Welcome to the TownCrier’s Daily Discord Digest.

In this space, we at the TownCrier will attempt to provide a daily digest of select conversations at the Official GemStone IV Discord server covering a 24-hour period from 10 pm EST the night previous to 10 pm EST of the night listed in the title. Not all conversations will be (nor can be) reported and we will endeavor to utilize a neutral tone (although our unique senses of humor may show through).

Links may go to the Official Discord post itself, to the GemStone IV Wiki, or other useful and relevant places. In the case of Discord links, those links will send you to the Discord web interface. If you are not signed in, you will need to be signed in to see them.

The digest was created by and is edited by the player of Qafziel Nalfein/Darcena Wolf-Valslayer – Jen. Have an error to report on this digest or some information to pass along? Contact Jen on Discord at ArmyJen#0001 or e-mail her. Please reference which digest day to which you are referring.

What You Missed

The majority of this digest record was compiled by Jen; #scripting was compiled by Luxelle.

General Gemstone IV

#premium

Premium Festival Timeline. GM Quilic provided a link to a forum post about the upcoming premium festival. He then said, “The biggest thing to be aware of from that post is the rough timeline. The grounds open Friday night at 9pm EST. From that moment until Sunday evening… expect some craziness as far as raffles and services go. It won’t be QUITE the level of crazy that gets seen at EG, but it’ll bear a fair resemblance at times, I’d wager.”

Possibly Tattoos at Premium Festival. In response to a player’s request for a tattooist at the premium festival, GM Quilic stated, “I will LIKELY be bringing Hepit around during Premium Fest for some tattooing. And she does feature alters as well.” He made sure to make it clear this was not a “for sure” thing, but he would try, “Tattoos are so much fun. I’m really hoping I have time to do a few rounds of them at Premium Fest. But I honestly have no idea what my workload is going to be like until things get underway.”

#mechanics

Bugfixes.

  • “Just rolled in a fix for Predator’s Eye where it was not always applying its bonus. It should be more predatory now.” [GM Naijin]
  • “Also, silent strike will actually be silent when used with UCS. Oops.” [GM Naijin]

Suggestions and Bug Reports.

  • As a brawler/shield spell caster.. I’d love to have a pair of UCS gloves that aided spell casting” [Arianiss]
  • “Actually, while we’re talking about cutthroat, I really need to take the time to BUG it. It’s supposed to take effect if you get two minor successes with it, but that isn’t the case (This is with all critters, not just heist)” [Midgar]
  • Regarding crit kills in the arena being disabled, “
    They should at least make it so that a would be crit death hit, adds a ton of damage instead. Like good old fashion backstabs in other games.” [Midgar]

UAF Question Regarding Prone. “I’m looking at how UAF works, does the target being prone have no effect on anything?” [RyjexLeafiara replied she thought it affected the multiplier modifier, but Ryjex said it wasn’t listed on the wiki.

Nidal then brought up that the player’s monk uses 1207 and it prone should do something. ardkor stated, “Prone should penalise UDF (in the normal way in which DS penalties get translated to UDF penalties). The main advantage of 1207 is that critters go offensive, and usually waste an action to stand up. It doesn’t actually make them all that much easier to hit when they are turtled. Unless you are really low level, UDF penalties are pretty meaningless.” GM Naijin responded, “Pretty sure being prone affects MM which is far more beneficial than a UDF penalty.”

GM Rogue Champion. Crime stated, “My understanding is the rogue class doesn’t have a very active champion at Simutronics. I hope that’s not true, but if so then we’re just going to limp along for the forseable future.” GM Estild responded, “That is not true.” Midgar replied that it does seem to be the perception of most rogues he’s spoken with and GM Estild responded, “That doesn’t make the former statement any truer.”

Adamantine and Disarm. Crime asked, “OK so sure would love a direct response on the Adamantine disarm issue. Confirmed it no longer disarms players at this time. While PvP isn’t GSIV’s focus, it is a fun element when players want to have fun. Toy is still broken.” GM Estild replied, “As for the adamantine issue, it’s currently not affecting player attackers, but still does affect creatures. I have a pending inquiry to Coase to see if it is intended or not.”

#scripting

Avalera looked for the best solution in a ruby script when she dies. There were several answers.

Talonhawke wanted to know about triggering a script when you change rooms.

Doug explored a ruby and lich solution that will return whether you are grouped or not.

Thefrogg asked how to check experience to know if you are saturated so you can do a boost longterm. Tysong recommends the repository script: ;lte

Arianiss asked about chaining some society abilities together; Doug, Naos, and FarFigNewGut have bits of code to suggest ways to do it.

Ondreian pushed another build for the new beta Illthorn front end; now it can use yar and Node.js

World of Elanthia

#festivals-and-events

 Elanthian Vogue Update. Rohese announced, “As per usual, Elanthian Vogue have published a Duskruin Supplement looking at some of the more fashionable-oriented items available in the Bloodriven Village.”

