AC2:Announcements - 2003/03 - Revelations: Difference between revisions
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Episode 4: "Revelations"
Original Link (now dead) - microsoftgamesinsider.com/AC2/Episodes/Episode4/default.htm?nc=1
Original Link (now dead) - microsoftgamesinsider.com/AC2/Episodes/Episode4/ep4_teaser.htm?nc=1
March Episode - "Revelations"
She grimly released arrow after arrow into the hordes as the mages worked feverishly behind her. An incoherent scream nearby told her that another of their number had fallen, but she dared not turn to see who it was. It sounded like Eldeth… Another friend lost in this battle. Of course, she thought, all who had chosen to stay behind had known the consequences.
The last stragglers squeezed through the nearly-closed doors of the fortress. The resounding thud of the doors finally closing was quickly followed by the sharp clang of its bar sliding into place. The doors secured, she looked out into the darkness from her position on the fortress walls. She could already hear the low drumming of Gurog hooves slamming into the frozen tundra. They would be here soon.
The constant drumming had driven nearly all the feeling from his fingers, yet he continued. As he beat a rhythm to ease his companion's pain, he looked out over the walls of this, their last holding in Omishan. Only a dim gloom illuminated the scene below, for heavy clouds of ash obscured most of the sun's light. Even that dim illumination was all he needed to see the vast tide of Burun still surrounding the fortress, a tide that stretched off into the distance.
She sat among the rough assemblage of warriors, those lucky enough to have survived the initial onslaught. This was the mortal races' first-and last-council of war on the Nemesis attacks. The most accomplished portal mages stood before the assembly explaining their plan, the only hope they saw of saving most of the survivors. Upon conclusion of their presentation, they asked if there were questions, but she knew there would be none. Everyone present understood what was at stake; there was nothing to question.
As he turned to direct his next attack, a Burun appeared before him. It swung its scythe-like blade at his head, but he ducked under the swing and quickly drummed a beat that called a lightning bolt down on the creature. The Burun's limbs twitched erratically as electricity coursed through its body, then it fell over. As two more Burun heads peeked over the wall, a cry came from behind him: "The wards are almost set! Just a moment more!"
A moment more and he could rest.
She swung her blade, severing the Gurog's head. As its body fell to the ground, she saw out of the corner of her eye a Gurog Champion rushing toward her, its axe already in motion. Even as she tried to evade its blow, she felt a sharp pain cross her chest. Falling to her knees, she struggled to draw breath, but only a wet gasp escaped her lips. A moment passed. A shadow passed over her. She looked up, struggling to focus her eyes. Finally her vision cleared and she saw the Champion looking down on her.
"Rock pusher," it sneered as it raised its axe once more.
A ragged cheer rose up behind her. She turned to see a violet light piercing the heavens. Looking back over the wall, she saw the Drudges break off their assault and look up. She allowed herself a tight smile as a few turned to run. The wards were complete; her duty was almost finished.
She was looking up at the Gurog when it was suddenly backlit by violet light. The Gurog turned to face this new enemy and roared in rage as the expanding brightness drew nearer. As she concentrated on trying to draw breath, she turned her head to look down at the ground before her. "Rock pusher," she muttered. "Feh." She gasped one final time, and the ground drew closer. Then there was nothing.
In the blink of an eye, an intense violet light banished the gloom. His Burun adversary turned and sheltered its eyes with its hands. He, too, squinted into the brightness and followed the line of the violet arc as it raced upwards into the sky. Suddenly, with a thunderous crack, the arc expanded and terrified croaking filled the night air. The light blazed ever stronger; soon there would be nothing else.
Complete March Episode Guide
Original Link (now dead) - microsoftgamesinsider.com/AC2/Episodes/Episode4/ep4_complete.htm?nc=1
March Episode - "Revelations"
NEW! Experience Reward
The first time characters log in during our March episode, they will be awarded one half of the experience needed to advance to their next level, up to a maximum of 5 million experience points. For more details on why this is the case, please take a look at this thread on the official Asheron's Call 2 message boards.
Major Skill Changes
Original Link (now dead) - No Link Available
March Episode - "Revelations"
NEW! Experience Reward
The first time characters log in during our March episode, they will be awarded one half of the experience needed to advance to their next level, up to a maximum of 5 million experience points. For more details on why this is the case, please take a look at this thread on the official Asheron's Call 2 message boards.
Skills
We've spent the last few months collating player feedback and performing our own detailed analysis of the skills present in the 9 main and 18 specialty trees. For our March Episode, "Revelations," we are tweaking a variety of skills.
