MOVING

Future updates will be posted at the forum - http://www.karinth.com/smf

Updates Summary (4/22-5/5/07)

New Spell Modifiers - Aelius
One more spell modifier today:

Chaos: Imagine Vexmir casting your spell for you. This modifier will
decrease, increase, or not change at all any or all of: spell power,
duration, mana cost, or concentration lag. NOTE: In true Vexmir spirit,
only undeclared players may use this modifier.

Remember - the format is "cast +mod spell name target". Don't forget the
plus sign (+)!


Legends Channel - Aelius
Legends, you now have your own channel, aptly called "legend" (and
"legendlog"). Only legends and staff members have access to this channel.


The Wilderness - Muirdach
As you may have noticed, there have been some changes to mobs in the
Wilderness. This is part of an ongoing attempt to make the Wilderness more
interesting and enjoyable, rather than just being a whole bunch of random
NPCs that stand there to be killed.

Some general themes:

- more NPCs will be region-specific rather than all over the world
- more interaction, some mini-quests and errands
- generally more variety
- more reason to choose what you attack (and don't attack)

Overall, things should be more logical rather than just a slaughterfest.

I hope that you enjoy it.


Mana and Magic - Aelius
- You should find now that, when casting a spell, your mana (or
hitpoints, if using the lich modifier) will only be drained if the spell
effect is successful. So this means that, for example, if you cast beacon
and find that you're not within range of your targetted beacon point, the
spell will not deduct mana. Or, as another example, if you cast warpstone
mistakingly on a non-gem object, the spell will not deduct mana. And so
on...

NOTE: this was a fairly extensive change code-wise, so if you notice any
abnormalities please let me know.


Spell Scribing; Staff Beacon Change - Aelius
On the player side, a change to spell scribing:
- You can now scribe spells at over 360 degrees/points, so long as the extra
degrees come from style bonuses and not equipment or spell effects.

In other words, if you have 360 degree elemental damage and another 90
degrees in that elemental damage because of Dragon Soul, you'll be able to
scribe a 450 degree spell. But if you have another 15 degrees of that
elemental damage because of, say, your magical boots, those will not be able
to push your limit up.

For staff:
- You should once again be able to see the beacon lists of players by using
the "beacon " syntax.


Hiscore Tables Reset for May - Fern
Just like it sounds. The tables on hiscore that are marked (M) have been
reset. And, just like every month, things will be a tad strange for a few
days while people show back up on those monthly-reset lists.


Forum Link - Fern
By popular demand, Forum has its own top level link button now. Look for
it next to Features in the top line of buttons.


Styles and Affects List
If you see 'strange stuff' in your affects list, change style, and then
change back to the style you want to use. The strange stuff should be
corrected.

If it is not corrected, bugreport it, with a copy of your affects list in
the bugreport via copy/paste.


Demeanor No More - Aelius
Just a quick update to tell everyone that "demeanor", AKA facial
appearance, is gone from the stock descriptions generated upon character
creation.

Updates Summary (4/11-4/21/2007)

Website Main News Chronicles Column - Fern
The Chronicles column that used to be shown on the main page of the
website has been disabled. The software that was being used to provide news
links, Sabifoo, was disabled by its author and all support discontinued.
Access to the server that accepted news items for posting on that column has
been shut off.

Until we find another method of RSS feed to provide a similar news service,
this will no longer appear on the front page at http://www.karinth.com

(Column being maintained by hand)


IP Address Change - Fern
Due to a change in IP address blocks with our ISP, we are changing IP
addresses.

The new IP address is 12.186.20.121.

The connection addresses of karinth.com 2345, zavclin.com 2345 and
legendsofkarinth.com 2345 will remain active and unchanged. The website address
of http://www.karinth.com will remain unchanged.

Since it may take a bit of time for the DNS servers to get caught up with the change,
if you have any difficulty connecting with any of the named connection addresses,
you can log in via 12.186.20.121 2345 at any time.


Spell Additions: Life and Water - Aelius
- Aura of peace. This spell is restricted to casters of the life sphere,
and can only be cast on self. Having this affect will prevent aggressive
mobs from acting on their nasty tendencies. The amount of points put into
the spell determines the level of the mobs that will be effected by the
effect.

- Ice shell. This spell is restricted to casters of the water sphere. This
spell grants the target a bonus to MDR. This bonus is chopped down every
time the player is hit in combat, but also regenerates a certain amount
every combat round (it only regenerates during combat).

