Postponement of the regular Survival Tournament aroused curiosity of the lordship and even some indignation of inveterate gladiators. Their constant need for competition and gambling with life made them circle the arena neighbourhood sniffing around and trying to find out something about the reasons for delay.
One of such adventurers was lucky enough to sneak through the guard blocking the way to the Arena. Before she was caught, the Dark elf lady noticed a huge glimpsing magical crystal above the Arena walls, on the very top of a high edifice rising right from the middle of the Arena.
She was delivered to the crossroads of two nearby large streets and released. A tradesman had just stopped his caravan on the cobbled roadway to purchase something from the local tavern.
"Do you know what's going on with the Arena?" - she asked the tradesman.
"Nobody outside the Court knows for sure", - he hummed. "I've heard many related rumours. Some say Her Majesty has made concessions to those activities from East Bay vowing for wild nature protection by reducing the amount of waves; others claim to have overheard a military conversation between the palace pages about the Councilors personally training some gladiators and installing magical assets into the arena... There are of course those who prattle about the Treasury running low, but I wouldn't take it credited. Arabat has gained a lot of trust with us after the invasion; he says all is fine - means all is fine. You will excuse me now!"
"What a hurry you are in!" - the dark elf manifested irritation. "Your drink won't run from you, do tell me more."
"I am indeed in a hurry, they have just started trading golden cards in the tavern, and I need a stock for myself before everyone else has bought them up completely."
"Just tell me one last thing: any rumours about the opening day of the arena?"
The tradesman shrugged, apologized impatiently and made his way towards the tavern. It looked like the Empire was remodeling the Arena, much to the adventurer's excitement. In some short time there was something completely new to experience: some old tournaments were to be modified, and some new ones to be held.
Dear players,
Certain changes have been made to the Surival Tournament system. All STs beginning from the upcoming one will feature those changes.
The full list of changes to Survival Tournaments are as follows:
1) Faction skill to experience ratio has been revised.
2) Attempt limit has been reduced from 7 to 5.
3) New arena creatures have been added.
4) Waves have become stronger overall.
5) Certain waves feature unique enhanced creature stacks.
6) Current wave number and earned points balance is now displayed in combat.
7) An allied Lightning tower has appeared on the arena. It discharges a "Chain lightning" spell targeted at one of the enemy stacks three turns after each wave appears.
8) Once every two waves, an Orb of Illusions appears on the arena battlefield. The Orbs are activated once one of your stacks occupies the corresponding battlefield tile. After activating the Orb, you will benefit of a random effect such as: additional creature stack; allied stack resurrection; extra shots to shooters; mana recovery to character or creature stack; attack or defense increase of a stack.
9) Wizards' "Firewall" spell will no longer profit from spell damage increase to neutral enemies.
The changes are intended to make the tournament more attractive, profitable, diverse and quick. The next Survival Tournament will start on October, 26th.
You may also expect new tournament types in the near future.
Additionally, the battlechat now has certain commodity options.
To send a message to members of your party in combat, click the new button right in front of the chat entry box, or type an exclamatory mark "!" preceding to your message. You may still opt to send messages to common battlechat, visible to enemy party and to audience.
Another option concerns message filtering. You may choose to display all messages, display party messages only, hide audience messages or hide all messages in the battlechat. The filter button is located in the bottom right corner of the battle dialog, next to volume control and fullscreen buttons.
Finally, the "Two Towers" card game features the new Golden card. The card's owner does not get it in his or her deck; however, if a player has the card at the beginning of a card game, he or she will always be dealt 7 cards at a time instead of 6. The Golden card then disappears, one per card game. This new feature may be purchased in the Tavern at 1000 gold per 20 cards (i.e. nearest 20 games).
We hope these changes will add much to your comfort and fun in the game. Get ready for the new tournaments! |
