Weekly Development Activities 3/31/2008

[Tolero]

Weekly Development Activities

This week's edition of the WDA is extra-meaty-tasty-crispy, because there will be no WDA next week. Enjoy!
The following are items which are in development or QA testing for release in Module 7.

General

• Monks have been added to the game as a new playable class!

UI Improvements

• A confirmation dialog has been added to the Default button in the Options UI.
• There are now 20 shortcut bars available, for those who carry too many clickies/weapons/spells to fit on 10. Those of you who had previously used the unsupported methods of accessing bars 11-20 will be happy to know that they now will remember where you put them on the screen.
• When examined, some scrolls did not display their level 16 UMD class requirement. This has been fixed.
• Quest portal info screen text has changed. It now shows the quest difficulty along with the level.
• A new click and hold to attack option has been added to the game and is defaulted to on.
• NEW The Finished button in the quest objectives panel will no longer be grayed out if the player is resurrected after quest completion.
• NEW If your shopping cart is empty, the buy/sell/repair button will be grayed out to prevent confusion.

Spells
General Spell Changes

• The turn-you-to-stone effects used by elder earth elementals and stone scorpions are now named "Petrify" so as not to confuse warforged who are immune to "flesh to stone", but not to these effects.
• When you summon a monster into your own persistent AOE (cloudkill, blade barrier, wall of fire, etc), it will no longer take damage on arriving in the world.
• NEW Sound Burst has had its spell description changed to reflect the fact that the stun effect can be resisted using Spell resistance.
• NEW Some spells which had been able to affect foes through doors and force fields now do a better job of checking line of sight.

Skills, Feats, & Abilities
General Feat Changes

• Insightful Reflexes and Force of Personality feats previously required that you logout and login to take effect; now they take effect immediately.
• NEW The fascinate feat for bards now has a will saving throw. The DC is the bard's perform skill plus a d20.
• NEW Barbarian/Rogue multi-class characters will now get a uses per day of uncanny dodge and improved uncanny dodge based on the sum of their rogue and barbarian levels.
• NEW Shield Mastery, Improved Shield Mastery, and Dwarven Shield Mastery now only apply when blocking with a shield. Two weapon blocking has been updated to give +2DR when blocking, only when using two weapons.
• NEW Wizards now receive Simple Weapon Proficiency: Unarmed, as no classes should receive a non-proficiency penalty with natural weapons.

New Feats

• The following general changes have been made to existing enhancements:
  • The costs of Halfling Cunning I - III and Rogue Sneak Attack Accuracy I - III have been reduced to 1 action point per level.
  • The bonus granted by Rogue Sneak Attack Training has been increased to 3 points of sneak attack damage per level.
  • Rogue Way of the Assassin I now grants a passive +4 bonus to sneak attack damage in addition to its other effects.
  • The effect of Paladin Divine Righteousness I, Rogue Way of the Assassin I active abilities, and Rogue Way of the Thief-Acrobat I "show time" now lasts 60 seconds instead of 20 seconds.
  • Barbarian and Rogue Trap Sense enhancements now grant a +2 bonus to saves vs. traps per level instead of +1.
  • Paladin Bulwark of Good and Resistance of Good costs reduced to 1 point per level
  • Paladin Focus of Good now grants +3, +6, or +9 to Concentration checks.
  • Paladin Courage of Good now grants +2, +4, or +6 to Fear saves.
• The following iconic monk feats have been added to the game:
  • Purity of Body – You are immune to all forms of disease, including magical or supernatural diseases.
  • Wholeness of Body – Permits a monk to regain health over time.
  • Diamond Body – You have mastered your metabolism, and are immune to poison.
  • Timeless Body – Your body and soul are your own, and you do not create spawn effects should you fall in combat with the undead. NOTE: This is a level 17 feat, available to level 17 Monks and higher.
  • Still Mind and Fast Movement for the monk have been added to the game.

