Varlyndria: Ascension - Coming Summer 2013

[Drakiyth]

http://www.varlyndria.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/202561_orig.png



Ascension is the ultimate upgrade to Varlyndria that will change the game forever in a better and more balanced direction. The elimination of the level grind will be very popular among the changes and the fact that level 80 is min/max forever means development to get everything perfect on balance is going to be much easier. No more pets being OP at early levels, no more scaling problems.. Everything will be on a even playing field and progression will be gear, vses and AA points only, which will give players a much more enjoyable experience. Players will be able to simply join in on the fun with other players without worry of being low level. This will encourage grouping and getting a guild right out of the box. Also with the new guild NPC players can simply join the default guild now if they enjoy a more solo role but want some guild benefits.


STORY
The Gods are slowly fading and dying off and their power has leaked down into the mortal plane because of it. All creatures in Norrath, Luclin and even the planes have grown into super versions of themselves, reaching their peak at an early stage of life. Varlyndria has new threats coming in at all angles now with creatures being so enhanced and hungry for power. However, the energy of the Old Gods has also imbued the champions of Varlyndria as well.


FEATURES COMING
• Default Guild called Heroes of Varlyndria will be added that all players can join by talking to an NPC.
• More race class combinations. High Elf Shadowknights, Ogre Clerics etc.
• All players start and end at level 80 and cannot lose experience any longer.
• Players do not have to worry about a level grind, they can jump right into progression now.
• A new starting zone where players ascend into the story line will be coming following a nice tutorial to get players started.
• A new organized hub is coming for the Ascended Varlyndrians. New Kelethin is going to be abandoned.
• Spells are balanced towards level 80 and this allows for paths to have a solid balanced spell set now of 6 or more abilities to play with. The power of your spells is of course increased as you get stronger ranks with the Varlyndrian Statistical Enhancement System.
• All mobs in every zone are now level 80 with different power levels. (progression)
• All pets and temp pets are level 80 now and fully balanced.
• 16 New Paths are coming, 1 for each class guild.
• The Path Remover will no longer de-level players.
• AA points are the main source of leveled progression now and players can get many helpful buffs and items this way as well.
• Donation item fixes and revamps and many new additions to the tier system.


RELEASE DATE
April 2013. (The server is going offline for a while until Ascension is ready to launch.)



FAQ

QUESTION: Am I going to lose my stuff with Ascension?
ANSWER: Not at all. Players will be automatically leveled to 80 upon arriving in the new hub. New characters will be automatically leveled to 80 as well.

QUESTION: With everything being level 80 now how are we going to tell where to go first?
ANSWER: The teleporters will have power levels instead of levels now displayed on their names. Example: Power Level 1, Power Level 2 etc etc.

QUESTION: I don't think I've ever seen any mmorpg do this before. Why is everything going to be 80 and no higher?
ANSWER: The fact that there is so much more to progression than just leveling is a big factor. There is also the factor of balancing 100s of pets and temp pets per every few levels that honestly are just passed up quickly. Levels pretty much have no purpose on Varlyndria anymore. They are more annoying than anything else. This new system lets players get right into the action and have fun while still having the Varlyndrian Statistical Enhancement System to upgrade them as they get better gear as well as all the AA points you'll be working on immediately. It allows the devs to not have the burden of level 1 to 79 balancing and get right to the point of end-game focus.

www.varlyndria.com

[Drakiyth]

Starting at level 80 with level 1 mobs running around, sure. That fails. But every single mob in the game is 80 with distinct power levels to determine progression. I could of said every player is level 5 and all mobs are level 5 if I wanted to. The fact is this is not like what other people tried, trust me on that. You'll see when Ascension launches if you're willing to give it a shot. The level 1 through 80 is completely overrated and I'll prove why. Progression can be many things besides leveling. Consider this like a skill system mmorpg now where you don't level but just improve yourself with other means and you're on a balanced playing field right out of the box.


Example of Ascension for a new player: Player creates a character and joins in, he/she starts in the nooby area and is leveled to 80 as soon as she enters. She goes down and talks to NPCs and finds out that level 80 is because she is of ascended power from the gods energy that has leaked into the world but it's only the beginning and some other ascended beings are right at the front lines waiting to attack. You grab some newbie weapons/shield and your power source and head into battle against newbie level 80 mobs that are balanced to fight your gear level. Do you see how that works now? Just because they are 80 doesn't mean anything. Also, experience is going to be modded for certain power level areas. You won't be getting mad AA points in the nooby area but will be later down the road fighting stronger monsters. AA points are vast in Varlyndria and offer the player more options of development than just what EQ gives you. There is a vendor infact that you can spend AA points at and get upgrades.

One thing too I forgot to mention is I will be cutting many spells out of all spell books and just making all spells that are worth while level 80. You won't have hundreds of spells to browse through. It's pointless. On top of BASE class spells there will also be Path spells which can only be cast when you have the charm reagent for that certain path. (this has already been in the server for months).

[Drakiyth]

Just a quick update here: Ascension is actually going to start and end at level 70 not 80. I have decided to do this after many hours of testing and finding out just how buggy some level 71+ spells are.

[Drakiyth]

Here are some screenshots of Ascension and some of the features coming that I recently added to my blog. My goal with Ascension is to get rid of the easy mode laziness of AFKing like old Varlyndria, but reward players who have to work/school/can't play by speeding up their game play when they get home if they stay online with a new point system and consumables they can purchase from a special npc.

ASCENSION UPDATES AND FEATURES COMING

• Updated over 60,000 items to be priced based on each and every stat they have by a point system. There will no longer be finding items with good stats on them that can be traded but have no vendor value.

• Removed NO DROP from almost all items in the game. Only some items still have it, like donator, path and quest items.

• Mobs drop money now based on their HP (This gives 100% balance to the server with risk vs reward now.)
• /100 = Max Copper Dropped
• /200 = Min Copper Dropped

• Removed all focuseffects and worneffects from every item in the game. I will be adding my own to certain pieces of gear but no more being confused on what does what. There will be a detailed chart of worn and focus effects on the website. Every single one of them will be custom and there won't be too many like original EQ which is by far the
most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. They have well over 1000 focus effects alone and I feel it's just pointless to do that when you can organize and categorize certain ones instead of having hundreds of the same type with different names. BLARGH!

• Changed Enhanced Weapon Damage (Old Worn) into Piercing Blow, which is a single target mitigation debuffer
clicky that comes with some items.

• Pet Focus is being removed from the game. With pets being level 70 like their masters it simply just gives them too
much power since they already get VSES.

• VSES (Varlyndria Statistical Enhancement System) is having its numbers revamped on many things to make scaling
with the PR and BPR (Power Ranking and Boss Power Ranking) more balanced.

• All items with stamina now have that value of stamina divided by 6 for agility. Agility will always be extremely low
on items because of the invincibility bug but players can acquire small amounts of it now instead of none of it. Items will never have Heroic Agi as it's far too OP. Players will no longer gain the 150 AGI bonus at the start. Stats will be reset to 5 across the board since players can now gain very small amounts of AGI on items now + their AA points.

• The entire LDON system where players can buy relics is being axed. Ldon costs are going down considerably and players need to run the dungeons to get that gear. I am also going to axe AFKing for money and ldon points.

• There will be a new system added to Toskirakk (the main city in Ascension) that will reward you with a special type
of point called (Dedication Points (DP)) for every 5 minutes you're online. DP can be used to purchase experience potions and other useful consumable items to help you get back into the game faster when you can play again after your long hard day of work or whatever else prevented you from playing. The donation tiers will now offer bonus DP to this system every 5 minutes instead of the older money/ldon points.


http://www.varlyndria.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/2387901_orig.png

http://www.varlyndria.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/581883_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

Varlyndria: Ascension has been pushed back towards mid May. The server still has tons of work that needs to be finished on it and all 64 (16 are new) of the class paths will now have 6 core abilities each (on separate timers) that make them interesting and fun. My goal here is to deliver a true unique and addicting experience to the emulator community unlike anything before. I am also planning on getting PVP with a reward system of Gladiator Points into Ascension since all 64 paths will be a lot more balanced this time around.


I'll keep you posted as always.


Below is a look at some of the Warrior paths and their abilities in Ascension. All 64 paths will be receiving this treatment on their pages.

http://www.varlyndria.com/warrior.html

[Kavanah]

It's looking good!

[satora54]

Take your time man, it's looking GREAT!

[Thrash!]

Could you talk more about the PvP system being put in place?

[Drakiyth]

The player vs player in Ascension is going to be really cool. Here are some things about it:

• Players will use a special NPC to get to the battle zones, and when they enter the zone they will be placed in a random location.

• Battle zones are not huge, they are all decent sized and fit for PVP.

• A special NPC with a massive amount of HP will spawn in the zone that needs to be killed. This NPC will only spawn WHEN the criteria of players is met in that area. For instance: when 4 players enter that NPC's parameter the NPC will spawn. It's than a Free For All and may the best man or woman win. The NPC its self is not a threat.

• When the NPC is killed the player or team who landed the blow will get Gladiator Points when they loot. Gladiator points can be spent at the Gladiator vendor and there will be many awesome rewards you can buy with them. The items you can purchase will mainly be things like consumables that help with player vs player combat, like scripted items that remove debuffs, snares and fears or healing potions. There will also be armor, weapons and special pets you can buy for a lot of points.

• PVP battle zones are constantly up and running, even if there are no players in it. This will prevent players from zoning back and forth and manipulating the spawn.

• The battle zones have anti-boxing rules and you cannot enter them with more than 1 character per IP address. If you try to enter the zone with your box team, they will be kicked out. This rule was made to encourage fair play.

[Drakiyth]

VARLYNDRIA: ASCENSION - CHANGES (MORE PATHS COULD BE INCLUDED)

After looking at most of the paths over and over again throughout the months I have decided to change some of them
into similar but different versions of themselves with a new name. These paths seemed extremely generic and were getting
difficult to get "into" their design process. Many of these paths will now do some new things and work differently than before.


• Axe Throwers are becoming Marauders
http://varlyndria-ascension.12016.x6.nabble.com/file/n5004950/Path_of_the_Marauder.png

• Star Throwers are becoming Ninjas
http://varlyndria-ascension.12016.x6.nabble.com/file/n5004950/Path_of_the_Ninja.png

• Poisoners are becoming Nightshades
http://varlyndria-ascension.12016.x6.nabble.com/file/n5004950/Path_of_the_Nightshade.png

• Snipers are becoming Woodland Archers
http://varlyndria-ascension.12016.x6.nabble.com/file/n5004950/Path_of_the_Woodland_Archer.png


More detailed info on these paths will be introduced when I start work on them. I can tell
you this much so far:

MARAUDER: This path will be a combo of Axe Thrower/Melee and Temporary Pets. The story is they are berserkers who
have been raised by the underground evil societies and are all about ravaging, raping and pillaging and use vicious War
Boars which they grew up with down in the pits to aid them in combat.

