The Secret World

[Horus]

Funny thing about combat in this game is the fact that it was designed for single player in mind. If you find someone to complete the missions with you'll just steamroll through every mission easily. Biggest example of this is can be seen when you have to fight the wave of enemies in the missions. If you have someone with you, you'll kill the mobs very quickly and forced to wait for the next wave for a 30 secs and becomes even more absurd if you have another team member.

Combat is the standard fare shitty MMO combat except the card system which allows hybrid/multible builds.But there's no feeling of progress due to the fact that you already reach your optimum skill/ability aim at the second area so after a while so it quickly loses it's flavor. It discourages mindless grinding though so it can be counted as a good trade off if you hate the grinding(Why are you playing a MMO if you hate grind though?).

 

[Cyberarmy]

This game could have used Deffiance combat system (TPS Borderlands) or something like binding main attacks to mouse keys.
I played with shotguns&hammer setup for a long time BTW, that was quite a mistake

 

[bozia2012]

Why the combat is tedious?

How is this not evident? The combat is tedious because every fucking fight is the same. You target the enemy, then go through your standard rotation until it's dead. Then you do the same for the next enemy, and the one after that, ad nauseum. It isn't fun, and there are better ways I could be spending my time.

You're bashing combat system in a mmorpuger? You have to be a connoisseur of shit combat to play MMORPGs.

Other than that, tedious combat is a pure l2p issue - it's all about deck building, bigger pulls or just avoiding combat. Very rarely you're actually required to kill anything...

But what do I know - one of the best games I played lately were Alpha Protocol and Game of Thrones :D

 

[Night Goat]

MMO combat doesn't have to be bad. Developers just don't bother making it good, because they expect the players to tolerate mediocrity.

 

[Humppaleka]

Started this thing again today, my last char was co-opping with a friend of mine until we both just quit playing from one reason or another. Now I'm taking my time, exploring, gathering lore and listening to the wonderful dialogue. I really like this game, the combat is traditional but so what, I can live with it.

 

[Dr Tomo]

Man, I tried to play it again 3 months back and the starting area was kinda empty, the game is slowly dying. If you really want to play it, it is a good idea to enter now, I have no idea how long it will last.

Well considering that Anarchy Online and Funcom's other titles are still alive it will be at least another half decade before they shut it down (unlikely) or they turn it into f2p. Also I think the community is still a bit healthy around the time I was playing it which was around this past summer in the middle of the world even they were doing. The only thing that can kill this title is Funcom as they have a gift of messing up their products. One fine example is the brilliant design choice of putting a pve boss in the middle of a pvp zone during the world event or the fact the game is still buggy which is no surprise as it is Funcom.

I would say that everyone should pick up the title and give it a try when it hits <$15 as the stories imo are pretty good and the lore pretty fleshed out.

 

[Minttunator]

Regarding combat - it depends on what you compare it to. Expecting Dark Souls combat (or whatever the gold standard is these days) in an MMO is just not realistic. I think TSW has fairly decent combat, as far as hotkey-based MMO combat goes - i.e. I find the system much more complex and enjoyable than WoW, Rift, SWTOR, GW2, LotRO, etc. That said, it's still MMO combat so if you're allergic to that, then this just isn't the game for you.

Regarding soloability - I found that survivability is key, especially in the later areas, and I recommend something with self-healing or life leech. So AR, Fist or Blood is a good choice for one of your weapons. Ideally, your weapon combination should also be useful in a group setting so you don't have to buy and upgrade different weapon sets for soloing and grouping.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Well, I was waiting something more from the creators of Age of Conan in terms of combat.

 

[DeepOcean]

The combat is repetitive and boring as fuck, reinventing it, at this point, would be impossible but if they had something like Dragon Age where you set the AI to do attacks for you would make it more tolerable. I was bored to death with 1,1,1,1,1,2,3,1,1,1,1,1,2,3,4....

 

[Dr Tomo]

Regarding combat - it depends on what you compare it to.

I find it comparable to most Asian grindfests. So yes the combat sucks ballz, but the main thing going for this mmo is the story imo and the class system/setting.

 

[Bubbles]

The combat is repetitive and boring as fuck, reinventing it, at this point, would be impossible but if they had something like Dragon Age where you set the AI to do attacks for you would make it more tolerable. I was bored to death with 1,1,1,1,1,2,3,1,1,1,1,1,2,3,4....

At least endgame farming in melee feels more like 2,3,4, fight over.

The new dev letter is also about combat:

http://www.thesecretworld.com/news/game_director_letter_november_2013

As a mechanic, it means that creatures in Tokyo have begun to develop different types of defensive shielding: initially three types which - based on the host creature archetype - will provide complete protection from regular damage. These shields differ in type and effect, however and this is where the AEGIS system differs to a resistance system. They react in different ways to different abilities, they charge/reform/recast/splinter/reflect and they encourage you to take an active interest in the strengths and weaknesses of different shield types and how to overcome them.


The AEGIS system will roll out in several parts. In Issue #9, you will learn to adapt Orochi technology to these new shield enemy types converting a percentage of your damage to dealing with their protections. It is important to note that. Converting. You won't be doing more DPS, you will be fine tuning your damage and making tradeoffs in order to overcome specific threats.


The enemies are naturally grouped by archetype, so you won't find yourself in a situation where you are forced to switch damage types on the fly - though you will be able to spec your weapons to overcome separate types of shielding, trading pure power for more versatility and adaptability.


In Issue #10, you will learn to recreate the shields yourself, creating your own personal version and using them to defend yourself against the new spiking damage types that the evolved creatures of Tokyo can wield against you.


