Huge Kudos to the Devs!

Praise and Honey Cookies from Players for Players, and Chocolate Cookies for the Devs

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The GrumpyCat
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Huge Kudos to the Devs!

Post by The GrumpyCat » Sun Sep 19, 2021 2:41 pm

Back when I joined Arelith – when dinosaurs still ruled the world and Disney didn't own everything, we all got terribly excited when the Announcement thread glowed. Why? Because changes were so rare!

Now it seems every second day there's something cool, and I think we sometimes take that for granted.

So I'm going to give some shout outs to the Devs. Please guys -if you've a moment to spare? Consider putting a comment down too to show your appreciation. Dev work can be pretty thankless – more so than Dming, because some changes (for better or for worse) can be very controversial. And when it's the naysayers that yell the loudest, it can be really disheartening – yes even if their criticism is valid. So please – lets move away from that and give these folks a bit of praise!

Garrbear: For all his work in balance, and concept and general coolness. I can't really say what he's 'done' exactly because he's done so much! Skill reworks, class changes, balancing mechanics, Monks... mostly monks. And trust me, he's got a lot more really, really, really exciting stuff planned!

BatCountry: Guys. You've no idea the shee amount of work this person puts into things! The Loadstar Network. The new icons. Dozens of areas. And 101 other things. Bat works their socks off and always brings something truly excellent to the table!

Artenides: Already touched on this in the thread, but this guy's done some great work. A lot of devs come to the table very much with their own ideas, their own things theye'd like to implement. And often this is a fine and good – because their ideas are awsome. Artenidies comes up and says 'What do YOU want Dms?/Players?' and that they work so selflessly is a real credit. They'll be missed, but will be back soon!

Kalopsia: Warloks.

Yeah ok I should say more, but I really feel 'Warlocks' kinda covers it. Such amazing work, a real overhaul with so many exciting new ideas. Brilliant stuff.

ActionReplay
This guy has basically made an entire minigame out of sailing. I'm not even sure 'minigame' is the right word, 'maxi-game' might be better. I'm still trying to get my head around it, but the changes, the possibilities, the ideas are part of what's driving me to DM again. Yes you heard that. Be wary on the open waves me loves!! There be Dms in them there waters!

DangerDolphin
Responsible for the awsome new bard changes, and a whole lot more. Fantastic work!

Hoodoo
So, Hoodoo's done a lot, of course. Especially with working on new award races and such. But there's one change I really need to wax lyric about, because it is the best thing in the universe.

Not so long ago, the primary way to reset a server (A proper reset, with the little yellow message) was to hop In game, give a shout 'Hay guys get to saftey, reset in five min!!) and then wait five min and go into a secret area on a DM avatar, click a certain button and then jump onto the next server.
All sounds cool yeah? Except, - since EE, for some reason a lot of Dms find themselves 'crashing' as they change servers.
What this meant is that for one DM to reset all the servers, the narrative went like this.
1) Log in to Surface. 2) Give shout to Surface. 3) wait five min 4) Press lever. 5) Try to jump to next server, but almost always crash out. 6) wait a minute to be let back in. 7) get into that server and redo septs 1-4. And then try to go to the next server... crash (of course)... have to wait a minute.. and so on.
And this was done with FIVE server. FIVE! Servers! We got the ability to send shouts remotely (another thanks to hoodoo) but this meant that for resets, especially resets where you wanted it to happen close together – you NEEDED at least two or three Dms on the case.
It took ages out of your life, it was likely a pain for players, and it was clunky as all get out and massively frustrating.
And then... Hoodoo made a auto reset page.
It was like the Holy Grail. It was like all my brithdays at once. It is, in short, The. Best. Thing. Ever.
I don't think you guys really know how amazing that single change is, DM side, Dev side and – in an odd hand way, player side too. But it is game changing and wonderful. So huge, huge props to him!

Morderon
Morderon is like our grand vizir, or our shadowy advisor. It's a little hard to say /exactly/ what he does, because honestly he does so much, and with such a subtle touch. Huge swathes of arelith owe so much to him, and yet he remains so richly enigmatic. Huge props to him.

