Closing Continents

[Indirik]

Things are still being set up. Details will be revealed soon, as they are available.

[Anaris]

Will we be allowed to create new realms in new lands or will we have to take from the current realms?

I'm not sure what "new lands" you're expecting to be created for this. We've been saying over and over that creating a new continent is a lot of work; well, that's just as true for adding land to an existing continent.

The first one would preserve history.

The second would appear to allow us to ruin the experience and history of EC.  Naturally, most players when forced out of their home islands will want to create something similar to what they had before.  They'll be frustrated and upset.  Some will want to just wreck havoc for being forced into a new scenario.

It wouldn't ruin history. It would have a significant impact on the status quo, but that's an enormously different thing.

History is what has already happened on the continent. That can't be ruinedâ€"it can only be continued, or cut off. Tom doesn't want it to be cut off.

Will this be done at all though?  If we are going to do it, might as well do it soon.  That way players don't keep getting hit with bad news over and over again.  BM will take a hit from this change in the negative fashion.

It will be done when the dev team has time to make sure it's done right. I could just turn off continents tomorrowâ€"blip! Like flicking a switch! But that wouldn't give proper warning, or allow for people to emigrate their characters, or any of the important things that turn sinking a continent from a disaster into merely a stressful event.

[Dante Silverfire]

Anaris,

I am curious if a middle of road solution has been considered. I am making the following assumptions:

1. EC will never be reset or closed.
2. We need to close at least one island
3. We need at least 1 testing island and 1 stable island for ease of development and testing new features.

Based upon the assumptions above, could you not close all islands except EC and Dwilight and then create a third island as an exact copy of EC. This would allow EC and it's history to remain, while allowing those who have lost an island to not feel forced into joining the existing current status quo.

I realize this is not a trivial action but none of the options are. I am mainly wondering if this has even been considered or would be considered. I think it offers a happy compromise.

[Zakilevo]

Don't forget about War Island.

[Graeth]

Anaris,

I am curious if a middle of road solution has been considered. I am making the following assumptions:

1. EC will never be reset or closed.
2. We need to close at least one island
3. We need at least 1 testing island and 1 stable island for ease of development and testing new features.

Based upon the assumptions above, could you not close all islands except EC and Dwilight and then create a third island as an exact copy of EC. This would allow EC and it's history to remain, while allowing those who have lost an island to not feel forced into joining the existing current status quo.

I realize this is not a trivial action but none of the options are. I am mainly wondering if this has even been considered or would be considered. I think it offers a happy compromise.

Seems like too many islands left. Not counting war island, there should only be one, or two max, IMO, or we will just be talking about this again in a year or two.

[Zakilevo]

Since we can't close EC and people don't want Dwilight to go, we probably should just close the rest.

War Island is here to stay as well anyway. That is three in total. Why not just allow 1 noble and 2 advies instead?

[Derek]

How about closing Beluaterra in a way that would likely be palatable for most of the players on that island?  Turn on mortality for all characters, turn off immigration, and launch the end of times undead invasion.  This would be a fun historically appropriate way to close the island, and the players who decided to stay wouldn't be cursing the Devs names...too much.

[Zakilevo]

How about closing Beluaterra in a way that would likely be palatable for most of the players on that island?  Turn on mortality for all characters, turn off immigration, and launch the end of times undead invasion.  This would be a fun historically appropriate way to close the island, and the players who decided to stay wouldn't be cursing the Devs names...too much.

That requires too much work. Better to spend it elsewhere.

[Dante Silverfire]

Since we can't close EC and people don't want Dwilight to go, we probably should just close the rest.

War Island is here to stay as well anyway. That is three in total. Why not just allow 1 noble and 2 advies instead?

Honestly, I agree completely. Supporting three continents with full nobles would be hard enough anyway. That's probably as barebones as we can go.

[Indirik]

It really wouldn't be that difficult. Monster rates can easily be dialed up to insane levels. Mortality code already exists.

[Indirik]

Fwiw: colonies will also remain. It is a special purpose, one turn a day island. People play there for the slow turn rate. Because it is low population, nothing we do to it, leaving it or closing it, will really have any effect.

[Dante Silverfire]

Fwiw: colonies will also remain. It is a special purpose, one turn a day island. People play there for the slow turn rate. Because it is low population, nothing we do to it, leaving it or closing it, will really have any effect.

So, if I'm understanding everything correctly, we are looking at two possible cases.

1. Atamara, Far East Island, and Beluaterra are closing.
Or
2. Atamara, Far East Island, Beluaterra, and Dwilight are closing.

Case #1 seems more likely with the need to keep a testing island.

Please note, I'm not a dev so this is only guesswork on my part.

It seems that

[Derek]

That requires too much work. Better to spend it elsewhere.

Since all of the mechanisms for my suggestion exist, I would think that a goal of the Devs would also be to try and keep players from wanting to quit as a result of the changes to the game.  Many of the players on Beluaterra moved there specifically for the invasions.  Personally, if the Devs let my character and the rest of the island go out in a blaze of glory, I would be happy and much more likely to give a chance to an island, like the EC, that previously hasn't appealed to me in the last 9+ years.

[Zakilevo]

Invasions are over. Tom isn't going to put any more of his time doing another invasion. Tim is too busy fixing bugs and doing other vital coding.

That is why scrolls are randomly being generated across the BT.

Don't know what people are doing with them though.

[Vita`]

Not using them in enough frequency or large enough quantities...I'd love to see a group orchestrate 20-100 scrolls launched within 1-2 day time period. *cackles*

There have been some minor usages of 5 or so scrolls at a time, but the continent-wide effect of that is only minor with that few number and infrequency of scroll usage.

There's around 600 summon scrolls on BT now. There will be some scroll improvements later (soonish), to help 'encourage' their usage.