New World: New Update 1.2 revises the endgame significantly – Patch Notes and Maintenance Work

Today, on December 16, the new patch 1.2 for New World will be released. The major December update introduces the winter event and significant changes to the endgame. We from MeinMMO summarize the highlights of the patch notes for you and reveal how long the maintenance will take.

What are the highlights of the update? The biggest new feature in the December patch is the overhaul of the watermark system. This means that proficiency and value will now be displayed directly in your inventory next to your armor. In addition, the so-called Gypsum system is introduced, through which you can easily and specifically increase your proficiency.

We have explained how this works here: New World: How you can best enhance your equipment starting from patch 1.2.

Other important changes are:

• Crafting now rewards items beyond level 200 in a Life Skill.
• Expedition rewards have been improved. There, you get not only Gypsum but also a guaranteed proficiency boost for completing Lazarus Instrumentum and Garden of Genesis, as well as the new resource Timeless Shards, which allows for more targeted crafting of equipment.
• Some areas in the endgame have been revamped in terms of difficulty. The enemies in Myrkgard, which were secretly strengthened with patch 1.1, will now be slightly weakened, while other points of interest have been raised to level 66.
• 16 new quests have been released in the Mourningdale and 13 new tasks in the Unstable Coast.
• The damage formula in PvP is being revised, so that now the actual armor value is calculated instead of an average when a character with a lower level fights against a strong enemy. In compensation, the damage from players with lower levels is increased.
• Fast travel points will now also be displayed even if you have not discovered them yet.
• Some weapons have seen a reduction in “Recovery Time”, which is the time after an action has been performed before the next can activate. The heavy attack from the sword, for example, now has 5 frames less recovery time.
• In Outpost Rush, the opposing faction can no longer enter the base.
• The hit points of the Source Guardian, a boss in the story, have been halved.

What about the winter event? The winter event will start immediately with the patch’s release. Originally, the event was announced for December 14.

It will run from December 16, 2021, to January 11, 2022.

You can find detailed information about the contents, quests, and rewards in our guide:

More on the topic

New World: The Winter Convergence Festival 2024 is here – All information in the guide

von Alexander Leitsch, Karsten Scholz

What about the release and server downtime? The new patch 1.2 will be applied today, December 16, at 1:00 PM. This will result in extended maintenance.

The server maintenance is expected to take 3 hours. By 4:00 PM, the server downtime should be over as scheduled.

New World Update 1.2 – The official patch notes

As usual, we have embedded the patch notes from the official New World website. The PTR notes, which were appended at the very end, are currently only available in English (via New World).

Winter Convergence

• It is the time of the festive Winter Convergence in Aeternum! It is marked by increased snowfall and northern lights in the sky. It’s a time of duality and contrast, as winter wanderers and winter warriors come to the land. The icy winds and the winter wanderers bring new armor, weapons, furniture, skins, and consumables, as well as a charming “Gift Giving” emote.
• The Winter Convergence lasts in Aeternum from December 16, 2021, to January 11, 2022.
• The winter warrior’s desire for eternal winter causes ice caves to appear throughout Aeternum. If the winter warrior is not stopped, he will turn all of Aeternum into a vast ice desert. These caves will remain as scars in the land after the event – sources of winter magic that will not melt even if the warrior is defeated.

Endgame Innovations

Based on feedback about the High-Watermark system and the desire to make endgame content exciting and diverse, this update implements some major changes to the endgame. More about our vision and future changes can be found in the developer article about proficiency in our official forums.

