Announcement 16th April - No link 4 comments

[Cuchulainn]

Announcement 16th April

I visited the Jolt office yesterday for a meeting to discuss Utopia. I met with Brian and Sean to have a talk and get some information.

They are currently both fixing various bugs and issues when they can. The announcement they made still stands but they feel optimistic at the progress they are making (even with the time limitations they operate under).

They shared some goals for the future, new funcitonality and new content but emphasised they realistically want to focus on what needs done now before anyone can get too carried away with long term plans.

So on that note here are a few thoughts on the issues you've raised recently that we hope to address as soon as possible:

The Vacation Mode exploitation (when sitting/attacking)- this is still going to be investigated on a report by report basis by myself. However we need a change in the way this feature (cancelling sit) works to remove the need to check these reports. The end goal is to stop it from being exploited at all. Various soultions are being considered at this time and we feel a satisfactory solution can be reached.

The Ambush problem - Brian has been aware of the possible issues with Ambush for some time. He'd fixed the older code stopping previous problems with Ambush and was happy with the result but we are still receiving reports of problems. We'll be looking for concrete information on new reports and these will be passed on.

Abandon Province issues - There is some confusion over this. If a Kingdom does not have enough move codes then a leaving player will only have one option. Please check that your kingdom has move codes when you hear of a player reporting they can only choose to destroy their lands. If they do report the matter with supporting evidence it so I can notify Sean and Brian.

Finally the End of Age is approaching. This is a delicate time under normal circumstances. It must go ahead. We'll soon have a thread up for suggestions on changes and will try to get a concrete date for you as soon as possible.

These were just a few of the items discussed but these are the most relevant and pressing issues at this time.

As always I will provide more information on the issues above (and new issues) as often as I can.

[Cuchulainn]

I'm confused.... Isn't this Brian and Sean's game now and don't they have their own office somewhere? Why were you meeting them at Jolt's offices??

Anyway... nice to hear that they are still putting in some part time hours but a real pity that they apparently fail to recognise the damage they are doing to their own reputations as "Coding Ninjas" by allowing serious game bugs from their own code (this aint Mehuls code no more!) to just drag on and on and on without being fixed. Shame really because I thought they did a pretty good job on the new code for the most part.... now their efforts are turning into a bit of a laughing stock.

Why bother with a thread for New Age suggestions? Last time all the sensible people were simply ignored and we had this farce of an age. At least if they are going to ask for suggestions then they should do so BEFORE they come up with any of their own nonsense because basically, as the last age changes made very obvious, they just don't know enough about how the game is played.

Regarding Ambush and VM bugs... we don't need S&B to answer a straight question on this do we??? Soooooo....... If I report someone with evidence that they abused either bug will they be deleted Thundergore?? A simple yes or no would be appreciated. Thanks. Also, how up to date are you with "NEW" cheat reports?? i.e. how long will the process take ??

[DeVille]

Last age changes were the best we've had in a long, long time. Made playing fun, again.
Looking forward to more innovative, creative changes this new age.

Nice job, guys!

[beeper]

Ninja = assasin , exactly what they did to original programm

[DHaran]

Last age changes were the best we've had in a long, long time. Made playing fun, again.
Looking forward to more innovative, creative changes this new age.

Nice job, guys!

Making half the server one overpowered race was fun? You sir, are an idiot.

[raiman]

One issue that wasn't addressed is the script/bot issue, and its effect on new province creation.

Solving this issue HAS TO BE TOP PRIORITY.

As the game is quickly losing a ton of players as a result.

Please give us an update on this from a developers standpoint.

Thank you.

[olAllan]

As to the age changes there was some good stuff I failed to spot at the beginning. Like giving a population bonus to a personality(shepherd) rather than a race. I like that gives legitimate boost to any race that runs with shepherd. That kind of thing I like and I hope that doesn't change. I'm currently running dwarf/mystic, a combo I never thought I'd run and its not really all that bad I have all the dwarf powerful military along with MS and the ability to pump wizards like you wouldn't believe.

Some issues I have is the lack of balance of power among the races/persona's. Like DHara said I don't care for the disgustingly over powered Dwarf/Artisan combo. You can fix that by eliminating the 20% BE bonus on Artisan for some other bonus.

The Mystic personality needs a boost. I would and will when the time is right suggest either giving the Mystic the old elf bonus (ALL SPELLS) rather than only MS. Or possibly having wizards fit X jobs as peasant do. Either or both of these would be pretty killer for Mystic.

