Posted by Nesnes 2 years ago

Testserver Patch Notes 2.0 - Lands Awakened Update

Why 2.0?

Since the release of the original Testserver Patch Notes, some features have already changed or have been updated. Thus we have released a new version today. There will still be changes until Lands Awakened actually goes live.

Here are the key paragraphs that have changed since the last release:

• Patch notes have been reworded to include more details on the new features
  
• HCE fame reduction has been reduced to match the silver reduction (from -25% on Level 15+ to -10%), but HCE mob strength has been increased to compensate for the strength gained from Elite levels (+5% damage and hit points)
  
• Quality Re-Roll Chances & Costs have been finalized
  
• Various combat balance adjustments
  

Please have a look to base your feedback on the now updated Patch Notes


Massive Biome Rework and Improvements

• Greatly improved graphics for all five biomes, with increased variance between low, middle, and high-tier zones (sub-biomes) within each biome
  
• Greatly improved layouts with unique landscape features for each zone
  
• Reworked Resource Colors: as much as possible, resources are now colored to correspond to the color associated with their tier level
  
• Improved minimaps that are clearer to read
  
• New overlays for the world map showing approximate resource availability and mob Silver value of the zone - note that as this feature requires aggregated data to function, it will not be active for the first few days after the update launches.
  
• Existing Hideouts have been automatically re-placed in the newly updated zones. However, as layouts and placements may have changed, all Hideouts are eligible for a single move by the owning guild for a short time after the update goes live.
  

New and Reworked Open-World Gameplay Objectives

• Open-world Mobs now automatically upgrade to more powerful versions over time. Each mob can upgrade multiple times gaining in strength as well as fame and loot reward with every upgrade. This rewards players and groups who seek out underexplored areas.
  Rewards for Open-world Mobs have generally been rebalanced to much higher levels than before.
  
• Static dungeons have also been reworked, and feature new events:
  
  • Static Dungeon Mobs, like open-world Mobs, upgrade over time, offering massively increased rewards
    
  • Chests and Bosses within Static dungeons also upgrade over time, rewarding players who explore neglected dungeons
    
  • New "Dungeon Rush" events added:
    
    • Randomly, at short notice and for a limited time, the mob upgrade rates of a particular dungeon will greatly increase
      
    • This is communicated to players in the same and nearby zones via the zone map and appears overhead after entering the dungeon
      
  • Static Dungeons now have smaller side entrances from neighboring regions
    
    • Ensures players can't camp one entrance
      
    • Allows players to escape when a more powerful group enters
      
    • Allows players to enter from multiple directions during a "Dungeon Rush" event
      
  • Points of Interest are now marked on the minimap when in close proximity
    
  • The mob camps outside of Static Dungeons now feature veteran (group) mobs and are included in the time-limited Dungeon Events
    
  • Due to these changes, Fame Buffs when killing mobs in Static Dungeons or the camp surrounding a Static Dungeon Entrance have been removed, and Random Dungeon entrances no longer appear within Static Dungeons
    

Treasure Rework

The treasure system has been reworked to make them more dynamic and unpredictable:

• Treasures now spawn randomly anywhere in the open world where PvP is possible, rather than at fixed locations
  
• There are three different sizes of Treasures: Small, Medium, and Large
  
• Once spawned, Treasures will be locked for a time depending on their size (5 minutes, 20 minutes, 40 minutes), before they can be claimed.
  
• Treasures are shown on the map to players only in the same or nearby zones. The range at which they are visible depends on their size.
  
• As part of this change, treasure sites, as well as treasure chests from random mob camps, have been removed from the open world
  

Resource Changes

• On Tier 7 and 8, the maximum number of charges on each resource has been increased from 3 to 9 (Tier 7) and from 2 to 11 (Tier 8 ) respectively
  
• Tier 7 and Tier 8 resources randomize their initial charges on respawn between 1 and their maximum, the number of nodes as well as their respawn rate has been adjusted for an overall increase in global output on these tiers (offsetting laborer changes to some degree)
  
• On Tier 7 and 8 Large resource nodes (with 23 and 27 max charges) have been replaced by Plentiful resource nodes (with 30 charges), which always spawn fully charged and are marked on the local map while unharvested
  
• Tier 5 and Tier 6 Plentiful resource nodes have also been added
  
• Resource mobs now always spawn fully charged. Their respawn rate has been adjusted accordingly.
  
