Grab Bag - March 21, 2008

Jump into the springy Grab Bag!


I have a question regarding the celerity tincture that can be imbued onto crafted armor.

Is it possible to recharge the item once you have used up all the original charges? When I delve my crafted item (circlet) it now reads 0 of 7 charges remaining. When I go to a Recharger and give him/her the item I get a pop-up saying that it will cost 0g to recharge, then a message saying that the Recharger cannot recharge the item. How can I recharge my item?

After pondering in deep thought for a moment, the Lady of the Jewels responds: If it is a crafted item, and therefore has a player-made charge applied to it, only an Alchemist can recharge it for you. It does not have to be the same Alchemist thankfully. The NPC Rechargers are only able to recharge items that did not have their charge imbued by a player Alchemist.

I have never seen my Heretic's increasing damage spells ever crit. Is it possible for it to crit and if it isn't then why does the class get Wild Power?

The Balancinator went to the testing dungeon to verify: The Heretic increasing damage spells can achieve critical hits. The class starts out with a 0% chance of a critical hit. The only way to achieve critical hits is to buy the realm ability 'Wild Power' and it will take you above the 0% chance to do critical damage.

Is there a set amount of damage that the Dissonance Trap does when it detonates? If so, what is the damage value?

Diving straight into facts and figures, the Balancinator says: The Dissonance Trap does 40% of the target's total health in damage. It is not a true 40% because it is affected by resists.

I recently killed Dorawm about 10 times on my Bondedancer. He didn't drop any loot. Is this a bug?

Fresh from the open seas of Atlantis our Lady of the Jewels answers: All Master Level and artifact encounter monsters will now only drop their normal loot again if someone in the group killing them needs credit for the encounter. If no one in the group needs credit, they will drop nothing of significance. This does not include Celestius.

New encounters have been added which will drop random loot taken from the Master Level and artifact encounters. As well, players can turn in essences that drop from these encounters for a roll on a specific master level or artifact encounter loot table.

I have discussed this with many people whether or not there is a "hidden" weapon skill for the Berserker, Blademaster and Mercenary associated with their dual wield lines. Is there a different weapon skill value for the main weapon spec that is shown in game vs. a dual wield weapon skill?

The Balancinator also known as the time traveler reports: The easiest way to answer this question is by going back in time. From a Grab Bag in 2007:

What does weaponskill have to do with damage?

Weaponskill is a tricky beast. Technically, it has nothing to do with damage, as the displayed value of weaponskill on your character sheet is not actually used in any calculations. It does, however, use a lot of the same factors that are used to determine damage. So in most cases, a higher weaponskill will mean you're doing more damage.

Why doesn't your weapon skill increase with dual wielding skills?

You're using two weapon types that have two different weapon skills. Only one can be displayed on the paper doll, and that one happens to be the base weapon type for what you have equipped in your main hand. Your weaponskill is actually increasing; you just don't see it reflected in the number displayed on your paper doll.

Does a caster's spec in the line affect the effectiveness of debuff spells in a base spec line? For example will a Sorcerer with 1 matter spec have variance on the baseline dexterity debuff while a sorcerer with 50 Matter spec would not?

Specializing in his specialization, The Balancinator explains: The debuff does not have a variance like damage spells do. The debuff gains in effectiveness as you gain power in that specialization line.

My question is about Tyr's Fury. The proc on this style seems to be resisted way too often. After doing a small test of 100 swings, about 30% of them were out right resisted. At the moment, I get less resist rates out of Thyrm's Strength and Raider which are levels 8 and 25 respectively. In my opinion, a level 50 style should not be resisted more often than these lower level styles. Is this supposed to happen?

I asked the Balancinator to open the book of Thanes: I looked at all of the Thane direct damage styles for discrepancies. The direct damage effects on the styles are all the same level spell just varying damages. The resist percentage of the direct damage effects should all be the same. While the 100 swings using Tyr's Fury may not alleviate the probability of random deviation. I would be interested in the results of the 100 swings with the other two styles. If you have the log of the tests still, we would be more than happy to look them over.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

The house repossession countdown has begun. Some house lots could become available as soon as Monday evening, so if you are thinking of renewing your subscription, do not wait until the last minute. For those of you who want to see which house lots might become available, head on over to housing and click on houses which are marked as condemned to see how much time they have left.

This week we announced our new Mauler and Valkyrie Team Leads. We still have a couple of Team Lead Positions to fill, including those for Gaheris (PvE), Wizard, Valewalker and Bonedancer. If you think you have what it takes, Apply Today!

Load It Up! Today we announced an exciting and absolutely fun contest called Load It Up, where we want you to submit your ideas for new loading screen tips/hints/myths or anything you come up with. We've already received a couple of entries and they are keeping us smiling over here! Be creative, helpful and funny.

It's the first weekend of spring and it sure is windy out here in Northern Virginia. I think it is the perfect time to head to the frontiers and see what's sieging. Stay safe all.