NINJA: This path will introduce Ninja Swords that monks can use, have some mystic powers along with star throwing.

NIGHTSHADE: This path will be very similar to the old Poisoner, but will have a strange plant twist since
plants produce poisons. They might even be able to throw deadly man-eating plants at their victims. Think Poison Ivy in
batman meets a rogue.

WOODLAND ARCHER: This will be a ranged/pet class. Woodland Archers will be able to summon a powerful animal companion
that helps them deal damage with archery. This is the closest a ranger can get to a hunter in world of warcraft in Varlyndria.



WWW.VARLYNDRIA.COM

[Drakiyth]

The Death Penalty has been officially established.

• Players will lose 20 minutes worth of Dedication Points (20 points if OUTSIDE a pvp zone.)
• Players will lose 20 Gladiator Points (If killed inside a pvp zone.)


PVP rules

• When killing a player in a battle zone they will spawn a spirit with 1 hp. This spirit can be killed for up to 20 Gladiator Points. Drop rate = 50% up to 20 total.
• Boxing/Friends fighting with each other on same IP is absolutely 100% not allowed in Battle Zones and we have scripts that will remove your characters instantly if you try it.


There are new path changes coming to monks.

Dragon Apostles are turning into a hybrid of Tiger Disciple and Dragon
Apostle called the Dragon Disciple with some other cool features, making
them the ULTIMATE hand to hand or staff monk.
http://www.varlyndria.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/2009083_orig.png

Tiger Disciples are changing into the Samurai path. Samurai will use
the same Martial Type Swords as Ninjas but will focus more on melee
combat with Bushido powers.
http://www.varlyndria.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/6301808_orig.png

[Mariomario]

You are putting some serious time and consideration into the changes. Everything is looking rather exciting.

[Drakiyth]

Thank you very much, Mario. This is round 2 in my opinion. The old Varlyndria was my very first server
and now that I have learned a lot more about sql and perl and have had a plethora of help it's time to
show what I really want to do with the Varlyndrian world.


Here are some examples of the system I am using for all 64 paths in Varlyndria: Ascension. I am doing
what I can to make them flavorful and unique from each other, and I strive to bring all of my players
something they can get into that fits their personality. Variety is the spice of life. These paths below
are tested well and ready to go for launch. Check out our website for much more info on other paths
and the server.

NOTE: Pets and Temporary Pets are now scripted (over 160 pets) to scale with their master's charisma.
This includes their spell damage as well.

Varlyndria: Ascension currently does not have an ETA on release. It's done when it's done, as Blizzard Entertainment would say.

www.varlyndria.com (www.varlyndria.com)

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[Drakiyth]

THIS WAS ACTUALLY Disc CD SLOT = 15 and it can be used along with other Bloodthirster attacks.


BLOODTHIRSTER: DESTRUCTIVE RAGE: 16 SEC CD, ENDURANCE COST 640, (Disc CD Slot = 15)
• SPELL SLOT 1: Spell Triggers Added: Unleash 4 brutal swings of your weapon on a target that deals 420
base damage each. Attacks released this way count as their own entities.

[Drakiyth]

Heads up!

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/1924979_orig.png

[satora54]

Now i'm not sure if i want to play Bloodthirster or Executioner haha

[phorest]

This looks incredibly interesting. The massive amount of work that has already gone into this project is obvious, and the effort is valiant, at the least.
My concern is the file download and replacement required to play this new style of EQ. Is there an idea of the learning curve or patch size required to play?
Again, this server idea is truely epic. A blend of customization, vast imagination and plain hard work. A commendable effort, to say the least. So far advanced over the "often advertised custom content" rarely exceeding a few items and a quest or 2..
Very well done.

[Drakiyth]

Thank you very much for the feedback and compliments, Phorest. I felt like it was time to scratch the old Varlyndria which was my first server, but I ultimately felt it was not good enough to be gold. Ascension is where it needs to be after a year. It was simply time to upgrade from boy status to man status as far as servers go. I hope when Ascension is finished that you and your friends have a great time on it. The work I have invested to bring this place to everybody is going to be well worth it in the end.

Varlyndria: Ascension has the following custom files:

• spells_us.txt
• dbstr_us.txt
• GlobalLoad
• Optional MP3s that replace music in some zones.


All of the things I have posted are already tested and in the game using whatever EQ spell animation fits for that ability. There isn't going to be any major graphic downloads or anything, your client will handle almost all of it.

[Drakiyth]

Meet the Shadowknights of Ascension if you dare...


http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/8249257_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

FIRST LOOK AT THE DREADLORD (REPLACED TERRORIZER)


http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/157646_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

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[Drakiyth]

Army of Darkness!

QUOTE: "Good? Bad? I'm the guy with the gun." - Ash

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[Drakiyth]

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[Drakiyth]

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[djlegit83]

must....play..........

No joke, I have read about all the classes that you have released info on. I still can't decide. I almost hate you for making my class a-d-d even worse.

They all sound pretty awesome and I love your approach to balance.

[Drakiyth]

I'm glad you enjoy what you see so far, I am working very hard to bring a lot of variety and options for people to play with.


http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/9411482_orig.png


http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/5058797_orig.png



Here is a pic of the nasty Virulent Savage and the vermin he summons.

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/9078213_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/1056369_orig.png

VIDEO DEMONSTRATION OF ASSASSIN GAME PLAY (VIDEO IS LAGGY BUT GETS THE POINT ACROSS - MADE THIS QUICKLY BECAUSE OF MY TIME SCHEDULE)
http://youtu.be/WsiduhVL21Q

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[Drakiyth]

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[Drakiyth]

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VARLYNDRIA.COM (http://VARLYNDRIA.COM)

[Mariomario]

Very well thought out, looking forward to the new release.

[ak48]

24 classes down, 40 to go! It seems like a lot when you put it in numbers...

[Drakiyth]

Aye, these paths are coming along pretty fast for the work involved in them. I hope to be done with them sometime in June. After the paths are squared away and tested to the best of my ability, I'll be able to get the rest of the server done lightning fast because of my knowledge in SQL now. I already have built several of my own massive sql scripts that automate the process for npcs, npc ranks, items and prices.

Quests can always be added while the server is up but there will be some quests to do as well and more of a storyline getting into Varlyndria. Ascension takes place 30 years after the war in Fallen, and Varlyndria had to move out of New Kelethin as it was overrun by planar creatures (this will be a dungeon in Ascension). The new zone Toskirakk was home to the Ogres of Rallos Zek who was a god almost immune to magic because of his specialty in war and combat. Rallos Zek's aura and power still covers the place even though he is dead now. The godly power makes it impossible for any magic or planar powers to attack the main city so it's the safest place for Varlyndria to keep their headquarters.


More to come.

[Drakiyth]

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[Drakiyth]

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[Drakiyth]

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[Drakiyth]

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[Drakiyth]

Please vote for which beastlord path you want to see make it into Ascension out of the Raptor Breeder and the new idea I came up with, the Bestial Overseer. As much as I want to release all 5 paths for launch, I don't have time to do anything but 64 paths right now. Maybe in the future I can add the other one that didn't make the cut.


www.varlyndria.com

[Drakiyth]

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WWW.VARLYNDRIA.COM

[jabedoben]

I think you need to be doing this stuff as a profession.

[Kavanah]

Arachnian looks soooo cool!

[Drakiyth]

Thank you for the compliments and feedback everybody. This is like a second nature to me now
honestly, because I really enjoy creating these unique paths that my players can have fun with.
The goal with Varlyndria has always been to bring the most rich, detailed and themed experience
possible with a vast amount of replay value. When I first launched a year ago, I was a noob at
eqemu, so at that time I wasn't able to bring my players what I truly envisioned even though the
server did quite well and there were a lot of fans. I consider this my 2nd chance to get things right
this time around. This includes paths, itemization, prices, money, loot, mobs, damage and you
name it. Varlyndria: Ascension is going to be the server I REALLY wanted to release a year ago.
I'm getting excited building it, I hope you're all ready as well. :)

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[Drakiyth]

Killer bunnies are in YOUR command.

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[Drakiyth]

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[Drakiyth]

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[ak48]

Looking good! Keep on keepin' on. I can't wait for the release.

[Drakiyth]

@Ak48: Thank you very much, will do! I can't wait to launch this for everybody.


One thing I have been doing lately is going over player's comments of how they feel things should be or what would make the 2nd installment of Varlyndria better than ever. I figure since bots had to be deleted anyway or the server would be broken right now from the bugs they were causing, this would be the best time to implement some new rules. Let's first go over what makes a mmorpg successful.

• SOLO FRIENDLY IN MOST ZONES
• GROUPING/RAIDS/TEAM WORK FOR BEST GEAR
• PLAYER VS PLAYER
• STRONG PLAYER ECONOMY

With that said, Varlyndria Ascension will have the following changes made to it:

• IP will be limited to 1 but players who donate Tier 4+ can have 2. (I want to rid completely of having your own personal army and encourage teaming between players. This seems extremely restrictive and I admit it is for the better good of the server and to support individuality instead of one guy controlling everything. Wouldn't it be nice to know that 200+ players is actually 175 or more real people to interact with?

• Bots will be limited to 1 out at one time. The original model of Varlyndria was to make a server where you could have your own personal party but let's face it, this destroys interaction between players, makes players leave for a more group-oriented server (which most people want in an mmorpg) or just makes the experience far too easy with no challenge.


These changes might be a shock to some players but I hope you can understand that my goal here is to go GOLD, and GOLD servers require a large player base full of people who interact with one another and not a box fest or bot fest. To see players calling out for certain paths will be amazing! Just think about that and think of the combinations you and your guild can put together for raids and pvp alike.

[RStefan01]

GOLD servers require a large player base full of people who interact with one another and not a box fest or bot fest

I think Project 1999 is the only gold server that your description actually fits =p

[Mariomario]

• IP will be limited to 1 but players who donate Tier 4+ can have 2. (I want to rid completely of having your own personal army and encourage teaming between players.

If you want to limit it I would really, really recommend pushing the limit to 2 and Tier 4+ to 3. Limiting the IP to only 1 connection severely hinders your households with multiple people and forcing them to donate just so they can play together means most will simply say forget this server and move along. Most households have at least 2 that play together, whether its roommates, wife/husband, siblings, or even just friends that come over and play together.

