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Producer's Letter: Summer and Fall Outlook

SystemSystem Imported from: Dark Age of Camelot
edited June 2018 in News and Announcements

Vikings of Midgard, champions of Hibernia, and defenders of Albion,



As the war rages on in the Frontiers, I write to you today to provide an update on Patch 1.125's status, dive into some of its features, and to outline our plan for the rest of the year. 




Summer Outlook


Patch 1.125 development continues. While we hoped to get this update out earlier this year, there were some unforeseen issues and some technological constraints that arose and conspired to delay us. These technical issues mainly revolved around the promised Race, Gender, and Name changes. We originally planned to provide these "respec" options via the traditional character customization screen but after much work was done towards that aim and after many, many attempts at navigating the various pitfalls and risks inherent in utilizing microtransactions on the character screen, it became apparent that it would not be possible without a significant overhaul to the game client and microtransaction system.



Rather than push out Patch 1.125 many, many months to perform that work - or worse, removing the much anticipated Race change feature from the patch entirely, we decided to implement the Race and Gender change system within the game itself rather than the character screen. Unfortunately, this does mean that Name changes will no longer be on the table for the foreseeable future. One day perhaps, but 1.125 will only offer Race and Gender changes for microtransactions. We'll provide more details on exactly how the system will work in the 1.125 patch notes but we will do so in a way that allows players to preview their race and gender look prior to committing to the change.



While delays are never desired, it will still take some extra time (though much, much less than overhauling the game client and microtransaction system) to implement this in-game Race and Gender change feature. The other silver lining is that this extra time will allow us to further flesh out, polish, and test the myriad other features planned for Patch 1.125!



And while Patch 1.125 is getting delayed, you certainly deserve some more details on its features! Get comfortable and let's dive right in:





RvR currency



One of the features that we've received a ton of positive feedback and questions about is the announcement that it'll be possible to earn high-end equipment directly through RvR and we're very excited to finally unveil those plans for you! 



Previously, it was announced that a new currency, Valor, would be obtainable via the new RvR quest system that's coming. Rather than use a brand new currency that requires valuable inventory space and can only be obtained via quest or drops, we've instead decided to use the existing Bounty Point system! For many years feedback has been coming in requesting a more valuable uses for Bounty Points and we're happy to finally provide!



However, there are some balance concerns and caveats to using the existing Bounty Point system as an RvR currency while also maintaining our goal to provide a way for players to obtain high-end gear via RvR without also rendering PvE pointless:


  • Obtaining gear via Bounty Points will not be as efficient or as quick as doing the respective encounter in PvE. It is merely another option for obtaining the gear and one that has the added benefit of participating in RvR while doing so!

  • Current Bounty Point levels are highly inflated on many older characters and while newer characters have a more reasonable amount in general their values have also been inflated with the myriad bounty point bonuses and quests rewards. As such, we'll be instituting a new Bounty Point maximum with this system. Any character with more BPs than that maximum will have their new BP value set to that new maximum value when Patch 1.125 launches. Consider this letter your invitation to use those extra BPs before you lose them when the update is released.

  • We'll also be fine-tuning the amount of BPs earned via quest reward and heavily using them as an incentive in the new RvR quest system outlined below. Note: this may mean that the rate BPs are earned gets increased slightly to offset the new maximum limit and high bounty point costs.
We aren't quite ready to announce what the exact maximum BP amount will be yet, as we're still fine-tuning the system and its pricing, but it will be in the range of 50,000 to 500,000 maximum bounty points per character.



How it works:


  • Characters will be able to craft the high-end equipment (with the gear's normal stats and procs) after obtaining the following components through the various means outlined.

    • The full details of this system are still being fine-tuned but the necessary tradeskill value required to craft the items will be extremely low (1-200 skill).

    • The items will either be in their respective Tailoring, Armorcraft, Weapon, Fletching tradeskills, with crafted accessories in Jewelcraft -OR- Jewelcraft will be renamed to Bountycraft and contain all of the potential items.

  • In order to craft the items, characters will need the following:

    • 1 or more Bounty Molds 

    • 1 Recipe Template

    • 1 Bag of Glowing Dust new crafting component

    • 1 or more rare alchemy crafting components

  • Characters can visit the Bounty Merchant to purchase 1 or more of the following items for varying amounts of bounty points:

    • Bounty Weapon Mold

    • Bounty Armor Mold

    • Bounty Accessory Mold

    • Bounty Molds will NOT be tradable

  • Characters will also be able to earn a new <Type> Recipe Template item from RvR quests and (rarely from) keep chests.

    • The <type> will be the category of item that can be made (ex: Curse, Otherworldly, Aurulite, Frozen, Hallowed, etc.) from the template.

    • These categories are also the way the equipment will be categorized in the recipe list.

    • Recipe Templates WILL be tradable

  • The Bag of Glowing Dust component will be purchaseable from any normal general supplies crafting merchant for 2.5 plat or can be crafted at 1000 Alchemy for around 1 plat in generic component costs.

