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Over the past few years, Events organised by mur have tended to have moved towards a format where the location is not announced until hours or minutes before the event. This is all perfectly fine for events where you need to be online and talking, but this has also applied to vet of the year medal celebrations among other important events whereby you only get your "reward" if you can log on at a specific time and get to a specific location before mur leaves. With MD spread across every timezone, there will always be times when an event location is announced, organized and held all before someone wakes up, and they miss it. In my personal opinion keeping a location secret until the last moment, then revealing it and expecting people to be there, even just logging in to go to said location and idle, is pretty mean when they lose the chance of getting some reward they worked for. Add to it the comments that have been made before about these events, and to quote the most recent announcement "Either be there in person or it means you don't care that much." Which quite frankly I'm sick of such an attitude. When i have raised such a point directly to mur he seemed not to understand the fact that not everyone can play MD 24/7 or even have access to a computer to just login and move somewhere. There are times when people work and therefore cannot access it. Its not that they dont care about X or Y, but that they cant log in. Holding such events announcing location an hour before the event just means you selectively pick certain timezones to participate, Nothing at all to do with if people care. If you really wanted to see who cared about something it would be announced days before, to see who would take the "hit" of idleing in the location (attaining losses for most) waiting for the event. Wheras now you count how many people were on MD to see the announcement... I doubt mur will change his mind in regards to this style of events, Given that his attuide at the moment seems to favor whatever timezone he picks, But i wondered what the community felt in regards to these type of events. Thanks for reading this post Chewett

Turning Free Credits link at the top into red and make it say how many active links are still to be voted on, just like Announcement link when there are new announcements. This could remind people to vote more often and help turn non-voters into voters which would help MD get higher position on voting sites and bring more new people. After all nobody can resist to click red link.

I love to draw, it's one of my biggest passions if not the biggest. So I wanted to shared with all of you my ideas: Thank you for passing by!! Feel free to share your opinion!! "I'm not the end of the line, just a ticket to another train"

I drew some symbols for the Principles a while back and they have been gathering dust ever since. If anyone likes them, have at them! Imagination Balance Cyclicity Transposition Time Syntropy Elements Entropy Light Darkness Changed photos to a, hopefully, better quality.

103) A Council rotation doesn't mean that the membership of the Council changes, it simply means that they all stand up and move a chair to the left.

Work on citizenship, no one can become a member of a land without joining an alliance, and with all these takeovers and tools requiring loyalty its entirely stupid not to have some way of becoming a normal citizen.

This might be a bit ranty but... I hate this attitude. On a personal level I find that I am active in MD when MD is mainly dead. Now, that is my tough luck and that is just the way it is, nobody is to blame for that. Like a lot of people I have a full-time job that involves travelling to work and back. Some people in MD work from home, don't work or are students of some kind. If you work in an office for 8 hrs a day you probably spend another 1 hr (up to 2hrs total) either side of that travelling. Then when you get home there is the issue of food. Food does not magically appear in-front of me when I am at home. I have to purchase said food and then cook it. Both activities take time. So lets call that an hour a day for cooking and eating of said food. That's about 11hrs of the day gone. Given that I work and have to get up in the morning to be in at a particular time and then do said work, that means I cannot stay up all night long on MD. Sad to say it is a given that I must strive to allocate 8hrs for sleeping (even if I don't actually sleep for the 8hrs or at all). So that puts me up to 19 hours of my day gone. So, yeah, that gives me 5 full hours out of 24hrs to play MD! Err.. no. I have this thing that I like to call a life. A life involves many strange and wonderful things like, talking to friends and family, reading, watching TV and other interests, dealing with some kind of unforseen drama or crisis, or doing further education (which I am doing). Then there are holidays. Yes, if I happen to book my hols months in advance and don't turn up to a set time and location in MD that is maybe even only announced while I am away on hols then I obviously don't care. Shame on you Firs for daring to go on a holiday. I was away this year for the festival around Easter. Because I was away that meant that I could not receive any medals etc. I would say that you could be online for hours on end in MD almost 365 days of the year, but if you happen to be unavailable at just a particular time and place in MD you get nada, or even worse, you are seen to be not bothered? I am pretty sure that there are many people in MD that can say the same for themselves and feel as I do. (This statement is in no way meant to offend people that have no life or the dead or undead. Any similarities portrayed here with real persons are purely coincidental.)

I apparently spend too much time on Pinterest and Tumblr. For no good reason, I felt the need to make bad MD valentines real fast and share them. And then I had the very bad thought that others may also want to make and share MD valentines. So happy pre-Valentine's Day people! Have fun and add if you want

*coughs* Hi Mur :P

Regular MD half finished is half finished for everybody. That's pretty much fine, because it puts everybody in the exact same position. Like, chapter 3 being under construction since... ever. Fine, it's just not there, but it's the exact same there or not there for everybody on that way. That MP-limit thing is slightly different because it's exactly NOT the same for everybody. In fact, it only concerns the people who are tomorrow's income, while the olders already have all that stuff. You don't fight, we all know that, but in a game where rituals are pretty much everything, it can be annoying when somebody uses a bunch of creatures you have no access to _just_ because you haven't been around at the time. And this is not just about a drachorn or maybe two, which might have been cheaper to come by at a point. All the really strong creatures are affected by that.

As you may know, I have been super busy the last year and its primarily because I have been arranging my wedding! Well this Saturday is the day I'm planning to make a guest book of MD'ers wishes so if you wanted to leave me a message send it on the google form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdZPPhiOkxAt19Nxbvgl-xmzj1WduUeSIfiKYSSuG868Ts0Bw/viewform?usp=sf_link It was streamed and I can link you to it if you message me! Anyway, hope you are all doing well! Chew

If your secret dream is to follow Braiton's trails and turn Drachorns into Wind Dragons, here's a deal you can't refuse: We provide the GG drachorn, free of charge; You spend the WP (ofc you need to have the corresponding wish available in the Wish shop); You keep the mutated creature for yourself. All we ask is to prepare a ritual/ceremony for such mutation and to host the event in Necrovion. Tainted Warriors will bring nightshade. ^_^ Contact me in game for details, I'll keep this post up to date with the number of available drachorns. Drachorns currently available: 0.

Since I cannot upload files to MD's forum, I can only leave you a link for now and hopefully tomorrow I can find a better way. So...this is what I have been working on: http://dstdst.wix.com/mdmagnet LE: This is the best I could do:

Well, I said I should give carving a shot and here it is: icon Bob for Established housing scene. Carved in someone's favorite soap (sorry mom...) Back story: Stakeout for people in the house to fall asleep -> in awesome silence creep around the bathroom cabinet -> target the victim -> abduct the victim -> get job done - point of no return. (murder tool in the picture)

Due to the Review of MD [url="http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/10/23/rise-and-shiny-recap-magicduel/"]here[/url], I have made a new alt today called Manifold. Its job is simply to go through the starting orientation, and see what simple and important concept need to be made clearer to help new players understand the game better. [i][s]The first thing I have noticed is that the screen it takes you to after registering an account is incredibly bland:[/s][/i] [b]FIXED[/b] [log=[i][s]Registration Screen[/s][/i]] [img]http://i55.tinypic.com/viiq81.jpg[/img] [/log] [i][s]The Account activation screen also lacks a lot of MD's style, however the main thing it lacks is a background:[/s][/i] [b]FIXED[/b] [log=[s][i]Activation Screen[/i][/s]] [img]http://i54.tinypic.com/fcp93a.jpg[/img] [/log] Upon actually logging in, the first thing that appears is not a welcome screen, not the paper cabin, not even the game, but the DNA choice screen. For a new player, this is going to make the game look like spam. While I suspect there is a reason for this to be the case, I would encourage that interface to be altered to not turn up until the player has at least 5 active days. After the DNA screen, the welcome screen comes up. The first page is very good, however from the second page unnecessary vagueness comes into play: [quote] You are now in interactive story mode. First thing you should do is to click the shiny scroll and see what it tells you to do. You can also chat with other players, [b]click them[/b] to see details about them. Slowly you will unlock hundreds of unique map locations, recruit creatures to fight for you, participate in [b]multiplayer[/b] quests and much more .. ... but not right now, for now just read on... [/quote] [b]Click them[/b]: I have heard a LOT of new players confused about what that even means. It should make more sense if it said "click their name" [b]Multiplayer[/b]: I have heard a LOT of players asking about where the quests are and why they can't find any. A lot of this confusion could be alleviated if it said "player created" instead. Page 5 of the welcome screen begins talking about events in the game which don't occur for quite a few tasks, and also give the impression that you are supposed to fight monsters a lot: [quote] Dont expect to defeat those shades the first time you try they are like this so you can learn how to regenerate your creatures. [/quote] I would suggest moving these two sentences to the story page, rather than the welcome screen, as it gives the impression that a main goal in the game is killing shades, and can be confusing when you will not see the shades for quite some time, and then not again for a very long time after that. Page 6 introduces yet more confusion: [quote] After story-mode, you are out again. This stage is the main part of the game where you will upgrade creatures, unlock map areas and much more. Don't search for npc's to fight, you must train your character by fighting other players, talk to them, everybody will jump in to help you as they can. [b]Try to solve the puzzles you find, they are usualy interconnected and will get you deeper in the game.[/b] Communication with other players is most important, you could gain access to places and achieve interesting things just by talking and making new friends. [/quote] There are only [b]two[/b] puzzles in this game that look like normal puzzles: The Sphere and the Gazebo. The majority of obvious puzzles are player created quests, which are generally NOT interconnected and generally WON'T get you deeper in the game. While there are literally thousands of puzzles that are interconnected in the game, they do not look anything like a puzzle until you have been in the realm for a very long time, long enough to understand what it means by puzzle. I would suggest revising that line, if not completely removing it. If revised, I would suggest something like: "Many players create quests you can do which have interesting rewards, and are a great way to have fun while socializing and learning about the realm" Page 8 continues with yet more confusion due to a MAJOR need for an update: [quote] Each creature under your control has its own weak and strong aspects. Setting up the right ritual is always important. Its not brute force that wins a fight but the right ritual. Experiment different rituals and ask around other players for their best fight strategies. [b]Heat, indicated by the "Erolin device" in the upper right corner of the interface[/b], is very usefull and helps you get better reward from the battles but also lets you cast magic at later game stages. On the other hand, heat makes you get more [b]XP[/b] and you will hit your [b]XP[/b] cap faster and thats not good. [/quote] [b]Heat...[/b]: Firstly, MP3 players do not have an Erolin device. They cannot use that interface. It is not something that they need to know about there, they will learn it fast enough in the game. [b]XP[/b]: This is a MAJOR point of confusion, which is going to need some serious looking at due to the decisions that have been made in game development. Firstly, the obvious: XP does not exist, it is called.... heat. However, what sort of confusion does this create for a new player who looks at the list of things that you gain for moving location, when it says that your heat increases? And what about when they look at the explanation for worshiping, that says you sacrifice heat? Or any of the other references to heat, that mean the magic gained heat, but there is no explanation that it is different from the Experience heat? If I was a new player, this would be a major point of frustration and confusion to me, and I know a lot of people would quit because of this. Some kind of decision needs to be made about the choice to name two incredibly important, yet completely different, concepts and mechanics the same thing. It is unnecessary confusion. Wow, I discovered this by accident... If you go Idle while the welcome screen is open, it just takes you straight to the story and doesn't have a link to reactivate the welcome tutorial. Um... what? I would seriously recommend making the game keep track of whether a player has reached the last page of the welcome tutorial and opening it automatically whenever they resume the game, just like it opens on the first login. And obviously, fixing it so the link to re-read the tutorial, y'know, sticks around for a while? Maybe for the first 5 active days, keep the link there? EDIT: Found the link, however had to do a lot of searching to find the tiny, unobtrusive link along the top. I would recommend changing it to a banner link at the top that stands out, sort of like the other banners that have been used in the past, for the first 5 active days. Page 9 of the welcome screen again has unnecessarily confusing text: [quote] Each character will evolve on its own path, depending on the story he choses and on the way he is playing. Solve the puzzles , talk to other players about clues, try to reach beyond the aparent restrictions...[b]there is a reason why there are weapons that cost 40k value points and your maximum is just 1k[/b]. Most of the players will see just 80% of the game, the secret 20% left is up to you to discover. The true secrets of this game are not behind a puzzle or a door, but behind the way you will play it...and remember, even the newest noob can manage in time to "defeat" the oldest veteran if he understands the game mechanics well. [/quote] The bolded section is quite unnecessary, and actually missleading. The maximum isn't 1K. You will go above that number [i]before you even [b]see[/b] your first weapon[/i]. I started with 1011, before I could even explore. And almost everyone (we are talking close to 100%) will realize when they see an item like that that they just need to raise their VP until they can afford it. It is a basic gaming concept. However, the message it is sending IS a very important one, so something like this should mentioned. The solution? Viscosity. Eon tells me that a lot of the newer players ask about what viscosity is and does. Since the newer areas are generally free of viscosity, I wasn't going to talk about it until later, however here is the perfect opportunity to utilize a brief reference to get people thinking about it. Instead of the old bold text, I would recommend saying something like: "there is a reason why some locations need more than 600 action points to access, when you only start with 100 maximum." As a member of the CLC, page 11, the last page, has a confusing bit of text that really bother me: [quote] This game is thought to be played a bit every day, comming back daily will give you certain advantages over time. Talk to the other players, share ideeas and work together to upgrade your characters, they are always willing to help someone new out. [b]A lot of things like fast regeneration of creatures are possible only with help from other players, and no its not cheating, its a unique form of collaborative play so that you can bend the rules of the game in your favor[/b]. keep an eye on the changelog, things are updating frequently. From time to time "Game Borders" are expanded and new features, quests or even entire lands open for more adventure.[center][center] [/center][/center] [center][center] [/center][/center] [center][center] [/center][/center] [center][center]Welcome to my world, a one of a kind game, Enjoy [/quote] The message that this presents is not clear. While the statement is true, it doesn't mention that a lot of the ways that you might try to "collaboratively" play useing alts is against the rules. It needs to be clear that when it says other players, it means other players and not other accounts. However, this message is quite a good one for new players to see. Solution? Add another page explaining another one of MD's unique aspects: Alts. In MD, you are allowed to use alts. I'm only able to offer this review of the early game BECAUSE we can use alts. But there are a lot of things that need to be remembered when useing them, and none of this is made clear to players who won't know about the restrictions untilt hey have known for a while that hey, alts are okay. In a lot of other games, the only reason for having alts is to abuse the system. In MD, they have a genuine purpose. Think of it like the sex talk: You can be a good parent and make sure they get the facts straight up (from yourself or the school, or someone else you trust), or you can hide away from it and let them learn it on the street, with no real idea what they know and don't know. Having read through the entire welcome, I have to say that the spelling and grammar is not very good. The whole welcome tutorial needs to be heavily looked at, as a lot of the data is out of date, missleading, and poorly written. A lot of the reasons that players leave that have nothing to do with the filters could be fixed right here. [b]Further first impression, before going deeper and exploring[/b]: [/center][/center] [list] [*]At no point was any mention of LHO's made. [*]At no point was any reference to the LHO button made, it is a crucial tool for new players who have a lot of questions and a large chunk of them don't find it until they don't need it. [*]Official signposts, that aren't editable by most players, often contain important information that is missed. These sorts of signposts would be harder to miss if they had an orange glow until they have been opened by a player a least once. [/list] Into the actual story now, the story scroll page when you have acquired your first creature and need to head back tot he land guardian displays this message: [quote] "Now it is time to return to the Land Guardian. However, once you have a creature bound to yourself, [b]you begin to attract other creatures[/b] which desire only to devour your vitality." [b]Tasks:[/b][list] [*]- Deal with all the threats you encounter on your way back [/list] [/quote] For the reasons stated before, this is going to confuse new players. There are almost no NPC's in this game, fighting is between players. It is an important warning, however the wording definitely needs to be changed. I would recommend changing this to just tell you to head back the land guardian with your new creatures so you can continue exploring the land, and have a new page come up when you return to Old Mans Road telling you that Shades seem to be attracted to your creatures now. ie, for the exploration pop-up: [image of shade] "A strange creature has formed in front of you, consult your scroll" For the Story Page: "Now that you have creatures of your own, new creatures seem to be attracted to your presence, and threaten your life. Almost all the combat you engage in in this world will be against other players, very few creatures will threaten you as these ones do. Use this rare opportunity to learn how to fight, and how to control and look after your creatures." Generally, the combat interface is very friendly and user friendly now (thankyou Rendril) however one problem still remains obvious: The Battle Results tab and Summary tab still refer to XP instead of heat. This is as far as I will take the alt for now. Once a player leaves story mode, they are into the game proper. My main concern is with the first impressions upto this point. If anyone has any specific concerns with later stages of the game they would like me to look at, please post below and I will look into it as soon as I can. I would really appreciate if someone could provide me a link to the topic "What makes you quit MD" since I can't find it, and it was supposed to be pinned.

