Danny 2232 Share Posted April 24, 2013 Howdy LOTC, As most of you will have noted, over the past few days, there have been multiple threads voicing concerns about certain topics in relation to the server. Contrary to popular belief, we do take threads such as this into account - and many of the points raised were ones that we have in fact been speaking about for quite a while, however have been delayed due to various things. Indeed, over the past two days we have held a vote amongst the GM team that has allowed us to make the final decisions on various topics - some of these are now already in place, and some are coming into place soon. Unfortunately, this takes away quite some of the content I was intending for the newsletter, however, getting it out to you guys quicker is more of a priority than including it in a later thread. I’ll need to get creative to make the newsletter interesting. Firstly, I’d like to discuss a couple of things that we’ve added in already:- Mina Voting Reward - you now receive 30 minas for voting for the server on the ‘Minestatus’ page. This is in an attempt for us to encourage people to start voting for the server again, as our ranks on Minestatus dropped from being consistently in the top 50-100, down to 300-400 after we removed the reward, which truly wasn’t particularly great. Requirement to Communicate with players before Reporting - this means that you must not make a ban report or a strike report on any player, unless you make an attempt at sorting it yourselves first. This is in an attempt to actually reduce the amount of drama and negative attitudes that grow between players on the server - therefore, your ban report will be denied if you can’t prove that you attempted to sort it with the player, simple-as. Obviously, if the player is entirely blocking you from attempting to speak with them, or is simply refusing to discuss the matter, then it is acceptable for you to post a report, providing you have screenshots of your attempts. The Introduction of Mines - we’ve been waiting on these for quite awhile, ourselves. Two mines were built about a month ago, however we were unable to open these to the public due to the plugin we use for ore regeneration being broken. However, thanks to the fluffy old Reag, that’s sorted - and now there’s two mines open for business! They are located at: the GM Village / Tavern (a small coal mine) and another located along the Dwarven Road (a larger coal mine). The Addition of New GMs - as specified in this post, we’ve got three new additions to the GM Team: Ever, Geo, and GavLan - all of whom we expect will do an absolutely fantastic job. Don’t congratulate them here however, do so on that thread - just so this thread doesn’t become messy with “WOOO!”, as you’ll all be so chuffed about it. ;) Changing of GM Rules and Guidelines - GMs now have a set and different set of rules and guidelines that they are expected to follow whilst working on the server. These guidelines are focused on: ensuring that GMs follow correct procedure, eliminating biased decisions, eliminating ‘abuse of power’ and ensuring that the player-staff relationship remains friendly, polite and firm. In addition to that, we’ve also introduced a ‘GM Chalkboard’ which keeps the entire team up to date on what other’s are doing, as a method of organisation. Hopefully, this will return the GM-Player relation back to the way it once was, as it appears it has become rather fractured lately. These new rules also mean that ModReqs should be completed much quicker than they are currently, as it requires all staff to do them if they are available - hopefully, improving the support and assistance that we can offer to you. Lore Administrator Changes - Mogroka has been promoted to Lore Administrator and Shoi has sadly departed us. Server Specifications Upgrade - we’ve upgraded the ‘box’ (server) to a higher spec. machine, meaning that lag should be reduced and things should run much more smoothly. You can pop over and thank Tythus personally for that. Whether the change has actually been made yet, I'm unsure - however, if it has not, it will be today or tomorrow! Now, onto the things that are to come, but we haven’t added quite yet: A Skills System - this is something that Reag is working on. We’ve talked about it for a long time, however we’ve never really gotten round to implementing the ideas behind it. More details about this in specific will be released as they emerge, and as Reag works on getting it up and running. UnRegioning of Anthos - another thing we have discussed multiple times, however not gotten round to implementing. In the near future, almost all land in Anthos will be unregioned. This excludes: roads, settlements, areas of natural beauty, campsites, etc. We did promise this originally, and we did say we’d have it done within the first couple of months of Anthos - so, we’re definitely doing it. The Focusing of Roleplay on Capitals - as things stand, some capitals are literally experiencing no roleplay in them (or very little). We do intend on solving this issue, although, how we will do so is currently unclear. Rule Clearness + Amendments - the rules will be cleaned up and amended to ensure that they show all of the current rules in a clear and concise way. This is because rules have just been thrown into them from the original Asulon rules as they were made (and some not even added!), so we’ll be re-writing them and probably removing some of the unneeded ones. Website Content Rehaul - this is my personal project - currently the website really isn’t that useful for you guys to get information from, or to navigate around. Therefore, I’m working on making it much more suitable for us - the beginnings of which have already been set into play, e.g. the Getting Started area, the moving of all website content pages to the new, more attractive containers and also a nifty little ‘Features’ page that I’m working on, sneak peak: http://scr.hu/0ges/q6c0e New Player Tutorial Area - in addition to the website ‘Getting Started’ area, we also intend on