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Radiant Hall: The new dungeons

[GM]Viral — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:45:56 GMT

Welcome back, after all the excitement surrounding the live broadcast we did last week. From our side I can just again say that it was quite a lot of fun to do, and it seems that the community feedback has been overwhelmingly positive (apart from one or two permanently unhappy people, but you will always have those).

For those of you who missed the broadcast, you can watch the whole thing here, if you want to hear me talking as I show you half the Catacomb Frost DX, and a small part of Radiant Hall. The recording that XFire made and hosted is not the best quality, unfortunately, but I will post some better screens in this blog update to make up for it a bit.

I also have to insert the obligatory Spoilers Ahead disclaimer now, for rather obvious reasons.

****** SPOILERS AHEAD*******

OK, now that that is once again out of the way we can move on to the good stuff.

Catacomb Frost DX

The third of the DX dungeons is based in Bloody Ice, with the entrance on the Altar near the second warp point. Since it is a DX dungeon you have to select your difficulty level before entering, Easy, Normal or Hard. Just like in the previous DX, Steamer Crazy, you can die as many times as you want (or are killed), and you simply respawn at the start of the dungeon again.

The main thing that I do not like about Catacomb Frost too much is the fact that they re-used the monsters from other parts of the game. However, this is a minor gripe, as the actual dungeon itself, and the bosses of course, looks fantastic. Narrow walkways of blue ice arc out from a central platform, to link up with several other smaller ice platforms, and you move from platform to platform following the dungeon quests.

Catacomb Frost Walkway

I also particularly like the appearance of the gates blocking the various parts of the dungeon.

Catacomb Frost Gate

This effect is mirrored both in the appearance of the entry item - which looks like a shard of ice in your inventory - and one of the boss attacks.

Catacomb Frost Boss Attack

The dungeon music fits quite well, slightly eerie, and with some female vocals that are vaguely reminiscent of the Bloody Ice music.

Overall the dungeon is fun, and worth farming a bit. It�s fast, with a 25 minute time limit, and it looks good. It�s nothing groundbreaking, but it is fun. As with all the DX dungeons the drop from this is limited to one armour-part - boots in this case - and of course cores and jewellery. It also gives either character binding, or bind-on-equip boots.

Radiant Hall

This is the big one. Literally, since this dungeons feels huge, even bigger than Illusion Castle Underworld, with a rather hefty 3 hour time limit on it (and at first, especially lower level parties will be rather happy with this time limit). There is a rather intricate back-story to the dungeon, and I hope EST actually provides it for us. You enter the Castle, the Radiant Hall, continuing your search for Freed, but you end up discovering much more. And make no mistake about it, Radiant Hall feels like a castle. As you explore deeper you find areas of the castle that were shattered and broken long ago, with deep cracks running through the walls and ground that will force you to move around them. Some parts of the castle were destroyed with an intense fire, leaving smouldering wreckage and still-burning fires barring your way. And, surprisingly, some corridors and sections appear to be completely pristine, especially the Dranish Shrines guarded by the Shrine Keepers. In short, the scenery changes throughout the dungeon, and it looks very, very good.

A huge, empty (well, for the moment) corridor, with one of the amazing gates visible on the side. I really like the doors/gates in here, as well as the ones in Catacomb Frost.

One of the huge statues in a preserved Shrine

A water feature, with a new friend in the background

Perhaps one of the best looking parts of the dungeon, to my eyes at least

Another thing you will notice is how high the ceilings are, and yet they are there, and with the free cam used in Radiant Hall you are able to swing the viewpoint to look up. Yes, even the ceilings have some design to them, and are more than flat, simple-textured objects, just like you would imagine a real castle to have.

Radiant Hall reminds me more of the Tower of the Dead B2F, or perhaps Forgotten Temple B2F, than any other dungeon so far, mainly because of the nature of the quests. It is not that hard, I would estimate it to be around the Altar of Siena B2F, but the quests are much more intricate than what has become the norm lately. Be prepared to spend some time running around exploring the dungeon - which is fun, since it feels big and looks great, so exploring it is not arduous. If you are the type of player unable to enter a dungeon without first reading 5 guides and having someone in the party who knows the way... Well, perhaps you might want to wait a couple of days before trying this one, in that case.

Someone asked about the Dragon in Radiant Hall. Yes, there is a pretty big one hidden away in there, and no, I am not going to tell you how the quests around it plays out. Some things are more fun if you discover them for yourself.

One bonus quest in here gives a fairly good reward, especially for lower level players. Other quests give AXP as reward, which is also very decent. If you are going to run the dungeon in any case you might as well be rewarded with something useful, especially if you consider the free entry you can receive every day. The other drops I will leave you to discover for yourself, because there is simply no point in spoiling everything before you have the chance to try it out and discover for yourself.

The music in Radiant Hall is good, and I would recommend at least starting the dungeon with the music turned on. It�s worth it, trust me on this. Of course, most of you would have heard the music on the live broadcast already.

The bosses in here have some of the best looking attacks from any dungeon in the game up to now. Especially the later ones, although the first ones also look very good indeed. Fire, water, lightning, each boss has its own element. One boss also extends the normal vampiric attack (HP or MP down) into a new area - yeah, there are three stats show in the top left of your UI that can be drained, and it can be fairly alarming if you are not prepared.

The illusive Ratzel, with some great-looking stained glass windows behind her

The harp is an unusual weapon, to say the least, but it looks good

This one is going to hurt

The best way to summarise Radiant Hall then. It feels very big, and very complicated especially on the first couple of runs, and it looks really impressive. I am not sure if it will become my favourite dungeon, but it is in the top three for sure.

As always feel free to ask questions in the comments, and if possible I will answer them.

Viral

Radiant Hall: The new UI and Party System

[GM]Viral — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 18:55:26 GMT

Welcome back to the Tester�s Blog. I wonder how I will be able to compete with the recently leaked information from the Korean test server - if you are not yet aware that there are new skills coming with a future update I can only recommend that you spend a bit more time on the forum. Those new skills, and the new map are, however, not for this update, which leaves us with the equally-exciting update to the user interface, and the redesigned party system. I will try to keep it as interesting as possible, and perhaps the more alert readers will pick up on one or two small surprises coming with this update.

I will start with the cleaned up User Interface. The UI improvements started with the previous update, and EST has completed the UI with this update. Every single part of the UI has been redone, from the login screen, the on-screen keyboard, through the channel select screen and all the way through to the inventory and party menu. The new interface is smooth and clean and modern, and I rather like it. It suits the game, to my mind at least. I am also very sure that the members of our community active with creating new skins will have some fun re-creating the most popular skins.

As as an aside here I would recommend that you revert back to the default UI before the update goes live. We will make the default one available for download to those of you who somehow managed to misplace the default UI that I am sure you backed-up before installing a custom one. Surely it cannot be more than one or two people, at most ;)

Back to the UI. The screens below should give you a better idea of what I talking about.

Login Screen

Map and Warp selection

Character and skill menus

Inventory and Guild menus

I like it, and I think it looks good. I feel that it fits better to the game than the old interface, and having a full change like this does make it feel like you are playing a new game at times. Add to this the subtle improvements to the graphical engine - it is not mentioned in the notes, but it does appear as if the shadows are being handled better, and the multi-sampling works properly now - and the update becomes more and more about �deep� changes, if you understand my meaning.

The new party system, despite taking up a rather large part of the patch notes, is simply a return to the party registration. You can register a party, and give it a unique name - and people from every channel can search for parties on all channels, and request to join. This was done to improve the community playing together, according to ESTsoft. I hope it does, but I think it might take a while for the use of this system to become widely adopted.

The new party menu

As you can see from the screen it is fairly simple. You register a party, and all the information appears. Any player not in a party can access this menu by pressing �P�, and search and apply to join to the registered parties, while players already in a party will have to right-click on the party area of the UI in order to access this menu. Of course it is also still completely possible to request a party simply by clicking on a character and using the dropdown menu, if you wish.

The entire options menu has also been re-designed, partly in order to accommodate the new key-binding and macro options, and partly to align it with the new UI. The key bindings are great - you can literally assign your own keys to every single ingame function or menu, should you wish.

Key-binding menu

The macro chat option allows you to bind phrases to the ctrl+F1 to f10 keys. Since these cannot be used on the normal, trade or shout chats it should be fine, especially with regards to the spam-bots lurking in Bloody Ice these days. I am not sure how many people will use this, but I guess it can be fun.

Default chat macros

The only other change is the method used to connect to a chat channel. This is now accessed via the options menu, as per the screenshot.

Chat options, including where to join a chat channel

General game options

I think that is enough information about the UI and the party system, so if you have any questions feel free to ask in the comments, and I will try my best to answer them. The next update to the blog will take a look at the two new dungeons, which should be fun.

Viral

Radiant Hall: The new Daily Quests

[GM]Viral — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 21:56:30 GMT

Welcome back.

Let me start with the obligatory warning (Caesar forces me to put these on here, in case anyone was curious). If you want to discover everything about the new update for yourself then now would be a good time to close this tab. This blog will take a closer look at the Daily Quests coming with the Radiant Hall update, so if you want to see them for yourself first don't read any further. You have been warned.

