Viper3X

Hey everyone! Here's week 16's news report! Don't give me any credit, however -- I merely uploaded it. Full creds to the Media Team (or rather those actually involved in LotCBC's production). Have fun!

Updated: Knyghtfalcon stewartev Bloomkip Dollypop HamsterGamer ski_king3 Pinsir99 Minea MysteryLuvsYou Edit: I also decided to unhide all of the hidden posts that were VIP rank requests, for whatever reason.

I am now closing this thread. You can expect to see the follow-up post soon!

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

Status update: The problem should now be fixed. I was informed by Sporadic that the plugin follows a Z-coordinate system. Any land north of the Z-coordinate specified will spawn wither skeletons naturally. They should now only spawn in the North (for the most part), though I won't bother mentioning the Z-coordinate in here as we don't want that knowledge being abused. Feel free to try to figure it out, though!

Hey guys! This is just a quick update to keep everyone informed. Many people have already noticed that lots of wither skeletons have been spawning in parts of Malinor and Herendul. I wondered why this was happening too, but then I received a PM from a certain senior tech. I have been asking for the wither skeleton plugin that spawns them naturally in select regions for quite some time now, and it has finally arrived! It turns out that Sporadic turned it on for the North region, and that is why they have been spawning in such large numbers there. The North region overlaps both Malinor and Herendul in certain areas, which also answers that question. I will look into fixing this problem right away, so you shouldn't have to deal with it for too much longer. Thanks for your patience citizens of Malinor and Herendul (and everyone else)!

TL;DR added.

