Testing continues We’ve had a great week! Testing is going very well and players are having fun. We’ve suffered a few networking problems, but of course, no server crashes. That’s to be expected since the game has been stable since 1996. Testers are currently concentrating on finding client bugs such as graphics or text errors in preparation for CD manufacturing. With such focused testing we’ve decided to keep the number of testers low. We added more than 200 testers yesterday bringing the total to almost 350 total testers. Of course with thousands of people signed up, we know that many of you are disappointed that you haven’t been invited into the test yet. Be assured that we will be ramping up those numbers quickly as we move into gameplay and finally stress testing. Many of the changes to the game have been well received. Everyone loves Rob’s newest rendition of Familiars. Let’s hope the business end of things is kind and leaves Rob some time to add some cool new battlegrounds to the game too. Brian’s gameplay changes are a huge hit so far and many players are praising the newfound balance to the spell schools. Eight new Jala songs were added yesterday with a stack of new spells coming shortly. Of course everyone is applauding the mule abuses fixes as well. Read below to learn more about Brian’s changes over the last week.
	Brian's Bug Bashing A slew of Jala with a little tweaking on the side... Increased the effect that punisher weapons have against murderers and outlaws. Weapons still give grave penalties against innocents equal to the negative of the normal bonus. Psychochild joins other creators with the addition of his signature magical weapons. About as common as Blinder weapons. These weapons will not appear in Sacred Haven. Reduced anti-resistance of shock damage on plate. Reduced Lupoggs' anti-resistance to fire damage. Fireballs were doing too much damage to the poor bastards. Altered Skeleton's reistances. Added Rubies as a conditional sale item to an NPC. Added 2 new types of Lutes for a bit of variation in spell bonuses. Added new Jala spell Invigorate. Decreases the wait between Vigor heals. 1st level, costs 1 diamond and one edible mushroom. Added new Jala spell Restorate. Decreases the wait between health heals. 3rd level, costs 1 diamond and 5 herbs. Added new Jala spell Rejuvenate. Decreases the wait between mana heals. 5th level, costs 1 diamond and one uncut seraphym. Added the new "anti-school" songs for Jala. These spells increase the chance for a fizzle when casting a spell from that particular school. Newbies cannot cast these spells. Truth hinders Riija spells. It's level 1 and costs 1 ruby and 2 rainbow ferns. Conciliation hinders Kraanan spells. It's level 2 and costs 1 ruby and 1 elderberry. Civility hinders Faren spells. It's level 2 and costs 1 ruby and 1 mushroom. Sacred Resonance hinders Qor spells. It's level 3 and costs 1 ruby and 1 fairy wing. Profane Resonance hinders Shal'ille spells. It's level 3 and costs 1 ruby and 1 herb. Disharmony hinders Jala spells. It's level 4 and costs 1 ruby. Thanks everyone, we'll have more to report next week!

Source: Near Death Studios - Info@NearDeathStudios.com