Wyrom Reveals Duskruin Plans for 2018 | The GemStoneIV TownCrier

Could the smithy please be available at all of these? Let invite envelopes be a dig prize, arena wins lead to invites as usual, and have some mechanism for an invite at the new event.

Cheers,
~ Nuadjha, the Briar Fox

You inhale deeply upon your pipe, puckering your lips as you send out three rings of smoke before you, then puff out a small vine of smoke that darts right through all three which causes them to disperse in a hazy shroud!

Never been to a duskruin, missed the last one by a few weeks. Had to wait 6 months for the full one and now you are going to make my 6 month waiting period restart.

After being told by about 10 gms , “well don’t worry duskruin is in March or April” this is like being lied to. A real slap in the face. Everyone says we are getting duskruin in December and then you already cancel that and replace it with something 90 percent of the population spent 5 minutes at.

It’s like you are begging for game to end.

>A real slap in the face.

For a minute I thought I was in the Wizard folder…

~Issalya

Liia: Blame Issalya
Omrii: Wait, we have official staff approval on blaming Issalya? Excellent.
Kormis: She seems to be to blame for everything around here!

I find it interesting the combination of “ugh more duskruin” and “why so much longer” in the overall responses.

Most importantly, will December involve bank robbery chaos? Or at least something with the yetis that clearly roam the hills?

_ _ _
Myasara says, “Raining rocks down on my city was not the best course of action.”

Excellent, I will only become a hermit once a year. Now, just don’t schedule Duskruin on the week my wife is dragging us off on a cruise. Otherwise… I’ll be playing GS on a cruise… again.

Hmm slap in the face kick in the groin pile driver etc. Duskruin arena was supposed to be twice a year according yo Wyrom. Imo the only good event exceptfor eg. Like with a lot of the changes recently makes you wonder if they just jave a dice with things on them and roll and then do what it says. Or a magic 8 ball

Seems there is a lot of things being changed not necisassrily for the better.

Sigh

> After being told by about 10 gms , “well don’t worry duskruin is in March or April” this is like being lied to. A real slap in the face

A great argument for why GMs should never tell players anything until it’s happening, right?

You can bet that anything, even from Wyrom (also known as The Boss™), can and will change. It’s their best guess at the moment they are telling you. We all know that. It’d be nice if they did a better job at hedging when they say something, like

“At the moment I believe…”

Or, “X” will never be offered in this form again-or so I think currently”.

Or…you get the idea.

But we all know it’s the case. Always has been (though I can only speak as of 1992). Always will be (I can speak CONFIDENTLY about what will be, knowing I WILL be wrong!).

>>the Wizard folder…

Hmm. . . who to blame that on. 0:)

Doug

I would like to suggest/humbly request that you switch the dig dates with the arena run. After EG the thought of another ‘dig’ event makes me want to flip tables over Kirby style. I’m still so sick of digging if you said digging was going to be an EG only event, that would be fine by me…But if not; at LEAST break it up. October was not long enough ago for me to want to dig again, and with the prizes that were available last DR dig event, it’s most likely I would forego another dig this soon.

It would be great if there were dig-style events that alternated with combat-oriented events. Right now DR is the only combat-oriented event we have (other than the small quests you can run like ANATA/BSC/TW) but man, it would be so great if we had others! I like events that foster interaction and cooperation with others. Things like DR arena where you can solo or group are fantastic. The Necropolis at EG was also great–more of those types please.

Sincerely,

~Nichoel, the Muse.

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called Life. ~The incomparable Prince

Discord: Stormyrain#9912

I second Nichoel’s idea for what it’s worth. Please not another dig so soon.

I’ve been given the green light to talk about some planning that is going into events, something I’ve been cutoff from starting back in 2014. We’ve also been given some freedoms to move the events around that work better for staff.

The pieces I’ve talked about (Dig, full event, and new event) are just what you guys have known of each event. Each will include much more than just that. Just two months ago, the Dig was demanded in December. We are letting you know that it is still coming. The Dig will not be the only thing available in February’s run.