******SPOILERS AHEAD******

Right, now that we have that out of the way let's get down to the good stuff, for those of you still with me. As you should know by this point in time you will have the opportunity to complete Daily Quests with the next update. These are quests that you will be able to take only once per day, and they reset on midnight server time. They come in several different categories, and you are able to take only one quest from each category per day.

The rewards for the Daily Quests are simple: Experience, AXP, adding to your Guild score, and dungeon entries. All of them (apart from the TG one) start in Bloody Ice, from the different NPC's standing around the town area. The TG Daily you can receive from the grocer in your nation's lobby, and gives some AXP as a reward.

First up are the Experience Daily Quests.

Dungeon EXP Daily Quests

Field EXP Daily Quests

As you can see these are divided into two sections, field and dungeon quests. You can take one quest from each of the two sections per day, and it really is as simple as starting the quest, killing the required number of mobs, and claiming your EXP as reward. Of course you need to be the required level and higher to take the quests - I say this simply because with the past updates we have had some confusion about the level requirements. Level 120 as requirement simply means characters of level 120 and above. Please note that you do not get AXP when you receive the EXP reward, so for the moment the level 170 chars will have no need to run the EXP Daily Quests. For the moment, of course ;) since we are all well aware of what is coming in the future.

Next up are the the AXP Daily Quests. These will be of more interest to the top-level characters, since they do add some incentive to go out and farm some AP. Again, you can take both quests each day, if you manage to complete them of course.

Field AXP Daily Quest

TG AXP Daily Quest

Yes, there are only two of these Daily AXP quests for the moment, with more to come. Well, the new dungeon has some nice rewards in line with this as well ;) but as far as Daily Quests go you have the choice of two, and killing 50 Cornus is hardly a very strenuous activity. The TG Daily is a bit more interesting, because you do need to get the last hit on the guardian for it to count. I will test it in a party situation later this week, before anyone asks. Perhaps this will motivate people to attack guardians instead of players, perhaps not. I am curious to see how it will play out on the live server.

Now for the Guild Points Daily Quest. This is fairly simply as well. You take the quest, kill the specified mob in the dungeon, and for every person in the party that has the quest and kills the mob you get your guild score increased. From the table 2 guild exp is equal to someone earning 2 AP. So if 7 people from the same guild all take the Daily Quest to kill Leth Tyrant, and actually do so, you will get 35 (7 x 5)points added to your guild score. These quests are obviously set up to allow people of all levels to contribute, which is clear if you look at the following table.

Guild Score Daily Quests

Personally I think I would have had Leth Tyrant count just a little bit more than Siena, but obviously that was ESTsoft's call to make.

The last part of the Daily Quests will be the most welcome one, I suspect. If you are level 120 or higher you can receive one dungeon entry per day, for free, gratis, nothing, from the Bloody Ice Instructor. You can choose one of the following dungeons:

List of dungeon entries

In order to not completely destroy the market the entries will look like this, before anyone thinks they are going to make fast money off of this new system.

Yes, that is time-limited (one day exactly) and character bound. If you do not use it you will lose it. You can only take one per day, of course. I think this should have a positive effect on the number of dungeons being completed after the update, because let's face it, if a completely free entry for you and each of your friends do not at least get you as far as the dungeon entrance then I don't know. Even FCH can be a profit in this case ;)

I think this about covers the whole Daily Quest system. If something is not clear feel free to ask in the comments, and I will try to answer.

Viral

Radiant Hall: First Impressions

[GM]Viral — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 15:02:07 GMT

If you have read any of the Tester's Blogs in the past then you will already be able to comfortably predict what me updating this means. Yes, last night our Test Server was updated with the Radiant Hall update, and pronounced stable for the testing team to get started with the hard work ahead.

The Developers' Notes have been available for a while now (rest assured that we will bring you the full, complete, accurate Patch Notes closer to the date that the update goes live) so most of you lurking on the forum will have some idea of what is coming. This blog entry will just be my first impressions about the new content, with later updates to the blog going into more detail.

The very first thing you will notice is the new UI. This update finishes the redesign of the UI started with the Illusion Castle update, and it looks good. Every single part of the UI looks brand new and shiny, from the login screen all the way to the personal inventory.

The Daily Quest system was also implemented, and it looks promising. I have not had the chance to complete all of the quests yet, but so far it seems to be a mix of open map and dungeon quests, with the rewards being either Exp or AXP. There is even one quest available from the grocer in the TG lobby, so even if you do nothing but go to TG you can still take part. There are also dungeon challenges, which I will need to investigate a bit closer later today. Quests reset on midnight every day, and I will have much more information with the next blog update.

The Party System is rather decent, and it fits in with the re-design of the options menu. On that note, the new Options menu is rather expansive, and has several new features included. One of the new functions is that you can set your own key-bindings, as well as set chatting macros (yes, I used the 'M' word ;) ).

I have to just mention the new dungeons as well. The DX is quick and clean, and has a new design approach again, which I will expand upon later. The Radiant Hall dungeon... Well, I must be completely honest and say that I have not been as impressed in a while with any Cabal Dungeons. This one reminds me more of the Tower of the Dead B2F than anything else we have available, and it is really well executed. Yes, it is not going to set new boundaries for the difficulty level, but it is fun, and this is perhaps the first one in a while that will have people asking for guides ;)

I think that's about enough for the first blog. The next entry will most likely deal with the Daily Quest system, so if you have any questions please ask in the comments, and I will try to answer everything when I update again.

I'll just leave these, as a promise of things to come.

Viral

Illusion Castle: The New Dungeons

[GM]Viral — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 16:57:03 GMT

This is no-doubt the update to the blog that has been requested the most over the last couple of weeks. So, as we head into the weekend, I will share some more information about the two new dungeons coming with the update on Monday. First I have to say the following:

*****Possible Spoilers Ahead*****

No, really. If you prefer discovering the new dungeons for yourself then please close this blog before scrolling any further. I will of course try my best to make sure that there is some mystery left on Monday, but there will be screenshots, hints, random information, and the like in the next part. You have been warned.

Of course, if you haven't yet seen the official gameplay trailer for the update yet head over to YouTube right now to go and watch it.

Video Link, and make sure to watch in HD

Crazy Steamer

The new DX dungeon and the first real successor to the Panic Cave that we received with a previous update. Just like the Panic Cave, Steamer Crazy is also a solo, timed dungeon run with three possible difficulty levels, and dying means the dungeon ends. You cannot use an odd circle to resurrect yourself which does seem to be the direction that the developers want to take with the DX-style dungeons: Quick, hard dungeons that will force you to stay awake, and you cannot afford to make mistakes.

Crazy Steamer

The entrance to the dungeon is set halfway through the wastelands of Fort Ruina, in the area with the old trains and railways. Once inside you are transported to the back of a moving train, and it looks really cool to see the railway flashing past while you fight on the narrow train itself. I say this with every new dungeon, but the developers and designers get better with every update, and they keep on trying new things, such as a dungeon set on a moving train in this case.

Some familiar-looking mobs

My own, albeit minor, complaint is that there are not that many new mobs around. The developers borrowed and improved some of the existing �metallic� mobs from Fort Ruina and Pontus Ferrum, but given the location and nature of the dungeon they do not feel out of place. Progress through the train is not quite as linear as it first appears to be, which I also enjoyed, and what is great about Crazy Steamer is that it has two chests with treasure, not just one. I am sure many of you will agree with me on that point. The drops also improve with the harder dungeons, even though the easy version can drop some rather rare pieces of equipment. Before anyone asks, yes, you will still receive character binding, and bind-on-equip, weapons and armour.

Overall the dungeon feels slower than the Panic Cave, and excludes the wild rush that characterises the older DX. It also appears to be a bit easier, although that is always hard to judge on the test server, and overall I enjoy this one more than the Panic Cave. I am curious to see how it will be received on Monday, but I am prepared to say I think most people will enjoy it quite a lot. The only thing I wish they would add is a title for the DX dungeons as well, but perhaps we will see that with a future update.

That circle animation means trouble

A rather fiery encounter

Illusion Castle Underworld

This is the big one. The first and most obvious part of this dungeon is the freeview camera, which has only been used for the Forbidden Island dungeon before. Unlike the Forbidden Island however, Illusion Castle is located underground, in a vast maze of caverns and walkways. It is also rather longer than most of the current dungeons, with a dungeon time of two hours. Once again you can see the developers trying new things, and I think it really works in this dungeon.

The dungeon is meant to feel like a cavern, and in my opinion this feeling comes across really well. Stalactites and stalagmites appear everywhere, and occasionally you come across places where the ceiling of the cave has collapsed, allowing light to intrude from the outside. Other areas have you moving across narrow walkways, or past deep chasms with strange lights shining in the depths. I think I can back up my claims better with some pictures ;)

Illusion Castle

Illusion Castle

I also believe that we will see some forum threads asking �How do I get past X� fairly soon after the update. The Illusion part of Illusion Castle is there for some very good reasons, and everything in there is not what it appears to be at first glance. There are one or two sections in particular that will prove an interesting challenge to get past. I think that in some way the dungeon reminds me of a mix between the Tower of the Dead b2f, and the Forgotten Temple B1f, with of course the wonderful free camera from the Forbidden Island used as well.

