Queen Patch 8 - Ver. 1.16.393 / REV 162877 - 25 March 2020

Gathering Changes

This patch brings several changes to higher-tier resources intended to make high-level gathering more rewarding. Here's what's new:

• The overall amount of T6, T7, and T8 resources in the world has been increased by 20%.
• The overall number of T7 and T8 resource nodes has been reduced, but their respawn rate has been increased drastically. In practical terms, this means T7-8 nodes are more sparse, but once a node is found it is much more likely to have charges.
• Additionally, the likelihood that any given resource node is a Large Node (23-27 charges, see details below) has been increased significantly.

Here's a detailed breakdown of the changes:

• Overall amount of Tier 6-8 spawning in the world increased by 20%
• Small Nodes now once again behave as they did with the Queen update. As a reminder:
  • With Queen Update: Small Nodes spawned with a single charge after being depleted.
  • With Queen Patch 5: Small Nodes spawned fully charged, but respawn time was increased accordingly
  • With Patch 8: Small Nodes will again only spawn with a single charge and will charge up over time if not gathered; respawn time has been decreased accordingly
• Shifted the overall large-to-small ratio to be more in favor of Large Nodes
• Total number of Tier 8 nodes in the world reduced by 75%, but in turn the respawn rate has increased massively:
  • Large T8 Nodes (27 charges) respawn rate increased by 200%
  • Small T8 Nodes (2 charges) respawn rate increased by 500%
• Overall amount of Tier 7 nodes in the world reduced by 50%, but in turn their respawn rate has increased greatly:
  • Big T7 nodes (23 charges) respawn rate increased by 180%
  • Small T7 nodes (3 charges) respawn rate increased by 290%
• Number of T6 nodes in T8 clusters increased by 100%
• Number of T6 nodes in T7 clusters increased by 33%
• Chance for Tier 7 and 8 animals to drop a cub has been decreased accordingly, as they now spawn more quickly - their overall drop rates remain the same

Changes to Faction Flagging in Yellow Zones

With Queen Patch 8, players who are flagged hostile and players who are flagged for Faction Warfare can no longer attack each other in yellow zones. This is to prevent cases where a hostile player knocks down a faction-flagged player who is then executed by other faction-flagged players. Details:

• More specifically, hostile and faction-flagged players in yellow zones are neutral to each other. This means they cannot cast any spells on each other, whether harmful or beneficial.
• Faction-flagged players can still kill and be killed by other faction-flagged players in all zones, including blue and yellow.
• Hostile players in yellow zones can still attack (and be attacked by) other non-faction-flagged players, whether they are flagged or not. Knockdown rules remain in effect for all combat in yellow zones.
• Exception: Hostile and faction-flagged players can attack each other with knockdown rules in unrestricted PvP areas in yellow zones (such as the circled areas around treasure chests). These areas effectively remove the "neutral" status from all players, allowing combat between all players. As with all areas in the game, faction-flagged players can execute players flagged to other factions in these zones.

Outlands Invisibility Shrine Changes

• Click priority has been updated for the Invisibility Shrines in Outlands portal zones: shrines are now clicked before any player corpses in the immediate area
• Once a shrine has been activated by a player, they will then be able to click on and loot dead players in the immediate area
• Looting (as with other activities in the zone, like skinning/gathering) will deactivate the invisibility buff but leave the silence buff active

Hellgate Changes

• Increased reliability of Hellgate spawns:

• Outlands Greater (5v5) Hellgates now always respawn every 10 minutes
• Outlands Lesser (2v2) Hellgates now always respawn every 6 minutes

• The loot of the Vicious Overlord and the Demonic Chest are now protected for 2 minutes for the party dealing the most respective damage to each
• Hitpoints of the Demonic Chest increased from 2000 to 6000
• Demonic Chest now has the same amount of armor and magic resistance as the other demons
• Fame of Veteran Trapped Demons reduced by 50%
• This Fame has been moved to the Vicious Overlord and the Demonic Chest

New Avatar Rings Available

Added 4 new avatar rings to the vanity shop, which can be purchased with 2 Adventurer's Tokens. As a reminder, these tokens can be obtained by trading unused ring items (obtained by completing the monthly Adventurer's Challenge) at the Vanity Merchant in all Royal Continent cities.

The available rings are:

• Nature Spirit
• Inferno
• Enigma
• Crossed Blades

Hideout Item Recovery Fee Reduced

• Significantly reduced the cost of recovery of items from Hideouts - this applies to Hideouts that have been destroyed, as well as Hideouts to which a player no longer has access

Combat Balance Changes

Arcane Staffs

• Void (Malevolent Locus):
  • Energy cost: 21 base energy → 20% of Max Energy (independent of Item Power)
  • Cooldown now scales with Item Power:
    • 1200 Item Power: 48s → 45s
    • 1700 Item Power: 42s → 39s

Bows and Crossbows

• Normal Attack (all Bows and Crossbows):
  • Increased projectile speed of all normal attacks - this does not affect Attack Interval or DPS, just how much time it takes for the projectile to hit the target once it has been shot
• Explosive Mine (Weeping Repeater):
  • Added an indication area to show where the mine is deployed
  • Projectile Speed of mine: 30 → 50

