Game updates/20050615

Update - Wednesday, June 15, 2005
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 expert salvage kits so that they always successfully salvage a rune from monster-dropped armor that contains a rune. 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.