Game updates:September 2006

September 2006 updates

• Monday 25^th of September (talk)
• Sunday 24^th of September (talk)
• Saturday 23^rd of September (talk)
• Friday 22^nd of September (talk)
• Wednesday 20^th of September (talk)
• Monday 18^th of September (talk)
• Friday 15^th of September (talk)
• Thursday 14^th of September (talk)
• Friday 8^th of September (talk)
• Wednesday 6^th of September (talk)
• Tuesday 5^th of September (talk)
• Friday 1^st of September (talk)

Update - Monday September 25, 2006

• Completed the Nightfall World Preview Event weekend and restored the game to its normal state.

Update - Sunday September 24, 2006

• Fixed a skill bug that was being exploited in PvP matches.

Update - Saturday September 23, 2006

• Fixed a crash that prevented German language users from obtaining the quest, Primary Training, in Kamadan.

Update 2 - Friday September 22, 2006

General Updates:

• Changed default positions of Dialogue, Mission Goals, and Unlock boxes.
• Fixed miscellaneous preview event bugs.

Skill Updates:

• Arcane Zeal: Changed the maximum amount of energy gained from 5...7...7 to 1...6...7.
• Trapper's Speed: Fixed a bug that caused this skill to decrease the time to place traps more than intended.
• Spirit of Weariness: Fixed a bug that caused this spirit to remove more energy than intended.

Update - Friday September 22, 2006

Welcome to the Guild Wars Nightfall World Preview Event! This weekend, players can get a sneak peak at the new features of Guild Wars Nightfall, create Paragon and Dervish characters, use Nightfall skills, and play through a portion of the Nightfall roleplaying campaign.

All active Guild Wars accounts will automatically have access to the Preview Event. Players without a Guild Wars account can download the client from www.guildwars.com and then create a free account for the weekend by using one of the following access keys:

America: 2BBQF-MG981-PRQD7-KDM6Q-C78H3

Europe: 944NC-B1LJ4-MD6L9-718L6-1HM38

Please note that all Nightfall content and features are being presented in beta form, and are subject to change and improvement before the final release.

Campaign Overview

• As a newly inducted member of the legendary Order of the Sunspears, you will be able to explore all of Istan, the great island province of the nation of Elona.
• While playing in Elona, you will have the opportunity to meet and recruit Heroes into your party. Heroes are party members that follow your orders and use skills and equipment of your choosing.
• During this preview event, any new characters you create in the nation of Elona are temporary and will be reset prior to the release of Guild Wars Nightfall. These beta characters cannot travel outside of Elona, cannot access account storage, and cannot sell items to traders.

Heroes

• You can recruit new Heroes by completing certain quests. After recruiting a Hero, you can choose to bring him along in any mission or explorable area by adding him to your party using the party formation interface. Regardless of how many Heroes you recruit, you can invite a maximum of three Heroes into your party at any given time.
• Other players in your party can also bring along Heroes. If the maximum party size of a mission is eight, you and another player can play together and each bring three Heroes.
• Heroes have skills, attributes, weapons, and armor just like players do. You can use the Skills and Attributes panel to select their skills and attributes, and the Inventory panel to select their equipment. (During this preview event, you cannot yet customize your Heroes' armor.)
• When a Hero is in your party, you will see a button next to that Hero's name, which you can use to bring up the Hero Control panel. Within that panel, you will see that Hero's portrait, current Health and Energy, Skill Bar, and combat mode (aggressive, defensive, passive). The Hero Control panel is an advanced interface that you don't need to use, but if you would like to change a Hero's combat mode or force him to cast a specific skill, you can do it there.
• While playing the game with one or more Heroes in your party, you will also see flag buttons next to the Compass, which you can use to give them orders. To order a Hero to move to a certain spot on the map, click the flag button and then place the flag on the map. To undo that order, double-click the flag button.
• Heroes don't maintain their own inventory of skills. Instead, they are able to use any skill that you have unlocked on your account.
• Heroes don't maintain their own backpack or inventory of items. Instead, you can drag items from your inventory onto a Hero to equip him. Your Heroes can use weapons that you have customized for yourself.