Daggers

• Normal Attacks:
  • One-handed Dagger:
    • Attack Interval: 0.91s → 0.5s
    • Damage per Attack: 1.31 → 0.72
• Dual Daggers and Deathgivers:
  • Attack Interval: 0.91s → 0.4s
  • Damage per Attack: 43 → 19
  • Attack Range: 2m → 1.5m
• Claws and Black Hands:
  • Attack Interval: 0.91s → 0.5s
  • Damage per Attack: 43 → 23
• Bloodletter:
  • Attack Interval: 0.83s → 0.6s
  • Damage per Attack: 1.15 → 0.83
• Removed Ability: Infiltration (W-slot / all Daggers)
• Added new Ability: Deadly Swipe (Q-slot / all Daggers) - Leap towards the targeted area and deal 75 physical damage to all enemies in a 3m radius. Applies one stack of Assassin Spirit on yourself per enemy hit.
• Dash:
  • Cooldown (1200 IP): 12.5s → 17.5s
  • Cooldown (1700 IP): 10s → 15s
  • Energy cost: 5 base energy→ 5% max energy
  • Range: 11m → 8m
  • At the end of the Dash the player now gets a 15% damage increase that lasts for 4s
• Forbidden Stab (all Daggers):
  • Hit delay: 0.2s → 0.1s
  • Standtime: 0.4s → 0.2
• Throwing Blades (all Daggers):
  • Damage per Blade: 21.21 → 35.00
• Chain Slash (all Daggers)
  • Cooldown: 15s → 12s
• Poison Coating (One-handed Dagger):
  • Reworked the ability, it is now called 'Bloodthirsty Blade'
  • While active, every normal attack deals additional magic damage, and inflicted damage is stolen to heal yourself. Additionally, your move speed is increased by 30%. However, while the ability is active you also lose 4% of your max health every second. The ability can last up to 6s but can be deactivated earlier.

Frost Staffs

• Hoarfrost (all Frost Staffs):
  • Damage: 103.41 → 150
  • Cast Time: 1.5s → 2s
  • Radius: 3m → 4m
  • Hit Delay: 0.2s → 0.1s
  • Cast Range: 11m → 14m
• Ice Shard (all Frost Staffs):
  • Damage vs Mobs: 125 → 90

Hammers

• Ground Pound (Grovekeeper):
  • Stun Duration: 3.25 seconds → 2.5 seconds

Holy Staffs

• Holy Explosion (Great Holy Staff):
  • Now only the first hit knocks back
  • Knockback Distance: 6.36 m → 15.00 m
  • Knockback speed: 8 → 15
  • Hit delay: 0.1s → 0.4s

Nature Staffs

• Revitalize (all Nature Staffs):
  • Disruption Factor: 0 → 5 (This means the channel can be reduced by incoming damage)

Quarterstaffs

• Fatal Blade (Black Monk Staff):
  • Removed the channel - it is now an instant ability that leaves the spinning blade on the ground while the player can keep moving
  • Area duration: 3s → 5s

Spears

• Inner Focus (all Spears):
  • Move Speed Bonus per stack: 8% → 5%

Swords

• Soulless Stream (Galatine Pair):
  • Made the gaps in the damage area wider, and thus less likely to hit huge numbers of players
  • Hitbox Range: 13m → 12m
  • Hitbox is now visible ingame

Helmets

• Nasty Wounds (Hood of Tenacity):
  • Now also reduces Healing Output by 50%

Armors

• Fear Aura (Fiend Robe):
  • Channel Duration: 4s → 3s
• Levitate (Cultist Robe):
  • Heal per Tick 4% → 3%
  • Energy per Tick 4% → 3%
• Energy Emission (Robe of Purity):
  • Duration: 7s → 5s
• Requite (Armor of Valor):
  • The channel is now uninterruptible

Gathering Gear

• Flee (Miner Workboots):
  • Buff Duration: 7s → 10s
  • Silence Duration: 12s → 13s
• Ethereal Path (Harvester Workboots):
  • Now cleanses yourself upon activation
  • Cast Range: 14m → 16m
  • Sprint Duration: 4s → 7s
• Sprint Shield (Lumberjack Workboots):
  • Shield Strength: 131.51 → 300
  • Move Speed Increase: 60% → 80%
  • The ability is now a channel (this means it can no longer be purged)
• Motivating Pain (Quarrier Workboots):
  • Duration: 8s → 10s

Mounts

You now benefit from the Carry Weight Bonus from all mounts, excluding transport and battle mounts, just by equipping the mount. The bonus applies even if you are dismounted or move outside of the mount circle. This means players keep the load bonus while on foot, after getting dismounted, when entering a dungeon, etc. This new system scales with the mount's Item Power (hence the carry weight changes reflected below), and also adjusts the load progression over tiers.

Affected Mounts:

Mount Abilities

• Large Multishot (Ballista):
  • Cast Time: 1s → 0.6s
• Leap (Frost Ram):
  • Cooldown: 30s → 15s
• Beetle Buzz (Colossus Beetle):
  • Cast Time: 0.5s → 1s
  • Radius: 10m → 9m

Disarray

The previous iteration of Disarray, AKA the zerg debuff, made large fights very much focused on one-shot builds. Additionally, if two zergs fought each other, it was possible to remove the debuff and deal more than 100% damage by splitting one of the groups.

Defense Reduction has therefore been removed and replaced with reduced CC duration and reduced Received Healing. To keep the debuff effective, the escalation rate per additional player has been increased accordingly.

Debuffed Attributes:

• Bonus Damage vs. Players
• CC Duration vs. Players
• Received Healing

Fixes

• Fixed an issue where the Alliance Fame Drain introduced with Patch 7 was also reducing Fame earned from PvP
• Fixed an issue where some flat, open areas in steppe zones did not allow building of Hideouts
• Spell fixes:
  • Animations and audio for numerous spells updated for more accurate spell effect feedback
  • Thorns (Nature Staffs): reflected damage now corresponds to damage inflicted by enemy
  • Devastating Strike (Black Hands): second hit now strikes targets more reliably
  • Raging Storm (Bow of Badon): now interrupts enemy casts as intended
  • Fire Artillery (Fire Staffs): damage over time effect can now be removed by Emergency Heal as intended
• Additional graphical, terrain, animation, UI, audio, and localization fixes