MMO Pax Dei Receives Major Crafting System and User Interface Update
The developers of Pax Dei have released a large-scale update affecting many aspects of the game—from crafting and interface to visual improvements and new emotes.
The system for gaining experience from crafting (Blacksmithing, Weaponsmithing, Armorsmithing, Tailoring, and Leatherworking) has been reworked. The amount of experience now depends on the materials and effort spent on creating an item. A finished item grants significantly more experience than before, while creating components often yields fewer points. However, failing to craft an item now grants 4 times more experience, and simple recipes grant 3 times more.
The developers have also optimized the batch size for components: this saves time for experienced crafters but does not create difficulties for newcomers or lead to new "bottlenecks" in the gameplay.
Another important addition is Master Crafted items. They have a unique icon, display a bonus to Item Power, and show the creator's name in the description. To create such an item, you must achieve a crafting success rate of 95% or higher—this grants a +50 bonus to Item Power. The chances of creating master items depend on the player's skill level relative to the recipe's difficulty and are maximum for mastered recipes.
New characters now receive more starting options: their inventory immediately includes a placeable Storage Chest, basic tools, and weapons. The chest itself has also been updated: it was renamed, its recipe difficulty was reduced from 12 to 9, and it is now unlocked by default.
The developers have made a number of experimental fixes related to NPC spawning and are awaiting player feedback.
Many technical issues have been resolved: for example, the game no longer loses stability due to a large number of map markers, and the Overgrowth spell for the Sylvan Staff now actually heals. Additionally, the presence of cultists has been increased in all dungeons, and sand, clay, gneiss, and cotton can now be found on the Global Market using filters.
The game's interface has been significantly updated. The character menu has been moved to the right panel—now it matches other game menus. Item details are displayed in a tooltip on hover or click. The "Equipment" tab no longer controls the camera: the character is displayed directly in the menu, allowing more freedom for movement and view adjustment. A separate "Statistics" tab has been added with new parameters and unique icons, and the "Skills" tab has been moved from the Journal to the Character Menu—so all character information is now gathered in one place.
The clan menu has also been moved to the right panel. Players without a clan see the "Join a Clan" and "Create a Clan" tabs, while clan members get access to the "News" (clan announcements), "Members," and "Candidates" tabs. Clan settings, including heraldry and options to leave or disband the clan, are now accessible from the top right corner of the menu.
The visual part of the game has also received improvements. Extensive work has been done on resource readability in biomes: small clusters (berries, flowers, mushrooms) have been converted into larger ones, some plants have been increased in size (for example, blueberries have been replaced with blueberry bushes), and colors have been adjusted so that resources stand out better against the grass. Some plants have been recreated from scratch to improve quality—for example, cotton. Textures and visual effects for the granite staircase and the regeneration spell have been fixed, floating boundary stones in Avalon and Lyonesse have been removed, and other minor issues have been resolved.
Finally, new emotes have been added to the game: "Insult," "Show Respect," "Let's Go!" and "Call Out." A "Moods" tab has been added to the emote menu: it allows you to select a facial expression reflecting your current mood. Quick access is a double press of the C key, and the selected mood is saved until changed to another. Emotes now include basic facial animations but do not cancel the current mood, allowing them to be combined for more expressive communication.