AVALON NEWSLETTER: SEPTEMBER 2014
- The return of true competition with the AMBER GEM QUEST - Avalon becomes FREE to play with city and guild sponsorship open to all - Avalon forums and library open and gathering a treasure-trove - All long-time bugs, issues, imbalances, broken abilities fixed or impending - Completion of specialisms and gamesystem evolution per design
Dear Avalonians,
After almost two years of ill-timed and unfortunate absense of management, bugfixing and gamesystem development-to-conclusion Avalon reached a rather miserable nadir...
.... but everything has changed. Two months ago today the bugfile paraded almost 1600 entries not to mention non-functioning interplay of abilities and questionable imbalances. Work began July 10th at an intensive level never before undertaken in Avalon since its inception. The long, almost fatal neglect demanded nothing less than relentless focus and commitment to revive the land. This commitment is now Avalon reality. We have seen a threefold rise in numbers since July, a doubling between the end of August and second week September!
We know there will be casualties of this neglect no matter what as well as player absences despite the recent weeks: started by frustrations at skills, annoyance at perceived problems in gameplay or shortcomings in one profession's arsenal versus another. And perhaps more than anything else, a feeling nobody was listening, let alone working on making things better.
It is not so. Avalon will outlive us all. All of us who've put in time, emotions, made relationships, struggled for victory or tasted defeat; anyone who's played Avalon to a point of real understand - all know this land is something unique, its challenges simply unlike anything else in the world. Avalon was first where many have followed.
It is rising once again and we would love others to be part of this period of history fraught with extremes (in the last weeks alone): a goddess has been stricken, her mind destroyed and her divinity cast down by another deity; legends have awoken to walk among us again; a city was wrestled from the clutches of a God despite all opposition; movement has begun to raise a ruined city of dreams from the destruction wrought by Thakria, its restoration crying out for help and its lost guilds hoping once more to welcome the diaspora of homeless tutors; too much to scribe here save to remind everyone Avalon fast approaches its TWENTY FIFTH anniversary. All of you are invited. It's food for thought to consider pitch battles fought today by heroes of the present, in the self-same locations contested by great players of legend before the current combatants were even born!
SPONSORSHIP: Avalon is FREE and open for all with NO restriction on character development - no hidden charges - no limits vs subscribed or lifetime players.
You read it right: SPONSORSHIP is absolutely free and gives you all the advantages of lifetime or recurring subscription with none of the cost: you gain lessons at exactly the same rate, you can use all the same equipment, you can attain all the same high ranks and positions in the land.
City, Guild and Order SPONSORSHIP Sources: CITY: from Prince, high Minister and the Public Relations Ministry. GUILD: from the Guildmaster, Deputy Guildmaster and Head Tutor. ORDER: through members of the priesthood of a particular divinity.
Sponsorship can be bestowed by city officials, guild seniors and priesthood / patron of divine orders. Sponsorship is typically begun for up to three months but can be extended indefinitely ensuring permanent FREE access to Avalon play with zero restrictions.
Sponsorship by city draws on the city's divine globe, while for guilds it is the reputation of the guild itself that is used to sponsor. All regular, pro-active Avalon players gain more for their city in status and reputation than the cost of a sponsorship: so you have nothing to worry about insofar as ensuring its continuity for your whole Avalon life.
The priesthoods of the various deities are also able to sponsor players. Their outlook and generosity depends largely on the demeanour of the patron deity though most appreciate the value of enthusiastic neophytes and are therefore quick to look favourably on sponsorship requests
If you have any questions about sponsorship or indeed ANY matter related to Avalon, do not hesitate to contact us at support@meetplace.net where your query will be dealt with promptly and professionally.
We hope some of you will perceive the paradigm shift and decide the time is right to sweep aside the pale fire and journey once again to the uniquely scintillating Avalon-water: we've worked hard to put together a way to do so you might figure worth a look...
EVENTS: - September 28: AMBER GEM QUEST on SUNDAY at 8PM - September 20: SMASHING SHELLS QUEST on SATURDAY 8PM. - September 13-14: commencement of GUILD TOURNAMENT LEAGUE. - Sept 21: Champion Tournament - Profession v Profession Plus other small-scale events as and when appropriate: combat focus. -Automatic Immortals Combat / FlagQuest mortal-run totem.
