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 |  | No, I Didn't Forget Grab Bag Night |  |
|  | Posted By: Sanya Thomas | 2003-01-17 20:51:01 |  |
| |  |  Hey, it's still Friday! Technically, I've got three hours and change left! Anyway. Moving right along:
Q: Do regen spells (endurance, power, and health) stack with their realm ability equivalents (Tirelessness/Longwind, Serenity, and Regeneration)?
A: Yes. Questions on the possible caps on the amount that can be regenerated need to wait, however, as I am getting conflicting reports from the loyal crew that proofreads these columns.
Q: Is it true that single cast power regens do not stack with group chant regens, such as Empowering Tranquility stacking with a Bard's Rhyme of Nature?
A: Whichever is higher will overwrite.
Q: Spell resists. Can you give me more details as to how the system works?
A: Here’s the answer, straight from the desk of the spell designer:
"Spells have a factor of (spell level / 2) added to their chance to hit. (Spell level defined as the level the spell is awarded, chance to hit defined as the chance of avoiding the "Your target resists the spell!" message.) Subtracted from the modified to-hit chance is the target's (level / 2). So a L50 caster casting a L30 spell at a L50 monster or player, they have a base chance of 85% to hit, plus 15%, minus 25% for a net chance to hit of 75%. If the chance to hit goes over 100% damage or duration is increased, and if it goes below 55%, you still have a 55% chance to hit but your damage or duration is penalized. If the chance to hit goes below 0, you cannot hit at all. Once the spell hits, damage and duration are further modified by resistances.
"In general, RvR is between opponents within 1 quanta of each other (in the frontiers for example, L45-50), and the spells cast are L40+. This results in a 2.5-5% modifier, which is somewhat lost in the noise of the bonuses from Int/Acuity, realm abilities, and modifiers from resistances. For characters using spells around L30, they will see a more significant reduction however, and this factor is part of it."
Q: Question about the Juggernaught ability. Does it have a proc?
A: No. This pet is simply 100% of your level. Although "simply" hardly seems the word for such a big pet.
Q: Do melee resistances transfer to the Necromancer's servant?
A: Necro servants rely on their own absorption and buffs for melee attacks. Item resistance bonuses on the necro himself don’t count. However, those do help the actual necro, should he be attacked.
Q: Under the bonedancer realm abilities in the documentation on this site, BDs can have minion control but not wild minion which is the pre-requisite for it.
A: Oops, that’s a bug. Thanks!
Q: In last week’s grab bag, you mentioned such spells as the necro AF debuff spells fall under the Mastery of the Arcane realm ability. However, after dropping a few points into the RA I was disappointed in the fact that it did not affect our power transfer spell line. Is this not considered a "buff" spell? Is this by design or just an oversight?
A: Instant effects like heals, damage, and power transfers are not affected by Mastery of the Arcane. I guess the best way to define a buff is "a spell that affects one’s starting statistics." If there are exceptions, I will happily publish them next week.
Q: Is the Mastery of the Arcane realm ability suppose to be available to Skalds? If so, why doesn't it have any effect on our chants?
A: Some Skald chants have low values that require a high level of Mastery of the Arcane to "round up" to the next point. This is an issue I’m told will be getting another look.
Q: Why, when I use the character quick entry on my log in screen, does it keep telling me that the Gaheris server is a test server when it's not?
A: Because it’s a bug – fixed in the next patch.
Q: The limits on PVP in lower level dungeons have changed a bunch lately – where can I find that information outside the patch notes?
A: First, go to the top of the Herald. Click the button marked "Camelot Support" – it’s the little guy with the red cross on his shield. On the left of the Support front page is a list of links. Look under "guides and how-tos." We’ve updated the file marked "Where can I find information about the PvP "hardcore" server?"
Q: What plays into how fast your weapon swings?
A: Base speed of the weapon, quickness, and haste buffs. The end result can be reduced by haste debuffs. Dex, weapon level, quality, and bonus don't enter into it, FYI.
Q: I got this email this morning at my hotmail account. The subject line was "Lets (sic) be friends" and the sender was a fansite for DAOC. The email was large, but it looked blank. I open everything through Outlook so it got scanned for virus protection. Not sure what the text was supposed to be, but I thought I’d give you a heads up that there might be a new scam going around or something.
