Grab Bag - August 29, 2008

Hello from Seattle!


I was just wondering why Anderrson in Svasud Faste is not giving out experience anymore for the Malefic Tooth turn in? Instead he is giving out 75 silver or an RoG gem drop... what's the deal? I thought kill task items like the above mentioned one were to specifically give experience? If this was changed, how did I miss it?

The Lady of the Jewels went to Anderrson himself and found this out: Most bounty items do give experience when turned in, however the Malefic Tooth bounty is unique in that it has a random chance to give experience, money, or a gem.

I am wondering about the spell Taunting Shout that is given to all heavy tanks at Level 5. I never had a problem with the resist rates on this spell while I was leveling to 50, but now that I am doing high-level PvE (i.e. orange-purple to 50) and also epic mobs with my Armsman, this spell seems to have an outright resist rate that approaches 95%. I did some testing on this with my guild and other heavy tanks that I've contacted have told me that they face similar problems.

Our theory is that because the ability delves as a Level 5 magical ability, it has a naturally high resist rate against mobs that range from 51-65 and beyond. Is the intent of this spell to be ineffective beyond level 50?

After quite a bit of testing The Equalizer says: Taunting Shout, though received at level 5, actually is set as a level 50 spell, and should not be suffering from such an extreme resist rate. We will continue to look into the resist rates of this spell, as it has been brought to our attention before. Thank you for the information.

Will there be player controlled mounts on Origins?

With a sad look on her face the Lady of the Jewels says no: Player controlled mounts will not be available on the new server type. Increases to speed will be provided exclusively by classes with that magical ability on the Origins ruleset.

I would like to know why I receive different timers on the ablative charges for the Medal of Honor, or Asteroth's Ring of Abomination. The timers in the delve say 10 minutes, but the times I receive vary from 6 minutes to 10. What is going on?

After taking quite a few moments to duplicate the issue our very own Equalizer says: If you are using timed buffs while suffering from resurrection sickness, the buffs will be affected by the effectiveness penalty from being recently resurrected. This will affect spell buffs as well as buffs cast from the /use abilities of items.

Recently searching on the Market Explorer and I found remains on a merchant of a creature called Howl. I cannot find anything about it and I haven't been able to speak to the player who has its drop. What is it and where is it found? Can the Remains be made into a housing trophy?

Jumping into housing and trophy stuffing the Lady of the Jewels has this information for you: Howl is a named dark hound who roams the woods south of Gna Faste in Midgard. His remains can be turned into a floor trophy. As with many other named mobs, players may need to hunt the other dark hounds in the area to get Howl to appear.

So I recently respec'ed my Cleric to Smite and realized that my power bar takes more damage than the mobs. I tried using a staff with a 50 level focus bonus to all spell lines on it but didn't notice a difference to the power I used. I was wondering if focus bonuses DID in fact work and, if not, could you add a smite focus bonus into the game pretty please. Thanks mucho!

With a quick verification to be sure the Equalizer says: Focus bonuses are designed to only affect list casters, such as Wizards, Runemasters, and Mentalists. Because of this, focus bonuses will not affect Clerics.

I love the Wyverns and how fun they are for us on routes. Does this mean they are going to replace the horses in Ligen North Tir Na Nog Adree and other places? Will we be able to have them as a new mount?

The Lady of the Jewels always happy to talk about the new routes says: The Dragonfly, Griffon, and Wyvern travel routes will not likely replace all of the horse routes in the game. Horses will still be used for traveling shorter distance from town to town. As far as making Flying Mounts available for players to purchase I'm afraid there are no plans that at this time.

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Camelot Road trip has landed in Seattle. That's right the Blonde Gremlin and I are on the west coast and we can't wait to meet up with all of you coming to the Road Trip event tomorrow night. There will be snacks, prizes and plenty of Camelot discussion. Come join us, we always have a great time. For more information about the upcoming Road Trips please click here.

Have you had a chance to do the Doppelganger quests yet? If you haven't had the opportunity, there is no time like the present. A little gem told me that they might be going dormant as soon as next week. As always keep an eye here on the Herald for all the doppelganger happenings.

With a holiday weekend upon us here in the US/Canada, we started the party early yesterday with the holiday bonuses. If you are needing that little extra for your character, this weekend is a great time to get out there for Bounty Points, Ream Points and that experience you crave!

Well gang, it's been a long day for me. It's time for me to kick back, find some chocolate and just enjoy being on the ground for awhile. Have a great holiday weekend and please stay safe. If you plan on drinking, don't get behind the wheel. I will see y'all out in the frontier!