Game updates/20060727

Update – Thursday, July 27, 2006

 * Updated the list of available PVP character templates to include the templates designed by the Esoteric Warriors guild.
 * Added key bindings for the following game functions: Drop Item, Follow, Suppress Action, Zoom In, and Zoom Out.
 * Modified cinematics so that minions no longer decay and mission time no longer elapses while cinematics are playing.
 * Updated the Trade dialog to reduce the likelihood of a common scam. The Trade dialog now displays a message whenever the trade offer is modified.
 * Added a secondary profession changer to the Great Temple of Balthazar.
 * Added a Championship Trophy to the Great Temple of Balthazar.
 * Moved the positions of the Xunlai Agents in the Great Temple of Balthazar.
 * Updated the appearance of the Guild roster. Invitations are now issued from within the invitee and guest lists, and the number of online and total members is displayed for each guild rank.
 * Updated the appearance of the Options dialog. Option settings are now divided into tabbed categories.
 * Updated the art used for Health bars.
 * Added a new effect that desaturates screen colors when your character is dead.

Skill updates

 * Arcane Mimicry: added a restriction so that it cannot be used on Elite Dervish Form skills.
 * Consume Soul: updated to match its description. The caster must target and touch a Spirit.

Temporary skill balance changes
The following skill balance changes will be in effect only during the Nightfall PvP preview event:
 * Balthazar's Aura: reduced duration to 8 seconds.
 * Divine Boon: increased recharge time to 10 seconds.
 * Zealot's Fire: increased recharge time to 45 seconds.
 * Increased earshot range to the radius of the Danger Zone (the inner white circle on the mini-map radar).

GuildWiki Notes

 * Added the ability to create a character from the land of Elona.
 * This is currently bugged. You can pick the skin-color/haircuts/etc from Elona, but when the character is actually created, it appears as the default Tyrian model.
 * A few skin tones appear to have been changed.
 * The wording on the description of the Ranger's expertise attribute has been changed. Instead of saying "For each rank the Energy cost of Attack skills, Preparations, and Traps decreases by 4%." it now says "For each rank of Expertise, the Energy cost of all of your non-Spells decreases by 4%. Several skills, especially those related to Energy costs and skill recharge times, become more effective with higher Expertise.".
 * The casting bar now shows a green color when casting, a yellow color when completed and a purple color when interrupted.
 * In GvG battles, "Victory or Death!" now occurs at 20 minutes mark instead of the previous 30.
 * Loading screens, energy and XP bars and other miscellaneous UI parts have been altered.
 * Added Nightfall campaign selection in Roleplaying character creation with small screenshots of the upcoming game.
 * Graphics for wands and offhands were updated. Mesmer wands and offhands now have glowing effects to represent the difference between illusion and domination.  Elementalist wands now have animated effects surrounding them.
 * Added a delay to map zoom out, preventing players to spam zoom in and out.
 * Adding a Barbed Bow String to a bow has been reported to cause a game crash. This crash affect others in the district or guild hall.
 * Sometimes you will receieve an excessive messaging warning if you spam in other chats besides local.
 * In towns and outposts, overhead level displays of ungrouped players are not always shown.
 * There's a bug with necromancer armour that will make it look like its been changed in the character creation/selection screen. However, in game it looks normal with no changes at all.
 * Vizunah Square mission is occasionally impossible to complete.
 * A peculiar new NPC has been added to Bukdek Byway. He has no name, cannot be selected or targetted, does absolutely nothing, and appears as a naked man with a distorted face texture. He is found near the location of Drinkmaster Tahnu. After the second update, he was removed.
 * Graphics corruption on the choose a sex screen while creating a new character. This seems to only happen when running guildwars in windowed mode.
 * Added 3d and EAX sound options to sound tab.