What's new:

The Arena in MM9 is definitely way better than in any of the previous M&M games. You can fight at 4 difficulty levels, watch the fights, and even bet on the fights! (I love that! ) And when a monster beats another monster, he does a 'victory dance' facing the crowd -- which is absolutely hilarious!

So when I saw it for the first time, I decided to forgive MM9 all of its shortcomings right then and there.

And now -- finally -- the Arena will hopefully be setting an example of bug-free functioning for the other parts of MM9 to follow

* corrected an Arena bug which prevented you from getting rewards for Lord fights after you do the Gladiator promo (and during the promo quest itself)

* corrected a VERY nasty Arena bug which sometimes left the side doors locked, trapping monsters inside and making it impossible to finish the fight

* the ticket fee for watching the fights is now collected properly

* there is now a money sound on all taking/giving out money at the Arena

* removed some leftover debugging code

Now, *** If you know of any other Arena bug, please let me know! ***

In the other news,

* the 'Artair Ordway Chalice Challenge' is now totally fixed and works exactly as advertised in a book further down the hall of the Ta'Sar Academy

* the Genie in the Ruined Temple * will now give a choice of which attribute to increase * anything he does is now accompanied by a proper sound and/or message * the wishes of gold and experience are worth a bit more consideration now

* Hardcore Might & Magic Fan Special! The dice-based weapon system used in the previous M&M games is found in the dark depths of MM9 and dragged out, kicking and screaming, for old-timers' enjoyment!

This is what you used to see: (sorry you'll have to manually edit the URLs because picture links are not allowed here)

Poor Sword: http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r192/DCP23/MM9/PoorSwordOld[dot]jpg

Mercenary Sword: http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r192/DCP23/MM9/MercenarySwordOld[dot]jpg

Imperial Sword: http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r192/DCP23/MM9/ImperialSwordOld[dot]jpg

Storm Axe: http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r192/DCP23/MM9/StormAxeOld[dot]jpg

And this is what you're going to see now:

Poor Sword: http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r192/DCP23/MM9/PoorSwordNew[dot]jpg

Mercenary Sword: http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r192/DCP23/MM9/MercenarySwordNew[dot]jpg

Imperial Sword: http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r192/DCP23/MM9/ImperialSwordNew[dot]jpg

Storm Axe: http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r192/DCP23/MM9/StormAxeNew[dot]jpg

There is a catch, however. In MM9, every item comes in 3 quality levels: normal, good and excellent. The data provided concerns only the 'normal' level. I can't change it on the fly, so you'll have to keep in mind that good adds +1 to attack AND damage while excellent adds +2.

All weapons in the game will now display such data, while all armor will display its level (AC is already displayed by the game).

* the notoriously confusing and more often than not, just plain wrong artifact descriptions are all changed to reflect their actual properties.

Like this:

Used to be: http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r192/DCP23/MM9/IntegrisOld[dot]jpg

Now: http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r192/DCP23/MM9/IntegrisNew[dot]jpg

And, saving the best for last:

* There is now a totally new Quest in the game.

From my research into the game's depths I know there are several quests which should have been there but aren't. One of those is an optional FedEx-type quest involving an evil artifact known in the M&M Universe as the Fizbin of Misfortune.

Since there was no way to know any particulars on it, I had to re-invent this quest and while at it, added a significant twist so it's no longer as straightforward FedEx mission as you might expect taking the quest.

Furthermore, it's now a secret quest which you will have to find for yourself. Without giving too much away, look for the quest giver in Drangheim, and then -- you're on your own

The only catch is that this quest will never appear in your questbook. A minor point, considering that a few of the official quests also do not appear there (free the cook's brother and find the missing sheep, for example). Aside from that, the quest works just as good as any other quest in the game.