06.04.02 - Dizzarian.com a new direction

This site will no longer be updated.  I'm sorry to say but AC2 was not what I expected.  I will continue to follow it closely and give updates on it but just not here.  I invite everyone who still visits this site to please update your bookmarks to the new one.  http://dizzarian.com  thank you for your continued patronage.

12.16.02 - Dizz's Diary Continues

Well it's about dang time I got off my but and wrote a new journal. I do hope you enjoy and I'll really try to get these coming more often.

To start out with on the island I went hunting on the beaches of mayoi. The main fair here is mimbu, sclavus and the occasional spawn. What's great about this area is after you spend some time here you're liable to find some Sanguine Fang potion off a Kachem Mimbu. After drinking the potion you have to kill 10 aste and 5 Essa Sclavus. The aste are easy because they are all along this area. Once you kill 10 of them either head over to Shinoko for some easy kills or if you're more a dungeon dweller you can go to inner darkness dungeon to easily get all the kills.

You can find the journal here and when your through please let me know what you think about it.

 12.12.02 - Exploits, Tactics and Choads

I really had something else in mind to write today but I just could be quite on this topic anymore. I don't know if you would call this a rant but more a definition of what all the current whining is about in game

Ok time to talk about exploits.  The boards seem to be overflowing with this topic so I think it's time to step back and evaluate exactly what is an exploit, what is a tactic, and what makes you a choad (In the words of Myscha the sled dog)

The CoC defines an exploit as this... 

well what do you know they don't define it, in fact the only reference to such a thing is combat macroing

You can find the rest of the article here. And after your through reading it post your own comment here.

 12.04.02 - Which Skill is Better?

I was going to write a little about some of the great things in dev notes but it's so amazing large and there is so much good stuff in it tha I would be a HUGE article. So just make sure you check them out if you haven't already.

For now though the Jesse the Devilmouse has give a juicy bit of info on how skills are ranked. This is great information and has changed some of my current plans with my character.

Subjugate < ( Gosammer Flesh == Soft Underbelly )

Edited:

In general, effectiveness of skills goes in this order:

Main line AOE skill < main line single target skill = spec line AOE skill < Spec line single target skill.

In general.....

"Is there a set difference in power between those, spec singles vs mainline single spells? like 50% more effective etc?"

Not so much, it varies from skill set to skill set.

So spec line is in general more powerful than main line for similar spells. This means that strictly main line characters will most likely be at a disadvantage when compared to a similar spec line character. Plan your characters well.

 11.19.02 - Dizz's Diary, it begins again

Well the game has started and so has my journals. This is a hefty journals so be prepared. I do hope you enjoy these and that it brings back a little bit of what we had in ac1. So for now go check out the first edition. And don't hesitate to let me know what you think on the forums.

 11.22.02 - AC2 is now Live!!!

I have been waiting for this day since I first heard about AC2, which was probably over a year ago. Since it's going live this will probably be the real start to meaningfull content on this site. I will start up journals asap and will start writing/collecting guides and other usefull essays.

If you would like to contribute it's very easy, either send me an email or post the information on the AC2 board. To post a journal takes a little bit more work. The general guidline is to start them on the forums and after you get 3 or so under your belt they will be hosted on the site if they fit in. I look forward to getting to know all of you guys.

Oh and I want to give a plug the alligence I am starting, the Defenders of Dereth. Here's the details

Our guild boards can be found here : http://dizzarian.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=6

We're small right now as you can probably tell from the activity on our boards but that doesn't mean all that much. A lot of guilds put a lot of work into their websites and try to grow their numbers as large as possible, that's not the case here. I don't know that we'll every have a site dedicated to DoD although it will be loosely based around my website (http://dizzarian.com/ac2). I do not care to have a 1000 members in the guild either, a couple dozen close nit players is the real push here. We're also not going to be a real strict clan with lots of rules either. I only have 3

1) Whatever you do be honarable in doing it
2) Help your fellow guild mates whenever possible
3) Have fun!

All descions will be based on those 3. So when someone ask me what my stance is on something like a money making macro, I can immediatly point to #1 and say that's doesn't sound honarable. Even then that doesn't mean anything except that it's frowned upon. As far as kingdoms go we're going to have an open door policy for now and see how the game progresses.

One last note is that our clam to fame will be our weekly quest/hunts. This will most likely be every thursday night (depending on everyone's schedule) and will involve everyone, from the lowest member to the highest. This doesn't mean we won't be doing more quest and events than this, it's just that this is an all inclusive night.

