TF2 Newbs (Team Fortress 2) Blog

Would you look at this… a new TF2 item quality! Here’s the rundown (combining patches from Nov 6-Nov 12):

• Added a new item quality: Collector’s (with dark-red text).
• Added new Chemistry Sets (see below for list).
  • Some of these new Chemistry Sets create Strangifiers.
  • Lots of other Chemistry Sets create a Collector’s-quality item.
    • The recipe for Collector’s-quality items is simply a large number of the same type of item (e.g. 200 Mad Milks to make a Collector’s Mad Milk).
• Eternatween Enchantments (lets a server allow Halloween/Full Moon items for a two-hour period).
  • Requires a successful server vote before being consumed and taking effect.
  • Now has a server cooldown period between votes.
  • Fixed some spells not working properly during Eternatween.
  • Merasmus now has 13 new voice lines specifically for Eternatween, welcoming players to Eternatween, etc.
• Spooky Keys have now converted to standard Crate Keys.
• Spooky Crates and Piles of Curses will be deleted from inventories on a player’s next startup of the game.
• Halloween spells are now permanently affixed to their target item.
  • However, their effects will now show only during Halloween/Full Moon/Eternatween.
• Grandmaster will now update its model based on its wearer’s kill streak.
  • Being a chessboard hat, it will cycle illusory chess pieces above the wearer’s head, going from a pawn piece at zero kills, then each kill changing it in turn to a rook, knight, bishop, queen, and finally king at five or more kills.
• Updated the Jupiter Jumpers so that they can be equipped with the Mantreads or the Gunboats.
• Updated Ivan the Inedible to match the other Spooky Companion items.
• HTML MOTDs (Messages of the Day) will no longer be shown for players connecting via quickplay.
• Removed the prompt to opt-in to quickplay beta.
• Helltower Changes:
  • Fixed an exploit in Helltower caused by changing teams in hell in order to instantly respawn.
  • Increased the projectile speed and damage of the lightning ball spell.
  • Fixed being able to enter enemy spawn with the Teleport spell.
• Bugfixes:
  • Fixed special taunts being overridden by the Thriller Halloween taunt.
  • Fixed the Open Loadout button on the item pickup notification screen from not working properly.
• Added HalloweenSetUsingSpells input to the tf_logic_holiday entity by community request, allowing for Halloween spell usage for custom TF2 Halloween maps.
• Halloween-themed Community Items (see the list in the last blog post) are now back to regular price in the Mann Co. Store (in most cases $4.99 to $7.49).

New Chemistry Sets…!

Relax, no additional skill in math required… or is there? Because you’re gonna need to count higher than your fingers and your toes in order to crate a Collector’s item! I’ve heard of as high as 200-of-the-same-item requirements for these Collector’s Chemistry Sets. Here’s what’s now available:

• Strangifier Chemistry Sets, 13 total, from the August 27, 2013 patch:
  • Bonk Boy
  • Fancy Dress Uniform
  • Sight for Sore Eyes
  • Bird-Man of Aberdeen
  • Toss-Proof Towel
  • Teddy Roosebelt
  • Archimedes
  • Villain’s Veil
  • Camera Beard
  • All-Father
  • Summer Shades
  • Merc’s Pride Scarf
  • RoBro 3000
  • –not counting– Strange Bacon Grease (for the Frying Pan)
• Strangifier Chemistry Sets, 9 total, from the November 12, 2013 patch:
  • Boston Boom-Bringer
  • Lord Cockswain’s Novelty Mutton Chops and Pipe
  • Stockbroker’s Scarf
  • Dark Age Defender
  • Sandvich Safe
  • Foppish Physician
  • Outback Intellectual
  • Blood Banker
  • Professor Speks
• Collector’s Chemistry Sets, 39 total, added in the November 12, 2013 patch:
  • Scout (8 total): Shortstop, Mad Milk, Winger, Flying Guillotine, Holy Mackerel, Boston Basher, Atomizer, Wrap Assassin
  • Soldier (8 total): Black Box, Liberty Launcher, Cow Mangler 5000, Original, Gunboats, Battalion’s Backup, Righteous Bison, Escape Plan
  • Pyro (3 total): Backburner, Detonator, Homewrecker
  • Demo (2 total): Claidheamh Mor, Ullapool Caber
  • Heavy (5 total): Huo-Long Heater, Dalokohs Bar, Buffalo Steak Sandvich, Warrior’s Spirit, Holiday Punch
  • Engineer (3 total): Frontier Justice, Short Circuit, Eureka Effect
  • Medic (3 total): Vaccinator, Vita-Saw, Solemn Vow
  • Sniper (3 total): Machina, Hitman’s Heatmaker, Jarate
  • Spy (4 total): Ambassador, Conniver’s Kunai, Big Earner, Spy-cicle

So, while the existence of Collector’s items may not prevent most people from making scrap metal out of their items, it could cause some players to want very badly to collect all of one particular item in order to craft a Collector-quality item. Who knows, but this might cause metal to be worth more… or at least most random weapons.

