- We disabled Seanchan character creation. The game cannot really support 3 sides anymore, and new players who select Seanchan, especially with the other changes below, will not have a good experience since they will be alone (and therefore usually quit). We may very rarely make role-play exceptions and so on for characters who really want to be Seanchan, but this will not be the norm.
- Seanchan have reverted to their own who-list and global channels. We've found that sharing a who-list and narrates/chats with Lightside tends to make Lightside less desirable to play (you are putting yourself at risk of being hunted by narrating, for example). This is similar to some of the reasons for the Known Darkfriends being retired.
- Seanchan are now able to follow and group with Lightside players. Of course, consider the RP implications, and the relevant mobs will continue to attack/etc as usual, but we want Seanchan players to at least have the option of some social interaction given how isolated the experience is.
- The Seanchan Sworn protection from Seanchan mob aggro is now subject to not having a Seanchan Empire warrant. This is because there are relatively few Seanchan players and we do not want it to be used for farming mobs/shops/etc.
Unrelated to the Seanchan:
- New players will now be announced to the appropriate sides, to allow for welcoming and offering support/etc to new players. (A text-based game like a MUD can be a bit overwhelming for a new player, especially in 2024.)
- We are making some changes to render Create Fog less frustrating for opponents:
- It will no longer block all attempts to target or engage others, even at maximum fog level. Instead, there is a % chance that attempts to engage will fail (a bit analogous to old fear, though that's a rather fuzzy comparison since they don't behave the same way). Preventing all targeting was simply too strong an effect.
- Obscuring exits in 'exit' happens a bit earlier as a minor offset.
- Weaving Change Weather to make the weather 'better' can remove fog.
- Note these Change Fog changes will go live tomorrow and are not live today, unlike the other changes. I am simply consolidating the announce posts so I don't bury the Seanchan news right away.