Grab Bag - July 11, 2008

Whee!


Thanks for the housing fixes; they have been long awaited for. I know you sensed a "but" in that first sentence so here it is:

I have three accounts because my sons and I all play. So I had the opportunity to upgrade 3 houses. On the first house all went well except I was forced to buy a new porch as the porch went away after I upgraded. I thought that perhaps I made a mistake so when I did my second house I made sure that I followed the instructions that I pulled off the Herald knowledge base; verbatim. Alas the same result. So going out on a limb for the third house I bought a porch demolition deed to see if it would give me the porch deed to re-apply later. The porch was demolished but no token to put it back so I had to spend 500 Gold on another porch.

Did do something wrong or is this an oversight?

After a few moments of checking into this, The Bearded Wonder shook his head: No you don't get a porch back if you upgrade the house. You must re-buy the porch and place it on the new upgraded house.

I just spent the last 6 hours looking for Dasyatis, a stingray supposedly at location 63k, 60k in Mesothalassa with no luck. I'm curious if this mob is still around and if so, any idea if I'm in the right area?

Swimming through the oceans of Atlantis the Lady of the Jewels found this out for you: Dasyatis does indeed live in that area of Mesothalassa. To make him appear, however, you may need to kill deep-chasm rays and deep-chasm barracuda's around that location. This will give Dasyatis a chance to show himself if he is not already up.

Have provisions been made for the Round Table trophies and 5 year trophies to be preserved on the repo merchants if a house has been repossessed?

After a moment of consideration, the Bearded Wonder responds: For a house that is repossessed by failure to pay rent, no trophies, etc. are saved. For houses condemned from account inactivity, trophies are saved and available via specialized merchants in the main housing market.

I'm looking for some clarification on the Rest XP you implemented in 1.94. The patch notes are not clear about whether any unused Rest XP is lost when a character logs out. For example, I log in a character to craft a few items but do not do any hunting. Would the Rest XP that character has already accumulated carry over to the next time he logs in? Or would it be reset?

The Bearded Wonder and Code Red agreed in unison: It is kept.

Now that the tutorial system is in place, can you adjust Tym's quest so that you don't miss out on it by completing the tutorial area? As it stands, when you leave the tutorial you are level 11 and the cutoff for Tym's Quest Saving Zarees is either 9 or 10.

Smiling thoughtfully the Lady of the Jewels says: That's an excellent idea. I'll see what can be done about raising the maximum level of Tym's quest to allow more young players to experience it.

With all of the dragon changes for the classic zones, was there ever a thought about doing the same with the SI dragons? They are harder to reach and harder to kill but yet they drop nothing at all useful. What was the purpose of these dragons if not for loot?

With a curious look, the Lady of the Jewels was a little uncertain about your question: I'm not sure what dragons this player is referring to other than perhaps Xanxicar in Albion, but we do plan to evaluate the loot for several Shrouded Isles encounters and work on upgrading this loot over future patches.

I really would like to see the doppelgangers come back. It was a great way to get more small groups out in RvR. My computer can't handle the big BGs out there and it was a fun way to group.

With an evil twinkle in her eyes the Lady of the Jewels says: Don't worry; you have not seen the last of the doppelgangers. In fact, they may be returning sooner than you think.

I have heard that the nature of the Medal of Honor quest has changed, but that the quest still exists; unfortunately, I can't find any information specifically on this.

Is the quest still obtainable? Who is the originating NPC and what zone?

Knowing exactly what is involved to obtain the Medal of Honor our Lady of the Jewels explains: The ghostly Keep Lords who preside over the Ghost Keeps have a version of the Medal of Honor in their possession. To begin the quest to obtain the medal from them, they must be present in the keep for at least an hour total, so if your realm is able to summon a Ghost Keep, be sure to defend it for as long as you can to achieve the Ghostly Medal of Honor.

I was testing bladeturn on my Theurgist after a Hunter kept killing me in 2 shots, so I tested this in a duel with a Scout. Using Critshot then a normal shot, the Critshot hits, negating BT as expected. Normal shot is absorbed by BT - so a 3rd shot to kill me. However, when Powershot and a normal shot are used, Powershot Negates BT as expected but also breaks BT, so a normal shot then kills me. Having read the Archery patch notes I understood Powershot was a kind of anytime Critshot that had a longer draw time and did not require a stealth element, but working as tested above seems to me that it may be broken. It is effectively ignoring and breaking BT in one go. Is this supposed to happen?

A new face to the Grab Bag who we granted him with the title of The Equalizer explains: Power Shot is designed to be more than just an anytime Critical Shot. This ability has a hard casting time of six seconds which is not affected by dexterity, which leaves the archer exposed for an extended period of time. Because of this, the shot has the added power that it needs to not only punch through a bladeturn, but to break it as well.

