Guillak

How about leaving stat gains and most things alone, and just scale down how increased stats affect a creature's strength? This would then fix tokens as well, while doing no harm to people who spent tons of effort to raise their stats.


For example:

If <total increase in a stat by tokens/influence/skillvampire> is not negative,
<creature's stat> = <creature's base stat> * ln (<stat increase> + e)

This way, even with a billion attack, you'd only multiply the creature's attack by 20. And with only 150 attack, it would be multiplied by 5.
There would be no limit to how high you could increase a creature's attack, but the effect of further training your stats would be absolutely miniscule at the high end.
With 0 stat increase, the stat would stay as it is.
Logarithms are very simple and useful.


You could use a similar equation for negative stat increases, just making sure that the two halves of the piecewise function are continuous at 0.


EDIT: Woot, 500th post.

EDIT2: I just realized that this type of change would make creature initiative matter again. For example, a newbie's aramor would always attack before a veteran's grasan.

(Building on Liberty's "offtopic" paragraphs, mods feel free to split)

[size=2][quote name='Liberty4life' timestamp='1337690996' post='112587'][/size]
[size=2]if ya ask me, md needs to get rid of stats and rework whole combat system from scratch, md needs one new dev just for that (which md cant afford), and need to implement new ideas that aint affect with stupid numbers, i dunt understand why every game sooner or later has to fall on that: hey lets raise our number value in "damage" then lets raise this up too..... etc etc and we are pro, i hate that kind of approach, the reason why almost all games use that kind of system is becoz its easy to implement, its finished solution, ya dunt have to think much, since implementin system that is both fair to veterancy of fightin and to be balanced while nut usin some stat crap is very hard, well ya can notice that it cant really be done, but ya must that md initially was set towards that path with some quazi-stat system, back then stats didnt mattered ya had some it helped ya but nut much and that was point, mur never anticiapted they would grow up so much, and thats problem, and also addin other things that effect combat like items, spells and tokens well it makes things worse and its too late to go back and fix things up on way they were intended to be, back then spell were oke they were this op as today, but today they are and they need to be cuz of all other stuff that is scalin up, but still they aint good solution to balance things up, which is obvious[/size]

[size=2][...][/size]

[size=2]point of stats (i am repeatin myself) is to act as small bonus for fightin veterancy (or dedication towards it), its nut meant to be ultimate tool for destruction[/size]

[size=2]imo very good solution to all this would be to make base multipliers for each stats used in combat (init, power, luck, att, def) and then make relative system which would compare amount of stats two confronted players have and then make ratio which would be multiplied with base multipliers (which are same for all) and then add those relative stats in combat and use them instead, so if somebody has 10 times more attack for example and if multiplier is for att is 10, then ya get 10 att for that fight, and he gets 100, simple as that, it would make ya stronger in fight so yoar trainin wasnt for nuthin, but it still would be the ALFA&OMEGA of whole fight, ofc there needs to be exceptions for cases such as player with 10mil att attacks dude with 10 att that would make first one still get insane amount of stats in actual fight, so it should have some exception to it[/size]
[size=2][/quote][/size]


Another suggestion, possibly "cleaner" than such multipliers: make all stats relative to each other, rather than using absolute values. For instance, if my profile has three stats

Attack 20
Defense 100
Power 5

Then the actual numbers used in combat would be

Attack 16% (20 / (20+100+5))
Defense 80% (100 / (20+100+5))
Power 4% (5 / (20+100+5))

Obviously not usable as such (I guess some veterans have very unbalanced stats, e.g. my "attack" is 15 times higher than "trade sense"), but hopefully you get the idea. In the above example, I would clearly have a "defensive" profile.

To put it differently: [i]shape[/i] is more important than [i]size[/i]. That's what one of the trigger tips suggests, regarding the principles. The longer you stay in the realm (the more you "train"), the more unique, and robust, your shape. Thus your "absolute stats" (current ones) can still grow indefinitely, but there would not be any point in increasing them ad lib, except to reinforce your shape.

Veterans would thus not be "stronger", but "insensitive to change", as their percentages would evolve much slower if their stats are huge. The older you are, the more difficult it is to change your identity. Veterans already have stronger creatures and tokens already.

Back to skill damage: in this context, it would only [i]alter[/i] your shape, not [i]hurt[/i] it. You might even [i]need[/i] skill damage if you are a veteran that wants a major change of profile. And I don't think giving skill damage to all players would be a problem …

Again: not usable as such. But something along this line sounds quite MD-ish in my opinion, as it would introduce the concept of balance in your very profile. And all newbies would have a chance to overcome vets again etc.

