A Special Interview, Feedback/Updates, and more! LotC Blog #7

Heya, and thanks for clicking onto the Lord of the Craft blog!

an interview with everblue2er101

~\\~

1. What originally drew you to this server? During that time, what players did you normally roleplay with?

I started playing Minecraft in December of 2010. Singleplayer got boring and I began seeking out multiplayer servers. At the time I was getting very interested in fantasy works and roleplay, so I started looking for a good RP server. Many claimed to be RP as a way of advertising but never actually had real roleplay, maybe just an RPG plug-in. Finding LOTC was the result of a year long search, a genuine roleplay server with races, plug-ins, unique characters and the chance to take part in a grand adventure. The scope and scale of the server was really impressive, especially given how new Minecraft still was at the time. The immersive nature of roleplay and how seriously the server took it on the whole encouraged me to stay and join in.

In Aegis I stayed mostly around Al'Khazar and the VonSchlichten Inn. Through there I met the likes of RHcrow, Axlrose, Bgrape, VeggieDelightful, Scottybleez, Elindor and others. My character became part of the Phoenix Revolution, which led to roleplay with Throdo, Burkester, Ilumtarus, deathmetus, Boiendl and many others who would form Renatus, which is primarily where I stayed in Asulon as well. After that my roleplay decreased and I started to branch out, not sticking in one place but wandering all over.

2. Outside of Lord of the Craft, what do you occupy yourself with?

Reading, a lot. Fiction, non-fiction, whatever I can get. I've got a personal library of almost a thousand books. Writing, too, though I'm not very good. Other hobbies include towel folding and hollow book making. I've also got a presence on other sites like Imgur and tumblr.

3. What's Canada like?

My part of Canada is the suburbs of a large city in Alberta. A lot of the stereotypes are true, like there being snow for six months of the year and Tim Horton's everywhere. Most of us are nice people, too, though a certain pop singer of recent fame proves an exception. We're sorry about him.

4. How did you keep track of your trivia questions? i.e. what questions you've already asked, where to find the answers, etc.

It's all in a Word doc. Each day I'd enter the question, answer and who responded correctly. Using control + f I could find which questions were asked and then avoid asking them again, or tweaking a question slightly so it wasn't exactly the same. Probably 75% of questions came from the wiki, 20% from the forums and the rest from images, videos or other sources. I didn't record where the questions came from but could always dig it up in the case of a dispute.

5. What's your favorite piece of LotC lore?

The Ancient History. It is the backbone of everything else that has been developed on the server and really helps new players to understand some of the most important and fundamental server lore.

6. What aspect of yourself allowed you to attain and lead in so many staff positions? What's your "secret" as to being one of the longest serving staff members?

Dedication, probably. I really did log into the server or forums virtually every day for over three years. In the beginning I was so inspired by the work of other staff members that I wanted to live by their example and try to improve the server for others. This led to helping out in the Wandering Soul Chat, which led me to the App Team, editing the wiki, which led to the Lore Master position, posting trivia, for which I was invited to the Media Team and being active on the forums, for which I was added as a Forum Moderator. Anyone who wants to be staff should know that you need to be active, friendly and helpful.

7. What will you miss about this server? What won't you miss?

The community. There's a lot of good people in it who have been fellow roleplayers or staff members. I've met a lot of really great players that I'd love to keep in contact with. What I won't miss is the community. There's a lot of terrible people who should be banned or removed, but keep coming back and no one stops them. It's definitely a love-hate sort of deal. It is also really frustrating to see the same issues come up again and again, the same topic posts every week, with no resolution. There are a lot of players who are so self-entitled that they don't understand why their opinion has been discussed and rejected in favour of something better. There's also a lot of cliques that make it extremely difficult to have meaningful conversations on changes when everyone wants something different and getting your way means having to bash on other players.

8. Now that you're leaving the server, what are your plans?

Getting a job, for starters. I graduated university in June and am still looking for something. I'll probably never join another server but might keep playing singleplayer Minecraft on and off.

9. Any last words you would like to impart on the staff, the players, or the community as a whole?

It's a game. There's a lot of ways to interpret this, but at the end of the day it really is just that. Losing your items or your village or your forum title won't make much of an impact in the long run. Stay flexible. Hang around with different people. Collaborate. Listen to other positions and find a middle ground. And never, ever feed Alan after midnight.

