Expect a two-hour downtime.

Amanda 'Amary' Fry posted on the official forums that the NA region shards will be coming offline at 8:00am PST on February 1 for the update to 1.7. To allow for additional shard verifications, the estimated downtime window is two hours.

Compiled patch notes will be updated and posted in the morning, but you can check out all the patch notes from the Public Test Server here on our forums.  UPDATE:  Find the complete patch notes after the jump.

While patch 1.7 is largely re-itemization and PvP changes, there is some new content to check out.  Take a look at ZAM's pages for:

• Chronicle: River of Souls, Chains of Death
• Master-Mode Caduceus Rise
• Weddings

We've also got the skinny on the new Porticulums. Be sure to upload your Discovery.Log to keep NPC locations, loot tables, and drop rates info coming in in to the database! 

RIFT 1.7 - 8:00am PDT 2/1/11 [NA] - TBA [EU]

Welcome to RIFT 1.7: Carnival of the Ascended!

== FEATURES ==
* PvP: Prestige updates, PvP Planar Attunements, and Warfront Mercenaries, oh my. Check out the PvP Update sections for a lot of info on the latest in RIFT PvP.
* Sweeping changes have come to the progression of gear at levels 45+. See ITEMIZATION ADJUSTMENTS, below, for details.
* No matter who you are, you now have twice as many Expert Dungeons to play in! The two tiers of Expert Dungeon difficulty have been combined into one.
* The new Soul Preset system is now available for use by all players, old and new. Check out USING A PRESET BUILD for info on how you can use the new, optional Purposes to try out new specs.
* Playing RIFT with that special someone? Maybe you'd like to propose at the top of the Stonefield waterfall? IN-GAME WEDDINGS are now available for Ascended.
* A new Chronicle appears! Grab a friend and disguise yourself as Endless Cultists to infiltrate and sabotage Alsbeth's plans within the River of Souls!
* The Master Mode of Caduceus Rise is now available for the conquering!
* A sixth role is now available for purchase!

* KNOWN ISSUE: Augmented items are getting some incorrect positive and negative bonuses with the 1.7 version. This is being fixed and the bonuses received from Augments should be returning to 1.6 values shortly.

LEVEL 45+ ITEMIZATION ADJUSTMENTS
* With this patch we're focusing on improving gear progression in endgame content. The goal is to create a smoother high-end item progression and to ensure level 50 players can be competitive in either/both PvE or PvP with a clear route of content to upgrade through.
* The following improvements are being implemented toward this goal:
* Content tier adjustments to better match with the items granted:
- Intro 50 content: level 50 Dungeons, Chronicles, Rifts, and Zone Events.
- "Tier 1": Expert Dungeons, Ember Isle, early Prestige Ranks, Expert Rifts, and Zone Events.
- "Tier 2": Master Dungeons, entry Raids and Slivers, mid-Prestige Ranks, Raid Rifts, and Zone Events.
- "Tier 3": Difficult Raids and Slivers, high-end Prestige Ranks.
* Items will improve consistently between tiers of content, instead of having small improvements early on followed by huge power jumps in later tiers.
* The overall power of a new level 50 character will be increased slightly, and the power differential for items between 50 and top-tier content will progress more evenly.

DUNGEON, EXPERT DUNGEON, AND CHRONICLE IMPROVEMENTS
* The biggest change in support of the above progression is the combining of Expert Dungeons to a single difficulty tier, which impacts both gear dropped as well as LFG reward categories. The rest of the level 50 Dungeons and Chronicle content will be getting minor balance tweaks and major itemization adjustments.
* After these changes, the difficulty and rewards from content should be clearer between Chronicles/Level 50 Dungeons and Expert Dungeons.

PVP UPDATES
* In the ongoing effort to more appropriately match up characters of different ranks, and give a smoother entry to high-level PvP, we will be revamping the existing Prestige system in 1.7.
* The Prestige system has expanded from 8 ranks to 40 - existing ranks will be converted to the appropriate rank on the updated scale.
* Bolstering is now enabled for level 50 Warfronts. Players entering a level 50 Warfront below Rank 13 will have their stats boosted to be more effective for both rank-appropriate and mixed-rank Warfronts.
* Marks of Retribution gained from closing PvP Rifts and completing weekly quests are now consumables that grant 1600 Favor.
* Existing Marks of Retribution have been converted back to Favor at 1600 Favor per Mark. Players who find themselves exceeding the current Favor cap after the conversion will need to spend that excess Favor and get below the cap before more can be earned.
* Reinforced Crystallized Insight is now available for purchase from Girdoom in Meridian and Templar Zim in Sanctum. These consumables grant 100,000 Planar Attunement experience at a cost of 15,000 Favor.
* PvP Rifts: To encourage open-world PvP hotspots, only one PvP Rift can now be active at one time across all zones. Sealing a PvP Rift now grants a buff to your entire faction, 'Prismatic Glory', which increases Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Endurance by 10, as well as increasing Prestige, Favor, and Planar Attunement experience gains by 5%.
* Removed grey-item drops from player corpses, and significantly increased coin drops.

