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All right. Update. Hold your fire, ok? <G> First time updating from Dev.
Anyway. Enchantes. Rigby's taken a temporary hiatus from the boards, or he'd be updating you himself here. Enchantes, while not released as early as to any of our liking, are still progressing here on the development side of things. Rigby and I've been spending some time breaking them down into various groups... and then when he realized how small the groups were, started pulling tons of player ideas so that he could make more enchantes to flesh the skeleton of our current framework out. You've seen some evidence of that in the enchante folders with the posts he has made, and the comments on enchantes themselves.
More detail'll wait until I have a chance to pick his brain, since I'd rather not spill any beans he's not ready to spill yet. I'm also not going to give you any dates on enchantes, for the simple fact that it's not my call. I hate giving dates anyway, no matter how much people like to hear them (for the amusement factor if nothing else). I will, however, continue to emphasize that it's THE priority.
What am I working on when I'm not sucked into Rigby's world of magic? Maelona's let me tinker with the inner workings of the Mythical Beast. (Hereby termed MB(tm).) Well, beasts, actually, I make it to be about eight seperate sections of rewrites/upgrades, according to the outline I drew up. This is not including either musical lore, which is Maelona's pet, or enchantes, which is Rigby's.
What I've dented so far in this is converting instruments themselves over to something that'll track roughly four times the info, and finally kicked the darned environment into treating wood like wood, metal like metal, and various and sundry other materials like themselves. Instruments are going to respond more to the fact that water's sitting on them and soaking into them rather than the fact that it's pattering overhead. (Which never made a great deal of sense. I mean, if you're instrument's sitting in the rain, you're going to hunch over it, or wipe it off, or SOMETHING.) Weatherproofing's also going to save you a lot of aggravation in actually caring for your instruments in inclement weather.
Next on my list's reworking things like CLEAN and TUNE to work with this, and to move bonding out of cleaning so that it's something voluntary rather than the pain it currently is. This makes it so that you get to pick and choose the instruments you want to bond with, and the manner in which you bond. But that's a beast for another day.
None of this is released, by the way, it's all in testing stages as yet. It's not something that can be released except in big chunks, unless we want to do something like drop the PLAY system offline for a few weeks. (Which we're not even going to consider, ok?) So, why am I telling you this? So that you're updated. Things like this need to be finished before we can delve into the larger beasts of the PLAY system, bonding, and instrument creation. Think of it as the foundation, if you will.
It's also why I was asking y'all for verbs not related to playing or enchantes. At this stage of the game, they're pitifully easy to add in so long as we don't go overboard on them.
If you have any suggestions or questions on any of these issues, stick 'em in the appropriate folders. :)
Deryka
Heya guys!
Thanks to the Goddess Maelona, in the next few minutes I'll be releasing a few new changes to both Prime and Platinum. Most of these were results of requests from players during the last SimuCon. As always, let us know your thoughts in the appropriate folders. :) Especially if I managed to break something again, too. ;P
INSTRUMENTS -- A temporary patch has been placed into instruments to allow them to be unbonded if their owner FOCUSes upon them. To prevent accidents from occuring, you will need to FOCUS twice in order for it to fully take effect. This should work on both partially and fully bonded instruments. (Just to reiterate -- this is a patch, it's not part of the permanent reworking on instruments. It frosts my cookies that bonding's currently a totally involuntary thing, so you should have the option to voluntarily unbond them, too.) Due to the nature of what you are doing, however, it will make a wee impact to your bardic polish.
SONGBOOKS -- The same change was put into this, that was put into instruments. You may now FOCUS twice upon these to unbond them. I'm sorry this one was so long in coming, guys, I should've had it in there from the start. Removing your more mundane bonds with your songbooks will not impact bardic polish in any way.
BLUFF -- You now have more control over the bluff messaging that you see and use, in regards to bluffing other players and creatures! Your default messaging will not change, but should you find the need to use a different one, you may now do so. Typing BLUFF should show you the syntax in order to utilize this.
PLAYACT -- A number of small changes have been released to PLAYACT, just to make some of the idiosyncracies go away. PLAYACT will now support possessive use of the verb, and the use of commas following it. As an example, if you type:
PLAYACT 's feet seem to float on the air.
(Note the space between PLAYACT and 's.)
It will now show up as:
Deryka's feet seem to float on the air.
You will need the space in there before the 's and the commas when you actually type it, but they will disappear when the message itself prints out.
That's all for now! <G>
Deryka
Thanks to the Goddess Maelona, in the next few minutes I'll be releasing a few new changes to both Prime and Platinum. Most of these were results of requests from players during the last SimuCon. As always, let us know your thoughts in the appropriate folders. :) Especially if I managed to break something again, too. ;P
INSTRUMENTS -- A temporary patch has been placed into instruments to allow them to be unbonded if their owner FOCUSes upon them. To prevent accidents from occuring, you will need to FOCUS twice in order for it to fully take effect. This should work on both partially and fully bonded instruments. (Just to reiterate -- this is a patch, it's not part of the permanent reworking on instruments. It frosts my cookies that bonding's currently a totally involuntary thing, so you should have the option to voluntarily unbond them, too.) Due to the nature of what you are doing, however, it will make a wee impact to your bardic polish.
SONGBOOKS -- The same change was put into this, that was put into instruments. You may now FOCUS twice upon these to unbond them. I'm sorry this one was so long in coming, guys, I should've had it in there from the start. Removing your more mundane bonds with your songbooks will not impact bardic polish in any way.
BLUFF -- You now have more control over the bluff messaging that you see and use, in regards to bluffing other players and creatures! Your default messaging will not change, but should you find the need to use a different one, you may now do so. Typing BLUFF should show you the syntax in order to utilize this.
PLAYACT -- A number of small changes have been released to PLAYACT, just to make some of the idiosyncracies go away. PLAYACT will now support possessive use of the verb, and the use of commas following it. As an example, if you type:
PLAYACT 's feet seem to float on the air.
(Note the space between PLAYACT and 's.)
It will now show up as:
Deryka's feet seem to float on the air.
You will need the space in there before the 's and the commas when you actually type it, but they will disappear when the message itself prints out.
That's all for now! <G>
Deryka
Greets,
Just a quick update on Enchante v2.1. I'd hoped to have the new enchante system live well before now, but had a number of real life affairs to deal with first. Piddly things like work, and a bit of burn out.
I'm not much further than before -- about half finished with the rewrite. I still have to add the code for keys/tempos, harness usage, potential cambrinth stuff, as well as rewriting most of the enchantes to work under the new system. Then of course work out all the major bugs that will likely pop up by then.
The system is already plugged into Magic v2.1. As of right now, the priority on the project has been bumped down behind the release of the vast majority of spells for Magic v2.1. Once most of the spells are released, the global preview will end, and I'll be able to dig back into Enchantes v2.1 full time. I'm hoping that you'll see something by New Year's.
Bards will still be getting their own form of a global preview, fear not.
Enchantes will be choosen much like spells are; you'll have a number of "enchante slots" (the equivalent of spell slots) same as a Magic prime guild, and you'll have to have an enchante's prereqs to choose it. What you can expect in the way of song/spellbooks:
Ballads and Requiems, which includes Hodierna's Lilt, Faenella's Grace, Naming of Tears, and Redeemer's Pride.
Allegros and Capriccios, which includes Drums of the Snake, Demrris' Resolve, and Rage of the Clans.
Concertos and Sonatas, such as Nexus and Eye of Kertigen.
Nocturnes and Romances, which would have Pulsating Pookie Power...err...Meraud's Blessing and Eillie's Cry.
A number of new enchantes will need to be made as well, to fill out prereqs and spellbooks. Deryka and I have already been reviewing potential new enchantes.
And that's where we are right now.
Rigby
Just a quick update on Enchante v2.1. I'd hoped to have the new enchante system live well before now, but had a number of real life affairs to deal with first. Piddly things like work, and a bit of burn out.
I'm not much further than before -- about half finished with the rewrite. I still have to add the code for keys/tempos, harness usage, potential cambrinth stuff, as well as rewriting most of the enchantes to work under the new system. Then of course work out all the major bugs that will likely pop up by then.
The system is already plugged into Magic v2.1. As of right now, the priority on the project has been bumped down behind the release of the vast majority of spells for Magic v2.1. Once most of the spells are released, the global preview will end, and I'll be able to dig back into Enchantes v2.1 full time. I'm hoping that you'll see something by New Year's.
Bards will still be getting their own form of a global preview, fear not.
Enchantes will be choosen much like spells are; you'll have a number of "enchante slots" (the equivalent of spell slots) same as a Magic prime guild, and you'll have to have an enchante's prereqs to choose it. What you can expect in the way of song/spellbooks:
Ballads and Requiems, which includes Hodierna's Lilt, Faenella's Grace, Naming of Tears, and Redeemer's Pride.
Allegros and Capriccios, which includes Drums of the Snake, Demrris' Resolve, and Rage of the Clans.
Concertos and Sonatas, such as Nexus and Eye of Kertigen.
Nocturnes and Romances, which would have Pulsating Pookie Power...err...Meraud's Blessing and Eillie's Cry.
A number of new enchantes will need to be made as well, to fill out prereqs and spellbooks. Deryka and I have already been reviewing potential new enchantes.
And that's where we are right now.
Rigby
I don't read the boards anymore, but Deryka cut and paste various comments for me to review, so I decided to post a clarification and correction regarding the enchante spellbooks.
Enchante spellbooks were arranged mostly by tempo and mood, the latter of which is quite subjective. We're aware that the spellbooks for Bards don't mesh perfectly with music theory, but we had to take into account both existing enchantes which were created without any real thought to consistency, as well as future enchantes. In reality, four books falls woefully short in taking into account all possible types of enchantes. While it's possible to have made five, six, or even thirty-one spellbooks, logistically we were limited to four.
So beyond any shadow of a doubt, there is and will remain inconsistencies when viewed just from a musical theory perspective. However, taking into account theory, logistic limitations, expansion, and generalized GSL technicalities, the arrangement of the enchante spellbook works well for all cases, but not perfectly with any single one.
Allegros and Capriccios fits best from a purely theory point of view; I can't imagine anyone has any disagreements on this one aside from the typical nitpicks that any two musicians with differing opinions would have.
Concertos and sonatas is perhaps the second best book. The focus here was not so much soloist aspect of the concerto or the instrumental aspect of the sonata, but the "three contrasting movements" of a concerto and the "three or four contrasting movements" of a sonata. Loosely, we'd be grouping instrumental enchantes here, but I also wanted a spellbook that I could place enchantes that have significantly varying effects per "song part."
Ballads and Requiems were grouped by subjective mood, and the awareness that the casual gamer is going to read "ballad" and think "emotional song" rather than a narrative. Though honestly, it really is a better fit to have Ballads and Romances as one and Nocturnes and Requiems as the other. I'm not really sure what the hell I was thinking by splitting those like that, unless that was one whopper of a typo (they do both start with R <smirk>)... That'll be corrected.
At any rate, the bottom line is that the enchante spellbooks are not going to be perfect; there's just no way to do be 100% accurate with music theory and still address all the needs we have as coders, taking into account expansion and existing work. :)
Rigby
Enchante spellbooks were arranged mostly by tempo and mood, the latter of which is quite subjective. We're aware that the spellbooks for Bards don't mesh perfectly with music theory, but we had to take into account both existing enchantes which were created without any real thought to consistency, as well as future enchantes. In reality, four books falls woefully short in taking into account all possible types of enchantes. While it's possible to have made five, six, or even thirty-one spellbooks, logistically we were limited to four.
So beyond any shadow of a doubt, there is and will remain inconsistencies when viewed just from a musical theory perspective. However, taking into account theory, logistic limitations, expansion, and generalized GSL technicalities, the arrangement of the enchante spellbook works well for all cases, but not perfectly with any single one.
