News and Updates

We have just released version 1.6 of the Bloodlines War Heads-Up Display.  You should be auto-delivered the update when you wear your version 1.5 HUD. If you don’t receive the update, you can go to the update kiosk in the Bloodlines War Store. If you are still unable to receive the update, please send a notecard to Noire Luminos, and she will make sure you get it.

This update includes some speed improvements, prevention of multiple-weapon attach cheats, and better lockup prevention. If you have any technical issues with the HUD, please send a notecard to Lyle Maeterlinck in-world.

Thanks to everyone for your patience while we continue to smooth the kinks out of this system. We hope you have fun bringing the fight to every corner of SL.

Today we’re releasing the updates listed below. Due to the high volume of updates, please be patient! The servers are cranking them out as quickly as possible, but it may take 24 hours for yours to arrive.

Thirst 3.2 :

1. Liege method updated so you can choose a nearby liege, or type a name.
2. Updated invisibility animation.
3. Bite animations can be turned off. This is to bypass some vampire bite detectors out there that work by detecting your animations. So, for these places, just turn animations off, and hunt in stealth mode.
4. The multiple-fang cheat for Bloodlines War has been fixed.

Rage 1.1:

1. The same updates as the Thirst (liege method updated, stealth hunting mode, multiple claw cheat for war fixed).
2. Howl fixed so others can hear it.
3. Claws now stay invisible after detach, reattach.

War HUD 1.5:

1. Now with regeneration! If your health is less than 100, your health will regenerate 10 points every 10 minutes. You must be logged in and wearing your HUD to regenerate.
2. Security, performance, and weapon compatibility updates.

Psionic Blast 1.4:

1. HUD compatibility updates.

War Mines 1.1:

1. HUD compatibility updates.
2. Now with Sure-Kill! If you trigger the mine, you will be killed, even if you escape the blast radius before it detonates.

All of these updates are mandatory, so if you experience any issues with your items today, please make sure that you have the most recent versions of all items. For all items except for the Mines, your updates should be auto-delivered to you when you wear your existing version.

Because of these updates, we have to disable existing Bloodlines War Mines 1.0 (because they won’t work). However, if you put your mines into a folder with your name on it, and pass them to Lyle Maeterlinck, we will replace your mines with the new versions (plus a few extra for your trouble).

We’d like to announce the release of our new system: Bloodlines War. The Bloodlines War products have been out for a couple of weeks, as somewhat of a “soft-launch” to allow us to work out any major problems before we advertised it. The Bloodlines War system is a straightforward, easy-to-use combat system that works anywhere in Second Life. It allows you to use your Thirst Fangs and Rage Claws as weapons in combat with other Bloodlines players. However, you don’t have to be a member of The Thirst or The Rage in order to play. The War system includes a bare-fisted attack, and is set up to work with a future line of weapons. Check out the products page to see the full line of war items.

If you’re a current Bloodlines player, fighting in Bloodlines War will not affect your current Thirst or Rage stats. The War stats are an entirely separate set of stats where you can gain kills, a body count, and increase your level, xp, and lethality ratings. However, your vital blood level will increase the strength of your fang attack, and your lumen level will increase the strength of your claw attack.

If you have any questions or comments about the system, please send them to Lyle Maeterlinck in-world. We hope you like this new system as much as we do!

We are pleased to announce the long-awaited arrival of the Bloodlines lycan system, The Rage. We know it’s long overdue, but we couldn’t rush it out, we wanted to make it as richly featured as The Thirst, and we agonized over the details. We’ve configured it so that The Thirst and The Rage can stand alone, or can seamlessly integrate, depending on how you want to use it. Vampires and Lycans can exchange attacks, and can mix together in clans and packs. Or, you can become both enraged and embraced to achieve the status of Hybrid, moving back and forth between both worlds. For all the details, please see the Vampire / Lycan interaction section of our new Game Guide.

We’ve been through a lot of testing, but it’s a complicated system and we can’t guarantee you won’t run into any errors. If you run into a problem, just send a notecard to Lyle Maeterlinck with a description of the problem, and we promise we’ll get it corrected right away.