Enhancements
New Enhancements

• Halfling Cunning IV
  • Cost: 4 Action Points
  • Prereqs: Level 14 Halfling, Halfling Cunning III, 48 action points spent.
  • Benefit: You gain an additional +1 bonus to attack rolls when flanking an enemy, bringing the total increase to 4.
• Halfling Guile I
  • Cost: 1 Action Point
  • Prereqs: Level 3 Halfling, Halfling Cunning I, 7 action points spent.
  • Benefit: You gain +2 to your sneak attack damage and +1 to bluff.
• Halfling Guile II
  • Cost: 2 Action Points
  • Prereqs: Level 7 Halfling, Halfling Cunning II, Halfling Guile I, 22 action points spent.
  • Benefit: You gain an additional +2 to your sneak attack damage, bringing the total increase to 4, and an additional +1 to bluff, bringing the total increase to 2.
• Halfling Guile III
  • Cost: 3 Action Points
  • Prereqs: Level 11 Halfling, Halfling Cunning III, Halfling Guile II, 37 action points spent.
  • Benefit: You gain an additional +2 to your sneak attack damage, bringing the total increase to 6, and an additional +1 to bluff, bringing the total increase to 3.
• Halfling Guile IV
  • Cost: 4 Action Points
  • Prereqs: Level 15 Halfling, Halfling Cunning IV, Halfling Guile III, 52 action points spent.
  • Benefit: You gain an additional +2 to your sneak attack damage, bringing the total increase to 8, and an additional +1 to bluff, bringing the total increase to 4.
• UPDATED Paladin Bulwark of Good IV:
  • Cost: 4 Action Points
  • Prereqs: Level 15 Paladin, Paladin Bulwark of Good III, 52 action points spent.
  • Benefit: Your aura of good provides an additional +4 Armor Class bonus.
• Rogue Sneak Attack Accuracy IV:
  • Cost: 4 Action Points
  • Prereqs: Level 14 Rogue, Rogue Sneak Attack Accuracy III, 48 action points spent.
  • Benefit: You gain an additional +1 bonus to hit with your sneak attacks.
• UPDATED Paladin Divine Sacrifice I
  • Prereq: Paladin level 5, Paladin Extra Smiting I, 15 Action Points spent
  • Cost: 1 Action Point
  • Benefit: Giving up some of your life force to win the battle, you empower your next blow against your foe. This attack deals an additional 5d6 Good damage to evil opponents and increases the critical multiplier of your weapon by 1, but costs you 10 hp and 1 sp, whether or not the attack is successful.". (6 second cooldown.)
• UPDATED Rogue Wrack Construct I
  • Prereq: Rogue level 3, Rogue Disable Device I, 7 Action Points Spent
  • Cost: 1 Action Point
  • Benefit: You can activate this ability to use your understanding of mechanical objects and their vulnerabilities to strike at critical points in a construct's anatomy, dealing an extra 1d6 damage to constructs or living constructs. (6 second cool-down.)
• Rogue Wrack Construct II
  • Prereq: Rogue level 7, Rogue Disable Device II, Rogue Wrack Construct I, 22 Action Points Spent
  • Cost: 2 Action Points
  • Benefit: You can activate this ability to use your understanding of mechanical objects and their vulnerabilities to strike at critical points in a construct's anatomy, dealing an extra 3d6 damage to constructs or living constructs.
• Rogue Wrack Construct III
  • Prereq: Rogue level 11, Rogue Disable Device III, Rogue Wrack Construct II, 37 Action Points Spent
  • Cost: 3 Action Points
  • Benefit: You can activate this ability to use your understanding of mechanical objects and their vulnerabilities to strike at critical points in a construct's anatomy, dealing an extra 5d6 damage to constructs or living constructs.
• NEW Paladin Exalted Smite I:
  • Cost: 1 Action Point
  • Prereq: Level 6 Paladin, Paladin Divine Sacrifice I, 19 Action Points Spent
  • Benefit: Using this attack, you call on the paladin's ability to strike down evil creatures, gaining twice your Charisma bonus to your attack roll, a damage bonus based on your paladin level, and +1 to your weapon's critical damage multiplier. (6 second cool-down, uses smites per day, replaces Smite Evil.)