• “High Watermark” will be renamed to “Proficiency” and its values will now be displayed in the user interface.
  • For each slot on the character model in the inventory, its current proficiency level will now be displayed.
  • Above the average armor value, the average proficiency value will also be shown in the inventory.
  • Players will see a proficiency leveling banner whenever they increase their proficiency.
• The new resource Gypsum will be introduced, which can be acquired through a variety of activities (named bosses in the open world, expedition bosses, Outpost Rush, arenas, corruption breaches, etc.). Each activity yields a different type of Gypsum, which can then be crafted into Gypsum Orbs of every weapon, armor, or jewelry type. Opening a Gypsum Orb guarantees a proficiency boost and equipment of that type.
  • Obsidian Gypsum: Obtained for defeating named enemies at level 60+ in the open world; generally found in elite landmarks.
  • Sapphire Gypsum: Obtained for defeating final bosses in Lazarus Instrumentum and Garden of Genesis.
  • Rubin Gypsum: Obtained in secret caches in Outpost Rush.
  • Emerald Gypsum: Obtained in proficiency reward chests.
  • Citrine Gypsum: Obtained in secret arena caches.
  • Amethyst Gypsum: Obtained in secret caches in breaches.
  • Topaz Gypsum: Obtained from hostile creatures at level 55+, but only after consuming a special attunement potion that can be crafted in a Rank 5 campsite. Craft the potion, drink it, and defeat hostile creatures at level 55+ in the world to receive Topaz Gypsum. This potion can only be crafted once a week!
  • Diamond Gypsum: Only available during major events in Aeternum. During the Winter Convergence, players at level 60 can receive the rare Diamond Gypsum from the first three Trees of Light they interact with during the event.
• We have introduced forges in all endgame zones where players can craft Gypsum Orbs from the different types of Gypsum.
• We have decreased the overall chance for a proficiency boost as a compensation for the new guaranteed boosts through Gypsum. The chance for elite chests has been slightly lowered and that for bosses in the open world significantly. No changes have been made to expedition bosses.
• We have adjusted the potential range of proficiency increases based on proficiency level. Overall, the ranges in the higher progression area are slightly wider, meaning that in total fewer “boost moments” are needed to reach the maximum value (i.e., on average, most should need fewer boosts for that).
• Rewards for expeditions have increased
  • In addition to Gypsum, expedition bosses also guarantee a random proficiency boost (arena bosses also guarantee a boost).
  • All chests in Lazarus Instrumentum and Garden of Genesis have been revamped to provide a certain chance of proficiency boosts for the endgame.
  • We have added Timeless Shards to expeditions (see details below).
• We have introduced Timeless Shards, a new crafting resource that can guarantee certain values for weapons and armor.
  • Timeless Shards are crafting artifacts that allow players to craft an item with a specific attribute bonus, while still allowing them to use crafting mods to guarantee an effect.
  • Timeless Shards are guaranteed from expedition bosses and also have a certain chance of dropping from elite chests in expeditions and elite points of interest.
• 2 points of interest are becoming endgame content
  • The elite point of interest “Cunning” in Edenhain has been made level 66 content and now has 6 elite chests that can all provide proficiency boosts in the endgame.
  • The elite points of interest “Imperial Palace” and “Northern Dynasty Shrine” in Evenbane have been made level 66 content and now have 8 elite chests that can all provide proficiency boosts in the endgame.
• We have increased the level of corruption breaches in the endgame to 66.
• We have made a series of adjustments to the difficulty in the endgame to compensate for some exaggerated changes in the November patch. Our goal is to find the golden mean between the too easy endgame content before November and the exaggerated GES sponges afterward.
  • Adjustments in Duskenheim: We have lowered the difficulty of corrupted acolytes, cooks, priests, ogres, and commanders.
    • We have added an elite chest in Ueegge in Duskenheim, near the named commander “Archos-Imperator”.
  • Adjustments in Evenbane: We have lowered the difficulty of a number of named AI enemies in the open world, including alligators, wild boars, bears, and lazy ruffians.
  • Adjustments in the Imperial Palace / Northern Palace Shrine: We have lowered the difficulty of named bears, corrupted tigers, and dynasty spearmen, dynasty conjurers, and dynasty warriors.
    • We have relocated Daisy the Dancing Bear to a new location.
    • We have renamed Morgolf and relocated it to a new spot.
    • The point of interest “Forbidden Ritual” has been removed from the game and replaced with a fast travel option.
    • Several elite chests have been moved to the final boss fights in the Imperial Palace and Northern Palace Shrine.
  • Difficulty adjustment at Scorpion: We have lowered the difficulty of elite ranks and hell holes and of the named corrupted grobians.
  • Ambusti Superior / Inferior: We have replaced 2 large supply chests with elite chests.
    • In both points of interest, there are now additional corrupted musketeers.
  • Tomb of the Dead: We have lowered the difficulty of the named ghosts.
  • Lightwood Island: We have lowered the difficulty of the 2 named ghosts.
  • Periheim: We have lowered the difficulty of the named alligator, ghost, and undead hunter.
  • Distorted Heights: We have lowered the difficulty of the corrupted deer and corrupted acolytes.
  • Eridanus: We have lowered the difficulty of the dryad shamans.
  • Caminus: We have moved an existing elite chest to the boss fight with the Caminus Gatekeeper.
  • Svikin Camp: We have lowered the difficulty of the two named acolytes and the named worker.
  • Eternal Pond: We have lowered the difficulty of the dryad shamans.
    • There is also a new platform, stairs, and walls to allow Viridulon the Rooted to reach players outside of the combat area.