~\\~

I'd like to thank everblue once more for his hard work and dedication, as well as putting in the time for this interview.

Stay updated with the Lord of the Craft tumblr!

What's tumblr, you may ask? Well, it's often defined as a blogging site. People on here put pictures, short thoughts, and videos here for others to see, like, and follow. As the Media team, we use the Lord of the Craft tumblr in a way similar to a glorified status update. Whenever a new update comes to the server, we'll be giving you a notice on tumblr! We'll also be putting in-game screenshots from the community there for others to appreciate!

If you have in-game screenshots, character art, or other LotC-related artwork, send it to us at thelordofthecraft.tumblr.com, and we could use it in a post there!

While you're on the site, be sure to check out some of the other blogs there. There's a lot more to tumblr than our server!

Thanks, and be sure to follow us there!

Some Feedback and Updates

Update: Atheran Badlands

The newest planned expansion for the Lord of the Craft is the Atheran Badlands. Having appeared in previous realms on the server, the Badlands are a special zone where players are encouraged to PvP, capture objective locations, and perhaps even go on ocean expeditions to other small islands! A lot of players are looking forward to this expansion, but we still have time to make changes to it before its release! Leave your thoughts here on the features of the Badlands and take your vote as to how it should work!

Feedback Forums Cleaned

Recently, Kalameet and Readicti went through the Feedback subforum and cleaned out some of the community's comments. Feel free to leave more of your thoughts, but thanks to these two awesome GMs for their work! (link to the post here)

Server Updates by the GM Team

Be sure to check out the recent additions that the GM team has been planning. The Cloud Temple now has more shops for its marketplace, the world mines were edited, and more! Check out the post here.

~\\~

Thanks for reading out this edition of the Lord of the Craft blog! More posts coming up soon!

Go bust some boogers!

Long time no see! LotC Blog #6

It's been quite a while since my last influx of blog posts, and I figure that I should start it back up again! Without further adieu, here's some updates as of late!

~ Staff Changes and GM Q&A ~

There have been a couple changes to the LotC administration staff recently, but I'll go ahead and list out all of our current major staff members.

[New!] Lead Administrator: Urasept

Administrator: Menarra/Lillith

Lore Administrator: Alan

Magic Administrator: Alan

[New!] Application Team Leader: Readicti

[New!] GM Team Leader: Frottimer

Technician(s): Tythus

Developer(s): Telanir, Kowaman, Sporadic

Leave your thoughts on the new staff positions here!
A full list of the current staff can be found here.

Also, a GM Q&A was held on January 31st, 2015. The GM team assembled in our server TS channel (ts.lotc.co) and talked to the community about some things they had questions on. Listen to it by clicking here.


~ General Server News ~
Here are a few things I've learned since being back that I think you should be aware of!

In-Game Development

| The Undead are back!... and Gone |
For a short time, the community of LotC believed that the antagonist for version 4.0 would be lizard-folk (some even rumored the Elder Scrolls' "Argonians" as this unknown villain), but in September of 2014, Zarsies unveiled that the Undead would be returning (view that post here). Having been dormant and inactive since their defeat at the end of Aegis (LotC 1.0), many players were happy, and anticipating this infamous return.
However, due to a belief that the old style of having a single antagonist is outdated, the Undead were removed as of February 2015 (post here).

| War, War, War! |
As of recent times, there seems to be a big craze for war among the denizens of the current world, Athera. With the threats of the Undead gone, the elves have risen to a state of civil war, with the High Elves of Haelun'or leading a crusade against their "impure" kin. Read about these warclaims and more in the War subforum.

