Patch Notes: NW.305.20231009b.17

Release Notes
 

Content and Environment

General

• Fixed clipping issues with certain capes and armor.

Defense of the Moondancer Trial

• The crew of the Dirty Deceit have spent numerous hours polishing the door leading below deck. it is now smooth and slick and should prevent even those with great climbing skill from perching on its surface.

Demogorgon Trial

• The quest “To Slay a Demon Lord” will now properly complete after completing the Demogorgon Trial.

Spelljammer

• The quest “Higher Evolution” has had the source of Aberration Essence clarified, and the drop rate has been increased.
• Foliage should no longer stretch to extreme lengths due to powers of the Astral Elves, the Minotaur companion, and the Gromph Baenre companion’s Hacking Frenzy power.
• Fixed positioning of Prayer Beads in the quest “Strings of Tranquility” and improved accuracy of waypoint.
• Low gravity should properly now apply across all of Asteroid Zar'bos.
• Fixed instances where Mindflayer Delusions could spawn when they shouldn't.
• Killing enemies on the edge of Heroic Encounters should now give proper credit.
• The quest “Xaryxian Armada” (Weekly) has had its buzzjewel requirements greatly reduced to be more in line with other weeklies.
• Xaryxian Invasions
  • A new special boss will now arrive partway through the Invasion, with increased rewards!
  • Invasion bosses and chests are now marked on the map.
• All of the asteroid Landing Sites have had their collision updated. It should now be smoother navigating the docks and edges of the asteroids, but watch your step!

Tyranny of Dragons

• Fey Wolf Spirit is now properly summoned when taking the quest “Fetch Quest” from Linu. The Wolf Spirit can be re-summoned, if lost, by interacting with Linu and selecting the re-summon option.
   

Combat and Powers

Classes: Barbarian

• Sentinel Paragon
  • On the Move (Feat) now applies to other players once again.

Classes: Cleric

• Arbiter Paragon
  • Burning Patch (Feat)
    • Feat and Daily tooltips updated to better-indicate actual effect and magnitude.
    • Fire damage zone can now Critically Strike.
  • Bastion of Health (Encounter)
    • Cost decreased 440 -> 200.
    • Magnitude increased 800 -> 1200.
    • The Arbiter version of this power was prohibitively expensive for its cost. We don't expect it to be an Arbiter mainstay, but these changes at least make it somewhat viable in an emergency.
  • Chains of Blazing Light (Encounter)
    • Added 320 Magnitude attack on hit, scaling +40 per judgement.
    • This change is intended to make Chains of Blazing Light a generically more useful Encounter power for the Arbiters.
  • Daunting Light (Encounter)
    • Cost decreased 200 -> 150.
    • The Arbiter version of this power was simply too inefficient for its cost, and rather than move it closer to Searing Javelin's magnitude, we have opted to make it a lower-cost option.
  • Searing Javelin (Encounter)
    • Now targets like other ranged line attacks; targeting is now freeform and can be aimed (horizontally only) at your reticle.
    • Allows Searing Javelin to be aimed between two targets to hit both.
  • Sun Burst (Encounter)
    • Casting is now hold-input-to-charge. At full charge, performs knock back. At less-than-full-charge, does not perform knockback. Total cast time is unchanged.
    • This should allow clerics to selectively use the knock back effect only when it is desirable.

