Game updates:April 2007

April 2007 updates

• Saturday 28^th of April (talk)
• Friday 27^th of April (talk)
• Thursday 26^th of April (talk)
• Friday 20^th of April (talk)
• Thursday 19^th of April (talk)
• Wednesday 18^th of April (talk)
• Friday 13^th of April (talk)
• Tuesday 10^th of April (talk)
• Friday 6^th of April (talk)
• Thursday 5^th of April (talk)

Update - Saturday, April 28, 2007

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug involving the Shing Jea Boardwalk.

Miscellaneous

• Made arrangements to extend the Guild Wars Second Birthday Celebration until 11:59 PM Pacific April 30 (6:59 GMT May 1)

Update - Friday, April 27, 2007

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug that prevented Birthday Cupcakes from dropping from monsters. To compensate for the delay, these special items will continue to drop until 11:59 p.m. PDT on Monday rather than 11:59 p.m. PDT on Sunday.

• Fixed a bug that prevented Victory Tokens from being awarded in Rollerbeetle Races.

Update - Thursday, April 26, 2007

Lockpick Update

• Lockpicks have been updated to grant Lucky and Unlucky title points. Players will now receive 250 points towards their Lucky title if they successfully retain a lockpick after use, and 25 points towards their Unlucky title whenever one breaks.

Miscellaneous

• Made preparations for the Guild Wars Birthday Party weekend event.

Guild Wars Wiki notes

• Fixed the blank line between instructions in the Quest Log introduced in the 4/10/07 update.
• A Tournament Reward Point box was added to the Hero Panel.
• Many missing German translations such as "Normal mode" in Party Panel are now implemented

Update - Friday, April 20, 2007

Loot Changes

• Adjusted the following items so that they are now exempt from loot scaling:
  • Skill Tomes
  • Scrolls
  • Dye
  • Rare materials, such as Ectoplasm
  • Gemstones from the Domain of Anguish
  • All other rare (gold) items
  • All unique (green) items
  • Special event items

Miscellaneous

• Henchmen that were previously sub-level 20 before entering Hard Mode now have appropriate armor and weapon damage for their level.
• Added the Warrior's 15k Knight's Armor set to the crafter in Marhan's Grotto.

Guild Wars Wiki notes

• Updated the Legendary Cartographer Title Track to display as Legendary Cartographer.
• Some missing translations from earlier updates are now implemented. This doesn't affect the Legendary Cartographer change.

Update - Thursday April 19, 2007

Hard Mode

Hard mode has been introduced for the Prophecies, Factions, and Nightfall campaigns. Players who have completed a campaign can now try playing it again in Hard mode for the ultimate challenge. By playing the game in Hard mode, players can find new treasures and earn new titles and rewards.

Now that players can choose their difficulty level, we've adjusted monster AI in Normal mode to present a more moderate challenge. The most advanced and difficult monster behaviors are now reserved for Hard mode. (Note: Certain elite missions may be extremely difficult to complete in Hard mode. We will examine these missions and make any necessary changes at a later date.)

Changes to Normal Mode

The following monster AI modifications have been made to Normal mode only. Monsters in Hard mode continue to use the most challenging AI available.

• Monsters in Normal mode now respond more slowly to AoE damage.
• Monsters in Normal mode are now less likely to kite for long periods of time.
• Melee monsters in Normal mode will once again focus all of their attacks on a single target.

Accessing Hard Mode

• To gain access to a campaign's Hard mode, you must win the final mission for that campaign in Normal mode.
• Once you win a campaign with any character on your account, every level 20 character on that same account will have access to Hard mode for that campaign.
• All Hard mode content is intended for level 20 characters. All monsters are at least level 20, and all henchmen who are below level 20 are automatically promoted to level 20 when taken into Hard mode.

Hard Mode Loot

• The average number of uncommon and rare items has been increased in Hard mode.
• While in Hard mode, the number of gemstones that players receive from chests after defeating each region of the Domain of Anguish has been doubled.

