PATCH 5P :30/06/2021 VERMILLION WIND

 

您好, 巨龍!

Salutations, Dragons!

In case there was any lingering doubt, the massive heat wave that’s descended upon Papaya Play’s live operations office has confirmed that Summer has, in fact, arrived. This week marks the end of many of our launch events and promotions, but we’ve no plans to end our series of exclusive in-game events, offers, and other reasons to join us in the Land.

We have multiple giveaways running, whether your just want to stick your nose in and see what’s new, or venture across the landscape and into the deepest dungeons. You might not be able to escape the heat, but the refreshing breeze of the Vermillion Phoenix’s wings will find you.

Your GM team has an apology to make regarding the nature of the Hermit’s Blessing item drop bonuses – one of us has been working under the assumption that 100% was the base item drop rate. It turns out that he was wrong, and that 0% is the "normal" rate.

In order to keep things consistent with how the game presents rate bonuses, we’re changing the format for all bonus rates on our Hermit’s Blessing table – the percentage represents the bonus above normal. A greyed-out value means no bonus applies.

There's a small item drop rate bonus this week for outdoor zones where items from our Vermillion Wind event appear (level 150+), and an extra-generous bonus to Kung Fu experience.

Vermillion Wind

Summer is the season when the Vermillion Bird of the South (朱雀) dominates. The Vermillion Bird is said to be prideful and selective, so while it might unleash tremendous heat upon the Land, it bestows refreshing and powerful gifts to those who honor it.

You can honor the Vermillion Bird by collecting the Ice Shard and Shards of Summer which will appear while this event is active. Both shards have a small chance of dropping from Deviants of level 150 or higher. Ice Shards are found in outdoor zones, and Shards of Summer are dropped by dungeon creatures.

Festival Merchant Seo Hwarang in Hefei will exchange a Bead of Summer for your shards. The beads can then be exchanged for two different Summer epithets, which will appeal to physical- or chi kung-focused characters. If you’ve collected a good supply of beads, then you can try upgrading an epithet via the Create screen, though it will probably take many attempts before you receive the [Special] Summer epithet. You’ll keep your basic one on a failure, at least.

New Kids On The Block had a bunch of hits

Chinese food makes me sick

You can also trade a Special Epithet Exchange Coupon and receive the [Special] Summer epithet without fail. See the Papaya Play Marketplace section of our patch notes to find out where you can get one of these coupons.

If you’re in need of some liquid refreshment, then you can score some White or Blue Wine of Summer, for some potent buffs (though you can’t use both at once). You’ll just end up thirstier in the long run, though.

Last Vicious Moon

The moon might be fading to a crescent, but it’s not gone yet. And like the waning moon, you won’t fade away so easily, with bonuses to Life and Vital Energy maximums and absorption keeping you in the fight.

The kung fu experience bonus isn’t so poetic. But you still like bonuses, right?

Keep It Cool

Seriously. It’s really hot here.

This is the view from our office.

We can’t do much about it. But if, like us, you’re stuck sitting around on Saturdays, bereft of the office air conditioning, too grievously hot to go out or exercise or do much of anything, then why not get something for it?

For the first four Saturdays in July, logging in (CEST time) will allow you to claim one of the listed prizes from the Event screen. And logging in at all during the entire event period will let you claim a temporary Bead of Frost accessory, which will stay crisp and cold for 30 whole days. 

Connection Bonus

A new month means a new set of Connection Bonuses – rewards you can claim once per account when you’ve logged certain amounts of time each day or month.

Most of these rewards are familiar – the Scroll of Inspiration is functionally the same as Honor Student, re-named to avoid confusion, except it grants five times normal Kung Fu experience for 30 minutes.

The new monthly rewards will take effect on July 1st. We’ve moved the Kunlun Tier 2 Accessory Box up a step, and inserted another freebie into the 300 hour monthly reward slot – Flaming of Hermit. This coupon can be exchanged, via the resource menu, for a full set of low-tier equipment, suitable for alts or inexperienced players who haven’t yet hit the big time. The contents of the Flaming Consumable Item Box will appeal to everyone. 

Yippee! You can’t see me

But I can you

Honouring the Ancestors

Our launch events have finally concluded, but we have one last hurrah in store for players who went the distance with their Ancestral Rites. If your character performed two or more normal Ancestral Rites, you’ll be able to claim a 9Dragon Gold repay from the Event screen for the next two weeks. If you’ve completed two or more Radiant Ancestral Rites, you’ll be eligible for a Sealed Bead (Excellence).

Papaya Play Marketplace

The Summer Special Box contains one prize from a list of useful items. The Bead of Summer and Special Epithet Exchange Coupon can be redeemed for additional prizes as part of the Vermillion Wind event, so see that section of our patch notes for more details.

You can save some NDC by purchasing in bulk.

Bug Fixes & Notes

By un-checking the View Congratulation Message option under Game Options, you can hide the server-wide announcement made when a player wins a rare prize from a Blue Dragon’s Treasure Box.

You'll appreciate it so much that you won't even notice the typo.

To avoid confusion over their duration, the [Eternity] line of costumes have been re-named to [Exquisite].

A final note, we will not be resetting rankings for Hero Bands, Discipleships, or the Infinite Dungeon until July 14th. Rankings are intended to be reset monthly, but we will likely do so in the middle of the month from now on, rather than the end. We'll update you when we've confirmed this.

有空再會!

Thanks, and see you in the Land!

Team Papaya