[2022] Testlive Update Age of Sorcery: Chapter 2 (2022.11.08) - Head Hunting, Pet rebalance and more!

WORK IN PROGRESS BUILD AND DOCUMENT

This is a work in progress build and as such, neither of the changes and implementations found in it are final. Neither is the patchnotes document, which will be updated, corrected and completed over the Testlive period to better reflect the work in progress nature of this build.
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• Jump to Patchnotes.
• Jump to changelog.
• Discussion Megathread.

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Exiles of the Testive Lands!

We hope you’ve had a great time with Age of Sorcery so far, sinking your teeth deep into all the new systems introduced in the last update and finding out the powers within Sorcery. Today we’re letting you have an early look at what’s coming with Chapter 2, where we introduce a new Encounter type (psst, Events are now called Encounters!), Head Hunting!

You can now find head hunter contracts where you will have to hunt down nefarious Sorcerers hidden in the lands. It will be your choice to bring them back dead or alive! With this new Encounter we are also adding a new special encounter, Witch Hunter. Explore the lands to find more about it! This update will also introduce a new Battle Pass revolving this mechanic, with new challenges and rewards, as well as a new batch of items for the Bazaar.

Along with that, we are also starting our pet companion rebalance. This will be the first step in revising pets moving forward, with the intention of bringing them up to a level where they can be at a similar level to other followers. There will be more changes to come in future patches, so keep an eye out!

And of course, with this new update we are releasing a bevy of bug fixes to reported issues, including fixes to the most common crashes, fixes to texture and invisible issues reported with the release of Age of Sorcery and much more.

If you decide to give this Testlive update a try, help us out ensuring a smoother launch by sending us any feedback and reporting any issues you may find while playing this early build.

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IMPORTANT NOTE REGARDING MODS

Please remember that updates can mess with the functionality of your installed mods. We suggest taking a backup of your current database before updating to any new patch if you have mods installed.

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PATCH HIGHLIGHTS DIVIDER1800×200 21.7 KB

Head Hunting!

Storm1920×1080 309 KB

Hunt down dangerous sorcerers and bring them back for rewards…dead or alive!

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Pet Companion rebalance!

follower21920×1080 239 KB

We’re revising the stats of your animal companions to make them a more viable choice in your adventures!

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Tldr summary1800×200 20.7 KB

• New encounter type: Head Hunting!
• New encounter type!
• New Battle Pass and Bazaar items!
• Bug fixes!
• …and much more!

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CHANGELOG DIVIDER1800×200 18.8 KB

We will update this section with any changes and fixes applied to the patchnotes document post-release.

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2022.11.08 12:10PM CEST

• Removed a series of changes from the Balance fixes as they belonged to a previous patch. Thank you @dorpie, @Tephra and @Multigun for the finds.
• Fixed a couple of instances where event was still used instead of encounter. It will take a while to hammer down the new nomenclature, won’t it.

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• Jump back to introduction and highlights.
• Jump back to patchnotes.
• Discussion Megathread.

PATCHNOTES DIVIDER1800×200 19.8 KB

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Performance and stability1800×200 21.7 KB

• Fixed a large number of crashes and stability issues that should result in improved game stability.
• Reduced hitching when opening the settings menu on consoles.
• Fixed an issue where the game would load infinitely after incorrectly labelling a mod as outdated.
• Improved performance when despawning Ice Bridge.
• Optimized how Encounters load and get stored on the game’s memory.

Exploit Fixes1800×200 15 KB

• Addressed several exploit issues in regards to undermesh and survival systems.

New additions1800×200 17.2 KB

• With this new Chapter, a new Battle Pass will start with a fresh new set of rewards, as well as new Bazaar bundles.
• New Witch Hunt encounter has been added to the game. Acquire bounties and bring sorcerers back… dead or alive.

Building and placeable fixes1800×200 20.8 KB

• Made the Rough Timber stairs connect in a less awkward way.
• Removed the outer face indicator on stair pieces as they are pretty self-explanatory already.
• Construction Hammer should no longer lose the ability to Build when swapped to directly from a different Placeable.
• Outer Face indicator should now hide correctly when swapping from a building piece to a placeable.
• Reduced collision for wall and floor paints.
• Pillars can now be placed with any 0-90-180-270 degree rotation.
• Fence foundations can now be attached to the bottom of ceilings as long as they also have a connection to the landscape below.
• Rooftops should now ignore ceilings for placement purposes.
• Pillars now ignore ceiling tiles for overlap.
• Fences and Crenelated walls should no longer block foundations placed near them.
• Fixed an issue where placing building pieces would fail due to overlapping another object.
• The Apothecary Cabinet is now a 40-slot container.
• You should now be able to cancel moving placeables.

