Games Updates
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Massively Buffs Forge Guard’s Manifest Armor In Last Epoch Patch 1.1 Harbingers Of Ruin - You Must Know
Read More »From last Epoch, we got the Harbingers Of Ruin Notes for patch 1.1 coming out, it’s a very long and thick patch notes, today this post will focus on the Manifest Armor update in the patch notes.
Manifest Armor is similar to Animate Guardian in Path of Exile. It’s like you put on equipment and weapons, then this soldier uses your equipment to walk around and attack automatically. And it has a Whirlwind Strike Ability, but it’s usually hard to get it to work. At this time, you can change it to forge weapons, then it works well.
Whirlwind Strike Ability Update
With this update, Manifest Armor will become crazy. The damage effectiveness of Whirlwind Strike Ability has increased from 60% to 300% now, which is five times the damage effectiveness multipliers of Whirlwind Strike. So Manifest Armor Whirlwind Strike now has five times the damage it had before, and Cooldown is less than half of what it had before, which is definitely going to be viable in Last Epoch, and it hasn’t even really been built again to do damage so far.
Now let’s look at what builds you can do with this type of character in the game. He has a sword, and the tags say it’s Minion Strength and Attunement, and the minion tags are Melee Physical. The best expansion is Attunement, because you get health and damage from Attunement.
Walk up to a pack and you can see him there using Whirlwind, and he basically goes off and does things automatically, and he has decent damage. Even without the buff, it’s not enough to get into high-tier monoliths. But he can definitely do enough damage to fight some random monsters.
So what’s changed is this Whirlwind. As it was said above, its cooldown has been reduced, and it now has five times the damage effectiveness, which is hit damage, so now you’re going to be playing Manifest Armor almost entirely based on hits. So what are some ways you can expand the hit damage of Manifest Armor?
Way To Expand
The first one is definitely your main hand sword. Basically, Manifest Armor gets your weapons and equipment, but you have to upgrade them to get them, and here you can get swords, body armor, boots, etc. If you don’t want to spend time upgrading them and just want to get this equipment, of course you can use Last Epoch Gold to speed up the upgrade.
For example, you have a miraa, so Manifest Armor gets the flat melee damage of the miraa and all the other properties. There is actually a property there, which is hybrid Physical Penetration and Minion Physical Penetration, which actually double dips because it’s a Minion. so it’s also holding a weapon.
If you can get a nice weapon, maybe you can do this. Like critical, fast attack speed and some hybrid penetration, this can be a pretty good way to expand damage.
So how else can you expand damage? There is also this note here, force of impact, which says that your Manifest Armor gets melee physical damage equal to a certain percentage of the Armor on your body, and it will give you 1 point of damage for every 10.
Let’s say you have Sentinel body armor with 700 damage on it, at level 84 or 86, you’re getting this basic damage. And then maybe another 200 points of damage on it, you can get about 900 to 1,000 points, which is you also get 90 to 100 points of flat physical damage from force of impact, so that’s another way you can scale it.
You’re not actually using Manifest Armor to do most of your damage. Right now you’re using Forged Weapons, so you’re not scaling the damage it does. Just using Titan heart, you’re not getting much value from that node. But if you’re going to scale it, you’re going to want to go all out with armor on your chest piece.
Manifest Armor Build
There is also this node here, thick padding which gives stun immunity to Manifest Armor, but it seems unnecessary since it is basically a meat shield, but if you want to use this thing for damage, you can choose this because when he does Whirlwind Strike, it is like sweeping through things and blowing things up, and he is unstoppable when doing this, which is very powerful.
Now let’s jump to some monsters here, you can see how monsters work in combat, you use forge strike to summon forge weapons, your Manifest Armor will do a little damage, but mainly acts as a meat shield, and sprinting is just to close the gap.
Although it is not necessary. Once you get the dodge roll, then you have Vengeance, which casts Healing Hands, Vengeance will also apply some debuffs to enemies.
So whenever your mana starts to get low, you just use Vengeance a lot, and then you can launch more Forge Strike, so you always have more weapons, and this build will gradually increase, it will be a little slow at first, and then once you get a bunch of weapons, it will start to be like Armor shred. Now you don’t need too much, because the weapons will do most of the damage.
In summary, Manifest Armor has received a huge buff. This change makes Manifest Armor a very powerful existence in the game, capable of causing huge damage to enemies. Players can further expand the damage output of Manifest Armor by upgrading weapons and equipment, and utilizing specific nodes, making it play a more important role in the game.
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What Quality Of Life Updates To Expect In FFXIV Dawntrail?
Read More »We are only about two weeks away from the release of Final Fantasy XIV's newest expansion, Dawntrail. Here, I want to focus on some of the quality of life changes that will be coming to the game after Dawntrail is released, and that will be available to everyone, not just those who play the new expansion.
Now that Media-Tour is over, where invited guests could test the game and ask questions about the upcoming release, we now have a lot of information about new and expected quality of life updates.
Let me remind you that all the information we will provide comes from third-party sources. These are just some of the quality of life updates that people have seen in demo builds or have been given information about in interviews. Let’s look forward to what these updates will be implemented after release!
Media-Tour
I want to start with Japanese Famitsu magazine.
Hide Player Setting
The magazine discovered a new setting that allows you to hide the player when approaching a quest NPC. We learned about hiding the player’s name before, but this new feature will allow you to clearly see NPC and its animations.
This feature was also one feature demonstrated in Letter From the Produce LIVE. It basically has three settings “Off”, “Small Circle” and “Big Circle” when you interact with the relevant NPC.
Dungeon Shortcuts
Frosty aka “World Race Guy” or “Mogtalk Dude”, after being defeated in the boss fight in the new dungeon, discovered that the shortcut at the beginning of the dungeon actually took him back to the boss arena.
Usually these shortcuts only take you to the previous arena and you have to walk all the way back to the next boss. This change will greatly speed up the progress of dungeons.
Of course, it remains to be seen whether this change is only for the media tour and whether this change will also be implemented in later dungeons. But I personally would welcome it.
Glasses Slot
In addition, many players wondered whether for the new slot for glasses, we can use it for various accessories. We got the answer when looking at the developer interviews and they also demonstrated it in PLL.
The new slot will be specifically for glasses and will only be applicable to glasses that currently exist as fashion accessories, and more will be added. Glasses from accessories will be reassigned as Eyewear, and they will become part of the gear set. Each pair of glasses will have 12 predefined color options. Don’t forget to stock up on enough FFXIV Gil if you want to have all the new eyewear looks.
Chat Bubbles
During the interview, the developer also revealed that chat bubbles are indeed in some kind of testing phase, but this does not mean that they will be part of the initial Dawntrail release. But for all those who want to see chat bubbles pop up with player characters, you may not have to wait too long.
I could cover more updates here, such as the new attack alert notification in the middle of the screen that people have noticed. But it does contain a lot of spoilers, so I won’t talk about more here.
Related: FFXIV: New Expansion Dawntrail Will Give You The Best Summer Vacation!
Letter From The Produce LIVE
Next, I will discuss some of the nice new information and quality of life features we got from the recent Letter From the Produce LIVE, which I will quickly summarize for you here.
Bicolor Gemstones
Starting with Bicolor Gemstones, the maximum amount will be increased from 1000 to 1500. Incidentally, participants in the media tour noticed that FATEs in the new area do award more Gemstones than in previous expansions.
Emote List
It is worth mentioning that if you have to perform an emote during a certain mission, that emote will now also show up in the mission list. Just like with items, you can simply click on that emote to perform it. No more typing or searching through the emote list.
New 2-Dye System
We did get a nice demo of the new 2-Dye System as well. New gear released with Dawntrail and a few previous gear will now have 2 dye slots. You can now save your favorite color combination as a set and it will also remember the last color set you used. This way, you can quickly color multiple pieces without having to choose the same 2 colors every time.
Some older gear will also get 2-Dye update. However, it will take about Patch 7.4 for all older gear to also be included in the system. We just have to be patient.
