Here are the preliminary patch notes for the upcoming balance patch. Please note that this list is a preliminary list and is highly subject to change and alteration. We wanted to provide you with this list early so we can get your feedback on our plans.


ELITE REVAMP
In the notes below, you will see changes and updates based on both the cooldowns and damage dealt by elite abilities. For this revamp, we've decided to take a step back and look at all of our elite abilities as a whole. Our focus was to ensure that the elite abilities are something you always want to use and will provide a damage increase when used in a rotation. To that end, we've rebudgeted nearly every elite ability to perform at nearly the same level of DPS over the course of an extended fight. What this results in is a cooldown reduction and damage increase for the majority of elites. However, two elite abilities were negatively affected by this update - Bombardment and Plague. Most of you are probably aware that Bombardment would be adjusted, but in the case of Plague, it turns out that it was very close to where we wanted it already. In fact, if we had left the cooldown at 30 seconds, it would have seen a damage increase. But, since Plague is responsible for one of the new Elite Vulnerabilities, we felt it was necessary to perform the cooldown reduction and damage reduction.

I hope this helps shed light on what our goals and intentions are with this elite ability revamp.



NEW YORK RAID
- The buff circles provided by Alex, Mei-Ling, and Rose will now provide a multiplicative damage bonus to all damage types. Each buff circle can now affect a maximum of 4 players at once.
The buff circles were not performing as we intended in regards to damage increases to all of a player's active and passive abilities. This led to cases where players would feel forced to use certain builds. We've moved the challenge here from a build challenge to a raid coordination challenge. The buff circles will now affect all types of damage, but will now only affect a limited number of players, requiring a better allocation of where each player will stand.

GENERAL
- Elite Vulnerability system: Specific Elite abilities will now provide a debuff which increases damage dealt of a specific type. For example, the Elementalism ability "Overload" will now cause affected enemies to take increased damage from Melee abilities. This new system does not function in PvP areas.
Here are the specifics on the new system:
* Vulnerable to Melee: 25% damage increase for Melee abilities. 15 second duration.
* Vulnerable to Magic: 20% damage increase for Magic abilities. 15 second duration.
* Vulnerable to Ranged: 20% damage increase for Ranged abilities. 15 second duration.

Weapons can only provide vulnerabilities for other weapon types. For example, Melee weapons will only be able to provide Magic and Ranged vulnerability. This new system pairs with the elite revamp and the reduced cooldowns there to ensure a coordinated group can keep these effects active over the duration of a fight.
- Updated all damage over time and proc effects to have an ability type representative of the weapon it is gained from. The purpose of this change is purely to work with the new Elite Vulnerability system.

PvP
- Reduced overall damage and healing in PvP by 20%.
The purpose of this change is to compensate for the increased damage dealt by elite abilities in the elite ability revamp. Please note that this adjustment is a starting point and we look forward to your feedback on this change.

GENERAL
- Increased the damage dealt by Anima Deviation. The base damage has increased by around 77.7%.
- Anima Deviation should no longer be able to trigger multiple times from the same ability.
This damage increase is budgeted to bridge the gap in DPS for elite abilities which have a 25 second cooldown as opposed to the ones which have a 20 second cooldown.

MISC
- Removed the root effect from Do or Die.
- Reduced the cooldown of Do or Die to 45 seconds.

AUXILIARY
- Increased the damage dealt by all auxiliary weapons.

ASSAULT RIFLE
- No Contest: Increased bonus damage to 10%. The effect gained will now last for 8 seconds.
- Military Code: Increased resources built to 2.
- Accuracy: Increased damage bonus to 7%.
- Short Controlled Bursts: Increased critical hit and penenetrating hit chance increase to 4%.
- Lethality: Each stack of Lethality will now increase damage by 1.25%
- Veteran: Increased healing done and bonus leech effect granted when this passive triggers.
- Improved Bursts: Increased damage bonus to 10%.
- Slow the Advance: Increased damage dealty.
- Red Mist: Reduced cooldown to 20 seconds and increased damage dealt. This ability will now apply Magic Vulnerability. See the new poll for additional Red Mist changes.
- Shellshocker: Increased damage dealt. This ability will now provide Melee Vulnerability.
- Re-Animator: Reduced cooldown to 20 seconds. Increased healing done. While channeling this effect, your target is immune to death. Upon successfully completing the channel, you will gain a 20% increase to leech effectiveness for 6 seconds.

