A Personal Change: Upgrading to Mesh

 

 

 Earlier this month, I stated I was working on upgrading my avatar from the DSD Fox that I've had for a couple years, which in turn was an upgrade from the Luskwood fox avatar I had as my main look for over a decade. And with a little, actually a lot, of help from Charlee Amethyst, my new "fox reporter" look is done. There might be a small tweak or two more, but here it is.

Mesh can be quite complicated, at least from my point of view as you often need to fit your avatar to match the clothes, or avatar parts such as digigrade feet. But with Charlee's help came up with a new look, which required getting new pants and a new shirt and jacket. So gone is the green shirt that was a reminder of my Runescape days, the freebie cargo pants, and the camel jacket that I got with my first payment from James and Dana's SL Newspaper. All that's left of my old look is the fedora, with it's press tag later added on made by my late close friend Alleara Snoodle. 

So this will be my new main look. The DSD is still a great avatar, and I'll likely still be wearing it at some themed events. But it had a higher complexity, and showed more lower leg when wearing pants. And the people behind it are no longer active and thus the avie is unsupported. There's also that my new appearance just seems and feels a few years younger.

 

I'll likely be spending some time updating other avatars of mine (with help). But the one that's my image as Second Life's "fox reporter" and "fox news" has been updated.

"Premium Plus" to be Available in May

 
There's been a little discussion, and a few questions, about "Premium Plus" since Linden Lab first mentioned it as an upcoming option some time ago. But they've spoken next to nothing about just what it will offer. Finally in the April 6 Web User Group Meeting (filmed by  Pantera Północy), Reed Linden gave some answers. Premium Plus should be available sometime in May (mentioned just after 2:25 in the video). Most likely, it will be closer to the end of the month than the start of May. When first available, those with Premium accounts on annual subscriptions with at least six months left before the next yearly payment will have the option to upgrade to it.

So what will Premium Plus offer? Reed couldn't tell us everything, partially because some details were still being worked on. But he did say the Plus option would offer higher stipends, "more than double what a premium stipend is," larger land grands, larger sign-up bonuses, reduced fees "on certain things," more group slots, "it's more of everything. It's more good things. ... "I will say you're close to getting double the stuff ... in many cases, you're getting more than double."

So how much more will Premium Plus cost than the $99 US dollars a year fee for Premium? Reed couldn't say yet other than "It'll be more."

With only about a month left, give or take, the Lab may or may not have more information before Premium Plus is finally released. So stay tuned for more details.

Hat tip: Inara Pey, Dreamer Pixelmaid

Bixyl Shuftan
 

A Personal Change: Updating My Avatar

  

For years, my everyday appearance in Second Life was identifiable by two things. One was my fedora and overcoat. The other was my Luskwood red fox avatar. For over thirteen years despite numerous changes in Second Life, while I would occasionally change briefly for themed parties and holidays, I continued to use it as my main look. More than a few kept asking me to change, and I kept answering not until I found a look that looked right. But a few months ago, I finally found one that just might work.
 
Read more in Design.
 

Sunweaver Estates Get Private Estate Prim Increase

On Tuesday November 29, Linden Lab announced it was starting the increases of the prim capacities of private sims. On Friday December 2, Sunweaver chieftess Rita Mariner announced to the community that it's residents now had it.

Sunnies/Islanders:  I went around and upgraded every ones rent boxes to reflect the new level of prims you get based on the extra prims each sim got.  Each 512m lot gets 156 prims now, That is a nice boost and it's free! Those of you with large parcels got HUGE bumps in prims, ENJOY!  The ER will be open for Prim OD's 24 hours for the next several days.

That evening, Rita told me she had finished in the morning, thinking originally each lot would get 152 more prims, but instead they got 156, "It was hefty upgrade per lot."

There have been a few people asking why the private sims get less of an increase than the mainland ones did earlier this month, as well as it coming later. The general feeling of those I've talked to feel Linden Lab is trying to encourage people to move to the mainland. But most are simply happy with being able to do more with their land.

Bixyl Shuftan

Avatar Review: 1st Act Mesh Werewolf

After finding a fancy mesh avatar, Xymbers Slade decided to look to see what else was out there. Already thinking of replacing his old werewolf avatar, he came across a company that had recently replaced it's were made of prims with a mesh model. So was the new av worthy of a few visits by Little Red Riding Hood, or was it fit only to be the omega in the pack?

Read Xymber's review in Design.

Greed in Stores

For some in Second Life, shopping is a fun experience, and they take plenty of time to go about and see what places have what item for how much. While there's no shortage of customer-friendly stores and malls on the Grid, not everyone it seems has the buyer's interests at heart. Theonlyjohnny Resident writes about two places he came across which to him were charging a lot for just a little.

Read Theonlyjohnny's article in Extra.

Review of World of Warcraft's "Mists of Pandaria," Part Two

Last week, we had the first half of our review of the latest expansion of World of Warcraft, "Mists of Pandaria," in which we described the new player race and continent. Today, we look at other features in the game, such as the new Pet Battle System. We also look at the response the expansion is getting and how well it's been doing for Blizzard in it's first few days.

Read the second part of the review in Extra.

Time For an Upgrade

Today, the computer which has gotten me in Second Life and produced the paper is in the shop, and if all goes well, later in the day of this post I'll be able to recover it with little trouble to our newspaper schedule.

As some of you are aware, there's been some chatter about Linden Labs "pulling the plug" on Viewer 1, blocking it's use as the much anticipated Mesh update won't work for it. I consider that unlikely, as the Lab probably feels Mesh will be so popular, users will adopt Viewer 2 on their own. But I probably should get the machine looked at, and maybe be able to handle the lag better.

Keep your fingers crossed, everyone. Things can still go wrong.

Bixyl Shuftan