Hello MDers, creatures, tress, and non livings In celebration of MD Bday, we Mbians would like to hold a Meme Contest! There will be rewards for the best meme’s. Examples : Winners: 1st, 2nd,3rd,4th and 5th, Yes five winners [ Winners will be the top 5 memes ] Rewards : 1st Winner - Morph + Ann. Armor 2nd - GG Dragon + Ann. Armor 3rd - 5gc + Ann. Armor 4th - Angien egg + Ann. Armor 5th - Ann. Armor {Subject to approval} Judges : Kiley, Nad, Azull, Eagle eye. Rules : Only Pure MD Stuff related jokes or messages (Images can be of your choose). So this quest requires part MD Skills + RL Skills to win. U can post more than 1 entry. Deadline : 20st April 23:59 ST. Good luck! & Hail Mbians hehe

There has, and always will be a distinction between offical roles. Just because a player can do something, doesn't mean they are allowed to do so. As a player I offered someone a morph for free. They didn't reply to me for a number of days, I believed they had left game so I gave this item to someone else. After a number of days they came back and requested the morph. I told them that I had already given it away and wished them good will. They then asked me for "PERMANENT clicky coding access and to ask Mur to give me a quester pack" (spellings corrected, content static) The Morph was from my personal collection, While I can create as many morphs as possible I do not do this as that would be an abuse of power. Both of the secondary items items are not something I would ever do as its an abuse of power. I suggested to this player that the coding access can be obtained freely by requesting it and proving its good use (after 3 months if it isnt used well it will be removed). After this they spent some time demanding rewards for various accomplishments they had performed ingame and being offensive as I wouldnt give them coding access or anything they asked for. ---- What people dont realise something is, Just because I have the power to do something, doesnt mean im allowed to. Any times when I have freely given away things is because I myself has earnt that and have the right to give it away. I cant give you coding access "Just because" or because you insult me, You need to earn these. This applies to all offical roles, Grido cant ban people becuase he doesn't like them, he has to have a valid reason. When people request things you need to think of a valid reason for that person doing it, that fits with their limits of their powers.

Over the past couple days iv had a lot of questions and in both chat and PM form about Jail. Why can people escape? Why are they allowed to play? Why are they not just banned? and i thought it might be interesting for me to post the responses on the forum. [b]What is the difference between Jail and Banning?[/b] The main difference between MD and other games is that there are two primary punishment methods. Jailing and Banning. If you are Jailed you are sent to the jail scene and marked as a convict. If you are banned you cannot play, cannot login, cannot do anything. In MD's history very very few people have been banned, the preferred mechanism for punishing people is jail. [b]So why have two methods?[/b] When you are banned you are essentially not permitted to play the game. However when jailed you can still do a large number of actions, including escaping, sending PM's and still being involved in the world. Being sent to jail can just be part of your character and a number of players have successfully woven this into their characters history. Jailing a character allows them to continue to do what they were, and gives a much larger range of actions than just being banned. Jail as a punishment is the exclusion from the main "outside" world, many people treat jail as a ban, and dont bother logging on, but a smaller subset has roleplayed their being in jail, given jail "reports" on the forum or escaped and continued to play. [b]Jail is so easy to escape![/b] Over the past years iv seen numerous convicts stating that "Jail is so easy to escape" rather smugly, as if it is some achievement. Its humorous to see that they dont know very much about it. Jail is designed to be relatively easy to escape. I didnt understand why it was so easy to escape until i talked to Mur about it and being able to escape fits in perfectly with letting people "play" while being punished. If we wanted to, we could easily stop you from escaping it, and if we wanted to go all the way we would just remove jail completely and ban you. But thats not what MD is about. MD is different. Just like resetting the GoE piller combinations, methods to escape the jail have slowly changed so that they are not entirely widespread, It keeps it as a level so that people need to do some work to work out exactly how to escape. But the likelihood is, at least while im around, there will always be a way to escape, provided you are smart enough to work it out, and have some friends to help. If you are sent to jail, you can wait out your sentence, or attempt to escape knowing you are going to be in there longer if you are caught. To add more roleplay value there is now the fugitive system so that people could be "caught" if a number of people want to send you back to jail. Its all about having something unique, giving players the ability to change their own fate, become that criminal that keeps getting sent back to jail. or someone who is evading the law to prove their innocence. ---------------------------------- If people like this sort of thing, i might post some more up when i get a bit of time. Some of the design decisions, and lore of MD is interesting, and it appears many people have forgotten, or never heard of some of the genius behind MD. So comment if you are bored/like/dislike this so i can get some feedback

Re-do the stats and tokens system from scratch and set tight limits on stats. Because i feel that we've gone too far from 'good strategy beats high stats', and i want that back.

Haha hey nad relax man. everything will turn fine in the end. we r here to have fun isn't? it so lets enjoy dude haha... Don't mind DST ..she is running short of people for her victims haha... She makes those who can't be defeated as her friends ..and those who can be defeated as her enemies. Thats why EOn falls in her friends category haha. And Eon she is just having fun out here and yeah by giving u some trouble hehe ...just play sportive and don't take anything to ur heart. Bottom line is have fun and enjoy dude don't take anything serious after all its just a virtual world haha...

So, basically I have to say this because if I don’t I will simply end up exploding in a very undignified manner and letting myself down. Laugh if you want to, I am past caring and in an odd way you will just endorse what I am saying in my view. MD encourages and fosters harassment, victimisation and bullying. MD is a game for bullies and blow-hards. It seems that MD has rules about using bad language and we have the word Nazis on patrol because we use a word like ‘crap’ or we have the sex patrol, out to make sure that we all remain chaste. Yes folks we need all these things because MD is a place where kids might hang out and they may be exposed to something that poor little children should remain protected from. But, bullying? Nah every kid needs a healthy dose of bullying don’t they? (And by the way, age is no excuse either, whether 9 or 99, nobody should be subjected to it and using the excuse that someone should be old enough to handle it is also just ignorant) For a long time now I have seen people in MD chased around the place. Spied on, called names or just being attacked over and over again. And what do people in MD do? Well, some people point out that no rules are being broken. That the person has said ability, so no matter how they choose to use it, it’s all good. When people actually dare to complain what happens? They get told they are talking rubbish, to grow up, to deal with it, to get their own back, that they are being babies, or even that you think it is hilarious or better still, there is no problem and that you would do exactly the same. And some of you endorse it by the virtue of saying nothing. I’ve seen people let themselves down in their reactions to things. Their arguments might reduce down to babbling and bad language and little else. However, I feel that there is an element in MD that just delight in that. It’s easy to laugh at the poor tortured soul having a meltdown. Bless them, they are clearly off their rocker. It seems that many people content themselves with the view that the person was just unstable or weak or immature to begin with. Let’s not waste time considering that perhaps there actually was a valid reason for them to complain in the first place. Or heaven’s forbid that perhaps we have a moral obligation to recognise that not everyone is as hardskinned or hardnosed as you may be? No, what we need to do is keep pushing and pushing someone that is clearly unhappy or distressed about something until they reach the point that they snap. And you know what, we can all have a jolly good laugh about it and then just sit back and wait for the next person to snap. Fun times indeed. Yeah, I have decided that I will just be a dick to someone today/this week/this year/forever and you know what? It’s totally fine. As long as I don’t break any rules, I can do whatever the hell I like. I mean, I can be a dick in real life, but chances are I would have to deal with my boss, my friends, family at some point or just get a plain old box in the face from someone. But, I don’t need to worry about that in MD. As long as I don’t actually break a rule I can be as big a jerk moron wallyface as I please. Yay for me! Go team jerk moron wallyface. Oh, you don’t like being called a jerk moron wallyface? Tough nuts jerk moron wallyface, I am not calling you a curse word, so neah neah neah. Ohh and by the way, you have a face like an elephant’s backside and your mother fed you with a slingshot you is so ugly. The other one I love is when a person acts like a jerk, but it’s ok, coz guess what? They are just like that. Yup, if you happen to be a total jerk it’s ok to act like one. But if you aint a jerk and you do something that someone thinks is a bit jerky, then yeah, you need to be told off for that one. Do you think that I am over-reacting? Maybe I am, I think not though. Come on Firs, harassment, victimisation, bullying? Awfully strong words there pal. I really don’t think that is true at all. Would it make it easier on you if I called it ‘socially undesirable behaviour’? I mean, cybersex is so obviously socially undesirable behaviour, but hounding people, calling them names, spreading lies about them, slagging them off as foolish or weak, well that is totally different right? I mean that is obviously acceptable behaviour. Chasing someone around and attacking them over and over again, for hours at a time even though they have asked you not to do so, that is ok too. I mean, it’s obvious that you are upsetting them, but hey, you aint breaking any rules right? And yeah, of course people are going to point that out and say it’s hilarious and they are such a stupid weak idiot, they like totally deserve it. Yeah, you go girl/guy! Shame on you people. Shame on you.

Recent events in MD have left me feeling quite hurt, ashamed and to be honest with a complete sense of despair. I am going to ask you to do something for a moment if you will. I am going to ask you to take off your emotional response hat for a few moments and your ’member of (insert land name here)’ hat too. So let’s start at the beginning shall we? A while back there was a torch competition. I urged people in Loreroot to participate on the basis that, well to be quite honest, it seemed to be fizzling out and I thought it would be a good way to get people motivated and interested. And hey, it might have brought some reward for Loreroot, so sue me. I fully expected that if we did quite well, it would result in other lands sitting up and taking notice and in turn increasing activity. Not a bad thing at all I thought. Now we seemed to have gotten people interested. We employed a tactic which subsequently seemed to say the least, unpopular. Now resist the urge to explode with righteous indignation please. This ‘tactic’ was noted to be used by other lands. It doesn’t really matter who came up with it, who used it most or even if it was fair. What matters is that it was being used by other lands other than Loreroot. Even if not an official land strategy it was nevertheless in use. At no point previous to this did anyone at all say it was cheating (at least not to my knowledge). So let’s just leave it at the fact that while, unfair perhaps, or dirty even, it was not cheating (or at the absolute very least, nobody said it was and lots of people were doing it). Now, we come to a post by Rhaegar congratulating his fellow Lorerootians in winning. I will whole heartedly say that this was an amazingly moronic and potentially insensitive and insulting thing to do. However, he did say that it was not his intention to gloat or insult people and as he also said he did post it in the Loreroot section. Regardless, some people took offence to it. Now here it comes. Suddenly Loreroot cheated. A tactic that was not considered or identified as cheating suddenly is cheating. Rhaegar is personally called a cheat. Oddly enough a few people agree that indeed it is not cheating and has been employed by others. Yet Rhaegar remains branded as a cheat. Then it moves further and several people in Loreroot are told that they are cheaters too. In fact to be blunt, it basically descended into all of Loreroot being branded as cheats. I would also like to point out a few more things at this juncture. Several people who claimed to have been insulted by Rhaegar’s post had this to say about it “ “. Yup, nothing. Neither on the forum or to me. Now it seems that at this point the good and righteous people of MD (that being everyone that was not one of the evil cheaters in Loreroot) decided that it was good and proper that evil be vanquished. In some cases it seems the justification was to hurt Rhaegar for his hurtful comments. This is where it gets intriguing really. After choosing to make no effort to air your hurt, you set about to punish Rhaegar by stomping all over Loreroot and the evil cheaters therein. Yes, you thought so highly of the need to stamp on Rhaegar (one person) you’d walk over everyone else to do so. Now to me that is a bit like carpet bombing a country to teach one person that upset you a lesson, but I digress. In fact, I guess you had no choice in the matter because, let’s face it; I didn’t do anything at all when you spoke to me about it. Oh that’s right isn’t it? Nobody actually did come to me at any point to address any concerns or issues. But let’s not get into that shall we? Far be it from me to suggest that anyone actually attempts to communicate. Nope, much better to get out the auld torch and pitchfork and have a good old lynching. And so our story leads us to round two. I like to think of this as the burning of the infidels. So, you club together (nice to see you set aside your differences or simply jump on the band wagon) and proceed to do your worst. But wait! They are still at it. I cannot seriously believe my eyes! The evil wrongdoers are at it again. They are now using alts to cheat. The nerve of em! You’d never see anyone else do that. No sir, not on your nelly. Well accept maybe that lad there sitting outside Ravenhold as both him selves at the same time. But actually, that doesn’t matter, cos he is one of us and we are the righteous few. Yes, we shall fight their evil ways by the same token. I have to stop here and ask the question, do two wrongs really make a right? If your concern was about cheating, why is it that it was acceptable for anyone other than Loreroot people to cheat? (and for the record do the exact same thing previous to these events, not even as a reaction to them). For the record, I don’t agree with cheating. I never asked, implied or approved of anyone cheating. I would always tell people that are cheating to stop and more importantly not to do so in the first place. Steps should be taken to stop cheating. I wholeheartedly agree on this. But this was not about cheating. This was about the evil doers in Loreroot cheating. This was, for want of a better word a witch-hunt. Yet another crusade against certain sinners, but not the sin itself. I saw people called names. I saw Rhaegar called a cheat. You may call him hot-headed, a moron, hasty, tactless and perhaps lots of things. But to call him a cheat when he actually hasn’t.... Sorry, in my book that is just wrong. I saw someone called a cheat that amusingly enough has never scored or even help to score a point for Loreroot. I personally feel that I have also been branded as a cheat. I saw someone that was threatened because they used an alt. They were told to stop or face the consequences (which included having their alt named publicly). I saw a threat where a person was told that seeing as Loreroot was a gang of cheaters, and that we were going to get a dose of our own medicine. I’m sorry, but I have really had enough of the self righteous and sanctimonious nonsense that has been flying. The simple truth is that this has not been about cheating. It has been about settling scores and personal grudges. It’s been about one-upmanship and throwing your weight about. If it was truly about cheating then why has this not been properly discussed? I have still yet to hear from anyone what exactly is an acceptable or not acceptable use of an alt in the TC. I have not heard any general discussion or agreement on the practice of taking another lands torch. You have achieved absolutely nothing constructive in this mess. And yes it is a mess. It’s just bred yet more ill will and hurt. Is it not about time that this crap stopped? Is it not about time that instead of flying off the handle at insults (imagined, misinterpreted, real or otherwise) and taking personal issues and grudges to beat people with stops? Is it really really so hard to try to sit down and talk to other people? Is it so hard to identify an issue and try to resolve it without anger and violence and upsetting people? Or is it simply a case that if you have the power (or feel that you have) to do something that you have the right to do so? Are anyone else’s opinions and feelings that unimportant?

