GM Censored was introduced to the guild - as a fluffly little dragon hand puppet/hat that Trib was wearing.
While we don't yet know who GM Censored is, Trib hinted very strongly that he's a Con attendee this year. Make of that what you will.
"You won't like me when I'm hyper" - Trib
The 1st priority for Trib is bug fixes and messaging changes, At last count Trib had 200-300 known bugs, over half of them relating to TKT and water (Unknown if he was exaggerating this or not...)
Guildleaders are also quite buggy and outdated in their messages so they will be rewritten to have more personality and accurate information.
Along that line... Trib mentioned that one of the Guildleaders will be... "Changing". For those of you not in the know that's almost certain to mean one of the Guildleaders is gunna get it. For the record my vote is for Mortom... though Tiv also seems to be a likly canidate.
The 2nd priority will be enchanting.
Variants on the beacon enchantment to work with Seer's Sense from a range for example.
The 3rd priority is the prediction system.
Trib is giving seminars to the GMs on writing visions so hopefully we'll see more and better event predictions soon, he seems to be a huge fan of this system.
More magic to be tied into the prediction system - Perhaps causing some random effects due to predictions depending on the spells used and so forth.
The 4th priority is spells.
First up spells will be reviewed, then things added to them, and perhaps some spell mergers or otherwise slimming down of our spellbooks.
Trib (and Valdrik) seems to like the idea of cross-guild spell casting effects, to combine some new effect from two other spells. This also seems to apply to enchantments.
New spells will come after this.
The main new spell discussed was the "Shield" spell. Some info on it for those not following the boards (Notice that this spell is not yet approved). A defensive energy shield that starts shield like and eventually ends up as a full body field of defense. Eventually you'll be able to reinforce certain flanks at the expense of the others. While maintaining the spell it will slow your reactions (Ref or evasion penalty). If in "manual" mode you will learn shield skill, if in automatic mode you will learn much less shield skill. The power will be based off mana (though it's not a held mana spell) as well as your magic skills and your shield skill. It could possibly be combined with a normal shield as well.
Ripple - THIS IS NOT A DOWNTWEAK! READ THE WHOLE THING BEFORE YOU POST OR I'LL HAVE TRIB SEND AN ARMY OF SHADOWMASTERS AFTER YOU WITH NO MOONS UP! ahem That said...
Ripple is being refined. Trib doesn't think it's overpowered, and that people are way overreacting over on the WM boards, Right now the spell is in a rather crude state, so Tribbles is going to refine it to a better state.
Because of 2 above, and possible interactions with RS/MG as well the Ways have moved up in priority quite a ways.
By the end of the year we should have at least 5 new spell effects for "Dead' spells like Dazzle and Focus Moonbeam. Trib mentioned something about a general cast Dazzle with a possible secondary effect, and a
Trib may look into a way to refresh moonbeams (And didn't seem to have any plans to adjust FM like we heard about under Talian and co, but also didn't seem to be too up on that situation yet. We'll see what happens.)
We may be able to detonate a SLS as a weaker but area attack spell. Also potentially displacing it... into people...
"The spike appraises as soft" - Davius
A major change to skills is coming, but Trib doesn't plan to do anything about it unless he sees a benifit for us. EDIT: I think this is refering to the exp changes mentioned in the State of Elanthia, meaning that we can expect our reqs to look more or less the same but with less minor skills and bits instead of ranks for overall... but I may be totally wrong on this as Trib didn't add anything else.
We'll likly see development of Sects or Paths but not both.
The Paths would be combat/magic/prediction/enchantment plus core abilites.
The Paths would cause varied effects in your spells.
Our spells are intended to be POWERFUL and on that note, if we have strong combat spells they aren't combat spells, they are Moon Mage spells, which is all the justification they need.
Warrior Mages and Moon Mages really are quite different animals. Stop trying to compare them, it isn't meaningful at all. Now step back trolls!
Given the above if something is overpowered... it will be reviewed. For the record Ripple is NOT overpowered. For that matter Trib clearly said that NO current spells are overpowered for Moon Mages.
In a rather surprising announcement Trib said that his view on magic is that in combat the role of it isn't to blow up anything in front of us and then we get killed, but to keep us alive through a great deal of things, since if you aren't dying you already have the upperhand, even if this means you have to go finish the job with a weapon. Our goal in combat isn't a kamikazi attack.
"In the beginning you had Sects... or your parents did." - Trib
Paths are more fundamental then Sects, which are more fundamental then your Guild in your belief system. A path is how you approach your skills and your goal for what to use them for.
"Progeny are the result of sects" - Valdrik
"Only Moon Mages have sects" - Valdrik
"We put Moon Mages on the path to sects" - Trib
Just as a point... Moon Mages were not forced to sign the Lunar Accord due to their combat prowess, but because they know too much. Something to think about.
Trib has no problems with icy dealings with going on with players who abuse their powers... be this removed spells for a bit, removing all spells... you get the idea. If you don't, ask Rumet. Or about him and burn since he's gone.
Potentially Trader beacons will be installed in cities that could be rented to let a Moon Mage open moon gates for caravans or some such.
We may see an increase in J and K stones in the treasure system, Trib suspects they may have been bumped to the wrong treasure tier.
Trib wants to do a very high level travel spell that wouldn't need the moons up (Perhaps a SLS varient) that may or may not be tied to the Ways.
The Ways may be opened by a particular pattern of scribed sigils, with certain sigils going to certain locations.
Su Helmas - One way or another it will be coming out. This is nicer then how Trib phrased it :)
The first part of Su Helmas will be out before the end of the year hopefully, with the Pethian sect hall. (Note, I'm unclear if this is the same intial release as the one mentioned having new abilities and spells, or if by intial release he means the intial overall plan for it... anyhow we'll see what comes with time)
Su Helmas will be expanded over time to add more things for us, I suspect it will play a similiar role as TC and Taisgath as a stagging area for Moon Mage events and releases.
Su Helmas was made by twisted individuals, so it's intended to be a nasty place.
Su Helmas does have it's own depart area... heh.
The P5 guild may not have been started yet (Trib needs to check) so that may force Su Helmas back slightly, but the guildleader for that guild is known (The nomad one mentioned on the mainpage) and is known to be something of an alcoholic...
-Mozzik
"That's because it's discharged" - Trib
"The result of Bad sects" - Trib
There will be an area in it that as a lone moon mage you'll have to pray to get through.
A daily, randomly shifting keystone that will need to be studied to figure out what Sigils to use to open up Su Helmas. The large swimming area starts off with a waterfall, and the water starts easy after that to class 5 rapids, to a totally underwater area that you'll need to fight the current just to get air.
Re: Su Helmas "There will be death" - Trib
The intial release of Su Helmas should have two new spells and two new abilities for us.