• NEW Paladin Exalted Smite II:
  • Cost: 2 Action Points
  • Prereq: Level 10 Paladin, Paladin Exalted Smite I, Paladin Extra Smite III, 34 Action Points Spent
  • Benefit: Using this attack, you call on the paladin's ability to strike down evil creatures, gaining twice your Charisma bonus to your attack roll, a damage bonus based on your paladin level, and +1 to your weapon's critical threat range and damage multiplier.
• NEW Paladin Exalted Smite III:
  • Cost: 3 Action Points
  • Prereq: Level 14 Paladin, Paladin Exalted Smite II, Paladin Extra Smite IV, 49 Action Points Spent
  • Benefit: Using this attack, you call on the paladin's ability to strike down evil creatures, gaining twice your Charisma bonus to your attack roll, a damage bonus based on your paladin level, and +1 to your weapon's critical threat range and +2 to your weapon's critical damage multiplier.
• NEW Paladin Exalted Smite IV:
  • Cost: 4 Action Points
  • Prereq: Level 18 Paladin, Paladin Exalted Smite III, Paladin Extra Smite IV, 64 Action Points Spent
  • Benefit: Using this attack, you call on the paladin's ability to strike down evil creatures, gaining twice your Charisma bonus to your attack roll, a damage bonus based on your paladin level, and +2 to your weapon's critical threat range and damage multiplier. (Yes, we realize you can't get this yet, but it will wait patiently for you to hit level 18.)
• NEW Rogue Way of the Assassin II
  • Cost: 2 Action Points
  • Prereq: Rogue Level 12, Rogue Way of the Assassin I, Rogue Sneak Attack Accuracy III, Rogue Sneak Attack Training III, 42 Action Points Spent
  • Benefit: Grants an additional +4 bonus to Sneak Attack Damage, +2 bonus to Bluff, Hide, and Move Silently skills and a +1 bonus to Fortitude saves against poison. Also grants the ability to make devastating melee attacks that can kill a living target instantly on a successful sneak attack if the target fails a Fortitude save, DC 10 + Rogue Level + Int Modifier. Even on a successful save, the target takes increased sneak attack damage. (10 second cool-down, no times per day limit, can only be used when sneak attacking.)
• NEW Paladin Redemption I
  • Cost: 4 Action Points
  • Prereq: Level 9 Paladin, Paladin Extra Lay on Hands I, 28 Action Points Spent, Any one of: Paladin Devotion II, Paladin Heal II
  • Benefit: You can activate this ability and expend one use of Lay on Hands to raise the dead, returning your target to life at 10% health.
• NEW Paladin Redemption II
  • Cost: 2 Action Points
  • Prereq: Level 14 Paladin, Paladin Extra Lay on Hands II, Paladin Redemption I, 50 Action Points Spent, Any one of: Paladin Devotion III, Paladin Heal III
  • Benefit: You can activate this ability and expend one use of Lay on Hands to resurrect the dead, returning your target to life at 50% health.
• NEW Paladin Redemption III (Not yet available)
  • Cost: 2 Action Points
  • Prereq: Level 19 Paladin, Paladin Extra Lay on Hands III, Paladin Redemption II, 70 Action Points Spent, Any one of: Paladin Devotion IV, Paladin Heal IV
  • Benefit: You can activate this ability and expend one use of Lay on Hands to true resurrect the dead, returning your target to life at 100% health.
• NEW Rogue Way of the Thief Acrobat II
  • Cost: 2 Action Points
  • Prereq: Rogue Level 12, Rogue Way of the Thief Acrobat I, Rogue Dexterity III, 42 Action Points Spent
  • Benefit: Grants an additional +2 bonus to Balance, Jump, and Tumble skills, increases your movement rate by 10%, and 2 extra uses per rest of Uncanny Dodge. Also grants a greater increase to attack speed with staves and complete immunity to knockdown effects and slippery surfaces.
• Note: Final values on all of these enhancements are still subject to change based on play-testing.
• NEW Rogue Way of the Mechanic II is still in development.

