OFFICIAL Chapter 2 Game Overhaul - Major Server Announcement (06/02/21)

[Tale Of Banners]

Major Server Announcement
(07/02/21)


Chapter 2 Game Overhaul


We are working hard behind the scenes to bring you all a new, high quality Tale of banners experience. With several new systems being integrated, new plugins, and new ways to use old plugins, we have a complete overhaul in the works.

We will be breaking down how this overhaul will work, and what will be included. To this end, the format of the announcement for this week has changed significantly.

This first announcement will focus on the things we have already been working on. Verando will be giving biweekly updates in less official announcements after this one to keep track of what has been achieved.

Main points on the overhaul:



Quality Over Quantity
We are shifting our focus to ensure new content is tested fully and not just mindlessly produced, we believe less content that is incredibly detailed is a stronger and more effective approach. Quests are also being developed with significantly more dialogue and branching options.

A Better User Experience
We have built up the Luneholm area to act as the initial player introduction area, this is all part of an effort to improve the new and existing player experience by teaching game mechanics in this area through quests.

Better Staff/Player Transparency
As part of the overhaul we are also improving staff to player communication, as we move closer to the chapter two release and from then on we will be holding staff/player Q&A’s where players will have the opportunity to chat with the admin and staff team in an informal environment and ask any questions that come to mind.



When the overhaul is complete we will be releasing chapter two, here is some more information:


Tale of Banners Presents
Chapter 2

‘The Oserian Expedition’

The great blizzard had subsided, and the people of the north emerged from their shelters, caves and bunkers. They looked upon a barren landscape, one stripped of its beauty and charm. For the first survival was hard, the wind would beat against the thin tent materials in the night as the few survivors slept. Weary once more from a day spent in toil, rebuilding the northern spirit.

After many years they would rebuild the grand city of Valdarr, but soon issues from the south would arise. A cult, formed from the heresies of the Oserian path of the One. Would descend upon the northern lands, bringing chaos and war. Many fell in this onslaught that claimed the lives of many strong northerners, alas it was decided something must be done.

The Oserian lands could not be ignored for much longer, and after much thought an expedition was put forward to head south to Oseria and Dunsgate city, into the waiting arms of the Children of the One. At the outskirts of this conflict, in its own neutral ground, stands a powerful group of people that established the Kura in modern Esna. This group has been known for its ruthlessness in trade, and their cunning practices. As they say, The Esnan Exchange will have their day.


You can vote for our server on our planet minecraft page here!
https://www.planetminecraft.com/server/tale-of-banners-4161378/
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The Tale of Banners Resource Pack​

A huge new part of the chapter two release is the all new Tale of Banners Resource pack. This is not a replacement pack! It has been designed by Kiev_WR and Lenaviea to add more content to the game through new independent, custom items!

Here are just a few examples of the items that we’re adding:

The resource pack will include mundane items, weapons, armour, consumables, decorations, and so on. These custom items will be compatible with Custom Crafting, so if you have the right profession, you’ll be able to craft them.

Be sure to expect to see your favorite pet textures as a feature you can purchase with kura as well. No longer will players all have identical pets! Likewise, various special 3D items and weapons will become available in the resource pack later on, so even your weapons can be unique upon your request!

As the pack just adds new content you can use it with whatever other resource pack you wish!

And don't worry! If for some reason you don't want to use the pack the game will show the standard minecraft textures! So it's completely optional!

The pack currently adds the following:​

New weapon textures

New herbs/plants

New tools

New crafting components

Miscellaneous quest items

And a gold nugget reskin which changes per amount in the stack for Kura.

When chapter two is released you will be prompted to download version 1.0 automatically when you join the server.
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The Oserian Plains​

We have decided to put the Flintswood expansion on hold on favour of unlocking the central spawn area (The Neutral Lands) and the north west county of Oseria known as ‘The Oserian Plains.’ This should diversify RP and allow both the Northern culture and the Oserian culture places to settle.

To ensure the map is not too far extended we have decided to close off the Northern Summit till it receives polish and an overhaul.

Any NPC’s in this region will be moved to the open area.

Players will have one week before the chapter 2 release (to be announced) to claim this new county. As usual applications are accepted or denied on a first past the post basis.

As chapter 2 progresses more of the duchy of Avendale will be released.
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Professions​

We have been coming up with a system of professions that will be implemented into our permissions systems, as well as our biweekly rp year system. The first aspect of professions we had to tackle was what difference would having a profession have versus not having it. For this reason, some professions such as ‘soldiers’ or ‘innkeeper’ have not been included as official professions.

We were able to come up with twelve professions to start with, although this may expand as the server population grows. We have split our professions based on the types of permissions required to implement.

