Vindictus Opens Up a New AP Shop [NA Exclusive]

True end game players rejoice! Nexon America is opening up a new shop in Vindictus and its aimed directly at you.  The Vindictus Support team announced the new feature on their Twitch preview, and it is now live!

New AP Shop

The AP Shop will be housed in the Colhen Inn with Ernmass as its shopkeeper.  Players will be able to use their accumulated Ability Points (AP)  as currency for the NX items available for sale.  According the Vindictus Staff, the items in the shop will rotate throughout its beta phase.  Items will be available for purchase with AP for players starting at level 40.


The Shop will initially feature the following items such as (limited time) Enhancement Runes, Clodogh's Dye Ampoules (Empty), and Goddess Revival Feathers.

Currently AP is used for ranking skills, using second transformation, restoring destroyed equipment and for testing your luck with Videks Power Infusions. Because every battle in the game provides AP, introducing another way to use it is more than welcome for those at true end game with completed characters and no desire to blow things up.

What the Store means for you:

1. Players will have a way to purchase limited NX items for zero monetary cost.
2. Players with maxed AP and excessive AP capsules will have an additional way to spend AP.
3. Market prices for Dyes will likely drop for a while (don't worry too much, Outfitter Dyes are on the way)

What you should know:

After getting to level 40 the AP Shop button will appear when talking to Ernmass in the Colhen Inn.

Current Merchandise:

• Merc Recover Potion (100AP) - Limit 3 daily
• Goddess Grace [Individual x1] (300AP) - Limit 1 daily
• Goddess Grace [Party x3] (1000AP) - Limit 1 time weekly
• Clodaghs Dye Ampoule (1000AP) - Limit 1 weekly (tradeable once filled)
• Enhancement Rune (5000AP) - Limit 1 weekly (first 2 weeks only)

The AP Shop is currently an exclusive to Nexon NA's version of Vindictus  (Mabinogi Heroes does not have this store).   This was an intriguing surprise since development for Vindictus is done by DevCat in Korea and they generally receive all updates prior to NA.  We asked Ruin3d (Communications Director, Vindictus - Nexon NA) for more information and here's what he had to say:

"Most content is created for all markets but every now and then we get the Devs to build us a feature we specifically wanted.  This was a request our team came up with and they built it for us.   

Not sure if it will get released elsewhere or not."

It looks like Nexon NA has finally started to take a look into the game to make some things make sense for the NA region. We look forward to any other changes they may come up with.  The Beta Phase is expected to last until October, so stock up on your goodies while you can!

Vindictus: July 2014 Patch Notes [NA]

Gates of Hell

Desolate Malina

July 2014 Patch Notes


Journey to the gates of hell and face a horror from beyond the grave in Vindictus’ Season 2, Episode 4- Part 1, out now!

Take on two new bosses, both the stuff of nightmares, and enjoy fun summer events and new additions to the cash shop. Read on for all the details on the newest update in Vindictus.

Inquisitor Ulchas - Desolate Malina

Terrifying New Bosses

Two new foes have crawled their way into Vindictus, and both are sure to have you waking in the middle of the night, drenched in a cold sweat.

Ulchas is rumored to be an undead warrior or perhaps a demon from the underworld, but whatever he is, his strength is unparalleled. 

Ulchas can summon a sentient blade called an Aquillore to aid him in battle, and can restore his health when wounded, making him one of Vindictus' most challenging bosses. 

Lavasat the Sentinel - Gates of Hell

Lavasat is a demonic hound with a body of twisted metal and a heart that pumps molten magma. He can cut mercenaries in two with a flick of his tail, and is protected by towering Hellspikes. You'll have to use your wits and a bit of teamwork to destroy all six spikes before moving in for the kill.

