Here it is:
Q: We used a trebuchet to take down a monster, and when he died, he dropped loot – but we got no experience or encounter credit. Is this a bug?
A: Nope. There was a point, many moons ago, where it was allowed. For balance reasons we had to change that, and it was noted in a patch. But it’s the kind of thing that newer members of our community wouldn’t know. So! Thanks to the people who brought the need for this reminder to my attention. The game allows some siege weapons to be used to kill creatures, and does not allow other siege weapons to be used at all. If you do choose a siege weapon that can be used, be aware that you will not receive encounter credit or experience for the kill.
Q: Do the offensive spell procs on weapons get affected by the user’s acuity for damage purposes? More specifically, is the damage of the offensive clickable spell procs on artifacts (i.e. bolt on Band of Stars) affected by acuity? I am wondering if for instance a Band of Stars would do more damage in the hands of my healer with 198 piety as opposed to my warrior who has about 50.
A: There shouldn’t be a difference. The item is “casting” the spell, not your character.
Q: (Insert question about display freezing and crashing here.)
A: I was having the exact same problems as many of you. Imagine my chagrin when I found out how ancient my video card drivers were. It’s not just game companies that release patches! Anyway, updating the drivers solved my difficulties. If that doesn’t help you, please contact our technical support people:
http://support.darkageofcamelot.com/support/. Please DON’T contact the Questions feedback form – I only go through this folder once or twice a week, and I am not technically qualified to help you. You do not want my technical help. You want me to stay very, very far from your computer.
Q: Legendary Bows - Do these bows do elemental damage, or the arrow listed damage? Popular belief is that they debuff the right elemental, but still do pierce/slash/blunt damage. Before I get a bow made could you let us know if they really do elemental damage?
A: From the keyboard of the Item Princess: ”
Currently, elemental damage types will not function on bows or arrows. For legendary bows, the damage type dealt is still dependent on the arrow's damage type, even though the proc debuffs an elemental resist. However, the proc rate on the legendary bows is higher than that of other legendary weapons, which allows the direct damage portion of the spell to help compensate for the lack of elemental damage done by using the legendary bow.”
Q: Is there any place either on the Herald or the internet where I can go and test how I want to spec a new toon?
A: I build possible characters over at
http://daoc.catacombs.com. I don’t promise that it’s always perfect, but they keep it updated, and as I said, I use it myself. I lack the technical skills to build one that had as many nifty little features, so I just direct people to Catacombs. Plus I’m secretly in love with the forum regulars over there. Shh, don’t tell anyone.
Q: I am having a problem, and I submitted a bug appeal. When am I going to hear back?
A: Bug appeals are not answered. Not directly, anyway. We have a team of people in a dungeon who sort and assign your bug appeals for testing.
The first step in any bug fix is duplicating the bug – we need to see precisely what happens on a code level when players do things. If the bug team can’t make it happen, it’s not possible to fix the problem. That’s why we always ask for as much data as you can think of.
For example, I recently submitted a bug appeal about an item durability problem. In order to give our test team enough information to work with, I told them the following:
- The exact name of the item I had a problem with
- The condition and durability of the item BEFORE repair
- The condition and durability of the item AFTER repair
- Whether a player repaired the item, or an NPC
- Where I was when I was having my item repaired
With all that information, the testing team can set up tests that EXACTLY duplicate my circumstances. If I leave any of that information out, the test might come back as “we couldn’t duplicate your results.” That drives me bonkers - *I* know I had a freaking problem, darn it! But, when I give them all the information, they CAN duplicate the problem… and the odds of fixing the problem goes way, way up.
But I still won’t get an email from them. I know they got my appeal, of course, because the head of testing comes up here and throws things at me. You’ll have to take my word for it – the appeals GET READ. It is in our best interest to fix things as quickly as possible. If something isn’t fixed, it’s because we have not yet been able to duplicate it here in our labs. So give us all the details – even things you don’t think could possibly matter. And please remember that a human being reads each and every appeal, so help them process as many appeals as possible by giving them just the facts – save the editorials for the feedback form and me.
Q: I was on my necro [on Mordred] today when a shaman and his armsman friend decided to jump me, the shaman kept recasting the dot and although they were not stacking it was rehitting constantly and doing a lot of damage I died faster then i have ever died in my life because of this and I was wondering if this is intended to happen or simply a bug which this shaman was exploiting I have a 50 shaman myself and have never noticed / seen this been done before. I would love to know if this is a bug or not because if it’s not I may bring my shaman out of retirement and become hated once again.
A: If I’ve understood you, and I certainly don’t discount the possibility that I’m completely befuddled, it sounds like the shaman was not exploiting a bug, but his constant casting was interrupting you and preventing you from doing anything. Have a good time.
Q: Mastery of arms increases melee weapon speed by 3% per level. Do shields count as a melee weapon?
A: Yes.
Q: I have one unit of Salamander Ash in my back pack, and I can’t remove it. Can't be dropped, can't be put in vault, can't be sold, can't be salvaged. How do I get it out of my backpack?
A: If you don’t need it to complete an encounter (that’s what the Ash is for), you can destroy it by selecting the item and hitting your destroy keys. The default “destroy” keys are Shift+D – if that doesn’t work, you can type /keyboard and see what the command is on your computer.
***
I start every grab bag session by going through the folder and scattering questions to the developers to answer. Every time, I swear that I won’t answer any questions personally, because I just don’t have the time to answer EVERYONE. So of course I can’t help it, and as I’m sorting the questions with my rapid fire usage of the “forward” button (along with the rapid fire use of the keyboard to add pithy comments like “Yeah, I’d like to know, too” and “good point” and “once my eyes stopped bleeding, I found she has a good point”), I answer a few. Those recipients almost always write back with shock and amazement that they haven’t just been screaming down a well.
I’ve spent a total of five years swimming around the MMORPG community pool. Half on the player side, half on the dark side (which also happens to be a player side, if it’s not too hard to believe – you don’t take jobs like this if you don’t love PLAYING the freaking games). I know what it’s like to be constantly giving feedback and asking questions, and never hearing a single peep acknowledging that I was even alive.
The Herald team is 100% committed to reading every scrap of feedback because of that. The volume is insane, so we can’t promise a reply. The dev team is informed on a regular (by that I mean “hourly”) basis what the top issues and concerns are. I wish I could write to everyone, and personally reassure you all.
Feh, enough of my blathering – go on, we’ve got raids to get to. See you next week.
28/02/2004, 09h10
