Updates 2025

Older updates

5 January 2025

various changes
by xpli: thank you for participating the Christmas festival! Some statistics:
- meta quests completed: 1697
- Christmas quests completed: 16,970
- Enraged Snowman kills: 115
- money spent at Markum's gamble: 8,783,100 tunars
- hidden quests completed: 331
- see you at the next event!
by Renodor: spell fixes
critical hit mechanics removed; all references to it seem to be from the pre-Frontiers era and there is some evidence strongly suggesting it didn't exist in Frontiers
tentative 30% damage bonus added to 2H weapons, based on video evidence (see discussion on Discord)
etc.

12 January 2025

various changes
by Renodor: a lot of spell/CM/pet fixes
by xpli: new sidequest: Clockwork, quest giver: Elder Mysidia at Klick'Anon; Ogre racial quest (8/12 racials now available); etc.
by ShadowRampageTV: some interaction fixes
by Kallosus: testing & other assistance
tunar cap raised to 1 million
auction house implemented
- auctions are updated once per minute so don't panic if your buyout isn't immediately processed
- the unpatched game client didn't originally allow auctioning lore or no rent items; as a workaround these items are marked non-lore and yes-rent in the bank to facilitate their auction
- some search options like keywords or seller name not implemented yet
- listing fee not charged for now
all heal over time effects now affect the single 6-sec HoT tick instead of some of them having a separate tick
when a new HoT buff increases a player/NPC's HoT, an initial tick is applied immediately, as in the original game
some more detailed updates available on the #sandstorm-development Discord channel
we won MassivelyOP's public poll for the best MMO rogue server in 2024 with a clear margin, 30% of all votes - again, thanks for the continued support everyone!
etc.

19 January 2025

various changes
by xpli, Renodor, etc: a lot of under the hood progress with quests etc.
by Renodor: a lot of spell/CM/pet fixes
by Kallosus: testing & other assistance
some long-standing bugs with player respawning probably fixed (character spinning around, long loading times, other glitches)
LoS should now work in Bogman Village, Permafrost, Anu Village, Takish'Hiz
abilities inflicting physical damage (slash, blunt, pierce) are no longer mitigated by mob AC
- instead, these three are handled the same way as resistances (arcane, poison, etc.) with some mobs having weaknesses or strengths against them
- the change generally increases damage of these abilities because they often go through unresisted
- any slash/blunt/pierce debuffs, weaknesses and strengths still work as modifiers to AC when it comes to basic, non-ability melee and ranged damage
- arrows are now treated as pierce damage so the said debuffs, weaknesses and strengths of that type should affect their damage
for content creators, SCP now has a faction tool that can be used to add or edit factions, their relations or players' default faction standings (WIP)
etc.

26 January 2025

various changes
by Renodor: spell fixes, adjustments to mob spell rotations, The Hunt zone rebuilt, 46 spell drops at Phantoms only, level 49 Epic Part 1 enabled, Blackburrow dungeon rebuilt, with help from Sontosegara. For detailed notes, loot tables, information about rares etc. please see his post on Discord
by xpli: continuing work on game content, e.g. Plane of Sky
by ShadowRampageTV: released Rewards/Resources/Guides 1-60 document (WIP) with
- Quick links for keyboard and controller shortcuts
- Official patch notes
- Quest rewards/stats 1-60
- Quest links/resources
- Item links/resources
- Proc list
- Exp camp list
- Dungeon loot lists
- more to come
by Kallosus: testing & other assistance
more detailed updates on Discord #sandstorm-development
Guild functionality added
- to create a guild, you have to be a leader in a full group of willing members, the cost is 5000 tunar
- due to the makeshift nature of the LFG tool repurposed from the Buddy List, there is some conflict between some text labels that were changed
- for this reason the Guild list doesn't have the "Online" label and LFG's "Guild" column shows group members instead of guild name
- Why the kludgy Group Finder tool? The original LFG tool was added after launch in a content patch and for technical and legal reasons we can't distribute SOE's software patches
NO RENT items will disappear shortly after logout; there is a grace period of ~10 minutes to allow technical issues
mobs now try to run away if their health goes below a certain limit which may depend on the specific mob
mobs may now heal and buff other nearby mobs and debuff players
etc.

