Patch is so big that the forums won't let me post it in one post
Living World
As the gates to the Mad Realm fade, Halloween is drawing to a close. Finish your investigations and barter your Candy Corn Cobs, because the festival will end for the year on November 8 at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time (UTC -8).
World Polish
Crystal Oasis
Fixed a bug that allowed the choya pinata to be defeated after "[Bonus] Stop the choya pinata before it gets away!" failed.
Domain of Vabbi
Fixed a bug in which the Mastery-point djinn in the Brand would create multiple shield pylons.
Lion's Arch
Fixed a bug that enabled certain NPCs to wander up onto the dais with the Black Lion Traders, making them more difficult to interact with.
General
Some new collection achievements for Path of Fire™ skins have been added.
Consumable karma bonuses that drop from Path of Fire events are now automatically used when entering your inventory. Old copies will have to be used manually but will no longer drop.
Rewards for several major events in Path of Fire have been overhauled, including Serpents' Ire and Junundu Rising.
Right-clicking a bouncy chest will automatically take the contents if there is no selectable item for most achievements and reward tracks.
Fixed a bug in which several ascended-armor recipe books offered exotic-weapon crafting recipes.
Moved the Halloween achievement Lunatic's Fashion to the Fashion category so that it will be available while the Halloween festival is inactive.
Several items can no longer be used in combat, by level-1 characters, or in the tutorial instances, as they can block player progress through the personal story.
This includes the Lily of the Elon Pass, the Spearmarshal's Plea, and Portal Scrolls to Central Tyria.
Pulsing Brandsparks can now be crafted by all crafting disciplines.
The Primeval Steward in the Crystal Highlands now offers some additional crafting recipes, and some older items have had their costs rebalanced.
A useless item called "Black Diamond," which was not actually used in crafting recipes, has been removed from loot tables and replaced with the useful crafting material of the same name.
The old item, as well as the account-bound Brandspark Jewel and Sunset Jewel items, can be traded with some vendors in the Free City of Amnoon in exchange for the useful Black Diamond crafting material.
Chests, including Buried Treasure and Superior Buried Treasure, have had some rewards changed.
Fixed bugs preventing some of the collectibles related to the Funerary weapon and armor collections from awarding the right materials:
The monster-specific Elegy Mosaics now can be consumed for a single Elegy Mosaic currency.
Charged gems for the "Glorify the Golden Heart" collection now give 20 trade contracts when consumed.
The material for crafting ascended Funerary weapons and armor has been added. You can find the new Intact Mosaic item wherever Elegy Mosaics can be earned: legendary bounties, Superior Buried Treasure, and certain large-scale events throughout the Crystal Desert.
Renown merchants throughout the Crystal Desert have new recipes available.
Priory Researcher Elisa now has new recipes available.
Removed the ability to sell Piles of Elonian Trade Contracts to vendors.
Scribing recipes for Path of Fire matrices now use 50 regular Quartz
Crystals instead of 1 Charged Quartz.
Fixed a bug with the animation speeds of the Mini Springer Mount.
Fixed a bug with the Marshal's stat combination (Power, Healing, Condition Damage, and Precision), which should now provide appropriate stats when selected or used in ascended-quality gear.
Fractals
Fixed a bug in which Corporeal Reassignment would sometimes not properly trigger in the final boss fight of Shattered Observatory.
Personal Story
"The Sacrifice"
Enabled stricter enforcement of rules regarding player and NPC mounting in the climax of this instance to prevent potential stalls.
"Beast of War"
Sohothin skills will now remove stealth from the player.
Players joining their friends can now earn the rewards for completing the chapter.
Items
Updated art on the Shackles of Madness gloves to improve their chain physics.
Profession Skills
General:
Several new enemies in Path of Fire have attacks that can launch the player into the air, so with this update we are changing several stun-break skills to be usable while in the air. Certain types of skills, such as shadowsteps and skills that summon creatures, are exempt from this change, as allowing them to be used in the air would create undesirable gameplay behaviors.
Stun-Break Skills: Many stun-break skills have been reviewed and are now able to be used in midair. Stun breaks that could result in undesirable behavior are not able to be used in midair.
Taunt: This condition now has a proper conversion and will transform into 2 seconds of resistance. Keep in mind that stun breaks take priority over condition conversion.
Superior Rune of the Firebrand: Fixed a bug that caused the rune to indicate condition duration instead of condition damage.
PvP: Added Path of Fire elite specialization runes to PvP.
Rune of the Guardian: This rune now has a 2-second internal cooldown.
Barrier: The duration before decay begins has been increased from 1 second to 2 seconds. The time for the barrier to decay has been reduced from 4 seconds to 3 seconds.
