Hi Everyone!

It'll be hard to miss a lot of the changes in this version, but I will list them anyway. Big thanks to Chris (CTaulborg) for help rendering the new town graphics, and some other minor graphics tweaks. (More to come!) I couldn't wait any longer, wanted to get some of these really awesome features released to you guys.

Here are some of the updates in this version:
- Items can now be used in combat! (Glyphs, Comfreys, and Fish)
- Fixed proficiency bug with wells
- Added a new skill, Suffusencing (see below)
- You can now stack Comfreys
- You can now stack Essences
- Greatly increased all max stack sizes (by at least 10x the original amounts!). For instance, a rank 0 fishing and cooking person can stack up to 20 fish!
- Fish usage has a timer of 1 second between each usage. (Comfreys are still instant)
- You now gain experience when using skills (glyphing, transmuting, fishing, cooking, and suffusencing!)
- Regen works at 1/4 effectiveness while using skilling! (It will apply the healing at the end of the skill-up, pass or fail)
- Quantity display added to items that can stack
- /find with no parameters now works as a range of + and - 3 levels
- Shift clicking an item on various screens will auto insert it into the target box (for instance, while doing most skills, in the vault deposit, etc)
- Lots of client graphics updates, including a complete redo of the main town screen
- New objective: Mirror Maze (portal updated with some basic teaser info
- Add an Objectives popup in the stats screen that shows the objectives you've completed on your character
- Some client cleanups and optimizations (much cleaner looking font, better performance)
- Added a Quantity filter to the market place for the Item and Object categories
- If the entire catacombs group is inactive in combat for approximately 6 seconds, the group will automatically be disbanded. This will help against lag spikes that affect the entire network.
- Fixed some bugs regarding objectives being completed/available at the wrong times/levels.
- Shift click now works for transmuting and suffusencing, for both slots. (Requires another client refresh)
- Suffusenced fish stacks can now be larger. Normal fish stacks are calculated from the value of your fishing skill + your cooking skill on the fish stack chart. Suffusenced fish are calculated with Fishing + Cooking + Suffusencing. So, for instance, rank 0 in all three skills will allow you to make a stack of 31 sardines.

+ other small updates and changes

More info on Suffusencing:
- Suffusencing is the magical art of suffusing a magical essence with another item. This is a new artform that has recently been discovered. When done successfully, it adds +enhanced effect to the target item. The follow items can be suffusenced: Fish, Comfreys, Glyphs. Please note that the item must not already have any EE on it. The higher the magical essence (Magical property), the more EE it can give to the item! For instance, a rare essence gives 2x what a magical essence does, and a mystical gives 3x what a magical does, etc. Make sure you match the tier on the essence with the item!

Have fun guys. Much much more to come.

themanthelegend has successfully reset the Softcore Ladder. Congratulations!

Welcome to Season 10 (softcore). Please note that all your softcore characters will be reset back to level 0, as the ladder has reset. You will retain all your items and proficiencies.

Good luck in the next season!

v1.15 Release Notes:

• Spawn rate of Evil Presence has been increased
• Added a /quality command, that can be used to set your client quality. This is useful if you have a slower computer. Check the command reference for more info.
• No Maze catacombs has been removed (as it was originally planned to ONLY be a stepping stone into maze catacombs)
• Drop rates have been increased (the rate at which a monster may drop an item)
• Updated checkboxes on client to look more intuitively like a checkbox
• Leveling up in Arena will automatically advance the level of the resummon monster, so you don't have to go back to town (MCC still resets)
• Hovering over groups now shows who is in the group
• /online will list how many people are looking for a group in a SC/HC format.
• Rogues, Monks, and Ninjas can now detect trapdoors and allow your party to optionally use them or not. (Only requires that one of these characters is in the group, not necessarily the leader)
• Added Objectives to the game (See Below for more details)
• Added a Looking For Group (LFG) system. Each time someone creates a group that you could join, you will be notified, and be able to Join it directly by clicking the Join button next to the game in the bottom right section of the screen. The notifications will appear no matter where you are, as long as you are not already in another group. This allows both those creating games, and those that wish to join the ability to easily find others to group with.

