Well first, the shard is stable, we have automated backups, in cold storage as well, and I'm here every day to make sure all the gears are greased, to catch a lagspike, or whatever it takes for the technical stuff to work. +Arden wrote a lot of code since he came here and can tackle even the more sophisticated things now, so he's filling much of the »content coding« department. +Requiem has plenty of ideas, and likes to hang around to hear what you, the players, would like to see in the game, and codes some of it as wel. +Mocha is also around, giving feedback to the ideas as we discuss them, drawing from her experience as a player of many years.
Yesterday we were all chatting at our meeting, and +Requiem said: »the shard isn't going anywhere«. To which i jokingly replied: "i disgaree, we're going places"
The facets will not open as originally envisioned (two facets, Touria being a felucca facet, and Elysium being an ilshenar facet). There is however lots of code written, and we would definitely like all the energy put in it, to be seen and experienced. Some systems – food, buffs, fishing, crops, staff tools optimizations and added functionality, are already in the game, but don't have the accompanying items to utilize what the system can do. Then there's some coded things that are dormant, and haven't yet seen the light of day. So these are things that we will gradually think thru, test, and roll out into existance.
At the moment, it seems that these will likely be added to the existing facets, to enrich the overall playing experience. Although, we've been talking that maybe it would be a better idea to still make most of the things into a new facet, so that all the NPCs and dungeons don't interfere too much with the existing content.
The july seasonal quest (Dr Who) will not open. The first set of seasonal quests is planned to be the Fall Harvest in september, with some additions and changes.
As as long term approach, we'd also like to take a closer look at the overall progression of the game, to balance things out. Don't worry, we are all players and we know nerfs aren't popular, so that would be as a last resort. But perhaps certain things in the game could give bigger reward, or some things needing more time or effort to obtain.
For the following weeks and months, we have a few things almost ready, or on the priority list:
- Smuggler's lost treasures in swamps, coming in the next few days (something for all ages),
- Karate belt quest (mostly aimed at novice to intermediate levels),
- Carpentry BODs facelift, and carpentry craft recode to the new Craftarium craft system,
Not so exciting, but to maintain quality:
- a bunch of small bugs that need spraying,
- an in-game event schedule
We've also had a staff position or two that needed filling for a long time, so in the following days, so for those interested, look out for an announcement on how you can apply.
