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Messages - Tanman
1
« on: November 23, 2013, 12:31:04 pm »
Greetings!We're going to hold a bonus event next weekend starting sometime on Friday, November 29, 2013 and ending sometime late on Sunday, December 1, 2013.During this time combat kill XP will be 50% higher and everyone will earn Fortune at twice the normal rate. On top of this, XP or Fortune handed out by GMs for quests and/or RP will likewise be doubled.I know this is short notice, and I know it is a holiday weekend for the US, and so we are not setting any expectations for our GMs to have events planned during this time. In fact, we are encouraging them to take advantage of the bonus period by playing their characters.If you miss out on this one, don't worry! We'll be having at 1-2 more before the end of the year.Enjoy!
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2
« on: January 17, 2013, 05:31:56 pm »
In game currently there are still a few remnants of quest RP instigators from previous WL's. The first one that springs to my mind is near Vale when you are told to seek out Plenarius for the whole story. The idea was that when you found Plenarius and asked him to tell the story he would use the WL xp wand and give that player a reward for doing so. It never really took off but I think it is a really great way to bring attention to those characters that took the extra effort to go the extra mile to really make something of their characters in a world sense. I know people might say well my character makes an impact too and I didnt do a WL but there are only a few WL's and its a huge effort I think we can use and recognise. I am proposing those NPC's are tweaked so that we have a starter NPC in a location that tells the player they have to seek out such and such to hear their story. Then they have to travel somewhere that is specific to the WL and find the NPC version of that WL in game that gives them a dialogue about their story and gives them a token. The PC then returns to the original NPC to present the token and earns a XP bonus. I think it's a great way to keep some of these WL's and their stories alive in the world! We already have their summaries in their forum we can tweak to suit.
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3
« on: January 02, 2013, 12:57:42 pm »
For many of you this will come as no surprise, my absences of late saying far more than words. I wanted though to remove doubts and make it official. When I joined way back, Layonara was a different place with a different vibe but like all things it has evolved over the years. People and places change and sometimes relationships grow apart. Its hard to admit when something no longer works and that apart is far better than together. Layonara was a salvation in my life in a time when I needed an escape from my reality. Now Layonara only serves mostly as a catalyst of angst and that's not the way it is supposed to be. So from here forward I am stepping down as an active game master and administrator. I will still be around in the background as part of the team for Lore consultations and I still have some quest loose ends to tie up or move to other game masters. I am not leaving all together as I will be turning my concentration to the art of the MMO and writing. Sincerely Minerva
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4
« on: December 31, 2012, 06:26:35 am »
Happy Birthday! Okay, so I don't usually do well with follow ups after the Happy Birthday part...so just. ... Happy birhthday!
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5
« on: December 30, 2012, 08:08:26 pm »
Hi everyone... I haven't been here in a very long while. Thought I'd pop by and say HI. O.o Hope the New Year brings good things.
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6
« on: December 26, 2012, 07:40:06 pm »
My apologies but due to illness I've had to postpone this event to the weekend.
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7
« on: December 23, 2012, 12:19:36 pm »
To the folks I was running around with last night... My internet failed, and stayed that way. Things are back up, now, but I'm sorry for just dropping out.
