Beta 0.7.3

Skills

 * Root nodes for skills now use the same tooltip as the skill itself by default.
 * Changed Focus’ Energy Infusion node
 * Previous: for 5 seconds after you finish channelling gain 1% movement speed per 10 mana gained. Could allocate up to 5 points, but the node was bugged so that additional points had no effect.
 * New: When you finish channelling gain, haste for 1 second per 20 mana gained (up to 10 seconds). Can only allocated 1 point (additional points in the node will be respecced for free).
 * Skeleton Archer
 * Changed the base cooldown of fire arrow to 6 seconds.
 * Arrows are created significantly earlier in the fire animation to look more natural and help the Archers hit moving targets.
 * Arrows are now created at the bow rather than at the centre of the Archer.

Passives

 * There is now an explanation popup for whenever a passive node is not allowed to be respeced.

Items

 * Adjusted the rarity of Cold Damage Shard and Lightning Damage Shard to be in line with Fire Damage Shard on all item types. Previously Increased Cold Damage was rarer on wands, and Increased Lightning Damage was more common on swords.

Bug Fixes

 * Fixed a forge location not working in Forlorn Streets.
 * Fixed a bug where you could sometimes respec passive nodes that you shouldn’t be able to due to incomplete requirement checking.
 * Fixed inconsistencies in how ward retention was worded. It is now always +% ward retention rather than increased ward retention.
 * Fixed several cases in which ward retention was actually increasing your added ward retention, rather than granting added ward retention.
 * Fixed a bug where enemies or minions with no targets in range could select an ability that was on cooldown. If they themselves were a valid target for this ability this could result in them not moving. One manifestation of this bug was Skeleton Warriors with Bone Armour being reluctant to move.
 * Fixed a bug where Aura of Decay’s Decripify node did not convert poisons applied to you to armour shred.
 * Fixed a bug where Aura of Decay’s Plague Bearers node had no effect.
 * Fixed a bug where taking both Black Hole’s Binary Star and Stability nodes would cause the skill to stop working.
 * Fixed a display error with Harvest’s Blood Sculptor node.
 * Fixed Reaper Form’s Herald of Rot also poisoning the player.
 * Fixed a bug where Summon Skeleton’s Necrotic Conviction was only affecting Skeleton Rogues.
 * Fixed a bug where Summon Skeleton’s Multishot node increased the cooldown of Fire Arrow by 4 seconds per point, rather than 1 second per point.
 * Fixed the version number on the login screen not matching the version number in the top left of the screen.

