PATCH NOTES 1.01

I want to thank all of you for your support and patience through this bumpy beginning. This will be a large release of patch notes, but hopefully well worth it in the end.

As you may have noticed, there have been several significant problems with the quest system. Despite the freedom that our quest system gave to players, the workload has taken a significant toll on the quest mods to the point that practically all of them decided to retire.

For the last few months, the moderators have been struggling to think up various new systems that could allow creative freedom for the players and severely relieve the workload of our quest moderators. There were six quest moderators servicing 150+ accounts and many quests have been graded since the start of the site.

We've decided to implement a few new rules and there has been a change to the quest system. We have weighed the pros and cons of this change, and many other possibilities, but we finally agreed that this must be done to relieve the burden on the quest moderators while also keeping player's freedom.

We advise everyone to reread all of the Lil Brown Book, Quest Information, and Character Upgrades, as a lot of the information has been altered slightly or drastically in this process.

Although some of these changes are rather large, please take it with a grain of salt and try out the system before complaining. We will take all suggestions into consideration but keep in mind we can't please everyone. We'll be testing new waters for a while.

Now, let's launch into these patch notes.




The quest system has been slightly changed for the time being. We would like to switch to freeform in the future, but it will require more thought and a special code to allow for EXP/COL per post.

In order to allow for a lighter grading system that will not require as much time, we've had to alter the quest process. We began to find that more players cared about the numbers and grinding for monsters than the actual roleplaying and story experience. Remember, guys, this is a roleplay, not an actual MMO.

We have a few new rules to implement!

There is now a limit of TWO solo quests per week per character.

We are also grading more harshly on unrealism and grinding. Many characters have been abusing the system and the c-level of multiple monsters. Your overall c-level is exactly that - overall. Don't forget to take into account your weapon and offensive stats in comparison to your defensive stats and more importantly, your skill levels. We will dock points for unrealism and the player's name will be given to mods to read and watch over their own threads. An example of unrealism would be: "I just killed three boars at once with barely a scratch!" "I jumped twenty feet with no damage!" "I just took on a small army by myself!"

If we see multiple instances of threads from a character that seem to be more about grinding than character development and roleplay, then rewards may receive 'eroding judgement' and receive less for that quest.

We are requiring a minimum of 300 words per post for all IC quests if you want said posts to be graded.

Furthermore, the difference between QUESTS and SOCIALS is no more! In this type of RP, we noticed there wasn't such a big difference between the two that one should be graded less or more rewards. All topics will still be referred to as quests but a player does not need to go on an NPC-given quest unless they wish to.

Like previously, simply post up your quest log [and don't forget to include the link to the topic] as you have always done. The difference? Mods will no longer accept your quests! It's free-to-play. In the description section, you can let players know, vaguely or specifically, what they should expect - if this is an actual quest handed out by an NPC, simply a bar brawl, a duel, or some vague or specific interaction. You can mention if the thread is closed and only for x players or keep it open if you want players to join. Obviously threads and the plot may expand, but you can at least give players the gist of how it will start out.

As for rewards, we have given all topics a base amount of EXP, COL, and item rewards. These rewards will either go up or down depending on the creativity, length of the posts, and the length and time put into the threads. Yes, we will take all of these into account but we will not spend as much time thoroughly reading threads like we did previously. In order to be fair and balance out the system for those who post longer and shorter posts, we will be balancing several factors in the grading process now.

In order to keep players at a mostly level playing field and keep some members from getting too far ahead of the present storyline and other members, we have presently implemented a level cap at level 8. Players not go level up beyond this level until the next set of floors are released. Sword Arts have also received a level cap. E, D, and C rank Sword Arts are the only SAs that can be purchased until we have advanced farther into the storyline.

Rewards are a privilege - not an obligation. We are hoping to promote more of a roleplaying friendly community that is not heavily and solely based on the numbers, and therefore making not making it a contest. We want everyone to be able to roleplay more freely and not have to worry so intensely about their levels. Simply roleplay and have fun!

Finally, quests no longer need to be accepted by mods! Don't think this means you can get away with crazy stunts, though. Your work has to be graded in the end and we expect you to use common sense to know the boundaries between what you can fight, what you can't, and when you're pushing it.



It was beginning to become noticeably evident that quest mods were being worn down by the amount of work that had to be done and the amount of detail that they had to take into looking through entire quests to distribute skill points based on frequency and realism.

With this in mind, we have entirely changed the SKILL system! Although we're aware this does not match the exact Sword Art Online system, we found this solution was what we needed to do in order to not spend as much time in quests.

Moderators will no longer reward individual skill level ups. Instead, we have made skill levels more dependent on actual character levels. When you level up your character, you will receive a certain amount of skill points that you may distribute among your skills with certain restrictions. A level 1 character should probably only have skills at level 10 and below, although there is an exception to this rule. Please check out specialized skills for more information. There is a HARDCAP of 100 skill levels per 10 character levels.