Over the last year and two months, thousands of you have endured a relentless Vampire Curse to form the true vampire armies of Second Life. You have taken part in an adventure that encompasses both real and invented stories, and every one of your characters have left their mark on the story of Bloodlines forever.

Now arise the Lycan armies. I’m sure you’re with us when we say that we can’t wait to see what happens next.

Also, there is another big development just over the horizon, so stay tuned…

Thanks to everyone for your support!

Mars Bracken and Lyle Maeterlinck

Liquid Designs

Below is a procedure you can use to help make sure you don’t buy a tank or cask that doesn’t work or has been deliberately removed from the system by us when an account is terminated.

1. Check to see if the avatar you’re buying from has an active Bloodlines account. Type their name into the search box on www.slbloodlines.com, and if you can’t find their page, don’t buy from them, regardless of what excuses they give you.

2. See if the container in question appears on their Blood Cellar page. (Make sure that if you’re buying a full 20 L cask, that you see at least one full 20 L cask on their blood cellar page. If there isn’t one, don’t buy it.) You can get to their Blood Cellar page by clicking on the blood container icon on their profile.

3. Check the creator of the object – including the linked prims! This isn’t foolproof, because scammers have found ways to repurpose Mars Bracken prims to link as the root, but have the seller rez the container in front of you. Right-click on it and select ‘edit’. Your build tools window should open. Look on the “General” tab, and make sure the creator is Mars Bracken on all the prims (or Voluntas Blackburn or Lyle Maeterlinck, other BL creators) and that the owner is the name of the avatar you’re buying from. Again this one isn’t 100% foolproof, but often times you can spot a fake this way.

4. In the build window, go to the ‘Content’ tab, and make sure that the container contains a script called ‘Bloodlines Blood Container’ for pre-version 5 containers, and for new containers, look for scripts named “_1_container_api_[version]” and “_2_container_operate_[version]”.

5. Have the seller set the container to open access and fill/drink mode. Once they’ve done this, when you click on the container, you should get a menu with ‘Fill’ and ‘Drink’ buttons.

6. Fill the container with 0.1 L of blood. (If the tank is full, then drink 0.1 L). Make sure that the blood comes off of your vital blood and goes into the container. The best way to check this is by looking on your own Bloodlines profile, and on the Blood Cellar page of the avatar selling the tank. Make sure that your vital blood dropped by 0.1 L, and that the amount in the tank went up by 0.1 L (or vice versa if you drank instead of filled). If this worked, the tank is good.

7. Now, if you’re ready to buy the container, DO NOT pay the avatar directly and have them hand it to you. Don’t take your eyes off of the container that you just checked. Have the seller set it for sale at the agreed price, and then right-click it and select ‘buy’. You will now be the owner of the container.

General tips:

1. If they’re selling it in the Bloodlines store, NEVER buy from them. Selling blood in the store is prohibited. Please report them to us.
2. If you see anything funny happen after you check the container, check it again.
3. Don’t let them rush you. You’re the one that stands to lose if this deal goes bad. Take your time, and if you’re not certain it’s good, don’t buy it. If they’re in a hurry, ask to meet at a better time for them.
4. Don’t let them talk you into any other custom procedure, no matter what explanation they give you. In fact, if they try to talk you into anything else or convince you of anything, it’s a good sign that they’re scamming you.
5. If they say they work for Bloodlines, or that they’re friends with the creators, or that Bloodlines or the Lindens certified their tanks, they are lying to you.

If they give you any trouble or you get a bad feeling about them or anything else, trust your gut and don’t buy it.

If you do end up buying a tank that doesn’t work, I’m sorry, but we won’t be able to replace it for you. Here is the action you can take:

1. File an abuse report on the person for Fraud > $L. We’re not sure that they will be able to help you, but it’s worth a shot.
2. Send us their name so we can possibly take action against them, including but not limited to: banning them from our land, draining and deregistration of additional blood containers and termination and destruction of Bloodlines account(s).

We want to support the blood trade, but we take theft and fraud very seriously, and we pursue blood thieves and frauds to the extent that we are able.

