April 1st, 2004
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Headlines
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Collision checking has been improved again.
The next round of healing balance has gone live, in light of the Gates of Discord expansion.
Also, melee changes for the Tanking classes have gone live, for the same reason.
Tradeskill changes.
Some general improvements and bug fixes.
Collision checking
--------------------------
Players have reported numerous issues with mobs getting walled. Changes have been made to ensure mobs will no longer get stuck in walls. As is the case with players already, mobs will now also make automatic use of the /rewind option if they get stuck in a wall, corner or object.
Also, collision detection has been improved with regards to the bolt spells of Magicians and arrows being fired at mobs. Instead of poofing when hitting an inanimate object or another player, the bolts and arrows will now bounce off of them instead. We hope this will bring more realism to the game mechanics involving bolts and arrows.
Healing Balance
--------------------------
As part of our ongoing efforts to balance out the healing classes, we have made several changes, for which your input has been invaluable. The following changes have been made, which primarily address player concerns with the Gates of Discord expansion:
- Druids and Shamans had the spell mana cost of their percentage Complete Healing reduced from 600 mana to 500 mana. Also, Shamans had the healing power of their Complete Healing spell upgraded to heal 2350 hitpoints at most instead of the 1950 hitpoints up to now.
- Shamans gained several powerful short duration heal over time spells, both single target and group target, starting at level 55 with Spiritual Infusion up to level 65 with Pulse of Life. Some of these spells can be found on shaman spell vendors, but some also come from Parchments or from Gates of Discord drops.
- Druids gained several new direct healing spells, starting at level 50 with Nature’s Mending up to level 65 with Tunare’s Lifeforce. As with the Shaman spells, they can be found in various locations.
- To reduce the demand on Clerics for resurrection type spells, Shamans have gained a new line of resurrection spells. These spells, when cast on a player, enable the Shaman to send the unfortunate character back to its latest corpse, restoring a certain amount of experience lost in the process. The spell line starts at level 34 and receives upgrades several times up to level 64. Alternately, they can function as a normal resurrection when cast on a corpse.
- In order to make sure Clerics remain interesting for groups, we’ve made several changes to the Cleric class. We’ve raised the skill cap for Offense, 1H Blunt and 2H Blunt to 225, Defence to 235, Bash to 200 and Dodge to 150. Furthermore, we’ve added a self-only invis spell at level 52 which can be obtained in Gates of Discord.
Melee balance
--------------------------
As players have experienced Gates of Discord – in particular the various Trials – we have noticed shortcomings in the secondary Tanking classes. We have made several changes to bring them back in line with the Warrior class.
- Shadowknights, Paladins and Monks can now use the Fortitude discipline at level 65.
- Shadowknights and Paladins can now use the Defensive discipline, starting from level 62.
- Shadowknights and Paladins can now use the Evasive discipline, starting from level 58.
Besides these discipline changes, we have also moved Shadowknights and Paladins to the Warrior hitpoint table.
Warriors have gained a +5% innate bonus to their Armor Class to compensate.
Tradeskill changes
--------------------------
- We encountered a serious bug with the new Tradeskill UI, which has been corrected with this patch. Unfortunately, this made it necessary to wipe the list of favored and learned recipes. We apologize for this inconvenience, but there was no other option to remedy this bug.
- Tradeskill containers that are on your character will now need to be emptied before you can use them.
- Removed the Coldain Velium Tempers from the vendor in Thurgadin. It was never meant to be sold again as standard stock, but the sneaky Dwarf managed to find an extra stash. We took it away from him.
- Shadeling Silk Threads can now be used with “old world” skins instead of Spiderling Silk Threads, to make Leather Paddings.
- Changes were made to the Elemental crafted armors, so the rare Temper will now only be needed for the final combine. A new Temper is needed to make the various subcombines, for which the components drop in the appropriate Plane.
General improvements and bug fixes
--------------------------
- Removed the 85% rule from accessing zones with a raid force. To enter a zone for a raid, people will now each need the proper flags again, to fix the headaches players have been having with getting raids zoning into these zones.
- Corrected an issue with corpses disappearing into a wall. Corpses will now also auto /rewind when they would normally end up in a wall or object.
- The new sky has been fully implemented for all zones now. In zones that can have a starry night, the stars at night will also rotate like the sun and moon and they will scintillate as well. We are aware this may cause some performance issues on lower end machines, but we will keep an eye on this.
- Fixed a bug with pet Armor class and Attack. Armor class and Attack for pets were incorrectly receiving a bonus that was implemented when we were testing pet changes. The bonus has been removed so pets should now be as they are intended.
- Grand Librarian Maelin will no longer clear your planar progression flags when you hail him.
- Aid Grimel will now return the correct earring again for the final stage of the quest he gives.
- Access to the Plane of Time is once again restricted to just those people who really have access to the zone through their flags.
- Access to the Tower of Solusek Ro is now available for all people who are level 65, without needing the proper flags.
- Made several minor changes to remedy pathing issues.
- Aeksola Faerlonifer in Shadowhaven sells Sapphires again instead of Blue Diamonds.
- Reduced the chance to get good items in the Casino somewhat, as the current gain was higher than we had intended.
