Guide Returning Players - Read This! What Has Changed? [updated]

Hey.

I'm assuming some of you read or saw DrakeM1's old thread where he listed multitudes of changes that had occurred over the years that a returning veteran could look at to understand what changes were made to the game.

However... its outdated, locked, and gone in the abyss of threads.

So I decided to update it with new sections, as well as update any information regarding elements/revamped things, etc.

Credits to @DrakeM1 for the sections of the opening snippet, The Gavel Expansion, The Gameplay Update, Hallowynn 2016, Craftmas 2016, The Corkus Expansion, and The Dungeons n' Discoveries update. Also credit to @Saya for a snippet of information about Elemental Defenses.

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A Guide by DrakeM1 & Oculism​

Imagine this: you once played a Minecraft server, kind of like World of Warcraft, but left due to the lack of updates. Now, years have passed, and you remember that server. What was it called? Windcraft? Then you remember: Wynncraft, the Minecraft MMO. On a whim, you search the game up and see a completely different experience than from when you left. So much has happened, you may be feeling completely lost...

...which means you're in the right place! My name is DrakeM1 (Oculism says hi), and this is Returning Players, Read This, our ultimate guide for those returning to Wynncraft after a hiatus. For those of you wondering why I'm making another one of these, the original thread was locked due to inactivity -- which means Drake was unable to edit it to add info for the new update. Fortunately, this gives me the opportunity to clear up any errors from that original post.

For those seeing this for the first time, this guide will contain 1 major part and a minor one. The major and first part of the guide will give information on Major Updates/patches that included big changes, starting from 1.14's Gavel Expansion all the way to 1.19's Silent Expanse... Expansion. The other, more minor part, will contain simple tips to help returning players get back into the flow of Wynncraft!

If you aren't interested in just the updates, and would like to see a more in depth look at the exact history of the server, WithTheFish has made this great thread that does exactly that! The link is here

Anyways, without any further ado...

Spoiler: What You've Missed

Let's start with what you missed. If you haven't even played the Gavel Update, read "What You Missed - Gavel" and everything afterwards. If you haven't played Gameplay Update, read "What You Missed - Gameplay Update" and everything afterwards, and so on.

Spoiler: 1.14 - Gavel Expansion

Read the OFFICIAL CHANGELOG for more information!

This was probably the biggest update in Wynncraft's history, just next to the Economy Update! It added so much stuff, so we will try to go over everything important.

First of all, they added the GAVEL PROVINCE, a new landmass across the ocean from Wynn. You start at the quartz city of Llevigar and make your way through the province's varied environments, completing various quests and exploring. The level cap was raised to 100, so don't worry about wasted XP. Gavel has everything, from volcanoes to swamps to floating islands and is a very nicely built area.


There's also an official resource pack that auto-downloads when you join. It adds custom models for all weapons and other textures. I find that it really adds to the experience of playing Wynncraft!


The item system was completely revamped. Now, when you get a non-normal item, it is Unidentified and unusable. You must go to an item identifier and pay a small fee to identify the item. It will then be Identified and usable, although some items have skill point requirements (as in, you need [x] amount of skill points to use the item) or quest requirements. For a full list of identifications, or attributes your item gets upon identification, visit here.

There is a new tier of items, known as Mythic Items. Your chance of getting one is roughly 1 in 150,000 so...it is pretty hard (or tedious) to find one. However...that feeling when you see Unidentified Item - Mythic in your inventory? It's amazing.


There's also elements. Each weapon can do neutral damage and elemental damage. Neutral damage can't be blocked by mobs, but elemental is a different story.

If a mob has a tag like [❉ Weak], that means it is weak to water damage and will take more water damage than your weapon normally deals. If it says [✹ Def]. that means it takes less fire damage than your weapon normally deals. If it says [✦ Dam], that means it deals thunder damage. The full list of elements is:
Earth ✤
Thunder ✦
Water ❉
Fire ✹
Air ❋


You may notice that your armour says "Earth Defense: +120" or "Thunder Defense: -50". Elemental Defense is an attribute most armour has.

How do Elemental Defenses/Resistances work? They're just an addition/subtraction to weapon damage (before the spell and attack speed multipliers but after any gear damage increases/other boosts). Abusing weaknesses is much better with superfast weapons with that element, because you're just adding the weakness to each hit (also a better attack speed multiplier). Faster weaps struggle against resistances for the same reason.

Your own elemental defenses work the same way, so they don't really do much unless mobs hit rapidly/you have an extreme negative.
[UPDATE]: Defense points now reduce elemental damage where before it didn't, which is part (but not all) of your overall reduction to elemental damage/damage in general.

