This just in: Day 2 of the 2-day advance pass into POBT

Just got kicked from the server because of the quick maintenance that they announced in the game, so I'm posting some of my observations and notes on the new client so far.

Yar, here be spoilers, or you can think of them as getting a leg up on the game.

- One of, if not THE, biggest complaints so far is that the NPC who was selling the warp scrolls has VANISHED! In his place stands a doppelganger who calls himself "Leonardo Expreso", and who only grants access to the Item Vault.

WTF?

Because, you see, I'm having lots of problems with the "Kill the 3 Dilos Latemns" quest, and the problems are compounded by having to run through Al Quelt Moreza Nartex *and* Parsonage every single freaking time I respawn after failing the mission. My family acquires "tails" of 30-50 monsters! Someone start selling warp scrolls, quick!!!

[I'll even take bootleg warp scrolls I'm that desperate. Kidding!]

- The new combat tutorial is actually a lot more fun than the old "Kill 5 Crate Octopi" thing on the pioneer ship; you actually get to run around and practice all of the combat modes on that whole lot of Cite de Reboldoeux soldiers parading around between the instructors and the entrance/exit guard.

- You now get your starting arsenal from Sir Lyndon of the Office of Pioneering Support in Reboldoeux, when you used to get them from Captain Ricardo.

It is still highly recommended to go through this tutorial, because hey, free weapons - what's not to like?

- Also in Reboldoeux [and I assume in the other towns]: you now buy your Stance Books from "Master Rooms". Inside are the five character classes, all level 100, and all saying they are "Master [Occupation]", and wanting to hep your family gain immense power.

Have to assume you go here to change to Veteran status and access the Veteran stances, as well.

- New merchant NPCs include: the blacksmith [sells recipes for crafting weapons and armor for your RNPCs] in Reboldoeux, and the cloth merchant in Coimbra [crafting clothes and leather armor, I guess]. The regular merchants now also have the "Crafting" option in their dialogue boxes.

- During these two days my family has had a more or less permanent buff placed on it. It's called "Family's Protection". At first, its effect adds 1% to your max HP; and then it seems to level up as well, because at present it grants the NineMoons family +2% max HP.

And by more or less permanent, I mean, it's gone when you die, and it's back when you respawn.

- There are now "Ferruccio's Red Boxes" strewn around the landscape of the New World. You can only open them once. When you do, you're granted a choice of what weaponry to get from it: melee, ranged, or magical.

I repeat: you can only open them the once.

The boxes in Queen's Junction and inside Al Quelt Moreza both grant Rank 1 weapons; I've gotten a Broad Sword and a Bracelet of Wind from them.

- Hunt missions can now be cancelled!

And there's a new type of, ahem, NPC that grants Hunt missions. They're stone "Pioneering Memorials" placed at the beginning of dungeon floors and in open areas, like the King's Garden near the Port of Coimbra. You can choose to hunt mobs that are appropriate to your level, and you need to hunt a whole lot more than the numbers called for in the standard Hunt missions given out by "Punitive Force" guards.

Example: the "Pioneering Memorial" in Al Quelt Moreza Parsonage allows you to hunt Zealots and Heretics; you'll need 250 Zealots or 150 Heretics.

Each Hunt completed grants ONE Exp Card.

There's also the "Tombstone" placed in Al Quelt Moreza Parsonage. It says that a devil named "Siegmund" is haunting the rooms of the dungeon, and it must be hunted down. You need to collect the "Area Vouchers" it drops, present them to the Tombstone at the end of the hunt, and hope you get a good prize, as it offers a random choice of the following: 1 ring [with options], 3 level-20 Exp Cards, or 6 level-10 Exp Cards.

Warning: there's a typo in that mission briefing. The tombstone says there are 16 tokens. Actually, there are 22.

- There are no more drops that restore a fixed number of SP [like the Black Tea in Al Quelt Moreza]. Instead, you get two kinds of HP-restoring drops: the regular version, and the "Good" version, which restore a higher, but still fixed, amount of HP.

At least this was true for the Mangoes in Al Quelt Moreza.

Also, monsters now drop "Orbs of Resistance". Pick them up, and your family gains a boost to resistances. The ones in Al Quelt Moreza grant +5 to Resistance.

***

Kinda bummed that it's taking me this long to finish the Dilos Latemn mission.

[I finished it at level 18 during CBT. Now I'm level 20 and I still haven't killed them!]

The three Dilos ghosts respawn every time you restart the mission. So even if you kill 1 or 2 of them, if you fail the mission, the ones you killed spawn again.

*sighs*