Game updates/2006 July

Update – Friday, July 28, 2006

• Updated the store so that Europeans no longer need to enter a state.
• Reduced the restrictiveness of the excessive messaging filter for party chat, guild chat and whispers.
• Updated the appearance of party member health bars so that they no longer overlap.

GuildWiki notes

• A link to the Guild Wars Official Store was added to the character selection screen, and extra character slots are now available to purchase.
  • A minor bug caused international transactions to fail with a "no US state selected" error. A workaround was to in this case pick USA as country, set its state to "Other", and then set your country again to your actual one. This has been fixed in build 18334.
• Fixed the previous bug of not earning of faction from killing the opposition party in the Training Arena.
• Changed Sand Shards to only work with Scythe attacks missing.
• The graphics corruption on the choose a sex screen while creating a new character has been fixed.
• Calling a corpse of an ally will result in saying 'i'm moving to the corpse of [ally name]'.

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 (will only work if postprosessing is enabled in graphics menu).

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

• Churranu Island Arena and Sunspear Arena were added.
• 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.
• Loading screens, energy and XP bars and other miscellaneous UI parts have been altered.
  • Conditions and hexes yield a duller color than before.
• 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.
• PvP character creation screens now allow "pinning-down" the attribute panel so that it does not fade out when not hovered over with the mouse.
• Added 3D and EAX sound options to sound tab.
• The skill window now remembers your sort option after logging out and in again.
• After selecting an item on the ground you can now call picking it up by ctrl-clicking the targeting window. For example: "I'm picking up a Tribal Blade."
• The chat command /resign, which did not previously, now works in PvE explorable areas and missions. When used by all party members, the whole team dies, does not resurrect at a resurrection shrine and the leader may press the 'Return to outpost' button.
• The Kurzick and Luxon victory cutscene when winning Fort Aspenwood (mission) no longer plays.
• The gamma has been increased.

The following are most likely bugs and will be fixed in the near future.

The corrupted character creation screen.

• Corrupt graphics on the 'choose a sex' screen while creating a new character. This seems to only happen when running Guild Wars in windowed mode.
• Adding a Barbed Bowstring to a bow has been reported to cause a game crash. This crash affects others in the district or guild hall.
• If you send a lot of messages into the chat, you will receive an excessive messaging warning even if all of your messages are sent to different chats or persons.
• In towns and outposts, overhead level displays of ungrouped players are not always shown.
• There's a bug with necromancer armor that will make it look like it has 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.
• Dead pets and Flesh Golems reveal wireframes when highlighted. The same effect has also be seen with a Dervish.
• The secondary profession quests, such as The Elementalist's Path are no longer available. Attempting to change profession in the Great Temple of Balthazar will be prevented as if you are not ascended.
• A bug was introduced which caused some people with Tyrian bows to lose their crippling, silencing, or barbed bow strings. (More info on http://forums.gwonline.net/showthread.php?t=412996). Reapplying the bow string to the bow will not give the bow the correct attribute; i.e. the bow string will be wasted.

Update - Tuesday July 25, 2006

• The character selection screen now displays the total number of character slots and the number of used character slots.

Update - Monday July 24, 2006

• Pets now receive a Morale Boost when the team they are on earns a morale boost.
• New character sorting options are available on the character selection screen.

GuildWiki notes

• Changes in the Character Selection interface:
  • Added a sort button for the character selection screen. Sort option does not remain after logout at this time.
  • Added arrows behind characters.
• Double-faction from the weekend has stopped.
• Started downloads for weekend event.
• The money bug, that caused the money dropped to be displayed incorrectly, seems to have been fixed.

Update - Friday July 14

• Added a new collector in Snake Dance, just outside Camp Rankor. This collector exchanges the Carapace Shields given out by Hagnon Warblade that were incorrectly modified by the last update. Shield dye color is unaffected by this exchange.
• Fixed a bug in the Assassin Moebius Strike skill. It no longer recharges itself.
• Fixed a bug that caused the Guild Lord’s Amulet of Protection to fail against life-stealing skills.

GuildWiki notes

• This update fixed a bug that prevented Luxon players from entering Saltspray Beach (Luxon) and Imperial Sanctum (mission); brought on by the last update.

• The fix of the Guild Lord was actually added as a second update.
• Pets now receive Death Penalty in PvP. Multiple testings can be seen in the discussion at http://forums.gwonline.net/showthread.php?t=410690. Early in the thread, Gaile denied any knowledge of this as being part of the update. On page 23 of the thread, however, Gaile stated that she finally tracked down the dev team responsible, discovering:
  • This change was intentional.
  • The dev team failed to follow procedure, so it didn't make the update notes.
  • This is a test of the code, and as soon as they are sure it is stable, this will be rolled out to PvE as well.
• If a player drops more than 255 gold coins onto the ground, the displayed number of coins on the ground will be incorrect. The correct value will be received if the gold is picked up.
• Signet of Strength: multiple hit attacks now count as multiple attacks for this skill, so Hundred Blades on 10 targets counts as 20 attacks.

