Rise of the Upstart Gods (Patch 2.0) was added to Shadowbane on March 17th, 2003.
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Long have the peoples of Aerynth have looked to the Gods for guidance, but their prayers have gone unheeded. At last some of the Lost Gods stir again, and new demi-gods offer their favor to the scattered nations of the Age of Strife. Which would-be God will they follow? New altars arise in the cities, and quests have begun for the precious treasures the Gods demand as offerings. The Elves move to rebuild their shattered empire, but even as they raise glorious new cities, ancient pacts with Chaos exact a terrible price. The peoples of Aerynth look to Gods new and old; how will the rise of the Upstart Gods reshape the shattered fragments of Aerynth?
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- Rise of the Upstart Gods promotional narrative
General Changes
Trees and foliage should sway in the wind and many tree branches will no longer cause collision issues. This is a work in progress and all trees will be updated in time. Only the foliage in the new Elven adventure zone currently sway in the wind.
Powerblock powers now also apply a powerblock immunity with twice the duration of the powerblock (e.g. a four second powerblock now applies an eight second powerblock immunity at the same time, much like stuns).
Fear powers now affect mobs up to level 60 (with the exception of Discipline-granted powers, which affect mobs up to level 50)
Some powers should stop displaying their effects twice in the powers channel
Damage absorbers now take significantly more damage before breaking
Some mobs now drop treasure more appropriate for their surroundings
Very high level mobs (46+) should now drop loot more often
The siege hammer now uses a different combat animation
All building deeds now have descriptive mouse-overs
Various Client-side memory leaks have been fixed
Leave World should work much more efficiently
Some new item enchantments are now available
Various client crashes have been fixed
World Changes
Introduced a new Elven Zone named Aeran Belendor on all mapsets. Not only does this zone contain an epic encounter in the form of Vranaxxas, it also has several camps with monsters as powerful as those on Maelstrom.
The Aelfborn Timberlands and Wizard Forest have been upgraded to rank 3 & 4 adventure areas, and are re-integrated into the three mapsets. Some creatures and monsters were increased in level, and other new ones were introduced.
More trainers have been placed in safeholds on Aerynth and Dalgoth. Now most classes and professions will be trainable in (or close to) a safehold.
Monsters of Maelstrom now use Chaos-themed weaponry
Introduced Siege Spires which are powerful buildings that a guildmaster can place in his city, which cast enchantments that effect the entire city zone. Read the In-Development section for more information.
Introduced the Divine Favor system in which City owners can place up to three of these shrines in their city and guild members can sacrifice offerings at shrines that match their own that are elsewhere in the world. This will raise their city's stature. Favor is gathered by conquering enemy cities and killing monsters. City members who are of that race or class may get a powerful enchantment, called a boon, and the size of the boon will be based upon how much favor the guild has collected. Read the In-Development section for more information.
Building upgrade and maintenance costs on Mourning, Chaos, and War are now the same as the newer servers (i.e. higher upgrade, lower maintenance)
Elven builders are now in the world, well-stocked with Elven building deeds
Shade and Nephilim armorers should be able to create Windlord boots again
Male Nephilim vendors should now greet shoppers like other hirelings
Hireling upgrade costs have been significantly increased
Hireling salary costs have been significantly reduced
The Challenge power can no longer be used on siege engines
Handheld Siege Weapons have been reduced in damage
Siege Engines have had their damage increased
Racial Changes
The Shade witchsight effect no longer has an effect icon
Class Changes
Mage Defensive Stance now has Mental and Holy resistance components
The power Baleful Cry of Weilund now GMs in 10 trains
The confusion power Cacaphony has been removed
The power Steadfast Soul is now single target
The power Visage of Purity now GMs in 10 trains
The power Visage of the Archons is now granted with 10 free trains, since it now GMs in 10 trains
The Corruption skill icons are now the correct color
The Wolf's Vigor power now always overrides other powers of the same type, regardless of power rank
The Abjuration skill icons are now the correct color
The run component of Sentinel's Charge now improves with trains and also now has power strings
The confusion power Bewilder has been removed
The power Charm of Protection is now self only
Discipline Changes
Discipline droppers have been increased in number and redistributed in some cases. Discipline promoters have been redistributed in some cases.
Introduced Archmage, a new Elf-Only and Mage-Only Discipline. Archmage grants three powers: a massive power potency buff for emergencies; a fine damage and recovery debuff well-suited to disabling melee opponents; and a personal powerblock immunity.
The power Intimidate now GMs in 10 trains
The Ardan's Shroud power is now dispellable with dispel debuff powers
The Shroudborne description has been revised
Introduced Thrall, a new Minotaur-Only Discipline. Thralls have access to several new weapon powers, including a short-range snare. Their Elven friends will also appreciate an Elf- and Minotaur-only health transfer and a stun break, perfect for the Elven groupmates who don't share their slave's immunity to the effect.
The spelling of the word "Traveler" has been corrected across the game
The Skree'ekt Shape power's components now last the same amount of time