PVP SOUL UPDATES - PVP PLANAR ATTUNEMENT
* With 1.7, the PvP-specific Souls have been converted into a Planar Attunement-based character enhancement.
* A large amount of Planar Attunement experience is granted each time you gain a Rank in PvP. Yes, this will be granted retroactively for ranks already gained.
* The Achievement, 'I've Got Soul and I Am a Soldier" is now a Legacy Achievement.

PVP EQUIPMENT UPDATES
* We have made changes to Armor Mitigation in PVP to address a disparity between Physical and Elemental defenses. This will result in characters with high Armor Mitigation for their Calling at level 50 having the mitigation reduced in PvP and being hit by Physical attacks for damage values closer to current Elemental damage values.
* Removed Rank requirements from all PvP armor sets. You still need to purchase sets sequentially, but the limiting factor is now total Favor gained rather than rank.
* PvP weapons and Synergy Crystals will still require specific ranks to purchase and equip.
* PvP Synergy Crystals have a reduced notoriety requirement to equip. A new set requiring Rank 40 and Revered with the Order of the Eye or The Unseen has been added.
* The previously-Rank 3 and Rank 4 gear is now available without prior purchase requirements.
* The previously-Rank 7 and Rank 8 armor has been upgraded to include Vengeance, and the amount of Critical Hit on it reduced slightly.
* Increased the amount of Valor provided by all PvP armor sets.
* Added Valor to PvP set weapons.
* PvP Armor merchants now stock Bows for Defiants and Guns for Guardians.
* Rank 25 and Rank 36 Two-Handed Swords now available for Defiants.
* PvP: One-handed Axes are now available for Guardians and Defiants at rank 1, 12, 25, and 36.
* Rank 25 and 36 Two-Handed Axes are now available for Guardians.
* PvP Armor set merchants now display items filtered by Calling. Filtering can still be disabled if you'd like to purchase items designed for other Callings.
* Costume versions of PvP Rank armor are now available from Desma Chontos in Meridian, and Templar Sanzo in Sanctum. These still have rank requirements to equip.

WARFRONTS - NOW WITH MERCENARIES
* In order to reduce queue times to as near-zero as possible, players may be added the opposing faction's Warfront team as a "Mercenary".
* Queue for Warfronts as normal and you may be assigned as a Mercenary when the Warfront map loads. You'll receive a Mercenary buff and on-screen callout and will be placed as part of the opposite faction's team.
* Coin is now granted for completing Warfronts.
* Damage dealt by your pet is now included in your leaderboard totals.
* Warfronts: The quests given in Port Scion are now automatically removed when your character leaves the Warfront.
* Warfront: Stockpile - Black Garden: The leaderboard now displays the number of stones you've carried throughout the game properly.

REALLY IMPORTANT NOTE:

The changes below are in addition to the existing Soul and Role system and do not replace the current way Soul specs work - they are intended to make it easier for old and new players alike to become familiar with different potential specs and gameplay they may not have tried before. Think of them like guidelines; those of you more familiar with the Souls and abilities you want to use can continue to customize and swap things in and out at will.

NEW CHARACTER CREATION UPDATES
* The Calling selection screen now calls out which roles a Calling is able to potentially fill - Tank, Damage, Healing, Support.
* After selecting a Calling, characters will be required to choose a “Purpose” (Preset Soul Combination) during character creation.
* Each Purpose will start out with a preset combination of souls, abilities and equipment. Players will have the opportunity to preview these before the character is created.
* New players can also preview what their character would look like in a variety of armor ranging from starting gear to epic endgame appearances!
* If you use the Randomize button after making changes to the character you are creating, there's now a warning prompt before it changes any settings.
* Updated the character selection screen with faction-sorted and colored Character listings.

USING A PRESET BUILD
* Players always have the choice to make a custom build, or to play as one of the supplied preset builds.
* Preset builds will have a fixed progression path which can be previewed when you open the Soul Tree window.
* Characters with unspent Soul Points who are using preset souls will be guided to purchase specific abilities in the Soul Tree that are appropriate for their level.
* Players can view additional helpful tips and guides about their Purpose (and other available Purposes) by clicking on the Purpose button in the soul tree.
* At any time, a new character can spend their Soul Points in a non-highlighted ability or swap out a Soul with 0 points spent to further customize their spec. Doing so will set your Purpose to 'custom' and remove the highlighted progression path.
* You now have access to all Souls from your Calling at level one, which means experienced players can immediately customize their starting Soul spec if they choose to not use the presets.

