Wyvern News Archives

Wyvern in Shop for 50,000-mile Tune-Up
01-OCT-06

On September 7th, our trusty Wyvern game server finally gave up the ghost after many faithful years of service. As a result, the website and game have been unavailable for a few weeks.

We're very busy getting Wyvern up and running on the new server. It's a huge amount of work, and the game will most likely not be allowing logins again until sometime in November. On the bright side, it'll give you time to catch up on your homework!

In the meantime, as a token of good faith, we spent a few days sprucing up our crufty old website. The content is nearly all the same, but the look and feel have changed. We hope you like it!

The new website has some glitches and broken links here and there, but rest assured we'll get around to fixing them eventually. Our first priority is getting Wyvern running again.

Thanks for your patience, and we look forward to seeing you all back here again when Wyvern starts back up in a few weeks. Wish us luck! (Note: not enough of you wished us luck, so the game was down for over a year. Next time, -really- wish us luck!)

System Maintenance and Player Purge
30-MAY-06

To improve system performance, we have removed about 60,000 players from the Wyvern database. The criteria were: (a) age is 0, (b) xp is 0, (c) level is 1, and (d) haven't logged in for over a year. It's possible that in spite of the redundant precautions, we may have deleted a character that someone was using, so we backed them up first. If you are suddenly missing a first-level character with no xp, please let an Elder Wizard know.

We took the game server down for maintenance today for about eight hours, during which time we did the purge above, fixed some bugs, and backed up our databases. We apologize for any inconvenience this maintenance outage may have caused.

Wyvern's 5-Year Stats
19-MAR-06

Last month, Wyvern hit its 5-year anniversary of being open to the public. (We opened our doors for alpha on Feb 4th, 2001.) How's Wyvern been doing? Here are a few stats we've put together for you.

PLAYERS

Today we have 162,561 characters:   92.4% male, 7.5% female. The total number of Wyvern accounts ever created is now over a quarter million. (The difference is due to players deleting and re-creating their characters, or occasional purges where we delete inactive characters, and their names are re-used.)

Some people create more than one character. If you look at people (basically, email addresses) instead of characters, over 150,000 people have created an account. Over 75% of those people have active Wyvern characters.

If you add up all the time Wyvern players have spent on the game, we've logged over 130 years of 24-hour-a-day gameplay.

We also ran a quick database query to generate some stats by player race.

CHATS

Wyvern offers many ways to chat and socialize, including shouts, whispers, tells, group-tells, guild tells, "say", non-verbal emotes, wiztells, pktells, in-game email, and other mechanisms. The most popular channels are tell (over 11.4 million to date), shout (over 6 million), and say (over 3.75 million).

We've also logged over 1.2 million guild-tells, a quarter million PK channel tells, and over half a million wiz-tells (those Wizards sure are talking about you a lot!) Wyvern players are evidently not shy about sharing their feelings — we only get about 3 whispers per day.

Finally, we introduced a player-warning system in mid-2003, to help players police the game. We've had over 15,000 player warnings issued since we enabled that feature. Great job, folks!

CONTENT

All content in Wyvern is created by dedicated Wizards.

Currently we have over 15,000 unique objects in the game: monsters, armor, weapons, magical items, walls and terrain, spells, vehicles, and other goodies.

There are about 10,000 hand-created game maps, not counting auto-generated maps such as dungeons, mazes, sokoban levels, etc. Placed side by side, assuming a tile is about 1cm on your screen, these maps would be over 1.2 miles wide. Stacked vertically they'd be over a mile tall.

The scale of Wyvern maps varies by area, but if you assume that a map location in the game is (on average) 10 feet on a side, then Wyvern could be considered a "theme park" of over 15 square miles of beautiful, hand-crafted, playable territory, plus many more square miles of random content in our dungeons, mazes and caverns. And the game is always growing.

That's a lot of work from our dedicated Wizards! Not only have they created maps and objects, they've contributed artwork and source code as well. Wizards have written 50,000 lines of Java and 75,000 lines of Python code to produce custom quests, spells, areas, and fancy game effects. They've also hand-painted and uploaded nearly 20,000 images!

In all, Wyvern is about 500,000 lines of source code in Java, Python, Ruby, Perl, JavaScript and Lisp, plus about 2 million lines of hand-generated XML. And we have over 25,000 beautiful game-art images, and 3 ugly ones.

GOING FORWARD

Wyvern is a thriving, complex, challenging, wonderful game. It never stands still, and yet whenever you come back after a long absence, you'll find it as familiar as ever.

As always, Wyvern remains free to play. It's all paid for out-of-pocket by Rhialto, and the content and game administration are handled by our tireless, dedicated Wizards, most especially Teshuvah, Arilou, and Raeden.

We think Wyvern is the coolest MUD on the Web, and we encourage you to try it!

The Cat is Out of the Bag!
29-NOV-05

A resident of New Verden needs your assistance. Rachel's cat has wandered out into the forest. If you'd like to help Rachel, go to her small house on the west side of New Verden. The quest is recommended for levels 2 and up.

Database Errors
13-NOV-05

We had some fairly severe database issues on Saturday, causing players who logged in to simply disappear. We apologize for the inconvenience. The problem has been fixed, and most of the affected players have been restored. A handful, sadly, were not recoverable. Such are the perils of playing a free game in beta test. We sincerely apologize to players the database monster ate forever.

Special thanks to Teshuvah and Arilou for once again coming to the rescue. They analyzed the problem, notified our operations staff, and helped ensure a speedy recovery for the game. We deeply appreciate the tireless efforts of Elder Wizards Teshuvah and Arilou: their vigilance in monitoring the game and their constant improvements to the game world itself have kept Wyvern thriving.

Gallador's Mansion
11-NOV-05

Legend tells us this mansion was designed over 200 years ago in the Black Barn Bar. The Black Barn was a noted den of iniquity, removed some miles from the nearest center of population due to extreme displays of public drunkeness by its patrons. Gallador himself never resided here for he died of comsumption three weeks before completion.

Since that time the mansion has gradually fallen into disrepair. Years ago a fire caused damage and legend says it is now inhabited by ghosts and that the undead roam its corridors and rooms. Nevertheless, it is also said that great treasures can be found by those brave enough to explore.

Gallador's Mansion, generally for levels 10 and under, can be found a short walk west of the Alaria Guard Tower.

Grave Robbing
22-OCT-05

News has spread among Wyvern's criminal population that the Amita graveyard is a treasure trove for graverobbers. Apparently, the King's Guard no longer has an interest in patrolling the peasantry's graves, so low lives are now free to steal everything they can dig up there, while in other places they would either be stopped before their shovel even hit the ground or had found that someone had looted all the graves years before they even got there. However, should you decide to join them in their dark deeds, beware, for disturbing the dead has its dangers and the last thing you would want is one coming alive to feast on your warm flesh.

Nightmares
27-SEP-05

Two new areas have burst forth from the nightmares of Binyamin's mind!

The Shoggoth Caverns are hidden deep inside sunny Beitdag. Do you have what it takes to find the entrance and brave the Arch Shogoliches within?

Dragondell stands to the north of the Black Forests of Oxbow. Enjoy its quiet paths, its gentle wildlife, its scenic beauty. Only don't venture too deep, for there is a horrible evil contained within!

Fixes and Friendmuffs
21-AUG-05

There's a new friendmuffs command that lets you temporarily ignore friendtells from people who have you in their friends lists. We're working on some "friend approval" commands that will prevent non-friends from adding you to their friends list. They should be available soon.

In other news, we've fixed the infamous "top-o'-the-hour" bug (also known as the "login bug") that would cause the Town Crier to become confused and schedule early reboots several times a day. We've sent him to counselling and bought him a new watch, and all seems to be going well now.

Finally, we've gradually dialed the game reboot cycle back up to every 6 hours over the past few days. The long-term goal is to have the game not reboot more than once a day or so. We'll keep an eye on it with the setting at 6 hours and see how it fares.

Darcy's Retreat
05-JUN-05

A new area by the Wizard Cinaeth, found northwest of Alaria. Darcy Le Grenuille, spurning tradition and building a retreat amongst the ruins of villages pillaged, plundered and abandoned as demonic invaders awakened by the great evil moved in and took residence. Darcy Le Grenuille and his wife entertain visitors to their home with music and fine dining. Nevertheless their home contains many dark secrets in its halls, and the surrounding villages contain many dangers for the the adventurers to explore. Suitable (with caution) for all levels above 6.

Sokoban Prizes Retired
29-APR-05

The Tower of Sokoban in Alaria has been a source of joy, wonderment, and frustration for thousands of players, ever since it opened its oaken doors to the public two and a half years ago. The Tower has long awarded prizes to the persistent adventurers who unravel its secrets. However, Sokoban is an old game (1982, Thinking Rabbit, Japan), and solutions to all the levels abound, so Wonderment has increasingly given way to Temptation, if you catch our drift. The Tower remains open to the public, but we've decided it's time to retire the prizes.

Solving the levels is now officially its own reward! As always, the Tower remains a fun puzzle for curious and intelligent players looking for a different kind of challenge.

Inside sources tell us that Rhialto had a tear in his wizened eye as he tapped his wand on the prize machine, sending it to Bermuda for a comfortable retirement on the beach. "I love all Wyvern players equally," the ancient ArchWizard was overheard to mutter, "but sometimes I just can't help feeding a cheater to my pet Razortooth Chaos Wyvern, Fluffy. He says they taste better than regular players." Rhialto then shook a large mothball out of his beard, wandered into a corner of the room, and apparently turned into a large houseplant.

