to all exotic and physical damage immunity, +5 to all skills (falling within the +50 buff cap), +3% spell damage, +2 points of physical damage per hit, and +5% earned experience. We also created a 'proxy' character system to allow old characters to obtain tags without starting over.
F) Miscellaneous
In addition to the many changes outlined above, we've made other changes in response to player feedback, and still more in our neverending quest to provide a unique, quality play experience. Using yet another custom engine hack, we added a variety of new damage types, called Esoteric, to add to the already-extant Physical, Elemental, and Exotic types. They include Ectoplasmic, Psionic, Sacred, Vile, Internal, and Subdual damage. In an attempt to ease new players into the high power, high challenge playstyle of HG, we added a new newbie channel, which, like the bazaar channel, all players hear, but can opt out of. We also eased reincarnation costs for characters with high xp totals, in order to take some of the sting out of the process for our veteran players.
Upcoming Changes
=====
As always, there is a whole array of changes lurking on the horizon - first and foremost, new areas to explore. The furthest along of these is Hades, home to the Yugoloths, a plain of drab colors, bleakness, and despair. It's designed to provide a solo/group leveling area, much like the Elemental Planes, but for characters who have already attained level 60 (more on why level 60s need a leveling zone below). Like the Elemental Planes and the Feywild, spawn sizes will vary in size and composition based on party size, in order to provide suitable challenge and reward for any group size. Furthermore, bard song and curse song will have no effect whatsoever in Hades, due to both the plane's drab, emotion-draining nature and our continuing efforts to mitigate the necessity of having any one particular class available in order to form a successful party. Within Hades, in addition to the free-ranging leveling areas, there will be a number of demiplanes, which will be cast in the mold of plot-type quest areas, the first couple of which will be the Glitterhell, realm of Abbothor, dwarven god of greed, and the Wasting Tower of Khin-Oin, stronghold of the yugoloths.
Next up after Hades will come the first of the Elder Evils, Atropus. The Elder Evils, much like all our additions of recent years, will be pulled more or less directly from pen-and-paper sourcebooks - in this case, the eponymous Elder Evils sourcebook. The Elder Evils are designed for campaign-ending play in tabletop Dungeons and Dragons, which makes them a perfect fit for our plans for HG. The Aboleths, along with the Hells, the Abyss, and the forthcoming Hades, represent the pinnacle of difficulty for level 60 play on HG. We want, however, to extend ourselves further still, opening up completely new horizons of power for players to explore. It is with that in mind that we will be uncapping our level limit to 80 with the release of the first of the Elder Evils, much as we broke the level 40 barrier all those years ago after the introduction of the Ssithraks. With an additional 20 levels, called Paragon levels, will come brand new feats to choose from, and characters will continue to gain additional hit points, skills, and more. Some departures will have to be made during Paragon levels from the Legendary level progressions, in order to maintain play balance, but we'll stick as close as possible for the sake of simplicity, making exceptions only where continued progression would create too large a power gap or other balance issues. Of course, with the increased challenges, will come an entire new class of random loot, not yet named, but surpassing beyond ultra rare - including, potentially, items with ability bonuses of +16.
Of course, not all our attention will be on top-level play. We have a host of lower-level areas planned as well, to continue expanding the variety of areas available for players to explore. Mount Leucrotus will (finally) continue beyond the barricaded area to the north of Mount P'reeth, and the Maze will be getting an expansion as well, containing even more dangerous guardians and more powerful treasures too valuable to be left in the Maze proper. Limbo is also coming, an expansive two-part run similar to the Aboleths in power, where players will have to face down the slaadi, pen and paper favorites of dungeon masters for decades. A bit further off are Mechanus, the home of the law-oriented modrons and formians, and the Demonweb Pits, the abode of Lolth. Lastly, The Avariel Eryie, to be located somewhere to the east of Ascension, will provide another venue for the use of levitation rings.
We're also continuing to expand pre-legendary play, by adding dozens of new 'tasks', similar to quests, that players will be able to learn of from NPCs in two new inns in the Docks - the Silver Moon Inn, and the Sooty Crow. The tasks, other than providing alternate sources of loot, gold, and experience, will help newer players to understand some of the more unique aspects of Higher Ground, and to add incentives to explore all the hidden nooks and crannies HG has to offer.
Of course, we'll also continue our tradition of expanding and diversifying the selection of classes and abilities available to players to choose from. New quasiclasses are coming, including the Herald of Storms and the Gnomish Inventor, with a host of others in design stages, like the Arcane Trickster, the Dashing Swordsman, the Blackrobe, and the Inquisitor, as well as something even more exciting. Using his ingenious engine modifications, acaos will be bringing us brand new base classes as well. Look for the Spirit Shaman and Favored Soul, spontaneous-cast versions of druids and clerics (like the sorcerer is for wizards), down the road!
As always, we look forward to seeing you ingame soon!
Best wishes and good gaming,
The HG DM Team