We've gotten our hands on some preliminary patch notes for Funcom's Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures MMORPG. These notes list the changes that will be implemented in the game's August 13 patch.

It looks like every character class will be seeing a change or five when the patch goes live. Same with the GUI, quests, and even the game world itself. Please note though that not all of the changes and additions are final. Some of them may not make it to the patch's final version.

Well, this is pretty long, so here you go:

GENERAL

• Removed the Miss Chance from Shield of the Risen.
• You will no longer be zoned after speaking to a Feat Fixer.
• Several combat related animation issues - such as sheathing and unsheathing spears, holding swords - have been tweaked.
• Added a male animation for the dance_sexy_f emote, and renamed it to dance_sexy.
• Many typos corrected in quests and dialog.

CLASSES

• MAGE (General)
• Dark Meditation will now properly expire.
• Dark Meditation should now be removed from the spell list after untraining feats.
• The description for the general feat Purge no longer refers to multiple targets.
• The feat "Purge" has been renamed to "Spell - Purge".
• Mirrored Iron's proc, Set's Shield, now hits using the correct damage type based on the Magic Rating buff running.
• Mirrored Iron's proc, Set's Shield, has had its damage readjusted to the proper amount.
• ROGUE (General)
• Ambush ability will no longer increase the damage of the next strike.
• Mountaineer feat's decrease to the duration of the Bruised Body debuff has been changed from 50%/100% to 45%/90% per respective rank.
• Mountaineer feat's decrease to the duration of the Broken Bones debuff has been changed from 25%/50% to 30%/60% per respective rank.
• Quick Dismount will not go on cooldown unless you are mounted.
• Cheat the Reaper will now work 25%/50% of the time per respective feat point spent.
• Cheat the Reaper can now only activate once every 5 minutes.
• SOLDIER (General)
• Brutal Enraging Wound and Enraging Wound will now always tick 3 times.
• Brutal Enraging Wound now displays the proper damage over time value in the combo tool tip.
• Assassin
• Grim Corruption I's debuff will now stack with the other Grim Corruption debuffs.
• Grim Corruption will now debuff Unholy and Poison Invulnerabilities by 5% at each rank.
• Barbarian
• All the Savage Rage combos now use the same animation as Savage Rage IV.
• Impale's cooldown has been increased to 40 seconds.
• Impale's bonus damage will now scale consistently with feat points invested.
• Bear Shaman
• Aspects - Blood Fever, Skulk, and Untamed Regeneration will no longer be removed after zoning.
• Claws of Life will no longer be removed after zoning.
• Spirits of the Debased proc buff now uses the proper icon in the buff GUI.
• Spirit Totem: Profane will now always give Unholy Invulnerabilities with each rank of Spirits of the Debased trained.
• Conqueror
• Conquest's bonus to One-Handed weapon damage has been increased across all ranks.
• Deep Wounds will now stack properly.
• Deep Wounds' proc rate has been slightly increased.
• Deep Wounds now displays a stack count in the target's debuff GUI.
• Deep Wounds' DPS has been increased slightly.
• Feint Attack I will no longer scale past Feint Attack II at any level.
• Frostbite will now debuff magical damage in addition to melee damage.
• Frostbite will now have an additional larger debuff component versus PvP targets on top of the normal debuff.
• Frostbite's chance to apply off of a Hoarfrost proc has been doubled.
• Hail of Furious Strikes II will no longer scale past Hail of Furious Strikes III at any level.
• Lacerate will now proc off all non-unarmed melee attacks.
• Lacerate's proc rate has been slightly increased.
• Lacerate now displays a stack count in the target's debuff GUI.
• Lacerate's DPS has been increased slightly.
• Lingering Wrath's damage has been slightly reduced.
• Lingering Wrath will now always tick 5 times.
• Offhand Precision's bonus has been doubled at all ranks. It will now increase Offhand Chance by 2%/4%/6%/8%/10% per respective rank.
• Rend Flesh's duration has been increased to 15 seconds. The cooldown has also been increased to 1 minute.
• Rend Flesh's damage over time effect will now last 5 seconds.
• Rend Flesh now displays a stack count in the target's debudff GUI.
• Rend Flesh's damage over time effect will now scale better with more feat points invested.
• Improved Rend's direct damage hit will now scale better with more feat points invested.
• Two-Handed Master's bonus to Two-Handed weapon damage will now scale more consistently.
• Dark Templar
• The name of the feat "Spell - Dooming Presence" has been changed to "Combo - Dooming Presence", since it actually does grant a combo and not a spell.
• Pact of Malacodor should now be removed from the spellbook after untraining feats.
• Reaper of Malacodor should now be removed from the spellbook after untraining feats.
• Covenant of Arms will no longer be removed after zoning if you have the appropriate feat.
• Demonologist
• Chaotic Blast's damage component can now perform critical hits.
• Demonic War will no longer be removed when zoning.
• Guardian
• Guard I will no longer scale past Guard II at any level.
• Lowered the damage of Stagger I slightly.
• Increased the damage of Stagger II slightly.
• Herald of Xotli
• Undying Glory of Xotli should no longer be removed when zoning.
• Fixed a tool tip issue causing the wrong information to be displayed in the Burning Words feat.
• Necromancer
• Despoil the Soul will now show the proper duration when viewing the tool tip of the spell.
• Despoil the Soul duration has been increased to 1 hour.
• Spellweaving buff 'Death God' duration has been reduced to 20 seconds.
• The cabal debuff will now use the proper icon in the target's debuff window.
• Ranger
• Incapacitating Stabs I will never scale past Incapacitating Stabs II at all levels.
• Marked Target will now stack properly when 2 points are invested in the feat.
• Piercing Stance, Shattering Stance, Sniper Stance, and Fire Stance will no longer be removed when zoning if the appropriate feat is trained.
• Shattering Shots will now properly remove the directional shielding in the target GUI.
• Tempest of Set
• Lightning Cast will now properly put Lightning Strike on a 5 second cooldown.
• A book in your offhand will no longer spin during attack animations.

