Open Up a Nicely Wrapped and Beribboned Grab Bag   
from Sanya Thomas    
2002-12-27 18:33:56    

And here you thought I didn't get you anything! :)

Q: I am a new minstrel, and I was wondering – what sort of pets can I charm?

A: Your first pet spell means you can charm humanoid monsters. The second is humanoid plus animal types, the third is those two plus insects, and the fourth is those three plus magical creatures. The last pet spell levels raise the level cap on the creatures you can control without a lot of backtalk from your minion. Remember that there is also a level cap of sorts on charmed pets – the potential pet will resist the heck out of you if it’s too high in level. This explanation also works for mentalists.

The sorcerer has a hard limit built into his progression – his first level pet spell is humanoid, and he cannot ever charm humanoids higher level than 10th. His next pet spell allows him to charm animals in addition to humans, but no humans or animals higher in level than 15th. And so on.

Hunters are different from all of these, in that they have specific spells for specific pet types. And of course, the necro is also an exception for obvious reasons.


Q: Some friends and I play miniature wargames. I’ve been looking at a lot of the buildings, forts, etc in game and thinking that those would make incredibly cool wargaming terrain. How would you suggest someone go about “surveying” a building in game without violating any rules or copyrights?

A: I’d never had this question before, and this week half a dozen requests come in. You can’t ever use our models for profit. But if you want to build a model for your own private enjoyment, I’m told that the average sized human is 80 “units” tall, and you can extrapolate from there. If anyone does build a model, I’d love to see a picture!


Q: I would like to transfer a character (my wife’s) from my account to the account I bought her for the holidays.

A: At this time, we don’t have the resources to offer this option. I do understand that a number of people would like to have this option available, and I’ve added you to the list of people making the request.


Q: I forgot my secret word! Can you help me?

A: You’ll need to call our customer service number. For security reasons, we can’t help you with this one via email. The secret word is the final line of defense in your account security, and email accounts can be hacked, trojaned, and forwarded around the entire internet.

Which reminds me! Don’t help the hackers – never answer an email sent to you from “Mythic” asking you for your password. We will NEVER send you an email asking for your password. In fact, we’ll never ask you for your password at all. We already know it, eh?


Q: I appealed so and so for nuking from inside the keep, and the CSR said he wasn’t exploiting. The Herald seems to imply that what so and so was doing WAS exploiting! Was the CSR wrong?

A: No, the CSR was quite right. The pet LOS fixes currently on Pendragon are the first step towards rectifying a long standing issue with our game, but that does not mean people who are using the currently live system are cheating.

An exploit IS:
- hiding inside geometry where you cannot be hit (rocks, trees, bridges, etc.)
- standing on surfaces where you cannot be hit (some rooftops, rocks, etc.)
- using geometry and/or pathing errors to avoid damage (the infamous “stand on rock so the monster can’t hit you” ploy)

An exploit is NOT:
- standing inside a keep and having one’s pet nuke attackers using a nuke that doesn’t require LOS
- using GTAOE spells in a cheesy yet legal manner

Using a nuke that doesn’t require LOS can’t be cheating, see what I mean? That’s a game problem, not an exploit. The problem with the “indoor nuking” and the GTAOE targeting issue isn’t that the person or pet casting the spell has somehow found a way to get around the system, it’s that the system has a flaw. A flaw that the dev team IS working on fixing. But for the time being, there’s nothing the CS team can do to stop it. I hope that makes things a little more clear. And I hope with all my heart and all my typing fingers that these issues become moot in the future.


Q: How come my appeal was canceled without anyone talking to me?

A: Some appeals are closed without an in-game person speaking to you – but no appeal is closed without you being notified. It’s just that sometimes we notify you by email. The email address we use for these messages is the one you registered with. So please, keep your registration up to date! We will never sell or share your email address with anyone, ever, so please do not fear the evil spam god.


Q: The siege master in the battleground is bugged and I can’t get the weapons to hit anything.

A: We’re having a tough time reproducing this one. So, if this happens to you again, please send an appeal with your zone, your /loc, your name, and your character’s level, along with the date and time that you found the bug. Make sure you mark the appeal as a “bug” appeal. You won’t hear back, but a human being will read your report.


Q: I can’t zone? Huh?

A: This is another one we can’t reproduce. Logging out and then logging back in fixes the problem (and if that doesn't, rebooting your machine will), but before you log out, send us a bug appeal and tell us the time and date, how long you’ve been logged in that day, the zone you’re in, and the zone you were trying to go to.


Q: Lots of filthy names this week – what can I do to help speed up the process of getting these off my server?

A: We welcomed a lot of new players to our world in the last week, and a handful of those new citizens may need a little… adjustment. What you can do is send a name appeal. Type /appeal Yuckyname is a bad name, hit return, and select the name option. You do not need to go into detail as to why a particular name is bad. Chances are good that the reason is obvious, and if your appeal is short we can read it and get it handled that much faster.

You can also help by not being too jumpy – ask yourself if the name is really going to damage your ability to enjoy the game. Some names WILL damage your enjoyment, no question, and you should not hesitate to ask us for help. Other names are only lame, or silly, and they won’t be taken care of as quickly. We do triage – the foulest of the foul get handled first (with a banstick – don’t test us), and then the merely disgusting. Stupid names are last on the list, so if you see a stupid name linger for a few weeks, don’t appeal again – we’ll get to it as soon as possible.



That’s it for this Friday, everyone! Remember, support@mythicentertainment.com is ONLY for technical issues or billing problems – they can’t help you with in-game needs. Our in-game support staff is NOT on vacation, and are working their keyboards off as I type this. Emergency issues such as people who are stuck, or people being harassed (ie repeated and unwanted contact – if it isn’t both, it isn’t harassment) are being handled very quickly.

/public service announcement on - I hope everyone is having fun so far this holiday season. And you’ll enjoy the rest of the holiday season if you get someone sober to drive you home from your New Year’s Eve celebration. Just saying. Even if you’re not the celebratory type, be careful on the roads. /public service announcement off

Happy New Year!