STATE OF THE GAME: JUNE

[aionmods]

State of the Game

APPLICATIONS

It's come the time where we, the mods, have to consider how we want to go forward with applications. As it stands, there are only 4 slots available for new characters, which would make for a fairly awkward application round. Based on general DWRP probability it's likely that will be 5 or 6 by the end of the month, but it would still be a fairly heated process, and so we are looking to you for opinions on how you'd like us to handle apps going forward.

Our main options would be to move into a rolling apps system with a wait list, or to just continue doing regular app rounds but putting less emphasis on advertising. Both options have the possibility of congestion (opening the rolling apps may have a lot of simultaneous applicants anyway) but it would allow for more flexibility as to when new characters are brought in. On a lore level, either option works, it's just that rolling apps would result in a less guided introduction to the game for new players, which presents its own challenges.

We'll be putting up a poll sometime soon to get your opinions on this, but in the meantime, if you have any tweaks or alternate ideas please let us know in the comments below!

EVENTS & NPCS

There will be an event this month, but we are intending for it to be a more lowkey, ambient effect on the setting rather than anything tightly plotted or location orientated. This will be both to provide some space for player plots and also to give the mod team some time to actually do the mod projects we were talking about in the last SOTG. After we've finished wrapping up things with our recent Regent log, we will be being a bit more cautious when it comes to taking on NPC threads this month. That said, we are definitely available for questions pertaining to play-run plots and setting interactions, we just can't guarantee any NPCing for them! If you have general questions to ask any NPCs we can default to summary exposition and go from there.

Plotting for this month's event will go up soon, but as it won't be set in any specific location, there won't be a mod written event log for it.

On a related note, we do want to mention that while monthly events will sometimes be focused on the relevant Legacy (and we'll generally try to give a shoutout to the Legacy of the month as a treat!) we won't be able to always make them a plot-heavy blow out like the Innocent's event was, for pacing reasons if nothing else. We also don't want to focus too hard on the monthly Legacy rotation to the point where it prevents us from seeding and following through with more general, meta plotlines. This is really just to say that the Innocence event was a perfect storm of the right month and the right metaplot hooks, and we don't want people to end up disappointed when future Legacy moon events aren't as intense.

GAME UPDATES

Regrettably, our mod to-do list is close to the same as it was last SOTG. There has been progress made on the bestiary and some progress made on the extended city write ups (as per the recently released Godsblood entry), but not as much as we would have liked. As something that has come up a lot with regards to player plotting, we will be trying to get the Alchemy info released ASAP. For the reference of new players, our to-do list is below.

❖ CURRENT MOD PROJECTS

◆ EXTENDED SETTING PAGES: We'll be adapting the details presented in each location's intro logs (Achamoth and Greentruth, now) to create extended information pages for each settlement. Along with that, we will also be taking question asked on the FAQ and other places and consolidating that information onto the relevant info pages (IE. moving all the Shard questions to the Aion 101 page.)

◆ HOROSIAN BESTIARY: This will contain examples of notable/supernatural creatures by location, as well as rules for taming and/or partnering with them. There will be a difficulty system by which all creatures are categorized, indicating how plausible they are to be made into a personal ally. This process will involve providing activity proofs of your character working towards the goal of attaining the cooperation of a creature type.

◆ ALCHEMY RULES: This will provide guidelines towards IC potion making. All characters will have the capacity to learn basic potions, if they are inclined towards such tasks, but moderate and advance potion making will require buying a minor or major power respectively. As an ability primarily limited by ingredient scarcity, it will be our intent to give a process for obtaining particularly rare potion materials.

❖ CHANGE LOG

◆ ATTUNEMENT TIERS: Characters from the first app round have now met the time requirement to apply for Tier 2 of their relevant sect. We thank you for your patience with us as we work out our process for judging these applications. The ones we've receive so far have been helpful in letting us know what we want to encourage in tier applications, so we apologize for any bumps in the road or inconsistencies that arise. We've talked at more length here about what we are looking for. One thing we can add from the submissions judged thus far is we do want to hear about your character's emotional state and their motives for the actions linked, and if we don't have a solid idea of where they are coming from, we may have to decline or ask for revisions.

FEEDBACK

Now that we've talked about what we're up to, we'd like to hear your thoughts! How have you enjoyed the recent events? Was there anything in particular you liked that you want more of? Was there anything that could be done better? Do you have any questions about the concepts listed above? Feel free to +1 other comments if you feel so inclined. Naturally, we'll weight ideas more heavily if there are multiple voices behind them.

One thing we'd also like to hear about is event wish lists. What sort of events are you hoping to see in the future of Aion Teleos? These don't have to be super specific, more just generally vibes and event types you're hoping to see. We have our own plans for things coming up, but it helps to know what the player base is hungry for, too. We can't guarantee we'll use these ideas, but they will provide us with inspiration at very least.

Thank you for playing, everyone!

Comments

[hippocarnival]

Thank you mods!

I'm just gonna drop my quick opinion on apps: I think if we can routinely expect only a small number of slots opening up rolling apps would be best. Mod choice reduces the issue of the initial hunger games rush but it does seem inherently discouraging for new players to still be having to fight fresh for a very limited slot count every few months in cases where they were only rejected for space.

From an OC standpoint I don't think the rush to claim aions is tenable with only a handful to fight over anyway, because that's going to require a lot more picking and choosing which tag-ins are canon, or just a lot more players sitting out the TDM event anyway because there isn't enough aions for everyone to be involved. I'm reluctant to anticipate existing players apping seconds as a way to fill out the character count each round since it's a lot more demanding to balance two in a plot-driven game.

I do think there should still be regularly refreshed TDMs for players to tag into so existing players can onboard them. And people could still individually plot out claim fights similar to the previous TDM where people could post their toplevel to request collection.

[devilmancrybaby]

I agree with this! The last TDM ruled, but so far my impression of our playerbase is that it shouldn't be difficult for new characters to get integrated in fun individual ways even if we don't have enough spaces to justify that kind of large scale event on a regular basis. Possibly regular TDMs could be longer-running to accommodate people trying new characters in less concentrated batches?