The biggest release in a long while, and three things to remember. A complete starter island opens west of the vale: ten quests that teach the game and drop a beginner at level 3 in Eastbrook. A guild noticeboard appears in towns, with a ranking and a button to apply. And a player marketplace lands in the code — but it is switched off, nobody can use it yet. In combat, the Warlock climbs out of last place, and the game stops freezing.
Released August 25, 2026Since v0.39.31,158 commits21 locales completed
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01The Warlock climbs out of last place
This is measured rebalancing, not a feeling: on live heroic parses the three Warlock specs topped out at 169, 133 and 131 damage per second while Thuggery Rogues and Pyromancy Mages hit 217 to 222. The release targets 200 for everyone, and fixes both ends at once.
Warlock, all three specs The headline
Hexcraft gains +7 % spell damage, Ruination and Necromancy+10 % — and Necromancy adds +15 % to its minions' damage. Mana costs on the main spells drop too, down −23 % for Gloom Bolt and Burning Pact.
See the per-spec detail
Rogue: two poisons and real stealth New
Two poisons arrive: Melting Acid (−5 % armor) and Nightshade Coating (−25 % healing received). Sap drops to level 1 and no longer breaks stealth. And in Skulduggery you finally move at full speed in Duskveil.
See the detail
What comes down Nerfs
Pyromancy's mastery Ignition falls from 40 % to 30 %, and Warspirit's Galeheart Weapon echoes from 50 % to 25 %. The Hunter now gets dazed when hit under Courser's Guise.
See the detail
Pets finally benefit from your gear Deep fix
Until now a pet's haste stayed at zero for its entire life: your attack-speed gear did nothing for it.
It now mirrors its owner's haste exactly — one for one, not a fraction.
That touches Packlord and Necromancy alike: the more attack speed you stack, the faster your companion swings.
Shamans can wear the Bonewrought set Gear
All six Bonewrought Regalia pieces were Warrior and Paladin only.
They open up to the Shaman, heroic versions included — it is a Strength/Stamina mail set built for melee.
The Builds guide has already recomputed best-in-slot with that opening.
Smaller adjustments Misc
Summon Pyre Colossus hits for 64-79 on impact instead of 58-72.
A channelled spell now deals damage proportional to when it is interrupted.
Wall guards stop a feared player from grinding into an obstacle.
The pet bar survives its pet's death, and the Rogue's shadow step now targets an ally as well as an enemy.
02Professions: nothing changes, except the beginning
No recipe, no material and no gathering node moved. What changes is how a new player meets the professions — and a price display that was slightly lying.
The professions wheel is taught on the island New
One Proving Shore lesson explains the professions wheel, another the bank and bag slots.
Each lesson names the exact key or click to use instead of leaving you to guess.
The chain pays enough copper to buy the Linen Pouch along the way.
Enough to kit out on arrival Practical
A graduate reaches the vale with enough coin for the full tier-1 tool set.
The island itself stocks no tools: that is deliberate, professions start in the vale.
The Professions guide stands as it is: gathering tables and recipes are identical.
Two crafting fixes Fixes
A craft's displayed fee now follows the formula actually applied: no more gap between the quote and the bill.
Duskhide Wraps teach leatherworking again — the recipe had stopped granting skill.
Disenchanting and salvaging, opened to off-hand items in v0.39.0, are unchanged.
03Rifts forgive the killing blow
A scenario everyone has lived: the boss falls, the party falls with it, and the portal closes over earned loot nobody picked up. This release opens a recovery window.
15 minutes to come back for your loot New
A won rift portal stays standing for 15 minutes after the clear. A party that dies on the killing blow can release, run back and walk in as ghosts to loot their corpses. No farming: only a dead member of the winning party may pass.
See the detail
Rifts weigh less Technical
Server tick time drops from 5.80 to 4.53 ms on average.
Rift collision tests fall from 566 to 187 nanoseconds per operation.
In practice: fewer stutters when a rift runs at full tilt, especially in a group.
Three dungeon fixes Fixes
Heroic Nythraxis wardstones finally render from raid distance.
Grix the Tunnelking's corpse despawns when the loot window closes instead of lingering.
A dungeon door no longer causes fall damage when you land on it mid-jump.
04A whole island for learning the game
This is the release's real content addition. The Proving Shore is a level 1-2 training island west of Eastbrook Vale. Wayfarer Bryn offers every new character passage — an offer, not a mandatory corridor.