Crafting fixes1800×200 17.1 KB

• Moved the Rough Timber Balcony from the “Rough Timber Interior Walls” feat to the “Rough Timber Frames” feat.
  • This moves it from the “Sandstone Set 1” store item to the “Sandstone Set 2” store item.
• It is now possible to repair items which are below 1 durability but not broken.
• Fixed an issue which caused several Star Metal items to not be repaired by a Master Weapon Repair Kit.
• Iron Shortsword and Two-Handed Iron Great Axe no longer require a Legendary Repair Kit.
• Raise Dead ritual should now not consume items when completing the ritual while in Creative Mode.
• Fixed crafting requirements for the new Stormglass pieces.
• Moved Boxmaker feat to level 3 and set up requirement to be Apprentice Mason, since the construction hammer is required.
• All recipes that required papyrus scrolls now use plant fiber instead.
• Fixed an issue where Sacrificial Blood would disappear under specific crafting circumstances.
• Star Metal meteors are now again only harvestable by a tier 4 or higher pick, pick-axe or sorcery cull spell.
• Reinforced Skelos armor and Master Skelos armors now require medium paddings.
• Tier 4 Temperwrights should now provide a recipe for Legendary Armor Patch Kits once more.
• Low-tier Armor paddings are now available in higher tier benches for the purposes of crafting misc items like the Sandstorm breathing mask.
• You can now destroy Floor paint decorations using destruction mode.
• You can now apply dyes to the Fiend Armor.

Combat fIxes1800×200 17.1 KB

• Made it possible to use both Time-Restrict PVP Building Damage and Dynamic Building Damage settings at the same time.
  • With both settings enabled, you can only be raided whilst you’re online during the raid window"
  • Your base will be safe from raiders even inside the raid window if you’re not been online recently
• Devolved goblin suiciders will now cause damage when they explode.
• Shooting a bat demon who is carrying a player will now forcibly dismount the player from the bat demon.
• Elite Armored Hyena now has the proper starting stats.
• It’s no longer possible to climb on the balconies when fighting the Witch Queen.
• It’s no longer possible to use Sorcery against the Witch Queen.
• Should you get moved while casting, the runestones will follow you so as to not end in a Shroedinger’s cast situation.
• Throwable weapons now keep applied illusions after being thrown.
• Loot All does now re-equip Sheathed Weapons after dying in combat.
• Fixed an issue that caused the katana dash attack to hit multiple times in certain situations.
• Fixed a rare instance where it was possible to shoot more projectiles than intended with a bow.
• Weapons should no longer become visible after drinking while under the effects of the Invisibility spell.
• Rocknoses should no longer be susceptible to poisons.

Ai and npc1800×200 16.9 KB

• The Tortured King should be less shy now and spawn as it should.
• Reduced the amount of visual jank on large enemies climbing slopes on dedicated servers.
• In our constant battle against the forces of cheese, we have fixed a number of spots where you could kill some bosses without retaliation. Begone, delicious tactics!
• Fixed pathing issues for Du’neman The Dragoon so we don’t have to rename him to Dum’man The Bufoon.
• Building above the Scorpion’s Den and Sinner’s Refuge should no longer block NPCs spawning in those areas.
• A very not smart, not very clever sorcerer at the Pagoda of Boundless Lusts is now able to pathfind correctly. We wonder what caused this not very smart, not very clever sorcerer to be distracted at this place.
• Riverwatch crafters can now spawn at all tiers.
• Demonic mounts will now dismount their riders if their timer expires while they are mounted.
• Updated diet of zombies summoned by the Raise Dead ritual.

