Monthly Development Update – 29th of November, 2013

[Genele]

Monthly Development Update – 29th of November, 2013

Hello everyone!

This month I am back with some very exciting news.

After a long month of hard work, we have deployed a version to the new engine beta server for the first time! A small number of testers are already playing on the beta server, and as the testing continues we will get the ball rolling with more and more invites.

We are starting gradually with the Closed Beta invitations. As a token of our appreciation, those who have signed up for 12 month Membership plans will be given the highest priority and those with 6 months plans the second highest.

To make sure we get a good idea of how the engine will perform, we will also do invites based on specific hardware profiles. You can expect the beta invites to ramp up in early January after the holidays.

This is a huge milestone for the AO team and we are very excited that we will finally be able to invite players to take a look at the new engine and NPE. I hope you will become as excited as we are when you see how Rubi-Ka looks like with a new pair of glasses.


The Cheetah Engine
We have made a feature list for the new engine beta that we want to share with you, so you are aware of what to expect when you get your beta invite.

Click here to see the full list of new and improved features.


Christmas
The winter season has started (Here in Montreal we had snow this week!) and in Rubi-Ka the celebrations will start the 14th of December and will last until the 2nd of January.

This year we have added old school Christmas social items to all the loot folders of Winter Leets and the feared Kyr’Ozch Grin’Cha, who is back to ruin Santaleets gift shop factory.

We will also meet Gingerleet which we have not seen for years and the Gift-Wrapped Leet has yet again stolen stuff from Santaleet and will be hiding under a Christmas tree in Borealis. This year you will be able to find a brand new "Tree Dress" in the Christmas gifts. And the Item Shop will provide a free item for everyone and a free item only for subscribers!



Thank you all for your patience and continued support. I am really looking forward to seeing many of you on the beta servers early next year! Happy winter holidays everyone!

- Genele

[Ekarona]

frist

Does account being Cancelled matter if there is substantial time on it left?

[Demoder]

Woot! IT EXISTS!! (Or does it?)

[Alternity]

Can't say that paying to beta test is cool.

[Genele]

frist

Does account being Cancelled matter if there is substantial time on it left?

As long as your account is not frozen or banned, then no.

[sannz]

Zomg! Nice! *hopes for nice x-mas present in form of a beta invite*

[Mastablasta]

Wow It actually happened

[Ekarona]

As long as your account is not frozen or banned, then no.

Anyway, I reactivated it just to be safe hope I remember that in 2015...

[Triadninja]

I think you just broke the internet by releasing this.

[Misat0]

These are indeed good news And thanks for the feature list.

[Fhinn]

Very pleased to hear this, am looking forward to running new characters through the NPE!

edit: just saw quoted number of quests in NPE - to what level are new players supposed to stay in this zone, and how well equipped will they be on exit?

[Spead]

Good work team

[MachSchau]

New water system: The new graphics engine radically changes how water works in the game. Anarchy Online have not been created with this system in mind, so we are still working on smart solutions for making the oceans and rivers look as good as possible. Currently the most notable new feature is the specular reflection on the water as the suns shine on it.

Water is fine and dandy but is lava and green/acid pools part of this water system?

[RedWatr]

/me is currently and provisionally impressed.

[Armus]

Haha.. The very same day my accs froze. Sorry everyone for delaying rhis.

[RedWatr]

is there any chance at all you guys can comment on what's in mind for advertising afterwards, if anything?


also, it's almost 70F here in Orlando..suckers <3

[worried]

Are people who get invited to the beta testing allowed to record and post on youtube for the rest of us to see?

[Liwa]

Very pleased to hear this, am looking forward to running new characters through the NPE!

edit: just saw quoted number of quests in NPE - to what level are new players supposed to stay in this zone, and how well equipped will they be on exit?

Same question here ... plus is access to the NPE one-way? I.E. Can new players leave to go to stores, mail system, bank, etc. and return to the NPE to continue with the 100 different quests? Or, does the NPE include stores, banks, mail, etc. so there is no need to leave? If you can leave and go back ... what is the level restriction?

Thanks for the update and feature list.

Liwa

[Dogtrauma]

For the Giftmass horrid-day can we pretty please have no "obligatory" geardrops that i need to farm for three accounts worth of alts, been AFK for the past 2 weeks due to post halloween grind CBA syndrome.

Also, will there be some kind of "Raid Minimum" setting with the new engine? Just the visual cues you need to actually respond to fight mechanics and nothing else, i think the Conan game had those.

[Honorbound]

I'm really sad to see that another areas with high nostalgic value (at least for the truly veteran players still around) will be gone forever with 18.7. Is there absolutely no way to somehow, eventually, revive / convert the Arrival Hall, the ICC Shuttleport and the Shadowlands Training Biodome into publicly available areas which can be visited by everyone regardless of level, for old times' sake?