Weekend Warfront: Scurvy Dogs
The seas run with blood! Dwarf ironclads, streaming out of Barak Varr, carry legions or blood-mad Slayers to raid and plunder the enemy's ships and ports. Meanwhile, Orc sea-hulks, loaded with Choppa freebooters, have ambushed the Dwarfs in the Black Gulf, and the sea is choked with the carcasses of the dead!
Shiver me timbers and call me matey, prepare to set sail on the high seas of bonus renown and experience for participating in the scenario, The Ironclad! Also, you may notice that you're pillaging more booty when participating in the Weekend Warfront in the form of +50% XP and Renown. So get out there, keel haul those Scurvy Dogs and let your enemies know that you are, without a doubt, on a boat!
YAAARRRRR!!!
Completing all tasks grants the title "The Dread Pirate".
Realm versus Realm
Fortresses
- Fort lord HP now scales with attacker population. At 168 attackers it remains the same as before, and with fewer attacks will scale down to 50% of the current max.
- Fort lords now have hostile auras that increase aggro generation by 50% for players of their hated race. (Dwarves hate Greenskins, High Elves hate Dark Elves, Empire hates Chaos.) This mechanic existed before the new ability system, and is now restored with a visible icon so players can see it.
Fort Lord Mechanics
All Fortress Lords now have actual mechanics again, which will force attackers to do more than simply hit a lord in the face, and will give defenders more options to fight back and protect their fortress. The restored and new mechanics are:
Greenskin and Dwarf
Each Lord will spawn a Keg (Dwarf) or Banner (Greenskin) on the lower floor of the fort. While this object is alive, the boss cannot be damaged, so attackers must take - and hold - the bottom floor to destroy the object. This object spawns starting at 90% Lord HP, and respawns every 10% after.
This mechanic is primarily a DPS-focused mechanic, and also requires attackers to divide up their forces.
Empire and Dark Elf
New Mechanic for Healers: At 90% HP, the attacking realm spawns a friendly Lord NPC in the Lord Room that will stop the enemy Lord from gaining bonus powers. When the enemy boss takes damage, your friendly Lord also takes 60% of that damage. Healers must consistently focus on healing both their warband and the Friendly Lord.
If the Friendly Lord falls below specific HP thresholds, the enemy Fort Lord will gradually gain more powerful buffs. Those buffs are:
- Friendly Lord at 80% HP: Enemy Lord Incoming Damage Reduced by 25%
- Friendly Lord at 60% HP: Enemy Lord Incoming Damage Reduced by 50%
- Friendly Lord at 40% HP: Enemy Lord Incoming Damage Reduced by 50%, Outgoing Damage increased by 25%
- Friendly Lord at 20% HP Or less: Enemy Lord Incoming Damage Reduced by 50%, Outgoing increased by 50%
Because the friendly lord takes damage based on damage that hits the Enemy Lord, it is possible to slow DPS on the enemy Lord to balance these scales. This is primarily a Healing-focused mechanic, with DPS players also able to impact the rate.
High Elf and Chaos
At 90% HP, the boss spawns in a Hero mob with significant health to aid them. When this Hero is near the boss, the Lord gains a 50% raw damage output buff.
This mechanic is primarily a Tank-focused proximity mechanic, but Aggro reduction in general (including on DPS and Healers) can have big impact here. Attackers can have this Hero aggro'd on whoever they like, but eating the 50% damage increase will give the Lord a much higher chance of wiping entire groups, giving defenders a chance to push in with Morales and retake the Lord Room.
Keeps
- Keep Lords now also scale their HP based on the active population in a zone. Their max HP is the same as before today's patch, and during low population, can scale down to 50% of the existing Health Pool.
This change was almost universally approved by our RvR Focus Groups some months back, and it makes sense: hitting a tank Lord for 25 minutes during lower population times isn't really fun for anyone, so this change should improve that significantly.
- Keep Upgraders are now working once again.
Combat and Careers
General Changes and Fixes
- The three offensive crit stats from renown (Opportunist, Focused Power, and Sure Shot) are combined into one speccable stat, giving the same amount of crit per investment to each offensive crit. The name remains “Opportunist”. Focused Power & Sure Shot remain in-game for now, but will be removed at a later date and all saved builds will be updated to use Opportunist instead.
"The offensive crit chances have been combined to offer more flexibility for Shadow Warriors and Squig Herders, allowing them to seamlessly switch between melee and ranged combat."
- Guile (Heal Debuff Weapon Proc) – The duration of the heal debuff effect has been reduced from 10 seconds to 7 seconds. This change ensures that powerful tools like AoE heal debuffs remain primarily within class kits, rather than being overly reliant on gear procs. By shortening the uptime, we aim to maintain balance while still allowing Guile to complement class abilities effectively.
