Sea of Moving Ice Preview Information And a Minor Sneak Peak at Mod 11
MMOs are constantly moving and after our vacation there’s naturally a lot to talk about. In the coming weeks the consoles will get the Storm Kings Thunder update and a bit later PC players will hop into the Sea of Moving Ice. Don’t worry, we’ll have a some sort of primer for you PS4 and Xbox folk. Today however we are going to start off with some news from the preview server. So far the updates haven’t brought some real intriguing information, but there’s still some stuff to report.
Giants’ Lockbox
First of all the new lockbox is called “Giants’ Lockbox”. The grand prices are a new Artifact and Manticore Companion. Another companion is introduced with the Frozen Galeb Dhur, which is included in the Companion Pack of the lockbox. All these items have pretty intriguing powers. The “Eye of the Giant” Artifact provides a pretty handy all-around buff that scales with the number of surrounding enemies. The Manticore adds a 5% chance to knock down enemies on Crits. Given that most DPS builds operate at high crit rates, this could be very useful. The Frozen Galeb Duhr adds up to 10% damage resistance based on the amount of HP characters have left.
The enchantment pack will include the Frost and Thunderhead enchantments. Thunderhead is also getting a slight rework. Its effect scales with weapon damage now and no longer with level. The Artifact Pack contains the Token of the Chromatic Storm, Shard of Valindra’s Crown, Lostmauth’s Horn of Blasting, Eye of Lathander and Emblem of the Seldarine. It’s interesting whether the current bug on the Token will be fixed with the release. Currently all effects on the Artifact unintentionally scale with player stats. A newly introduced “Mystic Mount Pack” contains either a Heavy Mystic Nightmare or Howler or Crag Cat.
Glorious Resurgence Lockbox
The Glorious Resurgence Lockbox will receive a major update. Instead of separate packs in the lower reward tiers, the lockbox will get the Mount Pack, Companion and Enchant Pack from Giants’, the Stronghold and Profession Pack from Firemane and the Relic Pack from the Runic. All rare rewards are additionally updated to include the latest epic and legendary items. This could mean that the lockbox will be updated with every new installment from now on.
Our user “Peach” has uploaded quite a few pictures of the new stuff in this thread.
More Mounts and Enchantments
There are a few new icons for Mounts. The current build includes full batch of painted horses, which could take over the colored Owlbears as giveaway items. A new Skeletal Wolf also received ZEN market artwork and would thematically fit the Halloween event Masquerade of Liars. Two more frozen Mounts (Polarbear and Panther) in the meantime seem to be tied to the new content addition and are probably released throughout Sea of Moving Ice.
The update will also bring new dual stat and Overload Enchantments. The “Wicked” Enchantment will feature Armor Penetration and Recovery in an offensive slot, Hit Points and Deflect in a defensive one and Movement as well as Gold Bonus in an utility slot. Two Everfrost defensive Overloads grant 1,000 Defense/Deflect for 20 seconds and add 5% Everfrost Resistance. The offensive versions add 1,000 Power or Critical Strike for 20 seconds and add stacks of Froststrike that explode for 800 Everfrost damage per stack after the initial duration. There are also new Overload Slayer and Ward Enchantments against Trolls and Giants in line with those that already exist for other enemy types.
Svardborg and Mad Wizard’s Lair
Last but not least we know that the announced trial indeed will conclude the story and assault Svardborg. The fight doesn’t seem to be implemented yet, instead a few strings of a new skirmish “Mad Wizard’s Lair” made it to the preview build. Its internal label “M11_Skirmish_Wizard” indicates it’s already content for the next mod. The few strings we can share hint at different modes and/or environmental challenges the players have to randomly deal with.
[su_box title=”M11_Skirmish_Wizard” radius=”0″]Spheres of Decay are active!
The floor is on fire!
The floor is made of ice!
Watch for falling rocks!
Explosive runes are dropping!
Avoid the steaming jet!
Random enemies are getting stronger!
Corpses are EXPLODING!
Powers are randomly turning off!
Enemies are randomly reflecting damage!
Players will randomly turn into chickens!
You’re feeling light on your feet![/su_box]