Classes: Rogue

• Daily Powers: We've updated some values on Rogue daily powers in an attempt to make choices more interesting.
  • Courage Breaker’s Magnitude increased 1200 -> 1800.
  • Bloodbath’s (Assassin) Magnitude increased 1800 -> 2000.
  • Killing Storm (Whisperknife)
    • Magnitude per hit increased 165 -> 200.
    • Tooltip now states there are 12 total hits.
  • Lurker Assault’s (Whisperknife) Damage Boost increased 15% -> 30%.
• Cloud of Steel (At-Will) damage stacking buff duration increased 4s -> 5s.
• Lashing Blade (Encounter): Stealth effect changed from +50% Critical Severity to an extra 300 Magnitude hit.
  • This was made to give Lashing Blade's stealth effect more punch when you have a high natural Critical Severity.
• Path of the Blade (Encounter)
  • Deals full damage over 6s, down from 10s.
  • Applies damage every 2s instead of every 0.5s.
  • Stealth version is still half duration with double hit frequency.
  • This change makes Path of the Blade more viable in multi-target situations, and greatly decreases the damage number flooding, but provides less Encounter-class hits overall.
• Stealth Regeneration penalty from taking damage decreased 40%.
• Whisperknife Paragon: We've generally improved Whisperknife's stealth generation from its Feats. We have also made a few, substantial updates to several Whisperknife powers to try and vastly improve their single-target damage output.
  • Ambusher's Haste (Feat) Damage bonus increased 20% -> 40%.
  • Cloud of Steel (At-Will)
    • Whisperknife variant added. Its Magnitude equals 60 and scales +5% per stack (10 stacks, to 90 magnitude)
    • Non-Whisperknife Magnitude increased 40 -> 45.
  • Dagger Threat (Feature) Damage bonus increased 7.5% -> 10%.
  • Dark Reimbursement (Feat) Stealth generation increased 15% -> 20%.
  • Disheartening Strike (At-Will)
    • Magnitude increased 40 -> 75.
    • DoT Total Magnitude increased 75 -> 450.
    • Can now properly re-apply effects with each hit.
    • Number of DoT ticks is now 6 (was 5)
  • Gutterborn's Touch (Feat) Damage bonus increased 5% -> 10%.
  • Impact Shot (Encounter) Magnitude increased 585 -> 600.
  • One with the Shadows (Feat) Cooldown decreased 20s -> 15s.
  • Return to Shadows (Feat) Stealth generation increased 5% -> 15% and 10% -> 20% against non-facing targets.
  • Shadow of Demise (Feat)
    • Damage increased 30% -> 50%.
    • Now applies a Buff, rather than a Debuff, to the casting player.
    • Known Issue - This power does not critically strike, but has been balanced around this issue.
  • Shadowy Opportunity (Feat) Weapon Damage scaling increased 15% -> 200%.
  • Shadow Strike (Encounter) Magnitude increased 715 -> 775.
  • Vengeance Pursuit (Encounter) now targets like other ranged powers and should not fail if a friendly walks into your crosshair.
• Assassin Paragon
  • Assassin's Target (Feat)
    • Damage bonus per stack increased 1% -> 10%.
    • Max Stacks decreased 10 -> 5.
    • This Feat option was significantly underperforming compared to Toxic Blades, so we've made a major adjustment to make it more viable.
  • Toxic Blades (Feat)
    • Toxic Blades has been reworked to allow it to properly your Critical Strike stat.
    • As a result of this rework, it has been rebalanced to have a longer duration, but has lower base magnitude per stack.
    • The overall damage should be increased by 20-30%, and, it should be easier to maintain maximum stacks.
  • Wicked Reminder (Encounter)
    • Critical Avoidance debuff from stealth now properly increases the target's critical damage taken.
    • This value has been rebalanced to 5%, as it is a powerful, multiplicative, group-wide damage increase.