Purge and encounters1800×200 21.9 KB

• Events are now called Encounters.
• Addressed an issue where a boss in the Snake Cult Caravan encounter would show invisible.
• Various minor fixes to Encounters.
• Fixed a number of issues found in many of the in-game events that should result in a more reliable gameplay experience.
• In an unparalleled display of creativity, the Snake Cult Caravan boss is now referenced as “Giant Snake”.
• Demon Purges of difficulty 6 no longer spawn Dagon cultists in them.
• Fixed a few cheese tactics with the Encounters system.
• Exiled Land encounter “Portal to Yuggoth” should no longer drop Siptah loot.

Balance updates1800×200 17.3 KB

• Extensive rebalancing to animal companions:
  • Previously weaker companions have received a boost in their stats making them more viable (i.e. gorillas, elephants), while previously stronger companions (i.e. large felines and canines) have had their stats reduced.
  • Gorillas and Scorpions have received the biggest boosts to their DPS, with a 233% and a 178% increase respectively.
  • Sabretooth and Yakith have received the biggest decrease (-40%).
  • The rest of pet companion types has seen changes as well. More detailed stats will come with the final patchnotes.
  • This is the first in many steps to rebalance animal companions moving forward to make them a more viable choice.
• Summon Wisp and Bind Wisp changes:
  • Summon Wisp and Bind Wisp spells will now last up to 10 minutes.
  • Bind Wisp will now follow the caster more closely and more towards the direction the caster is facing.
• Call of the Dead changes:
  • Your army of the dead will now spawn closer to you. - Your zombies will now try to prioritize and engage any foes you’re engaged in combat with.
• Raise Dead changes:
  • Reduced inventory size of followers summoned by the Raise Dead ritual to 5.
  • Zombies summoned by the Raise Dead ritual now receive only 33% of your bonus damage (was 50%).
  • Zombies summoned by the Raise Dead ritual no longer receive bonus armor from Grit and will always have 0 armor.
• Invisibility updates:
  *Casting Invisibility will now also remove the player from the hate list of nearby enemies.
• Wall of Fire changes:
  • Moved spell to Tier 1 so it can be cast faster.
  • Removed damage components so its focus relies on being a defensive spell.
• Mirror Image illusions are now damaged by enemy attacks and will disappear upon reaching 0 HP.
  • Glutton for Punishment’s healing effect will now only be removed when a larger valued heal effect from the perk is applied. This should make the healing from the perk feel more reliable.
• Spell selection while casting no longer requires all runes to be fully lit before accepting input. This reduces the cast time for higher tier spells.
• Adjusted reach of the Warrior and Argossean Warhammer.
• Reduced the minimum range on horse attacks to allow them to connect more easily.
• Adjusted dagger hitbox sizes to allow it to connect more reliably.
• Increased the cost of the Abyssal Armor ritual to require 3 heavy armor paddings (was 1).
• Increased the cost to block attacks in PvP by 2x.
• The Grey Lotus Potion now also grants a weak heal over time to distinguish it from the Elixir of Might.
• Reduced the bonus Agility damage for the Master Skelos armorset from 6% to 3% per armor piece.
• Arcane Bookcase now has 25k health.
• Migo Experiments from the Black Pool now have a 50% chance of dropping recipe fragments instead of a 10%.

Qol Improvements1800×200 18.8 KB

• You can now access the Pause menu options while gliding with Call of Nergal, if multitasking is your jam.
• Last played map in now selected upon opening select map widget from single player continue
• Hatch frames now display the directionarrrow and inside-outside text.
• Lore Orb will reset cheat Fly mode on interact to prevent unable to move after interact during flying mode.
• Tall characters should no longer get stuck on doorways when climbing a ramp.
• Wall Paint Decoration now appears in red when selected for destruction with the Construction Hammer.
• Added action mapping for selecting a radial menu item with the right trigger on game pad.
• Purchase issues has been added to the ingame report function.

