Ethyrial: Echoes of Yore, a new MMORPG aimed at hardcore gamers, was released on May 1st. But a lot went wrong in the first few days and there was even a complete rollback. Now the developers want to attack again, but there is also bad news.
What kind of game is this? The MMORPG is reminiscent of old classics like Old School RuneScape – both in terms of gameplay and content. There is an extensive skill system, all items are made by players and team play is generally important. There are also many quests and dungeons. Visually, it looks a lot like an early 2000s title.
Added to this is the special hardcore approach. If you die, you lose your gear, which can then be picked up by any player. Previously, you also had to pay a subscription of 9.99 euros per month or 300 euros for a lifetime subscription for this adventure.
How did the release go? At the start, over 1,800 users played simultaneously (via SteamDB). That’s not a bad value for a niche MMORPG with these graphics. But only a few were impressed by the game concept:
Ethyral therefore reset the servers and held a complete relaunch on May 12th, which, however, only had around 700 simultaneous players. In the meantime, however, the number of players is only one-digit.
The developers wanted to turn things around with an elaborate roadmap, but it is questionable whether they will succeed.
Ethyrial: Echoes of Yore MMORPG Trailer
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What do the developers say? A statement said some changes are planned. It starts with adjustments to the class balance, the loot in the open world and the dungeons as well as the “enemy placement” in the game. There will also be a server merge coming soon so all characters can interact with each other in one place.
The change to Free2Play without restrictions of any kind will be a big change. It is not known when exactly this change will take place. Currently the main developer is not at work due to “tragic circumstances within the family”. His return is currently awaited.
There is also bad news about the publisher.
The studio sat down with him and talked about the future. It was agreed that ending the collaboration was the right step:
Although Freedom has been an invaluable partner and helped us throughout the process, we have not been able to deliver the expected level of quality that both Freedom and we wanted to achieve. Therefore, it makes no sense to continue the relationship with Freedom Games at this point.
The developers also announced that Ethyrial: Echoes of Yore will be a “Passion Project” in the future. It sounds a bit like the developers will do another job in the future and only run the MMORPG as a hobby.
What do you think about the course of Ethyral: Echoes of Yore? Have you ever checked out the MMORPG or were the subscription, graphics and hardcore approach too daunting for you?
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