Lineage 2 NA Gracia Part 2 PTS Notes

It's been confirmed! Lineage 2 NA will get the Gracia Part 2 PTS on October 28. In support, they've also provided Patch Notes! No more mistranslations here anymore! This is what we get for Gracia Part 2!

Hunting Grounds

Kamaloka - Labyrinth of the Abyss

1. The instant zone hunting ground "Kamaloka - Labyrinth of the Abyss" has been added.
2. To enter Kamaloka - Labyrinth of the Abyss, you must meet the following requirements:

• Entry NPC = Guard Captain
• Group = 2-9 member party
• Type of Instance = Beathrough Type Raid Boss Battle
• Duration of Instant Zone = 45 Minutes
• Entry Restriction = Each PC can only enter once per day
• Instant Zone Reset = Zone resets after 5 minutes if no PC’s are inside

3. Entry NPC locations and required levels for Kamaloka – Labyrinth of the Abyss:

• Gludio / Captain Bathis (levels 24-34)
• Dion / Captain Lucas (levels 34-44)
• Heine / Captain Gosta (levels 44-54)
• Oren / Captain Mouen (levels 54-64)
• Schuttgart / Captain Vishotsky (levels 64-74)
• Rune / Captain Mathias (levels 73-85)
  

Pailaka

1. The instant zone hunting ground "Pailaka" has been added.
2. Only characters who are in the process of a Pailaka-related quest and who meet the entry level requirements for the corresponding instant zone can enter.

|| Classification || Level || Required Quest || Time Limit ||

|| Pailaka – Forgotten Temple|| 36-42 || Pailaka – Song of Ice and Fire||60 mins. ||
|| Pailaka – Devil’s Isle|| 61-67 || Pailaka – Devil’s Legacy|| 90 mins. ||
|| Pailaka – Varka Silenos|| 73-77 || Pailaka – Injured Dragon|| 90 mins. ||

Kratei’s Cube

1. The competition-type PvP hunting ground "Kratei's Cube" has been added.
2. You can teleport to the entrance of Kratei's Cube through the NPC Paddies on Fantasy Isle.
3. Characters level 70 and above can register individually through the Kratei's Cube Entrance Manager.
4. There are 3 Kratei's Cube arenas set up by level range. Each arena can hold a maximum of 25 characters at a time. The level ranges are as follows:

• Level 70-75
• Level 76-79
• Level 80+
  

5. Characters who are chaotic, in possession of a cursed sword or currently in a party may not participate.

Kratei’s Cube Rules

1. A Kratei's Cube match begins every 30 minutes from the top of the hour, and lasts for 20 minutes.
2. Once you have requested entry into Kratei's Cube (through the Entrance Manager), you will be moved into a waiting room 3 minutes before the match begins.
3. You can receive Kill Points through PvP and PvE inside Kratei's Cube. Even if a character is killed, there is no death penalty.
4. A character who is killed during a match is moved to the waiting room and can re-enter through the Kratei's Cube Match Manager.
5. Registration ends 3 minutes before each match.

Rewards

1. At the end of a Kratei's Cube match, you will receive Experience, SP and Fantasy Isle coins.
2. The exact amount of your reward depends on the match results, the number of participants, individual ranking and cumulative result values.
3. You are ineligible to receive any reward if you score less than 10 Kill Points.
4. Fantasy Isle coins can be exchanged for various items through NPC Paddies of Fantasy Isle.

Leaving During a Match

You will be removed from the registration list and/or will be ineligible for any rewards for the following reasons:
1. If you request to participate in a match, enter the waiting room, and then cancel the match through the Kratei's Cube Match Manager and leave.
2. If you use a Scroll of Escape for a village, castle, hideout or fortress during a match.
3. If you die during a match and do not return through the Entrance Manager (meaning that you do not complete the match).

