-LOCKED - Community Update #113!
Posted on 2021-07-09 14:16:12

Community Update
As we mentioned before, aside from event news and the 2nd Friday of the month being focused on coding/art updates all at once, all other Fridays are centered around the community!


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Official Lioden Raffle


LINK - This is our official community update raffle. Everyone gets a chance to win a rare prize, plus something extra for any runner ups. These raffles have a very minimal ticket price, and there is a limit of 1 ticket per account to make it fair! Good luck!
This raffle will automatically end on 2021-07-16 00:00:00.


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Art and Coding Bug Fixes


* Decors on Dorsal Fur pride leader portraits should no longer be flipped
* Fixed a duplicate of "Celadon" that replaced "Tessera" genetics, and thus prohibited any "Dunt" eyes to appear
* Lion Pride Veiled Wraps [Light Blue and Pink] should now display on all lions
* Previously, the Item Catalogue would not search all locations that an item was available in, this has been fixed
* Searching for main males wouldn't sort by level properly, this has been fixed


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Regarding the July Event


Hello, Lioden!

We're just writing this to extend a hand from the devs to the players, and touch base with you all on some of the feedback and comments we've been receiving over the past couple of days.

Retiring the Event


As we mentioned in previous news posts (July 2020, June 2021, and July 2021), the original July event would be retiring this year. We know that July was a very content rich event with lots of things to do. We know that the theme overall is popular, too. We know that by comparison, what launched this month seems less than and that can be a shock. However, all of our events started off launching on a smaller scale and grew over time. This time is no different, but we understand it can be disappointing now that the majority of events have had several years of fleshing out. We really hope you'll be patient with us and be excited to watch it grow.

Because of several years of content additions, in the end the event became messy and disjointed, and we felt it required a complete overhaul. Additionally, we know that the storyline left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths, and as explained, we felt it best to leave these characters behind and move on with new characters. We know that originally it was planned for Tefnut to have a mini backstory, but over time we as devs felt the storyline needed to be put to rest, and so that didn't happen.

We were surprised to see players upset about the removal of the storyline when we had explained it would be retiring, and so few players voiced their upset at this before.

Launching the New Event


Tefnut's memories, in hindsight, shouldn't have launched until the 8th and we apologise for that. Gathering MS which could then be spent there sent the wrong message when the new explore requires the shards to have steps. The apps originally launched in SB prices. After concern started being voiced by players about how cheap they were and the risk it would ruin the market, the prices got upped. This then caused more upset with other players, and the prices were changed to MS. This, then, caused upset again, and it became obvious that all of these choices were wrong. We then moved to remove the apps entirely from the shop and are still considering what to do, but we can promise that the apps will not return for a MS price, and more likely to be reverted to either SB, AC, or the option for both.

The new MS output is intentional because the event has changed. However, we listened to you all and gave an increase so you'd be able to get more steps in celestial explore.

Back to the celestial explore. We've seen comments voiced that it's too similar to the lunar event on Wolvden and that's upsetting, but we think considering it's an explore system, it is impossible not to see similarities between our other games and events. We will however consider the feedback for this, and look to see if we can do anything about this.

With regards to the enemies - they have more 'special' components than regular enemies, such as some of them having soft skin, some having tough, some being biters or stranglers, etc etc, but their overall 'power' is still lower than most enemies. In fact, it's lower than fighting regular lions in explore, though it likely feels different because they have more components and you have to work out what their strengths and weaknesses are. Additionally, we actually lowered this again after your feedback. Success rates were pretty good in testing as well, even with low stat kings.

To Sum Up


We hope you guys will agree that whilst we might not get everything right to begin with, we have a good track record of doing what we can to make it right. Any time event tiers have been too high or seeming unfair, we have moved to change them or lower them for better balance. We don't do things just to upset players - what would the point of that be? We're trying our best, and sometimes we don't always get it right first time, but we endeavour to make sure we do what we can to *put* it right.

We'd just like to formally apologise for all the ups and downs over the past few days. There have been a lot of quick fire changes. A lot of upset forum posts, news comments and chat posts. We don't anticipate to make any further changes this year beyond one or two more tweaks and hope that things will settle, but we're taking everything on board for next year.

