Patch Notes 2.1 (OOC)

PATCH NOTES 2.1 (OOC PATCH)

Colossal Battles

We have revamped our Colossal Battles system with the aim of (1) making mechanical combat more accessible to new players and (2) providing more opportunities to obtain Pokemon not normally available on UNOVR.

CHANGES:

• Colossal Battles now allow you to choose your own opponent. Depending on the Rarity of the Pokemon you select, the battle may be Easy (Common) Medium (Uncommon) or Hard (Rare). The Pokemon you choose must not be available anywhere else on site.
• There are now Tier Caps for each level of difficulty. Your Pokemon's attacks, HP, and level/moves must be scaled down to this cap (Easy Tier 2, Medium Tier 3, Rare Tier 4).
• Moves and Tactics have been broadly simplified and are now all based on the popular Colossal Glaceon template.
• Colossal Battle challenges are now limited to once per calendar month per member.
• There is no longer a limit for how many times you can claim Colossal Battle Prizes, but there is now a -25 BYTE cost to capture a copy of the defeated Pokemon.
• You may now claim 10 AP (previously 5 AP) in lieu of claiming the Pokemon.
• Cosmetic Seal prizes from previous Colossal Battle prize options (Orbiting Heads Seal, Icicle Seal, Muscle Seal) have been moved to the Arena Shop.
• For those who enjoyed the tricky custom mechanics and un-capped potential of the old Colossal Battles, don't worry! Very Rare Pokemon will still have unique Colossal Battle stats, moves, and tactics. These special battles will be periodically released as a fun challenge for top-tier players.
  

Challenge Towers

The current system is not exactly playing out as we envisioned, and we are making changes so that future Legacy Challenges are more in line with our original intent!

When we first started the original Cat Tower back in Beta, there was actually a cohesive narrative, regular player interaction, and constant motivation to upgrade + evolve + capture new Pokemon in order to fulfill new prompts. The Challenge Towers were originally designed not just as a method of obtaining free Pokemon prizes, but as an outlet for making actual use of Level/Move Tier Upgrades. Being in the Challenge Tower was a really fun excuse to have your Pokemon evolve and learn new moves, or hunt for specific new Pokemon.

This isn't really happening anymore. Considering the sheer number of characters who can participate in the megathreads, it's easier to just wait for someone else to take care of that prompt instead of spending the BYTES and time to do it yourself. We're fine with that happening in the ongoing Megathread, but for Legacy Challenges, we'd like to try and re-capture that original design.

CHANGES:

• Each character may only be in one active Legacy Challenge at a time. If you wish to join a different one, the previous challenge must be archived here.
• Legacy Challenges now have a maximum of 4 Characters. Pick some friends or make an open!
• After completing ten prompts, participants may collectively CHOOSE which Pokemon they want to claim from the Tower List. The same Pokemon will drop for all players on that floor.
• The currently ongoing Legacy Challenge megathreads will be closed and archived after the next scheduled prize drop.

Dungeons & In-Game Events

To our great regret, we are retiring the DUNGEONS SUB-BOARD and DUNGEON MASTERS on UNOVR, as we are not able to run dungeons frequently enough to suit our intended vision.

Dungeons are meant to be a constant presence in the world of UNOVR, and should really be something players IC stumble on semi-frequently during route exploration. Ideally, we would have several small (3-4 person) dungeon threads per month, allowing each player to rack up a variety of unique experiences on UNOVR.

Unfortunately, running dungeons can be quite challenging and time-consuming, and despite efforts to the contrary, our sporadic dungeons end up coming off as "semi-private site events."

Instead, we're going to focus on Player-Run Events (previously scenarios) as a better method of players running their own semi-private, semi-frequent dungeons. This better suits our original vision, and we hope this change opens up more player creativity in the world when it doesn't feel like "only mods/dms can do x."

We still plan to run lots of dungeons whenever we can, just not necessarily in a staff capacity!