Allegros and Capriccios fits best from a purely theory point of view; I can't imagine anyone has any disagreements on this one aside from the typical nitpicks that any two musicians with differing opinions would have.
Concertos and sonatas is perhaps the second best book. The focus here was not so much soloist aspect of the concerto or the instrumental aspect of the sonata, but the "three contrasting movements" of a concerto and the "three or four contrasting movements" of a sonata. Loosely, we'd be grouping instrumental enchantes here, but I also wanted a spellbook that I could place enchantes that have significantly varying effects per "song part."
Ballads and Requiems were grouped by subjective mood, and the awareness that the casual gamer is going to read "ballad" and think "emotional song" rather than a narrative. Though honestly, it really is a better fit to have Ballads and Romances as one and Nocturnes and Requiems as the other. I'm not really sure what the hell I was thinking by splitting those like that, unless that was one whopper of a typo (they do both start with R <smirk>)... That'll be corrected.
At any rate, the bottom line is that the enchante spellbooks are not going to be perfect; there's just no way to do be 100% accurate with music theory and still address all the needs we have as coders, taking into account expansion and existing work. :)
Rigby
Ladies and gents,
I thought I'd make a general update here on enchantes, since the Lilt thread seems to be reiterating itself into oblivion based upon a suggestion once circulated regarding that the bardic Lilt would be losing its ability to heal one's spirit.
Time and again I've read these boards, as player, Host, and GM, and one thread that seems to be integral to them in general is that 'change is bad'. Don't bother arguing with me, just sit tight and listen. Through the many, many tweaks that prep and cast spells have undergone over the years, in terms of both actual use and mechanics, bards have stood steadfast against the tides of change. They have grown more adept at manipulating their magics, since by now many know the breath and heartbeat of the songs that they sing, and they have only grown more secure in this knowledge as time goes on. The fact that their repitoir of magics rarely expanded forced them to rely upon those enchantes that they have always had, imprinting this dependency strongly in their mind and making them resistant to anything that offers a hint of moving them away from the comfort of consistency.
Well, I'm sorry, but some things are going to change.
No longer will bards be dependant upon only twelve enchantes, nor will they look forward to only ever getting the same magics as any other bard, in their lifetimes. It may be that you choose never to use any of those twelve enchantes again, because those new ones offered are so much more suited to your way of life. It may be that you choose a combination of the old and the new, giving you the comfort of familiarity while the adventurous spirit to try something new. That is up to you. Since there will be a preview period of enchantes to allow you to test, play, and twist them into knots at your hearts content, I have no doubt that each person will be able to easily determine their favorites out of the bunch.
If this wide variety of enchantes bothers you, then TELL me so. I have already offered to let various guildleaders 'suggest' paths of expertise, thus taking the uncertainty of indecision out of your hands, but I have thus far heard no feedback upon that suggestion. I will not act upon it if it seems that it is unneeded -- heck knows that I have enough other work that needs finishing.
Neither will those twelve enchantes all function exactly as they have these past years. I'm sorry, but some of them are wimpy. Rigby's said it, I've said it, you've said it, so we're going to do something about. Some enchantes we'll combine with the ideas of others, making one larger enchante under the original name. Some we'll have to adjust the effects upon, in order to make them more balanced with the rest of the repitoir of magic that will soon be offered. Some I've even considered making into abilities, thus freeing up the area for another new enchante while allowing you to retain the effects.
Some will also retain virtually the same effects that they have always had.
I am just as used as you to the way enchantes are used now. I have walked the same roads, and remember when the Balm was not useless. I remember when using Rage and the Balm granted GOOD experience outside of battle. It is because I am just as used to enchantes as any of you that I am working with Rigby to ensure that the changes made (and there are going to be changes) are ones that preserve the life we have lived with our magic, when our magic was at its best. And, hopefully, breathe more life into it. Should you ask him, I am sure he will agree that I am driving him nuts with questions and repetitive suggestions.
Enchantes are song-conveyed magics that manifest with the aid of elementally-driven power. Thus, no longer will enchantes be confined to purely self-influencing effects. Through the medium of your music you will have the option to have more direct control of the elements than you currently possess, should you choose to learn the enchantes that offer this. This is not an idea, or a suggestion. It's not even conjecture, or brainstorming. It will be done.
There is a listing we have of enchantes that we are considering for creation with the new system. I will not post them, since this list is not one that has been finalized, so don't even bother asking. I will ignore you. This list includes the current enchantes, the 'official' proposed enchantes, player-proposed enchantes, GM-proposed enchantes, and suggestions for changes and upgrades where needed. Enough enchantes are on this list that even the highest-ranking bard will be unable to choose them all. Will all of them get eventually created? Will they make it into the first release? Who knows, as I said the list was not finalized. My point in telling you this, however, is to remind you once again that we have plans to make a good crop of enchantes that come from a wide variety of sources, and are actively moving forward in seeing that a wide variety of enchantes are created.
Through talking with Rigby it's been determined that we don't want to make the release of all the new systems related to enchantes one big release. Too much can break, and it's better to address any problems that crop of with individual systems rather than having it all potentially crash the game all at once. So, I offer you a teaser -- you will be seeing some bard-related systems getting upgraded before enchantes make their initial debut.
Initial debut... funny words those. Best you think upon those as well before the cries of 'change is bad' in regard to a single enchante ring out through these message boards again.
Deryka
I thought I'd make a general update here on enchantes, since the Lilt thread seems to be reiterating itself into oblivion based upon a suggestion once circulated regarding that the bardic Lilt would be losing its ability to heal one's spirit.
Time and again I've read these boards, as player, Host, and GM, and one thread that seems to be integral to them in general is that 'change is bad'. Don't bother arguing with me, just sit tight and listen. Through the many, many tweaks that prep and cast spells have undergone over the years, in terms of both actual use and mechanics, bards have stood steadfast against the tides of change. They have grown more adept at manipulating their magics, since by now many know the breath and heartbeat of the songs that they sing, and they have only grown more secure in this knowledge as time goes on. The fact that their repitoir of magics rarely expanded forced them to rely upon those enchantes that they have always had, imprinting this dependency strongly in their mind and making them resistant to anything that offers a hint of moving them away from the comfort of consistency.
Well, I'm sorry, but some things are going to change.
No longer will bards be dependant upon only twelve enchantes, nor will they look forward to only ever getting the same magics as any other bard, in their lifetimes. It may be that you choose never to use any of those twelve enchantes again, because those new ones offered are so much more suited to your way of life. It may be that you choose a combination of the old and the new, giving you the comfort of familiarity while the adventurous spirit to try something new. That is up to you. Since there will be a preview period of enchantes to allow you to test, play, and twist them into knots at your hearts content, I have no doubt that each person will be able to easily determine their favorites out of the bunch.
If this wide variety of enchantes bothers you, then TELL me so. I have already offered to let various guildleaders 'suggest' paths of expertise, thus taking the uncertainty of indecision out of your hands, but I have thus far heard no feedback upon that suggestion. I will not act upon it if it seems that it is unneeded -- heck knows that I have enough other work that needs finishing.
Neither will those twelve enchantes all function exactly as they have these past years. I'm sorry, but some of them are wimpy. Rigby's said it, I've said it, you've said it, so we're going to do something about. Some enchantes we'll combine with the ideas of others, making one larger enchante under the original name. Some we'll have to adjust the effects upon, in order to make them more balanced with the rest of the repitoir of magic that will soon be offered. Some I've even considered making into abilities, thus freeing up the area for another new enchante while allowing you to retain the effects.
Some will also retain virtually the same effects that they have always had.
I am just as used as you to the way enchantes are used now. I have walked the same roads, and remember when the Balm was not useless. I remember when using Rage and the Balm granted GOOD experience outside of battle. It is because I am just as used to enchantes as any of you that I am working with Rigby to ensure that the changes made (and there are going to be changes) are ones that preserve the life we have lived with our magic, when our magic was at its best. And, hopefully, breathe more life into it. Should you ask him, I am sure he will agree that I am driving him nuts with questions and repetitive suggestions.
Enchantes are song-conveyed magics that manifest with the aid of elementally-driven power. Thus, no longer will enchantes be confined to purely self-influencing effects. Through the medium of your music you will have the option to have more direct control of the elements than you currently possess, should you choose to learn the enchantes that offer this. This is not an idea, or a suggestion. It's not even conjecture, or brainstorming. It will be done.
There is a listing we have of enchantes that we are considering for creation with the new system. I will not post them, since this list is not one that has been finalized, so don't even bother asking. I will ignore you. This list includes the current enchantes, the 'official' proposed enchantes, player-proposed enchantes, GM-proposed enchantes, and suggestions for changes and upgrades where needed. Enough enchantes are on this list that even the highest-ranking bard will be unable to choose them all. Will all of them get eventually created? Will they make it into the first release? Who knows, as I said the list was not finalized. My point in telling you this, however, is to remind you once again that we have plans to make a good crop of enchantes that come from a wide variety of sources, and are actively moving forward in seeing that a wide variety of enchantes are created.
Through talking with Rigby it's been determined that we don't want to make the release of all the new systems related to enchantes one big release. Too much can break, and it's better to address any problems that crop of with individual systems rather than having it all potentially crash the game all at once. So, I offer you a teaser -- you will be seeing some bard-related systems getting upgraded before enchantes make their initial debut.
Initial debut... funny words those. Best you think upon those as well before the cries of 'change is bad' in regard to a single enchante ring out through these message boards again.
Deryka
Heya guys!
In the coming days you'll be introduced to a new instrument system, one that has been expanded as we put down the foundation for the creation of the bonding, sentience, and creation systems. The majority of the changes involved with instruments are invisible. Or, at least, we hope they are. <G> There are a few noticable things you will begin to see once you log in with your newly refigured instruments, however.
If you use instruments on a regular basis PLEASE read this post in its entirety before the new system goes into effect. None of this information is implemented yet: It is your forewarning so that you are prepared when it happens.
WEATHER AND WATER
From now on, instruments will no longer track how long they are out in the rain, sleet, snow, hail, or burning sun. It simply didn't make sense that every instrument in existence was affected in the same way by spending a little time out in the elements. Instead, precipitation and TRAVELING THROUGH WET AREAS will cause water to accumulate upon your instruments. Keeping your instrument in a container should protect it from accumulating more water but any water that is presently on your instrument will begin to soak in after a while irregardless of where it is stored, damaging it. This water can be WIPED off with a standard instrument cloth or towel. As with towels, you will be able to WRING your instrument cloths to shed the moisture from them.
It is important that you keep your instruments dry because, aside from the fact it will warp the body of the instrument, the strings and skins upon them will flex and contract depending upon whether water is soaking into them or drying from them. This will affect your instrument's tune, and may cause those components to snap if they damage too much or contract too far.
Still, the damage from water standing upon your instruments should be exponentially less than what they received from weather under the old system. Trivia: It took me over seven hours of sitting at the bottom of Eluned's Pool on Ratha for my wooden pyi-pya to disintegrate. Whereas fifteen minutes in the heaviest snow would have done the same under the old system. So ... not only do they damage less, but you also have a manner in which you can stop damage altogether. Namely, wiping your instruments dry. Well, as long as you're not actively underwater anyway.
Instruments made of metal, glass, or stone will no longer be susceptable to either water or precipitation. In the coming months, metal instruments will acquire their own idiosyncracies as OXIDIZATION is implemented. Glass instruments, you may notice, will also be more fragile to physical damage than their more sturdy compatriots. Instruments made of bone, ivory, shell, or mineral-infused woods will be affected by water, but not nearly to the extent that those of plain wood are.
