OFFICIAL MERIDIAN 59 NEWSLETTER	January 11, 2002

	Ok ok, we'll tell you this week Lots of stability changes are being made to the game. Read below for an update from Brian about some of the changes implemented over the past couple of weeks. We've also got a quick note about the site and the press. Oh... and did I mention... external testing?
	External pre-launch testing to begin soon The game server hardware is in Brian's hands. It's a pretty black unit with purple trim, very nice. We're working to get the machine configured and set up with our host so we can get you testing by the end of this month. As we mentioned last week, be sure to sign up for the mailing list and get registered and voting on the forums because these will be our primary sources for finding and inviting external testers. Yes, you could be playing Meridian 59 again this month!
	The print mags know we're alive! It's been a long time, but Meridian 59 is back in a major gaming magazine. It's a small five line blurb with an outdated screenshot, but it's a great start toward print press coverage of the game's relaunch. The game is mentioned on page 52 in the large article "State of the Online Union" in the February 2002 issue of PC Gamer. Thanks to PC Gamer for mentioning Near Death Studios and remembering Meridian 59 as "the first graphics-based massively multiplayer game." Now email them with how much you'd like to see a full article about the relaunch!
	Brian's Bug Bashing Like a machine... Added a Short Sword fighting proficiency. Used only for the Short Sword, which is no longer governed by the Fencing ability. Changed spells to their new level and schools, as specified in the proposals on the forum. Gave Create Weapon a bit better distribution of weapons and added Axe as a possible weapon to be created. The resulting weapon's hitpoints are now related to the caster's ability with Create Weapon. Changed Discordance so that it has a chance to remove each room enchantment individually. Will remove at least one enchantment from the room if spell is powerful enough. Chance of removing an enchantment with Discordance is halved against Jala spells. Reduced initial improve and also halved the mana cost of Discordance since it will require more casts to remove effects. Put a 1.5 second casting time on Discordance. Changed Hold's duration. It now lasts a random amount of time based on spellpower. Also increased level from 3 to 4. Lowered Kraanan requirement for Spiritual Hammer from 5th level to 3rd level. Changed Spiritual Hammers to be a bit more useful. Changed duration and changed reagents to 5 Herbs and 1 Orc Tooth. Made Spiritual Hammers undamagable. Doesn't really affect anything, just makes them seem cooler. :) Also can't be swapped, shattered, or weakened. Changed Dement's reagents to island reagents, 1 Rainbow Fern and 1 Web Moss. Made Unholy Resolve and Holy Resolve island spells. Added Solagh as a reagent to the spells. Spells were moved from the mainland priestesses to the bone priestess on the island. Made Detect Good and Detect Evil more newbie appropriate. Removed island reagent from the spells and moved from the bone priestess on the island to the appropriate priestess on the mainland. Reagent for Detect Good is 1 Fairy Wing, for Detect Evil is 1 Herb. Made duration on Killing fields relate to spellpower. Also decreased reagent cost to 3 Elderberries and 1 Orc Tooth and increased max damage bonus. Increased base duration on Haste and eliminated vigor cost for casting. Fixed the bug with Create Food regarding max spellpower. Also increased the number of items you can create from the spell. Changed the reagents for Create Food from Herbs to Elderberries. Changed it so that you can mend items affected by Shroud. Changed Gaze of the Basilisk so that it no longer turns you to an an outlaw for just casting it. Qor priestess now requires that the player have 4th level Riija in order to learn Swap. Swap now requires Yrxl Sap as a reagent. Added a post-cast delay of 5 seconds on Swap. Cleaned up Mana Focus when checking to see if a spell breaks the trance to allow room for adding more attack spells in the future. Fixed Glow to properly add itself to random generated weapons. Be sure to head over to the Official Meridian 59 Forums to share your thoughts with Brian and the rest of the team.
	New look for the Official Site The Official Meridian 59 Website has been updated. The site's look is now consistent with the forums. Most importantly the layout and structure of the site has been greatly updated resulting smaller file sizes and making updates to the content much easier.

Source: Near Death Studios - Info@NearDeathStudios.com