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1.82 is Live! Servers up!
RJCox
Member Posts: 2,686
Two hours early; knock on formica, gang -
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Dark Age of Camelot
Version 1.82 Release Notes
Class Changes and Cross Cluster Guilds and Alliances
February 16, 2005
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VERSION 1.82 INTRODUCTION
Over the last couple of months, we have continued on the path that we started last year - gathering information from our players about what you want to see us working on next, and focusing on this information at the core of our patches. We will continue to poll for this information, as well as gather feedback from various community forums and the Herald. Based on your feedback, there are two main areas on which we have focused this version: Class Enhancements (specifically Hybrid and Assassin classes) and Guild and Alliance clustering improvements.
Hybrid Enhancements: We have made extensive improvements to the Friar, Thane and Warden. As with the heavy tanks, our goal was to reinvigorate these classes to make them more fun and interesting to play. Each of these classes has received unique changes that fit their individual roles in battle. Please scroll down to the "CLASS CHANGES AND FIXES" section to read about the improvements we have made to these three hybrid classes.
Assassin Enhancements: We also took a hard look at the assassin class of each realm with an eye for improving all three of them in overall performance, particularly in RvR. We have added improvements which better enable them to fulfill their role as stealthy one on one killers and castle infiltrators. Please scroll down to the "CLASS CHANGES AND FIXES" section to read about the improvements we have made to the three assassin classes.
Guild and Alliance Clustering Improvements: We really appreciate all of the feedback we have received about this issue. At long last and in response to this feedback you have provided, we have implemented the ability for guilds and alliances to form across all servers in a cluster. Please scroll down to the "Cross Server Guild And Alliance Notes" for more details.
We will continue to move forward with class enhancements as quickly as we can, but this will definitely require additional patch cycles and continuous testing and feedback. We know that you are each sensitive to when your class will be looked at, and we will be looking at them as quickly and carefully as possible. We are continuing to gather more feedback and we will be taking more polls in the near future to help us focus on what is next.
Your participation and feedback is very important to us. We really appreciate your involvement in helping us to determine what we should be looking at next. Thanks again!
NEW THINGS AND BUG FIXES
General Changes And Fixes
- The restrictions on /bg grantcredit where a player less than master level 2 couldn't be granted credit for trial 5, a player less than master level 4 couldn't be granted credit for trial 7, 9 for 9, and 10 for 10, have been removed.
- /gc note now gives the player feedback on where it's trying to write a note to, and will prompt the note writer if the target of the note is unclear.
- In some instances, players were able to exploit certain quests and obtain more experience than was intended. This has been fixed.
- The error message reported by the server when /gc invite can't find the target online is clearer.
- All characters on an account (provided that one of the characters owns a house) now have owner permissions in the house no matter which server in a cluster those characters belong to.
- Based on feedback from our players and team leads, the number of kills necessary in order to earn titles for the Realm dragons, Legion of Darkness Falls, and Shrouded Isles epic monsters has been standardized and reduced.
Cross Server Guild And Alliance Notes
- With this version, cross server guilds and alliances can now be formed. Guilds created now have a "Home" server which matches the initial leader of the guild's home server. Players from other servers in your cluster will now be able to join your guild, and alliances including guilds from every server in your cluster are now possible. When necessary, the <guildname>-<servername> format will be usable, similar to dealing with matching player names.
- It is now possible to add a guild or player from another server to your house's access permission list. Players and guilds will still only be able to claim homes on their home server.
New Titles
- The following titles have been added for players who participate in killing Legion:
Demonslayer
Demonbane
Demonscourge
Dread Vanquisher of Legion
New Emotes
- The following new emotes have been added to the game:
/worship
/drink
Interface Changes
- When right-clicking on an ability (spell, style, etc), there will be an "Info" button available which will do the same thing as pressing the Delve key.
- When right-clicking on an inventory item, there will be an "Info" button to delve it, but there will also be Salvage, Craft, and Repair buttons that will be highlighted if any of those are valid options. For example, if an object is fully repaired, the Repair button will be disabled.
- If the object has a /use or /use2 ability, these will display beneath the buttons in the mini-info window. The icon and name of the spell will be listed, and the icon can be clicked and dragged to the quickbar. This can then be used to active the /use or /use2 ability directly. The tooltip for one of these icons on the quickbar will have the name of the spell which item is the source of the ability. Moving an item in your inventory which has a /use hotkey in the quickbar will properly update the hotkey so that it still works.
- Switching objects between the backpack and worn slots will now properly resolve the /use hotkeys for the object(s).
Character Art Notes
- We have fixed an issue where most of the male Valkyn eye color options would show up green.
- There is a new inventory icon for TOA Artifact Cloaks.
CLASS CHANGES AND FIXES
General Notes
- The following Shield styles have a new animation: Shield Swipe, Mangle and Numb.
- The Sledgehammer Hammer Style has a new animation.
- The Arctic Rift Axe Style has a new animation.
- Spiritmaster pets have received a slight graphic change. This change is only viewable in Catacombs and Darkness Rising clients.
- There is now delve information for Sprint, Sure Shot, Critical Shot and Rapid Fire.
- Spells or styles, including bleeds, slows, hinders and stuns, now properly display the effect inflicted in delves.
- Subclassing spells, Rise of Hurt and Rise of Pain, are now correctly self-only damage shield spells.
- The following classes have been given a forced full respec upon login: Bainshees, Friars, Infiltrators, Nightshades, Shadowblades, Thanes, Wardens and Warlocks.
Combat Style Changes
- Reactionary combat styles now provide a 3 second window in which the player may use the style. When a reactionary style is available for use (such as after you block your target and you wish to use a block reactionary style), the reactionary style will register as valid and trigger as long as you use it within 3 seconds. In general, this will make it much easier to successfully perform reactionary styles against enemy targets.
Critical Strike Style Changes
- A new stackable ABS debuff has been added to the Critical Strike line in the following manner:
8 Pincer - Pre-req: To side of target - Effect: ABS decrease 1%
29 Leaper - Pre-req: Hamstring - Effect: ABS decrease 2%
44 Rib Separation - Pre-req: Leaper - Effect: ABS decrease 5%
- Critical strike styles that require the attacker to be stealthed will now destroy any bladeturn spell. The attack will hit the target unhindered. (Note: Before this change, the critical strike style would simply bypass the bladeturn, and the bladeturn would still block the next style. With this change, the critical strike style will actually destroy the bladeturn, preventing it from blocking the next style following the critical strike.)
- Combat styles which require the attacker to be hidden will now only break through bladeturns when the combat style is executed successfully.
- Critical strike styles that require the attacker to be stealthed will destroy any brittle guards that try to block the attack. The attack will hit the target unhindered.
Realm Ability Notes
- In some instances, the Arms Length realm ability would break during combat or spell casting. This has been fixed.
- The Bonedancer Realm Ability, Allure of Death, now uses similar art as the new Bonedancer pet art.
- The delve information for the realm ability, Testudo, now denotes that it is only effective versus realm enemies. On the PvE ruleset, the delve (and functionality) of Testudo is unchanged.
- The Heretic's realm rank 5 ability, Fanaticism, now reduces damage done by damage over time spells.
Master Level Ability Notes
- Banespike will now provide a 15% bonus for 10 seconds.
- Players can now have only one brittle guard summoned at a time.
- Tanglesnare cast time has been reduced to 5 seconds.
- Siege Wrecker is now on its own timer.
- Arcing Power is now an instant-cast spell similar to Leaping Health from the Perfector line.