I wish to know if 2 trophy mobs in ToA still exist as I have been trying to get them now for a considerable time. They are "Ora" an octopus at approximately 28K 42K in Oceanus Hesperos and "Riowyr" a triton at approximately 10K 46K in Mesothalassa.

Luckily the Lady of the Jewels was still swimming in Atlantis waters so within a few moments she discovered: Ora can still be found in Oceanus Hesperos, however try looking in the seaweed to the west of the location you gave. She likes to hide in there sometimes since she is smaller than her fellow octopi. Riowyr does hang around the location you gave, but you may need to kill the nereid deathweavers in that same area to give her a chance to show up, like with Jari and the wild sows in her area.

Awhile back I asked a question about if Wild healing and Mastery of Healing affected heal procs and staff heals from the Friar. My Friar has Wild Healing 3, but when looking back in my log I don't see my staff heals crit one time. So do heals off of staff styles from the Friar ever crit?

The Equalizer knew this one immediately: The Friar Staff styles Figure Eight, Banish, Double Strike, Friar's Fury and Excommunicate all currently have healing spells attached to them, and all of these spells do have the ability to achieve critical heals when used. The Staff style Holy Staff, however, has a Heal Over Time attached, which is not able of achieving a critical heal when used. If you're interested in improving the rate of critical heals, then increasing the level of Wild Healing will cause these critical heals to occur more often.

Why doesn't the Albion Level 29 slash style "Amethyst Slash" work? It's grouped under some thing called Void Magic instead of Slash Spec. I tested this on both a Paladin and Mercenary and it was the same thing.

The Equalizer thanks you for the help in identifying the issue: This was fixed on Pendragon this past week and the style should once again be useable.

In Hibernia we've been attempting to get to Tur Suil to get the remains of Master of Pain for the inner sanctum key. We have been all the way down to the bottom of the dungeon and the mob is not showing up. Do we have to do something to make him spawn or is he bugged?

After a bit of searching the Lady of the Jewels answers: Master of Pain will only appear once Kierac the Destroyer has been killed. Kierac can be found on the Entry Level of the dungeon.

I found this quote in a previous post: "Each battleground has restrictions on the level of siege engine that can be built there. Sturdy and all lesser siege can be built in Thidranki. Leirvik will accept everything up to and including the rugged set."

What about Molvik? Does Molvik have everything up to an including the rugged set like Leirvik does?

With a quick trip to Molvik the Lady of the Jewels has the info you desire: Molvik will allow anything up to and including the durable set, which is one level lower than the rugged set permitted in Leirvik.

Does Ring of the Tempest still drop off of Kertom? I've handed in nearly 20 reforming Afrits for this one-drop mob and got almost all ROG staves and no ring. If the answer to my first question is yes, do all items dropped by a mob have an equal chance to be given by the mageus, or do some of them, say ROG staves, have a higher chance then other items? Thank you.

The Lady of the Jewels smiled and explains where to find the ring in each realm: It appears that the Ring of the Tempest belongs to different loot tables in each realm. In Albion it belongs to Kertom, in Midgard it drops from the Enyalios' Boots Encounter, and in Hibernia it is part of Cyrek's loot.

We need some kind of update for the Origins server! What can you tell us?

We know many of you want more information about what is going on with Origins. Right now, the team is hard at work and we are reviewing the incredible amount of feedback we've received regarding Origins. We're going to have more details for you concerning Origins in the coming weeks, so please keep an eye here on Herald for all the updates. In the meantime, we've managed to convince the Kings of each realm to bestow a gift to all citizens in the form of a Royal Amulet. This powerful necklace has the potential to grant the user a bonus to XP or coin gained. Please visit the Royal Accountant who is located near the entrance of your realm's throne room to receive your gift!

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

The ethereal forces of the Ghost Keep event are in full swing, if you haven't had a chance to partake in these ghostly events, time is running out. We'll let you know as the time draws near, but if you haven't gotten the Ghostly Medal of Honor yet, get to your reaping and wraithing!

Mark your calendars for Saturday July 26th as the Camelot Road Trip arrives in San Diego, California. The Lady of the Jewels and I will be there to soak up some of that California sunshine and spend an evening answering your questions. Come join us as we give away prizes, snack on some free food and of course enjoy the company of realm mates and enemies to talk about Camelot! Please make sure to RSVP so we can order enough food. We look forward to seeing you there.

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, there are some behind the scenes work being done on the Herald. You might have noticed that this week the Guild Pages have had a bit of polishing. We ask that if you find any issues to please send them in via the Feedback Form - Herald Issues. Remember to include as much info as you can, and make sure to include the URL. Thanks!

Calling all potential Team Leads! We are seeking to fill the current Available Positions in our Team Lead Program. If you think you have what it takes to become a Team Lead for your class, then send in your Application Today and you might become our next Team Lead!

That's it for me this week. Have a great weekend everyone, stay safe and I will see y'all on Monday.