News and Updates

We’ve been releasing periodic notecards in the Legends group with updates, but just in case we thought we’d also do an info post here!

JOURNAL ORGANIZATION

Some of you no doubt already noticed, but mid-week last week we made an update to how the journal displays quest chains. On a main quest with child or side quests contained within the chain, they will now nest within the main quest. These are indicated by a small white arrow icon, which will turn down or sideways depending on whether the nest is expanded or not. We hope this will make it easier to consult the journal!

ACCEPTING QUESTS

For those that submitted suggestions asking to be able to not as easily (or accidentally) restart quests all the time, we slightly changed the accepting of quests.

Old Way – If a quest is ready to repeat, as soon as you touch the NPC it will accept the quest again immediately.

New Way – If a quest is ready to repeat for you, you can chat with the NPC a little first, and then eventually you’ll get a step in the conversation where you accept the quest, and that’s what will start it over for you again in the journal. Usually this accept step is pretty clear, but a few times it’s triggered by just discussing Quests or Magic Items. Either way, you do have to actually go down the conversation a little before it will accept the quest.

This also means that if you want to talk to the NPC about a different quest you’re on, you don’t have to worry about accidentally accepting another quest repeat in the process. We thought this change made sense and we hope it’s helpful!

REPEATABILITY & ALTS / BOTS CLOGGING UP THE SIM

We’ve had a lot of requests to somehow prevent people from clogging up Midland either on accident (going afk) or on purpose (holding a spot for themselves later or for an alt) so that new players can get more access to the Quests. Obviously we’re working on getting another sim open, but we also want to try to address this issue in other ways.

1) Idle Ejector – we’re working on implementing an idle ejector which will warn you if you are afk / idle for a period of time, and then eventually eject you if you do not get active again.

2) Altering Repeatability – we’re adjusting the repeatability clocks on some of the quests. Some will stay at 24 hours because we think it’s fun to have things to grind on a daily basis, but some of the longer quests are going to 36 hours to see if this will let more new players get a crack at them.

We will see how this goes and consider other options if it seems necessary. And we are always open to suggestions of course as well!

BALANCING

People grinding quests on alts (some more than others) also made us look more carefully at some of the metric balancing. We saw some areas where things could be balanced a little better:

– Copper: we added more copper coins to several of the quests. Some of the quests got significantly more (Wards of Weston is now 50 Copper instead of 25, etc.)
– XP: We added more XP to almost all of the quests.
– Elementum: We adjusted the Elementum on 3 of the magic items; these were quests where there was a pretty significant imbalance between ease/length and the reward at the end. Most notably The Webs We Weave is a pretty short quest and was getting a disproportionately large Elementum pot at the end, and people were grinding that one more than the others, etc.

CHESTS

We did an update to the chests that are sold from this point forward. They turn off the auto-close function, the icons are full bright, and also now you can tag your chest with a name so that it’s easier to keep track of them in inventory. Unfortunately we can’t update chests that are already out there; due to the complexity of all the various resources being stored, it may take some time before we are able to create a machine (as with the blood containers etc.) that can update chests automatically. The old chests will continue to work perfectly however, and any new chests will be the updated v2 version.

CATALOGUE VENDORS

We had a lot of requests for the Legends catalogue vendors and “Friendly” signs, so we got those out! They are in all our main stores now, and will be on MP shortly.

*** UPDATE 6.17.19 ~ STAMINA LOSSES VIA MONSTERS

Whether you had heard or not, up until now it has been possible in the RP areas to avoid some stamina losses via creatures by just allowing yourself to go to 0 Stamina before encountering them. The system would tell you didn’t have enough stamina to continue, but you could keep questing / performing necessary actions with the monsters regardless.

Today we updated the monsters so they have the ability to eject you from the sim. If you take damage from a ghoul, or minotaur, or blister bramble etc. and you don’t have enough stamina in your bar to absorb the hit, you will ‘lose consciousness’ and find yourself waking up elsewhere (usually on Bloodlines East it seems, although it could be any of the other sims).

We’re excited to release a new gacha set of rare textures, this time for all container types! This gacha set is different from the past ones we’ve done however, in that the machines do not take Linden dollars, they take Bloodlines Legends Coins. Each spin is 2 Gold Coins, and while there are not quests providing these coins (yet…) we have added two support NPC stations near each gacha location to assist. Tabitha Manx has a stand set up where she is currently buying Pigeon Feathers for coins, and next door the banker of Weston, Trillian Bardi, has opened a small money exchange where he will trade currency.

A few details to note:

• The machines work slightly differently than our normal gacha. Sit your avatar on them, and they’ll prompt you with a menu to put the gold coins into your Legends backpack ‘Hand’. Proceed on the menu, and you’ll get your spin.
• There is not currently an empty paint can delivered, we’re still working that out with the new system. If you desperately need some empty cans, file a ticket; while we’re still working this out we’ll deliver them to those who have gotten rares through these machines.
• We’ll keep these rare textures in the machines for a month.
• During that month, Tabitha may change what resources she is willing to purchase for coins.
• We do not plan on selling these textures for Lindens, ever.
• The gacha setups are on North, South, East and West (but not Midland due to lag / being at constant capacity from Questers).

