Announcements & News

[center][url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/ann/1654433][img]http://flightrising.com/dropbox/wotw.png[/img][/url] Welcome to the November 2015 edition of [i]Words on the Wind[/i]! We have updates and great previews for you![/center] [b]Table of Contents[/b] [br] [LIST] [*][b]Site Status[/b] [list][*]Achievement System [*]Crossroads 2.0[/list] [*][i][b]Night of the Nocturne[/i] 2015 [/b] [*][b]Previews[/b] [list][*]Petals | Butterfly Genes[/list] [*][b]Familiar Coloring Contest[/b] [*][b]Fowl Familiars[/b] [/LIST] [br][center][url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/ann/1654433]Click here to read more![/url][/center] [more] [br][br][br] ----- [br][br][br] [center][b][size=6]Site Status[/size][/b][/center] [br][br][b][size=5]Achievements[/size][/b] [b]Parts of the Achievements system haven't worked for a long time. Are you planning on fixing it?[/b] [indent]Correcting issues with the Achievements system is definitely in our development plans for the future. However, [b]it will be one of the very last pieces that will touched during the site code rewrite project[/b]. When we sat down with the engineering team to determine our goals and lay out the path for the rewrite, we realized that at the end of the day it held a lower priority than other integral systems that maintain the site and its gameplay functions/features. We think that an achievement system is a great addition to [i]Flight Rising[/i], but we want to approach it the right way on the backend so that we can do plenty of awesome achievements and not wreck the site in the process. The reason that we have to approach this system last is because it interacts with a [b]vast amount of site systems, features, and functions[/b], and those all have to be in place and working before we can fully support achievements. We can't put the cart before the horse, so-to-speak. It is very likely that the system will see a full overhaul, and quite possibly a reboot depending on how deep the rabbit hole goes in the conversion process. We'll do our best to support a smooth transition and maintain the current achievement progression, but we thought it best to prepare everyone with the fact that it might look very different when all is said and done. Whatever we decide to do, you can be sure that we'll try to expand and improve on what was there.[/indent] [b]Will we see any new achievements before then?[/b] [indent]Unfortunately, no. We will only be adding and focusing on achievements when they are being awarded reliably without issue - and that means when the system is converted over. We feel that it's unfair, and can even be punishing, to add new achievements that may or may not be awarded under the current system.[/indent] [br][br][br][b][size=5]Crossroads 2.0[/size][/b] We are hard at work wrapping development on our big update to [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/crossroads][b]Crossroads[/b][/url]. For those who are unfamiliar with the task at hand: [b]while before players were able to only trade dragons, this feature is being expanded to allow for secure trading of items and currency as well.[/b] Because Crossroads will soon encompass a much larger chunk of [i]Flight Rising[/i]'s commerce, we are working extra dilligently to make sure it is both secure and efficient enough to continue towards our overall goal of improved site performance. In addition to finalizing development on this new system, we wanted to make sure that we were listening to player feedback based on our previous previews, and doing our utmost not to completely disrupt playstyles that have been in place since we opened. To that end, [b]we have added the ability to conduct One-Way Deliveries in addition to Two-Way Trades[/b], allowing you to "fast-track" some of the back-and-forth steps if you are only wishing to send (not receive) something to someone. [center][url=http://flightrising.com/dropbox/preview_oneway_large.jpg][img]http://flightrising.com/dropbox/xrdelivery.jpg[/img][/url][/center] [i](This screenshot depicts what the player will see when first visiting the Crossroads.)[/i] [b]One-Way Deliveries[/b] do not require trade contributions from the other trading partner and jump straight to the finalization phase. We know this was a popular request to help facilitate things like Dominance battles, gifting, and donating. As with Two-Way Trades, both players will have the option to cancel the delivery up until it has been finalized. On the Pending Trades page, One-Way Deliveries and Two-Way Trades will be designated by special [b]icons[/b], [b]colors[/b], and a [b]progress bar[/b] to help players differentiate them and discern what stage they are currently in. [center][url=http://flightrising.com/dropbox/preview_pending_large.jpg][img]http://flightrising.com/dropbox/xrpending.jpg[/img][/url][/center] [i](In this screenshot, the player has sent a one-way delivery to Traderdragon that has items and currency attached, and it is just awaiting finalization.)[/i] In order to implement Crossroads 2.0, [b]it will be necessary for us to cancel and purge all trade requests being made in the older version, and shut it down for a period of time[/b]. We anticipate that the amount of time between Crossroads 1.0 going down and Crossroads 2.0 going up will be fairly short, so you will not be without trading for very long. We will be sure to prominently alert the community about when Crossroads 1.0 will be going offline and current trade deals wiped, so don't worry about that. You'll have plenty of time to plan getting your last dragon trades through before the systems switch over. Crossroads is in final testing and polish, and we anticipate to launch it very soon! [br][br][br] ----- [br][br][br] [center][b][size=6][i]Night of the Nocturne[/i] 2015[/size][/b][/center] [br][center][img]http://flightrising.com/dropbox/noc_family.png[/img][/center] [br][br][size=5][b]What is Night of the Nocturne?[/b][/size] For those new players who joined after January 2015, [i]Night of the Nocturne[/i] is an annual two-week celebration of the [url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?p=wiki&article=63][b]Nocturne[/b][/url] breed that takes place in December. Dormant most of the year, they emerge for two weeks around the shortest day of winter to claim new territory and found new clans. During this event, players can find [b]Nocturne Breed Change scrolls, Nocturne eggs, and other themed goodies.