Fluffy was unavailable for comment.

New Area
28-FEB-05

The wizard Kharpern has created a new jungle area for exploring. The entrance is a volcano southwest of Rakshasa Haryma. Speaking of exploring, I wonder how many of you have found the extensive area in the jungles east of Rakshasa Harmya that the wizard Teshuvah created a while back? Have fun exploring!

Fishing and More!
11-JAN-05

Fishing has arrived in Wyvern. You can fish in New Verden and the Davos ruins if you are a beginner. And you can fish in Glacier Point and on the Isle of Maiye if you are a pro. Find the fishing shacks, read the signs and speak to the shopkeepers for details!

The Isle of Maiye has had a number of updates: a troll village on the eastern side of the isle, a wildflower patch with pickable flowers, a new flower shop on the pier, a treat shop and more!

There have been other updates, too, including the forests of Glacier Point, the jungles of Rakshasa Harmya, and PK arenas in Oxbow, to name a few.

Alaria Gauntlet Remodeled
10-JAN-05

The wizard Arilou has remodeled the gauntlet in Alaria. I always found the old one to be fun and challenging to go through, but sort of plain-looking. Now it's as nice to look at as it is fun to play. Nice work, Arilou!

New Areas
29-SEP-04

A new area for lower level players has been added in the ruins north of Davos, a goblin village ripe for the smashing.

A new fishing village has been discovered on one of the islands in the southwest area of Wyvern. Something indicates these folks may not be from around here.

Shout Channels
29-SEP-04

Shout channels have been changed a bit. Since most general shouts are 'out of character', that's where they'll be heard now, on the ooc channel. This allows players who want to role-play or just not listen to most shouts to unsubscribe from the ooc channel, but still hear auctions and the like. Filters like naga ssspeech and and paladins now work in the rp, lq and auction channels, instead of the general shout channel.

Game Server
25-SEP-04

There were problems with the ISP that hosts the Wyvern server yesterday. Wyvern is now running again, so have fun slaying those dragons!

Night and Day
20-SEP-04

Wyvern now has night and day cycles! Each cycle is two hours long, so there will be two 'nights' each four hour reboot. Note that not all areas have been updated for this yet, so you'll see some maps that are lit incorrectly. If you see a map that should be dark at night but isn't or vice versa, report it with the bug command.

Identified Items and Stores
19-SEP-04

Stores are now a bit pickier about buying, selling and unselling items. Some items like spellbooks have to be identified before they can be sold to a store. It's highly recommended to identify any items before you sell them, if you think there's a chance you might want to keep it.

Nagas
12-SEP-04

A couple of long-standing bugs have been fixed with nagas. First, they now have the polearm skill to start. It was specified in the manual, but wasn't implemented. There's a polearm trainer in the Minath Elion training hall, but there aren't many polearm weapons yet.

The other long-standing bug is that the dragon and hydra forms weren't being slowed down correctly. Viper and cobra were correctly sped up a bit, but the larger forms weren't slowed down.

Ch-Ch-Changes
08-SEP-04

There's a new trap you'll encounter sooner or later. It consists of a moving barrier which sometimes blocks the way. Not surprisingly, it'll squash you if you're in it when it closes.

Some of the food you encounter may be spoiled, and hence poisonous. Given the lack of refrigeration, some types of food spoil faster than others, so be careful what you eat!

Finally, more monsters have inventories now, so you'll find more things to sell when looting corpses than before.

Wyvern Post Explorer
06-SEP-04

The Monks of Wyvern are in need of your help. The Wyvern Post delivery Service is overwhelmed with so many letters to the other monks. They could use your help to deliver their correspondence. Read more about it on the quest page.

Demon Hordes Quest
04-SEP-04

The Demon Hordes Quest is back online. All quests are changed occasionally, so remember that even if you've done a quest before on another character, it may not be the same as it was.

The Estate of Portis Blackroot
03-SEP-04

A new area by the Wizard Cinaeth, "The Estate of Portis Blackroot" is now open. The area includes a quest, "The Lost Amulet", for levels 16 and above, but there are many areas for lower level players. The estate can be found along the West Road of Minath.

Your Character
24-AUG-04

Just a reminder that you are not allowed to give your password or character to anyone else. Nor should you take up someone's offer to "help level up your character", as it's invariably a scam. Read the rules for the full scoop.

Server Outage
23-AUG-04

The game server was down most of yesterday due to ISP problems, and this morning due to database problems. Those have been resolved, so the game is once again available for playing. Have fun!

Turned to Stone
03-AUG-04

A bug in the monster AI code that's been around since March has been fixed. One effect of the bug was that stonewind and petrify didn't work very often. They're back to the way they were before, so don't forget those resists next time you encounter a medusa or their ilk!

Rangers
02-AUG-04

The wizard Raeden has created a new guild, the rangers guild. Rangers have a variety of skills, but do most of their fighting with whips, and are always up for exploring. Read more about them on the guilds page. You'll have to solve a new quest to join, Secrets of the Sidewinder Caverns.

I Hunger
29-JUL-04

Most players probably don't encounter it because food is consumed so slowly, but when you starve, you stop healing. Now, as an added bonus, you'll be briefly confused by the experience, too. Which if you've ever gone too long without eating, you've doubtless experienced in real life, too.

Isle of Maiye
28-JUL-04

The Isle of Maiye (pronounced with a long 'i' sound) is home to a new resort hotel. It features a boardwalk, beaches, a swimming pool, gardens, and more. While the resort is a peaceful and relaxing place, the nearby forests are somewhat eerie, with the sound of laughter heard amongst the trees.

The area also features a new quest, The Orb of Maiye. Both can be found on an island in the southwest, which you can find on the worldmap.

Armorcrafting
14-JUL-04

Items created with Fenixdown's armorcrafting system now have values assigned so they can be offered at auction. If you think the values can be improved, use the idea command to suggest new values.

Bura Shaan Remodel
11-JUL-04

The wizard Raeden has remodeled the city of Bura Shaan, so it's looking cooler than ever. Check it out next time you're in the frozen north.

Watery Wonderland
15-JUN-04

The wizard Binyamin has opened a new high-level area (20+), which can be found south of Minath Elion. The artwork scales new heights, but some of the monsters are kind of fishy...

Also, a number of bugs have been fixed in Fenixdown's skinning and armorcrafting system. If you find more problems, please report them with the bug command.

New Area
14-JUN-04

The wizard Yatoka has opened a new area called Henteko. It's believed that it exists in the same time as the known world, but is on a chain of far distant islands. The area can be reached via the Well of Time (in the far north)...sometimes. The Well is unstable, and may send adventurers elsewhere in time and space. The area also includes a new quest, The Curse of Henteko.

Resists Redux
14-JUN-04

The bug in the enlightenment spell / potion has been fixed, and the spell now includes the cap information. It correctly shows your resists (and vulnerabilities, if any), including racial bonuses, spells and magical items.

More on Resists
13-JUN-04

To help deal with the changes introduced by fixing the resistance cap bug, resistance spells are now more powerful for each skill point you have in the related art, 4% resistance for each point instead of 1% as before. However, note that the enlightenment spell / potion has a bug and won't show you the correct values of your resistances. We're working on a fix.

Wyvern Glossary
12-JUN-04

Puzzled by 'pally'? Baffled by 'BR'? Thanks to the players Shadowfinch, Tuor and Pan, there's now a glossary of abbreviations and phrases used in Wyvern.

Resists and Caps
11-JUN-04

A long-standing bug with caps on resistances like resist fire was fixed recently. It wasn't supposed to have been possible for players to be 100% immune to any magic, but an error in the code allowed it in some cases. Doubtless many of you are noticing the change. Rather than react vocally just because it's changed and you don't like the change, please take an honest look at it, and if you still feel there's a problem, suggest possible solutions with the idea command.

New Guild, New Quest
07-JUN-04

The wizard Galdor has created a new guild, the Rogues Guild. Rogues specialize in fighting with blades, but would rather avoid a fair fight and use their stealth. To join the guild, you need to solve the new quest by the wizard Arilou, Shrouded in Darkness. You'll need to solve the quest just to find out where the Rogues Guild hall is.

ISP Outage
05-JUN-04

Cabochon's ISP had problems the last several days, making it difficult to reach the game or the website unless you happened to read the player boards and find out the IP address. We're working to resolve the issues longer-term, including investigating new ISPs. Hosting isn't bad, but the kind of bandwidth Wyvern uses isn't cheap.

Tornaum Castle
04-JUN-04

Tornaum Castle and its quest have gotten a facelift. It's now the quest required for entry to the Cavemans Guild, too. If you're already in the guild you don't need to solve it unless you quit and rejoin.

Live Quests
01-JUN-04

In a long-awaited change, live quests (LQ) have been changed to be more fair. The experience points are divided amongst all the players who took part (and are still logged on) based on how much damage they did, and the LQ prize, if any, goes to the player who inflicted the most damage.

/player Manual
31-MAY-04

Thanks to lots of help from the players Shadowfinch and Tuor, the /player manual has been updated. Lots of long-standing errors and out of date information has been fixed. If you find other problems with the manual, please report them with the bug command.

