Grab Bag - May 26th, 2006

Taking you to the weekend:


 "Since version 1.81, we have adjusted nineteen classes, in many cases making very significant changes. In this version, we are taking a step back, to assess the impact of all of these changes as a whole, and refine these adjustments as needed. In many (but not all) cases, we feel that we did not increase a class’s abilities enough, and we will be making additional improvements."

Does this supercede the announcement of the class changes to Valk on Pendragon currently with 1.84a?

No. The notes would be the final authority, but in any case, the Valk was one of the classes that wasn't "done" with the changes made in a previous patch.

Speaking of Valks, I got lots of questions about "is this intended" etc. for the material on Pendragon. Yes, it's all intended, but is it final? No, we're still collecting feedback.

I've noticed bolts seem to hit casters about twice as hard as tanks. Does bolt damage vary with armor factor or armor absorb? Aren't they magic damage? What's the deal?

A good question, since we're currently revisiting bolts as a whole. The Big Wheel, our class guy, told me: "Bolts are physical attacks. The damage dealt by them depends on the ABS the target has. A player with high ABS will take less damage, where a player with low ABS will take more damage."

(re: Pendragon RvR Event)

Sooo..... does that mean someone from the randomly selected group will get kicked out to make room for Missy? that we should form 7 player groups? Or that we'll have a 9man group running about?

Not even Missy can give you a nine man group, so you'll need to decide who will run ungrouped while Missy's in your pod.

I was wondering if there is a fix for the crash to desktop issue in Leirvik. When the CK gets sieged and a hole is made in any of the outer walls, and a player gets near that hole, they will crash to desktop. I know it's not just me. Thanks in advance.

It's not just you, but the trouble is we can't duplicate the crashes internally, and that makes a fix all but impossible. But you can help! Look in your Camelot folder for a file called "errorlog.txt" and erase all the stuff you find there. After you do that, have your friends do the same. Now, go in to Leirvik and try to crash just as you've described to me. Now, look at the errorlog.txt file again. There should be… a lot of stuff there. Send the file to cambugs AT mythicentertainment DOT com, and if we get enough of those puppies, we should be able to solve the problem soon.

Last week you made it clear that the housing design intended the lockbox to be the main way we pay rent. Would it then be possible to increase the size of the lock box? Why are we not allowed to put in more than four payments?

The design is the way it is because we didn't want people to camp their houses endlessly. If you're not playing the game, those housing lots should be available for people who are. But we allowed the lockboxes to hold a generous amount of gold to help the forgetful people. Then we put in a reminder system. Then we put in the consignment merchant safety net. The original design is somewhat watered down, in other words.

I have a shaman that is constantly pestered by healers and casters for an endurance buff. They claim that they cast slower when out of end. My question is - does end (or lack of) make any difference in casting speed?

No. But many spells have a small end cost to cast on top of the power cost, and as Mighty Marty (lead Camelot programmer) reminds me, every caster likes a full end bar in order to beat a retreat if necessary.

Sanya, why must you hold out on the new ML line info? Come on, cough it up.... can't you even tell us how it is being determined and what rules are being set up around it?

Frankly, I'm willing to bake muffins and send them in to you for your compliance here.

I love muffins. And I am so hungry right now. Damn you and your muffin taunting.

Um, yeah, off topic. So, on topic: The meeting to decide the "third line" stuff is next Wednesday afternoon. The whole Herald team is watching feedback on message boards and the emailed forms very closely, and taking that material to the meeting. We also have a discussion going with the class team leads, and they are providing us with data as well. We might start seeing the actual additions in 1.84D, but I doubt it'll end in that version.

Please note - many of you have asked for an entirely new line. That is not possible with our schedule, guys, I'm sorry. A totally new line is the stuff of months, and even with months would be drastically out of whack with the others. If you want to provide feedback, be sure to use the existing lines as your starting point. If you're positive you want a particular line, it would be VERY helpful if you mentioned reasons. And if you would mention those reasons in short, easy to tally bullet points, Missy and Richard would be very grateful.

***

A few people have written in asking about a certain realm point RVR/healing quirk, wondering if it’s an exploit. The short answer is "sort of, but it's such a giant waste of effort and brain cells that at this time we choose not to fight it." This could potentially get boring, so get out the Diet Coke and snarf down some caffeine first, but I'll try to explain the way it was explained to me:

Say I'm running along in the frontier. Bob jumps out at me, but he does not kill me - I kill him. (Shut up, it's my fantasy, I'm allowed to win PVP encounters in my fantasy.) Now, let's say my friend Jackie heals me during the fight, but NOT to 100% health. She gets realm points for healing me, since I am in combat.

Jackie and I run along, and I start jumping down steep cliffs or off towers, and I take damage. She heals me… and even though I am not in combat, my combat timer is off, and the damage was environmental, she still gets realm points. The people emailing me are wondering if that - realm points for what is clearly environmental damage - is an exploit.

It sort of is. But it's a dumb exploit, and it has a limit. I'm worth a pool of X realm points. Jackie is getting a fraction of that every time she heals me. As long as I don't reach 100% health, she and I can repeat this moronic jumping-off-towers-getting healed-giving-her-RPs routine - but only until she's gotten the number of RPs equal to X. At that point, Jackie might as well let me heal up to full, because the gravy train has stopped until I get into another RVR encounter.

We tested this, and with a level 50 version of me in this scenario, it takes more than forty heals to exhaust my point pool. It's way faster to just play the game. So while we'll get around to fixing this someday, it's a low priority for us.

But this does explain why sometimes you'll heal someone in RVR and get no points - they need to win the fight they're in to reset their value.

***

Camelot Roundtable news: A little bird told me we've got our hotel information posted, so if you want to start planning your trip, check it out:
http://roundtable.darkageofcamelot.com/Sept_06_lasvegas.php Yep, we're definitely back at the Rio. I don't know yet what the ticket prices will be, but I expect them to be roughly the same as last year. If you're on the fence about going, get off the fence and mark your calendars! It's a crazy amount of fun.

Don't forget Missy's Whack a Herald Minion event this Saturday! By the way, just so's you know - she won't be in good armor, she won't have special spells or abilities… but to keep it from being too easy, she's going to have a whole lot of hit points. Be prepared!

An alert reader sent me this link: http://www.daocwiki.com/index.php/Main_Page I love wikis, but they're only as good as their communities. And we, frankly, have the best community. Join in!

Well, it's a big holiday weekend here in the USA, so as you head into the weekend, don't forget - don't drink and drive, and avoid the asshats that do.