New models, the real Titan, and drop alerts

Today's update (12:30, with the usual five-minute countdown) is mostly about what you SEE -- and one thing you have been asking for on Discord.

Models from the later Conquer builds

Our client is patch 5065, and for years that meant its monsters and NPCs were the only ones we could ever show. Not any more. We worked out how to translate the model and animation formats of the later builds (5095, 5187, 5615) into what our engine reads, and the launcher has already installed the result: 27 new monster bodies (a giant octopus, pumpkin crabs, armed warriors, a winged beast, event props) and 49 new NPC looks (a golden dragon, King Jack, the Wind Sage, snowmen, Christmas trees, golden eggs, furniture, and a crowd of townsfolk), on top of the dragon riders and the fire bird that arrived earlier this week. Nothing in the world uses most of them yet -- this is the toolbox. New bosses, event monsters and NPCs will be built on it from now on.

Titan and Ganoderma, as TQ drew them

The two world bosses were wearing stand-ins. TQ's own data settles what they should be: Ganoderma is the scorpion-like beast we had already picked, and Titan is a giant with a battle axe -- a body that had been sitting in the client all along, unused. He is also properly big now. Ganoderma roams south of Phoenix Castle, Titan in the north-west of Ape Mountain; each returns about an hour after it falls.

A good drop tells you

"We need notifications for + and elite and super drop" -- done. When a monster you slew drops an Elite or Super piece, any gear with an open socket, a +N stone or a DragonBall, a line appears in the middle of your screen and a gold copy lands in your chat log. Only the slayer sees it, and ordinary loot stays quiet -- so a Super blade lying among ten plain ones is never overlooked again. The drop rates guide has the details.

Also

• The launcher delivers all of this on its own at your next launch; a full client download is on the play page for fresh installs.
• Drop rates themselves are unchanged -- only the announcement is new.