Repairs and Auctions
28-MAY-04

The New Verden Auction house now has an orb for repairing magical items like wands and scrolls. It's not needed to use or sell the item to a shop, but is if you want to auction the item for sale to other players.

Mining
25-MAY-04

The wizards Teshuvah and Raeden have created a new way for lower level players to make some money. There are mines near New Verden and Davos with uncut gems for mining. It requires a pickaxe and some patience, as not every rock you smash open will yield a gem. Please report any bugs or abuses with the bug command.

Reboot Cycle
21-MAY-04

To see if we can't deal with the occasional sluggishness, the game has been put back on a 4 hour reboot cycle (was 6 hour) for the time being. Don't forget to pick up your auction items before each reboot!

Package Delivery System
13-MAY-04

Fenixdown's package delivery system has been revised, with some bug fixes, more varieties of packages, and lots of new NPCs in different places to deliver to. It's not only a great way to make some money, but it helps you to explore and get to know the lands of Wyvern. There are WyvernPost stations in New Verden (in the post office, upstairs in the adventurers guild), Alaria, Bandar Gaah, Minath Elion, and a number of other locations. Report any problems with the bug command .

Rules Clarification
13-MAY-04

Just a reminder that transferring money or equipment to other characters is not allowed. It doesn't matter how you phrase what you're doing, if you're caught transferring money one way or another, you'll face the penalties for it. As with all rules, if you feel a rule is wrong, don't break it anyway or try to argue it with a wizard. Write a calm, clear email to Legolas or Rhialto explaining why you think it's in error. If they rule against you, well, better learn to live with the rule.

Beautiful New Area
11-MAY-04

Raeden has opened a beautiful new area replete with flowers called Botanica. It includes a new 4 point quest. Check out the area when you're north of Blackrose City, even if you don't want to do the quest -- it's lovely.

Auction Prices
10-MAY-04

As you doubtless know, auction prices are limited with a both a minimum and a maximum price based on the value to reduce scamming, illicit transfers of money, etc. So if you find that you want to sell an item, but the value is too high or too low to sell at the price you want, is the correct thing to do:
  1. Complain in shouts about how messed up auction limits are.
  2. Sell items back and forth until you both get the price you want.
  3. Report the problem with the bug command
If you chose A, you'll probably be ignored. If you chose B, you may get banished for going around the rules. So the correct answer is therefore C. If you find values for items that you feel are incorrect, report the problem (and suggested values) with the bug command.

Ships Ahoy!
04-MAY-04

The graphics for ships have been updated, and the size of the rowboat and log raft have been changed to put them more in line with the size of the galleons. Updates to the pirate ships will be coming soon.

There have been a number of bug fixes, most of which will be unnoticed by all but a very few.

The drop rates for dragons and some other creatures has been increased (shocking, I know) some. The balance of gold, XP, etc. is still being tuned. We'll get better at tuning it as we develop better tools for tracking how slow or fast people gain money and experience.

Finally, the ruins near Rakshasa Harmya have been expanded a bit, with some fun stuff for levels 6-12.

More Changes
30-APR-04

Many of you have noticed new images for the corpses of some monsters. The latest round were drawn by Munkmaster with some minor touches by Legolas. Nice work, Munkmaster!

There's a new quest, the Westerly Forest quest. It's for levels 7-9 and is worth 3 QP.

There are a fair number of player-run sites for Wyvern, but a particularly well done site is Wyvern Answered. Nicely done guides to the live quests, different artifact weapons, and maps and descriptions of the different areas in Wyvern. And a sometimes very amusing news ticker.

Finally, the mix for random artifacts has been freshened up a bit. You may see different artifact weapons than you're used to, or sometimes you'll end up with a nice gem instead. And you may notice a change or two to the vorpal blade artifact.

Minor Changes
23-APR-04

Following a player suggestion, you can now type a period after a name with the who command to get an exact match. Handy when the player you want to see has a common name or one that's a common start to other names, like Ra, e.g., "who ra." matches only Ra, not all players who's names start with ra.

To help reduce lag a bit in PK arenas, deaths no longer leave a gravestone in PK areas. Popular PK arenas like the mage arena in Blackrose routinely got dozens and dozens of gravestones each reboot cycle, sometimes as many as 10 per square.

Finally, there's a new monster that you may encounter in random dungeons and other areas, a nasty brute called the monopod.

Amazing Glacier Point Remodel
06-APR-04

The wizard Teshuvah has remodeled the city of of Glacier Point. In short, it's amazing. It features 200+ maps, new artwork by Legolas and Binyamin, new monsters, three new quests and a number of interesting and fun surprises.

Bug Fixes
01-APR-04

Bugs are being fixed all the time, but most people won't notice the changes. One that you may notice is that non-metal helmets no longer protect your head from falling rocks as well as metal ones do.

New Minath Monster Arena
24-MAR-04

The Minath Elion Monster Arena, which has served us faithfully since December of 2001, has been showing its age. Players have been getting more powerful over the years, and we finally had to draw the line when someone beat the arena with guest6. The Minath Arena has been completely remodeled, with contributions from Rhialto, Legolas, Teshuvah, Janica, Raeden, Caius, and Knop. The original arena high-score list has been preserved, and we will be releasing some statistics on what's been one of Wyvern's most popular features for well over 2 years, with over 25,000 fights and over 4,000 distinct participants. Feel free to test your skills against the new and improved Minath Monster Arena today! As always, it can be found in the royal city of Minath Elion, northeast of the castle.

Troglodyte Quest
22-MAR-04

The Wizard Teshuvah has created a new quest for lower level players. Read about the new Troglodyte Quest or find info in the Adventurers Guild. The quest is recommended for levels 2-4.

Various Changes
17-MAR-04

There are various changes some of you have noticed:

New Client
07-MAR-04

We've updated the client to version 1.4.9. If you quit your client completely and restart, you'll get the updated version. This is mostly an artwork update. It's a long download, but it includes all the new artwork for many areas, and also the fancy new Rakshasa pictures. One minor new feature: you can drag-and-drop things between the ground and inventory windows, although it's not very sophisticated yet. There's also a meter showing your shout points, but it's not yet hooked up. One bug: if you have a very long title, your screen will be too wide, but we'll have a fix for that shortly. In the mean time, if you're in the teachers guild, try quitting it for now to shorten your title. (But keep answering questions and helping other players!)

Spell of the Swamp Witch Quest
01-MAR-04

The wizard Zifa has created a new quest, the Spell of the Swamp Witch. Begin by finding the Swamp Witch in the swamps in the ruins near Rakshasa Harmya. We'll add more info and a book in the Adventurers Guild library soon. There's some fighting (hard fighting, recommended for levels 20 and higher), but it's mostly thinking and exploring.

Item Transfers, part II
01-MAR-04

Some of you have voiced unhappiness over the change to item transfers. Please remember that the game is in beta test, and is subject to change, and is going to have bugs as we work on things. There are a number of unanticipated problems with the recent item transfer change. For example, players on a group expedition have no way to share healing potions. We're working on finding and fixing these problems as quickly as we can. Report bugs with the bug command, and ideas for improving the system with the idea command.

Item Transfers
29-FEB-04

To encourage safe trading using the auction hall, a change has been made to item transfers. Once you pick up an item you find, it's yours. No one else can pick it up. This means you have to use the auction hall to sell items to other players. You can find instructions on how to offer to a particular player on a sign in the auction hall, and in the manual.

Odin's Eye Quest Prizes
28-FEB-04

The problems with the quest prizes for Odin's Eye have been fixed. If you've solved the quest and had one in your inventory, contact Raeden by in-game email regarding replacement.

New Areas, New Looks
27-FEB-04

A number of smaller areas have been added, particularly in newbie areas to help with crowding, and we'll be adding more as they're created.

Also, wizards continue to remodel and improve existing areas. Amita (Arilou), Coran (Zifa) and the castle in Blackrose City (Avalon) have all gotten remodels, large and small. Check out the castle in Blackrose City next time you're there -- it's beautiful.

ISP Problems
24-FEB-04

Cabochon's ISP is still having problems today. Connection speeds are very low, and game play can be difficult. If it continues, we'll take the game off-line until the problems can be resolved.

Server Outage
23-FEB-04

Cabochon's ISP had an equipment failure today, resulting in 3 hours or so when the game and website couldn't be reached. Sorry for the inconvenience, and thanks for your patience.

Khaytsi City
21-FEB-04

Khaytsi City, a new area by the wizard Teshuvah is now open. It can be found in the verdant hills east of Blackrose City. It's the home of the happy-go-lucky halflings, and is mostly a peaceful place. There's a new quest, too The Goose That Lays Golden Eggs. Talk to the king in Khaytsi to start the quest. The forests around Khaytsi are particularly beautiful, but some parts can be particularly dangerous, too.

/player Land
17-FEB-04

New regulations have been passed down by the high king in Minath. Players who have purchased land but not maintained and developed it have two weeks to do so. Contact the Wizard Zifa by in-game mail, or your land will be seized and sold at auction in two weeks.

Quest Prizes
15-FEB-04

The quest prizes from Odin's Eye have been temporarily removed from inventories while Raeden fixes some problems with them. We have a complete list of players who have solved it, and they will be returned when the items are fixed.

Also, there was a bug that prevented Sokoban prizes from working properly. Those of you have purchased them on the second-hand market rather than solving Sokoban yourself may now be wondering about the wisdom of your purchases...