- Flee - No longer functions as a toggle ability. Cooldown increased to 40s so the effective cooldown remains the same. The morale-reducing effect is moved from Flee to Panic effect.
- RP’s Oath Rune of Power and other abilities that proc on next attack (such as Ere We Go!) now only trigger on one target.
Target Cap Test Results
After careful evaluation, we’ve concluded the test of the 9-target cap and made the decision to revert back to the 24-target cap.
We initially reduced the target cap to 9 to explore how it could improve gameplay, particularly in reducing zerging and giving smaller groups more opportunities to compete. The 9-target limit did bring some advantages, such as tanks being able to absorb more damage and providing a more manageable Time to Kill (TTK). However, we also heard from many of you that it introduced challenges for smaller warbands who couldn’t benefit as much from these changes.
After considering your valuable feedback, we’ve decided to return to the 24-target cap, which many players felt offered more flexibility and balance in large-scale encounters. We’re grateful to everyone who participated in the test and shared their thoughts with us. Your insights are essential to shaping the best possible gameplay experience, and we look forward to working with you on future improvements!
Initiative & Weapon Skill Rebalancing
We’ve made some important adjustments to Initiative and Weapon Skill in order to address two major issues and provide a more balanced experience across all classes.
- Weapon Skill's addition to Parry has been reduced from 3% to 0% per 100 Weapon Skill.
- Weapon Skill now grants 0.5% block strikethrough per 100 Weapon Skill.
- Initiative now grants 5% reduced chance to be critically hit per 100 Initiative, as well as 3% parry.
- The base chance to be critically hit has been increased by 5% (from 20% to 25%).
Why these changes?
Weapon Skill was unique in providing both strong offensive and defensive capabilities, which made it by far the most valuable stat to invest in. Meanwhile, Initiative was a weak choice, as it wasn’t competitive with other defensive stats like Toughness, and its buffs and debuffs were underwhelming.
To resolve this, we’ve shifted the parry bonus from Weapon Skill to Initiative. This way, Initiative now offers meaningful defensive value while Weapon Skill maintains its role as a potent offensive stat. As a result, players will have more balanced choices depending on their playstyle, and both stats will have clear roles.
What does this mean for you?
In some cases, Initiative may now offer more damage mitigation than Toughness, while in other cases Toughness will still be a better choice. This creates a more dynamic decision-making process when optimizing your character's defenses, giving you flexibility based on the situation at hand.
It’s important to note that while physical damage classes need to invest in two stats (for damage and defense) compared to one for magical damage classes, physical damage classes also have ways to gain armor penetration that helps compensate for this. But this discrepancy is something we will look into balancing longer term.
What’s next?
We believe this rebalancing improves the overall value of Initiative without diminishing the importance of Weapon Skill. This is just one step toward making more stats relevant and ensuring that your build choices feel impactful. Your feedback is key as we continue refining the game, and we’re excited to see how these changes play out in the coming weeks.
Thank you for your ongoing support!
Click below to see a before/after screenshot of the changes!
Spoiler:
Spoiler:
For those players that have acquired Weapon Skill talismans specifically to increase the Parry stat we have created a system to replace them with initiative talismans instead.
Talk to the smith or trinket maker NPCs next to the Talisman Merchant in any of the cities, they will help you eject Weapon Skill talismans from your items.
Then you can exchange them for equivalent Initiative talismans at the Talisman Merchant.
Locations:
Spoiler:
Balance Changes
- RUN AWAY and Red Tipped Arrer are swapped in the Quick Shooting mastery tree.
- Red Tipped Arrer - Cooldown increased from 10 to 15s. Removed the absorb removal component. Base damage reduced from 187 to 112. However, if you interrupt the target, it deals (399 + 1.5xDB + 1.5xWDPS) damage instead.
- Squig Armor - Cast time changed from instant to 1s cast on the move. Armor bonus reduced from 100% of armor from items to 50% of armor from items. AP cost reduced from 55 to 35.
- Sneaky Bouncin’ - Additionally gives Squig Armor an extra 50% armor from gear.
- KABOOM - Cooldown changed to 60s
Additional Notes:
Spoiler:
Balance Changes
DPS
- Rune of Striking - Base damage increased from 299 to 399.
- Rune of Immolation - Base damage increased from 131 to 162.
- Rune of Cleaving - Damage Bonus scaling reduced from 1.0 to 0.6. Cooldown reduced from 10 to 5 seconds.
- Rune of Might - Cooldown removed. AP cost reduced from 40 to 35 AP. Base damage lowered from 225 to 187 to match other similar abilities.
- Rune of Fate - Cooldown reduced from 20 to 15 seconds. Amount of damage ticks increased from 7 to 8. Initial tick removed.
- Rune of Binding - Damage Bonus scaling increased from 0.5 to 1.5.
