Threshold RPG is one of the longest running, role play required games on the internet (15+ years). Development began in 1992 and we opened in 1996. There may be people out there who think after all that time we would become stagnant as far as new content, or set in our ways. That couldn't be further from the truth.
With the hiring of a new full time staff member a little over a year ago, we really ramped things up as far as new content development. I put together a list of new content from the last year, and I was really happy with what I saw. I'd like to share it so former Threshold players, or potentially new Threshold players, can see that we are dedicated to constantly adding new and exciting features to the game.
Threshold RPG Web site:
http://www.thresholdrpg.com
Telnet address:
thresholdrpg.com:23
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/thresholdrpg
==> New Areas/Zones
- Morrigan's Horn – Located north of Sable City, Morrigan's Horn suffered at the hands of the demons during their invasion of Threshold. Quiet these past decades, shapes can be seen in the dark and travelers whisper of dark goings on behind the now sundered gates of the town. This area includes:
[*] 1 new quest! (quest morrigan)
[*] Over 20 new pieces of gear (plus gear previously seen, but not populated into the game world)
[*] Combat and questing for levels 20+
[*] New types of food introduced: buff food
[*] All new monster types!
[*] Misthaven Forest – A very unique zone whose location must be discovered. Travel within the zone is also a little different, in fitting with the theme of the zone. Featured in this zone:
[*] Full support of the "area" command – graphical/ansi/ascii maps.
[*] New monster types
[*] New fight mechanics
[*] Two new resources (help resource values)
[*] Resources are produced in a different way from usual.
[*] New attunement location for elves (race attune)
[*] Automatic attunement for dryads 20/20+ (race attune)
[*] Fairies that can be captured in jars and used for wishes, buffs, and boons.
[*] Sable Beach -
[*] For levels 12-14 approximately.
[*] General adventure, combat area.
[*] One major boss with unique gear. Challenging for groups.
[*] The beach is pretty easy to find, it is near the lighthouse off its path.
[*] Seedsom Plains -
[*] For levels 0-5.
[*] Aggressive monsters do not auto-attack until level 2.
[*] Wide variety of foes to do battle with.
[*] Resource nodes for low level adventurers to gather and raise their gathering skills.
[*] Fruit trees that can be harvested.
[*] Eastvine Residential District -
[*] New housing zone in Thrace City.
==> Pure Roleplay Enhancements: Many features contribute to RP, but these are purely RP related.
[*] The Emperor's Castle has been opened in Thrace.
[*] Dueling arena that allows spectating.
[*] Dual Description - You can have two main descriptions for your character that you can easily switch between on the fly without having to manually edit them each time.
[*] City dominance system expanded to include more benefits to being the dominant city.
[*] Sablean Times has been revitalized under new management. Writers can earn xp AND coin now for their work.
[*] New In Character Holidays – Purely in-character, lore based holidays have been designed by the staff with coded in game world effects and lore to back them up.
==> New Game Mechanics/Features:
[*] Book Publishing – Players can now publish books in game, and those books can be bought by players to either read right away, or store in libraties in their houses. These books are saved over reboots when put in a bookshelf, which allows players to create real book collections. Players can publish their book publicly, which lets anyone buy a copy from the NPC publisher, or publish it privately, which means only the author can buy copies and then sell them directly to people for a profit.
In addition, tons of lore-related books have been written by the staff and added as potential drops or findable items throughout the game.
[*] Elemental Enchanting – Elemental stones can be found almost anywhere while out adventuring. Through much research and development, scholars discovered that when combined with particularly well-crafted armor and powered by the strong spirit of strong mortals, these stones can contribute certain resistances to the wearers of such imbued armor. For more information: help elemental enchanting
[*] Task System – Tasks are assigned by NPCs to players. They can range from the incredibly simple to the more complex. Most involve finding certain items for the NPC, going places, catch certain types of fish, and other assorted tasks and odd jobs. They are a nice way to earn xp, coin, food, or items for people who want a little more structure.
[*] Discovery / Exploration – When your character discovers a new zone you will receive a notification plus a little XP for your effort. For existing characters, all zones are considered "new" so you don't miss out!
[*] Buff & Debuff System – buffs and debuffs throughout the game were recoded to use a common standard. This not only resulted in the improvement of many buffs (and more interesting debuffs), but also gave players a command to check all the buffs and debuffs currently affecting them.
