[Test] Test Update Notes: Thursday, July 28, 2011 - The War of Zek(0)

[Offical Forums]

"The War of Zek"

PLANE OF WAR

The time is near for the great Fortress of Drunder to reveal its true purpose to all. The very bedrock of the Eastern Wastes shudders as a massive portal rips itself open within the fortress walls. The sounds of battle echo through its halls as the God of War himself prepares his innumerable armies to march across the frozen face of Velious and seize control of the lands of Norrath for all eternity. Are you ready to face Rallos Zek himself? Prove your mettle against the Children of War to enlist their aid in battle as you leave the mortal world behind and face a god himself in the Plane of War!

• The Plane of War is a normal and challenge mode raid.
• Elements of War is a normal and challenge mode heroic experience.

Two new dynamically scaling dungeons have opened up in the Sinking Sands. These heroic dungeons automatically scale to your party from 60 to 90. Their entrances can be found on the door to the Silent City and from a new portal next to the door. These dungeons scale their difficulty and rewards to your group.

THE PALACE OF SABARON
Sabaron’s Palace is the home of a mad Djinn who believes that by using his power and the power of a newly discovered artifact, the Tear of Anashti, he can raise an army of Sul’Dal to march on the Plane of Air and take it over for Djinn to rule. His palace is full of undead evils he has resurrected as well as his most trusted attendants.

SILENT CITY: THE DELVING DEAD
The dead within the halls of the Silent City are restless after lifetimes of slumber, as if roused by an unseen hand. Ancient overseers crack whips as the undead hordes delve deep into hallowed soil. They labor tirelessly, endlessly searching for an ancient artifact of great power.

GENERAL

• When using Need-Before-Greed loot options, players will no longer be able to select "Need" on equipment, spell scrolls and item patterns that they cannot use.
• Fixed a bug where you could select an invalid race during character create.
• The /sitchair emote now works with SOGA models.
• Fixed a bug that would cause /camp login to sometimes goto character select even if a character was given.

USER INTERFACE

• The weapon stats in the character window will now update when your character's combat stats change.
• Fixed a bug with how multi attack and spell weapon multi attack were displaying in the default UI.

POPULATION / ZONE PROGRESSION

Shard of Love

• Level 90 players will now correctly have a chance to gain items from WIllowmeena’s rare loot table in Shard of Love.

Great Divide / Eastern Wastes

• A Token of Coldain Loyalty can now be purchased from the Coldain faction merchant once your character has reached +40,000 faction. This token can be traded to any alternate characters on your account and will set that alternate character to +40,000 faction.
• A Token of Ry’Gorr Loyalty can now be purchased from the Ry’Gorr faction merchant once your character has reached +40,000 faction. This token can be traded to any alternate characters on your account and will set that alternate character to +40,000 faction.
• These tokens must be purchased at the rate of one per alternate character and are one charge only.

Great Divide

• Fertilizer corpse loot should be a bit more common.
• The thieving gnomish pirate, Monstrous Beasty, and Warwolf Matriarch, triggered by solo quests in Great Divide, are no longer immune to control aspects. [Fan Faire Request]

Eastern Wastes

• Fertilizer corpse loot should be a bit more common.
• All of the flying accessible harvestables in Eastern wastes are obtainable once again.

Tower of Frozen Shadows: Shadowed Corridors

• Spectral Librarian Emiida in Tower of Frozen Shadows: Shadowed Corridors should now correctly award the sense of urgency achievement.

Temple of Rallos Zek: Foundations of Stone [Challenge]

• Challenge Mode Statue of Rallos Zek no longer has a Knockback effect associated with his Titanic Swipe AOE.

Crystalline Breaks

• Some of the mobs within Crystalline Breaks now detect stealth and/or invisibility.

