Dark Age Of Camelot: The Friday Grab Bag

Taken from here.

Q: Will there be a full skill respec in New Frontiers, as well as the realm ability respecs mentioned in the patch notes?

A: Yep. There's a great big post coming with a lot more information, but I expect that's the short answer that everyone was looking for.

Q: It's been said that at the launch of New Frontiers, RA respec stones will be selling for 10 silver off of NPC's. What are you planning to do with people who load up on the stones with like 100 of them and plan to sell them for 1 to 2 plat after that week of selling has gone away?

A: Laugh at them, because the stones will vanish once the week is over.

Q: When's launch day, exactly?

A: Ask me on Monday. I don't know for sure right now. Since we're not selling this expansion, our launch is not set in stone. So, the specific answer depends on how we feel after the weekend.

Q: The badger at the bottom of the Herald was replaced with a cat? A cat with a flail?

A: I'm a tiny bit disturbed yet pleased at the sheer number of you who noticed, and wrote to ask.

The badger was an old company joke, that predated that goofy badger/mushroom/snake video, thank you very much. WAY predated. In a fit of overcaffeinated exhaustion, the Herald designer and tools programmer, Miss Georgia, responded to my request to retire the badger by replacing him with a vicious attack kitten. We just thought it was funny. We really, REALLY didn't think this many people even scrolled all the way to the bottom of the website, let alone noticed our weirdness. Color me sheepish. This was the third most popular question I got, and we only did it a few days ago.

Q: From the patch notes: - "Mastery of Magery has been slightly reduced in effectiveness. Tier 3 and 4 will give an additional 5% bonus instead of 7% and Tier 5 will give an additional 5% bonus instead of 9%. The total bonus with Mastery of Magery V will now be 20% instead of 28%." How much is it per level? It seems that it should end up at 24% if I'm calculating it correctly. I thought it was 4% for level I and 5% for each level after that now. If it was at 28% and we dropped it by 4% then wouldn't it be at 24%?? Where am I missing something?

A: We're in the process of updating the chart to reflect all the tweaks, changes, adjustments, and complete redesigns that have gone on in the last few months. Meanwhile, the answer to your MoM question:

Tier 1: Adds 2%. 2% total.
Tier 2: Adds 3%. 5% total.
Tier 3: Adds 5%. 10% total.
Tier 4: Adds 5%. 15% total.
Tier 5: Adds 5%. 20% total.

***

Sorry this is so short tonight. Many of popular questions this week are still under discussion here at Mythic, and I could not answer them. Also, I got started late this week, what with all the New Frontiers excitement.

One common question is always "why?" Why did we choose this or that? Why did we decide to take one action versus another?

The general answer always has something to do with "because we thought it would be best for the big picture in the long run." Sometimes the long run proves we were wrong, and we have to change our minds. Sometimes it works out for the best. All we can do is try stuff out, look at the feedback, ask for advice, and ultimately, give it our best shot. And never, ever quit trying.

None of us have a crystal ball. Beware of game developers claiming that they know what their virtual world will be like in three months. They don't.

We do believe right now that the way we did New Frontiers will ultimately prove the right way. We tossed our plans up earlier in the process than any MMORPG that I know of has ever tried, and invited feedback. We made changes, and invited more feedback. There hasn't been a single step made without consulting actual players both in and outside the company.

That's not to say decisions are based on outcry on this message board or that, or based on my feedback forms, or even on really brilliant petition drives. Ultimately, the decisions are made by the design team, because SOMEONE has to drive.

But I have forwarded all my petitions, with notes explaining how many I got. Our TL coordinator has been forwarding every scrap of data she gets along with the context of the information. The design team has pored over the emails to the feedback form and RA Review address for hours. I think it shows. And we're not done! I look forward to seeing more of your feedback from this weekend's wars.

I've got the best job in the WORLD.

See you on Pendragon.