TSW 1.4 Patch Notes

TSW 1.4 Patch NotesIt’s well and truly time for some Big Trouble in the Big Apple, and to go along with it are the full patch notes. Aside from all the new content, there’s a bunch of nice bug fixes as well, so browse through to see what love your character is getting.

Hell, everyone now gets to dance Gangnam style (/dance_gangnam_style) in The Secret World alongside the Macarena (/dance_macarena) – what else would you want!

The full patch notes for you:

Massive PvP Enhancements

Issue #4 includes massive PvP enhancements with the goal to make the conflict between the Secret Societies even more rewarding, more persistent and fairer. The update includes improvements and changes to rewards in Fusang, White Marks of Venice, Cross-Dimension Fusang, PvP Gear Progression, Matchmaking, a new PvP Mission and more! You can read all about these PvP enhancements here.

Take the Stage at the Albion Theatre

With Issue #4, you are able to enter the Albion Theatre in London and put on whatever kind of show your heart desires! Our goal is to empower players. Open mic night? Sketch comedy shows? Extensive Shakespearean productions? Cabaret? Music video? It’s really an open toolbox – you and your friends can use the Albion to do whatever you want. Check out this article on The Secret World website for more information.

Issue #4 also sets the stage for the big Raid in New York, which is undergoing final testing and will be brought Live as soon as possible.

Other brand new features available now:

  • New Auxiliary weapon : Chainsaws! Pick up the mission from Dr. Aldini in New York to begin!
  • Starter Decks – Nine decks have been added for players who finish the inner ring of combat abilities.
  • Character size slider has been added to character creation and the plastic surgeon!
  • Reticule targeting mode is now available. Toggle this mode on and off via the T key.
  • Slaughterhouse Nightmare mode is now officially open!
  • Pick up these brand new Missions:
    • All Roads Lead to Rome – from Mama Abena in London
    • To Sir with Love – from Hayden Montag in The Savage Coast
    • The Red Thread – from Callisto in Carpathian Fangs
  • New Lair Missions are available. These require you to have finished another mission first. These prerequesite missions will award an item which will help you in the new Lair missions.
    • The Last Strand (Kingsmouth Town)
      • Required mission: Coralations (Item: Red sargassum barrel)
    • The Cover-up (Savage Coast)
      • Required mission: Nobel Calling (Item: Dynamite)
    • The Whole Truth (Blue Mountain)
      • Required mission: Picking Up the Pieces (Item: Ward stone)
    • Up In Smoke (Scorched Desert)
      • Required mission: Blood Garments (Item: Sufferer’s raiment)
    • The Black Pharaoh’s Guard (City of the Sun God)
      • Required mission: The Trinket Trail (Item: Plenarius artifact)
    • Restoration (Besieged Farmlands)
      • Required mission: Blessed Are the Makers (Item: Enchanted statue)
    • Kreep Rush (Shadowy Forest)
      • Required mission: Seedy Underbelly (Item: Seeds of Cleansing)
    • The Shipping News (Carpathian Fangs)
      • Required mission: The Mortal Coil (Item: Tesla turret)