We will also be releasing some new quests next week, as well as doing a little balancing which should make more coins available on the quests, so stay tuned!

Due to all the traffic on Bloodlines Midland, we’ve had requests for a backup set of refill stations to be made available. And now they are! We have set up one of each station, along with a Bloodlines dome with a redelivery terminal and the usual information boards. The refill station location is here. Feel free to visit, landmark it, and share the news!

With the first two weeks of Legends behind us, we feel like celebrating with all the people who have been so supportive and enthusiastic thus far! We invite you to a medieval fantasy event of great music, costume contests, and Rare Texture giveaways. We’ll also make some announcements about upcoming new quests, and what’s next overall for the expansion!

Also: There will be a freebie available to those who have a Bloodlines wand to wave, as well as Gacha machines with the Rare Textures which will take Legends Coins for spins, so be sure to bring your Legends equipment to the party!

When: Friday May 24th, 1pm-4pm SL

Suggested Attire: Medieval Fantasy / Adventure

Where: Bloodlines West

Music: DJ Candi | Decor: Fawn Madrigal | Host: Fawn Madrigal | Rare Textures: Mars Bracken

We’re excited to announce that the first module of Bloodlines Legends is out now!

This module includes:

• Magic Map & Backpack HUD
• Treasure Chests & Market Barrels
• Collectible Rare Magic Wands
• Quests (including rare texture and mesh item prizes)
• Skills
• Achievements (based on the mechanics from Module One)
• Profile Updates (New sections added, as well as the ability to reorder sections via your Profile Editor)

The HUDs are free to any current Bloodlines member who already owns a Race HUD (Thirst, Rage, Ascent, Torment, Human) and will be auto-delivered to anyone who wears their current HUD. The auto-delivery system takes a while to crank through everyone, though, so please be patient! For anyone who doesn’t own a Race HUD, the Legends HUD is $499, available in the Mortal Crossroads RP Area Quest landing. Also, if you own a Legends HUD and pass your Map Sphere to a new player and they join, you’ll receive a stamina bonus which will aid you in the game.

A FEW CAVEATS – PLEASE READ!

• This is just the first wave of items. Crafting, crafting stations, harvesting stations, and more are still on the way! We decided because this is such a massive update to Bloodlines, it’s better to get it out in sections and make sure everything is working as we go.
• Right now Questing is only on Bloodlines Midland. We want to make sure the Quest system is working smoothly before porting further. Eventually Quests will be on all our sims, as well as on local clan sims and lands! Thanks for your patience here, we realize Midland is likely to get laggy / crowded at the start. We promise to expand the Quest lines as quickly as we can once we’re sure it’s all solid.
• Balancing is a process. We are introducing several new metrics and mechanics (XP, Stamina, stamina packs, Map Searching, etc.) and as much as we’d love to think we nailed the balancing of it all right out of the gate, the truth is that we’re going to have to adjust as we go. All big RPG games deal with this – some things will have to be nerfed and some things will have to be buffed. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work our way through it, and we promise not to make any arbitrary decisions. Any balancing we do will be based on deep study of the developing trends and always in an effort to make the game sustainable and fun in the long-term.
• The wands will have more functions as we go along. On this initial release, the wands are largely rare collectibles. There are thousands of them, of varying rarity, and each one is programmed with powers and features that will be prominent in later Quests and NPC interactions. We’re very excited about the many uses a Wand will have in the game, but we appreciate your patience as we get there step by step.
• If you have feedback or suggestions, file a ticket! We want to hear your thoughts and suggestions as we go, so please don’t hesitate to file a support ticket. If you think something is a good idea, chances are many other people would to, but if everyone thinks “Oh someone probably already mentioned this” then we’d never hear a peep from anyone. So please file those tickets and let us know how to improve the game!

It’s May, which means it’s Bloodlines Anniversary time again! We invite you to a gala event of great music, costume contests, and Rare Texture giveaways. We’ll also have some exciting announcements regarding the Bloodlines Legends Release, so come and be one of those in the know!

When: Monday, May 6th, 2pm-6pm SL

Suggested Attire: Gala / ballroom or medieval adventure

Where: Bloodlines West

Music: Lord Halostar | Decor: LilahCeleste Belar | Host: Aimee Novaland / Fawn Madrigal | Rare Texture: Mars Bracken | Event Organizer: Aimee Novaland

We’re excited to announce that the first release of Bloodlines Legends will be happening on our 11th anniversary, May 6th 2019!