No professions are currently implemented at this time.​

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Challenges​

One of the first challenges we had to think of with a professions system was how do you account for not having all available professions being played. To solve this we have introduced NPCs that can cover the basic necessities of most professions without too much issue, and will be introducing more.

These will cover basic goods such as construction materials, iron, and other raw resources. To prevent these NPCs from becoming a mainstay, they will have highly inflated prices. We also wanted people to feel as though they were progressing, and as such, multiple ranks of professions will be implemented.
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Implementation​

Implementing the different professions will take some time, and likely be one of the final pieces of the overhaul completed due to its time consuming nature. First, we will need to create lored items for the different crafting professions, see crafting for more.
Second, we need to create an appropriate rank and then apply appropriate permissions to enter regions and craft proper items. We also have to work in a biweekly rp operation into the same profession for moderation.

Each profession is unique, even if some do share elements. You will be able to change professions once every in game year (2 weeks).

We wanted to avoid grinding levels and the typical professions plugins that you see, where you simply cut wood and now you get two wood for every one cut, or just increase speed. We wanted to make it so you can do new things and have access to new areas.
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Raw Resources​

The first broad type of professions will be able to gather raw resources from an appropriate area of some kind. These may or may not have other permissions. This category includes the following professions: Miner, Woodcutter, Farmer, Hunter, Fisher.

Miner: Planned to be the only profession capable of accessing the mines. There are two ranks of miners, novices have access to safer, less profitable areas of the mines. Skilled miners have access to dangerous mines, as well as better materials. Skilled miners also have access to a 2 week cooldown ability to request moderation for an rp to acquire higher quality materials.

Woodcutter: Planned to be the only profession capable of accessing the woodcutting forests. There are two ranks of woodcutters. Novices have access to the full tree cutting areas. Skilled woodcutters have access to a 2 week cooldown ability to request a moderated rp to acquire higher quality tree materials.

Farmer: This profession is heavily work in progress. Take everything with a grain of salt. Farmers will be the only ones to have access to farmable land. There are three ranks of farmers. Novice farmers will have access to basic gardening abilities. They have a 2 week cooldown ability to request moderation for an rp that determines crop success for the year, with higher rolls giving access to extra items. Apprentice farmers will also have the ability to keep and tame animals. Apprentice farmers cannot breed however, and no one can kill their animals. Skilled farmers will have additional access to breeding once in a 2 week period via a moderated rp. They will also have access to beekeeping.

Hunter: This profession is heavily work in progress. It is planned to be the only profession with access to newly designated hunting zones. There are three planned hunter ranks. Novice hunters can only do basic hunting in the regions. Skilled hunters will have access to a moderated rp to hunt for dangerous creatures with rarer items once every two weeks. We also wanted to have an apprentice rank between these two, however, it is difficult to find a way to distinguish it from the novice and skilled hunters. We are currently looking into limiting what types of items can be picked up by a profession, and the mobs themselves, although this will take some time.

Fisher: The fishing profession is fairly simple. With our fishing plugin we can block what fish people can catch at different professions. Novice fishermen will be able to use fishing rods and cash common fish. Apprentice fishermen will catch uncommon fish. Skilled fishermen will be able to catch rare fish. Expert fishermen will be able to catch all fish, and in addition, have a moderated rp request to lead a fishing expedition out to sea, where they can acquire rarer materials once every two weeks.
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Crafting Professions​

The second kind of professions will have access to crafting recipes that most people will not have access to. They may or may not have other permissions. This category includes the following professions: Blacksmith, Leatherworker, Stonecutter, Carpenter, Cook, Alchemist, and Brewer

Blacksmith: Each tier of blacksmith gains access to more relevant recipes. There are four blacksmith tiers. Novice blacksmiths gain access to stone tools and weapon crafting, as well as crafting basic iron ingots. Apprentice blacksmiths gain access to iron tools and low quality iron weapons, as well as chainmail. Skilled blacksmiths gain access to iron armor, high quality iron weapons, anvils, and shields. Expert tier blacksmiths gain access to the use of special materials in their crafting, and highest tier gear. Each tier will be able to craft one lored item every two weeks in a moderated RP.

Leatherworker: Each tier of leatherworker gains access to more relevant recipes. There are four leatherworker tiers. Novice tier allows you to make boots, and turn hides into leather for use. Apprentice leatherworkers can make leather pants and craft armor padding. They can also create leads and item frames. Skilled leatherworkers can create full leather sets of armor, as well as saddles and basic covers for books. Expert leatherworkers have access to complicated book covers, exotic materials, and high tiered lored items. Every two weeks, a leatherworker can attempt to craft a lored leather item with a moderated rp.