A general note about the new spells slowly coming in: yes, they're all
sphere-restricted. Expect to see a couple of spells for each sphere brought
in before too, too long, along with a goody or two for all magic users. No
promises on exact times, though.


Spell Modifiers: New Death Spell - Aelius
A couple of magic-related things today:

- First, a new feature called spell modifiers. If you cast a spell with a
valid modifier (which must have a plus sign as a prefix), the mechanics of
the spell will change depending on the modifier. Note that while the system
is in place, only one modifier exists thus far (and will be outlined during
the new spell explanation).

The syntax is: cast [+mod] [target]

It's a little cryptic right now, but once we announce some modifiers it'll
become much more clear. Hopefully we'll have a batch of modifiers ready in
the next day or so.

Now, the new spell: Undeath.

- This spell can only be cast by those declared to the death sphere, and can
only be cast on self. Basically, while the affect is activated, the caster
cannot die. Every time the caster takes a form of damage (from any source)
that would lower the caster's hitpoints to zero or lower, a number of points
will instead be taken off the undeath affect. When the points run out, the
caster dies as normal. NOTE: the caster will also die if the undeath affect
is removed in any way (this includes the 'cancel' command or untraining).

While the undeath affect is activated the caster also gains access to the
"lich" modifier. When this modifier is used to cast a spell, the spell will
drain hitpoints instead of mana. The same rule applies for damage here: if
the casting of a spell with the lich modifier drains the caster's hitpoints
to less than 0, undeath points will be taken off.

To use the lich modifier: cast +lich [target]

For example: cast +lich fire elf


Basic Spell Modifiers - Aelius
Five basic spell modifiers to introduce today. Remember, the syntax for
all of these is "cast +mod spell name target". In other words, just put the
mod between "cast" and the spell name, and MAKE SURE to prepend the modifier
with a plus sign (+). "cast big fire elf" will NOT work, but "cast +big
fire elf" will.

So, the modifiers:

Big: This will boost the power of the spell by 25 percent, but also increase
the casting cost by 25 percent and the concentration lag by 50 percent.

Cheap: This will decrease the casting cost by 25 percent, but will also
decrease the power by 25 percent and increase the concentration lag by 50
percent.

Quick: This will decrease the concentration lag by 50 percent, but will also
decrease the power by 25 percent and increase the casting cost by 25
percent.

Multi: While not affecting the first ability, this will make all subsequent
abilities in a multi-affect spell approximately 25 percent more effective,
but will also increase the concentration lag and increase the casting cost
by 25 percent each.

Focus: This will decrease the concentration lag and decrease the casting
cost by 10 percent each. NOTE: his modifier is only for players declared to
a sphere. You must be holding a focus stone, with at least 1 charge,
aligned to your sphere for this modifier to work. Upon successful use, a
charge will be removed from the stone.

NOTE: obviously, this is a new thing for us, so the modifiers are subject to
tweaking if they're found to be horribly out of balance, broken, or
whatever.

[Addendum]
Not all abilities can be used with modifiers. Generally, spells such as
reduce damage, fortify defense, and other "buffing" spells are not
compatible with modifiers.


OK, the mechanics of spell modifiers have been slightly changed:

- Spells with no duration (elemental damage, restore health, etc.) Will
work as outlined in the spell modifiers helpfile. HOWEVER - when using
spells with durations (fortify spells, elemental shields, etc.) , Substitute
the word "duration" for "power". In other words, the "big" modifier will
not boost the power of a spell with a duration, but it will boost that
spell's duration.

I hope this is clear.

Assorted Updates (3/28 - 4/10/07)

Demoralize - 3/28 - Aelius
Small change to demoralize - the mechanics of the spell are unchanged, but you'll find now that a higher number of scribed points will mean more success.


Building A House - 3/31 - Fern
Please read help building a house for step by step instructions. You can get a house built at any level, at any time, so long as you have the funds in your family account to cover the cost.


Journaling - 4/3 - Aelius
Small boost to experience awarded for journaling. Now go explore the world!


Firydum Leather Back Sheath - 4/5 - Fern
The leather back sheath found in Firydum will now act as a sheath. If you have one that does not work, ask for a replacement by filing a bugreport with the title Broken Back Sheath. We will replace the broken ones if you do not choose to acquire new ones. (These bugreports will not qualify for juniper berries.)


Death, Resurrection, Restore Durability - 4/6 - Aelius
- There's been a change to death. The intermediary 'dead' state - between living and being an ethereal spirit - is gone. You'll now immediately become a spirit when you die.

