Event Notes

Harvest Quest

• The realms are humming with anticipation for their upcoming feasts and local festivals!
  • Help the realms' Festival Steward recover a lost shipment of food!
    • The repeatable RvR quests '[Harvest] Lost Turkey' is now available at each realm's strength relic town at the Festival Steward NPC!
      • Earn bounty points for your efforts!
• The Harvest Event will run until Tuesday, December 1st, 2020.

Farmer's Market Festival

• The Farmer's Market Festival makes its return to the following locations:
  • Albion: Ludlow
  • Midgard: Vasudheim
  • Hibernia: Ardee
• Visit the Festival Matron and go bobbing for apples to earn some house trophies!
• Let Captain Mack in Albion, Captain Marks in Midgard, or Captain Geddes in Hibernia regale you with their tales of a shark THIS big on the high seas and see if you can avenge their crews to earn the Sharkblood Bracer!
• The Farmer's Market Festival will run until Tuesday, December 1st, 2020.

Mithril Shop Update

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

• Make your character sizzle with the Wings of Flame!
• And turn heads with the scorching new vanity pet, Moz!

RvR Bonuses

• On Ywain:
  • 25% bonus to RPs from kills
  • 50% bonus to normal XP gain in all classic and shrouded isle zones and dungeons.
• On Gaheris:
  • 50% bonus to normal XP gain in all classic and shrouded isle zones and dungeons.
  • 50% bonus to normal RP gain in the capital cities.
• In each Capital City:
  • 40% Bonus to Crafting Speed
  • 20% Bonus to Crafting Skill Gain

Thanks, as always, to everyone for your questions! You can submit any questions relating to current development plans, to request clarification on basic game mechanic questions, or questions on community issues through the Grab Bag Submission form. For any other feedback or suggestions please use our feedback form.

Continue on to the questions! 

Yes, all pets benefit from the Leadership ability. The effect is hard to notice but in general the “floor” of their damage variance should be a bit higher when they have the Leadership buff than not.

The Enchanter’s pet needs to be in visible range of the Enchanter, which is around 4,000 units typically. This can also be gauged by the pet’s health bar displaying on the pet window.

Snare, DoT, and Mezz poisons are not affected by duration bonuses at all. However the other Envenom abilities like the melee damage% debuff and weaponskill/constitution debuff are affected by +duration gear.

No, since Ameliorating Melodies is a Realm Ability, it does not receive a specialization bonus. Further, like all other heal-over-time (HoTs), it also does not benefit from the +25% to healing stat bonus.

We are currently taking a look at realm point incentives for all playstyles to try and create a more competitive atmosphere in-game where players are highly rewarded for fighting equal or greater numbers and less rewarded otherwise. We also are aiming to better encourage players who fight against the odds to continue to do so even if the odds remain stacked against them!

Thanks, as always, to everyone for your questions! You can submit any questions relating to current development plans, to request clarification on basic game mechanic questions, or questions on community issues through the Grab Bag Submission form. For any other feedback or suggestions please use our feedback form.

Onwards to the questions! 

Odd question but im getting diff stories...the towers/keeps in the bg's...do they count toward DF ownership?

No, only keeps and towers in the Frontier count towards Darkness Falls ownership.

Bonedancer set gear, what does it actually do now?  My Suppressive Buffer delves for 19% ABS, the set gear says it goes from 10% to 17% with the gear.  Does this 7% buff translate over to the new ABS buff or is it effectively broken right now?  Thanks.

After double-checking our previous changes and patch notes, this looks like an oversight. The level 41 version of the Suppressive Buffer baseline ability should still be 10% not 19%. The level 30 version of the spell is 5% and all other similar absorption buffs on other classes remain set to 5% and 10%. This fix is now live and the set’s effect should once again increase it from 10% to 17%.

Do different mezzes from different levels or classes have different immunities? Can you get mezzed by one type/class and then mezzed by another type of mez seconds later?

All mesmerization effects are identical. If you are immune to one type of mez, you are immune to all of them.

Hi, I would like to know exactly how say "Mythical Physical Defense 2" work.
Is it
(2% Crush + 2% Slash + 2% Thrust)
or
(2% Crush + 2% Slash + 2% Thrust + 2% Crush cap increase + 2% Slash cap increase  + 2% Thrust cap increase)?

Mythical Physical Defense grants the resists and resist cap. Please note that the character attribute page does not correctly show the resist cap increase but the extra resists do correctly affect damage dealt to the character.

Since Endless Conquest was released, the EC FAQ was produced but doesn't mention scripting or multiboxing. The last Producers Letter concerning scripting/multiboxing was https://darkageofcamelot.com/article/producers-letter-all-about-cheating in 2016. Can we get an update that specifically clarifies the Broadsword policy on scripting/multiboxing with Endless Conquest accounts? Thanks

As mentioned in the Producer’s letter, free accounts (previously referred to as ‘trial’) are not permitted to run “macro-groups” anywhere, including PvE zones. Everything else remains the same as stated in that Producer's Letter.

Why is the Thane axe and sword weaponskill lower then hammer skill is?

Thanes follow in the footsteps of the god of lightning, Thor, whose favored weapon is a hammer. It’s also why a Thane’s iconic area-of-effect damage spell heavily features hammers!

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Update: Maintenance complete! The Account Center is now available.

Update: In-game Mithril transactions are once again online. Account Center maintenance remains underway.

The Ywain server is back online after experiencing some hosting issues this morning.


The Account Center will be down for maintenance today from 10 AM EST / 3 PM GMT for an estimated 6 hours.

