Though never formally announced, through various events and word of mouth
the community has for the most part come to know of the restructuring of
the Mercenary Guild in their new guildhall south of Sparkle. While more of
a total rebuild from scratch, the recode now adds the Mercenaries to the
list of occupational guilds who are now considered balanced by the new
global recode efforts.
The recode list now looks as follows:
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Occupational Layman
============ ======
* Army of Angmar * Army of Angmar
Army of Darkness (Ogres) * Bloodguard of Terel
* Calian Warriors * Blademasters of Khalakhor
* Clan of Niedar Warriors Heralds of the Valar
* Dragonarmies Mariners
* Gladiagors * Militia of Thornlin
Kender (Secret Society) * Minotaurs
* Knights of Solamnia Minstrels
Mages of Morgul Monks (Dragon Order)
* Mercenaries Necromancers
Monks (Dragon Order) * Pirates of the Bloodsea
Priests of Takhisis * Shield Bearers
Rangers * Templar
Spiric Circle (Scop) Thief Cabal
Union of Shadow Tricksters
* Vampires of Terel Worshippers (Elemental)
* = Recoded by Balance Team
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Summary
========================
Total Occ Guilds : 16
Recoded : 8
Remaining : 8
------------------------
Total Layman Guilds : 16
Recoded : 8
Remaining : 8
------------------------
Total Occ/Lay Guilds: 32
Recoded : 16
Remaining : 16
========================
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I tend to accidentally forget certain guilds when I type up such lists,
in which case I am inevitably corrected by those of you whose minds are
tighter traps than mine!
The Mercenaries were the last of the "regular" melee occ guilds that needed
to be recoded. The Ogres, Monks, and Union are somewhat oddball specialist
type guilds which will require a different approach. The Rangers and Kender
do not fit into the "regular" melee classification either, Kender being
more of a thief build and the Rangers blending thief/melee/magic all into
one.
Moving forward, the Balance Team will now be working with Eowul to
tackle the redesign of not only the main magic using guilds of the game,
but the state of magic entirely. Much progress has been made laying the
groundwork for this process, and actual recode is already underway for
both the Morgul Mages and the Elemental Worshippers of Calia. Soon to
follow will be the ScoP, the PoT, and the various other layman magic
guilds that are caster specific.
Once these magic guilds are reworked, the focus will shift back to the
remaining (above mentioned) melee-class guilds which remain to be
completed.
A big thanks to those of you who, though inconvenienced and forced to
wait for what you want and need, have remained friendly and continued to
be positive members of the community through this process. As you can
see, we are now officially half way complete! As we finish more and more,
I believe the game will begin to find the equillibrium it so badly has
lacked, and those who have felt disenfranchised or disenchanted will
return to what they have missed.
Onward!
G.