Greetings, lovely community! Warning: Large incoming walls of text. Nonetheless, I guarantee you that it is good to know and I suggest reading it! Today I would like to announce some major (yet minor) changes to the main antagonist. You might find yourself thinking "We went through this already! Why fix what can't be fixed? Bring back the Undead!" However, I would like to take a moment to (try to) prove you wrong. While it may be true that any antagonist we introduce will never live up to the Undead -- at least in the eyes of our veteran members due to nostalgia and all that -- we can introduce an antagonist that is successful and entertaining for the playerbase. Before I was leader of the main antagonist, Mau5noize worked with Chaqery (the lore writer) to spearhead the main antagonist into action. At first things went great, but it didn't take long for it to go downhill from there. With Mau5noize off on hiatus and Chaqery leaving the server, the main antagonist needed a new leader. I stepped in to offer whatever I could to help, even though I was already very busy with many other responsibilities. I will be the first to admit that I am not the perfect leader out there, but no one is. I do what I can to help, and I do what I can to make sure that the main antagonist is enjoyable -- to a certain extent, however, as not everyone will enjoy a faction that causes you to lose your belongings. Right away I began to notice many elements that made the antagonist (let's name it Anthos Antag 1.0, or AA1 for short) slip into failure. This, a revamp was on the horizon. After spending much of my time working on lore and changes to the structure of the antagonist, we had something completely different. AA1 focused on large amounts of antagonist players and a few big guys with big buffs. We quickly saw what was wrong with this, so we cut out the amount of players that we needed in order to be strong. This led to what I will refer to as Anthos Antag 2.0 (AA2 for short). We listened to what the players wanted, and we changed the antagonist completely. We introduced magic (mechanics-based magic thanks to Tyrion and Arzota!) and PvE (mobs). Things quickly went uphill from there. The players loved it, and many people finally began to enjoy the antagonist again. However, we didn't realize what we had done wrong that would make AA2 fall into failure just like what had happened with AA1. The amount of antagonists. Once we started recruiting again, we quickly grew in numbers. Cults were formed and many cultists joined in during our events. With a good army of players, a few very powerful magic users, AND mobs, this made things extremely difficult for players to cope with during mechanics-based fighting. While not everyone had magic, this was /exactly/ the problem. We had too many numbers, and players couldn't distinguish the powerful magic users from the lowly cultists with no magic. While we usually made our magic users not wear armor, it was still difficult to distinguish them in battle. Some players enjoyed it, but the majority didn't. Tack on the mobs being quite powerful, it's safe to say we "roflstomped" when we went all out. This led to us having to restrain ourselves during encounters so that we didn't kill everyone too quickly. However, it's tough to do when multiple people accidentally spawn two groups of mobs on top of players at the same time a group of non-magic users rush in with clicky clicky mode activated. It just didn't work. There were too many variables at play and the encounters were too complex for mechanics-based fighting. Thus, I now announce to you the third version of the main antagonist. While I wouldn't necessarily consider this a version three of the main antagonist, I will refer to it as such due to some of the major changes that have been made. Most of these changes will not affect you guys as much as it affects the actual antagonist's daily activities, but that is what it's meant to do. Why do I not consider it a "AA3"? I do not consider it as such because this really isn't as much of a revamp as it is a word that I like to refer to as "restructurization." We aren't completely changing almost every aspect of the main antagonist as we did from AA1 to AA2. We aren't redoing a majority of the lore. We aren't adding a bunch of new shiny things (boo!). Instead, we are cutting off the fat. We are effectively removing many aspects of the main antagonist that aren't fun, or at least hinder the fun that may be had. I have had Undead members come to me with advice and feedback, and I have spoken with a notable Ascended member as well. Each of these people provided me with invaluable feedback, so thank them for their good words (I won't call out their names for their own sake). I started to notice why AA2 wasn't working, and I also started to note player feedback that made me realize what was wrong. With the former Undead/Ascended members reinforcing these beliefs, I began to make some changes. Now before I continue, I would like to say to many of you naysayers that yes, you can't please everyone. So long as the main antagonists on Lord of the Craft cause players to lose their IC belongings and kill people, there will be complaints. You can't avoid it -- people don't want to lose. However, there are many of you out there that don't mind losing items. You're in it for the RP, not the hoard of loot that you can seal away in a chest deep underground or the stack of minas in your virtual wallet. You enjoy the events associated with antagonists; you like the feeling of fear, unpredictableness, mystery, teamwork, and