Producer's Letter 2017

Posted by John Thornhill | 2017 Feb 17 00:21 -0500 GMT
Greetings all,

We're already a month and a half into what will be an exciting 2017! We've been busy discussing, planning, and working on what's coming this year as there are a LOT of things on our plate. In this letter, I'll be giving our take on where things stand currently, addressing much of your feedback from the past several months, and outlining the plans for this year!

A Matter of the Heart

Posted by John Thornhill | 2017 Feb 13 12:14 -0500 GMT
Love is in the air as we celebrate the return of our Valentine's Day event!
 
This event will run from Monday, February 13th through Friday, February 17th and brings the following quests: 


 
  • A Matter of the Heart: This quest will give players of all realms the chance find the imp, Russel, located mainland side of Castle Sauvage/Druim Ligen/Svasud Faste. He's ready to offer some interesting tasks from the local imp's union in return for a Lawn Cupid trophy, experience and coin. Don't forget to speak to Lady Payne and earn your ROG Valentine's Ring or Bracer too!
  • Keeping Company: This quest will be offered to characters level 45 and above and will have a unique challenge for players in Albion, Midgard and Hibernia.  As a reward, players will receive a Tiny Compatriot Crate, experience and coin. Visit Lailen in Jordheim, Pondar Cully in Camelot, and Harris MacCullogh in Tir na Nog to start the quest.
  • Valentine's Traditions: These quests will offer three old style quests which were part of the original Dark Age of Camelot Valentine's Day content. Players will be able to complete the quest up to eight times, which is based on the number of times the original quest has been issued online.  Players will be rewarded with a Hearts Cloak, Heart-Shaped Box, experience and coin. Visit  Rumdor in Mag Mell, Hrolf in Mularn, or Sir Prescott in Camelot Hills to start the quest.

Hot Fix Changes - 2/2/17

Posted by John Thornhill | 2017 Feb 02 13:29 -0500 GMT




Class Changes

Animist

Creeping Mastery (Creeping specialization)

  • Shroom of Life has changed as follows:
    • Is no longer a ground target spell.
      • It is now single target. It still heals all allies around itself.
    • The pet is now level 50.
    • The pet is now immune to mesmerization effects (can be stunned, confused).

Bainshee

Spectral Guard (Spectral Force specialization)

  • A new pet summon spell has been added:
    • Level 50 – Sound Vortex – 1500 range – 10s cast – 20s duration – 4s frequency – 10m RUT – 25% power – Summons a vortex at the ground target location that fires sound waves for 300 damage to up to 8 targets within 1500 units of the vortex.
    • The Sound Vortex can be killed, stunned, or feared. It cannot be mezzed or confused.
    • There is a limit of 3 active vortexes allowed in an area.
    • Bainshees will need to respec to see this ability if they already have 50 Spectral Force specialization.

Bonedancer

Bone Protection (Suppression specialization)

  • The low level disarm spells have been changed:
    • Level 1 – Punish Combatant:
      • RUT increased to 5 minutes, up from 60s.
    • Level 11 – Punish Assailant:
      • Duration reduced to 2s, down from 3s.
      • RUT increased to 5 minutes up from 60s.
    • Level 21 – Punish Aggressor
      • Duration reduced to 4s, down from 5s.
      • RUT increased to 3 minutes, up from 60s.
    • All other levels remain unchanged.

Bone Legion (Bone Army specialization)

  • Sub pets have changed as follows:
    • Fossil Defender
      • Now moves at normal movement speed.
      • Health increased by 15%.
    • Fossil Guardian
      • Defenses against all damage increased by 10%.
      • Health increased by 5%.
      • Now have a staff style:
        • Fossil Jump – Any – Reduces the target’s armor factor by 50 for 10s.
      • Provides a new additional buff to groupmates and pets:
        • Fossil Strength – Increases target’s Strength by 50. Does not replace more powerful spells. This spell is lost if the pet dies or is released.
      • Fossil Healer
        • Heal cast time increased by .2 seconds.
        • Damage taken increased by 50%.
      • Fossil Soldier
        • Overall damage reduced by 10%.
        • No longer have a double attack chance.
        • Now take maximum damage from melee attacks.
        • Styles have been readjusted as follows:
          • Fossil Cleave, anytime, no longer has an attack speed debuff.
          • Glacial Movement, side, snares target for 19s.
          • Raider, off evade (self), bleeds target for 20 damage every 4s for 20s.
          • No longer has any back positional styles.
          • No longer has any stun styles.
        • Fossil Seer
          • Disease cast time increased by .5 seconds.
        • Fossil Mystic
          • Damage on the snare nuke reduced by 10%.
          • Damage on the regular nuke reduced by 5%.