Anatida: PRETTY. DRESSES. ALL. THE. PRETTY DRESSES!!!!!!.
I'm not saying that I have always wanted to play pretty princess dressup dollmaker on Arelith. But... I really have! Seriously the new outfits, the new fixtures, the new headsets... everything is just spectacular! Thank you so, so, so, so very much for all the effort you've put in here to make Arelith look UTTERLY FABULOUS!

Kenji: Dozens of items, lots of balance adjustments, and a few quality of life touches that have really helped the server. Kenji's done a lot of splended work and deserves all the praise they get!

Xarah and Red Ropes: Works behind the scenes to give us some amazing stuff on faith. A lot of the new possibilities for divinities are down to them! Definatly praise worthy. (see what I did there?)

Zaphiel: Spearheaded the Invisable Blade class – and a few other nice tweaks, such as new weapon auras! Huge shout out to them!

Aniel: Worked heavily on Swashbuckler, as well a lot of other lovely changes (mostly mele related I notice) New weapons, classes, tweaks, lots of wonderful things coming from this hard working and talented dev!

Anachorn
For their work on the disguise and cover system, making it both smoother, and yet more interesting than ever!

Spyre: How could I forget the person who works single handedly to keep things running smoothly! Not only does he add some significant changes (such as the RPB change) but also constantly assists the DM team with various checks and changes. I'm so glad he's here with us. Without him I'd be about 50% less competent.

Irongron: - I dunno. I hear he sometimes makes the odd area or something?

I'm sure I've missed a few folk here- and I am sorry if so. But guys? If you've enjoyed some of the changes of late please take a moment to give a shout out to the folk above. They put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into making some spectacular stuff for Arelith and should get a bit of praise for their hard work!
This too shall pass.

(I now have a DM Discord (I hope) It's DM GrumpyCat#7185 but please keep in mind I'm very busy IRL so I can't promise how quick I'll get back to you.)

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Re: Huge Kudos to the Devs!

Post by magistrasa » Sun Sep 19, 2021 3:16 pm

it's always so exciting whenever i get a message from bat country because it's always unfailingly some kinda crazy nonsense like BEEF WHIP or SAX SEAL or ROBO-WIZARD or EXTREMELY EROTIC CONTENT or - my personal favorite sort of messages to receive - 5 hours of utterly psychotic research and theorizing about the physics and properties and phenomena of the underdark, occultism, and the forgotten realms at large. i cannot overstate how much of an inspiration bat country has been for me personally, they're just a phenomenally creative and hard-working person that is so knowledgeable and dedicated to quality storytelling that it sort of boggles the mind how amazing they are. every update they have a hand in is guaranteed to be thoughtful and immersive and of the highest quality. and theyre also just, really, really funny. REALLY funny. this post prompted me to look through our chat logs and i've laughed so hard i cried, twice. for their wit, their creativity, their work ethic, their generosity, and their uniquely delightful flavor of insanity, i really feel like we are blessed to have bat country among us. they are a treasure.

i would also say some things about aniel, but unfortunately after asking me to make an icon for them and then not using it even though its objectively a masterpiece, im sorry to announce that aniel is dead to me. so whatever nice things i was going to say, i'll just leave to your collective imaginations.

× Career Sharran × MILF Supreme × Artist (Allegedly) ×
Will Trade Art For Groceries Again Eventually


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Re: Huge Kudos to the Devs!

Post by LivelyParticle » Sun Sep 19, 2021 4:42 pm

Huge props to the devs! I'm sure I've not seen even a fraction of what's out there, but I will say, as a new player and seeing a thread when someone said - and I quote - "how dare the devs have the nerve to make this change" - it really put me off reading the forums and made me realise what a thankless task it is - and how entitled some people can act. Sadness.

The change I liked the most that I've noticed recently is the equipment durability menu - super helpful!

So, thanks to everyone who labours behind the scenes! Your efforts are appreciated!

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Re: Huge Kudos to the Devs!

Post by Salasker » Sun Sep 19, 2021 5:08 pm

When I think of all I would have missed out on if I had not found Arelith, and the people who continually make it run absolutely free, industrial grade coolant flows through my veins.

Thank you all for doing an often thankless job.