Skills

 * Added a Transform tag to all transform skills.
 * Black Hole
 * Cooldown reduced to 16 seconds (from 20 seconds).
 * Damage increased by 17%.
 * All types of Bone Golem now have 60% more melee damage, but 36% less melee attack speed than the regular Bone Golem had in 0.7.3.
 * Forge Strike
 * Strength now increases all Forge Strike damage, not just physical damage.
 * Attunement now increases damage similarly to Strength, rather than adding flat physical damage.
 * Attunement now also increases the damage of Forged Weapons.
 * Your weapon’s attack rate now applies to Forged Weapons.
 * Forged Weapons expire after 10 seconds by default rather than having decaying health.
 * Forged Weapons now gain 15 health per character level.
 * Forged Weapons now draw slightly less aggro.
 * Forged Weapons now use Forge Strike’s icon and a new model.
 * Added the Minion Skills tag to Forge Strike.
 * Manifest Armor
 * Stats granted by your Body Armors, Helmets, Gloves and Boots now also apply to your Manifest Armour.
 * Slightly increased base Movement Speed.
 * Reaper Form The aim of these changes is to address the fact that many nodes only benefit Reap.
 * Added a new node that grants a chance to mark enemies for death on hit while in Reaper form (with the chance doubled for Reap).
 * Added a new node that grants a chance to cast blood tether on attackers when hit.
 * Added a new node that makes the amour bonus from Soul Shroud also apply to Poison and Necrotic Protection. (this replaces the node that granted increased armour and protections if you had killed an enemy with Reap recently).
 * Dark Harvest makes Reap kill enemies below 6% of their maximum health per point (up from 5%).
 * Death’s Door now also grants 25% increased damage while at low health in Reaper Form and can have 4 points allocated (up from 3).
 * Deathtouch Scythe now grants +2 necrotic damage with spells and attacks while in Reaper Form, doubled for Reap (from +5 necrotic damage with Reap), and can now have 4 points allocated (up from 3).
 * Harbinger of Blood now also grants 10% increased health leech while in Reaper Form.
 * Herald of Rot now also grants 10% poison chance per point while in Reaper Form and can have 5 points allocated (up from 3).
 * Ravenous Doom now grants 5 health gained on kill while in Reaper Form, doubled for Reap (from 10 health gained on kill with Reap).
 * Stable Disturbance now also grants 10% increased damage over time while in Reaper Form.
 * Sweeping Scythes makes Reap move you 15% further per point (up from 10%), but can only have 2 points allocated (down from 3).
 * Venomous Coating now also grants 10% poison duration while in Reaper Form.
 * Adjusted node connections.
 * Players with Reaper Form specialized will receive a free respec.
 * Sacrifice’s Altar of Flames now gives Sacrifice the Fire Damage tag.
 * Shatter Strike
 * Winter’s Boon can now have only one point allocated (down from 3), but increases the threshold by 25% per unique ability used (up from 5% per point).
 * Whiteout now also reduces attack speed by 10%
 * Obliteration increases the threshold by 50% per point (up from 40%).
 * Adjusted connections.
 * Players with Shatter Strike specialized will receive a free respec.
 * Sigils of Hope
 * Amended the description to clarify that it only affects you and not allies (it will affect allies in future).
 * Changed the description to clarify the effects of the buff.
 * Now increases health regen by 20% per Sigil (up from 10%).
 * Static Orb
 * Increased damage of the orb itself by 50%.
 * Halved the added damage effectiveness of the orb to keep its damage stats in line with other skills.
 * Explosion damage increased by 67%.
 * Increased Storm Totem damage by 43%.
 * Changed Summon Skeleton’s Impatience node
 * Can now have 4 points allocated (up from 3).
 * Now also increases Bone Armour duration by 1 second per point.
 * Now grants 30% cooldown recovery speed per point (down from 35%).
 * Increased Thorn Totem damage by 25%.
 * Vale Spirits
 * Can no longer take damage (previously they couldn’t be hit, but could take damage over time).
 * Now deal Physical Damage instead of Lightning Damage.
 * Adjusted spell hit vfx and sound to feel more fitting.
 * Adjusted their spell’s base damage and added damage scaling so that their ratio is more similar to other skills.
 * Reduced base damage by 18%.
 * Increased added damage scaling by 50%.
 * Warpath’s mana drain per second is now on its main tooltip, rather than alt. Warpath has an initial mana cost of 10, then costs 20 per second.

Passives

 * The Necromancer’s Effigies node no longer gives you a chance to sacrifice your minions and heal to full instead of taking lethal damage. It now gives you a chance when you take a hit on low life to consume one of your minions, stealing its current health for yourself.

Items

 * Added a new unique, Valeroot.
 * Added a new unique, Tempest Maw.
 * Added Forest Garb, a new body armor base type that grants Armor and Increased Healing Effectiveness.
 * Added Bladed Mace, a new base type that grants increased physical damage.
 * Added Raider Axe, a new one handed axe base type that grants added crit chance.
 * Adjusted defensive affix rarity
 * Elemental Protection Shard, Poison Protection (Added) Shard and Necrotic Protection (Added) Shard are more common and start spawning slightly earlier.
 * Suffixes that give you a chance to retaliate with an ailment when hit are less common.
 * The Health Gained on Potion Use (Added) Shard is rarer.
 * The Health Regen for 4 Seconds on Potion Use Shard is rarer and starts spawning later.

Enemies

 * Rare Fallen Osprix now deal 13% less damage with their fire aura.
 * Increased Zerrick’s health by 20% in Titan’s Canyon.
 * Added a new entrance animation for Zerrick.
 * Voice lines for Harton and Zerrick are no longer played in a random order.

UI

 * Buff and Debuff Status icons no longer show the seconds remaining as a number in the center of the icon. This will return as an option later.
 * Hardcore and Solo Challenge are now always available when creating a new character
 * Masochist is still only selectable if you have completed the campaign at least once.

Performance

 * Improved the performance of Lightning Nova.
 * Improved the performance of abilities that attach to targets.