How about letting everyone compete again, even those who already won the contest, but with huge handicaps? The more times you win, the higher the handicap when you gather heads. Or you can even have one to begin with, e.g. all stats halved for every time you have won (so if you win 3 times, you only have 1/8 of your stats). Same for the reward: you don't get any new medal, but just the stat bonus, which is divided in the same manner.
In short: the more you win, the more challenging the contest and the smaller the reward.

hmm yeah part with mine base multipliers can be changed and would be good to change into somethin else than actual number but still... need to think about those stuff a bit

problem with yoar example is that it still makes one side with tons of stats still op, but if we combine yoar idea instead in place of mine base multipliers (guess that was yoar point) with mine relative stat calculating, it would made things work

then we would have "shape" of profile which would be influenced by ratios of yoar own stats, and then we would have relative ratios which are the ones that compare yoar and opponents stats

so lets see... combat stats are regen, power, attack, defense, initiative and luck; tradesense, energ imm and brisk aint used in combat so it doesnt matter, regen is used only at end of combat, and imo it shouldnt be altered as well that leaves us with power, init, luck, att and def, att and def tend to be VERY high due to them bein easier to gain, and also they are acquireable in shop, we need to take that in account when makin this base multipliers in guillak's fashion cuz we would only have "two" (it would always be att or def at first place mostly att, and then def in second) BASE shapes otherwise rather than 5^5 >_> atm me has no solution for this, other 3 stats would need some % handicap to determine shapes properly, so in next example i will use guillak current method...

so lets say...
(where the heck is table button?)
| Me | Wodin (his stats were first public ones i could find atm so i use him )
att | 1742 | 3140
def | 1078 | 1901
luck | 164 | 124
power | 470 | 74
init | 255 | 165
------------------------------------------
sum | 3709 | 5404

personal ratios aka base multiplers (it says how much is percentage of yoar single stat in yoar overall sum of all yoar combat stat, in other words, which stat is dominating out of 5 combat stats)
------------------------------------------ just roughly calculated atm...
att | 47% | 58%
def | 29% | 35%
luck | 4,5% | 2,5%
power | 12,5% | 1,5%
init | 7% | 3%

relatives ratios between two players aka relative multipliers (it says how much times player stat is higher against other players same stat)
att ratio: 1:1,8025
def ratio: 1:1,7634
luck ratio: 1,3225:1
power ratio: 6,3513:1
init ratio: 1,5454:1

so those relative multipliers should be multiplied with personal multipliers... >_> but problem is how to get good personal multipliers, guillaks idea is nice with profile shape... but obvious problem is how to make them fair so stats dont skyrocket again, and how to make them that att and def aint so dominatin in every single situation... (which is caused by fact that they are gained easiest and in biggest quantity >_>), so we might need to get different solution for that

so however for now lets say base modifier is 10 for each stat, which would mean that in combat stats applied would be like this

| Me | Wodin
att | 10 | 18
def | 10 | 17
luck | 13 | 10
power | 63 | 10
init | 15 | 10

so this is roughly how it would work, mine idea is that stats applied are relative and that they do their small influence on combat but not much, we dunt wanna see "one shot kill" rits anymore i guess, and wanna see some brains used again, but we still wanna see that stats affect combat and that there is still point in havin more, we just dunt want it to be that stats decide alone, so relative is way to go, but still there are exceptions to be made in case of immense stat differences in first place, then exception with too low stats, and ofc the better solution for base modifier, when that is done we would need to adjust it with spells and tokens... (whos effect i guess get added to stats just like before and aid yoar stats before relative ratios are calculated, and that seems simple and easy way to solve it but still open to discussion if somebody has better idea)

oh ps.... wut about ve...?
there are very high ve pools, problem with applyin this relative method to ve is that it would affect heat gain/loss a lot, and also there is that percentage modifier of stats used before fight which affects tokens, stats and ve (first two aint problem, ve is problem cuz of heat) >_> so..... idk... heh

so still lookin for good solution to base modifiers and ve/heat thingy >_> actually i would like oppinions on ve/heat first discussed and then look for solution

heat is problem in here if we lower it with relative thingy... then less ve would be applied and whole heat gain/loss system would be needed to be changed as well, but then again noob would also have more ve left to heal... imagine they put in 100% but due to relative they use only 10% for example meanin 90% are still left for healin creats afterwards....

and if we let ve remain as it is, then eles would be OP, as well as angys and priests, since dmg creats with so small stats wont be able to kill off multy million ve creats

edit: as lightsage pointed out and as i discovered in this post, yep nut just stats need to be changed but rather much more, so rename it into combat system redesign? or can i maybe do that myself? ...

