Weekly Development Activities (July 2, 2007)

[Samera]

In QA
These items are in QA and are scheduled for Update 4.2: Searing Heights.

General

• Players get 3 more weapon set configuration slots, for a total of 7!
• Fixed an Auction House bug where it was possible to bid on an auction and receive a different quantity of the item than expected.

UI Improvements

• The XP bar should no longer disappear on larger monitors.
• Mail
  
  • You will now get a warning (and won't be able to detach the money) when you attempt to detach money which would place you over the maximum amount of money you can have.
    
• Auction House
  
  • You can now filter your auction house searches by item level. This search is based on the minimum level to use the item. Items with no level requirement are considered level 1 by the filter.
  • Clothing and Jewelry sections in the auction house are now broken up into multiple categories based the slot the item equips to. There are now a total of ten categories for both of these two sections. Note: Only newly posted auctions will appear in these new categories.
    
• Friends List
  
  • Offline friends will no longer show up in the friends list when added or imported if "Hide Offline Friends" is checked.
  • NEW – Characters you add to your friends list who are anonymous will now appear offline as intended.
• Who Panel
  
  • NEW – Clicking on the "Show only players looking for group" text will no longer check the checkbox. You now must click on the checkbox directly to select this option.
    
• Rogue Action Boost and Ranger Action Boost have new icons to differentiate them from Human Versatility.

Monsters

• NEW – Giant Skeletons will no longer always alternate missile and magical attacks when at range.
• NEW – Translucent monsters will no longer reappear "standing" after dying to an effect that normally destroys a body.
• NEW – Bezekira particle effects will no longer persist after death.
• The spike damage of the Razor Cats is now working properly. Those who hit a razor cat in melee combat will have to make a reflex save or be injured by the spikes. Keep some throwing hammers and/or spearblock items handy.
• The fire elemental's Aura of Flame has been fixed. It can no longer be blocked by spell resistance.
• Duergar barbarians, bandits, and bards had their alignment corrected. They are now Neutral Evil instead of Lawful Evil.
• Higher level wights and ghouls (CR 10 and above) will be able to use their innate abilities like level drain and disease on more of their attacks, rather than only doing these on their “rear back and jump forward” attack. This makes them more like their pen and paper counterparts and will make them a little more challenging. Players will of course still get their saves to resist these effects.

Combat

• Weapons with special damage effects no longer cause a sneak attack on an unsuspecting victim to be lost.

Spells

• Base cooldowns for Sorcerers reduced by 0.5 seconds for all spells (1.0 second for lingering effects.)
• Maximize and Empower options temporarily removed from Fire Shield and Chill Shield - these metamagics were not increasing the amount of damage dealt by the spells but were increasing the spell point cost of the spells.
• New Spell:
  
  • Holy Sword
    
    • Paladin 4
    • Channels holy power to turn a Blessed Cold Iron weapon into a +5 Holy Cold Iron weapon that grants its wielder a continuous Protection From Evil effect while equipped. The holy weapon is permanent, but is destroyed on dungeon exit.
    
    
• Tenser's Transformation now grants Simple Weapon Proficiencies in addition to Martial Weapon Proficiencies. Additionally, casting Tenser's Transformation will now also grant proficiency with Throwing Hammers.
• Chill Touch now (properly) has a fortitude save to negate the strength damage portion of the spell.
• Potentially long-lasting debuff spells like crushing despair, bane, doom, and ray of enfeeblement have been changed so that they are removed by resting at a rest shrine.
• Fixed Mind Fog's spell school. Mind Fog is an enchantment, not a conjuration.
• The description for the Symbol of Flame spell has been fixed to accurately describe the amount of damage the spell does. The reflex save for this spell has also been fixed. Players and enemy npcs can now attempt a reflex save to reduce damage by half. The spell has always done 5d6 damage, and this has not been changed.

Skills, Feats, & Abilities

• Reduced difficulty of detecting traps with Search and Spot, especially at low levels (5 and under).
• The Power Critical feats have been upgraded. All of these feats have been consolidated into one. Once you have this feat, you will get a +4 bonus to confirm critical hits with any type of weapon.