    • The Bag of Glowing Dust WILL be tradable

  • The crafted high-end equipment that results from this new system will NOT be tradable.
In addition to crafting high-end loot as described, players will also be able to purchase the following on Bounty Merchants, directly:


  • Otherworldly Ore

  • Essences of Omni-Healing, Omni-Regen, Tenacity, and Restoration

  • Randomized Copper, Silver or Gold Keep keys for each keep

  • Some event items directly

  • Randomized crafting component box

  • Magic Orbs

  • Randomized Doppelganger Shards

    • These will no longer drop Magic Orbs or Draught of Supremacy/Celerity shards

  • And more!

RvR Quest and Reward Streamlining



We're also tackling some of the extraneous RvR quests and rewards and streamlining them into a more coherent system that will supplement the new RvR currency system and still deliver the same or even more rewards without cluttering up inventory while out RvRing!


  • New weekly or monthly repeatable quests will be offered by Commander Wentworth, Commander Hrurdin, and Commander Locke in each realm's relic towns that will offer bounty point rewards:

    • The Royal Accountant's quest 'A New Threat in an Old Form' will have its steps to kill each of the Doppelganger lords as well as 25 normal doppelgangers consolidated into a new weekly repeatable quest.

      • This quest will grant realm points in addition to the bounty point reward.

    • The statue quests Tribute: Conqueror, Enforcer, and Peerless will be consolidated into a single monthly quest requiring characters to capture 40 keeps, kill 150 realm enemies, and gather 50 supplies and 50 rubble.

      • This quest will offer the statue quests' normal potion rewards in addition to bounty points.

  • A new weekly repeatable quest that requires players to gather randomly spawned crates in Ellan Vannin's dock areas, ruins, and around Knoc Meayll.

    • This quest will be obtainable from and turned into the Ellan Vannin Cargomasters.

    • Due to its more dangerous locale than the Supplies for the Cause quest, it is intended for veteran players and its rewards will reflect that.

  • Daily RvR kill quests will remain generally unchanged except for the following:

    • The Battle of Buggane's Obelisk quest will now grant credit for its kills over the entire zone it currently resides.

    • Hibernia's Buggane's Obelisk location will be moved to Breifine in the area between Dun nGed and Dun da Behnn

    • Roaming with Friends and For the Realm will no longer grant credit unless the target of the kill is in a group.

  • Supplies for the Cause

    • The quest will now only be obtainable from and turned into the Caer Benowyc, Bledmeer Faste, and Dun Crauchon Cargomasters.

    • Supplies and Rubble no longer spawn on Ellan Vannin, as this quest is more intended for newer players.

    • Supply boxes will still spawn in the Ruined areas with rubble still spawning in the maze areas.

  • Otherworldly Flora will now only have a chance to drop the following:

    • Essence of Celerity

    • Essence of Supremacy

    • Nothing

  • Pict Vigilant Belts are now part of the Chieftain's loot tables.

  • Several quests and rewards will no longer be offered or obtainable through their existing means:

    • Doppelgangers will no longer drop their shards. 

    • Otherworldly Ore will no longer spawn in the Frontiers

    • Keep keys will no longer drop from keep lords

    • Royal Accountant's Anatomy of a Foe quest will no longer be offered

    • Royal Accountant's A New Threat in an Old form will no longer be offered

    • Scouting Ellan Vannin quest will no longer be offered

    • The Ongoing Pictish Nuisance quest will no longer be offered

    • The statue-based Tribute: Conqueror, Enforcer, and Peerless quests will only be doable 1 time instead of monthly repeatable.

Other 1.125 highlights


  • 2 new race/class combinations per realm

  • Keep and tower difficulty adjustments, including attackable ‘postern’ doors that protect keep gatehouses’ boiling oil areas!

  • Ruined Area improvements!

  • Class Changes

  • Crash-related bug fixes

  • A new keep-siege dynamic objective system which will be implemented in the Molvik battleground in 1.125 and will potentially be extended in later versions to the other battlegrounds and the Frontier keeps if well-received.

  • Mithril-purchaseable masks that even Minotaurs can wear!

  • Visible cooldown timers for spell icons on the quickbar and active buff/debuff area!

  • Item condition loss reductions!

  • Craft window delve updates!

  • And more!




Fall Outlook


Once patch 1.125 has released, we'll be shifting our development resources towards the Endless Conquest update. To recap: Endless Conquest will provide a way to enjoy Dark Age of Camelot without a subscription cost! As mentioned in some previous Grab Bags this option will now be made available to returning and new accounts rather than just newly created ones. This change does increase the scope of the Endless Conquest update considerably but we strongly believe it's the right way forward for Dark Age of Camelot!



Once patch 1.125 is out, we'll be updating the Endless Conquest page with our new plans and a new list of EC-account restrictions! WIth these new Endless Conquest plans and the delay to patch 1.125, we no longer expect to release the Endless Conquest update in 2018 and are instead targeting the first half of 2019.



But fear not, we'll be providing content Hot Fix updates throughout the intervening period while we work on the Endless Conquest and there are several events to look forward to too!


  • A new Fall Harvest event!

  • DAoC's 17th Anniversary celebration!

  • The Mournful King and Jack Frost instances!

  • The usual Holiday events

  • Realm Point and Bounty Point bonuses!
We also hope to have the new Camelot website ready this Fall! 



Thank you for taking the time to read through this letter and we hope you share our excitement for what's coming to Dark Age of Camelot!



Onward,



John Thornhill

Producer





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