So what I'm hearing ...

Is the random equipment is in part spice but it's also to make up for crappy area equipment (agree!) and difficulty in using random gems (agree!) to add spice to equipment.

I'd rather see us correct/repair/beef up existing systems before adding a new subsystem that duplicates functionality.

All quests now provide 5x the quest tokens upon completion

Yes, because if your still just questing and feel forced that way. I am sorry as much better options exist.

Additional quest items added with pseudo legendary affixes are now available at all quest masters for 50k tokens each

this would be a fun change and not unbalancing at all, pretty much golden idea

You can now purchase a Legendary Stone for 10,000,000 gold or 1,000,000 tokens

despite never having this much because i have a gambling addiction , i support this as it gives other options and not bad pricing either.

All negative combat mods have been removed from the game. Bye hallucination.
yep, hallu is probably the most useless mod the game can offer that makes me turn color off and wonder why it exists.

Being bloodsworn no longer increase the "group" range of players.
this would definitly make alot of players not feel forced into going bloodsworn

Non bloodsworn players can no longer attack or be attacked by bloodsworn players
end the drama , not a bad option

All brands have been removed from the game.
A new skill "brand" has been added to every class. It can not be stopped by silence, it can not be miscast, it hits through level difference with the same chance to fail as a traditional spell unaffected by chasmic would have to succeed. It is not affected by bounce or dense. It can not be used in combat. This skill choose a brand at random from your memorized damage types. See the next skill for more information
A new "memorize" skill has been added to the game. This functions the same way as memorizing a spell, in that you can't use the new "brand" skill with that damage type unless you've already memorized that damage type. No memorizing in combat. You can choose any damage type in the game except for Otherworld
A new skill "debrand" has been added to every class. It can not be stopped by silence, it can not be miscast. It has the same chance to fail as a traditional spell being cast unaffected by chasmic. It is not affected by bounce or dense. It can not be used in combat. This skill chooses a negative "brand" at random and removes it from your character, with a lag delay similar to "brand"

something definitly needs to happens with brands , this supports augmenting for sure but otherwise pvp is kind of just a given. protect against the fighters , you can showclass to know the posibilities. we know the skills that hurt . lets go 90 rounds in arena or end up turning or stopping combat . or we could just dearmor and have a blast.

All levels beyond 200 have had their experience required to level reduced by 50%
this will only affect a few more people hitting 275

Dearmor now has a longer delay between recasts
Picking up your armor after being dearmored now has a longer delay (the same delay as dearmor recasting) Dearmor was never meant to be combatted by triggers
Disarm now has a longer delay between attempts
Picking up your weapon after being disarmed now has a longer delay (the same delay as as disarm recasting) Disarm was never meant to be combatted by triggers

other then making adhesive a mandatory augment against someone that has dearmor and disarm , this doesnt seem horrible

Underused areas have been removed from the game
I dont like this actually, people put alot of time into making those areas, maybe updating them is a better option.

All players have been wiped and must start over. All old character names (except immortals) cannot be used
if every single change possible was implemented turning this game into something else i could see this happening though it would mean many 10k+ hour people will never log in again. This is one that most likely wont be seen

New loot table drops have been added to the game. Including "Legendary stone" drops at random from killing mobs that qualify for skill gains. The entire MUD will be alerted if you find a Legendary Stone in this manner
yeh i agree with this, the harm is so low

New combat mods are now MUD wide and randomly trigger double exp for 5 minutes, double quest tokens for 5 minutes, double mobiles in your current area (the area is announced MUD wide) This does not affected legendary mobiles
another change i think is fun and gives people a reason to play

New daily log in rewards now exist. You must stay logged in for 1 hour per day to collect your reward. The rewards get exponentially more rewarding until you reach 30 days logged in, in a row.
app style rewards and pay to win style rewards do cause people to play and stay on more

Quest timer reduced by 1 minute for every quest completed within 5 minutes of your quest timer hitting 0 up to a maximum of 5 minutes between quests.
that seems legit

Quests now reward a LOT of experience per completion. You can now conceivably "only" quest all the way to level 200 if you so choose. This can be toggled off by typing "questexp"
legit and i feel it could be fun