I understand the idea of not wanting to be a box/bot fest, but I would get rid of bots altogether and limit your IP to 2/3 with donations. The removal of bots also means not having to deal with their bugs/glitches or factoring their calculations into scaling content bosses. With the mechanics of your server and 64 classes bots would honestly be almost worthless anyways.

[Drakiyth]

I think Project 1999 is the only gold server that your description actually fits =p

Aye, perhaps that's why so many people enjoy it aside from the nostalgia factor of old EQ and it having a solid staff. I want to move things in the right direction with such a large scale project that I am serious as a heart attack about.

EDIT: A poll has been put up. Please vote on what you feel would be the best action to take for making Varlyndria a stronger mmorpg that has solid player interaction and team work.

GO HERE: WWW.VARLYNDRIA.COM

[Drakiyth]

"You dare to attack me here? You will suffer! You will all suffer!" - Jon Irenicus
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[Burningsoul]

I'll cast my vote here - do away with boxing, period. People will pay to box, people won't pay to solo. That's where the divide starts. It's a slippery slope until you end up like EZ Server where unless you 6 box, good luck. You CAN solo, but what is the point when random_box_army steamrolls you.

[NatedogEZ]

I'll cast my vote here - do away with boxing, period. People will pay to box, people won't pay to solo. That's where the divide starts. It's a slippery slope until you end up like EZ Server where unless you 6 box, good luck. You CAN solo, but what is the point when random_box_army steamrolls you.


Afraid of players running by you and taking bosses from you? Haven't really ever seen that happen to me while playing on EZ /shrug

[boweq]

no , what a think what he means natedog,

it gets to a point, where people box and never talks or groups,

and then its get to the point, where you cant 8+box , you cant really progress,

EZ + THF are both the same,

[NatedogEZ]

Well he mentioned getting steamrolled .. by multi-boxers (is why I asked that)

I didn't mention anything about the social aspect of the game.. heh

But yes I do agree that multi-boxing can greatly decrease the "MMO" feel..

[Jahar_LoA]

We are doing the same thing in DiabloQuest, we are eliminating boxing. However. I hadn't thought about multiple people playing from the same household. Going to make me think more into this, thanks.

[Kavanah]

Is it really that hard to just have that household submit a small form to have their limit set to 2? I think if players are watching for it, we could easily spot a 2-boxer over 2 people playing.

[wolfwalkereci]

So many aspects to take into consideration.
Here is an example using THF, when I wanted Zithuli rare it was "faster" for me to solo that encounter every day for something silly like 107 days to get it and *not* have to random or pay dkp against another.
People are greedy, most guild loot systems suck. The only truly fair loot system is DKP which no one seems to want to use.
So I always prefer to box and when possible find others that are like minded to guild with.
Nothing sucks more then dealing with a terrible loot policy and lets face it, eq is all about getting the gear.

[boweq]

Ayee,
But when you Look at all the top high players,

Every single 1 of them or the ones ive seen,

All box atleast 8/9toons,

ive seen people box 3 full groups, with EQBC there,

Then again a Enchanter can proberly solo the game if they donate,
Instnat T9/T10 level loot, usuable at level 1,
No warrior will ever be better tank than a SK with their Doner wep..
The latest items they put up for sale, Class Bps, = 195USD..
EZ = Box to win
THF= Box+Pay to win lol

[Kingly_Krab]

I don't believe bashing other servers in a topic that's advertising a server gives it good publicity, if you're going to bash servers, take it to PMs, please, just a friendly request and tip.

[Kayen]

Seems like you put a lot of effort into this sever so let me give you some hard learned advice from my experience struggling with this on Storm Haven for 5 years.

Boxing is a double edged sword in EMU.

At its core for Everquest boxing is essentially cheating the system. You have a game designed around having one character where your personal progression is based on improving that character to a maximum potential. Allowing the use of additional characters by an individual instantly create inequity in the game world in relation to other players.

This inequity is inherently a long term negative on a server by stratifying your players into 'classes' of those who don't box, those who do box and how many they box. Therefore, your definition of an individual player is no longer the same thing, thus as a developer will eventually need to tune and create content to meet the needs of each of class of individual player. In terms of game design this an extremely inefficient way to manage a game. The higher you set your IP limit the more disastrous this problem becomes.

In commercial games this is less of an impact because there is economic disincentive due to costs of additional accounts incurred on the player, if the player does box the negative to the game is off set by the income generated. In contrast to EMU which you can have unlimited accounts at no cost to the player (donation fee to box is not worth it from a developers stand point).

Ultimately what ends up happening on a server is in order to maintain any integrity/challenge you have to tune your content to whatever the upper limit of your boxing is else content will be trivialized. This of course disenfranchises all those who can not box and essentially pushes out all of those players severely weakening your community. The double edge sword part comes in because high box limits will artificially inflate your population and make your server look more alive then it actually is. Long term though you are better off having more individual players then just handful of boxers because your population and literally rise and fall by the actions of just a few people.

All that said.

Here is how you can avoid the pitfalls of boxing. Embrace it and tune for it intentionally.

Decide what you want to define solo,group and raid content in terms of actual individual players (not characters) and then tune your content to that factoring in boxing.

For example lets take a schema considering realistic population for EMU.

1 person for solo, 2 persons for group and 6 person raid.

Whatever your upper limit of boxing is present and multiply each by and then tune your content for that.

Ie 2 boxing. 2 chara = solo, 4 chara = group 12 chara = raid
Ie 3 boxing. 3 chara = solo, 6 chara = group, 18 chara = raid.

This will allow you to maintain balance in content. However, as mentioned earlier it will create inequity, which is only solved in this case by simply being honest with your population that boxing is a part of the server.

In conclusion.

My recommendation is if you can tune well enough and avoid boxing your server will be better positioned for long term meaningful growth by maintaining player equity, opposed to just boxer inflated population growth.

Kayen
GM Storm Haven

[Drakiyth]

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/6062803_orig.png

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/4409006_orig.png (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=a0cSG1VCFR4)

[Drakiyth]

Fixed this to actually bring your enemies to a crawl and extended the fear and snare by 6 more seconds. It is extremely powerful now as it was intended to be.


TWISTED ANIMATOR: SONG OF THE MARIONETTE: 32 SEC CD, MANA COST 3840, LASTS 12 SECONDS
• SPELL SLOT 1: Snare all enemies around you for 12 seconds.
• SPELL SLOT 2: Spell Trigger -> No Escape
• NO ESCAPE: Fears all enemies around you for 12 seconds.
• SPECIAL: Double Mana for Half Duration.
• BARD SPECIAL: -24 CD MANA COST

[Drakiyth]

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/218336_orig.png

NOTE: Visions of Victory is a monstrous buff and newbie Oracles will not have the power to cast it right away. They'll need to get their mana up through gear to be able to use it.

[Drakiyth]

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/1969129_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

"Revenge is a dish best served cold." - Stephen King

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/1514315_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/4633213_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/9139602_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/6949953_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/7415378_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/7557527_orig.png

[ChaosSlayerZ]

"Revenge is a dish best served cold." - Stephen King
[/IMG]

actually that phrase predates Stephen King by about 100 years.

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/revenge-is-a-dish-best-served-cold.html

[Drakiyth]

Interesting find. I first read that phrase in Stephen King's Nightmares and Dreamscapes.

I also missed a line in Jon Irencus' speech.

"You dare to attack me here!? Do you even know whom you face? You will suffer! You will all suffer!" - Jon Irenicus, Baldur's Gate II

One of the best villains of all time in my opinion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hk0sOGVSAP4

[Drakiyth]

NOTE: The haste cap in Varlyndria: Ascension is 300%

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/8652211_orig.png

[ak48]

NOTE: The haste cap in Varlyndria: Ascension is 300%

Is it the same as before though where certain spells can allow overhaste?

[Drakiyth]

Is it the same as before though where certain spells can allow overhaste?

Haste stacks like this: Item, Haste1, Haste2, Haste3

[Drakiyth]

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/1114321_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

This proves that shrooms will only hurt you in the end. Bow to your fungus overlords.
http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/8885772_orig.png


http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/4298435_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/914449_orig.png


NOTE ABOUT GOLDEN FEATHERS (CELESTIAL CHAMPION): The Varlyndrian Statistical Enhancement System uses STA as more HP regen and Health buffs. Players can use these feathers and than click their Varlyndrian Power Source to get a much higher rank of Stamina Enhancement for 3 hours.

[Drakiyth]

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/499490_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

"I kick ass for the Lord!" - Preacher Guy in Dead Alive

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/3336572_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

Now you can use these nostalgic weapon/shield models for something besides healing!

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/2069842_orig.png

[satora54]

You even make Clerics look good Drak!
Awesome job!

[Drakiyth]

You even make Clerics look good Drak!
Awesome job!

I'm glad you like them! Thank you very much. :)


http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/4392478_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

“May your feet ever walk in the light of two suns... and may the moonshadow never fall on you... ”
― Robert Fanney

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/9019643_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

I'll be honest folks, for the work I have invested already into Ascension I really think it would be a great idea if we all started fresh again. I know I already had a vote on this and many players were against it, but the fact of the matter is this server is entirely different than the one you were used to. I have been thinking of ways to compensate players who earned their epics to make them happy. Toss down some ideas on this thread. I would like to hear what you think about this.



www.varlyndria.com

[Drakiyth]

Yes, that's a cleric. Eat your heart out shadow priests. The shadow orbs he's holding are the Dark Emissary epics.

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/639366_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/3281498_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/3288485_orig.png

[Secrets]

Holy poop. I leave for a month and Drak puts out all of this. The attention to detail is looking very nice, looking forward to seeing the end result.

[jimmydrr]

Sorry if this was posted somewhere else, but what expansion would we need to fully experience this server?

[Drakiyth]

Sorry if this was posted somewhere else, but what expansion would we need to fully experience this server?

Varlyndria: Ascension will be best experienced with the HoT/UF/RoF clients.

[Drakiyth]

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/3935273_orig.png

[Akkadius]

Drak,

All I have to say is that you are insane. I admire your persistence and passion however.

Hopefully this turns out well for you :)

[Drakiyth]

Drak,

All I have to say is that you are insane. I admire your persistence and passion however.

Hopefully this turns out well for you :)

The best things in life are created by people who push themselves to their limits. Thank you for the good wishes.


http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/2898536_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

“To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.”
― Thomas A. Edison

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/5986374_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

Due to some strange bug that makes it where silence lasts forever on NPCs I have just changed any path silence spell to a stun. This is overall better anyway since it stops melee in their tracks.

