New Nests, New Coats, New HUD, Oh My!

Sometime in the near future Meeroo Nests are going to undergo a slight change, for the better. As part of an update Nests are going to be improved in subtle but significant ways. The biggest and most welcome upgrade is that, post update, CSR's will be able to replace lost Meeroo Nests with another Nest. They will no longer be restricted to replacing only live Meeroos. If you have ever required a Nest replacement for a Meeroo you had plans to save in its Nest you will understand how important that is. Tiger makes a very important note: "If you do get a nest replaced and sent to you by a CSR, it is imperative you rezz it immediately as the process is not complete until after you do this." It sounds like the replacement Nest will need to communicate with the database, with you as the owner, to complete the transaction. If you do get a Nest given back to you by a CSR do not keep it in Inventory. Rez it first and give it a few minutes to connect, then it should be safe to take back to Inventory. This improvement is not live yet, as far as I know CSR's can not replace lost Nests with new Nests yet.

 Nests are also getting visual gender identification in addition to float text: The small white flowers that we are used to seeing on Nests are going to get some colour. Nests containing male Meeroos will be adorned with blue flowers and female Nests will have pink. Colour coding the Nests will save a huge amount of time when shopping. On a less practical note the varied colours on the Nests should make my Nest filled Meeroo area a touch brighter.

Also announced in THIS blog post by Tiger: "There will be a new HUD that kicks off the start of Chapter 2 content." Not only do we have the new and improved Nests to look forward to but also an update to the now very familiar HUD. I do not know what we might expect to see change on the HUD but it is bound to be interesting.

Preceding all of the above there have recently been three (3) new Coats discovered: Darkmire, Silverbay and Mistwalker. I have not been able to locate any to photograph yet, but the links on their names above go to photos of them posted online. Catherine says that these Coats are not from the twenty five (25) new Coats promised and that they have always been available for discovery: "The new coats we're seeing are not a part of the update. They've been in the current genetics since release, and there are still more I'm sure we'll see soon." from THIS forum post. We can expect to be notified when the genetics update is applied, as Catherine says: "The genetics update includes a large amount of new content, and I'll definitely let you know when that goes live!" That is the genetics update to our current Meeroos, unrelated to the Chapter 2 expansion.

Keep your eyes out for those newly colour coded Nests and of course new Coats. Soon we should be seeing more facets of Chapter 2 dropping into place followed by the release of the Nocturnals themselves. There is much to come.

The Q and A

Recently Levio and Allison attended a Q&A session held by Sacred Tome. They had a decent chat and answered a few questions, some of them with very interesting information. The meeting was held using voice and the recording has not yet been transcribed as far as I know, the audio is about 105min long. I have listened to it all and intend to share some of the highlights. If you wish to listen to the recording yourself it is available on the Sacred Tome blog HERE.

A few quick items: There will be a script update. Sounds like it will be before the expansion, Chapter 2. Team Meeroos intends to ensure there is always something new to discover. So when all eyes, or all tails, or all of any trait have been found the goal is to immediately add new content. This has nothing to do with expansions, like Chapter 2, but only with updating existing Meeroos. There has been no official decision on what the remedy to the Regard situation will be. I suspect that decision alone may hold Chapter 2 back a few days. Levio has awesomely reiterated that there are no plans to develop or release "add-on" products for Meeroos such as fertility boosters. Excellent news, good to see Malevay Studios is maintaining their dedication to that issue.

Fascinating factoid: Levio says in the recording that Meeroo Personalities were added to the game specifically to stimulate the secondary market. Another example of foresight on the part of Malevay Studios. I think it has worked out well, and also birthed a trade network where Nests and lives are swapped to create compatible pairs. Some of my best Meeroos have come from Nest trades.

Not much can be said about the Nocturnals yet, prior to release most everything about them is secret. Levio was able to share that Nocturnals and Diurnals will be interbreedable immediately upon release. So the day Chapter 2 goes live you will be able to begin pairing new Nocturnals with Diurnal Meeroos you have now. For the curious: the Bengal coat Meeroo is a Diurnal, it will be breedable from the Meeroos we have now.