SOUL TREE CHANGES - NEW AND EXISTING CHARACTERS
* When you open the Soul Tree you should see a window that looks pretty familiar!
* On the Soul Tree UI is a new button showing which Purpose is currently selected - this displays 'Custom' for existing characters with their own specs set up.
* When viewing a Role that has 0 points spent in Souls, the Purpose button at the top of the UI can be used to view a list of preset Purposes that you can choose from to help set up your character's spec.
* Purposes are a combination of 3 Souls that have a highlighted ability progression path to suggest where to next spend Soul Points.
* When checking out Purposes, you'll see a description of what the spec is, some tips, and some important abilities for that particular combination.
* Selecting a Purpose will slot 3 souls into the Soul Tree UI and start showing the next suggested ability to spend points in. The Preview button at the top of the Soul Tree will place outlines around the abilities the Purpose will ultimately recommend through level 50.
* AT ANY TIME: A Soul with 0 points spent can be exchanged with any other Soul, just like it works currently.
* AT ANY TIME: You aren't forced to spent points only where the Purpose is suggesting - you can spend points in a non-highlighted ability and it will set your Purpose to Custom and stop highlighting abilities in the Soul Tree.
* Existing characters will receive any Souls they may be missing with this update.

ADDITIONAL NEW PLAYER IMPROVEMENTS
* The number of aggressive monsters in Terminus and Mathosia have been reduced.
* Monsters in Terminus, Mathosia, Silverwood, and Freemarch have had their agro radius and run speeds adjusted. This will allow players to avoid surprise “Aggro” and flee combat easier when they get in over their heads.
* The hit points and damage dealt has been reduced on normal mobs from levels 1-17.
* A number of help tips have been updated to be easier to understand.

ASCENDED-LY EVER AFTER: IN-GAME WEDDINGS
* With 1.7 comes the introduction of in-game marriages and instanced wedding gatherings!
* See the Marriage Coordinators in Meridian or Sanctum to purchase rings you can use to tie the knot with your chosen. Both parties must agree to the marriage and can also choose to dissolve it at will.
* Marriage Coordinators also sell invitations, costume items, and other goodies for use with the new wedding instances! You can invite friends to join you for your very own wedding ceremony and resulting party. Using the wedding instances is not required for marrying another character.
* For detailed instructions on in-game marriage and what you can do with the wedding instances, see the Wedding Planner book also available through the Marriage Coordinator.
* As a note of caution, Dwarven weddings can get pretty rowdy! You may see your PvP flag turn on when entering the Dwarf-themed wedding instance.
* Being married in RIFT is meant to be an expression of partnership, and does not provide any additional gameplay benefit. You can see who a character is married to by inspecting them, but that's it!
* Interested in participating in a Valentine's Day world-record-setting event for the most marriages during a 24-hour period? See details on the blog at: http://community.riftgame.com/en/201...alentines-day/
* Added an option to automatically decline all marriage proposals under Misc options.

GENERAL
* A sixth role is now available for purchase!
* You know all those times you hit 'Leave Party' instead of 'Ready Check'? Yeah, Leave Party got moved down to the bottom of the menu list.
* Increased the available Wardrobe slots to 5.
* Wardrobe slots now have toggles for armor visibility in that slot.
* Conversely, removed the Options entries for hide helmet and hide shoulderpads - if you currently have these enabled, your wardrobe slots will default to hiding these armor pieces.
* Newly acquired Abilities will now be displayed in a special pop-up UI window at the time they are learned, making it easy to drag new abilities directly to your hotbar – or cancel them from the list if you don’t want to place them at that time.
* Added a new 'Lock XP' checkbox to the Interface > Misc settings pane. Checking it will stop your level 1-49 character from gaining experience until it is unchecked. Characters at the level cap and trial characters cannot lock their experience.
* You can now choose to disable auto-weapon-sheathing with a new Settings option: Interface > Misc > Disable Auto Sheaths.
* You can now use the command '/interact' to interact with an NPC you have targeted if you are unable to right-click it.
* The maximum water depth that you can ride your mount in has been increased and made consistent across all player races. Female Dwarves should notice the biggest overall boost, while Bahmi males should see only a slight difference.
* Doubled the duration and removed the 2 minute cooldown on Omen Sight and Quantum Sight.
* The background color of target casting bars now correctly indicates their interruptible (blue) or non-interruptible (gold) status during cast time for channeled abilities.
* You can now split stacks in your bank even if your inventory is full.
* Dismiss Pet no longer cancels Veteran Reward Vendors or Personal Bankers.
* Applying a rune to an item now only pops a confirmation prompt if you will overwrite an existing rune.
* Fixed an issue that could cause a quest-giving item to stop offering the quest, even though it hadn't yet been accepted.
* Weekly Guild quests for Mining have been adjusted to require more raw ore and fewer gems.
* The guild perk Blood Thirsty will no longer be removed by triggering Killing Spree.
* Ascended Powers: The Defiant 'Aura Augmentation' and Guardian 'Holy Champion' quests no longer require you to stand right by the questgiver to advance the quest.

