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THE HERALD

  • General

    Account Center Issues

    Created by

    tsaad

    |

    Update 4:00PM: The Account Center is back online! 

    The Dark Age of Camelot Account Center is currently experiencing some technical issues. We are working to restore the Account Center as quickly as possible. 

    We will provide an update when the issue has been resolved.

    Thank you for your patience and understanding.

  • General

    You Examine the Grab Bag. It is Friendly Towards You.

    Created by

    tsaad

    |

    “How many bags could a grab bag grab if a grab bag grabbed grab bags?” 

    Send us a video (of you) saying the above statement 10 times *perfectly clearly* in 30 seconds or less, for a chance to win a 3 month time code! Send your submissions to daoc-community@broadsword.com, and we’ll select our time code winner. Your video will be featured in next week’s Grab Bag! Honorable mentions and hilarious failed attempts may also be included, so you won’t want to miss it. 

    Good luck to you, and now – onto the questions! Click the ‘More’ link to view this week’s selection!
     

    Let’s start with a note about the patch status and testing: Testing changes of this magnitude internally or with Pendragon test events can never match our observations of these changes in a live environment. Such is the nature of MMORPG development. We’re on day three of Patch 1.115 and the information and feedback we received in these three days has already surpassed the volume of feedback we’ve received over the months, and all four Pendragon versions of 1.115 combined.  1.115 will undergo more changes, and we would like you to be part of those decisions. We’ll have more avenues beyond feedback to speak with you directly, answer your questions, and provide updates.

    The questions!
     
     
    Q: Hi, Is there any plans in the pipeline to revamp or revist PvE? As a returning player from 6 years ago, it does sadden me to see that PvE has all but died other than farming scales/Glass.
    I do like the new Artifact rules, because that doesnt restore some of the PvE content, but i would like to see a little attention on PvE?  Thanks
     
    A: Short answer: Yes.
     
    Longer answer: First and foremost – our near future plans are to observe action in New Frontiers, listen to your feedback, and tweak the changes accordingly.
     
    Following this, we’d like to look at what we like to call the ‘top 10%’ of PvE encounters (The most difficult and rewarding encounters in the game – such as ML10, Summoners Hall, Dragons etc..) and update them with new mechanics and new rewards. We have received a good deal of positive feedback about the fully – leveled Artifacts because it makes those encounters worthwhile again. (That great idea, by the way, was submitted by a member of the community!)
     
    We’ve a long list of changes and updates (as well as fine-tuning the updated New Frontiers) – so all of the PvE changes will not appear in one patch. We’ll do our best to make meaningful progress on this front as we move into the next few patch cycles.

     
    Q: right now there is no point in defending the central keeps as you can still port to the new BKs via the portal pad, will there be any incentive to defend?
     
    A: Incentives to defend all keeps and towers, not just the center keep is something we are spending a lot of time looking at right now. We knew going into 1.115 that more would need to be done on the Keep, Tower, and Relic front and so this is not at all unexpected. We have some plans already to give players a reason to defend and take these keeps and towers again. That said, we also want to observe how things go and listen to feedback for other potentially great ideas on this front. At the least, our next update will begin to address this concern.

    Q: Can the portal ceremony be changed back into a simple port stone? It is a pain if one of your group misses the port, which is why I believe it was removed in OF.
     
    A: Updates to the Portal Ceremony are currently being discussed. One of the primary objectives in 1.115 was to facilitate faster action, and while a three minute wait on a Portal Ceremony may not seem like much – we understand that it can be very frustrating while in-game, particularly if players are standing by waiting. This feedback is among the strongest we’ve received and it will not be ignored. Players will see requests for feedback on the ways we could possibly change the Portal Ceremony, and we’d like your weigh-in.
     

    Q: Will there be an in game poll to find out with reliability whether or not the player base likes the NNF changes? I feel it would be helpful in shaping future changes, especially if the results were released.
     
    A: Yes, as quickly as we can make it happen. Until we do, as mentioned before, we would like to open up more avenues for communication as we understand that some players do not participate on forums, and are hesitant to leave feedback. We have heard a great deal from the vocal minority – and they’ve been very helpful, but we need to hear from as big a cross section of the player-base as possible. Until we are able to implement an un-obtrusive log-in polling system – we’re going to use all of the other avenues at our disposal including social media, live Q and A’s, Grab Bags, and an AMA.
     
    You will be heard. Count on it.

    Q: It would be nice if we could get on a horse when in Shades of Mist Form
     
    A: The increase of mount speed has been a change that people seem to love or hate. One of the reasons the mount speed increase was able to happen was because of the many balancing factors that mounts have. Being unable to dive while mounted, having to stand still to mount, and being unable to use useful shape-shifts all allow the default speed classes to keep their solid place in RvR while at the same time giving players who do not have access to a speed class to still get around quickly. In short, we do not plan on allowing shape-shifts to work when mounted.
     
     
    Q: I am concerned that since NNF hit there has been little aside from Zerg action on both Alb and Mid. Obviously this is partially down to organization of a counter zerg not being a primary concern in Hibernia, but with the easier access across realm frontier borders I am worried this will become the norm. Would you consider making access to camping Portal keeps in NNF harder?
     
    A: From what we’ve seen portal keep camping has not been a huge problem yet. Yes, it has happened, but it’s largely been a temporary thing because with the Portal Keep getting a constant influx of reinforcements any campers have been quickly overrun. We do realize that it can be annoying when it does happen though, and will be looking at ways to dis-incentivize it.

    Q: With the lack of capture-able objectives in NNF there is little to draw certain groups out into RvR. Is there a chance that more towers or keeps without towers (probably ones you could not teleport to) could be added?
     
    A: Towers were removed for a reason. The action in the Frontiers was predictable, stale, and – based on the large volume of feedback – unsatisfying. These reasons were the impetus for a Frontier revamp in the first-place.
     
    That being said – while we’re not going to re-add the towers we’ve removed, we certainly could make the remaining towers more meaningful by increasing their difficulty, defensibility, and making them important to the Realm War beyond simple teleport requirements. Broadsword and the Dark Age of Camelot team has every intention to invest in the success of DAoC. This is phase 1 of a multi-phase update, and there is plenty of room for more exciting features!

    Q: Would it be possible to make shards useable in housing zones? They take up a considerable amount of inventory and being able to use them near my house vaults would be a great help to managing them.
     
    A: Not at this time. The way the item is /used currently prevents them being used in the Housing or Capital City zones. This can change with some re-working of the code but unfortunately this is not something high on our priority list at the moment.

    Q: Are Legendary weapon updates still on the table for the next patch?
     
    A: As some of you may remember, we’ve talked about updating Legendary Weapons. This is still on the table, and with our new resources – they may get a nice art makeover in addition to the technical updates we’re planning! We’ll provide an update during a live Q and A we’re planning!

    Q: I am greatly concerned at the amount of PvE content that is in the NNF revamp. Is this here to stay as it is detracting from RvR in the RvR zones. If anything could those PvE objectives be moved to a PvE zone? I realize that there is an attempt to get people out into the frontiers to chase Dopplegangers but so far this is taking people away from realm defense or offence rather than promoting RvR.
     