There will be a 1 week grace period every time a new Core skill is added, allowing you to switch to those new skills as though you were using a Skill Reset. You may only use this opportunity to switch an old skill into a new skill that is being released.

To add to that, all characters will be given ONE (1) skill reset for free, that can be used at any point after their character has been made. This will be included for all CORE skills at the time. PLEASE NOTE: all abilities that are reset by this free skill reset are equal to HALF of the level of the skill they are replacing in that slot (aka, if you have a Tailoring skill of 20 in slot 3, and put Armorworking into slot 3, it will be LV10.)

For skill swapping and skill resets, please refer to this topic here.

Furthermore, we decided that all players will need to have their skill levels RESET to fit the new skill system. For every character level, a player has earned a certain amount of skill points. Please go to the system upgrades in the bazaar, use the template, and determine how many skill points you want assigned to each skill. Keep the level cap in mind.

Read up on the newly added specialized skills in the skills and levels section of the LIL BROWN BOOK. When you have decided on your specialized skills, go to system upgrades in the bazaar and upgrade what skills you want to be specialized. All players receive the first core and supplementary specialized skill for free. In the future, when more skill slots are released, there may be an additional cost to add more specialized skills.




C-Level will now be calculated as thus. It is a simple formula that I will explain.



This means that the level of the weapon slot and the offhand slot will be added together and divided by 2.
The levels of the head, chest, back, hands, wrists, legs and feet slots will be added together and divided by seven.
Then, these two values will be added together.
The character level will be added.
And this will be the C-Level, rounded half up.

As an example, if you have 17.5 on up, it will be rounded to 18. If you have 17.4 on down, it will be rounded to 17.

Now, with all this in mind...I would like to say that c-level is not everything. More than anything, players still need to depend on their skill levels or else their c-level does not add much else in the tide of battle. A level 5 character with a c-level of 35 will still be able to defeat a level 2 character with a c-level of 150. Will it be difficult? Yes, but it certainly can be accomplished. Despite the equipment, the level 5 character's skill levels likely quadruple that of the level 2 character, and as such gives the level 5 player the greater advantage.

The c-levels will be gradually changed over time with the mods so don't be surprised if your c-level doesn't change right away.



Players may only have one crafting skill request active at a time. As you have seen, it usually takes no longer than a day to get requests filled out, so there is no need to spam the board. Players may have multiple items crafted in one thread. (ex. Alice has a weaponsmith request currently awaiting approval. She may post a request for an armorsmith request, add weapon crafts to her current quest, or wait for her current quest to be approved and then fill out a new request.)

Additionally, the Market Place will be used for skill upgrades. Players may only upgrade their skills if they have 5 (five) points or more to spend.



The monster archetype list has been updated! Rather than creating a list for every individual floor, we realized many of the monster archetypes would be the same but receive gradual differences over time. With that in mind, we have created an entire monster archetype list (more archetypes to be released as we advance through the floors) that can be updated to fit any new items on floors OR differences in monsters.

NEW ITEMS! With the release of the new monsters and new floors, we've added a few new items.

A third recipe tier has also been released for all crafters.

The pre-requisites for Extra Skills have been modified! Although they will take longer to obtain, players should know exactly what they need to do for their quests. All players are required to go on four quests. The goal of the first three quests is left up to you. The fourth quest, however, has one or two specific requirements that must be met in-game to receive the skill. Most of them are very general requirements and still gives creative freedom to the players so they can decide how their quest plays out.

A section has been added for the present plot. Additionally, we have added a section for the environment. Although certain areas (restaurants, fighting grounds, inns, lakes, etc.,) may no longer be listed on the RP boards, you can check out the environment to find out more information about other locations within each particular board and floor.

We're working on getting the skin changed within the next month, too.



Wait, did you say floors? As in plural?

Yep! Upon defeating the Floor 1 Boss, Illfang, we have both released and skipped to the next few floors. From here on out, we will post any recent story or plot announcements in the story thread in the in game manual.

Floors 2-4 are now released and explorable to players. Considering the fact we use liquid time, it is up to you and other players to decide how much time has passed in specific threads (i.e. what floors have been cleared, etc). We may release boss fights for floors 2 and 3 later on down the road but the boss for floor 4 will most definitely be fought. With that in mind, have fun and enjoy the new floors that have been added.



On April 29th, Proboards intends to release the 5th version of their forum system. Although that is all fine and dandy, the new system really interferes with all present coding on this site and almost every other site on that note. I created a test version of the board for beta, and as expected, the coding has gone entirely whacky. We're in need of a coder and/or skin maker to help us fix and rearrange the coding on the test site so we will be ready for the upgrade come April.

On a positive note, the new version of Proboards allows unlimited subboards which will make it much easier to release future floors on the site and the board won't stretch out quite as much.

If you are interested or able, please PM Arcelia or Kurome.