#alteration-help

Submit noun suggestions. Tei asked, “is there somewhere we can submit noun suggestions? I want to buy the high steel ore but I have a specific weapon noun I want to use” GM Avaluka replied, “Is it specifically a noun that is not allowed already? I suspect you could just ensure to get the base you want and just have it altered later into the noun you want if it’s already approved for that base. But for suggestions, you should post on the official forums.”

#roleplay-in-elanthia

Questions.

  • Have any of your character’s habits or hobbies led to you learning more about (or picking up!) a new hobby of your own that you’ve previously never been interested in? [Alisaire]

Arianiss suggested a new verb that allows a player to interact with objects without other players seeing which would tell you the name of the object and not be obtrusive. He suggested INTERACT {object} having a return of The {object} is an interactable object. He summarized, “..and the reason for this is because there ARE things in the game that don’t have proper tagging so you don’t know they’re interactable except for playing with them. (and also because I’m on the Wizard FE and so I don’t see stuff that StormFront does)”

Horse Tack Alterations. Raelee commented, “The struggle there is that most of the horse accessories aren’t alterable. Only the saddles are, because Kaikala is the best and left lots of instructions. From what I’ve been told… half of the problem is that there’s nothing on them that explicitly says, ‘Yes. You can alter this.’ So nobody will touch them. Even though most of the items don’t do anything. So ironically… the only tack that’s alterable is the complicated scripty tack.” GM Avaluka replied, “Oh yeah … I usually always try to be explicit with my scripts for the GMs to know whether they can touch/alter something or not. But mayhaps the horse things are not meant for altering just yet. Hard to say.”

SimuCoin Events and Quests

#duskruin

Moonshard Pendants. Neopuron asked, “so i am noticing the blood-infused crystals are no longer working in the moonshard pendants… this by design?” GM Kaikala responded, “you mentioned the blood-infused crystals not working anymore in the moonshard pendants? Can you clarify?” Neopuron replied, “I noticed yesterday, when I tried to change out my bloodstone with a new crystal I found. Was unable to put it in the pendant. Tried the few others I’ve had that use to work and same result. Only seem to be able to insert (push) the bloodstones” He added later that the bloodrunes still work, but blood-infused crystals don’t load into the pendant.

E-Blades and Scripted Weapons. Avawren asked, “Do Sigil Staffs block eblade?” GM Estild replied, “Yes. All scripted weapons do.”

There was a lot of chatter about the trove and items in the trove.

Wiki Updated. Gavrien announced, “Arright. I think all the DR shops except Spellbound are updated on the wiki.”GM Estild announced, “FYI, being hidden and knocked into a trap isn’t a bug. It’s intentionally designed to do that.”


HESS Refunds. Arianiss asked, “Why are there refunds in HESS?” PM Wyrom responded, “There are a lot of reasons. Mostly they BUY without making sure it’s what they want.”

Benefits of Solo vs Group Arena. LostRanger asked, “So, what incentive is there to do arena as a group rather than solo?” Ososis responded, “I think the idea was you could lean on the strengths of your partners, but since solo has become so so so easy and if anybody isn’t killing there share (however it is decided) then they get less than max BS, I don’t see any actual incentive unless you are unable to do the arena at all solo.”Giantphang suggested, “hey @Haliste perhaps a 10 second grace period before the next raffle begins so folks can collect their tokens? Or if you have a token ready to return, and you try to put a token in the drawer, instead of it telling you you can’t until you return it, it automatically returns it to you and then sticks it in the drawer? Either of those might fix the last bit of complaints about what seems to be a pretty rad system.”

Bloodrune Holder Illusions. Nuadja reported, “If people are curious about the illusion effects from the bloodrune holders, I just did some testing:”

Arcane solar sigils glow in front of him.
Solar
Arcane lunar sigils glow in front of him.
Lunar
Arcane elemental sigils glow in front of him.
Elemental
Miniature pegasi spiral outward from him before fading away.
Tonis
Arcane spirit sigils glow in front of him.
Spirit
Arcane mental sigils glow in front of him.
Mental
Arcane death sigils glow in front of him.
Death
Arcane energy sigils glow in front of him.
Energy

Illusion Relics Not Limited. GK! reported, “I’m sad to see that the Illusion relics in Be Warez appear to be limited this year, two of them have already sold out. Have they ever been like that before?” GM Haliste replied, “They shouldn’t be. I’ll find out what’s going on there.” GM Thandiwe responded, “The relics were not sold in limited quantity. They were broken and until I could do an in-depth look at them to see why they were broken, I had to pull them.”

Treasure Trove. GM Haliste stated, “Haliste has been busy with family this week and the memorial service for my mother. So… I’m sorry I haven’t been around to handle things, but…. GAME ON, NOW.” and “It’s okay! It actually happened back at the end of June, so things have been a bit wonky for quite a few weeks.” and “But I should be able to devote the needed time to get the Trove whipped into shape, and it looks like we’ll be running it hard this weekend. Strap in.”

GM Haliste added, “And you know what? I added a realm-wide message when a new item goes up for raffle. So you’ll know. You don’t know what it is, so you’ll have to go back to the warehouse to see, but at least you’ll know.”