User Interface Changes

For the duration of the World Preview Event, the game will use certain elements of the Guild Wars Nightfall user interface:

• The new Skills and Attributes panel centralizes management of skills and attributes, both for player characters and Heroes. It replaces both the old Skill panel and the Attributes page from the Hero panel.
• The updated Inventory panel contains a character selector, so it can be used to manage equipped weapons and armor for both player characters and Heroes.
• The Compass includes new controls that allow the player to issue orders to both henchmen and Heroes.

All of these user interface changes are being presented in beta form. After the conclusion of the weekend event, they will be removed from the game again until the release of Guild Wars Nightfall.

Nightfall World Preview Event Limitations

The following features will be part of the release of Guild Wars Nightfall, but are not available during this preview event:

• Skill Templates - In Nightfall, you will be able to save and load skill and attribute builds to disk, enabling you to quickly switch strategies and outfit your Heroes.
• Hero Battles - After the release of Nightfall you will be able to unlock Heroes for your use with your PvP characters, and you will be able to bring Heroes into a new type of PvP where players can compete head-to-head for the first time.

Also, the following issues are known to exist with the features being previewed during this weekend event:

• Hero AI for using skills is still under development.
• Heroes cannot capture skills using Signet of Capture, nor can they control pets using Charm Animal.
• Hero armor cannot yet be upgraded using runes.
• The visual appearance of Hero armor in the Inventory panel, and the text descriptions of the Hero's attributes and items, do not take into account the sex of the Hero.
• The tutorials in Prophecies and Factions have not been updated to reflect the Nightfall user interface changes.

Update - Wednesday September 20, 2006

General Updates:

• Added new trophies to the Great Temple of Balthazar for the Guild Wars Factions Championship and the Guild Wars (Prophecies) World Championship.
• Added an Observer Mode option to automatically observe random games.
• Added an option to hide the user interface while observing a game.
• Added an option to mute sound while Guild Wars is running in the background
• Modified all windows and panels accessible from the Menu so that they remember whether they were previously open when entering a new map.
• Fixed a bug that prevented some Prophecies and Factions monsters from using their Ranger skills.
• Fixed a bug in the skill Plague Signet that caused Conditions to transfer with incorrect durations.

Preparation for the World Preview Event

The following Guild Wars Nightfall updates and balance changes are being published in beta form, in preparation for this weekend’s World Preview Event. After the conclusion of the weekend event, they will be removed from the game again until the release of Guild Wars Nightfall:

• Updated the artificial intelligence of all henchmen.
• Added new armor foley sound effects.
• Capped adrenaline gain so that no player ever receives more than double adrenaline from adrenaline-boosting skills.
• Increased earshot range to the radius of the Danger Zone (the inner white circle on the mini-map Compass).
• Modified the skill Contemplation of Purity so that the number of removed Hexes and Conditions is determined by your Divine Favor attribute.

Update - Monday September 18, 2006

• Fixed text received when adding a Nightfall Prerelease Bonus Key, so that it no longer incorrectly states that the account already has the bonus.
• Fixed a bug that affected the drop rates of XP scrolls.

Update - Friday September 15, 2006

• Updated graphics for existing character faces.
• Made additional preparations for the Guild Wars Nightfall World Preview Event.
• Fixed a bug that caused the Effects Monitor to shrink below its customized size.
• Fixed a bug in Burning Isle that caused NPCs to misbehave during "Victory or Death!".
• Improved the Mission Map (the window accessed by using the "U" key) so that it works properly in Dragon's Throat, Scarred Earth, Sorrow's Furnace, The Courtyard, The Deep, The Dragon's Lair, The Hall of Heroes, The Undercity, The Underworld, and Urgoz's Warren, where previously it showed only black.

