31 December

December 2018 Community Journal

By Serpentius

Salutations Elyrians!

This final month of 2018 has brought with it a plentiful bounty, rich in emotions and discoveries: a new event, Raiders of the Lost Vault; our Holiday Promotion; and a shiny new piece of Longest Night lore to accompany them both.

We've also announced that we're hiring new gameplay programmers, and more! Read on for all of the details on December's events within Chronicles of Elyria in our final Community Journal of the year.

A look back:

  • Following the initial introduction of our Janoan armor concept sculpts, we share the Heavy Concept here.
  • With Domain and Settlement Selection rapidly approaching, the Nobility packages that returned during the November promotion were modified to become server-specific and limited quantity store items. They and all Aristocracy packages (Mayor, Magistrate, and Governor) left our online store at noon today. Read the announcement for more details.
  • To increase our game development velocity, we have opened hiring and are looking for talented gameplay programmers. Read the job posting(s) here.
  • Moving to our wetlands tribe, the To'resk armor made its debut in December, take a gander at these beautiful sculpts of the Light and Medium concepts.
  • December 17th was a busy day as we launched not one, nor two, but three significant events for the community! The first of these was our end of year engagement event, Raiders of The Lost Vault. Pledged players vied for the coveted Monarchy prize on Oceania, or the Sunstone grand prize for the other servers. A plethora of loot was discovered, traded, and exclaimed over as the community delved deeper into the vault.
  • By popular demand and as requested by the community, our December promotion brought not only new items to the store, but new gift cards players could use to share their holiday cheer with each other. In addition, for every $10 spent in the store during the promotion, players received 1 Ancient Coin to be used in the Raiders of the Lost Vault Event.
  • Alongside the opening of the Lost Vault, we shared a new piece of Longest Night lore associated with tales from a vault raider. Read stories from an adventurer who dared to enter the Immortal Vault and hear of the trials and tribulations that followed.
  • The heavy To'resk armor concept sculpt received a lot of praise from the community, but make no mistake, this armor augmented with laminated plates is only one example of the types of protection you can expect from these wetlands dwellers.
  • Changes continued to unfold during the Raiders of the Lost Vault event as raid tiers were achieved and players participated in the trading meta. Today, the winners of the event were announced shortly after it ended. Congratulate and read about the winners here!!

The remainder of the month the studio was closed for the holidays.

For more details and updates, check out our website at https://chroniclesofelyria.com.

Surname reservations:

We consistently review surname reservations on a daily basis. Each month we like to share a few from the past period that caught our eye.

Favorite declines:

  • la Verga
  • Spread
  • Titanbreath
  • Anon
  • de Esparta
  • The ShadowGod
  • Blood X
  • Coordinator
  • Lord

Standouts:

  • Allisonah
  • Tiildábiere
  • Maulferant
  • Ærleorn
  • Alverose

Popular Memes

Each month we'll spotlight one or two of our favorite memes that were shared via the forums or Discord.

This first meme was shared by Sanguinesh, who somehow ends up on this list more often than not. Guess he's “memer” than we thought XD

Many memes appeared during the Lost Vault event. Would-be Pirate King Ithikari from OCE shared his favorite raided item:

If you'd like to see your meme highlighted, share it with us in our Discord or forums and it may show up here one day!

Meet a Mod

Our volunteer moderators are not only bastions of peace in our community; they are a helpful hand whenever you need assistance. They are very knowledgeable about Chronicles of Elyria and provide valuable feedback that helps keep our community amazing. Each month we provide a little insight into who they are and what makes them tick.

This month we meet Ikkerens, one of our Super Mods, who is also a former Ambassador. He is located in Europe.


(Meet Shiro, doesn’t she look comfortable?)

Onto the interview:

Q: Where were you born? Can you tell us a little about it?
A: "I was born in the hospital in Enschede, a city to the far east of the Netherlands. It's in a region very close to Germany (Twente), so the people there always had a dialect which was somewhat of a mix with the German language."

Q: Where do you live now?
A: "After living for several years in the little town called Haaksbergen (Hoksebarge in the local dialect), my parents eventually decided to move to Germany. And while my mother was completely on board with the idea, she didn't want to leave everything behind. So we decided to move to Germany... a little bit. About 3km (~2 miles) from the border in Germany. Apparently we weren't the only ones since half my neighborhood is Dutch."