Elementalist:
The weaver's sword has been underperforming a bit when compared to several of the core elementalist weapons, so we're tuning up several sword skills in this update to put their damage numbers in a better position. Additionally, Conjure Earth Shield is being updated to be a source of barrier, which we felt would be a good thematic fit for the earth skills it provides. Lastly, we'll be looking to tone down a few builds that increase damage exponentially against larger targets.
Skills
Polaric Slash: The casting time and aftercast of this skill have been reduced by 0.24 seconds.
Crystalline Strike: The casting time and aftercast of this skill have been reduced by 0.24 seconds.
Fire Swipe: The casting time and aftercast of this skill have been reduced by 0.24 seconds.
Clapotis: The casting time and aftercast of this skill have been reduced by 0.24 seconds.
Flame Uprising: Increased the physical damage for the initial impact of this skill by 50%.
Cauterizing Strike: Increased the base physical damage of this skill by 20%. Increased the damage against burning foes by 14%.
Pyro Vortex: This skill now pulses every 0.33 seconds, down from 1 second. Increased the number of pulses from 3 to 6.
Fiery Greatsword—Flame Wave: This skill now allows other skills to be cast during its animation.
Fiery Greatsword—Lesser Fiery Eruption: The cooldown of this passively activated skill has been increased from 3 seconds to 6 seconds.
Conjure Earth Shield: This conjured weapon now utilizes a new enhancement, Tectonic Shift, which grants barrier every second it is active.
Conjure Earth Shield—Stone Sheath: This skill now applies 2 seconds of Tectonic Shift in addition to its current effects when successfully blocking an attack. The physical damage of this skill has been increased by 100%.
Conjure Earth Shield—Magnetic Surge: The physical damage of this skill has been increased by 100%. In addition to its current effects, the beginning of this skill now grants Magnetic Aura to the user for 4 seconds.
Conjure Earth Shield—Magnetic Shield: This skill now applies 2 seconds of Tectonic Shift in addition to its current effects for each enemy struck by the attack. The casting time of this skill has been reduced by 0.4 seconds.
Conjure Earth Shield—Crippling Shield: This skill now deals double damage and inflicts 2 stacks of bleeding for 10 seconds (per target) if the user is under the effects of barrier.
Conjure Earth Shield—Shield Smash: Increased the physical damage of this skill by 17%.
Conjure Frost Bow—Ice Storm: Against nonplayer enemies, this skill now has a 0.25-second cooldown on each enemy, during which the enemy cannot be struck again by the skill.
Arcane Power: Reduced the number of stacks applied to allies from 4 to 2. The user of this skill retains 4 stacks on casting.
Traits
Final Shielding: The skill fired by this trait has been renamed to Lesser Arcane Shield.
Engineer:
Engineer updates are focused around the holosmith and improving the synergy of the Photon Forge mode with other skills. To that end, the sword is seeing some improvements to smooth out rotations and to make heat stocking more valuable. Additionally, several holosmith skills are gaining combo finishers to synergize with core engineers' variety of fields.
Holosmith Rewards: Updated available stat combinations to use Berserker, Marauder, and Marshal options. This change will reset your current shoulder pieces and weapons and will require you to reselect your stat preference.
Skills
Sun Edge/Sun Ripper/Gleam Saber: Removed heat bonuses that increased critical-hit chance. Added a new heat bonus that increases damage by 10% while above 50 heat and 20% while above 100 heat.
Gleam Saber: Increased damage by 10%.
Refraction Cutter: Increased blade projectile damage by 25%. Projectiles fired by this skill are considered projectile finishers. Increased projectile width and effect size.
Radiant Arc: Reduced casting time by 0.1 second. Reduced aftercast by 0.1 second.
Holo Leap: The swiftness or superspeed applied by this skill is now applied at the end of the leap rather than at the start.
Photon Blitz: This skill is now a 20% chance projectile finisher.
Holographic Shockwave: This skill is now a blast finisher. This skill will now go on interrupt cooldown instead of full cooldown if it is interrupted before the shock wave is created.
Coolant Blast: This skill is now a blast finisher. Chill duration increased from 2 seconds to 4 seconds.
Cauterize: Increased number of conditions removed from 2 to 3. Conditions removed while above 50 heat increased from 4 to 6.
Photon Wall: Reduced aftercast by 0.25 seconds.
Traits
Crystal Configuration: Storm: Projectiles fired by this trait are now 20% chance projectile finishers.
Solar Focusing Lens: The effect granted by this trait now also increases the outgoing damage of your next few attacks by 10%.
Photonic Blasting Module: Increased damage by 25%.
Vent Exhaust: Increased damage by 120%. Lowered burning stacks from 3 to 1. Increased burning duration from 3 seconds to 6 seconds.
