Varlyndria: Ascension - Coming Summer 2013

[Drakiyth]

• VEKSAR RAID: FIXES
• Murkwater Heartfeasters no longer put an endless bleed DoT on you.
• Murkwater Creepers are now normal necromancers and no longer cast the 5 minute SIlence Mouth Rot.

• BOTS REMOVED
• Bots were removed and cannot be used anymore. They were absolutely 100% the source of all lag spikes
that were occurring. The server is much better now without them. Added the Crystal of Heroes to compensate
for the loss of bots and to help new players out.

• CRYSTAL OF HEROES
• Added a Crystal of Heroes npc in the toskirakk starting area and in all Rift Keeper zone entrances. This npc will
buff players with eight level 70 base class spells to help them on their dangerous quests. This npc only works out of combat.

• OLD KURN'S TOWER RAID: FIXES
• Calbrena no longer casts the incorrect spell and crashes players.

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/5080071_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

Please download the latest files 08/09/13

• All BASE bard songs now use the singing skill which is increased with VSES dexterity enhancement.

• All Instruments are just used as strong off-hands now and still give high heroic dex for VSES increases.

• Dexterity Enhancement now increases bard song power by 50% each rank up from 40% each rank.

• The Mystical Artist Epic now has double HP, MP, EP and AC just like a two hander but it's damage is 1 handed.

• Added a new Custom Donator: item from Moozilla to the Heroic Vendor! Thanks for your help Moozilla!

• Moozilla's Mythical Augment can now be removed from your items and placed in new ones.

• Dexterity Enhancement now increases bard song power by 50% each rank up from 40% each rank.

• Deathguard's Bone Spike is now called Bone Spikes and deals 95 base damage to all enemies around them +40000 extra hate. Deathguard is a unique AoE tank by design but much different from Virulent Savages.

• Captain Squilox no longer crashes Veksar with his spells.

• All NPC's natural health regeneration has been vastly lowered.

• Windseeker's Flock of Harpies no longer attack mobs 200 feet out. It's now 40 feet like other AoE temp pet spells.

• Erosionist's Create Strange Chemicals now actually works with the Erosionist Charm.

• Wildheart's Wild Growth now actually works with the Wildheart Charm.

• Removed Mend Companion from the AA list. This doesn't work.

• Added beserkers to the Pet Affinity and Pet Discipline AA list. Enjoy Warchiefs!

• The White Lotus path should be able to control their pets now. The name was too long and caused an error. Energy_Manifestation is now just "Manifestation".

[Drakiyth]

• Updated all weapon and icon models for Darktide, Blightrune and Deathspire sets.
• Unholy Relics drop 10% of the time now from Generals in Fallen. Up from 5%.


Have a good weekend folks.

[Drakiyth]

NEWS: Varlyndria is starting to build an economy finally! Last time I checked, there were over 150 items being sold in bazaar and a lot of groups forming on the server to tackle content! Varlyndria only allows a max of 3 boxing (with Tier 4) 2 max normal, so you can see with 60+ players online lately that there are a lot of souls here. Not just somebody with 20 characters building up the player numbers. If you're looking for a fresh start in a new world it won't hurt to come check us out! We have many players waiting to group up with you! :-D


Many new zones are on the way to the Rift Keeper, including the new PR5 normal zone (unrest) Which is now taken over by killer corrupted plantlife, as well as custom crafting and even faction grinding for items!

[Drakiyth]

I thought these were important to show here. Many new changes and fixes.

UPDATE 08/12/13

Please download the latest files 08/12/13

GENERAL CHANGES
• Made an adjustment in the database that will disconnect players completely on all IPs if they go over
the IP limit. The good thing about this, is it will kill the timeouts that are lingering and let you log back in
immediately.

• There are no longer any locked doors in the city of mist.

• Loot now has a much better chance to actually be chosen to drop when it passes the first check to exist.
The drop rates before were simply not high enough to even let common loot get a chance to show up
sometimes. This was resulting in bosses or even common npcs not dropping items as often as they should.
Heroic and Legendary labeled items are still uncommon/rare.

