So I continue to slave away here at this patch... I wanted to share another important change that is in the next patch. The way you can apply skill and status points will be changing slightly.

Currently the game allows you to flip/flop skills anytime you wish with only an add penalty if you have not added the skill before. This allows players to abuse skill swaps such as dropping skills in the middle of a task or combat and endlessly swap back and forth.

While we like the idea of allowing players to easily switch between skills, we feel to needs an additional limitation to control how often a player may swap skills. The next patch introduces a new kind of points called 'Apply' points.

• Players start the game with 3.0 apply points.
• Each player receives 1.5 apply points anytime he or she gains a level.
• Anytime a player makes any number of changes to their skills or stats and clicks apply, an apply point (1.0) is subtracted. If an apply point is not available then the changes will not be able to be applied until that player gains an additional level. (Keep in mind we are still allowing players to make any number of changes before they press apply, all only costing a total of 1 apply point)
• Anytime apply is clicked the player will receive an "are you sure you are ready to apply" message to reduce accidental applies.
• Apply points will be displayed in the status menu.

Overview

We have been working very hard on this next patch, which continues to snow ball into a larger and larger beast. We have decided to implement some changes that we were going to try to put off till just before release, but as the our goal for the production release date is rapidly approaching we feel it is important to get these features completed and tested before then. As a result of these changes we will be clearing out all beta characters, and items but we will not be leaving our (you) beta testers empty handed on the production release of the game this summer.

Beta Testing Reward/Credit

Testers will receive approximately 1/3 of the experience over all the characters they have built during the first phase of beta. The total experience possible will be capped to allow a user to nearly max out one character. You will be able to distribute these experience points anyway you would like among your new characters.

Testers will also be able to claim approximately 1/2 the total gold in all their bank accounts up to 7000 gold coins.

Accounts issued to the same email address will be consulidated under one account. In the future registering multiple accounts under the same email address will not be possible. (Gold and experience for combined accounts will be summed). 

Some testers who have also put much time in testing, providing feedback, and giving recommendations for the game will also receive a premium account upgrade. (We will go over what this means below).

We will be taking a final tally of gold and experience on the release of the next patch.

Following the tally, you will be able to login and view the above three items in your 'My Account' Section on the website.

Reasons for the Server Wipe

Certain items exist today, from early testing that should not be present in the game. We want to clear these out.

Earlier testers got to raise their characters in an environment with experience bugs and exploits resulting in an unfair situation for all players.

A few of the changes we would like to do below would require significantly more work to do without a data wipe which we were planning on doing before production anyway. So rather than invest the time in data compatability we would rather invest that time in new patches, features and prepping for our production release.

Additional Changes In Next Patch

A user's account now shares a single bank account between all players. The regional banking system will no longer be in place, There is also no longer a 5 gold coin charge for having a bank account open. This was a common request among many players and will make item sharing easier between characters. This will also reduce confusion with the payment system for player properties and allow a safe place to claim items from the "cash shop" after the production release.

A number of things will be changing for newly created characters after the next patch to make the game a little easier to start, and less of a 'grind' for experience. First players will notice they start with approximately 10 more status points and 10 - 20 more skill points. Experience needed for the first few levels will be significantly lower than they were during the first phase of beta. Players will receive starting quests to provide some "easy" experience and introduction into the environement and story line of the game. Finally, easier creatures, such as ratmen, and low level zombies will be easier to hit than they were during the first phase of beta. (This was another area that many players had comments about).

Different town's will carry different item sets, armor and weapons may also be made of different materials depending on the town.

Most of the old shop keep and human npc character graphics will be replaced with generated layered characters.

On the backend we are completing some administrative renaming of objects and reorganizing our coding structure. For the most part this will be un-noticible to you but allows us to do quicker maintenance in the future of our scripts for the game.

Post Production Account Levels

Fantasy Realm Online will continue to remain free to all who wish to play the game. Any player may enhance their account for more characters and additional game features such as housing.

 *Account levels and features offered may change. Upgrading between levels will only result in paying the difference to that level from the level the given account is on.

Expected Production Release Date

June 31st - July 15th.

After the next patch...

Please continue to test the changes in the game after the next patch. These changes are significantly important to the game and players. There will likely be more server wipes before release and one final one just before release.

If you have questions or concerns please do not hesitate to post in the forums or contact us via support email at support@fantasyrealmonline.com.

Thank You For Helping us prepare, test and advance Fantasy Realm Online

As promised in previous post, here are some previews of the new female character art, and some new areas that will be coming as part of the next patch to explore.

Ships will be making a debut in the next patch, but it will be unlikely they will be fully implemented. Also shown in this picture is a female sporting the new scalemail armor type as well as a new deadly Halberd.

Starting quests and story background will be available for each character class after this patch has been released, offering some guidance and something to follow for players who are more interested in the game for solo play.

Some new areas will be available for players to explore and interact with as part of the quests from this patch.