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DRAFT: Release 78 Notes

Discussion in 'Announcements' started by Elgarion, May 27, 2020.

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  1. Elgarion

    Elgarion Dev Emeritus Dev Emeritus

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    For folks wanting a sneak peek a day early or wish to help with edit suggestions, here's a draft copy of tomorrow's release notes. I've got one more article to write about the new Shadow Creature skins/effects, but otherwise it's fairly complete.

    Keep in mind, I didn't really have time to read through it a second/third time which I'll do tomorrow, but anything you spot can really speed along my review.

    Enjoy!

    https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jPwYhle-oZ4A4U3Ev3lPuWrxoKYLclRDOHx7uLt2qT4/edit?usp=sharing
     
  2. Cora Cuz'avich

    Cora Cuz'avich Avatar

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    I think Envy angel has been gone a while now, hasn't she? (Or was this a holdover from a copy/paste gone awry?)
     
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  3. Cora Cuz'avich

    Cora Cuz'avich Avatar

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    Also; holy carp for Scaled Difficulty!
     
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  4. Alley Oop

    Alley Oop Bug Hunter Bug Moderator

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    envy angel was already removed and replaced with death bunny. do you mean death bunny?
     
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  5. Echondas

    Echondas Bug Hunter Bug Moderator

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    So.. the Oracle shipped all the prisoners from Brittany off to Fishing Expedition? ;)
     
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  6. Echondas

    Echondas Bug Hunter Bug Moderator

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    I just saw there is a 2nd troll on the Novia map now for this encounter - 1 at each side of the mountain pass - might be a bug or intended - FYI.
     
  7. Elgarion

    Elgarion Dev Emeritus Dev Emeritus

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    Nope, I just wasn't thinking -- it was the Arch Lapin -- fixed!

    Hehehe, I hate it when I have to ask for someone to explain a joke. What prisoners?

    I'll let Sannio know just in case :)

    I'll check for more edits in the morning.
     
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  8. Echondas

    Echondas Bug Hunter Bug Moderator

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    The male bathing suit reminds me of an old school prisoner uniform a little :)

    Can't hurt - guessing that was the change, adding a 2nd spawn instead of making the single spawn 50% faster.
     
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  9. Elgarion

    Elgarion Dev Emeritus Dev Emeritus

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  10. Barugon

    Barugon Avatar

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    This is good because, you know, that's where the blessing of agility is. If that gets messed up, there will be a few upset players.
     
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  11. Bedawyn

    Bedawyn Avatar

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    What is this referring to? I've never seen any sort of bundle from Esmeralda. She takes tea leaves, gives you back used skulls, but the dye bundle and cloak come from the Captain, not Esmeralda. I saw this mentioned in the patch notes a while back and thought it was just a mistake, but since this is the second time it's appearing....
     
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  12. Alley Oop

    Alley Oop Bug Hunter Bug Moderator

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    loot bundle. dev term. the gold/xp.
     
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  13. Anpu

    Anpu Avatar

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    It could probably be written more clearly for players and if it’s referring to turning in the Tea Leaves, a mention that the Tea Leaves can now only be turned in one time.
     
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  14. Bedawyn

    Bedawyn Avatar

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    Hi, @Elgarion! If you'll take advice from a retired editor, the newsletter in general could use a lot of improvement -- mostly problems that existed long before you took it over. It's way too long, and there's way too much repetition in it. And in particular (I'm pretty sure you've heard this before), the presentation of the newsletter overall tends to emphasize all the wrong things. It treats release updates to SotA as if they were of the same importance as a Meretz contest or some other repeated boilerplate.

    We want people to read the weekly update, and especially to read the new-release updates. But they're not going to do more than skim it if they know in advance that half the document is stuff they've already seen before, or that isn't relevant to them, or both. The more repeated material there is, the less likely people are to read what's new and important, because they won't be paying as much attention overall. And that's if they bother to open the e-mail at all, when they know in advance that most of it will be repetitive.

