***THIS PATCH IS NOT YET ON TEST CENTER***
***THESE PATCH NOTES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE***
Patch 1.2 Notes
February 21, 2008
Hello everyone!
This patch is has some major skill changes, a few vital balance tweaks, some pesky bug fixes, and a highly-requested new feature.
First and foremost is the introduction of our in-game mail system. This is something that we know is of vital interest to our community, and is the foundation for our consignment / auction house system. Players can not only send and receive messages with anyone in the game, but they can also attach Palladium and items to their mail. This makes getting items from one character to another – even your own – much simpler and more convenient. And while you need to be in a Station to attach or receive items and Palladium, you can read your messages anywhere, anytime.
We’re also rolling out the second of our major character class balance passes. In this patch, we’ve done a comprehensive balance pass on the Marksman. We focused on addressing a number of issues that have made the class vastly over-powered in comparison to the rest of the classes and the desired difficulty of the game. There are also numerous areas where we have increased the effectiveness of, or altered skills to give Marksman players a wider variety of builds and tactics.
Chief amongst these changes is addressing the notorious skill/weapon combinations involving Ricochet, Reflecting Shot, Multishot, Rapid Fire, Heightened Senses, Beacon, Dead Eye, and Hollow Points, while using a high rate of fire weapon, such as an Arclight Rifle. While we realize that making choices on skill, item, and mod combinations which complement each other is a fundamental design element most emphasized with the Marksman in particular, there should never be one combination of skills which completely outshines the rest.
We didn’t want to entirely remove the most overpowered Marksman skill combinations altogether, however, and we also didn’t want to leave other Marksman skill issues unaddressed. This would have been largely unfair to the Marksman players. As a result, you’ll see a large number of changes to the skills - such as synergies to the Ballistics, Grenade, and Precision Strike skill groups - that should promote an increased variety of specialized builds and create a more diversified play experience overall. We’ve been doing a lot of balance and tweaking over the past few weeks in Test Center with these changes, and we’re excited to roll them out to all of our players.
Finally, there are a host of other fixes and additions in this patch, including adjusting the difficulty of the Nightmare end-game and making the big Moloch battle more interesting and challenging. Thanks again to everyone for their great feedback and continued support of making Hellgate: London bigger and better.
See you online!
The Hellgate: London Team
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In-Game Mail
Characters can now send and receive mail from any other character, including characters within the same account. Mail consists of text messages, and one item of any size and any amount of Palladium can be attached for delivery. Here are some of the features of the mail system.
* Mail can be read anywhere in the game via the Mail panel. This can be accessed using the Z key or using the Mail icon located underneath the chat panel.
* Items and Palladium can only be attached or removed from mail while the character is in a Station.
* Mail can be sent to any player whose name is known, regardless of whether they are online or not. You can only send mail to one character at a time or to your entire guild.
* There is no cap on the number of messages that can be sent or received, but mail is only stored for a certain amount of time. The mail panel shows how long each message has left before it is automatically deleted. Different types of mail (such as those with attachments or unread mail) may stay in your inbox for longer or shorter periods of time.
* While you can send mail to character in a different mode (Hardcore, Elite, and Hardcore Elite) you cannot attach items or Palladium in a cross-mode email. This follows the same rules as trading items.
* You can’t mail quest items or non-tradable items (such as Dye Kits or a Skill Retrainer).
General
* Adjusted difficulty of the Nightmare endgame. Decreased the ramp of the damage penalty that players face against monsters higher than their level.
* Fields from different sources can now stack. Please note that the graphics from new fields still override those of previous fields.
* Players must now wait 5 seconds before they can re-enter a Hellrift.
* Fixed a bug which caused weapons to disappear when swapping weapon sets in the middle of performing certain skills.
* Fixed a bug which caused the /played command to display the incorrect amount of time played.
* Vendor inventories in Nightmare difficulty should now be stocked with Nightmare-level items.
* The Shock effect now deals damage immediately when it’s applied.
* Several character and monster animations have been improved.
* Fixed known Blueprint exploits.
* Fixed a bug which sometimes caused files to require unnecessary patching.
Stonehenge
* Essences or Caste General Heads gathered in Normal and Nightmare difficulties may now be used in either difficulty setting.
* Moloch has been further increased in difficulty, as well as being more resistant to Ignite and Ignite Damage. Be sure you’re well prepared before attempting to defeat him in Hardcore Elite Mode!
* Players may no longer exploit the essence pedestals via trading.
Monsters
* Winged Imps now lose their invulnerability earlier.
* Fixed some cases where monsters would get stuck in the ground.
