LU38

http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=381798
==Highlights==
* Rumors have it that Bristlebane has returned. Is this just another joke, or has another deity returned to Norrath?
* The dual wield designation has been removed and replaced with a system that will allow for more variety.
* There is a new Appearance tab in the Inventory window. Items worn here will not convey benefits, but will override what people see on your character.
* The Estate of Unrest is now a persistent instance.
==Dual Wield Changes==
To allow for a better selection of weapons for all classes, the dual wield designation on weapons has been removed. These weapons are now either One-Handed, Main Hand, or Off Hand. 
The damage on these weapons has increased, bringing them in line with pre-existing One Handed weapons. While wielding two weapons, the base delay of your melee weapons will be increased by 33%, yielding a small net gain in damage compared to what existed with Dual Wield weapons. For example: A 3 second delay weapon will instead act every 4 seconds while you are dual wielding. These weapons will also use the longer delay when determining whether or not to proc any special effects on them, gaining a more beneficial proc rate.
The damage rating on Two-Handed has also been raised slightly to ensure that Two-Handed weapons remain appealing. 
* All Dual Wield weapons are now One Handed, Main Hand, or Off Hand.
* While wielding two weapons, the base delay is increased by 33%.
* Two handed weapons now do slightly more damage.
* A few, powerful weapons will be flagged Main Hand but the majority will be useable in either hand if your class can dual wield. 
==Bristlebane Returns==
Do you consider yourself a practitioner of pranks, a student of the silly, or even a fan of the funny? Does the idea of pulling a practical joke over on someone sound like your idea of a good time? If so, you might make an excellent follower of Fizzlethorpe Bristlebane, the Grand Prankster. Recently scores of puckish jesters, fanciful bards and quick-witted thieves have all been spreading rumors about the imminent return of their favorite Sire of Shenanigans.
If Bristlebane has truly arrived and resumed his place aside the other gods who have also returned to Norrath, why has he waited until now? What sort of mischievous plans does the Royal Trickster have in store for his faithful followers? What about the other gods who have yet to reveal themselves since their departure? The answers to these questions are undoubtedly wrapped within a riddle only Bristlebane himself can solve.
Those interested in devoting themselves to the Master of Mischief should speak with Tobel Patadash, the self-declared Prophet of Bristlebane at the docks of The Enchanted Lands. Be advised, however, that the Gigglegibber Goblins have their own nonsensical opinion of who they believe the real Prophet of Bristlebane is as well!
==Appearance==
* Upon reaching level 20, you'll be able to access new appearance item slots on the inventory window.
* Items worn in the appropriate slots in the Appearance tab will override the outward appearance of your character.
* Items worn in the Appearance tab will not convey any of their benefits to the character wearing them.
* Some clothing items, such as city rewards will be wearable by everyone.
==Grouping/Raiding==
* When a player joins or leaves a raid, other members in the raid receive notification in the raid channel.
* Moving or swapping players between groups should not display any notifications.
* Players in the same group as the new member joining/leaving will receive 2 notifications, one in the raid channel and one in the group channel. This is by design so log parsers can track players joining and leaving.
==Gameplay==
* Like The Estate of Unrest, but just don't have the time? Well now you can get both rest and Unrest, as the Estate of Unrest is now persistent!
* Adventurers of all levels who believe their sea legs are ready to see service should see in and recruiter in . Glory awaits those who wish to explore the presence of mysterious Iskar within our waters. What lies beyond the horizon? Join up to see!
* Trivial Loot no longer includes Quest items, so Quest items will drop on gray encounters.
* Harvestable shrubs in level 1-9 zones now appear more shrub-like.
* Strafing with autorun on will actually cause you to strafe instead of turning your character.
* NPC encounters will more reliably avoid attacking a mezzed player than before.
==Items==
In efforts to clean up examination windows, the following effects now appear as attributes instead of as added effects, and have had their text description size reduced:
*Flowing Thought
*Health Regeneration
*Damage Per Second
*Melee Double Attack
*Ranged Double Attack
*Melee/Ranged/Spell/Healing Criticals
*+Spell Damage
*+Healing
*+Spell Damage and Healing
 
* The Scroll of the Fire Seeds is no longer flagged Lore.
* Gnomish Gent's Mechanicized Facade no longer needs to be equipped for the illusion to persist. (EQ2i: item went from charm to charm(optional))
* Ranged weapons will no longer trigger procs on weapons equipped in the primary or secondary slot.
* +damage and +heal items have been changed. Instead of normalizing by casting time you will get the full benefit on non AoE spells if the casting time is greater than .5 seconds and the reuse time is greater than 2 seconds.
* AoE spells gain 1/3 of the amount per target as do triggered reactive spells.
* Lifetaps continue to function the same. Also, damage is applied up front based on the amount of damage/healing the spell will do over time.
* Combat art damage has also been added to the system and the Bruiser Brutality line will buff this raid wide.
* There is now a 2-second usage delay for using most widgets in the world (i.e. quest widgets).
* Menders will now repair items in general inventory slots when you use the “Repair All” option on the mender window.
== Guild Status Items==
* When selling guild status items, guilds now only advance via sales of level-appropriate items. Members of higher level guilds can still sell lower level items for personal status gain.
* There is now a text description at the bottom of status items that tell you what level guild will gain advancement from selling those items. Generally, items found in the nearest 10 level range will continue to advance your guild. (E.g. A level 50 guild will be able to gain advancement from level 51 items and higher, which drop from T6 creatures and above.)
