Time for another Grab Bag!

Work and testing on patch 1.127 continues with some exciting market explorer search improvements, new housing models and textures, Endless Conquest tweaks, tons of bug fixes, and more coming soon! We also want to remind folks that House Repossession for account inactivity will be re-enabled with 1.127 (not house rent!). Anyone with a currently condemned house and an active account needn't worry though, their house will be fixed to show the correct, active state when the patch comes out and we'll give an additional 3-day grace period for any houses that are meant to be repossessed. More details to come with the test server notes in the coming weeks!

Thanks, as always, to everyone for your questions! You can submit any questions relating to current development plans, to request clarification on basic game mechanic questions, or questions on community issues through the Grab Bag Submission form. For any other feedback or suggestions please use our feedback form.

Continue reading for the questions :)

Does the Merchants Cloak of Winters ability, stun block, negate melee stuns as well?

No, all Stun Feedback abilities only prevent casted stuns. 

Can a toon have more than 10 percent melee resists? i.e. melee resist ring plus ow/belt/staff etc

There are some melee resist bonus abilities that grant more than 10% to those resistances such as the Pictslayer Runic Mace (20%, though a shorter duration) as well as class abilities like Impervious Skin in the Dementia specialization for Vampiirs (22%).

If the question is more about whether or not these various abilities from items or classes will stack together, then the answer is no. The highest item-based melee resist bonus will overwrite any lower versions when using two or more item-based melee resist buff abilities simultaneously and when using an item-based and class-based melee resist buff at the same time they will co-exist but not stack, with only the highest delve version applying.

What are the details behind the forest eldritch /use on the Animist loyalty cloak? What is the range of its bolt? How many attackers can it attack at once? What is the damage type of its bolt?

The Forest Eldritch pet’s bolt is 1875 range, can only hit 1 target at a time (though the pet can switch targets), and uses Matter damage.

Is 1% celerity, 1 point in quickness or unrelated? If you’ve the 37% celerity from warden do you still need to cap quickness?

Quickness stats/buffs, TOA melee haste% stats, haste% buffs, celerity and the weapon’s speed are all factors in determining overall swing speed. The slower the weapon speed, the more of all of the stats and buffs you will need to reach the 1.5s swing speed cap.

For classes like the Warden that use 1-handed weapons, which are generally much faster than 2-handed, it can be possible to obtain the 1.5s swing speed cap without capping quickness, yes. We aren’t going to give out the exact formula here but there are several 3rd party tools that will give a great approximation of how much of each stat you need to reach the swing speed cap!

In the past it was said that raising base con and hitpoints would transfer to a necro pet (spirit aegis). Lately i was doing some testing and i have found that the necro pet has a 3000 hitpoint cap. Increasing base con, hitpoints, buffed or unbuffed before pet creation, 25% buff bonus, or increasing con/hitpoints with items in temps. Nothing seems to increase the HP of a pet. Why is this and when did it change? Also what does transfer to the pet. Does melee dmg and speed in a temp affect the pet? Does RA Toughness still work on the pet as well?

The Necromancer class was revamped in Patch 1.122B to no longer be totally reliant on their pets. This means that the design of the class changed as well as many of their abilities and functions. Pets cast by Necromancers do not receive any benefit from the Necromancer’s stats now. However, like all other class pets, buffs cast on the pet will increase the Necromancer pet’s melee absorption, causing it to take much less damage.

From the 1.122B notes:

The Necromancer revamp brings forth a new and exciting direction to a class that has been at its best, difficult to manage, balance, and play; and at its worst, broken. Still, the decision to embark on this new direction did not come easily and is not without risk but it’s one that we feel strongly in as the best to take the class. The seeds of this idea were planted many years ago, back within the halls of Mythic Entertainment, and we’re happy to finally see them blossom.

Before getting into the specific changes in the notes below, we wanted to outline some of the big-picture mechanical changes to the class:
 

• Generally-speaking, there are 3 “classes” in one here, based on specialization: a pure caster, a melee/caster hybrid, and a pet-based, utility caster. These 3 variations of the class should cover much of what the original necromancer class could do but in a way that makes their impact on the battlefield more dynamic, direct, and approachable to more players.
• The current mechanic involving the invulnerable Necromancer shade controlling and exclusively acting through their pet is no longer part of the class. The class will still be a unique, largely pet-based class but the aforementioned pet-dynamic will no longer exist and instead the Necromancer itself will use powerful new forms and abilities to act out its will directly on the battlefield.
• These three forms or shapeshifts are augmented by their respective spec-line and also augment the abilities within their spec-line. We’ve tried to make them work seamlessly across all three specializations, and where appropriate, limited certain abilities (pets) to certain forms.
• The melee-oriented form clearly brings some new itemization questions into play. If specializing in the melee-oriented line, players will want to gain melee-related stats like quickness, constitution, hits, armor factor, melee damage, melee haste, and style damage as well as the casting stats they already desire. To make things easier on players, intelligence (and not strength) will be used as the main melee damage and weaponskill stat. Some of the abilities in the spec-line address this itemization need directly already and we’ll be introducing new items that accommodate this going forward.

Enjoy the weekend, and see you in the frontiers! :)