Bold New Verden
12-FEB-04

The Wizard Binyamin, creator of the Oxbow Wildlife Sanctuary and the (in)famous Wyvern Souvenir T-Shirts, has outdone himself again. He's taken on the ambitious task of completely remodeling New Verden, and you can now see the results for yourself! There are new training areas, new NPCs, lots of secret tunnels and clever details, and the whole place looks like the groundskeeper quit his job about 700 years ago. It's great! Make sure to thank Binyamin for all his efforts next time you're online.

Tons of Changes
11-FEB-04

We've made lots of changes and additions to the game lately! Here is a summary of the highlights from the past week: Keep your eyes open for more changes coming soon!

Rakshasa Leopards
06-FEB-04

Thanks to some hard work by Raeden, there's a new race to play: rakshasa leopards. They're fast, at home moving through trees or snow, and have the ability to leap over foes to attack from behind. Nice work, Raeden!

Minath Castle Remodel
26-JAN-04

The king in Minath, sparing no expense (possibly explaining why the kingdom is having financial problems) has had the interior of the castle in Minath remodeled. It features new artwork from Legolas and some contributed by the player Phesten. Check it out next time you're in Minath.

New Rakshasa Images
25-JAN-04

Senior Wizard Raeden has done a brand-new set of pictures for Rakshasa players: male and female Lions, Panthers and Tigers. They look really fantastic. Some clients have bugs where you can't see the new images except using the "who" command, but we're working on a fix.

New Archers Guild
21-JAN-04

The Wizard Zifa has contributed a brand-new Archers Guild, complete with lovely new scenery and some all-new Archer-only armor and weapons available in the shop. Humans who join the Archers Guild get fancy new images, compliments of Arisu. Be sure to thank Zifa and Arisu for all the work they put into the remodeling of the Guild!

New Names Available
21-JAN-04

Today we deleted some unused characters from the player database: all characters who had never logged in and were created more than 45 days ago. This freed up 26,450 character names, including important RPG names like "iamabanana", "meetlofe", "smurfdotcom", "edthesock", and "xxsupaflyxx". (Note: not all of them are legal names anymore.)

Portable Holes
20-JAN-04

We've fixed portable holes so Giants and Nagas may now use them. Enjoy! We also fixed a number of bugs in the portable-hole code. If you find any bugs with portable holes, please report them to a Wizard.

New Area
12-JAN-04

The newly promoted wizard Teshuvah has opened a new area. It's a cave somewhere in the jungles of the southern continent. Have fun exploring, but be careful -- it's a dangerous place! (level 15+)

In other news, the Odin's Eye quest has been raised to 60 quest points. Will you be the first to solve it?

Sortable Spells
11-JAN-04

Fenixdown has contributed a sortable spell list. If you have a JavaScript-enabled browser, you may find this useful!

Skill Points Fixed
07-JAN-04

The good news is: we've fixed the Untrainer bug where you could lose skill points permanently if you were in a guild. We also ran a script that recalculated the skill points for over 67,000 players, and fixed incorrect numbers for over 1100 of them.

The bad news is: 86% of the adjustments were negative. Only 156 players got more skill points. 945 people lost points. It looks like we had a bug where you could accidentally get more skill points than you were allowed to have. Look on the bright side: those 945 players got extra skills for free, for a while! Here's the list of players who gained or lost points.

We didn't automatically untrain anyone. If your skill points are negative right now, then before you can train again, you'll need to untrain in skills until you have at least one skill point.

If your skill points were changed, you'll have mail waiting in the Post Office from the Game Driver telling you many you gained or lost.

Thanks for everyone's patience while we fixed this long-standing bug!

More Tales from Wyvern
06-JAN-04

More Tales from Wyvern have been added, including chapter 3 of Beestie's Teller of Tales, chapters 2 and 3 of Drows of Chaos from Cairpre, a poem from Lugio, and stories from Astinus, Kiet, and Wurm. I think Astinus did a particularly clever job of keeping the story 'in character' while integrating parts of Wyvern. (And no, the stories don't have to mention Legolas to get posted :-). Check out the latest Tales from Wyvern today!

Also, Legolas is slooooowly getting caught up on email. If you've sent him an email with stories, maps or artwork, and not yet received an answer, send him a reminder email.

Bug Fixes
03-JAN-04

We've fixed a few important bugs recently: We've also made Post Office mail a little smarter:

Thanks for reporting all the bugs; please keep those reports coming!

Heimdal Rocks!
31-DEC-03

Closing out 2003 in the utmost of style, Raeden and Lucinda have teamed up to bring you the Nordic area of Asgard, and the Odin's Eye Quest. Asgard can be reached via Bifrost, the Rainbow Bridge, which leads up into the sky. The bridge comes and goes, so keep your eyes peeled for it!

Congratulations are very much in order for our Raeden, who is our newest Senior Wizard!

Autobag Is Here
29-DEC-03

We've added a sophisticated new command called autobag. It lets you sort objects into bags automatically when you pick them up, according to rules you specify.

We've written a complete autobag manual with a comprehensive tutorial, and lots of examples. Feedback on this feature is welcome! We hope you enjoy it.

Pixie Power
24-DEC-03

We did some scrubbing on the database tonight, and updated the XML for about 65,000 player files. We were able to cut the database size by 25%, which should do wonders for performance.

The cleanup that we did helped support a new feature: Pixies now have access to "fly" and "land" commands. By default, they're flying, but they can land on the ground now when needed (e.g. to activate small buttons.)

Lastly: Happy Holidays to all! If you haven't logged in to Wyvern lately, you should check it out, just to see all the snow Legolas put in.

Lore Points
21-DEC-03

We fixed the Lore Points for 859 players last night. Those players had the wrong numbers of Lore Points for various reasons: spells changing lore values, or bugs in the spell system that we've fixed, or other reasons.

649 players got more points, and 210 were docked points. Most players only received or lost 1 to 4 points. Several dozen gained over 30 points, and two or three got over 100. The record was lickghy, who was somehow short 143 points.

Most of the 210 players who had too many only lost a handful, and nobody lost more than 13. A very few players might have negative lore point values now. That just means that before they can learn new spells, they have to unlearn enough to get back to positive numbers.

In other news: the Sword of Noir had a bug that prevented you from naming it, and it's been fixed.

Uncurse Altars
20-DEC-03

Fenixdown has been at it again, this time improving the uncurse altars. Now you can type "uncurse inv" to uncurse everything in your inventory, and "uncurse all" to uncurse your inventory and any cursed items in bags, too. If you have enough money, of course.

Reboot Time
20-DEC-03

The reboot time has been changed back to four hours. Just a reminder that items in the auction house disappear if you leave them there through a reboot!

More Player Owned Homes
16-DEC-03

The town of Ocina is now open, and has land available for purchase for player homes. It's on an island southwest of Tornaum Castle. Buy your ocean front lot before they're all gone!

Snow!
16-DEC-03

A heavy snowstorm has hit Wyvern, with reports of snow as far south as Minath Elion! Meteorologists are still studying the unusual storm, but believe it may have been caused by a strange weather phenomenon known as 'El Lego'.

New Area
14-DEC-03

The shifting of the earth has uncovered a powerful gate, which was previously buried in the snowy north. Its exact purpose is being studied, but it's suspected to be a gateway through a crack in time and space.

Congratulations to Arilou on an exciting new area. Have fun exploring... but be careful!

Rules Reminder
13-DEC-03

Just a reminder to read and follow the rules. Failure to do so will result in the appropriate penalties. In the immortal words of Rhialto:
"Don't cheat, be respectful to others, and behave yourself, and you should have absolutely no problems."

Regarding stolen items when selling items, the best way to ensure against theft is to use the auction house in New Verden or Almien. You can even use it to offer the item to a specific player and safely make trades.

More Tales from Wyvern
01-DEC-03

Part two of Beestie's Teller of Tales is now online in Tales from Wyvern. There are also stories from Lugio, Ragedwarf, Reebee and Rilassa. Check them out -- some good reading. And keep those stories, songs and poems coming!

Support Spells
29-NOV-03

We've fixed it so you can cast various "support" spells on other players: all the Resistance spells, as well as Strength, Speed, Regeneration and Bravery. You can also cast Confuse Monster on players in PK zones.

Tales from Wyvern
24-NOV-03

There's a new feature on the web site, Tales from Wyvern. It features writing about adventures in the lands of Wyvern. Beestie was our first contributor, with the beginnings of a great story. Check it out today!

Chat Channels
23-NOV-03

Chat channels such as help, rp, and ooc were changed recently and were acting a little strange, but should be working correctly now. As an added bonus, you can even subscribe and unsubscribe from channels now!

Anvil Repaired
22-NOV-03

Fenixdown has rewritten the Anvil that you find in blacksmith workshops. It now supports "repair all", which will repair all the items on the anvil, if you have enough money.

We've promoted Fenixdown to Senior Wizard, in recognition of his numerous contributions to Wyvern. His creations include the Wyvern Trading Card Game (TCG), pelting knives, the team capture-the-flag game, and numerous other clever inventions. He's got many others in the works, and we're looking forward to all of them. Congratulations, Fenix!

New Areas
20-NOV-03

There are a couple of new areas by the wizard Binyamin, one near Davos for lower-level players, and another in the forests south of the Temple of Life. Both show...unusual creativity. Check 'em out today!

