Areas Issues/Update/Info

[Cyric]

Alrighty, I seem to be unable to keep up with all of the posts all over this board so I figured I might as well create my own message board.

Here's your areas update:

I plan on introducing a bunch of new zones, primarily geared towards midleveled players, by the time we open. I'm not adding squat for the alpha testers...everyone gets to see the new stuff at the same time.

An entirely new system of zones is being implemented for newbies and players that like to fight solo or in smallish groups.

A new race *might* be added assuming the staff can figure out a good reason to add it--we don't want to take anything away from the other races, yet we don't want to add a race nobody wants to play.

An existing hometown is moving and getting a namechange.

An island is getting a major facelift.

I'm *STILL* looking for the guy that started 2 zones on the testmud then disappeared...the zones are nearly completed and would be nice to implement...anyone know someone that was working on Neverwinter?

No item downgrades are being reversed at this time...I want to see what the coding changes will do to balance before we make any decisions like that.

How's that for a start?

R

[Nokie]

"An existing hometown is moving and getting a namechange."

: prays that this is the halfling hometown!

Nokie Qucikfingers!

[Ruhr]

Cyric:

As I recall, you'd mentioned in the past that there were a large number of quests that had yet to be discovered on sojourn.

Would you comment on that, as well as the status of:

(1) the Greyhawk quests (are they still active, etc);
(2) the rockcrusher quest;
(3) the windsong quest; and
(4) Jot Invasion (specifically the status of Twilight the Sword of Destruction).

[Cyric]

All quests that were in the game when we shut down are still there, and items like Rockcrusher, Twilight, and Windsong can still be gotten in all their glory minus one thing...their names. I know it's an area of active debate, but I'm not a fan of unique artifacts, named or statted, including 'first one gotten'. There will be ways of getting items strung that will be elucidated later.

R

[Faerwynd]

OMG Having a weapon with a "name" is so damn cool it's not even funny! I mean, Mjolnir! 'Nuff said!

[cherzra]

I don't wanna see people running aroun with weapons named afther norse mythology items, or any well known other RL/fantasy/mythology stuff :p

Cherzra

[Faerwynd]

Mjolnir was an example d00d. I don't want a bunch of scimitars named "Twinkle", but names created by the area makers are original and should be preserved. "Rockcrusher" "Twilight" etc... It's all good stuff.

So what if a year after opening 10 people have a mace called "Nightbringer". It looks cooler. Jeez.

It would be cooler if you could name your own weapons, but then you'd have to police it like you do CharName creation or you'd have a two-handed sword called "Poopsie" or some equally silly crap.

[Faerwynd]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention how I liked the idea of the first person to get a "named" weapon gets it with the name and maybe a little stat boost. Forever after the item load would be a large mace enshouded in mist, instead of "Mistweave". They're status symbols and more valuable pieces of weaponry. It doesn't affect game balance in any way and the only people's feelings that get hurt are the poor sports anyways.

[Rynlaeis]

Hmm, well Twilight and Nightbringer aren't original names.. they're both from fantasy novels. But regardless, I think it's nice to have perhaps one unique item first, like Faerwynd said, and then all the rest go under a different name. Don't even necessarily give the first one a stat bonus, but it's fun to have a named weapon, even if it's not tremendously good :)

[Thalor]

"An island is getting a major facelift."

Just wait, I'll get my hopes up and the island in question will turn out to be that Leper Island in the Evermoor =P

Ah well, the changes sound great! Thanks for the update =)

-Thalor Duskriver, Lord of the Lepers

[Tayros]

You and me both Nokie!

Tyrrin, My Halfling *flip* *b* *b* *b*

emote gives your calf a great big, warm hug.

Tay

[Rynlaeis]

My guess would be that the island is Evermeet, but maybe that's more hopeful than factual-based :)

[Faerwynd]

My official guesses are Bloodstone and the Moonshae Isles. =)

We gunna start a pool? Heh.

[Verarb]

Here's a twist, why not load first-run named items -stats; like -1/-1 or lesser dice. It should still satisfy ego trippers as status symbols and it won't sting the crybabies that dont get it as much.

[azzixxenae]

Ssss, I wussin betss onnss the moonsshaesss sssilly humannsss...

ssssnickerssss.

[gnerble]

Feh!
I loved the challenge of the Halfling Hometown's location, although I'd love to see the place upgraded a bit.

I suppose that Moonshaes is getting a facelift? I believe that island may be one of the first areas on the mud, kinda reminds me of the old castle with the cavern creatures that got removed about 3 years aho heh...
-Gnerbs

[Gindipple]

I think Hyssk was an island, and if you are changing that one it could stand to be a tad easier on newbies. But not so that it makes it easy. It was kinda silly that a mage dieing at lvl 21 would have a hard time just getting out of his guild, let alone to his corpse in 2 hours. I can't remember but I think many snakes reported dieing like 20 times before they left the island at around lvl 6. May sound silly but I actually made a warrior just to get cash for my mage to be able to leave :)

[cherzra]

The problem with Hyssk is that there is very little to actually kill for lowbies. This would be fine if there were a support zone around in the jungle somewhere, but the only thing I came across was a village with some badass aggros :)

Otherwise, nothing but kudos for Hyssk, I love that darn zone.