Fantasia
Fantasia also has a small update. After using Fantasia, you will change your appearance at will within 60 minutes of in-game time. So if you are not happy with your appearance in-game, you can change it at will within those 60 minutes.
At this point, we don’t know exactly when the 60-minute countdown will start. It could be when using Fantasia, or it could be after you make your first change. I hope it’s the latter, as I know quite a few people who have used Fantasia without realizing it, and their characters are in a state where they can change at will, so all that Fantasia will be wasted. I hope the upcoming patch notes will give us the answer to this question.
Companion App Update
Finally, the companion app for phones will also be getting an update, where they will add customization options and wallpapers. But the more important update is that Hunting, Mining, Botany and Fishing Retainer Ventures can now be allocated through the app, though this will require in-app currency.
We don’t know exactly how many and if in-game adventures will also be used, but there will surely be more details in the next patch notes.
Patch Release Date & Update Size
This brings me back to our schedule. The release date of the patch notes is not marked here, but it will most likely be within the week of 48-hour maintenance and Early Access. You should be able to download the game update halfway through the 48-hour maintenance. Maybe earlier, as this update will be quite large.
During PLL, the developers mentioned that Windows update will be around 55 GB in size. In total, including Dawntrail, FFXIV will take up over 90 GB of your drive space.
We didn’t get the update sizes for all other platforms, but on PS5 the total space required is around 75 GB and on PS4 around 80 GB. Sadly, Xbox users will have to download the entire game again, which will be closer to 100 GB in total.
There’s no word on the size of Mac version, but it’s likely to be in the same area. Once again, I’m sure all the details will also be available in the patch notes.
That’s all we know about the quality of life update for FFXIV Dawntrail expansion so far. Have a great day, see you next time, and take care!
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What New Contents Can We Expect From WOW Classic SOD Phase 3?
Read More »Recently, the developers announced a slew of new content coming to WOW Classic SOD Phase 3. So in this guide, I’ll briefly summarize some of the key changes and cover anything you might have missed, including new runes, class changes, the new Sunken Temple Raid, and more.
New Sunken Temple Raid
The next step in players’ Season of Discovery journey will begin on April 4, 2024, when Phase 3 program launches. The level cap will be raised to level 50, and its final dungeon will be Sunken Temple, an iconic dungeon in World of WarCraft history.
While Sunken Temple has been streamlined with Cataclysm dungeon revamp, players will regain the full experience in Season of Discovery.
Also, just like Gnomeregan and Blackfathom Deeps, Sunken Temple will have its own world buff that will increase all stats by 8%, spell damage by 65, and critical strike chance by 5%, according to data-mining.
Also Read: What Are The Most Recommended Consumables For WOW Season Of Discovery Phase 3?
Depending on the faction chosen, players can easily enter Sunken Temple by taking a flight point to Stonard in Swamp of Sorrows or Nethergarde Keep in Blasted Lands.
As usual, the new Sunken Temple is a 20-player raid and will feature 8 bosses for players to challenge. It will lock loot weekly and will launch on April 4, 2024 with the remainder of Season of Discovery Phase 3.
New PVE Event
While Sunken Temple may be the endgame focus of Phase 3, Season of Discovery will also introduce a new PVE open world event, Nightmare Incursions. Interacting with this event will teleport you to a new corrupted zone and allow you to defeat enemies for top-notch loot.
If you want to farm WOW Classic SOD Gold in Phase 3, Nightmare Incursions seems like it would be an excellent way to do it.
This PVE event will take place in Feralas, Ashenvale, Duskwood, and Hinterlands areas. Players will fight against forces of corruption. There are many options for this world event. You can participate alone or with a group. This is also Phase 3’s second major event after Blood Moon.
Confirmed New Runes
In addition, for the new runes in Phase 3, here we will focus on the ones that have been confirmed by the developers first, rather than the runes that have been datamined but have not yet been confirmed.
Druid
- Gore: Hitting a target with Lacerate, Swipe, or Maul has a 15% chance to reset Mangle’s cooldown. Attacking a target with Mangle (Cat) or Shred has a 5% chance to reset Tiger’s Fury’s cooldown.
- Improved Barkskin: You can now cast Barkskin on allies without affecting melee combat speed or cast time.
Hunter
- Focus Fire: Consumes all Frenzy on your pet and increases your ranged attack speed by 3% and provides your pet with 4 Focus each time Frenzy is consumed. Every time your pet uses a normal attack, it will gain Frenzy, which increases melee attack speed by 6%.
- Lock and Load: Each time one of your traps is triggered, your next shot within 20 seconds costs no mana and has no cooldown.
Mage
- Deep Freeze: Stuns frozen targets for 5 seconds, causing damage to targets that are permanently immune to stun.
- Balefire Bolt: Each time you cast it, the damage of the next Balefire Bolt within 30 seconds is increased by 10% and 10% reduced your Spirit, stacking up to 10 times.
Paladin
- Improved Sanctuary: It will increase the damage blocked by your Blessing of Sanctuary by 100% and increase your shield block value by 30%.
- Wrath: Your Consecration damage now deals critical strikes, and damage dealt by your Exorcism, Holy Shock, Holy Wrath, and Consecration spells gain an additional critical strike chance equal to your melee critical strike chance.
Priest
- Surge of Light: Casting a critical hit causes your next Smite, Flash Heal, or Binding Heal to be cast immediately within 15 seconds.
- Pain and Suffering: Mind Flay will refresh the duration of Shadow Word: Pain on the target to the maximum duration.
Rogue
- Honor Among Thieves: When any player on your team lands a critical hit with a spell, you gain a combo point. This effect can only occur once per second.
- Cut to the Chase: Your Eviscerate and Envenom will refresh the duration of your Slice and Dice or Blade Dance skills to a maximum of 5 combo points. But if both abilities are active, it only refreshes the one with the shortest remaining duration.
Shaman
- Riptide: The next Chain Heal you cast on the primary target within 15 seconds consumes the healing over time effect and increases Chain Heal by 25%.
- Mental Dexterity: Damage dealt with melee weapons increases your attack power by 100% of your intelligence and increases your spell damage and healing by 30% of your total attack power for 1 minute.
Warlock
- Summon Felguard: Summons a Felguard under Warlock’s command. These Felguards are affected by the talents and effects of all your other Demon minions.
- Pandemic: The periodic damage from your Corruption, Unstable Affliction, Curse of Agony, Immolate, Curse of Doom, and Siphon Life abilities can now critically hit.
Warrior
- Taste for Blood: As your Rend skill deals damage, your Overpower skill becomes active for 9 seconds or 1 attack. This effect occurs no more than once every 6 seconds.
- Sword and Board: When your Devastate and Revenge skills deal damage, there is a 30% chance to refresh the cooldown of your Shield Slam skill and reduce its rage cost by 100% for 5 seconds.
- Gladiator Stance: While you’re wearing a shield, damage is increased by 10% and block chance is increased by 10%. However, the armor is reduced by 30% and 10% reduced the threat generated.
Profession Changes
In Phase 3 of Season of Discovery, the professions have finally reached their ultimate form. The profession skill cap will be unlocked, allowing players to reach level 300, and Specializations will finally be available. However, there are still some new secrets to be discovered.
In addition, the developers also stated that they have also made some changes to gold sinks related to the profession. In terms of raw gold, the cost of the new recipes added in Phase 3 will be essentially free. Besides this, the cost of Gnomeregan recipes will also be reduced, which is undoubtedly a surprise for players who want to obtain these recipes.
The above are some of the key points of Phase 3 that have been confirmed so far. When Phase 3 launches, players will probably be in for a difficult but rewarding journey. Therefore, before the new phase arrives, please prepare and upgrade your skills, and be ready to explore the secrets of Azeroth.
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WOW Dragonflight Patch 10.2.5 Seeds Of Renewal Update Notes
Read More »Recently, the developers announced WOW Dragonflight patch 10.2.5, titled Seeds of Renewal.
This patch bridges the gap between ongoing major content patches and the next patch for the game. This means there won’t be as much content as Patch 10.2, which was released on November 7th. But players still can take part in various developments of World of WarCraft’s overall story and gameplay.