[N] Obey

Don’t forget Steam’s “Halloween Sale 2013″!

“Scream Fortress 2013″ runs from Tuesday, October 29th through Monday, November 11th. During that time, players are invited to play on a reskinned Hightower map, but now with spells. When one side wins, everyone goes to a “Hell” where you race to Skull Island for a hat. The side that won has buffed health during this run, and players that die become ghosts to hinder the others for surviving, ending only when one side is eliminated completely. (TF2 could also be counting whether Red or Blue wins more often, similar to the Soldier vs. Demo update a few years back… who knows?)

You must launch the TF2 game during this window in order to (immediately) receive an accessory that will allow you to equip spells, much like the Canteen for MvM. This accessory is called the “Spellbook Magazine”. An in-game reminder will ask you if you want to equip the Spellbook Magazine if you join the new Halloween Map… Helltower!!

November 1st mini-patch:

• Fixed server crashes caused by players becoming ghosts in Hell, spellbooks and switching weapons
• Updated the Crusader’s Crossbow:
  • Fixed an exploit related to switching weapons
  • Reduced damage/healing on target to 50 per hit from 75
  • Reload time reduced to 1.5 seconds from 3 seconds

Scream Fortress changes:

•  Added new Halloween Map “Helltower”: plr_hightower_event
  • It is a reskin of the payload race map Hightower, at nighttime, with a giant clocktower
• Spells can be found by pushing the cart, killing enemies, and during the Witching Hour (?)
• The Clocktower contains powerful magic during the Witching Hour (?)
• Added over 100 Halloween tagged items from the TF2 Workshop
  • Probably all of these items are cosmetics
• Added Spooky Crate #74 to the drop list
  • See below for a probable drop list! [EDIT: Now with pictures and leaks to the wiki!]
    
  • Assumed to disappear at the end of the day of November 11th
• Added Spooky Key to Mann Co. Store (purchasable for US$2.49)
  • After November 11th, they turn into normal Crate Keys.
• Added Transmogrifier tool items for each class
  • Found rarely in the Haunted Halloween Gifts on Halloween event maps
  • This tool item will convert one Halloween-themed cosmetic item into another random one, but from the available list of cosmetics for that class
  • For example, a Soldier Transmogrifier may turn the Pyro’s Corpsemopolitan into a Soldier’s Freedom Feathers
• Added the tool item Enchantment: Eternaween
  
  • This one-use tool item will allow the entire server to enable Halloween/Full Moon items, for a “short time”
  • Can also be uncrated (from Spooky Crate #74) in Haunted quality
• Enabled Halloween even maps in quick play
• Enabled Halloween gifts on Halloween event maps
  • Like last year, standard item drops have been disabled. Again, this should revert to normal on November 12th.
  • Instead, a gift “just for you” appears on the map that only you can see and obtain. You must join the game and have your character touch the gift in-game to obtain the item drop–which is usually a Halloween costume piece, Halloween spell potion, or other item.
• Re-enabled last year’s Halloween Spell Potions
  • The footprint effects, paint effects, weapon effects and vocal effects were all cosmetic in nature.
  • Once again, they should disappear from your inventory at the end of November 11th.
• Enabled MvM event map “Wave 666″ in Boot Camp mode only.
  • Due to an earlier patch, the map name is mvm_ghost_town.
  • There is still no reward for completing the single mission, “Caliginous Caper”.
• New Halloween-themed Unusual Effects
  • Unusuals uncrated from any crate may now have a Halloween-themed Unusual Effect, instead of the standard Unusual Effects available
• Haunted quality items can now be listed on the Steam Marketplace