• The Death's Regret spell is now NONE for resist type. This can be found on the Ring of the Vampire Slayer.


CLASS PATH CHANGES
• The Guardian path's Hold the Line ability now only costs 600 Endurance, causes 289 base damage to
all targets and still adds 40,000 threat to all enemies hit by it. The cooldown of this ability is only 15 seconds
now down from 36.

• All healing bonuses that were on paths before have now become wisdom bonuses. This will allow you to
click your VSES and get the REAL bonus which should of stacked before but didn't. For instance: 200
points of improved healing (Diviner) is now +100 Wisdom. 100 wisdom equals out to 250% healing with
VSES Wisdom Enhancement. Overall, this is a buff for all healer paths.

• Vampires no longer get a broken 160% healing bonus but now instead get +80% to their direct damage
spells on their Curse of Vampirism buff. This however has also lowered their chance to crit with spells
to +3% down from +6%.

• Circle of Blood has been removed as it was far too powerful and could keep Vampires alive forever. The
ability is now called Bursting Veins and deals 630 base damage to all enemies around the vampire but
does not drain them. 24 Second CD, 960 mana.

• Earthguards now get a 200% direct spell damage bonus instead of 5% spell crit rate on their Nature's Chosen
Protector buff and the Earthguard's Blast of Rocks spell now costs 640 mana but deals 420 base damage to all
targets around them on an 8 second CD.

• Nightshade's Toxic Compound is now Point Blank AoE and doesn't hurt them any longer.

• Flamecaller's Fireball is now Point Blank AoE and doesn't hurt them any longer.

• Wildhearts now get 160 wisdom instead of the old charisma bonus and a 200% bonus to their pet's damage
up from 160% on their Blessing of the Wilds buff.

• Wildhearts now get a 5% chance to Twincast now for each Rank of Nature's Caress instead of the old broken 40%
improved healing which did not stack with VSES Wisdom Enhancement.

• Thanes now get +200% to their base parry chance instead of +20% which hardly made any difference.

• Thane's Rune of Stone now also gives their group 24% melee mitigation for 12 seconds instead of the old 6000
point rune. 24 second CD, 960 mana cost.

• Thane's Torrent of lightning now has a 20 second CD down from 40 seconds and deals 525 base damage to all
enemies and 40,000 hatred.

• Thane's Thunderclap is now called "Hammer of Thunder" and no longer stuns enemies for 6 seconds but instead
deals 1260 damage to them.

• Soulrager's Healing Spirit now gives 100 wisdom for 6 seconds instead of the broken healing bonus it had before.

[Drakiyth]

QUICK FIX PATCH 08/13/13

• The natural out of combat regeneration for health, mana and endurance is now 10% a tick up from 5%.

• Players can no longer get in more than 3 characters per IP when Tier 4+. (emergency fixed)

• Fixed the model on the Deathspire: Martial Sword.

• Pet Master's Symbol of Protection is now only 1 platinum. (Grants 40% Melee Mitigation to pets)

• Pets and Temp pets now have 3150 base health up from 1575 base health. This will allow pets summoned by high
amounts of CHA to have double the hp of before.

• Conjurer temp pets now have 7875 base health up from 1575 base health because they are legendary beings.

• Wildheart's Nature's Caress now lasts 24 seconds up from 12 seconds so it actually can stack now.

• Fixed the Armor of Moozilla's Custom items to be Chainmail instead of cloth. This has raised the price of these
items slightly.

• The Crystal of Heroes now also casts Unfailing Reverance on players. This buff increases CHA by 55.

[Drakiyth]

UPDATE 08/15/13 (MORE CHANGES COMING LATER)


GENERAL CHANGES
• A new PR5 Unrest zone is available for 750+ Gear Score players.

• Some new quests and tasks are available in the new Unrest zone.

• Added 506+ new items into the game that come from unrest.

