Greetings! We figured it’d be an excellent idea to do periodic recaps of Sanctum’s progression, and this will be the first installment of that. We’re coming up on one week live (tomorrow), and we’ll be discussing what we have seen so far, some of the issues we are currently working on, as well as some peeks into things in the pipeline for Sanctum going forward.
Observations
First and foremost — wow! Sanctum was fortunate to even have days where we would surpass 10 or more testers during our BETA phase, yet we have already peaked at 50 simultaneous clients with limited advertising. We’ll move well beyond that peak as we gain more stability and social reach; more on that in a bit. Regardless, that number this early in our life is truly remarkable, especially when you consider the aforementioned lack of advertising, two account limit, and the populations of other shards at this time with higher or absent limits. Not many would have given Sanctum much of a chance, but we’re beating the odds.
It was entertaining, as Staff, to get together for our launch and watch new faces stream into the community. Personally speaking, I much prefer a gradual increase in population than immediate chaos. Thank you to everyone for being a part of this and spreading the word. Having such a substantial amount of players come together so rapidly is paramount to increasing the enjoyment of all of those on this shard. If you’re enjoying yourself, please pass the word along.
Complications
Patches, Crashes, and Bugs: We would like to apologize for the frequent network drops and patches we’ve been applying to correct nagging or recurring bugs. The architecture of RunUO can be likened to that of a house of cards. It literally collapses (in our case crashes or dysfunctions), if any single piece malfunctions. Over the weekend, we implemented a daily server reboot to counter the issue with a timer that causes the server to “hang” on a 24 hour cycle. We’ve also been combating other nagging issues such as the FromMilitia error displayed on guard lists within the militia stone. Little things that we’re trying to iron out.
It is just as frustrating for us as it is for all of you, I assure you. We’re literally losing sleep at night worrying that perhaps the server will throw an unexpected crash and we won’t be around to repair it for you all right away. The light at the end of that tunnel is every time we experience an issue, we’re that much closer to extended stability.
Thanks to all of you, we’ve been able to uncover many things that we were not able to see during BETA. Our list has been growing daily. It’s actually a bit overwhelming at this point even for the four of us working on this shard. Right now, that list includes issues and changes with citizenship bonuses, hero capture hiccups, improvements to our artificial intelligence and more.
Please continue to use [feedback and/or post on the forum (we prefer the latter, however). This information is vital to us and in improving the shard. Thank you everyone who has been utilizing the feedback command to provide us further insight. You can use it to describe any issue you may be having, but be sure to give as much detail as possible. It can be anything from loot tables being too high compared to other dungeons, to suggestions for the map. When sharing feedback on the forum, use screenshots whenever necessary, as well as X,Y locations for bugged tiles, items, etc.
Coming Ahead:
We’re betting it’ll make a few folks happy to hear about some of the stuff we’re also working on in addition to the reported bugs and other complications. Here’s a sneak peek at some of the changes you will see in the coming days/weeks:
PvM Rewards System
We’d like to implement a reward system that will allow players to accrue “points” for killing AI throughout Atria. The stronger the creature, the more points that are earned. At the end of each week (or perhaps bi-weekly / monthly), winners will be declared (top 3), and awards given to those three players. It’s simplistic enough to be harmless to PvP, but intriguing enough to provide some depth to PvM. We’re also contemplating allowing players to use the points they earn to purchase other medium rewards between cycles.
Automated / Staff Managed Events
Despite having Vorshun, we’re interested in adding a few automated events, as well as manually managing others. We have a slew of events some of you will be familiar with such as traditional CTF, Paintball, and more.. while we have a few other unique events known as “Bomberman” and “Skull Ball” in the works. Not all of these events will have the option of being automated, but nevertheless, we’d like to get the community involved in some entertaining games.
Limited Boat Travel + Fishing / Cooking Content
We’re evaluating our options for limited boat travel, as well the possibility for inclusion of new fish and the ability to create some special foods from those fish. We’ve already implemented new mobs and possibilities of treasure with fishing, but we’re interested in adding more.
Additions to Alchemy
Using alchemy to boost combat-related content for the alchemist is not really in the spirit of a “crafting” skill, therefore we’re looking to add abilities that would create some interdependence for them. Just spitballing ideas here, but we’re considering adding the option for alchemists to “transmute” potions (combine heal/refresh), or perhaps create rare potions that can trigger spawns, etc.
Re-Introduction of Hireling NPCs
For those unfamiliar with them, these NPCs can be hired to accompany you on your adventures. Perhaps you are a miner and wish to have protection against enemies and surprise spawns, or you want someone at your warrior’s back as you attempt to slay a difficult creature, or maybe you merely need a sparring partner. We’re not quite yet decided on whether we’d allow the sparring aspect, but we could certainly find use for other currency (such as Platinum / Silver) for hiring these NPCs.
Website Improvements
We’re constantly striving to determine the best way to present all of our information so that you have access to it. We’d rather not spend our days linking to the information, so if you have any suggestions or ideas for what we should add, let us know. We’re currently hard at work cleaning up and revamping parts of the main site, so keep an eye out.
We’ve got a long way left to go here on Sanctum. Thank you for being a part of this with us and thank you for being so remarkably supportive and positive about our shard thus far. Remember to vote for us daily, notify us of new sites to potentially list ourselves on, and spread the word about Sanctum!