COMBAT

• The attack at the end of a charge can no longer be aborted.
• Transitions between 2H-attacks for male & female characters should feel smoother.
• The male UP-attack animation for staves should now work correctly.

GUI

• Descriptions for Bandaging, Fast Healing, Mana Attractor, and Fast Recovery have been tweaked to be more consistent with actual function.
• Added descriptions to a few of the more obscure potions in Hyboria.

GUILDS

• The Barracks in Player Cities will now spawn the correct amount of guards after being upgraded.
• Only the guild that owns the city will be able to use the NPCs inside their city.
• Renamed some player city feats to be in line with the names of the buildings.
• Barracks should now always show up in the guild feats window after being built.

ITEMS

• Sunsteel Half-plate Vambraces now have the proper full-plate requirement to wear, and can no longer be worn by everybody.
• Basic and Advanced Riding Training items will properly be comsumed on use.
• Pyramid of the Ancients: The essence trap can now only be used within the pyramid.

MOUNTS

• Rhino Charge should no longer go on cooldown unless successfully activated.

NPC/ MOBS

• Due to popular demand, we've forced some of our female Derketo followers to burn their bras.
• Tavern patrons in the Armsmans Tavern should no longer play strange animations.
• Deli in the Pyramid of the Ancients now looks poor, and possibly insane.
• Spiders will no longer jump back several feet when getting hit.
• Travel NPCs should offer correct dialog options for travel.
• New and updated loot has been placed in the Catacombs!
• Acheronian Ruins - The Pict Bat Shrieker will now patrol with pets. If attacked, he will keep spawning pets so that he always has 3 pets with him. If he leaves combat, he and his pets will resume patrolling.
• Acheronian Ruins - - All picts now have a specified class, and fitting weapon to this class. Added more mobs.
• Conarch Village - Removed a loop from Rhiderch, and Ryarm's dialog.
• Commander Zoria's costume and weapons have been revamped.
• Kalanthes will no longer stand on chairs in his house.
• Kyllikki's Crypt - The White Hand Priests will now use their healing and damage abilities.
• Lacheish Plains - Screamer Wolf, Wailer Wolf, Baying Wolf, and Whimpering Wolf NPCs now have the proper death and attack animations.
• Oasis of Zaara - Lions are no longer easy to defeat.
• Pyramid of the Ancients - The Master Torturer will no longer spawn multiple times in a row.
• Tarantia Noble District - Lady Verde's Bodyguard now looks the same both when seen on the outside and the inside of the villa.
• Tarantia Sewers/Catacombs - Putharjath should now have more interresting abilities.
• Treasury of the Ancients - Corrected a typo in Thuthmekri's dialog.
• White Sands Isle - Asapon will now correctly spawn at all times outside the Atlantean Cave.

