Patch Notes Build 25 (May 11, 2015)

Build 25 (v0.3.4.1) is an update that was released on May 11, 2015.

This update included the full faction system, bounty missions, Nemesis bosses, and other less major features.

Major new features

 * The faction system has been fully implemented. You may now visit faction quartermasters to purchase rewards earned for gaining reputation. Enemies will now spawn additional foes based on reputation.
 * Factions now offer bounties via their respective bounty tables to earn additional rewards and reputation. 145 bounty quests have been added to the game.
 * A new set of items has been added: writs and mandates. You can use these items, purchased from quartermasters, to boost reputation gain on the next difficulty and with your alternate characters.
 * Each hostile faction now has a Nemesis that can spawn to hunt you down in that faction's territory, after you reach Nemesis reputation status. Nemesis spawns are rare ultra-bosses with powerful abilities, but also some of the best loot, including a higher chance of rare blueprints. Additional Nemesis spawns will be introduced in the future.

Art

 * Updated textures and meshes on several common armor items.
 * Updated common armor bitmaps.
 * Updated rock textures.
 * Updated several terrain textures.

Animation

 * Attack spells (e. g. Panetti's Replicating Missile and Dreeg's Evil Eye) will now cycle between three different cast animations rather than playing the same one over and over.
 * New player character self-buffing animation for all weapon types.
 * New Soldier War Cry animation for all weapon types.
 * New Soldier Field Command animation for all weapon types.
 * New Occultist Doom Bolt animation for all weapon types.
 * New Arcanist Iskandra's Elemental Exchange animation for all weapon types.
 * Attacking with dual wielding pistols now feels less sluggish. Default attack animations hit sooner and can be interrupted much sooner, alleviating a feeling of being rooted while fighting.

Tech

 * Fixed a crash for the host when a player tried salvaging items or components.
 * Fixed incorrect faction bonuses when in a multiplayer game.
 * Certain factions will no longer allow positive reputation gain after permanently siding against them.
 * Experience bonus messages from lore notes are no longer hidden behind the character window.
 * Shield damage no longer shows up in the main damage values on the character sheet (it still shows up on the rollover tooltip).
 * Pet bonuses on items merged into one section.
 * Fixed an issue with skill cooldown notifications playing at inappropriate time intervals.
 * Personal and transfer stash now have the same item highlighting as your inventory.
 * Right-clicking a component/augment will now highlight all items that can accept that component/augment in your inventory and stash.
 * Can now craft multiple items in a row without having to remove the previously crafted item from the crafting window.
 * Pet bonuses on items now have stat variation, just like all other item attributes.
 * The inventor has a new ability to remove augments in addition to any Soulbound status that the augment applied.
 * Fixed being able to shift-click soulbound items into the shared stash from the player's equipped items.
 * Soulbound augments can no longer be applied to items in the transfer stash.

Game

 * Common and Champion monsters no longer stop giving reputation past a certain reputation tier. Instead, they now give a reduced amount as you approach Nemesis/Revered status.
 * Increased the reputation change from killing bosses to -50 from -25. This makes bosses more valuable for reaching Nemesis status.
 * Many bosses and mini-bosses now instantly regain some health when killing a player on Veteran difficulty.
 * Pierce ratio on weapons has been redesigned. The engine now tallies up all of the physical damage you would deal on an attack (before % Damage bonuses) and then converts a portion of that to pierce damage. The values are then modified by % Damage bonuses. Before, the pierce ratio only accounted for the weapon's base damage.
 * Probability to hit formula has been adjusted to reduce the impact of highly disparate Offensive vs. Defensive Ability values. This will allow characters with lower Defensive Ability values to survive better.
 * Lore notes have been reorganized into new categories.
 * Updated lore notes for Origin of the Slith, pages 1-3.
 * Breakable shelves and cabinets are now easier to target.
 * For community translators: added additional dialogue to various Devil's Crossing NPCs relating to the Making a Deal quest.