Mage Spells
31-OCT-03

Finding yourself crisped by your own fireball? With a little skill, mages can now avoid that fate. Your own spells only damage you if you have very little skill in the elements for that spell. Currently the odds become negligible at about 3 points in the element, but we'll adjust the odds as needed.

Lots of News
25-OCT-03

Binyamin has opened a souvenir shop on the outskirts of the Oxbow River Wildlife Sanctuary. Check out the great selection of souvenir t-shirts available!

Rhialto has fixed the player-freeze bug. Not only should that bug not happen again, but the part of Wyvern responsible for it is now faster than before (a better hamster wheel, for those of you who read his blog).

There are a number of smaller bug fixes, too: the archers guild store and other shops with random enchanted weapons should load correctly now. And to help exercise the code, the axemans guild store now has a much better selection of enchanted axes for sale to guild members.

Some additional problems with XP-draining and restoration have been fixed. Note that you now can no longer restore XP that was drained if you die, or if you go up a level.

Lastly, to help reduce lag from spells, you no longer automatically see spell effects in your Ground Window. If spell lag wasn't bothering you, use the "ground-spells" command to turn them back on.

Restoration Spell
18-OCT-03

XP-draining and the restoration spell have been changed to behave in a more understandable fashion. Now all the XP you've had drained by vampires and other undead can be restored with a scroll of complete restoration, regardless of whether you gain or lose more XP or log out.

There are also somewhat cheaper scrolls of partial restoration that will restore 50% of the XP you've lost.

New Channel
13-OCT-03

To encourage more role-playing, an 'rp' channel has been added. Just like 'shout' or 'ooc', except it is for conversations that are in character with a role-playing game only. Players who violate that rule will be struck down by any angry gods on duty.

New Mayor, New Areas
02-OCT-03

Choasnaga has been elected mayor of Lysegu, the player-run town. Congratulations, Choasnaga!

In other news, the new wizard Binyamin has opened a new area, the Oxbow River Wildlife Sanctuary. It has areas for levels 8 and up, and a new 3-point quest that you can read about on the quests page. The Sanctuary can be found north of the Zoo.

Other training areas added recently include Kupior's Elven Grove (levels 8 and up) and Raeden's Wet Cave (levels 4-6). We'll be adding more such areas in the coming weeks.

Collection of Relics Quest
16-SEP-03

The Wizard Zypher has created a new quest which takes place in the ruins north of Minath Elion. Read about the Collection of Relics quest in the Adventurers Guild, and on the quests page.

/player Owned Homes!
29-SEP-03

The town of Lysegu is now open. It's pretty empty right now, but that's because it's designed to be filled with houses that players buy and design themselves. The town can be found on the island northwest of Fae Wyston, and will be added to the world map soon. Read the signs in town to find out about costs and how you can go buy some land and build your dream house today!

Kupior's Labyrinth
10-SEP-03

The Wizard Kupior has opened a new and challenging quest. Read about it in the Adventurers Guild, and on the quests page. Nice work, Kupior!

Wyvern Getting Popular
09-SEP-03

Which of these would you rather have: If you'd like to know what kind of MUD player you are, you can take the famous Bartle Test. It asks you 30 questions like the one above, and tells you if you're an Explorer, and Achiever, a Socializer, or a Killer.

Our loyal Wyvern players have been taking the test, and yesterday we finally broke into the Top 10 List! If you haven't taken the test, please take a few minutes to answer the questions and find out what you like to do best on MUDs.

If you've already taken the test, thanks for helping Wyvern make the Top 10!

New, Thawed Client
07-SEP-03

There's a brand-new client out, and it fixes the freezes! Lots of players have verified it: all of them say it no longer freezes on them. It's got all the latest artwork, new music, and more. Uninstall your old client and download this one today!

Note: after you install it, your title bar should say: "Wyvern Client version 1.4.8, with Java 1.4.2". If it doesn't say that, then you haven't downloaded the newest version, and it'll freeze on you. The "Java 1.4.2" at the end is important.

Thanks to everyone for being so patient while we got this fix out there. Enjoy the new music, new artwork, and smooth operation!

New Items, and Bug Update
05-SEP-03

We've added Arrows of Returning, which are magical arrows that return to you after you fire them, provided you're not firing point-blank at a wall. You can enchant them, or find enchanted ones in shops.

We've also added the new spell Resurrection. It's a lore-25 spell, so people are unlikely to learn it, but it's available in scroll form as well. Resurrection works as follows:

The scrolls are available in magic shops, and cost a trifling 50,000 gold. But they're a bargain at any price!

We've also fixed two of the four server-side crash bugs: the teleporters-stop-working bug, and the spells-stop-moving (followed shortly afterwards by a server crash) bug. The take-1-step-and-freeze bug is still open, and happens occasionally, but we're working on it. The fourth bug is a Java VM crash that we're contacting Sun about.

Lastly, the game client still freezes for a lot of people. We've tracked this down to a bug in the version of Java that bundled with the client, even the newest one. We'll launch an updated version this weekend that should fix the problem.

Enjoy!

Create Trap & Friends
05-SEP-03

We've restored the Create Trap, Create Pool and Create Lava spells, which were retired months ago because of player abuses. The PK crowd pointed out tonight that they were fun and useful in PK arenas. So I've made them the first three "PK-only" spells. You can learn them like normal spells, but they can only be cast in PK maps. Have at them.

Server Outage
01-SEP-03

The server experienced a number of crashes today, and a half-hour outage at around 11:00pm PST. The root cause was that Java was crashing on our Linux box. We've installed an updated version of Java, from Sun, and rebooted the game server box. The game seems to be running quickly and efficiently now. Thanks for your patience!

Claws and Arrows, Axemans Guild quest
28-AUG-03

Elemental arrows are now available in the archers guild shop in Almien. There are fire arrows, frost arrows, and lightning arrows.

Claws of various types for rakshasas are available in the store in Rakshasa Haryma. The stock changes regularly, so check back for your favorites.

And in exciting news for the those who want to join the Axemans Guild, the quest required to join has been changed to the Frozen Abyss quest. It's more in line with the difficulty of the quests for the other guilds.

New Areas Opening
26-AUG-03

The wizard Raeden has opened a new area for levels 4-6. Explore the wet caves in the forests south of Tornaum Castle. We'll be opening more such areas for different levels, but we won't necessarily announce all of them. So get out there and explore!

Client Update
24-AUG-03

After a bit of research, we've found out why the clients are freezing up. If your client is freezing, here's what you have to do:
  1. Go to Start Menu -> Control Panel ->Add/Remove Programs and uninstall the Wyvern Client.
  2. Re-download and install the 1.4.6 Wyvern Client
  3. Start playing!
This should fix your problems for you.

New Client!
23-AUG-03

We've decided to go ahead and launch the new game client. It's still in Alpha testing - several Wizards have been using it for a few weeks, but one or two have had trouble on older systems. You are welcome to download it and try it out. The old clients will continue to work for now.

The new client includes:

We'll have more features and fixes in the coming weeks, but it's good enough for you to try now. There's no volume control, but there's a mute button, and you can use your computer's volume control in the meantime.

You can download it here.

If your system has instability (and trust us, we have LOTS of different systems running this new client), you might consider going into the Settings dialog (Edit Menu) and turning off sound and music until there's another update.

Make sure your speakers are turned on, and go stand near a fountain to test the sound. We hope you enjoy it!

We also added a few new monster and combat changes:

There are a few bugs: splatters sticking around, monsters that don't move, guards that DO move, and so on. We'll be working to fix these things as soon as we can.

Friends
23-AUG-03

We've made a few improvements to socializing in Wyvern:

Ice Caverns
23-AUG-03

Our newest Wizard, Maahes, has opened an exciting new training area for levels 10-15 on the northern Glacier. It includes a new quest and some challenging puzzles. Enjoy!

Combat Update
23-AUG-03

We've had some FAQs about combat, and this should address some of them: Archers are actually more powerful than they were before, at least when firing missiles, so it should help make up for not being able to do martial arts with their bows.

Finally, the hydra-nerfing is temporary. More info has shown that hydras are actually only #9 on the race list for making XP, so we really only need to balance them for PK fights.

Combat Fixed!
22-AUG-03

The combat bugs have all been fixed. Thanks very much to Mahm, Quistis, Quentin, Mogo, and Cudgel for helping with a long monster-killing test so we could compare archers, unarmed, and various melee weapons before and after the fix.

Important: The Melee skill is being retired in favor of weapon skills. Don't bother untraining in it: this weekend we'll be untraining everyone in it automatically and restoring the skill points (but not gold spent, since you got benefit from the skill while you had it.)

News Update
22-AUG-03

The arrow-dup bugfix caused some problems with archery and unarmed combat. We're working on fixing them - we apologize for the inconvenience, and we should have this resolved in a day or two.

We nerfed Hydras again, very slightly, for the fourth time since they were added to the game. It's always a delicate balance, because Hydras are much more effective in the PK arenas than they are at killing monsters. Nagas are actually only the fifth most powerful race when it comes to gaining experience, so we can't really nerf them much more.

We're also working very hard on the server-instability problems: game freezes, maps not loading, lag, and disconnects. We know the root causes for each of the problems, and hope to have the problems resolved within the next 2 weeks. It has, however, put our music client on hold, since stability is the highest priority. We'll continue to post frequent updates, and we appreciate the help and bug reports from all of our great players.