Update - Thursday July 13, 2006

• Imperial Supplymaster Kagno is no longer stationed in Shing Jea Monastery.
• Added a crafting material storage upgrade for the Xunlai Agent storage vault. To purchase the upgrade, visit one of the new Xunlai Representatives in Shing Jea Monastery or Kaineng Center. (PvP characters gain access to the crafting material storage once any roleplaying character on the account purchases it.)
• Added the ability to split Stacks of inventory items. Holding the Shift key while dragging a stack of items allows you to "split off" a portion of the stack before moving it.
• Modified the algorithm that causes the alliance battle line to shift. A faction that pushes into enemy territory will temporarily gain a "momentum bonus" that helps it drive the battle line further into enemy territory.
• Added support for EAX audio when sound quality is set to maximum.
• Modified the Burning Isle guild battle map so that Flame Cursed Sentinels are now Lesser Flame Sentinels. Lesser sentinels are vulnerable to all Conditions, do not heal when out of combat, and slowly die on their own in the first 25 minutes of the match.
• Updated Mesmer Courtly and Virtuoso Armor sets so that the +15 armor bonus applies only to the piece the bonus is on, not to the entire body. The bonus is now active whenever the equipping character activates any skill (not just spells).
• Updated Warrior Ascalon and Knight's Armor sets so that the damage reduction applies only when the corresponding location of the body is struck. The damage reduction applies only to physical damage, and the amount of reduced damage was increased from 2 to 3.
• Updated shields, armors, and runes with damage reduction abilities so that they only reduce physical damage.
• Increased the inherent armor level on all unique (green text), promotional, crafted, and collector shields so that they behave the same way as other shields when the characters equipping them do not meet the necessary attribute requirement.
• Updated all Ascalon Bows so that they now include their bow type in the name.
• Raised the armor penetration bonus for the following promotional items: Bonecrusher, Bear's Sloth, Rhino's Sloth, and Rhino's Charge.
• Raised the conditional Energy bonus on the following promotional items: Quicksilver, Unicorn's Wrath, Peacock's Wrath, and Luminescent Scepter.
• Raised the conditional damage reduction on the following promotional items: Bronze Guardian, Hog's Gluttony, Spiders Gluttony, and Serrated Shield.
• Removed the increased attack rate and decreased damage attributes from the fire wand found at the collector outside of Nolani Academy.
• Reduced the chance to halve skill recharge time from 20% to 10% on Rockmolders dropped prior to the item being corrected.
• Fixed bugs and made improvements to the following quests: The True King, A Monk's Mission, and A Second Profession.
• Improved support for hardware acceleration on some low-end audio cards.
• Fixed a bug that caused a number of skill sounds to play incorrectly as non-positional sounds.
• Improved the pathing in the Sunjiang District explorable area and the Imperial Sanctum outpost.

SKILL UPDATES

All

• Lowered the cap for Healing reduction to 40%. *
• Lowered the cap for Recharge Reduction to 50%. *
• You can no longer be knocked down immediately after you respawn from a resurrection shrine.

* Note: Like all reduction caps, these only affect the cap from multiple sources. Any single skill that exceeds this cap will still work. Thus, skills such as Lingering Curse or Ritual Lord still gain their full effect.

Assassin

• Expunge Enchantments: no longer disables pet attack skills.
• Moebius Strike: now recharges pet attack skills if it hits a foe below 50% health.
• Return: reduced recharge time to 15 seconds.
• Shadow Form: increased Energy cost to 10.
• Shadow Shroud: no longer prevents the casting of untargeted enchantments.
• Signet of Malice: reduced cast time to .75 seconds.
• Siphon Speed: increased duration to 5..20 seconds.

Elementalist

• Bed of Coals: now deals damage only to non-moving foes.
• Burning Speed: reduced cast time to .25 seconds.
• Elemental Attunement: this skill is now attributed to Energy Storage; increased duration to 30..55 seconds.
• Immolate: increased damage to 15..60.
• Mark of Rodgort: increased duration to 10..35 seconds.
• Mind Burn: reduced recharge time to 10 seconds.
• Smoldering Embers: increased damage to 15..60.
• Ward skills no longer affect spirits.

Mesmer

• Blackout: reduced blackout time to 2..6 seconds.
• Conjure Nightmare: removed the long pause after this spell was cast.
• Illusionary Weaponry: reduced recharge time to 35 seconds.
• Recurring Insecurity: reduced the duration to 1..10 seconds.
• Signet of Disenchantment: reduced cast time to 1 second.

