Wednesday, September 23rd was the official day of Equinox, and to celebrate it in grand fashion, we launched a massive sale in our item shop – all Equinox outfits and toys are 50% off! This incredible deal lasts for one week only, and will end on Wednesday, September 30th.

So for those of you eager to clad yourselves in some exotic desert attire, or obtain a lively personal pet companion, or maybe conjure up a little harmony between the sun and the moon with a fascinating new bauble, then now is the time!

In the Equinox section of the item shop, you’ll find a total of 10 outfits to choose from, as well as the one-of-a-kind Sankata Companion, and the Equinox Alignment Trinket. Don’t miss out on this fantastic sale!

When we released Patch 3.5.6 last week, in addition to the Equinox zone, the build had a great many new changes in it – some of the changes went over quite well, and some did not. We carefully poured over all of the forum posts and feedback posted by our players, and spent a lengthy meeting discussing all of the points made.

One of the many benefits of live game development is the active role played by the people whom the game is for – the players. Our goal always is for the creation process to be a partnership between the devs and the community. To that end, we took your feedback of the last week and spent a good deal of time analyzing it, and brainstorming possible solutions, which we have since implemented with some new changes in this current patch.

Did you know that we specifically made a number of adjustments with regards to repairing weapons and gear? Here are the changes we made, and hope this will remedy—or at least be seen as a compromise—on what was a somewhat heated issue:

• We dropped the price of repairing gear, weapons, and tools.
• We boosted the amount that a repair kit repairs gear by 50%, and boosted the amount that repair kits repair weapons by 4.5x.
• We reduced the gold cost of creating crafted repair kits for kits level 65 and above.
• Ardent Society members will now receive some Repair Effluxes each month.
• We increased the time it takes to wear down a weapons durability by 50% (so weapons last longer before needing repaired).

If you could create an event zone for the game, what would it be? (Theme? Look and feel? Monsters?) Hmmm… maybe something underwater-ish or pirate themed! Or be abandoned/dropped off on an island either by yourself or with some npcs and have to figure out how to survive and/or get off of it. You would have to use your skills to gather food for everyone, create weapons, shelter, etc, all while avoiding or defeating monsters in the jungle/water/air. You would have to end up either inhabiting the island or find a way to escape.

What was your first most memorable battle experience against an Elder Boss in V&H, and why? Hmm… my first was probably when my guildies and I were doing the goblin bosses in Pyrron Oratory. Was so chaotic, with kiting one boss to the back room in hope that the other won’t go in too, and so it was a pretty awesome feeling when we finally got them killed. After that, I’d have to say the 30 or 45 minute battle with just me and Rhev (my guildie priest) against the first rift boss to get the first server kill. But the best and most memorable of all the elder battles I’ve been in, do I dare say, was when my rift buddies and I finally got to Lord Pyrrus to try for a server first kill and we somehow broke him, and he wouldn’t continue on with the fight. We had to wait a day or so, and it was so terrible, but oh so hilarious.

What feature would you most like to see added to Villagers & Heroes? There so many ideas to choose from, but what I would like to see the most would be some sort of server billboard that people could put up either fully customized (though you would have to depend on the mods to monitor the appropriateness of them) notices for such things as ‘wtb certain item’ or ‘lf a guild with such an such’ or have it as a sort of fill-in-the-blank kind of forum that has drop down menus to choose from for the blanks.

What other activities do you enjoy when you’re not playing V&H? I’m really big on watching TV, usually with a family member. There’s so many different kinds of shows nowadays it’s hard to not find something good to watch.

If you were to host a Murder Mystery Dinner Party, what decade would you pick to have your guests show up in costumes from and enact the parts for, and why? (Roaring Twenties, 50’s, Swinging 60’s, Funky 70,’s or other?) Definitely the 20s, though that is probably due to watching too much Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. The fashion was so top notch then.

When fourth character slots are added to V&H, which class will you choose? And if you could invent a whole new fifth class for the game, what would it be? Probably a hunter because I have yet to of really played one, so I have no idea how to play them so that’ll give me a challenge. For a fifth class I would have to say perhaps an engineer of sorts, that would use devices for special attacks, like a net to trap enemies in place, or to bring out a little bot that could temporarily help them out in combat.