Features and Fixes
21-AUG-03

We've added a new command, startup, that lets you add up to 10 commands that execute automatically when you log in to the game. We've also fixed numerous bugs, including the zero-point warning bug, an arrow-duplicating bug, and several others. Please keep those bug reports coming.

(New) We've added three new spells: Frost Ward, Lightning Shield, and Prismatic Shield, all of which are similar to Flame Shield but use different elements.

We've also fixed a problem where an Archer wielding a bow would do massive damage with the bow as a melee weapon. This was patently unrealistic, and we received numerous complaints about it. In better news for Archers, we're planning on creating some Elemental Arrows (Flame Arrows, Lightning Arrows, and so on) as soon as the artwork comes in, hopefully in the next few days. This should help Archers against monsters that can't take physical damage.

Connection Problems
20-AUG-03

The ISP that hosts the Wyvern game server is having some problems, and players are experiencing connection problems and slowdowns. We're aware of the problem, and working to resolve it as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience.

Alignment
19-AUG-03

More levels of alignment have been added. Alignment still ranges from neutral up to Hero/Heroine and down to Lord/Queen of Evil, but there are more levels in-between. For more information on alignments, see the /player Manual.

Game Outage, and new features
13-AUG-03

The game had an approximate 1-hour outage on Wednesday, from around 4:30pm to 5:30pm, PST. We apologize for the inconvenience. We've fixed the underlying problem, and it shouldn't happen again.

In better news, we've fixed a few long-standing (but annoying) bugs, and added some minor features:

In even better news, we're rapidly approaching being able to release a brand-new game client. It includes support for sound and music, and also an auto-updater so you don't have to re-download it every time there are changes. We've spent months working on it, and are finishing up some final features. It should be ready in less than two weeks. And it sounds great!

Wrath of the Fey Quest
12-AUG-03

The wizard Arilou has created a new quest for newbies, the Wrath of the Fey quest which takes place in Amita. Read more about it on the quests page.

Bura Shaan
03-AUG-03

The wizard Raeden has opened a new area, complete with a new 20 point quest. Bura Shaan lies in the frozen wastes of the north, near Lirkka and the Cavemans Guild. Find it on the world map. Read about the Wastelands of Bura Shaan quest on the quests page.

Mages Guild
27-JUL-03

Zifa has redesigned the Mages Guild maps from the ground up. It's quite a beautiful area now, in its new home in Fae Wyston. Check it out when you're in the area, even if you're not a mage!

More Map Changes
22-JUL-03

There have been more map changes. Amita is now clustered with New Verden and Davos to make it easier for newbies to find, and there's a new entrance to the area. More improvements will be happening in the coming weeks--stay tuned!

Giant Changes
20-JUL-03

We've sped up Giants: they move and attack faster now. Giants have historically been the least popular races, and this should help make them more interesting to play.

World Map Changes
20-JUL-03

If you've logged on recently, you've doubtless noticed the changes in the world map. There are more trees and mountains, and there's more terrain between towns. Almien has been moved to the southern end of the main continent, the Mages Guild into Fae Wyston, and several towns have been closed while we remodel them. We'll add them back to the world map as they're remodeled. The world map has been updated to show the changes. Have fun exploring the new places!

Shout Points
19-JUL-03

We've introduced a Shout Points system to help combat shouting spam. So far, the program has been fantastically unsuccessful, with players going into a near-record shouting frenzy when they found out about it, but we remain moderately hopeful that it will help.

You can see how many shout points (and warning points) you have left by typing the new command, "points".

Inventory Limits
17-JUL-03

We've increased the limit on items you can carry from 50 to 80, until we can get the fixes in to make bags more usable. We really can't go higher than that, for performance reasons, but hopefully this will help give people some breathing room. In a few months we'll be able to make bags more convenient to use.

Bug Update
13-JUL-03

Several new bugs have appeared, all caused by performance fixes to try to get us to the 500-player mark. We've been working to fix the bugs as quickly as possible. Here are some bugs that have been fixed recently: We're also working on fixing the Side Scroller quest. (Note: it's fixed now - 7/16/2003)

XP Clarification
06-JUL-03

We've had occasional sightings of invulnerable/invincible monsters in the game. As a matter of policy, we do not restore experience lost to invincible monsters. We expect you to pay close attention to your combat messages. If a monster appears to be killing you, you should run - just like in real life.

We may decide to keep invincible monsters in the game, just to spice things up and keep otherwise-bored players on their toes. Consider yourself warned!

Security Reminder
05-JUL-03

Just a reminder: do not share your password with anyone. Wyvern wizards will never ask you for your password. Do not use so-called "character creator" sites, as they are nothing more than scams to try to get your password and character.

Also, remember that anyone can view the bug reports, so do not include your password or other personal information in bug reports, just describe the bug and what your character was doing when it happened.

Finally, if you get email claiming to be about testing Wyvern 3D, don't open it. There is no such program; the email contains a virus, and is not from this site.

New Client Installer
29-JUN-03

We've released a brand-new Wyvern Client Installer. It works on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, and Windows users don't even have to download Java anymore. It comes with it! It also installs and uninstalls much faster than the old one did. Please give the new client a try and let us know if you have any trouble with it.

Note: there are no new features in this version (version 1.1.5, or 1.1.1 for WebStart). We will launch a new feature-release version of the client in mid-July.

Electrinium Equipment
28-JUN-03

All existing Electrinium Swords and Armor have been removed from the game, thanks to Aznassasin, an ex-Wyvern player who opted to create approximately 140 of them and give them away for free. If you need another set, you know where to find them. However, be warned that we consider the current armor and weaponcrafting system to be extremely unbalanced, and we will be nerfing it considerably in the coming weeks. I'd just avoid it if I were you. -Rhialto

New Area Open
23-JUN-03

The town of Coran, created by the wizard Zifa, is now open. It's just southwest of Minath Elion. Find it on the world map.

Feast and LQ
22-JUN-03

The First Day of Summer Feast and LQ was a lot of fun, both for the players who took part and the wizards who spent lots of time preparing for it.

Thanks to all the wizards who helped, including Fenixdown for introducing the TCG, Knop for the delicious and interesting foods, Legolas for the festival maps and beer, various wizards for organizing different events and a special thanks to Ender for organizing the whole event including the live quest.

There is a monument to those who died and to the brave players who took part in the live quest in (what is now) the ruins of Lirkka.

Wyvern Trading Card Game
21-JUN-03

The wizard Fenixdown has create a new game to play in Wyvern, the Wyvern Trading Card Game, or TCG for short. Decks will be available in stores soon. Read the rules for TCG. Nice work, Fenixdown!

New Areas Opened
13-JUN-03

The town of Terrim, created by the wizard Malla, is now open. It's a peaceful town on the island northeast of Mist Temple, with places to explore and treasures to be found.

Also, the village of Lirkka is now open. It's a small but bustling mining town near the Cavemans Guild and Stensele.

Find them both on the world map.

First Day of Summer Feast and LQ
09-JUN-03

The wizards will be putting on a special event on Saturday, June 21st. There will be games, feasting, tournaments, all capped off with a live quest. The feasting will be going on most of the day, and the live quest will begin later in the day. There will be more information as the event draws closer. This should be a big, fun event, with things to do for all levels, so don't miss it!

New World Map
09-JUN-03

Legolas has created a new world map, featuring some artwork by Knop. Not only is it even more beautiful than the previous version, you can click on it to tell you more about the major towns and areas in the lands of Wyvern. Check it out on the world map page.

Welcome to Malla
08-JUN-03

Welcome to our newest wizard, Malla. She's hard at work on a new area that will be online soon.

Floriana
03-JUN-03

The beautiful town of Floriana, created by Anala, is now open. Besides the plant-filled town itself, check out the nearby ruins. It's on an island west of Fae Sahvar. Find it on the world map.

Welcome to Anala
02-JUN-03

A belated welcome to our newest wizard, Anala. She's created a beautiful new area that will be online soon.

100 Simultaneous Players!
02-JUN-03

Today we had 100 players and wizards online, with no lag! While bandwidth is still sometimes an issue, the server is doing great under the load.

Zypher's Maps Quest
30-MAY-03

There's a new quest, Zypher's Maps quest, created by, you guessed it, the wizard Zypher. Read more about on the quests page, and in the Adventurers Guild.

Player Warning System
28-MAY-03

You can now issue official Warnings to other players who are harassing or annoying you. Make sure to read the Warning System Rules carefully before using this feature!

A researcher from the University of Washington is studying this system and its use, as part of a class project. Use and reactions to the warning system will be used in a report for the project.

WyvernPost System
24-MAY-03

Looking to earn some money? WyvernPost delivers from coast to coast! But they need your help to do it. There are WyvernPost stations in New Verden, Alaria, Bandar Gaah and Almien (usually in the local post office). You can pick up packages there and be paid for each successful delivery.

Congratulations to Fenixdown for creating this new system!

Quest List
23-MAY-03

Wondering what quests you've done on which character? Wonder no more! Check out the orb of knowledge in the Adventurers Guild in New Verden for a list of which quests you've solved.

Demon Hordes Quest
22-MAY-03

There's a new quest, the Demon Hordes Quest. It's the new quest required for joining the Paladins Guild. Read more about on the quests page, and in the Adventurers Guild.