CURRENCY UPDATES
* Added Eternal Crystallized Insight, a new item that grants 100,000 Planar Attunement experience when consumed.
* Expert Dungeon, Raid, and Planar Goods merchants will now sell Eternal Crystallized Insight for their respective currencies.
* Players can now visit the Crafting Specialty Goods merchants to exchange Artisan Marks for Master Crafter Marks.
* You can now purchase Augment boxes for Artisan Marks instead of Planarite from the Crafting Specialty Goods merchant.
* Augment boxed now award special stat and dual-stat Augments more frequently.
* Added Exceptional Augment Boxes that contain Epic Augments to the Crafting Specialty Goods merchants.

RIFTS AND INVASIONS
* Zone Events on Ember Isle now also grant Inscribed Sourcestone when event objectives are completed. Only players who have contributed during each event objective will receive these rewards. Some of the less difficult objectives will not be awarding Sourcestone. In order to maintain the same overall total Inscribed Sourcestone granted, the amount obtained from Colossi kills has been reduced.
* Rift-type content now takes gear into consideration when scaling, and will be slightly more difficult in the presence of highly geared characters.
* 'Puresource' type reward containers now stack to 99.
* Fixed level requirements on various level 20-29 Earth Rift rewards, and some general 30-39 Rift rewards.
* The Invasion commander, Hardshell Nightmare, will no longer off itself after spending only a short while on Telaran soil.
* Guild Quest: Upping the Ante: Should now always give credit if a Rift is closed by a guildmember.

INSTANT ADVENTURE
* Additional Planar Attunement experience is now granted for level 50 characters doing Instant Adventure.
* If an Adventure Group is waiting for a new chain of adventures to start, the teleport invitation for new group members now waits for the start of the next set.

SOULS
* Planar Attunement: Fixed a case where weapon-based stat bonuses from Planar Attunement could be lost and not appropriately granted when changing equipment.
* Mage and Cleric abilities that are low-ranked compared to your level now always use the ability cost of one rank below the max currently available to you. This won't change costs for characters who've trained up their abilities to current rank as they level.
* Mage Charge is now reset to zero when changing roles.
* Fixed an issue causing some abilities that increase outgoing damage to combine with each other incorrectly.
* Characters will no longer be taken out of stealth when their guild increases a passive Perk.
* Mounting now cancels auto-attack, preventing you from accidentally dismounting due to an attack firing.
* Many tooltip clarity updates for abilities on Souls.

CLERIC
* Reduced the mana cost of Area-of-Effect Heals.

CABALIST
* Curse of Discord: Fixed the durations on ranks 1-7.
* Dark Passage: Now teleports 10 meters forward.

DRUID
* Eruption of Life: Now triggers off of any damage.
* Faerie's Favor: Now instant-cast. Increased the healing amount. Now affects up to 4 additional party or raid members within a 20 meter radius if cast by the Greater Faerie.
* Faerie Healing: Increased the amount healed.
* Fury of the Fae: The Satyr will now autocast this even when out of combat.
* Mead Rush: New ability usable by the Satyr. The Satyr charges at the enemy for a damaging strike. 10 second cooldown. Also, MMMEEEAAAADDD!!
* Trickster Spirit, Slothful Spirit, Spiteful Spirit: These have all been changed to spells that deal Earth damage at a 30-meter range.

INQUISITOR
* Clinging Spirit: Can no longer get the ability effect without points spent in it.
* Corporal Punishment: Duration is now 12 seconds.

JUSTICAR
* Healer's Creed: Now increases the healing you receive by 5-10%.
* Light Makes Right: Now works properly immediately after being purchased.
* Rebuke: Now works more consistently on different mob types in Dungeons and Raids.
* Reparation: Now able to heal other party/raid members using Reparation. Healing from Reparation will not affect players with Mien of Honor currently active.
* Reprieve: Increased the bonus from Spell Power.

PURIFIER
* Divine Cascade: Ability removed.
* Gathering of the Ancestors: New spell available at 38 points. Places an absorption shield on up to 10 party or raid members within 35 meters. Cannot be applied again on the same target for 20 seconds - this is a separate ability blocker from the Ward of the Ancestors single-target shield. 30 second cooldown.
* Rise of the Phoenix: New spell available at 44 points. Resurrects the target with 50% health and mana, can be used in combat. 5 minute cooldown.
* Surging Flames: The triggered heal now has a 20 meter radius.
* Item: Asphodel's Purifier Crystal: 4-piece bonus now reduces damage taken by 7% for 10 seconds. This effect now overwrites and cannot be overwritten by Protect the Flock.

SENTINEL
* Empowering Light: Removed the pretty pointless 'range' displayed on this ability - it's a PBAE, and remains a PBAE.
* Healing Communion, Healing Benediction: Both spells now have a 20-meter radius.
* Life's Return: Cooldown is now 5 minutes.
* Marked by the Light: Now has a 15-meter radius.