- As a result of this, resurrection has been changed. Most importantly, it is now restricted to players aligned to the life sphere. Also importantly, it is no longer a "one degree wonder" spell - the points you scribe will determine the max level of the player you can resurrect. Also, if the caster holds an optional "soulstone" item, then the dead player's experience loss will be partially mitigated. A rarer soulstone means less experience will be lost.

- Restore Durability - hopefully the final change ever (seriously!) :
Restore Durability will now heal items that are otherwise 'irreparable'. Repair mobs still will not. HOWEVER: if you use restore durability to heal an item that is irreparable, then each casting of the spell will chop off a small percentage of the object's maximum hitpoints. The object's original maximum hitpoints can NOT be restored (not even by a mob). The spell will only reduce the maximum hitpoints while the target item is irreparable. Once it is above that condition, it will not longer reduce the maximum HP.


Gstatement, Glog, Gdeposit, Gbal - 4/6 - Osyrus
GDeposit/GWithdraw
------------------
When depositing to or withdrawing from a guild bank account, you can now add a comment to be associated with that particular transaction. The commands operate the same way as they always have, except for a new (completely optional) parameter:

gdeposit (society) (amount) [reason]
gwithdraw (society) (amount) [reason]

Your [reason] can be anything you want and does not have to be enclosed in quotes: Example: gdeposit myguild 1500 refund for broken sword

GStatement
----------
The gstatement has been reformatted to make it nicer to look at. Along with the nifty, clean layout, the new gstatement also displays the [reason] given at the time of deposits or withdraws. Initially your gstatement will be blank, but have no fear, your bank account is still in tact. Once you complete your first guild transaction, you'll see your updated bank balance.

GLog
----
Due to the unwieldy size of the guild log, it will now be automatically cleared on the first day of each month.


Summon Elemental - 4/9 - Aelius
The summon elemental spells have been given a little help. The mechanics have slightly changed. Here's a general rundown:

- The level of a summoned elemental will be quite a bit higher. I can't give you the exact formula, but the more degrees you train, and the higher quality your focus stone, the more levels your elementals will have.

- Summoned elementals are more permanent and will remain with you until death or logout.

- The maximum number of elementals a player can summon at once has been decreased to take into account the new power of these summoned mobs. This number, again, depends on the amount of degrees scribed into the spell.


Magic Addition: Slaughterhouse - 4/10 - Aelius
'Slaughterhouse'. This spell can only be used by death sphere players. It is only castable on self. Use this ability to heal yourself when there are visible signs of death on the ground (blood, NPC corpses).

Assorted Updates (3/16 - 3/24/07)

Sleep Spellcraft (from Fern)
Sleep spellcraft will tick off your target and you'll get attacked, if
the spell you've cast on them doesn't actually make them sleep.

Sphere Declaration Sac Guideline Table (from Fern)
Use information in help favor sacrifice table to guide you on the date
and alignments of sacrifices, as well as the impacts of doing so.

Small Score Addition (from Aelius)
You will now see a series of asterisks in your 'score' screen, on the
same line as your society membership information, which gives a graphical
representation of how much roleplaying fame/points you've accumulated.


New organization command: (from Aelius)

- "rankdel". Delete an organization rank, as long as there's nobody
assigned to that rank. Finally, get rid of all those "unused" or blank rank
slots.

- To remake a rank of the same number as the one you delete, use the rankset
comment: "rankset ". That will re-insert the rank
number and give it the specified name. All of rankset's other capabilities
still exist.

Some magic-related things: (from Aelius)

- Lowered the multicast penalty. You'll notice the stacked effects in a
multi-effect spell being more effective now, especially as you train
multicast higher.

- Use the "cancel" command to cancel spell affects that you have casted on
yourself. For example, if you cast reduce damage and want to cancel it,
"cancel reduce damage" will do the job. You cannot cancel effects cast on
you by others.

- Shield room works differently now: the number of points used to scribe the
spell will determine the mobs that can pass through, which is based on the
mob level. Higher mob level means more points in shield room are needed.

- You can no longer beacon into private (org-owned, etc.) Areas

Small modification to shops: (from Aelius)

- "sell list" when at a shop to see the item types that the shopkeeper will
buy. In a room that has more than one shopkeeper, "sell list".

Reduce Damage vs Elemental Shields

(from Aelius)

A change to the mechanics of reduce damage and elemental shields:

- Casting reduce damage on a player (or yourself) who already has an
elemental shield effect (with a spell as the origin) will no longer cancel
that effect. The reduce damage spell will fizzle out. The reverse is also
true: casting an elemental shield on someone with reduce damage (or on
someone with a shield of an opposing sphere) will cause the spell to fizzle,
rather than cancelling reduce damage.

