[ddo] schlurp.

[Leigh Murphy]

Sep 25th 2006, 15:30 GMT
Weekly development activities (September 25, 2006)
Weekly Development Activities (September 25, 2006)

*In QA*
These items are in QA and should be a part of Module 3.

*Performance*


   - The landscape renderer has been overhauled to provide better
   performance (especially load times). In addition, the new landscape engine
   enables huge draw distances that were not possible before.
   - The overall frame rate has been improved and 'hitching' reduced.
   - Avatars and monsters are now a bit brighter than other objects (the
   intensity depends upon the environment and lighting conditions).
   - Overall bandwidth of the game will be reduced another 1-3%, and
   certain problematic dungeons and laggy areas will be significantly improved
   by 20-50% (when your client gets flooded with information about objects in
   your local area).



*UI Improvements*


   - The text on the XP bar has been clarified to make it more obvious
   that you have not lost the XP you were accruing toward your bonus AP when
   you die and get an XP debt while you are working toward bonus action points.

   - You will now get chat feedback in the combat window when you hit
   someone with a non-damaging spell (like fear or slow).
   - The "New Mail" icon will now appear on the Focus Orb even if it is
   minimized.
   - The "To" and "Subject" line of the Compose Mail UI no longer accept
   carriage returns.



*General*


   - Phantasmal killer is now a fear effect.  OH NO JOE!!
   - The Silver Flame has recognized that the brothers stationed in
   Taverns have been casting an inferior version of Restoration. From now on,
   the spell cast in taverns will remove 1 negative level in addition to all
   the other Restoration effects.
   - Players will no longer get stuck while dismounting from ladders. OH
   NO BASTARDS!!
   - We are pleased to announce the addition of the /showhelmet command
   which can be used to hide your helmet graphic. OH FINALLY MY
   DREADLOCKS CAN SWING FREE AGAIN!!
   - We are improving the combat/damage feedback mechanism. This will not
   only eliminate "false" hits where the target would flinch but no attack roll
   would take place, but also give better feedback as to the strength of the
   hit.
   - When you successfully swap a spell, you will now get an alert
   telling you that it worked.
   - Poison dart and poison grenade traps will now actually poison you
   instead of doing poison hp damage. DANG
   - Lava Cam! When your camera is in lava, it now looks more like it's
   in lava, as opposed to water. LIKE IT MATTERS - YOU DIE
   - Made some small tweaks to our avatar animations. For example, human
   female's wrists won't twist in the dual weapon combo attack, dwarven arms
   won't over-extend when they use an axe to cleave, etc. DOES THIS MEAN
   ODILE'S ASS WON'T EXTEND??



*Monsters*


   - Spiders

      - Some mid- and high-level (mostly CR 7 and up) spiders have new
      stronger poisons.
      - Most spiders on the hard and elite settings have had their
      attack damage reduced significantly, particularly those on the elite
      setting.
      - Widow type spiders will once again shoot functional webs.

   - *NEW*- The mind flayer and vampire's dominate abilities no longer
   dispel protection from evil.
   - Some ogres have been eating their veggies and will be able to see
   and hear better than they could before.
   - Several bow wielding enemies will now shoot various energy arrows
   like flaming arrows or cold arrows. These will do the typical piercing
   damage (1d6 and up) in addition to various amounts of energy damage.
   - Several resourceful enemies have begun using various alchemical
   substances in battle. In most cases, these will affect players as energy
   damage over time.
   - Elemental Empathy will work properly on Earth Elementals that have
   used their Earthgrab ability.
   - More powerful versions of Mummy Rot are now labeled accordingly:
   Pernicious Mummy Rot is more dangerous than regular Mummy Rot, and Virulent
   Mummy Rot is even more lethal.
   - Female humanoid villains will no longer charge into melee range if
   armed with spells or bows.
   - We are fixing an issue with the death animations of Arcane
   Skeletons. They will no longer "eat collectables" they should be creating.



*Combat*


   - All enemy trips and knockdowns now have dual saves (an initial save
   and a secondary save). Most give you an ability modifier check for the
   initial save to determine whether or not you fall. This is usually your
   Strength or Dexterity modifier, whichever is greater on your character. Some
   knockdowns like grease give a reflex save as the initial save. Once you fall
   down, your secondary save checks will occur every two seconds and are versus
   your balance skill to determine when you stand back up.