I have lots of suggestions for later. Whether anyone listens or not... it should be an interesting debate.

[DeVille]

Making half the server one overpowered race was fun? You sir, are an idiot.

lol .. who you calling an ijiot, boy? After the mind numbing wol UD age in which ToG was taken from UD at the last minute and given to
the already overpowered Elf for the sake of "balance" creating a mega elf and a totally unplayable UD? We lost half the best attackers in the server to that one & the best loved legend race of all time was crucified. Hear anyone asking for UD, anymore?

At least with the dorf thingy e v e r y o n e knew in advance. Everyone had the chance to play dorf. We knew it would be overpowered. Just a question of which personality. Other races have still done well. Big thing that gives the advantage to dorf is fog. Molst ppl won't war an all Dorf kd unless they're all dorf.

...................

Totally agreed with Raiman over the new personnel issue. We're losing tons of peeps with this new system. Yes, it looks busy but it isn't nearly as busy as it looks. Lotta the same names floating around and a lot of kds out there that don't like to recruit. You see kds of one guy, 3, 10, 14 .... small kds feel self concious & have a heavy fear of rejection.

lotta people are put off when they have to beg for an invite to a game. Need some kind of system between the old and the new where guys can be screened and then thrown into the random pool. Perhaps if with the app. they were asked to fill out a blurb about themselves and what kinda kd they were looking for. Invites go across Jolt's desk (or a volunteer) and are rapidly processed. That takes out randomicity. Can't have all the leets at one end and all the ghettos at the other with no chance of improvement thru new good guys. Might not hurt to check around to see what other games etc are using.

[DHaran]

All dorf wars are exactly why this has been the worst age in years, you are just too nub to know anything about it.

[Magmalava]

I'm confused.... Isn't this Brian and Sean's game now and don't they have their own office somewhere? Why were you meeting them at Jolt's offices??

Anyway... nice to hear that they are still putting in some part time hours but a real pity that they apparently fail to recognise the damage they are doing to their own reputations as "Coding Ninjas" by allowing serious game bugs from their own code (this aint Mehuls code no more!) to just drag on and on and on without being fixed. Shame really because I thought they did a pretty good job on the new code for the most part.... now their efforts are turning into a bit of a laughing stock.

Why bother with a thread for New Age suggestions? Last time all the sensible people were simply ignored and we had this farce of an age. At least if they are going to ask for suggestions then they should do so BEFORE they come up with any of their own nonsense because basically, as the last age changes made very obvious, they just don't know enough about how the game is played.

Regarding Ambush and VM bugs... we don't need S&B to answer a straight question on this do we??? Soooooo....... If I report someone with evidence that they abused either bug will they be deleted Thundergore?? A simple yes or no would be appreciated. Thanks. Also, how up to date are you with "NEW" cheat reports?? i.e. how long will the process take ??

Simply put, Jolt still owns the game but is being outsourced to Sean and Brian.

At least 1 kd finds it much more fun to have surprise changes than knowing things far in advance.

regarding ambush. If people find the bug important, but development can't solve it right away then take it out until the problem can be solved. That way it won't bother no one.

[Magmalava]

Ninja = assasin ,...

You watch too many movies. An assasin's job is to kill. A ninja tries to avoid fights at any cost and only kills when absolutely necessary.

[Magmalava]

Making half the server one overpowered race was fun? You sir, are an idiot.

I think it's more boring for the dwarf half. The other halfs simply avoids them and has fun wars with each other and the dwarves can play with themselves.

[Nuriho]

You watch too many movies. An assasin's job is to kill. A ninja tries to avoid fights at any cost and only kills when absolutely necessary.

i dunno, playing assassin's creed and Hitman, i think you described Assassin very accurately. Their job is to do what they were hired, and normally invovles killing a single target.

a ninja serves his lord, and does all the stealth actions, which assassinations are very stealth-like, i'm sure you'll agree. Hence, ninja=assassin, when speaking about devs, they do the same thing -> kill the game, is what he's saying.

[DHaran]

A ninja or shinobi (忍者?) was a covert agent or mercenary of feudal Japan specializing in unorthodox arts of war. The functions of the ninja included espionage, sabotage, infiltration, and assassination, as well as open combat in certain situations.[1] The ninja, using covert methods of waging war, were contrasted with the samurai, who had strict rules about honor and combat.[2]

[DeVille]

All dorf wars are exactly why this has been the worst age in years, you are just too nub to know anything about it.

*sneers at Dharan* Life is what you make it.