    A: This is another aspect of the updated Frontiers that has been voiced very clearly by players. We have heard this feedback, and are taking it to heart. We certainly don’t want the primary RvR zone to be negatively affected by a higher-than-acceptable PvE element. Expect this to be among the first changes to 1.115.

    Q: Since the Picts have left and it is less easy to acquire money that way and during their time live the prices on items have inflated quite significantly on CM items. Would you possibly find some other methods of making money available? The market for player crafted items is only so big and a lot of money can be made through trinketing which is now not keeping up with the prices.
     
    A: While we certainly want players to be able to earn the coin they need to buy or make their templates, help their friends and guilds, and to deck out that Mansion – I think most everybody agrees that the Pict Camps were not a reasonable solution. We have increased the gold rewards for RvR kills, and there still exist a number of quests in the 45-50 range which offer very reasonable coin rewards.
     
    As mentioned before – we intend to shift some of our focus to PvE after some revision and fine-tuning to the New Frontiers. You can expect two things from the updates we make to PvE:
     

    • A satisfying level of difficulty
    • Item, Experience, and Coin rewards consistent with the difficulty level

     

    Q: One of the changes to NF is control of the docks at this time the players have no way to know who controls what docks in what realm.. We need to have the docks reflect the realm in control of them on the war maps with the docks changing to the color of the realm in control just like the towers and keeps
     
    A: This is a feature that is currently in the works and being tested. Expect it to be part of our next round of updates to the Frontiers.

    Q: I like the portal ceremony idea, but it seems to be a bit long with how the action is flowing. Is it possible to reduce it to maybe 2 minutes?
     
    A: This is an active discussion we are having. While we’ve acknowledged that the wait can be frustrating, one must admit that seeing a big cluster of players popping up at the Portal Keep is really a satisfying thing. It is possible that the timing isn’t right, and while changing it is quite simple – deciding on the right cadence is a bit more challenging. You say two minutes – and that’s a fair request. We’d like to know if other players agree with that time, like it how it is, or have a different preferred interval.
     
    We’ll be reaching out to you with this question, and many more, and we look forward to your response!

    Q: I noticed when I was on running through Agramon the Mile Gate Gates can still be hit by pulses and put you in combat. Is that intended?
     
    A: This is something we will look into. It’s not an intended feature and if tested and confirmed, will be hotfixed!

    Q: How many shards are there exactly or items I should say with doppelgangers?
     
    A: Currently there are 34 possible items to acquire. As the months pass we’ll be adding in new items to these to keep them as coveted objectives.

    Q: With all these new shards, is there a way to make a new command to open up house faults as well as /bank like maybe /housevault or something?
     
    A: Unfortunately, based on how house vaults work – that’s not a possibility. We know there is basically universal request for additional inventory (Hi Larian!) but for the moment, you must make do with your pack, saddlebags, and /bank inventories. We will continue to look into how we might alleviate the inventory issue in future patches.

    Q: I would like to know the reasons why?

    1. Bainshee pulse nerf?
    2. My realm buffs I paid 32 gold for go away while off-line?
    3. I can’t log off in NNF and stay where I logged off?
    4. Portal pad just slows down the game?

     

    1. The pulsing mechanic of a Bainshee’s pbaoe was enabling the realm of Hibernia to complete certain PvE encounters in a way that went against our vision for the game, specifically that the mechanic allowed for inactive game play too easily. As such, putting a cap on the number of pulses requires Bainshees to be active and recast the spell again when it has run its course.
    2. We are currently discussing a possible dynamic change for purchased NPC buffs, but taken as a whole – this change was added as a benefit to players who log out after having used spells and abilities with relatively long re-use timers. We would like for players to be able to log-in (later on, or the next day) to find that all of their timered buffs/spells/abilities ready to go!
    3. With the patch, we introduced a change that no longer allows players to log out inside keeps or towers and then log back in when they are under attack. Players that do so are now teleported back to the Relic Town. We felt this went against the spirit of the game. However, there is a known issue where players that log out or go LD at the portal keeps are still being teleported back to the Relic Town sometimes. We will have this fixed in our next update.
    4. As mentioned before – the waves of players entering the Portal Keeps make for an interesting dynamic, but we are currently discussing how the cadence may be reduced to allow for slightly faster return-to-action.

     
     
    Q: With a few good placed ST’s the guards at Berk can be stopped from intercepting enemy forces at the front door of the keep. The guards have a hard time taking out the ST’s. Is this working as designed or is this a bug?
     
    A: If you mean CTs – Crystal Titans – this is something we can address. The area immediately surrounding the Portal Keeps should be considered as safe as any area in the Frontiers can be. Keep an eye on the Herald for hotfix notes!

    Crystal Titan Grows!

    Q: Given the state of the game, the recent patch, player base etc…how would you describe the game to someone who has no idea what it is. What are the end game objectives? What is the ‘final goal’? How would you market it other than the “it’s the best PvP ever” that has been used in the past?

    A:  Well – that would all depend on my audience. If we were speaking at a convention, or to a focus group, we’d go with what’s up on our website – but we don’t think that’s what you’re asking. If we were trying to get a friend or experienced gamer interested in the game – we’d say:

    Dark Age of Camelot is a wonderful, unique MMO developed by industry pioneers who understood what was missing in MMOs on the market at the time of its release. For a 12 year old game, it holds up incredibly well and has at its heart the right mix of lore, community, challenge, and reward. While it can be said that the game may not be appealing to everybody – we believe that Dark Age of Camelot players are a special breed who welcome a good challenge, expect more from their game and its developers, and will settle for nothing less than best-in-class PvP.

    There’s something for everyone, no matter what your play-style, and to truly experience the joy and satisfaction our advice would be to connect with your realm, its lore, and the community of players, in-game and out. Tap into that part of you that wants to be a part of something bigger.

    Newer MMOs have tried desperately to combine the same ingredients to reproduce the magic of DAoC, but it cannot be done. It is, to many of us, the finest MMO ever created and it’s not too late to be a part of that magic. The family of Dark Age of Camelot players will always be connected, active or otherwise. It is quite simply more than a game. It’s an institution.

    ——————————-

    Thank you for the excellent questions, and special thanks to our friends at www.postcount.net for helping to gather questions and feedback. 

    We look forward to communication over the next few weeks while we iron out the wrinkles in patch 1.115. We sincerely appreciate the time, effort, and energy spent helping us test and revise this next stage in the evolution of the Frontiers. 

    Until next time, friends – be well and we’ll see you in the Frontiers!!

     

  • General

    Welcome to the New – New Frontiers!!

    Created by

    tsaad

    |

    It is our pleasure to welcome you to the next step in the evolutions of Dark Age of Camelot’s Frontiers!

    As you make your way onto the server and into the various areas in the game that have undergone recent changes, please remember a few important things:

    • The Portal Ceremony is now active on the PvE side of the Primary Borderkeeps (Castle Sauvage, Svasud Faste, and Druim Ligen). Standing on the Portal Pad will get you teleported to your Realm’s Portal Keep – so if you do not intend to teleport, please be mindful of where you stand!

    Please click the ‘More’ link to read on!

