This update offered several new creatures, offering more complex types of creatures than the traditional beat-until-dead-variety. These would force players to use their new spells to develop strategies to defeat them. The confirmed monsters this upsate were the Stalkers, Stone Golem, Monk, Fire Elemental, Priestess, Hero, and Behemoths. Also, the Demon returned to the game as the most powerful monster once again, having gained a significant boost in power from its earlier days.
Stalkers where a human looking enemy which spent most of their time invisible. Though they were not very strong, they would be impossible to see when invisible as they were truly invisible on the map. You couldn't attack them unless they were visible and trying to get around them was a challenge. Area runes were the best to use against them or the knight's new Exori spell. These creatures only were found in Edron's northern dungeons with the most notable spot being the busy hole under the first place you found a Hero.
The Stone Golem was an interesting monster in that it was totally stone and though it wasn't very powerful, it was stylistically very different than other monsters. They dropped the Power Ring which you needed for Outlaw quest and were one of the few creatures to drop a Carlin Sword. You could also often find Small Stones which paladins were increasingly using to train with. At their introduction these were very rare and only appeared in the northeast side room on the way to Demons. Interestingly one spawned for a few days inside the Kazordoon Treasure vault by a mistake, so most players first saw this creature inside the vault.
Monks were one of the more popular creatures as they would become the monster of choice for players to train on due to their aggressive healing. Players had used Ghouls to train but as their skills increased, they were becoming too powerful for the monsters heal. The Monk healed very quickly which provided a good solution for paladins to train on. These robed monsters would first be found on the way to the Demon, just below the Beholders there. Their loot was mainly some gold and a few trinkets, but I think they also dropped the Warhammer which was a very desirable mage twohanded weapon.
The Fire Elementals was another interesting monster as it dropped no loot and was made of fire. This creature used aggressive magic attacks and each attack they did would leave a fire field under you and under themselves upon death. You might kill them with a little bit of work, but their attacks would linger after death, causing you to take more damage even though they were dead. These could be found all over Edron and often accompanied other powerful creatures and were also summoned by the Demon. It was easy for players to forget they were on fire and be accidently killed by the slow tick of fire damage.
Priestesses was more of an annoying monster then a difficult one as their attacks drained your mana. They would first attack you just two rooms down on the way to Demons which meant you would almost always loose mana on the way to most of the island's best hunting spots. Their loot wasn't good, and they always kept their distance from you which meant you had to often chase them to stop losing your mana.
The Hero was one of the most favored new monsters as they could drop the much sought-after Crown equipment. This gorgeous equipment was expensive but offered a good boost of defense compared to the Knight Set that most mid-level players would typically worn. Heroes had a mix of distance attacks like the arrow and close melee attacks which could do considerable damage. You would first one on the way to Demons with a bunch of Monks just after the Dragons. Only a few spawns of these creatures existed so it was hard to hunt many of them and most of the time they dropped nothing good at all. Their dress looked like the new GMs tools which confused players.
Behemoths were one of the most powerful creatures in Tibia and some thought they were more dangerous than Demons since they often came in groups. Their very strong melee could easily knock off half your hitpoints and their distance rock attack was very damaging and had far reach. You could only fight these in the lowest levels of Cyclopolis which was a bit of a challenge to get to. Only Tibia's bravest warriors could challenge these, and it was well worth doing so as they dropped several pieces of equip which sold for huge amounts of money and often dropped gold and other items which sold very well. Once it was discovered that you could cheat these by avoiding their most dangerous attacks, players would kill these on mass. CIP had only planned for a few of these to be killed in a day like the Demon of old but found that too many were being killed. Upon discovery of the method used to hunt them, Guido killed the players responsible, and the AI was challenged on monsters shortly after to allow them to retarget which eliminated the strategy. Unlike other creatures, this was one of the few creatures that Tibians would team up in large groups of three or more to hunt.
