Game Update 6/15

DarrenJasper

DarrenJasper

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: May 2005

From www.guildwars.com:

Quote:
Update – Wednesday, June 15

This week we made the first of several steps towards improving the process of gaining skills and skill points after ascension. In coming weeks, we will continue on this path, and will work to address the difficulty of unlocking items and runes for use in PvP.

Changed the XP requirements per skill point for advanced characters. Previously, the required XP kept increasing with each successive skill point, making it very difficult to continue earning skill points after taking on a new secondary profession. Now, the required XP caps out at 20,000 per skill point.

Doubled the XP gained from killing boss monsters.

Introduced rare scrolls which, when used, grant the entire party double or triple XP for a limited duration. We also added traders for these new scrolls.

Changed the XP reward for ascension. Previously, when a character ascended, he was automatically advanced to level 20, regardless of his current level. This meant that characters who had already advanced to level 20 prior to ascension received no reward for ascending. Now, ascension gives a fixed reward of 50,000 XP.

Updated secondary profession quests so that when a player accepts a new secondary profession, he now gets the starter skills for that profession.

Improved salvage kits so that they always successfully salvage runes from monster-dropped armor. There is still a chance of destroying a rune when using a salvage kit to try to retrieve it from your own armor.

Added confirmation prompt when dragging an item to the ground during a trading session or just after a trading session, to prevent scammers from closing the trading window in the middle of a trade to try to trick their trading partners into dropping an item.

New quests: "The Ascalon Settlement" in North Kryta Province; "The Price of Steel" in Silverwood; and "The False Gods" in Temple of the Ages.

Added unique artwork for the ascended version of the Monk's Saintly Armor.

Updated the descriptions for skills Fertile Season, Balthazar's Spirit, Chimera of Intensity, Irresistible Blow, Mind Freeze, Ice Spikes, Deep Freeze, and Glyph of Energy to more accurately match the actual skill effect.

Updated mission victory conditions in Thunderhead Keep and Iron Mines of Moladune, and monster spawns in The Dragon’s Lair and Ice Caves of Sorrow, to allow players to capture skills from boss monsters before completing the mission.

Updated monster and loot spawns in Sage Lands, Watchtower Coast, Frozen Forest, The Scar, Vulture Drifts, Snake Dance, and Ettin’s Back, and for quests Iron Horse War Machine, The Monk’s Path, and Seeking the Seer.

Fixed issues with last week's update that could cause loot drops to completely stop for some players after repeated map entries, and substantially improved the loot system so that only the most extreme forms of farming will cause monsters to start to run low on loot.

Updated boss monster spawns in various explorable areas to fix issues with boss monster distribution and balance.

Made numerous changes to the "Undead Horde" quest to add more to the storyline and environment of the quest.

Changed the "Behind Enemy Lines" quest so that Aidan uses the correct model and players have a little more time to follow him.

Increased the gold reward for completing the secondary mission in Divinity Coast.

Increased the energy increment on some Druid Leggings, so that all Druid Leggings now provide 2 additional energy.

Updated henchmen in Marhan’s Grotto to use infused armor.

Updated positions and paths for NPCs in various towns and outposts to prevent NPCs from getting stuck.

Updated the Hall of Heroes so that the defender’s Ghostly Hero starts on the altar.

Fixed the Sacred Temples tournament map so that it is no longer possible to pass a relic through the gate.

Fixed elemental damage in the Domain of Elements in the Dragon’s Lair so that it does not damage monsters.

Fixed Forgotten Cursebearer and Forgotten Necromancer bosses so that they use their skills properly.

Fixed problem with quest "The Ambassador’s Quandary."

Fixed Oink in "Gates of Kryta" so that he recognizes his owner even if another player has already completed the quest.

Made text fixes for quests "Tower of Courage," "The Elementalist’s Path," and "Unsettling Rumors."

Fixed the damage ranges on Raven Staves and Ghostly Staves.

Rebalanced Blessed Griffons and Phantoms to better reflect their level.

Renamed the version of Defender’s Scalp Design which provides a bonus to Smiting to Zealot’s Scalp Design.

Renamed Mirror Self to Doppelganger.

Fixed teleporter effects in the Crystal Desert explorable areas.

Fixed various animation and scripting issues in cinematics.

Fixed environmental effects in The Crag.

Fixed teleporter in Vulture Drifts.

Fixed icon for Dwarven Ale so that it no longer appears as "under construction."

