More Information

As I've stated in the server several times over the week, the server was down for some routine maintenance today (3 November). We should be ready to go for 1.7 whenever Bukkit and our core mods have been updated. Everything has been checked and should be currently up to date, but please let me know if any plugins appear to be acting funny.

I wanted to expand on some points from the last post. First, I've decided to replace the War world with a standard, fresh 1.7 world when we update, rather than the implied Amplified world. Second, the Creative purging is likely going to happen at the same time, so please let us know what plots you want to keep!

To address the instability caused by Zephyrus, I've decided it's time to do the dirty work and begin a buyback campaign for items containing non-standard enchantments. Not only will these enchantments not work when I pull the plugin, but the items will cause a client crash if the items are handled (similar to putting them in an anvil). The buyback is simple, I, or other admins, will trade out your enchanted items with ones of similar enchantments. Toxic Strike will be replaced by Fire Aspect, Battle Axe will be replaced with Sharpness, Instamine will be replaced by Efficiency V, and Lifesuck will be replaced with a Damage V bonus of your choice (All, Smite, or Arthropods). I cannot turn these items off from being crafted, so they'll still be in the market until the plugin is removed.

Finally, I've decided to proceed with the crowd-funding campaign. Our minimum level is $500, so if we don't reach our goal, no one will be charged. We're using IndieGoGo as a platform and the link, once live, should be:  http://igg.me/at/PaladinsServer/x/5190998
We'd greatly appreciate your support and will go into more detail about the campaign as we get underway.

State of the Server

I want to start by saying thank you to all the player past and present who have spent their time building, exploring, and fighting on our server. As with any major Minecraft update, we see changes with our player base and the way we operate, so when we make the transition to 1.7 we'll be dealing with a lot of new issues and ask for your patience.
I wanted to highlight some of the changes we're proposing and solicit opinions and recommendations about these, or any other, ideas.

The special Halloween dungeon will remain open until the weekend, when I plan on taking the server down for maintenance.

We plan to entirely delete War and replace it with a fresh 1.7 world (Amplified?), so if you'd like your stuff, I recommend getting it out soon.

The Creative world is going to be made fresh again, since abandoned and laggy plots cover the map. Let us know if you must absolutely keep some of your plots and we'll copy them over for you. Probably.

We have a back end issue that prevents the server from being completely booted. I've been manually removing entire worlds and readding them back after loading. We've grow to the point that we simply cannot operate everything we have in the past and we're forced to make a choice: Bosses not functioning in all worlds, or the loss of Zephyrus (Lifesuck / Instamine). Granted I have a bias against some of the instability of Zephyrus for the server, but I feel it'd reduce lag and improve stability if we eliminated the plugin.

In the same vein, we're considering a one time donation campaign to raise money for the server that we want to make. Let us know if we're way off-base with the idea. This would be an all or nothing campaign, but I think we can do this. We're still working out potential rewards for donors, as well as what platform to use.

We'd love to hear your ideas and feedback. Comment here, tweet us, or mail us at gmail or on the server.
Thank you for your time!

Halloween!

Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls.

We have a new dungeon on the server, for a limited time only! The Halloween dungeon features a new set of bosses: the King of Halloween and his corrupted servants, the Halloween Goblins. They're ready for a long fight and I hope you are too!

Image from NukeLikeTheBomb

To find this new dungeon, you must look around spawn and go trick or treating to find the entrance. I'll give you a hint, it's a recent addition to our Overworld.

Hopefully much more to come for the holiday season! Happy scaring!

Fort Doom

I'm proud to introduce you to the newest dungeon in our little family: Fort Doom.

This is a multi-rank dungeon, with areas for Knights+, Heroes +, and Champions+.
Once you breach the walls, Knights+ can expect to find Knights, FireDemons, and perhaps a Warlock attempting to keep you at bay.

Heroes+ invade the dark walls of the keep to best a vile Necromancer and his Warlock wards.

Meanwhile, Champions+ descend into the deep, past the Wither guardians, straight for a set of new bosses.