While patch 10.2.5 won’t be Dragonflight’s last patch, it will kick off the expansion’s ending while still allowing World of WarCraft to transition into the next era as The War Within begins.
In this guide, we’ll talk about some of the key updates in WOW Dragonflight Patch 10.2.5 and their impact. Without further ado, let’s get started.
Dragonriding
In patch 10.2.5, Dragonriding is coming to all of Azeroth. Since the start of the expansion, players have only been able to use their Dragonflight Mounts in Dragon Isles. But in the next patch, you’ll be able to soar across Azeroth’s preexisting continents with all the new mounts you earned in this expansion.
Also Read: WOW Dragonflight: How About The New Mounts In The Latest Upcoming Patch 10.2.5?
In patch 10.2, we can use traditional flying mounts in Dragon Isles, and in the next patch, the reverse will also be true. Dragonriding is available throughout Azeroth, but is limited to a maximum Dragonriding speed of 80%.
Gilneas
Gilneas is one of the most forgotten zones in World of WarCraft. In the new patch, it will become the centerpiece of a new storyline that allows players to take back the city in the name of Alliance.
Although Gilneas was introduced to World of WarCraft in 2010 as the starting area for the then-new Worgen race, it has been largely unused since then.
However, in patch 10.2.5, we will be fighting alongside the former Gilnean King, Genn Greymane. He will lead his troops back to his homeland in an effort to regain his homeland.
It’s worth noting that Reclaiming Gilneas will not be testable on PTR.
The End Of Dragon Isles Story
Because the story that takes place in Dragon Isles will end next year, patch 10.2.5 will probably bring an end to what we played in Dragonflight last year.
Since the next patch will allow players to progress through Epilogue chapter of Dragonflight story, this will probably resolve outstanding issues across all areas of Dragon Isles.
Players will also be able to discover some additional Dragon Isles content through Azerothian Archives. Players can learn about how this continent existed before Dragonflight incident through weekly public events held in Azure Span.
Follower Dungeons
World of WarCraft Dungeons is getting a new system that lets you complete dungeons with AI-controlled NPC companions.
This new feature, called “Follower Dungeons,” will focus on helping new players learn the mechanics of Dragonflight dungeons. But seasoned veterans can also practice their mechanics and team composition.
However, Follower Dungeons are only available in Dragonflight dungeons in normal mode. Players can choose to queue alone or enter the dungeon with up to four other players. Once they’re inside, NPC followers will fill in any missing roles. When using NPC followers, all players will still receive the same rewards as a normal dungeon with a full party.
Outland Cup
While you’re dragonriding outside Dragon Isles, why not test your skills in Outland Cup?
You can take part in 13 games spread across Outland on Public Test Servers. You don’t even need to unlock Dragonriding, just rent a dragon to take part. Most importantly, taking part and winning the competition will also be rewarded with rich WOW Dragonflight Gold and loot.
More Customization Options
The developers are continuing to add more customization options to another batch of WoW races. Among them, Draenei, Warlock Tyrant, and Darkglare demons will receive unique customization, and Trolls will see five new hair colors. Most importantly, this will provide completers with dedicated Customization Achievements.
Dragonflight is friendly to players who want to expand their character’s appearance. Multiple races and classes have received updated models and new customization features.
The vast amount of customization that Dracthyr Evokers enjoyed when they were added to the game at the start of Dragonflight set the standard for the entire expansion. However, the rest of the current races in the game are continuing to catch up.
Class And Race Changes
- Dracthyr: All Dracthyr races are now given Soaring ability. This means they can now fly like Dragonriding, with energy and all their other abilities.
- Evoker: Preservation evokers who have trouble maintaining Reversions may like the fresh change as it makes rotations feel smoother. Essence Burst can now be triggered when casting Reversions. Unfortunately, the mana cost of most spells has been increased by 10%.
- Monk: Dance of the Wind’s dodge chance increases by 10%, and increases by an additional 10% every four seconds until the player dodges the attack. Ancient Teachings now increase Stamina by an additional 5%.
- Shaman: When Shaman uses Earth, Fire, and Storm Elementals, they appear smaller than allies and enemies. To Shaman, they will still appear larger.
The above are all the key contents of this patch 10.2.5. As expected, they will release the patch before the end of January. But according to the developers, Seeds of Renewal will be launched on Tuesday, January 16, 2024, although there is still no exact release time.
Regardless, this new content has a lot of players excited. Let us look forward to its arrival!
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What New Content Has The Recent Update Brought To Lords Of The Fallen?
Read More »Here, I want to talk about the new content of Lords of the Fallen. All the latest patches have brought some nice QOL features, and some tasks are now fixed.
Most importantly, the multiplayer experience has been greatly improved. For example, Vestiges menu now offers new options such as Co-op Partner Indicators to better interact with players and farm Lords of the Fallen Vigor together. The game is definitely in better shape now.
So today let’s take a look at the patch notes and discuss what it has accomplished and what I think still needs to be done. Here I’m going to highlight what I consider being the weakest part of the game - multiplayer.
I think these will be helpful to everyone: those who own the game will be up to date, and for those who are still on the fence, hopefully it will help you make your decision.
Performance
I want to start with the overall performance of the game. Some of you remember it wasn’t very good when it was released. I think it’s safe to say that most of the performance issues have now been resolved. Currently, the game runs fine at Ultra settings at 1080p.
There are two realms in the game: realm of the living and realm of the dead, and you can switch between them almost anytime, anywhere. So, performance in Umbral - the world of the dead was always a little wonky, but it feels like that’s no longer an issue in most cases.
I tried spending some extra time in Umbral, waiting for the timer to go off. Now it’s very smooth even when dealing with hordes of enemies. Unfortunately, this absolutely diabolical VHS-like filter still exists.
That being said, the overall performance of the game still depends on the region. So you may still experience some slight fluctuations in certain areas, such as Bramis Castle.
One of the most annoying things when it comes to performance is autosave stuttering, especially in late game areas and after playing for over three hours at a time. Just like any other souls like game, each character has a save file which is overwritten every time you reach an area or defeat a boss.
I don’t know if this has anything to do with your total play time on a character or the amount of stuff you hoard or the area itself, but it looks like that’s been fixed now.
I tested it with two characters: one was NG+2, and the other was a newbie who was playing through the game for the first time and was about to defeat the last boss, Adyr. I’ve been playing with each character for about 3 hours now and it looks like the issue has gone away now, but please let me know how it goes for you.
New Features
Before we move on to the most important topic - multiplayer, we have listed some other changes here. These changes, while less significant, are still very welcome.
Most bosses will be stronger compared to previous patches. For example, their attacks are stronger and they can deal with more damage. Now some of them, such as Abbess Ursula, Judge Cleric, Lightreaper, and Sundered Monarch, have also received updates to their behavior, making them more in line with late-game challenges.
It’s also worth mentioning that Lightreaper Sword special move has now been fixed, and Vanguard Armor and some other sets no longer glitch.
Also, the issue of enemy health bars being visible from a distance in some areas has now been fixed. At least, I don’t see it anymore. It used to appear in Pieta fights. Sometimes you can see their health bar while fighting a boss.
Multiplayer
There are some really pleasant changes and tweaks when it comes to multiplayer.
When playing the game in co-op mode, you can now see where your partners are. This is thanks to this little glowing indicator in the game. This is a very simple addition, but it helps a lot and makes a lot of sense. However, I would like transfer back to the host to be an optional feature.
Another pretty nice QOL change is the additional options on the Vestige menu. You can now leave a co-op session and kick players out of your session.
There are also fewer disconnections during PVP, as hacked players can no longer return to the main menu. Also, compromised players can no longer interact with vendors. If it does not start Ritual, Moth Wall that appears when it is invaded will automatically disappear after a certain period.
These are very welcome changes, but the core problem remains. We can say the multiplayer to be one of the most important features of any souls like game. It gives players a good reason to keep coming back and extends the overall longevity of the game.
Also Read: Lords Of The Fallen: How To Unlock The Glided Bucket Weapon?
