Anarchy Online: 15.5 has arrived

Crypt of Home
Monday April 5th 2004
The Crypt of Home
A new menace has appeared in the depths under the Rubi-Ka desert. This place contains both new and age old evil. Somewhere on the planet of Rubi-Ka there is adventure for the daring and a link to the past.

The dungeon is intended for 6 people, i.e. a full team, and has an upper level restriction of 110.

Game Mechanics
The chat system has been updated, and now supports multiple customizable chat windows. Please check the chat interface guide for instructions on use.

Attacking an NPC (Non-Player Character) guard now makes you PvP (Player versus Player) enabled - open to attacks from other players - for 15 minutes. Attacking a PvP enabled player also PvP enables you for 15 minutes. Normal level restrictions for PvP still apply.

Trades that would cause one of the involved characters to end up with a billion credits or more will now be aborted.

The nanobot recharge bar no longer disappears if you try execute a new nano program while the nanobots are recharging.

The overflow window will now open properly when your inventory is full and an NPC returns the items you try give him.

Using /stuck in a backyard will now move you to a valid location, not into the void.

Actions requiring another effect to already run on the target or user will now explain this if the required effect is not running.

Both attacker and target will now again get a message when the target counters / resists a hostile nano program.

Mission completion will now be handled faster, handing out rewards without delay.

You will now be able to relax a bit more while in water, not constantly trying to get forward.

Nano Programs
Programs in the Bureaucrat Gallant Slave line now have the same requirements for uploading and executing the programs.

Team Empowered Captivated Thoughts now requires the Bureaucrat to have completed the second specialization.

Trader's Nano Resist drain programs now execute correctly.

Element of Ice now executes correctly.

Null Space Disruptor now starts the effect immediately, not with a 20 seconds delay.

Tap Notum Vein: Inferno now takes the Fixer to one of the gardens in Inferno, not Penumbra.

Slip of Mind can now be uploaded.

Fixed a stacking problem with Blast of Avoidance.

Improved Cut Red Tape now checks whether the target is using Grid Armor, not the defence modifier.

Corrected the specialization requirements on Mongo's Gargantua and Mongo's Mighty Colossus.

Updated the description on some Shadowlands bind and recall programs.

Corrected the health boost effect on Titan Physique.

Izgimmer's Celestial Fury now deals Cold damage as per the description.

Izgimmer's Corrosive Tear has had its description corrected. It deals Chemical damage, not Poison damage.

Summoning pets that confuse and cloud the mind of your enemies will no longer be subject to fumbles.

Martial Artist programs that increase damage and change damage type will no longer be overwritten by other programs that increase damage, except better Martial Artist programs of course.

Corrected an error with the Bureaucrat program Voice of God.

Fixed a requirement error in the Adventurer Wolf Aura program line.

Non-Player Characters (NPCs) and monsters
You should no longer find your NPC enemies healing you during combat.

All "bosses" in Shadowlands have had their conviction strengthened and will stand and fight instead of fleeing, regardless of the opposition.

Rancid is no longer aligned with the Redeemed.

Hecklers now have a smaller XP bonus than other outdoor Shadowlands creatures.

Razor, Zark and a certain lord are now all a bit tougher.

Den Mantis Queen has learned a new trick.

Sharks in Adonis Abyss have decided that manners are for wimps, and will gladly invite themselves to sharing other sharks' dinner.

The wandering Yuttos can no longer be attacked.

Killing the Heckler of Evolution no longer gives an experience point reward.

Chimeran Canines have discovered there's an abundance of prey now, and won't bother chasing fleeing snack for miles. They're also not too keen on charging anything in their vicinity anymore.

Spoiled Brat has decided to stay in one place. She is also impossible to get rid of, like spoiled brats are supposed to be.

ICC Representatives and Peacekeepers are now a little less aggressive.

Skilled Clan Scientist is a bit tougher.

Many creatures in the Shadowlands now look different, adding more visual diversity.

The female representatives of IPS will no longer be referred to as males during conversation.

Quest
Empath Min-Ji Liu's pattern has been added as loot on Unredeemed in Scheol.

It's no longer possible to receive the sealed instructions without having completed the first part of Ergo's quest for access to Inferno.

Hypnagogic Urga-Lum Thrak and Sipius Aban Lux-Wei now recognize the ancient device even if it's been activated.

There's now an additional source for the Amulet of Algid Amber.

The items Ergo on Rubi-Ka requests are now only available in the Condemned Subway.

World
The clan Vanguard has moved into Athen.

The portal from Elysium to Jobe has had its level requirement removed.

The Unredeemed Pandemonium garden now contains a Statue of Transportation.

All mission areas should now have inhabitants.

The impression that Old Athen was growing into Wartorn Valley was just a mirage. "People claiming to have seen the city's buildings outside the city walls need to stay out of the heat," says an anonymous Funcom employee.