Other TF2 Changes

• koth_lakeside_event AKA Ghost Fort
  • Merasmus’s health has been lowered an unknown amount.
• Medic’s Crusader Crossbow now silently reloads when unreadied, similar to the Flare Gun for the Pyro
  • See more changes above in the November 1st repatch
• “Fixed” the charge rate for the Bazaar Bargain at zero heads
  • Not sure is this means it correctly charges at -40%, or was changed back to -20%, or something else.
• Medics can now see the clip status of a patient’s active weapon IN ALL GAME MODES now !
• Bugfixes:
  • Updated “The Air Raider” so it can be painted correctly.
  • Updated “The Bone Dome” so it doesn’t hide Pyro backpack cosmetics.
  • Strange Part: Kills While Ubercharged can no longer be applied to Strange Equalizers and Strange Escape Plans.
  • Fixed the backpack panel from using the wrong drop sound when items are moved around.
  • Fixed an exploit allowing unlimited uses of noisemaker items
  • Fixed not being able to earn the Brotherhood of Steel MvM achievement
  • Fixed the camera target not always being visible whe using the replay editor
• Lots of VR changes, including:
  • Removing the IPD calibration tool (using the Oculus config file instead)
  • Added the ability to switch in and our of VR mode without quitting the game
  • VR mode will now run in full screen by default
  • Added support for VR mode on Linux

Over 100 New Cosmetic Items!

While all of these hats and accessories might be getting old-hat for some (no doubt like some of my puns), there is certainly a dizzyingly large number of cosmetics. Here is an alphabetized stack of links to all of these items’ individual pages on the Official TF2 Wiki, unless I get them more organized later.

Note: Some of these items are hats, some are costume parts, some are head replacement parts, and others are just accessories that go elsewhere on your character. But all of them are created by the Workshop Community–and all of them are purchasable for the same price of US$2.49 (for now, anyway)! You may wish to buy a desired item straight from the store, than buying a key, especially once the crates disappear.

Abhorrent Appendages, Accursed Apparition, Alternative Medicine Mann, Archimedes the Undying, Baphomet Trotters, Beacon from Beyond, Beast From Below, Birdie Bonnet, Bountiful Bow, Bozo’s Bouffant, Bozo’s Brogues, Burny’s Boney Bonnet, Cadaver’s Capper, Candleer, Candyman’s Cap, ‎Cap’n Calamari, Carious Chameleon, Carrion Companion, Cauterizer’s Caudal Appendage, Chicken Kiev, Corpsemopolitan, Creature From The Heap, Crispy Golden Locks, Cryptic Keepsake, Dark Helm, Das Blutliebhaber, Death Support Pack, Ethereal Hood, External Organ, Face Plante, Faun Feet, Faux Manchu, Foul Cowl, Freedom Feathers, Glob, Gothic Guise, Grease Monkey, Grisly Gumbo, Grub Grenades, Guano, Hallowed Headcase, Halloweiner, Handhunter, Hardium Helm, Hard-Headed Hardware, Haunted Hat, Headtaker’s Hood, Hidden Dragon, Hollowhead, Horned Honcho, Horrific Head of Hare, Horsemann’s Hand-Me-Down, Hound’s Hood, Hyperbaric Bowler, Ivan The Inedible, Jupiter Jumpers, Larval Lid, Last Bite, Lieutenant Bites the Dust, Lo-Grav Loafers, Lordly Lapels, Macabre Mask, Magical Mercenary, Maniac’s Manacles, Manneater, Mann-Bird of Aberdeen, Medimedes, Monster’s Stompers, Monstrous Mandible, Mucous Membrain, One-Way Ticket, Parasight, Pin Pals, Pocket Horsemann, Polly Putrid, PY-40 Incinibot, Quoth, Ramses’ Regalia, Raven’s Visage, Rugged Respirator, Sackcloth Spook, Scorched Skirt, Second Opinion, Shaman’s Skull, Shaolin Sash, Sir Shootsalot, Snaggletoothed Stetson, Space Bracers, Spectralnaut, Spellbinder’s Bonnet, Sprinting Cephalopod, Squid’s Lid, Surgeon’s Space Suit, Terrier Trousers, Teutonkahmun, Transylvania Top, Trepanabotomizer, Tuque or Treat, Unidentified Following Object, Up Pyroscopes, Vicar’s Vestments, Vicious Visage

Here are the contents of Crate #74, complete with pictures:

