Until the bigger updates are ready I have another patch for you guys featuring some bug fixes and a new layer of depth for equipment. Boost your experience, critical hit rate, and armor penetration by collecting rare equipment with special markings. Details below:

• New trait: Deadly (gain 4% critical strike chance).
• Total crit chance now shows in player stats dialog.
• Equipment runes: When equipment is spawned there is a chance it will have special properties. When you equip it you will see one or more rune properties with a power level next to each. There are 3 runes so far, here are some examples: Ancient(3) means you get 12% bonus experience (4% per level). Stained(2) would mean you get 2% bonus crit chance. Glowing(1) represents 2% armor penetration (2% per level). These have a rare chance to be crafted, and a better chance to be found in chests. The deeper you are and higher your questing skill the better runes you will find. Everything stacks together so eventually you can collect a nice set of gear.
• New armor penetration system that is percentage based. In this system some of the damage ignores armor, and the remaining damage is reduced normally. Hammers now grant 50% armor penetration, Maces/Clubs give 85%, and Arrow Towers have been buffed to have 50%. All armor piercing NPCs are still at 100%.
• Added new sound and adjusted blood effect for critical hits.
• Fixed the infamous ‘black screen bug’. There have been different causes for this in the past but the main one should be squashed now. If you find any others please report the details.
• Fixed the issue where ctrl, space, or movement keys could get stuck when switching tabs.
• Fixed a bug with armor class calculations.
• Knitting needles, shovels, and hoes are now smithable and needles are two handed. Thanks to Seryn for the suggestion.
• Fixed a bug where Chaos NPCs dropped infinite durability stone hammers. Thanks to TheFurious for the report.
• Blue stars factor in a bit more when determining your highest skill. This may be changed again with upgrades.
• The edges of the map no longer count as deep water. You can now create deep water by shoveling dirt and occasionally finding underground springs.
• Fixed a couple bugs where the skill menu wasn’t displaying properly.

I’m pretty pleased with how the game engine is shaping up. I still have a number of usability and content milestones before launching a bigger release. There will probably be some major balance patches between now and then to smooth out the leveling experience. Upgrades and active abilities will definitely change how the game feels so expect a lot of adjustments.