Ten quests, five landmarks New content
The chain teaches fighting, looting, bags and banking, then lets go. Five landmarks: Dawnrest Camp, the Old Pier, the Practice Yard, the Wreck Line and the Gauntlet. You will meet Shore Scuttlers and a certain Mister Crabs.
See the whole chain
You leave at level 3 What you take home
Quest experience is tuned so a graduate steps onto the vale at level 3, ready for Eastbrook's own opening chain.
A ring, Mother of Pearl, gives +1 to everything — modest, but it is a green at level 1.
The way back is the Old Pier's ferry bell, which sets you down in Eastbrook town.
You can go back Good to know
A second bell on the vale's west strand rings you back to the island for a refresher.
Ferryman Odo handles the crossing when you say you are ready.
The island shares the vale's sky and palette but has its own music.
Drop rates are normalised Balance
On ordinary mobs in levelling zones, a green drops at 2 % and a blue at 0.2 %. One rate everywhere instead of a zone-by-zone patchwork: farming stays slow, but it is finally predictable.
See what that means in practice
The terrain stops trapping you Fixes
Eastbrook's market stalls no longer block line of sight: you can cast across the square.
The Gardenwalk crossing drops from a 1.86 slope to 0.20 maximum — you simply walk up it.
The Duskfall Passage gate fades when it swallows the camera.
Quests and deeds Fixes
The Book of Deeds now lists the named places you are missing, and its visit radius widens from 20 to 24 yards.
"Gravity Always Wins" requires an actual death: cliff-hopping as a ghost no longer counts.
"Brightwood Remembered" says plainly that its relic no longer drops.
Highwatch's practice row honestly reads as four dummies at a 6-yard pitch.
05A guild noticeboard in every town
Joining a guild used to run on chat and luck. Town noticeboards become a real directory: who exists, who is recruiting, and how active the guild really is.
Apply without leaving your own New
The board ranks guilds by lifetime XP and shows who is recruiting. You can pledge without leaving your guild: "Pledge of…" then shows under your name, and the target guild's officers get the request.
See how it works
A guard rail against pestering Rules
A rejection sets a wait before pledging to that guild again: one day, then one week, then forever.
An invite from that same guild wipes the slate: "we do want you after all".
A five-minute per-character cooldown limits carpet-bombing the board.
For officers Tools
A Pledges tab appears, with live counts and recruitment settings.
Guild names are colour-coded across five lifetime-XP tiers.
The Guild Master's note runs through the chat filter like anything else.
06A player marketplace — shipped, but switched off
This is the feature whose code takes the largest share of the release, and yet nobody can use it: the marketplace sits behind a server-side switch, and that switch is off. We cover it because it is coming, not because it is open. Update, August 26: it is done — the game turned it on with v0.40.1. What follows is still the rules, and still accurate.
Auctions, buy-now, and direct sales Coming
Three formats: the auction (12, 24 or 48 h), the fixed price, and an offer addressed to a named player. An auction that takes a bid in its final two minutes extends by two more, up to 30 minutes total.
See the announced rules
It runs on real money Important
This is not the game's gold auction house, which does not change. Prices are shown in dollars and settled in the $WOC token from a personal wallet. The seller pays 10 % in fees and keeps the rest.
See what it implies
What will not sell Limits
Three families only: equipment, mounts and mech chromas. Everything else is refused by default.
Soulbound and quest items are refused — except mounts, whose binding is tolerated.
At most twelve active listings per account, between $0.25 and $1,000 an item.
07The game stops freezing
The most useful part of the release for anyone on a modest machine. One conductor now handles everything the graphics card has to prepare, instead of each piece doing it whenever it feels like it.
Worst stall: 5.6 s → 0.47 s Performance
The longest measured freeze drops from 5.6 seconds to 0.47. Frames over 50 ms fall from 28.6 to 4.2 per minute, and entry into the game from 23.7 to 16.0 seconds.
See all the numbers
Controller and touch, rebuilt New
The controller gets a Final Fantasy XIV-style cross hotbar: each trigger arms 8 cells, bumpers swap sets, and the d-pad navigates every window.
Touch moves to a ring: 4 buttons × 5 actions across 2 pages, consumables repositioned for thumb reach, and a dedicated bar editor.
A tap-only option replaces the drag gestures for anyone who needs it.
The rest of the polish Misc
All 21 locales are complete: marketplace, guild board, tutorial and quests included.
Loading screens rotate through 11 backdrops instead of a single image.
The Reliquary tracker can be hidden and moves below the minimap.
Apple and Discord accounts can finally set a real password.