Community

| everblue2er101 |
As a long time member of Lord of the Craft, everblue2er101 has held several staff positions, including the Application Team, Lore Masters, Media Team, and Forum Moderators. Some say that he is most known, however, for his popular LotC trivia questions. For quite a long time, everblue has posted trivia questions on the forums, facebook page, and most-recently, held trivia contests such as the Trivia Blow-Out.
It is now, though, that this veteran of the server is finally leaving. Leave your thoughts on his leaving post here. Thanks for your time with us, everblue!

| TNT in wars? |
Do you play a crazy dwarven engineer that wants to blow up every enemy on the battlefield with your dynamite-filled creations? Have no worry! Leave your thoughts on using TNT in wars here, and check out the rest of the Your View subforum for more community developments.

| Athletes of LotC |
Be sure to check in with the rest of the community as to who among us actually goes outside and does something active! If you play or have ever played a sport, let us know here, on booklight12's "Athletes of LotC" post!

~ Featured Player: Lady_Cake ~
In a recent skin/sketch competition I held, Lady_Cake and several other contestants won rewards for submitting their work in relation to my long-lasting goblin character, Brunhyldir. Lady_Cake drew this for my competition, which I am marveled by:

Awesome, isn't it? Here is my short interview with Lady_Cake for featured player.

When did you join the server, and what brought you to it?

Lady_Cake: I joined sometime last year. I work quite a bit and thought that I could easily play games in my free time and heard from a friend that this was a thing. 

What characters do you currently play?

Lady_Cake: The character that I've most recently played was a chubby gal named Elle Claire. I wanted to open up a rp shop called E. Claire's bakery. (It's a lame pun for the baked good eclair.) I don't really play any other character.

What first interested you in art? How do you make your sketches (i.e. computer drawing, pen & paper, etc.)?

Lady_Cake: Honestly money. I thought that if I could do commission and make money that I would no longer have to work a peasant life of full time baking. Then I learned that I was poop at it in the beginning but I kept sketching because it helps me with my anxiety.
I do my sketches with a tablet, it costs less to do digital than to paint and use paper. Also I hate pencils and their gritty-ness, it's like grinding teeth.
Do you have any other talents besides artistry?

Lady_Cake: I guess? I'm a fairly decent ice carver, I can do a few hula hoop tricks, and I can decorate cakes. I don't know if you'd consider those as talents. 

Since the time that you first started playing, when was your "golden age" here on the server (what time do you look back to that you have enjoyed the most, or maybe is it now)?

Lady_Cake: Eh, that's tough to say. I work a lot so because of my wonky schedule I barely get to play. Plus I'm bad at jumping into conversation and joining groups in rp.


Anything else you'd like to say?

Lady_Cake: Thank you!

~

That's about it for this edition of the Lord of the Craft blog! Be sure to leave a comment down below on what you'd like to see in the next post! Hopefully I'll have more updates for you guys to keep track with. 

A blast from the past, and more! LotC Blog #5

Whaddup guys. I have a very, very special post for you guys today. If you have been around since Aegis, you might (of course) remember the epic battle between the antagonistic and protagonistic forces.

The Ascended

"Servants of Aegis, the protectors of the people, the divine envoys of Aeriel and her will."

and...

The Undead

"Destroyers of life, consumers of souls, the dark fists of Iblees."

These two factions battled it out for months on the plains of Aegis, hosting many battles to be spoken of and told. From the time when the Ascended and Undead conflict was at its strongest was when most old timers (like me) remember the golden days... The days that give me great nostalgia, and bring a tear to my eye to remember.

I know. It's sad.

Aaaanyways. The most prevalent members of the Ascended were the Sages; the highest in power and most wise of the Ascended they had in their sect. And, heading it all, was Master Sage Riizu (Ree - zoo. Don't pronounce it wrong). Riizu was a GM back in the days of Aegis, and I'm sure that a lot of you remember him.

Well, I was lucky enough to get in contact with Riizu through his YouTube channel, and he agreed to allow me to interview him. Keep in mind; the Ascended and the Undead haven't been around for two years. It brought back a lot of great memories talking to this dude, and I hope you enjoy what we have to say!

Interview with Riizu - Master Sage of the Ascended

I hope that listening to that and hearing the words of an old time Aegisian might insight some of you new players what it was like back then.

You can check out Riizu's YouTube channel here (crimsonacid).

Also, here is an hour long video that introduces the Ascended. In case you're curious. 

In other news...

I know there has been a lot of drama lately. All I want to say is that it is events like these that reshape the server. Whether it is for the better or for the worse, that is truly up to us.

