Time for another Friday Grab Bag!

As always, thanks everyone for your questions, keep 'em coming! You can send in any game related questions you have for our DAoC Devs through our Grab Bag submission form. Please note this is for game questions, feedback/ideas/suggestions should be sent in through our feedback form.

Continue reading below for the questions!

I've heard that the Minstrel pulse charm (and the ability for the Minstrel to hold higher con pets) is determined by Instrument + Realm Rank; years ago I heard that charisma also played a role. What's the determining factor?

For both the Minstrel and Mentalist pulse charms, the resistances to the charm pulses after their initial cast are only affected by the level of the character and their composite Instrument or Light specialization values. Having a maximum composite specialization level allows for fewer resistances and allows Minstrels and Mentalists the ability to charm higher level mobs. Charsima and Intelligence have no effect on the pulse charms’ resistance rates.

As an additional note, the Mastery of Focus realm ability also does not affect the resistance rates on the subsequent pulses of the charms but does affect the initial cast on the mob that starts the charm song.

There has been some controversy regarding Hand to Hand and Fist Wraps - do they benefit from the same penetration bonus as CD/DW/LA (vs Block and Evade)?

Yes, both Hand to Hand and Fist Wraps have the same penetration bonus as Celtic Dual, Dual Wield, and Left Axe as they are also considered “dual-wielding” specializations. Block and evade chances are reduced by 25% vs dual-wielders.

In testing this, the Savage and Mauler will still likely show more blocks and evades over the same number of tested styles than one of the Light Tanks would but this is because of their comparatively lower weaponskill and not due to a difference in their penetration bonus.

Can you explain how Mauler's cast damage works? There is not a whole lot of knowledge regarding the class, so some people say that stats affect the magic damage of the mauler and others say that stats do not affect it, it seems as though there is not general knowledge when it comes to Caster Maulers.

There is no “casting-stat” for Mauler Aura Manipulation casts. This is why the delves on their abilities are generally much higher than other classes.

Damage variance is affected by the Aura Manipulation specialization value, just like how all other casting specializations work. TOA stats like spell damage%, resist pierce%, etc and realm abilities like Mastery of Magery also still affect its damage potential, just like how they work in all other cases. The only difference for Aura Manipulation damage-spells is that normal stats like strength, acuity, etc do not affect their damage.

Hello!  I've noticed a discrepancy in the stated power cost and the actual power cost percent power cost spells.

Specifically the Uninterruptable Primer on Warlocks and Pet spells on Theurgists.

On Warlock, specifically looking at the level 12 Solid Cast, the delve lists the power usages as 32% when casting the level 46 Witchcraft spec group heal.
However, when I cast this with my warlock without the Cursed set equipped (with 122 Piety and 15% power pool in template), I notice it used 36% of my total power when using the level 46 Witchcraft spec group heal.

However, when using lower level spells, such as the level 11 Cursing spec nearsight and the level 10 Spell of Slowness (frog) spell, the power cost is only 14% when using the Cursed set.

If I use the entire cursed set, the new delve is 27%, however, the actual power cost is now 30% (with 122 piety and 15% power pool in template).  How is this power cost actually calculated?

To compare it to another class that uses % power based cost, I'll use my Theurgist. My Theurgist has 116 Intelligence and 15% power pool in the template.  The pet spells I am using (Call Mighty Air Sprite and Call Potent Earth Elemental) have a listed power cost of 12%, however, only cost me 5% power when using them.

It appears the Warlock and Theurgist percent power cost are calculated differently.  It also appears that within the Warlock itself, costs are calculated differently based on spell level (even though there are no power costs listed on the secondary spells themselves).

Thanks for any clarification on these costs!

Thanks

After running some tests it seems like you may have a sword/shield equipped instead of a staff with a focus bonus stat. Going s/s on your Warlock does have its benefits but without the focus bonus, the power cost is going to be much higher than it would be with a staff equipped. For instance, with a sword/shield equipped, the spells were costing 36% and 30% as reported; but with a focus staff the level 46 group heal only takes 25% power when using Solid Cast and only 22% power when using Solid Cast+ from the Curse set.

Midsummer's Wrap's 10% self abs overwrites cl 5% abs, any chance we can change this?

The Champion Level ability, Damage Ward, a self-ABS% buff is now changed to not be overwritten by other ABS% of the same type. This will affect very few other ABS% abilities like Battler and Midsummer’s.

Have a great weekend all! :)