The Favor of Chrona

An elderly man paused as he entered the town square, looked around with a
glint in his eye, then began to preach the glories of Chrona with a loud
voice that quavered with age.

"Declare this day your loyalty to the sphere of air, that Lord Chrona's
benevolence protect you from the ravages of stone, earth and clay! Avow
your fealty, forsake your affiliations and garments of Loximtr, and step
with the lightest of hearts into Chrona's sphere!"

A curious crowd began to gather, young and old alike, listening to the words
of the frail priest. Eventually a tall warrior stepped from the crowd and
nodded to the elderly man in agreement.

"Men, women, elders, yes, the venturers of you and more. Let your sons and
daughters grow into their decision in good time, but you - you who know your
minds, follow me and declare this day!"

Beaming, the man began to hobble west, leading his new converts to Chrona's
temple where they would make their formal declarations.

-=-

OOC: help favor for syntaxes, considerations, support commands. This is the
first stage of the Favor module. Naturally, this is available for all spheres, not
just Chrona...

Region Rename

The regional rename, stage 1, is completed. On the next world reset, you will be able to fly to the region's new names, as shown in help region rename. Website is next stage.

NO EXISTING KINGDOM NAMES ARE IMPACTED BY THIS CHANGE.

Organization Rosters

(from Aelius)

Any player can now view the roster for any non-hidden organization; you don't need to be a member to view a roster anymore (only members may view a hidden org's roster).

(as a side note, by this point, all the disabled prior updates have been rolled back in except nloot, coming back soon)

Ligeia's Creed

(from Muirdach)

Ligeia's Creed has had a little touch-up, and is now ready and waiting for those in the 400-ish level range. As always, please bugreport anything that I may have missed.

Wilderness mobs; training/scribing; drop/get/put

(from Aelius)
Some assorted changes:

- The way in which wilderness mob levels are calculated has been altered slightly, but not too dramatically.

- You can now access help files (using the normal 'help topic' format) while scribing a spell or training.

- Finally (and, in my opinion, most handily) you can now use the drop, get, and put commands with item types instead of item names. So in other words, 'drop weapon' will drop a weapon (if you have one in your inventory). 'Get container' will get a container that's on the ground. 'Put armor backpack' will put a piece of armor (the first one in your inventory list) in your backpack. Etc. Hopefully it'll make dealing with large amounts of objects easier.


(from Fern)
To help things out during this time of transition, the Waylander Society has hired hundreds of reliable lads to act as bankers. You may now safely deposit your spare coins at any nearby Waylander Rest, and they will be cared for.

Money Weight, auctions, banks

(from Aelius)

OK, a biggish change concerning carry weight and money:

- The weight of on-hand silver and gold (i.e. the money) has been increased rather dramatically. Now, don't fret: you'll still be able to carry a decent amount. But the totally unrealistic amounts have been cut down. Honest feedback is appreciated. Banks are your friends.

- On that note, a change to auctions that concern banks: if you don't have enough on-hand money when bidding on an item, the money will be taken out of your bank account instead. So no more running to a bank when an auction starts.

- Also in that vein, and to ease the stress of on-hand funds, you can use the new 'AutoDeposit' toggle to control where your auction winnings go. If you sell an item via auction with AutoDeposit toggled ON, the money will go to your bank. If it's OFF, it'll just go to your on-hand funds as usual. View the status of this toggle with 'config advanced'.

Nloot; Where

(from Aelius)

Another new object-related command:

- 'nloot': This is basically a list of item types that you will ignore when you autoloot a corpse. So, for example, if you add the types 'clothing' and 'trash' to your nloot list, you will not take clothing or trash items from corpses you autoloot.

The syntax to add or remove an item is 'nloot '. Typing 'nloot' without an argument will show your current ignored item type list.

See 'help item types' for a list of applicable item types.

- On a completely unrelated note, using the 'where' command in the wilderness will only display other players in the same region as you (rather than all players currently in the wilderness).

Nwear; Item Condition

(from Aelius)

A couple of item-related commands:

- First, an 'nwear' toggle, in the vein of ndrop, nsac, and the like. Marking an item with 'nwear' will not allow it to be worn.

