Invasions
There are times in Draia when the forces of evil try to gain control over the lands. The moon turns red, and monsters invade the various maps.
There are two types of invasions: moderator-led invasions and automatic invasions. If an invasion occurs, a blue moderator announcement or a warning from the Global Invasion Warning System (GIWS) usually appears on screen.
Invasions usually happen in waves, e.g. the first wave of monsters invades map A, the second wave invades map B, the third wave invades C, and so on. Automatic invasions are finished once all monsters have been defeated in a given time span. If not, another wave will spawn elsewhere, up to a maximum of three waves. Moderator-led invasions usually take 30-60 minutes and cover as many maps, monsters and waves as the moderators have planned.
Automatic invasions
A single automatic invasion may occur 2 minutes after the beginning of each in-game hour. Their occurance is random; many days can pass without an invasion. If an invasion occurs, the course that the invasion will follow is also randomly selected.
An automatic invasion is finished when all of its invasion creatures have been defeated in a given time span. If not, another wave will spawn elsewhere, up to a maximum of three waves.
Global Invasion Warning System
Automatic invasions will occur without warning unless players donate gold coins each game-month (7.625 real life days) to the Global Invasion Warning System (GIWS). Donations for the funding of the system are accepted by Mesterul Manole at the Lakeside Village docks in White Stone. Donations from all players are combined into one large amount to pay the monthly maintenance fee. Any single donation that exceeds 20k gold coins will be broadcasted. When active, the GWIS broadcasts a server-wide warning to all players for all automatic invasions occuring that game-month.
The initial activation took 8 million gold coins, 1 million sulfur and 500 hydrogenium bars. The monthly maintenance fee for the maximum level of warnings is 200,000 gold coins. There are four (or five if you will) levels of efficiency for the GIWS, depending on funds:
- Inactive (funding less than 50k gold coins): The system becomes inactive, and no warnings are broadcast when any automatic invasions occur. It can be reactivated by paying the monthly fee.
- Level 0 (funding at or above 50k gold coins): The system broadcasts a warning when the third (final) wave of monsters spawns at 14 minutes after the new hour. (For dragon invasions, this probably means the third map of the invasion.)
- Level 1 (funding at or above 100k gold coins): The system broadcasts a warning when the second wave of monsters spawns at 8 minutes after the new hour.
- Level 2 (funding at or above 150k gold coins): The system broadcasts a warning when the first wave of monsters spawns at 2 minutes after the new hour.
- Level 3 (funding at or above 200k gold coins): At the highest level, the system broadcasts a warning at the beginning of the hour, 2 minutes before the invasion starts.
At each level, the system will also broadcast the warnings of each level below it.
Possible courses
Valley of the Dwarves: The "classic" automatic invasion. It starts in the lower level of the VotD Gold Mines. The second wave spawns in the upper level of the VotD gold mines. The third wave spawns outside in VotD and endangers anyone sitting at the outdoor storage.
Morcraven Marsh: Starts in the Black Cloaks' Meeting Hall in Morcraven Marsh Caves, then in the cave itself, and lastly outside in Morcraven Marsh.
Desert Pines: Starts in the Crystal Caverns and finally invades Desert Pines outside.
Portland: Starts in the Titanium Mines and finally invades Portland outside.
Nordcarn: Starts in the South Cave and finally invades Nordcarn outside.
White Stone: Starts in the White Stone Underground, then a second wave, and finally invades White Stone outside.- The Flight of the Dragons: This is a special invasion type in which a Black and Red Dragon each leave their respective caves. The invasion starts in North Redmoon (Red) and Aeth Aelfan (Black). If not defeated, they move to Idaloran (Red) and Irsis (Black). Finally, they move to the Emerald Valley Caves (Red) and the Willowvine Forest Cave (Black).
- The Flight of the Dragons 2: This is a special invasion type in which a Black and Red Dragon each leave their respective caves. The invasion starts in North Redmoon (Red) and Aeth Aelfan (Black). If not defeated, they move to Palon Vertas (Red) and Emerald Valley Trade Route (Black). Finally, they move to the Emerald Valley Caves (Red) and the Willowvine Forest Cave (Black).
Moderator-led invasions
Moderator-led invasions are announced via blue moderator broadcast messages. The announcements usually list the maps where the invasion will occur along with the maps that will be safe. The maps, creatures, and level caps are all decided by the team of moderators leading the invasion. These invasions usually last 30-60 minutes, start with low-level creatures, and gradually rise in difficulty, sometimes up to Giants (and, if Roja or Entropy participate, even Dragons).
Here is an example of a moderator announcement:
#Message from Thyralax: The monsters are INVADING NOW! Tarsengaard (under 40's), Morcraven marsh (under 60's), Ida Mines (under 80's) North Red Moon (under 110's)...
#Message from Thyralax: Melinis (under 130's) Aeth aelfan (under 150's) Bethel (any). All other maps will remain safe. Good luck all!
Level caps
During a moderator-led invasion, the moderators may enforce level caps on the maps where the invasion will occur. A level cap is a restriction whereby only players whose average of attack and defense levels is below or equal to the cap are allowed to participate in the invasion on that particular map. In mathematical terms:
cap >= (attack + defense) / 2
In the example above, Tarsengaard is capped at level 40, Morcraven Marsh at level 60, etc. A level cap is only related to a player's attack and defense levels. It is not related to the creatures which will spawn on that map. However, the difficulty of the creatures that spawn is usually within the range of the level cap placed on that map.
If you exceed the level cap for a particular map, you are only allowed to walk through that map. If you fight any invasion creatures on that map, the moderators may ban you from the game. (Editor note: Please find a thread on the official EL forums with the "level cap" rules, and make a link to it.) Level caps help to pair players with creatures by difficulty level so that almost any player, from newbie to high-level, may participate in an evenly-matched environment.
When a cap is removed (lifted) on a particular map, everyone is allowed to fight the creatures on that map.
Creatures
Unlike normal creatures, invasion creatures have red names and never ignore you, no matter how high your defense level is or whether you have the Monster Magnetism Perk or Cloak. They also have a higher chance of dropping rare items.
Special drops
Invasion creatures drop some special rare items:
The chance to get one of these increases with the strength of the creature, with the exception of the Invisible Rat. However, invasion creatures do not drop their normal counterparts' rare drops; that is, the items above are the only rare items that are dropped by invasion creatures. If they do not drop a rare item, invasion monsters drop their normal counterparts' regular items like small amounts of gold coins, bones, etc.
Safety
As a rule of thumb, the Isla Prima (IP) map is always safe during invasions. In most cases, being indoors (inside buildings, not caves) is safe, too, although there have been cases where players were killed while being AFK indoors during an invasion, but there has been no proof of what happened there.
Before automatic invasions, the map on which the invasion will occur is usually announced. Before moderator-led invasions, a moderator usually announces which maps will be safe. You can always ask in any channel if you did not see the announcement.
Invasions involve many aggressive creatures spawning in large groups, so it is not advisable to wear basic training equipment. Strong armour and a strong weapon is essential to surviving an invasion. Players frequently use healing spells, potions, or clothing such as the Fast Regeneration Cape.
Invaded monsters left
You can always check whether there are any invasion monsters roaming Draia by typing the #il command. For specific information, you can use an invasionmeter to see if there are any invasion monsters on the same map as you.