Thank you for your patience, and we appreciate the valuable feedback you have given.

* We have adjusted "empty" explore encounters in Celestial Explore to now reward between 5-10 Meteorite Shards or 1 Axion Core at random.

Feedback and Surveys


In light of recent events, we have chosen to be more strict in our enforcement of attacks on our staff team. The attacks on our staff team and comments directed at them have been unacceptable, cruel, and without constructive criticism. These attacks not only harm our staff team, but our players as well—we have received feedback that players have been afraid to give their opinions in the chat room and on the forums due to the fear of being turned on by their fellow players with these same attacks. Due in part to this, we have found it necessary to follow with the enforcement of limiting attacks on our staff team. These are not new rules, these are existing rules that are currently enforced within the Code of Conduct.

To offset this, we will also be introducing greater chances of feedback so that every voice can be heard. Today, we are introducing a new way for you to give us your feedback - anonymous surveys. These surveys are here to provide an equal opportunity for players to provide feedback, and allow all voices a chance to contribute to the game's growth. They will offer a safe way for everyone to be heard, and will be everyone's first and best place to supply their thoughts in a constructive way without fear of being criticised.

We have created a survey to receive feedback from everyone regarding July's event update, and the link can be found here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeL-aPtccdpLklsQ0C-V2oHbcBUrhy5spza1CT_Ga65Aarvmw/viewform


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Raffle Lioness


Congrats Karina (#212267)! You have won last week's Ebony lady, woo!
A new Madagascar lady with Clay Indri (NEW!), Vitiligo 8, and the thirteenth Shores of Burundi background is up for impressing in the Special Lioness area linked here!

Marking Note: Lilac Crackle, Noctis Indri, and Noctis Panther are now possible to apply via RMAs/Total Shuffle!

Poll Results - Thanks for your votes! August's new stud base will be named "Bandit".

There is no new poll this week, in light of the survey. We'd like the focus to be on the survey if possible.


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Next Development Update: August 13th!


No Friday goofy doodle comic this week, sorry!



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Moony The 1st (G1
Soul) (#85799)

Impeccable
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Posted on
2021-07-09 20:26:03
Since I’m just now thinking about this and can’t redo the survey, I wanted to add that y’all should increase the rates of MS in the regular explore (especially in the daytime) and for AC after battles (maybe 2-3 for regular ones and 4-6 for bosses). The battles are still pretty hard and no matter what method I try, most of them two-three shot me. From what I’m seeing, folk don’t like the current drop rates and the fights. Also lower the amount of MS it takes for each step. Maybe 2 instead of 5. And give us the option to use MS for the raffle alongside AC. The AC price is just too high right now.

That’s all i have to add. I like the aesthetic of this event and I’m excited to see where it goes. I’ve never been a huge fan of the July event as I don’t care for the celestial themes bases (though I do love the eyes!). However, I’m glad that y’all are listening and responded so quickly to this.
Thanks for that!

Edit: One more thing! Add NPCs that give out shards! That would lessen the feel of “The Grind.” Add more encounters that give out lots of MS in the regular explore.



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Edited on 09/07/21 @ 20:33:55 by Moony The 1st (#85799)

Empyrean ☼ g1
Angelic (#68452)


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Posted on
2021-07-09 20:28:36
I appreciate the changes you’re all implementing. All of the staff has been very accommodating, and I appreciate you all a lot for everything you’re doing.
However… only one person expressed concern in the SB prices. The price was changed based only on one person, and I think that’s where most of the outrage came from. It should’ve been made into a poll or survey to get the whole community’s opinion.
But- thank you all regardless for everything you do.



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Edited on 09/07/21 @ 22:11:21 by Talaveth ✧ (#68452)

Nefarious (#235768)


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Posted on
2021-07-09 20:29:30
Thanks for the update! I feel bad for the poor staff that have to put up with the harmful harassment. Keep up the good work guys!



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chimerabytes (#236253)

Necromancer
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Posted on
2021-07-09 21:16:12
I just have one question. Why allow meteorite shards to drop if... we can't even use them? Unless I'm missing something here (also, ftr, I'm a new player.), I don't really understand keeping them if you've removed the items and seem to have almost no intent on returning the items to being able to be bought with meteorite shards.



