Mio

Marius Audemar sat on the edge of the bed, and stared down absently at the scabbarded Raevsblade Svjetlast across his lap. That blade had cut through swathes of Petrans to secure Valfleur for the loyalist cause, and it hadn't faltered once during the battle. He stared at the grooves of the scabbard's leather, his eyes unseeing as the words of Constanz's challenge reverberated in his head. 

Marius had little respect for the man, and certainly no love. And yet ... 

I took so much from you,
he thought wistfully as he ran a gentle hand along the length of the scabbarded sword.
The least I can give you is a worthy death.

hello everyone!

Surely as you all know development of the next map is well on its way. There have been updates about lore and other ‘Your Views’ regarding similar topics however we’ve yet to publish one formally speaking about systems – until now.

While some systems have been more fleshed out than others we do believe in only a very thin veil of secrecy and that transparency is important considering this will be the map we live on for quite a bit. We wish to hear your feedback and advice on different systems and ways that you’d like to see things be done!

Building Blocks:

The topic of resources and building blocks and the means of gathering them on LOTC is a most heavily debated one. While there’s aspects from previous maps that we’re looking at bringing back, there's also influence from current systems  that we’re wishing to keep.

Many players have suggested bringing back the Resource Pits in a similar fashion to how they were done back on 7.0 Arcas. However after much discussion we decided this was far too archaic and clunky of a system. Where this process did shine though was that it made building blocks readily accessible and not too time consuming to obtain.

On 9.0 we are going to try to merge the systems of both 7.0 and 8.0. Bringing back Resource Pits in a nicer fashion with 8.0’s Terra Node System. It has been a realization from many players' opinions and speaking among each other that the world of LOTC is so valuable and is what makes our server unique, which is why we should not limit creative capabilities as much as they currently are.

Next map we are aiming for the following goals:

- Common Building Blocks are safe to gather, easily accessible, and convenient.

          - Common Blocks: Stone Variants, Basic Woods, Gravel / Sand, Terracotta etc..

- “Niche” Building Blocks are safe to gather, require some travel, but bountiful too.

          - “Niche” Blocks: Deepslate, Crimson / Warped Wood, Endstone, etc..

- The area of gathering should respect the immersion of the world.

- It does not take a long time to gather a decent amount of material.

Here is an example of what we want to do for next map’s building block nodes:

- A Building Block node will regenerate every fifteen seconds, having a yield of one.

- There will be sixteen of these nodes spread out through a localized area, harvestable on the player side.

- Roughly within one minute you will be able to obtain a stack of Building Block(s). 

          - It shouldn’t be more convenient to use an Iron Pickaxe beneath the map to mine cobblestone or use saplings to gather wood. Our afforded system should be equal to if not better than vanilla methods.

However, we would like to hear your thoughts on the following:

Q: Do you think there should be just one set of each building block or node? Or multiple? How would you scatter them throughout the world?

Q: Would you want to see different numbers on these building blocks? In yield or in harvesting time?

Q: Would you prefer a system where you physically break the block rather than right clicking it?

Q: Do you think there should be a distinction between Niche and Common blocks? 

Q: Would you like to see a system, perhaps expensive tools paid for with mina, that increase your yield when gathering?

Cloud Temple & “General Travel”:

Another equally debated mechanic of LOTC is the function of Cloud Temple and its correlating hubs. This feature is another one of the primary systems that’s being intensively looked at and worked up due to player request. 

Similarly to the aforementioned Resources topic, the system we have this current map isn’t the same one we’ve always had since LOTC’s inception. On 7.0 it was as simple as being in the middle of the map yet surrounded by a ring road, granting access to nations easily but only those who were close to or on the ring. We’ve also had fast travel carts on other maps directly leading to nations!

With quite the variety of options to choose from it was difficult to find a solution that most players cohesively agreed on. 

Next map we are aiming for the following goals:

- Avoiding “Overly Desired Space”, such as a nation being far too close to a hub.

- Avoiding “Dead Space”, which is the area taken up by Cloud Temple and hubs.

- Travel is convenient yet doesn’t fracture the world into separate areas.

- A removal of the "gameyness" and critical capitalization hubs which make the map feel dead in all parts far from one.

Here is an example of what we want to do for next map’s “General Travel”:

- Cloud Temple is off the map.

- Your Soulstone is the primary form of travel between CT and 9.0.

- Your Soulstone will have three* slots with one of the three slots being locked permanently to Cloud Temple.

          - Cloud Temple (Permanent)

          - Slot 1

          - Slot 2

          - One of these bindable slots must remain filled at all times.

- You Soulstone to a pillar in order to get onto the map from Cloud Temple. 

          - To remedy the fact that some players do not wish to be linked to Nations or Player Bought Pillars there will tentatively be four “Soulbeacons” spread throughout the map. These will take up a negligible amount of space (8x8~) and be tucked atop mountains, in caves, groves, etc.

- Travel to other nations will be done on foot, by horse, or a modified fast travel system that’s currently in thought.

- Those who do not have any slots filled will be greeted with a new system that gives them free reign to travel between “Realms” temporarily until they pick a pillar to bind to.

However, we would like to see your thoughts on the following:

Q: Would you like to see more Soulstone slots? What are possible benefits / consequences?

Q: Would you like to see the return of the Greater Soulstone for purchase from Cloud Temple? What difference should it have?

Q: Would you like to see a road placed before nations, or a road placed between nations shortly before launch? Why?

Q: Should there be a speed boost on the main roads?

Q: Do you foresee any issues with the removal of hubs and reliance on beacons/pillars?

Tiles:

It seems to be a trend that each of these topics are highly debated. Anyhow! Tiles. They’re the primary system that builds borders between nations, allocates land for up and coming settlements, distributes region perms efficiently, and most finally they are a key aspect in our current functioning war system. 

As controversial as they are, they’re critical to the current inner workings of LotC and cannot be changed on this map. However, with the coming of the next map we are all ears to how players would like to see tiles worked out. On 8.0 (current) and 7.0 Arcas they are arbitrarily drawn, made to roughly be the same size. Further before that, maps were predominantly freebuild or another forgotten / archaic system that would not be feasible on the current state of LOTC.

Next map we are aiming for the following goals:

- Tiles have some form of innate value. Rather than just being more land.

- Tiles can be improved in some ways.

- Tiles are able to work fully with our current standing systems, or current systems can easily be amended to work cohesively with 9.0 tiles.

However, we would like to see your thoughts on the following:

Q: Should tiles be uniform in shape or arbitrarily drawn by hand (roughly following geographical features etc.) such as how they are on 8.0 (current)?

Q: If they were uniform, which of the following would be preferred?

Q: If they are not uniform or arbitrary, how else would you like to see them?

Q: What kind of tile upgrades would you like to see possible?

It is our hope that constructive discussion can be created around these topics. Reminder that we’re all here to collectively work toward a greater and better server together and no idea is a terrible idea. We are open to changing, amending, or even scrapping an idea if a greater and more agreed upon one is suggested.

We hope to see some great minds and collaboration in the comments below!

FURTHER DISCUSSION MAY BE DONE IN THE LOTC OFFICIAL DISCORD UNDER THE "9.0 MAP" CHANNEL:

https://discord.gg/lotc