     

    • The New Frontiers have been reset. All Relics are back in their home shrines, and all standard Keeps are level 1 and unclaimed – so get out there and secure a Keep!
    • Please remember that Speed of the Realm will overwrite the new mount speed , so if you have a horse and armor with the speed bost, you will need to drop Realm Speed to experience the effect.. 
    • If you wish to obtain a fully-leveled Artifact, you must first delete the unleveled version from your inventory prior to completing the Artifact encounter. If you have the Artifact in your inventory, you will not be granted quest credit for the fully-leveled Artifact.
    • Rites of Spring has ended. If you have completed the quest, you may still turn it in to the appropriate NPC to obtain your reward.

    We are looking forward to your feedback, so please take some time to play and experience the various changes and let us know how you feel!

    We thank you for your patience and loyalty and we will see you in the NEW New Frontiers!!

    -The Dark Age of Camelot Team

  • Patch Notes

    Patch 1.115 Comes to Live Servers!

    Created by

    tsaad

    |

    Update 3:00PM / 2100 CET: All Live servers are back online!!

    Highlights

    • NEW New Frontiers is here! Check out the changes to your Realm’s battlefields!
    • New Capture-able Docks, Boating Changes, Ruined Keeps and More!
    • New RvR Objectives! A new twist on old monuments!
    • The Doppelgangers are back, and uglier than ever. Read about the updated rewards!
    • Check out the changes to the Labyrinth!
    • Want instant fully leveled Artifacts? Find out How to get ‘em!


    New Frontiers Changes (Ywain Only)

    Layout Changes

     
    Hadrian’s Wall

    • All Berkstead towers have been removed
    • Caer Berkstead has been moved further east against the zone wall
    • Erasleigh Outpost (4) has been moved north on top of the plateau.
    • Benowyc Guardtower (1) and Outpost (3) have been removed
    • Caer Benowyc, Benowyc Watchtower (2), and Benowyc Spire (4) have been set to a permanently “ruined” state with no guards. These structures can no longer be captured or attacked.
    • The Boat Dock and associated NPCs have been moved south down the river and been made capture-able.

     
    Pennine Mountains

    • Erasleigh Spire (3), Boldiam Outpost (3), Sursbrooke Spire (4), and Renaris Outpost (4) have been removed

     
    Snowdonia

    • The boat dock and associated NPCs have been removed
    • Hurbury Outpost (3) and Hurbury Spire (4) have been removed

     
    Forest Sauvage

    • The Boat Dock and associated NPCs have been moved to the north shore of the river and been made capture-able.
    • Renaris Spire (3) and Renaris Outpost (4) have been removed

    Odin’s Gate

    • A few paths have been cut through the impassable terrain to the south and east of Nottmoor Faste.
    • All Nottmoor towers have been removed
    • Nottmoor Faste has been moved further north and west against the zone wall
    • Bledmeer Watchtower (2) and Outpost (3) have been removed
    • Bledmeer Faste, Bledmeer Guardtower (1), and Bledmeer Spire (4) have been set to a permanently “ruined” state with no guards. These structures can no longer be captured or attacked.
    • The Boat Dock and associated NPCs have been moved east down the river and been made capture-able.

     
    Jamtland Mountains

    • Glenlock Outpost (4) has been moved east across the river and just into the zone of Uppland
    • Glenlock Spire (3), Blendrake Spire (3), and Hlidskialf Outpost (4) have been removed

     
    Yggdra Forest

    • The boat dock and associated NPCs have been removed
    • Arvakr Outpost (3) and Arvakr Spire (4) have been removed

     
    Uppland

    • Glenlock Outpost (4) in Jamtland has been moved east across the river and just into Uppland
    • Boat Dock and associated NPCs have been moved to the west shore of the river and been made capture-able.
    • Fensalir Spire (3) and Fensalir Outpost (4) have been removed

     

    Emain Macha

    • All Crimthainn towers have been removed
    • Dun Crimthainn has been moved further west against the zone wall
    • Crauchon Watchtower (2) and Outpost (3) have been removed
    • Dun Crauchon, Crauchon Guardtower (1), and Crauchon Spire (4) have been set to a permanently “ruined” state with no guards. These structures can no longer be captured or attacked.
    • The Boat Dock and associated NPCs have been moved south down the river and been made capture-able.

    Breifine

    • nGed Outpost (4) has been moved west and north across the river
    • nGed Spire (3), Bolg Spire (4), and da Behnn Spire (3) have been removed

     
    Mount Collory

    • The boat dock and associated NPCs have been removed
    • Scathaig Spire (3) and Scathaig Outpost (4) have been removed

     
    Cruachan Gorge

    • The Boat Dock and associated NPCs have been moved to the north shore of the river and been made capture-able.
    • Ailinne Outpost (3) and Ailinne Spire (4) have been removed

     
     
    Porting Changes

    Permanent Portal Keeps

    The following existing keeps in each realm have been altered to be Portal Keeps:

    • Albion players will teleport to Caer Berkstead
    • Midgard players will teleport to Nottmoor Faste
    • Hibernia players will teleport to Dun Crimthainn

     
    These keeps have the following attributes:

    • May not be attacked
    • May not be captured
    • Very High Level, Invulnerable Guards
    • Open courtyards with no inner keep
    • Relatively close and equidistant to Agramon
    • Siege weapons cannot be deployed around them
    • Permanent Hasteners, Buff NPCs, several Quest NPCs, and Merchants have been added to all Portal Keeps
    • Captured Relics will drop to the ground when Relic holders approach the PKs
    • A portal stone inside that will teleport players to their realm’s centrally located keep, their Border Keeps, and any captured beach-head keeps in enemy realms

      • It will be possible to port back to the PK from the centrally located keep in each realm and from any captured keeps in enemy realms.
      • It will not be possible to port back to the PK from the Border Keeps.

     
     
    Portal Ceremony

    • A portal pad and ceremony NPCs have been added to the NF-side at each Strength Relic Town.

      • This ceremony is on the same 3 minute timer.
    • The bindstones on the NF side have been moved to the Strength Relic Town instead of the Border Keeps.
    • ​Players will now release to the Strength Relic town instead of the Borderkeeps.
    • A channeler has been added to each Strength Relic Town that will teleport players to the usual locations found on channelers in the rest of the world.
    • A channeler has been added to the Power Relic Towns that will teleport players to/from the Border Keeps and the Strength Relic Town.
    • The Strength Relic Towns have been accorded the same protections as the new Portal Keeps with invulnerable guards and the inability to place siege in a large radius around them.
    • The ceremony will occur every 3 minutes instead of the old value of every 15.
    • The ceremony will port everyone standing on the pad to the portal keeps mentioned above with no need to wear a necklace. Because of this, apprentice teleporters have been placed just outside of the portal pad that will see to your normal porting needs.

     
     
    Portal Stones and Keep Porting changes

    • Realm portal stones have been removed from the following locations and these locations can no longer be teleported to via the remaining stones:

      • Caer Renaris
      • Caer Hurbury
      • Caer Benowyc
      • Fensalir Faste
      • Arvakr Faste
      • Bledmeer Faste
      • Dun Ailinne
      • Dun Scathaig
      • Dun Crauchon

     

    • Realm portal stones have been removed from the following locations and these locations can no longer be teleported from:

      • Castle Sauvage Border Keep
      • Snowdonia Border Keep 
      • Svasud Faste Border Keep
      • Vindsaul Faste Border Keep
      • Druim Ligen Border Keep
      • Druim Cain Border Keep

     
    The remaining Portal Stones will function as before:

    • The center keep in each realm, permanent portal keep, and two invade-able beachhead keeps in each realm can be teleported to with the standard 5 second wait time
    • For the center and invade-able beachhead keeps, the requisite amount of towers will still need to be controlled in order to port.