Screenshot of the Day

This comes from the meeting of Oren and the Dwarves to settle the conflict of war.

Due to multiple server crashes, an agreement was never really reached; such (I have heard) is being handled in private PMs amongst the nation leaders.

Reminders

Lots of new thingamabobbers! Including...

Updated Tutorial and Guides forum!

It's been very lack-luster as of late, but now it's finally back and rolling!

Players can expect a bunch of new, updated guides to be pumped out from the team. From being a chef to correctly roleplaying an Orc, everything's there, or will be there. Check it out!

Player-wide survey results!

SparehoeCakes, one of the Guides on the server, prepared an extensive survey on the staff, how the server is being run, and all that jazz. Welp, the results are in, and I, frankly, find them very interesting. Let's take a look at the facts, shall we?

I actually find this really interesting. I didn't know how many of us Aegeans were left! Wow! Over 50% of the server has been here for almost two years or more.

According to my good buddy Jistuma, thats about $7600 in donations so far. Dang.

Oh, come on! Really?! The orcs only account for 4% of the population? Tsk tsk tsk. 

This really shows where the other races need more love. Come on guys.

You can read more of these charts and view the actual survey here. Thanks again to SparehoeCakes for making it!

And some other things to check out...

• Who are you? w/ Rhia

Competition

Why not have a little competition for my blog readers? 

Somewhere in this blog post, I have hidden a link. This link will give you a question, and if you are the first person to send the correct answer to me, you will receive:

• My narration of one of your forum posts (past or present post)

• Featured player on my next blog post (includes text interview)

• 200 minas

(1st place taken!)

The second person will get:

• My narration of one of your forum posts (past or present post)

• 100 minas

The third person will get:

• 50 minas

• A virtual cookie

Note: I'm going to be going off of those who send me the forum message for placement.

A hint: Your answer will be somewhere on the forums...

Good luck!

EDIT: 1st prize has been taken! I.e., it is possible to answer the question (assuming you can even find the link). 

________________________________________

Thanks for reading.

Go bust some boogies.

P.S.: Riizu.

;)

Mission Accomplished.

Hey guys. Kind of a different post today. I write this not as the official blogger of Lord of the Craft; as a Media Team member, or a member of the Guides. I write this as a player of Lord of the Craft.


I didn't come here to discuss all of the drama that has been happening recently; for that will just be adding coal to the fire. But I did really want to bring something to light here.

I speak about a particular person on this server. Some of you, including me, may have known him as ikeyman232, or LaTerre. To others, he was known as Hunwald, or oHawkZo.
To give you a rundown of what happened...

On August 12th, 2012, a player by the Minecraft name of ikeyman232 repeated history. He walked into the gates of Arethor, killing everyone he could see with absolutely no roleplay. This act, known as a "Pugsy", got him banned quite immediately.
Many were astonished to find that he committed the act, but what was done was done. LaTerre made several ban appeals shortly after the incident, but all were denied by the Administrator Urasept. Urasept denied him, saying that,

"Your staying banned Pugsy'ing is a one way trip. As since you did it once, your likely to do it again. As I said in your ban report, You sir walked your last dinosaur." - Urasept

This was the first great act of "Pugsying" since the original Pugsy went down into fame himself.

After so many ban appeals denied with strikes of dark lightning, many thought that ikeyman232 had given up.

"I made up a whole entire plan in my head, a vast plan. It was simple, really. I would no RP kill in Arethor, and get banned. When banned, I would wait a few weeks and then sneak myself onto the server on a different account."

But no.

LaTerre crafted a mission. He wanted to prove Urasept wrong, in stating that he would just pugsy again if he ever came back on. He wanted to prove to the members of Lord of the Craft that he could blend in and not break the rules again.

Using his friends account and a miraculously changed IP address, LaTerre slid his way back into the server, under the alias of Hunwald (or oHawkZo). There, he spent nearly a year roleplaying normally, without getting a single ban or strike report even filed against him. 

It wasn't until now, with all of these leaving posts, that Hunwald (LaTerre) came out about his true identity. 

"Hunwald is not dead. His story simply continues elsewhere, for he was never there."

He proved Urasept wrong; he proved the server wrong about what we think of him.