* If you go to an NPC who will buy your status item and your guild is too high level, you will see the status points in YELLOW instead of the normal teal. Those are the items that will only grant you personal status
==Quests==
* The Gnome Observatrons now show the Quest that requires them.
* The Disk of Bylze now shows the Quest that it offers in its tooltip.
* Completing the Bloodline Chronicles Quest line now adds Vampires to your Master Strike. 
==Tradeskills==
* Crafters who respec their tradeskill class from now on will be able to complete their new class's tradeskill quest in the Isle of Mara. Crafters who respec'd previously are still able to exchange their crafting tools by speaking to near the brokers.
* Pristine crafted chain and plate armor appearances are now more consistent.
* Level 20+ crafters can speak to a grandmaster crafter at their local tradeskill society headquarters to assist with a few tasks and earn a small reward.
* Tradeskill recipe book merchants have begun stocking all the essentials books up to volume 70.
* Tradeskill faction merchants in Neriak and Kelethin have begun stocking some new furniture items.
* Rare harvestable icons are once more available, now with extra sparkle!
* Condemning Smite Adept III now producing byproduct flickering dust
==Achievements==
Paladin
* should now work on evil pets.
* achievement renamed : Affects all non-fighters in the entire raid.
* - Damage bonus increased from 5% to 7% per rank. 
Ranger
* now correctly increases snare amount. 
Guardian
* - Adjusted reuse speed bonus from 180 seconds to 75 seconds per rank. 
Shadowknight
* - Reuse speed bonus adjusted from 20 to 8 seconds per rank. 
==Spells/Combat Arts==
* Spell lines from the Bloodline Chronicles have been tuned to become more comparable in desirability relative to other spell lines. (EQ2i: All Scholars, see New Bloodline Chronicles Upgrades!)
* The following Fighter group buffs now affect all raid allies:
** Guardian: 
** Berserker: 
** Paladin: 
** Shadowknight: 
** Monk: 
** Bruiser: 
Bard
* Resistance Chorus Songs: Now affect the entire raid. 
Brawler
* - Improved reuse speed from 5 to 3 minutes. Can be used against all NPC opponents, but damage varies depending on the difficulty of the opponent. Self-stifle duration set to 10 seconds. NPCs that are still alive gain a 30s immunity timer to further Devastation Fists. 
Bruiser
* The Brutality Line now grants +combat art damage instead of dps. 
Crusader
* - Improved reuse speed from 5 minutes to 2 minutes. 
Cleric
* - Reduced resistibility, reduced power cost, increased damage. 
Dirge
* : Triggered damage can occur anytime the Dirge receives damage instead of only when struck in melee combat. Its chance to trigger no longer uses spell or weapon normalization, allowing it to trigger more often. 
Enchanter
* - Removed power cost. Improved reuse speed from 15 to 3 minutes. Reduced duration from 3 minutes to 30 seconds. Increased trigger chance to 100%. Maximum of 3 triggers per person in the group. 
Fighters
* : If the ally is lower than 50% health when this ability is cast, the Fighter can absorb two hits instead of one. 
Ranger
* The Miracle shot line now requires the ranger to acquire the target with line of sight. The actual shot does not require it though. 
Shaman
* - Is now an area effect. Improved reuse speed from 3 to 2 minutes. 
Sorcerer
* - Increased range from 12 to 35 meters. 
Troubador
* : Triggered damage can occur anytime the Troubador receives damage instead of only when struck in melee combat. Its chance to trigger no longer uses spell or weapon normalization, allowing it to trigger more often.
* : triggered effect can occur for any hostile spell type cast on group members, not just when taking damage. 
Warrior
* - Improved reuse speed from 30 to 15 minutes. It now toggles.
==PvP==
* The tinkered charm and magnetized generator can no longer be used against players.
* If a player cons red to you then hostile spells will no longer use the improved chance for the spell to hit. 
==UI==
* You can now sort the quest journal by quest level
==New Bloodline Chronicles Upgrades==
SOE neglected to add this little section to the patch notes, so we present it here. New recipes for Adept III upgraded lvl 53 versions of the special Bloodline Chronicles spells are for sale in the Courts in Maj'Dul. These are labeled as Ancient Teachings. You must have Court access to buy them but, for the moment, the scrolls are TRADEABLE!
UPDATE: with the patch on the morning of 9/18 the scrolls are now NO-TRADE. If you had one in the mail in-transit, it has been destroyed!
Sage Level 53 scrolls:
*Ancient Teaching of: Horde of Bats (Summoner)
*Ancient Teaching of: Punish Corruption (Cleric)
*Ancient Teaching of: Mana Cover (Enchanter)
*Ancient Teaching of: Senses of the Bat (Druid)
*Ancient Teaching of: Glacialflame (Sorcerer)
Alchemist Level 53 scrolls:
*Ancient Teaching of: Essence of Doom Aura (Crusader)
Jeweler Level 53 scrolls:
*Ancient Teaching of: Rune of Magic Rebuff (Bard)
**Should be Zander's Magic Rebuff as an upgrade to Zander's Choral Rebuff, but it isn't.
Warrior, Brawler, Shaman, Rogue and Predator did not get an upgrade, probably because their Bloodline Chronicles spells/arts were scalable. Instead, SOE tweaked them upwards a bit to make them more useful.
Our thanks to all that posted information in this thread in the EQ2Players Forums!