Dark Age Of Camelot: Grab Bag

Taken from here.

Q: Last week, you answered a question about Quick Cast, and your answer was bad.

A: You're right. The answer I should have given was that Quick Cast reduces the time needed to cast to a flat two seconds, and that a spell that has been quick casted cannot be interrupted. I have been told that the latter is not always the case. If you have been interrupted while quick casting, please report it, and feel free to send me a screenshot or a log.

Q: In order to obtain certain TOA quests, you first have to gain good faction with certain "tribes". The only way that I have found is by completing the faction quests over and over again. Is there another way to improve these factions other then having to do quests?

A: From the lips of the quest goddess to your monitor: "In most cases, he can raise his faction in the traditional way - hunting monsters of the opposite faction. Unless something was changed, there are only two factions that can't be raised through hunting - the Guardians of Paleognosis (named sphinxes) and the taur spectators and you start out neutral to those. Don't kill them and you're okay. All the other factions in ToA can be raised through hunting."

Since your question didn't specify what kind of monster you're talking about, the answer is more general than usual. With our luck, you're talking about the exact two factions that she lists as exceptions, eh?

Q: After copying over to Pendragon I noticed that some of my artifacts levels have changed (ie. Band of Stars and Belt of Oglidarsh). I did not see anything in notes about the level of them changing. Also, with their decreased level (if it stays at the lower than 50 level) will the experience required to level them also decrease? Thanks for your time.

A: Sayeth the Item MistressL "The amount of experience required to level the Band of Stars and the Ceremonial Bracers was reduced in 1.69a on Pendragon. This change is retroactive, so players will likely see an increase in their artifact's level if it has not yet reached level ten. No change has been made to the Belt of Oglidarsh's experience requirement."

Q: I want to know if the amount of experience my character earns is related to the experience my artifacts earn. More specifically, on my level 43 minstrel, if I hunt yellows and get 20m xp, or greens and get 1m xp, will my artifact get more xp from yellows or greens. Also, will my artifact get more xp from hunting yellows at 45, say, getting 30m xp, than at 43, getting 20m xp. Thanks!

A: Again, we turn to the Mistress for the answer (although she was not the designer, she is the one who has been working on them and addressing your feedback and concerns): "The amount of experience earned for the artifact directly corresponds to the experience earned by the player. Hunting monsters worth 30 million experience points will level the artifact quicker than monsters worth only 20 million experience points."

Q: Can someone who is using bodyguard to protect another player be focus shelled?

A: We summon Balance Boy for this, and all the other buff shear system questions: "Yes, a person who is bodyguarding another can be given a focus shell. Here are some points to keep in mind, however:

- Both the person casting the focus shell and the bodyguarder will be doing nothing at all offensively during the time the shell is up."

Q: Will buff shears break mez?

A: "Yes, any successful buff shearing will break mez, regardless of whether or not it does damage."

Q: Why do the con shears for clerics and shaman classes no longer do damange, and the damage for druid buff shears is half of the original design?

A: "The shears are slightly different for each realm.

The reason we made this change is because players lose max hit points when they lose constitution buffs. So, rather then double penalize someone for having a con buff sheared, we removed the base damage done by all three classes when casting a con or str/con shearIt would be unfair if we removed *all* damage for con shears from druids (since "more damage" is their class-specific benefit), so instead we halved the amount of damage they do and removed all damage from the shaman and cleric versions. This decision was made based on player feedback from Pendragon. We appreciate the comments, and will be looking for more in response to this change.

Q: Would the new focus shell protect against realm Guards? Or keep guards?

A: Okay, here's the design INTENT. Don't hold me to any of this, since it's not implemented or tested yet.

- It can only be cast on player characters (and Necro pets)

- It will only absorb damage from player characters and pets. (not PvE mobs and not Realm Guards)

So the answer to your question is "no."

***

I gather I've missed some excitement this week. I blame Balance Boy and the Evil Overlord of In-Game CS. Those two have offices on either side of mine, and apparently could only recover from the Martian Death Flu by giving it to me. I've been able to forward your messages, but not reply from my laptop at home. (I told you, I'm not the most technical human that ever walked the earth.) Please accept my apologies for the lack of response to the Challenge feedback and other emails, I will reply next week.

We all really appreciate all the feedback you've sent regarding 1.69. As you can see, feedback has already resulted in a number of evolutions, and will no doubt result in more.

We'll see you next week. Meanwhile, I'm going to eat my pudding.