     
     
    TERRAIN:

    • ​​New player pathways have been added from the shorelines on the outer south, east, and west Agramon that allow passage to Agramon’s Decayed Lands.
    • New one-way paths have been added behind each realm’s Milegate wall that takes players to the center of Agramon.

      • One-way paths mean that the path can only be entered on the home realm’s side of the milegates and exited near decayed lands. 
      • These paths will take players around the outside of one of their realm’s milegates and end at a cul-de-sac for each realm in the center of Agramon.
      • These paths are not too-steep-to-climb terrain and can be freely backtracked except for at the path’s ‘exit’ into the central area of Agramon.
      • The ‘exit’ is demarked by rocky terrain.

     
    Boating

    • Center Keep docks have been removed.
    • Merchant Keep docks have been moved further inland to be roughly equidistant from the new Portal Keeps and Center Keeps in each realm, and are now called Mainland Docks.
    • Mainland Docks are still capture-able but no longer toggle the ability for realms to be able to boat. They are simply capture-able objectives that prevent the home realm access to their dock.
    • Mainland Docks, when owned by the home realm, will take players to the beachhead of the new Ruined Keeps in either opposing realm.
    • Mainland Docks, when owned by an opposing realm, will provide quests that direct players to the Ruined Keeps and mazes in each realm.
    • 3 new Agramon Docks have been added in the following locations, with passable terrain paths added to allow access to them from inner Agramon:

      • Directly in between the Midgard and Albion milegates along the outer east wall of Agramon.
      • Directly in between the Midgard and Hibernia milegates along the outer west wall of Agramon.
      • Directly in between the Albion and Hibernia milegates along the outer south wall of Agramon.
    • These new Agramon Docks are capture-able and will default to the following realm’s control on server up, however they can be captured and used by any realm:
    • ​East Agramon Dock – Defaults to Hibernia Control
    • West Agramon Dock – Defaults to Albion Control
    • South Agramon Dock – Defaults to Midgard Control
    • Once captured, the new Agramon Docks spawn the familiar Dock encounter guards and become usable for the realm that captured them.
    • The Agramon docks will take players to either enemy realm’s coast.
    • Docks and associated NPCs in the Relic Keep zones have been removed.
    • Capture-able docks have been added on each realm’s river mid-way between the Strength Relic Town’s Milegates and the Center Keep that take players down their realm’s river towards the power relic keep, turn around, and end back at the Center Keep Island.

      • These docks follow the same rules as the Mainland Docks in how they are captured.
    • Merchant Keep docks will only have two boat tickets available for purchase, one to each opposing realm.
    • Merchant Keep docks will have asymmetrical encounters that control who owns them:

      • Defending realm Dockmasters will be protected by 2 orange-red guards and 1 red-purple guard captain. These guards will have a small agro radius and be stationary, but once attacked will have long cast ranges and be difficult for less than half a group to defeat in a reasonable amount of time.
      • When a dock is captured by an enemy realm, the dock will be protected by 4 red-purple guards and 1 purple guard captain. These guards will have a small agro radius and be stationary, but once attacked will have long cast ranges and be difficult for less than a group to defeat in a reasonable amount of time.
    • When a dock is captured, the opposing realm’s guards will immediately spawn along with their realm’s prescience node.
    • When an enemy guard contingent is defeated, the home realm’s guards will immediately spawn along with the dockmaster and prescience node.
    • Dock boat wait times have been reduced from a total of 45s down to 25s. This includes the the time boats remain at the dock for player boarding.
    • Boat speed has been increased.

     
    Movement

    With changes to boating and the focus on running being the primary means of travel outside of the portal ceremony we have some exciting changes coming to movement speed 

    • The Hastener NPC buff ‘Speed of the Realm’ has been increased from 150% to 170%.
    • The bounty gem speed buffs have been increased from 150% to 176%.
    • The last level of Sorcerer, Theurgist, Healer, Runemaster, Enchanter, and Warden speed-chants have been be increased from 156% to 176%.
    • Mount Saddles and Armors will now have a +54% speed increase attached to them.
    • When combined with a horse (which has a 150% speed bonus) the player will be able to travel at 204% speed – or the same speed as a Skald, Minstrel, or Bard.
    • Mounts will maintain their multitude of restrictions and disadvantages:

      • Players must stand still for 3 seconds to call their mount
      • Shape-shifts will prevent being able to mount
      • Mounts will not dive
      • Mounted players are bigger targets
      • Players will be unable to mount when indoors or underground.
    • Mount Saddles and Armors are craft-able items in the Metalworking line.
    • Mount Saddles and Armors will all have the same 54% speed increase but will be differentiated by their art and use requirements:

     
    Crafted:

    o   Heroic Saddle (Champion Level 0) (still have to be level 50 for this)
    o   Heroic Light Armor (CL1)
    o   Heroic Medium Armor (CL3)
    o   Heroic Heavy Armor (CL5)
    o   Sinister Saddle (CL1)
    o   Sinister Light Armor (CL2)
    o   Sinister Medium Armor (CL4)
    o   Sinister Heavy Armor (CL6)
    o   Mystic Saddle (CL2)
    o   Mystic Light Armor (CL3)
    o   Mystic Medium Armor (CL5)
    o   Mystic Heavy Armor (CL7)

    Dropped:

    o   Albion/Midgard/Hibernia Saddle (CL5)
    o   Albion/Midgard/Hibernia Light Horse Armor (CL8)
    o   Albion/Midgard/Hibernia Medium Horse Armor (CL9)
    o   Albion/Midgard/Hibernia Heavy Horse Armor (CL10)
     

     
    RvR Objectives

    Ruined Keeps

    • The Ruined Keeps of Caer Benowyc, Bledmeer Faste, and Dun Crauchon will award 5% bonus realm points for fighting in and around them.
    • Ruined Keeps and Towers cannot be attacked or captured.
    • The Ruined Keeps and Towers have had all of their doors opened, siege towers spawned, and wall-holes made.
    • All realm guards have been removed inside Ruined Keeps and Towers.
    • Postern doors inside Ruined Keeps and Towers will work for all realms.
    • Climb points on these keeps and towers have been disabled.
    • Captured Relics may still be placed in Ruined Keeps. Capturing a Relic in a Ruined Keep will spawn a Relic Guards similar to a Keep Lord which must be killed in order to free the captured Relic.
    • Repair Supplies have been scattered around each Ruined Keep and Rubble around each realm’s maze area. Capture a dock in an enemy realm to get a quest that will reward you for collecting these!

     
    Capture-able Docks

    • Docks controlled by their home realm will have a Red-Purple con Dock Guard Captain and two Orange Dock guards; control flips when the Captain is defeated.
    • Docks captured by an enemy realm will have a Purple con Dock Guard Captain and four Red con Dock guards; control flips when the Captain is defeated.
    • Capture docks in enemy mainlands to get access to new quests that send players to battle near the maze areas and Ruined keeps!
    • Capture docks in Agramon to obtain a quest to kill 20 enemy realm players on Agramon!

