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

You’ve probably noticed that we’ve made some updates to this website. We’ve removed the FAQ, and we’ll soon be updating the ‘about’ page to a comprehensive guide to the Bloodlines game, and including the information that was previously contained in the FAQ. We know it’s long overdue, and we promise as soon as it’s complete it will be posted.  Also, the ‘clans’ page has been changed to ‘groups’ so it can encompass Vampire clans, and the upcoming Lycan packs. You might have also noticed that we’ve changed the way that stats are displayed on the groups page, we’re now providing some extra information about clans. Before, the clan listing only showed the total number of historical members of the clan. Now, it shows both the currently active members and the total historical members. “Active” members is the total of humans and vampires. If someone has a status of destroyed, or has deactivated their profile using the garlic necklace, they are not counted in the active total. At the top of each clan roster, you can now see the number of vampires, humans, destroyed players, and total historical members in the clan. This is only a change in the data displayed on the website, and is not a “rule change” in the game. It also has nothing to do with souls or soul counts. The reason this display change was made was to make the listing meaningful and to reflect the active player membership in the clans, rather than a historical total.

We plan on making more extensive updates to the website over the next few days, and releasing many new exciting products. Stay tuned to this blog for status updates, and thanks for playing Bloodlines!

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.

A few security checks have been activated on the Bloodlines systems today. First, we need to get everyone to indicate that they agree to our terms and conditions to continue playing. If you detach and reattach your HUD, our terms of service will be vended to you, and you’ll have to answer ‘Yes’ to the blue dialog window indicating that you agree to them. You’ll only have to do this once. In addition, we’ve added an automatic validation system, so that even if those pesky hackers and counterfeiters are able to modify the permissions on the HUD again, it won’t work unless it validates with our purchase database. No activation keys will be necessary, the system knows who purchased a HUD and who didn’t. We wish we didn’t have to waste your gaming time and our development time with troubles like this, thanks to everyone for your patience, and please know that we’re doing these things in the best interest of the system.

If you get an error message telling you that you’re not validated, or if it just tells you “There was an error, please try again.”, this may mean that our system didn’t get your avatar name properly. If your connection happens to be slow or there is a lot of lag, you might notice that the name on your SL resident profile appears as “(waiting)”, or “Loading…”. Our system may also get your avatar name this way, so it’s unable to check you in, and will give you an error message. If you just wait a few seconds, or try viewing your own profile and making sure your name comes up, then reattach your HUD, it should work. If not, be sure to let me (Lyle Maeterlinck) know, and I’ll look into it for you as soon as possible.

Also, please note that the current version of the Bloodlines HUD is 2.7, if you’re not currently using 2.7, you’ll need to update in order for it to work. We’ve been able to turn our auto-updaters back on, so your HUD should check in when you attach it and make sure that you have the most recent version.

Hi everyone, we’re excited to announce the launch of the official The Thirst: Bloodlines blog. We created this blog to be the official source of information for all things Bloodlines.  There have been some fraudulent in-world communications distributed by griefers claiming to be us. From this point forward, any note card distributed in-world claiming to be from Liquid Designs, Lyle Maeterlinck, Mars Bracken, or Curse Aszkenaze is not from us, even if one of us is listed as the notecard creator. Modifiable notecards created by all of us have gotten loose, so anyone could edit them and pass them around. Now that you know where to come for official Bloodlines updates, we’ve got lots of exciting news for you.

Announcement #1: New Region at Liquid South!

Liquid Designs has just opened a new region south of Liquid Designs called Liquid South. This region currently holds the Blood: Halloween store, Halloween products from guest artists, and the Bloodlines: Werewolves contest (see below).

Announcement #2: Bloodlines: Werewolves

The Bloodlines: Werewolves system is currently under development. While we’re working hard on it over at Liquid Labs, we’re holding a contest to see who can choose the best name for the system. If we like your name the best, you’ll get the system FREE for yourself and 5 friends!

Announcement #3: Important updates to The Thirst

Today we released The Thirst 2.6. This version includes some important security updates, and includes the much-requested clan management system. Now you can remove a minion, ban/unban a minion, or view your minion ban list. Be aware that the settings menus have been shuffled a bit.

Announcement #4: Bloodlines now has commission-paying catalog vendors!

We’ve set up vendors at the main Bloodlines store where you can get your own set of Bloodlines catalog vendors for only 1 Linden! No more waiting list for Bloodlines vendors, and now you’ll earn 3% on every purchase made from your vendors.

Announcement #5: (yes, there’s more) Bloodlines Profile Updates

We’ve made a few updates to the Bloodlines profiles: everyone now has a cask / tank page that will show you the level of blood in all of your tanks and casks at any given time. If you own casks or tanks, just click on the new profile icons to get to your Blood Cellar page!

Announcement #6: New products.

A while ago, we announced that a new set of products were going to be released “soon”, but unfortunately we’ve been spending a lot of time dealing with griefers, hackers, and counterfeiters. However, we’ve put the majority of that behind us, and we hope to have the new products out before Halloween.

Setting the Record Straight

We know that there are some people out there that claim to have worked for us in order to explain their possession of our open-perms items, and that there are claims that open perms items cannot be obtained through Second Life exploits. Both of these claims are false. There are only two employees of Liquid Designs that are authorized to have open perms Bloodlines items: Lyle Maeterlinck and Mars Bracken. No one else has ever at any point been given open perms items. Also, it is a fact that it has been possible to view no-mod scripts and to modify the permissions on items by using modified viewers that exploit Second Life security vulnerabilities. In the release notes of Second Life server code 1.24.7, it states that the updates include three security fixes. It was confirmed to us through the Second Life JIRA that one of these fixes was for the UpdateTaskInventory exploit, which allowed permissions to be illegally modified. There was an additional exploit performed in late July that allowed hackers to open our items and obtain our scripts. The Lindens have assured us that the exploits used so far against us have been closed, and we’ve updated our items and our application to block communication from the scripts that were compromised.

Meanwhile, the Bloodlines system is still supporting communities of thousands of vampires, and we’re doing everything we can to make sure Bloodlines continues to grow and prosper. Thanks for all of your encouragement!