- Also, a 'condition' command in the vein of viewfgr. If you toggle "condition" on, you'll see the condition of armour, weapons, martial weapons, and arcane items when they're in your inventory or being worn. For example, if you have "condition" toggled on and you have 'a dark oak crosbow' in your inventory, it'll show up as follows:

a dark oak crossbow [immaculate]

Just a little shorthand way to view item condition at a glance. View the status of this toggle, alongside the others, under "config displays".

Noshields command; hints fix

(from Aelius)

OK, just two tiny things:

- Small new toggle command, "noshields". If this toggle is ON, then you will not see other players' in-room elemental shield, reduce damage, mirror image, or pass door messages ("JoePlayer stands here ... Surrounded by a spam of elemental shields!" ). You can check the status of this toggle in "config displays".

- The 'hints' display in 'config channels' is fixed - it says OFF when the channel's off, and ON when it's on (duh!) .

FoE Becomes Guild

The Fellowship of Explorers has been granted the society status of Guild, and the status of Clan is removed.

Demise of One; Rise of Another

Today at 1500 hours PST (system time), the venerable Helpers group began to dissolve.

At 1501 hours PST (system time), the Seekers clan became available to any player who is serious about assisting other players.

If you reach level 21 and choose to remain in the Seekers clan, we will assume that you intend to be helpful to new arrivals and those in need of your support.

QA is still the channel of choice for asking and receiving general game questions for everyone's benefit. The Seekers clan channel is a good venue for answering questions that arise in that society.

Seekers above level 21 can access the majority of the training house but cannot access the untrainers.

Restore Durability and repair NPCs

(from Aelius)
Some changes to the recent, wildly popular modifications to restore durability:

- Casting restore durability will no longer lower an object's maximum hitpoints. If you have an object whose maximum hitpoints have been lowered, casting restore durability on it or taking it to a repair NPC will restore them.

- The amount of hitpoints that restore durability will heal per cast has been lowered.

- Neither restore durability nor repair NPCs will repair an object if it's in "irreparable" condition.

- Any spell with the restore durability effect will have an extra "regaining concentration" delay.

In short, the penalty for using restore durability isn't so stiff, but it's still faster to go to a repair NPC.

(from Fern)
Blacksmiths in the inns around the country have offered their forging services for repair of armor and weapons.

Ship Race Results - Impressive!

Heck of a great race!

Results:
SSR Helenida - Team Valistad (Vengier/Lefaye) - Grand Prize
SSR Horizon - Nenk (running solo) - First Finish
SSR Diandoria - Emeriel/Kadril - Second Finish
SSR Petit Rose - Pokus (running solo) - Third Finish

Prize purses based on number of finishers (4).
First - 20,000 gold
Second - 4,000 gold
Third - 400 gold
Grand - 20,000 gold and the ship!

In addition, Legend Rukh Theoeides gave the winning team a handsome
reward for their brave conquest of the treacherous seas.

Land Fees Plummet

Land fees plummeted. Some even vanished. In their place, a simple two line charge entry.


Land Office Fees
Within Kingdom, Lands 2,500 (1) with kingdom permissions
Outside Kingdom Lands 10,000

If you want to build your hall or house inside a kingdom or led protectorate's region, you need the leader's permission first. Get them to send you an rnote. Forward that to staff.

Simple, huh?

We will fill housing orders on a first-come first-served basis. Do not freak out if your house is not done in two hours. You will be the one writing the descriptions for each room, but we will correct spelling and -any- use of the words you, you're, your, etc. Also, don't use 'here' or I'll personally refuse to help you.

South Shore Regatta Ship Race Coming Up!

(from Muirdach)

The South Shore Regatta of Portsmouth will be holding a ship race on Saturday February 24, at 12pm pacific, 3pm eastern. Participants must register in-game before midnight on the 23rd.

All are invited, sailing knowledge is not required, maps provided, practice sessions ahead of time are available too. Ships are provided, so anyone who wishes to sail will have a fair try. Everyone is very welcome to join us, with prizes available!

For those of you who have not tried Karinth, this is a great time to do so, with lots of excitement and a good opportunity to explore the world. For those who have previously tried, I'd like to encourage you to come back and see, as things have been changing rapidly over the past few months.

Our website at www.karinth.com has a great deal of info, as well as a list of recent changes and updates (karinth.blogspot.com) and a staff blog (karinthadillo.blogspot.com). You can also jump right into the game at karinth.com port 2345.

ARRR!

Rithua Island

The tcharen section of this area is more difficult than it was before. The mob levels have been brought up by 100.

The rest of Rithua Island is its usual nasty self.

