Bag of Trials

Posted By: Sanya Thomas 2003-10-24 20:06:28

Definitely has an Atlantean flavor tonight: Q: How will battlegroups work on Mordred – will we be able to use these to keep AEs from hurting temporary allies? A: Not at this time, no. I have passed on your requests and feedback on the topic, though. Q: Okay, so, the regular servers have three instances of Trials of Atlantis running parallel to each other, with different NPCs depending on the realm. How does this work on Mordred and Gaheris? A: Those two servers have one instance of TOA that all players have access to. The NPCs will be mixed to reflect those servers. I expect the players of those servers to be among the first to complete the Master Levels, since high level players from all three realms are available to raid. Well, assuming that people are able to get off the boat docks on Mordred ;) Q: Is TOA going to be a "no PVP" area on Mordred? A: Heck no. All kill, all the time. Q: About those waterbreathing potions. I'm a necromancer, and as you know, shades can't use potions. Am I doomed to a life of waterwings and noseplugs? A: From the design team: "We've added code that will support us designing certain potions that can be used by Necros in shade form. This should address any fears of necros drowning since they will now be able to use water breathing potions." From me: we're going to make it so waterbreathing potions are usable by the shades. Q: Can regular, non-necro pets breath underwater? A: They're really, really good at holding their breath. The mushrooms don't hold their breath, they just don't have noses. Q: You're not funny. A: I know. Q: What happens when I drown underwater and I /release? Will there be a floating grave or will my grave just sink to the bottom? What if I'm killed somewhere in between the surface and the ocean floor? A: A grave is supposed to appear at the spot you died. If you die while dog paddling, the gravestone appears on the surface. If you die on the sandy bottom, it appears there. If you die while diving, it's just there, neither floating nor sinking. Make a /loc macro. Q: Can the boats go on water in the original and Shrouded Isles zones? What happens when boats crash into each other? Can you fight on boats? A: I am told that at this time boats can't be used on the water outside of TOA. Boats can't crash into each other – if two set off at the same time, the server will roll to see who goes first. The galley slaves on the winner may then catcall to the slowpokes rowing away behind. No combat actions can be taken on the boats. So no pirating, sorry. Q: Master Abilities sound cool. What "tracks" go with which classes? A: I can't tell you yet – we are still making a few last minute balancing tweaks - but I am told I'll get the list on Monday to post. Normally, when I'm given dates and times, I fudge the heck out of it. In this case, since we're launching on Tuesday, I think I'm pretty safe. Q. Will there be a way to respec later if I don't like the track I selected? A: Yes, players will be able to discover ways to change tracks. Q. Sounds like these abilities are going to have a huge impact in RvR. Am I going to need to buy TOA to be able to compete? A. From Balance Boy: "These abilities will likely have a significant impact on how people RvR. However, they were designed as a whole to focus on helping in larger scale Realm on Realm battles, as opposed to 1 on 1 or even 8 on 8." Many of the abilities are designed to help allies within range on the frontier – so you'll still get the benefits, even if you haven't picked up the expansion yourself. Q: How many Master Level Abilities are there? How many will I be able to get? A: There are nine Master Levels. There are two tracks each player can choose from. There are eight tracks altogether (obviously, there is some overlap between the classes). So, there are a total of 72 Master Abilities, but you'll only be able to have nine of them yourself. (All nine will be different – not the "bigger version of last level's" you were worried about.) You'll choose your track when you finish the first Master Level Trial, and subsequent abilities on the track will be awarded automatically. Q. So even though we can choose from two tracks, we can't mix and match abilities from the two? A. No. You'll have the choice of track A or track B. If you select A, then you will receive abilities A1 through A9 as you complete the trials. If you choose B, you'll receive B1 through B9. Q. I've heard that these abilities are PvE only from some people, but then others are saying they are RvR only, which is it? A. Neither, really. MAs are designed primarily for use in RvR. Some of them will only be usable on "realm enemies" meaning enemy players, enemy guards, enemy summoned pets, enemy charmed pets, etc, but not on NPC monsters. Others will be usable in both PvE and RvR. Q. Will there be a full listing of the MAs made available at some point? A. Yes. The Herald will have a brief overview at some point of all the Master Level abilities to help give people an idea of how they function. But we will not be providing hard delve information for these as we do existing spells and abilities. The idea behind TOA is one of discovery and we want people to try out the abilities and learn what they do and when they are most effectively used. **** I know you all have a lot more questions about the Master Abilities – there will be more information next week. So! Have a great weekend, enjoy the anticipation.