GM Haliste explained, “So, if the Trove is NOT going to run between midnight and noon….The time that the Trove will last put an item up for raffle depends on 1) how often will raffles run, and 2) what time is it now. So if raffles will run every 2 hours, and let’s say a raffle goes off at 10:15, then another one won’t draw, because there’s not enough time to get that raffle drawn before midnight. If raffles are running every hour, then the last raffle will draw at some time before 11:00 PM. That way a raffle won’t get set up and then draw at like 2AM. Make sense?”

zeph suggested, “what about the suggestion of midnight-noon – pull every 6 hours, noon – 6pm, pull every 3 hours, 6pm-midnight – pull every 1-2 hours? it gives just a small opportunity for night shift/time zone people….”

GM Haliste replied, “I think we will see how things go.”

Spellbound Questions. Arianiss asked, “1) were monocles a limited availability items? 2) are those moon phase necklaces carbon copies of the GM auction ones (with regards to loresong and what they do)?” GM Estild referred Arianiss to GM Thandiwe for the first item and replied, “I’m not sure on the moon phase necklaces.” GM Thandiwe replied she did not limit the monocles, but Arianiss explained he could not find them. GM Thandiwe stated, “You aren’t going crazy, the table is missing from that room. I’ll have to find out why, but I’m on my way out the door, so it will have to wait until I can return.” Regarding the moonphase necklaces, Alisaire stated, “The moonphase necklaces are the same ones from ages ago, re-released as of a few years back”

Parasitic/Sprite Flares on Bows. Arianiss asked, “Why is there a significant cost to unlocking parasitic/sprite flares on a bow? It strikes me as a ‘we couldn’t figure out how to get it to work in the beginning, but now we can..'” and then he quoted GM Retser from March 2017 who said, “The flares and parasitic bond won’t work, it would be mostly for theme and the ‘Perfect Host’ ability if it reached that point.” He then continued, “I just mean in the sense that it has this feeling of ‘not very useful, and not designed for ranged’ and to make it useful, and designed for ranged.. you need to spend 50k”

GM Retser responded, “The item was not designed for archery. People asked for it for thematic reasons so I added them to the shelves and updated the item to make that available at that time. This last batch required approvals to get the item updated to allow them to flare. Yes, balancing and approvals are the primary reasons for the cost. And how/why/when it was released.”

Arianiss continued, “So, in your opinion so we don’t go spending all this bloodscrip and become unhappy… A bow is probably the worst choice for sprite/parasite?”

GM Retser responded, “My opinion is subjective and shouldn’t influence your purchase. I don’t think they are the worst choice by any stretch. There are other mechanical benefits to them.”

Arianiss asked, “can a T2 sprite bow use sprite power WITHOUT the 50k arrow unlock?”

GM Retser responded, “No. Sprite Power requires a flare to trigger. Since it replaces the flare, it wouldn’t work.”

PM Wyrom’s Duskruin Shenanigans.

HebrewToYou asked, “has Wyrom confirmed if there will be a shenanigans event this weekend?” PM Wyrom replied, “Not only have I not confirmed anything, but I never once mentioned it would be happening!” And later, “I’m not confirming or denying anything. Just funny how I never said anything this run.”

Much Cowl Love. Avawren spent some time a few days back talking up the cowls, and then Sabotage said, “Just wanted to give a shout out to whoever made the cowls, love the feature concealer without having to have it on my cloak. Thanks a lot for making them. Very cool.”

Robes/Leathers Request. Stonmel asked, “any possibility, or current work towards, making special cloth/leather materials for armors for next DR? There are SO many options for heavy armor wearers to get special material bonuses, and virtually nothing for robe/leather lovers.”

Shield also asked, “Related to @Stonmel ‘s request… can the random gear generator for DR include leather/bone/etc greaves? Let the rangers get some love with their resist. All I see is metal.”

Stonmel added, “or robes with lots of loose clothes on them, that have a chance to disarm an attacker. or a robe that has a chance to stop ranged attacks. some options here, because AFAIK, there are no special materials for robe and leather armor bases, like metal armor wearer’s have. even if it was s copy and paste of some existing heavy armor options into new materials that were robe/leather based. due to almost no material dimensions for caster armor, they have less incentive to have multiple armors, and thus, multiple project pieces. so that’d give a lot of folks a new project to work on, since material properties can’t be added to an existing item”

Red Crystals. take them back to 10 sips asked, “can someone check if blood red Crystal’s got turned off in the heists. Been talking with 3 or 4 people at least who have run a few 1000 heists and no one had seen any? With the changes and stuff”

Qafziel Nalfein

Qafziel Nalfein, scholar and political devotee, travels Elanith learning more about the relationships between notable parties. His focus is on the Cooperative Houses of Elanthia and Meeting Hall Organizations and their liaisons, but he’s also known to pop into a town meeting on a whim or congratulate someone on reaching the pinnacle of their studies whether it be in warfare or sorcery or something else entirely. Qaf is always on the lookout for ways to connect individuals and organizations both with each other, with adventurers, and with the TownCrier for the betterment of our society. He maintains a network of informants who assist him in his tasks.