The wait is over! For all of you level-capped adventurers who have been staring at the calendar for too many months to count now, and have desperately been needing some meaty new content to sink your teeth into, then please take a quick moment to let out a long happy sigh – now grab your weapons and friends, and venture into Bevyn’s Coille!

The level cap has been raised to 77, and that’s only the beginning! The Secret of the Coille is the first installment of six new zones which we will be releasing incrementally over the course of the next seven to eight months. In other words, there will be no more waiting eternal stretches of time for new content!

So what can you look forward to with the arrival of this patch besides a brand new beautiful zone full of exceedingly difficult foes, a twisty story line of new quests, an array of dailies, and a whole lot of XP? A great deal – because this build is not just for level capped players!

New features that all will surely enjoy, include:

• Inventory Sorting
• A Death Recap Window
• The removal of node depletion
• The addition of Elite Crafting Quests
• Charter adjustments and smoother XP balancing
• ‘Legendary Crafting’ and ‘Item Salvaging’
• Countless bug fixes

And these are only a few of the improvements! Play Patch 3.7.5 now and discover what else awaits!

In the last edition of the Ledger, we introduced you to ‘Legendary Crafting.’ This week, we’d now like to draw your attention to another new feature which crafters are sure to find to be a great benefit – the ‘Salvaging Rod.’

What is it? It’s a magical tool that, when waved over one’s armor and gear, will break down the items into refined materials! It deconstructs unwanted or extra equipment – stuff which was likely cluttering up your bags – and provides players with the leather, cloth, pigs or beams the item was originally composed of, which can of course then be used in whatever activity best suits. Think of it as recycling at its best!

How does it work? In Ardent City, near the Wizard vendor, players will now find a new NPC named Littia Remus, who sells these Salvaging Rods. There are four rods, each designated to break down different levels of items. Holding a rod over any piece of class gear (weapon, armor, gloves, hats, boots, or belts) will result in the item being replaced with refined materials. Crafted gear will yield a higher quantity of materials than from gear found in the world. Each Salvaging rod contains one hundred charges, or uses, and the price of each rod varies in gold according to player level.

The addition of Salvaging Rods will not only free up the inventory of players, but will recycle gear right back into the game in the form of needed materials for all!

Player: Jeylana
Server: EU 2
Class: Warrior

You are truly a veteran V&H player and have watched the game go through countless changes. When did you first start playing? What was it like back then? What have been some of your most favorite improvements made to the game over the years, and why? I think it was the 27th April 2011, when Open Beta started. It was very exciting! A Mystical Land, how it was named back then is/was my very first online game. I’ll never forget this *laughs*. I entered the game, respectively I wasn’t even totally there, as I already had accepted an invitation to join a guild. It was something with dragons, but I don’t remember the exact name anymore. Shortly afterwards they said: Let’s go to Elk Meadow and kill Corcodillos. Everyone was level 1 and it took 10-15 minutes and 10 players to kill him and we died several times anyway, it was marvelous! 😀

There were just a few zones, so we did all of them daily. After we destroyed the archery targets, Ardent was overrun by gnomes. It was simply an awesome time!
The best improvement was crafting. I was permanently broke. Buying vials for cooking, oil for smithing etc., it was really exhausting to craft. You had to be a genius and prove endless patience and without gold, crafting was impossible.

If you could live in any period of history, when would it be and why? Ancient Rome – that would be cool. Gladiators and this stuff really fascinates me, also the casual way of life. If I’m allowed to quote from (German) Wikipedia: “The ancient Rome with its different peoples, languages and religion was state, society and not least a materialization of the idea of “imperium sine fine,” of an immeasurable empire. With this sentence in my head, I started my guild back then!

Are there any aspects about Villagers & Heroes that sometimes make you want to briefly throttle a dev? If so, what are they? (In other words, let’s hear some pet peeves!) Hmm, I wouldn’t proceed this brutish *laughs* ….it has to endure long and be painful. Nonsense, the worst are the lags lasting a few seconds, when nothing is working anymore and you have to try to kill the mobs with your gaze. Unfortunately it doesn’t work, just as little as my despicable attempt to try to hypnotize them.^^

What is the last song that you sang aloud when you were alone? You must be kidding! You better not laugh!!!! “Einer dieser Steine” from Sid ft. Mark Foster. Nevertheless, I’m mostly just humming, but this all the time and everywhere. Singing rather seldom.