A major piece of data concerning the retiring of coats emerged during the Q&A: When a Coat is retired from the starter kits it will no longer be available to have as a new Nest either. Once the Coat is retired it will be impossible to produce a new Nest with that Coat. If we use, as an example, Winecoats; say Winecoats are retired. There would not be any in starter packs. I assume one of the higher Coats would drop down into the starter packs. Levio said that new genetics would not be available in starter packs, so it is a fairly safe guess that another Coat will move down into them. Even if you pair two (2) Winecoats, once the Coat is retired, they will not have Winecoat offspring. Retirement will cap the number of that type on the Grid, there will be no way to create more. Which Coat will be withdrawn has not been announced. I use Winecoats as an example only, it could be any of the current starter Coats.

Other miscellaneous items of note: There will remain only one HUD, even once Chapter 2 is released there will be one HUD only. It will work with all Meeroos. Much in the same vein you will not need new Home stumps for Nocturnals. Levio mentions at one point that there was, once, a plan to add rarity indicators to the Meeroos HUD. I had never heard of it, but in any case the idea has been scrapped and that data will not be added to the HUD. Things that Levio tells us will also probably not be happening: Copyable Homes, Having more than eight (8) Meeroos on a Home and Affiliate Vendors. All fine with me. The Meeroos per Home thing sounds like a script memory issue, and I would think not worth trying to circumvent. I totally understand their Affiliate Vendor stance after all the attempts made to defraud Malevay Studios and its customers. I would never have expected copyable Homes to be on the table, they would have to be inordinately expensive. A note on Home stump distances, Levio advises that the ideal ratio of Homes per square meter is less than twelve (12) Homes per 20sqm area. Maintain that spacing and you should rarely, if ever, experience stump hopping.

Finally, in more super good news, once released the Nocturnals will dig up their own unique Treasures. Levio was uncertain if they will have their own basic Treasures analogous to the Tin Can and Rotten Banana of the Diurnal Meeroos or if it will be restricted to the "better" Treasures. I hope they have their own basic Treasures, they are a small touch but they add so much to the experience. I am always in favour of adding in more Treasure types, both basic and spectacular [epic?].

There is more in the recording that I have not mentioned here, what I have done is the highlights of my notes. If you have the time, pop over to the Sacred Tome website and have a listen for yourself.

Meeroos HUD Update version 1.2

A new version of the Meeroos HUD has been released by Team Meeroos. Changes are minimal but good. The HUD now displays the Hair trait. I do not have anything but normal Hairs so far, but it will come in handy when I do get some. It is a much requested feature and I am glad to see it on the HUD. There is also a percentage value when a Meeroo is in Too Soon. Immediately after a Meeroo breeds the value will be 0% then as it progresses through the next five (5) days it builds to 100%. Helpful when figuring out when Meeroos have bred and when purchased Meeroos will begin cycling again.

Version 1.2 HUDs at the main store

If you wear your current Meeroos HUD the new version should be offered to you very soon. You may want to detach and re-attach your HUD to jump-start the process. If you prefer; the new HUDs are also available at the main Meeroos store on the Roo SIM. Under the big red arrow. As you can see in the graphic above.

Do not worry if you noticed you have never had a version 1.1 HUD, no version 1.1 HUD was ever released to the public. This version 1.2 is the first update to the HUD following 1.0. You are not going crazy, everything is fine. For the most part.

Great new post on the WW of Meeroos site, very much worth a read. Looks like we are going to get some special messenger Meeroos. Which we will be able to buy for L$300 each with a random selection of traits and of the four (4) coats. Some coats will be rare others more common. More on those and other revelations later.

Quick note on progress...

Looking over Tigers latest blog post there is one important item in-particular I am excited about, Tiger writes: "Still working on a V0.78 to go out sometime later this week with a few more improvements that people have been asking for." So there will be another update with even more of our ideas incorporated! I would love to know what suggestions he is going to implement.

