*** Headlines ***
- See your enemies in a whole new way with our new /con system!
- Short-duration group buffs now last 10 minutes! Single-target buffs last 15 minutes!
- No more fizzles on spells that are blue or lower to you!
- Shorter timers and less restrictions on instanced zones!
- Give your beloved house pets a name!
- All tradeskill classes can now refine their own materials and components!
- Wizards and Warlocks go nuke happy!
- Tanks now tank better with increased mitigation!
- Strike back at your rival city through new sabotage quests!
- More encounters added for soloers and small groups, including solo instanced dungeons!
- You can now store empty bags inside other bags!
- Two new level 50 epic raid zones have been added: Shattered Stillness and Echoes of Time!
- Now easier to search for potions, poisons, activated items, and food!
*** Consider System ***
- A new NPC consider system has been added that provides players with information on the creatures they encounter.
- When appropriate, your target's level appears next to its name.
- The target window varies based on the target's level of challenge. A weak opponent will have a plain target window with swords under the target's name, while the target window of an epic opponent will be much more ornate.
- While the new system still shows which opponents are linked in an encounter, the consider message is based on the challenge presented by each individual target. Players who prefer to evaluate their opponents' strengths for themselves may enjoy this option
- You can switch between the old system and the new one by selecting the User Interface tab on the Options window. Under the Name and Chat Bubble heading, you can toggle the NPC Evaluation drop-down between Simple (new system) and Detailed (old system).
*** City Sabotage ***
- Wreak havoc behind enemy lines! Sabotage missions are now available from agents in Antonica and the Commonlands.
*** Gameplay ***
- House pets can now be named while you are in your house by right-clicking on your pet in the inventory window and selecting Name Pet.
- Creatures that used to appear alive after being killed should now look properly dead.
- There is now a ding, accompanied by congratulatory text, when your guild levels up.
*** Mechanics ***
- The damage bonus given by extremely high amounts of strength has been reduced. For example, having a strength of 400 previously gave a 200% damage bonus; after this change, the damage bonus is 155%. There is no change to the damage bonus at a STR of 100, and only a slight reduction at 200 STR.
- Heavy armor now mitigates 11% more damage. Light armor now mitigates 35% more damage.
- Having stamina greater than 200 will now increase the character's maximum health pool.
- Maximum power will increase when the stats used to determine it (strength, agility, intelligence, or wisdom) go above 200.
- Melee combat arts will decrease in effectiveness when equipping a weapon that is green to the character. They will decrease even further if a grey weapon is equipped.
- If an epic opponent can only be hit by a certain quality of weapon, that weapon's level must be within 75% or 5 levels of the target's level.
- A bug that was giving some characters extra points in certain skills has been corrected. For example, Artisans will no longer receive 5 extra points in the skills they stop advancing when they choose a class or subclass, and Brawlers no longer gain extra Deflection at lower levels.
- Players will no longer receive a "mini-ding" at reaching 100% of a level if they are unable to gain a level due to a milestone requirement (such as the citizenship quest, class quest, etc.).
*** Spells ***
- Spell casters will no longer fizzle on any spell that is blue, green, or grey to them, as long as their casting skills are maximized.
- Targeted persistent hostile spells (such as DoTs) should no longer drop if the caster summons a pet.
- Spectral Guard and Malefic Shroud will now last up to 10 hits before expiring instead of fading after a single hit.
- Flaming Agony and Fiery Doom should now show in the maintained window once they have been cast.
- Vexation upgrades are now available in from the appropriate merchants, recipe books, and loot drops.
- The stat bonuses given by Geotic Brand will no longer change when a player zones.
- Flameshield now does heat damage instead of divine.
- Wizard changes:
- Breath of the Tyrant and Immolation no longer share the same reuse timer.
- Ball of Flames and Ball of Fire no longer share the same reuse timer.
- Piercing Icicles and Icy Coil no longer share the same reuse timer.
- Ball of Flame now has a cast time of 2 seconds and a recast time of 6 seconds.
- Burning Intimidation now does 4 times its previous amount of damage.
