DAOC 1.81 Q&A : DAOC News

Half questions, half announcements:

http://www.darkageofcamelot.com/patches/

Q: How does (insert 1.81 patch note here) affect (insert game element here)?



A: Y'all, this is not a smart aleck answer, so don't take it the wrong way when I say, "Beats me, log in to Pendragon and find out." This material is on the test server so we can see if our conjecture and planning is close to Reality Land. That's what the test server is for. We're testing as best we can internally, but nothing beats real live player experience.



But since pure testing tends to be a mind-cramping exercise in repetitive stress injury creation that I don’t actually wish on my beloved community, I would like to pimp out two, TWO fun Pendragon events this Saturday. One, at noon Eastern time, is being run by our Eldritch TL and Best Dressed poster girl, Gwenivere. Bring your water potions and meet in Aerus Haven for some artifact raiding good times. The other event ("Naked RVR") is being run by Missy at 8:00 PM EST. Check the Community Page for all the details. Even if it's not pure testing and more like "a ton of fun," your mere presence will make a difference and help us get the patch out the door. Just send in your comments afterwards, and accept my eternal gratitude.





Q: When is 1.81 going live?



A: Week after next, in theory, as I said in the last grab bag two weeks ago. Won't you log into Pendragon and play a little and help us meet that goal?



I'm not at all subtle, am I.





Q: I spent an hour helping kill the boss mob in the Lair of the Master Demon for the final Champion quest and didn’t get credit for killing him even though I received experience for killing him. What’s going on?



A: You friends on the design team provided this reply: "You were probably standing too far back when the mob died. Only those within a certain radius of the mob receive credit when the mob dies. Healing classes will sometimes stand outside this radius and cast spread heals. If you or your healer is too far away for the boss mob to attack, then that’s a good sign that you or your healer are too far away to receive credit."





Q: Can you clear up the math on the new "how many realm points am I worth" formula from the 1.81D patch notes? Everyone else but me on the forums is getting the Realm Rank section wrong and I wish to taunt them.



A: Sure. Sorry in advance for not knowing how to make the little miniature number to indicated squaring. The formula given yesterday is:



Realm point value = (level - 20)squared + (realm rank level x 5) + (champion level x 10) + (master level (squared)x 5)



The things most people are forgetting are 1) that your realm rank level STARTS at one, not zero, and 2) that a realm rank is ten levels.



Someone who is level 50, R5L2, CL5, and ML10 would thus be:



(50-20)squared + (42 x 5) + (5 x 10) + (10squared x 5), or



900 + 210 + 50 + 500, or



1660 realm points.



(In the formula currently on live servers, which is (Level - 20)squared + RRL, the same player in my example would be worth 942 points.)



And of course, this is a formula on Pendragon, and may be subject to adjustment depending on testing.





Q: How soon after you reach your four year anniversary date (at least according to the account info page) until you should be able to use the "elder" title?



A: I sent this up (long and bitter experience tells me not to answer even questions I think I know without double checking with a programmer), and the Lord of Dark Places Such As The Server Room noticed that it was set to reward our long time players after four years and one day. This has now been fixed, and I thank you for bringing it to our attention.





Q: What counts in the "realm points for healing" stuff? Spread heals, healing fonts, HoT spells, or only single target heals?



A: This was a very, very popular question this week. The answer is unfortunately simply that we don't know yet what all can be included. Normally I wouldn't even put something so uncertain into the grab bag, only, I'm afraid some of you "kind and gentle" healing types would hunt me down and eviscerate me if I just let it go until next week. Currently, on Pendragon, only single target heals are available to test until we make final decisions, which will be sometime next week.





***



The sacked thing yesterday was a Monty Python Holy Grail joke. What an exciting evening that was.



Sorry about the brevity of the bag, gangsters, but many of the questions were like the healing question - in other words, the answers are not yet finalized enough for me to want them in a searchable database. Really, the SOLE reason the healing question was even mentioned was to promise you we're thinking about what can and can't be done.



I wanted to be in Alexandria tomorrow night and greet some of the most awesome players who ever played the game (including the author of the Hibernian National Anthem), and I fully intended to do so, but I am absolutely crushed to say I most likely can't make it. If you're from Merlin online, and the DC area offline, be sure to head to Pat Troy's Ireland's Own in Old Town Alexandria and hoist a pint for me.



Okay, I said I wouldn't do this, because he didn't write the book as a Mythic employee, he wrote it completely as an independent agent. He was known as a bit of a writer back before he was hired here, and that's what got him the job. He's going to be really annoyed at me, too, and I have to trust in his ethical sense to not use his admin password to pull this off the net.



But the publisher of the For Dummies series asked him to write Massively Multiplayer Games For Dummies awhile back, and Barnes and Noble got them in today. I can't just let that go by without public humiliation, and when he saw the sombrero he started running and squealing like a little girl. I'm disgustingly proud, and if not the sombrero, then the Grab Bag. So far, my favorite sidebar is "Evil is Hard."



The pink barrels of Mag Mell on Pendragon will remain until Monday. As much as Certain People may joke, fuchsia is not a Hibernian color. Well, it is, but not in the quantities currently featured in Mag Mell.



Speaking of towns and their beautiful art work, some of you never upgraded to the improved town art of many months past. It was an optional patch, but those who have it say they can't imagine doing without the files. The optional town art patch is located here at the bottom of the page: http://www.darkageofcamelot.com/patches/



Next week is the four year anniversary of the grab bag. FOUR YEARS. I'd like to throw a party and give you all slushies and cubes of cheese on toothpicks, but failing that, I'd like to post a few of your memories. If you were to send me an email (Sanya AT mythicentertainment DOT com) with the header FOUR FREAKING YEARS and your best memory of the game from four years ago until the present, I'd post my favorites next week!



Have a great weekend; and if you're in a state getting snowed on, stay warm.