During this downtime the Account Center and its related services as well as in-game Mithril purchases will be unavailable.

• Realm Point, experience, and crafting bonuses are now live!
• Bounty points are yours if you can once more assist the surly Festival Steward and the friendly Cargomaster!
• Celebrate Midwinter in style with our new cosmetic offerings!
• The Frozen Medal of Honor and Frozen Cloaks of Midwinter are once again available!
• Battleground Presents are there to be gathered and are now uncapped!
• The Frozen Cavern instance makes its return!
• The Traveling Merchants have set out their wares!
• The Twelve Days of Midwinter gifts are being wrapped!
• Enjoy a stroll through housing to see the wreath and candle-adorned doors and windows backlighting the lovely decorations and layouts of your fellow realm-mates!

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

The Midwinter celebrations will start today and run until January 12th, 2021.
The 12 days of Midwinter event will begin on Monday, December 21st!

Read on for more details!

Realm Bonuses

• 50% bonus to RP gain from RvR kills
  • This bonus applies to all RvR zones, including battlegrounds.
• 50% bonus to normal XP gain in all classic and shrouded isles zones and dungeons

• 50% bonus to normal XP gain in all classic and shrouded isles zones and dungeons
• 50% bonus to normal RP gain in the capital cities

• 40% Bonus to Crafting Speed
• 20% Bonus to Crafting Skill Gain

• 20% Bonus to Crafting Speed
• 10% Bonus to Crafting Skill Gain
   

Mithril Shop Update

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
 

Our Event Shop is back for the season with cool items!
 

• Get into the spirit of the season with our Yule Hat!
• Check out Merlof, your new frosty waddling friend!
• Complete the Roaming with Friends quest for a feathery surprise!

Note: these items are seasonal and will no longer be purchasable once the Midwinter event ends (but will still be usable if you have them!)


Midwinter Festival Event

The days grow short, a chill is in the air, and warm fires glow in our homes. The Midwinter Festival has come once again to the Realms! Visit the festival grounds to take part in the festivities and challenges.

• Level 50 characters can complete the following quest for the duration of the event:
  • Visit your realm's Cargomaster at the Caer Benowyc, Bledmeer Faste, or Dun Crauchon docks to obtain the repeatable '[Midwinter] Roll On' quest!
• New vanity pets and a stylish new Yuletide hat are now available in the Event Shop in each realm's capital city!
  • Celebrate Midwinter in style with the Yuletide hat!
  • Melt your heart with Merlof's goofy gait!
  • Nothing can beat a trusty owl to guide you and none's wiser than Athena!
    • Players who complete the [Daily] Roaming with Friends quest just once from now until the end of Midwinter Festival will earn this wise companion for free!

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
 

• Olibar's Gift Retrieval quests can now be done an unlimited amount of times!

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

• Venture to the Frozen Cavern and test yourself against the chill... and its cunning inhabitant: Jack Frost!
• Visit Njord in the following locations to enter the instance of your choice:
  • Albion: near Merlin's Tower in Camelot
  • Midgard: near the Burial Grounds in Jordheim
  • Hibernia: near the Chamber of Magic in Tir na Nog
• Two modes exist for this instance: Normal and Challenging
  • The Normal mode has a chance to drop 1 of the following rewards:
    • Frozen chestpieces
    • Frozen and other mythirians
    • Infernal sleeves
    • Darkness Falls jewelry
    • Supremacy, celerity, or omni-regen potions
  • The Challenging mode has a chance to drop 1 of the following rewards:
    • Frozen weapons
    • Frozen chestpieces
    • Frozen mythirians only
    • Darkness Falls jewelry
    • Supremacy, celerity, or omni-regen potions
    • In addition to having a chance at the weapons, the chance at the mythirians and darkness falls jewelry is much higher. The chest piece chance is the same in both modes.
• Loot no longer drops directly from Jack Frost, instead a loot chest is spawned when he is defeated.
  • Players can interact with the chest and receive 1 guaranteed reward per day but can still participate in the instance as many times as desired.
  • This chest will despawn after 20 seconds, so be sure to grab your loot quickly!

Traveling Merchants

 

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Players can find the merchants at the below locations. Happy Shopping!

In Albion: Just outside of gates of Castle Sauvage in Camelot Hills
In Midgard: Just outside of Svasud Faste in the Vale of Mularn
In Hibernia: Just outside of Druim Ligen in Connacht

Twelve Days of Midwinter

 

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
On the first day of Midwinter, Broadsword gave to me...
 

• Login to the game and visit the following NPCs to receive a special reward each day!
  • Albion: Santa Nicholas in Castle Sauvage
  • Midgard: Kris Kringle in Svasud Faste
  • Hibernia: Daidi na Nollag in Druim Ligen
• Speak with the above NPCs to reveal your reward for each day.
  • Each day's reward will be revealed around 5:30 AM EST / 10:30 AM GMT and last the remainder of that day.
  • If you miss a day, you will be able to catch up and receive the missed rewards by visiting the NPC on subsequent days.
    • This means if you simply login on the twelfth day, you'll receive all 12 rewards!
      • Make sure you have room in your inventory!
• These rewards are limited to level 50, Veteran (subscribed) account characters and can only be obtained once per character.
• This event will run from Monday, December 21st, 2020 for the next twelve days, with the last day being January 1st, 2021!

