[b]Greetings Adventurers![/b] The latest build of TADO is quite a large one focused on significant technical updates and removing some long standing issues which, whilst not usually hugely problematic to most players, lots of people will have encountered throughout their time in TADO. We will also see the return of the Halloween event which will run from the 23rd of October to the 8th of November and includes a variety of new and returning rewards from last year. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41756378/15aab59393c982ca048a1fde201f11ee5ed62ccf.jpg[/img] [b]Technology updates[/b] A game the size of TADO can take a long time to produce, many years, and the longer it takes the older some of the core technology used inevitably ends up being. One of the full launch milestones we have includes uplifting the technology TADO relies on to the most modern versions and leveraging the advantages of those newer technologies. A large amount of work has gone into this, bringing significant performance and quality advantages along with improving the overall maintainability. The most notable improvement players will directly experience from this comes from lighting and weather. A long term issue with TADO has been how dark at night it can get when the sky is cloudy, the weather is bad and the moon obscured, and whilst using a lantern helps its not always been the best gameplay experience. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41756378/344fc28f14ace8c4f3d5061f2a3fb496b556db7e.jpg[/img] The new technology has enabled us to significantly improve the quality of weather and lighting in the outdoor environments which makes for a much better experience at night (along with looking a lot nicer in general) particularly seeing major updates to Genmire, The Great Sea, The Ice Kingdom and Star Island. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41756378/59d733c78e64125be1046defd9c2e6b15b532f8e.jpg[/img] We’ve also updated the technology the water systems relies on which has enabled improvements to ship controls and speed along with some improvements to the fidelity of waves and particularly on shore lines and shallower areas. [b]Halloween 2024[/b] Last year we ran the first Halloween seasonal festivities which includes regular reoccurring events taking place in Genmire and the Ice Kingdom. These provide players of all levels a chance to secure Halloween themed cosmetic helms, glow attachments for weapons along with a unique mount. This year all of those things are coming back along with a variety of new Broomstick mounts to be collected. The Hallowed Knight’s armour also sees a return to the token store along with two new ship bundles which both include Sloop and Galleon class vessels. Last year the event started having its first phase active, and closer to Halloween itself the second phase activating, with all the new rewards we've activated both phases from the start this year to give people more chances and time to collect candy and bag as many of the new rewards as they can. Whilst the Halloween event is in operation the free item which comes with every token pack has also been changed to a unique Broomstick mount. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41756378/0b950663c173606072415727488e910bf60030c3.jpg[/img] [b]Other notable improvements[/b] The Cultist Caves have been further tuned down to make it an easier place for pre-Ice Kingdom geared players. Pure Vermillion can now be found and used to craft Vermillion-reinforcement which when added to a Tier 2 armour recipe provides a significant survivability boost. This is the start of some pretty big changes coming to the player experience between finishing the Haunted Manor and heading off to the Ice Kingdom to better fill out this portion of the game. An issue that manifested on higher pings and sometimes would see players rubber-band following abilities which have significant movements, e.g dodge, Arcing Strike has been fixed. The team Player vs Player battleground has been reopened. At the moment this is broadly a ‘just for fun thing' but there’s going to be a variety of improvements to the type of game mode played here, the power differentials between players whilst in the arena and the associated rewards for engaging with it. Players can no longer delete items in their mail which was particularly problematic when people deleted their recovered ships! Most spells have had their ranges and speeds increased along with a general buff in how well they scale from related stats. There's a lot of other changes throughout the lands in TADO and with the weather and lighting particularly, but there's probably some areas which have very specific weathers and ambient effects which will need further adjustment. With this technology in place this can be done much quicker and at a higher quality. [b] Sneak Peek [/b] As always we're well into working on the next content update which will be dropping shortly after the Halloween event's over. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41756378/09046017ca2194f81495b0b2ac30afdd82f22ee4.jpg[/img] See you in game Adventurers! Monty