[Ether Saga] Patch Update + OB News

[Loveless]

Open Beta Announcement

We are pleased to announce the release date for Open Beta - 12:00 am (midnight) Pacific Time on March 17th. Players can expect the following to occur:

1. Closed beta servers will shut down at 10 am Pacific Time on March 16th.
2. All characters created in Closed Beta will be wiped. Clean slate for everyone. This will be our last character wipe.
3. The cash shop will be open for purchases with Zen when Open Beta launches.

I will discuss development plans for the next couple of weeks below, but first I wanted to announce something exciting: the closed beta contest!

Closed Beta contest

Our closed beta contest has two tiers, with prize criteria that can cater to everyone’s playstyle. Everyone has a chance to win!

First Tier

Everyone who has achieved level 40 or above will get 5 hours early access to the Open Beta. Eligible players will be able to start playing at 6:00 pm Pacific Time on March 16th. The early access will allow players to reserve their usernames, setup clans with their friends, and get a head start in the game. The early access will end at 11 pm on March 16th. All character information will be saved and be available when the servers relaunch.

Second Tier

The contest’s second tier prize is an exclusive pet: the Katsune Kid*. The Katsune Kid is a humanoid pet that resembles a white fox with a large tail. It cannot be tamable, and it currently even cannot be found in the wild. There are two ways you can win this one-of-a-kind pet:

-The first 25 people to achieve level 65
-An additional 75 players will be chosen at random. Players must have spent at least 10 hours in the game are eligible.

Winners will be contacted via emails on instructions how to receive their pet.


* - The pet’s attitude and attribute growth will be random


Patch Notes

A full changelog of the changes/fixes in this patch is not available. The following are highlights of the changes and additions:

-Announcements no longer scroll across the screen

-Tons of localization work has been done. Most of it has been in the higher level areas.

-Lots of new quests have been added to the game. These are distributed through all regions of the game.

-Fairy Tale quests are no longer automatically given to players. Seek out the Eldest Matchmaker in Pokari to get these daily quests

-Like Master, Like Pet. Masters who transform into monsters in the same family as their pet will receive a skill. It is only available when transformed and your pet is summoned.

-NPCs have studied the Rosetta Stone and learned to speak English. Please let us know what you think about the new voices.

-Interface tweaks for auto-help and transform


Next Steps

At this point we are focusing on stress testing and polish. The core mechanics of the game should be functioning as intended (except the known issues below). If you find any problems, please let us know in the closed beta feedback (http://eso-forum.perfectworld.com/forumdisplay.php?f=31) forum. I know there have been posts discussing gameplay mechanics and suggestions for improvements. We are compiling and evaluating the feedback, and passing along ideas to the developers.

Here are the major items we are working on:

1. This will most likely be the last patch before Open Beta so we can focus on finalizing the game.

2. We will be distributing free Etherbucks to player’s accounts next week for Closed Beta testing purposes. Expect to be able to try out the cash shop items by the end of Tuesday, March 10th (Pacific Time).

3. Events are being worked on next. We are aware that some events do not work properly (NPCs either do not spawn or do not give quests).

4. The final two dungeons will be completed

5. Grammar/localization improvements

Known Issues

-AOE attacks that do not hit monsters will cause your pet to attack you (but deal no damage).

-Dragoon Ethyr spell Ghostwisper has the incorrect description. It is actually a taunt.

-The Overrule Nascent skill’s description does not accurately reflect its effects.

-NPC audio cues sometimes cut off or only come through one channel.

-Overlapping text in the Instance Msg interface.

-NPC Wu Cheng’en name appears as Shenzu

-General Scruffins is forgetful; some of his fun quests are incorrect or incoherent. He will be taking gingko biloba before the game’s release.

-Some events are not working properly

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