There are also some hidden quests to discover, and extra bosses hiding in the deepest part of the cavern, if you can find them of course. You will also see a very interesting use of the new looting rules in action, and I am not referring to the possible Lycanus Weapons now ;)

The last screenshot with the feel of the dungeon

The dungeon ends with a very interesting promise, which makes for a fairly clear indication of what is to come in the future. With that in mind I leave you with this screenshot, showing something from the very last part of Illusion Castle

Promises of things to come?

Oh yes, and there is a title for completing this dungeon - you become a �Distorted Soul Saviour� when finishing Illusion Castle. The second rank of the title gives 1% resistance to all skill amp, and the third gives 2% - small bonuses as with almost every dungeon title.

As always feel free to ask questions in the comments section, and I will try my best to answer them.

Viral

Community News - 26/3/2010

[GM]Hawk — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 12:06:48 GMT

Cabalympics:

After three months of fierce competition on the CABALYMPICS server, we're glad to declare Cyandra - the level 131 Force Shielder - winner of the 3000 Euros top prize with total of 1474 points. Over 7500 Euros worth of prizes will be given to the winners of the CABALYMPICS server tournament in the form of cash, top gaming graphic cards, gaming keyboard and free server transfers.
Check the winners!
Stay tuned for more tournaments later this year!

Cabal Online: Illusion Castle:

[29 / 3 / 2010]

The anticipated update is at doors and will be released on 29/3/2010.
We have the update up and running on the Internal Test Servers and it looks very promising.
You can check the Developers' Notes and the Tester's Blog for more information and discussions about the upcoming update.

CABAL Cash Shop:

The following items have been added recently to the CABAL Cash shop:

Little Gry

Price: 10,000
Duration: Permanent
Location in shop: Pet > Premium
Available until: 31st March

Legend of Yellow Epaulette

* HP +225
* Magic Attack +30
* Magic Skill AMP +3%
* Add Damage +10
Item Type:: Epaulette (must go in the epaulette slot)
Duration:: 30 day / 120 day
Price:: 7800 / 18720
Location in shop: Rental Items > Epaulette

High School Costume

Duration: 30 Day/ Permanent/ Gift Box
Price: 9,000/ 27,000/ 27,000
Location in shop: Costume> Premium
Available until: 7th April

Suit up for War � Procyon costumes price cut

Blader, Force Archer, Force Blader, Force Shielder, Warrior and Wizard versions are available for only 20,000 CABAL Cash � an amazing discount of more than 25%!.This deal only applies to the Gift Box versions (permanent and tradable) and will expire on Wednesday 31st March.

Notes :DT Cards will likely be removed within the next few week from CABAL cash shop. However, there will be an announcement prior to it.

Events and Contests:

April Calendar Contest

Feeling creative? demonstrate your imagination and creativity and participate at the April Calendar Contest for a chance of winning 30,000 CABAL Cash and the pride of having your calendar published and announced.
Deadline:
Wednesday 31st March 2010.

MMOSite Celebration Event

To celebrate CABAL�s victory in the recent �Best Graphics� and �Best Community� awards (as decided by users of MMOSite.com) From March 9th until March 29th we are improving the EXP, Skill EXP, WEXP and drop rates!
These benefits will aswell stack with those of blessing beads and premium, meaning that with premium and a blessing bead (50% version) exp, skill exp, wexp and drop rate can all be increased by over 100% of the normal amount!
* EXP +25%
* Skill EXP +50%
* Wexp + 15%
* Drop rate +25%

Win prizes by becoming a CABAL Fan

Join us on Facebook and win the chance to receive a board, bead or pet!
You have until April 12th to complete these tasks. The winners will be selected from those who post on the event wall and announced on April 15th.
Follow this Link for more information.

Discover your true allegiance! New Facebook Quiz

Introducing the brand new "Nation Selection" quiz, CABAL Online's version of the Harry Potter sorting hat. Simply
* Visit the CABAL quiz on Facebook (http://apps.facebook.com/cabalonline/?_fb_q=1).
* Truthfully answer the twelve question.
* Discover whether you are a follower of the Sages of Procyon or Capella.

CABAL Detectives:

The game is getting cleaner by the day, with the aid of both the Bot Assassins Team and players reporting cheaters via support. As we see a new group of cheaters getting banned over the week.
You can check the Assassins Blog to see a rather small snapshot of those who were banned.

CABAL EU:

New Easter event coming soon within the next week.

New minor events will be held soon.

New GMs - [GM]Hawk and [GM]Skaild - have been assigned to the game and Support Suite.

GMs will be joining the game more often, now you can speak to the GMs face to face or through TheNest chat channel.
(Notes : How to join - TheNest FAQ and rules)

Players' FAQ:

What will happen if I don't rename my Character after 30days have passed and it still has the _[+] Name.
We will forcibly remove the [].

Will the next update fix the EC6 problem related to WI BM2 Auto-Attack.
We have been unable to replicate the problem on our test server so hopefully it will.

I've received an EC6, what do I need to do, and what Information do I need to give.
It depends on the error code. That said cases should be emailed to gameguard@games-masters.com, including the character name, server, error code and ERL files zipped (found in GG folder of CABAL installation).

I've been banned, can you show me the evidence.
We cannot show the evidence. However, we can tell the players why they have been banned. This is done via the �Blocked Account Appeals� section of the support system.

I've been banned, my ban duration has passed and my account is still blocked, what should I do?
There might be a slight delay till the account is un-banned, however, if it's been over a day after the set ban period, submit a ticket to the �Blocked Account Appeals� section of the support system.

Can I get a permanent ban for offenses/insults?
Yes, multiple harassment WILL get you permanently banned.

Can I ask a GM in game for Alz/Items or anything of that sort?
No .

Illusion Castle: New Items

[GM]Viral — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 19:27:43 GMT

Welcome back to the Tester's Blog.

In this update to the blog I will mainly be looking at the various new items that are coming with the Illusion Castle update, as well as clear up a couple of questions about the new party system from the previous blog.

To start out there were some particular situations when you are joining or rejoining a dungeon that needs a bit more explanation. The first one is where for example two people went to a dungeon, and then a third friend logs in and wants to join their dungeon run as well. Yes, it is completely possible for one of the two inside the dungeon to log out, then let the third person join the party before re-entering. The third person will now be able to join the first two inside, with no problems.

The other situation is where two people are inside a dungeon, and one logs out and does not return again for whatever reason. In this case as soon as the 5-minute rejoining time is over the remaining person will be kicked from the dungeon. This is the same as when everyone from a party leaves that party while a member is still inside a dungeon. If the party is completely disbanded whoever was left inside will be kicked out. Essentially it comes down to if you enter a dungeon as a party there is no way that you will be able to continue solo if everyone else leaves or quits. It is rather simple, actually.

New Weapons

Right, on the fun stuff. The new Lycanus weapons are unique to the Illusion Castle dungeon, as they will only drop from the boss chest there. They do not drop with every run, but they are not that terribly rare either from my own experience on the ITS. They are character-binding when you pick them up, but to compensate for this there is a link in the normal chat that appears whenever one of these do drop, so that everyone can see which attributes it has before deciding on who gets it.

Normal Chat Unique Item Broadcast

Lycanus weapons come with 3 random craft options, with the possibility of being slotted as well. The craft options are randomly chosen from the following list:

All Skill Amp up
Critical Rate up
Critical Damage up
Add Damage increase
All attack increase

This means they will be for both sword and magic classes at the same time, as should be obvious from the following image of some of the Lycanus we have found so far:

Some Lycanus craft options

The exact amount of each craft can vary, as you can see from the Add Damage going from 5 to 15. These weapons also upgrade like Mithril, needing Highest Cores, and their stats increase in the same way, for example a +1 Blade will have 6 more attack than a +0 one. So with a bit of luck on the crafting options you could find yourself with a very decent weapon indeed.

True to form the developers are improving the appearance of newer gear, each time producing something even better looking than the last. The Lycanus weapons have to be some of my favourite items ingame up to date, especially the bow and shield. We will be releasing some official marketing screenshots at a later date, but I felt that I had to include some screens with this blog entry, so I took some of the summoned weapons, and the Wizards' staff. Enjoy!

New Belts

The belt slot finally has a use, and even though none of the current belts offer any game-breaking advantage they are good to have. Each belt comes in a version from +0 to +4, so five of each kind of belt, and they offer you the following:

Belt of Rapid: Increase the Dex stat (+1, +2, +3, +4, +5)
Belt of Guard: Increase your Defence (+2, +3, +4, +5, +6)
Belt of Vital: Increase your HP (+20, +30, +40, +50, +60)
Belt of Damp: All Skill Amp resist (1%, 2%, 3%, 4%, 5%)
Belt of Prevent: Resist Critical Damage (2%, 3%, 4%, 5%, 6%)

I am sure the higher level Damp and Prevent belts will become quite popular.

New Ring

The one you have all been waiting for, and the one item that I have the least information on. EST have told us that the new ring is going to be account bound, from a quest that each character can do only once. I heard a rumour that it is going to be a duration item - that is not true at all, the ring will be permanent. However, gaining this item might not be that easy... ;) Or to put it this way, do you really think you will be able to get the best ring in the game for a couple of clicks through a NPC quest dialogue and a quick 20 minute dungeon run? ;)

Well, that is it for this update. As always feel free to ask questions in the comments, and I will do my best to answer either in the comments, or with a later update.