Dirt will still accumulate upon your instruments, as it has in the past, but you will find that it gathers less frequently if you keep your instruments protectively in their closed cases.
BARDIC APPRAISAL
When you appraise your instruments you will be looking for things that are out of the ordinary. You won't notice any damage if there is none present, you won't notice dirt or water accumulating if there aren't any there, etc. In other words, if you don't see the information then it deals with something you shouldn't have to worry about.
Appraisal will also no longer be a 'sure thing' once you have reached a minimal amount of skill. Some instruments are inherently more complex than others, and you will need more skill in appraisal and the instrument class in question in order to discern a 'perfect' reading of the information from some instruments than you would from others. To balance this, appraising an instrument will now teach more for bards than it has in the past, dependant upon their level of success at discerning the specialized information about the instrument.
Some new things to notice in the appraisal of instruments includes the amount of water sitting upon the instrument, the material that the instrument is primarily crafted from, the components it may have, and what material comprises those components.
UPKEEP AND REPAIR
The upkeep and repair of your instrument has been expanded to support a wider variety of instruments and people using them. Some instruments, you may notice, will be inherently harder to upkeep than others, but the experience granted for doing so should be worth the extra effort. Watch out for trying to work on something too beyond your abilities, however, for you will learn little and may end end up damaging the instrument in the process.
As was noted before in this post, a new verb is now also available to allow you to care for your instruments. WIPE, when used with a cloth or a towel in hand, should allow you to wipe the water from your instruments.
In the past you may've noticed that you can string your silk-stringed pyi-pya's with gut or metal strings from bard shops, or that your steel-strung tamburas could be similarly repaired with gut and silk strings. No more. Should an instrument be meant to be only strung with a certain type of material, you will ONLY be able to string it with components of that material.
Speaking of instrument strings ... it's a bit hard to tell which set of strings you have, or what skin is bundled up in your pack at a glance. So, you'll need to actively look at them from now on to see which is which.
Some things to remember: If an instrument has no material stated, it is assumed to be wood. If strings have no material stated in the catalog they are purchased from, they are assumed to be gut.
BONDING
Bonding, as it currently stands now in Elanthia, is going away. It will be rewritten as a voluntary system where one consciously undergoes specific steps in order to achieve a bond with their instrument. As soon as instruments are updated to the new instrument system, you will be unable to re-bond or un-bond with you instruments until the bonding system is released. So, if you want to unbond with an instrument and haven't gotten around to it yet, DO IT NOW.
PLAYING
The messaging you have always received for playing is not yet changed. It should remain as it always has, though you may notice that some instruments are markedly harder or easier to play than others. This is because the PLAY system is a separate entity that has not yet been re-assessed.
Two small, well-known bugs have been squelched in making the system compatible with the new instruments, however. One: The messaging that states 'You finish playing on your <instrument>.' should now denote the correct instrument irregardless of the hand it is held in. Two: Instruments that may be played one-handed will now only depend upon the injuries on the hand and related arm it is held in, in order to be played.
SURPRISE!
There are a number of small easter eggs now contained in instruments and how they work, ones that we thought would be fun to add in and add some flavor to our lives. One you should already know about: RECALL. Feel free to experiment and look for the others to your heart's content. (But don't bother asking us what they are, because we won't tell!)
Questions? Problems? Thrown tomatos? Please direct them to The Bards category, the Suggestions and Discussions -- Instruments folder. Thanks.
The Bard Team
This message was originally posted in The Bards, Suggestions and Discussion -- Instruments. To discuss the above follow the link below.
http://www.play.net/forums/messages.asp?forum=20&category=15&topic=14&message=81
In the coming days you'll be introduced to a new instrument system, one that has been expanded as we put down the foundation for the creation of the bonding, sentience, and creation systems. The majority of the changes involved with instruments are invisible. Or, at least, we hope they are. <G> There are a few noticable things you will begin to see once you log in with your newly refigured instruments, however.
If you use instruments on a regular basis PLEASE read this post in its entirety before the new system goes into effect. None of this information is implemented yet: It is your forewarning so that you are prepared when it happens.
WEATHER AND WATER
From now on, instruments will no longer track how long they are out in the rain, sleet, snow, hail, or burning sun. It simply didn't make sense that every instrument in existence was affected in the same way by spending a little time out in the elements. Instead, precipitation and TRAVELING THROUGH WET AREAS will cause water to accumulate upon your instruments. Keeping your instrument in a container should protect it from accumulating more water but any water that is presently on your instrument will begin to soak in after a while irregardless of where it is stored, damaging it. This water can be WIPED off with a standard instrument cloth or towel. As with towels, you will be able to WRING your instrument cloths to shed the moisture from them.
It is important that you keep your instruments dry because, aside from the fact it will warp the body of the instrument, the strings and skins upon them will flex and contract depending upon whether water is soaking into them or drying from them. This will affect your instrument's tune, and may cause those components to snap if they damage too much or contract too far.
Still, the damage from water standing upon your instruments should be exponentially less than what they received from weather under the old system. Trivia: It took me over seven hours of sitting at the bottom of Eluned's Pool on Ratha for my wooden pyi-pya to disintegrate. Whereas fifteen minutes in the heaviest snow would have done the same under the old system. So ... not only do they damage less, but you also have a manner in which you can stop damage altogether. Namely, wiping your instruments dry. Well, as long as you're not actively underwater anyway.
Instruments made of metal, glass, or stone will no longer be susceptable to either water or precipitation. In the coming months, metal instruments will acquire their own idiosyncracies as OXIDIZATION is implemented. Glass instruments, you may notice, will also be more fragile to physical damage than their more sturdy compatriots. Instruments made of bone, ivory, shell, or mineral-infused woods will be affected by water, but not nearly to the extent that those of plain wood are.
Dirt will still accumulate upon your instruments, as it has in the past, but you will find that it gathers less frequently if you keep your instruments protectively in their closed cases.
BARDIC APPRAISAL
When you appraise your instruments you will be looking for things that are out of the ordinary. You won't notice any damage if there is none present, you won't notice dirt or water accumulating if there aren't any there, etc. In other words, if you don't see the information then it deals with something you shouldn't have to worry about.
Appraisal will also no longer be a 'sure thing' once you have reached a minimal amount of skill. Some instruments are inherently more complex than others, and you will need more skill in appraisal and the instrument class in question in order to discern a 'perfect' reading of the information from some instruments than you would from others. To balance this, appraising an instrument will now teach more for bards than it has in the past, dependant upon their level of success at discerning the specialized information about the instrument.
Some new things to notice in the appraisal of instruments includes the amount of water sitting upon the instrument, the material that the instrument is primarily crafted from, the components it may have, and what material comprises those components.
UPKEEP AND REPAIR
The upkeep and repair of your instrument has been expanded to support a wider variety of instruments and people using them. Some instruments, you may notice, will be inherently harder to upkeep than others, but the experience granted for doing so should be worth the extra effort. Watch out for trying to work on something too beyond your abilities, however, for you will learn little and may end end up damaging the instrument in the process.
As was noted before in this post, a new verb is now also available to allow you to care for your instruments. WIPE, when used with a cloth or a towel in hand, should allow you to wipe the water from your instruments.
In the past you may've noticed that you can string your silk-stringed pyi-pya's with gut or metal strings from bard shops, or that your steel-strung tamburas could be similarly repaired with gut and silk strings. No more. Should an instrument be meant to be only strung with a certain type of material, you will ONLY be able to string it with components of that material.
Speaking of instrument strings ... it's a bit hard to tell which set of strings you have, or what skin is bundled up in your pack at a glance. So, you'll need to actively look at them from now on to see which is which.
Some things to remember: If an instrument has no material stated, it is assumed to be wood. If strings have no material stated in the catalog they are purchased from, they are assumed to be gut.
BONDING
Bonding, as it currently stands now in Elanthia, is going away. It will be rewritten as a voluntary system where one consciously undergoes specific steps in order to achieve a bond with their instrument. As soon as instruments are updated to the new instrument system, you will be unable to re-bond or un-bond with you instruments until the bonding system is released. So, if you want to unbond with an instrument and haven't gotten around to it yet, DO IT NOW.
PLAYING
The messaging you have always received for playing is not yet changed. It should remain as it always has, though you may notice that some instruments are markedly harder or easier to play than others. This is because the PLAY system is a separate entity that has not yet been re-assessed.
Two small, well-known bugs have been squelched in making the system compatible with the new instruments, however. One: The messaging that states 'You finish playing on your <instrument>.' should now denote the correct instrument irregardless of the hand it is held in. Two: Instruments that may be played one-handed will now only depend upon the injuries on the hand and related arm it is held in, in order to be played.
SURPRISE!
There are a number of small easter eggs now contained in instruments and how they work, ones that we thought would be fun to add in and add some flavor to our lives. One you should already know about: RECALL. Feel free to experiment and look for the others to your heart's content. (But don't bother asking us what they are, because we won't tell!)
Questions? Problems? Thrown tomatos? Please direct them to The Bards category, the Suggestions and Discussions -- Instruments folder. Thanks.
The Bard Team
This message was originally posted in The Bards, Suggestions and Discussion -- Instruments. To discuss the above follow the link below.
http://www.play.net/forums/messages.asp?forum=20&category=15&topic=14&message=81
Heya y'all!
Earlier today a goodly batch of changes to the Bardic Guildleaders were made live. 98% of them were invisible, mostly support for when enchantes are retrofit and to allow us to a bit more ease in manipulating their information and such. Boring stuff.
One noticable change you will find, however, occurs when Bards go to their guildleader while wanted for crimes. Instead of getting summarily thrown into jail, as they used to be, they'll have to endure the tonguelashing of their life. After they've been chewed out and run through the verbal meat grinder, if they feel up to it they may then ask them again for information about their training.
Any questions, please feel free to fire 'em at the The Bards, General Discussions. :) Thanks y'all!
Deryka
This message was originally posted in The Bards, General Discussions - Bards. To discuss the above follow the link below.
http://www.play.net/forums/messages.asp?forum=20&category=15&topic=3&message=2138
Earlier today a goodly batch of changes to the Bardic Guildleaders were made live. 98% of them were invisible, mostly support for when enchantes are retrofit and to allow us to a bit more ease in manipulating their information and such. Boring stuff.
One noticable change you will find, however, occurs when Bards go to their guildleader while wanted for crimes. Instead of getting summarily thrown into jail, as they used to be, they'll have to endure the tonguelashing of their life. After they've been chewed out and run through the verbal meat grinder, if they feel up to it they may then ask them again for information about their training.
Any questions, please feel free to fire 'em at the The Bards, General Discussions. :) Thanks y'all!
Deryka
This message was originally posted in The Bards, General Discussions - Bards. To discuss the above follow the link below.
http://www.play.net/forums/messages.asp?forum=20&category=15&topic=3&message=2138
Greets,
This is a good news/bad news post (well, actually, it's all good news for me, heh), directed to the Bards and those interested in the new Bardic enchantes.
First, the good/good news: You may be interested in checking out the spell/enchante lists for Bards where you will find what the proposed enchantes actually do: http://www.play.net/dr/info/spells/spelllist.asp?guild=9&name=Bard
Remember that with PLANNED spells or enchantes that these are subject to change at our discretion and as such do not constitute promises or binding agreements, etc, etc. I fully expect some people to flip out (in both good and bad ways) over some of these enchantes regardless. Questions and commentary should be taken to the Bard enchantes folders.
Now, for some of the not-so-good news. Deryka and I, after a lengthy discussion, have decided to push the release of Enchantes v2.1 to a Hot Summer Nights date. The stress of completing the system earlier than that is really just too much for me with my Guilds and Magic roles. Since there's a lot of activity in semi-related projects such as new instruments and the change to Music Lore/Theory, this will also give the Bard Team time to focus on those changes before they're tied up testing and writing the new enchantes.