• Elite and non-elite Skill Tomes have been introduced into the game. You can acquire these new items by defeating creatures while in Hard mode.
  • There is a non-elite Skill Tome that corresponds with each of the ten professions. You may use a Skill Tome to learn any non-elite skill associated with that Tome's correlated profession if that skill is unlocked on your account. Non-elite Skill Tomes may be obtained from any normal creature in Hard mode.
  • There is an Elite Skill Tome that corresponds with each of the ten professions. You may use a Skill Tome to learn any elite skill associated with that Tome's correlated profession if that skill is unlocked on your account. Elite Skill Tomes may be obtained from any boss creature in Hard mode.

Hard Mode Rewards

• Players will receive the following gold, experience, and skill point rewards while in Hard mode:
  • Prophecies Mission Completion: 500 gold + 2,000 xp + 1 skill point.
  • Prophecies Bonus Completion: 500 gold + 2,000 xp + 1 skill point.
  • Factions and Nightfall Master’s Reward: 500 gold + 3,000 xp + 1 skill point.
  • Factions and Nightfall Expert’s Reward: 300 gold + 2,000 xp + 1 skill point.
  • Factions and Nightfall Standard Reward: 200 gold + 1,000 xp + 1 skill point.

Hard Mode Titles

Vanquisher Title

• A new Vanquisher title track has been added for Tyria, Cantha, and Elona. These titles will keep track of which explorable areas have been vanquished in a given campaign's Hard mode.
• A new Legendary Vanquisher title track has been added. This title keeps track of the number of campaigns a player has successfully vanquished.
• Once an explorable area has been vanquished in Hard mode, players will receive gold equal to three times the number of creatures defeated, and experience equal to five times the number of creatures defeated.
• Some explorable areas have regions that are blocked off to players until the associated mission has been completed. It is recommended that players complete the mission before trying to vanquish the explorable area of the same name.
• In Hard Mode, if all party members of a group are dead and at 60% Death Penalty, they will be returned to the outpost instead of being resurrected.

Guardian Title

• A Guardian title track has been added for Tyria, Cantha, and Elona. These titles are the Hard mode version of the existing mission completion titles.
• A Legendary Guardian title track has been added. This title keeps track of how many Protector and Guardian titles a player has accumulated throughout Tyria, Cantha, and Elona.

Lockpicks

• Your characters can now acquire lockpicks. These new, special items can be found in Hard mode and may also be purchased from any merchant (with the exception of those found in Pre-Searing Ascalon).
  • The chance to retain a lockpick upon opening a chest is determined by the following formula: (Character level / 2) + (3 * Treasure Hunter ranks) + (2 * Lucky ranks)(%).
  • In Normal mode, chests have built-in bonuses that make them easier to open than chests in Hard mode.
• Lockpicks may be used to open any locked chest in Normal mode, but they are a requirement for opening any chests in Hard mode.

Mission Adjustments

The mission completion times for the purposes of Standard, Expert's, and Master's rewards have been increased in the following Hard mode missions:

Grand Court of Sebelkeh

• Hard Mode Master's Reward: completed in under 12 minutes.
• Hard Mode Expert's Reward: completed in 12-16 minutes.
• Hard Mode Standard Reward: completed in over 16 minutes.

Ruins of Morah

• Hard Mode Master's Reward: completed in under 10 minutes.
• Hard Mode Expert's Reward: completed in 10-14 minutes.
• Hard Mode Standard Reward: completed in over 14 minutes.

Vizunah Square

• Hard Mode Master's Reward: completed in under 35 minutes.
• Hard Mode Expert's Reward: completed in 35-40 minutes.
• Hard Mode Standard Reward: completed in over 40 minutes.

Nahpui Quarter

• Hard Mode Master's Reward: completed in under 40 minutes.
• Hard Mode Expert's Reward: completed in 40-45 minutes.
• Hard Mode Standard Reward: completed in over 45 minutes.

Tahnnakai Temple

• Hard Mode Master's Reward: completed in under 30 minutes.
• Hard Mode Expert's Reward: completed in 30-35 minutes.
• Hard Mode Standard Reward: completed in over 35 minutes.

