Age of Valor News (May 2011)

[Death]

Greetings AOV!

As we begin the month of May, the shard has some new things to offer players. In the upcoming month, here's a few teasers of what to expect:

Community Events:

You may be asking yourself, "what is a community event?". Community events are events that are free to participate in at pretty much anytime while the event is active. Community events serve to create something new in game and to contribute to life in Sosaria.

The Trinsic bridge building event was just a small example of a community event. A player suggested that bridges be built around Trinsic and instead of just building them, we decided to run with the idea and make the game feel more interactive through contributions to a bridge building fund. The original idea seems to have attracted and intrigued a few players. Although this was just a basic idea for the system, expect to see more elaborate community events in the future.

What is the purpose of community events?
The community event is an opportunity for players to make a difference in the game world. The actions of the community can change certain game areas. It is also a great opportunity to interact with other players and role play in Sosaria if you wish to do so.

Where can I find community events?
You can find information on the forums primarily, but efforts are being made to provide better information on the actual server. We are currently testing out better methods of providing information to players in game, as we believe that information should be provided in game primarily and the forums as a reference. Also, be sure to talk to other players on the shard to see if they know anything about active community events.

How can I contribute to community events?
Every community event is different. The objectives will change and the overall process may be different. Your best bet is to locate the area where the community event is being hosted and talk to players, NPCs, and make observations about what items need to be collected or what other objectives need to be completed.

Who can participate in community events?
Everyone can participate. As all players are members of the AOV community, we encourage everyone to take a look at what the community event has to offer. Players are encouraged to participate in the events, but it is not mandatory of course. The more players participate, the quicker the event wraps up. Once all objectives are complete, the players can feel proud to have made an accomplishment to the shard.

When are community events active?
They can happen at anytime, depending on the speed of completion and player participation in other community events. The Trinsic Bridge Building community event had a lot of contributions so we expect that event to begin to settle down. The Felucca side of the bridge building may still be active for awhile, while another community event begins to surface. All in all, it depends mostly on how the community events go as we want to make sure that there aren't too many active at one time.

Why would I want to participate in a community event?
There are many reasons why you should participate in a community event:

1) It is a contribution that affects the shard. Completion of a community event can result in something new to the shard that everyone can enjoy. You may even get personal recognition for your contributions. Imagine being able to bring a player to a landmark and tell them "Our efforts built this statue". It brings a positive atmosphere to the shard.

2) They are events that can make use of all kinds of skills. Sometimes specific skills may be called upon to make a difference in the world. Who knows, maybe one day a crafter may have a great chance to contribute whereas another day a cook, fisherman or maybe even a thief will have a great chance of contributing to a community event.

3) There may be special accomplishments or rewards for your participation and dedication to making Sosaria a better place to live and play.

What are the rewards? Will we know what they are before participating?
The rewards will differ for each community event. Rewards are much greater than just a simple artifact in your pack. Rewards can change the game by adding something new for players to enjoy. This can be a bridge, a guard outpost, a statue of recognition or anything else that fits the community event.

Because of the way community events work, knowing if you are getting something for your efforts does not reflect the spirit of the events. You are contributing to making Sosaria a better place. Although you may not get an artifact at the end, your contributions make a difference in the world, which may have added benefits in the long run.

Recognition may be given to those who contribute to community events. Virtue may also be rewarded to players such as compassion, justice or sacrifice.

In terms of actual items, it all depends on the community event and where things fit. These community events are designed to have a proper story and feel to them. Rewards are chosen where appropriate so sometimes a personal item of significance may be given out for contributions. In the following community events, we will be expanding the system to build upon it.

Test Centre Updates:

As per usual, the test centre will be getting updates. The current new save system was working okay, but there was a need for improvement to prevent lag "spiking" which we decided would not be beneficial if released to the live server. That being said, Red Squirrel is currently revising the save structure while Death works on other portions of ML.

In terms of ML quests, they are all working with minimal corrections needed. The base system works like a dream, Death is currently going in and adjusting the quests where applicable.

Also, I'm sure everyone knows of the Solen quests for bags of sending and powder of translocation. These quests use an older system that will soon be discontinued. The Ambitious Solen Queen quest and the Solen Queen quests have been converted to use the new, improved quest system!

What does this mean? You can enjoy the same quests but with a better interface. We have done away with dragging and dropping of quest items and the process is a lot smoother and straightforward. The renovated quest makes better use of the tools and systems we have for quests.

Now, the quests aren't perfect right now, as you may remember the "solen loyalty" reward for completing the quest, which gives you protection from solen attacks. This has purposely been left out as a reward for the time being as we will be changing that to tie into the loyalty system.

To briefly explain: the loyalty system was introduced during the Stygian Abyss expansion and allows you to gain or lose loyalty to different races and groups. When you reach different loyalty levels, you get certain perks from those you are loyal to whether it be quests, items, support, etc etc. AOV hopes to have this system running in its basic stages before the Stygian Abyss is released to the server. Planning is currently underway for its implementation.

We hope to be able to bring you these new quest additions for you to test in the month of May. The loyalty system has no current release date.

Live Server and Bug Fixes/Missing Features:

The player questions and answer topic that was released a month ago has been a great success! We encourage players to continue using this topic for any questions they have.

There will be more bug fixes to accompany the patch in May. We are looking into some of the issues that were brought up in player questions and discussions. If you know of any other bugs that you think should be addressed either post them on the forums or you can send a PM to Death. Not all bugs can be fixed right away and other bugs are planned during renovations (Particularly skills, which will ALL be renovated in the future).

Easter Event

The Easter Event is currently running for a bit longer to give folks a chance to collect their Easter Baskets and Christmas Gifts. The statue will no longer be giving the artifact deed and cheque prize. The Easter Basket requires 10 points/eggs to collect. Please check the forums for when this event ends and be sure to collect your basket before it's too late!

Live Server May Event

In addition to a community event, there will also be a live server event in May. Telling you what the event is right now would spoil the surprise but a few hints to keep you wondering:

-The event is in Tokuno
-Remember, the current season is Spring

Stay tuned on the forums and in game for more details.

Archived topic from AOV, old topic ID:5733, old post ID:35247

[Incriminate]

In true UO style the spring event will be slaughtering newborn lambs in Tok........

So predictable

Archived topic from AOV, old topic ID:5733, old post ID:35250