2 February 2025

various changes
by Renodor: a lot of spell updates, level scaling adjustments, mob ability list changes
by xpli: resumed the revision of Rathe loot tables, finished the Rathe Ultra Rare loot table
by Kallosus: testing & other assistance
faction adjustments ongoing, some inconvenience may result
basic melee/ranged damage formula adjusted to more accurately replicate some known data
XP debt
- death adds XP debt which diminishes XP gains by 50% until paid
- ~~apparently some key details of the debt system aren't well known or documented and~~ some of the available information is contradictory
- such as: how much debt you get for dying or what's the maximum debt on each level
- correction: Richard Penner / Arpiean seems to have figured out the basic formula in 2006
- current implementation is based on the little evidence I could find
- if we can find better information, the system will be adjusted accordingly
- your money is safe for now, you don't lose tunar from dying yet
some spells now only affect players/NPC's above a specific level
some spell stacking changes underway, may cause disruptions with some spells
etc.

9 February 2025

various changes
by ShadowRampageTV: adjusted hundreds of items from Allakhazam and Prima Guide (check your gear); added trash stacks to various wildlife across Tunaria (spiders, ants, wolves, bats, undead, flies)
by Renodor: a lot of spell updates, level scaling adjustments, mob ability list changes
by xpli: Rathe common and rare loot table revision, etc.
by Kallosus: testing & other assistance
line of sight data generated for a few new zones
rogue pickpocketing now doesn't require invisibility, always breaks invisibility and always draws aggro from the target NPC
to avoid spurious deaths during server restarts, a two-minute invisibility+SoW buff is granted to players facing the situation (Grace of the cat)
spell arrange function should now work
etc.

16 February 2025

various changes & fixes
by Renodor: a lot of spell updates, level scaling adjustments, mob ability list changes
by xpli: various fixes
by Kallosus: testing & other assistance
line of sight calculation now considers "floors"; some problems remain in sloped terrain, work in progress
damage bonus added to ranged weapons from level 20 onwards
- when reaching lv 20, the arrow hit effect and rate of fire changes, from one arrow per 3.5 sec to one arrow per 5 sec (these are hardcoded in the game client)
- without a boost, ranged DPS would clearly drop at that point (if other variables stayed constant) which wouldn't make sense
- the change brings Sandstorm's bow/quad damage ratio close to what was reported in some old forum posts
- animation (hit effect) and rate change is evident in the attached video if you watch closely; first two shots lv 19, two next shots lv 20+
auction house search by seller name now works (exact name, upper/lower case doesn't matter)
etc.

23 February 2025

various changes & fixes
by Renodor: spell updates, level scaling adjustments, mob ability list changes
by xpli: NPC, quest, etc. updates
by Kallosus: testing & other assistance
by Lardubedu: spell updates
various server optimizations to deal with the increasing player amount (200+ daily peak recently)
HoT buffs aka. heals no longer generate aggro against the caster if the buff duration is more than 30 seconds
non-combat pets like wizard familiars no longer confront enemies
buffs cast by pets remain after the pet dies or is dismissed
line of sight fixes & improvements
the roll function in the community/group menu now works (exact text color not known)
etc.

3 March 2025

various changes & fixes
The next event will start on Friday, March 21 and end on Sunday, May 4. Stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks!
by Renodor: spell updates, level scaling adjustments, mob ability list changes
by xpli: NPC, quest, etc. updates, preparing the next event
by Lardubedu: spell updates
by Kallosus: testing & other assistance
bug fixes, e.g.
- trying to sell a chargeable item to a merchant used up charges instead of selling the item
- damage abilities sometimes generated extraneous aggro
- disband guild didn't work
rolls now shown in orange
HoT buff aggro duration limit now 3 minutes instead of 30 seconds
etc.

9 March 2025

various changes & fixes
by Renodor: 49 Epic Part 2 release - check the Development Discord channel for further notes; spell updates, level scaling adjustments, mob ability list changes
by xpli: NPC, quest, etc. updates, preparing the next event
by Lardubedu: spell updates
by Kallosus: testing & other assistance
level cap 50
food and drink items now have a short cooldown
prevented some cheats that allowed the player to jump or fly
if a buff or debuff has a modifier, the modifier is "snapshotted" when the spell hits, instead of buff effect changing if the modifier stat is changing
some AoE effects didn't correctly hit pets, fixed
some abilities, e.g. SK Darkstrike, had unnecessary delay and animation desync, fixed
etc.