Bug Fixes

 * Fixed various bugs with the search bar for passives and specialization trees.
 * Fixed a bug with passive respecs where the system only checked for if you had enough points to reach the next row of passives, rather than checking that you could reach the next highest node you invested in.
 * Fixed a bug where Hollow Finger wasn’t dropping.
 * Fixed added and increased sources of the same stat in a single tree overriding each other (ex. Holy Aura’s Redemption grants added health regen and Vital Boon grants increased health regen).
 * Fixed a bug where entities would sometimes stop moving towards a target and attack while just out of range.
 * Fixed a bug where Pyre Golems, Blood Golems, and Spectral Golems were attacking 20% more slowly than regular Bone Golems.
 * Fixed Hungering Souls’ tree not working.
 * Fixed Ring of Shield’s Enduring Defense node lengthening the duration of Ring of Shields incorrectly.
 * Fixed Shatter Stike’s Whiteout saying that it increased mana cost by 50% per point when it actually increased it by 75% per point.
 * Summon Skeleton Bone Armour
 * Fixed a bug where instead of reducing damage taken, Bone Armour would increase damage taken by a larger amount each time the Skeletons cast it.
 * Fixed a bug where Bone Armour’s base cooldown was 0.9 seconds instead of 10 seconds
 * Fixed a bug where Skeletons would not cast Bone Armour on allies even if you had the correct node.
 * Fixed Skeleton Rogues having a higher aggro range than intended.
 * Fixed Summon Spriggan’s nodes not applying stat buffs.
 * Fixed allocating a point into Summon Spriggan not resummoning your Spriggan.
 * Fixed Death Knights not having minion healthbars.
 * Fixed Pyre Golem’s fire visual being below the ground.
 * Fixed an object blocking the camera in The Immortal Summit.
 * Fixed a pillar blocking the camera in Barren Aqueduct.
 * Fixed a navigation issue in The Oracle's Abode.
 * Fixed a navigation issue in The Upper District.
 * Fixed the character sheet tooltip for intelligence showing that it gave 5% ward retention if you hovered over the number.
 * Fixed a few bugs with minion ability tags for Summon Skeleton and Summon Skeleton Mage.
 * Fixed the mana globe appearing empty and the health globe overflowing on some Linux systems.
 * Fixed the option to disable the health bar directly above the player not working until you exited to character select.

Respec Systems

 * You can now remove individual points from a skill's specialization tree.
 * Each point removed decreases the skill's level by 1. You level up the skill as normal to regain the points removed.
 * You cannot remove a point that would invalidate other nodes you have taken in the tree. If you want to remove a point that other nodes depend on, you need to remove the dependants first.
 * The Despecialization process has not changed for switching which skills you are investing points into.
 * Reworked the system for passive respecs
 * You can now respec any passive point, if the following requirements are met:
 * You must meet the requirements for all nodes you have after the respec occurs (e.g. if you have points in a node that requires level 15 in a mastery then you must maintain at least 15 points allocated to nodes with a lower requirement in the same tree).
 * If you have unlocked the mastery classes then you must maintain at least 20 points in the base class when respeccing.
 * The gold cost for respecing a passive point from a node now depends on the number of points you have invested in the node, the level requirement of the node, and whether the node is in a mastery class.
 * Gold cost no longer increases based on how many points you have refunded previously.
 * Respecs must still be performed at a Chronomancer.
 * It is now possible for us to grant free respecs when a skill specialization tree or set of passives is changed in an update. This will be handled on a case-by-case basis.
 * Characters brought forward from previous updates will have the correct number of passive and skill points, but they will be unallocated.

Mechanics

 * Base mana is now 50 at level 1 (down from 100), but characters now gain 0.5 mana per level (scaling to 100 at level 100).
 * Hardcore characters are now converted to softcore on death.
 * They lose the hardcore tag when they die.
 * Their progress no longer affects the hardcore ladder after they die.
 * They have access to the softcore stash instead of the hardcore stash after they die.
 * Adjusted the bonuses that &ldquo;magic&rdquo; rarity enemies get.
 * Now: 80% more health, 35% more damage, 20% more item drops.
 * Previously: 120% more health, 40% more damage, 25% more item drops.
 * Protections on enemies now scale to maintain the same mitigation percentage when their health is scaled from rarity or area level. Most enemies don't have protections.
 * Masochist and Solo Challenge can now be disabled for a character in the settings window. They cannot be re-enabled once turned off.
 * AI range calculations now take the size of their targets into account. This should prevent minions running into large enemies rather than attacking them, and similar issues.

Buffs and Debuffs

 * Buffs and debuffs on your character now appear as icons right above the action bar.
 * Each effect has a border to indicate its duration, in addition to a number counter.
 * Buffs have circular icons with a green border.
 * Debuffs have hexagonal icons with a red border.
 * Effects with multiple stacks will have the number displayed at the bottom right of their icon.
 * Mousing over an icon will display a tooltip with the name and details of the effect.
 * Not all effects currently appear, but the most common ones do. We will be adding more.

