Chapter 454

: The Fourth System Update
Translator: Halcyon Translations Editor: Halcyon Translations
Halloween only lasted for a day, but some of its events such as the Headless Paladin event lasted for the whole week. Players were given one opportunity each day to challenge the boss; this gave some small guilds and mercenary groups a chance.
Otherwise, the players wouldn’t be happy if big guilds were the only ones who were able to take down the Headless Paladin.
There were around ten thousand players in Ruling Sword, which meant that they could make around a dozen teams. However, only so many of them were able to truly participate in the Headless Paladin event.
Most of these players didn’t have the level or strength to participate in these events yet.
Despite this, there were still around four or five teams that took down the Headless Paladin each day.
The drop rate of the Headless Paladin’s Steed was greatly reduced on the second day compared to the first. Based on the statistics, there were around 130 Headless Paladin’s Steed that had dropped on Halloween in the entire game.
This wasn’t a large number, considering the population of Dawn.
The numbers only decreased over the next six days, and even less players were able to lay their hands on these mounts. Sometimes, a team of a hundred players wouldn’t be able to loot a single Headless Paladin’s steed.
Interestingly, not all players had the Basic Mount Skill Book, which meant that most players who received the item couldn’t use it.
In a short amount of time, the Basic Mount Skill Book and Headless Paladin’s steed became the most popular items in the game.
After Halloween, there was something else that was even more exciting.
Some called the maintenance on 01/11 the fourth system update.
This time, the system not only fixed some bugs, but also made some improvements to the dungeons. Dungeons under level 30 remained the same, while dungeons over level 30 no longer had level requirements.
As for experience lost, players who died in the wild would receive a 10% experience loss, which was reduced to 5% if they were revived.
Most players were around level twenty and thirty, so they needed a lot of experience to level up. A 20% experience loss was too much for players to handle, so the gaming company decided to take a step back.
The arena had also been made available with seats for the audience.
Players could pay to rent out arena rooms, and the prices were set based on the audience that the room was able to host.
For example, a 500-man room would cost a single gold coin. The two battling players could set the ticket price at one silver coin. As long as they were halfway decent, they would be able to fill out at least half of the seats, which would translate to an income of around 2.5 gold coins. If they split the income in half, they would each earn about 1 gold coin.
For most average players, this was a fairly decent income.
For many players who were decently skilled but didn’t have the money to fix their equips, they would be able to earn some quick cash if they went to the arena.
A new battleground dungeon had also appeared.
Other elements of the game were only improvements, but this dungeon was probably the biggest focus for players besides the main cities.
Warsong Canyon was a small battleground located between Grey Valley and Warsong Sawmill.
During the third war of the Orcs, Grommash Hellscream and his troops had cut down a great number of trees in the forests of Grey Valley. There were still many Orcs that were left behind that continued to cut down trees to supply resources for the Horde. They called themselves the vanguards of Warsong.
The Night Elves decided to counterattack in a large force to protect the Grey Valley. The Silverwing Sentinel troops responded to the call, swearing to take back Grey Valley and banish the Orcs.
With this foundation in place, Dawn improved the Warsong Canyon by shrinking it, and a Capture the Flag began between the Alliance and the Horde.
Players who enjoyed FPS (First Person Shooting) games would be familiar with Capture the Flag gaming mode. The battle mode of Warsong Canyon was adapted from these FPS games.
There were only twenty participating players in total for each battle of the Warsong Canyon (ten players on each side).
Everyone was to participate in the battle in their designated battleground. When there were enough players for both parties, the system would send these twenty players into the battleground dungeon.
When a player successfully took the enemy flag, they were to run back with the flag to their basement. If there were no other players around to protect the flag holder, the enemy team could easily take back their flag. Similarly, a player wouldn’t be able to defend a mini troop of attackers by themselves. Hence, players needed work as a team, attacking and defending together.
The team that won would receive a great amount of experience, and some players who were lucky might even receive a bonus skill point reward. Even if they were defeated, players would still receive a certain amount of experience.
From this point onwards, PVP players finally had a way to level up without killing monsters.
Warsong Canyon was the first battleground in Dawn and was one of the most classic battlegrounds as well.
Players were able to enter the battleground at level 10, and were split according to the following sections: 10-14, 15-19, 20-24, 25-29, etc…
There was a section for every five levels. For example, Lu Li was currently level 33, so he would only be able to enter a battleground section of 30-34.
These settings were very important, as a few extra attribute points didn’t matter, but a difference in equipment levels was a big problem.
It wasn’t fair for a player with level 30 equips to play against an opponent with level 25 equips.
After the fourth system update, a certain number of portals were also removed. To compensate for this, flying mounts, ships and airships were introduced.
Most importantly, the eight main cities had been released.
For the Horde, Thrall led the Orcs to build the city of Orgrimmar in memory to the legendary hero, Orgrim Doomhammer. The Trolls didn’t have their own main city; they shared a main city with the Orcs.
Underneath the grounds of the old Lodaren, the tombs of the royalty had been reconstructed into the palace of Queen Sylvannas, who named the new city ‘Shadow City’.
The Tauren built Thunder Cliff in the green grasslands of Mulgore. The legendary Tauren Chief, Cairne Bloodhoof watched over the cliff.
In the third battle, Alsace, traitor of Lodaren, led the undead army to destroy the entire Quel’Thalas. They tainted the Sunwell and revived the Lich, Kel’thuzad. The high Elves who survived lost the protection from the Sunwell and became irritable, changing their name to the ‘Blood Elves’. After they returned to the Alliance, they were troubled by unfair treatment and prejudice, so in the end, they joined the Horde Faction.
The current Silver City was built on the ruins of Eastern Plaguelands; it was the new home to the Blood Elves.
For the Alliance faction, although Stormwind city was the main city for humans, it was also home to the Dwarves and Elves. It permitted all Alliance members to conduct business within certain restrictions.
Ironforge was located in the snowy mountain top of Dun Morogh — it was at the center of the mountain and was an expensive underground city. The old Dwarves and Gnomes lived here. Countless artisans, adventurers, miners and warriors gathered in this place.
The Exodar was an airship brought to Azeroth by the Draenei. It was located in the Western end of mountains located in Azuremyst Isle.