Viral

Illusion Castle: New User Interface and Party System

[GM]Viral — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 11:32:12 GMT

The new User Interface

The first, and by far the most obvious, part of the new update is the updated User Interface. As I said in the previous blog the new UI comes across as very slick, compared to the one currently in use. For anyone who has not yet seen screenshots of the new UI (and really, I doubt that there are any people left at this point) here you go:

The new User Interface in full

I must admit that I like it, and I welcome the change to something a bit more modern. The character name at the top right was removed, and MP received a numerical counter similar to the HP bar. Premium, Nation Bonus and notification icons were shifted to the bottom left of the screen, fitting in rather unobtrusively, which is another aspect of this new UI that I like. On a side note I wonder how long it will be before we see the first new skin...? I would put money on it not taking too long. I would also recommend that you restore the default UI before the update. We will make the files for the default UI available closer to the launch day, for those who somehow managed to lose or corrupt theirs.

Back to the new Interface. The new 'C' button on the right of the skillbar opens up a menu for everything you could possibly need ingame: Crafting, Inventory, Buddylist, Help, etc. The menu also lists the keyboard shortcuts for the various items on it, which is a decent touch.

New Cabal Menu

You will also notice that the EXP and AEXP bars shifted right down to the bottom of the screen. This is not a big change, but it fits in with the overall new look. The little jukebox bar also got an upgrade:

New Jukebox UI

The extra quickslots on the skillbar are very useful, and I have gotten used to having them there in a remarkably short time. You can access the skills either by mouseclick or by using Alt+number of whichever slot you want to use. Especially on a Force Blader the expanded UI is fantastic, and I am sure most FB will agree with me.

A Force Blader skillbar with the new system

I saw a question somewhere on the forum about how auto-attack will handle the expanded bar, and it is pretty simple. Your main skillbar is still the start for the auto-attack feature. It will run through all the skills on the main bar, and if it reaches the end and there are no skills cooled down yet it will simply shift up to the first skill in the new expanded skillbar, and start to cast it. As soon as a skill on the main bar has cooled down again auto-attack will try to use it. I hope people do not try to overcomplicate the explanation again... It really is very simple.

You have to enable the expanded skillbar in the Options / Game menu. Once activated it will stay activated, like any other game option. You can also choose to lock/unlock the expanded bar, either by clicking directly on the UI (you will see where if you move your mouse over the correct area) or simply enable lock/unlock through the Options / Game menu. Having it locked simply means you cannot remove skills from the bar by accidentally clicking on them.

The new Party System

Let's move on the new Party System. This is going to be really big news, I think. The single most important part is that you can now rejoin a dungeon if you got disconnected and you have a party member still inside the dungeon. And to make this even better you do not need a new entry item either. If you have entered it once, and your party member is still inside, you can re-enter again without an entry. This is a long overdue update, in my opinion.

The more minor parts of this is that you can now party anyone with the /party command. They do not have to be close to you, and they do not even have to be on the same map. There are some limitations, of course, such as the fact that you cannot join a party that is already inside a dungeon, and you cannot party members of the opposite nation in TG. If you relog to another channel you will automatically rejoin the party as well, and you will be able to see the other people in the party listed like this if they are on another channel:

Party-members on a different channel

The last part that I will discuss today is not really a discussion. I will simply leave you with this screenshot:

As always, ask questions in the comments and I will try my best to answer them. Questions about the new dungeon I will answer with a later update to the blog ;) Questions about the ring: We are waiting for clarification on a specific issue with this from ESTsoft. So, until we get that info I will not be able to answer anything more about the new ring ;)

Viral

Illusion Castle: First Impressions

[GM]Viral — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:40:26 GMT

It's that time of the year again, as we move ever closer to the next eagerly-awaited update for Cabal Online. This update is shaping up to be a good one as well; where the previous update, Reloaded, refined and polished lower level content Illusion Castle is aimed at more established players, bringing a much-needed UI update, some new dungeons, weapons and other bits and pieces to improve the gameplay experience.

It's been a day or so now since we've had the (working) update on the ITS, and I've given most of the new content a quick run-through already. This weekend will see the heavy testing happening, but for now I am comfortable in sharing some of my first impressions, as well as responding to some of the questions I saw repeated in the Developers' Notes thread.

Let's start with the new dungeons. I will come back to these in much more detail in a later blog, including screenshots, but for now I will tell you this: they get better with every update. I think Illusion Castle will perhaps become my new favourite dungeon. I love the fact that they are using the free cam view, similar to normal maps and the Forbidden Island dungeon, I like the music, and I really enjoyed the dungeon theme and visuals.

I think I will include one screenshot, just to wet the appetites a bit ;) I know there are loads of screenshots floating around out there, but they do not really bring across the feel of the dungeon.

The new DX dungeon is loads of fun as well, and they really tried something new there as far as the location is concerned. I will go into more detail on these with a later blog though.

The new UI looks really slick, and the expanded skillbar is great - and no, you do not have to pay for the expanded slots, I'm not sure where that little rumour came from but it might as well die right here. You get one extra bar on top of each of your current bars, so there should be more than enough space for skills now, dare I say enough to keep even Force Bladers happy?

The new belts offer a small but decent little stat boost, definitely nothing game-breaking but good to have, some HP, defence, or critical damage resist, amongst others.

The Lycanus weapons look fantastic, and they are character binding upon picking them up, at least the ones I found so far. You can see exactly which bonuses they have before picking them up though, so there should not be any problems with the fact that they are bound.

The new ring... will have to wait for a later blog update before I give away some more information about it ;)

As usual feel free to ask questions in the comments, and I will do my best to answer them. One I can already answer though: When is the update coming? Soon. ;)

Viral

Cabal Online: Reloaded - party drops and dungeons.

[GM]Viral — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:57:22 GMT

In today's blog update I will touch on various issues and questions that have come up with regards to the Reloaded update. I will discuss the DT dungeons, and the new Weakened training dungeons, the new looting system, as well as give you some figures on the BM2 attacks of the various classes.

Let's start by ending one persistent rumour at least. The current DT dungeons are being phased out. This means the entries will no longer drop, and they will be removed from the cash shop. You might still be able to buy entries for a little while, since I could not get exact confirmation of the date that they will be removed from the shop as well, but their time is limited. The DT dungeons are not completely removed from the game and you will be able to enter them if you have entries left, but they are assuredly not free to enter as many times as you want to. So if you are a farmer I would suggest stocking up on entries before the update. I hope this message will somehow filter down through to the people not reading the blog as well.

The dungeons that are replacing the current DT ones, the Weakened versions of the Lake in Dusk, Ruina Station and the Tower of the Dead b1f are loads of fun. I have taken characters through all of them on the minimum level allowed (normal characters, not maxed skillranks or ubergeared), and especially the Tower of the Dead version was pretty interesting on that level. Your mileage may vary, of course, but it is fun. Skill-exp is doubled in the Weakened dungeons, and since Blessing Beads are a common drop in there you'll get an even greater boost. The beads dropping in these dungeons are 3-minute duration ones, 40% experience or 40% skill experience, which makes using them on the spot even more tempting. There is also a wide range of epic equipment that can be found, always character bound, and always time-limited. Here's one example:

I have run each of the Weakened dungeons several times already, and these maxcrafted epic drops are common. They serve as good motivation, and at the same they are bound and limited so it's a temporary increase in power only. And before the inevitable question gets asked: No, they will not become permanent if you are lucky enough to make them +7. They drop as duration and they stay duration. If you feel like trying to make one +7, and you succeed: congratulations, you now have a very decent low-level item for the next 10 days ;)

I am also curious to see if ESTsoft would implement something similar on the higher level dungeons at any point in the future, or if this is something that will always stay only on the lowest levels. The fact that these are character bound also leads me to the next subject for today: the new looting rules. From the Developers' Notes we have these two images:

The binding part is the interesting section. If the drop will be character bound, and you are in a party when you find it one of two windows pops up the moment someone attempts to loot the drop (drops also stay on the ground for a very long time now, I have not timed them exactly yet but it's more than a minute). The moment someone picks up whatever dropped it is moved to a temporary inventory until it has been settled who should receive it. The first way is if your party leader has set the party to 'Roll a Dice'; you will get this window:

This will give you a limited time to click on the 'Roll a Dice' option, once clicked it is the same as if you used lot. The person with the highest lot receives the drop, as simple as that. If you cannot use the item simply use the 'Give Up' option, and you will not be able to lot for the drop. Letting the timer expire will also mean you forfeit your chance to gain whatever dropped, and it is the same as selecting 'Give Up'. If all the members of the party selects 'Give Up' the drop authority becomes free-for-all, but the equipment will still be character bound to whoever picks it up.

Your second option is this one:

Note that you cannot see how much the other person is bidding. If your bid is the highest, you win, if not - well, better luck next time. The money you bid gets shared equally between the other members of the party. The results of either way is also clearly shown in the chat window, like this:

I approve of this system, although I do wish that the timer for taking action was a bit longer. However, the timer only starts once someone attempts to pick up the drop, so I guess it works out in the end. You also do not have the choice to opt out of this system, if the dropped item is going to be bound you will settle who gets it using one of these two methods.

