您好, 巨龍!
Salutations, Dragons!
In ages past, Hainan was a lush, pleasant island off the Southern coast of the Land, welcoming to traders and explorers. But one day, without warning, a forbidding mist gathered around Hainan. Since then, no boat has ever been able to locate Hainan, and none of the inhabitants have ever been seen or heard from.
Until now.
The mists have cleared and Hainan has revealed itself. But it is no longer the trade hub and welcoming paradise of ages past. The martial arts clans dispatched exploration missions as soon as the island was found, but those few who returned spoke of a place wracked by madness, rage, and death. Friends appear as foes, choking miasma inflicts weakness and pain, and the merciless Iwami clan mercilessly hunts down all outsiders.
And yet, the handfuls of trinkets brought back by the survivors have proven an irresistible temptation for the champions of the Land…
Hainan awaits you, promising both danger and treasure beyond compare. Will you brave the mists, risking your body and your mind, for the sake of power unmatched?
Hainan Island - Now Open
The greatest challenge in the Land is now available on the island of Hainan. Only the strongest will survive here, and before you even visit, you’ll need to know what to expect from this unique location.
Half the Fun
The mists of Hainan have thinned, but a forbidding enchantment still surrounds it. No conventional routes will bring you to Hainan, not even the Courier’s Guild. Only the power of a Hainan Teleport Scroll will work, and aside from a few event-specific sources, the only place to get these scrolls is from the Masked Man Hefei. He can be found Southeast of Hefei’s main marketplace, and charges 55 million cash for each teleport scroll. The scroll is consumed when used, immediately teleporting you to a random location on Hainan Island. You’ll be moved to another random location on the island if you use the scroll while you’re already there.
Once you’ve arrived, the only way to leave Hainan is via the ferry to Liaodong, or via Couriers Guild Vouchers.
Operating a ferry to and from an island of madness and rage? Still beats working for Uber!
Island of Madness
As soon as you reach Hainan, you’ll be set upon by its inhabitants, which include both the savage Iwami clan, and members of the initial clan expeditions who’ve lost their minds and now attack all new arrivals. These clan rebels, and the Iwami clan, include regular rank-and-file members, as well as much stronger Elites. Despite whatever magic has twisted their minds, the Hainan inhabitants only focus their attacks on outsiders, and not each other. So expect to get swarmed by multiple opponents.
Darmok and Jalad, at Tanagra.
Space itself seems to warp, and you won’t have access to your mini-map or your current co-ordinates. The island itself is impossible to map, and moving away from a specific location may very well bring you back to where you started.
This looks a lot like the bleak, depressing wilderness I saw earlier.
While you can’t attack members of affiliated clans, you also can’t see their names, or form parties with them. Health potions and other recovery items do not function on Hainan, and reviving in-place via Huatuo’s Panacea will place you in a random location on the island.
That's not a tonsure. His head outgrew his hair.
The mists which surrounded Hainan have not fully dissipated, and anyone who breathes them will be weaker for it. Almost all of your stats will be decreased, including your primary attributes, damage, critical chance/damage, and more. The degree of decrease varies and the penalty for each stat randomly changes every 30 minutes. Check the World Map (hotkey N) for the current weather conditions.
Payment In Blood
You’ve seen the Ironblood Points counter on your UI since our service launched, but Hainan is where it comes into play. Each Deviant you slay on Hainan will grant you Ironblood Points, with normal Deviants awarding 5 points, and Elites giving 10. Some daily quests will award Ironblood Points, too. Getting killed on Hainan will cost you one Ironblood Point, which isn’t a horrible penalty, but still best avoided.
I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU
There's only one place to spend your Ironblood Points, and that’s the Masked Merchant, who inhabits a ruined village on Hainan. Apparently immune to Hainan’s worst effects, the Masked Merchant will accept your Ironblood Points in exchange for her collection of new, exclusive materials and ornaments. Keep reading the patch notes to learn more about these items.
A sensible outfit is rare, even on Hainan.
Risk Versus Reward
If the risks of exploring Hainan haven’t scared you away yet, you’re probably expecting some incredible rewards in return. And you’d be right to do so – the materials found on Hainan are used in the creation of weapons, clothing, and relics which are far and above anything yet seen.
Though plagued by nightmares from his time on Hainan, the Masked Man in Hefei knows the secrets to unleashing the island’s power. There are many new materials found on Hainan, including (but not limited to) White Dragon Energy, Blood Essence of Thousands, Unrefined Whiteblood Liquor, and many, many more.
Y'all got any more of that... White Dragon Energy?
Hainan offers a new method to craft the rare and mighty Raw White Dragon Weapons (albeit with a VERY low success chance), via White Dragon Eyes, Beads, and Scales. The resulting raw weapons must still be finished by Dongcheon Seowang in Kunlun in order to be wielded and traded, and each raw weapon requires two Ultimate Tablets to finish.