Sunjiang District

• Hard Mode Master's Reward: completed in under 25 minutes.
• Hard Mode Expert's Reward: completed in 25-30 minutes.
• Hard Mode Standard Reward: completed in over 30 minutes.

Raisu Palace

• Hard Mode Master's Reward: completed in under 26 minutes.
• Hard Mode Expert's Reward: completed in 26-28 minutes.
• Hard Mode Standard Reward: completed in over 28 minutes.

Imperial Sanctum

• Hard Mode Master's Reward: completed in under 3 minutes.
• Hard Mode Expert's Reward: completed in 3-6 minutes.
• Hard Mode Standard Reward: completed in over 6 minutes.

Alternate Elite Mission Access

• Bosses in Hard mode now drop Underworld and Fissure of Woe Passage Scrolls. These scrolls allow a party to enter these realms even if their territory does not have the favor of the gods.

• The Kurzick Bureaucrat [Faction Rewards] in House zu Heltzer now offers Passage Scrolls into Urgoz's Warren. Players may exchange 1,000 Kurzick faction to obtain one of these scrolls, which will transport one person to the outpost.

• The Luxon Scavenger [Faction Rewards] in Cavalon now offers Passage Scrolls into the Deep. Players may exchange 1,000 Luxon faction to obtain one of these scrolls, which will transport one person to the outpost.

Existing Title Changes

• The Skill Hunter title track has been divided into individual title tracks for each campaign.
• You can now obtain the title Legendary Skill Hunter. This title track can be earned by gaining the Skill Hunter title across all campaigns.
• You can now obtain the title Legendary Cartographer. This title can be earned by fully exploring all of Tyria, Cantha, and Elona.
• The final rank of the Sunspear title track now requires 50,000 Sunspear promotion points.

Realm of Torment Rebalancing

• Decreased the number of Torment Demons that cluster together in the Domain of Secrets, the Domain of Pain, Nightfallen Jahai, and the Depths of Madness.
• Decreased the overall number of enemy groups in the Domain of Secrets, the Domain of Pain, Nightfallen Jahai, and the Depths of Madness.
• Adjusted the enemy patrol routes in the Domain of Secrets, the Domain of Pain, Nightfallen Jahai, and the Depths of Madness.
• Adjusted the size and makeup of the Torment groups in the Domain of Fear.
• Adjusted the monster spawns in the Depths of Madness. The changes include (but are not limited to) the movement of patrols, the size and makeup of groups, and the location of boss encounters.

Audio Updates

• Combat sounds have been improved.

UI Updates

• Added a Rename button to the Manage Templates panel so that players can rename their saved skills and equipment templates.
• Added a Template Code panel to simplify template sharing. This panel can be accessed by clicking the disc-shaped icon in the Skills and Attributes panel.

Miscellaneous

• The price of keys that previously cost 1,500 gold have been reduced to 1,250 gold.
• The first-person camera has been adjusted to allow players to more easily play in first-person mode. Scrolling with the mouse wheel still allows you to leave first-person mode, however, you must now scroll a little more than before.
• Loot now scales according to party size.
• Repeated map entry no longer reduces loot.
• Made preparations for the Double Sunspear Points and Double Lightbringer Points weekend event.
• Removed the Wintersday 2006 Championship Trophy.
• Added the Celestial Tournament 2007 Championship Trophy.
• The Xunlai Tournament House NPC has returned to the Great Temple of Balthazar, Lion’s Arch, Kaineng Center, and Kamadan to reward players with their Celestial Tournament prizes.

Bug fixes

• Fixed a bug that made it possible for Heroes on a flag to be pulled too far from their ordered positions.
• Fixed a bug that could cause a Hero to stop responding when players set their skill priorities.
• Improved target locking for pets.
• Fixed a bug that prevented various team and boss auras from displaying properly.
• Fixed a bug that caused Kournan peasants to appear as if they were glowing.

