Significantly optimized some visual effects using lines (impervious, impenetrable, immobile). This is especially visible when a large number of units with these effects are in play, specifically in Marshes of Madness scenario 2. Note: performance will still be degraded in that scenario, but it should no longer drop to 1-2 fps
Made general optimizations to how the client retrieves some animation positions
Fixed a performance issue in which an Avatar that had transfigured which was damaged before transfiguring and was then damaged after would cause both player's clients to become unresponsive (yes, this is the bug you think it is)
Corrected an issue in which the faction specific avatar bases were not being displayed
Fixed a visual sort order issue with the unit art for Myx Hurricane
Corrected an issue in which spells and abilities that had effects drawn with a number of rectangles were not being shown in the Unity client. The list of things affected by this is very long, and basically is anything that had a beam effect going into the sky and a number of things where small pixels were used as "ashes", etc. Of particular note, this effected Sapping Beam, Thaw, Draconic Pulsar, Puppet Master, Channel abilities, Gravetend, Aid abilities, Dark Summons, Mental Link, Acrid Smoke, Scorch the Earth, Domain abilities, Annihilate, Converging Portals, ...
Fixed some performance issues that could occur at the start and end of games due to an incorrect logging condition
Made some optimizations to how a unit's visual position is calculated
Fixed an issue in which effects that depended on getting a position from a part of the animation would throw an error and not render. This included:
Flamestrike
Flamethrower
Acid Breath
Arctic Bolt
Frost Cone
Freeze
Fixed an issue in which units with composited effects could have those effects not face the correct direction (Avatar armor & weapons, Hydraxor heads, etc)
Fixed an issue where line effects could stay present after they were supposed to be removed
Fixed an issue in which some visual effects would not be positioned correctly depending on if the unit is facing left or right
Fixed some visual issues with the effects for Invoke: Intercedence and Invoke: Vothsair Crush
Reduced the number of particles when Domain abilities go off for performance
User Interface
When a game ends by a means other than the shrine being destroyed (i.e., surrendering), there is now text below the victory/defeat header that indicates as such
When observing a game and the game ends, the end game screen will now appear with details of the game ending rather than just unceremoniously dumping you to the lobby
Made some adjustments to the Login screen for usability and in order to clearly show that there is a way to register in the client rather than going to the website
The highlight in the rune dock will no longer appear if no controller is present since it had no effect anyway
Fixed an issue in which the selection cursor could potentially not appear while in game
Descriptions and In-game Messages
Fixed the in-game description of Darkmarsh Blackstaff linking to the description of an erroneous version of Amplify: Poison
Fixed description text for Elemental Nexus abilities and added correct linkage so that they show ability flyouts
Corrected an issue in which the name for the K'Thir Forest global was shown as "effect.k"
Fixed descriptions for the conditions Poisoned, Scoured, and Diseased
Improved the description of "Wind Cloak" from Zephyr Shield (and other things)
Sounds
Added a less grating sound for the K'Thir shrine effect that plays on turn begin
Balance Changes and Server-side fixes
Abilities
Invoke: Confessor's Exaction - Fixed functionality of ability, reduced range to AOE4
Invoke: Lifeleech - reduced range to AOE4
Invoke: Icefang Rumble - Fixed functionality of ability, reduced range to AOE4
Invoke: Veil of the Mind - reduced range to AOE4
Invoke: Warbeast Roar - reduced range to AOE4
Invoke: Sarnghavian Rage - Fixed functionality of ability, reduced range to AOE4
Invoke: Intercedence - Fixed functionality of ability, reduced range to AOE4
Invoke: Vothsair Crush - Changed to give Scolded 2, reduced range to AOE4
Fixed an issue in which Warchief: Stone Clan, Warchief: Storm Clan, and Warchief: Blood Clan would give another unit the ability on death of the warchief even if another unit already had Warchief.
Champions
Bastion the Avenger now has Voice of the Clans rather than Warchief: Storm Clan
Voice of the Clans - When this unit enters play, it gains a copy of Warchief: Blood Clan, Warchief: Stone Clan, and Warchief: Storm Clan if any other friendly unit has that ability. When a friendly champion enters play that has one of those abilities, this unit gains a copy of that ability.