September 20th

All characters from Live have been copied over to QA from September 20th @6pm central.

• Increased emissions on Central Ibaxus Greater Relic Scepters and Shields.

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• Increased respawn rate of cave bears in Newhaven Valley.

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• Adjusted VFX from Mandrake poison VFX.

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• Warden\'s Venom Strike Alchemy I no longer snares the target. It now receives a damage increase.

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• Increased the base effectiveness of the Warden\'s Snare ability.

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• Fixed missing levels of Brigand Stun Alchemy.

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• Knight\'s receive Order of the Tribune starting at level 3. This order has increased threat on auto attacks.

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• Increased text size for class descriptions on creation and class selection dialog.

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• Added audio to Ashen spawn & death VFX.

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• Fixed an issue with default chat settings not being present.

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• Fixed a rare bug that could cause duplicate scenes to load from character selection.

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• Added an EV tutorial popup.

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• Alchemy Quest update:

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• If the quest is started at Banton in the Academy then you must first find the bag of Ember Stones in the Crawling Burrows before other objectives are available.

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• If you go to the bag of Ember Stones first then that will also start the quest.

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• Interacting with the bag of Ember Stones in the EV will grant you your first Ember Stone. This will allow you to naturally fill your stone as you proceed with the Alchemy quest (as it was previously).

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• This new flow should also resolve an issue with the UI not updating when completing the quest.

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[/*][/list]

September 19th

• Fixed a bug causing abilities in the skills UI to move around if they were moved on your action bar.

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• Fixed missing material on Ember Stones inside of the bag in the Crawling Burrows.

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• Added audio to player teleport and Other dissolve VFX.

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• Trim role descriptions on character creation and the select class dialog.

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• Updated Ashen spawn and death VFX (still WIP).

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• Updated VFX for ant abilities.

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• Updated a number of NPC defensive ability VFX.

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• Updated Order of Iron VFX.

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September 18th

• Adjusted spawn & death Ashen VFX (still WIP).

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• Adjusted VFX for Shifting Strike.

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• Cleaned up some ability animations that weren\'t showing with a bow.

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• Alchemy quest no longer has level requirements. Alchemy can be acquired at any level.

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• Fixed Alchemy quest starting clickable in Crawling Burrows EV.

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• Fixed new characters starting with 2 separate stacks of smelling salts.

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• Weaken Alchemy 2 no longer stacks with Dread Tone.

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• Dread Tone Alchemy 2 additionally extends duration of the effect.

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• Updated Ibaxian Runestone descriptions for runes that now have full effect on outer armor.

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September 17th

All characters from Live have been copied over to QA from September 17 @10am central.

• Increased damage reduction on Dread Tone (ability balance is still in flux based on recent feedback)

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• Ibaxian Adornment Outer Armor pieces now consider all resist runes to give their full effect (Rune tooltip not updated yet).

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• Fixed issue where Movement Resists were being added twice for Ibaxian Adornment outer armor.

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• Reduced potency of abilities from Corduun Seekers and Excavators in Ibaxus.

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• Updated Central Ibaxus weapons (Greater Ibaxian Relics) to have enhanced emissions.

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• Fixed issue that was preventing characters from getting their class skills if they had not picked a spec yet.

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• Added VFX when a player teleports somewhere via Monolith or Ley Link (WIP).

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• Added VFX to Ashen creature spawns and deaths (WIP).

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• Disabled depth-of-field effect on character select screen. Hoping this reduces GPU chugging here.

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• Adjusted class description flyout sizes and positions.

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• Trimmed class descriptions (WIP).

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September 16th

All characters from Live have been copied over to QA from September 16 @10am central. This means that newbie characters from the previous week of QA are no longer with us - thank you for testing!

With this test we have the following focus items:

• Characters without a base role or specialization will be required to select a class before they can login. You will see a button \"Select Class\" on the nameplate, which will bring up a new dialog with your selection options.