(Building on Liberty's "offtopic" paragraphs, mods feel free to split)

[size=2][quote name='Liberty4life' timestamp='1337690996' post='112587'][/size]
[size=2]if ya ask me, md needs to get rid of stats and rework whole combat system from scratch, md needs one new dev just for that (which md cant afford), and need to implement new ideas that aint affect with stupid numbers, i dunt understand why every game sooner or later has to fall on that: hey lets raise our number value in "damage" then lets raise this up too..... etc etc and we are pro, i hate that kind of approach, the reason why almost all games use that kind of system is becoz its easy to implement, its finished solution, ya dunt have to think much, since implementin system that is both fair to veterancy of fightin and to be balanced while nut usin some stat crap is very hard, well ya can notice that it cant really be done, but ya must that md initially was set towards that path with some quazi-stat system, back then stats didnt mattered ya had some it helped ya but nut much and that was point, mur never anticiapted they would grow up so much, and thats problem, and also addin other things that effect combat like items, spells and tokens well it makes things worse and its too late to go back and fix things up on way they were intended to be, back then spell were oke they were this op as today, but today they are and they need to be cuz of all other stuff that is scalin up, but still they aint good solution to balance things up, which is obvious[/size]

[size=2][...][/size]

[size=2]point of stats (i am repeatin myself) is to act as small bonus for fightin veterancy (or dedication towards it), its nut meant to be ultimate tool for destruction[/size]

[size=2]imo very good solution to all this would be to make base multipliers for each stats used in combat (init, power, luck, att, def) and then make relative system which would compare amount of stats two confronted players have and then make ratio which would be multiplied with base multipliers (which are same for all) and then add those relative stats in combat and use them instead, so if somebody has 10 times more attack for example and if multiplier is for att is 10, then ya get 10 att for that fight, and he gets 100, simple as that, it would make ya stronger in fight so yoar trainin wasnt for nuthin, but it still would be the ALFA&OMEGA of whole fight, ofc there needs to be exceptions for cases such as player with 10mil att attacks dude with 10 att that would make first one still get insane amount of stats in actual fight, so it should have some exception to it[/size]
[size=2][/quote][/size]


Another suggestion, possibly "cleaner" than such multipliers: make all stats relative to each other, rather than using absolute values. For instance, if my profile has three stats

Attack 20
Defense 100
Power 5

Then the actual numbers used in combat would be

Attack 16% (20 / (20+100+5))
Defense 80% (100 / (20+100+5))
Power 4% (5 / (20+100+5))

Obviously not usable as such (I guess some veterans have very unbalanced stats, e.g. my "attack" is 15 times higher than "trade sense"), but hopefully you get the idea. In the above example, I would clearly have a "defensive" profile.

To put it differently: [i]shape[/i] is more important than [i]size[/i]. That's what one of the trigger tips suggests, regarding the principles. The longer you stay in the realm (the more you "train"), the more unique, and robust, your shape. Thus your "absolute stats" (current ones) can still grow indefinitely, but there would not be any point in increasing them ad lib, except to reinforce your shape.

Veterans would thus not be "stronger", but "insensitive to change", as their percentages would evolve much slower if their stats are huge. The older you are, the more difficult it is to change your identity. Veterans already have stronger creatures and tokens already.

Back to skill damage: in this context, it would only [i]alter[/i] your shape, not [i]hurt[/i] it. You might even [i]need[/i] skill damage if you are a veteran that wants a major change of profile. And I don't think giving skill damage to all players would be a problem …

Again: not usable as such. But something along this line sounds quite MD-ish in my opinion, as it would introduce the concept of balance in your very profile. And all newbies would have a chance to overcome vets again etc.

(Building on Liberty's "offtopic" paragraphs, mods feel free to split)

[size=2][quote name='Liberty4life' timestamp='1337690996' post='112587'][/size]
[size=2]if ya ask me, md needs to get rid of stats and rework whole combat system from scratch, md needs one new dev just for that (which md cant afford), and need to implement new ideas that aint affect with stupid numbers, i dunt understand why every game sooner or later has to fall on that: hey lets raise our number value in "damage" then lets raise this up too..... etc etc and we are pro, i hate that kind of approach, the reason why almost all games use that kind of system is becoz its easy to implement, its finished solution, ya dunt have to think much, since implementin system that is both fair to veterancy of fightin and to be balanced while nut usin some stat crap is very hard, well ya can notice that it cant really be done, but ya must that md initially was set towards that path with some quazi-stat system, back then stats didnt mattered ya had some it helped ya but nut much and that was point, mur never anticiapted they would grow up so much, and thats problem, and also addin other things that effect combat like items, spells and tokens well it makes things worse and its too late to go back and fix things up on way they were intended to be, back then spell were oke they were this op as today, but today they are and they need to be cuz of all other stuff that is scalin up, but still they aint good solution to balance things up, which is obvious[/size]

[size=2][...][/size]

[size=2]point of stats (i am repeatin myself) is to act as small bonus for fightin veterancy (or dedication towards it), its nut meant to be ultimate tool for destruction[/size]