Campaign

 * Implemented the sixth chapter of story content, including new zones, monsters and quests.
 * Revamped the boss fights with Admiral Harton and Spymaster Zerrick, including new models, animations, skills, sounds and voice acting.
 * Moved the encounter with Spymaster Zerrick to Titan's Canyon and adjusted the zone's layout.
 * Reworked Maj'elka into two separate zones.
 * Remodeled the Oracle's Abode.
 * Adjusted the enemy types present in Maj'elka and Titan's Canyon.
 * Added a new side quest to the Majasan Desert.
 * Added the Wraith Caller to the Wraith Dunes. This is an imperial construct that can be destroyed to stop the wraiths from spawning.
 * Updated chain models in zones close to the Temple of Eterra.
 * The Sheltered Wood is now accessed from The Council Chambers after you reach the The Lower District.

Social

 * Added the Social panel, opened with H. (S, O, C, I, A, L and F were taken)
 * You can now send whisper messages to other players with a variety of commands, followed by a space and their username. (/tell, /msg, /w, @, /dm, /message)
 * Usernames with spaces have been converted to use underscores so message commands work correctly.
 * You can now add other users as friends. One user sends the other a request, and if the request is accepted, the two become friends.
 * You can now set a status, which will be visible to people looking at their friends lists.
 * You can now block other users, preventing you from seeing their messages.
 * Improved the visibility of chat text.
 * Increased the character limit of chat messages to 220 (from 140).
 * You now login to the game using email, which avoids what you use to login (previously username) being as public. You can choose to hide what you enter into the email field (like the password field does by default).

Skills

 * Summon Skeleton is now two skills: Summon Skeleton and Summon Skeleton Mage.
 * Added a skill tree for Forge Strike.
 * Added a skill tree for Frenzy Totem.
 * Added a skill tree for Ring of Shields.
 * Added a skill tree for Soul Feast.
 * Added a skill tree for Spriggan Form.
 * Added a skill tree for Summon Scorpion.
 * Added a new skill tree for Summon Skeleton.
 * Added a skill tree for Summon Skeleton Mage.
 * Added a skill tree for Tempest Strike.
 * Changed Companion Activatable Abilities.
 * Each one is now an instant cast skill.
 * Wolf - Howl
 * Now grants 50% increased damage (up from 10%).
 * Now also grants frenzy (20% increased attack and cast speed).
 * Increased area of effect by 96%.
 * Lasts 3 seconds (down from 6).
 * Mana cost is now 40 (up from 18).
 * Cooldown is now 10 seconds (up from 4).
 * Can no longer stack.
 * Bear - Bear Roar
 * Now taunts enemies instead of fearing them.
 * Now heals the Bear for 50 health for each enemy taunted.
 * Increased area of effect by 125%.
 * Mana cost is now 40 (up from 18).
 * Cooldown is now 12 seconds (up from 6).
 * Sabertooth - Flurry Swipes
 * Increased base damage by 400%.
 * Increased area of effect by 125%.
 * Now has 50% reduced added damage scaling.
 * Mana cost is now 36 (up from 18).
 * Cooldown is now 10 seconds (up from 6).
 * Scorpion - Venom Nova
 * Now also releases a spiral of poisoning projectiles.
 * Poison from Poison Nova has 100% increased effect (up from 25%).
 * Mana cost is now 45 (up from 18).
 * Cooldown is now 10 seconds (up from 6).
 * Spriggan - Rejuvenating Wind
 * Now restores 150 health (up from 90).
 * Now also restores 15 mana.
 * Mana cost is now 36 (up from 18).
 * Cooldown is now 12 seconds (up from 6).
 * Aura of Decay now reduces poison damage taken by 45% while active (down from 50%).
 * Bone Golem
 * Now has a 15% chance to retaliate with Bone Nova when hit (previously they retaliated after taking damage equal to 12.5% of their maximum health).
 * The Bone Hail node now gives +5% chance to retaliate per point (from 5% reduced health threshold for retaliation), but can only have 5 points allocated (down from 8).
 * The Flight of the Femurs node no longer increases the health threshold for retaliation, but now increases the projectile speed by only 25% (from 50%).
 * Added a new node, &quot;Betrayal&quot;, which triples the chance for Bone Nova retaliation when a Bone Golem is hit by its summoner or one of their allies.
 * Changed Eterra's Blessing mana cost to 32 (from 40).
 * Stats from your equipped shield now apply to the shields summoned by Ring of Shields.
 * Shield Rush's movement speed now scales with increased movement speed.
 * Spriggans now gain 4% increased healing effectiveness per point of attunement.
 * Tempest Strike
 * The Northern Wind now has a chance to freeze.
 * Adjusted the base damage of spells so that their damage is higher and more similar to each other (with cold being lower to compensate for it having a larger AoE and a chance to freeze).
 * Adjusted skill description.
 * Increased the radius of Werebear Form's Roar by 50%.
 * Clarified the tooltips of many augment tree nodes that add attribute scaling.

