PTR: Seasons - Update #1 March 2nd, 2023

Please note that this list is not all encompassing and is intended as an early look into a number of changes included within the most recent PTR build. This change list will be regularly updated, up through retail release of the game version.

Spotlight

Aeternum is an ever-evolving world, and as such, we continue our efforts in providing an assortment of ongoing new features, content, and changes. Similar to the activities leading up to our latest feature, we are approaching the release of our next major update and would like to invite you all to participate in the next cycle of our Public Test Realm (PTR)!

New Expedition: Empyrean Forge

The Empyrean Forge is a new Level 60+ Expedition set in the Great Cleave. Team up with Sir Loth, a knight of Artorius, to stop the flow of mysterious magic deep within a necropolis.

Rabbit’s Revenge

Corrupted Rabbits have returned to Aeternum. Hunt them down to obtain special event-specific rewards.

Brightwood and Weaver’s Fen New Main Story Questline

The Weaver’s Fen and Brightwood Main Storyline is getting an overhaul based on player feedback and improvements made to the revamped starting experience. Experience these two familiar territories through a fresh narrative, more quest variety, and a few new surprises.

Level 40 Weapon and Armor Quests 2.0

Enjoy new and improved level 40 weapon and armor quests. Each quest will now require less travel and eliminations. Look forward to fresh rewards, narratives, and more.

World Experience

General

• We have modified and optimized our shadow rendering method to allow for shadowing objects in the farther distance on all quality settings. This method also improves shadow performance in areas of the world where light motion - such as time of day changes - does not occur or occurs less frequently.
• Fixes an issue in the quest “Canon and Coin,” where duplicate quest pins showed up over the NPC’s heads, including Granny Pike Marty, Amis, and Dicun.
• Enabled Lifestyle buffs on PTR so players can more easily test end game crafting and enable players to more thoroughly test other features by being able to create the gear they need.
• Fixed a bug where certain Kill tasks wouldn’t progress as expected.
• Fixed issue where general game events wouldn’t properly award seasonal xp

Notable Fixes

• PvP Arenas and Outpost Rush Heal Leaderboards previously counted self-healing. Updated Leaderboards so they only count healing allies.
• Unstuck now teleports players to the start of the expedition.

Audio

• Fixed an issue with audio during the Canon and Coin quest.
• Fixed missing VO lines for Primrose Gabrielis.

Social Groups

• Fixed a low frequency issue that prevented Players from selecting a new Governor in a Company/Settlement if the previous Governor had left under specific conditions.

Economy, Progression, & Gear

Gear, Loot, & Reward Changes

• Added the ability to roll some standard equipment loot onto Sarcophagi in Brimstone Sands.
• Corrected Tempest of Torment to display as a sword rather than a hatchet.

Territory Control

Notes added 3/3, already live in the PTR.

• Territory Upkeep has been reduced across all territories and equalized across all town levels. To maintain the territory revenue economy - we have increased the existing territory revenue sink, meaning an additional percentage of coin that would otherwise be earned through taxes is not added to the revenue pool. The result is lower population worlds will now have a near-guaranteed income for owning territories, while larger population worlds will see a decrease in their total revenue earned. The new, standard upkeep cost is different based on the revenue split of a territory:

  • Revenue split 5% - 1000 coin upkeep cost
  • Revenue split 7.5% - 1500 coin upkeep cost
  • Revenue split 10% - 2000 coin upkeep cost
  • Revenue split 12.5% - 2500 coin upkeep cost

New Backstories

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Thanks for your support! We’ll see you in Aeternum.

PTR: Seasons - March 6th, 2023

Greetings Adventurers! The following have been enabled during our downtime earlier today in order to get new content into the hands of our testers as soon as possible:

• Mutated Empyrean Forge Expedition
  • Challenge a more difficult version of new Empyrean Forge Expedition.
• Enabled Boost Tokens
• Added level 60 (GS 625) backstories
• Added MSQ 2.1 backstories

New Backstories

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Learn more about Seasons here!

