Entered by: Ianir the Anomaly Date: 2017-08-21 23:20:49
o We have initiated a large banwave of various VPN services. If you or
somebody you know is mistakenly affected by this, please feel free to
email support@lusternia.com
o We have disallowed messages to be sent from individuals in the
introduction, individuals with fewer than 60 minutes of playtime, and
individuals without a confirmed registration. >---------------------------------------------------------------------------<
When I first read it, I thought the latest changelog was a little extreme, but after inquiring further with @Ianir, I definitely understand the reasoning behind it and fully support it.
Elaboration on the 2nd changelog note based on what Ianir told me: IF character.tutorial.complete = NO TERMINATE (deny message)
IF character.tutorial.complete= YES AND character.registered = NO TERMINATE (deny message)
IF character.tutorial.complete = YES AND character.registered = YES AND character.playtime < 60m TERMINATE (deny message)
IF character.tutorial.complete = YES AND character.registered = YES AND character.playtime >= 60m ALLOW message
Basically you need to meet all 3 flags before you can send a message. If any one of them does not meet the criteria, you can't.
Never put passion before principle. Even if you win, you lose.
If olive oil comes from olives, where does baby oil come from?
If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat?
Are vpns that big of a deal? I've never used one, but people seem to always say that you should use one.
Everiine said: The reason population is low isn't because there are too many orgs. It's because so many facets of the game are outright broken and protected by those who benefit from it being that way. An overabundance of gimmicks (including game-breaking ones), artifacts that destroy any concept of balance, blatant pay-to-win features, and an obsession with convenience that makes few things actually worthwhile all contribute to the game's sad decline.
Are vpns that big of a deal? I've never used one, but people seem to always say that you should use one.
VPNs are great for privacy. I personally connect through my own (self-hosted) consistently because it's an encrypted connection between me and it, which is pretty nice for password entry in public places (airports, coffee shops, etc.) since public wifi can be sniffed and ARP poisoning is pretty easy to do for anybody with 30 minutes and the wish to learn.
However, VPNs are also great for privacy, which means somebody can use their home connection normally but use a VPN or proxy to connect, make a new character, and make harassing messages to an individual without it being traced back to them. And this happening multiple times in a month is what led to us making this change.
As it's impossible to really detect what is a VPN or proxy and what isn't, we obviously can't really ban them all, hence why the second change was made. VPNs do have a valid use, especially in countries with privacy and internet filtering concerns, but we do have to take measured steps when they're abused. I believe the phrase is "a few bad apples spoil the bunch"?
Regardless, as a privacy advocate myself, I find myself disliking having to ban any VPNs, but we can also make exceptions as necessary and have done so in the past with other wide-berth IP bans, and anybody caught by this while using a VPN for a valid reason is encouraged to email support@lusternia.com ASAP, though the VPNs caught in this particular ban wave aren't really widely used amongst players that I've noticed.
I finally figured out why essence dropping beasts on Glom kick my butt so much, because wow the Wyrd is so powerful that's why they're the hardest. NMBG
So, as it turns out, wonder items can not be customized. I understand that it's technically not possible, it's just really sad as especially the wings have no combination that I find at least somewhat aesthetically appealing (and yes, this is a minor problem, but it irks me :P )
So, as it turns out, wonder items can not be customized. I understand that it's technically not possible, it's just really sad as especially the wings have no combination that I find at least somewhat aesthetically appealing (and yes, this is a minor problem, but it irks me :P )
Perhaps submit an IDEA with suggestions for words to be added to the list, increasing the potential combinations?
Never put passion before principle. Even if you win, you lose.
If olive oil comes from olives, where does baby oil come from?
If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat?
So, as it turns out, wonder items can not be customized. I understand that it's technically not possible, it's just really sad as especially the wings have no combination that I find at least somewhat aesthetically appealing (and yes, this is a minor problem, but it irks me :P )
Perhaps submit an IDEA with suggestions for words to be added to the list, increasing the potential combinations?
I can try that if I get a good idea, but it won't change that the item in question ( the wings ) have a theme that's related to astrology and I'm so much not a fan of that, I'm not even sure they could or should change the item. Like, "Wings of the flowering Antlers" or what the last one was that I actually kept for a bit, it's just... it's the whole item's short desc that doesn't work for me ( probably because it's wings ). I really wanted my wings to just be butterfly wings
I'll defer to Ianir to make an official announcement about our forums, but will post here how some of us admins got back in if it helps anyone else. Otherwise, our forum troubles continue unfortunately.
What happened with most of us, we could get to the Lusternia Connect, check the box for our username, enter the password and got back "Password incorrect." For some of us, we never got a link at this point to "Reset Password", which seems to be the fix for most. Click the link, enter your email address, get an email to reset, enter your "new" password, but really it's the same one you always had.
But without a link, we were a bit "stuck". Heck, I didn't even know a separate link existed until another admin mentioned it! Apparently I was resetting my website password, which is not quite the same.
I hope this helps some folks out there and do share this information! No one is barred from reading our forums, but it's much nicer when it remembers your read threads and you can actually Like a post!
