Grab Bag - November 21, 2008

Ready for some Grab Bag goodies? Read on!


I noticed in the last major patch that blocking was capped at 60% in RvR. My problem isn't with the new block rate, but that there is now a misleading piece of information during the loading screens; the one that states "Block rate is capped at 75% in RVR..." I think for the sake of confusion, it should be altered to the current 60% value.

The Lady of the Jewels nodded her head in agreement: Our players are very observant. This loading screen tip will be updated in the next patch cycle. Thank you for spotting it!

Nooooo! I missed the chance to get a Medal of Honor for one of my characters! When can I expect to see another chance to obtain this item?

With her voice going down a couple of octaves to mimic Queen Lilith, The Lady of the Jewels says: A new version of the Medal of Honor became available just this week. It is a reward for the quest The Demon Queen, given by your realm's scholar who resides just inside the Darkness Falls dungeon entrance.

Hello. My question is about the Flex weapons of Albion. A long time ago I was told that Flex weapon damage was dependant on your Strength and Dexterity much like thrust and pierce weapons, but lately I have been hearing from other players that it is only based on Strength. Can you clarify this? For me as the mix of different answers I'm getting are confusing.

With a memory so sharp knives are scared of him, the Blonde Gremlin found this for you: I remembered the Balancinator had already addressed it in a previous grab bag. The short answer: Strength and Dexterity. Here is what was previously answered by the Balancinator:

Q. What attributes do flexible weapons need? I know strength is for crush and slash, so if I have a flex crush/slash do I just need strength?

A. Answering quickly and then singing a song, the Balancinator replies: No, flexible weapons utilize both dexterity and strength regardless of which type of damage the flexible weapon deals.

In the last Grab bag you all said: "Due to overwhelming player feedback we will be altering the trade-in NPCs to accept the old original breastplates.'

My question is about your wording. You said, "we will be altering" not we have or we did. Does this mean that this matter has not been changed yet? Will you tell us when we will be able to exchange these breastplates?

The Lady of the Jewels informed us: This change is not yet live, but it is something currently being worked on. We plan to have the trade-in NPCs accepting the older breastplates within the next few weeks. There will be a post on the Herald when this change is complete. I apologize if the wording was confusing.

Currently I'm leveling a Mauler Thane in Grenlock's Sound. There are 2 quests which take you to the island to the south of the mainland. The first being the quest that just requires you to speak to the dockmistress, the second is Quell the Invasion. Upon completing the quests I purchased a boat ticket to return to Halfheim and in both instances after going through the boat ride I was still on the south island. Thinkin this is a bug I tested it several times each ending in the same result. Finally I had to suicide in order to get back to mainland. Also I was not able to swim back to the mainland as it acted as if I was Hitting a zone wall. Is this supposed to be happening?

The Equalizer was happy to let you know: Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We managed to track down the cause of this and fixed the problem earlier today. Hopefully you don't have to worry about being stranded on the island anymore.

Can we have any information please about a trophy mob called Vaerin?

A trophy hunter in her limited spare time, the Lady of the Jewels says that: Vaerin is a level 35 named Drakoran who lives in Avalon Isle. He tends to roam the area around the entrance to Avalon City. Players may need to kill the other drakorans in the area such as looters and sawbones to help convince him to appear.

Does the Volatile Depletion Arcanium Weapon Tincture actually drain 50 power from you target when it procs? I have heard that it does not actually drain power from the intended target but instead converts damage done to power for the person using the weapon. This does not seem right as it says it drains 50 power from the target. Additionally if it does drain "50" is that just 50 total from the target or is it 50%?

The Blonde Gremlin went to check out this volatile item: No, the volatile depletion weapon tincture does not drain power when it Procs. It deals a base damage of the listed amount, (In this case 55 for the Arcanium variety) then returns a portion of that damage to the user's power pool. To answer the second part of this, percentage values in delves are always represented with a % sign. All values given are base values only, (most) of which are always subject to resists, and or other factors.

Why can't I use helmets/circlets/caps from one realm on another realm? Like why doesn't my Albion Cloth Cap fit a Midgard character while the robes do?

Straight from the mouths of the Art Guru and the Princess of Pixels I was able to learn this: Helms and other head gear are the one exception to the otherwise one size fits all armor in Camelot. All player character heads have something called nodes, and the number of nodes on the head varies between different races and realms. Because of this, the amount of processing power needed to have one helm work with all realms would cause undue lag and simply isn't practical.

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Grab needs you - well your questions anyways. If you have a question you would like to see in a future Grab Bag then you need to send it in. Head on over to the Feedback Form and select "Questions" from the drop down menu. Type in the information as well as your question and you could be seeing your question in a Grab Bag!

For those of you wondering what happened to the doppelgangers they have invaded Darkness Falls as we are Embracing the Darkness. That's right all the Demon Queen herself has now been revealed to of been behind the doppels. If you haven't had a chance to visit Darkness Falls in awhile, this is a great time to revisit one of your favorite dungeons. Don't forget there are extra bonuses too.

There won't be a Grab Bag next week as the US celebrates turkey day with plenty of food, friends and family. If I don't get a chance to tell you next week, have a great Thanksgiving holiday, please stay safe if you are traveling during this very busy time of year. That's it for me this week, I'll see y'all in Darkness Falls this weekend!