I think even people who have little to no interest in playing these games cooperatively or doing PVP should be interested in the game’s souls like gameplay functioning properly. Because like I said, it allows players to play the game longer, which gives developers a reason to keep improving the game and updating the game.
But Lords of the Fallen’s multiplayer have been bogged down almost from day one, mostly due to ping issues. Each co-op session is very host dependent, and if your host is far away from you, you won’t be able to enjoy the game.
So you might see some tweaks and improvements, but it’s never going to improve unless they invest in dedicated servers.
Conclusion
Overall, Lords of the Fallen is a good game and I’m glad it continues to be improved and updated. But sadly, it’s currently only playable alone unless you have a friend who lives nearby and has a good internet connection.
Regardless, there are more updates to come for Lords of the Fallen, with a roadmap filled with fun free content like new quests, new weapon animations, new spells, new armor sets, and more. Let us look forward to it bringing us extra surprises!
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Path Of Exile 3.23 Affliction Update Notes - New Content & Highlights
Read More »POE 3.23 Affliction patch notes have been released. In my opinion, this is the biggest and best Path of Exile update in a while. The patch notes are long, but I’m going to touch on the things that stood out to me.
There were many predictions about Affliction before it released the patch, but none of us expected new Ascendancies to appear in Affliction League. Honestly, when I saw the trailer, I was shocked, but in a good way.
Affliction is an in-map mechanic. Unlike Trial of the Ancestors or Heist, you don’t have to leave the map and enter a completely original area to do so. While mapping, you’ll encounter Sacred Wisps, which allow you to teleport to a place called Viridian Wildwood. You’ll be able to explore the forest and find new valuable rewards, new powers, and even new bosses.
New Ascendancies
Next comes the most exciting part of Affliction League - three new Ascendancies that you can choose from in addition to the regular Ascendancies.
The first Ascendancy was called Warden Of The Maji. This Ascendancy specializes in Flasks and Tinctures, while also providing some form of defense via Barkskin skill and Oath of the Maji.
The second Ascendancy, Warlock of the Mists, lets you manipulate corpses for more damage and provides protection against monsters that share the creature type with the corpse. In addition to gaining 3 new curses, you can purchase corpses from NPCs and summon them as spectres. This Ascendancy class should be suitable for Minion builds and Aurabots.
The last one is called Wildwood Primalist. This one is very interesting because if you have enough POE Currency budget, you can buy charms from NPCs to create your own Ascendancy class.
Also Read: Path of Exile 3.23 Affliction Is Coming! - Everything You Need To Know About Affliction
This Ascendancy class has very high potential. Imagine that we could buy some powerful charms from NPCs. This Ascendancy class could be pretty insane. I think most players will choose this Ascendancy class at the beginning of the league.
When Sacred Wisps run out of energy, they will take you back to where you came from, along with the other Wisps you collected. These Wisps then disperse into the environment and inhabit randomly selected monsters in the area, increasing their power and bonuses.
Buffs (Skill Gems)
Now, let’s talk buffs and nerfs. I’ll start with skill gem buffs.
Divine Ire’s damage is greatly increased. It now has up to 10 stages instead of 20. Meanwhile, after the first stage, the hits and failures in each stage will also receive more damage.
I’ve played self-cast Divine Ire before, but the channeling play style felt clunky. But Divine Ire Totem should be very good. Totem will automatically release its beam once it reaches its maximum stage. Since the maximum level is now 10, it can release faster the beam.
Cobra Lash gets a huge buff at both clear speed and single target thanks to the extra chain. I think this will be a popular league starter.
Animated Guardian now has more minion maximum life. Because some Animated Guardians are very expensive to set up, and the last thing you want is for them to die.
In addition to Animated Guardian, many minions now have more lives, such as Summon Carrion Golem, Summon Fire Golem and Summon Reaper.
Rolling Magma now gains +2 chains at 20% quality. Someone might come up with some insane and fun Rolling Magma builds with this change. Something like using Sire of Shards to clear the entire screen would be really fun.
Finally, Arc also gets a buff. The 15% increase in damage done by hits and ailments means Ignite Arc should be pretty good in the next league.
Nerfs (Skill Gems)
Continuing with the discussion of skill gem nerfs. Our endgame Righteous Fire was nerfed. Righteous Fire should perform better in the campaign, but you’ll quickly hit a wall when you get to the map.
This is because it has removed base fire damage from the skill gem, so now you can only adjust life and energy shield to get the same amount of damage. To do that, you’re going to have to sacrifice things like gear damage, which isn’t ideal.
Also, stacking health means you won’t be able to scale Fire Trap, which is a tremendous loss of damage to a single target.
Some people might build Righteous Fire using Rathpith Globe, but I think the additional Divine Orbs it would require would also be much higher.
Vortex, another popular league starter has also been nerfed. It is no longer instant, and it has significantly reduced its damage at gem level 20.
Finally, Purity Auras no longer provide higher AOE at 20% quality, which is a nerf to minion builds. However, if you use them yourself, this change is considered a buff.
Nerfs (Unique Items)
What would happen to Path of Exile if it wasn’t nerfed? This time around, the nerf hammer has finally hit some very popular unique items like Heatshiver and Kaom’s Spirit. I mean, these are all expected.
Many people thought that Heatshiver in Trial of the Ancestors would be weakened, but unexpectedly it survived. And now it’s finally time to be nerfed. Heatshiver now only allows you to gain 30% of cold damage as bonus fire damage against frozen enemies instead of 100%, which is obviously an enormous loss of damage.
This will affect builds such as Frost Blades, Ice Trap and Cold Shockwave Totem. My Cold Shockwave Totem build survives because it doesn’t use Heatshiver or Replica Dragonfang’s Flight.
As for Kaom’s Spirit, it now restores 1 Rage per second for every 300 health restored, instead of 100 health per second. This will affect a lot of builds, mainly attack builds like Frost Blades, Flicker Strike and Tornado Shot.
However, if you have very high life regeneration, such as if you play Inquisitor or Guardian, this recent change can be easily overcome.
Transfigured Gems
In Affliction League, Alternate Quality Gems, Labyrinth Helmet Enchantments and Unique Threshold Jewels will be combined into a new system called Transfigured Gems. It serves as an alternative version of the skill gem, with different functionality and balance.
The new Transfigured Gems offer huge potential for completely new builds, such as Raise Zombie of Falling. You can now summon zombies from the air instead of from the ground.
We’ll be getting over 100 Transfigured Gems, and I can’t wait to see how they interact with the monsters.
Also, any skill gem nerfs we receive will probably be turned into buffs for Transfigured Gems, but we won’t know until the details come out.
Ultimatum & Metamorph
Another thing is, Ultimatum is back. I think more people will choose this over the other mechanics they normally do because it’s such a great value.
With Ultimatum replacing Metamorph, we also get Ultimatum’s unique Atlas passives.
I’m glad to see Metamorph is actually gone. Because Metamorph, as one of the extra content, feels bland. It all depends on the reward. When we have other mechanics like Harvest and Expedition, there will be no reason to farm Metamorph as we do now.
Gemcutter’s Prism Vendor Recipe
Before I wrap up, I’d like to mention that Gemcutter’s Prism Vendor Recipe has been removed. This means you now have to pick up all the good gems and sell them to get Gemcutter’s Prism early in the game.
Also, we may see an increase in the price of Gemcutter’s Prism in Affliction, and a 20% reduction in the number of premium skill gems on the market during the start of the league. Note, however, that this change does not affect non-awakened support gems.
Conclusion
Let’s be honest, these patch notes are pretty heavy and there’s a lot to digest. Hopefully, I’ve covered all the important stuff.
However, I’m excited that there will be a meta shift where we will try different builds instead of the usual ones. Hopefully, these Transfigured Gems and new Ascendancies live up to their names and contribute to the diversity of the build.
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All The Changes With The New 30% ICC Raid Buff In WOTLK Classic Phase 4
Read More »Here today I want to talk about something very interesting and that is the upcoming 30% ICC raid buff. We found this to be a buff that changes everything.