So if your more interested in the way a clan is in game than you are on some website then this could be the place for you.

I look forward to seeing all of you in game.

 11.19.02 - Finding Friends

Looking for your friends or want your friends to find you? Then I highly suggest you use Fallen Kingdom's new Friend Finder. I put in my information today and was able to find a few people with it already. This is a terrific idea.

 11.14.02 - First Dev Chat and commentary

If you're familiar with my old site you'll recognize this, for those of you that are new for each dev chat I always pick out the most important questions/answers (as I see it) and then give my own comment. So with out delay, lets get to it.

Amid99 in AsheronsCall asks: December 9th is the date set for nerfing of some overpowered skills and the buffing of many underpowered skills. Any word for the faithful on what to expect in the way of skill changes? Many future tactician's would very much like to know what 2 expect

MrQuazarr_MS says: One thing that we do not want to be afraid of during the first few months is balance changes that are necessary. While we have some feedback from beta and we made some changes accordingly, we also know we have some other balance concerns, such as some of the tactician skills, that need to be addressed our overall strategy for balance changes is to be open to them in the first month, announce them ahead of time so people are informed of what is coming, then quickly get to a point that we make them very infrequently.
David has some more details on specific changes... David...
David_Turbine says: For one thing, almost all non-instant buffs (meaning not heals) have had their vigor cost reduced to 1, making them easy to cast, even multiple times in a row. As for Tacticians... a bug where Turrets would not fire when placed on slopes has been fixed for December.
On the other hand, walls and turrets are now much less likely to "evade" attacks? After all, they don't move. How can you miss?

Dizzarian says : I do hope they keep there word on this and fix the problems early on.  AC has been balancing over 3 years almost every month. David's response has really peaked my interest it will be interesting to see how this happens.

---

BrushFire715 in AsheronsCall asks: Is there an ETA for Monster XP boosting? As of right now it gets too low after 15.

kentroop_turbine says: many of the monsters between levels 25-40 and have been given a boost to their xp for the December Episode. Players should expect this tweaking (in most cases upward) for many creatures throughout the first few months
I should clarify that it's level 25-40 solo monsters, not group monsters

Dizzarian says : I'm very glad to hear this although getting to 25 is still a little bit of trek. Although I was always fight 5 levels above my level so this works for me.

---

Qabalah_AC2HQ in AsheronsCall asks: Will you be making mage robes more on equal level with the other armor types?

David_Turbine says: Robes already have some appeal as armor because they cause less combat delay than breastplate + leggings. That being said, we'll be looking at robes along with the rest of armor as Troop mentioned already.

Dizzarian says : I'll be watching this closely. There's still a lot of analysis that needs to be done on combat delay to justify it over armor level.

---

Fuzzbot32 in AsheronsCall asks: Will AC2 run through the msn zone servers?
MrQuazarr_MS says: No
Dizzarian says : Thank the gods!

There's lots of good info in this chat and it's well worth the read. I only highlighted a couple of the items.

Check out the chat here and after you're through why don't you stop by our boards and give your own opinion.

 11.7.02 - The Straight Scoop on Masteries

No comments except that this is an important read so read it

Short answer to Godstar's question:

Yes, masteries affect spec skill to hit rate, but the majority comes from masteries.

Long babble:

When you use a base skill (not in a spec tree) that's classified as harmful, your attack score is using (greatly simplified):

Mastery + GM + Paragon + A number based on your level + "Apprproiate attack skill" (melee if an attack in a melee tree, missile if an attack in a missile tree, etc)

When you defend against a base skill, your defense is computed using:

Mastery + GM + Paragon + A number based on your level + "Apprproiate defense skill" (melee if an attack in a melee tree, missile if an attack in a missile tree, etc)

-- insert awful repeated text --

When you use a spec skill (in a spec tree) that's classified as harmful, your attack score is using (greatly simplified):

Mastery + GM + Paragon + Adept + A number based on your level + "Apprproiate attack skill" (melee if an attack in a melee tree, missile if an attack in a missile tree, etc)

When you defend against a spec skill, your defense is computed using:

Mastery + GM + Paragon + Adept + A number based on your level + "Apprproiate defense skill" (melee if an attack in a melee tree, missile if an attack in a missile tree, etc)

"Appropriate skill" is what is buffed/debuffed by effects / magic items / etc. So those rings that "improve your melee defense" are increasing this number.

In general, the importance of masteries:
Mastery < Adept / Grandmastery < Paragon.

