The month of February 2013

RazmaelRazmael Administrator, Immortal
During February, we saw the beginning of our changes to consolidate down houses with the awakening of Abhorash, and the introduction of his Imperial Dominion. Abhorash marks a unique position amongst admin roles, being our first proper non-god roleplaying player character. In the future, we plan to have more of these non-god roles for our volunteers to play.

In my last monthly post, I also mentioned our plans to cut down on our number of guilds. We still plan on removing four guilds, and today I feel ready to reveal who the first two will be. Many of you will be unsurprised by our choice as it is an idea that has been discussed seriously both amongst players and the administration alike several times in the past. Our first two guilds to go will be the lycanthrope guilds - Bahkatu and Atabahi.

Lycanthropy will be moving to a subrace system that will set it unique amongst other classes, and will ultimately perform differently within our multiclass system. While within their normal class, a lycanthrope can choose to MUTATE into their lycanthrope form, switching to the lycanthrope class. This can be done at any time, free from the normal class switching cooldown. Mutating into your lycanthrope form from a different class will have a channeling time, to prevent abuse in combat. You can still CLASS SWITCH to the lycanthrope class as normal, triggering the class switch cooldown and regaining the ability to instant-mutate again.

And yes, packs will, of course, be improved upon. The code is going to be rewritten from the ground up, and will have several new features. Most of the details on this will not be revealed until release, sorry! One thing I will reveal, however, is that packs will be able to choose from one of four lycanthrope types. Choosing a type determines what sort of beast your pack members will mutate into it. This can be changed, but not often and only with a bit of work.

A new talent will be emerging soon! Some of you will have already guessed what it is based on the terrible pun-hints I dropped about it in the newsletter. It is, of course, Fumology! You'll be able to create blends from various ingredients, and roll them into a design (or just fill your pipe with them!). They will contain all the features you can currently find in the NPC-sold cigarettes in Delve.

And lastly, I want to leave you with a teaser of our design for the Ascendril and Sciomancer revamps.

The Ascendril revamp will contain a focus on elemental magic, with the Ascendril gaining back access to their three of their four original elements (Fire, Water, and Air) while still retaining their Spirit element. Their skill of Elemancy contains elemental magic, similar to the current Elemancy skill. Even though they have same name and theme, the skills are vastly different! Their second skill is Arcanism, an arcane/light themed skill with an emphasis of distraction and mobility. And their last skill is Thaumaturgy. Using a newfound mastery over the physical properties of the spirit plane, Thaumaturgy gives the Ascendril the capability to generate a personal planar fold, known as a fulcrum, to amplify the powers of the elemental planes and give their enemies a glimpse of their true destructive nature. An Ascendril can also choose to master one of the elements, dramatically altering their abilities and playstyle.

The Sciomancer revamp is a lot less concrete at this time (I recently scrapped the second skillset!), so I won't go into as much detail on it. However, their theme will expand greatly upon the shadow element, as they move into a full-fledged shadow mage role. Using shadow and technology as a medium, Sciomancers will also have a degree of control over the forces of gravity!
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Comments

  • KiyotanKiyotan spectacular vernacular Summit of the Falconmount
    Razmael said:
    A new talent will be emerging soon! Some of you will have already guessed what it is based on the terrible pun-hints I dropped about it in the newsletter. It is, of course, Fumology! You'll be able to create blends from various ingredients, and roll them into a design (or just fill your pipe with them!). They will contain all the features you can currently find in the NPC-sold cigarettes in Delve.
    Oh my god yes I am so stoked for this gonna drop out of duiran college
    Some may say we've lost our way, but I believe we've not gone far enough.
    image
    Lin
  • ArbreArbre Arbrelina Jolie Braavos
    AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

    (cougar lycan plz)
    Tsvanni
  • I.. I have no words. The sheer awesomeness of this post. THIS POST. THANK YOU lycan changes/subrace!!!!
  • HavenHaven World Burner Flight School
    I wanna pick up one of the mage classes now! D:
    ¤ Si vis pacem, para bellum. ¤
    Someone powerful says, "We're going to have to delete you."
    havenbanner2
    Lleminara
  • KerrynKerryn The Black Flagon Inn
    Will we be able to have a mixed pack? Or must the pack all be the same beast?

  • PhoeneciaPhoenecia The Merchant of Esterport Somewhere in Attica
    edited March 2013
    Sounds like some really awesome stuff, though I'm really curious as to what all the lycanthrope types are going to be. Nice to have variety. On the lycan types, can you pick a type if you aren't part of a pack?

    Also, where can we subscribe to the Aetolia newsletter? It used to be there was a link for it, but I can't seem to find it anywhere. >.>
  • IosyneIosyne the Lair
    Kerryn said:
    Will we be able to have a mixed pack? Or must the pack all be the same beast?
    The packs will be uniform in their lycanthrope type. 
    image
  • AlistaireAlistaire Las Vegas, Nevada
    Is there any way we can get to know what the two new lycan beasts will be?
  • It will be a surprise.
  • KiyotanKiyotan spectacular vernacular Summit of the Falconmount
    I Liska I your new lycan?
    Some may say we've lost our way, but I believe we've not gone far enough.
    image
    ArbreAldricIllikaal
  • I think this post made Arb and Roux jaw drop and go YEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!