Cabalist

Spirit Animation (Baseline)

  • Pets have changed as follows:
    • Jade Simulacrum
      • Now moves at normal movement speed.
    • Sapphire Simulacrum
      • Now takes maximum damage from melee attacks.

Enchanter

Enchantments (Baseline)

  • Pets have changed as follows:
    • Underhill Compatriot
      • Now moves at normal movement speed.
    • Underhill Ally
      • Now takes maximum damage from melee attacks.
      • Heal cast time decreased by .2 seconds.
    • Underhill Stalker
      • Poison now changes depending on which Enchantment buff is active.
      • Enchanters must spec in Enchantments to gain access to certain poisons.
      • All poison debuffs last 15 seconds (does not include Lifebane).
        • No Enchantment – No poison.
        • Enchantment of Ice – Touch of Death.
        • Enchantment of Earth – Swordbreaker.
        • Enchantment of Fire – Lifebane.
        • Enchantment of Mana – Widow Venom.

Hunter

Beastcraft specialization

  • The level 50 pet, Hunter’s Elder Avatar, has had its damage dealt reduced by 15%.

Mentalist

Holism (Mana specialization)

  • The AoE Damage over Time spells have been increased to match the Bonedancer and Necromancer:
    • Level 23 – Fog of Delirium – 30 damage every 5 seconds for 20 seconds.
    • Level 29 – Hallucinatory Winds – 60 damage every 4 seconds for 20 seconds.
    • Level 36 – Torrent of Dementia – 88 damage every 4 second for 20 seconds.
    • Level 46 – Storms of Insanity – 131 damage every 2.5 seconds for 20 seconds.
    • All remaining lower versions remain unchanged.

Necromancer

Deathsight Baseline

  • Decrepit Form changes:
    • Melee attack speed reduced by 100% while in Decrepit Form.

Deathsight specialization

  • Channeled Frenzy (PBAoE), and all subsequent versions, now require Decrepit Form to be active.
  • The single target slow has changed as follows:
    • Range reduced to 1000.
    • Now requires Decrepit Form to be active.
    • The Level 2 version, Crippling Exhaustion, now has a RUT of 5 minutes.

Painworking Baseline

  • Chthonic Form changes:
    • Fixed a bug where ‘Chthonic Armor’ was not dropping upon shapeshifting, thus allowing Spirit and Decrepit forms to have over 400 additional armor factor.

Painworking specialization

  • Freezing Howl (AoE damage and slow), and all subsequent versions, now require Chthonic Form to be active.
    • The Level 7 version, Freezing Hold, does not require Chthonic Form (Chthonic Form is gained at level 8).
  • Summon Death Shredder (pet) now requires Chthonic Form to be active.
    • You may exit Chthonic Form once it is used and retain the Death Shredder for its duration.

Death Servant Baseline

  • Spirit Form changes:
    • Final Blast (bolt) now requires Spirit Form to be active.
    • Death Blast (bolt) now requires Spirit Form to be active.
    • Melee attack speed is reduced by 100% while in Spirit Form.
  • Pets have changed as follows:
    • Umbral Aegis
      • Now moves at normal movement speed.
    • Priest of Arawn
      • Now takes maximum damage from melee attacks.
      • Heal cast time decreased by .2 seconds.

Death Servant specialization

  • Arawn’s Legion has changed as follows:
    • All pets summoned by Arawn’s Legion now take 100% more damage from all sources.
    • The pet cap for ranged pets reduced to 8, down from 12.
    • Range reduced to 1500, down from 2000.
    • Knight of Arawn
      • Damage dealt reduced by 50%.
      • Health reduced by 5%.
    • Handmaiden of Lilith
      • Health reduced by 5%.
    • Mage of Arawn
      • Health reduced by 75%.
      • Cast time increased by .5 seconds.
    • Tempter of Arawn
      • Health reduced by 75%

Spiritmaster

Summon Mastery (Summoning specialization)

  • Gates of Valhalla has changed as follows:
    • The Pets summoned by Gates of Valhalla now take 50% more damage from all sources.
    • The range of which the gates will spawn pets has increased to 1500, up from 750.
    • Duration reduced to 60 seconds, down from 2 minutes.
  • Pets have changed as follows:
    • Spirit Warrior
      • Now moves at normal movement speed.
    • Spirit Shaman
      • Now takes maximum damage from melee attacks.
      • Heal cast time decreased by .2 seconds.

Changes - 1/17/17

Posted by Community | 2017 Jan 17 18:21 -0500 GMT
The following changes are now live!