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8
« on: December 08, 2012, 11:21:46 am »
All, This post is born of a recent bug report thread which began to stray into a debate. The topics raised are something I seem to have to address on a regular basis, so here I go again. For context, the debate that tried to start was over "random" spawns and apparently disproportionate, unexpected challenges. There's really no such thing as a "random" spawn from a design standpoint. The closest thing we could have is where there are more candidate creatures that could spawn than the maximum number of creatures that could spawn (i.e. 10 choices but only 5 slots), but even then the spawns follow a set of rules according to the parameters set in the spawn trigger itself. Those rules are set by NWN. We presently have no meaningful control over how they appear; we can only make suggestions. Besides this fact, the world changes from time to time and there won't always be warning or notice. Deal with it. The development and GM teams will do their best to make sure that the new challenge is not disproportionately overwhelming beyond the intended challenge, but we are under no obligation to give anyone a detailed list of what changed. We've never done that and we're not going to start now. Unless an area goes from relatively easy to ridiculously impossible, in which case we probably would provide some sort of advisory, there may be no warning when something changes, and there will almost never be any sort of detailed list of what changes. Remember though, this is not a casino; we don't have a vested interest in our players losing. People have mentioned how it's not "fair" when things change without telling people. It's always assumed that the GMs/admins/developers here have it in for our players...that we're trying to kill them off or just make life difficult for them. We are making things reasonably difficult for players, but only in the extent that we'd rather people not just walk right up to level 40 without breaking a sweat. Otherwise, the notion that there's some plot to kill people's characters to the point of perming them is beyond ludicrous. The intent for most things is that there is a reasonable chance of success provided that one falls within the intended level range of the challenge presented, and I would even suggest that PCs (as a group) have the advantage almost everywhere. Even when GMs make changes, this is the metric we recommend and strive to achieve. Yes, mistakes are made, but they're exactly that: mistakes. Despite how many times we try to communicate this to people, we still from time to time hear about "fairness" and things...or worse, it's the things we don't hear about from people making assumptions and gossiping. This is really unproductive and it doesn't help anyone. As far as the bug report that started this, the poster did exactly the right thing. He saw a possible issue or cause for concern and reported it. Maybe it's as-intended, in which case, we'll say so. Maybe it's not, in which case we'll review it and potentially make changes and other reasonable accommodations. Regardless, bringing it forward is the best way to find out the intent and get something adjusted. Hopefully, this puts some minds at rest and/or addresses some concerns that people began to voice in the bug report thread. If not, there's space in this thread for questions.
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9
« on: October 12, 2012, 12:20:03 pm »
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10
« on: September 22, 2012, 12:56:31 pm »
My external drive I run NWN from dumped itself, so I lost all of my logs, avatars, and .erf's... but I think I am back up now with all the right files on a new drive. Had to download a new copy of nwn from GOG.com ($10 for diamond) since I can't find any of my other 3 install disks. At least I had the old keys in my email, so I think the server sees me properly... will need to check the public key in LORE.
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11
« on: September 19, 2012, 10:14:38 am »
Sorry folks, RL is kicking hard and if the heavier work schedule wasn't bad enough, I'm scrambling to move into a new place by the end of the month. As my current roommate is moving to another city at the last minute, I need to find someplace affordable and fast. For better or for worse, this should be resolved by October 1st. Apologies to leave you hanging on the quest series. For now I frantically pack boxes and compare rental rates.
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12
« on: August 22, 2012, 11:41:12 pm »
These are two posters I have made to help promote the Layonara website and the game. They can be downloaded from the downloads section as 300dpi 4800x6000 files that will print out fairly well at 16x20 or smaller. (download section under optional downloads) They are my contribution to helping to build the community. I have printed out several and put them in the local comic book shops, game shops and one in the local library. I hope you will do the same. Coming soon are web badges you can use to show your Layo spirit and perhaps generate some web traffic. Enjoy Minerva  
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13
« on: August 11, 2012, 10:33:06 pm »
I know this comes around every now and then, but I was talking to another player online not long ago about this and clarifying some ideas and came away thinking strongly enough about it to post for it. Now I am not sure if the xp limiting factors are set in bioware code or can be altered by us so all this might be a moot point but I think the time has come for us to seriously consider changing the xp system for parties of multiple levels. I know there are issues with spawns as well and maybe we just have to wear that for the time being until we see that people arent going to abuse it. I think we are limiting and reducing the enjoyment of Layo for our existing players by having the fact that if a level 20 char travels with a group of level 5's the level 5 chars are penalised in terms of the xp gained. Before I go any further let me preface this by saying I KNOW! people might abuse it and powerlevel the low characters...but...we penalise those people doing that rather than penalise EVERYONE. Here are several reasons why I would like to see this restriction removed if it is at all physically possible to do so: Firstly; A lot of the WL's or players with high level chars I have spoken to that have gradually dwindled often complained they couldnt find anyone their level to play with to go to places they could get xp and they felt bad travelling with lower levels because it spoils their FUN and chances to earn some xp. We all know how hard it