Monk

• Air of Enchantment: added a minimum 1 Energy cost; increased recharge time to 8 seconds.
• Divine Spirit: now reduces energy cost for Monk spells, not all Monk skills.
• Infuse Health: fixed a bug that occasionally caused it to execute without healing the target.
• Life Sheath: now renews damage reduction when it is cast on a target that already has Life Sheath on it.
• Signet of Rejuvenation: reduced recharge time to 8 seconds; increased the conditional heal to 15..75 Health.
• Spell Shield: no longer disables skills more than once when renewed.

Necromancer

• Bitter Chill: increased damage to 15..60.
• Chilblains: now removes 1..2 Enchantments.
• Enfeebling Blood: increased the area-of-effect to "nearby".
• Feast of Corruption: increased Energy cost to 15.
• Fetid Ground: reduced cast time to .75 seconds.

Ranger

• Archer's Signet: no longer disables pet attack skills.
• Broad Head Arrow: reduced recharge time to 15 seconds.
• Determined Shot: now recharges pet attack skills if it misses.
• Equinox: reduced recharge time to 45 seconds.
• Famine: reduced recharge time to 45 seconds.
• Focused Shot: now disables pet attack skills when used.
• Greater Conflagration: reduced recharge time to 45 seconds.
• Lacerate: reduced recharge time to 45 seconds.
• Marauder's Shot: no longer disables pet attack skills.
• Oath Shot: increased recharge time to 25 seconds.

Ritualist

• Displacement: Changed the skill's description to match its behavior.
• Draw Spirit: reduced cast time to .25 seconds.
• Lamentation: increased the target's needed proximity to a corpse or Spirit to "in the area".
• Wielder's Boon: increased conditional heal to 15..60 Health.

Warrior

• Quivering Blade: increased Daze duration to 8 seconds.
• Standing Slash: reduced adrenaline cost to 6.
• "Victory is Mine!": no longer displays "-0" on targets with no conditions.

Amended Update Notes for July 13, 2006 (added July 21)

• Updated Ranger pets to acquire Death Penalty when they die. This currently applies on PvP maps only.
• Updated the wording of Shouts to use the phrase "within earshot". This is not a change to how the skills work. It is only meant as a clarification of how large their range is. The size keywords for area-of-effect skills are now:
  • Adjacent: Melee attack range.
  • Nearby: One and a half times Adjacent range.
  • In the Area: Two times Adjacent range.
  • Within Earshot: Three times Adjacent range.

GuildWiki notes

• The material storage upgrade costs 50g for each character.

• The quest reward bow from Blankets for the Settlers has also been updated to reduce only physical damage.

• Newly created characters no longer receive pre-order items automatically. To retrieve them, you can still use "/preorder" or "/bonusitems" in an outpost.

• Weapon upgrades and Runes now indicate which kind of weapon/armor they attach to. For example, a dagger tang will have the text "Attaches to: Dagger".

• If you had in your inventory a collector's Crimson Carapace Shield 16AL req 9 tactics 45hp, -2 dmg while in stance, its stats has been changed to +60hp, -3 dmg while hexed, req 9 strength. This only happens if you got your shield from the Shiverpeaks, Crimson Carapace Shields from the collector in the Scar are unchanged.

• Players who have already traveled to the main land in Cantha can no longer run players from Linnok Courtyard through Saoshang Trail to Seitung Harbor.

• Introduced a bug that prevents Luxon players from entering Saltspray Beach (Luxon).

Update - Friday, July 7th 2006

• Updated the Hall of Heroes so that 3 teams compete instead of 5, games take place every 6 minutes instead of every 12 minutes, and the winning team is awarded 2 Celestial Sigils instead of 3.
• Changed the requirements to earn a Champion title. Fewer points are needed and players now receive a point for defeating any guild with a rating of 1200 or more. Points are earned only when the guild ladder season is open.
• Fixed a bug that prevented some players from leaving the Dragon Arena.

GuildWiki notes

• Observer Mode will now show the Hall of Heroes matches regardless of whether a top 100 ranked guild is playing in that match.
• Live henchmen are now relocated at resurrection shrines with players when the party respawns.

Update - Wednesday, July 5th 2006

Attention fellow citizens of Cantha,

On behalf of Emperor Kisu, I extend warm thanks to all those who fought for the empire during the past few days. Though the Dragon Festival is a time of celebration for us, this year's holiday was marred by violence spurred on by demonic outsiders. It was only through the efforts of those willing to lay their lives down for the empire that the portals that spawned these vile beasts were torn asunder.

Let these past events serve as a reminder: no matter what adversities threaten to dismantle the Dragon Empire, we shall endure.

This marks the end of this year's Dragon Festival. Go in peace and prosperity. Long live the emperor!

- Captain Leifei

Other Updates:

• Added the Imperial Supply Master to Shing Jea Monastery.
• Updated merchants on Shing Jea Island and in Kaineng Center so that they sell Rice Wine and Red Bean Cakes.

GuildWiki notes

• All merchants in Kaineng City (instead of just Kaineng Center) have been updated to sell the wine and the cakes.