I just want this to open up our eyes a bit about how we regulate rules. Hunwald did something amazing, just to prove a point. Let us remember him for what he did.

To LaTerre, my friend. Our friend. 

Mission accomplished.

All about that Antag, tho! LotC Blog #4

Well, I just finished watching the Antagonist Livestream. I'm really excited for when things get rolling. Once more, I have given you a re-cap of the things said in the Livestream. I hope you enjoy!

Before I get anything started, you can check out the Antagonist sub-forum to read up on some more posts and stuff.

What is the Antagonist?

(Not a depiction of the actual antagonist.)

When Chaqery, the GM head of the Antagonist, first wrote the lore for this evil force, he thought of many things. The server needed something that united us as one entity to fight, and it needed more inclusion of the playerbase. He took evil elements from popular games and books such as the Lord of the Rings, the Witcher, Warhammer, and Dragon's Dogma, smashing those elements together into one big, badass villain. 

He also wanted to bring back those "quintessentially fantasy moments", where you truly feel like you're in an intense action scene in a movie. Those moments where the hero seems like he is going to lose, but fights back and takes a daring victory as the night fades away... You know.

Let's get down to some specifics, eh?

The Nation, Ranks, and Goals

When the Antagonist arrives in its unbridled form, it can be perceived as its own nation -- a sixth nation, if you will. The Antagonist won't be played just in events, but rather daily, with sporadic, lively roleplay. Broadcasts won't be used, so players don't all scramble to one area. The roleplay will be spread out, and run mostly by actual players, not GM's. 

The Nation

The Antagonist nation is widely known as "Burzümkütotaz" (pronounced Burr-zoom-coo-toe-taz), and is located in the far north. In fact, the North as we know it is more of a gateway to the Antagonist lands than being the actual Antagonist lands. 

The goal of the nation is to take over all other nations; and this will be much more serious than other antagonists in the past, due to the scale of our villain this time. Chaqery states that one of the key features to this Antagonist is the massive size and broad ranking system that it has.

Known Ranks

We got some pretty exciting and weird ranks so far. Featuring...

"Big Bad Guy"

• Leads the Antagonist

• Described as a "Giant creature with lots of magical power" (Sargeras, anyone?)

• Hates mortals. Controls you if you become an Antagonist

Hiishtgul (The Immolated)

• The "Lieutenants" of the Antagonist

• Lead the "Sergeants"

• Currently only GM's, but will be expanded to be general players

"Sergeants"

• Bigger, tougher guys in the Antagonist

• Assigned to a Hiishtgul

• They each lead their own "tribe" of regular Antagonist players

• Act independently; do not need orders to attack small settlements

Siege Engineers

• Tiny, creepy crawly goblin-like creatures

• Described to be very much like Gollum/Smeagol

And also specific groups for the Swordsmen and Archer groups.

Why such complicated names?

We want the playerbase to make up their own names for the Antagonist, instead of using the names that the Antagonist have given themselves. For example, most of you wouldn't come to call the nation Burzümkütotaz, but rather, "The Nation of Villains" or "The Momo Skahers", something of that like. 

Antagonist Lands

If you ventured far enough and searched wide enough, it is possible to visit the Antagonist lands right now. As said before, the North is more of a gateway to the lair of this evil force. However, when you get there, you'll find that the place is much like a labyrinth -- it will be hard to navigate around the hellish planes, not to mention forces there that might stop you along the way.

These lands have been worked on vigorously by builders since April, and I think they have done a fine job. Below, you can view the Antagonist trailer, which shows off some of Burzümkütotaz.

Some players who have already ventured to the North or small parts of Burzümkütotaz have found many enchanted weapons, books of lore, and other charms to be had that tell more about the Antagonist, or will help you defeat it in the future.

Kanrath has been leading several expeditions to the North, and he has encountered several dark forces already. You can read about his party's experiences below -- and feel free to send him a message if you are interested in being a part of a future expedition!

~News from the North~

~A Return from Beyond the Silent North~

Antagonist Applications

When the Antagonist attacks a small settlement, they often capture some of the survivors, bringing them back to the evil realm. If you've submitted an application here, and your captors find your roleplay to be satisfactory, you may be absorbed into the Antagonist! Therefore, there isn't really accepting or denying; rather by-chance roleplay that leads to assimilation. 