Due to beign locked out while writing, here we go again =D This was supposed to be in http://magicduel.invisionzone.com/topic/7831-the-bad-ass-mp3-strikes-back/. Read it that way. During the production of those pics, 20 mp3 were capped. I don't care if there's an mp3 account that can beat me, anybody can, no big deal. I'm bothered by that account still being mp3. If it was mp5, i wouldn't care. If it was mp3 and always hidden/never online, i wouldn't care either. But since it is mp3, online, and putting that rit up in MDP, i'm bothered. In fact, i'm so bothered that i complain in accordance to following rule: [quote] Any repeated complain from multiple unique users will get some kind of unwanted action on you, try not to offend people, or to cause a mess in general[/quote] There. I complained. About february hurting newbies, the only resource MD really, really needs. I wonder how many pages it takes to have enough complaints to make february mp5, or stripped of his angiens.

I'll go and use that opportunity to be first responder to brainstorm a bit, preferably with controversial stuff... Why do i feel the urge to tell you that? So you know right from the start that you'll get to see a lot of things you won't like =P So, why do people leave... I think a big part of people leaving is becasue of low population, really, when there's nobody left to play with, prey on, and do something for, what is my purpose of being there? Being Omega is fun for some time, but not very long... Since people tend to form tight little groups, and don't get to play with too many others, they actually feel that nobody is left when two or three if their group stop to log on regularly, and come around more scarcely, too, which vicious cycles to death. Now, that wouldn't explain why someone starts leaving i the first place, though... For that, i find several things to blame: -SG&GGG (who'd have guessed?) Fighting IS a major part of MD, no matter how you look at it, it's the most developed, most predictable, and probably most interesting part, at least for some. This doesn't contain just fighting in itself, but also crit-development and stats. Controlled Mass Training leads the system completely ad absurdum, anybody can get any creature, anybody can get any stats they wish, and nobody works for it, so people are not really interested in fighting after pretty short time, the interesting crits take too long, and the less interesting are just public anyways, even on mp3. -RPCs I think that abolishing RPCs was not such a smart move after all. Sure, at first i loved it, i could get abilities much easier that way, and knew that they were even kind of unique now, and had a feeling that not many people could get more than me in the new, just system, that rewards a sharp mind and dedication. Unfortunately, just that turned out to be true, the system is so very just that nobody CAN get more than the top few, and if you are fast, quickwitted, and probably pretty good at English, you simply solve more quests, find more stuff and win more contests than others. Who could compete with Shadow on speed? Who could get a better grasp on mechanics than No one and dst? Who could write harder quests than the Bunny? In a just system, newbies (whenever saying newbie in this post, i mean anybody under 100-150 active days) are nothing, they don't have the skills and tools, they don't have the right connections, and they are highly unlikely to make the right friends. Probably the unjustice of giving abilities to people who do a lot of chatting and trying weird new things was better than the justice of giving them to those who earn them through work, if only for the sake of giving newbies a goal to work with, 'Get a good role and you WILL get better things than dst and Shadow, even when you never catch up with their stats and WPs' -story Since AL stopped, and probably even before that, there is no _big_ story for this world, if you get my point. A newbie coming to MD doesn't know where to turn. Where's the right and wrong side? Where are the leaders? Who can help me choose? I had the luck of being born into the Shade War, when we had clearly defined sides, good, evil, neutral (without going into who was good and bad, that still confuses me), each with two-three leaders, pretty nice guys really, one of them palying a bit dark, one of them claiming to be right on all matters, and one... setting a quest instead of talking, mostly, but still, she existed. Nowadays, i'd find it much harder to pick a side, and a side to stand on makes life a lot easier at first... A clearly defined set of friends and foes gives you an opportunity to start working on something, make friends and foes, create your role... blabla, the things that make you stay and play imo. Enough for one post... Solutions to each go without saying

Welcome, thank you for stopping by! I just want to share some of my work to you guys here, and i'd love to hear your thoughts too, so please feel free to leave me a comment. : ) 1) My first drawing quest from Lintara, after i visited the Loreroot. I was thinking sth like a historical remain/ ancient altar/ magic array…etc. with symbol/puzzle elements. I tried to match the MD art style, even used the similar fonts & texture! 2) MD Avatar Coloring Contest May 2018 The mysterious power & beauty. (Permission granted by Lintara for using her avatar) Before: After:

Hi all. Since I produced quite a stupendous amount of text, this will come in parts (since I do need time to study and other things too). Please feel free to move, I was not sure if it was appropriate to post this in the "Quests and Contests" subforum. Feedback is more than welcome, please try to stay constructive. If you feel that I missed something, point out where and what you think should be added. Pardon fancy language. I may or may not have been under the influence of beverages at the time of production. Without further ado, here is the first part, about quest design and sponsorships. The part about judging & rewarding is still a work in progress. Text Wall ahead. Questmaker’s Etiquette Guide With various fantabulous tips, tricks, do’s and don’t’s Glorious Introduction Here we shall look at 3 major topics regarding making, holding and rewarding a quest, particularly for the realm of MagicDuel, as follows: Quest Design What is good design? What is bad design? Accessibility. Types of quests. Target audience. Tips for a few types of frequently-held quests. How and when to announce quests. Miscellaneous. Sponsorships Short tips about who and how to approach for sponsorships. List of rough values of certain items and creatures (maybe). Quest Judging and Rewarding Single blinding, Double blinding and other judging paraphernalia. Rewarding: do’s and don’t’s, who and how to approach for help. "How to". Quick guide to help you jumpstart your quest. (This will be a skeleton only! To help you guide your own creativity, not to be used as given!) Case studies (maybe). I shall point to a few quests (mine, unless someone else volunteers their own quests and experience with them) and try to dissect out the good and the bad. One thing to keep in mind is that throughout this guide I shall ask questions. These are to provoke thought rather than to demand an answer. There is no correct or incorrect answer in general (with a few exceptions), but there will be a correct answer for your quest. You just have to think how that question relates to your quest (think about how your quest would answer that question, not about what answer I want to hear, if that helps). Quest Design Briefly put, in MagicDuel there are a few things to keep in mind as a questmaker. Some are obvious, some are not, some are counterintuitive. I will also look at a few specific structures of quests that pop up frequently and suggest tips for them, if they are to be used as templates. I shall also attempt to discuss how to tailor your quest to a target audience while keeping in mind the idea of accessibility, and a few suggestions about how to make announcements regarding quests. What is good design? What is bad design? In a nutshell, a quest that is well designed will run smoothly. It will not need adjustments on the way, it will not need the direct intervention of the questmaker to resolve issues, it cannot be cheated, and there is no unintended interaction between participants (spoiling or sabotaging). It’s vague, unfortunately, and it will vary for each quest types. But here are a few things you can do, or questions you should try to have an answer to: Try and test whatever can be tested. Do your clickables function, if any? Is the quest goal achievable? Does it require very personal information (i.e. specific relations of your character in-game)? Could others effectively know and solve it? Is the amount of heat/resources/whatever obtainable in the time you give? Could you do it? Could someone help you test it? Is the time window feasible? Will the quest take too long or too little time? Does the quest heavily depend on everybody showing up, or on a specific number of participants? Can that become an issue? Can it be avoided? Try and anticipate flaws or issues in your quest. Are there ways to cheat/cheese it? Can it be easily disrupted by a third party (movelock, attacklock, teleporting)? Do you want to change the design to avoid this, or rely on external help? Are there any unintended progress-stoppers? Is there a risk of participants spoiling eachother, or sabotaging eachother? Is it indended? Is it an issue? How could you prevent these issues? Is your quest transparent? Is your judging and rewarding transparent? Can people obtain details about judging and rewarding after the quest? The answers here should be yes! Can you manage the quest by yourself? Do you need assistance with: Scripting clickables? Try the scripting section on the forums Try contacting known scripters for help (please let me know if you want to be named here) Preventing disruptions? Do you know who might potentially disrupt your quest? Diplomacy works (most of the time). Request help from friends, or protection under neutrality (Can MDA offer such help?) Request help from your land leader (if any)? Alter your quest design to avoid or reduce the risk of disruptions (hold it in a nojump location, for instance). Effectively holding the quest? Need a shady character that participants need to chase? Ask around. Need another helping hand with distributing things to players during the quest (information, items)? Need someone to supervise what participants do? Is the quest engaging? Does it feel like an adventure, a continuous process or are there breaks and holes in it? Is it just a series of unrelated trials? Does it relate to MagicDuel at all? You could run a ‘good’ quest without this, but a good quest design will also make the quest enjoyable and fun, not just ‘doable’. One of the best things to do is to try and integrate it with the world of MagicDuel. Try and make it part of the game, rather than just a ‘task’. Accessibility, Target Audience and Types of Quests Though this may be subjective, one fundamental principle of quests is their accessibility. This doesn’t necessarily mean that everybody should be able to complete it, but as many people as possible should be able to begin it. This may refer to restrictions or requirements on: Mindpower Is your quest for a specific Mindpower only, or does it bias for/against a specific Mindpower? How, why, and is it intended this way? Active Days Don’t think I’ve seen this one, but is there a restriction on active days? Why? Is it necessary? Why? Land / Alliance Can only people from certain lands/alliances participate? Why? Does your quest design bias against/for people from certain lands/alliances? Why? Is it necessary? Specific people Obviously, saying “X cannot participate” will immediately be bad. This does not mean you cannot exclude people from your quests, but it should not be baseless (for instance, that person is a judge or a sponsor, or that person has a repeated history of trolling your quests, etc). But excluding people should be considered bad practice, and making such a decision should be taken extremely seriously. Number of participants Does your quest have a restriction on how many questers can begin it? Why? Is it intended or necessary, and if so, why? Talent & Skill Naturally, drawing quests are going to be fundamentally different from tournament quests. Keep in mind though that you can easily put talent into the backseat by adjusting your judging/scoring parameters! Stats Does your quest bias against players with specific stat values? Is this intended / necessary? Does it need adjusting (such as tiering participants)? Keep in mind, many quests will often encounter at least one of those restrictions. These are not to be considered as deadly sins (or things to not do under any circumstance), but rather things that you should be prepared to explain if asked, or changed if not intended. Moving on to the target audience. MagicDuel has a very mottled player base. Some are artists, some are grinders, some are roleplayers, some are coders, some are good with numbers and ciphers, etc. It is very difficult to design a quest for absolutely everybody, so you should at least aim to have a specific audience (whether it is broad or narrow). It is perfectly fine to make a quest for artists or grinders only, but it is good practice to try and make it as broadly available as possible. Think “roleplayers” rather than “that specific type of roleplayer”, if that helps. You could also include multiple, different types of players by introducing multiple stages (have a combat stage, an art stage, etc)! This should be designed very carefully however, or it might discourage people from participating. Maybe make the quest for teams, and thus give them the possibility to include different skill types in their team? Up to you. Quest Types The Arts & Crafts Quest The Tournament Quest The Roleplaying Scenario Quest The Clickie Chase Quest The Cipher / Puzzle Quest Announcements. Miscellaneous Tips about how to announce your quests, where to do so and how. You should announce your quest preferably when you are certain you can hold it (this means you have found sponsorship for rewards, if necessary, or already designed and implemented the bulk of the quest). This is often done on the forums, here. Key elements you should mention in your quest release announcement should be: Description of the quest requirements (registration - optional, only use if 100% necessary, or details you need for an application) The task itself + deadlines Rewards Judging or scoring methods (do not name your judges. Just say if there will be any and give a few details on what you will be giving points for, if applicable). Keep in mind that for some quests it is better to announce later rather than earlier (when you want to prevent people from finding loopholes in your quest, for instance). Try and give a decent amount of time, but do not give a stupendously distant deadline. This means people will have to wait very long for their rewards! Give too short a notice and people won’t participate, as they will fear their effort will be wasted. During the quest, keep in mind that you announcing details about any of the participants (who is participating, if they have any score so far, who is leading, etc) may lead to their sabotaging! Do not divulge information about participants that is not public by quest design, even if you think it’s harmless! Be wary that information leaks. Try to tell as little as possible about the quest prior to its release. You might give details to third parties helping you set the quest up and while said third parties may not participate, they may pass the information further to potential participants. Sponsorships and Rewards Quest rewards can be varied, but can usually be broken down into 5 major categories: Wishpoints. Arguably most valuable. Coins (Gold or Silver). Arguably most versatile. Creatures. Can vary from extremely valuable and rare, to very mundane. Items or Resources. Some can be valuable and usable (spellstones), other are for RP purposes only. Some resources can be used to create other items or creatures. Other rewards. This may include things such as nightmode, dreams, melodic charm, medals, group memberships or spelldocs. These can perhaps be some of the rarest rewards, but their value will vary wildly on the perception of the receiver. For 1-4, you can approach the Treasure Keepers (namely Eara Meraia in-game). You can also ask for sponsorships from just about any player! However, by the time you ask you should already have: A clear quest structure in mind An idea of how difficult the quest would be An idea of what sort of rewards would be suitable for it For 5, you should approach the players responsible for those rewards (for instance, myself for nightmode - Aeoshattr in game) Players who can give special rewards (in their own quests and/or as sponsoring): Nightmode - Aeoshattr Dreams - Jubaris (?) Melodic Charm - Burns (debated currently, I believe) Spelldocs - lashtal, *Nimrodel*, Intrigue You can always award part of your own items or creatures. If you want to be able to award Wishpoints on your own, you will need to obtain Wishpoint Reward Codes, which you can get from the permanent Drachorn Quest, but are sometimes awarded to questmakers by admins for particularly good quests. Keep in mind that rewards should scale with quest difficulty! There is no “here are some average rewards” guide. You should be able to assess the difficulty of your quest and have a rough idea of the type of rewards that should be given. You can always use past quests that you can find on the forums here as a reference. If you are unsure of the value of a specific item or creature, you can consult past prices by searching the forum here. Make sure you look at the time and date of the transaction! Prices change in time! If still in doubt, you can always ask veteran players in-game or post on the forums. Quest Judging and Rewarding While I cannot provide direct instructions as to how to judge each and every quest, I can provide some principles that are good to follow when thinking about how you select your judges, how you send the quest information to those judges, and subsequently how to distribute rewards. Luckily, some IRL principles can be applied here very successfully! Without further ado… Judging Principles Single Blinding. This means that your questers do not know who your judges are. This is extraordinarily simple to implement and I dare say it is something that you must do in all of your quests. How? Ask for judges publicly, but ask for applications to be sent to you privately. Go directly to someone you know does judging and ask privately. Make sure you ask them not to divulge their judge status. Do not accept judge applications that are made publicly. Why is this good practice? Think about questers potentially influencing judges. Telling them “look for a submission like this one, see if you can give it extra points”, etc. If your questers are unaware of who judges your quest, then that is much more difficult to achieve. Always try and go for reliable, reputable players, whenever possible. Double Blinding. This means, like single blinding, that your questers do not know who their judges are, but it also means that the judges do not know whose quest entry they are judging! This may sound a bit trickier, and it is, but nevertheless it is not very difficult to achieve. What this means is that you need to take these steps, in order: You apply all the principles above when selecting your judges Ask for quest entries to be sent to you privately (forum PMs?) Make sure you keep a record of which entry belongs to whom (privately). Microsoft Excel (or Google Spreadsheets) is great for this. Anonymise each entry (remove player names or revealing details, such as titles, ID, etc). Replace them with “Participant X”, where X is a number you assign so you can undo the anonymisation later. Send each anonymised entry to your judges. Therefore, the questers will not know who judges them and the judges won’t know whose entry they are judging. This is one of the fairest things you can do. This also ensures that the only one who knows whose entry belongs to who is you. Obviously, this can be cheated, but it is much more difficult than if you don’t do it at all. For the more visually inclined, here is an example of what you would receive by forum PMs and what you should send to your judges (using real player names, for the sake of it): Other bits and details, in no particular order. Google Spreadsheets is a great tool to be used for judging. Here are a few things that it can do (automatically) to make your life easier: Maths. It can calculate averages and just about any other formulas you might need just from values you input. Easy Sharing. Just send a link to your judges. Make sure you set the document to request permission to view from you by e-mail, don’t let everybody with the link see it! Hiding. You can hide certain parts of a sheet, or certain sheets from your judges, so they don’t see either your own scores (if you give any) or they don’t see the totals and rankings so far, so that it will not influence their judging! Think of it this way, if one judge sees that he can make the difference between 1st and 2nd place by his choice, it might influence him in the scores he will give in order to put one participant in front of the other. Selective Editing. Google Spreadsheets can be set-up to allow each user to edit only a specific portion of the entire spreadsheet. This means you can have a single sheet for everybody, and each judge can edit only his own little section. No changes in the formulas you put in or in the layout, etc. This works very well for quests where specific score break-downs are needed (such as an arts & crafts quest, where the total score is composed of many little scores awarded for different criteria). You should post your score break-downs, where there are any. This is for transparency. You may or may not want to reveal the judges at the end, and if you do not want to reveal their names (also ask them if they want their names out or not), then simply use Judge X, Y, Z, 1, 2, 3, etc. You should double check your scores and calculations. I know it’s very tempting to just take what Google Spreadsheets gives you, but at least look over it once to make sure there are no blatant errors. You should aim for two judges for most quests. If you apply double blinding by default you cannot be a judge, unless someone else does the anonymisation for you (which I don’t recommend, I would prefer depending on myself only for this kind of thing). Each judge should have an equal weighting in the final score. This means you can’t have 3 judges, but in total their opinion is worth 10% and yours is worth 90%. Each judge should have an equal weighting. Make sure your ranking criteria are defined at the beginning. This means if your quest isn’t a simple hierarchy of scores but has some sort of tiers or thresholds, you define those clearly from the very beginning and maintain them at the end of the quest, regardless of how many people ranked in each tier (or didn’t). You should always consult your sponsors, if you think there is a problem with how many people ranked (or didn’t) in a certain position. Make sure you provide the judges with your marking scheme. This means be sure that you send them the entries you get from the questers, but also exactly what they should be giving points for, how many and how! If the quest is a puzzle, you might need to send them the puzzle solution. If it’s an arts & crafts quest, you might need to send them the criteria (such as creativity, originality, design, relevance to quest, etc). Always send marking schemes after the quest is finished and when no further entries can be submitted. Just to be extra-safe so your answer doesn’t get leaked before judging starts.

