DefianceNET Blog

I finally had time to read up on the new .NET Framework 4.0 features and found a few things that will be necessary for the progress of Defiance. To incorporate these features I will be making a small publish after the current ones go live. The publish will help the following: (Yes technical jargon, sorry)

• Faster World Loading: Loading the world file in a true multicore/multithread fashion. Parallel threaded computing divide the process up.
• Faster World Saving: Improved multicore saving of the world using parallel threading the same way the world is loaded.
• Less to Save/Load: Removing default object names among other variables and making all version tags static will reduce the amount to save/load significantly.

Thankfully its mostly copy/paste, so I don’t think it will take significantly long to make the changes.
Later (during future publishes) I will look into parallel timers, and for DFI UOR, parallel computing for events, and for AOS, different facets as well. Theoretically this could improve the shard’s performance significantly. We will see!

Publish 110 is getting close to a beta release.  Here is the newest error report. I have worked all morning to get the CTF system working with Publish 110.

RunUO – [www.runuo.com] Version 2.1, Build 3884.1902
Core: Running on .NET Framework Version 4.0.30319.1
Core: Running with arguments: -debug
Core: Optimizing for 4 64-bit processors
Scripts: Compiling C# scripts (v4.0.30319.1)…failed (20 errors, 8 warnings)

Once all of the errors are done, we will enter into a 1 week closed beta phase where I will hammer out serialization errors. After that we will be skipping the open beta, and I will throw the publish up and fix errors as they arise. Thanks everyone for your patience!

Publish 110 will mark the retirement of the copper system. Please utilize the system ASAP as the copper barrel, vendors, and “tokens” will be removed. The system is currently under discussion for revitalization in a future publish. I would like to thank everyone who participated and utilized it to clean up the shard!

In addition to the copper system, a couple other unused systems have also been removed. And for this, we are down to just 100 files with errors. There is still quite a bit to do before Publish 110 is finished, so thank you for being patient!

Part of the latest changes to affect Publish 110 includes the discontinuation of the IceStaff which will be replaced with a very similar Glacial Staff. This rebalanced version will require 30% magery, and utilize better spell mechanics.

I have also come to a conclusion about ability jewelery. Everything is being removed except for stats (Bless has been removed too). The stat bonus has been reduced to +5, creating a +20 total stat bonus. The drop rate has also been lowered. Jewelry will drop 25% the amount magic armor/weapons, and 10% of jewelry that drops will have between 5 and 15 charges of one stat.

As a note, spell weapons are still being evaluated due to exploits and balancing issues.

I would also like to personally thank Troy for taking notes for me as I dribble on about random stuff that needs to be “looked at” during later phases.

Please comment with your thoughts and concerns. Also think about the shard as a whole, and not just one playstyle.

EDIT: I have been getting messages by players who are concerned for both sides, stat jewelery, and tele/invis jewelery/items. It seems that both sides believe that the other should be wiped from the shard. My question to everyone would be, at what point do +stats become too much, and at what point do tele/invis items become too much.

If I am to keep them, EVERYTHING needs to be balanced:
The number of charges, the amount of stat increase, the delay between using invis/tele, etc.