General


  • Instruments should now lose their durability much less frequently as before.
  • There was an issue causing instruments to lose durability much faster in conjunction with running several songs at once.
  • The new weapon from Jack Frost, the Ice Shard, has had its slow duration reduced to 3 seconds.
  • Ice Shards are now only usable by level 50 characters.
  • Midgard’s Ice Shard is now an Axe weapon instead of a Sword.
  • This change allows it to be used in the offhand like the other realms.


Class Changes


Enchanter
  •  The Underhill Stalker has had two styles removed:
  • Achilles Heel and Leaper
  • These styles caused the armor wither effect, which lead to massive hits on targets while Summon Mastery (ML9) was active. With these styles removed, the stalker's damage should be more in-line with the other melee-DPS pets in the other realms.
  • Otherwise, we are happy with the DPS pets' damage as these pets are extremely weak to both physical and magical attacks, and gain no defensive bonuses even while under the effects of Summon Mastery (ML9).
Necromancer
  • Arawn’s Legion pet limit has been reduced to 12, down from 16.
  • Please note these pets are instantly destroyed with confusion spells (Skald, Runemaster, Healer, Bard, Mentalist, Warden).
  • These pets are vulnerable to all forms of crowd control.
Spiritmaster
  • Gates of Valhalla pet limit has been reduced to 24, down from 32.
  • Please note these pets are instantly destroyed with confusion spells (Sorcerer, Minstrel, Friar, Bard, Mentalist, Warden).
  • These pets are vulnerable to all forms of crowd control.
     
Developer's note: 

Overall, we are very happy with the pet-based class' performance. Prior to 1.122 pet-based classes had static and uninspired pets and pet abilities that made their pets more after-thoughts than class-defining roles. With 1.122 we wanted there to be a real choice among the different pets with each pet type being useful and unique. In many ways this has been accomplished. However, the melee-DPS pets seem to be a bit too popular still. As we monitor this latest round of fixes, we are looking at some additional adjustments in the coming weeks that will help the other pet types' performance. 

In addition, we would like to announce that class balance related tweaks and adjustments will be coming more frequently and more often as Hot Fixes, going forward. This allows us to more nimbly respond to your feedback to address any imbalances and allows us to perform more gradual improvements in shorter timespans. Major class balance changes will still be part of major patch versions (read: with downtime) but tweaks to classes, in the form of Hot Fixes, should be expected every 3-5 weeks throughout the year from now on. 

We've addressed the stealther archetypes, light-tank archetypes, and pet-classes extensively over the previous two patch cycles and so Hot Fix adjustments between now and the next major update will be focused in those areas; however, we will be looking at hybrids and the lesser-used support lines in the next major version. Speaking of the next major version, as discussed in the end of the year podcast, one of its major focal points will be on adjusting /uses and procs on gear so that class abilities once again matter more than the procs or abilities found on a character's equipment.

Finally, we'll be outlining our full plan for the 1.123 version (and beyond) in the coming weeks with a Producer's letter and newsletter. There are some big updates on the way and we're very excited to unveil them to you!

MLK Day Weekend RvR Bonuses

Posted by John Thornhill | 2017 Jan 13 16:04 -0500 GMT
In celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.'s day, the following bonuses are now up for you! Happy long-weekend, folks!

Bonuses
 
On Ywain:
  • 100% bonus to RP gain in all NF zones (including the Labyrinth)
  • 100% bonus to RP gain in all battlegrounds
  • 100% bonus to normal XP gain in all classic and shrouded isles zones and dungeons
  • 50% bonus to normal BP in all NF zones
  • 50% bonus to normal BP in all battlegrounds
On Gaheris:
  • 100% bonus to normal XP gain in all classic and shrouded isles zones and dungeons
  • 100% bonus to normal BP gain in the capital cities
  • 100% bonus to normal RP gain in the capital cities
In each Capital City:
  • 40% Bonus to Crafting Speed
  • 20% Bonus to Crafting Skill Gain
In all Housing Zones:
  • 40% Bonus to Crafting Speed
  • 20% Bonus to Crafting Skill Gain
These bonuses will end on Tuesday, January 17th, 2017.

1.122B Hot Fix #5

Posted by John Thornhill | 2016 Dec 23 16:02 -0500 GMT
One last Hot Fix before the holidays. Stay safe and enjoy the holidays!
 

