100th Patch Changes

August 2008's patch was AC's 100th and as a reward for our loyalty, the devs created a monster patch for us - so big in fact that it could have been an expansion pack.  So what were the biggest changes?

Societies

As part of the long-promised Elder Game content, the devs added three Societies for high levels characters to join.  Joining a society offers many perks, including access to new Society-specific armor types, the highest tier of equipment and spells, and PvP fun.  To join a Society, you must be 180+ and complete an initiation quest.  Once you join a Society, you can rise through the ranks from Initiate all the way to Master.  Each promotion offers multiple perks and awards you a new title (in addition to the regular title management system).  Characters with Deception can attempt to hide their loyalties, while characters with Assess Person can use their skill to identify allies and enemies.  Which leads into...

Land Control

There are now two castles in Dereth that offer Society members the chance to battle for the prestige and resources those castles provide.  Every 3 days, control of each castle is up for grabs.  The first society to capture all of the flags inside the castle gains control for the next period.  The catch is that only PKs (fully red characters) can capture the castle flags.  Non-reds can assist by attacking monster spawns, but to ultimately establish control over a castle, a society needs PKers.  When a Society captures a castle, a Society-specific portal opens to a dungeon underneath the castle.  Inside are merchants specializing in rare and valuable rewards, including XP gems, Society armor, Greater Deadly Lightning ammunition, and more.  The two castles are Northwatch Castle, located near Celdiseth's Cottage, and Freebooter Castle, located on the new island by the same name.  The former is readily accessible by any character, but only Society Knights or higher can reach Freebooter Isle.  Speaking of which...

New Islands

Two new islands have appeared this patch.  One is the previously mentioned Freebooter Isle, home to bandits and the ruins of a Falatacot temple complex.  It is currently overrun with Moarsmen, Moars, and Sclavi, not to mention the stray Wasp and Niffis.  The other island goes by the name Moarsman City.  It is basically a sandbar with an enormous Falatacot temple in the middle.  Not surprisingly, Moarsman City is home to... Moarsmen!  There are also the stray Coral Golems and Shallows Sharks too.  Both islands are restricted to Society members of high standing.  Freebooter Isle requires Knight status and Moarsman City requires you to be a Lord or higher.  Unfortunately, the XP and loot potentials of these islands is quite lacking, but many new Society quests take place in these locales.

Level 8 Spells

At long last, the 8th Circle of magic has been created!  Don't expect to start writing spell after spell into your spellbook though.  Spellmaking is a difficult and time-consuming process.  Creating a spell requires four components (which fortunately are quite tradeable) - a quill, a mana scarab, ink, and a glyph.  Quills determine the primary effect of the spell - is it a buff, debuff, restoration spell, damaging spell, or transfer spell?  The mana scarab powers the quill, but does not change its effects.  The ink shapes the spell by determining where the spell goes - does it affect the caster or another target, does the war spell travel like a bolt, arc, or blast, etc.  The final component, the glyph, is the most straightforward - which skill does the spell affect or which elemental type does it use?  Combining the four components creates a spell scroll that is giveable and learnable by any character with the appropriate magic school trained.  Level 8 spells are very hard to cast!  Regular buffs have a difficulty of approximately 400, so expect to fizzle a lot unless you have the skill specialized and maxed out.  Also, be aware that many types of spells do not exist at the 8th level.  Other buffs (both creature and life) do not exist, nor do self debuffs (darn!), Defender, or Blood Drinker (although BD 8 does exist on loot - it just cannot be cast by a player).  To see a more extensive guide to level 8 spells, have a look HERE.

A New Loot Tier

A new loot tier has been created to incorporate the new 8th Circle of magic.  Additionally, Epic cantrips are now available in the new loot profile.  This new loot tier is available exclusively through special chests, which are located in the Society headquarters and in the mainland Capitals (Zaikhal, Cragstone, Hebian-to).  Completing Society tasks can earn you pulls from the Society chests, but non-Society members can also earn pulls from the Mana Forge chests in the Capitals by completing various quests and by collecting Pristine Mana Shards, which drop as trophies in the highest level hunting grounds (Graveyard and Dark Isle, supposedly Freebooter and Moarsman City too).  In addition to level 8 spells and epic cantrips, the maximum armor levels and damages on armor and weapons have been increased and a couple new styles of armor have been introduced too, each of which include special set-piece bonus spells (like Perfect Light armor and Dark Isle armor types).  Details on max damages on weapons is incomplete at present, but I've at least added some info to the max damage chart.