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• With no base class you can select from all 9 available classes and will start at level 1.

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• With a base role but no spec you will be able to choose from the 3 subclasses of your base role. If you are below level 6 then your class level will match your current level. If you are above level 6, then your class level will be set to level 6 and will need to play catch up.

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On first login for all other characters they will undergo a \"live migration\" process which will add, remove, and replace skills depending on your specific class configuration.

• For QA we ask that you verify that you are not missing any skills and the migration (as outlined in previous notes from below) went through as expected.

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[/list]

Other changes:

• Updated dialogs for various trainers, Beardin, and the Alchemy quest.

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• Reduced emission on Retaliate VFX.

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• Others now play a dissolve-like VFX when they vanish.

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• Adornment layer visuals can now be toggled on/off via context menu option when right clicking the Adornment tab.

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• GEL now uses the player\'s actual level for XP calculations for mobs yellow and below (actual chevron color). Orange & Red uses the GEL level (GEL icon color). This is basically \"the best of both world\" in the sense that it uses a mix of the old method and the newer method.

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• Changed Warlord starting look - now have gloves instead of a single vambrace.

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• Increased Dread Tone range to match Heavy Crossbow range.

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• Corrected stamina cost for Order of Iron at higher levels.

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• Prevent multiple sources of Dread Tone from stacking.

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• Fixed issue preventing Dread Tone from listing details in the tooltip.

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• Fixed issue preventing Alchemy Order of Iron from triggering from Ripostes.

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• Fixed issue while shaping Central Ibaxian Relics that was causing the wrong Relic to be considered for setting Class Requirements to equip.

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• Central Ibaxus Shaped Relics should more consistently inherit stats from the supplied Lower Ibaxus Shaped Relics.

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• Updated various Ant ability VFX.

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• Fixed missing stats on Central Ibaxus Juggernaut Curved Sword Relic.

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September 12th

• Re-enabling zoom slider on character creation.

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• Fixed the macro bar window to properly include the + button so that it cannot be moved off screen.

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• Fixed typo on Hardtack.

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• Auction House duration now correctly shows \"Days\" on QA.

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• Beardin now accepts any type of diseased hide.

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• Order of Iron now bypasses active defenses.

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• Added Alchemy for Impact.

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• Added Alchemy for Dread Tone and adjusted range.

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• Adjusted Dread Tone, removing the Damage over Time component and adding a Damage Debuff on the target.

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• Adjusted stamina on Order of Iron

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September 11th

• Reduced healing amount of worker ants in Crawling Burrows EV

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• Reduced number of Glyph Ants that spawn outside of Crawling Burrows EV

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• Reduced social aggro range of ants that spawn outside of Crawling Burrows EV

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• Further increased spawn chance of Frenzied mobs in newbie area.

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• Followup quest rewards for Ember Essence updated to be low level potions.

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• Brigand ability Shifting Strike limited to increase positional bonus for the next two attacks.

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• Disciples of Ruto in Ibaxus have had their Energy Leech ability reduced and the self-haste component removed.

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• Further reduced respawn rate for Fishing Village and Stonecoat Camp in Grimstone Canyon

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• Fixed some environmental issues in Grimstone Canyon.

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• Updated Alchemy and Alchemy descriptions for new abilities (still WIP)

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• Fixed Alchemy not being available after completing the Alchemy quest at level 6.

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• Other misc Alchemy quest fixes.

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September 10th

• Alchemy Quest updated for the new level 5 EV. The quest can be started the normal way (talking to the NPC in the academy) or via a clickable just inside of the EV. Note that we have not yet tested these changes internally, so have at it and make sure to /report any bugs.

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• Fixed an exception that could cause Steam transactions to not finalize.

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• Fixed the Login with Steam tooltip not showing when Steam could not initialize.

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• Disabled Archie and corresponding quest clickables in Meadowlands.

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• Fixed spelling issues in some quests involving the Grotto.

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• Fixed some stuck spots in Ibaxus and Grizzled Peaks.

