AvatarMC Soon™ - Issue 109: v0.6.2 Release

2023-03-18 19:07:00 +0000 UTC by EvieAscendant and TurboClicks

Greetings and salutations, readers! I'll be your host for tonight; the exits are to your left and — wait, wrong job. Either way, we have a fair few additions to the server to fly through, so let's get to it, shall we?

Questing Update Direct Link

The questing system has received updates to massively boost convenience and playability. Alongside this, all quests have been updated for greater consistency - aiming to minimise any potential lack of clarity within quest descriptions or gameplay. The changes made are as follows:

• Completed quests are now sorted at the end of /q. This moves them out of the way of currently active quests.
• New objectives and their descriptions are displayed in chat when they become active.
• If a quest has been started, the active objective will be displayed instead of the quest description when hovering over it in /q.
• The ability to track a quest has been added. It will show any active objectives for that quest when you hover over it in the command book.
• Rewards are now displayed in chat when a quest is completed.

Intro Quests Direct Link

Two new quests have been added to introduce some of the server's key features! While this experience is intended for new players, there's nothing stopping anyone else from completing them.

• Mini-Dungeon Intro: Each of the four capitals now has its own unique quest to introduce mini-dungeons to players. These are restricted by element — if you're a Waterbender, you can only play through the Northern Water Tribe quest, for example.
• Going Postal: Players will assist the Whale Tail Courier Company, travelling across the world to deliver missing parcels to their rightful recipients! This should be a neat way to introduce new players to the global Fast Travel system, alongside providing a tour of our capital cities.

Both of these quests can be started in your Bending Capital. Talk to the guide NPC that appears when you first spawn for more information!

A New PvP Arena Direct Link

Coming soon to a Caldera near you is a new fully functional arena! Releasing with this update is the Agni Kai chamber where Zuko famously fought his father. Now you too can receive a facial scar and spend the rest of your life telling people "no, it's not on the wrong side".

You will now be greeted by holographic text and NPC guards outside of the main doors to the royal palace. When you teleport in, you'll enter a brand new hallway that leads directly into the throne room. There will also be a part of the hallway that leads to the Agni Kai chamber.

Navigation Update Direct Link

The /nav menu has been updated! In an effort to better direct players to locations in all server cities, we've come up with a few things that'll hopefully make our points of interest (POI) clearer. All changes are as follows:

• Points of interest will appear as inactive when they are deemed irrelevant to you as the player. They'll still appear in /nav, just right at the end and greyed out. You'll still be able to navigate using them, of course. An example of this would be a dungeon that's outside of your level range.
• Plenty of new POIs have been added to the menu across all server cities. Notably, navigation is now available to all mazes and parkour challenges — each identified as a "Lotus Tile Challenge".
• For every "Lotus Tile Challenge" there is now a corresponding quest which is only visible once you enter the challenge area (starting the maze/parkour).
• Each location now has a category appearing in blue below the POI name, with a description displayed just below it.
• Every POI has a related icon in /nav with a light blue background.
• Players are now able to navigate to other players using /nav. The player must be in the same server city as the sender, and they must agree to the request. To access this new feature, just click on the lantern at the bottom of the nav menu.

Cosmos Update Direct Link

The Cosmos has been updated to provide players with a far better experience when creating a new character. All changes go as follows:

• The spirit NPCs have been deleted. As a replacement, each testing area makes use of the council member placed directly in front of the spawn point. These NPCs now allow players to confirm their element choice or return to Avatar Korra in the Cosmos. However, before doing so, they will tell you about the area, including who you can talk to and where to test your bending techniques. After this, on the second interaction (where they begin emitting green particles), they offer to either tell you about the area again or allow you to make your choice.
• Every 3 minutes in each testing area, a broadcast will notify the player who they can speak to, and where, to confirm their element choice or return to Korra.
• The building in the center of the earthbending testing area has been updated to allow players to run directly through it instead of having to go around it to reach the other side.
• Bandits in the earthbending testing area have been made slightly stronger, where before they did extremely small amounts of damage. Their behaviour has also been changed to assist in better tracking the player.
• The poachers inside of the airbending testing area have been updated with new skins.

Spirit Oasis Sound Direct Link

The Spirit Oasis is finally getting a soundtrack of its own! There's both a main theme and an ambient theme, so make sure to manually update your music pack to receive this update.

Visit the Resource and Music Packs wiki to learn how to perform a manual download.

