Yarash's Mages' Sanctuary

main

You have entered the tower's auditorium. There are quite a few mages here, coming and going as they please. This is a large room, slanting downward with the shape typical of most theatres. Below you are two dozen rows of chairs, and below them is a stage with a polished hardwood floor. Standing on the stage is the invoker, Yarash. He is delivering a speech to the audience. Why don't you have a seat and listen for awhile?

Disclaimer: While I generally watch what I say in other forums, I may tell it as I see it here. It is not my intent to upset anybody. If you have your own opinion you would like to add, you are welcome to email me. My email address is listed on the title page of this site.

11/24/03 Yarash - Toril Advertising -- We care?

Three days ago, when I mentioned over occ that we had slipped from 4th place to 6th place on the mud rating site, Moltok replied, "we care?" His henchman, Tregor, quickly added, "and why do we care?"

I'm glad you asked, Tregor. This should be obvious, but advertising a mud is a good thing. The higher our rating, the more new players are going to come and take a look at Toril. We care because of the "MU" in MUD. If we didn't want to play a game with other people, we would not be here on Toril today. The staff of Toril works hard to make a quality game, but without other people to play with, we'd might as well be playing console games.

When I explained that this form of advertising attracts new players, Moltok replied, "new players have been coming anyways". I sincerely hope that this pathetic disapproval of Toril advertising is not shared by the rest of our pbase. It has been proven that advertising increases interest in the advertised product. If Moltok worked in the marketing department of Toyota and said, "Well, why do we care about advertising? People have been buying cars anyways.", he would promptly be fired.

10/20/03 Yarash - EQ changes

First, I'd like to say that I don't understand why everyone is so anxious for the EQ downgrades. As I understand, my eq is going to lose about half the hp it provides. I die enough as it is, I don't need this.

The point I'd like to bring up tonight though. There is a rumor, started a few weeks ago, that a list of the new eq stats has leaked. If this is true, and I believe it is, I think the list should be made available to everyone. If it isn't, and the changes don't come for awhile (which they aren't), there is going to be some "inside trading" going on. People who know the new stats are going to be cheating people in trades. This just isn't cool.

09/02/03 Yarash - HP gear

I must admit, I get annoyed at warriors who complain about a mage's HP. What happens is, a warrior will compare his own hp to that of most well off mages and see that his own hp are less. The warrior will then proceed to say that mages have too many hp, and their equipment should be downgraded. What the warrior can't seem to grasp is, it is his own choice that he wears +ac/hit/dam gear rather than +hp gear. Additionally, his naked hp are just slightly less than that of a mage who may have spent well over a year working on his equipment. Where as the mage's naked hp is quite pitiful (as it should be, mind you). Warrior gear also tends to do a hell of a lot more than mage gear. I'm talking prots here, affects, procs, etc. A lot of mage eq is just plain +hp, and perhaps some -ss. I think if a warrior were to slip into that "overpowered" mage gear, he would be quite unsatisfied.

08/22/03 Yarash - Auction System

I must say that the new auction system really kicks ass. This is the best thing to happen to Sojourn since the storage cache code. This should greatly improve commerce across the mud. There are a few things I would do to improve it, though:
1. Add an auction channel so that we can comment on other people's bidding and selling. This would mostly be for teasing other people; it would be just like the arena channel. However, people could also comment on items they are selling, like "This is really hard to get." or "This doesn't load anymore.", or listing stats on statless items.
2. Adding an eBay style bidding system, where the bidder enters his high bid, and it auto-increments accordingly. This will prevent unfair last second sniping, which has been going on. (Note that last minute sniping under an eBay type system would be fair.)
3. Ended auctions would not show up on the list. To see them, people could search for a player, or "completed."
4. I would also limit the maximum listing time to no more than ten days. Having an item listed for one RL month is just silly.
5. I would change it so that items are sorted by when they close, with closest times at the top.

But in my opinion, what is going to be the most interesting part of the auction system, is to see how it plays out on the evilrace side. So far, the evils I have talked to really like the new auction system. However, a few months ago, when I had the nerve to suggest that a For Sale board in DK would improve things, there was significant opposition. In fact, as I recall, not one person thought it was a good idea. The reason they thought it was a bad idea was that instead of players giving items away to newbies, the items would be sold. Nevermind the fact that some evils were already sneaking into WD to post on the FS board there. I am going to be watching the auction list with interest, to see how many evils are now selling such items.

This really is a great thing though. Whether they like it or not, evilrace players will be able to equip themselves a little easier now. Everyone should be able to play the game as they see fit, as long as it isn't intruding on the enjoyment of others.