O
Orin Askhammare
Guest
EDIT Should have noticed TroG's post a little down :/ Excusez moi. Leave this here for people who can't be arsed to link to the camelot herald
Here we go - respec is at the top of the list, melee changes throughout. This is quite an installment:
======================================
Dark Age of Camelot
Version 1.52D Test Release Notes
Wednesday, July 24, 2002
======================================
Welcome to Camelot version 152D. This version has a lot of updates and changes that will have to be tested thorougly. The purpose of the 152 series as a whole is to evaulate the melee and RvR aspects of the game and make changes where necessary to streamline all player's RvR experiences, and especially that of melee classes.
You will see many changes in this version, the largest is probably that of respec (being able to re-allocate your character's specialzation points). We have decided to give all current players of the game the ability to respec fully - not just select one specialization at two different levels (although we will support that as well) as we previously announced. We are giving all current characters the chance to fully respec as a way of thanking all current players for being with us over the last eight months, and to allow all of them to take advantage of skills and abilities that were not available to them when they started playing and speccing their characters.
We have taken the following steps in this version to make the melee combat experience more fun and meaningful in RvR (you can get the full details on each of these further down in the release notes):
- Behind the scenes melee rules changes. We have changed two separate "under-the-hood" game mechanics to make melee combat more fun. One was to remove the level-based "to hit" modifier, and the other was to change the way the game calculates how many players are in combat with each other at once. These sound like small changes, but they will both let you hit more often (in the case of the first), and parry/block much more often (in the case of the second). The combination will mean that you will live longer, and thus, deal more damage.
- We have changed the armor tables in the game so that one damage type (crush) will no longer be the most powerful in the game. Additionally, all defensive armor table bonuses are now doubled in RvR, meaning everyone takes less damage if they are protected against that specific damage type.
- We have alleviated some of the frustration of being mesmerized in combat by giving special "cure mez" spells to some casting classes. Judicious use of these spells will mean that you will be mezzed far less often than before.
- In the case of Blademasters and Mercenaries, we have given them additional abilities that will let them add extra damage every few minutes.
- You can now toggle the "cancel style" feature off and on.
The overall intention of these changes is not to focus on any one particular melee class - it was to look at the system as a whole and make changes where appropriate that will help all of them. Of course some of these changes spill over to other classes as well, but the overall net result of the changes should be longer RvR combats which means that those with the most hit points and best defense (i.e. melee classes) will live longer and be much more productive.
When we first announced we were looking into these problems, we thought we could simply reduce RvR damge by 35%. That proved not to be good for the game overall, so we decided to make tweaks and changes to the overall system to produce the same results as a straight damage reduction, but make it more strategic and fit within the already established rules of the game.
Finally, these changes are wide-ranging and powerful. They will have to be tested fully on Pendragon, and may change between now and when 1.52 goes live. We will be making more 152 patches as necessary, based on testing and further additions and enhancements - stay posted for details.
NEW THINGS
- We have removed the level-based "to-hit" modifier from RvR combat. This means that lower-level players will be able to hit higher-level targets much easier (albeit for a small amount of damage). This affects all damage in the game, including melee, bow, and spell damage. Please note that this change removes only the chance your character has "to hit" his opponent, and makes it possible for lower level players to enjoy RvR combat. This change was implemented on the PvP servers (Mordred and Andred) first, and has been very successfully and happily received there.
- We have changed the way we determine who is "in combat" with any RvR opponent and with monsters. The result of these changes is that parrying and shield blocking should happen much more often than before, and you should notice the "your target is currently in melee combat" message less often. This change will require a lot of testing on Pendragon to ensure that it doesn't change the player vs. monster dynamic.
- The /cancelstyle command is in. This command enables you to turn off the ability to "cancel" or designate a backup combat style. Use this for situations where you simply want to do the same-no opening style over and over, such as when you are in a huge RvR melee. /cancelstyle is a toggle; use it once to turn off canceling styles, type it again to turn canceling styles back on.
- Players who are level 50 and realm rank 5 or above have had their unbuffed Armor Factor and DPS raised as if they were 51st level players. Thus, they clamp unbuffed at a DPS of 16.5 and an AF of 510.
BUG FIXES
- When you cast a strength buff and you are already encumbered, your movement speed should be correctly updated
- When you are killed by a pet, the game now prints the pet's controller as the killing entity.
- We fixed the cloth Armor Factor bug where you got incorrect Armor Factor information when delving a cloth armor piece. The effective AF for cloth is now correctly clamped at its 1/2 value (of corresponding other armors). There was a situation where lower-level casters who wore high-level armor resulted in them attaining more AF from the armor than they should have had. This has fixed, and casters will now correctly have to rely on buffs to reach their AF clamp. This change will not have any effect on casters who weear level-appropriate armor - the only players who will notice a change are those cloth-armor casters who are wearing "orange" armor and above. The difference in AF in orange armor is noticable, but negligible. The difference in red or purple armor is more meaningful.
- When you hold a flaming staff and directly switch to another non-flaming staff, other players would see the non-flaming staff (now in your hands) as still flaming. This has been fixed.
- You no longer flinch, parry or evade while on horseback.
- When you move away from a VaultKeeper, your vault window should now correctly close automatically.
- The keyboard 1-8 keys to activate your quickbar should now correctly bring up a product recipe window when you hotkey a tradeskill.
- The /SETWHO command now correctly shows Legendary Master Crafter status (level 10).
- The craft order warning box (when joining a crafting order) no longer overwrites off of the edge of the box.
- Focus spells will now correctly cancel when their caster has another spell type cast on him. There was a bug in the game where casters of focus-type spells could get in a situation where their focus spell was continuing to have effect, but they could move around and cast other spells.