I'd like to share some random thoughts; it's two years since I joined, a little retrospective on my part. Who knows, maybe some can connect to what I'm saying here. First off, I find that much of my first impression of MD is gone. You know what the say about the first impression. I personally felt ...mmm...an uneasy, eerie atmosphere. The story of Marind, the visual style (striking because it was different from what you usually see), the 'wtf am I supposed to do', it all created a thrill, a feeling that _something_ is broken. Now, it's more like 'what's happening new?', getting pissed off or laughing at stupid **** or cool stuff; so, it doesn't feel like a game, it's...something else. Another thing: people who return. I don't understand that. People who return are like people I see everyday in MD, but never talked to them. And it becomes weird when they suddenly say (some of them): 'I'm back and I'd like to do something cool, but there are people who prevent me from playing the way I want to.' You've heard that. What they mean, is that they have a history, with bad and good, the good is why they came back, the bad is why they don't dare do anything, 'cuz they know it will be rubbed in their face. Oh, you're back. Who cares? (i'm kidding, welcome back :) ) But some make alts to come back. To such an extent I don't believe in new players anymore. All I see are alts, alts, alts. The moment one asks a question/says something that shows he/she understood something about the game, I get suspicious. Who the f are you? I think. That is the question - not that 'to be or not to be' lame ****. Who are you, I'm going to spy on you and mistrust everything you say, 'cuz you are OBVIOUSLY an alt. A new player wouldn't know _that_random_thing_. Newbs are a myth. But new players do arrive and I'm like 'where did these people come from?' And they come to you and start talking to you and stuff as if they're EQUAL. My thought is b*****, I got more AD than you, go sod off'. Then I think I used to be like that and I well up thinking how great some people are to actually help newbs. I wouldn't have the patience; I'd go like 'go read and then come back to me'. So, that kind of attitude is felt. I felt it, I wasn't told that (much), so I am in some kind of love-hate relationship with the vets here. I like them, they're great to actually not say 'f*** off', but I'd like to strangle them, because the attitude is there. Then I think I'm becoming like that and I get scared. I never thought I'd get to this point :( to actually think I'm better than other (new) players. Maybe there's a genius in there and I brush them off and wait for them to come ask me things (not that I know that much, don't ask me stuff). But I can't help it. And new people always come up with new ideas, don't they? Creature ideas, concepts, mechanics...Of course, I think 'Chill, we don't care about your little ideas'. On another note, I like how people can be untrustworthy assholes around here. Of course, being one means people will shun you, you will be ignored, isolated and your only hope will be in newbs who don't know you yet. But you can be one in MD and you won't get a 'no entry here' sign. Even more, you will be someone people can look at, examine, decide whether they want to be like you and stuff. I liked when Mur stood up for my name change, saying people are entitled to an opinion. It wasn't my intention to offend anyone (not in that manner, anyway), but the fact that I wasn't censored was cool. I like there are some annoying people in MD. Like, pissing me off. That makes me more focused. The fact that some will shake their heads, even if not saying anything, makes me want to show them. Also, I didn't really think about MD disappearing up until recently. Like, ending for me (personal issues), or for everyone. Now, I just accept that as a fact. Yes, it might end just like that. There were times when I thought about quitting, so that would've naturally ended it for me. But, you know, it can just go away and there's nothing you can do about it. That's not necessarily a bad thing. The thought gave me some kind of freedom, as if I'm not bound to, compelled to do anything. Too much freedom is dangerous, though. What if I just quit suddenly because I feel freeeeeeee!!? Idk, but I don't care that much. For now, I feel my MD experience will end with a ban. Why a ban? Because I can't think of another way. Merry Xmas!

