Hello Community!
We would like to welcome you all to the New Year! Even though a new year is always a chance for something new, certain things never change — like the weekly updates for Gloria Victis! This time we are coming to you with a bunch of important changes to nearly all aspects of the game, with changes being introduced to visuals, level design, user interface, and combat!

On top of these changes, we are introducing a brand new system of skins for horses! Be sure to check this one out and ride into battle with pride!

So, without any further delay, let’s see what today’s update brings:


The screenshot’s authors were awarded.Siegbert the jolly, [TBP] Ayiina and GreenleafMentor – check your Ambers!

Changelog v.0.9.9.8.1 Beta

Penalty for dying in a fight

With the recent changes in the loot and non-loot zones, we have found out that without the fear of losing their gear, players are much more willing to fight for the territories, however, this has also the side effect of players paying less attention to the number of deaths their suffer, as there is no penalty to it. We hope that this change will bring more organization and discipline to the combat, while still not being as punishing as losing a part of armor due to looting. What is more, risking losing a portion of items' durability creates a risk vs reward type of gameplay, that brings more emotions to the fights, which is a much-needed addition to the loot-free fight in the non-loot zone.

In order to battle that issue, we have decided to introduce a small death penalty (Arena and VoD death will not be giving that penalty). From now on, a death in combat will make all pieces of equipped armor reduce their durability by 3%. What is more, this value is modified by Character Development, meaning that leveling your armor tree will reduce the death penalty.

This change is an important preparation for the incoming changes in gameplay, that will bring better rewards for roaming in the middle of the map (we've added two new events in the middle of the map this week and the next ones will be coming in the next updates), as well as better rewards for active players and guilds that earn high places in the rankings. In order to make place for these changes, we need a bigger "sink" of items and materials so that the new rewards will not flood the economy too much.

Changes to movement in combat

In order to make the combat more dynamic, we have adjusted the movement speed in combat, making backward movement faster than before and adjusting the forward and side movement to fit. This change should give more versatility to a player caught in a 1vX scenario, as the lone player will have a better chance of maneuvering between his opponents increasing the chances for survival or even a win!

Changes to horses in roaming combat

We have also looked at the usage of horses in combat. We have found out that horses are often used as an easy way of catching a solo player by a larger group of players. Getting hit by a mounted player would cause the enabling of combat mode, reducing the chances of escape to zero.

We found it to be a big problem for the solo/small group roamers and decided, that from now on getting hit by a mounted player will no longer put the player into combat mode. What is more, if a horse is summoned in the open world it will show up with no stamina, instead of half, which will make horses still viable in battle, but makes it harder for them to be used only to catch a solo player by a bigger group.

New events in the middle of the map

In order to bring more fun activities and a better reward to the middle of the map, we are introducing two new events that will occur exclusively in the loot zone. The new events will give a better incentive to roam in the middle of the map for small parties, as the gain from these events will be better for small parties.

Great Hunt

This event is a copy of the hunting event by the capitals. Now, this event will also show up randomly in the middle of the map, providing more valuable resources for players roaming in this area.

Challenge for the Bold

Challenge for the Bold is an event similar to the “Supplies for the Bold” event. It will show a location on the map that, after 60 minutes will be visited by a special event NPC “A Messenger with Supplies”, who will drop top-tier items and recipes as a reward! The event will only show outside of the nightlock, so be sure to get to him fast as, similar to the Kargald Champions, smaller groups will benefit more from the reward!

Better shadows

As these members of our Community who have already joined our Discord may know, we’ve been testing a new system of Global Ambient Occlusion, that significantly improves the game visuals in terms of how shadows are rendered.
Today, after some testing done by us and our Community, we can finally release that system. It can be activated by enabling the SSAO checkbox in Graphical Settings. We are aware that there still might be some issues with the system (like some weird shadows showing for a couple of seconds after logging in or teleportation), and we are hoping for your reports so that we can find and fix the remaining errors.

We hope that with this addition, the atmosphere of the game and the overall visuals will look better than ever!

New Login Screen

Following the UI rework, our artists have taken some time to rework the scenery in the login menu! The new one is thematically connected to the previous one, but its graphics and fidelity are greatly improved!

New Achievement Window — Summary Tab

Today we are also releasing the last part of the Achievement Window rework — the summary tab. This new additional tab will show information on the closest achievements to be achieved, shows the overall achievement progress, and displays the most unique achievements players have completed. Be sure to check it out for yourself!

Horse Skins

With this update, we are also introducing skins for horses to the game! These new skins will come in a form of a consumable that can be applied to only one horse and will stay on that particular mount until the player decides to release the mount or apply another skin. After buying the skin it will be possible to apply it to a horse from the Stable Manager UI.

Be sure to check out the first available skin below!

Christmas ending on the island of Stoneholm

The festive period on Stoneholm is coming to an end. Gifts and decorations have been cleaned up, and just the Santa’s Helper will stay a week longer in the capitals to exchange the last sweets for rewards!

Quality of Life

— The option to show the legacy version of the powerbar is now displayed in options. Players can enable it in the Interface Settings tab.
— Changed the number of controlled castles in the loot zone needed to get the highest buff from 4 to 3. This change should make it more realistic for nations to achieve that buff and have a bigger incentive to fight for the castles.
— Removed the siege events at Ystad, Dundrum, and Eaglenest forts to prevent players from being looted in these territories.
— Changed the maximum falling height without damage from 10 to 15 units. Jumping down from respawns should no longer deal fall damage to players.
— Adjusted the cost of fast travel to the current gold value.
— Added a small gold reward for fighting arena battles.
— Further changes and fixes in the questlines in order to better balance the challenge for new players.
— Adjusted the price of the Field Siege Engine Workshop to 36 silver and added it to vendors in castles and forts.
— Added Market NPCs to castles and forts in the loot zone
— Added a new model for the depot chest. From now on it will be more visible, thus easier to find for new and old players alike.
— Added a blue star icon near the achievement tabs and icon where a player has achieved progress since the previous visit of the Achievements Window.
— Added a dedicated location for the depot in Ismir capital.
— Updated 5v5 tournament memorials on the arena.
— Increased the food quality of cooked meals to make them viable alternatives for new players.

Fixes

— Small level design fixes around the map.
— Fixed an issue with weapons not showing for the skeletons in Catacombs.
— Fixed an issue with the clothes of Mundus NPC not showing properly.
— Fixed the recipe scroll for Soldier’s Heavy Helm teaching a recipe for Servant’s Heavy Helm
— Fixed rewards for Crafting Questline giving two pickaxes instead of an axe and a pickaxe.
— Fixed an error with a Crafting Questline, where the dialogue with the Master Craftsman couldn’t be progressed in certain edge cases.
— Adjusted the damage reductions of Faris NPCs to match the ones of Knights and Huskarls.
— Adjusted the range of attack with fists to 3.5.
— Fixed an issue where the notifications on the left side of the screen would block the option to click other UI elements.