Avalon's TWENTY FIFTH anniversary falls in the Autumn of this year, and for those with a penchant for history:
Avalon first online:28th October 1989
Avalon permanently online to the general public: 11th November 1989
Avalon joins the internet: October 14th 1994
The quarter-century anniversary will see an Amethyst Quest ORDINATION in addition to a DIVINE APPOINTMENT.
BATTLEPHASE and GAMESYSTEM:
The long phase of gamesystem development begun after Avalon's 20th anniversary is drawing to an end and, with the completion of this evolution of all aspects of the land, we are about to begin the all-important BATTLEFIELD-AND-BALANCING PHASE (known as the "battlephase" for short).
This battlephase is the essential denouement: an intense period of real scenario testing, adjustment, balancing and polishing; to eradicate imperfections, to correct imbalances between professions, individual and groups combat (and other competitive areas), to ensure everything plays out in the game as it is intended by the design. Loopholes and exploits must be closed. Leftover bugs need to be shown up and fixed. Systems that looked good on paper but play poorly in the bigger picture must be adjusted - pruned - perhaps even removed. This is what we aim to achieve in the battlephase. The best and, frankly, only effective way to carry out the above is through combat and intense interaction: personal battles and largescale warfare. Combat, combat, combat.
We have the spotlights set to watch everything, from all points of view; as it happens, when it happens. And then, in the moment, fix, tweak, improve, tighten-up - update directly - watch again - repeat the process... until satisfied Avalon is as it should be.
Perhaps you had a bug-bear with Avalon during this development phase, or were frustrated with your profession long before this intense anniversary evolution began? Maybe you grew sick of the automated clients, coded to act in lieu of player's thinking and innovating... now is the time to look again. If you do nothing else for Avalon but have some relevant insight: this is the month you will not only be heard but the things you point out will be fully tested, considered, amended and rendered directly; an immediate return on your time.
EVERYONE IS INVITED:
- Twelve open-ended sessions to address issues profession by profession. - TWO DAYS over the coming weeks given over solely to one profession to focus on completing its skill-set, righting any wrongs and filling any gaps. - Battlephase spotlighting: individual combats watched in detail, fully annotated and any resulting imbalances addressed - Open decision making. - The Gods will be available for once-in-a-decade opportunity to get answers to specifics, to their huge knowledge-base including ability info and personal fight help!
NEWS and DEVELOPMENTS in and around AVALON:
- The Meeting Place forums are open for all-comers at www.meetplace.net and we've already built up a treasure trove of content. Help us do more. Get in touch because your history is Avalon's history and we want to include on record for all time as much as we can! - Meeting Place has forums including private areas for each city and profession (with info on what is to come and discussion on current/future abilities). We have real-time chat, player diaries, independent areas separate to Avalon focus including MUD Client resources, facilities for sharing files and documents and much more. - Meeting Place administration is not subject to the Avalon hierarchy. - Avalon now has a fully operational TICKETS and PLAYER SUPPORT system on the Meeting Place: for bugs, for ideas, for comment and questions (even if the query is a version of "why was my ability X made weaker?". There will be no in-Avalon repercussions! - The TICKETS system will remain beyond the battlephase as a means for players to raise issues, comments and queries with the Avalon Omnipotents...for all time.
With the end of the battlefield-and-balancing phase and the documentation week, Avalon will enter another long era of stability. This means the gauntlet is thrown down to YOU, the players: master this gamesystem, defeat your opponents, show your superior skills, prove your mettle.
Avalon was the originator of so many online gaming concepts that have become staples - so ubiquitous it is inconceivable there was a time these were only ideas on a paper page. We hope, with the wrapping up of development, as the bugs and amendment grow less and less, to herald the next generation of player-driven excellence - be it populated by new arrivals, maturing players of today or returnees from earlier days.... Avalon evolves but the fundamentals remain as ever they were: to plough the unadulterated furrow, to provide a competitive environment exciting raw inescapable passions; to be a challenge worthy of the next twenty years at the sharp end of this most singular genre in the vast ever-growing industry of computer gaming.
