This update will most likely be applied at server restart tonight, midnight. The server will be down for around 1 hour, possibly a bit more.

PK SYSTEM
A new PK system is being introduced that brings some incentive and also some risk to PKing in Iris Online. The current system of earning Chaos Points will remain as it is, but with an additional layer of Karma and Alignment statuses that should prevent people from abusing the Chaos system, meaning I can start rewarding the top PKers with a weekly reward along the same lines as the Honor and Fame Crowns.

You can now manually PK Enable yourself on any level 25+ field map by selecting Guild or All vs All mode from the new PK Menu. Excluded maps are Terminus, Archelon Temple, and lowbie areas Logging Area, Shebuz Snowfield, Resource Mine and Altus Gorge.

Guild mode = cannot attack PK enabled guild members.
All vs All mode = can attack any PK enabled players including guild members (if the guild member also has All vs All mode turned on).

When switching to All vs All or Guild mode, you cannot switch back to Peace Mode for 5 minutes. To go back to Peace Mode you need to wait for 5 minutes or move map.
Getting into combat whilst in All vs All or Guild mode will reset the 5 minute cooldown.

How to tell if a player or pet is PK enabled?
Target them and check the Target frame - it will have a Shield (Guild mode) or Skull (All vs All mode) on it if they are PK enabled.

About Karma and Alignment
Karma is gained and lost depending on the Alignment and Karma rating of your target, and our Karma rating defines your Alignment.

Karma 0 = Neutral (white text name)
Karma between 1 and 100 = Lawful (green text name)
Karma between -1 and -100 = Unlawful (orange text name)
Karma between -101 and -300 = Chaotic (red text name)

Attack a Neutral or Lawful player and you will lose 1 Karma each time you hit them and 10 Karma if you kill them.
Kill an Unlawful/Chaotic player and you will gain 10 Karma.
Kill a Chaotic player with Karma of -200 or less and you will also gain a bounty/reward of Gold and send the player to prison.

If a Lawful player kills a Neutral/Lawful player, they instantly lose all Karma and become Unlawful.

Karma is slowly recovered whilst you are online. 1 Karma every 5 minutes.

Penalties
Unlawful/Chaotic players are always PK enabled whilst on Orange/Red maps (see MINIMAP section of update). Other players will need to manually turn on a PK mode if they wish to attack them on an Orange map.

Chaotic players will be sent to prison if they die on a field map (not battlefields, dungeons or Fire Pit), and will remain there until their Karma reaches 0 (Neutral). Karma is recovered naturally at 1 Karma every 3 minutes (even in prison).

What happens if?
Neutral Player A attacks Neutral Player B:
The first SUCCESSFUL hit (not a MISS) from Player A on Player B causes Player A to lose 1 Karma, turning them Unlawful. Player B can safely attack this player back to defend itself without losing any Karma.

Lawful Player attacks Neutral Player:
If a Lawful Player kills a Neutral player they lose all of their Karma and an additional -1 Karma, turning them Unlawful.

Neutral Player attacks Lawful Player:
Neutral Player's first SUCCESSFUL hit (not a MISS) on the Lawful Player causes the Netural Player to lose 1 Karma, turning them Unlawful. Lawful Player can now safely defend itself and attack the now Unlawful Player without losing any Karma.

Neutral/Lawful Player attacks Unlawful/Chaotic Player:
If the Neutral/Lawful Player kills the Unlawful/Chaotic Player, they gain 10 Karma.

Unlawful/Chaotic Player attacks Neutral/Lawful Player:
Unlawful/Chaotic Player's each SUCCESSFUL hit (not a MISS) on Neutral/Lawful Player causes them to lose 1 Karma, and 10 Karma if they kill them.

Unlawful/Chaotic Player attacks another Unlawful/Chaotic Player:
They will not lose any Karma for hitting them and will gain 10 Karma if they kill them.


Some of this might be a bit unclear so I will make a more detailed post about it later, or just ask in the comments and I will explain more.

You can check the PK info in the PvP section of the new ingame help system which is probably a bit clearer. /help

For now, the existing PK Leaderboard will not be reset and there will be no weekly crown reward. I want to make sure everything is working and make any needed changes or fixes first.




IN COMBAT
Since I needed this functionality for the new PK system amongst other things, and believe it or not, Iris doesn't actually have one already, I have added an In Combat system so that certain restrictions can be made to players that are currently in combat. When you are in combat your Hero's unit frame will turn red.

You are placed In Combat when you use a skill or autoattack an enemy successfully (ie, not a Miss) or if an enemy successfully attacks you. You will remain in combat for around 2 seconds or until you attack or get hit again.