Itemization

 * Reduced flat Defensive Ability bonuses on all items.
 * Reduced % Offensive Ability and % Defensive Ability values on armor and 1h-ed weapons and % Defensive Ability values on accessories.
 * Reduced % Health Regeneration bonuses on all items.
 * Gutworm now has a chance to drop a unique medal, Gutworm's Bloody Seal.
 * Some side-bosses now have an additional chance to drop component and relic blueprints.
 * Slightly increased drop rate of blueprints from Hero monsters.
 * All one-shot chests (exception of boss chests, ex. Warden's Stash) are now named Exalted Stash to avoid any confusion with Glorious boss chests.
 * Increased the drop rate of Elixirs of Spirit.
 * Epic - Explorer's Garments: replaced 3-piece Defensive Ability bonus with 8% chance to deflect projectiles.
 * Epic - Mark of the Templar: adjusted stat values, removed bonus Health, replaced Increased Resistances with bonus Max Resistance.
 * Epic - Templar's Leg Armor: adjusted stat values, removed Stun Resistance.
 * Epic - The Eye: chance to cast Sniper Round has been replaced with a 10% chance to do 100 bonus pierce damage on a regular attack (no more cooldown). Base pierce damage replaced with physical damage.
 * Rare Prefix - Incorruptible: reduced Poison Resistance and % Reflect bonuses.
 * Rare Prefix - Officer's: removed % Offensive Ability bonus.
 * Rare Prefix - Overseer's: reduced % Defensive Ability bonus.
 * Rare Prefix - Rampage: replaced absolute Physical Damage bonus with absolute Bleed Damage, slightly reduced OA bonus.
 * Rare Suffix - Abomination: removed % Offensive Ability bonus.
 * Rare Suffix - Ferocity: removed Cunning bonus.
 * Rare Suffix - Fervor: reduced the chance of Physical Damage bonus.
 * Rare Suffix - Fury: removed % Offensive Ability bonus.
 * Rare Suffix - Heroism: adjusted % Physical Damage bonuses at all ranks.
 * Rare Suffix - Oleron's Wrath: reduced % Physical Damage and Offensive Ability bonuses.
 * Rare Suffix - Slayer: now provides bonuses to Pierce Damage instead of Physical Damage.
 * Improved scaling of base stats on rings, necklaces, and medals with tier.
 * Crafting: reduced effectiveness of the Spiritbane and Bloodbound ointments to 15% resistance.
 * Crafting - Hoarfrost Ointment: crafting cost increased to 350 iron bits and 3 Aether crystals.
 * Crafting: Blessed Whetstone: updated crafting materials.
 * Crafting: The following components are now crafted and had their level requirement increased to 15. Their blueprints are available immediately at the blacksmith: Dense Fur, Molten Skin, Resilient Plating, Rigid Shell, Viscous Venom.
 * Crafting: the following component blueprints are now baseline instead of loot drops: Hollowed Fang, Imbued Silver, Purified Salt, Scaled Hide, Silk Swatch, Wardstone.
 * Relic - Conflagration: Spirit replaced with 25% Fire Damage, Energy Regeneration increased to 1.5.
 * Relic - Sanctuary: replaced flat Health with 10% Health.
 * Components: many crafted components can no longer be acquired via monster loot, but can still be acquired via crafting, dismantling, and bounties.
 * Components: Health completion bonuses slightly reduced, Energy completion bonuses slightly increased.
 * Component - Aether Soul: flat Aether Damage replaced with 10% Aether Damage, replaced % Energy Regeneration with 6% Aether Resistance, but also added 6% Reduced Damage from Aetherials.
 * Component - Aethersteel Alloy: renamed to Reinforced Shell, icons updated. Now requires 4 fragments. Replaced % Defensive Ability with 22% Shield Damage Blocked, reduced % Block Chance to 8, added 10 Physique. This component can now be crafted, available immediately at the blacksmith.
 * Component - Amber: replaced Lightning Retaliation with 25% Electrocute Damage.
 * Component - Ancient Armor Plate: reduced Physique to 18 and % Protection to 4.
 * Component - Arcane Lens: removed Offensive Ability, replaced energy regeneration with 6% Reduced Energy Cost, increased flat Elemental Damage to 8-12.
 * Component - Arcane Spark: replaced % Spirit with Offensive Ability, increased Energy Leech to 15, but reduced Energy Regeneration to 20%.
 * Component - Attuned Lodestone: Lightning Retaliation increased to 40. Completion bonus increased to 15% Lightning Damage, nova damage increased and chance to stun increased to 100%.
 * Component - Ballistic Plating: now provides 10% Projectile Deflection and 18 Defensive Ability, but Armor has been reduced to 10.
 * Component - Battered Shell: replaced % Armor with 10% Block Chance.
 * Component - Bindings of Bysmiel: bonuses redesigned, completion bonuses improved.
 * Component - Black Tallow: replaced % Energy Regeneration with 6% Reduced Damage from Chthonians, reduced Chaos Resistance to 6%, but also added 10% Chaos Damage. This component is now acquired through crafting. New blueprint has been added to the loot pool.
