Personal project updates

Maghak

Hello again, everyone! It's been a little while since there was anything resembling a general update post, so I thought I would kick one off with a few teasers about some upcoming projects that I am working on! I'll also invite other Divine to post about their work too, if they should be so inclined!

Disclaimer: all of these projects are personal projects; there's just me working on them, so anything spoken about here and any potential scheduling is entirely dependent on whether or not I have time with my IRL commitments.

The Terminus

A few people from Spinesreach and the Ascendril may recall a few tense disturbances involving exoplanar jelly creatures called ctenophores, as well as their 'shepards', a group of strange telekinetic bipeds. If you're interested in the details of the tormented realm glimpsed through the rift over Spinesreach, worry not! A large team PvE instance is approaching completion which will pitch groups of players against waves of mindless enemies in the very bowels of the Terminus realm itself. 

The intent behind the Terminus is to provide a large-scale cooperative challenge suitable for players of a wide range of levels. Tactical thinking and clever use of limited resources will be critical to success, and completing the instance will offer both personal and city-wide rewards for the victors! There will also be a lot of juicy lore and secrets up for discovery, as the instance will take place outside of any currently known plane or realm.

The area is approaching room completion and only the fine details of the instance mechanics remain to be worked out after that, so - without making any promises - that shouldn't be too far away.

Stormcaller Crag

If you aren't familiar with the gas-choked ruins under Stormcaller Crag, they are a distinctly inhospitable set of Ankyrean chambers under the Troll village in the north. Prospectors can salvage in the wreckage for interesting historical artifacts and metal, then trade their goods for gold with the Trolls.

The ruins as they currently exist were never intended to be the end-all of the area, and served as something of a test of the prog mechanics involved. I will be working on a full-scale expansion of the lowest and oldest levels of the ruins, offering a solo PvE challenge to players that will demand your skills in locating traps, conserving your air filters, and avoiding fights you cannot afford to get bogged down in for long enough to make it to safety. It should be a unique and interesting area, and it will also present a difficult but not level-locked piece of content for players of all stripes to explore.

The timescale on this one is nowhere near predictable, and it will depend on when other projects are completed.

The Daughters

Spireans and those who spoke to Yorvhaset will recall the Dehkay Plateau, a large body of land far to the northeast of the continent. We're close to ready to release the first portion of this large landmass, which will involve a lot of new lore (and the reveal of old, old lore) for both the ancient, ash-cloaked Plateau and the mainland itself.

That's all I'm willing to report on for now, and I'm very excited to get all of it finished up and delivered to you guys on a silver plate. Please feel free to comment or ask questions here!

Damariel

As with Maghak, these are my personal projects, so if I have the time, I'll do them - if not, they may take quite a while.

The Itzatl

There's two things that stick out at me right now - the first is that after gaining a body, we've heard absolutely nothing about Ati, and the second is that the Itzatl, in spite of being an incredibly vivid, richly-detailed, and flavorful area, is criminally underused and in desperate need of attention. If you feel the same way as I do, don't worry, because I intend to remedy both these things with a release that will make the Itzatl, Saluria, and Farsai far more interesting areas, as well as fixing and replacing a lot of the quests within them.

Doing this will entail a mix of routine, everyday quests, navigating Rajamalan politics, and pioneering a new gameplay style that will shake up the ordinary approaches to exploring and questing in an area while honoring the infamous difficulty of the old Itzatl quests. Players will be able to try their hands at tribal diplomacy, seek out ways to oppose the servants of Ati, and even perform a heroic deed or two in the process while learning about the Rajamala and their long history.

This release is still in the planning/conceptual stages.

General Lore Expansion

Anyone who's paid attention on the forums knows that I'm a bit of a nerd when it comes to details of Aetolian history and culture - on the lore thread, I always enjoy going off on 'what-if' tangents and supposing on the reasons for why things in Aetolia are they way that they are. My main project at this point is an ongoing one: an update, expansion, and detailing of older Aetolian history, customs, linguistics, and religion, toward the purpose of creating a cohesive background for the game world.

This may manifest, in the future, as NPC texts, NPC bards and storytellers, murals, paintings, or other similar things that give players a clearer sense of Aetolian lore and help them understand the culture of the game. Expect to learn more about the language of the Trolls; the strange, complex faith of the Mhun; the history of the Dwarves and their construction of the City of Bloodloch; and perhaps even the true origins of 'hroagh.'

This project, being ongoing and by its nature not easily assessed, will probably never be complete. You will definitely, however, see it bear fruit.

Haern

Alas, some of my projects I have to be fairly tight-lipped about and can't really give too much info (or they're far from a personal project)! Hopefully, this will be a tasty little tidbit from my workpile.

The Underbelly of Delve

While this may not be a personal project in the strictest sense, it is something I've been really passionate about these past months and working on in between events/other projects for the game. The Underbelly was previewed a long while back on our tumblr (ireaetolia.tumblr.com) in the form of a short story but has been steadily nearing completion and launching into something I hope will be very exciting for our level 95+ crowd. With a variety of sub-areas and shanty towns that dot the sprawling underground settlement, the Underbelly will be launched in waves becoming progressively more difficult as you tread into the lowest levels. Of course, it's more than swinging and hitting things with puzzles leading into secret areas, treasure troves to be discovered, and factions to ally with that rule over the underground of Delve. Oh, and there's some PVP to be had as well--those gangs of Delve are a very unruly sort, but they're not without their rewards for your prowess in cutting down foes that would challenge their authority. Keep an eye on the tumblr--there should be some new information popping up soon in regards to the Underbelly.

