Friday Grab Bag - Battle Edition
from Sanya Thomas
2003-03-14 19:43:57
Here it is! Lots of battleground questions this week, in game and in feedback forms.
Q: What does the confusion spell do against players?
A: According to the magic man, “Confusion against a player interrupts their current action, whether it's a bow shot or spellcast.
Q: Where can I find the Stained Boogey Helmet that infiltrators have been wearing lately?
A: Goodness. Usually I don’t get enough “where is this item” questions to make a grab bag mention worthwhile, but the Boogey Helmet is apparently a hot fashion. The answer is… greater boogeys in Cornwall.
Q: Is there a battleground FAQ I can look at?
A: Eventually we’re going to get all of this stuff sorted better. For now, here’s your handy battleground FAQ:
1) What level range battlegrounds are there, and how many are there?
There are four battlegrounds:
Levels 15-19 = Abermenai (realm point cap – 125)
Levels 20-24 = Thidranki (realm point cap – 350)
Levels 25-29 = Murdaigean (realm point cap – 1375)
Levels 30-35 = Caledonia (realm point cap – 7125)
By the way, if someone levels past the level cap while in the battlefield, they are not exploiting. As soon as they log out, zone out, or die and fail to get a rez, they’re gone. But they technically can be there until then.
2) What are the benefits of killing the enemy in a battlefield other then the enjoyment of killing the enemy?
That’s not enough? Just kidding.
You gain realm points, which you can use for realm abilities. (There’s a chart with all the realm abilities listed on the left sidebar of the Herald.) However, battlegrounds do not give bounty points.
3) Where is the entrance to the battlegrounds?
At the portal keep - buy a Battlegrounds medallion, and stand on the portal pad. At this time you should not be stealthed when the porting ceremony occurs, or you may fail to port.
4) Are there quests involved in the battlefields? and if so are they applicable to all classes?
We added a really nifty one in the 1.60 patch. Here is the proper section of the patch notes:
We've added a system for experience rewards for completing each battleground. Basically, when you complete a battleground, you can go to a new special NPC that will give you a medal. That medal can be taken to another new NPC and turned in for a significant amount of experience points.
To complete a battleground, you must achieve three objectives (note that only the keep raid must take place in the Battleground, the rest can be achieved in standard RvR):
1. Participating and living through a successful raid on a central keep that has been held by the enemy for at least 45 minutes (If you are wondering if you met this requirement when the battle is over, type /quest after the battle before you do anything else. If you met the requirement, there will be a message indicating that to you.)
2. Being at the realm point cap for that battleground
3. Being in the level range for the battleground, plus one level.
Please note that the realm points need not all be earned in the battleground - they can be gained in standard RvR as well. Once players have participated in a keep raid and reached the required Realm Point level, players go to a new NPC in their home city and receive their medal of valor.
You can only receive the medal for a battleground if you are within the level range for that specific battleground, plus one level. For instance, you can only receive the Thidranki medal if you are between 20 and 25.
ALSO PLEASE NOTE THAT THE MAXIMUM RP FOR EACH BATTLEGROUND REMAINS UNCHANGED. IF YOU EARN MORE THAN THE MAXIMUM RP ALLOWED IN A PARTICULAR BATTLEGROUND AND YOU HAVE NOT YET TAKEN THE CENTRAL KEEP, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO ENTER THAT BATTLEGROUND, AND THUS WILL NOT BE ABLE TO GET YOUR MEDAL OF VALOR.
Medal NPCs
Camelot: Commander Kise can be found on the porch of his house by The Mug.
Jordheim: Ostaden who is repairing his equipment at the local smithy.
TirNaNog: Mobryn who resides in a house near the Chamber of Arms.
After receiving the medal, players may turn in the medal and receive a substantial experience reward. Please note that battleground medals must be used within one level of the level cap for a battleground. For example, you can turn in the medal and receive the experience reward for Thidranki at 25 but not at 26 or above. You can only turn in one medal per battleground.
Battlefield Experience NPCs
Camelot: Sir Dinairak is in the royal library.
Jordheim: Aiesill is in the great hall.
TirNaNog: Rheollyn is in the palace courtyard.
5) Are there any different rules to the battlefields, then there are on the regular fighting fields?