Update - Thursday September 14, 2006

General Updates:

• Updated the art used for bone fiend projectile attacks.
• Adjusted balance of some monster groups in the Ring of Fire mission and the Ice Floe Explorable area.
• Adjusted the attributes of Tin Dao Kaineng in Haiju Lagoon.
• Improved the Mission Map (the window accessed by using the "U" key) so that it works properly in the Catacombs, the Underworld, and Fissure of Woe, where previously it showed only black.

Guild Battle Updates:

• Removed one of the Bodyguard and one of the Archers near the Guild Lords.
• Added two Knights near the Guild Lord. Knights are Warriors with the following skills: Sever Artery, Gash, Healing Signet, and Power Attack.
• Adjusted the positions of Guild Hall NPCs.
• Shortened the time until "Victory or Death!" to 20 minutes.
• Modified the "Victory or Death!" effect so that it applies to all players, regardless of where they are on the map.

Skill Updates:

Assassin

• Black Lotus Strike: reduced recharge time to 20 seconds.
• Blades of Steel: reduced recharge time to 8 seconds.
• Blinding Powder: Blindness now affects target and all adjacent foes.
• Crippling Dagger: increased damage to 15...51...60.
• Critical Strike: decreased Energy cost to 5.
• Dark Prison: decreased recharge time to 45 seconds.
• Dash: decreased recharge time to 8 seconds.
• Death Blossom: increased damage to 20...40...45
• Desperate Strike: increased damage to 15...51...60.
• Fox Fangs: increased damage to 5...25...30.
• Golden Lotus Strike: increased Energy gained to 5...11...12
• Jungle Strike: increased damage to 10...22...25
• Locust's Fury: increased chance to double strike to 33%.
• Nine Tail Strike: decreased recharge time to 8 seconds.
• Repeating Strike: increased damage to 10...26...30.
• Scorpion Wire: decreased cast time to 1 second.
• Shadow of Haste: decreased Energy cost to 5, increased the duration to 30...54...60 and decreased the movement speed by 15%.
• Shadowy Burden: decreased duration to 3...13...15 seconds.
• Shroud of Distress: decreased recharge time to 15 seconds.
• Signet of Malice: decreased recharge time to 5 seconds, decreased casting time to .25 seconds.
• Siphon Speed: increased movement speed reduction to 33%, and this spell now has half range.
• Siphon Strength: increased duration to 5...17...20 seconds.
• Temple Strike: decreased recharge time to 20 seconds, and increased duration to 1...8...10 seconds.
• Unsuspecting Strike: increased conditional damage to 15...63...75.
• Way of Perfection: increased Health gained from critical hit to 10...34...40.
• Wild Strike: increased damage to 10...30...35.

Elementalist

• Mind Burn: decreased Energy cost to 5, decreased recharge time to 5 seconds.
• Mind Freeze: decreased Energy cost to 5, decreased recharge time to 8 seconds.
• Mind Shock: decreased Energy cost to 5, decreased recharge time to 8 seconds.
• Ether Prodigy: increased damage per Energy to 3.

Mesmer

• Images of Remorse: decreased Health degeneration to 1...3...3.
• Leech Signet: decreased recharge time to 30 seconds.
• Signet of Disruption: decreased recharge time to 20 seconds.

Monk

• Balthazar's Aura: decreased duration to 8 seconds.
• Bane Signet: decreased recharge time to 20 seconds.
• Banish: this skill now does double damage vs. summoned creatures.
• Divine Boon: increased recharge time to 10 seconds, decreased amount healed to 15...51...60.
• Extinguish: increased cast time to 1 second, increased recharge time to 12 seconds.
• Purge Signet: decreased cast time to 2 seconds.
• Signet of Judgment: decreased recharge time to 20 seconds.
• Zealot's Fire: increased recharge time to 45 seconds.

Necromancer

• Plague Signet: decreased recharge time to 8 seconds.