TL;DR: They pretty much are just a flat addition/reduction, ignore them on gear before endgame, don't worry too much at endgame either.


For more on playing in the Gavel Update, read this thread.

Spoiler: 1.14.1 - The Gameplay Update

Read the OFFICIAL CHANGELOG for more information!
The Gameplay Update redid all the dungeons and added higher-leveled "corrupted" dungeons. To gain access to a dungeon now, you need to find and kill a mob called "[Dungeon Name] Key Guardian" which will drop the key. When you complete a dungeon, you will gain items that can be used to purchase pretty good items that are around the dungeon's level. Some of these items are quite powerful and unique, and can be used for many different applications, so keep your eye out for a good item that you might see while browsing dungeon shops!

Corrupted Dungeons are higher level, more dangerous versions of regular Dungeons that currently exist. There are currently 7 Corrupted Dungeons that go all the way up to Corrupted Undergrowth Ruins. These dungeons give much more powerful rewards and XP payouts than their regular counterparts.

Visit this link (it is a wiki page) for more information on all dungeon-related things. Bear in mind that the wiki might not be entirely accurate, so do not take every piece of information there as 100% fact.

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Spoiler: What You've Missed - Part 2

Spoiler: 1.14.1 - The Gameplay Update - Continued

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Powders were also redone. There are powders for each element and six tiers of said powders. On weapons, they decrease neutral damage but increase elemental damage (based on the powder you're adding, the amounts are different. If you add two Tier 4 (or higher) powders of the same element to the same item, you gain a powder special. Powder specials are like secondary spells, they charge up as you damage mobs and will notify you when they are fully charged. Then you shift + attack to cast them. You cannot have more than one powder special per weapon.

On armour, they increase elemental defense in one element and decrease it in another. I assume you already know how elements work, because you did play Gavel. If you put two Tier 4 (or higher) powders of the same element on the same armour piece, you gain an armour Powder Special. These are passive buffs. Again, you can only have one per armour piece.

Visit this link (it is a wiki page) for more information on all powder-related things. Bear in mind that the wiki might not be entirely accurate, so do not take every piece of information there as 100% fact.
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The Gameplay Update also added the VSS Seaskipper, which lets you travel the ocean at ease. For more, visit here, if you're interested.

Boss Altars were also added! Boss Altars are small areas across the world that you can sacrifice specific items into. Once sacrificed, you can access an area with a boss that can drop unique and powerful items and ingredients! Visit here for more information.

You can also re-identify items if you got terrible identifications. It costs 5X what the previous IDing cost you, but you can get better items.

XP Bonus also no longer affects quests -- neither do XP bombs (a purchasable item). The special triple XP buff that Youtubers received has now been removed.

Lastly, sprinting does not directly affect your mana anymore. Instead, it affects your Sprint Bar (shown between health and mana) which, when it runs out, basically destroys your mana bar. Your Sprint Bar recharges over time.
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Spoiler: 1.14.2 - Hallowynn 2016

Read the OFFICIAL CHANGELOG for more information.

For Halloween, they added a new quest ("A Grave Mistake") and also revamped the shop. Gold Coins are gone, replaced with items you can buy directly from the shop, like bombs and pets. If you still have old gold coins, you can still use them by typing /gold, but no new gold coins can be obtained. You will also get no gold coins from the Nether (you used to get them back when people played PvP gold coins existed). The ranks were redone as well. For more, you can visit the shop page itself.
They added a new quest system and such, but this update was pretty minor.

Spoiler: 1.15 - Craftmas 2016

Read the OFFICIAL CHANGELOG for more information.

The Craftmas Update (1.15) added a new quest ("Meaningful Holiday") and a special holiday fair where you could get special items and such. Again, not much new stuff. It's because the team was all working on...

Spoiler: 1.16 - Corkus Expansion

Read the OFFICIAL CHANGELOG for more information.
After 2 updates, there was finally a new content expansion! This update added a new island (Corkus, for levels 80-100), new quests, and new dungeons. However, it didn't add much in the way of new gameplay mechanics (although you can trade any Tier 4 or higher powder for another powder of the same tier now).

Do the quest "The Envoy I" to get to Corkus and explore it. It is pretty cool!

There's also the Legendary Challenge, where you fight various bosses in an arena-progression style challenge. You fight a boss, gain a certain amount of loot, and can choose whether to give up and keep what you've earned...or keep going. A difficult--but rewarding--adventure!

Spoiler: 1.17 - Dungeons n' Discoveries Update

Read the OFFICIAL CHANGELOG for more information.