Message #3029 sent by (system) (received: 2017/09/01 01:14:23) Congratulations! You have won the prize in the Iron Realms Lottery - 20000 credits! Message #3032 sent by (system) (received: 2017/09/01 01:56:04) You have been given -20000 credit(s). Message #3033 sent by Roark (received: 2017/09/01 02:07:56) Sorry about that! The lottery code unexpectedly ran when I enabled it using data from a previous lottery and happened to grab your name.
o.O A chance to win 1,000 credits every week, plus a chance to win 10,000 credits at the end of the month is 'underwhelming'?
Across every IRE game...
If each game has 500 ish active players (Going from Lusternia ranks but... I think Achaea has a lot more..?), you'd get a 1/2000 chance of winning (4 times). Your chance of being struck by lightning, for comparison, is 1/3000...
of course, realistically your chances are weighted... in your favor if you spend above the median amount, not in your favor if you spend below...
I'm sure the winners will be pretty excited, of course, but it's not a realistic expectation...
Message #3029 sent by (system) (received: 2017/09/01 01:14:23) Congratulations! You have won the prize in the Iron Realms Lottery - 20000 credits! Message #3032 sent by (system) (received: 2017/09/01 01:56:04) You have been given -20000 credit(s). Message #3033 sent by Roark (received: 2017/09/01 02:07:56) Sorry about that! The lottery code unexpectedly ran when I enabled it using data from a previous lottery and happened to grab your name.
You are also working off the premise that every single person will be making a purchase or qualifying for the free ticket by logging on for 1 hour every day for the required 5 days, along with an average of each person having a single ticket for the drawing. Some people will have none and thus not factor in, some may have 11 tickets because they might have purchased 100 credits plus gotten the 'free' ticket.
Yes, there may be somewhere in the vicinity of 500 'active' characters in the rankings, but a lot of those are very likely alternates of a smaller pool of players, especially given that even at it's busiest I don't think I've seen Lusternia get particularly close to 100 simultaneous connections, it usually seems to be closer 60ish, sometimes bottoming out at as little as 20 during quiet parts of the day.
(That is just working off Lusternia numbers, I don't play any of the other IRE games, so I won't profess to have any idea of how many people play the other games or what their spending habits might be like.)
That all being said, I'm fairly happy with the promotion - we're getting new dingbat items released, a promo that offers 40% more credits (50% if you have the membership) and free dingbats at set thresholds, on top of the lottery.
Never put passion before principle. Even if you win, you lose.
If olive oil comes from olives, where does baby oil come from?
If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat?
Yeah, it kills me when people complain about OP promo arties, and also complain about 'underwhelming promos'.
I honestly wish every promo was underwhelming, so I'm happy. Also a 50% credit bonus with dingbats on top of that is craaaazy. I actually makes me worry about the revenue flow of IRE if they're pushing so hard for credit sales.
I personally find it okay to state if you consider a promotion unappealing, though I'd prefer if you'd be saying why, if it's done in a constructive way. Lusternia and thus IRE only has so many ways to actually gather feedback on what they're doing and, incidentially, they want people to buy their stuff. If I were in that position, I'd rather have people 'whine' about my product, giving me the chance to actually react if I deem it neccessary while comparing it with my revenue income instead of finding out much later that apparently what I did was not appealing to people. Not everyone is looking for the same thing in a promotion, so there'll always be people liking and disliking, but no feedback is in my opinion, always, bad for a company in IRE's position.
On my personal opinion, I wouldn't call it an underwhelming promotion, but it's also not a promotion that'll particularly inspire me to invest. I tend to enjoy promotions that usually end up having a bit of excitement to them but also have a viable turnout. The lottery is a little too aloof for me, personally, but that's alright (and a credit bonus is always nice if you're looking to get credits). There's other promotions I did find interesting that others didn't.
Although I see why more established folks are not that interested but this is an amazing offer for folks who still need/want lessons, credit and dingbat artifacts.
100 bound credits (I don't currently have membership - ymmv)
50db (are the 20 from membership stickies?)
150 lessons (I log in every day - ymmv)
45 lottery tickets
ETA: One piece of feedback on the promo structure - I don't get the incentive to buy a (smaller?) amount of credits each week (to maximise lottery draws - yes, for the statisticians this is a fallacy, but I can tell you for nothing that it's going to be a psychologically attractive one nonetheless); my limited understanding of economics is that you should encourage bulk sales. You want all of my disposable income NOW, right? Not a quarter of it each week.
Comments
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------<
When I first read it, I thought the latest changelog was a little extreme, but after inquiring further with @Ianir, I definitely understand the reasoning behind it and fully support it.
Elaboration on the 2nd changelog note based on what Ianir told me:
IF character.tutorial.complete = NO
TERMINATE (deny message)
IF character.tutorial.complete= YES
AND character.registered = NO
TERMINATE (deny message)
IF character.tutorial.complete = YES
AND character.registered = YES
AND character.playtime < 60m
TERMINATE (deny message)
IF character.tutorial.complete = YES
AND character.registered = YES
AND character.playtime >= 60m
ALLOW message
Basically you need to meet all 3 flags before you can send a message. If any one of them does not meet the criteria, you can't.
