Fellowship Patch Elevates Gameplay with Significant Cloth and Leather Armor Adjustments

Gaming News is here to deliver the comprehensive breakdown of the latest Fellowship update, released on November 13th, which introduces a cascade of impactful changes designed to refine the player experience. This substantial patch not only bids farewell to the ‘Haunting of Stronghold’ event but also brings forth a series of crucial adjustments to character statistics, particularly empowering certain attack abilities with significant buffs. Furthermore, and a key focus of this update, is the substantial recalibration of armour values for cloth and leather armor types, aiming to create a more balanced and strategic combat environment. We have meticulously analyzed these changes to provide you with an in-depth understanding of how they will reshape your encounters within the game.

A Revitalized Stronghold and Event Overhaul

The Fellowship patch marks a significant shift in the game’s ongoing narrative and world progression by implementing several updates to the Stronghold. Most notably, the ‘Haunting of Stronghold’ event has been permanently removed, signaling a move towards new seasonal or recurring content. This removal is accompanied by a complete visual overhaul of the Stronghold’s appearance, promising a fresh aesthetic for players returning to this central hub. Beyond the visual, the Stronghold music, emitters, and ambience have all been updated, contributing to a more immersive and dynamic atmosphere. To complement these enhancements, a new Stronghold Loading Screen has been introduced, further solidifying the visual evolution of this critical game area. Additionally, the ‘Caretaker of Fallen Heroes’ has been removed, streamlining certain aspects of player interaction within the game world.

Enhanced Input Flexibility and UI Refinements

In an effort to improve player control and responsiveness, the latest patch introduces more granular input customization. Players will now have the ability to bind both the Left and Right mouse buttons, with the crucial caveat that this functionality is only available when used in conjunction with modifier keys. This provides a new layer of personalization for players seeking to optimize their control schemes without disrupting core gameplay mechanics. Addressing a persistent issue, the patch also fixes an oversight where middle-mouse clicks were not registering when targeting health bars. This ensures that crucial targeting actions are now reliably processed, improving the fluidity of combat and support actions. Furthermore, a fix has been implemented for an issue that affected non-party leaders who were still being subjected to AFK kicks while matchmaking. This change aims to prevent unfair disconnections for players actively participating in group content. A common frustration has also been addressed with the resolution of an issue concerning the ‘select previous target’ functionality, where the target history could previously be lost. This ensures a more consistent and reliable targeting experience. Finally, the patch includes a comprehensive sweep to fix various translation issues in text throughout the game, ensuring clarity and consistency across all supported languages.

Streamlined Party Interface and Region Refresh

The User Interface (UI) has received attention to enhance player awareness and control. A significant visual improvement has been made to the party frame’s health bars. They will now fade down when another player is out of range or their line of sight is blocked. This visual cue provides instant feedback to players about the status and positioning of their allies, enabling more proactive decision-making in combat. The distance check for this feature is based on the standard maximum range of ranged hero abilities, providing a consistent and predictable trigger for the fading effect. To further empower players in managing their game connections, a new ‘Refresh Regions’ button has been added to the start menu. This allows players to force a refresh of each region’s state without needing to restart the entire game client, a welcome quality-of-life improvement that reduces downtime and frustration.

A New Era for Cloth and Leather Armor: Balancing Physical Damage Mitigation

The most significant overhaul in the Fellowship patch lies within the adjustments made to cloth and leather armor values. This update is a direct response to observed imbalances, particularly on higher difficulties, and aims to create a more pronounced and meaningful distinction between different armor classes.

Increased Armor Values: Closing the Gap

We have increased the amount of armor provided by Cloth and Leather items. Our core intention with this adjustment is to foster a noticeable difference in effectiveness between the various Armor Classes present in the game. This aims to provide players with a more diverse range of strategic options for tackling encounters where physical damage becomes a significant challenge, especially as we continue to expand the game’s systems and introduce new threats.

However, we recognized that the existing disparity between armor types was larger than intended on higher difficulty settings. Consequently, we have made the decision to increase the inherent armor values found on Cloth and Leather items to effectively reduce that gap. This comprehensive change will impact a wide array of gear pieces. Specifically, it will affect all cloaks, as well as the Rime and Ardeos sets (cloth), and the Sylvie, Mara, Elarion, and Meiko sets (leather).

To illustrate the impact of these changes, consider the following data points at 330 item level:

• Cloth heroes will now benefit from approximately 25% physical damage reduction stemming directly from their armor, a substantial increase from the previous 14.5%.
• Leather heroes will now achieve approximately 32% physical damage reduction from their armor, up from the former 22%.

These adjustments are designed to make cloth and leather wearers more resilient to physical assaults, encouraging diverse team compositions and build strategies.

Meiko’s Defensive Synergy: A Fine-Tuned Balance

In tandem with the broader adjustments to leather armor values, Meiko’s kit has undergone specific tuning to ensure her defensive capabilities remain balanced, particularly when her buffs and effects are active. The goal is to prevent an unintended surge in her defensive power under optimal conditions, while simultaneously enhancing her baseline resilience.

