PWI Elysium

Elysium is the tenth expansion for Perfect World International. It was officially announced on March 16th, 2016, and released on April 12th, 2016. It was promoted as the largest expansion to come to the game, with the addition of Homesteads, the new housing system, as well as a dungeon named Uncharted Paradise, new skills, new end-game weapons, and more. A weekly cross-server PvP tournament was also mentioned, however it was not released with the Elysium expansion. Instead, it was released in December 2016 as Thursday Night Fights, a weekly local-server PvP tournament.

The Elysium expansion was not accompanied with a story.

A content update titled Primal Warfare was later released on October 25th 2016.

News Releases
Elysium was first mentioned in its announcement post made on March 16th, 2016. In the post, it announced just a few of the features coming to the game, including a new housing system, a new dungeon, weekly PvP tournaments, and new equipment. The new housing system and the new dungeon were revealed to be a key part to making some of the newer gear coming to the game. It was revealed that powerful Grade 17 (G17) weapons would be arriving. No official date was announced.

Several more news posts relating to the expansion were added throughout the next month.


 * March 21st, 2016: The first preview for the housing system, Homesteads, was revealed as part of three previews to be shown during the week. It revealed that players level 90 and above would be able to benefit from this new feature. Each Homestead would be placed on its own map, allowing players to freely move in and out of their Homestead. It also made mentions of the levels of customization that would be available for Homesteads, along with the ability to invite friends over to a Homestead and manage who can enter.
 * March 23rd, 2016: The second preview for the Homestead was released. It expanded further on the customization system for the Homestead, revealing that players could place functional buildings on the Homestead, place decorational buildings, and even adjust the landscape itself. It also revealed the Homestead Codex, a tool used to keep track of your inventory, browse through every Homestead item, and manage assets.
 * March 23rd, 2016: On the same day, another news post was made to pre-order exclusive items for the Elysium expansion. The pre-order required players to purchase special packs that would give items usable for Homesteads. Some packages even offered decorations, a new mount, a vendor license, and items used to upgrade Rank 9 gear. Many of these items, while advertised as exclusive and limited-edition, were later released through the Boutique and some seasonal events.
 * March 25th, 2016: The third preview for the Homestead was released. It described the stats of a Homestead and some of the aspects involved in maintaining it. It also mentioned that Homesteads would be an important part of making Grade 17 weapons. Contract Jobs were also introduced, allowing other players to craft items from your Homestead in exchange for coins and EXP for the Homestead.
 * March 28th, 2016: The first of three previews was unveiled for the new dungeon, Uncharted Paradise. It was described as the most difficult dungeon to come to the game, even going so far as to mention that the strongest players in the Chinese version of Perfect World struggled to complete it. It revealed that in order to complete the dungeon, players would need to complete five of the seven challenges available. The first and last challenges would be the same, while the remaining three would be random. The dungeon would be available to players that had reached level 100 with a boundary level of Astral Sky X, meaning that players would need to have reawakened twice.
 * March 30th, 2016: The second of three previews for Uncharted Paradise was released. It revealed the first challenge of the instance, the Trial of Unity, along with two of the random challenges that players could possibly face, the Trial of Calligraphy and the Trial of Wine.
 * April 1st, 2016: The final preview for Uncharted Paradise was released. his preview revealed the remaining 4 challenges - the Trial of Music, the Trial of Strategy, The Trial of Painting, and the final challenge, the Trial of Reflection.
 * April 5th, 2016: New endgame weapons, Dragonbreath Weapons, were revealed. There would be a total of 16 different weapons, 1 for each weapon type, and players would be able to begin their journey to crafting them right away. The weapons would have multiple upgrades in order to reach their final version, where the player could choose whether to boost attack or defense on the final cast of their weapon.
 * April 6th, 2016: The release date for the expansion was revealed to be April 13th, 2016. It was also announced that PWI would be coming to Steam. A launch trailer was also released, showing off the expansion as the largest for the game thus far. It mainly featured visuals for the Homestead and Uncharted Paradise, as well as Rank 9 Boundless gear, which had yet to be announced.
 * April 6th, 2016: Later that day, another news post was made that announced Rank 9 Boundless gear, otherwise known as Rank 9 fourth cast. It was described as not necessarily stronger than the existing Rank 9 Limitless, otherwise known as Rank 9 3rd cast, but instead a gear set more oriented towards player vs player combat. It also described the steps to crafting the upgrade, including all material costs.
 * April 11th, 2016: A news post was made announcing new skills. These ultimate skills would be obtainable through doing Homestead daily quests, and would be able to be upgraded to level 2. Along with this, some already-existing skills would be receiving an upgrade. Skill descriptions for each ultimate skill at level 1 was teased.

