Attention Players: During the maintenance today, we made some updates to our security system. If you are one of our players who use the standalone launcher (HorizonsLauncher.exe), you will need to patch through the website to get the updated version before it will work properly.

Perfect harmony is not required, because it's not the real thing, baby!

Baela doesn't want to buy the world a coke, but she is a New Seeker of song parodies!

Choose any song and change the lyrics to an Istarian theme! Include the revised lyrics along with your character name/shard and the original song name/artist in an email to Baela!

The winning entrant will get an emblem giving the title "Dulcet Dignitary"! Good Luck!

The following additions, changes and fixes will be applied to Blight on Friday, January 27, 2006:

• Ethereal Blade and Group Ethereal Blade will no longer convert damage to Spirit.
• Added a sandpile to the communities of Selen, Dalimond Ridge Gate, Drift Point, Sanctuary Bay, Granite Hills, and Heart.
• Added a well to the communities of Cire, Arua, Dalimond Ridge Gate, Drift Point, Sanctuary Bay, Granite Hills, and Heart.
• Fire Ogres and Fire Pygmies will now do flame damage.
• Flame Ogres and Flame Pygmies will now do flame damage.
• Lady Kendra in Kion has acquired a Distillery and has placed it inside the back room of her Manor House.
• Tier 3 Lunus Essence Chamber will now have a Scholar's Desk.
• "Gain Breath of Ice" quest will now properly count the ten Algedian Silver Bars you make instead of just one.
• Quest "Lairshaping Mastery (Part 6)" will now properly give out the Lairshaping Mastery ability for that level.
• Adventure: Primal IV techinque now requires two Arbotus Gullets.
• Dragon Lairshaper school will now gain ten points of Ingenuity per level.

For those players who have been noticing a lot of streaking going on outside of Order's Carmo Community, don't worry!

From the patch notes for January 24, 2006:

• The good performance and high performance graphic settings do not display items on remote characters. The default has been changed so that only high performance has this feature disabled (the default setting for new installs). Customers currently running with their settings on good performance will now be able to see items on remote characters.

Recent Client changes have been made to maintain game playability in low FPS situations. This means that when a player has 10 fps or less, the client will cease to update visual displays until the frame rate is higher. This ensures that players still receive network messages and that they can continue to play Horizons.

Players may see semi-clothed NPCs and players or they may not see the proper tool/weapon equipped if they change items. Players may also be hearing incorrect combat sounds.

Simply change your graphics settings in the Options window to Good Performance or Maximum Performance and you can do your part to stop the rampant streaking in Istaria!

Attention Istarians: We will be restarting Order and Chaos at 7am PST, Wednesday, January 25th, to apply a hotfix that will remove Festival ornaments from all gatherable resources.

Send in your best shots to Baela

Need some Screenshot Tips?

The following additions, changes and fixes were applied to the Live Shards on Tuesday, January 24, 2006:

While little is known about the Festival Treants, their affinity for gift giving has overshadowed their mysterious arrival. Now that the Winter Festival is drawing to a close, people have begun to wonder what will become of their generous new friends. Not everyone is curious however, as they already know what effects this time of year have on the spirits of the Treants.....

• Reklar's Winds of Fury is now removable and will no longer be affected by Detoxify.
• Beginner Essence Construction Sphere added to Enchanter trainers.
• Quest “Dragon: Gain the power of the Draining Strike” now expects 10 Cedar or Massive Cedar Treants instead of 20.
• Purple Necroflies should now be more social and aggressive.
• Darsenia, a Satyr Druid, has arrived in Mahagra and is studying the emergence of Blighted Festival Treants.
• Professor Ferdo Roonwinkle in New Rachival has begun a new line of research and now carries a set of formula for sale.
• Added a well and a sandpile to Bristugo.
• Added a well and a sandpile to Central Valley.
• Septianus the Pawn Broker in Dralk has returned from his underground explorations.
• Improved the delay mod for Static Aura to match that of Energize II. Static Aura will now overwrite Energize II.
• Dralk Town Marshall is now offering bounties for “Fire Ogres” and “Lava Golems”.
• Dralk Town Marshall is now offering a bounty for “Small Fire Beetles”
• Cinderfist the named Flame Ogre now counts for the quest “Gold Rage VI”
• Smac Smac the named Flame Pygmy now counts for the quest “Gold Rage VI”
• Dralk Town Marshall is now offering a bounty for “Small Flame Beetles”
• Technique “Spell Covalence IV” now requires a Cobalt Golem Fragment instead of a Myloc Hat Foot. Updated description of Cobalt Golem Fragment.
• Darkstaff Quest 'The Cursed Chain Letter' has been removed from the game since some NPCs necessary for the completion of the quest are no longer available.
• Added display of damage type to combat feedback messages.
• Verbose combat messages will properly show parries, blocks, and dodges. Previously these were displayed as misses.
• The good performance and high performance graphic settings do not display items on remote characters. The default has been changed so that only high performance has this feature disabled (the default setting for new installs). Customers currently running with their settings on good performance will now be able to see items on remote characters.