I want to talk about the timeline for this buff. When we see it, you know exactly how it’s going to scale. And then I also want to talk about something that no one has considered yet, like what’s happening with Raid Composition? How many healers are there? What do you give up when you have this buff? How has your tank changed? What changes have occurred to DPS? I want to cover everything.
ICC Buff Explained
So, before discussing timelines and Raid Composition changes, let’s get down to business. We should probably cover what the actual buff is.
So imagine entering ICC with a really outstanding magic boost that makes you stronger and all the healing you receive better. For example, you have a Protection Paladin Tank with 50,000 health, with this buff your health will rise to 65,000. This makes it easy for you to survive Lich King’s attacks.
By analogy, your Holy Paladin will rise from 13,000 Holy Light points all the way to 177,000 points. And your excellent Fury Warrior will jump from 14,000 DPS to 18,000 DPS.
But there’s a problem, the developers aren’t letting go of this exceptional buff in the next 5 months. Instead, it scales up every few weeks until it reaches 30% damage healing and health. So you might ask, while most people are referring to the upcoming ICC changes as “buffs,” what are the actual effects on gameplay?
This is really just Nerf done differently than Nerf of the past. This new and exciting way to actually enhance player abilities has some positives and some controversial negatives.
There’s always been a suspicion that ICC’s actual raid balance was designed around 30% buff combat, much like Heroic Lich King’s extremely punishing one shot mechanics.
Because there are currently only 175 guilds that have cleared Heroic Lich King. If anyone has already obtained Invincible’s Reins or powerful 284 weapons, it will bring a 30% buff, so ordinary players can also clear the battle easily. Lich King will eventually be available to thousands of guilds.
To be honest, I’m a little wary of this buff myself. Because I know this will weaken players’ enthusiasm for guild activities. But I know that a lot of players seem to be very excited about this buff so far. Therefore, this may also make some players more motivated to complete ICC raids.
ICC Will Be Easier
Another controversial change is that when we finally get the 30% buff, ICC becomes extremely easy for normal mode groups. Because a 5,000 gear score character should be able to handle ICC with ease.
I fully support this change. If I can take my warriors into a normal ICC team to get those powerful items, it will motivate me to be more prepared for Cataclysm.
The Buff Affects Other Raids
But what we have to note is that when people do 20,000 damage in ICC, they go to Ruby Sanctum to just do less damage and eventually even remove people’s damage. This makes the player’s gaming experience so bad.
So the developers must at least agree that raids like Firelands have completely different Nerf systems so that players don’t become too passive here.
But if you’re struggling in Professor Putricide’s Heroic Mode and you know you’re getting a 5% damage and health buff next week, a lot of guilds are really going to lose some momentum the week before the patch is due to release.
When Is The Buff Coming?
Now let’s talk about the timeline and what to expect from this ICC buff. Tim Jones mentioned in a recent podcast that the first ICC buff may not be more than two months after launch. But we don’t know if this news is reliable.
While we can mark the calendar as December 5 based on the 8-day timeline released on October 12, we really can’t know for sure.
The raid is a tough nut to crack, much more difficult than most of us imagine. This could mean we’ll see the 5% raid buff even sooner, perhaps even beckoning us in mid-November. Because we need to polish those buffs that come out every few weeks.
If this pattern continues, though, we could see the buff rise fairly steadily by 10% by mid-December and 15% by the new year. But remember, this is where the pattern holds. So let’s not rush things, keep your strategy more flexible and your WOTLK Classic Gold stocked up.
How The Buff Affects Guilds?
So let’s hear your battle plan. Are you preparing for earlier buffs? More guilds may use this new buff to clear Lich King. We also have some very good data from the past that explains exactly what would have happened in the past.
When buffed by 5%, Professor Putricide’s kill count jumped by almost a thousand. This happens in almost every fight, like Lich King, Blood-Queen Lana’thel and even Syndicate, and then progression levels off again. As you’d expect until the next buff.
While the strategy will be completely different in almost every battle, it’s not just the kill count that’s affected. Once the buff is implemented on Maraudon, you can actually pump DPS directly, even during Bone Storm. But it means there will be some serious team changes as well.
ICC Raid Comp Shifts
The best scaling level 8/14 only scales better on buffs. But it’s entirely possible that Gargoyle won’t get the buff, which would put them at a tremendous disadvantage.
It’s not just DPS that will change, it will also be the play style of tanks. For example, Protection Warrior may return with more health as a healer. While this is indeed bad news, most guilds will want to get the heals down to four as it will make Infest more manageable.
When Raid Comp changes, the level type itself will also change. We will see more GDKP running with buffs. Now, you can probably clear a full normal raid with 20 players instead of 25.
Overall, this has a tremendous impact on the game. Because of the ICC nerf, you may be wondering how to best prepare for this game-changing buff. to maximize your team’s full potential and take full advantage of buffs. I definitely recommend you start brainstorming how you can adapt to these changes. So you don’t miss the huge new ICC Nerf preparation guide and let’s conquer Lich King Fortress together.
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New World Season 4 Eternal Frost Update Notes! - Release Date & New Content
Read More »Following the successful launch of Rise of the Angry Earth expansion, New World has announced Season 4 called Eternal Frost, much to the excitement of all players.
The new season will bring new Storyline, Expedition, Artifacts and more. In addition, they will launch a new Season Pass in Season 4, as well as some limited-time challenges. Players can complete these challenges to earn exclusive cosmetics.
If you have been waiting for the update of New World Season 4 Eternal Frost. Here’s everything you need to know about it, including its release date and everything it will bring to the game.
Release Date
The developers stated that New World it will release Season 4 Eternal Frost on December 12, 2023, however, the specific time has not been revealed. In addition to this, players can test out all upcoming content in its Public Test Realm ahead of its global launch starting on November 9.
However, keep in mind that you need to own Rise of the Angry Earth to access the new content.
Content Summary For Season 4
Below, you’ll find a full breakdown of everything in New World Season 4 Eternal Frost.
New Storyline
New World Eternal Frost update will continue Rise of the Angry Earth storyline. The storyline started with the last patch in October of this year. Players will have to face an unknown threat from Knight of Round Table. He discovers the secret of Ancients and plans to conquer humanity with the power of Eternal Frost on Aeternum.
To stop him, players must team up with Silver Crows, a group of explorers and adventurers, and seek the help of a Fire Mage named Daichi to track down and defeat the knight before he destroys Aeternum.
Also Read: New World Patch 3.0.2 Update Notes! - Blunderbuss Nerf & More Fixes
Winter Convergence Festival
Icy winds and Glimmering Gleamite fill the air once again as Winter Convergence Festival returns to Aeternum. During the festival, you will visit Winter Villages, meet Winter Wanderer and perform his festival missions.
In return, players will receive Winter Tokens. Players can use them to earn new limited-time rewards, including Festive Skins, Emotes, Housing Items, and more. Players can also earn a generous sum of New World Coins by selling recurring rewards.
Glacial Tarn Expedition
New World Season 4 will also introduce a new Level 65 Expedition called Glacial Tarn. This is a level 65 dungeon located in Great Cleave region, where players must venture into the frozen caverns beyond Empyrean Forge.
There, players will also be able to explore a massive frozen complex hidden beyond Empyrean Forge and pursue Varangian Knight Sir Loth.
To defeat him, players must find and use Empyrean Flame’s primordial magic to eliminate Ice Magic-filled enemies and obstacles and defeat him before the power of Sir Loth consumes all of Aeternum.
New Artifacts
Eight new Artifacts will be part of Season 4. Players can find and equip 8 new Artifacts to redefine their play style. These powerful weapons and armors each have their own unique abilities and tasks, including but not limited to:
- Boltcaster Bow: Stun and shock enemies
- Winged Shoes: Boost your speed and reduce cooldowns
- Frozen Gauntlet: Freeze and finish your enemies
New Season Pass
New World Season 4 will provide you with a new Season Journey, new Activity Card, new Challenges, and new rewards, including cosmetics and consumables.
Players can access Season Journey and Activity Card from the main menu and track their progress and rewards. Challenges will test players’ gaming skills and knowledge and reward them with Season Points and other rewards.
