Final SWTOR 1.5 Patch Notes

SWTOR 1.5 Patch Notes

1.5 is Alive! Sorry, that was lame, but here are the full SWTOR 1.5 Patch Notes:

Game Update 1.5: HK-51 Activated

11/15/2012

Highlights

    • Free-to-Play is here! Players can now experience Star Wars: The Old Republic up to level 50 (with certain restrictions) without paying a subscription fee.
    • The Cartel Market is now accessible. Players can use Cartel Coins to purchase boosts, unlocks, cosmetic items, and more!

Travel to Section X on Belsavis and learn why the nefarious Dread Guard has seized control of this ravaged area of the planet! Section X can be accessed on Belsavis and via the daily mission shuttles.

  • HK-51 can now be acquired as a Companion Character! A shipment of the infamous Assassin Droids can be found in the wreck of an Imperial transport ship, The Fatality, in Section X. Reactivating HK-51 requires finding and assembling parts from across the galaxy.
  • Nightmare Mode is now available for Operation: Explosive Conflict! Bosses in Nightmare Mode present a new level of challenge, new mechanics, and high-quality rewards (such as a new vehicle and Dread Guard set pieces)!
  • Dreadtooth, a new world boss, can be found roaming Section X. Each time Dreadtooth is defeated, he returns with a temporary, stacking power buff which increases his difficulty and the quality of his loot rewards.

General

  • The names of guilds that are inactive (any guild that has had no members log in for 8 weeks) will now be released for use by new guilds. If a guild member logs back in once a name is released, that guild member can reclaim the guild’s name if it has not been taken. If the name has been taken, the guild will be granted a free rename.
  • If no member of a guild logs in for 8 weeks, the next guild member to log in will be promoted to Guild Leader.

Classes and Combat

  • Subscribers are no longer charged credits for skill point re-specializations.

    Jedi Knight

    Sentinel
    Watchman
        • Merciless Zeal’s healing has been reduced to .5% per point (down from 1% per point).

    Sith Warrior

    Maurader
    Annihilation
        • Hungering’s healing has been reduced to .5% per point (down from 1% per point).

Group Finder

  • Travelling to a new area while in a Group Finder queue no longer occasionally causes the UI to behave as if the player is not in the queue.

Missions and NPCs

  • Some missions on Origin Worlds now offer Experience Boost rewards.

Items

  • The cost to remove mods from items has been reduced for subscribers.
  • The Collector’s Edition vehicle and all vehicles available in the Cartel Market can now be used with the lowest-level rank. Their speed now scales based on the rank unlocked by characters.
  • Subscribers can now access speeders at level 15.
  • Campaign armorings are now available for purchase on the Black Hole vendor for Black Hole Commendations.
  • Dread Guard relics are now available on the Daily vendor for 300 Daily Commendations.
  • A new set of droid armor is now available from the Daily vendor.
  • More robes have been adjusted so that their backsides are not inappropriately large when worn.
  • New speeder vendors are now available on Taris (Republic) and Balmorra (Imperial).

Legacy

  • Players can now unlock their Legacy at level 10.
  • The Legacy panel now accommodates much larger Legacies.
  • Each rank of the Legacy Experience perk now grants +6% experience (as opposed to a gradual increase of +2/4/6/8/10). The total possible bonus from Legacy perks is still 30% in each category.

PvP

  • The caps for Warzone and Ranked Warzone Commendations have been increased. All players can now accumulate up to 4500 Ranked Warzone Commendations and 2750 Warzone Commendations.
  • Elite War Hero armorings, barrels, and hilts have had their stats improved slightly.

UI

  • Several emotes are now voiced!
  • Subscribers now have access to 2 additional quickslot bars.
  • Different quickslot bars can no longer be jumped to in the primary quickslot bar if they are already visible in another location on-screen.
  • The deposit for items placed on the GTN is now a percentage of the item’s value (instead of being based on the player’s set price).
  • Vehicles, mini-pets, weapons, the results of crafting schematics, and color crystals can now be previewed in the item preview window.
  • An additional Cargo Hold can now be purchased.
  • The title selection window is now scrollable. Players can now choose their Legacy name display from this window.
  • A progress bar has been added to the currency pane to indicate player proximity to currency caps.

Miscellaneous Bug Fixes

  • Several typos and instances of incorrect text have been corrected in all languages.
  • The Imperial Medcenter in the vicinity of the wreck of the Ambria’s Fury has been moved Northeast.
  • An issue that caused dark outlines to appear around characters’ eyes has been corrected.

SWTOR 1.4.3 Full Patch Notes

SWTOR 1.4.3 Full Patch Notes

Here starteth the full patch notes for SWTOR 1.4.3 which has just gone live. There’s a mixed bag of fixes and additions:

1.4.3 Patch Notes

10/30/2012

Classes and Combat

Jedi Knight

General
    • The visual effects for Awe display more quickly to better match the ability’s effect.

Flashpoints and Operations

Flashpoints

Cademimu
        • Riding the taxi in this Flashpoint no longer causes a client crash.

Operations

      • [WEEKLY] Galactic Operations now rewards 15 Black Hole Commendations (up from 8).
      • [WEEKLY] Galactic Crisis Points now rewards 20 Black Hole Commendations (up from 8).
      • [WEEKLY] Deadly Operations now rewards 10 Black Hole Commendations.
Explosive Conflict
        • Warlord Kephess now drops additional Black Hole pieces in Story Mode (2 additional pieces in 8-player and 4 additional pieces in 16-player).
Karagga’s Palace
        • The Dessler Turbo is now a guaranteed drop from Karagga the Unyielding in Nightmare Mode.
        • Many bosses in Nightmare Mode now have a chance to drop the M0-GUL Thrall Droid or Karagga’s Unyielding Helm.
Terror from Beyond
      • Hypergate Beacons now despawn when the Terror from Beyond transitions from phase 1 to phase 2 in 8- and 16-player Hard Mode.
      • The Terror from Beyond now drops additional Black Hole pieces in Story Mode (2 additional pieces in 8-player and 4 additional pieces in 16-player).

Group Finder

  • Group finder now asks players to confirm requests to leave the backfill queue. Leaving the queue will now disable the “queue group” button if the group is in an active phase.
  • The “update role” button is now disabled by default when the invalid group dialogue appears. It is enabled once roles have been updated.
  • The role icon and name for a player being vote kicked now display correctly.
  • An issue that could cause groups that required backfill to lose progress has been corrected.
  • An issue that could cause players to fail to receive daily rewards has been corrected. Previously, players were not considered queued random when the group’s leader had active lockouts, even if the group was queued for random content.

Missions and NPCs

Missions

World Missions
Voss
        • Darker than Dark: This mission no longer updates one of its steps prematurely.
Class Missions
Sith Inquisitor
      • Financing the Enemy: B2-44’s subtitles now progress at a readable speed.

NPCs

  • Several probe droids that previously displayed a fictionally incorrect Czerka skin have been updated to the correct appearance.

PvP

Warzones

      • The Warzone matchmaking system no longer occasionally places players into empty matches.
      • Players no longer occasionally enter a state that prevents them from joining new groups after participating in a Warzone.
Huttball
    • An issue that could cause team scoreboards to be unintentionally switched has been corrected.

UI

  • The Chat color wheel now functions correctly again.
  • The UI no longer appears briefly on top of loading screens.

Miscellaneous Bug Fixes

  • A potential method for Imperial players to reach Anchorhead on Tatooine has been corrected.
  • Some text errors (such as typos and missing translations) have been corrected.
  • Some minor art and cinematic issues have been corrected.
  • Some instances where mood emotes caused facial overlapping (or overlapping with some head slot items) when used with action emotes have been corrected.

SWTOR 1.5 Hits The PTS: Patch Notes

SWTOR’s latest game update, 1.5 has hit the Public Test Server. It contains the HK-51 addition, some more missions and a bunch of bug fixes.

The full patch notes:

Highlights

  • Travel to Section X on Belsavis and learn why the nefarious Dread Guard has seized control of this ravaged sector of the planet! Section X can be accessed on Belsavis and via the daily mission shuttles.
  • HK-51 can now be acquired as a Companion Character! A shipment of the infamous assassin droids can be found in the wreck of an Imperial transport ship, The Fatality, in Section X. Reactivating HK-51 requires finding and assembling parts from across the galaxy.
  • Nightmare Mode is now available for Operation: Explosive Conflict! Bosses in Nightmare Mode present a new level of challenge, new mechanics, and high-quality rewards (such as a new vehicle and Dread Guard set pieces)!
  • Dreadtooth, a new world boss, can be found roaming Section X. Each time Dreadtooth is defeated, he returns with a temporary, stacking power buff which increases his difficulty and the quality of his loot rewards.

Group Finder

  • Travelling to a new area while in a Group Finder queue no longer occasionally causes the UI to behave as if the player is not in the queue.

Items

  • Campaign armorings are now available for purchase on the Black Hole vendor for Black Hole Commendations.
  • Dread Guard relics are now available on the Daily vendor for 300 Daily Commendations.
  • A new set of droid armor is now available from the Daily vendor.
  • More robes have been adjusted so that their backsides are not inappropriately large when worn.

Miscellaneous Bug Fixes

  • Several typos and instances of incorrect text have been corrected in all languages.
  • The Imperial Medcenter in the vicinity of the wreck of the Ambria’s Fury has been moved Northeast.

Then there are the known issues with the patch:

HK-51

  • HK-51 currently joins players without gear.
  • While completing the missions to obtain HK-51, the Mission Log may display progress incorrectly.

Flashpoints and Operations

  • In Explosive Conflict, nameplates currently display for Kephess’ Saturation Fire ability. These nameplates should not be visible.

SWTOR 1.4.1 Patch Notes

The servers are back up and there’s a shiny new patch in place: 1.4.1. The Consular and Inquisitor get some bug fixes as far as classes go, but there’s lots more than that.

Here’s the full patch notes for you:

1.4.1 Patch Notes

10/9/2012

Classes and Combat

Jedi Consular

Shadow
Kinetic Combat
          • Stasis no longer prevents Force Lift from breaking on damage and making its target take less damage.

Sith Inquisitor

Assassin
Darkness
        • Eye of the Storm no longer prevents Whirlwind from breaking on damage and making its target take less damage.

Companion Characters

General

      • Companions now respect “hide helmet” settings in cinematics and when speaking.

Companions

Xalek
      • The “Unify Color” option now works with Xalek’s Pants in combination with Neophyte Robe.

Crew Skills

General

    • Crew Skill Missions now return the correct (higher) amount of materials.
    • Players can no longer consume schematics that they already know.

Flashpoints and Operations

Flashpoints

Maelstrom Prison
        • Grand Moff Kilran’s Fifth Fleet Troopers and Gunners now correctly despawn if the player group is defeated.
The False Emperor
        • Jindo Krey’s ship can now be properly destroyed.

Operations

Explosive Conflict
        • Calibrating Shot (used by Imperial Siege Droids) now reduces damage taken by a smaller amount per stack.
Eternity Vault
        • The correct (higher) amount of Rakata and Columi tokens is now dropped in 16-player modes of Eternity Vault.
Karagga’s Palace
        • The correct (higher) amount of Rakata and Columi tokens is now dropped in 16-player modes of Karagga’s Palace.
Terror from Beyond
      • Killing a tentacle while the Terror from Beyond is enraged in phase 2 now properly damages the boss for 5% of its health instead of 15%.
      • In 16-player Hard Mode, the Terror from Beyond’s enrage timer has been increased to 9 minutes.
      • The Tunneling Tentacle buff on the Terror from Beyond no longer appears in Story Mode.

Group Finder

  • Players are no longer able to revive in place while in a Group Finder Operation or Flashpoint.
  • Personal starships now remain docked at their previous location when the player returns from a Group Finder instance after traveling to it from their ship.

Items

  • The Marauder’s Battlemaster head piece no longer allows body type 3 heads to clip through it.