Passives

 * Acolyte
 * Added a node which grants your minions increased armour and protections per character level.
 * Unnatural Preservation now grants 8 necrotic and poison protection (up from 7), but can only have 4 points allocated (down from 5).
 * Beastmaster
 * Healing Bond now also increases companion revive range by 10% per point.
 * The Chase now also increases companion revive speed by 6% per point.
 * Partner now also increases companion revive speed by 10% per point.
 * The Mage's Elemental Cunning now also grants 5% increased elemental damage.
 * Necromancer
 * Added a new node that increases your maximum number of Skeletons by one.
 * Added a new node that increases your maximum number of Skeletons by one per point, but reduces their health..
 * Added a new node that increases your maximum number of Skeleton Mages by one.
 * Added a new node that grants ward on minion death and ward retention.
 * Added a new node that increases your minions health and armour and makes them reflect a flat amount of damage to attackers.
 * Added a new node that grants you intelligence and grants your minions increased critical strike chance.
 * Added a new node that grants your minions critical strike multiplier and chill chance.
 * Added a new node that gives a chance per point for minions to die instead of you if you take lethal damage, which also increases your minions' fire damage and bow damage.
 * Added a new node that gives you and your minions a buff on potion use, which grants health gained on hit and increases attack and cast speed. Also grants flat health.
 * Removed Bone Brewer (flat health, gain armour on potion use).
 * Removed Grave fragments (increased minion health, armour, and physical damage).
 * Removed Reconstruction (increased health regen on potion use).
 * Removed Sharpened Bones (minions have increased crit chance, but take increased physical damage).
 * Removed Sharpened Souls (minions have additional crit multi, but take increased necrotic damage).
 * Removed Taste of Death (physical and necrotic penetration).
 * Removed Undead Intellect (intelligence and chance to take less damage on minion skill use).
 * Removed Undead Devotion (chance for minions to die instead of you).
 * Removed Ward Vortex (increased ward retention and increased ward gained from Wisp Weaver).
 * Blood Armour can now have 8 points allocated (down from 10)
 * Empty The Graves no longer requires you to have used a minion skill recently, but grants 4 armour per point (down from 5), and can only have 4 points allocated (down from 5)
 * River of Bones now also increases your minions freeze chance.
 * Wisp Weaver now grants a 13% chance per point to gain ward (up from 7%) and can have 8 points allocated (up from 5).
 * Rearranged a lot of nodes and connections.
 * As an experiment this tree has many more connections than other mastery trees.
 * The Sentinel's Retribution counterattack now has a 0.2 second cooldown.
 * Sorcerer
 * Added a new node that grants chill chance and a chance to chill attackers when hit (the chance to chill is doubled for cold skills).
 * Added a new node that grants increased spell damage (doubled if you have used a high cost skill recently).
 * Added a new node that grants a chance to cast spark nova on distant enemies that you crit.
 * Added a new node that grants increased elemental damage, elemental protection, and stun chance with elemental spells.
 * Added a new node that grants ward equal to your intelligence when you use a potion.
 * Removed the Brilliance nodes.
 * Removed Serum Visions (increased ailment duration).
 * Removed Reaction Point (mana cost reduction on lightning crit).
 * The nodes that grant penetration for a single element (e.g. fire penetration) now give 40 penetration (up from 30) and also grant health leech for damage of that type.
 * Arcane Avalanche no longer increases stun chance, but now freezes nearby enemies when a hit leaves you below half health. It also now grants 25% increased freeze chance per point (up from 15%).
 * Arcane Current now grants 50% increased shock effect per point (from 30%), but can only have 8 points allocated (from 10).
 * Arcane Insight's buff now grants 15% increased spell damage and ward retention (from 15% increased elemental damage).
 * Crackling Precision now grants 10% increased crit chance, doubled for lightning skills (from 12% increased crit chance for lightning skills).
 * Cryomancer now gives 15% increased freeze chance per point instead of 2% chill chance per point.
 * Dragon Breath now goes in the opposite direction by default and the direction can be reversed by Mirror Breath (just like Dragon Mage).
 * Inferno now gives 8% increased elemental damage over time and 2% increased ignite duration (from 12% increased fire damage over time).
 * Mana Shell now gives 4 mana per point (up from 3).
 * Warder now grants 10 ward per point when you hit an enemy with a fire, cold, or lightning spell (with a separate 10 second cooldown for each element), but no longer grants health or ward retention.
 * The vitality node now also grants 4% increased chill, shock, and ignite duration per point (from 3 armour per point).
 * Many node positions have changed, especially in the top half of the tree.
 * The Shaman's Heorot's Path node now gives 30% increased freeze chance per point (up from 25%) and can have 10 points allocated (up from 8).
 * The Spellblade's Shiver Armour node now also grants 20% chance to chill attackers when hit per point.

