Hello and welcome back to the Weekly Roundup, your one stop shop for any info on the workings and happenings of Valence SMP! It's been another wild week, and I can't wait to loop you all in!

📣 META 📣

Before we get into the fun bits, we’ve got some general workings we want to keep everyone in the loop on.

This one's a doozy, but it's worth reading.

Clarity on funds allocation from Donations

We've had a few people asking for more insight into our payment model, how those funds are allocated, and what are plans are moving forward. I want to take some time to keep you all in the loop.

There have been concerns about us not outright stating where donation funds are going to, which is absolutely fair. To provide clarity here - we are a legal business entity in Canada. As such, it is within our best interest to follow ethical practice and make the server self-sustaining, and that is our priority. Since we're doing one-time permanent premium purchases we need to be incredibly thoughtful about where those funds go, this is why we've swapped between 3 cloud services already - we are looking for the best possible option to support as many players as possible, for as long as possible.

Currently we are paying all server costs out of pocket due to Stripe holding our account until we have a website. We're continuing to look at alternative hosts right now, but for the time being we are locked into our current provider due to them requiring a $350 USD down payment, and we have 0 intent to waste the money that has been generously donated towards the server. We care about keeping this thing running as much as you guys.

Player Reports

If you believe that there has been some sort of rule infraction, either on the server or in the Discord - please ⁠#📨-open-a-ticket to ensure that the moderators can handle the situation as soon as they can. We take all of these cases seriously, and it's a priority that everyone here feels safe and respected above all else.

Community Discords

Please ensure that you are not just adding @Kov to your community discords, but also ensure that you create a staff role that can see all text channels. All community discords are held to the same rules and guidelines as the Valence SMP discord, and all further ⁠#📢group-recruitment posts will be deleted unless this requirement is met, and the group's recognition will be removed if this continues for 7 days. In order to be affiliated with Valence SMP, we need to be able to ensure that members are held to the same respect and expectations as we hold here.

Halloween Event Feedback

For those of you who made it, we'd love to hear your thoughts on the Halloween Event! This was our first swing at something of this scale, and we want to ensure that your voices are heard!

https://forms.gle/xM5sK1EsBqUbxaTSA

Donation System Revamp in the Works

Currently only our Controller can apply and verify Premium Membership purchases, we're looking at swapping storefronts soon which will allow us to expand that operation and deliver your memberships a bit sooner. We don't have a timeline yet, but your voices have been heard!

Changelog

[+] Added hub plug-in to the queue server. This gives us room to add fun things to do in the coming week!

[+] Barrier blocks around the queue island so no more falling into the void!

[+] Death if you do fall into the void

[+] Proximity chat now prompts you to link in the server. No more going through the queue twice upon joining!

[+] The Valence bot is now two entities - the linking bot & the proximity chat bot.

[+] Inventory sync between servers

[+] You will no longer be kicked for flying when riding a horse!

[+] Partial keep inventory upon death. You will keep tools, weapons, and armor

[+] New ticketing system! Instead of dming a bot, you can now open a support ticket in #open-a-ticket.

[~] Queue games are in progress

[~] Please do not DM the Devs, use the ticket system

[~] Rules for the actual server changed. Please see rules

📜 STONE BAY PRESS 📜

The city has been alive with new members, new policy, and new business this week!

💀 Mhedeling in Dire Business 💀

After a confrontation in front of House Mhede, former Marquee Danias was executed on grounds of treason this week. Despite the ongoing curse, it is reported he did not rise again. Opinions are split, as House Mhede's long and cultured history was brought to an abrupt end.

"Look, I know the guy was some sort of traitor, but those champions were good business! Bought up a bunch of my old stock, don't show up too often no more though. Happy to not see that 4 faced folk no more though, shivered my timbers entirely."

👻 Festivities in Morgantown 👻

The city caught wind of Morgantha having a small festival in the Hamlet of Morgantown, newly renovated after its previous ransacking. Scary stories and party favors were passed around, culminating in the raising of a small army of pumpkins, spotted continent wide over the weekend. Strange magics were at play, but seem to be quelled - for now.

☁️ Anti-Stonebay Sentiment ☁️

This weekend's council meeting was rudely interrupted by a spectator denouncing the throne before he was removed with extreme prejudice. This comes after a sudden uptick in throne dissenters brought in by the last batch of Colonizers. These baseless claims of tyranny are treacherous at best, and evil at worst - we took to the streets to ask our citizens.

"Yknow, I've been hearing things on the streets - keep it down low, but I heeard that this is the curse's doin', and it's bein spearheaded by that late Duke Rothchester. Tyler in farming told me that there's peoples sayin' somethin about him being the true mayor, and that he's gonna rise and take control. Said it was supposed to happen last weekend, then this weekend as well. Buncha hacks as far as I'm concerned."

🍄 A word from the Mushroom People 🍄

"The Mushroom Festival is Almost Upon Us!

Come one, come all, to the Mushroom Festival! The Mushroom Tribe is proud to announce the official time and date for the Mushroom Festival!

November 5th at 4:30 pm Central Time!

We will be hosting some fun games, a bonfire, and a raffle! The festival will be held in Basil County in between the forest path and the community stump!

We will also have some booths available for rent for anyone who would like to advertise their business, faction, or guild! Please message me @WillOWispJJ or @Yellow for info on booth size/availability and prices! We truly hope to see you all there!"

👑 A word from his Grace the Right Honourable Duke Bill Eulen of Fugging-Basil 👑

"Stone Bay council elections will be held Friday! If you need to register to vote please get in contact with the Election Commission or you can do same day registration at the Shroom Festival!"

🎵 A word from His Lordship the Honourable James Barker of Dunwall 🎵

"A brand new concert stage has finished construction on the south side of Dunwall. In the coming weeks a concert celebrating it's grand opening will be held by Dunwall's very own @syrus! Keep an eye and ear out for details regarding ticket sales as well as the time and date. "

🌙 CLOSING REMARKS 🌜

And that's a wrap for this week! As usual, thank you all for continuing to support us on this journey. It's been crazy taking a step back and seeing how quickly things have changed over the past two weeks, and I'm incredibly grateful to have you all here. I was looking back on @Doc and I's messages, and saw us celebrating 3000 total views on TikTok early in October - I don't think we ever could've expected how quickly this all would spring up. I know it's early to say, but this entire experience has already been life changing for me, and I can attest for how much this experience means to everyone else on staff. We're so happy to have you all aboard.

This week I'd like pass our thanks to the Developers, they've been throwing down some really kickass work as usual. We've heard your voices in terms of the queue times, and technical issues in the server - and those two have cooked up some really incredible stuff that we'll be implementing over the coming week, as you've seen Star has already snuck the KeepInventory system out, which will sort out a lot of heartache moving forward. They're indispensable, and normally I'd say to express your thanks - but I think you could do them one better by using the #⁠📨-open-a-ticket channel to contact them for help!

We look forward to seeing you next week on the player's resource for everything Valence SMP, thanks for reading, and for joining this wild ride with us!

Thank you @fenris for our photo of the week!

Jude / Kov

Communications Manager

Valence SMP