Torn City Newsletter - Summer 2018

[Torn - Online RPG game - Free text based games]() Volume 23 / Summer 2018 Summer Good, Summer Bad, Summer Ok I Guess Hey {NAME}, Warm weather, sporting disappointment, extreme clamminess around the thighs; it's summer alright. And as you'll surely have noticed, our new-look newsletter is now beach-body ready. This sleeker, simpler design should allow our quarterly updates to display correctly on all devices. It's super Torny too - which is nice. [Summer time in Torn] But you didn't come here to read about updates to the Torn newsletter, did you? If you did you can leave now. Otherwise, read on to find out what we've been up to and which exciting updates are coming...........soon. In this edition #1 [Bookie 2.0 nearing full release in August](#section1) #2 [Poker 2.0 complete & entering closed beta](#section2) #3 [IRC shutdown & Discord takeover](#section3) #4 [Special events continue](#section4) #5 [Racing additions & events](#section5) #6 [Weapon bonuses and the prototype gun](#section6) #7 [Weekly honor releases continue](#section7) #8 [Mr & Ms Torn and Leslie's alternative](#section8) #9 [Gym rebuild](#section9) #10 [Raiding - Torn's destructive warring](#section10) #11 [DDoS attacks targeting Torn](#section11) #12 [Community competitions](#section12) #13 [Torn is on Fire](#section13) #14 [This quarter's freebie](#section14) #15 [In other news](#section15) [] Bookie 2.0 nearing full release in August The beta for Bookie 2.0 is now out and seems to be running really well. This revolutionary system runs completely automatically, meaning almost a thousand different matches & races across a range of sports are added daily, with almost instant payouts upon completion. We'll be further adding to the sporting types available over time once any remaining issues are resolved. [Bookie 2.0] If you'd like to try it out, please click the link at the top of the current bookie page, bets are currently limited to $1,000,000. [] Poker 2.0 complete & entering closed beta The new poker engine is finally complete and ready for initial beta testing. We'll be inviting around 250 of the top poker players in Torn to an exclusive beta testing group within the next couple of weeks. [Poker 2.0] The dream here is to have a poker system that rivals all other online poker sites, offering an even smoother experience that's also simpler, more intuitive and faster. While this may not be achieved right away - that's the end goal. The way it's been carefully built from the ground up means it's really easy to fix problems, adjust and improve as needed. With substantial beta testing, we hope to find any remaining issues and fix them very quickly in order to achieve a full release date very soon. []IRC shutdown & Discord takeover After over a decade, we have finally shut down our IRC server due to the dwindling popularity and lack of moderation. We do however now have [our own Discord]( and everyone's welcome! If you're not familiar with Discord it's a great way to connect with other players, it's much simpler than IRC and can run on your browser. Simply [join our server]( and verify with our resident bot George. []Special events continue World Tuna Day. Spanish Language Day. International Mountain Day. Have you ever noticed how there seems to be a special "Day" for everything? We certainly have, and to celebrate our favourites, we've been running special one-off booster days throughout the year. New items, temporary perks and competitions have all been released across a number of holidays and observances both well-known and obscure, and we plan to continue doing this for as long as the Earth continues to exist. So what's coming up? Well, there's probably nothing classy we can do with International Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, but surely we'll do something for World Beer Day? International Day of Older Persons sounds kinda lame, but International Day of Nuclear Tests could be fun? And has there ever been a more appropriate time of year to celebrate the contribution of forum trolls than World Toilet Day? [World Toilet Day] You'll have to keep an eye on [Facebook]( and the [Newspaper]( if you want to hear about these events before they happen. []Racing additions & events The world has never been so racist, and at Torn we're doing our bit to help by acknowledging the troubles of the racing community. I mean, what kind of warped mind must one possess to hate race cars? I bet they get pulled over by the cops all the time. In aid of our petrolhead brothers and sisters, we plan to add some fresh features to the racing scene, including new formats and the ability to spectate on live races. We've already developed a racing log with replay functionality to help competition organisers and entrants keep track of their results, and this addition proved extremely useful to GeorgeCostanza's Ultimate Racing Tournament. [Racing] Thanks to the hard work of George and his stewards, the URT event was a raging success, with Lindy_Lyson emerging as winner of this Torn-backed competition, taking home one billion dollars and a shiny new Bugatti. We hope our efforts will inspire others to create their own competitions too. So if you fancy earning some hard cash and exclusive cars down at the Race Track, you'd better get working on your Driver