It's an understatement to say that it's been a minute since we've updated our Steam profile. That's the bad news. The good news is that we've been updating the game over the past 2 years and making meaningful improvements and content updates on a major scale. Here's a comprehensive update on everything we've done to improve the game:
Illyriad's DEVS added GMs Jejune, Duran, and Malek to team, with Jejune working on the designs for the upcoming Faction AI release and lore-related content, Duran taking the lead role as game moderator, and Malek bringing his Illy combat experience to designing and updating new combat systems and content. The new GMs -- all three of which are ex-players -- have bridged the gap between players and DEVS, leadiing the game into a new era of crowdsourced, player-inspired updates and a healthier community.
GM Duran has done a fantastic job of cleaning up GC. Global Chat is a major focus of Illy's user interface, and the community rules are being enforced so that new players can get resources and answers from veterans, with an emphasis on players having fun, eing social, and talking about the game.
Lots of bugs were fixed and things updated last Summer. We had an update in May, on June 5 and June 14, and in September. We still have a lot planned for improving and updating the UI while still remaining true to Illy's retro graphics aesthetic, but we've made a lot of strides in fixing things that were broken.
Illyriad Games LTD. made a big upgrade in seriously updating the game’s server and hardware. If you are tech-minded, you can read about that fun stuff here. One of the reasons why we did this was to vastly increase the capacity to run Faction AI.
All units got a racially-inspired speed increase. We did this for unmounted units last Summer, and updated the mounted units in February. Next up are siege units, which are going to get “raceified” in some interesting, new ways.
Faction AI is upon us. The DEVS have been working on it for nearly 3 years, and it is about 90% complete. Along the way, we’ve been launching and updating lots of new Faction-related content, for example:
We vastly expanded Inter-factional standings and default racial standings for all factions, in anticipation for Faction AI.
We re-wrote and re-launched the Eaglesbrood faction, debuting new Giant Eagle units onto the map.
In the biggest content launch in over a decade, we placed 155 Faction Outposts on the map, each with their own lore and connected to specific Faction hubs. Those who occupy Faction Outposts will receive a major ranking boost with its corresponding faction, so we’re excited about the PvP/Faction crossover here.
Some of the biggest updates came in February, when the game celebrated its 15th anniversary. In commemoration, we’ve launched a Jubilee year and have done some exciting things:
Launched a Discord server for players, which is very popular. Y
Introduced a new “Gigantes” faction race and put the giants, trolls, ogres, and centaurs into it, separating them from being mere “monsters.”
We made the Cyclopes into their own faction, rather than just being regarded as beasts. They have new lore and will play a key role in Faction AI.
There was another major IFS and DRS update for Factions, in anticipation of Faction AI. This one was crowdsourced by the players, who came up with some great lore-based rationales.
This update is also where the mounted unit speeds were updated, so you can check out those stats here.
GM Malek also made a major, racially-inspired update on unit production speeds, decreasing the time it takes to make units.
We launched dragons into the game. We did this by rewriting the Dragonkin faction into a dragon-workshipping cult, and launching a straight-up Dragons faction. There are 5 new, powerful dragon units, as well as deep lore that goes with them. The dragons and giant eagles are arch-enemies.
We gave every active account an exclusive set of diplomatic Envoy units — 1 for each race. These will be used to boost rankings with Faction AI.
The debut of the dragons is being very well received, and right now we’re having the 15th Anniversary Jubilee Year Summer Dragon Tournament, where we are giving away dragon units in the prize pool. We expanded the prize pool so that lots of players win at least one dragon. We anticipate that upwards of 1,000 accounts will be in possession of one by tournament’s end, and the tournament will generate over 100,000 casualties.
Also, any player who sends a minimum of 1 troop into combat on a tournament square wil earn an exclusive Dragon Priest military unit (courtesy of the Dragonkin). These units will have unique and significant value in Faction AI with the dragons.
The Dragon Tournament will wrap up at the end of August. From there, we have a string of new content updates planned through the remainder of 2025:
There will be another major Faction/Lore content update coming soon.
We are hopeful that Faction AI's MVP will launch end of year. This will be the first new, major system in over 10 years.
We'll see additional updates on movement speed, this time for siege units.
Additional, new systems and updates are coming to the combat system as well.
Illyriad is one of the web's oldest and most vaunted MMOPRGs on the web, and its dedication to preserving its sandbox design ethos is the reason why it continues to endure. Now is a great time to get into the game as we continue to support a true Illy renaissance. We'll see you there!