Game World

Quests

• Improvements to the main storyline quests:
  • “Dug-up Fate” can now also be completed solo.
  • The level design in “Always Follow Your Nose” has been improved, and there are new tasks related to acquiring the “Ingredients” for the bear repellent.
  • In “Triumphant Return,” players now have to extinguish fires in Fort Alazar before freeing Rima.
• There are additional tasks in areas:
  • 16 new tasks in Mourningdale.
  • 13 new tasks in the Unstable Coast.
• New “Housing Tasks”
  • 7 new tasks that unlock when players level up in the area call. They can assist an idealistic architect who aims to build new houses in the wilderness of Aeternum. The architect will sing the praises of home ownership and reward players with new furniture and decorations.
  • To start these tasks, visit Giacomo Altovoli in the settlement in First Light, Everfall, Monarch’s Bluffs, or Windcircle (completion of “Creeping Corruption” is required).

Key Bug Fixes

• There is now more information about player kills in PvP faction missions not being reset upon death.
• A bug has been fixed that prevented the “Adiana’s Fountain” quest from progressing after defeating the Corrupted Tendril.
• Many elite task requirements for weapon and armor tasks at level 40 have been removed.
• The symbols for spirit shrines will now be displayed better and like other points of interest on the map.
• The task marker for “Images of Invaders” will now be displayed on the map.
• Bugs have been fixed where certain NPCs in Mourningdale had no map markers for accepting and completing tasks.
• Fixed bugs that allowed players to farm Captain Thorpe after clipping through the Duskenheim Cathedral.
• Fixed bugs allowing players to clip through the walls of the attacker’s war camps.

Combat and AI

Combat

A bug in our original formula for PvP damage led to lower equipment being more effective at damage defense. Therefore, we have revised the formula. We look forward to your feedback on these changes.

• Revised formula for PvP damage
  • When calculating damage defense through armor, the opponent’s armor value is now used instead of your average armor value.
  • As compensation for the difference in defense through armor, we have increased the damage that players with lower levels deal to those with higher levels and decreased damage players with higher levels deal to those with lower levels.
• Critical damage bonuses
  • Critical damage bonuses through mastery or effects now apply additively, rather than multiplicatively. On average, this reduces the damage bonus received by 3 to 5 %.
• Buffer
  • We have looked at all weapons and adjusted the buffer for dodging, skills, and basic attacks. The revised buffer begins at the first frame of the attack that will deal damage or with the first casting frame of skills that do not deal damage.

Dodging

• A bug has been fixed that allowed players to repeatedly dodge while exhausted if no directional keys were pressed.
• Skills that previously only prevented dodging (such as Ice Rain) now also prevent jumping.

Control

• Crouching and lying down can no longer be activated while the block button is pressed.
• A bug has been fixed that created a short pause in movement while using auto-run and auto-crossing.
• A bug has been fixed that caused foot animations when sheathing staff weapons to be incorrect.
• A bug has been fixed that caused weapons to sometimes not be equipped correctly when switching rapidly between crouching/standing and lying down.
• A bug has been fixed where players could clip through protruding collisions by using certain skills while lying down.
• A bug has been fixed that allowed players to desynchronize their drawn weapon with repeated lying down and dodging commands.

Effects

• Cheer (Gem Effect)
  • Description revised to clarify that the damage bonus applies when the owner’s health is below the specified value, not that of the target.
• Revenge (Gem Effect)
  • Description revised to clarify that this effect lasts for a certain number of hits.
  • Status effect icon added that appears while the effect is active.
  • The number of hits players can make while “Revenge” is active has been increased from 1 to 3.
• Raging Berserker: A bug has been fixed that caused the tooltip of the effect to show incorrect GES values.
• New effects:
  • Logging Efficiency: Speed when logging increased by 5 to 25 %.
  • Mining Efficiency: Speed when mining increased by 5 to 25 %.
  • Skinning Efficiency: Speed when skinning increased by 5 to 25 %.
  • Harvesting Efficiency: Speed when harvesting increased by 5 to 25 %.
  • Plagued Crits: Critical hits against targets below 50 % health inflict “Disease” for 6 sec, reducing the healing effect on the target by 10 to 25 %.
  • Plagued Strikes: Heavy melee attacks against targets inflict “Disease” for 8 sec, reducing the healing effect on the target by 10 to 25 %.
  • Thwarting Counter: 5 to 15 % additional damage against targets with active grit. (Only melee weapons)
  • Thwarting Strikes: 3 to 12 % additional damage when you have activated grit.
  • Targeted Strikes: Fully charged heavy attacks deal 3 to 15 % additional damage. (Only melee weapons)
  • Targeted Critical Hits: Fully charged heavy attacks deal 5 to 20 % additional critical damage.
  • Targeted Ripping: Fully charged heavy attacks inflict “Ripped” for 7 sec, reducing the target’s absorption by 4 to 15 %. (Cooldown 12 sec.)
  • Targeted Recovery: Fully charged heavy attacks restore 10 to 30 % of the damage dealt as health to the player.
  • Physical Resistance: You take 2 to 4 % less damage from light and heavy physical ranged attacks.
  • Elemental Resistance: You take 2 to 4 % less damage from light and heavy elemental ranged attacks.