SHAMAN
* Battle Charge: Reduced cooldown to 10 seconds.
* Brutalize: Now deals 30-60% of Massive Blow's damage over 10 seconds. Reduced maximum stack size to 3.
* Dauntless Courage: Now affects all melee damage.
* Ekkehard's Invocation: New ability available after spending 15 points in Shaman. Instant-cast ranged spell that deals Air damage.
* Favored of the Valnir: Now increases the duration of Lightning by 4-8 seconds, causing increased damage on each additional tick.
* Vengeance of the Frozen Earth: Ability removed.

WARDEN
* Cascade: No longer has a mana cost.
* Deluge: Will no longer generate infinitely-looping visuals in some cases.
* Healing Showers, Orbs of the Tide: Both abilities now have a 20-meter radius.
* Healing Cataract: Now has a 25-meter radius and affects up to 10 party or raid members.
* River of Life: New spell available at 44 points; resurrects the target with 50% health and mana, can be used in combat. 5 minute cooldown.
* Ripple: Now has a 20-meter radius.
* Tidal Resonance: Fixed this ability not expiring correctly.
* Waterjet: Reduced the benefit given to this spell by Spell Power.

MAGE

ARCHON
* Pillaging Stone: The debuff portion of Rank 1 no longer persists through death.
* Flowing Sand: Now provides the movement speed debuff even if the target is immune to the Snare portion. Reduced the cooldown to 45 seconds from 2 minutes.

CHLOROMANCER
* Wild Abandon: Fixed a case where this ability could break certain boss mob roots and snares when it shouldn't be able to.

DOMINATOR
* Degeneration: Ability added to the Dominator soul, obtained at 10 points. Now has a 15 second cooldown and can affect NPCs.
* Disorient: The stun portion no longer persists through death.
* Incompetence: No longer persists through death.

ELEMENTALIST
* Icy Carapace: Fixed a bug causing this ability to not work correctly when cast while Elemental Forces was active.

PYROMANCER
* Burning Bright: No longer gives separate bonuses for PvE and PvP.
* Cinder Burst: Damage now reduced by 15% in PvP, instead of a 20% reduction.
* Fulminate: Damage now reduced by 15% in PvP, instead of 20%.
* Inferno: Now gives 10 Charge when cast.
* Lockdown: Will now debuff the enemy, increasing the Fire damage they take, even if they are immune to the Snare portion.

STORMCALLER
* Absolute Zero: Fixed this causing more than one next cast of Icicle or Arctic Blast to cause a root effect.
* Electrocute: The knockback should no longer occasionally fail.
* Flash Freeze: This will now deal damage even if the target is immune to the root portion of the ability.
* Lightning Burst: No longer has a damage penalty in PvP.
* Storm Shard: Fixed an edge case where Storm Shard wouldn't apply the critical hit damage bonus.
* Fixed an issue where damage from Hailstorm and Eye of the Storm could be blocked by abilities like the Chloromancer's Wild Abandon.

WARLOCK
* Item: Nyx's Warlock Crystal: Updated the 4-piece set bonus. It now reduces the cooldown of Empowered Darkness by 15 seconds, and casting Defile increases the total damage of your damage-over-time effects by 15% for 20 seconds.

ROGUE

ASSASSIN
* The Attack Power contribution to the damage from Poisons has increased.
* Expose Weakness: Fixed a bug where the damage increase from Exposed Weakness was not applied to all three stacks of Serrated Blades' damage.
* Leeching Poison: The Attack Power contribution to the healing from Leeching Poison has increased.

BLADEDANCER
* Blade and Fury: Your Quick Strike and Precision Strike increase the damage of your next Keen Strike by 10-20%, up from 5-10%.
* Blade Finesse: Functionality changed. Now increases the Attack Power bonus of your Finishers by 5-25%. This bonus is applied only to attacks using melee weapons.
* Combat Expertise: Functionality changed. Now increases the Attack Power bonus of your Combo Point-generating abilities by 5-25%.
* Combat Culmination: Functionality changed. Your Finishers cause Physical attacks to ignore 1-3% of the target's armor per Combo Point for 10 seconds.
* Deadly Dance: Can now be triggered by Compound Attack.

MARKSMAN
* Strafe: The buff effect can no longer be purged while channeling.

NIGHTBLADE
* The Attack Power contribution to the damage from weapon enchantments has been increased.
* Dusk to Dawn: This is no longer a channeled ability but a straight damage-over-time ability. Now awards 2 Combo Points when used and does not give additional Combo Points per second. Energy cost reduced to 45 from 60. Cooldown reduced to 45 seconds from 1 minute. Damage has been reduced.

RANGER
* King of the Jungle: Now increases pet damage by 20%, increased from 10%. For every point in Ranger above 21, increases pet damage by 6% - increased from 3% per point.
* Feral Aggression: Increases Critical Hit chance and also pet damage by 100% for 15 seconds. Cooldown reduced to 1 minute from 2.
* Pin Down: Cooldown reduced to 1 minute from 3.
* Diffuse: Cooldown reduced to 1 minute from 2.