One thing to keep in mind, however, is that your character will most certainly become permanently bound to the Antagonist. If the heroes of Anthos defeat this overwhelming force, the character that you had accepted with will likely be permanently killed (if you're never accepted, you have no need to worry about this). Beware!

Villain Applications

If you end up being accepted into the Antagonistic force, you will not be required to make a villain application. Your activity will just be expected; but you will be held to the same standard as those who do have villain applications.

The same goes for Magic applications. 

Group Applications

Sometimes, whole groups will want to join the Antagonist, or at least request roleplay. Whether this be for in-character reasons or out-of-character reasons, the leader of your group can request roleplay with the Antagonist for possible assimilation (<-- I love that word). 

If you lead a rather large group, and you all agree to be absorbed into the Antagonist if you are chosen, you can send a PM to Chaqery on the forums. Make sure to describe the group name, a little description of the group, and why y'all want to join the Antagonist. Then, hope for the best as they might set up a mini-event to roleplay with your people!

Plugins and Magic

When the Nexus plugin hits, the Antagonist will be making full use of it, just as we will. 

Basically, they will be using corrupted forms of magic that is already present. For example, your average mage might have a fire spell, water spell, etc. The evildoers will instead have corrupted fire, corrupted water, and the such. If you can imagine such a thing.

Another cool thing is that you will keep your racial benefits if you become a member of the nation of Burzümkütotaz. If you're an Orc and you have the Bloodlust ability, you'll still have it, for example. The cool part is that being a member of the Antagonist gives you a corrupted bonus. Who knows what it is, but it will definitely change the tide of your benefits.

How is this different from the Undead

First of all, this Antagonist has no affiliation with Iblees, who was the driving force behind Aegis' popular villainous group. This Antagonist will be much bigger in scale than the Undead were.

Also, in Aegis, the driving force behind the conflict were two clashing forces: the Ascended and the Undead. In Anthos, there will be no primary protagonist. We are the primary protagonist. We form within ourselves the heroes that will fight off this ancient evil. 

What is Going to Happen, and When

Malinor, the nation of the elves, has already been attacked by the Antagonist once before. As the war between the Dwarves and Humans begins to settle, the Antagonist may rise, looking then only for the opportune moment to strike. From there, the attacks will slowly build up until they cannot be ignored.

Smaller settlements might have also gotten a taste of this villainous cavalry.

Races

As large groups of races are absorbed into the Antagonist, small sub-races will be created within it to compensate. A nation of the elves might be taken over, resulting in the "remodeling" of that nation's lands, and the creation of a specific Antagonist elf group. 

Let's just hope that we don't have to fight spoon-wielding corrupt halflings.

Finally, if you haven't already, you can view the Antagonist Livestream below. Most everything that I have stated above was taken from there.

Screenshot of the Day

Today's screenshot of the day comes from TheCleaningCrew. This is out in the Wilds, somewhere...

Fishermen and swimmers, beware.

You can view the actual post here.

Reminders

Minestatus was recently reset! Make sure you vote, and get your 50 minas a day!

Test the new plugins on the Development server by becoming a Beta Tester!

Popular Trade Posts:

A Chance to Line Your Pockets with Coin!

Auction: Polished Iron Chestplate

That's all for today folks! And a bit of good news! We're going even more official, and the Lord of the Craft blog might actually become an integrated part of the website (thanks to the coding magic of Mr. Tythus). More on this later, though.

Finally, I'm going to get the chance to interview more members of the staff about stuff that wasn't discussed in livestreams or posts. Expect that in the future as well.

But for now, thanks for reading, and go bust some of me!

Featured Player, Livestream Updates and more! LotC Blog #3

Drama, drama everywhere!

Everyone, just clam down! You all know what I'm talking about; and for the sake of sanity, I'm not going to talk much about it.

Now, with that out of the way, let's get to the good stuff...

Featured Player: Cmack

One of the marvelous players in our community, Cmack, did me the honor of making the new Wilven Monk skin. Here it is, for those that are curious.