To help you defeat these monstrosities, a special Episode 4 Raid Event is being held from Thursday, July 17 to Wednesday, July 30. During the event period, receive two extra raids against Lavasat and Ulchas. To read more about this and other events, click here

New Ping Meter

To help our players with connectivity, we have introduced ping meters to the Quest Board. Now before setting off on a raid, you can refer to the Quest Board to check a boat's connection relative to your own. Connection speeds are classified by color; please refer to the chart below for details: 

Status (Color)Ping/Latency

• Blue You may experience light lag
• Green You may experience moderate lag
• Yellow You may experience significant lag
• Orange You may experience severe lag
• Red Lag will most likely be very severe
• Black Lag cannot be determined

Blue Ping Meter (Great Host Connection)

Black Ping Meter (Cannot be Determined)

 New AP Shop

A new store has opened its doors and it's only accepting one form of currency- AP! That's right- now you can use AP to purchase select items, freeing up your wallets while upgrading your mercenary. With the AP Attendance Event, you can stock up on AP and then go nuts at the new store.

To access the shop, speak to NPC Ernmass in Colhen. The AP Shop is only available to players Level 40 and above, and is stocked with the following items:

Item Name - xQuantity | Price (AP)/Purchase Limit

• Merc Recovery Potions x20 | 100 AP / Daily 3
• Goddess Grace x1 | 300 AP / Daily 1
• Goddess Grace (Party) x3 | 1000 AP / Weekly 1
• Clodagh’s Dye Ampoule x1 | 1000 AP / Weekly 1
• Enhancement Rune x1 | 5000 AP / Weekly 1

Please note the purchase limitations for each item. For example, you can purchase the 20 pack of Merc Recovery Potions three times a day, but you can only purchase every other item in the shop once per day.

Notes:

• All items in the AP Shop will be available until the October update. Except for the Enhancement Runes, which will only be available for 2 weeks.
• Merc Recovery Potions expire after 2 days.
• All items are untradeable.
• Restrictions only apply to a single character- meaning if you purchase 1 Dye Ampoule with one of your characters, you can still purchase another with a different character.
• The AP Shop is currently in beta, and its contents are subject to change. New items will be added at a later date.

Cash Shop Update

New items are also coming to the cash shop. At the Supply Depot you can stock up on even more AP with the AP Package, a fantastic bargain. Over at the Avatar Shop, the call of the wild has turned the mercenaries of Vindictus into jungle beasts- two new inner armors are available, for both male and female characters.

Vindictus Wildman Inner

Vindictus Jungle Heat Inner

Finally, our most stylish new item: the Biker Avatar costume. Sporting the badge and colors of the V.R.M.C., or Vindictus Rebel Motorcycle Club, this all-leather getup comes in two variants, one with enhanced stats. Put one on and wannabe baddasses will know you really mean business.

Biker Outfitter - Guys

Biker Outfitter - Chicks

For the full rundown of July's new cash shop items, click here.

It sure is hot this summer. Must be all that hellfire coming from Lavasat's back. Looks like you're gonna need an extinguisher...Be sure to check back with Vindictus Trix for our July Content Review coming soon.

Vindictus: Twitch Debut!

The Vindictus Support team streamed their first ever Twitch broadcast today.

Lynn Meets Her Fans on Twitch

The Twitch stream was one part of a two part effort to supply the Mercenaries with some much needed and appreciated communication and a preview of Lynns gameplay.

Announced just hours before hand, the crowd reached over 650 viewers for this first ever official stream of Vindictus live from the test server. Viewers were treated to more of Zoltar, Community Manager of Vindictus NA and a first ever glimpse of Zinyden, one of our favorite Content Analyst/GM's. The two were streaming from a "green" room in Nexon America HQ.

Zinyden (L), Zoltar (R)
Tag Team to answer questions about Lynn

Zoltar, CM

Zinyden - GM

The pair fielded questions from the very live and rambunctious chat stream and answered the number one question among players - "When is Lynn coming?"  The answer - "Soon." was given, teasing at the one-liner made infamous by our previous beloved CM, Alteris.

The Lynn preview consisted of Zinyden creating a Lynn, going through hair selection and available inners along with body model customization options. Zinyden then set his "noob" Lynn aside and treated the viewers to some action packed gameplay, featuring a fully developed Lynn.


