I guess this is the definition of irony. Being flamed and trolled as you are given a warning and threat of being banned.

Plarium announced new levels to an additional set of buildings today.

Some of the available upgrades are pretty exciting and have been requested by players for some time. One of the most useful is that newly completed units can be sent straight to the catacombs once you have raised your catacombs to level 26.

Despite the useful bonuses the announcement was received poorly by players on the Plarium forum. All the bonuses are only available at considerable cost due to be available only a building levels obtainable via use of sketches.

The general mood of the player base was that this was yet another move by Plarium to drive the game to a "Pay to Win" model. Many were disappointed that recent calls from players for greater balance in the game between the uber coiners and the rest has seemed to be ignored.

Lord Oberon said:

New Building Levels!

Unlock Special Bonuses With Upgrade Sketches!

View Bonuses From The Building Window!

Lords and Ladies of Darkshine!

Our mages, alchemists and smiths have collaborated and developed new ways to improve your Castle’s structures! Now, several of your Buildings can be upgraded to new Levels – several of which grant very special military and economic advantages. You can explore these types of building Bonuses by viewing the "Bonus" section in the Info tab of your Buildings.

- Upgrade the House of Lords to a new Level in order to hold additional Shrines AND Hamlets! From now on, the House of Lords influences the number of Hamlets you can hold as well as the number of Shrines.

- Upgrade the Forge to new levels and further increase your Castle’s Iron production!

- Upgrade the Spring of Life to new Levels and grow your Food stockpiles even higher!

- Upgrade the Embassy further to be able to hold even more Alliances! Plus, Special Bonuses unlocked at Levels 21 and 22 will allow you to hold additional Sarcophagi in your Castle. This will allow you to raise more Wraiths for your army!

- Upgrade the House of Scrolls to new levels to further increase the speed at which you Discover and Upgrade Lost Arts! Furthermore, Level 22 grants a Special Bonus: a permanent increase to the amount of Experience you gain in combat!

- Upgrade the Catacombs to new levels to further increase their Resource holding capacity. Levels 23 through 26 also grant Special Bonuses: Units will be automatically sent to the Catacombs as soon as they are trained!

Please note that no extra Level has been added to the Town Hall. Having a Level 22 Town Hall will grant Lords and Ladies a Special Bonus: a permanent increase to the amount of Experience gained in battle! If you have not yet fully upgraded your Town Hall, you can still do so now.

Use Upgrade Sketches to reach these new Building Levels and unlock the Special Bonuses they grant. You can get Upgrade Sketches from the Black Market, or earn them as part of certain in-game Events – like special Tournaments.

Do not let your Craftsmen sit idle! Take advantage of these new Levels to make your Castle the most powerful in the realm!

LoS agrees with the player base. Plarium continue to steal defeat from the jaws of victory hiding new content behind pay to won only barriers. With little in the way of updates in over a year, this is highly disappointing.

Plarium received across the board critism for its latest PR announcement of a "new" Castle skin. The skin in question was in fact the previously released halloween skin. The element of the announcement that drew the most ire was the hardcore sales push of saying the item was on offer for a limited time only suggesting it would never be on sale again, when Plarium in fact have a history of offering the skin once a year.

Lord Oberon said:

All Hallows’ Eve!

New Improvements And Castle Skin Available At The Black Market!

My Lords and Ladies!

It is time once again to pay tribute to the scariest, spookiest and most interesting night of the year – All Hallows’ Eve!

Due to this, I have granted each Lord and Lady the ability to show their respects and honor the occasion in the best way they can.

From today, and for a limited time only, new Improvements and a brand new scary Castle skin is available for purchase from the Black Market!

There are but a few days left before All Hallows’ Eve, so make your decision quickly!

Other player commented that anyone stupid enough to spend real world money on stupid skins kind of deserve what they get.

Plarium have announced encouragement for player gatherings. This seems to have come off the back of forum posts where players and Plarium community managers discussed how player meet up occured in other games and some players expressed an interest in Stormfall meet ups.

Lord Oberon said:

Visit player gatherings and receive flags with the game logo!

 

My Lord and Ladies, if you are going to visit or organize a gathering with other players and want to get an awesome flag with the logo of your favorite game, please do the following:

1. Inform us about the event well in advance, at least 1.5 month beforehand. Contact Lord Oberon for further details.

2. Take pictures with our flag at your gathering and send us three high-resolution photos so we can tell Darkshine about your great event!

 

Please note that in order for you to be eligible to receive a flag, there should be at least five people attending the event.

Leave a comment if you are willing to attend player gatherings and would like to get a flag with the game logo!

It remains to be seen whether this will galvanise players to meet up in real life, something that would significantly deepen the bond within community.

While the announcement posts seem to have received some poor initial reaction in the forums, LoS welcomes this move to strengthen the community as a step in the right direction.

Lord Oberon proudly announced new updates to Stormfall!

This week, we’ve fixed some bugs and made the following important update:

• Henceforth, all Units at Beacons shall return directly to your Catacombs once they have finished their campaigns there. It matters not whether they achieved their aim and you called them back or they suffered defeat and returned to your Castle in haste – in either case your Units shall be secured safely inside your Catacombs immediately upon arrival.
• You are now free to dispatch Spies if you have Spy or Weor’s Protection currently activated without your Protection being cancelled. Now stay protected while spying on as many rival Lords and Ladies as you desire!
• Wheel of Fortune fixed: all Discounts received for Fortifications and Castle Improvements are now working correctly.
• The speed of Units heading to and from Hamlets has been increased significantly! With this change, Hamlets across Darkshine shall be claimed faster! Make haste, my Lord!

Now, with haste! Have the horses saddled and the sentries posted. Balur and his minions have not been idle while we've been briefing you!

It has been a tragic time in the history of Guilde De Guirre (GdG). The premier french league which has previously blazed a trail across the rankings, rising as high as number two is down to just a single beacons.

The reason, war with Emperors. It is not clear what issues the Emperors have with the mighty French league. Is it just a case of "wrong time wrong place" or do things run deeper. Possibly G2G taking a lead role in jumping in beacons that were left empty during the server war is the reason. G2G had passed a significant number of ex-Unforgiven beacons to other French leagues.

Whatever the reason the retribution has been switch and decisive. Over two weekends GdG beacons have fallen, until only 346 remains.

Blah Blah the leader of GdG has this to say

We will come back fighting. Yes the losses hurt but we will not be bullied by these coining idiots. Our time will come. We will not forget.

We can also insert images.

 FInally LS on the scene once again, brining you Stormfall news.