Legacy

  • Elements of the Legacy panel now update without needing the player to log out and back in.

Missions and NPCs

General

      • Weekly missions can now be acquired consistently.

Missions

Hoth
        • Keeping Secrets: This bonus mission now properly grants experience.
Jedi Consular
      • Chaos and Harmony: Syo now attacks players correctly.

PvP

Warzones

General
        • Same-faction matches now play the correct voiceovers.
Alderaan Civil War
        • Players hit by a knockback while riding a taxi are no longer occasionally killed instantly.
Voidstar
      • Voidstar matches no longer occasionally end early and grant a win to the incorrect team.

UI

General

      • Players can once again right-click names in chat to open the context menu.
      • The “Hide Helmet” option is no longer located in the preferences. It can be accessed via the character window.

Galactic Trade Network

    • The GTN now interprets multi-word searches using “and” instead of “or,” returning narrower results as intended.
    • Items on the GTN can now be properly filtered by the Strength stat.

Miscellaneous Bug Fixes

  • Corrected an issue that caused some female Mirialan characters’ eyeballs to be visible through their eyelids when blinking.
  • Corrected a very rare issue that could cause the incorrect character to be deleted. This could only occur when a player deleted a character immediately after renaming it such that it moved in the character select list due to alphabetization.
  • Grouped characters can no longer become stuck on another player’s starship.

Guild Wars 2 Patch Notes: October 7th 2012 Update

Guild Wars 2 Patch NotesArenaNet have put another game update live, and this one contains quite the list of bug fixes including  a number of dungeon fixes.

Have a read through the patch notes in full:

General

  • Fixed a bug in targeting that was causing left-dragging to deselect/select targets incorrectly.
  • Fixed a bug in targeting that was allowing users to deselect all targets using the select next target functionality.
  • Fixed a bug with human female sword and pistol animations.
  • Fixed a bug that was causing quickness to get stuck on players and enemies indefinitely.
  • Fixed the Mystic Forge recipe for Melandru’s Gaze that was rewarding the Mystic Staff instead.
  • Fixed a potential bug with skill challenge conversations not closing for all parties speaking with the NPC.
  • Fixed a bug in weaponsmith Destroyer recipes being swapped for Valkyrie and Berserker weapons.
  • Fixed the Mystic Forge recipes for platinum and mithril ingot conversion taking cloth bolts instead of the appropriate ingots. This also fixes the issue with linen and silk bolt conversion recipes sometimes rewarding ingots.
  • Fixed the Mystic Forge recipe for Immobulus requiring a defunct item. It now requires giant eyes instead.
  • Fixed a bug with Rune of Divinity that was causing it to do 50% more critical damage than listed.
  • Removed laughing audio from crafting stations in Divinity’s Reach.
  • Raised the maximum karma limit.
  • Superior Rune of the Adventurer is now set to give 50% of endurance on heal.
  • The character select screen now reflects hidden armor choices.
  • Updated Rune of Earth and Rune of the Grove to have a 25% chance to grant 4 seconds of protection and 30-second recharge for superior runes, with 45-second recharge for major runes.
  • We’ve relaxed our anti-exploiting system for loot and events.

Camera

  • We’ve updated the camera to reduce the amount of camera smoothing currently in the game in order to lower the frequency of related bugs. We’re still looking into other camera issues, but we decided to make this quick change because it greatly improves the gameplay experience.
    Events
  • Fixed a bug that could block “Escort Order of Whispers agents to Jormabakke Stead” in Snowden Drifts from restarting.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause duplicate versions of Agent Briathell to spawn in Snowden Drifts.
  • Fixed a bug that could prevent the repair event for “Cascade Bridge” in Lornar’s Pass from triggering.

Dungeons

Caudecus’s Manor

  • Closed map exploits.
  • Updated the reward vendor for Caudecus’s Manor to include the missing exotic light helmet.
    Citadel of Flame
  • Closed map exploits.

Twilight Arbor

  • Upper Spider Path: Increased the attack range of the Nightmare Tree. The area attack and its effect now take place at the same location.
  • Nightmare Tree Spider Path: The area attack now correctly does damage at the point of the effect.
  • Forward Upper Husk Path: Added damage to the Nightmare Tree’s immobilize skill. Also added damage to the Nightmare Tree egg launch skill.

Story

  • Reduced the health of the final boss in “The Source of Orr.”
  • Forging the Pact: Implemented changes to ensure that the cave section completes reliably.
  • Pets and Walls Make Stronger Kraals: Fix for possible stall during the taming step.
  • Battle of Fort Trinity:
    • You cannot pick up the water orb until you defeat all of the saboteurs.
    • It’s no longer possible to trap players by closing the fortress doors on them.
    • Fixed a stall during “Retake the docks” objective.
    • Fixed a stall if players did not choose a greatest fear earlier in Chapter 7.
  • Lines of Communication: Batanga will now help you fight the Arcane Eye.
  • Fixing Blame: Warmaster Gurnn should now kick off his cutscene correctly.
  • Fixed a rare bug in “Shards of Orr” where Herboza would not become visible.

World versus World

  • The northernmost keep in all homelands has had its collision adjusted on the inner western gate.
  • Numerous items have been disabled for use in World versus World to prevent exploits and imbalances. This includes the Experimental Teleportation Gun, ettin gunk, drake eggs, seed turrets, and more.
  • Fixed WvW Orb of Power duplication on player disconnect.

Profession

  • Attributes gained from traits now apply to the downed state.

Elementalist

  • Glyph of Renewal: This skill will now revive downed allies only, not dead ones.
  • Signets of Earth, Fire, and Water: These signest have been updated to not fire at targets behind the player.
  • Signet of Fire: This skill is now able to hit targets at its indicated range.
  • Signet of Air: This skill now displays a hovering signet effect over the user when activated.
  • Whirlpool: This skill’s damage has been decreased by 33%.

Engineer

  • Grenade Kit: Grenade skills now have the same cast time underwater as they do on land.
  • Explosives Trait Grenadier: This trait now gives a bonus to underwater grenade skills.
  • Big Ol’ Bomb: This skill has been updated to be a blast finisher.

Guardian

  • We are moving towards retaliation being more of a counter to taking many hits rather than a general boon to keep up all the time. We also wanted to improve the combo finisher of the guardian, so we reorganized guardian greatsword skills to the following:
    • Skill 2: Whirling Wrath (10 second recharge)
    • Skill 3: Leap of Faith (15 second recharge)
    • Skill 4: Symbol of Wrath (20 second recharge)
  • Updated Bane Signet and Signet of Wrath so they can’t be fired at targets behind the player.
  • Updated Signet of Judgment to apply three seconds of retaliation upon activation with or without traits.
  • Decreased the activation time of Signet of Judgment.

Mesmer

  • Signet of Domination can no longer be cast on targets behind the mesmer.
  • Added a much faster breakout for mesmer underwater mantras.
  • Phantasmal Warlock: Increased recharge to 20 seconds.
  • Chaos Armor: Decreased recharge to 35 seconds.
  • Chaos Storm: Increased recharge to 35 seconds.
  • Phantasmal Duelist: Increased recharge to 20 seconds.
  • Phantasmal Swordsman: Increased recharge to 18 seconds.

Necromancer

  • Updated Chillblains to properly function with the Greater Marks trait.
  • Signet of Spite can now be cast while on the move.

Ranger

  • Crossfire: Increased casting time by 40 milliseconds. This was done to fix some glitches in the animation that caused problems with this skill.
  • Removed the broken audio that played with Natural Healing whenever pets were in combat.

Thief

  • Pistol Whip: Reduced damage by 15%.
  • Basilisk Venom: Increased stun duration to 1.5 seconds. Stun breakers now work on this skill.

SWTOR: 1.4 Final Patch Notes

The servers are about to come back up, and with them SWTOR patch 1.4: Terror From Beyond. For your viewing pleasure we have the full and final patch notes. Have a read through and see what you’re in for:

Game Update 1.4: Terror From Beyond

9/26/2012

Highlights

  • Terror from Beyond, a new Operation, is now available! Travel to the remote planet of Asation, where the Dread Masters have commandeered an ancient Gree Hypergate in order to unleash untold horrors upon the galaxy. Terror from Beyond features 5 powerful new boss encounters that can be challenged in 8- and 16- player Story or Hard Mode, offering some of the most challenging group content yet!
  • A new set of PvE gear is available! Dread Guard gear is now the most powerful PvE equipment in the galaxy. It can be acquired from deep within Terror from Beyond (Hard Mode).
  • Significant changes have been made to crowd control to address the amount of control a player can be subject to at once. See the Classes and Combat section for details.

Classes and Combat

General

      • The crowd control gameplay has been adjusted to address the amount of control a player can be subject to at once. The majority of this change comes from reduced ranges on a number of crowd control abilities, as well as some adjustments to area of effect knockback abilities. To complement these changes, some small Resolve system tweaks (found in the PvP section) have been put in place to polish the system as a whole.
      • The ground targeting reticule for an ability queued during another ability’s channel is no longer cleared when the channeled ability has finished.
      • Players no longer receive the error message “You cannot cast while moving” when moving, stopping, and then immediately using a ground-targeted ability.
      • When a player is defeated immediately after applying a damage over time effect to another character, the player is no longer occasionally put back into combat after being revived.

Jedi Knight

General
        • Force Sweep’s timing has been adjusted; the ability now executes faster.
        • Force Stasis has a new animation.
Sentinel
        • Guarded by the Force now lasts 4 seconds (down from 5 seconds).
        • Zen (Shii-Cho Form) has been redesigned. Now, while Shii-Cho Form is active, using Zen consumes 1 charge every .5 seconds, generating 2 Focus for each charge consumed.
        • Valorous Call can no longer be activated when you already have 30 stacks of Centering.
Focus (Sentinel)
          • Zephyrean Slash has been redesigned. It now gives Strike, Zealous Strike, Slash, Blade Storm, and Dispatch a 50% chance per point to reduce the active cooldown of Force Sweep and Zealous Leap by .5 seconds per point.
          • Swift Slash now additionally affects Dispatch.
          • Saber Strength now additionally affects Dispatch.
          • Singularity: Stacks of Singularity now additionally reduce the Focus cost of Force Sweep by 12.5% per point per stack.
          • Shii-Cho Mastery’s armor penetration has been increased to 15% per point.
Guardian
Vigilance
          • Gather Strength: The bonus damage provided by each stack has been reduced to 2% per point.
Focus (Guardian)
          • Zephyrean Slash has been redesigned. It now gives Strike, Zealous Strike, Slash, Blade Storm, and Dispatch a 50% chance per point to reduce the active cooldown of Force Sweep and Zealous Leap by .5 seconds per point.
          • Swift Slash now additionally affects Dispatch.
          • Saber Strength now additionally affects Dispatch.
          • Singularity: Stacks of Singularity now additionally reduce the Focus cost of Force Sweep by 12.5% per point per stack.
          • Inner Focus now causes Combat Focus to generate 2 additional Focus per point.
          • Shii-Cho Mastery: Armor penetration has been increased to 15% per point.