New Quests

Pailaka – Song of Ice and Fire

• Level 36-42
• One-time quest
• You must infiltrate "Pailaka - Forgotten Temple," find the cracks in the Sprite energy that are developing inside the temple, and repair them.
• Starting city: Gludin
• Contact NPC: Inspector Adler
  

Pailaka – Devil’s Legacy

• Level 61-67
• One-time quest
• You must infiltrate "Pailaka - Devil's Isle" and defeat the dark power that has engulfed the island.
• Starting city: Giran
• Contact NPC: Devil's Isle Survivor
  

Pailaka – Injured Dragon

• Level 73-77
• One-time quest
• You must infiltrate "Pailaka - Varka Silenos," find the Soul of Fire trapped in darkness inside the barracks and free it to return to the world of fire.
• Starting city: Goddard
• Contact NPC: Ketra Orc Shaman
  

Items

When armor is over-enchanted to +4 or higher, each item will give the character a bonus to HP.

Item Enchant Window

The interface for Item Enchantment has been made more intuitive.

Vitality

• A new instant item, "Vitality Replenishing Herb," has been added.
• It gives you a 5 minute boost to your Vitality Level while hunting. During this 5 minutes, you gain the normal experience for killing a monster (regardless of your current Vitality level). However, also gain points in Vitality, allowing you to increase your Vitality level.
• Vitality no longer decreases while hunting monsters for characters below level 9 who have the "Lucky" skill.

Mini-Game Addition

• A simple and enjoyable mini-game has been added.
• It can be accessed using the "/minigame" command or by clicking the "Mini-Game" icon in the Action Window.
• The game requires you to create an icon chain of 3 in a row, either horizontally or vertically.

Changes to Existing Skills

• Once the "Invincible" skill effect is applied, it cannot be re-applied for a certain amount of time. Related skills include: Celestial Shield, Flames of Invincibility, Sonic Barrier, Force Barrier, Servitor Barrier, Sublime Self-Sacrifice
• The bug concerning HP/MP not being fully restored when a character is revived through the "Salvation" skill has been fixed.

Other Changes

• An "Adventurers' Guide" NPC has been added to Hunters Village.
• An "Underground Coliseum Helper" NPC has been added to the Underground Coliseum.
• A bot reporting button has been added to the Actions window.
• The Personal Teleport icon has been added to the Action Window under "Basic Actions." This button is not functional yet. But once it is, we will give you more information regarding its use.

Miscellaneous Fixes

• The weight of common items has been reduced by 2/3.
• The name of the "Double Cutter" skill, which can be used with the Demonic Sword Zariche, has been changed to: Power Slash - Inflicts a powerful slashing attack with the cursed sword.
• The bug affecting the "Morning Star" item appearing twice in the shop sales list has been fixed.
• The bug preventing changing a sealed Foundation or Masterwork Majestic Circlet Robe item into heavy armor has been fixed.
• The bug preventing some dualswords from being normally refined has been fixed.
• The bug concerning the Wolf Summoning Bracelet's total magic power not displaying properly has been fixed.
• The bug concerning some Dynasty Armor shoulder decorations not equipping properly has been fixed.
• While an item is being enchanted, it can no longer be dropped.
• The incorrect effect explanations for some Dynasty armor sets have been fixed.
• The following effects of the Dynasty Platinum - Force Master set item have been changed: Existing: Str +1, Dex +1, Con -2 / New: Str +2, Con -2
• Demon's Gloves and Boots are now sold by vendor NPC’s.
• The bug concerning ‘Chance’ augments triggering when an incorrect skill type is used has been fixed.

Honestly, I don't know how they will implement the bot reporting button, as this maybe abused by players who just want to hassle their clan enemies, but we'll see soon (if this gets implemented in L2 SEA as well!).

If you'd like to read the reactions of the players in L2 NA, click here.

Technorati Tags: Gracia, Lineage 2, Gracia Part 2, Patch Notes

Gracia Update: Gates Open on August 26

Here's what I've gathered so far:

• There will be no PTS: Yes folks, it goes straight to the retail servers.
• Part 1 will be implemented: Vitality Points, lower equipment costs, and unlimited teleport for newbies!
• There will be no Item Malls (yet): It'll be implemented globally when Part 2 comes in.

Whew, can't wait for August 26!

Technorati Tags: Gracia, Lineage 2 SEA, Lineage 2

Gracia PTS for Lineage 2 NA Begins Today

While our L2 NA brothers and sisters are already diving into the the Gracia Update via the Public Test Server, all we can do from Lineage 2 SEA is observe. As far as I know, this marks the first time that Lineage 2 NA has overtaken SEA in terms of patches or updates.