Class Changes


Cabalist
  • The Amber Simulacrum pet's style damage has been reduced very slightly.
Enchanter
  • The Underhill Stalker pet's style damage has been reduced very slightly.
Friar
  • The instant taunt line of spells once again interrupts enemy players properly.
Necromancer
  • The Plated Fiend pet's spirit-form style damage has been reduced very slightly.
Painworking Specialization
  • The Death Shredder pet's style damage has been reduced very slightly.
  • The Villainous Strike anytime style has had its damage reduced from Medium to Low.
  • The Frozen Edge rear style has had its damage reduced from High to Medium.
  • The Deathseeker follow-up style has had its damage increased and its damage-over-time effect removed.
  • The following instant damage over time spells' values have had their damage adjusted:
    • Level 37 - Freezing Clench reduced from 64/tick to 54/tick
  • Netherbane's damage over time proc has been converted to a direct damage proc.
    • It now delves for 150 cold damage. 
    • The slow portion of the proc remains unchanged.
  • All versions of the summoned Icebrand weapon's cold direct damage procs have had their damage reduced.
Death Servant Specialization
  • The single-target snare nuke no longer applies its snare on root-immune targets.
Paladin
  • The instant taunt line of spells once again interrupts enemy players properly.
Spiritmaster
  • The Spirit Valkyrie pet's style damage has been reduced very slightly.

Twelve Days of Midwinter

Posted by John Thornhill | 2016 Dec 21 06:02 -0500 GMT
The 21st of December is here which means that Midwinter is truly upon us. Celebrate the holiday spirit with our Twelve Days of Midwinter give-a-way event!


On the first day of Midwinter, Broadsword gave to me...
 

  • Login to the game and visit the following NPCs to receive a special reward each day!
    • Albion: Santa Nicholas in Camelot's church
    • Midgard: Kris Kringle in Jordheim's Assembly Hall
    • Hibernia: Daidi na Nollag in Tir na Nog's Alainn Cuir
  • Speak with the above NPCs to reveal your reward for each day.
    • Each day's reward will be revealed around 5:30 AM EST / 10:30 AM GMT and last the remainder of that day.
    • If you miss a day, you will be able to catch up and receive the missed rewards by visiting the NPC on subsequent days.
      • This means if you simply login on the twelfth day, you'll receive all 12 rewards!
        • Make sure you have room in your inventory!
  • These rewards are limited to level 50s and can only be obtained once per character.
    • All rewards will be tradable.
  • This event will run from today, December 21st, 2016 for the next twelve days, with the last day being January 1st, 2017!

 

1.122B Hot Fix #4

Posted by John Thornhill | 2016 Dec 20 12:28 -0500 GMT
A few more tweaks and bug fixes to announce this fine Tuesday. Thank you all for the excellent feedback on the patch!
 

World


  • The difficulty of the Frozen Caverns' challenge mode has been reduced.
    • The mechanics of the encounter remain the same but some of Jack Frost's damage has been toned down slightly.

Class Changes


General
  • Several pets have been fixed to correctly take magic damage.
  • All of the Mythirians from the Frozen Caverns instance can now be equipped correctly.
  • The Speed of Sound Realm Ability no longer drops when hit by certain Slow abilities.
    • All other slows were already correctly not affecting Speed of Sound.
Cabalist
  • The Amber Simulacrum pet's run speed has been reduced slightly.
Enchanter
  • The Underhill Stalker pet's run speed has been reduced slightly.
Necromancer
  • The Plated Fiend pet's run speed has been reduced slightly.
Painworking Specialization
  • The debuff value on the Frozen Edge rear style has been reduced from 45% to 35%.
  • The Deathseeker follow-up style has been adjusted as follows:
    • Its damage has been reduced from 100/tick to 75/tick.
    • Its frequency has been reduced from 2s/tick to 2.5s/tick.
      • Its duration remains at 10s.
  • The following instant damage over time spells' values have had their damage adjusted:
    • Level 37 - Freezing Clench reduced from 74/tick to 64/tick
    • Level 47 - Freezing Howl reduced from 132/tick to 112/tick
  • Netherbane's damage over time proc has been adjusted as follows:
    • Its damage has been reduced from 185/tick to 145/tick.
    • Its frequency has been reduced from 2s/tick to 2.5s/tick.
      • Its duration remains at 10s.

Spiritmaster

  • The Spirit Valkyrie pet's run speed has been reduced slightly.

Podcast Video: Year in Review

Posted by Community | 2016 Dec 16 11:08 -0500 GMT

Our Knight Podcast last Sunday took a look back over the past year's changes as well as looked forward to what's coming in 2017.

Knights Luvly, Maceric, and Cyrric were joined by DAoC Producer John Thornhill during the podcast, which is now available on our official YouTube channel!

Watch it below!


Midwinter has come

Posted by John Thornhill | 2016 Dec 14 19:21 -0500 GMT
In celebration of the Midwinter Festival, we have the following notes for you:
  • The Frozen Medal of Honor and Frozen Cloaks of Midwinter are once again available!
  • Battleground Presents are there to be gathered!
  • The Traveling Merchants have their winterly return to the realms!
  • A new challenging instance awaits those willing to brave the cold!

Midwinter will start today, December 14th, and will run until January 17th, 2017.
 


Read on for more details!

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