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Dark Age of Camelot

Test Version 1.47

February 27, 2002

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This version has a major new Guild feature - the ability to take over keeps, and have those keeps give bonuses to all guild (and allied guild) members. Also, some tuning was done to mage bolt spells, lots of new bonus information is now printed in a new window, and there's a new lower-level RvR battleground.


NEW THINGS AND BUG FIXES

- Resurrecting classes are now added to a monster's "hate" list (just added, not moved to the top!) if they resurrect a player while the monster that kills that player is still in combat. All resurrecting classes should be careful about rezzing someone who was killed by a monster if that monster is still alive and is still in combat. Please note if the monster is no longer in combat, then no aggro is accrued, and resurrection can be performed with no danger.

- The RESISTS button on the character sheet has been changed to BONUSES. This gives insight not only into your resistances, but to the various realm and outpost bonuses. Now you can clearly see the effect that Relics have on your character and your Realm.

- Guilds can now conquer and "claim" frontier keeps. See the section on that below.

- A lower-level RvR battleground is now available for 30-35th level players. See the section on the battleground below.

- All player attacks now do less damage against doors and siege equipment. This is to slow down the massive groups of people that group up and take doors down too quickly.

- If you train a specialization to level 50, it will now correctly award you 50th level spells (if there is a 50th level spell on that specialization). Previously, you didn't always get your 50th level spell awarded.

- Experience points now print with commas, so when you kill a monster, especially at high levels, you can more easily see how much you were awarded.

- Strength buffs/debuffs will now immediately affect your movement rate.


LOWER LEVEL RVR BATTLEGROUND

Character levels 30-35 now have the option of going to a special RvR battleground that is limited to characters of those levels. This is being set up as a place to go to hone your RvR skills without needed to worry about being killed by much higher level characters. You do not have to go to this Battleground - if you wish you may still participate in the standard RvR raids and defenses.

To get to the battlefield, go to your standard Medallion merchant and purchase the medallion that goes to the battlefield. Please note that only people who are 30th - 35th level can teleport, and only those who are realm level 0 to 9 can teleport (realm rank 0 or 1).

Players who are between 30th-35th level and realm level 0-9 can quit and reenter the battlegrounds normally. If you exceed this range, when you quit and reenter, you'll return to your bindpoint.

The battleground has one "home" keep for each Realm, and one keep in the middle that can be taken over. Please note that initially this keep is held by renegade NPC guards, and will have to be conquered before it can be claimed by the first Realm to take it over.



SPELL SYSTEM NOTES

We've uncovered some pretty large imbalances that greatly reduce the damage that Bolt spells do in the game. So, we've made the following changes Bolt spells:

- We (greatly) increased the damage that Bolt spells do to monsters, starting at around 40th level. This change should not affect RVR.

- Remember, it is difficult to cast a bolt on a target that is engaged in melee combat.

- We've kept the chance for a shield to block a bolt.


General Spell Changes

- You'll notice that Epic monsters now resist damage spells more than they did before.

- All non-area of effect single stat debuffs, double stat debuffs, and resistance debuffs have had their casting times reduced to 2 seconds.

- We changed confusion spells back to the way they were pre-Friday - confused monsters now have a chance of aggressing on other monsters as well as players once again. However, now they will not agress on a monster more than one "color" higher than they (i.e. they will attack oranges, but not reds).


New Sorcerer/Cabalist Spells

A new dexterity debuff spell line has been added to the Matter list (base list for Sorcerers and Cabalists):

8 Mystic Web
12 Mystic Trap
17 Mystic Net
23 Magical Web
29 Magical Trap
36 Magical Net
46 Sorcerous Web

The Sorcerer's Minor Mesh of Force line in Telekinesis has been converted to a double debuff (Dex/Qui) and had values raised accordingly. All spec debuffs are supposed to be double debuffs, and there was no single dex debuff in a base line, which the other realms have. This and the previous change fixes that.

