Dear Tibians!The time has come: The test servers are live.After plenty of discussion, the vocation adjustments are now facing their first real practical stress test - by you, the players.First of all, thank you once again for your feedback, both on the two dev notes and throughout the past few weeks in the news ticker thread. The test will have at least two stages. Week one will include the changes announced in the first dev note, and combining feedback from the dev notes with the practical feedback from the first test stage will help us make better adjustments before stage two. As you may see, this test server includes many different changes, and several of them interact with each other. When testing, please try to focus not only on individual numbers but also on the overall feeling of your vocation and the playstyles that do - or do not - emerge from these changes.Nothing is final yet. Our goal is to make sure that, once everything comes together, the changes for each vocation support our core objectives:Strengthen the role of each vocationIntroduce gameplay innovation Improve quality of life and reduce unnecessary input complexityThat said, some changes have the potential to significantly affect a vocation - whether by making gameplay feel more tedious, weakening it too much, or making it too strong. We will be paying close attention to these areas during testing.Below are the current changes and our main points of concern for each vocation and in general.KnightVocation adjustments:New knight stances
Blood rage: Replaces the former blood rage spell, increases weapon skill by 30%, and increases damage taken by 15%.
Protector: Replaces the former protector spell, reduces damage taken by 15%, reduces damage dealt by 30%, and increases shielding by 30%.Blood rage and protector now increase the final skill, including gear bonuses, and their bonuses are reduced to 30% to compensate.Blood rage and protector: Removed as regular spells and replaced by stances.Stances are unlocked with the promotion. Mana cost adjustments
Berserk: Mana cost increased from 115 to 150.
Fierce berserk: Mana cost increased from 340 to 400.
Groundshaker: Mana cost increased from 160 to 200.
Knight healing spell adjustments
Knight healing spells: Cooldown and primary spell cooldown are increased to 2 seconds. Scaling is adjusted and now uses shielding and magic level. Base power is increased to compensate, with the overall goal of improving knight healing.
Bruise bane: Base power adjusted to 15, cooldown set to 2s.
Wound cleansing: Base power adjusted to 70, cooldown set to 2s.
Fair wound cleansing: Base power adjusted to 225, cooldown set to 2s.
Intense wound cleansing: Base power adjusted to 500.
New knight spells
Shield bash: Hits the target, deals damage, and causes the target’s next autoattack within 10 seconds to miss. It can only be used with a shield and uses the shield’s defense value instead of the weapon’s attack value.
Whirlwind bash: Hits all fields around the knight, deals damage, and causes the next autoattack of affected targets within 10 seconds to miss. It can only be used with a shield and uses the shield’s defense value instead of the weapon’s attack value.
Wheel of destiny adjustments
Aug front sweep: Tier I changed from 5% life leech to 15% life leech.
Battle healing: Reworked to increase healing from healing spells by 10%. This bonus is tripled when wearing a shield.Key points for the test:Do the new spells and mitigation changes create a viable shield-based playstyle without replacing the two-handed playstyle?Do the self-healing changes improve the overall feeling of playing a knight without making knights too difficult to kill? Are the potion changes enough to make mana management feel less tedious?PaladinVocation adjustments:New paladin stances
Sniper: Autoattacks deal 3% more damage, and this bonus is doubled against nonadjacent targets.
Radiant evasion: Damage taken from nonadjacent targets is reduced by 5%.
Stances are unlocked with the promotion.
Sharpshooter and swift foot adjustments
Sharpshooter: Now increases the final weapon skill, including gear bonuses, and the bonus is reduced to 35% to compensate.
Sharpshooter: Individual spell cooldown reduced from 10s to 4s.
Sharpshooter: Secondary group cooldown reduced from 10s to 2s.
Sharpshooter: Support spells can now be cast while active.
Swift foot: Attacks and spells can now be used while active, but damage caused is reduced by 30%.
New paladin spells
Radiant flare: Deals holy damage to the target and surrounding fields. Cannot be cast without a target.