Sith Warrior

General
        • Smash’s timing has been adjusted; the ability now executes faster.
        • Ravage’s audio now plays reliably when the ability is used.
Marauder
        • Undying Rage now lasts 4 seconds (down from 5 seconds).
        • Berserk (Shii-Cho Form) has been redesigned. Now, while Shii-Cho Form is active, using Berserk consumes 1 charge every .5 seconds, generating 2 Rage for each charge consumed.
        • Frenzy can no longer be activated when you already have 30 stacks of Fury.
Rage (Marauder)
          • Overpower has been redesigned. It now gives Assault, Battering Assault, Vicious Slash, Force Scream, and Vicious Throw a 50% chance per point to reduce the active cooldown of Smash and Obliterate by .5 seconds per point.
          • Brutality now additionally affects Vicious Throw.
          • Saber Strength now additionally affects Vicious Throw.
          • Shockwave: Stacks of Shockwave now additionally reduce the Rage cost of Smash by 12.5% per point per stack.
          • Shii-Cho Mastery’s armor penetration has been increased to 15% per point.
Juggernaut
        • Pooled Hatred: The bonus damage provided by each stack has been reduced to 2% per point.
Rage (Juggernaut)
          • Overpower has been redesigned. It now gives Assault, Sundering Assault, Vicious Slash, Force Scream, and Vicious Throw a 50% chance per point to reduce the active cooldown of Smash and Obliterate by .5 seconds per point.
          • Brutality now additionally affects Vicious Throw.
          • Saber Strength now additionally affects Vicious Throw.
          • Shockwave: Stacks of Shockwave now additionally reduce the Rage cost of Smash by 12.5% per point per stack.
          • Empowering Rage now causes Enrage to generate 2 additional Rage per point.
          • Shii-Cho Mastery: Armor penetration has been increased to 15% per point.

Jedi Consular

General
        • Force Stun now costs no Force and has a 10-meter range.
        • Force Speed now has a 20-second cooldown (down from 30).
        • Force Wave now costs no Force and affects targets in a 15-meter cone in front of you. This ability now executes faster.
Sage
        • Force Mend: This new ability allows you to heal yourself for a moderate amount. It costs no Force, is instant, and has a 30-second cooldown.
Seer
          • Valiance now additionally increases the healing of Force Mend by 15% per point.
          • Egress has been redesigned. It now causes Force Speed to remove roots and snares and grants immunity to roots and snares for its duration.
Telekinetics
          • Mental Alacrity now additionally provides immunity to interrupts for its duration. It has improved visual effects to demonstrate this effect.
          • Telekinetic Effusion no longer reduces the cooldown of Force Speed.
          • Telekinetic Wave has a new animation.
          • Kinetic Collapse: The Incapacitation effect caused by this skill no longer breaks on damage.
Shadow
        • Force Cloak now has a 2 minute cooldown.
Kinetic Combat
          • Elusiveness has been redesigned. It now requires Double-Bladed Saber Defense and increases the Force recovered by Double-Bladed Saber Defense. Successful shielding, parries, and deflects now reduce the active cooldown of Resilience by .5 second per point. This effect cannot occur more than once every second.
Infiltration
          • Infiltration Tactics: When Find Weakness activates, your next Shadow Strike deals 30% more damage and costs 75% less Force. This cannot occur more than once every 15 seconds, but each rank after the first reduces this rate limit by 3 seconds.
          • Celerity now additionally reduces the cooldown of Force Speed by 2.5 seconds per point.
          • Masked Assault now additionally finishes the cooldown of Blackout when you exit stealth. In addition, Masked Assault causes Shadow’s Respite to reduce all damage taken by 25% while active.
          • Fade now additionally reduces the damage taken from area effects by 15% per point and reduces the cooldown of Force Cloak by 15 seconds per point (down from 30 seconds per point). Kinetic Field no longer provides this effect.
          • Kinetic Field has been redesigned. Critical hits now cause you to build a Kinetic Field, increasing damage reduction by 1% per point per stack. This effect stacks up to 3 times. This skill is now located in tier 5 of the skill tree.
          • Situational Awareness is now located in tier 6 of the skill tree.
          • Deep Impact is now a 2-point skill with the same overall effect.
          • Humbling Strike is a new 1-point skill in tier 6 of the skill tree. It causes the target of your Spinning Kick to be slowed by 70% for 3 seconds when the knockdown effect ends. It requires Subduing Techniques.
          • Clairvoyant Strike: Using Project no longer consumes the buff provided by this ability. This change was made to better synergize with Spinning Strike during execute phases.
          • Clairvoyant Strike now correctly increases Project’s damage with 1 stack.

Sith Inquisitor

General
        • Electrocute now costs no Force and has a 10-meter range.
        • Force Speed now has a 20-second cooldown (down from 30).
        • Overload now costs no Force and affects targets in a 15-meter cone in front of you. This ability now executes faster.
Sorcerer
        • Unnatural Preservation: This new ability allows you to heal yourself for a moderate amount. It costs no Force, is instant, and has a 30-second cooldown.
Corruption
          • Dark Resilience now additionally increases the healing of Unnatural Preservation by 15% per point.
          • Fadeout has been redesigned. It now causes Force Speed to remove roots and snares and grants immunity to roots and snares for its duration.
Lightning
          • Polarity Shift now additionally provides immunity to interrupts for its duration. It has improved visual effects to demonstrate this effect.
          • Lightning Effusion no longer reduces the cooldown of Force Speed.
          • Backlash: The blindness effect caused by this skill no longer breaks on damage. The visual explosion effect now plays on the correct target.
Assassin
        • Force Cloak now has a 2 minute cooldown.
Darkness
          • Lightning Recovery has been redesigned. It now requires Lightning Reflexes and increases the Force recovered by Lightning Reflexes. Successful shielding, parries, and deflects now reduce the active cooldown of Force Shroud by .5 second per point. This effect cannot occur more than once every second.
Deception
          • Duplicity: When Exploit Weakness activates, your next Maul deals 30% more damage and costs 75% less Force. This cannot occur more than once every 15 seconds, but each rank after the first reduces this rate limit by 3 seconds.
          • Avoidance now additionally reduces the cooldown of Force Speed by 2.5 seconds per point.
          • Darkswell now additionally finishes the cooldown of Blackout when you exit stealth. In addition, Darkswell causes Dark Embrace to reduce all damage taken by 25% while active.
          • Fade now additionally reduces the damage taken from area effects by 15% per point and reduces the cooldown of Force Cloak by 15 seconds per point (down from 30 seconds per point). Entropic Field no longer provides this effect.
          • Entropic Field has been redesigned. Critical hits now cause you to build an Entropic Field, increasing damage reduction by 1% per point per stack. This effect stacks up to 3 times. This skill is now located in tier 5 of the skill tree.
          • Resourcefulness is now located in tier 6 of the skill tree.
          • Cracking Blasts is now a 2-point skill with the same overall effect.
          • Magnetism is a new 1-point skill in tier 6 of the skill tree. It causes the target of your Spike to be slowed by 70% for 3 seconds when the knockdown effect ends. It requires Static Cling.
          • Voltaic Slash: Using Shock no longer consumes the buff provided by this ability. This change was made to better synergize with Assassinate during execute phases.
          • Static Charges now correctly refers to the damage dealt by your next Surging Charge’s Discharge.
          • Voltaic Slash now correctly increases Shock’s damage with 1 stack.

Smuggler

General
        • Defense Screen: This ability’s tooltip now mentions that it absorbs damage up to a moderate limit and that it does not break stealth.
        • Flash Grenade no longer has an Energy cost.
        • An issue that could prevent players from taking cover properly has been corrected. This issue could cause the error “Unknown Effect Result” to display.
Gunslinger
        • Scrambling Field has a new icon.
        • Pulse Detonator’s timing has been adjusted; it now executes faster.
Saboteur
          • Hot Pursuit: This ability can now only be triggered once every 20 seconds.
          • Incendiary Grenade’s appearance no longer incorrectly displays 2 grenades in the air. Some timing issues with the throwing animation have been addressed.
Sharpshooter
          • Trickshot is now usable within the 5 seconds immediately following Charged Burst, Aimed Shot, or Quickdraw.
Dirty Fighting (Gunslinger)
          • Wounding Shots has a new animation.
Scoundrel
        • Disappearing Act now has a 2 minute cooldown.
Scrapper
          • Fight or Flight has been redesigned. It finishes the cooldown on Sneak when you exit stealth and allows Sneak to be used out of stealth, increasing movement speed by 50% for 6 seconds. It still removes the penalty to healing done and received caused by Disappearing Act.
          • Flee the Scene now additionally reduces the cooldown of Sneak by 7.5 seconds per point. It also now reduces the cooldown of Disappearing Act by 15 seconds per point (down from 30 seconds per point).

Imperial Agent

General
        • Flash Bang no longer has an Energy cost.
        • An issue that could prevent players from taking cover properly has been corrected. This issue could cause the error “Unknown Effect Result” to display.
Sniper
        • Ballistic Shield has a new icon.
        • Cover Pulse’s timing has been adjusted; it now executes faster.
Marksmanship
          • Followthrough is now usable within the 5 seconds immediately following Snipe, Ambush, or Takedown.
Engineering
          • Calculated Pursuit: This ability can now only be triggered once every 20 seconds.
Operative
        • Cloaking Screen now has a 2 minute cooldown.
Concealment
          • Energy Screen has been redesigned. It is now called “Ghost.” It finishes the cooldown on Sneak when you exit stealth and allows Sneak to be used out of stealth, increasing movement speed by 50% for 6 seconds. It still removes the penalty to healing done and received caused by Cloaking Screen.
          • Advanced Cloaking now additionally reduces the cooldown of Sneak by 7.5 seconds per point. It also now reduces the cooldown of Cloaking Screen by 15 seconds per point (down from 30 seconds per point).

Trooper

General
        • Hold the Line now has more noticeable visual effects.
        • Cryo Grenade’s range has been decreased from 30 meters to 10 meters.
Commando
        • Due to changes in the Commando skill trees, all Commandos have had their skill points refunded.
        • Disabling Shot is a new ability that interrupts the target’s current action and prevents that ability from being used for the next 4 seconds.
Gunnery
          • Concussive Force: Stockstrike now immobilizes the target for 4 seconds instead of knocking it back.
          • Cover Fire: This ability’s snare has been increased to 70%.
          • Charged Barrel: Each stack of Charged Barrel now additionally reduces the activation time of your next Advanced Medical Probe by 20% per stack.
Combat Medic
          • Kolto Residue now additionally snares enemies struck by your Kolto Bomb by 50% for 3 seconds.
          • Potent Medicine is now a 3-point skill with the same overall effect.
          • Frontline Medic is a new 2-point skill. While protected by your own Trauma Probe, firing Hammer Shot at an enemy now triggers your Trauma Probe (this can only happen once every 3 seconds). This does not trigger if your health is full.
Vanguard
Tactics
          • Pulse Generator: Each stack now causes 20% additional damage. This can stack up to 3 times.
          • Shock Absorbers now additionally reduces damage taken from area effects by 15% per point. Damage reduction while stunned has been increased to 15% per point.
Assault Specialist (Vanguard)
          • Sweltering Heat’s snare has been reduced to 30%.
          • Incendiary Round’s range has been reduced to 10 meters.
          • Assault Plastique’s range has been reduced to 10 meters.
Assault Specialist (Commando)
          • Sweltering Heat’s snare has been reduced to 30%.

Bounty Hunter

General
        • Electro Dart’s range has been decreased from 30 meters to 10 meters.
        • Unload has a new animation when used with a single blaster pistol.
Mercenary
        • Due to changes in the Mercenary skill trees, all Mercenaries have had their skill points refunded.
        • Disabling Shot is a new ability that interrupts the target’s current action and prevents that ability from being used for the next 4 seconds.
Arsenal
          • Afterburners: Rocket Punch now immobilizes the target for 4 seconds instead of knocking it back.
          • Pinning Fire: This ability’s snare has been increased to 70%.
          • Tracer Lock: Each stack of Tracer Lock now additionally reduces the activation time of your next Healing Scan by 20% per stack.
Bodyguard
          • Kolto Residue now additionally snares enemies struck by your Kolto Missile by 50% for 3 seconds.
          • Warden is now a 3-point skill with the same overall effect.
          • Peacekeeper is a new 2-point skill. While protected by your own Kolto Shell, firing Rapid Shots at an enemy now triggers your Kolto Shell (this can only happen once every 3 seconds). This does not trigger if your health is full.
Pyrotech (Mercenary)
          • Sweltering Heat’s snare has been reduced to 30%.
Powertech
Advanced Prototype
          • Prototype Flame Thrower: Each stack now causes 20% additional damage. This can stack up to 3 times.
          • Stabilized Armor now additionally reduces damage taken from area effects by 15% per point. Damage reduction while stunned has been increased to 15% per point.
Pyrotech (Powertech)
        • Sweltering Heat’s snare has been reduced to 30%.
        • Incendiary Missile’s range has been reduced to 10 meters.
        • Thermal Detonator’s range has been reduced to 10 meters.

