Spells: Dot Stacking - not a bug

[williestargell]

See my post here on the patch notes: http://www.project1999.org/forums/sh...t=28914&page=3

The quote from the notes on dot stacking changes had nothing to do with stacking of one individual's dots. It only changed and explained stacking of multiple necros, multiple shamans, multiple druids, in one group or raid stacking. I was playing live at the time and clearly recall that it did NOT change anything when you were the only person of your class present. It is really immaterial to this patch change and discussion. In addition, that change was made on the live servers much much later in the game - even if you were to interpret it to mean that they fixed dots as they were fixed yesterday, why should that effect our server which is supposed to be based on the way things were at the start pre-kunark at this point (not luclin where this patch was made).

The main problem is coming from the assumption that since druids have 4 magic dots that they are all part of the same line and simply upgrades to each other. That is not the case.

Line 1: stinging swarm, drones of doom
Line 2: creeping crud, drifting death

One line 1 spell should stack with one line 2 spell and one fire based spell. However two line 1 spells or two line 2 spells will not stack together. This is always the way it worked. Later when higher levels were available even further stacking became available

Now the post from EQdruids. That is hard to explain and does not jibe with my arguments I will freely admit, but that site was always wonky and frankly I feel that they were flat out in error when they posted that. The spell posts on allakhazam that I've linked in my other post clearly back up my premise that the magic dots that druids and rangers cast stack as i've described in two seperate lines.

[moklianne]

Originally Posted by mwatt [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

In addition to the 2003 quote about Druid dots, I have found several references from more recent years that state all dots in the same line will stack, for both Necros and Druids.

It was definitely changed at some point so that all of the druid swarm spells stack. The question is, did it change after or before the scope of this server? Unfortunately, I believe it happened in Luclin or later.

[Haynar]

Originally Posted by mwatt [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Kudos to Uth for knowing this, implementing it, and standing up politely in the face of being questioned while still sticking to his guns.

I kind of intentionally avoided trying to fix it before. Spell stacking was such a mess in the code, every time I looked at it, my head hurt.

This one's for you Uth...

*cheers*

H

[Uthgaard]

No one posted a single thing about the dots stacking when they shouldn't have. No one posts about anything that gives them an advantage. But when it's a disadvantage, the forums get spammed with 'but I remember this!'

We don't just make changes to entire systems willy nilly. While some people are content to search the forums for the one quote from the mouth-breathing incompetent who posted something that contradicts what we did (and there's no shortage of conflicting information), we do our homework beforehand and look at all available sources to get the whole picture.

Imagine if someone 10 years from now wanted to determine the factual basis of which P99 forum troll had an emasculation complex, which one was a whore, which one was a cumguzzler and who really loved Glitch. You'll find points on all sides, finding conflicting information is a common occurrence in research, and 90% of development on p99 is research. The truth to one or another has to be weighed and evaluated.

Point being, if there are specific bugs, we'll hear them. But none of us want to sift through 10 pages of angsty anecdotes to find it.