Winter Warrior Boss
New open world boss Winter Warrior and his legion of Frigid Folk are on a relentless mission to spread Forever Winter across the land. Players will team up with over 20 players and defeat it in Great Cleave, Brightwood, Edengrove, Ebonscale Reach, and Brimstone Sands to earn new seasonal rewards.
General Crassus Boss
On the other side of New World, General Crassus’s armies are threatening Aeternum. Following ancient plans, Crassus’ forces occupied the southern lands and freed Cyclopses Lucanus and Decimus.
Your mission is to hunt down its terrifying leader and eliminate Roman tyranny’s shadow. You will search for portals in Brightwood, Weavers Fen, Mourningdale, Ebonscale Reach, and Edengrove. Each victory over them will net you new event-specific daily rewards.
Cross World Expeditions & New Group Finder
In Season 4, players will team up with anyone from around the world to complete challenges. However, they should be in the same area.
To find the perfect player, you can use the new one-click Group Finder. It automatically forms a role-balanced cross-world group, eliminating the need for lobby management.
Public Test Realm
Finally, New World will open Public Test Realm on November 9th. PTR will allow players to preview upcoming features and content, such as new Expedition, a new Season Story, new Artifacts, and more. PTR will also provide players with special accommodations, such as instant levels and special gear.
PTR is a separate client from the main game and needs to be downloaded separately. Players who own the base game will have access to a PTR app on Steam. PTR availability is limited and queues may apply. It’s important to note that PTR characters and progress will not transfer to the live game.
Conclusion
That’s everything you need to know about New World Season 4 Eternal Frost. We expect an Eternal Frost update to bring a lot of excitement and fun to New World players as they explore new content and face new challenges. Although Rise of the Angry Earth expansion is required to play, the update will be free-for-all players who own the game.
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Lords Of The Fallen Update 1.1.224 Patch Notes! - NG+ Vestiges & Progression
Read More »As we all know, Lords of the Fallen have been well-received since its release on October 13 of this year, but its release hasn’t been as steady as players had hoped.
In addition to cross-platform connectivity issues, players also encountered save glitches, balancing issues, and various other issues. This PC version of Lords of the Fallen even suffers from performance issues such as stuttering and input lag.
In response, Hexworks and CI Games released the latest update for Lords of the Fallen, Patch 1.1.224, on October 23. This patch addresses various issues and bugs, including fan-requested New Game Plus tweaks.
Here I will summarize all the important content in this patch. If you’re wondering what exactly has changed in this Dark Souls-style action RPG, you can’t miss this explanation.
Enemy Density Lowered
First, one of the most significant changes in Lords of the Fallen Patch 1.1.224 is that enemies will stop chasing early. This update limits enemies’ leashing abilities, making them more likely to return to their spawn point earlier than before. This helps prevent large numbers of enemies from relentlessly pursuing the player as they rush through the level.
Previously, there was the risk of multiple enemies pursuing you fiercely, stalking you until they exacted their bloody revenge. Now, as Hexworks said, they are improving our “Leashing” system. Enemies will no longer relentlessly pursue players, but will instead be limited in how far they can travel from the initial spawn area.
The developer says it will make further improvements to this in Thursday’s patch, including reducing the number of enemies in the most difficult areas for players. It will remove these enemies from your original play through, but will remain in NG+ in line with the more challenging experience players are looking for.
In addition, crowd behavior has also been adjusted. This way, enemies won’t swarm as often. Moreover, in the most difficult areas for players, the number of enemies will be reduced and their aggressiveness will be relatively weakened.
Also Read: 3 Best Starting Classes In Lords Of The Fallen
NG+ Vestiges
In addition, Hexworks has also introduced some fundamental changes to ensure that every player has a better NG+ experience. Including those who enjoy the challenge of No-Vestiges and those who wish they still existed in the world.
In Patch 1.1.224, when you complete the initial game, you will see a new option before starting the next one. You can choose to go directly to the next consecutive NG. For example, if you just finished NG+1, you will move on to NG+2.
Or you can choose to replay the current NG with the same difficulty. It will retain your Lords of the Fallen Items, characters, and progress, but reset the entire world, including NPCs and quest lines. This will allow trophy hunters and completionists to seek out any outstanding quests without having to deal with increased difficulty, if they so choose.
Also, in a further patch this Thursday, you’ll see further updates to NG+ mode. NG+1 will not remove all traces. You will only see some disappear while leaving key locations intact.
In NG+2, more parts disappear. Then in NG+3, all but the main hub Skyrest Bridge and Shrine of Adyr Vestige will disappear. This way, our original vision remains the same, but more of a gradual adaptation awaits those looking for a higher level challenge.
Finally, as a follow-up to last week’s hot announcement during the livestream, we can confirm that the developers have begun work on “NG+ modifier system.” This allows players to customize their NG+ experience. Whether you keep all traces, just some, or obliterate them.
It will also include other interesting modifiers such as hardcore mode, item randomizers, enemy randomizers and more.
The feature set is not fully defined yet, but the developers say they will release the new NG+ modifier system before the end of this year.
Crossplay Back
In this Q&A stream, the developers stated that they would deploy this feature to all platforms as soon as possible. But before that happens, PC gamers need to make sure their GPU stability reaches a certain level.
Performance & Stability
Essentially, Hexworks has been listening to players and adjusting Lords of the Fallen accordingly. The patch also aims to address performance issues experienced by some players.
The data shows that developers’ continued efforts to improve GPU stability are paying off. Currently, the number of players affected by GPU stability has dropped significantly from launch to less than a third of day one, but it still affects 4% of players every hour.
The developers are still trying to roll out many key improvements until it released the next patch, which will bring these numbers down even further.
Progression Loss
For those who lost level progress due to corrupted saves or co-op-related issues in Patch 1.1.215, the developers say they are working hard to find a solution for you.
They are forming a team so that you can send corrupted saves or downgraded characters to the team. The team will respond by providing your save with the required LotF Vigor to restore your character to the level it was at prior to the glitch.
Visuals
Finally, this patch also fixes fog card artifacts in locations such as Manse of the Hallowed Brothers when frame generation is enabled.
The above is the update instructions for the latest Patch 1.1.224 of Lords of the Fallen. What do you think of these improvements? See you next time!
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Diablo 4 Season 2 Huge Patch 1.2.0 Is Coming! - Redemption Or Final Nail?
Read More »In preparation for the release of Diablo 4 Season 2, the full patch notes for Update 1.2.0 have been released. But the actual update won’t be released until October 17th.
This is the largest batch of patch notes yet. The developer recently highlighted the most important of these changes during a Diablo 4 Season 2 campfire chat.
Much of the patch will focus on gameplay, experience, and balance updates, as well as a host of bug fixes. Also, this patch will add new Unique Items, Legendary Aspects, and Paragon Glyphs.
Here I’ll walk you through some of the most important parts of the patch notes to help you get up to speed on what this update is all about.
Unique Items
First, let’s talk about the new Diablo 4 items in Patch 1.2.0.
Tassets of The Dawning Sky (Generic Unique Pants): When you take damage from a non-physical damage type, your maximum resistance to that damage type is increased by 6-10% for 6 seconds. However, this effect can only apply to one damage type at a time.
Tuskhelm of Joritz The Mighty (Barbarian Unique Helm): When you gain Berserk while already enraged, you have a 40-60% chance of becoming more enraged. It also increases damage by 15%, generates 2 Fury points per second, and reduces cooldown by 10%.
Dolmen Stone (Druid Unique Amulet): Casting a Boulder while Hurricane is active will cause your Boulder to spin around you.
Scoundrel’s Leathers (Rogue Unique Chest): Although you have unlimited energy from Inner Sight. But your core skills have a 60-80% chance of producing Caltrops, Poison Trap, or Death Trap.
Blood Moon Breeches (Necromancer Unique Pants): Your minions have a 3-7% chance to curse the enemy. Enemies affected by at least 1 of your curses take 70% increased overpower damage.
Blue Rose (Sorcerer Unique Ring): After a Lucky Hit, there is a 30% chance of forming explosive Ice Spikes when damaging the enemy, causing 0.25-0.35 points of cold damage. If the enemy is frozen, it tripled this chance.