RIFTSTALKER
* Shadow Stalk: Using this ability should no longer put both the player and the target into combat.
* Rift Barrier: The damage shield from Rift Guard now only reflects damage from the first tick of a DoT, in line with other damage shields in the game.
* Planar Vortex: The damage from Planar Vortex now takes the Riftstalker out of stealth.

WARRIOR
* Power regeneration rate has been increased.
* Disarm abilities now properly block abilities that require either Ranged or Melee weapons.
* Bash, Furious Rage, Flinching Strike, and Face Slam no longer have multiple ranks to upgrade.

BEASTMASTER
* Calming Influence: Now obtained at 20 points in Beastmaster. Now puts a single target to sleep for 45 seconds - the target must not be in combat at the time of the effect. Any damage on the target removes Calming Influence. Only 1 target can be under Calming Influence at a time.
* Primal Rage - New Ability: Increases the damage of attack abilities for the Beastmaster and their pet by 7% per Bleed effect on the target. Duration is increased by the number of attack points when used. Obtained at 44 points in Beastmaster.
* Enraged Companion: Aura now grants a 7% bonus, increased from 5%, and overwrites the Reaver's Enraged Essence. Buff effect should no longer stick around after the pet is dismissed.

CHAMPION
* Slayer's Bearing: Now properly works with AoE attacks.
* Removed the reduced PvP effectiveness from Soldier's Bearing and Weapon Specialization.

PALADIN
* Aggressive Block: Now properly triggers Rising Waterfall.
* Preservation: No longer prevented from being cast on a Paladin after the original target removes it. No longer causes you to enter combat.

PARAGON
* Deadly Grace: Fixed a bug causing Deadly Grace to deal less damage than it should.
* Force of Will: Fixed a bug causing Force of Will to not effect AoE attacks. As a result, the critical hit damage bonus of all attacks has been changed to 3-10%, down from 10-30%. [edit: % fix]
* Rising Waterfall: Will no longer immediately break the buff granted by Surging Energy when it critically hits. Can now trigger from Paladin's Aggressive Block.
* Removed the reduced PvP effectiveness from Teaching of the Five Rings.

RIFTBLADE
* Stoneshield: No longer causes the next ability to miss; instead, the next ability used on you will deal no damage. It also no longer triggers off of abilities the Riftblade used on themselves.

VOID KNIGHT
* Spell Sunder: Now checks for line of sight.
* Surge: No longer ignores line of sight for threat generation.

ZONES

DROUGHTLANDS
* A new porticulum has been constructed in Fallback!
* Thwarting the Emberlord: Fixed an issue that could cause this quest to not reset properly.

EMBER ISLE
* Anchors to the Depths: Fixed the placement of Shrines to Ithkus that were hiding under the sands.
* Crawl No More: The catapults should no longer be stuck in a fired position when the catapult has an active target.
* Drakes in the Drift: There is now a teleporter to the base of the Kelari tower when the quest is completed.
* Feline Intervention: Fixed an issue causing the Corrupted Wildstalkers to not despawn correctly if left unconscious.
* Pyrkari at Large: Fixed an issue where the pyrkari would sometimes not despawn when brought to the cages. The lasso effect now also leaves the pyrkari if the player who lassoed them dies.
* Raw Recruits: The reset time for the Shamblers has been significantly increased.
* Recluse Wrangling: The devour ability of the Recluse can now consume multiple spirits at once.
* Returning the Spirit: Fixed a case where players would be unable to obtain the Blessed Water.
* Science Under Pressure: There's now a higher chance for the Smoldering Piles to appear in larger numbers. Stavel will also leave properly if his timer runs out.
* The Nexus Infusion ability no longer works on the Bazaars in Ember Isle during the In Golden's Grasp event, since it doesn't actually do anything for them.
* Added a tutorial tip for new arrivals to Ember Isle that gives a heads-up about the potential difficulty of content on the island.

GLOAMWOOD
* A new Guardian porticulum has been completed in Gloamwood at Tearfall Run.
* Notoriety items for the Waykeepers will no longer drop for Defiants.
* Dead Water: The mobs inside the cave you enter on this quest now have a longer respawn time.

SCARWOOD REACH
* Fall of House Aelfwar: Quest should no longer get blocked sometimes by a nearby foothold.
* A Temporary Solution: Players can now get a Pinch of Sourcestone Powder at any time while on this quest.

SHIMMERSAND
* Additional NPCs in Shimmersand grant a small amount of Dragonslayer Covenant reputation when killed.

STILLMOOR
* Monster Hunter of Stillmoor: Now has additional item rewards available.
* One With Nature: The Aelfwar House Signet item is now properly removed from players when this quest is completed.
* Additional NPCs in Stillmoor grant a small amount of Order of Mathos reputation when killed.
* The zone event 'The Blight' should now properly award Glowing Puresource for participants who are on the quests Shield of the Land or Frontlines of the Planes.