Companion Characters

General

      • Players can now use “match color to chest” for their companions, and can choose to show or hide companion head gear.
      • Companions no longer have their weapons drawn on the player’s starship.

Companions

Gault
        • Memento Marketing: This conversation is now only available on the player’s ship.
Lord Scourge
        • Legends: Affection gained during this conversation is now properly granted to Lord Scourge (instead of Rusk).
Tallos Drellik
        • The conversation for “Failure” now grants affection gains and losses correctly.
Vector
      • Agents on the conversation “The Lost Colony” now properly receive affection rewards for the dialogue.

Crew Skills

Gathering

    • Several gathering nodes that were previously inaccessible (for instance, some that were underneath terrain) can now be harvested.

Flashpoints and Operations

Flashpoints

General
        • While participating in a Flashpoint conversation, using Esc to cancel a conversation and then pressing the “x” button to close the window no longer causes the player to exit the Flashpoint instance.
Kaon Under Siege
        • Players can no longer stand on a wall in order to trivialize encounter mechanics.
        • Floating lights in this Flashpoint now render correctly in low-detail mode.
Lost Island
        • Transgenic Sample Eleven’s overall damage has been decreased in Story Mode.
        • Project Sav-Rak no longer spits Rak Rot in Story Mode.
        • In Story Mode, Doctor Lorrick no longer casts Satchel Charge, and Corrosive Smash’s cooldown has been increased.
        • Doctor Simlo and Doctor Proxinus are now easier to defeat.
        • The Putrid Shaclaw’s Infectious Bite no longer causes Festering Rot in Story Mode.
        • LR-5 Sentinel Droid’s Discharge now gives players a 4.5-second warning in Story Mode (and a 3-second warning in Hard Mode) before activating its ground effect. Players can now move the impending effect away from the group or tank. Plasma Arc no longer has an activation time and is executed while moving, and Incinerate is correctly marked as area of effect damage.
        • In Story Mode, LR-5 Sentinel Droid’s Discharge ground effects have a longer duration before growing in size, and it is limited to 3 active effects at one time. Incinerate’s damage has been reduced, its damage over time effect can be dispelled, and it is now only applied to its primary target (instead of nearby targets).
The Esseles
        • Players who fall into the Power Core are now defeated more reliably.

Operations

General
        • [WEEKLY] Deadly Operations now awards 30 Daily Commendations.
        • [WEEKLY] Galactic Operations now awards 10 Daily Commendations and 8 Black Hole Commendations.
        • [WEEKLY] Galactic Crisis Points now awards 10 Daily Commendations and 8 Black Hole Commendations.
        • Explosive Conflict now awards 10 Black Hole Commendations and crafting materials.
Eternity Vault
        • Annihilator Droid XRR-3 can now be attacked more reliably with abilities that require standing behind the target.
        • Characters no longer occasionally become invisible when moving through the lava tunnels.
        • Corrected the location of a misplaced Ancient Power Source during the Soa encounter.
Explosive Conflict
        • Ugnaut Engineers’ “Firebomb” now correctly displays visual effects on the ground for the full duration of the effect.
        • The console that deactivates Colonel Vorgath’s minefield is now positioned in a more accessible location.
        • Damaging Toth and Zorn too quickly no longer causes their health threshold mechanics to overlap (in all difficulty modes).
        • Chests in Explosive Conflict no longer contain Black Hole Commendations. They now have increased amounts of credits and crafting materials.
        • Bosses in Hard Mode Explosive Conflict now drop 5 Black Hole Commendations each.
        • Players can no longer use certain abilities to avoid an exhaustion zone in this Operation.
        • A number of changes have been made to Explosive Conflict’s Story Mode in order to make it more accessible for pick-up groups.
Toth and Zorn
            • Frenzy now increases damage less per stack.
            • Toth now waits longer before using area of effect abilities after jumping.
            • Fearful now increases damage taken by a lower amount.
            • The amount of time before Toth and Zorn enrage when one dies has been increased.
            • The enrage timer for the encounter has been increased to 6 minutes 30 seconds.
Firebrand and Stormcaller
            • The activation time of Incinerate Armor, Double Destruction, and Defensive Systems has been increased.
            • Incinerate Armor no longer increases damage taken in addition to its armor debuff.
            • Shield generators can no longer be damaged by players.
Colonel Vorgath
            • Probe Droids no longer use Cleave.
            • The enrage timer for the encounter has been increased to 4 minutes 30 seconds.
Warlord Kephess
            • The time before Baradium Bombers explode has been increased.
            • The damage for the Pulsar Power Droids’ rail shot has been decreased.
            • Kephess’ damage in the final phase has been decreased.
            • The damage from the Trandoshan Warrior’s reflective shields has been decreased.
            • The enrage timer for the encounter has been increased.
Karagga’s Palace
          • Bonethrasher can now be attacked more reliably with abilities that require standing behind the target.
          • Proximity Pulse Mines no longer spawn during the G4-B3 Heavy Fabricator encounter in Story Mode.

Group Finder

      • Players participating in a Group Finder group now have the ability to teleport to the Group Finder instance at any point.
      • Players who leave an active Group Finder instance can now be returned to the location they were in when they used the “travel now” dialog option to travel to the instance.
      • Once players reach a checkpoint or defeat an Operation boss, they may choose to exit at the normal area entrance when leaving.
      • Players no longer receive more than one “Travel Now” dialog if one is open when the group finds a new member.
      • Completing the Group Finder mission for Operations now rewards a lockbox that contains 5 Black Hole Commendations and 30 Columi Commendations.

Items

      • The majority of offhand items can now be modified. Shields, Generators, and Foci accept Armoring modifications, and Vibroknives and Shotguns accept Barrels. Additionally, they can contain Color Crystal, Mod, and Enhancement slots (though the Color Crystal slot does not currently impact the visuals of the item). Note that there are some exceptions – not all offhands can be modified. Due to this change, previously damaged offhand items will be fully repaired, but items on the GTN or in the mail will have their durability reduced to 0 and will need repairs.
      • Bind on pickup and Bind on Legacy items can now be traded for up to 2 hours between players that were eligible to loot the item.
      • Items purchased from a vendor can now be sold to any vendor for full purchase price (in commendations) for up to 2 hours. Stackable items and mission items cannot be traded or sold back for full value. The 2 hour time is terminated if a mod is added or removed or an augment slot is added. Bind on Equip items cannot be refunded (in commendations) if they are traded, mailed, put in a guild bank, or listed on the GTN.
      • Lockboxes’ 2 hour timer terminates when the lockbox is opened.
      • The formula that determines extraction costs for modifications has been adjusted. Costs to remove Premium and Artifact quality modifications have been reduced substantially. The cost to remove Prototype modifications has been decreased slightly.
      • The Heavy Sonic Disruptor can now be drawn correctly by characters.
      • Legacy items now drop more frequently.
      • New offhand items are now available on Black Hole vendors.
      • The Czerka Crate-o-Matic no longer causes players to become invisible.

Missions and NPCs

General

        • Shuttles on Corellia, Belsavis, and Ilum now allow direct travel between areas with daily missions.
        • Several cinematics throughout the game have been improved. In many cases, animations have been cleaned up and missing or extraneous characters have been addressed.
        • Some instances where the player would enter or leave a mission phase unexpectedly have been corrected. This could, in some cases, cause a player to become stuck.
        • An issue that could cause a glow effect to be applied to a player’s starship holoterminal several times has been corrected.

World Missions

Alderaan
          • Hive Mined: Imperial Mine Inspectors now run away and despawn correctly when freed.
          • Paladins: Players can no longer accidentally attack Duke Charle Organa while fighting the Wolf Baron.
          • Revenge Served Cold: Line of sight issues with the Thul Cryo Dragoon have been corrected.
          • Thwarting House Thul: Looting Deral Thul’s Cybernetic Implant now works properly when the player is in a group.
Balmorra
          • Big Guns: Mission indicators now direct players to the correct locations.
          • Coms Away: The post-mission ambient dialogue from Fixer 66 now properly relates to the player’s choices.
          • Data Corruption: This mission no longer progresses if the player cancels the action while uploading the virus.
          • Flush out the Snipers: Enemies for this mission’s objective now have an appropriate name (“Resistance Sharpshooter” instead of “Gold Neerbray Commando”).
          • Salting the Fields: Each player in a group must now use the Soil Devastators separately.
          • Storming the Front: The medical supplies item is now displayed in the mission tracker during the step “Heal the Wounded Republic Defenders.
          • Wild Fire: The mission log text now correctly instructs players to return to the Troida Military Workshop Hangar.
Corellia
          • The item “Anti-rad Injector” associated with Glow and Counter Eco-Terrorism now properly removes stacks of radiation poisoning from a character over time.
          • Asset Liquidation: Usable objective items and enemy NPCs related to this mission now respawn more quickly.
          • Coronet Shipping Invasion: More Imperial forces in the Coronet Shipping Docks now count towards completion of this bonus mission.
          • Counter Eco-Terrorism: Objective items related to this mission now respawn more quickly.
          • Criminal Crackdown: Usable objective items and enemy NPCs related to this mission now respawn more quickly.
          • Forced Labor: A Drall Engineer no longer runs through the force field when rescued. Usable objects related to this mission now respawn faster.
Hoth
          • Imperial Interference: This bonus mission is now the appropriate level (previously, it was lower level than its main mission).
          • Razing the Ice Fortress: The step “Speak to Seeker Kabath” now directs the player to the correct location.
Ilum
          • Darkness on Ilum: multiple encounters related to this mission can no longer be activated at the same time.
Korriban
          • Allegiance: Players can now consistently complete this mission while in a group.
Nar Shaddaa
          • Back Alley: This mission now correctly provides a lockbox in its reward choice.
          • Recruitment: The Jedi Master now spawns reliably.
          • Zero Protocol: The step “Return to Commandor Stron” now has an appropriate map link.
Ord Mantell
          • Take Back Drelliad Village: Separatist Defenders and Separatist Heavy Gunners now grant credit towards the objective “Dispatch the Separatist Forces.
Quesh
          • The Republic Commando and Medical Officer on Quesh now properly show mission indicators if a player is the appropriate level for Quesh.
Taris
          • Bashun’s Bodyguards: This bonus mission now activates correctly for Imperial Agents. It is a bonus mission for the mission Cathar Assassination.
Tatooine
          • Shields Down: Players now receive kill credit for Shielded Mark V Junk Droids if their companion deals the killing blow.
Voss
          • A Selfless Act: Log entries for this mission now reflect the proper mission steps.
          • Dark Rites: Dark Mastery: This mission now correctly awards affection points for Companion Characters.
          • March of Time: Monument text now remains on screen for a longer period of time.
          • Signal Fires: Gormak Tower Guards no longer pre-emptively despawn during this mission.

