Area Sounds

The way we use sound in the free and members' worlds gets its well deserved update this week with the inclusion of Area Sounds. These ambient effects add a new level of immersion into our game world, with waterfalls growing louder as you walk towards them, trees with birds and animal sounds in them, bubbling fountains, wind whistling through the mountains, the sound of the sea lapping against the shore and mysterious howls haunting the peaks of the Wilderness. It really does add a new dimension to the game.

As well as new ambient sounds, you'll also notice you can hear a lot more of what other people are doing around you, especially when they're fighting.

We hope you enjoy them as much as we have enjoyed developing them.

In other news...

Along with the area sounds, interface updates and new tutors, we've been busily improving existing features of the game. This week:

• Adventurers who have defeated the terrible Iban and obtained his staff may use its new right-click option to check how many charges it has.
  Don't forget - it takes one charge to cast Iban Blast on a monster but two to cast it on another player.
• Baby dragons have now shrunk slightly to solve the problem where their heads rendered incorrectly when they leant forwards. This doesn't affect their stats.
• Rune and Adamant boots now have a +2 and +1 strength bonus respectively.
• The random junk you occasionally found in chests and crates around the world has now been removed. Members can still get all those items from sources such as the Trawler, the HAM cave and the Digsite.