This release will be Module One, which will include:

• Magic Map & Backpack HUD
• Treasure Chests & Market Barrels
• Collectible Rare Magic Wands
• Quests (including rare texture and mesh item prizes)
• Skills
• Achievements (based on the mechanics from Module One)
• Profile Updates

We’ll be having a party on the 6th to celebrate this release and our anniversary, with more details to come so keep watching this blog and the in-world group notices!

This Friday, we’re taking over the worst-kept secret in town: the local speakeasy. We’ve got illicit booze, live music, and dancers for your entertainment! Just whisper the password to get in the door, and give in to an evening of great music, best costume contests, and Rare Texture giveaways!

When: Friday, April 12, 2pm-5pm

Suggested Attire: 1920’s attire, flapper dresses, mobster suits, etc.

Where: Bloodlines West

Music: DJ Starz (darkxstarz) | Decor: Demi Riaxik | Host: Aimee Novaland | Rare Texture: Hosea Whitfield | Event Organizer: Aimee Novaland

We have created a new set of Soul War Rare textures!

The previous Soul War Rares are now retired, congratulations to all the winners. Your Rares are now likely to be even more coveted since they cannot ever be won again.

With the new set, there are a few changes. Primarily, we’ve added Rare textures for the Barrels, Vessels, and Urns. This update adds 61 possible new Rare textures (all the achievement categories + Top Individual, Family Leader, and MVP awards) to each of the 5 types of container.

The second change, as mentioned in our achievement blog post, is that now each winner will receive just one texture, and this texture will be chosen based on whatever your dominant race is at midnight at the end of the month. So regardless of the Achievement category, if for example you are Demon dominant at midnight on the 31st, you will receive an Urn Rare Texture for your award.

As with our past Rares linked to achievements, any ties will be broken with a coin toss to see who will get the Rare texture for that category.

Good luck Soul Warriors!

Please read this post if you want to keep your Determined Achievement going!

We updated the Determined Achievement at the beginning of February so that it counts based on visits to the Determined Well instead of HUD wear. In certain cases we’ve been resetting achievements for people that asked for help during this transition period.

We have no reason to believe that there is any problem with this achievement, and when it gets reset, every indication is that it’s due to a user not actually successfully touching a well. This could be either from standing too far away, or just not remembering to show up that day, etc.

We want to make everyone aware that starting April 1, we will no longer be resetting Determined Achievements for any reason.

IMPORTANT: In order to keep track of your progress and make doubly sure that you are succeeding in touching a Well, we recommend that you SAVE A COPY of the message that you get when you touch the well that tells you what your determined status is. The message will look like this:

You touched the Determined Well at 2019-03-27 08:17:19 SLT. Your count is now at 2 days. Make sure to touch the Determined Well again tomorrow (2019-03-28) between 00:00:00 and 23:59:59 SLT

IF YOU DON’T GET A MESSAGE THAT LOOKS LIKE THIS IN LOCAL CHAT, IT DIDN’T WORK, AND YOU NEED TO TRY TOUCHING IT AGAIN. There is no harm in touching a Well more than once a day. In fact to make doubly sure you are succeeding, you can touch a Well until you get this message:

[15:58] :: You already satisfied your Determined achievement today at 2019-03-27 08:17:19 SLT

An easy way to keep track of your Determined status is to make a notecard in your inventory, and just copy and paste your daily message into that notecard. Or, you could do the same thing with a document on your computer; either way you always have a record of when you touched it. We log every time anyone has a Determined Achievement event, so we also have this information on our end.

We hope this helps clarify things, and once again we are not going to be resetting any Determined Achievements anymore starting 4/1. Please see FAQ answers below.

FAQ:

1. Q: What if I am certain I touched a Well yesterday but I get this message? “Your last Determined Event was at 2019-03-27 08:17:19 , which was before SL time yesterday (2019-03-28), so your Determined achievement has been reset to 1 day.”
   • A: If you get this message, you did not successfully register a touch the previous day. If you are saving your messages, you can look back at your notecard and see if you have a message from yesterday. Unfortunately, in this example you will only see the message that you touched the well on 3/27, and you won’t have a message from 3/28. That means you forgot to touch it yesterday, so it makes sense that it was reset to 1 day today.
2. Q: What if I’m in the hospital and I can’t log in to touch the determined well?
   • A: In order to be fair to everyone, we can’t make exceptions to the no reset rule for any reason. If we say that we will reset you if you’re in the hospital, unfortunately, bad actors will just claim to have been in the hospital. We can’t be put in the position of verifying who was really in the hospital.
3. Q: What if I know I won’t be able to reach my computer for a day, so I give my login to someone else to do it for me, and they forget, and I get reset to 1 day?
   • A: This is a situation similar to the one above, we cannot make exceptions to the no reset rule, or else bad actors will claim that exception. In order to be fair to everyone, we have to say that there are no exceptions. We recommend that you never give your SL login information to anyone.