Zinys beefed up model showed Sohee-Lynn, decked out in the best gear, welding a +15 Skeleton Glaive with a shiny beastly glow. Sohee reached 20K attack, 64 attack speed, 96 crit and boasted over 7K health making her the ultimate threat. She picked up her glaive and skipped off to battle showing NA the way of the Falling Petal. For about 45 minutes of gameplay we watched as Ziny and Zoltar answered questions while making their way through the challenges of Lakoria, Keaghan and Succubus Hero.

Despite a few technical difficulties the first Twitch broadcast was a success, leaving the viewers with more information than they had going in and a refreshed energy for the Lynn hype train!  At the end of the stream, 3 viewers were surprised with freebies, a Fusion Rune for each.

We can look forward to more Twitch Streams in the future.
Don't miss out!. Join Vindictus for their next Stream. on their official Twitch Channel.  http://www.twitch.tv/vindictus/

Congratulations to:

Kaitoo69, Prophetsama, Kurokuroi
Winners of the First Twitch Giveaway

Lynn is now live on the Nexon NA server - Go Play Today

Review: Karok Pillar Revamp

As of May 21st 2014, the game was updated with many new features such as Hero mode raids, new events, outfitters etc. All of the patch notes can be seen here!

One of the major changes in this update was Karok's Pillar revamp. The only important one if you ask me! So I wanted to create a guide to show what exactly this update changed, and hopefully shed some light on Karok.

As noted in the patch notes, Karok got a lot of passive improvements, as well as some new skills. We will start with the easy basic stuff then go on to his new skills. I would like to share my own thoughts on each new subject as well. Here we go!
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Review: May Content Release 2014

May was a busy month for Vindictus. Lets take a glimpse back at each of the  major changes that took place across both NA and EU regions.

May 2014 | Vindictus NA [EU]

May Changes and Updates:

• New Logo Introduced 5/16
• Golden Time Event Kicks Off
• Karok Clash 
• Pillar Karok Revamp 
• Changes for Season 2
• Changes to Gold Rewards
• S1: Hero Mode Raids 
• Shared Account Chest [NX Storage] 
• Lower level item changes 
• Shouts Have Been Changed
• Enchant Scrolls
• Outfitter Shop Update
• Ruin3d Delivers on Halos!

_________________________________________

New Logo Introduced 5/16

On May 16th Vindictus shocked the entire player base with new logo. This unveiling was done in piecemeal fashion leaving several confused as to why we needed a new logo, much less this one. The next week after the unveiling the logo was presented, a better clean version appeared along with the label “Vindictus”. 

Unfortunately, it was added to existing forums, which remained branded with the old gold and brown tones. The gold clashed horribly with the new platinum and made looking at it an eyesore. The logo does offer a slicker look than what was originally presented because it was accompanied by a new background and the sexy label. Doing this offered some hope that this might just work.

 

Nexon officials took to the forums to remind folks that the new logo would again be improved once added to the new forums which should appear in June. During the 1.92 patch the logo was added to both the game, Nexon Launcher, One can’t help but think that a comprehensive rollout would have been better. We look forward to the completed branding package set to appear with the forum revamp. Additional questions remain regarding whether or not this is specific for our version of Vindictus or if the new brand will be rolled out to each regional publisher. Read more here

Mega Events Kick Off

These two Events are fairly similar with both offering prizes for attendance. The prizes are spectacular however the events themselves caused quite a bit of confusion among the players.  From confusing instructions to failed award delivery and 2 major miscommunications this just leaves us shaking our heads asking what in the world is Nexon doing.

While the events are great on the outside offering some of the best gifts such as runes, outfitters and halos, Nexons service was a direct deterrent from enjoying them.  It will be nice when we won't be able to say this. Some mistakes are fine but its getting a bit hard to defend constant oversights.  However I will say, keep bringing events like this. They are great ways to entice players to come back and stick around a bit.

Pillar Karok Revamp

Karoks rejoice. Pillar Karok got a much needed boost to his ego this month. From new skills to revamped ones, unlimited pillar toss and extended damage for clashing, Karoks everywhere are pumping their fists like never before. Results are in and this revamp is a win!