GENERAL

  • When equipping a weapon which has a weapon skin applied, the weapon skin will now show correctly. Previously it would only show up correctly if you zoned in with the weapon already equipped.
  • The Master Planner achievement will now reward a costume.
  • The I Am Legend achievement will now reward an item.
  • London: Dancers in the Horned God will now leave the floor to give groups of players more space.
  • Text should no longer show up in the chat window for long-winded civilians.
  • Fixed a clipping issue with the female Preacher outfit.
  • Male eyebrows no longer clip through the glasses on the Grifter outfit.
  • Movement speed while dead will now scale with your current rank of Sprinting.
  • Seoul: the Fight Club in Seoul is now open to Illuminati and Templar participation.
  • Fixed stat modifications that did not revert when items were unequipped.
  • Raid chat is available (except in Fusang Projects).
  • Fixed shadows at the Old Asylum Approach anima well in Blue Mountain.
  • Fixed the intensity of the moon in Shadowy Forest.
  • Adjusted chair height and brightness in the Horned God pub.
  • Try these new dance emotes:
    • /dance_gangnam_style
    • /dance_samba
    • /dance_macarena
    • /dance_sprinkler
  • All the repeatable solo nightmare missions should now reward a Signet Reward Bag.
  • The missions Cellar Door and Fungal Fireworks will no longer award a Signet Reward Bag, but will give out reward in line with their difficulty.
  • New Achievements for the Albion Theatre event are available!
  • NPCs with a spawn animation will now always play the full animation (previously the first part of it could get cut off).
  • Cats were moved back to their normal locations in Roget’s place and the Franklin Mansion.
  • The mission tracker will now close when you walk away from an open mission GUI.
  • Fixed the doors in the Slaughterhouse so they will not always appear open when viewed from a distance.
  • Lairs – The Last Strand – Draug no longer keep spawning after the assault is over.
  • Added sound effects to the turrets in The Shadowy Forest.
  • It is no longer possible to sit in the air by using the chair from distance.
  • A raid leader can now invite a group with a leader that has already left the raid.
  • The Achievement Love and Rockets will be awarded to players who have already finished the mission Venetian Missile Crisis when „Issue #4“ goes live.
  • Raid chat is available!
  • Fixed an issue that caused stacks of flowers bought at the florist to decrease by 2 each time one was consumed.
  • Fixed an issue where certain clothing would cause your female character’s arms to become invisible.
  • Seoul : Dae-su’s body is no longer invisible.

COMBAT

  • Increased the damage dealt by all Rocket Launcher abilities.
  • Increased the damage dealt by the See Red ability.
  • Healing friendly NPCs with the Adrenalise passive equipped will no longer cause them to attack you.
  • Assault Rifle – Improved Bursts passive will now properly increase the healing done by the Anima Burst ability.
  • Blade ability Sixth Sense will now build a counter for each received glancing hit instead of having a delay between counters to keep in line with other defensive effects.
  • Added a tooltip description to the Two Cuts Blade skill.
  • The Blood Spike DoT effect now has the correct icon.
  • Added tooltip description to the Elemental Skill “Fury”.
  • Hammer ability Grip Whip will now display the correct damage value in the tooltip. This is only a tooltip change. The ability itself has not been changed.
  • Hammers – Reduced the overall damage dealt by Epicentre.
  • Breakdown no longer requires Impaired state to apply the Exposed debuff.
  • Breakdown will only apply 1 stack of Exposed per hit.
  • Increased the damage dealt by Escalation.
  • Escalation will no longer apply the Exposed debuff.
  • Intensity has been changed to no longer grant Minor Ward when hitting Weakened targets with Escalation. It will now improve Escalation to apply the Exposed debuff.
  • Increased the damage dealt by Blood Magic abilities Blood Spike, Infection, Left Hand of Darkness, Bloodshot, and Guts and Gory.
  • Increased the healing and barrier provided by Blood Magic abilities Angelic Aegis, Exquisite Corpse, and Hematic Rites.
  • Increased the damage dealt by Elemental abilities Combust, Electrical Storm, Flame Strike, Blaze, Conditional Force, Fire Manifestation, Magnetic Wipe, and Lightning Manifestation.
  • Left Hand of Darkness damage has been rechecked for accuracy in Issue #4.
  • Fixed an issue with the description of Intensity.

PVP

Economy

  • All white marks of venice in the game have been wiped
  • Prices at all PvP vendors have been rebalanced to no longer cost any white marks
  • Prices at all PvP Vendors is now somewhat lower
  • Rewards for PvP minigames and Fusang has been changed so that you on average get the same amount of rewards for time spent doing them
  • All PvP vendors now allow you to convert 100 white marks into 1 black mark
  • PvP-gear can now be upgraded to 10.4
  • The pricing of PvP-gear has been tweaked, so the time it takes to get a full set of PvP 10.4 gear is in line (but not equal to) the amount of time it takes to get a full set of 10.4 Nightwatch gear.