Our focus in this first comprehensive pass is on non-functional skills and/or true bugs. In some cases, we've made design changes to balance out certain skills or specialties. This list is not our attempt to make all classes equal; distinctly superior and inferior specialties still remain. We will share our initial plans to address these inequalities sometime next month.
Because of the sheer number of changes made to skills in March, we've decided to offer players a one-time opportunity to remake their skill choices. When you login after our March episode has gone live, you will have one-time access to a "/skills reset" command. Typing this command will untrain all of a character's skills and return the skill credits and experience spent on those skills. You can then choose to spend those credits and experience again on a new skill set. This command will only be available during the March episode, so if you want to make use of it, you must do so during this episode. We want to stress that while we may offer this command again when we make sweeping changes to the game's skill set, it may not be available again for a few months or it may be limited to specific character classes.
Important notes about the "/skills reset" command:
- You will only be able to use this command once per character.
- You will only be able to use this command during the March Episode. Once the April Episode goes live, you will not be able to use this command.
- Only characters created before the March Episode will be able to use the command.
- We suggest that you spend your skill credits first. Only once you are happy with your skill credit allocation, then spend your XP.
- Make sure you train all the skills you want to train. Sometimes it can be easy to forget a Paragon or Adept skill because they are not visible in all skill trees.
- Be careful of inadvertently spending too much XP too quickly. Skills can cost a lot of XP at the higher levels. Make sure you have enough XP for all of your important skills.
- We will not be offering this command again anytime soon, so please be careful if you decide to reallocate your skill credits and experience. Game Admins will not be able to help you in this matter.
What follows is a list of the skill changes. Please keep in mind that we are publishing these changes early with the goal of getting your feedback. Threads will be started on the official AC2 message board to collate the feedback.
Character Class Index
| Human | Melee Missile Magic |
Bounty Hunter Ranger Enchanter |
Defender |
| Lugian | Melee Missile Magic |
Juggernaut Raider Elementalist |
Tactician |
| Tumerok | Melee Missile Magic |
Feral Intendant Hivekeeper Invoker |
Zealot |
| Human Melee | |
| Begrudge |
|
| Twin Blades |
|
| Insult |
|
| Human Defender | |
| Lay Hands |
|
| Righteous Fury |
|
| Human Bounty Hunter | |
| Lucky Charm |
|
| Hunter's Ruse |
|
| Hunter's Betrayal |
|
| Feign Death |
|
| Fate's Forgiveness |
|
| Human Missile | |
| Critical Shot |
|
| Impending Doom |
|
| Human Ranger | |
| Forage |
|
| Divining |
|
| Human Magic | |
| Slithering Flames |
|
| Human Enchanter | |
| Blade of Frost |
|
| Blade of Fire |
|
| Lugian Melee | |
| Double Strike |
|
| Lugian Juggernaut | |
| Maim |
|
| Cataclysm |
|
| NEW! Decapitate |
|
| NEW! Dismember |
|
| NEW!Disembowel |
|
| Lugian Missile | |
| Rout |
|
| Lugian Raider | |
| NEW! Shatter Soul |
|
| Lugian Tactician | |
| NEW! Small Turret Casing |
|
| NEW! Large Turret Casing |
|
| Grapeshot |
|
| Self Destruct Sequence |
|
| Wall of Ice |
|
| Slough Field |
|
| Fiery Obstruction |
|
| Lugian Mage | |
| Pain Touch |
|
| Internalize Suffering |
|
| Lugian Elementalist | |
| Sand Fiend |
|
| Sand Minion |
|
| Guardian Spirit |
|
| Volcanic Rift |
|
| Thunderstorm |
|
| Incendiary Cloud |
|
| Tumerok Melee | |
| Hunger |
|
| Tumerok Feral Intendant | |
| Iron Pincers |
|
| Summon Beetle |
|
| Lumbering Might |
|
| Summon Shreth |
|
| Tenderize |
|
| Leader of the Pack |
|
| Summon Reedshark |
|
| Sanguine Orders |
|
| Tumerok Zealot | |
| Onslaught |
|
| Soft Flesh |
|
| Skull Cracker |
|
| Bone Crusher |
|
| Spine Ripper |
|
| Back Breaker |
|
| Tumerok Claw Bearer | |
| Expose |
|
| Twin Shot |
|
| Tumerok Hivekeeper | |
| All Attack Skills |
|
| Wax Statue |
|
| Tumerok Magic | |
| Eye of the Storm |
|
| Tumerok Invoker | |
| Ghost of the Past |
|
| Invoke the Grandfather |
|
| The Redeemer |
|
| The Reckoner |
|
| The Vindicator |
|
| The Avenger |
|
| Astral Hunters |
|
| Invoke the Grandmother |
|
| Summon Brat |
|
| Summon Minor |
|
| Summon Master |
|
Inventory
Original Link (now dead) - microsoftgamesinsider.com/AC2/Episodes/Episode4/ep4_inventory.htm?nc=1
Inventory
Your Inventory Panel now contains four separate containers: one main pack of 42 slots, and three side packs of 12 slots each, making a total of 78 slots (12 more than before). When you pick up items, the game will attempt to put them in the first open slot in your main pack, then in the first open slot in your top side pack, and so on down the side packs. Items that were toward the bottom of your inventory before the patch will be distributed to the other three side packs. Side packs are not separate objects, and cannot be dropped on the ground or given to other players.