sense of accomplishment that you get when you win or roleplay with them. You enjoy the sense of having a purpose. Something to strive for or work towards. Enough of me rambling on about the past or how you should feel. Let's talk about these changes -- the moment you have been waiting for! As I said earlier, we are trimming the fat off the steak. In a way, we are making the structure of the main antagonist simpler. Most importantly, less ranks. Before we had the Dark Tyrant, Dark Lieutenants, Dark Hands, Dark Followers and Dark Servants. Why so many ranks? Each one used to represent different tiers of magic and levels of responsibility or authority. However, this led to the same problem with AA1 -- too many antagonists! Let's be real here, people don't like fighting an antagonist that has as many players as their army does. Too many people and you start to lose organization, and you as a player start to feel like these guys are in it to win it. Thus, AA3 is what AA2 was meant to be. I'll put it simply; AA3 focuses on the things that made the Undead successful, while still remaining unique in itself. AA3 only has two ranks now, the Dark Tyrant and Dark Lieutenants (and of course Setherien). They have both been renamed (keep reading and you will see), and they will also start to have a bigger presence in the world of Anthos. In case you aren't thinking it already, there are a lot less antagonist players as a result of these changes, but that's what you guys wanted all along. The former antagonist players will still be able to play an active role if they choose to, but it will be on a much smaller scale. Rather than being involved in almost every event or battle, they will be used in a similar way that the Black Hand were by the Undead during Aegis. They can be used by the main antagonist to do their dirty work and such, but they will not be considered a part of the main antagonist as a whole. That means that they can no longer avoid raid rules, villain applications, etc. However, these exceptions will still apply to the main antagonist. We want to keep the feeling of uncertainty in the minds of players, rather than having someone think "phew, we have successfully defended our settlement and are safe for three days." On the other hand, keep in mind that we aren't in this for ourselves. Players that are a part of the main antagonist may not abuse this privilege. We don't take advantage of the fact that we could theoretically attack you back to back, but there's always a slight chance so that you can't predict attacks. I went off on a tangent -- where was I? We will also be including more PvE aspects in our events and attacks. What's PvE, you ask? Mobs! Lots and lots of mobs! The powerful magic users have to keep you at bay somehow. There's also a lot more reward involved when you finally manage to clear your way through the mobs and fight the main antagonists face to face. I could go on and on about the changes, but why don't you see and experience them for yourself? These changes will go into affect immediately, so there's no waiting involved. Keep in mind that the main antagonists may be distinguished by their magical staffs that cast, well, magic, so don't fall for the OOC imposters! IC imposters are perfectly fine, however. If you have any problems with these antagonists, feel free to come to me to express your complaints. However, if it's a cultist or follower that you're concerned about, they aren't related to antagonist feedback at all -- they get to do exactly what the rest of you get to do. A small note before I finally reveal the main antagonist lore. This is more of a notice to the previous antagonist players, but feel free to read it if you want to know what kind of a role they will now play. To the cultists: You guys will still be involved with the main antagonist if you stay in your cults, but you won't be considered main antagonists any longer. The (previously known as) Dark Lieutenants will still contact you and give you missions and such, but you won't be involved in too many battles or major events. You guys can wreak havoc all you want, but it has to follow any and all server rules. You are essentially player-run guilds now, but we'll assign main antagonists to you as liaisons. You aren't purposeless -- we have all kinds of stuff for you guys to do. However, you are meant to act as followers and worshippers of Setherien, not the driving force that is attempting to kill the mortal races. This also means that those of you that have magic will not have it any longer. Sorry, but Setherien's cutting you off! We want to keep the magic limited to the main antagonists only. If you haven't already been contacted to join the main antagonists, do not fret! We are a much smaller group now, and I will contact people as I need them (this includes non-former antagonists). Okay! Here's the public lore. Keep in mind that a lot of it has been cut out due to the changes, as you no longer need to know a lot of the outdated stuff anymore. The lore was last updated on the 3rd of December (which was yesterday), so it is completely up to date with how we are running things now. Enjoy! The Harbingers Setherien the Black Wyrm Setherien is a powerful and malevolent Drakaar. His true form’s size is fivefold that of a corrupted drake; he towers above those that would dare stand against him. Twisted and tainted by the grip of all-consuming corruption, Setherien seeks to rid the world of the fragile mortal races. His lust for knowledge drives him to slaughter humans, orcs, dwarves, elves and kharajyr alike