On the plus side, this means I don't have to rush the design of the system, and it allows me to take a long-needed break from DragonRealms in general for a few weeks.
An Enchante rewrite has been talked about -- and put off -- for years, but I prefer to think that this announcement won't be too discouraging. You're seeing a lot of activity now with Deryka and Ydrask; I'm sure that you realise that the days of a stagnant Bard guild are being put behind you.
Enjoy the enchante descriptions, and I'll see everyone in a few weeks when I'm back making those a reality,
Rigby
This is a good news/bad news post (well, actually, it's all good news for me, heh), directed to the Bards and those interested in the new Bardic enchantes.
First, the good/good news: You may be interested in checking out the spell/enchante lists for Bards where you will find what the proposed enchantes actually do: http://www.play.net/dr/info/spells/spelllist.asp?guild=9&name=Bard
Remember that with PLANNED spells or enchantes that these are subject to change at our discretion and as such do not constitute promises or binding agreements, etc, etc. I fully expect some people to flip out (in both good and bad ways) over some of these enchantes regardless. Questions and commentary should be taken to the Bard enchantes folders.
Now, for some of the not-so-good news. Deryka and I, after a lengthy discussion, have decided to push the release of Enchantes v2.1 to a Hot Summer Nights date. The stress of completing the system earlier than that is really just too much for me with my Guilds and Magic roles. Since there's a lot of activity in semi-related projects such as new instruments and the change to Music Lore/Theory, this will also give the Bard Team time to focus on those changes before they're tied up testing and writing the new enchantes.
On the plus side, this means I don't have to rush the design of the system, and it allows me to take a long-needed break from DragonRealms in general for a few weeks.
An Enchante rewrite has been talked about -- and put off -- for years, but I prefer to think that this announcement won't be too discouraging. You're seeing a lot of activity now with Deryka and Ydrask; I'm sure that you realise that the days of a stagnant Bard guild are being put behind you.
Enjoy the enchante descriptions, and I'll see everyone in a few weeks when I'm back making those a reality,
Rigby
Mayday! Mayday!
Actually, alarm klaxons and screams of panic are not in evidence in the halls of Bardic development. It's simply May Day.
We have what we consider to be a fantastic set of releases for Hot Summer Nights. All of our planned non-enchante projects are complete, and work on the enchantes themselves is progressing rapidly.
In fact, the first of our HSN releases will be announced shortly. There should be a teaser from Solomon preceding the announcement, so keep your eyes peeled.
Requirements are certainly on our minds, and we hope to have more information forthcoming for you on those, so that we can discuss them in detail at the meeting.
Did I mention the guild-wide meeting? 9 p.m. EDT on Sunday, May 18th in the Crossing Ampitheater? It's rather important that I do, you see. Since we've so very kindly enabled the MEETING verb, it means all your questions about this post have a nice place to go!
Thanks,
Ydrask
Actually, alarm klaxons and screams of panic are not in evidence in the halls of Bardic development. It's simply May Day.
We have what we consider to be a fantastic set of releases for Hot Summer Nights. All of our planned non-enchante projects are complete, and work on the enchantes themselves is progressing rapidly.
In fact, the first of our HSN releases will be announced shortly. There should be a teaser from Solomon preceding the announcement, so keep your eyes peeled.
Requirements are certainly on our minds, and we hope to have more information forthcoming for you on those, so that we can discuss them in detail at the meeting.
Did I mention the guild-wide meeting? 9 p.m. EDT on Sunday, May 18th in the Crossing Ampitheater? It's rather important that I do, you see. Since we've so very kindly enabled the MEETING verb, it means all your questions about this post have a nice place to go!
Thanks,
Ydrask
Greetings,
Welcome to another post detailing what is going on for the Bards of DragonRealms. Here is a brief overview of what we are currently up to behind the scenes.
* Hot Summer Nights still rampage on, so look for more teasers and subsequent releases for the guild.
* Team Bard is staying atop the discussions and issues involved with the Musical Theory Split.
* Likewise, we're actively monitoring and testing the new enchante system to ensure that everything functions as intended. Keep those BUG and TYPO reports coming, and please continue to post your thoughts on the message boards.
* Bard-oriented events are still occurring, albeit not with the manic frequency of past months.
* Guild Requirements are being reviewed in light of planned game-wide development changes. Any adjustments to the published proposal will be made public at the appropriate time.
* Although HSN is not yet complete, Team Bard is beginning to transition into the next major phase of guild development. Details on this will come to light in an update after HSN.
These message boards have been functioning as an extremely positive communication source in recent months. We would like to see this continue, so please continue to constructively post your ideas, desires, complaints, issues, and thoughts. We are seeing a large influx of new players choosing to play Bards of late; please do not hesitate to introduce them to the message boards as a source of information and idea exchange.
Thank you for playing your parts in continuing to make this an outstanding Hot Summer Nights for Bards!
Ydrask
Welcome to another post detailing what is going on for the Bards of DragonRealms. Here is a brief overview of what we are currently up to behind the scenes.
* Hot Summer Nights still rampage on, so look for more teasers and subsequent releases for the guild.
* Team Bard is staying atop the discussions and issues involved with the Musical Theory Split.
* Likewise, we're actively monitoring and testing the new enchante system to ensure that everything functions as intended. Keep those BUG and TYPO reports coming, and please continue to post your thoughts on the message boards.
* Bard-oriented events are still occurring, albeit not with the manic frequency of past months.
* Guild Requirements are being reviewed in light of planned game-wide development changes. Any adjustments to the published proposal will be made public at the appropriate time.
* Although HSN is not yet complete, Team Bard is beginning to transition into the next major phase of guild development. Details on this will come to light in an update after HSN.
These message boards have been functioning as an extremely positive communication source in recent months. We would like to see this continue, so please continue to constructively post your ideas, desires, complaints, issues, and thoughts. We are seeing a large influx of new players choosing to play Bards of late; please do not hesitate to introduce them to the message boards as a source of information and idea exchange.
Thank you for playing your parts in continuing to make this an outstanding Hot Summer Nights for Bards!
Ydrask
So....
Ydrask is making me actually come out of my tree to post. Can you believe it? I was in the middle of a good nap too! <grumbles> So, I might as well let you know that the Clash aspect of enchantes, which causes them to sputter and stop if you haven't the skill to weave the one you're playing amongst the other enchantes present in the area, has been reduced down to more comfortable levels. It's still apparent and will require skill to overcome, especially with certain song combinations, but it should be something easier to manage in your everyday travels now. :)
Ciao!
Deryka
Ydrask is making me actually come out of my tree to post. Can you believe it? I was in the middle of a good nap too! <grumbles> So, I might as well let you know that the Clash aspect of enchantes, which causes them to sputter and stop if you haven't the skill to weave the one you're playing amongst the other enchantes present in the area, has been reduced down to more comfortable levels. It's still apparent and will require skill to overcome, especially with certain song combinations, but it should be something easier to manage in your everyday travels now. :)
Ciao!
Deryka
As it is now November, Team Bard presents the latest update on guild developments:
~ Our Hot Winter Nights agenda has been finalized, and our projects are currently undergoing QC and as much testing as we can create the time for...
~ Guild Requirements have undergone a rather strenuous review (today was devoted entirely to them), and our latest intitiative will be soon begin undergoing analysis against the skill ranks extant within the guild. Bringing the requirements proposal in line with existing skills, anticipated system development, guild development projects, and maintaining a relative correlation to the overall Guilds requirements system is at best a long and arduous process. Should this latest intiative survive testing, we hope that it will provide a balanced approach to the requirements issue that will satisfy the guild far past 100th circle while providing a challenge that permits development and advancement to coexist peacefully. As soon as we're comfortable that the latest proposal satisfies the above conditions and has an acceptable impact on the members of the guild, we will release it so that you may comment on it...
~ The latest round of guild events are underway. I have been asked to advise you that those weak of stomach or faint of heart might do best to avoid involvement...
~ We are going to begin investigating dates for the next guild wide meeting. Keep an eye on the NEWS and these message boards for details...
~ While Hot Winter Nights will not approach Hot Summer Nights in scope, we believe that you will be pleasantly surprised by many of the developments and releases that reflect your direct requests and concerns...
~ Lastly, thank you for your continued support and constructive commentary and discussions. Your positive energy is a boon to development and greatly helps us maintain our indefatigable bardic spirits in the face of yet another screen of text or code that hungers for our souls.
Thanks,
Ydrask
~ Our Hot Winter Nights agenda has been finalized, and our projects are currently undergoing QC and as much testing as we can create the time for...
~ Guild Requirements have undergone a rather strenuous review (today was devoted entirely to them), and our latest intitiative will be soon begin undergoing analysis against the skill ranks extant within the guild. Bringing the requirements proposal in line with existing skills, anticipated system development, guild development projects, and maintaining a relative correlation to the overall Guilds requirements system is at best a long and arduous process. Should this latest intiative survive testing, we hope that it will provide a balanced approach to the requirements issue that will satisfy the guild far past 100th circle while providing a challenge that permits development and advancement to coexist peacefully. As soon as we're comfortable that the latest proposal satisfies the above conditions and has an acceptable impact on the members of the guild, we will release it so that you may comment on it...
~ The latest round of guild events are underway. I have been asked to advise you that those weak of stomach or faint of heart might do best to avoid involvement...
~ We are going to begin investigating dates for the next guild wide meeting. Keep an eye on the NEWS and these message boards for details...
~ While Hot Winter Nights will not approach Hot Summer Nights in scope, we believe that you will be pleasantly surprised by many of the developments and releases that reflect your direct requests and concerns...
~ Lastly, thank you for your continued support and constructive commentary and discussions. Your positive energy is a boon to development and greatly helps us maintain our indefatigable bardic spirits in the face of yet another screen of text or code that hungers for our souls.
Thanks,
Ydrask
Heyo!
As of today, a few fairly major changes to how Fear works are live in Prime and Platinum. If I don't scare everyone away, I'll be adding them to TF on Friday or Saturday.
What has changed?
* Fixed a bug that was causing a few critters knocked from hiding to be completely invulnerable to direct attack. I'm not sure why I thought this was a bad thing, but I fixed it anyway.
The big change, however is that I moved the way most of the Fear effects handle hiding to the core Stealth mechs. This has some distinct pros and cons for both the Bards and for sneaks.
* Some types of Fear will scare hiders so badly that they run screaming from the room. This will remove them from hiding and from the room. This is nothing new, and hasn't changed.
* Several types of Fear will now require a Stalking check to remain unseen if they fail their will vs will check badly enough. If they fail the stalk check, they will be spotted just as if they were trying to sneak around the room, and can be pointed from hiding.
Ultimately, Bards will find they have a much more consistant affect on hiders, and may start noticing more things trembling and whimpering in the shadows. Sneaks should find that while they may have more chances to be seen, they also now have a better chance of avoiding that detection if they have sufficient skill. Previously skill made no difference.
IMPORTANT: Please note that a few Fear effects still have no chance to reveal hiders, and as noted above a few extreme effects will simply reveal hiders as they run screaming from the area. These are both intentional, and while we may review a few specific cases, for the most part these will not be changing.
If you notice anything odd, please BUG it in-game or post it in the Bard Bug folders and I'll look into it as soon as possible!
- GM Dartenian
"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" - Al Jolson
LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/dartenian/
As of today, a few fairly major changes to how Fear works are live in Prime and Platinum. If I don't scare everyone away, I'll be adding them to TF on Friday or Saturday.
What has changed?
* Fixed a bug that was causing a few critters knocked from hiding to be completely invulnerable to direct attack. I'm not sure why I thought this was a bad thing, but I fixed it anyway.
