Weekly Development Activities (June 18, 2007)

[Spookydodger]

You know, if I was building a Prison for Extraplanar creatures that can cast Greater Teleport at will - I'd probably invest in something like a permanent Dimensional Lock. Otherwise my prisoners could get away or something. What the pfargtle is he still doing here if he can freaking teleport?

Unless each jail cell was a pocket dimension modeled after real dimensions. Then the only place he could teleport would be that room, as that's the extent of the plane.

I do agree, though. This has the potential to make the Prison of the Planes incredibly annoying.

[Vinos]

They'll never add 'alcoholic' beverages to the game. It's too PC and kiddy friendly for it.

Age of Conan, however, will have alcohol in game and drunken bar fights. The bar fights will only take into account how drunk you are, not level, and sounds hilarious.

But beheading monsters is ok? I will say I had zero interest in AoC until you said bar fights. Now I may check it out.

[Kadagan]

Please don't forget gimped archery please... as you can imagine, firing blanks isn't a pleasant experience

[darthuvius]

hi, i dont really see the point of this feat line considering we already have intimidate? could you please change it to increasing the damage percentage? i would surely take these feats then. my warforged barbarian has about a 30 intimidate and rarely fails. except on some of the red bosses, which this feat might be good for then i guess, but i wouldnt spend all those points on it.

[EightyFour]

"NEW – Players get 3 more weapon set configuration slots, for a total of 7!

Reduced difficulty of detecting traps with Search and Spot, especially at low levels (5 and under)."

These two I love, ty for the extra weapon slots, this is going to make life a lot easier, now I don't have to have all my weapons in my shortcut bars so that I can change them out all the time.

As for the reduction in Search and Spot, I hope that includes A Cabal for One, that way I don't have to build a new rogue.

• NEW – Prison of the Planes
o Cochitlehua has remembered that he has "Teleport Without Error"
as an at-will spell-like ability.

This one I hate, and I don't really care if he moves around, I just hate it because of the way I know that he well move around. Running around making him immune to weapon damage, plus the damage you have to inflict in order to complete, plus the fact that he is a red named mob so he is immune to all spell effects minus direct damage.

I wouldn't mind so much if when we swing at mob's while they are running we could hit them, but sense we can't, or at least not for the majority of swings, it bothers me.

PoP just got harder, but not because it is a hard mission but because the way that the game functions. Is it intentional to make mob's immune to weapon damage while they are running or was that just a mistake made?

Before making mob's able to run around, how about fixing the fact that they can't be hit while they are doing the running. If the immune to weapon damage while running is not intentional.

[Asal]

In QA
These items are in QA and are scheduled for Update 4.2: Searing Heights.

General
[list][*]NEW – Players get 3 more weapon set configuration slots, for a total of 7!

Any chance of greater flexibility like dual weapons, wands/shields ?

[Kraldor]

NEW – You will no longer be able to attach items to mail messages that are not currently in your inventory (i.e., an item that is in your bank)

When has that ever been possible?

* Fixed an Auction House bug where it was possible to bid on an auction and receive a different quantity of the item than expected.

Did this only happen with items that were already in stacks, or could I have gotten two of the same weapon by accident?

The House Jorasco Divine Reagent Vendor now carries Blessed Cold Iron Greatswords, Bastard Swords, Longswords, Shortswords, Scimitars, Warhammers, Rapiers, Dwarven Waraxes, Khopeshes, Mauls, and Heavy Picks.

Why only those specific weapons? Holy Sword should be able to be cast on all melee weapons

[Kerr]

You know, if I was building a Prison for Extraplanar creatures that can cast Greater Teleport at will - I'd probably invest in something like a permanent Dimensional Lock. Otherwise my prisoners could get away or something. What the pfargtle is he still doing here if he can freaking teleport?

So is he going to be annoying like the Ogre magi, or annoying like the Phase Spiders, or annoying like the Vampire?

Since when do the Devs ever need a rational to giving the mobs exceptional abilities that they shouldn't have, or logically wouldn't have?

And he's probably going to be a brand new annoying.

[GAULSTON]

YEAH!

Players get 3 more weapon set configuration slots, for a total of 7!

Auction House
You can now filter your auction house searches by item level. This search is based on the minimum level to use the item.
Clothing and Jewelry sections in the auction house are now broken up into multiple categories based the slot the item equips to. There are now a total of ten categories for both of these two sections.

SWEEEEEET! I can hope that you will soon implement a "search" engine within the auction house for an even more convenient shopping experience???

Shopping
You can now ctrl-click on an item in a shop to purchase the item in bulk. A pop-up dialog will prompt you to enter the number of items to purchase.

If a player's haggle skill changes, then the shopping cart display price will now update to reflect the change.

Thank you SOOOOO much for these changes.

Spells
Spell tooltips now include a metamagic information block. This block lists the kinds of metamagic that can affect this spell.

Nice addition and I have to agrree with this reply-

How about in addition to the weapon slots we get some magic slots? There are a lot of spells I'd like to bind to certain metamagics. Haste should always be extended. Divine favor too. And I never want virtue extended. You'd make a lot of casters happy if we could bind spells to metamagic and not have to toggle.

Definately /petition signed by me. All too often, I wished I did not have to constantly toggle metamagic feats on and off for a specific spell. Wish I could specify which metamagic feats I could bind to each spell, before I start questing. Probably a very complex feature to add for the devs, but worth it in my opinion.