Greater Faydark

• There is now a mailbox in the Nursery in Greater Faydark. [Fan Faire Request]

ABILITIES / ALTERNATE ADVANCEMENT

General

• AA selections that are not currently available for purchase will display in grayscale.
• Spell autoattack will turn on automatically when you cast a damage spell on a target.
• Fixed a bug where some spells could become "stuck" and wouldn't be castable until you zoned or logged.
• Added Spell Weapon versions of flurry, multi attack, pvp multi attack, ae autoattack, haste and dps for spell weapons.

Player Statistics Updates

• Many stats now provide additional benefits to other stats! See below for details:
  • Having parry skill over the level cap now gives a bonus to uncontested parry and uncontested riposte.
  • Having defense skill over the level cap now gives a bonus to uncontested dodge.
  • Having haste over the cap now gives a bonus to flurry.
  • Having weapon skill over the cap now increases your minimum damage amount making it closer to the maximum amount.
  • Having weapon skill over the cap now gives a bonus to riposte damage.
  • Having spell and combat art skills over cap now increases the minimum damage of those spells and combat arts making it closer to the maximum amount.
  • DPS is now a rating that translates into the actual increase to your melee damage with no cap. Mouse over the DPS stat in your persona window to see the actual percent increase to your damage.
  • Having spell casting speed over the cap now gives you a slight bonus to double cast spells.
  • Having a focus over the cap will allow you cast spells while moving. It will be very slow movement, but will increase as your focus skill increases.
  • Multi Attack is now a rating rather than a straight percent chance for additional attacks. Mouse over the Multi Attack stat in your persona window to see how many extra attacks you get, and your chance for an additional attack on top of those.

Alternate Advancement Revamp

• Subclass Alternate Advancement trees have been reformatted. The connections have been removed and the tree is now formatted in rows. The first row contains four abilities and requires no points spent to access. The second row contains five abilities and requires five points spent in the Subclass Tree to access. The third row has six abilities and requires ten points spent in the Subclass tree to access. The fourth row has six abilities and requires 15 points spent in the Subclass tree to access. The fifth row is the endlines - now known as Expertise abilities. These abilities unlock every 20 points spent in the Subclass tree above them. At 20 points spent, you can select one Expertise ability. At 40, 60 and 80 points spent, additional Expertise abilities can be purchased.
• The Subclass Alternate Advancement tab now unlocks at level 30.
• The Shadows Alternate Advancement tab now unlocks at level 50.
• The Sentinel’s Fate Alternate Advancements now unlock at level 80.
• The Heroic Alternate Advancement tab now unlocks at level 80.

Bard

• Vanishing Act is now Dodge and Cover. Dodge and Cover no longer grants stealth to the group and no longer dispels on a block, parry, riposte or when damage is tanking. It grants 100% Dodge Chance to each member of the group for 15 seconds and dispels when the dodge applies.
• Lend Shielding now lasts for 5 seconds, no longer requires a round shield and does not dispel when the target blocks. It now has a 60 second reuse and the range has been increased to 35 meters.
• Skald’s Defense no longer requires a round shield. The Multi-Attack is now 1% per rank.
• Heroic Storytelling now reduces noxious and arcane damage to group members by 3%. The group has a 10% chance to resist Stifle effects.
• Round Bash no longer requires a shield.
• Intoxicating Notes now triggers on any hit.

Berserker

• Enhance: Berserk Rage and Enhance: War Cry have been merged into Enhance: Berserk.
• The Alternate Advancement “Berserk” now applies to the group and stacks with other forms of Berserk. The damage per second and attack speed values have been increased.
• Focus: Destructive Rage now applies correctly to the PvP Multi-Attack Chance.

Brigand

• Enhance: Shank has been added to the Brigand Advancement tree. It increases Shank’s damage by 5% per rank.

Bruiser

• Enhance: Eye Gouge has been added and increases the damage of Eye Gouge by 3% per rank.

