As some of you old-timers may remember, I like to look back and review the previous year at the beginning of each new year. So where the heck did 2009 go? It disappeared in the blink of an eye! Nevertheless, Lusternia was not idle and I think we have made some pretty decent advances.
Probably our first big release was the specialization of alchemy and enchantment: Alchemy split between Lorecraft (druids/wiccans) and Brewmeister (bards), while Enchantment split between Spellcraft (mages/guardians) and Tinkering (bards). Not only did this add some interesting new skills (perfumes, music boxes, horns, beer! and teas), but it allowed bard guilds to create basic potions in cities and basic enchantments in communes. While I never thought “potion bans†or “enchantment bans†really worked, there was a perception that these bans could be used to stifle conflict between cities and communes. In retrospect, I think the results of these new skills pretty much vindicated what I had thought--nothing much changed politically.
Next up was aetherspace! There were a lot of good ideas floating around and we wanted to incorporate them in a large overhaul of the aethercraft skill. We ended up spending a lot of time on this and the changes ran pretty deep: we got rid of the specializations and added proficiencies instead; added entropy for ships (large ships can gain speed if traveling in a straight line, etc.); updated the navigation interface; revamped how experience was distributed; added spiritual charges that ships could collect as essence for orders; increased gold you could get from gnome trading; and a bunch of other smaller changes. Phew! I’m still not quite sure if we made atherhunting too good or not (it’s been tweaked down at least once), and I get mixed answers whenever I ask, but I see ships blow up on a regular basis so I know it’s not always smooth sailing!
Another big change was the overhaul of monks, with the inclusion of the momentum system of combat, something unique for monks. Basically, monks now have to build momentum to use certain kata skills. Personally, I rather like how kata works and I am not aware of any rampant cries of imbalance either way. Charune deserves applause for coding this which took him most of the Summer.
Twice during 2009, we asked players what they wanted us to work on. The first time, the answer was resounding: FORGING! Of course, little did players realize how delicate this was and we ended up spending quite some time tweaking damage formulas. However, in the end, especially with the ability to temper, I think forging is a lot easier now than what it was. The second time we asked, players wanted us to streamline combat. This turned out to be a major project (including more tweaking damage formulas!). We’re still not done working with this (first aid and afflictions lines will hopefully come soon).
Finally, the big enormous project we were secretly working on (hopefully it was secret) was the release of the lost cities of Hallifax and Gaudiguch! I struggled over whether or not we should open them, as our playerbase has not grown as much as I wanted for two new organizations. However, I was moved by the argument that conflict was always deadlocked with four organizations and that two more organizations may really open up the dynamics. I guess we’ll see! In the end, I decided that when we do open the cities, we would aim for slow growth, i.e., rather than a mass of new guilds, they’d slowly open one at a time. I’m really excited that we were able to release the cities (I don’t want to tell you how long we’ve been building the actual cities). So far, anyway, I’ve received mostly positive feedback and it appears you guys are having fun with these new organizations.
Of course, those are the big updates, there were quite a few smaller ones as well. To name a few: sorcelglass, pipe/vial artifact runes, removal of the nexus world, rock climbing, planar conflict updates (more insanity!), nexus guardians, Fate game, Lore Wiki (thanks Lendren and Co.!), Epic Quests, collegium updates, achievements, special organizational diplomacy for cosmic lords, elemental lords, ethereal spirits, etc., and of course lots of bug fixes and monthly envoy reports.
There were also plenty of roleplaying events, starting with the Ascension Event where Xiel rose up to be Viynain (congratz again!), the Goldfeather Secret in the Greymoors, Malacoda Manor, the Arthar'rt Teleporter, the return of Raezon, the Toymaker and his Wife (and release of Mucklemarsh and Bottledowns), the nai'Dorin Blood Rite of Glomdoring, the return of Morgfyre, the Oleanvir Cemetery Mystery, lucidian and dracnari skirmishes in the mountains (manticores and rocs), leprechauns and rainbows in Serenwilde, new ships in the Inner Sea and Sea of Despair, Maeve’s Gardens, the Spire of Dionamus, the Lost Glade of Trialante, and of course, the release of Gaudiguch and Hallifax.
The most controversial of the roleplaying events was the release of the hai'Gloh Ritual and Xion Initiative, whereby cities could band together to attack the communes and vice versa. Ever since we opened, I think players have been demanding that there was some tangible outlet for cities and communes to come in conflict. Now you have it! Despite the drama that ensued, I like the fact that the cities have to band together to attack the communes (and vice versa). I know some people would rather there be ways for any organization to attack any other, but I’m resistant to that. Rather, I like the current dynamics wherein it is easy to attack some organizations, but require alliances to attack others. With two new cities, perhaps more such dynamics will arise... In any event, the saga of Raziela was finally concluded!