Enhancements

• The Toughness enhancement lines for dwarves, barbarians, fighters, and paladins have been upgraded. They now give you 5, 10, 15, and 20 additional hit points respectively instead of 5, 5, 5, and 5. They all still have the Toughness feat as a prerequisite.
• Halfling Thrown Weapon Attack and Damage enhancements now work on Throwing Hammers.
• Cleric and Paladin Unyielding Sovereignty now has significantly longer range (matching other healing spells) and requires line of sight to the target.
• The active abilities under Rogue Specializations now show up underneath the passive ability rather than under a second heading.
• Way of the Assassin now has three different poisons available for use: Thoughtburn (Int damage and prevents casting for a short time), Icechill (Dex damage and slows the target's attack speed for a short time), and Soulshatter (Lowers the target's spell resistance by 10 and Will saves by 4 for a short time). Only one poison may be active at a time.
• Rogue Subtle Backstabber is now an active enhancement that has a toggled stance. While turned on, you will generate less hate on melee attacks.
• The Silver Flame Exorcism enhancements now use 10 + (class level) + Charisma Modifier as a DC for the Will and Fortitude saves rather than a fixed save DC. Updated the descriptions to match.
• An enemy poisoned by Thoughtburn (from the Way of the Assassin ability) now displays appropriate particle effects.
• Undying Call now properly differentiates between Drow and "real" elves.
• The various enhancements that summon creatures (Iron/Steel/Mithral Companion and Vulkoor’s Avatar) can now only be summoned in dungeons. You will no longer trigger the cooldown (and lose the attempt) if you try to summon them elsewhere. Summoning these creatures will now also break stealth.
• Iron Companion no longer lists Cannith Repair II as a potential prerequisite, since a character with Cannith Repair II has already unlocked the enhancement through the Least Mark of Making.
• Ranger Vermin Empathy enhancement prerequisites changed to: Ranger Level 2 (from 11). Ranger Extra Empathy I and any one of the following: Favored Enemy: Vermin, Ranger Desert Lore 2, Ranger Swamp Lore 2, or Ranger Extra Empathy IV.
• Ranger Elemental Empathy enhancement prerequisites changed to: Ranger Level 4 (from 12). Ranger Extra Empathy I and any one of the following: Favored Enemy: Elemental, Ranger Energy Resistance Boost III, or Ranger Extra Empathy IV.
• Bard Music of the Dead enhancement prerequisite changed to: Bard Level 6 (from 11). Any one of the following: Bard Extra Song IV or Bard Virtuoso I.
• Bard Music of the Makers enhancement prerequisite changed to: Bard Level 9 (from 11). Any one of the following: Bard Extra Song IV, Bard Virtuoso I, Warforged Construct Thinking III, Lesser Dragonmark of Making.
• The Follower of the <diety> Enhancement Lines now grant sub-abilities:
  
  • Tira's Champion: (Associated with Follower of the Silver Flame) Activate this ability to grant weapon proficiency in longbows to yourself or a friend until the target next rests. Consumes a use of turn undead.
    
  • Similar sub-abilities exist for the other faiths.
    
• General
  
  • Extra Dragonmark I
    
    • Cost: 1 Action Point
    • Prereqs: Any Dragonmark, Level 2 Character, 3 Action Points Spent.
    • Benefit: Gain an additional use of your Least, Lesser, and Greater Dragonmarks per rest.
      
    
    
  • Extra Dragonmark 2
    
    • Cost: 2 Action Point
    • Prereqs: Any Dragonmark, Level 6 Character, 18 Action Points Spent.
    • Benefit: Gain an additional use of your Least, Lesser, and Greater Dragonmarks per rest.
      
    
    
  • Extra Dragonmark 3
    
    • Cost: 3 Action Point
    • Prereqs: Any Dragonmark, Level 10 Character, 33 Action Points Spent.
    • Benefit: Gain an additional use of your Least, Lesser, and Greater Dragonmarks per rest.
      
    
    
  • Extra Dragonmark 4
    
    • Cost: 4 Action Point
    • Prereqs: Any Dragonmark, Level 14 Character, 48 Action Points Spent.
    • Benefit: Gain an additional use of your Least, Lesser, and Greater Dragonmarks per rest.
      
    
    
• Warforged
  
  • Warforged Brute Fighting I
    
    • Cost: 1 Action Point
    • Prereqs: Warforged Level 2, 3 Action Points Spent
    • Benefit: Activate this ability to cause your melee attacks to generate 10% more hate, making enemies more likely to attack you.
      
