| |
 | |  |
 |  | Friday Grab Bag of Goodness |  |
|  | Posted By: Sanya Thomas | 2002-04-12 13:51:09 |  |
| |  |  It's a big one today, so let's get it up early for you clock watchers out there in cubicle land ;)
Q: I’m still getting those emails that look like they are from you or Scott Jennings. What’s going on?
A: My initial thought, that someone was being a jerk, was incorrect. Mea culpa. It is a worm program affecting half the known universe right now called “Klez.” You can find more information on it here. By the way, the last five copies I’ve received have come from Harvard University, just FYI to the gang in Boston. I run a full scan on my machine several times a week, as well as the automatic updater than comes with any of the good antivirus products. I have to. Good lord, I’m still getting SirCam viruses every week, and that one is as passé as big hair and acid washed jeans with ankle zippers. USE SOME ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE, Y’ALL.
Q: I was hunting in the frontier, and got in a little over my head, so I ran to the guards for some help. They just stood there and mocked me as I got hammered on like a door during a drug bust. What was that about?
A: If, when you click on the guy in armor, it says “So and so is friendly and is a guard,” he will help you beat down a monster. If he says he’s friendly and a realm guard, he’ll only help you beat down another player. Check your potential rescuer’s message as you head past him.
Q: Is DAOC Unleashed a legal program?
A: I suddenly got two dozen of these inquiries in the last week, and I’m not sure why. No, it is not a legal program. No third party program that provides you with information in a format unavailable to you within the game, or provides you with an advantage over players not using said program will ever BE legal. Check out our EULA for the legalese and how carefully we’ve covered our tails. If we catch you, we will ban you, and there are no second chances for that account.
Q: Hey, you took your email address off the website! Now there’s a form to fill out!
A: Yes. Check out the link to our new feedback form. It still dumps straight to my email in box, just as before, but presorted by category. This helps me to get through the feedback much, much faster than before. And of course, if you’ve ever got problems with something that doesn’t fit a category, or customer service, or maybe you just feel like getting something off your chest, I’m still at sanya@mythicentertainment.com. No response is guaranteed, but I am still committed to reading everything you send.
Q: Why does (insert monster here) start dodging me like a madman whenever I get too far away?
A: One of the developers asked me to post her mini-essay here. Here’s her comments:
“One of the lesser-known features of some of our monsters is the engage radius. This is a radius defined on a case-by-case basis with specific monsters that we want to keep within an area. For example, the dragons have an engage radius that pretty much encompasses their lairs. If not out on patrol, they will stay within their lair and cannot be pulled from there.
You can often get the monster in question right to the edge of that radius. However, if you a standing even one step outside that radius, the monster will begin to "dodge your blow" (both for ranged and melee attacks). Your character’s body must be inside that radius for the dodging to stop. This is there to prevent people from abusing the fact that the monster cannot physically get to them. Also, most monsters with an engage radius set will have some sort of ranged attack (spells, breath weapon, etc.) that they will use if everyone they were fighting has left the area. The ranged attack is also there to minimize abuse of the system.
The reasoning for giving some monsters these radii vary. For example, one of the newest creatures, Legion, will not go much farther than the bottom of his steps. We limited him to this distance mostly because of his size, and we wanted to keep him away from the pillars that are in his room.
There are currently a couple of minor items that have cropped up relating to the engage radius that may have caused some confusion to players. Those items are:
1. Some forces are able to get a monster such that its back is up against the engage radius. When in this position, a large monster may try to adjust its melee distance against those who are too close by taking a couple steps backwards. In doing this, it is slowly pushed out of its engage radius (which is defined by its spawn point). If the monster gets pushed all the way out of that radius, it will dodge everything. The programmers are looking in to this. In the meantime, if you know a monster you are fighting has an engage radius, try to keep it in the center of its area, if possible.
2. There are a few monsters/npcs, such as the RvR gatekeepers, are not meant to be killed. These monsters will also give you “monsterX swifly dodges your blow” as a message. It is very similar to the message you receive with the engage radius monsters. We will change this message to make it less confusing to players.”
Q: Can you go over the armor factor/absorb/etc stuff again? Previous explanations were confusing, and I want to be able to make good choices when I have two similar pieces of armor and must decide between them.
A: This next part is taken directly from the Vault thread in which I answered someone’s post, so forgive me if it sounds a little out of context. The player’s questions are in bold.
"1) How is Total AF calculated (Condition, Quality, location weighting, etc.)?"
