News/20071122

Test server patch bonanza

This is the information about current test server patch releases. Notable are the military surplus stations which will probably act as a sort of auction/trading house.

PTS Incremental 2007.11.21

 * Fix for certain logos not respawning
 * Fix for problem with language filter and descent map

Test server patch notes and known issues, 2007.11.19
This week we are pulling characters from the Centaurus Server to seed the test server with data.

Server and Client Updates


 * You can now buy and sell items from/to other players via Military Surplus. At this early stage you should be able to browse exisiting sales, make a purchase, and place an item for sale.
 * Audio stops/restarts on minimize/restore.
 * Audio: Tweaked volumes of several 1 liners so people can hear them better.
 * Improved Server and Client Stability.
 * Deleting all characters and then reloging into the account now allows the player to select a new last name.
 * Logging in or out while polymorphed should no longer cause a client crash.
 * Some loot is now dropping with more than 2 enhancements on them. There should be items that drop with up to 4 enhancements.

Military Surplus Vendor Locations:


 * Wilderness: Twin Pillars
 * Palisades: Cumbria Research
 * Plateau: Fort Defiance
 * Plains: Irendas Colony
 * Thunderhead: Thunderhead Base

Creature Updates


 * Miasma: Ice debuff ability effect increased by 20%.
 * Treelurker: Movement speed increased.
 * Treelurker: Number of attacks per attack round increased from 3 to a range of 3-5.
 * Treelurker: Hit point multiplier decreased by 50%.
 * Treelurker: Reuse time on claw attack reduced and relative weight decreased.
 * Filcher: Hitpoint multiplier reduced by 66%.
 * Xanx: Both bane and normal variants have had their hitpoint multiplier reduced by 33%.
 * Amoeboid: Hitpoint multiplier on all variants has been reduced by 33%.
 * Amoeboid: All spawned variants created by a parent amoeboid vomiting a new creature will now be labeled as Amoeboid Spawn for clarity.
 * Amoeboid: Primary attack ability damage has been increased by 20%.
 * Amoeboid: Secondary ability with chance to jam weapon has been increased by 20%.
 * Warnet: Hitpoint multiplier on all variants has been reduced by 33%.
 * Treelurkers now prioritize their standard melee attack, and will attempt to close to melee range.
 * Treelurkers will now attack 3 times in rapid succession when using their default melee attack.
 * Treelurkers frighten ability will only be used if their target is outside their melee range of 3m.
 * Treelurkers claw ability has been increased in damage approximately 20%, but has had its reuse time lengthened by an additional second which results in them being unable to ever use it consecutively.
 * Named spawns “Stazzle” and “Splatter” will spawn much more often on Divide.
 * Reconstructor bot bosses will now employ their full range of abilities.
 * Resolved potential issue with some indigenous life ending up in endless battles (Maw vs Swampgrubber) due to damage type and immunities.
 * Immunity types rolled into damage types, now creatures (and effects) can grant resistance to snares, roots, etc.
 * The juggernaught eye beam attack is now considered laser damage.
 * Infected Forean combat abilities are now scaled to more appropriate difficulty and will no longer use googuns.
 * Holographic bane will now use appropriately holographic weapons (they will still hurt though).
 * Holographic bane weapons now do comparable damage to non-holographic versions.
 * Thrax Sharpshooters in Torden Mires should no longer glow.
 * The mini boss Nakrinx in pools is now spawning correctly.
 * Juggernaughts will once again pack significant punch, approach at your own risk.
 * Maw should be able to effectively defeat their Swampgrubber prey much more effectively now.