In Issue #11 this will all be put to the test against creatures that use both adaptive damage and shields, including variations that have multiple types of shields and damage which they can switch up on the fly.


Remember, this is horizontal progression and even the most stat-heavy of players will be unable to progress in Tokyo unless they take the time to learn the nuances of the AEGIS system.


In Player vs Player, shields will have a bleed through percentage to enable players to continue damaging each other despite shields. An AEGIS of a particular type will absorb all damage of the same type until depleted.

He also hints at filth-infested robots roaming Japan; they certainly know their audience.

 

[Bubbles]

Double posting, but since it's the first significant update in half a year, someone might want to know:

Update 1.8.5 - April 8th
NEW!

• A new mission pack is now available for purchase in the Item Store! Sidestories: Further Analysis includes all new Investigation Missions featuring new adventures with unique puzzles in New York, Egypt, Transylvania, and more! Completing all of these missions will award you with the Inspector’s Gadget, an epic gadget which buffs to HP and Heals! You’ll also earn a Deep Mystery Box!

GENERAL

• There are 6 PCs now available at the Blackhole PC Bang in Seoul for community created text adventure games. Enjoy!

A major update consisting entirely of puzzles and text adventures. Funcom it truly forging its own path in the MMO world.

 

[J_C]

Damn I wish I had time to go back play this game. But so many others wait for me.

 

[clemens]

I often wanted to try this thing, the contemporary Lovecraft-WoD themed setting attracts me very much, and now that it's relatively cheap, I might jump into it. Is the game still alive enough ? Are the storylines really that good ?
Is the combat at least tolerable ? (If the setting is really enjoyable, I can go through trash mobs if there's at least an interesting fight once in a while...)
I'm willing to throw 30€ at a very good storyfag game with shitty mmo combat, I'm just hoping I won't be utterly disgusted by the gameplay two hours in... (never really liked any mmo, but i had fun levelling up characters and play some end game content in lotro, swtor and neverwinter because I was always playing with a couple of friends... and the content was piss easy when playing in coop. Can that work in TSW too, if I can drag one of them to play with me ?)

 

[Cyberarmy]

I often wanted to try this thing, the contemporary Lovecraft-WoD themed setting attracts me very much, and now that it's relatively cheap, I might jump into it. Is the game still alive enough ? Are the storylines really that good ?
Is the combat at least tolerable ? (If the setting is really enjoyable, I can go through trash mobs if there's at least an interesting fight once in a while...)
I'm willing to throw 30€ at a very good storyfag game with shitty mmo combat, I'm just hoping I won't be utterly disgusted by the gameplay two hours in... (never really liked any mmo, but i had fun levelling up characters and play some end game content in lotro, swtor and neverwinter because I was always playing with a couple of friends... and the content was piss easy when playing in coop. Can that work in TSW too, if I can drag one of them to play with me ?)

Combat is really boring and trash mobs become real pain in the ass after 2nd map. You really need to play this one with some friends, not alone. Game will be a lot tolarable with even 2 in party.
There are really good quest lines, cool ideas all around, nice design. This game probably has the best monster design by far. Some great dungeons too, they are mostly streamlined nowadays and ends really quick.
You can wait steam sales if you wish, we bought it last year when it was on %75.

 

[Horus]

I often wanted to try this thing, the contemporary Lovecraft-WoD themed setting attracts me very much, and now that it's relatively cheap, I might jump into it. Is the game still alive enough ? Are the storylines really that good ?
Is the combat at least tolerable ? (If the setting is really enjoyable, I can go through trash mobs if there's at least an interesting fight once in a while...)
I'm willing to throw 30€ at a very good storyfag game with shitty mmo combat, I'm just hoping I won't be utterly disgusted by the gameplay two hours in... (never really liked any mmo, but i had fun levelling up characters and play some end game content in lotro, swtor and neverwinter because I was always playing with a couple of friends... and the content was piss easy when playing in coop. Can that work in TSW too, if I can drag one of them to play with me ?)

Soloing is stupidly hard and tedious while playing with a party of two makes this game piss easy(Except in dungeons). So don't worry about it even if you can't convince all your friends to play it.

Oh and community is generally active and you can find lots of people in first couple areas, but sadly it becomes harder to find people willing to play pve missions with you in last areas.

 

[Kem0sabe]

I soloed just fine up to the end of the first zone in transylvania, with a fist/blade combo while soloing and a pistol/fist combo while healing in dungeons. The game is quite fun but i put it on hold while i play Elder Scrolls Online.

My biggest gripes with it are down to the zone design itself, Funcom has populated the zones with too many mobs, too close together, making any kind of traversal of the zones a nightmare of fighting adds left and right, this is compounded by the limited number of quests in your journal, forcing you to keep tracking back to quest givers and the how the grouping tool is less than effective at forming groups for dungeons.

The biggest problem tho for me, is performance, the engine is shit, no other way around it, optimization is non existent, frame rates suffer, the servers are dying and lag is prevalent throughout the game.

Without a big focus on optimization and ease of use features, i can't see this game becoming more than it is, a very small niche game supported by a very understanding and forgiving community.

 

[clemens]

Thanks for the answers, I guess I'll try it then... and start to annoy the hell out of my gaming friends until one of them gives in !

(I always manage to get them to try the pnp rpgs I want to play, eventually, should work with this too...)

 

[Kem0sabe]

Thanks for the answers, I guess I'll try it then... and start to annoy the hell out of my gaming friends until one of them gives in !

