Dark Age Of Camelot: The Friday Grab Bag Is Here

Here it is, for your reading enjoyment!

Q: Can you reset the character copier before you leave for E3?

A: The Code Warrior hooked you up and did the reset a few hours ago.

Q: It seems much harder to get 3/3 scrolls these days. Wasn't the new scroll system supposed to help?

A: I've been getting this feedback for quite awhile, and passed the ones asking us to investigate specific scrolls to the content team. Every time, they look, and every time, they find no problems with the drop rates. Of course, I'll continue to look into specifics whenever people send them to me.

Here's an interesting bit of information, based on our bird's eye view of the community reaction: People who preferred to hunt knowing that X creature had a chance to drop Y scroll every Z minutes were happier with the old system. Well, happy wasn't exactly the word, our true random function makes bad luck a possibility, but you know what I mean. People who don't hunt for specific scrolls (but instead just play in a particular area and get scrolls as they drop) prefer the new set up, as it better suits their style.

We are going to leave things be for the time being, as both play styles are represented in the game. If you really think a particular drop is broken, please feel free to let us know either via bug appeals or via feedback forms.

Q: I know that if a person has been killed recently, he will be worth reduced RPs. I have two related questions: 1. Is the reduced RP value based on whether the person is still rez sick? 2. If yes, if the person has used GoLM to cure rez sickness, will they instantly be worth their full RP value again?

A: 1. No, it's based on a simple timer, one that can't be affected by spells. 2. See number one.

Q: Is there a way to purchase things in bulk from the merchants?

A: You can shift-right click items in the merchant windows to quickly increase the target number by ten.

Q: Team lead report status?

A: As I told the team leads earlier this week, the meetings (where I read each line item out loud) are finally finished! Now Missy and I are writing up the feedback and sorting it back into the reports.

I know it's taken forever. The thing is, I think it's better to read the items aloud (rather than pretend that overscheduled devs already burning the midnight oil will magically have time to go through hundreds of items), and I much prefer to do that reading to the ladies and gentlemen who make the decisions (as opposed to people who have to get approval and can't act without it). It means that the meetings revolve around the schedules of very busy people who wear many hats, and we have to do the meetings in an hour here and an hour there.

Missy and I are going to be gone for most of next week for the annual trade show in California, but after that, we won't be working on anything but these TL reports. The light is indeed on at the end of the tunnel.

The feedback is actually behind the process - the first batch of class changes to come out of the reports is already on the internal testing server. They will hit Pendragon within the next month.

Q: Your new poll... if you saw that the no buffbot rule was only 5% why would you combine it with the 21% no toa server?

A: Because as many people noticed, the original survey was limited strictly to currently active customers. And frankly, history proves that players will very rarely switch servers, and if they do, they usually come marching "home" again within a few months. It's hard to pull up roots and leave established friends and even enemies behind. The only moves that seem to "take" are when whole guilds pull up stakes and move.

My email, feedback forms, and various bits of commentary on message boards indicated that players who consider themselves retired would have responded differently to the survey. And THOSE players are more likely to start over on a new server (again, the history of MMORPGs proves this), so it makes sense to try and aim a new server type at them.

The same reasoning explains why we wouldn't migrate a "no TOA/restricted buff" server ruleset to the existing servers. The numbers of the first survey tend to speak for themselves. Remember, message boards represent a very small population, and that population's feelings can't be reliably extrapolated to reflect the player community as a whole. Especially since active customers are generally (generally, I said, please don't email me if you're not part of the generally) not posting on message boards and satisfied with the status quo. But if you're looking for the thoughts of former players, or people who are unhappy with the status quo, message boards are a good place to start. Maybe not to finish, but definitely to start.

Anyway, fear not - the decision won't be made based on any one single factor or source of feedback.

***

As I said above, we're going to be in California for most of next week, meeting old friends and making new ones. (If you're going to be at E3 and want to see the demo, I have exactly three appointments left, and your last chance to snag one is Monday morning...) But you don't need to worry about Herald withdrawal, and you don't need to be an elite member of the media to see the booth this year! We've set up a webcam in our booth, and I'll be updating a photoblog throughout the show.

I apologize in advance if there is a stretch of time with a thousand pictures of the delightful and delicious Richard Dean Anderson. (He's scheduled to be at the show promoting a Stargate game. Only in my wildest nerdy dreams does he come to the Mythic booth.)

The webcam will be located here: http://imperatoronline.com/about/webcam.php

The photoblog is already set up here: http://mythicpics.blogspot.com. My dark overlords really were not thinking when they asked me to do this, and authorized me to use a camera phone. Three straight days of sleep deprivation, slushies, and sensory overload could lead to some questionable photographic choices. So bookmark these sites, and enjoy the show beginning next Wednesday morning!

Make that four straight days of insanity, because the Roundtable Roadtrip is going to be stopping in Santa Monica on Saturday, May 21, at a very cool little nightspot. Roadtrip stops are completely free to attend. It's not as elaborate as a big Roundtable, but there are T-shirts going to the first fifty people through the door, and we provide nibbles and a shot at Walt, the Moderately Evil Overlord of Content. Okay, and me, but I'm the one scurrying for cover. So, SoCal locals, mark your calendars, and bookmark this link: http://roundtable.darkageofcamelot.com/May_21_LosAngeles.php

See you all Monday.