    If I were in charge of the newsletter, the first thing I'd want to do is trim down the length of each weekly update. The new-release-# edition could stay longer, but I'd want to make sure that the additional length was actually used for details of the release, not for boilerplates.

    The first place I'd start would be the Projects to Support. If there's a new project that hasn't been highlighted yet, by all means, give it a full write-up with a big picture. But if it's a project -- any project, no matter who's name is attached to it -- if it's already been included last week, and the week before that, and the week before that, and the week bef.... No, just no. For projects that have already gotten their spotlight, give them a one-paragraph blurb and one, ONE, small picture. That's all. If they want more attention than that, they need to give you some significantly meaty update of their own, that actually justifies spotlighting them again, with fresh text and a fresh picture. Otherwise, it's just wasting our readers' bandwidth and wasting their good will.

    I would also include no more than three Projects to Support per edition, and require that at least one of those three was actively SotA-related. If there's more than three that really deserve to be included, they can take turns rotating in and out of the three slots.

    I'd apply similar rules to the Community Events, although since they're more relevant, I'd be more willing to bend the rules. But in general, the same applies: It should only get a full spotlight once. If the event is still two or three weeks out, just include a small picture and a short preview description. Then include the full write up and big picture the week before the event, when people are actually thinking about what they might do in the coming week. But keep in mind that if you're sending the newsletter out on Friday afternoons, many people aren't going to see it until after any weekend events are over, so don't leave the big write-up too late. But if it's too early, people will just think "I don't need to remember that yet" and promptly forget about it.

    Also, please include the event date(s) in the headline for that article (or blurb). We should be seeing the dates in the table of contents; that will automatically catch more people's attention, especially for events coming up soon. If an "event" doesn't have specific dates, then it's not an event and shouldn't be in this section. I'd also move the "Upcoming Events Calendar" section to the bottom of the Community Events listings (with a smaller picture, since it's boilerplate).

    And the Meretz contest is definitely not more important than our community events. It's debatable whether it's even community-related at all. I'd move it to the bottom, right after the Projects to Support section. After all, you're telling people to download someone else's software, so it really is a "project to support." Again, big picture only when the contest prize has just changed, small picture for all other weeks. Readers should be able to trust that anything getting a full-size picture is something new that they haven't seen before.

    There's plenty of other changes I'd make, but that's enough for now. :)
     
  15. Bedawyn

    Bedawyn Avatar

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    Yes, calling it a bundle is definitely confusing, when we have other actual bundles being handed out elsewhere. Although last I checked, the tea leaves were still repeatable. It was just once a day now (which is kind of annoying when you get tea leaves multiple times without even trying, but that's an issue for a different thread).
     
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  16. Bedawyn

    Bedawyn Avatar

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    Oh, there was one other important thing! The packaging-items-for-trade article is very important news for some of us, and I'd move it up above the rewards items (IF and only if it actually is functional in the new release). But the article is still missing critical information: How many crowns it's going to cost, or if the cost if variable, how it will be determined. We really need to know that. In fact, we could use a couple paragraphs worth of details on how it will actually work.

    I'd also remove the entire second paragraph of that article. Slapping Heritage on everything was a mistake, and this is an overdue remedy for that mistake. If you break someone's window and have to replace the glass, you don't try to brag to them about how you're giving them a great new window. The whole " just one of many useful new features to arrive this year" ain't fooling anyone; trying to pass it off as an improvement is again, just wasting people's good will.
     
  17. Duke Gréagóir

    Duke Gréagóir Legend of the Hearth

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    Mistendur map is missing Dara Brae on the map town name labels. Please add my town to the map labels as I was moved 1 month ago. Thank you.
     
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  18. Jikininki

    Jikininki Avatar

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    Norgard Fens gives the same buff. It might not hurt if one was altered to something new. Another world buff or two or three.... would be great!
     
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  19. Steevodeevo

    Steevodeevo Avatar

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    Good update. Some nice game-play content that is not Bard or deco focused. Nice direction.
     
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  20. Cora Cuz'avich

    Cora Cuz'avich Avatar

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    Unless, they decide to scale the buff higher with the difficulty level...
     
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