Items

 * Added 4 new uniques.
 * Cinder Song, a wand.
 * Hollow Finger, a ring.
 * Morditas' Reach, a polearm.
 * Orian's Eye, an amulet.
 * Bone Harvester now also grants 9 Intelligence.
 * Added a new suffix for 2h weapons that adds to all your attributes (strength, dexterity, intelligence, attunement, and vitality).
 * Added a Chance to Shock Attackers suffix that appears on Shields and Relics.
 * Added a Flat Damage Reflected to Attackers prefix that appears on Body Armour and Shields.
 * Added a Percent Damage Reflected prefix that appears on Body Armour and Shields.
 * The amount of damage reflected is calculated after your damage mitigations are applied. The damage reflected cannot be mitigated by enemies.
 * Added a Critical Strike Avoidance suffix for gloves, helmets, boots, rings, and belts.
 * If you have 20% Critical Strike Avoidance means crits against you have a 20% chance to be downgraded to regular hits.
 * You can get 100% crit avoidance from 3 well rolled T5 crit avoidance suffixes.
 * Added Mana suffix
 * Increased the values at higher tiers.
 * Can now roll on gloves and helmets.
 * Increased drop rate due to the changes to the mana system.
 * Buffed freeze chance affixes
 * Increased the values of the Increased Freeze Chance affix. Values are about 60% higher at tier 5.
 * Increased the values of the Freeze Chance and Cold Protection affix. Values are 100% higher at tier 5. Cold protection values were not changed.
 * The Freeze Chance and Cold Protection affix can now also roll on gloves.
 * The &quot;Increased Health&quot; and &quot;Increased Armour and Protections&quot; suffixes can no longer roll on gloves.
 * Reduced the gold dropped by each stack of gold by about 30%.
 * Adjusted item cost formula. The new formula takes affix tiers and base type level requirement into account so late game items will cost more gold. Different item types also cost different amounts of gold. For example, rings and amulets are more expensive than other items.

UI

 * Updated the login screen with a new background, new information and the ability to change settings.
 * Added new portraits to many NPC conversations.
 * Updated the text for enemy names and modifiers.
 * Made it much easier to read, as was done with other text in 0.7.2.
 * Normal enemies have white names, while Magic enemies have blue names, Rare enemies have gold names, and Unique enemies (i.e. bosses) have pale gold names.
 * Item comparison tooltips now show the change in attack rate (for weapons) alongside the other stat changes.
 * Added new icons for Skeletons and Skeleton Mages.
 * Improved minimap icons for minions.
 * Portals now appear on the minimap.
 * Added on hover glows to dialog options.
 * Updated the UI for loading screens.
 * Added a &ldquo;Defense Stats&rdquo; tab to the character sheet.
 * More stats are now shown in the character sheet
 * Critical Strike Avoidance
 * Health Gained on Hit
 * Health Gained on Melee Hit
 * Health Gained on Kill
 * Health Gained on Block
 * Damage Leeched as Health
 * Melee Damage Leeched as Health
 * Spell Damage Leeched as Health
 * Damage Dealt to Attackers
 * Percent Damage Reflected
 * Maximum Companions
 * Increased Companion Revive Speed
 * Increased Companion Revive Range
 * Chance to Shock Attackers
 * Increased Healing Effectiveness
 * Increased Cooldown Recovery Speed
 * Improved the appearance of the FPS display.
 * The color of the FPS display is now changed by pressing shift + f11.