Guild Wars Wiki notes

• There is a minor issue relating to hard mode access. In order for a character who has not completed normal mode (for any campaign) to gain access to hard mode, the player must first log in with a character who had completed the normal mode (for any campaign).
• Hard mode access for a campaign is dependent on existing characters. If a player has deleted all characters that have completed a particular campaign, the hard mode for that campaign will be locked. Hard mode access is tied to a player's current characters, not past accomplishments.
• Added Qualifier points information to Guild Menu.
• Some translations, such as death foes display and notifications are missing and/or incomplete. This is currently confirmed for german language version.
• Tolkano the tournament NPC has three more options besides Registering Account Name. New options are: View Tournaments, Buy Tournament Tokens, Purchase Rewards. Only the option Buy Tournament Tokens is working, for 1k Balthazar Faction it is possible to buy a Tournament Token.
• Party Search requests in Hard mode are now prefixed with [Hard Mode] in every language.
• Introduced a critical bug that has broken hero/hench AI in hard mode. This was fixed in the May 3rd update.

Update - Wednesday, April 18, 2007

• Enabled the Russian language option.
• Fixed a performance issue with anti-aliasing on nVidia cards and Windows Vista.

Update - Friday April 13, 2007

Skill Updates

Elementalist

• Conjure Flame: decreased damage to 7..22, increased recharge time to 45 seconds.
• Conjure Frost: decreased damage to 7..22, increased recharge time to 45 seconds.
• Conjure Lightning: decreased damage to 7..22, increased recharge time to 45 seconds.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug that caused some players to see a row of colored pixels along the bottom of their screen.

Miscellaneous

• Added support for Message of the Day in Russian.

Update - Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Skill updates

Assassin

• Black Spider Strike: decreased damage to 5..20.

Dervish

• Wearying Strike: increased recharge time to 6 seconds.

Elementalist

• Mind Blast: reduced damage to 15..60.

Monk

• Mending Touch: increased recharge time to 6 seconds.

Mesmer

• Mirror of Disenchantment: increased recharge time to 20 seconds.

Necromancer

• Animate Flesh Golem: decreased Energy cost to 10.
• Dark Fury: fixed a bug in the skill's description that caused it to report its range incorrectly.
• Icy Veins: increased Energy cost to 10.
• Order of the Vampire: decreased Energy cost to 5.
• Spiteful Spirit: decreased Energy cost to 10.
• Well of Blood: decreased Energy cost to 10.
• Well of Power: decreased Energy cost to 10, decreased casting time to 2 seconds.

Ranger

• Natural Stride: increased recharge time to 12 seconds.
• Otyugh's Cry: updated the text to reflect its functionality. This skill only affects your animal Companion.

Ritualist

• Brutal Weapon: decreased damage to 5..15, increased duration to 15..45 seconds.

Warrior

• Burst of Aggression: decreased duration to 2..10 seconds.

Bug fixes

• Fixed a bug that caused incorrect audio panning.
• Increased the default mixing buffer size to correct audio distortion on some systems.
• Fixed a bug with the minimized Chat panel that caused old messages to show when you changed maps.
• Fixed a bug that prevented the Hall of Heroes from appearing on the Observer list at times.
• Fixed a bug in that Chat system that caused the ignore feature to work only on Whispers.

Guild Wars Wiki notes

• Crippling Slash now costs five strikes of adrenaline instead of four. This is an undocumented change.
• Introduced a bug where a username of "..." appears in your Recent Teammates list.
• When a player calls their skills now the color of the text is yellow and does not match the color of the players name.
• Fixed a bug that caused some clients to freeze when saving or loading templates.
• The bug which kept certain PvE players out of Hero Battles if they didn't unlock heroes via PvP characters has now been fixed. (The "Travel to Hero Battles" button on the Hero Battle tab now works with this update.)
• Quest Log now shows a blank line between every instruction item.