- Immolation now deals 2 additional ticks of heat damage at 120% of the initial instant damage. The cast time has been increased to 3 seconds and the recast time is now 21 seconds.
- Ice Comet's damage has been increased 275%, and its reuse time is now 45 seconds.
- Freeze and Daenor's Lingering Frost now do 3 times their previous amount of damage.
- Icy Coil's initial instant damage has been increased 350%.
- Piercing Icicles now deals 200% additional instant piercing damage.
- Warlock changes:
- Negative Absolution no longer shares a reuse timer with Null Absolution or Nil Absolution, and the maximum number of targets has been limited to 5.
- Null Absolution no longer shares a reuse timer with Negative Absolution or Nil Absolution, and the maximum number of targets has been limited to 5. The spell now deals additional poison damage over time.
- Nil Absolution no longer shares a reuse timer with Negative Absolutionor or Null Absolution, and the maximum number of targets has been limited to 5. The spell now deals additional poison damage over time and lowers strength by 5.
- Dark Distortion no longer shares a reuse timer with Nil Distortion, and its damage has been increased to 150%.
- Nil Distortion no longer shares a reuse timer with Dark Distortion. Its damage has been increased to 240% and it has a reuse timer of 18 seconds.
- Flashfreeze now has a casting time of 1 second, and its damage has been tripled.
- Noxious Bolt now has a reuse time of 6.5 seconds, and its damage has been tripled.
- Dark Emanations no longer shares a reuse timer with Torment of Shadows.
- Torment of Shadows no longer shares a reuse timer with Dark Emanations. Its instant damage has been tripled, and its damage over time has doubled.
- Dark Nebula now does 3 times its previous damage. It is an upgrade to Grievous Blast, sharing a reuse timer with Grievous Blast and Putrid Cloud.
- Devastation will now affect up to 5 targets in a radius of 10 meters with a recast time of 45 seconds. Its instant damage and DoT effect has been reduced by 50%.
- Short duration group buffs now last 10 minutes, and single target buffs now last 15 minutes. This affects the following spells:
- Assassin: Bleeder's Talent, Merciless Villainy
- Bard: Bria's Stirring Ballad, Performer's Talent
- Berserker: Bloodlust, Battle Chant, Screaming Fury, Tides of War, Destructive Rage, Greater Fury, Uthros' Superior Tactics
- Brigand: Burgle, Rough Skin, Stealthy Burglary, Aegis
- Bruiser: Intimidating Orders, Rousing Cry, Velan's Nervy Order
- Coercer: Recklessness, Refresh, Annoying Demeanor, Empathic Link, Mind's Eye, Konious' Glowing Breeze, Glyssa's Emboldening Glyph
- Conjurer: Provocation, Fire Seed, Volatile Refuge, Vehement Stone, Flameshield, Blazing Presence, Varski's Encouraging Ward
- Crusader: Offering of Armament, Theron's Heartening Call
- Defiler: Dread Invective, Lucar's Grasping Tendrils
- Dirge: Death's Scent, Hyran's Angry Sonata, Lithe Disbelief, Tuyen's Chant of the Arcane
- Druid: Nettleshield
- Enchanter: Breeze
- Fighter: Call to Arms
- Fury: Bristlepelt, Savagery, Fae Fire, Porcupine, Brishan's Quillshield, Hammerwind's Zealous Frenzy
- Guardian: Form of Ferocity, Guardian's Call, Call of Command, Desperate Flurry, Do or Die, Call to Battle, Return to Battle, Briteblade's Command, Braksan's Desperate Rally
- Illusionist: Fleeting Thoughts, Alacrity, Scintillating Aura, Intensity, Kor-Sha's Adroit Seal, Fozzin's Propitious Visions
- Inquisitor: Act of Belief
- Monk: Wisdom of Zephyl, Everburning Flame, Quiet Purity
- Mystic: Avatar
- Necromancer: Boon of the Lifeless, Rending Frenzy, Opal's Aggravating Seal, Darkbriar's Corpseskin
- Paladin: Blessing of the Penitent, Divine Inspiration, Blessing of the Devout, Prayer of Devotion, Call to Glory, Caswon's Penitent Benediction, Theron's Call of Hope