so that they may no longer taint and ruin knowledge with their lies and petty wars. While Aruzond the Dragaar seeks to preserve knowledge and share it with the mortal races, Setherien wishes to hoard knowledge for himself. The flame of Setherien can either be used to outright destroy his foes or ensnare one’s will to perform the Drakaar’s bidding. Such is the fate of those that dare stand against him. Once members of the valiant Order of the Golden Lance, the Harbingers now serve Setherien without question. The order was originally created to purge the world of corrupted dragons, namely drakes. Once the very first Drakaar began to roam the earth, however, their purpose became that much more vital. Drakes were easy prey for the dedicated order, who had been warding them off for decades. Drakaar, on the other hand, were a force to be reckoned with. Chysteria was the first Drakaar the Golden Lance had ever slain, but he was a mere youngling that was no where near his full potential. The order chased Setherien from continent to continent for many years, until one day they cornered him on top of the highest mountain in some unknown land. The Order of the Golden Lance fought heroically against the dark beast, but by then they were too late. Setherien had grown with too much power and they could not conquer him. The order fought for over a fortnight before they were finally vanquished by the might of the Drakaar. It is there that the Harbingers were first forged in the flames of Setherien. His dark tendrils of twisting corruption devoured the remains of the order and recreated them as wraith-like shadows, forcing them to serve under him forever. He granted each of them a unique set of armor that would enable the Harbingers to interact with the physical world. Setherien, now badly wounded from the recent conflict, scoured the frozen wasteland for a suitable place to recover. To this day he still dwells in that land, now known as Anthos, the North. He lies in wait, licking his wounds. Biding his time and waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Drakaar lore: http://www.lordofthecraft.net/topic/91187-official-dragonkin-lore/ Setherien’s Inner Council Vak’thuul the Keeper - Similar in appearance to the Harbingers, Vak’thuul is Setherien’s right hand man. He acts as a commander on the battlefield and receives orders directly from Setherien himself. The Keeper holds authority over the Harbingers and guards Setherien’s intents with his life. He is Setherien’s most trusted follower and is often referred to as Setherien’s blade. Little is known about him, other than the fact that he is a truly menacing champion that rules over the followers of Setherien with an iron fist. Harbingers - The Harbingers are as fearsome as they are fearless. Born in the dark flames of the Devourer, these ghastly brutes serve Setherien with zealous devotion. With little connection to their former selves, these beings walk the earth with one purpose: to carry out Setherien’s infernal wishes. Harbingers possess a hive mind with each other and can communicate instantaneously. Due to their ethereal form, they communicate with others through illusion. Harbingers forcefully strike into the minds of those they wish to confront, with their voices resembling a high pitched scream. Underneath their immolated plate armor and cloaks lies a shadowy form that reeks of sulphur. The enchant on their armor provides them with a means of interacting with the material world. Without it the plane around them appears as a colorless blur, with physical beings resembling floating shadows. In addition to this, they lose their ability to interact with the physical plane and cannot touch non-enchanted artifacts or be touched. When prepared, however, Harbingers are truly terrifying foes. -- That's everything for now! I would like to thank each and every one of you for taking the time to read this and for putting up with all of the hassle! This has been a long process, but I know that we can make it work. I have considered a ton of feedback and done my best to make this a success, so I hope everyone enjoys the changes. I guarantee you that this is the final time we will be making any major changes to the main antagonist; we are riding this one through 'till the end. I'm still open to suggestions, feedback, complaints and critique, however, so keep it coming! I can't wait to reveal what we have in store for the server. I do all of this for you guys and so does everyone else that pitches in to help. Keep being awesome LotC and don't forget to have fun! That's what it's all about, isn't it? TL;DR to summarize all of my main points: The main antagonist is much, much smaller now. It only consists of powerful magic users known as Harbingers that take advantage of followers and cultists to do their dirty work when they can't be bothered to (in RP, of course). Harbingers will play a vital role in the main antagonist -- think of them as the Undead. The cultists that used to be considered main antagonists now consist of smaller guilds that could be compared to the Black Hand in Aegis. I am listening to player feedback while avoiding the feedback that results from players upset about losing items. Search the thread for the lore regarding the main antagonist, although I will be making a separate post in another forum with the lore in it as well. I would also like to mention that it is still possible for players to gain magic. However, only a few individuals will be given this ability if they prove themselves through RP in the various cults under the Harbingers.

