Hello NordInvasion community!

For many months, we have been hard at work to bring you another great update to the mod.  Today, we are pleased to announce that NordInvasion 1.0.0 is now released!

This release contains a wide variety of changes but most of them are focused around making the game more welcoming to new players.  Our goal is to make the experience of joining NI for the first time more welcoming.  In the past, new recruits were so weak that in many cases, they would die from only one blow of the first Nords.  This is a frustrating way to learn a game and we feel it can be greatly improved.  To this end, we have introduced a new tier to the character class tree, training, and a new game mode, Beginner mode.

Major Changes:

Training Classes
The training classes are designed to give new players a taste of each class from the start without having to commit xp.  Each training class provides the player with a basic set of free gear to get started with.  The training classes can be swapped out at any time with no penalty until the player chooses a path to follow further.

Beginner Mode
Beginner mode is designed to give new players a place where they can get started in the game with a more gentle learning curve.  Beginner mode will be open to all players but will only reward players who are under level 26.  This is intended to keep the Beginner servers a place for beginners to play without getting taken over by people hoping to farm.  Interactive props such as health and ammo restore points are also highlighted to draw new players to take a closer look.

Support Class Requirements
The requirements for support classes have been adjusted to level based without any need for assist xp.  This allows for players to start bringing in support gear sooner without being forced to choose between levelling up or helping the team.  All assist xp that has been spent so far to get your support classes has been refunded.

Assist XP Range
Assist xp is now rewarded over the entire map rather than only players within a certain distance.

Activity Tracker
Players who have been inactive for a certain period of time will stop receiving assist xp and loot until they become active again.

Client Version Check
Servers will check if the client is running a compatible version.  If they are not, the player will be warned of the incompatibility and then removed from the server.

More Changes:

Nearly all early-tier equipment has been rebalanced to fall inline after the new training gear.
Tome and Barrel uses trigger a chat message.
Replacing items during prep time will not change your death counter.
Wraiths have returned to Hard, Ragnarok, and Cavalry mode.
The in-game gold counter is now accurate up to 10 million.
The scoreboard shows the total number of bots in each wave and how many have died.
The scoreboard also shows a count of the spectators.
There is a new chat screen to see all the messages without kills and assist xp (press 'O').
Map makers can now set weather and time-of-day more easily.
Various fixes to overlays and chat prompts.

There are bound to be a few outdated item stats on the website so expect adjustments over the next few days.

Map Updates:
   
    Ancient Bastion
    Caravan Ambush
    Coastal Raid
    Handes Retreat
    Kings Castleyard
    King Reach
    Medieval Fields
    Old Shire
    Royal Observatory
    Swadian Bay
    Swadian Castle
    Swadian City
    Great Hall
    Swadian Keep
    Swadian Overgrown
    Swadian Temple
    Swadian Town
    Swadian Village
    The First Defence
    The Great Hall
    Traders Valley

New maps:
   
    Forest Outpost
    Graubergen
    Nordic Fortress
    Swadian Citadel
    Swadian Folly
    Hypers Castle (coming soon)

New Developer:
   
With this patch, we would also like to welcome Kanade Tachibana to the development team!  His focus is on the game code and many of the improvements in this patch are thanks to him.

Donations:
   
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the people who have donated so far.  Your support is greatly appreciated and is what keeps the servers running.  NordInvasion survives entirely from donations from players, admins, and developers alike.  One-time donations soon pass away, however, and once again we ask for your continued support.  If enough people donate regularly - even in small amounts - we will be able to keep NordInvasion running for a long time to come.

Merry Christmas!

Kip and the NI Team

Well look at that; two Double XP Weekend threads in the news section - one after another... 

Enjoy!

Kip and the NI Team

As some of you may have noticed by now, double xp is upon us!  It will linger through the weekend.

If you are out of town or will otherwise miss it, don't worry; the extended forecast looks promising for another round soon. 

Enjoy!

Kip and the NI Team

King Ragnar has hired the best warlocks in Calradia to help him defeat our great kingdom of Swadia. The Warlocks - under the guise of developers - will lead the army of the undead. The assault on our towns will continue for rest of the week until the King's contract expires.  Grab your arms and armours and stand to defend Swadia so we might live through another year.

- unlike last year, there is no need to install a special version of the mod - just make sure to update
- a new map has been introduced for the event
- there is no loot on the event servers but the XP increases dramatically in later waves
- the event is currently scheduled to end on the evening of November 2nd
- the might be some balance changes during the event

Happy Halloween!

Hello everyone,

Today we are introducing a new version of the auto-updater!  Among other things, it has a revamped interface and remains responsive even while downloading the files.

You can download it from here: http://thor.nordinvasion.com/releases/updater.exe

When you first run the updater, you will probably get a security warning.  We should be able to suppress this in a future update.  For now, click "More info" and "Run anyway".

Spoiler

[Image: updater-warning-1.jpg]

[Image: updater-warning-2.jpg]

Hello everyone,

We have updated the admin recruitment rules a bit.  Rather than not accepting applications unless the region is actively recruiting, anyone can apply at any time.

This will allow us to become familiar with the applicants over a longer period of time rather than the one or two weeks the recruitment is officially open.

At this time, we are not actively recruiting in any of the regions but you are now welcome to apply!

Regards,
Kip and the NI Team

Hello all,

As you have no doubt realised, the forum has moved. We have done this to help balance the server loads and to provide the best infrastructure we can underneath NordInvasion.

Due to technical issues relating to certain mods it has not been possible to move avatars across with the forum however they can be added by simply visiting your page and uploading an avatar of your choice.

If you should notice any issues with the newly moved forum then please do get in touch either through the bug threads or on IRC if that is not possible and we will do our best to help.

Thanks

/Nao & the NI Team

Hello all,

Unfortunately our Internet Registrar is undergoing a DDOS attack. As such, many of their services are offline including the name servers that are needed to in order for people to access the site normally.

I have spoken with them and they are working hard to mitigate the attack but until then their services will be down. I am afraid this issue is out of our hands but we will update you once they have managed to handle the attacks.

Sorry and thanks for your patience.

/Nao