The paths changed are:
• Avengers
• Thanes
• Arcane Engineers

NEW SPELL
ARCANE ENGINEER: BLARING SIREN: 48 SEC CD, MANA COST 1920, LASTS 12 SECONDS
• SPELL SLOT 1: Stun all enemies around you for 12 seconds.
• ENCHANTER SPECIAL: Blaring Siren has a stun effect that gets double duration.

[Drakiyth]

Welcome to heaven Steampunk fans.

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/3868127_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

NOTE: This path is very group friendly and gets most of its damage from its pet and base enchanter nukes but lacks any real path nuke punch.

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/2383236_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/3565373_orig.png

[ZionPhoenixGM]

Drak I am beyond excited to see the crazyness come to life. This looks freaking awesome!

[Drakiyth]

Drak I am beyond excited to see the crazyness come to life. This looks freaking awesome!

Thank you! I can't wait to launch it for everybody!

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/2529994_orig.png

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/4653108_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/6254233_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/7606825_orig.png

[Maze_EQ]

Dude, shut up and take my money.

[Drakiyth]

Dude, shut up and take my money.

:)


"The two most powerful warriors are patience and time." - Leo Tolstoy

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/1971143_orig.png

[Thorkinal]

Im still waiting to see what the Slayer has going for them ;)

[Drakiyth]

Im still waiting to see what the Slayer has going for them ;)


There are only 9 paths left and I will be done with the base 64 for launch. I am also giving players the option to design their own path that the entire world can play. Epics and everything. Literally creating a playable class for the server (I will work with you and balance things) for a very generous donation. With that said, you can check out the Slayer and other paths I didn't release on this thread on the official website.


http://www.varlyndria.com/warrior.html

http://www.varlyndria.com/paladin.html

[ak48]

There are only 9 paths left and I will be done with the base 64 for launch.

You've been zooming along the last couple days, the anticipation is rising!

[Drakiyth]

You've been zooming along the last couple days, the anticipation is rising!

Aye, the server is getting there and it's getting closer to the point where I can release an official launch date so players can prepare for that day. :)


Here is a pic of the Conjurer summoning Gigas.
http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/3020956_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

"Do you realize the power you might hold? When the world of flesh is beneath you, even creatures mysterious and magical will fall!" - Jon Irenicus

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/7325794_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

Elemental Madness

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/2801057_orig.png

[Cfuson88]

Really excited for this server. This will be the first server that has interested me enough to upgrade my titanium client to something newer. My only concern will be about how the classes will be balanced. Something about the balancing is screaming ez server quality where paladins rule all, just hope that doesn't happen here.

[Drakiyth]

Really excited for this server. This will be the first server that has interested me enough to upgrade my titanium client to something newer. My only concern will be about how the classes will be balanced. Something about the balancing is screaming ez server quality where paladins rule all, just hope that doesn't happen here.

All of the paths in Ascension have a place in a group or the battlefield of player vs player combat. The fact that mana can be drained, melee mitigation can be lowered and healing can be reduced will make sure there is a lot of Rock/Paper/Scissors going on. For instance: an Avenger will be dreadful against most casters, where a Dark Emissary will be a tank's worst nightmare and Soulreaper can eat up an Avenger because they can't be harmed directly from his stuns and anti-magic, but a Soulreaper can probably be crushed by an Assassin who jumps their wraith. The server will be team based play and the synergies your guilds can form for pve and pvp is vast.


http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/8337164_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

Some notes on the Soulreaper path:

• Soulreapers who are changed into a Dark Reaper cannot change back until it wears off or their pet dies, which will than kill them. (The spell counts as a harmful self effect and cannot be dispelled. Use at your own risk. With great power comes great responsibility.)

• Soulreapers who are changed into Dark Reapers and tell their pets to "Guard Here" or "Hold" will instantly kill their pet. This immortality is not to be abused by keeping your pet hidden.

• Soulreapers who have a pet out when they change into the Dark Reaper will slay the pet.

• Pets that are told to "Go Away" will instantly kill the Soulreaper if they are in Dark Reaper form.

[Drakiyth]

“I have no idea what's awaiting me, or what will happen when this all ends. For the moment I know this: there are sick people and they need curing.”
― Albert Camus, The Plague

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/6795179_orig.png


NOTE: The Rotfeaster's epic will allow them to restore their health and mana by 4800 by targeting a corpse and casting the spell/eating it. The corpse does not go away afterwards. 60 SEC CD.

[Cfuson88]

Any Eta on a launch date?

[Drakiyth]

The server is getting closer to the point where I'll have more info on specific launch date but nothing is concrete just yet. No worries though, you won't miss the launch date announcement if you keep checking this thread or our main website.

[Drakiyth]

SOULREAPER UPDATE:

The Soulreaper might be changed around a bit from what I originally said would happen but we think we have the solution to keep the mechanic I originally designed. I got this idea from Dark Age of Camelot's Necromancer which is really fun to play.

[Drakiyth]

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/3822025_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/3038908_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/7760361_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

“Now if you’ll excuse me, Death waits for no man. Except me.”
― Rachel Vincent, Reaper

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/4965974_orig.png

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/9286222_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

The Soulreaper has been changed a bit from the last post on this thread, you can check out the updated 100% working one on the main site. After testing, this class is addicting. Bring a portable toilet because you won't leave your seat from how fun they are. Special thanks to my friend Natedog for helping out with the scripting side to this wonderful solo class.

MORE SPOOKS SUMMONED BY THE SOULREAPER EPIC!
http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/7192006_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

“No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness.”
― Aristotle

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/9990891_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

Vote below. (Redirects you to the official website)

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/8599177_orig.png (http://www.varlyndria.com/index.html)

[Drakiyth]

Move over dogs, slime is man's best friend now.

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/6672717_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

Here they are, the final four paths to complete the 64 path choices that players can choose from. A release date will follow shortly after they are done. It's been a time-consuming and extremely difficult journey to finally get here and I will be glad to finally be done with a solid path system that I will never have to fully revamp ever again and players can experience them for years to come.

NOTE: There will more than likely be more paths to play, but they will be designed by donators, so there's no telling what will happen there until it does.

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/7932281_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

"The flames grow within me." - Ignus, Planescape Torment

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/1583980_orig.png



NOTE: Pyromancer and Cryomancer are heavily overused class names and I wanted to get more original with Varlyndria's 2nd release.

[Drakiyth]

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/8243283_orig.png

[liquest]

I personally have never taken the time to try out your server but i do give you props to what you have done with it. By far the most customized server ive seen. I may have to take a look at it when it gets released again.

[Kingly_Krab]

This is looking great Drakiyth, can't wait until this is released, I may have to have 7 or so accounts just to have 1 of each of these varieties, haha. They're all awesome.

[Drakiyth]

I personally have never taken the time to try out your server but i do give you props to what you have done with it. By far the most customized server ive seen. I may have to take a look at it when it gets released again.

Thank you! See you when it launches.


This is looking great Drakiyth, can't wait until this is released, I may have to have 7 or so accounts just to have 1 of each of these varieties, haha. They're all awesome.

Haha! That's the spirit! I make the server like this on purpose, so you don't run out of things to play or get bored quickly. Variety is the spice of life and so is replay value.


http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/1002843_orig.png



NOTICE TO PUBLIC: I have stalled slightly on production due to some scripts that needed to be fixed. Big thank you to both Secrets and Natedog for their help. Hopefully, the last 2 paths get out quickly. I am as excited as you all are to hit my goal!

[Maze_EQ]

Flamecaller, all, day.

[Drakiyth]

Flamecaller, all, day.
When I tested them I had a great deal of fun, almost couldn't stop and wasted some dev time. They are a fantastic class.



"Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds."
- J. Robert Oppenheimer, taken from ancient Hindu text (Bhagavad Gita)

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/5634131_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

http://youtu.be/yeDpImAOBqs

If youtube is not loading on here click the link below.
http://youtu.be/yeDpImAOBqs

[Drakiyth]

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/7045342_orig.png

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/5435437_orig.png

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/9104366_orig.png


An official launch date for the beta of Varlyndria: Ascension will be coming very soon!

[Kingly_Krab]

YEAH, happy July 4th. Can't wait for this to be out.

[Secrets]

Congrats on finishing 64 paths! I can't wait to see the end result.

[Cfuson88]

quit teasing us and release it already....... PS, spellblade looks amazing. Spellblade or Conjurer for my main toon........ Decisions decisions.

[satora54]

Great job man! Congrats!

[Drakiyth]

Thank you very much everybody!

[Drakiyth]

ITEMS THAT CAN ONLY BE USED BY CERTAIN CLASSES WILL HAVE SIGNIFICANT BONUSES


All bonuses equal out to a total of 50%. These items are the best you can get for your character and make having set tier items much more useful than items that are shared among different classes.

• WARRIOR ONLY ITEM BONUS: Item Gains: 25% hp, 15% ac, 10% endur

• PALADIN ONLY ITEM BONUS: Item Gains: 20% hp, 15% ac, 15% mana

• BERSERKER ONLY ITEM BONUS: Item Gains: 15% hp, 10% ac, 25% endur

• SHADOWKNIGHT ONLY ITEM BONUS: Item Gains: 20% hp, 15% ac, 15% mana

• ROGUE ONLY ITEM BONUS: Item Gains: 10% hp, 10% ac, 30% endur

• RANGER ONLY ITEM BONUS: Item Gains: 15% hp, 10% ac, 25% mana

• MONK ONLY ITEM BONUS: Item Gains: 15% hp, 15% ac, 20% endur

• BEASTLORD ONLY ITEM BONUS: Item Gains: 15% hp, 15% ac, 20% mana

• BARD ONLY ITEM BONUS: Item Gains: 16% hp, 16% ac, 18% mana

• SHAMAN ONLY ITEM BONUS: Item Gains: 10% hp, 10% ac, 30% mana

• DRUID ONLY ITEM BONUS: Item Gains: 10% hp, 10% ac, 30% mana

• CLERIC ONLY ITEM BONUS: Item Gains: 15% hp, 15% ac, 20% mana

• ENCHANTER ONLY ITEM BONUS: Item Gains: 15% hp, 35% mana

• MAGICIAN ONLY ITEM BONUS: Item Gains: 15% hp, 35% mana

• NECROMANCER ONLY ITEM BONUS: Item Gains: 15% hp, 35% mana

• WIZARD ONLY ITEM BONUS: Item Gains: 15% hp, 35% mana

[Drakiyth]

These three angels are the keepers of many awesome treasures that can be earned in Varlyndria.