A thunderous crash echoes throughout the North and the settlements that dot the landscape near it. Those that rush to investigate witness Setherien the Black Wyrm mounted upon the wall of ice that barricades passage to the deep North. His fearsome, growling voice travels far and wide, "Pain... suffering... I have endured this misery for far too long. It's time the pathetic mortal races learn their purpose in this world. Knowledge does not belong to you, for you do not deserve it. Surrender it to my reign or endure the terror that will follow your foolish choice. If you disobey me, I will devour your pitiful existence and spew it into the void!" Setherien whips his tail into the air and crashes it into the wall which he sits upon. He takes off up into the air and circles as the charred remains of the mind-controlled dead flood out from within the North. [TL;DR the North is now open. Have fun. ] EDIT: At this time the north will be contested and unable to be claimed - Kitten

The event wasn't scripted, but we did have an outline of what we hoped would happen. No one was planning to win or lose. I don't know why some people still thought it was scripted, even though I told them at least twice.

How did today's event apply to warclaims at all? If anything, the players needed the warclaim for attacking the North, but in reality they didn't need one because it was an event. Antags cannot fly around and spawn mobs -- seriously, who's doing this? I haven't seen it so far. However, sometimes I handle the mob-spawning while vanished so that Dark Lieutenants do not need to cast it. It gets chaotic when multiple people start spawning mobs on top of each other, so I take care of it so that it's balanced. Unfortunately, today's event never should have happened. We had the event planned, but then the server restarted and began to experience server issues. It took forever for people to finally be able to log in, and by the time we were able to everyone was gone. No one showed up for the event, so I decided to log out to deal with the war complaints. I then had to go afk for a bit and when I come back I find out that people eventually came to the North and the antags retaliated. This ended badly, however, as I wasn't there to manage the event or open the North. Sorry about that. Nonetheless, the North will be opened tomorrow and people will finally be able to explore there and learn about the Black Scourge and Setherien. The antagonist isn't being remade, it's being redirected. I'm only one person, however, and trying to manage the main antagonist while dealing with hundreds of other problems on a daily basis isn't easy. There are problems within the antag, yes, but I plan on doing my best to fix them. However, there are more pressing issues right now, like fixing server stability. What's the point in making the antagonist better if we can't even have a fun event due to server crashes and lag?

The event was planned for today because it worked best for the nation leaders. It was meant to happen last Saturday but we had server issues. The time was picked by nation leaders, not me. If the battle is still going on we can always postpone it an hour or so. Also, what do you mean by "I really think the players who knew ICly should know of this battle."? People do know of the battle IC. Also, it was the players that organized this event, not me. They wanted to attack the North again and I decided to make it meaningful rather than just another battle.

The day is frigid. Cold. An eerie calm settles over the land of Anthos as northern winds approach. The wind whistles peacefully, following a placid rhythm. Families gather in their homes to shelter from the bitter cold. Near the arch to the frozen wastelands of the North, brave warriors gather and prepare for war. A messenger dressed in heavy fur cloaks layered with frost approaches the hardened individual thought to be the general of the armies. The messenger quickly hands the note over to the commander and mounts his horse without delay. He begins riding toward safer territory with great haste. The leader of the army unfolds the parchment. The note reads, "Something isn't right. The cultists lurk throughout the North in small groups, and much of them are weak. The lieutenants of the dark followers continue to watch over them, as if they are waiting. They are adorned in magically-bound suits of armor, and what truly lies underneath is still a ghastly mystery. We fear they are the dark ones that few adventurers have lived to speak tales of. We pray not. But something isn't right. They know we're here, but they do not react in fear. It's as if they have been waiting for this moment for a very long time. We cannot wait any longer. Prepare your men for battle. We strike tonight." The North never rests. The eerie calm presence that lingered quickly vanishes as bloodshed approaches. Shrieking echoes travel through the air as ice shifts and clashes against ice. Avalanches collide against mountainsides in a desperate manner as if nature itself is trying to escape the imminent danger. The skies begin to darken. They begin to lurk. Will you fight the darkness? [Event: "War in the North" at 5:00 PM EST]

Hey everyone! You may start to notice various change throughout our forums. Don't worry, nothing is breaking! I am in the process of reorganizing our forums and sub-forums across the forum as a whole. The goal is to make it easier to locate exactly what you are looking for without overdoing it with dozens of sub-forums. This won't affect you guys too much, though, so no need to worry. Otherwise, business as usual! Have fun out there guys.

Hey guys! We have created this forum to further organize our staff-related, server-related, and community-related announcements. This forum is meant to hold staff announcements that aren't related to the community as a whole or do not affect them on a large scale. In other words, announcements posted by the administration team can be found in the News and Announcements section, while less urgent or small scale notices can be found here. That's it for now, thanks!

If we're thinking of the same thread, then that thread is incredibly outdated. We need recent polls so that we can gauge the community's stance in a more accurate manner.

Please create a thread with your idea thoroughly developed in it. Also, include a poll so that we can see the community's stance on it. These are server-wide changes, and server-wide changes require server-wide feedback!

