Game updates/20060713

Update - Thursday July 13, 2006

General Updates

• Imperial Supply Master Kagno is no longer stationed in Shing Jea Monastery.
• Added a crafting material storage upgrade for the Xunlai Agent storage vault. To purchase the upgrade, visit one of the new Xunlai Representatives in Shing Jea Monastery or Kaineng Center. (PvP characters gain access to the crafting material storage once any roleplaying character on the account purchases it.)
• Added the ability to split stacks of inventory items. Holding the Shift key while dragging a stack of items allows you to "split off" a portion of the stack before moving it.
• Modified the algorithm that causes the alliance battle line to shift. A faction that pushes into enemy territory will temporarily gain a "momentum bonus" that helps it drive the battle line further into enemy territory.
• Added support for EAX audio when sound quality is set to maximum.
• Modified the Burning Isle guild battle map so that Flame Cursed Sentinels are now Lesser Flame Sentinels. Lesser sentinels are vulnerable to all Conditions, do not heal when out of combat, and slowly die on their own in the first 25 minutes of the match.
• Updated Mesmer Courtly and Virtuoso armor sets so that the +15 armor bonus applies only to the piece the bonus is on, not to the entire body. The bonus is now active whenever the equipping character activates any skill (not just spells).
• Updated Warrior Ascalon and Knight's armor sets so that the damage reduction applies only when the corresponding location of the body is struck. The damage reduction applies only to physical damage, and the amount of reduced damage was increased from 2 to 3.
• Updated shields, armors, and runes with damage reduction abilities so that they only reduce physical damage.
• Increased the inherent armor level on all unique (green text), promotional, crafted, and collector shields so that they behave the same way as other shields when the characters equipping them do not meet the necessary attribute requirement.
• Updated all Ascalon Bows so that they now include their bow type in the name.
• Raised the armor penetration bonus for the following promotional items: Bonecrusher, Bear's Sloth, Rhino's Sloth, and Rhino's Charge.
• Raised the conditional Energy bonus on the following promotional items: Quicksilver, Unicorn's Wrath, Peacock's Wrath, and Luminescent Scepter.
• Raised the conditional damage reduction on the following promotional items: Bronze Guardian, Hog's Gluttony, Spiders Gluttony[sic], and Serrated Shield.
• Removed the increased attack rate and decreased damage attributes from the fire wand found at the collector outside of Nolani Academy.
• Reduced the chance to halve skill recharge time from 20% to 10% on Rockmolders dropped prior to the item being corrected.
• Fixed bugs and made improvements to the following quests: The True King, A Monk's Mission, and A Second Profession.
• Improved support for hardware acceleration on some low-end audio cards.
• Fixed a bug that caused a number of skill sounds to play incorrectly as non-positional sounds.
• Improved the pathing in the Sunjiang District explorable area and the Imperial Sanctum outpost.

Skill Updates

All Professions

• Lowered the cap for Healing Reduction to 40%.*
• Lowered the cap for Recharge Reduction to 50%.*
• You can no longer be knocked down immediately after you respawn from a resurrection shrine.

*Note: like all reduction caps, these only affect the cap from multiple sources. Any single skill that exceeds this cap will still work. Thus, skills such as Lingering Curse or Ritual Lord still gain their full effect.

Assassin

• Expunge Enchantments: no longer disables pet attack skills.
• Moebius Strike: now recharges pet attack skills if it hits a foe below 50% health.
• Return: reduced recharge time to 15 seconds.
• Shadow Form: increased Energy cost to 10.
• Shadow Shroud: no longer prevents the casting of untargeted enchantments.
• Signet of Malice: reduced cast time to .75 seconds.
• Siphon Speed: increased duration to 5..20 seconds.

Elementalist

• Bed of Coals: now deals damage only to non-moving foes.
• Burning Speed: reduced cast time to .25 seconds.
• Elemental Attunement: this skill is now attributed to Energy Storage; increased duration to 30..55 seconds.
• Immolate: increased damage to 15..60.
• Mark of Rodgort: increased duration to 10..35 seconds.
• Mind Burn: reduced recharge time to 10 seconds.
• Smoldering Embers: increased damage to 15..60.
• Ward skills no longer affect spirits.

Mesmer

• Blackout: reduced blackout time to 2..6 seconds.
• Conjure Nightmare: removed the long pause after this spell was cast.
• Illusionary Weaponry: reduced recharge time to 35 seconds.
• Recurring Insecurity: reduced the duration to 1..10 seconds.
• Signet of Disenchantment: reduced cast time to 1 second.

Monk

• Air of Enchantment: added a minimum 1 Energy cost; increased recharge time to 8 seconds.
• Divine Spirit: now reduces energy cost for Monk spells, not all Monk skills.
• Infuse Health: fixed a bug that occasionally caused it to execute without healing the target.
• Life Sheath: now renews damage reduction when it is cast on a target that already has Life Sheath on it.
• Signet of Rejuvenation: reduced recharge time to 8 seconds; increased the conditional heal to 15..75 Health.
• Spell Shield: no longer disables skills more than once when renewed.

Necromancer

• Bitter Chill: increased damage to 15..60.
• Chilblains: now removes 1..2 Enchantments.
• Enfeebling Blood: increased the area-of-effect to "nearby".
• Feast of Corruption: increased Energy cost to 15.
• Fetid Ground: reduced cast time to .75 seconds.

Ranger

• Archer's Signet: no longer disables pet attack skills.
• Broad Head Arrow: reduced recharge time to 15 seconds.
• Determined Shot: now recharges pet attack skills if it misses.
• Equinox: reduced recharge time to 45 seconds.
• Famine: reduced recharge time to 45 seconds.
• Focused Shot: now disables pet attack skills when used.
• Greater Conflagration: reduced recharge time to 45 seconds.
• Lacerate: reduced recharge time to 45 seconds.
• Marauder's Shot: no longer disables pet attack skills.
• Oath Shot: increased recharge time to 25 seconds.

Ritualist

• Displacement: Changed the skill's description to match its behavior.
• Draw Spirit: reduced cast time to .25 seconds.
• Lamentation: increased the target's needed proximity to a corpse or Spirit to "in the area".
• Wielder's Boon: increased conditional heal to 15..60 Health.

Warrior

• Quivering Blade: increased Daze duration to 8 seconds.
• Standing Slash: reduced adrenaline cost to 6.
• "Victory is Mine!": no longer displays "-0" on targets with no conditions.