On April 13th, 2016, the day of the expansion release, a brief news post was made announcing its official release.

Patch Notes
Patch Version 938, Released April 12th, 2016

New Features
 * Homestead - Enter the realm of Elysium and build a home of your very own. You can customize your Homestead with hundreds of different buildings and objects, fully shapeable terrain, and even functional buildings to generate resources.
 * Level 90 players with 35,000+ Reputation who have reached Aware of the Void or Aware of the Myriad will automatically receive a quest in their logs to start them on the path to unlocking their Homestead.
 * New dungeon: Uncharted Paradise - Enter a forgotten realm hidden away for thousands of years beneath the waves of the Silent Sea. Here, the servants of the gods once challenged mortals to see if they were worthy. Though the gods are gone, their guardians still remain.
 * Level 100 players who have reached Astral Sky X can speak to Swordsman Zenray at the Shoka Sanctuary to enter the Uncharted Paradise.
 * Level 17 weapons - Once, Elysium was ruled by Sixteen Lords who wielded powerful weapons forged with the breath of dragons. Though these Lords are long gone, dedicated heroes can recreate their weapons and once again wield their awesome power.
 * Dragonbreath Weapons are available at Vyn Yen, the Warrior in Archosaur (522, 657) after reaching Level 100 after your Second Reawakening and unlocking your Homestead. Materials for crafting and upgrading these weapons can be found through Homestead daily quests and drops from Uncharted Paradise.
 * A new set of Level 17 accessories are available from Jaden Collector Tansen in Archosaur (551, 626). The materials for these can be found in the Delicate Moon Chest chance pack.
 * Rank 9 Limitless gear can now be upgraded at the Boundless Forge in Archosaur (549, 675), giving it different stats that are more aimed at PvP combat.
 * The maximum size for the Safe and Inventory has been expanded from 80 slots to 96. They can be increased by purchasing an additional Super Safe Stone or Super Inventory Stone, respectively.

Dungeons
 * Dreamspace in the high-level version of the Quicksand Maze now allows you to exchange Dim Songflow Ringstones for other Rank 8 upgrade materials.
 * The Crisis Resolved (Week) quest can now be obtained from the Immortal's Student inside Seat of Torment and Abaddon.

Events
 * Nation Wars is no longer a cross-server event, and has been returned to its original times of Friday and Sunday at 20:20 server time. As a result, the Commander functionality has been disabled.
 * The Territory War schedule has been updated. The new priority list is as follows: Sat 17:00, Fri 22:30, Sun 17:00, Sun 18:30, Mon 14:00.
 * Territory War battles will now be scheduled once every minute instead of once every three minutes. The number of battles in each time slot has not changed.
 * Territory Wars now last 100 minutes, down from 3 hours.
 * Fixed a bug that could cause players to not revive properly in Nation Wars and Territory Wars.

Items
 * Accessories can now gain up to 4 sockets.
 * Magma, Abyss, Sunflare, and Astral Stones can now be upgraded to Level 12 at Assistant Wang Tsai.
 * Yaksha and Battlement Stones can now be upgraded to Level 13 at Assistant Wang Tsai.
 * Teleport Incense, Teleport Stones, Utility and Defense Charms, Nuema, Magic Stones, and Makeover Scrolls can now be placed in the Cupboard.

Quests
 * Added title quests for Sundown Highland and Dragon Wilderness.
 * Li Mengpai in West Archosaur will now grant titles in exchange for items from the Paperclip for Villa quest.
 * Players above level 100 can start a new quest chain at the Fairytale Master in South Archosaur.

Skills
 * Several new advanced skill upgrades have been added across all classes. In addition, each class has access to a brand-new ultimate skill. The skill books for all of these can be purchased from Vyn Ren, the Trainer in Archosaur (522, 659) using items obtained from daily quests in your Homestead.
 * Blademaster
 * Drake's Ray no longer implies that it hits multiple targets.
 * Cleric
 * The incorrect Safe bonus was listed on Elemental Seal. The tooltip now properly states that it reduces the target's Magic Defense for 25 seconds.
 * The Sage/Demon versions of Silent Seal now properly state that it freezes, rather than stuns, the target.
 * The incorrect Demon bonus was listed on Thunder Crash. The tooltip now properly states that it reduces the target's Metal Resistance by 30%.
 * Psychic
 * The Sage version of Red Tide now properly states that it costs one Spark and has a 50% chance to cost none, rather than costing two Sparks and having a chance to cost one.