     
    Milegates

    • Agramon Milegate doors will now always be open.
    • Agramon Milegate gatehouse doors now function like Cathal Valley’s gatehouse doors in that they only work for players of the milegate’s realm but can be attacked.

      • These gatehouse doors will now teleport players into the gatehouse instead of open like normal doors.
      • These gatehouse doors have had their durability considerably reduced and are fairly easy to destroy with melee.

     
    Minotaur Relics

    • The restrictions on frontier Minotaur Relics spawning and several of them requiring players to be grouped in order to hold them have been removed.
    •  They will always be spawned and available on the map now.
    •  Minotaur Relics in the frontier have had their locations and bonuses changed and one new one has been added:

     
    Uruz (Agramon)

    • Provides 10% bonus to RP/XP/BP/Coin
    • No mob encounter
    • Found in the center of Decayed Lands

     
    Farsia (Pennine):

    • Currently 10% Heal Bonus
    • Changing to 50% siege haste buff for individual holder, siege lore buff to the group, and +75% siege protection for up to 20 targets in radius of holder
    • Now found in between Caer Sursbrooke and Caer Erasleigh near the Great Drakes.

     
    Thatanu (Hadrian’s):

    • Currently 10% Heal Bonus
    • Changing to 10% Heal bonus + 3% RP/BP/Coin/XP buff (both group-only)
    • Now found on the plateau in between Benowyc and Erasleigh

     
    Benun (Jamtland):

    • Currently 50% Siege Protection
    • Changing to 50% siege haste buff for individual holder, siege lore buff to the group, and +75% siege protection for up to 20 targets in radius of holder
    • Now found on the coast in between Blendrake and Hlidskialf

     
    Unver (Odin’s Gate):

    • Currently 75% Siege Protection + 70.0 Essence Damage (which actually means damage to objects like doors/siege/fonts etc.)
    • Changing to 10% Aura of Health + 3% RP/BP/Coin/XP buff (both group-only)
    • Moved west onto the plateau closest to Bledmeer

     
    Temel (Breifine):

    • Currently 10% bonus to XP, BP, RP, Coin, and CLXP
    • Changing to 50% siege haste buff for individual holder, siege lore buff to the group, and +75% siege protection for up to 20 targets in radius of holder
    • Now found on the coast in between Bolg and da Behnn

     
    Mahir (Emain):

    • Currently 10% bonus to XP, BP, RP, Coin, and CLXP
    • Changing to 5% melee/magic crit + 3% RP/BP/Coin/XP buff (both group-only)
    • Now found on the hill overlooking where Crauchon Outpost (3) used to be, behind the gorbachend encampment.

     
     
    Individual Objectives

    Doppelgangers

    • Royal Accountants have been placed in each realm’s new Portal Keep and will grant players 2 new Doppelganger quests!

      • The new version of the quest ‘Anatomy of an Ancient Foe’ will reward players with their choice of Doppelganger Cloak.
      • The new version of the quest ‘A New Threat in an Old Form’ will grant players a large cache of Realm Points.
    • Doppelgangers will no longer grant RPs or BPs when killed
    • Doppelgangers will instead drop a Realm Shard as follows:

      • Doppelgangers in Albion will also have a chance to drop an Albion Shard which can be looted by any realm.
      • Doppelgangers in Midgard will also have a chance to drop a Midgard Shard which can be looted by any realm.
      • Doppelgangers in Hibernia will also have a chance to drop a Hibernia Shard which can be looted by any realm.
      • Doppelgangers in Agramon will also have a chance to have a chance to drop any 1 of the 3 realm shards
      • Doppelgangers will also have a chance to drop a stack of rare Alchemy Components or rare siege ammunition in addition to the realm shards.
    • Doppelgangers will only spawn in Agramon, the zones closest to Agramon in each realm, and the central zones in each realm.
    • 15 Doppelgangers can be up in each realm at once, out of a potential 24 locations.
    • 6 Doppelgangers can spawn on Agramon, out of a potential 10 locations.

      • Doppelgangers spawned on Agramon have a chance to drop any 1 of the 3 realm shards.
    • Doppelganger Lords have a chance to spawn in 1 of the 3 locations on Agramon

      • Doppelganger lords resemble Apocolypse, Queen Kula, or Olcasgean.
      • Doppelgangers lords have a chance to drop any of the 3 realm shards
      • Doppelganger lords will grant the Doppelganger Braceleot One-Time-Drop.
      • The quest for the OTD has been changed so that all players can get it once more.
    • /Using these Realm specific shards will grant players a random shard piece that can be combined with the other 2 types of shard pieces into a very rare item.

      • Albion Shards can be /used to obtain Shard 1 of 3 items
      • Midgard Shards can be /used to obtain Shard 2 of 3 items
      • Hibernia Shards can be /used to obtain 3 of 3 items
    • Players will need each 1, 2, and 3 shard pieces in order to obtain a complete item.

      • Once all 3 shard pieces for a given item type have been obtained, players can simply /use one of the shards to create the item!
      • Shard pieces can only be combined in this way when all 3 shard types are in a player’s inventory. It will not be possible to combine 2 of the 3 shards.
    • ML10 Weapons, some ML10 armor, other rare items, new Mythirians, and rare mount armor are examples of some of the obtainable items after combining the item pieces.

     
    Dock Quests

    • New quests have been added to each Agramon Dockmaster. These new quests provide rewards for killing enemy realm players on Agramon. These quests can only be turned into an Agramon Dockmaster.

      • These quests can only be obtained and turned-in to dockmasters at Agramon docks that are under your own realm’s control.
      • Completing these quests will grant players with 1 of the Doppelganger Realm Shards.
    • New quests have been added to NPCs guarding captured Mainland Docks. These quests reward players for venturing to the Ruined Keeps and Mazes in each realm.
    • These quests can only be obtained and turned-in to the dock guards at enemy-realm Mainland Docks that have been captured by your own realm.
    • You cannot obtain or turn-in these quests at Mainland Docks in your own realm.
    • Completing these quests will grant players with 1 of the Doppelganger Realm Shards and 500 Bounty Points.

     
    Labyrinth changes

    • The guards inside the Agramon Labyrinth towers have been removed.
    • Zoning into the Labyrinth from Agramon now takes players to an obelisk in Nurizane’s Crossroads.

      • This is true for the Gaheris server as well.
    • Exiting the Labyrinth to the Agramon tower is no longer possible. This zone line has been disabled.

      • This is true for the Gaheris server as well.