(I always manage to get them to try the pnp rpgs I want to play, eventually, should work with this too...)

Game story, quests, npc's and atmosphere are the best of any mmo, period. The "class" system as well is amazingly deep.

IF you need any help with a good soloing build, let me know, my solo build can handle anything the game has thrown at it so far and my healing build is very good as well.

 

[Mangoose]

Double posting, but since it's the first significant update in half a year, someone might want to know:

Update 1.8.5 - April 8th
NEW!

• A new mission pack is now available for purchase in the Item Store! Sidestories: Further Analysis includes all new Investigation Missions featuring new adventures with unique puzzles in New York, Egypt, Transylvania, and more! Completing all of these missions will award you with the Inspector’s Gadget, an epic gadget which buffs to HP and Heals! You’ll also earn a Deep Mystery Box!

GENERAL

• There are 6 PCs now available at the Blackhole PC Bang in Seoul for community created text adventure games. Enjoy!

A major update consisting entirely of puzzles and text adventures. Funcom it truly forging its own path in the MMO world.

This is actually a great thing... If only they focused more on Investigations on launch instead of (as everyone already mentioned) filling every nook and cranny with enemies.

It's hard for me to judge the combat system in isolation because I think the crazy number of enemies forces things to be tedious. Perhaps if there were less encounters, combat would be fun. But for me, it was just too much grinding (in the manner of fighting through a path) to get from one interesting quest to the next interesting quest.

 

[clemens]

Thanks for the answers, I guess I'll try it then... and start to annoy the hell out of my gaming friends until one of them gives in !

(I always manage to get them to try the pnp rpgs I want to play, eventually, should work with this too...)

Game story, quests, npc's and atmosphere are the best of any mmo, period. The "class" system as well is amazingly deep.

IF you need any help with a good soloing build, let me know, my solo build can handle anything the game has thrown at it so far and my healing build is very good as well.

Thanks, I heard something about assault rifles being good for survivability and decent damage. I often felt ripped off in MMO trying to play melee classes, so I thought I would go for some distance this time. However, I'm gonna have to try this solo in the beginning, so I'm willing to take any advice that'll make it easier on me. I'm in it primarily for the setting and atmosphere, so... Steamrolling trash mobs is fine by me. Classless system seems indeed very intriguing. If I undertsand this correctly, you can actually have multiple builds for a single charcater depending on your stuff ?
Anyway, I've just launched the game after that fucking 40GB download (that's heavy, even for a MMO -- I guess those performances issues are gonna have to do with HDD I/O), created a new character and went with the Templars, only faction that seem to have some sort of organized discipline (if you're gonna rule the world in the shadows, better do it properly...) and I already left mightily impressed with the introductions and general ambiance. (dat music !)I would'nt say it's the best thing since slice bread yet, but it's definitely above any mmo game I ever ventured into...('xcept maybe eve) I'm hoping I'm gonna enjoy this.

 

[Cyberarmy]

You can get every skill in the game and change them on fly, so yeah there are lots of builds for single characters.
I can advice you using fist weapons and assault rifle for solo play. Good aoe/single target damage and leechs/heals.

 

[bylam]

Tokyo teaser released today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWqD4Bg0-bY&feature=youtu.be

 

[Kem0sabe]

If only they optimized their mediocre engine and rebalance mob density throughout the game zones, the game would be much more appealing.

 

[Bubbles]

FYI, here are the current patch notes from the PTS:

Spoiler

Update notes for 1.9
**These notes do not necessarily reflect the final version that will be deployed on Live**

GENERAL
* Format of text in the options screen has been made more consistent
* Added a missing tooltip to the Show Tutorial Popups interface option
* Auxiliary weapon tooltips will no longer display as Bind on Equip
* Grim Glamour: Mummy, Grim Glamour: Vampire, and Grim Glamour: Zombie are now properly labeled as Bind on Pickup
* The Obsidian Pharaoh Hound now lists the correct month in which it was awarded
* Fixed a display issue with the Burst of Energy advanced tooltip in the French client
* Corrected a typo with the Pure Anima - Attack Rating tooltip in the German client
* Corrected a typo on the Event Horizon Cannon tooltip
* Fixed the description of the Free for All loot option
* Fixed a typo in the Artisan's Tool Augmenter that should make it easier to search on the Market
* Signet reward bags will now have their rarity represented in text as with other items
* Updated the descriptions for pets that require an achievement to specify which achievements are required
* Updated the text for "Filth Exterminator" and "The Bane of Dis" in the achievement window to indicate that they are titles
* Sack of Penny Dreadfuls will now properly appear on the Market
* Left sock and Right sock will now properly appear on the Market
* Spoils of Niflheim will now properly appear on the Market
* Enruned Quetzal Bird will now properly appear on the Market
* Sprint is now reapplied after going through Agartha fast travel portals
* Added a small cooldown to the AP Injectors to prevent more than one from being consumed at a time
* Crafting a stack of something will now put it all in your bag if you have space, and not sometimes leave some in your crafting result slot
* Reduced the amount of rare gadget toolkits that drop in the world
* Renamed the various healing potions that are purchased from PvP vendors to differentiate them from the crafted versions
* We have changed the way vendors give you items to function in the same way as items that are given from loot, crafting, or quest rewards. This affects whether items are considered the same for inventory stacking purposes and will make some previously purchased items (like potions) unable to stack with newly purchased items of the same type. It will however also make newly purchased items able to stack with the same type of item acquired elsewhere
* Updated the prices for most consumables in all faction HQs. QL 8 prices stayed the same, while QL 10 prices have gone up. QL 2, 4, and 6 prices have gone down considerably
* Changed logging level of Scaleform log messages to reduce spam in the client logs
* Fixed an issue that caused Work shirts to clip with Pinstripe suit jackets