I think we have a proven track record with Duskruin by now that we’ve added much more content at each one. Those of you new to Duskruin, it might be overwhelming, but those of you who are veterans will have exciting things to look forward to.

Wyrom, PM

10 months it will be since The last duskruin arena when the next comes which is a very sad thing as we all were expecting it in april. I am interested in what all will be in February but waiting till June just sucks.

>> On top of that, we are breaking away from the April and August runs of the full event so we can give a better variety of offerings.

Possibly I am in the minority based on the posts so far but… thank you for this! 🙂

— Robert

Due to the volatile atmosphere, random bolts of lightning can intermittently be seen streaking through the skyline.

>>We are only going to run the full event once a year.

Kinda sadface on this, especially if the Arena is only going to be open once a year — it’s one of my favorite things ever, and obviously I would be vastly in favor of more of it rather than less. Is there any reason you can’t run the usual Arena/Sewers/whatever concurrently with whatever new thing you have planned? Having said that, however, I’ll reserve final judgment until we see the actual shape of things; I’ve no doubt that the new event will be pretty awesome as well, and I’m excited to see what it is.

However, I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: I’d much rather see Duskruin shift to more frequent openings (or even open all the time) with less emphasis on insane new goods and more emphasis on general availability for fun. Black Swan Castle and Troubled Waters are rather in this same vein conceptually, having far more availability in conjunction with periodically rotating “prize selections”, but Duskruin has the advantage of using the Simucoins Store rather than the Box Office… which makes it significantly less cumbersome. It already exists as an excellent framework for modular expansion. Make it a permanent fixture instead of an “event”, and give us the option of doing smaller but more sustainable things like recharging enhancives for bloodscrip, so it basically functions as a SimuCoin-powered alternative to the Adventure’s Guild. I, for one, would certainly pay a little extra to have the Arena available as an alternative to Bounty Tasks. You also could sell smaller but more frequently used disposable goods, such as herbs comparable to those sold on Mist Harbor, a variety of disposable wands (gold, aquamarine, etc.) and crystals (black, blue, white), and a variety of lower to mid-end gear for alts or newer players. Add new games or adventures or whatever as you see fit, whenever you see fit to do so. You could still briefly open the High-End Shop or WPS merchant or rotate in and out whatever periodically as you see fit, with the same frequency as they have been offered in the past or present…. but that doesn’t have to be Duskruin’s sole purpose. Just treat Duskruin as a venue for events and exciting new things, rather than an event itself — you could even have single shops open and close at their owner’s desire, allowing interesting new toys to trickle out over time rather than having deadlines and pressures associated with having them all come out at once. I’d love to be able to just pop in and do a few Arenas whenever I feel like it, as opposed to it having to be this whole huge deal where everyone has to cram all of their efforts into a very narrow timeframe, and I’d guess a lot of people on both sides of the fence (creators and participants alike) feel overly pressured and get burned out as a result of this compaction. To me, personally, Duskruin represents an opportunity to move away from this.

The pressure to have “good” offerings, methinks, stems largely from expectations generated from this extremely limited availability; change the function and the framework, and you change the expectations. Personally, I’d be fine if you had “high-end” offerings with the same (or even less) limited availability with the above caveats, as it really amounts to the same thing in the long run. I’d wager that part of the reason you see huge gluts of bloodscrip generation is because it’s available for such a limited amount of time; if it were open permanently or even just more often, I’d wager you would see that level out quite a bit, which would give more opportunity to the casual attendees or those who just want to try it out. People are most likely going to be spending the same amount of money either way, and perhaps you’d even see more buy-in if you would allow us to stretch it out our participation over time.