is on layo to get xp at times so any chance you get is welcomed. Secondly; High level chars have a lot to offer low level chars, think about the rich RP situations these times stimulate. But! the low level players need to be willing to forgo any xp earning situation and focus solely on the RP which is fine sometimes and at times when you might rp for an hour and then leave and find another group heading off to do something...but now you are lucky to log in and find one other person around. Thirdly; Our server is becoming full of individuals who never interact. if I log in on west and there is one other player on who is level 5 and I am level 27 there is no real incentive whatsoever for me to try and find that person and interract with them unless I know them well. if I join them I ruin their chance to make some xp, if they join me it would only be for the chance of RP which might be fine every now and then but sometimes you just want to do something! This situation can never support that. So what happens, both players go their own ways and do their own thing and gradually come on less and less because there is noone their level to help each other out and eventually they disappear. Fourthly; What do PC's at the top of their game do? what incentive is there for a level 40 player to join a group of level 10's? They might enjoy some Rp but both parties know the situation is untenable if they want to get some xp or do something so invariably the level 40 leaves as they dont want to spoil the L10's fun. Fifthly; The server community and indeed the world has changed in the last 7 years, people dont have a lot of time anymore to sit in a clearing outside Hlint and RP for 5 hours, nor really are there enough people to sustain such a RP event. These are the realities of the time. Sixthly; I firmly believe if we remove this restriction we will see Higher level PC's interacting more with lower levels, bringing more information, more RP into the game. Imagine Vrebel with a few young low level fighters relating his experience in battles across layonara. it would be much the same as Lances and Daniella's Toranite recruits program and its success. But even now Daniella and lance can take out their recruits to RP with them and teach them in the field but the reality is they get nothing out of it beyond an RP experience because they dont earn any xp. Which is not essential! But is nice from time to time! Seventh; I know this is an RP world, I get that, but we need to realise that people like to make some XP at times too and with a community a fraction of what it once was and the loss of many high level chars who just cant face ruining other peoples fun this may be a good bandaid solution to bring back more interaction and more RP.
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14
« on: July 17, 2012, 07:22:25 am »
Well hello one and all , LOL Its been a while , im hoping to get back online in the next few days , fingers crossed with a bit of luck .... just thought id say hi , see whos still around playing Ian
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15
« on: May 29, 2012, 08:26:51 pm »
Hello all, I'm letting everyone know that there are presently what looks to be some severe network lag/timeout issues affecting the game servers. The pings to the server are very good but they randomly drop out for anywhere from 10 seconds to 2 minutes, apparently. The physical server has been rebooted and both game servers have been restarted. At this point, there's nothing we can do. Game play will be difficult at best and hazardous at worst until the problem is worked out. Consider this your warning; this qualifies as a known lag event, so any Soul Strand loss, item loss or other negative effects are non-reimbursable. Both servers are up, but I cannot guarantee stability. Play at your own risk. We'll continue to monitor the situation.
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16
« on: May 11, 2012, 12:47:32 am »
Howdy from Texas! I used to be an avid NWN player back in middle school and loved the D&D based game dearly up until the point that my computor got struck by lighting and died around six years ago. My family purchased a Mac, rendering my old NWN Platinum Edition CD set for the PC useless and the years rolled by. I played World of Warcraft for a bit, but then my guild died and the game got old. I moved on to a local gaming group composed of some friends in high school, but then in the last couple of years we were forced to fragment due to differences in university choice. So here I am, after picking up a new copy of Neverwinter Nights Complete at a Walmart or something I have come back to what I fondly remember as one of the few great online roleplaying games where people actually roleplay effectively. I must warn you all that I am not the fastest typist in the world, nor am I a champion speller, but I hope that you will forgive me and that we will have some memorable times together. I've submitted my first character, Sterling Truesilver, who hopefully does not contain too much lorebreaking material in his biography and gets accepted soon. It'll be interesting starting out as a wimpy level one in such an established community, but hey, what can ya' do?
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17
« on: May 05, 2012, 01:26:05 am »
My apologies for my questers! I had some family issude that needed attending to following a death in the family. Had to run off for a bit since that and work were getting hectic. After much soul-searching and alone time, mostly via rum, X3, Risen 2 and other vices, feeling back up to running quests again and playing more in game. I will be at a big barbecue this weekend with friends and getting a haircut for a job search (dont worry, still employed, just looking to upgrade), but I should be back intot he flow of things this upcoming week. I intend on running the next installment of The Razorback Syndicate within the next week, 2 tops. ALSO! I noticed that I've been neglecting my CDQ queue quite a bit and for that I apologize! I noticed that they kept getting buried in PMs and tells, so I looked online and noticed that I never set up my CDQ request page propr! (tsk tsk Brew!) I have 3 in the queue now and have detailed what I need from you guys to send me to get these started. Please comment in the linked forum attachment so that I can address what your goals are, what you're looking for in a quest and I shall try to run at least one every other week. Here's the link to that! http://forums.layonara.com/character-development-quests-cdqs/285597-brewmaster-cdq-list.htmlAgain, my apologies for my absence. Needed some time to get my head together, and figured I shouldn't have access to a Kill-Wand in the meantime! 
