Patch Notes: NW.14.20140224a.7

New Features

New PvP stat: Tenacity

Tenacity, a new PvP resistance stat has been added to the game. It will be present on new and existing gear and grants the following effects:

• Increased damage resistance against players.
• Decreased incoming critical strike severity from players.
• Increased control resistance against players.

A base 10% of each of these effects will be granted to all players regardless of tenacity. Control Wizards also penetrate a portion of an opponent’s control resistance.

See detailed article here.

New PvP Effect: Healing Depression

In addition to the introduction of tenacity, an additional effect; healing depression, has been added to the game. If a player has been struck by another player within the last 10 seconds, the potency of incoming healing and temporary hit points will be reduced by 50%.

The combined effect of these two additions is to reduce the occurrence of exceptionally short and exceptionally long PvP encounters, resulting in combat with a more normal length where strategy and player skill play a larger role.

New Feature: PvP Leaver Penalties

Leaving a PVP match that is currently in progress will incur a leaver penalty for 30 minutes. During this time an affected player may not queue for any content using the queue system.

See detailed article here.

New Feature: PvP Matchmaking

PvP Domination matches will now attempt to find similarly skilled opponents for players when queuing for a match. Over time the ELO-style matchmaking system will find better and better opponents for you or your party to face that is appropriate for your skill level.

See detailed article here.

Full Patch Notes

Gift of Tymora Returns!

• Fools’ Crown of Neverwinter is now Bind on Equip and has one free appearance change.
• Profession rewards now include the Aqua Regia and Aqua Vitae alchemy resources.
• Rare armor pieces and weapons have been removed from the Gift of Tymora box."
• Sword Coast Adventures is celebrating the Tymora’s Gift event too! Gift of Tymora items have been spotted all up and down the coast.
• Two new items have been added to the Gift of Tymora box; Tymora’s Lucky Coin and Tymora’s Lucky Enchantment!

Content and Environment

• A new quest, “Daily PvP Domination Victory,” is now available from the Battlemaster in the Trade of Blades, this quest awards Glory and a Seal of Triumph.
• The daily quest “Daily PvP Domination” now rewards Glory in addition to Astral Diamonds.
• The daily quest “Daily Gauntlgrym PvP” now rewards Glory and a Seal of Triumph in addition to Astral Diamonds.
• Mannequins displaying the “Profound” armor sets have been added to the Trade of Blades.
• Temple of the Spider: Adjusted collision in this dungeon to prevent players needing to use the /stuck command.
• Guards have been added to safe areas throughout the Sword Coast where quest givers reside.

Classes and Balance

General Changes

• The following adjustments have been made to the control effect, prone:
  • The minimum time a player will remain in a prone state has been reduced.
  • The duration of prone effects is now properly reduced by control resist.
  • Many powers have had their base prone times slightly increased to keep about the same overall effect.

Class Changes

• Control Wizard
  • Icy Rays: Power has been adjusted to be more responsive and the attack animation is now faster.
• Devoted Cleric
  • Linked Spirit: Now triggers on the first tick of heal of time effects.
• Guardian Fighter
  • Guard: Now blocks targeted player powers that do not originate from the caster regardless of facing.
  • Mark: Now applies a "Focused Mark" on the target. This effect does not end if the affected target damages you. Only one target may be affected by focused mark at a time. If a new target is selected, an existing target’s focused mark will be converted to a standard mark.
  • Lunging Strike: Now deals 1/3rd of its damage in a cone behind the primary target. Threat will be generated on these targets as if they were struck for the full amount.
  • Enforced Threat: Target cap has been increased from 5 to 8.
  • Griffons Wrath: Animation lock has been reduced.
  • Kneebreaker: Now moves the player slightly closer to the target when activated.
  • Knight's Challenge: Cooldown has been reduced from 28 to 20 seconds. Now only enters cooldown when the target has been killed or the effect’s duration has elapsed.
  • Anvil of Doom: Animation lock has been reduced.
  • Supremacy of Steel: Will no longer be triggered by reactive damage sources.
  • Iron Warrior: While under the effect of Iron Warrior, players will now generate 150% more threat.
  • Bull Charge: Lunge distance has been increased from 18’ to 28’.
• Hunter Ranger
  • Forest Meditation: Is no longer considered a melee attack.
  • Constricting Arrow: The ongoing negative effect is now considered a control effect and may be removed by control immunity or prevented by Guardian Fighter’s guard.
• Trickster Rogue
  • Impact Shot: The overall potency of this power has been reduced. Damage dealt is now increased based on the number of remaining charges.

Paragon Path Changes

• Iron Vanguard
  • Feat Reinforced Surge: Now increases damage by 1/2/3/4/5%. Additional prone duration has been reduced to .1/.2/.3/.4/.5 seconds.
  • Frontline Surge: Cooldown has been reduced from 20 to 19 seconds. Target cap has been increased from 3 to 5. Damage has been reduced by 25%. Prone duration has been reduced against players. The ground splat has been increased to better represent effect area.
  • Threatening Rush: Now requires a slight delay before reactivation if canceled early.
• Spellstorm Mage
  • Storm Fury: Damage has been increased by 50%. May now only strike a target once every two seconds. Will no longer be triggered by other reactive damage sources.
• Stormwarden
  • Split the Sky: Will no longer be triggered by reactive damage sources.
• Swordmaster
  • Crescendo: Now requires a target in order to activate.