Racial skills now disregard level difference. No more missing every single racial skill on every single mob because you would never fight a mob who is the same level as you.
yep
Augments can now be reset for an EXTREMELY large amount of tokens. One augment at a time. Starting from the most recent augment used. Good luck.
yes yes and yes

A friend referral bonus has been added. Your friend will have the option to type in your referral code after completing newbie school.
very new age mmo style deal, it obviously works

All religion spells have been given to all ranks of religion members
i would possibly debate deleting my character to permanently have renew and refinement

Perfection has been removed from the game.
as much as i love perfection, its a cancer

All augmented skills can now be trained to GM again. Through MUCH ado. Do not expect to GM everything!
yep if perfection is removed

The arena has been replaced by a mock "Lapis" zone and now uses Bloodplanes rules in regards to resistances
The arena no longer spams people outside the arena who will only be alerted that an arena fight is starting and if they would like to "watch" they can toggle arena chat on
the arena is pretty annoying , and yes to resistance knocks .....no more 90 rounds

Vampires no longer deal less damage during the day and do more damage at night. Instead Vampires always take more damage and always deal more damage than normal.
Stake no longer requires you to hold an item, the Stake must still be in your inventory

id be ok with this and yes to the stake thing because really thats so bad

There are now two stages of the skill "mort" so that extremely high level players can buff lower players easier and with more meaningful buffs
very much a yes

GMA no longer teleports you out of the room. Curse can still be used, however. That's the risk you take.
yeh i mean ever since you zombified armengar and never put the staff of curse removal in , im pretty supportive of this.

Race change options have been added for an immeasurable amount of tokens
Class change options have been added for an immeasurable amount of tokens
very very very very very vrery very very very very very high very very very very, and if thats the case i think mandatory name change as well as complete restrings are necessary

A new gambling system has been added. Spend gold or tokens for a chance to win buffs, unique items that can only be found in the gambling loot table, or legendary stones.
translation progressive dice and i am so in

Customs can now be "reforged" without losing the legendary that is on them, into a different item type.
yes or the ability to destroy the custom for no token reimbursed and have a 50 percent chance to get the legendary stone

All "cursed" rooms have been removed from the game. You should be able to recall from anywhere in the game now. (Quality of life change for newbies) The only exception is Gem Dragon Island
i feel like there is such a limited amount of these that they should stay

Maps have been added to the game showing speed walk directions to every major area of the game
library under tolin anyone? maybe purchasable books that show areas and maps

Recalling no longer takes half of your movement, instead the more you recall the more it will cost within a certain period of time meh never cared never will , have never run out of moves

A "heal all movement" command has been added to healers with the same lag time as "heal all" for mana
yeh why not

All spells in the same except for "nova" and "splash" have had their damages increased to help them become more useful and viable for combat with the new "choose your own damage type" brand system
yes i have them both and thats about all i use.

All skill combos in the game (slash, thrust, etc) have had their final chain strike damage doubled. It now does damage based on the brands you have memorized via the "choose your own damage type" brand system mentioned above
i havent played melee in forooorororever

ALL forms of blind, including dirt kicking, are now able to be removed in combat by "rub eyes" command.
You can now freely walk around while blind, if you know where you're going you should still be able to get there. Go get 'em Daredevil
this seriosuly should happen, because it makes complete sense and i will don my red tights in an instant and show you whats up

Violent/aggressive players can no longer be attacked outside of their level range. Sorry 275s you shouldn't be killing level 40s who are engaged in PvP COMPLETELY AGREE

So the idea was a monthly long event. 8 zones bloodsoaked versions of all the kings scattered throughout bloodplanes . I did not include lapis because well its lapis. each zone is relatively small mostly just a zone to farm components. the zones are only available 2 at a time for a 5 day timespan and then never again until the folllowing month.