     
    Mob camp changes

    • Several Mob camps have been removed from Agramon:

      • Pictish camps
      • Giant Lusus in Starlight Lake
      • Fiendish Minions in Decayed Lands
      • Icestriders behind the Midgard milegates
      • Cave Fairies behind the Albion milegates
      • Grogans near the Albion milegate
      • Feral Prowlers near the Hibernia milegate
      • Huge Shadow Wolves near the Midgard milegate
      • Plated Fiends in Decayed Lands
      • Frogs behind the Albion milegate
      • Tainted Stags in Decayed Lands
      • All mobs on the Agramon land bridges
    • Some mobs still remain on agramon:

      • Existing quest mobs
      • New Doppelgangers
      • Cave Fairies have been added near the tower between Albion and Hibernian Milegates
      • Undergoblin grunts
      • Torcans
      • Creeping Cave spiders
    • Charm-able mobs have been added in and around each realm’s Portal keep to compensate for the mob removals on Agramon.
    • Several Mob camps have been removed, moved, or added in Albion as noted:

      • Legionnaires have been removed from their encampment near Benowyc’s dock.
      • Legionnaires near Benowyc Spire have been moved further south to the aqueduct ruins.
      • Outlaw hunters in the trees south of Benowyc Spire have been removed
      • Flatland Bounders south of Caer Berkstead have been removed
      • Several legionnaires south of Berkstead have been consolidated to only one of the ruins.
      • The Pictish encampment south of Berkstead has been removed
      • The western basilisk youths have been moved from the north of Caer Sursbrooke to the south.
      • Several miscellaneous mobs have been removed in the woods south of the Albion maze and north of Caer Sursbrooke
      • A high level mob camp has been added nearby the Boldiam Spire
    • Several Mob camps have been removed, moved, or added in Hibernia as noted:

      • Mobs found in the graveyard south of Dun Crauchon have been removed
      • The Moss monsters around Dun Bolg have been removed
      • The megafelids north of Dun Bolg have been removed
      • The giant lusus in the swamp around Dun Bolg have been removed
      • The grannies south of Dun Bolg have had their numbers reduced
      • The bananach outside Dun da Behnn have been removed
      • The cruiach demons have been moved to the northwest plateau in the southern half of Breifine
      • Several of the mobs along the coastline north of Dun Bolg have been removed
    • Several Mob camps have been removed, moved, or added in Midgard as noted:

      • The Wyvern’s west of Nottmoor have been moved further east between Notmoor and Glenlock.
      • The bone-eaters outside Nottmoor have been moved near where Glenlock Outpost used to be, west of Glenlock
      • Several Frost Giants have been removed between Bledmeer and Blendrake
      • The dire wolverines west of Blendrake have been removed
      • Several frore liches and mature wyverns have been removed from southern half of the woods north of Blendrake
      • The icestriders near the Passage of Conflict entrance have had their spawn radius decreased and number reduced
      • A new high level mob camp has been placed near the new Glenlock Outpost’s location

     
    General Changes

    • Boat speed has been increased.
    • Deathspam radius has been reduced to about 1.5 zone lengths.
    • When a character fires a siege weapon, there is now a 3 second timer preventing the firing of another siege weapon by that character.
    • All members of a Battlegroup within 4000 units of the capture point now get Relic capture credit
    • Spell, ability and item use timers now take into account time elapsed while offline.
    • The Realm War Map player location marker now shows proper player facing.
    • PBT spells no longer affect fire and forget pets.
    • All crafted item use timers have been reduced to 90 seconds (down from 180 seconds). This fixes the issue with celerity charges not being their proper re-use timer length.
    • Mainland dock masters now complete specific Champion and Labyrinth quests.
    • Frontier maps have been adjusted to better reflect the new paths added to Agramon
    • Frontier maps have been adjusted to reflect the new Mainland and Agramon docks
    • The interact-timer for merchant purchases has been reduced.

     
    Artifact Encounter Changes

    • All artifact encounters have been changed to allow players who perform the artifact’s PvE encounter an activated and fully-leveled version of the artifact. Players will need to return to a new NPC in the Hall of Heroes to complete the new quests associated with the artifact encounters in order to receive the fully-leveled artifact.
    • Artifacts will become fully leveled when they enter your character’s inventory. Do not be alarmed if you delve the item from the quest window and it is level 0.
    • A new Artifact Replacement NPC has been added to the Hall of Heroes of each realm that will replace any of the new, fully-leveled artifacts for players who lose them.
    • Players with existing Artifact credit will have to complete the encounter again to receive the fully leveled Artifact. This is only possible if the existing Artifact is not in your inventory (this includes equipped, personal inventory, and personal vault).

     
    Class Changes

    Bainshee

    • The pulsing PBAoE spell is capped at 9 pulses now. Players will have to recast the spell after the 9th pulse fires.

    Quest Changes

    • The Pictslayer event has entered its final and permanent stage.

      • Pict scout camps have been removed from the mainland zones
      • Pict scout camps have been removed from frontier zones except for the camp in Pennine Mountains, Jamtland Mountains, and Breifine.
      • All existing Pictslayer quests will be disabled.
      • A new quest has been added, “The Ongoing Pictish Nuisance,” which can be obtained from Sir Yvain in Albion, Sinfjotli Sigmundarson in Midgard, and Fionn mac Cumhaill in Hibernia

    Bug Fixes

    • Draughts of Heroism and Supremacy should now be more consistently usable when moving on speed.
    • Draughts of Supremacy will now fully buff players after they have been sheared.
    • Bug Fixes: – The buffs given by the Draught of Supremacy are now shearable by both yellow and red-level shear
    • Bug Fixes: – The level 12 Paladin spell, Chant of Stamina, is once again available in the Chants Specialization.

     
     
     
    Engineering

    • The “screenshot” and “camera toggle” keys are now changeable (this also frees up F11 and NumPad – for other uses).
    • Tab (or other key) targeting of enemies, friends, objects and loot now has a range of 1500 units (up from 1024).
    • Steep terrain slope snare effect reduced from 50% to 25%New Frontiers Changes (Ywain Only)

  • General

    Which One of You Took My Grab Bag?!

    Created by

    tsaad

    |

    I could have sworn I left it right here. Carol is the prime suspect. She tried to sneak off with last week’s Grab Bag, but was thwarted!

    We’re on to you Carol!

    This week’s Grab Bag is themed!  As we approach 1.115 coming to live servers, we’ve asked for a few specific questions around the update. Click the ‘More’ link to read more!!
     

    Q: Can you give a projected timeline for the rollout? What are some key discussion points that may be holding the patch back?
     
    A: With each feedback-fuelled iteration of 1.115, several changes were made – many of them significant. We’ve been focused on a number of specific aspects of the NF Revamp such as Docks, Porting mechanics, Relic placement. As you might imagine, these subjects are the source of much debate among the player-base and it’s important for us be certain that as large a cross-section of our players are represented and are able to voice their opinion.
     
    Fine tuning certain aspects of the game have also allowed us to fit in more content that would have otherwise been slated for later patches (such as fully-leveled Artifacts).
     
    We realize that this has been a longer-than-usual patch cycle, but this is a nontrivial update to the dynamic of the New Frontiers and RvR, which is the very core of Dark Age of Camelot. It’s something we want to test and discuss until we believe it meets with the high standards of Dark Age of Camelot and Broadsword!
     
    Q: Is there still plans to increase the movement speed for all classes? If so, how will this affect the classes such as Bard, Minstrel and Skald? Will their speed be increased further to maintain their utility?
     
    A: Not at this time. Those 3 classes provide much more than speed to groups and even still, the way their speed songs work is much better than how mounts do. However, that’s not to say we won’t be keeping an extra close eye on how they are performing after the patch. If they need help, we’ll give them some.
     