- Spell timers have been re-arranged as such:
Dazzling Array 1
Enervating Gas 2
Inebriating Fumes 1
Mental Siphon 2
Choking Vapors 1
Sense Dulling Cloud 1
Energy Tempest 3
- Banespike now has a recast timer of 5 minutes.
- The Master Level abilities Primal Agony and Agony Transmission no longer remove stealth when they do damage.
Bainshee
- The Bainshee line of Frontal Direct Damage spells (Bawler's Bruise, Bawler's Outrage, etc.) now have fall-off damage similar to PBAE spells, but based on position, not distance. The frontal 45o arc of these spells will still hit for 100% of the spell's damage. Outside of this arc, damage will start to drop off to the sides, to a minimum of 25% of the spell's damage at the edge of the spell's arc.
- Archery shots blocked by the Bainshee Wraith's Barricade spell line will no longer cause bladeturns to be removed.
Bonedancer
- Bonedancer pets have received a graphic change. This change is only viewable in Catacombs and Darkness Rising clients.
Cabalist
- Cabalist pet speed spells from Vivification will no longer be overwritten by other speed spells.
Friar
- The Friar Rejuvenation line has been adjusted in the following manner:
The group Heal-Over-Time spells have had their amounts of healing increased and time increased to 30 seconds instead of 15 seconds. Power costs remain the same.
- A new spell has been added to Rejuvenation: Buff (Offensive Group heal Proc) - Target generates healing via melee attacks. The spells are as follows at the levels specified:
8 Prophet's Penitence - Self instant cast/30 seconds duration/30 seconds recast. 25% chance to proc a Group Heal for 15 hit points. 1000 units range
16 Prophet's Faith - Self instant cast/30 seconds duration/30 seconds recast. 25% chance to proc a Group Heal for 30 hit points. 1000 units range
24 Prophet's Piety - Self instant cast/30 seconds duration/30 seconds recast. 25% chance to proc a Group Heal for 45 hit points. 1000 units range
32 Prophet's Conviction - Self instant cast/30 seconds duration/30 seconds recast. 25% chance to proc a Group Heal for 60 hit points. 1000 units range
40 Prophet's Fidelity - Self instant cast/30 seconds duration/30 seconds recast. 25% chance to proc a Group Heal for 75 hit points. 1000 units range
48 Prophet's Dogma - Self instant cast/30 seconds duration/30 seconds recast. 25% chance to proc a Group Heal for 100 hit points.
- A new spell has been added to Enhancements: Buff (offensive PBAE heal Proc) - Target generates healing via melee attacks. The spells are as follows at the levels specified:
10 Acolyte's Redemption - Self instant cast/30 seconds duration/30 seconds recast. 25% chance to proc a PBAE (250 radius) Heal for 25 hit points.
20 Chaplain's Redemption - Self instant cast/30 seconds duration/30 seconds recast. 25% chance to proc a PBAE (250 radius) Heal for 50 hit points.
30 Fanatic's Redemption - Self instant cast/30 seconds duration/30 seconds recast. 25% chance to proc a PBAE Heal (250 radius) for 75 hit points.
40 Inquisitor's Redemption - Self instant cast/30 seconds duration/30 seconds recast. 25% chance to proc a PBAE (250 radius) Heal for 100 hit points.
50 Zealot's Redemption - Self instant cast/30 seconds duration/30 seconds recast 25% chance to proc a PBAE (250 radius) Heal for 125 hit points.
- A new spell has been added to Enhancements: Buff (Defensive Heal Proc) - Target generates healing via melee attacks against them. The spells are as follows at the levels specified:
9 Protection from Fear - Group 3 second cast time/20 minute duration. 25% chance to proc a self heal for 15 hit points.
17 Protection from Doubt - Group 3 second cast time/20 minute duration. 25% chance to proc a self Heal for 30 hit points.
25 Protection from Dissent - Group 3 second cast time/20 minute duration. 25% chance to proc a self Heal for 45 hit points.
33 Protection from Anarchy - Group 3 second cast time/20 minute duration. 25% chance to proc a self Heal for 60 hit points.
41 Protection from Idleness - Group 3 second cast time/20 minute duration. 25% chance to proc a self Heal for 75 hit points.
49 Protection from Heresy - Group 3 second cast time/20 minute duration. 25% chance to proc a self Heal for 100 hit points.
- Friar Staff Styles have been adjusted in the following manner:
4 Figure Eight - New Prerequisite: Frontal position - Effect: 25 hit group heal
15 Double Strike - Pre-Requisite: Figure Eight - Effect: 50 hit group heal
25 Banish - Pre-Requisite: Friar's Friend - Effect: 50 hit group heal
39 Friar's Fury - Pre-Requisite: Counter Evade - Effect: FAE 50 Heal
50 Excommunicate - Pre-Req: Holy Staff - Effect: 75 DD & 75 PBAE Heal
- Friar Weaponskill has been increased slightly.
- Friar staff changes have been made in the following manner:
4 Figure Eight - New Prereq: Frontal position - Effect: 15 hit group heal
15 Double Strike - Pre-Req: Figure Eight - Effect: 25 hit group heal
25 Banish - Pre-Req: Friar's Friend - Effect: 50 hit PBAE heal
34 Holy Staff - Pre-Req: None - Effect: 50 hit Group heal
39 Friar's Fury - Pre-Req: Counter Evade - Effect: FAE 75 Heal
50 Excommunicate - Pre-Req: Holy Staff - Effect: 75 DD & 100 Group Heal
- The Fatigue Cost Reduction spells, Saint's Energy, Saint's Stamina, Saint's Persistence and Saint's Tenacity, are now group buffs.
Infiltrator
- The melee damage caused by Perforate Artery, Backstab and Backstab II has been increased slightly.
- The RR5 ability Shadowstrike has been placed in the stealth skill line for all Assassins at spec 35.
- The RR5 ability Assassination has been placed in the stealth skill line for all Assassins at spec 39.
- Assassination has been replaced with Remedy for the Infiltrator RR5 ability.
- Upon gaining a deathblow on an RvR opponent, the Infiltrator will have increased stealth detection by 25% for the next 60 seconds.
Necromancer
- Shield of War (Subclass ability) now correctly has a recast timer.
Nightshade
- Remedy now only blocks poisons from weapons. (Note: This is a slight change in the design of Remedy in preparation for more changes and updates which will be made to the Nightshade class in this patch cycle.)
- The melee damage caused by Perforate Artery, Backstab and Backstab II has been increased slightly.
- The RR5 ability Shadowstrike has been placed in the stealth skill line for all Assassins at spec 35.
- The RR5 ability Assassination has been placed in the stealth skill line for all Assassins at spec 39.
- The following spells have been added to all Nightshades:
Damage over Time
Level 15 "Clouded Agony" 4/tick - instant cast/24 seconds duration. 30 second recast 500 unit range.
Level 25 "Clouded Distress" 8/tick - instant cast/24 seconds duration. 30 second recast 500 unit range.
Level 36 "Clouded Pain" 14/tick - instant cast/24 seconds duration. 30 second recast 500 unit range.
Level 46 "Clouded Destruction" 22/tick - instant cast/ 24 seconds duration. 30 second recast 500 unit range.
Self Damage Shield
Level 10 "Eventide Resonance" 1 dps - 3 second cast time / 20 minute duration.
Level 20 "Eventide Redirection" 2 dps - 3 second cast time / 20 minute duration.
Level 30 "Eventide Reverberation" 3 dps - 3 second cast time / 20 minute duration.
Level 40 "Eventide Repercussion" 4 dps - 3 second cast time / 20 minute duration.