BLADE
- Flight of Daggers: Increased damage dealt by this passive.
- Sixth Sense: Increased damage dealt by this passive.
- Twist the Knife: Increased damage bonus to 5% per stack.
- Seven and a Half Samurai: Increased damage bonus to 10%.
- Stunning Swirl: Reduced cooldown to 25 seconds and increased damage dealt. This ability will now apply Ranged Vulnerability.
- Four Seasons: Reduced cooldown to 20 seconds and increased damage dealt. This ability will now apply Magic Vulnerability.
- Master's House: Increased cooldown to 35 seconds.
- Silver Streak: Reduced cooldown to 35 seconds. Increased the healing per hit to 2.5%.
- The Art of War: Reduced cooldown to 35 seconds and increased damage dealt.
- Finish the Movement: Reduced the chance this triggers to 33%.
- Fatal Flourish: This ability will now grant 1 stack of a buff whenever you hit a target you afflicted (max 1 per second). At 5 stacks, you lose all stacks and gain a 20% Penetration Chance boost for 5 seconds. Buff stacks cannot be gained while this buff is active.

HAMMER
- You're Next: Increased damage bonus to 10%.
- Improved Strikes: Increased damage bonus to 10%.
- Shockwave: Reduced cooldown to 25 seconds and increased damage dealt. This ability will now apply Magic Vulnerability.
- Epicentre: Reduced cooldown to 20 seconds and increased damage dealt. Whenever you expend a stack of Epicentre, you will gain a 5% critical power boost which stacks 4 times.
- Eruption: Reduced cooldown to 25 seconds and increased damage dealt. Increased duration of the knockup effect to 4 seconds. This ability will now apply Ranged Vulnerability.
- Unstoppable Force: This ability will now provide a 15% damage increase while active.
- Raging Volcano: Reduced cooldown to 30 seconds and increased damage. While channeling this ability, you will gain a 30% movement speed increase. Each time one or more targets is hit by a pulse of this AoE damage, you gain 1 stack of a beneficial effect. This effect causes your next non-Raging Volcano attack to deal additional damage. The reasoning for this is that a lot of time is spent channeling this ability and reducing the cooldown too much would cause too much time spent using this ability in a normal rotation. Instead, we decided to keep the increased cooldown and apply the bonus damage for the longer cooldown in a new on-hit damage proc effect.
- Forged in Fire: Reduced internal cooldown to 40 seconds.

FIST
- Killer Instinct: The next attack also cannot glance. Increase to 1.5% damage increase per counter stack.
- One-Two: Increased damage dealt by the first hit.
- Ferocity: Increased damage bonus to 4% per stack.
- Inner Spark: Increased healing done.
- Kindle: Increased healing done due to change to Inner Spark.
- Bruising Blast: Increased bonus to 10%.
- Go for the Throat: Increased damage dealt.
- See Red: Reduced cooldown to 25 seconds and increased damage dealt. This ability will now apply Magic Vulnerability. Also, fixed an issue which caused See Red to deal its bonus damage in cases where it should not.
- Gore: Increased damage dealt. This ability will now apply Ranged Vulnerability.
- Fired Up: Reduced cooldown to 20 seconds and increased healing provided.
- Salt in the Wound: Reduced damage dealt.

BLOOD
- Third Degree: Increased damage dealt.
- Coagulation: Increased the barrier power increase effect to 60%.
- Clotting: This ability has been redesigned. It will now cause any Blood barriers you apply to instead heal the target for a percentage of the barrier you are attepmting to apply if that target has an existing barrier.
- Vital Fluids: Increased the chance to trigger to 33%.
- Cardiac Arrest: Reduced cooldown to 25 seconds and increased damage dealt. This ability will now apply Melee Vulnerability.
- Plague: Reduced cooldown to 20 seconds and reduced damage dealt. This ability will now apply Ranged Vulnerability.
- Expulsion: Reduced cooldown to 20 seconds and improved barrier strength and AoE damage dealt.
- My Bloody Valentine: Increased initial barrier, heal over time, AoE damage, and secondary barrier strength.
- Torture: Reduced damage dealt.
- Gross Anatomy: Reduced damage dealt.