Objectives are mini accomplishments you can achieve with your character. The criteria of each objective varies. Some simply require a certain level, others require completing a previous objective first. Completion of an objective will result in a reward to your character (which varies from objective to objective). As of this release, all objectives are obtainable only in the Catacombs. When an objective is enabled, you will be notified in the chat box window.
- Individual details on objectives may be released later, but for now, explore them and have fun! See what you can figure out on your own! Please note that the first objective is enabled at LEVEL 5!
- More objectives info is and will be posted here: http://ladderslasher.d2jsp.org/index.php?g=18

I am pretty sure I missed a lot of other small details, but will update this topic if I remember them.

[Updates]:
- Updated Group Create Invite spam protection, you should no longer get spammed by people that create and leave a game repeatedly for the purpose of spamming invites.
- Group invites should now be automatically removed if the group maker leaves (before engaging), or engages the group.

You'll need client 1.15.0 to login (clear cache/refresh if it doesn't show up).

Have fun!

Just a quick update to transmuting, it changed a little bit to allow players more control over the transmuting process. Now, you can lower the volatility back down by clicking the Stabilize button. By doing this, it also allows you to use skill to transmute items considerably higher than you otherwise would be able to. Be sure to try it out with some Magical Tier I items first, till you get the hang of it.

Couple other minor updates, and a partial fix to welling, should give rares more often than magical now (about 50/50). Still evaluating welling, and watching the numbers.

Make sure your client shows version 1.14.1 on the login screen, otherwise transmuting will "do nothing" when you attempt it on the old version.

Have fun!

(Thanks to NevV for making the Mute and Essence icons for profiles!)

Hi Everyone!

This version contains numerous tweaks and adjustments. Here's some of what's changed and been added:
- Miscellaneous client updates (repositioning, inventory closing on welling, etc)
- Evil presences in maze now have a progressively harder chance to spawn as "more mobs". For instance, 1 evil presence will be much more common than 9.
- Evil presences have a much higher drop rate, and, the more mobs that spawn for one, the drops get even better.
- In catacombs, it now shows who picked up a dropped item.
- In catacombs, it should no longer close the item stats window of an item that was not picked up (YAY! What would happen before was no matter what item was picked up, it would always close the popup window, even if you were looking at a totally different item).
- Removed the "old" transmuting, and all recipes, in favor of:
- New proficiency added: Transmuting! It works as follows:
* Drop any single magical+ item into the box, transmute, click the bar to extract the magical+ essence from the item. Then, combine the magical+ essence with any magical+ item of the same tier to reroll it!
* The reroll factor is based upon your skill level, not character level.
* You can also extract from glyphs, and the essence is a market sellable object.
* When starting, try magical or rare tier I items. As your skill progresses, move up to higher magical items, and eventually higher tiered items.
* Using the down arrow method also works for Transmuting items
* You can now shrine the Essence you get from Transmuting
** More things to do with this skill are planned for the future.

Who and what guild will dominate the transmuting ladder? Good luck!

*Note: As usual, you need to refresh/clear cache to ensure you have the proper version at login.

Congrats to Joshie for being the 1st HC Rank 1 Muter!
Congrats to cpe413 for being the 1st SC Rank 1 Muter!

v1.13.3 is now released with the following changes:
- You can now filter by Tier on the marketplace (instead of levels)
- When selecting "Only Items I Can Use" as a filter, you can override with tiers if you wish (to view items higher level than your character can equip currently)
- Fixed the fishing + monster glitch on the client, that would sometimes not make it show the well image
- Glyphs are now shrinable
- You no longer gain +1 kill if you gain 0 experience for a kill (either in arena, or in catacombs).
- Fixed a bug with cooking at levels above rank 1
- Account name is now remembered at the login page (on successful login only)
- The enter key will now trigger the Login button on the password fields
- Fixed a client bug with life/mana regen and jubilance related to glyphs
- Accessory hotkey changed from A to R
- Window positioning is now fixed if you get disconnected. It will no longer move all your popups to the top left
- In maze catacombs, when the leader levels up, so does the difficulty of the monsters! It is no longer necessary to make "next game" @ leader level ups!

Thanks, have fun guys!

Hi guys, just a few more enhancements made (some require a client refresh, no new version number though):

- Added a HC tag to gold logs for HC item purchases
- Maze Catacombs evil presence will now spawn at more appropriate levels (no more less than the game maker's level). This helps improve drops/exp for such encounters.
- LPA/LPK/MPA/MPK fixed to do minimum 1 so long as the target monster is the same level as you or higher.
- Max Life/Mana glyphs now also heal the amount listed instead of just increasing the max life/mana only.
- The "You have died" bug that occurs when swapping max life gear should now be fixed.
- Misc client updates and cleanups
- Levels are now shown next to the tier filter in the vault
- WASD keys added to navigate maze catacombs for the group leader when in the actual maze

Have fun!

