West 2.0 Feature Explanation Guide

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DeletedUser8627

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We have presented you parts of new features, devblog posts and previews of 2.0 in the last couple of weeks, now we finally want to present you with the complete Feature Changelog for The West 2.0:


[jumpto=2]User Interface[/jumpto]

  • Modern layout
  • Notifications
  • Redesign of the game windows
  • Interface highlights


[jumpto=3]Job System Improvements[/jumpto]

  • Fixed job durations
  • Higher job dangers
  • More adjustments

[jumpto=4]New Map[/jumpto]

  • Feeling and flair
  • Display of jobs and the quest givers
  • Secrets and mysteries

[jumpto=5]New Chat System[/jumpto]

  • Handling and design
  • Whisper
  • Custom chat rooms


[jumpto=6]Better Start Phase[/jumpto]

  • Tutorial
  • Speed buff
  • Optimization of the first quests


[jumpto=7]Hotkey System[/jumpto]

  • Opening windows
  • Moving the map
  • More hotkeys


[jumpto=8]Redesign of the Questbook and Saloon[/jumpto]

  • Separation of the Saloon and Questbook
  • Makeover of the Quest window


[jumpto=9]Enhanced Minimap[/jumpto]

  • Improved search
  • More markers


[jumpto=10]Misc[/jumpto]

  • Job overview
  • Cloth calculation
  • Loading screen at the game start
  • Deletion of reports and open quests


Complete Changeloghttps://forum.innogames.de/showthread.php?2166-Final-2-0-Changelog
 
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DeletedUser8627

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USER INTERFACE


Modern User Interface
With Version 2.0 the old classic browser game interface with a bold border around the map will be replaced by a free fullscreen interface. Moreover the text buttons will be replaced by intuitive clear icons. With these changes the interface will be much clearer and more of the map is now shown. Altogether the interface will now look more like a client MMORPG.

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Notifications
The most important game events will now be shown directly on the interface. Job reports, reached achievements and game tips can now be seen without the need to open a new game window. In addition, the report window will stay as an archive.

Redesign of the game windows
All the game windows have been redesigned and were adapted to the new The West 2.0 layout. Many of them got new functions and features or were simplified.

Interface highlights
Exactly as in Version 1, the interface elements that cover new messages or reports will be highlighted. The inventory icon will also be highlighted when players get a new item that they never had before. The skill icon highlight has been changed as well. The highlight will stay as long as open skill or attribute points are available. This way you will never forget to use them.

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DeletedUser8627

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JOB SYSTEM IMPROVEMENTS



Fixed job duration
In Version 2.0, each job will have a fixed duration. The duration will go from 15 seconds (Only three tutorial jobs) to 2 hours. In general the job duration goes along with the jobs difficulty. In order to have all durations in every phase of the game there will be exceptions which means that you can do long jobs at the beginning or short jobs in the high level phase as well.
The biggest benefit of the new job system is that it fits for players who like to play actively as well as for those who don't want to be bound to the game constantly.

Higher job danger
In order to strengthen the strategic planning of jobs and skills, the damage calculation has been rebalanced. The danger chance that is shown as a percentage in the job window is a fix number per job and the number is not influenced by the motivation. The danger height is shown by a color indicator - green, yellow and red show whether the injury will be harmless, medium or dangerous. The damage height will be reduced by 1% per labor point of the related job. The injury will always subtract a percentage of the maximum health points, not a fix value.

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More adjustments
The product finding chance as well as experience points and salary of many jobs were adjusted in order to fit to the new job durations. The skill requirements and the difficulty are exactly the same than in Version 1.
For an easier start into the game there are three new jobs with a duration of 15 seconds: Spear Fishing, Tending Lambs and Collecting Spices.



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DeletedUser8627

[jumpfrom]4[/jumpfrom]NEW MAP


Feeling and Flair
The most amazing new feature of The West 2.0 is the new map. A living, diverse high quality map has been made out of complex varied graphics by hand which is the basis of the whole gameplay. Lakes, rivers, grass, clouds, mountains, forests and a lot more can be discovered in many different combinations.

jpg_map_feeling.jpg



Display of the jobs and quest givers
In order to make the map clearer and reduce the number of buttons and icons shown in one screen, jobs and quest givers are now grouped together. Three to five jobs can now be found within one job group symbol on the map. A jetty at a river outfall, for example, offers 5 different jobs directly at one place: River fishing, Spear fishing, Demolishing the dam, Straightening the river and Stream fishing. All job and quest giver groups have a unique icon on the map with a highlight around the symbol and are, compared to the other decoration elements on the map, a lot bigger so it's easy to find them.

Secrets and mysteries
As the new map is completely created by hand, there are many idyllic places on the map that you can discover. Special areas and hidden places can be found by luck or after searching for a while. And what is that clouded mountain area in the center of the map?

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[jumpfrom]5[/jumpfrom]NEW CHAT SYSTEM

Handling and design
On the bottom left of the interface you can find a list of all chat rooms you are currently in, it also shows how many players are in those rooms. You can open chat rooms in this menu by clicking on one or more names of the rooms you want to join. For each opened chat room a tab in the chat window will be opened, so that you can easily keep an overview and know which chat belongs to which audience.
The size of the chat window can be adjusted by dragging the bottom right edge of the screen. Furthermore, the chat window can be moved to any position of the screen. As soon as you found the best size and position of the window you can save it by clicking the tick mark in the top right corner.
A lot of commands allow you to do some more operations in the chat. By typing "/help" in the command line will list available commands.
jpg_chat.jpg


Whisper
If you want to chat with only one other player simply click in the chat or in your friend list on his/her name and it will open a "whisper". A new tab will open in which you can talk privately to the chosen player. You can have whispers to as many players as you want at the same time.

