Okay folks, we're super excited to be posting this today, Makarios, myself, and others have been mulling this over for a number of years trying to find the perfect solution and today is the reveal! (Is that enough hype?)

Before I give in and reveal the changes, I'd like to mention a little something about the direction of Achaea and the quality of the game that's important to so many of us.

Players, yep you, every single one of you, are the core of Achaea! Without you, we'd not be able to sit up here in the Garden doing what we love to do every day. And we don't discriminate in that love, whether you've bought thousands of credits over the years or whether you've bought none at all, you're all aces in our eyes. But we're not total dreamers, and we understand that MUDs are a very niche genre, so whilst we think you're all tops, it's important to us to be building a vibrant and exciting world for the new players. The first change that I get to reveal now is all about that.

The Gem of Cloaking has been an artefact of contention for a number of years. It's a no-fail world-shrinker, where players log in and divorce themselves from Achaea for whatever reason. For our new players who learn how to check QW from Romeo or Juliet, the game looks very underpopulated.

But before you cry out in defence, we also understand that infiltration is an exciting and necessary part of life in Achaea for many of you, and so the Gem of Cloaking now has a charge aspect.

The Gem of Cloaking can be activated with TULAHUAR and will apply normal gem concealment for ten minutes. After this duration the gem will go on cooldown for an hour before it can be reactivated again. This turns the artefact into a more interesting tool for use.

The restriction and cooldown will not apply on Dangerous Planes, the gem will function innately in these locations.

The Gem of Cloaking will always hide the owner's location from Thirdeye boosted WHO.


The second big change we're excited to announce is more momentous even than the gem of cloaking change!

It has long been a pay race to locate people in Achaea, with the upper echelons shelling out 2000 credits to get a veil, and then more beyond that to get shrouds to further boost their veils in order to find people who had veils and shrouds atop (or Profit.)

We've never liked this apparent "need" and we don't believe that being unlocatable is good for Achaea. Combat is a part of daily life in Achaea and simply being able to hide from consequence or action at all is not something we think breathes life into the world. Actions should have consequences, risks should be risky, ballsy moves require... well, you get the gist.

With that said Veils (and Hoods) of the Sphinx are seeing a massive repurpose. No longer are they for hiding yourself, but are now powerful locating tools!

The Veil wearer will get cross-planar and cross continent FARSEE.

The Veil wearer will also gain access to FULLSENSE! This allows you to detect the presences of all adventurers in the same area as you. If you are a class that has Fullsense already, the balance cost for using this ability will be reduced.

Because this item is now much more powerful, the Veil and Hood of the Sphinx are now sold in the Artefact shops for 2500 credits. Existing Veils and Hoods will be switched to this new functionality, but any tradein will return 2/3rds of the price the veil was originally purchased for.

Ethereal shrouds respect the changes made to Veils and offer this same, new functionality, in a decaying format.

The instigation of conflict and the real nature of consequence for actions in Achaea is very important to us. Achaea is a living and breathing world and we do not believe that being able to entirely separate one's self whilst still being able to reap the benefits of the game at large is good for the game or the playerbase.

If you purchased a Veil/Hood of the Sphinx or a Gem of Concealment in the last 30 days and wish to have the item refunded, please file an ISSUE ME. Purchases of these items prior to December 13th 2017 are not subject to a full refund.

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Summmary!

Gem of Cloaking remains activatable with TULAHUAR, but this gives:
- Activation removes owner from Who lists.
- 10 minutes concealment and an hour on cooldown.
- This is a per person cooldown and does not stack.
- Gem ownership will always remove the owner's location from Thirdeye.
- The gem functions innately and always when on Treacherous Planes.

Veil/Hood of the Sphinx is now a location tool:
- Grants FULLSENSE.
Monks or Blademasters who own veils will have a balance reduction on their innate fullsense ability.
- Can FARSEE across planes and continents, these will give the room and area of the target.
- Now costs 2500 credits.

Ethereal shrouds respect the changes made to Veils and offer this same, new functionality, in a decaying format.

Enjoy!

Penned by My hand on the 21st of Valnuary, in the year 761 AF.