  • Warforged Brute Fighting II
    
    • Cost: 2 Action Points
    • Prereqs: Warforged Level 6, Warforged Brute Fighting I, 18 Action Points Spent
    • Benefit: Activate this ability to cause your melee attacks to generate 15% more hate, making enemies more likely to attack you.
      
  • Warforged Brute Fighting III
    
    • Cost: 3 Action Points
    • Prereqs: Warforged Level 10, Warforged Brute Fighting II, 33 Action Points Spent
    • Benefit: Activate this ability to cause your melee attacks to generate 20% more hate, making enemies more likely to attack you.
  • Warforged Brute Fighting IV
    
    • Cost: 4 Action Points
    • Prereqs: Warforged Level 14, Warforged Brute Fighting III, 48 Action Points Spent
    • Benefit: Activate this ability to cause your melee attacks to generate 25% more hate, making enemies more likely to attack you.
      

Items

• Whenever you repair an item there is a chance it will be permanently damaged. Up until now, it has been impossible to see which items were permanently damaged when repairing items in bulk. From now on an alert will be sent to the chat window as well as the middle of your screen.
• The House Jorasco Divine Reagent Vendor now carries Blessed Cold Iron Greatswords, Bastard Swords, Longswords, Shortswords, Scimitars, Warhammers, Rapiers, Dwarven Waraxes, Khopeshes, Mauls, and Heavy Picks.
• New enchanted food and drinks are available in all taverns. Warforged also have new enchanted balms and tonics. The new drink and tonic restores 2500sp over 1 minute. The new food heals 500hp over 1 minute.The new balm heals 450hp over 1 minute.
• Corrected the caster levels for Wands of Flame Arrow and Wands of Holy Smite to appropriate values for their spell level. Wand of Flame Arrow was reduced to Caster Level 5. Wand of Holy Smite was increased to Caster Level 7. Wands of Resist Energy was changed from Caster Level 1 to 3. These changes will affect the UMD difficulty of activating the wands as well as the wands gold value.
• The Helm of the Black Dragon and the Helm of the Blue Dragon will now appear in the correct Clothing section of the Auction House. They were so pretty they were mistakenly put in the Jewelry category.
• Randomly generated thrown Returning weapons will now correctly bypass their targets Damage Reduction.
• Clarified the description of the Nullcloth Gown to make it obvious that the 15% Spell Failure applies to all spell casters, even Divine casters.
• Corrected the naming for stacks of higher level Barkskin and Shield of Faith potions. They will now indicate their additional bonus eg Potions of Shield of Faith (+5).
• You will no longer be able to attach items to mail messages that are not currently in your inventory (i.e., an item that is in your bank).

NPCs

• Several enemy characters from the Aurum have had their alignment changed to Lawful Evil.
• Many npcs were incorrectly insisting that they were "Race: Elf" in the examination window. This information has been removed from these lying npcs.
• Niles Cage (Stormreach Harbor) is no longer performing an appendectomy on himself.

Quests

• Made a change to help prevent quest items from becoming inaccessible if the party member who was carrying them dies or leaves the quest.
• Ataraxia's Haven
  
  • Players will now always be able to exit the mine cave without difficulty.
    
• Cerulean Hills
  
  • Rare Encounter Garunt will now have a treasure chest.
    
• NEW – Delera's Graveyard
  
  • Necromancer's Lair
    
    • Fixed some older traps that were not working properly. Watch out!
      
    
    
• NEW – Garl's Tomb
  
  • The skeleton captain will now reappear if it falls into the water. Previously, if it fell off, it would not reappear, and it would not be possible to obtain its key.
    
• NEW – The Low Road
  
  • Fixed a couple hidden doors which could not be detected before.
    
• Menechtarun
  
  • The winds have shifted the sands of Menechtarun, revealing ancient roads.
  • Many of the named minibosses out in the desert of Menechtarun have gotten new supplies or found new sources of power. They are a fair amount stronger than before and will put up a better fight.
    
• The Missing Ward
  
  • The hard and elite versions of Necromancer Gerti have had their spell lists fixed. They will no longer repeatedly cast the sleep spell.
    
• Prison of the Planes
  
  • Cochitlehua has remembered that he has "Teleport Without Error" as an at-will spell-like ability.
    
