Hey folks -

We're in the thick of Magic 3.1 testing. If you're unclear what 3.1 is, check out this post: http://forums.play.net/forums/DragonRealms/Abilities,%20Skills%20and%20Magic/Game%20Master%20and%20Official%20Announcements/thread/1605105

To test, log into the Dragonrealms Test instance. In this instance, you'll have a recent copy of your Prime character/gear/etc. If you've reactivated your account recently, you may not see your characters - We'll be fixing this tomorrow.

For Plat folks, you'll need to work with a GM to get a copy of your stats/skills ported over. You should use CHATTER in the test instance to do this.

In DRT, there are a few important things to test:

* Spell choosing
* Buffs
* Verifying that spell functionality matches the description in ASK/DISCERN
* You can lock a skill while casting a spell reasonably close to your personal cap.

Additionally, barbarians, empaths, and thieves have things to test that have been rolled into this. Kodius, Melete, and Ricinus will post more information about that in the appropriate folders.

Traders, unfortunately, don't have anything specific to this release. However, we'll be using the Trader folder to have discussions about the trader magic that we'll be working on very soon. Use this space for spell ideas and discussions about the basic theory, and look for a post by Raesh or Armifer about the directions we're heading on that.

There are a few things to be aware of:

* The difficulty vs experience curves have shifted. There was an oversight in the previous equations that caused diminishing returns to kick in WAY later than we intended. You'll now see diminishing returns kick in a bit earlier for both combat AND magic. This means that if you were dramatically outclassing your opponent, you're probably going to be getting less experience than you used to.
* We're aware that this has caused some hunting gaps, and we're looking at ways to fix that.
* Similarly, there are some guilds who don't have spells to train all skills at all ranges. We're analyzing what we've got today and looking for the right way to close those gaps.
* As noted in the Magic 3.1 post above, buffs will no longer be stacking. Because of this, you may not be able to buff up as high as you have been for the last 10 months, and you might not be able to kill things quite as efficiently. However, the removal of the 100 rank hard cap on bonuses should help soften this blow somewhat.

Please enjoy the changes and give feedback about what you think! We'll be monitoring these forums and integrating feedback as we go. Additionally, please keep ALL discussions about this testing in the Dragon Realms 3.1 Test board.

Thanks!

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"The ninety and nine are with dreams, content but the hope of the world made new, is the hundredth man who is grimly bent on making those dreams come true." -E.A.P.