As of patch 83.05 (in regions outside of Korea), the main story questing progression was revised to what had been rolled out in K-TERA back in April (their patch 83.01). In addition to this change, the “avatar” weapon system was removed along with the older feedstock and alkahest enchanting. Avatar weapons were formed by collecting relic drops from field monsters (usually making the weapons that actually dropped from dungeons or given out via some story quests, obsolete since the avatar version tended to be much better).
Instead, the game has gone back to the old weapon drop system along with a revised method of enchanting which requires new materials and gold. These relic pieces are specific for weapon and armor (both of these can also be dismantled into this new material) and also have 3 different tiers depending on the level of the gear. And instead of 9 levels of enchants, the maximum is now 3 (each enchant level now covers one-third of the stat progression) except for the level 64 gear (those are still 9).
As I noted in a posting about the newer end game gear changes that were recently introduced in K-TERA, this change is meant to provide a lower level introductory to this new level 68+ gear tier (the differences between much lower cost, 100% success rate, and most definitely less of a grind). The patch for non K-TERA regions lacks a critical fix for low drop rates at some level ranges (especially between levels 30-44).
Portions of the quest chain were moved around in order to improve the flow of the story. Some of the level 58+ Argon story line was moved to mid-level 30 while a lot of the extraneous back and forth was moved off into side quests (these only provide the rewards and not experience). A good example are most of the quests that used to flow through Frontera (level 40’s); now most of the Feral Valley and Dagon Temple chains are side quests.
IMHO, this has turned out to be a good move because previously, there were these nonsensical filler quests (that had you going back and forth) and then a large gap between level 54-58 where it was primarily several dungeons without a preceding NPC giving out the quest (or an actual storyline to follow). Now, the progression and story properly flows where you can just quest and clear solo mode versions of those dungeons (solo mode was added for all questing dungeons and is now the only way to complete those main story quests). The party mode dungeons up to level 64 still exist for players who want more of a challenge (along with the higher XP provided) though unlike before, the matching system no longer requires a holy trinity composition.
Vanguard Requests for story quests and monster hunting were also removed and moved off into this revised side quest setup (level specific BAM Vanguards still remain). Most main line quests also provide a teleport scroll or has the NPC teleport you to the next destination (more exit teleportals also now send you to the next quest objective). All of these are quality of life improvements (though the downside is that newer players no longer see larger parts of the game world due to this streamlining).
When Fate of Arun was added, portions of the prior level 60 end game story content (Argon War) ended up being bypassed with the “Fly to the North” Vanguard Request. Over time, players ended their Argonea area questing once they dinged 60 where they could do the new 60-65 quest chain. Thus both Argon Corpus and Manaya’s Core level 60 dungeons ended up being under utilized content. The Argon War story line has now been moved to level 64 with Manaya’s Core now a level 64 dungeon (both party and solo story). Argon Corpus remains a level 60 party dungeon. I’ve been leveling two characters through the revised questing and found it to be a much better/enjoyable experience (and will be even better once we get the drop rate fixed).
Finally, I know it likely won’t happen but what would help is if they made the original starting area and associated story (including the original prequel tutorial) with some streamlining, an actual side quest that players could do (since it would make NPC’s like Leander and Elleon make more sense to newer players) as both are now part of the story line transition at level 60 (which was previously skipped over by many due to the “Fly to the North” Vanguard).