• NEW – Redfang's Lair
  
  • Bile the scorpion will no longer appear before it's ready to fight.
    
• Sorrowdusk Island
  
  • The named gargoyle Vermilo now functions properly (and his chest spawns on the ground).
    
• Stormcleave Outpost
  
  • Made several changes to the pillars:
    
    • The Mephits have had their hide skill lowered so they should be easier to find
      
    • The Mephits now have a 60 meter leash so they shouldn't wander away
    • Changed an objective to read 'Alight the Pillars' to make it more clear that they need to be fully lit and fully active rather than just partially lit.
      
• NEW – Waterworks
  
  • Clan Tunnelworm
    
    • Fixed a valve so it can be used more than once to prevent players from getting stuck in a room.
      
    
    
• Xorian Cipher
  
  • The three named spectres in the Xorian Cipher quest, the Urdak brothers, have been changed into skeletons so they can no longer occasionally flee and leave you stranded in a locked room. They will be slightly more challenging to beat than they were before.
    

In Development
These items are in development and are scheduled for Module 5: The Accursed Ascension (Litany of the Dead Parts 3 & 4).

UI Improvements

• Added active/toggle/passive usage to action tooltips.
• Tooltips that display long cooldown periods will display them in minutes and seconds – e.g., 2 minutes 30 seconds instead of 150 seconds.
• Action tooltips will inform the user when an action is useable in water, not useable in a brawl, or when it is useable only in public. They will also display the target type for the action.
• Tooltips for skills now include the key ability.
• Tooltips for spells and feats now include the save DC and save type(s).
• Shopping
  
  • You can now ctrl-click on an item in a shop to purchase the item in bulk. A pop-up dialog will prompt you to enter the number of items to purchase. Note: This dialog is only used when purchasing items. There is still no way to control the number of items you sell from a stack.
  • When items in a shop are alphabetized, they are sorted first by base name (e.g. sword, dagger) and then by prefix (e.g. masterwork, vorpal).
  • When you add items to the shopping cart, the cumulative cost of the items in the cart will affect the "can afford" status of the items available for purchase / repair.
  • If a player's haggle skill changes, then the shopping cart display price will now update to reflect the change.
• Spells
  
  • Spell tooltips now include blocks that describe whether or not a spell can be resisted, and what the specific material component is for a given spell (if any).
  • Spell tooltips now include a metamagic information block. This block lists the kinds of metamagic that can affect this spell.

Spells

• The Crushing Despair FX are now persistent.

Skills, Feats, & Abilities

• The number of Turn Undead attempts per rest will now be calculated on the current displayed Charisma modifier. Previously only permanent changes to Charisma from level advancement and tomes were counted.
• The Listen skill now helps you detect hidden monsters.

Enhancements

• Halfling luck, instead of only affecting Reflex saves, is now three distinct enhancement chains. These are not exclusive.
  
  • Halfling Luck (Fortitude) I
    
    • Prereq: Halfling Level 1
    • Cost: 1 Action Point
    • Grants a +1 bonus to Fortitude saves.
  • Halfling Luck (Fortitude) II
    
    • Prereq: Halfling Level 5, 14 Action Points spent, Halfling Luck (Fortitude) I
    • Cost: 2 Action Points
    • Grants a +2 bonus to Fortitude saves.
  • Halfling Luck (Fortitude) III
    
    • Prereq: Halfling Level 9, 29 Action Points spent, Halfling Luck (Fortitude) II
    • Cost: 3 Action Points
    • Grants a +3 bonus to Fortitude saves.
  • Halfling Luck (Reflex) I
    
    • Prereq: Halfling Level 1
    • Cost: 1 Action Point
    • Grants a +1 bonus to Reflex saves.
  • Halfling Luck (Reflex) II
    
    • Prereq: Halfling Level 5, 14 Action Points spent, Halfling Luck (Reflex) I
    • Cost: 2 Action Points
    • Grants a +2 bonus to Reflex saves.
  • Halfling Luck (Reflex) III
    
    • Prereq: Halfling Level 9, 29 Action Points spent, Halfling Luck (Reflex) II
    • Cost: 3 Action Points
    • Grants a +3 bonus to Reflex saves.
  • Halfling Luck (Will) I
    
    • Prereq: Halfling Level 1
    • Cost: 1 Action Point
    • Grants a +1 bonus to Will saves.
  • Halfling Luck (Will) II
    
    • Prereq: Halfling Level 5, 14 Action Points spent, Halfling Luck (Will) I
    • Cost: 2 Action Points
    • Grants a +2 bonus to Will saves.
  • Halfling Luck (Will) III
    
    • Prereq: Halfling Level 9, 29 Action Points spent, Halfling Luck (Will) II
    • Cost: 3 Action Points
    • Grants a +3 bonus to Will saves.
      