Funcom

    CHAOS
    - Prodigal: Increased the CC effect duration reduction to 35%.
    - Fixation: Increased the trigger chance to 50%.
    - Gnosis: Increased damage dealt.
    - Paradox: Increased damage dealt.
    - From the Abyss: Increased damage dealt.
    - Domino Effect: Reduced cooldown to 25 seconds and increased damage dealt.
    - Prisoner of Fate: Reduced the cooldown to 20 seconds and increased the damage dealt. Removed the stun effect from the target while channeling. This ability will now apply Melee Vulnerability. The reason for this change is that we wanted Chaos to have access to a pure DPS elite to enable any future Chaos DPS builds.
    - Eye of Pandemonium: Reduced cooldown to 25 seconds and increased damage dealt. This ability is now affected by Anima Deviation and will now apply Ranged Vulnerability.
    - Gravitational Anomaly: Reduced cooldown to 25 seconds and increased damage dealt.
    - Fever Pitch: Reduced Major Hit to 25% reduced glance chance for 5 seconds. Increased the trigger chance for Fever Pitch to 20%.

    ELEMENTALISM
    - Live Wire: Critically hitting will now grant a buff which causes your next hit to deal an additional damage hit.
    - Toxic Affinity: This passive will now increase the critical chance of damage over time effects by 20%.
    - Big Bang: Increased damage dealt.
    - Molten Earth: Increased damage dealt.
    - Power Line/Voltaic Detonation: Reduced cooldown to 20 seconds and increased damage dealt. This ability will now apply Ranged Vulnerability.
    - Whiteout: Reduced cooldown to 25 seconds and increased damage dealt.
    - Hard Reset: Reduced cooldown to 35 seconds and increased damage dealt.
    - Overload: Reduced cooldown to 20 seconds and increased damage dealt. This ability will now apply Melee Vulnerability.
    - Elemental Force: This ability will now grant 1 stack of a buff when you finish activating a damaging ability (max 1 per second). At 5 stacks, you lose all stacks and gain a 20% Critical Chance boost for 5 seconds. Buff stacks cannot be gained while this buff is active.
    Elemental Force has been a staple for a long time and in the end, we felt we couldn't move forward with improving build diversity without addressing the elephant in the room. Our initial change is to allow it to still provide a good critical increase that will stack with all other critical increases which will allow it to be useful in all types of builds. In addition, we wanted to keep the timed element so a good rotation can take the most advantage of the uptime of the new buff effect.

    SHOTGUN
    - Shield Formation: This passive will now cause you to gain one stack of the Protection effect every two seconds. This has the nice side effect of also giving it to your nearby friends! Form the shield formation!
    - Buckshot: Increased damage dealt.
    - Invasive Measures: Increased the chance to trigger to 33%.
    - Crap Shoot: Increased damage dealt.
    - Kneecapper: Increased damage dealt.
    - Shotgun Wedding: Reduced cooldown to 20 seconds and increased damage dealt. Shotgun Wedding will now build a maximum of one stack per channeling interval. Increased the damage bonus per stack to 25%. This ability will now apply Magic Vulnerability.
    - Point Blank: Reduced cooldown to 25 seconds and increased damage dealt. This ability will now apply Melee Vulnerability.
    - Bombardment: Reduced damage dealt. We decided that it was better overall for gameplay to reduce the damage of Bombardment instead of applying the area of denial. We've readjusted our balance stance on this ability to assume that the majority of the attacks will hit, which resulted in the damage reduction. We felt that it was better in this case to say that Bombardment will not perform as well against targets who are mobile.

    PISTOLS
    - Above the Law: Increased the number of resources built.
    - Vigilante: Will now also increase the damage of Above the Law.
    - Chain Feed: Increased damage bonus to 10%.
    - Dirty Tricks: Increased damage dealt.
    - Gun Crazy: Reduced cooldown to 20 seconds and increased damage dealt. This ability will now apply Magic Vulnerability. Also, fixed an issue that could cause this ability to not deal damage in some cases.
    - Bullet Ballet: Increased damage dealt. This ability's damage no longer scales based on resources spent. Instead, this ability will consume pistol resources on all targets at the end of the channel and deal appropriate consumer damage. This ability will now apply Melee Vulnerability.
    - Pistol Love: Increased damage dealt.
    - Born Leader: Increased damage dealt and healing power.

    These are all of the intended changes. Please note that these changes are a work in progress and are subject to change. We're aiming to have these changes available for you to test here on the Test Server some time next week! Please add your feedback here on this thread. I'm looking forward to getting these changes to you guys soon!