Today we’ve released version 2.9 of The Thirst and 2.7 of the Spike. This is a mandatory update, but the current versions of the Thirst and the Spike will continue to work for 72 hours following the product release. After Saturday evening, 3/7/09, you will need to get the update. When you attach your Bloodlines HUD or Spike, it should be auto-delivered to you. If it’s not, try getting your update from the update kiosks in the main Bloodlines stores on Liquid Designs or Liquid East.

The Spike update is just to coincide with some of the server-side updates that we made to The Thirst. The changes to the Thirst include:

1. Setting your liege is now done through a local sensor and selection from a menu, instead of typing in the avatar name. This means it’s a lot easier to set your liege or to request freedom, but in order to set your liege, you have to do it in person.
2. With this version, avatars younger than 14 days old cannot be attacked. This is to cut down on vampire attacks on new avatars in welcome areas. New avatars can only join the game if they buy the HUD first.
3. Tampering controls have been added to keep the bite from being disguised as something else, like a hug. You can still modify your fangs to fit your avatar, including resizing them and moving the prims around, but please don’t rename them or add prims to the link set, these actions will set off the tamper controls.

If you discover any technical issues with the updates, please let Lyle Maeterlinck know immediately. Happy Hunting!

UPDATE: The Thirst 2.8 and the Spike 2.6 have been deactivated. Your animations still may work, but they will no longer interact with the Bloodlines server.  To continue playing, please update to Thirst 2.9 and Spike 2.7. If you have any trouble getting your update, send a notecard to Noire Luminos.

Announcing the much anticipated Electrum Potion! This potion gives the user the ability to move their soul from the possession of one avatar into the possession of another. So, for all of you that have wanted your soul to go to a special someone, now you have the power. However, to do this, there’s a price. The person receiving your soul must ransom another soul back to the current owner. So, the Electrum potion doesn’t change soul counts, it just trades the position of two souls. The person receiving the drinker’s soul must be present (within 20 meters) and must approve the transaction. They can choose to have any one of their souls go as ransom, or can choose a specific soul to go. The person losing the drinker’s soul does not need to be present and need not consent. Enjoy!

Today we’re proud to announce the release of Version 3.0 Blood Containers, Blood Siphons, and Blood Bottle Container Refills.

The Version 3.0 containers have a few exciting new features: Group Security and Drink / Fill Records. We’ve gotten rid of the unwieldy user list feature that we had on the version 1 and 2 containers, and we’ve added a feature so you can allow access to a Second Life group. So, you can either set your container to open access, or to group access only. You can still set the container to fill only or fill / drink for others that have access. To see a readout of the current security settings, just press the check button on the menu. In addition, we’ve made it so you can check the drink / fill record for your containers. Under security, just check ‘View Record’, and you’ll get a readout of the last 25 drinks and fills, so you’ll know who’s been filling and who’s been drinking.

The Blood Bottles are 5L refills for your blood containers. They will work on version 2 and 3 containers, and you can track them on your Blood Cellar page.

The Blood Siphon is a tool you can use to quickly move large amounts of blood between your containers, without having to drink from or bleed into them. You can use it to distribute or consolidate your blood. It’s a must-have tool for blood merchants, and anyone who keeps a blood cellar for their clan or bloodthirsty guests. Blood Siphons will also work on version 2 and 3 containers. Once you get your blood siphon, you’ll get a new item icon on your Blood Cellar page.

We’ve just released catalogue vendors which include the majority of the non-Bloodlines items at Liquid Designs; you can now resell “The Brethren”, “The Murder”, and the various Halloween-themed items we have at Blood.

The vendors can be found at the Blood store at Bloodlines West, or on our Halloween sim at Blood:Halloween.

We’ve released a an updated set of Catalogue Vendors. In addition to performing better and having less dropped sales due to lag (thanks Andy Enfield!) we’ve added several sizes, as well as an optional TP board with links to a few important Bloodlines locations, like the Eternal Orchard. The vendors are available at Bloodlines East, to the left of the Thirst vendor.

* UPDATED: 10.21.08 – The new Cask/Tank Siphons should appear in the Bloodlines Catalogue vendors, but you may need to take them offline / update them in order for them to show up.