January Developer Update

Aschent_

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Dec 10, 2019
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The Dragon's Neck Dev Update


Another month in the books! We've pulled together some of the latest updates over the last 30 days along with a few items that hadn't been widely mentioned. Bug reports went on the backburner for much of January due to my time being spent on hak content management (more on that below). Monthly dev updates will be written & distributed by Danuvis beginning in February. On a personal note and in definitely good-news-territory, I kicked off a new job last Monday (the 24th) so I will be shifting my Discord DM permissions around. If you need to contact me directly, please use the PM function on the forum so I can manage communication. My expectation is I should be back in proper form in the next 1-2 weeks so the quantity of bug fixes should skyrocket around that time.

  • Chat Tracking, Data/Analytics & Privacy.
  • Hak content cleanup.
    • You may have noticed some heavy downloads if you have logged in recently. Behind the scenes we have been working on the following content updates:
      • Numerous asset reductions.
        • Inappropriate content & assets.
        • Unrelated to TDN content & assets.
        • Unused assets & tilesets.
      • Several Tileset Improvements & fancymaps.
      • Asset & VFX additions.
    • This will continue to be an ongoing project as we peel out content that is no longer relevant to TDN and try to find ways to keep our NWSync download as lean as possible. That said, we still expect to have one of, if not the largest NWSync download of all NWN Persistent Worlds once we launch.
  • Decipher Script Removal & Overhaul into Linguistics
    • The aforementioned skill will be changed into Linguistics, which covers the former skill's function of deciphering as well as the new function of learning languages. This change is intended to support the RP surrounding learning new languages without completely removing the offered RP of the original Decipher Script, as well as to ensure a greater variety of languages see use, whether immediately or over time. Details are as follows:
      • Every 5 Hard (invested) Modifiers in Linguistics yields one additional language slot. That is to say items with Linguistics bonuses will not count toward language slot acquisition, but will help in the deciphering of languages both mechanically and via DM interaction.
      • Due to this new skill being both mechanical and RP centric, and effectively serving as two skills in one, Linguistics will cost 2 Skill Points instead of the norm of 1.
      • Language System Overhaul
        • The language system is currently seeing an overhaul. These changes are intended to make the overall process of using and learning languages more intuitive and better. Details will be available in the respective wiki pages of affected races & classes in the coming weeks, along with the Skills Changes/Languages pages. Core changes are as follows:
          1. Races and certain classes will automatically receive particular languages upon character creation, such as a Druid immediately being given Druidic, or an Elf immediately receiving Elven.
          2. Players will be able to utilise commands to show what languages they have, and how many free language slots they have remaining. Automatically given languages are classified as Innate ones, and as such will not count toward the total language count.
          3. All languages will feed into (and be translated in) the main chat window instead of the combat log. This is intended to prevent languages being lost in the combat log, and to overall reduce combat log spam.
  • Automated Server restarts.
    • Are you in Discord? If not, you should be. We have added an automated restart schedule that will ensure players can have a reliable timeframe for downtimes & updates. These resets will take place:
      • Tuesdays, Thursdays & Sundays at 11pm PST.
      • Downtime is expected to last approx 15 minutes or less unless otherwise noted.
  • Word Autoswap & Explicit Language censor/auto-report.
    • Word Autoswap:
      • To assist with newer users in acclimating with an RP environment, the word 'fuck' will autoswap to 'hrast'. ['fucking' = 'hrasting']. Players will be notified the first time this happens and will be given a command to disable the autoswap if they so choose to do so.
    • Explicit Language censor/auto-report:
      • Currently, only two words make this list. (Both of which being discriminatory in nature and have no business being used in-game). If the word is found, the message will not send and the entire DM team as well as admin will be notified of the message that had attempted to be sent.
      • Manipulating or circumventing the censor by using variations of the words (such as duplicating a letter, swapping a letter for an obvious number, etc) will be met with a swift response in the form of an immediate suspension & lifetime ban.
  • !report command.
    • In the event you need to report another user for behavior, use the command !report <report text here>
    • This command will initiate a dialog window that will allow you to categorize the report that will be sent to the DM team for review. We anticipate opening these cases for review with 24 hours and will make an attempt to notify you of receipt. In some cases, this window may be longer based on severity of the report, availability of the DM-assigned or the availability of the reporting user.
  • Monk Orders
    • Monk Orders are now accessible in the OOC area. Spin one up and give it a look!
  • Divine Falling.
    • This DM-initiated roleplay event can/will take place should a divine character behave in a manner that clearly is misaligned with their deity's dogma. (For example, A Cleric of Ilmater pulling an "Anakin" on the local younglings would be an over-the-top example. Repeated behavior that is misaligned could result in a short falling that the player will need to wait out, or work with a DM to remove.)
  • Distance based text coloring.
    • We will (soon) have this online. The objective is to allow in-game chat colors to differ based on proximity of the speaker to the listener. White = Close, Grey = Further away. We expect to have this up and running in the next couple weeks.
  • Emote coloring when quotes are used.
    • When players use quotations in their chat to indicate spoken word, all text outside of those quotes will be colorized the same way that text inside of brackets/asterisks is colorized. In the future (post-launch) we aim to build a system that allows players the ability to see text in their preferred narrative style.
  • Other Wiki Updates & Story Additions:


Spell VFX


Barkskin VFX
Stoneskin / Mage Armor VFX

New Screenshots!










 
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