03/16/15 – March 16 Release Notes
Release Notes:
NEW FEATURES AND CONTENT
- Streaming Client Beta: Added -StreamingClient flag to allow downloading while playing Guild Wars 2. See our blog post for more information.
- The number of votes required to kick a party member has been increased to 50% of the party. As an example, in parties of five, three votes will be required.
- WvW map completion is no longer a requirement for a character to achieve World Completion, and these maps no longer award map completion rewards.
- New camera settings in the General Options panel:
- Added a Field of View slider.
- Added a Zoom Sensitivity slider, which controls how quickly zooming in and out occurs.
- Added a Collision Sensitivity slider, which controls how readily the camera will ignore obstructions between itself and your character.
- Removed the Position slider.
- Added a Horizontal Position slider, which controls how much the camera is shifted to the left or right of your character.
- Added a Vertical Position slider, which controls how much camera height increases as you zoom out.
- Added an Enable First-Person Camera check box. To enter first-person mode, zoom in again while at minimum camera zoom.
- Added an Adjust Camera to Character Height check box. When unchecked, the camera will be placed at the same height regardless of your character size.
- Added a Restore Defaults button.
BALANCE, BUG-FIXING, POLISH
World Polish
- Gendarran Fields
- Adjusted the number of scaling spawns for the “Prevent the centaurs from capturing Nebo Terrace” group event to be less punishing for large groups.
- Adjusted the start timing of the “Reclaim Nebo Terrace from the centaurs” and “Rescue the captured townspeople from the centaurs” events.
- Increased the damage dealt by the catapults of Nebo Terrace to creatures. This does not apply to champion creatures.
General
- Added a flashing effect when hovering over map legend icons to indicate incomplete POIs, vistas, tasks, skill challenges, and waypoints.
- Fixed an issue in which some windows weren’t responding to the Enter and Escape keys.
- Added the Black Lion Trading Company icon to e-mails from the Black Lion Trading Company.
- Added a prompt to verify self-demotion within in a guild.
- Fixed some instances of players being capable of shadowstepping to unreachable locations.
- Fixed an issue in which players could take repeated falling damage when running down steep inclines.
- Changed the Guild Roster location text to function the same way as the Contacts panel.
- Stability: This boon has been changed from a duration stack type to an intensity stack type. Crowd-control effects will remove one instance of stability apiece each time they are applied. Each ability and trait has been adjusted to apply a certain number of stacks. All instances of stability not listed in these release notes will remain at one stack.
- Mordrem Wolf: Significantly reduced critical-hit damage.
- Jungle Tendril Root: Removed several evasion frames from the Burrow skill animation. Burrow should now make the Jungle Tendril Root emerge directly below the target.
- Added chat logging to indicate who is kicking whom in parties and who is leaving.
- Added a feature in chat that properly indicates when a player has been removed from a party instead of indicating that all other players left the party.
- Updated chat text to indicate that players who are kicked or leave the party are no longer in the party instead of always indicating that player left the party.
Items
- Rune of Vampirism: The fourth bonus (steal life when using a healing skill) of this rune set will now function properly after resurrection.
- Rune of Scavenging: The fourth bonus (steal life when using a healing skill) of this rune set will now function properly after resurrection.
- Mini Kasmeer Meade is now compatible with the Mystic Forge.
Profession Skills
Elementalist
- Lightning Flash: This skill will no longer activate if a valid path to the target point cannot be found, except when acting as a stun break.
- Tornado: This skill now grants 1 stack of stability every 3 seconds, with a 3-second duration.
- Whirlpool: This ability now grants 1 stack of stability every 3 seconds, with a 3-second duration.
- Armor of Earth: This cantrip skill now grants 10 stacks of stability on use.
- Earth’s Embrace: This cantrip reactive skill now grants 10 stacks of stability on use.
Engineer
- Toss Elixir B: This skill now grants 3 stacks of stability to allies.
- Elixir X—Tornado: This skill now grants 1 stack of stability every 3 seconds, with a 3-second duration.
- Elixir X—Rampage: This skill now grants 3 stacks of stability every 3 seconds, with a 3-second duration. Swiftness is now applied every 3 seconds for a 3-second duration. Leaving this transformation no longer removes swiftness.
- Elixir X—Whirlpool: This skill now grants 1 stack of stability every 3 seconds, with a 3-second duration.
- Elixir X—Plague: This skill now grants 3 stacks of stability every 3 seconds, with a 3-second duration.