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🪦 Castiel² |
Ruffian (#159703)


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Posted on
2021-07-09 21:17:17
We need Meteorite Shards to explore the Celestial Explore to gather Axion Cores.



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Rilan (#93356)

Heartless
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Posted on
2021-07-09 21:19:46
personally i liked this event



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chimerabytes (#236253)

Necromancer
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Posted on
2021-07-09 21:30:04
ahhh okay. Thank you for clarifying that. I only just noticed the celestial explore stuff tonight so I went through and explored the, well, explore thing a bit and I guess it's kinda cool?



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Axloga (#90914)

Lone Wanderer
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Posted on
2021-07-09 21:34:50
Lioden is a 16+ game, and I loved this game mainly for not being afraid to put up 16+ content like the old July event. And now we have a bunch of cute, friendly characters, like in a children's cartoon, and pathos stories. No tragedy, no creepy. Only pathos and cuteness.
Only the July event had a serious story, there is no more and there will be nothing like this in Lioden! It is impossible to make all players feel comfortable, but you can leave at least one interesting novel as opposed to all the others, which I started to click without reading on the second playthrough due to its banality and linearity (and this means "comfortable'' and "enjoying", yeaah).
And what really leaves a "bad taste in the mouth" is an unbalanced, rushed event.



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Edited on 10/07/21 @ 09:20:49 by Axloga (#90914)

Paradox (#163177)

Dreamboat of Ladies
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Posted on
2021-07-09 21:45:25
Like elisheva, Squidkitties, and others have said, I haven't seen any attacks on staff. Just constructive criticism and frustration by the playerbase. Unless there was talk hidden in threads that didn't have to do with the event, private messages sent harassing staff memebers, or something going on in the chat (which I have never used or looked at due to it not being my thing), everyone I have seen has been really civil with their grievances and issues about the event. It's certinaly not fun to see, or listen to, criticism--especially towards something the staff seemed to have been looking forward too since they first announced it--but it's important to listen, acknowledge, and consider the constructive complaints of the community.

I feel like the criticism (of which there was a lot) was dismissed or glossed over in the post. People weren't mad (or their main issue at least wasn't) that the new explore event was similar to Wolvden's, it was the fact that a lot of grinding is involved to earn event currency. It's the fact that the enemies are extremely diffcult to fight--many people, myself included, only winning about half the battles--for only one AC at a time. It was the fact that MS was hard to come by and the applicators in Tefnut's Memories were quite expensive (both before and after the change from MS to SB). It's the fact it's unbalanced. It's the fact it takes five MS to take one step in the new explore area. None of it really felt acknowledged outside a sentence or two in the appropriate sections regarding the event.

There's also something...misleading, which I suppose is the right term, about not addressing the various criticism and concerns directly. I say it feels misleading because an uncomfortable amount of people are blowing off the criticism or assuming it's people just being toxic, whiney, and/or complaining just to complain. This leads me to wonder just how many of those people have actually read through the topics discussing this event and how many only saw the staff talking about receiving attacks and assumed most/everyone who had issues or complaints are being generally toxic.

With all that said, I (and most others) do appreciate the efforts staff had made in trying to fix some of the more glaring issues as quickly as they could. The quick response to the community's frustration shows that the staff does care about what we say and that they listen (though this situation isn't the only example of it). Though I'm not sure if I agree with the choices and changes made (this is coming from someone who's only played through the July event once two years ago, so wasn't attached to the event as others are), I think there's potential with this event to become something better. Honestly, I think the event switch over should've waited another year to launch. Not only would this give the devs more time to flesh things out and work out the kinks (without rushing to fill a deadline), but perhaps it could've given the community more time to adjust/find out the event was changing.

Anyway, this has been long and rambly enough. I like the idea of a anonymous survey that allows people to share their thoughts and feelings about the current event. It's another good step in the right direction to make things smoother/better/easier. As others have already said, I do hope the results are shared with the community for the sake of transparency. I think staff being transparent with us after these past few days is the best call, and I think it'd be interesting to see how everyone's thoughts line up together. I hope this didn't come across as harsh, rude, or even accusatory. Unfortunately, tone can be hard to tell through text and I am very tired. Anyway, I believe things will be better in the future and I look forward to see how this plays out.