Fixed various icon issues in vendor windows so that icons do not appear as "under construction."

Fixed a bug that sometimes caused Error #95 to be displayed when trying to arrange a guild battle.

Fixed a trade bug which prevented trade between two players when both tried to initiate trade at the same time.

Added a cursor for item identification.

Updated the layout of the login screen.

Enabled clicking names in whisper text.

Updated European and Korean translations.

Fixed miscellaneous rare crash bugs.

Eclair

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Apr 2005

Wow, heheh, I told you guys the no drop for some players was a bug XD

ManadartheHealer

ManadartheHealer

Desert Nomad

Join Date: May 2005

Awaiting GW2

W/

The most important update....

NEW DWARF ALE ICON

Lasareth

Lasareth

Aquarius

Join Date: Jun 2005

Somewhere between Boardwalk and Park Place

Cmon, anet, fix the important stuff, like ascention armor :P

Hm, after what they did to geomancer armor, I don't know if I want that now >_>

xerigen

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Apr 2005

they fixed the saintly armor. unfortunately my druid's armor still looks the same. With my luck, they'll do 1 ascention armor every wednesday, with druid's armor being the last one

Studio Ghibli

Studio Ghibli

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Apr 2005

Gaelic Storm

Royal hotness.

Venom

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: May 2005

Calgary, Canada

Idiot Savants

Quote:
Fixed issues with last week's update that could cause loot drops to completely stop for some players after repeated map entries, and substantially improved the loot system so that only the most extreme forms of farming will cause monsters to start to run low on loot.
Halelujah. Now where are all those people claiming this doesn't happen, or is an isolated incident?

Creston

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: May 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by Venom
Halelujah. Now where are all those people claiming this doesn't happen, or is an isolated incident?
They're all REALLLLLLLY quiet right now, because they've been made to look like total idiots.

This is a solid update. The only thing I can see that's going to cause major anger is the ascension update. No more rushing your char to the desert at lvl 3, and ascending to 20 it seems.
I never did this, and never will, but I can guarantee that a lot of peeps will be unhappy if this is no longer possible.

I better hurry up with my run build to get to Droknar's, before they kill that too

Creston

Hysteria

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Apr 2005

Good drops are back again. I see the issue of drops rate from both sides of the fence here. My item gathering locations werent affected immensly with the prior patch but the latest has definatley increased the uncommon and rare drops, at least where I go.

ManadartheHealer

ManadartheHealer

Desert Nomad

Join Date: May 2005

Awaiting GW2

W/

I knew they would change skill points with the patch...I love it that it is capped off at 20k XP rather than thousands and thousands more

Eclair

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Apr 2005

OMG, The false gods is a SKILL QUEST! 2 skills, one for your primary and 1 for your secondary!!!

Anyone found the ascalon settlement or the silverwood ones?

DarrenJasper

DarrenJasper

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: May 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by ManadartheHealer
I knew they would change skill points with the patch...I love it that it is capped off at 20k XP rather than thousands and thousands more
What I would like to know is if I'm going to gain skill points retroactively for all thousands of XP I've gained past 20. I'm betting not, which sort of sucks since I've done most of the big-payoff Temple of Ages quests... Still, I'm very pleased with this change.

Tetris L

Tetris L

Jungle Guide

Join Date: May 2005

Germany

Servants of Fortuna

Quote:
Originally Posted by DarrenJasper
From www.guildwars.com:
Renamed Mirror Self to Doppelganger.
It's "Doppelgänger"!

Other than that ... GREAT UPDATE!

hellraisin

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: May 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by xerigen
they fixed the saintly armor. unfortunately my druid's armor still looks the same. With my luck, they'll do 1 ascention armor every wednesday, with druid's armor being the last one
does your 15k druid legging already come with +2 energy? my forge one still had +1 so i had to buy another one which means now i got to do another infusion run. i thought i was done with them after doing that 7 times for my ranger, 4 armor + 3 mask. bleh

Lews

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Mar 2005

Seattle, Washington

R/E

New Update is FTW!

Golgotha

Golgotha

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: May 2005

Rt/

I love these guys.

Eclair

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Apr 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by DarrenJasper
What I would like to know is if I'm going to gain skill points retroactively for all thousands of XP I've gained past 20. I'm betting not, which sort of sucks since I've done most of the big-payoff Temple of Ages quests... Still, I'm very pleased with this change.
You can run Underworld and Fissure of Woe over and over again and still recieve the exp rewards from the quests last I checked.