GUI
* Fixed an issue that was causing XP values above 2,147,483,647 to display incorrectly. (The correction will happen after the next XP award).
* Swapped the ring and wrist talisman slots in the gear manager
* Fixed a case where the Exit Game button in the main menu didn't work on the login or character selection screens
* Added a Character Select button to the main menu which will return you to the character selection screen
* Fixed several cases where the Team GUI would not maintain its minimized state
* Team GUI will now resize properly when new buffs are added to a team member
* Buffs displayed on the Team GUI will now show counters and timers
* Fixed a case where there was extra space before a team member's name after changing team leadership
* Made several changes to the way that buffs are displayed
* If a player has stacks of a buff running on a target, that player will be shown their own stacks and timers
* If a player does not have stacks of a buff running on a target, that player will be shown whichever copy of the buff has the most stacks
* Fixed a case where dragged item icons would be offset from the cursor while dragging
* Players should no longer be able to take missions from mission givers while they are threatened, regardless of whether they are actually in combat or not
* Added CharacterBase.IsThreatened() function to the GUI. This function will return true if the character is hated by any enemy. Previously, CharacterBase.IsInCombat() was used, but only returns true if the player is actively in combat with the enemy.
* The search functions on the Market have been expanded to help further filter search results
* Clicking and dragging the group window will now allow you to move the group window to anywhere on your screen
* Clicking and dragging the defensive target display will now allow you to move the defensive target display to anywhere on your screen
* Clicking the menu button on the group window will now open a dropdown that will allow you to hide the group window, lock the position of the group window, or lock the position of the defensive target display
* Added a menu button to the Defensive Target UI when the Team UI is not active that allows players to lock the Defensive Target UI in place
* Fixed a case where the compass and share buttons in the mission GUI could not be clicked
* The Achievements/Lore GUI should now reopen to the Achievement/Lore that it was last closed on
* Opening the Achievement/Lore GUI by clicking the new Achievement or new Lore notification will open the GUI to that achievement or lore entry