(Between Corkus and this update, the admin Jpresent fixed a lot of bugs, including the guild name glitch. Those are linked to in the changelog for this update.)

This update expanded on discoveries, which were prototyped during the Corkus Update. Discoveries are easter eggs -- little secrets in the world of Wynncraft that the player is meant to find. When you find a discovery, you will gain some lore as well as an XP reward or (rarely) an item. If you want to know all the discoveries, go HERE. (Bear in mind that it might not be entirely accurate)

There are also territorial discoveries. Every guild territory (as well as major area) will give you some XP and possibly lore the first time you find them. Unlike the secret discoveries mentioned earlier, these are passive and you don't need to do any extra work to find them.

Every dungeon requires that you complete a quest to gain access to it. Basically, this puts level minimums on each dungeon, but the upside is now you gain MORE LORE (in case you haven't figured it out yet, this was a massive lore update).

The bank got a lot more space -- it can now hold up to 462 slots worth of items! However, you will have to pay a fee for each page you want to unlock, and it gets higher for each page.

The quest book was completely redesigned to be a GUI instead of an actual book. This lets you see many quests at once, and looks like this:

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Spoiler: What You've Missed - Part 3

Spoiler: 1.18 - The Economy Update

For more information about this update, click HERE.

Wooh, this is a big one.

The Economy/Economic/Professions Update is one of the largest updates in the game just behind Gavel, and added many game changing mechanics that revolutionized many aspects of the game.

A lot got added here; so let me just go over the first few things:

First off: 50% of the world has been revamped.

Many areas, cities, and more areas have recieved large revamps by the build team. Many of them may seem nicer, others may be unrecognizable, and received multiple changes to their layouts, routes, and content. Don't be upset if you don't know the map like the back of your hand anymore; many people did not at first either!


Second off: Professions!
There are 4 Gathering Professions: Woodcutting, Mining, Fishing, and Farming
and 8 Crafting Professions: Scribing, Armouring, Weaponsmithing, Woodworking, Cooking, Tailoring, Alchemism, and Jeweling

For the Gathering Professions:
Woodcutting will allow you to cut down wood and turn it into planks or paper.
Mining will allow you to mine different minerals, and turn them into ingots or gems.
Fishing will allow you to catch fish, and turn them into oils or meat.
Farming will allow you to gather crops, and turn them into grains or string.

Their mechanics are very simple; get a tool, find the resource, and click to gather. You can either left click to receive one type of a mineral, or right click to receive its other type (For example, left clicking an ore will give you an ingot, and right clicking it will give you a gem). There is a chance that you might not receive a resource once you finish gathering, though it is somewhat uncommon.

You'll know if you're at a gatherable resource if there is a name for the resource hovering slightly above it, and a level minimum, as well as an icon that states what profession you must use to gather it. They look something like this:



Speaking of the profession icons; each profession has their own icon


(from left to right: mining, woodcutting, farming, fishing)​

Each of these professions will have their own tools (e.g. Mining will use pickaxes, Woodcutting will use axes, fishing will use fishing rods, and farming will use hoes.) that have different tiers. These tiers will max out at 11, and allow you to gather faster and more efficiently. However, you must meet the level requirement in order to use specific tiers of tools.
(As of 1.19, Tools now have durability. In order to repair your tools, you will have to repair them the same way that Crafted Items are repaired, by repairing them at a Blacksmith with scrap)

You get a new gatherable resource every 10 levels, same with tools. The time to gather goes up the higher level it is, so it's highly recommended you get better tools. These can be found in dungeon shops for very low prices

The Crafting Professions:
Crafting Professions allow you to create your own, custom items using the materials mentioned above and ingredients (We'll get into both custom items and ingredients soon).

Scribing will allow you to make scrolls using fish oil & paper.
Weaponsmithing will allow you to make daggers & spears using planks & ingots.
Armouring will allow you to make helmets & chestplates using ingots & paper.
Tailoring will allow you to make boots & leggings using string & ingots
Woodworking will allow you to make bows & wands using string & planks
Alchemism will allow you to make potions using grains & fish oil.
Cooking will allow you to make food using fish meat & grains.
Jeweling will allow you to make accessories using gems & fish oil.

You can access these different professions at their stations found in different cities around the world. The stations look similar to this:



Each of these different professions & item types can give their own different statistics, however, these statistics can be amplified using ingredients.

Ingredients are items that are found across the world. They give different effects when implemented onto an item, and allow it to become more powerful.. or weaker. Ingredients can be collected either from loot chests or mobs that carry them.

Now for Crafted Items. Crafted Items are different from normal items; in that you can make them yourself. Can't use an item because you don't have the level requirement?? Make a similar one with lower SP! Can't find a better weapon? Just make one! Don't have the money for potions? Make your own!