Hall of Mages Quest
20-MAY-03

Stonewing has re-opened the Hall of Mages quest in Fae Wyston. Thanks for your patience while it was being worked on.

Treasures of the Pyramid Quest
15-MAY-03

There's a new quest, the Treasures of the Pyramid. The quest is set in the desert area of Bandar Gaah and Jbel. Read more about on the quests page, and in the Adventurers Guild.

Welcome to Astor
12-MAY-03

Welcome to our newest wizard, Astor (yclept Shawn). As soon as exams are finished, he'll be working on a new area for you to adventure in.

Combat Bug
11-MAY-03

Many of you have noticed that you've been missing a lot lately when doing hand-to-hand combat. We finally tracked the bug down; it was introduced on May 1st. Combat should be back to normal now. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Metric System
11-MAY-03

There's a new command, units, that lets you switch to the metric system for seeing object weights. Type "units metric" to see weights in kilos, and "units english" to see weights in pounds.

There's also a new command, wizards, that lets you see if there are any (visible) Wizards online.

New Client Installer
10-MAY-03

We've created a new Wyvern Client Installer, so you don't have to use the Java Web Start version anymore. Many, many people have had trouble with the WebStart version, and this installer should hopefully fix it for them.

Visit the Download Page to get a copy. If you're already playing with the WebStart version, you can keep using it if you want.

Make sure you hit shift+reload in your browser to get the latest version of the download page. If it says a bunch of stuff about a not-recommended version, reload the page!

Note: - we've uploaded a new version, 1.1.3, that fixes a bug in seeing new wizard artwork.

What Kind of Player Are You?
10-MAY-03

There's a famous test called the Bartle Test that tells you what kind of MUD player you are - Achiever, Explorer, Socializer, or Killer. You can take the test here. At the end, please list Wyvern as one of the MUDs you play regularly (if you do), so we can move up on the list. Thanks!

New Map Editor
09-MAY-03

We've released a new Map Editor (version 1.2.4) with many bug fixes and some new features.

The Wyvern Map Editor no longer uses Java Web Start. We've made an installer program to install the standalone version on your computer. The installer is currently in beta. If you would like to try it out, please visit the Map Editor Download Page.

Note: another version is out - 1.2.5. It fixes a bug where spellcasting monsters couldn't be loaded, and a bug where you couldn't add items to monster inventories.

Drache City
09-MAY-03

Drache City, created by the new wizard Cerebro, is now open. It's on the southern continent, between Almien and Scihaya. It's an odd, sometimes dangerous town. So check it out...but be careful! Find it on the world map.

Zypheria
08-MAY-03

The town of Zypheria, created by one of the newest wizards, Zypher, is now open. It's on an island south of New Verden and east of Mist Temple. Find it on the world map. Zypher has more planned, including a quest and custom graphics, so check it out.

Lots of News
04-MAY-03

First, we'd like to announce the promotions of three new Wizards: Zypher, Cerebro and, most recently, Pollux. They're all working on exciting new areas for you to visit.

Second, we've changed teleporters. You no longer have to wait for a map to load, and then apply the teleporter again. It just takes you to the map after it's loaded.

Note: Random Dungeons are currently broken by the teleporter changes, and we'll be fixing them as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience with this.

Third, we've added some extra command-line history features, described in the new command-line editing tutorial in the Player Manual.

Finally, there's a brand-new Wyvern Tutorial in the Training Tower in New Verden. New players will start there automatically. Everyone gets their own copy of the Tutorial when they enter.

The Wyvern Tutorial was designed by the esteemed Arch Wizard Legolas. Hopefully it will make the game easier to learn for new players, and make new players easier to bear for old players!

Athendel
04-MAY-03

The town of Athendel, created by the wizard Cairpre, is now open. It's west of Alaria, and includes a quest, intended for levels 3-5.

Minor Client Update
30-APR-03

We've released a new version of the client (1.1.1). Web Start users should get it automatically next time they play.

Changes in 1.1.1:

The 1.1.1 version should download automatically for Web Start users.

There are no new versions of the PDA clients.

Auction Houses
29-APR-03

Auction houses are now open in New Verden (near the armor shop) and Almien (upstairs in the general store).

Fixes and Features
27-APR-03

Some new features:

Also, more bug fixes. We look at all the reports from players, and we're gradually working our way through the (long) bug list.

Bug Fixes
26-APR-03

We've fixed over 200 bugs in the past few days - most of them fairly minor map and object bugs, but also a few big ones:

We're also going to release a new game client this weekend that fixes a bunch of bugs people have reported.

Fixed Handheld Clients
17-APR-03

We've uploaded new versions of the iPAQ and Zaurus Handheld Clients. This patch release fixes the connection issues. The clients have been tested thoroughly and should work well for all the PDA Wyvern addicts out there.

We've also added an Install Packages via Networks option, which makes it really easy to install Wyvern directly to your Sharp Zaurus.

Download Troubles
17-APR-03

Some players have helped me find a problem that's been causing the new client not to work for some people. The problem is that the client needs the latest version of Java (1.4.1 or higher), because 1.3 was buggy.

You can get the latest version here:

http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/index.html.

If you can't run Wyvern, you should uninstall your current version of Java and Java Web Start, and upgrade to 1.4.2 beta.

Several people are seeing the message "Unable to run Wyvern Web Client 1.0". If this happens to you, try clicking here:

Wyvern Client version 1.1

Hopefully this will help - it's a direct link to the 1.1 client, so your computer won't try to run the old version.

New Client
16-APR-03

We've launched the latest Wyvern Game Client for your playing pleasure. New features and fixes include:

We'll run it for a week, collect bug reports, and launch a bugfix version next weekend.

Some important things to know about the new client:

  1. You can turn off the Toolbar icons in the Tools menu.

  2. You can click on the HP/SP bars to turn the numbers on and off.

  3. If the client is causing your computer to lag or crash, you should clear the Server Output window every 5 minutes or so, by right-clicking on it and choosing "Clear".

  4. If you're having trouble downloading the 1.1 client, open your Java WebStart from your Start Menu, and remove the old Wyvern Game Client 1.0.

Here's a preview of what will be in upcoming releases this summer: The Handheld clients have been rebuilt at version 3.1, which you must download in order to play the game.

Thurgood's Store
16-APR-03

Thurgood's is now open! It's an interesting store, to say the least, and contains items for sale no where else. But would you expect anything less from Zerth? Due to Thurgood's personal commitment to low, low prices, he's set up shop outside of any existing tax districts, towns, or municipalities.

Note: if you have a finder, it will be updated to include Thurgood's the next time you log in.

Monk Armor
14-APR-03

As some of you have already discovered, there is now some cloth armor that monks can wear. As with most armor, it appears randomly in shops. There's also a shop in the monks guild. More cloth armor coming soon!

Bug Fixes
04-APR-03

We've fixed the following bugs:

We'll keep working on more fixes and features. Enjoy!

Password Bug
02-APR-03

There was a bug in generating passwords for new players, since Monday. We've fixed it. If you created a character in the past 3 days, and your password doesn't work, please use the Forgot Password link to generate a new password for your character. Thanks.

We've also finally figured out the xp-loss bug, thanks to help from the players Aquarius and Qyvern, and we should have a fix for it by tomorrow (Thursday). Thanks again for your patience with this.

Update 04/03/2003 - there was STILL a bug in character creation, and also in the Forgot Password page, that was preventing passwords from being generated correctly. We've fixed the new problem, if you created a new character this week, you'll have to use the Forgot Password link to fix it.

The XP loss bug is still happening, and we're about half done with the fix for it.

Server Improving
30-MAR-03

Caius and I spent several hours today looking into the server problems, and we believe we've found and fixed the bugs. The server's stability should be somewhat improved now.

Server Instability
30-MAR-03

Our new server is going through some growing pains. Java seems to be crashing without notice several times a day. We're looking into why this is happening, and we'll keep you posted.

In other news, the WebStart Map Editor is now working again.

New Server
28-MAR-03

We're running the new server! It's 3x faster than our old one, so it can handle up to 300 players without server-side lag. We'll continue to work on optimizations so that we can get to 500 players on the server.

Thanks for your patience while it was down today. Have fun!

New Features, Bug Fixes
23-MAR-03

We've added a few new features, and fixed some bugs:

XP Loss
23-MAR-03

After many faithful years of service, our server is starting to have some issues. It frequently runs out of resources, and the game is unable to save files. When this happens, all maps become unavailable, and it stops saving your player data. You should log out immediately when this happens, and use the Show Who's Online link to see when the server reboots.

If you stay online and keep playing after maps become unavailable, then you'll lose any XP you earn, and we will be unable to restore it. We've got a new server ready to install, and hopefully it can go in sometime this week.

New Client
22-MAR-03

There's a new version of the game client (version 1.0) and the handheld clients (version 3.0). You need the latest version to connect to the game. We had to make some changes to the communication protocol to support writing native clients for the Windows and Mac platforms - a few people are working on them.

Lastest Forum
20-MAR-03

Pineapple has set up another player forum for us - this one is faster, doesn't have Annoying Popup Syndrome, and is very Wyvern-specific:

Wyvern Forums

Feel free to sign up and discuss Wyvern! This board is set up particularly for Wyvern topics, and has an Auctions section, forums for each guild, Bug Reports and Suggestions, and other discussion groups. Pineapple obviously put a lot of thought into it, and it looks cool. Thanks!