Check out the in-depth review by Kanzo. (Review: Pillar Karok Revamp) 

Removal of Jump

Kai - Gale Kick

Since its introduction with Season 2, jump has been a broken but somewhat useful mechanic in the game. Some loved it, some hated it, no matter which side you were on it doesn’t matter because jump is now gone!

DevCat removed jump basically stating that they found it more beneficial to proceed without it than to retrofit it properly into Season One and correct its improper clunky implementation.

Of course the gamers raged about this.  Some characters did in fact benefit from "jumping" more than others and there is no denying that jump made Season 2 "fun".   for several days about this but were soon diverted to other things.

Jump No More

Community Managers stated that feedback might be taken into consideration on whether or not to keep this removal active in our servers.

Changes for Season 2 

S2: Revamp (due to removal of jump)

Because jump was removed each boss within Season 2 that utilized jumpable attacks were revamped. All areas in which jump was required to “play” or proceed have also been revamped including adding ramps or refashioning areas to be a bit more similar to Season One in terms of getting around. Technically speaking Season 2 runs such as Misty and Ship Graveyard should be easier to navigate, while Twilight Desert will probably become more tedious because with as vast of an area as it is, strife jumping was a godsend.

Removed Dungeon Capabilities for S2 8-29, 30-49

Another big decision with this patch was the removal of dungeon and raiding capabilities for the lower level characters. Runs in the Season two area now start at level 50. This means the removal of the 8-29 runs and the 30-49 runs for all of Season two areas.  This change does not affect Season 1 runs as they are set up differently.

Stay in Season 1 Newbies, its better for you here

We suspect this change was due to the bots and the ability to obtain both AP and a high amount of EXP by bumrushing through the low level runs. This also created a sort of density in the higher level runs when people chose to do low level runs. This change will likely affect drop rates in a positive manner. With people having no option but to attend the higher level runs boats will be available, filled and producing more for the community.

Overall I think this was a positive change, even if it means a little more work to obtain those Seals of Dedication.

S2 - Storyline Now Starts at Level 50-69

Due to the other changes, the whole storyline has been revamped. Season 2 now starts up at level 50-69. This is a change from starting at level 20.  This is a reorganization that needed to happen to make the game a bit more fluid especially with the previously mentioned changes.  This now provides a direct way to make EXP without really having grind anything until after level 70.

Removal of Gold for Lower Levels

The lower levels were not exempt from major adjustments this month.  Nexon has decided to remove the Gold reward from all characters under level 20 for all runs. This move was described as a bot reduction tactic. It is sure to cause quite a bit of confusion among both new and old players who assume it is a glitch (and those that don't read patch notes :)) 

Unfortunately there isn't really an upside to this. Nexon has gone ahead and changed some items levels to accommodate storyline changes and has also moved several items to either drop from runs or be available from the NPC...in Malina...Malina the area you don't really get into now until after 50. The equipment items are now free which means that they are no longer money making items.  This part I don't like. They've taken away another means for the average player to generate gold because of bots and that sort of sucks.  

Another thing to note is skills are free up to level 20. Rank and learn as many skills as you can before you hit 20...after that it goes back to normal, having a fee associated with learning it. The AP costs have not changed. Training items now expire at level 20 rather than maintaining the ability to carry them into runs later in game. 

We'll see how this goes long term. I like the idea of crippling bots and making things "better" for the player base but I don't like the idea of having ill prepared players in end game.

S1: Hero Mode Raids

Hero mode raids were released! This includes hero mode versions of:

• The Giant -Titan
• Ahglan the Golem - Ahglan
• The Dark Dank Sewers - Thor
• Avatar of Destruction - Glas Ghiabhelann
• The Central Garden - Ingkells
• The Formorian Leader - Shakarr

The new raids drop 3 and 4 star versions of their respective equipment drops. While normally this would be a great thing, I see it as another blow to those with Expertise and the ability to craft these things already.  Runs like Titan dropped equipment that couldn't be crafted so this upgrade would be great for things like Broken Feather earrings and Dark Crest Helms and White Shark Masks. But for runs like Thor his equipment dropping is a direct hit to the crafters gold source again.  