• Resource Guardians can now spawn in biomes in which their resource type is a secondary or tertiary resource (i.e. Old White can now spawn in Steppe, Forest, and Swamp). This has no impact on the total amount of Guardians spawned.
  

War Gloves

War Gloves are an entirely new weapon line featuring three new base weapons, four artifact weapons, and fifteen new abilities, plus unique passives. They are melee-focused and offer damage, mobility, and control abilities along with limited ranged abilities. They can be crafted in the Warrior's Forge and feature their own Combat and Crafting masteries on the Destiny Board.

• Includes full Destiny Board trees, including specializations, masteries, and Elite Levels (see below)
  
• War Gloves receive a city crafting bonus in Caerleon
  
• Artifact War Gloves are crafted via new Artifacts that drop in the open world or can be made at the Artifact Foundry
  
• Black Hands have been replaced with a new dagger, the Demonfang (see "Combat Balance Changes" section below for details)
  

Reworked Guild Seasons

Might and Favor / Conqueror's Challenge:
To shift the focus of Guild Seasons away from territorial control and more towards player activity, their reward systems have been reworked and the Conquerors' Challenge was introduced.

• Conqueror's Challenge:
  
  • Runs for the entirety of a Guild Season
    
  • Open to all players, not only guild-affiliated players
    

The Conquerors' Challenge introduces two new reward systems, Might, and Favor:

• Might:
  
  • Allows progress towards a personal seasonal challenge goal
    
  • Unlocks rewards such as seasonal battle mounts, fame boosts, and new seasonal collectible avatars
    
  • Can be earned by performing various activities which carry a risk of PvP, including:
    
    • PvE in the Outlands / Roads of Avalon
      
    • Opening treasure chests
      
    • Killing Siphoning Mages / Crystal Spiders
      
    • Playing Hellgates / Crystal League
      
    • Winning Corrupted Dungeons
      
    • Capturing Hideout Power Cores and Territory Energy Crystals (see below)
      
• Favor:
  
  • Favor is also earned in most cases where Might is earned
    
  • This is a currency that can be used to purchase Siphoned Energy and additional reward chests
    

Guild-affiliated players' activities will additionally contribute to their guild's Might Level:

• Each Guild Might Level completed awards Season Points
  
• In this way, all players in a guild can contribute towards Season Points, while earning Might and Favor for themselves
  
• When a guild reaches a new season bracket, members are in turn rewarded with:
  
  • A significant amount of Might
    
  • An additional bonus to any Might earned during the rest of the season
    

Alongside these changes to Guild Seasons, a Season Overview has been added to show:

• A guild's current rank
  
• How Season Points have been earned
  
• Which guild members have contributed the most Might to each Might Level
  
• Which guild members have earned the most Season Points via the Crystal League
  

The Season Overview no longer shows season rewards, since these are now earned via the Conqueror's Challenge.

Additional changes for Season 14:

• Killing Siphoning Mages, Crystal Spiders, etc. no longer directly gives Season Points, these can now be earned through the corresponding Might Levels
  
• Territory levels rebalanced (see Territory Energy Crystals)
  
• Castles, Castle Outposts, and Guild Challenge no longer grant Siphoned Energy
  
• Crystal League rewards rebalanced, Season Rewards now based on Conqueror's Challenge (see above)
  

Headquarters Hideouts:

• Based on their performance in the previous season, guilds can earn the right to declare a Headquarters for the duration of the subsequent Season
  
• Guilds must earn a minimum number of Season Points and rank among the top 600 guilds of the season
  
• Declaring a Headquarters in higher-quality zones in the Outlands requires increased Season Point totals in the previous season [link to forum post]
  
• Undamaged HQ Hideouts cannot be attacked while maintaining a high enough power level and receive 50% additional power when capturing a Power Core (see Hideout Power Cores)
  
