Yesterday I wrote an email to Geoffrey Zatkin regarding Lullaby and Pixie
Strike and received a brief reply. I'll post the Arch Mage's replay first,
since I know it's what everyone wants to see. My email to him follows.
Sidebar:
Zatkin's computer date is at least one day ahead, as I received the email
from him on Friday (10.12.99) morning after having sent my mail on Thursday
(9.12.99) afternoon. The time is likely correct at 9:32pm as I had checked
my email as late as 7:00pm on Thursday.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Geoffrey Z. [mailto:gzatkin@...]
> Sent: Saturday, December 11, 1999 9:32 PM
> To: JasonF
> Subject: Re: Thank You & Bard Songs
>
>
>
>
> I have our testing department checking this out.
>
> Be aware, however, that higher level creatures save
> better against these spells then lower level ones do.
>
>
>
>
> Geoffrey C. Zatkin
> Arch-Mage of Norrath
> _______________________________________________________
> Game Designer: Verant Interactive
>
Mr. Zatkin,
Thank you for a wonderful game. As a 35 year old professional programmer
myself, I have a very good idea of what it takes to design and complete an
effort as massive as EverQuest. Verant has done an outstanding job.
Is there someone at Verant in Testing/QA/QC that would be more appropriate
to send email to regarding testing the subtleties of Bard songs?
Jason Farque'
--------
In recent email communications between you and another Bardic player, you
indicated that there have been no changes to the level 15 Bard song "Kelin's
Lucid Lullaby". As a 37th level Bard with a great deal of experience with
this song I can assure you that its behavior has changed. The change in the
song has been felt by Bards at all levels, it's not merely my personal
perception of the song's having changed for me over time. In fact the same
behavioral changes have effected the level 28 song "Crission's Pixie
Strike". The changes feel unintentional, as the success/resist messages
that we receive no longer correctly correspond to mob behavior as they used
to.
I explain the behavior of Pixie Strike first as it's easier to explain and
to test. Lullaby's behavior is the same, except for a radius and multiple
mobs:
PIXIE STRIKE:
Very often if you attempt to mesmerize a mob with Pixie Strike you will
receive a blue "eyes glaze over" message indicating a success, and yet the
mob will attack in its next round as though it resisted. Repeatedly
successfully Pixie Striking a mob will increase the chances of the song
"taking hold". After some 3-5 successful Pixie Strikes, the mob will in
fact be mezzed. After a single successful mez, mob behavior begins to
correctly correspond to the success/resist messages that you receive. One
way to test this song would be to buff yourself to level 30 or so and
attempt to mez a blue mob in Runnyeye, Sol A or Unrest.
LULLABY:
Using Lullaby against very low level mobs such as can be found in newbie
zones or BlackBurrow this song will successfully "nod" many or all mobs in
its radius. A very large percentage of those mobs will attack in their next
round despite zero resist messages. Iteratively applying this song to the
same mobs yields increasingly "correct" results. In other words if I play
the song for 8 mobs, all 8 might "nod" without resist messages but 5 will,
in their next round, turn to me and deliver attacks as though they resisted.
The next pulse of the song might "nod" all mobs again, but only 3 will
deliver attacks in their next round, etc. Using this song as we did before
it changed (similarly to the way an Enchanter might use Mesmerization) is
impossible, as the Bard is placed high on the aggro list of the unoccupied
mobs, and yet they are not "mezzed" despite success messages. This new
behavior of lullaby generally leads to swift death at the hands of multiple
mobs, so very few of the highly competent bards that I know and converse
with in-game and via the "eqbards" email list at onelist.com even attempt to
use this song any longer. One way to test this song would be to buff
yourself to level 25 or so and play it for the green mobs in Kerra Isle or
Blackburrow.
Thank you sincerely for your time and the great game. If I can be of
further assistance please let me know.
Jason A. Farque'
jasonf@...