Community Update 9

Citizens, a New Lobby, and Player Shops are finally available.

 

New lobby and CITIZENS

The biggest change introduced in this update is the complete redesign of the lobby, alongside the addition of Citizens. These custom NPCs can be interacted with throughout the updated Central Nexus, many of whom feature unique dialogue designed to guide players and provide deeper insight into the rich lore of Aetherion. 

To support the introduction of these new characters, the lobby has been reimagined with a clear objective: to help both new and returning players navigate the world of Aetherion more easily. The redesigned hub serves as a central point of discovery, showcasing the game's features, systems, and adventures while offering a more immersive and informative experience from the moment players arrive.

One of the most important additions - and a feature frequently requested by the community - is the Class Master. This NPC provides players with the ability to reset their base stats, allowing them to correct previous choices, experiment with different builds, or adapt their character to new playstyles without starting over. 

The Class Master is designed to give players greater flexibility in character progression while ensuring that build customization remains accessible throughout their journey in Aetherion. Whether you're a new player learning the class system or a veteran looking to refine your build, the Class Master offers an easy and convenient way to reshape your character's foundations.

PARTY SYSTEM

Another highly requested feature is the ability for players to create and manage parties. While we did not want to invest significant development time into building a custom party system - especially as the Hytale team has already confirmed that native party functionality is planned for the future - we recognized the importance of providing this feature in the meantime. 

To address this, we have integrated the third-party plugin PartyPro. This allows players to easily form parties, invite friends, track group members, and enjoy adventures together with a more coordinated multiplayer experience. 

PartyPro serves as an effective interim solution, giving players access to essential party-management features today while allowing us to focus our development efforts on expanding Aetherion's core content and gameplay systems. Once official party support becomes available in Hytale, we will evaluate the best path forward for a seamless player experience.

LIVESTOCK GROWTH

One feature we have been looking to introduce for some time is livestock growth. While we hope this functionality will eventually become part of Hytale’s core framework, we felt it was important to implement it now to create a more immersive and natural farming experience. 

With this update, various livestock animals - including sheep, chickens, and cows - will now grow from their juvenile stages into their respective adult forms over time. This adds a greater sense of progression and realism to animal husbandry, making raising livestock feel more rewarding. 

Additionally, any animal that has been tamed will retain its tamed status after reaching adulthood, ensuring that players do not lose the bond or progress they have established with their companions. This allows players to invest in raising animals from a young age while maintaining a consistent and seamless gameplay experience.

UPDATED User interface

To further reinforce Aetherion’s RPG identity, we have completely reworked and customized several key user interface elements to create a distinct visual style that better reflects the world and atmosphere of the game. 

The Adventurer’s Guide, Collections System, and even the Welcome Screen have all been redesigned as part of this initiative, moving away from the default interface to deliver a more immersive and cohesive experience. The new UI has been carefully crafted to provide clearer navigation, improved readability, and a stronger sense of identity throughout the player journey. 

This new design philosophy extends beyond menus and interface panels. In fact, the Citizens dialogue system was built using the same visual framework, ensuring that interactions with NPCs feel fully integrated into the world of Aetherion. The result is a consistent look and feel across the game that enhances immersion while laying the foundation for future RPG systems and features.

Player shops

To give players more opportunities to earn currency and participate in the server economy, we have expanded the ways in which excess resources and crafted goods can be sold through the introduction of Player Shops.

Players can now construct and place a custom shopping cart within their plot, allowing other players to browse and purchase goods directly from them. This system enables entrepreneurs, farmers, crafters, and adventurers alike to establish their own businesses and contribute to a more dynamic, player-driven marketplace.

When setting up a Player Shop, please ensure that your shopping cart is placed within your claimed area and that you have granted visitors the appropriate permissions to interact with benches. Without the necessary permissions, other players may be unable to access your shop and complete purchases.

We look forward to seeing the unique marketplaces and trading hubs that the community creates as this new feature becomes an integral part of Aetherion’s economy.

Bug Fixes and Updates

The following are further bug fixes deployed as part of this update: 

  • Implemented the new Lobby Area including the new Guild Hall, and Stables.
  • Implemented the new Ethereal Vault which now contains a new floor showcasing the loot chests.
  • Fixed an issue with Rare spawns dropping loot twice.
  • Fixed an issue when claiming mounts using the binding sigils.
  • Added a small feature so baby animals now grow to adults in around 3 real-time minutes.
  • Fixed the name tags for sheep, warthogs, pigs and wild pigs.
  • Updated a number of 3rd Party Plugins, including Major Dungeons, Perfect Parries and Mermaids.
  • Added the new Player Shop cart, which can be crafted in the workbench.
  • Added the new Citizens framework, and added a number of new NPCs to the Lobby area.
  • Added the class master, who can reset player base stats.
  • Added a new daily and dungeon rewards system, where loot crates are available in the Ethereal Vault.
  • Added the first pass of the Skyblock framework, but this is still in full test.
  • Added a dungeon master NPC that can exchange dungeon tokens for dungeon keys to be used to collect extra rewards for completing certain dungeons.
  • Fixed an issue with the brewing system, which wouldn't allow players to interact with both the bench and the keg.
  • Integrated the new UI windows for the welcome screen, collections, guide and dialogs.
  • Added the new Merchant system which is similair to the player UI interface. Replaced all existing merchants to use this new framework, excluding lost template merchants.
  • Removed Arrow recovery as the mod was causing substantial stability issues ot the server.
  • Fixed the path leading to the snow island.
  • Added the portal POI to the barrens island.

Hytale Server Browser AND FINAL NOTE

When browsing the server list, we kindly ask for your support by leaving a like on our server. Your feedback helps improve our visibility and overall rating, allowing us to grow and enhance the experience for all players.


Lastely... Please keep in mind that all of these new systems and updates are still undergoing active refinement. As Hytale continues to evolve, we will likewise update and improve our plugins, logic, and internal frameworks to stay aligned with the game’s development. 

This means that certain gear stats, item information, recipes, and crafting mechanics may continue to change over time. While the current implementation is stable, nothing is fully final - your feedback will help shape the polished versions of these systems as they mature.

As always, if you have suggestions, ideas, or comments, please share them with us on our official Discord server. Your input helps shape the future of Aetherion.  

Happy exploring! 🌿✨


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