Lair Floors & Uninvited Guest Clarification / Changes
Posted: 23 May 2014, 15:40
Due to the some poor communicating, and honestly pretty badly planned (by myself) coding, we've had some issues with people being confused about how lairs with multiple floors are supposed to work. Many were understandably frustrated or disappointed that they'd paid for multiple private floors, but were being told that we had plans to change the system so that each building had 1 access list. I'll explain how it was originally supposed to work, and then I'll explain our solution to keep the system simple but still fair for those who already have lairs.
Original Plans
The original plan with lairs was that each building was supposed to have an invite list (with separate invite lists for abodes within the building, such as apartments or penthouses). This is reflected by the fact that the uninvited guest description says "lairs", not floors, and it has always read as such. However, due to my bad planning, I set it up temporarily so that each "private" floor had a different check to see who could enter. Temporarily turned into long-term, and people bought lairs under the assumption that it was always supposed to be that way. So no we're having to re-think the situation so as to be fair to those who feel like they aren't getting what they paid for.
Solution & Compromise
Our solution is simple: if you want each private floor to have a separate invite list, it can. Some floors were also changed to public in error. Either way, you can simply post your request to have a floor changed from public to private on this thread. "Private" henceforth refers to any floor that has its own guest list and requires uninvited guest 1 or 2 to enter.
However, if you wish your entire building to have 1 single guest list (or, all your building except for the top floor, for example), then you can also do that too. The first private floor's guest list will dictate who can enter all subsequent floors. For now, this might cause some fade portals to allow access into a higher floor which has no guest list, but we do have plans to fix this too by making such floors work using the same guest list as the first private floor. For now, though, we advise that you request any fadeportal floors be made private, so you can stop people sneaking in. It's entirely up to you.
The Future of Uninvited Guest
Essentially, everything will work as it did from the start of the game, more or less. Each floor can be private, and will require a separate use of uninvited guest 1 or 2 to enter. The only change will come in the future when we add either a relic or a power which will work just like uninvited guest (possibly 'uninvited guest 3'), except that it will allow the caster to enter any floor in the entire building they cast it on. It is our prerogative to add such powers which trump various things we've made so far, as we have done previously with other things such as certain relics stopping teleportation and so on. However, uninvited guest 3 (or the equivalent relic / mastery power) is a fairly long way off. You are just being informed that it will come eventually.
Yes, door security (locks and such) is also tentatively planned. We just haven't ironed out the details yet.
5 Private Floors - Revised Policies
The final thing to say on this matter is to clarify and simplify the "maximum of 5 private floors" rule, without taking anything away from future lair owners. From here on, any new building with 5 private floors will have those private floors at top of the building, rather than the bottom or the middle. Any public floors you have in addition to these 5 private floors will also be required to have a public elevator, to ensure you can't make a lair of 20 trapped floors. If your planned lair / faction fort doesn't have more than 5 floors, you needn't worry about this, and no previously built lairs will be changed. It still works the same in practice, as all old buildings work in a similar way with the 5 private floors max thing, and all were also required to have easy access through any additional floors on top of those 5. This is just to simplify things in future, as it's easier to explain that basically, lairs with more than 5 floors must have a public elevator between all additional floors, and all private floors must be at the top of the building, and not at the bottom.
We're hoping that this post clarifies the issue and makes it simpler. Please remember to let us know if you want one of your public floors to be switched to private (be given an access list).
Original Plans
The original plan with lairs was that each building was supposed to have an invite list (with separate invite lists for abodes within the building, such as apartments or penthouses). This is reflected by the fact that the uninvited guest description says "lairs", not floors, and it has always read as such. However, due to my bad planning, I set it up temporarily so that each "private" floor had a different check to see who could enter. Temporarily turned into long-term, and people bought lairs under the assumption that it was always supposed to be that way. So no we're having to re-think the situation so as to be fair to those who feel like they aren't getting what they paid for.
Solution & Compromise
Our solution is simple: if you want each private floor to have a separate invite list, it can. Some floors were also changed to public in error. Either way, you can simply post your request to have a floor changed from public to private on this thread. "Private" henceforth refers to any floor that has its own guest list and requires uninvited guest 1 or 2 to enter.
However, if you wish your entire building to have 1 single guest list (or, all your building except for the top floor, for example), then you can also do that too. The first private floor's guest list will dictate who can enter all subsequent floors. For now, this might cause some fade portals to allow access into a higher floor which has no guest list, but we do have plans to fix this too by making such floors work using the same guest list as the first private floor. For now, though, we advise that you request any fadeportal floors be made private, so you can stop people sneaking in. It's entirely up to you.
The Future of Uninvited Guest
Essentially, everything will work as it did from the start of the game, more or less. Each floor can be private, and will require a separate use of uninvited guest 1 or 2 to enter. The only change will come in the future when we add either a relic or a power which will work just like uninvited guest (possibly 'uninvited guest 3'), except that it will allow the caster to enter any floor in the entire building they cast it on. It is our prerogative to add such powers which trump various things we've made so far, as we have done previously with other things such as certain relics stopping teleportation and so on. However, uninvited guest 3 (or the equivalent relic / mastery power) is a fairly long way off. You are just being informed that it will come eventually.
Yes, door security (locks and such) is also tentatively planned. We just haven't ironed out the details yet.
5 Private Floors - Revised Policies
The final thing to say on this matter is to clarify and simplify the "maximum of 5 private floors" rule, without taking anything away from future lair owners. From here on, any new building with 5 private floors will have those private floors at top of the building, rather than the bottom or the middle. Any public floors you have in addition to these 5 private floors will also be required to have a public elevator, to ensure you can't make a lair of 20 trapped floors. If your planned lair / faction fort doesn't have more than 5 floors, you needn't worry about this, and no previously built lairs will be changed. It still works the same in practice, as all old buildings work in a similar way with the 5 private floors max thing, and all were also required to have easy access through any additional floors on top of those 5. This is just to simplify things in future, as it's easier to explain that basically, lairs with more than 5 floors must have a public elevator between all additional floors, and all private floors must be at the top of the building, and not at the bottom.
We're hoping that this post clarifies the issue and makes it simpler. Please remember to let us know if you want one of your public floors to be switched to private (be given an access list).