Known Issues
 * The Prehistoric Frenzy skill incorrectly states an upper limit of 55 attacks, rather than 5.​​
 * NPCs are missing inside the Realm of Reflection.

Primal Warfare
Primal Warfare is a content update that was released after the Elysium expansion. It was officially announced on September 30th, 2016, and released on October 26th, 2016. The content update expanded the Homestead further, with the addition of Minions and additional customization options such as new terrain. It also updated Uncharted Paradise to include a new difficulty, Deicide Mode, and released a new boundary tier named Twilight Sky.

Primal Warfare was not accompanied with a story or a unique logo.

News Releases
The content update was first announced on September 30th, 2016, through its very first teaser post. It revealed that Homesteads would be receiving more customization options, from new skins, to flora and terrain textures. Spouses would also be able to manage each other's Homesteads, allowing them to both work on customizing the same Homestead. A Homestead Ranking feature would also be released, where players could put them on display for others to see. No release date was announced with the news post or any further news posts until Primal Warfare's eventual release.

On October 1st, 2016, the second preview for Primal Warfare was announced. It revealed another addition to Homesteads, the Minion feature. These Minions would help to boost productivity within the Homestead as well as be able to battle other players' Minions. Battling would result in rewards from Star Chart Materials to War Avatar Packs, as well as Minion Pouches as an incentive to use the system.

On October 2nd, 2016, the third and final preview for the content update was released. This time, the news post focused on Uncharted Paradise and the release of a new mode, Deicide Mode. This mode would be much more difficult than the regular version of the dungeon, and would reward players with more materials. In addition, a new boundary tier was announced along with two new passives. These passives would allow players to increase their Defense Level and decrease incoming Critical Hit Damage.

No more news posts were made up until the content update's release on October 26th, 2016, which announced the release and summarized the main features that had been revealed weeks prior.

Patch Notes
Patch Version 978, Released October 25th, 2016

New Features
 * New Boundary: Twilight Sky! Continue to improve your Boundary level and rank up your passive skills as you progress through an all-new quest chain in the Primal World. Players who have reached Shifting Sky X can talk to Twilight Sky Envoy Irien in Kirin Town to progress.
 * New Feature: Homestead Minions! Raise minions in your Homestead to operate your workshops while you are away, and battle other players' minions in the Colosseum to earn Star Chart items, War Avatar cards, and more!
 * New Feature: Uncharted Paradise, Deicide Mode! An even more difficult challenge awaits you, but those who succeed will reap even greater rewards!

Homestead
 * You can now change the terrain type of your Homestead. Options such as desert, sky, and sea are available.
 * Additional options for manipulating your Homestead's terrain have been added.
 * You can now take quests from the Tulin Bunny in Avalanche Village to get additional vegetation items for your Homestead.
 * Once your Homestead reaches Level 20, you can upload a copy of your Homestead to the Homestead Ranking List for other players to visit and rate.
 * Players can now manage their spouses' Homesteads.
 * Several new items have been added to the Homestead.

Dungeons 
 * The fire circles created by the Lord of Paradise have had their visuals updated.
 * You can no longer duel in Uncharted Paradise.

Items
 * The daily number of Mystical Ascents now increases by 2 per day instead of 1, to a maximum of 10.
 * The daily number of Holy Ascents has been increased up to 200.
 * A second Cupboard Stone can now be used to extend your Cupboard from 80 slots to 120.
 * The items available from the Fortune Key have been updated.
 * The cost for combining Celestones of Heaven, Earth, and Human into Mirage Celestones has been increased.
 * The Six Candleflame Sovereigns War Avatar set has been renamed to Dark Lords of Morai.
 * The tooltip for Iceshard Coins now properly tells you to turn them in at the PWI Iceshard Agent, rather than the PWI Inventory Master.

Quests
 * Reduced the coin rewards for Level 60 to 89 quests.
 * A new title quest has been added for the Great Lake.
 * Rewards for most daily quests in the Primal World have been increased.
 * Rewards for all Shifting Sky quests have been increased.
 * The Resistance Force Leader in Kirin Town now offers a new daily quest to players who have reached Shifting Sky X.
 * Certain Primal World daily quests are no longer available past certain Boundary levels:
 * Stronghold Assault is only available from Arcane Sky I to Arcane Sky X.
 * Search for Energy is only available from Arcane Sky I to Mirage Sky IX.
 * Rescue Raccoons is only available from Arcane Sky I to Astral Sky IX.
 * Fixed a variety of typos.