Scribing Process

(from Aelius)

Just a small little item of convenience:

- When scribing a spell, you can now select abilities via name instead of looking up the number in the list. So, for example, if you're scribing a fortify defense spell, you can either select the ability with the number, or just by typing "fortify defense" (or any abbreviation thereof), WITHOUT any quotation marks.

Should help especially for multiple-effect spells, or for those who have a boatload of trained magical abilities. :)

Remember - you do NOT need to use quotation marks.


Ael.

Scan

(from Aelius)

Scan [dir] should work properly now - scan in a direction and you'll see
the mobs (and the room names) for up to four rooms.

Ael.

Objects: Repair, Examine, Rares

Just a few small things concerning objects:

- You may now find it more worthwhile in the long run to seek out repair
mobs than to use restore durability. Repair NPCs have become more
desirable, while a small penalty has been brought into the use of the spell.

- "Exam"ining an object will now give, in the list of the item's materials,
the percentage of the total that each material makes up.

- Regarding random rares: higher level players should expect to get items of
higher rarities, while lower level players should expect to get items of
lower rarity.


Ael.

Arena(s)

(From Aelius)

Dying in an arena now has no penalties. You'll be taken to the nearest recall point, set at full health/stamina/mana, and will lose no experience. Only the deathmatch arena just outside of Portsmouth has this capability right now, but we will be adding it to more places as the need occurs.

Ael.

PS - you can tell if you're in an arena room by the big gold ARENA tag in the room name.

Beacon-Gateway-Summon-Teleport-Recall-Delete

(From Aelius)

OK, some big(ish) changes today, which center around beacon. Most of the change has to do with converting the format in which beacons are stored - you shouldn't notice anything strange about your existing beacons. If you do, please, let us know via a bugreport.

Basically, beacon is now a much more important spell, and encompasses a couple of other, now (or soon to be) gone spells:

- In addition to its normal capabilities, beacon now has the ability to transport envoys: scribe a beacon spell with an "envoy" target and you will have that capability (your envoy members will automatically jump from beacon point to beacon point with you). No more learning a different gateway skill, worrying about portals, etc. Note that scribing beacon to "self" will ensure that only you transfer, even if you have an envoy.

- That old "1 degree and yer good" spell we all know and love, recall, has also been swallowed up by beacon. Cast beacon and you'll see "recall" in the list of options (alongside "set", "list", etc.) . Note that this option also works with envoys.

- This means that gateway and recall are obsolete. Gateway is being removed immediately; you will, of course, get hour reimbursements. Recall will be disabled next Friday.

- Also, the range of beacon has been reduced. It was way higher than it should have been as a result of a small typo in the code. To make up for this change, the maximum number of beacons has been increased. Instead of a
hard limit of 6, the beacon limit now depends on your training in beacon. You will always have at least 5 beacon slots. Also, your beacon skill also helps to determine your maximum beacon transport range.

- On a related note, we have two new spells: summon and teleport. Summon will, well, summon a player, while teleport will transport you to a random location on the map (you must be on the map to use this spell). The maximum distance of these spells depend on your trained degrees in the skills.

- Use "notransport" instead of "nosummon" or "nowarp" to protect yourself from being the target of any of these transport skills (beacon, summon, teleport).

And that's it for beacon changes, I think. On a different note:

- The "delete" command will now give the option to recreate instead of deleting.


Have fun.

Ael.

All Dragon Lairs are In

All colors of dragon lair are in and functional. Help dragonlair to see the level spread.

Price Changes

Costs are a bit higher for items. Larger cities charge less and tend to pay a bit better for purchases they make.

Auction Channel Disabled

Use MARKET channel to make arrangements to buy and sell items, in an in-character fashion. Alternatives to AUCTION are being discussed.

UPDATE:
We will be reactivating the AUCTION channel while we build the more in-character Auction House. Please keep it real - don't use auction to fund every new character with 100k silver, or encourage frivolous bidding. We can and will take auction privileges away if someone is reported to be abusing the auction system. If you want to help new people, go meet them, offer your support and make them feel welcome.

Styles Project Commences

Coding has begun to convert to the new combat styles suite. Backend code is being actively modified and administrative functions will be updated as the transition progresses.

We will be providing periodic updates as progress is made, and helpfiles will become available in the near future.

Messengers : Karinth's Own Version of Pony Express

A new form of in-character communication is in place. Messengers around the world will send a courier to another player with your own personal message (anonymous if you don't put your name in the message itself). There are messengers in the major cities of the world, as well as in inns and Waylander Rests.