Quests
* Fixed a bug which sometimes caused collection side-quest counters to count down under certain conditions.
* Players can now drop the train part quest items for the “…All the Live Long Day” quest. Also players may no longer pick up these items if they do not have the quest active or if they already have the item.
User Interface / Controls
* Some UI panels have been improved.
* Shift-activation should now work for skills granted by items.
* The [Shift], [Ctrl], and [Alt] keys are now re-mappable, and may be set as key-modifiers.
Graphics (DX10 Only)
* Various distortion effects have been fixed.
* Fixed a Hellrift portal graphical issue in which the image would slide inappropriately.
* Translucent models now render properly against the background.
* Particles and translucent models are no longer out of focus with the depth-of-field effect.
* Depth-of-field blur amount has been reduced and is now more subtle.
Skills
PLEASE READ the changes to skills carefully as many have changed. Some skills now have new names to represent their different effects or make more sense within the context of the character class.
Hunter
* Fixed a bug that sometimes caused grenades to not fire properly when the skill is being repeated.
Tactical Stance
* Now also gives a base Firing Accuracy bonus of 50.
* Changed the Critical Chance bonus effect (3% at rank 1 and 1% per additional rank) to a damage bonus of 15% at rank 1 and 5% per additional rank.
Escape
* Escape now provides 1 second of invulnerability when it is activated.
* Escape should now prevent enemy players in PVP from seeing the user.
* The cool-down for this skill now starts when the skill is used, not when it is cleared.
* The cool-down for this skill has been increased to 30 seconds.
* The duration for this skill has been decreased from 6 seconds to 3 seconds at rank 1, increasing by 1 second per additional rank.
* The rank cap on this skill has been increased from 5 to 7.
* Escape now clears all other speed boost effects while it is active, including Adrenaline Pills and Sprint. Using any skill or item that boosts speed will clear Escape, including Sprint.
Precision Strikes
* Precision Strikes now have direct synergies with all other Precision Strikes.
* Precision Strikes no longer have skill prerequisites
Napalm Strike
* Increased base Damage by 5%.
* Ranks in Napalm Strike now increase the Duration of all Precision Strikes by 50%.
Smackdown
* Ranks in Smackdown now increase the Elemental Attack Strengths of all Precision Strikes by 25%.
Shock and Awe
* Decreased base Damage by 7%.
* Ranks in Shock and Awe now increase the Radius of all Precision Strikes by 15%.
Marksman
Rebounder Rounds (formerly Ricochet)
“The Marksman uses modified ammunition that has a chance to ricochet off enemies and walls.”
* This skill is now an Active skill. You must use this skill in order to gain the effect and functions similarly to how “fire both weapons” works.
* There is no power cost for using this skill.
* This skill has a chance to proc its effect (based on the skill and increasing based on the rank of the skill) for each individual firing of the skill. Since its effect is no longer dependent upon landing a critical hit, the effect of this skills will be seen much more commonly at all skill ranks and character levels.
* This skill has indirect synergies with the other skills in the “Ballistics” line. Each rank in Rebounder Rounds has a chance (albeit smaller) to proc when either Ravager Rounds or Concussion Rounds are used.
o EXAMPLE: The first rank of Rebounder Rounds gives a 10% chance for shots to ricochet while using Rebounder Rounds. Due to skill synergy, Ravager Rounds and Concussion Rounds have a 4% chance for this effect to occur while using either of those skills.
Ravager Rounds (formerly Reflected Shot)
“The Marksman uses modified ammunition that has a chance to blow through and subsequently retarget additional enemies.”
* This skill is now an Active skill. You must use this skill in order to gain the effect and functions similarly to how “fire both weapons” works.
* There is no power cost for using this skill.
* This skill has a chance to proc its effect (based on the skill and increasing based on the rank of the skill) for each individual firing of the skill. Since its effect is no longer dependent upon landing a critical hit, the effect of this skills will be seen much more commonly at all skill ranks and character levels.
* This skill has indirect synergies with the other skills in the “Ballistics” line. Each rank in Ravager Rounds has a chance (albeit smaller) to proc when either Rebounder Rounds or Concussion Rounds are used.
o EXAMPLE: The first rank of Ravager Rounds gives a 5% chance for shots to blow through and re-target a new enemy while using Ravager Rounds. Due to skill synergy, Rebounder Rounds and Concussion Rounds have a 2% chance for this effect to occur while using either of those skills.
Concussion Rounds (replaces Homing Shot)
“The Marksman uses modified ammunition designed for maximum impact.”