Halloweiner		Horrific Head of Hare		Hound’s Hood		Face Plante		Faun Feet		Sprinting Cephalopod
Terrier Trousers		Cadaver’s Capper		Freedom Feathers		Hardium Helm		Hidden Dragon		Larval Lid
Spellbinder’s Bonnet		Faux Manchu		Grub grenades		Jupiter Jumpers		Lieutenant Bites the Dust		Shaolin Sash
Space Bracers		Bozo’s Bouffant		Burny’s Boney Bonnet		Corpsemopolitan		Crispy Golden Locks		Gothic Guise
Macabre Mask		Mucous Membrain		Raven’s Visage		Spectralnaut		Abhorrent Appendages		Beast from Below
Carrion Companion		Cauterizer’s Caudal Appendage		Creature From The Heap		Death Support Pack		External Organ		Glob
Grisly Gumbo		Handhunter		Hard-Headed Hardware		Hollowhead		Maniac’s Manacles		Monster’s Stompers
PY-40 Incinibot		Rugged Respirator		Scorched Skirt		Up Pyroscopes		Vicious Visage		Headtaker’s Hood
Mann-Bird of Aberdeen		Squid’s Lid		Transylvania Top		Cap’n Calamari		Horsemann’s Hand-Me-Down		Lordly Lapels
Parasight		Polly Putrid		Chicken Kiev		Horned Honcho		Ivan The Inedible		Last Bite
Monstrous Mandible		Grease Monkey		Alternative Medicine Mann		Das Blutliebhaber		Medimedes		Shaman’s Skull
Teutonkahmun		Trepanabotomizer		Archimedes the Undying		Lo-Grav Loafers		Ramses’ Regalia		Second Opinion
Surgeon’s Space Suit		Vicar’s Vestments		Hallowed Headcase		Sir Shootsalot		Carious Chameleon		Hyperbaric Bowler
Candyman’s Cap		Bountiful Bow		Bozo’s Brogues		Foul Cowl		Baphomet Trotters		Candleer
Pin Pals		Snaggletoothed Stetson		Ethereal Hood		Birdie Bonnet		Dark Helm		Haunted Hat
Magical Mercenary		Manneater		One-Way Ticket		Tuque or Treat		Accursed Apparition		Beacon from Beyond
Cryptic Keepsake		Guano		Pocket Horsemann		Quoth		Sackcloth Spook		Unidentified Following Object

Also Note: All of these items are droppable (in-game present, and perhaps by usual drops after November 11th). Most are paintable, and all are renamable, tradable and giftable.

[N] Obey

Worth knowing:

1. TF2Newbs is starting up a volunteer Editorial Board
2. Dota just got a really big patch
3. Terraria just got another patch also

1. Join the TF2Newbs’ Editorial Board!

[N] Big Sexy and {N} Wolf have the blessing of |N| Octo to form a volunteer group of writers, artists, and activity planners. Since admins are usually busy with their admin duties and the rest of their lives, members of this group help to organize and run events, communicate goings-on to the group, post stuff to this blog, and otherwise keep the community as a whole informed and entertained.

So get in touch with one of them if you want to help out!

2. Dota patch 6.79

You can find all of the changes here, but I’ll list below the major changes from the 10/21/13 patch:

• Day/night length reduced to 4 minutes from 6 minutes per phase
• Non-Ancient neutrals now share XP with all heroes in the area, not just those on your team
• Starting gold increased to 625 from 603
• You now gain 1 gold every 0.6 seconds, up from every 0.8 seconds (that’s 25% more gold over the same amount of time)
• Evasion now stacks diminishingly; each instance of evasion may not have grant its full bonus
• The following heroes have been overhauled (or have more changes than the others): Axe, Broodmother, Dazzle, Disruptor, Lich, Skeleton King, Treant Protector, Venomancer, Warlock
• Bloodseeker’s Thirst property has changed dramatically, including now having a global range
• Tranquil Boots have been reworked, with higher passive regeneration

3. Terraria’s Halloween patch 1.2.1.1

“Wait, we just had a Terraria patch! There was a big long post about it a couple of weeks ago.”

That’s right–but it looks like Redigit isn’t done with Terraria yet. Now there’s Halloween content and some bugfixes, but the Halloween content only lasts for a short time (unless you change your system’s date to coincide with Halloween before you create a world, I think). Here are some of the important changes:

• Added Pumpkin, Hay, and Spooky Wood Tiles and Walls
• Most monsters now drop Goodie Bags during Halloween, containing various items including costume parts
• A special medallion summons a Pumpkin Moon event (PC only)
  • Requires a Mythril Anvil and Hallowed Bars to make
  • Killing more monsters during each wave increases the probability of Halloween loot to drop
  • Bug: Does not work during Rain
  • Bug: Can reoccur each night during multiplayer games; requires server restart to fix
• Dryad now sells Pumpkin Seeds year round; Pumpkins naturally grow only in worlds created during Halloween
• Hardmode ores and Lihzahrd Wall Blocks now show correctly on the map
• Floaty Gross now causes weakness and can drop Vitamins
• Vitamins is a new accessory (PC only!) that prevents weakness, and can be tinkered
• Hardmode chests now have a much more difficult process in order to open them:
  • A key mold is now required, as well as a Temple Key, to create the proper key to open a single chest
  • The key molds are a 1-in-4000 drop (!!), in the hardmode biome that matches the chest
• Crimson and Hallow now properly counteract each other, and Sunflowers now properly reduce Crimson’s growth
• Added messages to help players progress in Hardmode

Oh, and expect at least one more Terraria patch: a final patch that will have lots of hardmode content and some kind of “endgame” has been repeatedly hinted at by Terraria’s creator, Redigit. Who knows when? Perhaps in time for Christmas.

[N] Obey

Here’s what’s going on:

1. {N} Nuunsa, roleplaying as The Administrator, is starting a big honking fight–and you’re invited
2. {N} Wolf wants your Halloween-themed submissions
3. Borderlands 2 has new Halloween-themed DLC
4. [N] Obey got his sh*t together and finally wrote up the TF2 patch update from October 10th

1. What’s this about a fight?

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Dustbowl. Good thing, because admin Nuunsa has challenged all of the [N] regulars to duke it out with the {N} and |N| admins! Post here to sign-up; it’ll be on Saturday, November 9th, starting at 8pm EST.

Nuunsa and fellow admin Wolf will be doing the commentary. I figure it’ll be not unlike Statler and Waldorf witnessing a streetfight.

2. TF2Newbs’ 6th Annual “All Hallows Eve” Contest

Admin Wolf wants you to submit something to him in order to win prizes. Quality of prizes is based on the number of submissions; there’s always the possibility that an unusual could be taken from the glorious, secret vault of hats in Octo’s underwater sunken pirate ship complex. Soooo…. submit a drawing! A pumpkin carving! A song! Your costume! An interpretative dance! A new mixed drink recipe you’ve invented for the occasion! Just submit already, so my vastly superior, pink, origami Sexual Tyrannosaurus can win a prize.

Prizes awarded each Monday through November 11th. So keep submitting, Newbs. Instructions are here.

3. New Borderlands DLC and then some

First of all, the first of what surely will be many Halloween-themed DLC has been released–and it’s only $2.99! Named “Headhunter 1: Bloody Harvest”, T. K. Baha emerges from the dead and your Borderlands 1 memories to grant you more areas to plunder and quests to accomplish.

That’s not all! If you have a SHiFT account, you can jump into Gearbox Studios’ “$100,000 Loot Hunt”, where you go kill the assigned baddie for the day, or certain targets drop a special item for a limited time (called “bounties”).

That’s still not all! Every day, some weapon or class/make of weapons gets a permanent change or improvement–such as today, where all Hyperion pistols now have increased magazine size and accuracy recovery! Expect this to continue for the next few weeks.

And that’s still not all! More DLC are on their way, and you know that level cap is going to increase again sooner or later.

Okay, that might be all for now. Maybe….

4. There was this TF2 Patch Update….

Actually two. Here are the combined patch notes from the 10/2/13 and 10/10/13 patches for TF2:

• Added the Fall 2013 Acorns Crate #72 (no expiration date).
• Requires a Fall 2013 Acorns Crate Key ($2.49 in the Mann Co. Store, also no expiration date).
• All of the following items are newly-added, Gold Star cosmetics:

• • Crate Series #72
    Drops		Yes
    Items
    Viking Braider		7 .60%
    Flapjack		7 .60%
    Gold Digger		7 .60%
    Pop-Eyes		7 .60%
    Weight Room Warmer		7 .60%
    Special Eyes		7 .60%
    Chronomancer		7 .60%
    Pirate Bandana		7 .60%
    Brim-Full of Bullets		7 .60%
    Li’l Snaggletooth		7 .60%
    Escapist		7 .60%
    L’homme Burglerre		7 .60%
    Ward		7 .60%
    or an Exceedingly Rare Special Item!		1 .00%

• Added the Fall 2013 Gourd Crate #73 (no expiration date).
• Requires a Fall 2013 Gourd Crate Key ($2.49 in the Mann Co. Store, also no expiration date).
• All of the following items are newly-added, Gold Star cosmetics:

  • Crate Series #73
    Drops		Yes
    Items
    Beep Boy		8 .25%
    Cuban Bristle Crisis		8 .25%
    A Brush With Death		8 .25%
    Trickster’s Turnout Gear		8 .25%
    Hong Kong Cone		8 .25%
    Hurt Locher		8 .25%
    Bone Dome		8 .25%
    Air Raider		8 .25%
    Medical Mystery		8 .25%
    Cotton Head		8 .25%
    Slick Cut		8 .25%
    Frenchman’s Formals		8 .25%
    or an Exceedingly Rare Special Item!		1 .00%

• Updated cp_granary:
  • Added nobuild areas and clipping of environmental features to prevent exploits above forward spawns
  • Adjusted player shadows to reduce shadows clipping through walls
  • Skybox rendering fixes
• Revealed Mysterious Promo 10 as the Team Fortress Chess Promo: a genuine-quality Grandmaster
  • Added the Grandmaster: a team-colored all-class hat of a chessboard with rotating RED/BLU hologram
  • This hat is currently only available via this promotion. However, I believe the promo is not yet obtainable.
• Strange Part: Taunt Kills can now be added to strange Knives and Fists
• Strange Part: Kills While Explosive Jumping and Strange Part: Posthumous Kills can be added to the Loose Cannon
• Bugfixes:
  • Fixed inconsistent behavior when switching between loadouts or modifying them
    • Unfortunately, a new bug has appeared that requires some players to change classes for loadouts to take effect, or requiring players to reassign some items to their loadouts since the patch
  • Fixed a bug where modifying an item (i.e. painting or renaming it) would cause it to drop from a loadout
  • Fixed the Demoman charge sound being clipped by the weapon crit sound
  • Updated the Hardy Laurel to properly show on the heads of Engineers and Soldiers
  • Updated the Summer Shades and Professor Speks so that they don’t float in the air during Sniper taunts
  • Fixed Nessie’s Nine Iron’s missing gameplay description (its shared abilities with the Highlander)
  • Fixed Blue spies showing blue health particles when disguised as the Red team
    • Should have been fixed previously, and still unsure if 100% now.
  • Fixed a bug causing some players to be unable to change their active item preset

And that’s not all… you know that Valve always releases some new Halloween-themed level, with comics and other craziness. Remember the temporary-use Spells from last year? Remember being forced to dance in front of your enemies? Remember having to get everyone to STOP KILLING EACH OTHER AND FOCUS THE WIZARD?!?!?  Well, let’s see what kind of evil they can conjure to top that….

Yes. That is all.

[N] Obey | One Tired Puppy

P.S. Dear St. Louis Cardinals, please attempt to catch the ball when it is hit into the air. Having it plop in front of you without trying to catch it, even after calling for a fair catch, has me shouting at the television for spychecker. And the others at the bar don’t know what I’m talking about. Well, I am not the spy! We cannot let that dastardly fish win again. Love, Obey | Not A Spy

Tired of hearing about threats of a US government shutdown? Read up on recent goings-on in Steam below:

1. A minor TF2 patch
2. A major Terraria update is live: patchnotes (and partial spoilers) below!
3. Newbs’ Minecraft server is currently down

1. Recent TF2 Patches

These patch notes are lumped together from the 9/23 patch:

• Strange misc-slot items are now tradable in the Steam Market (e.g. Strange Archimedes).
• Updated: Bearded Bombardier and Bolted Bombardier now allow glasses-type misc items.
• Added the Byzantine Bundle, and each item separately, to the Mann Co. Store; consisting of:
  • Beastly Bonnet
  • Cheet Sheet
  • Centurion
  • Steel Sixpack
  • Tartan Shade
  • Tartanaloons
  • Hardy Laurel
• Added “modelscale” and “setmodelscale” input to Studiomodel so map authors can scale models.

2. Terraria 1.2 Patch LIVE!

It’s here! There are so many changes to the game, it’s almost a completely new game. Stop reading now if you don’t want to be spoiled about all the changes. (I’m not posting every change; there over a thousand new items!)