• HQ Hideouts cannot be accessed by anyone outside the owning guild
  
• Guilds qualifying for an HQ at the end of a Season also receive a single Hideout "Booster" which can be used in the subsequent Season
  
• Boosters can be used to
  
  • Declare a Hideout under construction an HQ and make it invulnerable to attack during construction, as well as providing a starting amount of Power
    
  • Boost the Power level of an existing Hideout (see Hideout Power Cores)
    
• Your current Season's Headquarters Qualifications can be seen in the Guild Estates Overview in the Guild UI
  
• Your upcoming Headquarters Qualifications can be seen in the new Season Overview
  
• HQ Hideouts are currently not able to be declared in the Roads of Avalon, but this will be reevaluated in a future update
  

Hideout Power Cores:

• Hideout Power Cores spawn at Power Anomalies at randomized places and times in the Outlands
  
• Power Anomalies are marked on the local map as well as on the world map at a distance depending on the strength of the Anomaly
  
• When spawning, Power Anomalies are initially protected by an energy shield for a duration depending on their strength
  
• Once the shield fails, a Power Core is revealed which can be picked up by a player on foot
  
• Mounting or dying will drop the Power Core, and the player cannot enter the Roads of Avalon, Randomized Dungeons, or other instanced locations while carrying a Power Core
  
• Power Cores can be captured at Hideouts to boost their Power Level
  
• A Hideout's Power Level increases its crafting bonuses and provides a Black Zone fame buff on entering to any players who have their Home set at the Hideout. The strength of these effects depends on the Hideout's Power Level
  
• A Hideout's Power Level degrades over time
  

Territory Energy Crystals:

• Territory Energy Crystals spawn from Energy Vortices at randomized places and times in the Outlands
  
• Energy Vortices are marked on the local map as well as the world map at a distance depending on the strength of the Vortex
  
• Energy Vortices will move across the landscape until they dissipate and leave behind a Territory Energy Crystal. The stronger the Vortex, the longer it will take to dissipate.
  
• The Energy Crystal can be picked up by a player on foot, mounting or dying will drop the Crystal and players cannot enter the Roads of Avalon or instanced locations while carrying it
  
• Territory Energy Crystals can be captured at one of your guild's Territory Watchtowers to boost the Territory Energy Level
  
• Territory Levels increase the amount of Season points generated by Siphoning mages in the Territory, as well as increase the enchantment rate of resources in the local region.
  
• Territory Energy Levels decrease over time.
  
• Playing Crystal League matches from a territory tower now adds an amount of Energy to the Territory (instead of directly increasing its level)
  
• Territories no longer provide a gathering yield bonus within their boundaries
  

Elite Levels

Elite Levels:
20 additional Elite Combat Specialization Levels have been added for each weapon:

• They are unlocked by spending Fame Credits and Silver
  
• Elite Levels give the same Item Power increases as normal levels
  

Specialization Medals:
Specialization Medal icons appear on equipped items in your inventory and when inspecting other players, visualizing the level of specialization achieved with the item.

Medals are visible in Inventory, Duel Requests, Party Invites, Loadout Creation, and Inspection.

Overall Fame Increase + Adjustments

With the introduction of Elite Levels, in addition to the massively increased fame available from upgraded mobs, the overall amount of Fame earned for most activities will increase significantly (between 20-50%), with the exception of some activities that already offer very high levels of Fame (Slayer difficulty Corrupted Dungeons and Hardcore Expeditions).

Instanced Content Specific Changes
As the Lands Awakened update aims to return focus to the Open World, outlying instanced content has had its overall rewards reduced. While many of these activities remain incredibly rewarding, targeted adjustments were necessary to accomplish our goal of rewarding Open World gameplay.

Corrupted Dungeons
The bonus from Infamy to Corrupted Dungeon loot and Fame has been reworked. The cap to this bonus is now +50%, which brings its Infamy scaling more in line with that of Hellgates. This is primarily intended to limit the high-value potential of the highest end while preserving the base rewards to keep entry-level values the same.

Hardcore Expeditions
In order to ensure Hardcore Expeditions are properly aligned with other features, a reduction to the overall rewards was necessary.