As usual, I must thank our wonderful volunteers. We lost Lisaera, which was a big blow as she was both a friend and a great volunteer. Our stalwart volunteers include, Fain (who is apparently as posh as he sounds given all reports from the London Meet), Charune (still our coder bunny!), Terentia (she better come around more often...), Nocht (as quiet and as competent as you can imagine), Viravain (who has settled nicely in a very tough role), Elostian (yes, he’s still the original, despite rumors), Maylea (whose sunny disposition and amazing work keeps us all going), Raezon (yes, he really is brilliant and also does some coding for us on the side), Kalikai (the newest member of the pantheon who is truly excited to be part of Gaudiguch), and Morgfyre (who had some pretty big shoes to fill but has managed competently). I’d also like to give a special shout-out to Eventru, whose passion sometimes gets him in trouble, but whose amazing work cannot be ignored. If it wasn’t for Eventru, we wouldn’t have been able to release the lost cities (really), and his productivity always and continuously amazes. Indeed, we’ve even invited Eventru to learn coding so he won’t get bored! Anyway, we have an incredible group of volunteers, and a few more who are up and coming, all of whom really are the backbone of Lusternia. Please take the time to thank them as they truly deserve many more accolades for the work they do that often goes unnoticed and unappreciated.
Heh, when I started writing this, I was wondering how short it would be compared to prior years, but it turns out to not so much! For the coming year, well, you know there will be a few new guilds--but that won’t be all! Hopefully you’ll find a few pleasant surprises along the way.
Be well and enjoy your continuing adventures in Lusternia!
Probably our first big release was the specialization of alchemy and enchantment: Alchemy split between Lorecraft (druids/wiccans) and Brewmeister (bards), while Enchantment split between Spellcraft (mages/guardians) and Tinkering (bards). Not only did this add some interesting new skills (perfumes, music boxes, horns, beer! and teas), but it allowed bard guilds to create basic potions in cities and basic enchantments in communes. While I never thought “potion bans†or “enchantment bans†really worked, there was a perception that these bans could be used to stifle conflict between cities and communes. In retrospect, I think the results of these new skills pretty much vindicated what I had thought--nothing much changed politically.
Next up was aetherspace! There were a lot of good ideas floating around and we wanted to incorporate them in a large overhaul of the aethercraft skill. We ended up spending a lot of time on this and the changes ran pretty deep: we got rid of the specializations and added proficiencies instead; added entropy for ships (large ships can gain speed if traveling in a straight line, etc.); updated the navigation interface; revamped how experience was distributed; added spiritual charges that ships could collect as essence for orders; increased gold you could get from gnome trading; and a bunch of other smaller changes. Phew! I’m still not quite sure if we made atherhunting too good or not (it’s been tweaked down at least once), and I get mixed answers whenever I ask, but I see ships blow up on a regular basis so I know it’s not always smooth sailing!
Another big change was the overhaul of monks, with the inclusion of the momentum system of combat, something unique for monks. Basically, monks now have to build momentum to use certain kata skills. Personally, I rather like how kata works and I am not aware of any rampant cries of imbalance either way. Charune deserves applause for coding this which took him most of the Summer.
Twice during 2009, we asked players what they wanted us to work on. The first time, the answer was resounding: FORGING! Of course, little did players realize how delicate this was and we ended up spending quite some time tweaking damage formulas. However, in the end, especially with the ability to temper, I think forging is a lot easier now than what it was. The second time we asked, players wanted us to streamline combat. This turned out to be a major project (including more tweaking damage formulas!). We’re still not done working with this (first aid and afflictions lines will hopefully come soon).
Finally, the big enormous project we were secretly working on (hopefully it was secret) was the release of the lost cities of Hallifax and Gaudiguch! I struggled over whether or not we should open them, as our playerbase has not grown as much as I wanted for two new organizations. However, I was moved by the argument that conflict was always deadlocked with four organizations and that two more organizations may really open up the dynamics. I guess we’ll see! In the end, I decided that when we do open the cities, we would aim for slow growth, i.e., rather than a mass of new guilds, they’d slowly open one at a time. I’m really excited that we were able to release the cities (I don’t want to tell you how long we’ve been building the actual cities). So far, anyway, I’ve received mostly positive feedback and it appears you guys are having fun with these new organizations.
Of course, those are the big updates, there were quite a few smaller ones as well. To name a few: sorcelglass, pipe/vial artifact runes, removal of the nexus world, rock climbing, planar conflict updates (more insanity!), nexus guardians, Fate game, Lore Wiki (thanks Lendren and Co.!), Epic Quests, collegium updates, achievements, special organizational diplomacy for cosmic lords, elemental lords, ethereal spirits, etc., and of course lots of bug fixes and monthly envoy reports.
There were also plenty of roleplaying events, starting with the Ascension Event where Xiel rose up to be Viynain (congratz again!), the Goldfeather Secret in the Greymoors, Malacoda Manor, the Arthar'rt Teleporter, the return of Raezon, the Toymaker and his Wife (and release of Mucklemarsh and Bottledowns), the nai'Dorin Blood Rite of Glomdoring, the return of Morgfyre, the Oleanvir Cemetery Mystery, lucidian and dracnari skirmishes in the mountains (manticores and rocs), leprechauns and rainbows in Serenwilde, new ships in the Inner Sea and Sea of Despair, Maeve’s Gardens, the Spire of Dionamus, the Lost Glade of Trialante, and of course, the release of Gaudiguch and Hallifax.
