According to the Camelot Herald, Matt Firor, the producer for Camelot, speaks and let's us in on a few things and clarifies a few others. Please note what he warns about the use of macros. This is a good time to update all of you with what's going on with Camelot's development. I try to do these updates from time to time, but alas, I never seem to be able to do them as often as I'd like. First and foremost, I'd like to give everyone my best holiday wishes. I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday. Feature List Update I'd like to update you all on the list of items that Mark posted here on the Herald on December 7, and give you the status report. The good news is that we're going to have almost everything on that list up on Pendragon by the first week in January for testing. The bad news is that there are a couple of items that will not make it and they are: - The water and lava texture and visual uprade. Basically, we're moving to a totally new engine at some point in 2002, and if we made any water/lava changes now, we'd have to do them again in the new engine. The time that it would take in order to truly improve the water and lava effects can be better used elsewhere for the game. - We're not going to have the 50th level "Epic" quests done by the first week of January. The reason: we're revamping the 40th level quests to be, well, more "epic", which entails stretching them out over the entire course of levels 40-50, and culminating in one super 50th level quest. This is far cooler than having separate quests for 40 and 50. Now, they will all be bound together - which of course, is much more work. So, we have to move out the deadline on those. I'll make another post during the week of the 7th describing the new stuff, how it will work, and update you on any changes to this list. Macro Programs We are aware of the various macro programs that players are using to artificially level their characters. For those that aren't aware of these, macro programs "drive" your character around the world and fight monsters for you. This is, of course, directly counter to our code of conduct, and we will be taking steps to stop macroing, including taking action against those that are using it. Consider yourselves warned. Assassin Classes We know that many players of Camelot are devoted to the Assassin classes of the game (Infiltrator, Shadowblade, Nightshade). Camelot launched with the classes implemented, but not fully effective. Since release, we've added a lot to these classes, including the addition of Safe Fall, redoing combat styles so that these classes do more damage than they used to, and tuning up the way that envenoming weapons (and poison damage) works. We know we're not done with the class - we have a couple of high level skills to add, and there's always tuning and tweaking to be done. However, the proliferation of high level assassin classes shows that the classes are now viable. Hibernia There is a perception that Hibernia is somehow "weak" compared to the other two Realms. We're actively looking into why this perception exists. We've made some changes to help Hibernia - on Pendragon right now are some long-awaited spell additions. Also, their high level dungeon has been (finally) itemized, so now high level characters can find decent equipment. Even though we know the Realm is solid, we'll contine to add tweaks and changes (some in the patch coming the first week of January) to ensure that Hibernia remains the viable option is always has been. Midgard and the Stunning Problem We are aware of the intense dislike by Albion and Hibernian PvP'ers of the Midgard caster area-of-effect stun spells. We're looking into why these cause so much trouble for the other Realms, and will be taking appropriate action. We think we *may* have identified a bug which allows the stun to last longer than it should, and if that is correct, we will fix it. Also expect stun resistence spells shortly.