PVP / MASSIVE PVP

• Massive PvP
• If the attacking guild takes over a battlekeep, any city guards that are left will now despawn.
• Players can now only spawn a ballista while the city is vulnerable to attack.
• Catapult progress bar no longer shows Trebuchet Blast.
• Once the siege battle is finished, the siege weapons and siege camps will now be properly disposed of.
• Ballista siege weapons will no longer cycle between all targets they have. They will use the last target instead, making them more useful in combat.
• If you get teleported out of a battle you will now end up in the nearest NPC village of the connecting resource and building playfield, instead of ending up in the nearest city.
• The siege camp in Burnheim which previously spawned at the wrong location will now spawn at the proper location.
• It's now possible to get a replaced siege targeting module if you lost one. Simply target the weapon and press the use button to get a replacement.
• Only the defending guild can talk to the ballista builder NPCs.
• The siege camps will now give a message when they are used when the city isn't vulnerable.
• Player city guards are now friendly to the guild that owns the city.

QUESTS

• Atzel's Fortress: Kidnapping & Torture - Any leftover Flasks of Oily Pitch will be removed when you complete this quest.
• Atzel's Approach: Revenge of the Ape God - This is now a group quest.
• Atzel's Approach: Power Behind the Throne - Item "Orders with the Mark of Set" no longer tells the player to right click on it to get a quest.
• Conarch Village: The Downtrodden - Croiss will no longer confuse a sword with an axe.
• Khemi: The Guardian statue will no longer send you into a dialog loop.
• Kheshatta: The Grim Grey God - You will now reset to the location where you zoned in if you log out in the instance.
• Kheshatta: The Grim Grey God - Sarcophagi and pedestals will have a progress bar when they’re being used.
• Kheshatta: Heady Kaphil Liquor - The flowers to be collected now have visual effects to help identify them.
• Kheshatta: Hunting the Waste - Weapons for this quest will now have a visual effect.
• Old Tarantia: The Aquilonian Bastard - Fixed the dialogue so that the quest resolves if and only if the player has actually told Varinia about her husband's infidelity.
• Pyramid of the Ancients - The teleport altar behind Lord Atum-Keket will now be visible at all times.
• Pyramid of the Ancients - Solving the quest "Emerald Eyes" will actually give emerald eyes to the Guardian Statue.
• Tarantia Sewers: The Orphans in the Hovel - Quest now updates for the entire party after talking to Galeria.
• Thunder River: The Kitten - The cat now correctly patrols and eventually despawns.
• Wild Lands: Old Secrets - The password has been corrected in the quest journal.

TRADESKILLS

• If you go linkdead while in the middle of a random encounter at a resource node, you will now be able to log back in with time to prepare before your next random encounter.
• Fixed a small typo that occured in an onscreen message when harvesting is interrupted.
• Vendor bought resources have been reduced in price.
• Added and adjusted drop rates of leather resources to animals residing in the Resource & Building playfields.
• Droprate for all Wild Lands of Zelata animals have increased.
• Droprate of Wild Dagga has been slightly increased in the world.

WORLD DESIGN

• Several collision fixes in Massive PvP Battlekeep playfields.
• Corrected a few areas where players could previously get stuck in the Tarantia Noble District.
• Conalls Valley night time environment has been altered to brighten the playfield slightly.

GENERAL

• Cash has been removed from the levelup NPCs.
• Fixed a case when the game stopped running after restoring from minimized state.
• Some assertion failure, memory leak, and crash causes were addressed.
• Black Castle: Player zoning rotation from Khopshef Province has been fixed.
• Voiceovers should no longer continue to play when you zone into another playfield.
• Shield of the Risen no longer displays its particle effects on hidden players (unless they're on your team)
• Typing /channelname followed by a space and no other text in chat will no longer crash the client.
• You will not be charged for resetting your skills unless the skill value is >= 150
• Zoning from Black Castle to Khopshef Province will now show the Epic Mode selection box.
• Fixed an issue where single player playfields would not reset.
• The'Out Of Disk Space' error should be fixed.
• Falling very large distances will no longer make you end up standing in mid-air.
• Tortage: Fixed lighting in the Thirsty Dog Inn.

COMBAT

• Charge, Ursine Rush, Impale (Guardian), Stunning Charge, and Hellstep can no longer be used while Hidden.
• Melee pets will now do splash damage.
• Knockback should have a proper animation again.
• Using an ability while charging (such as Cunning Deflection) should no longer lock up your movement.
• You should no longer be able to damage or heal dead targets with spells or combos.
• Fixed a cause of sliding during combat.
• Initiating chat with an NPC while performing attacks will now stop your attack animation as intended.
• You can no longer de-apprentice while in combat.