for instance zone by mesilena and zone by armengar open in the beginning , you are wandering around and a new door to the east where there never used to be one is now open instead of locked and unable to pass. on the other side is a gate keeper who only spawns for those times and keeps the door unlocked. inside the zone is just simple farm bracketed zone with rooms full of gma/arthie/keeper style mobs preventing aoe. in those 5 days you need to farm 100 shattered pieces and turn them into the distorted version of the leader for a fragment of a key. once the 8 zones have been farmed after the 20 days and you managed to get all 8 fragments a door on the last weekend of the month will open and inside is a guy who if you accept will port you to a room with a healer and a fountain. to the north is a auto cancel see all faerie fogged room of destruction

the mob would be legendary status and will attack with brands as well as his charmie , he will stop combat rebrand and pretty much slaughter parties.

your character cannot leave the 2 rooms unless you kill him or the weekend passes and noone kills him.

he will guarantee a drop of legendary caliber with boon and so forth. these rooms are not safe and he can only die once.

random lockboxs
sapphire-onyx as well as crystalline

lockboxs drop off mobs or special mod non bloodsworn (maybe a reason why everyone wouldnt be it)

the key to open it is respective to the box like in example sapphire lockbox requires a key for like say 1k tokens

inside the box is a random assortment of possibilties loot table style

like you could spend 1k sapphire open the box the key poofs and get a crystalline token, 2 crystalline tokens, 5 crystalline tokens, a stack of alchemy regeants , a sapphire quest mox any of the quest gear for sapphires or a piece of coal.

the crystalline could drop anything and everything to include a legendary and the moxs and so on but that one requires one of every key from every quest vendor so 9k tokens


id open em , if you check the logs to see how much ive spent on dirty greb and his loaded dice you know this is true

I would say to it being more like rare epic loot of a zone and I do find zone gear to mostly be depressing in comparison. As much as an area has been amazing and provides secrets there is so much wasted loot inside zones.

Now I am not saying this being ignorant of what is available, I have spent my first characters on this mud as a walker exploring and thrilled by zones and my recent as a mage. I have teleported and explored so much of this mud identifying everything, robbing  your rp zone of chalices and digging secrets up. I explore mazes dropping items as markers and writing down what gets me ahead.

The loot is realistically rag to riches when you compare even quest gear. Fiery wings stand out as an item that is most likely overstated but an amazing piece.

this would add some jelly to the sandwich

Hello everyone. First of all - boy am I glad it is summer. I probably am not getting much sympathy from our Canadian players here, but it was still ridiculously cold up in Michigan this last year.

So I had quite the response to my last State of the MUD article - and it was mostly positive. People wondering if I was planning to close up, and what it would take to keep things going - that sort of thing. I appreciated it, because it reminded me that even when people are not on real regularly, they do appreciate having a place to unwind, have fun with friends and try to show off their creative side. It is very tough for MUDs these days. Unless you have been well-established over the last decade or so, with dozens or hundreds of regular players, most MUDs have found themselves unable to stay up and running.

It is tough for a MUD to compete against the numerous online games out there now. Whether you want graphics, or action, or just a sense of community - games like World of Warcraft, Guildwars, League of Legends and plenty of others provide online experiences for those who like to explore, level up, battle other players and more. And many of those offerings are now free, they have development teams that number in the hundreds and they can certainly provide a greater lever of polish, support and iteration than most MUDs, which frankly are just works of passion generally held together by a handful of people who wanted to provide an online playground to others.

Frankly a lot of these online games owe a great deal to the MUDing community. It is not hard to see how a lot of the ideas that showed up in MUDs two decades and more ago have made their way into these graphic titles. I do however, think MUDs still provide a handful of options not generally found in these larger, commercial games. For one, the options for telling your own story, roleplaying with others and simply expressing your own ideas is far greater. The systems are more flexible because text is what we make of it - we're not bound to someone else's visuals to define the world around us nor the characters we create. MUDs are also a smaller, more personal experience with more opportunity to give feedback to the system. One person reporting a bug can mean a fix for everyone else, one idea can make for a significant change in how the game itself is later played.

The downside is, we have a limited number of people who can implement things, all of it takes time and since we do not get paid for this (in fact, I actually pay FOR it, lol) - it can take time to implement these ideas or changes, and sometimes we need a bit of convincing to see the merit in dozens of hours being dropped into a potential change, because it is all voluntary. I will be the first to admit that I haven't had an interest in building out a complete zone in ages. I believe my last one was the Bloodshire. For those keeping score at home, that dropped in Dec 31st, 2013.

