Lotc Newsletter - April 2015

[ski_king3 0]

Hello my Craftian compatriots, and welcome to this month’s issue of the re-revitalized LotC Newsletter. We haven’t had one since the Holidays, so it may be a bit longer than usual. Bear with me, as there’s plenty of interesting content to share with you all. Let’s go!

 

As of late, the server has undergone a number of updates. While I’m sure we all enjoyed playing with the ftb plugin on April 1st, it’s more important to know we’ve updated to 1.8.1! This long-awaited update allows us new blocks, skins and banners, so we hope you enjoy. If you find any new bugs, don’t hesitate to contact the staff.

 

However, we’ve seen more than just an upgrade to 1.8. Kowaman has been kind enough to grant us with new toys, those being new statuses and tag colors. You can now be kawaii to your heart’s content, or show the world that your character is off crusading for their faith. Unfortunately, RP names will not appear above player’s heads for the time being due to secret techie reasons.

 

The staff is also taking a tougher stance against abusing racial bonuses, so please don’t do that. We like you and don’t want your personas to be deleted. For more details, read the thread I just linked!

 

Recently, the forums also underwent a major reorganization by Raptor, Kalameet, Z3r05t4r and Man5791. They moved tens of thousands of topics in the process, reorganizing on an unprecedented scale that the staff hopes will make finding threads easier and more intuitive. For more details, we’ve got a thread for that.

 

For more server news, Urasept posted a good thread that addressed a number of topics brought up by the players. Similarly, Readicti posted a thread about an update limiting alt accounts as well as a few general reminders. Please read both threads if you haven’t already, as they’ve got plenty of good stuff (they’re here and here, respectively). Also, no memes, because we hate fun! (just kidding, just don’t be a jerk and you’ll be fine)

 

As many of you likely know by now, LotC has undergone a change to how magic is handled recently. Even better, it lacks an MAT or magic application, instead merely emphasizing in-character learning (no doomsday scenarios either, woo!).

 

The goal of this system isn’t to make magic restrictive, but instead to establish a framework that makes it easy to identify the source of problematic magic roleplay. If you’ve already learned magic prior to this, then you needn’t worry about making any changes.

 

However, new magic roleplayers must have a teacher if learning arcane magic, and permission from the lore keeper (I’m one of those!) if another form. Self-teaching may still be possible, but is meant to be less common. Similarly, arcane teachers must register their teaching abilities to their lore knowledge can be checked. It’s hard to accurately represent the system is so few words, so for more information, read the previously mentioned thread, or those found here and here.

 

Also, a classified source within the staff has shared that an interesting magic plugin may be around the corner this month. Is this fact or rumor? Only time will tell.

 

This month has been full of staff changes and updates that are relevant to the average player. First and foremost, we should recognize the ascendance of three new Administrators, those being Readicti, Frott and Sky. Readicti and Frott will maintain their current roles as AT and GM Lead respectively, while Sky will serve as the Community Relations Admin. On a related note, Rittsy has left the ranks of the Administrators, bringing us to a team of five Admins. To Rittsy, we appreciate your service.

 

The Application Team has recently added several new members to their ranks, those being johnan2, Escharian, Supah, Cybersick, Baconthief, skippy369 and myself. Congratulations to everyone, we’re excited to see you perform in this pivotal role.

 

Below is the application count for the month of March. While some may be concerned that there are more denials than acceptances, don’t be! The Application Team has recently made internal changes that try to move it away from a deny-heavy team so we can get more roleplayers on the server. The application count can be seen below:

 

301 Total Applications

130 Accepted Applications

171 Denied Applications

Most Reviewed: 50 by Quavinir

 

Last but not least, the Application Team is looking for new Mentor applicants. These Mentors are meant to function similarly to the Guides of the past, but with a more narrowly focused goal and coordination with the AT to avoid past problems or the creation of extraneous teams. If you’re interested in applying, that’s great, because Readicti is looking for members!

 

Husky would also like me to convey that the Media Team is also looking for new applicants. We’ve recently added me back into our ranks, but there are plenty of folks far more talented than me in our community. To those of you who are, please consider applying, because I set a spectacularly low bar!

 

Freema wishes for everyone to know that the Event Team will be giving its builders the task of altering Polaris and the surrounding region. This will be similar to how they completely overhauled Angren, with the purpose of providing extensive events there in the future. The Event Team also recently had a particularly successful PVE and RP event in which the forces of Athera marched on Angren, leading to an event chain which many have been able to participate in. Expect more fun events like this in the future.

 

Last but not least, the Lore Team would like to remind players that all hidden and secret lore will “expire” soon. It must be written down and declared to the team by April 4th, or it will be considered null and void. This doesn’t have to be long, just sufficiently documented.

 

Competitions

As of late, Lord of the Craft has had a number of competitions in which players can receive all sorts of interesting prizes. My totally unbiased favorite is the Athera cartography competition, with the goal of providing an immersive yet easy-to-understand map of Athera usable by new players. Prizes include 25,000 minas, a skill tome and custom in-game tags. Submissions are due by April 25th.