Custom chat rooms
You can create or join a custom chat room with the command "/join [room name] [Password]". Setting a password is optional. With custom chats you can for example, create your own chat room for alliance or town leaders.


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[jumpfrom]6[/jumpfrom]BETTER STARTING PHASE
With Version 2.0 we want to make the game for new players as attractive as possible. In order to reach that goal, it is not only important to have excellent graphics but also an exciting and fast starting phase.

New tutorial questline
A new tutorial quest line welcomes new players directly after their first login and leads them through the Wild West. Quests that are shown directly in the main interface, ask the player to do duels and jobs as well as to search for some products. The player will learn how to change clothes and how to use the minimap. Afterwards the player will be sent to the Saloon where more exciting quests are waiting.
While in the tutorial phase, some features like the market, traders or crafting are blocked in order to avoid confusion.


Speed buff for new players
In order to make the time faster until the first horse is found, new players get a big speed buff for the first 6 hours. With this buff, doing quests and traveling is a lot easier and there are almost no waiting times.

Optimization of the first quests
And even after the tutorial there is a lot more to discover. To make the first quest lines clearer and easier we changed their order and rewards. The players will be guided through the first quest lines and will not be confused by too many open quests at the same time. Though, there will always be quests to do so that no one gets bored.


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[jumpfrom]7[/jumpfrom]HOTKEY SYSTEM
The new interface contributes to a better and easier finding of windows and functions. For those that want to have it even faster we implemented keyboard hotkeys.

Opening windows
All important game windows can be directly opened by pressing keys on the keyboard. "S" for example, opens the Skill window, "I" opens the Inventory and "M" makes the Minimap appear. All hotkeys are configurable in the options menu so that you can choose which key opens which window and it will be easier to remember the correct keys.
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Moving the map
The map cannot only be moved by mouse but also with the arrow keys on your keyboard. If you hold down an arrow key the map will keep moving in this direction. If you cannot find your character, pressing "Spacebar" will center the map on your character.

More hotkeys
There are hotkeys for the chat or to close all windows at once. A list of all available hotkeys can be found at "Options/Settings/Keyboard shortcuts"
Also, the hotkeys can be deactivated in the options menu.

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[jumpfrom]8[/jumpfrom]REDESIGN OF SALOON AND QUESTBOOK

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Separation of the Saloon and Questbook
The quest system is one of the main complex features of the game. In order to make the quest system easier, clearer and more logical, we decided to separate the Saloon and the quest book. In The West 2.0 the Saloon will be the main place for talking to the quest givers, accepting and returning finished quests. The Quest book will be only a protocol of your current tasks. Here you can see the current status of your quests, will find what you need to do to finish the quests and will also see the quest story lines.

Makeover of the quest windows
All quest windows and the Saloon were adapted to the 2.0 layout. While the Saloon only got minor graphical improvements, the questbook and quest giver windows were completely redesigned. Quests are now shown clearer and nicer, rewards are graphically stressed and in the questbook you will find all the important information in only one window. For adventurers who like to quest, the changes are a major improvement.


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[jumpfrom]9[/jumpfrom]ENHANCED MINIMAP

New search function
On the new minimap, not only a drop down menu with all available jobs will display but also a search function that allows you to search fort jobs or product names. If you need a glass of water, for example, but don't know where to find it, you can just search for it on the minimap and the related jobs will be highlighted.

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More markers
In Version 2.0 there are some additional markers on the minimap:

  • Items on markets of different towns that are ready to be collected
  • Current fort battles
  • Town members
  • Friends
  • Alliance members

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[jumpfrom]10[/jumpfrom]MISC

Job overview
A completely reworked job overview offers the possibility to search and filter jobs on the basis of different criteria. Jobs can be sorted by experience, salary, luck or difficulty with nothing, energy or time as the basis. Another new feature of the job overview is the possibility to compare single jobs. If you activated the premium option "Automation" you can also send your character directly to the closest job spot of a job of your choice. You will then not have to search on the map for the closest spot.

Cloth calculation
A new link appears in the job windows that automatically filters your inventory for the best clothing for the related job. Your current equipment will be included in the search; set bonuses are ignored unfortunately. Clothes can also be shown that is the best for a specific skill. In order to do that you just need to click on any skill icon in any job window and your inventory will open showing you the clothes with the highest bonus for this skill.

Loading screen at the game start
Especially at the first login when all the new graphics are not cached locally yet, a lot of data has to be loaded. In order to make that progress clearer and understandable a loading screen will appear for a few seconds before the game starts (May be a bit longer, depending on the internet connection). From the second login of the game, it will load a lot faster and the loading screen will disappear quickly.
Overall the loading times are not much higher than in Version 1.

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Deletion of reports and open quests
For technical reasons, all reports and open quests have to be deleted with the update. You can of course just accept the quests again after the update if they don't have special requirements. For secret quests we highly recommend that you try and complete them before the update!
We of course know that this is not possible for all players and that it can be very annoying and frustrating. Because we did a lot of technical changes on the quest and report system there is no way to avoid this situation and we do apologize for the inconvenience.

Performance Optimization
With 2.0, not only the look and feel of the game changed but also a lot of backend optimization was done. Especially the chat and fort battle system as well as the Deamon handling and the job system. These got a lot of performance improvements and we hope that there will be less server issues and that the game will run smoothly even with high server loads.


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