- Predator: Hunter's Instinct
- Ranger: Steady Aim, Forester's Insight, Veil of the Forest, Tolan's Talent
- Rogue: Smuggle, Street Smarts
- Shadowknight: Unholy Order, Insatiable Hunger, Genux's Dark Embrace
- Sorcerer: Burning Radiance, Accord
- Summoner: Agitation
- Swashbuckler: Swarthy Distraction, Freeboot, Flight of Fancy, Feigned Bravado, Bootleg, Bladeweaver
- Templar: Vigilant Benediction, Glory of Combat, Resolve
- Troubador: Alin's Soothing Serenade, Elise's Ditty, Kian's Destructive Anthem, Daelis' Dance of Blades, Cassindra's Chant of Clarity
- Warden: Barbcoat, Primeval Instinct, Numbing Spores, Duststorm, Vesteri's Gorseshield, Salmekia's Pact of the Pride
- Warlock: Venomous Runes, Abhorrent Gift, Toxic Grasp, Nihilism, Palon's Burning Blood
- Warrior: Battle Tactics, Uthros' Defiant Cry
- Wizard: Flametongue, Concurrence, Frostbound Gift, Frostshield, Casthopur's Frostburn, El'Arad's Custodial Warding
*** Items ***
- Empty bags can now be stored inside other bags. You can't put any items into a bag that is located within another.
- The run-speed benefits of mounts and certain items have been reduced:
- Starter Mounts (2.5pp) - 24%, formerly 32%
- Standard Mounts (5pp) - 32%, formerly 40%
- Best Non Status Mount (8.2pp) - 40%, formerly 48%
- Flying Carpets/Undead Mounts (50pp and status) - 48%, formerly 56%
- Crusader Mounts - 10%, formerly 32%
- Totem buff - 24% with a 30 minute duration, formerly 40%
*** Zones and Population ***
- Timers on most instanced zones have been reduced. Level and group size requirements have been removed, except for guild raids purchased with status points and certain quest-specific zones. The new timers are as follows:
- Level 10-19 zones - 1 hour fail, 8 hour reuse
- Level 20-29 zones - 2 hour fail, 12 hour reuse
- Level 30-39 zones - 2 hour fail, 18 hour reuse
- Level 40-49 zones - 4 hour fail, 18 hour reuse
- Level 50+ zones - 6 hour fail, 18 hour reuse
- The vertical doors in Solusek's Eye and the Obelisk of Lost Souls should work better.
- Keys that allow you to progress deeper into the Wailing Caves will now be found on their respective owners' corpses rather than inside treasure chests.
- Venekor's breath attack has been adjusted so that subsequent ticks of its damage-over-time spell do the same amount of damage as the initial hit.
- The Vision of Vox's breath weapon does less damage, but can now affect all members of a raid party. Her loot quality has been improved.
- The loot dropped by encounters in the Draconic quests has been improved.
- Foulgill the Rotten's loot has been adjusted to better match the challenge of the encounter.
- Raids cannot zone into the instanced dungeons in Enchanted Lands and Thundering Steppes.
- Solo versions of the instanced dungeons in Orcish Wastes, Enchanted Lands, and Thundering Steppes have been added. If you are solo or grouped with one other person, you will automatically enter these instances. Groups of three or more will enter the heroic versions.
- Entrances to the instanced dungeons in Orcish Wastes, Enchanted Lands, and Thundering Steppes will now appear more frequently.
- Advanced solo/small group encounters have been added to the Orcish Wastes, the Feerrott, and Rivervale.
- Two new level 50 epic raid zones have been added: Shattered Stillness in Antonica, where you may find Arch Lich Udalan; and Echoes of Time in Commonlands, where you will find King Zalak. Be wary, for these beings are rumored to be a challenge for a full raid of hardy adventurers.
- That greedy little rat Stiletto fired his scouts and is carrying out his orders alone now to maximize his profits.
- Bouncer Prud can now be found more frequently.
- Opponents that require two or more groups are now more likely to drop useful crafting components.