Hi Everyone!

- Fixed the 71 <-> 80 level groups joining each other. Should be able to join both ways now. (Maze)
- Added STACKING to the game:
You can now stack fish based upon your proficiency in Fishing and/or Cooking. The higher proficiencies you have, the larger stacks of various tiers you can make!
Example: The current top fisher and cooker can make stacks of 21 Tier I fish! (Rank 13 and 7 respectively)
These of course can be bought/sold on the market. There are no restrictions to using such stacks, only creating them.

- To create a stack, simple drag one fish onto another fish (or stack onto another stack).
- Fish must be cooked, at least to 1% or higher (no burnt fish)
- Fish must be the same tier
- Fish combined become the average effect of all the combined fish. For instance, +50 life and +100 life will give you 2x +75 life stacked fish. You can also mix and match life/mana fish as well.

More stack info here: http://ladderslasher.d2jsp.org/index.php?g=17

This update requires client v1.13.2 to be displayed @ the login page. If you don't have this version, you will not be able to see stacks.

Have fun!

Hi Everyone!

Been working on things off and on over the past month, so please forgive me if I forgot some changes, but here's the list I had written down:
- Added /r (or /reply) to reply to the last person to message you in game
- /online now shows # of groups that are currently up
- Vault items are now sorted (withdraw page)
- Guild info added to /who if a player is in a guild
- If a player is in a group, /who will show In Group, if group is engaged, it will show Engaged Group
- /kick PLAYER now acts as a BAN on that player. They will not be able to rejoin your group until you remake the group.
- Bug fix regarding expanding vault slots under the 21 days remaining required to expand (would allow you to purchase more slot with only a few days remaining in your subscription)
- Changes to MPA/MPK, LPA/LPK (see below)
- Level 71 and higher characters can now join without level restriction any Maze Catacomb group created by a level 71 or higher character. Example, a level 71 can join a level 80 maze catacomb group, and vice versa.
- When /msg'ing a user, it will now tell you the user is not online if that username is not found.
- Fixed Glyphs so that you can now stack two glyphs with Enhanced Effect on them

** This is a server side update only, so no new client is required.

More details about Mana/Life per Kill/Attack:
- The old caps are now removed, you can now stack multiple items (including glyphs) to far exceed the old cap. (Was a hard cap of 150 for LPK/MPK for instance)
- These items now have a chance to work in Maze Catacombs
- Tier restrictions are now enforced on all such items. This is subject to change, as I will be watching the balance of these stats ongoing, so the ranges could increase in the future. The stat value will still stay the same on all old items, just be capped per tier.

I am sure I'm forgetting other details, but will update as I remember them. Have spread my work over a lot of things this last month, and didn't keep very good notes on my changes.

Have fun, and hopefully I'll have more teaser related material soon. I think we're about ready to roll on in that direction (finally!)

[edit]
Feb 28 2009: Minor client update- Arena has been revamped a little bit (cleaned up)

First, I want to say thanks to AlPi, he has taken some time to create some awesome new armors for LS. He has done an incredible job!

So, a few updates:
- New graphics for all armors
- Misc graphics cleanups in the client
- Double click will now join a catacomb group
- Pressing "g" will now Engage your group in catacombs
- Misc vault updates, including inventory auto opening on deposit page
- Maze catacombs drops tweaked a bit more
- Life steal now correctly heals a range (1% to % listed, as was originally intended)
- Life steal now has a % chance to work in maze catacombs

I would like to introduce you to version 1.13, and a big new addition, the Item Vault.

You can use the Item Vault to rent storage space to store (currently) up to 1000 items that are accessible across all of your characters. Additionally, your Guild may purchase Guild Transfer rentals that allow all members in that guild to transfer items between users (assuming both user has a valid and current vault subscription). Some other Item Vault features are that you can store any item in it, including white items (non-magical), and the ability to categorize your items, and search through the items in the your vault in a simplified manner. Also, the items in your vault are private, and other users cannot see what is in your vault.

