Game updates:June 2009

June 2009 updates

• Monday 22^nd of June (talk, feedback)
• Friday 19^th of June (talk, feedback)
• Thursday 18^th of June (talk, feedback)
• Thursday 11^th of June (talk, feedback)
• Wednesday 10^th of June (talk, feedback)

Update - Monday, June 22, 2009

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug that caused Xinrae's Weapon, Vengeful Weapon, Nightmare Weapon, and Weapon of Remedy to heal the caster rather than the target.
• Fixed a bug that caused Spirit Siphon to appear twice on the skill list when interacting with a Priest of Balthazar.
• Fixed a bug that prevented the Guild Versus Guild Zaishen Combat Quest from properly updating.

Update - Friday, June 19, 2009

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug that caused "We Shall Return!" to bypass Frozen Soil.
• Fixed a bug that caused the Flux Matrix to damage party members.
• Fixed a crash bug associated with "Brace Yourself!"
• Fixed a bug that caused Order of the Vampire to give stolen health to the caster rather than the party member that was attacking.
• Fixed the recharge time on Signet of Spirits by increasing it to the intended 20 seconds.
• Fixed a bug when using Signet of Binding that prevented a spirit's defensive effects from applying properly.
• Fixed a bug that prevented some players from turning in their Random Arena Zaishen Combat quests.
• Updated the inaccurate descriptions for Well of Blood, Well of Power, Well of Suffering, Well of the Profane, and "Incoming!" (PvP).

Guild Wars Wiki notes

• Kun Shao will still not give out tournament reward points for the May tournament to the majority of the Guild Wars community.

Update 2 - Thursday, June 18, 2009

Bug Fix

• Fixed a bug with Hero and NPC AI which would prevent them from effectively utilizing minion skills.

Update - Thursday, June 18, 2009

Skill Updates

For more information on these changes, please see the Developer Updates page.

PvE and PvP

Assassin

• Palm Strike: increased recharge time to 7 seconds.

Elementalist

• Ether Prism: increased recharge time to 20 seconds.

Mesmer

• Visions of Regret: functionality changed to: "For 10 seconds, target foe and adjacent foes take 15...39...45 damage whenever they use a skill and 5...41...50 damage if not under the effects of another Mesmer hex."

Necromancer

• Lingering Curse: increased Energy cost to 15.
• Suffering: increased recharge time to 10 seconds.
• Weaken Knees: decreased duration to 1...13...16 seconds; decreased Health degeneration to -1...3...4 ; decreased damage to 5...9...10 .

Ritualist

• Spawning Power: increased effect on Weapon Spells to 4% per rank.
• Brutal Weapon: decreased duration to 10...34...40 seconds.
• Guided Weapon: decreased duration to 4...9...10 seconds.
• Resilient Weapon: decreased duration to 5...13...15 seconds.
• Signet of Binding: functionality changed to: "You lose 200...80...50 Health. Gain control of target spirit."
• Spiritleech Aura: functionality changed to: "Skill. For 5...17...20 seconds, all of your spirits within earshot deal 5...17...20 less damage and steal 5...17...20 Health when they attack."
• Spirit Siphon: functionality changed to: "The spirit nearest you loses all Energy. You gain 15...43...50% of that Energy."
• Vital Weapon: decreased duration to 5...25...30 seconds.
• Wailing Weapon: decreased duration to 3...8...9 seconds.
• Warmonger's Weapon: decreased duration to 3...11...13 seconds.
• Weapon of Shadow: decreased duration to 3...7...8 seconds.
• Weapon of Warding: decreased duration to 3...7...8 seconds.

PvP Only

Elementalist

• Savannah Heat: increased Energy cost to 15.

Paragon

• "Help Me!": functionality changed to: "For 1...8...10 seconds, you gain 5...41...50 Health and other allies' spells targeting you cast 50% faster."

PvE Only

Sunspear

• Cry of Pain: functionality changed to: "Interrupt target foe's skill. If that foe was suffering from a Mesmer Hex, that foe and all foes in the area take 25...45...50 damage and -3...5...5 Health degeneration for 10 seconds."
• Vampirism: decreased casting time to .75 seconds; increased spirit level to 4...12...14.

