Game updates/20060920

Update - Wednesday September 20, 2006

 * Added new trophies to the Great Temple of Balthazar for the Guild Wars Factions Championship and the Guild Wars (Prophecies) World Championship.
 * Added an Observer Mode option to automatically observe random games.
 * Added an option to hide the user interface while observing a game.
 * Added an option to mute sound while Guild Wars is running in the background
 * Modified all windows and panels accessible from the Menu so that they remember whether they were previously open when entering a new map.
 * Fixed a bug that prevented some Prophecies and Factions monsters from using their Ranger skills.
 * Fixed a bug in the skill Plague Signet that caused Conditions to transfer with incorrect durations.

Preparation for the World Preview Event
 * The following Guild Wars Nightfall updates and balance changes are being published in beta form, in preparation for this weekend’s World Preview Event. After the conclusion of the weekend event, they will be removed from the game again until the release of Guild Wars Nightfall.
 * Updated the artificial intelligence of all henchmen.
 * Added new armor foley sound effects.
 * Capped adrenaline gain so that no player ever receives more than double adrenaline from adrenaline-boosting skills.
 * Increased earshot range to the radius of the Danger Zone (the inner white circle on the mini-map Compass).
 * Modified the skill Contemplation of Purity so that the number of removed Hexes and Conditions is determined by your Divine Favor attribute.

GuildWiki notes

 * The "icon" for the store has been changed to an Elonian design but there appears to be no new content inside.
 * The amount of health gain provided by Contemplation of Purity was also slightly adjusted.
 * The wording of the modifier "while enchanted" was changed to "while under the effects of an Enchantment"
 * Henchmen now mimic most of your emotes but react to some. When you dance, they will provide you with a band.  When you play an instrument, they will provide accompaniment.  When you play rock-paper-scissors, they will play against you.  They will also perform random emotes when idle.
 * The formation in which henchmen position themselves around the player has been changed. While not moving or fighting henchmen will try to maintain a 3x3 square formation with the player in the middle. Monks will always take the back row while the front row will be occupied by warriors, then assassins, then rangers. Other casters will fill the middle spots in a seemingly random pattern.
 * Nightfall campaign skills are now visible on the PvP character creation screen, however they are locked and their descriptions cannot be seen.
 * Players are unable to call their health or energy.
 * The "foley" sound effect mentioned in the update description indicates the type of armor the character is wearing. Metal armor produces a low clanking noise, while cloth armor produces a rustling and jingling noise.
 * Henchmen are now much more proactive in following targets. They will initiate their attacks on the target as soon as the player initiates an attack, not after the player's attack hits. This makes coordinating an initial spike much easier. Henchmen will now also cycle targets with greater frequency: warrior henchmen such as Lukas and Stefan will often switch targets to spellcasters, hexing henchmen such as Dunham and Lo Sha will spread their hexes around, and interrupt henchmen such as Erys Vasburg will now use interrupts on many more enemies than previously, to give a few examples. Lastly, henchmen appear to be much more sluggish in breaking off their attacks when retreating; it is not rare to see the ranger henchmen continue attacking even after the player is an entire aggro circle diameter away.
 * The "random" option in the Observer Mode window selects the game only from the list of observable games.
 * The interface in Observer Mode can be turned off as usual using the UI suppression keybinding (by default Ctrl+Shift+H). Selecting the "hide" check box in Observer Mode starts a 15 second timer after which the UI is hidden.