Patch Dropped

A new group of updates went live just hours ago. The patch notes can be found on the forums. I have some highlights below.

Fixed a bug that caused NPCs not to resurrect other NPCs in various Orr events.

Fixed a bug that caused Warmaster Jofast and her caravan to not advance properly through Cursed Shore.

The karma train centres on events taking place at these three way points Penitent, Shelter's Gate, and Jofast's

It appears the days of farming infinite mobs spawning at Penitent Waypoints is at an end. As of this post Penitent Waypoint is uncontested on my server and the infinite waves of mobs have stopped. With that fixed and Jofast fixed (we have heard this before) that means the karma train is back up and running.

Ascalonian Catacombs Detha’s path: Fixed a bug that caused the Ghostly Oozes not to use their basic attack properly, and spend a large amount of time loitering around players instead of attacking them.

I have often wondered what those Oozes were doing besides being a meat shields for the boss. Now we know! They were bugged. I have yet to run this path with the fix but I will be sure to keep this in mind. I really did think that fight was missing something. It is by far one of the easier encounters in the dungeon and it is the final fight. Just remember this next time you run AC EM P2.

Crucible of Eternity Front door path: Fixed a bug that affected the aggro range of the Destroyer Specimen Boss.

I ran CoE shortly after the patch dropped and ran path three, the front door. We proceeded as usual until the Destroyer Specimen, you know, the one where you fire the laser cannons to lower the shield while ranged DPS stands in "the spot" where you take no damage. Well the people on the cannons can now be hit by the boss' dragon tooth attack, and "the spot" is no longer "the spot". After a number of failed attempts my group decided to call it a night. In retrospect it seems like you will now have to coordinate fire on the lasers, then while they are firing take your entire group down to hit the boss. Let me know if you have figured this out.

Twilight Arbor. Fixed a bug where Morrigu could die after defeating the final boss before the cinematic could start, which would break the dungeon and prevent players from receiving the final reward.

I experienced this bug for the first time last night. It would be my luck that it gets fixed the next day... just to rub salt in my wounds. I do want the TA armor set but after last nights bug I was extremely turned off doing the dungeon again. Now I can give it another shot.

Fractals of the Mists Cliffside Fixed an issue where players could damage the final seal with their normal attacks. Fixed an issue where players were able to attack and kill the first boss before triggering the cinematic.

No more "breezing" through the hammer fractal. We will have to actually work for it now. I am also being told by guildies that they have corrected the exploit to skip the first part of the dredge fractal. I have not confirmed this myself yet.

Total Makeover Kit and Self-Style Hair Kit added to the Black Lion Chest as rare rewards. Increased chance to get Mini boosters and Dye Pack boosters from the Black Lion Chest.

An interesting fix. I personally do not unlock a lot of chests, but I know a lot of people do and have been upset with the rewards. Hopefully this will go a way to alleviate those concerns. Also to note, Black Lion Chests have seen a small rise in price in the short time this patch has been live. I will not be investing in them though.

Finally, there are a couple of class changes. Elementalist received the most attention. Having not played much elementalist I can not appropriately comment on the changes. If you play an elementalist head over to the patch notes and have a read. Engineer, Guardian, Mesmer, Ranger, and Thief also had a couple tweaks which were minor bug fixes.

This patch will not be causing any sensations. There are some nice fixes to be sure, but not being able to rejoin fractals after a disconnect is a major problem. It is seriously affecting my personal enjoyment of fractals, as well as those in my guild. I was really hoping to see a fix to this in this patch. I also find it odd that some of the "short cuts" in the fractals were patched while others were not. Only time will tell if these are design features of the dungeons or bugs.

All-in-all this is another solid patch from Arena Net. I am hoping we are through the majority of the bugs now, and we will start seeing class balancing, day-to-day niceties, and new content at an increased rate.