LotC Newsletter - October [5]

[Danny 2232]

Bonjour, and welcome to the fifth Lord of the Craft Newsletter, This edition covers a variety of major topics and brings light to a few less noted parts of the server, topics covered include: Most Noted Player, Recent Server Updates, Player Question(s), New Staff Members, Upcoming Changes,

First off:

Most Noted Player!

This weeks Most Noted Player is actually one of our Forum Moderators and a member of the Application Team. He has been an extremely valuable member of the community for quite a while now, and has been involved in countless projects to improve the server. His name can be found on almost every corner of the forums, most notably in the guides and application areas - where he puts a giant amount of effort into his work. This weeks Most Noted Player is of course:

nppeck

Ever since nppeck joined the Application Team I could tell that he was a hard worker and that he seriously cared about the community. When he first joined the team he put massive amounts of work into applications, doing huge amounts per day and doing them at an extremely high quality. He put his heart into helping applicants when they were in need and continues to do so, albeit he also now focuses on his Forum Moderator work. When Robin stole him from the Application Team to become a Forum Moderator I was fuming, but he continued to work on Applications and is by far one of our most dedicated members.

So, of course as usual I went and hunted nppeck down and managed to catch him on Skype whilst he was in a Study Hall - but he still agreed to speak with me, and I asked him a few questions - I think that many members of our community can relate to some of the things he said, enjoy reading.

Danny: Well, it's pretty simple - after talking with la GM Team, we have decided that you are Septembers Most Noted Player. This is due to the giant amount of work you put into the server via guides and in general the work you do on the forums daily. Recently however we've noticed your work /even/ more due to your very useful and creative threads such as your Ideas on how to reduce server drama thread, your thread on the Roles of New Players, and your Q&A thread along with the multiple guides you've posted on the forums.

nppeck: oh wow

Danny: So, pretty much I just want to speak with you about your time on the Lord of the Craft, the people you've met and what you think about the past, recent and coming changes to all aspects of the server.

Danny: First off, I'd like to ask you a fairly broad question - What keeps you so dedicated to the Lord of the Craft?

nppeck: Well, really I put so much time into the server because I love the community

nppeck: I mean like lotc is really the first internet game and forums I've ever been involved in

nppeck: before I joined the server actually, I was actually afraid of interacting with people on the internet like when I was a wandering souls I was afraid to talk at all

Danny: Indeed, I think many of us can relate to that. The Lord of the Craft was the first community I actually took an active role in participating with.

Danny: Previous ones I didn't feel were particularly welcoming.

Danny: Do you feel that the community is the same now, as it was when you joined? How has it changed?

nppeck: I think the community has changed a bit

nppeck: in Aegis, I think things were a bit more laid back than they are now

nppeck: like earlier I was looking at some of the old videos in Aegis

nppeck: people did things that would be unthinkable now and the community as a whole was fine with it

nppeck: I mean if in Asulon today someone made a king's road, and a winterfell they would be shunned by the server

Danny: The King's Road was actually indeed a very interesting place, although it's banditry was renowned to be terrible! I don't know if you saw, but with the thread shiftnative made that essentially announced 3.0, he stated that we're working on making a road system that encourages roleplay on the roads, hopefully that will bring back the aspect that was lost with the King's Road being lost.

Unfortunately nppeck then lost connection to Skype... He then resurfaced...

nppeck: nppeck: yeah I kinda miss the king's road

nppeck: nppeck: as a new player I used to wander from the temple to al'khazar and back looking at all of the different places

Danny: Aegis was a pretty chill place... On the note of worlds, what do you think of us moving to 3.0? Do you like that, or not?

nppeck: nppeck: I think that 3.0 will be a great opprotunity to fix the problems of both aegis and asulon, the best of both worlds so to speak and from what I've seen it looks beautiful

Danny: Oh believe me, it's extremely beautiful! We have some giant ideas in mind that we want to implement with 3.0 and we think they are going to make Lord of the Craft even better!

Danny: Is there anything in particular that you'd like to see us change majorly with 3.0, whether it be in-game or forums, or even applications - anything?

nppeck: nppeck: well nothing that I can think of off hand that isn't already being changed

Danny: Alrighty - only a couple of questions left, what is the one location on the Lord of the Craft that you love the most?

nppeck: nppeck: other than my house? Well, I'd have to say the temple is my favorite location solely because of the archetecture

nppeck: nppeck: back when Asulon launched I remember walking into the sanctuary and thinking wow

nppeck: nppeck: It was easily twice the size of the old temple

Danny: I love the Wilven Sanctuary, it's gorgeous, Tiger and the others who built it did an awesome job.

Danny: Finally:

Danny: Who's cuter, me or Liri?

nppeck: nppeck: hmmm.....

nppeck: nppeck: well....I'd be damned if i answer that question either way so

nppeck: nppeck: I'll keep that answer to myself

Danny: Daniel Jamieson (Danny): Spoil-sport!