First, the Eaters: a trio of Wither skeletons that afflict your Mind, Flesh, and Soul. Second, the Corruptor: while seemingly harmless, this evil figure, when slain, opens a gate to another world and summons forth some greater terror. His dark life force might return as the Corruption that he sought with his life.

A warning

This is not a post that I thought I would have to make, but it appears necessary given recent and continuous behaviors I've seen on the server. I'll accept some of the responsibility, since, even while I'm online, I've often ignored the escalating usage of overly derogatory language exchanged on the server. I don't pretend to run a family-friendly server or ask that you players behave any less vulgar than you normally do; however, there's a difference between playful banter and true insults and threats that can certainly be misconstrued in text-based chat.
I don't care if you name items after sexual organs. I don't care if you discuss which animal has the biggest genitalia. I do care when you threaten other players with physical violence. I shouldn't EVER look at my console and see someone saying that they're going to stalk/kill/rape another player, their mother, or their dog. That is a person on the other side of the screen; a person who will have different opinions than you and will may not realize that you're joking.
I'm a little disappointed in all of us that it has come this far, but no farther.
This next point is in the rules, explicitly, but people can't seem to figure it out. No griefing, no stealing, and no PvP is a pretty simple set of rules. I'm getting tired of these few day bans on players and will shift to full bans again. DO NOT break into shit that is not yours. DO NOT take something from chests that is not yours. DO NOT kill players if both players did not agree to fight. It's not complicated!
Do not cheat, glitch, or exploit guys. No XRay, no fly mods. If you have a mod, or a method, that you might think is unfair. Ask someone. Especially Vellusian or Robot. If you come clean and haven't done anything wrong, we'll likely ignore any transgressions. If we catch you, you will be banned. End of story.
Thank you for your time. Happy mining!

Update 24 Aug 2013

We're only getting started in the latest slew of updates planned for the server and hope you enjoy what's coming.

First, we've balanced the revisited wands mentioned in the last post, cutting the cooldowns and upping the damage. And yes, they still cost 64 emerald blocks each.

We've got many new shops in the Overworld, like a Farmer's Market, a Bakery, an Adventure Shop, and even a rumored Shady Town.

In order to encourage players to play smartly, we've added a penalty for dying. At the time of this post, players rank Hero and above will lose $5000 every time they die, while less established players (ranked Knight and below) lose only $500 for each death.
Speaking of ranks, a new set of perks have been laid out:

Page: 3 gold nugget salary
Squire: Hat (/hat), color in chat and messages, 10 gold nugget salary
Apprentice: Emotes (/me), 3 gold ingot salary
Knight: Access to the PlotMe (Creative) world/commands, 10 gold ingot salary
Hero: Weather (/sun, /rain), AFK kick exemption, 3 gold block salary
Champion: Workbench (/wb), 10 gold block salary
Paladin: Fly (/fly), Join full server
Baron/Baroness: 3 diamond block salary
Viscount/Viscountess: 10 diamond block salary
Earl/Countess: Time (/day, /night)
Margrave/Margravine: Enderchest (/enderchest)
Duke/Duchess: Nicknames (/nick)

Finally, we've established a page over a Planet Minecraft (http://www.planetminecraft.com/server/paladins/) and we've got new domains to replace the old No-IP one. Try connecting with: play.MCPaladins.com or play.PaladinsServer.com.

That's it for this time guys. Plenty more to come!

Magic changes

We've made changes to the magic plugins on the server. We decided to disable the spells from Zephyrus, so all of your old wands and spellbooks are now defunct. However, the special enchantments are still available and will continue to function.
MagicalSpells have been reintroduced to the server with a new list of non-standard wands and carefully selected spells. We're still balancing them and looking for feedback, so let us know what you think. No more scavenger hunting random ingredients for crafting and upgrading wands, instead all wands cost a stack of emerald blocks. (I recommend using the VETE for a ready supply of emeralds).

Wands:
Wizard - Controls lightning and fire with ease.
Summoner - Bring forth animals and mobs on a whim.
Monk - Heals and movement skills abound.
Rogue - Leap about and rain arrows on your prey.
Jester - I can't really say much here...