Godslayer Crown (Generic Unique Helm): When you Stun, Freeze, or Immobilize an elite enemy, it attracts nearby enemies. It increased your damage against them by 30-60% for 3 seconds. Note that this effect can only occur once every 12 seconds.
Flickerstep (Generic Unique Boots): Each enemy you dodge reduces the cooldown of your active ultimate by 2-4 seconds, up to a maximum of 10 seconds.
Tibault’s Will (Generic Unique Pants): You deal 20-40% more damage while Unstoppable and for 4 seconds thereafter, and gain 50 Primary Resource.
X’Fal’s Corroded Signet (Generic Unique Ring): After a Lucky Hit, your continuous damage effect has a 50% chance of bursting out, causing 5.0-6.0 points of damage of the same type to nearby enemies.
Soulbrand (Unique Generic Chest): Your Healing Potion no longer heals immediately, but provides a barrier that provides 200% healing for 4 seconds. When you have a barrier, you gain 10-20% damage reduction.
Banished Lord’s Talisman (Unique Generic Amulet): After you spend 300 points of Primary Resource, it guaranteed your next core skill to produce an overwhelming critical hit, increasing the damage by 80-120%.
Legendary Aspects
We can find the following these Aspects on Boots and Amulets.
Aspect of Slaughter (Generic Mobility Aspect): You gain 20% movement speed. We lose this bonus within 2.5-5 seconds after taking damage.
We can find the following Aspects on Amulets, Gloves, Rings, and Weapons.
Aspect of Elements (Generic Offensive Aspect): You gain 20-30% additional damage and a set of damage types for 7 seconds. This effect alternates between 2 sets of damage types:
- Fire, Lightning, and Physical
- Cold, Poison, and Shadow
Wanton Rupture Aspect (Barbarian Offensive Aspect): Your Rupture does not eliminate blood damage caused by enemies. This happens every 30-40 seconds.
Raw Might Aspect (Druid Offensive Aspect): After you hit 15 enemies with Werebear skill, your next Werebear skill will deal 30-50% damage and stun the enemy for 2 seconds.
Aspect of Artful Initiative (Rogue Offensive Aspect): When you spend 100 energy, you release an explosive cluster of Stun Grenades, dealing 0.2-0.3 total physical damage and stunning enemies for 0.5 seconds. Your Grenade ability deals 15% increased damage.
Aspect of The Long Shadow (Necromancer Offensive Aspect): After a Lucky Hit, your Shadow DOT effect has a 10-30% chance of generating 3 essences. The damage caused by Shadowblight Key Passive will always generate 2 essence.
Battle Caster’s Aspect (Sorcerer Offensive Aspect): After a Lucky Hit, when your Conjuration skill hits an enemy, you have a whopping 30-40% chance of gaining +1 level to your Conjuration skill for 12 seconds. Can be stacked up to 3 times.
Paragon Glyphs
The value ranges provided for Paragon Glyphs below reflect their damage at level 1 and up to level 21.
Barbarian
Twister: Your Dust Devils deal 13.2-39.6% more damage for every 5 points of strength purchased within range. After creating Dust Devils, you deal 13% increased damage for 4 seconds.
Rumble: Your Earthquakes deal 13.2-39.6% more damage for every 5 points of strength purchased in range. Also, each time Earthquakes are active, you deal 10% increased damage to Crowd Control enemies and bosses.
Also Read: Major Changes Coming To Diablo 4 Season 2 - In Depth Community Discussion
Druid
Electrocution: Your Lightning Bolts and Dancing Bolts deal 13.2-39.6% more damage for every 5 points of Willpower purchased within range. Enemies damaged by your Lightning Bolts and Dancing Bolts take 20% increased damage for 5 seconds.
Tectonic: For every 5 points of Dexterity purchased within range, your Earth skills gain 3.0-14.9% critical damage. Meanwhile, you can also get 15% Lucky Hit Chance.
Necromancer
Exhumation: For every 5 Intelligences purchased within range, the damage done by your Corpse skills is increased by 3.3-13.9%. Consuming a corpse increases your maximum health by 4% and reduces damage taken by 4% for 4 seconds.
Desecration: Your Desecrated Ground deals 19.8-59.4% more damage for every 5 points of Willpower purchased within range. While you are standing on your Desecrated Ground, you deal 15% more Shadow damage.
Rogue
Explosive: Your Stun Grenades deal 13.2-39.6% more damage for every 5 points of Dexterity purchased within range. Casting Stun Grenades reduces your damage by 10% for 2 seconds.
Nightstalker: For every 5 Intelligences purchased within range, Shadow damage you deal increases by 2.0-9.9%. Reduces Shadow Imbuement’s active cooldown by 4 seconds when you enter Stealth state.
Sorcerer
Stalagmite: Your Ice Spikes deal 2.0-9.9% more damage for every 5 Intelligence purchased within range. Your Ice Spikes also gain an additional 10% critical strike chance.
Invocation: For every 5 points of Dexterity purchased within range, your Conjuration skill will gain 7.9-27.7% critical damage. Enemies damaged by your Conjuration skill will take 1% less damage to you for 6 seconds, stacking up to 12%.
Gameplay Updates
This update adds more cursor icon options, including higher contrast icons. Players can find this in this Accessibility Options menu.
Items can now be marked as favorites. Items marked in this way cannot be sold or recycled to earn Diablo 4 Gold.
Items in the storage room can now be marked as trash or favorites. Players can now search and filter storage rooms to find items faster. We can group together extracted Aspects with the same Legendary Power when sorted in inventory and stash.
Also, additional options to hide combat text are now available in settings, and auto-run has been added. When the bound button is pressed, the player will continue to move in the direction they or the mouse cursor is facing until another movement action or skill is initiated.
They have added three new icons to Helltide Chests map, representing Jewelry, Armor, and Weapons. Also, two additional character slots have been added here, for 12.
Finally, enchantment costs are now determined by coefficients from the base item power and item type, rather than the item’s sales value. For rare items, this usually results in a higher initial enchantment cost. However, subsequent enchantments will continue to level up at a significantly slower rate than before.
The enchantment costs for legendary items are often reduced across the board. Also, imprinting, adding sockets, or upgrading will no longer increase enchantment costs.
That’s most of the update notes for Diablo 4 Season 2 Patch 1.2.0. The patch addresses many of the community’s concerns, particularly regarding endgame content and the overall gameplay experience.
In the meantime, developers are listening to feedback and making necessary adjustments. The introduction of new bosses, unique items and Paragon Glyphs add depth to the game and ensure players stay engaged.
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Changes In Season 2 QOL In The Latest Diablo 4 Developer Live Stream! - Multiplicative EXP & Uber Unique Farm
Read More »In a live developer update aired on October 4, we could see that Diablo 4 Season 2 will be bringing some huge quality of life changes across the board.
Such as better inventory management and multiplicative EXP rewards. And the mount will feel better and more responsive. What’s more important is that the player’s item abilities will progress in a more meaningful way depending on the situation.
The developers have tweaked the existing endgame progression by adding some content, and of course the mechanics of the new season. Overall, it is said that going from level 1 to level 100 will be 40% faster than in Season 1. Among them, resistance, damage buckets, unique item tweaks and class balance will be discussed in the campfire chat on October 10th.
Inventories & Stashes
First, I want to talk about inventory and stashes in the new season. We’re looking for a loot filter, but unfortunately we can’t seem to search by gear affixes. Loot filtering will focus more on rarity and item slots, with the ability to filter by Ancestral and Sacred.
They are no longer Diablo 4 item rewards or monster drop gems, but drop in the form of gem shards. We can craft gem fragments at the jeweler, thereby reducing the amount of bloat we have in our inventory.
You will no longer see Non-Sacred and Non-Ancestral common magic and rare items in higher World Tiers. Instead, they drop as crafting materials that you normally get by salvaging them. This will ultimately reduce the number of times we need a blacksmith so we can keep farming more efficient.