     
    Q: These paths are not too-steep-to-climb terrain and can be freely backtracked except for at the path’s ‘exit’ into the central area of Agramon.” Please elaborate on how the exit is different and what prevents you from being able to backtrack on it.
     
    A: The exit areas of each one-way path are marked with rocky terrain that can be scaled downwards but not upwards.
     
     
    Q: How is the new patch going to affect Gaheris? Will you be taking Beno/Crauch/bled out of play there? Will the dopples be available on Gaheris? And how will the changes to the labyrinth zoning and Agramon be done on Gaheris? Hope to hear something about this I know there aren’t a ton of us that play gaheris on a regular basis but those of us that do enjoy it there
     
    A: Benowyc, Crauchon, and Bledmeer will behave exactly as they do currently on Gaheris. Nothing will change. 
     
    As for Berkstead, Crimthainn, and Nottmoor, since we moved them and adjusted their footprints with the revamp we have changed them on Gaheris as well to mimic the open courtyard layout of the PKs on Ywain. The keep lords you’re familiar with will still hold residence in these three keeps though, but the encounter may be a bit different now given the layout.
     
    Doppelgangers will not be on Gaheris. 
     
    All of the Labyrinth zoning and Agramon zoning changes will also be on Gaheris. This should not affect Gaheris players too much as it is still possible to enter the Labyrinth via the Agramon towers and to exit to Agramon via the obelisks inside.
     
    Q: Just wondering, the towers you have removed from NF with the coming patch, they seem to leave a lot of empty space. I found the ruined keeps towers at Beno etc… quite interesting and should make good areas for fights especially for lesser numbers to use tactics vs. larger number! Sooooo would it not be an interesting idea to leave the other towers in but as ruined towers such as Surs 4 etc…?
     
    A: This is something we’ve thought about but held off on for now. It’s certainly something we *can* do if players would like to see more ruined structures throughout the frontiers.
     
    Q: playing on the test server and seeing the damaged keeps of Beno, DC and Bledmeer they all seemed staged. There were no under growth. They need tall grass and small tree’s to make them more realistic.. If you want to keep them looking so clean you should add mobs in the keeps and broken towers that pull the weeds and an aggro to any outsiders. It would be nice if you could add a haste NPC in the inner ruins.
     
    A: Polishing the art for the Ruined Keep, Portal Keeps, Relic Towns and other aspects of the NF update is among our plans. It certainly does stand to reason that a Ruined Keep should appear more overgrown! We would like to get the players involved in certain aspects of Camelot’s development, such as where art resources might be focused next. We hope to accomplish this through feedback, player polls, and through our Community Lead: Carol Kenny.

    Thank you to this week’s contributors! We’ll see you next week for the next edition of the Friday Grab Bag!

  • Patch Notes

    Pendragon Coming Down For Patch 1.115d

    Created by

    tsaad

    |

    Update 4:30PM EDT / 2230 CET: Pendragon is back online! Happy testing!

    Pendragon will be taken offline today, April 24th at 2:00PM EDT / 2000 CET for the deployment of Patch 1.115d. 

    The estimated downtime for this deployment is about 4 hours. An update will be provided when Pendragon is back online.

    Thank you!

  • Patch Notes

    Patch 1.115d Comes to Pendragon!

    Created by

    tsaad

    |

    Highlights

    • Your great feedback came in loud and clear! Check out the latest changes to the New Frontiers!
    • New Dock location in the Portal Town Zones!
    • Want instant fully leveled Artifacts? Find out How to get ‘em!
    • More than a few bugs have been addressed. Read on to find out what’s been fixed!

    Click the ‘More’ link to read the latest patch notes!
     
     
     
    Dock Changes

    • Capture-able docks have been added on each realm’s river mid-way between the Strength Relic Town’s Milegates and the Center Keep that take players down their realm’s river towards the power relic keep, turn around, and end back at the Center Keep island.
    • Dock boat wait times have been reduced from a total of 45s down to 25s. This includes the the time boats remain at the dock for player boarding.
     
     
    Artifact Encounter Changes
     
    • All artifact encounters have been changed to allow players who perform the artifact’s PvE encounter an activated and fully-leveled version of the artifact. Players will need to return to a new NPC in the Hall of Heroes to complete the new quests associated with the artifact encounters in order to receive the fully-leveled artifact.
    • Artifacts will become fully levelled when they enter your character’s inventory. Do not be alarmed if you delve the item from the quest window and it is level 0.
    • A new Artifact Replacement NPC has been added to the Hall of Heroes of each realm that will replace any of the new, fully-levelled artifacts for players who lose them.
    • Players with existing Artifact credit will have to complete the encounter again to receive the fully leveled Artifact. This is only possible if the existing Artifact is not in your inventory (this includes equipped, personal inventory, and personal vault).
     
    Bug Fixes
    • Additional safeguards were added to make sure Ruined Keeps and towers remained in their Ruined state.
    • Added some additional guards in the Ruined Keep lord room to protect relics placed there. These guards only spawn if a relic is housed in the Ruined Keep.
    • Draughts of Heroism and Supremacy should now be more consistently usable when moving on speed.
    • Draughts of Supremacy will now fully buff players after they have been sheared.
    • (Gaheris Only) Altered the keep encounters for Caer Berkstead, Nottmoor Faste, and Dun Crimthainn to function within the new keep position and open courtyard layout.
     
    Engineering
    •  The Screenshot Key (-) is now map-able to any other unused key
    •  The Camera View Toggle (F11) is now map-able to any other unused key
    •  When a character fires a siege weapon, there is now a 3 second timer preventing the firing of another siege weapon by that character.
     
    Art
    • The Frontier maps have been adjusted to better reflect the new paths added to Agramon
    • The Frontier maps have been adjusted to reflect the docks added near the Strength Relic Towns

    Please log onto Pendragon to test out a few of these changes, and provide feedback! We look forward to hearing your thoughts on these recent changes. 

    We appreciate your opinion and we thank you for supporting Broadsword by voting for Dark Age of Camelot and Ultima Online on Steam!

    If you have not yet voted – please do so! We are looking forward to this next step, and need your help to get there!

    Click here for Dark Age of Camelot on Steam!

    Click here for Ultima Online on Steam!

    We’ll see you in NEW New Frontiers!!

  • General

    Killaloe Event Ends – The Rites of Spring Begins!

    Created by

    tsaad

    |

    The forces of Albion, Midgard, and Hibernia have driven the springtime menace from the Battleground at Killaloe! The elusive bunny made its escape and has found its way to Agramon in the New Frontiers.Click the ‘More’ link to find out more about the Rites of Spring!

    For those who could not join the Killaloe event – the Gem of the Harbinger will remain a One-Time Drop during the Rites of Spring quest in the New Frontiers! To pick up the Rites of Spring quests, please speak to the following NPCS:

    In Albion – Sir Yvain near the bindstone on the New Frontiers side of Castle Sauvage
    In Midgard – Sinfjotli Sigmundarson near the Bindstone on the New Frontiers side of Svasud Faste
    In Hibernia – Fionn Mac Cumhaill near the Bindstone on the New Frontiers side of Druim Ligen

    Thank you for your participation in the Weekend BG Event, and thank you for supporting Broadsword by voting for Dark Age of Camelot and Ultima Online on Steam!