Relic Guard Dynamic Scaling
 

• Based on feedback and in an effort to make keeps and a small number of relics easier to defend for outnumbered populations as well as to reduce the difficulty of attacking realms that hold 5+ relics, all Elite Relic guards, relic temple guards, and the normal but high-purple con "Elder" guards will now scale their difficulty up and down depending on how many relics a realm holds.
  • Realms only holding 0-1 relics will see the highest difficulty guards defending their realms keeps and relic temples.
  • Realms with 2 relics will see little to no change from current guard difficulties.
  • Realms holding 3 or 4 relics will have slightly less powerful but still red-purple guards defending their keeps and relic temples.
  • Realms holding 5 or more relics will have significantly less powerful, orange-red guards defending their keeps and relic temples.
• Currently the number of guards spawned will not change but this is another lever we can investigate if the above changes do not go far enough in addressing these concerns.

Climbing-Spikes adjustment

• Based on feedback and in an effort to allow other class archetypes room to shine in keep sieges, the following changes have been made to heavy tank climbing spikes:
  • Hero, Warrior, and Armsmans' climbing spikes ability has had its cooldown increased from 60 seconds to 3 minutes.
    • Additionally, a new debuff lasting 45 seconds is fired when climbing-spikes is initiated that increases damage the Hero, Warrior, or Armsman takes by 15% from all sources.

Protection Obelisk and Keep Upgrade System

• A new system's first pass has been implemented that will enable players to upgrade specific aspects of a specific keep to better tailor its defense as well as to get more use out of keeps their realm owns.
• Each feature will be added individually so that game and siege balance can be observed with these new dynamics one at a time.
• Keep Upgrades will be purchasable at the new Master Stone Mason NPC to the left of the staircase in each realm's inner keep.
  • Please note that this feature is only available in New Frontier keeps and is not available in any tower or Knoc Meayll's keep.
• The first keep upgrade available is a Protection Obelisk that can be purchased for bounty points.
  • This obelisk spawns to the right of the staircase on the main floor of the inner keep. 
  • When the Protection Obelisk is spawned, keep defenders can right-click their keep lord to receive a significant damage reduction buff so long as they stay in the inner keep's lord room or roof area.
    • Leaving those areas will result in the buff being removed though players can simply revisit their lord to get the buff again.
    • Like relic guards, the effectiveness of this buff will scale based on the number of relics your realm owns.
      • Realms with 5+ relics cannot obtain this buff.
      • Realms with 3-4 relics receive a 25% damage reduction buff when staying within the lord room or keep roof areas.
      • Realms with 2 relics receive a 50% damage reduction buff when staying within the lord room or keep roof areas.
      • Realms with 0-1 relics receive a 75% damage reduction buff when staying within the lord room or keep roof areas.
  • The aim of this upgrade is to improve the ability for defenders stuck inside the inner keep to take more risks and be less fearful of attacks by attackers in the courtyard.
  • Additionally, we hope to see more dynamic battles in and around the 1st floor of the inner keep as enemy realms will want to destroy the Protection Obelisk before advancing into the lord room and facing significant damage reduction buffs on their enemies while defenders will want to maintain this advantage.
• We very much look forward to observing how this first upgrade fares and what new tactics we may see out in the Frontiers!
  • There are several other additional keep upgrades being discussed as well as more ways to redeem the upgrades - by completing myriad gathering quests around the frontier - so stay tuned!

Relic and Keep Reset

• All of the above notes are now live but in order to facilitate these new changes and dynamics all keeps and relics will be reverted to their default state at 11 AM EST / 4 PM GMT tomorrow, December 18th.

• 30 Charge 50% RP Bonus Potion
• Max Character Boost
• Name Respec
• 3 Month Game Timecode
• Race Respec

Thanks, as always, to everyone for your questions! You can submit any questions relating to current development plans, to request clarification on basic game mechanic questions, or questions on community issues through the Grab Bag Submission form. For any other feedback or suggestions please use our feedback form.

Continue on to the questions! 

Certainly and we’ve loved seeing the feedback roll in on it so far, please keep it coming!

First, the vision and goal of the Protection Obelisk is primarily to protect the inner keep’s roof and oil levels during a siege, prior to the inner keep doors going down. When the obelisk is up, it will be much harder for attackers to lock down those areas and prevent defenders from taking the fight to the courtyard (or at least, attacking the attackers in the courtyard).

Second, we realize that the obelisk’s placement means that once the inner door goes down, the keep’s lord room and roof areas are not likely to be protected for long. This is intended in part because the lord room having such a huge benefit for the actual lord room defense would swing the balance heavily in favor of defending realms. Additionally, we hope to see more focus around the first floor of the keep and surrounding balconies as attackers push inside and focus on the obelisk.

Last, future keep upgrades will look at other “problem” areas in keep sieges to make them more dynamic and strategic. Perhaps one or more of those will focus specifically on the lord room once the inner door is down!

Weapon condition does not affect healing.

Defenders earn 2x contribution rewards over attackers, but only when successfully defending a keep. During keep captures, both attackers and defenders earn the same amount of rewards.

There is a cap on the rewards, but the cap only applies to the base amount of RPs earned, with bonuses allowing the cap to be exceeded. The cap is determined by how much realm points a character is worth. A character worth 4,000 realm points (when killed) has a base contribution reward cap of 40,000 realm points. If the character has 50% realm point bonus active, they could earn up to 60,000 total realm points.