The most controversial of the roleplaying events was the release of the hai'Gloh Ritual and Xion Initiative, whereby cities could band together to attack the communes and vice versa. Ever since we opened, I think players have been demanding that there was some tangible outlet for cities and communes to come in conflict. Now you have it! Despite the drama that ensued, I like the fact that the cities have to band together to attack the communes (and vice versa). I know some people would rather there be ways for any organization to attack any other, but I’m resistant to that. Rather, I like the current dynamics wherein it is easy to attack some organizations, but require alliances to attack others. With two new cities, perhaps more such dynamics will arise... In any event, the saga of Raziela was finally concluded!
As usual, I must thank our wonderful volunteers. We lost Lisaera, which was a big blow as she was both a friend and a great volunteer. Our stalwart volunteers include, Fain (who is apparently as posh as he sounds given all reports from the London Meet), Charune (still our coder bunny!), Terentia (she better come around more often...), Nocht (as quiet and as competent as you can imagine), Viravain (who has settled nicely in a very tough role), Elostian (yes, he’s still the original, despite rumors), Maylea (whose sunny disposition and amazing work keeps us all going), Raezon (yes, he really is brilliant and also does some coding for us on the side), Kalikai (the newest member of the pantheon who is truly excited to be part of Gaudiguch), and Morgfyre (who had some pretty big shoes to fill but has managed competently). I’d also like to give a special shout-out to Eventru, whose passion sometimes gets him in trouble, but whose amazing work cannot be ignored. If it wasn’t for Eventru, we wouldn’t have been able to release the lost cities (really), and his productivity always and continuously amazes. Indeed, we’ve even invited Eventru to learn coding so he won’t get bored! Anyway, we have an incredible group of volunteers, and a few more who are up and coming, all of whom really are the backbone of Lusternia. Please take the time to thank them as they truly deserve many more accolades for the work they do that often goes unnoticed and unappreciated.
Heh, when I started writing this, I was wondering how short it would be compared to prior years, but it turns out to not so much! For the coming year, well, you know there will be a few new guilds--but that won’t be all! Hopefully you’ll find a few pleasant surprises along the way.
Be well and enjoy your continuing adventures in Lusternia!
A good year, although I came in late! I'm glad to see Lusternia evolving and continuing to progress, a big congrats and thank you to the Admins, whom(despite the issues 
) I really love and am glad to see you all running Lusternia. Here's to 2010 and more to come!
) I really love and am glad to see you all running Lusternia. Here's to 2010 and more to come!Thanks to everybody - especially for Gaudiguch and Hallifax. I'm having a lot of fun with my return. 
Thank you!
Hallifax made me return after I don't know how long time ago!
Hallifax made me return after I don't know how long time ago!
Yay Lusternia! 
QUOTE (Corinthian @ Jan 5 2010, 01:37 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Thank you!
Hallifax made me return after I don't know how long time ago!
Hallifax made me return after I don't know how long time ago!
No, DOMAN made you return. Hallifax was the bait.
Wasn't going to register on the forums, but wanted to leave feedback.
Ever since I returned after making Zac (life, etc), I've enjoyed being about. Granted, a few run-ins with some Celestians spoil the fun, but helping and being about Glomdoring has kept my motivation to stay about.
I didn't make Zac until after momentum but before the streamlining changes. I'm glad to see the changes made (I'll miss the free raze every combo in the higher momentums, but it's unfair to have it anyway), and I look forward to the other things you might have in store.
If only SHOUTSOFF turned off Divine yelling, then I wouldn't have to roll my eyes each time the gods get into shouting matches.
Thanks everyone behind the scenes. You've made it enjoyable to be here, and I hope you keep it up.
Ever since I returned after making Zac (life, etc), I've enjoyed being about. Granted, a few run-ins with some Celestians spoil the fun, but helping and being about Glomdoring has kept my motivation to stay about.
I didn't make Zac until after momentum but before the streamlining changes. I'm glad to see the changes made (I'll miss the free raze every combo in the higher momentums, but it's unfair to have it anyway), and I look forward to the other things you might have in store.
If only SHOUTSOFF turned off Divine yelling, then I wouldn't have to roll my eyes each time the gods get into shouting matches.
Thanks everyone behind the scenes. You've made it enjoyable to be here, and I hope you keep it up.
Thanks, everyone! I too think it was a good year and I'm really excited to see what happens when the new cities finally settle in. Don't worry--it'll happen soon enough!
QUOTE (Kiradawea @ Jan 5 2010, 10:10 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Is that a new smiley?
Either way, I love these yearly reports. Thank you.
Either way, I love these yearly reports. Thank you.
I thought I'd add a few more smilies to usher in the New Year...
QUOTE (Estarra @ Jan 5 2010, 07:13 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I thought I'd add a few more smilies to usher in the New Year...
Thank you.Reminds me. I might end up bugging you lots this year. Sorry in advance.