17 March 2025

various changes & fixes
by xpli: lv 49 epic fixes, NPC, quest, etc. updates, new quest and deeds for the next event, 2 new dev tools
by Renodor: lv 49 epic fixes etc.
by Lardubedu: spell updates, e.g. icons, animations, effects
by Kallosus: updated spell descriptions for SK, PAL, WAR; testing & other assistance
more damage timing adjustments to melee abilities (from videos collected by Kallosus)
bug fixes, for example
- after charm broke, the mob did not always evacuate the area correctly
- you can no longer add yourself to your ignore list
- when accepting a resurrect or summon after getting more than one "request", the wrong one got sometimes picked
- resurrect debt reduction was calculated from the total debt, not the debt from the last death
a lot of code optimization to alleviate server load from increased attendance
etc.

23 March 2025

various changes & fixes
Farmers' Fair 2025 event is now live!
- 14 repeatable quests
- 1 meta quest
- 1 hidden quest
- 1 meta deed
- 35 mini bosses
- exclusive items and equipment
by xpli: continuing work on the event etc.
by Sontosegara: added missing dialogue for over 200 NPC's
by Kallosus: spell description updates for ALC/CL/Bard/Monk/ENC. Many item and gear updates; testing & other assistance
by Renodor: NPC & quest updates etc.
by Lardubedu: spell updates
we've been hitting over 300 simultaneous player connections in the last week - a lot of code optimization to address peak-hour lag issues
some line of sight fixes, still work in progress
etc.

31 March 2025

various fixes & changes
by ShadowRampageTV: updates to werehunter faction grind, added lore to NPC's in South Crossroads (details)
by xpli: working on the event and other things
by Renodor: NPC & quest updates etc.
by Sontosegara: more dialogue added
by Lardubedu: spell updates
by Kallosus: testing & other assistance
server code optimization continued
fixed some glitches that happened on player death
aggro radius was too low in many cases, fixed
resistance debuffs are now 3.5 times more efficient because in existing sources their values are probably on the scale of 0 to 100 (what NPC's had) but Sandstorm resistances are 0-350 for both players and NPC's
- resistances are still WIP
some progress with detecting if NPC's are in water or lava, testing in Tunaria only; glitches may happen on water-land boundary, WIP to optimize this to avoid excess server load
etc.

6 April 2025

various changes & fixes
by xpli: working on the event and other things
by Renodor: adjustments to were quests, infection steps and were factions, NPC & quest updates, etc.
by Kallosus: item and armor fixes
by ShadowRampageTV: dialog/quest updates
by Sontosegara: more dialogue added
attacking an NPC 10 or more levels above you will produce a "you are outmatched" warning; attack the same target again within 30 seconds to proceed with it
simplified aggro radius based on available evidence; it's now a NPC-specific constant range, level difference (apart from green-conned NPC's) or being behind the NPC no longer affects this
big optimizations to detecting if NPC's or players are in water, lava, slime or mud; problems possible, still only used in Tunaria
other optimizations to reduce server load
etc.

13 April 2025

various fixes & changes
by xpli: working on the event, testing lv 53 quests, creating the second part of the Envar Ascension quest
by Kallosus: spell descriptions, NPC dialogue, item and armor fixes
by Renodor, ShadowRampageTV: NPC and interaction fixes
by Sontosegara: more NPC dialogue
fixes and optimizations to water/lava/etc. detection
removed inappropriate delay on some bard blade abilities
fixed a visual glitch that sometimes caused a disappeared corpse to reappear as a standing figure
etc.

21 April 2025

various changes & fixes
by Renodor: vampire infection changes, fixed Order weapon proc, other proc changes, Chiktar Hive:
- a level 50 dungeon
- split into 2 tiers of NPC levels
- 10 named NPC's, two bosses
- over 67 items, 6 gear sets and 10 proc gear
by xpli: work with internal dev tools, migrating automation to the new Cron system
by Kallosus: spell descriptions, NPC dialogue, item and armor fixes, research
by Lardubedu: spell fixes
by ShadowRampageTV: item and interaction fixes
LoS data generated for Salt Mine and Cazic Thule
some health and power group drains had infinite range for group members, fixed
under the hood improvements and fixes to rare spawns; can now define spawn probabilities for rares and "placeholders"
a Cron system that automatically executes actions with regular intervals, usable for e.g. spawning, fixing quest flags and other automatic tasks
etc.