Level 50 "Eventide Reflection" 5 dps - 3 second cast time / 20 minute duration.
- Upon gaining a deathblow on an RvR opponent, the Nightshade will be 25% harder to detect in stealth for the next 60 seconds.
- Nightshade DoT spells are now castable while in combat mode.
Ranger
- Models of the Ranger Champion Weapons have been updated to better reflect damage type.
Reaver
In 1.81 we adjusted spell timers of all classes to a new system due to overlapping issues with Sub-class abilities, Master level abilities, and class abilities. This adjustment was noted in 1.81 as follows:
"- Many spell and ability timers no longer overlap from Class Spells, Master Abilities and Sub-classing spells."
An inadvertent change to the Reaver lifetap spells occurred from this change, which allowed Reavers to cast lifetaps simultaneously instead of being limited to using one lifetap at a time. Because of this, we had to change lifetap spells back to the way they worked before. We apologize for any confusion about this issue. In the near future, we will be looking at rebalancing the Reaver class and we will pay close attention to improvements to the Soulrending line in particular.
Shadowblade
- The melee damage caused by Perforate Artery, Backstab and Backstab II has been increased slightly.
- While using a critical strike style which requires a stealth opening, if the player is using a two-handed weapon, the damage has been increased significantly.
- The RR5 ability Shadowstrike has been placed in the stealth skill line for all Assassins at spec 35.
- The RR5 ability Assassination has been placed in the stealth skill line for all Assassins at spec 39.
- Shadowstrike has been replaced with Remedy for the Shadowblade RR5 ability.
- Upon gaining a deathblow on an RvR opponent, the Shadowblade will have increased stealth movement by 25% for the next 60 seconds.
- Upon reaching level 10, Shadowblades will be granted the ability to turn their weapons to the side and inflict blunt damage for 30 seconds. (Re-usable every 5 minutes). This ability is found in the abilities list in the spells window.
- Frost Cut is now based off of Evade for Shadowblades.
Sorcerer
- Sorcerers can now cast Mastery of Concentration when group members have Bunker of Faith/Soldier's Barricade/Warguard up. The restriction Sorcerers have with casting Mastery of Concentration while Shield of Immunity is active remains.
Thane
- Stormcalling has been updated with the following changes:
6 Thor's Bolt 3.0 second casting time and 1525 range.
9 Thor's Greater Bolt 2.8 second casting time and 1550 range.
13 Thor's Major Bolt 2.8 second casting time and 1600 range.
17 Thor's Minor Lightning 2.8 second casting time and 1550 range.
23 Thor's Lesser Lightning 2.6 second casting time and 1600 range.
29 Thor's Lightning 2.6 second casting time and 1650 range.
38 Thor's Greater Lightning 2.6 second casting time and 1675 range.
48 Thor's Full Lightning 2.4 second casting time and 1700 range.
16 Call Mjollnir 3.5 second casting time 1500 range/350 radius.
22 Invoke Mjollnir 3.5 second casting time 1550 range/350 radius.
35 Summon Mjollnir 3.0 second casting time 1600 range/350 radius.
45 Command Mjollnir 3.0 second casting time 1600 range/400 radius. Also procs a PBAE 4.5 damage add from the targeted enemy.
10 Toothgrinder's Bite 1525 range.
12 Toothgnasher's Bite 1550 range.
18 Toothgrinder's Horn 1600 range.
25 Toothgnasher's Horn 1550 range.
34 Toothgrinder's Ram 1600 range.
44 Toothgnasher's Ram 1650 range.
- A new spell has been added: PBAE Energy Debuff - Target resistance is lowered. Damage done is of the spell's given damage type. The spells are as follows at the levels specified:
14 Dissipate Energy 3.0 second cast time/10 second duration, 350 radius 3% Energy Debuff.
20 Rout Energy 3.0 second cast time/10 second duration, 350 radius 6% Energy debuff.
33 Sunder Energy 3.0 second cast time/10 second duration, 350 radius 9% Energy debuff.
43 Banish Energy 3.0 second cast time/10 second duration, 400 radius 12% Energy debuff.
- A new spell has been added: Energy Debuff Weapon Proc - Self only Buff - Target resistance is lowered. Damage done is of the spell's given damage type. The spells are as follows at the levels specified:
17 Dissipating Blows 3.0 second cast time/20 minute duration, 3% Energy debuff.
23 Routing Blows 3.0 second cast time/20 minute duration, 6% Energy debuff.
36 Sundering Blows 3.0 second cast time/20 minute duration, 9% Energy debuff.
47 Banishing Blows 3.0 second cast time/20 minute duration, 12% Energy debuff.
- A new spell has been added: Doom Hammer - Thrown weapon and damage. Target takes damage. Damage done is of the spell's given damage type. Spell can be cast during combat. Disarms the Thane for 10 seconds. The spell is as follows at the level specified:
50 Doom Hammer 10 second recast time 1000 range 200 DD (Energy).
- The Thane's Hammer weapon specialization has been given the following adjustments:
12 Frost Hammer - Pre-req: To side of target - Effect: 20 energy DD
25 Crumble - Pre-req: Ruiner - Effect: 50 Energy DD
39 Lambast - Pre-req: You parry - Effect: 75 Energy DD
50 Mjolnir's Fury - Pre-Req: Lambast - Effect: 175 Energy DD
- Chain lightning now casts instantly at the enemy target and hits up to 5 targets (player or pet). If there is only one target available, the spell will hit once. If there are multiple targets, the spell has a chance to jump from target to target and back to the prior target. With each jump, the damage of the spell is reduced by 25%.
- Command Mjollnir will no longer have a delay after casting before casting another spell.
- Doom Hammer disarm is no longer purgable.
- The multiple hammer spell effect has been put back on Call Mjollnir, Invoke Mjollnir, Summon Mjollnir and Command Mjollnir.
Vampiir
- Vampiir self buffs will now scale in effectiveness from 50% to 100% between the levels 5 and 40.
- Vampiir combat styles will now delve correctly when delved from the combat panel.
Warden
- The Warden Regrowth line has been adjusted in the following manner:
- A new spell has been added: Buff (Offensive Group heal Proc) - Target generates healing via melee attacks. The spells are as follows at the levels specified:
8 Lesser Nature's Gift - Self instant cast/30 seconds duration/30 seconds recast. 15% chance to proc a Group Heal for 15 hit points. 1000 unit range
16 Lesser Nature's Favor - Self instant cast/30 seconds duration/30 seconds recast. 15% chance to proc a Group Heal for 30 hit points.
24 Lesser Nature's Token - Self instant cast/30 seconds duration/30 seconds recast. 15% chance to proc a Group Heal for 45 hit points.1000 unit range
32 Nature's Gift - Self instant cast/30 seconds duration/30 seconds recast. 15% chance to proc a Group Heal for 60 hit points. 1000 unit range
40 Nature's Favor - Self instant cast/30 seconds duration/30 seconds recast. 15% chance to proc a Group Heal for 75 hit points. 1000 unit range
48 Nature's Token - Self instant cast/30 seconds duration/30 seconds recast. 15% chance to proc a Group Heal for 100 hit points. 1000 unit range
- A new spell has been added to Nurture: Buff (offensive PBAE heal Proc) - Target generates healing via melee attacks. The spells are as follows at the levels specified:
10 Nature's Curator - Self instant cast/30 seconds duration/30 seconds recast. 15% chance to proc a PBAE (250 radius) Heal for 25 hit points.