Ritualist

• Agony: decreased casting time to .75 seconds; increased spirit level to 1...10...12.
• Anguish: decreased casting time to .75 seconds; decreased Energy cost to 15; increased spirit level to 1...9...11 .
• Armor of Unfeeling: decreased Energy cost to 5. Functionality changed to: "For 10...30...35 seconds, your spirits takes 50% less damage and are immune to critical attacks."
• Bloodsong: decreased casting time to .75 seconds; increased spirit level to 1...10...12.
• Destruction: decreased casting time to .75 seconds; increased spirit level to 1...11...14.
• Disenchantment: decreased casting time to 1 second; decreased Energy cost to 15; decreased recharge time to 30 seconds; increased spirit level to 1...10...12 .
• Displacement: decreased casting time to .75 seconds; increased spirit level to 1...11...14.
• Dissonance: decreased casting time to 1 second; increased spirit level to 1...10...12.
• Earthbind: decreased casting time to 1 second; decreased recharge time to 30 seconds; increased spirit level to 1...11...14.
• Empowerment: decreased casting time to .75 seconds; increased spirit level to 1...11...14.
• Gaze of Fury: decreased casting time to .75 seconds; increased spirit level to 1...11...14.
• Life: decreased casting time to .75 seconds; increased spirit level to 1...11...14.
• Pain: decreased casting time to .75 seconds; increased spirit level to 1...10...12.
• Preservation: decreased casting time to .75 seconds; increased spirit level to 1...11...14.
• Recovery: decreased casting time to .75 seconds; increased spirit level to 1...11...14.
• Recuperation: decreased casting time to .75 seconds; increased spirit level to 1...11...14.
• Rejuvenation: decreased casting time to .75 seconds; increased spirit level to 1...16...20.
• Restoration: decreased casting time to 1 second; decreased recharge time to 30 seconds; increased spirit level to 1...11...14.
• Shadowsong: decreased casting time to 1 second; decreased recharge time to 30 seconds; increased spirit level to 1...8...10.
• Shelter: decreased casting time to 1 second; increased spirit level to 1...10...12.
• Signet of Creation: increased recharge time to 30 seconds. Functionality changed to: "For 5...25...30 seconds, your next 1...3...3 Binding Rituals cast instantly."
• Signet of Spirits: increased recharge time to 20 seconds. Functionality changed to: "Create three level 1...10...12 spirits. These spirits deal 5...25...30 damage with attacks. These spirits die after 60 seconds."
• Soothing: decreased casting time to 1 second; decreased Energy cost to 15; decreased recharge time to 45 seconds; increased spirit level to 1...10...12.
• Union: decreased casting time to .75 seconds; increased spirit level to 1...10...12.
• Wanderlust: decreased casting time to 1 second; increased spirit level to 1...10...12.
• Weapon of Warding: decreased duration to 3...7...8 seconds.

Paragon

• "Brace Yourself!": functionality changed to: "For 5...11...12 seconds, the next time target other ally would be knocked down, all nearby foes take 15..75 damage instead."
• "Can't Touch This!": functionality changed to: "For 20 seconds, the next 1...4...5 touch skills used against allies within earshot fail."
• "Fall Back!": decreased recharge time to 20 seconds.
• "Find Their Weakness!": functionality changed to: "For 5...17...20 seconds, the next time target ally attacks, that ally inflicts a Deep Wound and the next attack does 5..50 additional damage"
• "Go for the Eyes!": decreased recharge time to 0 seconds; increased chance to land a critical hit to 30...86...100%.
• "Help Me!": decreased recharge time to 10 seconds. Functionality changed to: "For 1...8...10 seconds, you gain 15...75...90 Health and other allies' spells targeting you cast 50% faster."
• "Incoming!": decreased Energy cost to 5; decreased recharge time to 20 seconds.
• "Never Give Up!": decreased recharge time to 15 seconds.
• "Never Surrender!": decreased recharge time to 15 seconds.
• "Stand Your Ground!": decreased Energy cost to 10; decreased recharge time to 20 seconds.
• "We Shall Return!": increased Energy cost to 25; increased recharge time to 30 seconds. Functionality changed to: "All party members in earshot are resurrected with 25...45...50% Health and 5...17...20% Energy."
• Anthem of Disruption: decreased casting time to 1 second.
• Bladeturn Refrain: functionality changed to: "For 20 seconds, target non-spirit ally has a 5...17...20% chance to block incoming attacks. This Echo is reapplied every time a Chant or Shout ends on that ally."
• Blazing Finale: increased Burning duration to 1...6...7 seconds.
• Defensive Anthem: decreased Energy cost to 10.
• Signet of Return: decreased recharge time to 5 seconds.

