dailywarhammer

So it has been a few weeks since the release of 1.2 but Mythic is hard at work releasing the next patch for WAR. Patch 1.2.1 is now on the public test server. Just like the last patch, 1.2.1 is quite large with a ton of new features and fixes. Some of the features include more utility and defenses for guilds who own a keep, combat responsiveness improvements, and plenty of RvR enhancements.

Highlighted Features for 1.2.1

Keep Upgrade System
Own a Keep? Want to keep it?  Want to get more out of it?  Then the new Keep Upgrade system is perfect for you!  Guilds that own a Keep can now purchase upgrades to bolster their hold’s utility and defenses in a variety of ways.Once a Keep has been claimed, a guild member with sufficient permission can speak to the Guild Keep Agent on the upper level of the Keep to choose what upgrades to purchase.  These upgrades require a periodic maintenance fee and some are available in multiple levels.  Once purchased, upgrades will take time to be completed. This process can be monitored via the new Keep Upgrade Interface. Upgrades will decay if funds are unavailable to pay their maintenance or if a guild member chooses to stop paying for the upgrade.
Guilds that successfully hold a Keep until the zone is captured will be rewarded with a free gold bag that will be mailed to the guild master, and is tradable to his or her guild members.

Combat Responsiveness Improvements
We are always working to improve the overall responsiveness of our game client and server. With version 1.2.1 players will see some significant improvements including the following:

• Casting times have become more accurate under normal play conditions, and players should no longer see a significant “stretch” or “pause” when casting spells in low or moderate latency situations.
• Accuracy of the spell cast UI has been improved. The display will now show ½ second increments and will no longer “stretch” time to compensate for latency. Instead, players will see a pause after the bar has filled completely if they are in a high-latency environment. 
• Continued improvements to animation and visual effects performance have been made. Players will see smoother transitions between animations and significantly less stuck visual effects, especially when chain-casting abilities.

UI Improvements
We are pleased to announce several improvements and enhancements to the game’s User Interface!

• The Guild Window has received a major facelift and several functional improvements. We have added more information to the Guild Window, such as new news alerts and additional statistics on the profile tab. We have also resolved several interface bugs with the window, such as promoting and demoting through the UI and loss of guild permissions.
• The User Settings window has been divided into tabs for convenience and clarity. The Customize Interface window has been folded into the User Interface window under the "Interface" tab. Tooltips have also been added to various elements in the User Settings window in order to explain their function.

RvR Zone Control Rewards

• Various improvements have been made to Zone Control Rewards in Tier 4 zones to reward players for zone captures more so than individual Objective and Keep captures. When active zones are captured in Tier 4, all players in the zone are awarded Renown based on their level similar to Tiers 1, 2, and 3. If a Keep is claimed by a guild when the zone is captured, a Gold Bag will be mailed to the Guild Leader who can then mail it to anyone in the guild, as they see fit.

• Battlefield Objectives that are owned by the conquering realm will also buff all of the players in the zone with the same buffs that Sergeants grant players.  Lastly, players who have captured a Keep or Battlefield Objective in the zone which is then captured will be awarded double the amount of Renown they would normally gain from capturing those locations.

Upgrade Your Assault with Ordnance!
We are pleased to introduce a new resource to RvR that players can trade in for deadly assault upgrades!  Scattered throughout the RvR lakes and acquired from killing players, Ordnance is collected and traded in for various items and weapons to use in open field RvR!  Battering rams with more hit points, ballistae that do more damage, oil immunity potions, caltrops, and dynamite can all be purchased and used on unsuspecting enemy players!
New Guild Recruitment Options
Guilds can now set up a "profile" for their guild using the “Recruitment” tab in the Guild Window. Settings for type of guild, careers, and levels being recruited, as well as guild "recruiters" can be set in the Recruitment tab. Once your guild recruitment info is filled out, players can search using the same criteria in the "search" tab to find guilds that fit their individual play-style and needs. Guilds can also be hyper-linked into chat either by shift-left clicking on the "Link Your Guild" link in the Recruitment tab, or by shift-left-clicking the guild title in the search results panel. When players click the guild hyper-link, they will receive an individual window identical to the panel in search results. No more chat spamming required, just let the hyper-links fly!

Character Profiles
Introducing the new character profile system, which gives you complete control over the way you play your characters! Each character will now have its own Interface Profile. This will allow customization of addons and UI layout on a per-character basis. You can also customize multiple profiles per character. For instance, if you want to have a different set of addons for soloing versus open RvR, just open the Profile Management window, create a new profile, and make any changes you wish. You can then swap between those profiles at any time in the management window.