If olive oil comes from olives, where does baby oil come from?
If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat?
Are vpns that big of a deal? I've never used one, but people seem to always say that you should use one.
However, VPNs are also great for privacy, which means somebody can use their home connection normally but use a VPN or proxy to connect, make a new character, and make harassing messages to an individual without it being traced back to them. And this happening multiple times in a month is what led to us making this change.
As it's impossible to really detect what is a VPN or proxy and what isn't, we obviously can't really ban them all, hence why the second change was made. VPNs do have a valid use, especially in countries with privacy and internet filtering concerns, but we do have to take measured steps when they're abused. I believe the phrase is "a few bad apples spoil the bunch"?
Regardless, as a privacy advocate myself, I find myself disliking having to ban any VPNs, but we can also make exceptions as necessary and have done so in the past with other wide-berth IP bans, and anybody caught by this while using a VPN for a valid reason is encouraged to email support@lusternia.com ASAP, though the VPNs caught in this particular ban wave aren't really widely used amongst players that I've noticed.
If olive oil comes from olives, where does baby oil come from?
If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat?
I'm really hoping to be back soon; I plan on getting my office/lady-cave in semi-working order either tonight or sometime this weekend.
Tonight amidst the mountaintops
And endless starless night
Singing how the wind was lost
Before an earthly flight
*does mentor dance to summon Rancoura*
What happened with most of us, we could get to the Lusternia Connect, check the box for our username, enter the password and got back "Password incorrect." For some of us, we never got a link at this point to "Reset Password", which seems to be the fix for most. Click the link, enter your email address, get an email to reset, enter your "new" password, but really it's the same one you always had.
But without a link, we were a bit "stuck". Heck, I didn't even know a separate link existed until another admin mentioned it! Apparently I was resetting my website password, which is not quite the same.
So if you cannot access the Forum's Reset Password link like the rest of us:
http://forums.lusternia.com/entry/passwordrequest
I hope this helps some folks out there and do share this information! No one is barred from reading our forums, but it's much nicer when it remembers your read threads and you can actually Like a post!
If olive oil comes from olives, where does baby oil come from?
If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat?
Message #3032 sent by (system) (received: 2017/09/01 01:56:04) You have been given -20000 credit(s).
Message #3033 sent by Roark (received: 2017/09/01 02:07:56) Sorry about that! The lottery code unexpectedly ran when I enabled it using data from a previous lottery and happened to grab your name.
;( ;( ;(
Across every IRE game...
If each game has 500 ish active players (Going from Lusternia ranks but... I think Achaea has a lot more..?), you'd get a 1/2000 chance of winning (4 times). Your chance of being struck by lightning, for comparison, is 1/3000...
of course, realistically your chances are weighted... in your favor if you spend above the median amount, not in your favor if you spend below...
I'm sure the winners will be pretty excited, of course, but it's not a realistic expectation...
*hugs*
Yes, there may be somewhere in the vicinity of 500 'active' characters in the rankings, but a lot of those are very likely alternates of a smaller pool of players, especially given that even at it's busiest I don't think I've seen Lusternia get particularly close to 100 simultaneous connections, it usually seems to be closer 60ish, sometimes bottoming out at as little as 20 during quiet parts of the day.
(That is just working off Lusternia numbers, I don't play any of the other IRE games, so I won't profess to have any idea of how many people play the other games or what their spending habits might be like.)
That all being said, I'm fairly happy with the promotion - we're getting new dingbat items released, a promo that offers 40% more credits (50% if you have the membership) and free dingbats at set thresholds, on top of the lottery.
If olive oil comes from olives, where does baby oil come from?
If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat?
I honestly wish every promo was underwhelming, so I'm happy. Also a 50% credit bonus with dingbats on top of that is craaaazy. I actually makes me worry about the revenue flow of IRE if they're pushing so hard for credit sales.
Kill power creeppppp
On my personal opinion, I wouldn't call it an underwhelming promotion, but it's also not a promotion that'll particularly inspire me to invest. I tend to enjoy promotions that usually end up having a bit of excitement to them but also have a viable turnout. The lottery is a little too aloof for me, personally, but that's alright (and a credit bonus is always nice if you're looking to get credits). There's other promotions I did find interesting that others didn't.
======================
1x 200cr @ $69.99
1x 100cr @ $39.99
1x 50cr @ $19.99
1x 140cr @ $ 0.00 - Thank you, IRE!
i.e.,
30db
Change for snacks
---
OPTION 2
i.e.,
ETA: One piece of feedback on the promo structure - I don't get the incentive to buy a (smaller?) amount of credits each week (to maximise lottery draws - yes, for the statisticians this is a fallacy, but I can tell you for nothing that it's going to be a psychologically attractive one nonetheless); my limited understanding of economics is that you should encourage bulk sales. You want all of my disposable income NOW, right? Not a quarter of it each week.
Tonight amidst the mountaintops
And endless starless night
Singing how the wind was lost
Before an earthly flight