Skill rating. []Weapon bonuses and the prototype gun Weapon bonuses will spawn on very special weapons, such as the Gold AK-47 (Demoralize), Handbag (Storage), Pink Mac-10 (Emasculate), and new NPC guns: Tranquiliser (Sleep), Snow cannon (Freeze), Nock Gun (Hazardous) e.t.c. But their main purpose comes when caches become available through competitive faction warfare, where normal generic guns in Torn will receive a damage & accuracy bonus and 1-2 rare bonuses of the 52 currently planned. [Prototype gun] We've just started issuing the 'Prototype' firearm on loan to staff and committee members. This very unique weapon, while equipped, allows the holder to enter attacking within debug mode - an attack entirely simulated that has no lasting effects like energy loss, hospital time or gains / losses. The Prototype has a special panel whereby the user can add any special bonus to it - allowing the holder to test each individual bonus so we can ensure it works properly and is well balanced. []Weekly honor releases continue Over the past few months we've released the first of many new honors available in Torn City. Reading books (Bibliophile), eating candy (Diabetic), flying (Tourist) and assisting attacks (Sidekick) are just some of the things you can now do to earn yourself a shiny new honor bar, and we plan to give birth to a fresh honor every week for the foreseeable future. []Mr & Ms Torn and Leslie's alternative The annual Mr and Ms Torn Competition concluded yesterday, with over 800 of our most attention-famished citizens having entered in total. Mr Torn was won by Hopslam, and the Ms Torn award went to SuckMyGypsy, with both entries posted for your viewing pleasure below. [Ms TORN 2018] [Mr TORN 2018] However, if we're being generous, most of this year's submissions can be described as "okay", but we know that many of you weird-looking freaks can do even better. That's why Leslie has set up the "I Hate Mr and Ms Torn" competition to find Torn's ugliest citizens. Not a creative person? Get yourself arrested and send us your bruised and bloody mugshot. Are you a modest individual? Buck the nudity trend by wearing fifty items of clothing at once. And if you still can't think of a good idea, take a photo with a dog. It works for Reddit. This contest favours grotesque features and creative displays over boobs and butts, and the five best male and female entries will each receive an exclusive wearable paper bag item as well as the usual points and ribbons. So if you failed to place highly in Mr and Ms Torn, head over to the [Community Events forum](forums&f=62&b=0&a=0) on Friday and send us your ugly mug. []Gym rebuild As a starter project for some of our new developers, in order for them to get familiar with the Torn structure, it was decided to task them with rebuilding the aging gym system from the ground up. [Gym rebuild] There are a few design changes, as you can see. It's simpler, more intuitive and will run smoother & faster. However, contrary to rumours, we will not be adding a feature which allows you to wipe down the equipment after you've used it. []Raiding - Torn's destructive warring The designs for faction raiding (formerly known as 'Destructive Warring') are now complete and will begin implementation over the coming months. This is the second of four planned warring modes being implemented while the special rewards for competitive warring are worked on. This one in particular brings back an old warring mechanic where factions can deal meaningful damage to other factions, and in some cases even destroy them if they have the perseverance. In the past we saw epic conflicts, acts of vengeance and blackmail - the potential threat of raiding alone will conjure a feeling of vulnerability, risk and apprehension. Raids will be Torn's destructive warring. Any faction can start a raid on any other faction at any time, allowing them to make hits on its members - dealing damage to their respect. There is nothing to be gained specifically by the raiding system itself: each faction forfeits all gains made on hits against the members in exchange for dealing increased respect lost. We expect raiding to be fairly rare - but when they happen they'll be big news. Just before this, we'll be making some subtle changes to chain incremental hits, adjusting the respect lost of the target's faction during attacks, and revising 'faction death' mechanics. After the release of raiding, dirty bombs will be re-enabled with some rebalancing. After this, we'll be implementing the influence system into territory warring - an important feature that creates special hotspots around the map that factions will really want to pursue. []DDoS attacks targeting Torn It's no secret Torn has been the recipient of some large-scale attacks over the years by unknown assailants for unknown reasons. This year has seen an uptick in determination and sophistication from these attackers. A DDoS attack involves tens of thousands of computers around the world (usually compromised by a trojan) pretending to be legitimate traffic trying to access Torn. They are successful when we're unable to determine which traffic is from normal players, and which traffic is fake. We've temporarily had to resort to setting hard IP address limits - you might have seen this on Torn if you received a '403 