Danny: Daniel Jamieson (Danny): We both know the word you were looking for is Danny anyway.

nppeck: nppeck: :P

Danny: Daniel Jamieson (Danny): And that concludes this Most Noted Player interview - thank you for putting time aside for this, and congratulations!

New Technicians!

As almost everyone will probably have noticed we have two new technicians working on the Lord of the Craft! Both are extremely talented and experienced coders and both have a vast knowledge on plugin management.

Their work has already had a drastic effect on the server, as you will notice due to the removal of the skills plugin and the plugin that weighs down armour and makes you run slower! Alec and Dgco are both extremely happy to be working with the Lord of the Craft Team and are both very passionate about improving the server as much as they can - and ensuring that you, the players, get the best roleplay experience they can possibly offer.

We, the GM Team are extremely excited to be working with them on making your experience - epic!

Player Question(s)

This is a brand new section during which I ask the community a question (or multiple) - and we see what they think...

Question #1 - What do you think about the removal of our old Skills plugin?

Danny's favourite response: "It's great, more time for RP and less time wasted grinding." ~ iMattyz via TeamSpeak.

Question #2 - Do you think it'd be better if we introduced a profession-based system in it's place?

Danny's favourite response: "I think it's a good idea as it'll allow people to use it in a more RP manner than just a grind thing they can do in their spare time, though if it has set professions it will also limit newbies in their creativity. People will go "Oh, blacksmith, lumber, etc" and not think of the more hidden jobs like astronomists, or that shizz."

Thanks to both of them for their replies.

BIG Threads!

Here you can find threads that I am highly suggesting you read and discuss on! They are vital to the future of the Lord of the Craft, and they will determine your experience in the future:

Firstly, I'm being a bit bias here by putting my thread in first, but this is something I really want everyone to read. It's regarding War in 3.0 - and whether we like it or not, war is a big part of server life. Please do give it a read. http://www.lordofthe...view-warclaims/

Secondly, is another thread concerning 3.0 - this time regarding Land Claiming. http://www.lordofthe...nd-claim-in-30/

Thirdly, is another thread concerning 3.0, this thread is where you can dump any of your ideas regarding 3.0. The GM team has been watching this thread and we are taking all posted ideas into discussions: http://www.lordofthe...r-30-info-dump/

Danny's Question to you.

This is the very last part of the newsletter, and it's where I want to here your opinion on a specific matter. This time it's a fairly simple question, and you can vote in the poll regarding it.

As I linked above, there's a thread called "YOUR View". This is a method of polling which I intend on proposing to the staff team as us using. Essentially, we ask you your view on certain topics via these types of threads. We would have a sub-forum under Server News and Maintennance where we'd make these threads, and you would be able to discuss the ideas that the GM Team want to put forward to you - sometimes regarding game updates, and other times about forum updates (only majorly major updates would be polled). The reason I believe us using "YOUR View" for some updates is a good idea is that the big updates directly effect the experience that you have on the server. You should have the ability to give your view on these subjects before we implement them. Obviously, we would not ask you about every update, instead only the major, major updates would be polled to the community. We've had updates in the past that we've introduced and not communicated with the community about, and they haven't gone down the best - and that's something we want to fix! Would you like to see us implement such a system?

Merci Beaucoup

And finally, a massive thank you to all of our players for supporting us through the recent downtime, and during our switching to a new host and introduction of new technicians. Thank you to you all - and thanks for reading.

Any ideas regarding the Newsletter's should be Private Messaged to me directly where I will discuss them with you. Thankies!

[MonkeyCoffee 516]

Great newsletter, good job Danny! Also, welcome to the new technicians and congratulations to nppeck.

[~TheDerpyBeagle~ 63]

Congratulations nppeck! You deserve it!

[gingernut97 150]

Very enjoyable to read as always, congratulations to nppeck!

[KoTo 610]

What's with all the French? :P

Congratz nppeck.

[Rissing 199]

Sir Danny,

Great newsletter, honestly I think, you should go work as a journalist.

I enjoyed it.

I'll check those threads out.

And congratulations to you Nppeck

,Thank you

,Rissing

[Heero 4092]

Cheers Danny for keeping us informed. Also, I expect great things from these two new coders. ^^

[Wavejammers 328]

Next time make it a German version.

[Samson (Derick) 123]

I've never really been able to pronounce nppeck, but what the heck! Congrats! =3

[LeRenardNoir 413]

Good read, congrats to you nppeck!

[Twiddlepop 99]

Great newsletter! Well done nppeck, glad to see you getting congratulations for the amazing work you do! :)

[♥Kal♥ 1]

Love it!

[steelersfan1221 300]

nppeck is very dedicated to the server! I am glad that he got the opportunity to be interviewed by the Game Master team. Congratulations nppeck!

Oh, and great work Danny! Keep it up! :)

[Scipp3r 451]

thish isnt fair. i am obviousghly mosht noted player

[TheRoyalOnion(Aris) 101]

The discussion thread sounds like a good idea to me!