The big change, however is that I moved the way most of the Fear effects handle hiding to the core Stealth mechs. This has some distinct pros and cons for both the Bards and for sneaks.
* Some types of Fear will scare hiders so badly that they run screaming from the room. This will remove them from hiding and from the room. This is nothing new, and hasn't changed.
* Several types of Fear will now require a Stalking check to remain unseen if they fail their will vs will check badly enough. If they fail the stalk check, they will be spotted just as if they were trying to sneak around the room, and can be pointed from hiding.
Ultimately, Bards will find they have a much more consistant affect on hiders, and may start noticing more things trembling and whimpering in the shadows. Sneaks should find that while they may have more chances to be seen, they also now have a better chance of avoiding that detection if they have sufficient skill. Previously skill made no difference.
IMPORTANT: Please note that a few Fear effects still have no chance to reveal hiders, and as noted above a few extreme effects will simply reveal hiders as they run screaming from the area. These are both intentional, and while we may review a few specific cases, for the most part these will not be changing.
If you notice anything odd, please BUG it in-game or post it in the Bard Bug folders and I'll look into it as soon as possible!
- GM Dartenian
"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" - Al Jolson
LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/dartenian/
Heyo!
I'm temporarily backing out these changes until the source of the recent oddities can be pinpointed. If any of you STILL get the strange shutdown messages, please let me know in the BUG folder.
I know what's causing these problems, but I have yet to figure out why its happening. I'll keep you posted.
P.S. I know at least one person saw it happen with Lilt. Anyone else see really strange shutdown messages in a non-Fear enchante, or -before- these changes?
- GM Dartenian
"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" - Al Jolson
LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/dartenian/
I'm temporarily backing out these changes until the source of the recent oddities can be pinpointed. If any of you STILL get the strange shutdown messages, please let me know in the BUG folder.
I know what's causing these problems, but I have yet to figure out why its happening. I'll keep you posted.
P.S. I know at least one person saw it happen with Lilt. Anyone else see really strange shutdown messages in a non-Fear enchante, or -before- these changes?
- GM Dartenian
"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" - Al Jolson
LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/dartenian/
Heyo!
As of this post, the Aura of Tongues enchante is now playable on stringed instruments. The new version should eliminate most of the concerns about excessive scroll, and allow the Bard to remain far less intrusive.
Right now, the messaging is distinct enough that individuals who are paying attention will realize it's not a normal song, although it doesn't exactly scream for attention either like the chant, nor does it blatantly announce what it is doing. Once the flying pigs land, it should blend in even more.
This change is live in Platinum and Prime, and will go to TF in a couple of days if nothing breaks. Note that Chanting is still an option as well, for those who actually want everyone to know they are listening.
I have one other Aura-related project on the drawing board, but it still needs a little TLC still. Stay tuned!
- GM Dartenian
"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" - Al Jolson
LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/dartenian/
As of this post, the Aura of Tongues enchante is now playable on stringed instruments. The new version should eliminate most of the concerns about excessive scroll, and allow the Bard to remain far less intrusive.
Right now, the messaging is distinct enough that individuals who are paying attention will realize it's not a normal song, although it doesn't exactly scream for attention either like the chant, nor does it blatantly announce what it is doing. Once the flying pigs land, it should blend in even more.
This change is live in Platinum and Prime, and will go to TF in a couple of days if nothing breaks. Note that Chanting is still an option as well, for those who actually want everyone to know they are listening.
I have one other Aura-related project on the drawing board, but it still needs a little TLC still. Stay tuned!
- GM Dartenian
"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" - Al Jolson
LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/dartenian/
Heyo!
Preview period for Resonance, Demriss' Resolve, Aether Wolves, and Redeemer's Pride will be ending very soon.
As an update, the mana cap on Resonance has been raised. Nothing else has changed, but those of you with a lot of skill should find you can get a more power into it now, which in turn will give even better results.
- GM Dartenian
"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" - Al Jolson
LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/dartenian/
Preview period for Resonance, Demriss' Resolve, Aether Wolves, and Redeemer's Pride will be ending very soon.
As an update, the mana cap on Resonance has been raised. Nothing else has changed, but those of you with a lot of skill should find you can get a more power into it now, which in turn will give even better results.
- GM Dartenian
"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" - Al Jolson
LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/dartenian/
Heyo!
I just released some changes to the instrument system. Most of these are bug fixes, although a few things were restructured to make them more compatable with other upcoming releases.
What has changed?
(1) A bug that causing an out-of-tune instrument to penalize your effective music skill by a -minimum- of 100% has been thoroughly squished.
(2) A bug that was allowing you to play a completely destroyed wind instrument as long as it was a -clean- wind instrument was blown away.
(3) The TUNE verb was slightly padded to allow novices at least some chance to check the tuning of their instrument. It will still be a bit more difficult than I'd like, but it is now just difficult as opposed to virtually impossible.
(4) The impact of dirt and tuning on instruments has been adjusted somewhat. The scaling of penalties for poorly maintained instruments has been modified to make it a bit more even and consistant. This means you should notice a more gradual decrease in effectiveness at first, although you will still hit a point where you simply need to tune it or clean it if you want to play it. Wind instruments are still more sentative to dirt than the others, but not quite as bad as before.
These changes are now live in Prime and Platinum, and will be released to TF in a couple of days if nothing explodes.
At some point in the foreseeable future (not today!), instruments will actually start going out of tune again. While this isn't going to be set up to be a huge inconvenience, it was never intended to go away in the first place. This will be the first step in the road to returning instrument bonding for bards, and for making instrument crafting (creating strings and drum skins, etc) have some useful applications.
These changes are also one of the last pieces that needs to be in place before the Mythical Beast is finally slain. Keep an eye open in the coming week or two for more little tweaks here and there to prepare the road for PLAY 2.0, coming soon to an Elanthia near you.
- GM Dartenian
"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" - Al Jolson
LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/dartenian/
I just released some changes to the instrument system. Most of these are bug fixes, although a few things were restructured to make them more compatable with other upcoming releases.
What has changed?
(1) A bug that causing an out-of-tune instrument to penalize your effective music skill by a -minimum- of 100% has been thoroughly squished.
(2) A bug that was allowing you to play a completely destroyed wind instrument as long as it was a -clean- wind instrument was blown away.
(3) The TUNE verb was slightly padded to allow novices at least some chance to check the tuning of their instrument. It will still be a bit more difficult than I'd like, but it is now just difficult as opposed to virtually impossible.
(4) The impact of dirt and tuning on instruments has been adjusted somewhat. The scaling of penalties for poorly maintained instruments has been modified to make it a bit more even and consistant. This means you should notice a more gradual decrease in effectiveness at first, although you will still hit a point where you simply need to tune it or clean it if you want to play it. Wind instruments are still more sentative to dirt than the others, but not quite as bad as before.
These changes are now live in Prime and Platinum, and will be released to TF in a couple of days if nothing explodes.
At some point in the foreseeable future (not today!), instruments will actually start going out of tune again. While this isn't going to be set up to be a huge inconvenience, it was never intended to go away in the first place. This will be the first step in the road to returning instrument bonding for bards, and for making instrument crafting (creating strings and drum skins, etc) have some useful applications.
These changes are also one of the last pieces that needs to be in place before the Mythical Beast is finally slain. Keep an eye open in the coming week or two for more little tweaks here and there to prepare the road for PLAY 2.0, coming soon to an Elanthia near you.
- GM Dartenian
"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" - Al Jolson
LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/dartenian/
Heyo!
I just released some changes to the song scroll system. For the most part, these should be completely invisible, but you may notice some changes to what you can and cannot do while singing a song scroll.
These changes are in preparation for a much larger release that should be coming very soon. Stay tuned!
- GM Dartenian
"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" - Al Jolson
LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/dartenian/
I just released some changes to the song scroll system. For the most part, these should be completely invisible, but you may notice some changes to what you can and cannot do while singing a song scroll.
These changes are in preparation for a much larger release that should be coming very soon. Stay tuned!
- GM Dartenian
"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" - Al Jolson
LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/dartenian/
Heyo!
Now that the Mythical Beast is finally out, I wanted to take a minute to let everyone know where things stand and what comes next. Clean-up work on PLAY is going to be keeping me busy for the next few days at least, but the initial launch is going far better than I had anticipated, so the post-release work isn't going to be nearly as overwhelming as I had feared.
Once the wrinkles are worked out of PLAY, I'm going to be moving on to a couple more major projects that will probably keep me fairly well tied up for the next couple of months. I'll touch on those more later. Last weekend was UnCon, and I sent some notes with Shavay to announce there. While the big announcement I gave him with the launch of Play 2.0, there were a few others:
(1) I've mention this before, but I'll mention it again. Bagpipes are coming. They are approved, coded, and in working order, and completely compatable with the new play. We are currently working on getting them in some shops.
(2) A couple of Bard-related areas are under construction, and in a couple cases nearing completion. These will feature, among other things, some keyboard instruments, a game room with some playable games, and bardic housing. Not going to say any more than that for now.
(3) Cambrinth as it relates to enchantes is getting an overhaul. I'm not going to go into much detail at this time, except to say I've got the new system working in the Dev instance already, and it should make cambrinth much more useful for enchantes. In addition, it should make it a bit easier to train the MD skill. Support for instruments with cambrinth parts is also now a reality, so with any luck we'll see some of those yet this year.
(4) Enchantes are still being reviewed. Caress of the Sun is up next, and I'll confirm that it will indeed be giving some protection against ice/water magic. Nothing spectacular, but it should at least give the enchante a bit more utility. In addition, a new "toy" is being worked on that may make Aura of Tongues a bit more useful to bards. Again, nothing mind-boggling, but just a neat little something extra. The enchante review will be ongoing until we've examined them all.
(5) I am still hoping to get a couple more enchantes out this year, but at the moment that's looking like it's going to be difficult, and may not happen. Consider this a subtle nudge to apply for Bard Assistant if you haven't already!
(6) Expect to see instruments starting to go out of tune over time again sometime before the summer is out. It's ready to go now, but I'm holding off because enchantes have this annoying habit of telling you your instrument is out of tune every pulse, and I want to tweak that a bit first to cut back on the excess scroll it produces. Once this is in place, the next step is to work on getting Bonding back.
That covers most of the basics, I think. Now for the major projects I mentioned earlier. I'm not at liberty to go into too many details on some of this, but here's what I will tell you so you know why I'm going to be a bit quiet and busy for the rest of the year.
(1) I need to get the Gnome Village done. Plain and simple. No, that doesn't really apply to most of you , but it's almost as mythical and as much of a beast as the Play Rewrite, and has been under construction for 5 years. It's time to get the thing done, so it's going way up on my priority list, although it is not top priority.
(2) I've got a couple of areas other than the village that need to be done, and are on a tight deadline. A lot of my time over the next month is going to be tied up there. Yes, this will impact you guys, but that's all I'm going to say.
(3) I have one other new system to work on that isn't bard-related. All I'll say for now is that it's on the 2006 goals list, and I'm still hoping to at least get it into QC this year. Unfortunately, the next project (#4) may set it back a bit more than I had hoped.
(4) Here's the big one. Those of you who read a lot of folders and are good at reading between the lines may have already figured this out, but I'm doing some major work on the core magic system. No, we aren't doing Magic 3.0, but there are some long-standing bugs that need fixing, and some balance issues (particularly in skill vs stat contests) that need to be addressed, and I'll be spending a lot of time over the next couple of months working on core magic.
What does this mean for Bards? For the most part, it will mean good things. I'll be perfectly frank -- right now there are some serious problems with the way core magic handles certain things, and enchantes are among those being hit the hardest by these problems. That mana leakage messaging that most bards see all the time is a symptom of a much larger problem that I'm currently working to correct. While I really can't go into much detail at this point, suffice it to say that right now most of you aren't getting as much effectiveness from enchantes as you should be. In some cases, the loss of effectiveness can be fairly severe.