 

Readicti and Kalameet are also holding a wiki editing competition until April 30th. There are a number of previous towns that require more information, and they are willing to reward you for writing pages about them. For a list of applicable settlements, read the thread.

 

Last but not least, the Media Team will continue its monthly skin competitions. However, this month will also feature a competition for art to be posted on the homepage. The criteria for entry are somewhat specific, so please make sure to consult the thread for details. Also, see last month’s skin competition winners below, made by Katiesc.

 

 

Instead of reviving the “Player of the Month,” we’ve replaced this with both a player and staff interview. These are meant to get some insights from valuable members of our community who have contributed in a meaningful way. The staff and player interviews are a trial, so please leave your feedback about them below. In this issue, we were able to interview the Lore Master HELLFIAZz and recently returning player iMattyz.

 

HELLFIAZz

ski_king3: Hellfiazz, I'd like to congratulate you. The Media Team is returning the LotC newsletter, and you've been selected for our staff interview. Rather than doing a "Player of the Month," we're doing a staff and player interview where we'll interview two members of the community who have made meaningful contributions here.

HELLFIAZz: Thank you very much , glad to be a part.

ski_king3: I'm glad as well. Now, this will be similar to interviews in past newsletters. I'll ask you questions about your experiences on LotC. To start, I want to ask you a pretty broad question; how has your time as a Lore Master been thus far?

HELLFIAZz: It's been pretty fun, and it feels good to be part of a team on LoTC. I'd be pressed for complaints.

ski_king3: Well, we're glad to hear that. What sorts of things have you found yourself doing since joining the team?

HELLFIAZz: All sorts of stuff. The usual kind of duties that you'd expect, like reviewing player submitted lore and such. Then other stuff like working on great big event lines like Aengudaemonic Descension, and helping do events within that.

ski_king3: That's great! Have you had to write any lore since joining the team?

HELLFIAZz: Quite a lot actually, and a lot of subjects I never thought I'd end up working on.

ski_king3: Do you think you could share some details on your favorite thing you've written?

ski_king3: Without leaking private information, of course.

HELLFIAZz: To be honest my favourite lore I've created was about the Spirit Realm back before I was an LM, probably because it was about a part of LoTC that I was really interested in beforehand.

HELLFIAZz: In my time as LM the vast majority of my work has been on private things I couldn't talk about if I wanted to.

ski_king3: That's fair enough. I know that you have to deal with a lot of things that are meant to be kept private at the time of working on them, so that's understandable.

ski_king3: Can you tell us about anything the Lore Team is working on now. I know much of it has to be private, but is there anything that we may be seeing soon that the players should be looking forward to?

HELLFIAZz: A lot of us are working on Aengudaemonic Descension, which a lot of the staff are looking to forward to fully releasing. As of now there's been a few preliminary events for it, but they're very minor compared to the scope we want to have.

HELLFIAZz: What we hope it will be is an engaging server wide eventline, without the need for a big antagonist that has frequently led to a lot of frustration on the part of the player base.

ski_king3: Well, that sounds very interesting to say the least. I'm sure there's a lot to look forward to.

ski_king3: I'd like to change gears here and ask you a couple questions more geared towards your experiences on LotC before we conclude.

HELLFIAZz: Sure

ski_king3: For one, you've obviously been around for quite some time. Can you tell us a little bit about how you've seen LotC change over the time you've played here?

HELLFIAZz: I'd say overall LoTC has changed, but I wouldn't say I have any less fun than when I started. I certainly have some nostalgia about my first couple months on the server, but that's as I say nostalgia. A lot of people say the community is a lot less mature, but I'd say that there's always been bad eggs.

ski_king3: Fair enough. It's always interesting to see people assess how the server has changed; everyone's experience is different after all, and it paints how they view the way the server has changed.

ski_king3: Anyways, my last question is pretty simple. What's kept you on LotC for close to two years now, and do you think it'll keep you around for the foreseeable future?

HELLFIAZz: It's honestly been the community and the people I RP with. There's been a lot of times where the staff had made mistakes in my opinion, but my friends in the Orcs kept me around more than anything.

ski_king3: Well, I'm glad to hear that. The friendships that come out of LotC really are a pretty neat thing.

ski_king3: Anyways, I won't keep you any longer. Thank you for agreeing to be a part of this interview, as well as for your service to the community and Lore Team.

HELLFIAZz: No problem, thanks for having me.