- NPCs in the Open Grave Heroic zone should now be between 25 and 27, except for the boss who is a higher level.
- Adjusted some of the abilities of the Drakota Niscanth.
- Level 40+ epic encounters do slightly more spell damage and heal for slightly more.
- Boss lifetap abilities now do more damage.
*** Quests ***
- Sir Tatters will now give the Small Matter of Bristles quest to those adventurers who declined or were unable to accept the quest before.
- Nillipuss will now only reward adventures upon completion of his quest.
- Varski, Part III can now be completed and the appropriate rewards will be given.
- Drodo will now let you complete Drodo's Goodies if you completed Curse of the Bloody Shank beforehand.
- Completion of The Lost Legend of Lavastorm heritage quest will now award status points.
- Targok will now give you another chance at accepting the third part of his quest if you initially declined the invitation.
- The items Bendik Jonkers seeks can now be found in the Edgewater Drains.
- Language quest items will now drop as corpse loot to allow those who have outleveled the creatures to complete the associated language quests.
- Additional dialog responses have been added into the Bitter Brew quest.
- Players will now receive a title reward for completing the "Deception" quest.
- Fixed some issues with the Hostile Forge instance and lowered its reuse timer.
- Corrected an issue with the access quest to the Vestibule.
*** Tradeskills ***
- Four new crafting abilities have been discovered: apothecary, weaving, timbercraft, and geomancy. These skills allow all artisans to refine the materials and components needed to make final products. New recipe books can be found on merchants or scattered throughout Norrath which teach you how to use these skills. Artisans automatically gain 5 points per level in these skills.
- New events and reaction arts have been created for apothecary, weaving, timbercraft, and geomancy. Reaction arts for these skills are based on thaumaturgy, binding, woodcraft, and geocraft. These skills increase through use. The higher your skill level, the better your chances of creating higher-quality items.
- All tradeskill recipes now require a new type of fuel at each tier. Fuel cost increases with level.
- A bug causing certain artisan-related skills to be 5 points too high has been corrected.
- The Advanced Scholar 15 book has been added to the appropriate loot drops.
*** Controls, Commands, and UI ***
- Examining a spell or art now gives you more detailed information on the exact effects of the ability. Some refinements will be made to the examine data before this feature is moved to the live servers.
- Heal amounts are now sent to the chat window, as in "You heal for X hit points." A Heal subcategory has been added to the chat options.
- A Combat General chat option has been added to filter start/stop fighting messages.
- Dragging a recipe icon into the chat window should no longer cause a crash.
- Checking and unchecking categories in Chat Options now work more logically.
- Merchant UI: New categories have been added for Potions, Poisons, Lore, and Attuneable items.
- Merchant UI: Searching for Activateable items works properly.
- Merchant UI: Searching for food by con color works properly.
- Merchant UI: The names of unusable items now appear in red.
- The scroll speed of the recipe examine window has been increased.
- The chat tab frame now fades along with the main chat window frame.
- Various issues with chat scrolling have been addressed.
- A keymap has been added for the Implied Target window. You will find the option to bind a key to this window in the Controls tab of the Options menu under Window Keys.
- Chat tabs no longer share the same buffer. You can now view up to 1000 lines of text in each chat tab.
- Chat tab titles can now be up to 20 characters long.
- Shift + Page Up and Shift + Page Down now let you scroll through responses on the primary chat window (defined with "Always Chat Here").
- Your guild will no longer show up at the bottom of the social structure list.
- Quest update messages now tell you the current/needed target numbers. The wording on many quest update messages has been clarified, and colors have been changed for emphasis.
- The tooltip on ranged weapons should now report the correct damage information for when the user masters the weapon.
- Item con colors in the broker, merchant, trade, and examine windows should better indicate whether someone can use an item.
*** Art ***
- Riders should no longer float above their horses.
- Fixed the tail on fancy horse LODs.
- Improved the horses' idle animations.
*** Audio ***
- You can no longer change the speaker type from within the game.
- Many city folk who were quiet before have found their voices.
Note: There is a new optional audio download available via the launchpad.