Game updates/20070214

Update - Wednesday February 14, 2007
To usher in the New Year’s Festival, Emperor Kisu requested a cinquain be written by the royal poet laureate, Wi Liam. Messengers have been dispatched to every corner of the realm to read the official New Year’s poem to the populace:


 * It's time!
 * Canthan New Year
 * Festival has begun.
 * Quests, races, fortunes, and a feast
 * Await.

Skills and Attributes Panel

 * The Skill Bar displayed in the Skills and Attributes panel now allows the player to change the order of equipped skills while in a mission or explorable area.
 * The Skill Bar displayed in the Skills and Attributes panel can be expanded into a set of full descriptions by a new button on the bar itself.
 * The "Sort by:" drop list has been removed and replaced by the following iconic drop menus:
 * Sorting Method, which offers all the options the "Sort by:" drop list used to offer.
 * Display Mode, which offers "Display as a list," "Display as a small grid," and "Display as a large grid.”

Other

 * Added an option to the Hero Control panel that forces Heroes to drop the currently carried bundle. This option is mainly useful for forcing Ritualist Heroes to drop urns created by skills.
 * Added Skill and Equipment Template Summaries to all template-related panels.
 * The Performance Monitor is now customizable so that you can change its position and visibility.
 * You can now log out to the Character Select screen by hitting the “Character Select” button on the logout dialog.
 * Challenge missions now track high scores differently and show the top 50 scores. They now track quarterly best scores instead of all-time best scores. They also track scores internationally across all game territories.
 * Added a trophy to the Great Temple of Balthazar for the Wintersday Tournament Championship.
 * Replaced the “Gain Olias” and “Gain Zenmai” Hero quests. The new quests "All for One, and One for Justice" and "Chasing Zenmai" are now received in the Consulate Docks in Guild Wars Nightfall. Those who have already completed these quests will be unable to take the new versions.
 * The “kill count” objective has been removed temporarily from rotation in the Hall of Heroes. This change was made to better facilitate testing of 8v8.
 * Fixed a bug in the “Capture Points” objective in the Hall of Heroes, which was sometimes causing the wrong team to be awarded victory.
 * Changed Mallyx the Unyielding’s “Summoning Shadows” skill to work through doors, and changed its casting requirements.
 * You can now use miniatures in towns and outposts. Only 20 miniatures can be used at a time per district.

GuildWiki Notes

 * The change to Mallyx's skill, Summoning Shadows was done a week earlier but only documented in this update.
 * Maxed Protector titles no longer count towards the Kind of a Big Deal title as another tier has been added. This tier involves completing tier 1 again, but in hard mode instead. (Note: Hard Mode has not been added to the game, Gaile apparently says the titles will be fixed soon)
 * Changed the layout of the Skill and Attribute Panel so that the attribute ranks are immediately to the left of the attribute names. Previously, the names were on the left and the ranks were to the far right.
 * Sunspear Title Track is no longer maxed: there is a new level at 30,000 points, Legendary Sunspear.
 * If a character has done either of the old hero quests without doing the other, they will not be able to get the other's new counterpart. Characters like this will not as of now be able to unlock the other hero.
 * Added a new title track: "Sweet Tooth Title Track". You will get one or more points by consuming various sugary foods or drinks.
 * Kamadan, Jewel of Istan, Lion's Arch and Shing Jea Monastery have been redecorated to celebrate the Canthan New Year. Storage agents and other NPCs have been moved around.
 * Added 5 Imperial Chefs, Imperial Chef Jiong, Imperial Chef Yan, Imperial Chef Chen, Imperial Chef Reun, and Imperial Chef Tian. Each require various Collectable Drops. Currently they do not offer the rewards for these items.
 * The light-colored shadows around each slot in the character inventory and Vault Box windows is now brighter.
 * The pop-up skill bar preview window that was added to the template save/load/manage screens obstructs the names of the selected template and those near it.