Algren Cole

Algren Cole

Banned

Join Date: Jun 2005

this is a solid update....great job addressing all the problems A-Net...there isn't a single thing I can complain about with this update

DarrenJasper

DarrenJasper

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: May 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by Eclair
You can run Underworld and Fissure of Woe over and over again and still recieve the exp rewards from the quests last I checked.
For real? I don't spend a lot of time down there so I must have missed it. That's good news, maybe my dream of unlocking all the skills on one character can be a reality.

Kishin

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: May 2005

The Twilight Vanguard [TTV]

R/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Eclair
OMG, The false gods is a SKILL QUEST! 2 skills, one for your primary and 1 for your secondary!!!

Anyone found the ascalon settlement or the silverwood ones?
I'm willing to bet Quickblade, the Shining Blade hanging around in Silverwood that you speak to for the Mysterious Message quest, probably gives you the quest.
I haven't checked though, since its a slight jog to the Silverwood.

On an unrelated note, what skill is Chimera of Intensity? I've never heard of it in my life (unless its a monster only I overlooked).

Eclair

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Apr 2005

I guess I'll try that.

Anywayz, I jogged over to Ascalon settlement and nobody offered any new quests T_T

Heron Fensbanel

Heron Fensbanel

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: May 2005

Here and there.

R/Mo

Quote:
Improved salvage kits so that they always successfully salvage runes from monster-dropped armor. There is still a chance of destroying a rune when using a salvage kit to try to retrieve it from your own armor.
I sure could have used this the other night when I got pieces of monster armor with a Major Rune of Swordsmanship and a Major Rune of Fire Magic.

Eclair

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Apr 2005

Okay, I just checked Alari Doubleblade in Silverwood (the guy for the hidden message quest) and he does give the new quest It is also a skill quest!

Just the Ascalon Settlement one left!

Zeru

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: May 2005

Tis a shame, I was expecting something similar to last weeks, which made getting elites so much easier and less time consuming. Instead, we get a band-aid patch which solves nothing. Dunno how much longer it's possible to maintain optimism that this will be fixed :-/

nyamamoto

nyamamoto

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: May 2005

ManadartheHealer

ManadartheHealer

Desert Nomad

Join Date: May 2005

Awaiting GW2

W/

Kickass

Porkchop Sandwhiches

Porkchop Sandwhiches

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jun 2005

Fishing Village in Wizard's Folly

R/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Eclair
Okay, I just checked Alari Doubleblade in Silverwood (the guy for the hidden message quest) and he does give the new quest It is also a skill quest!

Just the Ascalon Settlement one left!
lol when you head out of the door from Lion's Arch, sit and listen to the conversation between Devona, Aiden, Cynn, and Mhelon and the local Krytan.

BE|Dac

Banned

Join Date: Feb 2005

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=22158

Is a link to more exciting views and commentary on the update

Was Closed though

just for the masses

Principa Discordia

Principa Discordia

Site Contributor

Join Date: Apr 2005

England.

Quote:
Originally Posted by BE|Dac
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=22158

Is a link to more exciting views and commentary on the update

Was Closed though

just for the masses
It was closed for two reasons: -

1.) It was a duplicate topic, posted at a later time.

2.) It was badly presented and started a flamewar. I personally deleted most of the trash (including homophobic insults) myself.

Forget it existed, it's for the best.

Eclair

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Apr 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by Porkchop Sandwhiches
lol when you head out of the door from Lion's Arch, sit and listen to the conversation between Devona, Aiden, Cynn, and Mhelon and the local Krytan.
Aicic, I went to Ascalon settlement from Belgen Hot Springs XD

DrSLUGFly

DrSLUGFly

Desert Nomad

Join Date: May 2005

European Server or International

Anet rocks!!! I'm still in awe at how much they listen to the community and follow the desires we have...

Studio Ghibli

Studio Ghibli

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Apr 2005

Gaelic Storm

Dwarvern ale costs a plat now?

ManadartheHealer

ManadartheHealer

Desert Nomad

Join Date: May 2005

Awaiting GW2

W/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Studio Ghibli
Dwarvern ale costs a plat now?
OMG HAX nerf to beer

A general question; do traders start off their lives out of stock? Scroll trader was out of stock as patch was released

DarrenJasper

DarrenJasper

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: May 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by BE|Dac
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=22158

Is a link to more exciting views and commentary on the update

Was Closed though

just for the masses
I deliberately kept my partisan ideology out of this post, because I thought it would be petty to tack it onto the end of a thread claiming to focus on the patch notes. Thanks for wearing the FOX news pants, though.

