Grab Bag - December 14, 2007

Another week, another Grab Bag. Here we go:


Q. I have a level 50 Heretic that is a Legendary Alchemist. The other day I decided to level up some Siegecrafting, when I got an error message that I did not have the Woodworking skill required to begin. I then proceeded to try to locate the Woodworking icon to level up Woodworking when I discovered I did not have the icon. Upon further investigation I discovered that I'm also missing the metal, Armorcrafting, and Weaponcrafting icons. I know and verified on the Herald that a character is supposed to be able to become a Legendary in all crafts. So, my question is, who do I talk to in order to get this straightened out?

A. Okay, I went to the Bearded Wonder with this one and it's a little tricky but here's how it works out: You just need to talk to one of the other advanced crafting trainers (like Armorcrafting) and join that order. That will force the other skills to show up. Then you can rejoin Alchemy for your titles and you'll still be Legendary Alchemist but can start the other trades.

Q. In Midgard, do 2handed weapons do more damage than 1handed ones, or have any innate bonuses over 1handed weapons which aren't listed on the "show info" of the weapon? Or is it just that 2handed weapons are slower on average than 1handed ones?

For example, if I had two hammers with identical stats like this:

1h hammer, base speed 4.0, base dps 10.0
2h hammer, base speed 4.0, base dps 10.0


Would my damage be the same regardless of which one I use?

A. Our Balancinator dug himself out of a pile of spreadsheets and cried 'Huzzah!' at the prospect of logging into the game and testing this one out. Seriously, getting to go into game and mess around with the characters is like recess. Here's what he found out: I took a two handed hammer and made a duplicate of it in a one handed version. The two handed hammer does more damage per hit then the one handed hammer. The difference in damage becomes greater if you use styles.

Q. I wanted to give a set of Trifecta dragon eggs to a friend as a Christmas present. I already had the Midgard and the Hibernia one, so I started playing Trifecta to get the Albion one. I have spent over 2 platinum by now, winning tons of mugs, pitchers and steins, and I got every single pet there is in Albion several times. But, no dragon egg.

So the question is, are the dragon eggs still given as Trifecta rewards, or did you take them out at the end of the dragon campaign? Did I just have a streak of bad luck, or is there any other prerequisite to winning the egg, except being an alb toon? I did the playing on my wizard Estrellina in case you want to pull logs.

As a side note, something seems to have gone wrong with the Trifecta dealer at the Camelot northern exit - he's named Gene, and the npc Trifecta "player" is named Gene as well. I seem to remember there was some female npc, this seems to have gotten mixed up.

A. Sadly, it seems you've been a victim of the Random generator. The Bearded wonder explains: The Trifecta pet you are trying to get is the rarest one there is. You just need to keep trying if you want to beat the odds. :)

As for the names of the npc player? The NPCs that play the game vary over time. You don't think it's the same poor soul winning or losing for eternity, do you?

Q. My friends and I were having a discussion about mez in RvR the other day. I play a bard and he a hero, so I think he has no idea what he's talking about. So please settle this for us. I state that:

1) If someone gets hit with a dot and then mezzed, the subsequent ticks from the dot will break mez,

2) and mez immunity does not care about mez damage type. (i.e., If a bard mezzes an enemy (body damage) and the mez is broken, then subsequent mezzes from a light eld (cold damage) will NOT stick while the immunity timer is still up

A. Our pal the Balancinator took this one.

1) Yes, this is true.

2) Yes, immunity does not consider damage type. You cannot rotate mesmerize spells due to differences in damage types, except for mez poison and/or Essence Flare which do not share the same immunity timer as casted mez.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Our first Road Trip of the year is planned for March, in Sunny Florida! More details about this and other 2008 Round Tables are forthcoming, but in the meantime, if you're thinking of coming and meeting a developer or two, be sure to RSVP here.

Joanne and I have been working with the team to judge the Home for the Holidays contest. Winners will be chosen soon, so if you entered, be sure to keep an eye on your inbox! Joanne and I will be hand-delivering the prizes (in-game) to one lucky entry per realm.

Wow, that's about it for this week. Things are slowly grinding to a halt as we prepare for our holiday break, but before we do we have a surprise or two in store. I'll say no more than that for now, but I advise you to watch the Herald in the coming week for something special.

Have a great weekend!