[/b] You can find the announcement post for last year's event [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/ann/1283770][b]here[/b][/url]. [size=4][b]A Bumpy Road[/b][/size] Despite the excitement of launching a new breed, last year's [i]Night of the Nocturne[/i] event could have gone better. After it came to a close last year, we sat down as a team and reviewed all of the feedback, the data we collected, and discussed how we could improve the experience. We wanted to share that information with you ahead of the event so that everyone knows what to expect. [size=4][b]What Didn't Go So Well[/b][/size] In order to participate in [i]Night of the Nocturne[/i], players had to gather, fight monsters for, or happen upon chests. Then open them. A lot of chests. An absolutely ludicrous amount of chests. So many chests, in fact, that it had a profoundly negative impact on the [i]Flight Rising[/i] servers and really soured the beginning of the event. The other issue was that due to the overflowing volume of chests, the majority that were opened did not contain items worth much value. For the first 20 or so, opening a chest was exciting, and from then on, it became a chore. Players who didn't have great luck ended up seeing chests full of food and trinkets while others were getting eggs and scrolls. Not a fun feeling. [size=4][b]What's Changing[/b][/size] Much of the site rewrite & backend optimizations done in the past year have been in direct response to [i]Night of the Nocturne[/i] and how it impacted site performance. While not intended as such, it was actually a great experiment in seeing where we were weakest and how we could improve for large-scale events. We feel that a number of things we've worked on this last year should help alleviate those performance woes. We also took a long look at the chest situation and made the following decision: [b]Opening chests should be fun, and chests should always have something cool in them.[/b] As gamers, we sat back and determined that chests should be associated with fun loot -- isn't that really the whole point of finding chests? This year, chests will be much more infrequent, but when you do open them, you can expect they will have something other than butt-rocks or mirrors. In addition to adjusting chest frequency, we will be introducing several new Coliseum enemies, additional imposter bears to round out those that appeared last year, and a few other surprises. More information will be available in the official announcement. [br][br][br] ----- [br][br][br] [center][b][size=6]Previews[/size][/b][/center] [br][br] [b][size=4]Petals & Butterfly Genes[/size][/b] Petals (Primary) and Butterfly (Secondary) are two new genes that will be released in the future. These genes will place a beautiful butterfly pattern across your dragon's body or wings. These genes utilize a more typical color pallette for the majority of the gene, with a small flash of color for the accent. Both Petals and Butterfly will be released as gem genes. Butterfly will be making its debut shortly, with Petals released sometime in 2016. These releases will not be back-to-back, as we would like to space them out with non-gem gene releases in between. Below you will find a preview of this lovely gene on the first 14 colors of the color wheel! [br][center][img]http://flightrising.com/dropbox/petals_butterfly.png[/img][/center] [br][br][br] ----- [br][br][br] [center][size=6][url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/1653985][b]Familiar Coloring Contest 2015[/b][/url][/size] [/center] Always wanted to paint your own familiar? We've got the contest for you! We are running a familiar coloring contest that [b]will run until December 30th[/b]. Winning entries will become an official familiar on-site! [center][url=http://flightrising.com/images/media_psd/camien_whelp_contest.zip][img]http://flightrising.com/dropbox/familiars/camien_whelp_thumb.png[/img] [/url][url=http://flightrising.com/images/media_psd/peryton_contest.zip][img]http://flightrising.com/dropbox/familiars/peryton_thumb.png[/img] [/url] [url=http://flightrising.com/images/media_psd/questing_beast_contest.zip][img]http://flightrising.com/dropbox/familiars/questing_beast_thumb.png[/img] [/url][url=http://flightrising.com/images/media_psd/dwarf_hainu_contest.zip][img]http://flightrising.com/dropbox/familiars/dwarf_hainu_thumb.png[/img][/url] [url=http://flightrising.com/images/media_psd/luna_mith_contest.zip][img]http://flightrising.com/dropbox/familiars/luna_mith_thumb.png[/img] [/url][url=http://flightrising.com/images/media_psd/manticore_contest.zip][img]http://flightrising.com/dropbox/familiars/manticore_thumb.png[/img][/url] [url=http://flightrising.com/images/media_psd/shard_bear_contest.zip][img]http://flightrising.com/dropbox/familiars/shard_bear_thumb.png[/img][/url] [url=http://flightrising.com/images/media_psd/yeti_contest.zip][img]http://flightrising.com/dropbox/familiars/yeti_thumb.png[/img][/url] [/center] [indent] [b]Deadline: [/b] Wednesday December 30th, 23:59 server time. [b]Format: [/b]1200x1200 png (you may zip this or link this. Previews are great for the forum, but ultimately we need the large colors) [b]Prizes: [/b]Winners will be credited in the tooltip of the familiar and its bestiary entry, will receive 3 copies of their winning familiar, 2,000 gems, and a special vista. (winners of our past familiar coloring contest will retroactively be granted this vista.)[/indent] [center][img]https://flightrising.com/images/layout/gem_pile.png[/img] [/center] [center][url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/1653985][b]Click here for the contest thread and additional information![/b][/url][/center] [br][br][br] ----- [br][br][br] [center][b][size=6]Woodland Turkey[/size][/b][/center] This elusive game has been spotted by adventurers in [url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?p=coliseum]Boreal Wood.[/url] Hunters predict that these birds will go back into hiding at the end of November. [center][img]http://flightrising.com/images/cms/familiar/art/7427.png [item=turkey dinner][item=woodland turkey][item=woodland turkey crate][/center]