Attention Istarians: We have discovered a problem in the game when moving items from your structures to your inventory. Sometimes, the item will not appear in your inventory and/or does not appear in the structure inventory. This is a display error, the item has not been destroyed. This will be corrected tomorrow during the January 24, 2006, maintenance of the servers.

We apologize for any inconvenience or fear this may have caused you and we thank you kindly for your patience!

The following additions, changes and fixes are being applied to Blight on Friday, January 20, 2006:

• Added a well and a sandpile to Bristugo.
• Added a well and a sandpile to Central Valley.
• Septianus the Pawn Broker in Dralk has returned from his underground explorations.
• Improved the delay mod for Static Aura to match that of Energize II. Static Aura will now overwrite Energize II.
• Dralk Town Marshall is now offering bounties for “Fire Ogres” and “Lava Golems”.
• Dralk Town Marshall is now offering a bounty for “Small Fire Beetles”
• Cinderfist the named Flame Ogre now counts for the quest “Gold Rage VI”
• Smac Smac the named Flame Pygmy now counts for the quest “Gold Rage VI”
• Dralk Town Marshall is now offering a bounty for “Small Flame Beetles”
• Technique “Spell Covalence IV” now requires a Cobalt Golem Fragment instead of a Myloc Hat Foot. Updated description of Cobalt Golem Fragment.
• Darkstaff Quest 'The Cursed Chain Letter' has been removed from the game since some NPCs necessary for the completion of the quest are no longer available.

The following additions, changes and fixes were applied to Blight on Friday, January 13, 2006:

While little is known about the Festival Treants, their affinity for gift giving has overshadowed their mysterious arrival.  Now that the Winter Festival is drawing to a close, people have begun to wonder what will become of their generous new friends.  Not everyone is curious however, as they already know what effects this time of year have on the spirits of the Treants.....

• Reklar's Winds of Fury is now removable and will no longer be affected by Detoxify.
• Beginner Essence Construction Sphere added to Enchanter trainers.
• Quest “Dragon: Gain the power of the Draining Strike” now expects 10 Cedar or Massive Cedar Treants instead of 20.
• Purple Necroflies should now be more social and aggressive.
• Darsenia, a Satyr Druid, has arrived in Mahagra and is studying the emergence of Blighted Festival Treants.
• Professor Ferdo Roonwinkle in New Rachival has begun a new line of research and now carries a set of formula for sale.

Posted on the Community site about the special pricing.

Our Anniversary promotion ended on Monday, the 16th of January. We hope you took advantage of the great deal while it was available.

If you missed that promo, don't worry! Keep an eye here for any up and coming specials!

The following additions, changes and fixes were applied to Chaos and Order on Tuesday, January 17, 2006:

Lair and Lairshaping:

• Crystalline Lattice Forms will now require the Lairshaping Ability and the Crystalshaping Machine.
• Deleted Lair Chambers that used Primal Essence of Melding will now properly send Novian Primal Essence of Melding into your vault upon deletion.
• Fixed a bug with Expert and Master Focused Azulyte Crystal formulas which prevented them from recognizing Unfocused Azulyte Crystals.
• Corrected the minimum skill requirement of a Tier 2 Helian/Lunus Hall from 225 to 200. The optimal skill is 425.
• Corrected the XP values for applying resources to Tier 4 Helian/Lunus Lairs.
• Corrected the resource requirements of Tier 6 Helian/Lunus Lair chambers.
• Corrected the XP values for applying Tier 3 Flowstones and Tier 4 Excoriations to Tier 4 Helian/Lunus Halls.
• Relstaroth the Lairshaper Trainer now carries the Journeyman Focused Azulyte Crystal formula.
• “Crystalshaping Mastery III” quest will now properly give out the proper ability when completed. Players will need to delete the quest and obtain it again in order to properly receive this update.
• Expert Maelstone formula will now properly classify as Expert instead of Master.
• Bgn/Jrn/Exp/Mas Cast Stone formulas now require a Stone Cutter instead of a Stoneworking Pedestal. This will allow players to receive a bonus to the Stoneworking skill when processing Cast Stone.
• Quest “Lairshaping Mastery V” will now properly give out the ability of the same name when completed. Players will need to delete the quest and obtain it again in order to properly receive this update.
• Corrected the XP values when applying Primal Essence of Mergence to a Tier 5 Lunus or Helian Consignment chamber.
• The Dragon Council and Relstaroth the Lairshaper have agreed to increase the capacity that can be stored in Lair Storage chambers. The new totals are:
• Tier 1 – 25000 bulk
• Tier 2 – 40000 bulk
• Tier 3 – 55000 bulk
• Tier 4 – 70000 bulk
• Tier 5 – 85000 bulk
• Tier 6 – 100000 bulk
• Corrected the minimum and maximum Skill and Units required when applying Polished Maelstones to a Tier 5 Helian/Lunus Essence Shaping chamber.
• Lowered the resource requirements for Lair Storage chambers.
• Lair Reverse Spiral and Lair Corner Spiral chambers are now available.
• All reported subterranean trees and rocks have been removed. If you encounter any additional ones, please contact support.istaria.com
• All reported underwater lairs have been corrected. If you encounter any additional ones, please contact support.istaria.com

