New scam for us tonight, as our Grab Bag Appetizer: There is a person using the email address DAOCrecovery@aol.com, and he, she, or it is trying to get you to send along your login and password. Remember, no one from Mythic is going to ask you for your password in an email, so don’t give this joker a second thought. If you already gave him a second thought and your password to boot, don’t be shy, give out tech support crew a call and protect your account.
Another note before I get started on the weekly Q&A – earlier this week I was hanging out at the Vault, and got into a discussion about “exploit” spots in the game. It used to be we had a whole bunch of spots where a player could stand and kill enemies with no risk to himself. We’ve been fixing these spots, and my wording in the thread could be interpreted to mean that we were not going to make any more fixes. That’s not the case at all – if you think you’ve found a new exploit spot, by all means report it to us, and report players abusing those spots. The rule of thumb is simple – if the player can’t take damage, he’s cheating, and customer service will handle it. And the dev team will try to create a more permanent solution. So don’t hesitate to report troublesome perches and other geography exploits!
On to the questions, many of which were about Shrouded Isles this week:
Q: What are the system specs for Shrouded Isles?
A: We're still nailing those down. We'll let you know ASAP.
Q: Don’t tell me, you still don’t have the new class/race combinations for me.
A: Well, not officially, although the clever players on the Shrouded Isles-specific forums have figured out one way to get a sneak peek =) We’re just very hesitant to release an official list in case we have to take a combination out of the picture. And just today, we were seriously discussing removing one of the projected combinations. Until the list is a little more set in stone, I have to keep delaying. The combinations *are* all in internal testing at this time, and many combinations are in beta testing.
Q: I heard a rumor that the engine for Shrouded Isles is the same one used by Morrowind. True?
A: No. Both Morrowind’s engine and Shrouded Isles’ engine are based on the NetImmerse 4 engine, but they are not the same.
Q: What resolution are the Shrouded Isles official screenshots taken in?
A: 1024 X 768.
Q: We have five accounts here in my house, and really we only need one CD – we just need five CD keys to activate the expansion. Is there any way we can just buy the keys and not the software?
A: We don’t have any way to do that. :(
Q: Will people who don’t get the expansion still be able to group with people who have it? What about items? If my friend gets a nifty hat from one of the Isles, will he be able to come back home and give it to me?
A: Yes. All the loot and characters from the expansion will be completely visible to someone running only the original game. You just won’t be able to go to the new lands or be one of the new races/classes.
Q: Is there a relationship between distance and base damage for an archer, ie, does my basic arrow hit for more up close or far away?
A: No. Range is not a modifier for base arrow damage.
Q: How do you determine how many hit points my character has? I’m new to Camelot!
A: Welcome =) Hit points are determined first by your class. There are roughly three base hit point amounts – tank, caster, and hybrid. (Rogues are considered hybrids as far as hit point totals go.) Your base number of hit points, and the base number of hit points you get each time you level, are therefore determined by your class.
Next, your constitution is taken into account. This number is your CON without buffs, items, or realm abilities. This number DOES include any “bonus” points you may have put in while you were rolling up your character.
The next things to be taken into account are any CON buffs you may have, and +CON items.
Then realm abilities affecting CON or Health.
Finally, +HP items are added on to the figure for the grand total.
The exact formula is too complex to go into here, but that’s the gist of it. CON is the stat to put bonus points into, if having more hit points matters to you.
Q: Some items I’ve come across lately have useless stats – are these bugs?
A: Not necessarily. We’ve been making a big effort to remove stats that don’t work at all from items – but stats that work are probably not bugs. For example, if your cloth hat has +QUI on it, it is not a bug. QUI is a working stat in our game. Not every item provides major enhancement for your particular class. Sometimes it’s just a cool looking item with normal AF and a quirky stat boost effect. Or it might be an item intended to be worn by more than one class.
Q: I’ve been on a bunch of Legion raids, and he never seems to drop (insert item here) for my (class/spec). Is this a bug?
A: No. Legion and his fellow “boss” mobs do not drop one of everything – instead, they are designed so that every class can use at least one of their drops. For example, Legion may not drop your particular weapon type, but he does drop a breastplate or a ring or some such that you can use. But keep reading, the second part of the next answer will be of interest.
Q: It seems to me that the diamond seal level staff for my eldritch is better than the Legion dropped staff. Is this a bug?
A: No, it isn’t. However, it is something of an oversight. After Shrouded Isles is launched and on its way, our item man and woman intend to evaluate the loot on Legion and his comrades. Keep your eyes on the patch notes in the coming months.
Q: Here’s my question (insert question here). Please do not respond on the Herald, please reply via email.
A: I am very, very sorry, but I don’t usually respond to questions via email. Hundreds of people send me their questions each week, and I try to choose questions for this column that have been asked by many players. If I answered each question personally, I would not have time to read them all!
What a week! Another hundred beta CDs went out this week – regretfully, they were slightly delayed leaving the Northern Virginia area, and the randomly chosen testers (a number from all of our servers) may not get into Shrouded Isles until early next week. (Incidentally, if you received a welcome email from me earlier this week, be advised that I made a typing error - the latest you should get your CD is November 8, not November 1.) In the next few weeks, we’re going to let in hundreds… maybe thousands more, so watch your mailboxes!
We’re very excited, and a little overly-caffeinated, but working hard on 1.54. A special thank you to the testers helping us catch those recipe bugs!
Have a wonderful and safe weekend, and I’ll see you all next week.
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