Game updates/20090618

Bug Fix

 * Fixed a bug with Hero and NPC AI which would prevent them from effectively utilizing minion skills.

Skill Updates
For more information on these changes, please see the Developer Updates page.

Assassin

 * : increased recharge time to 7 seconds.

Elementalist

 * : increased recharge time to 20 seconds.

Mesmer

 * : functionality changed to: "For 10 seconds, target foe and adjacent foes take damage whenever they use a skill and  damage if not under the effects of another Mesmer hex."

Necromancer

 * : increased Energy cost to 15.
 * : increased recharge time to 10 seconds.
 * : decreased duration to seconds; decreased Health degeneration to - ; decreased damage to.

Ritualist

 * Spawning Power: increased effect on Weapon Spells to 4% per rank.
 * : decreased duration to seconds.
 * : decreased duration to  seconds.
 * : decreased duration to  seconds.
 * : functionality changed to: "You lose Health. Gain control of target spirit."
 * : functionality changed to: "Skill. For seconds, all of your spirits within earshot deal  less damage and steal  Health when they attack."
 * : functionality changed to: "The spirit nearest you loses all Energy. You gain % of that Energy."
 * : decreased duration to  seconds.
 * : decreased duration to  seconds.
 * : decreased duration to seconds.
 * : decreased duration to seconds.
 * : decreased duration to seconds.

Elementalist

 * : increased Energy cost to 15.

Paragon

 * : functionality changed to: "For seconds, you gain  Health and other allies' spells targeting you cast 50% faster."

Sunspear

 * : functionality changed to: "Interrupt target foe's skill. If that foe was suffering from a Mesmer Hex, that foe and all foes in the area take damage and - Health degeneration for 10 seconds."
 * : decreased casting time to .75 seconds; increased spirit level to.

Ritualist

 * : decreased casting time to .75 seconds; increased spirit level to.
 * : decreased casting time to .75 seconds; decreased Energy cost to 15; increased spirit level to.
 * : decreased Energy cost to 5. Functionality changed to: "For seconds, your spirits takes 50% less damage and are immune to critical attacks."
 * : decreased casting time to .75 seconds; increased spirit level to.
 * : decreased casting time to .75 seconds; increased spirit level to.
 * : decreased casting time to 1 second; decreased Energy cost to 15; decreased recharge time to 30 seconds; increased spirit level to.
 * : decreased casting time to .75 seconds; increased spirit level to.
 * : decreased casting time to 1 second; increased spirit level to.
 * : decreased casting time to 1 second; decreased recharge time to 30 seconds; increased spirit level to.
 * : decreased casting time to .75 seconds; increased spirit level to.
 * : decreased casting time to .75 seconds; increased spirit level to.
 * : decreased casting time to .75 seconds; increased spirit level to.
 * : decreased casting time to .75 seconds; increased spirit level to.
 * : decreased casting time to .75 seconds; increased spirit level to.
 * : decreased casting time to .75 seconds; increased spirit level to.
 * : decreased casting time to .75 seconds; increased spirit level to.
 * : decreased casting time to .75 seconds; increased spirit level to.
 * : decreased casting time to 1 second; decreased recharge time to 30 seconds; increased spirit level to.
 * : decreased casting time to 1 second; decreased recharge time to 30 seconds; increased spirit level to.
 * : decreased casting time to 1 second; increased spirit level to.
 * : increased recharge time to 30 seconds. Functionality changed to: "For seconds, your next  Binding Rituals cast instantly."
 * : increased recharge time to 20 seconds. Functionality changed to: "Create three level spirits. These spirits deal  damage with attacks. These spirits die after 60 seconds."
 * : decreased casting time to 1 second; decreased Energy cost to 15; decreased recharge time to 45 seconds; increased spirit level to.
 * : decreased casting time to .75 seconds; increased spirit level to.
 * : decreased casting time to 1 second; increased spirit level to.
 * : decreased duration to seconds.

Paragon

 * : functionality changed to: "For seconds, the next time target other ally would be knocked down, all nearby foes take 15..75 damage instead."
 * : functionality changed to: "For 20 seconds, the next touch skills used against allies within earshot fail."
 * : decreased recharge time to 20 seconds.
 * : functionality changed to: "For seconds, the next time target ally attacks, that ally inflicts a Deep Wound and the next attack does 5..50 additional damage"
 * : decreased recharge time to 0 seconds; increased chance to land a critical hit to %.
 * : decreased recharge time to 10 seconds. Functionality changed to: "For seconds, you gain  Health and other allies' spells targeting you cast 50% faster."
 * : decreased Energy cost to 5; decreased recharge time to 20 seconds.
 * : decreased recharge time to 15 seconds.
 * : decreased recharge time to 15 seconds.
 * : decreased Energy cost to 10; decreased recharge time to 20 seconds.
 * : increased Energy cost to 25; increased recharge time to 30 seconds. Functionality changed to: "All party members in earshot are resurrected with % Health and % Energy."
 * : decreased casting time to 1 second.
 * : functionality changed to: "For 20 seconds, target non-spirit ally has a % chance to block incoming attacks. This Echo is reapplied every time a Chant or Shout ends on that ally."
 * : increased Burning duration to seconds.
 * : decreased Energy cost to 10.
 * : decreased recharge time to 5 seconds.

AI Updates
The following AI updates apply to Heroes and Hard Mode NPCs.

Assassin

 * Heroes are more likely to use offensive Shadow Step skills before their Health reaches 50%.
 * Heroes will now use Black Lotus Strike against non-hexed foes when appropriate.

Dervish

 * Heroes are more likely to use Attacker's Insight during combat.

Elementalist

 * Heroes are more likely to use attunement skills during combat.