20 Nature's Deacon - Self instant cast/30 seconds duration/30 seconds recast. 15% chance to proc a PBAE (250 radius) Heal for 50 hit points.
30 Nature's Keeper - Self instant cast/30 seconds duration/30 seconds recast. 15% chance to proc a PBAE (250 radius) Heal for 75 hit points.
40 Nature's Stewart - Self instant cast/30 seconds duration/30 seconds recast. 15% chance to proc a PBAE (250 radius) Heal for 100 hit points.
50 Nature's Sentinel - Self instant cast/30 seconds duration/30 seconds recast. 15% chance to proc a PBAE (250 radius) Heal for 125 hit points.
- The PBAE heal procs added in 1.82c have been moved to the Warden Nurture line.
- Wardens are now granted 1.8 spec points per level.
- Wardens are now able to specialize in Shield.
- Wardens can now receive Mastery of Blocking as a Realm Ability.
Warlock
- There is now a 3 second timer between Warlock Chambers instead of 2 seconds.
- Cast times of all Uninterruptible primers are now 3 seconds instead of 2 seconds.
- The following damage reductions are being applied to spells fired via Uninterruptible primers similar to the way Mastery of Concentration reduces spell effectiveness:
1 - Steady Cast - 40% of damage reduced
11 - Solid Cast - 35% of damage reduced
20 - Fixed Cast - 30% of damage reduced
29 - Fortified Cast - 25% of damage reduced
37 - Anchored Cast - 20% of damage reduced
47 - Unshakable Cast - 0% of damage reduced
- Uninterruptible primers now have the following power costs:
1 - Steady Cast - 45% power
11 - Solid Cast - 40% power
20 - Fixed Cast - 35% power
29 - Fortified Cast - 25% power
37 - Anchored Cast - 20% power
47 - Unshakable Cast - 15% power
GENERAL WORLD NOTES - ALL EXPANSIONS
- Line of sight issues have been improved for all towers in New Frontiers. This fix also addresses many of the 'cast through walls' issues that Bainshees had on towers.
- Milegate doors on Agramon are no longer attackable.
- Each realm's player gravestone has received new artwork.
Let The Games Begin!
- A new gaming craze is sweeping the realms. Trifecta has finally arrived! A card game of chance with fabulous prizes awaits the adventurous. Dealers (named "Trifecta Dealer") have appeared in the capitol cities (Classic, Shrouded Isles and Catacombs) as well as in the realm festivals. Try your luck today and see if you can get a Trifecta and win the big prizes! (Prizes are awarded randomly based on the number of matches made. Prizes and chances of winning are subject to change at any time. Celebrity voices were impersonated. Void where prohibited. Prohibited where void.) (You will love the prizes!)
- The Rules of Trifecta: Trifecta is a game of chance where the player is shown three decks of cards and chooses one from each of the decks. The decks are then shuffled and a card at random is chosen from each deck. If the player's choice and the card drawn match, they have a match. Players earn a random prize based on the number of cards matched. There are three tiers of prizes based on one match, two matches, or matching all three; referred to as a Trifecta. Each tier awards a random prize from a pool for that tier. The value of the prizes for each tier is based on how hard it would be to achieve that tier. To play, a character need only buy a token from the dealer and give the token to the dealer when they are ready to start. (Dealers also offer the rules of the game and a list of possible prizes.)
CAMELOT CLASSIC WORLD NOTES
General World Notes
- Infernal powers have created a rift into each Realm's homelands. These breaches appear to connect to previously unknown portions of Darkness Falls. These uncharted caverns are rife with demons and undead adventurers from times past. Designed for characters level 1-4 and 5-9, these new dungeons allow new characters to be introduced to RVR combat in a dungeon environment, as well as provide an alternate leveling locale. Within each realm's portion of the dungeon, there is also a portal to the appropriate level battleground so that players can try out either form of RVR easily without much travel or hardships. Tomorrow's Realm Champions have to start somewhere.
- A small number of monsters have been made uncharmable to prevent abuse.
- King Constantine, enamored by the warmth of his citizens upon his return, has begun renovations of Cotswold. The layout in Cotswold has been changed to include the addition of new buildings. The towns surroundings now accommodate a more welcoming approach. NPCs in Cotswold have been moved to new locations and horse routes have been adjusted. Please note - Under the Shrouded Isles or Trials of Atlantis clients, the bindstone and boulders may be missing some textures.
- King Eirik, enamored by the warmth of his citizens upon his return, has begun renovations of Mularn. The layout in Mularn has been changed to include the addition of new buildings. The towns surroundings now accommodate a more welcoming approach. NPCs in Mularn have been moved to new locations and horse routes have been adjusted. Please note - Under the Shrouded Isles or Trials of Atlantis clients, the following structures may be missing some textures: bindstone, stable, town hall and boulders.
- Players will no longer swim above water in the Midgard housing zones.
- The bridge in Connacht has been updated with new art.
- The Alchemy Table, Lathe, and Forge for crafting have been updated with new art.
- The Hibernia bridge in Connact has undergone art adjustments.
- Brush has been updated in both Mularn and Cotswold.
- All starting locations for new players in Mularn and Cotswold have been adjusted to be in front of their appropriate trainers.
- Loading screens for Vale of Mularn, Camelot Hills and Lough Derg have been updated to reflect each realm's starting town changes.
- New sounds have been added to each realm's starting town bindstone.
- Healers and Smiths have been added to the secondary border keeps in each realm (Snowdonia Fortress, Vindsaul Faste, and Druim Cain). Note: that at this time this is for the Realm side of the border keep, not the Frontier side.
- Smiths have been added to the primary border keeps in each realm. Note: that at this time this is for the Realm side of the border keep, not the Frontier side.
- Porters have been added to the secondary border keeps in each realm (Snowdonia Fortress, Vindsaul Faste, and Druim Cain). Note: This affects Regular and Classic servers only as the PVE/PVP servers already had similar NPCs.
- As part of the renovations to each realm's starter towns, several NPCs have been removed from the game. As a result, various merchants have had their stores consolidated, and several quests associated with removed NPCs have been modified to reference new NPCs.
- The following NPCs were removed from Cotswold Village: Eowyln Astos (Dye Merchant), Farma Hornly (Armor Merchant), Laridia the Minstrel, Dyemaster Octe (Dye Merchant), Grannis Ynos (Weapon Merchant), Ellyn Weyland (Armor Merchant), Col Aldar (Armor Merchant), Cudbert Dalston (Weapon Merchant), Lar Rodor (Shield Merchant), Gill Hoxley (Armor Merchant), Rayn Olwyc (Weapon Merchant), Cullen Smyth, Rheda, Grum Bowman (Weapon Merchant), Pellam (Weapon Merchant), Yetta Fletcher (Arrow Merchant), Enchanter Grumwold, Eileen Morton (Instrument Merchant), and Sir Grynoch.
Quests involving Eowyln Astos now reference Elvar Ironhand (Smith).
Quests involving Farma Hornly now reference Lundeg Tranyth (Armor Merchant).
Quests involving Laridia the Minstrel now reference Ydenia Philpott (Instrument Merchant).
Quests involving Rheda now reference Stonemason Glover.
Quests involving Yetta Fletcher now reference Samwell Hornly (Weapon Merchant).
Quests involving Eileen Morton now reference Godeleva Dowden (Merchant).
Additionally, several NPCs have moved from their previous locations, new buildings have been erected (including a stable), and the Cotswold guard tower has been moved closer to the village. References made to these new locations have been updated in several NPC dialogues, map directions, etc. Also, various teleport locations have been updated to accommodate the moving of some NPCs.