CLASSES

• Soldier (General)
• Spell damage will now properly trigger Cunning Deflection.
• Priest of Mitra
• Armor of Faith will no longer be removed by Hand of Mitra.
• Ranger
• Immolation should work more consistently.

GUI

• The Combo Sequence Indicator should no longer get stuck when failing to complete a combo.
• Hide my helmet/cloak options should work again.
• Improved GUI Modifications to support the new PvP Consequence System.
• Corrected the names of some chat channels to be more accurate. Added a few new chat channels.
• The PVP XP bar can be toggled on and off. (Interface -> HUD)
• Floating healing numbers over the character's head are back.
• Fixed weird messages when teleporting in the massive PvP playfields.
• The optional GUI component Combat Rose will now react to every keypress in a fight instead of just the first one.
• Players can now use / to talk to different channels.
• Items will no longer show +0.0 to any stats.
• A cause of flickering icons has been corrected.
• Fixed an issue with building model requirements failing when the models were stacked in your inventory.
• Crafted items will now display the "created by" name. (NOTE : This is a work in progress)

NPCS

• Khopshef Province: Hamadi should now patrol correctly at all times.
• Khopshef Province: Hidden Bandits will now dual wield.
• Khopshef Province: "Fine Potions" Merchant Nekhbet is now easier to interact with.
• Some bosses were using combos they weren't supposed to. This has been fixed.

PVP / MASSIVE PVP

• Massive PVP
• Siege Weapons should no longer fail to initialize properly.
• Ballista NPCs should always spawn when the city becomes vulnerable.
• Vendors should no longer spawn if the vulnerability window opens when the building has just finished being built.
• Members of the attacking guild should no longer get teleported out of the instance when zoning into a siege that is already in progress.
• Siege Weapons should no longer report that the target is out of range when it's not out of range. A different error message will appear if the siege weapon was unable to fire at the target for some reason.
• Massive PvP city NPCs should only be usable by the owners of the city.
• Defending players in a siege will no longer get points for character kills.
• Time left in the siege battle before it ends will now display correctly in Score window.
• If no guild applies for a battle queue before the 24h prior to the siege are over, that battle queue will be locked and no guild will be assigned the Attacker role.
• Mammoth Sweep and Rhino Sweep damage increased and changed to Siege damage to properly damage buildings.
• PVP
• No PvP XP will be awarded for killing characters below level 10.
• Characters will not gain any PvP XP before they are level 10.
• Characters may achieve PvP level 5 (the second stage of PvP progression where you can lose PvP XP) at lower levels, but may not progress further until they are at least level 40.
• Trading with NPCs is no longer possible if you're a criminal.
• Trading with a criminal will inform you of the consequences and prompt you to confirm to continue.
• PvP XP updates on your gui should be more prompt and consistent.
• Grouping with a murderer in a minigame should no longer flag you as a criminal.

QUESTS

• Kheshatta: Wanted , The Blasphemer - Ashka should now spawn correctly.
• Khopshef Province: The Slave Rebellion - The cage key will now drop correctly.
• Khopshef Province: Blessed Caves - Anata's Key should no longer remain in the player's quest inventory.
• Khopshef Province: Trapped by Lions - We have added a few new, interesting encounters. In addition, Lisimba now moves a bit quicker. The quest is now level 21 to reflect the surrounding mobs.
• Tortage Underhalls: Players will now be able to re-enter Raboz's Cell after finishing the quest Gone with the Wine, but before starting on the quest Ruins and Demise.

CATACOMBS

• Mobs should no longer lose interest in you and reset randomly.
• The corpse of Jan Vermis will no longer teleport after he is dead.
• Destroying an urn will now make any affected NPCs hate you.
• All urns will now damage mobs.
• The Iron Bars should no longer reset after a party wipe.
• Aturballon - Flame of Acheron is no longer linked to lesser mobs.
• Demonic Concubine will no longer go invisible at times.
• Egg sacs will no longer protrude through areas they should not.
• The Stalker Queen will no longer despawn if your group wipes.

CLASSES

• Conqueror
• Renamed Auras & Battle Crys, and included level up info in descriptions.

NPC

• Traders in Conarch Village and elsewhere should always be available for use.

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• Age of Conan August 6 patch notes: three minor fixes