Greetings, Hateforge Community!
With the arrival of spring and the festive spirit filling the air, we hope this message finds you in good health and high spirits. It's been a while since we last reached out, and we've missed interacting with all of you. During this time, we've taken a step back to reflect on our journey, especially following the release of our first custom patch, "The Hateforge Trading Company."
Reflections and Insights:
We've noticed a quieter atmosphere in our realms and a decline in player numbers, which we attribute to a lack of transparency on our part. The introduction of 22 new custom sets, designed to enhance every talent specialization across all classes to Tier-2.5 level, required significant farming effort. This move, though intended to enrich your gaming experience, may not have been communicated clearly.
The phenomenon of declining player numbers is not exclusive to Hateforge; it's a trend visible in many private server projects. This shift in the gaming landscape is partly due to the allure of Blizzard-Activision-Microsoft's "Season of Discovery" among other fresh initiatives.
However, we remain steadfast in our commitment to keep Hateforge alive, regardless of the challenges we face. Our passion for this community and project remains unwavering.
Introducing Our New Roadmap:
Maexxna (Vanilla Realm):
- Adjustments to the reputation gains with The Hateforge Trading Company.
- T1 set pieces exchangeable for Trading Company tokens and reputation.
- Introduction of rare items for various classes and talent specializations.
- A new Hateforge Trading Company dungeon.
- Temporary player bots to assist in dungeons and with elite quests.
- Improved AI of PvP bots for a more realistic battleground experience.
- Auction house bots will begin purchasing items.
Nightbane (TBC Realm) & Halion (WotLK Realm):
- Implementation of Maexxna's XP system.
- Temporary player bots for dungeons, battlegrounds, and elite quests.
- A new faction similar to The Hateforge Trading Company to support underrepresented specializations.
- One-time cloning of characters from Maexxna to Nightbane or Halion.
- Introduction of a third-party project realm transfer service and i58 transfers.
Note on Hardware Transition:
Due to the financial challenges we face, with donation income covering only a fraction of our costs, we have decided to switch to self-hosted hardware on an efficient ARM basis, known as Raspberry PI. With my previous project "RaspyWoW," I was able to demonstrate that it's possible to offer a stable gaming experience for up to 800 players per realm. More details on the move and implementation will be provided in the forum.
Outlook:
The realms of Maexxna, Nightbane, and Halion are a testament to our dedication, with the former housing eight years of tireless work. As we continue to develop and improve the TBC and WotLK realms, we are excited about the future and grateful for your support.
In Closing:
Your enthusiasm, feedback, and presence in the Hateforge community are what make this journey worthwhile. Together, we have built something extraordinary, and we look forward to starting this next chapter with you. Stay tuned for more updates and, as always, thank you for being a part of Hateforge.
Until next time, adventurers. Onward!
— The Hateforge Team