Upcoming Patch News
Hi folks! We know it’s been awhile since we’ve rolled out a major game update, so we wanted to give you a glimpse into what we’ve been working on!
After Avendar was relaunched by the current team the decision was made to temporarily suspend creation of all earth, air, and spirit scholars pending rewrite of the associated classes. This was done because the state that the classes were in was so bad they were literally unplayable by any reasonable metric and in some cases had access to skills or abilities that could cause game crashes or other serious bugs. Part of this update has included focusing on bringing earth and air scholars back and making them creatable again, and this involved the creation of what is effectively 12 brand new classes when taking into account greaters and splits.
We also realized as we were looking at work and expanding into developing or upgrading other areas of the game that our engine did not currently support the kinds of work we want to be able to do, both with these classes and with developing quests, items, areas, and event storylines. This required an overhaul of parts of the engine to support that work, including the addition of several new sub-systems that allow, for example, the creation of new materials with various hardcoded qualities that can now be interacted with. This will allow us to do things like fill an area with flammable gas that actually ignites upon interacting with fire, or allow earth scholars to fine-tune the specific materials and properties of their golems by seeking out areas that possess the materials they want. Again, this is just a sample of the kinds of work we want to be able to do, and the kinds of complexity we are hoping to introduce to our classes and our building.
We have also continued our quest to refine and expand the history and lore of the game setting, classes, and species, particularly in those spaces where they have been lacking. Some areas have been expanded and reworked in places to build upon established frameworks and connect them to other histories and set pieces within the game world. Many cultures that have languished have been significantly expanded and their presence seeded across the game world. We feel doing this is important to make the world feel coherent and interconnected, and it helps us and you to tell better, more interesting stories through your characters.
Whenever possible we avoid making direct retcons of any kind, but one is unfortunately needed: the removal of the kankoran from the game and the setting. This is not a decision made happily or lightly, but the kankoran are actually the intellectual property of Palladium Games, creators of the RIFTS setting from which the kankoran were taken almost one for one. We don’t know who made the decision to include them or why, but Avendar has always prided itself on being a unique fantasy setting absent the usual tropes and cliches of other fantasy MUDs, and Palladium Games is also famously litigious, so the kankoran must go. They are already largely removed from the website and as of the patch no more kankoran PCs may be created. Revised histories and lore will be introduced to the game to smooth the transition as well as expand the histories and portfolios of other gods and cultures. We are slowly working to convert existing kankoran NPCs in the game to other groups. This isn’t difficult, merely time-consuming, and we are unlikely to have finished completely by the time the rest of the patch is finished, but for most purposes the kankoran will be gone.
Fortunately our work has been very steady over the past year and change. Most of the engine work is complete at this point and we are in the process of doing final passes on earth and air scholars and the multitude of areas and quests we have added or updated. This involves quite a lot of writing as well as pre-preparation for the event we are using to introduce this patch and some of the changes that are accompanying it. Our goal for this event is to involve as many people as possible, so please look forward to opportunities to do so and for teasers of upcoming happenings. If you want to be involved and aren’t sure how, please reach out to Elanthe over Discord or send a note to immortal.