  • AlistaireAlistaire Las Vegas, Nevada
    Damonicus said:
    I think this post made Arb and Roux jaw drop and go YEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!
    And Neithan, Kerryn, Lexen, Phoenecia, Xavin, Saybre, Mariena, ect, ect, ect. :D
    Kerryn
  • RazmaelRazmael Administrator, Immortal
    Phoenecia said:

    Also, where can we subscribe to the Aetolia newsletter? It used to be there was a link for it, but I can't seem to find it anywhere. >.>
    If you message me your e-mail address, I can add you to the listing.
  • DaingeanDaingean Xanhaal, probably.
    Kiyotan said:
    I Liska I your new lycan?
    Someone send Liska an email, make her come back, and start a pack of foxes.

    Just to stick it to everyone who poked fun at the vulpine thing.
    Proudly fighting against Greytolia since the [approximately] 3/1/2010 at 18:00.
  • ArbreArbre Arbrelina Jolie Braavos
    (Web): You say, "Razmael the Glorious officially announced that it's the lycans getting axed."

    The Divine voice of Someone powerful echoes in your head, "I knew that'd make you happy."
    Axai
  • DaskalosDaskalos Credit Whore Extraordinare Rolling amongst piles of credits.
    Will those of us currently stuck with bear\wolf be able to interchange in the new system, or are bears stuck as bears and vice versa?

    image

    image


    Message #17059 Sent By: Oleis           Received On: 1/03/2014/17:24
    "If it makes you feel better, just checking your artifact list threatens to crash my mudlet."

  • MaghakMaghak The heights of Stormcaller Crag
    It will be possible to change your lycan form multiple times, with a lengthy delay and bit of rigmarole.
  • DemarcusDemarcus Black Flagon Inn
    We're getting sloth lycanthropes. Awesome.
  • edited March 2013
    Razmael said:
    Abhorash marks a unique position amongst admin roles, being our first proper non-god roleplaying player character. In the future, we plan to have more of these non-god roles for our volunteers to play.


    I'm not sure if you can go into specifics or not, but how do these work? Are Abhorash, and these future non-god roles simply shells that can be swapped into/out of by the current staff in the pools, or do they have their own devoted players, like a god?

    EDIT: In tribute to Galleus' love of True Blood, we clearly need werepanthers. Just saying.
    image
    Feelings, sensations that you thought were dead. No squealin' remember, that it's all in your head.
  • MacavityMacavity Chicago, Il
    @Razmael not sure if this is the place for it, but is there a promotion for the month of March??  Or are you all done with promotions in general now?!?
    “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
    Nothing is going to get better. It's not.” 
    ― Dr. Seuss, The Lorax

    Veritas says, "Sorry for breaking your system Macavity."
    Veritas says, "My boss fights crash Macavity's computer now."
  • LinLin Blackbird The Moonglade
    OMG werekitties please!
    CalipsoMenelaus
  • KiyotanKiyotan spectacular vernacular Summit of the Falconmount
    Werefrog. Weremosquito. Wereaardvark. Wereplatypus. 
    Some may say we've lost our way, but I believe we've not gone far enough.
    image
  • RazmaelRazmael Administrator, Immortal
    Aldric said:
    I'm not sure if you can go into specifics or not, but how do these work? Are Abhorash, and these future non-god roles simply shells that can be swapped into/out of by the current staff in the pools, or do they have their own devoted players, like a god?

    This will really depend on the role. Shells are only going to exist when there's a purpose for them, and not as a substitute for NPC. That said, not all of the ones we have planned will have their purpose revealed immediately.

    Macavity said:
    @Razmael not sure if this is the place for it, but is there a promotion for the month of March??  Or are you all done with promotions in general now?!?
    I am awaiting word from IRE HQ to be beamed down for this.
  • Razmael said:
    Lycanthropy will be moving to a subrace system that will set it unique amongst other classes, and will ultimately perform differently within our multiclass system...
    Just to put it out there, vampirism would fit neatly into the framework of the code behind this, with only a few minor tweaks of Abhorash's Gift. All you would need is a reason, and off the top of my head I could think of a few, for Abhorash to allow his Gift to diversify, ala Vampire Clans in Bloodlines. So you'd have 'pack' (group of people sharing a sire) and then 'lycanthropy types' (variations focusing on strengths within Abhorash's Gift), and then some method of switching class, perhaps MASQURADE.

    And then you could add further bells and whistles to the subclass system, such as 'perks and flaws' or a series of internal focused, org-based rewards for having a powerful pack (or bloodline). In the same way an emphasis on packs will do more for lycanthropy than the Guild system could, an emphasis on bloodlines could do the same for the House system...

    And then we wouldn't have to worry about Lunare.
    image
  • AarbrokAarbrok Breaking things...For Science San Diego, CA
    Sad to see the guild go, but I think this is going to be an Epic change, one I am super excited for!
  • DaingeanDaingean Xanhaal, probably.
    If Dain was to get an animal form, he'd look like this...

    So, uh. Guess it's a good thing he won't try.
    Proudly fighting against Greytolia since the [approximately] 3/1/2010 at 18:00.
    AlistaireKerrynHavenZunAarbrokArbreEmelle
  • HavenHaven World Burner Flight School
    edited March 2013

    Daingean said:
    If Dain was to get an animal form, he'd look like this...

    So, uh. Guess it's a good thing he won't try.
    We could put him in a suit while in animal form just like his pigeon!
    ¤ Si vis pacem, para bellum. ¤
    Someone powerful says, "We're going to have to delete you."
    havenbanner2
    KerrynKonnorn
  • Wererats imo.

    Awesome post all in all, really looking forward to see what you have planned for mages!

  • You unicorning unicorns better unicorning vote. I unicorning mean it.


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    (The Front Line): Daskalos says, "<-- artifacts."


  • Rivas said:
    You unicorning unicorns better unicorning vote. I unicorning mean it.
    Wereunicorns!
    KiyotanAarbrokEmelle
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