In Season 2, we do higher level Nightmare Dungeons and pick up trash items just to get more Crafting Materials. And our picking up useless rare items was a way to farm Diablo 4 Gold before, so we may need to find a new way to farm gold.
Also Read: 7 Essential Tips That Every Diablo 4 Player Should Know
We also see more stashes added to towns in key areas, vendor NPC locations improved, and occultists coming to Tree of Whispers. So our towns are becoming more efficient.
By the way, Renown completion will continue from season to season, but skipping the campaign will only unlock static 10 Waypoint locations.
Endgame Changes
In terms of endgame additions, the developer demonstrated Tree of Whispers and how the endgame content process works during the live broadcast.
New Bosses
Also, we see the addition of 5 new bosses. Echoes of Varshan are returning, and this boss will be located near Tree of Whispers.
Complete Nightmare Dungeons Tiers 21+ to get Beast of Ice. World Bosses and Legion Events will lead us to the new vampire seasonal boss, Lord Zeer. And Galvanic Saint will be obtained by completing Helltides.
Component items used to gain access to these new bosses will be tradable between players. Each boss will be a way to farm unique items, and each boss will have its own unique drop table. The biggest boss will be Uber Duriel, whose Uber Uniques drop rate will increase. Uber Uniques will be more common than before.
Improvements In QOL
We’re looking at huge quality of life improvements in the endgame. Depending on the level of the monster you’re fighting, the power of items on equipment will change within a narrower range. So now there’s a better reason to want to fight higher level monsters.
As you level up, trash items will appear less and less frequently. Useless equipment affixes will also appear less frequently at higher endgame levels.
We saw some Nightmare Dungeons targets removed, and even the layout was modified to reduce backtracking. For example, Lightning Storm affix now increases movement speed by 35% for 5 seconds. If used correctly, this might make it a S tier Sigil. We could also teleport directly into Nightmare Dungeons so we could avoid 2 loading screens.
Multiplied EXP Rewards
For the final endgame, we once again get significantly increased XP from Whispers and Helltides. Whispers will also stick to cached item slots. So we won’t see any random necklaces dropped from the launch cache anymore. Helltide chests are getting new icons to indicate the type of chest on the map.
Their gold rewards will also be greatly increased. This is said to help offset the cost of enchantment. We see an increase in the cost of initial enchantments, but lower scaling costs for subsequent enchantments.
Whispers and Helltides caches will provide better item powered gear. So we rarely felt like we’re doing endgame content and getting trash gear all the time.
New Season Mechanism
The new season’s mechanic will be vampire powers. From what I understand, we will be getting a new UI element called Sanguine Circle, which will be used to manage our vampire powers. Each vampire power has a Pact cost to activate. We will find Pact as a consumable, which we can then place on our armor.
We’ll use blood type currency to upgrade and unlock various vampire powers. There will be seasonal endgame content that allows us to remove or inject pact into armor for further customization.
Blood Harvest
Blood Harvest will be a new Helltide style event. Starting at level 1 gives us more reasons to enter Overworld. Eris will be our new Cormond, an NPC we follow in Season 2 questline. Zeer is our new seasonal bad guy and his lieutenants will be invading our dungeons. Zeer himself will be the new endgame boss, which we can access by completing World Bosses and Legion Events.
The above are all the highlights and quality of life changes that I know about this developer's live broadcast. Hope this helps. May your Diablo 4 Season 2 adventure be both challenging and fun!
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New Features & Changes In Elder Scrolls Online Update 40!
Read More »Elder Scrolls Online is gearing up for a massive Update 40 patch packed with exciting new features and content. In a recent preview, the developers showed off what players can expect from this update, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive.
Here, I will take you to review the live preview of this update. Includes new Crafting Stations, Jewelry Crafting changes, improved Group Finder tools, the highly expected Endless Archive, and upcoming in-game events. Without further ado, let’s get started!
Release Date
First up, they will release ESO Update 40 base game patch on October 30th for PC/Mac and November 14th for Xbox and PlayStation consoles. In addition, PTS for Update 40 was launched on Monday, September 18th.
In addition to this Endless Archive PVE campaign, this update also introduces many new features and additional content. These are completely free for all existing ESO players, with no additional purchases required.
Grand Master Crafting Stations
Grand Master Crafting Stations, one of the long-awaited features of many old ESO players, was finally unveiled in the form of concept art during this live broadcast. These sites were created to solve the problem of limited furniture locations in Guild and Crafting Halls.
Previously, players were required to provide four Attunable Station Furnishings for each craftable set, including Clothing, Blacksmithing, Woodworking, and Jewelry.
With GMC Stations, it solved this problem. Because each Crafting skill-line will have a unique GMC Stations. Players can import Attunable Stations into their GMC Stations. This way, players only need four GMC Stations instead of hundreds of Attunable Stations. As they enter more adjustable parameters, GMC Stations visually upgrade themselves.
Players can purchase GMC Stations with Rip Vouchers. This is also good news for Guild Masters, as they are now no longer limited by the number of available furniture slots.
Jewelry Crafting Rework
Initially, Jewelry Crafting was primarily designed for endgame players. In Update 40, the developers aim to make it more accessible to all players through rebalancing.
In this live preview program, we learned some changes in Jewelry Crafting. First, Grains are expunged from the system, and all Grains in players’ inventories will be converted to Ancient Grains. Next, they renamed Platings to Ancient Platings, but the nature of the items did not change.
We should note that the conversion ratio of Grains to Platings is 1:1. The conversion ratio between Platings and Ancient Platings is 1:10.
In addition, the developers have adjusted the cost of upgrading Jewelry to ESO Gold to be more in line with other Crafting skill-lines. For example, when all improvement perks are applied, eight Chromium Plating sessions will be required.
Finally, and most regrettably, Red Jewelry Crafting will be removed from the game.
Also Read: Elder Scrolls Online: A Complete Guide To Dungeon Crawling
Improved Group Finder Tool
The most requested feature by the player community, the improved Group Finder tool, finally appears in Update 40.
The new tool allows players to create or join lists in various content categories, including custom content such as Trials, PVP, Zone Content or ERP. Players can apply to join these groups, and group leaders can accept invitations. We expect this change to reduce foot traffic at Craglorn, as many players have previously AFK here while looking for trial groups.
Endless Archive
Endless Archive is a systematic endless PVE Arena available to all ESO players who own the base game. Of course, it can also be done with a companion or friend.
The core content in this Update 40 is Endless Archive, which will provide players with a procedurally generated PVE arena experience.
It tasked players with entering Endless Archive and hunting down a powerful Daedra named Tho’at Replicanum. It will create chaos by spawning various monsters.
This Archive consists of Stages, Cycles and Arcs. Completing Stages and Cycles will open a boss battle and reward you with a unique class set item.
There are over 60 different bosses in Endless Archive from different aspects of the game, including story bosses, public dungeon champions, world bosses and more.
Also, you can choose buffs and bonuses called Verses and Visions here to enhance your gameplay and enrich your gaming experience.
After winning in Endless Archive, players can earn Archive Fortunes. This is a unique currency. Players can use it to purchase furnishings, gold materials, taut deck fragments, account unlocks and curated or uncurated class sets.
Upcoming In-Game Events
Secrets of the Telvanni: This is a celebration that encourages players to take part in an Overland content of Telvanni Peninsula and Apocrypha. Completing event goals will earn your Event Goodies and Tickets.
Challenge Meter: When players complete specific tasks, a special daily event task challenge meter will populate. Reaching a certain level will reward players with rewards such as Ebony Scarab Pet, Nightmare’s Nest Body Markings, and Kelesan’Ruhn House.
Witches Festival: October’s Witches Festival will feature town decorations and traditional holiday celebrations.
Gates of Oblivion Event: This event will take place this November, and players can look forward to festivities related to Gates of Oblivion storyline.
New Life Festival: This year’s events concluded with this New Life Festival, once again bringing a joyful atmosphere to Tamriel.
Final Thoughts
Overall, they packed Update 40 with exciting changes and content, from the convenience of GMC Stations to the endless challenges of Endless Archive. With these new features and events, ESO players have a lot to look forward to in the coming months!