Just been browsing through the official list of GU52
here from SOE, and the test realm notes mentioned
here from some blog interesting only for the Ambx mentionI'll not post the entire lot since its massive and has a lot more features then I could mention, but a few features really got my attention there
Quote:# Killing NPCs will now accumulate achievement experience faster.
# Missions now grant slightly higher achievement experience.
# Disabling combat experience will no longer convert combat experience to achievement experience.
Seems like achievement can only be gotten the hard way then, I didn't know about this trick, might see if I can use it before it goes ...
Quote:# Class Trainers will now only sell Entertainment spells and not Apprentice II spells.[/b]
# Merchants who formerly made a living selling Apprentice II spells are experiencing an economic downturn and have either found new employment or departed the city to seek fortune elsewhere.
# Spell Renaming
* All spells have been renamed to have a consistent naming structure across all levels. New spells will now be differentiated by roman numerals. So you
will see Ice Comet, Ice Comet II, and so on in your spell book now. All combat text will refer to the base name though. In addition, the tier structure has
changed to be more distinct. Apprentice I – III are now renamed just Apprentice, Apprentice IV is now Journeyman, Adept I is now Adept, Adept III is now
Expert, Master I is simply Master and Master II is now Grandmaster.
It looks like a good long overdue clean up of the spell system.
Quote:# Combat animations have been tuned for when running side to side and away from your target while in combat.
# Shadow System
* A new shadow system has been implemented for the game. This new system uses your graphics card to build the shadows rather than your CPU and it comes
with a few extras as well. Using the shadow mapping technique and 3.0 Shaders we’re now able to cast softer shadows, fade shadows, and cast dynamic
shadows from trees, plants, feathers, and more! The new system fixes a few shadowing glitches found in certain armor sets and self-shadowing and depending
on your computer’s settings may also significantly improve performance.
Now for me this is a really big feature to add in there, I've been struggling to run everything with shadows, if this does take the load off the CPU my EQ2 will really
be getting better. I'm impressed how the EQ2 engine is getting upgraded here, its far more effort then just life support going into it.
One weird change I've seen is inclusion for support for some sort of lighting/wind system called Ambx, I kind of like the idea, but I'm sceptical that I can get a more realistic experience here without a serious industrial setup, the lighting for me could be a little distracting from the photo's I've seen.
But this change I'm not too sure on
Quote:
# After a disturbing number of Koada’Dal disappeared while speaking with him, Vindain Greenfaith has moved slightly away from the entrance to The Down Below in Castleview Hamlet.
Aw :)