The trouble with my answers to these questions, and the answers I have given on the Herald in the past, is that they are all simplified. I do not have the entire formula, and probably won't ever - the WHOLE thing involves tables, probabilities, outside factors, blah blah blah. It's immense. What I have given out are the broad brushstrokes, and the best I can do for you.
"1a.) If a dropped loot armor piece has the exact same AF, the exact same quality and the exact same condition as player crafted piece, is it truly identical to player made or is there some secret calculation for player made armor that makes Total AF register higher?"
Identical.
"2) How do AF caps really work (base armor AF vs AF spells)?"
There is technically a cap as to how much AF you can have. You will hit this cap if every piece of armor you have is your level (armor level = displayed AF/2) and 100% quality. Condition also plays a role - when you get messages saying such and such could use repairs, you're losing effectiveness.
Now, there are some exceptions - spec line AF buffs of healing classes can take you over your cap. Certain items can also be coded with a bypass function to take you over your cap.
"3) What does AF actually do? We assume AF determines Hit/Miss only, but is it also used in damage reduction? If its hit/miss only, how does it work? Is your Total AF the *only* number used in the hit/mist calculation or are individual armor locations/pieces used in determining hit/miss?"
AF is factored into many, many things, to varying degrees, so I can't give you a complete answer.
But I can sorta answer the last question. Your total AF plays a role, yes, AND the individual pieces play a role elsewhere in the calculations. I can't remember off the top of my head, but I want to say the BP covers 25% of your body? Anyone remember what I said before? The last time I gave percentages I was working from a design document, so they were accurate.
"4) How does Absorb work? Is it simply a % reduction in damage? (i.e. you are hit for 100, but have 19% absorb at that location, therefore you are hit for 81) or does Absorb use AF to determine how much damage is prevented"
My answer to #1 pretty much applies here too.
Now, for the examples, to make all the above blathering relate to practical terms. I will use your definition of "better" (1) which makes me get totally missed more? 2) which makes me get hit FOR LESS when I get hit?), and assume that you're more or less evenly rigged out in appropriately leveled armor:
"I am a lvl 20 Cleric. I have a choice between the following items. Which is "better"?
1) AF 38 Chain, 27% absorb, 100% qual, 100% cond, 0 bonus
2) AF 40 Studded, 19% absorb, 100% qual, 100% cond, 0 bonus"
The first piece is level 19, the second is 20. The 8% absorb is more significant than the one level difference, and all other factors are equal, so the answer is the first piece.
"or these two:
1) AF 38 Chain, 100% Q/C, 5% bonus, Quest item
2) AF 40 Chain, 100% Q/C, 0% bonus"
Kind of a tossup here. If you're going to be fighting things that have enchanted weapons (ie, have bonuses applied), you'd rather have the piece with the bonus, because it will reduce your damage maybe a hair more than the extra AF. But it's not significant. You'll outlevel the piece before you see enough fights to tell much of a difference. I'd personally go for the quest item, just because they tend to have their durability set higher than regular stuff, and thus last longer and can be repaired more.
"or these two:
1) AF 40 Chain, 100% Q/C, 0% bonus (yellow)
2) AF 44 Chain, 100% Q/C, 0% bonus (orange)"
The orange is two levels higher than you, and will degrade faster. It's not any better for you than the yellow in the slot it occupies, and its contribution to your total AF is wasted if the rest of your gear is decent and you've been buffed. So, the yellow piece is optimal.
(Remember, color is a range that gets bigger the higher you are in levels. You need to determine the actual level of the piece to determine how big a waste it is. The higher level than you, the bigger the waste.)
None of your examples included quality differences - in any situation where it's a close call, go with the higher quality item. Keep your stuff in good repair, as well.
I can't give you an order of value for each factor, as the value of each factor changes depending on the situation. GENERALLY - level, quality, bonus, condition. The bottom two are what change the most in weight depending on circumstances - level and quality ALWAYS matter.
If I've horribly lost anyone, I apologize, and I will try and make it clearer.
Whew. Big grab bag today! The outpouring of comments on the upcoming PVP server is extremely interesting, and I am lurking in approximately two dozen discussions on the subject. Also, the outpouring of interest in our upcoming Fan Meet has been tremendous – thank you all very much for your support. We’re looking forward to meeting you.
Be safe, unless you’re in the frontiers, and have a good weekend!
|  |
| |
|  |
| |
|  |
| | |
Herald Features
Game News
