Announce post #3283: A Brief History of 2021 & A Preview of 2022!

Autoposter

12/19/2021 at 15:02
Ictinus, the Architect
Everyone
A Brief History of 2021 & A Preview of 2022!

Hi folks!

It's time for our year in review post and previews for 2022! You'll find the post proper in the forum thread for this announce (give me about 30 seconds to post it!), with a write up of the year 2021 and some hints of what you can expect in the year to come.

Feel free to comment in the thread with your thoughts and speculations!

Penned by my hand on Falsday, the 1st of Lanosian, in the year 499 MA.

Ictinus

2021 is almost behind us and while it's been four months since I joined the Aetolia team, it's gone in the blink of an eye and I certainly feel like a lot more time has passed than actually has. I want to once again offer my eternal thanks to Razmael, Keroc, and the entire Celani team for their warm welcome and incredible support, and to you all for bearing with me while I got up to speed and started to get the house in order. We aren't there yet, but we've come a long way since the 16th of August and there are no plans to slow down.

As we start to look ahead towards 2022, on behalf of the team I want to kick off our year in review with a happy holidays to everyone sharing our strange corner of the internet.

The year kicked off with a classlead round and the introduction of the interactive timeline - the latter is one of my favourite things in Aetolia and I hope to get the chance to contribute a lot to it in the future. The Duel returned in February and credit loans arrived in March. April saw the long-awaited release of our first two mirror classes: Revenant and Warden going to the Sciomancer and Sentinel guilds respectively. These have both become immensely popular!

Capture the Flag returned in May with a facelift of the mechanics and the introduction of siege weapons! May would also see some big changes to Apothecary. The second classlead round of the year took place in July as well as the update to room credits and the release of treaties, the Den of Shadows, and of course the Minotaur race.

August was the upheaval month and where my experience with Aetolia begins! We spent a lot of time on orientation and cleaning up, held two Town Halls, and created The List, which as of this writing has thankfully shrunk a little, though we keep adding more to it!

In September, we saw Bloodloch conclude their territorial conquest in the Vilimo Fields. The Lich Gardens was taken over by a new leader after a strange invite to dinner. Ferries to Ulangi opened once more after a snap referendum that almost bankrupted the continent. Ilario of the Forgotten tormented Sapience. The Shamans learned how to repel the creeping rot infesting Dendara. Language recognition was added to emotes, and of course the Gnomes of Gorshire endured political strife culminating in Gnome adventurers and Mining!

October was Aetolia's 20th anniversary and we celebrated with a series of games and events all month. The Harpy's Head tavern opened up. Tegoleth of the Grand Library set adventurers on a daily quest to learn about Aetolian history. Relic collections were overhauled. We made a series of updates to our Discord server. Battlefields were introduced. Classleads returned. The sixty sons of Terry the Tarantula returned to terryorise the land, and our second pair of mirror classes, Earthcaller and Oneiromancer, were released.

Commencing in November and concluding in December, the machinations of Aechros, the Endless were revealed in a major world event. We met Copperhead and Xaseira, solved lots of puzzles, unveiled a new anomalous focus battle, fought fire daemons, suffered through bloodlust, sailed the Dawnbreaker, navigated the Cogmind, and watched as the Gods fought Yvalamon, the Fury. This event is one of the biggest I've had the pleasure to coordinate and be a part of across both games I've staffed, and the amount of lore showcased through the confluence is already having an impact!

Ironbeard returned for December, as did his nemesis, Flintbeard! The Tsinkin Village opened its doors again as Celesmas season arrived. And of course, December would see the start of the first war in a long time - so much for a quiet month after the big events!

Here's a preview of what you can expect to see in 2022:

- One brand new class (not mirror, but neutral tethered) will be released.
- Year 500 is imminent - celebrations and games will be kicking off on January 5th.
- Classleads will be moving to a pattern of three rounds per year.
- As of the recently-begun season, Sect of Blades is moving to 6 month seasons.
- The Gaming hobby will be finished and upgraded.
- The Agriculture system will be completed with the addition of the third and final skill.
- Two sets of mirror classes will be released throughout the year.
- There will be at least two major story events.
- We will be making org culture a renewed and ongoing priority with a view to bolstering faction identity and themes.
- Cleanup of various systems and improvements to existing features will continue.

And of course there are some Big Things I cannot disclose here but are sure to make it an exciting year ahead, as well as numerous absurd ideas we haven't even had yet!

Xavin

Thank you to the whole team for all the work you put in throughout the year!

Question: Is there any chance that you might give us a hint about the new neutral class and the next set of mirrors?

Tetchta

Ictinus said:

- Classleads will be moving to a pattern of three rounds per year.
- As of the recently-begun season, Sect of Blades is moving to 6 month seasons.