Q: You are a coder and techie, can you tell us a little about that aspect of you?
A: "According to my parents I've always been someone with a fascination with technology, from a very young age. Crawling under the conveyor belts in stores to see how they work, getting lost in museums because I wanted to explore. Around the age of 9 I started fiddling around with batch scripts, so that's what I consider my first attempt at coding. As soon as I got to middle school (around 13), we also got a graphical calculator (TI84+). This particular calculator had a z80 CPU (1 core @ 6 or 15 MHz), which just happens to be the same CPU as the original Game Boy. Using this I taught myself z80 assembler and learned the intrinsics of the device I was working with. I figured that by making the screen oscillate pixels really fast I could produce a grayscale effect. Using that calculator, I first got into game development. I won some prizes with the games I had made on there and eventually started to expand into other languages and platforms. The programmer I am today was born out of all that experimentation."

Q: When did you find out you loved gaming/How did it happen?
A: "Admittedly I'm more of a game developer than a gamer. I loved seeing people play my games. So it's more of a time waster for me, or a reason to socialise. I do find it very inspiring to see other games, they in turn give me ideas for my own games!"

Q: What is your favorite game at this current moment?
A: "I find it hard to point at a single game as I'm always switching around, so I'll just tell you what I'm playing right now: Subnautica! Got it for free with the Epic Store launcher. I just finished the game after 23hr20m :P"

Q: What do you plan to do in CoE after launch? Any plans you are able to share?
A: "Honestly, not a clue. My plan is to leave my mark on the world in the form of my county, help some friends get set up, and then I'll see. I've been thinking about blacksmithing, or maybe exploration. I always did have plans to explore the astral realm."

Q: What is your go to coffee drink? If you don’t drink coffee, what keeps you going? (food/drink)
A: "Uuhhh... It's again one of those things where I don't really pick a favourite. But I guess I'm a soda person, sometimes cup-a-soup."

Q: Ok, weapons. Projectile or melee? Care to elaborate?
A: "Projectile. Have a nice safe distance and deal with whatever I have to deal with in a calculated and prepared manner :P"

Q: What is the biggest difference you have noticed between European, American, and Oceanic players in the community?
A: "Diversity! Whenever I am dealing with the American part of our community it always feels like "more of the same", everyone has roughly the same mindset, with a few disagreements here and there. On the European server I see so many different cultures, ways of life. I'll admit I can't really say anything about the Oceanic community as I don't talk to too many of them."

Q: Favorite operating system of choice? (previous and now)
A: "Debian! While a lot of people dislike it because it doesn't keep stuff updated with features, it instead focuses on stability and only backporting the security updates instead of potentially breaking updates. I do have a Windows machine for games at home, but if I could, I'd do everything on Linux (and before anyone interjects, I know, GNU/Linux)."

Q: You are the first to go from being an Ambassador, to a Mod, to a Super Mod, and it happened quickly. What do you think about that?
A: "While I know Ambassador and Moderator are technically different goals, it does satisfy me a little bit I properly "walked up the ladder". In terms of speed, I don't think too much of it, as I don't think it's a bad thing. The way I see it, if someone is a good for for a position, the sooner they get to it the better? I don't want to imply that that applies to me here, but I think it's a good mindset to have."

Q: What makes you want to be a Super Moderator?
A: "Like a moderator, it allows me to see the community as a whole on a much grander scale. Operating in the best interest of every subcommunity, without immediately affiliating with a single one. I am proudly affiliated with a community of course, but you'll never see me wear that badge and the super moderator badge at the same time ^^"

Q: Anything about the role that you wish didn’t exist or was changed?
A: "If anything, there's something I wish *did exist. In reddit moderators have the ability to talk "mod-hat-on" and "mod-hat-off", that would be a great feature to have in both the Discord and on the forums."*

Q: If you could say one thing to the entire community, what would it be?
A: "This community is an amazing one. Relationships, marriages have formed from people that met here. People have died. Lives have changed, and I hope for the better. Not everyone may see it at all times as we worry about petty squabbles, but we should treasure it, clearly we've got something beautiful going on here."

Thank you so much for talking with us, happy New Year!

More about Mods

As you may already know, our volunteer Moderators and Super Moderators spend countless, often tedious hours supporting and helping the community by ensuring peace and happiness across all of our platforms.