ManadartheHealer

ManadartheHealer

Desert Nomad

Join Date: May 2005

Awaiting GW2

W/

Quote:
Originally Posted by DarrenJasper
I deliberately kept my partisan ideology out of this post, because I thought it would be petty to tack it onto the end of a thread claiming to focus on the patch notes. Thanks for wearing the FOX news pants, though.
Glad to see someone with good sense

Eclair

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Apr 2005

I felt that this patch is a pretty drastic and good step towards taking away grind while not shortening the PvE content.

Even though the changes might seem small, I think what's more important is the direction that A-net seems to heading towards.

For example the 20,000 exp cap for a level will definately help reduce the grind. A trip to the underworld/fissure could net over 60-70k in exp alone, couple that with the new exp scrolls and skills points are suddenly much easier to get now.

That leads to my next point. All three of the new quests are skill quests, meaning 6 free skill points right there (although if you already bought the skill, you got a bit shafted) While this might not seem like much right now, it seems A-net is heading towards adding in more quests that give skill rewards in the future. This takes a lot of time to program but I'm sure they're getting there.

Just my 2 cents

Dreamsmith

Dreamsmith

Elite Guru

Join Date: Feb 2005

Minnesota

Beguine Guild [BGN]

Quote:
Originally Posted by ManadartheHealer
A general question; do traders start off their lives out of stock? Scroll trader was out of stock as patch was released
Yes. Outfitters have built in stock, but traders do not. Traders simply facilitate trading between players. Until some players sell items to a trader, the trader can't resell them to anyone else.

ManadartheHealer

ManadartheHealer

Desert Nomad

Join Date: May 2005

Awaiting GW2

W/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dreamsmith
Yes. Outfitters have built in stock, but traders do not. Traders simply facilitate trading between players. Until some players sell items to a trader, the trader can't resell them to anyone else.
Ah, thanks for clearing that up

But, I have a bad feeling these scrolls are going to cost an arm and a leg

Gaile Gray

Gaile Gray

ArenaNet

Join Date: Feb 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by Eclair
Wow, heheh, I told you guys the no drop for some players was a bug XD
We heard you, even if others did not. *grin*
Quote:
Originally Posted by ManadartheHealer
The most important update.... NEW DWARF ALE ICON
But of course!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lasaeth
Cmon, anet, fix the important stuff, like ascention armor Hm, after what they did to geomancer armor, I don't know if I want that now >_>
We're working on it. We have a crack team of artists focused on armour even as we ... well, ok, it's 12:30 in the morning, I think we let them go home to sleep a while ago.
Quote:
Originally Posted by xerigen
they fixed the saintly armor. unfortunately my druid's armor still looks the same. With my luck, they'll do 1 ascention armor every wednesday, with druid's armor being the last one
I don't think Druid's will be last, but I'm not sure. It's coming, though!
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarrenJasper
What I would like to know is if I'm going to gain skill points retroactively for all thousands of XP I've gained past 20. I'm betting not, which sort of sucks since I've done most of the big-payoff Temple of Ages quests... Still, I'm very pleased with this change.
Glad you're pleased. I don't think any of the changes will result in retrofitting of XP, SP or any of that lot. Future characters will smile upon this change, though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tetris L
It's "Doppelgänger"! Other than that ... GREAT UPDATE!
I know. But we don't have the umlaut on our keyboards (which drives me crazy, 'cause I love German punctuation) so we have to sort of fake it with Doppelganger. Sorry 'bout that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Algren Cole
this is a solid update....great job addressing all the problems A-Net...there isn't a single thing I can complain about with this update
Wow, that's very nice of you to say. Personally, I was hoping for my Pet Dye, but I can't get anyone to take the request seriously.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DrSLUGFly
Anet rocks!!! I'm still in awe at how much they listen to the community and follow the desires we have...
Good feedback is always worth listening to, and good suggestions will likely make their way into the game. That's a promise.

Lasareth

Lasareth

Aquarius

Join Date: Jun 2005

Somewhere between Boardwalk and Park Place

lol hey, I didn't expect a response to my trash talking :P

Very cool. This update I think did the impossible--it satisfied most everyone (except for those who like to start things). That's quite an accomplishment