Test update 20a

[Niami DenMother]

*** City Guards ***

- Guards within Qeynos and Freeport can now be attacked!
- Guards no longer politely banish enemies from their city. Instead, they attack any intruders that they dislike.


*** Desert of Flames ***

- Players who completed "A Final Note" and deleted "Delving Into Darkness" can now get "Delving Into Darkness" again from the Antiquitor.


*** Quests ***

- Players who are not in guilds can now do level 50+ writs.
- The recipe for the Shroud of the Manastone during "Stiletto's Orders Intercepted" now requires a sullied medium quality badger pelt instead of an Etched Hide Plate.
- The recipe for the Dull Granite Tomahawk during "An Axe From the Past" now requires a piece of severed ash instead of an Ash Stave.
- If you delete the Dusty Blue Stone and have not yet started the quest, you can hail Vida again to get another.
- Disciple Telas`velle should now be giving out writs in the same manner as other writ givers.


*** Items ***

- Food and drink should now function and examine the same as they did before Live Update #19.
- Imbued rings no longer have a permanent stat buff effect. They are now all triggered with differing effects depending on the imbue type.


*** Zones and Population ***

- The shortcut teleporter in Solusek's Eye is now functional.


*** Combat ***

- The examine information for Rogue and Predator offensive stances has been corrected. It previously stated that the stances decreased parry, even though they do not.

Assassin changes:
- The stealth effect for Sneak Attack will now trigger much faster.

Brigand changes:
- Amazing Reflexes will break if the Brigand takes damage. Its reuse timer after breaking is 30 seconds.

Paladin changes:
- Ranged Paladin spells can now be interrupted as normal.
- Cry of Conviction has a slightly larger radius.
- Sigil of Heroism will not affect an ally that has a spell from the Amends line on them.

Ranger changes:
- Trick Shot's hate gain no longer increases as it is upgraded, and its duration has been lowered to 5 seconds.
- The stealth effect for Shrouded Attack will now trigger much faster.

Shadowknight changes:
- Ranged Shadowknight spells can now be interrupted as normal.
- Cruel Aura has a slightly larger radius.
- Grim Coil's casting time has been halved.

Swashbuckler changes:
- False Blade's hate gain no longer increases as it is upgraded, and its duration has been lowered to 5 seconds.

Troubador changes:
- Alin's Serenade should no longer produce more than 41% hate reduction.


*** User Interface ***

- /whoraid output is now formatted more closely to /who.
- Examine windows and tooltips have been streamlined for Weapons, Armor, Shields, Expendables, House Items, Ammo, General Items, and Spells & Combat Arts.
- In Single Click Except Attack mode, single-clicking an enemy that already hates you will attack that enemy.
- Added the ability to speed up the timeout on the new instruction buttons
* instruction_close_time <seconds>
* Default is 10 minutes (600 seconds)
* This can be changed in the command line or eq2.ini
- Added the ability to ignore the new instruction buttons
* instruction_ignore_all <0|1>
* Default is false
* This can be changed in the command line or eq2.ini
- The zone you are entering has been added to the onscreen message. You can filter this using Options -> User Interface -> Popup Messages -> Locations
- By popular request, jewelry shows its slot again (examine and tooltip).
- /whochannel will now correctly show off-world channel members.
- Items links will now work correctly in tells sent to other servers.
- You can now set the middle mouse button to toggle auto-run under Options -> Controls -> Movement Keys.
- Many windows have been updated to use the new style tooltips for item icons.
- Characters changing their appearance should no longer be shown in newbie starter gear (unless that's what they're wearing).
- Gamma values should remain constant when switching between fullscreen and windowed mode.

[Ackar]

Here are the imbued ring effects as posted on the other test forum.

Blaze of Strength
-On a successful melee attack this spell has a 1% chance to cast Blaze of strength on caster. Lasts for 45seconds
-Increases STR of caster by 3.6
-Increases Damage per Second of caster by 11.2%

Flare of Agility
-When target uses a combat art this spell has a 2% chance to cast Falre of Agility on caster. Lasts for 45 seconds.
-Increases AGI of caster by 3.6
-Increases Attack Speed of caster by 9.8%

Flash of Intelligence
-On a success hostile spell this spell has a 3% chance to cast Flash of Intelligence on caster. Lasts for 45 seconds.
-Increases INT of caster by 3.6
-Increases Disruption, Subjugation and Focus of caster by 2.2

Gleam of Wisdom
-When target casts a beneficial spell this spell has a 3% chance to cast Gleam of Wisdom on caster. Lasts 45 seconds.
-Increases WIS of caster by 3.6
-Increases Ministration, Focus and Ordination of caster by 2.2

Spark of Stamina
-When target is damaged this spell has a 1% chance to cast Spark of Stamina on caster. Lasts 45 seconds.
-Increases STA of caster by 3.6
-Increases In-Combat Health Regeneration Per Tick of caster by 12.0

Edit : These are the effects from the level 19 rings.