In the next couple of weeks, I look forward to introducing you to the first new members of our team for 2019, stay tuned! Beyond that, I have nothing specific to report on this month, other than to wish everyone on our incredible moderator team a very Happy Holidays!

If you have an interest in becoming a moderator for our team, please; don't call us, we'll call you! There is no application process, we constantly seek out capable, kind, considerate, helpful, and supportive individuals who have a reputation in the community for being upstanding players with both honesty and integrity - If that sounds like you and you're a noticeable and positive presence in our community, we'll find you!

Meet an Organization

Each month we spotlight an organization from our community. We have many creative members who are building amazing groups in Elyria, and this is one way we can make sure you know about them.

This month we are introduced to The Skovgaard by their leader, Varin Ragnvald (also known as ZombieSniper).

Official Organization name: The Skovgaard

Server: Luna (NA-E)

Kingdom affiliation: Alésia

How did you form? "The formation of the Skovgaard came about when I remembered this old book I read back in high school, “The Ranger's apprentice” which of course is what this organization is based off of. Though adapting a book a to living organization in a MMO took some time, thought and A LOT of restructuring and idea crafting, also thanks to my house for helping me get this off the ground."

Leadership: "I am the commandant who overlooks the big picture and hands out larger scale orders, then the Senior Rangers who wear the Gold Oakleaf they are either retirees or those who have been unable to keep up with active duty they assist the Commandant. After the Ranger completes their apprenticeship as a Bronze Oakleaf they then become a regular Ranger and don the Silver Oakleaf. They have the authority to use their own judgement at any given time to complete their purpose for the area over which they retain watch. We value experience, and expect members who have a longer tenure with the organization to take on a role of mentor-ship to newer members."

Purpose of the Organization: "The purpose of the Skovgaard is too have an Elite group of people who are skilled in the arts of Intelligence gathering, law enforcement and special operations, too protect home and country."

Motto/Slogan: "Day or night, we are ready."

Fun Fact: "Possible Coffee obsession starting in The Skovgaard"

Discord here

Recruitment thread: here

Thank you Varin for helping us learn more about The Skovgaard!

Meet a Kingdom

This month, we learn all about the Kingdom of Blackheart.

Thank you ArchDuchess Ilhar Kal'daka for taking the time to research this information for me!

Official Kingdom name: Blackheart Kingdom

Server: Angelica (NA-W)

Leadership: "The Crown (Rowena Darkholm, Queen of Black Hearts; Erdrick Darkholm, the Black King; Anivar Darkholm, the Scepter) and the Duke Council."

Kingdom colors: "Black, Red, & Gold"

Kingdom symbol: "(image above) A black heart in a red background. Its arteries spread to entangle the world around it. Black wings spring forth from the back. A golden crown, representing the spires of Castle Darkholde, sits atop the heart."

Kingdom crest:

Goals of the Kingdom: "Stability, Honesty, Conquest, Growth. See our recruitment post for further details on what these mean to us."
"Blackheart seeks to unify the world (by whatever means possible) as one Blood, so that everyone can work together, despite our differences, against other forces outside of our control. To many we are the villain, and we will not make the slightest effort to change their opinion. They will change it themselves when they see those who preach to follow ‘goodness’ are perhaps the greatest evil. In the end, 'We are all villains to someone else...'"

Fun Fact: "We have professionals, artists, musicians, soldiers, and even government officials secretly among our ranks. It goes to show that among all strata in our society, there are those with a Black Heart."

Discord: here

Recruitment thread: here

Closing statement: "More than a Kingdom, it is a philosophy of unity despite our differences. It will prevail in our hearts even beyond the existence of the actual land in Elyria. Over the years, Blackheart will face and know many things, but one thing it will never know, and that, is defeat..."

Community Spotlight

To be considered for this spotlight, submit your content here.

Thank you for continuing to send us your wonderful creations! Important: Continue to share your creations. We need more of them. Please utilize the link above so we can show off your efforts to all Elyrians!

Remember, even if your submission wasn't featured this month, we may still use it in the future.


As promised last month, here is Nevermore, Morose's partner. Skillfully drawn by the portrait artist that favors Dras subjects, Chimaera Corbeau (Eyes of Cimeies).


Amlaith drew this "Pretty Neran adventurer" and then submitted it to us for your entertainment.


Acudia3D submitted this piece entitled "Vast Ocean". Perhaps they were imagining sailing the deep waters of Elyria one day when they drew it.