AI Updates

The following AI updates apply to Heroes and Hard Mode NPCs.

Assassin

• Heroes are more likely to use offensive Shadow Step skills before their Health reaches 50%.
• Heroes will now use Black Lotus Strike against non-hexed foes when appropriate.

Dervish

• Heroes are more likely to use Attacker's Insight during combat.

Elementalist

• Heroes are more likely to use attunement skills during combat.

Mesmer

• Heroes will now more appropriately use hex spells that require an interrupt to take effect.
• Heroes will now maintain Mantra of Inscriptions both in and out of combat.

Monk

• Heroes are more likely to scatter appropriately when affected by Ray of Judgment.
• Heroes will now use Life Sheath to remove conditions out of combat.
• Heroes will now use Boon Signet more frequently.
• Heroes are now more likely to use Spotless Mind and Spotless Soul in conjunction with other hex and condition removal skills.
• Heroes are now more likely to use Restore Condition if their target is suffering from multiple conditions.
• Heroes will now use Dwayna's Kiss more frequently when hexes and enchantments are present on the target.
• Heroes will now use Words of Comfort more frequently on characters suffering from conditions.
• Fixed a bug where the AI only used Healing Burst as a self-targeting spell.
• Fixed a bug where the AI did not recognize Unyielding Aura as a hard resurrection skill.

Necromancer

• Heroes can now cast Lingering Curse off-target.
• Heroes will now use Blood is Power and Blood Ritual on casters holding bundle items.
• Heroes will now maintain Aura of the Lich in and out of combat.

Paragon

• Heroes will now check if Angelic Bond is active on all party members before using the skill.
• Heroes will only activate Angelic Bond if a party member is under 50% Health.
• Heroes are more likely to use "Incoming!" outside of combat.
• Heroes will only use Chest Thumper against foes that are suffering from Cracked Armor.
• Heroes will now use "Never Surrender!" both in and out of combat.

Ritualist

• Heroes will now use Resilient Weapon, Spirit Light Weapon, and Weapon of Warding to overwrite non-defensive weapon spells when the target's Health is at critical levels.
• Heroes will now use Offering of Spirit more frequently and will now use it out of combat.
• Heroes will now use Mending Grip as a self-targeting spell.
• Heroes will now only use Brutal Weapon on targets who are engaged in combat.
• Heroes will now cast Weapon of Quickening on spell-casting classes regardless of weapon type equipped.
• Fixed a bug where the AI would not use Renewing Memories while holding a bundle item.

Warrior

• Heroes are more likely to use Defy Pain at 95% Health to make better use of its damage-reduction feature.
• Heroes will use "For Great Justice!" as is appropriate for their weapon type.
• Heroes are less likely to overwrite Rush with other stances.
• Heroes are less likely to overwrite Frenzy with other stances unless Health is low.

General

• Fixed a bug where Heroes would not use zero-Energy skills when low on Energy.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug that would cause GvG matches to end in a tie if a Guild Lord died when the tiebreaker triggered. All Guild Lords will now become non-combatants when the match ends after 28 minutes according to the server clock. Note that this time may differ slightly from your client's timer.
• Fixed a bug that prevented Depravity and Ether Phantom from displaying Energy loss.
• Fixed a bug that caused Depravity to affect all nearby foes.
• Fixed a bug that caused the following Ritualist skills to use an incorrect casting animation: Agony, Anguish, Empowerment, Gaze of Fury, Recovery, and Rejuvenation.