Class Missions

Jedi Knight
          • Vault of the Gormak King: Players can no longer re-enter the Gormak Vault phase once this mission has been completed.
          • Weapon of the Jedi: Players who did not properly receive the “Jedi Weapons” Codex entry will find it unlocked.
Sith Warrior
          • Ambush: A Republic Strike Droid in Darth Vengean’s Flagship no longer becomes invisible.
          • An Army of One: Players can no longer destroy Commander Naughlen’s barricade before they reach the mission step to do so.
          • Bringing up the Rear: The map note for the task “Defeat the Imperial Rear Guards” now displays correctly.
          • Choke Point: The map note related to the mission step “Rendezvous with Lieutenant Dargus” now displays correctly.
          • Distress Call: Halidrell Setsyn now has a mission indicator on the appropriate mission step.
          • General Durant: The conversation with General Durant is no longer forced upon completion of the mission step “Confront General Durant.” Lieutenant Pierce no longer enters combat during this mission.
          • Power Play: The fight with Darth Vengean now only resets if Lord Draahg is killed.
Jedi Consular
          • Deep Cradle, Dark Heart: The conversation with Sophia Farash now triggers correctly.
          • Nightmares: The step “Find Doctor Kerrian” now directs players to the correct location.
          • Old Blood: The mission step “Enter Bekvalen Hall” now has an appropriate map note. Hollow Voice now uses the correct language.
Sith Inquisitor
          • The Dark Council: The step “Defeat Darth Thanaton” now points the player to the correct location.
Smuggler
          • Eco-Terrorists: This mission now correctly provides a Premium Skill Barrel 8 in addition to the reward choice.
          • Heist of the Millennium: The Droid head now has the appropriate model, and it is now more obvious that players are removing a piece of it.
          • Into the Fire: The conversation with Lokir-Ka no longer auto-triggers again if the player uses Esc to end the conversation.
          • The Endless Abyss: This mission now correctly provides a Prototype Artful Mod 14 if you do not keep the blaster.
Imperial Agent
          • Imperial Agents who are simultaneously on the “Travel to Nar Shaddaa” step of Kaliyo’s mission “What You Do for a Partner” and the “Closing the Deal” class mission can now satisfy both mission steps by traveling to Nar Shaddaa.
          • The Assassin’s Prize: Players can no longer accidentally leave Denri Ayl’s mission area.
          • The Sky Burns: Players no longer see this mission progress until the beacons are fully planted.
Trooper
          • Public Relations: Sergeant Jaxo can no longer die during one of the steps requiring the player to speak with her. Re-opening the door after closing it during the bomb sequence can no longer cause this mission to become blocked. Players can no longer infiltrate Port Raga until they have spoken to Jaxo.
          • Welcome Party: Colonel Gaff’s conversation no longer begins automatically when the player approaches.
Bounty Hunter
          • Electrocution: Jicoln’s electric floor now properly stuns players, and its debuff has an appropriate icon.
          • Honor or Glory: The conversation with Toran is no longer forced if the player uses Esc to cancel the conversation.
          • Meeting the Admiral: The last step of this mission no longer directs you back to Hangar Bay 59 if you helped the Admiral.
          • The Alderaan Target: All companion affection changes during this mission are now properly applied at the end of the mission.

NPCs

        • The Nightmare Pilgrim can now be respawned every 30 minutes (down from 2 hours).
        • Intelligence Officer Breerdin no longer treats all alien characters as Chiss.
        • Corsec Blaster Droids on Corellia are no longer invisible.
        • Members of the Black Sun and Coruscant Security now engage in combat appropriately in several areas on Coruscant.
        • Several common NPC Boss encounters have had their loot adjusted to be more in line with their rarity.
        • Conquest Droids on Balmorra no longer attack other Imperial NPCs that enter their range.
        • Lowered the volume of some vociferous training droids on Korriban.
        • The Released Rancor on Belsavis now animates properly when moving.

PvP

General

        • Level 50 daily Warzone missions (No Quarter and March Them Down) now only require 4 Warzone completions (down from 6). Winning a Warzone still counts as an extra completion.
        • The Resolve system has been adjusted in the following ways.
          • When a player becomes immune to control due to Resolve, his Resolve meter will not start decaying until after all the current controlling effects expire (instead of decaying immediately after the immunity begins).
          • Players under the effects of a control ability now build less Resolve for other control abilities that target them. The exact amount of Resolve the player builds is based on the time remaining on the ability currently controlling the player and the relative strength of that ability’s effect. If two stuns of similar strength (such as Electrocute and Debilitate) target a single player at the same time, the second ability would generate very little Resolve. However, if the two effects were applied so that the duration of their effects overlapped very little, each effect would grant its full (or nearly full) Resolve to the target.
          • A new Codex entry can be found in the Game Rules section to help players who are unfamiliar with the details of the Resolve system.
        • New Recruit MK-2 gear is now available. This gear replaces the Recruit set, which is no longer available.
        • Unranked Warzones now backfill empty player slots more frequently.
        • Elite War Hero weapons and offhands have been added to the PvP vendors.
        • The cost of War Hero weapons and offhands has been reduced.
        • 3 Warzone Commendations can now be traded for 1 Ranked Warzone Commendation.
        • Non-flagged players will no longer be flagged for PvP when a hostile player users beneficial abilities on an NPC the non-flagged player’s companion is in combat with.

Warzones

General
          • Leaving a Warzone queue from the queue window now properly closes the “join Warzone” dialog.
Huttball
          • Arena crowd visual effects have been added.
          • Frogdogs now hear voiceover when they score their second point.
          • The maximum time limit in Huttball has been reduced from 15 minutes to 13 minutes.
          • Some locations that would erroneously remove the AFK debuff when the player was not in a combat area have been corrected.
Novare Coast
          • The fire rate for each of the turrets has been increased from 8 seconds to 9 seconds.
          • Players are no longer required to press Spacebar to exit the loading screen before this Warzone.
Voidstar
          • In the event that neither team breaches the first set of doors, the winner of the match is now the team that scored the most kills.
          • Players can no longer target area of effect abilities through the forcefield in the third room.
          • Some locations that would erroneously remove the AFK debuff when the player was not in a combat area have been corrected.

Space Combat

      • Items that grant repeated upgrades of the same type are now correctly accounted for.
      • Power Conversion Module abilities now appear in the correct quickslot during Space Combat Missions for Imperial Agents.

UI

General

        • The title row in panels such as the Guild Roster and Who List no longer occasionally disappear.
        • The “inspect” window now closes when the inspected character is too far away.
        • The “promote” and “demote” buttons are now more visible in the guild UI.
        • Players can now set their moods, altering their character’s facial expression. Moods can be found in the emote browser near the chat window.
        • Activating multiple UI panels in very rapid succession no longer causes the game to become unresponsive.
        • Players can now use shift+right click to equip an item directly on their active companion.

Chat

        • PvP messages (such as becoming flagged) can now be toggled off in chat tabs.
        • The description of the chat preference “Group Awareness Ping” now more accurately describes its effect. The tooltip now reads: “Plays an audible tone when your name is said in a Group chat channel. If you have heard an audible tone in the last 30 seconds, you won’t hear one.

Maps

        • The accuracy of the Promenade map on Nar Shaddaa has been improved.
        • The map for the Dark Temple Approach on Dromund Kaas now better reflects the world.
        • Several areas where the map would incorrectly transition to a new map have been corrected.

Miscellaneous Bug Fixes

    • Jedi Consulars arriving on Balmorra are no longer facing their ship door upon entering the spaceport.
    • The Dromund Kaas Nexus Cantina rest zone has been slightly adjusted.
    • The Fernell Research Facility on Balmorra now displays the correct name.
    • Trees and large moving objects now cast animated shadows in the game world. Shadows are smoother, and players will notice improved self-shadowing. Additionally, the shadow system has been optimized to increase performance. Players utilizing AMD Crossfire or Nvidia SLI options will see a boost in performance. To see these changes, the shader settings and shadow settings must be set to “high.”
    • Several minor art issues, like floating objects, seams in the terrain, and issues with disappearing geometry have been corrected.
    • Many places in the world where players could get stuck have been fixed.
    • Several typographical errors have been corrected.
    • An issue that could cause display problems after changing a video card out has been addressed.
    • Players can no longer use some abilities near ledges to avoid taking falling damage.
    • Players performing certain emotes while riding the Jawa Balloon on Tatooine are no longer teleported back to the balloon’s start position.
    • Changes to the Grass Quality slider in the options now apply immediately when the player presses “OK” or “Apply.”

SWTOR: PTS Patch 1.4 – Update 1

For all the PTS fiends out there, here’s the update that’s dropped on the PTS in the past day:

Flashpoints and Operations
Flashpoint: Lost Island

  • Transgenic Sample Eleven’s overall damage has been decreased in Story Mode.
  • Project Sav-Rak no longer spits Rak Rot in Story Mode.
  • In Story Mode, Doctor Lorrick no longer casts Satchel Charge, and Corrosive Smash’s cooldown has been increased.
  • Doctor Simlo and Doctor Proxinus are now easier to defeat.
  • LR-5 Sentinel Droid’s Discharge now gives players a 4.5-second warning in Story Mode (and a 3-second warning in Hard Mode) before activating its ground effect. Players can now move the impending effect away from the group or tank. Plasma Arc no longer has an activation time and is executed while moving, and Incinerate is correctly marked as area of effect damage.
  • In Story Mode, LR-5 Sentinel Droid’s Discharge ground effects have a longer duration before growing in size, and it is limited to 3 active effects at one time. Incinerate’s damage has been reduced, its damage over time effect can be dispelled, and it is now only applied to its primary target (instead of nearby targets).

Operation: Terror from Beyond

  • During the Machine Core encounter, the correct (lower) number of Regulators spawn following the orange phase.

Missions and NPCs
General

  • The visual effects for several interactable mission objects in the world now display correctly. This fix allows progression in some missions that were previously blocked by an unusable mission object.

World Missions

Ilum

  • Darkness on Ilum: Players can now interact with the Heating Control item in order to progress on this mission.

Class Missions

Jedi Consular

  • Shattering: Nadia Grell can no longer be summoned before she is rescued during this mission.

PvP

  • Corrected an issue that could cause the game to crash when accepting a Warzone invitation.

Space Combat

  • Engaging in missions in Hutt space (Imperial) and the Coreward Worlds (Republic) no longer causes the game to crash.

Miscellaneous Bug Fixes

  • Lowered the volume of some vociferous training droids on Korriban.
  • The character model now renders consistently when attempting to create a new character.
  • Corrected some typographical errors.

SWTOR 1.4 Hits The Public Test Server

It’s always just a bot exciting when new content hits the Public Test Server and this time is no different. For those of you who like a test-drive, you can now check out all the changes in 1.4.

We’ve just posted the full patch notes and we’ll be dissecting them in detail over coming days. There’s also a nice landing page for the update, which you can see here.

In the meantime, there’s also a developer dispatch on the new Terror From Beyond Operation to coincide with the release of 1.4:

So there you have it: are you excited for 1.4?

SWTOR 1.4 Patch Notes

SWTOR 1.4 has hit the Public Test Server and we have the patch notes in full for you right here. Enjoy!

Highlights

  • Terror from Beyond, a new Operation, is now available! Travel to the remote planet of Asation, where the Dread Masters have commandeered an ancient Gree Hypergate in order to unleash untold horrors upon the galaxy. Terror from Beyond features 5 powerful new boss encounters that can be challenged in 8- and 16- player Story or Hard Mode, offering some of the most challenging group content yet!
  • A new set of PvE gear is available! Dread Guard gear is now the most powerful PvE equipment in the galaxy. It can be acquired from deep within Terror from Beyond (Hard Mode).
  • Significant changes have been made to crowd control to address the amount of control a player can be subject to at once. See the Classes and Combat section for details.

Classes and Combat

General

  • The crowd control gameplay has been adjusted to address the amount of control a player can be subject to at once. The majority of this change comes from reduced ranges on a number of crowd control abilities, as well as some adjustments to area of effect knockback abilities. To complement these changes, some small Resolve system tweaks (found in the PvP section) have been put in place to polish the system as a whole.
  • The ground targeting reticule is no longer cleared when a channeled ability completes channeling.
  • Players no longer receive the error message “You cannot cast while moving” when moving, stopping, and then immediately using a ground-targeted ability.
  • When a player is defeated immediately after applying a damage over time effect to another character, the player is no longer occasionally put back into combat after being revived.

 

Jedi Knight

General

  • Force Sweep’s timing has been adjusted; the ability now executes more quickly.
  • Force Stasis has a new animation.

