Greetings, Tibians!

We welcome you to the test server of the Winter Update 2025!

This thread is dedicated to the new hunting grounds introduced with the quest Order of the Stag, located on the Isle of Ada.

You can expect these new areas to be slightly more challenging than the Falcon Bastion. While parts of the island are primarily designed for team play, there are also areas suited for solo hunters. You will find the following areas on Ada:

• Adaean Mines
  
• Outskirts
  
• Bastion
  
• Bloodfire Gorge

On the Isle of Ada, you will primarily face the following enemies:

• Raubritter Skirmisher
  
• Raubritter Marksman
  
• Raubritter Chastener
  

But beware: The Raubritters are not the only danger lurking on the Isle of Ada...

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If you encounter a balancing issue, please report it using the template below. For feedback regarding the new micro bosses or the Court Warlock boss fight, please use the dedicated threads.

Title/Abstract: What's it about?

• Provide a short and clear headline that captures the essence of your feedback.
  

Situation/Problem: In a nutshell, what bothers you and why?

• Be specific, concise and to the point while giving enough detail for understanding.
  
• Tell us about your own personal experiences, observations and your point of view.
  

Goals and Suggestions: What do you propose?

• Explain what you want to see changed and why.
  
• Make a reasonable suggestion on how to remedy the situation/problem.
  

In general, make sure that your feedback...

• fits our overall goals/vision as described in the FAQ.
  
• is split into focused and manageable chunks instead of mixing multiple balancing topics or suggestions together.
  
• is posted in an organised, easy to read way.

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We are looking forward to your feedback and wish you happy hunting!

Shazaya

November 5th:
Sniping and Monitoring

November 6th:
"Targets Marked!"

November 7th:
Difficulty, Density and Discovery

November 10th:
Changes to Density, Overall Balance, Evaluating Area Feedback

November 11th:
Changes to the Bastion and Battle Tactics for the Assistant

November 12th:
Bloodfire Gorgeous

November 13th:
Additional Fixes, Density Changes and Geographical Changes to the Outskirts

November 14th:
"Better Tactics"

November 17th:
Wrap Up

@all: Hello everyone! Looks like you're already deep in the trenches of this winter's battle against the warlock's army, thank you for your feedback so far! We are currently monitoring each new hunting ground very closely. While it is hard to make any detailed prognosis this early in the test, the difficulty will indeed be tuned.

The targeting/sniping mechanism of the raubritter marksman "Adlerauge" that affects the "outskirts" of the isle will be evaluated and adjusted accordingly, based on our findings. We will inform you via this thread, once there have been any changes to the mechanic. Adlerauge will also stop targeting players for a certain time if you manage to kill him.

Kind regards,
Lionet

@Apophis the Goddess, Dark Black Magician and Rymed: Thank you for your suggestions! We will take a look at the map layout as well, however, it's still quite early to rework parts of the area. The idea of adding a few more stairs or bridges is intriguing, I will see if we can free up enough time to make it happen.

We're also watching the density/difficulty closely right now. All of you keeping up the fight is helping us immensely in finding the sweet spot here. We'll let you know if there are changes of that kind in this very thread.

@all: Concerning the sniping targets of the marksman "Adlerauge", we changed the damage to a relative percentage and reduced its radius as well. The damage effect and radius should be more visible now, too. In addition to that, the targets will not appear if Adlerauge is killed and they won't return as long as he's put down.

Kind regards,
Lionet

Mazzeriin: Thank you for your feedback! We are still hard at work monitoring and fine-tuning every encounter in the area. Based on player feedback we already drew some conclusions and there will be adjustments with on of the next updates. The bugs are also being addressed, some fixes have already been released with the recent patch. Additional will follow!

Unlegitrod: Thanks for the feedback! We are indeed already discussing the damage output as well as density of the monsters in the area. We will inform you of any significant changes via this thread. There are also some items and mechanics not yet found by players that can be used to gain an advantage in these hunting grounds.

Kureiji Dayamondo: Thank you for the feedback! Well, there has to be at least some kind of trade-off, wouldn't you agree However, as already mentioned, there will be some changes to the overall difficulty. Finding the sweet spot concerning loot and enemy damage output is still keeping us very much busy. We will announce any changes to the hunting ground in this very thread, so stay tuned!

Kind regards,
Gert

Sabarath: Thanks for your report! We are currently looking into the battle tactics mechanics and it will be fixed accordingly!

Rymed: It's intended to loot and use the battle tactics along the way, it should not be absolutely necessary to hunt in the area without it (including all levels) but it has a significant effect on the hunt indeed. Also thanks for your suggestions concerning the navigation of the area.

Ares Coldhands: Thanks, I will forward the report accordingly. There's also a dedicated thread for the Gravedigger you can use to report feedback!

Sha Dowh: Thank you for the suggestions! We are currently also taking another look at the Bloodfire Gorge. We have raised the density of the monsters there and are evaluating any further change to the geographical circumstances of the area. Its paths are already quite a bit broader than for example the bastion which is the narrow part of the update. Any further changes will also be posted in this very thread.

Galba: Thank you for your suggestions, we are trying to find a good balance for the hunting ground and collect as much feedback as we can. I can't promise that every suggested change will make it into the final release but we're trying to get as much into it as possible. I have also forwarded this to the balancing already.