At the end of the day, I’m also getting increasingly burned out on the slot-machine style of “events” as seen with Delirium Manor, Duskruin Dig, and even Diving with the most recent EG. They’re all wonderful and beautifully crafted events, conceptually and thematically, and hella fun to explore and take in to appreciate the creativity involved… but find myself participating in them repeatedly less and less simply because they I don’t like what they represent in function. I vastly prefer accumulation or effort-based games (things like the Arena, Troubled Waters, or even both iterations of Reim) over what basically amounts to continual gambling. I certainly don’t have any objection to “slot-machine” type games existing (such as the traditional ones offered at EG), nor do I think they should go away entirely, but I don’t feel they should be the entire focus or framework of an event. And one of the reasons I enjoy things like Reim and Troubled Waters so much is they feel more like direct effort put toward a long-term goal, rather than a random crapshoot every time that may or may not be worth the investment; this is why the change implemented at last EG wherein you got more tickets per dig was a great thing, because if you wanted tickets for a thing (which was the point of the thing), at least it allowed you to feel like you were getting something cumulative for your efforts. I’d rather do Arena a hundred times be able and save up for something I want with certainty earned through effort and time, rather than having to rely on random luck… which is, as discussed elsewhere, can be a bit inherently problematic when monetary transactions are involved.

— Wheels & Skulls Department

You see Blood Mayor Cruxophim the Blood Reaver.
“Blood for the Blood Mayor! Skulls for the Skull Office!”

[ Storyline: https://goo.gl/VQkXAZ ]
[ Order of the Shadow: https://goo.gl/88Ojff ]

I’d love permanent Duskruin too, or at very least permanent arena, even if that meant the things you could buy were more low-end.

But my first thought hearing about (potentially) only one arena per year was that maybe they’ll go the opposite route with some combination of better offerings, cheaper offerings, or a month-long arena while it is open.

I guess we’ll see. Fully reserving judgment.

>>It would be great if there were dig-style events that alternated with combat-oriented events. Right now DR is the only combat-oriented event we have (other than the small quests you can run like ANATA/BSC/TW) but man, it would be so great if we had others! I like events that foster interaction and cooperation with others. Things like DR arena where you can solo or group are fantastic. The Necropolis at EG was also great–more of those types please.

So much this!!

Things like Reim and TW are a nice combination of combat and adventuring, even if I do periodically prefer the more direct combat-oriented simplicity of the Arena — sometimes you just want to smash things, right?

— Wheels & Skulls Department

You see Blood Mayor Cruxophim the Blood Reaver.
“Blood for the Blood Mayor! Skulls for the Skull Office!”

[ Storyline: https://goo.gl/VQkXAZ ]
[ Order of the Shadow: https://goo.gl/88Ojff ]

For an example to my suggestion above, you could (theoretically) transition Troubled Waters from the Box Office to Duskruin pretty easily, by having it accessible via a boarding pass or some such from the Simucoin Store.

Make a dock in Bloodriven Village where you automatically board with said pass, do the thing solo or with frends, and the use the bloodscrip (instead of blackscrip) you earn from such to purchase things; the rotating prize wall could easily be converted to a bloodscrip cost and rolled into Duskruin‘s assortment of offerings.

— Wheels & Skulls Department

You see Blood Mayor Cruxophim the Blood Reaver.
“Blood for the Blood Mayor! Skulls for the Skull Office!”

[ Storyline: https://goo.gl/VQkXAZ ]
[ Order of the Shadow: https://goo.gl/88Ojff ]

>>Make a dock in Bloodriven Village where you automatically board with said pass, do the thing solo or with frends, and the use the bloodscrip (instead of blackscrip) you earn from such to purchase things; the rotating prize wall could easily be converted to a bloodscrip cost and rolled into Duskruin‘s assortment of offerings.

I really like this idea, though I think you’d have to change it up a bit for it to logically work because geography. Make regular Trouble Waters available that way from the Landing, exactly as is but automated, and add a wilderness mountain version for Bloodriven perhaps? Mostly just some idle thought for details, but the original idea is good for sure.
_ _ _
Myasara says, “Raining rocks down on my city was not the best course of action.”

> Those of you new to Duskruin…

Me.

I’m clueless. Hell, this was my first EG.

In general, I dislike digs/fishing/etc.. type games. I raffled and shopped at EG, which was a lot of fun, if Duskruin has that stuff, I’ll be there. Sounds like there’s some gameplay stuff (combat?), when that’s there, I’ll look into it.