DEDICATION POINTS: Earned by staying online and are used for purchasing useful consumable items.
GLADIATOR POINTS: Earned in PVP zones by killing other players and are used to purchase player vs player gear which has major bonuses to hp.
HEROIC POINTS: Earned from killing strong bosses and completing difficult tasks and are used to purchase player made items that are created from the donation system.


http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/8704685_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

Dedication Points can net you some really nice consumable items, like mounts, experience potions and
restoration potions. Mounts run at 200% speed and need to be repurchased when their charges run out.

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/9229906_orig.png


NOTE: Dedication Points are simply earned by staying online in any zone. Players are given 5 points every 5 minutes.
Health, Mana and Endurance potions have 20 charges each.

[Drakiyth]

The Avatar of Legends holds all the player made items you could ever want. Heroic Points are earned through difficult tasks, quests and killing powerful bosses.

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/226645_orig.png


The Rift Keeper will judge you based on your STR, DEX, STA, INT, WIS and CHA or the term Gearscore before allowing you access to certain zones. This is to keep new players or alts out of high-end content until they earn their right to be there or have obtained enough attunable gear from other players to qualify. I added this for two reasons: It's a major boost to the economy when you actually do find items to sell to other players and it gives players a goal to reach when they are online.


http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/4669109_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

Varlylndria: Ascension is going to bring a whole new world and here is why:

• Players will earn less money from mobs or sellable junk items now.

• Players can earn a little money with repeatable tasks/jobs.

• Players will earn decent money from finding items and selling them to vendors but not much.

• Items will have solid bazaar worth because of how time consuming they are to acquire.

• Very strong weapons and armor CAN be bought from stores but they are extremely expensive, overall
making money worth while to get those fast but expensive upgrades.

• All normal crafting of the old everquest is history. My crafting is going to be a lot easier to work with and
won't contain hundreds of items of pure garbage that you could create in normal Everquest. I personally hated
the crafting system in EQ with my very being, and that's one of the main reasons I wanted to take a shot at
creating my very own tradeskill recipes that can actually be fun and worth while for players to get into.

[Drakiyth]

After the Ascension happened, a new breed of orcs have taken over the old Crushbone Fortress. This new horde wants to eliminate everything that's not an ally of the greenskins, and have even gone as far as attacking Varlyndria for no reason besides greed and power tripping.

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/1656162_orig.png

[satora54]

Crushbone is my favorite zone :D

[jabedoben]

This thing needs to release yesterday.

[Drakiyth]

The ascension has brought on a lot of strange events, but none is more odd than what happened to Paludal Caverns. Now ruled by a once nameless bandit, Blackrazor has formed an alliance with an insane gnome engineer who has built a series of mechanical sentries to support Blackrazor's sinister intentions.

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/9175343_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

Kerra Ridge has been taken over by a powerful necromancer that goes by the name of Rethigar the Deranged. This foul villain is another target of Varlyndria that must be vanquished without hesitation.

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/4059708_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

A crazy group of grimling nature lovers have somehow teleported down into Norrath and have taken over High Keep for
their own selfish desires. This group calls themselves the "Gloomshroom Cult".

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/8170233_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

I've taken a few hours to revamp the website since it was really ugly and thrown together.
Check it out and also the first tier of donation items have been revealed. More coming soon.


WWW.VARLYNDRIA.COM

[AzsharasDad]

website looks great. any chance you are going to work on the forum? the current forum is very dated tech. and annoying to navigate through. vbulletin or even phpbb would be a vast improvement.

[Drakiyth]

I'll get around to it eventually. Right now it's not my main priority, but the look of the site needed a change due to a big release coming soon.

[djlegit83]

due to a big release coming soon.

Sounds Sexy

[Drakiyth]

Quick update:


• Players can now get LDON points for killing any NPC on the server based on its HP. (You don't even need to be doing an LDON) The formula is MaxHP /1000. Example: The Boss you're fighting has 250,000 MaxHP, divide his HP by 1000 and the group gets 250 ldon points for defeating him. This system was put in to reward players with something for their endless killing spree besides exp/money/drops.

• LDON costs are now exactly equal to the price of the item. (Added for 100% balance because all items on the server are priced with a massive item creation script that prices them based on each and every little stat they have.) Example: An item that costs 26 plat, 4 gold, 3 silver and 2 copper would cost 26432 ldon points to purchase. (500 plat is considered a lot of money in Ascension)

Added 3 new tiers to the donator area for players to check out. I'm working on many things at once right now so bear with me. I'm excited as all of you to release the server soon.

[Maze_EQ]

Must have owlbear pet.

[Drakiyth]

The rotten Nature's Chosen are back from the dead because of the Ascension, but something also lurks in the City of Mist...

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/4148188_orig.png

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/1980612_orig.png


NOTE: Natedog and I have been perfecting item creation scripts. Expect to see thousands of items to trade or use in Ascension.

[Kavanah]

Dat gnome kick!

[Drakiyth]

Varlyndria: Ascension - Official Loadscreen. (Files will be available through the
launcher, including new epic music from two steps from hell and more)
http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/7394811_orig.jpg



Varlyndria: Ascension will have 300-500+ possible item drops in most custom zones on launch but they do not drop often,
making them very valuable to other players seeking a certain type of item out. Overall, increasing the economy seven fold
which Varlyndria was drastically missing before. Overall, the item creation process has been accelerated to legendary
levels due to some new tech we are using.
(Special thanks to my good friend Natedog for all his innovation and additions to this project.)

I've decided to increase the drop rate for stronger mobs but in return have given them some place holders so they don't
always spawn every 5 minutes. Below is a list of the drop rate % and amount of items certain mobs drop.


MPR or Minion Power Rank: 6.25% chance to drop a single item out of the hundreds available in the zone.
(Very common mob in zones and spawns everywhere frequently)

LPR or Lieutenant Power Rank: 50% chance to drop two items out of the hundreds available in the zone.
(25% chance to spawn at their spawn point every 5 minutes.)

BPR or Boss Power Rank: 75% chance to drop three items out of the hundreds available in the zone.
(20% chance to spawn at their spawn point every 5 minutes.)

OPR or Overlord Power Rank: 100% chance to drop four items out of the hundreds available in the zone.
(10% chance to spawn at their spawn point every 5 minutes)


All custom zones are going to be dynamic so they are always up no matter if a player is in them or not, meaning you can't
run in and out and spawn bosses. You'll need to take the place holder out and get lucky for a shot at one. Also, you'll need
to share spawns because instancing in Ascension is something I want to try and stay away from, giving the server an old
school feel but with rules and laws of where players can go depending on how strong they are to keep things balanced.
Zone creation is rather fast now so I'll be constantly adding more and more to each rank for newer players or older ones
alike. The server on launch will have a handful of zones to explore and more will be added weekly. There should be enough
content to keep you occupied for years to come as I work on it, along with the 64 path choices, things are looking rather good.


Also, the way AA vendors work now makes 100% sense as you progress instead of just throwing them some random strong
item that puts you ahead of anything. AA vendors work off of your gearscore now just like the custom dungeons and sell
some nice items of that tier to get you started for AA points and also sell augment upgrades as well. Each vendor will have
different things and upgrades as you progress.


QUESTION: Is this going to be like Diablo?
ANSWER: Somewhat. There are tasks in all the custom zones where you need to kill the bosses and get rewarded but the loot
system is designed around the bases of you're not going to get whatever you want when you want like the old server.
I wanted things to be a lot more sporadic so the zones have more longevity and you'll almost always find something new you never saw before.


QUESTION: Will each zone have their own items?
ANSWER: Each zone of that specific power rank will reward you with a huge variety of items from a list of that type but each zone is
worth visiting because of the quests as well. Example: Cinderfrost: Gear is dropped in both Nagafen's Lair: Rise of the Red Dragon
and Permafrost: The Lady Dragon's Revenge but players can also get special items from completing the quests in those zones as
well which are unique and more powerful than anything that drops.


QUESTION: How custom are these zones?
ANSWER: Every single mob that used to be in there has changed and drops new things and new quest mobs. It's literally nothing like
Old EQ for that specific zone and all of these special zones have had their zone points gutted. Though, some places might lead to
another sub-dungeon of the same place. Like Emerald Jungle -> City of Mist. I do this so players can't just walk in to the zones
without earning their way in first. Progression has always been a fun and challenging aspect of any video game and
Varlyndria: Ascension executes it well.


QUESTION: How will we know which is solo/group content and raid content?
ANSWER: The Rift Keeper will say things like this when your gearscore accesses new options. Nagafen's Lair: Rise of the Red Dragon
(Power Rank 4, Solo/Single Group) or this Veksar: The Wrath of Squilox (Power Rank 5, Raid/Two Groups+)


QUESTION: Are you taking out the walking/porting and adventuring of Everquest completely?
ANSWER: It's not my goal to make everything like this with the gearscore and I might add some random zones you can freely explore with quests.
The main thing is to make sure there is a major balance to progression. I see it like this: You're level 70 and that won't raise so levels mean nothing,
this means there has to be a way to control the flow of content and this system does a good job so far and makes sense which is the most important thing.


QUESTION: What about player vs player gear?
ANSWER: Player vs Player gear will have THREE times the hit points of normal gear and less in the other stat department. This makes it where PVP
gear is an absolute must over PVE and even donator items because the more HP you have the better chance you have to take your enemy out before
they get you. Nothing in pve or donator will even come close to the HP given on player vs player items and I will deny donation item creation requesting x3 hp on
their item. Donator items are designed to help players in PVE.

[Jahar_LoA]

Question: What is the release date?
Answer: ---?

[Drakiyth]

Question: What is the release date?
Answer: ---?

We are mere days away from an announcement on that topic, so not too much longer.



A nasty legion is brewing in the volcanic regions of the world that Varlyndria must face head on. Even the Kobolds of the Ascension have gone from pathetic underlings to powerful minions who are capable of doing some serious harm.
http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/3068576_orig.png

[phorest]

They will taste both my fierce blade and the flames I call upon them..

[jsr]

If this works out, it's going to make a great resume :)

[Drakiyth]

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/9163743_orig.png


The Open Alpha will have the following:

• 64 Class Paths with Epic 1.0 available to obtain.
• Over 10 Custom Zones to explore/gear in.
• A handful of tasks will be available to complete. (big kill missions)
• Some quests will be available.
• Varlyndrian Credit NPC and AA point vendors available.
• Over 2000 items can be found and or bought.
• Ldon Points per any kill and Ldon vendors will be available.
• Dedication Point System will be live.
• Heroic Point System will be live.
• Gladiator Points and Gear and at least 1 pvp zone will be live.
• Donation Items and Tier System will be live.
• Probably other features as well not mentioned.