Tibia's most powerful and iconic creature returned this update, providing players with a real challenge just like its first introduction. The Demon could only be found in the deepest areas of Cyclopolis and sometimes could be seen in groups of two. For their reintroduction they were massively powered up to provide a real challenge and would summon the new Fire Elemental to assist them in their destruction. For those who could kill the different creature, there was significant rewards as they dropped most of the rare and desired equipment of Tibia including the Eplate and Golden Legs which sold for incredible amounts of money. Their MM and Demon Shield were also very desirable and even the Fire Axe was a great weapon to loot. A good Demon hunt could really brighten your week and the excitement of looting something good was only made more so by their dropping Backpacks which often contained the best loot. You might loot something amazing in the first level of the body like a Golden Leg, and then open the backpack and loot something even greater like the Eplate. Soloing a Demon at level 100 would later become a rite of passage like killing a Dragon. Some of my fondest memories are when I hunted Demons with friends and though it was very expensive to kill them, the rewards justified the risks.
Other weapon sprites were added but many of these weapons remained unobtainable or very rare. Those which were obtainable were the Clerical Mace, Naginata, Guardian Halberd, Barbarian Axe, Knight Axe, and Fire Axe. The Iron Hammer, Obsidian Lance had stats which were known but where not otherwise obtainable. Some items such as the Silver Mace, Thunder Hammer, Stone Cutter, and Orcish Axe appeared in the SPR but where otherwise unknown what their stats or how they could be obtained. There was a great deal of speculation as to how powerful they might be.
The five mystic secrets of Tibia, the Tomes were also added this update though only the Red and Purple Tomes where obtainable through monsters (Warlock and Demon respectively). To obtain the Green Tome you would have to go to Isle of Mist as a Druid in PoH and find the once per save spawn there. This was very well known, and tons of these tomes existed in people's depot. I chucked out a bp of these because it was so common and worthless. The Blue Tome was found in two places, the secret Demon Leg quest provided one and a hidden pick hole on the way to Mintwallen in the Beholder area was the other. These were very rare, but you would see a tome or two of these occasionally. The real rare tome was the Grey Tome which only spawned once per map reset in Mintwallen south of the king. At save players would race to try to grab the rare item though I was never successful as higher-level characters where much faster than I. It was very rare to see all five tomes in one place and I worked very hard to obtain my own set. There was speculation that gathering the tomes would allow you to maybe solve some of the new mysteries in Tibia though none was able to find anything to do with the tomes.
With the launch of Edron came the addition of some new equipment players could exclusively purchase on the island. The Clerical Mace, Barbarian Axe, and Viking Shield where only available on the island and were considered fairly decent items for lower level players. Those who paid for premium and where entrepreneurial bought the items and resold them on the mainland for a fair profit in the early days of the launch.
With the creation of Edron came many new spells for players to try out. Every character could now learn the Magic Rope spell which eliminated the need for carrying around an expensive and heavy rope if you had at least 20 mana to cast the spell on a rope spot. All players would also be able to use the levitate spell which allowed players to get to spots that parcels would normally allow them to go. You could only use the spell to travel the four cardinal directions so spots which needed to be accessed by moving diagonal while on parcels would still require them. Those who wished to travel up or down a level would have to face the direction they wished to go and say if they wanted to go up or down while uttering the spell. As long as they would otherwise legally be allowed to do so, they would travel to the desired spot if they had the 50 mana required.
The new speed spell called Haste allowed all players to travel much faster at the cost of 60 mana. This boost was very significant as players were still sub level 100. There was also a great speed spell called Strong Haste that was only available to the two mage vocations, but which granted a much stronger run speed in exchange for 100 mana. The trade off was the spell would not last as long, but a mage would always be able to catch up to another vocation by using this spell. Players would also gain the much-liked Ultimate Light which would light up most of the screen, allowing a much safer exploration of Tibia's subterranean dungeons.
Knights received the very strong Berserk spell which attacked all creatures around them for an attack which cost four times your level in mana. This spell was very popular as it was damaging, taking advantage of the Knight's main purpose as a blocker to deal damage to all foes. If an Ice Rapier was used with this attack then it would be destroyed in the attack even though it wasn't used as a normal weapon strike.
Paladin's received the new Conjure Bolt spell which made a stack of five bolts like the arrow version of the spell. Players were using Crossbow more often as bolts had a stronger attack multiplier and many normally huntable monsters now dropped them. This spell was moderately popular for Paladins as it helped extend the hunt.
The biggest change was to the mages and to the Druid which now gained vocation healing specific spells that finally made them resemble the class they are today. Heal Friend allowed them to heal another player for 70 mana, which made them finally able to heal their blocker without using the precious UH runes. Druids would also receive the Mass Healing spell which was a weaker heal then the Heal Friend spell but would heal all players who stood about a GFBs range around the caster. Before this point the Druid was mainly chosen for the very lucrative UH rune making but now they would be chosen for their hunting ability, making them the more popular mage vocation.