Miscellaneous

• Xunlai Tournament Agents now offer prizes for the May tournament. These agents can be found in the Great Temple of Balthazar, Lion's Arch, Kaineng Center, and Kamadan.
• Reduced the amount of wins needed for the base objective and second bonus objective on the Random Arenas Zaishen quest.
• Increased the Zaishen Coin rewards for all Zaishen Mission quests and Zaishen Bounty quests.

Guild Wars Wiki notes

• Ray of Judgment scatters heroes in both normal and hard mode. In hard mode, all NPCs will scatter from it.
• Recharge of "Brace Yourself!" was lowered from 12 seconds to 4 seconds.
• Activation time of Signet of Creation was lowered to 1 second.
• Spirits summoned by Signet of Spirits suffer an AI glitch that makes them idle during battles. They often delay several seconds between each attacks due to targeting priority script (which prevent them from attacking the same target of any ally spirits), and usually doing nothing at all against single target when you control a massive number of offensive spirits.
• Spirit Siphon should be self-targeting to function properly. But if you cast Spirit Siphon while targeting anything out of your spell range, it will make you run to the target to cast even if the spirit is adjacent to yourself. If the nearest spirit is outside of casting range from your target, Spirit Siphon will fail.
• Kun Shao will not give out tournament reward points for the May tournament to most people.
• This update introduced the following bugs, which were fixed in the June 19th update.
  • "We Shall Return!" bypassed Frozen Soil.
  • The Flux Matrix damaged party members.
  • Equipping "Brace Yourself!" (PvP) caused the client to crash.
  • Order of the Vampire gave the stolen health to the caster instead of the attacker.
  • Signet of Spirits' recharge time was left at 10 seconds instead of being increased to 20 seconds as intended.
  • Signet of Binding had a bug which prevented spirits' defensive effects from being applied properly.
  • A bug prevented players from receiving credit for completing objectives in the Random Arena Zaishen Combat quest.
  • The descriptions of all Blood Magic and Death Magic well spells have been changed, however the functionality of these skills has not been changed. Concise and verbose descriptions of Blood Magic and Death Magic well spells were appended with "You do not sacrifice Health if there is a fresh corpse to exploit.". In verbose descriptions, "Exploit nearest corpse to create a Well of [Name] at its location." has been replaced with "Create a Well of [Name] at your location.". In Concise descriptions, "Exploits a fresh corpse." has been removed.
  • "Incoming!" (PvP) has the wrong skill description, stating that "For 4...9...10 seconds, all party members within earshot take 33% less damage.".

Update - Thursday, June 11, 2009

Updated Zaishen Rewards

• Updated the Zaishen Chest drops to replace the Phantasmal Tonic with the Automatonic for the month of June. More information on Zaishen Rewards can be found here.

Automated Tournaments

• Updated Automated Tournament map rotations.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug that allowed players to have multiple copies of the Heroes' Ascent Zaishen Combat Quest.
• Fixed a bug that caused effects that are conditional upon critical hits to trigger even if critical hits were prevented with a skill.
• Fixed a bug that caused "We Shall Return!" to affect allies instead of party members.
• Fixed a bug that caused Res Orbs to resurrect dead NPCs in Alliance Battles.

Miscellaneous

• Budger Blackpowder will now wait a few seconds between dispensing Powder Kegs in Explorable Areas.
• The Merchants in the Great Temple of Balthazar now offer late-game items.
• Added a confirmation box for Name Changes.
• Removed festival decorations from Kaineng Center and Shing Jea Monastery.
• The Treasure Hunter and Wisdom title tracks now count toward Favor of the Gods.
• Reduced the Zaishen Coin reward for the Hero Battles Zaishen Combat quest.

Guild Wars Wiki notes

• Characters that already had multiple copies of the Heroes' Ascent Zaishen Combat Quest before this update still retain the multiple copies of the quest.
• After this build was released, the daily Zaishen Quests were changed.
• The "late game items" added to the merchants in the Great Temple of Balthazar are the Superior Salvage Kit and Superior Identification Kit.

Update - Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Korea Service Migration

• Migrated Korean accounts to the North American servers.