Game updates/2008 April

Update - Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Skills

Guild vs. Guild

• Victory or Death: at Victory or Death, each player now deals 5% additional damage for each rank achieved in the Kind of A Big Deal title track.

Assassin

• Shadow Form: increased duration to 10..60.

Elementalist

• No changes.

Mesmer

• Diversion: increased duration to 120 seconds; increased disable time to 60..120.
• Blackout: removed the touch range restriction; this skill no longer disables the caster's skills.

Monk

• Peace and Harmony: increased Energy regeneration to 6..10.
• Protective Spirit: changed skill to: For 5..25 seconds, target ally cannot lose more than 50% maximum Health due to damage from a single attack or spell.

Necromancer

• Animate Bone Fiend: increased recharge to 30 seconds; increased casting time to 5 seconds.
• Spiteful Spirit: Fixed a bug that caused monsters not to flee while in the area of effect.

Norn

• Ursan Blessing: reduced recharge to 5 seconds; this skill is no longer PvE-only.

Ritualist

• Wanderlust: this skill now causes Exhaustion.
• Pain: this skill now causes Exhaustion.
• Bloodsong: this skill now causes Exhaustion.

Warrior

• Dwarven Battle Stance: increased duration to 10..30 seconds; this skill now deals +10..40 damage and causes knock down.

Miscellaneous

• Increased the effectiveness of the Lucky Aura.
• Loremaster Ermenred in Lion's Arch will now allow characters to travel back to Pre-Searing Ascalon after they've successfully performed a number of tasks.
• Tanned Hide Squares are now Tanned Hide Polygons.
• Increased Paragon base armor to 100.
• Scythes now hit a single target.

Guild Wiki Notes

• The bug that caused non-Rangers to be unable to create PvP armor was fixed.
• Due to new government regulations in Taiwan that restrict game companies in that region from effectively suspending or banning accounts for participating in professional farming or real-money trading, ArenaNet was forced to disconnect Taiwanese service from the rest of the game world. Users in Taiwan will still be able to participate in their international guilds and compete in international PvP, but as of April 1, they cannot enter international districts, trade with players outside Taiwan, or play in PvE environments with players outside Taiwan. For more information see Gaile News on the Official Guild Wars Wiki.

Update 2 - Thursday, April 3, 2008

• Fixed a bug that caused some players to see a white box when using Champagne Poppers, Bottle Rockets, and Sparklers.

Update - Thursday, April 3, 2008

Farewell Party for Gaile and The Frog

• Made preparations for the farewell party for Gaile and The Frog.
• Beginning at Noon Pacific (-7 GMT) on Friday, April 4, 2008, special event collectors will show up in Lion's Arch, Kamadan, and Shing Jea Monastery.
• Beginning at Noon Pacific (-7 GMT) on Saturday, April 5, 2008, The Frog will show up every three hours until his final appearance at Noon Pacific (-7 GMT) on Monday, April 7, 2008.
• The special collectors for this event will remain until the end of the farewell party at Noon Pacific (-7 GMT) on Monday, April 7, 2008.
• For more information on the event, see the Gaile farewell event page.

General

• Added the second set of winning weapons and items from the 2007 Guild Wars Design-A-Weapon Contest.

Guild vs. Guild

• Updated Automated Tournament map rotations.

Update - Thursday, April 10, 2008

Taiwan service update

• Taiwan players now play on American servers.
• Taiwan players can now access in-game account management.
• Taiwan players can now access the in-game store.
• Taiwan players can now access other language districts.
• Taiwan players can once again play and trade with players from other territories.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug that caused the Spirit summoned by the Ritualist PvE skill Vampirism to take longer than other Spirits to acquire new targets.
• Fixed a bug that sometimes caused Dervishes to appear in avatar form after dying while using an avatar skill.

Miscellaneous

• The Xunlai Tournament House NPC now offers prizes for the March tournament and can be found in the Great Temple of Balthazar, Lion's Arch, Kaineng Center, and Kamadan.
• Updated the name of the Ceremonial Spear found in Elona to Solemn Spear to reduce confusion between it and the Design-a-Weapon contest winner of the same name.

Guild Wiki Notes

• Players may now choose Traditional Chinese Districts.

Update - Thursday, April 17, 2008

Guild vs. Guild

• Warrior's Isle: Adjusted the location of NPCs in red base.
• Druid's Isle: Removed two archers from both bases.
• Burning Isle: Removed two archers from both bases.
• Updated Automated Tournament map rotations.

Skill Updates

Assassin

• Assassin's Remedy: increased Energy cost to 10.

Mesmer

• Hex Breaker: changed skill type back to stance.
• Fragility: decreased Energy cost to 5.
• Fevered Dreams: decreased recharge to 8 seconds.
• Chaos Storm: decreased Energy cost to 5.
• Energy Surge: increased Energy drained to 1..10; decreased damage per Energy to 9.
• Energy Burn: increased Energy drained to 1..10; decreased damage per Energy to 9.

Necromancer

• Dark Pact: increased damage to 10..70.