• Each overlord and diety boss now has a 10% chance to drop their treasured item.
Treasured items have four times the normal amount of hp, mana and end and
have some special features on them like spell clickies or bonuses to skills.
There is a total of 13 treasured items in the game right now, including 1 for
the new overlord in Unrest.

• Wood's Legendary Pet weapon is now no drop.

• Updated the graphics on most shields.

• Swarm pets will actually earn you experience now instead of steal it when they kill
mobs you haven't had a chance to deal damage to. Rejoice conjurers and other pet lovers!

• The last names of hostile npcs no longer show up but they are still
there for the devs to see for creation purposes. Basically, it gives
the player more immersion instead of a bunch of PR this or that ruining
the surprise and roleplay value of the game.

• Fixed the AoE range on Windseeker spells. They were far too crazy before.

• Elementalist pets now scale as they should with CHA and also have different forms.

[Drakiyth]

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/5677967_orig.png

Ever wanted to sell items to other players without having to stand there forever with
a trader? Wasting precious time when you could be out killing and gaining experience!?
Well, if you answered "Yes" you're in for a nice surprise coming to Varlyndria: Ascension
in the near future! Players will be able to put up NPCs that can buy and sell for them in
the new Varlyndrian Marketplace! This will be a super advanced bazaar zone that goes
beyond the boundaries of normal everquest. Are you ready to make some deals!?

Players will be able to test this out soon when it's available on a test server we have running!

[Drakiyth]

Varlyndria has a new forums. You can check it out here. There is also a link on the old forums at the top.

http://varlyndria.forumotion.com

[Drakiyth]

The Varlyndrian Marketplace is ready for testing!


Please head on over to the Varlyndrian Marketplace Testing server and report in OOC if you find any bugs with the system. Thanks!

[ChaosSlayerZ]

Drakiyth - put the link to your site/forum in your sig ;)

[Drakiyth]

UPDATE 08/17/13 - LIVE

Please download and install the latest files:
Varlyndria Files 08 17 13 Bazaar

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/varlyndria_files_08_17_13_bazaar.rar

• The new Bazaar is in! Players can now set up 2 different type of trader npcs to buy and sell items!
• Players are now notified if they sold an item no matter where they are in the world.
• Players are now teleported to the npc selling items when they look it up. No more running!

• Path Epic Weapons have been buffed in their stats.

• Donator Weapons now have melee spell/healing ratios instead of caster.
• Moozilla's Donator Weapon now heals for 630 down from 1260.
• Zatetzuken's Donator Weapon now heals for 630 down from 1260.
• Zatetzuken's Donator Weapon now deals a 630 fire proc down from 1260.

• The Avatar of Legends now charges more heroic points for her items. Heroic points are vastly easier
to get now than before and the prices were too low.

• Trooper type mobs in Raids can now be charmed/mezzed like minions.

• Raid mobs now do more damage/healing and take longer to kill.

• Wisdom Enhancement (VSES) has been lowered to 75% per rank down from 125%. Healer classes were near unkillable.

• Defensive and Offensive procs per minute is now 6 down from 10.


Drakiyth - put the link to your site/forum in your sig ;)

Yeah, derp on my part. I didn't even think of it being so focused on other stuff. :P

[Drakiyth]

UPDATE 08/19/13

• The Varlyndrian Marketplace is back in business!
• Players can set up npc traders now! To get more info type:
#buyer help and #seller help.

• Fixed numerous crashing errors with certain Rift Keeper zones.

• The Rift Keeper no longer takes your buffs away.

• The new gear checker will now save your current gear info so you
can teleport with the Rift Keeper without worries of your buffs being lost.

• Pets now keep their CHA value on zoning or logging out.
• Simply type getcha to find your true CHA bonus or setcha to save it.

• Pet Master's Symbol of Protection now gives your pet 55% damage mitigation up
from 40%.

• The base HP on all items has been reduced to better fit the new damage tables.

• PVP gear now has a massive amount of HP and the prices have changed.

