It is once again that time of year, where all the little Therans ponder their fondest wishes and dreams for Carrion Fields, and post them in the hopes that Santa Zulg will abide, and those less fortunate are left with coal.

I make the same request every year, please limit yourself to the one idea that you really want to see happen. I know I won't have as much time this year as I have in the past, please be respectful of that. Please take some time to think about your idea, and flesh it out before posting it. This isn't a place to vomit all your ideas and let me sift through them.

Please take some time to read through the FAQ before posting. You might also want to browse through the long-term projects, to see some of the stuff left over from previous years. The Circular File is also a good read to see what kind of stuff isn't going to happen.

Circular File: http://forums.carrionfields.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=57

Long-Term: http://forums.carrionfields.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=58

Santa Zulg 2010: http://forums.carrionfields.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=70

Santa Zulg 2009: http://forums.carrionfields.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=69

Santa Zulg 2008: http://forums.carrionfields.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=68

Santa Zulg 2007: http://forums.carrionfields.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=60

FAQ: http://forums.carrionfields.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=55&topic_id=456&mesg_id=456&page=

The Santa Zulg F.A.Q.

1. Why don't I see my post?

You are posting to a moderated forum. Any forum can be set to 'open' or 'moderated' mode by the administrator. Enabling moderation on a forum will force all messages into a queue to be reviewed by the administrator or the moderator until they are published.

2. Why is it a moderated forum? Why can't we just all post freely?

The main reason for this is that I am trying to show some accountability and respond to every single post that appears in the Santa Zulg forum. If I control the flow of posts, I can guarantee that none will get lost or ignored. I don't plan on deleting any request I get, though you will see some get minimal response, or even circular filed.

3. When will you respond to my post?

The short answer is: When it's done.

Any given post falls into one of these categories:
- Things that aren't going to get implemented for any number of reasons.
- Things I've decided are worthy ideas and are waiting to be implemented.
- Things I've posted for more discussion amongst the Immortal staff.
- Things I'm formulating a response for that I won't post until I'm ready to have a discussion about.
- Things I'm trying to determine the root cause of the problem, and see if there is a decent way to solve it.
- New posts that I haven't even seen yet.

Every post I decide to implement is more work on my plate. I tend to work from a simplicity/impact standpoint. If it's simple to code and has a decent impact it'll probably go in pretty quick. If it's hard to code and has minimal impact, it'll probably be sitting around for awhile until I get to it.

4. Why don't you post the ideas you're going to work on before they're done?

Because I don't want to get hassled about when they're going to be done. Much like the current Shapeshifter Revamp, as soon as you explain what you're focusing on, lots of people want it done now. I don't know what my schedule is like, what free time I have, and what I'll devote to this.

5. Why do you do this?

Because I think it is valueable to get the community involved in making changes to the game. Half the stuff that has been implemented are things that I would never even thought of because I tend to focus on the bigger picture. Stats pre-20 was a great suggestion that got a discussion going between the staff as to what was the goal for making it that way in the first place. We discussed and agreed on a solution that worked for the original intent of teaching folks who've never used our stat system what they mean, and makes the veterans of CF happy because they can see their stats.

6. Why don't you just do this all the time?

Because I don't have tons of free time. I don't want to wade through 3-5 crappy ideas to get to 1 decent/good one. Overall the process is far more expensive, and to be honest it burns me out doing it for 4-8 weeks as it is.

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

And with that, Santa Zulg 2011 has come to a close. I've still got 8 items left in the queue that I'll work on cleaning out this week. Here is the analysis and list of changes you brought to Carrion Fields during this Santa Zulg season. Thank you for all the ideas, and I hope you all have a great holiday season.

Analysis...
137 posts (up from 72 last year)
--- 40 Abides (29%, down from 50% last year)
--- 92 Coal (67%, up from 37.5% last year)
--- 5 Long-Term (4%, down from 12.5% last year)


The stuff I really liked from this year...

- Tracking mobs have better chase yells (http://forums.carrionfields.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=71&topic_id=12&mesg_id=12&page=1)
- Item destruction changed to broken + new repair command (http://forums.carrionfields.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=71&topic_id=280&mesg_id=280&page=2)
- Skill/spell/song improvements show your new percentage ... You have become better at hide (51%)! (http://forums.carrionfields.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=71&topic_id=299&mesg_id=299&page=3)
- Seeing stat overages in score ... Dex : 22(22+5) (http://forums.carrionfields.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=71&topic_id=126&mesg_id=126&page=3)
- Basing limited items off the average playerbase (http://forums.carrionfields.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=71&topic_id=84&mesg_id=84&page=4)
- Upping healing rates, and basing them partially off racial max con (http://forums.carrionfields.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=71&topic_id=128&mesg_id=128&page=4)


Cabal related changes...

- TRIBUNAL - Updated Wanted Command
- NEXUS - Applicants get gauge balance
- NEXUS - Final vote results sent to the entire cabal
- OUTLANDER - Applicants can see Grey Taint & consider wilderness creatures
- EMPIRE - Emperor can speak on any Sect channel
- Exotic added to the available choices for leader weapons


Class related changes...

- Shapeshifter - Porcupine damage normalized
- Shapeshifter - Polar bears get resist cold
- Shapeshifter - Added pack sense to all feline forms
- Warrior - Misdirect failure lag changed from 3 rounds to 2
- Invoker - Updated the Seantryn Modan quest to include Ooze
- Thief - Reduced re-use timer and upped coin limit on fence
- Conjurer - First tier of information starts at 75%
- Conjurer - Improved archon logic
- Conjurer - Demons/Devils will use all corpses in the room, not just the first
- Paladin - Examining an anointed weapon lets you know if it is
- Ranger - Gnomes can be foresters
- Ranger - Find water skill lowered from level 19 to level 14
- Ranger - Updated call lightning failure echoes
- Ranger/Druid - Wilderness comfort in score
- Necromancers - Gravesight corpse can find NPC corpses
- Bard - Repertoire change timer shows up in affects


General changes...

- All guildmasters are now trainers
- Shopkeepers no longer usurp reply
- Limited containers that are overmax dump items to the corpse instead of disappearing
- Bard trainer added to the past
- Echoes when you get a lastname or long description
- PBF - Tracks how many times a player influences the veil
- Reduced spam from scan all
- Added year to the date/time command
- The sword of Ninjitsu is back...

The Naughty list...
9 posts - fist-law
8 posts - Alston
4 posts - Gaspar
3 posts - -flso
3 posts - Demon
3 posts - TMNS
3 posts - xrus

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

...And I'll behave next year

You are a good person

live long and prosper

n/t

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

when it comes to Santa Zulg changes. Some great ideas in there.