- The following NPCs have been removed from Mularn: Hild (Weapon Merchant), Oken (Weapon Merchant), Cale (Dye Merchant), Blyn (Armor Merchant), Gram (Weapon Merchant), Bein(Armor Merchant), Marie (Shield Merchant), Aren (Weapon Merchant), Grenlyr (Weapon Merchant), Geir (Arrow Merchant), Raelyan (Weapon Merchant), Raimes, Denise and the Chieftain Guard.
Hrolf is no longer a weapon merchant.
Elizabeth is no longer and enchanter.
Finn is no longer a dye merchant.
Vers is no longer an armor merchant.
Linna is no longer a weapon merchant.
Aste is no longer an armor merchant.
Brik is now a trade skill supply merchant.
Additionally, several NPCs were moved from their previous locations, new buildings were erected, and the Mularn guard tower was moved closer to the village. References made to these new locations were updated in several NPC dialogues.
- Artwork has been updated for numerous graveyards.
- The hasteners at the primary border keeps (Sauvage, Ligen, and Svasud) have been moved slightly. You can find them down the hill from each border keep entrance at the rock that divides the paths into the Relic area and the Frontier proper.
- (Midgard) Information in players' quest journals, for those on step 5 of the Mularn Delivery quest, has been updated to incorporate the new location (due to the recent Mularn face-lift) of the NPC named Asta.
- (Midgard) New shop architecture and torches have been added to Mularn.
- (Hibernia) The Lough Derg mini-map has been updated to properly reflect the Demons' Breach dungeon entrance.
Quest Notes - Albion
- Newly inducted Clerics of the Church of Albion (level 5) are now gifted with a Mace of the Initiate that grants a Rejuvenation bonus, rather than the Crush bonus it was previously giving.
- Players on step one of the The Stolen Spells quest are now advised to bring along help.
- The Search at Snowdonia (Epic 3) quest now correctly advises player to see Bishop Kustan and not the Arawnite Envoy.
- Meran the Weaver now advises players on step 3 of the Cloak of Shades Part 1 quest to search for Brownie Nomads in Salisbury Plains rather than Camp Forest.
- The Stones of Power (Epic 1) quest was missing quest step 7. This was added.
- Players will now be asked to kill more level appropriate monsters for the Cloak of Shades Part 1 quest.
- Modified the 'Undead Assassin' spawn so that it didn't roam past the zone boundary.
- Child's Play - Players between levels 1 and 4 will find that Charles, in Cotswold, will invite them to join in a game he's playing.
- A Hero Desires a Sword - Raymond, in Cotswold, will ask players between levels 5 and 9 (who have chosen an advanced class) to help him in dealing with a bully.
- The Cotswold Guides that spawn as part of a newbie quest have had their spawns and paths adjusted to match the new layout of the town.
- Players stuck on step 4 of the Fall of an Emperor can now use the Olivarius Scepter to advance their quest.
- The Amulet of the Planes quest has been raised to a more appropriate level. Players who previously completed this quest may return to Mairi Ralilden in the Campacorentin Forest to have her increase the power of the amulet.
Quest Notes - Midgard
- The quest reward for certain classes completing Otas Quest has been adjusted to include a bonus to Darkness, instead of Runecarving. The classes affected: Spiritmasters, Runemasters, and Bonedancers.
- Step 10 of Ota's Quest now correctly takes the griffon claws from Warlocks and Valkyries.
- Child's Play - Players between levels 1 and 4 will find that Charles, in Mularn, will invite them to join in a game he's playing.
- A Hero Desires a Sword - Raymond, in Mularn, will ask players between levels 5 and 9 (who have chosen an advanced class) to help him in dealing with a bully.
- The Mularn Guides that spawn as part of a newbie quest have had their spawns and paths adjusted to match the new layout of the town.
Quest Notes - Hibernia
- Players completing the West Wind quest will now receive a more level-appropriate quest reward.
- Directions to Taskmaster Praest as part of the quest journal entry for step 1 of the Service to the Realm quest have been modified to direct players to the correct Tir na Nog exit.
- Directions to Rhedoc as part of the quest journal entry for step 4 of the Flagging Morale quest have been modified to direct players to his new location in the recently-renovated Mag Mell.
- Advanced classes (Warlocks, Vampiirs, and Valewalkers) can now receive their reward and complete the Nuisances quest.
- Druids and Wardens will now receive a scale version of the reward offered for the Sea Shell Sleeves quest.
- Players will now be able to progress past step 4 in the Sraoi's Heart quest.
- Level 41 players will now be able to properly receive the Task Mastering quest from Lieutenant Mauvere again.
- Hibernia Epic "The Empyrean Dilemma" - The Siog Tribesmen have had their aggression radius reduced.
- Child's Play - Players between levels 1 and 4 will find that Charles, in Mag Mell, will invite them to join in a game he's playing.
- A Hero Desires a Sword - Raymond, in Mag Mell, will ask players between levels 5 and 9 (who have chosen an advanced class) to help him in dealing with a bully.
- The Information quests given by the base trainers no longer have guides to take players to Adrrir.
Item Notes - General
- The following items may now be placed in personal vaults: Coin of Earth, Coin of Water, Coin of Fire, Coin of Wind, Coin of Body, Coin of Mind, Coin of Spirit, Gem of the Despoiled, Hand Crafted Music Box, Golden Tuning Fork, Guri's Wand, Hunter's Report, Guard's Report, Speech Script, Map to Rebel Recruiter, Nymir's Head, Rebel Speech, Erhael's Head, Servant's Livery, Drugged Dinner and Wine, Secret Rebel Plans, Athaecyn's Dinner and Wine, Powdered Medicine, Key with Rebel Mayor's Insignia, Sheaf of Documents, List of Reagents, House Findias Robe, Map to Rebel Recruiter, Rebellion Tunic, Bjorn's Head, Rebel Plans, Gamanborg Map, Recruiter Map, Dwarf Skin Scroll, Maniacal Fighter's Dagger, Maniacal Shadow's Pendant, Erellala's Quiver, Outcast Strong Fist Seer's Staff, Note for Sentry Vudi, Vudi's Map, Togda's Map, Gymyr's Head, Second Piece of Crystal
- New Helmets for Valkyries have been added to the Darkness Falls merchants with the unique Valkyrie winged helmet graphic.
- The majority of quest items will now be able to be placed in personal vaults.
Monster Notes - Midgard
- Sentry Thomas in Jordheim will be recognized by other nearby sentries. This will allow him to be more easily located with the /where command.
- A number of monsters and camps have been shifted, added, or modified as a result of the recent changes in Mularn.
- Fixed an issue where Stor Gothi Al would spawn under the mound after the dragon was killed.
Monster Notes - Albion
- A number of monsters and camps have been shifted, added, or modified as a result of the recent changes in Cotswold.
- The gender of the Bandit decoys will no longer be in question.
Monster Notes - Hibernia
- A number of monsters have moved or shifted in response to the improvements made in Mag Mell recently.
- Daewin, the trophy frog, has had its spawn adjusted because of the new bridge put in north of Ardee. It will no longer spawn inside the bridge but on top of it so trophy collectors can 'collect them all'.
Dungeon Notes - General
- Mini-maps have been added to the following dungeons: Darkness Falls, Barrows, Tomb of Mithra, Keltoi Fogou, Catacombs of Cardova, Tepok's Mine, Spindelhalla, Vendo Caverns, Varulvhamn, Cursed Tomb, Nisse's Lair, Coruscating Mine, Muire Tomb, Spraggon Den, Koalinth Caverns and Treibh Caillte.
