This week we find out about our latest great sale, read an extensive interview with Madam Ladybug, and much more!
A fantastic sale for one week only!
Wednesday, September 23rd was the official day of Equinox, and to celebrate it in grand fashion, we launched a massive sale in our item shop – all Equinox outfits and toys are 50% off! This incredible deal lasts for one week only, and will end on Wednesday, September 30th.
In the Equinox section of the item shop, you’ll find a total of 10 outfits to choose from, as well as the one-of-a-kind Sankata Companion, and the Equinox Alignment Trinket. Don’t miss out on this fantastic sale!
When we released Patch 3.5.6 last week, in addition to the Equinox zone, the build had a great many new changes in it – some of the changes went over quite well, and some did not. We carefully poured over all of the forum posts and feedback posted by our players, and spent a lengthy meeting discussing all of the points made.
One of the many benefits of live game development is the active role played by the people whom the game is for – the players. Our goal always is for the creation process to be a partnership between the devs and the community. To that end, we took your feedback of the last week and spent a good deal of time analyzing it, and brainstorming possible solutions, which we have since implemented with some new changes in this current patch.
Did you know that we specifically made a number of adjustments with regards to repairing weapons and gear? Here are the changes we made, and hope this will remedy—or at least be seen as a compromise—on what was a somewhat heated issue:
- We dropped the price of repairing gear, weapons, and tools.
- We boosted the amount that a repair kit repairs gear by 50%, and boosted the amount that repair kits repair weapons by 4.5x.
- We reduced the gold cost of creating crafted repair kits for kits level 65 and above.
- Ardent Society members will now receive some Repair Effluxes each month.
- We increased the time it takes to wear down a weapons durability by 50% (so weapons last longer before needing repaired).
Madam Ladybug
View the full issue to read the interview with Madam Ladybug!
One of the many benefits of having such an international community as ours, is that we are constantly given the opportunity to learn about other popular events, pastimes, and activities in different countries all around the globe.
This week, for example, thanks to a V&H player on EU 2, the Otters learned all about a certain radio program and You Tube series that is widely popular in Germany called, Fünf für, or ‘Five for.’ (http://www.radiowmw.de/musik/fuenf-fuer.html)
In this program, people are interviewed without being asked questions. The interviewees (musicians, actors, etc.) are handed five objects, and then must say the first few things that pop into their heads when looking at them, immediate associations, thoughts, that sort of thing.
Bluerider of EU 2 has created her own version of ‘Five For’ and submitted it to the Ledger for any willing Otters to answer. Ivar and Sarah couldn’t refuse! So here is Bluerider’s version of ‘Five For’ – she chose all of the images herself, and gave us no explanations as to why she had chosen them….
Five for Ivar and Sarah
Object #1 – Portland Trail Blazers coffee mug
Ivar: Oh, morning coffee… how I love you. There isn’t much work that isn’t fueled by the real black gold, for me nor many other otters! Then there’s lunch coffee… and afternoon coffee… and evening coffee…
Sarah: Either this ‘Five For’ thing is rigged, or the EU 2 interviewer is creepily psychic because that’s the city I grew up in, and the Blazers were my team! Clyde Drexler. Jerome Kersey. Memorial Coliseum long before it was the Moda Center. Obliterating the Lakers that one year…Jack Nicholson mad about it.
Object #2 – “Happy Camper” T-Shirt
Ivar: I got a few camping memories! It was never a family occasion when I grew up, as in many American households, but despite my protests I was still dragged out into the cold by over-enthusiastic school staff. I love nature – but there’s something about organized camping that can be far more stressful than relaxing. Luckily I always brought programming literature to keep me busy – huge tomes of a thousand pages each! A pain to carry in a backpack, but there’s nothing like reading up on C++ variable data types next to a cozy campfire.
Sarah: Welcome to the camp/ I guess you all know, why we’re here/ My name is Tommy/ And I became aware this year/ If you want to follow me/ You’ve got to play pin ball/ And put in your earplugs/ Put on your eye shades/ You know where to put the cork — The Who. And now that song is going to be in my head all day.
Object #3 – Montblanc ball pen
Ivar: This brings me back to when I was younger, and used to make many ballpoint pen illustrations – hardly masterpieces, but it was fun nonetheless! Always trickier when you can’t erase your mistakes, though of course, it often makes for more interesting art…
Sarah: An unaffordable item for an indie game dev.
Object #4 – Ladle
Ivar: Ah, lentil soup, always my trusty companion! My wife and I do a lot of cooking, and this absolute staple food of ours never gets old. The world would be a happier place with more lentils in it.
Sarah: “No soup for you!” (Seinfeld) And also, cooking is not my strong suit. At all. Pretty sure I’ve never owned a ladle, or if I did, I definitely never used it.
Object #5 – Picture of Patrick Stewart
Ivar: Why, Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise-D, of course! The best commanding officer Star Trek have ever seen, bar none. (and also the only commanding officer that seems to only get younger as time passes!)
Sarah: I was watching a 70’s movie a few years ago, and about fell out of my chair when I discovered that once upon a time, this man did indeed have a full head of hair.