Game updates:July 2008

July 2008 updates

• Thursday 10^th of July (talk)
• Wednesday 2^nd of July (talk)

Update - Thursday, July 10, 2008

Updated Zaishen Rewards

• Updated the Zaishen Chest drops to replace the Automatonic with a new tonic for the month of July. More information on Zaishen Rewards can be found here. Added the Boreal Tonic.

Automated Tournaments

• Updated Automated Tournament map rotations.

Skill Updates

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

PvE and PvP

Assassin

• Aura of Displacement: now has a .75 aftercast.
• Dark Prison: now has a .75 aftercast.
• Death's Charge: now has a .75 aftercast.
• Shadow Prison: now has a .75 aftercast.
• Shadow Walk: now disables your attack skills for 1 second.

Dervish

• Signet of Mystic Speed: increased recharge to 20 seconds.

Mesmer

• Mantra of Inscriptions: now affects only those signets that you successfully activate. Interrupted and disabled signets no longer benefit from this skill.

PvP Changes

Dervish

• Chilling Victory (PvP): this skill is now in the Wind Prayers attribute line.

Monk

• Signet of Judgment (PvP): decreased damage to 5..50; decreased range to half.

Necromancer

• Enfeebling Blood (PvP): increased health sacrifice to 17%; decreased duration to 1..16.

Miscellaneous

• Chant and shout effects are no longer applied to allied Guild Battle NPCs.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug with the Ranger skill Conflagration that made it not affect the ranged attacks of monsters.
• Fixed a bug that sometimes caused Mhenlo to display the same dialogue option twice in the Consulate Docks outpost.
• Fixed a bug in the Factions quest "Night Raiders" that could prevent players from completing it.
• Fixed a graphical bug that occurred when Gwen was equipped with the Deldrimor Armor in a PvP arena.
• Fixed a graphical bug on the Elementalist's Elite Flameforged armor that showed the wrong texture on the character's neck.
• Fixed a bug with the monster skill Twisting Jaws that allowed monsters to instantly cast it.

Miscellaneous

• The Xunlai Tournament House NPC now offers prizes for the June tournament and can be found in the Great Temple of Balthazar, Lion's Arch, Kaineng Center, and Kamadan.

Guild Wars Wiki notes

• Dragon Festival decorations were removed from Shing Jea Monastery and Kaineng Center.

Update #2 - Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a crash that occurred when a player manually ordered Heroes to use certain skills.

Update - Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Dragon Festival 2008

• Decorated Shing Jea Monastery and Kaineng Center in preparation for the Dragon Festival.
• Beginning at Noon Pacific (-7 GMT) on Thursday, July 3, 2008, the Shing Jea Boardwalk, Dragon Arena, and Rollerbeetle Racing will be opened for the duration of the weekend.
• Captain Rujiyo will be gathering adventurers in Shing Jea Monastery for special festival missions at various times throughout the day on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
• For the final events on Sunday July 6, Emperor Kisu will visit Shing Jea Monastery every two hours, with the first event starting at 2:00 AM Pacific (-7 GMT) and the last event starting at 11:59 PM Pacific (-7 GMT).
• Imperial Supply Master Kagno will appear in Shing Jea Monastery as the event comes to a close at 11:59 AM Pacific (-7 GMT) on Monday, July 7. He will remain there for one week to exchange 250 Victory Tokens for the new mask in case anyone misses the exchange with Emperor Kisu.
• For the full mission and event schedule, please see the Dragon Festival 2008 event page.

PvE Changes

Back in May, Shadow Form had its duration increased and emerged as a key part of several highly efficient farming builds. To lower the efficiency of Shadow Form farming without removing it as an option, we are changing both the skill and some creatures in the Underworld.

Assassin

• Shadow Form: the caster of this skill now does 50% less damage while it is active.

Underworld

• Added Hex Breaker to the Mindblade Specters [sic] in the Underworld.
• Several Banished Dream Riders in the Chaos Plains region of the Underworld have been replaced with Cursed Dream Riders.
• When Cursed Dream Riders are killed, they cause Mindflay Specters [sic] to spawn. Mindflay Specters [sic] have Signet of Disenchantment instead of Hex Breaker.

For more information on these changes visit the Developer Updates page.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug that caused the Elementalist skill Steam to deal fire damage instead of cold damage for its conditional damage.
• Fixed a bug that caused Sunspear Rebirth Signet to aggro mobs near the target.
• Fixed a bug that caused the Ranger skill Conflagration to affect spears.

Miscellaneous

• Added dialogue to the Xunai [sic] Tournament Agent to remind players to register their account.
• Changed Guardsman Zingpah’s dialogue in Kaineng Center to reduce confusion.
• Improved Hero AI to use skills such as Conjure Flame and Ebon Dust Aura based on their weapon’s current damage type when effects changing the damage (such as Winter or Staggering Force) are active.
• Improved Hero AI for the Assassin skill Shattering Assault. Heroes will now use this skill if the target is not enchanted.
• Improved Hero response to a player manually ordering them to use a skill. Heroes should now respond faster to orders.
• Improved Hero AI for the Dervish skill Pious Assault. Heroes will now use this skill even if they are not enchanted.
• Improved Hero AI for the Assassin skill Disrupting Dagger. Heroes will now use this skill to interrupt spellcasting enemies rather than use it frequently against non-casting targets.
• Improved Hero AI for the Dervish skill Conviction. Heroes will now use this skill even if they are not enchanted.

Guild Wars Wiki notes

• This update added an extra 30,000 minutes of favor.