The above image (click to enlarge) breaks down the interface into different areas, 22 in fact, the rest of this post will go over each area as to what it contains and useful info about each bit. If as a new (or old) player, you feel there is information that should be added to this, please send me a message suggesting such. 1 The top bar, often not seen because of it's unobtrusive nature, is very useful. As a new player there are 4 buttons that will matter the most to you, the rest look at, but they're not as beneficial at the outset. - The first being the "View Announcements" button, this could also be in red, and rather say "View *** New Announcements" with *** being a number. When clicked, this opens up an in-game window detailing the changes the game has gone and is going through, by reading announcements you will be kept up to date on the changes that have taken place in the game. - The second is the "Game Intro" button, this will reopen the introduction to MD that would have appeared when you first logged in, you may have closed this without reading it first time round, or forgotten what it said, so it may be helpful to go through it again. - "Active Forum Posts" may not be immediately helpful in itself, but it will link you onto the forum where there's a lot of information and help available - though not all information found will be helpful. - And lastly "Free Credits" if you are not able to buy credits for whatever reason, or plain don't want to, but feel that credits could come in handy there is the Free Credits section. This area displays a list of weblinks, clicking on each and voting where required will give you some credits over time - the amount you get from each link is shown there. Along with the credits you gain, you also get small stat bonuses for voting. See section 18 for information about and the use of credits. 2 - On the left there's what are referred to as activity day arrows. You initially get 1 per day, which then slows down in rate, the newer arrows laying over the older. When a player reaches a year of active days, this design changes into a diamond type symbol. In short, the more fanciful the design is, the more active days the player has. - Following that is your playername, your ID, and then the amount of active days you have - you get +1 active day every server day you log in (server day will be explained in section 10). - The "Logout" and "Go Idle" buttons are different options for players should they wish to stop playing for the time being. Logout works like it would suggest, as in any other game, it logs you out, players aren't able to interact with your account etc. Go Idle offers you the ability to allow others to interact with your account on a basic level (see you there, send messages, attack etc) without you being active yourself. An account will automatically go idle after a certain period of time of inactivity. 3 This is the "filled" version of the left hand menu, when you start the game you will have a few of the items enabled, and as you play the others will unlock and display for you. The 'lens' currently shown around the scroll will place itself over whichever icon your mouse is hovered near. I'll detail here what each icon is for. - The first item, looks like a scroll, is one. This will show you your current Story Mode progress, clicking this will produce the same effect as clicking the big glowing scroll in the Paper Cabin Study Room. - Second item down represents a compass. Whenever a game instruction says to click on the compass, it means this button. This button will take you from viewing any other page, to viewing the navigation screen - the screen displayed in the main image at the top. - Next we have an icon which looks like the heads and shoulders of three people. This icon is for alliances, if you decide to join one (and they invite you) then this is where you will be able to see the current and online members of your alliance, as well as be able to have conversations with alliance members wherever any of you are in the realm. - The fourth icon, that looks kind of like the head and shoulders of an angel? is for your "Profile and Personal Characteristics" the page displayed when you click it displays your stats like attack, defence, etc as well as your principle values. You pick your principles during Story Mode, and then increase their value later in the gameplay. If you are part of a land or alliance you can also see the bonuses given by them there. The lower part of this page shows you avatar information for when you get one (or want to upload your own), as well as general information about your account, like when you created it. - Then below that you have an icon of a shield with two crossed swords over it - this is for your "Current Equipment" page. This page displays the weapons and varied pieces of armour that you have 'bought' (with Value Points, not connected at all to your actual money) in game, and allows you to view details about each piece, as well as equip the items. You can find equipment shops in various locations around the game. - The sixth icon is actually a little baby dragon, though some people initially think it a "squelch" or even "an elephant with a mace". This will take you onto your "Available Creatures" page. At the top it has an elevated 'Vitality Orb' with a figure, or figures bowing around it, the level of the orange content of the orb reflects how much Vital Energy (see section 6) you have, and therefore how much can be given to your creatures should they be injured. Below that image are your creatures, you will see a very basic overview of each one (you can click the creature icon for a more detailed version), and if it has less than it's maximum health an orange bar will appear below it, clicking this will give it a portion of your Vital Energy. The proportion of your own Vital Energy that you give to the creature depends on how many adepts (section 6) you have, the more adepts, the larger the proportion. Having more adepts also increases the amount of figures bowing around the vitality orb. - You then have an envelope icon, this will open an in-game pop up showing you the messages you have received from other players, and gives you the option to reply to them. There are also a couple of paid shop features that enhance the message system, but this help text won't go into that. - Below that is a map icon, this will open up the realm map. As you go through Story Mode you have to pick up a scroll with the map on it, after picking it up, this button is how you will access it in future. When you open the map you will see a rippling orange 'blob' that is where you are on the map. - Second to last icon is of two crossed swords. This is where you can view your previous battle logs. The game is mostly Player vs Player, so don't expect lots of shades dotted about like in the tutorial section of Story Mode. - And last but not least is an icon that looks like....three ink drops in a swirl, yes, that was said. This icon will take you to the "Magic" page. Initially you will have no spells, you gain these through various methods as you progress in the game, but when you do you will find them listed on the "Outer Magic" part of this page. The "Illusions" and "Inner Circle" parts of this page are currently locked off until further game changes are implemented. 4 The top line of this image displays the title of the scene you are currently in, you can also view this in area 6. There may also be a slightly smaller line of text below this (not shown), referred to as the location subtitle. The subtitle of a scene is set by a player using up a Wishpoint (see section 9.1). Not all locations have scene titles. Below the scene title(s) is the line "Research and Connections". When clicking this text the side panel (section 10) will reload displaying some further information. This is a feature of the game whereby you can use research points (you start with 10 and can get more from the Wishshop (section 19)) to reveal information about certain parts of the game, given enough personal research you can also submit research for review and possible inclusion into the game. 5 This, you will not see until you are Mindpower 4 (the next 'level' up from when you start out). It is called the 'Erolin Device', with it and the 'Erolites' above it you can store and release temporary Heat - not to be confused with Heat Tolerance, this game's version of experience (will be explained in another help doc to do with battles). Each erolite stores 1000 heat, to store, you just click on the erolin device itself when you have 1000 or more present and it will be transferred into an erolite, with anything above disappearing - you can do this in multiples, so if you have 2000 heat, you would be able to fill two erolites. You start out with two erolites, and can buy a further four from the MD Shop (section 18), as well as gaining them during the game's winter celebrations and at other announced points. The erolin device itself can hold a maximum of 4400 heat before being capped, and will undergo various different patterns as the amount increases. You can gain heat through moving around the realm, and also through fighting, it works much like the concept of a stat multiplier when fighting. To release stored heat back into the erolin device, all you need to do is click on one of the erolites - this will release the 1000 heat it had stored. 6 - At the top of this area you have your regeneration counter. The bar below the countdown timer displays in a pictorial form how far away from regeneration you are, the more filled the bar, the closer the moment is. When the counter hits 0, you will regain some of the stats listed below it. How long the counter is and how much of each stat you regain depend on whether you are part of a land or alliance (section 3) or not. The values for each land vary. - Below that lists the location you are currently at. - Then you have your Mind Power level. The first number represents how many principles you chose during story mode, up to a maximum of the second number - the second number being your mind power(MP) itself. In this example the player has chosen four principles, and is MP5. - You have the stats as listed on your "Profile and Personal Characteristics" (section 3), and you also have these stats: Vital Energy (also known as VE or Vitality), Action Points (AP), Value Points (VP) and Exploring Points (XPL). - VE is essentially your health in the game, you provide it to your creatures when they fight for you. Having no personal (as opposed to creature) VE doesn't stop you from fighting though. - AP you spend as you move around, travelling from scene to scene uses up these, as well as various other actions, as the name would suggest. - VP is like the stat version of money in the realm, you primarily use it when recruiting creatures, and also when buying armour. - XPL you spend when visiting locations for the first time. - Below those stats you have your adept counter. A player can set who they are an adept of through the Daily Progress Page (section 12), which forms a mentor-student relationship. The adept counter displays how many players have listed you as their mentor, clicking on it will provide a list of them, as well as being able to send a message to each of them. As you gain more adepts the icon changes in design to reflect this. - At the bottom of this section there is a small circle with a bar moving around it, when the bar reaches the top the stats above it refresh their values, keeping them up to date. 7 This is the Trigger box. It serves several purposes; an announcing tool in the form of the "Newsbox", Tips and Hints, and as a display for the 'Triggers' in game. The Newsbox displays informative announcements from time to time, such as when the forum is offline, or when certain contests or events are taking place. The Tips and Hints provide useful information, particularly when starting out, they are fairly varied in content so keep an eye out for what they say. The Triggers themselves reflect magical activity within the realm. The "UID" part is the User ID for the player that has cast the spell, or that it has been cast on (varies between depending on which spell) and the text following is information about what type of magical activity has happened. It doesn't just show spells cast, but the use of certain items as well as fight causes (will be explained in another help doc to do with battles). 8 Town crier info 9 - On the left of this area, the book icon, takes you to a page displaying your "Achievements and Trophies". You have to initially find these within the game before being able to achieve them. There is a "More Info" button at the top of this page which will provide more detailed information. - To the right, the star icons, are Wishpoints, the icons are golden when you have one available to use, the area displays a maximum of ten, though you can achieve more than that. Wishpoints are the currency of the Wish Shop (section 19). You can gain them through completing quests, or by reaching certain achievements, there are also some wish points given out by the system, too, for example; solving the puzzle in the Broken Pattern Gazebo. - At the top of this area it lists the "Server Time", this is set to GMT/UTC+2. When organising things that are happening in the realm, players usually use the server time (ST) as a universal so that everyone can relate to it. - Below this is the game day and year, the day series begins with 0 on January 1st and progresses, whilst the year is counted from when the foundations of the game were first put into place, it increments along with the Gregorian calendar. The picture shows the side panel which contains various things, indicated by each menu item listed together at the top. A few of the ones that are considered to be more important are listed below. - Inventory - The image above displays a player's inventory, you will not start out with any items, but when you do attain some, this is where you will be able to see what you have. By clicking the "<< Details" button, you will be able to view a more detailed list of your items. The bottom part of this side panel page allows you to transfer items to other players. - Personal Page - Clicking this will produce and in-game pop up. This page is considered personal in that it is yours to edit, not in that nobody else can see it. The edits you make to this page reflect on your player page located at "http://magicduel.com/players/<playername>" where <playername> should be replaced with your actual playername. - Notebook - Clicking this will produce and in-game pop up. This is where you can store personal notes or information within the game. Nobody else can access this apart from you. - Mood Panel - This is where people update their status's, it's currently the preset view on the side tab. This is a MD Shop (section 18) feature, in the Extra Features branch. - Options - Where you can change your preferences, as well as changing your registered email address and password. - The "Development Status" indicates what area the development team are currently working on, by clicking the status itself you will be able to determine what each status means. 10 Side panel info 11 This is the Live Help button, by clicking on it you will produce an in-game pop up to appear which will have some help pages to the right, and on the left will give you the option to message(section 3) a Live Help Operator (LHO). If you have any questions about the game or how to go about playing it, the LHOs are there to help. 12 This is the Daily Progress Page icon. Clicking this will display the changes in stats your profile has had that day. Below this will show how many swords(wins) and sheaths(loses) you have had in total (fighting will not be detailed here), you should keep these balanced. In the same area, your stored heat (experience) is shown, along with your current honour and loyalty. You can get more detailed information about honour and loyalty by clicking on the Live Help button (section 11), and opening the help page to the right entitled "Online users, Live chat, Viscosity, Loyalty and Honour". There is then a box where you can enter who you want to be an adept (section 6) of. When you reach Mind Power 4, you will also be able to 'worship' another player, where you donate Heat from your Erolin device (section 5) to another player, in exchange for the donated heat, you gain 1 loyalty. There would be a second box below that for adepting yourself, for entering who you would like to worship. 13 NEEDS REPHRASE FOR GoE This is the scene you are in, there aren't always arrows to click to move around, in the case of the Gazebo of Chaos seen here the bridge leading away from the central area allows you to click it to leave. There are also a lot of other things that can be clicked on in the realm, have a look around each scene for what you can click on, you might find some fun things. 14 Resources in this location 15 - The online player list. This area lets you know how many players are currently in your current location, and then lists them. If the player is listed in orange it means that the player is currently there, and if they are in grey then they were online in the last 60 minutes or have just passed by. - To the left of the playername is sometimes a small icon, they vary in design, but reflect that the player is part of an alliance. Inbetween that icon and the playername are some vertical dots - either two or three, and orange or black depending on Mind Power level of the player. - There is also reference to "RP Reality Requirement" this basically defines how realistic a player should be with their roleplaying in each particular location, based on the amount of players present. Exact specifications can be found on the More Info link next to it. 16 Live Chat. -At the top of this area there is a narrow box which you can type into, pressing enter/clicking 'talk' will then cause you to speak. Different things that you can do in chat can be seen in the "More Info" link just above this, as shown in the section 15 image. Talking will cause what you say to appear in the left of the two columns in the picture, where it says "No recent messages...". As indicated by the message below the chat, the messages written last for 12 hours. - The right hand column can display a player's mini-profile when you click their name in the playerlist, or in chat. The mini-profile will let you see a bit of information about the player, as well as being able to view their personal papers (will explain that in the next paragraph). In addition to being able to view various bits about the player, it also gives you the option to attack the player (not explaining here) and send them a message (section 3). - Below the chat area are three buttons; friends, papers, spells. - 'friends' are an MD Shop (section 18) feature, but can also be attained during our winter festival. When pressed it displays in the right hand column all the players you have added as friends. By having this list of friends, you will be able to message these players easier, as well as being able to tell if they're online. If you have paid for the feature, you can add a friend by viewing their mini-profile and clicking the add friend button there. - 'papers' when pressed, displays a list of various documents you have picked up in game and allows you to edit them to display information about your character to other players, they are known as your personal papers. You can pick these documents up in the MagicDuel Archives (MDA) which is a land to the north of the map, more specifically in the 'Indexed Room of Memories' - enter the Archive building itself when you get there, and take the left doorway once inside. The man at the table has the papers. Due to viscosity (section 22) you may find it difficult/impossible to reach there when you first start, but it will become easier and certainly possible later. You will have to first pick up the documents from MDA, prior to seeing them clickable in this side list. - 'spells' by clicking this a list of spells you are able to use, and have casts available of, will show in the right side column. As mentioned in section 3 about the Magic icon, you begin with no spells, so this list will initially be empty. You can get spells from the Wish Shop (section 19) or on special occasions. 17 This is the armour statue. You will not, at least initially, have this as it is an MD Shop (section 18) feature. If you do choose to purchase it, it's function is to display your current armour (section 3). 18 The MD Shop. Below the icon you can see how many credits you currently have available to spend. You can buy credits yourself through various methods listed, get credits from other people, as rewards, or out of players being generous, or alternatively through the free credits (section 1). The MagicDuel shop has a wide variety of items in it, split into different related areas. You are spending actual money in this area, so be sure about what you wish to get, you can't return items. New accounts get 5¢ credited to their account automatically, so long as nobody from the same computer or network / IP address has previously claimed the bonus. 19 The Wish Shop. This is where you can redeem your Wishpoints (section 9.1). At first, you won't have many visible wishes in this shop, but like the MD Shop, more interesting things get unlocked as you spend more wishes. The wish shop features a variety of spells as well as a few wishes that grant access to locked places or mutate creatures to create rare ones. You will not initially be able to access this area, you need 40+ active days to enter it. 20 Some more help documents, every help document you find will contain at least some useful information, do be sure to read them all at some point. Secret status is secret..shhh..... 21 Clicking this will produce a pop up giving you options of how to spread the word and tell your friends about the game. 22 +sky visibility, edit play music - Top left of this area you have 'Visits Here' this displays how many times you have travelled through or stopped in that location. - Then you have 'Location Viscosity' there is detailed information through the 'More Info' button located above chat, but essentially if a place isn't visited much, it becomes harder to access, and those visited regularly become much easier to. The +36 in this scene reflects that it'll cost 36 extra action points to enter this scene, so if the regular action point cost was 1, it will require 37 action points to move. - If you are a part of a land or alliance, you will gain loyalty towards that day, +1 each day. Whilst travelling on your own homeland, this will be removed from the usual travel costs of the location. - The 'Play Music' button is for scenes in which music is playing, if music is coming from the game you can both start and stop it from here. - Along the right starts with the 'Territory'. This is what land the current location belongs to. Each land has their own territory which affiliated players gain benefits for travelling across. - 'Coord' is the co-ordinate for each scene in MagicDuel. Every scene has one and it means that you can pinpoint your location, even when you're a little lost. - 'Tags' certain scenes throughout the realm have tags attached to them, allowing certain things to be able to be done in particular locations, or denying other actions. Keep an eye on what the tags might be in any particular scene. - What isn't seen in this scene, but is present in a number of other scenes, are "resources". Resources come in a variety of forms, and are collectable through the use of certain items (section 9.3).

Joke 1)A grasan walks up to a drachorn and sees the drachorn eating something. So the grasan asks, "Do you have any meat left?" Between bites the drachorn replies, "Nothing... Remains." Joke 2) A man walks into a bar and takes a seat at the counter. The bartender asks the man what he wants to drink and the guy responds, "What is the strongest sh** that you have?" The bartender nods and pours the man a drink. The man grabs up the drink and tosses it's contents down his throat. Eyes watering and gagging soon follow. After catching his breath he asks, " What is this sh**?" The bartender responds, "The best drink for such a mouth, Grasan Ferment." This is what I have thought of so far. Anyone is welcome to post jokes, comment on jokes, and make suggestions on how to make them better.

Then go back to the way it was, and make them RPCs. Make them god-like and untouchable and powerful, but in turn: Hold them accountable for their powers, make them bloody HOSTAGES of their powers! Pick people and give them fancy stuff. We all enjoy to see fancy stuff in action, most of it is pretty cool after all. But also give them a specific task! Give them pieces of information nobody else has, but not general stuff. If you pick a shade whisperer, tell them something about the shades not even the king of necro knows, if you pick an illusionist, give them background on illusions, and so on. Tell them where their story is heading, and MAKE THEM MAKE IT HAPPEN! As drachorn guy, i'd love to know exactly what the drachorns can and cannot do in the future, but i can't write my own story for them because their story already exists, at least in your mind, and i simply don't know it. Can i write a story-line where the drachorns eat the tiny men and ravage Golemus? Probably not, but even that might be possible. Can i make a drachorn fly off and hide in loreroot, or do they dislike the woods? I simply don't know, and even as drachorn guy i'm not in a position to write such attributes myself. ANYONE who gets something nice from you should also have a clear task assigned to it, like Eon and dst, as examples. You gave them fancy stuff (heads control and special access), and a task to fulfill (run contests with heads and spy on people). This is what MD needs more of, not random people running around with a bunch of powers, who all 'have something special' but no way to develop the things they have, because they only have powers, but no reasons. And if they fail to deliver, FIRE THEM! If you set someone the task to lead an expedition to the east and find out what's behind the dry water temple, and they don't get anything done within 6 months, take away their east loyalty. If you create a role like Braiton again (drachorn mutations, for those who don't remember, which is now in the wish shop) and they don't manage to create a story about it, take it away again! YOU are still the only one who knows the big picture, use your advantages and connect the random powers you throw out to fitting tasks that drive the game forward. Give them additional informations and let them use it as they see fit, THIS can make a role happen. You might think that we, as the stupid mob we are, dislike people like Fang because you give them something cool and we are jealous. Some might be, granted, but the big majority here likes to see people do something cool and awesome. But we can't respect an illusionist who talks about illusions and every second word is straight up wrong. When you give him illusions, you also need to give him some informations about illusions that are NEW, and make him present them in one way or another. He can do lectures, or talk to people, or make a quest, the only thing that he mustn't do is keep it from the public. And if he fails to do so, take away his toys again. That's not a punishment of any kind, it just happens that the role and the person didn't fit together in the end. YOU can use those randomly assigned powers to SHAPE the story. You can even give people completely different tasks and just see what happens: Tell me, as drachorn guy, to take an egg from the lair and smuggle it into Necro's Graveyard, and tell Azull, as king of Necro, that there is only one important thing about his reign, that he must never allow a drachorn egg to pass the howling gates, at all. Or kick it up a notch, and tell Grido, as king of Golemus, that you expect him to invade Necrovion within 3 months, AND let Azull know that an invasion is coming, but not which army is heading at him. And if i don't manage to do anything in regard to that egg, fire me! And if Azull doesn't manage to put up a fight when Grido comes, fire him!