28 April 2025

various fixes & changes
by Renodor: updates to Chiktar Hive, Guk, NPC fixes, testing damage formula, etc.
by xpli: NPC and other updates to Farmer Fair, Cazic-Thule, Envar, etc., working on automatic processes to fix player spell issues etc.
by Kallosus: item/loot changes, research and testing the damage formula
by ShadowRampageTV: interaction & item fixes
updated melee combat calculations to the original formula on live from recently obtained information from developer sources
- there are still some open questions that are being worked on
- in most cases, melee damage is somewhat lower than before
- class and level differences have more weight in the new formula
- a couple of damage mitigation mechanics were missing
- with comparable stats and equipment, quad > 2H > 1H+shield
LoS should work in Neriak
some fixes to mob spawning
upgraded server plan to make it more responsive under heavy load
etc.

5 May 2025

various changes & fixes
by xpli: Farmer Fair maintenance (the event ended at 4 PM UTC), working on automation to fix inconsistencies with e.g. lycantropic forms, path choices, etc.
by Renodor: lots of NPC, item and interaction updates, etc.
by Kallosus: item/loot changes, research and testing the damage formula
by ShadowRampageTV: NPC, item, loot updates
slash/blunt/pierce debuffs should now have a noticeable effect in basic combat damage
random spawns persist over server restarts and "area restarts" so leaving an area and coming back after a while should no longer change the random spawns
LoS data generated for Ant Colonies and Al Karad Ruins
mob leash distance increased by 50%, may also be defined on per-NPC basis
some under the hood work to allow adjustments to "linked aggro"
etc.

12 May 2025

various fixes & changes
by xpli: diagnostic tool to fix problems with missing or inconsistent spells, path choices, etc., automation, NPC and quest fixes, etc.
by Renodor: lots of NPC, item and interaction updates, etc.
by Kallosus: item/loot changes, spell fixes, research, testing
by ShadowRampageTV: NPC, item, loot updates
healing now draws aggro from any hostile NPC within a short radius around the heal target (even green-conning, even if the target is not on aggro table)
mob AoE could hit a player during the respawn process leading to another death at spiritmaster, fixed
several mobs attacking a player no longer try to give each others space but stand on top of each other (as in the original game)
leash distance increased a bit again (video evidence suggests it may have varied, perhaps based on aggro radius?)
etc.

19 May 2025

various changes & fixes
by xpli: Creature Tamer spawns in random locations, offering a rentable ENC pet; Queen Aszec's mini quest in Salt Mines, etc.
by Kallosus: item/loot changes, spell fixes, research, testing
by Renodor: item/loot, NPC fixes
by ShadowRampageTV: NPC, item, loot updates
some fixes to heal aggro, e.g. no longer happens while invisible
line of sight should be enabled in all of Tunaria
etc.

25 May 2025

various fixes & changes
by xpli: content updates, creating tradeskill recipes, etc.
by Renodor: NPC, quest, loot table, fixes etc.
by Kallosus: research, spell and item fixes
under-the-hood tradeskill work in progress
- not yet enabled for players but most of protocol figured out and framework in place
- pretty much the last remaining major part of gameplay-related protocol that was previously unknown
- by ShadowRampageTV: data collection & research
- by xpli: about 2000 recipes entered in the database, testing, research
- remaining questions:
  - what was the tradeskill XP granted per created item?
  - tradeskill XP required for each level?
  - tool wear-off rate, chance of breaking a reagent
  - crafting success rate and how player stats affected it
  - any information on these would be very appreciated
etc.