• Gear with the title of Darktide, Fallen, Blightrune, Deathspire and Treasured
is now no drop. Players must raid and earn this gear now. The best gear that
can currently be traded is Deadvine from Unrest. This will change as new
content comes out for non-raid zones.

• Gear with the title of Darktide, Fallen, Blightrune and Deathspire now has a
+35% bonus to health, mana and endurance.

• Non-boss enemies in raids now have a 0.5% chance to drop good gear and if they
do, they only drop 1 piece instead of the previous 2 or 4.

• Epic 1 items now count as Treasured: and get the * 4 bonus to health, mana and endurance.

• Raid enemies have been balanced.

• Zatetzuken's Glaciated Healing now actually heals you.

• Deathguards actually get 36% mitigation now from their
Sentinel of Undeath spell instead of taking 36% more damage.
This was a bug and was causing them a lot of pain they should
of never taken. (Sorry Deathguards)

• Soulreaper wraith pets now have a double melee damage and health bonus.

• Soulreaper's Spirit Drain is now a 7 second CD down from 14 but the mana
cost has doubled.

• Soulreaper's Unholy Scythe of Immortality Epic 1 now has a 7 second CD down from 14.

• Reduced the Armor Class on all non-pet NPCs.

• Increased the base Armor Class on all Pets and Temp Pets.

• Wildheart's Life's Gift spell on their epic now actually heals their team.

[Drakiyth]

We are very sorry about the downtime lately. The server is in an alpha stage and many new source code changes have been added that need to be analyzed and fixed which can unfortunately take hours of downtime due to problems arising. We appreciate everybody who was patient in this matter and supportive. However, unfortunately we have had to also ban some players who were not patient and were very rude and disruptive on our forums and the server. We will not tolerate that kind of behavior in any way shape or form.

Spreading rumors that we are a pay to win server is absolutely one-sided and false to the core. The tier sytem is very balanced and not OP and the custom donator items can BE EARNED inside the game by anybody with heroic points. Players who donated towards the server do it out of their hearts and kindness and are rewarded in kind. This is a process of volunteering not something that is to be taken as a mandatory element.

Players of all kinds can progress on Varlyndria: Ascension but they cannot do all content by themselves. This is an MMORPG server and that means we want players grouping up and making friends. We have solo content and more will be coming as well. The server is not unfriendly to a soloer but don't expect to get everything in raids as a soloer either.

If I wanted to make this 100% pay to win which is absurd and something I will never do, I would of made it where you could not have EVER get your hands on items made by other players. Other players reward everybody with new and cool items to use. If you wish to complain that you can't get these items solo and claim it's pay to win you need to find some friends and a guild to tackle the content with. Not everything is solo on Varlyndria: Ascension. Once you can accept that you'll understand that content is not designed for donators but more-so a group of players.

Thank you for playing and expect a lot of new content soon for soloers, questers, raiders and crafters.

[Drakiyth]

The new bazaar has been canceled sadly.

As much as we wanted to get these awesome new changes in they are currently causing too many issues with server stability so we have decided to revert the bazaar changes completely for now. This bazaar might make a come-back later on but for now it has been removed.

[Drakiyth]

VERY IMPORTANT Q&A FOR THE FUTURE OF THE SERVER


QUESTION 1 (http://varlyndria.forumotion.com/t146-why-does-armor-have-all-6-stats-answered-fully)

QUESTION 2 (http://varlyndria.forumotion.com/t144-economy-progression#302)

[Secrets]

Bazaar is back in business with the buyer/seller system.

Lecht, since I know one does not simply get frustrated and leave forever... the change you made to attack with swarm pets was crashing the server with the try/catch. C++ doesn't work that way with try/catch in functions.