- Additional mini-maps have been added to the Task Dungeons and Adventure Wings of all three realms.
- Minor demon lords have taken residence within Demons' Breach (both level 1-4 and 5-9 versions).
SHROUDED ISLES WORLD NOTES
World Notes - General
- All Shrouded Isles portals have received new art updates.
Dungeon Notes
- Mini-maps have been added to the following dungeons: Krondon, Caer Sidi, Galladoria, Tur Suil and Trollheim
Monster Notes - Midgard
- Issorden in Tuscaran Glacier has had its aggression radius lowered to help players get to the encounter easier.
TRIALS OF ATLANTIS WORLD NOTES
Encounter Notes - General
- Fixed an issue with the Ceremonial Bracers encounter where the main mob would sometimes despawn abruptly in rare instances.
Oceanus Encounter Notes
- All Hibernian players eligible to activate the Egg of Youth will be able to activate it once again.
- All Albion players eligible to activate the Egg of Youth will be able to activate it once again.
- Fixed a rare case with ML 1.5 that would cause the champions to get stuck in a casting loop.
- The main mobs involved in the Goddess Necklace artifact encounter have been modified to prevent them from taking damage from player spells and avoid them aggroing players while being escorted.
- The Kraken will no longer AoE Nearsight or Sever the Tether. This is to address a potential bug that causes the Kraken to not drop loot. The Kraken has also been tethered to its lair.
Volcanus Encounter Notes
- The faction messages received for killing the appropriate monsters for ML 7.2 have been modified so that you can easily tell when you have completed the requirements for each faction. As well, the additional messages that were added will now stop once you have learned as much as can about a particular faction.
- Additional static spawns of the haje-uraeus have been added to allow players a greater chance at finding this monster for the Master Level 6.1 encounter. Old methods of finding this monster remain intact as well.
Aerus Encounter Notes
- Cyrek will now grant encounter credit only to players who are eligible for the Jacina's Sash encounter.
- ML 9.6: Katri shall no longer heal herself; only her personal guards will heal her now.
Stygia Encounter Notes
- A number of adjustments and additions to the ML 4.2 encounter Fortress of Storms have been made. Included in the adjustments are pathing adjustment for the laborers, spawn adjustment for the campfires, and tweaks to spawns not directly related to the encounter. Overall the changes are there to make the encounter easier to follow and complete when attempted in the intended manner.
Item Notes - General
- The Runed Metal Plate has been removed from the Master Level Stores to prevent players from accidentally putting the associated encounter into an uncompletable state.
CATACOMBS WORLD NOTES
Instanced Adventuring Notes
- Players will now be able to leave The Pit of Despair without issue.
- A number of spawns were adjusted to allow them to show up prior to a player entering their area to prevent players from being overwhelmed by a sudden pop when an ambush was not the intent.
- (Midgard) Adjusted a spawn within one of the adventure wings (The Lost Passages) to prevent mobs from 'insta-spawning' on top of a group as they explore the adventure wing.
- (Midgard) Fixed an issue where mobs had a slim chance to despawn during the Concealed Guardhouse Killtask 6 task dungeon.
- (Hibernia) Adjusted a spawn within one of the adventure wings (The warrens) to prevent mobs from 'insta-spawning' on top of a group as they explore the adventure wing.
Quest Notes - Albion
- Lur'tai will no longer roam and respawn outside of his home location for A Single Soul quest.
Quest Notes - Hibernia
- Valewalkers and Nightshades will now be able to complete the In the Mouth of the Labyrinth quest.
Quest Notes - Midgard
- The "Rescuing Jesse" quest is no longer removable via the Remove Quest feature in players' quest journals.
Item Notes - General
- Shields dropped from Lefilam for the Hibernian and Midgard Realms now properly have the higher metal level.
- The Villianous Darkspire Barbed Sleeves now correctly grant Composite Bow bonuses.
- The Villianous Darkspire Bow, Malevolent Darskpire Bow, and Maleficient Darkspire bow now correctly grant the Arrow Recovery bonus.
- The Orbs of Exploration (Catacombs gift) now have an attack delay of 30 seconds instead of 1 second.
DARKNESS RISING WORLD NOTES
World Notes - General
- (Albion) The petitioner Dale Gibbs in King Constantine's throne room now correctly displays his visual quest indicator, to be consistent with the other petitioners in the throne room.
- (Albion) Players that remove either the "A Gift Befitting a King?" quest or the "Something Stinks in Gwyddneau" quest prior to completion will now be able to re-obtain either quest when visiting petitioner Dale Gibbs in King Constantine's throne room.
Quest Notes - General
- Royal Excursions: We have made some changes to the way Royal Excursion quests are given out in each realm. The named Lieutenants in each realm that used to offer tasks to players between levels 5 and 49 have been replaced with sets of four NPCs offering Royal Excursions to specific level ranges. These sets of NPCs can be found near the area previously occupied by the named Lieutenants at the realm's portal keep, near the Shrouded Isles portal in the realm's starter town, and in the realm's capital city.
Players from levels 5 to 15 can receive Excursions from their realm's Sergeant.
Players from levels 16 to 30 can receive Excursions from their realm's Lieutenant.
Players from levels 31 to 45 can receive Excursions from their realm's Captain.
Players from levels 46 to 50 can receive Excursions from their realm's Commander.
- We've also made a change to the structure of the highest level Royal Excursions to allow players level 46 and higher to accept tasks from any level between 46 and 49. When speaking to the Commander, he will first ask players which level's Excursions they wish to view.
Quest Notes - Albion
- Dialogue recovery has been implemented for step 1 of the "A Warning >From the East" quest. In the event that a player closes their dialogue box prematurely, it will be possible to interact with Ambassador Sharifah to get her to continue with her dialogue.
- Dialogue recovery has been implemented for step 1 of the "Invitation to Days Gone By" quest. In the event that a player closes their dialogue box prematurely, it will be possible to interact with Sir Christopher Cooke to get him to continue with his dialogue.
Quest Notes - Hibernia
- A quest journal entry for step 3 of the "Among the Dissidents" quest has been corrected to accurately reference the location (Alainn Cuir) of Sentinel Llacheu.
- Bards attempting to exchange their Champion Weapon at the Essence's Weaponmaster for a Blades weapon will now be able to do so without issue.
Dungeon Notes - General
- (Chapter Three Dungeon) The aggression radius for Legion has been reduced.
NEW FRONTIERS NOTES
- Players will now be able to teleport without issue in the Summoner's Hall.
- Hookpoint stealth detection NPCs have had their aggression radius reduced, effectively reducing the radius in which they can detect stealthed players. The NPCs that received this change are the Saracen Infiltrator, Kobold Shadowblade and Lurikeen Nightshade. All other stealth detection NPCs in the Frontiers remain unchanged.
- To alleviate lag experienced at the primary border keeps (Sauvage, Svasud, Ligen), we have implemented a behind the scenes method to keep this area clear. If a character stays in the general vicinity of the border keep (5000 units) for more than thirty minutes, the character will be politely moved and warned. If they do not move out of the general vicinity (and stay out) within 15 minutes from the warning, they will be moved to their realm's relic village. Keeping the entrance area clear will help other characters load and zone efficiently.
- Ronac, an old epic storyline monster has had its aggression radius reduced.
- Midgard players will no longer /release inside a keep wall.
- Terrain artwork has been updated in the Lions Den battleground.
FOUNDATIONS WORLD NOTES
- Players may now turn Prince Abdin's and Prince Ba'alorien's Remains in to the appropriate Taxidermists to receive the trophies.