2 June 2025

various changes & fixes
by ShadowRampageTV: tradeskill preparation, corrected XP on several side quests, 17s now grant "Citizens of" faction and guard faction, item corrections, dialog fixes
by xpli: adding tradeskill recipes, testing a gem storage bag and a twin boss, a small OG sidequest lv 45 soon ready, etc.
over 9500 recipes (by xpli & ShadowRampage) and over 3600 tradeskill items (mostly by ShadowRampageTV) now in the database
by Renodor: NPC, quest, loot table, fixes etc.
by Kallosus: research, spell and item fixes
minor change to make spell resistance more consistent (less random), calculation now basically the same as slash/blunt/pierce absorption in the combat formula
progress with the tradeskills and fishing backends, some info and data still missing
NPC's can now use bows and other ranged weapons
aquatic mobs should no longer aggro or follow players on land
fixed a bug in the .ESF loader that misaligned some structures (namely fireplaces near Hodstock) causing LoS problems
etc.

8 June 2025

by Renodor: dragon raid updates (Lady Vox, Skahyir, Siliskor); Hunt And Kill Quest testing, misc., etc.
by xpli: preparing tradeskills, Anu pet lv 50 (requires faction) and wind up rat lv 45 quests available, etc.
by ShadowRampageTv: preparing tradeskills, ALC slot changes now active, etc.
by Kallosus: spell updates, research, etc.
PAL barriers now fade after a maximum amount of damage mitigated
all group buffs/heals now ignore line of sight
tradeskills progress
- tradeskill XP required for each level and rank approximated by xpli
- success rate calculations drafted by ShadowRampageTV and xpli WIP, not yet implemented
- some backend updates and fixes
- not yet available for all players
fishing progress
- bait level determines fishing "loot" level
- baits deplete when used
- placeholders created for biome-based fishing loot tables, not yet populated
- fishing has a chance to reward items from the Marine loot table regardless of biome
- to do: how does bait affect drop rates (which are currently very low); fishing pole damage not implemented
code patch system
- a new cheat/pnach file is available implementing a code patch system
- code updates are stored on the memcard on game start up
- for now, the code patch adds the Tailoring tradeskill menu (which was missing from the unpatched Frontiers client) and a confirmation dialog when destroying items
- any code patches we want to deploy have to be created from scratch in MIPS machine language which is challenging, but probably the only legal way (along with pnach'es) to deploy changes to the original code
  - there are memcard image files floating on the internet containing SOE's code patches which we could theoretically use, but distributing their copyrighted code could constitute software piracy
line of sight updates
- LoS geometry data generated for all areas so it should work everywhere
- regenerated LoS data in Tunaria areas affected by the bug in our loader code mentioned last week; e.g. Freeport docks were wrongly pointing south-east instead of directly south (map not yet fixed)
- some issues still remain with our .ESF loader, e.g. Bobble-by-Water windmills and banner stands at Neriak entrance are wrongly placed partially underground; this may affect LoS and pathing (and any other projects using our open source loader code)
- LoS calculations still have some problems in areas with high elevation changes
etc.

16 June 2025

various changes & fixes
by Renodor: Isle of Dread WIP, Dreadnaughts enabled, raid boss engagement messages, etc.
by Kallosus: spell updates, item fixes, research, etc.
by xpli: tradeskills and fishing progress, automation etc.
by ShadowRampageTV: tradeskills and fishing progress, etc.
weapons only decay when used, armor decay is based on slot - e.g. a shield is more likely to take damage than a belt
physical abilities from high level NPC's were resisted too much, fixed
client-side code patch: allow auctioning stackable items
- patch is downloaded and applied automatically on startup
- requires the latest Sandstorm pnach/cheat which was updated on 6/7/2025
- the code patch system currently only supports Frontiers, not the vanilla versions
- you can still sell only one stackable item per auction, so deposit only one into your bank
etc.

24 June 2025

various fixes & changes
by Renodor: NPC updates, preparing raids (dragons, IoD), research, testing, etc.
by ShadowRampageTV: more tradeskill preparations, community vote complete for ALC quest item changes, etc.
by Kallosus: spell updates, pet rework in progress, research, testing, etc.
by xpli: setting prices on crafting parts, etc.
resistances can now lower the effect of debuffs that decrease stats (not only damage)
any damage will disspell effects which slow the NPC/player down for 50% or more (roots mostly)
fixed melee animation for pets that wield a two-hand weapon
system that allows us to more easily define custom buffs on consumable items (fishing preparation)
etc.

30 June 2025

various changes & fixes
by ShadowRampageTV: tradeskill preparation, gem loot tables, bug fixes, etc.
by Kallosus: spell and pet fixes, research, testing, etc.
by Renodor: NPC updates, raid preparation, research, testing, etc.
by xpli: tradeskill preparation, setting prices on crafting parts, etc.
level cap 51
setting up level 51 spell drop loot tables WIP
CM points cap 776
etc.