What are some of your favorite board games, and why? Oh man, its been forever since I last played a board game, but probably Pandemic because of all the chaos between everyone that can happen if someone happens to draw an epidemic card.

You have the distinction of having been the first player on US 2 to reach level cap. How long did it take you? Any special advice for new players hungry to level up as fast as they can? I think it took me about 6-ish months. I don’t quite remember what I did, until up to Traven where I did a lot of it with my guild members from that time who then disappeared and left me all alone to level Pyrron by myself. Which I suggest against. My advice would be to always feel free to ask in global chat about if someone can help you kill elders or to just help you level or get through a zone. The community here is so nice, usually someone will be able to help you out if you ask nicely enough.

If you could have dinner with any historical figure or person of interest, who would it be and what question would you ask them first? Captain Kidd, and where he hid all his treasure!

Do you think the ‘Bechdel Test’ has any merit to it? If so, what’s the last film you saw that passed this test? (Bechdel Test = asks if a work of fiction features at least two women in it, who talk to each other about something other than a man.) I totally think it does. It’s so hard to find a movie that passes the test the whole way through nowadays. But I think the last one that I saw that I can think of off the top of my head would be Pitch Perfect.

A fantastic fashion show contest is underway, called ‘Ardent’s Next TopModel!’ Participants must sport three different outfits in front of a live jury. Huge prizes!

All participants must gather at the Traven Teleporter for the first round of judging:

For EU 2, the contest is on Friday, September 25 at 7pm.
For EU 1, on Friday, September 25 at 8pm.
For US 1, on Saturday, September 26 at 3pm (PST.)
For US 2 on Saturday, September 26 at 7pm (PST.)

To read more details about Ardent’s Next Topmodel contest, please visit our forums here.

Object #1 – Portland Trail Blazers coffee mug

Ivar: Oh, morning coffee… how I love you. There isn’t much work that isn’t fueled by the real black gold, for me nor many other otters! Then there’s lunch coffee… and afternoon coffee… and evening coffee…

Sarah: Either this ‘Five For’ thing is rigged, or the EU 2 interviewer is creepily psychic because that’s the city I grew up in, and the Blazers were my team! Clyde Drexler. Jerome Kersey. Memorial Coliseum long before it was the Moda Center. Obliterating the Lakers that one year…Jack Nicholson mad about it.

Object #2 – “Happy Camper” T-Shirt

Ivar: I got a few camping memories! It was never a family occasion when I grew up, as in many American households, but despite my protests I was still dragged out into the cold by over-enthusiastic school staff. I love nature – but there’s something about organized camping that can be far more stressful than relaxing. Luckily I always brought programming literature to keep me busy – huge tomes of a thousand pages each! A pain to carry in a backpack, but there’s nothing like reading up on C++ variable data types next to a cozy campfire.

Sarah: Welcome to the camp/ I guess you all know, why we’re here/ My name is Tommy/ And I became aware this year/ If you want to follow me/ You’ve got to play pin ball/ And put in your earplugs/ Put on your eye shades/ You know where to put the cork — The Who. And now that song is going to be in my head all day.

Object #3 – Montblanc ball pen

Ivar: This brings me back to when I was younger, and used to make many ballpoint pen illustrations – hardly masterpieces, but it was fun nonetheless! Always trickier when you can’t erase your mistakes, though of course, it often makes for more interesting art…

Sarah: An unaffordable item for an indie game dev.

Object #4 – Ladle

Ivar: Ah, lentil soup, always my trusty companion! My wife and I do a lot of cooking, and this absolute staple food of ours never gets old. The world would be a happier place with more lentils in it.

Sarah: “No soup for you!” (Seinfeld) And also, cooking is not my strong suit. At all. Pretty sure I’ve never owned a ladle, or if I did, I definitely never used it.

Object #5 – Picture of Patrick Stewart

Ivar: Why, Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise-D, of course! The best commanding officer Star Trek have ever seen, bar none. (and also the only commanding officer that seems to only get younger as time passes!)

Sarah: I was watching a 70’s movie a few years ago, and about fell out of my chair when I discovered that once upon a time, this man did indeed have a full head of hair.