Game updates/20080117

Skill Updates
We will be evaluating the following changes over the course of the next week. Additional adjustments may be made during that time period.

Guild versus Guild

 * Archers: now have Precision Shot.
 * Footmen: now have Pure Strike.
 * Knights: now have Warrior's Cunning.
 * Victory or Death: reduced the damage bonus to +15%; removed the maximum Health reduction. Guild Lords now prioritize other Guild Lords over players as targets.

Assassin

 * Caltrops: decreased recharge time to 10 seconds.
 * Heart of Shadow: functionality changed to: "You are healed for 30..150 Health and Shadow Step to a nearby random location."
 * Scorpion Wire: decreased recharge time to 10 seconds.
 * Viper's Defense: changed Skill type to a spell; increased casting time to .25 seconds; functionality changed to: "All adjacent foes are Poisoned for 5..20 seconds, you Shadow Step to a nearby random location."

Dervish

 * Pious Assault: increased Energy cost to 10; functionality changed to: "You lose 1 Enchantment. If this attack hits, you deal +5..20 damage and inflict a Deep Wound for 5..20 seconds."

Elementalist

 * Chilling Winds: increased duration to 30 seconds.
 * Elemental Flame: increased Burning duration to 3..5 seconds.
 * Glyph of Essence: decreased recharge time to 20 seconds.

Mesmer

 * Hex Eater Vortex: decreased damage to 30..90; increased recharge to 15 seconds.
 * Kitah's Burden/Ethereal Burden: reduced recharge time to 30 seconds.
 * Mind Wrack: increased duration to 30 seconds.
 * Wastrel's Worry: increased damage to 20..80.

Monk

 * Aura of Stability: decreased duration to 1..16 seconds.
 * Divine Healing/Heaven's Delight: increased the area of effect to earshot.
 * Patient Spirit: decreased duration to 2 seconds; increased healing to 30..120 Health.
 * Renew Life: decreased casting time to 4 seconds.
 * Restore Life: decreased casting time to 4 seconds.
 * Vengeance: increased damage bonus to +25%; decreased recharge time to 30 seconds.

Necromancer

 * Signet of Agony: increased damage to 10..70.
 * Wail of Doom: decreased Energy cost to 10.

Paragon

 * "Fall Back!": decreased Energy cost to 10.
 * "We Shall Return!": decreased Energy cost to 5.
 * Spear of Fury: increased adrenaline gain to 2..6 strikes.

Ranger

 * Magebane Shot: increased Energy cost to 10.
 * Penetrating Attack/Sundering Attack: decreased activation time to 1 second.
 * Power Shot: decreased activation time to 1 second.
 * Precision Shot: decreased activation time to 1 second.

Ritualist

 * Rejuvenation: increased Spirit's level to 1..16.
 * Sight Beyond Sight: increased duration to 12..25 seconds.
 * Sundering Weapon: now affects the next 3 attacks.
 * Warmonger's Weapon: increased recharge time to 30 seconds.

Warrior

 * "Coward!": decreased adrenaline cost to 4 strikes.
 * "You're All Alone!": increased duration to 8 seconds.

Bug Fixes

 * Fixed a bug in the Eye of the North quest Kilroy Stonekin's Punch-Out Extravaganza! that occasionally prevented players who had regained full Energy from standing up after being knocked down.
 * Fixed a bug in the Eye of the North quest Leader of the Pack that prevented some players from completing it.
 * Fixed a bug with the Eye of the North PvE Skill Ursan Blessing that caused it to incorrectly replace some Skills when its effect expired.
 * Fixed a bug that could cause a player’s profession to appear using the wrong gender-noun on the character select screen in some languages.

Miscellaneous

 * Added the option to bind keys that activate Hero Skills. These keys can be bound through the "Action: Order Hero (1-3) to use Skill (1-8)" option in the Control options panel (Menu > Options > Control).
 * Updated the Hero AI for the Dervish Skill, Faithful Intervention.

Open Travel: Territory and District UI Changes

 * As a continuation of last year’s “Territory and District UI Changes” that saw language district restrictions removed for America and Europe, we are now removing restrictions on travel to Asian language districts.
 * In this update restrictions to Korean language districts will be removed and players of American, European and Korean districts will be able to travel back and forth between these language districts.
 * Restrictions on travel to Japanese and Taiwanese language districts will be removed in a subsequent build.