Sound

 * Added a new music track to the title screen.
 * Added a new music track for sidezones in Chapter 2.
 * Every category of item (i.e. bladed weapon, blunt weapon, armour, jewellry, crafting material) now has its own set of sounds for being dropped by enemies.
 * Added more sounds for melee weapons.
 * Added a new sound for allocating passive and skill points.
 * Added a new sound for using a potion.
 * Added new crafting sound effects.
 * Added a new Primalist Swipe sound.
 * Replaced old hit sound effects for Acolyte minions.
 * Added a new sound for summoning wraiths.
 * Added new sounds for entering and exiting Reaper Form.
 * Added a sound effect to the sliding door in The Oracle's Abode.
 * Removed sound effects for consuming corpses with Exhume. (Exhume still has a sound effect).
 * Balanced sounds for Primalist and Acolyte abilities.
 * Turned down combat dialogue lines slightly.
 * Turned down void enemy death sound effects.
 * Fixed Wandering Spirits rapidly repeating its sound.
 * Fixed some dialogue not being affected by the Voice Acting sound slider.

Performance

 * Implemented better compression and storage techniques for most textures and UI pieces. This results in less disk space being used, and less memory usage.
 * Improved the performance of overlooks in zones (especially in the Imperial Era Ulatri Cliffs).
 * Improved the performance of many particle effects by removing unneeded elements.
 * Improved load times of many zones by simplifying colliders where possible.
 * Rewrote the system for detecting what targets each ability hits. This should improve the performance of most abilities, player or enemy.
 * Improved the performance of fading objects that block the camera.
 * Improved the performance of skills that cast multiple smaller parts (ex. Charged Ground, Meteor Shower, Flamethrower).
 * Improved the performance of move-to-attack abilities.
 * Improved the performance of levelling up (less delay).
 * Improved the performance of breakable objects.
 * Significantly reduced the poly count of spider enemies.
 * Reduced the poly count of many tiles in levels.
 * Reduced extraneous log file entries.

Visuals

 * Tweaked town portal visuals.
 * Alric now has his own portal effect.
 * Upgraded Tempest Strike's visuals.
 * Updated Manifest Weapon's visuals.
 * Added new visuals for Ice Thorns when converted to physical.
 * Added a new visual for the end of Rebuke.
 * Replaced the Acolyte's wraiths with a new model.
 * Added ragdolling to several types of enemies and adjusted it for enemies who already had ragdolling.
 * Shield Throw, Hammer Throw, Axe Thrower, Dark Blade, and Voidfused enemies now use updated weapon models.
 * The player light can no longer cast shadows.
 * Hit flash intensity for larger enemies is now reduced linearly with radius, rather than quadratically (i.e. hit flash intensity reduces much less drastically as enemy size increases).
 * Fixed some issues with the hit flash system that prevented it from looking as intended.
 * Improved visibility of zone transition labels.

