The Entertainer system has received a complete overhaul this month. Gone are the dozens of dances andtale snippets cluttering up ability bars; in its place is a fluid system of minigames that chain together to increase buffs available across Tales, Dance, and Music. Building on the changes to Music in Patch 15.7.1, 15.7.2 presents entirely reworked versions of Tales and Dance.
Tale now opens the initial storytelling minigame, which begins with thematic Expositions, and provides players with the ability to tell short, lore-based stories complete with Twists and Interjections. Dance Step initiates the dancing minigame, allowing players to choose 1 of 3 styles of dance: Silly, Expressive, or Seductive. Dancing now supports more dances than before, including The Terra Throwback and Rhyldan Jig.The minigame bars will change based on player's choice and failure is possible as each ability rolls against your skill in Entertaining. Failure will often lead players on a different path than success, and with nearly every bar supporting multiple ability choices - the Entertaining minigame offers a unique, active buffing experience every time.
The buffs associated with Entertaining have evolved alongside the skill. Entertainer buffs now stack to 10 and last up to a full hour. Several buffs contain a special twist - once they reach 10 stacks, using a finisher,such as the final piece of a Tale or a Dance Finisher will remove the stacked buff and apply a stronger, longer buff of the same stat. Each finisher move can only do this to 1 buff, so for maximum effect, Entertainers will want to group up and play together.
The upcoming 15.8.1 build focuses heavily on combat, but 15.7.2 has its share of combat related improvements, as well. Action Mode's auto-correction system is now more lenient if you miss a target, and features more intelligent range detection. Threat/aggro management also received a pass, to make it easier for tanks to hold aggro, and less likely that healers will draw it. There were some important fixes including changes to the face and stick features. Medics received the largest number of updates though, with improvements to both their offensive and healing capabilities. We also adjusted the amount of fitting points required to improve the market of different fitting types and overall combat progression. Another major change is that action bar pages are now stored on a per weapon basis. This should make it much easier for users who swap to different weapons as it will automatically swap your bars to the last saved pages for those weapons.
We also introduced a new Contested Cluster system. These new harvestable clusters are intended to encourage nation vs. nation conflict in contested territory. When players are near the clusters their nation will receive points, and the nation with the most points at the end will win the cluster. This is an experimental feature in this patch, so please provide as much feedback as possible. In the future these will be spread throughout contested territory. Player to player damage in PvP has also been reduced by 22% to increase the length of PvP encounters.
Those seeking specific NPCs will be happy to improvements to both inquiry and tracking systems to make it easier to locate those NPCs. The Pricing system has received a good number of improvements. Unharvested corpses can now eventually be harvested by any player. This build also features 113 different bug fixes.
Looking ahead, the 15.8.1 is slated for release in two weeks, just prior to PAX Prime. You can read the in-progress build notes for that build here: viewtopic.php?f=28&t=10555&p=108493 It features a number of combat related improvements and a new CTF style PvP engagement. We will be at booth #7017 at PAX so feel free to stop by and play the game if you are in attendance. Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves though. You can read the complete 15.7.2 build notes below.
Adversarial Camps
Recreated the camp spawners in Serenity to adjust for the newly added town. There are now less camp spawners, and the camps are smaller in size.
Auctions and Work Orders
Shift+right click on an auction listing will now open the game database to that item. Ctrl+right click will display the Price Info card for that item.
Shift+right click on a player shop listing will now open the game database to that item. Ctrl+right click will display the Price Info card for that item.
Added a "Shield" type to the auction house, under the Items Category. New shield listings will appear here instead of incorrectly listed as an Implant.
Audio
Reduced the volume of cycle sounds.
The audio beep for a tracked target will now stop if you have targeted the entity and are within 5 meters of it.
Combat
Doubled the aim correction radius when using a ranged weapon in Action Mode, and slightly increased it when using a melee weapon.
Reduced the amount of threat generated from heals.
Adjustments were made to the threat generation code to reduce the influence of raw damage in the calculation.
Health Transfers have improved from a 1:1 efficiency to a 1:1.5 efficiency.
Health Transfers can now benefit from Heal Amount modifiers.
The commands (and related behavior) for /face and /stick have been disabled against hostile players.
Dens
A medium sized population of Rocharus and Elkar (night time only) have begun to prowl the Rinji Plateau.
The drake den in Serenity can now be activated from most of the area, and ticks more quickly.
Adjustments were made to the Jabberbull den in Whimsy Fields to adjust for the new changes to the area. Spawns may be in new locations.
Graphics
Replaced the rock textures in The Pipeworks with higher resolution textures.
Added new entertainment oriented FX.
Spray Biohazard (First Aid) has new FX.
Updated barricade models with new texture.
The Timbertol building set has been converted to use a texture atlas. This should result in improved performance.
Housing
Added Instance Housing for Rogues.
The store, clear, and destroy commands now pop a warning with the full command needed to run it to add a warning about what they do as clear/destroy purge data. Store is not destructive to structures, but still removes the plot so some extra verification was added.
Cleanupshops command now has a warning as well as the output for the commands now has a warning as well when using /housing. The info about store was also wrong regarding player shops so it was removed (they are stored properly now as of a few patches ago).
Inquiries
After asking an NPC "Where is" a place or person, if they know the answer, the minimap is now much more reliable in showing you that location. If the inquiry was for a person, and you are within tracking distance of that person, then a tracking arrow/dot will be used, as well as the tracking audio affect. (The audio can be turned off by either using your track ability, or by having the target selected and being within 5 meters.) If the inquiry if for a place, or if the person is out of your tracking range, then a light blue destination arrow/dot will be used, and will disappear when within 5 meters of the location.
Aoss Gardens (Tralus): If you ask Emily Sweetchuck to tell you about herself then she'll share some personal information and gossip.
If you ask Private Medina to tell you about himself, he'll talk about his past and some of the other people at Aoss Gardens in Tralus.
Items and Fittings
Adjusted the requirements for Tier 2-4 for Fittings. This increased them from previous values requiring more skill points. You need to be around Average to use all 5 Fittings on Tier 2. Near Talanted on Tier 3, and Near Elite for Tier 4.
The values of graded items are now scaled per the item's grade. NPC shops will pay this scaled value when buying items from players. The item's tool tip, Info Cards, and large icons will show the total value of the item, taking into account both the grade and quantity and quantity of stacked items. (Unit prices for the item can be seen in the Price Info card - Ctrl+RMB)
Increased the damage of Flame Throwers.
Issued Medical Scanners now have melee range for offensive abilities, to bring them in line with other scanners.
Adjusted the settings on Forward Line Rifles to make them a median between sniper rifles and repeaters, as as intended.
Updated the Learning Stims tool tip descriptions to match the actual percentage of skill gain.
Sapphires and Emerald are now valued at 20 credits. Peridots at 15 credits.
Minigames
Tales and Dance steps are now set up to use a system similar to the Music Minigame. These minigames are initiated by using the same starting abilities as before. This includes 68 unique minigame configurations.
After selecting an ability in Entertainment minigames, it will now remove the option to select any additional abilities until a new opening is ready for one.
There are now fishing minigame locations in Serenity and Whimsy Fields.
Music Minigames now have the option of creating a buff on failure.
All Tales and Dance minigame abilities have a 5 second recharge timer.