Grab Bag - November 7, 2008

Woohoo it's Friday!


Hi, I'm looking for the Duskwood Quarter Staff of the Gale. I know it drops from Danos and I've been turning in hundreds of reformed energies to Danos and still no staff. Am I wasting my time doing this to get the staff?

After some testing to be sure the Lady of the Jewels confirms: This staff does indeed have a chance to drop from Danos. It also can drop from Eramai, Karise, Kertom, Kleps, Klops, Cyrek, Talos, Kynthia, and Dawar. The chance for it to drop from any one of these mobs is the same so none will give you a better chance than the other of receiving it, but it presents more options if you so choose. Turning in essences to the trogo zontanos mageia and selecting any of these encounters will also give the player a chance to receive this item. The Quarterstaff of the Gale is a very rare drop, so it may simply be a matter of bad luck.

What are the chances of you adding a small Bounty Point reward to realm missions (Personal/Group/Guild) in Wednesday's or a near-future patch? I know of many people who have been wanting this quite seriously and have been opening each Pendragon Patch note release on the Herald like it's a Christmas present - hoping that the BP reward would be there. We want BPs for our realm missions in exchange for all the cookies and milk we leave out for you!

The Lady of the Jewels enthusiastically looked up from her computer screen: Mmm, cookies... It's a bit too late for something like this to be added in 1.96 I'm afraid, but we are working on some RvR mission additions and changes for a future patch cycle.

I have a question about my Level 50 Ranger. His Epic armor Shrouded Mist Leggings, Boots and the CL weapon Ranger Faur Steel have a plus to all melee. My question is why doesn't it affect my Celtic Duel skill? From what I've been able to find is that if items say only Primary Melee then it would work only on Pierce and Blades on the Ranger. But when they say all melee I thought it worked on all melee skills. I was wondering if this is a typo on the items are they not working correctly?

The Equalizer knew he had seen a question similar to this before and after some careful searching says: This was addressed in a previous grab bag on June 8, 2007: (http://www.camelotherald.com/news/news_article.php?storyid=3105)

I have a level 50 mercenary spec'd in dual wield and slash. I recently obtained a weapon called a Witch Blade from one of the relic encounters on Gaheris. Upon equipping this weapon on my mercenary I realized the +3 to all melee skills did not affect dual wield only the other weapon skills such as slash, crush etc. So my question is the + to melee weapon skills not intended to affect dual wield?

Correct, +all melee affects base weapon skills, but does not affect Critical Strikes, Dual Wield, Left Axe or Celtic Dual.

Additionally, the +all melee gem in spellcrafting will also not affect Critical Strikes, Dual Wield, Left Axe or Celtic Dual.

I have a question about Arcane Siphon - a % chance of not expending energy when casting a spell or firing a bow. I can understand how it works on a ring as this is permanently equipped, but it also occurs as a bonus on Gjalpinulva's Claw - a sword weapon. How can I have this equipped to utilize Arcane Siphon, and still fire a bow?

Taking a moment from his busy schedule the Equalizer says no: There is no way for a Hunter to benefit from the Arcane Siphon bonus on Gjalpinulva's Claw while firing a bow, as you do not gain bonuses from a weapon that you do not currently have readied. It appears that this item was designed with the Valkyrie class in mind, rather than for Hunters.

Where can I find the ring 'Band of Clandestinity?' I have found it listed in several databases but cannot seem to find where it drops or from what quest it is from. The stats I have listed are as follows: 18 Strength, 4 Stealth, 4 Envenom, 60 Hits. Thanks!

With her quick typing skills the Lady of the Jewels said quick as can be: This item drops from Summoner Roesia in Summoner's Hall.

Just thought I'd report a quest bug. The "Preemptive Strike" quest on Midgard requires many steps towards killing the final mob, a werewolf named Falwur which drops a signet ring that you must give to the quest giver, Crelam, in Galplen to finish the quest. The bug is that it is called the "Fulwar Signet Ring" in the inventory.

With a smile the Equalizer is always happy to fix a typo: Thank you for bringing this to our attention! We have identified the issue and it should now be spelled correctly.

Something in the 1.96 patch notes seems a bit odd: The Level 50 version of the new snare added to the Wizard line; Freezing Tendrils, has a 60 second duration and a 60 second recast time, and includes the comment 'This snare will not leave an immunity timer on the target when it fades or is removed'. If the duration matches the recast time and there's no immunity timer, doesn't that mean a wizard can keep someone snared... forever?

Without even looking away from his computer screen the Equalizer had this to say: In the perfect situation, yes, a wizard using this spell would be able to keep a player snared indefinitely. However, there are several factors that would prevent this from happening. First, snares break when damage is received by that player. Second, the Purge Realm Ability will allow the snared player to remove their snare before the timer has expired. Third, the ability Stoicism or the Realm Ability Determination will also reduce the duration of this snare. As such, it will be very rare that a wizard will be able to keep a player snared indefinitely with this spell.

After 1.96 released, I went to respec my Wizard to Ice. I noticed the information on Freezing Tendrills says 40% speed decrease, but on the patch notes it says 50%. What one is correct?

I marched over to the Equalizer to find out which one was correct for you and he found out what happened: There appears to have been an issue with this spell that went in with 1.96. As such, we corrected it in a hot fix today. Thank you for bringing this to our attention!

The 1.96b patch notes stated that both Theurgist and Animist pets were going to get a cap to spell piercing. Only the Animist pet cap appears in the final 1.96 patch notes. Was this cap omitted from the actual patch, or was it just missed for the notes?

After checking and re-checking to be sure the Lady of the Jewels concedes that this was a missed patch note: Both Theurgists and Animists received this fix. Sorry for the confusion. This has now been added to the 1.96 patch notes:

- Theurgist pet spell piercing is now capped at the same percentage as the Theurgist's personal spell piercing at 20% of their level.

I sold a Mythirian to my summoned Goblin Merchant and was given 0 gold for it, but the patch notes for 1.96 say I should be getting 100g for it. What's going on?

The Equalizer looked at me while deep in thought, then did a flurry of typing and found out: There seems to be a bit of an issue going on with summoned merchants not liking the sell values attached to these mythirians - we are currently looking into what, exactly, is causing it, but for now, please do not sell Mythirians to these summoned merchants. All normal merchants in the game will correctly pay you for these items.

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Halloween and Harvest events are ending this coming Monday. So if you haven't had a chance to explore what these seasonal festivities - the clock is ticking! Take some time this weekend to check them out.

You might have noticed that the doppelgangers are still out in force in the frontiers. Prepare yourself for next week as the doppels might give clues to their plans and just who rules them all. One hint - don't forget to pay attention the next time you meet one.

Did one of your friends obtain a new Realm Rank this week? Maybe a new title to add to their accomplishments - honor them in the Scroll of Valor! They just might do the same for you the next time you achieve something new. It's a great way to let everyone know.

Well this has certainly been an interesting week. We're sorry for the extra downtime all, we don't like it one bit either, but there were some issues that had to be addressed. Just in case you missed it, version 1.96 notes can be found here.

As quick as I can type release I'm heading home for the weekend. Don't forget that there are extra zone bonuses in effect this weekend. Have a great time and I'll see you in the frontier!