COMBAT
* Evades are now shown in the combat log
* Intensity should now correctly increase hate generated by Escalation
* Signet of Valour will no longer erroneously affect your defensive target
* Signet of Reinforcement should now trigger more reliably when evading attacks
* Leeching Frenzy is now affected by Experience and Signet of Hunger
* Signet of Order and Signet of Salvation should now trigger more reliably against a variety of attacks
* Fixed an issue where in certain cases multiple copies of the Thirst effect from Signet of Thirst could work at the same time
* Fixed an issue where in certain cases multiple copies of the Equilibrium effect from Signet of Equilibrium could work at the same time
* Fixed several typos in Signet of Equilibrium
* Updated the trigger method for Signet of Aggression and Signet of Abuse to be more reliable
* All Signet effects which apply a beneficial effect or detrimental effect are now able to be purged or cleansed
* The Clusterstruck animation will now complete even if another action is performed immediately after its use
* The extra hit performed by Steel Echo should now gain modifications from buff effects
* Updated the tooltip of Strange Attractor to denote that it Impairs affected targets
* Updated the tooltip of Vivifying Augment to note that it only affects direct heals
* Updated the tooltip on Closer to indicate that it can also affect healing abilities
* Updated the tooltip of the Occluding Lens effect
* Updated the tooltip of the Gaian Exposure buff
* Updated the description of Short Fuse to indicate that it will multiply damage output
* Contortionist should now properly increase the barrier value on Expulsion
* Fixed an issue where Go for the Throat displayed lower damage in the tooltip than it should
* Prisoner of Fate will now go on cooldown immediately after use
* The evade effect from Illusion is now able to be purged in all cases
* Fixed an issue where the Hammer weapon skill Momentum was not granting the full damage bonus that it should
* Updated the description of Knuckle Down to state that it affects direct heals in addition to damage
* Updated several builders to ensure they are fully affected by Knuckle Down
* The healing proc on Blood of the Old Ones will no longer affect NPCs
* Fixed several issues with dungeon Head Talisman items not providing their buff effects
* Fixed an issue with Chop Shop which made its radius smaller than it should be
* Fixed the simple tooltip of Chop Shop to more accurately reflect what the ability does
* Fixed several issues with the Ma'at's Judgement item
* Fixed various issues with the dungeon talisman Pride
* Reduced the duration of the Entanglement effect on some Nightmare enemies
* No Mercy will now properly gain its buff effect after killing an enemy even after changing areas
* Elemental Force now has a 5 second cooldown after applying its critical hit bonus effect
* Fatal Flourish now has a 5 second cooldown after applying its penetrating hit bonus effect
* Predator passive now states that it improves healing as well as damage
* Significantly increased the damage dealt by the Fortunate Strike passive ability
* Passives that are supposed to trigger from Hindering will now work more reliably
* Born Leader's heal effect is now able to critically heal
* The No Contest passive ability will now also increase damage dealt by 8% in addition to making the hit unavoidable
* The Short Controlled Bursts passive will now increase Hit Rating by 200, and Penetration Chance and Critical Chance by 2.5% for Burst abilities
* Increased the damage bonus value of the You're Next passive to 6%
* Increased the damage bonus value of the Animal Instinct passive to 100%
* The Animal Instinct passive will now also apply an affliction effect for 8 seconds to all targets hit by Savage Sweep
* Increased the affliction damage bonus value of the Unholy Knowledge passive to 15%
* Clarified the description of Gross Anatomy to specify that it triggers when an affliction effect is renewed
* The passive Utilitarianism will now also cause allies affected by Greater Good to receive healing for the duration of the effect
* Reduced the cast time of Greater Good to instant
* Greater Good will no longer trigger or be affected by the global cooldown
* Reduced the cooldown of Sleight of Hand to 30s (was 40s)
* Increased the cooldown of Strange Attractor to 45s (was 30s)
* Clarified tooltip description for Raging Volcano
* Activating Diamond Grit will now remove any active barrier effects
* The passive Splatter should now properly affect Conditional Force
* Fixed an issue which caused Blade Torrent to generate more hate than it should
* Fixed an issue where Magnetic Wipe would purge a target even if the ability did not successfully hit
* Increased the damage dealt by Arterial Pulse
* Fixed an issue where Criticality would not proc on separate targets if they were damaged by an earlier proc of Criticality
* Significantly reduced the hate generated by the healing component of the Salubrious, Invulnerable, Quickening, and Curing Augment effects
* Removed the short silence effect from the Deathless form ability Blood Burst to prevent constant self-silencing
* Mercurial and Accelerating Augments will now also reduce the remaining time on the Depleted, Shorted Out, and Uncalibrated debuffs applied by Breaching Shot, Short Fuse, and Deadly Aim
* Fixed an issue where some stacking dots would not work correctly if more than one character was applying them
* Updated all effects which heal for a flat amount, such as Karma Curio and Turn the Tables, to take into account negative healing modifiers from effects such as Corrupted
* Fixed an issue that caused percent max health based heals to not be modified by the Corrupted debuff or other heal reducing effects
* Fixed an issue that could cause the Shotgun Wedding damage increase effect to persist permanently
* Added new text to all abilities that are not affected by and that do not trigger the global recharge timer
* Updated all percentage damage increasing effects to use the same method of damage increase. This change should make damage increases easier to understand and behave more consistently
* Changed the Accuracy passive to always provide a 5% damage bonus. It will also now add 50 Hit Rating
* Reduced the damage dealt by Shoot 'Em Up
* Reduced the damage dealt by Anticoagulant
* Damage over time effects, proc effects, and persistent ground damaging areas applied by players are now able to critically hit and penetrate. Likewise, they are now also able to glance and be blocked. These effects will still not trigger other effects, ie: a damage over time crit will not trigger One in the Chamber, they will just have their damage modified by these hit event types
* Fixed an issue where Forged in Fire could trigger twice in one cooldown period
* Attacks against enemies of a higher rank than your weapon skill will no longer have an increased chance to glance
* Updated the tooltip for Thicker Than Water to reflect the fact that it will affect healing Blood Magic abilities
* Improved Angelic Aegis, Ruby Curtain, The Scarlet Arts, Exquisite Corpse, and Linked Veins to benefit from abilities that increase the healing power of Blood Magic abilities
* Improved Cauterise, Vigour, Shelter, Inner Spark, and Fired Up to benefit from abilities that increase the healing power of Fist abilities
* Passives which trigger off impair will no longer trigger if the target is immune to impair effects
* Removed the cooldown from There Will Be Blood
* Fixed an issue which caused Elemental Force and Fatal Flourish to gain stacks when queuing a non-stack building ability after a damaging ability with a cast time
* Fixed an issue where Backlash would not always gain counters when evading
* Reduced cast time of Incendiary Grenade to 0.5 seconds
* Fixed an issue that caused the Bloodsport and Corrupted Blood passives to not trigger Gross Anatomy when refreshed
* Updated the wording in all "Defence" gadgets to state that they are procced by glances
* Abilities that act on hit should last only as long and affect the number of targets as intended
* Any target affected by multiple successive taunts will now only be affected by the most recently applied taunt


PVP
General
* Engineer vendors in all faction Headquarters now sell a new set of gadgets. These gadgets are only usable in PvP areas and can be purchased for Black Marks.
* Fixed a case where the resurrection UI would show when the player was alive after exiting a PvP match while dead
* Players will now be removed from all other PvP queues when joining a PvP match

El Dorado
* Carrying a relic will now slow movement speed by 20% and reduce the power of incoming heals, barriers, and leech effects by 25%
* Movement abilities are now locked when carrying a relic
* It is no longer possible to sprint while holding a relic
* Fixed an issue where the Relic of the East and West messages were swapped
* The East Relic should now properly display which faction controls it

Fusang
* The rewards and cooldowns for the following missions have changed:

• Capture Anima Well: Reward - 5 Black Marks // Cooldown - 18 Hours
• The Underdogs: Reward - 10 Black Marks // Cooldown - 18 Hours
• Eliminate 10 Enemies: Reward - 10 Black Marks // Cooldown - 18 Hours
• Capture a Facility: Reward - 50 Black Marks // Cooldown - 30 Hours

SCENARIOS
General
* The announcers in Venice have been asked to stop lying to test participants about certain events as they occur during examinations. They thought it was funny. We, however, do not have a sense of humour.

The Hotel
* The Jinn boss should no longer randomly target survivors with Unstable Eruption

GENERAL
* Fixed an issue with a wall in London that could allow players to fall underneath the playfield.
* Fixed a location where players could get stuck near the Withered Spring in City of the Sun God.
* Fixed a billboard in Kingsmouth Airport that was floating slightly off the ground.