The core of these changes involves a rebalancing of how her abilities contribute to her Armor and overall Physical Damage Reduction (DR).

• [Stone Shield]: This ability now increases Meiko’s Armor by 20% per stone, capping at a maximum of 60% at 3 stones. This is a reduction from the previous 50% per stone, which resulted in a 150% armor increase at 3 stones. This adjustment ensures that her Stone Shield provides a meaningful, but not overpowering, defensive buff.
• [Spirited Armor] (Spirit Refund Passive): This passive now contributes an additional 20% to Meiko’s Armor, a decrease from the previous 30%. This ensures a more controlled increase in her defensive posture through her passive mechanics.

To provide a clear picture of how these changes affect Meiko’s defensive power across various scenarios, using a 330 item level without gems as a reference point:

• With no buffs or effects active: Meiko now possesses 48.95% Physical DR, an improvement from the previous 41.04%. This represents a direct buff to her base survivability.
• With [Stone Shield] at 3 charges: Meiko now benefits from 68.17% Physical DR, a slight increase from the previous 66.95%. This demonstrates that the reduced per-stone bonus is still effective when fully stacked.
• With [Stone Shield] at 3 charges + [Spirited Armor] proc: Meiko’s Physical DR reaches 70.88%, a marginal increase from the previous 70.82%. This shows the combined effect remains potent.
• With [Stone Shield] at 3 charges + [Resonance] from talent + [Serenity] DR from legendary boots: Meiko now boasts 83.45% Physical DR, an improvement over the previous 82.23%. This highlights the synergy with other build elements.
• With [Stone Shield] at 3 charges + [Resonance] from talent + [Serenity] DR from legendary boots + [Spirited Armor] proc: Meiko achieves a formidable 84.86% Physical DR, up from the previous 84.32%.

These detailed adjustments to Meiko ensure that her defensive identity remains strong while preventing an overreliance on stacked buffs to achieve peak survivability.

Ardeos: Unleashing the Power of Incinerate

The character Ardeos receives a significant buff to his [Incinerate] ability, aimed at making it a more potent and reliable source of damage, and addressing a perceived underperformance.

• The direct damage dealt while channeling [Incinerate] has been increased by a substantial 312%.
• The damage over time (DoT) component of [Incinerate] now deals 62.5% increased damage.
• Furthermore, the damage over time of [Incinerate] now gains an additional +30% increased damage for each stack applied, rewarding players for maximizing the ability’s uptime.
• To streamline the channeling experience, [Incinerate] now has a static channel time of 2.5 seconds. Its tick rate is now also affected by the player’s Haste, allowing for more dynamic damage application based on character stats.
• Crucially, [Incinerate] no longer generates Cinders.

Developer Note: The rationale behind these changes is that Ardeos’ Spirit Ability, Incinerate, was underperforming. It lacked sufficient impact beyond its utility in generating Cinders and extending the duration of other damage over time effects. Additionally, Ardeos’ ramp-up time was considered too long, especially in the early game. By removing Cinder generation and focusing on direct, high damage, the ability now allows Ardeos players to enter their significant burst damage windows earlier and more reliably.

The initial direct damage of [Apocalypse] has also been increased by 50%, further contributing to Ardeos’ burst potential.

Tariq: Rebalancing Lightning and Physical Prowess

Tariq’s kit sees a comprehensive rebalancing, with a focus on shifting power away from pure lightning damage towards other mechanics, making various legendary items and talents more competitive.

• [Heavy Strike] damage has been increased by 50%, and its static Fury Generation has been increased to 7% (was 4%).
• [Face Breaker] damage has been increased by 50%, and its static Fury Generation has been increased to 6% (was 5%).
• Wild Swing damage has received a substantial 100% increase.
• Chain Lightning now deals damage 6 times baseline (was 5 times). However, the Thunderstruck talent now grants Chain Lightning 2 additional bounces (was 3), and Chain Lightning damage itself has been reduced by 50%.
• Skull Crusher damage has been increased by 10%.
• Culling Strike damage has been increased by 54%.
• The additional Lightning Damage dealt by Heavy Strike, Skull Crusher, and Hammer Storm during Thunder Call has been reduced to 30% of the initial hit (was 50%).
• The Schism talent now has a significantly higher proc rate (3.2 PPM, was 1.2 PPM), but its damage bonus has been reduced to +200% (was +300%).
• The Bloodied Brass necklace (legendary necklace) now deals 350% of Face Breaker’s damage to the target for 24 seconds (was 450%).

Developer Note: The overall intention here is that Tariq’s lightning damage has been reduced, while the power of his other abilities has been increased. The goal is for his total damage output to remain in a similar place as before, but with a greater proportion of that damage originating from his non-lightning mechanics. This strategic shift aims to foster a more diverse and competitive landscape for legendary items and talent choices within Tariq’s build options.