Bug Fixes

 * Fixed a bug where Bone Golem's Flight of the Femurs node did not cause bone nova to pierce.
 * Fixed a bug with Elemental Nova where taking certain nodes in addition to the Luminaire node would cause the skill to stop dealing damage.
 * Fixed Manifest Armour not taking half damage from all sources, like other minions.
 * Fixed Mark For Death's Bone Prison node adding a cooldown of 31 seconds instead of 20.
 * Fixed Mark For Death's Bone Prison being labelled Frenzy Totem on mouseover.
 * Fixed the maximum for Reaper's Mark scaling incorrectly, resulting in a much higher cap than intended.
 * Fixed a bug where enemies hit by one of Tempest Strike's effects could not be hit by any of the other effects triggered by that Tempest Strike.
 * Fixed Tempest Strike's physical spell counting as a melee attack instead of a spell.
 * Fixed Tempest Strike's cold spell dealing partially physical damage.
 * Fixed Tempest Strike's effects playing incorrect sound effects.
 * Fixed a bug where Sabertooth's Camouflage node did not cause the Sabertooth's dodge rating to scale with your dexterity.
 * Fixed Sabertooth's Flurry Swipes only being able to hit a single enemy 2 times, instead of 3.
 * Fixed ground effects projecting onto the Sabertooth.
 * Fixed the Scorpion playing Wolf sounds when using abilities.
 * Fixed a bug where companions other than wolves would not retain names after zone transitions.
 * Fix a bug where move-to-attack commands could sometimes cause the player to move slowly or awkwardly when close to the target.
 * Fixed a bug where using a skill with multiple projectiles on an enemy at very close range could destroy all the projectiles even though only one hit.
 * Fixed a bug where skills that cast multiple parts could cast more slowly than intended at low framerates (especially if they were supposed to cast particularly quickly).
 * Fixed the Lich's Survival of the Cruel node granting too much leech.
 * Fixed the Spellblade's Shiver Armour not proccing as it should.
 * Fixed a bug where ward did not have any effect on stun chance when you had negative stun avoidance.
 * Fixed the health and mana numbers at the bottom of the screen and in the character sheet not matching due to different rounding.
 * Fixed a bug where scaling decimal values in tooltips were displayed incorrectly for some people depending on system locale.
 * Fixed the affix range display on item tooltips being incorrect for some hybrid affixes when the item had an affix effect modifier (for example, rings have no affix effect modifier but affix values on one-handed weapons are 50% higher).
 * Fixed a bug where the item comparison tooltip did not show the attack rate of the equipped item.
 * Fixed affix shards being displayed incorrectly while being hovered over.
 * Fixed Nodachi being rotated incorrectly.
 * Fixed Blood Scorpions creating blood particles after death.
 * Fixed Phrax enemies not outlining correctly.
 * Fixed a rock blocking the camera in Broken Hills.
 * Fixed a wall blocking the camera in the Temple of Eterra.
 * Fixed some crates being inside a rock in the Shattered Valley.
 * Fixed a chest in Forlorn Streets being inaccessible.
 * Fixed the player floating above the ground slightly in Ulatri Cliffs.
 * Fixed the waypoint being off-center in the Temple of Eterra.
 * Fixed stashes in the End of Time not having waypoint icons.
 * Fixed a bug where challenge modes were enabled before you had beaten the campaign on one character.
 * Fixed an issue preventing the ladder from updating.

Overview
Patch 0.7.3 forms part of Phase 1 of our Early Access Development Forecast.

This patch introduces a new chapter of story content, brings additional social functionality, features many skill trees (including the two Skeleton trees), and improves Quality of Life.

Highlights
(We've shown off Cinder Song and Hollow Finger here. Discover the others in-game!)
 * Patch 0.7.3 includes Chapter 6!
 * Buffs and debuffs on your character now have visual indicators. We have posted a preview of the system here, and shown some of the art created for it here.
 * This patch includes our respec changes for both specialization trees and class passives.
 * We can now grant free respecs for specialization trees and passives changed in a patch.
 * We will not be doing this every time. The decision on whether to offer a free respec will be made on a case-by-case basis, determined by how extensive the changes are.
 * Other Travelers can now be added to both Friends and Blocked lists.
 * You can now whisper other players using a variety of commands.
 * Hardcore characters are now converted to non-Hardcore characters upon death.
 * It is possible to abandon challenges (e.g. Solo, Masochist) on a per-character basis. These challenges cannot later be re-activated for those characters.
 * The following skills now have specialization trees;
 * Forge Strike
 * Frenzy Totem
 * Ring of Shields
 * Soul Feast
 * Spriggan Form
 * Summon Scorpion
 * Summon Skeleton
 * Summon Skeleton Mage
 * We are splitting Summon Skeleton into Summon Skeleton and Summon Skeleton Mage. Check out this post if you'd like to learn why we made this decision!
 * Tempest Strike (Preview posted here!)
 * We have added the following four Unique Items;
 * Cinder Song (Wand)
 * Hollow Finger (Ring)
 * Morditas' Reach (Polearm)
 * Orian's Eye (Amulet)
 * We have updated the log in screen and created new art for loading screens! We have posted previews of both in this thread, and posted some additional art here).

After This Patch
We had designed a specialization tree for Static, however during QA we decided that the tree did not meet our standards, and we have since begun redesigning this specialization tree. We will confirm closer to the release of 0.7.3 whether Static and its tree will be included.

We’ll be continuing to periodically create new art for our loading screens, and gradually phasing out the relatively old art they are currently using. We have been reviewing the mouse cursor in response to community feedback, and plan to update it sometime after Patch 0.7.3 has been released. Our next patch is tentatively planned for next month.

We would like to clarify that we posted our Early Access Forecast on the 30th of July, and that it was forward-looking (as you may expect of a ‘forecast’). We have seen some confusion, likely due to Last Epoch entering Steam Early Access on the 30th of April. Updates released between the 30th of April and 30th of July are not reflected on the forecast.