The 3.1 update to Age of Conan has been released, and according to developer Funcom, it ”includes many improvements and updates to the Dreamworld Technology which also should improve both server and client performance on various levels.” Namely, the graphic engine will be overhauled using nVidia’s PhysX physics engine, as well as streamlining the netcode.
The following is the long, long list of tweaks, fixes and updates to the sword-and-sorcery MMO:
* New server side PhysX that improves our infrastructure and server performance.
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New Server Load Balancing, and system changes, to improve performance in Raids and Siege PVP (or indeed any situation with lots of players present).
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Major database update that will allow us to expand player inventory and storage space in the updates that follow this one. In this update we already have expanded the quest log space by 15 slots for premium players.
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Back end optimizations that help server performance and should reduce instances of ‘server lag’.
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Improved handling of Damage numbers that should help client performance for some users.
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Improved handling of offline buff timers for better consistency.
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Reworked the network traffic and system feedback used for the ‘tap’ system (health, stamina and mana gain from ‘tap’ spells/skills). This should improve performance in certain situations and also make sure the results appear more consistently.
Classes
Soldier Archetype
- The AA feat Veteran should now correctly increase the duration of Furious Inspiration, Sadism or Vengeance on the soldier having the feat trained.
Assassin
* The Corrupted Poison feat now also lowers the reuse time of the Grim Corruption combos.
- Increased the finisher bonus damage of the Slow Death Strike combos.
Barbarian
* Slightly increased the finisher bonus damage of the Wreck Armor combos.
- Adjusted and increased range of Finishing Blow, it should now be easier to execute this ability after a successful knockback.
Bear Shaman
* Removed one step from the Bewilder combo and increased the finisher bonus damage.
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The Improved Ether Theft feat now also increases the damage of the combo.
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Slightly increased the finisher bonus damage of the Crush Armor/Feral Growl combos.
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Clarified the description of the Wrath feat ‘Combo - Bloodthirst’.
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The bear shaman spirit should again be transparent during casting.
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Ursine Brawl I is now learned at level 15.
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The feat Winter’s Bite level requirement was changed to 35.
Conqueror
* Clarified the feat descriptions of Improved Fire Weave and Lingering Fire Weave.
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Clarified the ability description of Rend Flesh.
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Clarified the feat description of Mocking Sneer.
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The Hate increase on combo starters gained from the feat Mocking Sneer has been replaced by a flat amount of Hate Modification. Furthermore, the amount of extra hate generated by this feat has gone up.
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Targets hit by the Fire Weave Banner will now play a visible particle effect.
Dark Templar
* Dooming Presence will no longer cast Recently Impaired on NPC’s.
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Fixed issues with rubberbanding and stamina loss for targets affected by Dark Burden.
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The Dark Burden feat was slightly changed: The first point will give you a snare with a greater movement hinder than before but with a shorter duration. The second point will increase the duration and decrease the recast time.
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The Talisman Mastery Buff should now always be reapplied after zoning.
Demonologist
* The spellweaving subspell Hell’s Garden now displays a particle-effect in the area of effect.
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Let them Burn can now also do critical hits.
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Consume Flames will now only eat the Incinerate stacks built up by the caster. It will also correctly only give mana back based on the stacks of the caster. It can also no longer be cast when the demo does not have Incinerate stacks running on the target.
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Clarified the feat description of Phase Out.
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Clarified the feat description of Charged Storm Chains.
Herald of Xotli
* Thundering Flames will now place a visible 20 second immunity buff on the target.
- Molten Flesh now has particle-effects that last for the duration of the buff.
Necromancer
* Clarified the feat description of Unholy Inspiration.
- Increased the bonus on Chilling Breath.
Priest of Mitra
* Fatalities triggered through Repulse will now play the fatality spell-effects.
Ranger
* Cancelling a combo that used a directional attack bonus will no longer prevent you from getting a directional attack bonus for a few seconds.
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Clarified the ability description of Pitch Pot.
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Slightly increased the damage from Quick Shot without Upper/Lower Attack Bonus
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Ranger melee-combos should no longer erroneously have the weapon-criteria “One-Handed Blunt & Shield” or “One-Handed Blunt & Dagger” listed twice; instead the tooltip should now properly list “One-Handed Edged & Shield” or “One-Handed Edged & Dagger” as two of the available weapon-combinations. In addition the list of weapon criteria has been sorted slightly better to be more pleasing to the eye.
Tempest of Set
* Resolved an issue that in some cases caused Coils of the Serpent to start burning mana of targets before the channeling was completed.
Khitai
* Changes to the wildlife and city life to improve gameplay and player experience have been made to Chosain Province, Kara Korum, Northern Grasslands and Paikang. Safe spots have been created, NPC gank squads removed, some patrol lengths were shortened and the amount of choke points have been reduced.
- Players should no longer get stuck under the docks in Gun Hai, when swimming across the river from Kara Korum to Chosain Province.
Gateway to Khitai
* The Hidden Tunnel for the quest ‘The River under the Mountain’ can now be accessed again.
Kara Korum
* Fixed an issue that would sometimes make the levers in the maze of the Refuge of the Apostate unusable.
Northern Grasslands
* Traders have been added to Pin Pin.
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The Monk of the Storm should no longer spawn inside a rock.
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It should be easier to pick up the wolf blood potion.
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It should be easier to pick up the acorns for the quest The Acorns of Northern Grasslands.
Turan
Coast of Ardashir
* A new quest for the Coast of Ardashir is now available: ‘Gugalanna of Yimsha’.
