Release Notes 2006-05-10
News & Notes
- Harbormaster Zin has been seen directing work crews in Aspirant’s Corner, and rumor has it that they have revealed some doorways to new adventures. With new neighbors in town, Kalimnal d’Kundarak has rented a new house, and the Harbormaster’s work has closed off the sewer entrance Edrun Faern was using to look for his wife. Luckily, Edrun was able to find another sewer hatch in Philosopher’s Row to continue his hunt for Arissa.
- After much debate, the Coin Lords have adjusted the experience given out in the Waterworks, Shan-to-kor, and Graverobber quests. There were many upset patrons in the harbor and market who were getting insufficient help in resolving their difficulties, and the Coin Lords felt that Harbormaster Zin and Wayfinder Dael would still be able to get enough help, while being more fair to the other citizens looking to the adventuring community for aid. In the same session, the Coin Lords granted the requests of many adventurers and citizens alike, and raised the experience for the Xorian Cipher, Haywire Foundry, Jungle of Khyber, Purgatory, Tharashk Arena, Tear of Dhakaan, and Vault of Night quests.
- A new wave of Kobolds has moved into the Wavecrest Inn’s caverns. These Runty Kobolds have less strength than the previous inhabitants, but they must be more wily to have pushed the first group out. They also may have slipped something to Jacoby Drexelhand, for the cleric seems to be out of sorts these days.
- In response to much consternation on the part of their pupils, the fighter trainers have held a workshop, and have found a better way to perform the Whirlwind attack. Whirlwind will now correctly apply weapon specials (i.e., elemental damage etc.) to all of the targets you hit and bonuses (such as the extra strength damage bonus for two handed weapons). Bonuses will now be applied on the last attack in the combat chain.
- The Healers of House Jorasco have been hard at work curing the Laryngitis afflicting the Bards in Stormreach. The Healers are pleased to announce that the *Bards have been successfully healed, and their singing voices are back in order.
- The Coin Lords are pleased to announce that to help make life easier for those adventurers out there who like to have a lot of equipment and spells on hand, you will now be able to define a specific key binding for your first 50 shortcuts (the first 5 hot bars). The key binding will display on the shortcut, so you can quickly access any of your gear, loot, or abilities.
General
- Ransack Mechanic has been fixed - treasure will regenerate faster!
- Fixed the timer for chest “ransacking” - it will now properly reset 1 week after the time you first looted the chest (the timer was broken, causing ransacking to reset much slower than intended.)
- For this update everyone gets a one time “full reset” on ransacked chests.
- Ransacking will now apply to quest rewards as well. As with chests, quest rewards will only be affected if you repeat the same quest an excessive number of times within a single week.
- Changed in-game messaging to reflect the difference between taking damage from falling, and taking damage when something has fallen onto you. Players should no longer take falling damage while running. This should eliminate “mysterious” falling damage.
- We have made some changes to help prevent the “Character still being saved” state.
- We have made some improvements to monster pathing.
- We have fixed several places where players could get stuck in the world.
UI Improvements
- The summary page of the spellbook in the character sheet now updates immediately when you acquire new spell slots upon leveling up. No more waiting for the system to recognize your new spells!
- Added a confirmation box to warn players that your ability scores will reset if you hit the Back button during character creation.
- The shortcut key being pressed is now highlighted.
- Chat windows will no longer snap to the bottom when new chat text comes in. Instead, the down arrow will blink to indicate unread chat messages are outside your viewable area.
- Fixed a bug that prevented scrolling up and down with the mousewheel when tooltips were open.
Combat
- Players will no longer accidentally kill each other with two weapon fighting and glancing blows.
- Per D&D rules, the manyshot feat no longer applies to crossbow combat.
Quests
Xorian’s Cipher
- Adjusted the treasure levels for several chests and added some rare item drops to certain chests.
- Fewer skeletons will spawn in the split party encounter of Xorian Cipher.
- Moved the location of a rest shrine.
Ruins of Threnal
Find the Gate Chamber
- This quest no longer requires a rogue. Also, a new rest shrine has been made available.
Library
- Fixed a problem where players could prevent themselves from advancing through the quest by using a switch too early.
- Fixed a problem that was allowing players to kill the final boss before they had received the objective to kill the boss, effectively breaking the quest.
The Depths of Despair
- Fixed a chest that was frequently spawning without the random named monster it was suppose to appear with.
Stormcleave Outpost =
- There are some new challenges to the Boss encounter (General Xantilar). Adventurers beware!
- The portal for entry to General Xantilar is now a one-way ticket until he has been killed.
- The crate collection optional quest is now able to be completed.
Tharashk Arena
- Levers have been added to the interiors of the monster ready rooms to prevent players from becoming trapped inside.
- Sorrowdusk Island (Justice for Grust)
- Fixed a room where players could get trapped.
Jungle of Khyber
- Parties will no longer be permanently split by a closing door. The door will now reopen after a certain amount of time.
Delera’s Tomb – The Missing Party
- Delera will now correctly path through the doorway.
Temple of Vol
- Fixed a bug where players received the wrong alert text when approaching the inner sanctum.
Monsters
- Intelligent Skeletons who have Command Undead cast on them will now correctly perform a will save check.
- Shades in the Chamber of Insanity now deal more damage, have more hit points, and have a higher CR noted.
- Vault of Night Dungeon (VON quest part 5): The Rust Emperor will now correctly drop the required crystal key when playing this dungeon on the Hard or Elite setting.
Items
- Changed the description of tomes to properly reflect their usage. Characters only gain the benefit of the best “plus” tome read for each ability. These effects do not stack with each other.
- Fixed the description of Elixirs of Mnemonic Enhancement to properly reflect their effect (the add spell points).
- Fixed the Kundarak Shield of Warding to have the correct minimum level of 10.
- Warforged are now vulnerable to the Smiting and Slay Construct item effects.
- Redwillow treasure drops have been modified to make some high-value items drop less frequently.
- Added more detail to the descriptions of stability items, including the fact that they can be worn only by true neutral players.
- The Brooch of Shielding and Raktu’s Trifle now properly protects you from Magic Missiles as long as the item is equipped.
NPCs
- Salar Riptalon’s (Arcane Reagent Vendor - House Jorasco) vacation is over. His shop is once again open for business.