Picking Up The Pieces

Well, it seems like Wolf-Haven has really been coming back to life recently.  There have been some updates to the site as well as growth in a more positive direction as far as the community goes.  Karlos has been spotted online much more recently, and even in the chat too, which by itself is enough to spur the rest of the members into behaving better and being a bit more chatty.  All in all, I'd say he brings with him a return of hope.  During those times where he was majorly absent, it seemed like WH was crumbling apart in all aspects.  I don't blame him for staying invisible though with all the crap he put up with from past members.  I mean, when someone is pushy for me to finish a commission, I drop the project because I can't handle the stress.  Have you ever done something similar? Now just imagine a hundred people pushy for you to code an amazing website overnight and have all the solutions for them the moment they need it.  If I was in his shoes, I probably would have done the same thing.  My advice is to treat Karlos with respect and remember that he's only human.  Don't demand anything outrageous of him, and don't stir up unneeded trouble because you have a patience problem and you wanna place the blame on somebody.

Now onto the more physical aspects of WH's recent upbringing! The safe return of being able to view your own stats is a nice one.  No more pestering your mate to find our your PvP and PvA wins, w00t! This feature is now located under the Edit Account subtab of the main Community tab.  Along with it, you can see a few other details too.  Account Standing is the newest addition.  I personally think it is a great way for members to realize their actions are being judged.  It might help to keep some members in line, but I feel the biggest difference is that it will make people, who were before too shy or lazy, more kind and helpful in the hopes of getting a good standing.  Right now, I'll assume most people have Normal still as their standing.  I'm not sure how major or blunt your actions have to be to increase, or if just being nice to new members in the cbox over a long period of time would be good enough to bump you up.  It's at the staff's discretion, and I trust they'll know the proper situation in which to do it.  I got a message today from Karlos letting me know I've moved into the positive.  So if you're looking for advice on how to do so, I can give you my two cents.  I haven't been told a specific reason, but I can assume.  Some of the things I have done was hold a competition to give away a free design, post in the Support forum to help people in need, assist a new member in the cbox, and of course, answering those messages from people who are confused about WH sturfz.  Not sure if messages count at all, but staff can view them so it may play a factor in this.  I'd say it was probably the free design that got it for me as it's the most noticeable of my actions, but the others surely didn't hurt.  Now go out thar and be nice! :D

Premium accounts are getting a bit more common these days.  You can view whether or not you have that in your stats box too.  If you desperately want one, message Karlos nicely to inquire about one.  However, it is not permanent.  As the feature is close to pointless right now, it's free.  But with the v1.3 update, there will be more abilities tagging along with it... but you'll also have to pay a small monthly fee.  This is likely to keep a steady income from WH for Karlos.  Don't complain about it being unfair or anything.  It's not something you absolutely have to have.  It's a choice you can make and just because you can't pay, doesn't mean those that do are getting an unfair advantage.  The game is perfectly functional without one.  Since a lack of a premium won't impair you, don't be a cry baby about it.  Yes, Karlos is out for money.  News flash: so is the whole damn world.  It has grown to be a necessity for survival in our times.  So you're gonna judge a man harshly for that? Well, I'm going to look down on you just the same then.  I apologize for the rant, but I find it frustrating when people accuse and get angry at Karlos for that... as if they're any better.  Put yourself in his situation.  Now tell me you would donate every last cent to charity.  Kudos to you if you actually would, but no need to lie to yourself about it to make you feel better.  In all actuality, most of us would choose the money.  Especially considering the work put into the making of such a website.  Anyhow, if you intend to try to get one right now, it will last until v1.3, and you will be able to appear offline, have a forum mini sig, and have room in your DP storage for twice the original amount.  Nifty, eh? Oh, but staff can see you ninjas that are appearing offline still.

There's a new news team to the rescue, if you haven't noticed.  No more shall we bear one entry a year, lol.  Be sure to say thank you to Coyotito, -Eclipse-, and Phlox.  I'm sure they'll do a great job. :3

On a side note, wtf is up with this pack's banner? No offense to it as it does look nice, but it doesn't fit the original size requirements of 400 x 75 pixels.  Has that been changed? That banner seems a little out-of-place being the only larger one like that.  If I still had Shimmer, I'd test it out to see what's going on.  But that possibility's blown out of the water.

Have you checked out the Wolf-Haven Facebook page yet? Pretty sweet, if I do say so myself.  This baby has landed us a x1.5 XP day, and we're getting another increased XP day tomorrow to celebrate reaching 500 likes.  It's been so long since the old increased XP days we all love and miss.  I guess after x10 XP we needed a huge break.  Double XP back in the day was how I made it to Legend so long ago.  So be sure to use the hell out of that while you can~ Also, it's a good way to get neat little insights on future site updates.  For example, this.  Seems like a very useful feature, and as Karlos has elaborated upon in chat moments ago, staff can force users to be blocked to each other.  Blocked users also can't see each others' profiles... so no nasty profile slander wars.

Long blog post, I know.  But I haven't done a decent one if forever so bear with me.  I'm still gonna have to skip over some things when I wrap this up, but I'll probably get back to them sometime.  If you have a deviantART account, I would recommend checking out the Wolf-Haven group.  I've taken it upon myself to help revive it, and I'm calling upon everyone else to assist me. ;D Go join if you haven't already.

Oh, and I just figured I should make a little note about that Pirate Day we had a while back in chat.  If you missed out on it, I feel sorry for ya bro.  Twas epic.  We all had piratey names, prizes were given out, censors forced us to speak with pirate lingo.  It lasted hours... good times.  Daedalus has been working on a huge pixel Peg Leg Dae to be a potential boss for v1.3.  Yeah, bosses are comin' back.  Better.  Than.  Ever.  Watch out.  We were talking in chat about all sorts of cool possible new bits, like different skins for WH and such.  Idk, just watch chat since there's no telling what cool stuff you'll find out and when. 

I honestly think WH is starting to become a better place again.  The community will never be as small as it used to be, but that's not a bad thing.  Sure, there are plenty of n00bs, but there are also many new members that are just plain awesome one you get to know them.  It seems like everyone has been more generous too, like Synthetic giving away free art and -Eclipse- giving away a donation.  I even gave away a free design I drew up, and I have more where that came from.  Oh, and I'd like to give a shout out to Walie and Sergeant.  If you peeps be reading this.... hey I just met you, and this is craaaazy, but here's a message, so reply maybe.  Oh god, that was so lame. /shot

Urm... the old chat smileys have returned, and there have been some crazy new ones too.  Check it.

Sammich!

Dun forget cool Finis.

 derp karlos whoo

You know what? There's just too many to show here.  Go see for yourself.

On a final note, I've been working on a helpful little website.  It's called Wolf-Haven Intel.  Give it a glance.  It's still a work-in-progress, but it does have some neat bits of info and a complete list of packs.  Well, I'll leave it at that.  So much to say, so little time... au revoir!