 

iMattyz

ski_king3: Hello iMattyz, and congratulations. The Media Team is restarting the monthly LotC newsletters, and we're doing player and staff interviews similar to the previous "Player of the Month" interviews. You're an important member of our community, so we'd like to ask you a few questions.

iMattyz: Ask away, I'll do me best.

ski_king3: Glad to hear it!

ski_king3: So to start, you've recently returned from a relatively long break from the server, correct?

iMattyz: Yeah, I got back home from university a couple of weeks ago and went and got myself addicted again.

iMattyz: Happy accident I suppose.

ski_king3: Well, I'm certainly happy to see you back around here.

ski_king3: Was there anything in particular that drew you back here?

iMattyz: It's weird, really. It happened the same way about twice before, I started glancing at the forums again. Then before you know it I was on the server again.

ski_king3: Well, I can certainly relate. The same thing happened to me pretty recently too.

ski_king3: Now obviously quite a bit has changed since your last stint on LotC, both in terms of the rules, server mechanics and people. Has anything in particular stuck out to you?

iMattyz: Probably the fact that people will just stop and RP with you now. Last year during the Fringe and Anthos, etc, it was rarer. I like it.

iMattyz: Even if it's nothing really important, just mundane stuff.

ski_king3: Well, that's a good thing to hear. I've definitely always been a big fan of just finding random folks and starting to roleplay with them. That being said, I still do sometimes find people who seem baffled by a random stranger walking up and saying "Hail."

ski_king3: Anyways, at the very least you're fond of this change, but overall do you think the server has gotten better or worse over your break, if either?

iMattyz: Glad to say I think it's better. There just seems to be stuff going on all around the place. You can wander around to the south and find druids, to the north there are paladins all about the place. The atmosphere just seems more friendly and more focused on RP.

ski_king3: That's good to hear. Now that you're back on the server, is there anything you hope to accomplish IC or OOC?

iMattyz: In character I don't really have the goal of accomplishing anything in particular. I just RP and see where it goes. I have the bad habit of changing what I want to do on a whim.

iMattyz: Out of character, I've got a GM app up on the forums, that I hope will be successful, but that's about it. I suppose I want to prove to everyone that I'm not a total jerk after my little grumpy stint.

ski_king3: Well, I'd say it's apparent that you seem pretty relaxed nowadays, so I definitely wish you the best of luck with your app.

iMattyz: Cheers mate.

ski_king3: Since you're applying as a GM, is there anything that you believe the current team ought to be focusing on more?

iMattyz: I'm not sure really, I still think there's a bit of a gap between the GM team and the playerbase, but I suppose that's always going to be the case.

ski_king3: Aye, that's a consistent criticism that the team faces I suppose.

ski_king3: Anyways, you've been great to interview Matt. Before we wrap this up, my last question is pretty simple.

ski_king3: What do you think makes people stay on LotC so long? You're a prime example of someone who's spent a tremendous amount of time on this server, even if it hasn't been consecutive.

iMattyz: Well, the server and the community go through good and bad times, but they're both worth hanging around for.

iMattyz: That would be my answer.

ski_king3: Fair enough. Thanks for the interview Matt. You're an awesome member of our community, and we appreciate your dedication to it.

ski_king3: See you around!

iMattyz: Cya later mate.

 

I hope that you all enjoyed this iteration of the Lord of the Craft monthly newsletters. If you have any ideas for how we can improve this, then please contact myself, Husky or any other Media Team member. Until next time, we hope you can enjoy roleplaying in the wonderful realm of Athera and keep up on all the LotC news. Thanks for reading!

 

      

[Aislin 4354]

Hello my Craftian compatriots

 

How do you look yourself in the mirror every day?

 

P.S. Why did you interview two Yorkshire Yokels?

[ski_king3 0]

How do you look yourself in the mirror every day?

I drink a lot of rum.

[DrakeHaze. 2524]

Interview Arkantos like wtf are you even doing.........

[Giga 357]

Good to see the ol' newsletter returning! 

[Ford 1996]

Gd

[Avacyn 1712]

investigative journalism at its finest, gj ski_queen

[mmat 7460]

Ski's interview manner is extremely unsettling.

 

EDIT: Ski, can you please not change my word from a$$hole to jerk, please. Censorship!

[Fireheart 2777]

Interview Arkantos like wtf are you even doing.........

Please, make this a thing for the next newsletter!

[Ricky 321]

 

Z3r05t4r

[ski_king3 0]

Interview Arkantos like wtf are you even doing.........

  

Please, make this a thing for the next newsletter!

  

I'll certainly keep this in mind. If you want to elaborate why you think Ark is a good interview candidate in a PM, that would be appreciated. Likewise, if others have recommendations, don't hesitate to reach out to me.

Ski's interview manner is extremely unsettling.

 

EDIT: Ski, can you please not change my word from ******* to jerk, please. Censorship!

Please I am a paragon of journalism ethics, don't question my abilities!

[TavernLich 324]

Still no construct races, I see. ;c

 

But seriously great job staff! And nice newsletter, really sums everything up!

[Priceflash 832]

I don't see how the magic plugin as it was will work correctly with the restrictive system we now have, but I will remain hopeful.

 

Kudos to Kowaman for continuing the difficult work of being the tech team leader.

 

+1

[Space 2335]

I dunno if making the applications easier is a good or bad step. I do see a lot of denials I don't particularly agree with, but you also see a lot of acceptances and players that I think could use a bit more 'work' or whatever.

[Urahra 5781]

I third Arkantos for next month's interview.

 

I would like to hear Arkantos's hard-hitting opinions about the server. Yes pls.