[*] Resource Gathering – Lumber, Ore, and Herbs can be harvested by players throughout the game world. These resources can be used by cities, clans, and religions to enhance their power and dominance. They are also usable in the crafting system that is nearing completion.
[*] Battle Cards – This really fun collectible card game got improved massively. The most exciting enhancement is the ability for battle cards to earn xp and level up from their battles.
[*] Hegemony – We have always had the concept of being a hegemon, but now there is an entire coded system behind it. Hegemons can now customize and specialize their characters by spending hegemon points that are earned at levels 20 and above. These points can be used to learn new powers or upgrade existing hegemon powers, resulting in tons of potential configurations.
[*] Adventurers Guild Explorers Club – The AGEC has posted an open call to all adventurers to go out and seek recognition by finding spots throughout the world that have been flagged in advance by the Adventurers Guild. A new location is flagged every 4 hours, and the first player to find it earns prizes from the AGEC plus an hour long buff to XP gained from kills. For more information in game, type: quest agec
[*] Horses – They are back and better than ever. They can be hitched up in a variety of locations throughout civilization and they won't run off on you like they would when unattended in their previous version.
[*] Meals – Meals are a type of food that are cheaper, less filling, and lighter than normal food for the amount of healing they provide. The trade off is they can only be eaten out of combat, and they take longer to eat (generally 30 seconds instead of instant). They are an excellent social/RP mechanic, as well as a major cost-effective downtime reducer.
[*] Expertise – Instead of spending experience points (xp), players now spend expertise (exp) points for skill training. You earn it while you are earning regular XP, with the added benefit that "exp" is not lost upon death. help expertise
[*] Critical Strike System – A new and formalized critical strike system has been implemented for combat. (help critical strike)
[*] Fishing Pets – Pets that provide buffs and assistance in your fishing.
[*] Resource Gathering Pets – Pets that help you gather and carry resources.
[*] Dual Adventurer Belts – You can now unlock a second adventurer belt, build it with whatever bloodjewels you want, and then swap between your two adventurer belt configurations as desired or needed. Different situations call for different buffs and enhancements from your adventurer belt. Read: help belt swapping
[*] Rare Fish – You can now catch special rare fish at the different fishing locations in the world. You need high level fishing gear to land them. When caught, they can be mounted permanently in your house as a trophy.
==> New Combat Styles:
[*] Sword and Board: 1 handed weapon + shield. This is a tanking style that also generates additional threat.
[*] Sundering Fury: 2 handed weapon fighting style that does higher damage.
[*] Body and Soul: A spell point regenerating style for mages, sorcerors, templars, necromancers, psions, and alchemists.
(I couldn't fit everything in a single post – hit the character limit)
==> Religion Enhancements:
- Religion Dominance Enhancements:
[*] The dominant religion receives a 10% automatic tithe (as a bonus) for coin drops obtained by members.
[*] Each deity now has a month of affinity. During that month, all dominance actions get a 10% bonus. The RP effect of this is also significant, since every religion now has a very important month for celebrations and events.
[*] Forsaking – You can now forsake (leave) your religion at the Shrine of the Aether. This would then allow you to join a different religion (though there are obvious RP consequences that could make that difficult). The most often you can do this is once per 30 real life days.
[*] Ethos – Ethos has returned but has been simplified. Your ethos can be changed once per 30 RL days, but you can only move one "step" at a time (good <-> neutral <-> evil).
[*] Joining – Becoming a supplicant of a religion no longer requires the direct approval of a cleric. A 30 RL day supplicancy is still required.
[*] Conversion and Recruiting – The net effect of the above 3 changes is that recruiting and converting people from other faiths has become a major feature of the game. Before, people were so locked into a church that converting people was nearly impossible.
==> Guild Enhancements:
[*] Psions:
[*] Psychic Feedback System that builds up through use of psion abilities to provides party buffs and damage.
[*] Psions can now become Templars.
[*] Bards: A new area of effect/damage over time spell.
[*] Clerics:
[*] Funeral Pyre – sacrifices corpses to their god to increase their deity's dominance.
[*] Righteous Fury – For clerics of Vishnu, Vivoria, Erosia, Tempest, Mortis.
[*] Wrathful Vengeance – For clerics of Bast, Gethsemane, Set, Loviatar, Chronos, Silvanus.
