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Introduction to the Willow Palm Monastery:


Volgathras

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The Willow Palm Monastery is situated in a valley behind the previously impenetrable Sentinel mountain range. The area the Monastery inhabits has been largely untouched by civilaztion, but for the Monastery itself which has been carefully crafted to meld with the natural surroundings, rather than overcome it.

Originally settled by a small contingent of monks, the Monastery has remain a hidden and well guarded secret for decades. It is unclear why the path has so recently been opened. It's carven archway holds many secrets - its rich and contentious history being one of them.

Mini Dev Diary:

The Willow Palm Monastery has been a project myself and many others have been working on for a long, long time. It was crafted with a very specific idea in mind, as a collaboration between several immortals and the original creator.

It's an area that explores the ideas of good, evil, and the path in between, as well as the inherant interpretive nature of religion. The area puts an emphasis on ambiance and environment, attempting with what small skill the developers had to make it come alive for the player. Attention to detail is important to really find the essence of the Monastery - as well as the key to success in some cases.

I won't share the history of the area, and encourage players to try and discover that for themselves. There are hints and partial bits of the story left here and there for the attentive viewer. There are several quests as well, that will test the player's knowledge of the game, and their character's knowledge of themselves.

Above all we hope you enjoy this new addition. We would be very grateful for your input; bugs, issues, what you like, and you dislike, what you want more of, etc. Hopefully this will better help us craft the world and make your time in Aabahran as real and enjoyable as possible.

A special mention goes to Gright, the very first mortal to set foot in the hidden Willow Palm Monastery.

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Fantastic place. The quests although challenging and require some reading of history, so fricking worth it. I also really like the battle with the Fallen Shifu, and his "tactics" changing. Maybe put in a glyph next to the Philosopher to help people not get stuck there.

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Thank you for your thoughts, I've been thinking about the spot a little, as well as the Shifu.

After watching some players run through (and hotfixing for a few hours, heh), I'm excited to see the effort people put in to discover. At the same time, though, I encourage people to take their time. There's a tendancy to rush through without taking in the surroundings. This results in at least one oft-overlooked and easy quest, as well as missing out on some immersion.

I'd also like to mention here that this is our game, which means all of you as players have the opportunity to make your mark. I believe new areas are always welcome, so if you feel you have the time and commitment necessary to expand the world, patience to work through problems and make changes where necessary, I encourage you to drop a proposal on prayer.

Building is easy (it's the programs that are tricky, and that's where the imm's come in), so don't let that deter you! A concept and drive are all you need.

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Progs are very, very powerful things. They have the capacity to break the mud in many ways (I think I've tried all of them, go me). When test goes down, it takes a while to get back up. Alternatively a poorly made prog can halt every single prog in the game. It's a messy process, so as a result we're very careful on who we give access to.

If it's any consolation, it took me nearly a year to get prog access - and I still broke everything!

Now this isn't to say your ideas for what progs do what isn't considered. We'd just have someone else write it and test it to ensure they work as intended.

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I know. I've just done progs so often that I know for certain I won't break anything. I guess I just find it detering to have to go through two or more people to get one prog put in. I like getting things finished AS I go along (as in create a room full of mobs, items, AND progs, before creating the next).

I've a lot of experience with the progs, enough to even coach some of the IMMs building (as I've done in the past, and currently still do :P) But I do understand, for the most part, why I'm not allowed to make them myself.

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blah blah blah' date=' give us an idea that we can all run with, blah blah blah, maybe you'll prove yourself. blah blah blah.[/quote']

blah blah blah' date=' i'm amazing, trust me. blah blah blah.[/quote']

hey pals. ^_^

edit: i'll go with the former any day. <3

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I think this is one of those areas where you have to be in the right mind set to go through it to learn how to do it. Because every time I try, I get lost in trying to figure it out and then get bored and want to do something else. On the plus side though I did get to find a few new things in there that I absolutely adore though. Perhaps it's just the time I get to play since it's only after work and I'm exhausted by that time anyways.

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It's a great new zone. And of extreme quality. It reminds me of the Elven Kingdom. Another zone where there was a great focus on detail.

I love the Adepta Sororitas Angel with the Iron Halo.

The librarian is also nice, and so is the book thing.

Love that water room. So cool.

The chapel with the sword is also amazing.

And the Butcher!!! Lol, reminded me of Diablo 1 and the Butchers cleaver. So cool.

I only think the main quest was to easy. Perhaps if all stuff had numbers, it would prevent us from brute forcing it.

An idea. A good idea to keep interest in an area is to have it like the Spider Slayer quest.

First ask you ask to something easy. Like killing all the Spiders in the Basement.

Then ask you to kill all of the fruit spiders, lemons apple pineapple and strawberry.

And the HINT that something is yet to be done. (Of preference allocating a cryptic non invisible (visible) quest entry to Quest list.

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The more I explore this place, the more amazing it gets. Seriously this place is so fantastic, and has such a real feel to it. Like I could imagine myself stepping through a monastery as I read descs, and look at mobs. Major props to all who where involved in creating this place.

Also, the items. MAN! How great to solve the disparity between godlike, and

re-equip suits than make a place choked nearly to death with all kinds of viable gear! Jesus thank you, more of this!

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