I also promised to post some BM2 stats, so even though you will be able to easily test this for yourself once the update goes I'll post them in the meantime. These are the amp / crit damage / crit rate for the normal attacks and special attacks in BM2.

Force Archer

Fatal Shot: 10% Magic Amp and 100% Critical Damage increase

BM2 normal attack: no Amp bonus

Wizard

Elemental Festival: 10% Magic Amp

Force Blader

Prismatic Blade Cannon: 10% Sword Amp

BM2 normal attack:
1st : 20% Sword Amp
2nd : 30% Sword Amp
3rd : 40% Sword Amp

Force Shielder

Shield Storm: 10% Sword Amp and 120% Critical Damage increase

BM2 normal attack
1st : 40% Sword Amp
2nd : 50% Sword Amp
3rd : 60% Sword Amp

Warrior

Lance Drive: 10% Sword Amp
1st : 30% Sword Amp
2nd : 40% Sword Amp
3rd : 60% Sword Amp

Blader

Crushing Blow: 10% Sword Amp, 30% Critical Rate increase, 500% Critical Damage increase

BM2 normal attack: no Amp bonus.

BM2 skills also take Amp from the gear you are wearing, as I was able to see a noticeable damage increase as I increased the amp on my test characters. There was a question about the Magic/sword Amp for Force Shielder and Force Blader, as I understood it the special BM2 skills for those two classes used to have 10% Magic Skill Amp, but as of this update they will be Sword Amp based. But as I said: you will be able to test this ingame soon enough ;) The last little rumour that I want to end is the one about the Rings of Luck being limited to two only. I am not sure where this originated, but that is false information. You can wear as many Rings of Luck as you want, but your maximum rate is capped at 30% from Rings. So you can wear two RoL+1, and 2 RoL+0 if you really wanted to...

That's it for now. The testing is going very well at the moment, and we are still very much on schedule. As always you can ask questions about this in the comments, and I will try my best to answer.

Viral

Cabal Online: Reloaded - the controversial stuff

[GM]Viral — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:12:31 GMT

Welcome

Since we do have the Developer's Notes out for public viewing now I will just stop on some of the more controversial part of the new update ;) Before we get there though I must say that this update is well named. ESTsoft have decided to focus more on fixing and updating some of the oldest parts of the game rather than introducing masses of new content, so the name Cabal Online: Reloaded is particularly fitting. A big part of the update is also focused on improving the game for the new players, or for players making new characters, while at the same time setting it up for more challenging high-level content in the future - I can just refer to the introduction of the two extra rings, and releasing the buff caps as examples to prove that theory.

I guess I'll just get right into the part most likely to generate some heated posts. The Raise Spirit buff, or SP-buff, from our beloved Wizard class. You will not be able to receive SP continuously any longer, regardless of the number of Wizards in the party. Every player will have an individual cooldown counter for the SP-buff, and that timer will stay - dying, relogging, or even restarting the game will not have an impact on it. If your sp has not cooled down yet, you will not be able to receive it again; which also means that there is no point in killing a single Wizard in a dungeon to have their buff reset for example. I am curious to see how this will impact the game (and yes, I am well aware that there are already countless posts crying about this, saying that WI are dead, etc ;) ) but it will make the game harder for sure. No more BM/aura/sp spam combination in dungeons, which also means that the party-balance will shift now that only one Wizard is needed per party. I don't think ESTsoft decided at random to just remove the ability to receive sp more or less on a continual basis, and I suspect that the dungeons runs and parties becoming smaller and smaller might have had something to do with this.

That lovely new SP cooldown counter

Besides, characters will receive quite a significant damage increase with the ability to equip 4 rings now, for example a FB can now quite easily equip 3x Critical Rings +2 at level 170, for 45% more critical damage. That's a major boost, any way that you look at it. If I look at the increased speed for the FS BM2 - especially with retargeting (yes, I just went there ;) ) - it seems that they are balancing the loss of sp at least a little bit. The game won't be as easy as it was up to now, that is certain, but at the same time I think it might be for the good in the long run. Of course, not that that is going to stop anyone from complaining like hell in the short term :)

The second rather major change, or at least immediately noticeable one, is that the alz drop amount has decreased. A rough count in Pontus Ferrum shows it to be about 4x less - with no alz drop increase I saw an average of 400 alz or so per drop, instead of the 1600 we have right now. To balance that is the fact that nearly every mob now drops alz, and in Pontus Ferrum at that where the drop rate is rather low. I've yet to check the impact on the lower level maps, but I'm sure the people focusing on farming will have something to say about this. It will lead to some people re-considering what type of farming set they use, for sure.

I'll see how the comments go, and how the comments in the Developers' Notes thread goes, to see what I will discuss for the next blog entry.

Viral

December update on the ITS!

[GM]Viral — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:07:11 GMT

Welcome back.

I am fairly sure that by this point there are not too many players left that have not yet heard about the new update, or even the major aspects of the update itself - four rings, anyone? ;) - so my main purpose with this post is to inform all of you that we have the update on our test server, as of early this morning. I am sure we will post the developer's notes very soon, and I've tried my best to make sure that these are in a more readable format than the normal KorEnglish (or google-translated Korean that I've seen pop up here and there on the forum).

There are not that many major new additions with this update, as we see a collection of smaller changes that still add up to a much better game experience. The first, and most obvious one, is the ability to equip four rings. Critical Rate is capped at 30% from rings - this is the only cap that we were informed about. This of course means that you are free to wear four Critical Rings, or four Rings of Seven Coins for the farmers. I'd wager that this update will have some impact on the Ring crafters, as there is now room for more than just the 'two Ring of Luck +2 or nothing' situation we've had up to now.

However, simply adding two more ring slots does not an update make, to adapt an old saying. We also see the addition of new, weaker versions of the Lake in Dusk, Ruina Station and Tower of the Dead dungeons. These 'training' dungeons will be level-restricted, so for example the only level-range that will have access to the Weaken Lake in Dusk will be those between level 35 and level 50. These dungeons come alongside the changed ranking rewards - Combo mode will now only be available on level 30, while level 10 gives you Battle Aura and level 20 Battle Mode 1 - to improve the experience for new players. Some quest rewards at the lower levels were also changed slightly. I guess I'll stop here with the lower-level specific information, before I lose my entire audience ;)

We are also getting a new, improved party system. More specifically, there are now more settings to allocate drops, from only the party-leader will have the authorisation to pick up items, to forcing a lottery to decide who gets the drop. I'll have more information on this on a later blog update, once I've had the opportunity to fully test this system. Interestingly enough the alz dropped will now be shared equally between the party members, although this is fairly minor for most people. A fun change for the Chaos Arena will be that the drop authorisation will now go to the party doing the most damage, not to the party that had the player that dealt the most damage. This is long overdue, in my opinion.

There are also several new convenient functions. The first one that I noticed was that you now have the ability to arrange your characters in any order on the character selection screen. It's simply a matter of dragging them to where you want them. This function has also been implemented in the party member information window, ingame. Another very good addition is the updated character information screen. You can now see a whole host of information about your character, including critical rate and damage, skill amp, HP steal, etc. Titles also now have a counter attached to them, so that you can see how many dungeons / monsters / kills you need to achieve the next title. This is another part that is long overdue, in my opinion, and I'm happy to have it.

Well, that is enough for the first blog update. I'll add some more as we go through the testing process, as usual, going into more detail about all the new content. Feel free to ask any questions in the comment area, and I will do my best to answer them. (I don't know about the Wizard's Raise Spirit buff yet, before you ask ;) that will be one of the first things tested, and I will update as soon as I know).

Viral

Weekly Roundup

Caesar — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:38:29 GMT

Another week is over and the weekend has arrived (:yahoo:). But before I go and relax I have shackled myself to this keyboard to update the blog.

As many of you have noticed the blog has not been updated for the past few weeks. This isn't because I don't love you all (although anyone's patience would be put to the test dealing with the CABAL Community on the forums daily). Instead I have simply not been around, or had time, to round up the weekly happenings. But enough of the excuses.

So what is going on? As it is late I will briefly inform you all of a few points of interest.

The situation with the botters
Last week we introduced our brand new botting team, alongside a team of six GMs. The impacts, as many of you have noticed, have been instant and are beyond even our expectations.

In the time period the alz farmed per day has halved. Additionally the proportion of the alz farmed at the botting hotspots has significantly reduced. All in all it has been a great success and long may it continue.

In terms of alz sellers and buyers we are still investigating the logs.

GameGuard
In addition to the new botting team we have been working closely with the developers of GameGuard to improve protection. Major changes on this front should be introduced in the December update.

New CABAL Cash Distribution Partners
I'm pleased to announce we have signed agreements with two new partners to distribute our CABAL Cash (one in Poland and one in Romania). It will introduce new payment methods for these regions and should make paying for CABAL much easier for Polish and Romanian users. More details on this to follow.

Xfire Live Stream
Next Thursday we will once again team up with Xfire to be the first game to use their live broadcast feature. During the live stream the new dungeons will be shown, as well as a Guild vs Guild war. You may even get to see and speak to a GM or two...

November Event
During November we plan to run several events (one of which will be ingame). This will target the mid-level player and will therefore be a good opportunity for existing players to level up a new character. Again all details have yet to be confirmed and full event information will be posted in the next few weeks.