Here we go - respec is at the top of the list, melee changes throughout. This is quite an installment:
======================================
Dark Age of Camelot
Version 1.52D Test Release Notes
Wednesday, July 24, 2002
======================================
Welcome to Camelot version 152D. This version has a lot of updates and changes that will have to be tested thorougly. The purpose of the 152 series as a whole is to evaulate the melee and RvR aspects of the game and make changes where necessary to streamline all player's RvR experiences, and especially that of melee classes.
You will see many changes in this version, the largest is probably that of respec (being able to re-allocate your character's specialzation points). We have decided to give all current players of the game the ability to respec fully - not just select one specialization at two different levels (although we will support that as well) as we previously announced. We are giving all current characters the chance to fully respec as a way of thanking all current players for being with us over the last eight months, and to allow all of them to take advantage of skills and abilities that were not available to them when they started playing and speccing their characters.
We have taken the following steps in this version to make the melee combat experience more fun and meaningful in RvR (you can get the full details on each of these further down in the release notes):
- Behind the scenes melee rules changes. We have changed two separate "under-the-hood" game mechanics to make melee combat more fun. One was to remove the level-based "to hit" modifier, and the other was to change the way the game calculates how many players are in combat with each other at once. These sound like small changes, but they will both let you hit more often (in the case of the first), and parry/block much more often (in the case of the second). The combination will mean that you will live longer, and thus, deal more damage.
- We have changed the armor tables in the game so that one damage type (crush) will no longer be the most powerful in the game. Additionally, all defensive armor table bonuses are now doubled in RvR, meaning everyone takes less damage if they are protected against that specific damage type.
- We have alleviated some of the frustration of being mesmerized in combat by giving special "cure mez" spells to some casting classes. Judicious use of these spells will mean that you will be mezzed far less often than before.
- In the case of Blademasters and Mercenaries, we have given them additional abilities that will let them add extra damage every few minutes.
- You can now toggle the "cancel style" feature off and on.
The overall intention of these changes is not to focus on any one particular melee class - it was to look at the system as a whole and make changes where appropriate that will help all of them. Of course some of these changes spill over to other classes as well, but the overall net result of the changes should be longer RvR combats which means that those with the most hit points and best defense (i.e. melee classes) will live longer and be much more productive.
When we first announced we were looking into these problems, we thought we could simply reduce RvR damge by 35%. That proved not to be good for the game overall, so we decided to make tweaks and changes to the overall system to produce the same results as a straight damage reduction, but make it more strategic and fit within the already established rules of the game.
Finally, these changes are wide-ranging and powerful. They will have to be tested fully on Pendragon, and may change between now and when 1.52 goes live. We will be making more 152 patches as necessary, based on testing and further additions and enhancements - stay posted for details.
NEW THINGS
- We have removed the level-based "to-hit" modifier from RvR combat. This means that lower-level players will be able to hit higher-level targets much easier (albeit for a small amount of damage). This affects all damage in the game, including melee, bow, and spell damage. Please note that this change removes only the chance your character has "to hit" his opponent, and makes it possible for lower level players to enjoy RvR combat. This change was implemented on the PvP servers (Mordred and Andred) first, and has been very successfully and happily received there.
- We have changed the way we determine who is "in combat" with any RvR opponent and with monsters. The result of these changes is that parrying and shield blocking should happen much more often than before, and you should notice the "your target is currently in melee combat" message less often. This change will require a lot of testing on Pendragon to ensure that it doesn't change the player vs. monster dynamic.
- The /cancelstyle command is in. This command enables you to turn off the ability to "cancel" or designate a backup combat style. Use this for situations where you simply want to do the same-no opening style over and over, such as when you are in a huge RvR melee. /cancelstyle is a toggle; use it once to turn off canceling styles, type it again to turn canceling styles back on.
- Players who are level 50 and realm rank 5 or above have had their unbuffed Armor Factor and DPS raised as if they were 51st level players. Thus, they clamp unbuffed at a DPS of 16.5 and an AF of 510.
BUG FIXES
- When you cast a strength buff and you are already encumbered, your movement speed should be correctly updated
- When you are killed by a pet, the game now prints the pet's controller as the killing entity.
- We fixed the cloth Armor Factor bug where you got incorrect Armor Factor information when delving a cloth armor piece. The effective AF for cloth is now correctly clamped at its 1/2 value (of corresponding other armors). There was a situation where lower-level casters who wore high-level armor resulted in them attaining more AF from the armor than they should have had. This has fixed, and casters will now correctly have to rely on buffs to reach their AF clamp. This change will not have any effect on casters who weear level-appropriate armor - the only players who will notice a change are those cloth-armor casters who are wearing "orange" armor and above. The difference in AF in orange armor is noticable, but negligible. The difference in red or purple armor is more meaningful.
- When you hold a flaming staff and directly switch to another non-flaming staff, other players would see the non-flaming staff (now in your hands) as still flaming. This has been fixed.
- You no longer flinch, parry or evade while on horseback.
- When you move away from a VaultKeeper, your vault window should now correctly close automatically.
- The keyboard 1-8 keys to activate your quickbar should now correctly bring up a product recipe window when you hotkey a tradeskill.
- The /SETWHO command now correctly shows Legendary Master Crafter status (level 10).
- The craft order warning box (when joining a crafting order) no longer overwrites off of the edge of the box.
- Focus spells will now correctly cancel when their caster has another spell type cast on him. There was a bug in the game where casters of focus-type spells could get in a situation where their focus spell was continuing to have effect, but they could move around and cast other spells.