Third-Stage Alpha: What's Going On and What to Expect

Dear Alpha-Testers,

Thanks for doing so great and producing a lot of fun RP the last few months!

We're still continuing on with both development and storylines, though we wanted to write something to publicly recognize the current lower activity stage of alpha. We know there are noticeably fewer people logged in these days, and that's okay. We have a lot to do before beta phase, and we're definitely trying to put a fair bit of our time into actively working on the game, especially now that the hectic summer season is over.

What we are going to plan for is to have an open alpha by spring. At that point, it should be possible to get back to Omrazir no matter what. Once this stage starts, if some people have gone to Omrazir through the story, while others return to the game having missed the opportunity to roleplay through it, but those people want to be in Omrazir -- we will just port you there and send a plot note about the how. Being in Omrazir will be Fourth-Stage Alpha (and the last before beta phase opens).

In the meanwhile, I will prioritize coding for those who are pursuing relevant stories in-game (that is the least I can do for the loyal players who have stuck with us and helped playtest all this time). Mistsparrow and I will also continue roleplaying on NPCs to help these ongoing stories along and to provide more interaction in general.

That's it! And as always, if you want a hook into those ongoing stories, send me an OOCMail or put in a petition and I'll send a plot note or something!

I just wanted to say that I am really enjoying the NPC interactions with you guys and will definitely be keeping them up as I'm able! Besides the need for worldbuilding time, my main limitation is just having earlier hours than most of the current players, so sometimes it can be hard for me to get out and roleplay during everyone else's peak playtime (which is very close to my peak bedtime ). I know that can make it a little frustrating when PCs feel like they have written AVALANCHES OF LETTERS and sent ARMIES OF COURIERS, so I can only beg patience! All that said, the RP I've been having is seriously a lot of fun, and generally speaking you should continue to see about as much NPC activity as there has been for the last month or two. And yeah, if you need a hook, just OOCmail us!

Thank you both for the update!

So much progress has been made over these past 9 months—I hope y'all feel proud of what has been accomplished so far. Looking forward to exploring Omrazir and an eventual trickle of new folks.

Stay cool af!  

Thank you both for the updates! Totally echoing pof Firouzeh's sentiments here. I'm sure it's not easy to juggle all of these different priorities and wrangle what must be a neverending to-do list, but to my eyes you do it with grace and good vibes. :) Really appreciate what you have done, and continue to do, with developing Song of Avaria over the alpha phase!

I wanted to echo the excitement and sentiment of the reactions to this announcement here. I've greatly enjoyed the interactions and plot threads of alpha big and small, and am really looking forward to what's to come! Thanks both for all of the continual development, the progression of the story, the expansion of the world and lore, and just plain all of the fun RP.

Also I love that this is now an emoji.

Crawling out of my little hideyhole too to say that it's been a blast playing here! You folks are doing a great job with engagement and making the setting feel very cool. I'm very much looking forward to everything that's in store as alpha commences!

Coming out of my own hidey hole and poking in to say hi. Love the clear roadmap that you guys are offering.