Friends, Fellowships, and Allegiances
Original Link (now dead) - microsoftgamesinsider.com/AC2/Episodes/Episode4/ep4_groups.htm?nc=1
March Episode - "Revelations"
Friends Tab
We've added a new Friends tab to the Social panel. Clicking on this tab will give players the following options:
- Check the online status of the characters on their Friends list. The different status types are "Available," "Do Not Disturb," "Away from Keyboard," and "Offline."
- Set their own status to one of the status options ("Offline" will only display once the player logs out).
- Add or remove friends from their Friends list. In order to add characters using the Friends tab you will need to have selected the character first. To remove a character from your list, you can simply select the name on the Friends list and click the "Remove" button.
- Note that all the old "/friend" commands, such as "/friend status," still work.
Fellowship XP Bonus
Initially, AC2 had a fellowship bonus, but it was taken out before the game launched because fellowships were already far more effective than solo players in killing creatures and gaining XP. However, we recognize that some of the issues present in playing in a fellowship—finding a group, coordinating a group, developing effective hunting strategies—all contributed to many players choosing to stay solo. One of the core strengths of AC2 is in hunting, exploring, and questing with a group of other players; therefore, in order to overcome "solo-inclined" inertia and get more people excited about grouping without hurting the ability to solo, we have brought back the concept of fellowship XP bonuses as follows:
| Fellowship Size | % Creature Experience Reward |
| 2 Players | 75% |
| 3 Players | 65% |
| 4 Players | 55% |
| 5 Players | 50% |
| 6 Players | 40% |
| 7 Players | 30% |
| 8 Players | 20% |
| 9 Players | 15% |
Allegiances
- Allegiance MOTD: Allegiance monarchs can now set a message of the day for their allegiance. All members of the allegiance will see this message when they log in or when they bring up the Allegiance tab in the Social panel. Monarchs can control the message of the day using the following commands:
Command Description /motd set <text> Sets the message of the day for the allegiance. /motd clear Clears the message of the day. /help motd Provides help for the MOTD commands.
- We've fixed a bug with passing up allegiance XP. If a vassal did the vast majority of his or her advancement through questing, the bug prevented the XP from being forwarded up to his or her patron. The allegiance system has been changed so that every time you level, whatever XP you have not previously passed up to your patron will be sent.
Skills: Continent Recall and Pets
Original Link (now dead) - microsoftgamesinsider.com/AC2/Episodes/Episode4/ep4_skills2.htm?nc=1
March Episode - "Revelations"
Continent Recall
As a reward for completing all seven Vaults on a continent, you will be able to access a skill which allows you to recall to that continent's capital city (Cragstone, Ikeras, or Linvak Tukal). Once you have finished all seven Vaults, travel to a Nexus stone located on the outskirts of the specific capital for that continent. Use the stone to unlock the skill. Some things to keep in mind regarding Continent Recall:
- NEW! There will be a 30-second "Lifestone protection" cast upon your character once you begin portalling back to the Nexus spot.
- Like other recalls, you will need to have full Vigor to begin recalling, and recalling uses up all your Vigor upon completion.
Our goal with this skill is to allow characters to travel and congregate more freely, especially characters in different level ranges.
Skills and Pets
Outside of the extensive list of skill changes we detailed in our first letter, there are only a few more additional changes to mention for March.
- Failing to summon a pet will no longer start the reset timer (so Tacticians who fail to place their turret will no longer have to wait an hour).