* This skill is now an Active skill. You must use this skill in order to gain the effect and functions similarly to how “fire both weapons” works.
* There is no power cost for using this skill.
* This skill increases the Interrupt Strength (indirect chance to proc) of the Marksman’s weapons (based on the skill and increasing based on the rank of the skill) while the skill is used.
* This skill has indirect synergies with the other skills in the “Ballistics” line. Each rank in Concussion Rounds increases Interrupt Strength (albeit by lesser amount) when either Ravager Rounds or Rebounder Rounds are used.
o EXAMPLE: The first rank of Concussion Rounds gives a 10% increased Interrupt Strength for shots fired while using Concussion Rounds. Due to skill synergy, Ravager Rounds and Rebounder Rounds have a 4% increased Interrupt Strength when using either of those skills.
Weapon Master (formerly Hollow Points)
* Increased the Critical Damage bonus of this skill from 20% at rank 1 and 10% per additional rank, to a flat 30% bonus per rank.
Beacon
* Decreased the power cost by 33%.
Elemental Beacon
* Now also decreases the target’s Elemental Attack Strengths.
* Gives increasing Elemental Attack and Defense penalties per rank that scales with the character’s level.
Overshield
* Increased the Shields bonus per additional rank from 33% to 100%.
Elemental Vision
* Increased the Elemental Attack Strength bonuses from 15% per rank to 25% per rank.
Sniper
* Is now available at level 5.
* No longer forces the Marksman to crouch and stop moving when used. The character now moves at 50% speed while the skill is active (in addition to the Armor and Weapon Energy Consumption penalties).
* Weapon Accuracy, Range, and Missile Velocity bonuses are now fixed at 60%, 50%, and 25%, respectively.
* Damage bonus has been decreased from 200% to 150%.
* Rank progression now decreases its rate of use and rate of fire penalties by 3% per rank, beginning at a 50% penalty at rank 1 and ending at a 23% penalty at rank 10.
Master Sniper
* Now provides a 1% Critical Chance bonus per rank, in addition to its previous 20% Critical Damage bonus.
Rapid Fire
* Now clears Multishot when used.
Multishot
* This skill has been moved under Weapon Master in the skill tree. It required two points in Weapon Master to unlock, thus requiring fewer total points to unlock than before.
Escape Artist
* The Movement Speed bonus has been increased to 25% per rank.
* The rank cap on this skill has been increased from 5 to 7.
Grenades
* Grenades now have direct synergies with all other Grenades.
Explosive Grenade
* Explosive Grenades now explode on impact with monsters (but not objects) and have a 2 second fuse.
* Decreased base Damage by 23%.
* Decreased base Ignite Attack Strength by 33%.
* Ranks in Explosive Grenade now increase the Damage of all grenades by 10%.
Phase Grenade
* Increased base Damage by 6%.
* Ranks in Phase Grenade now increase the Elemental Attack Strengths of all grenades by 30%.
Toxic Grenade
* Toxic Grenades now bounce off of objects (ignoring monsters) before exploding after 1.5 seconds.
* Toxic Grenades now create a field that lasts for 4 seconds, dealing field damage.
* Decreased base Poison Attack Strength by 50%.
* Ranks in Toxic Grenade now increase the splash or field radius of all grenades by 10%.
Flashcracker Grenade
* Increased base Damage by 12%.
* Decreased base Stun Attack Strength by 50%.
* Ranks in Flashcracker Grenade now grant and increase the Shield Penetration of all grenades by 10%.
Engineer
* Engineer Drones now properly receive Armor bonuses from Armor affixes.
* Fixed bugs that caused Engineer Drones to receive more than twice as much Armor than intended.
* Engineers should no longer erroneously receive bonuses from items which grant the Overshield skill.
* Summoned pets should no longer fail to spawn when summoned.
Templar
Guardian
Aura of Thorns
* Aura of Thorns should now properly increase Thorns damage from items.
* Aura of Thorns has been rebalanced to fit the standard Aura progression model.
Blademaster
Crosscutter
* Crosscutter now requires a target in order to use the skill.
Cabalist
* Fixed description for Brom’s Curse.
Summoner
* Hand of Nostrum should now properly increase the number of healing beams used by the Witch Doctor.
Evoker
* Hellfire can now be aimed as long as the skill trigger is held down, and fires once the trigger is released.
Patch Notes Disclaimer: While we make every effort to include all upcoming changes in our patch notes, please be aware that occasionally some changes are unintentionally omitted.
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And yes, you can take our posting of these notes as evidence that Patch 1.2 isn't far from reaching Test Center. Days, not weeks.
-- Scapes
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