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New Collectors have moved in to the Temple in Ardashir City offering high quality raid armor in exchange for Relics.
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The floating objects near the boat in Coast of Ardashir are now placed correctly.
Dead Man’s Hand
* Two new quests have been added for Dead Man’s Hand: ‘Restless Children’ and ‘Casting Pearls before Swine’.
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The goal ‘Locate and Enter the Lost Ship’ should now update properly for the quest ‘Revisiting the Weakling, the Warrior and the Wanton’ in Dead Man’s Hand.
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The Pigeon Post was added to Dead Man’s Hand. Players can now communicate with Artus via pigeons and will no longer need to exit the island to complete the quests that are part of the main storyline ‘Messenger in a Barrel’, ‘The Weakling, the Warrior and the Wanton’ and ‘Mutiny in the Brotherhood’.
Isle of Iron Statues
* The rope item is no longer needed to complete the quest ‘Treasures of the Iron Statues’.
Raids / Group Encounters
Black Ring Citadel
* The quests ‘Dragons over the Citadel’ and ‘The Immortal Hand’ have been merged together to prevent players from getting stuck with ‘Dragons over the Citadel’ and being unable to obtain a second hand from Leviathus.
Iron Tower
* Being killed by the Executioner in the Iron Tower should no longer in rare cases remove buffs gained from items from the in-game store.
Vortex of the Storm
* The cyclones in Vortex of the Storm should now be easier to see, and have also received a particle-effect update.
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Adept nukes should be easier to interrupt/survive in Trial of the Godslayer mode (hardmode).
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The damage from the cyclones should be less punishing if caught by one.
Ai and T’ian’an
* Significantly boosted the AA XP gain for defeating Sxi Ai and Armsmaster Uxus in Trial of the Godslayer mode (hardmode).
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Sxi Ai will now in addition drop epic faction leg pieces in Trial of the Godslayer mode (hardmode).
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Fixed an issue that prevented Commander Yeng-Wang-Yeh from AI District, Armsmaster Uxus and the Priestess from T’ian’an from dropping armor and weapon loot.
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An additional two minutes have been added to the district burning event in the T’ian’an District.
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In the T’ian’an District the Trial Treasures chest will now correctly spawn after defeating Armsmaster Uxus and having defeated all previous bosses during that run.
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The lockout timer for T’ian’an district will be applied only after defeating the first boss and will no longer be reapplied when killing another boss or entering the instance again.
Temple of Erlik
* Once the Archfiend of Gore is taken below 50% health in the Temple of Erlik the rising blood pools should now consistently trigger in the correct areas.
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Improved communication for the Bat of Nergal encounter by adding a description to the Nergal’s Parasite debuff.
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The Bat of Nergal will now drop additional simple relics.
Fort Ardashir
* Balance changes were done to the Sodabeh fight in Fort Ardashir.
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Significantly boosted the AA XP gain for defeating Sodabeh in Challenge of the Gods mode (hardmode).
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A shortcut was added to reach Sodabeh, once General Arman is dead.
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Shield of the Risen will no longer protect you from sharks.
PvP
Minigames
* Fixed an issue that could end a minigame before it actually started.
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Fixed an issue that prevented people from rejoining minigames.
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Made adjustments to the minigame queues which should result in better balancing of classes between the teams.
Quests
* King Atzel’s head will now drop on the playfield, and players with the quest ‘Atzel’s Head on a Pike’ will be able to interact with it to gain the quest item.
- Faction quests can no longer be shared with players from an opposing faction or with a character with no faction, as intended.
Destiny Quest
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In Blood Rite Subterrain, the area around the resurrection point near Kurbankohl was made safer so that players no longer get stuck in a death loop.
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Fixed an issue that could prevent players from defeating Har-Shebes.
Combat
* Fixed an issue where Recently Impaired would not be applied properly if the target had Knockback Immunity running.
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Talismans should no longer be held upside down in the neutral combat stance.
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Combo DoTs dealing physical damage types will now produce tap results.
Guild Renown
* New city decoration architect plans are now available as drops from Ai District, T’ian’an District, The Breach and The Forgotten City.
GUI
* The Playfield Access window now has a category tab.
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The inventory GUI now displays the repository cash for free players.
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You will no longer get multiple cancel buttons appear on the main screen when timing out.
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Added UI scale to damage numbers so that players can change the global size of damage numbers.
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Health / Stamina / Mana heals from taps are now clearly identified in the combat log Combotext on other characters will not be visible anymore unless they are attacking you.
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The group leader now only receives one group request per player. Declining also blocks future requests from the same player for that group.
Items
* The stack size of Imperial Insignias was increased from 100 to 1000.
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If you consume a food or drink item you won’t be able to consume another one of the same type until the effect has run out, or you remove the currently active food or drink buff manually. This is to help prevent players from unintentionally using up multiple food or drink items.
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Fixed some visual issues with the social armor Khalar Zym’s Ashendark Jerkin and Tamara’s Ceremonial Gown.
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Equipping the leggings Blade’s Fauld of Waning Dusk should no longer cause shoulder slot items to become invisible.
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Fixed a clipping issue with Chestguard of Boiling Blood when equipped on large/wide characters.
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Fixed some clipping issues with Tunic of Warped Ether when worn on male characters.
General
* Fixed an issue where you could suffer from rubberbanding and warpback when walking over small gaps.
- Starting to sit down on a bench/chair and then moving to abort that action should no longer mess up the player’s animation.