Come on, go for it! Nobody really NEEDS two kidneys, do they?
Some of these materials can be taken to Maid Maeran in Kunlun to Create the tantalizingly-visible but hitherto-unavailable components for White Dragon Clothing. You’ll still need to scour Kunlun for additional items to create this clothing, but the results are simply unreal.
The K-Pop hair isn't vital, but it really ties the look together.
Just one squirt fills your home with the refreshing scent of Bloodmist, for up to 20 minutes!
The Masked Man can use Hainan materials to Create the new set of four Flawed Hainan Relics, in an unrefined state. These relics can be completed by Dongcheon Seowang in Kunlun, but each one needs 100 Blue Jade Stone Shards to unlock its power so it can be equipped and traded. Blue Jade Stone Shards are available in the new Blue Dragon's Treasure Box, detailed in the Marketplace section. You can also purchase them for 2,500 Infinite Dungeon Points each.
Some visitors from distant lands may recognize these relics as weaker versions of ones they’ve already seen. Since they don’t require Ultimate Tablets, their power is diminished, but the relics are still among the absolute best available. The fully-powered versions might become available some time in the future, but for now these flawed relics are still among the finest you’ll find in the Land.
Hainan Unveiled
Despite the foreboding presence of Hainan casting a shadow over the Land, there’s a sense of determination in the air, as well. Every character who logs in during our four-week launch event will receive 3 hours of the Hainan Unveiled buff, and you can refresh it just by logging out and back in again.
Iwami Invasion
The Iwami seem poised and ready to take advantage of Hainan’s opening, as though they were prepared for it. Already, reports are coming in of powerful Iwami Champions in various places throughout the Land. Even if you’re not yet ready to visit Hainan itself, the Land is still your home, and it needs you now more than ever.
We need you, Black Dragon Prince. Now more than ever.
A notice will go out when Iwami champions arrive in the indicated zone. Each champion carries a stash of loot, with champions in higher-level areas carrying better stuff, but being increasingly harder to take down. Once a champion is defeated, all players in the Land will receive the indicated Call of Hainan buff for 30 minutes. The Iwami are nothing if not persistent, however, and each champion will return within the indicated respawn time.
But Black Dragon Prince! I sell Yinyang pills to the community!
The Ensigns of the Land
Each of the martial arts clans responded in full force to Hainan’s opening, sending as many forces as they could spare, in order to be first to establish a presence. No one could have guessed what awaited them.
Besides a handful of traumatized survivors, these clan members have all been lost to madness, now fighting alongside the Iwami as Deviants. Still, some trace of their loyalty seems to remain, apparently concentrated into the clan insignia which a few still carry. Curiously, even some Iwami still carry clan insignia, which raises the question of just how mindlessly savage they are.
In the wild, they'd be natural enemies. But raise 'em together and they're like family!
These insignia will only be dropping on Hainan during our four-week launch event, during which Jyuck Sam in Hefei will be able to purify the taint from them and concentrate their remaining power into crystals. The power in these crystals can be focused even further, into usable relics. While the White Icon of Purity and Black Icon of Purity are crafted with insignia from corresponding clans, either relic can be equipped by anyone, regardless of clan. The powers of White and Black clan insignia can be synergized into the Hainan Vagabond relic as well, which unlocks additional powers when equipped with one of the Black or White Icons of Purity.
NOTE: Only one Icon of Purity can be equipped at a time.
During our Hainan launch period, each account can claim a complementary set of these relics, which will last for 30 days.
The Hainan Treasure Map Piece is found inside the Hainan Treasure Box, which is available in the Papaya Play Marketplace.
If you have too many insignia or crystals of one type, Bag Hwar in Hefei can convert them, but the process is not completely efficient, so you’ll end up with fewer materials of the new variety.
Those ubiquitous [Event] Golden Boxes, while still usually holding the same Lucky Gold Coins, are joining on on the event too, and may just reveal a clan insignia instead of their normal contents. You could also find a Hainan Teleport Scroll. And if you’re really lucky, you’ll discover a Hainan Crafting Guide, which guarantees success on one Create attempt for the three relics featured by this event. It only works for the tradable versions of the relics, however.
Please like me.
Sharkfest: The Revenge
As many of you have noticed, rather than being a five-star sushi gourmet, Sharkfest ended up more akin to the dumpster behind the restaurant serving the five-star sushi gourmet. The event went live despite multiple unresolved QA issues, and the unconventional nature of the quests resulted in problems which couldn’t be fixed in a reasonable time.
It’s a bit too late to do much about it, but we’re providing a free non-tradable Master’s Creating Guide (Excellence) to every account who completed at least one Sharkfest quest. We already sent out a few the other week, but the event window was very short, and the giveaway was confirmed at the last minute and thus not added to the patch notes. This time the event will last for 3 days, giving all affected players the chance to claim their compensation, if they didn't claim it already last time.