Hey wonderful community! Today I would like to present you with the opportunity to share your opinions on popular changes that you would like to see implemented on the server or Lord of the Craft in general. I realize that similar threads like these have been made in the past and that we also have the ideas forum, but I would like to gather all of the ideas with the most support into one giant thread. If you think you have a great idea but you haven't gathered any support or posted it on the forums yet, do it right away! I only want ideas that have a large sum of support and a link to their idea's poll/thread. Once I have gathered a good number of ideas, I will either look into implementing them right away or find a way to make them work. If the idea cannot be implemented for whatever reason or we don't see it having a place on this server in the foreseeable future, then we will deny it. Please don't view this thread as your ticket to absolutely any idea being implemented no matter how absurd, but instead view this thread as your chance to make your ideas heard by the administration team. What ideas am I looking for? I am looking for ideas or changes that affect the server on a large scale. I don't need to see your idea about the implementation of pink poodle puppies into canon lore, but I would love to hear about your suggested changes to the VA system. We don't need ideas about racial leader changes (as that can be solved in RP), but we are open to hear the community's opinion on a new lead developer. It all depends on the context. For example, if your racial leader idea revolved around the idea of the position being GM-only, we would look into it. However, if it can be solved in RP or if it is of a small scale then there are appropriate teams/sub-forums to go to instead. I hope you guys can make the best of this, as it is your chance to have your voices heard in one organized, closely watched thread. I will do everything in my power to make sure that each of your ideas are shared and discussed within the admin team -- you won't go unheard! This is your chance. -Viper

No need to give me all the credit, I merely made sure it happened in a timely manner.

Greetings everyone! As many of you are already aware, we made the decision at the GM meeting last Sunday to remove Nexus Combat until it is more thoroughly developed. We have officially disabled the plugin today, so please be aware of the changes. Knockout is still active, however! Additionally, please keep in mind that while the plugin is disabled until further notice, it will eventually be re-added to the server. Whether or not it passes our beta-testing and community feedback poll is another question, however. We only want to make additions that benefit the community and health of the server. However, I am sure many of you will change your opinions of the plugin once it is more thoroughly developed (new weapons, combat preference balancing, etc). Nonetheless, it is gone for now, so there is no need to worry anymore (if you were worrying, that is). Have a wonderful day LotC, I have to get back to my duties. Over and out ~

Greetings everyone! Today I would like to announce the introduction of the Server Moderator team. Some of you may have already noticed our first seven recruits' new forum tags, so don't hesitate to congratulate them! Their names are Ski_king3, Gronkk, Zarsies, Benboboy, Cruz, Koto and Sparrow. For those of you who do not yet know what the role of Server Moderator is, let me break it down for you. Server Moderators are very similar to Forum Moderators in that they only moderate a specific LotC medium. They assume the role of a GM ingame, but they are restricted in some ways. They do not have access to Voxel, WorldEdit, WorldGuard and are very limited in terms of LogBlock commands. As I stated earlier to the new SMs, you can think of them as nerfed GMs. They do not partake in any decision-making for the server, they do not moderate the forums or TS (TeamSpeak is still up in the air), and they are limited in terms of IG command access. They are not OP'd. Server Moderators help handle the modreq workload and answer any questions that the players may have for them. You can ask them pretty much anything that you would usually have to ask a GM for, as they handle IG inquiries and problems as well. They are closely related to the GM team and work in collaboration with them to tackle IG moderation. SM can essentially be thought of as a "stepping stone" to GM, but you don't have to be an SM to become a GM and not all SMs will eventually become GMs. However, an SM's ability to handle the stress that is often associated with modreqs and player complaints is greatly noted when considering one's capability of the GM position. The Server Moderator team is led by Urasept, as he is the Global Moderator team leader and it is easier for him to lead both (as they are directly related to each other). The Server Moderator PEX group is still in the process of being created by Tythus, so expect to see them up and running at full capacity in the very near future. We figured it would be best to promote them now in time for the next community survey and LotC-BC, so we apologize in advance for the extra wait. We have only recruited 7 SMs thus far, but you can expect to see their numbers rise as the weeks progress. Thanks for reading everyone, and have a wonderful day in the realm of LotC!

The following users have had their forum/IG ranks adjusted to reflect their current VIP status (or preferred forum rank): MinecraftMish TechnoMack Demotheus Lukky57 Draxagon Flapman James2k Drazker Lasacow