- The Neverquest Team
--------------------------
Headlines
--------------------------
Collision checking has been improved again.
The next round of healing balance has gone live, in light of the Gates of Discord expansion.
Also, melee changes for the Tanking classes have gone live, for the same reason.
Tradeskill changes.
Some general improvements and bug fixes.
Collision checking
--------------------------
Players have reported numerous issues with mobs getting walled. Changes have been made to ensure mobs will no longer get stuck in walls. As is the case with players already, mobs will now also make automatic use of the /rewind option if they get stuck in a wall, corner or object.
Also, collision detection has been improved with regards to the bolt spells of Magicians and arrows being fired at mobs. Instead of poofing when hitting an inanimate object or another player, the bolts and arrows will now bounce off of them instead. We hope this will bring more realism to the game mechanics involving bolts and arrows.
Healing Balance
--------------------------
As part of our ongoing efforts to balance out the healing classes, we have made several changes, for which your input has been invaluable. The following changes have been made, which primarily address player concerns with the Gates of Discord expansion:
- Druids and Shamans had the spell mana cost of their percentage Complete Healing reduced from 600 mana to 500 mana. Also, Shamans had the healing power of their Complete Healing spell upgraded to heal 2350 hitpoints at most instead of the 1950 hitpoints up to now.
- Shamans gained several powerful short duration heal over time spells, both single target and group target, starting at level 55 with Spiritual Infusion up to level 65 with Pulse of Life. Some of these spells can be found on shaman spell vendors, but some also come from Parchments or from Gates of Discord drops.
- Druids gained several new direct healing spells, starting at level 50 with Nature’s Mending up to level 65 with Tunare’s Lifeforce. As with the Shaman spells, they can be found in various locations.
- To reduce the demand on Clerics for resurrection type spells, Shamans have gained a new line of resurrection spells. These spells, when cast on a player, enable the Shaman to send the unfortunate character back to its latest corpse, restoring a certain amount of experience lost in the process. The spell line starts at level 34 and receives upgrades several times up to level 64. Alternately, they can function as a normal resurrection when cast on a corpse.
- In order to make sure Clerics remain interesting for groups, we’ve made several changes to the Cleric class. We’ve raised the skill cap for Offense, 1H Blunt and 2H Blunt to 225, Defence to 235, Bash to 200 and Dodge to 150. Furthermore, we’ve added a self-only invis spell at level 52 which can be obtained in Gates of Discord.
Melee balance
--------------------------
As players have experienced Gates of Discord – in particular the various Trials – we have noticed shortcomings in the secondary Tanking classes. We have made several changes to bring them back in line with the Warrior class.
- Shadowknights, Paladins and Monks can now use the Fortitude discipline at level 65.
- Shadowknights and Paladins can now use the Defensive discipline, starting from level 62.
- Shadowknights and Paladins can now use the Evasive discipline, starting from level 58.
Besides these discipline changes, we have also moved Shadowknights and Paladins to the Warrior hitpoint table.
Warriors have gained a +5% innate bonus to their Armor Class to compensate.
Tradeskill changes
--------------------------
- We encountered a serious bug with the new Tradeskill UI, which has been corrected with this patch. Unfortunately, this made it necessary to wipe the list of favored and learned recipes. We apologize for this inconvenience, but there was no other option to remedy this bug.
- Tradeskill containers that are on your character will now need to be emptied before you can use them.
- Removed the Coldain Velium Tempers from the vendor in Thurgadin. It was never meant to be sold again as standard stock, but the sneaky Dwarf managed to find an extra stash. We took it away from him.
- Shadeling Silk Threads can now be used with “old world” skins instead of Spiderling Silk Threads, to make Leather Paddings.
- Changes were made to the Elemental crafted armors, so the rare Temper will now only be needed for the final combine. A new Temper is needed to make the various subcombines, for which the components drop in the appropriate Plane.
General improvements and bug fixes
--------------------------
- Removed the 85% rule from accessing zones with a raid force. To enter a zone for a raid, people will now each need the proper flags again, to fix the headaches players have been having with getting raids zoning into these zones.
- Corrected an issue with corpses disappearing into a wall. Corpses will now also auto /rewind when they would normally end up in a wall or object.
- The new sky has been fully implemented for all zones now. In zones that can have a starry night, the stars at night will also rotate like the sun and moon and they will scintillate as well. We are aware this may cause some performance issues on lower end machines, but we will keep an eye on this.
- Fixed a bug with pet Armor class and Attack. Armor class and Attack for pets were incorrectly receiving a bonus that was implemented when we were testing pet changes. The bonus has been removed so pets should now be as they are intended.
- Grand Librarian Maelin will no longer clear your planar progression flags when you hail him.
- Aid Grimel will now return the correct earring again for the final stage of the quest he gives.
- Access to the Plane of Time is once again restricted to just those people who really have access to the zone through their flags.
- Access to the Tower of Solusek Ro is now available for all people who are level 65, without needing the proper flags.
- Made several minor changes to remedy pathing issues.
- Aeksola Faerlonifer in Shadowhaven sells Sapphires again instead of Blue Diamonds.
- Reduced the chance to get good items in the Casino somewhat, as the current gain was higher than we had intended.
- The Neverquest Team



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