Maddad

Enduring Mother Nature's mood swings with the regulars in the diamond cave or the titanium mine is probably my favorite. Dave

I agree it can work - numerous books have been written, some of them well, in which magic and technology have co-existed and competed. I recall a series once where some Dungeons and Dragons players manage to travel from Earth to a D&D world, and they take firearms with them. They had the advantage until local mages discovered a way to simulate the effect of gunpowder: they magically trap steam under very high pressure in tiny water-soluble pellets. To detonate the pellets just add water. In other words, they created military-grade Pop Rocks. It made for some interesting effects in a battle during a rainstorm. I know there's been some discussion on whether to keep the science fiction elements of the game, and it sounds like there needs to be some more. But what we've had so far doesn't seem to affect gameplay; it just provides an interesting backstory. I'm okay with that. But that's why I suggested that mines not be called mines. (I meant that to be a suggestion, anyway. I hope it didn't come across as a demand.) If Entropy and team want to introduce technology, I'm okay with that too. It opens up a lot of opportunities for new skills (mechanic, gunsmith, demolition?), new weapons (the ever-popular shotgun), even new races (Off-worlder: human but with bonuses for tech skill and penalties for magic use). Balancing technology and magic is tricky. Since EL does not have fixed classes, one could expect to be able to use both. In that case I'd recommend that magic and technology be complementary: one does not simulate the effects of the other. If we had fixed classes I'd suggest the opposite for fairness. Dave

Good heavens! A ghost! And just in time for Halloween. Is this a great place or what? Dave

Sorry, I didn't realize. How did you come to know Neverending Story then? It would have come out a bit before your time. And a bit of trivia for you REAL old fogeys: In the original Neverending Story Atreyu was played by Noah Hathaway, who also played Boxey in the original Battlestar Galactica series. Dave

I, too, associated it with Neverending Story. I guess we know who the old fogeys are. (Grin) Dave

I agree. Call them deadfalls, pungee sticks, arrow, dart, or fire traps, even magical traps, but I think explosives are a bit high-tech for the Lands. Dave

Lady, The "no maps during the test period" quote you saw is from the *O* guild's map download page here (Click the "Maps, Detailed" link in the navbar on the left.). They had offered some nice maps for most of the caves, mines, and castles in Seridia, but being good citizens of Eternal Lands they removed them for the testing period and put up that notice. They were just .bmp files that were displayed when you hit the Tab key in one of the indoor locations, although they did show the locations of some harvestable resources. I liked using them because it was possible to map-walk through some of the more elaborate places (like the Underworld, for example). I didn't add them to my update folder because the official word was "no modded clients, no additional maps" for the duration of the testing. I could argue that using the .bmp maps wouldn't affect the testing since nobody else could see them and as long as I didn't report any bugs involving them (which Roja insists will bring a curse on me as dire as if I had killed a unicorn). However, these maps don't reflect some of the changes that have occurred, and it would be easy to miss some of the new features. So I'm not messing with third-party maps until the all-clear has sounded. Well, maybe the Underworld map... (grin) But if I get caught and punished, it's because I deserve it. Dave

Fair enough. I must have missed that. Besides, there's not much demand for seafood. Yes, one high-level player would teach lower-level players. Orginally I was thinking of a session between a master and pupil. It would be initiated the way a trade is now, but take longer. The pupil would gain so many xp per minute in the skill being studied for as long as the session lasted, and the teacher would gain so many teaching xp per minute. Either party could end the session if necessary, or it would end automatically when the pupil reached some milestone. (I don't think a session should result in the pupil leveling up - he should actually practice the skill at least somewhat.) However... Brom had a good suggestion, too. In fact, I think I like it better. Pupils would actually engage in the skill being taught with the master nearby, and both would gain xp (the pupil in the skill, the master would get teaching xp) faster than if they just practiced the skill alone. There would need to be some way to link the master and pupils so they get their bonuses - perhaps something like a training guild or class. That way it would be possible for a teacher to have more than one pupil at a time. Defining "nearby" might be tricky. If you're making iron bars the master can stand next to the pupil, but if you're hunting you need a little more range. I suppose if you're close enough to use local chat that would work, but a pupil chasing a bunny across IP needs to be aware that he won't get his bonus if he strays too far from the master. Dave

My impression was that EL was about community. The economy seems to be set up to encourage players to deal with one another and to turn to the NPCs as a last resort. Why not the same with learning skills? Learn from a player master if you can, and turn to a god if nobody is available (or if you're a hermit like me). I think it would be reasonable for the player master to receive something in addition to teaching experience for his/her services: gold, harvested resources, manufactured items. Other than high level guild members making items for junior members, I'm not aware of any bartering going on for services. Teaching is a service that should be quite valuable since it increases xp, and that seems to be how we keep score in the game: xp and levels. I'm pretty sure the in-game gods are just NPCs. I doubt they'd care much if potential followers started going to a teacher instead. But if I wake up as a smoking pile of ashes in the morning, I suggest the rest of you start making sacrifices right away! Dave