• Bugfixes (and exploits removed):
  • You can no longer craft items or money by placing items in the trash.
  • You can no longer sell your gold to NPCs.
  • Music box/chest duping no longer works.
  • Bunnies/Goldfish spawned from statues no longer drop money during a blood moon.
  • Equipping items to the social slot in German no longer crashes the game.
  • The game will no longer create a random password during multiplayer world generation.
  • You can now reforge in all languages.
  • Active blocks will no longer become inactive with a chest or them.
  • Fixed a bug that would cause a suitable house to be unsuitable.
  • Fixes a lot of bugs that were not listed.
• Mechanics and Gameplay:
  • Enemies now have a visible health bar when struck.
  • There is now a map/minimap overlay.
    • Toggle through the different views, or turn on/off, in the inventory screen.
    • The tiles are shown the brightest they have ever been (relative to the amount of light nearby when you’ve examined them).
    • Toggle through the map views using Tab or M buttons.
  • “J” is now the default button for Mana Use.
  • There is now an extended crafting menu that will show everything you can craft.
    • Hit this button, and it will reveal everything on the inventory screen.
  • Some items now stack to 999 per stack.
  • Character slots have been increased to 1,000 (from 5).
  • World slots have been increased to 1,000 (from 5).
  • Remodeled:
    • Starting female clothing
    • Several new hairstyles
    • Character creation restyled
  • Chest sizes have been doubled.
  • Your inventory space has been increased by 10 (one row).
  • You no longer need to jump to ascend single blocks (!!) .
  • The hammer is now used only for creating slopes, halftiles, and breaking walls only. It is no longer a weapon!
  • The axe is now used only for chopping down trees and giant mushrooms. It is no longer a weapon!
  • The pickaxe is now used only to remove blocks, placeable objects, and items such as Life Crystals and chests (instead of the hammer). It is no longer a weapon!
  • You can now paint any solid tile or item.
  • Dye slots have been added.
  • You will now start the game with 10 mana after character creation.
  • You can now craft early game magic robes and staves.
  • Bricks, wood, stone, and glass all now blend together.
  • Mana Crystals only require 5 fallen stars to craft, down from 10.
  • If water touches a halftiles, it will create a waterfall.
  • Your world has a chance to get an alternative ore as a replacement for copper, iron, silver and gold (!!).
    • My early assumption is that the alternative ore crafts just as its replacement would.
  • Your world has a chance to get an alternative ore as a replacement for cobalt, mythril, and adamantite.
  • Your world has a chance to have a replacement for the Corruption (!!).
  • Your world has a rare chance to have a pyramid or living tree spawn during world generation.
    • Each contains its own loot drop table (list of possible treasure items).
  • There is a new hardmode jungle temple (!!).
  • There are now several new backgrounds and tree variations your world has a chance to generate.
  • Water will now change color based on the biome you are in and depth underground.
  • Ropes are now found early game and can be used to craft rope coils for traveling the world.
  • Chains can now be placed and used as a rope mechanism (?).
  • Mushroom grass/seeds can now grow and spread above ground.
  • There are now 3 colors for wires.
  • Actuators can be used to make any tile active/inactive.
  • There is one new liquid type that can be found in the jungle….
  • There are several new fountains that will change the color of water when they are place nearby.
  • Pearlstone bricks no longer spread hallow.
  • Rain and blizzards have been added.
  • There is a new snow biome with unique treasures and items for normal and hardmode.
  • Enemies no longer trigger underground pressure plates.
  • There are new pressure plates that can only be triggered by certain things, such as players, enemies, or both.
  • Clowns will no longer blow up tiles with their bombs.
  • There are sever new buff and debuff statuses.
  • There is now a “Capture the Gem” minigame added (think “capture the flag”). You can craft large gems that draw a gem icon above the holder, and if the player is killed, the gem drops next to their corpse.
  • There are two new hardmode events.
  • Werewolf form has been buffed and can now take place every night.
  • Broken armor defuff now reduced to 2 minutes, down from 5.
  • You now use a pickaxe to remove armor from a mannequin.
  • Players no longer take double damage in PvP.
  • Items of the same type will now stack when placed next to each other.
  • When using a gravitation potion, your world will invert rather than your character!
    • Get ready to get dizzy!
  • You can no longer become invincible when touching the fire blocks.
  • Increased speed at which you can buy stacks of things.
  • In total, there are over 1,000 new items.
    • There are 10 new ores (including the replacement ores).
    • There are 4 new wood types (see above).
    • There are 31 new brick types.
    • You can now imbue melee weapons (?).