7 July 2025

various fixes & changes
by Kallosus: spell updates, pet rework in progress, research, testing, etc.
by xpli: tradeskill preparation, setting up buffs on fishing/tradeskill items, etc.
by Renodor: NPC, dungeon, raid, loot updates, raid boss loot re-enabled, etc.
by ShadowRampageTV: tradeskill preparation and testing, gem loot tables, etc.
tradeskills live - if you can't see the Tailoring menu, you'll have to update the cheat file
some updates to underwater NPC pathfinding, still WIP
some fixes to the stacking system
etc.

14 July 2025

various changes & fixes
by ShadowRampageTV: new formula for tradeskill XP (based on research by Imtkain) - more cost/time efficient; bug fixes, etc.
by xpli: tradeskills, item and NPC updates, etc.
by Kallosus: spell updates, pet rework in progress, research, testing, etc.
by Renodor: NPC updates etc.
major code optimizations to accommodate the growing population
etc.

21 July 2025

various fixes & changes
by Renodor: HnK fix & increased XP, Kratas quest enabled, raid updates, magician pets WIP, NPC spell rotations, etc.
by Kallosus: Lycan spell fixes, NEC pet balancing, other spell updates, etc.
by xpli: WIP on fish loot tables and fishing merchants, etc.
by ShadowRampageTV: tradeskill and NPC updates, etc.
continued server code optimizations
- no lag reports in the last few days despite 380-400 daily peak connections
- some optimization side effects might still cause glitches, WIP
some bug fixes to fishing loot (max one fish per cast now), tradeskill success calculation, aggro radius, etc.
etc.

29 July 2025

various changes & fixes
by xpli: The Farmer Fish event, lv 40 sidequest (Sea of Lion), WIP on fishing, zone biomes defined for Oggok and Odus (with help from Renodor), HoT and PoT updated to sold food and drinks (from data found by Kallosus) etc.
by Renodor: updates to spells, rotations, pet stats, IoD & Guk NPC's and loot etc.
by Kallosus: spell fixes, item fixes, research, etc.
by ShadowRampageTV: fixes to crafting item prices etc.
bug fixes mostly related to last week's code optimizations - e.g. NPC spawning, loot system, guards' AoE could hit friendly NPC's
etc.

4 August 2025

various changes & fixes
by xpli: Fish Farmer fixes, Wealth Manager limited to 5 million tunar, Odus bestiary research, IoD spawn and lv 53 quest fixes (with Renodor), etc.
by Renodor: lv 53 quest NPC build, stats and spell rotations, etc.
by Kallosus: Shaman and Magician pet balancing in progress (with Renodor) etc.
by Krumpzilla: level 53 quest
by ShadowRampageTV: crafting fixes
You now lose 50% of the tunar you're carrying on death
bug fixes e.g. to certain timed spawns, item cooldowns and "cast times"; loots was sometimes lost if you died right after looting
etc.

11 August 2025

various fixes & changes
by xpli: wildlife cleanup & rebuild in many Tunaria and Odus zones, etc.
by Renodor: IoD NPC, loot, boss updates, NPC spell rotation changes, four new NEC-charmable mobs, SHA lv 15 quest spell fixed, etc.
by ShadowRampageTV: Lizardman and Tae Ew trash loot, Oggok camp updates, etc.
by Kallosus: spell and NPC updates, testing, research, etc.
you are now allowed to loot even if you were too low level to gain XP from the kill
bug fixes to e.g. some spawning issues, NPC's didn't always go back to their spawn point after kill, player position could roll back if disconnected during the respawn process
etc.