For a full refresher and explanation on the system, please see below:


From the 1.121 Patch Notes:

• Bonus RPs will now be earned every time a player (or their group) earns RPs (through kills/rezzes only) within a keep or tower’s region that is currently under siege.
  • A keep or tower’s region is defined by the “you enter/leave <outpost name>” messages.
  • A keep or tower becomes under siege when it has the “flame” icon on the /realmwar map. Bonus RPs will not be earned until the keep goes under siege.
  • The bonus RPs will take into account kills made by the player’s group and will be placed into an individual contribution pool for that player as follows:
    • 50% of RPs earned through kills/rezzes at a keep will be added to a player’s individual contribution pool
    • 20% of RPs earned through kills/rezzes at a tower will be added to a player’s individual contribution pool
  • For example:
    • If Player A earns 1,000 RPs over the course of a keep siege (through kills/rezzes only) they will receive 500 RPs when that keep is taken or successfully defended.
    • If Player B earned 10,000 RPs over the course of the same keep siege, they will earn 5,000 RPs.
    • If Player C arrives just as the keep is taken or defended and earned 0 RPs within the keep’s immediate region prior to that, they will receive no bonus RPs.
    • If Player D earns 1,000 RPs over the course of a tower siege, they will receive 200 bonus RPs when that tower is taken or successfully defended.
  • So long as players are within 8,000 in–game units of the outpost when it is taken or defended, they will be rewarded.
    • Again, contribution is only earned within the immediate outpost region but awarded as long as the player is still within 8000 in–game units.
    • Players that leave the 8,000 in–game unit radius will have their contribution totals saved for 10 minutes before their accumulated bonus RPs are lost.
  • Players will be capped at earning 10x their individual character’s realm–point value.
    • This means a player worth 2000 RPs for a solo kill will be able to earn up to 20,000 RPs from this new reward system. In other words, if that player is able to earn more than 40,000 RPs at a keep siege, they will only get 20,000 bonus RPs instead of 50% of the amount over 40,000.
      • RP bonus items, spells, and zone/region bonuses will allow players to achieve values over this cap.
    • Ruined keeps and towers will not be part of this new reward system.
      • Ruined outposts will no longer grant any bonus RPs when taken or defended.

From the 1.124 Patch Notes:

• The keep contribution bonus multiplier has been doubled for defenders only. Attacking forces will still receive the normal reward.
  • Please note that this doubled version of the contribution bonus will only apply on successful keep defenses and not on keep captures. Both attackers and defenders will get normal realm points when a keep is captured still. This is something that we’ll be monitoring and adjusting down the road, if necessary.

No, no absorption spells benefit from buff bonus. Only stat-based buffs like Armor Factor, Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, etc. benefit from them.

The Crocodile Tear Ring’s Radiant Aura level 10 ability only works for Bards, Minstrels, and Skalds. List casters do not receive the benefit of the level 10 ability and so Theurgist or Sorcerer chants are group-only just like a Healer’s or Runemaster’s. No realm has access to area-of-effect pulsing bladeturn.

Don't forget to get your feathery friend, snowman, and yule hat! :)

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Enjoy the holidays and see you in the frontier! 
 

• Every subscribed account will now receive this bonus mithril currency automatically every month their subscription is applied or renews!
  • 1 month subscription package: 100 bonus mithril
  • 3 month subscription packages: 125 bonus mithril each month
  • 6+ month subscription packages: 150 bonus mithril each month
  • Bonus mithril will be automatically deposited 72 hours after a subscription is initialized or renewed.
• Any accounts that were currently subscribed on December 18th will receive their bonus mithril for this current month and will receive it going forward on that subscription's renewal!
  • For example, a 3-month account subscription that was initiated on December 1st, 2020 will receive their 125 mithril bonus for the first month now, then will get their second month's 125 bonus mithril on January 3rd 2021 (72 hours after their renewal date) and their third month's 125 bonus mithril on February 3rd 2021.

We've retroactively corrected an issue preventing the new monthly mithril bonus from applying to certain subscribed accounts.

Any accounts that qualified for the bonus mithril (were actively subscribed on December 18th, 2020) and did not previously receive it should now see it in-game and will be properly rewarded going forward.

Please note that most subscribed accounts were already properly rewarded for this bonus mithril and will see no change in their mithril balances.

Thanks, as always, to everyone for your questions! You can submit any questions relating to current development plans, to request clarification on basic game mechanic questions, or questions on community issues through the Grab Bag Submission form. For any other feedback or suggestions please use our feedback form.

Now, onto the first questions of 2021. Read on!

No, Necromancers do not have an innate ability to parry unless they use the Chthonic form. This means all parry bonuses, other than the Chthonic form’s own 15% parry buff, will fail to affect a Necromancer.

From the August 30th, 2019 grab bag:

An “ABS debuff” is short for “absorption% debuff” and targets an armor’s absorption%. Each armor type has a different absorption% with Cloth having 0%, Leather 10% , Studded/Reinforced 19%, Chain/Scale 27%, and Plate having 34%. Some classes, like list-casters, also have absorption% buffs they can use.

ABS debuffs remove either a flat amount of a character’s current absorption% or are a percentage decrease, depending on the way the delve shows on the debuff.

For instance a delve that says “Reduces the targets absorption (ABS) by 15%” means that the ABS debuff will remove a flat value of 15 from a 34% plate armor absorption, making the armor wearer have 19% (34 – 15 = 19) effective absorption for the debuff’s duration.

Conversely, a delve that states “Reduces the targets absorption (ABS) by -15%” (note the -negative symbol) will reduce a 34% plate armor absorption by 15%, making the armor wearer have ~29% effective absorption (34 * (1 – .15)) = ~29).

Generally, these differences in how ABS debuffs work is balanced by the duration of the debuff, with the weaker percentage decrease ABS debuffs lasting much longer than the flat-value ABS debuffs.