COOPERATIVE SERVER NOTES
- Only one Taskmaster Sevinia NPC will now appear on Gaheris.
- Additional merchants that accept Dreaded Seals have been added to the Shrouded Isle capital cities and the Border Keeps (Home Realm side). The names of the merchants and their locations - Rosella (Castle Sauvage), Idone (Svasud Faste), Rae (Druim Ligen), Beth (Caer Gothwaite), Gunilda (Aegirhamn) and Faella (Domnann).
- Say spam has been removed from the Dreaded Seal merchants.
- Frontier keeps will now spawn significantly faster. When the Keep Lord spawns all players within the keep at the time of the return of its Keep Lord will be forcibly removed and placed in the Strength Relic Frontier Village appropriate for the Realm of the keep. Example: If a player is within Bledmeer Faste as Vaylin returns then they will be removed by Vaylin and placed in the Midgard Frontier Village near the Strength Relic Temple.
- Dreaded Seals now benefit from the "underdog" server bonuses for Realm Points.
- The delve information for Testudo, when delved on Gaheris, has been changed so that it does not denote that it works on realm enemies. However, on all other servers, it still denotes that it does indeed work only on realm enemies.
- (Albion) Moved the portal master from Swanton Keep to Snowdonia Fortress to match the location of the portal masters in the other realms.
PVP SERVER NOTES
- Characters in the same battlegroup on PVP servers can no longer attack one another.
- (Albion) Moved the portal master from Swanton Keep to Snowdonia Fortress.
Richard J. Cox
"There were much of the beautiful, much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something of the terrible, and not a little of that which might have excited disgust."
Comments
Sorry, Kunou, but this is the biggest...
Don't even get me started about this "love"...
=====================
-Just My Thoughts-
Max
Currently playing: Nothing
Here's a good question, though, and something you will probably want to check into...
How many people who are new to the game are going to log in, be forced to /respec, and ding out of the battleground that they are in without capping their RP like they were trying to because they don't know how to deny the free level that they have?
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-Just My Thoughts-
Max
Currently playing: Nothing
Please, enlighten me, we're always looking for more feedback. Overall from what I've gotten in the official feedback forms more people like those assassin changes than don't. And overwhelmingly the ones who don't like them seem to believe they should be able to kill anyone else in the game at their will. Don't get me wrong, not saying you fall into that group, just sharing what I've received so far.
The changes we made fall directly under that statement. Assassin classes have always been one on one fighters. While I generally tend to frown on using real life analogies for video games, cause well, RL doesn't have much place in a game based around trolls, elves and magic... the same holds true in RL. Assassins don't take out groups of people at a time, they pick their battles, set up their targets so that the battles most favor the assassin, take down their targets when their least prepared and expecting anything, etc. Based on feedback we've received over the years, the primary targets of Assassins ingame are other assassins and casters and anyone else they can find solo and in a vulnerable position.
I'll be the first to admit that ToA really removed most casters from that target list. But the changes in 1.82 (nerfing BT and Brittleguards) moved them back onto that target list imo. Battle between the 3 assassin classes was also evened out a lot more. Taking all that into consideration I would say the part above about "better enabling them to fulfill their role as stealthy one on one killers" is accurate. The Stealther Detection NPC guards at the keeps also had their radius reduced and such to help facilitate the castle infiltration part of the above statement.
Is it enough? A LOT of people seem to think it is, but apparently you don't. So, as I asked in the begining before I started rambling, please enlighten me. I'm not saying you're wrong or right or anything, I'm simply curious because most of the feedback I'm getting states the opposite...
Richard J. Cox
"There were much of the beautiful, much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something of the terrible, and not a little of that which might have excited disgust."
Being able to kill everyone at will would be boring and pointless
I suppose we could start with keep seiges. Yes, the stealth detection NPC guards have had their radius reduced but it doesn't really matter since, during a seige, the assassin isn't going to make it that far. The way that Mastery of Stealth is implemented makes it so that an archer can detect an assassin (the detect hidden class, mind you) WAY before the assassin detects the archer. Defenders put an archer at the climb points on a keep and the assassin is not getting in. There are still no climbpoints (and no way to infiltrate) on towers.
While putting brittle guards and bladeturn back where they previoussly were is great, long overdue and gives "squishies" back to us finally, assassins do not want to just fight other assassins 70% of the time. At all. With remedy being given to all assassins instead of just taken out of the game and giving the assassin classes UNIQUE RR5 abilities it has become even more pointless to fight each other and semi-nerfed the entire envenom line at the same time.
Shadowstrike and Assassinate being put so high up in the stealth line has actually nerfed higher realm rank assassins as they normally take points out of stealth as they rise in rank to keep stealth at 50.
Pets being able to track down a stealthed character is...
(I have too much respect for these forums to convey my feelings on this subject)
It would have been nice to finally get a poison pouch like the archers get a quiver.
These are things that Mythic is well aware of and has been for a long time. It's sad that the assassin community has waited so long to finally be "fixed" and we get this patch. It seems as if you threw the shadowblades a bone because they were the worst off of the three, gave nightshades a couple of powers to try and make up for taking remedy away from them and totally ignored the infiltrators and the underlying problems of the assassin classes as a whole.
EDIT -- And I still don't have my ToA enabled, unclustered, classic ruleset server
=====================
-Just My Thoughts-
Max
Currently playing: Nothing
^^^^^^^^^ EMPHASIS ^^^^^^^^^^^
When you stealth pets should stop chasing. Period. It's 100% lame that a pet chasing you is guaranteed death. All stealth classes have been complaining about this since Beta.
That said the patch is an overall GOOD thing. Anyone complaining about it is crazy (including Max here) but there are some concerns that still need to be adressed.
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
Sig image Pending
Still in: A couple Betas
Your feedback is appreciated and has been passed on to the people who make such decisions.
Please keep in mind that A) I'm just a messenger, don't shoot me.
and 2) This patch is not the end all abd be all, other classes will get their turn and the changes these classes received will be monitored and evaluated and they will be adjusted if needbe. 
Richard J. Cox
"There were much of the beautiful, much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something of the terrible, and not a little of that which might have excited disgust."
hehe, don't get me wrong, El. I'm not complaining about the patch per se.
My, and alot of others, issue is that while the patch gave us some nice things (critical strike line changes and brittle guard/bt changes), most of the changes were not what we have been asking for and in some cases (remedy, assassinate and shadowstrike) actually hurt us.
=====================
-Just My Thoughts-
Max
Currently playing: Nothing
Ok some more feedback on the update:
For Wardens as this is the only class I've tested so far. I haven't had time to test my Inf and NS...
The Regrowth and Nurture line Self Buff Proc Heals are on the same timer (intentional, I know) so you can't use both. The *problem* is that there are several ML abilities that if they are affecting the warden we can still cast the buff, it will still show up and it will still proc and cost us power. But because we're under the affect of them the buff will not DO anything. I can't remember the names yet but some wardens on Iseult have already /bug reported it and filled out feedback forums.
Other than that really like the changes for warden class.
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
Sig image Pending
Still in: A couple Betas
Sorry, dbl post
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
Sig image Pending
Still in: A couple Betas
I think this is a great patch for assassins - but it is not enough. As you stated, assassins pick their targets in a vulnerable position. A primary change of this patch was to once again make is possible for assassins to go after casters. However, it does not address problems with other classes. Assassins need to get them in a "vulnerable" position, but there are not that many classes which when alone are vulnerable unless they are already damaged or in combat.