• Human Versatility has undergone some revisions, and now grants five subabilities. Instead of being restricted only to a skill boost, Humans may now display their versatility by gaining a short duration increase to skills, damage, attack rolls, saves, or armor class. These boosts draw from one common pool of 5.
  
  • Human Versatility I
    
    • Prereq: Human Level 1
    • Cost: 1 Action Point
    • Grants the ability to display your versatility as a +2 bonus to skills, damage, attack rolls, saves, or armor class for 20 seconds.
      
      • Human Versatility - Skills I. Activate this ability to receive a +2 bonus to skills for 20 seconds.
      • Human Versatility - Damage I. Activate this ability to receive a +2 bonus to damage for 20 seconds.
      • Human Versatility - Attack I.Activate this ability to receive a +2 bonus to attack rolls for 20 seconds.
      • Human Versatility - Saves I. Activate this ability to receive a +2 bonus to saves for 20 seconds.
      • Human Versatility - Armor Class I. Activate this ability to receive a +2 bonus to armor class for 20 seconds.
      
      
  • Human Versatility II
    
    • Prereq: Human Level 4, 10 Action Points Spent, Human Versatility I
    • Cost: 2 Action Points
    • Grants the ability to display your versatility as a +3 bonus to skills, damage, attack rolls, saves, or armor class for 20 seconds.
      
      • Human Versatility - Skills II. Activate this ability to receive a +3 bonus to skills for 20 seconds.
      • Human Versatility - Damage II. Activate this ability to receive a +3 bonus to damage for 20 seconds.
      • Human Versatility - Attack II. Activate this ability to receive a +3 bonus to attack rolls for 20 seconds.
      • Human Versatility - Saves II. Activate this ability to receive a +3 bonus to saves for 20 seconds.
      • Human Versatility - Armor Class II. Activate this ability to receive a +3 bonus to armor class for 20 seconds.
        
      
      
  • Human Versatility III
    
    • Prereq: Human Level 7, 21 Action Points Spent, Human Versatility II
    • Cost: 3 Action Points
    • Grants the ability to display your versatility as a +4 bonus to skills, damage, attack rolls, saves, or armor class for 20 seconds.
      
      • Human Versatility - Skills III. Activate this ability to receive a +4 bonus to skills for 20 seconds.
      • Human Versatility - Damage III. Activate this ability to receive a +4 bonus to damage for 20 seconds.
      • Human Versatility - Attack III. Activate this ability to receive a +4 bonus to attack rolls for 20 seconds.
      • Human Versatility - Saves III. Activate this ability to receive a +4 bonus to saves for 20 seconds.
      • Human Versatility - Armor Class III. Activate this ability to receive a +4 bonus to armor class for 20 seconds.
        
      
      
  • Human Versatility IV
    
    • Prereq: Human Level 10, 32 Action Points Spent, Human Versatility III
    • Cost: 4 Action Points
    • Grants the ability to display your versatility as a +5 bonus to skills, damage, attack rolls, saves, or armor class for 20 seconds.
      
      • Human Versatility - Skills IV. Activate this ability to receive a +5 bonus to skills for 20 seconds.
      • Human Versatility - Damage IV. Activate this ability to receive a +5 bonus to damage for 20 seconds.
      • Human Versatility - Attack IV. Activate this ability to receive a +5 bonus to attack rolls for 20 seconds.
      • Human Versatility - Saves IV. Activate this ability to receive a +5 bonus to saves for 20 seconds.
      • Human Versatility - Armor Class IV. Activate this ability to receive a +5 bonus to armor class for 20 seconds.
        
      
      

[Ziggy]

NEW – Delera's Graveyard

• Necromancer's Lair
  • Fixed some older traps that were not working properly. Watch out!

Huh?

Players get 3 more weapon set configuration slots, for a total of 7!