The Open Alpha WILL NOT have the following until a later date:

• Custom Crafting


QUESTION: Will we be able to keep our Open Alpha Characters?
ANSWER: Absolutely.

QUESTION: How long will this last until open beta?
ANSWER: When there is enough content and bug fixes to call it open beta.

QUESTION: Will we have all of our previous gear?
ANSWER: No. There will be a lot of your gear missing because of the balancing of the new
system and many items I removed. You will have some bits and pieces and your epics will
be fine. Your old augments are history though.

[satora54]

You've just made my day!

[satora54]

Donators getting in early? Or 27th for everyone?

[Drakiyth]

There is still some work to be done before launch and I won't have time to let anybody in earlier than what I announced.

[Secrets]

My body is ready.

http://www.p4rgaming.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/4u71vt.jpg

[Drakiyth]

PVP in Ascension will be an endless struggle to gain gladiator points by killing other players. With a lock-out script which
makes it where only 1 of your accounts can be inside the zone, you're surely going to need some solid skills or a trusty
friend to fight your way to the top. When you die, you'll lose some of your Gladiator Points, so you need to constantly
be on your A+ game to get far. Only the best of the best will sport around the strongest of pvp gear. PVP Gear is loaded
with health and extra STA, so you're getting major VSES improvements of 750 per VSES rank and three times the HP of a
normal item.

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/5796430_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

Hordes of frost goblins and other foul beasts are gathering in permafrost to fight for their ascended dragon queen. Varlyndria must put an end to this cult before it gets strong enough to become a major threat.

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/1015882_orig.png

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/2273359_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

Rules for Group/Raid zones will be different on loot drops.

• Lieutenants Power Rank (LPR) are the new Minions and have a 6.25% drop chance.
• Bosses Power Rank (BPR) are the new Lieutenants and have a 50.0% drop chance.
• Overlord Power Rank (OPR) remain the same and have a 100% drop chance.

The server is very close to being ready for Open Alpha. I hope you're all excited as I am! It's been a long four
months of hard work to make this a reality and I appreciate all the support. A big thanks to Natedog who has
helped me greatly with this project.

[jsr]

Any plans to translate those LPR4's into something more immersive? :)

[Aonelyn]

Midnight release??

[Secrets]

Tonight's the night!

http://www.youtube.com/embed/bUo1PgKksgw

[Jahar_LoA]

@Secrets
What.. in the hell.. was that.

[satora54]

Are we going live at midnight? or at some other point in the day??

[ak48]

The Suspense Is Rapidly Rising!!!!

[Drakiyth]

Any plans to translate those LPR4's into something more immersive? :)

Those codes in the mob's last name are extremely important for many reasons.
You'll get used to them after a while.


The server is scheduled to launch very soon. Around - 12am -1am Eastern Time.

The Gloom Pearl Pirates have been risen from the ascension and are once
again up to no good. Journey into Veksar and show Varlyndria what you got.
http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/9341710_orig.png

The Devourer of Dreams is back because of the ascension. Varlyndria must
act quickly.
http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/9440486_orig.png

Something terrible is happening on the Island of Monkey Rock...
http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/44591_orig.png

[killinhurts7]

Do we need the launcher to update our files and if so where do we get it at?

[Drakiyth]

I'll be loading up the launcher soon with all files. I will also have a place on the main website where you can get everything you need.

[Secrets]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnUbXOeJaKI

[Drakiyth]

Get your files and get ready to play in an hour or so.

http://www.varlyndria.com/important-files.html

[Mariomario]

Must say, pretty excited about this.

[satora54]

Anticipation is killing me lol!

[Thorkinal]

Gives me time to really go through the classes to see what i want to try out.

[Mariomario]

I think Drak fell asleep on his own launch haha

[satora54]

I sure hope not haha, well you know what they say, patience is a virtue.

[Drakiyth]

Varlyndria: Ascension is live. Enjoy all.

[Drakiyth]

Varlyndria: Ascension is an Alpha phase right now so that means it's a little rough around the edges at the moment. Thank you for all the testing you've done. It helps. Please report any bugs on the forums. We'll get there.

[Drakiyth]

Quick Important Update Here


• Removed over 150 guards in Toskirakk to save on lag. The roleplay value is just not worth it.
• Players no longer leave a corpse when they die to save on lag. No need for corpses as an ascended being.
• Lessened the amount of mobs in starting area and added a portal master so players can just leave the newbie
area if they wish to. (Good gear there for starters though)
• Reduced all NPC melee damage on server by 25% (was a little brutal before)
• Removed some of the buggy cleric spells from bots that were causing some clients to crash.

[jsr]

First glance looks promising, it's clear you've put a lot of effort into the details. Some feedback below;
(updating as I go)
At this point it's difficult to do much general testing as client crashes are so frequent.

- Placing monk's Valyndrian desperate strike ability in a hotbar causes client crash. Client will then crash upon entering world, unless the hotbutton is removed from charname_Varlyndria.ini (section [HotButtons2]) in eq folder.
- Confirmed all other 70 discs can be hotbuttoned ok.
- *FIXED with client restart* There seems to be an issue where not all discs are learned. The first attempt on monk learnt dragon disciple and one other, an unlearn and relearn learnt white lotus and one other.
- Suggest you consider removing reagent requirements from class pet spells or add reagents to a nearby npc (i.e. as a mage it was very challenging getting past the first set of npc's without a pet)
- A few times NPC's swarmed up to the starting point and wouldn't leave (I FD'd) until a player came to run them away. Makes it tricky when you're trying to set the UI, read all the intro text from npc's, and otherwise get a feel for things.
- Every time I've zoned so far, client has crashed. Appears to be an issue with globalload, as it does not happen with default file. Looking through the log there are quite a few global load errors, let me know if you need them.



System details - Win7 64 prof
* Clean install of the SOD client.
* Unzipped 'Var files - install these into main eq directory.rar'
* Unzipped 'varlyndria_ascension_files_resources_directory.ra r'
* unzipped 'fallen.rar'

--------------

[jsr]

Global load errors on SOD:

GlobalDRK_chr.s3d.
abysmal_chr.s3d.
anguish_chr.s3d.
barindu_chr.s3d.
bloodfields_chr.s3d.
broodlands_chr.s3d.
causeway_chr.s3d.
chambersa_chr.s3d.
chambersb_chr.s3d.
chambersc_chr.s3d.
chambersd_chr.s3d.
chamberse_chr.s3d.
chambersf_chr.s3d.
corathus_chr.s3d.
corathusa_chr.s3d.
corathusb_chr.s3d.
delvea_chr.s3d.
delveb_chr.s3d.
drachnidhive_chr.s3d.
drachnidhivea_chr.s3d.
drachnidhiveb_chr.s3d.
drachnidhivec_chr.s3d.
dranik_chr.s3d.
draniksscar_chr.s3d.
dreadspire_chr.s3d.
dulak_chr.s3d.
eastkorlach_chr.s3d.
ferubi_chr.s3d.
fhalls_chr.s3d.
freportn_chr.s3d.
freportw_chr.s3d.
ggm_chr.s3d.
guka_chr.s3d.
gukb_chr.s3d.
gukc_chr.s3d.
gukd_chr.s3d.
guke_chr.s3d.
gukf_chr.s3d.
gukg_chr.s3d.
gukh_chr.s3d.
harbingers_chr.s3d.
ikkinz_chr.s3d.
illsalin_chr.s3d.
inktuta_chr.s3d.
kodtaz_chr.s3d.
nadox_chr.s3d.
natimbi_chr.s3d.
nedaria_chr.s3d.
nektulosa_chr.s3d.
nro2_chr.s3d.
nro_chr.s3d.
oasis2_chr.s3d.
oasis_chr.s3d.
potranquility_chr.s3d.
provinggrounds_chr.s3d.
qimini_chr.s3d.
selibis_chr.s3d.
soltemple_chr.s3d.
sro_chr.s3d.
.s3d.

[jsr]

Removing globallload offenders does not fix the crash while zoning issue with SOD client. I've removed each of the error generating lines from globalload.txt (including a couple not detailed above) and it still crashes on zone (100% of the time).

Reverting to standard globalload.txt resolves the issue.

[Kingly_Krab]

7400MS and rising, really really laggy, thought I'd let you know.

EDIT: Reached 8600MS before disconnecting.

[killinhurts7]

Starting zone is down.

[Drakiyth]

Varlyndria: Ascension is down for maintenance while we try to find the bugs that are causing some of the crashes. We'll be up later today.

[djlegit83]

awww damn, just got home from work. was psyched about playing =P

[Drakiyth]

Removed all buffs from players in the database since older buffs that don't exist anymore were causing major crashes when getting buffed with a newer spell.

The EQemu Launcher now properly works with Varlyndria: Ascension.
Please make sure to use this version of it:

http://moestaverne.com/download.html?/4/eqemulauncher_v171.zip

[Drakiyth]

Server is coming back up in a few minutes.


• Fixed Bind Points - Players can now bind anywhere aside from the PVP zones.
• Removed a script that was causing massive lag when players joined the server. This also lead to players not
leveling up to 70 as they should when entering the server.
• Removed all buffs from all characters in the database. Older buffs were causing severe crashes when combined
with almost any buff spell that exists.
• Added the Witch Doctor lieutenant back in the starting area, he was accidentally removed.
• Fixed Nexxrn's augment to not have augment slots.
• Fixed the Deathguard path quest.
• Fixed the EQemu Launcher - Please use this version:
http://moestaverne.com/download.html?/4/eqemulauncher_v171.zip
• Removed Booming Voice line from database. It's not needed anymore.
• Guards can no longer be targeted or accidentally aggroed with AoE.
• Fixed the Epic 1: Soulrager's Claw of Ghostly Force to be Beastlord only.
• Donator Dice can be used by all classes now instead of just casters. This was not intentional.
• Donator: Symbol of Planar heroes can now be used by all classes and not just casters. This was not intentional.
• Players will no longer infinite zone loop at the Permafrost Entrance.

[Jahar_LoA]

Not sure what's going on, however:
As of 21:19 CST

70% of the time I crash pre-character select.
25% of the time I crash at character select.
I did get into game once, however, crashed as soon as I moved.

Hope this helps.

Using the launcher as well.