Mesmer

 * Heroes will now more appropriately use hex spells that require an interrupt to take effect.
 * Heroes will now maintain Mantra of Inscriptions both in and out of combat.

Monk

 * Heroes are more likely to scatter appropriately when affected by Ray of Judgment.
 * Heroes will now use Life Sheath to remove conditions out of combat.
 * Heroes will now use Boon Signet more frequently.
 * Heroes are now more likely to use Spotless Mind and Spotless Soul in conjunction with other hex and condition removal skills.
 * Heroes are now more likely to use Restore Condition if their target is suffering from multiple conditions.
 * Heroes will now use Dwayna's Kiss more frequently when hexes and enchantments are present on the target.
 * Heroes will now use Words of Comfort more frequently on characters suffering from conditions.
 * Fixed a bug where the AI only used Healing Burst as a self-targeting spell.
 * Fixed a bug where the AI did not recognize Unyielding Aura as a hard resurrection skill.

Necromancer

 * Heroes can now cast Lingering Curse off-target.
 * Heroes will now use Blood is Power and Blood Ritual on casters holding bundle items.
 * Heroes will now maintain Aura of the Lich in and out of combat.

Paragon

 * Heroes will now check if Angelic Bond is active on all party members before using the skill.
 * Heroes will only activate Angelic Bond if a party member is under 50% Health.
 * Heroes are more likely to use "Incoming!" outside of combat.
 * Heroes will only use Chest Thumper against foes that are suffering from Cracked Armor.
 * Heroes will now use "Never Surrender!" both in and out of combat.

Ritualist

 * Heroes will now use Resilient Weapon, Spirit Light Weapon, and Weapon of Warding to overwrite non-defensive weapon spells when the target's Health is at critical levels.
 * Heroes will now use Offering of Spirit more frequently and will now use it out of combat.
 * Heroes will now use Mending Grip as a self-targeting spell.
 * Heroes will now only use Brutal Weapon on targets who are engaged in combat.
 * Heroes will now cast Weapon of Quickening on spell-casting classes regardless of weapon type equipped.
 * Fixed a bug where the AI would not use Renewing Memories while holding a bundle item.

Warrior

 * Heroes are more likely to use Defy Pain at 95% Health to make better use of its damage-reduction feature.
 * Heroes will use "For Great Justice!" as is appropriate for their weapon type.
 * Heroes are less likely to overwrite Rush with other stances.
 * Heroes are less likely to overwrite Frenzy with other stances unless Health is low.

General

 * Fixed a bug where Heroes would not use zero-Energy skills when low on Energy.

Bug Fixes

 * Fixed a bug that would cause GvG matches to end in a tie if a Guild Lord died when the tiebreaker triggered. All Guild Lords will now become non-combatants when the match ends after 28 minutes according to the server clock. Note that this time may differ slightly from your client's timer.
 * Fixed a bug that prevented Depravity and Ether Phantom from displaying Energy loss.
 * Fixed a bug that caused Depravity to affect all nearby foes.
 * Fixed a bug that caused the following Ritualist skills to use an incorrect casting animation: Agony, Anguish, Empowerment, Gaze of Fury, Recovery, and Rejuvenation.

Miscellaneous

 * Xunlai Tournament Agents now offer prizes for the May tournament. These agents can be found in the Great Temple of Balthazar, Lion's Arch, Kaineng Center, and Kamadan.
 * Reduced the amount of wins needed for the base objective and second bonus objective on the Random Arenas Zaishen quest.
 * Increased the Zaishen Coin rewards for all Zaishen Mission quests and Zaishen Bounty quests.

Guild Wars Wiki notes

 * Ray of Judgment scatters heroes in both normal and hard mode. In hard mode, all NPCs will scatter from it.
 * Recharge of "Brace Yourself!" was lowered from 12 seconds to 4 seconds.
 * Activation time of Signet of Creation was lowered to 1 second.
 * Spirits summoned by Signet of Spirits suffer an AI glitch that makes them idle during battles. They often delay several seconds between each attacks due to targeting priority script (which prevent them from attacking the same target of any ally spirits), and usually doing nothing at all against single target when you control a massive number of offensive spirits.
 * Spirit Siphon should be self-targeting to function properly. But if you cast Spirit Siphon while targeting anything out of your spell range, it will make you run to the target to cast even if the spirit is adjacent to yourself. If the nearest spirit is outside of casting range from your target, Spirit Siphon will fail.
 * Kun Shao will not give out tournament reward points for the May tournament to most people.
 * This update introduced the following bugs, which were fixed in the June 19th update.
 * "We Shall Return!" bypassed Frozen Soil.
 * The Flux Matrix damaged party members.
 * Equipping "Brace Yourself!" (PvP) caused the client to crash.
 * Order of the Vampire gave the stolen health to the caster instead of the attacker.
 * Signet of Spirits' recharge time was left at 10 seconds instead of being increased to 20 seconds as intended.
 * Signet of Binding had a bug which prevented spirits' defensive effects from being applied properly.
 * A bug prevented players from receiving credit for completing objectives in the Random Arena Zaishen Combat quest.
 * The descriptions of all Blood Magic and Death Magic well spells have been changed, however the functionality of these skills has not been changed. Concise and verbose descriptions of Blood Magic and Death Magic well spells were appended with "You do not sacrifice Health if there is a fresh corpse to exploit.". In verbose descriptions, "Exploit nearest corpse to create a Well of [Name] at its location." has been replaced with "Create a Well of [Name] at your location.". In Concise descriptions, "Exploits a fresh corpse." has been removed.
 * "Incoming!" (PvP) has the wrong skill description, stating that "For seconds, all party members within earshot take 33% less damage.".