Bordweall's very own Mel (Bluebelle) put together this Commission for Huldric Franconian's Duchy of Dawnmire:


Meet a Dev

To help you get to know our team better, we try and interview one developer each month, or as often as is possible.

Due to the holidays and the fact that most of the studio is closed for the latter part of the month, we don't have a dev interview this month, but this column will return next month for our January 2019 Community Journal.

But we do have a new limited column below that hopefully makes up for it!

Thanks to you

Periodically the community sends the studio gifts or articles of their affection, and December was no different. As often as possible, we'll try and share the many presents our community bestows on us.


Gauntlets for the creator were custom-made and sent by Adam Rhyne, Monarch of Vornair. Caspian is most appreciative and will be well-protected when he enters battle!


Elsy, the winner of our Tribemoji contest earlier this year, sent us this heartwarming gift with one of her creations. Thank you Elsy, we love it!


Lady Grace and Medussa previously sent us Tea and shirts all the way from Australia. This time 3 more shirts arrived, each with the custom design. This was very sweet of you, and don't worry, I didn't forget my promise of a pic, it is forthcoming XD


Reddit community

The Chronicles of Elyria community has a Reddit community, lovingly managed by Hellmoon, Mickdude, and ImbuedGreen.

This month Hellmoon crafted and Mickdude published an update to our rules for our subreddit, check out the updates here.

If you are interested in joining our subReddit, find it here.

Community shows

The Chronicles of Elyria community is bustling with activity, and has long been enriched by the enthusiastic contributions of its members. There are many live shows hosted each month, and to help you keep track and attend these entertaining and often enlightening events, we've summarized those we know occur consistently each month.

If you host a show on CoE and want to be included here, please contact us at [email protected].


Our newest entry is CoE Talk, ”a show from and for German speaking community members. Hosted by Olaf Biebelix, Loki and Creamas.”

”In CoE Talk, we discuss the latest CoE news, previously prepared topics, and answer questions from the viewers. All of that in a fun atmosphere. We want to bring this awesome game to a group that isn't able or willing to translate everything on their own so they can be a part of an awesome community. It's hosted every Wednesday at 8 pm.”

Their Channel


A Pirate's Guide to Elyria ”is a new interactive Lore and RP based CoE Talk Show, hosted by Captain Seli and Zigsmash, where we casually dive into the world of Elyria and talk about its lore! Each episode will cover a range of topics from the Tribes of Mann and their Religions, to the solar system and everything in between. Chat from the audience is highly encouraged, and we'll discuss theories and fan lore as well!"

"Show times are determined by how much rum the crew has had the day prior, so stay alert for announcements of when (Generally Tuesdays around 2PM Eastern, but could happen any day and time)!"

Their Channel


Run by Anibal and co-hosted by our Spanish-speaking Ambassadors and long-time community supporters, Gammea and Daedhel, Taberna Elyria is "a monthly podcast in Spanish where they introduce *Chronicles of Elyria and its news to spread the word to all Spanish-speaking gamers."*

"Join Anibal, Daedhel and Gammea in this new adventure!"

Their Channel


The Arkadian Herald ”focuses on creating presentation videos for CoE from the Kingdom of Arkadia in different European languages to help people that don’t speak English. or speak very little, to learn about the game and its major features. As of now the covered languages are : English, French, Italian and Russian. A new series of videos exclusively in English, focusing on debating on specific matters regarding the game are being worked on right now. We hope to see you soon to help us spread the world of CoE to the World!"

Their Channel


Conclave 360 is “a community based discussions channel that seeks to help people find their home in the larger Elyrian community. Videos focus on topics ranging from introducing local community leaders, guilds, associations, and schools to discussions on how the mechanics “as described so far” will impact those people and institutions."

"Free at 1pm PDT/4pm EDT on Sundays? If you're looking for a home in Elyria, tune in to Face the Conclave and find one!"

Their Channel


Oceanus FM is "a collaborative broadcasting effort hosted by Alleykat and featuring the Kings of Aequitas, Lor Voskara and Tylsia as regular co-hosts. The channel was created to provide an Oceanic time zone live stream and video series, to talk about issues relevant to the Oceanus server of *Chronicles of Elyria."*

"Oceanus FM does not follow a strict broadcast schedule due to shift work. Watch out for announcements!"