Yohaner, Phantos, Khorror, Jarquin, Ed Snake and Dark Black Magician: The Order of the Lion is barely securing the port landing, which is where players come in who, after helping Kesar, are in some cases even more experienced and stronger than the lion knights. However, the lions are not to be trifled with either, and there's a reason why they didn't get far from the landing: the massacre at the silver mines. They could deal with most of the Raubritter enemies, however. The area turned out quite tough but it's primarily not designed as a high level hunting spot. We have already changed a few things concerning the density of the creatures. We reduced density significantly in the "Adaean Mines" and the bastion itself, slightly in the "Outskirts" and actually raised it a bit in the "Bloodfire Gorge".

Kind regards,
Lionet

Kikaro: If all goes well the "battle tactics" will be available with the test server assistant after the next update

Shaolin Beam: Thanks for the suggestion, we are still in the middle of evaluating and fine-tuning the area. I can't say yet if we are going that close to the falcons but here will be a few additional changes till the final release.

Bruise Li: Indeed, I rarely quote as I usually try to wrap up the content of each question a bit each time I answer for players who do not want to look up the author's original post.

Abzy: Thank you for your feedback! It can get tough indeed with the limited space. This is mostly the case in the bastion itself where this is part of the challenge and by design. However, we will take another look at the outskirts and "Blood Gorge" areas, where there should be a lot more wiggle room for players. The "battle tactics" are one of several options to manage the hunt in the area and will be added to the test server assistant shortly, that may change the perceived difficulty as well.

Sabarath: Thanks for the report, I will take another look at the courtyard and see what I can do!

Kind regards,
Lionet

Dark Black Magician: Indeed, as you correctly observed, the Bloodfire Gorge is designed to be a repeatable and adequate ("go to") hunting ground that represents one of three parts of the hunt on the Isle of Ada. The sprawling outskirts with varying density and the deliberately narrow bastion (with a few more routes than in earlier bastions) being the other two. Finding the sweet spot I already mentioned is still our focus in this phase of the test server, especially for the gorge.

Kind regards,
Lionet

@Kikaro and Abzy: The "battle tactics" item was not deleted upon usage, so it was not working correctly indeed. However, this has been updated and the fix is already available on the test server in addition to being purchasable item at the test server assistants!

@Palaciror: Thank you for the feedback! Quite a different take on the current balance but that also shows how hunting ground perception is of course dependant on a variety of things. We have already made some adjustments to the density in the Bloodfire Gorge and the hunting ground itself has been opened up a little to allow for more freedom of navigation. This will be available with the next update. It's still one of the areas we're currently focused on so they may be additional changes as well.

@Mauicio: Thanks for your feedback! The area is indeed a challenge and there are reports of players who struggle, yet many are able to manage the area fine. The use of some of the items (the night harpy lager and the battle tactics) can change hunting there significantly. With the battle tactics item now working as intended, I recommend experimenting a bit with these personal "modifiers" at your disposal. The struggle will not be eliminated by those of course but it should get noticeable easier. At least they provide a useful option to speed up and ease the hunt in the bastion. In any case, thanks for your suggestions, we are taking another look at the average enemy DPS there, too.

@Dark Black Magician and Rymed: Good things come to those who wait: I have now changed a few geographical features of the area, allowing for a few more shortcuts, levitation spots and a bridge connecting two areas in the outskirts right next to the bastion. This should allow for an even better flow and also open up a new route in the Bloodfire Gorge

Kind regards,
Lionet

Kikaro, Mauicio and Bandit:
Thanks for your feedback! After several internal tests and builds we completed our evaluation of the feedback and analysis of the effects of the "battle tactics" and made some changes as they did not provide the intended, significant effect on the hunt we anticipated. We reworked the mechanic which should be significantly more noticeable now. This will affect the hunt directly and reduce the difficulty overall. A bit of patience is still required before testing it out as this fix will only be ready after the weekend. It is, however, implemented completely and, if all goes well, should be available with one of the next updates right after!

Treerings: Thank you for the feedback! There are indeed various reasons for the allocation of subareas (from lore to balancing). It's currently not intended to change the way the isle is currently setup, however!

Kind regards,
Lionet

@Dark Black Magician: There may be a few more tweaks until release that will not be available during the external test but the density is now roughly as we envisioned.

Tchaaa, Zaku Palladyn, Abzy and Mauicio: Thanks for your feedback! Once the battle tactics have been activated, the timer for the beneficial effects will continue to run even if logged out. Unfortunately it was not possible to push the most recent changes we made to the battle tactics before the weekend nor with the most recent update today. The changes we made will be available with the official release. However, we took your feedback as well as several other suggestions into account and tried to adapt the mechanic to the target player range as much as possible.

Mighty Rune: Thank you for the suggestions! They were designed to be stronger than the Falcons, which has also been communicated, as (technically) players are encouraged to play the Stag content afterwards. However, they should not be an unsurmountable challenge, we are still tweaking to get an adequate balance for the release (and some changes may not be visible before the end of the test server). However, we keep your suggestions as well as those the other hunting parties who have reported in mind as well.

Sha Dowh: Thank you for the feedback! The density of the enemies in the Bloodfire Gorge has recently been raised. We take another look into it but it's close to what we've envisioned for the hunting ground.

@all: And that also concludes this year's test server regarding the Order of the Stag hunting grounds I want to thank you all for participating and sending us valuable and detailed feedback! We managed to put almost all of it to good use this year and are confident that the release version will reflect this as well! I hope you've had some fun and enjoyed exploring the new area as I enjoyed making it!

Kind regards,
Lionet