Editing Announcements - 2002/10 - Festivus (section)

== Letter to the Players ==

{{Microsoft Games Insider
 |  Link = <nowiki>http://microsoftgamesinsider.com/AC1/lttp1002.htm?nc=1</nowiki>
 | Title = October Letter to the Players
 |  Text =
'''October 11th, 2002'''
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First, thanks to all for the feedback we've been receiving on the boards at <font color=#FFFFCC><nowiki>http://www.accmty.com</nowiki></font> and <font color=#FFFFCC><nowiki>http://forums.turbinegames.com</nowiki></font>. It's been very helpful for us, and we appreciate the community's participation. Last month was quite exciting with the defeat of Gaerlan, and we received great feedback on this very unique quest. The month of October brings the traditional season of festivities to Dereth, and this year's will not disappoint!  From new masks to new dungeons, this month has many exciting additions for you.
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Before I address some of the content and changes this month, please read this important notice regarding Skill Level Changes; it's fairly detailed to give you the complete rundown. This has been posted for some time now, but in case you didn't read it, we wanted to include it in the Letter to the Players.
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'''<big>Skill Level Changes</big>'''
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Some recent changes to our internal systems have resulted in two changes involving skill levels that will occur with the next update. This letter explains these changes in excruciating detail.
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First, we should give you some background. The level of a skill is made up of three different parts: the part that comes from your attributes, the part that comes from the experience points you have invested into the skill, and the "free" points that get added in on top of the other two parts. Note that the part from experience points includes both proficiency points earned by using the skill, character points that you spent on the skill, and some quest rewards (such as from turning in tessera). Also note that we have never previously used the third category, the "free" points.
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''Specialization Bonus

With this update, we are changing the nature of the bonus that you get when specializing a skill at character creation. This change will be retroactive-that is, it will apply to all existing characters with specialized skills as well as to new characters created after the update.
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Previously, when you specialized a skill at creation, you were awarded 671 free experience points into that skill. That experience gave you 10 levels' worth of skill, but it also increased the experience cost of the next skill level. After the update, you will not receive any free experience for a specialized skill, but you will instead receive 10 "free" levels of that skill. These levels are added onto the levels from your attributes and the levels from invested experience, and therefore do not affect the cost of your next skill level.
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Existing characters that have specialized skills will lose the 671 experience points (that they were given at creation) from that skill, but they will receive in exchange the same 10 "free" levels that new characters receive. Note that losing 671 experience points may drop your skill level one or more levels, so that you may not immediately be a full 10 levels higher in a specialized skill. Investing 671 more experience points into the skill, however, will make up this difference.
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Also note that this change only applies to specialized skills. There is no change to the nature of the bonus you get when training a skill at creation. Training a skill at creation will continue to give you 526 free experience points in that skill, which is enough experience to purchase the first 5 levels of your skill.
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''Regarding Quest Skill Experience Rewards
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As mentioned above, quests that reward you skill points, like the tessera and the Scroll of Dark Rain, actually increase the level of invested experience in your skill. Because of a flaw in the experience system, it used to be possible to use the rewards from certain quests to raise the level of a specialized skill above the maximum normal level. That is, you could invest experience points in the skill until it was at its maximum level from experience, and then turn in tessera to raise the skill another 1-5 levels. If you tried to accomplish this same goal with a trained skill, however, you would still use up the tessera, but you would receive no lasting benefit.
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This behavior was never intended, and recent changes to the internal structure of the experience system no longer allow it. From now on, trained and specialized skills will behave the same way with respect to tessera: if you have already invested the maximum experience possible into the skill, then quest rewards like the tessera or the Scroll of Dark Rain will not benefit you in any way. We strongly recommend, therefore, that you do not attempt to receive a quest reward for a skill in which you've already invested the maximum amount of experience. Indeed, we have always recommended this.
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Characters who have already used quest rewards to raise the level of a specialized skill above the normal maximum will lose the excess levels of that skill with the next update. For example, let's say that Bob has invested experience to get his war magic skill to 223. (Note that we are only talking about the part of his skill level that comes from experience here; we're ignoring the part from attributes.) Then he turned in 5 war magic tessera. His war magic skill is now 2 levels above the normal maximum from experience, or 228. After the update, Bob's war skill will lose those 2 excess levels, and his war magic skill from experience will be 226. Of course, since Bob has war magic specialized-and we know that he must, or he wouldn't have been able to get those excess points from tessera-he also receives the 10 free levels for having the skill specialized. Overall, his war magic goes up 8 levels.
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Now, let's move on to the summary of the changes and additions for October.
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'''Hollow and Phantom Missile Weapons:'''
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Many of you have patiently waited, and now poppa's got a brand new bag... er, quiver.  We created them, played with them, tweaked them, re-tweaked them, and now we're finally satisfied with their performance. We have added Hollow and Phantom missile weapons to the game!  Sorry for holding off on them for so long, but we wanted to make sure they balanced well for both Player vs. Environment and Player vs. Player.  The arrows are obtained through a quest similar to (but different than) the hollow melee weapon quest.  Happy hunting!
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'''New Tinkering Effects:'''
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This month sees the introduction of three new Tinkering effects.  The first uses Item Tinkering to increase the maximum amount of mana a magical item can hold.  The second uses Magic Item Tinkering to increase the mana conversion modifier on magic casters-wands, orbs, staffs, and scepters. Note that this Magic Item Tinkering effect is not an imbue; it follows the same rules as normal Tinkering and not the special imbue rules.
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'''Ivory Tinkering:'''
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While this is not Tinkering in the strictest sense (as it does not require a Tinkering skill to apply and therefore you cannot fail), it does allow you to change a limited number of no-give/no-drop quest items in order to either store these items or give them to another character. Please note, however, that these quest items will only be wieldable by their original owner. The specific quest items that you can affect this month are:

:*Hollow Missile Weapons
:*Deadly Hollow Melee Weapons
:*Phantom Weapons
:*Gaerlan's wands and robes
:*Martine's mask and robe
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We will be adding this feature to additional quest items as time goes on. Since it requires that we modify each weapon, not all will be immediately available. Look for more over the coming months.
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'''Misc. Tinkering Improvements:'''
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Several of the original sets of Tinkering effects now have a more pronounced effect. Here's a quick chart for your reference:
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:{{{!}}cellpadding=5 style=background:#000033;color:#CC9900
!align=left{{!}} Tinkering Effect
!align=left{{!}} Old Benefit
!align=left{{!}} New Benefit
{{!}}-
{{!}} Burden Reducing
{{!}} - 10%
{{!}} - 25%
{{!}}-
{{!}} Value Increasing
{{!}} + 10%
{{!}} - 25%
{{!}}-
{{!}} Value Reducing
{{!}} - 10%
{{!}} - 25%
{{!}}-
{{!}} Slashing Resistance Increasing
{{!}} + 0.1
{{!}} + 0.2
{{!}}-
{{!}} Piercing Resistance Increasing
{{!}} + 0.1
{{!}} + 0.2
{{!}}-
{{!}} Bludgeoning Resistance Increasing
{{!}} + 0.1
{{!}} + 0.2
{{!}}-
{{!}} Acid Resistance Increasing
{{!}} + 0.1
{{!}} + 0.4
{{!}}-
{{!}} Cold Resistance Increasing
{{!}} + 0.1
{{!}} + 0.4
{{!}}-
{{!}} Fire Resistance Increasing
{{!}} + 0.1
{{!}} + 0.4
{{!}}-
{{!}} Lightning Resistance Increasing
{{!}} + 0.1
{{!}} + 0.4
{{!}}-
{{!}} Tighten Damage Variance
{{!}} 0.2
{{!}} 20%
{{!}}-
{{!}} Speed Decreasing
{{!}} - 5
{{!}} - 50
{{!}}-
{{!}}}
Note that the variance Tinkering changed from being an additive effect to being a multiplicative effect.  Also note that these changes are not retroactive; items which have already been Tinkered will not benefit from the changes.
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'''Gaerlan Quest Changes:'''
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The quest to face Gaerlan has gone through some significant changes to make the quest more accessible and to address the bugs that were found after the release of the quest. Overall we are pleased with the results of the quest, but there were some areas that we found were a little too harsh (or too easy), and the difficulty has been adjusted accordingly. Additionally, some of the rewards were found to have bugs with the spells, damage, variance, and restrictions that were placed on them. These have been addressed and rectified. Here are the primary changes:
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:* Start points for the quest have been moved to the places where the essences once lived. A unique creature there will begin the quest when it dies. Be warned it will take a while for that creature to appear.
:* The access to the valley should now be impossible. If you do find an area of the landscape that is still passable, please send a report to bugs.zone.com or post a thread on the accmty.com website.
:* The golem will now know if you belong in the valley. This means that those of you that find any passable landscape will be unceremoniously expelled.
:* The golems within the ziggurats will now be there 24/7/365.
:* Gaerlan's rewards will now be given to all players that take part in the fight against him.
:* Gaerlan's sword has been buffed for the High and Extreme levels.
:* Rolling Death now places you in a safe spot upon entry. But you should still be very careful when you enter because something has changed about the dungeon.
:* A portal to the Citadel Library has been placed in Eastham for players that are killed by the aspect of Gaerlan.
:* Gaerlan should no longer spawn after being killed. Be considerate when you kill him, move along, nothing more to see here.
:* Raudaloi now does Slashing on High power and Piercing on low power.
:* Raudaloi now has a variance more on par with other swords.
:* The four versions of Taulandoi now have Moderate War Magic Aptitude. The mana rate has not been changed.
:* Saelgauloi now has a 225 Missile Requirement and can be dropped. This should make it as usable as the shield.
:* Dauloirae has been given Blade Protection 5, and has had its protection against blade raised slightly.
:* Palauloi has had its damage bonus increased to 140%.
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'''PK Logoff Changes:'''
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After reviewing the recent Player Killer logoff delay, we've decided that some changes are necessary to prevent escaping instantly during a PK fight.  For all you PK'ers out there, after you are attacked by another player, you'll find that you will not be able to use any portal or recall spell for the next 20 seconds. In addition to this, if you have been attacked by another Player Killer within the past two minutes, the 20-second logoff time will be applied to you; otherwise, Player Killers will logoff normally.
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We hope you enjoy this festive month in Dereth. Next month's update is taking form, and it's shaping up to be some good content. We'll see you next month, and thanks for playing!
}}