Long time no see, travelers!

It's been 568 days since FARA's last public update, but that isn't to say the project has been dormant. A dedicated, intrepid group of adventurers has been testing a rebuilt version of the game since July, and that test-of-a-test is now ready for everyone to... test. There have been well over 120 patches in that time, and what's listed below is a summary of the highlights. If by chance you want to read every raw, potentially spoilery, nitty gritty detail without much context, you can find the full 1,300+ line changelog here: http://playfara.com/2020changelog.txt. I want to give my most heartfelt thanks to everyone invited to test the changes over the last few months. You could have spent that time and energy on anything, and the fact you chose to help make FARA a better game means the world to me. 

If you haven't already, join us on Discord!

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SUMMARY:
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- The biggest goal of this update was to re-write many of FARA's underlying systems and data structures. In doing so, the game should run faster and scale better with future development. There are also a TON of bug fixes, gameplay changes, and usability improvements. If you've tried FARA in the past and spent more time fighting the interface than monsters, I encourage you to give this new build a shot.

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INTERFACE IMPROVEMENTS:
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- You can now hold down the arrow keys to continuously move in a direction. Additionally, you can click and drag from the center of the screen to activate a virtual joystick and move around.

- There is now an interact button in the target window which can either be clicked to perform the displayed action, or at least inform you of what action pressing [ Enter ] will perform.

- Right-clicking in the center of the screen now presents the same target options as clicking on the target window. Holding the right mouse button down while scrolling the mouse wheel will cycle through targets.

- Hovering the mouse over objects on the map will display what they are, and clicking an object will target it and bring up a list of options.

- Added more bump-to-interact options. Bumping into foliage will harvest it, bumping into large ore nodes will attempt to mine them, bumping into non-hostile NPCs will /interact with them.

- Added drag and drop! Dragging objects from the Nearby Targets window and dropping them on your inventory or the game log will attempt to /take them. Dragging items in your possession and releasing them on the game log will /drop them. Dragging items in your possession and releasing them on your target will attempt to /give the item. You can also drag items between your holding, wearing, and inventory windows.

- Added tooltips! You can now hover your cursor over most objects and targets to learn about them.

- Added animations! Several (mostly combat-related) actions now have animated effects which will play over the target window or the center of the screen.

- Added a new interface for building structures. Press [ b ] or type /build with Wooden Blocks near by to create buildings one room at a time instead of tile by tile.

- The health and stamina bars are now displayed by default.

- All of the most frequently used pop-up windows (/character, /spells, /recipes, etc) now have tabs along the top, allowing quick access to the other frequently viewed windows. Continuously pressing [ c ] will cycle through all of the windows.

- Clicking on party members now displays options to view their stats, items, and spells.

- Pressing [ - ] now opens a window which shows the entire local map. If you are in a dungeon or somewhere similar, this map will only show areas you have seen. This feature can also be accessed by clicking the header of the minimap or typing /map.

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GAMEPLAY CHANGES:
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- There is now a static settlement named Relica near the start of an adventure. The further you travel from Relica, the more difficult (and rewarding) the game becomes. There are still randomly generated settlements, but they are few and far between.

- Added fast travel, accessed by either clicking a waypoint or typing /travel (waypoint number). If you are tracking a waypoint, you can also click on the compass.

- Most randomness has been removed from combat. There are no longer chances to miss or crit - both will happen consistently when the right conditions are met. Elemental weapons will always trigger their effects with heavy attacks and never on regular attacks. Elemental spells will always trigger their effects with every cast.

- Jumping while targeted by an attack will cause you to dodge the attack. In the case of a spell, you will take half the spell's normal damage and avoid any secondary effects.

- Ranged weapon attacks now has a reload penalty which adds time to your next action

- Stamina now regenerates over time, and is more of a per-encounter resource than a per-rest resource. Heavy attacks and jumping/dodging use considerably more stamina than before.

- The gap between the lowest and highest health classes has been narrowed. Classes now either have slightly below average health, average, or slightly about average health.

- Most of the primary stats have been renamed, and their purposes tweaked:
--- Strength: Increases damage dealt with melee weapons and unarmed strikes, decreases stamina spent pushing large objects
--- Finesse: Increases damage dealt with ranged weapons, increases chance to disarm traps, increases stealth ability, decreases reload time of ranged weapons, decreases stamina use of jumping and stealth
--- Resilience: Reduces physical damage taken, reduces duration of negative effects, increases stamina regeneration rate
--- Insight: Increases damage of spells, increases search ability, decreases stamina cost of spells
--- Charm: Increases the duration of positive effects, increases odds of favorable outcomes
- Wisdom has been removed

- Added equipment slots - Head, Body, Hands, Feet, and Accessory. Typical equipment will fit into one of the slots. The accessory slot retains the old behavior of allowing anything* to be equipped there.

- Added a trait system. Traits add passive bonuses and features to your character. There are 3 types - Master, Major, and Minor. Master traits are determined by your class and cannot be changed. Major and Minor traits can be acquired from different factions as rewards for helping them. You can have 1 Major trait and 2 Minor traits.

- Added several new enemies, encounter types and scenarios

- Dungeons have been reworked to produce more interesting layouts, and new kinds of obstacles have been added

- Randomly generated factions have been removed in favor of 3 static factions - the Radiant Hand, the Jade Circle, and the Wild of the Wild. There is a lot in store for the faction system, but for now, they serve as the primary means of acquiring traits.