Here is what I mean. Often, when fighting other assassins it is not so much of a suprise or stalking, it is more of a quickdraw contest. The assassin that gets off PA first wins. The reason why is that assassins can see other assassins. They can move off, move to safety, move to avoid the PA, or try to land a hit first. Since archer classes can see assassin classes it makes it far more difficult for archers to be in that vulnerable position.
Assassins, if they are to prey on solo vulnerable targets, need to be able to surprise their target. Allowing archers to see assassins removes a key weapon from the assassin arsenol - surprise.
Assassins can not usually take out a heavy tank solo - not since the evade cap went into the game. that makes sense. If I go after a tank then I need to wait until the health is down, is sitting, or is in another vulnerable position. This seems reasonable.
However, if the goal is to make assassins viable in their role, archers should not be able to see assassins and NPC assassins need to be totally removed. Assassins need to get into keeps. If a realm wants to defend the keep against assassins then they need to get PC assassins to partrol the walls.
If those two changes are made then I do not think there needs to be anymore assassin changes.
But I am thankful to what I did get with this patch. At least I can kill casters again.
I played my NS last night a bit after my prior post about wardens and had a good time. I am a bit concerned about the move of some RA's to very high stealth levels. It's effectively a nerf to assassins because typically we don't go higher than 34 stealth since items + RR can get us to 50 stealth easily. Basically what moving those abilities to 35 and 39 stealth did was make us spend hundreds more skill points on stealth than we used to if we want those abilities. This has the net affect of lowering our abilities in other areas. This hurts NS the worst of the assassin classes since our skill points are more spread out already.
Overall I like the NET effect of the changes for assassins but that one change, moving two RA's to Stealth line, was very painful. And I know a LOT of NS that left the game due to it.
Now, as to the concern of archers being able to see assassins, it's been a LONG time since I monkeyed with either my ranger or my NS or Infiltrator or scout so please enlighten me how archers see Assassins. If it's Mastery of Stealth as long as the Assassin has it as high, or higher than, the archer the archer shouldn't be able to see us any more easily than normal, right? So the solution to archers being able to see us is to just make sure we keep MOS high.
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
Sig image Pending
Still in: A couple Betas
Aye. Moving the old RR5s to the stealth line hurts alot. (not so much my inf as it will my sb, but there is still no way I'm gonna spec 35 into stealth to get a buggy at best SS and speccing 39 stealth is totally out of the question for both of them).
The way that MoS works (for everybody that doesn't know, so might seem simplistic):
- Assassins and archers can spec MoS
- Assassins can not use the ability to detect each other (bringing the number of classes that this ability is usefull against to the two other realm's archers)
- The archer's camoflage ability negates the assassin's MoS (you can use your own math here as to how many classes are left that the ability is usefull against, since camo isn't always up)
- An assassin's spec in MoS does NOT decrease the MoS detection radius of an archer (I know there is a misconception that it does and I've tested it with an archer friend and it was just re-tested and results posted on PA.com)
Pretty much pointless to spec MoS if you're an assassin, unless you want the increased stealth movement speed.
EDIT -- As to the MoS thing... this is how defenders keep assassins out of the keeps during seiges. Put 1 archer with MoS4 and camoflage on each climbpoint and there is NO WAY an assassin is going to come anywhere NEAR the wall without being seen first, popped from stealth and killed.
=====================
-Just My Thoughts-
Max
Currently playing: Nothing
I think the patch notes are wrong. Here is what they say:
- The RR5 ability Shadowstrike has been placed in the stealth skill line for all Assassins at spec 35.
- The RR5 ability Assassination has been placed in the stealth skill line for all Assassins at spec 39.
I did not train to 39 so I should not have assassination. However I do have assassination and not Shadowstrike. So I think those are reversed.
I agree that those abilities should not be in the Stealth line. I would have rather seen them Given at say RR2 and RR3 as abilities free. That way it saves spec points. Or simply allow people to purchase the RA at a reduced cost or something.
Given then Infs have more points to spend to train then they will have an advantage because they can afford to train higher. Of course their peirce styles for Stun is also much higher than the NS stun.
Since I never had these abilities before, then I won't be missing them by not training high in stealth. Maybe as I get more RA I will simply more the points from envenom into Stealth instead of CD or Pierce.
Archer classes can also get Stealth Lore. Further it will cost a NS 34 realm points in order to get to MoS5. The rumor is that you need to be at or high to negate MoS, yet my experience suggest otherwise. Further, archer classes can use camoflauge and negate stealth detection completely.
Assassins are supossed to pick off solo and vulernable targets. Archer classes are often solo and vulnerable. Yet MoS can now allow them to see an assassin thus reducing or elliminating the chance of the assassion to take out the archer.
I am the only person left in my guild that plays a NS. Everyone else went to Ranger because once you are out of the BG playing a NS was not any fun. It was a combination of ToA and MoS that did it. I only get realm points because I go out with the ranger group. That is to say I tag along and leach RPS. Many people in the alliance are the same way. Perhaps this was all just perception.
I do anticipate that there will be more assassins out in NF now. The one advantage is that assassins can kill casters again. Thus there are targets once again to prey on. So if the new changes make assassin classes worth playing and they do not die too often because of being arrowed by an archer then I think the number of people playing assassins will go up.
Hey Max where is your post on PA? I say one you did under the SB forum but I did not see the results of your test there.
Jogund and Blus' test results (the newer one, and same results as mine) are posted under my "question" post on the SB forums. My original tests were over a year ago and probably lost somewhere on VN -- most likely posted under my old username of Aramyr. They can also be found in my old Alb guild forums, but you need a user/pass to get to them.
Anyway, my old results are the same as their's.
Also, you can disregard Jayson's post in the thread on PA as any ranger that does not use camo doesn't know what they are doing...
EDIT -- Yes, Rangers ARE the best "assassin" classes right now.
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-Just My Thoughts-
Max
Currently playing: Nothing
I'm hoping (and my very first characters ever in DAOC were an archer and a scout) that they remove camoflage when they review archers. Now that they get MOS camoflage is overpowered. If a archer wants to hide from an NS they should be forced to spec MOS high enough to ensure they can't be seen from a distance.
I still have my ranger, I still play him, I still enjoy him. But now that we have MOS available (we didn't when Camoflage was put in) we really shouldn't have a way to hide 100% from assassins. If we want to hide we should have to invest points in MOS just like they do to hide from us.
S'all I gotta say about that. I don't think the problem with Assasins being spotted by archers is an 'assassin' problem that needs an 'assassin' fix. I think it's an ARCHER problem in that the archer class still has a bandaid ability that has been replaced by a permanent fix but the bandaid was never removed.
Kinda like my son who insists on wearing a bandaid even though he doesn't have a cut.
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
Sig image Pending
Still in: A couple Betas
I hope you are correct El in that they will address MoS with the archer patch. I can see why taking that away in this patch but getting nothing in return would be a little upsetting.
However, as Max has stated having a higher MoS does not help assassins. It does not negate the MoS the archer has. Instead it allows the assassin to see the archer farther off. If both an archer and an assassin has MoS4 the assassin will see the archer first around 125 units farther away. However, once the assassin moves in a little closer the archer will be able to see the assassin. So it would be possible for the assassin to see an archer at say 875 units, but once the assassin gets to 750 units the archer will be able to see him.
Since archers have a distance advantage and NS need to rely on position and stealth in order to use CS styles, then camo or no camo, there will still be a problem.
Exactly.
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-Just My Thoughts-
Max
Currently playing: Nothing