*Spells*

Spell Changes


   - Resist Energy is now available for clerics, paladins, rangers, and
   wizards. Protection from Energy is now available to Rangers, Wizards, and
   Clerics. This change allows these classes to cast Protection From Energy and
   Resist Energy the same way a sorcerer can, by memorizing a single spell and
   then choosing which damage type to ward against. The days of memorizing
   several Resist Energy: (Element) are no more! LOVE YOU GUYS, NO MORE
   POTS FOR ME.
   - *NEW*- Protection from Evil has been fixed to work correctly. It no
   longer protects against *all* charms and compulsions (including Otto's,
   command, hold monster/person, etc). Rather, it only protects against charms
   and compulsions that give ongoing mental control, such as the vampire's
   dominate ability. Also, as per D&D rules, it no longer protects against
   mental control from evil creatures, but ALL mental control, regardless of
   the target's alignment.
   - *NEW*- Holy smite will now work damage spiders.
   - *NEW*- The Teleport spell no longer has a Somatic casting component
   so players will not suffer an arcane spell failure chance for Teleport while
   wearing armor.
   - *NEW*- Niac's cold ray now uses the proper ray cast animation.


Metamagic Fixes LOOKS GOOD??


   - *NEW*- Resistance, Restoration, Raise Dead and See Invisibility
   spells can now be used with the Eschew Materials feat.
   - *NEW*- Find Traps, Ice Storm, Magic Missile, Scorching Ray and
   Searing Light no longer consume additional spellpoints while the Heighten
   Spell feat is active.
   - *NEW*- Holy Smite and Niac's Cold Ray can now be used with the
   Heighten Spell feat.
   - *NEW*- Dismissal no longer consumes extra spell points while the
   Maximize or Empower spell feats are active.
   - *NEW*- Feeblemind and Waves of Fatigue no longer consume extra spell
   points while the Extend Spell feat is active.
   - *NEW*- Ray of Exhaustion can now be used with the Heighten spell
   feat.
   - *NEW*- Sleet Storm no longer consumes addition spell points while
   the Heighten spell feat is active.
   - *NEW*- Wall of Fire

      - No longer consumes additional spellpoints while the Heighten
      spell feat is active.
      - Wall of Fire can now be used with the Extend Spell feat.

   - *NEW*- Shocking grasp can now be affected by the Heighten Spell
   metamagic feat.
   - *NEW*- Solid Fog and Grease no longer consume additional spellpoints
   when under the effects of the Heighten Spell metamagic feat.
   - *NEW*- Melf's Acid Arrow no longer consumes additional spellpoints
   while the heighten spell feat is active.


Spell Description Updates
(these are just text changes, not changes to spell functionality)


   - *NEW*- Spell descriptions now use color for greater readability!
   - *NEW*- Player spells will now state in their descriptions if the
   spell has a saving throw to resist, and if so, the results of a successful
   save.
   - *NEW*- Ray of Enfeeblement description fixed, it had been indicating
   an extraneous +1 STR damage that it did not do, and was missing max caster
   level information.
   - *NEW*- Hold spells have been updated to state that they have a save
   interval.
   - *NEW*- Player spells that have a max Hit Dice cap should now state
   this in their description.
   - *NEW*– Melf's Acid Arrow description has been updated to list the
   correct interval.
   - *NEW*– Wall of Fire description now been updated to include damage
   amounts.



*Skills & Abilities*


   - *NEW*- The magnitude of the bonus provided by Action Boost: Attack
   and Action Boost: Skills have been reduced at the higher level enhancements.
   FFS-HAVEN'T EVEN GOTTEN THERE YET.
   - Bards can now activate their singing abilities while moving! The
   activation time on their singing abilities has been reduced significantly as
   well. An animation glitch has also been fixed!
   - The description for the Paladin's Lay on Hands ability has been
   corrected to better describe the amount of healing/damage that the ability
   does. "YOUR ASS HAS BEEN PALADINISED"




*Under Development*
These items are currently in development and are scheduled for some time
Module 3.

I should really be studying. looking forward to tomorrow, Leigh

-- 
Leigh Murphy,
Højmarken 13, Gevninge,
4000 Roskilde,
Danmark.
(H) + 45 46 36 02 20 (M) + 45 50 59 80 25

photos www.dspsrv.com/leigh
Skype: LeighSter
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