STONEFIELD
* A Failure of Leadership: Quest location markers for this quest have been corrected.
* Dead Drop: The Earthmaul Ward quest objective should be easier to find.
* Notoriety items for Granite Falls will no longer drop for Guardians.

DUNGEONS, SLIVERS, CHRONICLES, RAIDS
* Expert and Master Dungeons, Raid Rifts, Slivers, and Raids: Reduced the critical hit damage bonus that most 'regular' NPCs get when they critically hit a target with insufficient Toughness. In effect, non-tanks should be less likely to be absolutely gutted when taking a critical hit by a general-population NPC in these areas.
* Characters of level 47+ now have a choice between 3 Plaques of Achievement or a random blue-quality item when they complete a random standard dungeon via LFG.
* New epic-quality loot has been added to the Chronicles for Greenscale's Blight, Hammerknell, and River of Souls.
* Sub-bosses in the Greenscale's Blight Chronicle now drop Plaques of Achievement.
* New epic-quality loot has been added to standard Abyssal Precipice, standard Charmer's Caldera, and standard Caduceus Rise.
* End bosses in standard Abyssal Precipice, Charmer's Caldera, and Caduceus Rise now drop Plaques of Achievement when defeated.
* Targets marked by Raid leaders are now visible to players who join the raid after the mark occurs.
* If your invitation to teleport to an instance fails because it is full, group/raid members can now trigger the teleport prompt an additional time by re-zoning into the instance.
* Fixed a case where a raid member could be stuck with a ready check and be unable to initiate another if they were a leader or assistant.
* Fixed a case where a raid member logging in right at the completion of a ready check would cause incorrect results to display.
* Fixed an issue in which NPCs in Rise of the Phoenix ran slower than intended.
* Characters under the effect of any type of Mind Control ability are no longer able to enter new instances - Chronicles, Dungeons, Warfronts, Slivers, or Raids.
* While in a LFG-formed random Expert group for an instance you already have a normal lockout for, you no longer get locked from your random version if disconnected before the first boss.

CADUCEUS RISE
* Cinderstorm's Molten Cinders beams now appear properly in additional attempts after a wipe.
* Fixed the achievement, Bloody Bothersome, that was triggering incorrectly in Expert mode.
* Expert: The Rapid Assault achievement should now award properly in both Caduceus Rise and Upper Caduceus Rise.
* Increased Caduceus' health. Slightly decreased the health of Erupted Core. Drastically decreased the health of Erupted Ember.

DARKENING DEEPS
* Fixed some collision on Scarn's elevator shaft.

DROWNED HALLS
* Players who have been polymorphed by Hydriss should no longer get pushed outside of the encounter area by the Tsunami ability.

GREENSCALE'S BLIGHT [Raid]
* Added runspeed buffs to Hylas, Aleria, and Infiltrator Johlen.

GREENSCALE'S BLIGHT: THE FALLEN PRINCE [Chronicle]
* Shadow of Metamorphosis should now properly end if you leave the zone while under the effect.

HAMMERKNELL [Raid]
* Runebone Sorcerers' Silent Void ability no longer roots targets inside the effect for the entire duration.
* Darktide Serpents' Brine Net ability no longer roots targets inside the effect for the entire duration.
* Population mobs in Hammerknell award Planar Attunement experience more consistently.
* Inquisitor Garau: Fixed Arcane Porters failing to spawn in certain situations.

ITEMS
* Several Akylios relic items now have proc effects.
* Some non-relic Akylios items have also been upgraded.
* Hammerknell trinkets have been improved slightly.
* Costume versions of PvP Rank armor are now available from Desma Chontos in Meridian, and Templar Sanzo in Sanctum. These still have rank requirements to purchase.
* Updated the description text on Marks of Ascension and Greater Marks of Ascension.
* Random Augment boxes purchased with Planarite have been moved to the Planar Voucher merchant and had their costs adjusted.
* The stun effect on Gale Mirror, Torrential Mirror, Storm Mirror, Cyclonic Mirror, and Tempest Mirror (Air Rift consumables) no longer work on NPCs that are immune to stuns.
* Fixed a bug where some items showed a 'Vanity' category instead of 'Costume'.
* The artifacts from The Heir of Hammerknell set should now be listed in the Auction House as Collectibles rather than Quest Items.
* Some old items related to quests that are no longer in the game are now displayed as grey-quality loot items rather than quest items.
* Abyssal Soulstone: Fixed a bug causing this essence to not work properly for Warriors.
* Amplified Soulstone: Now properly increases damage from Elemental Touch.
* Elder Chain Coif: Now properly gives Spell Critical Hit rather than Physical Critical Hit.
* Golem Inductor: Will now proc slightly more often.
* Isle Embrosia can now be re-sold to NPCs after the buyback grace period has expired.
* Lavaforged Helmet incorrectly had Block on it which has been removed - the points have been redistributed into Dodge and Parry.
* The Planar Conqueror armor set is now compatible with Blighted Synergy Crystals.
* Fixed several Planar Lens items that had their stats removed.
* Scarn's Hide is now tradable and can be sold.
* Shimmering Windstone: Increased Dexterity.
* Adjusted the NPC sale amount of Staff of Eruptions and Searing Obsidian Dagger.
* Rising Crest: No longer usable by Clerics.
* Vornia's Chain Spaulders, Notched Weapon, Maelforge Acolyte's Hat, and Maelforge Acolyte's Slippers now all have proper NPC sale values.
* Wind's Breath: Now procs slightly less often.