From the Guild Banner guide:
If the carrier of the guild banner is killed, the banner will drop to the ground, at which point the banner is up for grabs by the carrier's own group or the enemy group that killed the carrier. Any member of the enemy group that killed the original carrier may pick up the banner after it has been on the ground for 30 seconds. If the enemy group captures the guild banner, the guild whose banner was captured will not be able to buy another banner for 24 hours.

Kill credit is determined by deathblow, so only the group (or player) that dealt the deathblow on the banner carrier has credit to pick it up.

Yes amnesia will cancel a cast of a realm ability if it is timed correctly.

The Shaman “friggs” and all health regen spells function similarly where the listed heal amount is added to each “tick” of your character’s natural health regeneration.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Thanks, as always, to everyone for your questions! You can submit any questions relating to current development plans, to request clarification on basic game mechanic questions, or questions on community issues through the Grab Bag Submission form. For any other feedback or suggestions please use our feedback form.

Read on for the questions! 

Overall there is no hard-set rule for ability type overrides, though it is true that we do tend to reward most realm abilities over other ability types. In these two cases however we think it is more balanced for it to work the way that it currently does.

Bolt miss-rates are calculated more similarly to other standard spell resist rates than they are melee swings.

One major difference is that bolts cannot be resisted like other spells can, they can only miss or be blocked.

The block rate of bolts is determined similarly to block-rates of archery shots where the block-rate of the target will determine how often a bolt is blocked, so long as the target is facing the bolting caster.

For misses, there are two distinct types of misses. The first type of miss is a standard miss where the bolt caster will receive the “You missed!” messaging in their combat log. The second type of miss is a hard-coded miss to prevent multiple simultaneous melee attacks or bolts from hitting the target at once. The chance for the second type of miss is 100% but only occurs when other bolts or melee attacks against the target land simultaneously.

For the first type of miss (a standard miss) the level of the bolt spell being cast and the level of the target are the two factors that determine its miss-rate, similar to how resist rates work for normal spells. This works out to a base miss rate of 10% for bolts that can be further reduced or increased based on the difference in bolt spell level and the target’s level. Players can further lower their base resist rates in RvR by using the Resist Pierce item bonus. For bolts, each bolt spell already has an inherent +20% chance to hit that applies after the initial miss rate from spell and target levels is determined.

After all of the calculations, against a level 50 target, a level 8 bolt spell will have 17-19% standard miss rate while a level 38 bolt will miss around 6-8% of the time and a level 46 bolt will miss at a 2-4% rate.

Double, Triple, and Quad hits for Savage’s Hand to Hand are only affected by the Savage’s Hand to Hand’s specialization level (including any amounts over 50 specialization). Rates for each will increase slightly as specialization increases. No other stats or bonuses will affect these rates.

For an idea on these rates from a previous Grab Bag:
The rates at 50+16 H2H specialization are as follows:
Triple: 16%
Quad: 5.75%

The rates at 44+16 H2H specialization are as follows:
Triple: 14%
Quad: 4.75%

For the +Parry and +Evade bonuses from Hand to Hand styles, these do not give the player a buff icon but are instead ‘hidden’ bonuses that are only valid for the next combat round of whoever is attacking the Savage at the time. These style bonuses do stack with all other Parry/Evade buffs but do not exceed the Parry/Evade caps.

The item bonus requirement “vs Humanoid” only refers to monsters of the Humanoid type. The requirement listed would need to be blank, say “vs All”, or specifically say “vs Players” in the delve for it to work against players.

There are several TOA-era item bonuses that are limited to only work versus specific monster types by default unless otherwise specified: Spell/Archery/Melee/Style Damage, Spell/Archery range, and Spell Resist Piercing. All other TOA-based item bonuses work on and versus players by default.

The order of resolution in combat is Evade, Parry, Block, Guard, Miss, and Bladeturn.

To be clear, the chance to hit only refers to a character’s chance not to miss a melee attack. Evade, Parry, and Block/Guard calculations are entirely separate from the following answer and those mechanics have been outlined in several previous Grab Bag responses.

Weaponskill (or any character stat) has no bearing on the chance to hit or be missed.

The first determining factor of hit-rate (or miss-rate) is the ‘enchantment bonus’ value of the weapon(s) being used and that of the armor being hit. Dropped weapons and armor all have standard enchantment bonuses set but crafted weapons and armors must be enchanted by your friendly Alchemist or Enchantment NPC to receive these bonuses. This also means that a lower level weapon (with a lower maximum enchantment bonus) targeting higher level armor will miss more.

Assuming that both the weapon(s) and armor are properly enchanted, the base to-hit rate is 87% (or 13% miss rate). What can affect this further is a given style’s +to hit bonus/penalty as well as any +accuracy buff/debuff on the character. It can be quite common to have a 100% hit-rate when using +to-hit styles and accuracy buffs.

The number of attackers does affect to-hit rates against monsters (including pets) but not against enemy players. The number of attackers only really enters into block calculations for enemy player targets.

Positional attacks with or without melee styles do not inherently increase to-hit chance, though many positional styles do have +to-hit bonuses and those obviously would. And while separate from to-hit or miss rates, positional attacks are of course greatly affected by Evade, Parry, and Block chances since non-Advanced Evade, Parry and Guard all rely on attackers being in the frontal arc of the defending character.

Lots to digest there! :)

Thanks everyone, and enjoy the weekend! 
 

