Game updates/20080612

Skill Updates
In this update, we are again changing a few key skills for PvP only or for PvE only. However, most of the skill balances are the same for both the PvP and PvE aspects of the game.

PvE and PvP
Most of these changes improve upon existing skills. A few are power reductions that are not expected to be detrimental to PvE play. Three skills (Soul Bind, Rust, and Lightning Touch) are having their core function changed to make them more useful outside of niche circumstances. The following skills will change in both PvE and PvP:

Elementalist

 * : increased Energy cost to 10; decreased casting time to 1 second; functionality changed to: "Deals cold damage. For  seconds, target foe and all adjacent foes take twice as long to activate signets."
 * : functionality changed to: "Target touched foe and all adjacent foes are struck for lightning damage. Foes suffering from a Water Magic hex are Blinded for  seconds. This skill has 25% armor penetration."
 * : increased conditional damage to.

Mesmer

 * : increased Energy gained to.
 * : increased multiplier for Energy gained to 4; increased recharge to 12 seconds.
 * : increased damage to.

Monk

 * : increased recharge to 15 seconds.
 * : increased recharge to 10 seconds.
 * : decreased duration to seconds.
 * : decreased duration to seconds.

Necromancer

 * : decreased Energy cost to 5.
 * : increased Health degeneration to -.
 * : increased Health degeneration to -.
 * : decreased casting time to 1 second; functionality changed to: "For 30 seconds, every time target foe is healed, the healer takes damage. This hex ends if target is suffering from a Smiting Prayers hex."

Paragon

 * : decreased Energy cost to 5.
 * : increased Bleeding duration to seconds.

Ranger

 * : functionality changed to: "Cleanse yourself of Poison, Disease, Blindness, and one additional condition."
 * : increased duration to 24 seconds; removed easily interruptible; you now have -40 armor while activating this skill.

Warrior

 * : increased movement speed to +33%.
 * : increased duration to seconds.
 * : increased conditional damage to 12.

PvE Changes
The improvements here are appropriate for PvE but would not benefit PvP play balance. The following skills will change in PvE:

Dervish

 * : decreased recharge to 5 seconds; increased the maximum number of enchantments counted to 8.

Mesmer

 * : increased multiplier for Energy gained to 3.

PvP Changes
The significant power reductions here are important to address current PvP play balance but are not necessary for PvE. The following skills will change in PvP:

Mesmer

 * : decreased the recharge of signets to % faster.

Ritualist

 * : increased duration to 2 seconds; decreased damage to ; functionality changed to: "For 2 seconds all foes adjacent to target ally are struck for lightning damage each second."
 * : decreased damage to.

Warrior

 * : functionality changed to: "For 20 seconds, when you hit with an attack, you gain 1 additional strike of adrenaline."

Bug Fixes

 * Rift Wardens in the Underworld now only teleport the player speaking to them if the Underworld Chest has appeared.
 * Fixed a missing player name in Norgu’s dialog in the Throne of Secrets.
 * Fixed a bug that caused Heroes and henchmen to occasionally respond improperly to placed flags when fighting enemy Spirits.
 * Fixed a bug that caused some catapults to hit the area around themselves with their attack.
 * Fixed a bug that caused Siege Devourers in Assault the Shaman [sic] to occasionally not hit enemy Charr they were targeting.

Guild Wars Wiki notes

 * Added Xunlai Tournament rewards.
 * The reward points earned from the Xunlai Tournament rewards are different than as listed on the website.
 * The recharge time of Rust was changed to 8 seconds