v1.8.0 is here: Herb Garden and Brewing, 3v3 Red vs Blue, Rookie Badge Events

v1.8.0 is here, and it is a big one: a garden to grow, a brewer to feed it to, the Arena back in business and eight new events that pay out every other hour. Every change since v1.7.0 is below, grouped so you can find your favourites. (Yes, the patch notes are l33t-sized again.)

The client patch is already out: it carries the new herb, seed and brew icons, the four arena role cards, the Wrath Card, the Red vs Blue entry in the Battlegrounds window, the English Equipment Attributes window (ALT+Q) and the new quest-log entries. Run the patcher before you log in.

Good to know first

The update goes live with a server restart at 22:00 UTC tonight. You will get the usual 10-minute countdown in game. Everything below switches on after it.
Arena and event badges share one daily pool. 3v3 matches and the Rookie Badge Events together pay at most 60 Rookie Badges a day, per account and per computer, reset at midnight UTC. When the cap cuts a prize, the game tells you how much was paid and why.
The Veil Thins is over. The Wandering ghosts, the Siege Marshal, the Pumpkin Hunter and the Veil Brewer have left. The Veil Keeper (guild prize claims) and the Veil Peddler (Candy exchange) stay for now, and Baby Shark's Ollie moved to Comodo beach (191, 143), where he keeps trading Baby Shark Coins.

New content

Herb Garden

Talk to Gardener Fern in Prontera (147, 163, by the trees on the west side of the main avenue) and choose "Go to the Garden". Every character has 2 plots of their own on a flower-garden island.

Seeds: monsters drop them straight into your bag. The seed depends on the monster's level: Dewmoss Seed (level 1-39), Embergrass Seed (40-59), Duskbloom Seed (60+), each at 5% a kill (2.5% on @autoattack). MVPs also drop the rare Starpetal Seed at 15%.
Growing: a seed grows for 4 real hours, offline and through restarts. Water a growing plot once for -25% of the time left. Harvest 3 herbs of the seed's kind, in person (@autoattack cannot harvest).
Full bag: a harvest waits until you have room. Nothing is lost.
Quest log: your first seed and first harvest of each herb show up in ALT+U, so the next step is always on screen.
Trading: seeds and herbs are tradable, vendable and storable. NPCs pay only 1z a seed and 2z a herb; their worth is what other players and brewers pay. Level 1-59 players have seeds to sell too, so hunt in your band and sell to the gardeners.

Brewing

Brewmaster Hops stands beside Fern in Prontera (147, 166). Each brew takes 3 herbs, 1 monster material and a 20,000z fee (the Starchaser Brew 50,000z). Brews are tradable, and you can brew up to 100 at once.

Scholar's Brew (3 Embergrass, 1 Old Magicbook): 60 minutes of @autoattack kills paying 90% of hand-kill EXP instead of 75%.
Sower's Brew (3 Dewmoss, 1 Sticky Mucus): 60 minutes of doubled seed drops (10% by hand, 5% on @ac).
Packmule Brew (3 Dewmoss, 1 Animal's Skin): 60 minutes of +1,000 weight limit.
Second Wind Brew (3 Embergrass, 1 Rotten Bandage): for 60 minutes, your first death on @ac revives you at full HP and SP where you fell.
Forager's Brew (3 Duskbloom, 1 Burnt Parts): 60 minutes of @ac drops at 75% of their rate instead of 50%.
Starchaser Brew (3 Starpetal, 1 Soft Feather, 50,000z): 10 minutes of +25% move speed, off on PvP, WoE and battleground maps.
GTB Tonic (3 Starpetal, 1 Insect Feeler): for 30 seconds, 30% of your magic gets through a Golden Thief Bug Card wearer. Brewed only, never sold.
Gatherer's Brew (3 Dewmoss, 1 Stem): pour it on a growing plot to halve the time left (4 h becomes 2 h), once per growth.
Rally Brew (3 Embergrass, 1 Brigan): 3 minutes of +5% Max HP and Max SP for you and party members within 9 cells.
Starlit Brew (3 Starpetal, 1 Star Crumb): 60 minutes of +5% base and job EXP and a glow everyone sees, without replacing your aura.
Clearmind Brew (3 Embergrass, 1 Poison Spore): 60 seconds of +30% resistance to Silence, Sleep and Blind, 2 minute delay.
Siegebreaker Brew (3 Starpetal, 1 Burning Heart): 60 seconds of +15% damage to the Emperium, in a castle during WoE only, 5 minute delay.
Guardward Brew (3 Duskbloom, 1 Solid Shell): 3 minutes of -20% damage from castle Guardians, 5 minute delay.
Wardbark Brew (3 Duskbloom, 1 Tough Vines): 3 minutes of -10% damage from Boss monsters (never players), 3 minute delay.
Bulwark Brew (3 Duskbloom, 1 Turtle Shell): 30 seconds of -5% damage from players, 3 minute delay; nothing against monsters.

