April Project Update and Roadmap

[Alpha]

Immortals,
since we recently released the Dark Knight character class it is time to give another update where we are and what we are going to update next. As always you can find the status of bugs (which are our top priority) in the respective bug list and I will focus here instead on bigger features:

April
We originally planned to update the Horde Mode this month but during QA found that it needs some further tweaks especially when it comes to balancing and rewards. So while we are delaying this mode by one month we are happy that progress on Act V has gone faster than expected and we are pulling it's release forward.

- Act V: The desolate landscape of Labato Fjord is the site of your next challenge as a Guardian. Arques used to be a commander in the Empire fleet until he turned and began a campaign to resurrect hordes of fallen pirates and legions of Imperial troops. He needs to be stopped before he can join forces with the ex-Elf King, Urdigard and the wolf-like Cu’sith in another bid to bring darkness to Olyndale. Act V contains 9 new zones and 16 additional dungeons and raises the level cap to 58. The update will go live on the 25th of April.

- US Server move: As we continue to have issues with our North American servers (preventing us from do bigger marketing campaigns) we will move the game to an entirely new facility on entirely new hardware. These are being setup right now and the move will be done next week in preparation of the Act V launch. Downtimes will be announced as we have fixed the schedule.

- Steam Ownership check: We are implementing a system to get rid of the current voucher codes where people that own a certain DLC will get the items directly into the game.

- Event Tool: We are in the final stages of deploying our event tool which will allow the Community Management team to come up with a lot of in-game events.


May
- Horde Mode: This 5 player cooperative "wave based survival mode" will give you some fast action between new content updates but also a tough challenge for high level players as it was designed for Level 60 and above, giving it's own achievements and rewards. As mentioned above we are taking some extra time to refine this mode.

- German localization: During May we will release the first few acts translated into German with the remaining content to be updated in Summer.

- Balancing Update: We are currently conducting analysis on player feedback and stats to roll out a bigger balancing update next month. Watch our upcoming survey to share your thoughts!

- Ranked PvP: As the game gets more stable and better balanced we will add ranked PvP.

- Guild Skill System: leveling up your guild will give each member unique buffs


Summer/Fall
We have several updates and enhancements in development which are being rolled out during summer, some of them are:

- a way to exchange premium items that you have multiple times against other stuff
- the version with increased gore (the issue being youth protection laws in several countries)
- Act 6
- PvP enhancements
- Hardcore mode - replay favorite Dungeons in higher difficulty for better loot!
- Further languages: Starting with the UI we are planning to add French, Turkish, Spanish, Russian and Portuguese languages

Please understand that we do not have fixed dates for these items yet and they are subject to change based on community feedback.


Long term plans
Going forward we have plans for
- Full Gamepad support
- Further Platforms
- Further regional servers
- Further PvP modes
- Dungeon Group Finder
- More Content (Act 7...)

We are also discussing if and how to implement an auction house as well as further end game contents. And of course we have more plans for story Acts.

These are the things we have currently planned for the game and we are excited to share more details going forward. Thank you for your support during Early Access!

BR
Alpha and the GoE Team