19 August 2025

various changes & fixes
by xpli: wildlife in Thedruk, Castle Felstar, Snafitzer's house, Shon-To Monastery; Halfling quest fixes, starting quest general fixes, Epic quest 49 fix, Sandstorm Test Program (WIP), etc.
by Renodor: testing resistance change, NPC general cast range lowered, removed Lycan infection pop-up, many NPC spell rotation updates, charmability and loot table updates, etc.
by Kallosus: spell fixes, testing, research, etc.
by ShadowRampageTV: crafting ingredient loot table changes, etc.
bug fixes: bow/thrown attacks don't consume power or arrows if not LoS; some LoS fixes, etc.
level difference now doesn't affect how player resists NPC spell damage
NPC's can now carry varying weapons and shields picked from equipment tables
- when killed, the gear carried by the NPC is always lootable
- it affects their weapon damage and AC
- weapons haven't yet been set up for many NPC's - work in progress
- meanwhile, most NPC weapons and shields are still cosmetic i.e. not automatically lootable
etc.

26 August 2025

various fixes & changes
by Renodor: setting up NPC weapons & shields, updates to NPC's, spell rotations, spawning, factions, etc.
by xpli: Dockmasters are now tied to your faction; wildlife rebuild in Jethro's Cast, Whale Hill, Wyndhaven, Crethley Manor, Hagley; charmable lv 19-20 NPC added, etc.
by Kallosus: spell fixes, lower level pet balacing WIP, etc.
by ShadowRampageTV: crafted robes are now usable by Cleric, Shaman and Druid, etc.
NPC's don't get full benefit from weapon damage - based on some documention and video analysis such downtuning probably existed
fixed a bug in the .ESF loader that caused some LoS and pathing problems e.g. in Bandit Hills
resurrection sickness
NPC turning speed limited, allowing solo rogues to get backstabs through
formula determining NPC base HP updated
- approximating NPC HP from old videos suggest many NPC's had too little health on Sandstorm, especially on higher levels
- we analyzed over 20 videos from the original game to approximate NPC HP's and used all available documentation to reconstruct the formula as accurately as possible
- the change increases NPC default health pools somewhat, probably noticeable from level ~ 35 upwards
- NPC's that we had already tuned weren't affected by this update
- there isn't much data about lv 10-30 NPC health pool - if you find any, please let us know
- research by Renodor, xpli, Kallosus, ShadowRampageTV, me
streams channel added on our Discord server - if you stream EQOA, please drop a link; the cat will also announce Twitch channels streaming the game
etc.

2 September 2025

various changes & fixes
by xpli: working on Halloween event 2025, NPC fixes, etc.
by Renodor: NPC, item, loot updates etc.
by Kallosus: spell updates, item fixes, research, testing, etc.
by ShadowRampageTV: NPC fixes etc.
LoS and pathfinding optimization and fixes
player pets are automatically added to the ignore list so they don't block your way
NPC's and their pets no longer ignorable (which would allow running through them)
25% of aggro is transfered to the player from their pet when it dies
etc.

9 September 2025

various fixes & changes
by xpli: working on Halloween event, rebuilt Baga Village and Mt. Hatespike zones, added specific loot to Runnyeye Citadel and Bloodfoots, etc.
by Renodor: NPC and item updates, research, testing, etc.
by Kallosus: spell updates, item fixes, research, testing, etc.
by ShadowRampageTV: item and loot fixes etc.
bug fixes & tweaks, e.g.
- HoT spell initial tick was only shown to the heal target (graphical issue)
- NPC pet will inherit its faction from the caster NPC
- NPC AoE buffs sometimes wrongly hit players
- offensive spell procs now trigger in the beginning of the attack round; e.g. if you quad, you could get four procs on the first hit (apparently supposed to work this way)
- HoT/PoT buffs from consumable items generally break when you cast anything
- arrow items can have extra damage, e.g. Dragon Scale Arrows
- random gear held by NPC's are saved so they don't change between server/area resets
etc.

16 September 2025

various changes & fixes
by Renodor:
- charm level restrictions
- increased spell drop rate
- NPC and spell rotation fixes
- new HnK quest
- updates to raid loot tables
- adjustments to bosses
- changes to IoD NPC's
- quest trials
- etc.
by xpli: wildlife rebuild in Diren Hold, Diren Frosteye loot updates, etc.
by Kallosus: spell updates, item fixes, research, testing, etc.
by ShadowRampageTV: tradeskill fixes etc.
fixes to consumable item effect stacking and breaking
etc.