Sweet.

NEW – The Low Road
Fixed a couple hidden doors which could not be detected before.

There were hidden doors in the low road?

[Freeman]

Still no fix to Crippling Strike and ranged weapons. Three months and counting...

[Coldin]

There were hidden doors in the low road?

That's what I was thinking. Guess we couldn't see them.

• NEW – Characters you add to your friends list who are anonymous will now appear offline as intended.

Still say that whole change was a bad move despite the poll. At least make some way to be anonymous from the Who List but not to the Friend's List.

[Ziggy]

That's what I was thinking. Guess we couldn't see them.

Aye now im gonna have to go back through this to find em.

[Riddikulus]

Still no fix to Crippling Strike and ranged weapons. Three months and counting...

Isn't this the fix?

Weapons with special damage effects no longer cause a sneak attack on an unsuspecting victim to be lost.

Well, if not at least my rogue is happy. I abandoned ranged focus for melee a long time ago.

[Freeman]

Isn't this the fix?

Well, if not at least my rogue is happy. I abandoned ranged focus for melee a long time ago.

No, that issue has nothing to do with the problem with Crippling Strike. The two issues have been continually confused since both problems appeared in the last module though. I don't want to abandon ranged combat, although I'm beginning to lean in that direction.

[ArkoHighStar]

Still no fix to Crippling Strike and ranged weapons. Three months and counting...

I have pretty much given up on this ever getting fixed, not when Turbine has more important things like ensuring dwarves have enough hitpoints to worry about.

[Ziggy]

Isn't this the fix?

Well, if not at least my rogue is happy. I abandoned ranged focus for melee a long time ago.

nope thats the fix for a flaming light mace not giving sneak attack damage, when a monster is bluffed.

[Karos]

Still say that whole change was a bad move despite the poll. At least make some way to be anonymous from the Who List but not to the Friend's List.

The poll was based on what was technically possible at the time, the dev working on it said they had to set the value one way or the other. Hopefully, someday, they'll upgrade the code they are using for that to allow for more options, but for now I'm happy with the new friends list.

[Yaga_Nub]

Well the list of NEW items is incredibly short and mostly cosmetic so I hope this means that next week (Monday?) is when 4.2 will go in.

[Freeman]

I have pretty much given up on this ever getting fixed, not when Turbine has more important things like ensuring dwarves have enough hitpoints to worry about.

I haven't given up yet. I'm just wondering if this fix will take longer than the fix for Song of Freedom. It still has a couple of months to go before it earns that distinction. Of course, the problems with ranged combat in general(shots with no dice rolls) have been around even longer...

[ArkoHighStar]

Isn't this the fix?

Well, if not at least my rogue is happy. I abandoned ranged focus for melee a long time ago.

The issue with crippling strike is quite simple and easily demonstrated, get a bow and shoot something within sneak attack range, you will see the sneak attack dmg and combat log entry but no entry for the crippling strike strength dmg, in other words sneak attack with a ranged weapon does not give you crippling strike damage like melee sneak attacks do.

[ArkoHighStar]

Well the list of NEW items is incredibly short and mostly cosmetic so I hope this means that next week (Monday?) is when 4.2 will go in.

Quarion and Samera have indicated that is the target week, if nothing goes wrong.

[Aeneas]

this is the least exciting list of weekly development activities i've ever seen

[Freeman]

...if nothing goes wrong.

I think my brain just crashed

[binnsr]

Aye now im gonna have to go back through this to find em.

My rogue in beta and headstart always got spot messages by the secret doors that are opened with the levers, but could never find them..

It's been a while since I took anyone with a decent spot through there, so I don't recall if they still give off spot messages or not.

[Ziggy]

My rogue in beta and headstart always got spot messages by the secret doors that are opened with the levers, but could never find them..

It's been a while since I took anyone with a decent spot through there, so I don't recall if they still give off spot messages or not.

im gonna be disappointed if its those 2 doors.

But ill still go check it out once its fixed.

[Karos]

im gonna be disappointed if its those 2 doors.

But ill still go check it out once its fixed.

I just ran through on risia with detect secret doors up and the 2 doors with the levers for the gates with the crates popped up.

[Karos]

well thats just silly.

oh well at least i wont have to waste the time.

Thanks Karos.

What else do I have to do when my server is down?