Category Talk to Simutronics (34)
Topic GM Announcements (5)
By SIMU-SOLOMON from PLAY.NET
On Jan 28, 2002 at 15:52
Subject Cross Post from The Fallen topic - Respond in The Fallen area please (393)

<< >>


Please post all responses in the topic created for discussion of The Fallen.

The concept of The Fallen has been approved and will definitely be seeing the light of day.

I'm sure "When?!" is the first question that comes to everyone's mind.

The basic response to that is soon, but sooner than "soon" normally means.

I'm going to get the ball rolling this week, however there are other projects and plans that the people I need work from are already working on. If everyone that works on-site was just sitting around doing nothing, waiting on me to ask for a new instance of DR, it would be a different story. In reality, I've got to work my request into the queue just like everyone else in the office does. The initial reaction I got from the on-site folks has indicated that we'll probably have a place for GMs to log into next week.

When this new version of the world is open, there are some minor things that the GM staff will have to do first before we even consider letting people sign up and log in. The majority of these things are behind the scenes changes, stuff you'll never see and stuff you probably never knew existed or worried about anyway. Just as an example...while there will be no GM intervention in TF, there WILL be GMs in TF and they'll need to communicate with GMs in Prime and vice versa.

AT THE VERY LATEST, I've quoted March 1 to the boss as opening day. If we're able to pull it off sooner, then so be it, but I'm giving myself a decent amount of time just in case.

The next question I'm sure you're asking is "Copies or level 0?"

For now, the decision has been made that everyone will start at level 0. For the record, the survey results were roughly divided 50-50 between copies and starting over. Many things were taken into consideration in this decision, however. First, in a scripting-permissible world, people are going to advance rapidly. If we allow someone like Galain or Veldehar or another 99th level player start at level 99, we'll have problems. In addition, these people will "rule the world" from day one, something that's not too fair for those who choose not to copy or those who don't have a 99th level character to copy in the first place. Eventually, a few months down the road, once enough people have established their TF characters and gotten some levels under their belts, "copying" characters may be considered. We'll get there when we get there. Finally, many people will want the ability to "adjust" how their character has been developed and roleplayed and this will give them that chance.

Next, people will ask what it will cost. That hasn't been finalized yet, but my goal is to keep the charge for a subscription to TF will SOMEWHERE around $5 per month added to your normal subscription cost. It may be higher and it may be lower. I'm just not sure yet what will be decided, as that's not really up to me, however I personally don't want TF to be cost prohibitive for anyone that wants to play it. I'll probably also ask that access to TF be included in the Platinum Package at no additional cost. We'll see how that goes. :)

As far as Premium services and benefits, we may consider a premium option for TF, but I'm still working on that possibility.

Next, some people will want to know about the "Hard Core" option and other special TF features and such. Pretty much everything that can be considered "non-standard" from Prime will come at a later date, not with opening day. We will be adding a PVP Kill Counter at some point, in addition to some other interesting ideas, but I doubt this stuff will be there from day one.

Finally, I will repeat my warning from my other update. Don't cause trouble in Prime thinking you'll just go over to TF and all will be forgotten. That's not the case. Likewise, when TF opens, we will NOT accept the excuse "Oh I thought I was in the Fallen" if you're causing trouble in Prime. Knowing where you are is your responsibility.

So...get ready....because it's happening...

Solomon