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Western Hiram Mountains Story

With the November Update came a new chapter to the Archeage storyline. Located in Western Hiram Mountains, this chapter details the background of the region. According to the story, the Hiram are an ancient tribe that lived in the mountains which the Twelve Heroes met when they ventured into Hiram territory in search for the Eternal Garden. The tribe were named after the Hiram mountain, the name of which also means White Gate. These tribespeople were taller than normal humans, and their physical abilities, such as strength and agility, were superior. They were not trained in magic as a discipline, but even children could naturally handle a certain amount of it. The reason for this seems to be that they lived near the Eternal Garden, the fabled birthplace of the Archeage world.

But the Hiram tribes could not escape the destruction of the Aurorian continent. Rather, they thought it was their mission to protect the birthplace of the world, and they wanted to stay and fulfill their mission, even in the Great Migration. After closing the gate to the Garden, they hid in a cave and prayed for the survival of their tribe. Sadly, they sustained many casualties, and few survived the apocalyptic destruction of the continent. Those who did came out of the cave and found Auroria to be occupied by different forces, one which the Hiramians could not fight, especially with their diminished numbers.

Realizing their situation was dire, they resorted for waiting for a savior to come and rid their land of these enemies. That savior? You.

The quest can be started in by talking to the NPC displayed in the image below. In order to start the quest, players must be Ancestral Level 1 or higher.

The quest has three, 8-step chapters, and once players complete all of them, they will receive an exclusive mount and its gear, the Orinas, which is shown in the image below. It seems like an owl-deer-bear hybrid, native to the Hiram Mountains. The Hiram Tribesmen used to ride these babies for miles.

Black Dragon Boss

As many may have already heard, the ‘new’ Black Dragon world boss was added with the November Update. I say ‘new’ because in many ways, the Black Dragon boss is just a reskinned, harder version of the Red Dragon boss (The fate of which will be addressed later). It spawns in the place of the Red Dragon in Karkasse Ridgelands, and drops Black Dragon weapons, which are also the next tier in Red Dragon weapons, Tier 3 Red Dragon weapons. In addition to dropping from the Black Dragon, players can obtain these weapons by Awakening Tier 2 Red Dragon weapons.

Although XLGames claimed the Black Dragon to be a much harder boss than the original Red Dragon, from the videos that I’ve seen, this boss is zergable, meaning that with a large enough number of players, this boss can be simply burned down. From the YouTube videos that I’ve seen, a geared raid of around 70 players who know the fight can burn down the boss in about 4 minutes, although for first time raids, the fight took about 20 minutes. The fight is basically just that: burning the boss down. Unlike the Red Dragon, there are no Harpoon Phases; the boss spawns on the ground and players then DPS it from 100% to 0. The key to the fight is whoever is tanking holding aggro of the boss; otherwise, the boss will turn around and wipe the raid.

Info and Loot

Level: Ancestral Level 7

Rating:

HP: 20,000,000

Spawn Days: Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday

Now, the weapons did not get added into the Korean version until the December update, but I’ll go over them anyway. Each weapon drops at Heroic, while to Awaken a Tier 2 Red Dragon weapon, that Tier 2 weapon has to be at least Legendary grade in order to be Awakenable. Each weapon has a Triggered effect, with all effects having a 90 second cooldown after being triggered. As with other Boss equipment, Black Dragon weapons are upgraded via synthesization, with various effects being addable to the weapon as it tiers up.

Image Name Stats Triggered Effect/Description Legendary Dragon’s Wings The same exact Glider as the one currently dropped by the Red Dragon. Dragon Heartshard The same item as the Dragon Hearthsard currently dropped by the Red Dragon. Black Dragon Awakening Scroll The Awakening Scroll for Tier 2 Red Dragon Weapons. Berserk Black Dragon Tail-Reaper 633.1 Melee Attack

33 Strength

65 Stamina Melee Attacks have a chance of applying Black Dragon Breath to a target, dealing burn damage and reducing Movement Speed. (90 second cooldown) Berserk Black Dragon Fireguard 2888 Armor