COMBAT
* (Testserver) Removed the 5 second cooldown from Elemental Force and Fatal Flourish.
* (Testserver) Fixed an issue that was causing Karma Curio to be unaffected by Gadget cooldowns.
* (Testserver) Updated Subway Tokens and Signet of Fury to use new additive method of damage increasing. These two were missed in the initial pass.
* Removed an extra period from Breach Party's description.
* Updated the word Weakened in Single Barrel's description to have the correct link.
* Updated tooltip description for the Accuracy passive to be more clear.
* Fire in the Hole now has two damage components, one delayed and one upon activation. The delayed damage from this ability is now treated as a proc effect and cannot trigger or benefit from Elemental Force or other passive effects.
* All of the stacking rating effects in the game (Block Rating, Penetration Rating, Evade Rating, Hit Rating, Critical Rating, Critical Power Rating, Defense Rating, and Protection Rating) now provide 35 per stack instead of 30.
* Reworked the way Gaian Exposure adds healing power. It will now increase the character's overall healing power (instead of just the weapon's) by 1% per stack. This allows Gaian Exposure to affect passives, Miscellaneous abilities, and any other item abilities that are calculated with the "Healing Power" stat.
* Removed the cooldown from Thor's Hammer.
* Blood Bank counters should now last 10 seconds as the tooltip states.
* Reduced the max stack size on Blood Bank to 5.
* Increased the damage bonus on Affliction effects on Blood Bank to 3% per stack.
* Reduced bonus damage for Unholy Knowledge to 10%.
* Removed the cooldown from Collaboration.
* Reduced the chance to cleanse on Collaboration to 15%.
* Slightly reduced the damage dealt by Collaboration.
* Fixed an issue where the tooltip for Cry Havoc displayed more damage than it should. Note that the damage from Cry Havoc has not changed and this was only a display fix.
* Updated heal procs and heal over time effects to now be able to critically hit, similar to how damage over time and damage proc effects are able.
* Arterial Pulse and Criticality will now only cause damage to a single target once per second. For example, if you critically hit 5 targets in an AoE, there will no longer be 5 Criticality chains generated.
* Suppressing Fire will now deal the majority of its damage on the first hit of the attack. This damage will be able to trigger procs and passives. The subsequent 3 hits will no longer be able to trigger procs and passives.
* Abilities such as turrets and manifestations which do not advance the Elemental Force or Fatal Flourish counter are no longer able to take advantage of the bonus effect these passives generate.
* Stopping Power should now properly advance and consume Elemental Force.
* Tactical Retreat's delayed damage will no longer benefit from Elemental Force.


PVP
General
* (Testserver) Restoration Contrivances are no longer usable at full HP.
* (Testserver) The Liberation Contrivances are now on their own cooldowns separate from other trinkets.
* (Testserver) Reduced the prices of all rare quality contrivances to be 1/4th the cost of epic quality contrivances.
* (Testserver) Added missing animations to the rare quality Displacer and Recoil Contrivances.
* Karma Curio is no longer usable in PvP. The tooltip has been updated to reflect this change.

Fusang
* Fusang mission rewards should now display the proper icon.

GENERAL
* Fixed an issue that could cause the run animation to be too fast after activating sprint.
* (Testserver) The particles representing which AEGIS controller type is equipped will now update when changing controllers.
* (Testserver) Fixed an issue where you could not equip AEGIS modules when upgrading your first AEGIS controller to v1.2.


GUI
* Fixed a case where the frame around newly unlocked achievements would be the wrong size.
* Added a sound effect when switching equipment pages in the character sheet.
* Fixed a minor display issue with the Team UI
* (Testserver) Upcoming AEGIS shields are now displayed on the healthbar itself in addition to the indicators next to the bar.
* (Testserver) Corrected an issue that caused players to see impossible Analysis completion percentages when inspecting another player's weapon AEGIS.


COMBAT
* Fixed an issue where you would sometimes not be able to use Sleight of Hand while knocked down.
* Fixed an issue that could cause players to become permanently impaired.
* Updated tooltip of No Mercy to more accurately reflect its behavior.
* The No Mercy marker debuff will now be visible and work properly when multiple players apply it at the same time to the same target.
* Increased the damage dealt by Marked.
* Increased the damage dealt by Above the Law.
* Increased the damage dealt by Extra Bullet.
* Increased the damage dealt by the primary hit of Trigger Happy.
* Increased the base damage dealt by Grass Cutter while decreasing the bonus damage from hitting afflicted targets.
* Increased the bonus damage of Bear Knuckle when hitting impaired targets.
* Increased the back dash from Razor Wire to 10 meters (from 5).
* Sharp Shooter now causes an additional hit at ranges greater than 12 meters instead of affecting Hit Rating.
* Reduced the cooldown of Smart Bomb to 45 seconds (from 60).
* Reduced the cooldown of Bomb Squad to 45 seconds (from 60).
* Reduced the cooldown of Last Resort to to 60 seconds (from 80).
* Added a damage mitigation effect to Last Resort that occurs after the invulnerability effect ends.
* Last Resort will no longer trigger or be affected by the global cooldown.
* Reduced the cooldown of Pistol Love to 25 seconds (from 30).
* Increased the resistance duration of Pistol Love to 10 seconds (from 5).
* Full Momentum now creates 5 instant resources.
* Increased the healing and damage of Born Leader.
* Increased the next barrier granted by Infusion to 35% (from 30%).
* Speed Freak will now grant immunity to hinder effects for its duration, and remove hinder effects upon activation.
* Increased the charge distance of Saving Grace to 20 (from 15).
* Bullet Ballet now adds a stack (up to 5) of bonus Critical Rating for each hit.
* Updated the tooltip of Cleansing Drone to include the radius
* Updated the tooltip of Cleansing Drone to reflect that this ability lasts for 3 seconds.
* Reduced the cooldown of Cleansing Drone to 6 seconds.
* Removed the 1 second cast time from Gun-Fu.
* Increased the number of targets affected by Area Drone to 5 (from 3).
* Increased the damage of Bond, Strong Bond.
* Reduced the cooldown of Transfuse and Abuse to 25 seconds (from 45).
* Reduced the cooldown of Immutable to 80 seconds (from 100).
* Creature Comfort is now considered both a direct heal and heal over time effect and can benefit from both categories of enhancements.
* Reduced the movement speed penalty when activating an Assault Rifle ability to 40%.
* Fixed an issue where the Fatal Flourish buff could be consumed by Manifestations.
* Abilities which do not benefit from Elemental Force should no longer advance the counter and consume the effect.
* Abilities which benefit from Elemental Force should now always advance the counter and consume the effect.
* (Testserver) Removed text from Fatal Flourish stating that it had a 5 second cooldown.
* Removed the area restriction on the Restoration Contrivances. They can now be used in PvE areas.
* (Testserver) Removed the area restriction on the Karma Curio. It can once again be used in PvP areas.
* (Testserver) Updated the way Cybernetic AEGIS behave. It will now passively regenerate until destroyed. After a delay upon being destroyed, it will be restored partially and regeneration will resume.


