Friday Grab Bag, Now With 30% More Announcements

Posted By: Sanya Thomas 2004-11-19 18:27:21

Crunchy goodness: Q: We all know Catacombs went Gold and last Friday's Grab Bag explained the meaning. But if so much work still needs to be done to the expansion after the CD has been sent away, does this mean after installation we can expect a mega-download of a patch? I'm not looking forward to a hypothetical 100mb download on my nasty internet, when all I want to do is see the wonderful world of Catacombs. A: Most of the work we still have to do is server side – no downloads required. There will no doubt be SOME kind of download on opening day since we're fixing visual bugs and so forth, but definitely not 100 MBs worth. I would like to take this opportunity to tell everyone worried about opening day to LOG ON TO PENDRAGON. This way, you’ll get most of the patch right away. You can play against Catacombs characters and tell us what they’re like in RVR, and what they’re like to group with. And did I mention you’ll get most of the patches, even if you’re not in the beta, and on opening day you’ll sail right in? Q: When does Catacombs launch? A: We release on December 7. What day you can actually get your paws, claws, and talons into the expansion depends entirely on your local retailer – which tends to be the day after we release. Q: I know someone who says he was banned for using his RR5 ability. Basically, he was banned for speedhacking, but he says he was only using his RR5 ability. Can this be true? A: No. I can't go into too many details, lest I give the speedhackers too many clues. But basically, we have a tool that allows us to target a specific player, and see what speed modifications he has up. Legitimate methods, such as a horse, a speedsong, a speed buff from an NPC, or a special ability, have very specific “signatures” that differ from the speed hacks. Also, the speed hacks just plain move at a different speed. No one is banned from pure observation. There are a number of players who report each other for speed hacking, not realizing how fast the RR5 abilities can be. However, a player’s report is never enough to get another player banned. We simply use the reports as a basis to start an investigation. I have personally looked into a number of cases claiming that the player was banned for using a special ability, and every single one turned out to be a speedhacker beyond a shadow of a doubt, with the logs to prove it. Q: With all the stuff on Pendragon lately, could you reset the copier? A: Okay. We reset it at 2 PM today. Man, I wish everything was that easy. Q: I was curious, is there an application to apply for TL's? If so, where does one find them? Does living in Canada affect my ability to apply to be a Team Lead? A: http://www.camelotherald.com/teamleads/ is the link you want. Our team leads can come from anywhere. All you need is love in your heart for your class, an active account, an internet connection, and an anal retentive streak. Skill in quick witted repartee is a bonus. Being Canadian does not count against you. Y’all talk funny up there, though. Please note that failing to spell check your application will definitely count against you. It is difficult to take seriously those players who tell us that they are “deatail oriented.” *** Announcements (lots of ‘em, hence the short bag): Attention beta testers – if you turn the Catacombs character models off, you will probably experience a number of visual bugs. Please report specifics. And on a related note, if you have a lot of visual bugs, but you didn’t the last time you played, check the options menu and see if you’ve got the Catacombs models turned on. Thanks! Don’t forget, log on tonight at 8:00 PM EST (or whenever you can after you’ve gotten home, eaten dinner, and kissed the other human life forms you live with) and pile on to Catacombs. There was a small mishap last night, and we weren’t able to get started until nine – I slipped the leash (i.e. left the office and my cell phone behind) last night and didn’t find out about the change in plan until this morning. My apologies to anyone who waited for that hour. I am told it’s DEFINITELY 8:00 PM tonight, and latecomers are welcome. I had a lot of people email me saying they did not sign up to test Catacombs, but had received a beta invitation. That was confusing me – until I found out that we’d sent an invitation to every guild leader who had an up to date email address on their account registration. If you are a guild leader, and did not receive one because your email was out of date, please don’t email me; I don’t actually have the power to flag you myself, and won’t have time to get you all invited. If you are a guild leader and your email is up to date, please check your bulk mail folder, spam filter, junk folder, etc – you might have a nice surprise waiting. There’s a great article here about Maia from Allakhazam’s visit to Mythic headquarters: http://camelot.allakhazam.com/articles/Cats-preview/01-cat-preview.htm. Really old school players will remember Maia from Grail News, and after that as an updater at Catacombs. This isn’t related to Dark Age of Camelot per se, but it’s still pretty important. There’s a charity called Child’s Play, run by the deranged maniacs at Penny Arcade. (I should probably warn you not to click the link if profanity bothers you, something I failed to mention when I posted a link to them last year.) Last year they issued a call for action – they asked gamers to donate toys and games to a children’s hospital, and gamers responded with a quarter of a million dollars’ worth of toys, making a lot of sick kids a little happier for the holidays. This year, they’re taking it a step further, and donations will go to five different children’s hospitals. Check out their website – and if you happen to live in the Bellevue, Washington area, I heartily encourage you to attend their swanky silent auction: http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=77032. (Mythic donated an autographed shirt, a copy of the game, and a lifetime free subscription.) Other items up for bid include a gaming rig, and an appearance in a Penny Arcade comic. Anyway, it’s a great cause, and a good chance to meet some fellow gamers and have a fun night out. All right, that’s it for me – see you next week.