Anyway, this should give you an idea what I'm going to be doing over the next few months. The year is far from over, and there's still more coming for you guys. Just not as much as I had really hoped. Still, I think it's been a good year overall, so hopefully ya'll will forgive me if things slow down a tad bit.
- GM Dartenian
"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" - Al Jolson
LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/dartenian/
Now that the Mythical Beast is finally out, I wanted to take a minute to let everyone know where things stand and what comes next. Clean-up work on PLAY is going to be keeping me busy for the next few days at least, but the initial launch is going far better than I had anticipated, so the post-release work isn't going to be nearly as overwhelming as I had feared.
Once the wrinkles are worked out of PLAY, I'm going to be moving on to a couple more major projects that will probably keep me fairly well tied up for the next couple of months. I'll touch on those more later. Last weekend was UnCon, and I sent some notes with Shavay to announce there. While the big announcement I gave him with the launch of Play 2.0, there were a few others:
(1) I've mention this before, but I'll mention it again. Bagpipes are coming. They are approved, coded, and in working order, and completely compatable with the new play. We are currently working on getting them in some shops.
(2) A couple of Bard-related areas are under construction, and in a couple cases nearing completion. These will feature, among other things, some keyboard instruments, a game room with some playable games, and bardic housing. Not going to say any more than that for now.
(3) Cambrinth as it relates to enchantes is getting an overhaul. I'm not going to go into much detail at this time, except to say I've got the new system working in the Dev instance already, and it should make cambrinth much more useful for enchantes. In addition, it should make it a bit easier to train the MD skill. Support for instruments with cambrinth parts is also now a reality, so with any luck we'll see some of those yet this year.
(4) Enchantes are still being reviewed. Caress of the Sun is up next, and I'll confirm that it will indeed be giving some protection against ice/water magic. Nothing spectacular, but it should at least give the enchante a bit more utility. In addition, a new "toy" is being worked on that may make Aura of Tongues a bit more useful to bards. Again, nothing mind-boggling, but just a neat little something extra. The enchante review will be ongoing until we've examined them all.
(5) I am still hoping to get a couple more enchantes out this year, but at the moment that's looking like it's going to be difficult, and may not happen. Consider this a subtle nudge to apply for Bard Assistant if you haven't already!
(6) Expect to see instruments starting to go out of tune over time again sometime before the summer is out. It's ready to go now, but I'm holding off because enchantes have this annoying habit of telling you your instrument is out of tune every pulse, and I want to tweak that a bit first to cut back on the excess scroll it produces. Once this is in place, the next step is to work on getting Bonding back.
That covers most of the basics, I think. Now for the major projects I mentioned earlier. I'm not at liberty to go into too many details on some of this, but here's what I will tell you so you know why I'm going to be a bit quiet and busy for the rest of the year.
(1) I need to get the Gnome Village done. Plain and simple. No, that doesn't really apply to most of you , but it's almost as mythical and as much of a beast as the Play Rewrite, and has been under construction for 5 years. It's time to get the thing done, so it's going way up on my priority list, although it is not top priority.
(2) I've got a couple of areas other than the village that need to be done, and are on a tight deadline. A lot of my time over the next month is going to be tied up there. Yes, this will impact you guys, but that's all I'm going to say.
(3) I have one other new system to work on that isn't bard-related. All I'll say for now is that it's on the 2006 goals list, and I'm still hoping to at least get it into QC this year. Unfortunately, the next project (#4) may set it back a bit more than I had hoped.
(4) Here's the big one. Those of you who read a lot of folders and are good at reading between the lines may have already figured this out, but I'm doing some major work on the core magic system. No, we aren't doing Magic 3.0, but there are some long-standing bugs that need fixing, and some balance issues (particularly in skill vs stat contests) that need to be addressed, and I'll be spending a lot of time over the next couple of months working on core magic.
What does this mean for Bards? For the most part, it will mean good things. I'll be perfectly frank -- right now there are some serious problems with the way core magic handles certain things, and enchantes are among those being hit the hardest by these problems. That mana leakage messaging that most bards see all the time is a symptom of a much larger problem that I'm currently working to correct. While I really can't go into much detail at this point, suffice it to say that right now most of you aren't getting as much effectiveness from enchantes as you should be. In some cases, the loss of effectiveness can be fairly severe.
Anyway, this should give you an idea what I'm going to be doing over the next few months. The year is far from over, and there's still more coming for you guys. Just not as much as I had really hoped. Still, I think it's been a good year overall, so hopefully ya'll will forgive me if things slow down a tad bit.
- GM Dartenian
"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" - Al Jolson
LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/dartenian/
Heyo!
A few minor changes to FOCUS are now live for a brief testing period in Platinum only.
(1) FOCUS alone will now let you check your Concentration, even in roundtime. Currently this does not work in the Ways, since FOCUS alone has a unique use there. This may or may not change in the future.
(2) FOCUS SPOUSE is now required to check on your loved one if you are bonded. This change was necessary due to the one above.
In addition, a new feature has been added to FOCUS for Bards, to aid in their interaction with cambrinth. Bards now have the option to...
FOCUS <cambrinth> <amount>
This will set that particular cambrinth item to leech the specified amount each pulse, rather than just the current one mana point per pulse. This should make cambrinth use more practical for bards.
Important: This setting is tied directly to your link to the cambrinth, not the cambrinth itself. This means you need to reset it any time you lose your link. In other words, it's not a permanent setting. Each time you refocus your cambrinth, you'll need to specify an amount if you don't want it to default to 1 mana per pulse.
FOCUS <cambrinth>
By itself, this will tell a bard how much the item is set to leech, if anything. If no value has been previously set in this link, it will leech one mana per pulse just like it does now.
There are some limits to this ability. The amount you can set your cambrinth to drain is based on your MD skill. The base is now up to 3 mana instead of one, and more skill in using Magical Devices will raise this limit. Obviously it cannot be set to leech more than the item will hold.
Last but not least, a bug in the code that was preventing Bards from learning MD from actual cambrinth use has been thoroughly squished. Bards should now learn MD from cambrinth like any other cambrinth-user would.
These changes are live in Platinum and Prime. TF will follow with these changes in a day or two, assuming nothing explodes.
- GM Dartenian
"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" - Al Jolson
LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/dartenian/
A few minor changes to FOCUS are now live for a brief testing period in Platinum only.
(1) FOCUS alone will now let you check your Concentration, even in roundtime. Currently this does not work in the Ways, since FOCUS alone has a unique use there. This may or may not change in the future.
(2) FOCUS SPOUSE is now required to check on your loved one if you are bonded. This change was necessary due to the one above.
In addition, a new feature has been added to FOCUS for Bards, to aid in their interaction with cambrinth. Bards now have the option to...
FOCUS <cambrinth> <amount>
This will set that particular cambrinth item to leech the specified amount each pulse, rather than just the current one mana point per pulse. This should make cambrinth use more practical for bards.
Important: This setting is tied directly to your link to the cambrinth, not the cambrinth itself. This means you need to reset it any time you lose your link. In other words, it's not a permanent setting. Each time you refocus your cambrinth, you'll need to specify an amount if you don't want it to default to 1 mana per pulse.
FOCUS <cambrinth>
By itself, this will tell a bard how much the item is set to leech, if anything. If no value has been previously set in this link, it will leech one mana per pulse just like it does now.
There are some limits to this ability. The amount you can set your cambrinth to drain is based on your MD skill. The base is now up to 3 mana instead of one, and more skill in using Magical Devices will raise this limit. Obviously it cannot be set to leech more than the item will hold.
Last but not least, a bug in the code that was preventing Bards from learning MD from actual cambrinth use has been thoroughly squished. Bards should now learn MD from cambrinth like any other cambrinth-user would.
These changes are live in Platinum and Prime. TF will follow with these changes in a day or two, assuming nothing explodes.
- GM Dartenian
"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" - Al Jolson
LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/dartenian/
Heyo!
Several major updates to the core magic system -in regards to enchantes- are now live for testing in Platinum and Prime. Assuming nothing goes terribly wrong, they will be deployed to The Fallen once we are sure things are stable.
If you rely heavily on magic for your survival, PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING CAREFULLY. While these changes should not adversely affect most of you, and may in fact benefit many, they are nevertheless changes, and certain playstyles may see some negative impacts.
These changes apply equally to all forms of magic, whether it be spells, enchantes, or critter casting.
Please note again that these are NOT live in any instance other than Platinum, and for Enchantes only in Prime. If the enchante code doesn't blow up in the next 30 minutes or so, the spell equivalent will likewise be released to Prime.
(1) PM vs Harness
A very major bug was squished that made having your Primary Magic skill higher than your Harness skill lower the effectiveness of your spells through mana leakage. This will no longer be the case. It is still possible to have mana leak from your spell patterns, but this will now be based on the spell difficulty versus your harness skill. If you are casting a spell at a mana level that is too high for your harness skill to handle, then yes, you will still have some mana leak. However, just having your PM skill above your harness will no longer cause this to happen.
(2) Prep Time
As a direct result of the PM vs Harness issue, the way prep time impacts your spell effectiveness will essentially reverse itself for many of you. The afforementioned bug was giving some of you a bonus to effectiveness for snapcasting, and a penalty to effectiveness for fully prepping. With this fix, that scenario should no longer exist. Depending on your skills and other factors, you may or may not see a change with this facet of the fix. If you are pushing the limits of your skills, then yes, you'll probably see a reduced effectiveness in your snapcasting, and a corresponding increase in effectiveness of full preps. If you are casting well within your abilities, the difference should be far less visible, if detectable at all.
(3) Held Mana
The PM vs Harness bug fix has also fixed a fairly significent problem with the way held mana works. Previously, harnessing mana to feed power to your spell had the end result of increasing your effective PM score. This, in turn, more often than not resulted in reduced spell effectiveness. With these changes, using harnessed mana to add power to normal prep/cast spells should be much more effecient for most of you.
The flip side of this particular coin is that using held mana to power your spells also lets you push past your normal limits based on your PM skill alone. For example, if you can normally only manage a 20 prep cast before backfiring, you can prep 5, harness 25, and probably pull of an effective 30 prep cast successfully. This is an intended benefit of held mana, and is still very possible. However, the degree to which you can push past your normal limits has been reduced with these fixes. The degree to which you could push past your normal limits not only creates a serious balance issue now that the effeciency of this extra power is potentially higher, but it also seriously reduces the desirability of PM-boosting spells or abilities. While using held mana should be -- and still is -- very beneficial, there needs to be some limits so that globally capped bonuses or penalties can still be felt. For many of you, the overall effect will be that you can't push as far past your normal limits using held mana, but you should get more bang per buck with what you do get.
(4) Water Environments
With the help of GM Wythor, a bug with the way core magic recognizes water environments has been squished. As a result, several spells that are affected by the presence of water in the area should now behave properly. Note that some current spells used their own logic for checking the environment, and these will not be affected, but many used the default core magic logic, and these should now properly recognize what is dry land, and what is wet.
(5)Gaethzen
A bug that made gaethzen think it was cambrinth in some situations (such as leeching into enchantes) has been squished, although this is only a core magic fix. There are other issues with gaethzen itself that still need to be addressed.
(6) Mana Leakage
In addition to fixing the cause of most mana leakage (see #1 above), the messaging for leakage has been tweaked. Previously, bards got a very honest picture of mana leakage -- if they were losing any effectiveness at all, they got the leakage message. Other casters, however, had some built-in padding that only let them know they were losing power if it was extreme. As of now, the padding has been removed from normal casters, and if you are losing spell effectiveness through leakage, you will know, period. On the other hand, the fixes to core magic should make this significently less common unless you are pushing your limits.