[Secrets]

Was helping Drak with the lag/crash issues. Server should be coming up shortly ;p

[Drakiyth]

Server is back up! Special thanks to some of the best techs on EMU for all their help, Natedog and Secrets.


Enjoy all and have fun.

[jsr]

FYI The issue I'm seeing with Globalload is a memory problem. The process size for eqgame.exe is hitting the 1.8gb mark once char is in world. Then when the client zones it breaks the 2GB limit and the process crashes. If I turn off all the luclin models it keeps it under 2GB and I can zone ok.

Are all the 800 global load entries necessary? Perhaps have a cut down version for SOD users :)

[Mariomario]

Server is still pretty unplayable for me. Shadowknight spells still crashing client upon casting, problems attempting to get back online.

[Greyn]

What is preferred client for the server? SoD?

[Ozium]

yeah lag monster is back again, not even 50 on server so it's code somewhere sucking cycles or it's running on a one-legged hamster !

he updated the spell file DL and see alot less complaints/crashes

[jabedoben]

When I try to create a character it doesn't do anything when I click on the button. Only thing that works is the one that logs you out.

[Drakiyth]

Aye, we are still trying to work out bugs and get things playable. We did some recent adjustments today so hopefully that helps. You can play and create a character right now just fine. The server was in bad shape earlier today, that's why you couldn't play.

[Greyn]

Is SoD the preferred client?

[Drakiyth]

Varlyndria: Ascension will patch the following clients with the 1.71 launcher:

SoF, SoD, UF/HoT and RoF

[Drakiyth]

Endless apologies for the lag/disconnects/crashes lately. We are trying hard to get everything working good. I just ran a Ccleaner on the server rig and may of found most of the problem since that thing hasn't been cleaned for over a year. So far so good on stability. *crosses fingers* We have secrets, natedog and other techs that are looking into the issue when they can. For now, get on and enjoy guys. Hopefully things get better soon and we stabilize. It's open alpha afterall so didn't expect things to go 100% smooth at launch with this much custom content.

Don't let the word Alpha prevent you from playing though. Characters will not be wiped as the term is mainly for stability and current content available.

[Tenyen]

Don't apologies , you do a great work with your server.

continue in this way ;)

[Akkadius]

Endless apologies for the lag/disconnects/crashes lately. We are trying hard to get everything working good. I just ran a Ccleaner on the server rig and may of found most of the problem since that thing hasn't been cleaned for over a year. So far so good on stability. *crosses fingers* We have secrets, natedog and other techs that are looking into the issue when they can. For now, get on and enjoy guys. Hopefully things get better soon and we stabilize. It's open alpha afterall so didn't expect things to go 100% smooth at launch with this much custom content.

Don't let the word Alpha prevent you from playing though. Characters will not be wiped as the term is mainly for stability and current content available.

Heh, Server rig isn't going to magically become slow like that.

At most you should have to run a defragmenter.

Issues will reside on the server side but they will either be in script or in source and troubleshooting where that is - is the fun part. (NOT)

[jabedoben]

Still can't create a character. Clicking on the button does nothing. Anyone else have this problem? I'm using Underfoot and have used the official EqEmu patcher.

[notknowing]

I haven't had any problems creating a character. I used underfoot as well. However I didn't use the patcher. I manually changed the spellfile, dbstr, and global load. You could maybe try that.

[Maze_EQ]

Did you spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam the create character button.

And drakiyth, what is your page file set as

[Greyn]

Every time I try to alt-tab to full screen and/or use the in-game option to toggle Full Screen the game crashes. What should I do about this?

[lerxst2112]

Every time I try to alt-tab to full screen and/or use the in-game option to toggle Full Screen the game crashes. What should I do about this?

That's a client problem, not specific to this server. Make sure you have the latest DirectX 9 installed. http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=34429

[djlegit83]

There have been some problems, but honestly. Its a brand-new server with extreme customization. It sounds like they have found the source of the lag now.

I can't wait to see this completely ironed out.

[Secrets]

Lag monster has been slain; infinite loops are never fun, and since the server is allocated 2 cores, you can imagine what happened when two zones were using half of the available CPU trying to figure out what kind of loot should be on NPCs.

Enjoy!

NOTE: this should fix the crash issues with spells too!

[Drakiyth]

Server is extremely stable now! Come play and have some fun!


UPDATE:

• MPR (Minions) and LPR (Lieutenants) have had their HP reduced.
• The Spell Damage and Healing for all NPCs has been reduced by 50%.


Enjoy guys.

[jsr]

any update to globalload and sod clients? :)

[Drakiyth]

The Global Load pulls so many models form so many zones, it's difficult to tell which zone would remove the model from showing up. Overall, when we get time we'll try to make a smaller one that doesn't take as much memory up. It's not an easy process though. Anybody can make one of these if they put time into it. Just remove zones you don't use and find where your pet model comes from etc and edit out zones that have no use.

[jsr]

I have been using a cut down version and which is missing some models. Also, using old player models and disabling other memory intensive options seems to work with the custom global load. I don't think it's feasible as a player to work out which entries aren't required (a subset of x models ^ n entries springs to mind).

I was hoping you'd have an idea of what wasn't in use.. if not I understand the lower priority!

[Drakiyth]

UPDATE AND BUG FIXES 07/30/13

• Please download the new spell and string files: 07/30/13 - 5:11am MST on our site or the Launcher.

• Fixed the Celestial Champion's Angelic Armor to actually give 100 AC and 8000 total HP for 30 minutes.
• Players will now drop corpses that stay around for 1 minute and than poof. This is to fix the death
message and dedication points vanishing because of an error in the script due to a corpse not spawning.
• Soulreaper's Dark Reaper buff no longer keeps them in combat, but if it's clicked off it will drag them
into the hellish planes to be torn apart by demons of betrayal! You have been warned Soulreapers!
• Fixed the Dragoon's Jump Attack to stun the target for 2 seconds as it's supposed to.
• Added more spawns of Dervish Cuttthroats (Warrior Path Quest) in North Ro's Main Camp.
• Added more spawns of Scorch Elmentals in West Commons (Wizard/Mage Path Quest).
• Added more spawns of Hooligans in Western Karana (Enchanter/Bard/Monk Path Quest)
• Bots no longer summon normal pets anymore, however they now summon the following temporary pets:
• Paladin: Sunbearer Phoenix
• Shadowknight: Deathguard Skeleton
• Ranger: Earthguard Animals,
• Beastlord: Bestial Overseer Stampede
• Bard: Twisted Animator Puppets
• Shaman: Oracle Ghosts
• Druid: Broodmaster Insects
• Cleric: Heretic Demons (you have to change their stance to be more offensive)
• Enchanter: Distortionist Phantasms
• Magician: Elementalist Elementals
• Necromancer: Rotfeaster Festering Undead
• Wizard: Timeweaver Victims
• Bind Affinity or Soul Binders no longer give the message of you can't bind in the zone when you could.
• The Rift Keeper will now port players to Katta Castellum if they have a gearscore of 610+
• Players can now see and obtain stats from their path charm on any client.

[Jahar_LoA]

Link is broken on the website.

[Drakiyth]

The new link works.


New update out - www.varlyndria.com


Server stability is stellar now so come on in and have some fun with a lot of players who want to group up.

[wolfwalkereci]

When you get the time try to figure out what models you really need global and then move the rest to the zone specific file.
I've been testing items/objects all day in a zone to check out the memory use and to see what items look like that I normally do not play around with.

Here is an example for erudsxing_assets.txt
When I am in my hub zone I use 600k and when I zone into Eruds Crossing I jump to 958.
I know you are busy with other stuff atm but keep this in mind. Its better to spread out the load when possible (for your players).
stonesquare.eqg
Tradeskill_objects.eqg
phteleporting.eqg
voidportal.eqg
anniversary.eqg
furniture01.eqg
furniture02.eqg
furniture06.eqg
furniture04.eqg
furniture05.eqg
furniture10.eqg
furniture11.eqg
furniture12.eqg
furniture08.eqg
furniture09.eqg
furniture03.eqg
furniture07.eqg
furniture14.eqg
furniture13.eqg
furniture15.eqg
furniture16.eqg
furniture17.eqg
furniture18.eqg
furniture19.eqg
furniturevoa01.eqg
furniturevoa02.eqg
furniture_12days.eqg
ghall_furniture01.eqg
trophyheads.eqg
epic_ornaments.eqg
clockworkplate.eqg
animalhelmfox.eqg
animalhelmwolf.eqg
bearhelmblack.eqg
bearhelmpanda.eqg
bearhelmpolar.eqg
furnitureiksar.eqg

[Drakiyth]

WARNING: Nexxrn's Legendary Augment is becoming lore tomorrow, so
sell your augments back to the heroic vendor ASAP.


UPDATE 07/31/13

Download the latest files on the Launcher or in the Important Information section
on our website.

• NPCs no longer remove magic as much as they
used to.

• Celestial Champion's Angelic Armor has been
fixed and can now be cast on other targets.

• Thos' Aura of the Deciever's duration has
been fixed to 12 seconds.

• Orb of Mastery is now no drop.

• Changed over 12,000 no rent items to be
permanent.

• Fixed some items like fists and katars
from being no drop.

• All items on the server now have more HP, MANA
and END from their base stat creation.

• Conjurer Changes
• Conjurer pets now get a 50% damage bonus per each cast
time second up from 25%.
• Gigas is now a 7.5 sec cast time down from 15
• Krim is now a 10 sec cast time down from 20
• Chaos Lords are now a 12.5 sec cast time down from 25.
• Tarrasque now has a 20 sec cast time down from 40.
• Tarrasque now costs 24000 mana to cast, down from 48000.
• The Cooldown on Gigas, Krim and Chaos Lords is now
30 seconds down from 60 seconds.

• Samurai Changes
• Reduced Code of Bushido's Damage by 120% and haste3 by 10%
and added 20% evasion to this buff.

• Dragon Disciple Changes
• Tiger's Discipline now increases the damage of dragon punch
by +1040% and no longer increases the crit chance of
the Dragon Punch by 800%.
• Serpent's Discipline now increases the damage of flying kick
by +1040% and no longer increases the crit chance of
flying kick by 800%.

• Brigand Changes
• Criminal's Scheme no longer gives 50 CHA but now gives 320%
crossbow damage and 50% haste3.

[Drakiyth]

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/5737962_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

Field of Bone GM event going on, come join the fun.

[jabedoben]

I'm sorry if this is obvious but I couldn't find it.

Is there a gate item?

[NatedogEZ]

The general vendor has a Gate item.. it is rather expensive though.

I think it is called "Portal Stone" -- a purple sphere icon.