New Payment Restrictions
In order to reduce the hassle of paying for the game, we have made several changes to the payment system. Instead of the previous maximum of 2 payments within 48 hours, four payments can now be made. Furthermore the restrictions on new players is no longer so strict, allowing those starting on their CABAL journey to benefit from the shop.

And finally....
If you haven't already done so make sure you check out our new Facebook quiz - 'Which Class are you?' So far the quiz has been remarkably accurate (check out player feedback here - http://forum.cabalonline.com/showthread.php?t=140354) and suggests many of you do your research before selecting a class.

*unlocks chain and walks off into the sunset*

Do not despair...the blog is back!

Caesar — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 08:29:21 GMT

Breathe a sigh of relief! For after a break for several weeks the blog is back! I�m sure you all missed it terribly, although the fact that you can harass us on the forums and nag us via private messages meant hopefully you were able to survive. I�m sure GM Viral�s insightful test blog and interesting stories also kept you ticking over until my �blogosphere� return.

It has been a busy few weeks, with the update going live (the first version globally to do so) and the usual marketing and bug fixing activities that inevitably follow. In my view, and I hope you will agree, this was one of the smoothest updates in CABAL�s history and with the exception of a few issues with the mission wars and the usual patch day chaos �Siena The Queen� went live without any major hitches.

The update itself has been one of the most warmly received, with the new dungeons and features adding some new and interesting content to the game. I genuinely believe that other features of the update, such as the new method of entering the mission war, will soon become loved by all, as they promise to make some significant improvements to some of the most annoying aspects of the game (ala logging in at the time of a TG).

Marketing wise we have been contacting the usual sites and also attempting to broaden our reach in many countries around Europe. I�d like to thank all of the players who have helped with this, namely Sziszoka (Hungary), Akherosia (Russia) and Enkk (Italy). If you know of a gaming or MMORPG site in your country that doesn�t currently cover CABAL, please contact me via private message or the support system. The more users who play from your country, the more support (including staff and payment options) we will need to provide.

We have also been working on processing, testing and adding the new item shops. As I�m sure you are aware, the Wild Western costume has been on sale for the past week and the fact we are the first version to sell this item, as well as the first version outside Korea to have the update, should hopefully show how hard we are working to deliver the best service possible to you. This will continue and we are already discussing future updates to both the game and the shop. If you have an opinion on this, share it with us! Your ideas are forwarded to EST, discussed in their meeting, and, if good enough, implemented to the game.

One final thing to leave you all with this week. The tournament server, mentioned on the forums, is getting closer to becoming reality. So prepare yourself for a new challenge...it will certainly be worth your time and efforts!

Until next week...keep safe my fellow Nevarethian (doesn�t quite work does it?)

Siena the Queen: Story Teaser part 3

[GM]Viral — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 08:32:13 GMT

Siena Story Teaser: Part 3

[My apologies for the delay on this one, as there were some other matters that required my attention before I could return to this. It was meant to be four parts, with the last part being posted this morning - but you can now read part three and part four in one big post. Enjoy!]

Maku Sha's charge towards us stopped abruptly, shadows lifting up from the cracked stone floor, weaving through and around those huge legs. The beast roared at us, a loud, animal noise that had nothing in common with the speech that came from its mouth only moments before.

"It will not hold for long." The Force Blader spoke, and I thought I detected the tiniest amount of strain in his voice. "I really suggest we take care of this as fast as we can." He stepped past me and the Warrior, his left hand moving through the forms of binding and weakening. I've encountered those before, on the field of battle, and barely escaped with my life. I remember that terrible weakness, my blades suddenly almost too heavy to lift, unable to move...

I hate these guys...

Now, however, that dark use of the Force was on my side. I leapt past the Force Blader, blades extended. Maku Sha had the smell of rotting plants around him, a thick, sweet stench that made my stomach turn. His axe came down towards me, but for all the power behind that swing it was simply not fast enough, and the weapon crashed into the stones behind me, spraying out shards of stone fragments. I felt them glancing off my armour, meaningless minor damage. My blades glided through the air, following movements that I have trained and repeated over and over and over, making them a part of me. Maku Sha wore no armour, but it had a thick, fibrous skin that would no doubt have served as good protection against lesser weapons.

Sha roared again, this time in pain, as I opened two deep cuts across its left leg, and came up behind it. Its tail flicked towards me, narrowly missing my legs, and I jumped out of range. It could not turn to follow me however, with those solid shadows still twisting through its legs, holding it in place. And it had more than just me to worry about. Incandescent Force flared around it, elemental power exploding from the hands of the Wizard and burning across its upper body. My Shielder had moved to the right, drawing another attack from Sha as she moved within range. That huge axe drifted through the air, and everything seemed to slow down as she raised her shield, I tried to jump to somehow stop the axe from impacting-

-and bright blue-white sparks rained down from the lattice of Force around her shield as she absorbed the blow, and coolly deflected the axe into the ground, her expression not even changing slightly.

So they were good, these companions of mine. The Sage had chosen well.

The Shielder held that axe down, somehow, stepped back slightly, power flaring bright yellow from the shield, pulling into the hilt of her blade, and she jumped high, came down driving her blade straight into the ground. The floor shook and cracks spiderwebbed out from the impact point, and Maku Sha stumbled back from that massive impact, tearing loose from the binding shadows around its legs. I moved to the side, opening two more long cuts on its bulging lower back, green blood spraying out around the cuts, building up attack on attack that left Maku Sha's back and legs a bleeding ruin.

The Warrior shouted, driving his Greatsword into the cracked stones left by the Shielder, and ripped that mass of sharpened Mithril upwards, actually containing the broken stone in a web of Force that exploded across Maku Sha. He gave the beast no chance to recover, launching into an spinning attack that destroyed it completely, cutting through skin and flesh and bone with a sickening ease.

Maku Shao collapsed in front of us, those huge taloned hands slowly relaxing their grip on its weapon.

"... Beaten... by Humans..." Its voice was fading, almost inaudible. "But I am not the only Sha..."

I shook my blades sharply, cleaning off the worst of that thick green blood. The Warrior looked at the fallen beast with some concern apparent in his face.

"This was too easy. I don't trust this, not one bit."

"So what?" I smiled mockingly. "You don't hear me complaining."

"Caution does not imply complaints." The Warrior returned my smile with a flat stare, turned to the others. "There might be more of these... Sha, in here. We can use the same tactic we did just now."

"Same tactic? And what if we have more than one at the same time?" My Shielder asked, stretching her left arm. That blow she took had to hurt.

"We deal with that if it happens." The Capella Wizard spoke. She moved past the Warrior, and looked at the broken body of Maku Sha. "Even five of these will not trouble us."

"Idle speculation. We deal with it as it happens." I tried to keep my irritation from my voice. "There might be none, or one, or five, and there is no point in worrying about it."

The Wizard stared at me for a long moment, and I tightened my grip on my blades. Raw power was impressive, but I was very sure that I was faster than she was. She looked at the Warrior, and he nodded.

"Let's move. No point in standing here."

My Archer appeared to be recovered from the power he expended in the previous corridor, and he and the Force Blader brought up the rear of our little party. There appeared to be some quick conversation between them, but I could not make out what was said. That was something to take note of, for sure. We were still enemies, and even under these circumstances there was nothing to be gained from forgetting that little fact.

The Warrior led the way, moving into the corridor where Maku Sha had appeared from. The corridor was long and narrow, and it twisted from left to right, making it very hard to keep track of which direction we were moving in. It also became hotter and hotter as we moved further down it, and the omnipresent humidity vanished, replaced by a dry heat.

"I don't like this, it feels as if we are walking into an inferno." My Shielder was proved somewhat correct as we turned the next corner. The corridor ahead of us had widened, but stretching as far as the eye could see blue-white flames burned from circular vents in the ground, with a soft hissing and crackling noise.

"How do we switch these off?" The Warrior looked around, but there was nothing obvious that could serve as a switch.

"This seems to be the way forward, impassable as it may appear at first glance." The Force Blader was also studying the area in front of the first fire-vent. "There were no markings or writings anywhere on the way here that appeared different from the inscriptions of whoever constructed this temple."

"What are you suggesting?" I moved closer to the fire, close enough to feel the heat. "We walk through this?"

"I am not sure yet. Allow me a moment," and that burned and scarred little journal I had found as we entered appeared in his hands, as if by magic. "Perhaps there is something clue in here."

"Or perhaps this fire is the reason that book is in the shape that it is in now."

There had to be a way through here though. There was more to this temple than what we had seen up to now, and something had spoken with Maku Sha before it attacked us. Nothing behind us, fire in front of us...

"Nothing in here." The Force Blader snapped the journal shut, and it vanished again, somewhere into his armour, I was sure. "Something about speed, but nothing conclusive."

"We can go through here." The Shielder's voice was soft, but firm. "It's is possible."

I understood what she was talking about, but even so... Extending protection to Capella? This was the last thing I expected from her. That scar on her right arm was most assuredly the result of an encounter with Capella on the battefield.

"I can protect us, hopefully for long enough to make our way past this."

"Are you sure?" The Wizard glanced at the fire stretching out in front of us. "This could be much harder than it appears."

"Stand close." The Shielder did not waste words. "On my word, we move. Do not waste any time, since we do not know how much ground we have to cover."