Update - Friday, April 6

• Fixed a bug that caused Health Bars to appear too small when using the small interface size setting.
• Fixed a bug that caused some characters to use the wrong spellcasting animations.
• Fixed a bug with Observer Mode. Observer Mode games will be available again on Saturday morning (Pacific Daylight Time).
• Removed the Death Penalty from the following Heroes' Ascent missions: Broken Tower, the Courtyard, and the Hall of Heroes.
• Fixed a bug with the display of numbers in skill descriptions in Asian languages.
• Fixed a bug with Crippling Slash that caused incorrect durations for conditions.
• Fixed a bug with the display of the Deep Wound Condition that indicated you had an incorrect amount of Health.
• Fixed a bug that made the casting time for Wastrel's Demise .25 second. The correct casting time for this skill is 1 second.

Guild Wars Wiki notes

• This update or one of the April 5th updates modified Windwalker Insignia to provide an additional +5 armor while affected by 4 or more Enchantments.
• Introduced an audio issue that causes approximately two seconds of lag when a skill or spell is used. Temporary solution is to use -dsound in your command line switch.

Update 2 - Thursday April 5

No official update notes.

Guild Wars Wiki notes

• Some users have reported being unable to log in after installing the second update.
• After this update, all party search descriptions included a leading underscore, this bug was fixed in a subsequent update.

Update - Thursday, April 5

PvP Changes

Account Naming

• You may now assign a unique name to your account. This name will be used by automated tournaments and ladder-ranked Hero Battles.
• To name your account, speak with Tolkano [Tournament], who is located in the Great Temple of Balthazar, the Hero Battles outpost, and all guild halls.
• You may select as your account name the name of any one of your characters.
• As long as your account name exists, no one else may use it as a character or account name.
• If you delete the character after which your account was named, your account name will remain unchanged.
• You may change your account name no more than once every 30 days.

Hero Battles

• The Hero Battle panel now offers two options: rated and unrated Hero Battles.
• Players may participate in Hero Battles once they name their accounts.
• The results of rated Hero Battles appear in the Hero Battle tab of your Hero panel. Wins and losses affect your Hero Battle rating and your standing on the Hero Battle ladder.
• The Hero Battle ladder will be viewable on the Guild Wars website by the end of the week.
• Players are matched according to their Hero Battle ratings.
• The central shrine's "To the Pain" buff has been modified so that it now reduces healing effectiveness by 10% (instead of reducing maximum Health by 10%).

Guild Battles

• The visual appearance of the Guild Battle panel has been improved and modified so that it more closely mirrors the look of the Hero Battle panel.

Preparations for Automated Tournaments

• Servers have been updated in preparation for the upcoming open beta test of the Guild Wars Automated Tournament system.
• For further information about Automated Tournaments, please visit the Competitive Play section of the Guild Wars website.

Account Storage

• Account storage has been expanded to include an additional Storage Box for each Guild Wars campaign you own.

Pet Controls

• The Pet Control panel may be accessed by pressing the button next to the pet’s name in the Party panel.
• The Pet Control panel displays a pet's name, portrait, command buttons, and Health Bar.
• Pets can be instructed to "attack," "guard," and "heel" through the use of the panels' command buttons.

Obtaining the Hero Razah

The method of gaining the Ritualist Hero Razah has been updated so that it no longer requires gemstones from the Domain of Anguish. Players who have already gained Razah as a Hero are now able to complete a quest that will return their Anguish gemstones.

• Updated the quest "Finding a Purpose." Players are no longer required to provide Anguish gemstones to enter the Heart of Abaddon. The original version of the "Finding a Purpose" quest has been removed.
• Added the new quest, "Money Back Guarantee." Players who have already completed the quest "Finding a Purpose" will now be able to obtain the "Money Back Guarantee" quest from Keeper Shafoss in the Abaddon's Gate outpost. Completing this quest will reward them with one of each type of gemstone.
• Players who have partially completed the "Finding a Purpose" quest by turning their gemstones in to Keeper Millzesh will be able to complete the quest. They will then be able to obtain the "Money Back Guarantee" quest from Keeper Shafoss.
• Players who currently have the "Finding a Purpose" quest in their Quest Log but have not yet turned their gemstones in to Keeper Milzesh, will now need to speak to Chaplain Phyratyss in the Gate of Anguish to get the new version of the quest. Their Quest Log will be updated with the new information.
• Players who have neither taken nor completed "Finding a Purpose" will receive the new version of the quest when they speak to Chaplain Phyratyss in the Gate of Anguish.
• If players have turned their gemstones in to Keeper Milzesh but have not completed the "Finding a Purpose" quest, they should NOT abandon the quest. If they abandon the quest after this step, there will be no record of their gemstone exchange. This will prevent a player from being offered the "Money Back Guarantee" quest.

