Free & open source RPG 'Veloren' update compilation - weeks 229 to 232

This is a compilation series from the last updates provided at the Veloren blog, the free and open source voxel action-adventure RPG.

This article is based on the "Two/Three Weeks in Veloren series" as usual, and here it goes the compilation of interesting updates in three different lists depending on how mature they are and if they got merged or not. Please also visit the Veloren blog for a more detailed view of these items.

Merged:

• Server side: plugin loading optimization, web UI for the server, better player stats view.
• NPC related: walking path comptutational fixes, movement path planning, more specific dialogs.
• Item related: Brinestone armor repair costs, material prices correction, troll armor, abyssal rings, loot protection fixes, redwood and oak tree tweaks, orichalcum recipe tweaks.
• Graphics related: Shaders,  LOD, cloud, horizon visual improvements.
• Balance: Tursus and Wendigo creatures, Hit point balance and lower parrying costs.
• Characters now start with maxed HP, energy and roll skills and roll energy penalties during interrups don't apply anymore.
• New look for the Cultist dungeon
• Petting animals fixes and rework
• Lots of translations merged (Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Portuguese(Brazil), Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Ukranian).

Ongoing improvements(unmerged):

• New Veloren logo.
• Multiple server side tweaks and improvements, admin glider(yes, admins have special gliders).
• Terracota boss tweaks, Mage tower, Vampire castle dungeon.
• Friend lists, friend groups.
• Civilization simulation.
• Trading fixes.
• Complete pet revamp/rework.
• Fluid dynamics.
• Ore damage counting.
• Durability tweaks.
• AI attack fixes.
• More efficient network encoding.
• New UI technology, gamepad binding UI(currently, you need to edit settings.ron file to create bindings on your gamepad).
• Hammer skills.
• Moderation going into a database.
• Outdated items cleanup.

Developing improvements(under heavy development or still under discussion on Discord/Gitlab):

• Sprite changes based on their state(lantern on or off, growing plants, chests open or closed) - MR4359
• New debug UI developed on this Discord thread generates really interesting outputs.

• Entity to terrain tethering. Take a look at this video. Looks like a feature that can lead to grappling hooks like on Terraria :)
• Discussions about quest development and tracking are taking off again - MR1970
• Improvements on the block and parrying mechanisms - Discord - Video
• tree_density attribute to make standalone trees more bush and dense trees more straight.
• iced upgraded to 0.12 for airshipper(launched) solving problems with Wayland and Windows. See this thread.
• Ongoing discussion on learnable recipes so, new characters will have to find recipe scrolls through adventuring, trading or exploration. Once the scroll is used, you'll have that recipe permanently learned.

Some screenshots of the game as well:

Really nice to see such an open source project evolving steadily in many areas at the same time (network, art, performance, debugging, gameplay) with such dedicated and technically knowledgeable volunteers.

Source: Compilation of the "Two Weeks In Veloren" blog series, weeks 229 to 232.