[size=2]imo very good solution to all this would be to make base multipliers for each stats used in combat (init, power, luck, att, def) and then make relative system which would compare amount of stats two confronted players have and then make ratio which would be multiplied with base multipliers (which are same for all) and then add those relative stats in combat and use them instead, so if somebody has 10 times more attack for example and if multiplier is for att is 10, then ya get 10 att for that fight, and he gets 100, simple as that, it would make ya stronger in fight so yoar trainin wasnt for nuthin, but it still would be the ALFA&OMEGA of whole fight, ofc there needs to be exceptions for cases such as player with 10mil att attacks dude with 10 att that would make first one still get insane amount of stats in actual fight, so it should have some exception to it[/size]
[size=2][/quote][/size]


Another suggestion, possibly "cleaner" than such multipliers: make all stats relative to each other, rather than using absolute values. For instance, if my profile has three stats

Attack 20
Defense 100
Power 5

Then the actual numbers used in combat would be

Attack 16% (20 / (20+100+5))
Defense 80% (100 / (20+100+5))
Power 4% (5 / (20+100+5))

Obviously not usable as such (I guess some veterans have very unbalanced stats, e.g. my "attack" is 15 times higher than "trade sense"), but hopefully you get the idea. In the above example, I would clearly have a "defensive" profile.

To put it differently: [i]shape[/i] is more important than [i]size[/i]. That's what one of the trigger tips suggests, regarding the principles. The longer you stay in the realm (the more you "train"), the more unique, and robust, your shape. Thus your "absolute stats" (current ones) can still grow indefinitely, but there would not be any point in increasing them ad lib, except to reinforce your shape.

Veterans would thus not be "stronger", but "insensitive to change", as their percentages would evolve much slower if their stats are huge. The older you are, the more difficult it is to change your identity. Veterans already have stronger creatures and tokens already.

Back to skill damage: in this context, it would only [i]alter[/i] your shape, not [i]hurt[/i] it. You might even [i]need[/i] skill damage if you are a veteran that wants a major change of profile. And I don't think giving skill damage to all players would be a problem …

Again: not usable as such. But something along this line sounds quite MD-ish in my opinion, as it would introduce the concept of balance in your very profile. And all newbies would have a chance to overcome vets again etc.

[color=#0000cd]Split from [/color][url="http://magicduel.invisionzone.com/topic/12348-skill-damage-block/"][color=#0000cd]here[/color][/url][color=#0000cd] ~Burns[/color]

no lone wolf... point is only elite will be able to win shield from skill dmg, meanin they will be able to keep up trainin

ya are distributin shield in same manner as skill dmg, thats biggest problem (in addition to others i already said in previous post), it will all finish where on eon, or some other lucky winner who is also one of top fighters soz i dunt see point in that

and no again, everybody can beat anybody is nut called spells, its called usin creats in smart way by anticipatin wut defender is usin and then usin yoar brain wut to use against him, this concept is lost since stats became ubber high and when ya combine them with tokens good auras and uber creats, ya created unbeatable rit

yeah i am also against idea of buyin stats from shop thats idiotic imo, and they increase by percentage... even worse, thing is nobody complained that ya can buy shitload of ve attack and def, why? cuz everybody wants to use that option one day when they think they are ready and get few dozen million of stats over night and hopefully bypass eon, and hit the roof of sky with their head, why i didnt complained, well idc actually just sayin how things are, if folks like it like that then np idc really cuz i dunt fight anyways

if ya ask me, md needs to get rid of stats and rework whole combat system from scratch, md needs one new dev just for that (which md cant afford), and need to implement new ideas that aint affect with stupid numbers, i dunt understand why every game sooner or later has to fall on that: hey lets raise our number value in "damage" then lets raise this up too..... etc etc and we are pro, i hate that kind of approach, the reason why almost all games use that kind of system is becoz its easy to implement, its finished solution, ya dunt have to think much, since implementin system that is both fair to veterancy of fightin and to be balanced while nut usin some stat crap is very hard, well ya can notice that it cant really be done, but ya must that md initially was set towards that path with some quazi-stat system, back then stats didnt mattered ya had some it helped ya but nut much and that was point, mur never anticiapted they would grow up so much, and thats problem, and also addin other things that effect combat like items, spells and tokens well it makes things worse and its too late to go back and fix things up on way they were intended to be, back then spell were oke they were this op as today, but today they are and they need to be cuz of all other stuff that is scalin up, but still they aint good solution to balance things up, which is obvious

anyway back on topic, by implementin this shield of yoars, we could say yeah its oke we solved problem of stat dmg (read up wut i think about stats....and ignore it for this paragraph since atm i am writin in ideal situation thats nuw actual and from yoar point of view) but then ya would have ppl still complainin and sayin stuff, then they would get reply: "win bhc earn shield", and then the angry poster would reply back and say how the heck am i supposed to win bhc to guard myself from skill dmg if i cant train up stats high enough in first place to win it, so seeeee this aint fixin problem but rather makin it even deeper