It's very wonderful, if I do say so myself. Then, I also had the honor of interviewing Cmack to ask him a little about his LotC story, and what he thinks of the recent news.

Me: When did you join LotC, and what brought you to it?

Cmack: I joined the 14th of July, in 2012. A good friend of mine had heard about it from a friend of his, and he and I made applications. Well, I'd never been on an RP server before for Minecraft. It was a first for me, and I was just looking to try out some new things.

Me: What characters do you currently play?

Cmack: As of now, I play Thudrin Treebeard, the Druid of Oak. He's a forest dwarf. I also play a troll character, Godrim, who I have an accepted VA for. Lastly, I have an ancient dark elf character who's extremely religious, his name is Ravyn Nightheart.

Me: You play a troll? I mean, I've met one before, but... What's that like? Has anything interesting happened so far?

Cmack: Not an internet troll! SuperSodaPops' lore was just accepted for his troll lore, and it was put on trial period. Soda picked myself and Slic3man to RP the two other troll characters allowed in the trial.

We've had many fun RP experiences while playing our characters, including eating several halflings of Lenfarthing, quite a few delicious humans... It's been a blast so far, and we can't wait until the night cycle is extended to 30 minutes so we can stay out a bit longer each Minecraft day.

Me: Have you made skins before?

Cmack: Hrm. I've made a few crappy ones, but just recently I actually started to get into it. I used to have my skins made for me, but I think I can actually make a quality one for myself now.

Me: What do you think of all of this drama going around on the server?

Cmack: Well, I'm not sure, honestly. I'm excited about all the new plugin talk, and it sounds like fun stuff. As for the drama, I'm open-minded. I see both sides of the arguments about PvP vs. RP default in fights on the server.

Me: Anything else you'd like to say? 

Cmack: Well, I just wanted to say that I had a blast doing the little monk skin competition, and the interview was fun too!

As reward for his excellent skin making, Cmack received 300 minas and a bunch of other personal bonuses! I thank him for letting me interview him, and use his skin. 

You can see the other skins that were submitted here.

Livestream Updates!

Beside the drama that arose today, there were a lot of new, great things mentioned for the upcoming plugin updates. I took notes from the livestream that Telinir and Tythus held today, and I bring you guys snippets of what I thought were the coolest part of this new content! The update will come in stages, or patches. Most of it will come out during the first patch, but there will be later patches to add other stuff along the way.

You can watch the livestream here.

The original estimate for the release of this giant thing-a-ma-jig was late July to early August, but Telinir said he'll push it to try and get it out to us by early-mid July. Thanks Tele!

| New Weapons |

Many new weapons were mentioned in the livestream, including (but definitely not limited to)

• Crossbows

• Claymores

• Longbows

• Throwing Knives

• Spears/Lances (especially for use on horsies!)

Crossbows

Crossbows will be an actual in-game item, and are essentially powerful bows that require more time to load. The damage of the Crossbow is about doubled if compared to the bow, and the target of the bolt receives slowness and blindness.

The Crossbow has a 10 second reload time, and during that time, the play must remain completely still and keep the Crossbow selected on their action bar to reload.

Custom crossbow bolts will also be available to be made and crafted.

Quivers

Quivers will be craftable! Telinir said that having a quiver and opening it will give you a 1x9 space to keep your arrows and such.

| Death |

Death by Mobs

When you get killed by a zombie, skeleton, or any other mob, you won't actually die. The knockout plugin will be active for all mob deaths, and the best part is: you won't lose any of your items!

However, in certain regions or special events, the knockout plugin will be turned off for mobs, just like how we turn off the knockout plugin for wars or battles.

Death by Accident

If you die by accident -- say, you fall off of a cliff --, you will be faced with two options.

Option 1: Revive at the Cloud Temple.

Option 2: Go into soul mode, and respawn at an area (at most) 10 blocks from where you died.

In both occasions, you will lose 50% of your items (randomly).

Returning from Death after Battles/Events

The server already has a rule present where it is not allowed to return to your place of death until 30 minutes have passed if it is a major battle, event, or PvP conflict. Now, this rule will be mechanically enforced.

When you die, there will be a protected area that keeps only you out, and this protection will last for 30 minutes. The protection will have a radius of 100 blocks.