Now; unlike normal items, crafted items arent as infinitely durable. Each item will have a durability rating that can be brought up or down depending on the ingredients you use. Consumables will have a duration cost. As your weapon loses durability, its statistics will slowly lose their effectiveness, up until it loses all durability, and the item will be rendered useless.

When you lose all durability on your item; you have to take it to a blacksmith to repair it.

Speaking of them.. you saw the one behind the Weaponsmithing station, right?

Basically; Blacksmiths are the old Item Buyers, but better. They will not only take your items for money, but will also turn crafted ones into repair scraps. These scraps can be used to repair your crafted item, good as new!

If you don't want this crafted item, and you think it has value, or you just have an ingredient/item in general that you think you could sell, then bring it to the...

Trade Market!

The Trade Market is essentially an open-ended system that allows you to add an item to your selling list, set a price for it per number of items you're selling, and send it out to be sold! If it catches someone's eye, they may pay for it, and you will be paid in return! Now of course, you can always do the old fashioned way of trading, that is player-to-player using the shift-right click trading system.

The Trade Market also has a menu that allows you to place a wishlist of items that you want for a specific price, and if someone else wants to sell you that item at your agreed price, then you'll recieve the item, while they get their money in the menu.

Last but not least; the level cap was raised during this update! Before 1.18, the level cap was maxed out at level 101, however, it was raised to level 104 during 1.18, and further to level 106 during 1.19! Level 101 now has a regular XP requirement, while it takes all the XP required from level 1 to 105 to reach level 106.

To read all of the changes, click HERE to see the changelog.​

Spoiler: 1.18.1/1.18.2 - Gamemodes and Objectives

To read all of the changes, click HERE to see the changelog.

1.18.1 returned the Trade Market, a feature mentioned in the 1.18 section that had been taken down due to duplication glitches.

It also added 3 new gamemodes: Ironman, Craftsman, and Hardcore mode!

Ironman forces you to not be able to use your bank, trade with players, or pick up items not dropped by yourself or mobs.

Craftsman forces you to only use crafted items instead of normal gear.

Hardcore only gives you one life, and if you die, you lose all of your items and your character is set to a normal character.

If using a certain gamemode, an icon would be displayed next to your name indicating that you were on an amplified difficulty. All three icons displayed on your name would look something like this:


(From left to right: Hardcore, Ironman, Craftsman)
Using all 3 gamemodes at once is considered a wildly difficult challenge, with only a very small handful having completed the game with the 3 gamemodes enabled, those being YYGAMER, Linnyflower, Felinka, and Crokee (As of October 12th, 2020)

1.18.2 added a new mechanic to the game called "Objectives"
If you were here before Missions were removed, you may remember them. Objectives are similar to missions, but their random "Kill 10 Bob's Reincarnations in 5 minutes" missions have been fixed, there is a wider variety of objectives that will give you XP at first, but later will give you loot.

There are two types of Objectives: Standard Objectives, and Daily Objectives

Standard Objectives are given to you before you are Level 30. They are all non-repeatable, and are only given once. They will give you a small amount of XP.

Daily Objectives are given to you after you've completed the Normal Objectives or after you're level 30. They are given to you daily, as the name suggests, and are repeatable (meaning you can get the same one twice). If you complete an objective, it will give you an amount of loot.

Both types of objectives will be available on a side scoreboard that is on the right of your screen.

Alongside this, the devs also reworked some of the code in preparations for 1.19. The update was soon revealed as....

Spoiler: 1.19 - The Silent Expanse

To see the full changelog: click HERE

Here we are, personally my (Oculism's, not sure about Drake) favorite update.
The Silent Expanse Update added many things, such as its namesake area: The Silent Expanse.

Formerly known as the Road to Dern, the Silent Expanse is an area of Wynn that was taken control of by the realm of Dern. Yes. THE Dern. The area itself is also a gateway into the Realm of Dern, but that is for a future update. The area looks like this on the map.
In order to enter the Expanse and gain access to all of the main areas; you will have to go through the quests A Journey Beyond and A Journey Further. You might see some familiar faces there!

The area also features a brand new dungeon, called the Eldritch Outlook. This dungeon is quite short, as the boss itself is the main focus of the dungeon.. and boy is it difficult.
When you get around to battling the boss of the dungeon, (and if you were into lore back when you were around, the boss itself will be a pretty big shocker) do be prepared. the bossfight is the most difficult dungeon boss fight in all of Wynncraft, and you may need some friends to help you fight it.