Sentinel

  • Guarded by the Force now lasts 4 seconds (down from 5 seconds).
  • Zen (Shii-Cho Form) has been redesigned. Now, while Shii-Cho Form is active, using Zen consumes 1 charge every .5 seconds, generating 2 Focus for each charge consumed.
  • Valorous Call can no longer be activated when you already have 30 stacks of Centering

    Focus (Sentinel)

    • Zephyrean Slash has been redesigned. It now gives Strike, Zealous Strike, Slash, Blade Storm, and Dispatch a 50% chance per point to reduce the active cooldown of Force Sweep and Zealous Leap by .5 seconds per point.
    • Swift Slash now additionally affects Dispatch.
    • Saber Strength now additionally affects Dispatch.
    • Singularity: Stacks of Singularity now additionally reduce the Focus cost of Force Sweep by 12.5% per point per stack.
    • Shii-Cho Mastery’s armor penetration has been increased to 15% per point.

Guardian

Focus (Guardian)

  • Zephyrean Slash has been redesigned. It now gives Strike, Zealous Strike, Slash, Blade Storm, and Dispatch a 50% chance per point to reduce the active cooldown of Force Sweep and Zealous Leap by .5 seconds per point.
  • Swift Slash now additionally affects Dispatch.
  • Saber Strength now additionally affects Dispatch.
  • Singularity: Stacks of Singularity now additionally reduce the Focus cost of Force Sweep by 12.5% per point per stack.
  • Inner Focus now additionally causes Combat Focus to generate 2 Focus per point.
  • Shii-Cho Mastery: Armor penetration has been increased to 15% per point.

Sith Warrior

General

  • Smash’s timing has been adjusted; the ability now executes more quickly.
  • Ravage’s audio now plays reliably when the ability is used.

Marauder

  • Undying Rage now lasts 4 seconds (down from 5 seconds).
  • Berserk (Shii-Cho Form) has been redesigned. Now, while Shii-Cho Form is active, using Berserk consumes 1 charge every .5 seconds, generating 2 Rage for each charge consumed.
  • Frenzy can no longer be activated when you already have 30 stacks of Fury.

    Rage (Marauder)

    • Overpower has been redesigned. It now gives Assault, Battering Assault, Vicious Slash, Force Scream, and Vicious Throw a 50% chance per point to reduce the active cooldown of Smash and Obliterate by .5 seconds per point.
    • Brutality now additionally affects Vicious Throw.
    • Saber Strength now additionally affects Vicious Throw.
    • Shockwave: Stacks of Shockwave now additionally reduce the Rage cost of Smash by 12.5% per point per stack.
    • Shii-Cho Mastery’s armor penetration has been increased to 15% per point.

Juggernaut

Rage (Juggernaut)

  • Overpower has been redesigned. It now gives Assault, Sundering Assault, Vicious Slash, Force Scream, and Vicious Throw a 50% chance per point to reduce the active cooldown of Smash and Obliterate by .5 seconds per point.
  • Brutality now additionally affects Vicious Throw.
  • Saber Strength now additionally affects Vicious Throw.
  • Shockwave: Stacks of Shockwave now additionally reduce the Rage cost of Smash by 12.5% per point per stack.
  • Empowering Rage now additionally causes Enrage to generate 2 Rage per point.
  • Shii-Cho Mastery: Armor penetration has been increased to 15% per point.

Jedi Consular

General

  • Force Stun now costs no Force and has a 10-meter range.
  • Force Speed now has a 20-second cooldown (down from 30).
  • Force Wave now costs no Force and affects targets in a 15-meter cone in front of you. This ability now executes more quickly.

Sage

  • Force Mend: This new ability allows you to heal yourself for a moderate amount. It costs no Force, is instant, and has a 30-second cooldown.

    Seer

    • Valiance now additionally increases the healing of Force Mend by 15% per point.
    • Egress has been redesigned. It now causes Force Speed to remove roots and snares and grants immunity to roots and snares for its duration.

    Telekinetics

    • Mental Alacrity now additionally provides immunity to interrupts for its duration. It has improved visual effects to demonstrate this effect.
    • Telekinetic Effusion no longer reduces the cooldown of Force Speed.
    • Telekinetic Wave has a new animation.
    • Kinetic Collapse: The Incapacitation effect caused by this skill no longer breaks on damage.

Shadow

  • Force Cloak now has a 2 minute cooldown.

    Kinetic Combat

    • Elusiveness has been redesigned. It now requires Double-Bladed Saber Defense and increases the Force recovered by Double-Bladed Saber Defense. Successful shielding, parries, and deflects now reduce the active cooldown of Resilience by .5 second per point. This effect cannot occur more than once every second.

    Infiltration

    • Infiltration Tactics: When Find Weakness activates, your next Shadow Strike deals 30% more damage and costs 75% less Force. This cannot occur more than once every 15 seconds, but each rank after the first reduces this rate limit by 3 seconds.
    • Celerity now additionally reduces the cooldown of Force Speed by 2.5 seconds per point.
    • Masked Assault now additionally finishes the cooldown of Blackout when you exit stealth. In addition, Masked Assault causes Shadow’s Respite to reduce all damage taken by 25% while active.
    • Fade now additionally reduces the damage taken from area effects by 15% per point and reduces the cooldown of Force Cloak by 15 seconds per point (down from 30 seconds per point). Kinetic Field no longer provides this effect.
    • Kinetic Field has been redesigned. Critical hits now cause you to build a Kinetic Field, increasing damage reduction by 1% per point per stack. This effect stacks up to 3 times. This skill is now located in tier 5 of the skill tree.
    • Situational Awareness is now located in tier 6 of the skill tree.
    • Deep Impact is now a 2-point skill with the same overall effect.
    • Humbling Strike is a new 1-point skill in tier 6 of the skill tree. It causes the target of your Spinning Kick to be slowed by 70% for 3 seconds when the knockdown effect ends. It requires Subduing Techniques.
    • Clairvoyant Strike: Using Project no longer consumes the buff provided by this ability. This change was made to better synergize with Spinning Strike during execute phases.
    • Clairvoyant Strike now correctly increases Project’s damage with 1 stack.

Sith Inquisitor

General

  • Electrocute now costs no Force and has a 10-meter range.
  • Force Speed now has a 20-second cooldown (down from 30).
  • Overload now costs no Force and affects targets in a 15-meter cone in front of you. This ability now executes more quickly.

Sorcerer

  • Unnatural Preservation: This new ability allows you to heal yourself for a moderate amount. It costs no Force, is instant, and has a 30-second cooldown.

    Corruption

    • Dark Resilience now additionally increases the healing of Unnatural Preservation by 15% per point.
    • Fadeout has been redesigned. It now causes Force Speed to remove roots and snares and grants immunity to roots and snares for its duration.

    Lightning

    • Polarity Shift now additionally provides immunity to interrupts for its duration. It has improved visual effects to demonstrate this effect.
    • Lightning Effusion no longer reduces the cooldown of Force Speed.
    • Backlash: The blindness effect caused by this skill no longer breaks on damage. The visual explosion effect now plays on the correct target.

Assassin

  • Force Cloak now has a 2 minute cooldown.

    Darkness

    • Lightning Recovery has been redesigned. It now requires Lightning Reflexes and increases the Force recovered by Lightning Reflexes. Successful shielding, parries, and deflects now reduce the active cooldown of Force Shroud by .5 second per point. This effect cannot occur more than once every second.

    Deception

    • Duplicity: When Exploit Weakness activates, your next Maul deals 30% more damage and costs 75% less Force. This cannot occur more than once every 15 seconds, but each rank after the first reduces this rate limit by 3 seconds.
    • Avoidance now additionally reduces the cooldown of Force Speed by 2.5 seconds per point.
    • Darkswell now additionally finishes the cooldown of Blackout when you exit stealth. In addition, Darkswell causes Dark Embrace to reduce all damage taken by 25% while active.
    • Fade now additionally reduces the damage taken from area effects by 15% per point and reduces the cooldown of Force Cloak by 15 seconds per point (down from 30 seconds per point). Entropic Field no longer provides this effect.
    • Entropic Field has been redesigned. Critical hits now cause you to build an Entropic Field, increasing damage reduction by 1% per point per stack. This effect stacks up to 3 times. This skill is now located in tier 5 of the skill tree.
    • Resourcefulness is now located in tier 6 of the skill tree.
    • Cracking Blasts is now a 2-point skill with the same overall effect.
    • Magnetism is a new 1-point skill in tier 6 of the skill tree. It causes the target of your Spike to be slowed by 70% for 3 seconds when the knockdown effect ends. It requires Static Cling.
    • Voltaic Slash: Using Shock no longer consumes the buff provided by this ability. This change was made to better synergize with Assassinate during execute phases.
    • Static Charges now correctly refers to the damage dealt by your next Surging Charge’s Discharge.
    • Voltaic Slash now correctly increases Shock’s damage with 1 stack.

Smuggler

General

  • Defense Screen: This ability’s tooltip now mentions that it absorbs damage up to a moderate limit and that it does not break stealth.
  • Flash Grenade no longer has an Energy cost.
  • An issue that could prevent players from taking cover correctly has been corrected. This issue could cause the error “Unknown Effect Result” to display.

Gunslinger

  • Scrambling Field has a new icon.
  • Pulse Detonator’s timing has been adjusted; it now executes more quickly.

    Saboteur

    • Hot Pursuit: This ability can now only be triggered once every 20 seconds.
    • Incendiary Grenade’s appearance no longer incorrectly displays 2 grenades in the air. Some timing issues with the throwing animation have been addressed.

    Sharpshooter

    • Trickshot is now usable within the 5 seconds immediately following Charged Burst, Aimed Shot, or Quickdraw.

    Dirty Fighting (Gunslinger)

    • Wounding Shots has a new animation.

Scoundrel

  • Disappearing Act now has a 2 minute cooldown.

    Scrapper

    • Fight or Flight has been redesigned. It finishes the cooldown on Sneak when you exit stealth and allows Sneak to be used out of stealth, increasing movement speed by 50% for 6 seconds. It still removes the penalty to healing done and received caused by Disappearing Act.
    • Flee the Scene now additionally reduces the cooldown of Sneak by 7.5 seconds per point. It also now reduces the cooldown of Disappearing Act by 15 seconds per point (down from 30 seconds per point).

Imperial Agent

General

  • Flash Bang no longer has an Energy cost.

Sniper

  • Ballistic Shield has a new icon.
  • Cover Pulse’s timing has been adjusted; it now executes more quickly.

    Marksmanship

    • Followthrough is now usable within the 5 seconds immediately following Snipe, Ambush, or Takedown.

    Engineering

    • Calculated Pursuit: This ability can now only be triggered once every 20 seconds.

Operative

  • Cloaking Screen now has a 2 minute cooldown.

    Concealment

    • Energy Screen has been redesigned. It is now called “Ghost.” It finishes the cooldown on Sneak when you exit stealth and allows Sneak to be used out of stealth, increasing movement speed by 50% for 6 seconds. It still removes the penalty to healing done and received caused by Cloaking Screen.
    • Advanced Cloaking now additionally reduces the cooldown of Sneak by 7.5 seconds per point. It also now reduces the cooldown of Cloaking Screen by 15 seconds per point (down from 30 seconds per point).

Trooper

General

  • Hold the Line now has more noticeable visual effects.
  • Cryo Grenade now has a 10-meter range.

Vanguard

Tactics

  • Pulse Generator: Each stack now causes 20% additional damage. This can stack up to 3 times.
  • Shock Absorbers now additionally reduces damage taken from area effects by 15% per point. Damage reduction while stunned has been increased to 15% per point.

Assault Specialist (Vanguard)

  • Sweltering Heat’s snare has been reduced to 30%.
  • Incendiary Round’s range has been reduced to 10 meters.
  • Assault Plastique’s range has been reduced to 10 meters.