We also increased how much power the enemies in Expeditions gain per level to compensate for the newly introduced Elite Levels. There will be no changes to Level 1 Expeditions, but it will slightly increase each level until it reaches its peak at +5% more damage and hit points at level 15 and beyond.

Our view is that HCEs should be the most challenging and rewarding safe-zone content in Albion Online, but they should never be so rewarding as to draw in players who would otherwise be willing to brave the risks of the Open World.

The Fame / Silver rewards for each level of Hardcore expeditions have been adjusted as follows:





Knight's Vow Bonus Doubled
In addition to the huge fame increases across the game, the "Knight's Vow" seasonal items have had their bonus doubled. These items are now available through the Conqueror's Challenge, and yield as much as 10% additional Fame for their duration (which is still 90 days).

Hideout Power Level Fame Buff
Players receive a Fame buff from their Hideout if that Hideout is set as their home. This fame buff scales with the power level of your Hideout up to 10%.

Faction Point Conversion Rate Adjustment
As Fame has been broadly increased across the entire game, the PvE Fame to Faction Point conversion rate has been adjusted so that Faction Point acquisition will not be affected by this change. Players should now receive more Fame, but the same amount of Faction Points.

Usage Fee and Crafting Changes

Usage Fees (the "taxes" building owners charge users for crafting/refining) are now directly derived from the Nutrition an item consumes from the workstation:

• The fee is set in the game UI to be calculated per 100 Nutrition consumed
  
• New menu accessible from the price screen gives a detailed overview of all calculations that lead to the crafting price
  

Crafting Improvements / Fixes:

• Increased item value of T2, T4.2, and T4.3 Raw Resources, leading to a clearer progression in the item value of Refined Resources for each Tier or Enchantment
  
• Fixed an issue where the crafting price of items that are created in batches by default (like Meat or non-Fish foods) would only be equal to 1 item instead of the whole batch
  
• Fixed an issue where Avalonian Offhand Artifacts were treated as level 3 Artifacts (should have been level 4); roughly doubling their Item Value
  
• Adjusted the Item Values of some Artifacts because their Item Values were different even though they were at the same power level
  
• Fixed the way consumable values were calculated:
  
  • As with Nutrition, Focus is now derived from the Nutrition of the ingredients of a consumable item (formerly based on the item being created)
    
  • Nutrition consumed by the building was previously added to consumable items when Focus costs were calculated, meaning Focus costs were too high
    
  • Fish Sauce is now considered in Focus Cost Prices - was previously ignored in Focus calculation even though it could be returned by using Focus
    
• Fixed an issue where Intermediate Ingredients (Meat, Flour, Butter, Bread, and Alcohol) had the nutrition they consume added twice to their final Nutrition
  
• Cape Crests are now treated as Level 1 (Rune) Artifacts and have an appropriate corresponding Item Value
  
• Nutrition and Item Value stats are now shown in the same place for all relevant items over the estimated Market Value
  
• Mount Focus costs updated and rebalanced
  
• Fixed an issue where studying multiple stacks of the same item was more expensive than studying the same amount of items in one stack
  
• To see the new Item Values, Focus Costs, etc. in detail, click here: [link to forum post]
  

Quality-of-Life / UI Improvements

Buyable Loadouts:

• Loadouts can now be purchased via the Marketplace
  
• A special tab allows players to purchase Loadouts and gives data about relative cost and availability
  

Item Rerolling:

• Players can now stack up to 999 items in the Reroll Menu (max 4 stacks), which may include different item types
  
• Players can set their goal quality; all Items exceeding this quality will be put back into inventory
  
• Players can now see the reroll probabilities for items they have added
  
• Cost and Chance Rebalancing:
  
  • Chance of success and cost now both scale with the item's starting quality
    
  • Chance of success drastically increased
    
  • As a result of these changes rerolling Normal, Good, and Outstanding Items has become more viable
    
  • The cost of rerolling into a Masterpiece stays the same
    
• To make Quality more impactful we increased the Item Power it gives to an item
  
  • Good:10 → 20
    
  • Outstanding:20 → 40
    
  • Excellent: 50 → 60
    

Party Improvements:

• New /join command
  
• /invite and /join can now be used to merge whole parties
  
• New interface allows inspecting of gear/item power of potential party members
  
• Improved party-related notifications
  
• Added /snooze command to auto-ignore party invites, either ongoingly or for a chosen duration
  
• Added option to use /invite /join or /kick without typing character names for already selected targets
  
• Added cooldowns for /join and /invite requests to avoid abuse
  

Farming Usability Improvements:

• Shift-Click to Harvest
  
• Shift-Click to Nurture
  
• Shift-Click to Pick up
  
• Shift-Click to Feed
  
• "Take all" option can now be toggled on or off
  

Expanded Soundtrack and Combat Audio

The game soundtrack has been significantly expanded and updated with full orchestral recordings. Music for the following features has been newly added or greatly expanded:

• The Royal Cities and Caerleon, with each city soundtrack reflecting its character
  
• Combat and Bosses, with music adjusting dynamically according to threat level and mob type
  
• Music for Hideouts that changes as the level is upgraded
  
• The Tutorial
  
• Starter Towns (Mountain Cross, Steppe Cross, etc.)
  
• The Destiny Board
  

Real Estate Plots Added to Rests

Real Estate Plots that allow players to build crafting and refining stations have been added to Rests (Outlands Towns). These can be purchased by players through the land auction system. Accordingly, these towns now have crafting and refining bonuses as follows:

• Base refining bonus: 15%
  
• Base crafting bonus: 18%
  
• Specialization crafting bonus: 15%
  
• Additional Weapon/Armor tree crafting bonuses:
  
  • Arthur's Rest: Warrior Weapon lines + Plate Armor (no off-hands)
    
  • Merlyn's Rest: Hunter Weapon lines + Leather Armor (no off-hands)
    
  • Morgana's Rest: Mage Weapon lines + Cloth Armor (no off-hands)
    

New Achievements

13 new Achievements have been added (for Steam as well as native/mobile clients) related to new features including Power Cores / Energy Crystals, War Gloves, Open-World Treasures, and more.

New Spell Icons

• Divine Staff E - Divine Protection
  
• Bedrock Mace E - Force of Nature
  
• Morning Star E - Root Prison
  
• Camlann Mace E - Vendetta
  
• 1H Fire Staff E - Pyroblast
  
• Fire Staff W - Fire Ball
  

Mobile Changes and Fixes

• The in-game chat now has a maximized mode triggered upon entering text, which can be disabled in the chat options
  
• Added an option to lock the virtual joystick in place instead of centering where it was first touched
  
• Drop-down UI elements in the mobile version have been replaced with more responsive selection elements which are now easier to use
  
• Marketplace filter elements increased in size for better readability
  
• Fast travel destination selection improved for use with mobile keyboards
  

Other Changes and Improvements

• A new type of Artifact resource has been added to Conqueror's Challenge Chests (see above), which allows the creation of any Artifact weapon/armor from the corresponding tier and type:
  
  • Crystallized Spirit (any Runic Undead, Morgana, or Keeper)
    
  • Crystallized Dread (any Demonic)
    
  • Crystallized Magic (any Relic Undead, Morgana, or Keeper)
    
  • Crystallized Divinity (any Avalonian)
    
• Satchels of Insight now give more bonus Fame and require less Silver per Fame:
  
  • T4 Bonus Fame: 20.046% → 40.002% | Silver per Fame: 1.3 → 1.25
    
  • T5 Bonus Fame: 24.147% → 44.467% | Silver per Fame: 1.29 → 1.23
    
  • T6 Bonus Fame: 28.786% → 49.531% | Silver per Fame: 1.28 → 1.21
    
  • T7 Bonus Fame: 34.052% → 55.295% | Silver per Fame: 1.27 → 1.19
    
  • T8 Bonus Fame: 40.051% → 61.882% | Silver per Fame: 1.26 → 1.17
    
  • T8.3 Bonus Fame: 63.887 → 88.246% | Silver per Fame: 1.24 → 1.13
    
  • T8.3 Masterpiece Bonus Fame: 74.417% → 100% | Silver per Fame: 1.23 → 1.12
    
• Hideout Changes:
  