I’m sort of sad about this. Duskruin Arena is one of my favorite things ever. I learned some splendiferous things about loresinging from so many of them. And now that I can finally DO the Arena, it’s going to be be cut back. 🙁

I had it all planned out how I was going to earn a nervestaff from the two upcoming Duskruins.

And now you are telling me I have to wait two years?! 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁

~L.

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To put it mildly it’s a travesty miss luxelle

Only once per year arena definitely sucks. It’s the only thing I look forward to.

I have to agree with the last few posts, in terms of combat, I have found DR to be much more satisfying than hunting at cap. On top of that, the conversations and interactions I’ve had in the preparation spot and up in the stands watching were extremely rewarding. I can’t count how many times I got an opportunity to chat with someone about KST or elven politics or whatever who normally I just wouldn’t run into. DR hits the mark on the main reasons I play this game. I realize that having it open all the time likely isn’t realistic, and if it were some major changes would have to be made on the payouts. But I really wouldn’t mind, I don’t think most of us would. And getting it cut back to just once a year makes me sad <3

I say this as someone who has yet to figure out a strategy and has a very poor record so far, heh! So perhaps whatever you come up with address some of that, I will wait and see. Thank you for sharing with us what you could, Wyrom!

-GK!

I dunno, I find Duskruin to be a bit of a yawner, though I might say the same about anything that’s a grind, and Duskruin is a grind. But some of you love to grind, so grind away.

I’m interested in seeing how the GM team mixes things up, and think it’s a good idea to keep doing so.

Kerl

The last arena run of DR was entirely too long (expensive) and I basically quit for a month after it. Wish the runs were shorter, like 5 days, but more frequent.

To be frank unless there’s elite high end gear offered at events, I’m out. I don’t see that said very often but I know others are thinking it. I’m also kind of disappointed in the frequency of the smithy making appearances. I was kind of under the impression that it’d be available a lot Maybe I haven’t been around much but I haven’t seen it.

Overall though love you guys and keep up the hard work. I know satisfying everyone is tough and there’s only so many hours in a day. I appreciate you all for what you do when putting together these things even if they’re not for me.

If there were X arena entries per day per account, I’d honestly even do that for no payout and totally be fine with the experience and the nice change of pace. I know that’s not what everyone would do, but I love the arena.

To be fair, the arena is the most tempted I’ve ever been to script hunt (I still haven’t given in!), and it can get exhausting, but the reason for those things is because of what Crux was saying about pressure, which bears repeating:

>I’d love to be able to just pop in and do a few Arenas whenever I feel like it, as opposed to it having to be this whole huge deal where everyone has to cram all of their efforts into a very narrow timeframe, and I’d guess a lot of people on both sides of the fence (creators and participants alike) feel overly pressured and get burned out as a result of this compaction.

And I think this feeling could get even worse with only one arena a year.

https://gswiki.play.net/Leafiara

Me too, I’d use Duskruin to “hunt” instead of bandits. I don’t even need the bloodscrip for this type of arrangement.

It would need a time limitation before you could re-enter (or else remove the ability for Arena kills to take up you beyond Must Rest), otherwise it’s a “push button for experience.”

Wyrom, really happy to hear that you can once again discuss upcoming events more openly with us.

I’m sad that arena will happen after fixskill refresh (have been holding onto mine for just that), and that it’ll only happen once, but I look forward to hearing about the new stuff.

I love not having to choose between digging and the Arena because the event is too short to do both well

“We are aiming to do the Dig next, in February, move to having the full event in June, and the newer event in December.” — Wyrom, #8461

Ssssoooo… I’m hearing “next month”. Cool.

Are the team combats (2v2 or 3v3) returning?

There had been some talk of “1-vs-<multiple>”, but it was “not at that time”… any chance of that, this time?
(Speaking as a Bard, I find 20 mana in three seconds to damage 3 opponents a better bargain than 10 mana in three seconds to damage only 1. And I’m guessing the loot may be better… or at least, not have to be split. <cough>)