Over the next few days to few weeks, you can expect the following things described in this post. I'm hesitant to give exact dates because a lot of this is entirely on me at this point and if there are any glitches, I'll have to stop and address them before we can proceed to the next step.

Please keep in mind this post is meant to be a general overview, I'm not going into expansive details on each step, as each piece goes live I'll provide an in depth blog post with all the stuff you'll need to know. (More...)

Tomorrow, you can expect the V3.0 HUD update to start to arrive. These will be automatically delivered to you if you're wearing the existing HUD.

A couple days after that, the V3.0 script update will go out, this will be absolutely mandatory update for all players, even if you aren't planning on breeding Nocturnals. Technically, the V2.0 update was mandatory but we never really pressured people to apply it, with V3.0 we will be a little more adamant that you do. These updates fix the issues that end up making you file a ticket, so really it's in your best interest to do so! Like *bleeping* sim idling!

Provided there aren't any major issues with the script update, we will begin taking pre-orders soon after it's made available. Pre-orders will be available for at least two weeks while everyone is busy getting their existing meeroos updated to V3.0.

Also, there is the level rescaling I first discussed with everyone back last December I have to slip in there somewhere.

I am still gathering statistics on the nests being born on the grid since the last change made to mutations, and I may revisit it. It is possible that the changes had a farther reaching effect than I intended, a larger sample size will tell. However, let me be clear. It has never been the case since day one of Meeroos, that just because both parents shared a particular trait that the baby will always inherit it or something "better" and never anything "worse". This is just part of the game and has always been true for every trait: coat, eyes, tails, etc. Any time I find a case where somehow there's a way to breed "a sure thing" I will patch it. I know it may not feel like it, but I believe these changes are an improvement because players who do their genealogy will be rewarded more for their breeding efforts in the long run, than players who don't, which was always my design goal from the beginning.

Games are very tricky things to perfectly balance. Make it too easy, players get bored and quit, make it too hard and players get bored and quit. Worst still, whats "too hard" for one player can easily be "too easy" for another. Even the best games on the planet written by 100s of developers struggle with this. Most AAA titles are patched monthly where they nerf one skill and boost another in the interest of making it more fun. They change the rules, add new things, take away old things. It's an online game, they change and evolve. Players adapt. I thought I had done pretty darn good to build a genetics system that was in play for over a year without any patches to it before now. All I heard in 2012 from player feedback was how dead the market was and there was a problem the way new traits (esp. coats) were coming onto the grid, so perhaps naively, I assumed our players would welcome a change to address this. If anything, I was afraid people would be screaming that I hadn't done it sooner!

Finally, I do appreciate everyone's feedback, even if it's not worded in the friendliest of terms. I am trying my hardest to do what I think is best for the meeroo in the long term, even if you feel otherwise. I know players wouldn't be upset if they weren't passionate about their meeroo. So please feel free to keep the constructive criticism flowing. What do you think? Let me know in the comments.

-Tiger