Server is online (for now)

[Drakiyth]

Thank you very much Secrets for your help in getting this fixed up. The server came down for a quick restart and is back up now. I will be adding in the following content within the next couple of weeks:

PR 6, 7, and 8 Normal zones
Custom Crafting Recipes for Tailoring and Blacksmithing
Custom Mats for the new Recipes


Varlyndria's Progression will become Normal Zone -> Crafting -> Raid on most power ranks. The normal zone loot, mats and crafting gear will all be tradeable to other players. Crafting gear will be stronger than normal zone gear but weaker than raid gear. Full crafted will be a good way to get into a raid easier.

[Secrets]

Regarding the balance situation...

My personal opinion (as an outsider to this whole subject) is prior to getting the tier 10 donation stuff for my contributions to server stability, I was struggling with enjoying the server due to mob damage being high and necromancer HP being low. The moment I got that extra health clicky and heal clickie, everything became way too easy.

The solution, imho, is to add a clicky heal staff similar to the donation one that has a longer reuse for non-donator players. The health buff from the buff bot should be slightly below the tier one donator status. This will ensure that you get a little bit, not a ton, of extra 'umph' for donating.

The donation clickies and gear should also be able to be earned in the game somehow; it would take a lot of dedication to earn them, however, it would be an alternative to donating (and be per-character instead of all on that account.)

It's all a balancing act, honestly.

[Drakiyth]

I'm not against making the server more balanced in that regard. I like your ideas honestly and that sort of stuff is easily fixed. Just bring it up to me that you think certain tier items are unfair and I'll listen. You know though from the legendary vendor to the group oriented tier items that I am trying my best to make items on this server fun and enjoyable for all. You will never see a player with a custom weapon that nobody else can get. I won't ever do that. Infact, the last weapon that was made by our last donator is being sported around by a lot of players who earned it with heroic points. The thing is beast too and anybody can get it.

[Drakiyth]

I don't hesitate to get things done. Check out these new goodies coming to the dedication vendor soon.



Rod of the Dedicated: COST: 2000 dedication points. 100 charges,
Clicky: (just like tier 1 donator item) Heals a player for 8450 base health
(enhanced by wisdom VSES) and 16,500 mana and endurance.
30 SECOND CD - Shares CD with donator clicky.

Trinket of the Titan: COST 500 dedication points, 5 charges,
Clicky: Grants you 150 STR for 1 hour.
(stacks with almost everything)

Trinket of the Musician: COST 500 dedication points, 5 charges,
Clicky: Grants you 150 DEX for 1 hour.
(stacks with almost everything)

Trinket of the Mountain: COST 500 dedication points, 5 charges,
Clicky: Grants you 150 STA for 1 hour.
(stacks with almost everything)

Trinket of the Skilled: COST 500 dedication points, 5 charges,
Clicky: Grants you 150 INT for 1 hour. (stacks with almost everything)

Trinket of the Faithful: COST 500 dedication points, 5 charges,
Clicky: Grants you 150 WIS for 1 hour. (stacks with almost everything)

Trinket of the Beast Tamer: COST 500 dedication points, 5 charges,
Clicky: Grants you 150 CHA for 1 hour. (stacks with almost everything)

[Drakiyth]

EMERGENCY FIX IN - Some mobs in Rivervale will no longer resist everything. This was a bug.



Please download and install the new files: Varlyndria Files 08 23 13

• Some caster NPCs have lost their long duration spells that keep you
in combat forever.

• The new Rivervale PR6 Normal zone is now in the game! Players need
a gear score of 950 to enter this place.

• Added 1120 new armor and jewelry pieces into the game that drop in
Rivervale. These items are labeled "Stormcrow:".

• Added a new Treasured: item to the final boss in Rivervale.

• Added a new task in Rivervale that rewards a cool ring.

• Normal raid npcs now have a 2% chance to drop loot up from 0.5%.

• Vampire's Bursting Veins - now has the correct cooldown of 24 seconds.

• Deathguard's Sentinel of Undeath no longer gives 50 CHA but now instead
gives 36% Melee mit up from 32%, 16% evasion and 100% melee damage.