General Bugfixes1800×200 17.7 KB

• The Gilt, The Craft and the Lie PS4 trophy description has been rewritten to correctly reflect its unlocking conditions.
• The Frontier Sloped Roof corner and other similar roof pieces now look more visually appealing.
• The neck cut decal on characters during the Blood Ritual animation should now look a little better for those of you who are into this kind of stuff.
• Addressed an issue on the Japanese PS4 version of the game where gameplay would be locked when accessing settings menu during the Call of Nergal glide.
• Fixed an issue where XP multipliers were not being consistently provided for challenges.
• Fixed an issue where the default character would sometimes show in the initial cutscene.
• Fixed an issue that would allow a demonic follower to be summoned without cost.
• Sorcerous pet food now has an expiration timer.
• Fixed an issue where the weight reduction applied by the Second Skin perk could persist without the perk being active.
• Corrupted Sorcerer NPCs should now spawn, well, corrupted.
• Corruption effects should now appear when you hit a cursed wall.
• It should no longer be possible to pick up the Altar of Chaosmouth and abscond with it like a thief in the night.
• Addressed an edge case scenario where target lock would remain after one of the characters selected Create New Character.
• Selecting Invisibility in the Admin Panel should now hide equipped weapons as well.
• Meteors can be Detected via Detect Resources.
• Added a check to prevent ritual activation if you are over encumbered. This should prevent excessively long travel times to reach ritual locations.
• Several fixes to challenges that should result in a more consistent gameplay experience.
• Addressed an issue where the Bazaar wouldn’t be able to handle desynced data between the game and the backend.
• Fixed an issue that caused some server settings to be modified when opening the Admin menu.
• Splitting a stack of throwing weapons which has illusion applied to it no longer causes the new stack to lose its illusion.
• Fixed an issue that caused passing clan leadership to fail and become leaderless. This fix is retroactive and any clans found in a failed state will have the member that was supposed to be promoted become leader.
• Fixed an issue that could cause Sorcery knowledge to be lost after drinking a Yellow Lotus Potion.

Terrain and environment1800×200 22 KB

• Fixed a location on Siptah that would unintentionally teleport you to a POI.
• General quality pass on both Siptah and Exiled Lands maps addressing many small visual imperfections and stuck spots.
• Increased discovery area of Lakewatch POI in the Exiled Lands
• Reaching certain height in the Sunken City Dungeon no longer resets the state of the arena.
• Fixed an issue with missing textures that caused some tents near Sepermeru to show invisible.
• Addressed visual imperfections at Sepermeru during nighttime.
• The Well of Skelos is now a Call of Nergal forbidden dungeon after many bat-gliding incidents in the recent past.
• Slightly increased the no build zone around the Pocket Camp POI in the Exiled Lands, and moved the wolf spawns away from it, to ensure the Sorcerer NPC spawns without issues.
• The Circle of Swords no longer allows for Sorcery to be cast inside.
• Starting areas no longer allow for Sorcery to be cast in them so you can’t prey on new players.
• Some world palisades were not damaging players. We have addressed that.

Animation and visual fixes1800×200 22 KB

• Addressed a large number of visual imperfections related to the texture system that could cause some items and locations to show as invisible.
• Fixed a number of additional texture issues.
• Tuned the “Philter of Fire Wall” animations so they don’t show up prematurely.
• Putting away a Construction Hammer no longer overrides your sheathed weapons. Because even when building, sometimes sheath happens.
• Improved visuals for Ice Bridge.
• Ritual VFX’s from dismantling or destroying a Circle of Power should no longer stick around like an unwanted friend after a party.
• Demon Rhino’s horn clips no longer through the ground while sprinting.
• 1H maces and 1H axes are now sheathed if un-equipped while riding a mount.
• New animations for unsheathing katanas have been added.
• Disabled ability to have 2h spear out while riding a rhino while swimming.
• Fixed small jitter while moving backwards in passive stance with max agility.
• While holding the following weapons, the character will change into a more upright stance if left idling in place for more than 30 seconds:
  • 2h katana, 2h sword, 2h hammer/axe,2h spear, 2h daggers, 2h claws, Dual wield swords/axes, All 1h weapons and tools, All offhand weapons and tools.
• Several visual improvements to the Wall of Fire spell.
• Improved visual particles on Soul Drain.
• Improved animation polish for Call of Nergal.
• Added female versions of combat running animations for all weapons.
• Addressed a visual issue with transparency on the Argossean Mariner’s Tasset.
• Fixed replication issues with sheathed weapons, where you would not be able to see them on your back after relogging or looting your corpse.
• Addressed a small visual issue that caused sheathed weapons to disappear for a brief moment after being equipped.
• Sheathing now replicates correctly on other players in dedicated servers.
• Visual and sound effects for Lava Wall should now correctly disappear when the Spell expires.
• Fixed issue where bound thralls remained visible when removing them from the Sacrificial Stone.
• Fixed an issue that caused the character’s head to flicker during character creation.
• Fog in the background should no longer overlap the Transportory Stone visual effects.
• Addressed an additional number of invisible textures on consoles causes by slow loading and other platform-specific errors.
• Ooze Dagons in the Sunken City are no longer invisible.
• Yamatai Warlord chest piece now shows the correct colors.
• Fixed small visual issues when using the Circle of Power.