Please don't forget gimped archery please... as you can imagine, firing blanks isn't a pleasant experience

Could not agree with you more K! Still wish my heavy repeaters actually fired 3 round bursts rather than 2. Seems as though the animation is actually firing 3 bolts, but only the 1st and 3rd shots are gettin dice rolls and weapon dmg above a mobs head. Can't remember if the combat log is registering 2 or 3 shots fired. Either way, it does look like it is firing blanks on the 2nd of 3 shots...most of the time. Again, another complexity which I doubt the devs are looking forward to fixing, but all praise will be to them when they do.

If I could have 1 more addition to the game, it would be a show-cloak option...specificaly a hooded cloak maybe...a cloak graphic rather than armor. Perhaps a graphic toggle between cloak and armor as to show if your cloak is over top of your armor. I think a lot of rogues and rangers would appreciate this. After all, armor and cloaks are layered...I would just like to have the option of deciding which is the outer wear.

All in all, my hat's off to the devs for such a great game. In terms of mmo games, DDO is still young, and I'll try to remain patient for new game features and fixes. Thank you devs for all your hard work and be proud of your creation, don't let any of the negative nancies get ya down.

We are either part of the solution or part of the problem. Disclaimer: problem solutions may require patience, understanding, suggestions and a proactive interest in game development. If you don't like what you paid for, then leave...less lag for the rest of us when we log in to giant hold tavern on a welcome back weekend.

[Dirac]

Um, I would like to join the applause for more weapon sets, but could someone explain why only three? If you are going to take the effort to make the change, why not 8 or 20? Do they have to always be visible in the equipment window? Is seven all that could fit? Seven is better than four, but honestly, I'll still have to switch sets around between quests which is a hassle. I'll still need to know the quest by heart ahead of time to know which weapon sets to equip. Twelve would be a number where I could start setting them up once and for all. Why not 24 to be safe?

Really...just three...?

[Rentz]

[*]NEW – Corrected the naming for stacks of higher level Barkskin and Shield of Faith potions. They will now indicate their additional bonus eg Potions of Shield of Faith (+5).

okay i'm a n00b...

is that a lvl 5 shield of faith (+3 deflection bonus) or a +5 deflection bonus shield of faith potion.

if it's a +5 deflection bonus, where do i find it!? :P

[Cashiry]

okay i'm a n00b...

is that a lvl 5 shield of faith (+3 deflection bonus) or a +5 deflection bonus shield of faith potion.

if it's a +5 deflection bonus, where do i find it!? :P

its deflection bonus and +4 and +5 pots can be looted in chests or breakables

[Cowdenicus]

still no notes on bards that are supposed to be getting updated this month huh.

I am starting to worry.

[GeneralDiomedes]

No... the challenge matched the reward perfect. You just were confused on what the challenge was. The challenge wasn't beating the Thirsty One. It was having the patience to beat the Thirsty One 35 times while you grinded it out on your leather butt.

Maybe now they can increase the drop rate.

[MtnLion]

...
PoP just got harder, but not because it is a hard mission but because the way that the game functions. Is it intentional to make mob's immune to weapon damage while they are running or was that just a mistake made?
...

This is good point, since there is no reason (the bug was fixed) to have the reverse bonus on attacks (except, maybe to keep ranged nerfed). The first attack roll should have the highest bonus, per PnP, which would make hitting on the run much more possible.

[JayDubya]

PoP just got harder, but not because it is a hard mission but because the way that the game functions. Is it intentional to make mob's immune to weapon damage while they are running or was that just a mistake made?

Before making mob's able to run around, how about fixing the fact that they can't be hit while they are doing the running. If the immune to weapon damage while running is not intentional.

They can be hit while running. You have to get in front of them, or at least parallel to them. Because when you're running behind them, the game thinks you're attacking the air behind them.

[rfachini]

They'll never add 'alcoholic' beverages to the game. It's too PC and kiddy friendly for it.

The game already is rated with a "alcohol references" warning. It's probably ulitmately up to Wizards and Turbine to decide. The only real alcohol references I've seen are an NPC or two who acts drunk and a placard with a lobster holding a beer and a breadstick--and, of course, Old Sully's Grog.

[Riddikulus]

They'll never add 'alcoholic' beverages to the game. It's too PC and kiddy friendly for it.

Age of Conan, however, will have alcohol in game and drunken bar fights. The bar fights will only take into account how drunk you are, not level, and sounds hilarious.

The game already is rated with a "alcohol references" warning. It's probably ulitmately up to Wizards and Turbine to decide. The only real alcohol references I've seen are an NPC or two who acts drunk and a placard with a lobster holding a beer and a breadstick--and, of course, Old Sully's Grog.

Since both DDO & LOTRO are rated T, I don't see why they can't implement some of LOTRO's finer qualities... smoking, drunkeness (yes you can get hammered and stumble around, with tunnel vision and everything). I would think DDOs' audience would actually be a bit older than LOTRO's so would be much more tolerant of that kind of thing.

[Kraldor]

I don't think that DnD halflings smoke pipeweed as much as LOTR hobbits, but come on, the Dwarves need their ale!

[MysticTheurge]

I don't think that DnD halflings smoke pipeweed as much as LOTR hobbits, but come on, the Dwarves need their ale!

As Eberron's main practitioners of medicine (and with prestige classes devoted to studying and producing both poison and disease), one might wager that halflings could get a little more creative than "pipeweed" when it comes to their recreational past-times.