    • There are several new arrow and bullet types.
    • There are several new crafting stations (such as a cactus crafting table).
    • There are several new wands used for crafting new bricks and brick walls.
    • You can now craft bricks, walls, and furniture out of the new materials, including slime, bone, mushroom, living wood, flesh, silt, and many more!
  • You can now craft Jester Arrows.
  • There are 12 new wing types.
  • There are several new vanity sets.
  • There a lot of new rare drops added to enemies.
  • You can now craft stained glass.
  • There is an item in hardmode that allows you to change biomes.
  • There is an item in hardmode that allows you to increase your max health (past 200, I assume).
  • There are 29 new tinker combinations.
  • Several new items have been added to the game that are used for crafting dyes.
  • Starfury now acts as a melee weapon and has had its damage increased.
  • Aqua Scepter has been redesigned and does slightly more damage for less mana.
  • Water Bolt has been redesigned and does slightly more damage.
  • Vilethorn does more damage and uses less mana.
  • Magic Daggers have been buffed.
  • All of the old classic armors can be found as rare drops and have the same stats as their current counterparts and count towards set bonuses. Wait–what? Old armors? New armors?
  • Chests now have larger loot tables (there is a longer list of possible treasure).
  • You can now make picks instead of drills, and axes instead of chainsaws, in late game tiers.
  • Increased the drop rate of souls.
  • There are over 50 paintings that can be collected randomly throughout the world.
  • Jungle armor no longer requires gems.
  • The amount of meterorite required for crafting has been decreased.
  • Meteorite armor has more defense and does more damage.
  • Silt and slush can be extracted into useful materials, items, and money.
  • Each boss has a rare chance to drop a placeable boss trophy.
  • Hooks can now be crafted out of gems.
  • Depth meter is no longer craftable.
  • Stars can now be crafted with bottles to make a new light source.
  • Floating island chests no longer require a key.
  • Gems and bars can be placed.
  • Items made from hellstone now require less hellstone.
• New NPCs and Bosses:
  • There are 5 new friendly NPCs.
  • There are 4 new bosses.
  • There are over 100 new enemies (!!).
  • Friendly NPCs will sell different items depending on certain conditions such as time of day or biome they live in.
    • So you can access new items by moving your NPCs to different biomes.
  • Hardmode bosses have a chance to spawn on their own to help players progress through the game.
  • Current hardmode bosses now do slightly less damage and have had their health decreased.
  • There is a rare spawn mini-boss that can be found during blizzards in the above-ground ice biome.
  • There are over 15 new pets that can be found in chests and dropped rarely off enemies.
  • Early hardmode enemies now do less damage and have less health/defense.
  • Skeletron can now be summoned and has a small loot table.
• Graphical Changes:
  • The sun is now brighter.
  • Midnight is now darker.
  • The sky now has a smooth gradient.
  • There are several items that have had graphical upgrades such as gems, colored torches, minishark, muramasa, aqua scepter, starfury, etc.
  • There are now stalagmites, icicles, moss, plants, rocks, and other “piles” added to enhance the environment.
  • There are several new mini caves that can be found with unique backgrounds.
  • Each biome will now have chests and pots with unique graphics.
  • The dungeon now has 3 unique textures/colors and furniture.
  • Hell houses and floating islands have been remodeled.
  • Each biome now has unique textures and wood types:
    • Corruption: ebonwood
    • Jungle: rich mahogany
    • Crimson: shadewood
    • Hallow: pearlwood
  • Each brick and brick wall now has its own unique texture. (The bricks are no longer a mere color change in difference.)
  • Torches are now animated and can be placed on walls.
  • Common enemies such as demon eyes, skeletons, and zombies have all been given graphical variations.
  • There are several new tombstones.
  • All objects in the game that sparkle will now sparkle with a corresponding color.
• Music:
  • There are 15 new tracks for the game; 3 are ported from the console version of the game.
  • Day Theme 2 will loop into Day Theme 1 to add variation above ground.
  • Desert, ocean, glowing mushrooms, dungeon, and space all have their own tracks now.
  • Ice biome has an above-ground music track, and a below-ground track.
• Performance/Miscellaneous:
  • The game now only loads assets when needed, reducing the amount of RAM used.
  • Optimized tile data to reduced RAM usage.
  • There game will now ask you if you want to use UPnP (?) to automatically port-forward when hosting multiplayer.

3. Newbs’ Minecraft Server is currently down.

[N]ot Dave wants me to let everyone know that the Newbs’ Official Minecraft Server is down, but hopefully it will be up within a week. He says that “everyone knows it’s my fault”, so send any pies-to-the-face his way. Perhaps he likes pie. But he’ll get it up soon.

[N] Obey