Adventurer:

• Vital Defiance will no longer show up with a no-asset box.
• Surge of Armor V will now classify properly as a “boon” in the Knowledge window.
• Nahguk Pygmies will now drop Pygmy Ears instead of Ogre Jawbones.
• Conjurer abilities, Flame and Ice Elements, will now save on logout.
• Lowered the minimum spawn time for Kaa the Shade.
• Adjusted the skill requirement for Expert Ice Bomb from 820 to 920. XP and resource requirements increased to reflect this change.
• Radiant and Shining (Blight, Energy, Flame, Ice, Mind and Spirit) Crystals will give the proper effect when consumed.
• Demonskin Staff is now usable by Battlemages and Druids.
• The Trophy Hunters in Kion and Sslanis are now looking for Large and Giant Sand Beetle Compound Eyes.
• Ugrot the Ice Ogre and Kungi the Ice Pygmy will now count towards completion of the Level 40 Drain Strike IV quest for Dragons.
• Dimebach the Nickel Golem and Gravier the Granite Golem will now count towards completion of the Level 40 Accurate Breath IV quest for Dragons.
• Biting Necroflies will no longer drop coin, but now have a greater chance of dropping more than one loot item.
• Grup the Sand Pygmy on New Trismus now carries appropriate loot.
• Stunner III now has a recycle time of 30 seconds.
• Defy Nature II will now overwrite Defy Nature I when it is obtained.

Tradeskill:

• Master Weapon, Armor and Scale Formulas no longer have a level requirement, and are strictly skill based.
• Corrected the Reklar's Tower Shield formula to check your Armorcraft skill when scribing, instead of your Weaponcraft skill.
• Corrected the appearance and tricking options for Staves, both standard and Fine. Staves have from 3 to 7 tricking options available to them. Fine Yew Quarterstaff, Yew Quarterstaff, Yew Shillelagh, and Yew Staff can now be tricked again.
• Beginner Dairy Products now call for a Cooking Table instead of a Cauldron.
• Tier 4 Human House now uses the correct storage sizes of 80 stacks and 9600 bulk.
• Updated the description of Redbacked Spider Breeder Eyes to properly list the techniques that require it.
• Technique “Craft: Essence Structuring III” now requires Redbacked Tarantula Eyes instead of Myloc Hair.
• Technique “Adventure: Primal IV” now requires Arbotus Gullet instead of Myloc Hag Feet.
• Technique “Adventure: Dragon Breath IV” now requires Shadow Spider Fang instead of Myloc Hag Feet.
• Weaver Trainers now carry the Journeyman Leather Tannin formula.
• Beginner Dried Fruit now asks for a Baking Spatula instead of Clay Scoop.
• Skill requirements for Beginner, Journeyman, Expert and Master Fungal Hide Processing forms updated to 150, 350, 550, 750, 950 and 1150.
• Journeyman Fungal Cap Processing form added to all Gatherer trainers.

New Trismus:

• Four new quests added to Kerian the Dragon Crafter on New Trismus.
• Imitation Scale of the Prime quest renamed to “Learn about the Helian faction” and added to Avariatus on New Trismus to be given out prior to level 10. It now contains significantly more lore and does not require you to port to Vladtmordt to obtain the Imitation Scale of the Prime.
• Imitation Tempered Scale quest renamed to “Learn about the Lunus faction” and added to Avariatus on New Trismus to be given out prior to level 10. It now contains significantly more lore and does not require you to port to Vladtmordt to obtain the Imitation Tempered Scale.
• Adjusted the quest “Avariatus' Quest: Slap around some beetles with Tail Whip” so that the waypoint is easier to find and that the dialog and quest steps are more clear about which beetles to kill.