Punishing flare: Deals physical damage to the target and surrounding fields. Scales with distance fighting instead of magic level, similar to strong ethereal spear. Cannot be cast without a target.
Spell adjustment
Divine caldera: Base power increased from 140 to 160 to compensate for the charm double-proccing adjustment to diamond arrows.
Wheel of destiny adjustments
Aug swift foot: Changed to aug radiant flare. Tier I grants +10% base damage, tier II grants +5% mana leech.
Aug sharpshooter: Changed to aug punishing flare. Tier I grants increased area, tier II grants +10% critical hit chance.
New AoE ammunition
Diamond flare arrow: Deals physical damage in an AoE, has 27 attack value, and requires level 50.
Fire flare arrow: Deals fire damage in an AoE, has 18 attack value, and requires level 125
Earth flare arrow: Deals earth damage in an AoE, has 18 attack value, and requires level 125.
Ice flare arrow: Deals ice damage in an AoE, has 18 attack value, and requires level 125.
Energy flare arrow: Deals energy damage in an AoE, has 18 attack value, and requires level 125.Key points for the test:Are the damage reductions from the charm adjustment and rune area-of-effect changes properly compensated by the new stances, new spells, and the Divine Caldera buff?Are the new elemental ammunition types a viable alternative in specific hunting grounds?SorcererVocation adjustments:New sorcerer elemental stances
Master of fire: Fire spells have 4% increased base power, and casting a fire spell converts the next non-fire spell into fire damage.
Master of energy: Energy spells have 4% increased critical hit chance, and casting an energy spell converts the next non-energy spell into energy damage.
Master of death: Death spells have 30% increased critical extra damage, and casting a death spell converts the next non-death spell into death damage.
Elemental stances: Only affect spells, not runes, and only apply to fire, energy, and death spells. Switching stance removes any pending element conversion.Elemental stances are unlocked with the promotion.
New sorcerer curse stances
Curse stances: The sorcerer can have one elemental stance and one curse stance active at the same time.
Aura of sapped strength: Spells, runes, and autoattacks apply the sap strength effect to all targets for 10 seconds.
Aura of exposed weakness: Spells, runes, and autoattacks apply the exploit weakness effect to all targets for 10 seconds.
Sap strength and expose weakness: Removed as separate spells.
New sorcerer spell
Death blast: Deals death damage in the targeted area, followed by a second, larger delayed blast at the same location after 2 seconds. The second blast has 50% of the base power damage and cannot trigger charms.
Spell adjustments
Great death beam: Becomes a regular spell that can be learnt from level 66.
Lightning: Base power increased from 70 to 110, range increased from 5 to 7.
Strong energy strike: Base power increased from 90 to 125, range increased from 3 to 7.
Strong flame strike: Base power increased from 90 to 125, range increased from 3 to 7.
Ultimate energy strike: Base power increased from 150 to 210, range increased from 3 to 7.
Ultimate flame strike: Base power increased from 150 to 210, range increased from 3 to 7.
Wheel of destiny adjustments
Aug magic shield: Changed to aug death blast. Tier I grants +5% base damage, tier II reduces the delay of the second blast from 2 seconds to 1 second.
Aug sap strength: Changed to aug special spells for lightning, strong energy strike, and strong flame strike. Aug special spells: Tier I grants -4s cooldown, tier II grants +50% base damage.
Beam mastery: Beams now also hit adjacent fields for 20% / 35% / 50% damage. The previous functionality (cooldown reduction and increased damage) remains, but only affects the central beam.
Drain body: Changed to lord of destruction. Increases the bonus effects of elemental stances.
Master of fire bonus: Additional +2% / 3% / 4% base power for fire spells.
Master of energy bonus: Additional +2% / 3% / 4% critical hit chance for energy spells.
Master of death bonus: Additional +15% / 22.5% / 30% critical extra damage for death spells.
