View source for Creating Adventure - January 2023

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== Words of Wyrom ==

[[File:Wyrom.png|thumb|left|90px|<center>The Wyrom</center>]]My 2022 experience can be summed up with the phrase, "I didn't hear no bell."  It was a pretty exhausting stretch that led into long days, some sleepless nights, and times when I wasn't sure what week it was anymore.  I led the teams through an organizational restructuring to try to focus on the core pillars for GemStone IV.  That came with its own hardships, but I feel confident it will help highlight our strengths versus putting a spotlight on our weaknesses.  

Something that has been on my mind a lot is how we conduct ourselves as game staff.  All of us working on the game are players of GemStone IV.  I think most of us have similar origin stories where we found the game on an ISP such as GEnie, Prodigy, or AOL and continued on over the years.  Maybe you're just returning after a long hiatus or you've been with us off and on throughout the years, but the important part is you're here now reading this.  And that means GemStone IV is a part of your life, whether you're passionate about the game or you're just here for the GIFTBOX.  But sometimes it is hard to communicate with everyone on a daily basis.  Discord has really turned the volume up on how much we engage with our players.  It's really easy to chat on there and get sucked into a time vortex.  It's also really difficult to not take feedback personally.  We're all humans (mostly), after all.  GameMasters have built a lot of relationships with our players, some of those extending multiple decades, so it can be a tough balance between friendships and professionalism.  We had some slip ups recently, and the only thing I can say is, we'll try to be better.

I'm looking forward to 2023 and I think staff as a whole are eager to get working on new projects.  One of my team's major goals on Production is to look at giving Premium players more value to that subscription tier.  We are very thankful to see Premium continue to grow and we hope to put together a series of deliverables this summer.  It's going to be pretty hot this summer, and in the evenings some people might need to find a way to cool down!

== The Road Less Traveled ==

It's not often that we talk about projects that didn't happen or didn't make it on time.  Sometimes we need to take a humbled approach.  We had a lot of plans for 2022, but we lost some momentum in some areas and had tons of feedback in other areas.  I'd like to talk about deadlines and projects that missed the mark and what our plan is.  I usually talk about the road ahead, but I feel this year we need to take a different path and talk about what happened in 2022 and how we plan to move forward with those changes.

=== Divergence ===

One of the major areas we plan to walk back is Divergence.  The immediate plan is to implement some of the less controversial changes that were part of Divergence and remove the rest.  We will go back to working on the professional reviews and tweak the areas that we feel would constitute to a better gaming experience.  Spell concerns that were a hot topic during Divergence will get worked on more and we'll try to balance more of the feedback that was brought up during 2022.  There will be a forum post to follow this announcement.

The reasons Divergence came into the picture were was to be able to develop new, challenging content with changes to spells and skills that would make the development process to be easier to account for certain hurdles in terms of game balance  GemStone has gone through a number of large changes to combat, but most of it has always been layered on top of each other.  Divergence was a fresh take so we could remove those layers and finally push forward with the content we wanted to make.  But it came with a lot of hardships along the way.  We felt that keeping areas of the current game as is would be a great compromise so that if you hated the changes, you could easily continue to play the way you always had.  We learned from feedback that we were wrong, and we’re sorry it took so long to recognize it.  We have decided it's best to throw Divergence into the Eye of V'tull and start over with a fresh take, with a renewed focus on making sure the gaming experience is the best it can be.

=== Loot Cap ===

[[File:NorthGate.jpg|thumb|right|150px|<center>North Gate</center>]]One of the goals for 2022 was to put a lot of effort into draining silver from the game and give your silver more meaning.  Loot cap has been in place for a couple years now, and while the 2021 numbers helped us identify what we'd need to do going forward, the impacts of it are still a work in progress.  An area of growing concern was most all of our new/powerful items were locked behind the pay wall at our events.  EVENT BOX was developed with a way to make sure you can still get an opportunity to accrue items/services with just in-game currency.  It was decided to take the median spend (~5000 SimuCoins) and make that the target for EVENT BOX.  We further refined the offerings of EVENT BOX to make sure it was appealing and achievable, as the upfront cost of over 10million silver was a bit too much for most people, so we broke it down into smaller offerings multiple times.  We coupled this with offering a limited pickaxe Duskruin Dig for silver with all the same prizes from previous Digs, as well as some of the leftover items from Droughtman's Maze Challenge.

We had other large drains in 2022, such as the Premium Auction, a scattering of silver festivals, Weighting/Padding/Sighting (WPS), and prize piles at many events.  After all the dust has settled, and not including any game system that drains silvers on a regular basis, we were successful to drain north of 100bil silver from the game.  That is a ton of silver.  It is nearly double the amount of silver generated in a year.  But as you can see, it means we have to keep going strong.  We have to keep doing what we're doing and coming up with new ways (that aren't just tedium) to make your silvers, and essentially your game time, more valuable.  We have some things in the works here that will appeal to both the silver rich and poor.  One is an enhancive reroller and the other is a system currently called charms.  More on both of those when they are ready to hit the game!

While I plant myself firmly in loot cap being good for the game, there are parts of it that don't have a sense of community building.  We will be removing the grouping penalties that were occurring with determining treasure.  We will continue to keep an eye on how this impacts the game.  If we notice a huge uptick in silver generation, we may need to put it back in place or try something new out.

=== Locker Updates ===

Like the auction, this lost momentum from losing our lead engineer at Simutronics.  The locker updates required a significant update to how much data a character can store.  That change didn't happen until roughly Ebon Gate time, and all the time I had planned to work on it was lost.  It was an update I couldn't even plan out until the engine updates were made.  I've been working on it since November though and I hope to have it ready soon, before Duskruin, January if I can squeeze it out.  We're also still plugging away at the family vaults, which are a whole different system.  I'll be adding a January EVENT BOX for locker upgrades to herald in the changes shortly before we go live!

