Asherons Call: Even More Q&A!

-Soulstrike- asks: I have noticed that is is very hard to pt fish back in the water, it seems as if the fishing hole itslef is only about a BM wide. It should really be made larger.
srand: [I'm forwarding an answer to this question from one of the team members who generally doesn't post.]
Normal NPCs are fairly easy to give items to. Not only are they visible, but they also have physics and are generally about the size of a human.
For fishing, we had to do something different, since we wanted the fishing holes to not be visible until the fished jumped. Our solution was the following:
The Fishing Hole is comprised of 3 objects. First is the fish, which does not have any physics to it, and plays its various animations at different intervals. Next we have the Selection Sphere, which is what tells you how big the selection brackets are (this sphere is invisible). Third is an invisible Cube, which is what you give the fish to.
The problem is with there being no physics to run into, and no real visible object to give the fish back to, it makes targeting and giving difficult. But it was either that or have the fishing holes have physics... which was not desirable.
(Originally, the only way you could return a fish to the fishing hole was if you managed to drop your minnows on the fish in the fishing hole... which was very difficult and somewhat frustrating mini-game. :P)

cuculain_of_FF asks: (about mansion rank issues)
Ellen_Ripley adds: Get yourselves a Circlet of Supremacy for your monarch. Does not change your patrons rank. Does not change your rank title. Does count when it comes to rent day on mansion.
srand: Mansion requirements are all base rank, not enchanted rank. We should probably clarify that in the purchase panel. *makes note to self*

-Meech- asks: The Level based hunting zones are based on Level of Char or Skill? I have a Lvl 72 Sword, with 430 sword skill. I hunt with a friend who is Lvl 103 and has 428 sword skill. Our swords basically buff to about the same percentage for heartseeker (Diff of 1-2 points).
We usually hunt in areas where most monsters are Lvl 100-126. My friend hits everything far more consistently than me. Even if she is tanking the monster, she hits the monster more often than I do.
Just wondering how the zones are made because it's just odd that I have problems hitting stuff while my friends slices and dices with a lower skill.
srand: Asheron's Call is a skill-based game. The areas of the map were designed based on skill levels, not character levels. But when we put all that information into the legend, the map became completely unreadable. *grin*
So we made certain assumptions about average skill levels in fighting characters at the various levels, and then used character level as a simplification of skill level for the purposes of the map display. Obviously these assumptions won't be true for every character, but they give a rough guideline of difficulty that players seem to find useful in choosing their hunting grounds.

ForgottenGod asks: [about the Scored Shards dropping on death] Not sure if they are supposed to drop or not, value being 0 and all. Just curious if it's a bug, or if I need to be more careful with what I consider "no drop". Thanks for any info.
srand: Well, they aren't bonded, so it is possible for them to drop on death. Their value is 0, but if you aren't carrying enough items with value, you'll end up dropping 0 value things.

--Replex-- asks: Why is it that the taulandoi, saulandoi, Auroric (sp?) Exarch Armor and Auroric helm all have a 1:1 or 1:2 mana rates? It is getting expensive paying 100k just to fill up all 4 pieces of armor, my orb and encrused bloodstone jewel.
Orion: The armor was calculated out to give you about 2 full hours before needing to be refilled. That was to balance the versatility and functionality of the armor.

Osis asks: Hmm....Are we missing something at Knorr?
"At each of Knorr's Libraries we, myself and my eldest Councillors, have set one fourth of the knowledge to create the stones that shall be used in the fight of Light against Dark. There they shall remain until they are needed again."
Seems to me like part of the recipe for Atlans should be in there...and Srand said they were working on Atlan upgrades.
Orion: Hmm... I wonder if everything has been found yet...

Comac asks: What actually adds to damage? Besides the weapon and armour... Strength or Coord depending on weapon.. but does skill add to damage?
srand: For melee weapons except dagger, plus thrown weapons: strength.
For dagger, and missile weapons except thrown weapon: coordination.
For unarmed weapons: skill (as well as strength).
For magic weapons: skill.
Also, imbued properties all have an effect that depends upon skill and generally raises damage, so you can think of imbues as being another way that skill raises damage for all weapons.

Comac asks: Just how do you determine the % chance of a critical hit?
srand: Under normal circumstances, melee and missile weapons have a flat 10% chance to critical, and mage weapons have a 5% chance to critical. The Critical Strike imbue, however, raises the chance depending on your skill with your weapon. (Critical Strike will never lower your chance to critical under the base 5% or 10%, by the way.)

Claw asks: [about the upgraded Thaumaturgic Plate] It's worse. The helmet is the only truely viable item. The base AL increased sure. . .but the extra 60 pts in armor isn't going to make up for the fact that the banes only go to excellent. This armor is simply onfeasable in battle against most creatures nowadays. The asthetics are incredible. . .but that's it. At least make the items enchantable so mages have a chance in places like VoD or newhere. Finally. . .y did u make the humming crystal and the dagger guy random spawning. We combed the dires on WE from the walled portals North and didn't find it. . .we searched for 4 hours and found nothing.
Orion: The humming crystal portal and the dagger guy, have always been random spawns. They were moved to 40-60 level areas this month so that the quest fit more with the level of the creature you find on the original quest.
As far as the armor being useless... I guess that is a matter of personal choice. In testing we found that it was viable, nay quite usable, our balance test was against hollows, not creatures in the VoD. What this armor offers is a choice: Gain the benefits of the cantrips for some extra skill while sacrificing base/and modified AL, or wear your tinkered armor and search to find the cantrips that this quest armor offers. Weighing in at 445 buffed AL with spells, an excellent modifier increases that armor value to over 750... Sure it's not the 1200 of a tweaked set of amuli, but it's more than functional.