Outpost Rush

• The first spawn areas now have barriers that prevent enemies from intruding.
• A possible bug when leaving the Outpost Rush has been fixed.

Miscellaneous

• Using a consumable now interrupts aiming.
• Weapon description: We have adjusted some naming conventions and corrected several grammar mistakes in our descriptions.
• A bug has been fixed that allowed players to drop below 0 mana.

Weapons

Rapier

• Tondo: Typo in the description has been fixed.
• Fléche: We have revised the effect of this skill on gravity so it can no longer be used to ascend steep slopes.
• Heavy Attack: Recovery time has been slightly reduced.
• Swiftness: A bug has been fixed that caused haste granted by this passive skill to become shorter with each use.

Fire Staff

• Burnout: We have revised the effect of this skill on gravity so it can no longer be used to ascend steep slopes.
• Meteor Shower: A bug has been fixed that allowed this ability to deal damage to targets through forts and war camp gates.
• Watch it burn: A bug has been fixed that caused this passive skill not to work.

War Hammer

• Charge: We have revised the effect of this skill on gravity so it can no longer be used to ascend steep slopes.
• Path of Destiny: The stun on hits has been reduced from 1 sec. to 0.33 sec.

Bow

• Rain of Arrows:
  • A bug has been fixed that allowed this ability to deal damage to targets through forts and war camp gates.
  • “Bleeding” from Rain of Arrows can no longer be stacked by multiple players using the skill on the same target. This change was made to align the skill with other area-effect abilities that can be stacked.

• Piercing Shot:
  • Bled Arrow: A bug has been fixed that caused this upgrade to increase damage with each hit rather than after each hit.
• Surprise Attack: The description of this passive skill has been revised to clarify that the effect applies per target.
• We have improved all aiming transitions between skills and primary shots. This also fixes a bug that prevented Piercing Shot and Poison Shot from being canceled after leaving the shots.
• Upgrade “Mark”: A bug has been fixed that allowed damage to increase indefinitely. It is now capped at +30 % against targets with weakness.

Axe

• Targeted Throw: The recovery before the possibility to cancel has been extended from the first 0.1 sec. of the attack to the first 0.45 sec. of the attack.
• Heavy Attack: Recovery time has been reduced by 0.15 sec.

Musket

• A bug has been fixed where the musket reloaded slower when stamina was depleted.
• A bug has been fixed where the player’s back bent unnaturally when sheathing the weapon while lying down.
• A bug has been fixed that allowed the shooting animation to be skipped, unintentionally increasing the fire rate of the musket.
• A bug has been fixed where charged musket shots were not consumed when shooting while crouching.

Life Staff

• Light Splash:
  • Cleanse: We have revised the description to clarify that the target must be healed for debuffs to be removed.
• Beacon: A bug has been fixed where the healing bonus remained on the spellcaster even after leaving the circle.

Ice Gauntlet

• Ice Pillar:
  • Pillar Dodge: Tooltip has been revised to better describe the function.
• Ultimate Chill
  • The debuff tooltip in the status bar for “Ultimate Chill” has been revised and aligned with the weapon handling tooltip.
  • A bug has been fixed that caused it to appear as if the icon for the “Ultimate Chill” effect was stacking.
• Blocking Stamina: A bug has been fixed that allowed this passive skill to grant stamina when players had no mana left.
• Heavy Freeze: Description has been revised to provide more accurate cooldown information.
• Ice Tomb: Health of Ice Tomb has been increased from 50 to 75 % of the caster’s health.
• Entombed Burst: Mana cost has been reduced from 20 to 10 mana.

Sword and Shield

• Heavy Attack: Recovery time has been reduced by 0.15 sec.

War Axe

• Persistent Strike: The grit windows for empowered attacks through this passive skill have been adjusted to ensure that they only last until the end of the strike windows.
• Blood Rage: Description has been updated to clarify the correct effective range of 15 m.
• Light attacks and non-fully charged heavy attack: We have reduced the target acquisition detection range from 4.5 to 3.5 meters.
• Critical Base Damage: Reduced from 40 to 30 %.
• Bloodthirst: Haste bonus has been reduced from 30 to 20 %.
• Yank: Damage on the first pull has been reduced from 110 % to 70 % weapon damage.

