Mythic released a patch/update today that should make many players (especially rogue types) happy. I am including the update notes in their full glory even though they were rather lenghty. Here goes:
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Dark Age of Camelot
Version 1.34 Release Notes Addendum
November 1, 2001
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NEW THINGS AND BUG FIXES
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– When a player disconnects from the server illegally (either via ALT-TAB or by going linkdead), their character stays in the world for up to 45 seconds. They can be attacked by enemy players and NPCs during this time.
– By popular demand, you can now toggle the bad word filter on and off with the /FILTER command. This is saved on a character by character basis. Please note that the filter is on by default.
– There is a New APPEAL interface. You are now presented with a number of options (Advice, Stuck, Harassment, Conduct Report, Bugreport and Appeal). This should reduce the number of spurious appeals that get sent to Customer Support.
– When a player has an appeal, they get a dialog box when they enter asking if they wish to refresh the appeal or cancel it. If you have any old appeals in the system that have been resolved, please delete your appeal. If you still need help with that appeal, then refresh it.
– You can now see specific spell information in-game. Right click on the spell and use the “info” button to get more information about the spell, such as level and type.
– When your inventory is full and you are given a quest item, you now get a dialog telling you the item was dropped on the ground in front of you.
– The QUICKPLAY options in the login client now save the servername the character belongs to (instead of the word Camelot).
– The number of tombstones in dungeons has been drastically reduced (we had a bug that wasn’t properly clearing them). No longer will some dungeons look like a forest of tombstones…
– Monsters should no longer float like balloons under certain network conditions.
– Product timer window added with a timer bar for craftsmen. This should make it much easier to figure out when you are going to be done creating your object.
– Changes to Infiltrator, Shadowblade, and Nightshade (the “Thief” classes). See “Thief” section below for more information.
– The Berserker Fury skill has been changed. See the “Berserker Fury” section below for more information.
– When an incoming arrow is “bladeturned” or if it misses a spellcasting player, it will no longer interrupt that player’s spellcast.
– When a targeted spell is resisted or a bolt spell misses, it will no longer interrupt a spellcast or bowshot.
– The /Cancelappeal command has been added to the game. If you wish to cancel an appeal that you have entered, just issue the /Cancelappeal command, and your appeal will be removed from the queue.
– Warden and Runemaster Bladeturn spells now work properly – i.e. they “go away” after the first attack is turned. An unintended bug made Wardens and Runemasters who cast their bladeturn spells invulnerable – this fixes that problem.
– There was a bug where players being powerleved by a group of higher-level friends were, under certain circumstances, being given more experience than their cap allowed. This bug meant that players could be leveled by groups much faster than we intended. Our policy is still to openly support leveling of friends, but we want to make sure it is happening within reasonable guidelines; hence the change. This change will not effect solo play or standard (i.e. where everyone is within the same level range) grouping at all.
– The group information window should – finally – update properly, with the right information and display that info quicker.
– Fixed a bug where shields in poor condition did not block correctly. This has been fixed; you should now see a higher number of blocks.
MAGIC SYSTEM CHANGES
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A bug was introduced in last week’s patch that allowed all healing spells to be cast at half spell points, meaning Clerics and other healers to cast their spells at much less cost than intended. This bug was actually fixed directly on the live servers on Friday, so today’s note is just an FYI. In the future, we will release patch notes whenever a spell is changed; sadly that did not happen last week. We apologize for the confusion.
THIEF CHANGES
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We’ve made the following changes to the Thief classes (i.e. Nightshade, Shadowblade, Infiltrator):
– Thieves have had their Evade skill substantially enhanced. They now receive Evade II at 5th level, Evade III at 10th level, and then the next level of evade every 10 levels after that (20th, 30th, 40th, and 50th). A new level of Evade, VII has been added, which Thieves will receive at level 50.
– Backstab Critical Strikes now will almost never miss, if fighting a target monster (green, blue, yellow), and will have a much higher chance of hitting a higher level mosnter than they previously did.