The Druid vocation further received the Undead Legion spell which would turn all corpse around the user into a skeleton army. For 500 mana you could make an outrageous number of Skeletons and the spell was not very useful in combat but was incredibly useful to cheat. Players could arrange bodies around the caster and drink mana fluids and then summon the legion. A quick fireball would destroy them all and the mage would collect experience for the summons death. Low level mages were one of the most difficult vocations to level, so this spell allowed players to skip the hardest part. Unsurprisingly this spell was eliminated after the Venore Swamp Bug as it was only ever used to abuse a game weakness.
Druids also gained the Poisonbomb rune spell, which was the same as the firebomb rune, producing a 3 x 3 grid of poison fields on the spot the rune was fired. They would also gain the Envenom rune spell, which was like the Soulfire, producing poison damage over time once it was aimed at another player or monster.
Also added was the Paralyze spell which created a very expensive rune which a player could use to slow down another player. Though this spell had massive PvP potential, it was not really exploited until later as the mana cost to make it was 900mana, and a further 900mana to use which was more than most players had. It is the only rune in game to be only usable by a Druid, regardless of magic level.
Poison Storm was exclusive to Druids and would become their version of the UE spell which was now added back to the game but only available to Sorcerers. Despite being a powerful spell, it really wasn't a great matchup as many creatures were immune to poison. In my opinion a Druid should never have the same destructive power of a Sorcerer, but Tibia is a game where people want both the power to heal anyone and to destroy everything. This spell required magic level 28 and 600 mana to cast which was a lot for such a weak spell.
Sorcerer's would have their own exclusive spells such as the Magic Wall rune which produced a tile blocking wall which could neither be passed nor fired through. This would block a tile off for about 30 seconds and was an excellent rune for PvP. At the time very few knights had magic level 9 so the real advantage of the spell would be limited to mages and paladins. The destructive mage vocation would also receive the utterly useless Cancel Invisibility spell which eliminated the invisibility spells effects. I recall that this spell was universally hated.
They would also receive the Energybomb rune which was like a Firebomb, this would create a 3 x 3 square of energy which if stepped on would deal energy damage over time. This was a much weaker version of the Mass Energybomb rune which Areiswar's Spiritguide mage held exclusively, and which created a screen full of energy.
Of course, Sorcerers would also be able to buy the much-loved Ultimate Explosion spell which caused a huge destructive circle of fire over a large area. This spell could only be cast at magic level 40 and cost a whopping 800 mana. The damage caused by this spell was well worth the mana cost and it was universally feared by all players.
Both mage vocations would be able to purchase the Animate Dead rune spell which would create a rune that could turn a dead body into a Skeleton. This was not a very popular rune as it produced a weak creature which could be summoned and required a body to be present. The Soulfire rune was also available to both mages and was a powerful fire spell which set the target on fire which burned over time. Before this update the spell had been a very rare spellscroll but now it was available for players to use. Overtime this spell became a favorite of PvPers as the fire was impossible to heal and would last several minitues.
CIP wanted to move mages away from using melee weapons to destroy creatures and added some strike spells to the game. These spells, called Force Strike, Energy Strike, Flame Strike, cost about 20 mana, and would deal either physical, energy, or flame damage to the square in front of the player. Intended to be used while hunting, the spells had the major drawback that you would have to get in the way of the monster and face it which meant you took damage. By far the most popular hunting method was distance spells like waves, beams, or large area damage spells as it kept the player away from getting hit which was often fatal for the low HP vocation. Players loved to also use SD which did big damage and could be safely shot from far away. The Force Strike was so terrible that it had to be buffed in a future update, but no one really used the horrible low damage spell.
Finally, the Disintegrate rune was added which could be purchased by the two mage classes and the Paladin. This rune would destroy all objects on a single square provided they were not coded into the map. Players used this rune to destroy traps set up like furniture blocking dungeons, but they also used this to cause mischief such as using this on lootbags players where pushing.
It was also during this update that CIP Productions formally set up the CipSoft GmbH company. This new legal entity, created by the four founders, would produce other games such as Tibia ME, though none would meet the same commercial success as their first commercial game, Tibia. A new website for the company would come in 2003 which can be found here.