You are a level 75 Warrior, and also have a level 75 Hunter. Which class to you prefer to play? If you could combine a few of your favorite aspects about both classes, what would they be? ? I would like to have a warrior whose sword is as long as the reach of a hunter! *lol* It would also be interesting if you could soak your sword with poison! I don’t prefer one of the classes and have three 75ers by the way. Beside the warrior and the hunter I also play a priest and I like all of them. Every class has its advantages and it is fun to change from time to time. The only class I don’t like is the Wizard, I’m too stupid for this. It just isn’t the thing for me!

With regards to new content and upcoming zones in the future, what sorts of challenges would you most like to see? I would like to have a desert-themed zone sooo much with a scorpion boss in a pyramid, sandworms and snakes. New monsters would be great, everywhere are the same ones. As to the rest… It’s difficult to answer the question about challenges. You’ll do it great, I totally depend on you…

What is the most memorable battle experience that you have had in Villagers & Heroes? Please describe. That was definitively the Banshee Queen. We forged out battle plans like that we sneaked along the wall so that the skeletons won’t see us. I could still crack up when I think about it. But some day, it worked.^^

V&H is of course fantasy-themed. Please share with us some of your favorite fantasy-themed films or books over the years. What did you enjoy about them? You are mean! Now I have to reveal me!^^ I like all four of the “Twilight” books but the movies were crap. The mystery “vampire” … After all, I’m only a girl! 😀 I also like the “Divergent” trilogy. It’s a great book… A girl who has to fight… I like that. Certainly, there’s also a love story… A girl thing^^

What pet companion would you most like to see added to V&H, and why? Don’t be mad, but I don’t like the companions that much. I don’t think that pets who are flying behind fit to the game. What would be interesting, and what I’m still waiting for, are the monsters which you can raise and are able to accompany the players in battle. Or if they water my garden would it be fine with me, too…

What other activities do you enjoy when you are not playing Villagers & Heroes? I love my garden, especially digging on all four legs in the dirt. Furthermore, I like it to go fishing and last year, we fulfilled a dream of ours. We went fishing across the Shannon in Ireland for 10 days. I caught a huuuuuge baby-pikes *laughs*. I have to admit, that I had bad luck with the big pikes…. But who knows, perhaps I’ll get another chance.

Any thoughts on how Tiberius could be persuaded to do a live stream on EU 2? Hmm, I don’t know. I think I have a picture somewhere, where he wears a bunny costume from the first Easter event. Perhaps I can blackmail him with this *laughs*. Otherwise… Does he like beer?^^

The Halloween dress-up contest event was great fun! Thank you to all who participated. You can view all of the wonderful entries on our forums here.

And as always, a very big thank you to Puzzler for organizing this contest!

The winners were:

First place = Astro (US 1)

Second Place = Rolak (US 1)

Third Place = Iyah (US 1)

Love VAH Style

You Said It:

The mods are getting mean:
“A level 13 mod just killed me.” — Healing Shamen (US1)

Special Delivery!
“My tush is on its way.” — Franka (US2)

On essentials:
“I told you I do NOT have a midget in my pocket!” — Laszroth (US2)

Damon’s new rival?
“I think I love you, Dark Talon!” —Sarah Otter (visiting US2)

Poetry night:
“And Secret Laughter Spilled From The Heavens, Laughter To Cause Even The Most Versed Of Tavern Maids To Blush.” — LuckyC (US2)

“There once was a beastie named Druda, with the temperment of a barracuda. I beg and I plead, but no drops that I need, it’s enough to make a monk slap his buddha.” — Penny Cillin (US2)

These past few weeks the Mad Otter team has been incredibly fortunate to have a new guest member join our group! Fresh out of the University of Oregon and armed with a degree in Digital Arts, Xu Peng is an extremely talented artist who has been working on an exciting new aspect for Villagers & Heroes.

Peng (as we call him) grew up in NanChang, in the south of China, and is a dedicated gamer with a passion for painting and an affinity for the fantasy game genre especially.

So just what exactly has Peng been working on for V&H? As most of you are all probably aware, with Reborn came an all new character create section followed by a fly cam video providing a brief tour of Ethos Island, narrated by one of the characters in the game. This video, however, has posed some problems given that the quality of it has varied greatly depending upon individual computers. In other words, for many it is choppy and out-of-sync with the voiced narration, and overall is a rather bumpy ride to say the least.

Enter Peng and his paintbrush, and digital savviness. Replacing the fly cam video will be an animated sequence of pictures depicting the zone, Mallok, the Legendary Four, and more, all of which correspond with the voiced narration.

The paintings are a wonderful introduction into the feel and lore of the V&H world – the classical style of Peng’s art evokes a sense of mythology and elegant beauty, and will ideally have new players feeling as though they have just stepped into a magical land where fantastical adventures and a more nostalgic way of life await them.

We are all looking forward to Peng’s animated video!