To send a message, write it on a piece of parchment (you can purchase them at any messenger), then :

send [character] [parchment] - for a small fee, the messenger will dispatch your message by courier. The recipient will automatically receive it if he is online. If he is not, the message will be returned.

send [character] [parchment] cost - adding cost to the command lets you know how much it will cost to deliver your message.

(brought to you by Aelius)

Writing; Gossip and RP; Fixifiers from Falk

- The 'write' command has been tweaked a little - you'll find that you can now write on parchments, and you can also change the 'title' of a book. Type "write" alone for the syntax.

- You must have your RPSET flag on to use the gossip channel.

- Timers will now count down properly so you will be able to eat pills, use wands, etc properly now.

Various Fixes, Smoothings (Falknor)

- You can now toggle the display of flags like AFK, DEAF, etc in your prompt - use notoggles

- Game will no longer crash if you try to fly without a flying mount.

- Fixes to the rarity system.

- Trainers now reveal what they train when you look in room.

Copper (Paragon) Lairs

Copper lairs (Paragon a-level) are in place and set up to use. These are not easy lairs to run and, like all lairs, should be approached with significant caution and a large well-trained envoy if at all possible.

Brass (Champion) Lairs

The brass lairs (Champion) are in place. Unlike the chromatics which reveal the color of the dragon in its name (like Brathna the Blue), metallics are not so easy. The beginning room of the lair will reveal the color of the dragon in either case.

Green (Explorer) and Blue (Adept) Lairs

Yay. More lairs arrive, seven of each... be careful and read help dragonlair.

Black (Venturer) and Red (Veteran) Lairs

We have restructured dragon lairs and will be bringing them back in over the next few days. First to arrive are the black lairs (Venturer) and red lairs (Veteran). They are visible on survey.

Truffles have Tridges!

Find a truffle, examine it. Some are common, found on the ground - and provide a small exp boost for a small period of time. Others are not so common, found on mobs - and provide a bit bigger exp boost for a small period of time.

Grampling moss is now in the rarities system. Don't seek it scattered around on the ground.

Dark Sect Revived

The Dark Sect has taken on new life as Lord Malstefas Thorne takes the helm of leadership. Dark Sect is a clan devoted to the arcane magicks of Lord Zyrar and his dominion.

Tmote; Autoremove; Chat; Mounting

Let's see... a few new things today:

- A new roleplaying command, "tmote" (talk emote). This command essentially
replaces the standard speaking verbs with the verb of your choice. The
syntax is "tmote ". So, for example, "tmote screams Get your
butts in gear!" Would look like "Aelius screams 'Get your butts in gear!" ,
With the proper colour and such so that you don't have to go to all the work
with emotes putting it in yourselves.

- The "autoremove" command (see 'config' and 'help autoremove') actually
works now. If your autoremove preference is disabled, you won't be able to
wear an item if you're already wearing something in that slot.

- You will now be able to see invisible players in the chat *who listing.

- You can hide chat channels with the "chat *hide" command. A hidden
channel will be invisible to all non-staff characters who are not in the
channel.

- Finally, you should not be able to sneak and mount at the same time. If
you still can, then... Let me know.


Ael.

Assorted Bug Fixes

- Casting sleep on a mob no longer initiates combat, and mobs will wake up when attacked.

- Players you can't normally see (for example, if invisible) no longer show up as "someone" with the 'scan' command - they just won't show up.

- 'Remove all' takes away style effects if a weapon is removed.

- You can no longer use the 'target' command during combat to switch to a mob that is immune to aggression.

- You can now access help files while flying.


Ael.

Camp; Sneaking and Mounting; Warp

Some updates for today:

- Both the cost of executing the 'camp' skill, and the formula that governs its bonus, have changed.

- You can no longer sneak while mounted.

- You can now use the 'warp distance' command to judge the distance of players who have the nowarp/nosummon flag on.


Ael.

Mount Changes

Big(ish) update today:

The mount code has been entirely re-written. With any luck, however, the 'player-end' experience should not be much different than it is now.

That being said, there ARE some differences, mostly to do with called flymounts:

- Using a whistle to call a mount no longer ties you to that mount. In other words, the mount doesn't belong to you. You can call 5 at once if you want. Removing the whistle will not make the mount disappear. BUT...

- Flying mounts WILL disappear immediately when you dismount. This means no tethering, keeping track of where you left your mount, saving the mount when you quit, etc. You use it, and when you dismount, it vanishes.

- Additionally, any fly mount called but not mounted will disappear in two ticks (unless mounted).

