1.3 is on the Public Test Server. Joy!

So for those of you who haven’t read the Herald lately, the Patch Notes for 1.3 went up Thursday night and the Public Test Server is open for business.  Now, of course we know 1.3 means it’s time for the Tomb Kings, but let’s put that aside for a moment and look at some of the other things that are being added.  Even without Tomb Kings, this next patch is full of stuff!

In no particular order, here we go!

Auto Roll

What?!?!  That’s right, Auto Roll.  Out of seeming thin-air, Mythic adds a feature to the game to set yourself up to never have to press Need/Greed/Pass again if you wish.  Oh my.  I’ve included a screenshot so you know I’m not lying.  😉  This is definitely going to need some major testing to make sure it works right, but if it does, this will be one of those Quality things that really make gaming better without people even realizing it.  The options available are complex, yet intuitive.  You can adjust settings for every type of loot in the game, including Trash loot!  Armor Set items will still pop up in a window, but everything else is done while you play automatically upon looting a body.

Public Quest Loot Roll Opt-Out

Ask and ye shall receive.  You will now have the ability during anything that uses the PQ mechanic to click the treasure chest on your UI and opt-out of the loot roll.  Now I won’t feel bad about defending/attacking Keeps and Fortresses now.  I can opt-out and just get my tokens which are all I care about for those at this point anyway.

Moar Bags

Man.  Those of you that have followed my blog for a while or that read the archives, know that I went into full discussion mode about space issues in this game two months ago.  Well, it looks like they’ve started to do something about it.  First, they’ve added a pair of Currency bags to hold not only the new RvR tokens, but also the new Tomb King tokens as well.  They said this was in the works when the released the token system, so kudos to fulfilling what gamers take as a promise.  Second, and this one makes me happier than I can really express, they put in Crafting bags.  Yeah, bagS plural.  You start off with one just for picking up a Crafting or Gathering profession.  Then when you hit 100 and 200 for each of those professions, you get another bag ultimately being able to have five full bags just for Crafting supplies.  Both the Currency and Crafting bags are the same size as regular backpack bags, so that’s 16 slots each with a total of 80 Crafting spaces and 32 Currency spaces.  ~and crafters everywhere roared their approval~  Now if they’d only add my “grey item” bags I’d never have a space issue again…

Sigils

So if that wasn’t good enough, they went and done removed Wards from the Armor pieces and put them in your Tome as unlocks.  Seriously.  Now, you can go naked, yet fully warded, into dungeons just for the hell of it.  (Yes, I’m crazy enough to try it….at least once.  :p  )  On a serious note, this means you can wear any kind of gear you want while doing dungeons or RvR and not have to worry about those items having the proper Wards.  This means all Armor Sets are fair game, all rare and very rare armor drops are fair game and as people find more Mythic armor pieces, they’re fair game too.  Sweet.

It doesn’t stop there though.  Along with removing the Wards from the items, they’ve opened up alternative ways to obtain them as well.  Here’s an example of what’s listed currently on Test.  Keep in mind, this is subject to change at any time before it goes to Live.

Aspirant Sigil (Lesser Wards)

First Fragment

• Acquire Annihilator Boots
• Acquire First Fragment of the Challenger Sigil
• Acquire Bloodlord Boots
• Kill Thar’Ignan 5 times
• Kill 100 RR 35+ Players

As you can see, looting the actual item instantly grants you the Fragment (Ward) as does obtaining the Fragment above it, like the current system would if you looted Sentinel/Conqueror prior to Annihilator/Bloodlord.  It’s the alternatives that make this really interesting though.  Killing the Boss that drops the PvE version of the Fragment a handful of times nets you the Fragment if your luck is bad.  Also, just going out and spending a few evenings in RvR can also net you the Fragment.  Overall, this will drastically reduce the amount of time needed to get people properly warded for at least the first few levels of the system. Each Sigil has progressively harder alternative tasks, which they should.  So far, there are no alternatives listed for the equivalent of Excelsior and Supreme Wards.  We may see that change or we may not.  That is the ultimate end-game for Wards, so they may leave that to be obtained only by getting the items as it is currently.  I wouldn’t blame them for that.  The rest of it is so full of awesome as far as leveling the playing field that I really can’t complain about the end-game Sigils.

Ultimately, while you still may not have the gear you want, at least you’ll be free to pick and choose what gear you want to get as opposed to being forced to do one set prior to another prior to another and so on.  Hooray for Freedom of Choice!

The new Sigils are as follows:

• Aspirant Sigil – Lesser Wards
• Challenger Sigil – Greater Wards
• Contender Sigil – Superior Wards
• Champion Sigil – Excelsior Wards
• Hero Sigil – Supreme Wards

With the new Sigil system also came a new look for the Armory page as you can see in the screenshot.

As you can see by the progress bars, I like my Armor Collection.  :p  A couple should actually be full, but they fixed an issue with them not showing up in the Tome and now I have to go loot them all over again.  Oh well, no biggie.

Also, for those dungeon crawlers out there, there are major changes to how Lockout Timers work which will allow you to swap people in and out as you need them or as they need items basically.  Also, Gunbad got some adjustments which overall look to make it easier.  However, they removed the Giant that turns into a chicken in the first boss encounter.  That made me sad as I loved that guy.  Oh well.

To those people out there that had armor pieces that just didn’t dye right or dye at all, you may get some love as they’ve stated they worked on a lot of that.  I know Archmages got love there, not sure who else.  You’ll have to check for yourself if you had issues with your gear.

In RvR, there are new siege weapons available as well as a new Keep upgrade to prevent those pesky MDPS from sneaking in your postern.  Also, lots of changes to Scenarios, including rewarding renown for actually completing objectives.  Imagine that!

Along with the above come a lot of Career adjustments which I’m sure will make some very happy and others very unhappy.  Honestly, that’s just the way it goes.  I played Star Wars Galaxies for five years and they never stopped tweaking careers and people never stopped complaining about them.  So I guess I’m to the point where I just play my class however it is this month and adjust because it all works out in the end and I’ve got better things to worry about.

Also, there are changes to the Crafting system in general again.  Like Career changes, I tend to just put my head down and learn the new system.  YMMV.

Ultimately, 1.3 is looking better and better every day.  Make sure you go test it out on PTS and encourage others to do so as well.  The more this gets tested and things reported now, the better it will be for all of us when it goes Live.

Remember, have fun!

~Gaar