U36 Release Notes

[Niminae]

Lots of good stuff.

Lots of Lynnabel QOL fixes, bravo!

Here's my favorite:

Five new quests are available for preview! All of "Third Time's a Charm", "Graveyard Shift", "Records of the Past", "Strike Back", and "Desire in the Dark" can be accessed by speaking to the NPC Asta the Deep Minded, located outside the tavern within the Tethyamar Mining Outpost.

Not a single quest named "The X of Y," and further cluttering the LFM creation panel. Nice.

- Random loot's descriptions have been improved. Numerous descriptions have been re-typed to avoid vagueness or other issues.
Hopefully this will mean no more effects that are not in the item name. This would make finding item on the AH/ASAH a simple matter of using the search function rather than a tedious examination of pages of items.

- Heroic and Legendary Bracers of the Sun and Moon now work correctly.
I hope this workaround won't mean that any efforts to actually fix the Guard mechanic will be abandoned just because one item now has a working Guard effect.

- The Sharn Syndicate has had its loot improved.
Nice! Hopefully this will be the start of a complete updating of the items in older packs.

- The majority of item-based sources of Spell Resistance have had their values reduced.
- Drow and Deep Gnome's Spell Resistance now stacks with other sources of Spell Resistance.
I realize that reducing item spell resistance was necessary to avoid Drow and Deep Gnomes being able to stack their SR too high. But there was an elegant and simple solution posted on the forums that never got a dev response: Type Drow and Deep Gnome SR as Insightful. This would provide Drow and Deep Gnomes with higher Insightful SR than the best CC Insightful items can provide, making the racial SR meaningful while also not breaking the upper limits of the SR that a character can achieve and requiring that all item SRs be adjusted. Every race other than Drow and Deep Gnomes is being nerfed because you finally got around to making Drow and Deep Gnome SR functional, and that seems like sloppy targeting for the intended result.

Speaking of sloppy targeting, I'm not terribly happy about the sloppy targeting on the Warlock nerf for something that was claimed to be a needed adjustment for Heroic damage. Recovering most of the lost damage at level 26 is half way through epics, and costing 2 epic feats to do so is not a fair price in the slightest. And not a single change from the 6/20 post where this was announced despite a huge amount of feedback on how the stated Heroic damage reduction wasn't just a Heroic damage reduction.

- Skills in the Character Sheet and level up panel now sort differently. On the Character Sheet, Skills with assigned ranks sort to the top, skills without assigned ranks sort to the bottom, and skills sort by name within those groups. In the Level Up Skill Panel, Skills with assigned ranks that are class skills sort to the top, skills with assigned ranks that are cross class are next, skills with no assigned ranks that are class skills follow, then finally skills that have no assigned ranks and are also cross-class are listed. Skills sort by name within these categories.
This is fantastic.

- Guild Buffs can now be hidden on-screen. This option can be found in Options > UI called Hide Guild Buffs.
I hope this only applies to the several hour buffs that are picked up at the amenity bar, and not to the one hour buffs you can get in the hold.

[dunklezhan]

I just read the notes. Now that is what I call an update.

All those bug fixes and typos - I guess its possible that all updates look like that really, but if so, it's so good to see them all written down.

If not, and this is just the result of a recent blitz - by lynnabel or steelstar or whoever - then thank you, and please keep this level of focus!

(I agree with the poster above about the approach to spell resistance. I reserve judgement on warlock. I love my pew-pew warlock but it was ridiculous in mid to high heroics)

[unbongwah]

Tempest active abilities that claim to be Melee Dual Wielding Attacks now actually require you to be dual-wielding.

Can anyone confirm if this includes wolf builds? If it does, I'm expecting a lot of angst in the druid forums in 3...2...

Bellow's Ring - +6 Intimidate Skill, +12 Incite (Aggro), +60 False Life

That can't be right, can it? +60 HPs on a ML:2 item?

[Saekee]

We can hide guild buffs?!?!?!!!

[Aelonwy]

I'm really impressed with the all the fixes and improvements in the release notes. But I don't know what to think of the SR changes yet.

As to the Sharn Syndicate loot changes: (Quick copy/paste)

The Sharn Syndicate has had its loot improved. The loot is now as follows:

Nicked Light Hammer - +2, 2d6 Electric, +4 Shatter, +3 Deadly
Nicked Repeating Light Crossbow - +2, 2d6 Cold, +2 Double Shot, +3 Deadly
Nicked Quarterstaff - +2, 2d6 Force, + 4 Vertigo, +3 Deadly
Nicked Scimitar - +2, 2d6 Acid, +5 Attack, +3 Deadly
Nicked Heavy Mace - +2, 2d6 Force, + 4 Stunning DC, +3 Deadly
Nicked Kama - +2, 2d6 Electric, +3 Tendon Slice, +3 Deadly
Nicked Longsword - +2, 2d6 Cold, +1 Parrying , +3 Deadly
Nicked Greatsword - +2, 2d6 Sonic, +4 Shatter, +3 Deadly
Nicked Longbow - +2, 2d6 Electric, +3 Seeker, +3 Deadly
Nicked Shortsword - +2, 2d6 Acid, +2 Deception, +3 Deadly
Nicked Orb - Potency, + 1 Spell Focus Mastery, +60 Wizardry
Runic Trinket - +60 Wizardry, +1 Spell Focus Mastery, +17 Insightful Universal Spell Power
Corsair's Cap - Waterbreathing x3 per Day, Cold Resistance, +6 Swim Skill
Bellow's Ring - +6 Intimidate Skill, +12 Incite (Aggro), +60 False Life
Kwan's Band - +3 Wisdom, +6 Concentration, +60 Wizardry

Lynn has already said the notes on the ring are incorrect.

They have +12 False Life, not 60. Sorry about that. Notes are wrong, item is correct.

I think the orb is a great addition. I would like to see the blunt weapons get keen instead of deadly and the others get maiming. I don't know anyone that doesn't equip a Deadly accessory if their primary damage is weapon based. Is anything getting an augment slot?

[Sardonica]

Can anyone confirm if this includes wolf builds? If it does, I'm expecting a lot of angst in the druid forums in 3...2...

!Failed Action. You do not meet the requirements for this action. (Incorrect stance/form, weapon type, or insufficient resources.)

Just tested on Lam with a Togg wolf build, and it would seem that The Growing Storm, A Thousand Cuts (active version) and Dance of Death no longer work in wolf form. Equipping an offhand weapon made no difference. Bleed Them Out still works, as it does not specify Dual Wielding.

Too bad the Nature's Warrior "dps" tree is so underwhelming. Wolves are kinda screwed.

[unbongwah]

Thanks for testing. Can you tell if TWF+SWF are still stacking in wolf form?