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
 

Valentine's Day Event 

• A Matter of the Heart: This quest will give players of all realms the chance find the imp, Russel, located mainland side of Castle Sauvage/Druim Ligen/Svasud Faste. He's ready to offer some interesting tasks from the local imp's union in return for a Lawn Cupid trophy, experience and coin. Don't forget to speak to Lady Payne and earn your ROG Valentine's Ring or Bracer too!
  • ​Whitman will only continue to drop his One-Time-Drop Valentine's Day Present reward to characters who have not completed the quest: [OTD] Valentine's Day Present.
• Keeping Company: This quest will be offered to characters level 45 and above and will have a unique challenge for players in Albion, Midgard and Hibernia.  As a reward, players will receive a Tiny Compatriot Crate, experience and coin. Visit Lailen in Jordheim, Pondar Cully in Camelot, and Harris MacCullogh in Tir na Nog to start the quest.
• Valentine's Traditions: These quests will offer three old style quests which were part of the original Dark Age of Camelot Valentine's Day content. Players will be able to complete the quest up to eight times, which is based on the number of times the original quest has been issued online.  Players will be rewarded with a Hearts Cloak, Heart-Shaped Box, experience and coin. Visit  Rumdor in Mag Mell, Hrolf in Mularn, or Sir Prescott in Camelot Hills to start the quest.

RvR Bonuses

• On Ywain:
  • 25% bonus to RPs from kills
  • 50% bonus to normal XP gain in all classic and shrouded isle zones and dungeons.
• On Gaheris:
  • 50% bonus to normal XP gain in all classic and shrouded isle zones and dungeons.
  • 50% bonus to normal RP gain in the capital cities.
• In each Capital City:
  • 40% Bonus to Crafting Speed
  • 20% Bonus to Crafting Skill Gain
• In all Housing Zones:
  • 20% Bonus to Crafting Speed
  • 10% Bonus to Crafting Skill Gain

Thanks, as always, to everyone for your questions! You can submit any questions relating to current development plans, to request clarification on basic game mechanic questions, or questions on community issues through the Grab Bag Submission form. For any other feedback or suggestions please use our feedback form.

Onto the wall of text!

For chances to parry/evade/block, is it rolled against weaponskill? Does sequence of attack reduce this chance ? (I.E. the same attacker swing twice in a round, the second attack can be blocked/parried/evaded ? With the same chances as the first?)

Chances to evade, parry, block, miss, or fumble are calculated by a myriad of different factors including class, specialization, character stats, styles used, and much more. Weaponskill is a derived stat that shows a rough estimate of your character’s effectiveness. It can be used to roughly gauge your chance to land attacks or defend against them but weaponskill is not directly used anywhere in the combat code.

For multiple attacks in the same round (such as by a dual wielder), each weapon’s swing is counted like another attacker. A dual wielder that has both attacks blocked would count as 2 attackers in that defender’s combat round.

As for multiple attackers, this was recently answered in our October 2020 Grab Bag: 

For example, if 5 attackers are swinging in the frontal arc of a target wielding a large shield, each attacker will calculate through those combat checks separately at the time of their melee swing. 3 of the 5 attackers will have a chance to be blocked while 2 of the 5 will never be blocked. Which 3 attackers are blocked and which 2 are not is not always the same, but if a target wielding a large shield blocks 3 attackers in the same combat round (defined by the defender’s swing speed), subsequent attackers will not be blocked in that same combat round.

Regarding Combat style bonuses…

My understanding is that there are 4 tiers of modifier (none/low/medium/high)worth (0/5/10/15) % respectively for damage/to hit/defense.

Do these bonuses stay online until another combat style is selected (I.E. you "style", and keep the bonus for any number of unstyled normal attacks that follows) or are they tied to that styled attack only?

In the second case (which I think is more likely, just dismissing doubts), do "defense bonues/penalties" persists until the next attack of the defender or only apply to the next attack? Or to put it differently : does an attack "consume" that bonus or would multiple opponent be suffering that defense bonus until the next swing of the defender?

The bonuses from styles are only valid for the next combat round of the character that performed the style. This includes defensive based bonuses.

Style bonuses are given on a combat-round basis not an attack or melee swing-basis. Combat round durations are determined by a character’s swing speed (which is based on several factors like the quickness stat, haste stats and buffs, celerity, and the weapon’s speed) but combat rounds still count down if a character swings and then sheathes their weapon. This is why characters can’t sheathe and re-style immediately, they must still wait until their next combat round is ready before they can swing again.

For example, if a character performs a style that gives them +15% defensive bonus chance and their bonuses + equipped weapons result in a swing speed of 1.5 seconds, that defensive bonus will only last the 1.5 seconds of that character’s combat round, even if they never swing again.

Additionally, that bonus will apply against multiple attackers for that full combat round (1.5 seconds in this example).

How do magic resist and armor factor debuffs affect bolts?
 

Bolts are treated in a lot of ways like melee attacks that deal a magic damage type (similar to legendary weapon melee attacks). This is why bolts hit for less against higher armor factor (AF) and absorb% (ABS) targets, just like melee attacks do, and why bolts can miss or be blocked.

However, there is one crucial difference with bolts versus melee attacks: magic resists are half as effective against bolt damage.

For example, a target with 50% magic resists to the bolt’s damage type would see damage like 751 (-251). 751+251 = 1,002. 1,002/251 = 25% effective magic resist (or 50%/2). The same target would still have 50% magic resists against a normal direct damage spell. The previous example assumes no spell piercing bonus on the bolt caster.