Two siege drinks join the Tool Dealers, no garden needed:

Ironwill Brew, 20,000z: 60 seconds of +30% resistance to Stun, Freeze and Stone Curse, 2 minute delay (shared with the Clearmind Brew).
Boss-hunter Elixir, 30,000z: 5 minutes of +10% physical damage to Boss monsters, 5 minute delay. Never players or the Emperium.

Every brew needs a monster material, so Old Magicbooks, Burning Hearts, Turtle Shells and friends just became worth picking up again.

3v3 Red vs Blue

The Arena is open again with 3v3 Red vs Blue. Talk to the Arena Warp in Prontera (146, 213), then join at the Arena Guide or from the Battlegrounds window.

Who: base level 150+ and a 2nd or transcendent job. You fight with your own level, stats and gear.
Queue: solo or as a party. At 4 queued a 90 second fill delay starts; the match plays 2v2 up to 8v8, sides drafted by a hidden arena rating so they come out even. A party always plays on one side.
Stay queued: join once and you stay in line for every match. Go farm, vend or chat; the next match pulls you in, and you go back in line when it ends. Sitting a match out drops you from the queue.
In the match: both sides start on the arena floor, healed, each player on their own cell beside their team. Your side is your party for the match, so your area skills never hit a teammate. Wipe the other side or have more players standing after 5 minutes.
Rewards: 5 Rookie Badges for a match you stay in to the end, +2 for the winners (it was 6 for a win, 2 for a loss). You need to take part: a hit or kill on the other team, or a heal on your own. Leaving early or doing nothing pays 0, and the game tells you why.
Still closed: 1v1, 5-Man FFA, Capture the Flag and Control Points. They show a closed notice for now.

Rookie Badge Events

Every odd hour at :30 UTC (12 a day) one of eight short events starts in Prontera. Talk to the Rookie Events Host on the plaza's east side (166, 227). Each run pays one prize per account and per computer, from the shared 60 a day.

Cluckers: the Host turns into a chicken. Every poke has a 10% chance to win 10 Rookie Badges; a miss gives you a harmless 2-3 second zap.
Disguise: the Host turns into a monster. The first to type its name wins 2 Rookie Badges, 5 rounds a run.
Find the Mushroom: five Lost Mushrooms hide on field maps. Each one killed pays 2 Rookie Badges.
Poring Catcher: find the one real Poring among 15 look-alikes for 10 Rookie Badges. A fake sends you home.
True or False: stand on O or X. The last ones standing win 4 Rookie Badges each.
Last Man Standing: a free-for-all; the last player alive wins 10 Rookie Badges (3 players on 3 computers needed, a draw pays nothing).
Dice: pick one of 6 boxes and survive up to 5 rolls for 5 Rookie Badges each.
Stop the Clock: stop a hidden clock closest to the target, within 1 second, for 10 Rookie Badges.

The Badge Exchange sells cards

Chip in the arena room now sells cards instead of gear:

Arena role cards, 30 Rookie Badges each: Bulwark Card (shield: -6% damage from players, -14% under 30% HP), Spellweaver Card (headgear: -8% variable cast, +5% magic damage against players, -5% Max SP), Vanguard Card (weapon: melee hits on the same player stack +3%, +5%, +7%) and Lifeline Card (garment: your heals on another player shield them for 3 seconds for 4% of the heal). None of them do anything against monsters.
+20 stat cards, 6 Victory Badges each: Greed (VIT), Envy (AGI), Faith (INT), Lust (LUK), Exile (DEX) and the new Wrath Card (STR +20), which completes the six. The Forsaken Mystic still trades them for Seals. All of them can now be traded, mailed, vended, dropped and sold like any card.
Badge swap: 100 Rookie Badges = 1 Victory Badge, both ways, free (it was 1 Victory for 45 Rookie, one way).

Royal Treasury guild salary

The guilds holding the war castles now draw a salary fund to pay their members for WoE. Each Monday, 5% of what the Treasury took in the week before becomes the week's fund (about 28,000,000z at today's taxes), paid to castle holders every day of the week, up to 20,000,000z a guild a week. Lose a castle mid-WoE and you keep what it earned until then. The leader collects at the Royal Treasury Steward, who now also says plainly why there is nothing to collect. It is paid on its own, so the Treasury pot and Golden Hours are untouched. (The old weekly share paid about 0.7% of the Treasury's income.)

VIP Tickets

The Premium Tickets are now VIP Tickets (1 Day / 3 Days / 7 Days) and the Premium Care Package is the VIP Care Package: same items, same VIP time, and the ones you own are renamed in place. New: the VIP Ticket (30 Days) in the Uber Shop for 3 Ubers. The 3, 7 and 30 day tickets can be mailed, and the tooltips list the perks. @rates now tells a VIP their rates already include the VIP share, with the bonus and when it ends.

Winter Festival GM prizes

Our GM events have three new winter prizes: the Winter Gift Box (5 Winter Seeds and 5 Ginger Breads), the [C] Frostfall Yule Cap (a sapphire winter cap, cosmetic) and the Garden Seed Pouch (1 Dewmoss, 1 Embergrass and 1 Duskbloom Seed). All tradable, and only from GM events.