We gathered around her, and she closed her eyes for a moment, moving her hand slightly, shaping and binding Force. I felt her presence reaching out to me, and saw the momentary flicker of her shadow moving, even as she stood motionless. There was another flicker, almost too brief for the eye to see, of all six of us covered with an inky blackness, before the Shielder opened her eyes again.

"Move!"

I turned and sprinted, not waiting to see if the others followed. Increasing my movement speed was a basic skill, but using that technique correctly was much harder than it sounded. I entered that passage of fire, felt the heat as nothing more than a distant presence. Silver light flared around me, a perfect sphere with me in the centre, and I caught a glimpse of the Wizard appearing right in front of me, vanishing again into the distance, another silver bubble in a world of fire.

The corridor seemed endless, filled with wall after wall of blue-white fire. I ran, hoping that the Shielder could keep up this protection... Suddenly the fires died down for a moment, revealing what appeared to be the end of the corridor only a short distance ahead - and then all the walls exploded upwards, burning fireballs that almost knocked me to my feet. I stumbled forwards, feeling a sudden burning as the silver bubble around me vanished to the fires, and dove forwards, crashing and rolling past the last firegate, and I heard and felt my companions doing the same.

The Wizard was standing there, waiting for us, and for a moment I really hated her. She appeared to be completely unscathed.

"Speed..." It appeared that the Force Blader had also made it through in one piece. "That's what it meant, obviously."

"Ah, hindsight." I came to my feet, trying to see if there was any obvious damage to my armour or weapons, and restrained my urge to make further comments. All five of us - not counting the damn Wizard - appeared to be moderately undamaged. I saw a burn mark on the face of the Warrior, and the Archer had a vivid red burn across the back of his hand where his gloves did not protect him.

"That was... unpleasant."

I looked around us. Some stairs were leading up and to the left, appearing far to deep for humans to comfortably use them. That was the only way to go, unless you counted going back through the hell of that firegate corridor as a viable option. We gathered ourselves, and started moving up the stairs, weapons ready. No words were needed now - we could not be more alert.

The stairs opened up to the largest room we had yet seen. Spacious, with large statues lining the walls, and more stairs raising up from the far corner. The only problem, as it were, was that it appeared to be filled with copies of Maku Sha.

I exploded into action, before the beasts could react. Force flowed across my body, extending my awareness all around me. This ability was hard to master, and you needed the speed and reaction of long training in order to use it to the fullest potential. I flowed past the Sha, my blades an extension of my arms, bound to me. The Sha were too slow, and I could read their attacks before they even tried, moved past and under massive arms and weapons, leaving gaping cuts and bright green blood behind me, building attack on attack, looking for and finding that instinctive combat rhythm that allowed me to move from one attack to the next seamlessly.

The Sha were big, and powerful, but they were obviously not used to fighting as a group, and this helped me. As I punched a hole straight through to the centre of the group my companions joined in the fight, and despite the power of our opponents they were untrained, and no real match for us. Force flared and exploded through the room as we unleashed our combined power, ripping through the Sha. It was over in moments..

The temperature in the room suddenly dropped, as the last Sha died under the sword of the Warrior, and I could sense a terrifying presence, suddenly real and horribly close, all around us.

"Humans."

The voice was quiet, and low enough that I could feel it rather than hear it.

"You dare to step into this place?"

Our giant adversary stood calmly in the middle of the room, and it had appeared as if from nowhere, a huge armoured figure that was easily three times taller than the big Warrior standing to my left. The giant hefted the strange weapon it was holding in its left hand, and rested it against its shoulder.

"You dare to challenge... me? Six of you, when an army would not have been enough?"

It looked down at the wreckage between us, the strange greenish blood and the broken bodies of the Sha that ambushed us only moments before the giant appeared, with an apparent disinterest. It was already very clear that this opponent was going to be far tougher than any we had faced thus far in this corrupted temple.

"Come then." Its weapon made a whistling noise as it swung through the air and came to a stop pointing straight at us. It appeared to be a massive spear, but the blade that tipped it was bigger than a GreatSword, and glowed with a disturbing orange light. I would not wager on anyone being able to survive a direct hit with that monster, and that was without even considering the fact that we had no idea of the capabilities of our opponent. My two blades seemed almost weightless in my hands as I stepped forwards, my companions spreading out behind me.

...Veniti...

That voice again, vaguely female, appearing from everywhere around us.

"They die here, my Queen."

... do not fail me...

The giant warrior gave no other warning, and its attack was shockingly sudden, a diagonal slash that I barely avoided. If that blade had hit me my armour would have been of as much use as a sheet of paper. Even Mithril had its limits. The air around us was getting colder and colder, and I could feel my movements getting slower. The giant did not hesitate though, and attacked again, another slash that would have decapitated anyone it hit. We had to stay out of range.

The air was really cold now, cold enough for frost to form a feathery line across the back of my blade, and I stared at it with disbelief. What in the hells is this?

"Do it!" The Warrior shouted out behind me. "We will keep it off you, but get ready!" He came up on my left, his sword held high. "Take the right. We have to keep him away from the others."

I forced my mind into calmness, ignoring the cold around me. Force could not be bound while the mind was not perfectly clear, and able to concentrate. The cold was weakening me, weakening all of us, but we could compensate for it. Shadows rose from the ground again, twisting through the air below Veniti - the Force Blader was already busy.

My Shielder came up to my right. "I'll get his attention, so be ready." She ran past ducked underneath another decapitating slash, and took up a position right behind Veniti. I could feel the Force she summoned, reaching out into the stones underneath her, drawing up power around herself, a tight, solid mass of woven power that would protect her better than any shield ever could. I knew this ability, had seen it in action many times before, but I also knew that the concentration needed to keep this up means she would be unable to move at all.

The Warrior shouted a loud challenge, and dashed past me, jumping towards Veniti. Light and power blossomed behind me, the Wizard and the Force Archer focusing their control of Force to the point where their weapons changed again, into their more powerful forms.

This was it, then.

I steadied my hands, removed my awareness from the cold, placed knowledge of any discomfort far away. It was interfering, and I could not afford it right now. Force came when I opened myself, shaped along my blades and melted the building frost in an instant. I had to compensate for whatever damage the cold was doing. I ignored all the warnings from my training, about over-extending myself - theory was well and good, but there was no place for theory in the here-and-now, extended my awareness out around myself.

Veniti had spun around, impossibly fast for such a huge creature, his spear whistling through the air to crash into the side of my Shielder, and impossibly, she just stood there, absorbing the power from that blow. I felt a sudden savage pride, whatever Veniti was he would not have expected his attack to just be... ignored. Her shield spun out, becoming a weapon in itself, one that ripped through the air to crash into Veniti. At the same time the Warrior's attack hit the back of the armoured Veniti, and even though there was no visible damage Veniti turned around, snake-quick, whipping out his spear, leaving a glowing orange streak behind it. The Warrior simply turned with the blow, deflecting it with his Greatsword. Force started hammering into Veniti, ranged power from the Wizard and Archer, tight, impossibly fast precision from the Archer striking Veniti's helm, compared to the simply awesome flow of pure raw elemental power from the Wizard that ruptured the air around our opponent with fire and ice. The Force Blader was staying out of range as well, and I could see him perform bind after bind, while at the same time attacking with flows of pure crystallised Force that gleamed dark blue-black as it punched into Veniti again and again.

My turn.

Everything seemed to slow down, momentarily, and I stepped lightly into range, saw Veniti's head turning towards me, keeping track of a possible new target. His weapon had struck the Shielder again, and he was bringing it back in my direction, but slowly, way too slowly. I had enough time to study his armour, magnificently made, but with crucial spaces here and there, essential to allow him to still move. There was no point in me taking on that armour directly, but those small gaps and spaces... Leather, or skin, gave way beneath sharpened Mithril, and then I was past him again.

Movement, keep moving, never give them a stationary target to attack, move over and under every attack, make use of every sense you posses, become like the wind. You are insubstantial, you rely on speed, deception, avoidance rather than brute defensive strength. Lessons drilled into me, repeated over and over, long years of training making them second nature.

I wove my blades into a blur around Veniti, striking and cutting again and again and again, flowing around him. He was suddenly hard pressed, and I wondered how much remained of that earlier calm arrogance. The Warrior had managed to slice through that thick armour, substituting sheer power in place of finesse. I used to laugh at that particular Battle Style, but the sheer animal strength of the big Capella was on an inhuman level.

Veniti, however, had more than just a massive spear as weapon. I wonder, now, if we had not been too confident, if there was something we could have done, if we could have known...

Spikes, made from plant-matter but hard as iron, ripped up through the ground without warning, puncturing and shattering through the stones underneath us, striking towards the ceiling. I twisted out of the way, felt one of them score a deep cut in the armour on my right leg, but I avoided it. The spikes pulled back into the ground, just as rapidly as they had appeared, but they had done their job. There was a sudden shocking silence from behind me, where the Wizard and Force Archer had been attacking from, and I turned, dreading the inevitable...

They were both down, the Wizard lying on her side, and the Archer thrown back, crumpled against the wall, both of them lying at unnatural angles, blood slowly pooling around them. The Force Blader was down as well, huge rents in his armour where the spikes had cut through it, but he was at least moving. The Shielder was still standing, blood flowing down her armour, but she was upright and attacking.