opening up the Tutorial Area that all players will be required to go through upon acceptance to the server. This area will teach them the basics of the server, things that they may not know, give them more of an understanding of the rules and also teach them the important game mechanics. This project hasn’t actually been started yet, so it may be quite a while before we implement it. The Return of the Map - we’re returning the map back to the server, although, this map isn't the same as it used to be. No longer is it an ugly dynamap - it is instead an interactive map that we are able to make use of to display information about specific regions, settlements and areas of Anthos - in a more attractive manner. The Call of the Antagonist - if you’ve not seen the posts regarding the upcoming antagonist lately, you really need to keep more of an eye on the forums. We’re introducing our brand new antagonist slowly (but surely) into the server, and we’ve got the Media Team tasked with creating a fantastic trailer for it, to entice new players along, and to make you guys excited. That’s about all that I can really say currently. However, on a final note, I’d like to say that the Lord of the Craft is coming up to it’s second birthday on the 21st of June. I’ve got something extremely special planned for it, so, make sure you’re around for then - it’ll be our biggest celebration yet (even the website will be partying). We truly do hope that you guys find these changes to your liking - as, as you can tell, we have taken your opinions into account, and we are trying to make the server better for everyone. Feel free to discuss the various changes below, and we’ll try and give you more insight on anything you’re a bit confused about. Cheers, - the Lord of the Craft Staff 25 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargene 51 Share Posted April 24, 2013 Awesome, thanks for these updates (that have been and soon are to be implemented) and keeping us informed. Edit: First :3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
VonEbs 1224 Share Posted April 24, 2013 I approve of this plan. I hope it will improve everyone's experience on LotC. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
meg 1994 Share Posted April 24, 2013 This also pleases me. Greatly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACanadianCraft (Nate) 682 Share Posted April 24, 2013 UnRegioning of Anthos - another thing we have discussed multiple times, however not gotten round to implementing. In the near future, almost all land in Anthos will be unregioned. This excludes: roads, settlements, areas of natural beauty, campsites, etc. We did promise this originally, and we did say we’d have it done within the first couple of months of Anthos - so, we’re definitely doing it. This means trouble, I just know it... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaiser 2347 Share Posted April 24, 2013 WOOO! I had to Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparehoeCakes 547 Share Posted April 24, 2013 Will the GM rules be available for the community to see? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny 2232 Author Share Posted April 24, 2013 This means trouble, I just know it... That's exactly why we're doing it extremely carefully, and we'll be strictly enforcing anti-landscar rules, as well as making it part of a GMs daily routine to check for landscarring. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadeleaf 1022 Share Posted April 24, 2013 My glass is being raised to you and the rest of the team 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny 2232 Author Share Posted April 24, 2013 Will the GM rules be available for the community to see? I don't see the need for such, however you should speak with Mau5 if you're interested in them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyndikate 2303 Share Posted April 24, 2013 Requirement to Communicate with players before Reporting - this means that you must not make a ban report or a strike report on any player, unless you make an attempt at sorting it yourselves first. This is in an attempt to actually reduce the amount of drama and negative attitudes that grow between players on the server - therefore, your ban report will be denied if you can’t prove that you attempted to sort it with the player, simple-as. Obviously, if the player is entirely blocking you from attempting to speak with them, or is simply refusing to discuss the matter, then it is acceptable for you to post a report, providing you have screenshots of your attempts. So we have to talk to someone who cybered? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tee-Tree 22 Share Posted April 24, 2013 UnRegioning of Anthos - another thing we have discussed multiple times, however not gotten round to implementing. In the near future, almost all land in Anthos will be unregioned. This excludes: roads, settlements, areas of natural beauty, campsites, etc. We did promise this originally, and we did say we’d have it done within the first couple of months of Anthos - so, we’re definitely doing it. Not too sure about this one... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny 2232 Author Share Posted April 24, 2013 So we have to talk to someone who cybered? Cybering shouldn't be ban reported regardless - it should be reported as it happens, or as discovered directly to a GM. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
✿Honeybear✿ 84 Share Posted April 24, 2013 Thanks for the update, i'm looking forward to some of this future content! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Destroyer_Bravo 1054 Share Posted April 24, 2013 Skill system. No. Please no. Don't. Just, don't. Skill system = Worse than sliced bread. Everything else = Best thing since sliced bread. P.S. I find the communication thing very pointless. I don't enjoy the concept of the restriction of truth, justice and banhammers. P.P.S To the kid below me: What have I done? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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