Game updates:December 2005

December 2005 updates

• Friday 23^rd of December (talk)
• Thursday 22^nd of December (talk)
• Wednesday 21^st of December (talk)
• Tuesday 20^th of December (talk)
• Thursday 15^th of December (talk)
• Thursday 1^st of December (talk)

Update - Friday December 23, 2005

• Fixed a bug that prevent PvP Only Characters from being transported by the Wintersday Priest.

Update - Thursday December 22, 2005

Improvements to Observer Mode

• You can now click on a player's name in the heads-up display to center the camera on that player.
• The Map window now automatically repositions and centers itself on the selected character if that character moves outside of the visible area.
• The list of observable games has better map thumbnails and sorts games by start time.

Update - Wednesday December 21, 2005

Season's Greetings

(Please sing along to the tune of The Twelve Days of Christmas.)

On the twelfth moon of Wintersday ArenaNet gave to me...

Blessings from Dwayna

Festive decorations

One mighty snowman

Weapons made of candy

Gifts that might kill you

Snow-covered henchmen

New winter monsters

Some really long quests

Lots of drinking Dwarves

Gingerbread shields

Curses from Grenth

And a new way to watch PvP!

That's right, Observer Mode!

Now you can watch as top-ranked guilds battle it out in the Tombs and in rated guild matches. The upcoming Guild Wars Regional Playoffs and World Championship will also be available for viewing as they happen. The details are as follows:

• Whenever a top 100 ranked guild plays in the Tombs or in a rated guild challenge, the game is automatically available for everyone to see. Other "special event" games will also be available for viewing.

• Everything that observers see is delayed 15 minutes from the original game, to prevent cheating. Games become available for observation approximately 15 minutes after they start, and remain available until approximately 15 minutes after they finish.

• While you are watching a game, you can chat with your fellow observers. There is no limit to the number of people who can simultaneously observe a game, but for purposes of chatting, observers are randomly assigned into groups of about 100 people.

• In Observer Mode, the Map Area window displays the positions of all characters on the map. You can click on any character to jump there. Alternately, you can use Auto Camera mode to let the game pick the most interesting targets for you.

• A new heads-up display automatically shows you the Health of teams that you are currently watching. If you prefer to use the Party window to view party status details and to select players to watch, you can easily switch the Party window back and forth between teams, or you may choose to view multiple Party windows and watch different teams in each window.

Update - Tuesday December 20, 2005

• Fixed a battle axe that was incorrectly allowing two axe grips to be attached.
• Fixed Incendiary Bonds so that it deals the correct amount of damage as shown in the skill description. Previously the amount of damage shown in the skill description updated according to the player's attribute level, but the actual damage dealt did not.

Update - Thursday December 15, 2005

• Added new artwork for the Necromancer's ascended Tormentor's Armor.
• Improved automatic Guild Matchmaking to better match guilds with those of nearby rating levels.
• Fixed sacrifice skills so that a player who sacrifices all of his remaining Health will die. Previously a bug allowed the player to stay alive if he had positive Health regeneration when he sacrificed all of his remaining Health.
• Fixed Whirling Defense so that it deals the correct amount of damage as shown in the skill description. Previously the amount of damage shown in the skill description updated according to the player's attribute level, but the actual damage dealt did not.
• Fixed Spiteful Spirit so that it correctly triggers on any skill use, as specified in the skill description. Previously it was failing to trigger on Stances, Shouts, and other instant-cast skills.
• Fixed Scourge Sacrifice so that it affects the target foe and his adjacent foes, as specified in the skill description. Previously it was incorrectly affecting foes adjacent to the caster.
• Fixed the text displayed when you hold down the Ctrl key to announce the use of Cyclone Axe or Crude Swing.
• Added a new player status choice in the Friends window, "Do Not Disturb," which blocks all incoming whispers.
• Added mouse wheel zooming to the Map Overlay screen.
• Added the ability to review the previous game's PvP Score Chart while in an outpost.
• Improved the Chat window so that it remembers its previous state when switching maps.
• Fixed the Skill Monitor's mouse tooltips so that they don't disappear while the skill is executing.
• Improved the Skill Bar so that it displays warnings of skills that are not compatible with your currently equipped weapon.
• Added an error message that is displayed when an attack skill is used on an invalid target.
• Changed the Customize Control dialog so that it ignores problematic keys such as Scroll Lock.
• Improved the organization of the Start Menu.
• Relocated the Customize Layout function to the Options window (F11).
• Added support for players with non-Korean accounts typing Hangul in the International Districts.
• Updated translations.

Update - Thursday December 01, 2005

• Fixed display of Japanese and Traditional Chinese announcements on the login screen.