Cleric

• Wondrous Buckling is now Wondrous Distraction and no longer requires a buckler.
• Turn Undead is now Divine Demonstration and no longer requires the target to be undead. The damage has been substantially reduced. The reuse time is now 45 seconds.
• Blessed Armament now procs Cleanse instead of Cleanse Undead. It now scales at 10% trigger chance per rank and deals about half the damage of Bolt of Power. It no longer requires the target to be undead.
• Protection from Undead is now Exorcize. Exorcize disables beneficial spells and lasts until cancelled. It requires a small amount of power every 6 seconds to pulse divine damage to up to four targets near the cleric. The cleric must be hated by at least one target within 7.5 meters for the pulse to trigger.

Coercer

• Brainshock now applies the powertap instantly, allowing the spell to be maintained on multiple targets.

Conjuror

• Enhance: Fiery Magician, Enhance: Aery Hunter and Enhance: Earthen Avatar have been merged into Enhance: Summon Spells.
• Enhance: Roaring Flames and Enhance: Aqueous Swarm have been removed.
• Unabate is now passive and persists through deaths.
• Fire from Within now grants PvP Potency.

Crusader

• Knight’s Stance can no longer apply to the Crusader’s ranged weapon.

Druid

• Calm Animals is now Calm. It now mesmerizes any non-epic single target, rather than animals. The reuse is now 45 seconds and it scales from 10.6 second duration to 19.8 second duration. In PVP Combat, the duration scales from 3.5 seconds to 6.6 seconds.
• Charm Animal is now Charm Creature. It now charms any target that is not immune to charms. The duration is now 4 minutes 24 seconds at rank 1 and scales to 8 minutes 15 seconds at rank 10. In PVP, the duration scales from 3.5 seconds to 6.6 seconds and the spell is a mesmerize.

Enchanter

• Quickening no longer requires a one-handed weapon.
• Counterblade has had its damage increased.
• Dreamweaver’s Trance now also increases Disruption.
• Daydream now inflicts damage over time.
• Hypnosis is now Dreamweaver’s Trance and grants an augmentation allowing the Dreamweaver to have a chance to mesmerize any enemies attacking them with a melee weapon for a short duration.

Fury

• Enhance: Root has been removed.
• Kudzu now lasts for 4 seconds in PVE and has a 25% chance to break on damage, instead of 100%.

Guardian

• Enhance: Sentinel and Enhance: Taunting Blow have been removed.

Illusionist

• Split Personality is now Illusionary Instigation. It lasts for 20 seconds and grants 20% Strikethrough, 20% Hate Gain and 20% to the size of the target’s taunts. It casts in 0.25 seconds and has a 90 second reuse.

Inquisitor

• Enhance: Tormenting Conversion and Enhance: Incarcerate have been removed.

Monk

• Enhance: Will of the Heavens has been merged into one Alternate Advancement with three ranks. It now reduces the reuse time by 10 seconds per rank. The final rank adds the ability to cure Trauma effects.
• Enhance: Silent Threat and Enhance: Challenge have been merged into Enhance: Taunts.
• Reprimand has been added as a new Expertise ability. Reprimand is a taunt with a 24 second reuse, 20 meter range and 0.25 cast time.
• Combination now fires automatically when a punch, jab and a kick have been used in quick succession. It now only hits once.

Mystic

• Enhance: Spirit of the Wolf and Enhance: Ancestral Balm have been removed.

Necromancer

• Mortality Mark now correctly increases the caster’s mitigation, not the target’s.
• Enhance: Grim Sorcerer, Enhance: Undead Knight and Enhance: Nightshade have been merged into Enhance: Summon Spells.
• Beyond the Grave now grants PvP Potency.

Paladin

• Smite Evil now works against Rangers, Illusionists, Monks and Templars.

Predator

• Smoke Bomb now inflicts moderate poison damage and no longer clears the enemy’s target or reduces threat. The amount of threat positions reduces has been increased to 2 positions.

Shadowknight

• Enhance: Soulrend has been added and increases the damage of Soulrend by 5% per rank.
• Unholy Concentration has been added as a new Expertise ability. Unholy Concentration passively grants 15% strikethrough to the Shadowknight.