The fact Tiger is still working to make sure the Meeroos are stable, even though they work pretty well right now, is encouraging. It is good to know there will be another cycle of upgrades and testing before they go live. I am glad to hear that the migration to new web servers went well. It sounds like Tiger feels there is enough processing power to handle the Official Release without any strain. Figuring out what kind of servers you need is one of the many things Open Beta trials are for. Team Meeroos needed better servers, Team Meeroos got better servers: sorted. Another job well done! My only slight worry is that the popularity of Meeroos, after the Official Release, has been under estimated; I think a LOT of people are going to want them. On-the-other-hand if Tiger says they have "...more CPU than I know what to do with atm..." I trust him.

HUD note: You should have a version 0.92 Meeroos HUD now, if you don't: make sure to pop your old one on next time you are InWorld to be offered the new one, or grab the new version from Group notices. No cosmetic changes but v0.92 fixes a memory issue in v0.91 that could cause freezing of the HUD. [I have never had any version of the HUD freeze]

In closing, I see the end of Open Beta looming in the distance, and none to far off. At the end of his dev blog post Tiger says "If all goes well this will be the final update before launch." Once v0.78 comes out we will be staring the end of Open Beta square in the face. Unless something goes very wrong it will be time to say goodbye to our wonderful Beta Meeroos and begin the lonely days, between the end of Open Beta and the start of Pre-Order deliveries, with no Meeroos scampering about underfoot. Πάντα ῥεῖ [Panta Rhei].

Meeroos HUD Pictures

I took some pictures of the HUD to show what it looks like when open and when hidden. It feels good so far, it does use a lot of space when open; any HUD that displays a lot of data does though. And the important thing, that it gets out of the way when you don't need it, the Meeroos HUD does very very well. I love that it allows tab access to quickly open the HUD on the page you want even when it is minimized. The HUDs default attach point is HUD Top-Left.

Meeroos HUD Open

Meeroos HUD Minimized

Open Beta Meeroos have been announced for Monday if everything goes well with the HUD release. I hope it does go well because I am very excited about testing out the Meeroos themselves now! Bring it on!

I have my HUD!

I just received my Meeroos HUD about twenty minutes ago and it's looking good so far. I really like the look of the HUD and it hides away very nicely. It attaches to the Top-Left HUD position by default. I suggest using "add" instead of "wear" if you already have a HUD on that location.

The process of using the HUD is very simple, it is NOT boxed, simply wear the Object sent to you. Once it appears you can click through the various tabs and even answer questions from the Oracle for regard points. I have not played with all the options yet and will elaborate in later posts.

Once you have worn your HUD you should proceed to Twas, the Meeroos SIM, and grab your activation key from the Oracle. [SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Twas/93/71/131]. Once you arrive, wait for the Oracle to rez (it's in the middle of the "room" there) and touch it (while still wearing the HUD!). You might have to touch it a few times in my experience. Eventually it will IM you that it is checking on your status with Meeroo-kind  and, assuming everything is in order, it then IMs you your activation key. Mine is: HG45HAHAHA no not really, just kidding. Once you have your key the staff there are asking people to move on so others can access the SIM.

You can now take your shiny new key to the Meeroos web site and enter it to verify/activate your account. The web address is: http://www.worldofmeeroos.com. Once you get logged in there follow these steps to enter your key:

1) Go to: My Account

2) Select the "Edit" tab.

3) Select "Meeroos" from the selections directly below the "Edit" tab.

4) Enter your key where prompted and save it.

5) That is it, you are ready to go, try answering some of the Oracle questions by clicking on the "Oracle" tab of the Meeroos HUD.

I'm very excited by the HUD so far, beginning to hope for great things from the Meeroos. Hope this has been helpful, now back to paying with the HUD!

HUD Deliveries have begun!

The delivery of the Open Beta Meeroo HUDs has begun! Some people in Group chat have said they have already received theirs. Neither I, nor my partner, have yet but I will keep you informed on how it goes when I do.

The Group notice says you will have to visit the Oracle in Twas once you receive your HUD. It will give you some sort of key to activate the HUD. I will blog more in-depth about how the process works when I do it myself.

I hope some of you already have your HUDs out there! Full text of the InWorld Group notice below:

"HUDs are being delivered please be patient there are a lot of us :) Once you have word* your HUD you need to come talk to The Oracle on Twas and listen carefully to what she says."  -Toxic Menges

* I think that is supposed to read "worn" prolly. I bet she was far too excited to type slowly. I know I am!