Summer 2004 tweaks and corrections

Update Thursday July 29th 2004

Version 15.5.6

- The Beast has been tweaked a bit to allow it to use the new tricks it has learned.

- Modified some in-game posters.




Tuesday July 20th 2004

Version 15.5.5

Game Mechanics

- The special attacks Brawl, Fast Attack, Backstab, Fling Shot, Burst and Full Auto now check against defensive skills when calculating the chance to hit. Note that Full Auto always did this, except on the first bullet. Aimed Shot, Sneak Attack and Dimach works as before, at least for now. We've also corrected some bugs in the special attack code, like reporting misses twice, and we've done some tweaking of the to-hit chances.

- Fling Shot, Burst, Full Auto and Aimed Shot now deduct ammo from your weapon. If your weapon does not contain enough shots for the special attack, the attack will still be used, but with limited or no effect. Weapons that operate without ammo will not have this limitation.

- The SkillLockModifier no longer affects the recycle time on Brawl, Dimach, Fast Attack, Sneak Attack, Fling Shot, Burst, Full Auto, Aimed Shot and the various Shadowbreeds.

- All hostile nano programs used on a PvP (Player versus Player) flagged character should now make the user of the nano program PvP flagged.

- Items equipped in the Belt slot can no longer be deleted.

- A bug with corpse decay has been fixed. Normal corpses will now stay for exactly 3 minutes, while the corpses of boss creatures will stay for 30 minutes.

- All versions of Stunned by Brawl now count as stuns and can be stopped by stun resistance or immunity.

Nano Programs

- Nano Technicians have received a new nano program line for debuffing their opponent's range.

- Izgimmer's Celestial Implosion has had its damage corrected.

- Greater Hold Victim and Hold Victim have been corrected. Their data were switched.

- One With Nature has had its description updated to reflect the amount it actually heals for.

- Meld with Background now correctly gives the user's team a Concealment buff.

- Guardian of Might and A Keeper's Physique no longer get overwritten by Iron Circle.

- The Doctor team health buff programs have had their non-working instant heal effect removed to avoid confusion.

- The Soldier's Heavy Weapons skill buff programs have had their duration extended.

- Three of the Keeper's Vengeance programs had the same name. Two of these have been corrected to Vengeance of the Blessed and Vengeance of the Holy.

- Fists of Shocking Touch is now only overwritten by Fists of Fire and better nano programs.

- Beauty of Life no longer requires the target to have the Shadowlands expansion.

- Doctor Shadowlands heals and Chaotic Modulation have had some unnecessary feedback messages removed.

- Exhaust Defense has had its duration corrected to 100 seconds instead of 10.

- Abolish Tin has had its execution time corrected to be the same as the other programs in the same line.

- Contemplation has had its nano resist value decreased from 103% to 100%.

Monsters and Non-Player Characters (NPCs)

- IPS representatives now release additional information on how to improve the helmet, support system, and shoulder pad items of the Jobe Suit.

- Some Blueprint bosses have become less timid and will no longer try run away if facing powerful enemies.

- Calmed creatures now heal faster, as they don't consider themselves as "in combat" and thus can stress down a lot.

- Tarasque and The Beast seem to have found that shirt with that sleeve where they hid the aces. Watch out for some sneaky combat tricks.

World

- We've done some tweaks to the creatures around the Abandoned Facilities introduced in the previous version.

- The portal that appears after killing The Beast now lasts longer.

- The first island of Pandemonium has been split in two, and a new adversary awaits explorers of this unfriendly realm.

Quests

- Sirocco will now give out his quest to those above level 201 as well.

Items

- Turn Spirit Flesh Pouches now contain random Turn Spirits as originally intended. This ensures equal opportunity to get hold of each type of Turn Spirit.

- Weapons using Heavy Weapons or Grenade as main attack skill now count as ranged weapons for the purpose of using actions depending on wielding ranged weapons.

- Nano Crystal (Shadow Veil) has been added to the Agent start-up equipment.

- The Channel Notum Vein nano crystals description (not the nano program description) now includes a comment about the garden key being required to upload the program.

- The Malaise nano crystals can now be bought in different Gardens and Sanctuaries.

- The basic merit boards that are given to all members of the Clans or Omni-Tek are no longer Unique. This includes all merit boards that the basic merit boards can be upgraded to.

- The Adventurer's Shadowlands service towers now works as intended in Shadowlands.

- First Tier Metaphysicist Pants have had their statistics revised to bring them into balance with the other First Tier armour.

- Prohibited Hand-Mortar of Bacam-Xum should be easier to wield now, and has had its statistics revised accordingly.

- The nano crystals that contain Average Delayed Health freeloader now have the correct names.

- Keeper and Shade nano crystals are now available as mission rewards.

- Expensive Gift from Earth now has varying content.

- Spirit Shroud of the Exterminator now adds to direct nano damage.

- Advanced Restoration Kit now properly locks the First Aid skill of the user.

- Decus Armor Pants have had new icons applied to them.

Trade Skills

- The process for creating Chosen Fixer Boots and Chosen Fixer Pants now works properly.

- A bug resulting in several trade skill processes being broken has been fixed. Among other things, hacking Portable Surgery Clinics is now possible again.

Perks

- Perks that always affect your fighting target no longer requires you to have your fighting target actually targeted to be used.

- Perks attacks now scale their effect properly. The scaling was faulty under specific conditions, one of those being the attack skill being higher than 1000.

- Channel Rage now has level requirement for the target pet.

- Ignition Flare now works properly.

- Team Hale and Hearty now executes properly even if you have a hostile target selected.

- Energize, Bio Regrowth and NCU Booster have all had their descriptions corrected.

- Guardian now correctly requires the user to have Total Mirror Shield running.

- Jarring Burst now has a visual effect connected to its stun effect.

- Big Smash now affects your current fighting target, not your currently selected target.

Pets

- All versions of Mortificant can now zone with its master.

- Some of the Meta-Physicist pets have been revised to make them scale correctly in power. Urulok the Rotten has had its health decreased. Ettu the Cursed has had its attack skill (and thus its damage) decreased. Zhok the Abomination has had its damage decreased but its health increased by a large amount.

Technical

- Two chat system bugs causing client crashes have been fixed.