Two new spell lines have been added to the Cabalist's Spirit Animation list:

5 Mend Simulacrum Pet heal
9 Patch Simulacrum
13 Repair Simulacrum
19 Restore Simulacrum
28 Reconstruct Simulacrum
35 Reanimate Simulacrum
44 Rebuild Simulacrum

4 Improve Dexterity Pet dex buff
8 Develop Dexterity
14 Increase Dexterity
21 Enhance Dexterity
33 Amplify Dexterity
38 Augment Dexterity
48 Magnify Dexterity

Two new spell lines have been added to the Cabalist's Vivification spell list:

11 Strengthen Golem Str/Con buff
18 Invigorate Golem
29 Foritify Golem
39 Empower Golem
50 Vivify Golem

12 Hurry Golem Dex/Qui buff
19 Animate Golem
31 Quicken Golem
41 Accelerate Golem

These spell lines should significantly enhance pet survivability at higher levels, primarily due to the extra defense from the Quickness and Constitution bonuses.

- The higher levels of the Cabalist's Convert Spirit line have been removed, as they were essentially identical in functionality.



GUILD BONUSES AND KEEP CLAIMING


GUILD BOUNTY POINTS

Guilds now have a pool of Guild Bounty Points (GBP's) that it can spend on the claiming and upgrading of claimed keeps. Guilds will earn one GBP per Bounty Point each player in the guild earns.


GUILDS CLAIMING Frontier Keeps

Player guilds can now claim a frontier keep for their guild.

How to Claim Keep:

1) you must be of a guild rank that has claim permissions.
2) you must be in a full group with 7 other members of your guild.
3) your guild must have at least 500 Guild Bounty Points. (see below)
4) You must be standing next to the Keep Lord of the keep you wish to claim.
5) no other friendly guild can currently be owning it.
6) your guild must not currently own another keep.
7) after all these conditions are met, type /GC CLAIM

A message is printed to the realm that currently controls an outpost when it is claimed or released. Only realm members of realm level 10 or higher see these messages, or those that belong to the guild.

To retain control of your keep your guild will be charged 50 Guild Bounty Points per hour for every upgrade level of the keep. The upgrade level is 1 by default when the keep is claimed. When your guild runs out of bounty points, your claim on the keep is released.

A guild can "step up" the number of GBP's they spend per hour to upgrade the various NPC's of their Keep. The guildmaster (or anyone of a realm rank that has Upgrade permissions) can use the /GC UPGRADE command to upgrade the keep's level. Each Keep will have an "upgrade" level from 1 to 10. Depending on the Keep's upgrade level, the guards, archers, patrollers and keep lord have their combat strength upgraded. An upgraded keep costs additional GBP's to support - 50 per level of upgrade. Thus, the guild will spend from 50 to 500 GBP's per hour.

To release a claim on a keep, a guild member who is of a rank that has Release privileges can use the /GC RELEASE command (from anywhere in the game). This will stop the hourly charge on your Guild Bounty Points, as well as allow you to claim a new keep.

Benefits of Owning a Keep:

- When a guild has claimed a Keep - all members of that guild and all allied guilds will gain certain bonuses when in PVP combat.(see section on Keep Bonuses, below)

- Each Keep has a 'difficulty' rating from 1 to 5. Those keeps in the guild's home frontier close to the home zones are the lowest difficulty (1). Those keeps deep within enemy territory are the highest difficulty (5). The low difficulty keeps will give very few bonuses. The high difficulty keeps will give the most bonuses.

- The guild earns (1000 * Keep Difficulty) GRP's per hour that they hold the keep

- When a guild owns a keep - all guards who spawn in that keep will spawn with the guild's emblem on their cloaks and the tagged with the guild's name.

- A banner will be placed on the keep with the guild's emblem.


Keep Bonuses:

We've added bonuses to PvP combat directly relating to the ownership of the various Frontier Keeps. All of these bonuses, as well as bonuses for the Relics, can be viewed by clicking the Bonuses button on your character sheet (this used to be the Resists page).