Items and Economy

• Glory rewards for Domination levels 51+ have been reduced.
  • The reduction is very small at level 51, and increases until level 60. Glory rewards for both winning and losing have been reduced equally, as well as glory rewards for placing in the top 5 in domination, and the top 10 in Gauntlgrym.
  • Glory rewarded for winning a level 60 Domination match has been reduced from 700 to 500.
  • Glory rewarded for winning a level 60 Gauntlgrym match has been reduced from 1,050 to 1,000.
• The amount of Glory a character can store has been increased from 25,000 to 50,000.
• A new PvP currency, Seals of Triumph, has been added.
  • Players may exchange unwanted Seals for 250 Glory in the Trade of Blades.
• There are now multiple vendors present in the Trade of Blades.
  • PvP stores have received some sorting and naming updates to make them more intuitive.
• New epic PvP equipment has been made available for purchase in the Trade of Blades.
  • Three new sets of Tier 2 “Grim” PvP armor have been made available per class for purchase via Glory & Seals of Triumph.
  • Three new sets of Tier 2 “Profound” PvP armor have been made available per class for purchase via Glory & Seals of Triumph.
• New rare PvP equipment has been made available for purchase in the Trade of Blades.
  • This includes main hands, off hands, armor and arms for all classes at level 15, 25, 35, 45 and 55.
• A temporary vendor, “Gauntlgrym Trader,” has been added to the Trade of Blades.
  • Players may use this vendor to exchange unwanted Grym Coins for 50 Glory a piece.
  • Players may use this vendor to exchange Tier 2 PvE “Gauntlgrym” equipment for Tier 2 PvP “Grim” equipment.
• The “Gauntlgrym Trade Vendor” in Gauntlgrym will now exchange unwanted Grym Coins for 50 Glory a piece.
• Random equipment drops from leveling bracket (Lv10-59) domination matches now feature Tenacity.
• There is now an epic PvP equipment collections category, new titles have been added corresponding to each PvP set.
• The Dread Warrior companion's Siphon Strike now more predictably triggers its buff to players.

User Interface

• Foundry Catalog
  • Now features an option to hide previously completed and in progress quests. This option is enabled by default.
  • Now notes if a quest has been previously completed or is in progress.
  • Now displays entries by pages instead of an endlessly scrolling list.
• Rearrange HUD now properly functions again.

Localization

• New items will now glow instead of displaying the word “New” when the client is set to any language other than English.
• The dates on events listed in the calendar will no longer go outside the pop up window in some languages.
• Status debuff FX pop ups such as "Tricked" and "Dazed" now have localized text on the FX.
• Resolved a couple instances where Sun Elf was being referenced instead of High Elf in some languages.

Performance

• The default settings for Intel graphic chipsets has been adjusted to a more appropriate level.

Resolved Issues and Bug Fixes

• An issue where a player would be erroneously disbanded from their party and removed from a PvP match upon reconnecting after a short disconnect.
• An issue where players could bypass certain encounters in the Temple of the Spider.
• An issue that could cause the professions task list to not load properly.
• An issue where floating health power-ups found in PvP matches would not disappear or play their FX when collected.
• An issue where the Control Wizard power Chilling Presence could have more than 6 stacks of chill on a target.
• An issue where the Control Wizard power “Maelstrom of Chaos” and the Great Weapon Fighter power “Slam” could affect control immune targets.
• An issue where the Devoted Cleric feat “Linked Spirit” could be triggered by activating “Channel Divinity” after casting a heal.
• An issue where Guardian Fighters took more guard damage from enemies with target powers.
• An issue where the Guardian Fighter feat “Crushing Pin” would affect the activating player.
• An issue where the Guardian Fighter power “Lunging Strike” would activate the feat “Crushing Pin” without the corresponding feat “Powerful Strike.”
• An issue where powers activated during the charge up time of the Hunter Ranger power “Aimed Shot” would trigger after the charge but before the power was fired.
• An issue where the duration of the Hunter Ranger mechanic “Grasping Roots” was not properly affected by control resist.
• An issue where the Hunter Ranger feat “Master of Combat” would affect the activating player.
• An issue where the tooltip for the Great Weapon Fighter power “Mighty Leap” failed to indicate it causes the player to dodge attacks.
• An issue where the Iron Vanguard paragon path did not have a description for Great Weapon Fighters.
• An issue where the word opponent was misspelled on the tooltip for the Trickster Rogue power “Dazing Strike.”
• An issue where the tooltip for the Trickster Rogue power “Vengeance’s Pursuit” displayed higher estimated damage in the power selection window than on the hotbar.
• An issue where the artifact “Aurora’s Whole Realms Catalogue” benefited from damage buffs.
• An issue where the consumable “Potion of Heroism” did not affect Hunter rangers correctly.
• An issue where players were unable to properly claim their 24 slot Bags of Holding and Adventurer Helper Kits after purchasing the "Hunter Ranger Booster Pack" through the Arc website.
• An issue where the daily quests to complete the "Gate Crashers" and "Pit Fight" skirmishes would not reliably give credit upon completion.
• An issue where map background images would not properly display in the map tab.

Known Issues

• An issue where loading into the Blacklake District on some video settings may cause a client crash. (This will be resolved in the .2 or higher build.)
• An issue where the descriptions for the daily quests “Daily PvP Domination” and “Daily Gauntlgrym PvP” fail to indicate the proper rewards.
• An issue where some equipment slots for some classes in certain level bands fail to appear as rewards from leveling bracket domination matches.
• An issue where the power factor displayed in the name of some PvP leveling equipment is incorrect.
• An issue where the names of certain low level PvP equipment are misleading relative to their stats.
• An issue where the Guardian Fighter weapon "Profound Longsword of the Conqueror" is not available for purchase in the Trade of Blades.