Miscellaneous:

• Mithril Nodes will now correctly give Red Ornaments as Bonus Resources instead of Purple Ornaments.
• Alchemist's Gears will no longer be available until Phase 2 of new Crystals is rolled out.
• Players will always get a road bonus while underground.

Order is back up! Please note: No hamsters were harmed in the return of the Order shard!

The Order shard is down for unexpected maintenance at this time.

We expect it to take approximately two hours to lure the hamsters back to their wheel and put them back to work!

Our apologies for any inconvenience this may cause and we thank you kindly for your patience!

Hey nah, hey nah Baela's back...and looking for screenshots!

We're looking for screenshots again, but this time there's a catch! Send in a screenshot of your funniest death!

The funniest screenie will be posted here and the winner will get a Celebrity Deathpoint emblem!

Send in your best shots to Baela

Need some Screenshot Tips?

The following additions, changes and fixes are being applied to Blight on Friday, January 13, 2006:

While little is known about the Festival Treants, their affinity for gift giving has overshadowed their mysterious arrival.  Now that the Winter Festival is drawing to a close, people have begun to wonder what will become of their generous new friends.  Not everyone is curious however, as they already know what effects this time of year have on the spirits of the Treants.....

• Reklar's Winds of Fury is now removable and will no longer be affected by Detoxify.
• Beginner Essence Construction Sphere added to Enchanter trainers.
• Quest “Dragon: Gain the power of the Draining Strike” now expects 10 Cedar or Massive Cedar Treants instead of 20.
• Purple Necroflies should now be more social and aggressive.
• Darsenia, a Satyr Druid, has arrived in Mahagra and is studying the emergence of Blighted Festival Treants.
• Professor Ferdo Roonwinkle in New Rachival has begun a new line of research and now carries a set of formula for sale.

The following changes/additions/fixes have been applied to the Blight shard on January 11th, 2006...

• Fine Yew Quarterstaff, Yew Quarterstaff, Yew Shillelagh, and Yew Staff can now be tricked again.
• Ugrot the Ice Ogre and Kungi the Ice Pygmy will now count towards completion of the Level 40 Drain Strike IV quest for Dragons.
• Dimebach the Nickel Golem and Gravier the Granite Golem will now count towards completion of the Level 40 Accurate Breath IV quest for Dragons.
• The Dragon Council and Relstaroth the Lairshaper have agreed to increase the capacity that can be stored in Lair Storage chambers. The new totals are:
• Tier 1 – 25000 bulk
• Tier 2 – 40000 bulk
• Tier 3 – 55000 bulk
• Tier 4 – 70000 bulk
• Tier 5 – 85000 bulk
• Tier 6 – 100000 bulk
• Redbacked Spider Breeder Eye will now list the techniques it is a component for in its description.
• Biting Necroflies will no longer drop coin, but now have a greater chance of dropping more than one loot item.
• Grup the Sand Pygmy on New Trismus now carries appropriate loot.
• Technique “Craft: Essence Structuring III” now requires Redbacked Tarantula Eyes instead of Myloc Hair.
• Technique “Adventure: Primal IV” now requires Arbotus Gullet instead of Myloc Hag Feet.
• Technique “Adventure: Dragon Breath IV” now requires Shadow Spider Fang instead of Myloc Hag Feet.
• Corrected the minimum and maximum Skill and Units required when applying Polished Maelstones to a Tier 5 Helian/Lunus Essence Shaping chamber.
• Weaver Trainers now carry the Journeyman Leather Tannin formula.
• Beginner Dried Fruit now asks for a Baking Spatula instead of Clay Scoop.
• Stunner III now has a recycle time of 30 seconds.
• Defy Nature II will now overwrite Defy Nature I when it is obtained.
• Skill requirements for Beginner, Journeyman, Expert and Master Fungal Hide Processing forms updated to 150, 350, 550, 750, 950 and 1150.
• Journeyman Fungal Cap Processing form added to all Gatherer trainers.
• Lowered the resource requirements for Lair Storage chambers.
• “Attunement to Aedan” quest accepts all wolves now and has better directions.

The following fixes and optimizations were made to the client on January 10th, 2006:

• Changed the property window so you can delete or plan multiple structures at the same time (through multi selection)
• Building structures that are outside your load distance should now correctly update your planning/under construction windows and not lead to broken connectivity.
• Improved handling of spurious messages.
• Decreased overhead of handling network messages when under high load.
• Network status is no longer checked in main loop.
• Removed FM technology for connection status and disconnect.
• Reduced update period of some systems to improve overall frame rate.