Grab Bag - October 24, 2008

Get ready for the Grab Bag!


I've been using a spellcrafted shield, and I'm interested in putting a reactive proc on it, but I've heard conflicting reports that reactive procs on shields don't always work. Do reactive procs work on shields?

The Equalizer definitely had a reaction to this question and he explains: Reactive effect will work on a shield, but only in RvR combat, and only when you have successfully blocked an attack. Players are currently able to achieve blocking rates that are nearly 100% in PvE combat, and so reactive effects will not fire while fighting monsters. Reactive effects will also only fire when you have successfully blocked an attack (as that is when your shield is 'hit'), and not when you perform Shield Styles.

I believe the Greater Nereid potion widget and Draught of Healing widget are identical and can cause confusion and even death. Please update one or the other please.

With a quick verification the Equalizer says: Thank you for bringing this to our attention - look for a change to the Greater Nereid Potion hotbar icon in 1.96 to help differentiate these two potions.

Greetings! In a recent Grab Bag, you announced that the Parry/Block/Evade Mythirians do not allow for going over "cap" on these defensive abilities.

Q. I have a question about Parry/Block and Evade Mythirians. Do they actually take you past the cap? For example, would a Mythirian with 6% parry bonus on it bring someone to 56% parry if they were already at 50% parry? I was wondering if you could clear this up for me since I've heard different things from different people.

A. With a quick shake of his head the Equalizers says no: Mythical Bonuses to Parry, Block, and Evade will not raise the player beyond the cap for these defense types.

However, I'm trying to figure out if you meant the RvR Caps or PvE Caps, since there is quite a bit of difference between the two, at least in block-rate. I'm not sure what, if any, difference there is for Parry or Evade. The Equalizers answer was pretty vague so I thought perhaps an amended answer might help those curious souls like myself.

Looking at me apologetically the Equalizer explains: While the blocking rate caps are different for PvE and RvR combat, the way that the code calculates this cap is after all possible bonuses have been applied. This means that if your character would have a total of 75% chance to block, they would be capped at 60% for RvR combat, but would not be capped for PvE combat.

Mythirians will add to the total percentage chance you have to block, dodge, or parry, but will not allow you to exceed these caps - these bonuses are calculated before the cap is applied to these defenses.

I did some experimenting and decided to try Shadow Strike and Assassinate because I have never seen them in action. So I really like Assassinate but Shadow Strike has me confused. I seem to only be able to use Shadow Strike on people on ground level and when I am on ground level, but I have tried it on someone on top of a keep and I was even the same height with them on a tower and I got the message, "You don't think you can reach your target." but this isn't because I am out of range otherwise it would say so. Is it not possible to Shadow Strike someone when there is a gap between you?

Getting up close and personal with this ability the Equalizer confirms: Shadow Strike can only be used on a target that is inside of a keep or tower provided that the assassin is also inside of the keep or tower. This limitation also applies to using Shadow Strike on a target that is in the Center Keep of a Keep - you can only shadow strike a target on the Center Keep provided you are inside of the Center Keep already. You could use Shadow Strike to cross a gap inside of a keep, say from a tower to a walkway, but you could not use it to gain access to a keep from outside or to access the oil level of a keep from the walkway.

On the initial screen after logging in, at the bottom of the screen we have Quit, Realm, Option, Delete and Create. Is there a possibility that another button could be added that would allow us to change servers without having to quit and do a complete new login. Even if limited to the cluster that you are presently in it would be great. It takes awhile when I want to log off and then log back in through the update screen, password, then select server, just being able to go directly to the server screen would be a time saver especially on slower computer. Is this possible?

The Lady of the Jewels reported back after asking some key people: I have asked our lovely Engineers about this because I would also like this feature added. After much discussion, it was discovered that it would be a code nightmare due to the way our code was set up way back at the dawn of the game and not something that could feasibly be changed.

Since the Road Trip in Austin that was scheduled in September was cancelled due to Hurricane Ike. When will you be coming back to Texas?

Joanne speaking here - I did my best to try to get the Road Trip re-scheduled at a later time but due to time constraints and the holiday season coming up we were just unable to. It looks like we won't be heading down to Texas this year after all. Sorry everyone.

Is offering an in-game power leveling (PL) for in-game money a violation of the EULA?

I often see a character spamming messages in the /advice channel between 1-4 times per hour offering services to PL players from 20 to 50 for "plat". I know that offering that for actual cash is against EULA, but what about this situation? And should they be using the /advice channel in the first place?

If we see that behavior, should we /appeal or report it?

I went over to the very busy Customer Service area and asked the one who is now forever nicknamed Smakles from this day forth: The specific case you mention here regarding the sale of in-game "Power Leveling" for in-game currency is not a violation of our EULA or Code of Conduct. It would only be in violation if they were attempting to sell in-game services, currency, or items for real world currency.

If you see someone advertising in the attempt to make real world profit from in-game services, by all means submit a violation report with the name of the player you wish to report, and a summary of what is taking place. We would investigate the issue thoroughly and take the appropriate actions based on our findings.

To note on /advice, unless they are spamming the channel (multiple times a second consistently), it would not be considered in violation of our EULA or Code of Conduct.

Does "+5% buffing effectiveness" add to potion buffs?

In the quickest Grab Bag response yet, the Equalizer says: Yes - the stat buff effectiveness bonus will increase the effectiveness of potion buffs.

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

What an absolutely great time we had last weekend in Chicago for our 7th Anniversary Road Trip stop. It might have been the cakes (yes, there were two!) or I think it's because of all the great people we met there but the Devs and I are still smiling. Thank you so much to everyone for coming to celebrate with us. Check the Herald next week as I hope to have some photos up to see.

Halloween is here! This week the Happy Halloween festivities started as we offer quests and of course for you potion drinkers, you get the chance to dress up too. The pumpkin moon is out and grinning in that eternal smile of his. Enjoy the fun everyone.

While you are deciding on which costume potion you will be drinking, don't forget that the Anniversary Bonuses have been extended until November 3rd. It's a great time to get out there for those extra levels, bounty points and realm points. Have a great weekend everyone, enjoy those extended bonuses I know I will. See you out in the Frontier.