PTR: Seasons - March 9th, 2023

Spotlight

Springtide Bloom Event

The Time of Awakening has arrived! Springtide Bloom calls its children to share an ancient secret capable of granting true freedom. Help the enigmatic Bloom Herald unravel the mysteries of the ethereal Wispybloom and collect Springtide’s fertile bounty of event-specific rewards. Harvest with caution, as swarms of vile Wispy Wasps guard the blooms with fury! Truth Seekers must be level 20 or higher to embark upon the quest for enlightenment. Springtide Villages are located in Monarch’s Bluff, Everfall, Brightwood, and Weavers Fen.

World Experience

General

• Dusty Paw Packleader now spawns faster.
• Fixed an issue that made the interact point for the Flame Core Forge offset on the player’s screen. It will now be fixed in a central location.
• Any defeated Varangians in the Empyrean Forge Expedition will now count toward players’ Season pass progression.
• Fixed an issue that caused the game to improperly track defeated enemies.

Notable Fixes

• Swapped the Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 Season Journey rewards. The +5% XP trophy will now be awarded after Chapter 4.

Expeditions

• Empyrean Forge
  • Varangians in the new expedition now count towards Season pass progress of killing Varangians.
  • Fixed area where players were taking no damage in final boss fight in Empyrean Forge
• Tempest Heart
  • Fixed an issue that caused the memory fragment between Isabella and Thorpe to not show.
• The Ennead
  • Missing audio on Ennead Bosses is no longer an issue. Audio voice lines and sound effects play as expected.

Mutators

• Fixed an issue that caused some Expeditions to receive the same elemental Mutations more often than intended.

AI Updates

World AI

• Updated the 300 CON attribute bonus to specify melee basic attacks, and added grit to void blade basic attacks while at 300 CON.

Combat Changes

Weapon Updates

• Blunderbuss
  • Fixed the Blunderbuss Blast Shot Preparation upgrade not stating new Rend functionality in the tooltip.
• Greatsword
  • Fixed an issue where the Adaptive Rush upgrade for Greatsword that applied Root was preventing dodges while rooted. “Fixed an issue where the hitbox size of the calamity counter ability was bigger than intended and extended past the visuals of the attack.”
  • Fixed an issue that caused the calamity counter ability to cause performance issues in certain locations in the game."
• Spear
  • Fixed an issue where Impactful strikes would apply to other spear hits.

Perks

• Fixed an issue that caused the Sundering Javelin perk to not list all of the conditions to trigger it.
• Fixed an issue that caused the Fortifying Burnout perk to not function consistently when used with all other Fortify status effects.

Economy, Progression, & Gear

Gear, Loot, & Reward Changes

• Added furniture schematic rewards to the endcap seasonal quest.
• Fixed a typo that displayed incorrect amounts of Expedition resources on Expedition rewards track chests.

Notable Fixes

• Fixed an issue where the Season Pass Level 100 Premium Reward was not awarding the Tattered Varangian Standard housing item.

Housing

• Fixed a typo with the Season 1 Trophy description.

Progression

• Umbral

In response to feedback we’ve received, we are enabling the Legendary upgrading behavior on more items in the game. It was previously only present on weapons coming from Outpost Rush rewards. It is now present on the following item sets (The name of the sets of items is being listed here for clarity, as well as their source):

• War Item Rewards

  • ‘War’ Weapons/Trinkets
  • ‘Warmaster’ Armor

• Invasion Item Rewards

  • ‘Invasion’ Weapons & Trinkets
  • ‘Champion Defender’ Armors

• OPR Item Rewards

  • ‘Conqueror’s’ Weapons
  • ‘Rusher’ Armors/Trinkets

If these items roll as purple (and are 590 GS and therefore eligible for Umbral upgrades) they can be upgraded to legendary. Upon upgrading to 600 GS these items will gain a 5th, random perk. This behavior is not present on Shields, as Shields cannot be legendary.

UX/UI/Social

Notable Fixes

• Fixed an issue that showed the Active PVP Character icon on the incorrect character after a period of inactivity.
• Fixed a visual issue where a blur effect occurred when opening a store product offer from the emote menu.
• Fixed multiple visual issues with the “Radiant Pants” armor skin.
• Fixed an issue where “Inferno Forged” weapons, from the Unstable casts, had icons that were not properly aligned.
• Fixed an issue that caused the item type to not appear for Booster Pack consumables.
• Fixed an issue where Crow’s Nest map icons did not persist at all zoom levels.
• Fixed an issue that made the claim counter Seasons Pass Journey Menu appear blurry.

