Yes Merc
We started planning for Legacy 25 in the knowledge that finances weren't going to be an issue. But as opening drew closer it became more and more apparent that I was going to have to front it.
All old accounts will be wiped, but a system will be in place to reward those "restarting" it's a neccasary step in order to ensure it works right. With a full team backing the project it will have a healthy future that isn't dependant on any 1 person. Like said, I knew it would become an issue, but I had thought that the server would be in a state where my constant attention wasn't a requirment anymore.
As anyone who matters will likely read this I want to just address some of the bullshit that's flying around. The shard wasn't closed because hacking Japs or staff corruption, it was a decision I had reached before all this crap began.
On the final day I simply wanted to have a bit of fun, knowing it was the final day I created 4 characters for me and a couple of close friends to mess around on, most of the HAKING JAPS were actually already existant chars that I simply changed the name of. I then setup several arena's and a couple of harrowers, during the final harrower I went out and played myself for the first time since I created the server.
One of the funny things is that the lead protagonist on the crusade for the NOXIN IS CORRUPT party actually found a way to access Kristoff's account and found several pairs of inquisitors I had made and forgotten about while setting up my character (I decieded on a dexer in the end as my reactions were terrible after 6 months). What makes it funny to me is that they had never been used and never would have been either, it would have been pretty obvious given that every pair of inquis on the server was known.
Hopefully the trash will believe the stories of mass corruption, they had made it their mission to find corruption since day 1, funny how they never found any until the 1 time I did "abuse" my powers to have a little fun myself.
I also want to give a little more info about medical issues, as it sounds cryptic. I am not terminally ill or any of that nonsense, I have a condition known as CFS/ME which is Chronic Fatigue or if we want to get scientific, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. You can likely find extensive info about it online.
I've had it for years, but I never like to bring it up or use it as a reason for anything, it's like a pity get-out of jail free card. I don't want pity or excuses, I don't need them. I only feel it's worth mentioning now because it is the reason I was away from the server that last week. Not because I was feeling really bad, but because I was actually feeling really good. I am currently feeling better than I have for the last 5 years, I need to take advantage of this and use it to springboard my recovery. It would be all too easy to slump back. But to do that I need to shed stress and worry and focus purely on recovery.
Again, don't take this as any kind of excuse or any reason to feel sorry for me etc. That just irritates me. I can't stand it when someone uses illness as an excuse.
I actually had a lot of fun working on Legacy, but I'm sure also that everyone playing realizes that it wasn't ready. It became obvious after the first week and I was working to recover it and finish it at the same time as adding new development, it's a fruitless struggle as every 1 thing I'd fix I'd end up breaking again down the line simply because I had to account for the fact that within a week it's old news.
Anothe rpoint I'd like to bring up is that before development started on Legacy I had never touched C# before, which is the language it is coded in. I had to learn the entire language whilst simultaniously implementing the things needed.
While this is the most enjoyable way to learn a coding language, doing so in the space of 3 months, whilst implimenting systems the guys who developed RunUO itself couldn't do.
My primary ability is in Games Design, not coding, throughout my history working with games and such I have only ever learnt enough coding and graphics to implement my designs. This time I had to learn the whole thing, C# is a VERY powerful language. So powerful in fact I intend to work on a second project, a complete single-player game coded in C# from scratch. If anyone's interested in this, I'll likely be publicing the design and coding process in a few months as I'll be using it as a launch design to get me back into work after my recovery.
Because of my plans to utilize an entire development ream on Legacy in the future life will be so much easier for myself, while I expect there to be problems of individual designs and coding overlap, it'll be worth it and I've already ensured that my word is final when it comes to a design for Legacy.
Anyway I'll wrap it up, I just want to provide you guys (the guys who actually mattered to me) with more information, I hated just pulling it down knowing that people who cared about the server would be gutted, and as much as they may understand it's neccasity it's still a slap in the face.
Merc, I'd suggest, Empires at war (15th release), galactic civilizations 2(20th release - this looks awesome -
www.galciv2.com ), Oblivion (march 14th release -
www.elderscrolls.com) and possibly battle for middle earth 2 (20thish release) though this seems simply a fancy graphics version of every other RTS.