Mission Updates

• Gyala Hatchery: The skill sets used by Argo and Endre have been improved. These NPCs will now assist players properly in combat.
• Divinity Coast: When approached, the chosen villagers will now appear on the player's Party bar.
• D'Alessio Seaboard: When approached, Benji Makala will now appear on the player's Party bar.
• Augury Rock: In preparation for the new Guardian title, which will be introduced as a part of the upcoming Hard Mode update, Augury Rock is now displayed as a mission on the World Map once its prerequisites have been met.

User Interface Improvements

Skills Interface

• Added collapsible groups to all skill lists.
• "Sort by Attribute" groups will now automatically expand and collapse to show skills in which a player has invested attribute points.
• Added a "Sort by Elite Status" option to all skill lists.

Skills Template Interface

• Added an interface to allow players to link template codes into chat. This interface can be accessed through the new Template Codes option in the template menu.
• Clicking a template code link will bring up the new interface, which will allow other players to view the linked template and its template code. They can then choose to save or apply this template directly through the interface window.

Recent Teammates

• Added a list of recent teammates and trade partners to the Friends panel. This list will remain populated until a player logs out.

Miscellaneous Interface Updates

• Updated all Prophecies NPC interactions so that they use buttons instead of text links.
• Improved the organization of runes listed by Rune Traders and the Priests of Balthazar. Runes are now categorized by profession.
• Improved the Target Display to show the target's team color.
• Weapon Bar hotkeys now work while the Weapon Bar is hidden.
• The match countdown timer is now part of the Score Box control, so its position can be customized.
• Added progress bars to the Effects Monitor to show the remaining times for Hexes, Enchantments, Conditions, and other timed effects.
• A portion of your Health Bar now turns gray when you suffer from a Deep Wound.
• Added a key that clears the current target. This key can be bound through the "Targeting: Clear Target" option in the Control options panel (Menu> Options> Control).

AI Updates

• Improved Hero and henchman response to called targets.
• Skills can now be prioritized while Heroes and henchmen are en route to a flag.
• Once your Heroes or henchmen get within a certain range of their flag, they will stop trying to reach that flag if there is unwalkable terrain or if it is occupied by an enemy.

Audio Updates

• Software audio mode (default) now uses the FMOD audio system for improved performance. (Notice: FMOD Sound System, copyright© Firelight Technologies Pty, Ltd., 1994-2007.)
• EAX occlusion is now calculated for all sounds at better-than-default quality settings.

Skill Updates

Assassin

• Assassin's Remedy: Now works on your next 1..10 attack skills.
• Black Mantis Thrust: decreased Energy cost to 5.
• Dancing Daggers: increased damage to 5..35.
• Golden Lotus Strike: decreased recharge time to 10 seconds.
• Jagged Strike: increased Bleeding duration to 1..15, decreased recharge time to 1 second.
• Malicious Strike: increased damage to 10..30.
• Recall: changed to "While you maintain Recall, nothing happens. When Recall ends, you Shadow Step to the ally you targeted when you activated this skill."
• Sharpen Daggers: now works on your next 1..10 attack skills.
• Signet of Toxic Shock: decreased recharge time to 15 seconds.