Skills
 * Coins are no longer required for learning non-Sage/Demon skills below Level 100.
 * Two new Passive Skills can be purchased once you reach the Twilight Sky Boundary:
 * Cosmic Blessing increases your Defense Level.
 * Ward of Bane reduces incoming damage from Critical Strikes.
 * Archer
 * Fixed a bug in which many Archer skills did not activate the Dragonbreath Weapon's God of Frenzy effect.
 * Fixed a bug in which the Primal World version of Leap Right did not last for the correct duration.
 * Ataraxia's channeling time has been reduced from 0.8 seconds to 0.1.
 * Blackwing Arrow now increases Physical Penetration for 20 seconds, up from 5.
 * Feather Armageddon now also knocks back player targets.
 * Frost Splash's cast time has been reduced from 2.5 seconds to 1.0.
 * Assassin
 * Cursed Jail now deals double base physical damage.
 * Sage/Demon Deaden Nerves' channeling time has been reduced from 1.5 seconds to 0.4.
 * Sage/Demon Knife Throw's cast time has been reduced from 1 second to 0.9.
 * Master of Shadows now also increases your damage by 50% while out of Stealth.
 * Barbarian
 * Cornered Beast is now usable in Tiger Form.
 * Surf Impact now generates a large amount of threat.
 * Sunder now generates a large amount of threat.
 * Violent Triumph is now usable in Tiger Form.
 * Blademaster
 * The Primal World version of Farstrike now deals additional base physical damage to targets within 10 meters.
 * Flame Tsunami now has a 100% chance to Stun.
 * The Primal World version of Spirit Chaser now deals 100% of weapon damage, up from 80%, and is guaranteed to make your next Farstrike a critical hit (up from a 40% chance).
 * Valkyrie's Might has had its channeling time reduced from 0.6 seconds to 0.1.
 * Cleric
 * Guardian Light now increases speed by 50%, up from 30%.
 * Heaven's Wrath now increases bonus damage by 200%, up from 150%.
 * Duskblade
 * Night Howler's range has been increasd from 12 meters to 30.
 * Umbral Stalker now also increases your speed by 100%.
 * Mystic
 * The Sage/Demon version of Energy Leech is now instant cast.
 * Nature's Barrier now reduces damage by 70%, up from 50%.
 * Sublime Transfusion's redirected healing has increased from 30% at equal Soulforce and 70% and higher Soulforce to 45% at equal Soulforce and 75% at higher Soulforce.
 * Warp Shield's absorption is now increased by a percentage of weapon damage.
 * Psychic
 * Furious Ocean's range has been increased from 8 meters to 10.
 * Psionic Infusion's duration has been increased from 30 seconds to 40.
 * Spirit Phalanx's channeling time has been reduced from 2.0 seconds to 1.0.
 * Shroud of Shadow now costs 2 Sparks instead of 3.
 * Seeker
 * Avatar of the Blade now increases weapon damage by 500%, up from 200%.
 * Darkcloud Bolt now deals 110% of base physical damage plus a percentage of weapon damage plus bonus damage, up from base physical damage plus bonus damage.
 * Sacrificial Slash now reduces Defense Level by 60% (up from 40%) and increases Attack Level by 60% (up from 50%). The minimum reduction in Defense Level has increased from 20 to 30.
 * Stormbringer
 * The Primal World version of Call Lightning now costs 60 Chi, down from 75.
 * The Primal World version of Lunar Blessing has had it's channeling time reduced from 1.0 second to 0.1.
 * The Sage version of Monsoon now increases damage by 20%, up from 10%.
 * The Demon version of Monsoon now reduces incoming damage by 50%, up from 30%.
 * Venomancer
 * Grudge Strike's damage has been increased by 200% of weapon damage.
 * Dark Taboo's damage has been increased by 200% of weapon damage and now heals for a minimum of 2000 Health based on Soulforce, up from 800 to 2000.
 * The Primal World version of Malefic Crush has had its damage increased by 400% of weapon damage.
 * The Primal World version of Stunning Blow has had its damage increased by 200% of weapon damage.
 * Ultimate Summoning's now deals double base magic damage.
 * Wizard
 * Elemental Invocation's Earth attack now deals base magic damage in addition to 150% of your maximum Mana.
 * Frozen Flame's channeling time has been reduced from 2.0 seconds to 1.0.

User Interface
 * Fixed a bug in which attempting to delete the Foe header from an empty Foe List would crash the game.

Known Issues
 * Some text does not display properly in the launcher when running the game through Steam.
 * The GM button opens in an external browser window rather than the overlay when running the game through Steam.
 * Arc Bypass Login does not function in the French or German versions of the game.
 * The tooltip for the Assassin's Master of Shadows skill is not formatted properly.
 * The Hyper EXP Stone tooltip incorrectly says to activate it through the Public Relations menu.