== Road Ahead ==

While we spend some time going over the old, we don't want it to seem like that's all we're working on.  We have some major new locales coming out, alongside character-defining storylines!

=== Development Projects ===

Some major development projects being worked on are:
* Spell Disabler Review
* Paladin Divine Inspiration System
* New Profession Service for Bards.

We have other projects in the works, but in fear of overpromising specifics, we'll just leave it at that.

=== More Hunting ===

We have three new hunting grounds planned, two of which are to expand Zul Logoth, a realm that hasn't experienced much in the way of new areas.  Stormpeak will be coming soon, as it gets wrapped up in QC.  Stormpeak is a level 79 to 85 hunting ground in the mountains above Zul Logoth.  Afterwards, the Hive will be tunneling its way to Zul Logoth, which will be a capped hunting ground.  Lastly, we are still working on the Criptis on the Isle of Four Winds.

=== Roleplay in Elanthia ===

We actually have multiple known Elanthia-sprawling roleplaying events underway.  Unfortunately, we can only name one of them right now because giving the name of the other one would tip the discovery scale.  The Winter War has begun.  We are, however, trying some new avenues of storyline communication, storyline setup, and ways to create smaller events within the larger plot point to target a diversity of people and interests

== Year in Review ==

We may have missed a few announcements in our [[:Category:Changelog|Changelog]], but check out (most of) our updates in [[2022_Changelog | 2022]]!
{{#section:2022 Changelog|table}}

==Spotlight on Staff==
{{Staffprofile
| name              = GameMaster Galene
| image             = [[File:GaleneIRL.jpg|200px]]
| caption           = 
| rank              = SGM
| team              = Production
| guru              = Prime
}}
'''GameMaster Galene'''

This time around I met up with Galene!  She is currently on the Production team, overseeing Prime.

'''Wyrom''': So tell me a little bit of background about yourself.

'''Galene''': I'm 39, and a St. Louis, Missouri native.  I'm married with 2 kids that are 10 and 6, and we are all bossed around by our rescue cat and new Chihuahua mix puppy.


'''Wyrom''': Now that we know a little bit about you, how long have you been on staff?

'''Galene''': I was hired in October, 2007.  So, I've been doing this for a little over 15 years.


'''Wyrom''': After you were hired, what team did you start on?

'''Galene''': I believe I started on Events, and I could not have been more stoked to get to work on weddings!


'''Wyrom''': Before getting to the senior side of GameMastering, what would you say was your biggest accomplishment for GemStone IV?

'''Galene''': For storylines, I was most satisfied with running the Prisma Relics storyline.  I love seeing the folks that still use their Relic Hunter titles.  For area building, I was so excited to make the grounds for Briarmoon Cove since the scenery was so specific to the location, and everything we made was brand new, not just adding on to existing event areas.


'''Wyrom''': Favorite area in Elanthia?

'''Galene''': East Tower in the Landing.  Rogue 4 Lyfe.


'''Wyrom''': Favorite thing you designed?

'''Galene''': My favorite area that I've created is the Imaera's Grove and Temple in Solhaven.  The sylvan lapidary boxes are definitely my favorite item I've made.


'''Wyrom''': Best memory of GemStone IV?

'''Galene''': I met my husband through GMing for the game, so I think meeting and getting to know him are some of my best memories.


'''Wyrom''': Do you actually like Aelotoi?

'''Galene''': When additional race options were released, I rolled up an aelotoi character immediately and some GMs roleplayed a small quest to walk down to Cysaegir to essentially investigate the new area that aelotoi were getting as their refuge.  It was so exciting and fun to be involved in that storyline on the player side and to be part of their original establishment in GS.  So, YES, I do!!


'''Wyrom''': If you could snap your fingers and change one thing about Elanthia, permanently, what would it be?

'''Galene''': Ha, unless I get a trial run of some sort, I'm not doing anything permanently!


'''Wyrom''': Who would win in a fight, Imaera or Oleani?

'''Galene''': No contest, Imaera would win.  Never second guess a Mother Nature figure.


'''Wyrom''': What do you like to do outside of GemStone IV?

'''Galene''': I'm into indoor and outdoor gardening, reading, making art, and watching documentaries.  I have a vintage resale shop, and I sometimes source items at antique or thrift stores, too.


'''Wyrom''': Do you have a favorite book or series?

'''Galene''': My favorite fantasy series is The Inheritance Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin.  She's my favorite living author.


'''Wyrom''': What about movies, what's in your top picks?

'''Galene''': The Princess Bride, Labyrinth, The Birdcage, 10 Things I Hate About You, and nearly every true crime documentary ever made.


'''Wyrom''': Do you have a favorite quote or something you like to live by?

'''Galene''': "Prepare yourself so you can be a rainbow in somebody else's cloud."  - Dr. Maya Angelou


'''Wyrom''': If you had to pick a fantasy world to live in, which one you moving to?

'''Galene''': I would pick Wonderland and move in with the Cheshire Cat.


'''Wyrom''': Now you and I played the game together and went to at least two of the same runs of the WaveDancer.  Outside our Narnia rap and my voluminous hair, what would you say was an iconic moment during that whole era of GS?

'''Galene''': All I'll say is that I'm sending a shout out to the members of the Ecru Cru.  They know who they are.


'''Wyrom''': Any parting words before we go?

'''Galene''': Excelsior!

[[Category:Creating Adventure]]