So I've stumbled upon a conversation that took place and was made public. Since the person who had that conversation doesn't want to talk to me in person, (and it already was made public) I believe some words are due here on the forum. anyway, here's what I'm referring to: [spoiler] [12/01/14 12:59] Kyphis: (zzzzzz..... I sleep from 13:00:00 ST until 22:00:00 ST.... zzzzzzz) [12/01/14 23:45] :*Mya Celestia* stomps over to the bar [12/01/14 23:46] :*Mya Celestia* snatches a mug from the bar and throws it at the wall [12/01/14 23:54] :Valoryn ducks as soon as he enters the quarters [12/01/14 23:54] *Mya Celestia*:Shattered Illusions!!! He went to Shattered Illusions!!! [12/01/14 23:54] :*Mya Celestia* throws another mug [12/01/14 23:55] Valoryn: *ducks again* That he did... [12/01/14 23:55] *Mya Celestia*:I didn't want to believe it *she chokes* [12/01/14 23:56] *Mya Celestia*:I knew in my gut he would that jerk [12/01/14 23:56] Valoryn: *stands again* Me neither. *hugs Mya* But it happened... [12/01/14 23:56] *Mya Celestia*: *hugs Val tightly* I feel so betrayed [12/01/14 23:58] Valoryn:You tell me... *sighs a little* He guided me in my first steps in this realm. I had him as high as a mentor. Now, I don't know what to think anymore... [12/01/14 23:58] *Mya Celestia*:He [12/01/14 23:58] *Mya Celestia*:He's essentially gone to the enemy. [12/01/14 23:59] *Mya Celestia*:He couldn't have hurt us any more than he did joining them [12/01/14 23:59] Valoryn: *nods* I know. [13/01/14 00:01] Valoryn:But breaking all the mugs won't change that. [13/01/14 00:01] *Mya Celestia*:He's lucky I don't have a killing item or he'd be dead [13/01/14 00:01] *Mya Celestia*:Not that it would matter because his precious dst would just revive him [13/01/14 00:03] Valoryn: *nods* That wouldn't change anything either. [13/01/14 00:03] *Mya Celestia*: *sighs* I know. I'm just so angry. [13/01/14 00:03] *Mya Celestia*:And he'd know just how angry I am [13/01/14 00:04] Valoryn:I understand. [13/01/14 00:04] *Mya Celestia*: (now I get how Obiwan felt when Anakin turned) [13/01/14 00:05] Valoryn:If it makes you feel any better, you can keep throwing mugs at me. (Yes, same here too.) [13/01/14 00:05] *Mya Celestia*: *shakes her head* It's not your fault. [13/01/14 00:06] Valoryn: *smiles a little* I know, but sometimes it helps set the feelings that overwhelm us free. [13/01/14 00:08] *Mya Celestia*:I'm still thinking killing him but I can't do it myself so it wouldn't have the same feeling. [13/01/14 00:09] Valoryn: *nods in understanding* I don't think it would change anything. Not for the better, at least. [13/01/14 00:10] *Mya Celestia*:No, it likely wouldn't. *sighs* [13/01/14 00:11] *Mya Celestia*:Once the emotion burns off, I'll be ok [13/01/14 00:12] Valoryn: *smiles* I know. [13/01/14 00:12] *Mya Celestia*:At the moment, I want to beat him with a club until he's a pile of mush. [13/01/14 00:14] Valoryn:I admit I was feeling the same way when I first saw him with that badge, a few days after our Yule ceremony. [13/01/14 00:14] Valoryn:Now I pity him. And sometimes, pity is a stronger feeling than anger or hate. [13/01/14 00:14] *Mya Celestia*:Pity him? Why? [13/01/14 00:15] Valoryn:Because his roots proved to be weak and frail and that's a very bad thing for someone who calls himself a druid. [13/01/14 00:19] *Mya Celestia*:He spits on the druids with this [13/01/14 00:20] Valoryn: *nods* He does. [13/01/14 00:21] *Mya Celestia*:The coward told me he was stressed out and couldn't handle the pressure in Loreroot any more. [13/01/14 00:21] *Mya Celestia*:What pressure? I did everything! [13/01/14 00:22] *Mya Celestia*:Couldn't be leader of the Guardians. Like he did anything there either. [13/01/14 00:22] Valoryn:That's how I interpreted his words as well (in both the alliance chat and the forum) . [13/01/14 00:23] *Mya Celestia*: *shakes her head* I should have known....I should have seen this coming long ago. [13/01/14 00:23] *Mya Celestia*:I knew he was friends with her. He has been for a long time. [13/01/14 00:24] *Mya Celestia*:Now he's in an alliance that won't care what he does [13/01/14 00:25] Valoryn:I had a feeling he would leave, since last summer. Pure gut instinct and nothing more. I couldn't have imagined he would have joined them though. [13/01/14 00:31] *Mya Celestia*: (I have to go make something for supper. thanks for listening) [13/01/14 00:32] Valoryn: (No problem. I'm going to bed now, since I need to wake up early for work tomorrow, but if you need anything, I'm here.) [/spoiler] First things first. I resigned from my positions and left Loreroot because of REAL LIFE pressure and tiredness. I don't see how that makes me a coward or a jerk. I simply had no time or will to keep up to date with land issues, votings, events and such. It's also untrue, that I did nothing as land leader. Loreroot gov tags, Silvan Watch item and tags, negotiations with Council about reviving CoE are just few things I was working on. But that's not important really. As I said that was not the reason I quit. My personal life made it impossible to work further on that and other assignments. You might wonder why not just resign from leadership and remain part of the land? Voting system is one of such reasons. Inactive (and I already missed some votes) players, especially those with huge land loyalty (over 1100) greatly lower chances of successful vote. Didn't want to drag the land down. With my time limited I still didn't wish to leave MD. Have quite a few friends here, even if some proved to be rather fragile. With my balance issues and relatively little fighting now I felt it necessary to be in an alliance. There are very few alliances that are neutral to any of the main lands. Without internal structure. I fail to see how joining such alliance is joining an enemy. I do know that Mya dislikes dst, but personal dislikes are, well, personal. SI never was hostile towards Loreroot, and even dst personal issues have ended after a deal I made (as a part of Consul work) with her stopped both her and No One's resource depletion. There are also less important reasons why I chose SI.: "My mind got absent, troubles from different realm weary me. My illusions have shattered. I shall step down into the shadows and quietly wander the realm" I never was and never will be Loreroot's enemy. Even if you call me names and "pity me". Leaving Loreroot was not easy to me. All my active time in MD was dedicated to the land. In good and worse times. But what's really depressing is that people who had issues with my actions didn't even try to talk to me. And whatever you say, I still am a druid that walks a shaded path.

How about you get a different byproduct when you collect from certain areas. For example: you collect memory stones from GG, you get something (mountain related). You collect from Necro you got something else (something that you'd get by collecting in a plain's mine).

... how many credits you will get in 1 year only by voting? [color=#ff0000][size=6]You will receive 69 CREDITS !!![/size][/color] for investing only 3 Minutes of your time everyday and with this helping MD to be more known out there. I found MD through such a voting side and today I´m happy that you all voted for MD back in those days ... Thank you and all the best.

This is a simple game: get your musical portrait drawn by MD population. How do others see your character? [b]~ Rules ~[/b][list] [*]By entering the game, you gain access to the list of all other participants. [*]You assign a single tune (YouTube link only) to all participants you know, including yourself. Choose the song that you think best portrays the participant. Anything is allowed: don't hesitate to put up songs in other languages than English, purely instrumental pieces are even strongly encouraged; the music itself is more important than the lyrics in my opinion (although they are supposed to be related). Avoid putting the music that participants are using in their papers ... [*]Wait for others to do the same ... [*]... and enjoy your "musical portrait" by listening to the songs that have been chosen for you. All songs are anonymous, so you don't know who chose what for you! [/list] That's it. [i]Rewards:[/i][list] [*]You get to know how people view you, in music! [*]To be happy, surprised, disappointed, etc., and hopefully to have fun. [/list] You won't get any shiny thing, and I kindly ask any potential generous sponsor NOT to propose any reward. In this game, you just receive as much as you give. [b]~ What if there are participants I don't know? ~[/b] Stalk them, find them, meet them, talk to them, (R-)play with them, learn about them! By entering the game, you should be ready to go meet all the people you don't know yet, young or old. [b]~ How to start ~[/b] To enter the game, just go to Awiiya's way, check the Oak Log, and say "Musical Portrait". Everything has been made automatic in the clickie. It is just a matter of typing a short description and copy/pasting the link of the song, just like with the mood panel. Note that for storage limitations reasons, all fields are limited in length—use the "share" links of YouTube if possible. Warning: the first time you activate the script, you are automatically added to the list of participants. This means that your name will appear in all participants' list, and the interface will invite them to assign a song to you. Don't do it unless you're really willing to participate. There is no "give up" button, but I can remove you manually from the list of participants if necessary. Under the list of participants and songs you have chosen, you will find the list of anonymous (unless they are "signed" ... Well you can try to guess) songs that have been assigned to you, which obviously is empty the first time you activate the script. You can see your own list, but not that of the others. For each song, you can leave a short comment in return for the person who chose it for you, and it will appear next to your name in his/her list of participants. The clickie has been well tested, but if you notice anything strange, don't hesitate to tell me! [b]~ I can see everything ~[/b] I have access to all data obviously, and I can find who submitted what. But I won't spend my time monitoring everything, I don't have time for that. That said, if you find some inappropriate or badly unpleasant content, just tell me and I'll remove the content, or even the participant. If it is serious, it will be forwarded to the appropriate MD authorities. Please keep it enjoyable, I don't want it to become another reason for bickering ... [b]~ Many thanks to ~[/b] Brulant for discussing the initial idea, Burns for discussing the final idea, Chewett for answering all my questions on MDScript, Awiiya for allowing the use of his clickie, MD Council and Rendril for allowing the use of consequent data storage, and all people who helped testing the clickie (your entries are still there, btw)! Now go and have fun! There might be a second part in a couple weeks. Edit: YouTube links only, and I finally use multiple storages as Council and Rendril allowed me.

In the past couple week, I have heard more bitching, moaning, and fighting on the forums, that I would have had I spend the same amount of time among a group of emo's being tortured. If you don't know what that means i'll explain, It means that all you nice little girls and boys are -worse- than a group of posers who act like they are going to kill themselves but never do. So, to put this very simply.. This is October.. Starting December 1st, every time I see a pair fighting, complaining, accusing, harassing, and otherwise drawing things out, I will track them down, in game, to slap them. Yea yea, Cr*ppy(edited because "it is considered a swear by some") punishment, but what the frick am I supposed to do? I'm just a player with less than a year under my belt. The reason for my saying this is twofold.. this gives you the rest of this month, and one more, to get everything wraped up and neatly delt with. The second reason, is that -December is a special month-. Yea, I'm talking christmass, i'm talking winter solstice, I'm talking huanika, robotica, and any other damned reason to celibrate that you can possibly think of, Hell, my birthday is even in there! So.. all i'm saying.. is for one month.. Just one.. Stop your bickering, and be nice. Pipsticks should be shaking hands with grido, DST should run around huging everyone, Windy should have her sisterhood go out in force to smooch all and pass good cheer like it's a pluague. Passant and the other glass makers should hold a contest for a glass sculpture design, or just simply make one. The woodcutter should be everywhere with a pair of branches to arm every snowman. The water dousers should Poke a hole in the lake, and ice down Marind bell park for skating. Let MDA light a few fires so that Everyone can take shelter inside, talking like family and reading book. Let Windy Fill the air with the smell of Mulled wine, Hard and soft Cider, and munchies. Let Golemus put that magic and technology they are famed for to good use, to string lights anywhere they can to light up the night, and may Necrovion, being closed, spread holiday tales of what things could possibly Emerge from these hidden lands, to frighten or amuse the young and old alike! If that's to much good cheer for you.. Well MDA has a basement you can go be antisocial in. Everyone else, be happy, of good cheer, do not fight! Because if you fight, I will come after you.. And slap you.. With a chainmail scarf.. Or whatever's handy. -Pothos.

At this point i am having really bad rl issues, emotionally, financialy, healt, all of it....my nerves are very thin right now. I helped both sides as best as i could, with advice, with a new feature to use... the irony is the jester believes i was unfair towards him while pample and the people on her side believe i was to mild to him or that i am not taking action as i should. I will end this now very fast. Only thing you could ask me is my judgement. I did that. You heard my opinion on the matter, we had that meeting, you agreed to certain things and you both failed to respect the agreement. Not only that, but i am getting increasingly angry on the pressure from both sides, regardless how polite or well put it is. I am not able to fight my own problems in rl at this point, i will not nurse any of you more than i already did. I cant take sides, i must not take sides, you keep forgetting what i represent. I even told you my personal opinion, one that cant be official, to both of you. You can adress your complains, in an oprganised form, to the coincil. I signed them a bunch of papers in blank so they can take absolutely any action, they can ask rendril to implement any feature needed, do absolutely anything requireing my authority. I didnt asked the council into this because i was hoping i can help more, it seems i cant. From this point, i dont want to hear what kind of whores, child rapers or whatever other things jester calls you, i dont want to hear how betrayed you feel, i dont want to hear anything at all, because you obviously cant handle the answers you were asking. Necrovion, from all the lands, has a flip coin on my table. One side sais King, the other sais Shade Sentinel. If i get to personal on this, and i am already, mostly because my past experience with other people, shoeps breakdown, amoran scandal, and so on, i cant be a fair judge and not be angry, and i will do things i will regret after when i will be more calm. But at this point, if i hear one more thing from either side, i feel like wiping out necrovion, pick a handfull of people as shade sentinels puppets, and closing the land, taking society in md about 3 years back. Respect my nerves in such, dont give me reasons, i am looking for them allredy. Next in line Marind Bell.

You know what lets go ahead and remove GGG. Lets continue to remove every single thing that anyone sets up in MD because a few people have an issue with it. Actually, lets just go ahead and remove MD altogether. There's obviously not enough people for a certain few to pound on, so lets remove it so they can go elsewhere and do that. ANd lets face it, RP is rubbish and anyone that even attempts to RP is a waste of space and they should obviously spend there time wandering around with giant bullseyes on their backs. Infact, before we do that lets set those people's stats to 1 billion in everything so that they can feel good about themsleves for 5 seconds. I'm sick to death of listening to crap from people who like to whine and have issues with everything and everyone in MD. DO SOMETHING CONSTRUCTIVE AND STOP JUST PUTTING THINGS AND PEOPLE DOWN! NOTE: If you have a severe inability to comprehend sarcasm delete this posting from your mind. It does not do what it says on the tin.

I think the Death System needs a bit of polishing. Currently it is boring, purposeless and the opposite of an interesting mode people would like to see it as. No, it should not be fun, but it should have a clear purpose and greater meaning than being used as a punishment/amusement in regards to the killer. For most people, death in MD has no more meaning than a bit of extra time needed to be spent for the revival, which I think is sad because it has the potential to be much more than that. Anyone else thinks the same way? Please post your thoughts! Personally I've received a few suggestions: ~ possible movement via heat veins ~ different graveyards for each land ~ dead-only content ~ ?

When I joined Necrovion there were two alliances in this land. The Necrovian Sentinels and The Tainted Warriors. The Sentinels were disbanded by a player during Jester's reign for much the same reasons TW are disbanded now. I never asked for the Sentinels to be returned. This alliance was the result of a covenant between humans and shades. It's destruction and subsequent lack of reactions from the shades was a symbol this covenant no longer exists. The only thing that remains is that humans are allowed to live in Necrovion. I feel the Sentinels should remain dead until such time a new covenant is made. (which seems unlikely to happen anytime soon) Of course there is a practical reason too. An alliance with that many seats is impossible to protect. And since alliance taking has become such a popular and in many cases easy to do hobby, why bother. In August 2011 after Jester left Necrovion and joined SoS in the east, Tainted Warriors were disbanded by a player who acted as Mur's cats-paw. A few days later the land was closed and we were left with nothing. But it didn't mean the end of Necrovian society. Quite the contrary in fact. Some time later the alliance was given back to us because of a wish rewarded in an unexpected way (ann. 2034). Over the past years it was taken from us twice more because of misplaced trust and treason. Twice we got it back by use of illusions. With Peace gone this is not an option now. But is that such a bad thing? We don't think so. The Necrovian social and political structure we built is not defined by its alliance. In reality an alliance is a tool with a few useful features and a badge (of pride). Nothing more. I challenge anyone to prove me otherwise. Four years ago we made the foundation for this Necrovion without an alliance. Having none now doesn't affect us beyond the loss of a few gadgets. Necrovian society, or whatever colorful name one might prefer for us, still exists. Having no alliance doesn't change that.