Other stuff:

Yes, this means that two people of the same spec will have a harder time hitting one another. You know how the attack works therefore it's easier to defend against.

Yes, it also means that Adepts are much less important to those spec trees that are primarily helpful. Your heals and buffs are unaffected by Adept, they'll always land =p.

Pets' to-hit/defend varies from pet to pet. Most pets will base it on the level of the skill used to summon them, while others will use a number of the player's skills (tacticians are a good example of this).

In general, it's slightly easier to hit than it is to defend.

I think that's all.... I'll try to get back to this thread later today, but I'm in meetings so I might not be able to.

 11.7.02 - Titan Lugs

There's been a lot of speculation about some spec lines that were in early beta but not in later release. The thought was that they were saving them for release. Well Devilmouse again spoke up and cleared the haze about the subject

Their shells were in B0, but they got yanked due to time constraints (ie no time to get them working / have art done for them).

There hasn't been anything said about them coming back.

 11.6.02 - No Portal Ties for You

An informa thread was started about what skills you would like added. It was basically a thread where everyone replied they wanted portal tie. Well the mouse peeked his head out and gave this response

Portal Tie? Portal tie?!

I saw this thread and thought 'oh my... this is gonna be out there' -- but portal tie. Huh.

Color me... something that's the color of wrong.

Watch out though, if it ever did appear, it would be something else to spend precious credits on =p.

 11.4.02 - Beta Retrospect

Matthew Ford has made a substantial post about thoughts on the beta and what is to come.  It appears to be merely a cry to play the game on retail but I still appreciated it.  His key point is my key point about why I'm going to be playing AC2

Yeah, I understand if right now you’re saying, “I’ll wait to see the first few updates before I decide to play”. But if I were you I’d want to be a pioneer, not a settler. As a player, I want to get in right away, and then months later tell all the newcomers “I remember when AC2 first started, here is how the world looked and here are the things we had to do without”. It’s just a fact that those who play the game right from the start are likely to become the most powerful and respected players months and years later.

One juicy part of the letter points out that the first even is in the first weeks of December. This means we can expect the first event within 2 to 3 weeks of launch.

 11.4.02 - Last Day of Beta Events

The big fun day is here. I'm really glad they've pushed this back a day and are going to have some fun events. For those that are concerned about timing, here's the word from Ken Karl

Hey all,

I know there has been some concern that the last day of beta activities are being held on a Monday, which is a work/school day for many. I wanted to let everyone know before anything starts happeing that we have taken that into consideration in determining the timetable for the activies across all the worlds.

The bulk of the activities will be held between 2 pm and 9 pm PST.

Also, you should expect some peaks and valleys in the activities. At times things may be happening at a frantic pace, and at other times, things will be a little more subdued.

We look forward to a great last day of beta and we hope you all do too.

 11.1.02 - Amid's Beta Notes and Other Beta News

If you were around a while in AC1 you surely came upon Amid's patch notes at one time or another. Well I'm happy to say that Amid is back and has already provided a very thorough report for this beta event. Check out Amid’s Beta Event Notes… This is a complete walk-through so if you don't like spoilers it's not for you.

In other news, the new customer relations coordinator Lila Yee, has made a post conserning mounts on the official boards

To address the issue of rideable mounts, mounts are currently viewable in the end-of-beta event but they will not be rideable. Rideable mounts will be one of the many new features which the AC2 Live Team is prepping for future updates.

Sorry if this wasn't as clear as we'd have liked it to be.

Also Ken Karl had a little bit to say about the "forced pk'ing" that everyone is up in arms about

It will NOT be our intent to EVERY force you to play PK for the monthly episode storylines at release. This was a very unique opportunity to test a few things before beta ended. Much like the end of AC1s beta where the comet came from the sky and the world got destroyed, none of that carried over either.

Yeah, as part of the monthly episodes we may put in dynamics for PK/KvK, but they will be just for those players and will not be required elements for players to partake in the story. We do not plan to deviate from how we did things in AC1 in those regards.

Also don't be surprised if this is just the beginning of the event. I would suspect that it's far from over.

10.31.02 - The Mouse Squeaks

Lots of controversy over the end of beta event and the KvK aspect of it.  Devilmouse makes an appearance on the board and clears the water about a couple of things.

FYI, the "level mods" that would influence PK are the following:
. Skill points, therefore higher levels can have more skills.
. Total xp to spend on skills, therefore higher levels having more xp in skills which result in higher damages, longer durations, stronger buffs, etc.
. Being able to use higher level equipment and higher level skills thereby doing more damage, taking less, etc.
. A portion of your to-hit/defend, roughly 1/4th of your total scores, comes from level.