(7) Instrument Condition Spam
Previously, if an instrument was negatively impacting the performance of an enchante, it was messaged every single pulse, creating a great deal of spam in some cases. This has been changed so that it will only tell you if your instrument is hurting your song at the start of the enchante.
SUMMARY
Due to the above fixes, primarily the first one, several other facets of how magic works will be affected. Here is what you can expect, in a nutshell:
Anything that increases your effective PM skill should now be beneficial, or at the very least not harmful. Previously the reverse was generally true. Things that might do this include but are not limited to spell or ability based bonuses, full prep, or using harnessed mana. For bards, all enchantes are considered fully prepped, so enchantes in general will probably be more effective as a result.
Anything that penalizes your effective PM skill should now reduce effectiveness, or at least not be beneficial. Previously the reverse was generally true. Things that might do this include but are not limited to spell or ability based debuffs, snapcasting, or injuries.
Please feel free to post feedback, positive or negative, but try to keep it constructive. I will be monitoring these changes all weekend, so if something seems way out of line, it will be fixed as quickly and effeciently as possible.
- GM Dartenian
"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" - Al Jolson
LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/dartenian/
Several major updates to the core magic system -in regards to enchantes- are now live for testing in Platinum and Prime. Assuming nothing goes terribly wrong, they will be deployed to The Fallen once we are sure things are stable.
If you rely heavily on magic for your survival, PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING CAREFULLY. While these changes should not adversely affect most of you, and may in fact benefit many, they are nevertheless changes, and certain playstyles may see some negative impacts.
These changes apply equally to all forms of magic, whether it be spells, enchantes, or critter casting.
Please note again that these are NOT live in any instance other than Platinum, and for Enchantes only in Prime. If the enchante code doesn't blow up in the next 30 minutes or so, the spell equivalent will likewise be released to Prime.
(1) PM vs Harness
A very major bug was squished that made having your Primary Magic skill higher than your Harness skill lower the effectiveness of your spells through mana leakage. This will no longer be the case. It is still possible to have mana leak from your spell patterns, but this will now be based on the spell difficulty versus your harness skill. If you are casting a spell at a mana level that is too high for your harness skill to handle, then yes, you will still have some mana leak. However, just having your PM skill above your harness will no longer cause this to happen.
(2) Prep Time
As a direct result of the PM vs Harness issue, the way prep time impacts your spell effectiveness will essentially reverse itself for many of you. The afforementioned bug was giving some of you a bonus to effectiveness for snapcasting, and a penalty to effectiveness for fully prepping. With this fix, that scenario should no longer exist. Depending on your skills and other factors, you may or may not see a change with this facet of the fix. If you are pushing the limits of your skills, then yes, you'll probably see a reduced effectiveness in your snapcasting, and a corresponding increase in effectiveness of full preps. If you are casting well within your abilities, the difference should be far less visible, if detectable at all.
(3) Held Mana
The PM vs Harness bug fix has also fixed a fairly significent problem with the way held mana works. Previously, harnessing mana to feed power to your spell had the end result of increasing your effective PM score. This, in turn, more often than not resulted in reduced spell effectiveness. With these changes, using harnessed mana to add power to normal prep/cast spells should be much more effecient for most of you.
The flip side of this particular coin is that using held mana to power your spells also lets you push past your normal limits based on your PM skill alone. For example, if you can normally only manage a 20 prep cast before backfiring, you can prep 5, harness 25, and probably pull of an effective 30 prep cast successfully. This is an intended benefit of held mana, and is still very possible. However, the degree to which you can push past your normal limits has been reduced with these fixes. The degree to which you could push past your normal limits not only creates a serious balance issue now that the effeciency of this extra power is potentially higher, but it also seriously reduces the desirability of PM-boosting spells or abilities. While using held mana should be -- and still is -- very beneficial, there needs to be some limits so that globally capped bonuses or penalties can still be felt. For many of you, the overall effect will be that you can't push as far past your normal limits using held mana, but you should get more bang per buck with what you do get.
(4) Water Environments
With the help of GM Wythor, a bug with the way core magic recognizes water environments has been squished. As a result, several spells that are affected by the presence of water in the area should now behave properly. Note that some current spells used their own logic for checking the environment, and these will not be affected, but many used the default core magic logic, and these should now properly recognize what is dry land, and what is wet.
(5)Gaethzen
A bug that made gaethzen think it was cambrinth in some situations (such as leeching into enchantes) has been squished, although this is only a core magic fix. There are other issues with gaethzen itself that still need to be addressed.
(6) Mana Leakage
In addition to fixing the cause of most mana leakage (see #1 above), the messaging for leakage has been tweaked. Previously, bards got a very honest picture of mana leakage -- if they were losing any effectiveness at all, they got the leakage message. Other casters, however, had some built-in padding that only let them know they were losing power if it was extreme. As of now, the padding has been removed from normal casters, and if you are losing spell effectiveness through leakage, you will know, period. On the other hand, the fixes to core magic should make this significently less common unless you are pushing your limits.
(7) Instrument Condition Spam
Previously, if an instrument was negatively impacting the performance of an enchante, it was messaged every single pulse, creating a great deal of spam in some cases. This has been changed so that it will only tell you if your instrument is hurting your song at the start of the enchante.
SUMMARY
Due to the above fixes, primarily the first one, several other facets of how magic works will be affected. Here is what you can expect, in a nutshell:
Anything that increases your effective PM skill should now be beneficial, or at the very least not harmful. Previously the reverse was generally true. Things that might do this include but are not limited to spell or ability based bonuses, full prep, or using harnessed mana. For bards, all enchantes are considered fully prepped, so enchantes in general will probably be more effective as a result.
Anything that penalizes your effective PM skill should now reduce effectiveness, or at least not be beneficial. Previously the reverse was generally true. Things that might do this include but are not limited to spell or ability based debuffs, snapcasting, or injuries.
Please feel free to post feedback, positive or negative, but try to keep it constructive. I will be monitoring these changes all weekend, so if something seems way out of line, it will be fixed as quickly and effeciently as possible.
- GM Dartenian
"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" - Al Jolson
LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/dartenian/
Heyo!
I figured I'd take a short break from...well...breaking things and give a quick status update on things Bard-related.
Bagpipes are coming. The first are already out via raffle, and there will be more available by the end of September, even if I have to resort to an auction or door-to-door sales.
Bagpipes aren't the only new instruments coming this year, however. Before the year is out, expect to see at least one freestanding immobile instrument, three new percussions, and one new wind instrument. Hint: At least a two of these have something in common with multicolored candy from Mars.
Two words: Cambrinth instruments. I'm not sure just where or when, but expect to see a few more turn up here and there over the next few months.
You can expect to see some new song scrolls before this year is out. Most will be familiar songs, but they've never been seen on song scroll before. Whassup with that?
I'm going to try to get 1-2 more enchantes out this year, but no promises. Right now fixing core magic is a higher priority, but I've still got a trick or two up my sleeve, so we may yet see at least one enchante. No promises, though.
Remember how I said the new PLAY system would let us do things with music we couldn't really do before? I expect something I'll be releasing later this year will shed some light on that claim.
We'll get to the bottom of the mystery of the mysterious harp strings before the year is out, hopefully before the summer is over.
A few recalls will turn up before the year is over on things you've probably never found recalls on before.
Since it has been discussed to some extent over in the Warrior Mage folders, I'll just go ahead and confirm it here -- the White Sentinel of Aesry is under construction, and will easily be the largest and most amazing Bard Guildhall to date. I really can't give anything remotely resembling a timeline on this project, but a significent portion is complete, and I think it will be well worth the wait when finished.
There are a few other projects underway that I can't comment on yet, but should be out this year, more likely sooner than later. Overall I think the last half of the year should be at least as good as the first half. I wish I could get all the enchantes on the 2006 goals list out, but unfortunately I seriously doubt that's going to happen. Still, 100 million miracles are happening every day, so you never know.
- GM Dartenian
"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" - Al Jolson
LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/dartenian/
I figured I'd take a short break from...well...breaking things and give a quick status update on things Bard-related.
Bagpipes are coming. The first are already out via raffle, and there will be more available by the end of September, even if I have to resort to an auction or door-to-door sales.
Bagpipes aren't the only new instruments coming this year, however. Before the year is out, expect to see at least one freestanding immobile instrument, three new percussions, and one new wind instrument. Hint: At least a two of these have something in common with multicolored candy from Mars.
Two words: Cambrinth instruments. I'm not sure just where or when, but expect to see a few more turn up here and there over the next few months.
You can expect to see some new song scrolls before this year is out. Most will be familiar songs, but they've never been seen on song scroll before. Whassup with that?
I'm going to try to get 1-2 more enchantes out this year, but no promises. Right now fixing core magic is a higher priority, but I've still got a trick or two up my sleeve, so we may yet see at least one enchante. No promises, though.
Remember how I said the new PLAY system would let us do things with music we couldn't really do before? I expect something I'll be releasing later this year will shed some light on that claim.
We'll get to the bottom of the mystery of the mysterious harp strings before the year is out, hopefully before the summer is over.
A few recalls will turn up before the year is over on things you've probably never found recalls on before.
Since it has been discussed to some extent over in the Warrior Mage folders, I'll just go ahead and confirm it here -- the White Sentinel of Aesry is under construction, and will easily be the largest and most amazing Bard Guildhall to date. I really can't give anything remotely resembling a timeline on this project, but a significent portion is complete, and I think it will be well worth the wait when finished.
There are a few other projects underway that I can't comment on yet, but should be out this year, more likely sooner than later. Overall I think the last half of the year should be at least as good as the first half. I wish I could get all the enchantes on the 2006 goals list out, but unfortunately I seriously doubt that's going to happen. Still, 100 million miracles are happening every day, so you never know.
- GM Dartenian
"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" - Al Jolson
LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/dartenian/
Heyo!
As many of you probably know, Naming of Tears has always been viewed as a substandard enchante, both the old version (with the huge fatigue hit besides!) and the newer one.
As of this post, Naming of Tears now has an additional defensive component in Prime and Platinum, with The Fallen to follow later this weekend if nothing breaks. The old bonus is still intact, but Tears will now provide some additional protection. I won't kid you and say it's a lot, but it does give the enchante both a bit more utility and seperate it a bit from Desert Maelstrom.
Naming of Tears creates a sonic field around the Bard and his or her group. This field has two effects -- it provides a sense of incoming attacks, increasing the chance to evade those attacks. In addition, it hinders the attack itself, potentially reducing the damage inflicted even if it does land. This second effect is not large, but it can make a difference, especially when the song is being performed by a skilled bard at its full potential.
Note: The secondary effect is not stackable with other similar defenses. If more than one is present, Tears will only provide assistance in evasion. This is due to mechanics limitations, so isn't likely to change.
This enchante grows with both the skill of the defender and the amount of power the bard can put into the song. While the effects are always reasonable, this is definitely an enchante that becomes increasingly effective as the power level and the skill of the defenders grows.
- GM Dartenian
"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" - Al Jolson
LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/dartenian/
As many of you probably know, Naming of Tears has always been viewed as a substandard enchante, both the old version (with the huge fatigue hit besides!) and the newer one.
As of this post, Naming of Tears now has an additional defensive component in Prime and Platinum, with The Fallen to follow later this weekend if nothing breaks. The old bonus is still intact, but Tears will now provide some additional protection. I won't kid you and say it's a lot, but it does give the enchante both a bit more utility and seperate it a bit from Desert Maelstrom.