CRAFTING
* Crafting will now use items directly from your bank – No need to swap a bunch of items around before heading over to the crafting stations!
* Artificer: The recipes for Diamond Focus and Diamond Icon have been changed from consuming 8 Brilliant Diamond and 4 Jagged Lightstone; they now require 1 Brilliant Diamond and 8 Orichalcum Bars.
* Apothecary: The recipe for Mighty Intelligence Serum now requires 2 Basiliskweed Stems rather than 4.
* The Apothecary recipe, Growth Brew, now requires 1 Eternal Planar Dust and 1 Tempestflower Stem (additional Eternal Planar Dust and Gnarled Core material requirements removed).
* Carmintium Spellcutter: The recipe and resulting item have both been renamed to Orichalcum Spellcutter to match the actually-required materials.
* The recipes for Tormentor's Robe and Tormentor's Shoulders are now Bind on Pickup.
* Fixed several crafting recipes that had a skill requirement to learn the recipe that didn't match the skill required to craft the item.
* Expert Dungeon dropped recipes have had material requirements updated to reflect the increased power of the crafted items.

ART AND AUDIO
* Smoothed out the appearance of shadows in the distance.
* Added proper ambience sounds to caves on Ember Isle.
* Reduced the volume of steam geysers on Ember Isle around Scaldwater Fields and Wellspring Flats.
* Fixed ambient volume in Droughtlands not being correctly raised/lowered by whatever your Ambient Audio volume is set to.
* Added some visual effect improvements for the low-quality renderer.
* Mounts have more audio variety at audio and are not so silent!

UI/SETTINGS
* Right-clicking on the party pet raid frame when using Show Party As Raid mode now shows the proper right-click menu.
* Party member selection hotkeys (default F1-F5) now work properly when your party is displayed as a raid.
* Raid member UI should be a bit better with displaying the state of logged out or AFK members.
* Group leaders are now indicated in Raids.
* Fixed occasional tooltip titles getting stuck on-screen when a debuff appeared under the mouse cursor on the Raid UI.
* Set Leader, Promote Assistant, and Demote Assistant menu options are now available through the Raid UI right-click menu while in Warfronts.
* Promote Assistant and Demote Assistant menu options are now available in the right-click menu on target, party, or raid member displays.
* Fixed a bug where sometimes the LFG window would think you were in an Instant Adventure group when you were, in fact, not.
* Target tooltips now show Elite for group and raid encounter NPCs.
* Fixed a loot confirmation popup sometimes appearing if you were grouped while looting an already-owned container (like the Rift Loot bag).
* Fixed a bug causing the combat log to not show the caster of certain abilities.
* Guild Wall: Fixed the scroll-to-top reset when deleting comments.
* Guild Perk reset charges are now shown in the Guild Bank currency log.
* Your current target is now indicated by an icon on the minimap and main map. The icon will show red, yellow, or green, depending on whether the target is hostile, neutral, or friendly.
* Fixed the 'receive item' spam in the chat window when combining stacks between your inventory and your bank.
* Defiants should no longer appear on the Guardian tabs of a Warfront leaderboard if they joined the Warfront while you were viewing that tab.
* Fixed the Warfront UI window being blank while your character is mind controlled.
* Tracking of completed Artifact sets no longer turns off after a loading screen is displayed.
* The Artifacts tab now shows the rewards to be gained from displayed Artifact sets.
* Fixed the Artifacts tab disappearing from the character window for those crazy players who completed all Artifact sets!
* Planar Attunement experience rewards for Achievements are now shown on the Achievement UI.
* Switching Roles with the Soul Tree open will cancel any previewing of souls or soul point spending in progress that has not been saved.
* Added a new splash screen after leveling up displaying your level and soul points available. The display can be clicked on to open the Soul Tree window if you are out of combat.
* The Abilities listing in the menu tray now glows when you have untrained abilities.
* Tweaked the ability tooltips when mousing over abilities in the Soul Tree window; they now show ability stats like cooldown and mana costs in the tooltip.
* Tooltips now properly display whether an ability is a ranged or melee effect based on the ability's use range and not general category.
* Tooltips for abilities with cooldowns now use abbreviated cooldown duration text.
* Fixed the mouse cursor not highlighting when targeting items you can salvage.
* Corrected zone event notice broadcasts to level channels for non-English language shards.
* If you get disconnected due to your shard being down, we now show a message letting you know this, instead of surprising you with a different shard's character select screen.