Their Channel


Cremoria News Network [CNN] "is a weekly CoE talk show brought to you by the Duchy of Cremoria. They do deep dives on CoE mechanics, interviews, and community news. Tune in every Sunday at 6pm Eastern / 3pm Pacific for this classy and sassy stream."

Their Channel


Vendor Trash is " two guys with a laundry list of gaming street cred dating back to the 80’s. It was first a failed dumpster diving blog, then they failed at motivational speaking, and then finally found their calling talking about Chronicles of Elyria. They are excited the game they've always dreamed of is finally being made. After many episodes they are still going strong, come join their throbbing obsession."

Find past episodes on iTunes or your favorite podcast app.

Their Channel


TheoryForge. "This veteran team of streamers began a new show on Friday, May 10th, focusing on Chronicles of Elyria. The current hosts have all purchased packs with Alpha I access, and are excited to become more active members of the community. We are drawn to CoE because of its unique mechanics, and the migration of the Revival community."

Follow them at the link below, they are live every other Friday at 9pm EDT, 6pm PDT.

Their Channel


The BBC "(Bordweall Broadcasting Company) livestream deep dives into the latest developments from Soulbound Studios. Watch and discover what has them so excited about CoE, then join them and their guests in the CoE Discord voice after party and find out why they believe CoE is going to define a whole new genre in online gaming!"

They stream live every other Tuesday at 8pm Eastern/5pm Pacific. Watch the CoE forums for their announcements!

Their Channel


The Town Crier is "a live informational show/podcast featuring Morbis (Duke of Vornair), Adam (King of Vornair), Mickdude (Count from Alésia), and SirApetus (Count from Alésia). The topic is typically the latest goings on with the game or in the CoE community, theorycrafting about things Caspian says, or watching them blunder around with recurring technical difficulties with all the grace of a three legged giraffe. Super entertainment!"

You can catch them live every Wednesday at 3pm (PT)/6pm (ET)/10 pm (UTC).

Their Channel

Community contests

We love running contests, promotions, and events for our players — but it turns out our players love running them as well!

To help you keep track of all of the different contests and events at any given time, we've summarized them into one directory and stickied it in our General Discussion forum.

A recent contest hosted by Ambassador Scylurus, appropriately themed and named “Longest Night Carols”, was quite popular. Check out all of the details here.

The Art of Elyria!

There are a ton of talented artists in our community, many who share their creations in our forums and on our Discord server. Recently, some of those artists (including our super awesome Hellmoon) have created an official Chronicles of Elyria group over at the ultimate web destination for all art, Deviant Art.

Explore the creations, add your own or just support the creativity of our members in the CoE Deviant Art group!

Ambassadors

Each month we'll get to know one of our esteemed Ambassadors, as well as let you know the status of current nominations and votes!

Meet an Ambassador

This month we interview another of our original Ambassadors and talk to Nagash.

Most of you know him by this image:

But now you can also know him by his real image:

Q: Tell us a little about where you grew up?
A: "I grew up where I still live now, I've lived in different places before around England, but this is where my family live and have always been happiest around here. The place that I live is only a small village around 2-3 miles wide with population of approx 2,000 that barely anyone would have heard of in Nottinghamshire, England... what people would have heard of though is what makes my home village famous, and that is Robin Hood. I live in the heart of Sherwood Forest, where legend has is, has a tree called The Major Oak, which marks the location of Robin Hood's hideout in Sherwood Forest, as well as St Mary's Church, which is the church where he and Maid Marian got married. So in the summer it gets very touristy with the Robin Hood Festival, where they have various medieval activities such as jousting etc, but otherwise it's a very boring small village that no one's heard of."

Q: What is the most interesting place you’ve been in your life thus far and why?
A: "Although it's just normal for me at this point, and it doesn't really feel that interesting to me anymore, but Sherwood Forest is probably the most interesting place I have been, because as a child I've probably been all over the forest exploring with friends. Though in adult life I would probably say that Tallinn, Estonia is probably the most interesting place that I have been. It's city center is surrounded by a castle wall that pretty much still stands to this day, though what I found most interesting is that it has an old run down abandoned prison on a beach next door to a military harbour, and on the beach surrounded by the old prison fencing, they decided to open a bar, where they have live music etc. it was as interesting as it was unusual."

Q: How does your family celebrate this time of year?
A: "My family celebrates Christmas in a very average way for England I think. My brother's children are still at a very young age where Christmas is a magical thing for them, so they invite the rest of the family over to spend Christmas Day with them and we have a big family meal around the table."