These bonuses only affect PVP melee damage, PVP spell damage, realm point accrual and bounty point accrual. They are:

- +1% per enemy Keep conquered by your realm in an enemy realm

- +2%xDIFF if your guild is currently holding a keep (DIFF is the outpost difficulty level 1 to 5)

- +3%xDIFF if you are defending a keep that your guild alliance is holding
For example, if your realm has conquered 5 outposts in other realms, you'll always receive a +5% bonus no matter where you are. If in addition you are in a guild holding a difficulty 3 keep just across the border, you'll get an additional +6% (total of +11%) bonus no matter where you are. If in addition you are fighting in the name region of your held keep you'll get an additional +9% (total of +20%).


Listing of Keep Difficulty Levels:

Note that each keep's difficulty is relative to each Realm. Here is a listing of the keeps and their difficulties.

Albion Keeps:
Caer Hurbury: Albion=1, Midgard=5, Hibernia=5
Caer Renaris: Albion=1, Midgard=5, Hibernia=5
Caer Boldiam: Albion=1, Midgard=4, Hibernia=4
Caer Berkstead: Albion=1, Midgard=4, Hibernia=4
Caer Erasleigh: Albion=1, Midgard=3, Hibernia=3
Caer Sursbrooke: Albion=1, Midgard=3, Hibernia=3
Caer Benowyc: Albion=2, Midgard=2, Hibernia=2

Midgard Keeps:
Fensalir Faste: Midgard=1, Albion=5, Hibernia=5
Arvakr Faste: Midgard=1, Albion=5, Hibernia=5
Hlidskialf Faste: Midgard=1, Albion=4, Hibernia=4
Glenlock Faste: Midgard=1, Albion=4, Hibernia=4
Nottmoor Faste: Midgard=1 Albion=3, Hibernia=3
Blendrake Faste: Midgard=1, Albion=3, Hibernia=3
BLedmeer Faste: Midgard=2, Albion=2, Hibernia=2

Hibernia Keeps:
Dun Scathaig: Hibernia=1, Albion=5, Midgard=5
Dun Ailinne: Hibernia=1, Albion=5, Midgard=5
Dun Da Behnn: Hibernia=1, Albion=4, Midgard=4
Dun na nGed: Hibernia=1, Albion=4, Midgard=4
Dun Bolg: Hibernia=1, Albion=3, Midgard=3
Dun Crimthainn: Hibernia=1, Albion=3, Midgard=3
Dun Crauchon: Hibernia=2, Albion=2, Midgard=2


RELIC BONUSES

We've increased the bonuses for holding each relic to +10% per relic. Your own Realm's Relics are not longer countted when figuring the bonuses. Thus, if you have both your Relics, and all four enemy Realm Relics, you will have a 20% bonus for both PVE and PVP damages for melee and spells. Note that you are still incented to hold your own relic since you can't claim another relic unless you have your own. For instance if you have your own strength relic and one other strength relic, you'll get +10% to all melee damages. In the worst case, if all your relics are taken, you'll receive no bonuses (and no penalties). Please note that you can now view this bonus information using the new "bonuses" button on your character sheet.


REALM BONUS FEEDBACK

We've buffed out the feedback given to players for RvR events:

- The "resists" button on the character sheet has been changed to "bonuses". The Bonuses window now shows all your resistances and will also show all of the above relic and outpost bonuses when you click on it.

- When your guild claims a keep, all members of the guild will get a message.

- When your guild loses a claimed keep, all members of the guild will get a message.

- When your realm conquers a keep, all members of the realm with at least one realm rank will get a message.

- When your realm loses or gains a relic, all members of the realm will get a message telling them of the change.



WORLD NOTES

Midgard Quests:

Quest : Klippa’s Claw
The journal entry for step 2 is now correct. Players should kill Klippa on step two, not Riv.


Monster Encounters

Hibernia: Sheeroe Hills: It is rumored that Maldahar has manifested new dark powers. War parties returning from the Sheeroe Hills claim to have heard Maldahar's voice in their head saying that he will steal their life.

Midgard: Malmohus: It appears that a strange variety of tree spider that was nesting near Yar's home have grown. The spiders appear to only get agitated when adventurers get close to Yar himself.

Albion: Dartmoor: Moran's guards have been spotted climbing the hill to his east. The guards have been making markings in the cliff wall where Moran has managed to heave boulders. Apparently Moran has been boasting that he could throw a human over the hill there.