Ui and text1800×200 16.9 KB

• Our infallible and invaluable #spellchekker team has addressed a number of typos and grammar mistakes and has therefore qualified for a trip to the Sacrificial Stone. Good job. #wearehiring
• The international #spellchekker team, on the other hand, addressed a bunch of typos and other linguistic mistakes in-between solving crimes and saving the world.
• The Gametweak Update UI popup should no longer haunt your game and your dreams.
• Addressed some edge cases where spamming inputs would result in a Purchase Failed and Purchase Completed popup after buying Crom Coins.
• Feroxic Bow no longer erroneously states that it grants bonus Agility.
• Abyssal gear now states that it vanishes upon death in its description.
• Reworded descriptions of Arcane weapons in the Bazaar to better represent their functionality.
• You should see the correct UI Hints when holding an Arcane Staff now.
• Detect corruption is now correctly named Reveal Corruption in the knowledge tab under Sorcery.
• Fixed missing gamepad tooltips in the Character Creation screen.
• Entrance to the Wine Cellar now says “Enter” instead of “Return to the Surface”.
• Removed instances of placeholder text and old mentions to deprecated systems.
• Fixed some issues where it was possible to lock the UI while using Vanity Camera.
• Fixed an issue where Event Completed popups could show up multiple times.
• Getting damaged with the Godbreaker boots no longer causes a ITEM BROKEN: XX_UNARMED RIGHT pop-up.
• Buffs should not be registered twice on the Stats page in single player/coop.
• Chicken Dance emote is now called exactly that in the radial menu.
• Armor type for Gurnakhi Vandal set is now referenced correctly in tooltips.
• The nudity settings dropdown menu can now be flopped with a controller. Nature is healing.
• Numbers in Hotbar should no longer be overlapped with Illusion overlays.
• Several improvements to the Bazaar and item preview UIs.
• Combat UI and hints should now be different when using Sorcery.
• Fixed an issue that wouldn’t allow broken items out of a full shortcut bar when using a controller.
• Shift-Clicking items from Hotbar to Inventory should now stack them properly.
• Blocked left mouse button click while holding right mouse button to prevent some unintended behavior.
• When you have insufficient inventory space when claiming a battle pass level which spawns items directly (e.g. the sorcery potions) or when making a store purchase which spawns items directly (e.g. the free illusion items) then you will be presented with a message box telling you as such.
• Fixed Show Sheathed Weapon setting not persisting through game restarts on console.
• The event log will now more accurately report pieces that got destroyed if they are different from the piece that lost stability.
• Fixed an issue that caused the What’s New main menu section to open more than one page when using a controller.
• Updated the battle pass reward items to show all of the armor rewards as mesh previews on the player’s character.
• Updated the store items to show all of the armor rewards as mesh previews on the player’s character.
• Improved preview sections on the Battle Pass and Bazaar screens.

Audio fixes1800×200 15.9 KB

• Fixed an issue where footsteps were not audible after casting Invisibility under certain circumstances.
• Clicking SFX are no longer missing when navigating through tabs in the Friend List interface while using a controller.
• Fixed an issue where female characters with a shield on the back would miss footstep sounds.
• Bird sounds now should be affected by game audio settings.
• If Slow Fall is active, you will sound less panicked when falling. But still panicked.
• Improved Reveal Corruption SFX.
• Revamped sound effects for Fire Wall.

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Testlive S1C2 Patch 1

PATCHNOTES DIVIDER1800×200 19.8 KB

Purge and events1800×200 19.9 KB

• Cheese was once defeated after fixing some known spots where NPCs would not retaliate. Completing some of the encounters should be a more grating experience.
• Adjusted the rewards and costs for the new Headhunting encounters.

General Bugfixes1800×200 17.7 KB

• Fixed an issue that could cause Sorcery knowledge to be lost after drinking a Yellow Lotus Potion.

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