Dervish

• Avatar of Balthazar: increased duration to 10..90 seconds.
• Avatar of Dwayna: increased duration to 10..75 seconds.
• Avatar of Grenth: increased duration to 10..45 seconds.
• Avatar of Lyssa: increased duration to 10..90 seconds.
• Avatar of Melandru: decreased Health bonus to 100.
• Grenth's Grasp: decreased recharge time to 10 seconds.
• Natural Healing: increased the amount healed for to 40..150 Health, decreased recharge time to 5 seconds.
• Onslaught: decreased Energy cost to 5.
• Pious Haste: increased duration to 5..12 seconds.
• Rending Sweep: increased recharge time to 10 seconds.
• Vow of Silence: decreased casting time to .25 seconds.
• Vow of Strength: increased duration to 20 seconds.
• Zealous Vow: increased duration to 20 seconds.

Elementalist

• Armor of Mist: decreased casting time to 1 second.
• Conjure Lightning/Frost/Flame: increased damage to 10..25.
• Glyph of Lesser Energy: now reduces the cost of your next 2 spells by 10..18, based on the Energy Storage attribute.
• Mind Blast: increased damage to 15..75.

Mesmer

• Auspicious Incantation: changed to "For 20 seconds, the next spell you cast is disabled for an additional 10..5 seconds, and you gain 110..200% of that spell's Energy cost."
• Diversion: increased recharge time to 12 seconds.
• Ether Signet: decreased recharge time to 45 seconds.
• Guilt: changed duration to 6 seconds, decreased recharge time to 25 seconds.
• Keystone Signet: decreased recharge time to 20 seconds.
• Mistrust: changed duration to 6 seconds.
• Mirror of Disenchantment: decreased Energy cost to 15.
• Shame: changed duration to 6 seconds.
• Shared Burden: decreased Energy cost to 10.
• Spirit of Failure: decreased Energy gain to 1..3, increased recharge time to 20 seconds.
• Signet of Clumsiness: increased damage to 15..60.

Monk

• Convert Hexes: decreased casting time to 1 second.
• Deny Hexes: now attributed to Divine Favor.
• Reverse Hex: decreased casting time to .25 seconds, increased recharge time to 10 seconds.
• Reversal of Damage: decreased recharge time to 6 seconds.
• Signet of Rejuvenation: increased unconditional healing to 15..75.
• Smite Hex: decreased recharge time to 12 seconds.
• Zealous Benediction: decreased Energy gain to 7.

Necromancer

• Animate Bone Horror: decreased Energy cost to 10.
• Animate Vampiric Horror: decreased Energy cost to 15.
• Enfeebling Touch: decreased recharge time to 5 seconds.
• Lingering Curse: fixed a skill description bug that incorrectly reported the sacrificed Health percentage as 17%. The skill description now reads: "Sacrifice 10% maximum Health. Target foe loses all Enchantments. For 8..20 seconds, target foe gains only half Health from healing."
• Mark of Fury: decreased Energy cost to 5.
• Mark of Subversion: changed duration to 6 seconds.
• Poisoned Heart: decreased Energy cost to 5, decreased recharge time to 12 seconds.
• Price of Failure: increased recharge time to 20 seconds.
• Reckless Haste: increased Energy cost to 15.
• Soul Reaping: functionality changed so that you may only gain Energy from Soul Reaping every 5 seconds.
• Toxic Chill: removed a hidden Health sacrifice of 0, which caused the player to take unnecessary damage when the skill was used with Dark Aura.

Paragon

• "They're on Fire!": now only effects party members.
• Anthem of Envy: increased damage to 10..25.
• Anthem of Fury: decreased recharge time to 10 seconds.
• Anthem of Flame: now only effects party members.
• Anthem of Guidance: now only effects party members.
• Crippling Anthem: now only effects party members.