- Rune of Nullification - Heal debuff increased from 30% to 35%.
- Rune of Nullification: Duration increased from 5s to 7s.
- Grimnir's Fury - Reworked into: Damaging. 40 AP. Self. 1s Cast. 10s CD. Using the fury of Grimnir you strike all enemies within 25 ft for (200 + 0.86*DB) Elemental damage followed by another (200 + 0.86*DB) Elemental damage after 3 seconds on the same location.
- Concussive Runes - Moved to 3 pts in Path of Grimnir. Now also reduces Elemental Resistance by 378.
- Extended Battle - Moved to 7 pts in Path of Grimnir and reworked to: Increase the duration of Rune of Battle and Rune of Cleaving by 6s.
The Runepriest DPS spec has been refined to boost its AoE damage potential, making the class more valuable in warbands. Adjustments have also been made to certain single-target abilities to bring them in line with other classes. Stay tuned for further improvements to the single-target spec in a future patch!
Healing and Utility
- Protection of the Ancestors - Now Core Ability, providing the full Wounds buff regardless of your spec.
- Oath Rune of Iron - Active effect reworked into: No cost. 60s cd. Instant cast. Cleanse one curse, one ailment, and one hex from yourself.
- Oath Rune of Power - Active effect reworked into: No cost. 60s cd. Instant cast. On your next attack, deal an additional (5 * 125) Elemental damage over 5 seconds and reduce the victim’s run speed by 20%. (Effect scales with points in Path of Grugni).
- Oath Rune of Warding - Active effect reworked into: No cost. 60s cd. Instant cast. Shield yourself, absorbing 1162 damage over 10 seconds. (Effect scales with points in Path of Grimnir).
- Sundered Motion - Slow duration reduced from 10 to 5 seconds.
- On Your Feet - Reworked into: Rune of Life and Rune of Sanctuary now resurrect players with 50% of their maximum health.
- Thick-Skulled - Now additionally prevents Rune of Restoration from being set back while casting.
- Cleansing Vitality - Healing Bonus Scaling increased from 0.38 to 1.5.
- Grungni’s Gift - AP cost increased from 15 to 25.
- Potent Runes - Reworked: Reduce the cooldown of your Oath Rune’s granted abilities by 30 seconds.
Additional Notes:
Spoiler:
"Be looking forward to a future patch, which will introduce significant updates to the Master Runes, promoting a more active playstyle and increasing their value in group settings!"
Balance Changes
DPS
- Scourge - Base damage increased from 299 to 399.
- Warp Reality - Base damage increased from 131 to 162.
- Demon Spittle - AP cost reduced from 45 to 30 AP.
- Rite of Agony - Cooldown removed. AP cost reduced from 40 to 35 AP. Base damage lowered from 225 to 187 to match other similar abilities.
- Boon of Tzeentch - Cooldown removed.
- Mirror of Madness - Reworked into: Hex. 35 AP. 100 ft range. Instant. 10s CD. - You deal (5 * (198+0.9*DB)) Corporeal damage to your target over 15 seconds and your defensive target is healed for 150% of the damage done.
- Changer’s Touch - Heal debuff increased from 30% to 35%. Duration increased from 5s to 7s.
- Waves of Chaos - Moved to 7 pts in Path of Dark Rites.
The Zealot DPS spec has been enhanced by removing the cooldown on Rite of Agony and improving Changer’s Touch, making Zealot a valuable tool for warbands. With AoE armor and corporeal debuffs, as well as powerful disruption through Wind of Insanity, Zealot is primed for battle. Single-target abilities have also been refined, with Mirror of Madness now reworked into a second single-target DoT. More single-target improvements are on the way in the next patch!
Healing and Utility
- Daemonic Fortitude - Now Core Ability.
- Mark of the Spell Destroyer active effect reworked into - No cost. 60s cd. Instant cast. Cleanse one curse, one ailment, and one hex from yourself.
- Mark of Daemonic Fury active effect reworked into - No cost. 60s cd. Instant cast. Deal an additional x damage on your 5 next attacks within 10 seconds. This ability cannot proc more than once per second. (Base damage 187, scaling 0). (Damage scales of Path of Witchcraft)
- Mark of the Vortex active effect reworked into - No cost. 60s cd. Instant cast. Shield yourself, absorbing 1387 ranged and magic damage over 10 seconds.
- Swirling Vortex: Reworked into - Now Core tactic available at lvl 33. Reduce the cooldown of your Mark’s granted abilities by 30 seconds.
- Empowered Alteration - Now additionally increases the healing of Leaping Alteration by 25%.
- Flash of Chaos - AP cost increased from 15 to 25.
- Empowered Alteration - Now available at lvl 39.
Additional Notes:
Spoiler:
"Be looking forward to a future patch, which will introduce significant updates to the Master Runes, promoting a more active playstyle and increasing their value in group settings!"