You will now get a message about the saved amount of Experience (XP) or Shadowknowledge (SK) when saving /scanning your character in the Shadowlands.

A representative for Omni-Trans is now located in Omni-1 Trade.

A ghostly mountain in Linger Echo was made solid.

A volcano in Inferno has sunk a bit into the ground.

The walls of the Adonis Temple Maze have become substantial.

Fixed a position in the Brink in Scheol where you did not get teleported to Rubi-Ka.

Pets
The Engineer dog pets have been modified a bit. They should now increase properly in usability at the top levels.

Pets who are hunting will now ignore Jobe citizens and NPCs connected to the Jobe Research training missions.

Anybody engaged in combat with a pet's master is now a viable target for the pet.

Items
Elysium now contains some extra rewards.

Treatment requirement for symbiants above QL 250 has been reduced with 100. Modifiers for symbiants of QL 250 and above have been changed to go linearly from what they were at QL 249 to what they were at QL 300.

We have removed the NoDrop flag on the following tattoo sets: Ectoplasm, Entophagous and Sombreous.

The glyphs used for making profession specific armour have gotten the Unique flag removed. The flag led to too much trouble to be worth it.

Some Yuttoses have started selling a much sought after resource that is used for upgrading weapons.

Removed the Unique and NoDrop flags from several novictum pieces.

We have removed the NoDrop flag on the Embryos and Visions required for making the First Tier armours.

The Caterwaul Rifle has been made Agent only. It will not be unequipped from other characters, but you won't be able to equip it anymore.

A bug causing weapons with only Ranged Energy as attack skill to not count as ranged weapons has been corrected.

Higher quality ingots have had their value decreased somewhat.

Corrected some items that affected the Skill Lock Modifier. They increased the skill lock time instead of decreasing it.

The shoulder pads handed out by Alvin and Dodga will no longer bestow their bonuses on people of the wrong side.

Virgo's Practical Spirit Helper can now be equipped in all the correct slots.

We have put a level requirement on the Nippy John Stiletto and reduced its minimum damage.

Added a line of warning on Turn Spirits

Sacrificed Bracelet of Kay now has the correct modifiers and wear requirements.

Stacks of items may no longer contain more than 50000 items.

Fixed bug that caused some token boards to vanish when upgraded.

Fixed a visual bug with Shades of Lucubration.

Trade Skills
Added another use for the Breaking and Entering skill.

Perks and Shadowbreeds
The Omni-Tek Nanomage Shadowbreed "Death" has been toned down. The damage shield has been halved. In addition, nobody can be affected by the direct damage part more than once every 30 seconds, and nobody can have the damage shield run in their NCU more than once every 30 seconds.

Nobody can be affected by the clan Solitus Shadowbreed "The Choice" more than once per 30 seconds.

The action icon for the clan Solitus Shadowbreed "The Lighter Side" is now visible, and the Shadowbreed can be activated properly.

The attacks from the Pistol Mastery perk line now scale properly according to your skill with pistols.

The Devour perk attack now scales properly with your Strength.

The Taunt perk action now works at all levels.

Malicious Prohibition now properly reduces the target's ability to heal others. The description on the effect has been updated to reflect the actual effect.

Notum Overflow now correctly makes the target more susceptible to direct nano damage.

The Tranquilizer perk attack now deals damage even if you have Assassin perk level 10.

A bug with combining the perk attacks Triangulate Target and Called Shot has been fixed.

Dazzle with Lights no longer debuffs your team members.

Detonate Stoneworks now runs correctly when used on targets affected by Stoneworks.

Encased in Stone now properly roots the user.

Sabotage Quark Field now works correctly.

Reap Life now properly recognizes Bloodletting and will be more effective if run on a target already affected by Bloodletting.

The Triangulate Target action now runs Affected by Triangulate Target on the target, not on the user.

Fixed a problem where weaker absorb shields would overwrite the Bio Cocoon perk special.

The skill lock on the Deconstruction perk action is now set correctly.

Corrected a small error on the damage boost from the 8th rank of the Disharmony perk line.

Fixed the NCU cost on the Harmonize Body and Mind.

The Outdoorsman perk line description has been updated. The line was not meant to add a proc effect.

Several perks actions that missed a description have been given one.

The Channel Rage perk action has had its description corrected.

The description of the Insurance Agent perk effect now describes the effect of the perk.

The description of the Escape action has been corrected.

A feedback issue with Big Smash has been corrected.

Technical
To optimize the use of server CPU we've done some changes to how the servers handle NPCs that nobody can see. This should have no effect on your gaming experience except speeding up the game servers a bit.

Anarchy Online now handles switching from full screen mode to viewing the desktop a lot better.

Corrected a bunch of typographical errors.