MISSIONS
The Shadowy Forest
* Wild Hunt - Fixed a sync issue with the audio in the opening cinematic for this mission


PVP
General
* Fixed a case where the PvP GUI would break when joining a PvP match from within a different PvP match.

El Dorado
* Fixed an issue where the Plant Relic button would not appear on the scoreboard.

GENERAL
* (Testserver) All Disruptive AEGIS Controller items can no longer be deleted.
* Updated several abilities to use the official spelling of metre.
* Leaving a playfield with active need/greed windows open will now pass on those rolls.


GUI
* Added an icon to the nametags of players who are currently watching a cinematic.
* Fixed a case where you would sometimes not see the stats of other characters correctly. Typically this could manifest itself as seeing other players not at full health even though they were, especially when many players converge in a small area.
* Fixed an issue where tooltips for buffs in the Team GUI and Defensive Target UI would not appear.
* Fixed an issue where tooltips for buffs in the Team GUI and Defensive Target UI would not go away.


COMBAT
* (Testserver) An enemy with a Psychic AEGIS will now try to cast it again a short while after being interrupted.
* (Testserver) Corrected the Razor Wire tooltip to correctly represent the 10 metre range.
* (Testserver) Fixed an issue that caused Doom to apply to procs and effects which would not consume it.
* Fixed an issue with Pistol Love that would cause friendly NPCs to hate you.
* Collaboration will now provide a guaranteed cleanse with a 5 second internal recharge time.
* Increased the damage dealt by Cleansing Drone.
* Gun Fu will now reduce the cooldown on all Pistol consumers by 4 seconds.
* Increased the dash on Shake and Bake to 10 metres.
* Rapid Getaway will now provide the Minor Critical Chance effect when activating any resource consumer. This is in addition to the increased movement speed.
* Increased the damage dealt by Big Bang.
* Updated to the tooltips of all Trinkets on linked cooldowns to indicate which Trinkets affect each others' cooldowns.
* Fixed an issue with Set 'Em Up not behaving properly with Elemental Force.
* Running Circles now hits the targeted enemy for a small amount of damage when you are moving.


PVP
General
* Equal Footing will now be applied to all players in PvP areas. It will attempt to provide a statistical increase in power to players below a certain threshold. The priority in stats increased is based on the player's chosen uniform.
* The Equal Footing effect will be removed when updating gear, and will reapply shortly afterward.
* Increased the bonus health granted by the High Powered Weaponry uniform to 10%.
* Increased the bonus health granted by the Reinforced Armour uniform to 25%.
* Increased the bonus health granted by the Integrated Anima Conduits uniform to 15%.
* (Testserver) El Dorado and Stonehenge will now pop when 2 players from each faction have signed up.

NEW!
* Issue 9 story missions are now repeatable! Once the entire Issue 9 story has been completed once, players will be able to find repeatable versions of them in the world.


GENERAL
* (Testserver) The AEGIS effect for your character is no longer active during cinematics.
* (Testserver) AEGIS items are no longer included in Gear Manager links.
* Fixed an issue that could cause characters to play the wrong movement animation after a change in speed.
* Fixed a case where sound effects for completing mission tiers and missions were not playing.
* When a character who won an item roll can no longer receive the item it will instead be given to the top roller who can receive it.


GUI
* (Testserver) Added text to the AEGIS display on the healthbar to better convey which AEGIS type is active.
* (Testserver) Changed the shade of the Demonic Aegis bar to make it more distinct and identifiable.
* Added a new tab to the Achievement GUI for Eternal Echoes. Eternal Echoes are achievements that are not permanently available.
* The Eternal Echoes tab will show all Eternal Echoes that you have at least partially completed, as well as any that are currently available for completion.
* The Eternal Echoes tab will not show any Echoes that you have not at least partially completed and that currently cannot be completed.
* Aegis damage numbers will now obey the Damage Numbers interface options.
* New lore notification now vanishes when the achievement/lore GUI is opened.
* Fixed a case where notifications on new achievements would not be cleared after viewing the new achievement.
* The "Online" column in the cabal members list has been renamed "Activity".
* The "Activity" column in the cabal members list will now display the last date an offline cabal member was online.