Corruption Gauntlets

• “Rotting Scream”:
  • Maximum increase of this effect has been reduced from 50 to 30 %.
• Corruption Caller:
  • A bug has been fixed that allowed the passive skill “Corruption Caller” to be triggered by regular light attacks.
  • A bug has been fixed that reset the cooldown for “Corruption Caller” on weapon swap.
• Gaze of Corruption: A bug has been fixed that reset the cooldown for “Gaze of Corruption” on weapon swap.
• Decay Sphere:
  • Exploding Sphere: A bug has been fixed that allowed “Exploding Sphere” to trigger attacks from stealth.

Spear

• Size of hit area and targeting has been increased for all thrust attacks.
• Impale: Lunge distance has been increased by 50 %.
• Perforate: Rotation during the skill has been sped up.
• Strong Conditioning:
  • A bug has been fixed that allowed the “Strong Conditioning” bonus to be negated by using a whetstone.
  • Triggering “Strong Conditioning” now no longer displays a text.

AI Enemies

General AI Enemies

• Abomination
  • A bug has been fixed that caused bite and strike attacks from larger scaled abominations to fail.
• Ancestral Guardian Mage
  • A bug has been fixed that caused the Mage’s role-spell to sometimes hit a spot behind the Mage.
• Ancestral Guardian Looters
  • A bug has been fixed that caused the looter to die at the end of his retreat status.
• Big Cats
  • A bug has been fixed that caused cat AI enemies to not consider level differences in perception.
• Desolate Ones
  • The corrupted ogre in Outpost Rush has had the “Gravity Vortex” skill removed.
  • A bug has been fixed that prevented corrupted ogres in Outpost Rush from being staggered.
  • A bug has been fixed that prevented invasion desolate ones from being staggered.
• Dynasty Musketeer
  • A bug has been fixed that caused musketeers to occasionally retreat to a far position instead of a closer one.
• Entropy
  • A bug has been fixed that prevented Entropy from being collected.
• Grobian
  • A bug has been fixed that caused Grobian AI enemies to not properly play their stagger animation.
• Spring Deer
  • The spring deer no longer drops particles when moving.

AI Enemies in Expeditions

• General AI enemies in expeditions
  • A rare bug has been fixed where boss enemies could prematurely use their wipe skill to kill all players.
• Amrhein Excavation
  • Simon Grey
    • A rare bug has been fixed that allowed Simon’s skill “Consume” to harm himself.
• The Abyss
  • A bug has been fixed that caused AI enemies in the Abyss to get stuck in retreat.
  • Archdeacon Azamela
    • A bug has been fixed that allowed the Archdeacon to see and target players outside of his room in rare cases.
  • Captain Thorpe
    • The fire ring from “Darkness Calls” now inflicts single damage and burning if players run into it.
    • “Fire Charge” now inflicts burning 3 times faster.
    • Burning can now stack a maximum of 3 times (instead of 5 times).
• Dynasty Shipyard
  • Isabella’s Tiger
    • A bug has been fixed that caused Isabella’s cannons to not deal damage correctly upon impact.
    • A bug has been fixed that caused Isabella’s wave beam attack to hit players twice.
    • The aggression range of Isabella’s musketeers has been increased so they now always target a player.
  • Empress Taiying
    • The Empress now rushes towards faraway players.
    • Various bugs have been fixed that allowed the Empress to accidentally kill players on the brink of death.
    • A bug has been fixed where the Empress’s Corruption Wave could hit players caught between two waves twice.
• Lazarus Instrumentum
  • Demos
    • A bug has been fixed that could cause Demos’ failing spear attack to miss players in melee range.
  • Cilla
    • A bug has been fixed that caused Cilla’s Arcane Wave attack to hit players twice.
    • A bug has been fixed that caused Cilla’s Arcane Snares to kill players on the brink of death.
    • A bug has been fixed that caused Cilla’s spell “Arcane Bomb” to continue casting even after her death.
      • Note: There’s another bug that could cause this, and we are looking into solutions for it.

AI Add-ons

• Adjusted Ripper
  • We have reduced the spawn rate from 1 Ripper every 5 seconds to 1 Ripper every 10 seconds.
  • We have increased the duration from 10 to 20 seconds.
  • A bug has been fixed that caused no further damage to be dealt while standing on the Ripper.

Economy, Progress, and Loot

Proficiency

We continue to want to reward efforts in crafting items for you, your friends, or trading in the trading post. Therefore, we have introduced proficiency.