BERSERKER FURY CHANGES
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Berserker Fury now does not take Endurance Points to use. It can be used once every 10 minutes. When turned on, you Critical with every shot, but lose all defensive skills (i.e. Parry, Block, Evade). You will deal out lots of damage, but will take lots as well. It lasts 20 seconds.
PROTECTING AGAINST ARCHERS
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We’ve heard of a lot of confusion and dismay about the relative power of archer classes in PvP, especially against Mages. For those who aren’t aware, “Bladeturn” spells (which Theurgists, Wardens, and Runemasters receive) work against arrows (as well as any other type of non-magical attack as well). Bladeturn spells nullify an attack – and can be cast on any player. It would behoove a group going into PvP to have bladeturn protection spells on all their spellcasters.
OBJECT NOTES
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– The level 20 Nightshade epic reward (the cloak) had its level incorrectly set to a much higher level than intended. This resulted in the cape having higher bonuses than a player that level should have. Now, Nightshades completing this quest will receive a cloak with more appropriate bonuses.
– Crawlers in the Vendo Cavern should now drop snake loot instead of lizard loot.
– The Runewood focus staff of Void now has its Void spec level higher than its Mana spec level.
– The Grizzly Skin Cloak from Midgard is now able to be equipped.
– The Kobold Ring in Midgard should now have a ring icon.
– The Woven Elemental boots should now be Armor Factor 63 (cloth type armor).
– The Chitin Ring had the additional Quickness stat changed to Piety.
– The Ornate Studded Vest can now be dyed.
– Mantle of Forgotten Prowess now has Dex/Emp instead of Dex/Piety.
– The Fire Threaded Cloak can be dyed now.
WORLD NOTES
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Albion
Quest – Legend of the Lake FIX
If the 15th level portion of this quest was performed by individuals over 20th level, then you did not receive your quest item and EXP. You can now return and right-click on Lady Nimue to receive the missed item and EXP. Missed items included: (Armsman-Sleeves of the Stoic, Scout-Gauntlets of Archery, Theurgist-Necklace of Elemental Influence, Friar-Soft Leather Traveler’s Leggings)
Quest – Hands of fate
The Shade of Ambrosius Aurelianus was not properly spawning as players approached. The shade should now respond to players as intended.
Quest – Rebellion Accepted – Albion
The Arawnite Assassin within Snowdonia Keep was spawning and running directly to kill Sir Rhodri with no regards to player on quest. The assassin should now function as intended. Be prepared for a fight!
Hibernia
– A level 27 Hibernian quest has been added. See your local Filidh for more details.
– The level 9 Hibernian quest Clik’s Raids is now open only to Blademasters and Heroes, the only two classes that can use the reward.
Midgard
Quest – Hole of the Dead
Viking type classes were receiving a Dwarven Glima from Frimeth in Vasudheim which had no bonuses. He should now pass out the proper reward. For players who have completed this quest and received the object titled “Dwarven Glima”, please return it to Frimeth in Vasudheim. He will swap it for the proper ring “Dwarven Glima Ring”.
Misc Quest Items
Realm medallion stores – The medallion stores within the off-realm portal forts work properly now. They should only sell you a medallion to return to your home realm.
A NOTE ON SHIELD USE
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If you are a shield user, you have always been able to block arrows with your shield; however, we never properly documented how to do this. Here’s the scoop:
To use a shield to block arrows:
a) Enter combat mode
b) Face in the direction of the archer
c) To dramatically increase you block chances, use the Engage skill, if you have it.
The base chance to block a same-level archer is 30%, if your shield specialization is maxed for your level this can reach 60%. Quality and condition act as modifiers to this chance, if your skill-based chance was 50%, your Shield had a quality of 90% and a condition of 88%, then your actual chance to block would be 40%.
Using the Engage skill gives a base 95% chance to block arrows fired by your target. How many archers you can block attacks from is determined by the size of the shield, the same as Melee targets. You can Engage one archer and still get normal blocking chances against other archers you are facing, if you have a Medium or Large shield. Essentially, Engage works exactly the same against arrows as it does against melee attacks.