[*] Necromancers: Organ harvesting was changed to receive 2 organ components per harvesting. sically, you are now using half the organ each time you need an organ component for a spell.
[*] Thieves: Maximum throwing dagger capacity increased by 5. A dagger bandolier item was added to increase capacity even further.
[*] Thief/Rogue: Two super-secret abilities/features added.
[*] Fighter/Warrior:
[*] Ironwill now also returns 10 ep.
[*] Weapon maintenance gained per maintain cycle increased by 20%.
[*] Mage/Sorceror/Templar:
[*] Base success change for enchanting increased by 10%.
[*] Globe/Crystal Shield type spells can now have their remaining health checked and can be dispelled to make room for a new, full strength one.
[*] Alchemist: Alchemists no longer have to treat (their version of maintain) their weapons.
==> New Race:
[*] Takzul – The Takzul came into being after the Demon Wars in late 200s. Their origins were probably orcish, but prolonged exposure to the stones from the demon tower caused dramatic mutations. The Takzul are much more intelligent than the average orc and much less prone to thoughtless rage. Naturally cautious and secretive, Takzul society is relatively new and underdeveloped. They struggle to find a place for themselves in the world of Threshold.
==> Gear:
[*] Entirely new full gear sets.
[*] Bed rolls – Enhances the effects of the rest command.
[*] Hegemony Gear – Tons of special gear just for hegemons to use primarily in hegemon specific content.
[*] Tier 3 Fishing Gear – Sirensong – A new tier of fishing gear was developed, and the fishing badge costs for tier 1 and 2 gear was lowered.
[*] Bedrolls – In addition to enhanced regeneration while resting, bedrolls now also provide a 2 minute, 5% buff to your critical strike chance (help critical strike) upon waking up. You must rest for at least 1 minute to receive this buff.
==> House Enhancements:
[*] Showcase Room – Trophies, battle cards, stuffed animals, fancy trinkets, and more can all be displayed in this fancy house room.
[*] House aquariums improved to allow more interactivity with the fish.
[*] You can buy a sacrificial altar for your house.
[*] Bookcases can be purchased to store player published books or books found throughout the game. Bookcases store books over reboots and can be placed in any room in your house.
==> Clan Abodes:
==> Major Events:
[*] Battle for Religious Dominance (Jan 2010) – Top 4 churches gained a new temple room – The Summoning Pool.
[*] Guild Activity Competition (Mar/Apr 2010)
[*] April Event Extravaganza (Apr 2010) – 15+ STEA, admin sanctioned events.
[*] History Contest (Apr 2010) for the expansion of the Grand Sable Library.
[*] Kleiburn the Traveller (Aug 2010)
[*] The Glorification of the Aether – (Sep 2010 to Oct 2010)
[*] 5th Annual Grand Pumpkin Festival (Oct 2010)
[*] Homestead Festival (Oct/Nov 2010)
[*] Pokka Gobblin' Time (Nov 2010)
[*] New Years Double XP Weekend (Jan 2011)
[*] Kleiburn the Traveller (Apr 2011)
==> General Quality of Life Enhancements
[*] Stacking and splitting code added for better inventory organization.
[*] Gloridome – Low cost crystals for hp, sp, ep healing to use in the arenas instead of food.
[*] Rogue/Alchemist: Joining these guilds no longer requires admin approval.
[*] Facebook/Twitter Integration: We now make serious use of our Facebook page (Threshold RPG | Facebook) and twitter feed ([url]http://twitter.com/thresholdrpg[/url]) to announce events, share information, and let people know about things happening RIGHT NOW in game.
[*] Travel Command Expansion: Travel command locations added to Thrace City.
[*] TC Cost for House Items Lowered – House items can be bought with coin or ThreshCredits, and we have lowered the TC cost.
[*] Penalty for Joining a New Clan Removed – The clan level loss penalty for joining a new clan has been removed. We wanted to give people more roleplay flexibility in the system, so this penalty has been completely removed. There is still a 30 day cooldown after leaving a clan before you can join a new one to prevent clan hopping.
If you've never played Threshold, or if you played in the past, I would like to invite you to give it another shot. We are always adding more features and content, running events, and listening to player feedback as to what you want next!
Threshold RPG Web site:
http://www.thresholdrpg.com
Telnet address:
thresholdrpg.com:23
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/thresholdrpg
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