COMBAT
* (Testserver) Fixed an issue that prevented Speed Freak from cleansing hinders.
* Silver Streak now cleanses hinders.
* Removed the 5 second cooldown on Inferno.
* Reduced the cooldown of Health Drone to 4 seconds (from 20).
* Health Drone now hits up to 5 targets (up from 3).
* Drone support now heals all group members whenever Cleansing Drone attempts to cleanse.
* Updated the tooltip of Shot in the Arm to reflect that this ability procs on attempts to cleanse (actually cleansing is not necessary).
* Fixed a typo in Area Drone's description.
* Fixed an issue which caused passive proc effects to not always trigger in specific cases where multiple players attempted to trigger the same effect on the same target at the same time.
* Area Drone will now correctly benefit from effects which increase resource consumer damage and effects which improve Pistol damage.
* Born Leader now follows the player as a PBAoE instead of remaining in place when cast.
* Increased the range of Blast of Light to 10 metres.


PVP
General
* (Testserver) Fixed an issue with Equal Footing not properly handling Penetration Rating.
* Equal Footing reapplication delay after changing gear will refresh in duration if you change gear while the delay is active.


MISSIONS
Story and Faction
* London Underground - The Dragon version of this mission should now always update when a player approaches the Crocea Mors, as long as the timer has not yet expired.
* Mortal Sins - The Silver Egg is now automatically removed when you complete the mission
* Mortal Sins - Body parts will no longer linger in player inventories after completing the associated zone

The Savage Coast
* Weapons of Minor Destruction - The Pitcher's mound should no longer get stuck in a non-interactive state.
* Jack's Back - The Ghostlight field in Tier 4 should now properly reset.
* Another Bug Hunt - This mission now works in a group. Additionally, 2 more poor souls have been claimed by the Ak'ab. The mission still only requires locating 4.

The Blue Mountain
* Dawning of an Endless Night - Fixed an issue causing the cinematic with Ami and Kyra to not play immediately after the first encounter with Beaumont in the Blue Ridge Mine.
* The Research of Tyler Freeborn - The Guardian on Tier 1 should now always depart when it is time to go.

The Scorched Desert
* The Big Terrible Picture - Players will no longer be killed by hostile wildlife while watching the cinematic in Tier 6 when returning to Montgomery.
* From Oxford, With Love - Players will no longer be killed by hostile wildlife while watching the cinematic in Tier 1 when investigating the camp.
* A Time to Every Purpose - The Scion of Pompilius will now return to the courtyard if scared off.
* O Tempora! O Mores! - The Roman weapons and supplies no longer incorrectly update goal progress extra times.

The Shadowy Forest
* The Drăculeşti - The Explosives Detonator and Solomonar Cube are now cleaned up properly when finishing this mission.

Tokyo
* (Testserver) Preludes & Intrigues - This mission can no longer be shared.
* (Testserver) Back to the Beginning - Trapped filth no longer stands up when hindered.
* (Testserver) Back to the Beginning - Sarah's utility buffs are invisible now.
* (Testserver) Back to the Beginning - It is no longer possible to jump over the train.
* (Testserver) Filth Evolved - This mission should now give credit for all valid enemies.
* (Testserver) Texts - This mission can now be completed.


DUNGEONS
Hell Raised
* Persistent area effects or meteor showers should no longer damage/kill players while watching the cinematic after Machine Tyrant is killed.


WORLD DESIGN
Tokyo
* (Testserver) Filthy humans on the rooftops should no longer levitate.
* (Testserver) Bird of the Zero-Point Pathogen has been educated on the importance of landing only on solid objects, and should no longer land inside of buildings.
* (Testserver) A Jingu Warrior at Susanoo's Diner should no longer clip through the wall, or fall down from the second floor.
* (Testserver) A naughty Deep One near Ginpachi Park should now engage in combat.

GENERAL
* Increased the amount of screenshots the client can save.
* Red sargassum barrel can now be deleted.
* Sufferer's raiment can now be deleted.
* Radar trackers will no longer play during cinematics.
* (Testserver) Corrected a number of Jigoku no Yu bathhouse lores giving the wrong lore entry.
* (Testserver) Korinto-kai Lore #5 will now provide the correct lore entry.
* (Testserver) 3 hidden lore have been enabled. Good luck hunting!


GUI
* Newly acquired lore entries should now have a notification next to them in the lore GUI.
* Friends list will now display the last online date for offline cabal members.
* A new minimap and map has been added to Agartha.


COMBAT
* Updated the description of Regeneration to state that it lasts 10 seconds.
* Seal the Deal will now increase the damage and healing of all resource consumers rather than every other consumer. This will allow this ability to affect abilities such as Manifestations, Drones, and Turrets more reliably. (Not Yet Implemented)
* Seal the Deal's damage bonus has been reduced to 12%.
* Seal the Deal will now also increase critical chance for resource consuming abilities by 3%.


MISSIONS
Tokyo
* (Testserver) Venice Sinking - Made lasers more sensitive.
* (Testserver) Venice Sinking - The Flappy portal will now send players to the Tokyo branch in Agartha (no more magic door!)
* (Testserver) Spiral - Fixed an issue where the collision would not update after opening a door.
* (Testserver) Filth Evolved - Psychic and Demonic enemies during Tower Defence now update the correct kill counter.
* (Testserver) Filth Evolved - Waves of monsters during Tower Defence will no longer count twice on the kill counter.

That's a decent amount of improvements, I think.