After bringing the ealadh project back to life a month or two ago, we did almost exclusively behind the scenes stuff we'd been putting off. Today marks the culmination of a large amount of work to a few more tangible things for our dedicated players.

There is, in all honesty, far too much new content for me to put it all in a descriptive patch notes format like I have before. So instead, I will give a brief summary of what I can remember adding, and leave the task of discovering it to the players.

New boss! If you are lucky (or unlucky - hes quite hard) Reznor is waiting for you in a map all his own. Keep in mind he is set to be a relatively rare spawn, and will not come back for around an hour after he is killed.

New armor! After creating every possible color variation of the level 1 armors, they have been added to spawn tables for some select mobs around stella forest. There are a few more new items from some of these creatures, as well.

Shields, finally! About a dozen shields now exist in the game. Only a few are available from the various vendors in Stella and Midian, the rest will eventually be discovered.

Hats! That's right, who doesn't love hats? Some class specific hats drop from a few select mobs in the midian fields.

Shadow Fields have been completed! This long-deserted hunting ground with wisps, geists, and widows has been largely neglected due to its lack of completion. Well, it's complete. There are lots of new items, some particularly nice, waiting to be retrieved here.

Stillwater Field is up and running! This map is intended for groups of level 10+ - it is full of a couple new monsters (as well as some old ones) that have new, unique AI, and they are quite challenging if you come here unprepared. The reward for braving this harrowing place is well worth it, for those dedicated enough to master it. For those that missed the AI testing a few days ago, this map uses that specific AI.

Accessories come to Ealadh! There aren't many, but a handful of accessories have been implemented into the game. They are acquired by extraordinary feats and, while some have some beneficial stats, they are largely tokens to display your power.

New equipment! Loads of new equipment aside from the shields/armor/hats/accessories previously mentioned. All of it is useful in some way. No filler items.

New maps! There are a few new places to explore that have been released and are currently accessible to anyone who meets the level requirement. Lots of new maps have been completed but remain unreleased until their contained content is finished.

And since it is currently 5:30 AM, there's almost certainly more stuff that I can't remember in all of this.

So for those of you that still come on and play, come try it out, tell us what we screwed up. Any constructive feedback, good or bad, is always appreciated.

We've been adding a few new creatures to the game. They use very advanced AI, and are intended to be our first creatures added for the level10+ threshold. However, we need some people who are willing to take a beating (and attempt to dish one out) on some of these new creatures, so we can see how balanced they are and adjust them accordingly.

So, I know not many people log on regularly anymore because it's been a long time since any 'visible' content was added, but would anyone be interested in putting a group together, and playing with these guys? I'm sure we can scrounge up some kind of reward for the people testing, as well. Not to mention getting your input listened to by the creators directly.

Drop a post in this thread, or leave us a comment on facebook, and we will throw something together.

If you are reading this, you have obviously noticed that the website has been redesigned! It is still a work in progress, but eventually the entire website will be updated to match the new design. Additionally, we will begin introducing a new armory page along with item, monster, and NPC databases within the upcoming weeks!

The recent LOD update has prevented the client from connecting to alternate servers, or so it would seem. To prevent this, Dender has created a client modification to remove the anti-hack check within the client, as well as the single-instance check. The new launcher has an option to patch the client with these modifications. Please download the new launcher.

http://www.ealadh.com/bin/EaladhLauncher.zip

Today, we finally got around to releasing warriors, and added a great new addition to PVP. We also added some minigames.

==========Minigames==========
Added in bug catching. To play this game, you'll need a Net and some Sugar, both of which are sold by vendors around Stella. Go to any tree, and use your sugar, and the game will commence. Winning can yield real prizes, one of which is an item that lets you global shout.

other minigames are a little bit buggy, and yield no rewards currently, though they can be fun to play. To play them, just type "/minigame 4 #" (where # is the number of the minigame you want to play) and it will come up. For example, "/minigame 4 1" would open up the skiprope game.

==========Capture the Flag==========
The location and means of forming a team are going to change very soon, but for those who wanna try it out for now -

Bastill, in the arena waiting room, has a new option to start a CTF match. You will need a minimum of six players to start a match. It will warp everyone to the correct map on match start.

Currently, the only CTF game mode enabled is Conquer. In this mode, teams spawn at opposing ends of a long stretch of land. In the middle, there is a flag. Your job is to get the flag (pick it up - it will display on your character if you are holding it and there is no way to drop it other than to die.) to the enemy's holdout on the other side. Best of three wins the game. No rewards currently (soon!) but it is lots of fun at least.
==========Warriors==========
Warriors finally got their new skills released, and they are as follows;

Cleave - Cleaves into a single target and applies a bleeding damage over time effect

Cyclone Steel - A single attack in four directions

Cover - Cast this on a teammate, and you will absorb the next 3 attacks, no matter how strong, that hit them.

Affront - This spell will cause everything visible on your screen to switch targets to you and put you at the top of their threat list. Think of it as a taunt gar.

Sunder - A cone effect that hits 1/2/3 squares ahead of you for decent damage.

Fortitude - This spell is used to remove debuffs from you. At rank one, it only removes the freeze effect. Rank ups will eventually make it remove others. Self-cast only.

Overpower - This skill does damage based on your current max hp. Higher hp, obviously, means more damage. This skill hits quite hard.

Impacts -

Warriors have been given a self-buff called 'Impacts' - These special skills will greatly affect a warrior's standard attack. In the right situation, these can turn your normal spacebar attack into quite the powerhouse.

These buffs are toggled on and off, and cost 0 mana to cast. They do, however, drain mana every time you assail.

Wind Impact - Changes your regular attack into an approximation of Wind Blade; pressing your spacebar will damage anything up to three spaces in front of you.

Cyclone Impact - Changes your regular attack into an approximation of Cyclone Steel. Your normal attack will hit in all 4 directions.

Presences -

Warriors have been a special series of buffs called 'Presences' - These are applied to yourself, and will affect any group members standing within range of your presence.

Commanding Presence - Any group member in range has a % of their threat transferred to the warrior.

Powerful Presence - All group members in range of the warrior get +10 str, including the warrior himself. Not exciting, but it gets the job done.