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• More fixes to Noble Elk recipes.

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• Lake bears in ML are now 1^.

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• World boss death announcements are now funneled to the emote channel.

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• Added an option toggle to disable world boss death announcements.

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• Enabled seasonable scene to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of the launch of Embers Adrift.

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• Re-enabled turnip heads on humanoid NPCs both to wear, and as drops.

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• Updated VFX and animations on new skills.

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• Wayward Mangrove is now bigger.

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• Fixed a Staff/Polearm animation that was failing to play.

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• Warlord\'s Dread Tone now scales with weapon damage.

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• Knight\'s Order of Iron now scales with weapon damage, only triggers on auto attacks, and has had the base damage increased.

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• Juggernaut\'s Alchemy for Breach has removed mention of \"Momentum\" to avoid confusion with the new skill.

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• Marshal:

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• Concussive Strike has been replaced with the original Threatening Strike. In order to see this change you will have to re-create a Marshal

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• While the daze was a good fit for the Marshal\'s kit, replacing their most used ability for damage/threat with an ability which might be held for CC purposes caused too much conflict. As Threatening Strike is no longer a shared generic role ability it was an easy choice to maintain playability and balance.

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Sentinel

• Blinding Strike now deals additional armor damage.

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• Guarding Strike is now obtained at level 1.

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• Guarding Strike cooldown has been reduced to 20 seconds, resists now only benefit the Sentinel directly and lasts for 20 seconds or 2 hits.

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• Restoration is now obtained at level 8.

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• Resuscitation Alchemy II is now usable on non-unconscious targets.

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• Has an additional 5 armor weight that it receives starting at level 1.

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• This class has been falling behind other classes with pacing. The above changes addresses a few concerns, such as getting 2 heal abilities back-to-back. Their early game solo kill speed, and doubling down on their class identity as a defensively minded supporter.

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[/list]

September 8th

We would like to invite the community to comment, test, and provide feedback on our upcoming changes to the new player experience which focuses on initial class selection, class identity, changes to Newhaven Valley content, pacing and balance.

Given the focus of this test we are settings things up on the dev server a little differently:

• The QA server is a blank slate. You will have to create a new character for testing.

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• Your shared storage and the auction house will be empty.

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• All Steam logins are considered a subscriber so that you can create 9 characters.

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• The only zones currently online are: Newhaven Valley, Newhaven City, Northreach, Central Veins 1+2, and any Ember Vein accessible from NHV & Northreach.

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• The QA zone is offline.

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• At a later date we will bring over data from Live so that you can all test character migrations (ability changes, players without a spec selecting a class, etc).

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Please join us in our #qa-chat discord channel to discuss and provide feedback.

Note that for new/changed abilities the Animation/VFX and Alchemy versions are not all finished yet.

Intent of Changes:

• We want to bring the flavor of each class more immediately to the game and reduce the presence of generic role abilities, each character should immediately feel and look unique.

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• We want to bring the excitement of Alchemy, and the bizarre nature of Ember, Ruptures and Ember Veins closer to the start of the game to make sure players get an early taste of the unique fantasy the game has.

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• We are taking extra care to try and align with new player expectations in regards to what a class\' role and fantasy is within the world.

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Character changes:

• Characters now start with different equipped weapons and armor based on class selected.

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• Removal of the Base Roles, characters select their Class (previously specialization) during character creation.

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• Rearrange skill grant order to prioritize early game class feel and fantasy.

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• For example Brigands starting with Stun

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Earlier access to Emberstone and Alchemy:

• Emberstone will now be part of the reward for the Alchemy unlock quest.

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• Alchemy unlock quest is being revamped for NHV. This step is not yet complete and unavailable for testing.

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A few generic role abilities have been replaced with more thematic class abilities.

• Bleeding Strike for Strikers has been replaced by...