23 September 2025

various fixes & changes
by Renodor:
- alchemist: lv 49 weapon choice and various item changes
- updates to HnK quests, NPC spells and rotations
- dungeons: some respawn timers increased, Guk dungeon trials, faction adjustments
- raids: adjustments and fixes to Snowgrin trial, Siliskor, Skahyir, Vox, many IoD NPC's
- etc.
by xpli: rebuilt wildlife in Wymondham, Hodstock and Temby, The Green Rift, Fog Margs; camp-specific loots added to Gal'Saris Stronghold, etc.
by Kallosus: spell updates, item fixes, research, testing, etc.
misc bug fixes with e.g. NPC spell system and player spell effects breaking when hit
some progress deciphering the .ESF format (custom file format used by EQOA) such as player/NPC animations; some previous bugs fixed
etc.

1 October 2025

various changes & fixes
by Renodor: CM fixes, updates to drake-type NPC's, Lady Vox, Sunnyvale, starting faction changes, NPC speed research, tradeskill procs, etc.
by xpli: wildlife rebuilt in Seark Tower and Moss Mouth Cavern, Rogue Clockworks, Al Karad Ruins, loot updates, etc.
by Kallosus: spell updates, item fixes, research, testing, etc.
NPC chase speed increased based on old forum information (research by Renodor)
when deciding which NPC's/players to show to each player, instead of just 3D distance comparison, vertical distance is "weighted" more so that targets near the player's elevation are preferred (the game client can only display up to 23 NPC's/players simultaneously)
etc.

9 October 2025

various fixes & changes
by Renodor: HP reduced on some NPC's, rotation updates, bard and ranger NPC spells, Lavastorm Moutains rebuilt, item, loot quest updates, CM charm durations increased, spell updates to Vampire and Rogue spells, etc.
by xpli: wildlife rebuilt in Bear Cave, Blakedown, Merry-By-Water, South Crossroads, Mayfly Glade, Bastable; Disciple of Plague loots, Acolyte of Bristlebane lv 51 quest now available, etc.
by Kallosus: spell updates, item fixes, research, testing, etc.
robes and necklaces can now have defensive item procs
misc. bug fixes: pathfinding/LoS problems with certain NPC's that have a long patrol path, auction/bank bug
level cap 53
etc.

16 October 2025

various changes & fixes
by xpli: NPC and item updates, information about random named NPC's, etc.
by Renodor: spell and NPC updates, rotations, Darkness proc, etc.
by Kallosus: spell updates, item fixes, research, testing, etc.
by ShadowRampageTV: tradeskill updates
guild member limit doubled (client code patch)
LoS tweaks and fixes to problems e.g. in Qeynos Prison
pickpocketing fixes:
- new formula for the amount that can be pickpocketed (based on research by Kallosus), generally increased
- level range of pickpocketable NPC's and success rate is based on the spell, approximated by Renodor
buyback system
- merchants now offer to sell you back items you've recently sold
- doesn't matter which merchant you go, they all can sell you back your items
- buyback list resets on logout/login
- there's a limit of 40 items in the merchant list; if the merchant has a lot of items of their own, you won't see as many buyback items
- items don't appear on the buyback list in real time - you have to interact with the merchant again to buyback an item you just sold
etc.

22 October 2025

various fixes & changes
by Renodor: lv 54 spell drops, spell/CM fixes, werehunter update, lycan H&G quest, NPC spawn/stat/rotation updates, etc.
by xpli: boss loot revision, Halloween event:

A nauseating atmosphere reigns around the fields near Hagley. It is reported that it is not uncommon to encounter ghosts, leprechauns, vampires, and other creatures. The residents and farmers of this region are fed up with all these phantasmagorical manifestations. A strange phenomenon, the more people talk about it, the more curious people flock to observe it. Will you do it?
- exclusive items
- costumes
- 6 armor sets
- 1 raid
by Kallosus: spell updates, item fixes, research, testing, etc.
by ShadowRampageTV: tradeskill updates
some buyback glitches fixed
a recent update caused appearance effects to persist through death, fixed
amount of tunar pickpocketed should now be more consistent and less random
etc.

28 October 2025

various changes & fixes
by xpli: working on Halloween event, etc.
by Renodor: magician pet balancing underway, reduced nuke damage for healer-class NPCs from levels 20-60 to be closer to original, NPC and item updates etc.
by Kallosus: spell updates, item fixes, research, testing, etc.
by ShadowRampageTV: item updates
roaming quest NPC's now pause for 10 seconds when you interact with them
etc.

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