The following changes are now live on the Test Center:

• Lumberjacking has been refreshed to be more in alignment with UO

• Successful harvests will produce up to 20 logs per swing

• Trees now have a maximum amount of wood that can be harvested

• Harvest bonuses removed and Prospector's Tool disabled for now, needs redesigned

• Kindling/apples removed from normal lumberjacking routine

• Can now use blade to cut trees to gather kindling

• Can chop trees in town, but resources are halved

An issue with not being able to leave your group in some cases has been resolved. Please log out and back in to receive the update, then try right-clicking your character and choosing Leave Group to try once more.

• Ethereal statue should no longer get stuck in your pocket if you cannot mount for one reason or another; if it does somehow get stuck, logging out completely and logging back in will move it to your backpack
• Fishing skill can no longer be gained above 70 while inside of town
• Fishing will no longer yield anything more than basic fish or loot while inside of town
• Plant harvesting amount has been adjusted and we will continue to improve spawns if needed
• An issue with clicking on a news notification from the list not opening the appropriate article
• Fixed system message showing when using runebooks referencing "a recall rune"
• Summoned creatures should now properly decay if they have lost their owners
• Fixed an issue with stealing from a stack causing multiple items to pile up in your inventory

Some of you have reported persistent issues with being unable to fully update the game client using the LOA Launcher. At this time, if the troubleshooting steps outlined here: https://forums.legendsofultima.online/d/46-legends-of-aria-launcher-troubleshooting do not help, then we would normally advise users to download the client using the "Problems with the launcher? Click here" link on the download page, but the latest build has not been published there yet. We apologize for the inconvenience and are working with CS to get it published as quickly as possible for those affected. Thank you for your patience

• Added a black smoke fizzle animation for spells.
• Updated messaging for Starving skill/stat gains.
• Added Recall Sound/Animations to UseCharge on Runebook.
• Added animations to Tracking skill use for in tracking window and switching creature types.
• Fixed an issue with Campfire overlap by increasing distance between active campfires.
• Fixed an issue with Kindling no longer working after trying to place a campfire inside town.
• Updated messaging on Kindling use when Mounted, In Town, and near another Campfire.

*Torches should now occupy the torch slot and not unequip the right hand

*Killing/stealing from someone in town and looting with another multibox character should now be prevented.

"We have found a place of great evil in the region North of Minoc. Trackers have informed us that a Northern Cave is filled with a monstrous and deadly Arachnid. We fear that this beast is linked to the creatures on the Peninsula. If they launch an attack on Minoc, we will be unprepared to defend against them. We beg you, find their nest and extinguish them. We will forever be in your debt warriors.”

~Julie the Artisan of Minoc

-Stealing is now disabled on the Colosseum island

-Murderer restrictions will not be incurred when a red dies on the island

• Fixed an issue causing bosses to reset frequently under certain conditions.

• Can no longer mount while using a bola + bola target times out after 15 seconds if no target is selected
• Fixed issue with hitting escape after using a bola causing users not to be able to mount for some time
• Current target healthbar numbers will now update periodically
• Dead characters will automatically be set in combat mode during load
• Town vendors will keep only a small amount of used items after players sell things to them
• Nearby pets that are not attacking anything will automatically follow when owner dies
• Pet stable fees will no longer be charged until pet has been stabled for 24 hours or more
• Fixed issue with not being able to use "all aggressive" or "all passive" commands with pets, aka Pet Stance
• Help Requests are now attached to user accounts and will remain open when you log out/switch characters & if staff responds while you're logged out, you will be notified during next login of the response
• Added Events news type to News Window & Notifications
• Fixed issue with being unable to open someone else's paperdoll from a reasonable distance

As many of you know we are working on development of a brand new factions system. We plan to release this new system in phases and we will be providing previews as development progresses. However, we do not want to hold up our players from fighting each other in factions PvP for this new system to be completed. So we have decided that today we are opening factions up for play! We will be providing new content to factions in phases. Today is simply going to be opening up PvP between factions. Keep an eye out for faction leaders looking for recruits!

Dungeon Despise is now available for again for your spelunking pleasure.

• Performance improvements.
• Destard's loot has been improved.
• Destard spawner density has been decreased.
• Some low end Undead monsters have had their loot slightly increased.
• Low end monsters in Despise have had their loot decreased.
• Wrong's loot has been improved.
• Ice Dungeon's loot has been improved.

• Fixed an issue that sometimes affected the ability to log in with a red character in Britannia
• Added a barber to assist with remodelling your hair, face, everything! The first visit is free. The barber/stylist will be in Sweet Dreams Inn in Britain
• After the next restart, the Limbo region will return. For those of you not familiar, if you are a ghost for longer than 15 minutes, you will be sent to this region. There are shrines available to resurrect you here, and then you can return to Britannia via the moongate.

As we grow in player count, we are tracking a performance issue that appears to be related to minimap icons (yes of all things.) We are disabling those and restarting to validate this.

We apologise for these teething issues, however we believe this will make a significant difference. We'll work on refactoring the minimap icon system and they will eventually return. In the meantime, use third party tools like http://lou-map.herokuapp.com/ to locate what you need. In particular, we'll have wandering healer locations up there shortly.

• (QOL) Players that deliver the killing blow on a non-player mobile will automatically open the corpse backpack if they are within looting range.
• (QOL) New Right-Click Mutilate ability on non-player corpses will allow corpse pile micro-management by forcefully removing body piles while keeping the lootable backpack via the CTRL function.
• Using the Harvest ability before Mutilate is ideal, as Mutilate will now automatically open the corpse backpack too.
• Mutilate will also leave a bloodstain in the place of the body.

The Polymorph spell has been temporarily disabled while we work on the ongoing issues with it. Thank you for your patience, we'll advise when it is available again.

• Healing animation should be fixed, and a 3 Second Cooldown has been added to the Healing Hotkeys of Use Bandage, Bandage Self, and Bandage Last Target.
• Harpies and other various creatures in the world that were unexpectedly unaffected by Bard skills, should now work properly.
• Camping bugs were fixed and the time it takes to build the different stages of the campfire and tent/tent upgrades have been reduced slightly.
• A Teleporter has been added on top of Brit Bank roof to allow players to leave the roof if they lack the ability to teleport down from the roof.

• (Quality of Life) Players will now have Maximum Stamina after resurrecting from death in order to help with corpse runs.
• Fixed getting stuck while tending a campfire through build stages.
• Campfire range has been increased from 10 to 12.
• New 'Check Fire' right-click ability added to Campfires which allows players to inspect a campfire's life duration. Useful for players micro-managing their Campfires while drawing enemies within the Campfire regen range.

The issue with the official map has been resolved, and it is now available again.