Update 11/04/09

[Darkenr]

This was posted on the in testing section today.

*** Misc ***

* A large number of UI optimizations have been put in place that should noticeably increase frame rates under certain circumstances.
* Pets are no longer removed if you've been logged out for more then 30 minutes.
* Fixed an issue causing Touch of the Cursed AA to proc Wrath of the Wild.
* Changed the way corpses are handled internally. Be on the looking for any problems with player corpses.
* Removed the 65 point mana regen cap for players above level 70.

*** Twincast for DoTs ***

* Twincast now functions for DoT spells. If twincast goes off for a DoT spell, all damage/heal amounts will be doubled on each tick.
* Fixed a problem preventing NPCs from summoning their pets.

*** Race Changes ***

* When changing race to a gnome, tickering skill is now properly set at 50 as if you rolled a new gnome.
* You can now select your heritage if you change races into a Drakkin.
* Changing race will no longer remove certain ranger abilities.

*** Mercenaries ***

* Added a new selectable assist mode for mercenaries:
* There are two new buttons in the mercenary manage window, "Auto Assist" and "Call Assist".
* When "Auto Assist" I engaged, mercenaries should behave exactly as before with respect to what targets they use for attacking/healing.
* With a tank mercenary with "Auto Assist" disabled, the merc will wait for the "Call Assist" button to be pressed before engaging any targets. When the "Call Assist" button is pressed, all targets currently on the group enemy list (that are in his awareness range) will be added as valid targets and he will begin attacking using the normal AI for determining targets.
* With a healer mercenary with "Auto Assist" disabled, the merc will behave normally except you can press the "Call Assist" button to override normal rules for not healing pullers. If a puller is in the awareness range of the healer merc when "Call Assist" is pressed, it will have a 3 second window where it can drop a heal on them.
* /mercassist on -- Turns on mercenary auto-assist mode.
* /mercassist off -- Turns off mercenary auto-assist mode.
* /mercassist -- Calls for assist when your mercenary is not in auto-assist mode.
* Also fixed an issue where players could cause their tank merc to attack other players' pets.
* The scarecrow tank mercenary now has endurance.

*** Items ***

* AC values on food and drink will now be properly added to your character.
* Changed the way the Vibrating Gauntlets of Infuse and Vibrating Hammer of infuse function in order to avoid the linkdeath issues that were possible before.
* The bard wind instrument focus on Icy Greaves has been increased to match the focus on other items in that armor set.
* Corrected a polarity issue with the Countersprung Enhancificator. It should now behave as intended when it comes in contact with water.

*** Quests & Events ***

* Corrected the description on The Frightening Writ. It now properly mentions that it grants access to a scarecrow mercenary rather than the title "the Haunted." It will now grant access to the new title "the Gravedigger." This title is retroactive - if you have already used your Writ, you will now have access to your Gravedigger title.

* Mercenaries will no longer count towards the minimum player requirements for missions they can not enter.

* The Broodmother in Bloodmoon Keep is no longer rootable.


*** AA ***

* The chance for Mortal Coil to proc the blocking Mortal Residue has been reduced from 100% to 5%. In addition, the duration of Mortal Residue has been reduced to equal Mortal Coil's duration.

* Reduced the reuse time for the Berserker Savage Spirit AA to 60 minutes.

[pandax]

Zerkers will like this one quite a bit!

Glad the solo'ing SK's get their ability back now too, heh. Although I think that they should increase the length of it 10% to make up for the slight nerf.

Way to go necros and other dot'ing classes..... although did necros really need this upgrade? heh.

Yay for pets too =)

Lots of great stuff this patch, wow.

[pandax]

I wonder when or if it'll go live.

[sharrien]

I believe Sklug said there would be a live update next week.

[Yaddab]

This was posted on the in testing section today.

*** Misc ***


* Removed the 65 point mana regen cap for players above level 70.

Interesting

[sharrien]

I wonder what mana regen counted for that cap. Innate? Worn? Buffed? All the above?

[Kraymerica]

So persistent minion AA is now worthless? Oh well one less button to push that I always forgot about anyways...

Race changes? Are these like paid permanent switches, or just the potions that last for 30 minutes now grant race specific traits?

[Falino-Luclin]

Persistent Minion is still needed to keep pets suspended while zoning.

[dorfillya]

What about all the AAs we had to buy to get our mana regen cap up to 65?

[Voragath]

Kea wrote:

Currently:

20 : expansive mind AA

18 : mental clarity AA

15/20 : item base level

Natural standing regen
Some classes get additional mana regen AA as well

Meditation skill while sitting

**Heroics = unlimited in theory

So you are looking at around 60 mana regen if you are maxed AAs, items, and standing. with heroics you are at 65 when you should be at say.. 90. if you are sitting while not in OOC, its 65, if you are standing, its 65, if you are in combat, its 65, if you are ducking, its 65. see the trend? This will allow for heroics, et al, to go over 65. It should mean people with a lot of AAs and heroics will see a solid mana regen chunk.

This does NOT include bard song, spell buffs that increased mana. Those already worked beyond the 65 and werent counted towards it.

secondfred wrote:
Thanks for the breakdown. However qestion still remains. Did they remove the worn cap and the inate or was there a third combo cap that got removed? Or all 3? Would be wonderfull if they removed the worn cap...

Dev-Ngreth wrote:
it was the "combo" cap that got removed. the other individual caps are still there.

It seems to mean that you can have well over 65, HInt also will now give it's intended mana regen as well, but the gear max you can have is 65, the max innate is 65, so...you could have up to 130 extra mana regen that way so your aa's and gear are still worth something