 * Component - Blessed Steel: has been redesigned, now provides bonuses to Elemental Damage and Offensive Ability.
 * Component - Blessed Whetstone: now provides 25% Bleed Damage and 18 Offensive Ability, Pierce Damage removed.
 * Component - Bloody Whetstone: replaced % Pierce Ratio and flat Bleed Damage with 8% Total Damage and 5% Leech. This component is now acquired through crafting. New blueprint has been added to the loot pool.
 * Component - Bristly Fur: Health increased to 90.
 * Component - Chains of Oleron: % Physical Damage reduced to 12%, Cunning replaced with 18 Offensive Ability, Armor Reduction removed.
 * Component - Chilled Steel: increased damage on Ice Spike I.
 * Component - Coldstone: replaced Cold Retaliation with 25% Coldburn Damage, increased damage on Ice Spike II.
 * Component - Consecrated Wrappings: now also provide 8% Chaos Damage.
 * Component - Dense Fur: Armor replaced with 60 Health, now also provides 18% Constitution.
 * Component - Devil-Touched Ammo: replaced Life Leech with 25% Chaos Damage.
 * Component - Dread Skull: % Physical Damage replaced with 10% Pierce Damage, % Vitality Damage replaced with 20% Bleed Damage.
 * Component - Enchanted Flint: replaced Fire Retaliation with 25% Burn Damage.
 * Component - Flintcore Bolts: replaced flat Burn Damage with 25% Burn Damage, increased damage on Fireblast II.
 * Component - Hallowed Ground: Defensive Ability reduced to 25, % Health removed.
 * Component - Haunted Steel: reduced % Energy to 4%, but now also grants 25% Vitality Damage.
 * Component - Hollowed Fang: now also provides an 18% Vitality Damage bonus.
 * Component - Imbued Silver: damage against Chthonians increased to 25% + 8 flat damage.
 * Component - Kilrian's Shattered Soul: replaced % Energy Absorption with 10% Vitality Damage. The completion bonus skill's damage has been rebalanced, and its chance of activation increased to 5%.
 * Component - Leathery Hide: now also provides 4% Health.
 * Component - Mark of Mogdrogen: removed % Elemental Damage bonus, reduced Movement Speed to 3%.
 * Component - Mark of the Myrmidon: replaced % Physique with 120 Health, replaced % Reflect Damage with -15% Shield Block Recovery.
 * Component - Mark of the Traveler: removed % Health bonus.
 * Component - Molten Skin: Armor increased to 14, added a Reduction in Burn Duration by 15%.
 * Component - Mutagenic Ichor: increased damage on Poison Bomb I.
 * Component - Mutated Scales: Health increased to 220, but no longer provides armor.
 * Component - Oleron's Blood: bonuses redesigned, blueprint updated, granted skill updated.
 * Component - Purified Salt: damage against Aetherials increased to 25% + 8 flat damage.
 * Component - Radiant Gem: granted skill redesigned, now grants 30% resistance and +10% Maximum Resistance to Fire, Cold and Lightning for 8s. Cooldown increased to 30s.
 * Component - Reinforced Shell: renamed to Serrated Shell. Replaced % Armor with -20% Shield Block Recovery. Increased Pierce Retaliation to 80 and added 20% Total Retaliation.
 * Component - Resilient Plating: Armor increased to 14, added 14 Defensive Ability.
 * Component - Rigid Shell: Armor increased to 14, added 10 Physique.
 * Component - Rotten Heart: % Chaos and Poison damage bonuses increased to 20%, replaced % Poison Resistance with 35 Acid Damage Retaliation, blueprint updated.
 * Component - Runestone: added 10% Elemental Damage, Armor increased to 10.
 * Component - Sanctified Bone: Armor replaced with 10% Chaos Resist, reduced damage from Chthonics and Undead replaced with 15% damage to those monster types.
 * Component - Scaled Hide: Armor Absorption increased to 15%, Armor increased to 20.
 * Component - Searing Ember: increased damage on Fireblast I.
 * Component - Severed Claw: increased % Trauma damage to 15%.
 * Component - Silk Swatch: increased level requirement to 15, increased Bleed and Pierce resistances to 15%.
 * Component - Spellwoven Threads: replaced Energy Burn with 20% bonuses to Burn, Coldburn and Electrocute damage, but reduced Spirit to 15.
 * Component - Soul Shard: Spirit replaced with 8% Vitality damage, added 25% Energy Leech Resistance.
 * Component - Spined Carapace: Pierce Retaliation increased to 55, added 5% Total Retaliation bonus.
 * Component - Unholy Inscription: replaced flat Vitality Damage with 10% Vitality Damage.
 * Component - Vengeful Wraith: replaced Aether Resistance with 18% Coldburn Damage, updated blueprint.
 * Component - Venom-Tipped Ammo: increased damage on Poison Bomb II.
 * Component - Vicious Jawbone: replaced % Pierce Damage with 20% Trauma Damage.
 * Component - Vicious Spikes: Bleed Damage bonuses replaced by 25 Armor Reduction for 5s.
 * Component - Viscous Venom: renamed to Antivenom Salve, added 5 Health Regeneration.
 * Component - Wardstone: Bleed Resistance increased to 15%.