Q: What was your first video game?
A: "I don't really remember my first game, as I'm 38 now and my Dad bought me and my brother a ZX Spectrum when I was about 5 or 6, and I vaguely remember watching him play on various things back in the day, but I do remember my favourite game back from those days, and it was a platform game called Bubble Bobble, and was two player so I could play with my brother and my dad. It was a game with 100 levels that gave you extra lives every 10 levels and bonus stages if you didn't lose any lives since the start, so you wouldn't get the true ending if you didn't complete the game without losing any lives. it didn't help as well that on the final stage they made all the walls invisible. I think I must bought that game on all systems it was released on, from the ZX Spectrum to the Xbox, and completed it completely on all systems, including the Arcade version. A weird thing to be proud of but they don't make games like anymore, so I ware that achievement like a badge of honour :D"

Q: What brought you to Chronicles of Elyria?
A: "I first found Chronicles of Elyria because I was looking for something new, and more specifically a community based game. I used to play Star Wars Galaxies, back before they did their "combat update" which ruined the whole game for many. The combat update removed much of the PvE element of the game, and crafting was no longer what it used to be. Previously you could make towns and cities by placing down buildings and mines with other players, setting up stores to sell to players, or helping to build up your area. What made SWG great though was that resources and items, as well as vehicles and pets (robots and creatures), all had various stats to them that affected the end result of what you got out of it, and even if you had a resource such as "metal" the metal you had could be great for one type of crafting, but rubbish for something else. Finding the right resource with the right combination of good stats was essential, and a game in itself. I want a game like that back, and that's what I saw in Chronicles of Elyria when I found out about them, albeit in a Facebook advert."

Q: Burgers or Tacos and why?
A: "Burgers all the way.... but mainly because I've never seen anywhere in England that sells Tacos. Like ever. So It's burgers by default, since I've never had a Taco, nor seen one for sale. Though as soon as I see somewhere that sells them I'm sure I'd try one, as I'm the type of person that would always the unusual option on the menu, just because it's unusual. Like the other month a restaurant I was at was serving Squirrel Spring Rolls... very nice, but not filling :D"

Q: If my memory hasn’t failed me yet, I recall you developed a mod for Civ V about CoE, what can you tell me about that?
A: "When I started to make my Civ V mod, I was looking to make a mod again, not specifically about CoE, but many years previous I was very much into the modding community for Half-Life 1 and Half-Life 2, most notably I made a HL2 Mod called Dragonball Source (ran the team, made maps, textures and character animations, etc etc), which I took to release and last I checked had 100,000 downloads through various websites. I was looking to get back into doing that again, and but couldn't find the motivation to do anything specific, and then when wasting time playing Civ V and chatting on Discord in the various CoE communities, I figured that was something I could do and make a mod of, with very little outside help, meaning that I could work at my own pace and no one would be rushing me wanting to play it. I started by adding the Kingdoms of Nirath and Blackheart, because I was in their Kingdoms, and also Vornair and Aequitas, so that all servers would have representation in the game. Only their leaders knew of my mod, and helped keep the secret, as in Civ V, you play as (or against) the kingdoms leader, but when the CPU plays as the kingdom, they have text responses to your interactions, so I had all leaders give me their responses to situations, making the game that little bit more accurate to how CoE will be. It was pretty successful to start with, and I added many other kingdoms, I believe all EU kingdoms are on there, as well as some others from other servers, but as I got through the list, populating the game with more and more information got very difficult because some leaders weren't responding to requests (probably unavailable at the time) or they didn't have full lists of intended settlement names. As Nirath is my kingdom, and they were very proactive in having a full census of settlement names down to mayor level, I took it for granted that every kingdom would be like this, and as settlement names are needed for making a kingdom in Civ V, I could only go as far as the information available at the time would allow. Who knows, it may be something I pick up again once Domain and Settlement Selection begins, as all that information I once needed could be available."