Ranger

• Befriend Animal has been removed.

Rogue

• Opportunistic Cover no longer requires a round shield. It now grants 2.5% Damage Per Second per rank.

Sorcerer

• Concussive Blast now inflicts minor magic damage and stuns all of the affected targets for 1.5 seconds.

Summoner

• Animated Dagger is now a direct damage spell that inflicts piercing damage.
• Parrying is now Theurgistic Prowess and increases the summoner’s subjugation, ordination, focus, disruption and ministration.
• Implode is now Theurgist’s Detonation. Theurgist’s Detonation inflicts magic damage around the summoner.
• Cabalist’s Cover now applies a 20% chance to prevent magical damage from the pet to the caster. It no longer allows the pet to avoid melee attacks for the caster.
• Perceptor’s Bodyguard no longer requires the pet to be a fighter. The amount has been reduced to 1% health per rank.
• Animist’s Transference is now Transference and is in the Cabalist line.
• Magic Leash is now in the Animist line and no longer requires a mage pet. If the pet is a fighter, it will taunt the entire encounter. If the pet is not a fighter, it will detaunt the encounter. The fighter pet has a chance to improve its hate position as well.
• Shadowstep is now in the Magician line and no longer requires a scout pet. It now inflicts magic damage and if the pet is a scout or a fighter, they will teleport to the target.
• Minion’s Uproar is now in the Magician line and displays the exact effects.
• Reanimate is now in the Magician line and can now reanimate any primary pet.
• Perceptor’s Command is now Perceptor’s Parry and increases the uncontested parry of the pet.
• Shockwave can now trigger on any hit and can be triggered with any pet.
• Unflinching Servant can now be used on any pet.
• Animist’s Bond is now Animist’s Evasion and reduces the caster’s threat position by 24. The reuse is 3 minutes.
• Minion’s Barrier is now Minion’s Attention and grants a proc that has a chance to increase threat position if the pet is a fighter and reduce threat position if the pet is a priest, scout or a mage.
• Minion’s Uproar has been replaced by Symbiosis. If the pet is a fighter, the summoner transfers some of their threat to the fighter. If the pet is a mage, priest or scout, the pet transfers some of their threat to the summoner.
• Focused Minion is now Symbiotic Bond. It increases the amount of Symbiosis by 1% per rank.
• Minion’s Zeal is now Teamwork and is the Cabalist line’s endline ability. The scout pet grants 10% Multi Attack and PvP Multi Attack, the fighter grants a 20% chance to reduce incoming damage by 30%, the Ooze and Hydromancer pets grant 5% maximum health and the mage pet grants 5% Potency and PvP Potency.
• Arcane Minion now works on all primary pets.
• Cabalist’s Aura now improves the max power, max health, Potency and PvP Potency of Beyond the Grave and Fire from Within.
• Empower Servant is now in the Cabalist line and is now Cabalistic Conversion. It reduces the group’s power cost by 1% per rank.

Templar

• Enhance: Sooth has been removed.
• The second Enhance: Involuntary Gift advancement is now Enhance: Involuntary Gift II.

Warden

• Shatter Infections now lasts for 8 seconds, has a 35 meter radius and cures all effects on anyone in the group who falls below 50% health.

Warlock

• Vacuous, Enhance: Nullify, Enhance: Concussive and Enhance: Nullmail have been removed.
• Plaguebringer should now stack when more than one warlock uses it on the same target.

Warrior

• Unshakable Grip can now be cast while moving.

Wizard

• Enhance: Vital Transfer and Enhance: Harvest Mana have been removed.
• Frigid Gift now lasts for 24 seconds.
• Enhance: Frigid Gift now adds 1 second to the duration per rank.
• Fireshape now modifies Surge of Ro to convert all magic and cold spells to heat, rather than being its own spell.
• Iceshape now modifies Frigid Gift to convert all magic and heat spells to cold, rather than being its own spell.

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