General Enhancement Changes

• Weapons conjured by the Holy Sword spell and arrows created by the Arcane Archer enhancement are no longer destroyed at the end of a dungeon. These items now persist until you have been logged out for half an hour or more.
• The costs of Halfling Cunning I - III and Rogue Sneak Attack Accuracy I - III have been reduced to 1 action point per level.
• The bonus granted by Rogue Sneak Attack Training has been increased to 3 points of sneak attack damage per level.
• Rogue Way of the Assassin I now grants a passive +4 bonus to sneak attack damage in addition to its other effects.
• The effect of Paladin Divine Righteousness I, Rogue Way of the Assassin I active abilities, and Rogue Way of the Thief-Acrobat I "Show time" now lasts 60 seconds instead of 20 seconds.
• Barbarian and Rogue Trap Sense enhancements now grant a +2 bonus to saves vs. traps per level instead of +1.
• Paladin Faith II enhancements dropped to level 6 (with appropriate drops in "Action Points Spent" requirements), to match the Cleric Faith II enhancements.
• NEW Paladin auras now stack better -- previously, if two paladins who had taken different enhancements that affected their auras stood next to you, you would only benefit from one of their auras. Now, you will gain the highest AC bonus from any nearby paladin, the highest save bonus from any nearby paladin, etc.
• NEW Cost of Paladin Divine Righteousness I reduced to 1 Action Point.
• NEW Rogue Way of the Thief Acrobat I now grants increased attack speed with staves.
• NEW Unarmed attacks now do damage when you cleave, whirlwind attack, and great cleave. Additionally, the following active attack feats will apply your maximum attack combo bonus when you execute an attack with them: Hamstring, Stunning Blow, Slicing Blow, Sap, Improved Trip, Improved Sunder, Quivering Palm, and Stunning Fist.
• Paladin Faith II enhancements dropped to level 6 (with appropriate drops in "Action Points Spent" requirements), to match the Cleric Faith II enhancements.

Items

• Bursting weapons now continue to increase their damage if they "burst" on an attack that has greater than a x4 damage multiplier.
• Several new chain shirt appearances have been added to the treasure tables.
• Gem and collectible bags now have an "auto-gather" feature that can be turned on. Whenever the player picks up a collectible or gem, it will go into a collectible or gem bag if there is room, when enabled. Auto-gathering prefers bags that already have a stack of the picked up item over bags that do not have any.
• Weapons conjured by the Holy Sword spell and arrows created by the Arcane Archer enhancement are no longer destroyed at the end of a dungeon. These items now persist until you have been logged out for half an hour or more.
• Several new chain shirt appearances have been added to the treasure tables.
• The names of some item effects have been changed to avoid confusion with similarly named enhancements. The effects themselves remain the same. "Improved Maximize I", "Improved Enlarge I", "Improved Extend I", "Improved Empower II", and "Improved Empower Healing I" have been renamed to "Spell Point Discount - Maximize I", "Spell Point Discount - Enlarge I", "Spell Point Discount - Extend I", "Spell Point Discount - Empower II", and "Spell Point Discount - Empower Healing I".
• The following potions are now equipped with funnels so they can be used on afflicted friends: Potion of Fear Removal, Potion of Poison Neutralization, Potion of Blindness Removal, Potion of Curse Removal, Potion of Disease Removal, Woodblossom Mead, and Crimson Nightshade Infusion. The new funnels are especially easy to use so raging barbarians should have no problems with them.
• NEW A new item honoring Gary Gygax, has been added to the Delera's end reward list. "Voice of the Master" grants +5% XP to dungeon completion, and "Good Luck +1" to skill checks and saves.
• NEW All of the various energy absorption treasure effects used by the M6 raid loot (Fire Absorption - 10%, Negative Energy Absorption - 10%, etc.) have been fixed so that they absorb the proper amount of incoming damage.
• NEW Shields now can be randomly generated with a much wider range of enchantments.

Monsters

• Dispel magic no longer dispels ogre and troll rage.
• A few wight priests will no longer cast cure spells on themselves.
• NEW If a teleporting monster gets himself into water, he will now properly teleport home and heal himself.
• NEW Previously, if you summoned a scorpion with "summon monster 2", enemy monsters might continue to attack it while it was burrowed. This should no longer happen (they might attack it as it is doing the burrowing animation, but won't chase it around while it is underground).
• NEW Previously, some Orcs would stand around doing nothing (most notably Orc Rangers). Now they should work.
• NEW Tieflings are now correctly immune to hold person and other spells that should not work on outsiders.
• NEW Two of the shroud lieutenants were not properly buffing their pals; their boss has smacked them around a bit, and now they will play better with others.

Quests

• The Shroud
  • The agents of the twelve have been studying the shroud and report a shift in the 13th moon. They speculate the moon of death’s influence will wan in the northwest part of the valley.
• Twilight Canyon
  • The way to the upper levels will now only open for players who speak to Paetus after he has been rescued.
• Sands of Menechtarun
  • All zombies in the Menechtarun area now drop the special desert tokens instead of regular collectibles.
• Orchard of the Macabre
  • A named rare blackbone skeleton in the Orchard of the Macabre now casts spells.
• The Catacombs
  • NEW Oozes and slimes have disappeared but, other vermin may lurk in the shadows.