Naming of Tears creates a sonic field around the Bard and his or her group. This field has two effects -- it provides a sense of incoming attacks, increasing the chance to evade those attacks. In addition, it hinders the attack itself, potentially reducing the damage inflicted even if it does land. This second effect is not large, but it can make a difference, especially when the song is being performed by a skilled bard at its full potential.
Note: The secondary effect is not stackable with other similar defenses. If more than one is present, Tears will only provide assistance in evasion. This is due to mechanics limitations, so isn't likely to change.
This enchante grows with both the skill of the defender and the amount of power the bard can put into the song. While the effects are always reasonable, this is definitely an enchante that becomes increasingly effective as the power level and the skill of the defenders grows.
- GM Dartenian
"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" - Al Jolson
LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/dartenian/
Heyo!
What? You thought I was done with updates after Naming of Tears?
As of this post, a new feature has been added to Caress of the Suns. In addition to its normal function of drying off the bard and their group, it will now also provide a small measure of protection against cold and water-based magic.
The defense provided by Caress of the Sun is substantial, but since this is a secondary feature it's not going to be as strong as a barrier spell designed primarily as a defense. On the other hand, unlike most barrier spells it is stronger against area attacks than it is against single-target attacks, since Caress itself blankets the area.
This change is live in Platinum and Prime, and barring any problems will go to The Fallen in the next few days.
- GM Dartenian
"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" - Al Jolson
LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/dartenian/
What? You thought I was done with updates after Naming of Tears?
As of this post, a new feature has been added to Caress of the Suns. In addition to its normal function of drying off the bard and their group, it will now also provide a small measure of protection against cold and water-based magic.
The defense provided by Caress of the Sun is substantial, but since this is a secondary feature it's not going to be as strong as a barrier spell designed primarily as a defense. On the other hand, unlike most barrier spells it is stronger against area attacks than it is against single-target attacks, since Caress itself blankets the area.
This change is live in Platinum and Prime, and barring any problems will go to The Fallen in the next few days.
- GM Dartenian
"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" - Al Jolson
LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/dartenian/
Heyo!
As a few randomly picked test bards already know, I have released a major overhaul to the enchante system, as well as a minor addition to the SONG verb. These changes are live in Platinum and Prime. Should nothing go horribly wrong, TF will follow in a few days.
Available to ALL guilds:
SONG by itself will now let you know if you are currently playing an instrumental song, as well as the style and type of song.
Available to Bards only:
SONG by itself will also now tell you the current volume your enchantes -- loud or quiet. See below for details.
SONG LOUD -- This is a simple toggle that will set your enchante volume to "loud". This is the default, and works exactly like enchantes have always worked. In short, loud is what you have always had.
SONG QUIET -- This is a simple toggle that will let you set your enchante volume to "quiet". What does this mean? That will vary from enchante to enchante, but here are the general guidelines:
(1) Room-based offensive enchantes
When played with the quiet setting, these enchantes will only affect creatures engaged with the bard or members of the bard's group. The latter (engaged to members of the bard's group) isn't completely foolproof, but should work in general.
(2) Room-based beneficial enchantes
When played with the quiet setting, these enchantes will only affect members of the bard's group.
(3) Other enchantes that are not room-based may also see some support. Those will be handled on a case by case basis (see below).
In other words, enchantes with the LOUD toggle work as they always have. Room-based enchantes with the QUIET enchante will have their range shortened to engaged or group only. This should allow for better control of enchantes and make them a bit more useful in crowd control situations.
The following five enchantes are currently updated to the new mechanics for testing purposes:
Demriss' Resolve: LOUD = whole room, QUIET = engaged only
Albreda's Balm: LOUD = whole room, QUIET = engaged only
Hodierna's Lilt: LOUD = whole room, QUIET = group only
Faenella's Grace: LOUD = whole room, QUIET = group only
Eye of Kertigen: LOUD = searches out targets at higher mana levels in addition to light and perception buffs, QUIET = no active searching, only perception buff and light.
Once I'm sure things are working correctly, I'll see about updating more enchantes to support this feature. Please post any problems you stumble across in the Enchantes folder over on the Bard boards.
- GM Dartenian
"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" - Al Jolson
LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/dartenian/
As a few randomly picked test bards already know, I have released a major overhaul to the enchante system, as well as a minor addition to the SONG verb. These changes are live in Platinum and Prime. Should nothing go horribly wrong, TF will follow in a few days.
Available to ALL guilds:
SONG by itself will now let you know if you are currently playing an instrumental song, as well as the style and type of song.
Available to Bards only:
SONG by itself will also now tell you the current volume your enchantes -- loud or quiet. See below for details.
SONG LOUD -- This is a simple toggle that will set your enchante volume to "loud". This is the default, and works exactly like enchantes have always worked. In short, loud is what you have always had.
SONG QUIET -- This is a simple toggle that will let you set your enchante volume to "quiet". What does this mean? That will vary from enchante to enchante, but here are the general guidelines:
(1) Room-based offensive enchantes
When played with the quiet setting, these enchantes will only affect creatures engaged with the bard or members of the bard's group. The latter (engaged to members of the bard's group) isn't completely foolproof, but should work in general.
(2) Room-based beneficial enchantes
When played with the quiet setting, these enchantes will only affect members of the bard's group.
(3) Other enchantes that are not room-based may also see some support. Those will be handled on a case by case basis (see below).
In other words, enchantes with the LOUD toggle work as they always have. Room-based enchantes with the QUIET enchante will have their range shortened to engaged or group only. This should allow for better control of enchantes and make them a bit more useful in crowd control situations.
The following five enchantes are currently updated to the new mechanics for testing purposes:
Demriss' Resolve: LOUD = whole room, QUIET = engaged only
Albreda's Balm: LOUD = whole room, QUIET = engaged only
Hodierna's Lilt: LOUD = whole room, QUIET = group only
Faenella's Grace: LOUD = whole room, QUIET = group only
Eye of Kertigen: LOUD = searches out targets at higher mana levels in addition to light and perception buffs, QUIET = no active searching, only perception buff and light.
Once I'm sure things are working correctly, I'll see about updating more enchantes to support this feature. Please post any problems you stumble across in the Enchantes folder over on the Bard boards.
- GM Dartenian
"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" - Al Jolson
LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/dartenian/
Heyo!
Some fairly major updates to the spirit health system have been live in Platinum for a couple of weeks for testing, and are now live in Prime for some additional breakage. Assuming the game doesn't crash, TF will follow in a few days.
* The rate of spirit recovery has been significantly increased. It is still fairly slow compared to things like vitality and fatigue, but noticeably faster than it has been the past few years.
* The effectiveness of self-cast Vigil has improved as a direct result of the above change. The faster the recovery rate, the better self-cast Vigil will perform.
* The transfer of spirit health via Vigil has been modified. It still works much the same as before, but should work a bit quicker and actually help overall recovery in addition to equalizing spirit health levels.
* Now for the big surprise. If anyone in the area is playing one of the more difficult song styles (minuet and up) flawlessly, it will further increase the spirit recovery rate. Since it increases the rate of recovery, this means that it also increases the effectiveness of Vigil, insuring that clerical spirit healing will always be superior. Note that this effect requires a fairly significant amount of musical skill, but will work on any instrument so long as the song is performed flawlessly and isn't using the offkey or halting styles (since those are by definition not flawless).
Overall spirit health recovery should be much easier, but even with ALL the above factors, it can still take several minutes to fully recover from a death. We may tweak a few things later when some other spirit-related issues are addressed, but this should make spirit health a bit easier to deal with in the meantime while still leaving it difficult to recover quickly.
- GM Dartenian
"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" - Al Jolson
LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/dartenian/
Some fairly major updates to the spirit health system have been live in Platinum for a couple of weeks for testing, and are now live in Prime for some additional breakage. Assuming the game doesn't crash, TF will follow in a few days.
* The rate of spirit recovery has been significantly increased. It is still fairly slow compared to things like vitality and fatigue, but noticeably faster than it has been the past few years.
* The effectiveness of self-cast Vigil has improved as a direct result of the above change. The faster the recovery rate, the better self-cast Vigil will perform.
* The transfer of spirit health via Vigil has been modified. It still works much the same as before, but should work a bit quicker and actually help overall recovery in addition to equalizing spirit health levels.
* Now for the big surprise. If anyone in the area is playing one of the more difficult song styles (minuet and up) flawlessly, it will further increase the spirit recovery rate. Since it increases the rate of recovery, this means that it also increases the effectiveness of Vigil, insuring that clerical spirit healing will always be superior. Note that this effect requires a fairly significant amount of musical skill, but will work on any instrument so long as the song is performed flawlessly and isn't using the offkey or halting styles (since those are by definition not flawless).
Overall spirit health recovery should be much easier, but even with ALL the above factors, it can still take several minutes to fully recover from a death. We may tweak a few things later when some other spirit-related issues are addressed, but this should make spirit health a bit easier to deal with in the meantime while still leaving it difficult to recover quickly.
- GM Dartenian
"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" - Al Jolson
LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/dartenian/
We have made a few adjustments to teaching.
1) All guilds can teach stealing once again. Be aware that future additions to the justice system may make this activity a crime.
2) Bards can now teach any non-guild specific skill while in combat. (The skill doesn't have to be combat related.)
3) Multi-op can now be taught.
/salute
-Ssra
"He had a lot to say. He had a lot of nothing to say."
1) All guilds can teach stealing once again. Be aware that future additions to the justice system may make this activity a crime.
2) Bards can now teach any non-guild specific skill while in combat. (The skill doesn't have to be combat related.)
3) Multi-op can now be taught.
/salute
-Ssra
"He had a lot to say. He had a lot of nothing to say."
Heyo!
The ability of Faenella's Grace to make spell scrolls easier to work with has been restored, in exactly the same capacity as before the switch to Arcana. Please note that this does not mean FAE gives a blanket Arcana bonus; it merely aids in the understanding of scrolls precisely as it did when scholarship was used.
This change is live everywhere the new Arcana spell scroll changes are live, and will follow the latter wherever it goes, when it goes!
- GM Dartenian
If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right. - Henry Ford
The ability of Faenella's Grace to make spell scrolls easier to work with has been restored, in exactly the same capacity as before the switch to Arcana. Please note that this does not mean FAE gives a blanket Arcana bonus; it merely aids in the understanding of scrolls precisely as it did when scholarship was used.
This change is live everywhere the new Arcana spell scroll changes are live, and will follow the latter wherever it goes, when it goes!
- GM Dartenian
If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right. - Henry Ford
Just a few minor updates, none of which quite needed it's own post.
1) Heritages. Coming along nicely. The official name for Performers is, in fact "Taleweavers".
2) Recall contest - This is over now. I'm currently recruiting judges but with Simucon coming up, I wouldn't expect to see the results until after that.
3) Renown Scrolls. Stop reading now if you want to maintain the aura of PAFO.
Crossing - Circle
Riverhaven - Music + All instruments + Scholar + Teach
Mooseparty - Highest weapon
Shard - Disc + Stam
Ratha - Charisma
Aesry - All magics (Not player accessible yet).
Farfromhere - Shield + Evasion + Parry + MO + TM + Top weapon + Top armor.
-Raesh
1) Heritages. Coming along nicely. The official name for Performers is, in fact "Taleweavers".
2) Recall contest - This is over now. I'm currently recruiting judges but with Simucon coming up, I wouldn't expect to see the results until after that.
3) Renown Scrolls. Stop reading now if you want to maintain the aura of PAFO.
Crossing - Circle
Riverhaven - Music + All instruments + Scholar + Teach
Mooseparty - Highest weapon
Shard - Disc + Stam
Ratha - Charisma
Aesry - All magics (Not player accessible yet).
Farfromhere - Shield + Evasion + Parry + MO + TM + Top weapon + Top armor.
-Raesh