Q: Do you have big plans for when you are in game? Anything you’d care to share?
A: "Yes, my latest and bravest plan yet is something I have just started. I've been planning it for a while and have only just started up the group for it, and that is Arena's of Elyria. My intent is to get would be Arena owners to join, regardless of what kingdom or server they are on, so that Arena's and they types can be easily found ingame by people who want to find them. This might be just Arena's that are for generic combat, or might be for places that force criminals to work off their sentences by fighting dangerous creatures for the entertainment of the audience. Want to see 1 Kypiq take on 3 War Trison armed only with a butter knife and rubber band? This would be the place to find out which Arena's support that kind of activity. Once the game starts up, the website will let people know of events, so they can either go and watch, or go to participate for prizes that the Arena gives to winners. Perhaps people just want to know the best place to try and find where people know certain fighting styles are? My main goal for Arena's of Elyria though would be to organise Arena versus Arena combat, where a team can fight another team in a league, hopefully resulting in bigger prizes for the fighters and the Arena owner. If that works, then international Kingdom versus Kingdom matches might be a possibility."

Q: When asking for help editing a document or project, you provide excellent English feedback and find stuff I don’t catch. What makes you so good at that?
A: "I'm not sure really as I don't have any English qualifications beyond those got in secondary school. Through my employment and further education I have done various things such as Graphic Design and Web Design & Development, and while these don't sound like things that would really improve English subject skills, what I also do as part of that is SEO (Search Engine Optimization) which has required me put out a lot of content that is easily searchable and correctly, otherwise it would impact the searchability of the websites I am trying to promote. My job is an Operations Manager of a Medical Supplies company, which sells products directly to hospitals of the care of newborn babies, all the way to the elderly, and therefore if something is phrased incorrectly, it could have a massive impact on sales for the company. I have just past the 10 year mark with my current company, so I believed I've just absorbed the skills required to digitally market medical products to doctors/nurses, and that transfers over to other things I do."

Q: As one of our very first Community Ambassadors, what about the role suits you?
A: "I like providing critical feedback in the right kind of setting, as critical feedback can come across as negative, but whether feedback is positive or negative, so long as it's helping to move things in the right direction, to an overall positive, then it's useful. That is what I enjoy about being an Ambassador, I enjoy helping and supporting in any way I can, and having fun while doing it."

Q: Is there anything you would change about the Ambassador program?
A: "On the behind closed doors side of things, probably not. I think everything works pretty smoothly. On the public view, the only thing that I think could help is if the Ambassadors had a forum title to show that they are Ambassadors instead of normal forum members. It's not something that's essential, nor would it really affect what we do, but from a new users point of view, if they saw an Ambassador replying to their questions, it might help satisfy what they want to know, rather than insisting they want a dev to respond to something. Though as I understand it, this may be something that comes with a future forum update."

Q: Shout out to the community, what would you like to say?
A: "All I'd like to say to the community is to hang in there, the light at the end of the tunnel can be seen. Some of us have been waiting 3 years as we watch the progression of the game build and build, and it shouldn't be long now until we see more of the game, so hang in there and we'll all be playing CoE together :D"

Thanks Nagash, we really appreciate learning more about you!

Ambassador Nominations

There have been a few Ambassador nominations since we last reported in November. However, due to the holidays, any who qualify and pass the initial screening will be put up for a public vote in early January.
If you want to learn more about this program, or know someone you would like to nominate, click on the link! Thanks for your support, as always.

Subject Matter Experts

Our current SMEs who officially joined us previously are communicating with us on their expertise! We are very excited to continue our collaborations with this esteemed group on an ongoing basis.

Once the holidays are behind us, we'll be looking into launching a 2nd round of SME application requests, where you can apply to assist the studio utilizing your expertise!

Learn more about the SME program here.

What’s next?

The year is over and 2018 brought us many exciting things, but we anticipate an even more amazing 2019, and we're eager to move forward on the following upcoming features:

  • We are investigating a better way to organize your inventory (stacking) as soon as possible
  • Package combining (merging) is one of the next features we'll be finalizing for release
  • This CJ will host a new column from fan-favorite Souzou about the Flora and Fauna of Elyria
  • Trading your title stack in for EP, or transferring your title stack to another player
  • Domain and Settlement Selection is still being worked on, expect more updates on progress
  • An Adventure 0.5.0 production update is in the works
  • We still have plans to host the Organization Faire, look for it in the coming months

From our studio home to yours, thank you for another successful year of crowdfunding.

Also, a big congratulations to all of the winners from the Raiders of the Lost Vault event, Hail to the #KingOfTheSouth!

We love you all and wouldn't be here without your continued support. With the utmost humility and appreciation, we wish you a safe, healthy, and happy remainder of your holidays!!

Until next time,

More to come...