The Warrior... This was fury unleashed, when he saw that the Wizard was down. I got a quick glimpse of his face, and his eyes were actually glowing, a bright, deep red, mirroring the blood on the ground behind us, Force boiling inside him. He seemed to have cast aside the need for defense, swinging that Greatsword as if it was weightless, opening massive gashes in Veniti's armour, driving even that huge monster backwards. Veniti's spear came whistling around, heading straight for the Warrior - who simply met that glowing orange tip with his own Greatsword, stopping it in a shower of orange sparks. Then, impossibly, he simply drove his Greatsword to the ground, cutting clean through whatever metal had been used to forge the spear. In that instant the Shielder punched her blade into the ground again, and the earth shuddered, staggering Veniti - and the Warrior's next attack was another series of spinning cuts, ripping his opponent into pieces.

What was left of Veniti slowly collapsed in front of us, bloody wreckage as shattered as the stones underneath. We looked at each other, and there was no room for words. The Warrior silently moved back to where the Wizard had fallen, his back to us as he knelt next to her.

The Shielder and I moved to the fallen Archer. I closed his eyes, looked at my Shielder.

"He was one of the best." Her voice was oddly emotionless, but her eyes... I looked away, unable to meet her gaze.

"Let's go." The Warrior rose to his feet, and there was nothing in his voice. Nothing at all. "If we stop here they died for nothing. We have to end this. We can retrieve them later, after we are done."

If we can even finish this... I left the thought unspoken.

"I will stay here." The Force Blader's voice was weak, but he was sitting upright. "There is nothing alive behind us, and..." He swallowed, took a deep breath. "I cannot continue like this."

It was a miracle that he was even alive, with wounds like that. Gaping holes in his armour, and his left arm hung at his side - it appeared that he could not even move it.

"We will come back for you." The Warrior's voice was still completely emotionless. "Take care of her, until we get back here here." He looked at me, and the bleeding Shielder. "Are you ready? We finish this, now. Siena dies, today."

The Shielder nodded, and I closed my eyes for a moment. If it would only be that easy...

There was another passage that opened up at the far end of the room, just up the stairs I saw when we first entered. There was a gate, but it had collapsed when Veniti died. I looked at the Warrior, and took the lead.

The passage was a nightmare, one that I will never forget, ever. The stones were barely visible, covered under a thick layer of slime and growths, making walking treacherous. Strange, bulging pods hung from vines that crawled over the walls and ceiling, and the pulsed as if they were alive. The air was almost unbreathable, and it could be compared to walking through a corpse. I had to fight to not throw up, in that darkness. The light and cold from the room where we fought Veniti was a distant memory, lost in heat and stinking humidity.

...you will die here...

...turn around...

That damned voice was whispering from all around us, all the time, and we were unable to block it out.

... you will be ripped into pieces....

...slowly torn apart...

The attacks, when they came, were almost a relief. I could not even make out exactly what we were fighting. Dark wings, whipping vines, and inhuman screeches and roars, the passage became an endless nightmare of blood and pain, one that we had to cut our way through. I kept moving, instinct saving me more than skill, a blind determination to not give up, a knowledge that we could not stop, stopping meant dying, here in the darkness, lost in a hole in the ground underneath the Mutant Forest. I was bleeding from dozens of minor cuts and wounds, blood and sweat making the hilts of my blades slippery, but I never let go. Things, beasts in the darkness, mutated creatures, died in front of me, cut to pieces, and I was fighting on instinct and training alone.

Light was sudden, and almost blinding, after what felt like an eternity in the darkness. I staggered slightly, then stopped when I saw what was waiting for us.

Impossibly huge, a bloated mass of twisted flesh and plant, the entire end of the room we were in was taken up by a monstrous form. Thick vines drifted through the air, apparently moving under the control of the monster, and there, high up and exactly in the centre was what appeared to be a young human woman, or at least the upper body of one - the lower body was hidden, merged into that twisted mass below her.

... you've come then...

I looked at my companions, and hoped I looked better than they did. We were battered, bleeding, covered with green blood and gore and plant growths, and in no apparent shape to fight... But this would end here, one way or the other.

.. come then, Humans... Death awaits you...

Spikes rippled through the ground in front of Siena, because this was her, I was sure of it. Going closer appeared suicidal, if those spikes were the same as the ones Veniti summoned.

There was no other way, now. I opened myself to the Force, allowed it to fill me, drew even more power, throwing caution to the wind, it was reckless to do this when this tired and worn down but I had no choice. This amount of power needed a catalyst of some sort, a release point, and I offered my blades, felt that shaping and changing that I've known a hundred times before. Pure Force blasted out around me, and I fought to control it, to keep it from obliterating me. Bit by bit I struggled to control that power, taming it, bending it to my will, and finally it almost snapped into place.

I stood up, facing Siena, my blades gone, and in their place... Solid Force was shaped along my arms, extending up from my lower arms, forming into three three short blades that extended past my hands. Solid, condensed Force, sharp enough to cut through anything, but I had to get close for these to have any effect.

The Warrior and the Shielder had followed my example, and their weapons were gone as well, replaced by shaped Force. The Warrior was wielding a huge scythe that glowed and crackled, blue-white power visible on the edge of the blade, and the Shielder was holding a single shield, multiple blades extending from the edge.

... come then...

There was only one way forward, now. None of us would be able to keep up these forms for very long, and without them we would die.

The first strike was mine, as I used Force to push myself away from the ground, a jump that was higher than any human could hope for without assistance, and I came down in a dive with those claws extended in front of me, slicing through vines that moved to stop me, opening a cut all the way down the body of Siena. I rolled upright, and saw that I had managed to clear the spikes she had around herself.

The Warrior was cutting a way through, a reaper, scythe flashing as he simply cut down anything in front of him, leaving bleeding stumps where the spikes came from the ground to meet him.

The Shielder was throwing that bladed shield, a spinning weapon that she controlled with crackling arcs of Force, and it cut a bloody swath through Siena's spikes.

I moved, faster than humanly possible, jumping across the body of Siena, using those whipping vines as steps, cutting through them again and again, spinning through the air as Siena tried to stop me. One of the vines slashed across my arm, ripping off my armour and leaving a cut that burned like acid, I ignored it, kept moving; and scored another deep wound on the body of Siena.

My two companions had fought their way past the spikes, and were also attacking Siena directly now, the scythe biting deep into that twisted mass of plant and flesh, the spinning shield leaving terrible cuts across her body.

Siena screamed, and the sound was a physical pain. A vine whipped down, smashing the Shielder into the ground, and it came down for a second blow - only to be cut in half by a glowing scythe. The Shielder struggled upright, and I could see that she was in very bad shape, but I had no time to even look closer.

"Attack the human part!" The Warrior shouted, narrowly avoiding another whipping vine. "We are not having enough of an effect!"

I immediately understood what he meant. Siena was taking some pains to protect that small part of her that still appeared to be human, and there was a dense mass of vines between us and that human figure. I knew what I had to do.

I pushed past my limits, drawing even more Force into myself, ignoring the pain and the price I would have to pay for doing this in my condition. Pure power blasted out around me, crackling like fire, an elemental strength that would certainly kill me. Time became meaningless, now. I jumped again, cutting into Siena's body, launching myself even higher, grabbed a vine that slashed towards my face and used that momentum to propel my self higher again. Vines cut into me, ripping through my armour, but I pushed on, cutting my path towards Siena.

Her movements became frantic, a mass of vines whipping towards me, too many to avoid - and they were cut apart by a thrown scythe that blurred past me. The Warrior had sacrificed his own weapon to open my way. Siena appeared in front of me, or at least her human part, but there was no humanity in her face, and she screamed at me, pure hatred and rage and pain. Shaped Force claws ripped into her, but the blood that appeared was a sick green, not red. With the last of my strength I punched the claws as hard as I could, and cut outwards.

The light in Siena's eyes slowly faded, as everything around me went black, and I was helpless to stop my fall as the world vanished around me.

Some time later...

I woke up in what appeared to be a clean, white room. This was such a clich� that I wanted to laugh, but moving hurt too much.

"He carried you out of there." The soft voice was next to me was that of the Shielder. I slowly turned my head, to see her sitting there, un-armoured now.

"I would not have believed it myself, but once Siena died - and she did die, you killed her - that whole place seemed to collapse. The Warrior actually carried you all the way out, and the Force Blader was still alive as well, if barely so. We managed to find the exit, and there were about 20 Capella waiting out there. Three squads, and if that Warrior wasn't there it would have gone really badly. He stopped them, and ordered them to take care of our wounds."

She stopped talking, stared into the distance.

"I cannot remember much of the next part. We were cared for by Capella healers, I know that much, and the Warrior somehow managed to retrieve our fallen from inside the temple. We were delivered here under a flag of truce, at least." She reached out, took my hand.

"That was almost a month ago. The Sage has ordered that we stand down for another month, to rest, before we are to join the Task Group in the outside sector of Pontus Ferrum. There are talks of a new discovery, and we should move before the Capella Federation does, so..."

I closed my eyes, and could not keep that bitter laugh away even if I tried. No rest for the wicked...

[I hope you enjoyed this. See you with the next update ;) ]