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Endgame Announcement
Feb. 22nd, 2020 03:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
simpathisHello everyone! We are timing this announcement now rather than at the start of March as this will likely affect future player decisions, especially with reserves opening tomorrow.
As many have probably already guessed from our recent changes, we are making the official statement: Empatheias is heading into endgame.
Back during the State of the Game last October, Laena made it clear that she would only be able to properly mod for another year and had given a possible timeframe of when endgame would be but without making anything official as we were going on a "wait and see" basis. So, many of you will most likely not be surprised by this. Judging by how things have been slowing down and the plot already heading towards a natural conclusion, we have decided to go ahead and bring the game to a proper ending since this is the best time for it.
This means the game will end August 31, 2020, which will pass the 7th year anniversary and give the game a full six year run. That's pretty impressive, and it has been a great six years!
Now that still leaves us with six months of things to do, and to give everyone a better idea of what to expect, here is a rough roadmap of the main highlights:
- March: follow up of Fourth Wall February, tackling some of the Briarlan plotholes, and a Piphron related event involving rocks and a choo choo.
- April: A very unusual Flower Festival set in different part of Elios's lands, and something related to rebuilding Peromei's home.
- May: Big event involving Aiada's artifact.
- June: Big event involving Sosyne's artifact.
- July: Helisium with Daimonia at the helm and tying in with her artifact.
- August: Grand finale.
Please note that this is just highlighting the main plot points and event focuses for each month and could be subject to change.
Because we know player mindsets tend to wane and focus more on wrapping up things on the personal CR front, we will be trying to structure things so that the final months focus more on using the setting while still allowing avenues for those interested in the plot. We may do a general survey to see the numbers again, similar to the one we did back during October's State of the Game, so that we know what we can work with and tailor events for better enjoyment. This is also the time for players to make any suggestions or requests for anything they have always wanted to play out in the setting.
As for what will happen to the game after it ends, although Laena toyed with the idea of leaving it open as a low effort structured sandbox, the problem of "modding" is still an issue. It also might be best to let the setting rest, so unless there is a lot of vocal support or volunteers, we will run the usual course of closing the game's doors. However, we'll allow players already in the game to continue finishing up their threads and anyone is free to use the setting for their own personal use. Should a group want to make a new setting based on Empatheias, feel free to contact us.
We would like to thank everyone who has been with us so far and welcome anyone who would like to return just for endgame. We also apologize for anyone whose spirits may be lowered due to this announcement, but like we said, we wanted to make everyone aware out of fairness. For any previous players interested in returning at some point, your app process will be as simple as just finding any old Emp app from any time and submit (no really, that is exactly how it'll be). We also plan to open the final month to everyone again, similar to the Fourth Wall, and will make the formal announcements for that once we get there.
If you have any concerns, requests, suggestions, or anything else you'd like to say, feel free to bring them forward!