  • Energy Manipulators now appear in Level 2 Hideouts
    
  • Hideout base refining bonus: 0.18 → 0.15
    
  • Removed specialization refining bonus for Hideouts
    
  • Hideout base crafting bonus: 0.25 → 0.18
    
  • Rebalanced progression of specialization crafting bonus in Hideouts based on zone quality:
    
    • Quality 1: 0.18 → 0.15
      
    • Quality 2: 0.21 → 0.20
      
    • Quality 3: 0.24 → 0.25
      
    • Quality 4: 0.27 → 0.30
      
    • Quality 5: 0.30 → 0.35
      
    • Quality 6: 0.33 → 0.40
      
• Dungeon Maps (Solo, Group, and Elite) may now open in zones with lower tiers than the map, as follows:
  
  • Maps opened in Royal Continent (excludes Elite):
    
    • T4 maps: T4 zones only
      
    • T5 maps: T5 zones only
      
    • T6 maps: T6 zones only
      
    • T7 maps: T6 and T7 zones
      
  • Maps opened in Outlands:
    
    • T5 maps: T5 zones only
      
    • T6 maps: T5-6 zones
      
    • T7 maps: T5-7 zones
      
    • T8 maps: T5-8 zones
      
• Skipping overcrowded zones on the Royal continent no longer requires a minimum active time, meaning players can skip overcrowded zones immediately after the queue is activated
  
• Journal changes: After an economic analysis of resource returns and crafting efficiencies across the game, it was found that the large amounts of resource generation produced by laborers was negatively impacting the profitability of both gathering and crafting. As a result, a reduction in the overall output of laborers was necessary. The amount of Fame required to fill crafting journals has consequently been tripled, though this change has been somewhat counterbalanced by an increase to the amount of Fame received when crafting enchanted items.
  
  • Tripled the Fame required to fill Crafting Laborer Journals
    
  
  
  • Increased gathering/refining/crafting Fame for enchanted raw resources:
    
    • Enchantment level 2 raw resources: +33.33% Fame
      
    • Enchantment level 3 raw resources: +100% Fame
      
      • This translates into a Refining / Crafting Fame increase as this Fame is derived from its required resources
        
    • Overwritten Crafting Fame for enchanted T4 refined resources to account for the absence of enchanted T3 resources:
      
      • T4.1: 37.5 → 45
        
      • T4.2: 52.5 → 90
        
      • T4.3: 67.5 → 180
        
    • Further adjusted T7 and T8 Journal Fame values to make Fame more neatly divisible throughout the journals while not affecting the Fame to Resource ratio
      
  
  

• Treasure Fishing Spots in the Roads now use the loot configuration of the Outlands (formerly used configuration of the Royal continent)
  

• Adjusted some weight and durability values for special mounts to bring them more in line with Riding Horses:
  
  • Weight:
    
    • Saddled Moabird: 53.2 kg → 35.4 kg
      
    • Saddled Winter Bear: 53.2 kg → 35.4 kg
      
    • Saddled Wild Boar: 53.2 kg → 35.4 kg
      
    • Saddled Bighorn Ram: 53.2 kg → 35.4 kg
      
    • Saddled Swamp Salamander: 53.2 kg → 35.4 kg
      
    • Saddled Greywolf: 53.2 kg → 35.4 kg
      
    • Moose: 79.7 kg → 53.2 kg
      
    • Flame Basilisk: 119.6 kg → 79.7 kg
      
    • Venom Basilisk: 119.6 kg → 79.7 kg
      
    • Siege Ballista: 79.7 kg → 53.2 kg
      
  • Durability:
    
    • Direwolf: 40,500 → 60,750
      
• Renamed Redleaf Cotton to Amberleaf Cotton to match a recoloring of the plant
  

• Mounting and Dismounting now have their own tooltips
  
• Flagging for a Faction now grants a small bonus to PvE Fame
  
• Improved visuals and visibility of loot bags
  
• Hellgate Layout Changes:
  
  • Northern stair choke points of the central platform in "The Hill" are now the same width as the southern
    
  • The central bridge in "The Traverse" now has an additional loop
    
  • The final platform in "The Tribunal" is now accessible from four sides with wider stairs
    
• Forest Castles: the two small moats between the gates have been removed to make the layout more in line with castles in other biomes
  

Combat Balance Changes

Bows
The recent changes to bows allow better counterplay for enemies. However, the buff duration was made slightly too short, making it easy to keep bow players in check and denying the burst damage from Enchanted Quiver. For this reason, the buff duration has been extended.

