I haven't done a "State of the Game" address for quite awhile, so without further ado here is the latest NEStalgia development news and information:

v1.20 to v1.25
In the last couple weeks following the major v1.20 release we've cleaned up all of the bugs and balance issues and even snuck in a few new features. I'm really happy with where the game is at right now and I'm excited for what the future holds. Version Update Notes



The new Casino has turned out to be incredibly popular, largely thanks to Spiff's awesome addition of Joker Poker and 5 Card Draw. With Slime Races and the Monster Arena giving much higher payouts as well, the Casino has become a fun and impressive "game within a game" in NEStalgia.

Daily Quests are also working out really well, and the Shade has proven to be the perfect milestone challenge for max level characters. Thanks to the dailies we're retaining a lot more players and kept the game bustling with activity at all times. You don't see many people just idling in NEStalgia, and that's a good thing.



Finally, I'm very happy with where the Warlock and Ninja are at. While balance tweaking on all classes will continue as is necessary, the new classes have proven to be a lot of fun and really add a whole new element to both PvE and PvP strategy.

The NEStalgia Wiki
Thanks to a handful of dedicated players the information in the NEStalgia Wiki is finally up to date - not to mention vastly expanded. In the near future I will be providing in game rewards for players who have made big contributions to the wiki (both in the past and more recently). All of their help is greatly appreciated both by me and other members of the community.

If you'd like to become a Wiki Editor then please PM me or Balzack on the forum or speak with us in the game.

The Black Sanctum
The Black Sanctum is NEStalgia's first end game dungeon, meant to hold players over until the next large content patch. It will be the largest dungeon in the game and host to 3 new bosses, more daily quests, and most importantly: the most powerful gear available.



Each of the three bosses have a 100% chance to drop a piece of powerful gear for the party, distributed by a Need/Greed roll system similar to what is found in most MORPGs. Two of these pieces will be powerful "Binds on Equip" Rares (equipment with random stats). The final boss drops an entirely new type of "Binds on Pickup" equipment: Set Gear. There will be four pieces of Set Gear (one for each equipment slot) for every class. Wearing multiple pieces of Set Gear will grant additional stat bonuses.

More details about the Black Sanctum will be forthcoming in the next couple weeks.

Lifetime Subscription Option
By popular demand, I've decided to give players the option of purchasing a lifetime subscription to NEStalgia. The price has been set at $20 ($18 for BYOND Members) and it is available for purchase right now. The standard year-long subscription option has remained unchanged and can still be purchased for $9 ($8 for BYOND Members).

As a limited time special I am offering anyone who already has a NEStalgia subscription the chance to upgrade to a lifetime subscription for $11. If you'd like to take advantage of this deal then please talk to me in the game or shoot me an email. This offer will only be available through September.



Keep in mind that NEStalgia is still 100% free to play for non-subscribers. Learn all about what an optional subscription to NEStalgia gets you! Your subscription shows support for the development of quality independent projects on BYOND.

The Promotional Campaign
As of this moment I feel that the game is finally ready for the potential influx of new players from an external marketing campaign. A large part of my time this month will be spent preparing for that campaign, and perhaps even getting it rolling. I'll post more information about how you can contribute to this campaign once I'm ready :)

While I've had a lot of free time on my hands to focus on NEStalgia this past month, that could potentially change and this promotional stuff would then be delayed. We'll see how things go.

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One last note: don't forget about this Sunday's PvP tournament at 1 PM PST. See you there!

NEStalgia Hub: http://www.byond.com/games/SilkGames/NEStalgia
Main Server (Shrenwold): byond://cablemonkey.game-host.org:2045