Beginners Read here From now on, I challenge all beginners (no alts) to pass me heat stones for rewards. The stones must be given in the following amounts: Tier one - 5 Random premium creature: Joker, Imperial Aramor, Pimped Grasan or 1 Spell stone. Tier two - 10 5sc + 2 Spell stones of choice. Tier three - 15 Random Creature: Santa, Nutcracker, Angien. + 1 Hour of Night mode. Tier four - 20 Rustgold Drachorn or Gold Coins Please note: Tiers must be completed in order; 5 -> 10 -> 15 -> 20 (50 heat stones in total, to complete.) Tier 4 is dependent on current stock of coins and creatures. Players must be under 150 AD when starting this quest. Any more than 2 heat stones bought, or given outside of a task, per tier, will not be counted. Stones must be returned to exchange for prizes, timeless dust will not be accepted. Older Players read here: Helping players that are taking part in this challenge is encouraged; completing the challenge for them though is not. If you wish to give the odd heat stone out or sell them, feel free, but setting challenges for the beginners to earn the stones is appreciated (especially challenges which will help them learn). Please note: Any heat stones given to me will be then distributed between current "Task Masters" Sponsorships for any Tier level is appreciated. Current Task Masters: [log = Key] Number of times can be completed, per player; Task(s); Heat stone per completion[/log] [Log=Aethon's Tasks(A)] Gaining any achievement awarded by statues (WP achievements excluded) will earn the player 1 Heat Stone, unless otherwise listed. (1)1; Name 8 Kings or Queens, past or present, in MD. - 1 Heat stone upon completion. (2)1; Create your personal papers! - 2 Heat stones upon completion (3)1; Set your roots! (Join an alliance) - 5 Heat stones upon completion (4)1; Take part in 1 MD event and write an article about it. Describe what it was, who ran it, how you thought it went, etc - 2-4 Heat stones depending on how in depth an analysis provided. MP3 (5)1; Gain 100 wins and 100 losses - 1 Heat stone upon completion (6)2; Name 7 different creatures - 1 Heat stone upon completion (7)1; Upgrade 4 Aramors and 2 Barren Souls to level 2 - 2 Heat stones (8)1; Progress to MP4 - 3 Heat stones upon completion MP4 (9)1; Gain 1000 wins and 1000 losses. - 1 Heat stone upon completion (10)2; Name 2 locations in: No Mans Land, Loreroot, Marinds Bell, Magic Duel Archives, Necrovion, Golemus and Lands of the East. - 2 Heat stones upon completion (11)1; Train a ritual up to 100 Wins. - 2 Heat stones upon completion (12)5; Activate 5 bursts - 1 Heat stone upon completion (13)1; Progress to MP5 - 4 Heat stones upon completion MP5 (14)1; Gain 'Burst Burner' Achievement - 2 Heat stones upon completion (15)1; Gain 'Combo Fighter' Achievement - 2 Heat stones upon completion (16)2; Name five ex RPC's - 2 Heat stones upon completion Notes: 1) Any of these tasks may be completed at any Mind Power. The suggested levels are merely a guide. 2) If any tasks are completed before joining quest, rewards may not be claimed.[/log] [Log= Magohi's Tasks(B)] 3; "Impress" him (Speak to him for more information.) - 1 Heat stone per completion. [/log] [log=Syrian's Tasks(C )] 1 ; Write about your interpretations of the Shades based on the Adventure log and information from the forums. - 1-3 Heat stones depending on complexity. [/log] [log=Nimrodel's Tasks(D)] 1; Create a quest and run it! - 1-3 Heat Stones and possible Wish Point depending on quality [/log] [log=Jubaris' Tasks(E)] 1; Complete "Tutorial Campagin Quest" - 2 Heat stones upon completion Note: To begin, click sign board in Marble Dale Park. [/log] 56+ Heat stones currently available to earn. [log=Current Participants] Striked out letters and numbers represents heat stones exchanged, letters and numbers in brackets after represents tier level. Liberious: A2, A4, A5, A9, B Aniwaya: A2, A5 (T1) A1, A6, A10, A161, A162 (T2) Yokin: - Ghostlord: -[/log]

Considering that majority of alliances were poofed into existance "just because" or to be "main" alliances. Tell me what exactly you see as their "role"? If we really go down that road of logic then I can pretty much prove that not a single alliance has any purpose, not even SOTIS. By the looks of it Rophs is already on your boat to get rid of them all. I on the other hand don't think that if alliance isn't fulfilling it's "purpose" it should get thrashed. To hell with your imaginary purposes, alliances and citizenships have only ONE purpose in my eyes, to bond people together into certain groups and that purpose is doing very well.

Every Monday, around 21:00h (server time), I will be at the Marble Dale Park. I am updating my quest papers, which should be done by Monday, introducing few new tasks, dedicated mostly for the players in their first few hundreds of activity days. Some of the quests/challenges that I develop will be 'playable' only during those gatherings. Rewards will be appropriate :) It would be lovely if other people would join in, participate and interact, perhaps create tasks and games of their own every now and then, in the spirit of MD birthday festivals. Marble Dale Park is the place where players end their story mode stasis, so I hope this to be the start of 'newb-stimulating'. Those evenings will also be a perfect opportunity for people to speak to me about anything in relation with the affairs of Marind Bell, I will be in a much better mood than I would be regulary. That's about it - comments and suggestions are welcome, hope to see you there!

The question is simple: I wonder why cannot we use collected rainwater to make bushies grow? Isnt it the best and most natural use for this resource?

There are a lot of things on my mind. Yesterday while talking to a friend I realized how much MD has become a part of my life. Friends I made here have been closer to me than those I have had to work with and stay with. They know more about me than most people in my life. I have felt them share my happiness and they've been with me to share my sorrows as well. I have received love and friendship unconditionally, unselfishly It does not end there. MD has taught me few of the basic rules of life as well. That life is not always fair. That life rewards those who never give up. Or those who work hard. If not instantly, definitely at some point of time. It helped me realize majorly that not all people are how they appear. If there are liars, cheaters, manipulators and bullies, there are also those who are willing to help, lend you time or an ear, people who have your back. That there is no dearth of kindness and benevolence. It has taught me optimism. That bad always happens. But there's some good somewhere around it. It has taught me about loyalty, about persistence, about wit. It has taught me that being different is always a pro because it helps you to learn. I learned about the different shades a person projects. I learned how to appreciate a person's point of view. That language is never a barrier to free thinking. Everyday I learn that I am not the only person with n number of problems in life. And how to stay cheerful despite all that. Everyday I learn about history, geography, current affairs and stuff happening around the world. I learn how to appreciate art, the different varieties of humor, the different styles of expression. I learn how to attain victory. I learn how to accept defeat. And from defeat I learn never to give up. I have learned how to Welcome people. I have learned how to say goodbyes. Today when someone mentioned 'What if MD gets closed down?' it kinda hit me. Of course one would learn to live without it. But hell it'd be tough. So, I thought it better to convey how I truly felt about this community and this game. I highly doubt MD will ever be a phase for me. Thank you MD community for all the good and the bad that has happened till date. You have taught me a lot. I am grateful for everything. P.S. NO I AM NOT LEAVING YET ><

I'm resiging from my BHC position. I decided to post why, and show how the council and I don't see eye to eye when it comes to my position. This is an email from them and my response to them. If you feel like reading it, first read the council's email at the bottom. My responses are at the top. Feel free not to post, what you have to say really means very little to me. "> We didn't reply previously as you deemed to start the contest without > hearing back from us." Which according to the creator of MagicDuel, Mur, I had every right to. We've spoken about my BHC role many times in the past, and none of you apparently have any idea what he has told me. "The BHC's with skilldamage are run too regularly." From my coversations with Mur I was given the impression that skilldamage is supposed to be rewarded for every BHC. If I remember correctly skilldamage is suppose to make the "Strongest" player weaker over time, because no one will want to train with the person. Had I never recieved skilldamage I'd be about 5-10 times stronger than I am now, meaning my attack stat would be in the tens of millions. Kind of makes sense, although I'm also not willing to join little training groups, so that also has put a damper on my training in the past. Also, every BHC in history has given skilldamage so it's very easy to believe that's how it's supposed to go. ..................................................................................... "Rewards of the BHC should be appropriate to the contest being > run, Skilldamage is an exclusive ability right now and not to be given > out lightly. This contest in which participation was minimal and without > effort exerted by the players was undeserving of skilldamage as a > reward. Instead it was a contest in which you effectively set yourself > up to win again and receive additional skilldamage which is > unacceptable." Are you people really that stupid? I set myself up to win it again? What proof do you have that I specifically set it up to win skilldamage again? Oh, that's right, you don't have any, you're just assuming that's what happened. Yeah, you guy's are perfect examples of people who shouldn't be leading MD. You people obviously know nothing and yet make assumptions based on no real proof. Like I just stated, I was under the impression every BHC was supposed to give skilldamage as a reward. How could I have known there was going to be such a low turnout? Oh, that's right, I couldn't have known that. I set up the sign ups, I can't force people to join this. From what I hear, a lot of people were just too busy in real life at the time to sign up and give it much of an effort, so they decided not to sign up at all. Another group of people don't sign up because their weak and don't feel they have much of a chance in these competitions. Skilldamage? Seriously, why the hell would I care if I gain more skilldamage or not? I had 93 skilldamage and then it went up by 20. The effects of skilldamage are supposed to be capped at 100, so in essence I gained 7 skilldamage points. It turns out it's not actually capped, but I figured Mur was still working on putting the cap on it, therefore it would soon enough just be capped at 100. So you think I threw this thing just for 7 skilldamage stats? I get 6 just from a single shop reset. Lets also take a look at my battling history over the past I don't know, 5 months? Take a good look at how little I battle. Why would I possibly care if I gained a few more points in skilldamage if I often don't even attack the same person more than 5 times in a day? Hell, i doubt I usually attack the same person even three times a day now. I even look at Ignnus sometimes and say "screw it" before deciding to just go idle instead of attacking him. So answer me this, where do you people get off saying that I effectively set this up just so I could win it and gain more skilldamage? Skilldamage is pretty damn worthless to me, and despite what other players might say, I have no ability to see into the future. There's not only no proof, but there is also no motive for me trying to set this up so I could specifically win, at least when it comes to skilldamage. I didn't have the golden medal yet, but I'll tell you in the next few sentences how little I cared whether I won this thing or not. Guess how active I was during this entire BHC. You done guessing? I was active between 3-8 percent of the time. Do you realize how incredibly easy it would have been for people to beat me in this? GoE,SendtoMur'sgate (whatever that spell is called), Lighthouse, tea, alliances, cooperation. i could have been beaten so damn easy it's ridiculous. Lightsage actually came to my location in the east when I was sleeping and gave me his ball of heads through Roleplay. The few times I actually got sent to the GoE was when I had just gotten home and was checking my computer. Bummer for Seig on that one. You can even ask Lightsage or Shadow about it. I mentioned to both during the competition that I was leaving to go to some parties. That's what I do. I'm not interested in staying around sitting at the computer all day, and I especially wouldn't give MD that much attention. My MD addiction is buried in the past. "You quoted that Mur asked you to run BHC's every X months. Do not do > that. The purpose of your role is not to run BHC for the sake of running > it." Mur told me to run side events every two months and a BHC every four months. I said "No," because I thought that was too soon for a BHC, so I decided to throw them every six months. 6 months gives people plenty of time to train and get their stuff in order, and I don't consider it that short of a time period. I was willing to go a little farther than Mur wanted, but I won't go that far. .......................................... "> Mur gave you permission to do what you want with the BHC. That means > doing anything within reason. It also means you are fully responsible > for anything you do. As BHC organiser it is your job to source rewards > and deal with the whole of the BHC accordingly. This means that if you > want a reward from us you must contact us, and get it approved before > announcing it. If you announce it earlier without our approval we may > deny it. We know the relative worth of all the creatures in MD whereas > you do not have access to this information. If you announce > items/creatures before our approval we shall assume you are giving them > out yourself. In addition, it is your job to give out the rewards once > we have given them to you. Before announcing a BHC you must email us the > details of any special rewards you want to issue that need us to issue > them to yourself and then await a confirmation of our agreements on the > details of it. For this reason we advise you provide us details more > than the 5 days prior to the event you emailed us this time. If your BHC > does not need support from us then you can run it as fast as you like." I was told that if he was ever unreachable when I was going to throw a BHC I could email the council the details and that was it. I specifically asked along the lines of, "Do I have to wait for them to get back to me before throwing the BHC or side event?", and I was told that I didn't have to wait. You guy's weren't informed of that? Too bad, you're the council, you should already be informed of this stuff. It's not my problem that you leaders don't have your stuff together. Trust me, I'm not the only player who thinks of you guy's like that. ............................................ "> We also ask you (as we believe you have already been asked) not to > participate to win the BHC, we feel you should not participate to win as > you cannot fairly judge and be a member of the contest. People should > not be complaining about your authority in BHC, which they do have a > point to complain about if you are running in it and disqualifying > people. Although, in ignnus case, we did remove him from a location as > well, so we agree entirely with your action here. As was intended you > can still compete in the contest for fun and to make the contest more > challenging. If it is necessary we will, but we hope that in future you > manage the contest better so that we do not ever have to mechanically > implement it so that you physically cannot win the contest if you > compete in it." I was told I could participate, so I do. I have no memory of being told not to compete to win. I value Mur's words over everyone else's anyway, so it wouldn't really matter. Also, this is supposed to be a contest to determine the best of the best right? If I'm not breaking any of the rules I set in place, you should allow the others to compete against the best of the best. I'm not going to just compete to compete. I'm not going to compete without any chance of me being able to win whatsoever, that means I automatically lose, and someone who isn't the best falsely receives a medal for being the best, only because one of the very best couldn't compete. Why don't we just rename the competition to HC2 and give everyone medals already. I can't fairly judge and be a member of the contest? Have I ever broken any of the rules I set up for the competition? Let's see... nope. I don't go into restricted locations, do anything that prevents me from being attackable, or anything else I ever put in place that could have possibly altered the competition in an unnatural way. When I was accused of once being unnatackable because an Elu was popping up on my def I immediately gave it to DST. I believe the majority of people feel I've been fair when it comes to dealing out punishments for any of my events. The people who getr punished obviously aren't too happy, but what I notice in chat tends to show me that people agree with my decisions. I don't see any reason I wouldn't be able to participate when I hold myself to the same exact rules as everyone else. Seems like your just caving to pressure from others. ................................................ "> This BHC participants merely sat around and didn't fight to win, this > is ridiculous to happen in the BHC, it should be a battle of the best > fighters and not of who can sit in the Tribunal the longest. Do you > think it would be better if the fighting was more compact? Do you think > you could be given any tools to make BHC better?" Aww... simply adorable. That fantasy will never happen. People can win the BHC over and over again, therefore weaker fighters and decent fighters won't believe they have any chance of beating the elites, meaning you lose a big bunch of possible fighters right there. Real life gets in the way so sometimes that cuts out some major players as well. You know what's left? Often 10 players or less. Do you know how many of them are actively fighting in the BHC? 3-6 usually. Other players tend to get bored and go do something else. At the end of the day a head contest is still a head contest. It's the HC, but anyone can participate and possibly win. You want it to be statless? Alright, but it's not really going to be the best verse the best is it? The best have now been weakened 10000 fold. It's like all their grinding was for nothing. It always makes me laugh when people say "Eon should throw an HC for each different land". Do they realize how few people there are in other lands? Do they realize things would probably play out between people who generally get along well? I can imagine Loreroot's right now... "Nimrodel gives all heads to Shem, Lorerootian gives all heads to shem, Lorerootian gives all heads to Shem." We already know who the strongest is, and I highly doubt they'd really fight against each other, let alone in high numbers. I havebn't noticed Shem playing much anymore, but I'm pretty sure they'd do the same for some other Lorerootian, The same goes for all other lands. At least with my land cup event an entire land could have tried to work together and help their champion win. I saw Nimrodel giving Shem a bunch of heads, so they knew how to work together and win. I thought more people would have tried to ensure their lands champion won but I guess I was wrong about that, although it was a far better event than one would be if it was just for a single land. People could have gotten me out of the tribunal or gotten to me very easy. It's called cooperation, along with a bunch of other things. People were either too lazy, too stupid, or they didn't want to get first place. I like making events compact, but I like giving BHC fighters the freedom to go almost anywhere. I believe a lot of strategy can be used for chasing others, and I like to have that in the BHC. I do enjoy compact fighting, although I think it would also less sign ups overall. Who wants to be stuck in a little zone with me or anyone else like me? Weaker players at least figure they can get my heads and try to make a run for it. No tools really come to mind. Like I said ealier, a BHC or event is basically an HC. The main difference is that they often have themes, or they have very, very small twists to them, like more points to the second stage, a longer second stage, or more head hills/head hill at a different spot. Not to mention they used to have great prizes. ................................... "> For your mismanagement of the BHCs to date, we have decreased your > Trust Points by 1 and we will be removing the skill damage awarded. We > will give you the rewards for the other participants as these issues do > not concern them and have not come about as a result of anything they > have done." I'd accept that from Mur, although I don't think he'd say the same and I wouldn't really agree with him. I don't accept it from you people. My mismanagement? I've managed the way I was told to. You dislike the low turnouts? Like I've said a few times and I'll say again, and probably again... The BHC is essentially the HC. How does the saying go? If you put lipstick on a pig it's still a pig? People bitched and moaned for another HC that they could participate in and they got it. Now no one really cares for it. I don't believe people were so blind they didn't see this coming. You don't like the prizes I announce? Too bad, I try to do things close to what Mur has told me to. When I asked him for a GG drach for the clash of the lands side event he said something along the lines of "Okay, but that would be too small of a prize for the BHC." GG=pretty rare. pretty rare= too low for the BHC= I guess I have to go higher. Simple to understand, no? I don't agree with the punishment obviously. I take it you would have rather me done nothing while Lightsage idled in the MDA for an easy victory? Yeah, that's much better. "> In regards your enquiry about use of items during your BHC, we will not > be mechanically blocking their use. This gives you greater flexibility > to make the contest harder or easier or even just more or less > complicated for the participants. It is up to you to implement any rules > for your contests and to enforce those rules. > " I look forward to seeing you guy's throw a competition where Seig uses his cloak the entire time. Maybe you guy's will understand how things work in MD once you start getting bitched at for allowing something so abuseable to be used. I wouldn't kick anyone out of the contest simply because Seig, or anyone else for that matter, cloaks them and makes them unnatackable. That would be pretty ridiculous. ................................................... "> The above email overrides everything Mur has previously told you, none > of what he asked holds greater than the above email. If there are any > issues with things you feel should be kept the same, please comment as > we would like your discussion on this" No matter what, even if you bought this game from Mur and are it's new owners, I would still value every ingle thing Mur has told me over you. I respect Mur, and I have zero respect for you. You people take forever on things that could be handled incredibly fast. I've given you solid proof on many occasions and yet you took over a month to handle most issues. You refused to even get back to me about the shared tool hoarding, or maybe it was before the council rotation, and I had to go above your heads and talk to Mur to have things handled. I know Mur was slow, but didn't he get a council together so you guy's could handle things a bit faster than he could? If you guy's can't handle the simplest things in a timely manner you should probably just step down and let people who can actually get things going in MD get the chance to do just that. Oh, and don't worry about reducing my trust points by one. You can take them all, I resign from the position, and I promise to watch from a distance so I can watch how the number of active players in your BHC ends up dwindling down over time. You guy's can feel awesome being on the council all you want, but keep in mind, you're the council for MagicDuel. When I put it that way it sounds a hell of a lot less impressive, doesn't it? I'll be posting this on the forum so people know why I've resigned. > Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2012 21:48:55 +0300 > From: contact@magicduel.com > To: x > Subject: Re: BHC > > > Hello Eon > > We didn't reply previously as you deemed to start the contest without > hearing back from us. We have been reviewing BHC and it has been lacking > in participants. There needs to be more next time if there is going to > be a Skilldamage reward. We are open as to your comments on how to get > more players competing. > > The BHC's with skilldamage are run too regularly. We have been talking > between us and are open to a discussion as to how it can be improved, > but we feel that they should be run less, with more small "fun" > contests. Rewards of the BHC should be appropriate to the contest being > run, Skilldamage is an exclusive ability right now and not to be given > out lightly. This contest in which participation was minimal and without > effort exerted by the players was undeserving of skilldamage as a > reward. Instead it was a contest in which you effectively set yourself > up to win again and receive additional skilldamage which is > unacceptable. > > You quoted that Mur asked you to run BHC's every X months. Do not do > that. The purpose of your role is not to run BHC for the sake of running > it. If that was the purpose it would have been an automated contest like > regular HC, running them statically merely means the number of > participants will slowly reduce. You could have the signup times be > delayed so that there is an adequate amount of participants each time, > and change the contest around. You might think to run small ones for MP3 > or other specific mindpowers. The "main" BHC should be run rarely, once > for every 3 or 4 times that a smaller one has been run. This is your > role, but these are some of our suggestions for changes you can make to > try to help you so as to ensure you balance participation along with > reward and so that you can run contests of different kinds on a regular > basis. > > Quote: "My job is to throw the BHC, how the winners get the prizes > isn't my problem." > > Mur gave you permission to do what you want with the BHC. That means > doing anything within reason. It also means you are fully responsible > for anything you do. As BHC organiser it is your job to source rewards > and deal with the whole of the BHC accordingly. This means that if you > want a reward from us you must contact us, and get it approved before > announcing it. If you announce it earlier without our approval we may > deny it. We know the relative worth of all the creatures in MD whereas > you do not have access to this information. If you announce > items/creatures before our approval we shall assume you are giving them > out yourself. In addition, it is your job to give out the rewards once > we have given them to you. Before announcing a BHC you must email us the > details of any special rewards you want to issue that need us to issue > them to yourself and then await a confirmation of our agreements on the > details of it. For this reason we advise you provide us details more > than the 5 days prior to the event you emailed us this time. If your BHC > does not need support from us then you can run it as fast as you like. > > We also ask you (as we believe you have already been asked) not to > participate to win the BHC, we feel you should not participate to win as > you cannot fairly judge and be a member of the contest. People should > not be complaining about your authority in BHC, which they do have a > point to complain about if you are running in it and disqualifying > people. Although, in ignnus case, we did remove him from a location as > well, so we agree entirely with your action here. As was intended you > can still compete in the contest for fun and to make the contest more > challenging. If it is necessary we will, but we hope that in future you > manage the contest better so that we do not ever have to mechanically > implement it so that you physically cannot win the contest if you > compete in it. > > This BHC participants merely sat around and didn't fight to win, this > is ridiculous to happen in the BHC, it should be a battle of the best > fighters and not of who can sit in the Tribunal the longest. Do you > think it would be better if the fighting was more compact? Do you think > you could be given any tools to make BHC better? > > For your mismanagement of the BHCs to date, we have decreased your > Trust Points by 1 and we will be removing the skill damage awarded. We > will give you the rewards for the other participants as these issues do > not concern them and have not come about as a result of anything they > have done. > > In regards your enquiry about use of items during your BHC, we will not > be mechanically blocking their use. This gives you greater flexibility > to make the contest harder or easier or even just more or less > complicated for the participants. It is up to you to implement any rules > for your contests and to enforce those rules. > > The above email overrides everything Mur has previously told you, none > of what he asked holds greater than the above email. If there are any > issues with things you feel should be kept the same, please comment as > we would like your discussion on this. > > MD Council