Canon City Cleanups Direct Link

Multiple locations around the map received enhancements in their surrounding areas:

• Ba Sing Se received directional road signs outside of the main city gates to point players towards community-built road networks and the community farm.
• The Fire Nation Capital received directional road signs outside of the main Caldera gates to point players towards the harbor and the airport.
• Misty Palms Oasis received a minor facelift improving the palm trees across the town as well as the entrance. A path now connects the city to nearby community-built roads as well as the mini-dungeon.
• The Northern Air Temple's surrounding area is cleaned up. The mountain on which the temple sits has received a texturing update. The local Fast Travel boat has a path connecting all the way to the temple.
• Omashu received an improved entrance design, including a new bridge connecting the city to the neighbouring mountain, which now follows on to a windy path connecting the entrance to the nearby local Fast Travel node.
• The Southern Air Temple island has received a significant clean up, removing all of the old player builds that were visible from the temple. A path now connects the local Fast Travel node to the temple. Players can now walk all the way up the path from the ground to the temple, preventing the need to use bending to jump up the mountain. The entrance to the mini-dungeon was completely rebuilt.
• Holographic text now warns players that they are leaving a server-built area and are changing to a community-built road network.

Miscellaneous Changes Direct Link

• Holographic text on Fast Travel nodes now states if the vehicle is for Global, Local, or City travel.
• When new players first join the server, we now run a check to detect if their automatic resource pack download is enabled. If it is not, they are presented with an animated visual guide that explains how to fix this.

Bending Changes Direct Link

Nonbending Direct Link

• Extended Grappling Hook's range by 12 blocks.
• Person-striking Grappling Hook cooldown reduced to 8 seonds.
• Shift-Grappling Hook no longer moves the player further than regular grappling hook.
• Grappling Hook moves the player further horizontally and has less of a vertical offset.
• Concussion Grenade pushes the target (and player) upwards while providing fall damage protection.
• Reduced Falcon silence to 3 seconds.
• Added particle effects for when someone is blinded by Flashbang.
• Increased Sticky Bomb's damage and speed.
• Sticky Bomb inflicts less severe slowness.
• Proximity Mines now detonate if they are covered by solid blocks such as ice and stone.
• Sand Attack blind duration decreased to 3 seconds.
• Sand Attack now has particle effects when someone is hit.

Fire Direct Link

• Added particle effects for when someone is blinded by Fire Torch.
• Fire Torch's shift version has a 1 second cooldown now.
• Solar Burst (fire ultimate) now has a 3 second prelude during which the player emits particles, allowing the caster to focus on getting close to their target while having enough energy once it is cast to deal damage. Solar Burst no longer drains the player's energy, nor does it freeze them in place.
• Solar Burst now confers fire protection to the player for the entire duration of the spell and extinguishes them at its conclusion.
• Flame Blast now decreases the target's defence for three seconds, with the severity based on the distance of the caster to the target. It also has a 12 second cooldown.
• Various moves now make use of a singular projectile, where before they would use multiple to handle decreasing damage at longer ranges. This functionality remains mostly the same.

Earth Direct Link

• Earth Rumble, if cast in the air, no longer triggers the move's cooldown.
• Boulder Toss two-phase form radius increased.
• Earth Shockwave, when cast in the air, propels the player toward the ground and grants them fall protection. Upon landing, it is cast as normal.
• Earth Shockwave's radius has been increased by 1 block.
• Earth Shatter's range at lower energy levels has been extended.

Water Direct Link

• Increased Steam Explosion's radius, knockback, and damage significantly when cast while standing inside water.
• Ice Nova has a flat radius of 6 blocks, inflicts more severe slowness, and inflicts slowness for longer.
• Splash has higher range and knockback.

Air Direct Link

• Increased Air Spear hitbox size (0.25 → 0.5), damage (10 → 15), range (35 → 40).
• Air Spear has much greater knockback and a higher cooldown.
• Decreased Air Spear velocity (60 → 40, 40 → 28).
• Replaced Air Geyser with a horizontal projectile which throws targets into the air. Costs less.
• Air Punch has more range, travels more slowly, and deals more damage.
• Air Burst shift version throws a decelerating ball which detonates violently upon contact with any living entity. It lingers for up to 30 seconds in place after reaching the end of its trajectory. Deals friendly fire if it hits an enemy. Has lower AOE than normal burst.
• Air Bolt's cooldown has been shortened to 1 second and deals less damage while having shorter range.