Now, aside from how awesome the Expanse is, the Content Team took an enormous leap this update in terms of content. and added something that may shock you..

A new class.

That's right. After 6.5 years of Wynn's existence, the game is finally getting a new class. And it is known as The Shaman

Shaman is unlike any other class in Wynn so far. It's spells are very unique compared to the rest of the classes, and require a bit more skill to utilize to their fullest potential.
It has 4 spells, just like every other class: Totem, Haul, Aura, and Uproot.
I'm gonna run out of room to write in this spoiler if I fully explain every single spell, so I recommend you take a look at the changelog for a full explanation into what shaman is.

Aside from adding an entirely new class, a new gamemode was also added in called Hunted Mode

The Hunted Mode is a mode that you can unlock by completing the quest A Hunter's Calling. It's a fantastic quest made by Imaxelius, made to be completed at the end of your entire adventure.

Simply, Hunted Mode allows you to access a world-wide PvP mode, allowing you to fight any other player that's in Hunted Mode at any given moment, unless you are in a safe zone. Be wary, if you are killed, your chance at losing items is increased exponentially, but to compensate, your XP gain is boosted by 50%.

It's also available to be unlocked at the beginning of your journey, in the class selections. When making a new class, there's an option to select Hunted Mode as one of the activated gamemodes, alongside Hardcore, Ironman, and Craftsman (look back at 1.18.1 to see what those specifically are).

Additionally, player ghosts were added! Player ghosts are, as the name implies, ghosts of players on other servers. You can't exactly interact with them like you can a player on your server, and they can't damage mobs on your server either, but they are still there, and you can talk with them. This gives Wynn a bit more of an immersive feeling, and sets the scope of how many people are playing Wynncraft at once across multiple different servers.
If you want to toggle player ghosts on or off, you can use /toggle playerghosts to toggle it. This can be helpful if you're experiencing a lot of lag, and toggling it off will remove around ~800 different ghosts that are on other servers.

Once again, I implore you to read the changelog HERE to read all of the changes. I've barely scratched the surface of how much the game has been changed with this single update, as there's so much to mention.

Once you've read all of that: here's some extra tips.

- Start a new class if you haven't played since before Gavel's release. The game is nearly unrecognizable now, and multitudes of things have changed/been added. To have a better understanding of how the game works now, it'd be recommended to start on a fresh, clean slate. Additionally, the shaman class is now available for you to play, if you want to play a brand new class that hasn't been seen recently in the game!

- Don't worry about starting a build until you're at least level 90-95. You'll be able to get through most of the game without spending a large amount of money on fancy builds, and many bosses before that level do not require strong builds to defeat.
However, this doesn’t mean that you absolutely can’t go for builds at lower levels (If you would like to, visit the Class Builds section on Wynncraft's Discord or on the Forums and they'll help you out in that department), just that it isn’t a complete necessity for your road to completing the game. Just focus on whatever you believe would be best for your overall playing experience.

- Try and focus more on gaining combat level until you're at a higher level. There are still over 10,000 or more regular items to choose from. Crafted Items are absolutely not a necessity if you want to complete the game normally (Once again, this does not mean that you absolutely can't go for Crafted Items at lower levels; if you would like to, then you absolutely can!)

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Thank you for reading!

Feel free to correct me if I got any sort of info wrong/left anything important out of the thread.

PS: Ping me or send me a message on my profile if this gets locked or is outdated. I’ll update it or have a mod unlock it... or both.
PS 2: Don't be afraid to bump this thread even if it's past 1 month old. Assuming the thread is still useful, there shouldn't be any repercussions for necro-posting.

 

Nicely done, I'll be sure to send these if any of my old friends ever come back :c

 

Reserved for extra editing in the future

 

for those gamers that heard about a "marketplace"


update: it is not gone

 

Great job! Love it :D

 

Reserved for extra editing in the future

 

Bump!

10char

 

Should be pinned tbh. Good job on updating this though.

 

thank you

 

insert obligatory salted liked here

 

ooo Very nice guide. Seems like you worked pretty hard on it. Good job!

 

thank you

 

worried about linking old thread to new people
thx

 

should've put an obligatory epic air gamer (me lmao) liked here.

 

of course

 

Thanks so much for this!

 

Of course : )

 

Bump

10char

 

The Gamplay Update is 1.14.1, while the Craftmas 2016 update is 1.15.

Also I'm not sure why you're saying the Economy Update was bigger than Gavel, since it most certainly was not.

 

The Craftmas 2016 section links to the same Hallowynn changelog. And yeah, that update was 1.15. Not Gameplay Update. Oh and Hallowynn 2016 seems to be 1.14.2.