Forbidden' error - this is our servers thinking you might be a bot (making lots of hits on Torn) and blocking you for a short period of time. We've been balancing these limits over time in an attempt to avoid blocking any actual players. To resolve the issue, we're continuing to invest in third party and internal system to handle these attacks to ensure any DDoS is successfully mitigated while allowing legitimate users in and maintaining optimal server performance. []Community competitions As ever the past three months have been stuffed to the brim with competitions, contests and various opportunities to win prizes. [March's Bring Back Dogs event](p=threads&f=62&t=16038545&b=0&a=0) was rather fun, as we gave Torn citizens the task of tweeting the Pope with a very special and important message. [Tweet] The above entry was sent in by the contest winner Hanamichi, whose sharp observation that God is Dog backwards wowed the judges - far too much in hindsight. More impressive was RichR's winning entry to the [Easter Eggstravaganza competition](p=threads&f=62&t=16038546&b=0&a=0), which asked, nay, demanded, that the people of Torn decorate eggs for our viewing pleasure. [RichR's Eggstravaganza] March's Good Friday Memes event saw players create memes which referenced things in Torn that were both good and bad. Duke decided to award dual first place prizes to natASSha and Rainbowsaurus for their entries referencing level holders and Torn's development priorities. [Respect Meme] [beards Meme] In May Duke's [quarterly Private Island rental competition](threads&f=62&t=16045957&b=0&a=0) was posted to the forums for the first time ever. Bagel was one of three people to win a free 90-day stay in one of Duke's island homes after amusing the loan shark with his list of three Torn items he'd take to a desert island. 3 Items Bagel Will Take to a Dessert Island [chopsticks] Chopsticks: I'll need cutlery if I want to survive on a dessert island. I couldn't find any forks or spoons, so I'll just settle for a pair of these. I'm Asian, so I'm perfectly capable of eating cake and candy with chopsticks. [First Aid Kit] First Aid Kit: There's a couple of insulin shots in each of these, the last I checked. You'll definitely need them if you're going to be trapped on an island filled with sugary treats and delights. Why? 'cause diabetes, duh. [RPG] RPG Launcher: IF ANYONE TRIES TO SAVE ME FROM MY DESSERT ISLAND, I SWEAR TO GOD I'LL BLOW YOU OUT OF YOUR PRIVATE JET. And finally, we have the winner of [The Exhibitionists contest](threads&f=62&t=16045028&b=0&a=0), an event which asked players to create a brand new Torn museum exhibition consisting solely of Torn items. There were many great entries to this competition, but the winner by some margin was Proph, who showcased his storytelling abilities in this outstanding entry. [Exhibitionists] []Torn Is On Fire Not literally. We're ending this newsletter with some promising news regarding the future. Over the past few months Torn has experienced a period of growth so rapid we've started testing ourselves for steroids. The number of active daily users is currently at its highest for nearly four years, with a 50% increase in new signup rates having been seen since January. Subscriber numbers are also up, and in the past six months we've added almost as many subs as we did in the two years prior. There are currently 4,746 paid subscribers to Torn, and if trends continue we expect to hit 5,000 at some point during August. [On Fire] Much of this growth can be attributed to the influx of newcomers we've received thanks to the excellent Torn App, which you can download [here](. However, Torn wouldn't exist if not for the continued support of our veteran playerbase, whom we'd like to thank for making Torn a success in the first place. Without you, Torn would be nothing more than a song by Natalie Imbruglia (which she didn't even write btw), so to all our players, both old and new, thank you. We truly are grateful for the amount of time you spend here in our city. And your enthusiasm for what we do means [Torn will continue to exist long after Chedburn is inevitably killed by seagulls](. [] This quarter's freebie [Take freebie]( As with all our quarterly newsletters, we like to give you all a little treat for being part of the best online RPG community in the world. Click above to claim it! [] In other news [Cleaning up the Pollution](p=threads&f=2&t=16044637&b=0&a=0) By Triplicant [What is your name and how did you get it?]( By Claire [Buston - The pathetic ending](p=threads&f=2&t=16043533&b=0&a=0) By Hildegarde [So I got approached by a newbie]( By Potion_Seller [JFA scamming their own + Sure-fire bookie bets?](p=threads&f=2&t=16043522&b=0&a=0) By Kata [Officer Klitoris reader for duty this Sunday](p=threads&f=2&t=16040818&b=0&a=0) By Kapten_Klitoris [Age 450 - Top 100 HoF Battle Stats - 8b Total](p=threads&f=16&t=16047347&b=0&a=0) by Hildegarde [Level 100 in 984 days](p=threads&f=16&t=16044048&b=0&a=0) By RGiskard [Hilgar vs Rise Above](threads&f=9&t=16050681&b=0&a=0) By Champion [Buston breaking UNT's chain](threads&f=9&t=16042443&b=0&a=0) By ZOMB13 [Ultimate Racing Tournament]( By GeorgeCostanza You're receiving this newsletter because you registered at [www.Torn.com](). Not interested anymore? [Unsubscribe here](. [Facebook]( [Twitter](