Although we may need to wait awhile, at least we'll be prepared when the time comes for us to get the update (hopefully within the year?). In addition to the update notes link provided by Jercouzen in the boards, here's the complete Test Notes. There was one change that really got me excited:

Decreased Item Prices

The shop prices for all weapons, armor, and accessories have been lowered.

Yes, ALL of them have been lowered. Although it wasn't mentioned by how much, still it's a very welcome change for everyone.

In the meantime, while I wait for our turn, I'll be reading the PTS boards and get familiar with the bugs and possible workarounds.

Technorati Tags: Lineage 2, Gracia

How to Retain Lineage 2 SEA Gamers and Get New Ones

There's been a lot of talk lately on the Lineage 2 SEA forums on how to retain the current Lineage 2 players and how to inject new blood into the game.

The proposals were the following:

• More experience at least in the weekends
• More monster drops
• More adena drops
• More marketing campaign
• Make it Free-to-Play
• Unite both the Aria and Blackbird servers
  

All of these are very good suggestions and I will agree with most of them. However, there was one comment that stuck in my mind:

"Deal with the Crit Errors first!"

I guess everyone who's been playing L2 SEA since the Kamael update has gotten Critical Errors while playing.

One of the worst time for this to happen was when I was ganged up by mobs. There I was grinding and doing a massacre on yellow-labeled mobs, when the crit error appeared on my screen. I got so pissed off and worried at the same time: did my character survive? Luckily, I was spending time grinding, what if it happened on a PVP event?

None of the suggestions above would be successful if the product (in this case the game) is not functioning right. I was expecting that with the previous patch and the Community Manager's post on updating the PC's drivers would at least lessen the Crit Errors, but it seems that nothing has changed. This happened even in places where I was running alone in a field! Whether you have a high end PC or not, Crit Errors remain a staple of this game.

I'm really hoping that they would do something about this.

Technorati Tags: Lineage 2 SEA, Lineage 2, Critical Errors, Crit Errors, Bugs

New Kamael Patch Notes

For those who, like me, opened up the Lineage 2 SEA Launcher and was surprised that it was downloading a patch and wondering what was being downloaded to your favorite game, fret no more! Iplayasia and AMDG just provided us with a Patch note here.

Here's the details. Warning: this deals more with the Kamael than any race:

1. Decrease the penalty of the skill Magic Recovery against the Guilted Body skill of the Kamael, from 30% to 5%.

2. Kamael HP recovery increased from 700HP to 900HP.

2. Essential Spellbooks, Amulet, Blueprint and Battle Manual for level 40-74 can now be bought through every starting villages Gorcery.

4. Level Requirements added to the spellbooks item description.

5. Skill, Item Re-use Time are now announced through the System Message Window.

6. Problem Fixed for the skill Mysterious Cube.

7. Hellbounds NPC Girone, Buron and Bernarde now explains detailed information about Hellbound.

8. Fixed the number of ingredients (Compound Braid, Asofe) needed for the follwowing Equipments:

• Draconic Bow
• Sealed Draconic Leather Helmet

9. Clan Hall Authority problems fixed.

10. Clan reputation is now consumed normally when building the Order of Knights.

11. Number of crystal increased when crystalizing Icarus Weapons.

12. Castle Circlet is now non-exchangeable/dropable.

13. Agathion's special skill fixed.

14. The effect of clan death fortune, residence death fortune and apella set
effect has been changed to lessen the chance to lose exp points and
death penalty from pk/monster deaths.

15. Non-sellable items are now not visible when you are selling your stuffs.

16. Dark Water Dragon minion Shade does not respawn when killed.

17. Attacking Shade will agro Dark Water Dragon.

18. If Core's minions move out the boss zone they will return to original spot where they came from.

I'm not sure how this will affect the game, but it sure will make the Kamael's life a bit easier. Will there be any patches specific for the other races?

Technorati Tags: Lineage 2 SEA, Lineage 2, Patch Notes, Kamael, AMDG, iPlayAsia