Hey all, Welcome to the 10th Wayward Newsletter where we will be focusing on previews of some of the features coming up in the next major release, beta 2.11, codenamed "Island Hopper" due to one specific feature, island maps!

Island (World) Map

There is a new "islands" dialog, unlocked when obtaining a sea-worthy vessel, which allows you to travel or inspect nearby islands. One of the biggest features of this release is this new interface and functionality. This is essentially a world map of all the different islands you have explored and are waiting to be explored. [previewyoutube=IUT1D9vxFro;full][/previewyoutube] Another addition that works amazing with this new system is that several islands can now be loaded at a time, allowing for quicker travel and allowing players in multiplayer games to be on different islands from each other. This is a game-changer if you ever found yourself stranded when logging back on because other people traveled without you. The range of travel is based on your (new) seafaring skill.

Volcanic Island

Going along with the theme of traveling and seafaring is the new volcanic island. As with all different island types, there are several unique creatures, plants, and features to this island type.
One of those is the new creatures is the hardy pangolin. So hardy in fact that you can make a new set of armor from its unique "armored" scales.

Improved Quickslots & Action System

It wouldn't be a major update without some quality of life and UI improvements. That's where these new quickslot/action systems come into play. Here are a couple of entries from the changelog regarding this:

• Added ability to assign action menu actions to the quickslot bar.

• Added the ability to assign quickslots with tool-based actions (similar to "Carve with Tool" previously from the action menu). Alternatively, you can perform actions here by opening a new menu as well with "Shift + Q or Shift + Right Click".

This is still a work-in-progress (as with everything you see here). With this new system, you should be able to do every action with a single keypress instead of two or three in many cases. You also can now move the quickslot container around to any corner/edge of the screen like all the other UI elements. We also threw a few more quickslots in for good measure. Here's a video showcasing some of this: [previewyoutube=fAKwORSaik4;full][/previewyoutube]

Relic Quality

Relic quality items are very rare drops from treasure chests and aberrant creatures. They have the potential to have more magical properties than even mastercrafted items, but they start with low durability. You'll have to practice the three R's to get an amazing item: reinforce, repair, and refine! Happy hunting!

Merchant Villages

Merchant NPCs also got an overhaul! They will no longer spawn completely randomly when a new island is generated, but rather can spawn near abandoned houses and other pre-generated templates (in addition to player-built bases). They will spawn and restock based on the number of buildings (walls/floors) constructed on an island, and will decrease in odds the further out you are from your starting island, meaning you can indeed now create merchant villages utilizing these new systems.

Vote on New Features!

This newsletter just teases just a few of the changes coming up. Stay tuned for more! As always, check out the feature voting page to vote on upcoming features, now with a "sort by new" feature added in: https://www.waywardgame.com/vote

Steam Autumn Sale

If you are reading this before December 1st, the Steam Autumn sale is already underway where Wayward is currently -20% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/379210/Wayward/

Development Branch Updated

After a long pause on the development branch, as of this week, these changes and more are also now available right now in the development branch if you don't mind being a guinea pig while we continue working on it and pushing out changes nightly. More information on how to switch branches linked here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=721479594 Happy Friday! Stay tuned for more!