Posted by PrintsKaspian (Source)

Call to Arms Patch 4, AKA the Call to Arms Balance Patch, is here! First and foremost, this patch brings big changes and improvements to all types of Hellgates, including massively increased rewards, improved matchmaking, an automatic cooldown reset on invasion, and streamlined knockdown mechanics.

Additionally, Patch 4 brings a huge array of Combat Balance Changes across numerous weapon and armor lines, along with updates and improvements to Faction Warfare, the 20v20 Crystal League, the Black Zone Fame Buff, and more.

Hellgates: Better Rewards and Matchmaking

We've made numerous improvements to the overall experience in all sizes and types of Hellgates based on testing and community feedback. Here are some of the biggest changes:

• Significantly increased rewards across all Hellgate modes
• Chests now always spawn once a Hellgate is complete, whether or not PvP occurred
• Cooldowns and Health now reset after an invasion
• Removed matchmaking delay in chained Hellgates

Combat Balance Changes

Michael Schwahn, Albion's Combat Designer, sums up the balance changes in this patch:

"This patch aims to bring a wider variety of healing staffs into the meta while reducing the dominance of certain items in specific content, like Dagger Pairs in 2v2 Hellgates and Quarterstaffs in Corrupted Dungeons. Sustain damage provided by the axe line is also reduced, to bring them more in line with other melee weapons. This patch also offers reworks of abilities that have been out of the spotlight recently."

Here's a partial list of what's new:

• Axes: Updated numerous skills to increase importance of positioning and timing
• Cursed Staffs: Buffed various skills to improve performance in PvP
• Nature Staffs: Added a burst-heal W-slot ability
• Armors: Updated Life Steal Aura and Self-Ignition

Other Changes

• Improved load times between zones on all platforms
• Faction Warfare: Respawns now happen in batches to help rally forces; Bandit Assault is more frequent and unpredictable
• 20v20 Crystal League: Increased artifact rewards in final chests
• Black Zone Fame Buff persists when moving between zones
• Mobile Version: Further optimizations and UI improvements
• … and much more

Finally, for this patch, we're also trying something new: offering detailed explanations of combat balance changes under each weapon and armor type, to show the reasons and goals behind them. As always, you can check out the full list of changes, including these detailed balance change descriptions, in the official patchnotes.