• Added 10 new items to the dedication vendor that can heal, give stats
and give defensive procs to players. Remember that you can spend your
hard-earned platinum on dedication scrolls to get your points up or
just wait it out while you're at work to get these awesome new clickies.
The bazaar gives 7 dedication points every 5 minutes as well if you want
to get some extra bonus points over night!

• Berserkers no longer have the Special AA tab choices. This was a bug.

• The Epic Wildheart Life's Gift now stacks with the other casted Life's Gift.

• Ring of the Dedicated now says clickable from inventory instead of must equip.

• Beastlords can now use most 2 hand piercing weapons.

• Bestial Overseer's Ego buff now lasts for 24 seconds up from 18.

• Zatetzuken's Custom Donator blades are now tradeable/attuneable.

• Dune Raiser's Horror of the Sands no longer requires you to be right next to your
pet to buff them.

• Helpful NPCs in Unrest can no longer be killed.

• Razorthorn the Devourer now only casts Venom breath instead of unholy, fear and
the mana/endurance drain.

[Drakiyth]

After thinking about it for a while and experiencing some of my own server I feel that the raid scenario pigeon holes players into being forced to find a group and guild and kills their fun and self improvement. I understand that the original design of an mmorpg is to team up and take on the baddies with whatever you can combine together but it overall turns into a DPS fest and who has the biggest.. well you know where I was going with that.

The case in point is I feel the server needs more freedom. I don't want players logging on and logging off because they can't find somebody to team with. I want to make sure players have both options but only if they choose to do so. Overall with this said I feel like raids need to be eliminated completely and the server needs to turn more solo to 1 group based like the diablo series. This will allow players to relax more and stop comparing classes so much and get through the content by themselves on their own time or with a friend or two but no more being forced to raid.

With this said: the following changes will be happening to
Varlyndria: Ascension. Effective immediately.

Veksar, Fallen, Monkey Rock and Kurn's Tower are becoming normal zone difficulty and the items dropped in those zones will once again become tradeable and attuneable.


I don't want any player on Varlyndria feeling squashed up in a corner and not able to enjoy the server. Those days have ended.

[Drakiyth]

UPDATE 08/24/13 - FREEDOM!

• The #fi command for players has been restored.

• Raid zones have been eliminated!

• Veksar, Fallen, Monkey Rock and Old Kurn's Tower are now
normal zones.

• Darktide, Fallen, Blightrune and Deathspire gear is now
attunable and tradeable.

• All gear types on the server have been balanced in their
stats to fit the new changes.

• Items with Might, Cunning, Vigor, Reason, Knowledge and Attraction
now have much stronger bonuses to that particular stat now, making
these items a lot more valuable on the market.

• The Rift Keeper Gear Score checks are different now to fit
the new changes.

• Treasured: items now only give a *2 bonus to hp/mp/end down
from *4 because of the new changes.

• Epic 1: items now only give a *2 bonus to hp/mp/end down from
*4 because of the new changes.

• Darktide, Fallen, Blightrune and Deathspire gear no longer gets
+35% bonus to hp/mp/end because of the new changes.

• Various Mistmoore items are now just slightly stronger than traveler and
this zone is now available for players with 100 gearscore on the Rift Keeper.
This is a very low power leveling zone that can offer some decent gear to
progress to the 240 zones. The zone is considered 1.1 for experience.

• Players can now portal to Necropolis from the Riftkeeper. Necropolis mobs
also drop Drakebone: gear.

• Added a new portal master and crystal of heroes in Mistmoore and Necropolis

[Drakiyth]

A new beginning.

We'll see how things go and how players like this for a bit. I have some tricks up my sleeve, and if anything, this has made it where I can put together a brand new large raid since all old raids are normal zones now. This time around if I do another raid I want to make sure it requires a certain amount of players to enter as well.

[Drakiyth]

THE CAT IS OUT OF THE BAG - THE FUTURE OF VARLYNDRIA REVEALED


EDIT: I do plan to balance out the OP paths as well but it's easier when players are decked out and balanced on the same playing field.