Death in PvP
In PvP, the victor will receive 10% of the victim's items. This will happen because, in your death, a random 10% of your items will pop out of you, instead of the usual 100%. The loser will respawn at the  Cloud Temple; they will not be given the option to respawn 10 blocks away.

| Duels |

Two players can agree to duel, where they will partake in PvP combat, but neither person dies when there is a winner. The winner of the duel will be announced on a local chat.

This option would be for people who are just fighting for fun, or perhaps want to be able to RP after one of the characters dies in PvP.

| RP Items |

If you have a special item that is a part of your character, you can request to have a moderator tag it for safe keeping. You'll never lose this item if you die by a mob or accidental death.

Also, you will be able to rename your own items, but the only possible option they thought of to allow this is for it to put your name on the item when you rename it. More will be explained about that in the future.

| Professions |

There will be approximately 27 professions, including (but not limited to):

• Tailoring

• Blacksmithing (Armorsmithing, Toolsmithing, Weaponsmithing, etc.)

• Brewery

• Cooking

Food

When the plugin hits, there will be a big famine. All of the food will most-likely go bad, and we'll have to rely on people to level their professions to cook food. The Halflings will most definitely be a reliable source of good food.

Leveling and Proficiency Points

Leveling your first profession will be rather easy, but for every profession after that it will get progressively harder. This is to prevent grinding, and put more attention to RP.

Through some means or another, you will gain these things called proficiency points, but there will be point caps for certain professions. This is one of the topics I'm not too sure about.

| Characters and Races |

Racial Benefits

Orcs: They will have more strength, but they will be afflicted by Bloodlust. As the orc continues to hit it's target, it's vision will begin to cloud, and it will eventually not be able to see what it's hitting. Orcs will also get hungrier faster than the other races.

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Humans: Humans will be more proficient with swords.

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Elves: Elves will be more swift, and proficient with bows.

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Dwarves: They will have more defense than the other races.

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Halflings: Halflings will be more nimble and able to dodge.

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Kharajyr: The Kha, with the addition of their claws, will have higher melee damage.

Rolling your Character

Players will "roll" (enroll) a character when they first log onto the server, and that will be their character. If you have more than one character card, your professions will not be the same. If you want a new race, you will have completely re-roll your character -- professions and all.

You will be able to set that you are a child/elderly/disabled/etc. when you roll your character, so that your stats are moved accordingly to your condition.

| Misc. |

  • The more things you have in your inventory, the more your hunger bar will go down.

 • There will be MC events where you can trip, fall, or even fumble, dropping your weapons. There will also be possible bleeding in combat, and further exhaustion.

• Heavier armors will slow you down more.

• There will be bird roosts that actually have use in-game!

• Alec is coding a client mod that will add a bunch of features to the RP of the server! The only feature mentioned so far is that there will be chat bubbles!

Why PvP Combat?

In the livestream, Tythus and Telinir explained a bit of their reasoning on why they think a PvP default is the best thing for the server. Here is what I've laid out of what they said:

• Combat will be quick and brutal, as apposed to the (occasional) 1-2 hour RP conflict

• It will be more about having fun, instead of spending an hour or two typing

• No OOC conflict due to being in a fight for so long

• It will reduce the amount of metagaming -- while you're RP fighting, your enemy could be sending /tells to their friends to come help

• Powergaming will be reduced due to it being a mechanic

They hope that this plugin will take less time out of RP fighting, and put more time into actually roleplaying. Whatever your opinion is, take everything into mind!

Screenshot of the Day

This screenshot comes from gabriel101x1 and his screenshot thread. Everything there is absolutely amazing to look at; I bring you just one of the screenshots he posted.

I don't know where this is in the world, but it's pretty breathtaking. If you can tell me where this is, cookies for you!

You can view the screenshot thread here.

Reminders

Here are the most popular economy posts going on right now:

[Auction] The Necromancer's Blade!

Anvils for Sale!

Don't forget to vote and watch the livestream!

More lore in the running for you guys to look at:

Nethermane

Pleskana

And that's it for today! Be sure to tune in again! Tell your friends! Leave a comment! Bust some boogers!