Hey all!
We here to announce information regarding the temporary map for transition between Arcas and Almaris - ‘The Daeperician Archipelago’. The final day of Arcas will be November 23rd, with Almaris set to release on the 27th (mid afternoon GMT), this will give you all about three days to have some fun!
Why are we going to a temp map?
In the past, the transition between maps was essentially the Tech Team pulling an all nighter the day before release, taking a mere 8-12 hours to move the map files over, do data maintenance, update plugins, and bugtest. This would leave many things broken, and the team stretched very thin the next day. Further, the server would be offline/unplayable for this entire period. Instead, the more modern approach is to move the server into maintenance mode and redirect players through the magic of proxies to an alternate server for a few days. Here,they can access their personas and roleplay in a unique environment (some of you may remember the ice canyons from last time), and this gives the Techs plenty of time to do the required work on the main server (hopefully) without a hitch.
What will this map look like?
At 11:55 PM EST on November 23rd, the server will go down for maintenance for around an hour while we reconfigure the proxy. When things are back online, players will find themselves on The Daeperician Archipelago - a small collection of islands in a temperate region. Here, the Descendants’ ships will lay anchor for a few days to gather supplies and prepare for the journey ahead! There will be some small camps, as well as your nation boats, to roleplay on.
What will we see on the transition map?
On the transition map players will find Vortex, our brand new, in-house professions plugin coded primarily by @nickrocky213. The transition map will provide a taste of what's to come with this system in Almaris. We highly recommend that you take this time to get accustomed to the new interfaces and setups, as a lot will be changing from the current experience. Thank you to our Vortex and Surge PVP Alpha and Beta testers for all their testing and help refining so far.
Despite our best testing, there will be bugs, this is inevitable. Please report any bug you find, big or small, on our Github bug tracker. Due to this unstable environment, nothing gathered in-game will be carried forward to Almaris, though whoever reports the best bugs regarding the new system will get a special prize: a Tech Team Approved™ roleplay item. Certain bugs reports, depending on their severity, may grant Vortex prizes such as energy elixirs.
A Note on Crowns and Voting
During this time, due to technical limitations, Crown purchases through our Store will still be possible but will not be processed until the release of Almaris. Further, no voting rewards will be distributed.
Small Events
The Story Team will be coordinating some small events to add some storytelling to this adventure - stay tuned with the current colonial eventline to keep in the loop!
Cheers, Tech Team