• When you reach level 200 in a skill, 3 markers will be displayed at equal intervals in the leveling circle in the user interface.
• When you earn XP for skills, you progress in this circle and when you reach one of the markers, you get a container with useful items that are (mainly) relevant to skills, such as crafting mods, special ingredients, and even blueprints and other plans!
• With each marker, the containers become more spectacular and bring more rewards.
• If you collect enough XP to fill the whole circle, the boon counter will increase by 1. The counter indicates how many times you have leveled up at the highest level.
• With this system, we have also introduced a new type of reward: Equipment Schematics.
  • Equipment Schematics are crafting artifacts that allow you to guarantee an item with an armor value of 600 and special appearance.
  • Schematics require a large amount of powerful crafting materials, but guarantee an item with RW 600.
  • Effects are also rolled for schematics, and players can influence the outcome as usual with crafting mods and Azoth.
  • There is a small chance that equipment schematics will appear in Arcana, Weaponsmithing, Armorsmithing, and Engineering reward chests.

Refinement

• Plans have been added that allow you to refine 250 pieces of raw ore, wood, fiber, or raw leather with rank 5 into a legendary material. For example, now you can convert 250 orichalcum ore into 1 tollyum.
• Orichalcum bars can now be crafted with platinum as well as with star metal.

Loot

• There are a number of knights in the game who carry valuable items for players level 20 to 25. Seek them out and take their treasures!
• The named ring “Cut” previously had the wrong gem attached (a weapon gem) and now correctly has an armor gem.
• We have added amulet, ring, and earring drops with rank 5 to all level 60+ content, which randomly roll all attributes and armor values. Before, only named jewelry dropped at this rank. This should accelerate the jewelry proficiency as well.
• Faction shields no longer have a damage effect (Enchanted). Round shields now have “Refreshing Protection,” longspear shields have “Eager Empowerment,” and tower shields have “Hated.”
• Corruption Gauntlets “Moonless Night” have been renamed to “Dark Wine Night.”
• The Primordial Weapon Set was missing the tower shield and the ice gauntlets. These have now been added and drop in the same activities as other primordial weapons.
• Boots of Channeling Energy had the wrong effect (Siphoning). This effect is only available on weapons and has been replaced with the Affliction effect.
• The named AI enemy “Desecrated Soul of Duskenheim” previously had no drops. He now drops 3 named items: a spear, a life staff, and an amulet.
• More female armor now drops in the game world.

Crafting

• We have removed corrupted shards and magnetite as required resources for crafting arena keys and added 5 runestones to their recipe. We did this so that arena keys do not compete for the same resources as expedition keys.

Fishing

• The stone catfish now produces stone catfish venom, which can be used in alchemy (there is also a chance of fish fat when disassembling).
• A range of fishing armor items can now be bought and sold in the trading post. These are items that players may not receive as rewards in fishing quests since reward chests sometimes randomly deliver one of two or three parts. With this update, all players will have access to all armor pieces to complete all sets, should they wish to do so.

Key Bug Fixes

• The brand and taler cost of the R2 health and mana potions of the Syndicate have now been aligned with those of the other factions: 50 and 30 marks instead of 100.
• The war previously did not provide war corruption gauntlets. Corruption gauntlets have now been added as a possible reward.
• A bug has been fixed that caused corruption gauntlets not to naturally roll their skill-specific bonuses when dropped and crafted.
• A bug has been fixed that caused chests in Lazarus Instrumentum and Garden of Genesis not to consider the armor value of the expedition.
• A bug has been fixed where in Outpost Rush, the overview at the end of the game showed 0 for all assists.
• A bug has been fixed that caused the Outpost Rush compass symbols to disappear. This should also fix some other issues related to the compass.
• A bug has been fixed that caused the acquisition tax in the trading post to go to the settlement where an item was offered for sale instead of to the settlement where it was purchased.
• A bug has been fixed where the crafting of the corruption gauntlets “The Nothing” required Eternal Ice instead of an Empty Heart.
• A bug has been fixed where tallow forms could not be used as crafting mods. (The effects in question are: “Precision,” “Deadly Refreshment,” and “Refreshing Drink Fun”).

UX/UI and Social

Loading Screen System Overhauled

• The system has been overhauled and now loads different screens depending on where players are loaded into.
• Tips have been added to the loading screens, both general tips and specific tips for your destination.

Social and Navigation Bar Overhauled

• We have revamped the graphics and layout of the menu to improve readability.
• We have made the notification numbers more visible.
• We have created additional space for the “Social” window and made it more readable.