Alright, so this change everybody is experiencing does have a motive behind it. The issue the server was having before is there were far too many "raids" if you wanted to call them that and very little players geared enough to actually do that content. This lead to players not having any groups to do this and only the choice 10% of the server could tackle it. I have changed all the zones currently available in Varlyndria to solo/group for two main reasons:

#1: Players can enjoy all the stuff they missed out on over the months and see the content they couldn't do before because of how hard it was and also get their epic 1.0 a bit easier.

#2: Players can catch up by getting uber geared out and reach a peak where they are dying for new better and challenging content.

My advice to everybody: Play your hearts out and get STRONG, get guilds formed and let's get the server balanced out in power. When that happens new things can come out that will challenge you to the extreme, including new 18+ man raids that require 18+ people and are designed to take on 18 3000+ GS players etc.


Go play and have fun and GEAR UP!

[Drakiyth]

Time Travelers are in the game now.

Added Time Travelers (Paid Instancing Npcs) to all Rift Keeper zones of 240+. The prices to create your own instance vary on the zone. You also need to be in a guild to make them. Players can join the Heroes of Varlyndria guild with the NPC in Toskirakk if they don't have any friends.

Enjoy all.

[Drakiyth]

New AA merchants!

• Added a Treasure Hoarder merchant in the Portal Chamber that sells Treasured
Boss loot for a massive amount of AA and VarCredits.

• Added a new 1350+ Gearscore AA vendor in the Portal Chamber that
sells Rank 5 type 7 augs and Rank 3 Crystal Augs.

• Added a new NPC which will raise your base stats for AA points.
(players start with 5 to all base) You can only raise your stats to 255 max with this
NPC but the AA cost for it is ungodly to achieve. The npc's name is "Jahahm the Wish Granter".

[AzsharasDad]

You aren't schizophrenic, right? No insult intended I am half joking, but I see frequent and massive changes and that makes me cautious to invest time with so much uncertainty regarding the intended direction of the game.

[lupisnoctum]

You aren't schizophrenic, right? No insult intended I am half joking, but I see frequent and massive changes and that makes me cautious to invest time with so much uncertainty regarding the intended direction of the game.

Your caution is well advised. The history of Varlyndria has been one of wild flailing in many different directions, often several directions at once.

[Drakiyth]

You aren't schizophrenic, right? No insult intended I am half joking, but I see frequent and massive changes and that makes me cautious to invest time with so much uncertainty regarding the intended direction of the game.

No. I am not diagnosed with Schizophrenia.
I can tell reality from fantasy or something that is not real.
(meaning of the word you used)

I do apologize if the changes lately have been rather sporadic but this change I just made is to balance the server by pushing everybody up to a certain point; and then releasing content that a large majority of players can tackle while being able to find groups a lot easier for the new content coming out because everybody is around that power level. The main reason for this is because we did not do a full wipe when Ascension came out, which ultimately allowed uber players who were from the old server steamroll content to the point the economy was harmed and nothing was strong enough to stop them. With everything being attunable it lead to some major problems in the beginning with loot and lower level power ranked players getting their hands on it too early. I did promise these players who worked hard that I wouldn't wipe it though and I kept that promise. However, these changes that just happened needed to take effect because this will allow everybody to get caught up to those players easier, stabilize the economy and allow a new door which leads to content that can actually challenge everybody not just top geared toons to come into fruition.

I am doing my best to get the server steady before I can even call it a "Beta". It is still in alpha right now for a reason. Many of the AA problems players were experiencing (not having anything to spend them on) has been fixed with the new additions. I wish a majority of players could experience what it's like to have their own server at least once in their life and experience the various opinions that fly at them in all directions from multiple individuals that want them to change the server in their vision as if they are right and you are wrong and they want to take over.

For those types of players, I have one option for you: Start your own server and good luck with it. If you want to truly express your vision to the world and ultimately feel what it's like to have opinions thrown at you to experience what you just dished out for yourself, be my guest.