Item Vault Hint: You can ctrl-click an item in the vault to withdraw it quickly without having to drag to your inventory.

More Item Vault information can be found here: http://ladderslasher.d2jsp.org/index.php?g=16


That's not all! In addition to this very large addition to the game, the following addons and changes have also been made:
- The Group CREATOR in Maze Catacombs now gets a +1% experience bonus PER person in the group! No more standing around waiting for higher level people to make groups anymore!
- Accessory Charms in the Maze Catacombs now cost 75% mana
- Drop rates increased for Maze Catacombs
- Heal charms will now function as a default to heal yourself if you click on a monster while one is selected
- Experience bars have been added to the Catacombs group window

- And LS is now running all the game mechanics on it's OWN database server! This should 100% stop pretty much all lag during archives!

(Yes, you read correctly, those top features ONLY apply to Maze Catacombs).

Have fun guys!

Got some more exciting stuff for you guys, that I couldn't wait to release, so you get it early. My brother (ctaulborg) helped me come up with a theme that I have coded and applied to LS for popup windows (as phase 1). I really like the way this has turned out, and am excited for the next changes.



Additionally, Glyphs in use will now show up in the top middle (right) as glyph icons. You can hover over to see what temporary effects your character is receiving, and how much time is remaining on the glyph.

Hope you guys love it! Enjoy!!!

v1.12.3 Released, you can now specify the volume with the sound command.
To mute: /sound 0
Full volume: /sound 100
Default volume: /sound 10

And the regular /sound will toggle between on and off like before. Please note your previously saved settings will disappear now, because I change the way I'm storing this now. Have fun

Hi Guys,

New version out, while you wait on the teaser. I have added some preliminary sounds to LS! Here is what effects you can expect:

When you get hit, hit a monster, get healed, level up, proficiency rank up, or grab an item from the ground, a sound effect will play.

Read the login text for info on how to toggle the sound if you absolutely want it off. However, try it first, because the notifications for various events is very helpful (especially the grabbing an item sound effect, in catacombs, to know you got it or not).

[edit] Also, replaced a duplicate monster with a new one.

Have fun!

The character list in game now sorts by oldest character first. This only affects the actual character select screen at this time, but will probably be updated to other player lists in the future (including the profile).

Update: In the catacombs, other players in your group will do damage in gray. Your damage will still be in black, so you can always see when you are attacking and how much damage you are doing.

Couple of "minor" updates
- You can now regenerate your life and mana while watching (viewing) duels!
- /kick PLAYERNAME added to duels, so you can kick people watching or challenging if you desire (same as a group)
- Couple other minor bug-fixes
- Alt characters in your password(s) should no longer give a "Login Failed" error message.

Hello everyone!

Player vs. Player is back! You can now challenge your friends and foes alike in the Arena!

PvP Features:
- You can also now directly wager Forum Gold on duels vs. other people! Winner wins the "pot"! (Leaving the match, by disconnect, or anything else qualifies as a loss)
- You can watch other duels, or have people watch yours! Unlimited spectators in a dueling game.
- You can set a level range on who can challenge you.
- The server tracks all wins and losses, and this information will eventually be used elsewhere (like displayed on your profile, under each character).

Go give it a shot! Are you really #1?

PvP Forum recreated here: LS PvP

* Coming soon: Ability to decline a challenger. Forgot about this until just now, sorry..

Enjoy!

[edit] 1.12.1 Released: http://forums.d2jsp.org/index.php?showtopic=25762988&f=272

Hello! You can now rename your characters in Ladder Slasher for a fee of 100fg per rename. The new name must be valid and not taken, of course. Should be pretty self explanatory. You will need client version 1.11.3 to see the feature. Refresh/clear cache if you don't have that showing up. Enjoy!

When a member in your group dies or levels, it will now display the text indicating such in the text log. You will need to refresh your client to get the update.

Hey guys,

I have added some basic text filtering in LS. Foul language that is filtered is not welcome in LS. I will expand the filters as necessary, but feel this is a good start to cleaning things up. Characters containing inappropriate names are being renamed/deleted as necessary. This of course will be an ongoing process, so please be patient as I get it cleaned up. Remember, kids play this game, so leave the inappropriate language at the door! We're all here to have fun!

Additionally, if you refresh, your game client will now also show time stamps next to each added field in the log box. This should help for numerous things. It is in HH:MM format.

Thanks and enjoy!