• Enchanted Quiver (Regular Bow)
  
  • Attack Buff Duration: 2.5s → 3.5s
    

Daggers
With the introduction of War Gloves, Black Hands have also been reworked into a more fitting item for the Dagger line. Black Hands previously felt somewhat out of place in that weapon tree, so a new dagger has been added that is better suited to the assassin theme.

• Black Hands have been replaced by a one-handed dagger: Demonfang
  
• Devastating Strike (E-slot) has been removed
  
• Demonfang has a new E-slot ability, Blood Ritual:
  
  • Infuse your blade with blood magic and swing it in front of you, dealing 150 magical damage to all enemies hit. Deals 60 physical damage over 2s to yourself (self-damage stacks up to 3 times). The ability can be recast again within 1.5s up to a maximum of 3 times. Each recast increases its cooldown by 5s.
    
  • Casts: 1 / 2 / 3
    
  • Cooldown: 10s / 15s / 20s
    

Quarterstaffs
This update improves the general feel of auto-attacks for Quarterstaff. Attack animations have been overhauled to make them more dynamic with a faster average hit interval. Damage-per-second and the time for passives to activate remain unchanged. Additionally, the range of Auto Attacks and some targeted abilities have been increased to emphasize the range of the weapon. These changes are primarily intended to make the weapon more enjoyable to use. However, since Grailseeker is already very strong in a range of content types and will benefit from the range increase, the duration of its wall and root effects have been reduced.

• Auto-attacks:
  
  • Auto-attack Range: 3m → 4m
    
  • Auto-attack Speed: every 1s → every 0.5s (on average)
    
  • Auto-attack damage per hit is halved.
    
  • New auto-attack animations and timings for blunt Quarterstaffs:
    
    • 3-Hit Combo with varied attack speed and damage:
      
      • Quarterstaffs
        
      • Ironclad Staff
        
      • Staff of Balance
        
      • Grailseeker
        
  • New Auto Attack Animations and timings for bladed Quarterstaffs:
    
    • Constant quick 2-Hit attacks:
      
      • Double-Bladed Staff
        
      • Black Monk Stave
        
      • Soulscythe
        
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
• Concussive Blow (all Quarterstaffs)
  
  • Range: 3m → 4m
    
• Empowered Slam (all Quarterstaffs)
  
  • Range: 3m → 4m
    
• Soul Shaker (Grailseeker)
  
  • Wall Duration: 4s → 3.5s
    
  • Root Duration: 3.5s → 3s
    
• Stunning Strikes (Passive, all Quarterstaffs)
  
  • Number of Auto Attacks needed: 5 → 10
    
• Energetic (Passive, all Quarterstaffs)
  
  • Energy per hit: 1.24 → 0.62
    
• Dreadladen Fighting (Passive, all Quarterstaffs)
  
  • Number of Auto Attacks needed: 4 → 8
    

Armors



Mercenary Jacket had synergized extremely well with DoT weapons but less so with other weapon lines. To change this, max healing now requires fewer hits. Max healing output will remain almost the same. However, DoTs now no longer trigger the healing effect, opening up the ability to work with more weapon combinations. Additionally, the buff duration has been reduced, so countering it by denying the damage is a more effective option against it.