Balance Changes
- Retribution - Direct damage component and reflect component are swapped. Thus the base ability will now deal direct damage, but you require Accuracy for it to deal reflect damage.
Balance Changes
- Bring It On - Direct damage component and reflect component are swapped. Thus the base ability will now deal direct damage, but you require Extra Choppin’ for it to deal reflect damage.
"A common concern was that Bring It On and Retribution felt like dead abilities without using Accuracy or Extra Choppin'. By swapping the direct damage and reflect components, this issue is resolved while still requiring those tactics to unlock their full potential."
Balance Changes
- Protection of Hoeth and Rock ‘Ard are now mirrored to cost 25 AP and give an absorb shield of 600 to group mates within 80 ft.
- Git Out! & Fly Gits! - AP cost reduced to 0.
- Down Ya Go - AP cost increased from 0 to 35 AP.
Balance Changes
- Protection of Hoeth and Rock ‘Ard are now mirrored to cost 25 AP and give an absorb shield of 600 to group mates within 80 ft.
- Mighty Gale - AP cost reduced to 0.
- Crashing Wave - AP cost increased from 0 to 35 AP.
The absorb shields were mirrored between the two classes as there wasn’t any apparent reason for them to be different. The AP costs below were also adjusted to ensure consistency across both classes.
Balance Changes
- Critical Damage bonus from Combustion lowered from 10% - 20% - 40% - 80% - 100% to 10% - 20% - 35% - 70% - 85%.
Balance Changes
- Critical Damage bonus from Dark Magic lowered from 10% - 20% - 40% - 80% - 100% to 10% - 20% - 35% - 70% - 85%.
"To better balance the high damage output of both classes, we’ve made a slight adjustment to their mechanics, resulting in a modest 4% - 5% reduction in damage at maximum Dark Magic/Combustion. Both classes still shine in both AoE and single-target scenarios, and their scaling with gear remains a significant strength. With high crit chances and gear synergy, their potential for powerful burst damage is still intact, but now more balanced for overall gameplay."
Balance Changes
- Energy of Vaul - Now both the base heal and the lifesteal healing is applied around whoever is your friendly target at the end of the cast. Before the base heal was applied around whoever your target was at the start of the cast.
Balance Changes
- Fury of Da Green - Now both the base heal and the lifesteal healing is applied around whoever is your friendly target at the end of the cast. Before the base heal was applied around whoever your target was at the start of the cast.
Note that there are more healer balance changes coming, including more on Rune Priest / Zealot that didn't make it into this patch."
User Interface
General
- Event items have been added to the auto roll.
Bug Fixes
[23091] - [PVE] Typo in Malekith's description
[23092] - [Item] One of magus city dungeon staffs has no stats.
[23081] - [Scenario] Loophole in the Phoenix Gate scenario
[23094] - [Keep] Wrath's Resolve (east) keep in Cale has a staircase on the outer wall that is set too low.
[23085] - [Zone] Caledor: Barracks - Stuck Spot in Rocks
[23023] - [Archmage] Bug double detaunt with AM
[22952] - [Archmage/Shaman] Sticky Feetz applies as a cleansable debuff but cleansing it makes no sense
[22979] - [Potion] The "Rare" lvl 40 Absorb potion is weaker than the "Uncommon"
[23067] - [Creature] Raven Packmaster in T1 Nordland
[23055] - [Brightwizard] Bright Wizard's 'Wall of Fire' m4 cast is wrong direction
[23048] - [Magus] Magus discus summon still uses chaos horse summon sound and visuals.
[23049] - [Instance Bosses] Hunters Vale
[23051] - [Zealot] Zealot heal ritual check for los to heal party members
[23065] - [Event] Event Quest task can't be completed
[22893] - [LOTD] Lotd-ring set
[23114] - [Scenarios] Scenario Guards: Guards do no damage
[23104] - [Ability] Clarity proc
[15681] - [Zealot/RP] Zealot/RP: Off Sov sets have heal gear
[22301] - [General] Both realms cities now rank and derank together. This means auction house tax rate is now properly visible and used regardless of what city you post auctions in.
[23054] - [General] Bestiary kill counts are properly saved.
[22988] - Anti-root abilitys immune damage for Phosphorous Shells/Tzeentch's Firestorm
[22792] - [Shaman] Scrub you good AoE cleanse should work again
[21788] - [General] Scoreboard possibly not showing damage from pet, kill damage exceeds total damage
[23016] - [Squig Herder] Squig Armor stat buffs not listed on tooltip
[21090] - [General] Keep upgrades now works again.
[23148] - [Shadow Warrior] Merciless Soldier is not applying crit damage buff on non direct damage anymore.
[23149] - [Procs] Don't trigger a proc more in the same server loop once max amount of triggers are reached.