Leaderboards

• Musket Traps and other spawned objects will no longer count toward kill Leaderboards for War and 3v3 Arenas.

Audio

• Fixed an issue with the music when players entered the final minute of Outpost Rush.
• The rally point music cue now plays again when players enter outposts in Outpost Rush and stops when they leave them.

Thanks for your support! We’ll see you in Aeternum.

PTR: Seasons - March 16th, 2023

Spotlight

Fury of the Spriggan

The Earth has been restless since the Ennead awoke. Cooperate in open world encounters to defeat Dryads and a mighty Spriggan for daily event-specific rewards.

World Experience

Expeditions

Empyrean Forge

• Fixed an issue that caused the lava pool visual effects in the Ifrit fight to flicker.
• Fixed an issue that caused certain enemy visual effects to not show up on low graphic settings.
• Fixed an issue in the Ifrit boss fight that caused enemy visual effects to unintentionally cull on low graphic settings.
• Fixed an issue that caused the visual effects to misalign when Ifrit casted his lava pool ability.
• Fixed an issue in the Ifrit fight where if the last person in a group died just as the Flamethrower attack started, Ifrit would sit idle for a long time.
• The visual effect tells for Ifrit’s Lava Spawn attack now appear even when players are prone on the ground.

Notable Fixes

• Adjusted the Silver Crows poster near the Spirit Shrine in Mourningdale on the quest “The Best of Aeternum,” so the backing stone pillar does not clip through the middle of the poster.

AI Updates

Commander Marius Fight:

• Added a shockwave to Magma Ball impacts (covers the platform they land on)
• Added Overheat application to Marius’ swipe attacks
• Increased the number of Eruption spawns during Phase 3
• Adjusted the health threshold to begin Phase 3 at 60% with the final escalation point at 40% for even more Magma Ball fun
• Reduced Floor Is Lava damage per tick by 35%
• Adjusted Marius’ target prioritization during Whirlwind Attacks

Ifrit Fight:

• The Flamethrower attack now has a more noticeable tell in its animation.
• Adjusted the melee attack hit volumes to primarily hit in front of Ifrit.
• Increased the likelihood of Ifrit executing Quad Flamethrower soon after the phase transition
• Rear facing clone is now animated during Quad Flamethrower
• Adjusted alignment during ranged attack to more consistently face Ifrit’s target

Notable Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused the AI to not attack objectives after taunt effects expired.
• Fixed an issue that allowed light attacks to interrupt Lost Sailor’s attacks

Combat Changes

Fire Staff

• Flare -
  • Added a trade-off to the Flare Upgrade: When upgrading the AoE, the projectile speed will now travel 25% slower.
  • Fixed an issue where the Flare upgrade allowed heavy attacks to backstab, and where Flare attacks could not be blocked.
• Flamethrower -
  • Reduced how frequent Flamethrower can hit and then increased damage accordingly. This was to fix an issue where Flamethrower was making the DoTs tick twice as fast, greatly increasing damage.
    • Flamethrower was changed from 50% weapon damage every half second to 100% weapon damage every second.
  • Updated the Accelerating Flamethrower Perk to be more clear on the activation and reduced the amount of stacks of Smolder that need to be on the target to trigger the effect from 3 to 2.
• Heat Up -
  • Fixed an issue where no damage was occurring when Fire Staff’s Heat Up DoT ability was applied to an enemy.

Hatchet

• Defy Death -

  • Changed health gain from 50% of Max HP to 50% of Base HP (Health value before it is modified by CON or any other bonuses)
  • Fixed an issue where Heartgem abilities would ignore the Defy Death Hatchet Ability.

• Fixed an issue with incorrect attribute values on multiple season 1 Hatchets.

Blunderbuss

• Azoth Shrapnel Blast -

  • Reduced stamina damage dealt by each pellet by 50%.
  • Increased how much the ASB damage is reduced per consecutive pellet hit from 15% to 20%.