92 Stamina Upon taking damage, there is a chance for this effect to proc, which reduces the damage taken by the user by -10% and increases their maximum health by 1,000. (90 second cooldown) Berserk Black Dragon Eyesplitter 538.2 Ranged Attack

92 Agility Ranged Attack have a chance to push a target 30m back and deal Ranged Damage. (90 second cooldown) Berserk Black Dragon Wing-Reaper 759.8 Melee Attack

98 Strength

50 Stamina Melee Attacks have a chance of delivering a powerful attack, inflicting Physical damage to multiple enemies in a 4.5m radius. Momentarily launches them into the air, and decreases their Move Speed -30% for 3.0 sec. (90 second cooldown) Berserk Black Dragon Roar 664.8 Melee Attack

+791 Magic Attack

50 Stamina

98 Intelligence Magic Attacks have the chance of calling down a meteor, inflicting Magic Damage to all enemies within the radius. (90 second cooldown) Berserk Black Dragon Silencer (Club) 538.2 Melee Attack

+664 Healing Power

92 Spirit Upon Healing, there is a chance to proc this club’s effect, which heals all allies for a set quantity within a 20m radius over 8 seconds. (90 second cooldown)

Red Dragon Changes

With the introduction of the Black Dragon, the Red Dragon World Boss has been converted into an arena-like instance, where players can queue up for an instanced battle with the Red Dragon. This instance still takes place in Karkasse, where the Red Dragon currently spawns, but the area of the instanced map is restricted to that area (As shown in the image below). A maximum of 50 players, each Level 55 or higher, can queue into the instanced raid.

The fight happens twice daily from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM, and 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM, and players will have 60 minutes to defeat the boss. When the event begins, a banner will be displayed in the upper right corner of the screen, which players can click on to open to window in which they queue from. They can also queue from a UI located next to that of the arena queuing UI.

Once the instance is filled up (or when the queuing period finishes), a 30-second countdown is triggered after which the Red Dragon boss appears. As mentioned before, players will have 60 minutes to kill the boss. Participants can leave at any time, but will not be able to rejoin if they do so. Also, if a player is in a Nui when the boss is killed, they will not be able to obtain any loot.

So what can be obtained from this new version of the Red Dragon? The table below displays the loot.

Image Name Comments Red Dragon’s Mane 50 of these can be combined into 10 Red Dragon Spinal Ridges 1,000 Honor Rewarded upon killing the Red Dragon. Red Dragon Spinal Ridge There is a chance for these to drop. Evenglow Lunagem: Impact There is a low chance for one of these to drop.

But what of Tier 1 Red Dragon weapons? What happens to them, now that they don’t drop from the Red Dragon? They are now crafted, and their recipes are displayed below.

Image Name Recipe Enraged Red Dragon Tail-Reaper 8 Red Dragon Spinal Ridge

2 Honorforged Medal Enranged Red Dragon Wing-Reaper 8 Red Dragon Spinal Ridge

2 Honorforged Medal Enraged Red Dragon Roar 8 Red Dragon Spinal Ridge

2 Honorforged Medal Enraged Red Dragon Eyesplitter 8 Red Dragon Spinal Ridge

2 Honorforged Medal Enraged Red Dragon Fireguard 8 Red Dragon Spinal Ridge

2 Honorforged Medal

These can then be upgraded to Tier 2 Red Dragon weapons with the same number of those exact materials.

Weapon Hotswitching System

Players can now switch between a preset 2 weapons with the help of a newly implemented system. The system, which is shown in the image below, allows players to assign 2 weapons to a slot which can then be freely switched around with the help of a hotkey. Players can bring up the weapon selection screen by going into the Character Info UI and clicking on the Weapon Hotswitch button. Players can then switch the 2 weapons either via the Character Info UI or via a hotkey which is assigned in the game settings. While Stunned, Asleep, etc., players cannot switch weapons. Additionally, players cannot switch weapons while in the middle of a cast animation or a channeled ability. After a player uses the Hotswitch system, there is a 0.5 second cooldown until the system can be used again.