but as i said, skill dmg is there to lower down stats to reasonable levels they were meant to be, but skill dmg aint doin its work succesfully, since acquirin stats is still much higher, and eon is immune to it, it can only slow down others from gainin stats

all this talk about skill dmg, while actual problem are stats

point of stats (i am repeatin myself) is to act as small bonus for fightin veterancy (or dedication towards it), its nut meant to be ultimate tool for destruction

imo very good solution to all this would be to make base multipliers for each stats used in combat (init, power, luck, att, def) and then make relative system which would compare amount of stats two confronted players have and then make ratio which would be multiplied with base multipliers (which are same for all) and then add those relative stats in combat and use them instead, so if somebody has 10 times more attack for example and if multiplier is for att is 10, then ya get 10 att for that fight, and he gets 100, simple as that, it would make ya stronger in fight so yoar trainin wasnt for nuthin, but it still would be the ALFA&OMEGA of whole fight, ofc there needs to be exceptions for cases such as player with 10mil att attacks dude with 10 att that would make first one still get insane amount of stats in actual fight, so it should have some exception to it

redesign of system like i proposed in last paragraph would solve many things, but thing that ya propose would just add another thing into system that is already crowded and wouldnt solve anythin, current combat system doesnt need new counterbalances, IT NEEDS TO GET REDESIGNED

Yet another brave soul has lost it's living state here in the Center of the realm! Oh noes!

Since I have been contacted by a number of people regarding the "heat voting clickie" that was used successfully to restore Life in the past, I have accepted the request to re-activate that..... with a twist.

In order to actually allow a "vote" to be more accurately recorded, there are TWO clickies setup to collect your active heat.

The hidden orb vine, can be accessed using the phrase "[b]Revive Spartiatis[/b]" and will function exactly as it did in the past. This is located in the corner of the steps, as circled in the image below. You can safely check the clickie without using Heat, as it will only drain it when you use the button inside the clickie to allow that.

The large rock can be used to represent a desire to keep Spartiatis dead and buried with the same sort of "heat storage" utility if you use the phrase "[b]Spartan stays dead[/b]" on it. (also circled in the image below)


[img]http://everthorn.net/Misc/images/GoE_image1.png[/img]


All your Active Heat will be drained if you click the button within these clickies, and it will record a running status of it's current Active Heat.
This Heat drains away at the same rate as other heat storages, such as your Erolin device and Heat Jars.

Speaking of Heat Jars, it is unfortunately [u]not[/u] possible at this time to use Jars to store Heat and transfer it to the voting clickies. The Heat must be [u]your[/u] own Personal active Heat, at [u]this[/u] location.

Let the Will of the Many once again decide the fate of the One!

I think adding a "negative vote" like this is quite in line with the spirit of the "Heat vote" concept as mentioned in the announcement!
[quote][color=#CCCCCC]Ann. 2206 - [2012-02-17 22:33:18 - Stage 11][/color]
[b]Heat Voting (concept)[/b]
There is a method used so far to show the will of some for something to happen, by loading heat into an item and reaching insane heat amounts. I believe this method is a good indicator of collective will power and can be used as a voting method if something should happen or not. To counter it with a "negative" vote, an additional item could be used to load heat and show a group of people is against that something. The ability to raise heat is directly proportional with the skills, age and by that with the popularity of a character. The fact heat drops is also relevant when considering that a certain matter might be seen by someone that can do something about it at a later time. In other words it is a vote that slowly fades away if not sustained and has as only "enemy" the "forgetting" of that cause...and that is in a way very realistic.[/quote]


[b]Also note:[/b] I will NOT be using any Prayer Heat from my Worshipers, unless specifically asked to. For now, I'll refrain from voting one way or the other, unless I am sure it's my own Personal Heat released by my stored Erolin devices.

I'd like to have a feature that allows us to put an order to the clickables in our 'Quest Clickables' tab, or at least pin a few of them to top. I don't know what order they are based on now, but it's incredibly annoying (at least to me) when i forget to update them and need to search for the few i need to reactivate in that long, long list.

Alternatively, it'd be nice if they were ordered according to last update time, so the ones that you recently changed/updated show either at top or at bottom of the list. That might be an easier solution, since the last update date is stored somewhere anyway for that 2 weeks vanishing trick.

I wasn't planning to join this charade, but I seem to get brought up in ill-manner.

I'm not sure does Pip really believe what he's saying, or that he's just lying with agenda.
Since he took the alliance, I've been settling things to be the representative of Marind Bell in these negotiations, so we don't have chaos with people talking, cursing, offering unsynchronized.