CHANGES:

• The Gameplay Cycle page has been updated to talk more about In-Game Events, including restrictions, suggestions for players running an event, and so on.
• Terminology has been updated. Player Characters can now start in-game events tagged as <Dungeon> <Raid> <Quest> or <Scenario> to give potential participants a general idea of what to expect.
• You may now select System Admin:GameMaster from the NPC plugin in order to run event threads your character isn't personally participating in. This will overlay a NPC Profile over your usual miniprofile.
• Players no longer have to incorporate route-specific scenario prompts into their events! However, if they do, the event will drop a Legendary DNA strand in addition to normal loot.
• The Dungeon Master role (M00K and Ladybug) has been retired!
• Magnere and Fred have been promoted to Junior Dev! They will be helping us with subclasses, loot drops, and designing other mechanical systems in the future (they've been doing this for a while, actually, but here's the long-deserved credit). Both players are experienced GMs with a variety of tabletop experience, and we're looking forward to what new content they bring to the table!

Trading

With our increased support for members with multiple characters (UBI, Weekend Warrior) we have noticed some potential problems on the rise. These new Trading Rules are in place to prevent abuse of systems which were intended to help low-activity characters, not enable mass resource pooling.

CHANGES

• Legendary DNA stacks may not be split once acquired. For example, Zapdos DNA (2/5) is considered to be a single item, not two different ones. The 100 BYTES cloning mechanic is there to help you successfully develop your DNA strands into a Legendary Egg, not for players to farm infinite DNA strands for trading purposes!
• Type: Null may not be traded.
• Birthday Trades no longer reward +10 BYTES (this perk simply wasn't being used). Instead, a member now receives a free Rookery Voucher for the character of their choice during their Birthday Month. This change takes place starting January 2024.
• [tangent=Previously, it was technically possible to use Arena Points gained from inactive Weekend Warrior characters to stockpile Arena Shop items, then trade them to one's primary character. This is no longer possible, and if we catch anyone doing this through workarounds (for example, using a friend as middleman) the items will be confiscated, your trading privileges will be revoked, and you will no longer be allowed to collect Weekend Warrior. ]Members may no longer trade Arena Shop Items between their own characters, even through a third party.*[/tangent]

* After careful consideration, we have decided to allow members to continue trading non-Arena Shop items between their own characters. However, going forward, you may notice an increase in un-tradeable items or rules limiting item drops from certain events to 1/member. This is an attempt to level the playing field for members who only have one character!

Our goal on UNOVR is to make running multiple characters viable, not actively advantageous. Please try to be considerate of other members who may have only one character, and help discourage loot metagaming and/or funneling in the future.

Self-Spawning

Our recent update to UBI has made it so our Wild Pokemon plugin is visible to all members. We haven't been able to figure out a way to make it staff-only, so we've tentatively decided to make self-spawning available to ALL PLAYER CHARACTERS.

CHANGES

• Players no longer need to request a spawn or spawn reset in Mod Requests. You can do it yourself! Just click the 'add creature' button when you start a new thread and follow the on-screen instructions.
• The Catching Guide has been updated with a How To Spawn section.
• Egg Hunt threads in the Rookery must still be requested + started by a mod, as you need to pay 200 BYTES to get in. Same goes for Starter Lab threads.
• 3-Star Trainers now unlock the GOLDEN GREAT BALL instead of Self-Spawning. The Great Ball allows you to catch Wild Pokemon at 50 HP or below rather than the usual 10%.
• The System Mod role (Customer Support, Algorithm, and Help Desk) has been retired!

If we see Self-Spawning being abused (for example, spawning Beta Island Pokemon in the main routes when you haven't bought a Beta Pass; making multiple spawn threads at once), we will be forced to remove your spawning privileges and your automatic weekly UBI drop. (You'll still earn UBI, but using the previous system where you actually have to post once a week).

Asper Worldbuilding Contest

What an incredible response! We were blown away by the amazing quality of entries... so much so that, depending on the results, we may pick TWO new sub-boards to add to each route! If there is a clear first and second place for a given route, we will implement both as new sub-boards. If there is a multiple-way tie for second place, we will only implement the first place winner.

The OFFICIAL POLL is now underway! Click here to vote!