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• Berserkers gain a new ability \"Impact\" which is a slow, but inexpensive 2x weapon damage attack

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• Brigands gain a new ability \"Shifting Strike\" which in addition to dealing damage, gives the Brigand a strong +Positional buff for a period of Time

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• Wardens gain a new ability \"Snare\" which in addition to dealing damage slows their target\'s movement.

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Assailing Strike for Supporters (except Duelist) has been replaced by...

• Duelists keep Assailing Strike making armor damage core to their offensive style

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• Warlords gain a new ability \"Dread Tone\" which deals damage, armor damage and has a dot effect.

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• Sentinels again a new ability \"Guarding Strike\" which deals damage, armor damage, and reduces damage to their defensive target

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Threatening Strike for Defenders has been replaces by...

• [strike]Marshals gain a new ability \"Concussive Strike\" which is a fast attacking ability with a short Daze which can be used to interrupt mob abilities[/strike] (see September 10th above)

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• Knights gain a new ability \"Order of Iron\" that deals additional damage on each hit.

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• Juggernauts gain a new ability \"Momentum\" which deals damage and gives a stacking +dmg buff, this buff stacks up to 5 times.

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Various theming elements of each class have been adjusted, such as icons and descriptions.

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Sentinel\'s have had many of their abilities renamed to focus on a stronger theme and class identity

• Replenish -> Restoration

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• Distracting Strike -> Blinding Strike

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• Overprovision -> Night Watch

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In addition to the skill replacements above many skills have been brought down to lower levels changing which abilities classes all start with. Everyone gets Strike and the following:

• Strikers:

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• Berserker starts with:

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• Impact

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• Assault

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Brigand starts with:

• Shifting Strike

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• Stun

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Warden starts with:

• Venom Strike

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• Quillback Spines

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[/list][/*]

Supporters:

• Duelist starts with:

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• Combined Strike

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• Assailing Strike

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Warlord starts with:

• Dread Tone

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• Rejuvenating Hymn

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Sentinel starts with:

• Blinding Strike (previously named Distracting Strike)

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• Restoration (previously named Replenish)

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[/list][/*]

Defenders:

• Juggernaut starts with:

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• Momentum

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• Breach

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Knight starts with:

• Enraging Strike

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• Order of Iron

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Marshal starts with:

• [strike]Concussive Strike[/strike] (see September 10th above)

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• Halt

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[/list][/*][/list][/*]

Additional Balance changes

• Increased damage on Halt, Halt by default no longer disables auto attack, Halt now also has additional hit triggers before being removed by default.

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• Juggernaut Roar base ability no longer gives a +dmg increase (this has moved into Momentum).

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• Warden Assist has moved up to level 30 in order to bring Quillback Spines down to a lower level.

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• Assist now grants the entire group Advantage for a duration instead of just your defensive target.

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[/list][/*][/list]

Content Changes:

• Most Newhaven Valley camps have been reduced to 1^ in difficulty, the Ancient Bear camp remains 3^.

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• Regular named (excludes Misha and Knave of Harts) in Newhaven Valley have been reduced to 2^ in difficulty, but rewards remain the same.

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• Increased frequency of Frenzied mobs to show up near the newbie area.

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• The Crawling Burrows EV has moved from Dryfoot into Newhaven Valley, the content and rewards within have been updated to reflect the lower level (~lvl 5).

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• Wayward Mangrove has been brought closer to newbie area, while it is non-aggressive it does assist the Mandrakes if you are not mindful.

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• Meadowlands Lake Brown Bears have been reduced to 1^ in difficulty.

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• Reduced daze duration on Ibaxian Slagjacks.

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• Crusader Arribac\'s adds no longer share a respawn timer.

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System Changes:

• Player Damage Resists now impact damage over time abilities per-tick damage calculations.

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Fixes:

• Fixed Noble Elk Recipes incorrectly requiring level 25

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• Fixed issue preventing Ibaxian Recipe chests from spawning in Central Ibaxus

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[ 2025-09-08 19:41:57 CET ] [Original Post]