Profiles can also be copied from character to character, even across servers. Just choose "Create from existing Profile" when making a new profile, and you will be shown a list of all the profiles for all characters you have on all servers.
When you first log in, your first character will automatically map your existing user settings to the new profile. On first login of an alternate character, you will be asked if you would like to start with a default profile or use the profile of an existing character.
Please note that this is only the first iteration of the character profile system. We are working to add new features, including the ability to save keybindings as part of the profile.
The Battle for the Gates of Ekrund Expands!
The massive Gates of Ekrund are all that stand between the Dwarf-held mines at Ekrund and the greenskin-infested domain of Mount Bloodhorn. The battles fought for control of this ancient structure have been among the most bitter in the Age of Reckoning, and now both sides are calling for additional reinforcements!
Beginning with this update, players of Rank 19-24 will be able to join a special 6-on-6 version of the Gates of Ekrund called "Broken Gates of Ekrund." Also, a new quest has been added to the game to reward players who answer the call to defend (or smash down!) the Gates.
General Changes & Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that could cause the reported /played time to become inaccurate over time.
• Fleeing monsters will not flee as far as they previously did and will no longer immediately leave combat after fleeing.
• If the ‘Show Guild Heraldry’ option in the Inventory Panel is checked, and the player is wearing a non-standard back item (for example, the Brewmaster Backpack or Heavy Metal event cloak), the back item will be replaced with a default cloak displaying the guild heraldry.
• Player mounts and other creatures that are set to hug the ground will now do so everywhere and not just on terrain.
• The game client will now prioritize corpses with loot on them over empty corpses. As a result, players will now be able to more easily loot items from piles of corpses.
• When changing appearance (such as a Marauder mutating) the cloak Show Guild Heraldry setting will now persist through the appearance change. 
• Fixed an issue where guild taxes and tithes were not able to be set on certain servers.

Capital Cities

• Sigmar’s Crypts: Arch Lectors Zakarai and Verrimus will now correctly apply a damage debuff to players when they switch powers.
• City Lord and King fight bosses are now immune to the snap target component of taunt abilities. They are not immune to the threat generation caused by taunt.
• The Renown merchants that offer Tier-based Renown gear similar to the Renown merchants in the warcamps have had their titles adjusted to make it easier for players to identify each Tier of Renown gear. 
• Players will no longer be required to select an instance when entering a contested city.  Instead, players will always be placed in the same instance as their group or warband.  New instances will be created by the server as older instances become full.
• In order to allow more players the opportunity to participate in city-related RvR, the contested city Scenarios (The Undercroft and the War Quarters) are now only accessible to players in the Rank range of 8-29.  All players below Rank 28 will be bolstered to Rank 28 while in the Scenario.
• Players who attempt to log into a city that is contested will now spawn at their refugee camp instead of inside the peaceful version of the city.
• Upon successful destruction of the door into the city, friendly guards will arrive to support the invading army’s foray into the enemy capital!

Combat and Careers
General

• Victory Cry: This bonus will now last 60 minutes and persist through death.
• Blessed Curse: Fixed a bug that allowed this Scenario ability to linger after leaving a Scenario, causing death to the player. 
• Updated the visual effects for the following abilities:
  • Shrug it off (Shaman)
  • Magical Infusion (Archmage)
  • Thunderous Blow (Marauder)
  • Rending Blade (Chosen)
  • Chosen Auras (Chosen)
• Fixed a bug that was causing diminishing returns on stats to not calculate correctly. High values of stats will now begin to diminish correctly. 
• Rapidly activating abilities will no longer occasionally cause the build-time bar to become incorrect. 
• To reduce excessive error messages and improve the feel of combat, error messages about abilities "not being ready yet" will no longer be displayed while within the global cooldown. 
• Fixed numerous cases of bonuses which would not be correctly reflected on your character sheet. 
• Items with range-increasing bonuses will now correctly display the amount of the bonus in feet. 
• Combat log messages will now inform the player what ability has disabled them. 
• Fixed a bug that was preventing buff icons below the first row from displaying their tooltips. 
• The build-time bar will now display tenths of a second. 
• Fixed a bug that was causing certain ground targeted spells to not display their graphics.
• Fixed an issue where some effects weren’t displaying on the heads and cloaks of players correctly. 
• A tradable broken item that repairs into a bound item will no longer incorrectly warn the player that the broken item itself will bind on pickup. 
• Interacting with an object while your weapons are sheathed will no longer cause your weapons to disappear. 
• Effects which increase your Hit Point regen rate will now function while in-combat. 
• Fixed an issue that caused any buff that lasts longer than 18 hours to display an incorrect duration.  
• You may now occasionally discover items that can be traded to other players, but cannot be put on to the Auction House.