- In the past, a pet owner had to turn on the "See Other Characters' Damage Numbers" option in order to see the damage being done by and to their pet. We've changed this so that pet damage is now shown automatically for all types of pets.
The Treasure System
Original Link (now dead) - microsoftgamesinsider.com/AC2/Episodes/Episode4/ep4_treasure.htm?nc=1
March Episode - "Revelations"
Treasure
For March, we are adding a number of new effects into the treasure system. This represents only the first step in a series of planned transformations that will take place over the next several months.
- We've added a variety of new beneficial effects to treasure items.
- Shields:
- Splendor—Lowers the min. level requirement by 1.
- Absorption—Absorbs a portion (3-12%) of damage 20% of the time.
- Bone Splitter—Adds +2 or +3 damage.
- Weapons:
- Grace—Lowers the min. level requirement by 1.
- Grace—Lowers the min. level requirement by 1.
- For all pieces of armor:
- Grace—Lowers the min. level requirements by 1.
- Armor Increasing Effects—These effects increase the armor level of a piece of armor by the specified amount.
- Shields:
Effect Name Armor Increase Durability 1 Thickness 2 Renitence 3 Impenetrability 4-5 Imperviousness 5-7
It should be noted that any armor found with "Impenetrability" can still have its armor level increased by the Human Enchanter "Impenetrability" spell.
- For breastplates and robes only:
- Specialized Class Effects—These effects provide benefits useful to the specialized class. The effects also limit the piece of armor so that it can be used only by that class. The names of the effects, the classes to which they apply, and the bonuses they provide are as follows:
- For breastplates and robes only:
Class Effect Name
Human Bounty Hunter Prowl
Human Defender Posturing
Human Alchemist Voltaic Energy
Human Ranger Promises
Lugian Berserker Rage
Lugian Juggernaut Brawn
Lugian Raider Strong Arms
Tumerok Feral Intendant Brute
Tumerok Zealot Devout
Tumerok Claw Bearer Dreamer
Tumerok Hivekeeper Hive
Effect Bonuses: 1-10 point Adept skill increase; 1-12 point damage increase
Class Effect Name
NEW! Tumerok Invoker Spirit
Effect Bonuses: 1-10 point Adept skill increase; 3-5% Vigor Regeneration bonus.
Class Effect Name
Human Enchanter Drawing
NEW! Human Sorcerer Thaumaturge
Lugian Elementalist Matterite
NEW! Lugian Sage Wisdom
NEW! Tumerok Healer Gift
Effect Bonuses: 1-10 point Adept skill increase; 10-60 point reduction in Vigor Cost.
Class Effect Name
Lugian Tactician Scheming
Effect Bonuses: 1-10 skill point increase to Armor Piercing, Double Shot, Fiery Obstruction, Grape Shot, Rapid Fire, Repair, Slough Field, or Wall of Ice.
- Jewelry:
- Life Balance—Adds 10 to 120 Health, Subtracts 5 to 62 Vigor.
- Spirit Balance—Adds 20 to 150 Vigor, Subtracts 10 to 75 Health.
- Jewelry:
- The first types of helms are making their appearance in the treasure system in March. Humans and Lugians each have one style of helm, while Tumeroks have two styles from which to choose. Helms don't receive all of the same effects that other pieces of armor do, but can receive effects that increase their armor level or decrease the wield requirement level.
- Combat Delay on all newly created treasure has been evened out across the level ranges; that is, all items have a potential Combat Delay that ranges from 5 to 20, regardless of the item's level.
- We've added some different "decal" effects to newly generated weapons in the treasure system. For March, some of these decal effects (such as bloody, cracked, rusty, corroded, and mossy) have no correlation to the relative strength and quality of the weapon. Other decal effects depict the type of spell that's on the weapon (a flame decal for fire weapons, etc.).
- A bug in the Combat Delay and Vigor Costs affected how they generated the prefix for the name of an item. Names associated with benefits to these stats were placed on items that had penalties, and vice-versa. For example, an Even <item name> is supposed to have a reduced Vigor Cost, but instead had an increased Vigor Cost. This has been fixed.
- Any class that uses a specialized weapon is now able to use its auto attacks with zero Vigor, just like weapons used by the main skill trees. Prior to this, a bug caused characters to be unable to auto attack with these specialized weapons if the characters had no Vigor.
Crafting and Dyeing
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UI and Shortcut Bars
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Quest Change
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Misc. Bug Fixes and Tweaks
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Episode Guide Addendum
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Command Aliases for EQ and DAoC Players
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