However, what Kingdoms of the Lost became over the years is due to players - both in terms of setting up the community, playing the game and even contributing zones. I just did a count and my name shows up on 70 of the 174 zones. That's a lot of areas, so I suppose it makes sense that I have some fatigue in that regard, but it also shows that over 100 areas were made by others, most of whom were players just like you. Thalia has coded so much for us over the years (much of that time spent fixing the stuff I put in like a rookie, mind you) - and while she did the work, a lot of those ideas came from players like you. So please keep ideas coming, we might not always implement them, we might not do it right away, but they do get heard and they are important.

It was great seeing you all around (even if I could have done without some of the recent bickering that came up), and it is motivating to me and everyone else when they see more players around. People play MUDs to interact with one another.

One other note that I stunned even Thalia with recently - she had commented that it felt like KotL had just had its 10 year anniversary. Well come August, it's actually our 15 year anniversary. Believe it or not, you can check Mudconnect and see that we listed on Aug of 2000. Wow - that is a long time. I never really had an 'exit strategy' for the MUD, never really had any huge expectations one way or the other, but I don't think I would have guessed back when I was 24 years old that I would be running this thing when I was nearly forty. My youngest kid is 13 for comparison's sake.

Thank you for playing, I hope you continue to contribute more and hopefully we can have a good time in a couple of months when we celebrate Kingdoms of the Lost turning fifteen years old. I'm actually quite proud of that, and I hope all of you are as well as every player in their own way (even a few of the now-banned troublemakers from years past - just try typing 'Vrulle' on ooc) contributed to what KotL is now today.

As a completely random aside?

Man that area was a pain in my posterior when I first built it. It was easily the biggest and most difficult to map and mprog together back when I first designed it.

I haven't been commenting on this simply because I wanted to see what others thought first - but it's probably been long enough. For one, I like a general idea of randomly generated gear - it was actually the core notion behind item generation for Ashes when Thalia and I had discussed that some time ago.

For implementation here however, I find myself wondering how that works. On a technical level, that means making a bunch of objects to load in, which will tend to be somewhat generic in nature since they will have to load in say, all level 15-25 zones. That would be roughly sixteen zones that hit that range. Are we talking about set items with set names with set stats (like in world of warcraft when you pull a specific 'green weapon' off of a bandit) - or something that loads and gets a range of stats that roll and get applied? I get the part about putting them on mobs randomly, I'm just a bit fuzzy on the statistical math behind the actual stats on the item.

To Thalia's question about gems - to a point they do sort of represent this option. Of course gem sizes can make lining up gems to gear a bit more problematic. On the surface however, the gems should be able to replicate random stat generation on the gear itself.

Or - are we saying that these randomly spawned pieces of gear are of higher quality than what the generic equipment in zones provide? Using the Warcraft analogy, are you proposing that the gear created by builders and seeded in the zones are the white/gray trash items, and these random drops are the green/blue/purples of the world?

From a balance standpoint, where does that place quest gear (or even gem scale gear) in that ecosystem - obviously customers are the top of that particular food chain but I am trying to understand this from a balance/implementation/usefulness standpoint when weighted against the current system. Hope that makes sense?

this gets you through the maze from the captain, obtaining the volcano crystal to continue through the zone is up to you.

give 100 silver captain
2n2wn3w3n2w5n8e2n3e6nd3ws6wnun

not really, even a random piece of equipment with gems inside of it isnt going to even come near a custom piece of equipment.


And because the gems and sockets assigned to a piece of gear are random . you could find a random breastplate only get 3 sockets in it and 2 are large and 1 is tiny , then find a worse one and get 4 .

not to mention if your not a class that can id it you have to spend tokens on identifying gems then remember what they are.

on top of that find enough gems to where you find the great stated gems to hold you over until you finish it.


a random stated gear with the right gems would be an awesome option to just grind and still get close enough to where you dont always get one shot by a bad resist