Stonecutter: Each tier of stonecutter gains access to more relevant recipes. There are four tiers of stonecutter. Novice stonecutters will have access to basic cobblestone and sandstone recipes, including things such as stairs and slabs. Apprentice stonecutters will be able to create crude stone tools, as well as have access to the following recipes: cooked stone, cut sandstone, basic andesite, and furnace crafting. Skilled stonecutters will have access to teh following recipes: stone bricks, smooth stone, basic diorite, polished andesite, bricks, blast furnace, cooking furnace, pressure plate, buttons, levers. Expert Stonecutters will have access to the following recipes: chiseled stone brick, chiseled sandstone, grindstone, stonecutter, polished diorite stuff, concrete, coral rock, quartz. The two week activity for the stonecutter is in development.

Carpenter: Each tier of carpenter has access to more relevant recipes. Novice carpenters can strip logs, craft plans, handles, and sticks. Apprentice carpenters can create slabs, stairs, item frames, fires, fishing rods, composters, as well as wood tools and weapons. Skilled carpenters can craft ladders, fences, crafting tables, chests, beds, barrels, fence gates, pressure plates, trapdoors, buttons, doors, and bookshelves. Expert carpenters can create noteblocks, armor stands, looms, cartography tables, fletcher tables, smithing tables, tripwire hooks, lecterns, and small boats. An expert carpenter can also once every two weeks craft either a small, intricate item, or a large project such as a siege weapon or boat with a moderated rp.

Cook: Heavily work in progress. A cook will be able to craft better dishes as he ranks up. Novice cooks can stick basic items into a furnace without burning. Apprentice cooks can create dishes using basic ingredients, making bread as an example. Skilled cooks can use more exotic ingredients in their cooking, and can layer even cooked items into a more complicated item. Expert cooks will have access to the best cooking recipes and items. The two week activity for the cook is in development.

Alchemist: Each tier of alchemist will give access to more complicated recipes and more powerful concoctions. Novice alchemists will have access to grinding and drying herbs for use. Apprentice alchemists will be able to sieve, and have access to more dangerous compounds, combining multiple items together. Skilled alchemists can craft more complicated compounds, as well as using boiling and binding. Expert alchemists are at the top of their craft, and can craft the most intricate recipes requiring the greatest of details. In all tiers, once every two weeks, an alchemist can use a moderated rp to acquire rare ingredients for their potions.

Brewer: Brewer is the most heavily work in progress profession. As it stands, there is only one tier of brewer available, although that may change. Having the brewer profession will allow you to brew, when otherwise you couldn’t.



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Forum Overhaul​

We are also updating our forums with a new default theme! This along with a website update and new widgets will make the forums a far more cozy and interactive place!

We are also thinking about setting up a donation area where players can donate to the server upkeep, if we ever recieve more than we need to host the server the extra will roll over to the next payment.

Please let us know in feedback if there are any areas you would like us to add to them! We are aiming to make them as user friendly and visually pleasing as possible.

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Crafting & Items​

We have been hard at work implementing an overhauled crafting system that integrates with the professions. See the professions as to how someone can gain access to crafting recipes they may not normally have access to. The goal of this crafting overhaul is to create logical, simple, yet realistic recipes. You will have to forge a head for a tool, then attach it to a handle as an example. The new crafting recipes will touch nearly every portion of the game, although some recipes may be nearly untouched. To enforce rarity, some recipes may be gone altogether.

Implemented recipes currently include iron armor, iron swords, iron tools, chainmail armor, leather armor, iron ingots, iron nuggets, chain mesh, iron tool heads, iron sword blades, handles, hardened leather, and armor padding. We have other items with recipes already planned, but not implemented. This includes most stone tools and weapons, as well as wood tools and weapons. Once we are finished with tools and weapons, we will be working through the other crafting professions one by one. Many recipes will not change except for who has access to them.
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Mob and Combat Overhaul​

Mob AI, spawns and effects are being significantly improved. Both in combat effectiveness and intelligence. Mainly focused on how animals function. New ambient NPC’s will now populate NPC towns and quest locations, each with their own dialogue and passive/hostile AI.

Weapons will be getting a slight overhaul as well. We will be introducing custom weapons with different speeds and damages. A knife will attack quickly, do little damage, and break easily. An axe will be heavier, and do more damage. These differences will be noticeable.


Full Change List:



The current list of Mob changes are as follows:​

A whole range of new effects have been added from corpse/blood piles on death, physical bleeding on mobs and new graphics will be added for each of the various special attacks to make it clearer what is going on in combat.