- World biome distribution is far more logical and aesthetically pleasing than before.

-  Meals are now stackable, provide rejuvenation, and only use a single ingredient. Cooking multiple items on a fire will produce multiple meals.

- Crafting materials have been rebalanced across the board. A handful have been removed, and several new ones have been added.

- You can no longer craft unknown objects for twice the material cost. Instead, inspecting an item will teach several related recipes.

- The default maximum party size has been reduced from 4 to 2.

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CLASS CHANGES:
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Blacksmith, Brewmaster, Tailor, Spelunker, Constable, Astronomer, and Yogi have been removed. Their abilities and features have been added to other classes.

- Added Mortician! Ability: Undertaking: Morticians have access to the Fervent Embalming spell which raises corpses to fight for a short duration. Additionally, Morticians do not attract hostile targets when resting outdoors, and gain a bonus to all stats and vision at night.

- Added Peasant! Peasants have terrible stats across the board and can't use magic. If you wanted FARA to be more challenging, here's your Expert Mode.

- Spellthief: They now have an active ability to learn the last ability to affect them instead of automatically learning everything

- Adventurer has been reworked: "Adventurers have an increased chance to find rare items. They also have the Heroic Feat ability which provides a temporary boost to all stats once per rest."

- Pit Fighter has been reworked: "Pit Fighters have heightened stamina regeneration when bleeding, dazed, or immobilized. They also have the Payback ability which deals damage to a target in melee range equal to twice the most recent damage received and causes bleeding."

- Duelist has been reworked: "Duelists gain Opportunity after perfectly timed dodges, allowing their next action to be performed without using stamina. They also have the En Garde ability which increases the Duelist's damage against a selected target while amplifying damage the Duelists receives from other sources."

- Executioner has been reworked: "Executioner's killing blows deal splash damage and knock adjacent targets to the ground. They also have the Last Word ability which deals heavy damage to targets who are Dying."

- Juggernaut has been reworked: "Juggernauts are immune to immobilization and force spells, deal twice as much damage to non-sentient objects, knock down hostile targets after jumping, and can smash through most doors."

- Gatekeeper has been reworked: "Gatekeepers will deflect long-range projectiles, and their shields and armor take less damage in combat. They also have the Protect ability which temporarily reduces the amount of damage a target takes by half."

- Soldier has been reworked: "Soldiers gain increased damage resistance as their health decreases."

- Kung Fu Master has been reworked: "Standard attacks trigger Bear Stance, causing thier next heavy attack to inflict Dazing. Heavy attacks trigger Monkey Stance, causing thier next jump to grant Quickness. Jumping triggers Tiger Stance, causing their next standard attack to inflict bleeding."

- Fishmonger has been reworked: "Fishmongers cannot drown, take greatly reduced damage while Intoxicated and are immune to the negative effects, and have a higher chance to catch rare items while fishing."

- Elemancer has been reworked: "Elemancers have a bonus to all elemental attunements. They also have the Attune ability which channels the elemental energy of a target to boost the caster's relative attunement. Successfully casting the ability a second time will combine the elements, providing two boosts at half the potency. Attunements are lost after rest."

- Scholar has been reworked: "Scholars gain Enlightenment after conversing with someone or learning a new recipe, temporarily increasing their insight. Scholars can cast spells from scrolls at higher tiers based on their insight, and can use the same scroll several times."

- Gamber has been reworked: "Gamblers have access to the 'Gamble' ability which inflicts a random negative condition to either the caster or their target. Charm reduces the stamina cost of this ability and increases the likelihood of afflicting the target over the caster. When used on certain chests, Gamble will either upgrade the quality of the chest or completely destroy it."

- Ragamuffin has been reworked: "Ragamuffins have an increased chance to steal successfully, and can find a wider variety of items. In combat, Ragamuffins can attempt to /steal weapons used to attack them."

- Kunoichi has been reworked: "When attacking from stealth, Kunoichi deal bonus damage and remain hidden if the attack kills their target. Additionally, Kunoichi recover from the Revealed effect twice as quickly, and gain Quickness when Revealed."

- Gamestalker has been reworked: "Gamestalkers immobilize targets when attacking from stealth at range."

- Demon Slayer has been reworked: "Demon Slayers take reduced damage from legendary monsters and spells, and silence enemies with their heavy attacks."

- Wrestler has been reworked: "Wrestlers can use the Giant Swing ability, allowing them to throw a target to an area of their choosing, causing them to take damage, land prone, and become Dazed. Additionally, Wrestlers are immune to being dazed, and do not receive any penalties while prone."

- Bodybuilders have been reworked: "Bodybuilders have access to the Flex ability which will blind a hostile target. If completely unarmored, Flex will also provide a temporary Charm bonus and cleanse negative status effects."

- Kensai has been tweaked: In addition to their Samurai Showdown ability, they now instantly counter-attack after performing a perfect dodge.

- Illusionist has been reworked: "Illusionists will immediately enter stealth for a short duration when damaged by a critical hit. Additionally, Illusionists detect illusions and disguises without fail."

- Rift Dancer has been reworked: "A Rift Dancer's heavy attacks and spells summon creatures from other planes."

Saying there is more to the update than what is listed above would be the understatement of a lifetime. While I could have gone into greater detail, let's not forget that FARA is a game about exploration and discovery. Adventure awaits!