Companions

• Companion Enhancements: Enduring Precision now works more consistently and in much less of an outwardly janky fashion.
  • It no longer falls off when switching maps.
  • If it is slotted, it is always active while a companion is summoned and is not downed. This allows augment companions to benefit.
  • If the summoned companion is downed, it will fall off immediately, then reapply immediately once the companion gets up again.
  • The buff tooltip no longer shows a timer.
• Companion Player Bonus Powers, On Hit Effects Update
  • We have reworked the systems for how player bonus powers that deal Magnitude damage to targets are worked and scaled. These effects should generally deal much more damage, and be more comparable to player bonus powers that increase raw stats. In general, these powers should only trigger once per second, and, should only trigger off At-Will, Encounter, and Daily powers. We hope we have also solved a subtle issue where some of these powers would stop dealing damage after the player changed maps. The following powers have been affected:
    • Baby Owlbear's Presence
    • Black Death Scorpion's Instincts
    • Con Artist's Discipline
    • Consume Soul (Lich Makos)
    • Elminster Simulacrum’s power description has been rewritten to match its effect. It is two separate triggered effects.
    • Evoker's Wisdom (Renegade Evoker)
    • Grung's Instinct
    • Manticore's Prescence power’s description has been rewritten to match its effect. It has always triggered when you are critically hit, not when you critically hit a target.
    • Remorhaz's Prescence
      • This power's function has changed. It now applies its effect to an area around the target hit.
    • Snow Leopard’s Instincts
    • Spined Devil's Influence
    • Tomb Spider's Instincts
    • Xuna's Wisdom
    • Aranea's Wisdom
    • Cockatrice's Presence
      • Can deal damage to control-immune targets.
    • Death Slaad's Presence
      • Power reworked to function as intended.
    • Shadow Force (Shadow Elemental)
    • Rat Pup's Instincts
    • Shadow Demon's Presence
      • Effect has been split into 2 different effects.
      • 'Reflection' damage effect can now occur every second.
      • 'Massive Deflect Severity Bonus' now applies upon equip, clears itself after a Deflect, and re-applies every 30s.
    • Viscous Dire Wolf's Presence
    • War Boar's Instincts
    • Wererat's Discipline (Wererat Thief)
• Flumph
  • Flumph's powers have been updated to be more in-line with other multi-target companions

Mounts

Mount powers that apply Shields have been standardized.

• All mounts with these effects now have a maximum effect (at Mythic quality and 100% Mount Bolster Total) of 20% MaxHP. This reduces the following shields:
  • Celestial Lion: Aureal Armament now has a maximum shield effect of 20%, down from 30%.
  • Neverwinter's Hand: Protector's Hand now has a maximum shield effect of 20%, down from 30%.
• However, these shields now stack with those granted by player powers. For instance, if an Oathkeeper Paladin uses Divine Shelter, the shield granted by Divine Shelter will now be added to the shield granted by one of these mount powers, instead of overwriting or conflicting with it.
• Only one mount shield can be active on a character at a time.
  • If a mount shield is active, and another is cast, the most powerful effect will be applied.
  • That means if a player has a 15% MaxHP shield from a mount power, and then another player casts a mount power that shields for 20% of MaxHP, the 20% version will take effect and refresh the shield duration.
  • Alternatively, if a player has a 15% MaxHP shield from a mount power, and then another player casts a mount power that shields for 12% of MaxHP, the 15% version will remain active.
  • This is evaluated per-target, so casting a weaker mount shield while the tank is unshielded but other party members are shielded will still properly apply it to the tank.
• Ultimately, while this is a reduction in overall shield value for these two mounts, we expect that the increase in flexibility and utility (and stackability with other shield sources) will make them feel better overall.
• Giant Space Hamster: Hamstphere
  • The shield granted by this power is no longer blocked by line of sight.
  • The shield granted by this power, like Aureal Armament and Protector's Hand, now keeps the most powerful version instead of always overwriting on the newest cast.
  • This power can no longer be interrupted. When it is animation cancelled, it will still take effect after the original cast time.
  • This power will now properly prioritize players over companions and NPCs. It can still only affect a maximum of 15 targets, and can still hit allies outside the party.
     

Enemies and Encounters

Spelljammer

• The version of Flame Bolt used by Divergent Beings on Remichi had a slight reduction in damage and increase in casting time.
   

Items and Economy

General

• Named enemies in Wildspace now properly (but rarely) drop Space Clown fashion gear

Artifacts

• Astral Seed Tendril Artifact set bonus, Astral Absorption, now properly deals the correct damage, shield, and healing displayed in its description.
• Alaric's Artillery Beacon is now properly prevented from being converted to Refining Points at all item qualities.

Zen Market

• Mystical Butterfly Wings & Token Bundle
  • The tooltips for the items in this bundle now properly state that they're bound to account, to be consistent with the gray text in the description and the bundle item.