Triptycha

As you all are painfully aware, it's been sometime since our last Triptycha tourney! I've been working on new tilesets that will be unveiled at our next tournament and will come into play with some new rules that will hopefully delight our champions into coming up with some new strategies. (oh, and the winning tiles from the Celebration of the Stars will be handed out there--don't worry, I haven't forgotten!) 

Slyphe

Hey, this looks fun! My projects aren't quite as exciting as the others, but there are two things taking priority at the moment! As the others have said, these are on an as-I-get-to-them basis, so don't expect any solid dates!

Guild Initiations

Work has begun with guildmasters to create an interactive experience for new members of guilds to take part in that will essentially be setting the tone for the atmosphere and environment within the guilds themselves. Consider this part newbie tour, a handful of academy-like experience, and a few heaping tablespoons of epic questline combined. 

The GMs themselves will be assisting me in the design of this project and offering forth what they believe will truly set the tone for their guild members and what they can expect lore-wise and atmosphere-wise within their guild. 

Keltund

My order has heard me hinting about this repeatedly as something held very dear to Slyphe, and it's currently being described by one of our fantastic mortal builders. I can't go into too much detail here for obvious reasons, but what I will say is two words: 

Quest. Hub.

We have plenty of bashing areas as it stands, and I think it'd be neat to make a place that's absolutely jam-packed with numerous quests of different types you'll be able to take part in on a level we haven't quite done yet. Everything from spearing whales to building boats will hopefully be finding their way into this island nation, and I absolutely cannot wait to bring it to you guys.

...Both are obviously pretty big projects, so I'm reiterating the whole 'as-I-get-time' deal, but that's the gist!

Iosyne

Well, isn't this a fun little thread! As many of you know, I recently moved across the country to a new city for a new job, so my time for Aetolia has been tragically minimal for the last few weeks. I'm very excited to resume some projects that I am very passionate about when I return. Here's what I'm looking forward to getting back to work on:

Academies

Bloodloch is the last city to receive its Academy, which has been my project from start to finish. It has had the trickiest of implementations due to the special nature of the undead mechanics and vampire Houses (and a guild that is in the process of some major overhauls). Much of what we wanted to do with Houses involved the Alcazar/Dominion work being completed first, so it has taken an especially lengthy time to be implemented. I promise it will be worth the wait, given how important the vampire culture is to the city.

Dominion / Alcazar

The Alcazar, as well as most of the Dominion changes and upgrades, has been another major project of mine. One of the biggest focus areas Aetolia has for 2014 is to ramp up the significance of the Dominion, and we've been working very hard at making it everything players want it to be, and then some. I took the initiative in making the Alcazar a major political stronghold, with a lot of heavy progging work in an influence system of sorts to stir political conflict between the various Houses. Many of the new denizens you see within the Alcazar, as well as the rest of Bloodloch, have some sort of agenda and will give citizens ways to curry favor with the who's who of the Dominion. The influence system has already proven to be very telling, and will only continue to get more intricate and influential as time goes on. I am very excited about this particular blend of RP and mechanics!

Bloodloch Revamp

This is a mid to long-term project of mine, but one that has received a lot of good response to in the little that has been released thus far. With several cities in the game receiving major overhauls or tweaks, Bloodloch is also in the process of receiving a staggered release of mini-revamps, designed to reflect the evolution of the city. Its aim is to become a true empire of sorts, with some changes coming to the villages allied to Bloodloch and how their involvement works. The current Overlords are now designated Warlords of each village, and some stagecoaches have appeared to cart citizens around from city to village, and vice versa. This is just the start of the complex relationship between the city of Bloodloch and its sovereignty, and you can expect some very cool mechanics to come out of the villages for the citizens AND for those who are enemies of the state (Enorian, I'm looking at you).

Also on the plate for the city of Bloodloch are some serious overhauls to the prison complex, asylum, and a few new additions that will come into development as a result of recycling a unicorns-load of unused rooms and redundant passageways within the city. Recently, the citizens have enjoyed the addition of the torture chambers and prison cells being revamped and made useful, with demonic gaolers (lesser Chaos lords) arriving to whip the prisoners into shape. Long-term efforts for the prison complex involve the creation of a slaughterhouse, a slums for storing 'food', and numerous delightful upgrades to the asylum. Those stagecoaches are not just for travel convenience, as you will soon learn!

The Lair / Azdun 

An ongoing plot with the mysteries of what lies beneath Azdun will be slated for later this year. The Lair, which has been primarily targeted by Iosyne as She digs out Her home, is home to some ancient mysteries surrounding the Indoron Empire. Recently, some agents of the Dark Empire have discreetly began some excavations in various places throughout Sapience. As our Faction system gets rolled out, player involvement - whether for or against - will drive the results of the Empire's goals.

Fishing!?

Last, but certainly not least, we are bringing a Fishing system to Aetolia, which has been a secret project of mine for some time now. We're not going to reveal a lot of details just yet, but I can assure you of its total awesomeness (being a Fisher in nearly every MMO or IRE game where it was available, myself). What you do need to know is that it will be a skill, it will involve strategy in terms of types of bait, rods, and location, and there will be over 100 different types of fish available to be caught on initial release, with many of them being difficult / rare catches. It will work aside a new Faction of Kelki fishermen in Mournhold, who will give additional quests and give out rewards for aspiring anglers. Whether you seek to relax oceanside and fish up a few shrimp, or go full throttle by seeking out legendary kraken and shark catches, it should be an entertaining hobby for many Aetolians.