Grab Bag - December 5, 2008

Grab something warm as it sure is getting cold out there!


Hello there. I been trying to get a Dorawm bracer of blight which is supposed to drop from the encounter of Ring of Unyielding Will. I been farming this guy a dozen times and he never drops anything, not even some random objects. Is there a bug with this mob?

The Lady of the Jewels remembered answering a similar question of March this year: This bracer is indeed dropped by Dorawm of the Ring of Unyielding Will encounter. As far as why he is not dropping any loot for this player; from a Previous Grab Bag found at http://www.camelotherald.com/news/news_article.php?storyid=3488:

"All Master Level and artifact encounter monsters will now only drop their normal loot again if someone in the group killing them needs credit for the encounter. If no one in the group needs credit, they will drop nothing of significance. This does not include Celestius.

New encounters have been added which will drop random loot taken from the Master Level and artifact encounters. As well, players can turn in essences that drop from these encounters for a roll on a specific master level or artifact encounter loot table."

Further information on these new encounters can be found here in the version 1.89 Release Notes in the Trials of Atlantis section:
http://www.camelotherald.com/news/news_article.php?storyid=3076

Me and a few others have started trying to play some Texas Holdem using the in-game card system while waiting for our RvR groups to gather. I looked up all the card commands, but so far nobody has been able to figure out how to show someone else their cards that were dealt face down. You can do a /show and it says 'you show %t your hand' but /held still won't show what the other people are holding, and we can't find another command that views all cards currently being shown. Is there a command to do this?

When I brought this question to the Lady of the Jewels the expression on her face was priceless and she loved how creative y'all are but after some searching she said: Sadly, we don't appear to have a command that does what this player is asking for.

I would just like to know when we will be able to /Level the Catacombs classes? There are a few classes I would really like to make but I have limited play time so it is unwise for me to spend it leveling from 1-20. I know I can't be the only one wondering this because people talk about it in game a lot. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

The Shining Cavalier fully entranced in lines and lines of code says: We have been investigating the possibility of allowing Catacombs classes to /Level 20 and I'm happy to say this is something we are looking into for a future patch cycle.

The Midnight Marauder Phantom Gloves salvage for 12 Runed Leather. Shouldn't this salvage for Tempered Leather?

With a quick check to the crafting library The Lady of the Jewels says you are correct: Runed Leather seems a bit too low for an item of this level. It should be at least Eldritch Leather. Thank you for letting us know!

Hi! I see caravans with guards running around New Frontiers and such. I know these are missions of some kind. Would you be able to tell me where I get them? Also, is this a group or solo mission?

Without even blinking The Lady of the Jewels responded quickly with: Caravan missions can be obtained from a General of the realm stationed outside each border keep. This specific type is a group mission, so to begin it players must be the leader of a group and select [group missions] followed by [caravan] from the General's dialogue.

Is /qtd coming back? For folks on slower machines that require frequent rebooting, it's a big timesaver.

Smiling thoughtfully the Shining Cavalier explains: We do plan to look at bringing back a /qtd type option for players in the future.

I had a question that I can't answer myself through testing, because I would have to cheat to find out! If a player is killed 4 consecutive times in RVR combat, and has all 4 resurrection illness debuffs on them, will they be 100% effectiveness debuffed, and therefore, do 0 damage?

The Equalizer jumped at the chance to test this for you and the results were very conclusive: No. A player can only have 2 Resurrection Sickness debuffs on them at any one time. This means that the maximum effectiveness debuff from Resurrection Sickness is 60%.

My question seems to stump everyone I ask and I'd love to get an answer. Does the Warden's weapon skill have anything to do with the damage done by Battlemaster styles in combat? People tell me the Battlemaster styles are on a different damage table so I don't have to level at all in my chosen weapon type while others tell me that it does affect the damage I deal. PLEASE could you answer this for me?

The power of saying please coupled with a question that stumps everyone was right up the alley of the Equalizer: Training in your chosen weapon's specialization will increase the amount of damage you do with your Battlemaster styles - you will do more damage with these styles the more points you put into your weapon's specialization line.

I have a question about some buffs in the game. A level 50 Healer has a delve of 48+ to Dexterity with no +% to any buff effects. Why is it that They only get +38 to dexterity when casted? Shouldn't it be the amount in which it is delved for?

With some testing to be sure, the Equalizer explains: Buffs in the Healer's Augmentation Baseline are affected by the Healer's specialization in the Augmentation Line. A healer with no points trained into Augmentation with no +Buff Bonus items on will be able to cast their baseline Dexterity Buff for a value of +39. If they raise their specialization to 20, their buff will have a value of +48. If they raise their specialization to 42, their buff will have a value of +60.

I noticed the re-use timer gets reset when I move the Convoker Level 1 ability (Summon Wood) icon from my ability list to a different q-bar/slot. Is this a bug?

The Equalizer did some icon switching and came up with: This appears to only be a graphical error - the recast timer begins when you cast the spell and will only last for 2 minutes. If you place another instance of this spell onto your quickbar, it appears that this timer is reset, but you will be able to re-use this ability two minutes after you initially used it.

We have entered this display issue into our tracker. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

I was upgrading my house on Lancelot from a house level 2 to a mansion level 4. I pulled all the stuff out and upgraded fine. Then I set the items back in the house realizing I had forgot to set the porch down for the Consignment Merchant. I bought a 3rd house vault and put my 2 full vaults and other house items into it that I had to take down to put the porch up. I took the one vault containing the first and second vaults and put it in my bag. I then went outside and realized I had to take down the garden decorations. I went inside to set the vault down and clear some more space to gather outside garden items. When I sat the vault down the vault had changed to either the 1st or 2nd vault and the other 2 vaults are now gone. What happened to all my vaults?

Happy to solve a mystery, the Equalizer has the answer: Vaults in housing are accessed based upon the order that the vault items are placed down - the first vault you place accesses vault 1, the second accesses vault 2, the third accesses vault 3, and so on. These vaults are stored on the house, and not on the actual item that you are able to pick up and carry around. As such, by removing all three vaults, when you put down what had been your vault 3, all you were doing was giving yourself access to vault 1. In order to gain access to your third vault again, you will need to place two more vaults, at which point you will be able to get back into vault 3.

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Scroll of Valor needs you - to honor your guildmates and friends that is. The Scroll of Valor is a weekly article that gives you the chance to tell your fellow realm just what they've accomplished. Whether it is obtaining Level 50, a new Realm Rank or a fancy new title, send it in. You'll be glad you did and so will your friends!

We just wanted to let you know that in case you didn't see the announcement this week on the Herald, that we are working on the /social window delays that are happening. We know it can be frustrating and we want it to be fixed as soon as possible as well.

Have you been looking for where those doppelgangers went or maybe you need to get your hands on a Medal of Honor? Onward to Darkness Falls you need to go! With Queen Lilith behind all the invasions you can now find the doppels as well as a quest to obtain the Medal of Honor in Darkness Falls.

It's hard to believe how quickly this week went but it's time for me to head out into the cold and head on home. I've got my scarf that was gifted to me at the Seattle Road Trip to keep me warm and cozy. Have an excellent weekend, I'll see you out in the frontier.