Guardian:
For this update, we are focusing on the usability of firebrand mantras, which we feel are currently underperforming. By increasing the radius of these skills, we hope that they will be easier to use to support parties in conjunction with the existing tome skills. A few firebrand traits are also having their internal cooldowns adjusted to better synchronize with each other.
Firebrand Rewards: Updated available stat combinations to use Viper, Trailblazer, and Marshal options. This change will reset your current helm pieces and weapons and will require you to reselect your stat preference.
Skills
Firebrand tome skills now set each other on a 0.5-second cooldown upon
equip.
Mantras: Fixed a bug that prevented proper resetting of mantra charges
while mounted.
Mantra of Flame: Increased the range of this skill from 300 to 450. Increased the radius of this skill from 120 to 180.
Mantra of Lore: Increased the range of this skill from 300 to 450. Increased the radius of this skill from 120 to 180.
Mantra of Liberation: Increased the range of this skill from 300 to 450. Increased the radius of this skill from 120 to 180.
Mantra of Potence: Increased the range of this skill from 300 to 450. Increased the radius of this skill from 120 to 180.
Mantra of Solace: Increased the range of this skill from 300 to 450. Increased the radius of this skill from 120 to 180.
Mantra of Truth: Increased the range of this skill from 300 to 450. Increased the radius of this skill from 120 to 180.
Traits
Healer's Retribution: Fixed a bug that prevented this trait from granting retaliation when using Mantra of Solace's active skills: Restoring Reprieve and Rejuvenating Respite.
Liberator's Vow: Reduced the internal cooldown on this trait from 12 seconds to 8 seconds.
Stalwart Speed: Increased the internal cooldown on this trait from 5 seconds to 8 seconds.
Quickfire: Reduced the stacks of Ashes of the Just granted by this trait from 2 to 1. Reduced the internal cooldown on this trait from 10 seconds to 8 seconds.
Retribution: Fixed a bug that was erroneously displaying increased damage on sword and spear attacks.
Mesmer:
Today's mesmer update is focused around the Mirage's Axe. We've cleaned up several bugs and animation hang-ups that could cause the weapon to feel less smooth than intended. Additionally, we are adding camera refocusing to skills that shadowstep you to points around your target. These skills will attempt to face your camera behind your character after the shadowstep occurs so that it's easier to keep focus on your target.
Mirage: Added new UI effects to indicate when Mirage Cloak is active.
Skills
Axe Autoattack: Fixed a bug that could cause skills used in the middle of the attack sequence to have a noticeable delay before activating.
Lingering Thoughts: Lowered aftercast by 0.1 second. Fixed a bug that caused this skill to show an incorrect casting time. Added a 0.25-second recharge between uses of this skill to prevent accidental double use.
Axes of Symmetry: This skill will now rotate the camera to face your target after the shadowstep. This skill now performs a range check before casting. Shortened maximum distance to target after shadowstep by 20%.
Illusionary Ambush: Increased Mirage Cloak duration to 1 second to be consistent with other skills. This skill now takes into account your currently wielded weapon when determining maximum shadowstep distance from the target. Updated minimum and maximum distances from target for random shadowstep calculations. This skill will now rotate the camera to face your target after the shadowstep.
Imaginary Axes: Increased seek distance for the follow-up attack by 20%. Increased stacks of confusion for the player version of this skill from 1 to 2 (clones still apply 1 stack). Increased damage by 20%. This skill no longer requires you to face your target.
Phantasmal Berserker: Reduced casting time from 1 second to 0.75 seconds.
Chaos Vortex: Increased projectile speed by 25%. Increased projectile damage by 20%. Removed confusion and torment conditions. This skill now inflicts bleeding (2 stacks for 6 seconds), burning (1 stack for 3 seconds), and vulnerability (3 stacks for 5 seconds).
Jaunt: Fixed a bug that prevented this skill from being recognized as an elite skill for the purposes of some rune effects.
Traits
Mirrored Axes: Fixed a bug that prevented clones from generating the bonus axe.
Phantasmal Seeking Axe: Increased seek distance for the follow-up attack by 20%. Increased damage by 33%. Reduced angle variance.
Phantasmal Spinning Axe: Increased torment duration from 2 seconds to 3 seconds. Increased damage by 33%.
Sand Shards: Fixed the incorrect skill facts to show the actual value of 3 stacks of bleeding for 4 seconds.
Desert Distortion: Fixed a bug that prevented mirrors from spawning if Distortion was activated while jumping.
Necromancer:
The reaper specialization from Heart of Thorns™ is seeing a few significant changes in this update, primarily centered around Reaper's Shroud. We drastically increased the damage of all shroud attacks while simultaneously increasing the rate at which life force is lost while in shroud. These changes are aimed at allowing the reaper to output more damage at the cost of some defense. In conjunction with these changes, we are also revisiting some underperforming shroud-based traits to focus their power into specific high points centered around entering or leaving shroud.