Key Bug Fixes

• We have improved the logic of the warnings regarding the Azoth limit so that they are only displayed at certain thresholds and you are not overwhelmed with notifications.
• A number of bugs in the compass have been fixed that should make it more reliable when changing game modes.
• The icons for crafting in city projects have been corrected. They now show the blue icon for city projects instead of the yellow standard icon for tasks.
• The message that you cannot deal damage to other players without a PvP marker will now only display once. These messages have been annoying in PvE play with other faction members.
• We have added sounds to a number of actions in the user interface as a sign that the action was successful. This includes repairing equipment, opening housing submenus, changing submenus in the company area, expanding and collapsing lists at crafting stations, “From” filter boxes and switching chat feeds.
• A bug has been fixed that caused pings in some expeditions to be displayed underground.
• Various crafting and refining stations have now gained ambient sound.
• Setups with multiple monitors are now better supported.

• A rare bug has been fixed that caused the game to mistakenly disassemble a random item of the type under your cursor while quickly disassembling.
• A bug has been fixed that caused players sometimes not to receive notification banners for friendship, group, and company invitations.
• Players now have more description options when reporting insults in chat. Players can now choose between text chat or voice chat insults.

PTR Notes

The following notes were added or changed as a direct result of internal testing efforts and players submitting feedback in the PTR. Thanks to all those who participated!

Winter Convergence

• Each day, the first three interactions with the Tree of Light in settlements will grant presents that will also grant a lockbox with a gift of appreciation for participating in the festivities!
• Daily interactions with the Tree of Light have the rare chance to drop event weapon and armor patterns as rewards.
  • As with any openable container, luck does not apply here.

December Endgame Update

• Introduced a new type of Gypsum. Diamond Gypsum can only be found during certain events in Aeternum. During the Winter Convergence Festival, level 60 players will earn this Gypsum when interacting with their first 3 Trees of Light each day.
  • Our goal is to give players even more options to progress their Expertise, as well as improve the rewards of the Winter and future events
• Reduced the cost of crafting a Gypsum Orb from 100 coin to 2.5, and Gypsum Cast from 475 coin to 5. We decided there was no need to add another coin expense for our level 60 players, but kept a minimal amount so end game territory owners can earn a little more tax income.
• Reduced cooldown on Topaz Gypsum Attunement Potion from weekly down to daily, which means players will now be able to earn enough Topaz Gypsum to craft an orb each day. We also reduced the crafting ingredients to make it less difficult to craft and increased the drop rate of Topaz Gypsum when the potion is in effect.
• Reduced Gypsum earn cooldown timers from 22hrs to 18hrs just to give a little more leeway to people’s play schedules.
• Adjusted the way Expertise bumps work so there is a minimum, as well as a maximum. The minimum is set to 2, and maximum starts at 5 and ramps down to 2. Our goal is to average around 35 bumps required to get from min to max Expertise.
• Gypsum is now rewarded for completing an event, rather than given in the reward cache from the event. A few activities such as Outpost Rush, Corrupted Breaches, Arenas, and Aptitude granted Gypsum in the reward cache in the PTR. This leads to hoarding and uncertainty if using a cache is past the cooldown timer. This change should resolve both of those concerns.

Combat

Perks

• New Perks
  • Logging Efficiency – Logging speed increased by 5% – 25%
  • Mining Efficiency – Mining speed increased by 5% – 25%
  • Skinning Efficiency – Skinning speed increased by 5% – 25%
  • Harvesting Efficiency – Harvesting speed increased by 5% – 25%
  • Plagued Crits – Critical strikes against target below 50% health inflict disease for 6s, reducing healing effectiveness on the target by 10% – 25%. (Can’t trigger more than once per attack)
  • Plagued Strikes – Melee weapon heavy attacks against targets inflict disease for 8s, reducing healing effectiveness on the target by 10% – 25%. (Can’t trigger more than once per attack)
  • Thwarting Counter – Melee Weapons Deal 5% – 15% additional damage against targets with active grit.
  • Trenchant Recovery – Fully charged heavy attacks heals the player for 10% – 30% of the damage dealt. (Can’t trigger more than once per attack).
• Perk Bug Fixes:
  • Fix for Rogue perk to no longer increase crit damage on standard crits. It will now apply to backstabs only.

Outpost Rush

• Fixed an issue where grouped players would incorrectly earn assist credit for kills they didn’t contribute to.

Weapons

Bow

• Fixed inconsistent camera behaviors when exiting Poison Shot and Penetrating Shot with hotkey.
• Fixed inconsistencies with Bow ADS & AOE abilities canceling into other Bow abilities.

Ice Gauntlet

• Fixed an issue with Healing Tomb perk not healing when exiting early with RMB.

Spear

• Fixed an issue that caused players to enter a locked state if Spear Javelin was activated when entering Prone.

Navigation

• Fixed an issue that was blocking player from canceling attacks to enter navigation until animations completed.