[Niami DenMother]

Here's info on the reasoning behind these:
A little background first: Some time ago we used to do itemization more based on feel than a more strict objective point value system. Tradeskills, Quest Rewards, and in-game mob loot were all done by different people without a strong common system of reference. We had a vague value system but not as much was defined as solidly as really was needed in order to objectively make items in the system. We did not have a good way to ensure that an item of a given level and tier of quality would not be worse or better than another item of a different level and tier of quality.

This was bad and has since been corrected. The launch of Desert of Flames and the combat revamp taught us a number of things. One of them: Many of the tradeskill imbues as they currently exist are broken. They go far outside the bounds of the current itemization rules and in order for them to fall within line they are going to have to change. If we're to make itemization resemble anything of a system that makes sense the rules have to be applied across the board, not just for mob drops or quest rewards, but also for tradeskilled items.

The new effects on the imbued rings are an attempt to make them somewhat unique while also putting them back inside the allowed ranges for their quality, tier, and level. When an item can be gained with little risk by digging something out of the ground (if you're patient enough) and it winds up better than items found off the most difficult enemies in the game which can only be worn 10 levels later, something is probably wrong.

Note: These have gone to the test server to see how they work out. They are not going to revert back to the way they were before any of the changes and they are not going to remain as they are on live now. Both of those options are not within the bounds of the current itemization ruleset. Comments and feedback about the current state of the rings / imbues are welcome and helpful as to their present usage and effects. Comparing them against an older broken ruleset is not really valid. Comparing them against other existing rings in the same quality level (and level range) is going to end in better results.

The thread can be found here: http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=testfeed&message.id=46795

[Zendaken]

While he make sense (and one would have hoped they had a system at the beginning, but I digress...), I'm not sure as a tradeskiller, that I necessarily like the thought that it's "digging something out of the ground". It is important to note that it's being compared to something "10 levels later", but I get the feeling that this isn't going to be that hot for making tradeskill items desirable.

[Kinch]

While I agree that this probably won't help all those who currently have the imbued rings, I could see how these items would still be useful. Although I do suggest they increase the chance of activation to at minimum 5% like the chest/legs/weapons but probably should be more around 10%. I am also very proud of them for using a little foresight on the rings. Now as a wizzy I don't have to get clobbered for my ring to activate, I simply cast spells and viola! I can cause my ring to activate. The Stamina ring looks fairly interesting, and let's face it, the T6 rare rings are fairly good stat wise, so why not pay the extra for the imbue?

[Lordebon]

Yeah, I'm going to miss how awesome my imbued rings were...

But you guys gotta admit -- the only thing that replaced those rings was *maybe* some fabled stuff. They're just sooo darn good. And thats not how things are supposed to go. Heck, the rings are still pretty good - as befitting a Legendary item.

I'm glad SOE is getting priorities strait with how rare items are and how powerful they are. DoF was a shame. As I recall, according to them TN fabled should be about the same as T(N+1) Legendary. And TN Legendary around T(N+1) Treasured. Which makes sense. But as it is now a T5 fabled is still a lot better than a T6 Legendary (I should know, I have an awesome hat and a pretty darn good leather chestpiece that are both T5 fabled). As it is now nothing follows a proper pattern -- stats are all over the place, some fabled is junk, some is supersweet, etc.

[Mithas]

But as it is now a T5 fabled is still a lot better than a T6 Legendary (I should know, I have an awesome hat and a pretty darn good leather chestpiece that are both T5 fabled). As it is now nothing follows a proper pattern -- stats are all over the place, some fabled is junk, some is supersweet, etc.

This isn't true across the board though. I gave up most of my T5 Fabled for T6 Legendary. Only 1 out of 6 pieces was comparable. I do agree that T6 Fabled seems very arbitrary. I have seen some T6 Legendary and Treasured dropped items that are as good or better than some of the T6 Fabled items.