• Bloodlust (Mercenary Jacket):
  
  • Now only heals on Direct Damage (DoTs don't trigger healing anymore)
    
  • Max amount of heals: 15 → 9
    
  • Heal per Hit: 26 → 42
    
  • Buff Duration: 8s → 6s
    

Helmets
Howl has been overhauled to feel more up-to-date, with no stand-time and a better application of its debuff. Additionally, it can now be used as a ranged interrupt, so it can also be used on leather hoods as an additional utility spell to swap to. A small cast time has been added to Flash of Insight to allow better counterplay against builds that use double Bloodlust (Mercenary Jacket). This also adds another layer of decision-making about when best to use this ability, rather than it simply being used every time after an armor ability. To prevent interrupts from being completely devastating, the cooldown, when a cast is interrupted, is halved.

• Howl (all Leather Helmets)
  
  • Stand time: 0.6s → 0s
    
  • Now also interrupts enemy spell casting
    
  • Range: 10m → 12m
    
  • Attack Speed Reduction: 15% → 40%
    
  • Attack Speed Reduction Duration: 8s → 5s
    
  • Slow Strength: 30% → 35%
    
  • Slow Duration: 8s → 5s
    
• Flash of Insight (Specter Hood)
  
  • Added a 0.5s cast time
    
  • Hit Delay: 0.4s → 0s
    
  • Interrupting the cast will cause the ability to go on a 30s cooldown.
    

Shoes
Royal March has continued to dominate the shoe-meta in Corrupted Dungeons. The general playstyle of this item was well-suited to these as it is better at chasing than escaping. However, it is not desirable for this to completely outshine every other shoe in this content and so limit build varieties. Therefore its strong chase potential has been maintained while its additional defense buff has been removed, meaning the item is specialized only through its strong chase ability and offers no extra value in combat itself.

• Royal Boots:
  
  • Removed the Bonus Defense buff
    

Mount Changes
To encourage players to explore the open world and actively fight roaming mobs, dismounting rules have been changed. If a player dismounts and there is no enemy player within a 40m range, the player can instantly use their three weapon abilities (Q, W, and E). However, the other ability slots (head, armor, shoe, potion, and food) will retain a 5s cooldown after dismounting.

• Q, W, and E ability slots now have a 0s cooldown when no enemy player is within a 40m range
  
• Unable to auto-attack players after dismount: 3s → 5s
  
• Mounting Up with abilities (example FW Elite Mounts) no longer places mount ability slots on a 10s cooldown
  
• Time-until-gallop stat on mounts: previously, the time it took to get back into gallop was always a fixed 8s independent from your mount. Now, the time it takes to get back into gallop after taking damage varies by mount (this is the time to gallop stat on the mount). This makes it easier to escape ganks while mounted and encourages more players to venture into the Outlands to take part in all the new content added with this update. At the same time, gankers stand to benefit from this elevated overall activity, which should more than offset the fact that individual ganks might become somewhat harder.
  

Fixes

• Destiny Board: Complete information on gathering speed, gathering yield, and item power bonuses now appears for gathering gear as intended
  
• Fixed an issue where it was possible to heal other players without going into combat mode
  
• Spell and Mob fixes:
  
  • Fixed a bug where the Silence icon/debuff of Sacred Ground (all Maces) was displayed too long on mobs
    
  • Fixed an issue where Spiritual Seed (Druidic Staff) displayed an incorrect cooldown
    
  • Avalonian Knight Captain is now immune to forced movement effects as intended
    
  • Fixed a bug where the Avalonian Archmage would sometimes have overlapping aggro phases after being engaged a second time
    
  • Avalonian High Priestess: fixed an issue where summoned mobs would die after pursuing targets rather than retargeting
    
  • Cartwheel (Quarterstaffs) no longer ignores CC Resistance on Mobs
    
• Setting "Home" in a Hideout and fast traveling via Travel Planner to a city, then using the Realmgate there, now leaves Home binding intact as intended
  
• Fixed an issue where character names were not clickable in the chat context menu
  
• Fixed an issue where the player stats UI would break after deleting text in the "personal message" field
  
• Hideouts: guild logos now appear on the elevator platform, and the Expedition Master appears on the minimap, as intended
  
• Fixed an issue where the first gathering level for all tiers awarded the gathering yield buff twice instead of awarding the gathering speed buff
  
• Numerous additional graphical, terrain, audio, animation, and localization fixes