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Echohawk
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Re: Huge Kudos to the Devs!

Post by Echohawk » Sun Sep 19, 2021 6:44 pm

Not only as a dev, but also as a player and friend. I know I'll never be of your caliber of cleverness or creativity but I still try. Thanks batty.

And thanks to all the other devs, DMs, admins, and everyone for putting up with me.
Arelith Discord: https://discord.gg/mAm8M3T
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Availability - Whenever, Sweden (GMT+1)

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Kenji
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Re: Huge Kudos to the Devs!

Post by Kenji » Sun Sep 19, 2021 8:06 pm

Hoodoo & Bat Country & Zaphiel & Spyre: helped me set up dev environment and answered many of my developmental questions when I first started. They were all very patient and informative, couldn't have done anything without their help! They were also very supportive (well, the whole team was, really).

ActionReplay: a fellow Dark Souls enthusiast and someone to aspire to for being an actual professional game developer. Any time there's something on my mind that needed to be done script-side, I just look at AR's previous script works and copy and paste them from there.

Garrbear & Kalopsia: they curb my impulsive need to nerf anything and everything and keep my nerfing rampage in check. Also bounced a lot of balance ideas with them to get very insightful feedback.

Merry/Mythic: Helped write a ton of item descriptions as well as provided helpful suggestions on what in-game crafting materials and stats can be for the new unique items. Also helped with lots of grunt work stuff such as making the files necessary for new weapon item tiers whenever new items are introduced.

Red Ropes: His knowledge in both lore and PnP aspects of D&D continues to amaze me. This is the cool dude who did a lot of background work as GrumpyCat mentioned. Domain changes wouldn't have been the way it is now without this guy. Many of the lore-heavy and great unique item descriptions are also written by RR.

Anatida: Helped me set up with toolset stuff that allowed me to be more independent in the dev processes. I also always bug her every time I have problems with hak and custom stuffs.

Sweet Potato: The go-to person every time I have a request for anything model-related. Many new weapons could not have been realized without SP.

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Re: Huge Kudos to the Devs!

Post by BHR55 » Mon Sep 20, 2021 12:43 am

Aellowyn - for making, tweaking all those nice heads everyone seems to like. Also fixing the position of eye glow for every head(thx bioware).

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Re: Huge Kudos to the Devs!

Post by Edens_Fall » Mon Sep 20, 2021 1:20 pm

Shout out to BatCountry for his awesome area designs!

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Apothys
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Re: Huge Kudos to the Devs!

Post by Apothys » Mon Sep 20, 2021 2:35 pm

Yes yes!!! I always get excited for the almost daily updates. Very exciting. All of you named or no do amazing job those from the past up to the present!

Shout out to BHR55, he's there in the background lurking adding things from time to time. :)

Seriously wish there was a way for me to help more. Well done all!

Talandis Tanor'Thal
Kalnafein Cress'delbarra
Tanis Thade
Merklynn Steelshadow II
Gulmyr Dro'Vaalvaz
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Re: Huge Kudos to the Devs!

Post by D4wN » Mon Sep 20, 2021 9:01 pm

Yes to all of them!! The last updates have all been so amazing. From the small QoL ones to the bigger ones. This latest one with the writs can generate so much fun RP too and allowing factions to help with excursions and training. I’m super excited. Thanks for all that you do and offering your free time to do it!! Much love and admiration.

Currently playing:
Thomas Castemont - Active

Liv McDowall - Shelved
Theodor Helbrecht - Rolled
Emma Young - Rolled
Ember Joyleaf-Underfoot - Rolled


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Morgy
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Re: Huge Kudos to the Devs!

Post by Morgy » Tue Sep 21, 2021 1:04 pm

Thanks for all your awesome work making Arelith truly original and special to play.

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ActionReplay
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Re: Huge Kudos to the Devs!

Post by ActionReplay » Mon Oct 25, 2021 8:51 pm

Great team of people to work with, very chill, very cool. Thanks a lot!

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Re: Huge Kudos to the Devs!

Post by -stick- » Tue Oct 26, 2021 1:43 pm

@devs you guys are super awesome , thanks for the great work 😎

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