- You might find that the stamina of certain fly mounts has been changed - this was necessary to accomodate the new code (and is for the better, believe me).

- Non-flying land mounts will not disappear when dismounted, and, if you quit while mounted, the mob will remain in the room in which you quit (unless mounted by someone else, killed, etc. - just like a normal mob).

Other than that, flying mounts should act as they always have. Any whistles or other callmount items you have will continue to work. Problems such as mounts with negative stamina, mounts that duplicate after a copyover, etc. should not happen now - if they do, please, bugreport it.


Ael.

[This is huge, folks - Fern]

Ignore; Nowarp; Roll

Updates for today:

- The 'ignore ' command will now cause you to ignore that player's global communication (OOC, QA, etc.) In addition to tells. Note that 'ignore' does not prevent against seeing in-room communication. Type "ignore" without an argument to get a list of people you're ignoring.

- The "nowarp" command will prevent players from warping to your location.

- On a lighter note, the "roll" command has been fixed and cleaned up. So, let's get gamblin'!


Ael.

Random Rare Drops

Random rares have been re-enabled on a temporary, testing basis. Potential instability may occur as we put the system through its paces and hammer out all of the problems. So, thanks for your patience.

In the meantime, have fun and collect some cool stuff.

Ael.

Inventory Item Limit

You'll find now that the maximum number of items you may carry in your inventory has changed, in some cases rather drastically. While we can't give you the exact formulas used to derive this number, it would serve you well to invest some hours in carry strength if you want to increase this number.

Ael.

PS - this was not done lightly. The previous formula was pretty out of control... Rukh, at level 1000, was able to carry over 1000 items. Don't worry, you'll still have plenty of space. ;) And remember - containers are your friend!

[Thanks to Aelius]

Webstore: New Shirt Design

By suggestion, we have added two new dragon shirts to the Karinthian Dragon Hoards store. Both are found in the Game 'Tudes section:

http://www.cafepress.com/karinth.102591221
http://www.cafepress.com/karinth.102590671

Tuning the Systems

Today's tuning includes :

1 - vault prices are lowered for startup fees and monthly rentals are lowered as well. The previous rentals were being charged every 8.7 days (a Karinthian year), and were much too high. These applied only to the higher vaults - the basic vault was and is still free.

2 - vault capacities are raised dramatically. The previous basic vault held 10 items and now holds 25. The king's vault (the most expensive) used to hold 100 items, and now holds 250. (The same restrictions on stored items still apply.)

3 - spell scribing is now controlled with greater clarity. When you scribe a spell, you will see only the allowed target choice for that spellcraft. No more worries about casting Journalstone on an area!

4 - society members - you can now choose to show or hide your affiliation with a society to which you belong. Society Leaders - you can now request your society to be completely hidden. This will not be allowed for kingdoms.

Our deepest gratitude goes to Aelius, who has recently joined the coding side of the team and who is making major dents in our to-do list on a daily basis.

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Upheaval, Panic, Crisis, Chocolate

No doubt about it.. this new year has brought some rocky starts to our doorstep, many changes (some welcomed, a few not so much), and a burst of activity that we hope to see continue for quite some time.

We got serious about the economy and have taken steps to balance it before we even crack the pages on the trading and crafts design docs. Some of these changes were met with open arms - and some with open ridicule. Not to be flippant about the condition, folks, but before the economy is balanced, no further modules can be brought in. Period.

We got serious about balancing the game world. A maximum level, formerly a topic that was discussed only in hushed tones and worried looks, was established at 1000. We can now make some definite progress on level coverage, both in terms of experience and in terms of gear.

We got serious about developing a smooth player experience, with particular focus on the entry levels of game play. To this end, we have established a ramped up experience reward for combat, so that the first few levels should fly by, presenting more training hours for the new player to use to develop his (or her!) strategy.

We got serious about societies. Their own economic states begin to take on a more realistic form, and we're still looking at options to fund kingdoms from either taxes or guild hall fees, or both.

It has been our policy not to discuss future developments. We're not going to break with that policy, but we are going to update the Big Picture at a finer grain of detail. To this end, we'll post a few doodads here and in forums where we will welcome player feedback as things develop.

Welcome to Karinth

Welcome to Legends of Karinth, traveler. May your stay be.. interesting.

This new form of communication has been chosen to fill in the blanks between website and game, forum and query, immediate news and RSS. We don't promise to write in it every single day, but when we do write something, it will pertain to some aspect of the game.

If you wish to see a topic addressed, use the Comments section below a post.