• Claw Shot -

  • Adjusted cancel windows on Claw Shot to reduce burst damage potential when used in combos.

Rapier

• Flourish -
  • Added the stagger back into Flourish, and reduced damage of Flourish from 90% to 60%.
• Flurry -
  • Fixed an issue where the Bleed applied by rapier’s Flurry would trigger screen shake.

Musket

• Accuracy -
  • Reduced Musket’s camera rotation Accuracy penalty by ~20%.

Perks

• Fortifying Perforate -
  • Reduced Fortify per stack from being 9.6% on armor and 17% on weapons to 5.8% on armor and 10% on weapons (30% max).
• Mortal Empowerment -
  • Added back the ability to have the duration refresh with each kill.
• Elemental Attunements -
  • Reduced damage from 18% to 14%.

Game Mode Updates

Outpost Rush

• Fixed an issue where being removed from a queue due to a group disbanding would incorrectly show an option to requeue as a group.

Economy, Progression, & Gear

Notable Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused the Season Pass Level 100 Free Reward Track to incorrectly offer Premium Rewards.
• Fixed a typo on the Inferno Crafting Multi-Chest.

Trade Skills

• Musical Instruments
  • Scaled XP required to level up the Musical Instrument Trade Skill to be more in-line with the new music XP curve.

Gear, Loot, & Reward Changes

• Shard of Consecrated Iron is now an eligible drop for players of all levels. It was previously only an eligible drop for lower level players on Named AI.

Season Pass

• Adjusted Flame Cores to no longer bind on pickup.
• Added Trading Post category information for Flame Cores.
• Modified the category of some Season Activities and added a new Season activity task to craft Flame Cores.
• Passive Season XP tuning
  • Winning 1 round in PvP Arenas now grants 2 Seasonal XP (was 0 Seasonal XP).
  • Winning 2 rounds in PvP Arenas now grants 3 Seasonal XP (was 0 Seasonal XP).
  • War and Invasions are now both worth 50 Seasonal XP (was 25 Seasonal XP).
  • High value open world PvP kills are now worth 5 Seasonal XP (was 3 Seasonal XP).
  • Very high value open world PvP kills are now worth 10 Seasonal XP (was 5 Seasonal XP).
  • Level 60+ minor Corruption Breaches are now worth 3 Seasonal XP (was 0 Seasonal XP).
  • Aptitude levels are now worth 10 Seasonal XP (was 50 Seasonal XP).
  • Spriggan, Siren, and Swamp Beast Trials are now worth 10 Seasonal XP (was 0 Seasonal XP).
  • Added in a new passive Seasonal XP source from player XP. Every 10,000 player XP you earn from any activity will now grant you 25 Seasonal XP.
    • Dev Note: This is an experimental change for this PTR based on feedback we’ve received from you all. We’re really looking for data and your feedback on this one to gauge overall feel of this change. We want to ensure this feels rewarding at the right cadence and to reward you the right amount for doing all of the normal activities you’ll do while you play and to give a usage for player XP at max level. So go about your playtesting and let us know how often you are seeing this source pop up for you and what your thoughts are. We’ll be listening!

UX/UI/Social

UI General

• Speculative fix for an issue that caused achievements and titles to not appear in the UI.

UI QoL

• Fixed an issue where Gear Sets would allow tools and bags to be dropped on them, and then spit out an error. Now they will properly highlight red to signify that you cannot drop those items there.

UI Notifications

• A notification should appear in top right corner when a player is removed from War signups or fails a PvP mission because they were made PvP Inactive.

Leaderboards

• Fixed an issue that caused players to receive both Ennead Score and Brimstone Territory Control Leaderboard titles at the same time.
• Added a non-dismissible pop up dialog with a countdown timer for when Leaderboard weekly rewards will be released during the weekly reset.

Audio

• Spring Pinwheels in Settlements now play audio.
• The inoffensive baby scorpion and cute sulfur lizard no longer trigger combat music.
• Fixed an issue where Nora VO was not playing inside the Empyrean Forge. Also fixed a pathing issue with Skye and Zander VO.

New Backstories

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Thanks for your support! We’ll see you in Aeternum.