Sorry this one was such a stinker. We’re working on our QA process to keep this sort of thing from happening again.
Papaya Play Marketplace
Blue Dragon’s Treasure Box
A major content update should come with a fat collection of new offers in the Papaya Play Marketplace, and we do not intend to disappoint. The biggest update comes in the form of the Blue Dragon’s Treasure Box, which gives out random prizes via a slot machine mechanic. It’s a little more expensive than the Yellow chest, but the Blue chest is absolutely loaded with new and valuable prizes, many of which are available for the first time.
The Ultimate Tablet is used in the creation of most of the strongest items currently available. The Yellow Dragon Jade is already available via Create, but the Sleeping and Black Dragon Jade are brand-new. Each of the Dragon Jades unlocks one additional relic slot for your character. The Blue Jade Stone Shard Box contains as many as 120 of the titular item, needed to refine the newly-introduced Flawed Hainan Relics.
The Flawed Hainan Relic Box has an equal chance to contain any one of the four new Flawed Hainan Relics, which are detailed above. Remember that you’ll need 100 Blue Jade Stone Shards in order for Dongcheon Seowang in Kunlun to be able to refine and complete the relic, which will let you equip and/or trade it.
The Raw White Dragon Weapons in the Unrefined White Dragon Weapon Box must be finished by Dongcheon Seowang in Kunlun before they can be traded or used, at the cost of two Ultimate Tablets each. But once you do, you’ll possess the strongest line of weapons to be found in the Land.
You’ll find one of two brand-new relics inside the Jewelery Box of Shan Xiongxin, and wearing both will result in an impressive set bonus.
Setting up a new outfit has gotten easier, with as many as three ornaments to find inside a single Blue Dragon Ornament Box. The Raindrop and Seaspray Jewels are fine additions to your clothing, while the Colorful Coral Stone and Plate go well with clothing or weapons.
Heaven and Earth and Dusky Roots are temporary epithets, and a good way to spend a day off, with hefty bonuses to experience and item drop rates which last for 24 hours.
"How active did you expect a test server Hero Band to be, anyway?"
Instead of Silver Repay, each spin of the Blue Dragon’s Treasure Chest will result in one Papaya Crystal Shard. Lihae, the granddaughter of the wealthiest merchant in Hefei, will give you a completed Papaya Crystal in exchange for 15 shards, and will then accept various numbers of Papaya Crystals for some very exclusive prizes.
The queenpin of the Hefei black market.
Lihae has also reduced the amount of 9Dragons Gold Repay needed for many of her rewards too, so have a look at the list to see if all that lucre you’ve been hoarding can be stretched into some extra value.
Hainan Treasure Chest
The Hainan Treasure Chest contains items which are part of the Ensigns of the Land event, and can be used to craft the set of the White/Black Icon of Purity and the Hainan Vagabond. As a bonus, each Hainan Treasure Chest you purchase will come with one Hainan Treasure Map Piece, which can be traded in for even more materials used for crafting the relic set.
Trendy Costume Box
Another four weeks means another collection of [Exquisite] costumes for your collection.
Each costume can be rented for 30 days, or you can collect the coupons in the Trendy Costume Box to exchange with Mae Hwarang in Hefei for temporary versions of either. You can save up and exchange your coupons for a permanent outfit, too.
Premium Exquisite Costumes: Death Valley Flame Clothes, Death Valley Storm Clothes
Top: Death Valley Flame. Bottom: Death Valley Storm.
Not Yet Available: Death Valley Pimp. Still looking for the right shade of purple.
Exquisite Costumes: Noble’s Wardrobe, Cloud’s End Wardrobe, Red Plum Flowers Wardrobe, Blue Wind Wardrobe
Top: Blue Wind, Cloud's End. Bottom: Noble's, Red Plum Flowers.
Man Bun Factor: Off the scale.
Last month’s Fancy Disguise Coupons can still be exchanged with Sua for our previous costume collection, or they can be traded for healing items.
Temporary Sales
There are discounts for 20 packs of Red Place of Icy Palace and 11 packs of Relic of the Clan, making now a great time to stock up.
The popular Red Jade and Violet Silk Bags are back on sale for a limited time, too. These bags don't have any stats on them, but each one gives you 25 additional inventory slots, and each character can wear up to two at a time. They don't expire, either, so they're a great buy for all those bank alts who are stuffed to capacity with items you'll probably never use but can't bear to throw away.
Bug Fixes & Notes
· The maximum number of Daily Quests has been increased from 5 to 10.
· Weapon techniques and consumable items should no longer vanish from your quickbar when logging out.
有空再會!
Thanks, and see you in the Land!
Team Papaya
