Before I begin, I'd like to make a public service announcement. The patch is not done yet. Thank you.

Q: Why can't we sell potions to NPCs on Pendragon?

A: Because we're still working on the patch. Right now, when you sell a potion with multiple charges, the system doesn't check to see how many charges are actually on the item, and gives you money as if the item were fully charged.

In other words, yes, we catch exploits before things even get to Pendragon all the time. ;) As soon as it's fixed we'll turn potion selling back on.

Q: Hey, I play on Classic, and I was wondering, do you think we can get Legendary weapons now?

A: We're definitely discussing it, since the departing bonuses were the reason you didn't get them in the first place. But I don't think we'll have an answer in time to make a decision for this until after the fall expansion is launched.

Q: PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZE cluster Bossiney with Gareth. I'll give you a dollar.

A: I have lots of feedback on this, and I have made your feelings quite clear to the producer, using phrases like "For the love of all the small gods" and "will gnaw off my own arm" and "stabbing myself in the eye."

Here is the deal. Gareth's population is currently trending up, to the point of that if we DID go ahead with the cluster, it's entirely possible we'd have to do a split in the next few months. There are limits to how many players a server cluster can handle.

However, we've got some things coming down the pike that will almost certainly have an impact on those numbers. We need to do more analysis before we can make the best decision. I do not want to venture a guess as to when I might have some news for you on this important topic, especially since my saying "next week" is apparently some kind of malignant curse on getting anything done.

Q: (Insert question here about why this realm has more AF points than that realm on this slot.)

A: Typos, sorry. Refresh the link with the chart, please.

***

I would like to turn this grab bag over to the Goddess of Trade (who has variously been the Goddess of Spells, the Goddess of Class, and at one point a mere Bardic Goddess), who has been perusing a crazy number of message boards looking for your reactions to her labors. She worked up a great FAQ for you, and I am loathe to change a single syllable.

Q: From the new tinctures added in 1.85b: What is an omni-drain spell and what does it do?

A: Trade Goddess: An omni-drain spell is one that damages the target and returns hit points, power points, and endurance points to the caster of the spell (or user of the tincture). The return is a percentage of the damage dealt and is *different* for each pool.

In the case of the spells being used for the tinctures, the return rates for each pool are:

* 100% of the damage dealt is returned as hit points.

* 60% of the damage dealt is returned as power points.

* 40% of the damage dealt is returned as endurance points.

As an example I’ll use the level 49 tincture’s spell, which has a delve of 100:

You hit the Target for 102 damage.

You steal 107 hit points.

You steal 64 power points.

You steal 42 endurance points.

(Variance and bonuses affect the damage and return amounts)

Q: Does the snare from the new snare reactive tinctures trigger root/snare immunity?

A: Trade Goddess: We felt it would be unfair if such a short duration, low value snare triggered immunity, so the snares from these tinctures are set up so that root/snare immunity is not triggered when they are proc’ed.

Q: Does the nearsight from the new nearsight reactive and weapon tinctures trigger nearsight immunity?

A: Trade Goddess: Yes. It’s a pretty powerful ability and has a fairly decent duration, so it will trigger immunity.

Q: Does the power drain from the new power drain weapon effect tinctures actually give you back power?

A: Trade Goddess: The power drain spell used is exactly like the Necromancer’s drain spell – the spell damages the target (hit points) and returns power to the caster/user. The return rate is set at 50% of the damage dealt.

Q: Where can I find the patterns for the specialty armor recipes?

A: Trade Goddess: For starters: Try the epic zones, dragon zones, epic dungeons, other SI dungeons (such as Krondon, Iarnvidiur’s Lair, or Tur Suil), Passage of Conflict (anything that has the potential to drop a respec may now have a chance to drop a pattern), and legendary monsters in classic zones (the Legendary Afanc for example). Don’t just hunt the boss monsters in those areas; high level (non-boss) may also have the potential to drop the patterns.

When a pattern drops, it will drop in a stack of 5 – giving you a little bit of leeway when it comes to crafting for high quality.

Q: Why does the stable transference netherium tincture have such a low value (7) for its hits transfer ability?

A: Trade Goddess: This is one of those strange spells that has a delve value that doesn’t match what it actually does (for reference, take a look at the Spiritmaster and Cabalist spell lines of the same type). In actual play, the tincture’s spell will transfer roughly 130-170 hit points to your targeted character.

Q: What the heck are Ancient Preserved Heart and Ancient Lich Eye? These are ingredients for some of the alchemy tinctures, but I don’t know where they drop!

A: Trade Goddess: Ok, first…an apology…I told Missy that these have been added to the game world… but we changed the recipes for the tinctures that use these internally (and will be adjusted on the next patch to Pendragon). Sorry for the confusion! Instead of these items, those recipes will use Ancient Necrotic Brain Fluid or Ancient Lich Tooth (these are also used as components for the weariness and lethargy poisons in Alchemy).

Q: The specialty armor patch notes say that the armor pieces have Stygia, Volcanus, or Aerus textures. Which armor piece has what?

A: Trade Goddess: Going by same named armor pieces:

Aerus: Sigil Stitched, Sigil Etched, Sigil Bound, Sigil Ensorcelled, Rune Knit, Rune Stitched, Rune Scribed, Bespelled Woven, Embroidered Cruaigh, Ensorcelled Cruaigh, Spell Marked Osnadurtha

Volcanus: Sigil Sewn, Sigil Marked, Rune Etched, Enchanted Woven, Ornamented Cailocht, Blazed Cailocht

Stygia: Sigil Enchanted, Sigil Gilded, Rune Bound, Decorated Osnadurtha

These were chosen based on class Team Lead feedback – we wish that we were able to set it up so you could all choose your own look for your armor piece, but since we currently do not have the code to do so, we had to go with the ones that their feedback indicated was liked the most.

***

Sanya here again. I hope the patch notes were some indication of what all's been going on here, deep beneath the surface. There's a lot going on besides the expansion. I'm pretty wigged out over this whole press release thing and have officially given up trying to tell you when that freaking thing is coming out. I'm just going to double fist the slushies until the big day.

But I can't say it enough - just come to Vegas if you want real expansion information, because we're saving all the juicy goodness to thank our players for making the trip.

Speaking of making crazy trips, I sufficiently annoyed my overlords into putting me onto the delegation heading to the GOA booth at the Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany. For those of you who don't know, this party makes E3 look like a kegger at the Delta house.  The German convention center HOSTING this party makes the LA convention center look like a VFW recreation room. No need to take my word for it, Googlemap those bad boys.

So anyway, I'm going to be there with bells on. If you're a fansite editor or a guild leader who plans to make the Saxon scene, your English is better than my German (ich spreche kein Deutsch, if you were wondering), and you want to ask me any questions, drop me a line. The address is sanya AT mythicentertainment DOT com, and you should use the header LEIPZIG, BABY. This won't be like E3, where I have a nice quiet room to chat with you, so be prepared to yell over the din of 150,000 attendees.

Did everyone see http://gucomics.com/? ARR!

Herald Missy would like you to know that the artifact database she is working on will be up in a few weeks - it was delayed due to her being out for surgery. We appreciate your patience.

Have a swell weekend, everyone.