[azzixxenae]

Yesss,

I knowsss theress be moresss to killsss for newbiesss. Ass soonss assss i finishessss my areasss, almostsss donesss, almostss donesss.

That's the thing with area creation. Requirements creep. You set out creating a certain area with a certain number or rooms and the "oh, this would be cool" sets in. Bleh! what started out as a simple exp zone has grown to involve cross mud quests..

Hyssk rocks.

[belleshel]

Hyssok was fine *imho* unless you had link problems, or didn't bother to learn the area you could get out without dieing 99% of the time just by spamming the right directions. Only real problem was getting those lazy drows to come open the door (or worse when the portals hit the limit and poofed, had to wait forever for them to repop).
Belle

Hyssok is perfect, just leave that door open:)

[Cyric]

OK, to answer some of your questions:

1. I ain't tellin' which hometown, or which island, but what the heck...they've both been mentioned in posts above.

2. I wrote that leper island, thank you very much! That was my first zone, and I think I just MIGHT expand that leper island to be a couple of hundred rooms just for spite.

3. There will be PLENTY of low level XP for everyone and anyone that can be safely gotten.

4. Area making process:

a) I get an email that says "Hey dude! I wanna write an area...something about a dracolich" (they ALL include dracolichs for some reason)
b) I email back saying "Fine, send me a summary of what you want to do...2-3 paragraphs long will do nicely"
c) Either I get nothing, or I get a well thought-out 10 page epistle describing how the dracolich came to be, where it'll live, how many people it'll eat, how big the zone will be, etc.
d) I give my approval for the idea, assuming there are no smurfs, cheerleaders, or aliens mentioned, and I send out the areadocs and our area creation tool.
e) Either I get nothing, or I get a few emails with questions, and ultimately a bunch of files (our zones include world, object, zone, mob, social, quest, and shop files) to look at.
f) The files are either truly horrendous in which case I have them go back to the drawing board, or they are good
g) If good, I assign a vnum range, TRY to load the thing up on the testmud, and if it seems to be bootable I'll 'god' the maker on testmud, and he gets to work with editing.
h) After about a month (on average) of editing, the maker is ready for a formal walkthru with me, during which I tear the zone to pieces, criticize his grammar, and scoff at his quests
i) After everything found in the walkthru is fixed, it gets ported to mainmud and you get your mainmud god and that's it!
j) Not really...I then peg you to write a zone that's on my 'most wanted' list for your 2nd entry.

5. I don't post which zones I want on purpose...I think people make their first zones good when it's something they're truly fired up about.

6. On-line area creation is available at present only to the currently working areas gods...it is a bit tricky to use, and not all-inclusive.

7. My personal opinion is as stated above with regards to uniquely named items.

8. Ax, stop talking about the zone you have in the works, or I'll skin you alive.

Cyric

[Faerwynd]

I always imagined Hyssk to be on the peninsula called "The Jungles of Chult" (for those of you who know Faerun geography). It is south of Calimshan when you sail on the dragon turtle, right? I can't remember.

[Varkus]

Hola all...

I guess I'm probably the guy Cyric's looking for RE: Neverwinter, hopefully I can get the old bird up and running again. I've been a fan of the city since the AOL days (if anyone knows what I'm talking about), so it would be nice to bring it back to life in a new light.

Anyway, just wanted to say 'hi' and that I'm eagerly anticipating the re-release of what may be one of the greatest MUDs of all time.

-Varkus

[Faerwynd]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Cyric:
<B>An island is getting a major facelift.
</B></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Faerwynd:
<B>My official guesses are Bloodstone and the Moonshae Isles. =)

We gunna start a pool? Heh.</B></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Cyric:
<B>-Moonshaes will be greatly improved/expanded
</B></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

*flex*

So what was the hometown that's moving and getting a namechange?

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Cyric:
<B>-A hometown is being moved north
</B></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hmmm... there's a chance it could be Lurien I guess. If you changed the name I suppose it doesn't have to be Lurien after all. But I always thought it was an interesting touch to have the "Land of the Halflings" be located in the geographically correct part of Faerun.

So is it Lurien? Huh? Huh? Maybe it's Ghore moving into the Trollmoors. That'd be cool.

If it's Lurien I'd vote it stay where it is and let Halflings be able to choose Waterdeep or Baldur's Gate or something (if you're wanting more people to play Halflings or something). Not that you'll listen, but I figured I'd speak my 2c nonetheless =)

le jaeb "one quotin' f00 today"

[Galkar]

Hyssk rocked, get you a histachhi slave and make it wield some weapons, and you were set, those slaves were badass. After the first 3-4 levels, getting to 20 was cake on the island.

Galkar (can't remember snake name, to many s's)