Better Together Update 8.6.0

Greetings, Wayfarers!

Find your crew, pick a destination, and explore the galaxy together!

The Better Together Update 8.6.0 is coming in the next few days , introducing our new Party System and giving you a new way to explore Stars Reach with your crew.

You will be able to create a party with other Wayfarers, chat with your crew in a dedicated Party channel, and keep track of party members while exploring the same zone. And with the new Galactic Map, you can get a better view of the galaxy, see how sectors connect, and decide where your crew is headed next.

We’ve also removed Recipe Activation to make crafting more straightforward, added new inventory controls and quality-of-life improvements, and rolled out another round of fixes across the galaxy.

Let’s take a look!

Hard Grouping ( Party System )

Parties provide a structured way to group with other players, separate from existing soft-grouping mechanics.

• Invite another online player through their interaction menu or by right-clicking their name in chat.

• Party invitations use a non-blocking confirmation prompt.

• A party forms when the invitation is accepted, with the inviting player as leader.

• Party leaders can invite or remove members, promote a new leader, or disband the party. You can do this from the right-click menu on a player.

• Party members can leave at any time.

• Party changes—including members joining, leaving, being removed, or being promoted—are announced in party chat.

Party UI

• A new Party button appears beside the chat controls.

• The button provides quick access to Leave Party for members or Disband Party for leaders.

• A private Party chat tab is added automatically when you join a party and removed when you leave.

• Nearby party members have persistent, color-coded nameplates and health bars.

• Party leaders and members use distinct icons on the nameplate.

• Party members in the same zone appear as waypoints in the world and on the map. Off-screen waypoints include the member’s name.

• An option in the options screen allows party nameplates to return to mouseover-only behavior.

• Note: We don’t yet have a persistent sidebar with your party members.

Party commands

• /party help — Display the available party commands.

• /party invite — Invite an online player.

• /party uninvite — Cancel a pending invitation.

• /party accept [leader name] — Accept an invitation.

• /party decline [leader name] — Decline an invitation.

• /party list — List current party members.

• /party leave — Leave your party. If used by the leader, the party disbands.

• /party kick — Remove a member from the party. Leader only.

• /party promote — Promote a member to party leader. Leader only.

• /party disband — Disband the party. Leader only.

Crafting and Recipe Fixes and Changes

• Recipe Activation Removed

  • Recipes no longer need to be placed into a limited set of active recipe slots.

  • Every recipe now has a qualifying skill.

• Once you have learned a recipe, you can craft it whenever its associated qualifying skill is actively being practiced.

• You must also use the correct type and tier of crafting station.

• Recipes granted by skills are learned automatically.

• Loot recipes must still be collected and learned. Each loot recipe now has an associated qualifying skill.

• If you stop practicing a recipe’s qualifying skill, the recipe remains learned but cannot be crafted until that skill is active again.

• The Recipes tab only shows recipes you currently qualify to craft. Collections continues to show every recipe:

  • White: Learned and qualified

  • Red: Learned but not currently qualified

  • Gray: Not learned

• If you stop practicing a required skill while a craft is in progress, the item and ingredients are preserved. The craft cannot be completed or collected until you qualify again. 

• We remain concerned about advanced crafters dominating lower-tier crafters. A future Specialties system will limit which recipes can benefit from experimentation, allowing deeper item customization and improved stats.

• Specialties and experimentation are still in development and are not included in this update.

• Corrected several wood products from not showing their world of origin.

• Merging stacks of resources now correctly merges the non-PQRV Stat Modifiers on those stacks

Galactic Map

The first iteration of the Galactic Map has been introduced. It provides an overview of the current galaxy including which sectors are connected to each other and basic information about that sector.

Inventory Control Improvements

• We're adding Shift-click as a shortcut when you are moving items from inventory to storage and back. This will move the entirety of a stack all at once, bypassing the quantity selector.

• Double-click when interacting with storage will also move the object or stack all at once.

• Hitting Delete while you have an item selected in inventory or storage will popup a modal "Delete " popup. You will be able to hit Enter to say Yes or Esc to say no.

• You can move fractional amounts around now!

• There is now a new options slider under HUD to adjust the font size in the inventory tiles.

• We now show low durability in inventory with a little wrench icon when the item reaches Damaged (<40%, orange) or Critical/Broken (<15%, pink) status.

• Fixing the raw strings for input mappings in the tooltip for equipment slot items.

Other Bug Fixes or Updates

• Remove some extra alerts that were sent to players every time they walked into a homestead

• Portals on Adventure Worlds should no longer spawn in locations that are too hot to stand

  • Portals that are super-heated, frozen, or buried periodically clean up the area directly around themselves to make it hospitable for arriving characters

• Removed a few building objects that were floating around the starbase

• Fixed an issue with Space Adventure zones so they have portals in/out. This will enable us to expand the Galaxy to include this type of zone if needed.

• Updated the Nameplate color of several NPC in Haven and Starbase to match the mission givers

• Implemented a fix for Haven Hunter mission to make them much less likely to end up on the spires on the map.

• Minor fixes to wormhole audio and map appearance.

Known issues

• The Galactic Map can end up in a “Loading Map” state. Selecting Local Map and going back to the Galactic Map helps to resolve the current issue

• The Paper doll on the Profile screen will sometimes not appear. Relogging or Zoning can occasionally bring it back.

• When players first enter a zone , there is a chance they will find themselves under the portal platform. Using /stuck will help bring you back to the correct location.