Yes. Because of the smaller size of the zone, the central guards are different than regular frontier keep guards. They have an "engage radius," which in this case means they will not chase players to their portal keeps. Due to this engage radius, we made a design decision that siege weapons do not affect them.
The central battleground keeps cannot be claimed by guilds and upgraded, unlike regular RvR keeps.
Because of the lower level of people in the Battlegrounds - we have provided reduced cost (Battleground only) Siegemasters - who will give players Siege equipment. These Siegemasters are located in the portal keeps.
Q: When I look at my individual character record on the Herald, I have a very nice “I Remain Standing” Score. It’s easily the highest one on my server, when I check the lists on the server standings displays. But my name doesn’t appear! Is this a bug?
A: Many lists (like the "I remain standing" list you’re talking about) require a minimum number of RP to appear on the server listings. The server “I Remain Standing” listing requires 30,000 RP earned in one week before a character will display. I am told that we programmed it that way because otherwise a secondary character (one not played, more like “parked in a somewhat cheesy manner”) could go out to the milegate once, get one grouped high level kill, and be #1 on the listing. That would be profoundly annoying to those who actually go out and fight.
Q: (Insert question here about how fast, or how slow it seems, that the Herald updates character and keep data.)
A: The answer is some things we can make faster, some things we can’t. We are actively working on ways to make the character updates happen faster. Keep watching. As for keep and guild information, we’re at the limits of what we can do technically with the equipment we’ve got. And that limit is about once an hour, assuming the servers haven’t been taken down for things like patches. We could technically do it faster. Unfortunately, that does horrible things to our servers, and so until the magic server fairy arrives, we can only sit and dream of real time updates.
Q: I don’t remember my secret word. What can you guys do to help me remember?
A: Unfortunately, not much. The example given (of what a typical secret word is) when you register is “mother’s maiden name,” and that’s exactly what the CSR who answers the phone is going to tell you.
Because secret words are the final line of security (passwords change, and we are aware of that, that’s why account ownership goes to the holder of secret word), it’s a good idea to pick a secret word that really is something easy to remember, yet something only you would know… like your mother’s maiden name. If you don’t remember your secret word, I suggest you change your password on a regular basis – and of course, not giving out the password at all. Why? Because if no one has your password, you won’t NEED to remember your secret word – because you’ll never have to call us to prove your account is your own.
And if you’re playing another person’s account because they’ve given it up, remember, if you don’t have the secret word, you will not be able to prove to us that the account is yours if there’s ever a dispute. Caveat emptor.
Q: I gave a creep a helmet, and he said he’d pay me later. He has not done so. Can you do anything?
A: I am afraid not. You both accepted the trade where he got a helmet and you got nothing. Please, unless you know and trust the person you are trading with, do not accept the trade unless you are satisfied with the trade exactly as it appears in your window.
That’s it for this week. For all of you who are enjoying a laugh at the Herald chimp’s expense, I say to you, ook. Last week, when I posted about the little bird and the long awaited news, I really, really thought the announcement would be bigger, with a few more features described. Here’s the thing. We’re trying very hard not to talk specifically about stuff unless it’s THIS close to done, so no one gets frustrated by hearing about features we ultimately can’t include. I am awfully sorry if you feel like the “news” was like American Idol’s idea of a “twist.” (I know, I know, I’m a doof for watching that show, but I can’t help it. It’s like a car wreck with sarcasm on top. What can I say, I’m a chimp.)
We do have a new Herald feature to put up some time next week. This is the Project X I’ve been hinting about – I really don’t know what I love more, the new Town Square (and wow, you guys took to that like ducks to water, geesh, already a ton of events planned) or Project X. Y’all tell me… next week.
Speaking of the Town Square – as with any new toy, there are things to be tweaked and fixed. Our newest Herald programmer already has gathered from you some ideas to add to it, and a list of little things to fix Monday morning. Keep on sending that feedback!
Have a spiffy weekend, and we’ll see you in the frontier.
15/03/2003, 01h46
You gain realm points, which you can use for realm abilities. (There’s a chart with all the realm abilities listed on the left sidebar of the Herald.) However, battlegrounds do not give bounty points. 