Stonehenge and El Dorado

  • PvP matchmaking system tweaked
  • PvPPerformance stats on all players wiped for this change
  • If you are lower than QL10 you now get Equal Footing in minigames

Fusang

  • Fusang has been merged into 3 battlegroups for higher player population:
    • Group A: Cerberus, Arcadia, Leviathan
    • Group B: Drac, Kobold
    • Group C: Daemon, Grim, Huldra
  • Fusang Reward scheme changed into a tick-based system
  • Fusang PvP-missions no longer reward you with black marks.
  • PvP vendors with upgrades for your faction’s turrets and custodians are available near your faction home base anima well
  • A new PvP mission, The Underdogs is available for factions that are outmatched in Fusang.

DUNGEONS

  • Lairs
    • Vulkan’s persistent area effects will disappear after the encounter ends.
    • Nobel Calling – Blueprint rewards changed for a different lair boss.
  • Hell Eternal
    • Piston Predators should no longer stack in the encounter with the Flagellatrix Superior.
    • The “Enflamed” environmental debuff in Hell Eternal now stacks up to 10. At 10 stacks, it kills the affected player. Don’t stand in the fire!
    • Eblis will no longer cast Solar Collapse twice in a row if interrupted.
    • Eblis’s life drain, Consummation, can no longer be interrupted.
    • All players should now be able to see damage dealt by Eblis’s spell Consummation.
    • Eblis should now be more consistent about stunning his target during Consummation.
    • Eblis’s spell Cast Out can no longer be interrupted.
    • Eblis’s vortexes should now appear more quickly on phase transition.
    • Particles have been adjusted in the fight with Eblis to more accurately reflect damage areas.
    • Corrected several locations where players could become stuck. Fixed several world design issues.
  • Slaughterhouse – Fixed an issue with an invisible NPC in the NKL-107 fight.
  • Added the Slaughterhouse Nightmare mode to the LFG list.

MISSIONS

Story Mission Templars

  • Virgula Divina: If you enter the playroom keypad code before receiving all clues, your mission will now update appropriately.

New York

  • Questions and Answers – Leah’s arms no longer clip through the desk during the cinematic for tier 5.
  • Just a Flesh Wound
    • Fixed an issue with the Flesh Blob’s casting particles.
    • Your character will now wield a visible chainsaw in your hands when cutting through the wall.
    • Fixed the particles when collecting from corpses.
    • Added sound effects when hacking with a hammer.
    • Corrected placeholder names for abilities used during this mission.
    • Added goalmarkers for the major goals of the mission.
    • Mission now updates for all party members when one person uses the tube.
    • The loose limb will no longer despawn permanently if you die while fighting it.

Kingsmouth

  • The Pick-Up – Cassandra should no longer respawn twice or more.

The Savage Coast

  • Crime and Punishment – Feedback is provided when the player fails 3 times at entering the code.
  • The Black House – Strange candle will give the lore when used, but will only trigger the fire once every 5 minutes.
  • The Black House – Tier 3 urn screen effect will no longer play on other players’ game clients.
  • Hell and Bach – Wicker will now spawn in the middle of the circle in Tier 2.
  • Theme Part Tycoon – Angry Clown should spawn as normal.

The Blue Mountain

  • Ami Legend – Ami now has subtitles when she speaks during the mission.
  • Ami Legend – Assaulting ak’ab will spawn when player leaves and re-enter the assault area.

The Scorched Desert

  • The Living Oil – The letter will no longer remain stuck to your character’s foot after finishing the mission.
  • Fixed an issue that would sometimes make the crystals unresponsive during the mission The Big Terrible Picture.

City of the Sun God

  • The Prompt for the Pinnacle will no longer say that it is a solo instance (since it can be joined in groups).

The Besieged Farmlands

  • Mortal Sins – Cucuvea now holds an object in her hand during the cinematic.
  • Examining the drawing in Tier 1 of ‘The Kindly Ones’ will no longer provide group credit.
  • You can get the Statue from Mortal Coil and multiple players can use the statue if the mission is failed.