Commando

  • Due to changes in the Commando skill trees, all Commandos have had their skill points refunded.
  • Disabling Shot is a new ability that interrupts the target’s current action and prevents that ability from being used for the next 4 seconds.

    Gunnery

    • Concussive Force: Stockstrike now immobilizes the target for 4 seconds instead of knocking it back.
    • Cover Fire: This ability’s snare has been increased to 70%.
    • Charged Barrel: Each stack of Charged Barrel now additionally reduces the activation time of your next Advanced Medical Probe by 20% per stack.

    Combat Medic

    • Kolto Residue now additionally snares enemies struck by your Kolto Bomb by 50% for 3 seconds.
    • Potent Medicine is now a 3-point skill with the same overall effect.
    • Frontline Medic is a new 2-point skill. While protected by your own Trauma Probe, firing Hammer Shot at an enemy now triggers your Trauma Probe (this can only happen once every 3 seconds). This does not trigger if your health is full.

    Assault Specialist (Commando)

    • Sweltering Heat’s snare has been reduced to 30%.

Bounty Hunter

General

  • Electro Dart now has a 10-meter range.
  • Unload has a new animation when used with a single blaster pistol.

Powertech

Advanced Prototype

  • Prototype Flame Thrower: Each stack now causes 20% additional damage. This can stack up to 3 times.
  • Stabilized Armor now additionally reduces damage taken from area effects by 15% per point. Damage reduction while stunned has been increased to 15% per point.

Pyrotech (Powertech)

  • Sweltering Heat’s snare has been reduced to 30%.
  • Incendiary Missile’s range has been reduced to 10 meters.
  • Thermal Detonator’s range has been reduced to 10 meters.

Mercenary

  • Due to changes in the Mercenary skill trees, all Mercenaries have had their skill points refunded.
  • Disabling Shot is a new ability that interrupts the target’s current action and prevents that ability from being used for the next 4 seconds.

    Arsenal

    • Afterburners: Rocket Punch now immobilizes the target for 4 seconds instead of knocking it back.
    • Pinning Fire: This ability’s snare has been increased to 70%.
    • Tracer Lock: Each stack of Tracer Lock now additionally reduces the activation time of your next Healing Scan by 20% per stack.

    Bodyguard

    • Kolto Residue now additionally snares enemies struck by your Kolto Missile by 50% for 3 seconds.
    • Warden is now a 3-point skill with the same overall effect.
    • Peacekeeper is a new 2-point skill. While protected by your own Kolto Shell, firing Rapid Shots at an enemy now triggers your Kolto Shell (this can only happen once every 3 seconds). This does not trigger if your health is full.

    Pyrotech (Mercenary)

    • Sweltering Heat’s snare has been reduced to 30%.

Companion Characters

General

  • Players can now use “match color to chest” for their companions, and can choose to show or hide companion head gear.
  • Companions no longer have their weapons drawn on the player’s starship.

Companions

Gault

  • Memento Marketing: This conversation is now only available on the player’s ship.

Lord Scourge

  • Legends: Affection gained during this conversation is now properly granted to Lord Scourge (instead of Rusk).

Tallos Drellik

  • The conversation for “Failure” now grants affection gains and losses correctly.

Vector

  • Agents on the conversation “The Lost Colony” now properly receive affection rewards for the dialogue.

Crew Skills

General

  • Several gathering nodes that were previously inaccessible (for instance, some that were underneath terrain) can now be harvested.

Flashpoints and Operations

Flashpoints

General

  • While participating in a Flashpoint conversation, using Esc to cancel a conversation and then pressing the “x” button to close the window no longer causes the player to exit the Flashpoint instance.

Operations

General

  • [WEEKLY] Deadly Operations now awards 30 Daily Commendations.
  • [WEEKLY] Galactic Operations now awards 10 Daily Commendations and 8 Black Hole Commendations.
  • [WEEKLY] Galactic Crisis Points now awards 10 Daily Commendations and 8 Black Hole Commendations.
  • Explosive Conflict now awards 10 Black Hole Commendations and crafting materials.

Eternity Vault

  • Annihilator Droid XRR-3 can now be attacked more reliably with abilities that require standing behind the target.
  • Characters no longer occasionally become invisible when moving through the lava tunnels.
  • Corrected the location of a misplaced Ancient Power Source during the Soa encounter.

Explosive Conflict

  • Ugnaut Engineers’ “Firebomb” now correctly displays visual effects on the ground for the full duration of the effect.
  • The console that deactivates Colonel Vorgath’s minefield is now positioned in a more accessible location.
  • Damaging Toth and Zorn too quickly no longer causes their health threshold mechanics to overlap (in all difficulty modes).
  • Chests in Explosive Conflict no longer contain Black Hold Commendations. They now have increased amounts of credits and crafting materials.
  • Bosses in Hard Mode now drop 5 Black Hole Commendations each.
  • A number of changes have been made to Explosive Conflict’s Story Mode in order to make it more accessible for pick-up groups:

    Toth and Zorn

    • Frenzy now increases damage less per stack.
    • Toth now waits longer before using area of effect abilities after jumping.
    • Fearful now increases damage taken by a lower amount.
    • The amount of time before Toth and Zorn enrage when one dies has been increased.
    • The enrage timer for the encounter has been increased to 6 minutes 30 seconds.
    • Damaging Toth and Zorn too quickly no longer causes their health threshold mechanics to overlap.

    Firebrand and Stormcaller

    • The activation time of Incinerate Armor, Double Destruction, and Defensive Systems has been increased.
    • Incinerate Armor no longer increases damage taken in addition to its armor debuff.
    • Shield generators can no longer be damaged by players.

    Colonel Vorgath

    • Probe Droids no longer use Cleave.
    • The enrage timer for the encounter has been increased to 4 minutes 30 seconds.

    Warlord Kephess

    • The time before Baradium Bombers explode has been increased.
    • The damage for the Pulsar Power Droids’ rail shot has been decreased.
    • Kephess’ damage in the final phase has been decreased.
    • The damage from the Trandoshan Warrior’s reflective shields has been decreased.
    • The enrage timer for the encounter has been increased.

Karagga’s Palace

  • Bonethrasher can now be attacked more reliably with abilities that require standing behind the target.
  • Proximity Pulse Mines no longer spawn during the G4-B3 Heavy Fabricator encounter in Story Mode.

Group Finder

  • Players participating in a Group Finder group now have the ability to teleport to the Group Finder instance at any point.
  • Players who leave an active Group Finder instance can now be returned to the location they were in when they used the “travel now” dialog option to travel to the instance.
  • Once players reach a checkpoint or defeat an Operation boss, they may choose to exit at the normal area entrance when leaving.

Items

General

  • A majority of offhand items can now be modified. Shields, Generators, and Foci accept Armoring modifications, and Vibroknives and Shotguns accept Barrels. Additionally, they can contain Color Crystal, Mod, and Enhancement slots (though the Color Crystal slot does not currently impact the visuals of the item). Note that there are some exceptions – not all offhands can be modified.
  • Bind on pickup and Bind on Legacy items can now be traded for up to 2 hours between players that were eligible to loot the item.
  • Items purchased from a vendor can now be sold to any vendor for full purchase price (in commendations) for up to 2 hours. Stackable items and mission items cannot be traded or sold back for full value. The 2 hour time is terminated if a mod is added or removed or an augment slot is added. Bind on Equip items cannot be refunded (in commendations) if they are traded, mailed, put in a guild bank, or listed on the GTN.
  • Lockboxes’ 2 hour timer terminates when the lockbox is opened.
  • The formula that determines extraction costs for modifications has been adjusted. Costs to remove Premium and Artifact quality modifications have been reduced substantially. The cost to remove Prototype modifications has been decreased slightly.
  • The Heavy Sonic Disruptor can now be drawn correctly by characters.

Missions and NPCs

General

  • Several cinematics throughout the game have been improved. In many cases, animations have been cleaned up and missing or extraneous characters have been addressed.
  • Some instances where the player would enter or leave a mission phase unexpectedly have been corrected. This could, in some cases, cause a player to become stuck.
  • An issue that could cause a glow effect to be applied to a player’s starship holoterminal several times has been corrected.

World Missions

Alderaan

  • Hive Mined: Imperial Mine Inspectors now run away and despawn correctly when freed.
  • Paladins: Players can no longer accidentally attack Duke Charle Organa while fighting the Wolf Baron.
  • Revenge Served Cold: Line of sight issues with the Thul Cryo Dragoon have been corrected.
  • Thwarting House Thul: Looting Deral Thul’s Cybernetic Implant now works properly when the player is in a group.

Balmorra

  • Big Guns: Mission indicators now direct players to the correct locations.
  • Coms Away: The post-mission ambient dialogue from Fixer 66 now properly relates to the player’s choices.
  • Data Corruption: This mission no longer progresses if the player cancels the action while uploading the virus.
  • Flush out the Snipers: Enemies for this mission’s objective now have an appropriate name (“Resistance Sharpshooter” instead of “Gold Neerbray Commando”).
  • Salting the Fields: Each player in a group must now use the Soil Devastators separately.
  • Storming the Front: The medical supplies item is now displayed in the mission tracker during the step “Heal the Wounded Republic Defenders.”
  • Wild Fire: The mission log text now correctly instructs players to return to the Troida Military Workshop Hangar.

Corellia

  • The item “Anti-rad Injector” associated with Glow and Counter Eco-Terrorism now properly removes stacks of radiation poisoning from a character over time.
  • Asset Liquidation: Usable objective items and enemy NPCs related to this mission now respawn more quickly.
  • Coronet Shipping Invasion: More Imperial forces in the Coronet Shipping Docks now count towards completion of this bonus mission.
  • Counter Eco-Terrorism: Objective items related to this mission now respawn more quickly.
  • Criminal Crackdown: Usable objective items and enemy NPCs related to this mission now respawn more quickly.
  • Forced Labor: A Drall Engineer no longer runs through the force field when rescued. Usable objects related to this mission now respawn more quickly.

Hoth

  • Imperial Interference: This bonus mission is now the appropriate level (previously, it was lower level than its main mission).
  • Razing the Ice Fortress: The step “Speak to Seeker Kabath” now directs the player to the correct location.

Ilum

  • Darkness on Ilum: multiple encounters related to this mission can no longer be activated at the same time.

Korriban

  • Allegiance: Players can now consistently complete this mission while in a group.

Nar Shaddaa

  • Back Alley: This mission now correctly provides a lockbox in its reward choice.
  • Recruitment: The Jedi Master now spawns reliably.
  • Zero Protocol: The step “Return to Commandor Stron” now has an appropriate map link.

Ord Mantell

  • Take Back Drelliad Village: Separatist Defenders and Separatist Heavy Gunners now grant credit towards the objective “Dispatch the Separatist Forces.”

Quesh

  • The Republic Commando and Medical Officer on Quesh now properly show mission indicators if a player is the appropriate level for Quesh.

Taris

  • Bashun’s Bodyguards: This bonus mission now activates correctly for Imperial Agents. It is a bonus mission for the mission Cathar Assassination.

Tatooine

  • Shields Down: Players now receive kill credit for Shielded Mark V Junk Droids if their companion deals the killing blow.

Voss

  • A Selfless Act: Log entries for this mission now reflect the proper mission steps.
  • Dark Rites: Dark Mastery: This mission now correctly awards affection points for Companion Characters.
  • March of Time: Monument text now remains on screen for a longer period of time.
  • Signal Fires: Gormak Tower Guards no longer pre-emptively despawn during this mission.

Class Missions

Jedi Knight

  • Vault of the Gormak King: Players can no longer re-enter the Gormak Vault phase once this mission has been completed.
  • Weapon of the Jedi: Players who did not properly receive the “Jedi Weapons” Codex entry will find it unlocked.