Gear, drops and prices

Overcharge and Discount now reach 15% at level 10 (1.5% a level; it was 5%). Rogues' Compulsion Discount uses the same scale and stops at level 5, so 7% (it was 2%). NPC shops only; the 10% sell tax on sales of 100,000z+ still applies.
Untradable gear you no longer want (Daily Login gear like the Time Guardian set, Guild Package gear, event costumes) now sells to any NPC for 1,000z. It still can't be traded, dropped or mailed. Uber Shop gear still can't be sold, so a misclick can't lose it.
HD ore and the HD Elunium / Oridecon Box(30) can now be traded, mailed and vended. Still no dropping or NPC selling.
Bloody Branch entry test: Tribal Applicant Nenu asks for 150 Blood Of Wolf (it was 450, about 3,300 Wolf kills instead of 10,000). Rok and Nenu now say where Dead Branches drop.
The [C] Wayfarer's Cap from the Adventurer's Passport is no longer bound: trade it and store it.
Starter-kit and reward items that were bound to one character are now bound to the account, so they fit in storage. Nothing new becomes tradable.
Stat foods (Steamed Tongue, Steamed Desert Scorpions, Dragon Breath Cocktail, Hwergelmir's Tonic, Cooked Nine Tail's Tails, Immortal Stew) now stay on when you die; only their 60 minutes end them.
Golem, Stalactic Golem and Lava Golem now roam moc_fild21 in the Dimensional Gorge.

Classes and skills

Abyss Arthur Card works for melee

The Abyss Arthur Card now adds its +15% damage against Large monsters to melee attacks, as its description says. Before, only bows and magic got it. It still never affects players, so PvP and WoE are unchanged.

Mistress Card on VIP accounts

The Mistress Card waives gemstones on VIP accounts again. It used to stop after you logged in until you re-equipped it.

Gypsies and Clowns on @autoattack

With a whip or an instrument, Gypsies and Clowns on @autoattack now walk into reach and attack, and no longer see "No suitable ammunition left!".

Super Novice vending

Super Novices (and anyone outside the Merchant line who learned Vending) now vend as Vending Lv10: 12 items (it was 2 + their learned level). Casting Vending now tells every vendor their shop's item limit before the price window opens.

Balance changes

We know a couple of these take something away, so here is why.

Scarlet Angel and Emperor helms: a set now gives one ASPD block, the highest of the partners you wear (Emperor +7, Scarlet +6), instead of one per partner. Emperor Helm with Scarlet Wings and Ears no longer reaches +14 ASPD, and the full Scarlet build no longer reaches +16. Single-partner builds are unchanged. Stacked blocks put headgear ASPD far past anything else in the game.
Bloody Branches: Tribal Leader Rok trades at most 5 a day per account and per computer (reset 00:00 UTC). Branches you already hold keep working. This keeps Bloody Branch MVPs a treat instead of a farm.
Badge Exchange gear: the Armor, Angel, Emperor and Godly gear left the shop. Copies you already own stay yours.

Fixes and small changes

World Boss Mizuchi Dragon's Tide now always pulls far players back beside it (it could miss when a wall stood beside the dragon).
World Bosses now tell every player who earned no token why: your share of the damage and the rule that pays (2%, 3+ hits, the last within 60 seconds, alive, or supporting a party member who did).
MVP Ladder: a hunter who dies 5 times to a boss now hears at the 5th death that this spawn no longer pays them, and why at the kill. The clerk lists the Wanted bosses one per row.
Boss drops: picking one up too early now tells you the top damagers take it first and how many seconds are left.
RODEX: mail that arrives while your inbox is full (30) now shows. Your oldest read mail makes room, and both sides are told to clear old mails.
@afk with a shop open (an @vend stall, a Vending shop or a buying store) keeps the shop open while you're away and through a restart.
Closing your @vend stall returns your items with one line instead of a "You got" line per item.
The Refine window adds up bound and tradable Blacksmith Blessings (bound spent first) and tells you how many you hold when you are short.
Equipment Attributes (ALT+Q) is now in English and shows XileRO's own item and card bonuses.
Untradable costumes show their trade and storage limits on the item window, and the Streamer Box tooltip lists exactly what it gives.
Tooltips: Yggdrasil Berry and Seed show their heal line again, Talefing lists its jobs, and six item weights now match the game.
The Banker and @help explain that the In Bank line in your storage window is a separate vault from your Banker savings; nothing was lost.
Captain Janssen in Alberta now says what the Endless Tower pays before you pay the 1,000,000z entry, and the Endless Tower Costume Peddler shows each swap's full price and what you are short.
NPC dialogs for the new NPCs, the Treasury Steward, Rok and Nenu, the Arena Guide and the Badge Exchange now fit the dialog box with no scroll bar.
The Blacksmith quiz and Alberta's text now state the live 15% Discount and Overcharge.
Logging in no longer prints "You're not part of the '#livefeed' channel." for players who never turned it on.

Spotted something odd? Tell us in the bug report forum on Discord, and grab the client from the downloads page.

See you in XileRO, and good luck out there, n00bs and veterans alike!