Past that, I can't think of any level mods in any equations.

Then there's a juicy follow-up about the calculations used in the to-hit formula

"TAG because it is good to know 25% of hit/defend is affected by level."

Not quite, it's roughly 25% of the scores used to compute hit/defend. This isn't the same thing as having a 25% chance to hit/defend based on your level, level is just used to feed into the to-hit equation, not dictate it. But the to-hit equation is not a topic I can tackle from home and have any chance of being right =p.

I Love this kind of information. You can find the thread here http://vnboards.ign.com/message.asp?topic=39274027

 10.30.02 - It's coming

Well we've all heard the news that the official release date is 11/21.  I was hoping it would be sooner but hey I'm still happy :)

Got Mine, got your?

 10.30.02 - Clan News - Name and Server Finalized

We continue to grow on beta server red, I do hope that a lot of you will be joining us when the game goes retail. When the game does go retail we will be stationed on Frostfell. Also it's taken a long time to finalize it but we have a name for our noble group : Defenders of Dereth.

If your looking to join us be sure to drop me a note in game or at the very least visit our message board here Defenders of Dereth

Also as most of you know the beta event starts tomorrow night. We will be trying to participate in this as much as we possibly can so be sure to try and play as much as you can. I'm sure it's going to be something you don't want to miss.

 10.25.02 - IGN Preview and Interview with Ken Karl

There's a great little article over at IGN.  Sure it talks about mounts and other great content that will be coming up in the game but there's some good hard information in here too. Here's the highlights

The competition among the three kingdoms is definitely a feature of the game, but one that lower level (or uninterested) players should probably be able to safely disregard while still having fun. The kingdom versus kingdom dynamic is more geared towards higher-level players anyway

So if you're low level and stressing out about what kingdom to choose, don't worry about it for a while.

The live team is actually twice as large as the first one, so we can expect even larger downloadable updates.

This is nothing but good news since this is the single biggest reason to play AC2

balancing is an issue. "The trick," says Ken, "is making player choices matter without breaking the game." To help with this process, the team will have access to a real-time database that collates and analyzes the game. It will tell them which quests are being taken and how often they're completed. If a skill is going unused, the database will reveal it. If a monster is continually killing players near its lair, the team will know about it and adjust the game accordingly. In the past this type of balance has been more art than science, relying on intuition as much as data. This time around the team will have a much better idea of what's going on within their game.

Here's the big one. I'm very pleased to see this statement. I'm sure it's a lot of data to sort through but when we complain about a certain area or what have you they can bring up actual data to support or deny it.

Your comments here

 10.23.02 - Official Opening of AC2 Site

Welcome to the latest dizzarian.com site. It's a little sparse right now but it will soon fill up with all the great information that you've come to expect. As you can see from the title, the focus has changed from the AC1 site this site will still contain my journals as well as others who submit them, but unlike the previous site this will not be only specific to mages, it will cover all races and classes. Also this site's focus will be geared toward tactics and strategies. it won't be like other sites where they give you a broad view of what's going on in AC2, instead my focus will be to bring you all the information that will give you the edge when you play AC2.

There is already an active forum for AC2 which can be found here Asheron's Call 2 Forum If you're new to the forums I want to encourage you to come. This is one of the few forums that is flame free. No question is too stupid or basic. That means you are free to ask any question or post any comment with no fear of retaliation or degrading remarks.

Lastly if you're in the market for a clan in AC2 we can provide that also. The clan is in it's beginning stages and you really don't want to miss getting in on the ground floor. We currently play on the red server so if you're interested in join in either post in our forum AC2 Clan or /tell me in game. My in-game name is, of course, dizzarian.

 10.10.02 - The State of MMORPGs (why I'm going to AC2)

I just wrote a small editorial on the current state MP games as I see it in the new AC2 Forums. I'm going to AC2, I hope to see a lot of you there.  Stay tuned if I'm serious about this then there may be a new AC2 site here at dizzarian.com

Still even though I hate the skill system, I'll get over it. And even though I'm not to thrilled with the game it does have the best development team in the industry behind it and I trust them to keep me happy with the game. There will be something new every single month and I can't wait to see what they do. I always kicked myself for missing the first month or 2 of AC1 and I'm not going to miss this one.

Yep that makes it official, I'm a fanboi The State of MMORPGs (why I'm going to AC2)