Version 0.9.5

Version History
← 0.9.4e December 15, 2011	0.9.5 December 21, 2011	0.9.5b → December 23, 2011

Patch notes

These are the official patch notes for version 0.9.5 released by Grinding Gear Games.

Notes

• We've wiped all the passive skills again. Please take care reallocating your passives so that you can use your equipment and gems.
• We've moved all old characters and items to Legacy leagues and have created new Default and Hardcore leagues with clean ladders. These leagues cannot interact with each other. We're interested in getting balance and economy feedback from the new leagues, but feel free to continue to play your old characters if you want to.
• As discussed below, we've changed how flasks work so that they recover life/mana slower than before. Be careful to test your characters before plunging into combat in Hardcore.

Features/Content

• Added the ability to refund individual skill points on the passive tree by spending "Passive Skill Respec Points". These can be gained from quest rewards or by using a rare currency item.
• Enabled the "Golden Hand" quest in the Church Dungeon. This currently gives two skill respec points per difficulty as its reward, but this will change in the future.
• Added two new world areas, currently called the "Ancient Pyramid" and the "Old Fields Cave".
• More than doubled the number of Unique Items in the game.
• Added some new monster types which can be found towards the end of Act Two.
• Added new currency items, improved vendors and the ability to sell items to vendors. See the section below for more information.
• Added a new unique monster to the Rocky Climb - "Ironpoint the Forsaken".
• Revamped how stats on items and skills are displayed so that many of the confusing cases are explained more consistently now.
• Improved the character selection cargohold scene and added the Quartermaster to its background.
• Added new level topologies to the Submerged Passage, Tidal Island and other areas.
• Improved the environment of the Twilight Strand.
• Removed the Submerged Passage Level 2 waypoint. Added a Rocky Climb waypoint. Moved some other waypoints around to random locations within their maps
• Continued to incrementally improve the art, effects, environments and sound.
• Added dividers between the NPC talk items such as shops and quest information.
• Added a new Raised Zombie run animation.
• The new Strength skill, "Lightning StrikeLightning StrikeAttack, Projectile, Melee, Strike, Lightning
  Level: (1-20)
  Cost: 6 Mana
  Attack Damage: (135-225)% of base
  Effectiveness of Added Damage: (135-225)%Requires Level 12Infuses your melee weapon with electrical energies as you swing. In addition to converting some of your physical damage to lightning damage, the stored energy is released from the weapon as projectiles as you strike, flying out to hit farther-away enemies. The projectiles cannot miss if the melee attack hit a target.50% of Physical Damage Converted to Lightning Damage
  (1-9) to (13-179) Added Lightning Damage
  Fires 3 Projectiles
  
  Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
  Fires +(0.05-1) ProjectilesPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.", has been moved to a (hopefully soon) future patch because of issues that occured during testing.
• Disabled the PunishmentPunishmentSpell, AoE, Duration, Curse, Hex
  Level: (1-20)
  Cost: (16-33) Mana
  Cast Time: 0.50 sec
  AoE Radius: 22Requires Level 24Curses all targets in an area, causing them to be debilitated when they hit enemies and increasing damage they take while on low life.Base duration is (8.00-11.80) seconds
  +(0-1) metre to radius
  Cursed Enemies take (30-58)% increased Damage while on Low Life
  Cursed Enemies are Debilitated for 2.00 Seconds when they Hit
  
  Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
  Cursed Enemies are Debilitated for +(0.05-1) Seconds when they HitPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket. skill gem from being found until we have it working properly.