Focus mastery: Still increases the damage of the next damage spell by 35% after casting a focus spell, and now also reduces primary cooldown by 2 seconds.New barrier mechanic for sorcerers and druidsBarrier: If incoming damage would exceed current hit points, the character is set to 1 hit point and the remaining damage is converted into mana damage with an 8x multiplier.Barrier: If there is not enough mana to absorb the converted damage, the character dies.Key points for the test:Do the elemental stances create a unique and enjoyable feeling without becoming too strong?How significant is the actual impact of the rune area-of-effect reductions?Does Barrier make gameplay too safe?Is Death Blast a viable spell for rotations, and does the blast mechanic feel satisfying to use?DruidVocation adjustments:
New druid healing stances
Lifegiver: Increases the cooldown and primary group cooldown of heal friend and mass healing by 100%, but increases all ally healing by 110%.
Rejuvenation: Self-healing spells heal for 10% more.
Shared preservation: Heal friend and nature’s embrace also heal a secondary party target in the game window for 30% of their healing.Stances are unlocked with the promotion.
Healing spell adjustments
Heal friend and nature's embrace are now more reliable.
Nature’s embrace: Base power healing increased from 650 to 2000.
New druid attack spells
Forked frost: Deals ice damage to the current target and the nearest 6 additional targets within range.
Forked thorns: Deals earth damage to the current target and the nearest 5 additional targets within range.
Both spells: If no target is selected, the nearest valid target is chosen; if no valid target is in range, the spell is not cast.
Strike spell adjustments
Strong terra strike: Base power increased from 90 to 115, range increased from 3 to 7.
Strong ice strike: Base power increased from 90 to 115, range increased from 3 to 7.
Ultimate terra strike: Base power increased from 150 to 195, range increased from 3 to 7.
Ultimate ice strike: Base power increased from 150 to 195, range increased from 3 to 7.
Wrath of nature is now more reliable.
Wheel of destiny adjustments
Healing link: Effect increased from 10% to 25%.
Blessing of the grove: Healing spells can now critically heal, using critical hit chance and critical extra damage.
Blessing of the grove: Extra healing adjusted to 5% / 7.5% / 10% against targets below 60% health, doubled against targets below 30% health.
Aug terra wave: Tier II changed from 5% life leech to 10% life leech.
Aug strong ice wave: Tier I changed from 3% mana leech to -2s cooldown, tier II changed from base damage increase to increased area.
Wands and rods
Wands and rods: Strike imbuement limitations are removed.
Wands and rods: Attacks now generate mana instead of consuming mana.
Wands and rods: Range increased.
New barrier mechanic for sorcerers and druids
Barrier: If incoming damage would exceed current hp, the character is set to 1 hp and the remaining damage is converted into mana damage with an 8x multiplier.
Barrier: If there is not enough mana to absorb the converted damage, the character dies.Key Points for the test:Are all stances viable?Do forked spells improve solo gameplay enough?How significant is the actual impact of the rune area-of-effect reductions?Does Barrier make gameplay too safe?MonkVocation adjustments:Healer role adjustment
Mass spirit mend is changed from a spender spell to a regular healing spell.
Cooldown and healing are adjusted.
Virtue of justice rework
Virtue of justice is reworked into a team-damage/support virtue.
Mentor other is removed as a separate spell.
While the monk is in virtue of justice, team members in the game window receive vocation-based bonuses.
If the monk is serene, the monk also receives the respective vocation effects.
Bonuses:
Knight:damage received reduced by 3%
Paladin: autoattack damage increased by 6%
Sorcerer: spell and rune damage increased by 9%
Druid: healing from spells and runes increased by 12%
Monk: fist fighting increased by 3% per unique vocation in the party within the game window
The monk counts as a monk for this bonus, so the fist fighting bonus is always at least 3%.
New monk spell: Thousand fist blows
Deals damage to the target and surrounding fields.
Has a range of 7 fields.
Cannot be cast without a target.
Acts as a builder and grants 1 Harmony point.