Shopping

• The potion vendor ogre in Gianthold now sells potions of Lesser Restoration.
• The arcane scroll vendor for level 4 and 5 scrolls in House Jorasco no longer sells any level 3 scrolls.
• NEW Soul gems will now appear under the Ingredients category in the auction house.

Other Changes

• If you had unlocked the bonus character slot from 1750 favor, it would intermittently not show up. That should no longer happen.
• Previously, some poison dart traps (in the Sunken Sewer, for example) would damage warforged (and others wearing poison immunity items) despite their poison immunity. This should no longer happen. Similarly, there were a few dart traps that did fire/sonic/cold/etc damage, which would bypass appropriate damage resistances. This should also no longer happen.
• The save DC's on traps that scale with difficulty have been lowered on Hard and Elite. Elite trap save DC's are now roughly equivalent to what Hard trap save DC's were before this change. (For example, a trap that previously had a save DC of 30 on Elite will now be DC 22.) Spot, search, disable, and damage values remain unchanged.
• It is now easier to see when standing in an incendiary cloud
• Scrolls that were missing a level 16 UMD class requirement will now display correctly when examined.
• Bidding on an item from the Bids page of the auction house that you have been outbid on will no longer result in an error message.
• Players who perish in either the realm of Dolurrh in Desecrated Temple or in the fire rooms in Rainbow in Dark will no longer leave their soul stones behind when they teleport out.
• AOE buff spells cast in tavern brawl pits will now hit yourself (but not anyone else, since everyone else in the pit is your enemy!)
• When wielding a finesse weapon, the to-hit value in the Inventory panel will now correctly display using your Dex mod if your Dex mod is greater then you Str mod.
• Previously, the DC listed for combat feat tooltips did not include bonuses from enhancements and feats. This was a visual glitch only; they were still being added to the actual DC in combat. This is now fixed.
• The fire effect for a minotaur shaman staff no longer hangs in the air after it has been shattered with a cold spell.
• The teleport bug in The Shadow Crypt where the camera detaches and is floating in water has been fixed.
  
• Ritual Sacrifice: Killing Ramak Orenah before the objective to do so appears, will no longer result in a broken quest.
• Sirroco will now cause blindness only on critical hits, as per the description.
• A visual bug was fixed where the XP or SP graphic bars would be in the wrong position, if your XP or SP changed in both directions rapidly. For example, if you were damaged, at the same time you were healed, the bar would move the the wrong position, however, the XP value shown would have been correct. .
• Previously, spell focus: transmutation was not working. Now it works.
• It is no longer possible to break some quests by having a pet trigger a monster entry.
• The black abbot goggle effect will no longer persist if the goggles are destroyed while you are wearing them.
• Bidding on an item that you have been outbid on, from the bids page of the auction house no longer results in an error message.
• The description for the "Improved Uncanny Dodge" feat has been corrected; it now states correctly that the feat gives +6 to reflex saves.
• The Lesser, Improved, and Greater Regeneration raid loot effects have been fixed so you no longer have to re-equip the items after zoning to get the effect reapplied.
• It is now easier to see when standing in an incindeary cloud.
• NEW Previously, some poison dart traps (in the Sunken Sewer, for example) would damage warforged (and others wearing poison immunity items) despite their poison immunity. This should no longer happen. Similarly, there were a few dart traps that did fire/sonic/cold/etc damage, which would bypass appropriate damage resistances. This should also no longer happen.
• NEW If you had unlocked the bonus character slot from 1750 favor, it would randomly not show up. That should no longer happen.
• NEW Ladders in the following dungeons have been fixed: Redfang, ShanToKor part 1 - The Kobold's Blockade, Stop Hazadill’s Shipment, Garrison’s Missing Pack, The Waterworks part 1, Waterworks part 2, Waterworks Adventure Zone, Delera's Part 1.
• NEW Players above the quest level limit for slayer, explorer, and rare encounter quests can now advance these quests to completion, but will be receive reduced XP (XP Gained = XP For Goal / (Levels Over Cap + 1)). Any other players present in the area who are not above the quest level limit will not have their quests advanced. No change has been made for groups of players who are all within the min-max level range for an area. The spammy text alerts warning players their quest is not advancing have been replaced with static informational alerts.
• NEW While in a live event area (the one that allows spell casting in public areas), you no longer take the death penalty and death wear.
• NEW Some areas of the game are a bit foggier because of the battles that have been occurring there.

