Haelrahv Alpha Testing Phase!

[HR-Trevor]

The time we've all been waiting for is finally approaching, and it's with great pleasure and a healthy handful of anxiety I announce our planned date for the Haelrahv Alpha Phase to begin. Development on Haelrahv began officially on April 29, 2002, a fitting, but completely coincidental date. However, given the initial lack of tools and a small staff, serious development has been taking place for about six months.

We're looking to roll the gates up and let the masses in on Saturday March 29th. This will be an open alpha testing phase, open to anyone. No definite length of time has been set for the Alpha phase, nor has a need for a Beta phase been decided, we'll keep you advised on that.

However, I need to stress many things about this time period. First of all, it is a time for the staff to adjust, balance, and debug, as well as continue development. There will be a lot of bugs, a lot of things will not be finished or even released, and it's possible we may wipe out characters and start fresh before we go "gold".

Should we need to do a wipe, it is our plan to allow you to keep your levels and experience points, if possible. I can't promise we will do so, but at this time it seems very likely that those will not be lost. Inventory and wealth is questionable, primarily because we may need to adjust the economy and/or wipe out copies of items that are either obsolete due to system changes, or imbalanced.

However, should we elect to wipe inventory & wealth, we're looking into flagging some items so that they are not lost and we may also elect to provide each character some amount of money based on their level/experience as well.

Regardless of whether a wipe is necessary or to what extent, post-alpha prizes of some form will be awarded to alpha testers. We can't (and won't <g>) provide details right now.

Much of the game will be constantly adjusted and balanced during this time, including the strength of spells, powers, and weapons; the value of objects; the speed with which actions may be performed and other changes. We don't like to tweak too much, especially when it's a perceived "bad" change by our players, but this Alpha stage is the time to get as much of these tweaks in as possible and we'll be fully taking advantage of that.

Additionally, experience rates are currently on the slow end. Haelrahv us a 100-level game (finally a game not written for levels 1-20! <g>) and levels are well spaced apart at 100 hours of experience drain time per each level. When we go live, we may increase these rates to make levels quicker, we'll be gauging this closely.

During the Alpha phase, our primary task will be to balance and debug systems, and continue development of new areas. There will be some events taking place (merchant events, storylines, invasions, etc.) over the period of Alpha, but these will be low priority for us until we go Gold.

Finally, several systems and areas are not complete and won't be complete before Alpha, unfortunately. Some of these will be done or much further along in short time after release. Below is a list of systems that are not expected to be available or available in full, as of Alpha launch. This is not a definitive list, some systems that don't make the Alpha date may not necessarily appear here.

• Some combat attacks/maneuvers and mid to high level huntables.
  
  
• Mid to high level implants and cybernetics.
  
  
• Forging / Tanning / Tailoring.
  
  
• Some shops in various locations.
  
  
• Some spells and psionics.
  
  
• Droids will be partially functional. However, minimum level to build one may prevent most or all alpha testers from having a droid before alpha ends, anyway.
  
  
• The cities of Titan City, Virtuoso, Rinth and Abbindolare may not be fully complete but should all be accessible.
  
  
• Esia will be accessible in part, but most of it will not be (Esia is HUGE, by the way).
  
  
• Terra Historia may or may not be accessible completely, but much of it is completed. This is also a huge area.
  
  
• Hunting areas will be limited but we'll make an attempt to provide as many locations to hunt in as possible, primarily near Abbindolare and Wargale at this time.
  
  
• The weather system will not be complete.
  
  
• Craftsmanship will be limited, but woodworking will be available as well as some smaller systems.
  
  
• Virtually all of alchemy will be available, but a couple of mixture may not be.
  
  
• Stealing may not yet be available.
  
  
• The justice system and CvC (character vs. character) combat will not be available immediately.
  
  
• We no longer have a Bureaucrat guru and need to re-assess the Bureaucrat legal case system - this system will probably be unavailable initially.
  
  
• Cooking will be available, but some methods of cooking will not be complete, probably.
  
  
• Some Guardian meditations / sigils may not be available.
  
  
• Skinning may or may not be available. We'll work to make it available if possible.
  
  
• Appraisal of objects may be limited somewhat, initially.
  
  
• Animals & mounts are in great part done, but some features may not be available.
  
  
• Transportation methods will be limited. Naval travel will be available, land will be foot or mounts initially and air will be unavailable possibly. Player-controlled vehicles will not be available for certain, excluding mounts.
  
  
• Poisons will probably not be available initially. They'll be creatable but not usable.
  
  
• Player housing will not be available.
  
  
• Fishing will not be available. Sorry MO folks. ;D
  
  
• Orders will not have any official support to any great degree initially.

I should note that some of these items have short development times; it's just a matter of clearing off our development plates.

If you do not see a system listed above and would like to inquire about its status, feel free to do so in the Replies to Announcements From The Staff folder.
_________________
"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something." -- Plato

-- Trevor Rage / Rich Mondy