Sith Warrior

  • Ambush: A Republic Strike Droid in Darth Vengean’s Flagship no longer becomes invisible.
  • An Army of One: Players can no longer destroy Commander Naughlen’s barricade before they reach the mission step to do so.
  • Bringing up the Rear: The map note for the task “Defeat the Imperial Rear Guards” now displays correctly.
  • Choke Point: The map note related to the mission step “Rendezvous with Lieutenant Dargus” now displays correctly.
  • Distress Call: Halidrell Setsyn now has a mission indicator on the appropriate mission step.
  • General Durant: The conversation with General Durant is no longer forced upon completion of the mission step “Confront General Durant.” Lieutenant Pierce no longer enters combat during this mission.
  • Power Play: The fight with Darth Vengean now only resets if Lord Draahg is killed.

Jedi Consular

  • Deep Cradle, Dark Heart: The conversation with Sophia Farash now triggers correctly.
  • Nightmares: The step “Find Doctor Kerrian” now directs players to the correct location.
  • Old Blood: The mission step “Enter Bekvalen Hall” now has an appropriate map note. Hollow Voice now uses the correct language.

Sith Inquisitor

  • The Dark Council: The step “Defeat Darth Thanaton” now points the player to the correct location.

Smuggler

  • Eco-Terrorists: This mission now correctly provides a Premium Skill Barrel 8 in addition to the reward choice.
  • Heist of the Millennium: The Droid head now has the appropriate model, and it is now more obvious that players are removing a piece of it.
  • Into the Fire: The conversation with Lokir-Ka no longer auto-triggers again if the player uses Esc to end the conversation.
  • The Endless Abyss: This mission now correctly provides a Prototype Artful Mod 14 if you do not keep the blaster.

Imperial Agent

  • Imperial Agents who are simultaneously on the “Travel to Nar Shaddaa” step of Kaliyo’s mission “What You Do for a Partner” and the “Closing the Deal” class mission can now satisfy both mission steps by traveling to Nar Shaddaa.
  • The Assassin’s Prize: Players can no longer accidentally leave Denri Ayl’s mission area.
  • The Sky Burns: Players no longer see this mission progress until the beacons are fully planted.

Trooper

  • Public Relations: Sergeant Jaxo can no longer die during one of the steps requiring the player to speak with her. Re-opening the door after closing it during the bomb sequence can no longer cause this mission to become blocked. Players can no longer infiltrate Port Raga until they have spoken to Jaxo.
  • Welcome Party: Colonel Gaff’s conversation no longer begins automatically when the player approaches.

Bounty Hunter

  • Electrocution: Jicoln’s electric floor now properly stuns players, and its debuff has an appropriate icon.
  • Honor or Glory: The conversation with Toran is no longer forced if the player uses Esc to cancel the conversation.
  • Meeting the Admiral: The last step of this mission no longer directs you back to Hangar Bay 59 if you helped the Admiral.
  • The Alderaan Target: All companion affection changes during this mission are now properly applied at the end of the mission.

NPCs

  • The Nightmare Pilgrim can now be respawned every 30 minutes (down from 2 hours).
  • Intelligence Officer Breerdin no longer treats all alien characters as Chiss.
  • Corsec Blaster Droids on Corellia are no longer invisible.
  • Members of the Black Sun and Coruscant Security now engage in combat appropriately in several areas on Coruscant.
  • Several common NPC Boss encounters have had their loot adjusted to be more in line with their rarity.
  • Conquest Droids on Balmorra no longer attack other Imperial NPCs that enter their range.

PvP

General

  • Level 50 daily Warzone missions (No Quarter and March Them Down) now only require 4 Warzone completions (down from 6). Winning a Warzone still counts as an extra completion.
  • The Resolve system has been adjusted in the following ways:
    • When a player becomes immune to control due to Resolve, his Resolve meter will not start decaying until after all the current controlling effects expire (instead of decaying immediately after the immunity begins).
    • Players under the effects of a control ability now build less Resolve for other control abilities that target them. The exact amount of Resolve the player builds is based on the time remaining on the ability currently controlling the player and the relative strength of that ability’s effect. If two stuns of similar strength (such as Electrocute and Debilitate) target a single player at the same time, the second ability would generate very little Resolve. However, if the two effects were applied so that the duration of their effects overlapped very little, each effect would grant its full (or nearly full) Resolve to the target.
    • A new Codex entry can be found in the Game Rules section to help players who are unfamiliar with the details of the Resolve system.
  • New Recruit MK-2 gear is now available. This gear replaces the Recruit set, which is no longer available.
  • Unranked Warzones now backfill empty player slots more frequently.

Warzones

General

  • Leaving a Warzone queue from the queue window now properly closes the “join Warzone” dialog.

Huttball

  • Frogdogs now hear voiceover when they score their second point.
  • The maximum time limit in Huttball has been reduced from 15 minutes to 13 minutes.

Novare Coast

  • The fire rate for each of the turrets has been increased from 8 seconds to 9 seconds.
  • Players are no longer required to press Spacebar to exit the loading screen before this Warzone.

Voidstar

  • In the event that neither team breaches the first set of doors, the winner of the match is now the team that scored the most kills.

Space Combat

  • Items that grant repeated upgrades of the same type are now correctly accounted for.
  • Power Conversion Module abilities now appear in the correct quickslot during Space Combat Missions for Imperial Agents.

UI

General

  • The title row in panels such as the Guild Roster and who list no longer occasionally disappear.
  • The “inspect” window now closes when the inspected character is too far away.
  • The “promote” and “demote” buttons are now more visible in the guild UI.
  • Players can now set their moods, altering your character’s facial expression. You can find these moods in the emote browser near the chat window.
  • Activating multiple UI panels in very rapid succession no longer causes the game to become unresponsive.
  • Players can now use shift+right click to equip an item directly on their active companion.

Chat

  • PvP messages (such as becoming flagged) can now be toggled off in chat tabs.
  • The description of the chat preference “Group Awareness Ping” now more accurately describes its effect. The tooltip now reads: “Plays an audible tone when your name is said in a Group chat channel. If you have heard an audible tone in the last 30 seconds, you won’t hear one.”

Maps

  • The accuracy of the Promenade map on Nar Shaddaa has been improved.
  • The map for the Dark Temple Approach on Dromund Kaas now better reflects the world.
  • Several areas where the map would incorrectly transition to a new map have been corrected.

Miscellaneous Bug Fixes

  • Jedi Consulars arriving on Balmorra are no longer facing their ship door upon entering the spaceport.
  • The Dromund Kaas Nexus Cantina rest zone has been slightly adjusted.
  • The Fernell Research Facility on Balmorra now displays the correct name.
  • Trees and large moving objects now cast animated shadows in the game world. Shadows are smoother, and players will notice improved self-shadowing. Additionally, the shadow system has been optimized to increase performance. Players utilizing AMD Crossfire or Nvidia SLI options will see a boost in performance. To see these changes, the shader settings and shadow settings must be set to “high.”
  • Several minor art issues, like floating objects, seams in the terrain, and issues with disappearing geometry have been corrected.
  • Many places in the world where players could get stuck have been fixed.
  • Several typographical errors have been corrected.
  • An issue that could cause display problems after changing a video card out has been addressed.
  • Players performing certain emotes while riding the Jawa Balloon on Tatooine are no longer teleported back to the balloon’s start position.
  • Changes to the Grass Quality slider in the options now apply immediately when the player presses “OK” or “Apply.”

WoW 5.04 and Overheating Issues: Fix On The Way

Update: Blizzard have mentioned a fix is on the way in Beta, 5.0.5 (16048):

So good news there!

—————

There’s been a bit of discussion on the Battle.net forums and elsewhere on some issues with the WoW 5.04 client causing a computer to run very hot i.e at 100% or more of CPU usage. I can vouch for this myself in that I’ve seen my Mac laptop running at 128% of CPU usage (don’t ask me how that works) when playing the game proper.

Here’s my CPU usage sitting at the login screen (click on image for full-size):

There’s a number of threads discussing the issue – this one being a prime example. Initially it was thought it was affecting Macs only but there’s increasing reports of PC users copping the same. Additionally, some Mac users, including me, are seeing the stuttering / graphic line effect occur sometimes when opening in-game windows such as the talent window etc.

There’s no word from Blizzard on the issue yet that we’re aware of, but we’ll update this post once there is something substantive.

Over to you: are you experiencing any big heating issues since the 5.04 update?

GW2 Game Status Update: 6th September 2012

There’s another update on live issues for GW2.

Some are the ongoing account security / customer service areas, but there’s a range of stuff beyond that. The update is replicated in full for you below:

Account Security

Hackers have lists of email addresses and passwords stolen from other games and web sites, and collected through spyware, and are systematically testing Guild Wars 2 looking for matching accounts. To protect yourself, use a strong, unique password for Guild Wars 2 that you’ve never used anywhere else!

Customer Support
Our customer support team is prioritizing hacked accounts and other blocking login issues over other types of support requests.
Hacked accounts – If you submit a support ticket for a hacked account, ensure it is properly prioritized by following these instructions. We’re resolving prioritized hacked account tickets within 72 hours. If you have an older hacked account ticket that has not been resolved, it may not be properly prioritized, or the ticket may not contain enough information for us to address it quickly. Please update your existing ticket, clearly state that this is a hacked account ticket, and provide as much information as possible, including your account email address, your account display name or character names, and your 25-digit Guild Wars 2 serial code.
Email authentication – We will soon provide a secure method on our web site for customers who are having trouble with email authentication to disable it for their accounts. We ask that you use this new self-help system, and only submit a support ticket if that doesn’t work for you.
Password resets – We will soon provide a secure method on our web site for customers who have lost their passwords or whose passwords aren’t working to reset their passwords. We ask that you use this new self-help system, and only submit a support ticket if that doesn’t work for you.
Support forums – The official support forums are now online, and we have a new forum for players helping other players.
Trading Post
The Trading Post is now available to all players. Items and gold deliveries that have been delayed should arrive soon. Please check your “pick up” tab.
Parties & Guilds
We’re working on capacity constraints causing issues with parties and guild functionality, including symptoms such as party members not appearing on the map, parties not staying together as they travel between maps or into dungeons, and guild manipulation not working. We deployed fixes in last night’s update and will deploy additional fixes in tonight’s update.
Note that guild upgrades and guild influence are world-specific. If you move your account to a new world, you’ll see the upgrades and influence that your guild has on that new world, not the upgrades and influence you previously saw on the old world.
PvP Tournament rewards
We’re still working on the issue with missing PvP tournament rewards.
World v. World event rewards
Event rewards for Dolyak caravan escort events in World v. World will be disabled until further notice.
Storyline steps
In tonight’s software update we will fix issues with the storyline steps “Fury of the Dead”, “Grisly Shipment”, and “In The Ruins”.
Downed mode camera
In tonight’s software update we will improve the downed mode camera to maintain a more consistent distance taking race into account.
Reporting exploits
If you discover an emergency game-breaking or economy-breaking bug, do not exploit it, but please notify us immediately at this email address: exploits (at) arena (dot) net. You may also use this email address to report suspected security vulnerabilities. Thank you to everyone who has sent reports. However, note that we cannot respond individually to emails to this address.
Worlds & Overflow
We’re increasing world capacity as necessary to handle all the new players coming into the game.
During this initial surge of high concurrency, and especially while most characters are low-level and thus playing in the same starting areas, it’s common for players to be directed to overflow servers. To play with a friend on a different overflow server, form a party together, then right-click on the friend’s portrait in the party list and click “join”. We expect the use of overflow servers to naturally subside as players spread out more through the world.
Next software updates
We’ll perform a significant update tonight at midnight Seattle time, during which the game will be unavailable for approximately one hour.

We’ll perform maintenance on the Guild Wars 2 wiki tomorrow night, during which time the wiki will be unavailable for approximately one hour.

GW2 Support Forums Now Live

In a gradual ramping up of its forums, Guild Wars 2 now at least has support forums live.

You can access them here.

ArenaNet state that more forums will be put live once “we’re satisfied with performance under load” (source).

It’s a start and if you’re wanting to get some issues communicated, you now have another way of doing so.