A: I appreciate the thought. I like to think I’m pretty up to date on the various scams going around, but I’m only one person – I welcome any warnings people want to give me! But this isn’t a scam. This is a fairly simple virus-inspired email. Someone’s address book is infected, and is sending these emails to everyone in their book. It might be the person with the address you can see, or it might be a spoofed email. (You can tell spoofs by checking the header information in the options menu.)
But I do want to warn you – Outlook is NOT enough protection. You really need to be running a reputable virus scan software program, preferably one that you keep updated by downloading patches on a regular basis. That, and never, ever open an attachment you weren’t expecting.
Q: I have a whole lot of pending quests, and I can’t see some of my most recent ones. I completed some old ones, but my newer ones didn’t become visible! What can I do besides resorting to the paper system?
A: This is a known bug, when a player gets more than ten pending quests. But fear not, your quests have not vanished. This is a known bug that we are working on - in the meantime, the workaround is the old slash command - /quest.
Q: I appealed someone for harassment and other assorted problems indicating that he did not play well with others. He probably runs with scissors, too. Anyway, a CSR arrived in a fairly timely fashion, and the Annoying Person quieted down. The CSR helped us reach a compromise, and all was well at the campground for twenty minutes. Then, I guess the medication wore off, and he was back to being a creep, only worse. So we appealed him again… and this time, no one showed up. And our appeals kept getting deleted. It completely ruined our night.
A: Yes, this question is sort of made up – I combined a bunch of different cases. Why? Same reason a CSR won’t tell you what they said to the “other player” in harassment disputes. Our CSRs do not discuss the action taken against another person’s account, and neither do I, as it is a matter of privacy. In this case, and in all others that I’ve seen, here’s the behind the scenes action:
1) You appealed.
2) The CSR arrives (assuming your appeal was clearly a case of harassment and required the presence of the CSR).
3) The CSR issues a warning to Mr. Antisocial.
4) The CSR lingers, invisibly, to make sure everyone is following the very few, very simple rules of how to share.
5) The CSR leaves to handle the next emergency.
6) Mr. Antisocial returns to form.
7) The CSR sees the appeal. The CSR can no longer do anything, as the extent of that CSR’s power is issuing a warning.
8) The CSR sends your appeal to someone with the power to suspend and to ban. This makes it APPEAR that your appeal has been deleted, but it hasn’t. It’s in a new queue that doesn’t report times. The people with the power to suspend or ban are responsible a number of servers. Also, we don’t suspend or ban casually – there are lots of hoops they jump through, gathering evidence to justify the suspension.
So you see, you weren’t ignored. Mr. Antisocial just had a suspension coming to him, and your appeal was on the desk of a supervisor, who needed the time to gather enough proof to explain to HIS boss why Mr. Antisocial needed a vacation from DAOC. I am sorry this fellow ruined your night, and we work every night towards filtering these people out of the game. We WILL get them. It sucks that you might have to change your camp spot to keep your night from being ruined. But I can tell you, it doesn't matter whether your time was disrupted three minutes, three hours, or three days after the appeal was escalated, the logs don't go out of style.
Q: I copied a character to Pendragon for the dragon raids this weekend, and I keep seeing abbreviations after people’s names – BTC and TL. What do those mean?
A: TL is "team lead" – those insanely dedicated people who help us with feedback on their class or area of expertise. BTC stands for "bumped test character" – right now, that means someone who has had his RA points artificially bumped to help us test the realm abilities in PVE. People with BTC after their names are not supposed to be in RVR, incidentally, and hold a position of special trust. (Good luck at the dragon raids, testers!)
Another plea from the customer service trenches - please update your email address entered into your registration information. It's the only way we have of getting in touch with you offline. We don't sell, lend, or trade our customer information with anyone - if you're willing to put your real email address in your signature file or board user profile (where the scammers regularly go, FYI), please consider sharing it with us!
By the way, gang, I am getting the minstrel petition. After I realized it was a petition, I have been deleting all the new copies unread. Congratulations to Dennis A. of Tuscon, Arizona, who was the first minstrel to send me a copy. The petition is nicely and politely written, and I have passed it to the development team along with a count of the number received. Please don’t send me anymore – at this point it won’t make any difference, and the feedback HAS been expressed. I appreciate the courtesy inherent to whomever composed the original document.
Okay, y’all, that’s it for me this evening. Thanks for the great questions, and we’ll see you next week!
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