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⚡️Bear⚡️ (#97728)

Lone Wanderer
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Posted on
2021-07-09 22:00:31

I feel like other players and myself are reiterating the same thing to no avail. Maybe the poll results will help though.
I haven't got much else to say at this point.




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Cj 🌈 (#174601)

King of the Jungle
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Posted on
2021-07-09 22:28:34
The majority of the harsh things that were said were in main chat. (That's all I'm going to get into for the sake of the Lioden team.) The shock from the team is more than understandable, you had to be there to understand it.

That's what a lot of players here don't understand, there was a LOT of negative and hurtful things said from some players instead of being civil and giving opinions/constructive critism. The event had barely began to get the wheels turning, and people were worried about the MS/app prices. ( which is valid as well. As much as it has been said over and over, no one is saying people have no right to complain about it, just want to put that out there in case someone is taking what I am saying now that way.) Short end of it: People were being absolute assholes in main chat to the staff and other players, instead of being civil about it and giving constructive critism.

Also, I get the frustration with the site changing it's themes, but things tend to change over time. The site is meant for adults with mature themes, sure. Lioden cares about their players and about their safety, and do their best to make things feel more comfortable and enjoyable for players to, well, enjoy. The previous July event had some very uncomfortable themes for others, and honestly rethinking it, yes it really is fucked up.

The event revamp is a step closer to that from the previous July event, and shows promise for in the future. And y'know, people have every right to be upset about change, and that's ok. (Like many people have mentioned, it's a free game, and you don't have to participate if you don't want to.)

This event is still being worked on, and it will take some time. Now that they are working their way up and are receiving the constructive critism they asked for, we NEED to give them the time they need to work with what they have right now. They're doing the only thing they can do humanly possible, and it's their best.



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G1|Fringe|HyacinthEy
es|2k+|BO (#168041)

Impeccable
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Posted on
2021-07-09 22:37:33
I am really disappointed that you decided to change the best event on lioden. While many other not so interesting events clearly need additional content, you decided to change a good event. In addition, these changes are clearly not for the better. Even if we accept that you have deleted the storyline. As a result, we got an event that is incredibly similar to the wolden event, and the enemies are like the snakes of chaos from the June event. July has completely lost its originality.



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Bucky Barnes (#96958)

Witcher
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Posted on
2021-07-09 22:47:10
I don't know. I'm still disappointed, with this news post as well. And I know it's a real balancing act for the devs and I do appreciate you're trying to do the best thing.

But I'm still not feeling this event. I've tried the other explore once and that's it. I didn't like it and I still don't understand why there have to be two versions. Why the space stuff can't just be folded into regular explore.
I also have no interest in the Demiurge shop which is mainly decor. And the Celestial raffle is way too expensive. You have to win five fights just to be able to enter.

I'm also still just downright upset that due to one player complaining about losing money SB prices were raised to more than double. Why do you say you to want to keep the community happy and then listen to one player and make such a huge chance that affects everyone? That still does not sit right with me. And again, I get it's a balancing act.

It would have been fine if the SB prices stayed at 6k SB for the apps, maybe give a heads-up before changing it but the knee-jerk reaction is really what started the whole mess.

July was my favorite month and that is obviously coloring my response to this change but I'm still debating turning events off for the entire month from now on. I wasn't expecting a completely different event that has nothing to do with lions or even Africa.

I was excited about working towards Sunset apps for my king but I'm probably not even going to get them now since they're probably going to be for the new currency.



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Lycana {G4
Interstellar Pie} (#143572)

Divine
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Posted on
2021-07-09 23:56:36
But I love apedmak, menhit and her boyfriend....



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Kitari (#134671)

Deathlord of the Jungle
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Posted on
2021-07-10 00:27:26
Other events should have been changed way before this one. Frankly, there are many other sub-par events: There was absolutely no need to destroy a popular event when so many of the others are in desperate need of improvement.



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