In the not too distant future

Here's a little what's-happenin' update, by request, along with some extra babble (no cost!).

Last weekend's life nova + wild calling + convocation's mark update marked the end of a pretty good run of class adjustments and additions. I'm not done updating base classes yet, but class-based work is on very temporary pause, probably until the end of the month or so.

Touching on the updates briefly - the new daja spells (life nova and unearthly rapture) are pretty spectacular in potential. It took a fair amount of time to get the rapture working right, as it's a pretty unique effect. :) Both abilities reach their fullest potential when used on an overwhelmed target; whereas the rapture is the sicker effect with the longer prevention, the nova is somewhat more utilitarian, as it has a short prevention and can even be used as a running tool (even a single target struck will give the target at least some percentage of holy light attack). Both are useful for granting the daja some breathing room in reviving an overwhelmed ally.

Wild calling and the convocation's mark are pretty unique. Wild calling basically grants the druid access to a variety of targetable buffs, including faerie fire, lateral deterrence, or delayed-action healing bursts... but never more than one at a time. The druid must commit to a specific council when acquiring the convocation's mark, and that decision governs which effect the wild calling provides until the mark fades.

The weeks before that update were pretty intense in terms of adding "shine" to classes that needed it; while the task isn't quite done yet, my focus will be changing for the next few weeks. I'll be working primarily on content updates, in this order: Fields of Guidance revamp, cleanup in Mejath, Invasion additions, finishing the Hallowed Scar, improving the Trials of Karmova, adding the Vl'lakian Ramparts group dungeon, adding more Ruushi functionality tied to Invasion damage levels (gambling?), and finally some crafting system updates.

That's a lot of work, yeah. :) I'm pretty far along in the Fields revamp; I think you should see that coming out in a few days or so. This past week has been spent primarily on designing and implementing that revamp, while adding a few specific features to the mob AI system to support some of my plans for the above. The updates beyond Mejath might fluctuate slightly in order; some will require substantial amounts of time to fine-tune (Scar, Ramparts, crafting) whereas the others are a bit easier to work with (Trials, Invasion), and I might push up the easier stuff if updates become too sparse, just to keep everyone happy with shiny new toys. A lot of the development will be concurrent as well, since so much of it is linked (the Trials affect the Scar, new rewards will be available from Scar/Ramparts which are used in the crafting system, etc.)

The Fields and Mejath are definitely first in line, though. We now have both a sidebar icon and in-forum banners on zuggsoft.com, as well as an icon in new Cmud/Zmud installations; we're also making some impressive work climbing the mud site rankings (keep up the voting at nodeka.com; you're all making a big difference and we appreciate it a ton!). Because of this, our newbie experience is at the top of my plate right now. :)

So that covers the past week and the next few weeks, at least. As always, I'm happy to address any questions or concerns you may have, and thank you for your patience, active voting, and support in helping to bring out the excellence in Nodeka!