Currency/Vendor Changes

• Added new currency item - "Orb of RegretOrb of RegretStack Size: 40Grants a passive skill refund pointRight click on this item to use it.": Grants one passive skill refund point when used.
• Added new currency item - "Blessed OrbBlessed OrbStack Size: 20Randomises the values of the implicit modifiers of an itemRight click this item then left click another item to apply it.": Rerolls the value of the implicit (built-in) mod on an item.
• Fixed up the vendors that sell you items so that they offer a more reasonable selection of items at more appropriate prices. They now have some permanent currency items in their offered goods.
• Added the ability to sell items to vendors. The vendors have many complex recipes for combinations of items that they accept, so we encourage experimentation.
• Added "Scroll of Wisdom FragmentScroll FragmentStack Size: 5A stack of 5 fragments becomes a Scroll of Wisdom.", "Transmutation ShardTransmutation ShardStack Size: 20A stack of 20 shards becomes an Orb of Transmutation.", "Alteration ShardAlteration ShardStack Size: 20A stack of 20 shards becomes an Orb of Alteration." and "Alchemy ShardAlchemy ShardStack Size: 20A stack of 20 shards becomes an Orb of Alchemy." currency items which can only be obtained from vendors. These cannot be used in their shard form, but when they reach their maximum stack size, they automatically transform into the appropriate type of normal currency item.
• Implemented mod-pricing for selling identified blue/rare items at the vendors. Different types of mods on your items can yield different numbers of shards (many are worth nothing). Some mods offer increased prices if they are at their maximum value.
• Added new art for most currency items. In some cases, you'll only get the new art if you find new currency items.
• Renamed some currency items. "Chaos Sphere" became "Chaos OrbChaos OrbStack Size: 20Reforges a rare item with new random modifiersRight click this item then left click a rare item to apply it.". "Orb of Transformation" became "Orb of AlterationOrb of AlterationStack Size: 20Reforges a magic item with new random modifiersRight click this item then left click a magic item to apply it.". "Gem Quality Upgrade" became "Gemcutter's PrismGemcutter's PrismStack Size: 20Improves the quality of a gemRight click this item then left click a gem to apply it. The maximum quality is 20%.". "Flask Quality Upgrade" become "Glassblower's BaubleGlassblower's BaubleStack Size: 20Improves the quality of a flaskRight click this item then left click a flask to apply it. Has greater effect on lower-rarity flasks. The maximum quality is 20%.". "Armour Shard" became "Armourer's ScrapArmourer's ScrapStack Size: 40Improves the quality of an armourRight click this item then left click an armour to apply it. Has greater effect on lower-rarity armours. The maximum quality is 20%.". "Whetstone" became "Blacksmith's WhetstoneBlacksmith's WhetstoneStack Size: 20Improves the quality of a weaponRight click this item then left click a weapon to apply it. Has greater effect on lower-rarity weapons. The maximum quality is 20%.".

Item Drop Changes

• Reduced the drop rate of Orbs of ScouringOrb of ScouringStack Size: 30Removes all modifiers from an itemRight click this item then left click on a magic or rare item to apply it., Scrolls of WisdomScroll of WisdomStack Size: 40Identifies an itemRight click this item then left click an unidentified item to apply it. and Portal ScrollsPortal ScrollStack Size: 40Creates a portal to townRight click on this item to use it. (scrolls can easily be obtained from vendors now.)
• Increased the drop rate of Orb of ChanceOrb of ChanceStack Size: 20Upgrades a normal item to a random rarityRight click this item then left click a normal item to apply it..
• We're now biasing towards higher item base types extremely strongly for most item types. This means that it's much easier to stay up to date with the current highest item type for each slot. For example, if a bow drops in the Maelstrom of Chaos, there's a ~40% chance that it's the level 58 bow.
• Magic/Rare/Unique monsters can drop currency items and skill gems again, at an adjusted fair rate. Their chance of dropping these items is higher than that of normal monsters.
• Changed how Unique Items are generated so that low level Uniques can still drop in high level areas.

