TriadCity Message of the Day
2001-07-23

Results of our first Alpha Players survey are trickling in, and we're already implementing some of the suggestions:

  • Movement costs have been lowered throughout the Park. This is especially true of the Park NE, which a couple of folks suggested was simply too tough to explore with a lower-level character.
  • The chat text color has been darkened, which we hope improves its readability. In the future you'll be able to choose your own settings for chat channel colors and other preferences, and they'll be saved for your next login. You'll be able to create your own command shortcuts, too. We'll get there.
  • The faux "history" button has been removed, and the former JTextField replaced with a JComboBox, combining the command-entry field and history display in a single widget. Unfortunately there's a bug in the code which is triggered when you select a previous command from the history list, so we've disabled it for the moment while we determine if it's our bug or Swing's. (What!?, us!?, bugs!? Pshah!) Film at eleven.
  • A number of game objects have been added, to help address some of the problems of stamina and recovery faced by extreme newbie characters. Without wanting to give away too much game lore, you'll probably want to get to know the White Plaza Herbalist pretty well. She's a newbie's best pal right now.
  • Additional fast heal rooms have been added throughout the game world, which should help you spend less time sleeping as you explore. Their locations should be obvious. Try resting or sleeping in places like infirmaries, say. Just for starters.

Meanwhile, work on critical Beta features continues. On the coding side, violence and chatterbots are both in development; while Poobah's eyeball-deep, as he says, writing the Park South and environs. At the moment, we expect to open to the world around 9/1; we'll see how that changes over the next couple weeks.

Many thanks to all the Alpha folks who've helped us with their time and feedback!

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