From the very start he denied to answer my (polite and respectable) questions on why did he do that, what does he plan, what does he want. His answers were, "it is not important" and "surprise me" (with an offer).
Certain time went and I 'pursued him' on some chatting engines, trying again to see what can be done. I wasn't presenting offers, but I asked questions to see what does he want so we could possibly "meet on the halfway", or at least start walking the same direction.
Characteristic that applied on his part throughout conversations with me was utter arrogance, disdainful tone on maximum level. He seemed to barely have enough 'strength' to slip out any word at me, whether I was asking something or anything.

That "deal", that was made now, is the same deal that I was prepared to negotiate on the very start, but it seems that the problem was the Pip's expectation for someone to run around his tail and manifest the will to please him.

I shrugged and said to myself, well, we'll just have to do without KoB for some time, at least, we won't be getting it from Pip himself.

Some time passed and Emerald Arcanix tried to talk with Pip, and Pip seemed to like his style (similar thing was with Maebius earlier). It seemed something was possible with him, so I made Emerald and Maebius envoys of Marind Bell, to negotiate with Pip because I obviously couldn't.
Pip made it so that he did not deserve a conversation of any kind, but status of others was in question, KoBers lost their alliance and they should get their home back as soon as possible.
Maebius was off for the weekend so it fell to Emerald. There were some limits and ground terms on which we would accept KoB back into the fold with Pip's set of terms, and ground terms on which we wouldn't.

Here we are.

All respect I had for Pip long ago, vanished with this disgusting behavior.

All this effort to make Pipstickz the 'adviser' in KoB. Wasn't it possible for him just to approach with his concerns about the alliance and offer advice? He certainly wouldn't be spurned off.
Finally, what is the meaning of this topic? Like all of this is just one huge attention-getting project.


I didn't want to make it transparent to the realm what do we do in Marind Bell, it is really unnecessary, but because of this case I needed to make this post to prevent Pip from "filling in the gaps" with disinformation he wants you to have.
Yes Pip, you made a deal with us, you caught us off guard, touche, but that doesn't make us impotent to your insults. You really want to help KoB? Then mind your business, respect the word you gave to our people, and jump to that advising project.

You pick at Rhaegar for your own enjoyment and act as if you have morality on your side and expect people to bow their heads and offer you cooperation. Your actions caused the reaction, dont try to belittle it as if it is some sort of personal issue. You made this bed.

maybe because he steals alliances, laughs at the people, and then makes them beg for it back? Then acts all high and mighty like he did them a favor for taking the alliance

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).

[quote][font=Georgia,][background=rgb(249, 240, 213)]Ann. 2287 - [2012-04-25 10:21:22 - Stage 11][/background][/font]
[color=#000000][font=Georgia,]MD's 7th Birthday ended a few days ago. We hope you had fun and look forward to the next event![/font][/color]
[color=#000000][font=Georgia,][background=rgb(249, 240, 213)]During the following days any quest creators that asked to be sponsored should contact Master of Ceremonies at GoE to give out final rewards and tidy up business. If you are a quest creator and have sent us a message, please direct it in a PM to Master of Ceremonies at GoE. Master of Ceremonies will ignore any other requests.[/background][/font][/color][/quote]

I would just like to point out to the council that their first announcement seemed to be directed at quest creators only, and not quest solvers. It would be nice if the Master of Ceremonies could wait a bit longer for those in a situation like duxie.

[size=3][font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif]fun... now that everyone here has telepathy abilities, we sure had have known where, how and whom to PM... [/font][/size]
[size=3][font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif]or maybe Mur has been giving those abilities at BDay party and i've missed them?[/font][/size]

[size=3][font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif]nevertheless, thank you, Lib, for explanation. at least things are more clear now...[/font][/size]

[size=3][font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif]haha... [/font][/size]

[font=Georgia,][background=rgb(249, 240, 213)]Ann. 2296 - [2012-05-05 22:09:24 - Stage 11][/background][/font]
[color=#000000][font=Georgia,]Master of Ceremonies will cease being at GoE soon. Any unrequested rewards for MD Birthday will not be issued. Please make sure you PM MoC at GoE if you have not so that you do not miss out. If you are in conversations with The Council, The Treasure Keepers, Mur or anyone else about awards and think this exempts you, be advised it does not. You must PM MoC at GoE for your rewards to be issued. If you need to send him a chase PM then please do this also.[/font][/color]

[size=3][font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif]and you're telling this now?! after THIS time, while some of us (well, me) are still waiting around the place and still are stuck in Tribunal lands?! fun, fun... thanks for all, and... oh well... [/font][/size]

Yes, except I was not the only person who accidentally signed up for the Torch contest, thinking the link would lead to more info rather than an actual sign up. So I don't feel I was blundering in like an idiot as you seem to. Thanks though.

Iv created a colloberative Magicduel Playlist here [url="http://grooveshark.com/playlist/Magicduel/69994915"]http://grooveshark.c...icduel/69994915[/url]

Currently there is only 20 or so songs from my favourites, lots of variety (possibly) and such. There will be songs people dont like, i think i added one or two dubstep songs, but if you dont like em, skip em!