Fishing Changes

XL made a few Fishing changes with the November update. They added 12 new achievements related to Fishing, achieving all of which grants a player the the design for making a new, top tier (Tier 5) Fishing Rod, which can be seen in the image below.

This Fishing Rod has 680 Fishing Damage, 99% Success Rate, a Cast Frequency of 55 seconds, and requires 150,000 Fishing proficiency to use. In order to craft it, one needs the following:

1 Tier 4 Sturdy Fishing Rod

1 Tier 4 Flexible Fishing Rod

1 Rainbow Polish

1 Secret Rod Plan (Obtained via completing all 12 Achievements)

Players can fish with this rod for up to 2 hours, after which they will need to recharge it by using a Sport Fishing Lure on it. This can be crafted with 15 Iron Ingots.

It’s important to note that the Tier 4 Fishing Rods were also implemented with the November Update, so I’ve listed their crafting recipes and stats below.

Name Recipe Stats Tier 4 Sturdy Fishing Rod 1 Expert’s Sturdy Fishing Rod

1 Crafted Fishing Hook

1 Reinforced Fishing Line

1 Gilt Reel

1 Rainbow Polish 680 Fishing Damage

99% Success Rate

110 Second Cast Frequency

80,000 Fishing Proficiency Tier 4 Flexible Fishing Rod 1 Expert’s Flexible Fishing Rod

1 Crafted Fishing Hook

1 Reinforced Fishing Line

1 Gilt Reel

1 Rainbow Polish 340 Fishing Damage

99% Success Rate

55 Second Cast Frequency

80,000 Fishing Proficiency

Other changes to Fishing in this update include the increase of the sale price for special Fish, such as Kraken tentacles, changes to Fishing damage of lower tier Fishing Rods, and the reallocation of Labor consumed in Fishing all to Labor consumed for handing these Fish in.

Hero Changes

Hero Statues were added back into the game with this patch, along with some improvements to them. First off, players can now check the progress on all Hero Statues by going into the Nation UI and clicking on a new tab, as shown below.

On the topic of Hero Statues, the system for building them has been revamped. Now, every time that you deliver a pack for the building of a statue, you will receive a special consumable that rewards 500 Honor per.

Name Duration Effect How to Receive Diety’s Favor 3 Days +5.0 Melee Attack , Ranged Attack, Magic Attack, and Healing

4.0% Reduced Physical and Magic Damage

5% Reduced Production Time

+2,000 Proficiency Increase Interact with the Hero Statue Diety’s Grave 1 Day +10.0 Melee Attack , Ranged Attack, Magic Attack, and Healing

6.0% Reduced Physical and Magic Damage

5% Reduced Production Time

+2,000 Proficiency Increase Interact with the Hero Statue and be within 25m of a Hero Time Leap 1 Hour +25% Increased Experience

+25% Loot Acquisition Rate

+10% Increased PvE Skill Damage

+10% Increased PvE Damage Only Nuians/Haranians can receive this buff

Can be received 30 minutes after a Mobilization Order

Consumes 150 Labor

The Nation hero statues, which depend on the area in which they are constructed in, remain unchanged.

Lastly, Blue Salt Certificates were added as rewards for Heroes, with 100 being added to the Eternal box (Glorious Armor Crate), 70 to the Mythic one (Silver Hero’s Chest), and 50 to the Legendary one (Copper Hero’s Chest).

Other Changes

Synthesizing Changes

With the November Patch, players can now use up to 6 items at once for synthesizing an item, rather than just 2. Additionally, the minimum number of items needed to synthesize a piece of equipment was reduced to one. If a player attempts to use an item with Lunagems, Lunafrosts, or an image as a synthesizer, a confirmation window will pop up.

Also, changing stats on a synthesizable item is now easier. Instead of stats being changeable only when an item goes up a grade, stats are now changeable with each time you synthesize. Players have up to 5 tries for changing a stat. Also, if a player gets a stat that they don’t like, they can simply revert back to the stat they had before.

Music Composition Changes

Players can now use up to 5,000 notes in a single composition, and can use up to 6 chords in a score.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask them in the Comments section below, and be sure to join the Discord and follow our Twitter for the latest news!