[Drakiyth]

UPDATE 08/02/13

Please download and install the latest spell and string files on
our launcher or the website: Varlyndria Files - 08/02/13

• Added a Custom Donator Weapon from Moozilla to the
Heroic Vendor. Thank you Moozilla for your donation!

• The heroic point cost on legendary/mythical/custom donator
items has been increased by 50%.

• The HP, MANA, END and AC on all two handed, archery
and throwing weapons is now double what it was before.

• Fixed the races/body type on all pets.

• Nexxrn's Augment is now lore.

• Players are no longer able to sell heroic, pvp or dedication
point items back to the vendor. This was a bug in our last
source code.

• Players who had 100 platinum or above now have 100 platinum.
This change was put in place because many items from the
old Varlyndria were not updated to the correct price value
and players sold those items to make over 10,000 platinum,
which is filthy rich in Varlyndria: Ascension.

• Reduced the price on thousands of items that could be
sold for far too much.

• Temporary pets are being changed to help fix lag up.
Players will now be able to summon 1 pet for 18 seconds
with an 18 second CD. The stats and damage on the pet
have been tripled. This change is for all pets except
the conjurer class, which already do tremendous damage.
This works for AoE pets too, the AoE pets stay around
for 18 seconds now but only 1 are summoned per mob
instead of 3x per mob which will save a ton on lag.

• Pets now gain more hp per their master's CHA value.

• Temporary Pets now deal more damage per their master's
CHA value.

• All store pet items are now under the name of "Pet:"
and have had their prices reduced significantly.

• Pet: Sword of the Firelords and Pet: Sword of the Ocean Lords
are now DPS pet weapons instead of Taunting Blast. These
weapons proc a 32 base damage nuke of flame or frost.

• Fixed the Enchanted Fish or any other Enchanted named item
to be ALL/ALL. This was accidently changed in the naming
SQL phase of the item creation script. All Enchanted named
gear is now called "Enraptured".

• Fallen: Unholy Aura now only reduces healing by 100%.

• Reduced the base class (not path) heal over time spells
by 90%. These spells were far too strong before.

[Drakiyth]

We found the source of the lag spikes folks. It was caused from too many corpses in the toskriakk newbie zone by people afk camping 30 second spawns with their pets. These spawns are now 5 minutes. The change has significantly saved on lag spikes. Should be a lot better now. Enjoy all.

[Drakiyth]

Server is up folks. Enjoy.

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/4/11245945/4401585_orig.png

[Drakiyth]

Varlyndria will be down for a little bit to fix some issues causing lag. I'll be making some adjustments to various things and have some notes up soon.

[Maze_EQ]

Hrmmm cant load it using underfoot...sad day. don't even wanna troubleshoot my issues.

[Drakiyth]

Hrmmm cant load it using underfoot...sad day. don't even wanna troubleshoot my issues.

Our forums is a good place to help with that.


SERVER FIXES - 08/05/13

Please download and install the 08/05/13 spell/string files.

• All mobs now have a 15 minute spawn timer up from 5.
This was changed so mobs wouldn't pile up so many
corpses in a zone and cause dreadful lag spikes.

• Mobs now have 8 different code levels instead of 4.
• NORMAL ZONES (Designed for Solo up to 1 group now)
• Minion Power Rank (MPR)
• Lieutenant Power Rank (LPR)
• Boss Power Rank (BPR)
• Overlord Power Rank (OPR)

• RAID ZONES (Designed for 2 Groups or more)
• Trooper Power Rank (TPR)
• Champion Power Rank (CPR)
• General Power Rank (GPR)
• Deity Power Rank (DPR)

• Mobs have new drop tables based on their code.
• NORMAL ZONES
• MPR = 7% - 1 item
• LPR = 14% - 2 items
• BPR = 100% - 4 items
• OPR = 100% - 8 items
• RAID ZONES
• TPR = 7% - 2 items
• CPR = 14% - 4 items
• GPR = 100% - 8 items
• DPR = 100% - 16 items

• Some mobs have had their codes changed.
• All named mobs in lower rank zones are now
bosses/overlords. Some mobs are now lieutenants.

• Increased the chance for path charm items to drop
to 20% up from 10.25% due to the new spawn rates.

• The AOE range of all AoE swarm pet spells is now 30
down from 80 to 100. AoE swarmers will need to get
very close now. This will ultimately save huge on
lag due to not being able to kite an entire zone due
to the risk of dying now or the fact you can't hit
as many mobs spread out.

• Crime Boss Blackmoon now has a 50% chance to drop the
Planar Guide to Sigil epic quest item.

• The Remains needed in Veksar drop 100% of the time now.

• Orc and Goblin invaders (newbie area) have a 50% chance
to drop scorched bones now for the Marshock Scalefist Quest.

• Orc and Goblin invaders have a much higher chance to drop
rugged armor and weapons now and they also drop new path
weapon types like martial swords and pain blades etc.

• Fixed laggy areas in Old Kurns Tower where mobs would
constantly keep buffing themselves.

• Veksar, Fallen, Monkey Rock and Darkblood Tower are all
now considered raids and have the new npc codes.

• Power Rank 1 through 4 zones are now considered normal.

• More normal power rank zones will be coming in the future
for Power Rank 5,6,7,8 and higher so solo/small group
players have more content.

[Drakiyth]

Even after all those changes we are still experiencing lag spikes. We are trying to figure out what's causing them so bear with us.

[Naugrin]

Nice update there drak! I had quit playing here about a week ago but if the lag gets fixed i may have to return.

[Drakiyth]

We found the issue! Thanks to Akkadius and Lillu for the help!


The items were constantly being checked for who discovered what and with 500+ items on mobs it was causing massive taxing.


Need everybody to log in and stress test the hell out of the server! So far been auto attacking for 10 minutes with no lag at all!

[Drakiyth]

We are still experiencing some lag issues but it's not with loot anymore.

[Drakiyth]

UPDATE 08/07/13 AS ALWAYS, MORE CHANGES COMING LATER (BUG FIXES ETC)

Please download the latest files 08/07/13 on our launcher or the website.

• Bots have been disabled to see if it fixes lag.

• Players now gain dedication points by purchasing them with VarCredits at the new
Dedication Scroll Vendor. This change was made because players were losing points with
a bug that was happening with the old system. This will let a player buy a few scrolls,
get their points, buy their consumables from the vendor and get on with their day with
no worry of losing them.

• Dedication points are currently not earned anymore by staying online until we get the
system fixed. This fix will come in a few days more than likely.

• NPCs in both normal zones and raid zones have been toned down a bit to balance the game out.
Some zones were far too difficult to handle. This change has mainly reduced spell damage,
healing power, melee damage and hit points. These mobs are still a challenge but aren't
impossible to kill anymore.

• Fixed some bosses in Fallen from spawning unlimited mobs. The mobs now go away when you leave
combat as intended.

• Fixed all the HP on bosses when you engage them. Some bosses were starting with the incorrect
amount of hp. This script is in so players can't just leave combat and fight the boss over and
over again while it never heals up. Bosses will always heal to full when engaged.

• New Heroic Vendor Loot: Mythical Donator: Moozilla's Symbol of Power (Type 8 Aug), Custom
Donator: Moozilla's Chestplate of Destructive Force (Destructive Force AA monk Rank 1)
for 10 seconds, 60 second CD. Allows a player to hit everything around them with their
weapon for a short duration. You too can be a custom donator! Check our options out on
the donation page and get the server loaded with cool stuff!

• Undead bodytypes have been acting strange with their older settings so they have been changed
to another type of undead which seems to be working better.

• Champion (shaman) now stacks with Virulent Savage's Shroud of Sickness and other melee buffs.

• Scrivener tome pets now have their own spell list of five 60+ wizard nukes they chain cast on
their enemies. This path's pet does a lot more damage now.

• Witch Doctors no longer have the old Totemic Energy to confuse and crash them. Please forget
and relearn all of your spells if you're a Witch Doctor.

• Removed the MAX value for many bard songs. This allows percussion damage songs and others
to be increased by instrument bonuses that couldn't before.

• Sunbearer's Protector of the Blazing Sun now has the correct duration of 1 hour.

• Some AA powers have been removed completely due to not working or working and being OP in pvp.
• Stalwart Endurance
• Dauntless Perseverance
• Armor of Wisdom I and II

[Drakiyth]

The test has been very successful with both bots and the global dedication points script turned off. No reports whatsoever of lag of any kind since the server came back up around 1:00am last night. (close to 12 hours of testing).


The issue is either the bots or the script in the background. Since bots are disabled I have turned the dedication point script back on and ask everybody on here to log into Varlyndria and test it out for lag. If there is none than the culprit for the spikes is the bots and I will be removing them from the server if that's the case. Varlyndria: Ascension is a very big time group server now and a lot of fixes have went through since launch so please give it another shot if you tried it before.

This is actually very good news because we at least found the problem to play on a lag-free server again.


I WILL BE RUNNING A BIG EVENT IN A COUPLE HOURS TOO! GET ON!

[Akkadius]

The test has been very successful with both bots and the global dedication points script turned off. No reports whatsoever of lag of any kind since the server came back up around 1:00am last night. (close to 12 hours of testing).


The issue is either the bots or the script in the background. Since bots are disabled I have turned the dedication point script back on and ask everybody on here to log into Varlyndria and test it out for lag. If there is none than the culprit for the spikes is the bots and I will be removing them from the server if that's the case. Varlyndria: Ascension is a very big time group server now and a lot of fixes have went through since launch so please give it another shot if you tried it before.

This is actually very good news because we at least found the problem to play on a lag-free server again.


I WILL BE RUNNING A BIG EVENT IN A COUPLE HOURS TOO! GET ON!

I've been telling you it is bots the whole time........... LOL

[Drakiyth]

Yeah, you're right Akkadius. LOL

Just turned bots back on and spike central.

[Drakiyth]

A FAREWELL TO BOTS...

We have finally found the main source of lag spikes and it was coming from bots. The current build we are on does not support bots very good and it's causing major problems in the database running them. Overall to eliminate the lag and make your experience on the server better we had to axe them. A new buff-bot will be joining the server soon and it will help new players out a bit. We encourage players to group in Varlyndria: Ascension, but don't want solo players feeling left out completely. There are paths that are better for groups and some that are great at soloing just like live EQ. I wish we could of kept them but the source code is a nightmare to fix and honestly the server needs a major turn-around in how it works. Players need to come together more to make this a true mmorpg experience. There will be many changes coming to make a new player's life a lot better and easier to get into the server. Especially now that I can focus on content and not lag issues.