Recently 1 person was found [url="http://magicduel.invisionzone.com/topic/11488-resurrection/"]dead[/url], then 3 [url="http://magicduel.invisionzone.com/topic/11666-seigheart/"]followed[/url]. I am concerned. Not only because 2 of them, I consider my brothers (Maebius and Guillak I miss you). But also because this is a very bad trend. Death leading to more death. Will we allow that ? Can we just look at the murders and say "C'est la vie" (sic)? No. No. NO. [b]I, Passant the weak, Glass expert, declare war to death.[/b] And I invite all the people who believe that we, people, are stronger than death,[b] I invite all of you to join the cause[/b]. I know it may sound silly and pretentious. Because I am nothing and Death is stronger than anything. And yet I invite you to join te cause. I don't care if I look silly or pretentious. I care about trying something. [b]I invite you, Marind Bell citizens[/b] to join the cause. 3 of your citizens are dead already. Will you allow more to fall? [b]I invite you, No Man's land citizens[/b] to join the cause. If you don't care about the dead ones, sure you care about their corpse decomposition. Have you smelled it? It stinks in GoE! Don't allow that, it is YOUR territory. [b]I invite you, Loreroot citizens[/b] to join the cause. Forget you current issues, with your alliance stolen, with that Ma****** person getting you in trouble. How important will be those problems when more death arise? [b]I invite you, Golemus citizens[/b] to join the cause. Put a hold on your research for a bit. Forget those stones and those sand castles. Do you believe they will resist the wave of Death when it comes to strike you? [b]I invite you, Necrovion citizens to join the cause.[/b] I know, 3 of those dead are Marind Bell's... So what? Do you remember Khalazdad the white[url="http://magicduel.invisionzone.com/topic/3162-khalazdads-vigil/page__hl__khalazdad__fromsearch__1"] calling for support[/url] when he was dead and yet acting in the tunnel of war? The community showed superb support and helped him fulfill his mission. Please show that the power of Khalazdad is in your veins, in your soul, and join the cause. [b]I invite you, citizens of the East to join the cause.[/b] One of your citizens has fallen yet. More will come. Whatever your feelings towards that citizen are, will you fall so down, that you will acccept death without a fight? [b]I invite you, citizens of the Underground[/b] to join the cause. I know some of you have a problem with one of the defunts. But can you accept your actions bring innocents down to death? Join the cause! And if your ennemy gets revived in the process, consider that as a collateral damage! And of course [b]I invite you, my fellow MDA citizens to join the cause[/b]. This is good happening for us all, archivists, quest makers, gossips expert, wise tress. I feel good stuff there! So, ok what now? How do you join the cause? I don't have a magical ritual. I don't have a magical item [b]I have much more than that, I have faith[/b]. [i]I don't believe in God[/i] [i]I don't believe in Demi Gods[/i] [i]I don't believe in superman[/i] [i]I just believe in YOU[/i] [i]You and your power.[/i] [i]You all together that make US[/i] [i]The dream is over. Death is here? Let's chase her and scare her.[/i] Show your power please. [b]Start by stating that you refuse Death[/b]. Say it in all medias you want. Wherever you are. [i][b]We want them back[/b][/i] [i][b]WE WANT THEM BACK[/b][/i] That will be our motto. That will be the first step of our vigil, our ritual our pray our.... how ever you call it. I prefer to call it our war. Our first weapon is our voice that express our will. [i][b]We want them back[/b][/i] [i][b]WE WANT THEM BACK[/b][/i] [i]you may say[/i] [i]I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one[/i] [i]I hope some day you'll join us[/i] [i]And the world will live as one[/i] Raise your voice while we prepair the next step. Your voice is our energy. We need that energy to start acting. We need to feel that our actions are supported by the community. [b]Next step will involve the dead themselves, showing that they care[/b]. Showing that they want to revive. [b]Showing that when the will of one joins the power of many, then anything may happen.[/b] Feel free to spam that topic with a simple "I join the cause". That is more energy to the cause. Thank you for your attention... and thank you for your help. [color=#800080][size=6][b]WE WANT THEM BACK[/b][/size][/color]

[size=3][font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif][quote name='dst' timestamp='1328688514' post='103790'][/font][/size] [size=3][font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif]Thief? Are you even using that brain you're supposed to have? How dare you call someone a thief simply because that person uses the IN GAME TOOLS?[/font][/size] [size=3][font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif][/quote][/font][/size] [size=3][font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif]heh... fun logic... *chuckles*[/font][/size] [size=3][font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif]I've heard someone has a nuclear weapon in RL... *whistles innocently*[/font][/size] [size=3][font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif]oh, and i wander why everyone hates Hitler so much? i guess he just used "IN GAME TOOLS" he had, hehe[/font][/size]

[quote]Yes, if the illusions become something public, they can be altered. But as long as only 4 or 5 people have it I don't think there is a good enough reason to disable them.[/quote] [i][color=#808080]I like your reasoning dst. I'd like to see it used in RL court.[/color][/i] [i][color=#808080]"If guns become public they can be banned, but as long as only 4 or 5 people are shooting them on the street I don't think is a good enough reason to change that."[/color][/i] [i][color=#808080][/color][/i]

[quote name='Grido' timestamp='1317162333' post='92644'] The exploit/bug itself isn't overly serious, it's been known about for a while and not so much abusable, the issue stands that she was at the time trying out to be an LHO, and then became one. Selling bugs or exploits, of any sort, is NOT lho behaviour. [/quote] I do not want to participate in this discussion, but I feel I must - not because Phantom Orchid is a friend, which she is, but because I question your judgment, and because by posting this thread to the triggers box you have invited public discussion on the matter. Nor do I want to drag in the case of another LHO, but your handling of that other case sets a precedent for evaluating your handling of this one. In your own words, Phantom Orchid's offense is relatively minor, but (not in so many words) the integrity of the LHOs as an institution is at stake. I must ask, therefore, why you punish a trifling offense but completely ignore actions that are, at best, borderline violations of the rules as listed on the "Restrictions" page, and further, actions that result in the actual jailing of an LHO. If your concern is for the institution of LHO and its integrity, I urge you to apply your standards fairly. In my view, your action against Phantom Orchid and inaction against that certain other LHO has made a mockery of the office. More is at stake than just the general perception of LHOs and you as their Inquisitor; as a community, we by our actions present a face to the global Internet community. Do not let it be said that MagicDuel is a joke. Do not let it be said that MagicDuel is corrupt, and that those with friends in the right places are quite literally above the laws that are strictly applied to those less fortunate.

So...it is time to make this public. Me and Z are not the enemies you all think we are. You don't believe me? Check the below proofs! (I told you that I ALWAYS have proofs)!! dst and Z meet (Z is, of course, ignoring dst): [attachment=2968:DSCF0057_1.jpg] Z is still being a bad boy and tries to hurt dst: [attachment=2969:DSCF0062_2.jpg] dst tries to choke Z: [attachment=2970:DSCF0095_1.jpg] Z tries to bite dst: [attachment=2971:DSCF0098_1.jpg] Finally friends! [attachment=2972:DSCF0054_2.jpg] And as a bonus...RAVENSTRIDER!!! [attachment=2973:DSCF0087_1.jpg]