How about these? Farming or gardening: ability to produce rare herbs or other products needed for potions or essences. I'm not sure how one would stake out a garden plot that wouldn't be open for harvesting to anybody that walked by (like today's gardens), Fishing: similar to harvesting, obviously, but there would need to be a demand for fish somewhere. (Eelskin wallets for everyone!) Writing, scribing, or printing: create (or perhaps copy) books. Reading a book scribed by a character should have some probability of failure - no knowledge is gained because the book was wrong, incomplete, or damaged. Higher skill gives higher probablity that the book is right. Item repair: give Tankel some competition. Gambling: institute games of chance among players or between players and NPCs. Higher skill bends the odds in the character's favor. Teaching: someone with a sufficiently high skill can Teach that skill. Teaching itself becomes a skill that can be improved with practice. Another player studying a skill (for example, Defense) with a Teacher gains experience in that skill faster, or gains some set number of xp in that skill. The actual amount of gain should depend on the student and teacher's relative level in the skill and the teacher's Teaching level. (For example, a student with Def. 4 learning from a teach with Def. 30 should gain more than a student with Def. 25. at the same teacher.) Also, somebody mentioned Thief skills - I think picking pockets should be an ability that goes along with that. That should help disperse the crowds around the storages if people think they might have something lifted by someone nearby. (I read somewhere that a few hundred years ago England sentenced pickpockets to death by public hanging because there were so many of them. They had to stop because pickpockets were robbing the people that came to watch the hangings.) Dave

I agree that the privilege of fleeing should cost something. In D&D a fleeing character's armor class was temporarily reduced, simulating the fact that someone running away can't defend himself. When a character decides to flee, the non-fleeing character gets one last chance to strike. He might still miss if the fleeing character's armor class is still high enough. This forces the character to make a strategic decision: do I pay the possible price of running away, or do I stay and duke it out? There will come a time in a fight when it will be too late to run, and it'll be before the death of the fighter. I don't have a recommendation for how much the fleeing character's armor should be reduced, or even if that's the appropriate thing to modify. I'm not familiar with how EL's hit probability and damage calculations work. But I think it should be easier to hit the fleeing character. Whether more damage should be inflicted, too, is up to the game godz. Dave

This reminds me of something I've been wishing for. It's a little off-topic, but this seems like as good a place as any to bring it up. When I click on a target to attack and it's too far away, I'd love it if my character would go ahead and move in that direction. (As if I had clicked on the tile the trget is standing on, in other words.) Back to topic: I like the idea of being able to disengage at any time, but if you think it might slow fights down too much you could limit the opportunities. For example, in Dungeons & Dragons (like EL but without the computer - we used dice back in the Stone Age) each time a monster took damage it had a chance to disengage and flee. I think a pursuit feature would be helpful too - a combatant could flee, but the non-fleeing combatant has a chance to catch him and re-engage based on their relative attack and defense levels. Just some thoughts. Dave

I noticed they offered a version of that computer that could accept 4 Pentium M processors. I've got nothing against multiprocessor machines, but unless you've got software that can take advantage of them (such as finite element analysis, image rendering, or encryption cracking) they're not going to do you much good. Especially not in a laptop. The idea of an instant-boot computer isn't new, either. Some of Tandy Computer's (Radio Shack's) early MS-DOS computers had DOS and basic applications in ROM so they were ready to use before the monitor warmed up. A laptop with a Flash file system (such as PDAs use now) would boot that fast, but I'm not sure a 2 terabyte Flash array is practical in a system that small. I suspect somebody needed a press release to get some publicity, so they made up a "here's our next big thing" story. In a few months nobody will even bother asking them "whatever happened to..." Dave

I believe the IP invasions were rabbits and rats, weren't they? So unless you just created a new character, you've probably got a good chance of surviving an invasion. Dave

After much searching I finally found the way to Seridia. It's a nice place, but the trip was a blast! Trip across the ocean Dave P.S. I'd swear that ending looks like it was photographed on Isla Prima. D.

Um... <blush> thanks. I was reading the History of the Lands and in the account of the War of the Gods it tells about several forces travelling by sea to Seridia. It reminded me of the video, although I can't say how I equated kittens with orcs. Dave

You load sixteen tons, what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt. Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go... I owe my soul to the Mynadar store! (With apologies to Tennessee Ernie Ford) Dave

Is the test server running? I've tried to connect to ports 2001 and 2002 with the new client and get the "can't connect to server" message both times. Dave

That's why I asked, but I'm happy to wait until the dev team feels the server code is stable enough to start facing 'bots again. I was just curious if it was an intentional situation, a problem on my end, or if the test server was AWOL. Dave

Ummm... no, I just got it wrong. But thanks for trying to cover for me. Dave

That would be called "Murrican." As in, "I don't speak English, I speak 'Murrican!" Dave

Folks, Having taken part in shaking out the new client in preparation for the impending update, it's plain to see that our developers have put (and are still putting) a lot of hard work into the game. Add to that the months and years they've spent doing it and the constant whining from players (well, okay, me) and you see just how devoted they are to the Eternal Lands. So I want to take a moment to say "thank you" to everyone involved in the project. Without your efforts, there wouldn't be a game. And besides, I'm REALLY glad you haven't resorted to this kind of programming! Dave

As near as I can tell, fluffies don't NEED machine guns. But if it means we can use missile weapons, it might be worthwhile... [Oh boy - there he goes whining again.] Dave

Entropy, Take your time. If you release too early you'll get hounded with constant "It's buggy!" complaints; if you delay the release you'll get hounded with constant "Isn't it ready yet?" complaints. Since you're going to get complaints no matter what you do, you might as well do the right thing. Dave

Does the update include a "modeling" skill? You've got the poses just right. Dave