Producer's Letter
Stuart Zissu

Greetings!

Here's the latest news about what's going on behind the scenes with Camelot. We've recently been doing some soul searching about what it is that makes DAoC such a wonderful game. We talked to veteran players, some new players, conversed with Mythic staff members, and read your comments on our Facebook page. Consistently, the one answer we came away with over and over again was RvR; Realm vs. Realm combat is what keeps you here year after year. With that in mind, I'd like to talk to you about two things, issues we are currently investigating, and the focus of our next milestone: RvR.

So where to start? Well, we've been aggressively investigating performance and lag issues with a special focus on what is commonly referred to as "lag ghosting". We realize that things like ghosting can have a negative impact on your RvR experience, so we're going to be devoting very valuable Engineering resources to resolving it in addition to other persisting performance concerns.

Another upcoming focus will be a big scrub through the Realm Ability system. First off, we are adding multiple levels to many of the Realm Abilities. Many of the abilities that currently cap at level 5 have been expanded to level 9. Similarily, abilities which previously capped at level 3 have been raised to level 5. Now before anyone get's concerned, we're not actually increasing the power of these abilities; rather we're making their progression more incremental, allowing for greater customization of your Realm Ability templating. Here's an example of what we're talking about:

Level 5 Augment Dexterity currently increases your Dex by 48 points. The new level 9 version will do the same, but now you have more choices as to where and when you want to stop investing in this ability. The biggest gain will be seen from players who felt that one level of a Realm Ability was too little, but the next level was too much. Now they can save a few points and put them into another ability. In addition, players who are just starting out in RvR will have more options as to where to put their first few precious points.

And since we're already diving into the Realm Ability code, why not also take a look at the Realm Rank 5 abilities as well? Some of these abilities are awesome; some, not so much. In many cases, we'll simply be tweaking the values on abilities, while other abilities will be redesigned from the ground up. In the case of the latter, our aim is a marked improvement over their current incarnation. More information about these tweaked and redesigned Realm Rank 5 abilities is forthcoming as we draw closer to the next milestone.

Lastly, we are hard at work on the next Live Event. This event is the culmination of the story arc started by the invasion of Arnak from the depths of Darkness Falls. Now the Heroes from each Realm will lead the charge to the center of the conflict, and bring the fight into the demonic dungeon. It's sure to be a fun ride, and we hope that you can experience the final chapter of this story with us in the coming weeks.

The development of Camelot is a precious entrustment, and we're focused on delivering these changes to you as soon as humanly possible. Keep your eyes posted to the Herald for more development details. Until then, keep up the good fight, and we'll see you in the Frontiers.