- Mortar: While controlling the mortar, this skill now grants 3 stacks of stability every 3 seconds, with a 3-second duration.
Guardian
- Flashing Blade: This skill will no longer activate if a valid path to the target cannot be found.
- Judge’s Intervention: This skill will no longer activate if a valid path to the target cannot be found, except when acting as a stun break.
- Merciful Intervention: This skill will no longer activate if a valid path to the target point cannot be found.
- “Stand Your Ground!”: This skill now grants 5 stacks of stability to nearby allies.
- Indomitable Courage: This trait now grants 3 stacks of stability to nearby allies. Duration has been increased from 3 to 4 seconds.
- Tome of Courage: This skill now grants 3 seconds of protection every 3 seconds. Protection and stability are no longer removed when the player stops using Tome of Courage.
- Tome of Wrath: This skill now grants 3 seconds of retaliation every 3 seconds. Retaliation and stability are no longer removed when the player stops using Tome of Wrath.
- Elite Focus: This trait now grants 1 stack of stability every 3 seconds to Tome of Wrath and Tome of Courage.
- Hallowed Ground: Increased the duration of stability that this skill grants from 1 second to 2 seconds.
Mesmer
- Phantasm Skills: These skills now correctly show their back items with the phantasm effect.
- Blink: This skill will no longer activate if a valid path to the target point cannot be found, except when acting as a stun break.
- Mantra of Concentration: This mantra now applies 3 stacks of stability to nearby allies each time it is activated.
Necromancer
- Life Leech (Downed State): Updated the skill facts of this ability to be accurate.
- Flesh Wurm: This skill will no longer activate if a valid path to the target point cannot be found.
- Plague: This ability now grants 3 stacks of stability every 3 seconds, with a 3-second duration.
- Lich Form: This ability now grants 1 stack of stability every 3 seconds, with a 3-second duration.
The following necromancer traits will now remain active when the necromancer enters the downed state:
Death Magic:
- Minion Master
- Flesh of the Master
- Death Nova
- Necromantic Corruption
- Deadly Strength
Blood Magic:
- Bloodthirst
- Vampiric Precision
- Vampiric Master
- Vampiric Rituals
- Vampiric
Curses:
- Withering Precision
- Barbed Precision
Soul Reaping:
- Master of Terror
Spite:
- Training of the Master
- Chill of Death
- Close to Death
Ranger
- Hide in Plain Sight: This trait now uses a normalized version of stealth and will no longer reveal the ranger if they move.
- Rampage as One: This skill now grants 3 stacks of stability every 3 seconds, with a 3 second duration. In addition, fury and swiftness are granted for 3 seconds on the same 3-second interval.
- Stability Training: This trait now grants 5 stacks of stability for 3 seconds when triggered.
- Signet of the Wild: This skill now grants 5 stacks of stability for 8 seconds when activated.
Thief
- Infiltrator’s Arrow: This skill will no longer activate if a valid path to the target point cannot be found.
- Infiltrator’s Signet: This skill will no longer activate if a valid path to the target cannot be found, except when acting as a stun break.
- Infiltrator’s Strike: This skill will no longer activate if a valid path to the target cannot be found.
- Shadowstep: This skill will no longer activate if a valid path to the target point cannot be found, except when acting as a stun break.
- Shadow Escape: This skill will no longer activate if a valid path to the target point cannot be found.
- Steal: This skill will no longer activate if a valid path to the target cannot be found.
- Dagger Storm: This skill now grants 3 stacks of stability every 3 seconds, with a 3-second duration.
Warrior
- Rampage: This skill now grants 3 stacks of stability every 3 seconds, with a 3-second duration. Swiftness is now applied every 3 seconds for a 3-second duration.
- Balanced Stance: This stance now grants 5 stacks of stability.
- Last Stand: This trait now grants 5 stacks of stability when triggered.
- Dolyak Signet: This signet now grants 10 stacks of stability.
BLACK LION TRADING COMPANY GEM STORE
New Items and Promotions
- The new Shadow weapon set is available from Black Lion Weapons Specialists for the limited-time price of one Black Lion Claim Ticket. Tickets and ticket scraps can be found in Black Lion Chests. Keys are available in the Special category of the Gem Store for 125 gems.
- Three new faces for each race are available exclusively in Total Makeover Kits, found in the Services category of the Gem Store for 350 gems.
(edited by Mark Katzbach.9084)