Spell adjustments
Mystic repulse: Increased damage and reduced cooldown. The familiar’s attack range is reduced so that all of its spells can hit reliably.
Wheel of Destiny adjustments
Guiding presence: Now shares 100% of the mantra effect instead of 50%.
Sanctuary: The monk deals 10% more damage and healing to adjacent targets.Consuming Harmony creates a field for 5 seconds, increasing damage and healing done by 2% per Harmony consumed.
Aug mystic repulse: Tier I changed from -4s cooldown to -6s cooldown
Aug sweeping takedown becomes aug thousand fist blows:Tier I: +25% critical extra damage. Tier II: -6s cooldown.
Aug flurry of blows: Tier I changed from 5% life leech to increased area.Key points for the test:How strong are the mass spirit mend adjustments for the monk’s secondary healer role?Does thousand fist blows make monk gameplay too ranged-focused?Are the virtue of justice and mentor other reworks too strong?General ChangesAoE rune adjustments
The affected area of aoe runes will be reduced by 1, while their damage will be increased. Affected runes: Avalanche, great fireball, thunderstorm, stone shower.
Explosion rune damage remains unchanged, but the affected area has been increased.
Charm adjustment
Charms can now only trigger on the initial target of an autoattack. This change is aimed at reducing double-proccing from AoE attacks.
The triggering of spells and runes remains unchanged.
Group XP bonus
The Group XP bonus for smaller parties is being increased:
One different vocation: 20% -> 20%
Two different vocations: 30% -> 35%
Three different vocations: 60% -> 70%
Four+ different vocations:100% -> 100%
Combat mode removal
Combat mode has been removed entirely.
To compensate for their current effects:
The +20% attack value bonus from offensive stance is now always applied.
The defense value of all shields is increased by 30%.
The defense value of all spellbooks is increased by 60%.
The attack value penalty from defensive stance is intentionally not carried over.
Mitigation adjustments
The mitigation formula is being updated to reflect the removal of combat mode.
Equipment defense value will have a stronger impact on mitigation.
Several mitigation multipliers are adjusted, including those for elemental bond, two-handed melee weapons, bows/crossbows, and monsters.
Monster mitigation is increased.
Wheel of Destiny mitigation values
Mitigation bonuses in the Wheel of Destiny are being increased:
Dedication Perk per Promotion Point: 0.03% -> 0.075%
Lesser Gems: 5/5.5/6/7.5% -> 20/22/24/30%
Potion management improvements
A new mana potion is being introduced: The superior mana potion. Two new costly mana potions are added: Costly superior mana potion and costly ultimate mana potion.Access to existing mana potions is being expanded: Great mana potions can now be used by all vocations, the new superior mana potion by all vocations except knights, and costly superior and ultimate mana potions by all vocations.
Energy ring adjustment
Energy Ring becomes less efficient.
It will now consume 3 mana per point of damage. Ultimate healing rune adjustmentUltimate healing runes will no longer be usable on other characters.
Stance quality-of-life changes
Active stances will now be remembered between sessions. After logging in, characters will return with the same stance they had when logging out.
It will be possible to have no stance active.
Using an already active stance will turn it off.
Players can generally only have one stance active at a time. Sorcerers are an exception, as they have two different stance versions.
Stances are premium spells.Test server As mentioned above, we have just launched the test servers and invited Premium players so you can try out these changes and share your feedback.More details, numbers, and reasoning behind the changes can be found and discussed in the test forum. Please note that in-game bug reports will not be available for this test, so please use the forum instead.This time, there will are quite a few feedback threads, including several for each vocation. This should help keep feedback focused and make it easier for us to review and evaluate it properly. Please make sure to post your feedback in the correct thread so it ends up in the right place.
We are looking forward to seeing you test the adjustments and share your thoughts. We will closely follow the discussions and consider feedback that helps us move towards the stated goals.See you on Testa, Testera, and Testebra!Your Community Managers