Both good changes. Having classleads once a quarter was probably too frequent, and the 6 month model was waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long. Trimesters seems like a good compromise between the two.

Qelres

I am SO EXCITED for everything that is coming. If all that has been happening in the game so far is any indication, I know next year is going to be just spectacular. The entire team is doing amazing. I am so very grateful to everyone, staff and volunteer alike, for all the dedication they have put into making our little game wonderful

Ayastia

Ooo. I am super excited about this new class! You and the rest of the team have been doing great. Thank you for all your hard work and have a Merry Christmas!

Sibatti

August to December has felt like three or four years of progress, updates and content. 2021 had me burning out on frustrations and taking a long break, and coming back recently to what felt like a completely different game. It has been such a joy to watch and experience.

Gosh, I hope y'all take some extremely well-deserved rest over the holidays.

Lim

You guys are nailing it big time.

BTW I wouldn't have expected a new class - 16 unique classes is -plenty-, and I would have been happy with tweaks, updates, revamps, adding new mechanics, etc. to the existing ones.

Legyn

Ictinus said:

- We will be making org culture a renewed and ongoing priority with a view to bolstering faction identity and themes.

I am extremely on board with this.

Lin

Ictinus said:

- The Gaming hobby will be finished and upgraded.

Son of a bitch you finally lured me back in

Neoma

Thanks to all who work so hard to make the game awesome! Have a Merry Christmas and well deserve rest during the holidays.

Almol

Amazing

Wjoltyr

Will the neutral class be a full class like waifayers (sic), or more like Razmael's long requested werecat ladies?

Nipsy

I have nothing but great things to day about the team upstairs, and the communities embrace of some changes which have truly changed and evolved the game.

In this continued evolution of things, I am excited to see where things head and what amazing things come to fruition.

Great Job!

Qelres

Neutral class is going to be bards. I'm calling it now.

Alela

Qelres said:

Neutral class is going to be bards. I'm calling it now.

if it's not werepenguin, it better be jester or bard

well done this year, and especially the last third, to the pools. glad to be seeing this era of aetolia.

Nipsy

@Whirran can finally play his trumpet for the world if we get Bards.

Also I feel like Nipsy would probably play the violin....BADLY.

Vharen

Mass PK already lured me back in, but seconding the enthusiasm for Gaming updates.

Wjoltyr

Qelres said:

Neutral class is going to be bards. I'm calling it now.

I'm digging Privateers. Something nautical themed. Or theaforementioned werecats

Ictinus

Xavin said:

Thank you to the whole team for all the work you put in throughout the year!

Question: Is there any chance that you might give us a hint about the new neutral class and the next set of mirrors?

Sure! It is not werecats.

Bulrok

This fking guy

Almol

Pariah??????

Ehtias

It's depthswalker

Seurimas

Ehtias said:

It's depthswalker

A class based on elevation differences/movements? 🤔

Not saying that what you meant, just made me think of what mechanical niche they could be filling in.

Toz

It's catwere, you start as a housecat but turn into a person so you can gain class skills.

Elene

I cannot reiterate how much you guys have blown the roof off the house. The string of events that followed us these past few months have been amazing and it has generated a lot of activity for people to be involved in, and roleplay around.

I'm highly interested in the push for org culture and faction identity, as I think it has been sorely missing for a long time. It would definitely help shape expectations of what each city should continue to be, and also give love to guilds which have been suffering or caught in an identity crisis.

Neutral class tease, though? You guys are too much. Excited to see what 2022 brings!

Macavity

Elene said:

I cannot reiterate how much you guys have blown the roof off the house. The string of events that followed us these past few months have been amazing and it has generated a lot of activity for people to be involved in, and roleplay around.

I'm highly interested in the push for org culture and faction identity, as I think it has been sorely missing for a long time. It would definitely help shape expectations of what each city should continue to be, and also give love to guilds who have been suffering or caught in an identity crisis.

Neutral class tease, though? You guys are too much. Excited to see what 2022 brings!

THIS!! ALL.....OF....TTTTHHHHHIIIIIIISSSSSS!!!!!!

Saidenn

Toz said:

It's catwere, you start as a housecat but turn into a person so you can gain class skills.

I feel as if I should somehow be offended.

Rasani

Thanks so much to the whole team! The game has been so alive since Ictinus joined and I couldn't be happier!!

Mazzion

Sibatti said it perfect. It feels like about 4 years of updates compacted in 4 months. I can't even keep up there is so much going on. You and your team are literal machines. Please oh please don't burn out. Slow down if you need to, because holy moly you all are cranking it out.

Iesid

All of this sounds amazing; it sounds like our survey data really went into your planning!

Any chance we could get a hint on the next pair of mirrors you have in mind? Or have you guys not figured out that far yet?