Ranger

• Broad Head Arrow: decreased Energy cost to 15.
• Equinox: decreased recharge time to 30 seconds.
• Famine: decreased recharge time to 30 seconds.
• greater Conflagration: decreased recharge time to 30 seconds.
• Lacerate: decreased recharge time to 30 seconds.
• Savage Pounce: decreased recharge time to 10 seconds.
• Tiger's Fury/Bestial Fury: decreased the attack speed to 25%.

Ritualist

• Ancestors' Rage: decreased recharge time to 8 seconds.
• Blind Was Mingson: decreased recharge time to 15 seconds, decreased Blindness duration to 3...7...8.
• Bloodsong: decreased recharge time to 45 seconds, increased damage to 5...21...25.
• Boon of Creation: reduced Energy gained to 1...5...6.
• Channeled Strike: decreased recharge time to 6 seconds.
• Defiant Was Xinrae: decreased Energy cost to 15.
• Disenchantment: decreased recharge time to 45 seconds, increased damage to 5...17...20.
• Displacement: decreased recharge time to 45 seconds.
• Dissonance: decreased recharge time to 45 seconds, increased damage to 5...17...20.
• Dulled Weapon: decreased recharge time to 12 seconds.
• Essence Strike: increased damage to 15...51...60, increased Energy return to 1...7...9.
• Gaze from Beyond: decreased recharge time to 10 seconds.
• Ghostly Haste: increased spell recharge reduction to 25% faster.
• Grasping Was Kuurong: increaed damage to 15...63...75.
• Guided Weapon: decreased recharge time to 20 seconds.
• Life: decreased recharge time to 30 seconds.
• Mend Body and Soul: increased heal amount to 20...96...115.
• Pain: decreased recharge time to 30 seconds, increased damage to 5...25...30.
• Painful Bond: decreased recharge time to 12 seconds.
• Preservation: decreased recharge time to 30 seconds.
• Protective Was Kaolai: increased duration to 15...51...60 seconds.
• Recuperation: increased Energy cost to 25, decreased recharge time to 45 seconds.
• Ritual Lord: decreased Spirit recharge to 15...51...60%.
• Shadowsong: increased Energy cost to 15.
• Shelter: increased Energy cost to 25, increased damage taken to 75...51...45, decreased recharge time to 45 seconds.
• Soothing: increased Energy to 25, decreased level to 1...7...8.
• Spirit Burn: increased damage to 15|60, increased conditional damage to 15...39...45.
• Spirit Light: decreased Energy cost to 5, increased Health sacrificed to 17%.
• Spirit Light Weapon: Changed the way this skill worked to always heal for 1...8...10 Health per second, and an addition 1...8...10 Health if you are near a Spirit.
• Spirit Rift: increased damage to 25...113...135.
• Spirit Transfer: decreased recharge time to 5 seconds.
• Splinter Weapon: decreased recharge time to 5 seconds.
• Tranquil Was Tanasen: increased duration to 5...17...20.
• Union: decreased recharge time to 45 seconds.
• Vital Weapon: decreased recharge time to 12 seconds.
• Wailing Weapon: decreased recharge time to 25 seconds.
• Wanderlust: decreased recharge time to 45 seconds.
• Weapon of Quickening: increased duration to 5...21...25.
• Wielder's Boon: increased conditional amount healed to 15...63...75.

Warrior

• Bull's Strike: increased recharge time to 10 seconds.
• Dismember: decreased adrenaline to 5.
• Eviscerate: decreased damage to 1...25...31.
• Irresistible Blow: increased recharge time to 6 seconds, decreased damage to 5...17...20.
• Wary Stance: decreased recharge time to 30 seconds.

Update - Friday September 8, 2006

• Fixed a flaw in the online store that prevented some users from purchasing account upgrades.

Update - Wednesday September 6, 2006

• Fixed a bug that prevented some players from making purchases in the online store.

Update - Tuesday September 5, 2006

• Completed the weekend event and restored the Heroes Ascent party size to 8.

Update - Friday September 1, 2006

• Enabled the 6v6 Heroes Ascent Weekend event.