A human 'corpse puddle.'​

Ambient animal mobs will become harder to hunt, and more aware. They will also spawn very rarely.

Human enemies now have hostile and passive states, which means townsfolk will fight back if attacked.

Townsfolk can be spoken to by right clicking on them, alternatively they will speak ambiently to the player or out loud.

Hostile mobs will become significantly more dangerous to take into account the more powerful custom weapons that are being added.

The current list of Combat changes are as follows:
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New custom weapons are being introduced with their own swing speeds, durability and damage. They have custom graphics when the ToB resource pack is installed.

Swords are being made incredibly rare and cheaper weapons such as bludgeons and knives will be the more affordable option in most cases.

New types of armour are being introduced and normal iron, chainmail and leather armours will each have custom mechanical differences. New armour cannot be retextured however due to limitations within minecraft.

The professions system will tie heavily into combat and many new items such as healing and armours will only be craftable by people of certain professions.

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Loot Changes​

To prevent grinding and a loot based economy we are also changing the way loot works significantly, now rare to precious loot will only spawn in ‘ornate’ chests. Chest cooldowns are now hidden to make the appearance of items feel less immersion breaking. Its important to mention that snippets of lore from the servers forums can now be found as random loot which you can read in character also.

Loot is designed to be an interesting addition, not the backbone of the economy and item gathering cycle so these essential nerfs should focus things more in the direction of player professions.
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Quest Overhaul​

One of the things we wanted to accomplish with the changing of the economy was a complete throwing away of the old quest economy. Many players in the past have used quests as their primary source of income.

We aimed to stray towards professions instead, with quests taking on a more story based role with more moderate rewards. They will be less repeatable, and often have more interesting aims than before. One consequence of this is that only non-repeatable quests will give quest points.

To this end, Verando has been working to find what the quests plugin is capable of. We will be able to do basic quest choice, as well as multiple objectives. There will be two major kinds of quests, biweekly repeatable quests, and one time only quests. A few quests may not follow these time structures, but most will.

Rewards for quests may be made larger, or shrink as appropriate. The goal is to make quests feel meaningful, while also promoting other activities as the primary economic points of interest instead of questing. It is also important to note that not every quest will be completable by everyone. Some quests may require you to be able to craft an item, and as such can only be completed by specific professions.

Factions will be another incoming factor into quests. NPCs will be associated with each other and have relationships that form into a web of factions. Completing tasks for a faction may make it so that you cannot complete a similar task for another faction, thus locking you out of content from the other faction.
NPC factions will not be landholders, but may help or hinder the players during events. Some factions will be wide open, and others will be well hidden. Here are two examples of factions below.


One such upcoming faction will be Sten’s friends, a group of Northerners that survived the original blizzard and eventually set themselves across valdarr and the northern summit. Affiliated NPCs of Stens’s friends would include Sten Hedlund, Bjorn the Hermit, Ingrid Lindun, Sara the Fisherwoman, Torbjorn the Trapper, Dr. Halfdan Yersin, and Michal the Assistant.
Sten’s friends will often have you doing menial tasks more concerned with survival rather than big goals. They often act friendly and helpful, willing to teach beginners basic skills. They have little concern for other factions, but the Exchange often gets on their nerves, due to them often asking for pay for menial things.

The Esnan Exchange is a second faction being introduced with this update. The exchange is a central bank centered in the heart of Esna, owning a tract of land that remains totally neutral, and has interests all over the continent. The Exchange has a long history of money lending and other such activities. Affiliated NPCs of the Esnan Exchange include Hugo the Collector, Giles the Penitent, Anthony of the Exchange, and Gunvor the Witty.
The exchange will often bother you with straightening out their deals in various ways. This will include collecting debts, meeting with clients, ending old friendships, and making new friends. The exchange is a friend to all others no matter how dirty… if they have the coin.

More details on quests will be revealed in the coming weeks as npcs are fleshed out, locations are finished, and writing is completed. Currently, we are working on quest concepts and relationships between factions.
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Summary​

In summary, we are updating nearly all aspects of the server.
We have a brand new resource pack to add on top of your favorite.
We have a whole new region being added, but at the cost of taking away the summit.
We are adding new professions with mechanical changes that limit crafting and resource gathering.
Our forums are getting minor upgrades and will be changing more significantly in the future.
Crafting will be made more in depth and linked to the professions.
Combat items are being changed significantly, as are npc creatures.
Loot is being nerfed to accommodate the new economy.
Quests are changing functions from an economic need to a story based affair.
Each section of this update goes into detail about what we have achieved so far and our goals.

We hope to see you there for chapter two!​