    If you have not yet voted – please do so! We are looking forward to this next step, and need your help to get there!

    Click here for Dark Age of Camelot on Steam!

    Click here for Ultima Online on Steam!

    Thank you and we’ll see you in the Frontiers!
     

  • General

    A Message from Grabford B. Bagsworth III

    Created by

    tsaad

    |

    Ok Grab Bag, not cool. You missed our last date! We’re starting to feel rejected here. People care about you, and want the pleasure of your company so stop being so elusive. I think you owe us an apology. On with it!

    Q: Grab Bag, where have you been? 

    A: Humble apologies my dear friends. I mean no offense, but sometimes it’s difficult to make all of my appointments. I mean…I’m not sure if you know, but…I’m kind of a big deal. People know me…but this is no excuse! I look forward to making a more regular appearance to answer your questions and address your concerns.  

    Yours with respect,
    Sir Grabford B. Bagsworth III Esq. 

    Now – Let’s answer some questions! Click the ‘More’ button to see this week’s Grab Bag!

    Q: Why don’t you guys do log-in surveys anymore? The last one I remember seeing was when they were thinking about expanding ML options to 3 per class instead of 2, which was many years ago. Don’t you think this would be a good way to collect data and put controversial topics into better perspective (removing the bind stone from the Labyrinth is a popular one atm) from your entire player base in addition to postcount? A lot of European and casual players don’t read or much less discuss topics here.
     
    A: Log-in surveys are indeed a great way to get information directly from active players. Polls on third party sites, or even the Camelot Herald can be less effective because the questions are open to everyone, regardless of their status in the game. While we appreciate all feedback, there are certain questions we would like answered by players that are actively playing at the time of the poll.
     
    We would like to re-implement log-in polls for this reason.
     
    Q: Is Broadsword going to do characters transfers between accounts? If so, do both accounts have to be open, and will it be a free or cost service?
     
    A: This is the plan. Over 12+ years of game-play, players have several characters across multiple accounts and we would like to provide the opportunity to allow consolidation. This will be among the many updates and upgrades to the Broadsword Account Center that is currently underway. Currently, it’s planned as a premium service – but there are no details on the prices as yet.
     
    Q: Are there currently plans to have a monthly or quarterly twitch stream with the dev’s playing with questions answered similar to the WBW streams with Grakulen, and if so, would you mind giving a rough eta?
     
    A: We really enjoyed our Wayback Wednesday streams with Grakulen on MMORPG.com. They were a great way for us to keep players informed, and to demonstrate to new/interested parties the thrill and magic of Dark Age of Camelot. This is something we really want to do again, and we’ll be working with our wonderful Community Lead Carol on having something similar set up on a regular cadence. Who doesn’t miss watching us get crushed live on video!?
     
    Q: I have seen a lot of art changes with the new patch. Have your resources in this department increased?
     
    A: Yes it has! We’re thrilled about this. Those of you who have participated in some previous Grab Bags asked questions to which the reply often started with: “Unfortunately due to art resource constraints we are currently unable to…”
     
    Under Broadsword, we have renewed investment in this area, and we’re really excited about updating art for various features in DAoC.  Things we’re currently discussing are: fixes for art-related bugs, new maps, UI skins, new items, monsters, and more!
     
    Q: General question looking for update on status of new website
     
    A: We’re almost there. Those of you who have been following this (admittedly long) process will be pleased to know that the wait is almost over. We’re putting the finishing touches on Character and Guild search, an up-to-date Item database, and even a few Realm War features! We’re really excited to release the early phase of our updates to begin the process of building a Camelot Herald that will surpass the Herald of old!
     
    Q01: Could be consider to share quests? If it is not possible for old quests, at least provide for new quests. It is more easy to group people when all have the same target, and not wasted time.
     
    A: We have a lot of things we’d like to do to improve the User Experience. This is on that very large list but is somewhere around the middle in terms of priority. We’ll get to it, but it may take a bit.​
     
     
    Q: What does broadsword plan to do after the NNF patch?
     
    A: Great question. I can’t give out too many details yet but we have a lot planned. For the next patch, we’ll be focusing on UI/UX improvements, art bug fixing and improvements (this includes the Labyrinth wall exploits!), and adding in a new long-term Live Event with a very cool surprise! Additionally, we’ll be responding to any feedback on the NF Update and making any warranted adjustments.
     
    After all of that, we’ll be looking at the overarching goals of RvR (read: relics) as well as improving larger scale objectives (read: keeps/towers, and maybe new things!). On the PvE side, we’ll be looking at updating loot tables and mob AI on some of the more memorable encounters and finishing the Hub Quests to 50. Class Balance, as always, is an ongoing endeavor.​
     
     
    Q: I’m wondering if there is any planning for class rebalancing at the moment. I dont pretend to know exactly what you have in mind, just know if you see any particular hole in actual gameplay (I think for example to blademaster/mercenary, melee friar or skalds) that need to be filled and what we should expect!
     
    A: As mentioned in a previous answer, class balance is always ongoing. However, with the NF Update we wanted to leave class balancing alone until the new RvR dynamic has been settled.
     
    In terms of general balance concerns, we feel that melee are under-populated in large-scale and group RvR and are looking at ways to improve their situation. We would also like to revisit the Assassin changes and take a look at the Archer classes. Of course, there are several other classes we’ll look over, so don’t fret if I didn’t mention it here. 

    Q: When is the buy timer on npc Merchant going to be fixed or please confirm that i should have a 2-3 second lagg when pushing the buy button.

    A: This is a bug that has been fixed with patch 1.115. You can log onto Pendragon to check it out!

    Thank you to all those who have submitted questions. If you don’t see your answer – do not fret! It may make the cut for the next Grab Bag!

    Don’t forget to check out our Steam Greenlight Page and vote for DAoC taking the next step in its history!

    Be excellent to each other, and we’ll see you in the Frontiers! 

  • General

    The Harbinger of Spring Invades Killaloe!

    Created by

    tsaad

    |

    Springtime is here again, and with the warmth and renewed bloom of the landscape an ancient menace returns!
     
    The deceptively cuddly Harbinger of Spring has found its way into the Battleground of Killaloe. It has devoured the Keep Lord of Dun Killaloe and has taken up residence there awaiting fresh prey. The Kings of the Realms have placed a bounty on this beast, and have dispatched Channelers to the Borderkeeps of Castle Sauvage, Svasud Faste, and Druim Ligen to offer passage to any that wish to drive this menace out of Killaloe and collect the new and unique reward!
     
    Click ‘More’ for additional information!

     
    To gain access to the Killaloe Battleground speak with the following Channelers:
     
    In Albion – Master Truji in Castle Sauvage
    In Midgard – Stor Gothi Acheren in Svasud Faste
    In Hibernia – Channeler Inarea in Druim Ligen
     
    The Battleground Event will begin Thursday evening and conclude in the morning on Monday, April 21st. Following the Battleground Event, the Rites of Spring will be activated in the New Frontiers.
     
    More information on the Rites of Spring will be posted here on the Camelot Herald, so stay tuned and we’ll see you in Killaloe!