We've been developing for quite a few nights, and here's what's new.
We have been working for quite some time on our map generator, the aim being to make it generate more diverse and interesting environs to play in, and we are now at the point where we feel ready to put it into use.
This means that the currently running maps will be deleted permanently and irrevocably.
... but you already knew that.
What will change
New feature, Quality: Items now have a numeric quality rating ranging from 1 to infinity. What the quality rating does, more exactly, varies from item to item, but the general point is that a higher quality value equals, quite simply, a better item. High quality food gives more food event points, high quality weapons deal more damage, and high quality armor soaks more damage. Some objects are slower to break when at high quality. The quality of an object is generally determined by the quality of the natural resources used in the making of the object, but also by the tools used in the process, like anvils, saws, smelters, the fuel used &c. The quality of natural resources are determined in several different ways, but most simple gatherings have their qualities determined by abstract quality points, placed randomly across the map. Base quality for most such objects (herbs, clay, soil, water, for example) is ten, when not under the influence of a quality point.
New values: Sewing, Smithing, Cooking, Survival, Carpentry, Farming. Psyche and Dexterity. All these skills are primarily related to crafting. The general case is that you cannot craft items of a higher quality rating than the skill value you have in the skill(s) the recipe uses. Many recipes use a combination of a base value and a skill value -- sewing generally uses dexterity + sewing, for example -- but not all. Recipes will in the future inform you of what skills they are dependent on via their craft screen.
New feature, Herbs: If you get the "Foraging" skill, and have high enough values in Perception and Exploration, you'll be able to see various plants, herbs, roots and berries that you can pick.
New feature, Prospecting: To build mines you now have to find minepoints. Do this by getting the Prospecting skill. The rest of the process involves making a specific herbal extract and using it to determine, abstractly, where the closest mine point is. You'll be able to detect a mining spot 1000 tiles away. When you find one, a construction object will be placed for the mine. Available metals are: Gold, Silver, Copper, Iron and Tin.
New terrain types Go explore. The only one I will make specific mention of is deep water. You can swim across this if you have the Swimming skill. Constitution determines how much stamina you lose while doing this. If you run out of stamina you INSTA DROWN. As in permanent death, as in be careful. Also, it's worth noting that, if grassland was the base tile for the old map, forest is the base tile on the new one.
Please note that swimming disables all item and equipment interaction. If you log off while in deep water, you character will stay in game and drown, so don't.
Revised feature, terraforming: The generic dig command no longer reduces tiles to dirt, and no longer yields clay as a general effect. Instead, using the dig command will dig out whatever is in the tile, and give it to you. Clay is dug in shallow water, digging in mountains yields stones, and most other places give you soil. The old plow command is still available, but it drains an imperial crapton of stamina. Instead build a plow, you should be able to figure out how it works. To build on forest tiles, you'll have to plow them first, and then lay stone on them.
Revised feature, Decay: Constructions (kilns, ovens, smelters, and houses [when decay is implemented for them] etc.) should now be built on paved stone tiles. You can still build them on open ground, but they suffer 4x the normal rate of decay if you do. Also, objects decay 2.5 times as fast in Mordor as they do at the RoB, or equivalent.
Increased stamina drain: You can no longer sprint through forests. Traversing mountains and forests is highly taxing on your stamina (when running, that is -- if you want to preserve stamina, walk instead). Drink water, available in a river near you, to regain stamina. Moving across stone roads, on the other hand, drains a lot less stamina than it used to.
No new animals: We haven't fleshed them out yet, so they're not in quite yet. But it'll happen next session or so.
The presently running maps will be deleted Monday, 7th of September, 18:00 UTC. The new maps will be available thereabouts. Make sure to declaim your claim poles. If you do not declaim your claim pole, you'll lose the LP invested in it. All inventories and equipment screens will be swiped clean, but all other character statistics will remain unchanged. We'll put some starting gear in your inventory.
Pack you bags, kids, we're off to new lands. We're very excited to get the new maps up and running, so, please: Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDBz_naagJE