General Balance

• We've changed how flasks heal your life and mana so that they are slower than before but heal substantially more in total. They also take more monster kills to refill. This change should make your life and mana totals more relevant than just the speed your flasks recover at. There are more (drastic) flask changes scheduled for 0.9.6 but we're interested in feedback on these ones first.
• Made higher difficulties harder.
• Removed the 10% damage bonus that monsters get per additional party member.
• Changed how Stun Threshold Reduction works so that it makes more sense now. A 50% decrease in Stun Threshold now means that you only need to deal 50% of the previous damage to cause a stun.
• Applied the "currency drop penalty" to Skill Gems and Scrolls also. This penalty applies if you're playing in an area far lower level than you are.
• Reduced the bonuses granted by Frenzy and Endurance charges.
• Changed enemy critical strike damage multiplier reduction so it only reduces the part of the multiplier above 100.
• Nerfed the DivinariusDivinarius
  Imperial SkeanRune Dagger
  Physical Damage: 18-73
  Critical Strike Chance: 6.30%
  Attacks per Second: 1.50
  Weapon Range: 1.0 metresRequires Level 66, 95 Dex, 131 Int30% increased Global Critical Strike Chance(150-200)% increased Spell Damage
  Gain (100-200) Life per Enemy Killed
  Gain (50-100) Mana per Enemy Killed
  30% increased Area of Effect
  (200-250)% increased Critical Strike Chance for Spells if you've Killed Recently
  +(60-100)% to Critical Strike Multiplier for Spells if you haven't Killed RecentlyDivine intervention feels better
  when you do it yourself. unique dagger. Old versions of this item are unmodified.
• Most flasks in the vendors don't generate with quality now.
• Reduced the number of Scrolls of Wisdom you start with to 3.
• Rebalanced most of the mods on flasks around the new behavioural changes.
• "Low Life" on Cautious flasks is now defined as 35% rather than 50%, to be consistent with other uses of the term.

Active Skill Balance

• Modified Firestorm's behaviour so that the explosions have a larger radius and are more likely to fall near the centre of the affected area. Doubled the number of fireballs that fall and rebalanced damage around these changes.
• Reduced Frenzy damage per charge.
• Increased damage progression of Freezing Pulse.
• Raise Spectre now raises better Spectres at higher levels.
• Made Explosive Arrow more powerful. The damage has been increased and the fuse time is now one second.
• Split Arrow mana costing increased based on number of arrows.
• Increased the chance that Warlord's Mark will grant an Endurance Charge.
• Projectile weaknessSniper's MarkSpell, Curse, Mark
  Level: (1-20)
  Cost: (16-33) Mana
  Cast Time: 0.50 secRequires Level 4Curses a single enemy, increasing the damage they take from projectiles, and making projectiles split when hitting them, to hit other targets around them. You can only have one Mark at a time.Cursed enemies take (10-29)% increased Damage from Projectile Hits
  Projectiles which Hit Cursed Enemies Split towards 2 additional targets
  
  Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
  Cursed enemies take (0.25-5)% increased Damage from Projectile HitsPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket. now increases damage taken from projectiles.
• Increased the damage bonus granted by the Added Cold, Added Lightning and Added Chaos Damage Support Gems.

Passive Skill Balance

• Cold, Fire and Lightning damage passives have been increased from +4% to +6%.
• Chaos Inoculation now grants +80% energy shield rather than +20%
• Increased the sizes of mana regeneration passives.
• Reduced area of effect passives.
• Added additional life passives and increased the size of existing ones so that players are able to gain more life than before if they choose to specialise in it.
• Removed connections to increase distance between the Witch and the unannounced class.
• Reduced the size of some cast speed passives.
• Minor other passive tweaks.

Bug Fixes

• Opening the passive skill screen no longer closes the overlay map.
• Fixed a bug that allowed curses to be cast through walls.
• Cast time/attack time on skill popups now updates when stats change.
• Fixed a bug where chests opened with damage would not have the currency drop penalty.
• Fixed a bug where the energy shield of a raised Spectre was not scaled properly.
• Fixed Poison Arrow and Viper Strike so that damage from their degeneration is scaled properly for PvP.
• Fixed a bug with bow attacks where they would miss at long ranges.
• Fixed a bug where multiple conversions of one monster with Dominating Blow would not be applied correctly.
• Fixed a bug where the stun duration increase stat for staves and two handed weapons were interpreted in a swapped way.
• Fixed a bug where "Increased Evasion" did not apply to converted evasion for Iron Reflexes.