It would be _really_ cool if others would register and add their songs, so we can get a taste of each others musical taste. You might need to "ask" to join the collaboration, and if you are unsure, forum pm me and we will try and work out how it works.

If you want to add some songs but dont want to register, send me a link to the grooveshark song and i will add it.

[color=#ff0000]NOTE: All songs of all types will be added. There will likely be swear words in them, so if you do not like this i would not suggest listening to this. Maybe i will make two playlists, one Safe for Work and and this current one.

This is probably currently Not Safe for Work, Please treat it as such.[/color]

*coughs* My musical tastes are interesting, but i do have one excuse, in the fact that my account is shared by about 5 other people, as a "House" playlist, so i can shift the blame slightly.

[i][b]~ Results ~[/b][/i]

We've received various answers, of various length and content. Which is all for the best!

[i]Top entries:[/i]
1st: Maebius
2nd: Soothing Sands
3rd: Kris Summers
4th: Change
5th: Isabella Finch
6th: Darkraptor


[i][b]~ Rewards ~[/b][/i]

Sorry for the change again, but it's a good change (+1 angien offered by Maebius). So:[list]
[*]1 pickle + 1 silver + 1 candy for everyone
[*]Top 6 will choose amongst the following rewards one after each other (top entry chooses first, etc.): Council creature (most probably Anniversary Aramor), Angien, Heat Stone, Mirrorritual Stone, Prot Movelock Stone, a pack of two Weaken Stones (because I can't distinguish between the level 5 and the other one in my inventory >.>)
[/list]
Find me, or let me find you, in order to get your prize!
Note: I don't have the pickles yet.


[i][b]~ A summary ~[/b][/i]

I won't write an essay here, but just a list various aspects that have been observed by participants, and some questions it could raise.
(Note: you didn't have to write something like in order to score, this is just [i]my[/i] vision. Some entries adopted a more MD-symbol approach, which was welcome of course.)

[i]Shape:[/i] is it a straight path? Does it contain bends? Or is it continuous? Curved? Twinned? Some shapes might be monotonous to walk on, others allow one to look back at the distance covered so far, etc.

[i]Size:[/i] How long is the stair? Is it wide or narrow? Will it tolerate any misstep?

[i]Slope:[/i] given two ends to join, the steeper, the shorter, but the more difficult as well.

[i]Artificiality:[/i] most stairs are artificial, and make you follow a path designed by someone else, but natural stairs exist too.

[i]Grandness:[/i] majestic or rustic, designed for the kings or the common run of people?

[i]Environment:[/i] where is it located? Is it related to other places? Depending on the location, different people will pass. Some are lonely, others can be crowded. What are the surroundings, and would they affect the stairs themselves? Or the ones walking the path, who could get distracted?

[i]Direction:[/i] as evident as it seems, you can climb the stairs … or take them down. Some are designed to reach higher places, others to reach lower ones.

[i]End:[/i] what's at the end? Can you even see the end? Will you get a reward for climbing the stairs, or will you only find disappointment?

[i]Purpose:[/i] why are the stairs here in the first place? Most probably they allow communication between the two ends. Some are just shortcuts over longer paths.

[i]Use:[/i] what will [i]you[/i] use the stairs for? Gain height to stand on top of others? Sit down and rest on them? One can distort their initial use.

[i]Memories and expectations:[/i] whether it reminds you of something, or it inspires you some feeling/dream/etc., you'll find a good reason to come back on the same path … or not.



Now: what's a stair, or what does it represent?
(No answer needed )

For you creative folks out there, I would like to propose a more personal Quest of mine.

If you have been inside Sage's Keep, there seems to be more to the interior than one scene. (for those who have not been inside, no worries!) [b]How would you envision that inner room? [/b]

If you are artistic, feel free to draw a sketch. If you are poetic, and can't draw a stick figure, just make a rough scribble.
In both cases, describe what you think are the important elements in 'your scene' or label them.
Why are they important, to you or MD, or Marind Bell?

I'll be taking submissions up until April 22nd, via PM or forum message, and then judging the results with a few friends.
Judgement will be based on creativity, symbolism, and Principles fitting with MD's overall theme, not purely "artistic skill" or prettiness.

A wishpoint is available for first place.
Further prizes for 2nd-4th are available, including an Angien or two, coins, or other creatures.

Have fun!
Enlighten us with your Vision!

...and because I was already asked to clarify this: "[b]There are no right answers[/b]".
Have fun and be creative.
It's meant to be a fun Artistic exploration of your perspectives, not "find the actual scene image".