Hero Fixes: Rime, Sylvie, and Vigour

• Rime: An issue has been fixed where [Wrath of Winter] would prematurely cancel when Rime was being displaced by environmental forces, such as High Tide or the Rivers in Sailor’s Abyss.
• Sylvie: A bug has been remedied where spawning [Life Petal] through [Dryad’s Haven] (Legendary Boots) could inadvertently cancel other abilities or be canceled by them.
• Vigour: An issue has been resolved where Vigour’s orb was pulling enemies excessively far beneath him, ensuring more consistent and predictable positioning during combat.

Dungeon Timer Adjustments and Encounter Rebalancing

The Fellowship patch introduces important Dungeon Timer Adjustments, providing players with slightly more breathing room in several key challenge areas, alongside significant rebalances to specific boss mechanics across various dungeons.

Extended Dungeon Timers

The following dungeons have received increased timer allowances:

• The Wyrmheart: +15 seconds
• Sailor’s Abyss: +20 seconds
• Empyrean Sands: +20 seconds
• Urrak Markets: +20 seconds
• Godfall Quarry: +35 seconds
• Everdawn Grove: +48 seconds
• Silken Hollow: +50 seconds

These adjustments aim to alleviate pressure in timed encounters and allow for more strategic execution or accommodate a wider range of player skill levels.

Cithrel’s Fall: Fine-Tuning Boss Mechanics

The encounter in Cithrel’s Fall has seen several critical adjustments to its boss mechanics:

• Cithrel’s [Path of Oblivion]: The initial hit damage has been reduced by 20%.
• Cithrel’s [Bloodhunt]: The initial hit damage has been reduced by 10%, and the bleed damage has been reduced by 20%.
• Blade of Cithrel’s [Spinning Blades]: Damage from this ability can now be Blocked, Dodged, and Parried, offering players more defensive counterplay.
• Blade of Cithrel’s [Ice Breaker]: This ability now detaches from the player after 1 second, granting players crucial time to move out of the impact area.
• Tundra Stalker’s [Rapid Fire]: This ability now features a 1.5 second precast that is uninterruptable, providing a clear warning and telegraph for players to react.
• A fix has been implemented to prevent Cithrel’s ‘fly away’ animation from failing to play if one player reached the boss before others, ensuring a smoother encounter transition.

The Wyrmheart: Coldheart Assassin and Blade of Cithrel Updates

Further refinements have been made within The Wyrmheart dungeon:

• Coldheart Assassin’s [Coldheart Poison]: This ability now has a 2 second, uninterruptable cast, demanding precise timing from players to avoid.
• Coldheart Assassin’s [Wicked Strikes]: This ability now has a 1-tick delay after the stun before it begins targeting the enemy, allowing for a more predictable attack pattern.
• Blade of Cithrel’s [Spinning Blades]: Damage from this ability can now be Blocked, Dodged, and Parried.
• Blade of Cithrel’s [Ice Breaker]: This ability now detaches from the player after 1 second, giving players time to evade the impact area.
• Tundra Stalker’s [Rapid Fire]: This ability now features a 1.5 second precast that is uninterruptable.

Empyrean Sands: Rebalancing and Environmental Safeguards

The Empyrean Sands dungeon has received substantial adjustments to its encounters:

• Tombguard Reaver’s [Whirlwind]: Damage from this ability can now be Blocked, Dodged, and Parried, offering players more tactical options.
• Acolyte of Sinnari’s [Wrath of Sinnari]: Damage has been reduced by 59%, significantly toning down this threat.
• Sin-magir’s [Ruinous Star]: Explosions from this ability can no longer be outranged by players, forcing them into closer proximity. Furthermore, the damage of these explosions has been reduced by 10%, and the health of Sin-magir’s [Ruinous Star] has been reduced by 15%.
• To enhance encounter fairness, Sin-magir’s arena now features a barrier that activates in the doorway once the encounter has started, preventing players from disengaging too easily.

Empyrean Sands / Wraithtide Vault: Greedspawn Sentinel Adjustment

• Greedspawn Sentinel’s [Greed’s Embrace]: Damage from this ability has been reduced by 30%, making this encounter more manageable.

Godfall Quarry: Enforcer and Encounter Reset Fixes

The Godfall Quarry dungeon benefits from the following updates:

• Enforcer’s [Piercing Strike]: This ability now features a 2-second uninterruptable precast, complete with new sound effects for both the pre-cast and the impact, providing clearer visual and auditory cues for players.
• A critical bug has been fixed where the boss encounter would incorrectly reset if a lone player started the encounter and subsequently died before other players joined the fight. This ensures more consistent progression for groups.

Sailor’s Abyss: Sinthara’s Song Phase Fix

• An issue has been resolved in Sailor’s Abyss where players were unable to detach from the mast if the team wiped during the ‘Sinthara’s song phase’, ensuring a smoother experience even after a failed attempt.

The Fellowship patch demonstrates a deep commitment to refining the game’s core mechanics, from the fundamental defensive values of armor to the intricate balance of hero abilities and the challenging encounters within its dungeons. We encourage all players to explore these changes and adapt their strategies to harness the new opportunities and overcome the refined challenges presented by this significant update.