Classes and skills

 * Cooldown lowered on many skills - adjustments to damage or other stats on some skills as necessary based on the level of cooldown change.
 * Damage over time effects (e. g. Poison, Bleed, etc.) now stack with diminishing returns when applied through unique sources. For example, if you apply Poison through Dreeg's Evil Eye, then hit an enemy with a poisoned weapon, both will now deal damage, but the weaker DoT will be reduced. The stacking ratio is as follows: 100%, 50%, 25%, 12.5%, 0% with the most powerful DoT dealing 100% damage and each subsequently weaker DoT dealing less.

Soldier

 * Counter Strike: activation chance now scales up to 20% at rank 16 (25% at max ultimate rank), but the activation now has a 1s cooldown.
 * Overguard: reworked to be more oriented around the shield, with improved shield bonuses and scaling % Health Regeneration that synergizes with Menhir's Will.
 * Veterancy: Chance to Block replaced by Shield Recovery Time, since it is probably the more powerful shield bonus that you would want to have "on" all the time. Allowed for Block Chance to be increased by Overguard instead.
 * Fighting Spirit: lost its % Health Regeneration to Overguard. This seemed more sensible since Fighting Spirit is already a powerful offensive skill and having the % Health Regeneration on an active skill will allow players to time it with the flat Regeneration bonus on Menhir's Will if they so choose.

Demolitionist

 * Blackwater Cocktail: reduced energy cost scaling with rank and increased radius scaling.
 * Demon Fire: increased % Burn Damage scaling with rank.
 * Agonizing Flames: increased % Chaos and % Fire damage scaling with rank.
 * Quick Jacks: energy cost reduction lowered.

Nightblade

 * Dual Blades: flat Pierce Damage reduced.
 * Amarasta's Quick Cut: increased % Pierce Damage bonus and reduced flat Pierce Damage. Percent weapon damage now scales up to 100% at max rank.
 * Nidalla's Hidden Hand: added % Poison and % Acid damage bonuses.
 * Shadow Strike: % Weapon Damage adjusted to scale more with rank with a lower starting value. Reduced the flat Pierce Damage, but added a % Pierce Damage bonus.
 * Nidalla's Justifiable Ends: added % Poison Damage bonus.
 * Pneumatic Burst: Heal now starts at 10%, but scales more rapidly to catch up to original values by rank 8.

Arcanist

 * Mirror of Ereoctes: slightly increased % Reflect scaling at rank 8 and above, scaling up to 325% at max ultimate rank.
 * Wrath of Agrivix: this transmuter now adds a 100% chance to Knockdown for 1.5s, but the % Total Damage bonus has been reduced to 150% and the cooldown is increased to 6s.
 * Iskandra's Elemental Exchange: active energy cost reduced, and elemental damage slightly increased.

v0.3.4.2 (b25 Hotfix 1) changes
A hotfix for Build 25 was released.
 * Updated several bounty descriptions for clarity.
 * Fixed a bug that prevented crafting of items in multiplayer games.
 * Fixed a bug where skills would sometimes not activate correctly when moving.
 * Multiple crash fixes.

v0.3.4.3 (b25 Hotfix 2) changes
Following the previous hotfix, Build 25 got a second hotfix.
 * Fixed the Chthonian Nemesis' chest not spawning with the boss.
 * Fixed an issue that could cause players on a Homestead bounty to be stuck without a bounty and unable to accept another.
 * Fixed an issue with some casting animations being slower than intended.
 * Adjusted damage on Stone Clan groble bleed.
 * Adjusted damage on Aether Crystal tendril attacks.
 * Fixed a bug where knocked down enemies would animate incorrectly when getting up.
 * Fixed a bug where the in game menu would become unclickable.
 * Fixed a bug where bounties would become stuck.
 * Fixed a bug where faction reputation gain section would be shown for factions that cannot be increased.
 * Fixed a crash that would sometimes occur when other players teleported in multiplayer games.
 * Fixed a crash that would occasionally occur when exiting to the main menu.
 * Fixed various other multiplayer crashes.
 * Physics system optimizations and improvements.