I've been taking a pretty big break from Antorum this summer. I'm just trying to get some fresh air and sun and all that.

However, I did spend a bunch of time making modifications to the item system. An individual item can now have a "property bag", which is a JSON object thats persisted in the database and modifiable by any system in the game. This is extremely useful for any data that is specific to the instance of a single item, and not exactly relevant to the item resource itself. The first important use of this feature is in the new item durability system.

All equipment items now have a durability, and degrade as they are used in combat. The overall effectiveness of an item is affected by this durability value, so equipment that is broken will be basically useless. You can repair items with Repair Kits, available at any general goods trader. They are kind of the opposite of Salvage Kits. I also added tooltips to inventory items to make info like damage, armor, durability, etc, more visible.

Aside from that, there are a few aspects of the game experience that have improved a bit. The user interface works better, a few bugs have been fixed, and the world map is now accessible anywhere at any time. Previously, you needed the Map item to view it. I realized though that this just hides important info and discourages exploration for new players. I'll be making more improvements in this space as time goes on - maybe some fog of war or treasure maps that can augment the main map.

- Declan (@dooskington)