7.7

[ArkoHighStar]

yay

rogue and pally stuff is finally starting to look nice

[artvan_delet]

Exalted Smite a nice addition, and there are rewards for high level paladins. Thanks. Along with BOG 4, these are two nice improvements.

If we are stuck with the uses per rest smite mechanic, then I request we reduce or eliminate the smite cooldown.

[Aspenor]

/waits for more level 8 arcane and cleric spells

[Westerner]

NEW The fascinate feat for bards now has a will saving throw. The DC is the bard's perform skill plus a d20.

Will Perform items raise the DC?

[jhorn02]

I think this might be my favorite, unanticipated, addition this week:

NEW Shields now can be randomly generated with a much wider range of enchantments.

[Tolero]

Will Perform items raise the DC?

Yes perform items will raise it. Bring forth the perform boost items!

[Cowdenicus]

Now if we could see some love for clerics......

[Eladrin]

I think this might be my favorite, unanticipated, addition this week:

NEW Shields now can be randomly generated with a much wider range of enchantments.

That's the direct result of the thread that mentioned the overabundance of Ghost Touch shields.

[Laith]

Yes perform items will raise it. Bring forth the perform boost items!

you should add "though ultimately, they should be unnecessary, as often fascinate will already be the hardest will save in the game"

[Coldin]

You know, I see a good deal of paladin love, and a little rogue love. Just saying, why isn't there any enhancements to boost a rogue's crit range or modifier while sneak attacking, or at least something similar?

Just kinda in a complaining type of mood. WotTA and WotA II both look pretty nice, and I'll probably switch my rogue over to one of those since WotM isn't getting a boost anytime soon, and traps are a piece of cake anyway.

And I wonder where the new Iron Companion enhancements are?

[Vorn]

Nice Pally/Rogue love. I may have to take my Pally off mule duty.

No more slimes in the Catacombs! Yea!!! I love that quest series.

/hopes for fighter enhancements like weaponmaster. Mod 8?

[Tolero]

you should add "though ultimately, they should be unnecessary, as odds are fascinate will already be the hardest will save in the game"

Perhaps. But for people who didn't invest heavily in perform, those boost items may come in handy, or for people who like to reallocate a few skill points in other areas ^^

[Dylos_Moon]

Why is Tolero posting the WDA, what happened to Q?

[Dariun]

NEW A new item honoring Gary Gygax, has been added to the Delera's end reward list. "Voice of the Master" grants +5% XP to dungeon completion, and "Good Luck +1" to skill checks and saves.

That's very very cool. I will definitely be spending some time out in the graveyard once this is live.




P.S. Any chance of making part 2 of deleras soloable? (i.e., get rid of that sequence where someone has to throw a lever while someone else runs down a corridor). Pretty please?

[Tolero]

Why is Tolero posting the WDA, what happened to Q?

Nothing "happened" to him. No need to panic hehehe.

[Garth_of_Sarlona]

NEW The fascinate feat for bards now has a will saving throw. The DC is the bard's perform skill plus a d20.

Muhahaha time to flood the auction house with all those Perform +15 necklaces I keep looting.

NEW Soul gems will now appear under the Ingredients category in the auction house.

Muhahaha time to flood the auction house with all those Soul gems Jackknife keeps looting.

7.7

Is this the number of weeks until mod 7 is released?

Garth

[Aspenor]

Nothing "happened" to him. No need to panic hehehe.

So says the the usurper!!!

You put hemlock in his coffee didn't you T

[Laith]

Perhaps. But for people who didn't invest heavily in perform, those boost items may come in handy, or for people who like to reallocate a few skill points in other areas ^^

fair enough, though i wasn't bashing the items themselves.

build options are always good.
maxing out perform has (and will never be) required for fascinate. if you do max it though... perform items are less than required.

[Dylos_Moon]

Nothing "happened" to him. No need to panic hehehe.

Just like nothing "happened" to +Sir?