Ranger

• Antidote Signet: decreased recharge time to 4 seconds.
• Archer's Signet: decreased casting time to 2 seconds, improved skill disable time to 15..5 seconds.
• Bestial Mauling: decreased Daze duration to 4..10 seconds.
• Disrupting Lunge: increased recharge time to 10 seconds.
• Heal as One: decreased recharge time to 8 seconds.
• Lightning Reflexes: decreased recharge time to 30 seconds.
• Needling Shot: increased damage to 10..30.
• Otyugh's Cry: functionality changed to "For 10..25 seconds, all allied animal companions gain +24 armor and cannot be blocked."
• Pestilence: changed to "Create a level 1..10 Spirit. When any creature within its range dies, Conditions on that creature spread to any creature in the area already suffering from a Condition. This Spirit dies after 30..90 seconds."
• Spike Trap: increased damage to 10..40.
• Trapper's Focus: increased duration to 5..25 seconds.
• Tripwire: increased damage to 5..20.
• Viper's Nest: increased damage to 5..35.

Ritualist

• Brutal Weapon: increased damage to 10..25, increased duration to 1..45 seconds.
• Consume Soul: decreased recharge time to 2 seconds.
• Spirit's Strength: increased damage to 5..35.

Warrior

• "Shields Up!": decreased duration to 5..11 seconds, decreased armor bonus to 24.
• Barbarous Slice: increased damage to 5..30.
• Crippling Slash: now inflicts Bleeding.
• Dwarven Battle Stance: increased attack speed bonus to 33%.
• Heavy Blow: decreased adrenaline cost to 5 strikes.
• Mighty Blow: increased damage to 10..40.
• Savage Slash: decreased recharge time to 15 seconds.

Miscellaneous Updates

• Added support for the upcoming Russian language closed beta test.
• Updated the textures used on Charr creatures to improve their visual quality.
• Improved effects displayed on various creatures across all campaigns.
• Added the Warrior's missing 15k Gladiator's Helm to the crafter in Marhan's Grotto.
• Afflicted Soul Explosions now deal lower amounts of damage to lower armor classes. This damage is now armor ignoring damage instead of cold damage.
• Added improvements to Hero and Henchman AI.
• Replaced all Xunlai Agents with Xunlai Chests in the Desolation and Torment regions, since the inhospitable nature of these regions would preclude human vendors. Players may interact with these chests to access their account storage.
• Temporarily removed the Xunlai House Tournament NPC from Lion's Arch, the Great Temple of Balthazar, Kaineng Center, and Kamadan, the Jewel of Istan. He will return to these locations when it is time to reward players for betting on the Celestial Tournament.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug in the "Take the Shortcut" quest that occasionally caused lock-ups for players who dropped the quest before turning it in for a reward.
• Fixed a bug in Gyala Hatchery that occasionally caused turtles to become stuck upside down and stop moving.
• Fixed a bug that caused pets charmed in Nightfall maps to ignore the owner’s Beast Mastery skill.
• Fixed a bug in Chat that caused an empty space to appear at the bottom of the panel.
• Fixed a bug in Hero Battles that caused shrines to add their buff to pets, Spirits, and minions.
• Fixed a bug in Hero Battles that caused shrines to give less of a damage increase than intended.
• Fixed a Pet Tamer exploit that allowed players to remove pets from other party members' Heroes.
• Fixed a bug that caused various game timers to drift out of sync with real time.

Guild Wars Wiki Notes

• /age now displays the amount of time your character has remained in your current instance, outpost or town.
• The inventory icon for the Miniature Jungle Troll changed.
• The Titles in the Hero Panel are now sorted by progress.
• The "Guild Battle" and the "Hero Battle" window, caused by starting a battle while in a Guild Hall or in Hero Battle, were redesigned.
• The Health bars in the Party Window are now smaller if you use the Small interface setting.
• Added an option to refresh your Template list. This allows you to add/change templates while Guild Wars is running.
• Some skill animations were changed. (Searing Flames, Mind Blast, Feast of Corruption)
• It appears that chests are glitched for the time being, as this update removed the way to say yes when using a key.
• Some users have experienced critical client errors while playing the game. Please report them by submitting a support ticket (see Guild Wars Support).
• Chat history reappears on screen for a short period after changing locations or walking through portals.
• The glowing auras on bosses has been changed to more of a matte tint.
• The bleeding duration for Crippling Slash is 5...15 seconds.