Maps and Missions Updates


 * Fix to Plateau “The Stainless Steel Bloodhound” to correctly spawn escorts for multiple groups, simultaneously.
 * Fix to Lightbender Sniper spawns in Lower Eloh Creek pillbox on Wilderness.
 * Added directional mission text for Crucible “Architects Of Destuction.”
 * Torcastra – Info Sabotage: Changed it so that you can now flip the cut scene switch more than once in order to view the codes.
 * Mission Reward: The Sky is Falling – Vextronics Pulse Chaingun no longer contains 3 EMP Resist Debuff modules.
 * Valverde Howling Maw: Cuthah Base: Mission rewards have been altered for the missions “Bad Medicine”, “Digital Distractions”, “Can’t Stand the Heat”, “The Director’s Plans”, “Death to Crustie!”, “A Traitor's Execution”, and “Trapped Like Rats”.
 * Valverde Howling Maw: Live Target pens: Mission rewards have been added to the missions “Freedom Spree”, “Lockdown”, “No Prisoners”, “The Brann Plan”, and “Securing Security”.
 * Ligo Thunderhead: Fault Lever: Mission rewards have been added to the new missions “Traitor in the Midst”, “Wrench in the Gears”, “Process of Elimination”, and “Proof of Assurance”.
 * Valverede Divide: Sanctus Grotto: Mission rewards have been added to the new missions “Baneful Excavations”, “Nothing But Nests”, “The Hidden Grotto”, and “A Holy Cave”.
 * Many issues with missions not completing or items not dropping for squadmates in Operation Maps should now be resolved.
 * Mires should no longer have performance issues.
 * Caves of Donn has had some love. There are now a total of 3 bosses that you can fight even if you have already completed the missions, the Xanx are gone in lieu of miasmas and the AFS folks now follow you through the map instead of the Foreans.
 * Fixed bug with the timer in Logos Research mission Leggo My Logos. You now have the full displayed time to get out of there.
 * Torcastra Prison – Info Sabotage: Instead of hitting a trigger to start the cut scene, you now use a switch. This should help avoid seeing the cut scene while in battle.
 * Logos Research: Added some more cipher crates throughout the instance.
 * Awol Camp on Crucible now has hospital vendors.
 * Guardian Prominence now has a hospital vendor.
 * Sentinel #5 for Crucible mission “Photo Ops” is now spawning correctly.
 * “Acquire all waypoints” objective in “Crucible Targets of Opportunity” is now completed correctly.
 * Warden bots will now more aggressively approach players.
 * Incline Targets of Opportunity mission now works properly.
 * Prisoner Transfer mission should now accept keycard correctly and spawn prisoners in the proper place.
 * Kardash Atta Colony loading screen should now have text.
 * Plateau “Clean Slate” – Corporal Wainwright will now aggro properly when escorted to the Fort Defiance entrance.
 * Wilderness “Too Close For Comfort” – Council Elder Solis will no longer aggro Thrax during ambush.
 * Wilderness, Plateau, Crucible and Abyss “Targets of Opportunity” – Kill count objectives will no longer increment for kills on instanced maps.

Ligo: Ashen Desert


 * Fixed a bug that was causing the Guardian Trainer not to spawn.
 * Ligo: Crucibe: Incurables WardConfirmed a fix for a bug that prevented players from looting Headsman’s Keycard.

Valverde: Howling Maw


 * Fixed a bug that made the waypoint at Moroyo Highlands Post to appear as though it were inactive.
 * Fixed a bug that caused multiple options to appear when turning in the mission “A Grateful Schmitty”
 * Mission: Howling Maw Targets of Opportunity. Fixed a bug that prevented players from receiving the appropriate title when killing 100 Warnets.
 * Mission: Howling Maw Targets of Opportunity. Fixed a bug that prevented players from receiving the appropriate title when killing 50 Filchers.
 * Updated Descent TOO mission to give correct completion title.
 * Updated Descent TOO Thrax Hunter objective to only allow Thrax for completion.
 * Added NPC to bootcamp to explain chat.
 * Fixed "Main Computer" inside Live Target Pens.
 * Arieki Torden Mires: Appropriate reward for “Manta Beam Hills” assigned.
 * Valverede Howling Maw: Xanx in mission “Low Fidelity” now properly follows player for escort.
 * Valverde Howling Maw: Appropriate creatures now give credit for mission “Vulcanus”
 * CLRF - You will now rez at the hospital point and not at the beginning of the instance.
 * Ustor Yard – Increased the spawn amounts of the mobs in the second half of the map and added a few more patrolling predators.

Eloh Temples - Several changes:


 * Temples of the Bowed Patriarch: Fixed text error concerning the direction of the old and young persons.
 * Temple of the Raging Patriarch: If a party member fails the mission for whatever reason (leaving the instance is an example), only the person/people that failed will be teleported.
 * Temple of the Raging and Proud Patriarch: If a player leaves the instance after completing some objectives and re-enters it before the instance resets, they would be unable to continue. I hold the state of the parts the player completed in the event the instance doesn’t reset.
 * Temple of the Raging Patriarch: 3rd control point no longer requires you kill the boss before you can take the control point.
 * Temple of Proud Patriarch: Fixed issues which were preventing the spawners from spawning when you walk through the doors with the "lies” spelled out in logos.
 * All temples: Fixed issues causing the teleporters not to work.
 * Changed control point defense missions to require 25 tokens versus the previous 100.
 * Fix to Abyss “Robocrusty” – thinned out mob spawns in the escort area that was making the mission too difficult.
 * Fix to NPC variant for a Forean warrior NPC on Wilderness that didn’t have a spear, but should have.
 * Typo fix to Wilderness “Targets of Opportunity.”
 * Torden Plains: Brann Water Refinery: Some mission dialogue associated with this instance has changed.
 * Ligo Crucible: Incurables Ward: Some mission dialogue associated with this instance has changed.
 * Torden Abyss: Magma Caverns: Some mission dialogue associated with this instance has changed.
 * Valverde Howling Maw: Cuthah Base: Some mission dialogue associated with this instance has changed.
 * Ligo Ashen Desert: Some mission dialogue associated with this map has changed.