Spell piercing’s effectiveness is also halved when bolting. With 10% spell piercing against a 50% resistant target, damage would be something like 801(-201) which works out to a 20% resist total (50%/2 = 25% with an additional 5% (10%/2) removed due to spell piercing).

Continuing the example with magic resist debuffs, a 30% magic resist debuff against a 50% resistant target will reduce their resistances to a 20% starting value. A bolt would then be hitting the target as though they have 10% effective resistance. So a bolt that hits for 901 (-100) without spell piercing has 10% effective resistance or 952 (-50) with 10% spell piercing, which removes a further 5% (10%/2) resists has 5% overall effective resistance.

The calculations for damage mitigation of Armor Factor (AF) and Absorb (ABS) are a bit more complex and work almost identically as they do for melee attacks except that there is potentially no damage variance involved with bolts if the bolt caster has 50 composite specialization in their bolt’s line. An explanation on how AF and ABS factor into damage reduction is discussed in our July 2018 grab bag: 

AF debuffs directly subtract the character’s AF, so a 250 delve AF debuff is going to remove 250 *1.25 = 312 AF from the target’s AF total (the 25% delve bonus comes from the AF debuffer’s 50 composite specialization) and the less AF a target has the harder a bolt will hit them.

The amount of AF removed by an AF debuff is not affected by the target’s magic resist to the AF debuff spell. In other words, magic resist debuffs don’t directly increase/compound the effectiveness of an AF debuff.

In conclusion, using both an AF debuff and magic resist debuff will cause a bolt to hit harder than when using none or only 1 of these debuff types!

I've read in a previous grab bag that "dual wield halve the chances to be evaded". So I wonder: Does it halve the chance to be parried? Does two-handed halve the chances to parry? Does something halve the chances to block?

Dual-wielders receive an extra 25% penetration bonus versus evade and block, not a 50% bonus. There is no such penetration bonus versus parry for any weapon type.

Can we get clarification if merc rr5+ banespike stack please? And also clarification on vendo + banespike and trip wield + banespike?

The Mercenary Dissolute Swings (Realm Rank 5) ability and the Blademaster Triple Wield ability do not stack with Banespike because each of these abilities already directly increase the Mercenary’s and Blademaster’s damage.

Berserk (“vendo”) guarantees a Berserkers chance to critically hit on their melee attacks and allows them to critically hit above the 50% critical damage cap, it does *not* increase the berserker’s damage directly. The delve stating that Berserk increases their damage by a % is a bit misleading but it’s taking an average damage increase from all of the additional critical hits that the form grants and is displaying that as an overall damage increase in the delve. We’ll look at adjusting this hard-coded delve to be more clear in the future.

Regardless, because Berserk does not directly increase a Berserker’s damage, it does stack with Banespike.

Phew, that's a lot of info!

Thanks everyone, and enjoy the weekend! :)

What is Catch Up in Caledonia?

When does the event start and end?

How does the event work?

• For the first 3 days of the event, newly created level 1 characters will be automatically zoned into the Caledonia battleground where they will vie for control against the enemy realms!
  • This will be the ONLY way to get inside the battleground zone. Once inside, characters can voluntarily leave but CANNOT return!
  • All monsters, center-keep guards, and siege weapons are removed for the event. The only way to progress is by defeating realm enemies in battle and turning in related quests.
  • Charm-pet classes will be able to create a pet to charm at their realm's portal keep.
• ​After the 3rd day, character starting locations will reset to their default zones and no new characters will be able to join the event. Everyone still inside Caledonia will be able to continue progressing for the remainder of the event's duration.
• Experience, bounty, and realm point bonuses will be granted to both free and subscribed accounts in the battleground to help them progress!
• Earn bounty points for completing quests and defeating enemy realm players and use them to purchase level-appropriate gear as you strive to 50 and then master and champion levels!
• The battleground will use a mix of leveling caps and new instances to maintain populations throughout the event:
  • At Level 5, characters will automatically teleport to a new instance for levels 5-9.
  • At level 10, characters will automatically teleport to a new instance for levels 10+
  • The following level caps will be in place for all characters in Caledonia and will increase by 5 levels every 24 hours:
    • Day 1: Level 15 maximum
    • Day 2: Level 20 
    • Day 3: Level 25 
    • Day 4: Level 30
    • Day 5: Level 35
    • Day 6: Level 40
    • Day 7: Level 45
    • Days 8-10: Level 50
  • Characters that reach a level cap will not be able to earn realm points or experience until the level cap is increased but will still be able to complete quests and earn bounty points towards their gear and other progression goals.

How far will I be able to progress?

For regular grab bags please continue to submit any questions relating to current development plans, to request clarification on basic game mechanic questions, or questions on community issues through the Grab Bag Submission form. For any other feedback or suggestions please use our feedback form.

To the event questions we go!

What pots will be available?

There are endurance regen, endurance heal, water potions, and speed of the hunt gems available on the Bounty Master in Caledonia, among several other goodies!

What about horses/saddles for mount speed?

There are no mounts in the battleground this go around!

What is being done to try to make all 3 realms balanced and prevent portal keep camping?

Caledonia’s zone has been changed slightly for the event.

Players do not start out in their traditional portal keeps and instead are in staging-areas outside of the RvR-enabled area.  In fact, the old portal keeps are completely defenseless now and can be fought over!

Players will one-way teleport (along with their group – think Labyrinth obelisk teleports) to a random location in the RvR-enabled area when they are ready.

This should drastically reduce or wholesale eliminate portal keep-camping and will also make it much more difficult for realms to coalesce as large battlegroups in the zone since there is no guarantee they will port to the same location or even the same side of the zone! To be clear, a grouped player will always teleport along with their nearby group members to the same location, but multiple groups will not teleport together.