In Combat Restrictions
You can not logout or exit the game whilst in combat.
You can not use certain items in combat, such as quest start items, pet summon scrolls, theme reset, skill reset, teleports, recipes.
You can not start gathering whilst in combat, but once gathering is started, getting into combat will not cancel it.


PET
Pet Auto-Attack
A new button is available in the pet section of the Community Skills tab that toggles Auto-Attack mode. When toggled on, your pet will automatically attack when you attack and switch target when you switch target. Whilst enabled you will see a crossed swords icon on your pet's unit frame.

Pet Feedback
Enabled chat balloons on pets even if you have chat balloons turned off for your character since important information is displayed there such as when a pet is hungry/thirsty, etc.

Added new pet chats when a pet cannot attack a target you command it to attack such as a friendly player or pet, or your team's tower in a battlefield.

Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue causing the icon of skills just learned by a pet to show up in other pets skill learning interface if they hadn't yet learned any skills of their own.

Pets that get the killing blow in a PK battle now trigger the Chaos system properly, meaning you will earn Chaos points if your pet kills somebody, and you will lose some if you are killed by another player's pet. (I will try and do the same with the battlefield system so that pet kills count for scores etc.).


FRIENDS
Fixed issue with the Couple window showing the partner name of the previously logged in character if they are not in a couple.


TAROT
Fixed a bug with the Tarot Stall that sometimes caused a player to see their own Tarot Spreads instead of the stall owners. (I think at least - works fine for me now).


MAP
The minimap now color codes map names depending on their type.

If the map is a Safe Zone where no PK activity can take place (Terminus, Archelon Temple, and newbie maps like Logging Area, Shebuz Snowfield etc.), it will be Green.

If the map is a forced PK zone (Spirit's Shelter, Conflict Valley, Frozen Nest, Collossus Shadowfields, Nightfall Shelter, Pandahama Island, Fire Pit, Catacombs etc.) it will be Red.

If the map is an optional PK zone (basically all other field maps) it will be Orange.


HELP SYSTEM
Added a help system but it's still a work in progress. It will take a while to write everything up. For now you can see some info PVP, Server Rules, Paid Services, Chat Commands etc. To access it you can type /help in the chatbox.


DUELS
Duel wins are now recorded and an announcement will be made when a player wins a certain amount of duels.


ITEMS
Due to so many of you asking, I have created more Dragonling vanity pet/face costumes for the mall. These new ones use the generic stats that the other vanity pets have (Whelpling, Angel etc.) so now you can pick the colour you want.

Shadow Dragonling stats have been changed to differentiate it from the new ones added so it will now have 2% HP Absorb instead of 5% All Defense.

Fixed missing texture for staff schematic Fairground Hammer.


QUESTS
Adjusted the level ranges for the [Daily] Tonic Supplies quest since the level 40 quest required items from a level 75 map. The existing level 1-39 quest has been changed to level 1-69 and the level 40 quest to level 70+.


INTERFACE
Hero window redesigned slightly, removed Force and added Camp and Alignment. Alignment shows your current PK Aligment - Neutral, Lawful, Unlawful or Chaotic and the amount of Karma you have. Camp will be used later for new PvE/PvP scenarios where you must choose to be on the side of Light or Darkness.

Reduced the sizing of the Moolah Mall since it was problematic for anyone using 1024x768 resolution.

The close button (when in Windowed mode) no longer closes the client. I have disabled it because it does not close the client properly, causing any settings changes to be lost and settings saved on the server to be lost too. Please use Exit Game or Logout from the menu.


SKILLS
Ranger
Silencing Shot tooltip corrected. It causes [Silence] and [Skill Paralysis], not just Silence.

Berserker
Frenzy duration increased to 60s the same as the Gladiator equivalent skill.

Myrmidon
Backdraft no longer stuns the Myrmidon.

Templar/Champion
Increased the threat generation of skills based on their cooldown. Basically all skills now cause more threat but the longer cooldown skills were increased considerably. This should bring tank threat generation into line with the amount of damage that DPS characters are doing.

Wind Walker
I just wanted to clarify something about the hide skills of the Wind Walker since some of you reported they are not working.

When in a hidden state, you are only totally invisible to enemy players. Non-enemy players (those you cannot attack or be attacked by) can still see you, you just appear transparent.

I have tested this extensively whilst writing the new PK system since I completely rewrote the functions that say if you can attack somebody or not, and I cannot find any situation where an enemy player can see you in hide mode.

Please let me know if you find a situation where an enemy can still see you.