Game Balance
18-MAR-03

Some newer players have been wondering: "what the heck is going on with the game balance?" I wrote a document back in November of 2001, almost a year and a half ago, explaining my vision how I want the game to be balanced:

Wyvern Game Balance (2001)

This document is still surprisingly current. My vision hasn't changed since day 1. It should be clear, after reading it, why I made the enchanting change. The enchanted-armor problem is now officially the single biggest balance problem we've ever had, because I let it go on for too long, and now the high-score list is seriously skewed. But we've had other, similar problems in the past, and whenever we fix them, there's much wailing and gnashing of teeth from shortsighted players (and lots of compliments from the more visionary ones!)

Read it, learn it, memorize it if necessary. It's a roadmap for the changes we'll be making to Wyvern this year.

New Village - Amita
16-MAR-03

Arilou, the (newly-promoted) Senior Wizard, has opened a new village for newbies. The town is called Amita, and is south of New Verden. Look for it on the World Map. Enjoy, and congrats to Arilou!

Enchanting Complaints
16-MAR-03

There's been a fair bit of complaining about the new enchanting change, as expected. Here's the deal: the change ONLY affected players who were wearing player-enchanted armor. Monsters were actually made less powerful to help compensate, and now they're roughly as hard as they should have been all along.

About 250 players were affected by this change. To put this in perspective:

So the situation is a bit tricky: a relatively small number of players have been aggressively taking advantage of a major imbalance in armor enchantments that nobody else knew about. Those players soared on the high-score list. We have several characters that are 21st level or higher who are less than two days old.

The problem is: 15,000 people are having trouble catching up with 250 people. We're considering various solutions to this problem. The solution might make the 250 folks unhappy, and some of them might even quit playing completely. That's their choice, and we'll miss them. However, the most important thing for Wyvern is to get the game balance right, for when we have hundreds of thousands of players. We hope you understand.

Enchanting
14-MAR-03

After some experimentation, we've significantly changed the way Enchanting works. You can once again enchant up to +8.

Until today, enchanting a piece of armor would give you extra protection for your entire body. So a +1 leather boots would protect your whole body against all damage types: fire, acid, frost, weapons... everything. It was a bit unbalancing, to say the least. Of course, everyone's used to it now, so it'll be painful to adjust, but that's life.

The Enchant Armor spell now works by making the armor much better at protecting the specific body part that it covers. If you enchant a leather helmet, for example, it will: We'll probably continue to make minor adjustments to the numbers.

Keep in mind that high-level monsters are going to be harder to kill as we continue to tune the game balance. But people have been complaining that high-level players are completely un-challenged by the game, and we're working to fix that. We're looking forward to a time when Demon Lords are really challenging again, even to a 30th-level player.

In other news:

High Scores
14-MAR-03

We've changed the High Score List score calculation. Your score (which determines your list ranking) is now calculated as: 

(xp + gold) * qp
That is, it's the sum of your XP and gold, times the number of quest points you have. If you have no quest points, your score is zero.

The old calculation was: xp + (qp*10000) + gold/5. So qp and gold didn't matter much. Now they do!

Note that gold is whatever you have in the bank, not what you're carrying in your inventory.

Quest Cheating
11-MAR-03

Questing is back in fashion, now that you have to solve quests in order to join guilds. Keep in mind that you are not allowed to get help on quests from others. If we catch you, we'll banish you.

The quests are all solveable. Just use your head, be a little patient, and you'll figure it out. You'll feel a lot better about it, too!

You can collaborate on quests with one other person. You must ask permission from a Wizard before teaming up with someone. You can only team up with someone else who hasn't solved the quest already. Only two people are allowed to work on a quest at a time, and you can only be part of one team at a time.

New Guilds
09-MAR-03

We've made extensive changes to the Wyvern Guild System. If you were in a Guild, you've been taken out of the guild, and your guild admission fee has been refunded into your bank account. You are welcome to join the new guilds, but you should read about them first, in the Guild Manual.

There are six guilds total now: Archers, Axemen, Cavemen, Mages, Monks, and Paladins. More will be coming soon!

Lots of people have been asking questions like "how many guild XP do I get for kills?" Your questions are all answered in the Guild Manual. It's really important that you read it, because deciding whether to join a guild is tricky now - they all have penalties in addition to their bonuses.

The three new guilds haven't been added to the World Map yet, so for now:

We've changed the Cavemans Guild quest to be Kiz's Side Scroller.

Archer Commands
27-FEB-03

We added "archerwho" and "archertell" commands for archers. There are also quivers of holding and quivers of great holding in the game: they should start showing up in shops today.

Server Outage
22-FEB-03

The server was down last night, and the game was unavailable for about 14 hours, since Rhialto was on vacation. Fortunately Caius was able to get it running again today -- thanks, Caius!

Wyvern Player Forum
18-FEB-03

OK, so Pineapple's forum appears to suffer from Annoying Popup Disease. You might want to try this one instead:

Wyvern Forum at www.massivemultiplayer.org

Wyvern Player Forum
16-FEB-03

Pineapple set up a Wyvern Discussion Board for us last year, and it's now open to the public. Feel free to log in and chat about Wyvern. Just keep in mind that our Wizards and the Cabochon Staff will probably not have time to monitor it much.

Here's the URL:

http://wyvern.board.dk3.com

The usual rules apply: if we discover cheating, we'll banish the player involved.

Be sure to thank Pineapple for setting up the board!

Happy B-Lated B-Day!
13-FEB-03

Wyvern hit its 2-year anniversary of being online last week, on February 5th. The game had practically nothing - 90% of the entrances and buildings were closed. We only had 2 cities, 8 races, and no guilds. We've come a long way since then.

Imagine what Wyvern will be like in another 2 years!

New Zaurus Client
08-FEB-03

We've uploaded the first update to the Sharp Zaurus client since October 10th - version 2.2. It contains hundreds of new pictures, and a fix for a bug where new artwork from the server wasn't being used by the client.

There is also a new version of the PocketPC client available, with the same fixes.

Mouse Configuration
05-FEB-03

We've added a new mousebind command. It lets you change the behavior of your left mouse button, so you can get back the old behavior if you want it. Type mousebind both to turn on the old behavior, where the left button drops things and picks them up. You can read about the other options in the command reference.

New Client and Map Editor
05-FEB-03

There's a new version of the Wyvern Client, v0.7.2, which has all the latest game artwork from Legolas. It'll keep you from lagging so much. WebStart users should get it automatically.

If you don't, you can open Java Web Start from your Windows Start Menu, click on "Wyvern Game Client", and select "Remove Application" from the Application menu. Then it should re-download the new version for you. You can tell if you've got the new version if it says "Wyvern Client v0.7.2" in the title bar. If it just says "Wyvern", you have the old one.

There's also a new version of the Map Editor, version 1.2.2, which has animation support and a bunch of other new features. Try it out!

New Quest
02-FEB-03

Harph the Wiz has opened a new area, Noir, located on the mainland east of the Untrainer. It has a quest in it, worth 5 points, designed for players level 7-10. You can read about it in the Adventurers Guild or on the Quest Page.

Scary New Spell
01-FEB-03

There's a new Lore 15 spell, Stonewind, that fires a large cone of petrification at your enemies. Watch out for it - several of the toughest monsters in the game can cast it now, including the Marilith, Riagor, and Arch Dracolich. You'll see spellbooks for it start turning up in shops soon.

Mysteries of the Deep
27-JAN-03

Journey into the depths of the ocean to discover the mistakes of the Naga's Kingdom's past. Twists and turns await you as you uncover the mysteries of the fall of their underwater kingdom, and their ancient ancestors. Over time, you should learn what went awry, and what you need to do.

A new, entirely underwater quest has been released! You can find it in the Library in Vesimas. (aka Naga Town.) This quest is certainly like no other, as everything from the tricks, to the bosses, to the prizes were designed for a balanced party to figure out, destroy, and use, respectively. This is a quest for end treasure, not quest points, so there is no ban on working together. Just keep it out of shouts.

The area is designed for level 15+ for normal use, but the quest is certainly for levels 20 and up. You may find yourself in need of a naga guide, unless, of course, you are one!

Nagas Get Tough
26-JAN-03

We've added a 20th-level Naga form: the Hydra. It's much more powerful than the Dragon form. It has 5 heads with powerful bites. It can wear 5 amulets, 5 helmets, and one girdle. This should soon bring more Nagas into the Wyvern High Score List.

Inventory Changes
26-JAN-03

We've made a fairly major change to the game: you can now only carry 50 items in your top-level inventory. If you want to carry more than that, you have to put stuff in bags.

We did this for performance reasons. Lots of code in the game checks everything in your inventory, and many people were carrying hundreds of items. This should result in a big performance improvement for the game server.

If you had more than 50 items in your inventory, the extra items were put in a velvet bag at the top of your inventory. This change only affected about 350 players, so most of you won't have to worry about it.

We'll be making some changes to inventory management so that this change becomes less burdensome. We'll add "sell all from <bag>", and also other commands for manipulating things in bags.

New Map Editor
26-JAN-03

There's a New Map Editor, version 1.1, with lots of neat new features. Try it out!

Ships are Back
19-JAN-03

We've fixed ships: you can now sail them around to your heart's content. You can Apply to get out of ships now, just like you can with hot-air balloons. Also, check out the stunning new ship interiors by Legolas. You can even raise and lower the sails!

Forgotten Oak