[font=georgia, serif][size=7]H[/size][/font][color=#FFD700][font=georgia, serif][size=7]A[/size][/font][/color][color=#0000CD][font=georgia, serif][size=7]P[/size][/font][/color][color=#EE82EE][font=georgia, serif][size=7]P[/size][/font][/color][color=#40E0D0][font=georgia, serif][size=7]Y[/size][/font][/color][font=georgia, serif][size=7] [/size][/font][color=#FF0000][font=georgia, serif][size=7]B[/size][/font][/color][color=#FFFF00][font=georgia, serif][size=7]I[/size][/font][/color][font=georgia, serif][size=7]R[/size][/font][color=#800080][font=georgia, serif][size=7]TH[/size][/font][/color][color=#008000][font=georgia, serif][size=7]DAY[/size][/font][/color][font=georgia, serif][size=7]![/size][/font]
[font=georgia,serif][size=7][img]http://chzlolcats.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/funny-pictures-cat-wants-his-birthday-cake.jpg[/img][/size][/font]

I want to commend Isabella for her online time, at one point (if not more) it was 8am where she lived, and she pretty much asked permission to get a couple hours sleep whilst me and Lone Wolf pondered one of her riddles, because she hadn't slept the night before to be online for people. That's not to put down the other Challengers, they've all been amazing and dedicated, but just wanted to say that about her.

Overall fun with difficulties as has been mentioned previously.

A way to improve - presuming automated is out of the question (and I kinda don't like that idea anyway), couple people working together at posts with offset timezones and a mutual document of some sort where they could say who'd been set q's and the answers etc.
Also, rather than teleport items or spells, how about the use of Keys? When you get the q correct you can the key to progress on to the next scene or something, this way players can go back to the rest of the realm whilst waiting for the next challenger to come online or something - like Burns said, repopulating the rest of the map, rather than leaving it mostly empty. If they get the q wrong, the keys all get removed and teleported back to the start.

If it was to be permanent I don't think there should be any competition in it, that could skew the results in an unwanted way. More just to sit there so more people can sign up, and as time passes people can enter in what they think of you and you can watch your results grow.

1 score for the loreroot land and to the red team 3 score, hard to gather score because no mp4 get the TC

Registration is over! There are 44 participants.

The clickie has ben updated. Same as before: "Who am I" at the rope in the Paper Cabin.

Keep in mind that being assigned a grasan is not (necessarily) an insult!

I have some serious glitches with Chrome when opening the clickie, but it works fine anyway. No problem with other browsers apparently. Google's fault.

[size=2][I have just realized the two other birthday quest topics have been moved, so I'm posting that here too—mods feel free to move as necessary][/size]


The Musical Portrait game is not over, yet here is a variant already … This one is much shorter, simpler, and MD-oriented.

Most people can identify themselves to one or several creatures. The goal here is to let others choose for you, and see if it matches your expectations. Perhaps this will make you think about various aspects of your own personality?


[b]~ Rules ~[/b][list]
[*]Participants register in a first phase;
[*]Once the registration phase is over, each participant chooses one creature amongst the list of basic ones (see below) for every other participant;
[*]Eventually, everyone can see what creatures have been assigned to what participant, and in what proportion. The winner is the one whose choices are closest to those of the majority (same as detailed in the [url="http://magicduel.invisionzone.com/topic/11656-your-musical-portrait/page__st__20#entry107912"]Musical Portrait post[/url], but all votes have the same weight).
[*]No alt please.
[*]This is still valid: [size=2][quote name='Guillak' timestamp='1333211735' post='107912']I kindly ask everyone not to try anything like team up to vote for the same songs in order to get better scores. Although the goal is to get as close as possible as the others, there are way too many songs to choose from for two people to accidentally end up with the same 60 votes. Any miraculous similarity between votes will be automatically detected.[/quote][/size]
[/list]
[b]~ Rewards ~[/b]

Council offers rewards for the top three!

I have no clue what. But I assume it's worth it!

[b]~ How to start ~[/b]

Use the password "Who am I" at the rope in the Paper Cabin (same as BFH). This will add your name to the list of participants, and you will be able to see the current list of participants, so you can start thinking about your choices. Registration will be open for a couple days, then you'll have until the end of the birthday to submit your entries (another clickie, or the same updated).


[b]~ Creatures ~[/b]

15 families from the main lands, as displayed on [url="http://magicduel.wikia.com/wiki/The_Bestiary"]MD Wiki[/url]:[list]
[*]No-Man's Land: Grasan, Barren Soul, Aramor
[*]Marind's Bell: Angien, Archer, Elemental, Bird
[*]Loreroot: Tree, Lorerootian Archer, Knator, Water Being, Toxicodendrite
[*]Necrovion: Unholy Priest, Tormented Soul
[*]Golemus Golemicarum: Drachorn
[*](BLANK): null vote is possible, and is selected by default. If you leave it as is, you will score 0 for that participant.
[/list]
Clickies were not much tested, so if you see anything strange, please tell me …