March PTR Release Notes: Patch 4
For today, we have a new portion of PTR patch notes #4, pretty likely sized as the previous #3. And, wait a moment… Did they just copy Outpost Rush, Elite POIs, and War paragraphs from patch notes #1, patch notes #2, and patch notes #3? Well, yes, they did.
As expected, the Mutated mode was added to the new Tempest’s Heart Expedition, and Blunderbuss got its first nerf. Wondering what would be left before it went live; anyway, it was too overpowered.
Great news for all Sword and Shield users, old disputes about how the Shield’s perks and attributes are working are solved at last: “Players now retain the attributes from their shield while a sword is equipped but sheathed. The perk bonuses will not apply and will need the sword to be unsheathed to activate them, but while a sword is sheathed, the shield’s attributes count towards a player’s stats.”
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.
PTR Only Changes
Tempest’s Heart Expedition
- Mutators have been enabled for testing the Tempest’s Heart expedition! Grab a team and attempt to climb the ranks as high as you can! Don’t forget to leave feedback based on your run experiences.
- As a reminder, mutators change the familiar by augmenting “Normal” and “Named” Enemies found within expeditions, changing the way encounters play out and what strategies players should consider before battle. And as combat changes, so do the rewards! New bespoke gear and resources can be found, providing additional means to increase your power level.
- Backstories have been updated to accommodate mutator testing, now providing equipment at gear score 600 from 585. Players will need to create a new character with these advanced backstories in order to take advantage of these upgraded item packages.
- Fixed a number of combat related bugs.
- Updated rewards for defeating bosses.
Blunderbuss
- Fixed a number of bugs related to abilities and perks.
- Performed a balance pass based on player feedback:
- Reduced base damage of blunderbuss from 80-75.
- Mortar Charge
- Reduced Mortar Charge damage from 126% to 100%
- Removed damage bonus from streak Upgrade. Streak now only gives an extra shot.
- Fixed an issue where crits were not properly increasing damage when triggered.
- Blast Shot
- Blast shot preparation upgrade – reduced the rend bonus from 20% to 10%
- Containment Unload Ultimate
- Removed the ability for the ultimate to stack to 2. Now it will only allow for one shot of 9 pellets per ability use.
General
- Fixed an issue where the new out-of-combat passive healing was unintentionally active while a player is under corruption or blight debuff effects.
- “The Last Argument” legendary weapon quest has had its reward improved, providing a weapon with a correct gear score that matches other legendary weapons.
Combat
- Hatchet
- Berserking Purge: Fixed an issue where this upgrade would not correctly purge stun debuffs.
- Sword and Shield
- Players now retain the attributes from their shield while a sword is equipped but sheathed. The perk bonuses will not apply and will need the sword to be unsheathed to activate them, but while a sword is sheathed, the shield’s attributes count towards a player’s stats.
- Fixed an issue where player animation could break if they became encumbered while using weight reduction perks.
- Reduced occurrences of combat-related stuttering and unresponsiveness when mixing light and heavy attacks.
Outpost Rush
- Joining an Outpost Rush match after Baroness Hain has spawned will no longer display a broken timer on the HUD.
Elite POIs
- Added a low-chance drop rate of arena tuning orbs from Elite AI enemies in Malevolence, Forecastle Drift, Spires of Melpomene, and Eternal Pool.
War
- Letters will appear on the Gate Markers and HUD during War and Invasion to help players better identify each gate.
Quests
- Lowered difficulty of Corrupted Chaplain encounter.
- Killing withered beetles in Reedgill Fishery now properly gives quest credit.
Expeditions
- Fixed an issue where Dynasty Expedition was rewarding less gold compared to other mutated Expeditions
In-Game Store
- Character Transfer panel now displays number of free Character Transfers owned.
UI
- Fixed several issues where entries in the social list wouldn’t update when players went offline or online.
- Fixed an issue where the UI didn’t update the sum of coin owned after purchases made in the trading post.
- Fixed an issue where the weapon quickslot UI element could disappear.
- Storage weight bar overage bar limit should now match the bar limit for the inventory.
General Fixes
- Fixed an issue where storage chests did not acquire updated weight capacity until they were moved.
- Fixed an issue where players would sometimes fail to equip ammo/arrows when at the inventory item limit.
- Fixed an issue where items would sometimes drop with an incorrect gear score above 600.
- Fixed an issue where unpinned quests re-pin to map after relog.
- Fixed an issue where the player character could result in using the incorrect resource gathering animation.
See you in Aeternum!
Source: https://forums.newworld.com/t/ptr-march-release-notes-patch-1-2-3-and-4/704927/7
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