Elementalist

• Blinding Surge: decreased recharge to 3 seconds; decreased Blindness duration to 1..5 seconds.
• Ward Against Melee: decreased duration to 1..18 seconds; no longer protects Guild Battle NPCs.
• Lightning Orb: this skill no longer applies Cracked Armor.
• Glyph of Concentration: decreased number of spells affected to 1.
• Shockwave: increased casting time to 1 second.
• Ward Against Harm: no longer protects Guild Battle NPCs.
• Ward Against Elements: no longer protects Guild Battle NPCs.

Monk

• Aegis: increased Energy cost to 15.

Warrior

• Disarm: decreased time that attack skills are disabled to 0..3 seconds; increased recharge to 20.

Ritualist

• Flesh of My Flesh: increased recharge to 10 seconds.
• Death Pact Signet: increased activation time to 4 seconds.
• Ancestors' Rage: increased casting time to 1 second.
• Splinter Weapon: increased recharge to 8 seconds.
• Recuperation: no longer affects Guild Battle NPCs.
• Life: no longer affects Guild Battle NPCs.
• Pure Was Li Ming: no longer affects Guild Battle NPCs.
• Displacement: no longer protects Guild Battle NPCs.
• Shelter: no longer protects Guild Battle NPCs.

Dervish

• Mystic Sweep: increased activation time to 1 second.
• Eremite's Attack: increased activation time to 1 second.

Paragon

• Song of Restoration: increased recharge to 30 seconds.
• Ballad of Restoration: increased recharge to 30 seconds.
• Harrier's Toss: increased activation time to 1 second.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug that caused Ritualist Spirits to stop attacking if their caster has moved outside of compass range.
• Fixed lighting issues with the Demonic Aegis, Draconic Aegis, Draconic Scythe, Dryad Bow, and the Eaglecrest Axe.
• Fixed a bug that caused the Paragon skill "Never Surrender!" to affect non-party allies.
• Fixed a bug that caused the Monk skill Healer's Boon to improperly affect skills on occasion.

Miscellaneous

• Implemented UI for trial accounts which displays the time remaining on the trial.

Guildwiki Notes

• The Guild Wars online store in the character selection screen has changed its icon.
• The Blood Henchman has disappeared from the Central Transfer Chamber (Intl districts).

Update 2 - Thursday, April 24, 2008

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug that prevented players from gaining access to the original Guild Wars end run (following the Hell's Precipice mission).
• Fixed a bug that prevented the Priest of Balthazar from working correctly with PvP characters.

Update - Thursday, April 24, 2008

Guild Wars Third Anniversary Celebration

• Made preparations for the Guild Wars Third Anniversary event.
• New end-game area: Players who complete Hell's Precipice (the final mission of the first campaign) will receive a Deldrimor Talisman. This trophy can be exchanged for one of the new Deldrimor weapons. The end-game area is permanent and will remain in place after the anniversary event finishes.
• Beginning at Noon Pacific (-7 GMT) on Friday, April 25, 2008, players will be able to access the Rollerbeetle Racing and Dragon Arena outposts by speaking with special event NPCs located in the Great Temple of Balthazar, Lion's Arch, Kamadan, and Shing Jea Monastery.
• Beginning at Noon Pacific (-7 GMT) on Friday, April 25, 2008, players will be able to access the Boardwalk in Shing Jea Monastery.
• The event will conclude and all special event NPCs will leave at Noon Pacific (-7 GMT) on Tuesday, April 29, 2008.
• For more information, see the Guild Wars Third Anniversary event page.

Skill Update

Necromancer

• Dark Pact: reverted back to 10..48 damage.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug that could cause Heroes to occasionally ignore placed flags.
• Improved Hero/Henchmen responses to effects that cause skills to fail, such as Spell Breaker. If the target is immune to a skill, Heroes will now stop activating that skill after a small number of failures.
• Improved Hero AI for the Monk skill Pacifism; Heroes will no longer use the skill on spellcasters unless specifically ordered to.
• Fixed a bug that caused the Monk skill Spirit Bond to heal an incorrect number of times when recast on a target already enchanted with Spirit Bond.
• Fixed a bug that prevented some players from unlocking the Hero Battles outpost.
• Fixed a bug that allowed characters to equip skills from multiple secondary professions.
• Fixed Monk Obsidian Armor to make it appear correctly from the back.
• Fixed a bug that caused multiple copies of the Ram effect (in Rollerbeetle Racing) to interact incorrectly. This skill now cannot be reused until its initial effects wear off.
• Fixed a bug that caused the Paragon primary attribute Leadership to not give Energy to characters when the skills "The Power Is Yours!" and "Never Give Up!" were used.

Miscellaneous

• Updated the selection of Wayward Wands and Straw Effigies at the end of the Factions campaign to include attributes that could not be found on rods and focus items when that campaign was released.
• Updated the selection of Staffs of the Forgotten and Golden Boar Scepters at the end of the Nightfall campaign to include Energy Storage versions.

Update - Friday, April 25, 2008

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug that prevented some Deldrimor crafted items from accepting appropriate upgrade components.
• Fixed a bug that would cause the entire party to zone when one player left the Prophecies end game area.