DAOC :Dev Update - Dragon Scales
Hello all,
I wanted to let everyone know where we're at with the testing of the Dragon Scale system and what all we plan to do now and in the future with it. First of all, thanks for your testing and feedback. We've read the forums and received the forms from the Herald regarding the Dragon Scale drop rates and item prices on the Dragon Scale stores. As the Pendragon notes indicate, the current and past drop rates were testing rates. We have changed the rates again as of today on Pendragon for more testing and feedback over the weekend. Based on that feedback another pass is likely to be done to set finalized rate before 1.100 goes Live.
With that said, should population issues result in the Live drop rate to not being sufficient, our short term solution is to hot fix rate changes. In the long term there are plans to add Xanxicar Scales to monsters in Avalon City, Nosdoden Scales in Trollheim and Myrddraxis Scales in Fomor to create more areas for collecting the alternate currency. Additionally, we've already added sizable caches of Scales and Glass to the supply chests in the Frontier keeps.
To be clear on our expectations of this system, we do not intend for it to be a quick way to get all the dragon loot one could ever want but rather a steady and reliable way to supplement raiding or to bypass the need to pay a lot of money to others to get that one item (or three) to complete your template.
In general we expect the casual player to be able hunt Scales for a few nights to obtain a high end item. Other options still exist of course with doing raids on the main Realm dragons and the adolescent dragons. The absolute best place is still tackling Golestandt, Gjalpinulva and Cuuldurach. Their treasure tables have been increased significantly. Additionally, the adolescent dragons in the epic zones and the Frontiers will now drop a couple items from the Realm dragon treasure as well.
Of course the old standby will always be available, to pay others for doing the PvE for you.
Rest assured that this version is not the end of our attention to the Dragon Scale system or to the Dragons themselves. We are keeping an eye on everything from the drop rates to the difficulty of the encounter and will keep adjusting things as best we can to make sure there is a balance between the two.
Thanks again for the all the feedback and testing and please keep on testing the latest drop rate changes on Pendragon.