Is there a way to quickly find a group?

Yes! Use the /cgf command to flag yourself as looking for a group. Just set your archetype (or several) and click “set” and you’re queued!

Group leaders out there, don’t forget about the /goption (/go for short) command that lets you flag your group as open and able to accept queued players!

What do we do if we’re a pet (charm) class?

Visit the Pet Collector NPC in the staging areas and choose your pet. Charm it quickly as un-charmed pets do not stick around for long!

Can we bind in the zone? How do we get back to the staging areas?

Yes, when you initially zone into the staging area the game will automatically bind your character there. Unlike New Frontiers regions, characters can make use of their Personal Bind Recall stone (and later on, Gateway and Mass Gateway ML abilities) to return to their bind point. Otherwise, your best option may just be a head-long battle charge towards enemy lines – for glory!

Are buffbots allowed?

Yes, buff bots are allowed, but keep in mind that they will need to be levelled too. Please remember that multi-boxing in RvR zones is strictly prohibited. Even just 2 characters that are being actively played with a multi-boxing software or hardware setup qualifies as “multi-boxing”.

What items will be available for purchase and how?

All of the standard battleground bounty point gear is purchasable inside the zone as well as Illustrious gear, doppelganger shards, magic orbs (Random-object-generated gear), and all Bountycraft ingredients that can be used to Bountycraft in the zone!

To obtain the gear players will need to earn bounty points through RvR kills and quest completions and then purchase the gear at the relevant merchants in the staging areas.

In addition to purchasable gear, there is a King’s Emissary who will grant players the ability to train Champion Levels and gift them the free level  King’s Epic gear set, including accessories, as well as the Loyalty Cloak upon reaching level 50!

Will the class Cl15 cloak be available at 50? If so how do you complete the tower quest part?

The Class Loyalty Cloak quests of either Loyalty Rewarded or Loyalty Needed will be given by the King’s Emissary exactly like they are from the King. If the account only qualifies for the Loyalty Needed quest, the character still must complete that tower quest part (after the event is over) to receive the cloak.

Is xp/rp rate increased or same as normal zones?

There is a 200% bonus to experience gain given to Endless Conquest (free) and Veteran (subscribed) characters that are level 10+ in the zone!

In addition, there is a 200% bounty and realm point bonus too!

Will the realm underpop bonus work in Caledonia?

No, the underpopulation system only looks at the New Frontiers region.

Thanks for all the questions and feedback on this event, everyone, wa great to get it all!

Now off to plan my new level 1's :)

See you in Caledonia!

• Characters still in the level 1-4 and level 1-9 areas can now visit their realm's Teleporter NPC to [advance] to the level 10+ battleground and then speak with the Caledonia Event Coordinator to receive level 10 and some bounty points! 
• Day 4 means a current level cap of 30! Don't worry if you're still far behind, with the Caledonia Boost buff, lower levels can still compete!
  • Grouping with any character that has the Caledonia Boost will also grant their entire group (regardless of group member levels) a 400% XP and BP gain bonus!

Thanks to all that have and will continue to participate in the event, we have loved every minute of it and hope you have too!

Feedback on the event has been tremendous and we've already made several tweaks to it. We look forward to going over more feedback as the event continues so that we can make the next iteration even better!

Here are some of the updates to the event in case you missed them in our official discord channel:

• Random teleport locations have been improved to no longer send characters into the keep areas.
• Added a Caledonia Boost buff to level 1 characters and characters that are 7 levels or more below the current level cap.
  • This buff drastically reduces damage received and massively increases damage dealt on these characters so that they can better compete against higher levels.
• Resurrection sickness is removable by the Healer NPC in the level 1-4 and 5-9 areas.
• The buff NPC now offers a free buff token to level 1-2 characters.
• The bounty merchant now has power-heal and power-regen potions for sale.
• The pet collector NPC is now available for charm classes.

St. Patrick's Day Event

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
 

• As part of the quest, players will be shapeshifted into a realm-specific "leprechaun" but have ALL of their stats debuffed by 75%.

• But fear not, leprechauns may be weak but they are also nigh impossible to catch: shapeshifted players will also have an unbreakable CC-immunity and speed buff for the duration of the shapeshift.  

• Oh, and we hear the real leprechauns love hiding their treasure around the "maze" areas of each realm. Enjoy some zany RvR throughout the event!

• The ROG reward is a choice between a ring or a bracer similar to the Valentine's Day event with some slight differences. These ROGs will only allow up to 5 slots for stats but will also have 1 of 6 possible /uses.

• Players that interact with the 'Leprechaun Treasure' at the realms' mazes will now receive a new One-Time Drop (OTD) reward, Patches' Mug.
  • This OTD can only be obtained once ever on a character (and not a new one each year).
  • Players must be on the 'Leprechaun Treasure' quest to interact with the Leprechaun Treasure and obtain this OTD.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.   Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.   Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

For players of all level ranges, there are three pesky little tricksters who are hoping you're not too lucky! A 'charming' reward will be bestowed upon those who have the cunning to out-wit:

Killaghe in Albion
Daighu in Midgard
Iollarme in Hibernia

The "Luck of a Leprechaun" quest can be obtained from the following:

Sir Prescott in Cotswold
Hrolf in Mularn
Epona in Mag Mell

Once again, the event will run until Thursday, March 18th.

A happy and safe St. Patrick's Day to one and all, and we'll see you in the Frontiers!