UX, UI, & Social

• We now provide information on the maximum number of unique items a player can hold in their inventory

General Bug fixes and Updates

• Fixed a bug causing the player to occasionally get moved on top of lost presents they are looting.
• Adjusted the logic on Lost Presents to improve the gathering experience.
• Decreased the level 65 Winter Warrior Yeti from Elite Boss to the Elite difficulty tag.
• Adjusted stats on the Winter Warrior to be less punishing to solo players.
• Resolved an issue where players could interact with the gift pile in settlements without limit for reputation.
• Fixed an issue where killing Corrupted Tendril AI did not progress the “Adiana’s Fountain” quest.
• Fixes for multiple unobtainable presents in First Light, Windsward, and Everfall territories.
• Fixed issue where the “Insuring the Investment” quest did not progress with “Defense Against the Withered” journal entry.
• Resolved an issue where players could spawn into the Winter Tree after Invasion ends in the Settlements.
• Fixed an issue where Hapless Howe was buried in snow in Windsward.
• Fixed an issue where Winter Convergence was referenced as “Winterfest” in log-in screen.
• Fixed an issue where “A Fine Meal” refers to Recovery Foods as Health Recovery and could cause confusion in the Campfire menu.
• Fixed an issue where the Mangled Heights POI was missing a majority of its collision.
• Fixed an issue where players could clip through the walls of the War Camps.
• Fixed an issue where players were blocked from the solo option of Destiny Unearthed if they reset Destiny Unearthed after completing Forging the Heartgem.
• Updated visuals/layout of the POI Bullrush Wash.
• Addressed and issue where Gleamite spawners had a chance to spawn immediately
• Fixed an issue where upgrading The Tree of Light could push a territory above the level cap.
• Fixed an issue where Upgrading the Tree of Light increased the towns upkeep.
• Fixed an issue where encounters would show the abandoning UI notification if a grace period was not set properly.
• Fixed an issue where Territory Quest markers were not displaying the right type of marker.
• Fixed an issue where equipped camp skins were not persisting after re-login and may have prevented players from being able to place camp sites.
• Fixed an issue where particular camp skins could be placed in tight pathways and block AI which would destroy itself.
• Updated Winter Convergence Quest level listings.
• Updated task text on “Old Stone Remembers” to indicate weapon use.
• Fixed an issue where Cutlass Keys’ spawned the wrong number of lost presents.
• Fixed an issue where players were able to leave the Outpost rush starting zone early.
• Fixed an issue where the recommended level for the “Into the Breaches” quest is significantly lower than the level of the encountered AIs.
• Fixed an issue where after accepting “Grasping at Shadows” the player needed to leave the POI before being able to complete the first objective.
• Fixed an issue where audio could be interfered with if multiple Gleamite chunks are in the same area.
• Fixed an issue where applying certain Camp Skins could block the player from placing the camp.
• Fixed an issue where players could obtain more tuning orbs when resetting the quest “Destiny Unearthed” from the journal.
• Fixed an issue where the journal listed a blank third objective during a Winter Warrior quest.
• Fixed an issue where the quest marker for “Visions of Invaders” is not shown on the Map.
• Fixed an issue where Boss AI could sometimes prematurely use their victory wipe behavior in Expeditions.
• Fixed an issue where House Ownership UI persisted on Housing Lost during a rollback.
• Fixed an issue where Thorpe referred to his previous rank when fighting him in the Depths.
• Updated level pre-reqs for Mourningdale supplemental quests for a smoother transition.
• Fixed an issue where players are able to enter a state where they are unaffected by gravity and can clip through collision after petting an animal and attempting to recall to inn.
• Fixed an issue causing some Artifact Ice Gauntlets to display their names incorrectly.
• Unhallowed Soul Of Myrkgard previously did not drop any named items. It has been given a Spear, Amulet, and Life Staff to drop.
• Fixed an issue causing some players to get stuck in a blurry screen after exiting a crafting station.
• Fixed a bug that was causing all trading post taxes to being paid to the settlement at which a contract is listed. Now, trading post listing taxes are paid to the settlement at which a contract is listed, and sales taxes are paid to the settlement at which a contract is fulfilled.
• Fixed Lifestyle buffs not being reflected in Crafting UI.
• Fixed faction bonuses not decreasing trading tax in Everfall.
• Fixed a bug that was causing harvesting speed territory standing bonuses to improve yield instead of speed.
• Fixed a bug causing Marks of Fortune to appear incorrectly in the Bundles tab of the in-game store.
• Fixed a bug causing chests to get into a looted state when players did not finish gathering them.
• Removed corrupted shards and lodestone as necessary components for crafting Arena Keys and added 5 runestone to their recipe. We did this to make Arena Keys not fight for the same resources as Expedition Keys.