The Shadowy Forest

  • Mortal Sins – Fixed an issue with the tier 10 puzzle that prevented some instances of it from thinking they were solved properly.
  • Singing Stones – Corrected an issue where players could not interact with rocks during different tiers of the mission.

The Carpathian Fangs

  • They Mostly Come at Night – Mr. Ruffles will now be worn properly on your character’s body.
  • The Shipping News – The mission will no longer break after one person uses the console.

ITEMS

  • Energy Drink – Leech consumables will now give a leech effect equal to the power listed in the item tooltip.
  • Fixed an issue that created bald spots on hairstyles when wearing the female Pirate Hat.
  • All Male Templar uniforms have been dyed to a nice deep red, to match the female outfits.
  • Pure Anima – Max Health, Attack Rating, and Heal Rating will now stack with Anima – Block Rating, Crit Rating, Crit Damage Rating, Defense Rating, Evade Rating, Hit Rating, Penetration Rating, Physical Protection Rating, and Magical Protection Rating. You will now be able to have one Pure and one normal Anima buff active at the same time.
  • Sov-Tech auxiliary weapon moulds now transform auxiliary weapons into the correct Soviet look and not Orochi.
  • Signet of Corruption should now display the proper rarity color when attached to an item.
  • Signet of Thirst will no longer cause friendly targets to gain hate towards the user.
  • Internal cooldown on Signet of Thirst was updated to match the displayed value on the item tooltip.
  • Signet of Serenity should no longer cause friendly targets to gain hate towards the user.
  • Signet of Temperance should no longer cause friendly targets to gain hate towards the user.
  • Signet of Fury will now gain stacks for each successful hit rather than each successful attack.
  • Rocket Launchers will now display that they require 10 skill to equip when equip requirements are not met.
  • The male Snakeskin outfit now looks more like snakeskin.
  • Signet of Obedience will no longer stack higher than intended. This is a visual change only and does not affect the damage bonus.
  • Blue and Purple versions of Signet of Obedience will now properly provide the damage bonus.
  • The rifle Crushed Will is now worn like other rifles on the back.
  • Black Mark of the Morrigan proc effect will no longer trigger passives.
  • Black Mark of the Morrigan proc effect will only gain 1 stack per second.
  • Signet of Equilibrium and Signet of Benediction will no longer cause friendly NPCs to attack you after you heal them.

GUI

  • Increased the maximum purchasable inventory size to 250.
  • Increased the maximum purchasable bank size to 300.
  • Changed Enemy Evade Chance in the character sheet to Enemy Evade Penalty.
  • Changed Enemy Crit Chance in the character sheet to Enemy Crit Penalty.
  • Auxiliary Blueprints and the Moulds they create are now Green quality items instead of White to facilitate Need/Greed rolling.
  • Made improvements to the Raid menu.
  • Added an icon for Raid missions.
  • Fixed a problem when players were seeing a highlighted gear mouse cursor but received a “Too far away” message.
  • Resource bars for Fist and Hammers no longer stay at 0/5.
  • Stats should now update correctly on your Character sheet.
  • Fixed an issue where clicking on the Ability Wheel would sometimes bring up the Auxiliary cells instead of the Main Wheel cells.

PvP’ers Get Big Love In Next TSW Update

Funcom’s Senior PvP Designer, Rasmus Harr, has done up a nice little blog post about some pretty big PvP changes happening for The Secret World with the upcoming Episode #4 content update Big Trouble in the Big Apple.  

Fundamental overhaul is maybe a better way to summarise what’s coming:

  • Improved rewards in Fusang
  • Total wiping of White Marks of Venice
  • A new PvP mission called The Underdogs that helps factions struggling to be competitive
  • Cross-dimension PvP in Fusang
  • Changes to match-making

It’s a hefty list of changes, so it’ll be interesting to see how they go down. If you’re a TSW PvP’er, let us know what you think!