Skills and Ability Updates


 * Updated the Target Painting debuff tray tooltips for brevity and accuracy.
 * The Sacrifice ability was providing damage bonuses that were much higher than intended. These have been corrected to the values given on the ability tooltips.
 * Corrected the Adrenaline consumption rates for Sprint ability tooltips. Actual consumption was ½ of rate listed. Halved the rates reported on the tooltips.
 * A prior patch note stating that Bio Augmentation should have a 5 minute cooldown was incorrect. Bio Augmentation should not (and does not) have a cooldown time.
 * Fixed the debuff tray icon for Exploding Nanites. It was using the “unknown” icon and now uses the ability icon.
 * Engineer ability Trap now actually requires and consumes the Weapons Grade Micromech listed in its tooltips.
 * Leech Gun skill tooltips are now more accurate.
 * All pump levels of Polymorph now have stronger armor.
 * All pump levels of Polymorph now have improved weapon and ability damage / healing.
 * While polymorphed into a Kael you will no longer have several damage type immunities. Instead, these are now resistances
 * Polymorph Kael retains immunity to Knockback and Stun.
 * Fixed a problem where the client wasn’t updated with your original abilities after polymorph dropped.

UI Updates


 * Fixed bug: Character Creation: Deleting all characters and then relogging into the account does not allow the player to select a new last name.
 * trade window will now display even if the player has 10 or more billion credits.
 * default chat tab names will now be localized when the language changes.
 * the button order in the character section of the radial menu now match the order of tabs in the character window.
 * "press <> to use" will now say "press <> to talk" if targeting an NPC.
 * disabled options will now have tooltips when moused over.
 * the enter player name dialogs for the social window will now be centered in the middle of the screen.
 * mousing over a signature ability icon in the ability window will now display an ability tooltip.
 * Fixed a problem where occasionally the client would display an empty armor pool after a polymorph until combat.
 * Fixed the paperdoll to update correctly if you polymorph with the character screen open.
 * added chat bubble display for squad chat.
 * added voice chat indicator to chat bubble display.
 * Fixed a problem where armor regen rate could get thrown off by polymorphing.
 * Fixed an issue that’d cause the polarity gun to get stuck in its firing animation due to odd ammo counts.
 * Fixed a problem where a jammed weapon wouldn’t appear jammed on the client if it was unequipped & reequipped.
 * Clan PvP menus and UI now support special clan names with extended ASCII chars.
 * escorts will now have a separate radar indicator.
 * The explosion from Self Destruct should correctly display now.
 * map instance id on the map window will now display correctly when switched between instances of the same map.
 * the accept and cancel button for the alpha slider should now work.
 * clan tabs in the social window will now highlight with the correct icon.
 * friends list will no longer become unreadable when adding a friend that is loading a map.
 * Fixed bug where damage caused by pets are not shown in chat window.
 * added screenshot taker (Prt Scr) and UI toggle (Ctrl+U) features - Pictures will be added to a screenshots folder in your game directory. The pictures will be sorted into dated folders.
 * added French and German general chat.

Known Issues


 * Ranger Reinforcements are not doing melee damage.
 * If you complete the portion of the mission Obstruction Destruction that asks you to Blow up the Downed Dropship and then lose connection or log out, when you get back into bootcamp the detonator acceptor will be floating in midair without anything to blow up.
 * The recipe for Class VII Concussion Grenade states that it requires Crafting: Explosives level 1. This item should be listed as a level 3 or 4 crafting level.
 * Staff is not currently getting a bonus to melee damage with each pump level. This is a bug. Both melee and ranged damage should increase with each pump of this skill.
 * Rage tooltip is missing duration information.
 * You may not be able to access pre-order bonus pack in-game bonus items until you log out and back in after creating a new character.
 * Exiting and re-entering an instance can cause you to disconnect from the server.
 * Some Exobiologist skills do not work correctly in PvP.
 * Mission: Fuel Lake Sabotage (Divide: Timora Mines Instance): It is hard to target the center fuel lake.
 * Warnet Caverns: Escort to Remote Station 3 mission, may not share properly with squad members.
 * Map: Valverde Descent: Dropship is functioning as wormhole instead of a dropship.
 * Weapon Damage debuffs (via Crafting) are not debuffing.
 * Ability: Engineer: Bot Construction: Repair bot is not repairing squad members.
 * If you die and obtain resurrect sickness, and then levelup at a trainer (to 5, 15, 30), it will reduce your power and regenerateion rate stats until you change maps.
 * Players will lose Military Surplus deposit refunds when the server is reset.
 * The Demolitionist is not receving the +6 pump points at level 50 and the Engineer is not receiving the +4 Pump Points at level 30. All other classes are being awarded the correct amount of pump points.
 * Maligo Base: After using teleporter at 36 -62 -183 movement controls do not function correctly.
 * Map: Marshes: Bane Supply Depot: Mission: Survivors: Crates at downed dropships do not always give mission items.
 * You must disable your profanity filter to play on the Descent map.
 * Mission Error:Ashen Desert: "Gas Shortages" mission cannot be completed due to faulty bomb receptacles on gas pumps if you are disconnected from the server during the mission.
 * Mission: Operation: Termination (Torden Plains): Unable to place GPS Beacon