Additionally, the raids just aren't that hard. Our crew crushed all of them with the exception of Glas which we expected to be harder than he was.  These raids will be a good time killer for those that like Season 1 mechanics better than Season 2 and like the oldies.  On a side note: Shakarr is a beast but interestingly fun for a hero solo.  It does feels like the communities DPS  has outgrown our Season 1 bosses.  We're looking forward to seeing difficult bosses make a return and maybe stick around in their original flavor a bit longer. Hero raids are an A+ because they get end-gamers back into Rocheste boats.

Shared Account Chest [NX Storage]

Finally Shared Account Storage is here!  This is a pretty simple concept to understand. The storage chest can be filled with various items and opened on all characters within the same account. If NA follows the same formula as the other regions, the chest will come as a part of an event and only be sold in the NX Depot after the 60 day versions expire.  This marketing tactic is kind of nice. However I do not look forward to the QQ from players that forget about the timer and have their NX items stuck in a locked Shared Storage chest.

According the list that came out in EU there are a bunch of great items that cannot be included in the storage such as Outfitters,

The list of items that EU can store are as follows:

Share Bear would be pleased

• AP Blessing Stone
• EXP Blessing Stone
• Luck Blessing Stone
• Goddess Feather (Event)
• Goddess Feather
• Divine Blessing Stone
• Gourmet Pet Food
• Major Skill Reset Capsule
• Goddess Grace
• Max Durability Increase Potion
• Minor Skill Reset Capsule
• Party Merc Recovery Potion
• Premium Fusion Rune
• Premium Pet Food
• Minor Skill Reset Capsule
• Pure Skill Reset Capsule
• Mercenary Voyage Blessing Stone
• Merc Recovery Potion
• Mercenary Potion Plus (5 days)
• Merc Recovery Potion Plus
• Weapon Fusion Rune (Event)

Shouts Have Been Changed

F1-F4 (Default)

• F1 - "Nice" to "Nice!"
• F2 -  "Thank you" to "Thanks!"
• F3 -  "I'm sorry" to "I'm sorry..."
• F4 -  "Well done" to "Well done!"

Ah the little things... Not much to say on this but its a bit cleaner, slightly more friendly. The power of the exclamation mark. 

Enchant Scrolls Bound to Bind

Scroll Resellers Beware

Enchant scrolls bind now - resellers and scam artists beware.

It will prevent scroll resellers from buying scrolls for dirt cheap and reselling them for higher. Yes that is normal business in a market however, it was to the point where things were exploited.  I agree this needed to change.  

Scrolls will still be able to be traded freely within an account but once the scroll is sent to another player, it will bind, requiring them to use it, NPC it or allow it to expire and destroy it.

New Outfitters

Outfitter Shop (Flamenco, Matador)

The Outfitter shop has also blessed players with the insanely sexy Flamenco outfitter and in preparation for upcoming Bull Fights, the true Matador garb for the guys.

Feast your eyes and marvel at their wonders:

Halos Arrive As Promised!

Great news North America....we have FINALLY received the Halos in mass

Fiona Earns her Halo

distribution. All participants that were able to black out their entire Bingo board during the Monster Bingo event are now the proud owners of Shiny Halos.

These Halos were a coveted item that NA player had previously been somewhat cheated out of due to miscommunications and a lapse in Management.  The Halos can be fused and traded among players and were in fact the more desired Shiny Halo rather then the Standard Halo with an antennae.

A sincere "THANK YOU" to Ruin3d from Nexon NA who took up the task of rectifying past wrongs and beautifying the servers.  Not only did he collect information from forum participants, he actually got these to the majority of players in an obtainable (non pay to win) event. 

Thank you Ruin3d! 

Whew! It was a busy month end for Vindictus, things are starting to look up. We'll try to do a review like this every month to keep you informed of ongoing changes to the game.