This is not saying that some of those players do not have good ideas. (I've taken plenty ideas and used them) but it is saying like above that you can't please everybody no matter how hard you try.

I appreciate your feedback but this is still an alpha and I ask for your patience until we go beta.

[Burningsoul]

Again, from someone who hasn't played yet read the changelogs... I see a massive, GLOBAL sweep to change the essence of the game. Secrets nailed it after we rallied for it - stop paying cash just because you WANT the best, pay the cash because the SERVER is the best - freemium my ass, give us fun and we WILL support. That support ends when we see OP noobs with cash to blow on the same tier as people who devote their time. (After seeing Clair ruin lootfest, I don't ever want that again).

What I see now, is Drak bending because of a sizeable amount of forum chatter. Clearly, he has something good here. However, now he has to deal with an uprising - (those who throw cash at anything VS those that pay because they LOVE the server and the ideals, not the freemium tactics), he's bending. Drak, get your ideals set first. You did a -lot- of good here. As someone who wanted to recreate the fun of Scorp2k/Last World/X5/SoA (pre-donate-win-button)/Lootfest Pre-Clair, but but lacked the tech aspect to make it happen...when 4 posters + Secrets' best worded attack make you start to change things, you have to set sights on the focus of the server.

Remember Last World? That people who played it hold it dear in their hearts and want to play again? How about any other donate-to-get-easy-mode server? Those come and go, but DAMNED sure we remember to good ones. And fug it, I -want- this to be a good one. It LOOKS amazing. Not since I joined the scene in '04* have I seen stuff like the current servers are producing. But please, don't succumb to the others' downfall of pay to win. Monetary is one thing, but if you want to be a legend, make us remember WHY it was good - not why once we threw X amount of cash at it, we won.

Again, I'm probably off base, but I'm speaking my mind. If I had the ability to make a server of this scope, I'd damned sure try. I just don't want to see everything you've done thrown away since people spoke up, and then see your server changed because of that. Make it come from the reason you started - to change the vision of an emu server. To make a fun, UNIQUE experience. From a failed server OP to you, that's why we all started. Much love for what you've done, from a failed server admin to what you're producing now, just saying....

Drak - not playing I'm sure I'm wrong on lots of things - and this isn't intended as a flame. You're a great upstanding person on these forums, and I respect the hell out of what you made. I just want to make my voice heard here and now.

In short, you damn sure can't please everybody - but you can leave a good taste in our mouths when we play. I've seen plenty of servers I wish were still around do it. You're doing good, keep on the path of taking constructive criticism and you're gold - just keep the core fundamentals in mind. Again, not an intended flame - just a better worded King Mort ramble from someone who's loaded and wants to see you flourish. Keep it up man, and mad props for breaking the mold.

[Drakiyth]

Also, if the "Donations" are being used for anything other than the server itself it is I believe it is no longer non-profit and therefore is taxable income.

The server doesn't create its self.


UPDATE 08/26/13

• Enemy NPCs are a bit tougher now. Overlord Npcs might require a couple people to take down.

• Soulreapers now regenerate 25,000 hp per tick + Wisdom Enhancement bonus with
the Dark Reaper on. This will prevent them from dying from anything that gets
through the defenses of this buff.

• The #Fi or #itemsearch command now actually works for players now.

• The AA, "Animation Empathy" can now be learned by all classes. This AA will allow
the White Lotus to control their pet.

• Fixed Bursting Veins to be a 24 second CD down from 48 seconds. It didn't change
last patch for some odd reason.

• Theft of Life and Soul Abrasion AA powers have been removed from the game. These
AA powers were giving vampires the ability to become gods which was never intended.
If you had these powers before talk to a GM for AA refunds.

• Thane's Rune of Stone now only gives 12% mitigation down from 24%. It's end
cost is 480 and it now recharges every 12 seconds and lasts 6 seconds.

• Thane's Blessing of Thunder has changed. They now get 36% mit, 100% to melee damage,
+200% to their base parry chance and their 210 base damage defensive proc.