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18
« on: April 04, 2012, 12:32:49 am »
I really miss this community and all of you. I always think about this game, the friends, the people and the time I spent here with all of you. I really wish things had turned out different and I could have stuck around playing on a more regular schedule. I forgive all the issues and differences people may have had with me and my RP style, all though I didn't really have any issues nor did I hold a grudge myself! =) I hope some of the old names are out there to remember me, so that this doesn't look like some random wacky post, which will go unnoticed. Love, Peace, & Hair Grease! Daralith Del'Mar Some might have known a little wacky Malkor of the Sea as well...=)
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19
« on: February 18, 2012, 04:55:51 pm »
Hi everyone, I've made my decision about server hosting and we're not going to see as much down time as I suspected. We do have to transfer the web/lore/forums/irc to a new server but I suspect that will only take a late night downtime of those services, I expect that will be taken care of some time in the last few days of February. The NWN servers are going to stay as is and as far as I can think, they will not need any sort of downtime. While I worked on cutting some costs with our host provider I decided to pay for an entire year for all our servers. This comes at a much bigger front end cost of course, but in doing so I save 10% for the full year. This means we're committed to at least another year of all of our servers. Now I know we haven't had the Donation Tracker working. I was hoping that by creating a manual PayPal donation campaign then whoever donates can post a reply to this thread (unless they wish to be anonymous) and I will confirm their donation with my gratitude and a virtual hug. I'm not looking for any specific target dollar but if I could get back $500 over the year from the community it would be fantastic. There's no timeline for this, so if things are tight right now I understand, but every little bit, even $5 helps! For convenience I've created links to pay in four different currencies, AUD, CAD, EUR and USD. There is an area on PayPal to add a personal message, please include your forum or character name so I know who's who. Donate to Layonara in AUDDonate to Layonara in CADDonate to Layonara in EURDonate to Layonara in USDThanks to everyone for helping and once this server migration is complete I look forward to working hard on the new community site. Best wishes, James
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20
« on: February 02, 2012, 12:14:20 am »
Hello friends, old and new. It's been a while since I've been able to sit down and take a breath but I promised myself I would take the time to catch up on what I've been up to and some of the things that have to be done on the technical end over the coming month. To start, I wanted to say that Layonara is with my heart every day. The friends I made and the moments I shared in its fantasy setting will be cherished moments I'll hold through my whole life with no regret. The past year I've been at a distance, occasionally trying to force my way back into the magic that I know makes me feel like only roleplaying can make me feel. It's been there for short whiles but real world priorities get in the way and days away become weeks and then months. I'm not going to try to explain nor am I sure I even know why, it just happens. Life's been pretty good. I've become a bit of a sports nut, I even bought season tickets to the Blue Jays for this summer. Nothing new on the love side of things, though a kiss stolen here and there. Work has had me with a lot less time than I was afforded a few years ago but I remain physically and mentally very healthy. As with playing, my desire for working on the MMO has had to be forced and again other worldly concerns leave me getting side tracked then ultimately not having the fortitude to jump back into the development. I am making progress in a core area though and when I can catch a breath and bare down for the final touches I'll be eager to move on to the areas that others have continued to bear down upon. Over the coming month there's going to be a few headaches from the technical end. One of our servers is old and has to be updated, this means I have to make a decision to either stay with our existing server setups or consider moving all of our servers to a cloud based setup. I've not made that decision yet and it's a pretty complicated one as Dorganath would be able to attest to as we discussed it on IRC. Once I make that decision I will get a better idea of downtime for all our servers, web, irc, nwn etc. I touched on the core area I'm working on with the MMO and that's focused on the web end of things. Using the versatility and module rich Drupal CMS I'm developing both a front end to a new updated community site and a back end to the MMO database structure. This could mean some heavy work needed on LORE and perhaps *cringe* if I'm really feeling adventurous, I would transfer the entire forum to drupal's forum. Alternatively there are modules that allow both vBulletin and Drupal work side by side. I wonder, do any of you have Drupal experience? So I guess that's kind of it for my update. I'll be informing you via the Important World Announcements forum about server downtimes as soon as I can possibly know and with as advanced notice as possible. I apologize in advance if this gets in the way of some scheduled quests. My best, James
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